Road Trippin'

The trip to CO wasn't bad at all. We made good time and took breaks and it was just fine. I will say that the dvd player was nice at one point.

Ian did so well with the overwhelming number of people at the party. He made the rounds and had fun playing with people. He even took a nap.

Quite the ham!

Congratulations, Graduates!

Calling in Sick

I don't call in sick very often, but I did yesterday. Yesterday, Ian was hit by a fever and you can tell he just hurt. Poor guy. We think it's the teething process, but we're not sure.

He got up in the morning and was a bit warm, then didn't eat much for breakfast and played for a little while, but was fussy. Then he went down for a nap. After his nap, he was pretty warm. He nursed, we changed a diaper. So, he was rested, full, clean diaper. He crawled over to me, stuck out his bottom lip, and crumpled in my lap, crying. I felt so bad for him. We gave him some acetaminophen and it took quite a while for the fever to come down. Maybe an hour or a bit more. For that time, he sat in my lap or in the sling and comfort-nursed. Finally, later in the afternoon he felt a bit better. He was able to hang out in the living room and play a bit and he didn't have to be held all of the time.

Last night, Ian got another dose of acetaminophen around 3am. He slept well until about 7, then I snuggled with him until he wanted to get up about 8:30 or so. He had a decent little diaper rash today, too. Probably from all of the snot he's ingested. Today was much better. He still had his moments and needed more comfort than normal, but he was markedly happier today.

We hope he's in great shape for the trip, or at least much better than yesterday!

Nom Nom Nom

Ian's favorite foods right now:
Yogurt with granola. We can get him to eat that most mornings for breakfast.
Soups of most any kind: Pho, Miso, Chicken Noodle. Haven't tried the cream-based ones. Mostly because I don't eat them.
Smoothies: Sometimes we make them for dessert, and they're so tasty. Cold, too! Ian likes to eat them when we're all eating dessert together. I should sneak some greens into our smoothies. Easy way to get the whole family to eat them.


Applesauce: Still a big hit. I need to make more. He really likes homemade best. Who doesn't?
Bread/toast (with peanut butter even!)
Hot dogs/buns
He also liked the small tastes he's gotten of smoked salmon and mushrooms lately. Yum!
Beans and rice (usually)

Foods I want to try soon:
Kale chips
Oatmeal bread
Homemade hot dog/hamburger buns

Updates: Poor fella is teething. We saw one poke through somewhat unceremoniously, but now he's snotty and slight fever. I hope he feels better soon!

Later!

Ian says: "I'm going to go cruise the hallway for a while now. Bye."

Did you know that nice walks in the neighborhood make for better naps? Not in the stroller anymore - there's way too much that's interesting to see out there. But when we get back? Mmmmm. Naptime.

I think that Ian was "off" from eating because of this new tooth. He was signing for food today! He'd sign "more" (all fingertips together), and we figured out that he wants food. I think. We plopped him into the high chair and fed him and he was happy, so we think that's what it is. And he was near the kitchen. He's really good at signing "all done" when it's needed, and he's working on the mechanics of the "potty" and "milk" signs. He's close to getting those!

Toys

How did the toys multiply so much? We have great toys for Ian, and we have neighbors, friends, and family to thank for that. Here's a picture where the mat is relatively intact (his favorite thing lately is to rip it to shreds).

Here you can see "Reginald the Hedgehog" (Reggie the Hedgie for short). I'll get a proper picture of him soon. I think he's going to be left relatively unstuffed and be more of a puppet. He has a hole that needs to be repaired and he needs to be felted just a bit more. I'm so happy with him.

But there are lots of toys! For our sanity, I think maybe we'll box up some of them and put them away. That way we can rotate them and when we bring them out they'll be fresh, interesting, and new. And we won't have so many tripping hazards in the living room!

See the basket? That's the toy bin. He likes to empty it. I think chaos theory applies to children. They tend toward entropy!

PS: Tooth Number 7 has made an appearance! His lower left lateral incisor. Say that 7 times fast!
And: Ian's newest big skill is backing down off of the bed in his room. He's a pro at it. Sometimes he still topples a little bit, but usually when he's a bit clumsy with a big diaper and jammies on, or there's a blanket in the way. I need to get video.

A Park Day

This was a weekend or two ago, but it was a great visit to the park. We tried to fly a kite, but it wasn't windy enough. Ian loved playing in the grass, and loved playing with my sunglasses! The clouds were fantastic to watch.

Routines

I have been pondering this cyclical sleep pattern and I have a theory. 

When Ian’s sleep improves, I have more energy and get more work done during the day. Last week: da bomb. It was great. We got so much done. When I get more work done, Ian gets less Mommy time during the day. This week? Not great. I used up a whole lot of mental energy last week, seem to be hormonal, of course made promises based on last week and it’s not working (thereby escalating the non-work problem), and am so frakking tired I can’t see straight. As I tended to Ian’s 2nd wakeup, I noticed that sure, he was nursing, but he was more snuggling. He rubbed my tummy with his warm hand. He’d do the ”I’m full,” pop off and roll away, but then come back and want to find my tummy or hand and then nurse more. But I’m full. But I want more. Poor guy. He’s been so out of sorts today and so clingy. We did give him some ibuprofen this afternoon, and it seemed to help. We think teething is coming or here. He's biting a lot.

Pick Me UP!!

Anyway, to help alleviate this, a more rigid daytime routine might work. I think we could hack this if we enforce a morning nap time, which is the only one he’s been doing lately, a morning walk, which we love and the dog sorely needs, and have much of the afternoon for play and work. That way if we need to get to the big city (like tomorrow) we can set appointments for the afternoon and not worry so much about hitting a naptime. This could help, so that Ian knows when to expect Mommy time and we can kind of normalize the daytime routine, even when we need to work in a trip to the big city.

Now to finish up some work.

Tired boy

Believe it or not, Ian is so tired in these pictuers. He didn't nap at all past noon or so. Not for lack of trying either. Sleep has definitely deteriorated around here, and here's a picture that shows something quite interesting: a 5-day average of naps and average night sleeps. (This is on the sleep spreadsheet, linked at right.)

It's amazing how closely this resembles a regular sine wave for the night sleep! And we're in a trough. At least we can assume it'll get better quickly, right?

Improved Soaker

The wool "longies" soakers were lacking in "trunk capacity," so to speak. The rise in the rear of the longies was not sufficient to cover up the diaper.

This usually isn't a problem, as the diapers don't get wet in the rear, but it didn't look good or comfortable. You can see my modification easily on this one because I used a contrasting color of wool for the addition. It's done in "sock monkey" heel style. I cut a piece of wool out of a sweater in an eye shape, 4" tall to give 2" more rise (1/2" seam allowance. It looks like more than 2" but it did take 1" from the lighter colored original soaker fabric as well as 1" from the darker fabric). I then cut a slit in the butt of the soaker, where this gets sewn in. It worked so well. I'm glad that eyeballing it worked as well as it did. I saved the paper template for future reference. The seam had to be extended off the side of the fabric addition in the same fashion as a dart (that's what it really is anyway).

Pictures, of course. And, we don't tuck the shirt into the diaper cover, of course, but he had g-diapers on under this onesie-type shirt on this day. And that's convenient for being able to see the waistband and its location easily as well.

See? It sits so much more nicely on him and appears to be far more comfortable as well. Hooray! The blue one has lots of rise (I could take in the front, but I don't think I will). I need to finish making this modification to the other one that sorely needs it (the dark brown one), wash and lanolize them (it's time), and get our swiffer baby back in wool longies! Actually, I think that some of his regular pants collect more dog hair and floor grime than these do. Or at least they show it more. I suppose an option would be to clean the floor more regularly.

Floppy Sleeper

I did find the camera by the way. Good thing too, as we had to use it for work today! But it's in the car, so you get another old pic.

We keep trying out little tiny chairs in stores. They're so amusing. He's not going to be able to get out of one safely yet, but they're so dang cute.

Today was a big day in the city. When Ian gets too tired (but of course you can't sleep when it's so entertaining to look around!) he won't sit in a cart while we're shopping. So, the sling works well for that because he's being held. And he might be able to doze off there. Someday.

For the last few days, Ian has been falling asleep in a strange fashion. When John rocks him down, he rests his head in John's elbow, and is held horizontally across his chest. He settles down and starts to nod off. Then the flopping begins. Other arm. Upright, back to John. Upright, chest to chest. Lying down across the lap, face down (butt in the air of course). Back to sideways in arms. Back to the other side. And the first side again. It goes on and on! When I get him down for a nap or bed, he often needs to flop some and when that's evident, we head for the rocking chair after he nurses. Silliest boy.

We need to strip the diapers again. We've been dealing with a bit of ammonia smell (they shouldn't smell. There's some build-up of sorts) for a few weeks at least, and it's suddenly gotten worse. I think that may be just the last load or two - we're not sure. He woke up screaming last night, and I suspect that the ammonia may have bothered him. We changed his diaper, and he slept from 12:45 until 6:15!! We may change more dipes in the night, or possibly add a stay-dry fleece liner. He's never complained about being soggy all night, but he might sleep a bit better if he were more comfortable. He's not had any rashes at all lately, but he gets his nakey time regularly, morning and night.

He's such a flirt lately too. He smiles at people and shyly turns away. He gets smiles from just about everyone we meet. Well, all of the ladies anyway. What a charmer.

Missing Camera

I'm pretty sure I hid the camera from Ian in the last few days. I think I may have hid it too well!

I have pictures of the modified wool longies (added a chunk of material for that big diaper. Works great! I wish you could see it). I have a video of him shaking his head "no." Cutest thing ever. I have pictures (or need to get some... probably the latter) of the new high chair. It's really nice. And compact. And ... they sent us two of them. I was going to call them about it, but I've decided not to. It'll probably cost more to ship it back than they spent manufacturing it. I'm not worried about Graco's bottom line, either. I'll probably need to take pictures and/or video of walking soon. Really soon. For now, though you get this. This boy loves the camera.

My Mother's Day Gift

This picture was taken as John went shopping for cards for Mother's Day. Ian and I cruised the mall and he tried on a hat. He looks so happy and comfortable and snug in this picture.

A nice afternoon wandering the mall. No bulky strollers, just me and my little snug bug. He and I shared a pretzel and he drooled pieces of pretzel in my cup of water. Of course, I got a great card, too. John outlined Ian's hand on the card from Ian. It was really cute. Both gifts were so appreciated.

Action Photos

It's so hard to get a good photo because of all the action. An exciting box from Grandpa:

Whew! He sat still for this one! Trying out a tiny chair!

Ian's latest thing: shaking his head. We're learning the word "NO" around here, as in "No grabbing the cat" "No biting the dog" "No biting Mama" "No feeding the dog" "No eating the table" (you get the picture). He's started looking at us and shaking his head whenever we say "no." He's getting better about it responding to "no." I just can't wait until he learns to say it himself. He's already a big fan of shaking his head when I ask if he wants more green beans.

Gardening!

Ian is going to learn a lot at the garden this year, just like the rest of us. He's already tasted grass, leaves, and honey locust seed pods. Oh, well. He'll eat worse, I'm sure. And he realized that this doesn't qualify as food and spit it out. Most of it. I think. He enjoyed watching us work.

We got some planting done! This is our box. In the photo, you're facing east. The west half has straw mixed in, and it's for potatoes and carrots. Two rows of potatoes are in. In addition, there are peas outlining the north and east edges except where the potatoes are.  We have plans for greens in the east half of the box, as well.

Today, we planted a LOT of peas in the community pea bed and more in the community garden main area. Two cups of peas, in all. I love bulk seeds! We'll see how they do. Some of them have to make it, I think. There's a big work party on Thursday to get more planting done and, in particular, community garden planting. There, we're planning pole beans that will climb corn stalks, with squash for ground cover. The squash are going to be a mix of summer and winter squashes. A pumpkin patch potentially in the far west half of the yard, and other fun things too. I have some rainbow chard, and since it's a perennial, it'd be nice to do that in a community planting as well.

Ian slept so well on the way home today that he didn't wake up as he was taken out of the carseat. He was transported to the crib and then slept there for over an hour. Well, it was 3pm and he hadn't had much of a nap yet. He's been tired lately with all of our running around, and it's good that he's getting caught up. If they can get to bed at a good time, Mommy and Daddy will sleep well also.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there. Today was a good day we went for a walk this afternoon and it gave mom time to work on her craft project with out being interrupted. My balance is improving and I think I will be taking my first steps very soon, won't that be great!

Love Ian

Touchy!

Hi there!!

While things have been relatively sunny as of late - no teething or other major discomfort in recent memory - Ian seems to be getting the fact that he and Mommy and Daddy are not the same, and Mommy and Daddy can, in fact, leave the room and leave him behind. Shocking and harsh reality, that is. Poor guy. He's just starting to really scream when one of us leaves the room. And when other people hold him or talk to him, he's more easily upset.

Loud noises and general disappointments seem to be so much more significant now. We used to be able to redirect him or distract when he was going after something he couldn't have. Now he gets a bit upset about it. This morning we were hanging out in his room and I was putting away clean clothes. I'd put some in the closet in the "too small" bag. He saw that the closet was open and that was very interesting. I closed the closet door, and he was very very upset about the fact that he couldn't reach the handle. I told him that I wasn't upset at all that he couldn't reach door handles yet. Not. One. Bit.

However, he seems to be getting closer to walking. He can stand on one side of the play pen, hold on, stretch, and take one step over to the other side. Tonight, he stood up with his hands on the door of his bedroom, and walked along the wall over to the closet. That was a somewhat wobbly walk, but a vertical surface doesn't lend very much support. We'll see when something entices him enough to want to take those first steps!!

It's entirely probable that these two things are related - the onset of walking and the touchiness. It's said that babies (people in general?) get pretty cranky right as they're about to figure something out. Lookout world!

Laugh Game

Social skills. When Ian sees others laughing, he joins in. And when he decides it's his turn to initiate the laugh game, he just starts laughing and expects us to laugh too. And we do.

Be Careful!

We've all been there: You're on a walk or hike with a friend. You almost trip over a chunk of sidewalk, an exposed root, or nothing at all. You recover your balance, but barely. Your friend says "Oh! Be careful!" Sure. As if that statement will cause you to think, "Oh. Yes. I'm glad you said something. I hadn't thought to pick up my feet or watch my step in the future. I was thinking it'd be better to fall on my face the next time I falter." I find it kind of annoying, actually, when someone says that to me. It seems superfluous to request that the person be more careful in the future. I understand that it's an expression of concern, wishes for your well being. But other than that, it really isn't helpful. Right?

Fast forward to last night. We were at a park with a friend and the family. One of their children, a 2 year old boy, had already made 2 trips into the park's water feature (at least one, he tripped and dove in). They'd been through 2 changes of clothes already. He's big enough to go climb up a big rock and then jump off. To him, you must say "Be careful!" because... he really didn't think of it. Moments after asking him to not jump off of something because he'll get hurt, he's trying the same thing again, still not considering the consequences. I realize this is age-related as well as temperament. They learn to be at least somewhat cautious pretty early, however. We see Ian carefully sitting down when he wants to go somewhere. After discussing the childhood of John and of the boy's father (both squarely in the "begging for an ER visit (if not already on the way)" camp as a child), it's determined that this is probably going to need to be the hourly mantra for years to come for both of our boys.

In the hour we were there, this young lad had to be continuously warned not to:

1. jump back into the pond (although it happened, again, and he wore mom's sweater home)(but this time, feet first.)(trip number 4 (including mom's sweater) was thwarted by a trip to the car, going home), 
2. jump off of the top of the 4+ foot tall "rock wall" feature on the playground equipment, 
3. play in the road (to be fair, he hasn't had that exposure very much yet, living where we do), 
4. eat things he found in the playground, 
5. jump off of large rocks

"They're so different!" his mom says. His older sister was never this fearless.

I definitely see now why people have the instinct to say "HEY! Be CAREFUL!" They have a boy.

Silly

We went to the park today with neighbors. What a beautiful day!

Busy Busy Busy!!

It's no wonder he needs a 2 hour nap. With the amount of energy Ian exerts every day, we all need naps just chasing him! Ian got a fat lip today because I was too slow. Thank goodness it was only a fat lip. He almost went down the stairs! We need a gate for the top of the stairs, but for now we will keep his door closed when he's roaming his room. We got the mattress onto the floor and rearranged his room. We found some great wall-hangings for his room - John's old Sir Lancelot picture among them. They aren't up yet, but will be soon.

Big boy Ian signed "potty" today! I thought he was signing "nurse," as he closed his hand. He was in the high chair. So we took him out of the high chair to nurse. It's close to bedtime, he's really fussy, so we head upstairs. Part of the night-time routine involves a diaper change and that involves a potty stop. He had to poop! No wonder he was fussy! We'll see what the night holds. John rocked him down, and he didn't eat much today. The early night has been difficult lately, but often a good stretch toward morning.