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