I Played My Drum For Him

Ever try to clean anything with a 21 month old running around? It can't be done in four hours, that's for sure.

So, nothing is clean the way I wanted it. I don't have the gifts I wanted to get for Alex because I didn't have enough time. I don't have the gifts I wanted for Dan for the same reason. (They're all coming later). I spent half an afternoon in Manhattan today grabbing the gifts they 'need'.

Dinner tonight was a plain ol' dinner I make often. Alex didn't nap today, so he was in a foul mood from about 4 PM on. He had zero attention span in trying to do anything. I couldn't get many pictures or even watch our whole Christmas movie because he was so overtired that he wouldn't stay still, nor make much sense. Doesn't matter much anyway, since I still have a stack of Christmas decorations piled up on my study desk which probably aren't getting up.

Soooo, it wasn't a great idea to go away only days after Thanksgiving, only to have to study all day every alternate day ('cuz Dan did too) up to the 17th. From the 18th on, Alex has been a serious handful and I just couldn't keep up.
After dinner we sang some carols to Alex. Much to our surprise, he seemed to know "Silent Night". He sang along with it. Only once, of course, and not again to the video camera. Then we cheered him up with some cinnamon raisin toast while we told him that he did so many "yays" this year that Santa ran out of paper and two ink cartridges trying to keep track of them.

After a futile 15 minutes of trying to get photos (limited to the one corner in which I can take any decent photos), I gave up and told Dan to get him ready for bed.
When Dan brought him to me to say "Goodnight", Alex threw out his arms to try to wrap them around me, declaring:
"Mama. HUG!"

And then he squealed with laughter.

I guess the regular ol' dinner and his special new Winnie the Pooh slippers and the "Christmas toast" with carols were all he really needed. Hug, Baby. Mama hug.

Have a Merry Christmas all!

December 24, 2008

Waiting on the Special Present

I am trying to get a response from a book printer located in Murrary, Utah. According to Yahoo Maps, Murray appears to be a suburb of Salt Lake City, located to the south of it. Murray seems to be directly west of Halladay, Utah.

I've been waiting to hear from these people for two days, not having received a response to three emails nor even my book order. I'm about to cancel my subscription and email them the direction to cancel my book order - but not if someone can tell me that it's the case that this area of Utah has been hit with unusually bad snow that is stopping business.
So, I asked the Moms.  Shout out to Utah moms!

I was told that the snow was unusually heavy, even for Utah.  Book publisher has been saved.

Get here board books!!!

Noses and Other New Interests

What is it with that nose thing? Alex gets way into his nose lately.

I love it when he sings along with songs he likes. He particularly loves this song from The Great Day of the Fliers (from the Land Before Time). The song is 'Flip, Flap and Fly' and Alex calls it - and the whole movie - 'Flap, Flap'. He'll sing 'Flap, flap' to the song. He'll call any image of a pterodactyl 'Flap, Flap' and even any image of a bird in flight 'Flap, flap'. Alex has also taken to starting to call the charatcers he likes on his toy phone. Dan heard him having a conversation with 'Mouse' and 'Mice' (from the Nutcracker). Last night he called Blue from Blue's Clues saying 'Hello Blue?' and then jargoning the rest of his conversation except to say 'Bye' before he hung up.

I wish I had videos of it. Predictably, he'll stop as soon as I get the camera out.

December 22, 2008

Mouse!

This semester has been a rough one. Alex has been nap-striking and refusing nightly bedtime since early September. I used to be able to study and do homework during his naps and in the early mornings before he'd call for me. Without those times, I was constantly playing catch-up into the wee hours of the night. Tonight was no exception.

Alex wouldn't go down until shortly after 11:15 tonight. I was a bundle of misery, with a test due tonight and such.

A few days ago, I needed the Christmas Spirit to get started already. So, I ordered a DVR movie, looking for some Christmas themed movie. All I could get that looked decent was 'Barbie in the Nutcracker'. It's the Nutcracker story, but with some of the ballet and Tchiakovsky's music, but 'Barbie' is drawn like Barbie and 'cast' as Clara. Alex loves exciting music and Tchiakovsky usually doesn't disappoint in that area. I thought Alex might like some parts of the story. He did.

His favorite part so far is when the Mouse King comes into Clara's house looking for the Nutcracker. And the Nutcracker battles the Mouse King and his mice soldiers.

So, tonight, Dan put it on for Alex while he was fixing some late night snack. I was a stressball, unable to concentrate. I walked out of the den and headed for the kitchen to get some decaf. There was Alex, holding onto a book and lightly swashing it like a sword against his play yard walls. He looked up at me and said "Mouse!" as if to explain what he was doing.

He was battling the evil Mouse King.

It's hard to stay stressed out about math tests when Alex is fighting the Mouse King. So, I got a sip of decaf and walked back into the living room to plop down and watch the Nutcracker with Alex.

Life is good.

December 2, 2008

A Christmas Tree Dilemma

For those of you who usually put up large trees (6 ft and taller), what do you do to secure the tree from a curious toddler?

If you use fencing, how do you secure the fencing? Are you anchoring it to the walls?

Do you use any sort of string or some other anchor to tie the top of the tree to the walls?

I'm seriously at a loss on this. I could get fencing, but free-standing as a rectangle or octogon, it moves if he pushes it, which defeats the purpose. My parents used to secure our really tall trees (6.5 - 7 ft) with green string looped around the tree's main stalk and anchored to the wall at various points going down, but I don't know just how secure this really is for a toddler.

I'm thinking about getting some potted, short, real trees in wide pots and placing them at elevated spots instead of my regular 6.5 foot tree, but I don't really know.

Thanks for your suggestions.
Lynne       

Elmo! Elmo! Elmo! Oyyyy-neeee!

Sesame Place is a Sesame Street theme park located in Langhorne, PA. It's all things Sesame Street from the rides, to the shows, to the decorations and music, with costumed characters walking around. We were there only this weekend, so we couldn't take advantage of its water park attractions, but the rest of the park was enough for my little guy.

Alex was ALL 'Elmo! Elmo! Elmo!' whenever he saw a picture of him, but when it came to meeting a costumed character of Elmo, he froze up! That didn't stop him from chasing the Ernie character around shouting 'Oy-neeee! Oy-neee!' I told Dan that I wanted to go before it closed for the season. He was all 'ohh, he won't get it' and 'it's really a hassle' and 'where will we stay' and 'we have so much to do on weekends' and blah, blah, bl-blah.

Does this look like a guy who seems 'hassled'?

That was taken at an attraction called 'Dine With Me!', in which you get a buffet dinner along with close up entertainment from the characters after which they walk around and meet and greet all of the kids.

Alex 'got it', BTW and Dan had a great time too.

October 26, 2008

Food Strike!

Alex goes through phases of rejecting food. He comes out of them too. I brought it up at his 15 mo check up and the pediatrician told me to not worry about it if he's not losing weight or showing any signs of malnutrition - which he wasn't. She said it's a typical complaint over toddlers.

I've just rotated his meals, trying anything and everything to see if he'll take to it and I just default to baby food if it's gone on for too long during the day. I can usually make a breakthrough with fruits and Gerber meat sticks.

Apparently, it's normal for toddlers to do this and they don't starve. Now only if I could find a way to go on a food strike.

October 13, 2008

Indoor Fun at One

I've been stuck inside more days than not for the past month. I had to revive some of our last winter indoor activities, adjusted for age.

Alex loves books - so we go over the books he's chosen to read. For a different twist, I make up a different story with sound effects to go with the pictures. If you have baby photo books, those are great too, I've found. Alex LOVES looking at family photos. I'll also hold him up and go over all of the hanging photos on the wall (almost all of him) and tell him a story about each photo or the age he was when I took it. He LOVES that game.

'The Dinosaur Game' - so named because I happen to be doing it with a lot of stuffed dinosaurs. I use Alex's stuffed animals in various 'chase' scenarios or I will sit them all in a circle and pretend to do a song session with them. Alex could go for hours crashing into the circle or when he does, giggling and laughing when the dinosaur gets 'revenge' and wrestles with him, with me growling the sounds of the dino. I've done similar games with hand puppets, but you can just make his stuffed animals 'talk' to the same effect.

Lessons - I'll take things like his colored baby teething rings and go over the colors or I'll take the numbers from his foam square playmat and go over the numbers with him. I've made up 'rewards' for his playing along, such as a tickle, a wrestle, a nursery rhyme, etc. I also go over 'What Words Do you Know?' or 'What does the ____ say?' to go over sounds he knows, such as animals or machines.

Song Games - I learned a bunch of song games that involve physical play to nursery rhyme songs. We can get at least a half hour to forty minutes of "The Grand Old Duke of York" knee bouncing or "Little Bunny Foo, Foo" hand acting along with many other songs. If you don't recall nursery rhymes independently, you can look them up online to get rhymes, MIDI files to tell you the melody and suggestions for hand or play acting with them.


Coloring - I'll set out a time for us to both color in both coloring books and blank paper. I got some chunky crayons that have been easier for him to use.

Pretend Games - Using some cartoon he knows as an inspiration for a story, I'll get items that aid making up some profession Alex could do. I'll play "construction worker" or "professor" or "fireman" with him, casting him in the role of the main character. This game cracks him up so much, he has a hard time paying attention to the story line. LOL

I'll also use television with Alex. We have a Baby Einstein collection, but I'll use PBS shows and interstitials just as often. I'll set out a time for us to watch a DVD or show together and I comment on the show. Sometimes I point out things to him, sometimes I make it silly. I'll sing along with songs if that's applicable. I'll also use recorded music for dancing and singing sessions.

I've found that these kinds of activities can fill a LOT of time and attention space. Alex will often want to redo some part of it that really makes him laugh or that he really enjoys. The big plus is that all of these games make him think, so a normal naptime is a near guarantee.

October 6, 2008

It Finally Happened...

So, yesterday I was at a local sprinkler park with Alex. He had been tapping his feet in a puddle left over from the sprinklers and he was joined by a girl of about 7 who could splash with a lot more force than Alex could. Alex was already changed into his beach coverall to dry off and I didn't want him to get wet again, so I asked the girl if she could splash a little lighter (she was just washing sand off her feet) because I didn't want him to get wet again. A debate over his getting wet again ensued, because, y'know, she was 7. Finally she asked me 'And who are you? Are you his grandma??!!'

Her father (huh?! - mid 30s definitely), looked horrified and yelled 'NATALIE!!'. I just laughed and shrugged at the guy saying 'I gotta get used to that.'

But hey - 17 months before anyone ever asked me that!! That's pretty good! LOL!

August 23, 2008

Signing Time

Alex's first pediatrician was against signing. He felt that the frustration would lead Alex to talk sooner. I haven't been successful in getting Alex to learn other signs since he made a break through on talking (ton of words at a time), but before he did, he learned signs very quickly.

I SO don't agree with the idea that learning signs will slow down speech in a hearing child. It's not exactly the same thing as being bi-lingual in spoken language, because the child can tell the difference between a sign and a word, but I do consider ASL just another language in which he learned some communication. I have noticed that Alex once said the words for the signs he knows, but he abandoned them in favor of signing. But it's not like I'm not worried that he's going to be 15 years old and not able to say the words 'milk', 'eat' or 'more', though. I mean, c'mon.

I'm all in favor of signing. Like other posters here, I saw Alex just light up like a Christmas tree when he realized that he'd just communicated with us when he first signed 'milk'. It seemed to me, it encouaged his speech, not delayed it.

August 20, 2008

Little Yeller

I've never seen Alex try to yank anything away from another child. But today, on the playground, I intervened twice in his verbal aggression towards other children. On two separate occasions he yelled at other children for playing with something he wanted to play with. But he hadn't been playing with it at the time they had their hands on it and he hadn't even been going for it. He almost succeeded in intimidating another little boy off a ride. I corrected him right away then because I felt the other kid gave up too easily when Alex had been in the wrong. I didn't want he and Alex to work it out that way. In the other instance, the other child was 4 and could understand me when I intervened on her behalf. I did that so that Alex could see she and I work it out when he doesn't have the verbal skills yet. (She was going to give up too and it was her ball he wanted.)

August 20, 2008

What to be for Halloween?

I need to shop for Alex's Halloween costume. I want something Halloween-ish, like a devil, witch, fairy, etc. Alex loves Elmo to pieces and he'd be awfully cute as Elmo, but there's just so many years I can have the ability to choose his Halloween costume for him. So, while I can, I'm eyeballing some classic creature stuff. When Alex has the ability to plan, make choices and verbalize them, then I'll have to deal with his preferences. After all, I know there will be a day that I'll have to deal with some Ninja Turtle nonsense or some superhero or whatever.

August 19, 2008

Pancakes Please

Alex is no fan of eggs. He just loves bacon and that wasn't really a good substitute. So, I've just been sticking to Cheerios with diced fruit (either apple or banana) and half a broken up granola bar. I asked my pediatrician about this and she said it was a fine breakfast and that, in her opinion, it wasn't necessary to get him to like eggs if he was getting protein from other sources. I have no problem getting Alex to eat meats like chicken for dinner or chopped up meatballs or even those Gerber jarred meat sticks. (He doesn't like peanut butter either).

To get some protein into this boy, I switched your pancake batter to the one that needs an egg? As soon as I went back to that one, I had no problem getting Alex to eat those too.

August 18, 2008

Time Out! Too Soon?

I gave Alex his first Time Out today. It was only about 40-60 seconds. I delivered it after warning him away from the gate around the fireplace three times. I could tell he understood that I didn't want him to go there.

I expected that he wouldn't really understand the nature of what went on. I just figured I would start these kinds of corrections now instead of waiting and possibly passing a point when he was able to get it and then just slamming it down on him suddenly.

But after it went on, Alex was looking at me and acting in such a way that indicated that he understood what just happened.  So it seems that a 16 month old can understand the negative consequence of a Time Out.

I know that many months ago, I got Alex to stop standing in the tub too, but I did it with "earning yays". I would sit him back down and say "That's a yay". It took only about 2 or 3 days before he was sitting himself back down and clapping and saying "Yay" and looking up at me. He kept remembering the sit down thing until we moved to showers. I thought maybe that the concept of positive consequence was easier to understand, since for them almost everything they decide to do at all is done out of a desire for positive consequence.

This time, I used his play yard to contain him. It has a gate that can lock closed and he knows it's been constantly open since he showed that he could walk well on his own. So, now, he knows that I only used the closed play yard if I had to because there was danger going on in the rooms he has free rein in or, in this first case, a Time Out. He cried for about 10-15 seconds into it, but then stopped. Dan thinks that he started complying with the idea when he realized that I wasn't comforting him while he was crying, but instead just talking to him from the other side of the play yard.
Who knew they could understand the concept of negative consequence at this age? Wow. Interesting.

August 15, 2008

Future PR Man

Alex should wind up in Public Relations. He totally has the hide of a rhino when it comes to dealing with unpleasant acting children. The other day, the gym babysitters' daughter (age 3) was in the playroom with him and running to every toy or attraction he approached, declaring 'NO!' and body blocking him from touching it. Alex shrieked with laughter everytime she did it, thinking it was this big ol' game she was playing. He was delighted. (I spoke to her and told her that he needs to be able to play with something.)

By the time I was leaving the gym an hour later, I packed up an excited, still happy Alex and the little girl jumped in front of the carriage declaring 'NO!' - meaning I was not to take Alex away. Her mom explained that I had to go home. She said 'I want to go home with him!'

Boy did HE turn that situation around or what?

August 14, 2008

Mama's Smiles for Today

- While playing this afternoon, Alex walked over to me and took my hand to lead me somewhere. Normally, it's toward the gate to the vestibule to tell me he wants to go outside. Today I was led to his play yard. When I said 'Oh! You want to play with me?' He nodded his head and smiled broadly.

- Earlier this afternoon, Alex walked up to the television and said, 'Gerkle' while reaching for the buttons on the TV. It's was his way of telling me that he wants us to go over his 'Discovering Shapes' Baby Einstein video. I put it on and we did our usual routine of Baby Einstein promo goofiness, which is to hum the sound signature really loud and go 'Blink! Blink' when the caterpillar blinks. We also dance around doing explosion sounds to the Disney company ID on the videos as well. Today, I went to do the explosion sounds and Alex didn't join me. He sat down on the floor and just looked up at me. I sat down next to him and he squealed in delight, jumping up and putting his arms on me. Then he nodded his head soundly and said 'GERKLE!' I suppose he was telling me 'It's lesson time, Mommy. Silliness later.'

There were other items like that all day long, like most days. He just makes me smile all the time.

August 7, 2008

Pooping on Command

It doesn't matter if I get there at 9, 9:30, 10 or 10:30 - I can count on the fact that Alex will poop about 15-20 minutes into my workout and I'll spot the babysitter coming out to get me with Alex in one arm and my changing pad set in the other. The ladies locker room has no changing table. These changes take at least 10 minutes, sometimes even more by the time I wrap it all up and wash my hands.

The babysitter has told me that she is permitted to change babies as long as the mother says OK. I've said 'OK' repeatedly. Today she told me that there was one supervisor there who does not allow it. So, I change Alex and then see her with another tot, taking her to the bathroom. Usually there are two people on hand for the playroom, so I went straight there. Nobody there. I had to wait an additional 10 minutes for the babysitter to return. They had no back up for her today. When they don't they usually ask the person at the front desk to sit in the room with any children there. Since Alex was with me, they didn't do that when she had to take the other tot to the bathroom.

So the score was today 15 minutes of babysitting, 20 minutes of me watching and caring for Alex. And they expect me to pay for this? told the babysitter that I'd had it. I wasn't paying for today. I was tired of this business of ever-changing policy on changing diapers. I was tired of spending money to change and watch my son in their building. She pleaded with me to not go to management about it and to give them another chance. This woman is only 25, just out of college and currently in grad school, working towards her full-time teaching license. I didn't want to confront her with a chewing out (Alex adores her), so I said I wanted to bitch about "the policy".

She begged me to give it one more chance on Tuesday, my next usual day in which I'd use babysitting. If it happens one more time, Dan is just gonna have to deal with getting his ass out of bed early on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Enough of this.

If I didn't have a 15 minute walk each way to the gym, I think I'd never get any exercise on my gym days. GAH!

That's all - just ventin'

August 7, 2008

Of Poop and Lunges

It doesn't matter if I get there at 9, 9:30, 10 or 10:30 - I can count on the fact that Alex will poop about 15-20 minutes into my workout and I'll spot the babysitter coming out to get me with Alex in one arm and my changing pad set in the other. The ladies locker room has no changing table. These changes take at least 10 minutes, sometimes even more by the time I wrap it all up and wash my hands.

The babysitter has told me that she is permitted to change babies as long as the mother says OK. I've said "OK" repeatedly. Today she told me that there was one supervisor there who does not allow it. So, I change Alex and then see her with another tot, taking her to the bathroom. Usually there are two people on hand for the playroom, so I went straight there. Nobody there. I had to wait an additional 10 minutes for the babysitter to return. They had no back up for her today. When they don't they usually ask the person at the front desk to sit in the room with any children there. Since Alex was with me, they didn't do that when she had to take the other tot to the bathroom.

So the score was today 15 minutes of babysitting, 20 minutes of me watching and caring for Alex. And they expect me to pay for this?

I told the babysitter that I'd had it. I wasn't paying for today. I was tired of this business of ever-changing policy on changing diapers. I was tired of spending money to change and watch my son in their building. She pleaded with me to not go to management about it and to give them another chance. This woman is only 25, just out of college and currently in grad school, working towards her full-time teaching license. I didn't want to confront her with a chewing out (Alex adores her), so I said I wanted to bitch about "the policy".


She begged me to give it one more chance on Tuesday, my next usual day in which I'd use babysitting. If it happens one more time, Dan is just gonna have to deal with getting his ass out of bed early on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Enough of this.

If I didn't have a 15 minute walk each way to the gym, I think I'd never get any exercise on my gym days. GAH!

That's all - just ventin'

Canine Ease

Other than his first experience with teething, Alex has been a great teether. When it was first happening, it was horrible. He was only 4 and a half months old and there was very little I could do to help his pain. He wasn't able to hold a teether to his own mouth and I had to play a guessing game when I held it there and then took it away if I guessed it was too cold. All I had to help him was the Orajel.

Since those teeth broke about 5 weeks later, none of his subsequent teeth cutting have been as bad. So I never knew when it was time to break out the Orajel. He's getting canines now and the first one bugged him for only a day or two. Tylenol seemed to help enough. Now, it's just drool.

"This!"

Alex points to something he wants and says 'This!', even pointing to the window or door saying 'This!' when he wants to go outside.
He also comes over to take me or my husband by the hand and bring us to something he wants to do or something he wants.
He used to sign 'milk' all the time when he wanted that, but he doesn't do that much any longer. I miss that one.

July 27, 2008

Let's Go Have Some Fun

I'm fed up with beating my head against a wall trying to get this place organized. I want to go out and play.

I took a couple of days' naptime to chew through the internet for things to do in this area. I started with a basic search on "children's activities" + the area name. I also took advantage of local advertising bulletins and local papers to find mention of places to go. I even opened up Yahoo Maps of my town and zoned in on anything within a 15 mile raidus that appeared green or labeled as a recreation place. Then I'd google the name of that area or park or whatever it was.

I found a TON of things to do that way. I was able to find two children's museums, a nearby aquarium, a community children's center, a commercial water park, a commercial amusement park, a county park with an awesome kiddie pool and water play stuff, a sprinkler park at a nearby beach - even a huge play area in a local MALL. (He LOVES it!) There's an amusement park/pool/beach/arcade place 3 miles away from me, but through the Yahoo Map perusing, I found another one in Connecticut that appears to have even more things geared towards toddlers. Of course, it's on the totally opposite side of Connecticut from me, so I haven't exactly made efforts to get there yet.

Then, because of the particular geography of this area, we also happen to have access to a ton of boatrides and ferries, intended for transportation, but inexpensive and short enough for Alex to just totally love going on them. Boats are cooler than standing still.


And as much as my gym babysitter service annoys me, I still always have that option since he loves the usual babysitter and the ton of toys they have there. It's $2.50 for a half hour.

Yup. Summer just got a lot more fun.

"Eeesh!"

Alex does the pointing thing with various sounds repeated. One sound he makes sounds like he's trying to say 'this'. It comes out as 'eesh'. The other sound he makes is like what you're describing your LO makes. It's an 'uhh, uhh' sound. I thought he was doing it only to engage in pointing. I figured that he gets so excited when he learns something new like that, he was only trying to say something while doing it, because that's what he always sees and hears us doing.

May 20, 2008

At the Doctor

Alex had a doctor's appointment today.  I swear I get more nervous about them than Alex does.  I'm always afraid that he's going to cry because he has to get a shot.   It kills both me and Dan to hold him in place while he gets stuck with needles.  There's no way to explain to a baby that it's a little discomfort now taken on for his own good later.

It started out with a cab ride.  Alex always likes those.

Car rides are always a favorite.

We schedule Alex's doctors' appointments for early in the morning so that Dan can go to them too.  (He just goes into work later that day.)

Alex is getting better about being at the doctor's office.  He's now intrigued by what's going on around him.   He used to cry when he was being measured, especially around his head.  Now he takes it in stride.

Being weighed without a diaper though? That one has become a little less predictable.

Does this diaper make me fat?

When it was time for him to be examined by Doctor Glassman, Alex was ALL sorts of into it.  Now he knows that he can actually grab at those cold instruments the guy uses.

Sounds good!

Looks good too!

All clear!

I took these photos in the hopes of making a book about why we go to the doctor and, especially, why we need shots.  That's just in case things go bad in the future, because they're not that bad now.  In fact, Alex surprised us with his composure over receiving a shot today.

Not happy, but not crying either.  Wow!

We both love Dr. Glassman.  He's so great with babies!!

See ya in a few months Dr. Glassman!!!

Playtime and a New Milestone

Alex got so many cool new toys from the family last week.  And I have some serious work ahead of me, trying to figure out where to fit them all!  We played with some as I tried to gather them all up in one place.

Then, this evening, I decided to play the new MagiQ DVD he got with the talking companion doll - a dog named Tiny.  He LOVES this DVD.

Alex laughing at the duck in the reeds

Then, something amazing happened.   I have to show the photos in sequence to let it really shine:

1)

Interest in the Riding Bus



2)

A keener interest compels a rise up on his knees

3) 

Wait.  I think I can go further

4)

I'm not sure how I wound up facing this way, but I guess I'll play with the Circus Tent instead.

Yup.  He sat up on his own. Right in front of me!

It was one of those rare moments in which he does something brand new AND I have my camera in hand.

Yes!!!

Daddy Love

Dan is often up pretty late, so he takes the late shift on care, if needed.  Sometimes, he just likes to peek in on our soundly sleeping boy.

Tonight was one such night.  Snapped at just shy of 4 AM

Experimentin' with Skillz

Most of the time, the milestones suggestions on Baby Center are right on or at least close to it.  Sometimes, the milestones posted make me scratch my head.  For example, it said that by one year, your child should be able to handle a spoon well enough to feed themselves. 

Are they sure about that?   This is a photo record of how well that experiment went this afternoon at Snack time.

Fingerpainting with carrots

This end, Mama?

Naughty Mommy

You're not supposed to put a baby down with a loose blanket.   It's a suffocation hazard.  That doesn't stop manufacturers from coming out with the most adorable baby blankets evah, of course. 

Since Alex can't bear to be swaddled, that leaves me with the only choice but to use a blanket on him while standing there. But, if I stand there, he won't nap unless he's absolutely exhausted.  So, it means allowing him his bottle while under a blanket, since I have to take the bottle away anyway.

Works for me.  At least his safari blanket will get some use:

Family Party! Visitors! Presents! Zzzzzzz....

Tonight we hosted our family party.  It was an amazing turnout.  Doria brought something vegetarian and delicious, of course.  I made my pulled pork, which was popular this year.  Tristan and his girlfriend showed up too.

But, most of all, Alex got presents. LOTS of 'em.  Lots from Grandma McCann. Lots from Aunt Ellen.  Lots from Aunt Donna.  Lots and lots and lots. 

It proved too much for the tyke, though.  He was soon yawning and stretching.  I dressed him for bed and he was thrilled!   At one point, he even flipped out when I turned away from his nursery.  I'd forgotten something, but he thought I wasn't listening.

Oh no, tyke.  When you say you're tired, believe me, I listen.

A Leap Forward! (Kinda)

So, this afternoon, I was busy doing some chores while Alex played quietly in his Pack N Play.  We have the family Christmas Party tomorrow, so I'm grateful for his willingness to play alone like this.  I have a ton of housework to do.

I came out from cleaning the bathroom into the living room to see this:

He pulled himself to standing!! He's tried many times before in the past few weeks, but this was the first time he'd accomplished it.

Which leads me to another thought: time to make sure I dress him in pants that fit.

Showing off Special Presents

A new thread on BabyCenter April 07 asked us to share photos of the most meaningful gift we received from our spouses this Christmas, being Baby's First Christmas and all.  This was the photo I posted:

I loved my aquarmarine jewelry too.  I'm wearing the earrings now and have been since Christmas Day.  But these Wishing Tree figurines are nearest and dearest to my heart.  I can't even imagine Alex being as big as the boy being held by the female figure.  I look forward to it too.   For now, I get all warm and fuzzy inside looking at the male figure.  That pose reminds me of a pose I've seen Dan strike while holding Alex many times. 

Playin' with Toys, Lookin' at Pictures

This morning after Alex's bottle and change, we played with some new toys.  Well, "new" to him, anyway.  He's been afraid of some of the Sassy toys I got at my baby shower.  Today, I wanted to see if he'd enjoy the rocking horse.  He did!!!

Also, since we have a trip to Florida coming up this month. I've been going through the family photo album that he got from Santa Claus and that I put together for him.   My hope is that he'll remember the faces of people he hasn't seen since he was only two weeks old.

How excited will Abuela and Abuelo be when Alex recognizes them?  

Now, let's hope it works!!

Funny Froggies and a New Year's Visitor

After naptime, I brought the rapping frogs into the nursery to see if Alex would enjoy dancing to their songs again.  He was more intrigued than excited to see them, demanding that they sing.  So, I placed his favorite one into the crib and played it. 

It wasn't exactly the response I'd been hoping for.  His first response to these frogs was hilarious.

About an hour later, Auntie Gail came to visit.  Alex likes her a lot.  But she couldn't get Alex interested in the rappig frog either.  Well, he was interested in one thing - trying to figure out how they moved, but singing and dancing along with them? That's SO last week.