June 2005

06/29/05

I Hate Teething. So I wrote a poem.  Haven't done that in more than a decade.  Take a look and tell me what you think.  J

06/28/05

Tommy will be 17 months old tomorrow.  In honor of the occasion, here's a list of things I love about Tommy right now.

• He uses his hair as a security object to fall asleep.  I know he's tired when he flops down on the floor on this tummy, sticks his butt up in the air and starts running his fingers through his hair.
• When he wants a hug from me he puts one arm around my neck and pulls my head in towards his as fast and as strongly as he can, even if I'm in a position where this is quite difficult for me.  He does not loosen his grip until he's done hugging.
• When I'm looking for something I almost always say "Where is ..." without really meaning to ask him.  His response is to stand very still, put one index finger to his mouth and say, "hmm" quite seriously. Then he runs madly around the house looking for whatever it is, even if he doesn't know what it is.  If it's my keys or shoes, he'll usually find them before I do.
• He prances...on his tiptoes...all the time.
• He now says "hi" and "bye" instead of "heh-do" and "bye-bye".  If I come into the house after an outing he'll run halfway to me, stop and say "hi" very quickly, and then run the rest of the way.  When we turn off the TV, he says "bye" to whatever show he was watching.  When he wants someone to leave our house or if he wants to leave someplace, he starts saying "bye" to everyone.
• He never yells "no!" as many toddlers do.  It's always a serious "no-no."  If he's really mad he'll say this repeatedly, but he never really yells it.
• When he's really feeling snuggly, at least 2-3 times a day, he will try to get as close to me as possible and stay there until he feels better.  Often this means he's climbing and rolling onto me and holding on as hard as he can.
• He likes to be in the dark.  Once he's really woken up in the morning he asks me to turn off any lights I may have turned on.  Then he stands by his small table lamp and turns it on and off.  When it's off he says "dark" then says "yay!" and claps his hand.  Then he turns it back on, looks around and immediately turns it back off.  I usually have a hard time not falling asleep when the light is off.
• Speaking of, his common response to anything he likes is to say "yay!" and clap his hands.
• We nurse as part of our bedtime routine, but we always try to read some books between nursing and sleep.  When he starts dozing off, I ask him if he's ready for some books.  He has two responses these days.  Sometimes he'll look up at me, sigh "no" very quietly and then go back to nursing for just a minute or so.  Then he sits up, wraps his arms around my neck and is ready to go to bed.  The other reply is "Dada?  Book?  Yay!"  He only wants David to read him his bedtime books these days.  It's quite awkward for David because I'm sitting in the La-Z-Boy with Tommy on my lap and David is wedged between the chair and the wall on the floor.

I haven't been having much luck taking pictures the last few days.  These are the best I could come up with.

He's started stacking different kinds of blocks instead of insisting on only using one color and shape at a time.  This makes it harder for him to do really tall stacks, but I think he's enjoying the challenge of balancing the different sizes and shapes.

Rough housing with Daddy.

Checking out the bubble jets on our tub.  He's not brave enough to get in while they're running yet, but likes to stick his hands in.  Check out his farmer tan.  It's pretty impressive for someone related to me.  I think he'll tan pretty easily, but he's limited by my tendency to burn.  We always move into shade or put on sunscreen if I think I'll need it, so he never really gets a chance to burn or tan.  I'm such a good mother by accident!

06/25/05

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  It's been so hot!  You know how the heat makes me cranky.

"Noggin!"  Tommy's new quirk is head butting us as a sign of affection.  He picked it up from the sea turtles on Finding Nemo.  He does it very gently, and often holds our heads still with one hand on either cheek.  

06/22/05

It's been super hot lately.  Last night's rain really cooled things off so it was very nice this morning.  Tommy happened to wake up asking about the zoo, so I decided we'd spend the morning there.  We went after his nap last week, but 1-3 is not the best time to be at the zoo when it's in the 90s.  I thought we'd try a morning trip today.  It could have been a big disaster since he usually takes his one long nap of the day in the late morning.  He ended up having lots of fun and managed to stay awake long enough for me to feed him an early lunch.  Hopefully he'll take a really long nap.  It doesn't usually work very well if I push his nap too late.  He's really started enjoying outings like this lately, and pays close attention to everything we see.  Then he talks about it all for days afterwards. 

This is a garden area with bugs in terrariums next to examples of habitats.  Tommy almost fell in the pool as I was getting the camera.  His arms are wet to the shoulder.   I had thought this was a hand-on toddler exhibit, but I guess I was wrong.  Right after I took these pictures we got in trouble.  The zookeeper was very unhappy with me for letting him play in the water.  What's the point of having a nifty fountain with water plants and river rocks at toddler level if they can't touch it?  There wasn't a fence around it or anything.  I guess they don't want him to get any strange water-borne illnesses.  Either that or they figured that any mother who would let her toddler almost fall in the water while she got her camera might be spacey enough to let him actually fall in and drown.  

  Checking out the peacock.

He's really good at throwing pellets into the water for the birds and fish to eat.  Right after I took this picture, the swan bit Tommy's hand.  It didn't break the skin but he wasn't as excited about feeding it any more.

Tommy was content to drop pellets and watch the ducks eat for a few minutes.  Then he started throwing the pellets at the ducks.  He has very good aim.  Many of them bounced off the ducks' beaks.  The started running away eventually, but Tommy charged after them throwing pellets.

Of course we saw all the big zoo animals too, but it's too hard to take pictures of them when I'm there by myself.

06/21/05

It seems the TV problem was more me than Tommy.  We just kept it off most of the time all weekend and he never really got too upset about it.  I fudged a little on the 2 hour limit today since it's raining and I'm feeling cranky.  Just knowing that he isn't really addicted to it, and that he'll accept it semi-gracefully when I say "no" makes me feel better about the whole thing.  I'm still going to try really hard to stick to a 2 hour per day limit, but I'll let myself bend that rule when I need to.

In other news, I talked to the pediatrician today about the whole jury duty forcing me to wean him thing.  She agrees that extended nursing is a very good thing emotionally and physically for the boy and together we came up with a few options.  It's not really anybody's business when or why I wean him, but I'll probably let you know what I decide just because some of you might be interested.  For those of you who are icked out by nursing after the first birthday, well, you don't have to read about it.  J I'll write more about this later.  

Oh, and Tommy weighs 26 1/2 lbs now (65th percentile).   I think he's about 32 1/2 inches tall (75th percentile).

Tommy got to play in the rain today.  Once again, he was not wearing pants.  Happens a lot around here.

06/18/05

The Great Tommy TV Turn Off is going well.  We decided against going cold turkey.  Turning it off completely would break the habit faster, but we decided it wouldn't teach him the things we really wanted him to learn.  Plus, it might seem too much like a punishment.  Our main goals were 1) to reduce his viewing to a moderate level of about 2 hours a day and 2) to stop the screaming whenever we say no to TV requests or turn off the TV.  Unplugging the TV for a week wouldn't accomplish those things.  Yesterday was an absolute success.  He watched 45 minutes after breakfast and about an hour after a long afternoon at the aquarium and botanic gardens.  We spent most of the day out to avoid long stretches at home when he would normally ask for the TV.  We'll keep that sort of routine up all weekend and then I'll see how it goes on Monday when David's back at work.  He's been surprisingly happy, so maybe he just got into a nasty cycle of feeling bad and watching too much TV which then made him feel even worse.

Welcome to my humble abode!  Come in!  Mi Casa Su Casa!  As usual, when worried about a problem I decided to throw some money at it.  I've already mentioned the craft supplies.  I also bought this nifty house-shaped tent.  Tommy LOVES it.  David thinks it looks a little girly (thus the camo pants.)  Hey, if it distracts the boy from TV then it's a good purchase (besides, it only cost $30).

We also moved him from his high chair to this bumper seat to combat the mealtime screaming.  He was throwing fits every time.  He NEVER did this before the trip and this current round of teething.  We thought of all sorts of reasons for the behavior -- teething pain makes eating hurt, doesn't want to stop playing, mad that he and I were alone for meals while David was out of town -- but we weren't having much luck defining the problem.  We gave up on figuring out why and just started changing things in an attempt to re-set Tommy's reaction patterns.  The new chair seems to have worked.  He's still not eating as much as he did a month ago, but at least he not screaming and fighting when we try to sit down together.  It's very important to me that mealtime never be a battle zone for us.  We've never forced him to eat or to stay at the table when he's unhappy, but it is expected that he participate in every meal.  He's always done so happily before this little bump in the road.  

06/16/05

The Great Tommy TV Turn Off begins tomorrow.  I'm only writing about it here so I can't wimp out.  He's been totally out of control since the trip.  I know that teething and other stuff lie at the root of the problem, but unlimited TV is not the answer.  I don't know how I can continue to be such an absolute failure in so many areas of parenting -- first it was sleep, now it's TV, and soon I'll have to wean him at the worst possible age to do so (I have jury duty in August).  Eh, I guess you reap what you sow.  I participated in a lot of "I can't believe she does that" conversations about other moms before I had Tommy.  Now I'm the mom everyone rolls their eyes about.  Anyway, the ideal has always been a short TV session in the morning so I can do a few household things and then another session before dinner so I can cook.  Since Tommy can literally sit there for 3 hours, alternately watching and playing by himself, I occasionally just kept doing my own thing longer than I should have.  Most days, however, I turned it off after an hour or so and we did other fun stuff for most of the day.  Sure, he'd ask for a movie occasionally during the day.  Since he always asked nicely, using his language skills (yay!) and saying please (yay!), I'd turn it on just for a little while.  Lately, though, he throws such fits when I turn it off or if I say no when he asks for it.  His teething pain and worries about David being out of town, our travels, and his year-and-a-half old nature have turned it into a major coping mechanism for him.  He never wants me to turn it off.  He screams.  He doesn't want to go for a walk.  He doesn't want to play.  He doesn't want to eat anything unless it's set out on the coffee table in front of the TV.  He screams.  He cries.  I know.  Totally out of control.  Yes, I'm THAT MOM with THAT CHILD.  So, we're doing something about it.  Cold turkey.  It's going to be a miserable 3-day Father's Day weekend for David.  Wish us luck!

Last hurrah.  He doesn't know what tomorrow will bring.

06/14/05

I spent $40 on arts and crafts supplies at Wal-Mart yesterday.  Hopefully the things I bought will help to entertain the boy with "something new" for the next couple of weeks.  We've already broken out the sidewalk chalk, play do and coloring books.  I'm saving the water colors and finger paints for the weekend.  I need to choose an article of clothing to become his smock first.  As Hobbes the tiger once said, I love the word smock.  Smock.  Smock.  Smock.

The table is actually on the tile, not the carpet.  I was smart enough to do that. I wasn't smart enough to only open one color. Now he's going to want ALL the colors every time, and they're going to get all mixed together.   

06/13/05

Happy birthday Ben!  My brother is now married and 28 years old.  (I would say that this makes him old, but since I've been married almost 10 years and am 31 years old, I'm kind of in a glass house.)  Tommy says, "Yay!  Uhn Beanie!  Wow!"

We played with bubbles last night.  Tommy can actually blow them himself if we hold the stick for him.  Pretty impressive, don't you think?  I took tons of pictures, but never got one that shows both Tommy's face and a bubble he blew himself.  

While Tommy was impressing us with his bubble blowing skills I started thinking about all the cool things he can do now that he's 16 1/2 months old.  I haven't been around many kids that age, but it seems to me like he can do a few things that most of the babies we see at the mall can't do.  Of course, I'm a normal parent and think my baby is the smartest, most talented, most beautiful, funniest, sweetest baby around.  All parents feel that way from time to time.  I just thought I'd share some of the great things he can do since I seem to spend a lot of time complaining on this website when he's cranky or doesn't sleep or is frustrating.  As my mom constantly says, "He's such a good boy!".  I agree and I'm sorry if I don't say it often enough here.

• He can go up and down single steps/curbs without holding onto anything.  He can run across the park, step/jump off a curb and continue running.  He can also go up and down stairs as long as there is a railing or hand to hold.  He only goes down steps backwards on his hands and knees if the setting seems very different to him.
• He's been stacking blocks for a really long time now, but in the last couple of months he's started to only stack one type of block at a time.  If I set a rectangular red block on the table he'll sort through all the blocks to find the other rectangular red blocks and add them to the stack.  This is something he started doing on his own.  I never asked him to do it.  He just thinks a stack should be of only one kind of block, and sometimes gets upset if you try to add a different kind of block to his stack.  He can easily stack blocks as high as his head without knocking them over.
• I've mentioned before that he can be trusted to drink from an open cup and from water bottles without spilling.  He can now unscrew a loosened bottle cap, drink, set the bottle down, and replace the cap.  He doesn't understand how tight the cap has to be to avoid spilling yet, but he can easily screw caps on and off by himself.  Oh, and he can also drink from a straw.  That doesn't seem impressive to us, but someone mentioned to me that it was a big deal.  He can also drink from a hose without getting too wet.
• He can sit in a booster seat instead of a high chair without falling.  We don't use them much yet, because we still feel like we have to watch him really carefully.  He's going to outgrow his high chair soon so we're glad he has the skill.
• He still knows how to snap, but I mentioned that one a few months ago.
• He can open a DVD case, press on the center button to release the disc, take it over to the DVD player, rip off the babyproof cover, press the "open" button, place the disc into the player and press the "close" button.  He hasn't figured out how to make the disc play yet.  He's not allowed to do this without supervision, but he still does it when he knows we aren't looking.  We're thinking about buying a new cabinet for the TV so that he won't have easy access. 
• He's quite adept as using a spoon and fork.  He still spills if the food is messy enough, but really doesn't want to use his fingers on anything for which we use utensils.
• He can blow his nose in a tissue and will ask for a tissue if he thinks he needs one.
• He is very good at throwing balls and understands how to play catch.  He can't catch yet, but will throw the ball to you and wait for you to throw it back.  He gets pretty frustrated when he finds another toddler to play with, throws a ball to them and they won't throw it back to him.  (Most 1-year-olds won't throw as it involves giving away a toy.)  He can also dribble a small nerf soccer ball with his feet all the way down the hall.
• He pretends to count, but he says "nee" for each number.  I don't know where he got the word, although it might be the "n" sound of "one".  He sets objects down in a row and says "nee" for each.  He'll also point at objects in order and say "nee" as he "counts."
• He says "please" if prompted.  No luck with "thank you" so far.
• If you hand him half of a peeled orange, he can separate the segments to eat them.
• He understands and uses some preposition pairs correctly -- up/down, open/closed, in/out, on/off.
• He can say, point out and recognize many of colors, although he's not completely consistent with this yet.  He knows blue, green, red, yellow, orange and purple, but is most proficient at recognizing and saying blue.

06/12/05

I'm giving up on trying to write Tommy-commentary for the remainder of the wedding trip.  The poor boy is just beside himself trying to cut his four cuspids all at the same time.  I'm sure you all understand and forgive.  I'll just say that Ben & Erin's wedding was wonderful and they put a lot of work into making it a meaningful and beautiful event.  Here are the rest of the pictures.

Tommy was pretty unhappy at the rehearsal dinner because we wouldn't let him run around freely -- it was super muddy.  His smart Daddy figured out that playing with ice was great fun.  Tommy was much happier after that.

We look a little bit alike, don't we?

  Left to Right: my Dad, me and Tommy, my Granny (Dad's mother), my Mom, Jack & Bonnie Estes (Mom's friends), my Aunt Inga (Mom's sister-in-law)

  Wedding outfit shots.

  Tommy with Grandpa Wayne

Tommy was quite intrigued by the lollipops Ben & Erin had as table favors at the reception (along with a nifty paper fan and a CD of their favorite songs).

My baby brother got married!\

Luckily my Mom sent me this picture of Ben & Erin at the reception.  I didn't manage to take any of them together.  Chasing after Tommy certainly cramps my photographic style, and we had to leave the reception really early because Tommy was exhausted.  (Yes, Ben, I know you have a goofy expression on your face.  One picture is better than none don't you think?  Send me some of your official pictures and I'll make a page just for you.)

06/09/05

Yesterday was a much better day.  The boy took a FOUR HOUR NAP.  He must have really needed the sleep.  The long nap resulted in happily eaten meals and no TV all afternoon.  That nap must have really helped.  I actually got to play with him for a long time -- something I don't get to do when he's too cranky to play.  We spent a long time outside water painting the concrete.  Once his clothes got wet the little nudist wanted them OFF.  I kept him out of the sun most of the time.  The downside to his amazingly long nap yesterday was a wake-up time of 4:30 this morning.  He's been super cranky again all day today.  Ah well, at least we had a good day yesterday, and David gets home tomorrow.  (By the way, I'm still gathering the energy to finish the trip pictures and commentary.)

06/07/05

Just pictures tonight.  I don't have an ounce of wit in me for Tommy commentary.  David had to leave on a business trip the day after we got home from the Kansas trip so I've been dealing with the trip-shocked, exhausted, teething boy all by myself.   Sadly, he walloped his face on the tile right before his bath tonight.  He's never had a fall result in so much blood before.  He had a bloody nose and a gashed lip.  I think he's OK because the bag of frozen vegetables I used as an ice pack seemed to be an exciting distraction.  He didn't let me put it on his lip or nose, but he did eat a quarter of the bag while in the bathtub.  This was after a day of very little nap and lots of crankiness so I'm pretty tired now.

The wedded couple to be, Uncle Benny and Aunt Erin

Great Granny

Grandpa

Grammy

  He got a kick out of the Kansas rain.  "Rat-a-tat-a-tat," he says.  He's snapping his fingers along with the sound of the rain.

  Swimming in the hotel pool with Daddy

06/06/05

Tonight's installment of The Trip has been preempted by a Chairman Kaga impression.  Iron Chef!  Allez Cuisine!

06/05/05

The Trip, Part One 

by Tommy

(translation by Mommy)

Dino.  Ba pack.  Eh pane!  Vroom!  (My new dinosaurs were in the backpack.  We rode in an airplane and a car.)

Mama!  Papa!  Ding!  Tuckatuckatucka choo choo!  (Grandma and Grandpa have some of Daddy's old toys.  I especially like the cash register and the train.)

Tickatickaticka!  (Grandma is good at tickling me.)

Papa? Papa? No.  (Grandpa had to go to work one day but I kept asking for him until he came back.)

Dog!  Dog!  Dog! Arf! Arf! Bird! BockBockBock! Meow!  (We spent one evening on the farm and I had so much fun!  I was very impressed by the giant white dog.  I was brave enough to pet him.  I didn't like the ostriches so much, but the Guinea Hens were really fun to chase.  I chased them all around the farm and into the trees and underbrush.  I yelled Bock really loudly so they'd think I was a chicken too.  I chased some cats, but they never let me catch them.)

Moo? Memo? Moo?  (All I want to do is watch movies, especially Finding Nemo, because I'm getting four new teeth and I don't like being away from home.)

Muh? Mama? Muh?  No!  (Mommy, I want to nurse ALL THE TIME because it makes me feel better.  No, I don't want to eat anything else.)

Behd.  Oing.  Memo!  Num num num.  (My clever Grandma stood next to me and fed me bites of Cinnamon bread and oranges while I was watching Finding Nemo.)

Donoh!  Buhguh!  (On the last day, they took me to WalMart and McDonald's.  I ate a whole cheeseburger, a bag of apple slices, most of Grandma's fries and a carton of milk.  My teeth magically stopped hurting while we were there.)

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