Jammie J's Quest

February 10, 2015 · 12:15 pm

Growing Pains.

Last night William woke, crying, around 10:30pm (after having been asleep since 7:45pm), Tony went to soothe him, but nothing he was doing was working. I was downstairs working on taxes, so I saved my work and turned off the computer. I headed to William’s room to talk to him. He said he wanted to nurse, but he kept flexing his legs and crying, so he wasn’t maintaining a latch.

He continued to cry, sobbing out answers to me as I asked him questions. He told me his knees hurt. I asked him if it felt better if he extended his legs, or curled them up, he said both hurt. I set him on his feet and asked him if it hurt more to stand up, he said it didn’t. I asked, while rubbing his calves, if it hurt there, he said no. I asked if his foot hurt and rubbed the bottom of his feet, he said no. After a few minutes of this, him still crying and flexing his legs, I determined that we should give him some Advil and that I would lay down with him so he could stretch out. I let him know that I would only be staying until he was relaxed and asleep, and then I was going to my bed, so that if he did awaken later, he wouldn’t freak out because I wasn’t there with him. He calmed down after a bit, still flexing his legs, and as the medicine took effect, he relaxed and curled up against me and drifted off back to sleep.

I left his room, concerned, so I started researching on my phone, because I had recently finished a course of Ciprofloxacin, which does transfer to breastmilk in small amounts and one of the side effects of that can be joint development in infants… but my doctor felt that since he’s a nursing toddler he would be OK, and my research at the time of prescription bore that out.

However, in my research last night, I came across an article on this site on WebMD about growing pains vs. childhood arthritis. ( http://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/features/growing-pains-or-childhood-arthritis?page=2) It was an informative article, and I felt educated, until I got to the last paragraph. I found myself wondering WHY WebMD decided that paragraph needed to be included… to me, it was such an unexpected inclusion, and was not related to the issues they were discussing at all. In my opinion, it stepped across the line from educating about medical issues to warning about parental choices. I actually felt kind of insulted, because it’s those types of things that lead a parent to not trust your child, to doubt your parenting choices, and can ultimately drive a wedge between you and your child by making a person question whether or not they’re doing the right thing by responding to children when they cry in the night. I have a tendency to look at relationships with a long-term lens and I wonder if these “doctors” factor in the fact that relationship foundations are laid when a child is this age, and what happens when these toddlers are teenagers? Doctors encourage parents to establish boundaries for night time sleep, laying the groundwork for good sleep for the future. I wonder if they ever think about the fact that when kids turn into teenagers, a whole lot of them turn into night owls, and they do the majority of their thinking and emotional growth at night. And what if you, as their parent, are not available? They will find someone to talk to, and it won’t be you.

The way I see it is, at this age children are just learning to communicate, and how on earth does Dr. Vogler know beyond a doubt whether children experience growing pains every single night? They might. And even if they don’t, what is wrong with responding to your child when they cry? Just because it may not be a physical need, but an emotional one, does that make their need less valid somehow? In William’s example, I’m still not sure if it was his knees that were hurting him (joint pain), or his bones lengthening, because I’m not even sure how *I* would describe my bones hurting me to someone, and I have a much vaster vocabulary than he does at 3. So, if we (as parents/ adults), assume that a child is getting “spoiled by late night attention” or “overindulged” and refuse to go to them, doesn’t that cut off the ability to communicate, which is the heart of any relationship?

Anyway, after researching all this and talking to a couple friends whose kids have had growing pains, I think we’ll take a wait and see attitude on this. Although, now, since I was a late bloomer, I find myself wondering if all the knee pain I had when I was a teenager was, in fact, growing pains.

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Filed under Our Kid is Cute, Parental Theory

February 6, 2015 · 10:40 am

The Sick. It won’t Go Away.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve been non-stop sick like this. It’s getting to the point of ridiculous. It all started when we went to Disneyland for William’s birthday. Because we ALWAYS get sick when we go to Disneyland. I just expect it. William got The Sick first. Of course he did. He’s the kid. That’s what kids do. If I were a jerk, I’d just say that he’s a walking petrie dish… but I’m not, so I’ll just say that his immune system isn’t fully developed, so he’s more susceptible to germs. Poor thing.

ANYWAY, so, yeah. That was on December 6th. I went to the doctor and was told there was nothing that could be done, just gotta tough it out. Fantastic! I’m always thrilled to spend a $20 copay to be told I’m a wuss.

I overheard that people in our accounting department have had multiple rounds of The sick… so it’s going around at work, too. Yippee!

Then we got The Sick again over the holiday break. I even had my payroll department to change one of my “vacation” designated days to “sick time” because I spent time visiting the doctor and was smart enough to actually get a note from him to prove it. But he basically told me the same thing as before, just gotta suck it up and deal.

Then, on January 1, I changed doctors and made yet another doctor visit on 1/4. This time I got antibiotics and got better, but 5 days after the antibiotics were gone, I got Sick. Again. That was mid-January, so I got different antibiotics (after another doctor visit).

Then I found out that the guy who is over the cubicle wall from me was sick, so I wasn’t really surprised when, ON THE VERY LAST DAY OF MY ANTIBIOTICS, I got The Sick AGAIN. And here I am. Sick. I am livid about The Sick.

So, I’ve decided that henceforth, this shall be my new outfit.

That won’t look strange at all, will it?

4 Comments

Filed under Health/Endo, I feel Amused, I Worry A lot

January 10, 2015 · 7:34 pm

Queen Mary Chill

Backing out of the garage this morning, I went through the list… “Do we have our coats? The stroller? Water? Snacks?” Yes! So, we’re halfway down the hill and I notice sprinkles on the windshield… “Do we have umbrellas in the car?” Uhhh, no. This is California. It doesn’t rain here!

Yet, all the way, as we drove to Long Beach, there was definitely rain on the windshield. And, even if you try to deny it, say, by not using your windshield wipers, it is still rain!

We arrived at the Queen Mary early, like at 9:10 AM (they opened at 10:00 AM), and we wandered around for a little while and then headed over to wait in line to get into the Village. William was anxious with anticipation to get in, so I handed him my watch to keep an eye on it for the last 10 minutes. He told us he’d let us know when it was 10 o’clock. I was surprised when they actually opened the gates about 3 minutes early… thank goodness.

We hustled past the Christmas decorations and bouncy houses so we could be the first in line for the ice sculptures. When we did this event a couple years ago (link), the line was really long to get into the ice sculptures and the workers were really grumpy (to be fair, it was the end of the day). This year, I even went down the ice slide and that was really fun! Overall, this was a far better experience than last time, although, sadly, there were far fewer ice sculptures this year.

Admission to their Chill event included their village (that they decorate for each holiday) (that we had bypassed in our rush to the ice sculptures), and they had a couple bouncy houses (one that was shaped like the Queen Mary… it had a super weird entrance that kind of gave you the feeling like you were being rebirthed haha) and the other was a candy cane obstacle bouncer. William was disappointed that neither of them had anything to climb.

They also had a wave swing ride that came from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. I kind of wanted to go on it, but I knew if I did that William would want to go on it, and we just weren’t confident that he would have been OK with it. William said he wanted to, and he said he’d be fine all by himself and I think he would have been fine, but Tony said the ride looked scary and he didn’t want to be “those parents” with the freaking out kid. Sometimes it sucks to be responsible parents. (sigh)

We self-toured ourselves through the Queen Mary, walked to the bow and then went up top and splashed in puddles. We headed back to the Chill event to find some lunch, because I’m far too cheap to spend $20 on a mere sandwich just to say we ate on board the Queen Mary. So we had a huge chicken skewer in the village with a view of the Queen Mary and rain pouring down on our heads. Because I was in denial at that point, because my iPhone told me it wasn’t raining.

Overall, it was a good event… however, next year, if we do it again, I hope they will have more ice sculptures, like they did when we went in 2012. Although, even with the ones they had, it was impressive. I think I’d like to try to go during the month of December, because in January, there were no performances, no carolers and no Santa.

Link to more pictures, so you can feel like you went with us can be found here: LINK

3 Comments

Filed under Best Husband, I did something Special, Our Kid is Cute

January 9, 2015 · 2:39 pm

Letter to our 3 Year 1 Month Old

Dear William,

On January 8, 2015, you turned 3 years and 1 one month old.

Statistics and Developments:
You were measured at the doctor’s office as being 42″ tall and weighing 42 pounds. You are in size 4T pants and shorts and size 5T shirts and footed pajamas.

Developments:

I’ve found it very helpful, before we get out of the car to go in anywhere, to communicate in detail what we’re planning to do, and what I expect you to do. For example, we’ve implemented a change this month… before, after we had eaten at a restaurant, we allowed you to run on the sidewalk outside the restaurant, supervised of course, and as long as it wasn’t super busy. However, we realized that was causing an inconsistency in caregivers allowances and causing you confusion, since Grandma D. doesn’t let you do that. So now, I’ve told you, “After we eat, we cannot run on the sidewalk. However, if you need to run, you may tell me that and request to go to a park.” Then when we go to the park, I tell you that when I ask you to leave, I expect you to tell me, “Thank you for taking me to the park, mommy.” And to leave without any troublesome truck shenanigans. Incorporating Thomas the Train lingo has been very useful!

When we went to Walmart, you requested to walk (rather than being carried or put in a cart). You held my hand the entire time we went through the store and really enjoyed walking along beside me. Your father shared with me that he took you to Walmart and you were singing a Christmas song and you stopped mid-lyric, and someone rounded the corner and finished the song for you. Because no one can leave a song unfinished.

Firsts:

First time you rode on a roller coaster!

First time you blew your nose.

First time you blew out your own birthday candles… and wanted to blow out the Advent candles. Before blowing them, you asked if they were birthday candles.

First time you blew your harmonica successfully.

First time having orange juice. We made it freshly squeezed with a juicer!

Sleep & Health:

You were sick earlier this month and spent the night before your birthday party waking up every few hours because your nose was so stuffed up. I was worried about your party the next day, but you were a champ and had a total blast.

Then, you got sick again after Christmas and ended up with a fever, double ear infection, bilateral conjunctivitis and acute sinusitis. That landed you with a doctor visit and a prescription for antibiotics. Even though it was exhausting, because you woke up several times in the night and I ended up sleeping in your bed, it was a treasure to be able to hold you in the night and just by my presence there somehow make you feel more reassured.

Nourishment & Nursing:

Your obsession with candy canes has continued this month. You also were interested in frozen blueberries this month… it’s been awhile for those.

Nursing is about the same as last month. You still really enjoy nursing time and I’m so grateful that we were able to experience a 4th nursing Christmas vacation with you.

Things we Did this Month:

12/13 – your 3rd birthday party
12/14 – day (mostly) with mommy
12/22 – Legoland (with Mommy)
12/23 – 12/26, hung out with family for Christmas

Things I want to remember:

When I asked you if you are you a big airplane? You replied, “No, I’m a little airplane.”

You have become a somewhat emphatic communicator this month, and you told me one night that, “If you don’t give me a candy cane you will be in big trouble!”

You were feeding your father one evening at dinner, and it was so funny because you were an “empathetic eater,” opening your mouth as wide as you wanted him to open his.

We introduced glow sticks in the bath tub this month, and it was fun to see what your imagination made of them. One evening, as you dipped them in and out of the water, they were whales and dolphins.

We also introduced bath salts this month, and you think it’s great fun to dump a tube of epsom salts in the water and then watch them dissolve away.

I love listening to your medleys of Christmas songs, some of them stopping mid-song, others with your invented words and yet others when you get stuck on the lyrics and repeat them over and over again.

How, on all our Christmas musical decoration items, you know just how many times to push the button to get to the song you want to hear.

How when you father got sick and slept on the couch over Christmas, you brought him all your toys and laid them out all over his body. With every toy you placed, you exclaimed, “That didn’t wake him up!” And then you went off in search of another toy. He had quite a pile of toys on him by the time you were done, and he didn’t wake up from any of it.

One of the days in December, I was home sick. Your grandma D. came over to take you to your MyGym class. About 45 minutes in advance, I gave you a heads up that she was coming over. You crawled on my lap and frantically nursed, switching sides and saying every time you switched, “I’ve got to nurse before Grandma gets here.” It was hilarious… and when grandma got here, you (remarkably) left with her with no problem, but asked me several times if I would be here when you got back.

One of my symptoms was laryngitis… so, I was whisper reading your books to you, and paraphrasing them because they are too many words. You started whispering back to me. One morning, in my whisper voice, I told you, “You’re a sweetpea.” You replied, insulted, “I’m not a pee pee, mommy!”

Sitting here, you finished your yogurt. I asked you to hand me your spoon to get the last bits of it out of the container, and you turned your head, spoon still in your mouth, along with a grin and handed your spoon to me with your mouth.

How sweet you are to our cats. We took one of our cats to the vet earlier this month, and all the way there, you were reassuring her, “It’s going to be OK, Buggy. The vet is going to make you better. Do you hear the crickets, Buggy?” We got there, and came in the door and you told the receptionists, “Here’s Buggy. She needs to get better, OK?” I was holding you as you noticed their Christmas tree and you looked at it for a minute and then asked them, “Where are the cats?” It was only dog ornaments. The lady came around to show you their 3 measly cat ornaments and you were slightly appeased, and she reached to hold you, saying “You’re so cute!” You pulled back into me and gave her a frowny face with the imperative statement of, “I’m not the cat.” You pointed at Buggy in her carrier and said, “That’s the cat. SHE needs to get better, not me.”

How when we took you to the doctor, all the way into his office, despite how ill you were, you were dancing along saying, “Yay! Yay! Yay! I’m going to the doctor! He’s going to make me feel better!”

When we went to my doctor, you told him, “Mommy doesn’t feel good. You need to make her feel better.”

Then when we went to my doctor a second time, you were playing with your toys and I went to get in my car to leave. You hustled yourself out into the garage, opened my car door, moved my purse off your seat and got into your car seat. You informed me, in no uncertain terms, that you were going with me. I told you I was going to a boring place with a bunch of sick people and that the wait would be long and there would be no toys. You still insisted you were going with me. Helpless, I looked to your father, and he said he would meet us there to watch you. When we got there, you looked around and then asked me, “Are all these people sick?” You actually did really well waiting, but when I went back to see the doctor, you didn’t understand that you didn’t get to go back to see the doctor with me and you got very upset about it. I felt badly that we hadn’t prepared you better for that.

At gymnastics, you were afraid to do a flip up on the high bar. But after the 2nd day, you let Mr. Steve help you and you did it. And the feeling of accomplishment you had in yourself, huge smile every time you saw it on the video that your Grandma took of it.

Then, for the next two days, you created “skill stations” around the house. One of the more hilarious skill stations involved you sitting on a cat scratching post and narrating, “OK, so, COME ON UP HERE, MOMMY! So you sit here, put your head here and your hands here and lean this way. Are you trusting me?” And me, shaking so hard from laughing, because really? You just had a cat post up your butt and did not look comfortable in any way.

You pull out the packaging air bubbles and jump on them and make a huge popping noise.

Conversation: Excuse me, William, why are you holding your penis. You replied, as you moved your hands, I’m not; I’m holding my knees. Me, Oh, excuse me… an obvious case of mistaken identity.

How cute it was that when we went to the pet store for cat food, they gave us a bag of cat toys. Fascinated, you inquired about them. We told you they were Christmas presents for the cats. You proceeded to point at each toy and specify which toy was for which cat. Snuggy (aka Grumpy) rated 3 toys. And, when we asked you later about the toys, you specified the same exact ones for each cat.

You got your first bee sting a couple months ago, and every time we go to that park and you see that slide, you carefully examine the slide and ask, “That bee’s not gonna sting me, right?” This actually makes me sad that you are scared of the slides because of the bees.

You like to tell me when you’re singing songs that, “I’m singing handsome.”

How you informed us one night, “I’m growing taller and taller and soon I’ll be daddy. When I’m daddy, I’ll sleep in daddy’s bed and I’ll be as tall as the fan. And soon I’ll be able to turn on Cars movie!” That last part is especially funny, because we use a projector and the on button for it is way up high above our heads.

You also really enjoy rinsing the dishes off so they can go into the dishwasher, and one evening while you were doing that you told me, “Someday, I’m going to scoop cat poop, too, just like daddy!” This, I’m sure, thrills your father beyond words.

You also love juicing oranges and making orange juice. And then you want to put a banana in it and press the button on the blender. You hear the juicer and come running as fast as you can!

We found board books shaped like vehicles with wheels and everything at Target. You had one of a school bus when you were 12 months old from your godmother, but it disappeared somewhere. We were thrilled to find these and they are one of your favorite toys.

How at the end of Christmas day, you told me, “I’m sad about Christmas, I’m crying about Christmas.” When I asked you why, you said, “Is my train table going away?” I said no, you get to keep it. Apparently, you thought that because Christmas was over, Santa was going to come and take all your new toys away. Also, apparently, Santa isn’t the giver of toys, but the taker of toys.

As we walked out to the car after Christmas, you saw Christmas lights in the distance and asked to go look at Christmas lights… and the big, big snowman. You remembered one of the yards we saw last year had a big snowman in it. It seemed like a good ending to Christmas Day, so we did indeed go look at Christmas lights.

Before your bath one evening, you stood in the hallway, one toy in each hand. You moved one toy up and down and said to the other toy, “You eat your dinner right now!” The other toy wiggled up and down, “No! I don’t want turkey and cheese. I want candy canes for dinner.”

How you’ve been intentionally singing “customized” lyrics to Christmas songs and it’s just hilarious. Like, “Hark the Harold Angels Swing, no, they don’t swing, say they don’t swing, mommy.” They don’t swing, William. You will grin, and then sing more robustly, “HARK THE HERALD ANGELS RUN! HAHAHA Say they don’t run, mommy.” Angels don’t run, William. Then, you switch it up, “The first Snowelle, The angels did say, was to certain poor people, haha, in fields as they lay. Snowelle, Snowelle, Snowelle, Say it’s not Snowelle, it’s NOEL, mommy!”

How you fake sneeze on pictures of tissue boxes in the coupon pages.

When I told you I was sick, you started to cry. You said you were crying because I’m sick. 😦 I think it was because earlier in December when I was sick, I lost my voice. You were so sad that I couldn’t sing you to sleep at night, as was I. it’s one of our favorite things to do, is sing together.

How, after Christmas was over, you keep asking me if you have any more presents. You also wanted to call your cousins to tell them goodbye and tell them thank you for playing with you.

How much you loved seeing and playing with your cousins… we did so many things with them, from running around, to jumping in the bounce house, to sticker pictures, and playing with Christmas presents with them together. The holidays were such a special time this year.

In the bath tub, you started to cry when I told you it was time to clean up. I told you I was sorry, I knew you were having fun, but it really was time. I explained that mommy was tired and not feeling well and I needed to go to bed, too. I gave you a hug and patiently nudged you through the clean up. After we got you out and you were snuggled in your towel on my lap, you leaned into me and kissed my cheek and told me, “Thank you, mommy. I’m doing better now.”

How you love any sort of art project, from painting, to coloring, using animal stamps, and sticker pictures.

How one morning I was nursing you in the dark… I was dressed for work, complete with dangly earrings that clanged softly when I moved my head. You unlatched to ask, “What is that sound?” When I told you it was my earrings, you replied, “No, it’s a train coming!” Apparently, to you, it sounded like the bell at a train track crossing.

One night, after your bath, you stood in front of me with your towel wrapped around you. You put your finger in your belly button and pushed it in. You told me, “It’s going downstairs.” When it popped out again, you said, “It’s upstairs now.”

How one day I told you we were going to try for a nap. I headed upstairs with you following, and on the stairs you walked partially up them and then reached your hands out and slid back down on your belly, telling me while you did so, “These stairs are slippery, mommy, I can’t come upstairs!”

We made mashed potatoes together and you sat on the counter as I told you what I was putting in them. Some salt, some pepper, some butter. You were “so exciting” about them and you hurried over to the table and asked for a fork to eat them with. As you pulled them up from your plate, you looked at them and said, “A little salt, some pepper and a lot of butter because butter makes everything better.” I put a little more salt on them and you said, “To make them sparkley?” I guess the salt sparkled at you. haha

We did our annual tradition of making gingerbread cookies together… and you loved it just as much this year as you did last year.

How sweet you are when you ask me to sleep in your bed with you and I reply that I can’t, you have the sweetest and saddest little “Ohhhhh…” to reply with. And the first morning that we all went back to work after the holiday break, Grandma D. told me you ran into our bedroom, climbed under the covers and buried yourself in them, as if you were seeking a hug from us.

And then, how this morning, when we were leaving for work, you said you wanted to wave bye-bye to us instead of watching a movie when we left. You were so brave, I knew you wanted to go with us, or not have us leave at all. But you went outside with Grandma and watched us leave and I saw your eyes well up with tears. And I thought to myself, that sometimes… sometimes, little boy, it’s OK not to be brave. Sometimes it’s OK to just be 3.

(Link to pictures)

Love you,
Momma

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Filed under Our Kid is Cute

December 18, 2014 · 3:46 pm

One is Never Enough.

Tis the Season for Santa and, you know us, we like to overkill the whole season (decorating, Santa, snow, events), so we’re pretty much trying to find as many Santas as possible for picture opportunities. Kind of like when we were in Hawaii that one time and tried to swim in as many tropical waterfalls as possible. Yeah, just like that. ANYWAY, it used to be that William was afraid of Santa, the Chick-Fil-A cow, Disneyland characters (or any characters at all, really), so our strategy is to expose him to as many as possible.

We figure either the exposure will help him overcome his fear and he’ll be comfortable with them, or he’ll be seeking therapy when he’s in his 30’s. Probably both. Everyone pretty much needs therapy in their 30’s to deal with childhood traumas, right?

So we visited the Sea World Santa, the California Adventure Land Santa, Mater Santa and Walmart Santa. We’re keeping our eyes open for the homeless Santa, although the Walmart Santa is probably pretty close, don’t you think? And William thinks they’re all great… but only as long as they give him a candy cane.

That’s all he wants for Christmas from Santa, is a candy cane.

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Filed under Our Kid is Cute

December 9, 2014 · 8:46 am

Birthday Trip.

We had a small birthday party last night for William, we invited his grandparents over for crockpot beef stew, salad and cake. Ice cream cake. Chocolate. Of course.

Before everyone came over, William and I were hanging out playing with things and chatting. His Grandma D. came back in from doing her walk, and we heard the garage door go up. Knowing that meant his daddy was home, Grandma D. said, “I think someone’s home!” William turned and hurriedly took a couple steps and tripped over the base of his rocking motorcycle and fell. On his way down, he bashed his mouth on the handle of the rocking motorcycle. There was a 2 second pause as he landed on the ground and digested just how much it hurt.

By that point I was there to pick him up and then there was blood. Everywhere and immediate. Down his shirt, on his pants, on his arms. The louder he cried, the more blood there was. I’m holding him and feeling helpless. Nothing I did could make it better. He tried to latch to nurse, but couldn’t, leaving a trail of blood all over me. So I just held him and whispered into his neck how much I loved him and how sorry I was that happened to him.

His Grandma and daddy got him some paper towels, some dry, some wet, some with ice cubes in them. He finally started sucking on the one with ice in it. He did that for awhile, alternately sucking and crying. I desperately wanted to look in his mouth to see how bad the damage was, but couldn’t. He didn’t want to let go of the paper towel. So I waited.

He finally asked to nurse, and then after a bit, he wanted to go upstairs to his room and nurse, but he would intermittently just start screaming. Gosh, it was the saddest thing ever. We dosed him with Advil, because the intermittent crying made me think the pain was cycling, like pain can do. About 30 minutes, still nursing, I asked if he wanted to go downstairs to see his grandparents (they had arrived after we went upstairs). He gave me an “Mmmmm Hmmmm,” unlatched for 1/2 second and got a horrified look on his face and lunged back to nurse again, whimpering in pain. It took him 15 more minutes before he was finally ready to go downstairs. Poor kid.

He ate his birthday dinner cautiously and reminded Tony to “be careful with the owie” when he ever so gently brushed his teeth. And now the wait and watching for infection begins to see what damage he did beyond battering up the inside of his mouth… like, if he did any damage to his teeth, if they turn grey or not (like one of them did before and self-healed) from a fall a few months ago.

I figure, at least they’re still in his head. For now. That’s a good thing, right?

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Filed under Best Husband, Our Kid is Cute

December 8, 2014 · 2:37 pm

Letter to our 3 Year Old

Dear William,

Today you turned 3 years old.

Statistics and Developments:
You weigh 41 pounds 10 ounces. You are 41″ tall. You are in size 4T pants/shorts. You are in size 5T shirts and footed sleepers.

Sleep:
Naps have been hit and miss this month. On the weekends, you don’t take them anymore. Your Grandma D. can sometimes get you to take them.

Your bedtime has necessarily moved to 8pm on those no nap days. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child talks of children dropping their nap, that their wake times should be max of 6.5 hours, otherwise it’s time to go with no nap. And we’re finding it to be true… 7 to 7.5 hours, or longer sometimes, is what you’re needing for wake time, and that just doesn’t make sense mathematically in a day, because if I put you down 7 hours from wake time (7 AM), that’s 2 PM, and if you do manage to fall asleep at 2pm, then you are awakened at 3:30pm and that puts your bedtime at 10:30pm, or sometimes (usually) 11pm before you can fall asleep again. That’s simply too late of a bedtime. So we’re pushing you through and putting you to bed at 7:30 PM or 8 PM. This sucks because there’s really not much time that we get to see you in the evenings after we get home from work, and there’s not really that much we can do together. So we’re constantly trying to make our limited time with you matter.
Nourishment and Nursing:
Nursing has been less this month, usually a longer snuggling/nursing session in the morning. A decent one when I’m trying to get you to take a nap. And then a 5pm session, sometimes, but that one is short. And then before bedtime, another short session, not because you don’t want to linger, but because you’re so tired from not taking a nap that you fall asleep instantly. Those nights, I just sit there and hold you for awhile and reminisce on those nights that you’d nurse forever and ever and how tired I was and just wanted to go to bed myself, and how, now, those are just distant memories.

Things we Did:

11/22, Santa Ana Zoo
11/23, Grandparent’s house
11/24, got a haircut
11/28, visited Sea World, Shamu breakfast and Santa
12/04, California Adventure and Disneyland
12/07, Downtown Disney
Recurring events are MyGym and Library story times

Things I want to Remember:

You have been really interested in “when daddy was a little boy like me.” Your father pulled out some of his childhood photo books when we were at his parent’s house one weekend to sate your curiosity. That night, you said to me, “Mommy, when you were a little boy, did you brush your teeth just like me?”

When you were giving candy canes the once over at Michael’s this past weekend, you told me, “When I was a little girl, I used to eat those pink ones.” (You say the word “girl” with two “r”s in it and its really adorable, “grirl”.)

Earlier this month, you weren’t feeling well due to a bit of a cold. You had a stuffy nose, sore throat, etc. Before bedtime, your father was giving you a bit of Benadryl and a bit of Advil. You sat there and between doses said, “We’re having a medicine party! I’m feeling happy!”

Sitting at Yogurtland one evening with you, an unkempt, long haired and bearded fellow left after paying for his enormous bowl of frozen yogurt. You glanced up from your yogurt and said, “Jesus is going outside to eat his ice cream. Is he going to be cold out there?”

Probably not so cute was you asking a lady who was teasing you that she was going to eat your yogurt (she was kind of invading your personal space), “What happened to your teeth?” (They were crooked in front and went inwards forming a “V” with her two front teeth.) Teach her to tease a 2 year old about his food

We were at Yogurtland and were waiting for the restroom to open up so you could go, and after a long while, you finally piped up and asked into the big, echoing room, “WHY IS HE TAKING SO LONG IN THERE? IS HE GOING POOPY OR SOMETHING?

I mentioned as we passed a Chapstick display in Walmart that they had Gingerbread flavored ones and you nearly came unglued. I kind of wanted it, too, so I grabbed one for me and one for you. You wanted to put some on your lips and smell it. Usually not a problem. At least until you started digging in it and spread it all over your face and up your nose. You then informed me that, “It smells goooooooood.”

Singing your Thomas song, you handed me a clothes roller and said, “Here’s your singer, mommy.” You are also obsessed with learning the Blue Mountain Mystery Thomas song and Cars 2 intro song by Weezer.

How when you hear a song you really like, you’ll run over and grab my hand and start stroking it. The first time you did this, I asked you what you were doing… you replied, “Your hand is my guitar.”

You really took a fancy to Thomas the Train’s Blue Mountain Mystery and learning about Luke and Victor. Now every yellow item in your toys is Victor and Victor is continuously falling into the sea (as you perch the yellow car or bus or whatever on the edge of the couch, table, or whatever and bump it off.)

Your love for getting painted in the bath tub, and yellow is Victor, blue is Thomas, red is James and Green is Luke.

Getting you out of the bath, you tell me, “I have paint on me, you can’t clean me up!”

You tell me, “I’m all shiny! I’m the shiniest engine on Sodor” after you’re finally all cleaned up after bath.

You frequently introduce yourself as Thomas or Luke to people who want to meet you, or at circle time at your MyGym class.

You hold your fingers up, like they’re finger puppets, and declare, “This one is Lightning. This one is Finn McMissile.” And you walk them around and they talk to you.

In your bath a couple weeks ago, you painted one of your fingers red and the other blue. You then informed me, “The red one is Lightning. The blue one is Thomas.” After introducing them to me, you proceeded to tell me a story about Lightning visiting the Island of Sodor. You started with, “It was a beautiful day on the Island of Sodor. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Lightning fell in the water. Luckily, no one was hurt.” <—All of your stories start that way. haha

You know that you have Take-N-Play sets of Thomas the Train, and that there is another set out there called Trackmaster. You saw a lady checking out at Costco with a huge Trackmaster set and you said, “Is that Trackmaster?” I said, “Yes, it is.” You said, “Some lucky little boy is going to be very happy!”

I’ve been shopping for cameras this past month as my other one has been dying a slow death over the past year. Ever since I dropped it with its lens fully extended a year ago. You have enjoyed being my side kick for those events and love to play with the display cameras. As we waited one evening for a couple to finish their discussion, you said in a loud whisper, “Come on, people!” I whispered back, “It’s OK, we’re not in any hurry!” You whispered back, “Yes, I am. I need to look at Cars after this!”

That same night, though, when I told you it was time to leave the toys aisle and go home, you said, “OK, mommy, thank you for letting me look at the cars and the trains!” I couldn’t believe how polite you were, as you walked out holding my hand and happily “balance beaming” on the curb and crawling into your car seat.

At the park, you told me how to go down the slide and what exactly to do. So amazing how far you’ve come in a few months. You also will say, “Someone is climbing… someone is spinning” as a heads up that you’re going to do that.

How you’ve started to say, “Oh my!” Instead of “Oh my gosh.” Or something similar. I actually prefer the new saying, especially when you drop something, for some reason that is just so cute. I’ve also heard you say, “Oh shoot!” a few times.

Anytime we go somewhere and get in the car, you ask, “Do we have the snackie bag?” If we get into my car, I have a tropical trail mix that is “Mommy’s car snackies.” You love the candied mangos out of there and you ate them all… you’ve dug and dug and shaken and shaken the thing, and they really are all gone. You sighed and said, “I guess I’ll have to eat the pineapples now.” Now I just need you to remind me to bring your shoes, because pretty much every time we leave the house, I have to back track and go get your shoes.

Every time we go past the movie theater, you announce, “That’s where we saw the Planes movie. No movie today, though. We’re waiting for a good one.”

You told us one Saturday morning that you wanted to go to Sea World and see the big birds and the dolphins and Shamu! We ended up at the Santa Ana Zoo, instead, because Sea World is too far away to go to at 11AM. You had fun at the zoo, riding on the train, riding on the carousel, seeing the animals. Most of all, you had fun sliding your feet in the dirt making big puffs of dust and saying you were making steam.

How super cuddly you have been this month. You love having us (parents) around and ask every single morning, without fail, after you nurse, “Do I get mommy and daddy all day?” or a variation of that question. How you’ve then started to ask, “Is Grandma here?” The first time you did that, I answered honestly, “Yes, I think so…” and then you freaked out. Now I know to say, “Oh, I’m not sure, but we still have some time together. What I realized is you were transitioning yourself, hoping that I would say she wasn’t.

Same thing at My Gym. You asked Mr. Steve, “When is circle time starting?” When he answered, “How about now?” And stopped the music, you started to cry… you were really trying to ask him, “Do I have time to play for a few minutes.”

You are really loving the Christmas songs, but your favorites are Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Oh Christmas Tree and Away in a Manger. One night you started singing, “Oh cloudy sky, Oh cloudy sky, How pretty are your clouds…” To the tune of Oh Christmas Tree. And when I sing the second verse of Away in a Manger, when I sing, “The cattle are lowing… ” You immediate do a great big “MOOOOOO!” and keep mooing the entire second verse.

Listening to Joy to the World the words in the second verse “rocks, hills and plains”… You asked, “Is she singing planes?” And we had to explain a homonym to a 3 year old. Then, once you understood, you wanted to hear that verse over and over again so you could learn the words.

You asked to listen to Joy to the World, and Grandma started singing silly and you said, “Nooo, that’s not music!” You now request Joy to the World to be sung by Dolly Parton, and any other Christmas song, too. You apparently like her voice.

The last few days, you’ve been asking your daddy if he is going to put up the Christmas tree… and then, when he said yes, you said, “Don’t forget to put the train around the tree.” Shocked, we asked you “What train?” You said, “The red and black one that goes up in the tree? Yes, that one.” We couldn’t believe that you remembered that from a year ago when you were barely 2 years old.

On Thanksgiving, you confirmed that MyGym was closed, even asked to go there and “see how quiet it is.” You asked if Mr. Steve was home with his family, and a couple other people.

At Sea World, after visiting Santa, you were given your first candy cane, which we let you eat. Now, every time someone asks what you want for Christmas, you say, “A candy cane!”

At California Adventureland, we went on Racers for the first time. For some reason, I thought riders have to be 42″ tall, but it’s really 40″ tall. You could have gone on it in September, I think. Oh well. You were really happy to go on it and loved the intro part of the ride and the racing part, but were terrified of the tunnel part of it. Especially at the start of the tunnel, where Mack is there and afraid and yells. It surprised us all! The ride shutdown at the end of the tunnel, and we were stuck on the tracks for about 10 minutes… and, because of that, we could have just stayed on and gone again, but you said you wanted to get off. Since then, we’ve been working with you to work through it, including watching the video of our ride. Now I think you’ve gone the exact opposite from being afraid to being amused, because every time we go under a bridge on the freeway, you tell me, “Yell at me like Mack!”

Every month, I write these letters to you and I feel like there are about 10,341 things I forget to mention, those things that I talk to your dad about as we go to bed each night. Like, how could I have handled a situation better, or something that makes us laugh like silly kids as we relive it with each other. Or, like when you’re playing in the bath tub and your dad and I are out in the hallway listening to you tell yourself stories and sing songs to yourself… I can’t remember the details of those things, just the overwhelming feeling of rightness about it. That every day with you is so full of joy and silliness and wonder, and though we’re tired at the end of the day, I look forward to being with you as you slip into the magical place of dreaming, safe and secure in my arms. Moments, minutes, days, weeks, togetherness, memories… we love you through all of them, that’s really what I’m trying to tell you.

Last night, I held a 2 year old. This morning, before I left for work, I held a 2 year old. When I come home today, I will hold a 3 year old. But, really, you are just one day older than yesterday, and as I watch your legs lengthen and your confidence in yourself grow, in my heart’s eyes, I still see that precious, perfect newborn that I held 3 years ago today.

I’ll tell you now what I told you then: We are so glad you’re here. Happy Birthday, sweet boy.

We love you forever,

Momma & Daddy.

4 Comments

Filed under Best Husband, Letter to William, Our Kid is Cute

November 7, 2014 · 5:32 pm

Letter to our 35 month old

Dear William,

On 11/08/2014 you turned 35 months old. Or, put another way, one more month and you’ll be three. Like 1, 2, 3. In one month, you will have been on this planet, as your own independent little being, for three whole years. For some reason, this is hitting me harder than your two year birthday. I’ve been thinking back to three years ago and how impatient I was at this point in my pregnancy to meet you, and yet how badly I wanted to savor the last bits of my pregnancy with you because I knew it would likely be my only pregnancy.

Stats and Developments:
Weight: 40.5 pounds
Height: 41″ tall
Size clothing: 4T in pants, 4T in shorts; 5T in pajamas (including footed sleepers); 5T in shirts.

You have really been into singing songs this month, and it was quite the surprise driving up to the mountains to hear you suddenly start singing “Joy to the World” and “Oh Tannenbaum.”

Something I’ve started doing different this month is the transition out of the bath tub. Before, I was cleaning you up immediately when you got in the tub, then setting a timer and it would repeatedly go off and you would negotiate for more time. I did it that way because I was afraid you would poop in the tub. This month, I realized that the timer was causing us a great deal of stress and I was dreading bath time.

Since you go potty before you get in the tub, and will ask to get out of the tub if you need to go, I decided to implement a change. Now, I put you in and let you play while I get ready for bed. Your father will go in and paint you and the tub walls with bath paints. You play independently for awhile. Then, I come in and clean you up, you put your toys away and stand up, and that is the determining factor of getting you out of the tub. I have started using “character” wash cloths and you interact with them, and having “them” clean you up takes the stress off of me. We had one night early on where you tried to negotiate for more play time and I stayed firm, and it hasn’t been an issue since. Bath time is now a fun time for both of us. I’m so, so glad that we’ve implemented this change!

Things we did this month:
10/11 – Spooktacular Halloween event at The Great OC Park (picked pumpkin, trick-or-treated vendors & rode in the Big Pumpkin Balloon
10/12 – professional photo shoot
10/18 – spaghetti dinner at church
10/25 – Miracle Babies Reunion with Dr. Werlin
10/31 – Halloween, trick-or-treated your daddy’s work and our neighborhood. You were Spiderman, costume chosen by you
11/1 – Big Bear weekend for my birthday
11/8 – Day Out With Thomas at the Railroad Museum in Perris, CA

Recurring events:
Gymnastics class: Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays
Library Story time: Mondays and Wednesdays

Sleep:
You’re back to inconsistent naps this month. About every third day you take a nap. If we’re out and about, then you skip it. I’m toying with the idea of just having you give up your nap because half the time, you fall asleep nursing at nap time, but if I dare to attempt to transfer you, you wake up and freak out. Soooo, it’s a whole lotta work to go through all the nap preparation just to have it fail. I’d rather just keep going about our day than to rush home for a failed nap routine.

Nourishment:
You’ve been eating well this past month, and we continue to nurse. This month, I’ve noticed a decrease in your nursing, though. You aren’t nursing for as long as you used to, and you’ve (sometimes) taken to outright declining to nurse if I offer. Your favorite nursing times appear to be when you first wake up, for your nap (or around lunch time), and before bed.

You love (what you call) banana treats (oatmeal, bananas, peanut butter, flaxseed, sandwiched between graham crackers and frozen).

You get two chocolate chips if you (1) take a nap, (2) nurse well when I get home, and (3) if you go potty at 5pm.

Favorite Books:
Mighty Dads
Thomas Books
Where is Baby’s Mommy
Belly Button book
Devotion book
Things I want to remember:
We bought you a bottle of Smart brand water, and it was the cutest thing to hear you requesting, “May I have my Smart water, please?”

You think saying “Your butt!” is hilarious. I take full blame for this, because whenever your father (or anyone, really) asks where something is, or where I would like something, I say, “Your butt!”

If we’re doing something or eating something, you’ll say, “I want to ______, too.” One night I was chewing some gum and you said, “I want chewing gum, too.” I said, “You can do that when you’re older.” You replied, “I’m older now!”

For a couple weeks at MyGym, you wanted to play tag with other kids, so you would randomly run up to them and touch them, turn around and run. Your Grandma D. was concerned about that behavior, but I figured it would be over with in a couple weeks, and it was. She says you appear to have stopped doing it.

One day, I asked you, “What are all your trains doing on my desk?” You replied, “They’re carrying lemonade!”

One day you were putting all your trains in my printer and you informed me, “They’re in the elevator.”

If I ask you, “Are you making a mess?” You’ll tell me, “It’s just a little bit of a mess.”

If I tell you it’s time to go upstairs for your bath, I never know what I’m going to get in response. One night, you replied, “Oh, I can’t! I’m watching football right now.” The next night, I heard, “I’m sitting on the couch reading my Cars book right now.”

Mindlessly singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to myself while putting laundry away, I heard you in the bath tub, “Excuse me, mommy? Ummm, mommy? Excuse me? Excuse me, mommy?” I replied, “Yes, William?” You said, “Mommy, were you… were you putting daddy to bed?”

Last couple months, if ask you, “Did you go potty?” Or anything about time, you’ll say, “Yes, at Eight-thirty!”

If I ask you how much something costs, you reply, “Twenty-five dollars!”

Wresting one morning, you said, “Boo!” I said, “Ahhh, I’m scared of you.” You took my face in your hands and said, “Don’t be scared of me, mommy. I’m just William.”

Anytime you pick your nose, you tell me, “I’m going to China!”

Running across the field, your father hollered, “Hey, where are you going?” You replied, “I’m going over here to fart!”

While in line for something, you can be heard to say, “I’m not waiting…” even though you most definitely are waiting. What that means to me is that in your head you’re already there, and you are verbally rebelling against something you physically have to do. Or, in other words, you’re saying, “I don’t want to wait!”

Another morning while wrestling, I cautioned you to be careful that you don’t fall down and break your crown. You said, “I want to break my crown.” You fake fell down and then popped up and said, “Oh, mommy! I don’t want to break my crown!” I said, “I don’t want you to either!” Curious to see what you’d say, I asked, “What happens if you break your crown?” You replied, “I can’t do anything.” I said, “That’s true. What happens if you break your butt?” You said, “Then I can’t poop!” I said, “That’s right! And what if you break your nose?” You replied, “I can’t breathe! And if I break my leg, then I can’t walk!” Probably not the most positive way of linking body parts to functions, but I was amazed that you knew all those things.

When we say we’re going to Chick-Fil-A, you have your order ready, you’ll say, “I want some little chicken sandwiches and a little cup of oil.”

At Dr. Werlin’s reunion, you got ahold of your father’s Caprison. When he turned around and saw it, you had set it back on the table and exclaimed, “Mmmmmm, that was really good!”

You have regrettably discovered drinking out of the bathtub faucet… you used to just turn it on to give your toys a “car wash,” then one day last week you started drinking out of it. Your father told you it was OK. So now when I get in there, you look like an overfull water balloon.

I’ve been using Bath & Body Works vanilla bean lotion. One morning, you walked up to me and licked my arm and told me, “You smell like vanilla and taste like ice cream.”

At dinner the other night, we went to Chili’s. I took you to the bathroom and they had some really cool music playing in there. You were sitting there doing your business and “chair” dancing on the toilet. You danced your way through washing & drying your hands and when you were done, you said you didn’t want to leave. So we waited for the song to end and went back to the table. A new song came on, you got up and high-tailed it down the aisle. I followed you and asked you to stop and you said, “I wanna go in the bathroom and dance!”

Also, the baseball game was on the TV in the bar and everyone roared with excitement. You told them, “Hey, be quiet! We’re in a restaurant!”

The next day, driving in the car, you said, “Excuse me, I want you to turn some music on so I can dance!”

We attended Dr. Werlin’s reunion and grabbed a couple of extra snacks that were offered there for your snack bag. The next morning I offered you one and you said, “Yes! That’s from my special day!”

One morning, I told you I was being lazy and didn’t want to get up. A bit later, you flopped yourself on the couch and asked me, “Now who’s being lazy?” And then you answered your own question with, “William is!”

When we were in our mountain cabin, you were watching a Thomas DVD while your father was cleaning and scraping out the fireplace in preparation to leave. It was quite loud, and you politely said, “Excuse me, daddy, I’m trying to watch Thomas.”

Your love for Cars has been taken to an extreme level this past month. If you’re eating broccoli, you call it cactus. If we change your clothes, you’re getting a new paint job. If you put your shoes on, we’re putting wheels on you. Your socks are shocks. If you drink water, it’s drinking oil. If we’re dressing you, Mater/Sally is working on Lightning. Brushing teeth, cleaning your grill. Putting lotion on, we’re waxing you.

Again with the Cars theme, you identify the colors on everything and will say, “The green fish is not pretty.. the blue and red fish are pretty.” Apparently, the green fish is Chick Hicks, and the red fish is Lightning and the blue fish is The King.

Something you started doing just this month is brushing my hair. It is one of the sweetest things ever. You spent 15-20 minutes doing that one morning.

How when you play hide-and-seek, we can call out, “Where is William?” And you’ll reply, “I’m over here!”

One afternoon, I was cutting up chuck roast for a crockpot stew. You came in the kitchen, looked at what I was doing and told me, “I want some watermelon, mommy.” I replied, “Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t have any watermelon.” Then I realized you must have thought the raw meat was watermelon… it was red and cubed. So I added to my reply, “This isn’t watermelon, this is raw meat for tomorrow’s dinner.” Without missing a beat, you innocently replied, “I want some raw meat, mommy.” In the interest of educating you, I informed you, “We don’t eat raw meat. It could make you sick.” Now, I *know* you know what being sick is, but that didn’t hinder you from saying, “I want to get sick, please?”

I smiled, ruffled your hair and said, “How about we get you a plum instead, or do you want to watch me cut up the meat?” I wasn’t sure if you were hungry, or interested. Apparently, you were both, because next thing I knew, you were munching on a plum and standing on a chair watching me. These types of moments with you are the fun kinds of moments that I love about being your mommy.

I love your spontaneity and that I can never predict what you’re going to say or do. Somewhere along the line of living my life, I started to find “surprises” stressful and overwhelming, instead of fun and interesting. I love the way you surprise me every single day, and I love the impish look you get in your eyes when you’re coming up with something.

(Click to view this month’s pictures.)

Love you forever,

Momma

3 Comments

Filed under Letter to William, Our Kid is Cute

November 7, 2014 · 10:54 am

Southwest Update

About a week after I sent my letter off to Southwest, I received a phone call from a customer service agent at their Dallas location. I missed her call, so I called back. The agent I spoke to reviewed the notes and, it actually wasn’t clear to me whether she had my letters in front of her or not. I was kind of led to believe that she didn’t, just a summary of them that someone had input into the computer.

So, I dragged her through the details of our experience.

My experience with their customer service team was far, far better than my experience with the gate agents and the gate agent supervisors. She said she would alert their legal team concerning the breastfeeding experience and the ambiguity of what their website says.

She also offered us vouchers for future travel to cover the cost of our airfare, plus a little extra. There was no monetary reimbursement offered for the rental car. She said they are unable to issue monetary compensation. So, I assume the bit extra is intended to compensate for car and the food we needed while we were held hostage in Las Vegas. The vouchers finally showed up in my email account just yesterday… and there’s still one voucher that is pending approval.

Since a little time has passed now and with the vouchers offered, I’m OK now. Sadly, I no longer have the naive love for Southwest Airlines that I once had. They’ll have to do better in the future for me to gain respect for them again. Guess they’ll have an opportunity to do so within the next year, since the vouchers expire next October.

3 Comments

Filed under Entertainment can be Cheap

October 30, 2014 · 3:24 pm

Gracious.

I had lunch with a vendor today. He found out a couple months ago that my birthday is this weekend, and he sent a meeting invite for lunch today. I accepted it and figured I’d get out of it with an excuse a couple weeks before (given my weird social anxieties), except a legitimate excuse never presented itself and Tony encouraged me to go.

I’ve known this guy in a professional capacity since I started at this job in March of 2010, so 4 1/2 years now, and we’ve never gone to lunch.

I chose Corner Bakery, since it’s one of my favorite places and I ~~am obsessed with~~ love their iced tea … it was loud, as most of them are, and I wondered to myself how the cashier was even able to hear our orders. He decided to order dessert, and ordered their pumpkin poundcake. When she came up with the dessert, she had the lemon poundcake instead. He looked at me and told me he thought he’d ordered the pumpkin. I replied to him that he had, but she likely misheard because it was so loud.

When he mentioned it to her, she got really flustered and apologetic. (I assume if she had gotten the correct thing, the wrong thing would have had to be thrown away.) He shrugged and told her, “No problem, the lemon sounds good, too, don’t even worry about it.” She was still apologizing to him as she rang up the order, he said, “You know, if it’s not too late, would you mind adding the pumpkin, too? I’ll just take it to my kids.” He smiled and she smiled in return and everything was instantly smoothed over.

I watched the interaction and was struck by how gracious that was for him to do. Not everyone would think to do that, truthfully, I might not even had thought to do it. I’m also not sure if it was an intentional or an intuitive act on his part, or whether that even matters… it was a kindness.

Oh, and he also got two desserts. 😀

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Filed under I did something Special