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...

Putting Me Through the Wringer

LR had quite an evening. It started before his evening bath. I've been experimenting with undressing him in his room instead of the bathroom so that I don't have the pick up the clothes after the bath. It was working well until tonight. After undressing him, he sprinted off to the living room instead of the bathroom. I went to chase him down and he peed on the floor, then sat down, and put his hand in the puddle before I could get to him. I ran him to the bathroom, realized I couldn't leave him there alone; therefore, the puddle would have to stay on the floor, slowly seeping between the wood planks.

After the bath he climbed up onto the Pack N Play which was sitting on the far side of his crib. He's been doing that for a few days, but since it was no longer serving as a barrier from the wall outlet, I decided it was finally time to move the crib into the corner. That one thing snowballed and became 13 tasks I needed to accomplish before his bedtime. I cleaned out the bottom of his closet to make room for the Pack N Play. I carried the small bookshelf that had been in there out to his play area to make use of it as storage for his toys. Then I spent time cleaning and reorganizing his play area. (I know... rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.) Meanwhile LR is happily playing. Then I get back to his room to push the crib into the corner and I hear gagging on the far side of the crib. I leap over to LR and find he's throwing up with a half of a plastic Easter egg jammed in his mouth. I freed the plastic egg (and the waterfall of vomit) and got him into the bath again. Scary that things that just recently had been harmless are now incredibly dangerous. Daddy came home just in time to see me almost melt down and thankfully took LR and put him to bed. So now the outlets in his room are inaccessible once again. The Pack N Play is in a place where he won't be climbing on it any more. Finally, the plastic Easter eggs are in the trash. Tomorrow will be something else, I'm sure.

He's climbing everything!

Last night I turned around for a minute and in that time he scrambled up on his Incrediblock^TM.

I don't have much to report from the weekend since Daddy was on baby duty most of Sat and Sun. I was at a rugby coaching clinic, so Daddy got the full housewife experience. LR seemed happy, fed, and not stinky when I came home, so I assume all went well.

I Can Out Annoy My Child

Kids can really fixate on one thing and not let up. LR is no different, and yeah, it's annoying. Today I held LR at the kitchen sink because he just had to know what was going on with the dishes. I was interested in getting an Eskimo kiss, so here's how the conversation went.
"Bubbles!" said LR.
"Eskimo kiss!" I said.
"Bubbles!"
"Eskimo kiss!"
"Bubbles!"
"Eskimo kiss!"
"Bubbles!"
"Eskimo kiss!"
Finally LR turned his face toward me, smiled as if to say "geez, mom," and gave me an Eskimo kiss. Then it was back to business. "Bubbles!" he said. "Yes," I agreed, "bubbles."

I totally won.

Frozen Soccer

We got a small dusting of snow this morning, so I decided to take LR out onto the deck for some frozen soccer this afternoon. Turns out a frozen soccer ball is like a rock. He kicked it around a bit, but was really more interested in playing in the snow. Luckily, it was cold enough outside that he didn't mind coming back into the house after 15 minutes or so.

We've had 2 interrupted nights of sleep for some reason. He's woken up screaming once each night as if from a nightmare. Don't know if he's hit a new stage in development or if he's just hungry. I made sure to feed him a muffin before bed this evening just in case.

Football Day

Lots of football today. LR spontaneously broke into cheers for the Patriots. Touchdown!
And see that little orange tonka car on the coffee table? That's mine from I was little. It was my favorite which is why I kept it all these years. Know what I found this evening? A chunk of the bumper on the floor. He's getting to be such a brute. It survived 30 years and ME and in just a few months he's chipped the bumper. I might be taking my toys and going home soon.

Last night LR decided that "BucketHead" was a fun game.













It's all fun and games until it gets hooked around the back of your head.

Molars

LR has 4 molars! I feel like an inattentive parent. When did he get those? I kept careful track of his first one on his lower right side and I assumed the left side one had poked through, but I finally got a good feel around his mouth with my finger and found that all 4 were through, top and bottom. Boy was I surprised, both by the teeth and the fact that he didn't bite me. Rightfully so. If it's in his mouth, he should be allowed to bite it.

So, there is a side effect of taking LR to the new baby gym. He has discovered that everything is scalable. The dining room chairs and the coffee table are now fair game. It's a little scary, but fun at the same time.

"Ma-Ma" Finally!

Too bad he only said it while identifying his new dinner food, edamame. Dammit!

Cuddles

I never describe LR as a cuddly kid. He's boisterous and curious about all things in the kitchen. He loves reading and playing with any toy vehicle. He's not a fan of being in the crib, but at least he's started talking or singing himself to sleep instead of screaming. As for hugs, he only gives them when I ask for one and he's in a giving mood. He cuddles when he hasn't quite woken up from his nap and needs some extra down time. Kisses are only given to stuffed animals and even that he does reluctantly. Recently, however, his thick exterior is showing signs of cracking.

For the past week or two whenever a nanny leaves the house, he runs up to them while they're putting their coats on and asks to be picked up. I thought it was because he wanted to go over the gate and he knew they were heading that way, but this week I noticed that he is specifically giving them a hug. Today he wrapped his arms around Nanny M's neck and put his head on her shoulder... definitely a hug. Then she put him down and he continued on without screaming to go over the gate. I asked him where my hug was. He looked at me and went back to playing with his trains. He did the same thing yesterday with Nanny A.

Luckily, not all is lost. I've taught him the Eskimo kiss. I can't remember what made me start giving them to him last week, but now if I ask for an Eskimo kiss, he puts his face close to mine and smiles as we rub noses. It's the best.

He's not such a toughie after all.

Paper Towel Games

LR invented a game today. After lunch I was cleaning up in the kitchen when I noticed it got quiet in the laundry room where LR was playing. Since I couldn't see him I dried my hands and went to investigate. He had pulled out four rolls of Bounty paper towels and stood them up on end. Then he was navigating the rolls, trying not to knock them over. If he knocked one over he'd go back and set it back up. I added a roll to his collection and then ran to get the camera. By the time I returned, I found exactly what you see in the first photo: 2 towers of 2 rolls each. It was like finding crop circles. Did he really do that?

After stacking them, he knocked them over and I arranged them for him to run through. He went back and forth through the obstacle course for a few minutes before wanting to stack them again. He took the outside rolls and made a tower in the center that was 3 rolls high. The only photo I got of it was blurry unfortunately.

Later in the day we played Bounty Bowling. I would help set up the rolls in a triangle and he would roll the large exercise ball into them. That helped keep him occupied while I made dinner, so I know I haven't seen the last of that game. Daddy has told me about how he and his brothers invented games like giving values to their baseball cards and playing a D&D like game with them. Lego fit well in their father's guitar and matchbox cars found ramps all over the house. I was glad to see that LR has inherited his father's creativity when it comes to finding indoor entertainment. Good thing since today was cold and rainy!

Pushing His Weight

While at Costco yesterday, Daddy took LR to play in the area beyond the registers while I checked out. They headed down the hallway to the bathrooms and found one of those big metal palette carts to push around. It had two palettes on it and he rolled it about 30 feet. Then he found another one with a Whirlpool Duet washer and pedestal on it. Daddy reports that LR put his back into it, grunted a few times, and started rolling the cart. He pushed it about 5 feet before Daddy pulled him away from it. I know he had a mechanical advantage, but the kid is freakishly strong.

I know it's just a few weeks past Xmas, but I went to Toys"R"Us and got LR a plastic basketball hoop to give him something active to do indoors during the winter. I've also found a baby gym that's open in the afternoons, so that will help. LR picked it the concept of putting the ball through the hoop in no time. Now everything goes through the hoop: balls, cars, food, plastic animals, etc. I like his enthusiasm.

Daddy seems to officially have a name. Not "Da-da," but "Ga-ga." LR knows how to say the D sound, but for some reason he won't use it. Sometimes instead of "doggie" we hear him say "goggie," so there must be some confusion there. Anyway, Daddy's the first one of us to have a name. It's just so cliche.

Daily Specials

New Food: Cabbage
New Sign: Strawberry
New Stunt: Getting down from The Learning Tower. While I made dinner this evening, LR practiced getting down out of the tower by holding onto the top bar, sitting down, and scooting his butt off the ledge. He hangs for a second before he lets go. I think he can just feel the ground with his toes (or maybe sense it in a Jedi sort of way). Here's what it looks like.

Fake Laugh

LR had a tough time waking up from his nap Sunday afternoon, but I was in the middle of my nap too, so he joined me out on the couch for a little while. We've been working on getting him to nap without a bottle for 2 weeks now. You'd think it would get easier. He cries for only a few minutes for the morning nap, but in the afternoon it's hit or miss. Today he cried for 20 minutes before settling down.

Between naps, LR and I went to his first "Music Together" class. I was a little irked when we arrived because the directions to the karate studio where the music classes are held were poor. The teacher immediately pulled out an acoustic guitar which LR went right up to and wanted to play since Daddy lets him play one at home. I had to drag him away a couple of times. LR then danced in the middle of the circle and spun around until he fell down. I'm pretty sure he really enjoyed it. He also actually interacted with another little girl. She would hold out an egg shaker to him, he would take it, and then laugh his fake laugh. By the time she had handed and he had taken half a dozen eggs, his forced, fake laugh had me and the mom next to me laughing.

Putting 2006 in Perspective

This evening Daddy looked up from the dining room table and said, "we have blue spots on the ceiling." I looked up and sure enough, a spatter of purplish-blue spots dotted the ceiling above the table. I started laughing and he asked, "blueberry yogurt or red wine?" Is there really any question?
How our lives have changed...

In other news, LR slipped and whacked his chin on the coffee table last night. He split his chin so that it was just shy of needing stitches. The cut was about a quarter inch and clotted relatively quickly, so we decided that scars will be the tattoos of his generation and he'll look cooler with them. In actuality, it was so close to his bedtime, that I thought he'd be more traumatized by a trip to the ER than by a tiny scar when he's older.

Word List

A bunch of people have asked me recently about the number of words LR says. I have hand waved that he says a dozen words and signs 2 dozen. Yesterday I sat down to actually think about it and found he knows a lot more than that. I broke them down into 3 lists: sign, spoken, and understood (neither signed nor spoken). The spoken words are often clarified with a sign, so we're glad he's using sign language as well. Otherwise, "car" sounds like "cold" and "bath" sounds like "ball." Oh, and "hungry" and "big" are new signs this week.

Sign Words

water	plane	train	car
cold	bath	sun	bear
cat	hungry	dog	elephant
zebra	lion	more	again
boat	finished	fish	pancake
butterfly	hot	milk/bottle	corn
teeth	ice	ice cream	cheese
ball	Elmo	big

Spoken Words

bottle	cold	train	car
bath	cat	dog	more
again	boat	corn	teeth
ice	cheese	ball	Bob
big	elephant(noise)	fish	pancake
butterfly	chair	bib	hot
cracker	bus	bike	kick
bowl	cup	dip-dip	beep-beep

Understood Words

no	play	outside	food
Mommy	Daddy	Gigi	pizza
give me 5	Cheerios	throw	blanket
sit	animal	monkey	cow
guitar

So I guess it's a few more than a couple dozen.

Tower, Train, and Acrobatics

I broke down and bought "The Learning Tower" for LR which arrived on Saturday. Daddy put it together and LR is just a fan of climbing out of it so far. Hopefully he'll get the idea that it's to keep him at counter height with me while I'm cooking.

I pulled out the Brio set we bought him for Xmas again yesterday and he loved playing with it. We had it on the coffee table for a while, but I ended up moving it onto the floor so that he'd be able to reach all the way around the track. He's not great at keeping the train on the track, but he certainly loves trying. He also says "train!" each time the commuter train goes by our house and he's started signing "plane" when he hears a plane going over. I think those are his favorite signs right now.

Yesterday we saw him sign "water" for the first time while splashing through a huge puddle. We had to go to the rugby practice field so that I could install a new lock on the field box. It was raining and Daddy decided there was no way LR was going to stay dry, so he let him walk ankle-deep into a large puddle. As he walked into the puddle he put his hand to his mouth and clearly signed "water." Then he made it halfway through and stopped and signed "cold." That was when I realized that I didn't want to go into the puddle to get him, so Daddy and I vigorously coaxed him to the other side of the puddle. He made it but was irritated when we wanted to get him into the car. Apparently the 40 degree and rainy weather agrees with him.

This last picture is of LR from this evening. He's practicing his circus tricks. At first we thought we should stop him from doing it, but he was so careful that about it, that eventually I grabbed the camera and snapped this photo. After going up and down half a dozen times he bored of it and moved onto something else. Was fun to watch though!