We're back. C's putting A down for a nap while I sort years of cosmetics, bath gels, and expired medications that are taking up valuable space in our too-small bathroom. The purge is on.
I forgot to blog about Halloween. We had Halloween. We have a costume for A but did not dress him up. C got off work early, which allowed him and A to carve a pumpkin together. Then dinner, birthday cake, and bed for A.
Tuesday night, basking in the warm glow of Obamarama, we headed to Disneyland. C was off work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We bought annual passes (for an absurdly low price compared to the WDW tickets, good God) and rode rides: the new Finding Nemo submarines (very cool), the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (for the small boy who loved every minute and was ready to go again), Space Mountain (smoother and darker than its WDW counterpart), and all sorts of other stuff. We walked onto every ride. We left at four-ish so I could make my read-and-critique group.
Thursday A had speech and a vision test. C had a meeting at work to check in for. His vision is fine (-0.25 in the left eye, 0 in the right, which for right now, is within normal tolerances). His speech class went great; he was the only one and the teacher adores him.
Friday we were slated to go to the last of our parenting classes, the review and post-test, and C and I decided we would rather spend the day going to Disneyland. So after breakfast, we bundled A into the car, drove up, and were at the front gate not much later than we were Wednesday morning. Plus, A got his normal morning nap in the car. It worked out beautifully.
It was more crowded than Wednesday but still mighty manageable. We had completely skipped Fantasyland on Wednesday, so we took some time letting a small boy point us from ride to ride. After Peter Pan, the carrousel. After the carrousel, Dumbo. And so on. The pommes frites at Cafe Orleans are fabulous, btw. We drove home at seven or so, got home in time for our normal bedtimes.
So Saturday morning, A leads me to the door to the garage and points. "Car?"
"You want to go in the car?" I say. Happy acknowledgement noise from A.
"You want to go in the car and go to Disneyland?"
Happy dancing from A. "Car, please!"
It's bizarre to me that Disneyland is within a reasonable drive. I think of it as being very far away, but it's not any farther than Park Meadows used to be from our house in Colorado.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Vote, vote, vote
I voted weeks ago, but C voted first thing this morning, fourth in line at our local polling place. But get out there today and vote.
See, I'm not introducing politics, because I think anyone who reads this blog already has made up their stubborn minds as to whom they're going to vote for. But I'll shamelessly plug a No on Prop 8 again, just for any Californians who really haven't come to their senses and want to spread hatred and fascism. No on Prop 8. Hopefully there will be lots of celebrations in the morning.
See, I'm not introducing politics, because I think anyone who reads this blog already has made up their stubborn minds as to whom they're going to vote for. But I'll shamelessly plug a No on Prop 8 again, just for any Californians who really haven't come to their senses and want to spread hatred and fascism. No on Prop 8. Hopefully there will be lots of celebrations in the morning.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Second dentist visit
He's got good teeth, happily.
First of all, the people at our dentist's office love A. I was in there all the time when I was pregnant, got my braces off and had a bunch of work done postpartum when I could wheel A in in the stroller and have him stay put. So they've known him since before his debut and they adore him.
So we go for his cleaning today and everyone in the office has to say hi. He high-fives everyone. He doesn't want to sit in the chair, but he sits in my lap in the chair. Then he doesn't want to open his mouth. He takes a toothbrush, brushes with his lips tightly shut, and drops the toothbrush on the floor.
And then Chris the tech lets him have the air/water gun. And we're off to the races. There's water everywhere: on me, A, the tech, the walls, the floor. Everywhere. But A figured out that he could squirt the water in his mouth for a drink, and then he would open his mouth to have a drink and blow air on his tongue, and voila, the tech can check his teeth.
He brushes and she gets a mirror in to inspect his teeth, then she says, "Do you think he'd let me polish them with the magic toothbrush?" Sure, why not? She shows it to him and lets him lick the (bubble gum flavored) toothpaste, and sure, he'll let her polish his teeth.
Then the dentist comes back to examine him, and yes, with the tech there, he'll let the dentist examine his teeth.
Happily, it all looks good. His teeth are plaque-free, even in the front where they expect toddlers to have plaque, and there's no signs of decay, even in his molars. His bite looks good; he may have a deep bite but the dentist wouldn't be worried about that for some time anyway. And he does officially have all twenty teeth, which is super.
So he's doing good, we're doing good, and the only improvement to A's dental regime that the dentist could offer was brushing after every meal instead of twice a day. But that's it.
This kid has had two parents in braces for most of the time he's been alive. He's seen a lot of tooth brushing and tooth maintenance. C says I spend an inordinate amount of time brushing, but that's because I am not a slave to the timer on my Sonicare.
We go again in six months. Whee! I'm so glad his teeth are turning out to be more like C's than mine.
First of all, the people at our dentist's office love A. I was in there all the time when I was pregnant, got my braces off and had a bunch of work done postpartum when I could wheel A in in the stroller and have him stay put. So they've known him since before his debut and they adore him.
So we go for his cleaning today and everyone in the office has to say hi. He high-fives everyone. He doesn't want to sit in the chair, but he sits in my lap in the chair. Then he doesn't want to open his mouth. He takes a toothbrush, brushes with his lips tightly shut, and drops the toothbrush on the floor.
And then Chris the tech lets him have the air/water gun. And we're off to the races. There's water everywhere: on me, A, the tech, the walls, the floor. Everywhere. But A figured out that he could squirt the water in his mouth for a drink, and then he would open his mouth to have a drink and blow air on his tongue, and voila, the tech can check his teeth.
He brushes and she gets a mirror in to inspect his teeth, then she says, "Do you think he'd let me polish them with the magic toothbrush?" Sure, why not? She shows it to him and lets him lick the (bubble gum flavored) toothpaste, and sure, he'll let her polish his teeth.
Then the dentist comes back to examine him, and yes, with the tech there, he'll let the dentist examine his teeth.
Happily, it all looks good. His teeth are plaque-free, even in the front where they expect toddlers to have plaque, and there's no signs of decay, even in his molars. His bite looks good; he may have a deep bite but the dentist wouldn't be worried about that for some time anyway. And he does officially have all twenty teeth, which is super.
So he's doing good, we're doing good, and the only improvement to A's dental regime that the dentist could offer was brushing after every meal instead of twice a day. But that's it.
This kid has had two parents in braces for most of the time he's been alive. He's seen a lot of tooth brushing and tooth maintenance. C says I spend an inordinate amount of time brushing, but that's because I am not a slave to the timer on my Sonicare.
We go again in six months. Whee! I'm so glad his teeth are turning out to be more like C's than mine.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Individual Family Service Plan
That's the IFSP, which sounds like a Meyer-Briggs personality type. C and I met with the intake coordinator to establish an IFSP for A. This sets up goals (that the family--that's us--can measure) and, more importantly, lists what classes and services he'll be getting.
Right now, he's set up for twelve sessions of speech therapy and an hour or two of pseudo-preschool twice a week. The speech therapist will be coming to our house weekly (eep); A and I have to tour all the available preschools until we find one we like (maybe not the one for behavioral issue kids, for example).
A just went down to sleep and he was so tired that I'm tired. He didn't want to sleep; he kept being almost asleep then waking up to say, "Daddy?" Daddy should be on his way home from work.
A had speech today; they played musical instruments to practice blowing air. He's only got a couple weeks left there; I'm hoping they'll let him finish. There will be one week of overlap with the Regional Center stuff. I can't mention enough how immensely thankful I am that all of this assessment stuff has moved so quickly. I know government and bureaucracy is bad and evil, especially in an election year, but man, I'm glad they have all this stuff available for free, so quickly. These little people grow fast.
Right now, he's set up for twelve sessions of speech therapy and an hour or two of pseudo-preschool twice a week. The speech therapist will be coming to our house weekly (eep); A and I have to tour all the available preschools until we find one we like (maybe not the one for behavioral issue kids, for example).
A just went down to sleep and he was so tired that I'm tired. He didn't want to sleep; he kept being almost asleep then waking up to say, "Daddy?" Daddy should be on his way home from work.
A had speech today; they played musical instruments to practice blowing air. He's only got a couple weeks left there; I'm hoping they'll let him finish. There will be one week of overlap with the Regional Center stuff. I can't mention enough how immensely thankful I am that all of this assessment stuff has moved so quickly. I know government and bureaucracy is bad and evil, especially in an election year, but man, I'm glad they have all this stuff available for free, so quickly. These little people grow fast.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Please!
Everyone's braces-free in the C/K/A household, and there is much rejoicing. We are now accepting your donations of toffee, sugar-crusted nuts and pizza bones.
A had the speech teacher all to himself today, and he talked up a storm. He did all the animal noises with his teacher, then sang (sang!) and said, "Please!" He's signed please for the longest time, but now we're supposed to make sure he says it consistently. His teacher places a finger under her lower lip sometimes to remind A to talk, and if he's not paying enough attention to her, she'll do it to him, so that's something we're supposed to work on with him.
But she thinks he's making excellent progress, so there we are.
A and I went to the Birch Aquarium today after speech with a writer friend of mine and her two-year-old (who is huge! huge!). We all had a good time. They have these elaborate water tables with partitions you can move around to create currents and flows and float tiny boats down. A loved that. C would love it. I would have loved it more if I wasn't on baby duty and got to play with it myself.
They have tidepools (which we did not go into since A's apparently allergic to starfish protein) and fake tidepools with all sorts of rubber creatures (lobsters, starfish, crabs, shells, shrimp). Unfortunately, they're right next to each other, so A decided he would reallocate a rubber tiger shrimp to the tidepool. "Happens all the time," a docent told me, but they had to debate how best to remove it because A threw it pretty far. They needed a stick to get it.
It's a small museum but it's pretty neat. The displays are well-thought out. I think the boat thing alone is probably worth a membership.
A had the speech teacher all to himself today, and he talked up a storm. He did all the animal noises with his teacher, then sang (sang!) and said, "Please!" He's signed please for the longest time, but now we're supposed to make sure he says it consistently. His teacher places a finger under her lower lip sometimes to remind A to talk, and if he's not paying enough attention to her, she'll do it to him, so that's something we're supposed to work on with him.
But she thinks he's making excellent progress, so there we are.
A and I went to the Birch Aquarium today after speech with a writer friend of mine and her two-year-old (who is huge! huge!). We all had a good time. They have these elaborate water tables with partitions you can move around to create currents and flows and float tiny boats down. A loved that. C would love it. I would have loved it more if I wasn't on baby duty and got to play with it myself.
They have tidepools (which we did not go into since A's apparently allergic to starfish protein) and fake tidepools with all sorts of rubber creatures (lobsters, starfish, crabs, shells, shrimp). Unfortunately, they're right next to each other, so A decided he would reallocate a rubber tiger shrimp to the tidepool. "Happens all the time," a docent told me, but they had to debate how best to remove it because A threw it pretty far. They needed a stick to get it.
It's a small museum but it's pretty neat. The displays are well-thought out. I think the boat thing alone is probably worth a membership.
Hatetriots: yes, a political rant
Oh, come now, you didn't think we'd get through this kind of an election year without a rant, did you?
That's pronounced "hate-triots" to rhyme with patriots. I'm a little sick of them here.
Right now, gay marriage is legal in California. There's a proposition on the ballot to amend the California state constitution to make same-sex marriage illegal; it's called Prop 8.
The "Yes on 8" movement is out there with big fat lying ads stating that if Prop 8 does not pass, gay marriage will be taught in schools and churches will lose their tax-exempt status if they don't perform same-sex marriages. These are both big fat honking lies.
If Prop 8 fails, nothing changes. There's no change to the law. There's no change in how your kids are going about their daily lives. If your church or synagogue or mosque won't marry a same-sex couple, it'll still count as a church just as much as the churches that practice love thy neighbor as thyself do. (Sorry--that's my "who's actually Christian?" rant sneaking in.) A No on Prop 8 changes nothing.
This kind of crap really pisses me off. There's no legal reason to deprive a group of people of their civil rights--and I think marriage, with all its social/economic/political constructs, counts as a civil right.
I can't think of any reasons to shoot down same-sex marriage other than fear and hatred. I'm calling the politicos who spew hatred and fear in order to scare people into voting their way hatetriots.
I don't know if A will be gay or straight, but I want him to get married--if he chooses--with the minimum amount of bureaucratic governmental interference either way.
I really hope this thing fails. Down with the hatetriots.
That's pronounced "hate-triots" to rhyme with patriots. I'm a little sick of them here.
Right now, gay marriage is legal in California. There's a proposition on the ballot to amend the California state constitution to make same-sex marriage illegal; it's called Prop 8.
The "Yes on 8" movement is out there with big fat lying ads stating that if Prop 8 does not pass, gay marriage will be taught in schools and churches will lose their tax-exempt status if they don't perform same-sex marriages. These are both big fat honking lies.
If Prop 8 fails, nothing changes. There's no change to the law. There's no change in how your kids are going about their daily lives. If your church or synagogue or mosque won't marry a same-sex couple, it'll still count as a church just as much as the churches that practice love thy neighbor as thyself do. (Sorry--that's my "who's actually Christian?" rant sneaking in.) A No on Prop 8 changes nothing.
This kind of crap really pisses me off. There's no legal reason to deprive a group of people of their civil rights--and I think marriage, with all its social/economic/political constructs, counts as a civil right.
I can't think of any reasons to shoot down same-sex marriage other than fear and hatred. I'm calling the politicos who spew hatred and fear in order to scare people into voting their way hatetriots.
I don't know if A will be gay or straight, but I want him to get married--if he chooses--with the minimum amount of bureaucratic governmental interference either way.
I really hope this thing fails. Down with the hatetriots.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Overtime
C's working overtime. He worked yesterday (although that was a short day, because he was home before A went to bed) and he's still working today.
A and I are spending a lot of time together. A's begun to put two words together again verbally, like "Bye, Daddy!" and (sadly, with big eyes) "Go car? Go Daddy?" Sigh. He's coming out with entire strings of jargon that sound like a complete sentence ("What is this over here?"). We meet with his service coordinator in another week or so to set up speech services. Also, he knows how to operate the DVD player, including swapping disks. From closed cases. Oy.
I've been reading Nigella Lawson which always makes me feel like roasting chickens and baking cakes and being all domestic goddess-y, so today I roasted a chicken and some potatoes for A and I to eat for lunch. They came out perfectly. Perfect moist crispy-skinned chicken, perfect crispy roasted potatoes. And A wouldn't touch either of them until I produced (organic, non-HFCS) ketchup, which he's never eaten before.
Well, he loved it. And he loved chicken as a ketchup conveyance device. But he's still not really interested in potatoes. I know he's mine, but good grief, where's his potato love?
A and I are spending a lot of time together. A's begun to put two words together again verbally, like "Bye, Daddy!" and (sadly, with big eyes) "Go car? Go Daddy?" Sigh. He's coming out with entire strings of jargon that sound like a complete sentence ("What is this over here?"). We meet with his service coordinator in another week or so to set up speech services. Also, he knows how to operate the DVD player, including swapping disks. From closed cases. Oy.
I've been reading Nigella Lawson which always makes me feel like roasting chickens and baking cakes and being all domestic goddess-y, so today I roasted a chicken and some potatoes for A and I to eat for lunch. They came out perfectly. Perfect moist crispy-skinned chicken, perfect crispy roasted potatoes. And A wouldn't touch either of them until I produced (organic, non-HFCS) ketchup, which he's never eaten before.
Well, he loved it. And he loved chicken as a ketchup conveyance device. But he's still not really interested in potatoes. I know he's mine, but good grief, where's his potato love?
Thursday, October 16, 2008
How's the fam?
We're all sick and cranky.
C's work is in the crazy schedule stage. He's sick. He's coughing up a lung all the time. This is coming on the heels of having enough mouth pain that he couldn't speak coherently for a week.
A's sick. He's got a slight fever, stuffy nose, occasional cough, bad attitude. He's not sleeping well. He's tired enough that things that usually don't bug him make him break out in tears. He's not even napping well, which means I spend a lot of time that I normally get to myself soothing him back to sleep. Poor baby, he's sick.
I'm sick, but I'm the least sick of the three so I don't get to be sick. A late night Tuesday turned into an early morning (4AM) Wednesday which turned into a late night last night and really, I could use a nap and maybe some Advil.
C's schedule has turned ugly, coming home at midnight last night, with a week of awful scheduling ahead (working Saturday, Sunday, and 3AM on Tuesday morning, woo hoo), which means my schedule has turned ugly because I love my boy, but I love having time to myself once a day too, which is not happening (unless you count the drive to and from the orthodontist's this morning, which I do not).
C's work is in the crazy schedule stage. He's sick. He's coughing up a lung all the time. This is coming on the heels of having enough mouth pain that he couldn't speak coherently for a week.
A's sick. He's got a slight fever, stuffy nose, occasional cough, bad attitude. He's not sleeping well. He's tired enough that things that usually don't bug him make him break out in tears. He's not even napping well, which means I spend a lot of time that I normally get to myself soothing him back to sleep. Poor baby, he's sick.
I'm sick, but I'm the least sick of the three so I don't get to be sick. A late night Tuesday turned into an early morning (4AM) Wednesday which turned into a late night last night and really, I could use a nap and maybe some Advil.
C's schedule has turned ugly, coming home at midnight last night, with a week of awful scheduling ahead (working Saturday, Sunday, and 3AM on Tuesday morning, woo hoo), which means my schedule has turned ugly because I love my boy, but I love having time to myself once a day too, which is not happening (unless you count the drive to and from the orthodontist's this morning, which I do not).
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Buh, buh, buh; puh, puh, puh; muh, muh, muh
Today A had speech and he was the only one there--lucky! His teacher dotes on him (and really, who doesn't?). She's working on the bilabial sounds with him: B, M, P. So they colored in baby birds and momma birds and then played crash with the buses and trucks and blew bubbles. He said bubbles, beep-beep, and pop. I haven't heard pop at home, so that's good.
She invited me to a parenting class that starts tomorrow on how to help A speak, so I ran over and got the kindly old lady next door signed up to watch A for the next few Friday mornings and we will be in class.
A has a flu shot today. This will not help the doctor rehabilitation program.
She invited me to a parenting class that starts tomorrow on how to help A speak, so I ran over and got the kindly old lady next door signed up to watch A for the next few Friday mornings and we will be in class.
A has a flu shot today. This will not help the doctor rehabilitation program.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Monkey see, monkey do
Yesterday was Free Tuesday here in sunny San Diego, and the boy and I went to the Natural History Museum. Free Tuesday is this great program where every Tuesday of the month, certain Balboa Park museums are open for free. The Natural History Museum has dinosaurs and a baby elephant and a room with a bucket of puppets, so he's happy there.
Since it was Free Tuesday, it was packed, not as packed as it could be, but still packed with kidlets. I kept smelling poop, and kept checking the back of A's pants to make sure it wasn't him (it wasn't). My current theory on the vast amounts of poop is that I saw a lot of dads with kids, and I think dads can feign more oblivion to poop than moms, in general.
Anyway, at some point after I'd checked his pants for the fortieth time, A came around behind me and tried to check my pants, at which point I decided maybe I was sending the wrong message about what we do in the museum.
Since it was Free Tuesday, it was packed, not as packed as it could be, but still packed with kidlets. I kept smelling poop, and kept checking the back of A's pants to make sure it wasn't him (it wasn't). My current theory on the vast amounts of poop is that I saw a lot of dads with kids, and I think dads can feign more oblivion to poop than moms, in general.
Anyway, at some point after I'd checked his pants for the fortieth time, A came around behind me and tried to check my pants, at which point I decided maybe I was sending the wrong message about what we do in the museum.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Regional Center Assessment
Today we had another speech evaluation. It's the same-old, same-old: two assessors, one graduate student observing, playtime for A, talking to me.
His official assessment is 27-30 months for receptive language - with some 33-36 month behaviors - and 15-18 months for expressive language. So he understands everything and says hardly anything. He's very bright and right on track for all his other developmental areas. They mentioned how outgoing and sociable he was. None of this is different from any of our other assessments.
So he meets the 33.33% delay requirement in expressive speech, which is the cut-off line for qualifying for Regional Center services. So next week our coordinator (who was out today) will start setting up a plan for him. He'll probably see a speech therapist regularly as a start.
I just wanted to thank everyone who's asked about how he's doing and how the assessments are going. It means a lot to me that other people are interested in him.
His official assessment is 27-30 months for receptive language - with some 33-36 month behaviors - and 15-18 months for expressive language. So he understands everything and says hardly anything. He's very bright and right on track for all his other developmental areas. They mentioned how outgoing and sociable he was. None of this is different from any of our other assessments.
So he meets the 33.33% delay requirement in expressive speech, which is the cut-off line for qualifying for Regional Center services. So next week our coordinator (who was out today) will start setting up a plan for him. He'll probably see a speech therapist regularly as a start.
I just wanted to thank everyone who's asked about how he's doing and how the assessments are going. It means a lot to me that other people are interested in him.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tired boys
A didn't sleep well last night and C didn't either. I didn't sleep well the night before, so last night I was apparently out of it enough that I wasn't disturbed very much.
Last Friday night, I went to the San Diego Film Festival and saw my friend Julie's film, Broken Windows, which was a lot of fun, since I've never been to a film festival before. The film is good but slow. I hope it does well.
We went to dinner before and A surprised us by eating popcorn shrimp and calamari (even the squiggly bits) but not the mac and cheese. This is a strange kid.
He had speech today and did well although he was tired. We're about to go to the store, run some errands, so he'll just have to cope. He had a short nap this morning but it's hot here and it's hard to nap when it's so freaking hot.
Last Friday night, I went to the San Diego Film Festival and saw my friend Julie's film, Broken Windows, which was a lot of fun, since I've never been to a film festival before. The film is good but slow. I hope it does well.
We went to dinner before and A surprised us by eating popcorn shrimp and calamari (even the squiggly bits) but not the mac and cheese. This is a strange kid.
He had speech today and did well although he was tired. We're about to go to the store, run some errands, so he'll just have to cope. He had a short nap this morning but it's hot here and it's hard to nap when it's so freaking hot.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Certificate of Participation
It's graduation day here from Global Group for the little toddler boy. He's finished six weeks of general group activity and as such is done being enriched. He's still going to his specific speech group. He's loving it so far; we're going to have to think seriously about preschool when all of this is done. He used to have to be convinced to go in, and now he has to be restrained from running right into the classroom when we get there.
He's got a speech evaluation scheduled for next week. This is with the regional center and is just speech, so we'll see what shakes out there.
He's using a ton more words now; I don't know if it's the classes or just being around other kids or the general explosion of language that happens, but he's got tons more words: baby, bubbles, crocodile. He's doing a lot more spontaneous imitation, where if I say a word, he says it back. And he's picked up words he knew but had stopped using, like "more."
They gave him a post-class evaluation to see where he was compared to where he started (about the same, with a couple minor improvements). The woman doing the evaluation said to me, "He's such a sweet kid. There were kids crying in the room and he took them toys and tried to play with them." Yup, that's my sweetie.
He's got a speech evaluation scheduled for next week. This is with the regional center and is just speech, so we'll see what shakes out there.
He's using a ton more words now; I don't know if it's the classes or just being around other kids or the general explosion of language that happens, but he's got tons more words: baby, bubbles, crocodile. He's doing a lot more spontaneous imitation, where if I say a word, he says it back. And he's picked up words he knew but had stopped using, like "more."
They gave him a post-class evaluation to see where he was compared to where he started (about the same, with a couple minor improvements). The woman doing the evaluation said to me, "He's such a sweet kid. There were kids crying in the room and he took them toys and tried to play with them." Yup, that's my sweetie.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Arrrgh, mateys!
My pirate name is:
Captain Bess Flint
Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!
Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Assessment, round 2
We're on to the next agency here in speech development land. They came by the house today to do a general evaluation, all five areas again. Three women: an intake coordinator, a special ed teacher, and a trainee. The intake coordinator asked me questions while the teacher played with A. The trainee watched.
A was in a great mood and was his bubbly outgoing self. He sat them down, brought them toys, and tried to share the toys the teacher gave him with the other two women. "He wants to make sure everyone's involved," the teacher said. "He's got great play skills. He should be a social worker when he grows up."
It was same old, same old for questions. We hit an impasse in the play portion of the exam because A refused to play with the blocks. The teacher had lots more fun things in her bag of tricks and he didn't want to play with blocks when he has a gazillion sets of blocks in the house already. He'd already brought a set of blocks out for the women to play with.
The teacher asked if he was an only child, and then said, "Gosh, with play skills like his and all these toys, you should have five more." Um, no. No no no. She also approved of our toys. They're good toys. Active toys make passive babies, you know.
Anyway, he's a scattered kid. This does not have anything to do with his focus, which is legendary and laser-like and was commented upon by the women; I'm talking test results. He's literally all over. Won't play with blocks, 15 months for cognitive and 12 months for fine motor. Threads three beads on a string, 30 months for cognitive and fine motor. Makes the overall scoring a bit inaccurate.
His receptive language is fine; he's got a delay in his expressive language. According to the math of the test, he's showing a 25% delay in speech development, which is not enough to require the services of the more intensive agency. But they think his expressive is far enough behind that it requires further investigation, so they're going to have a speech evaluation done.
When they were all through, they asked me if I had any questions, and so I asked, "In your opinions, should I be worried about him?"
And they all looked at each other and the teacher said, "No. I wouldn't. On a ten point scale, I'd say you should worry about a 3, which you probably already are. He's very bright; his play skills are great, very directed. Play is the basis for speech. He talks a lot already in jargon and I'm guessing one day you'll be saying, 'We thought he wouldn't talk and now we can't get him to stop.'"
So I'm somewhat relieved, although it felt anticlimactic to have three people tell me what I thought about my kid already was right. They don't know why he doesn't talk either, but there's a ton of money to be had if we figure it out (and apply it across many other kids in the universe).
A was in a great mood and was his bubbly outgoing self. He sat them down, brought them toys, and tried to share the toys the teacher gave him with the other two women. "He wants to make sure everyone's involved," the teacher said. "He's got great play skills. He should be a social worker when he grows up."
It was same old, same old for questions. We hit an impasse in the play portion of the exam because A refused to play with the blocks. The teacher had lots more fun things in her bag of tricks and he didn't want to play with blocks when he has a gazillion sets of blocks in the house already. He'd already brought a set of blocks out for the women to play with.
The teacher asked if he was an only child, and then said, "Gosh, with play skills like his and all these toys, you should have five more." Um, no. No no no. She also approved of our toys. They're good toys. Active toys make passive babies, you know.
Anyway, he's a scattered kid. This does not have anything to do with his focus, which is legendary and laser-like and was commented upon by the women; I'm talking test results. He's literally all over. Won't play with blocks, 15 months for cognitive and 12 months for fine motor. Threads three beads on a string, 30 months for cognitive and fine motor. Makes the overall scoring a bit inaccurate.
His receptive language is fine; he's got a delay in his expressive language. According to the math of the test, he's showing a 25% delay in speech development, which is not enough to require the services of the more intensive agency. But they think his expressive is far enough behind that it requires further investigation, so they're going to have a speech evaluation done.
When they were all through, they asked me if I had any questions, and so I asked, "In your opinions, should I be worried about him?"
And they all looked at each other and the teacher said, "No. I wouldn't. On a ten point scale, I'd say you should worry about a 3, which you probably already are. He's very bright; his play skills are great, very directed. Play is the basis for speech. He talks a lot already in jargon and I'm guessing one day you'll be saying, 'We thought he wouldn't talk and now we can't get him to stop.'"
So I'm somewhat relieved, although it felt anticlimactic to have three people tell me what I thought about my kid already was right. They don't know why he doesn't talk either, but there's a ton of money to be had if we figure it out (and apply it across many other kids in the universe).
Thursday, September 11, 2008
the House of Mouse
We just got back from Walt Disney World, that altar to childhood and capitalism. A had a fabulous time. This is what he loved:
Yes, they lost our luggage. But they found it. Yes, two-year-olds need naps and snacks. But they also notice the smallest things and have the biggest smiles.
- Peter Pan's Flight
- It's a Small World
- The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
- El Gran Fiesta (the boat ride in Mexico)
- Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party
- the Finding Nemo and Festival of the Lion King shows
- Flights of Wonder
- Stealing the chocolate coating off his mother's Mickey Ears ice cream novelties
- Dole Whip and ice cream
- Running around with his cousins
- Swimming in the pool, especially when his dad picked him and me up and tossed us up in the air together
- The little table that slid out from under the desk to eat breakfast on
- Sitting on bench seats to eat with us
- Feeding M&Ms to Pluto
- Fountains
- The talking trash can in Tomorrowland
Yes, they lost our luggage. But they found it. Yes, two-year-olds need naps and snacks. But they also notice the smallest things and have the biggest smiles.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Visits and travel and more
Well, I neglected to mention that last week our lovely friends the Bumps came to town for the weekend and we all had a fabulous time. They brought cookies and birthday presents and played a lot with A. He was quite sad when everyone went home and C went back to work and it was only me and him.
I'm tired. He's asleep, so I feel like I should blog, but I'm not sure what to blog about.
He's doing super great in swimming. We signed him up for classes--the place we've been taking classes is moving to a swim school where we pay monthly instead of in sessions, so that'll be good for him. And they'll still have the advanced class in the morning so all of us can go, which is nice.
Group is going well. Last time the teachers told me to get out and they'd talk him down from crying. He screamed and cries and I went to a more far-away room where I couldn't hear him, but he did great. He follows directions, cleans up, participates in the activities, so that's all super. One of the other parents (a grandma, actually) told me, "He is really smart. I've been watching him and he's very smart." Yes, I know. It makes me wonder what all the rest of the kids are in there for.
I'm tired. He's asleep, so I feel like I should blog, but I'm not sure what to blog about.
He's doing super great in swimming. We signed him up for classes--the place we've been taking classes is moving to a swim school where we pay monthly instead of in sessions, so that'll be good for him. And they'll still have the advanced class in the morning so all of us can go, which is nice.
Group is going well. Last time the teachers told me to get out and they'd talk him down from crying. He screamed and cries and I went to a more far-away room where I couldn't hear him, but he did great. He follows directions, cleans up, participates in the activities, so that's all super. One of the other parents (a grandma, actually) told me, "He is really smart. I've been watching him and he's very smart." Yes, I know. It makes me wonder what all the rest of the kids are in there for.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Speech pathologist (finally)
We met with the speech pathologist today. It's the same song and dance we've done the rest of the time: A plays while she asked me questions, then she played with him for a bit. She confirmed what everyone else has been saying; A has a mild to moderate developmental delay in speech.
She's the gate-keeper to all the services, though, so now we get to be on the track for services. He's wait-listed for the Communication Group, which is like the group he goes to now, only smaller and specifically for speech. He'll get a hearing test the next time the hearing test cavalcade rolls into town (once every two months). C and I will get to attend a parenting class to determine how to help A.
The one new thing today was a referral to Regional Services. The department we've been going to is a stop-gap measure to help kids who are a little behind catch up so they're prepared for preschool/kindergarten. There's another department that offers more extensive services for kids who need more help. A is borderline between the groups, mild to moderate. The criterion he's being assessed against is the 24-27 month old criterion, and he's at the beginning of the range. So the pathologist asked me if I wanted to get the paperwork rolling to get him into Regional Services or if I wanted to wait and see how he did in his groups.
I thought about it for maybe thirty seconds, then said, "Let's get the paperwork started." I know that it's a lot harder to get someone into a program than it is to take them out of it, and even if he does great, I want him to have all the resources he can.
He seems to be liking Group; there's lots of toys and books there for him to play with. He's not done at the end of class and has to be convinced that it's time to go home. The facilitators say he's doing really well, pays attention, remains on task, cleans up. I still waver (worry) about the qualities of the other parents, but he's getting playtime with other kids and attention from trained teachers, and I figure that can't hurt.
Oh, and he's got two new words: baby and bear.
She's the gate-keeper to all the services, though, so now we get to be on the track for services. He's wait-listed for the Communication Group, which is like the group he goes to now, only smaller and specifically for speech. He'll get a hearing test the next time the hearing test cavalcade rolls into town (once every two months). C and I will get to attend a parenting class to determine how to help A.
The one new thing today was a referral to Regional Services. The department we've been going to is a stop-gap measure to help kids who are a little behind catch up so they're prepared for preschool/kindergarten. There's another department that offers more extensive services for kids who need more help. A is borderline between the groups, mild to moderate. The criterion he's being assessed against is the 24-27 month old criterion, and he's at the beginning of the range. So the pathologist asked me if I wanted to get the paperwork rolling to get him into Regional Services or if I wanted to wait and see how he did in his groups.
I thought about it for maybe thirty seconds, then said, "Let's get the paperwork started." I know that it's a lot harder to get someone into a program than it is to take them out of it, and even if he does great, I want him to have all the resources he can.
He seems to be liking Group; there's lots of toys and books there for him to play with. He's not done at the end of class and has to be convinced that it's time to go home. The facilitators say he's doing really well, pays attention, remains on task, cleans up. I still waver (worry) about the qualities of the other parents, but he's getting playtime with other kids and attention from trained teachers, and I figure that can't hurt.
Oh, and he's got two new words: baby and bear.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Global group
That's what we went to today. It's like mini-preschool. All the kids in the class are two, but he's the youngest and smallest. They have some structured arts and crafts activities, some free play time, they wash their hands and get cookies and water, then they read books and sing songs and are done. There's only five kids, all boys, and two teachers.
He did good. He needed some reassurance at the beginning that I was still around, and when they came out to wash their hands, he latched on and wouldn't let me go, so I came back in for the last part of group. But he had fun and threw a tantrum when we tried to go.
The other parents waiting in the hall give me the shivers. Really. The one teaching her baby to play with the light switch, the one reeking of cigarette smoke who yelled at her five-year-old for waking up the baby after the mother started a tickle fight, yeah, they scare me. But they are there at the center, waiting while their kids get enriched, so they're doing something.
These are just so not the people we hang out with. I usually run with the mommies who debate organic vs. local and Montessori vs. Waldorf. It reminds me of what my mom used to say: the only time in your life you ever have all levels of society together is in the public school system.
A needs a nap and we need to go to the store. Store's lost every day this week, but it's going to win today.
He did good. He needed some reassurance at the beginning that I was still around, and when they came out to wash their hands, he latched on and wouldn't let me go, so I came back in for the last part of group. But he had fun and threw a tantrum when we tried to go.
The other parents waiting in the hall give me the shivers. Really. The one teaching her baby to play with the light switch, the one reeking of cigarette smoke who yelled at her five-year-old for waking up the baby after the mother started a tickle fight, yeah, they scare me. But they are there at the center, waiting while their kids get enriched, so they're doing something.
These are just so not the people we hang out with. I usually run with the mommies who debate organic vs. local and Montessori vs. Waldorf. It reminds me of what my mom used to say: the only time in your life you ever have all levels of society together is in the public school system.
A needs a nap and we need to go to the store. Store's lost every day this week, but it's going to win today.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Developmental Assessment
At A's two-year check-up, (he's fine, btw), I talked to our pediatrician about A's speech. He used to use more words than he does now; he used to use two-word phrases and he stopped. This is one of those autism signs that gives me the heebie-jeebies, but he's still very tuned into people and situations, so I thought, no, not autism.
But it's something.
And our super-cool pediatrician agreed that it was odd and so last week we started out on the journey of assessment.
And so here we are. I figured I'd blog before it got to be too much to describe. He's got the first of the playgroups tomorrow. We have a more in-depth meeting next week with a speech pathologist who will assess him in more detail and set goals.
The last specialist recommended a specific communication-focused play group, an audiology test, and a parenting class for us to be able to help him specifically with communication, but all of those have to be seconded by the speech pathologist.
The audiology test is to make sure he's hearing us since the specialist noted a delay between when A hears a request and when he acts on the request. The suspicion around here is that the delay is the time A takes to decide whether or not he's going to follow a request, but it's good to get him tested anyway.
We're all ambivalent here. I'm glad we got early intervention; I just want to know what's up with him. C still thinks, much like walking, that A just needs to decide he wants to talk and he'll talk. I think assessment is always a good thing, and the earlier the better. But every specialist has taken great pains to tell me: he's smart. He's really really smart. And I say, well, duh.
But it's something.
And our super-cool pediatrician agreed that it was odd and so last week we started out on the journey of assessment.
- Tuesday: initial screening: a questionnaire, asked verbally of me, to determine a general development level in five categories: gross motor, fine motor, personal/social (interactions), cognitive (problem solving), communication. He's off the charts for everything but communication, where he's in the 12-24 month category. Ouch. Come back tomorrow to meet with a speech specialist.
- Wednesday: not the speech specialist. This is a more thorough general screening, done by someone who questions me and plays and talks with A. He's in the 30 month range for everything but communication, where he's in the 15-18 month range. Come back tomorrow and meet with another specialist to do a speech assessment, plus we're going to put A into some monitored play groups to make him play with other children and force him to develop communication skills in self-defense.
- Thursday: Speech assessment, general. This is one-hour where the specialist talks mostly to A and some to me and asks him to say things, accomplish tasks, play. He's in the 15-18 month range for expressive communication (him talking) and the 18-21 month range for receptive communication (him listening to what people say).
And so here we are. I figured I'd blog before it got to be too much to describe. He's got the first of the playgroups tomorrow. We have a more in-depth meeting next week with a speech pathologist who will assess him in more detail and set goals.
The last specialist recommended a specific communication-focused play group, an audiology test, and a parenting class for us to be able to help him specifically with communication, but all of those have to be seconded by the speech pathologist.
The audiology test is to make sure he's hearing us since the specialist noted a delay between when A hears a request and when he acts on the request. The suspicion around here is that the delay is the time A takes to decide whether or not he's going to follow a request, but it's good to get him tested anyway.
We're all ambivalent here. I'm glad we got early intervention; I just want to know what's up with him. C still thinks, much like walking, that A just needs to decide he wants to talk and he'll talk. I think assessment is always a good thing, and the earlier the better. But every specialist has taken great pains to tell me: he's smart. He's really really smart. And I say, well, duh.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Flying baby boy
By his second birthday, A has been on twenty flights. I saw a blog post by a friend and thought, gosh, I wonder how many flights A has been on so far. Twenty.
Two!
That's right; he's two.
The grandparents came out for the weekend and we had a birthday party at the zoo that went well, I thought. We fed the giraffes, had some lunch, opened presents, had cupcakes. Low-key, good for a two-year-old (especially one low on naps).
Yesterday he and I didn't do much since we were still in recovery mode from the weekend; I don't think any of us got enough sleep. But he's now got piles of toys (not like he was lacking before) and he was happy to play with the new toys and watch his new Elmo DVD over and over and over again.
And over.
And over.
I can't believe he's two. Two! He's a walking, talking little boy with opinions, when two years ago, we had this tiny, tiny thing that couldn't hold his head up. Yesterday, within the space of two minutes, he climbed up on the counter (using his brand new Tonka truck) and poured a ramekin of cooking oil on the kitchen floor. I would have chosen some other way to highlight his independence and abilities, but ornery is what being two is all about. Two years ago, it took all our combined efforts to nurse; last night he had meatballs and corn chips for dinner like they were going out of style. He ate seven mini-meatballs. Good grief.
So happy birthday, beautiful baby boy of mine.
The grandparents came out for the weekend and we had a birthday party at the zoo that went well, I thought. We fed the giraffes, had some lunch, opened presents, had cupcakes. Low-key, good for a two-year-old (especially one low on naps).
Yesterday he and I didn't do much since we were still in recovery mode from the weekend; I don't think any of us got enough sleep. But he's now got piles of toys (not like he was lacking before) and he was happy to play with the new toys and watch his new Elmo DVD over and over and over again.
And over.
And over.
I can't believe he's two. Two! He's a walking, talking little boy with opinions, when two years ago, we had this tiny, tiny thing that couldn't hold his head up. Yesterday, within the space of two minutes, he climbed up on the counter (using his brand new Tonka truck) and poured a ramekin of cooking oil on the kitchen floor. I would have chosen some other way to highlight his independence and abilities, but ornery is what being two is all about. Two years ago, it took all our combined efforts to nurse; last night he had meatballs and corn chips for dinner like they were going out of style. He ate seven mini-meatballs. Good grief.
So happy birthday, beautiful baby boy of mine.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Napping again
But I've been doing a lot so the nap will end soon so this will be fast, fast.
A is doing super. He's picking up a lot of words recently, elephant and giraffe and hello (finally). He just comes out with them out of the blue, apple and banana (nana). I think he's used to having all his needs anticipated that he hasn't had to say a lot of words, so I've been trying to be less proactive and reactive to him so he has to ask.
He's into the occasional temper tantrum right now. He's into throwing things and that's bad when we're already down one monitor in this house due to him throwing things. He got a lot of timeouts with Dad for throwing things at people, cats, and screens this weekend.
We go to the Zoo frequently in the evenings now, since the zoo is on extended hours for the summer. The weather is perfect; the air is cooler and the animals are more active. It's a lot of fun.
He adores ice cream. Loves it. Sat in the kitchen with us and polished off two bowls of roasted banana ice cream last night.
Today was swim class, where he is a rock star. He loves to kick around the pool holding onto a noodle to keep him up, and thought he was doing well enough today that he let go of the noodle and dunked himself. Oops.
And we are still getting our CSA share. Yesterday we made a zucchini-basil-squash blossom frittata and a batch of mint ice cream which will become mint stracciatella when I churn it, maybe tonight.
A is doing super. He's picking up a lot of words recently, elephant and giraffe and hello (finally). He just comes out with them out of the blue, apple and banana (nana). I think he's used to having all his needs anticipated that he hasn't had to say a lot of words, so I've been trying to be less proactive and reactive to him so he has to ask.
He's into the occasional temper tantrum right now. He's into throwing things and that's bad when we're already down one monitor in this house due to him throwing things. He got a lot of timeouts with Dad for throwing things at people, cats, and screens this weekend.
We go to the Zoo frequently in the evenings now, since the zoo is on extended hours for the summer. The weather is perfect; the air is cooler and the animals are more active. It's a lot of fun.
He adores ice cream. Loves it. Sat in the kitchen with us and polished off two bowls of roasted banana ice cream last night.
Today was swim class, where he is a rock star. He loves to kick around the pool holding onto a noodle to keep him up, and thought he was doing well enough today that he let go of the noodle and dunked himself. Oops.
And we are still getting our CSA share. Yesterday we made a zucchini-basil-squash blossom frittata and a batch of mint ice cream which will become mint stracciatella when I churn it, maybe tonight.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Down for a nap
He's just stopped fighting me and is now napping, which means I can blog.
We had a rock-star Fourth. One of my writing group friends who has a son a month and a week older than A invited us over for a BBQ, and we went and had a good time. Yay! A had a fabulous time playing with all their water toys.
This weekend's excitement was getting our first share of the CSA we joined. C signed us up last week while I was out of town, and wa-la, we have fresh, local, organic produce for the week. Gaze upon and be jealous of our haul. Then go support your own local CSA.
In other news: we started our new swimming lessons today, the advanced toddler class (can't you all just see my motherly pride from here?). There's only three kids in the class and it's taught by who I consider the best instructors there. It's the "next step" class that's supposed to still emphasize water safety while giving them a push towards independence in the water.
And I must say, he had a good time. They put him in a wacky noodle and let him swim around--and he did. He swam around. It was amazing.
We had a rock-star Fourth. One of my writing group friends who has a son a month and a week older than A invited us over for a BBQ, and we went and had a good time. Yay! A had a fabulous time playing with all their water toys.
This weekend's excitement was getting our first share of the CSA we joined. C signed us up last week while I was out of town, and wa-la, we have fresh, local, organic produce for the week. Gaze upon and be jealous of our haul. Then go support your own local CSA.
In other news: we started our new swimming lessons today, the advanced toddler class (can't you all just see my motherly pride from here?). There's only three kids in the class and it's taught by who I consider the best instructors there. It's the "next step" class that's supposed to still emphasize water safety while giving them a push towards independence in the water.
And I must say, he had a good time. They put him in a wacky noodle and let him swim around--and he did. He swam around. It was amazing.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
The Cannoli and the Mouse
Yesterday was also a good day to be almost-two and disgusting.
We went to buy cat food. The store has these chi-chi dog biscuits shaped like cookies and bon bons and what not, complete with little bakery-style bags and napkins to put them in.
A decided to take a big bite out of a cannoli-shaped dog biscuit, which I then bought in mortification. He almost took a bite out of a faux sugar cookie, but the sales girl told me, "It's okay, I'll just rub the teethmarks out of it," when I offered to buy that one as well.
Anyway, if that wasn't disgusting enough, then we went to the zoo. On one of the paths, there's a catchbasin filled with water, and A likes to throw a leaf or two in there when we walk by.
Yesterday, he throws a leaf in and looks down and picks up something else and is about to throw it in when I realize what it is: a dead mouse. Actually, it's a small dead rat, but it could have been a large mouse. Maybe.
So I scream, "No, no, no, no, no," like a banshee, make him drop it, then keep his hand firmly in my grip while I pull the stroller over and rummage one-handed through the diaper bag for the Purell. A begins to cry.
A nice woman with two kids who saw this whole incident stopped and took A's arm and kept him occupied while I looked for hand sanitizer. I found it and doused him with half the bottle. Then I washed his hands at the next bathroom. And I took him to First Aid, where they basically said, "Oh, dead mouse, well, wash his hands with warm water, that's about it." I think they had just gotten through a macaw biting someone, so I understand they were preoccupied.
As a fun fact, the zoo apparently keeps a virologist on staff to study disease vectors in vermin deaths.
I'll be happier when A develops a disgust factor. Yup.
We went to buy cat food. The store has these chi-chi dog biscuits shaped like cookies and bon bons and what not, complete with little bakery-style bags and napkins to put them in.
A decided to take a big bite out of a cannoli-shaped dog biscuit, which I then bought in mortification. He almost took a bite out of a faux sugar cookie, but the sales girl told me, "It's okay, I'll just rub the teethmarks out of it," when I offered to buy that one as well.
Anyway, if that wasn't disgusting enough, then we went to the zoo. On one of the paths, there's a catchbasin filled with water, and A likes to throw a leaf or two in there when we walk by.
Yesterday, he throws a leaf in and looks down and picks up something else and is about to throw it in when I realize what it is: a dead mouse. Actually, it's a small dead rat, but it could have been a large mouse. Maybe.
So I scream, "No, no, no, no, no," like a banshee, make him drop it, then keep his hand firmly in my grip while I pull the stroller over and rummage one-handed through the diaper bag for the Purell. A begins to cry.
A nice woman with two kids who saw this whole incident stopped and took A's arm and kept him occupied while I looked for hand sanitizer. I found it and doused him with half the bottle. Then I washed his hands at the next bathroom. And I took him to First Aid, where they basically said, "Oh, dead mouse, well, wash his hands with warm water, that's about it." I think they had just gotten through a macaw biting someone, so I understand they were preoccupied.
As a fun fact, the zoo apparently keeps a virologist on staff to study disease vectors in vermin deaths.
I'll be happier when A develops a disgust factor. Yup.
Enter the Allergist
A had a rash after playing in the starfish tidepool at Sea World, and the first aid person there said that A may have an iodine allergy. We took him to the pediatrician, who referred us to a pediatric allergist to get him tested.
We saw her yesterday. The pediatrician's office had one of those large plastic mini-houses to play in and lots of riding toys, so A had fun while we were waiting. The allergist told us that actual iodine allergies are pretty rare, and it's usually a reaction to the protein in the animal itself. She didn't have anenome or starfish to test, but she tested all the seafood she had: lobster, crab, shrimp, scallops, cod, salmon, clams, oysters, etc. She added in dust mites, peanuts, cat, and dog as a bonus since he's had croup recently.
He ran around the office shirtless with sixteen little dots of oil on his back. Sure enough, a couple of them welled up almost immediately. I was relieved, so relieved, that he could run around the office instead of trying to keep a toddler sitting on a table for fifteen minutes.
A is allergic to cats and dogs. Yes, just like his mom. I felt very badly about it. We're not getting rid of the cats, but I felt terribly irresponsible sitting there not even pretending like I was considering getting rid of the cats to the doctor.
She suggested that we watch A for any lower respiratory diseases, get a HEPA filter for his room, and follow up in six months to see how he's doing. Oh, and that we stay out of the tidepools.
I'm glad he's not allergic to any seafood and I'm really glad he's steered clear of the peanut allergy. I guess that means I can start him on a PBJ now. He just got tested for all the things we hadn't introduced and is free and clear. Maybe a PB & shrimp sandwich?
We saw her yesterday. The pediatrician's office had one of those large plastic mini-houses to play in and lots of riding toys, so A had fun while we were waiting. The allergist told us that actual iodine allergies are pretty rare, and it's usually a reaction to the protein in the animal itself. She didn't have anenome or starfish to test, but she tested all the seafood she had: lobster, crab, shrimp, scallops, cod, salmon, clams, oysters, etc. She added in dust mites, peanuts, cat, and dog as a bonus since he's had croup recently.
He ran around the office shirtless with sixteen little dots of oil on his back. Sure enough, a couple of them welled up almost immediately. I was relieved, so relieved, that he could run around the office instead of trying to keep a toddler sitting on a table for fifteen minutes.
A is allergic to cats and dogs. Yes, just like his mom. I felt very badly about it. We're not getting rid of the cats, but I felt terribly irresponsible sitting there not even pretending like I was considering getting rid of the cats to the doctor.
She suggested that we watch A for any lower respiratory diseases, get a HEPA filter for his room, and follow up in six months to see how he's doing. Oh, and that we stay out of the tidepools.
I'm glad he's not allergic to any seafood and I'm really glad he's steered clear of the peanut allergy. I guess that means I can start him on a PBJ now. He just got tested for all the things we hadn't introduced and is free and clear. Maybe a PB & shrimp sandwich?
Friday, June 20, 2008
Leaping Lizard
I owe the world an update. The boy's meds are helping the croup. He's cranky.
But today, we had a lizard run under our front door into the house, which mostly freaked me out. I called my husband, whose great advice was "catch it." I called my friend, who listened as I moaned and groaned and bitched and moved furniture and peered under bookshelves with a flashlight.
Anyway, once the lizard had gone the entire length of the bookshelf and ensconced itself on the slate coasters in the corner under the baby books, I quietly played Jenga with everything on top of the lizard, then used a Tupperware lid to convince the lizard to get into a kid's meal bucket from the zoo. Once it entered the bucket, I slammed the lid on top and took it outside to the sidewalk where I freed the lizard.
So I am a rock star, but a quiet one, because the baby is sleeping and it took him a long time to do so.
The cats were completely useless, btw. Even when the lizard sat on top of the bookshelf, they were not interested at all. No prey instinct. Maybe they don't like lizards, too chewy, not enough meat to be of effort.
But today, we had a lizard run under our front door into the house, which mostly freaked me out. I called my husband, whose great advice was "catch it." I called my friend, who listened as I moaned and groaned and bitched and moved furniture and peered under bookshelves with a flashlight.
Anyway, once the lizard had gone the entire length of the bookshelf and ensconced itself on the slate coasters in the corner under the baby books, I quietly played Jenga with everything on top of the lizard, then used a Tupperware lid to convince the lizard to get into a kid's meal bucket from the zoo. Once it entered the bucket, I slammed the lid on top and took it outside to the sidewalk where I freed the lizard.
So I am a rock star, but a quiet one, because the baby is sleeping and it took him a long time to do so.
The cats were completely useless, btw. Even when the lizard sat on top of the bookshelf, they were not interested at all. No prey instinct. Maybe they don't like lizards, too chewy, not enough meat to be of effort.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Grumbel growl grumble
Well, I was hoping to have time to write a nice happy upbeat post about our fabulous trip to CO, but since the boy has croup and put a sippy cup top down the sink, lost the Robin Hood DVD somewhere, and partially destroyed an unread magazine, I'm working on getting my blood pressure down. All this happened while I was discovering that Netflix is doing away with Profiles, that is, the ability to keep one queue for the guy who likes obscure anime and sci-fi stinkers and one for me. So now I have to figure out what alternatives there are to Netflix, so I'm already cranky. Boys with croup are also cranky.
Okay. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. More later when I am not so cranky.
Okay. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. More later when I am not so cranky.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Washing is fun
Having a washing machine is such a blessing that I can't even tell you. Thanks to J & T for, well, allowing us to benefit from seriously unfun life upheavals.
Washing machines aside, we went to the new children's museum this weekend and A had a fabulous time. We bought a membership because, well, if the three of us visit twice in the next year, it'll be paid for. I think A and I will go there during the week anyway.
They had a toddlers' gallery that was a virtual forest: trees to climb through and in, big wool boulders and hills to climb on. A liked the clouds on the wall that were all geared together; turn one and a set all rotated together. There was also a fishpond that you could pull back the surface to see the fish underneath.
There's lots of stuff, and it's all hands-on. There was a go-kart ramp with little wooden cars that A loved. Another big hit: a bubble machine surrounded by bowls of soapy water and bubble wands at kid height. Boy, did we have a hard time getting him to leave that. There's a room downstairs that looks like you're in a tank with dolphins, but it's a loud echoing basement room with children screeching like banshees. A wasn't quite so into that.
And I'm up so early because we have to take back the U-haul pick-up used for transporting the washer and go to the orthodontist this morning. C is still snoring away, despite the annoying loud top 40 playing.
Washing machines aside, we went to the new children's museum this weekend and A had a fabulous time. We bought a membership because, well, if the three of us visit twice in the next year, it'll be paid for. I think A and I will go there during the week anyway.
They had a toddlers' gallery that was a virtual forest: trees to climb through and in, big wool boulders and hills to climb on. A liked the clouds on the wall that were all geared together; turn one and a set all rotated together. There was also a fishpond that you could pull back the surface to see the fish underneath.
There's lots of stuff, and it's all hands-on. There was a go-kart ramp with little wooden cars that A loved. Another big hit: a bubble machine surrounded by bowls of soapy water and bubble wands at kid height. Boy, did we have a hard time getting him to leave that. There's a room downstairs that looks like you're in a tank with dolphins, but it's a loud echoing basement room with children screeching like banshees. A wasn't quite so into that.
And I'm up so early because we have to take back the U-haul pick-up used for transporting the washer and go to the orthodontist this morning. C is still snoring away, despite the annoying loud top 40 playing.
Friday, May 30, 2008
His father's son
A and I went to swimming today (A was cranky, cranky, cranky) and then to Sea World. They've just re-opened the children's area, which went from being Shamu's Happy Harbor to the Sesame Street Bay of Play.
The major change is that there are now three actual rides there: a Dumbo knock-off of flying fish, a spinning ride not unlike the teacup ride, and a third that's hard to describe. We went on flying fish last Monday when the Bay of Play opened, but it was pouring and the rides were all shut down before we could ride the other two.
The spinning ride is basically this: you get into a cup-like thing with a wheel in the center. The cups spin around and you can rotate your own cup by spinning the wheel for even more stomach-lurching fun.
Now A has been on one ride, the flying fish ride, which is very gentle and easy-going. He wasn't thrilled; he wasn't scared. It was okay.
But the spinning ride, boy howdy--this is a hit. He got in and started turning the wheel. I didn't tell him to. I didn't show him that it moved the car. He started turning the wheel while we were waiting for the ride to start, got enough motion to confirm that he was moving the cup, and then giggled like mad and kept spinning it. The sheer joy he took in figuring that out, that's C all the way. Then he giggled throughout the entire ride. That might be me.
The problem with twenty-two (!) month olds on rides: they want to go again. Right now. Now now now! Look, all these people just got out and walked away (the fools!) and we can go into their cups and sit before anyone else comes in. Of course, I am from New York and this child will learn the hierarchy of lines and the bellows of hellfire that await cutters. But I did take him all the way through the line so he could ride it again. I think the teacups are going to have to make it back onto our list of things to ride at Disney World.
The major change is that there are now three actual rides there: a Dumbo knock-off of flying fish, a spinning ride not unlike the teacup ride, and a third that's hard to describe. We went on flying fish last Monday when the Bay of Play opened, but it was pouring and the rides were all shut down before we could ride the other two.
The spinning ride is basically this: you get into a cup-like thing with a wheel in the center. The cups spin around and you can rotate your own cup by spinning the wheel for even more stomach-lurching fun.
Now A has been on one ride, the flying fish ride, which is very gentle and easy-going. He wasn't thrilled; he wasn't scared. It was okay.
But the spinning ride, boy howdy--this is a hit. He got in and started turning the wheel. I didn't tell him to. I didn't show him that it moved the car. He started turning the wheel while we were waiting for the ride to start, got enough motion to confirm that he was moving the cup, and then giggled like mad and kept spinning it. The sheer joy he took in figuring that out, that's C all the way. Then he giggled throughout the entire ride. That might be me.
The problem with twenty-two (!) month olds on rides: they want to go again. Right now. Now now now! Look, all these people just got out and walked away (the fools!) and we can go into their cups and sit before anyone else comes in. Of course, I am from New York and this child will learn the hierarchy of lines and the bellows of hellfire that await cutters. But I did take him all the way through the line so he could ride it again. I think the teacups are going to have to make it back onto our list of things to ride at Disney World.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Washing a go-go
Our washing machine was found dead (or at least maimed) Saturday morning, with the un-agitated wet swim stuff in it. I didn't realize how critical washing machines were to houses with children until ours died.
So we spent some time this weekend learning our local laundromats. The Lucky Laundromat takes top honors for their free (and massive, and hot) dryers. The Corner Wash had better seating but the dryers were more costly and less efficient.
A thinks laundromats are fabulous playgrounds. There's open space to run, vending machines and video games to play with, doors to open and shut, and, best of all, lots of carts that are just his size to push around. He spent a fair amount of time the second day rolling carts into rows, then crashing through them and re-aligning them. Life's almost always fascinating when you're almost two.
The washer may have a baby sock crammed into it or the transmission may be going. I'm not the engineer; I don't troubleshoot this crap.
I've suddenly realized that it's near the end of May and we're almost into June, which means we're going on a trip to CO for a wedding, grandparents, and friends. Woo hoo. I need to get someone to watch the cats. Yikes.
So we spent some time this weekend learning our local laundromats. The Lucky Laundromat takes top honors for their free (and massive, and hot) dryers. The Corner Wash had better seating but the dryers were more costly and less efficient.
A thinks laundromats are fabulous playgrounds. There's open space to run, vending machines and video games to play with, doors to open and shut, and, best of all, lots of carts that are just his size to push around. He spent a fair amount of time the second day rolling carts into rows, then crashing through them and re-aligning them. Life's almost always fascinating when you're almost two.
The washer may have a baby sock crammed into it or the transmission may be going. I'm not the engineer; I don't troubleshoot this crap.
I've suddenly realized that it's near the end of May and we're almost into June, which means we're going on a trip to CO for a wedding, grandparents, and friends. Woo hoo. I need to get someone to watch the cats. Yikes.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Things that amaze my husband about the boy
- A likes to take his cars and crawl around the floor making "vroom-vroom" noises.
- He expects a parent to accompany him on these treks.
- A allocates the cars. If he hands you the green VW van, then you drive that one, not the purple hot rod he has chosen for himself. If you switch cars on him, he will straighten you out.
- A repeats new words randomly, like "mermaid."
- A loves piggyback rides.
- A likes to roll a ball inside a pan.
- If A gives you a hug, he'll make you look at him so he can give you a kiss too.
Things that amaze me: A turned down a chance to lick the spoon while I was making strawberry jam. I knew we only tried to feed him healthy stuff, but jeez, the kid doesn't even want to lick a spoon while we're making something sweet. Of course, I was able to find a taker for the jam spoon.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
First dentist visit
Yesterday. He was great.
First of all, I have to mention how much my dentist's office loves my boy. They do. I had braces when I was pregnant so I was in for cleanings every three months and they saw me get huger and huger. The hygienist was due two weeks before me and our kids are eleven days apart. I scheduled my cleaning to be her first day back after maternity leave. We sent the office a birth announcement. Then the braces came off and I needed a fair amount of post-braces work when the boy was tiny, so they saw him a lot. Now that he's bigger, he can't really go along and sit on my lap when I have a cleaning. (Yes, he did, really.) So they were all excited to see him.
He sat in the chair. He would not open his mouth. He did brush his teeth with the free toothbrush. I think everyone in the office came by to coo over him. They made me take pictures.
The dentist showed off his leet ninja dentist skills by saying to me, "Well, he's got eight teeth upper and eight lower, and everything that I can see looks like it's well-aligned and coming in okay, including the molars. It looks like he's got space for those last four. The teeth themselves look good." Since this was all ascertained by peeking at A's teeth between baby talk and toothbrushing, this is good.
So the teeth are good and we'll go back in six months and maybe he'll open his mouth that time. Maybe.
First of all, I have to mention how much my dentist's office loves my boy. They do. I had braces when I was pregnant so I was in for cleanings every three months and they saw me get huger and huger. The hygienist was due two weeks before me and our kids are eleven days apart. I scheduled my cleaning to be her first day back after maternity leave. We sent the office a birth announcement. Then the braces came off and I needed a fair amount of post-braces work when the boy was tiny, so they saw him a lot. Now that he's bigger, he can't really go along and sit on my lap when I have a cleaning. (Yes, he did, really.) So they were all excited to see him.
He sat in the chair. He would not open his mouth. He did brush his teeth with the free toothbrush. I think everyone in the office came by to coo over him. They made me take pictures.
The dentist showed off his leet ninja dentist skills by saying to me, "Well, he's got eight teeth upper and eight lower, and everything that I can see looks like it's well-aligned and coming in okay, including the molars. It looks like he's got space for those last four. The teeth themselves look good." Since this was all ascertained by peeking at A's teeth between baby talk and toothbrushing, this is good.
So the teeth are good and we'll go back in six months and maybe he'll open his mouth that time. Maybe.
Monday, April 28, 2008
I know, I know.
It's been a busy life. Sorry.
The grandparents came to town and much fun was had by all. We went all over town: the Maritime Museum, Point Loma, Sea World. A got sick and threw up spectacularly over all of us, with Grandma jumping in like the saint she is to catch vomit with her hands. But he's recovered and we're looking forward to seeing the grandparents again in June.
Milestones: Last Monday, A floated on his back on his own for the first time. This is a huge thing. He didn't do it for very long before he kicked his way out of it, but he's at least started to get the concept of buoyancy. He's moving up to the toddler swim class next session, sniff.
This last week, A discovered his shadow. We were at the fountain in Balboa Park near the Fleet, and he was running around the fountain in lovely circles. He stopped at the edge and I didn't know what he was looking at until I saw him swinging his arms and watching his shadow. He's watching his shadow all the time now.
It's been hot here, like July hot. We went to the rose garden in Balboa Park yesterday but it was so hot we took A in.
The grandparents came to town and much fun was had by all. We went all over town: the Maritime Museum, Point Loma, Sea World. A got sick and threw up spectacularly over all of us, with Grandma jumping in like the saint she is to catch vomit with her hands. But he's recovered and we're looking forward to seeing the grandparents again in June.
Milestones: Last Monday, A floated on his back on his own for the first time. This is a huge thing. He didn't do it for very long before he kicked his way out of it, but he's at least started to get the concept of buoyancy. He's moving up to the toddler swim class next session, sniff.
This last week, A discovered his shadow. We were at the fountain in Balboa Park near the Fleet, and he was running around the fountain in lovely circles. He stopped at the edge and I didn't know what he was looking at until I saw him swinging his arms and watching his shadow. He's watching his shadow all the time now.
It's been hot here, like July hot. We went to the rose garden in Balboa Park yesterday but it was so hot we took A in.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Sigh.
I went to the plumeria society cutting sale this weekend, which went great and I had a great time and won more cuttings than seems possible and was given even more, blah blah blah, but one of the people there who I really liked died a couple days ago. Nobody in the society heard about it until her obituary ran today.
She was 53. She'd had breast cancer in 2001 and recovered, but the cancer came back and got her liver before she got diagnosed.
Two months ago, she was joking with me at a plumeria society meeting. She was a very cool lady, sweet and sassy and funny, and I will miss her.
She was 53. She'd had breast cancer in 2001 and recovered, but the cancer came back and got her liver before she got diagnosed.
Two months ago, she was joking with me at a plumeria society meeting. She was a very cool lady, sweet and sassy and funny, and I will miss her.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Happy day!
A made it through the night without waking or needing to be snuggled and comforted due to0 immense ear pain, so we're all much, much happier here. I'm not sure he's 100% better, but he's definitely through the worst of it.
Whew.
Whew.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Boy is sick
We've been having a bad couple days here. A is sick and in pain, enough pain that he's on the occasional crying jag where nothing helps and all he wants to do is cry.
So I took him to the doctor this morning (the choices: 8:10 last night or 8:45 this morning--considering their track record with late night appointments, I decided the morning was better).
No ear infection, nothing wrong with heart or lungs, he's just got a head cold that's giving him ear and sinus pain. Now, you and I can take Sudafed, but the boy has to wing it with saline. Sigh.
He's crying again. We are all apparently Argentina here.
So I took him to the doctor this morning (the choices: 8:10 last night or 8:45 this morning--considering their track record with late night appointments, I decided the morning was better).
No ear infection, nothing wrong with heart or lungs, he's just got a head cold that's giving him ear and sinus pain. Now, you and I can take Sudafed, but the boy has to wing it with saline. Sigh.
He's crying again. We are all apparently Argentina here.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Let's go fly
A picked out a kite today at Costco. It looks like a scarlet macaw. He's busy banging it into every piece of furniture downstairs right now.
I called the airline to buy A a ticket for our flight to CO in June. The woman who got me was brand spanking new and was extremely well-intentioned but completely incapable of getting me a ticket for A. Having done this a couple times now, I know the process:
This will probably be his last flight as an infant. Sigh.
I called the airline to buy A a ticket for our flight to CO in June. The woman who got me was brand spanking new and was extremely well-intentioned but completely incapable of getting me a ticket for A. Having done this a couple times now, I know the process:
- They have to create a completely new reservation for A since adding to ours results in change fees.
- They have to put in some overrides on whatever the current pricing is to buy another seat with the discount code we bought our ticket under.
- They have to mark this seat as "infant" and put it through some algorithm to come up with a price that's 50% less than the adult ticket.
- They have to apply his frequent flier number.
- They have to apply taxes and fees, which makes the price closer to 25% off the adult ticket.
- They have to add a note to his reservation that says "Infant traveling with parents."
- They have to seat him with us.
- They have to cross-reference our reservation with his reservation just in case the seating changes for some reason and someone tries to seat an infant away from his parents.
- They have to take the $15 phone ticketing fee off since they don't allow infant seats to be purchased through the website.
This will probably be his last flight as an infant. Sigh.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Easter and whatnot
I've gotten some alone time and seen A be cranky around C, so I'm feeling better.
We tried coloring eggs here but that wasn't happening. I handed A an egg to put in dye. He banged it against the table until it cracked, then threw the peeled egg on the floor. C and I did two dozen eggs ourselves. Maybe next year he'll be more into coloring eggs....
He did much better with the egg hunt we had around the house Sunday morning. We put pretzels in plastic eggs and once he'd gotten into the swing of the egg thing, he was happy. He got one dark chocolate nonpareil. This kid likes the good stuff.
Yesterday we had swimming, which A did fabulous in, really. He kicked and paddled and almost floated but didn't quite. He's close to floating. He smiles and claps and plays along with the songs.
We tried coloring eggs here but that wasn't happening. I handed A an egg to put in dye. He banged it against the table until it cracked, then threw the peeled egg on the floor. C and I did two dozen eggs ourselves. Maybe next year he'll be more into coloring eggs....
He did much better with the egg hunt we had around the house Sunday morning. We put pretzels in plastic eggs and once he'd gotten into the swing of the egg thing, he was happy. He got one dark chocolate nonpareil. This kid likes the good stuff.
Yesterday we had swimming, which A did fabulous in, really. He kicked and paddled and almost floated but didn't quite. He's close to floating. He smiles and claps and plays along with the songs.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
End of my rope
I realize this should be an upbeat, peppy post because it's been so freaking long since I posted, but it's not going to be. This is a mommy angst post.
A is twenty months now, almost. And he's full-on into establishing his independence and testing boundaries and all of that. He runs everywhere and has ginormous amounts of energy from reserves I cannot access.
And I am tired, people. I am tired and worn and run-down and frustrated.
It feels like one step forward, three steps back. When he says "thank you" now, he often adds "you're welcome," which is so freaking cute and endearing. Sometimes he listens very well when I tell him that as we walk down the street, he needs to hold my hand or hold onto the stroller (wall, whatever). And he holds out his hand for me to hold as sweet as pie.
Then he runs into the street in front of a car, or hits another kid in the head with a toy, or tries to bite me when I remove him from the street or the fracas. Then I feel like a complete failure, like this boy of mine will be a terror or a brat or a demon due to my inability to apply the proper parenting techniques at the right time.
And I am so frustrated I could just scream and cry and have my own fit. Does A do this with C? Not really, but C's not with him as much as I am. But maybe C has the big boy voice that makes A obey him. Or maybe A's into daddy worship these days. Or C's a mountain compared to me who scares the crap out of A. I can't decipher this one in my current state.
I know this will pass. I know consistency is the name of this game. Some day A will learn and borrow the car and get Axe body spray. But right now, I feel very frustrated and sad and alone.
A is twenty months now, almost. And he's full-on into establishing his independence and testing boundaries and all of that. He runs everywhere and has ginormous amounts of energy from reserves I cannot access.
And I am tired, people. I am tired and worn and run-down and frustrated.
It feels like one step forward, three steps back. When he says "thank you" now, he often adds "you're welcome," which is so freaking cute and endearing. Sometimes he listens very well when I tell him that as we walk down the street, he needs to hold my hand or hold onto the stroller (wall, whatever). And he holds out his hand for me to hold as sweet as pie.
Then he runs into the street in front of a car, or hits another kid in the head with a toy, or tries to bite me when I remove him from the street or the fracas. Then I feel like a complete failure, like this boy of mine will be a terror or a brat or a demon due to my inability to apply the proper parenting techniques at the right time.
And I am so frustrated I could just scream and cry and have my own fit. Does A do this with C? Not really, but C's not with him as much as I am. But maybe C has the big boy voice that makes A obey him. Or maybe A's into daddy worship these days. Or C's a mountain compared to me who scares the crap out of A. I can't decipher this one in my current state.
I know this will pass. I know consistency is the name of this game. Some day A will learn and borrow the car and get Axe body spray. But right now, I feel very frustrated and sad and alone.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
First compound sentence
First legible by other people one, anyway, and the first one without signs. (Most of our compound sentences seem to include the signs for "more" and "please.") Leaving the house Thursday night, giving A running commentary on what we're doing: "Now, we have to get your shoes on and get in the car, because we have to go in the car and get Daddy from work."
A runs to the garage door, a shoe in each hand, laughing and saying, "Get Daddy! Get Daddy!"
A runs to the garage door, a shoe in each hand, laughing and saying, "Get Daddy! Get Daddy!"
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Mommy the monster
I'm sure all parents have the "oh hell" days, where they realize (after the fact) that their kid has recognized something they had not and parenting decisions were made in error.
This is today for me.
We went to the zoo after A's morning nap. He was walking around pretty well. I offered him his cup, and he didn't want it, which is pretty common, so we walked around some more. He kept signing drink at me, and I offered him the cup, which he threw on the ground.
I got irritated and told him that if he didn't want a drink, he should just put it back in the basket where it belongs. He took the cup out of the basket and threw it, with great vehemence, on the ground, away from the stroller.
I picked up the cup, put it back in the basket, informed A that he had a choice between continuing to walk or riding in the stroller but that he was going to leave that cup alone and if he didn't he would be put into the stroller and we would leave the zoo immediately.
He threw the cup on the ground again.
He kicked and screamed when I buckled him into the stroller but quieted quickly and I walked him out of the middle of the zoo as quickly as possible with no conversation.
We get to the car and what is there? A's sippy cup.
What cup have I been offering him? The one from yesterday with mildew-scented bacteria-laden disgusting nasty water.
Was my boy trying to communicate, hey, Mom, this water is nasty; could you get me some more? Yes. Did I get it? No.
So now I'm going to assuage my bad parent guilt with Mary Poppins and cookies. He's already got fresh water. I wonder what disease he'll get from sipping nasty day-old water.
This is today for me.
We went to the zoo after A's morning nap. He was walking around pretty well. I offered him his cup, and he didn't want it, which is pretty common, so we walked around some more. He kept signing drink at me, and I offered him the cup, which he threw on the ground.
I got irritated and told him that if he didn't want a drink, he should just put it back in the basket where it belongs. He took the cup out of the basket and threw it, with great vehemence, on the ground, away from the stroller.
I picked up the cup, put it back in the basket, informed A that he had a choice between continuing to walk or riding in the stroller but that he was going to leave that cup alone and if he didn't he would be put into the stroller and we would leave the zoo immediately.
He threw the cup on the ground again.
He kicked and screamed when I buckled him into the stroller but quieted quickly and I walked him out of the middle of the zoo as quickly as possible with no conversation.
We get to the car and what is there? A's sippy cup.
What cup have I been offering him? The one from yesterday with mildew-scented bacteria-laden disgusting nasty water.
Was my boy trying to communicate, hey, Mom, this water is nasty; could you get me some more? Yes. Did I get it? No.
So now I'm going to assuage my bad parent guilt with Mary Poppins and cookies. He's already got fresh water. I wonder what disease he'll get from sipping nasty day-old water.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Wow, he's growing
We went to the doctor for a bad case of diaper rash (which is fine, really, I'm just a first-time overprotective mommy who thinks one week is really too long for a diaper rash) and he's 26.4 pounds (with shoes). He is huge.
He's adding words like crazy. After a visit from L, he picked up "that," which is his new favorite word. Yesterday at swimming he picked up "gog" for goggles. It's hard for me to document what words he's picking up because he's often repeating words when we say them but not replicating them on his own later.
Swimming is going fabulously well, btw. He's this close to floating on his own, which is the next big step for him. He's kicking and paddling through water when we dip him now.
He's adding words like crazy. After a visit from L, he picked up "that," which is his new favorite word. Yesterday at swimming he picked up "gog" for goggles. It's hard for me to document what words he's picking up because he's often repeating words when we say them but not replicating them on his own later.
Swimming is going fabulously well, btw. He's this close to floating on his own, which is the next big step for him. He's kicking and paddling through water when we dip him now.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Visitors away
We've had a flurry of visitors from Denver and Portland and now it's back to just the three of us. It's fun to have visitors and we're sad to see them go, but it's also nice to say, ah, what will we do today, just us three?
A is super smart. I know you all knew that. At nineteen months, he has figured out how to get movies to play from a menu by pushing the buttons on the DVD player itself, something C and I don't know how to do (and C is not a clueless Luddite when it comes to technology). That's a milestone right there.
He's into kissing and hugging right now, which is so cute. Big hugs, big kisses.
A is super smart. I know you all knew that. At nineteen months, he has figured out how to get movies to play from a menu by pushing the buttons on the DVD player itself, something C and I don't know how to do (and C is not a clueless Luddite when it comes to technology). That's a milestone right there.
He's into kissing and hugging right now, which is so cute. Big hugs, big kisses.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Niles is fine
Sorry for anyone who has been concerned. We've been hosting our lovely friends the Bumps so there's my excuse for lagging.
Actually, Niles looked fine that evening, although he had a ping-pong ball-sized squishy thing on his right foreleg. They gave him fluids, so I assumed it was just the fluids pooling somewhere. It was gone the next morning, but the vet called to ask if he was okay and I mentioned that he'd had it but it was gone and Niles looked fine.
Oh no. The vet would like to see him. ASAP.
Now, I had planned to clean Wednesday but didn't since we were running Niles around to the vet. So on Thursday when we have this conversation I haven't showered, I am mid-ice-cream-making, and I cannot be there in twenty minutes for a cat who honestly looks healthy and happy.
How about 3:40? Fine. That gives me enough time to shop, shower, wrangle tot and cat, and get out the door in the pouring rain. I drive over to OB, find parking not too far away, and wake a sleeping baby to take him and the cat out in the absolute pouring drenching rain to go to the vet.
Oh, the vet says, a front leg. She thought I meant a back leg and thought Niles could be having a hematoma. The vet feels so bad she ushers me to the door herself, which means I don't have a happy vet tech asking me if I would like help taking the cat to the car. I really could have used the help, but I didn't want to make the vet feel worse, which she obviously did.
Back out into the pouring rain with tot and cat. Rain in SoCal is the equivalent of snow in CO; there are accidents and traffic slowing galore. I get back on the interstate for high speeds of 20 MPH and low speeds of 7. It takes me an hour to get home when it took me twenty minutes to get there.
But Niles is fine. He's gotten a couple days of wet cat food out of this, so he's super.
Actually, Niles looked fine that evening, although he had a ping-pong ball-sized squishy thing on his right foreleg. They gave him fluids, so I assumed it was just the fluids pooling somewhere. It was gone the next morning, but the vet called to ask if he was okay and I mentioned that he'd had it but it was gone and Niles looked fine.
Oh no. The vet would like to see him. ASAP.
Now, I had planned to clean Wednesday but didn't since we were running Niles around to the vet. So on Thursday when we have this conversation I haven't showered, I am mid-ice-cream-making, and I cannot be there in twenty minutes for a cat who honestly looks healthy and happy.
How about 3:40? Fine. That gives me enough time to shop, shower, wrangle tot and cat, and get out the door in the pouring rain. I drive over to OB, find parking not too far away, and wake a sleeping baby to take him and the cat out in the absolute pouring drenching rain to go to the vet.
Oh, the vet says, a front leg. She thought I meant a back leg and thought Niles could be having a hematoma. The vet feels so bad she ushers me to the door herself, which means I don't have a happy vet tech asking me if I would like help taking the cat to the car. I really could have used the help, but I didn't want to make the vet feel worse, which she obviously did.
Back out into the pouring rain with tot and cat. Rain in SoCal is the equivalent of snow in CO; there are accidents and traffic slowing galore. I get back on the interstate for high speeds of 20 MPH and low speeds of 7. It takes me an hour to get home when it took me twenty minutes to get there.
But Niles is fine. He's gotten a couple days of wet cat food out of this, so he's super.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Cat sitting
Our sweet little white kitty was sick today and gave us a scare. He spent the day at the vet's getting X-rays (number 7, 8, and 9, good lord he'll get radiation tumors soon) and blood tests to discover nothing specific was wrong other than some elevated lipase levels. They gave him fluids. We brought him home and he's been perkier this evening.
A was a psycho demon at the vet's. He got licked by a couple dogs and got to give one treats (heaven!), but man, he's fast and doesn't sit still. He's into everything. He almost shut off the vet's PC while she was showing me the X-rays.
So tomorrow we'll be on cat watch. Poor Niles.
A was a psycho demon at the vet's. He got licked by a couple dogs and got to give one treats (heaven!), but man, he's fast and doesn't sit still. He's into everything. He almost shut off the vet's PC while she was showing me the X-rays.
So tomorrow we'll be on cat watch. Poor Niles.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Cat attack
We go to the zoo a lot. The mountain lions in particular are interested in A, as in interested in having him for lunch. If he's out of the stroller and toddling along, a lion will pace back and forth, following him, looking like he's ready to pounce.
Last week, A was running and fell (and cut his palm, poor baby). The lion had been crouching in a corner, but once A fell, the lion jumped up and ran to the front of the cage, right across from where A was. It was frightening. Then the lion continued to stalk him while he cried. I've taken some video; I'll try to remember to put it on YouTube.
ETA:
Today the snow leopard jumped at us. That was scary enough (and fast enough) that I jumped.
Last week, A was running and fell (and cut his palm, poor baby). The lion had been crouching in a corner, but once A fell, the lion jumped up and ran to the front of the cage, right across from where A was. It was frightening. Then the lion continued to stalk him while he cried. I've taken some video; I'll try to remember to put it on YouTube.
ETA:
Today the snow leopard jumped at us. That was scary enough (and fast enough) that I jumped.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Milestone
Today's the day I got caught up in writing and only realized how much time had elapsed when (not to reveal too much information) A handed me a box of condoms. Thanks, sweetie. I'm a first-born too; I get it. I'm popping off to put this in the baby book right now.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Death of a car
C and I drive very old Volvos. Well, we did, except that C's car died. It died died. It wouldn't start. He tried putting the paddles on it to shock it back to life, but alas, it was lost. We towed it to the garage and after the mechanic said, well, so far, I've found that you need a new engine, we said, stop right there and sent the car off to the donation junkyard.
So we're car shopping. My car today decided that it didn't want to change gears, which is a problem since it's an automatic and it's supposed to change gears (you know, automatically).
I know my car is twenty years old and it's tired.
I even had it in my head that I would drive it for ten years, until it was twenty years old, and then I would get a new car.
But now the time has come and I'm just not ready. Sigh.
Have you ever tried car shopping with an 18-month-old? It's short. You can go for a test drive and then you're pretty much done for the day. It's the perfect excuse to get away from slimy salesmen. Why don't women sell cars (aside from that hottie in the Sopranos who took a roll with Tony)?
Anyone have car buying advice? I'm pretty much open to anything.
So we're car shopping. My car today decided that it didn't want to change gears, which is a problem since it's an automatic and it's supposed to change gears (you know, automatically).
I know my car is twenty years old and it's tired.
I even had it in my head that I would drive it for ten years, until it was twenty years old, and then I would get a new car.
But now the time has come and I'm just not ready. Sigh.
Have you ever tried car shopping with an 18-month-old? It's short. You can go for a test drive and then you're pretty much done for the day. It's the perfect excuse to get away from slimy salesmen. Why don't women sell cars (aside from that hottie in the Sopranos who took a roll with Tony)?
Anyone have car buying advice? I'm pretty much open to anything.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Hello, officer
A is fascinated with the phone. Fascinated. He'll get a hold of it and push buttons. He's only called one person, I think, and that was on my cell, which I don't let him play with any more. Our home phone is so freaking complicated to use that it hasn't been a problem. There's no intuitive way to dial our phone.
Yesterday he was playing with the home phone. I took it away from him and pushed the End button, and noticed it said, "Line on hold." (Recently we switched phone packages and got call waiting, which I despise.) I clicked over and there was a recording in Spanish. I hung up.
Then we get a call coming through. It shows up as "unknown name, unknown number." I let it ring through to voice mail, which is my standard mode for unknown calls. It's election season in California and we get a lot of unknown numbers calling in the evening now.
They actually leave a message, so I check voice mail:
"Hello, this is the San Diego Police. There was a 9-1-1 hang up call from this number, so we are returning the call. If you are there, pick up. Again, this is the San Diego Police. Please pick up. Since nobody has picked up, we will be dispatching officers to Our Address..."
Oh shit on a shingle. I Google the SD police department and call the non-emergency number. Hello, I am a horrible mother with a one-year-old who can actually dial 911 but we're all fine here, thanks. You don't need to send anyone. I should be leaving to pick up my husband from work soon. I'm not just saying that; we really are fine. It's just me and this one-year-old. We live at the end of nowhere and I'd like to save the officers the trip and minimize the mortification and embarrassment I'm already drowning in.
Then we waited forty-five minutes, which was as long as I could possibly stand to wait, before leaving to pick up C. And nobody had knocked down the door while we were gone, so everything's okay.
But the phones are moving out of reach.
Yesterday he was playing with the home phone. I took it away from him and pushed the End button, and noticed it said, "Line on hold." (Recently we switched phone packages and got call waiting, which I despise.) I clicked over and there was a recording in Spanish. I hung up.
Then we get a call coming through. It shows up as "unknown name, unknown number." I let it ring through to voice mail, which is my standard mode for unknown calls. It's election season in California and we get a lot of unknown numbers calling in the evening now.
They actually leave a message, so I check voice mail:
"Hello, this is the San Diego Police. There was a 9-1-1 hang up call from this number, so we are returning the call. If you are there, pick up. Again, this is the San Diego Police. Please pick up. Since nobody has picked up, we will be dispatching officers to Our Address..."
Oh shit on a shingle. I Google the SD police department and call the non-emergency number. Hello, I am a horrible mother with a one-year-old who can actually dial 911 but we're all fine here, thanks. You don't need to send anyone. I should be leaving to pick up my husband from work soon. I'm not just saying that; we really are fine. It's just me and this one-year-old. We live at the end of nowhere and I'd like to save the officers the trip and minimize the mortification and embarrassment I'm already drowning in.
Then we waited forty-five minutes, which was as long as I could possibly stand to wait, before leaving to pick up C. And nobody had knocked down the door while we were gone, so everything's okay.
But the phones are moving out of reach.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
His father's son
We went to the zoo on Friday. We were walking up a pretty steep hill (up to the lemurs from Cat Canyon). A was walking behind the stroller, leaning on both sides. He had a sippy cup that I kept trying to put in the pocket of the stroller. He kept taking it out and fussing with the stroller so finally I stopped to let him do what he needed to do.
There's a rubber L-shaped latch that holds the stroller together when it's collapsed. It's located just above the basket. It's right on A's eye level.
He figured out that he could put his sippy cup in the basket, held upright by the longer arm of this latch. Insta-cup holder for the toddler set.
Does this not sound like exactly something C would do?
There's a rubber L-shaped latch that holds the stroller together when it's collapsed. It's located just above the basket. It's right on A's eye level.
He figured out that he could put his sippy cup in the basket, held upright by the longer arm of this latch. Insta-cup holder for the toddler set.
Does this not sound like exactly something C would do?
Saturday, January 05, 2008
No year end in review
Good grief; I don't have time to keep up now.
We're back. We've been back a week. We went to Colorado for Christmas and had a fabulous time. A played in snow and with his cousins, which made him giggle madly.
We're at home now on the downward slope of C's liquid diet. Maybe by the end of this month he'll be back on solid foods.
A and I are back to our daily zoo treks but man, the zoo has been packed. What are all these people doing in our zoo? Anyway, we did finally get to see the new baby panda and the grizzly cubs, so we're all happy on a zoo front.
A has been adding words left and right. Cracker (in CO), car, apple, out.
We're back. We've been back a week. We went to Colorado for Christmas and had a fabulous time. A played in snow and with his cousins, which made him giggle madly.
We're at home now on the downward slope of C's liquid diet. Maybe by the end of this month he'll be back on solid foods.
A and I are back to our daily zoo treks but man, the zoo has been packed. What are all these people doing in our zoo? Anyway, we did finally get to see the new baby panda and the grizzly cubs, so we're all happy on a zoo front.
A has been adding words left and right. Cracker (in CO), car, apple, out.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Unspooling
The word of the day is unspooling, which sounds better to me than unraveling.
That's what today did.
A's not been sleeping well, which puts a strain on everyone in the household. So our morning wasn't great. But I was trying to get out the door an hour before playdate to give A time to nap in the car.
But then C's car wouldn't start. (He's been having battery issues.) So I gave him a ride to work, but that was okay because then A had time to sleep.
A's felt warm to me the past few days, but hasn't registered much of a fever on any of our various thermometers (ear, rectal, forehead). But then he got a purple spot on his ear, which is similar to a purple spot C gets on his ear when he's sick. And A was poking his finger into his ear, which is not something he ever does, so I called the doctor after lunch, thinking he had an ear infection. I leave a message for the triage nurse.
They call me back at 5PM. They could get us in at 7:25PM with the new doctor we've never met.
It's Thursday and we're flying out on Saturday. A is usually asleep around 7:25, in process if not asleep. As ever, I'm at the mercy of the people who run the doctor's office. Sure. What's one more bad sleep night if I know my baby is healthy?
I call C to confer on pick-up times, since he's stranded at work, and he agrees to hang tight at work until I can pick him up. No problem.
A and I get there at 7:20 and are ushered into an exam room, away from the Lion King which is showing in the waiting room. And I think, oh, wow, if you come late, they have their shit together.
There's one board book in this room, a parenting magazine en espanol, two chairs, a rolling stool, an exam table, four drawers and one cabinet with childproof latches. I think this may be what hell looks like to a seventeen month old.
A disarmed the latches and opened the drawers, then amused himself by pulling the stirrups out of the table and putting them back in again. I read the one board book (Spot and Colors). My diaper bag has two toy cars, one squeaky dog, and a cup for short-term entertainment, but it's not equipped for an hour's worth of fun.
I sang him most of Sergeant Pepper's and played chase mommy around the room. We watched the ambulances going by. We rolled the stool around the stroller. We drank water from paper cups. I changed him into his pajamas to take up time. But A was tired, cranky, and wanted to go home.
So after an hour, I gear myself up to parade up and down the hallway, since this is a doctor's office that forgot about us in an exam room once and I don't trust all their neurons to be firing, but then the doctor comes in.
A wasn't too keen on her since she didn't shake his hand properly, but he's certainly against her once she wants to look in his ear.
He's got an ear infection. Great. Two days before we fly. Too late to get a scrip filled tonight to start him on antibiotics ASAP.
At least I had the presence of mind to tell her we were flying on Saturday and could she recommend anything to give him or do to make that easier. She thought about it and then said she'd write me a second prescription.
It's now 8:45 and I still have to go pick up C, who is stranded at work with probably nothing he can eat at all.
I'll be the person at the airport Saturday in the screening line with the screaming baby, the silently-suffering husband with jaw surgery, and the cooler packed with liquids bigger than three ounces because that's just where we all are right now.
That's what today did.
A's not been sleeping well, which puts a strain on everyone in the household. So our morning wasn't great. But I was trying to get out the door an hour before playdate to give A time to nap in the car.
But then C's car wouldn't start. (He's been having battery issues.) So I gave him a ride to work, but that was okay because then A had time to sleep.
A's felt warm to me the past few days, but hasn't registered much of a fever on any of our various thermometers (ear, rectal, forehead). But then he got a purple spot on his ear, which is similar to a purple spot C gets on his ear when he's sick. And A was poking his finger into his ear, which is not something he ever does, so I called the doctor after lunch, thinking he had an ear infection. I leave a message for the triage nurse.
They call me back at 5PM. They could get us in at 7:25PM with the new doctor we've never met.
It's Thursday and we're flying out on Saturday. A is usually asleep around 7:25, in process if not asleep. As ever, I'm at the mercy of the people who run the doctor's office. Sure. What's one more bad sleep night if I know my baby is healthy?
I call C to confer on pick-up times, since he's stranded at work, and he agrees to hang tight at work until I can pick him up. No problem.
A and I get there at 7:20 and are ushered into an exam room, away from the Lion King which is showing in the waiting room. And I think, oh, wow, if you come late, they have their shit together.
There's one board book in this room, a parenting magazine en espanol, two chairs, a rolling stool, an exam table, four drawers and one cabinet with childproof latches. I think this may be what hell looks like to a seventeen month old.
A disarmed the latches and opened the drawers, then amused himself by pulling the stirrups out of the table and putting them back in again. I read the one board book (Spot and Colors). My diaper bag has two toy cars, one squeaky dog, and a cup for short-term entertainment, but it's not equipped for an hour's worth of fun.
I sang him most of Sergeant Pepper's and played chase mommy around the room. We watched the ambulances going by. We rolled the stool around the stroller. We drank water from paper cups. I changed him into his pajamas to take up time. But A was tired, cranky, and wanted to go home.
So after an hour, I gear myself up to parade up and down the hallway, since this is a doctor's office that forgot about us in an exam room once and I don't trust all their neurons to be firing, but then the doctor comes in.
A wasn't too keen on her since she didn't shake his hand properly, but he's certainly against her once she wants to look in his ear.
He's got an ear infection. Great. Two days before we fly. Too late to get a scrip filled tonight to start him on antibiotics ASAP.
At least I had the presence of mind to tell her we were flying on Saturday and could she recommend anything to give him or do to make that easier. She thought about it and then said she'd write me a second prescription.
It's now 8:45 and I still have to go pick up C, who is stranded at work with probably nothing he can eat at all.
I'll be the person at the airport Saturday in the screening line with the screaming baby, the silently-suffering husband with jaw surgery, and the cooler packed with liquids bigger than three ounces because that's just where we all are right now.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
I know, I know
We've finished our swimming session. I need to sign him up for the next session but I need to talk to the instructor to find out whether my baby is still in baby classes or needs to move up to the toddler ones (sniff). He still loves swimming. We had a day of classes where he wanted me to let go of him so he could swim. Not quite, little fish.
While C was still off work, he bucked up enough to go to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. The people who spent their lives deciphering them and putting them together put them together with cello tape and sandwiched them in glass, ruining many of them. Oy vey. But it was nice to see them. But they're small, is all I'm saying.
Also, I don't know what brilliant person thought it was a great idea to give people those cordless-phone-like audio tours, essentially deafening them, then put them into a darkened labyrinth together. It was like a demolition derby in there.
C is recovering well from surgery; all his doctors say he's healing remarkably well. He's back at work and not complaining very much about his boring liquid diet, even after he found out he couldn't drink from straws.
I wish I could say we've been sacked with Christmas preparations but it's been fits and starts here. It was 50/50 online versus hands-on here, I think, although the balance may have shifted in favor of online today. I miss having a tree, but with going to CO and leaving the cats in charge for a week, we'd come back to a dead tree, broken ornaments, and sick cats.
A wants to walk everywhere and doesn't want to hold my hand. Okay at the park, not okay at the post office. I'm getting a baby leash. I just don't think he's got the impulse control yet to hold my hand everywhere and I don't want to confine him to the stroller. I'm curious as to how the airport will be.
While C was still off work, he bucked up enough to go to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. The people who spent their lives deciphering them and putting them together put them together with cello tape and sandwiched them in glass, ruining many of them. Oy vey. But it was nice to see them. But they're small, is all I'm saying.
Also, I don't know what brilliant person thought it was a great idea to give people those cordless-phone-like audio tours, essentially deafening them, then put them into a darkened labyrinth together. It was like a demolition derby in there.
C is recovering well from surgery; all his doctors say he's healing remarkably well. He's back at work and not complaining very much about his boring liquid diet, even after he found out he couldn't drink from straws.
I wish I could say we've been sacked with Christmas preparations but it's been fits and starts here. It was 50/50 online versus hands-on here, I think, although the balance may have shifted in favor of online today. I miss having a tree, but with going to CO and leaving the cats in charge for a week, we'd come back to a dead tree, broken ornaments, and sick cats.
A wants to walk everywhere and doesn't want to hold my hand. Okay at the park, not okay at the post office. I'm getting a baby leash. I just don't think he's got the impulse control yet to hold my hand everywhere and I don't want to confine him to the stroller. I'm curious as to how the airport will be.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
A side note on Santa
I bought A a "trimming the tree" Christmas board book last week. The last page has a "don't forget to leave treats for Santa" theme, which is fine and dandy, but then when you look at the picture, it's not milk and cookies on the mantel.
It's a meat pie and a glass of red wine.
It's a meat pie and a glass of red wine.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Fallen by the wayside
For all you out there who are wondering if we're still alive, we are. C is recovering. A is coping. I am having serious sleep deprivation issues. A and I have been sleeping in another room to cut down on the interruptions in C's recovery sleep, and last night we tried to all go back to our normal places. No dice. I'm truly tired, tired, tired.
But we were the only ones in swimming today, and he was happy and awake for that. We've got to go to C's follow-up doctor visit shortly. Hopefully he'll check out fine. C's getting more active and awake but he's just so tired.
But we were the only ones in swimming today, and he was happy and awake for that. We've got to go to C's follow-up doctor visit shortly. Hopefully he'll check out fine. C's getting more active and awake but he's just so tired.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
I've said this many times before...
...but single moms, I don't know how you do it. Really.
I'm tired. Nobody took my jaw apart this week so I have no right to complain, but I'm tired. I didn't realize how active a sixteen-month-old was until I didn't have a break from him. I'm having a break now because he and C are taking a nap together, which is apparently the only way A feels like napping right now.
Our schedule's all out of whack. Today A got a flu shot and he wasn't thrilled about that but he didn't cry. He's at 22 pounds, 14 ounces, I think. Maybe it was 23. I can't remember, that's how tired I am.
A wants to know why he can't play with Daddy. He wants to know why Daddy won't read him a book. He's a little sick of me. He's watched more Pixar this week than he ever has, unfortunately.
C is getting better. He made himself a banana chocolate milkshake for lunch and he's been reading. I'm mildly concerned about the state of his painkillers since he seemed to go through the first bottle pretty quickly, but we got a new bottle today and so hopefully that will last until our follow-up on Monday.
He can see how frustrated I am with A and being nursemaid and is trying to help, which makes me both happy and sad. I am not cut out for nursing.
I'm tired. Nobody took my jaw apart this week so I have no right to complain, but I'm tired. I didn't realize how active a sixteen-month-old was until I didn't have a break from him. I'm having a break now because he and C are taking a nap together, which is apparently the only way A feels like napping right now.
Our schedule's all out of whack. Today A got a flu shot and he wasn't thrilled about that but he didn't cry. He's at 22 pounds, 14 ounces, I think. Maybe it was 23. I can't remember, that's how tired I am.
A wants to know why he can't play with Daddy. He wants to know why Daddy won't read him a book. He's a little sick of me. He's watched more Pixar this week than he ever has, unfortunately.
C is getting better. He made himself a banana chocolate milkshake for lunch and he's been reading. I'm mildly concerned about the state of his painkillers since he seemed to go through the first bottle pretty quickly, but we got a new bottle today and so hopefully that will last until our follow-up on Monday.
He can see how frustrated I am with A and being nursemaid and is trying to help, which makes me both happy and sad. I am not cut out for nursing.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Surgery and babysitting
A's currently asleep; C's in a drug-induced fog but getting more coherent, and I'm upstairs taking precious shower time to blog.
C's surgery went well, although I don't know why they sent him home other than they didn't want to deal with him. He's not as swollen as I thought he would be, although he was really out of it last night. He slept and snoozed from the time we got home (5-ish) until this morning. Then he came down to the couch, where he's presently snoozing. He's having a hard time talking still. He's kept down juice and Ensure so far, so maybe we'll move up to milkshakes later today.
A had his first day ever not being watched by C or me or family. We were gone from 10AM to 5PM and he did great with our lovely neighbor, the exact kindly old lady type you want watching your kid while you go the hospital (if Grandma and Grandpa aren't available, of course). He took naps like an angel, had walks, read books, and ate food. Life was good. He was a happy little guy--he's always a happy little guy. He cried when C and I came through the door and put priority on getting pain meds into C instead of snuggling and cuddling A. Then A cried and cried while our neighbor tried to comfort him while I put C to bed. She did get him to quiet down, but he wasn't really happy until he got some mommy cuddle time. He's still perplexed by why Daddy's not quite into things--A's erratic in movement and strong, which are two things we don't want colliding with C's jaw right now.
A and I bedded down in the office together to let C have the big comfy bed and the vaporizer and bathroom. We even closed the door to the bedroom to lock the cats out, who came and slept with me, although they did sniff and pace in front of the bedroom door when I walked through to let me know that they were Not Happy with being banned from what they must consider their room. It has the bed and the sunshine, after all.
A and I will be going out to get surgical-related things (hydrogen peroxide, saline spray, more Ensure in milk chocolate flavor) when he gets up from his nap. We've got a follow-up appointment with the doctor Monday, but think happy healing thoughts for C.
C's surgery went well, although I don't know why they sent him home other than they didn't want to deal with him. He's not as swollen as I thought he would be, although he was really out of it last night. He slept and snoozed from the time we got home (5-ish) until this morning. Then he came down to the couch, where he's presently snoozing. He's having a hard time talking still. He's kept down juice and Ensure so far, so maybe we'll move up to milkshakes later today.
A had his first day ever not being watched by C or me or family. We were gone from 10AM to 5PM and he did great with our lovely neighbor, the exact kindly old lady type you want watching your kid while you go the hospital (if Grandma and Grandpa aren't available, of course). He took naps like an angel, had walks, read books, and ate food. Life was good. He was a happy little guy--he's always a happy little guy. He cried when C and I came through the door and put priority on getting pain meds into C instead of snuggling and cuddling A. Then A cried and cried while our neighbor tried to comfort him while I put C to bed. She did get him to quiet down, but he wasn't really happy until he got some mommy cuddle time. He's still perplexed by why Daddy's not quite into things--A's erratic in movement and strong, which are two things we don't want colliding with C's jaw right now.
A and I bedded down in the office together to let C have the big comfy bed and the vaporizer and bathroom. We even closed the door to the bedroom to lock the cats out, who came and slept with me, although they did sniff and pace in front of the bedroom door when I walked through to let me know that they were Not Happy with being banned from what they must consider their room. It has the bed and the sunshine, after all.
A and I will be going out to get surgical-related things (hydrogen peroxide, saline spray, more Ensure in milk chocolate flavor) when he gets up from his nap. We've got a follow-up appointment with the doctor Monday, but think happy healing thoughts for C.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
A little late, but that's what you get.
A is running around the house with a brush and dustpan. He's into running with long stick things: big magnet on a stick, lambswool duster, rolls of wrapping paper.
Tomorrow C's having surgery, so we're doing errand-y stuff today like stocking the house with meal replacement drinks and cleaning things so it's not quite so bad in here.
C and I went to swim class yesterday and that was super. A splashes more with his dad than with me.
A is running around the house with a brush and dustpan. He's into running with long stick things: big magnet on a stick, lambswool duster, rolls of wrapping paper.
Tomorrow C's having surgery, so we're doing errand-y stuff today like stocking the house with meal replacement drinks and cleaning things so it's not quite so bad in here.
C and I went to swim class yesterday and that was super. A splashes more with his dad than with me.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Boy is sick
We had swimming today but didn't enjoy it. (I'm not liking the new teacher; she's trying too hard.) C and A were up all night with A's coughing. (I slept like the dog I am--or like a tired mommy who's had a couple days of 24 hour baby watch under her belt, you pick.) I drove A around yesterday for three separate naps. He didn't get nearly enough sleep, though.
A and I went to the doctor to see if it was croup. It's not now and hopefully won't become so. (Usually, he'd have croup by now if he was going to get it.) I made the doctor laugh by asking if that wasn't something out of Anne of Green Gables and did people still get croup. Apparently, yes. The doctor's office kept us waiting for 45 minutes before the doctor would see us. I know they get backed up, but 45 minutes is crazy with a sick toddler.
C discovered that Pictionary fits perfectly under the crib mattress to prop it up. A was crying not too long ago. I'm hoping he's asleep now.
A and I went to the doctor to see if it was croup. It's not now and hopefully won't become so. (Usually, he'd have croup by now if he was going to get it.) I made the doctor laugh by asking if that wasn't something out of Anne of Green Gables and did people still get croup. Apparently, yes. The doctor's office kept us waiting for 45 minutes before the doctor would see us. I know they get backed up, but 45 minutes is crazy with a sick toddler.
C discovered that Pictionary fits perfectly under the crib mattress to prop it up. A was crying not too long ago. I'm hoping he's asleep now.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Back from Portland
I must say, I love seeing the divine Miss M and her parents and sister, but I just can't stand the post-visit cold. This time it's a cough and a runny nose instead of severe intestinal distress, thank God, but we ran out last night to get a vaporizer since A was having trouble breathing for all the mucus. Poor boy.
We had a lovely time. We flew Southwest, which has eliminated their pre-boarding process for families with young children, and boy, were we beholden to the kindness of strangers in its wake. On the first flight, a woman gave up her posh second row seat for us, while a nice man put my bag in the overhead and another person kept A occupied while I attached the car seat. Wonderfully kind people.
Coming home, we got to do Southwest's new check-in procedure, which doesn't help much. You get a number when you check in and then you stand in a line that's been marked with these numbers. I checked in exactly 24 hours before our flight and I got number 19 on the first leg and 22 on the second leg. What the hell? Well, at the airport, I discovered that 1-15 are reserved for business class passengers. So the numbering for us plebeians "starts" at 16. Anyway, there wasn't hardly anyone in the 1-15 range on any of my flights, but everyone I talked to asked me why I wasn't pre-boarding and wasn't Southwest dumb for getting rid of pre-boarding for infants.
I know. You want to know about the baby. What did we do? We went for sushi, we played in playgrounds and parks, we met a Corgi named Freddie, we went to Powell's (sigh, Powell's), and we went to a book club meeting. We played in M's gorgeous huge house with all her toys. We ate good food and even sweet potato fries. So it was fabulous and great.
C's at work now (sigh). A really missed his dad and had a hard time getting back to sleep every night when he woke up and Dad wasn't there. Sad. He's pretty cranky and fussy now, and I must say, I'm getting to my last nerve. I didn't realize how much I need a break, even if it's just an hour of being in the next room.
We had a lovely time. We flew Southwest, which has eliminated their pre-boarding process for families with young children, and boy, were we beholden to the kindness of strangers in its wake. On the first flight, a woman gave up her posh second row seat for us, while a nice man put my bag in the overhead and another person kept A occupied while I attached the car seat. Wonderfully kind people.
Coming home, we got to do Southwest's new check-in procedure, which doesn't help much. You get a number when you check in and then you stand in a line that's been marked with these numbers. I checked in exactly 24 hours before our flight and I got number 19 on the first leg and 22 on the second leg. What the hell? Well, at the airport, I discovered that 1-15 are reserved for business class passengers. So the numbering for us plebeians "starts" at 16. Anyway, there wasn't hardly anyone in the 1-15 range on any of my flights, but everyone I talked to asked me why I wasn't pre-boarding and wasn't Southwest dumb for getting rid of pre-boarding for infants.
I know. You want to know about the baby. What did we do? We went for sushi, we played in playgrounds and parks, we met a Corgi named Freddie, we went to Powell's (sigh, Powell's), and we went to a book club meeting. We played in M's gorgeous huge house with all her toys. We ate good food and even sweet potato fries. So it was fabulous and great.
C's at work now (sigh). A really missed his dad and had a hard time getting back to sleep every night when he woke up and Dad wasn't there. Sad. He's pretty cranky and fussy now, and I must say, I'm getting to my last nerve. I didn't realize how much I need a break, even if it's just an hour of being in the next room.
Friday, November 02, 2007
New skill
A is moving right along. He was climbing into things he shouldn't have been this afternoon, and I said, "Hey, can you find Brown Bear, Brown Bear and bring it to me?" He stopped, looked around, picked up Brown Bear and came over to me. He does speak English!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Discovering magnetism
Yes, all you geeks out there will be thrilled to hear A has discovered magnetism.
I have a large, powerful magnet (a little smaller than a hockey puck) on a long stick to pick up stray pins after sewing. It lives under the stairs. A found it today and stuck it to the railing of the stairs, which lit his little face up like Christmas. Then he had to get it off the railing, and that got him frustrated enough that he started yelling in frustration at the end. We let him figure it out and he did get the magnet off the railing. He also discovered in the process something about how levers work.
Then he walked over to me, brandishing this stick which is longer than he is, and stuck it to his high chair, where he left it. Magnets might be neat-o but the attention span is just not that long right now.
I have a large, powerful magnet (a little smaller than a hockey puck) on a long stick to pick up stray pins after sewing. It lives under the stairs. A found it today and stuck it to the railing of the stairs, which lit his little face up like Christmas. Then he had to get it off the railing, and that got him frustrated enough that he started yelling in frustration at the end. We let him figure it out and he did get the magnet off the railing. He also discovered in the process something about how levers work.
Then he walked over to me, brandishing this stick which is longer than he is, and stuck it to his high chair, where he left it. Magnets might be neat-o but the attention span is just not that long right now.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Photos and walking and plumerias, oh my
The boy is walking. We've had a whirlwind of a weekend. Saturday we cleaned and saw our Navy pilot's photos from around the world, and that was fabulous. A sat down in his lap and handed him a book. Don't know what it is about that family, but the babies and animals love them.
This morning we did a photo shoot with my decreasingly-amateur and increasingly-professional photographer mom friend, but A was unhappy. He wanted to nap and run around. He's walking now, so walking is everything. It's like the entire world looks different to him and he has to stop and inspect everything. He seems to think we've been holding out on him. He's getting fast, too. We're going to be spending a lot more time in parks and playgrounds from now on.
This afternoon I had the last plumeria society meeting of the year. Some people lost houses and animals; it's horrible. But some people didn't. We had lunch and a big raffle and I won three times, two plumeria cuttings (a Samoan Fluff and a Rebecca's White) and an orchid. So there you go.
The people at our local Trader Joe's recognize A and say, "You're not with Mom today," when C does the shopping. How do you like that?
This morning we did a photo shoot with my decreasingly-amateur and increasingly-professional photographer mom friend, but A was unhappy. He wanted to nap and run around. He's walking now, so walking is everything. It's like the entire world looks different to him and he has to stop and inspect everything. He seems to think we've been holding out on him. He's getting fast, too. We're going to be spending a lot more time in parks and playgrounds from now on.
This afternoon I had the last plumeria society meeting of the year. Some people lost houses and animals; it's horrible. But some people didn't. We had lunch and a big raffle and I won three times, two plumeria cuttings (a Samoan Fluff and a Rebecca's White) and an orchid. So there you go.
The people at our local Trader Joe's recognize A and say, "You're not with Mom today," when C does the shopping. How do you like that?
Friday, October 26, 2007
Official walking
I know I've been saying that he's walking, but A is really walking now. He's spent the last half hour walking around this room, squatting down, picking something up off the floor and bringing it to me. He's also walking around with a headset in his mouth. It's pretty darn cute.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Boy am I glad we don't have TV
I'm sure we'd just be glued to it watching people's houses burn down. The internet is bad enough.
So far, we're not in immediate fire danger. There are a lot of houses and highways between us and the fires. It's getting smokier all the time. Monday we went to the zoo and I was coughing and wheezing for the rest of the day. Yesterday we had swim class, hit the Trader Joe's, then came home and stayed in. It smells pretty strongly of smoke even inside now. I hit my inhaler last night before I went to bed. A seems mostly unaffected. He's not getting as much outside time as he normally gets, so we're getting a little cabin-punchy here. Let's hope for rain and less wind.
C's been off work this week; we'll see if he makes it in today. His workplace is closer to the evacuated areas than I would like.
So far, we're not in immediate fire danger. There are a lot of houses and highways between us and the fires. It's getting smokier all the time. Monday we went to the zoo and I was coughing and wheezing for the rest of the day. Yesterday we had swim class, hit the Trader Joe's, then came home and stayed in. It smells pretty strongly of smoke even inside now. I hit my inhaler last night before I went to bed. A seems mostly unaffected. He's not getting as much outside time as he normally gets, so we're getting a little cabin-punchy here. Let's hope for rain and less wind.
C's been off work this week; we'll see if he makes it in today. His workplace is closer to the evacuated areas than I would like.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Fires and excitement and more
I knew Dumbledore was gay since J. K. put him in a purple velvet suit to pick up old Voldy from the orphanage.
There are fires in SD county right now, and the only place I've found that gives a nice comprehensive map is here. There's a lot that would need to be burned through before we'd get evacuated. I'm actually more concerned about the Wild Animal Park right now since it's close to them, but being all by itself with a lot of land in the high desert I'm hoping they have well-laid plans for fires.
We took A out on a boat at the Maritime Museum yesterday and followed it up with ribs. Boy does he like ribs. Little carnivore.
There are fires in SD county right now, and the only place I've found that gives a nice comprehensive map is here. There's a lot that would need to be burned through before we'd get evacuated. I'm actually more concerned about the Wild Animal Park right now since it's close to them, but being all by itself with a lot of land in the high desert I'm hoping they have well-laid plans for fires.
We took A out on a boat at the Maritime Museum yesterday and followed it up with ribs. Boy does he like ribs. Little carnivore.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Oh, and research
I've signed A up to be part of a research study where he's going to sit in a room on my lap and watch a screen with pictures of him and another baby while they monitor what parts of his brain light up. This is next Wednesday. Apparently they're batting 50/50 on babies who are willing to wear the hat with the gel and the brainsuckers on it.
Walking, walking, and scary hippos
Yesterday A walked all the way from "his" cabinet in the kitchen to the couch, while holding a pan. It was impressive, and he knew it, and he grinned the whole way. So we're bobbing along into toddlerhood here.
We went to the zoo Monday and got scared by a hippo. The hippo was underwater right in front of us. It looked like it was trying to kiss us through the glass, then it yawned and man, do hippos have scary snarly vicious teeth. A began waving, which is his new way of telling me he's done and bored with something at the zoo. He waves bye-bye.
We went to the zoo Monday and got scared by a hippo. The hippo was underwater right in front of us. It looked like it was trying to kiss us through the glass, then it yawned and man, do hippos have scary snarly vicious teeth. A began waving, which is his new way of telling me he's done and bored with something at the zoo. He waves bye-bye.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Weekend insomnia break
A's really not been sleeping well. He ends up in bed with us and then I can't sleep next to the two snoring boychiks. So off I go around the house like a ghost in the night to find someplace else to sleep, which is difficult.
It's very tiring.
I don't know why he's sleeping so poorly. He's still got teeth coming in; he's also keen on the walking right now and the books say (stupid books) that kids wake a lot when they're working on new things.
What did we do this weekend? We bought new sleepers because his old ones looked like sausage casings. I realized how out of practice I am at buying baby clothes because I didn't check the fiber content on the sleepers. I realized when we got home that three of them were polyester. So back we drove to the outlets to exchange them for cotton ones. Now he has three sleepers in the same penguin pattern and two with the same dog appliqué, but that's okay. I was just happy to find footed zipper sleepers for him in the 18 month size.
It's very tiring.
I don't know why he's sleeping so poorly. He's still got teeth coming in; he's also keen on the walking right now and the books say (stupid books) that kids wake a lot when they're working on new things.
What did we do this weekend? We bought new sleepers because his old ones looked like sausage casings. I realized how out of practice I am at buying baby clothes because I didn't check the fiber content on the sleepers. I realized when we got home that three of them were polyester. So back we drove to the outlets to exchange them for cotton ones. Now he has three sleepers in the same penguin pattern and two with the same dog appliqué, but that's okay. I was just happy to find footed zipper sleepers for him in the 18 month size.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Swimming and playdate
We had swim class Tuesday. It was fabulous. The other student missed last week too. A's getting really good at holding his breath. He just needs to float on his back and we'll be off to another level of class. I'm not actually eager to mix him in with the toddlers yet.
He's walking in spurts. I think the biggest gap he's crossed has been six feet. He hasn't decided that walking's faster than crawling yet. It's still a party trick.
Yesterday we had playdate. The boys (and they suddenly are boys, not babies) wanted to hit each other. L hit A on the head many, many times, then A grabbed L by the bridge of L's nose, right between the eyes. Ouchie. It was crazy. I'm not sure I signed up to have a toddler. L is much, much farther along on the toddler spectrum, though. A was still pretty easy-going; L was outright contrary to his mom sometimes. It's coming, I know.
He's walking in spurts. I think the biggest gap he's crossed has been six feet. He hasn't decided that walking's faster than crawling yet. It's still a party trick.
Yesterday we had playdate. The boys (and they suddenly are boys, not babies) wanted to hit each other. L hit A on the head many, many times, then A grabbed L by the bridge of L's nose, right between the eyes. Ouchie. It was crazy. I'm not sure I signed up to have a toddler. L is much, much farther along on the toddler spectrum, though. A was still pretty easy-going; L was outright contrary to his mom sometimes. It's coming, I know.
Friday, October 05, 2007
New word
Down. As in, "Get down, Niles." Good grief. That actually started this weekend.
He spent yesterday walking across gaps. It's amazing what English he understands. He was sitting across the room from me and I said, "Come on, walk over here to me," and he got up and started walking. He almost made it, but did we just need to ask him to walk all this time?
Also in cute behavior: he now waves at the animals in the zoo when we say hi and bye. "Hi lemur!" Wave wave wave. "Bye panda bear!" Wave wave wave.
He spent yesterday walking across gaps. It's amazing what English he understands. He was sitting across the room from me and I said, "Come on, walk over here to me," and he got up and started walking. He almost made it, but did we just need to ask him to walk all this time?
Also in cute behavior: he now waves at the animals in the zoo when we say hi and bye. "Hi lemur!" Wave wave wave. "Bye panda bear!" Wave wave wave.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Weekends and sickness and walking
The Misses D, E, and M were in town this weekend and we had a lovely time with them, even though my car broke down again (radiator reservoir cracked at the bottom). At least my car waited until D and crew were ready to meet us. Play date with L was moved to Saturday and K brought a Greek feast for lunch, which was nice. We had Saffron and Bronx Pizza and the Mission and all those local type places people who move to Portland can't get there. So that was fine and lovely. I can't believe how well M walks. It's amazing. She glides. She might be the most graceful toddler I've ever seen.
Exactly at the time they left (about 5AM Monday), I got sick, violently, gastrointestinally sick. During breakfast, A got violently sick too (all over C, since I was already in the bathroom being sick myself). A and I were both so incredibly nastily sick that I'm sparing you the details because the details might make me sick again. I was so sick that lying on the floor next to the bathroom was as much as I could do. I ended up putting down old blankets and towels to lessen the mess from A. C went to work but then got called back home when I realized I couldn't be sick, have A sick, watch A and clean up all our sick messes at the same time, especially when one of us doesn't walk and can't make it to the bathroom. C came home and I went to bed. Neither of us could keep anything down for about seven hours. C seemed to have dodged a bullet yet again. A and I are slowly making our way back to the world of solid food.
Unfortunately, Monday morning my monitor didn't work, and that was the last of the monitors in this house, so no email for me. I wasn't seriously up for it until yesterday. I used C's computer which doesn't let me blog, for some strange reason. C got a loaner from work for the short-term, so that's why I can blog now.
Anyway, yesterday morning, A is burbling happily with me and C in our bed, then crawled down off the bed and started walking off towards the office. C and I started clapping about four or five steps into this display and A promptly fell down. But he's walking across three-foot gaps now like nobody's business. He's such a weird kid sometimes. He's not really w0bbling or anything. He's just walking. It's like he's been practicing when we're not paying attention.
Exactly at the time they left (about 5AM Monday), I got sick, violently, gastrointestinally sick. During breakfast, A got violently sick too (all over C, since I was already in the bathroom being sick myself). A and I were both so incredibly nastily sick that I'm sparing you the details because the details might make me sick again. I was so sick that lying on the floor next to the bathroom was as much as I could do. I ended up putting down old blankets and towels to lessen the mess from A. C went to work but then got called back home when I realized I couldn't be sick, have A sick, watch A and clean up all our sick messes at the same time, especially when one of us doesn't walk and can't make it to the bathroom. C came home and I went to bed. Neither of us could keep anything down for about seven hours. C seemed to have dodged a bullet yet again. A and I are slowly making our way back to the world of solid food.
Unfortunately, Monday morning my monitor didn't work, and that was the last of the monitors in this house, so no email for me. I wasn't seriously up for it until yesterday. I used C's computer which doesn't let me blog, for some strange reason. C got a loaner from work for the short-term, so that's why I can blog now.
Anyway, yesterday morning, A is burbling happily with me and C in our bed, then crawled down off the bed and started walking off towards the office. C and I started clapping about four or five steps into this display and A promptly fell down. But he's walking across three-foot gaps now like nobody's business. He's such a weird kid sometimes. He's not really w0bbling or anything. He's just walking. It's like he's been practicing when we're not paying attention.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Don't know where he picked it up...
...but A shakes hands now. We didn't teach him. I was someplace I can't remember now where we were all shaking hands and A held out his hand to the person we were greeting. I wish I could remember where we were when he did that.
He did it again today at the doctor's office. It's so strange what he picks up.
His latest favorite things: watching airplanes and helicopters. He hears a plane and holds a finger up to the sky. If he's near a window, he peeks his head out.
We have a "Little Golden Book" but A is not impressed with it. He is impressed with the picture of the Pokey Little Puppy on the back cover, so we'll have to get one of those.
He did it again today at the doctor's office. It's so strange what he picks up.
His latest favorite things: watching airplanes and helicopters. He hears a plane and holds a finger up to the sky. If he's near a window, he peeks his head out.
We have a "Little Golden Book" but A is not impressed with it. He is impressed with the picture of the Pokey Little Puppy on the back cover, so we'll have to get one of those.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
First Day of Autumn
Sunny SD was supposed to get a major storm, with thunder and lightening and everything, and we got maybe an hour's worth of rain on Saturday.
I'm writing this from my old screen that was SO BIG ten years ago when C and I got hitched and now looks so tiny and quaint. A threw a book at my beautiful flatscreen last Friday and that was the end of it. You can actually see the impact site (and not much else). No workee. Sigh.
Friday I wanted to join the circus. Friday night A didn't sleep and both C and I wanted to join the circus Saturday morning. Last night was better so we're all still here and A is not banned to a cat carrier, which has been the follow-up threat.
But we're still keeping him.
We went to Sea World Saturday and looked at the penguins and puffins, which were fascinating to A. A played in one of the sand play areas with a shovel and bucket. A pair of Sea World employees came through the play area, walking an arctic fox on a leash. This was super cool until the fox started pissing in the sand box. Really. I'm trying to be as dirt-friendly as I can be with A, but after that I felt like jumping on A every time he went to eat the sand. The employees did nothing but look slightly abashed.
At least he'll have immunity to arctic fox things or be a candidate for a very special episode of House where the little baby gets an arctic-fox-transmitted parasite from a play area.
It was some whoop de doo music weekend at Sea World. A loves music. He starts bopping his head and clapping. We ran into a R&B band on our way out and listened to them for a while since A enjoyed it so much. His new favorite word is, "Look!" which is usually "Look look look." This is accompanied by a lot of pointing.
How's the walking? He's doing two or three steps on his own now, not a ton. His confidence is still not there. He's trying to walk in hard places, like sand and on the bed.
Today A and C went on the carousel while I was at my plumeria society meeting. I won three more cuttings in the raffle. I should go buy a lotto ticket.
I'm writing this from my old screen that was SO BIG ten years ago when C and I got hitched and now looks so tiny and quaint. A threw a book at my beautiful flatscreen last Friday and that was the end of it. You can actually see the impact site (and not much else). No workee. Sigh.
Friday I wanted to join the circus. Friday night A didn't sleep and both C and I wanted to join the circus Saturday morning. Last night was better so we're all still here and A is not banned to a cat carrier, which has been the follow-up threat.
But we're still keeping him.
We went to Sea World Saturday and looked at the penguins and puffins, which were fascinating to A. A played in one of the sand play areas with a shovel and bucket. A pair of Sea World employees came through the play area, walking an arctic fox on a leash. This was super cool until the fox started pissing in the sand box. Really. I'm trying to be as dirt-friendly as I can be with A, but after that I felt like jumping on A every time he went to eat the sand. The employees did nothing but look slightly abashed.
At least he'll have immunity to arctic fox things or be a candidate for a very special episode of House where the little baby gets an arctic-fox-transmitted parasite from a play area.
It was some whoop de doo music weekend at Sea World. A loves music. He starts bopping his head and clapping. We ran into a R&B band on our way out and listened to them for a while since A enjoyed it so much. His new favorite word is, "Look!" which is usually "Look look look." This is accompanied by a lot of pointing.
How's the walking? He's doing two or three steps on his own now, not a ton. His confidence is still not there. He's trying to walk in hard places, like sand and on the bed.
Today A and C went on the carousel while I was at my plumeria society meeting. I won three more cuttings in the raffle. I should go buy a lotto ticket.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Walking
We had a lovely weekend (although I wanted more sleep today). We had lunch with J&T Saturday on Coronado by the pretty pretty water, had a picnic at the Presidio yesterday and visited the museum there.
A's been on the cusp of walking since his birthday. He's taken steps on his own between C and me (and between pieces of furniture and each of us where he's not holding on), but it doesn't seem like walking. He's got no problems with the strength or coordination or balance; A's just not convinced yet that he can walk. It's completely cognitive.
But that may be a-changing. Yesterday he kept standing up from a squat (on a steep hillside) and taking a step or two. So he's really close. He just has to decide that he knows how to walk.
A's been on the cusp of walking since his birthday. He's taken steps on his own between C and me (and between pieces of furniture and each of us where he's not holding on), but it doesn't seem like walking. He's got no problems with the strength or coordination or balance; A's just not convinced yet that he can walk. It's completely cognitive.
But that may be a-changing. Yesterday he kept standing up from a squat (on a steep hillside) and taking a step or two. So he's really close. He just has to decide that he knows how to walk.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Why does he always figure this out when I'm not looking?
Pencils.
He just figured out how to make marks on a piece of paper with a pencil.
Pens and pencils have thus far been oblong tapping things of no special significance.
Now we're in trouble.
He just figured out how to make marks on a piece of paper with a pencil.
Pens and pencils have thus far been oblong tapping things of no special significance.
Now we're in trouble.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
the banana bread incident
Today I thought we'd have some Mother-Son baking bonding time. There were a couple bananas left over from A's bout with herpangina when he was only on liquids, but they were banana bread-tastic.
I put the bananas in a bowl, gave A a spoon, and showed him how to mush them up. He thought this was super, didn't fling too many everywhere, and did a good job. (I say "Good job!" four hundred million billion times a day now.) I put together the rest of the batter, and A happily stirred and ate banana mush.
Then it was time for the bananas to be added to the rest of the batter. Oh no, lots of screaming. Screaming at a volume and pitch I didn't know he was capable of. I showed him how I was adding it to the big bowl of batter, and he tried to eat the batter. Of course, it has raw egg in it and of course, I've read Marion Nestle's What to Eat so I'm no longer eating batter with raw eggs. So I explain to him that he can't eat it and that there's salmonella and the rates of salmonella poisoning have increased exponentially since I was a kid so I'm going to have to get pasteurized eggs for him to eat batter, and then I realize I'm trying to explain salmonella to a one-year-old.
I can't wait for him to have language.
I put the bananas in a bowl, gave A a spoon, and showed him how to mush them up. He thought this was super, didn't fling too many everywhere, and did a good job. (I say "Good job!" four hundred million billion times a day now.) I put together the rest of the batter, and A happily stirred and ate banana mush.
Then it was time for the bananas to be added to the rest of the batter. Oh no, lots of screaming. Screaming at a volume and pitch I didn't know he was capable of. I showed him how I was adding it to the big bowl of batter, and he tried to eat the batter. Of course, it has raw egg in it and of course, I've read Marion Nestle's What to Eat so I'm no longer eating batter with raw eggs. So I explain to him that he can't eat it and that there's salmonella and the rates of salmonella poisoning have increased exponentially since I was a kid so I'm going to have to get pasteurized eggs for him to eat batter, and then I realize I'm trying to explain salmonella to a one-year-old.
I can't wait for him to have language.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Serious boy
We had swimming today. A wanted to sleep. He spent a lot of time with his head on my shoulder.
He also banged his face on the floor this afternoon, giving himself a vicious bloody lip. Once he got over the whole blood in the mouth thing, he didn't seem to mind. Now he's yelling his head off and refusing to go to sleep. Oh dear, I think we're in for a napping drive-by.
Last week, we went to a swimming instructor training session. They had a guest teacher in to teach their swimming instructors new techniques. A didn't trust her. Maybe it was the late hour, but every time she tried to take A for a demonstration, he'd start to wail. He'd let our normal swim instructor take him for a swim, but not the new lady.
The molars are almost through. Whew.
He also banged his face on the floor this afternoon, giving himself a vicious bloody lip. Once he got over the whole blood in the mouth thing, he didn't seem to mind. Now he's yelling his head off and refusing to go to sleep. Oh dear, I think we're in for a napping drive-by.
Last week, we went to a swimming instructor training session. They had a guest teacher in to teach their swimming instructors new techniques. A didn't trust her. Maybe it was the late hour, but every time she tried to take A for a demonstration, he'd start to wail. He'd let our normal swim instructor take him for a swim, but not the new lady.
The molars are almost through. Whew.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Car seat drama
It should be car seat trauma. We bought a cheaper, smaller car seat for C's car because we know we'll be traveling by plane in the next year (or two or three) and the grand seat doesn't fit in plane seats. I know that seems silly but these seats are huge.
Buying the smaller seat was its own comic farce where we discovered no convertible car seat fits in the center seat of C's car after we'd taken back the smaller seat on the grounds that it didn't fit. Then we ended up back in Target five hours later buying the same seat we'd returned earlier that day.
The problem is that A cries when he sits in this seat for very long. It's not as well padded, the angle and width of the seat is such that his head goes to an uncomfortable angle when he's sleeping. But all of this is nothing against the fact that he cries when he's awake and in the seat. Our guy is pretty easy-going and often sleeps in the car. Crying means something's wrong. He cried all the way back from the Wild Animal Park last week, which I thought was because he was still sick. But he cried just as much yesterday when he's perfectly well.
So yesterday, after listening to much crying while driving around doing normal Saturday errands, we decided to get another swanky car seat and keep the other seat as a travel one. This means we'll be scraping for the next couple weeks to pay for the seat, but A actually burbled happily in the new seat yesterday so it's worth it.
There was drama in buying it. It was like a what not to do for customer service. We wanted to buy it at Target, since the color at Target matches C's car better. Can you check to see if you have one in the back, I ask the Target person who comes to the little beep. Sorry, ma'am, we don't do that. (Funny, the manager I talked to a week ago did.) But take this number to Guest Services and they'll check other stores for you. Oh, the computer's not working at Guest Services. But the Guest Services person will give me the phone number of the other Targets so I can call and find one there. (Not so they can call. So I can call.) I actually called another Target before I finally got through to someone who said, "Okay, I'll check, no I don't need the number," and then hung up on me. So we bought the car seat at the baby hellhole and I think I'm going to write a letter to Target explaining why I took my $220 to their competitor.
The other baby drama is that I fed A some Kashi multigrain crackers and he had a minor allergic reaction to them. Of course, they are 12-grain crackers and it's impossible to troubleshoot from there. So he's back on less-grainy crackers and we'll try and figure which of the 12 grains he's allergic to. He loves crackers right now.
Baby food news: he loves, loves, loves the Peach Perfection All-Fruit smoothies from Jamba Juice. I had a strawberry one and he thought that was okay, but once he had a bite of C's, oh my, that was it, lots of frantic and insistent pointing to C's cup. Once he figures out straws, we'll be in serious trouble. I think he ate a third of C's smoothie.
Buying the smaller seat was its own comic farce where we discovered no convertible car seat fits in the center seat of C's car after we'd taken back the smaller seat on the grounds that it didn't fit. Then we ended up back in Target five hours later buying the same seat we'd returned earlier that day.
The problem is that A cries when he sits in this seat for very long. It's not as well padded, the angle and width of the seat is such that his head goes to an uncomfortable angle when he's sleeping. But all of this is nothing against the fact that he cries when he's awake and in the seat. Our guy is pretty easy-going and often sleeps in the car. Crying means something's wrong. He cried all the way back from the Wild Animal Park last week, which I thought was because he was still sick. But he cried just as much yesterday when he's perfectly well.
So yesterday, after listening to much crying while driving around doing normal Saturday errands, we decided to get another swanky car seat and keep the other seat as a travel one. This means we'll be scraping for the next couple weeks to pay for the seat, but A actually burbled happily in the new seat yesterday so it's worth it.
There was drama in buying it. It was like a what not to do for customer service. We wanted to buy it at Target, since the color at Target matches C's car better. Can you check to see if you have one in the back, I ask the Target person who comes to the little beep. Sorry, ma'am, we don't do that. (Funny, the manager I talked to a week ago did.) But take this number to Guest Services and they'll check other stores for you. Oh, the computer's not working at Guest Services. But the Guest Services person will give me the phone number of the other Targets so I can call and find one there. (Not so they can call. So I can call.) I actually called another Target before I finally got through to someone who said, "Okay, I'll check, no I don't need the number," and then hung up on me. So we bought the car seat at the baby hellhole and I think I'm going to write a letter to Target explaining why I took my $220 to their competitor.
The other baby drama is that I fed A some Kashi multigrain crackers and he had a minor allergic reaction to them. Of course, they are 12-grain crackers and it's impossible to troubleshoot from there. So he's back on less-grainy crackers and we'll try and figure which of the 12 grains he's allergic to. He loves crackers right now.
Baby food news: he loves, loves, loves the Peach Perfection All-Fruit smoothies from Jamba Juice. I had a strawberry one and he thought that was okay, but once he had a bite of C's, oh my, that was it, lots of frantic and insistent pointing to C's cup. Once he figures out straws, we'll be in serious trouble. I think he ate a third of C's smoothie.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Labor Day Weekend Update
Wow, more than a week! It's been damn hot here. It felt cooler last night and so I'm hoping things have taken a turn for the less broiling.
A was sick for most of last week. This ended up in a couple days of non-stop crying and screaming which was enough to drive me around the bend. The poor guy just didn't understand that I couldn't fix his poor sore throat. C would get home and I'd be jabbering to myself and unable to communicate.
Thursday our dear friends showed up, which was lovely. A got over his sickness before they left so he was back to his cheerful little self. We went to the Wild Animal Park, the bookstore, the farmer's market and IKEA. It's wonderful having them visit and we miss them madly now.
A and I had swimming yesterday. It was lovely. There's only one other kid in the class, an 11-week-old who looks tiny. It's amazing the difference a year makes. We may be going to another lesson this week as part of a training session for new swim instructors. A's such an easy-going guy that I think he'd be up for another swim lesson this week.
I've been up since 4AM and I'm not thrilled about that. But it's nice and cool, at least.
A was sick for most of last week. This ended up in a couple days of non-stop crying and screaming which was enough to drive me around the bend. The poor guy just didn't understand that I couldn't fix his poor sore throat. C would get home and I'd be jabbering to myself and unable to communicate.
Thursday our dear friends showed up, which was lovely. A got over his sickness before they left so he was back to his cheerful little self. We went to the Wild Animal Park, the bookstore, the farmer's market and IKEA. It's wonderful having them visit and we miss them madly now.
A and I had swimming yesterday. It was lovely. There's only one other kid in the class, an 11-week-old who looks tiny. It's amazing the difference a year makes. We may be going to another lesson this week as part of a training session for new swim instructors. A's such an easy-going guy that I think he'd be up for another swim lesson this week.
I've been up since 4AM and I'm not thrilled about that. But it's nice and cool, at least.
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