Chatty Guy

Alex's vocabulary continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  Some of the things he liked to say in July of 2009 are:

- "All aboard!" - pretending he's on a boat or train
- "Watch the closing doors" - from Metro North and the subway
- "Thunder! Listen!" - It rained a lot in May and June
- "My ______" - he got the concept of "mine"
- "Hey guys!" - said to Mama and Daddy.  He got this from Elliot from "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything"
- "'ditioner cold!" - about the a/c unit in his room
- "Are you OK?" - he hears this one a lot from Mama. Alex tends to fall a lot these days.
- "Do you like it?" - he hears this one a lot from Mama too.  She likes to expose Alex to lots of new things.
- "____ like you!" - meaning, "[This thing] just like you." Alex loves to see when he's doing the same things and having the same things as Mama and Daddy.
- "Shaka body!" - singing along with Technotronic's "Move It"
- "The Robot Song - what he calls Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown". He really likes dance music.
- Singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Moon, Moon, Moon" (Laurie Berkner song), "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "Old McDonald"
 - "Thanks!", "'Scuse me!" and "You're Welcome" - he's getting quite polite
 -  "Ice Cold!" - the way he likes his water on a hot day

July 31, 2009

Nap Strike!

I'm right now in the middle of having to adjust my expectations again because Alex just left a two week period in which he suddenly napped again. This entire week, however, has been just like the previous ten months. So...I'm back to calling it 'Crib Time' from 1 - 3 PM and going about my business no matter what.

July 31, 2009

Disco Baby

Alex is now groovin' and movin' to his new fave 'The Robot Song' a/k/a 'Funkytown' by Lipps Inc. Dan is groaning over the return of Alex's love of Disco.

Hey, at least he lets some House/Techno get in there too. Alex also frequently requests 'Shaka Body' a/k/a 'Move This' by Technotronic. I also just downloaded me some "Bertner" on iTunes last night. I figured I should get on the ball in making Alex's playlist since we're letting him listen to the iTouch in his room.

Perhaps I should include "Bunnytown"* in it.
*Lyrics:
"Won't you take me to...
Bunnytown!?!
Won't you take me to...
BUN-nee town.
Won't you take me to..
Bun-e-ee-to-owwwn.
Won't you take me to...
BUN-UN-NEE-TOWN!"

July 31, 2009

Veggie Tricks - Bleu Cheese Dressing

Alex used to be a bad eater and bad sleeper. He's been just a bad sleeper for a long time now, so I lost my head in even contemplating limiting his food. I won't be worrying if he goes up to an adult serving of meat again as he's been doing in the past week. I'll just count my blessings.

I did find a way around veggie blues, though. The secret was to serve them raw and with 'dip' (salad dressing). I use only about 1-2 tsps of the stuff, but it goes a long way in getting him to eat all of his carrots, broccoli, snow peas and whatever diced fruit I toss in there too.

July 29, 2009

7:40 PM

Alex's New Room

[From Alex's journal]

Mommy told Alex that she and Daddy are almost finished with Alex's new room.  Mommy just needs to finish the art for the walls.  Alex seems to feel it is finished. He wants to have fun!  He loves playing with his new train set all the time!

Today was the first time Alex and Mommy did art in Alex's new room. Mommy wants to hang it on the walls too!

July 29, 2009

Cruise to Nowhere

I spent nearly all day out today. I had an appointment in Manhattan this morning. I had barely enough time to cool off before I packed our picnic dinner for our staycation plans tonight. A cruise to nowhere!

Alex loves, loves, LOVES boat rides. He asks for them nearly daily with the question 'Boat ride today?' and then he tries to plead his case by making boat engine noises and twirling his hands saying 'Look Mama! Spinning. Boat spinning!' (Imitating a ferry's turnaround at the dock.) So we treated him to a 'dinner' cruise around Long Island Sound from Greenwich Harbor to Stamford Harbor. He was thrilled! His favorite part was watching the captain steer the ferry (the cab had a giant wooden ship's wheel).

And, since it was so late by the time we got back, I spent the evening scrapping it. I needed this kind of quiet 'me' time, as if the 2 hour cooling cruise wasn't wonderful enough.

July 22, 2009

I Help! I Helping!

Yesterday, I boldly stepped into hanging the new metallic magnet boards I got for Alex's room. Aligning four metal boards in a straight line was quite a task and I was proud of myself for accomplishing it almost perfectly but I wasn't the only one proud of myself yesterday.

When Alex saw me hammering in the wall anchors, he ran and got his hammer from a wooden ball/puzzle toy, all prepared to help. And help, he did.

He proudly announced to Dan "I help! I helping!"

July 19, 2009

Alex's World in July 2009

[From Alex's journal]

Alex likes: boats; trains; Yo, Gabba Gabba!; chicken; french fries; swimming; beaches; boat rides; learning different ways of using things; trucks, cars; walking around; singing the alphabet song; glue sticks and pretend play.

July 15, 2009

For the first time in 3 months

...I put Alex down for 'Crib Time' (I'd stopped calling it 'Nap Time' a while ago), over much objection like usual and he actually NAPPED within ten minutes.

I haven't been able to take him out in the mornings for the past five days, because we've been swamped with obligations. I didn't get to feed him lunch at noon today, because he just wasn't hungry. He did get Quiet Time before the nap, but mostly alone with his books and trains, because I was frantically picking stuff up, because we won't be here this afternoon and into evening.

Wow.

I'm cherishing this moment. I'm sure it will be another three months before I see it again.

Just...wow.

That's three months with no "real" nap at all. (Was a half hour deal in there somewhere, I don't recall when.) But, really, this is a ten month thing. He started his nap striking last September, when he was only 17 months old. Then it would last about 3 weeks and 2-3 days in the fourth week would see a nap, then he'd strike again for 2-3 weeks, with a nap appearing in the next week, only to stop again. Then he'd strike for about 4-6 weeks, and nap once or twice in the following week. These three months were the longest strike yet.

If I allowed him to nap at 4:30 PM, there would be naps all the time - but that didn't happen unless I was really on edge. Several of the occasionally appearing naps did occur at 4-4:30 ish and I could not let them last very long.

July 13, 2009

L'il Quotes

With the Big Move in full swing, Alex has been a quotable little helper. Or, at least, has his opinions on the work dedication:

- Yesterday, I had to spend the whole day shopping online for the last touches needed for Alex's new bedroom. Unfortunately, the laptop's wireless connection slows down my internet access, so going to SO many pages was really making this project drag along as the page memory got clogged up. It was taking me longer and longer and even dragged into the post nap time. At around 4 PM, I heard something dragging from Alex's room. He came out dragging his beach tent holder, with the strap around his shoulder and the rest of the tube dragging behind him. He declared "I'm going to beach! Let's go Mommy!" and proceeded to walk towards the front door with it.

He rarely calls me "Mommy", preferring "Mama". When he resorts to Mommy these days, it's an indication that he means business.
- On Thursday, I was cleaning the air conditioner in his new bedroom, which had been sorely neglected through the last season. I had to really tackle the filter and clean the front grill with Q-tips. Alex watched me and then began to grab Q-tips, dragging the ends through the lowest levels of the grill that he could reach. I said "Oh wow! You're helping Mommy! That's a big Yay!". He said "Yeah! Clean up, clean up. Then beach!" Um....that wasn't in the cards for that day.

- I often try to get Alex to tell Dan about his day. He never does. Throughout all of yesterday, Alex continued to ask me when we would go for a walk, a train ride, a boat ride, swimming, etc. I had to keep reminding him that I had said we couldn't go out that day because Mommy had to get a lot of things done before the weekend. So, on THAT day, when Dan came home, Alex decided to tell Dan about his day. "No promises today, Daddy. Boat ride Sunday." (Whenever I make a promise to him about going somewhere, I keep it, so he expects that "promise" means something. I had told him that we would take a boat ride when we went to Ikea again on Sunday.)

- Yesterday, while watching a show during dinner. (Bad, yes, I know). Alex insisted that Pinky Doo was on TV, when I knew it was a different show. He kept saying Pinky Doo there! Hi Pinky Doo!". So, I got up to look at the television to see what character he thinks is Pinky Doo and saw no character drawn like that. Alex burst out laughing, "Ha! Ha! Silly Mommy! No Pinky Doo! It's Kai-Lan! (the character actually on TV)."

So he's playing jokes on me now. When I asked him about it, he kept laughing saying "Joke! Mommy funny! Ha! Ha! joke!"

July 11, 2009

Next Stop, IKEA

In working towards Alex's new room, I took a trip to the IKEA in Red Hook today. It offered the opportunity for Alex to see a whole bunch of things and take a boat ride. Even though he had to stay in his carriage for nearly all of it, he seemed to really enjoy it.

The Ikea in Red Hook, Brooklyn is located right on the shore line with its own dock. Ikea sponsors a water taxi to its dock from Pier 11 in Manhattan, free for Ikea shoppers. I knew that would be more exciting for Alex than the long ride to New Haven. I would just have to bear out the subways with a large carriage, sticking to wheelchair accessible stations.

Alex experiences the subway. (Bowling Green station)

 

A tugboat and an ocean liner (QM II) - both of which excited Alex. The ocean liner pulled out while we were in Ikea and we could see it from the windows. It made him sad.

Ikea's Dock

One of the views from the Ikea restaurant. It's so sad that this area of Brooklyn has remained abandoned for so long. When I was little, this area was a really scary place that you just did not enter if you had a choice against it.

Alex enjoying french fries and Swedish meatballs 

Alex in lower Manhattan (on the way back home)

I never noticed just how crowded "Charging Bull" gets with tourists. I used to walk by Charging Bull everyday and it always seemed empty and ignored.

A tired Alex on the way home

In other news, the depression seems to have moved rush hour. I got on the uptown subway at 7:40 PM and it was packed as if it was 5:40. Scary.

July 7, 2009

A Boy Needs his Prepositional Phrases

[Transcribed from Alex's Journal]

Mommy and Daddy have been so busy.  They've been working on getting Alex into a bigger room that will have art and trains and music! Alex prefers being in the bedroom with Mommy and Daddy, though.

Alex said a two phrase sentence today. He told Daddy. "That's a hole. That's a hole in the wall." Wow! Getting jiggy with phrases and everything! 

Alex also likes to announce "Listen!" while he points to his ear whenever he hears an interesting sound.  It seems he's listening a great deal.

July 5, 2009

Bye-Bye Park! Say Wha??

Wednesday night, Alex surprised us by saying "Bye, bye playroom. Bedroom now" at about 7:30 PM. Yesterday he stunned me by saying "Bye bye park. Home now". Then he demanded milk and his 'Blink Blink mu-tic' (Baby Einstein classical music videos). I had been so surrendered to the idea that no nap comes anyway no matter what I do that I had delayed leaving the park before he said that. We didn't leave until 12:30, which didn't leave enough time to finish lunch by 1. He didn't get into his crib until 1:30 and I had to wake him at 3. I was less concerned over the fact that it was only an hour and a half than I was stunned that he actually napped at all AND he asked for it!

July 3, 2009