June 2006

06/30/06

I think the New Mexico monsoon season has started.  It's rained the last three evenings.  Tommy's really been enjoying it.  Our grass and flowers like it too.

Tommy:  It naining again!  We go outside?
Me:  Sure.
Tommy:  I getting all wet! Look Mommy!
Me:  Maybe if you run really fast the rain drops won't get you.
Tommy:  (laughing uncontrollably) Silly Mommy!

06/29/06

More evidence of geekiness...

Tommy and I have a new favorite movie preview.  It's Happy Feet.  Check it out, but only if you want to LAUGH.

Snuggles after swimming.

06/28/06

Tommy is a very gentle two year old boy, but he does like to rough house with David.  We constantly have to remind him that the same level of physical play that is OK with Daddy is not OK with Mommy.  I'm a big wimp.  I guess I must say "ouch" a lot because Tommy has started to get a bit exasperated with me.  We'll be playing and he'll step on my foot or bump into my nose with his head or something accidental like that and I'll say "ouch."  He's started immediately responding with, "I not hurting you.  I just climbing on couch.  I be gentle"  I think he's trying to say "I didn't mean to hurt you," but it's possible he's saying "Aw Mom, that didn't hurt, stop crying wolf."

*****

Lurkers reveal yourselves!  Please?  I'm getting a bit curious about my stats for this site.  I don't have this site set up so people can leave comments like on a real blog because this is more of a family and friends site.  I'm fine with this being more of a one-sided site, but it does mean I don't get to meet all of you through comments.  I'm glad to have lots of different people reading, I'm just curious to know who you are.  If you feel like de-lurking, will you please send me an e-mail?  My e-mail is sallyepp at hotmail dot com.  I might just have a special secret surprise for those of you who e-mail me.  Thanks!

06/27/06

I caught Tommy standing in front of the mirror yesterday practicing his sad face.  He was making the most pitiful face ever and kind of whimpering "I sad.  Oh, oh, oh.  Poor Tommy."  Then he'd grin and say "I happy now!"  When he saw that I was watching him he told me to go away.  He's started playing around with fake emotions, but he's not savvy enough yet to really fool us.  We've been pretty consistent about not letting him get away with whining to get something, so it's funny to see him trying to perfect his technique.  Every once in a while he'll come find me and he'll sound so sad and miserable that I'll believe him.  I'll immediately pick him up and ask him what's wrong.  He'll just grin and say "Nothing wrong Mommy.  I not sad any more.  I happy now!" Then he'll give me a kiss and run off.  I can't decide if those are times when he's just testing my response or if he really is sad but quickly comforted.   

06/26/06

La la la!  Tommy has started singing.  I wasn't sure if he ever would since he hated to hear me sing for so very long.  His first attempt was singing along with the book Snuggle Puppy.  It wasn't really singing, more like really loud atonal screeching, but he had the words and the rhythm right.  "Ooooooo Snuggle Puppy of mine..." 

Then he started singing the ABCs.  As usual, he didn't really practice or have any unsuccessful, muddled attempts.  He just started singing it.  We've always sung the ABCs while brushing his teeth, so he'd never tried to sing with us (toothbrush in his mouth at the time, you know).  One morning he happened to see me brushing my teeth and broke into song.  He only missed a couple of letters and gets the whole thing right these days. 

The best singing to date, however, happened Friday night.  Tommy and I were doing playdo after dinner and David was away at a volleyball game.  I yawned a few times and eventually Tommy gave a big sigh and said, "Close your eyes.  Go to sleep Mommy."  I humored him and laid my head down on the table.  Then he started singing.  To the shockingly accurate tune of Brahms' Lullaby he sang, "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep my little Mommy."  It was the sweetest thing ever.  Then he screeched "Wake up Mommy!" so it wasn't quite as sweet and precious as it sounds.

On a related note, while we were doing playdo, Tommy decided to make an ear of corn.  Then he made a pot.  Then he boiled the corn, put butter on it, shook salt on it and pretended to eat it.  I was highly amused.  I guess he really enjoyed the corn on the cob we had a while back.

Tommy asked me to take this picture.  He found his old toy sunglasses and put them on.  Then he got my camera and asked me to open the door.  He went outside and tested lots of different spots in the yard before deciding that the perfect backdrop would be our white gate.  I took the picture of course.  He did have pants on at one point.  These are actually his pajamas.  When we tried transitioning him from his footed sleepers to summer pajamas he absolutely refused to wear any pajamas at all.  I think I waited too long to do the switch because he was starting to get a bit of heat rash, so I can't really fault him for wanting to sleep in the buff.  Sometime last week he asked for some "sleeping clothes" after his bath.  It has been long enough since he wore any that he couldn't think of the word pajamas, but came up with "sleeping clothes" all on his own.  David thought that was really clever.  So now he's wearing pajamas sometimes, but only this one pair.  They're not always clean, but he has no interest in the other sets so he still sleeps in just a diaper most nights.

06/23/06

Things I particularly love about Tommy these days...

06/22/06

Tommy was playing in his pool on Monday when he shrieked, "Oh no Mommy!  Look!  What it that?!?!"  It was poop.  Two gigantic globs of grossness.  We've made very little progress in potty training so far, but usually when he swims in the buff I'm able to catch him before he poops and whisk him onto the toilet.  I guess I missed the cues that day. 

Tommy was pretty befuddled by these new toys that magically appeared in his swimming pool.  I eventually was able to convince him that they were POOP and that he needed to stay out of the water and NOT TOUCH THEM.  He doesn't like messes, so once he understood what they were he was quite frantic.  "Oh no!  Clean UP Mommy.  My swimming pool dirty!"  He ran around "helping" which of course was not helpful at all.  I was running in and out of the house, scooping poop out of the pool and flushing it down the toilet, all the while hollering at him not to get back in the water.  I'm sure our neighbors heard the word poop yelled many more times than was necessary.

I was just draining the pool water when he squatted on the sidewalk and pooped again!  Arggg!  I guess I shouldn't have let him have cherries with his lunch.  Tommy was all upset because there was a little tiny speck of poop on him, so he was awkwardly stretched over the pile of poo trying to see the back of his ankle.  I managed to move him without getting any of his flailing limbs in the poop and convinced him that he could wait for me to wash his ankle until I cleaned up the pile.  I got approximately 32 paper towels and started cleaning up.  He wanted to help, of course.  I eventually hosed off the boy and the sidewalk and the empty pool, trying not to think about the microscopic particles of poo I was spraying across the yard with the hose water.

Once the pool was visibly clean, I started refilling the it.  I had decided not to bleach the pool or the sidewalk because I didn't want to kill the grass.  I just couldn't get the idea of invisible contamination out of my head though.  Then I had the bright idea of putting dish soap in the water.  I convinced Tommy that he really DID want bubbles in his pool.  He reluctantly agreed, and soon was splashing around in a froth of bubbles.  He stayed in for about five more minutes before asking me to scoop the bubbles out.  That's when I decided outdoor playtime was highly over-rated.  We went inside and watched movies like civilized people for the rest of the afternoon.

06/21/06

A couple of days ago, Tommy was coloring in the living room.  For some reason, I had made an X for him on his paper.  He told me that X is where the treasure is.  I decided to follow up on this and made him a treasure map of the living room, dotted line to follow and everything.  I put some yogurt covered raisins in one of his plastic Easter eggs and placed it where the X was on the map.  He loves his treasure map.  He follows the same path through the living room over and over and over.  He doesn't even care if there's any treasure inside the egg (luckily).  It seems to me that following a 2-D representation of a space on a map is a pretty advanced skill, but then I always think he's advanced.

Not the best picture of him, but I couldn't get him to stand still for a better one.

06/20/06

I don't know why it took me so long to get brushes and paint for his easel.  He absolutely does not like finger painting because it's messy.  He loves painting like this.  He must be slightly ambidextrous because he paints with a brush in each hand, one for each color.  He does everything else with his right hand.

Oh, and he didn't get any bathroom candies yesterday.  Every time I suggested he try peeing in the toilet he said "No!  Don't want too.  Keep my diaper please."  Sigh.

06/19/06

Tommy took a three hour nap in his bed Saturday afternoon.  He'd slept poorly Friday night and I took him on a long walk after lunch Saturday.  David was away for the day playing in a charity mud volleyball tournament, so the house was quiet.  We weren't able to wake him up until 5 pm, so we knew his normal 8 pm bedtime would be impossible.  We went out to dinner and then asked him where we should go to buy David a Father's Day present.  He said the toy store, of course.

Once there, he wasn't able to choose a present for Daddy.  It was probably a bit over ambitious to think that would be possible.  He did find something he desperately wanted for himself though.  It was the Hungry, Hungry Hippo game.  In a flash of cunning, I told him we would buy it but that we'd wrap it like a present when we got home.  He would be able to open it when he peed in the toilet.  Another mom standing in the aisle heard me and told me I was evil.  I think she was kidding since she was also laughing.  Anyway, Tommy thought this was a great idea.  He got really excited about it and talked about peeing in the toilet all the way home.

We got home, and he tried.  No luck.  He tried again before his bath.  No luck.  He asked to open his present when he peed during his bath, but was OK with it when we said no.  He looked at his wrapped present right before going to sleep.  Sunday morning, he crawled into bed with us when he woke up as usual.  I noticed that his overnight diaper was still dry (it usually is) and asked him if he wanted to try again.  When he remembered his present he got really excited, scrambled out of bed and said "Come on Mommy and Daddy!   Let's try!"  Success!  He was so happy.  I guess he just needed the incentive to keep trying and a really full bladder.  He opened his new game and played with it all day yesterday. 

That success prompted me to go buy some M & M's.  He loves chocolate so I told him he could have one every time he tries to pee and five every time he does pee.  I know that sounds like a lot of M & M's, but he needs big incentives at this point.  He usually gets tired of a new candy after a few days, so I don't think he'll come to expect them every time forever.  I think I'm going to keep him in underpants or naked today and give this potty training thing a real try.  Luckily for us, he's tall enough to stand at the regular toilet so we don't have to worry about the insert seat or a small potty.  He calls it "peeing like a man." J Wish us luck!

    

06/18/06

Happy Father's Day!

We've had a nice Father's Day.  We went out for our usual celebratory breakfast at Flying Star early this morning.  Then we went to the Albuquerque Natural History Museum around midday.  Tommy got a dinosaur fix even though the museum is pretty wimpy (especially compared to the really nice one that was a few blocks from our apartment at the University of Oklahoma).  Now we're just lounging around at home.  I hope you all had nice days with your dads too.

06/16/06

Parenting lessons of the week...

If your two-year-old finds a baby bottle in a cupboard, by all means do explain to him that some babies drink milk from bottles.  Then show him how to feed his pretend babies, even if they are all dinosaurs and crocodiles.  However, do not give in to the request to drink real milk from the bottle.  Surely, this is a step backwards, especially since he never drank from a bottle as a baby and never really used sippy cups either.  If you let him do it once you just might have a battle of wills on your hands to get him to resume drinking from a cup.

 If your two-year-old likes checking himself out in the mirror, by all means do point out the little piece of chicken between his teeth.  Then help him use dental floss to remove it.  He just might pick up on some good information about dental hygiene.  However, do not continue the conversation with a discussion of dentists, losing baby teeth and growing adult teeth.  He might become fearful that his teeth are going to fall out and obsessively check the mirror for impending catastrophe.

06/15/06

Tommy's very into counting things with his fingers these days.  He accurately holds up 1-4 fingers to indicate the number of things.  His favorite thing to tell people is "I'm two!" with the matching fingers.  He says this a lot, more than three times an hour all day long.  He also likes to say how many people there are in our family.  For example, if we're all going out somewhere he puts up three fingers and says "All us go. This one Mommy.  This one Tommy.  This one Daddy.  Three us!  One, two, three."

*****

We haven't talked much about toddler defiance.  Tommy's actually pretty easy going.  I'm glad, because as hard as I try, I'm not the most patient person in the world.  He used to get very upset when we didn't understand him or when we said 'no' to something, but that was all way before he turned two.  He stopped having complete meltdown tantrums when he was around 18 months old.  He still has the occasional meltdown of course, but they're caused by being overtired or hungry, not anger or frustration.  I don't count that sort of thing as a tantrum.  The big turning point for us was communication.  Once he could tell us what he wanted, he was much more likely to ask than scream, especially since we say 'yes' to him 90% of the time.  I don't think we're extremely permissive parents.  We do say 'no' firmly and without wavering on anything that's really important.  We just don't think very many things are worth a definitive 'no' and a potential power struggle.  Besides, I was a very opinionated child so I know how frustrating it is to feel thwarted at every turn for things that don't seem important.  (Not that my parents were super-strict or anything.  I was just VERY strong-willed.  I think I was anyway.) 

I actually think there's a temperament issue too.  Some toddlers are soothed by really strict and carefully defined parameters.  They thrive on schedules and act out if given too many choices.  The behave best when told what to do instead of asked.  Others, like Tommy, are the exact opposite.  Tommy loves choices.  He's so happy when he can say "I have idea..." and we do whatever he suggests.  He gets cranky and defiant if I have a rigid plan for the day and tell him over and over what we're doing without giving him any choices.  Of course, I only let him choose between options I'm willing to live with.  Toddlers aren't very crafty, so I'm really controlling him quite a bit when I give him choices instead of just giving him free reign.  This sort of thing makes life with Tommy very calm and enjoyable.  He's just not all that defiant because he feels like he has a lot of power and control over his daily life. 

Of course, there are exceptions.  This whole ramble was a preface for what I really wanted to tell you.  At least once a day, there's something that Tommy asks for or asks to do that I cannot say 'yes' to.  When we reach that point, my signal to him that this 'no' is absolute is a stern "I said NO."  Tommy always responds with "I said YES!"  It's so hard not to smile when he does this.  It's just the cutest thing.  Sometimes he even stomps his little foot.  He used to scream it and run around begging and whining.  He's since learned that I'm not going to waver or change my mind so he doesn't really fight it anymore.  But he's not ready to let go of stating his opinion.  His firm but calm "I said YES!" is his way of getting the last word in.  Then he goes about his business without a fuss.  It's super cute.    

06/14/06

Tommy Nemo watches Finding Nemo.  He's entered that "wear funky clothes" stage of being a toddler.  Unfortunately, we don't have many funky dress-up clothes for him.  I'll have to shop for some.  There's nothing cuter to me than a three-year-old girl wearing a princess dress with hiking boots or a two-year-old boy wearing a Nemo costume in the grocery store.  On Monday, Tommy insisted on wearing his Nemo costume out.  We went to the post office first, but it was too busy so we moved on to the UPS store.  He got lots of amused grins and pats on the head from people.  The UPS store is in a nearby shopping center that we both love, so we spent a couple of hours there.  After mailing our packages we went to Borders and read books for a while.  Then we took a short cut through Whole Foods, resisting the fresh cherries and sushi, on our way to the Italian buffet place.  Tommy loves him some meatballs.  It was about 90 degrees by then so I used my Mommy ingenuity to convince Tommy that he should change out of his Nemo costume so it wouldn't get meatball sauce on it.  He was pretty sweaty by then.  After that we spent some more time at Borders and then went home.  He fell asleep on the way home, but woke up when I tried to move him to his bed.  I was able to move him successfully from car to bed one day last week, so that's something I'm trying more often these days.  

06/12/06

Mmmm.  Corn on the cob.

Tommy's current favorite games...

06/09/06

Chocolate chip cookies for breakfast - at 7 am - after we've been up for an hour and a half already.  It's going to be a long day.

06/08/06

Tommy:  What is this Mommy?

Mommy:  That's a dolphin.  Hork, hork, hork!

Tommy:  Don't hork, hork, hork.  Just talk.  Use words please.

*****

Heard multiple times a day in our house...

Mommy:  I love you my Tommy.

Tommy:  I love you my Mommy.

*****
After a long session of "guess what Tommy's trying to say" we usually reach some sort of detente.  Sometimes we actually guess correctly, but I suspect Tommy just gives up and accepts one of our wild guesses half of the time.  Eventually, he always says, "That's 'ut I saying!" as in "That's what I was trying to say!"

*****

Tommy:  I have an idea!

Mommy:  What's your idea?

Tommy:  Um...nothing.

*****

On Tuesday night Tommy and I read the book Dear Zoo right before he went to bed.  I then asked him what zoo animal he might like to have as a pet.  He thought about it for a while and decided he would like a monkey.  We talked about the hypothetical monkey for at least 20 minutes.  It was a really intense conversation.  He's turning into a little boy with a good imagination and verbal skills.  He told me that the monkey would sleep in a box.  Tommy would feed it tacos and bananas.  The monkey would say "Hello Tommy."  He would take the monkey to the pet store and the hotel for fun.  The monkey would wear "little tiny shoes and shirt and pants and diaper."  The monkey's name would be George of course, although I was lobbying for Bobo.  After our long conversation, Tommy started to really believe in the monkey.  It took him a long time to go to sleep because he was excited about getting a monkey.  Ooops.  I think he understands now that we were just imagining, but it's always possible he's waiting for that glorious day when a monkey from the zoo arrives in our mailbox. 

06/07/06

No nap yesterday, but I'm not complaining because he slept from 8 pm to 7:30 am last night.  Heavenly.

We were heading out to run some errands yesterday morning, when Tommy asked for one of his favorite toys.  I told him to climb up into his car seat while I went inside to get it.  I shut the car door behind me so that he wouldn't run out of the garage while I was inside.  The car windows were open, so he had plenty of fresh air.  I found the toy and handed it to him through the window.  Then I hopped into the front seat, buckled my seat belt and drove away.  Can you figure out what I forgot to do?

I didn't buckle him into his car seat.  (Insert silent mental scream of terror.)  I'd just gotten onto Paseo del Norte, the big 55 mph highway near our house, when Tommy said.  "Oh no!  Mommy look!  Look!  Seatbelt not buckled!  Stop!  Seatbelts for safety.  I sorry!  I forgot!  Stop!"  Smart boy.  Too bad his Mommy is an idiot.  If he hadn't said anything I wouldn't have noticed until he fell out of the seat or we got to Target.  I pulled over and buckled him in and then took a few shuddering breaths to calm my pounding heart.  Tommy kept saying he was sorry, which only made me feel more guilty.  Not your fault little guy!   

Speaking of Mommy Guilt.  I never did tell you about the ladder incident.  About a month ago, David had the ladder out because he was up on the roof getting the evaporative cooler ready for the summer.  Tommy was quite intrigued by the ladder.  I was being very firm with him.  He could look at it.  He could even touch it gently.  But after a few attempts to climb it, I told him that if he tried to climb it again, he'd have to go inside and stand in the corner.  Then David called to me from inside the garage where he was fiddling with something.  I went into the garage to find out what he was saying.  After about 2 minutes, the small part of my brain devoted to common sense realized that it wasn't a good idea to leave a ladder-obsessed two-year-old alone with a ladder.  I ran out of the garage and saw that Tommy had climbed up the ladder.  He was level with the roof.  (Insert silent mental scream of terror.)  I moved as quickly and quietly as I could, trying hard not to startle him.  As soon as I had my hands on him, I yelled to David.  The boy was above my head and really didn't want to get down.  I was afraid I'd drop him.  Tommy was not happy to have to go inside and stand in the corner.  (Spectacular understatement.)   

06/06/06

Does twice make a pattern?  He fell asleep in front of the television AGAIN yesterday.  This time he'd just come in from his second afternoon playtime in the pool.  He laid down in his bed so I could put his diaper on him and stayed there acting sleepy.  Then he asked for covers and for me to draw the shades.  I did.  I really thought he was going to take a nap.  Then I made the mistake of saying something about him resting for a little while.  Silly Mommy.  I should always remember that talking about naps just results in resistance.  He popped right up and ran into the living room.  He asked for some TV and fell asleep less than five minutes after I turned it on.  I guess he's figured out a new way to go to sleep when he needs to.  Too bad it's not in his room.  He ended up sleeping from 3:30 to 5:15, despite my repeated attempts to wake him after the first 40 minutes.  He did have some trouble going to sleep at bedtime, but he was still asleep by 9.  He didn't wake up until 7 this morning. 

So you know how I keep saying Tommy has given up his nap?  I'm starting to think he actually hasn't.  He didn't nap at all for two weeks after I stopped nursing him.  Before that, he'd only been napping 2-4 days a week.  In the past six days, however, he's napped every single day.  Four of those days he fell asleep in the car for about 40 minutes around noon.  I let him sleep through one whole 40 minute sleep cycle whenever he falls asleep in the car.  I usually park some place shady and read.  On the two days he didn't take a car nap, he fell asleep in front of the TV in the late afternoon.  Sounds like he needs a nap to me!  He's also sleeping 10 hours at night instead of 11 on the days when he naps.  If only I could figure out some way to get him to take this short nap in his bed instead of the car or living room.  (Enforced "quiet time" doesn't work for us.)  

06/05/06

David's away for work until Wednesday.  I think Tommy and I are just going to hang around the house and do summery things while he's gone.  I have some Netflix DVDs I can watch in the evenings and Tommy has a new pool to splash around in during the afternoons.  Last year's pool blew into the roses on a windy day near the end of summer, so it had too many holes in it to repair.  The new one is hard plastic and has a built-in slide.  Tommy's quite the little daredevil.  It's been warm the last week or so (low 90s for a high), but it's so dry here that it's not all that hot once you're wet and in the shade.  I let him stay in the pool until his teeth chatter and then promise him a popsicle to lure him out of the water to warm up.  I don't want him to sunburn so he's mostly staying out of the direct sun.

By the way, he slept for 40 minutes in the living room on Friday.  Then he woke up crying and disoriented so I snuggled him in my lap.  He was asleep again after about two minutes and we sat together and dozed for another 40 minutes.  He woke up for good when David got home at 5:30.  We went out to eat since I had been holding the boy instead of cooking dinner.  He ate a record 24 meatballs at the Italian pasta/pizza/salad bar place.  He also ate a little broccoli.  His cheek still looks bruised and scabbed from his fall into the hearth, so I'm thinking that was a major factor in the unusual nap. 

It was kind of nice to hold him on my lap for a nap.  It's hard to remember what life was like when he took all of his naps on my lap.  That's what we did from the time he was 4 months old (nap laps began when we had company and I couldn't let him just sleep in the bouncy seat in the living room) until he was about 14 months old -- two naps a day, every day.  I sure got a lot of books read in those days, but it was exhausting to never get time to myself.  Now he doesn't nap at all. 

06/02/06 - later

First.  Time.  Ever.

Tommy just fell asleep...in the living room...while watching a movie.  He's never done this.  Even as an infant he would only fall asleep in the car seat or in the bouncy seat or while being rocked or while nursing.  He never just got tired and fell asleep.  This is really strange.  I don't really know what to do.  Should I turn off the movie?  Should I take a nap myself?  Should I wake him up? (no!) Should I have a celebratory cookie?  He whacked his cheek really hard on the hearth about an hour ago.  Maybe he has a concussion.  Nah.  Probably not.  I think I'll just mute the movie and go read on the couch.  Wish me luck!

06/02/06

Cute: Tommy has started adding an "ie" on the end of all his toys' names.  He plays with Sharkie and Duckie and Trainsie (my personal favorite).

Cute But Annoying: Tommy occasionally puts one hand over my mouth when I'm talking on the phone or with another adult.  He then crooks his index finger in front of his own mouth and says "shh...shhh...stop Mommy...be quiet."

06/01/06

Claudia came over for 90 minutes yesterday while her Mommy went to an appointment.  The kiddos had great fun as usual.  Tommy even ate a huge lunch.  Of course, I made a "real" lunch since Claudia was joining us and now I feel a bit guilty about Tommy's usual lunches.  He eats lunch at the table a couple of times a week, but more often he grazes on lunch meat, cold pancakes, fresh fruit and raw veggies that I set out in the living room around noon.  I guess Claudia's positive influence convinced him to sit still longer than he usually does.  He even fed himself the whole time.  He mastered spoon and fork a really long time ago, and seems to use them better than most 2.25 year olds.  However, he really doesn't like to get messy, so he only feeds himself with utensils until he gets a dollop of sauce on the edge of his mouth or until he spills one spoonful of cereal with milk.  After that, he wants us to feed him.  Claudia doesn't seem to have this hang up, so as long as she was eating and feeding herself, he did too.  Bonus!  

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