February 2006

02/28/06

Eh.  I don't have much to say today.  And it's taken me 6 hours to get this up anyway.  We've been pretty busy yesterday and today.  Uncle Terry is coming to visit this weekend, so we have to get things cleaned up a bit.  That's not really taking up much of my time, but I can't think of what else is making things feel busy.  Sorry for the delay, especially since I don't really have much to say anyway.

I ask the boy to smile, and this is what I get.

02/25/06

Snuggles after naptime.

02/24/06

Tommy wanted to eat a sandwich outside mid-afternoon yesterday.  It was actually a bit too warm for an extra sweatshirt, but it's part of his going-outside routine by now so we couldn't convince him to leave it off.

I have accidentally re-awakened the Mr. Potato Head obsession.  I found a set of Toy Story pieces at Walmart yesterday.  Tommy's favorite configuration was always the closest match he could get to the MPH on Toy Story.  The regular pieces weren't quite right, but they came close.  Now he has a MPH who looks EXACTLY like the one in the movie.  He's so happy.  He wouldn't fall asleep last night until MPH was standing on his pillow.  I moved MPH to the bedside table after Tommy fell asleep.  Unfortunately, Tommy woke up in a panic early this morning when MPH wasn't exactly where he'd left it.  I guess I should have left it in the bed and just risked falling taters and spud bumps in the night.  So far this morning Tommy has given MPH regular kisses, ugga-mugga nose rubs, tickled his feet and mustache (when asked if MPH was laughing he responded "of course!"), and fed it bites of his breakfast.  Sadly, this renewed obsession is not quite enough to completely distract him from dinosaurs.  We watched the first 20 minutes of Toy Story, but then had to switch to the Dino Rex parts in Land Before Time (yes, Dad, I broke down and bought the movie at Borders).

02/23/06

Tommy woke up at 10 last night and didn't go back to sleep for the night until after 12. He wasn't upset.  He didn't seem to be hurting or sick.  He wasn't even hyper or wound up.  He just couldn't go back to sleep.  He tried so hard to sleep.  He'd open his door, stumble around groggily until I picked him up, asked to "rock few minutes" or "pet head in bed".  I'd comfort him for 1-2 minutes, then he'd roll over and close his eyes.  I'd leave the room and just start falling asleep myself when he'd be back at the door less than 10 minutes later.  He did this 7 times between 10 and 11.  At around 12, I turned on his light, changed his dry diaper because he asked me to, and gave him some Motrin.  This seemed to wake him up more as he went running into the living room looking for his toys, but after a couple minutes protest he settled with some nursing and tried to sleep again.  He was up one more time after that, but then finally went to sleep.  He woke up at his new normal time of 6 this morning and seems perfectly happy.  David's still sick, but Tommy doesn't seem to have any symptoms.  He just couldn't go back to sleep.  Strange.

When Tommy woke up this morning, he came to the side of my bed as usual.  I was slowly pulling on my extra layers of clothes when he said "need glasses!"  I told him I'd left my glasses in his room on the Pooh table.  He said "Me get him.  Stay right here Mama."  He ran into his room and brought back my glasses.  "Here go."  I said thank you.  He said "You're welcome."  For some reason this conversation struck me as slightly surreal because it was so matter-of-fact and grown up. 

02/22/06

La!

02/21/06

My Mom brought Tommy a copy of Love Bugs, a heart-shaped pop-up book.  He immediately held it up and declared "Happy Valentine's Day!"  He does that with any heart he sees.  (Actually, it sounds like "Hap Malemtime's Day!" but we know what he means.)

When we all came home from the zoo on Sunday, Mom asked Tommy something about being home with all his nice things.  Tommy ran into the living room and said, "Me TV!  Love you TV!"  Then he hugged it.  I guess we know what his favorite thing is.

Yesterday, we were watching the Fantasia dinosaur segment...again...for the 793rd time.  It's his current obsession and I'm really starting to get sick of it.  I've tried to re-focus him on anything else, even the insipid Care Bears Movie that was on Disney Channel yesterday.  You know I've reached a low point if I'm encouraging him to watch something like that just to get a break from watching or talking about or playing with dinosaurs.  Anyway, Tommy was sitting on my lap and kept asking me where the "Dino Rex" was.  I kept telling him it would be there soon.  At one point he paused for a moment, probably because he needed to take a drink of water to refresh his vocal chords.  I said "Poor Tommy.  Are you impatient?"  He looked at me for a second and then yelled "Yes!"  Then, in a quieter voice, he said "Of course" and started asking about the T-Rex again.  I'm not sure that he really knows what the word impatient means, but he thinks he does.

David's sick again.  He's totally lost his voice.  He seems to pick something up every time he travels for work.  Last night, Tommy was begging to do the running up and down the hall thing that he usually does with David every evening after dinner.  We had this conversation about it. 

Tommy: More running? 

Mommy: No.  Daddy doesn't want to run.  Daddy's sick. 

Tommy:  Mommy sick? 

Mommy:  No, I'm not sick. 

Tommy:  Mommy happy? 

Mommy:  Yes. (Laughing, as I can see where this is going.) 

Tommy:  Mommy run!  Please!

Mommy:  Ok.

Tommy:  1, 2, 3 Go! 

02/20/06

Tommy really enjoyed visiting with Grammy and Grandpa, but he's also really ready for everything to get back to normal.

Grandpa Wayne had 24 hours alone with Tommy and me before David and my mom arrived.  They played, and played and played.

Tommy fell Saturday and gashed his chin open.  He was all about the Band-Aids for the rest of the weekend.

  Ready to ride.  Dinosaurs, sunglasses, Band-Aid and hat are all required accessories.

We went to the zoo Sunday so my parents could soak up some Albuquerque sun before returning the the frozen (Spokane) and rainy (Seattle) Northwest.  Tommy wouldn't sit in the African zoo chair with them.  Too bad.  It would have been a good picture.

Grammy got to play with Tommy a bit before she left this morning, but the boy was pretty cranky and ready to be left alone.

02/18/06

I couldn't resist putting these up right away.  See you Monday!

Aunt Erin made Tommy this great cardigan and he finally decided to wear it today.

02/17/06

My dad is here and my mom arrives this afternoon, so I might not have time to post again until Monday.  Have a good weekend!

02/15/06

Tommy loves the Scrat Teaser for Ice Ace 2.  Here's a transcript of his commentary for the teaser.

(Camera pans over the ice.)  Where is him?  Ah ha!  There is.  He climbing.  Oh no!  Tongue stuck.  Pull, pull, pull!  Whew.  Where acorn?  There acorn!  He love it.  Here come water.  (Tommy laughs hysterically as the water shoots out.)  Ooops!  Ooops!  Ooops!  Ahhh!  Lots water in eye.  He big ball now.  He flying.  Crash.  He Ok.  Oh no.  Drop acorn.  All done.  Again?  Please?

02/14/06

Happy Valentine's Day!  David left for another work trip this morning.  He'll be back Friday.  My parents will be visiting this weekend.  My Dad is arriving Thursday and my Mom is coming in around the same time David is on Friday.  I'm sure we'll have lots of good pictures to share after the weekend.

The dinosaur finding game has become more complex.  He found a different book by a different author/illustrator that has 8 common dinosaurs pictured.  He looks through all the Yolen/Teague books to find the exact matches for the ones in the new book.  He knows that there are 4 in one book, 2 in another and 1 in the third book.  It bothers him that the last one doesn't have a match so he usually just picks one.  He's started saying Dino Rex for T-Rex, Big Dino and sometimes Stega for Stegosaurus, and Certops for Triceratops.

02/13/06

Tommy Tidbits...

• Tommy has entered the toddler phase I like to call pocket love.  He is aware of his pockets and likes to put things in them.  Whenever he finds a penny on the ground he has to pick it up and put it in "me pocket."
• Speaking of pockets, Tommy put Small Buzz in his pocket this morning.  I overheard him say, "See Buzz!  Buzz ride me pocket.  Hold on tight!"  Then he ran up and down the hall for a few minutes, laughing wildly.  He stopped, checked his pocket, and asked "OK Buzz?"  After standing there for 30 seconds or so, he said "One more time!  Hold on tight!"  Then there was more running and more laughing.
• I hadn't seen Tommy for 10 minutes so I went to look for him.  He was sitting on his bed looking at books.  I sat down next to him and asked him if he wanted me to read it to him.  He said "no" and continued looking at his book.  I sat there next to him looking out the window.  Eventually, Tommy asked me, "Where Mommy's book?"  I laughed and went to get my book.  He seemed very satisfied when I sat next to him with my own book.  I guess he didn't want me hovering.  Of course, our independent reading time only lasted about 10 minutes, but it's a start!
• We were looking at a picture of a starfish and I asked him how many arms it had.  He didn't say anything, so I counted them, "1,2,3,4,5."  He grinned and said, "Good counting Mommy!" 

02/11/06

Tommy:  Cut Mommy hair? Please? 

Me:  Sure.  Use your fingers.  Like this.  Snip Snip. 

Tommy:  Snip. Snip. 

Tommy: (after a while) Use scissors? 

Me:  No!  You can't really cut my hair. 

Tommy:  Use me orange scissors?  Pretend.  Please? 

Me:  Oh.  OK.

The Epps go marching one by one.  Hurrah.  Hurrah.

02/10/06

We  tried pull-ups for the first time yesterday and they were wet after only 5 minutes.  Supposedly they have a "wetness liner" but when I asked him if he felt wet he said "nope!"  He'll probably refuse diapers completely now that he's tried on these comfy undies with Buzz and Woody on them.  Maybe he'll start feeling the difference between wet and dry after a few days.  I'm still not 100% committed to potty training.  But he pitches a fit anytime I put a diaper on him, so I thought I'd try these along with frequent offers to sit on the toilet.  It will be even easier for him to pull these off, but also easier for me to get them back on.  I'll be much more likely to let him play around with sitting on the toilet 15 bazillion times a day if I can get him back into his pants when he leaves the bathroom.  Chasing him to re-diaper every time was hindering my enthusiasm.  He hasn't yet successfully put anything into the toilet.  He just likes to be naked and agreeing to sit there is his way of getting me to let him take his clothes and diaper off.  I just wish it was warmer.  I guess we could turn the heater up.

02/09/06

I've started having trouble finding time to post.  If you were wondering why there hasn't been new stuff at the same time every morning, it's because the boy has started sleeping until 6 or 6:30 most mornings.  That's good!  He used to be a bit of a TV zombie for the first hour or so of the day.  I'd get him settled in front of Blue's Clues or Max & Ruby and then I'd write up the day's post while I waited for him to be ready for breakfast.  Now that he's spending time looking at books and postponing going to sleep at night, he's falling asleep later and thus sleeping in later in the morning.  I think he's waking up more rested too, because he's certainly ready to start playing and eating earlier.  Some nights he just reads quietly in his room and falls asleep within 20 minutes.  Other nights, like last night, it takes much longer. 

We've also started limiting his naps.  This means I have less time to myself in the afternoon.  The pediatrician suggested no more than 40 minutes - one sleep cycle - but I'm starting out with 80 minutes - two sleep cycles.  It's a big shock to me to switch him from 3 hour naps to shorter ones, but the end result should be more night time sleep for Tommy.  That should translate into more time alone for David and me...if I can just manage to use the time that way instead of going to bed early.  So far, he's still taking a long time to go to sleep but it seems to be working a little bit.  I should be able to stay up later at night soon, but my internal clock hasn't adjusted to his new schedule yet.  I'm still exhausted at 9 and then wake up at 5 and lie awake waiting for him to wake up.

So last night, he didn't fall asleep until 9:40.  I think his tummy was hurting and something was bothering him.  He just couldn't settle down long enough to fall asleep.  I eventually sat next to him listening to him talk until he calmed down.  This is what he said, more or less.  My answers to him are in parentheses.  "Mama sad?  (No.)  No tears.  Mama happy.  Tommy sleepy?  (Yes.)  Tommy scared?  (No.)  Tommy sad?  (No.)  No tears.  Tommy happy now.  Tommy sleepy.  Bed bugs? (No.)  Bed bug red...have eyes...have toes...have legs...have hands... (The bedbugs are sleeping.)  Nice bed bugs.  Bed bugs tickle?  (No.  The bed bugs are sleeping.)  Play bed bugs now?  Please?  (No.  It's time to sleep.)  Night bed bugs.  Night Mommy."  We'd been playing a tickling game about bed bugs earlier that evening.  He loves this game, so I'm not sure if something about it upset him or if he just wanted to play some more.

Playing with his piggy bank.  It's a newly discovered favorite.  "More money please!"

02/07/06 - later

He sleeps like a big boy now.

02/07/06

We may have created a new obsession.  Possibly a good one.  Tommy stayed awake looking at books for 45 minutes after we put him to bed last night.  He was so quiet I thought he was asleep, but every time I neared his door I heard pages turning and small mutterings.  I finally went in at 9:00, turned off the light, rocked him for a few minutes and settled him in bed.  We may have passed the point when he'll fall asleep reading on his own.  His books certainly had a stronger pull on him than sleep last night.  Hey, at least he slept until 6 this morning instead of his usual 5:30.

02/06/06

"Go out Mommy.  Me neading now."

02/05/06

Tommy Tidbits...

• Most rambunctious, fun book of the moment?  Tanka Tanka Skunk! by Steve Webb.  It doesn't have a story at all, but plays with the rhythm of animal names.  The chorus is "Skunka Tanka, Skunka Tanka, Tanka Tanka Skunk!"  Say it out loud and you'll see why it's so much fun.  Tommy jumps around like a madman while we read it.
• Tommy usually does his own thing while I'm showering.  Not Friday.  He pulled his little blue armchair into the bathroom, and plopped down right in front of the glass shower door, watching and waiting for me to finish.  It was rather disconcerting.
• I went in to his room Saturday night to move him from where ever he fell asleep to his bed.  I found him asleep in the armchair with the light on and a book open across his chest.  It wasn't a book from the front of the book shelf either.  He'd specifically picked it out and fallen asleep reading it.  I'm so proud.
• His new bedtime book routine involves his How Do Dinosaurs... books by Jane Yolen.  The different dinosaurs from each book are pictured together on the endpapers.  Instead of reading the books, Tommy meticulously looks at the endpapers, picks one dinosaur, and then pages through the book until he finds it.  He repeats this until he's found all of the dinosaurs, one at a time.  We help by pointing out salient features.  He's really good at this...better than I am. 

02/03/06 - later

We just got back from the pediatrician for Tommy's 2-year well-child visit.  He weighs 31.4 lbs and is 37 inches tall.  That's 96th percentile for height and 85th percentile for weight.  He's gained a little over 3 lbs and grown just a little more than 1 inch since his 18 months visit.  I suspect he was shorter at 18 months than measured because he was so wiggly then, so he's probably grown more than that.  The doctor was very impressed with his language and curiosity.  She said he was the first 2-year-old she'd ever examined who did the big breaths in and out while she used the stethoscope.  She didn't ask him to do it.  He just did it on his own, probably because he'd seen it someplace.  He also found a tube of paper under the examining table and was using it to look at different things.  Plus, he was reading with David and pointing out ocean fish in the book when she came into the room.  Good job impressing the doctor, Tommy!

02/03/06

David's home.  He caught a stomach bug while he was away.  Hopefully Tommy and I won't catch it since we've already been through one round of this sort of illness this winter. 

Tommy's new favorite book is One Monster After Another by Mercer Mayer, a birthday gift from his Uncle Benny and Aunt Erin.  It arrived last night and we read it three times in a row.  It has a lot more words in it than the other books he's enjoyed up until now, but he didn't fidget at all while I was reading it.  We've read it two more times this morning.  I guess he's ready for longer books as long as the subject matter and pictures are interesting.  He loves monsters, so this is a perfect book for him.  It even has a dodo pictured on a few pages.  He loves dodos too - strange but true.  Thanks Uncle Benny and Aunt Erin!

Have I mentioned that Tommy loves eggs?  He's been eating two scrambled eggs for breakfast every morning for the past month or so.  I think he likes them because he gets to help me make them.  He stands on his stool in the kitchen and hands me the eggs out of the carton.  "One, two eggs!  That enough?"  After I crack them, I set the bowl down on his stool, and he stirs them with a fork.  That's all he gets to do, but he seems to really like going through the routine every morning.  He always eats both eggs, and sometimes a piece of toast.  He usually asks for more eggs, but he very rarely eats any more if I cook them, so I've stopped honoring that request.

I made the mistake of showing Tommy how to fill his water glass using the water dispenser on our refrigerator yesterday.  What was I thinking?!?  Fostering independence is all well and good, but the water and ice dispenser isn't a toy.  Stupid me.  He didn't even realized he could reach it until I showed him.  Luckily there's a control lock on it.  I think I'm going to start a new rule today that he may get himself a cup of water, but may not have more until he drinks all of it.   

02/02/06

Happy birthday to me!  While we were making my cake this morning (chocolate with caramel icing) Tommy got some batter on my sleeve.  He said, "Oh no!  Mommy all muddy!  Need klenex."  He then tried to clean my arm off with the cake-mix bag.  I explained to him that the batter was chocolate, not mud.  He ran off in search of his Thomas the Tank Engine DVD with Percy's Chocolate Crunch on it.  Percy hates being dirty and gets covered in chocolate while working, learning the lesson of "usefulness before cleanliness."  I didn't know that was an important lesson to instill in the under 4 set, but apparently it is. 

Later this morning he was watching Dragon Tales.  (It's my birthday.  I can sit on the couch and read while Tommy watches TV if I want to.)  They were putting on a play in costumes so he ran off to find his Halloween costume.  Strange clothes are better than no clothes!  That's my lesson for the day.  He's now running around in his Nemo costume, eating occasional bites of chocolate cake, and occasionally yelling "Happy Birthday Mama!"  What a nice morning.  Plus, David was able to change his plane ticket so that he's coming home this afternoon instead of tomorrow.  Happy birthday to me!

02/01/06

Tommy's nursery lamp broke a couple of weeks ago, so I ordered him a new one.  The new lamp was on sale for $20.  Now I know why it was on sale.  It's a Toy Story lamp and the characters move around and talk every time you turn it on or off.  Tommy loves it.  As advertised, the sound has a separate on/off switch, but strangely the movement does not.  I was tricked!  Unfortunately, I let Tommy see the lamp before I became aware of this deficiency. If he falls asleep with the light on I can use the master power switch to turn it off without any clockwork whirring waking him up, but if I need to turn it on in the middle of the night the characters are going to DANCE, DANCE, DANCE.  At least they'll won't be singing as well.  Now I know to test everything privately before giving them to Tommy.   Maybe it will break soon.

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