LR might stand for "Little Reader"

After his bath tonight, I stepped out of his room for a minute to tidy the kitchen. When I returned I saw this. He had climbed onto the footrest and into the glider so that he could read himself his favorite book, "Ernie's Big Mess." It was terribly cute.

Inhaling Food

Could be that LR is growth spurting again. He's started eating really quickly. I'm sure I give him snacks during the day, but when dinner time rolls around, he crams food into his mouth with both hands. Today it reminded me of a sign that his Grandma Nese used to have hanging in the kitchen. It said, "Anything that takes me more than 2 hours to cook should take you more than 2 minutes to eat." Since guilt won't slow down a 17 month old, what will?

A few days ago, while suffering from a cold, eating and breathing became mutually exclusive events. Eating was an incredibly noisy event, "gulp, smack... gasp!" and then repeat. After swallowing a whole bowl of strawberries, he threw up the last few bites. He's done it twice in the past few days, so I think he's eating faster than his stomach can register that it's full.

Today he had cabbage, mac n' cheese, and avocado for dinner. I stopped giving him food after he cleaned his plate twice. Mental note: don't give him three of his favorite foods at once. He just can't stop himself.

4 Hour Nap

Not since LR was a wee little thing has he taken a 4 hour nap. Today we got up early and went to our new house for the inspection. LR ran around the snowy and icy yard for awhile and then did laps inside the house with me. He thoughtfully pointed out all the dangerous stuff: exposed outlets, unlocked cabinets with cleaning supplies, and a pantry with shelves just the right height for climbing! He especially liked the shovels in the garage and basement. We left half way through the inspection as he showed signs of flagging. He actually fell asleep in the car on the 10 minute ride home which he never does. I carried him upstairs and he didn't even wake when I took off his parka and shoes. He slept from 10:30am to 2:30pm. Yes, I checked if he was still breathing around 1:30. Although the need to check his vitals on occasion isn't quite what it was after he was first born, it's still there.

Daddy spent some quality time with LR during the afternoon while I went to rugby practice. Daddy has been working on LR's letters with him by saying both the letter and the sound it makes. He can identify a handful of them now. If we show him the letter A, he'll say "A!" If I show him a B, he'll say, "buh-buh-buh." W is another one that he just says the sound of. It's all very cute. As for words, he has a few new ones. We think he's trying to say "music" and "ga-ga," his word for Daddy, is starting to morph into "da-da."

We discovered a great new game. LR lies down on a blanket on the floor and I drag the blanket all over the floor, throwing him around. "Look at me! I'm multitasking! Sweeping the floor and playing with the baby."

Little Things

You know what's the worst about blogging? You forget to write down the greatest moments. (Especially if you're as inconsistent about blogging as I am.) Every day LR does something cool and new. Three days later I can't remember what it was. I know he's no longer a vegetarian baby and I could report that tonight was the first time he ate meat, but really it was last weekend during a trip to the grocery store when he wolfed down a slice of turkey from the deli. Tonight he had meatloaf slathered in ketchup. (Actually, he'll eat anything drenched in ketchup: green beans, pumpkin bread, blueberries.)

Three days ago he really enjoyed dancing with Kermit and I was reminded of it tonight when Daddy came home and LR could not get enough of dancing to the music coming from Daddy's cellphone. He held it to his ear as if it were a boom box from the eighties. Then he ran around his room and dragged us by the fingers if we weren't keeping up with him. He even danced to the ABC's while Big Bird sang them with his birdketeers today.

He just started enjoying hats. He wears my floppy hat around the house, but mostly to play peek-a-boo with. He tried on Daddy's hat for size and loved it. In the car the other day, the sun was right in his eyes, so I put one of his visors on and he pulled it down over his eyes at the appropriate times.
He loves the DustBuster. Can't get enough. Every time I whip it out to clean up some disaster he's created with Cherrios or cornbread, he has to take over. He runs it around until it runs out of power. I admit that I used it to occupy him yesterday while I talked to my friend in California about her brand new baby girl.

So in future posts, I will try to remember the little things. I think they might give you a better idea of who he is... a dancin', hat wearin', cleanin' machine.

Snow! Well,... Ice.

We've been trying to alter LR's nap schedule. He started eliminating his afternoon nap which is kind of the wrong one. I had the nanny push his nap out a bit and this weekend we tried to do the same. Today he slept for an hour and then woke up crying. I knew he wasn't ready to be awake and since it was going to be his only nap of the day, I wanted to make sure he went back to sleep. I selflessly volunteered to nap with him.

LR, Daddy, and I had a great time playing outside today. Daddy had the idea to shore up one of LR's favorite pull boxes and use it as a sled. (We use left over Costco boxes as pull carts for him. Attach a belt to it and voila, a way to pull LR around the house.) We covered the bottom with duct tape and put LR into his snowsuit. He's great about getting into it since he knows it means he's going outside. A little background on the weather here: on Wed we got about 6 inches of snow/sleet. On Thur and Fri it stayed below freezing. Sat it got just above freezing during the day and then froze again during the night. What looks like a giant open field of snow is actually a giant open field of ice. It didn't compress under our footsteps despite being at least 4 inches thick and it was as slippery as a frozen pond. The duct tape bottomed box slid along smoothly as we made our way to the field. For drainage purposes there is a small gully in the middle of the field. Daddy knew it would be the perfect sledding spot. Having grown up in San Diego, I defer to Daddy on all things winter.

After a few successful rides down the slope, LR decided he wanted to get out and walk. We knew it probably wasn't a great idea, but he did pretty well. He ended up on his butt a few times, but it didn't seem to bother him. (diaper + snowsuit = soft landing) The cold wind whipping across the field bothered him more than falling a few times. LR discovered that he could slide along while holding our hands just as well. He stuck his feet out straight and we held him up while walking forward. He really loved that. Then he found a stick to play with. Oh boy, a stick! We had to bring it home with us or it was going to be tantrum city. He's just started to throw some mini-tantrums. They're not bad yet and they're easily averted, but I can see they, like LR, have lots of potential.

Luring Future Consumers?

LR was completely fascinated yesterday by this ad for iPods. He made me rewind and play it about 15 times for him. If Apple's advertising department's target audience is 17 month-olds, they really nailed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKxGfLo7Cqo

Cantaloupe Hat

Yesterday morning LR wanted to add entertainment to his breakfast, so he put a piece of cantaloupe on his head and said "hat!" I thought it was cute until today when he put avocado on his head and said "hat." Cantaloupe wipes off hair easier than avocado. Who knew? After dinner I got one of my old hats for him to wear. He liked it for a little while, but I'm assuming it wasn't as good as food since he took it off pretty quickly.

We've started having trouble with nap time again. He's learned that if he throws all his blankets out of the crib and gets hysterical, I'll come back into the room. The nannies have been doing the same thing. It would only happen once per nap until yesterday. I put him in the crib and let him throw everything out. Then he screamed for half an hour. I kept waiting for him to wear himself out, but it didn't happen. The last time we needed to let him cry it out, he was six months old. He's gotten much louder since then. I finally went in and got him and he fell asleep in my arms, still hiccuping.

After a quick nap I decided to let him explore his crib a little during non-sleep time. He really enjoyed playing in his crib. He Eskimo kissed his bunny and bounced on it like it was a trampoline. Maybe it will be a less scary place now?

Changing gears: We finally got snow today! Nanny M took him out to play in the light stuff in the morning and he helped Daddy shovel later in the afternoon. His snow suit held up well, but I think I need water proof gloves for him. He got pretty annoyed that he couldn't pick up the scraper at times. (Yes, I gave him a scraper to play with. Well, shoot... the shovel was too big for him.)

After playing in the snow, we came back in a warmed up while Daddy finished his work day upstairs. LR showed me that he could pick out the iguana, urial (bearded reddish sheep of southern Asia), dolphin, flamingo, and ostrich from his animals. He can also find the letters A, R, S, and T in the alphabet. Daddy's been working with him on the sounds of those letters.

After dinner, LR showed Daddy his fort. He and I pulled out his tunnel system during the afternoon and since the coffee table is gone, there's more room for the big pieces. He really enjoyed playing with them today.

Side note: I find it endlessly amusing that blacksmith made the cut into LR's "Baby's First Dictionary: Farm" book. Were they having problems finding other things on a farm? How about carrots, soy beans, or lettuce? Where's the migrant worker? I would find that much more relevant today than blacksmith.

Bonk

LR has been learning all his body parts. He knows ears, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, knees, elbows, hands, feet, toes, and belly. Today he decided he knew the word for head. It's "bonk." Since he could first crawl under the coffee table, I've been saying "bonk" every time he hit his head on something. (With a kid like LR, that has been pretty often.) So, today he put two and two together. Head = Bonk. Makes sense. Although I'm not sure that he's actually confused by the meaning of "bonk" because he smacked me on the head, smiled and said, "bonk!" He did it again and I told him to stop, so he hit himself on the head. The rest of the evening we worked on "head," but after a year of programming him to say "bonk," I can understand his reluctance to switch.

Finally took some pictures at the baby gym when we took him this weekend. He just couldn't be happier than when he's there. He's pretty aggressive with other kids, but they all seem to take toys from each other. I also discovered that he loves my old pair of sunglasses. He thought it was pretty funny when he put them on, so I've been letting him wear them in the car. Since we're supposed to get some snow this week (finally!), he may actually need them.

No Ear Infection

LR thinks his basketball hoop is a toy he can ride. Every day he knocks it over and climbs on it. Not sure where he got the idea.

When I got home today, Nanny M reported that LR had been pulling on his ears an awful lot. I had noticed the same thing for a few days, but he also just learned the word "ear," so I didn't know whether he was showing me his ear or whether his ear hurt. Rather than risk it, I took him to the doctor. LR screamed whenever we closed the exam room door. He screamed through getting his temp taken, chest listened to, and ears looked at. He must remember the shots. As soon as I opened the door he recovered. I was going to have the doc give him the follow up flu shot, but decided it had already been an overwhelming day for him - both the doctor and LR.

LR's new trick this evening was the concept of kicking without a ball. We have a song from our music class that he likes which has verses about clapping, walking, stomping, and jumping. He started saying "kick" while balancing on one leg and then he asked for his music. I turned on the song and he practiced his new moves. I got a picture of one of his better kicks.

Daddy comes home from Kansas City tonight. *phew* That should be the end of the travel for a little while. (I hope.)

We Made It!

Daddy's home from Vienna! He passed out at 7:30pm, but he's home! LR and I made it through the Superbowl and 2 of the 6 Nations games (rugby, y'all) without him. We survived 6 days together with a little help from the TV and Toys R Us. I saw a huge number of days spanning out in front of me and a very cold front moving in, so I cracked on Friday and bought him this great easel. It has a chalkboard on one side and a whiteboard/magnetic board on the other side. Not only that, it doubles as a jungle gym. He likes crawling under and around it. Today he pushed it the length of the house while Nanny A was here. Guess it's a push cart too.







































While watching the Superbowl, LR practiced his moves.






The handoff.











The pass.












The horror of watching Rex Grossman implode.










The true sport. (Yes, I made him hold the ball, but now he can identify which are his footballs and which are his rugby balls. What a smart kid.)

Can I have some more, please?

The other day I took LR to a lunch with a couple of coworkers. After lunch we hit the new Cold Stone Creamery. As soon as LR walked in the door he rushed over to a table with two women sitting and eating their ice cream. He signed and said "ice cream!" Both women hugged their Styrofoam bowls closer and said, "no, this is our ice cream." LR was not to be deterred. He went over to them asking for their ice cream another 2 times since the service was slow and I couldn't hold him the entire time.

After we sat with our ice cream, I decided to teach him a new sign word, "please." When he asked for more, I showed him the sign for more and then added the sign for please. He's just gotten the hang of signs below his chest (e.g. baby and belly), so I knew he could handle it. Sure enough, within a few repetitions he was signing "more, please" each time he wanted another bite. My coworkers were impressed and I was pretty happy with his speedy acquisition.

Today for lunch he had grilled cheese and I made myself soup. When he saw the soup, he looked at me and signed "please?" I have no problem rewarding that. Soup it is! We tossed most of the sandwich, but it was worth it. In the bath tonight he wanted me to lean down and blow bubbles in the water. He does this by grabbing my head and a fistful of hair and dragging me toward the water. I told him that wasn't allowed and he signed "more, please?" Since that was the right way to ask, I leaned down and blew bubbles for him. I'm pretty sure he doesn't really understand the meaning of please, but the language will help fuel the understanding.

I think I have to move the coffee table into the office tonight. He's just too comfortable climbing up on it now. He even takes toys up there to play with or sit on. The other photo in this post is of LR's first finger painting experiment. It went reasonably well. He wasn't thrilled with the grocery bag smock I made him, so I may try to find a good children's one.

Chicken Soup, Hold the Chicken

Turns our LR really likes soup. He's even started saying "yum!" after the first bite of something he really likes. I bought some organic chicken noodle because both of us have runny noses, but nothing too serious. Last night for dinner, I gave him his own bowl and spoon and helped him shovel broth to his mouth. Most made it in, some contributed to a very soggy bib. He picked up the noodles, celery, carrots, and chicken pieces with his free hand to speed delivery. The chicken was the only thing he spit out. Must not like the texture or something. He also learned how to sop up broth with bread which is really useful since he's not that skilled with the spoon yet.

Last night was our first of 6 without Daddy. He's in Vienna for the week, so LR and I are on our own. Turns out I'm much more efficient without him. I even made cornbread muffins before work this morning. I don't think I've ever baked before work, but since LR had me up at 5:50am, I had time. LR was kind enough to stay fascinated by "Bob the Builder" and "Kipper the Dog" while I showered. Otherwise it turns into a game of peek-a-boo around the shower curtain and he gets a soaking. Not that he minds...