Jammie J's Quest

August 6, 2013 · 3:21 pm

Simple Pleasures.

Today I am grateful because…

The tree trimmers came and trimmed this tree last week. They did an amazing job and there were barely any leaves dropped in our backyard from their escapade.

A fun multi-colored pen I bought for work that no one but me wants to write with.

My Carsland button collection is complete.

I love my fuschia plants …

My blueberry bush has been bountiful this year.

My plumeria tree bloomed this year.

My favorite Mexican restaurant we eat at sometimes on Thursday evenings.

Chocolate cream cheese cake for a birthday at work.

My son greets me with a smile (always) and flowers (sometimes) when I get home.

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Filed under I feel Glad, Wordless (mostly) Post

July 30, 2013 · 3:49 pm

It’s mid-summer already and our community’s pool drama is in full swing. Every year I write about parents who send their kid off to the community pool unattended, and it seems like every year it keeps getting worse.

Our community’s pools underwent a major overhaul over this past winter season. They pulled out all the concrete and poured new. They replaced all the lounge chairs and even the shower. I’m not crazy about the shower, as it’s now on a timer and shuts off right went you’re in the middle of rinsing something off.

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there, except it’s related to the pool, not the drama I want to talk about.

We’ve had a lot of trouble over the past couple years with teenagers hopping the fence. The fence that has pointy spears that bend outward at the top. A deterrent you wouldn’t find me willingly trying to vault over, not even when I was younger and more nimble. This year is the first year that I’ve seen it first hand… and it was when I was kickboarding with no ear plugs or goggles, so I know it wasn’t a figment of my overactive imagination.

Thump, clang, clang, and there they were. The kid hoisted himself over and then let his girlfriend in. They seemed a bit startled to see me. Not surprising since the timer on the pool light was off, so it was unlit and I was swimming in the dark. He claimed they lived there and his dad lost the pool key. I responded that it was an odd way for him to gain entrance to the pool. It happened again a couple nights later, and I called the sheriff on them after I left.

My neighbor claimed they did it again in front of her in broad daylight, and then when she confronted them, they got violent and ran their car into a community streetlight. What point that proves, I have no idea. But it must have made sense to them, right?

So it happened that over the weekend Tony and William were on their way to Walmart. I asked him to drive by the pool and if it was full of kids to come back and get me. I’d rather go to Walmart than try to lap swim in a pool full of kids. If it were all clear, though, I’d go swimming. He texted me and told me to call the Sheriff, that those teenagers were in the pool area, that they’d hopped the fence right as he was driving by. When he told them they needed a key for entry, they got confrontational, So, I called the Sheriff. I headed down the pool intending to act like I knew nothing, except the pool area was empty and there were two teenage boys walking around the toddler playground next to the pool.

The Sheriff showed up, took a look around, and informed me that even if there had been someone unauthorized in the pool area, there was nothing for him to enforce … he needed a “No Trespassing” sign and a “Key required for pool entry” sign posted on the gate. Funny no one had ever mentioned that in all the years past, but kind of makes sense I guess. Meanwhile, the two teenage boys had meandered off out of sight.

My neighbor then comes in with one of the teenage boys and introduces him to me as a neighbor who lives on the corner of her street. Suspiciously I look at him and ask him if he hopped the fence a half hour ago. “No, we thought about it but decided not to.” Hmmm. I asked him if he got confrontational with someone, “Well, my cousin did but he’s kind of a hothead.” My neighbor leaves, and then enters this kid’s “hothead cousin.” They go sit in the spa together and stare at me as I swim my laps.

Shortly after that, their mother comes in and talks to them. After a few minutes, she comes to the side of the pool and it’s obvious she wants to talk to me. I could have kept swimming, I suppose, but she was just this side of annoying, so I stop my workout, pull out my earplugs and ask her if I can help her.

She wanted to discuss the fact that my husband had confronted her darling son and nephew. To me, there was nothing to discuss. You break the rules (hopping the fence and getting confrontational with someone), you get the Sheriff called on you. End of discussion. She claimed my husband said the “F” word to the boys. I know Tony, and even without asking him, I know that’s not his style, and certainly not with a Toddler who parrots everything we say in the vicinity. So I told her that wasn’t true. She started to argue with me, and I shrugged and said, “Look. You’re going to believe your teenagers, who have already proven themselves to be untrustworthy, and I’m going to believe my husband.” She said, “I’ve lived in this community now for 9 years…” I interrupted and said, “Good for you. Then you know very well that we’ve had issues with security here, and you also know that a key is required for entry. That’s the rule. You hop the fence, the sheriff gets called.” I continued, without waiting for a response, “There’s nothing further to be discussed here. I’m on a limited time schedule and I’m going to finish my swim.” She waves her hand at me and the path I was swimming, and instead of apologizing for wasting my time, she says smartly, “OK, well, go ahead then.” I pause, look at her and say, “You misunderstood. I wasn’t asking your permission.” I put my earplugs in and continued my swim.

She left the pool area shortly after, leaving the two kids alone in there with me. So, now I know why her son and nephew think nothing of breaking the rules. Also, why they think it’s OK to get confrontational when they’ve done something wrong.

Also, even though I donned a crazy, mismatched swimsuit last night (a pink paisley swim top and blue Hawaiian flowered board shorts) I was glad for the 11 people who filed into the pool area at 9:15pm. I kind of don’t like being alone now when I swim late at night.

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Filed under Best Husband, I Judge Bad Parents, Mermaid Envy

July 24, 2013 · 2:59 pm

Blisters & Band-Aids

Over the weekend, we went to our family’s mountain cabin. While there, the children’s Advil bottle was left on the nightstand in William’s room. When William grabbed it, I asked him for it and he handed it to me, so I took two steps and put it up on top of the dresser. William started whimpering, but I thought it was because he wanted his medicine. When I turned back around he had the sticky lid in his fingers, and when he handed the lid to me, he started screaming.

Everyone who has had a toddler knows they can be quirky creatures, and I thought he had suddenly developed an aversion to stickiness. So, I picked him up and he kept rubbing his sticky fingers and crying. I took him out to wash his hands in cold water to get the sticky off, the obvious solution to his problem. He calmed down while the cool water was on his hands, I congratulated myself in my head for solving this problem so astutely. But when I turned the water off, he started screaming again. I tried nursing, he wanted to, but would touch his fingers together and would start sobbing again and he couldn’t latch. He kept touching his fingers with his other hand and crying. So I thought maybe I had missed some of the sticky. Off we went to wash his hands again. Tried nursing again, and same thing, so we rinsed his hands a third time. And then Tony tried to wash his hands with a wet wipe. That didn’t work either. At that point, I thought maybe since all the natural oils had been washed off his hands, his skin must have still felt sticky to him, even though it technically wasn’t. The only thing that ultimately was able to calm him down was Baby Signing Time DVDs. He loves watching them and learning from them.

On Monday night I got home and I was horrified and somewhat sickened in my heart when I saw that he had blisters on his index and middle fingers. The blister on his index finger had popped (or he had pulled the skin off) and the middle finger has several unpopped blisters all down it. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense. Of course, a burn would stop hurting while under cool water. Of course, a burn would start hurting again if touched. Of course, of course, of course.

I stared at those blisters a good long time, trying to figure out what happened in the time span of just a couple seconds. The only thing I can figure out is that he must have touched the light bulb of the lamp that is on the nightstand in the cabin in the two seconds I had my back turned to put the medicine up… and then he grabbed the sticky lid of the baby Advil that had been left on the nightstand.

William attends gymnastic classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so yesterday to protect his injury from the germs that are surely on the equipment we tried covering it with a regular old plain beige band-aid. It lasted all of 20 minutes before William pulled it off. Didn’t even make it to the start of gymnastics class. So, I asked Tony to pick up some Cars band-aids at Walmart. When he got home, he showed his purchases. He had, indeed, picked up Cars band-aids, as well as Angry Birds Star Wars band-aids, and for good measure, Mickey Mouse band-aids. (I don’t even know which words to italicize there.) My mom was astonished to learn that companies make fancy band-aids now… everything is all about marketing. But, you know what? It works.

Apparently putting a band-aid with a picture of Cars on your toddler’s finger and other random spots of your toddler’s body is the key to him keeping it on.

And somehow I have a feeling that Tony plans to use the Star Wars band-aids on any injury he gets. Just a suspicion.

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Filed under Best Husband, Our Kid is Cute

July 12, 2013 · 12:05 pm

Petrified Things.

We found this sad little bird outside, clutched to a plant in our front yard. Hummingbirds are beautiful and I love them, but they sure are strange. I mean, what other creature’s heart beats as fast as a hummingbird’s? Or flies upwards like a helicopter? And how does a hummingbird just die, clutching a plant for dear life? From what, do you suppose? A heart attack? So many questions!

That odd discovery was followed by this strange story. For dinner last week we had grilled hamburgers. There was one leftover and so it was put into a plastic bag. I decided to move things around in the fridge and it fell back behind the shelf. I heard it “plunk” and figured it had hit the shelf below. Upon investigating that shelf, it was nowhere to be seen. I looked up, I looked down, I stuck my hand behind and up. Nowhere.

I thought for a few seconds that I might actually have imagined the whole thing. Maybe there really hadn’t been leftovers. and then this rolled out of the shelf.

I investigated further and discovered that the light of the fridge had a cover over it. A cover that curved so it misrepresented by its shape that something would hit it and roll down. But, no. Things hit it and land on it and live on it and die on it. Apparently. Unless encouraged to move along.

So the hamburger had hit the top of the shelf, dislodging the petrified tomato. How long had that tomato been there? Two years? Could that have possibly been the mystery smell we had a couple years ago?

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Filed under Blogabilities, I'm Never too Old to Learn

July 10, 2013 · 10:14 am

Letter to our 19 month old.

Dear William,

On July 8, 2013, you turned 19 months old.

STATS/TEETH:
You weigh 32 pounds and are 36″ tall. You are wearing 3T in shirts and 2T in shorts, although any clothes I purchase now are a size up and for bottoms I put a stitch in the waist so you can wear them longer.

Your canine teeth are finally through. Your right lower cut through 5/31, right upper cut through on 6/3. Your left lower cut through 6/12 and your left upper cut through 6/17. They’ve been on the move since the end of April, so it took a solid two months to cut these canine teeth. I hear the two year molars are next, and I’m a bit horrified by that thought.

NEW WORDS:
It’s as if all of a sudden your tongue is cooperating with your brain this month. All the words you’ve been saying, and words you’ve been trying to say, and words I had no idea you knew, all of a sudden, you’re stringing them together in short sentences. The BIG new words you’re saying, “William.” You are saying your own name. You also say, “Froggy.” You’re finally saying your lovey’s name. You say it all the time, even in the middle of the night as you’re hunting for it, I hear you saying, “Froggy, froggy, froggy!” When we changed your diaper and you’ve pooped, your father always exclaims, “OH MY GOSH!” Well, now you’ve started saying it, as soon as the diaper comes off, “Oh my gosh!” or “Oh gosh!” You say “HI!” to everyone, you say, “Hello!” If I tell you to call some one. You see a phone and say, “Call daddy!” “Call Grandma” “Call Mommy!” You pretend call those same people from your playhouse’s phone. Rain, breakfast, momma car, up, down, out, zebra, elephant, cloud, flower, mommy, William, kick, hands down… ready, set, go!, grandpa, grandma, grandma D., kick, goodnight, night night, get it, got mommy, there you go, see-saw, coming, going, cold, hot, love. If we’re leaving to go for a walk, you remind us to “get phone!” and “shoes on!” When you settle to nurse, you say, “shoes off.” When you want to nurse, you tell me to “Sit down momma. Na na momma, Pleeeease?” Outside, inside, playhouse, ladybug. Red, blue, green and you point to the correct colors. I say, “five,” You say “six.” You say, “one, two, three.” You know some of your letters (especially the letter “B”) and how some of your numbers look, 5 and 6. You looked at me one day last week, pointed at your teeth and said, “Hurt, momma!” I found a scabbed over blister on the bottom of your foot and said, “Oh! You have an owie!” You took a look at it, and then anytime anyone touched your foot, you proclaimed, “OWIE!” You say, “out” and “stuck.” You also say your cousin’s name, “Huck.” You love to tell us when we’re going to the bathroom (“Potty!”) and when you’re going to the bathroom in your diaper, you say, “Poop!” and I’m pretty sure you know when you’re peeing because you randomly say, “Pee pee” throughout the day. Broken, fix it, music. Belly, belly button, him, mine, yours. “Loud” and “noisy” are adjectives you associate with loud sounds. Also, you say “messy” when you’re eating plums or anything that makes a mess. “Froggy to bed!” “Ready, set, go!” “Costco.” “Got mommy “It’s broken!” “Fix it.” Laugh (when you want us to laugh), cough (when you want us to cough, or if you want cough medicine), Medicine when you want Advil or Tylenol. There are so many more things you say and do, but if I were to categorize them, they would take up more space than I’ve already taken up. I will just say that, once again, it seems like you’re going to be a chatterbox.

NURSING/FOOD:
You have been nursing well this past month, I don’t foresee that anything will be changing in this area for awhile and that makes me happy. I love nursing you. Food is hit and miss and is usually pretty predictable as to whether you’re teeth are hurting you. If they are, you’re generally only interested in nursing. I say calories are calories and breastmilk provides some of the best customized nutrition around. You continue to love chicken, decline to eat beef. You don’t like carrots. You love any type of fruit or berry. Vegetables are hit and miss.

One evening, your father and I were discussing what we were going to have for dinner. It was a Friday night, and we’d pretty much decided we were going to eat out. From the back seat you requested, “Pizza?” And so your first sway vote happened, we went to an Italian place and you had pizza.

One morning I made some oatmeal for us to share. I asked you if you wanted some. You looked at me with really big eyes and said, “Noooooo? Pancake… pleeeeeease?” Your father had made pancakes the day before, so you ended up having leftover pancakes for breakfast.

SLEEP:
You’ve hit what everyone affectionately terms the “18 month sleep regression.” What this looks like for you is, it takes you an inordinate amount of time to fall asleep, and you won’t fall asleep before 6 hours of awake time. So, you’re often going to bed at 9pm, because you don’t wake from your nap until 3pm. You wake at 7:30am on the weekends (generally) and I wake you to nurse at 6:40am on weekdays before I leave for work. Some days you’re able to fall back to sleep, other days you’re up for the day at that time.

THINGS WE DID/PLACES WE WENT:

LegoLand: 06/22/2013. You really enjoyed the Storybrook Boat ride. Favorites were “horsey” and “Nah-nahs.” You got your first sunburn.
Music Class (every Monday). You love to sit right in front of the teacher. You also informed the teacher that the drums were “loud” and “noisy.”
Gymnastics Class, 06/27/2013. This was your first class… you are exhibiting some new behavior (discussed below)
Parade: 07/04/2013. You really enjoyed the parade and all the people and animals.
Pool & Block Party Playtime: 07/04/2013, your cousins came over and partied with our neighborhood. Such fun!
Fireworks: 07/04/2013. You were not a fan and after one or two, you declared firmly, “All done.”
LegoLand: 07/06/2013. We spent a lot of time in the water park, and you loved the slides and music.
Haircut: 07/07/2013. Let’s just say, I’ll be making appointments and requesting “Yanna” to cut your hair from now on.
Library story time: 07/08/2013. You pay attention well to the stories.

PLAYTIME AND CHILDREN INTERACTION:
Gymnastics class, first session on 06/27. From just one class (so far), you have picked up balance beam and hands down and trampoline. You made a trampoline out of a blow up innertube, you took it to the side of the coffee table and proceeded to start bouncing on it. You balance on one leg. You will also climb halfway up on something, a chair for example, and start kicking your legs and say, “Kick! Kick!” All of this from one gymnastics class. So worth it. I wonder now if you just didn’t know you *could* do all those things because no one ever showed you?

You love to step up and step down, stairs, curbs, speed bumps and the like. You even invented an up/down game with a roll of carpet I was working with to recover the cat’s scratching post. You walked up the carpet and narrated, “Up!!! Ready???” and then a delay, and then you walked down it and said, “Down!”

When I took my car in for its oil change last month, you saw a bunch of cars up on the lifts getting worked on. Ever since then, you’ve been putting your ride-on up on chairs to “work” on it, too.

On July 4th we attended our neighborhood’s block party. There were lots of children there, including your cousins, who we invited over to participate in the party. You had a great time and were so overstimulated that you weren’t able to fall asleep until 11pm. There was lots of toy sharing going on, and I was glad that we participated because I was able to observe you with several toys and now I think I’ll hold off on ordering them, if I order them at all.

You are very much into pretend play this month. Pretend eating… you used your sand bucket and shovel as a pretend bowl and spoon. In music class, you were pretend eating out of a pan with a stir spoon. And one night after bath time, you were pretend eating things off the bugs on your room’s wall. I have NO idea where you came up with this, but it is hilarious. You also love to pretend phone people.

THINGS I WANT TO REMEMBER:

How cute you are when I tell you we’re gonna go to the store, you’ll be playing with your toys and I’ll head out to the garage and put my stuff in the car. I look up and you’re waiting at the garage door so you can hold my hand to go down the steps. I love holding your little hand when we’re walking around, and it’s so sweet when you reach your hand up and ask for “help.” How you love to lift you Lightning McQueen ride-on up on the chair and inspect it… you started doing that after you saw cars up on the lift at the auto shop. How you get up on the chairs in the back yard and yell at the fence between us and the neighbors, because that’s what you see us do when we’re talking to the neighbors over the fence. How you love to go outside and play in your playhouse, taking all your toys with you in innumerable trips. How you saw my blueberry bush in the back yard and recognized them and just started picking and eating them and saying, “Mmmmmm!” The way you start giggling when you’re about to do something you know you shouldn’t. How you love to play ball with someone, you throw the ball and then giggle like crazy when someone bounces the ball back to you. You grabbed a ball, one that flashes instead of bounces. You threw it to the ground and it plunked there, you looked up at me and proclaimed, “It’s broken. Fix it?” I love how anytime a temperature is noticeably different (food or bathwater, particularly), it’s either “hot, hot!” or “cold, brrrr!” The way your hands flutter and move as you nurse and then, gradually, they still and you rub the corner of Froggy on your ear or the palm of your hand as you fall to sleep.

Sometime over the last couple of months you stopped moaning while you eat or nurse. This makes me very, very sad. It was, hands down, one of my favorite things you did that you brought with you from infancy. When we flew with you at 11 months old you moaned so loud while you were nursing during take off that the guy in the seat in front of us turned and looked at us oddly. I just smiled and said it was my son nursing. He laughed, and nudged the person next to him and told her that it was a baby nursing. (sigh)

A few nights ago, nursing didn’t put you to sleep. Frustrated, and at my wits end, I asked your father to take over so I could get a few things done. He went in, tried snuggling, tried rubbing your back, tried wearing you in the bathroom with the fan going. All tools that he used to use when you were much younger to help you fall asleep. After 45 minutes had passed, I had finished my chores and you were still awake, so I prepared to nurse you some more.

After you were asleep from nursing, your father told me those 45 minutes were such a blessing to him. These days you either fall asleep on your own, or with me nursing you. Your father said he envies me that I get to hold you as you go to sleep, because he doesn’t get to anymore.

My mom told me, around the same time, how nostalgic she was about how rapidly you weaned from the bottle. She used to be able to hold you, and you would fall asleep on the bottle, and how special that was to her. Not anymore.

A friend of mine shared that she got to hold her 3 year old for his nap one day. She said her son was so tired that he just fell asleep on her. She was savoring every second of his nap on her, because it was so rare.

I remember when you were a newborn, all you wanted to do was sleep on me, and most of the time I savored it and traced your ear with my finger, or just sat there and watched you breathe, or put my hand over your chest to feel your heart beating. But there were certainly times I just wanted my freedom to do a couple of things here and there. I would take pictures of you sleeping on my nursing pillow and call them “The Great Escape!” pictures. Gradually you began to sleep in your crib. Now you go to sleep on your own for my mom. And I know the days are numbered that you’ll fall asleep nursing with me. And so for those nights when I just want you to fall asleep already so I can go take care of my stuff, I’m reminding myself … someday, The Great Escape will be you leaving home for college, and I don’t want to have any regrets that I didn’t take the time to hold you when I could.

Sometimes I just feel like there’s a huge push for our children to be independent at such a young age. But for me, since I waited so long for you to be my baby, why do I want to rush you to the next milestone when you seem to be getting there in the hugest hurry all by yourself? So, I’ll just hold you and wait for you to get there by yourself. It will happen soon enough.

I find myself praying when you’re nursing that God will make the time I am away from you speed by quickly, and stretch the time that I am with you into eternity. These precious, fleeting moments, into eternity. You’re here in my arms, so I know for a fact that God does answer prayers, after all.

Love you into eternity,

Momma

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Filed under Letter to William, Our Kid is Cute

July 1, 2013 · 2:24 pm

Summer Nights.

The days are getting hotter and the heat is lasting into the evenings and nights, and summer has only begun. I complain every year about how this house of ours seems to retain the heat and there doesn’t seem to be any relief. So we drive off in the morning to our respective jobs and dwell in air conditioned offices by day, and return to our sweltering home by night. Air conditioning doesn’t seem to help the upstairs rooms, and William’s room seems to hold onto the heat most of all.

We’ve discussed a portable air conditioning unit for his room, but there’s nowhere to run the venting… we have shutters on the inside of the window. We talked about a portable evaporative cooler, but we’re not sure that would be effective, because we don’t really have the driest of climates here. We’ve discussed adding an attic fan, or whole house fan… if we do that, we also need to add vents under the eaves of our roof. We’ve discussed adding a second vent to William’s room, because the vent in his room is so ineffective. I’ve thought about a vent booster, but the reviews are mixed. I’ve even thought about switching his room to the guest room and making the guest room his room, but that really wouldn’t solve the issue as the guest room gets hot, too, just not AS hot. We’re now looking into an in-line air duct booster. We run the A/C and the downstairs cools to 71°F, but his room never gets below 80°F. It’s ridiculous. We still haven’t come to a decision, and the days continue to get hotter.

So, in the evenings, since it’s cooler outside than inside, we take ourselves outside. We eat dinner on the patio, and listen to the birds chattering from their home in the enormous bougainvillea plant in the cul-de-sac behind our home. The neighborhood dogs bark in the distance relaying their important messages to each other. We joke with our neighbor when he comes outside into his backyard. The new fencing our association put in is taller than the previous fencing, so we can’t see him, which adds an extra funny element to our conversations.

We find ourselves going on bike rides. The shadows slant long through the Eucalyptus trees and dust from the bike trail swirls up as we ride along. We nod or smile at the others who are going the other way on the trail.

We take ourselves to the beach for some sand and water play.

And we welcome summertime. Because, really, what else can you do?

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Filed under Best Husband, Entertainment can be Cheap, Our Kid is Cute

June 25, 2013 · 11:52 am

LegoLand Visit.

Three weeks ago, maybe four, my swim plugs tore which allowed water to get in my ears, compounded by me shoving them deeper in the ear canal to compensate, I ended up with compacted ear wax and an ear infection. So, for all intents and purposes, I’ve been sick since June 1st. When I woke up with gurgling in my left ear on the 14th, and then resulting deafness, teach me to tough it out thinking it was just a cold. An ear infection is no laughing matter. A round of antibiotics and time, and some magic potion I’ve created, I’m *still* recovering from this and just yesterday regained a little bit of my hearing back.
All that to say that my ear infection prevented us from going up the mountain this past weekend, so we decided to go to LegoLand instead.

At LegoLand, the entry line seemed to take forever, but turns out the lady in front of us was purchasing an annual pass, which they require a ton of details for that, so it DOES take forever. The wait gave me the opportunity to defend a poor little boy who wasn’t much older than William. He ran out into the area between the booths and the turnstiles when his parents weren’t paying attention and faceplanted. He was crying loudly, and no one came to claim him. I just started to head toward him when another family picked him up and dusted him off and, finally, a couple minutes later he was apparently missed and his dad came roaring out of the line, yelling at him for running away. Aghast, I went up to the guy and told him his little boy had faceplanted and he might be injured. But really? Way to overcompensate for your bad parenting, yell at your injured kid. I’m still kind of irked about that, in case you can’t tell.

Once inside, we headed over to Mini Land USA. One of our favorite parts of the park. We let William down to run around and burn off some steam, there’s lots of interactive buttons for little ones to push. Turns out, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale were there with their boys (we learned later via the power of social media). We didn’t realize who the little guy was, but William was having a spontaneous playdate with their 5 year old, Zuma. Tony recognized them but thought they were just look-a-likes. I am the worst celebrity spotter EVER and I just felt sorry for the poor girl whose hair was so overprocessed that it had no swish to it as it stuck out from under her hat. Now we’re kicking ourselves for not taking more pictures. Gah.

Another of my favorite rides is the Storybook Boat Ride. It’s so peaceful and relaxing, a nice respite on a hot day. Turns out, William really likes it, too. At the end of the ride, he would passionately sign “more,” so we just got off and got right back on. We ended up riding it five times. Every single time around, we’d get to the Prince and his Sleeping Beauty, and William would say, “Nah nah!” He apparently believed the prince was preparing to nurse, as that’s his word for nursing. I do have to say, those Lego boobies were seriously firm and at attention. Definitely noticeable!

Tony and I greatly enjoyed LegoLand in the past when we’ve gone, and we really enjoyed our day there this time with our son. It was fun and we’ll definitely be going back.

More pictures: LINK

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Filed under Entertainment can be Expensive, Our Kid is Cute

June 13, 2013 · 10:01 am

Clueless.

Last night I was feeling off. Just… not feeling quite right, you know? Anti-social, overwhelmed, that sort of thing. I headed upstairs to run William’s bath and suddenly heard him screaming downstairs. This is the 3rd or 4th time since Friday that this has happened, and I came out of the bathroom yelling, “NOT AGAIN! REALLY. NO, NO, NO, NOT AGAIN! THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!”

He had fallen again, tripped over something or slid on something or who knows what. The result is a bloody nose and bloody mouth and my ultra paranoia that he’s gonna somehow knock his front two teeth out. That is my biggest fear when he falls, those two front teeth. His face was contorted with fear and pain, tears pouring out of his eyes, blood oozing in his mouth turning his teeth a weird yellowish red. I can’t see anything in his mouth because of the blood and that frustrates me. Tony handed him over to me, he warned me that, “He has blood on his fingers.” Great. I’m wearing a new, pale yellow blouse, now I’m worried about him wiping his blood stained hand on my shirt and feeling torn that I don’t care. My baby is crying.

I took him to his room and latched him on to nurse. He’s still crying, sniffling and whimpering. I’m trying to determine by his latch if he still has all his teeth. He unlatches to look up at me, tears swimming in his eyes, he whimpers. I stroke his forehead, whisper that it’s OK. He latches on again. Tony is there in front of me, concerned and upset, a wet washcloth in his hand dabbing William’s bloody nose and swollen lip as he nurses. I know it was an accident, he was right there with William when he tripped over his toy… and I tell him again, “This has got to stop. It has to stop.” He tells me that it won’t, that he’s still learning to maneuver himself. And I respond, “This is just too much, too many accidents. It’s got to stop.” He leaves, William soothes and we do his bath and I nurse him to sleep.

I suddenly feel cold, tired, exhausted. Tony had gone to the gym while I put William down and I stumbled out of William’s room and decided I was going to bypass my swim tonight and go straight to bed. Even though it’s somewhat warm in the house, I turn on the electric blanket on my feet and put on long stretchy yoga pants for warmth. I crawl into bed and fall asleep, only to be awakened by William’s cries at 10:42pm. Unusual, but he obviously is in pain. I go to him and nurse him back to sleep, fighting a cough the entire time he’s nursing. I chew peppermint gum to stave off the cough… finally he’s asleep, now instead of feeling cold, I feel super hot.

I grab the thermometer and take my temperature. 101.2. Huh. No wonder I was feeling off. Other than the cough I’ve been battling for a week now, I have no other symptoms. I decide to go back to bed. I wake again at 3:20am, I hear William shuffling around in his bed. I decide to go nurse him, knowing that will soothe his restlessness. I take my temperature again, 102. The hell?

I take some Advil and head back to bed. The room is too hot. I can’t breathe. I finally get up and open the window, turn the ceiling fan on, knowing full well that the stupid morning doves will coo right outside the window at 5am. Oh well.

5am, there’s that morning dove, and there’s me shutting the window. William is awake, but snoozing off and on. I know I’ll go to work, my co-worker’s son’s graduation is today and she is out most of the day. I have no choice but to go to work.

So here I am. Sleep deprived. Weirdly sick. Drinking water. Wishing I were home. I still don’t know why I’m running a fever. I’ve also decided that since William gets klutzy when he’s tired, he is not allowed to walk after 7:00pm. That makes sense, right?

I just want to ask, what the hell was last night all about??

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Filed under Health/Endo, Our Kid is Cute

June 12, 2013 · 3:45 pm

Music Class.

William’s music teacher claims that children as young as 6 months, maybe younger, have what is called “audio replay.” The premise being, if you’ve heard a song before, and you sing a different part of the song out loud, or continue to do the actions for the song with no words, that you still hear the song in your head. It makes sense, because I know for a fact that adults get songs stuck in their head ALL THE TIME. Why wouldn’t it be so for children as well?

The first part of the video demonstrates this. The lyrics that we were not singing are, “Smells so green and skies so blue, spring has sprung and now, me too! Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing! Take off your mittens and put away those coats. It’s time for gardens and sailing in boats. Smells so green and skies so blue, Spring has sprung now how ‘ bout you! Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing!” — K. Guilmartin

William is gettin’ down to the “boing” part of the song. Also, the bottom boogy that he’s doing is alllll him. No one in the class except him was or has ever danced like that. The last part of the video, well… you’ll see.

Video Link (in the event the playback box doesn’t work)

These moments are why I continue to enroll him in these classes. Last week we were dancing with the teacher, round and round we went. William laughed and laughed… and after every song was done, he signed “more.” And desperately signed “more” when the class ended.

Honestly? I wanted more, too.

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Filed under I feel Amused, I feel Glad, Our Kid is Cute

June 8, 2013 · 2:04 pm

Letter to our 18 month old.

Dear William,

Today, June 8, 2013, you turn 18 months or 1.5 years old.

Every letter that I’ve written to you, I type that first sentence and then sit here and stare in amazement. I wonder to myself how it’s possible that you’ve been a part of our lives for so short a time and how our love for you could possibly be so big. How you’ve touched every part of our hearts and written your name on it. My sister-in-law told us once that as parents you just kind of grow with your children. As with most things she’s shared with me over the years about her sons, I understand it intellectually at the time, but to see it in my life, to feel the touch of your little hand, the breath coming out of your nose and mouth, the utter miracle of your life, is an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. Yes, we’ve totally grown with you.

STATS/TEETH:
You weigh 31 pounds 12 ounces, and are 36 inches tall.

Your lower canine tooth broke through your gums on 05/31. The upper right canine took came through on 06/03. Your left side canines are right there, causing your gums to be puffy and painful. Soon, child, soon, all these teeth will be in. I hate seeing you flinch and cry out when your daddy brushes your teeth at night.

NEW WORDS:
This is getting tougher and tougher to track. Usually your Grandma D. and I collaborate on this part of the update, but this month we’re both just at a loss. I sit there during mealtimes with a paper pad and ink pen, because you know words that we don’t know you know. You just pop them out. You talk about your cup, “Big Cup. Blue Cup. Red Cup.” “Bowl,” “plate,” “day,” “daddy’s car,” “bye bye, cat,” “bye bye, daddy,” “more nah-nahs,” “hi,” “hello,” “push,” ‘open,” “up,” “down,” “belly,” “play,” ‘toys,” “coffee,” iced tea,” tea,” “apple,” “chicken bawk bawk,” “hot,” “cold,” “brrrrr,” “c” for cracker (because we now call it “C” and you have figured out the code letter), “mine,” “Michael”, “blue”, “green,” “purple,” “Waffles,” “pancake,” “turkey,” “toys,” “Play,” “tail,” “apple,” “pear,” “Plum,” “mine,” “more,” bird,” “hey baby,” ‘pee,” “potty,” “baby”. Knows where your playhouse is. point for music, You say “dog” but sometimes you say it like “got, woo woo woo” (dog, barking sound) You make the sound effect of a motorcycle speeding by, “Nnnnnnnnooooeeeeewww” and then look at us and say, “What’s that?” And wait for us to say “motorcycle.” If you hear a motorcycle go by, after it’s gone, you sign “more.” You know you have three froggy loveys, and you know where they’re kept. One in your crib, one in the pocket of our nursing pillow, and one way up high on the bookshelf in your room. If you have one, you’ll look over and say “two?” And if you have two, you’ll look up and say, “Three?” You fake sneeze. You fake snore.

You love our neighbor Michael… he has a Great Dane that you love and a super loud car that you love, too. We always say, “There’s Michael’s car!” and now when you hear his car start up, you say, “Michael!” and if you’re outside, you run to look at his garage. That guy can’t sneak away anywhere with you around.

In music class the teacher sings a monotone “Let’s put our toys away now, bommmmm” when putting the instruments away. You have started singing “Bommmm!” when you’re done with your toys and want to put them away.

NURSING/FOOD:

Nursing has been crazy and beautiful and sweet this past month. You love to nurse, you ask for it… beg for it sometimes. I am fine with that. I love nursing you. I love this nursing relationship that we have. It is so special to me. Most nights you nurse yourself to sleep, but this past week there have been several nights that you nurse and nurse and say, “More Nah-nah!” and then we switch sides and nurse some more, sometimes you get 5 sides… and then you don’t fall asleep. Then you unlatch and say, “Night night.” I’ll kiss you and put you in your crib and you rustle around and eventually fall asleep. I’ve accepted that we are at an age when every time that you do fall asleep nursing, gently, sweetly, I treasure it for the gift that it is, because I know at some point it will be the last time.

Food: I present you with the same foods that we eat for dinner. If we all sit down and eat together, you’re more likely to eat along with us. Also, I just pay you no mind. I watch you out of the corner of my eye, and if I don’t make a big deal, you’ll often go through the food and sample it. You also don’t eat like adults do, or like I do, anyway, where I focus on one food until it’s gone. You have no qualms about eating protein and then going over and eating part of a fruit, then back to the protein. So I don’t take your food away until you signal that you’re “all done” … and even then, sometimes you’ll decide, as I’m clearing your plate, that you want another bite.

True story: We went out to eat last week, the waitress cleared our plates. Your plates were stacked and ready to go, your father thought you were done, so he finished most of your food. But then you spotted your stacked plates, pointed and signed “more”… your father felt bad for eating your food when he’d thought you were done.

You have never cared for carrots, ever. But that doesn’t stop me from making them for us and serving them to you. So, I made them as part of a crockpot meal and when I served them, I put parsley, salt and butter on them. I got all excited and was talking in undertones to your father that you were actually eating carrots! Your father responded in the same undertone that you were just sucking the spices off of them. ha ha

You went through a period this month that lasted a couple weeks, coincided with you being sick, that you didn’t want to eat anything. I’ve always felt compassion for parents who have picky eaters, but to experience it with you gave me a whole realm of insight to their world. Moms of picky eaters? My heart hurts for you!

SLEEP:

This month has been a wild one for your sleep. The last couple of weeks, you’ve been sleeping 12 hours overnight and taking 3 hour naps. Much different than the 10-11 hours overnight and 1.5 hour naps you were doing the first half of the past month. Who knows why?

Very early on in your life, I was so overwhelmed with concerns about your sleep. I didn’t think it was right that you were melting down every day at 6pm. So I asked my birth doula for guidance on infant and childhood sleep. She had been a good source on everything else related to babies, so I thought I’d ask. She recommended the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I read through the book and I learned an amazing amount of information about infant sleep. I learned that, at that age, you needed to be asleep every two hours. Even though I worried that I was breaking you somehow by holding you 24 hours, 7 days a week, I couldn’t put you down. I just couldn’t. I didn’t feel right to me. I had carried you for 9 months inside of me, and it felt wrong to me to leave you alone just because you were born. So I held you. I made sure you slept every 2 hours, no matter how I did it. Bouncing on the yoga ball that I had used for contractions. Sitting in a darkened bathroom with the exhaust fan running for sound. Using a clock radio that makes a white noise sound. Giving you a burp cloth, and now a lovey to hold while you sleep. Nursing you. Managing your schedule so that you are appropriately tired, (not undertired, not overtired) when we put you in your bed. All these things I use as tools to make sure you get the sleep you need.

I learned very early on that books are great for information, however, just because an expert said that you should be doing things sleepwise, or anything-wise, that that wasn’t so. As your parent, I felt it made more sense for me to have the information but then do what I felt was right for you, for us, as your family. I also know that a person can’t make anyone sleep if they’re not tired. Sleep doesn’t always operate on a clock basis. I know. I’ve had insomnia. It’s like any milestone, you can’t force walking, talking, eating or anything else… and I’ve learned subsequently that if given time, a child’s sleep and abilities, will naturally and gradually even out as they approach their 2nd birthday. Two years seems like a long, long time to give up overnight sleep, but in the timeline of a person’s life, it really isn’t that long at all. I’m not giving in, you’re not winning something or manipulating me, you’re just being you, a child who needs his parents sometimes in the middle of the night, and that is OK with us. And always will be, even when you’re 40 years old and need to talk, we’ll be here for you.

You have not taken anything away from us, our lives, our evenings, our quiet meals, date nights, our vacations, our road trips, our time in the mountains, our home, our back yard, they are all still there, but so much has been added. There is nothing I “want back” and there is everything I would give you. My back yard now has a playhouse and a water table in it. Our living room now has a bunch of toys in it. Your father’s office is now your room. We now have Cars rugs on the floor upstairs and books strewn about. This is life with you, this is how our lives include you.

THINGS WE DID/PLACES WE WENT:

05/17 – Irvine Spectrum (rode the choo-choo train and the ferris wheel, played at the splash pad and also ran into our Bradley Birthing Class teacher)
05/25 – went to the mountain cabin for a couple days

I spent time working in my back yard this past month, clearing out old plants, cleaning up others. As space cleared, and you spent time out there with me, I noticed that you loved being out there. You love going in and out the door, playing gently with the pinwheels, stepping up and down the small step. We scored a playhouse on Craigslist and you love that thing. Love it! The guy we bought it from was selling 4 items. A play house, a water table, a rocking horse Harley motorcycle and an older model Cozy Coupe. The one thing I thought you’d love, the water table, is the one thing you really couldn’t care less about, and we donated the 2nd Cozy Coupe to charity. But it’s so great to see you go outside on your own terms.

You had a couple good weeks and then you caught an upper viral infection over Memorial Day weekend, so we’ve gone back to using our “cold toolkit” of Hyland’s Cough syrup, Advil, Vick’s Baby Rub on your chest and bottom of your feet, and Eucalyptus Oil in a diffuser in your room, as well as a cool mist humidifier. We also went to the pediatrician to make sure you didn’t have another ear infection, and you didn’t. We saw the pediatrician that you’ve seen since you were a newborn, sadly, though, that will be the last time you see him. He is practicing in an office too far away, and I don’t like the pediatrician who replaced him … so I’ve changed pediatricians. I’m hopeful the new doctor and new office will be a hit. I love everything I’ve read about them on the internet so far, and the nurse triage was super nice and helpful when I called with ten thousand questions.

PLAYTIME AND CHILDREN INTERACTION:

You are quick to climb up on the couch, and you have fallen off of it a couple of times this past month. To that end, I bought you a smaller chair, something your size, the hope being that you can learn the proper way to get up and down from it so that when you’re on bigger furniture, you will have the knowledge in place. You are also super quick to go climbing up the stairs if you even see a glimmer that the gate got left open, so we are really being conscious about closing it.

You continue to be non-aggressive in playing with other children. You are interested in toys and instruments, but you never forcibly take them away from another child and if another child forcibly removes them from you, you let it go. You love to watch other children run, jump or play, and will walk around them giggling like crazy. The little boy on the scooter at the playground, the little boy playing basketball, the little kids jumping on the jumper at Chick-Fil-A and you giggling in response to their play. It is so sweet to watch.

THINGS i WANT TO REMEMBER:
I love how any time is a good time to sit down and read a book. My idea of babyproofing my desk drawers with packing tape was genius in my book. Apparently, yours, too, as you are now distracted with ripping the tape up and putting it back down, as opposed to opening the drawers and emptying the contents. Not quite the intention I had in mind when I did it, but it works… just in a different way. You try to put the bark back on trees. How I tell you that it’s sleeping time and put you in your crib, I hear you fake snore in response. The way you rub the corner of Froggy on your ear lobe or the palm of your hand when nursing to sleep. The big smile you greet me with at the end of the day, which quickly turns into you leading me to the nursing chair, removing the cat pillow and handing me the nursing pillow.

I love how deeply you feel every emotion. Happiness and glee that are so big that it fills you up and you overflow with vibrations, jumping and laughter. When something goes wrong, usually a transition that goes awry (like the neighbor’s car that you can’t have) the sadness that is so big that it encompasses you, and your lips quiver and your eyes fill with tears and your sobs fill you and you vocalize how unhappy you are. Oh, precious child. I know how big these emotions are. I feel them myself, and it’s taken me every bit of my 42 years to learn to deal with them as well as I do. I will hold you and love you as you go through them. You will never be left alone with them. I can’t solve all your problems, but I can certainly try to help you figure them out.

How you love to look at pictures, point at people’s faces and ask “That?” To entertain you on a long, boring drive in a tow truck this month, I handed you a picture of us on the sky tram at Sea world. You thought it hysterical to point at your daddy, I would say “Daddy!”, then you would point at me in the picture, I would say, “Mommy!” Back and forth you went. Also, every time you finish nursing for our 5pm session, you look behind the nursing chair and point at the picture of our family and say, “Daddy!”

Someone asked me what I do when I’m nursing you, because nursing can be very time consuming. Early on, when you were a newborn, I was able to read things on my netbook. But that disappeared rapidly when you became aware of what I was doing. It was then that I realized just how fleeting babyhood is, and so I started closing my eyes and trying to imprint the feel and smell of you on my heart. This time with you is going so fast. You are morphing before my eyes. I have learned that there is nothing in this universe as satisfying to me, when you wake in the night, I go to you and hold you and you lean to the side because you want to nurse. You sniffle and latch on and within a few minutes you are settled peacefully back in your crib. I always stay just a couple minutes longer with my eyes closed and smell your sweet and unique baby/toddler smell. People told me a lot of things about parenthood, but they never told me that the smell of my child in the middle of the night, all limp from sleep and nursing, would be more addicting than any drug, legal or illegal.