Verbosity, Take 2

Happy New Year from Sam's fam. On the eve of 2009, I take it upon myself (since my child is sleeping and we are visiting the GP's in Florida-par-tay) to compile the latest words of Sam!

"Bye-bye" is now officially so... it used to be "dye-dye"
"Uh-oh" -no more uh uh in our house
"Ma-ma" -finally means what it should!
"Bubbles" (buh buh)-we like to blow bubbles in the tub...
"Mooo" - the sound of a cow
"Baaaa" - the sound of a lamb
"Rawr" - the sound of a lion
"Awfff" - the sound of a dog
"Da-da" or "ba-ba"-mean's whatever he happens to be pointing to, or it means more...
"Vooom"-the sound of a car
"Choo - Choooooo" - the sound of a train
"Chue" - a shoe
"Ga-mama"-Grandma
"Wow"-obviously...
"Baby"-directed towards any small child, his own reflection or pictures of small kids!

Sam has mastered the sign for "more" and is learning the one for "milk" so we can ultimately distinguish what he REALLY wants. The sign for more currently means "more" or "I want". Can get confusing... He babbles incessantly but has a limited number of actual "words". He's learning the verses to the song "If you're happy and you know it..." and has mastered clapping his hands on cue and throwing his arms up for "shout hooray". He can shake his head "no" when he doesn't want to do something. He is giving hugs by placing his head on your shoulder and patting your back. He has become less generous with the open mouthed kisses... He will point out people he knows in a room or in a picture. He loves positive reinforcement and is very happy to clap for himself after he accomplishes something!

On this vacation alone, he has become increasingly comfortable with the pool and almost wants to swim alone... He tries to jump right in the pool, even if noone else is there... He dunks underwater and comes up sputtering, then asks for "more". He is also increasingly confident in his own physical abilities and is into anything and everything.

I can't believe how fast he is growing and changing. I feel like this kid learns something new every day. I look at some recent pictures of him and marvel at how much he looks like a kid instead of a baby!

Well, this was a little longer than I had planned. Happy New Year. May 2009 bring as many (0r more) blessings as 2008!

Christmas Cheer

This Christmas season with Sam has been a blast. Last Christmas was all sweet and sentimental since it was his "first" Christmas, but this one takes the cake for fun and excitement. Probably more for mommy and daddy, but still.

I think I have come to the conclusion that Christmas, especially in the early years may really be more fun for the parents. I had so much fun shopping and wrapping and anticipating Sam's reaction to receiving his gifts. I was so ridiculously excited. Dave was too. It was really fun. Perhaps we went a bit overboard with the gifiting... I tried to steer away from the plastic and batteries... :)

We have had a very full Christmas holiday. We ended up spending Christmas Eve at home. It turned out to be fairly quiet because I managed to pick up the dreaded bug that Sam had harbored the week before. Grandpa came over, solo because Melissa was also feeling poorly. We ended up getting some Chinese takeout and then called it a night early.

Sam woke up early Christmas morning all excited. I'll chalk that up to kid intuition! Fortunately we all went back to sleep for a bit. My illness was in full force so I had to be somewhat of a bystander whilst nursing a cup of coffee! We had a few unwrapped presents under the tree and those caught the little man's attention first. Eventually we coaxed him into checking out what was UNDER the paper rather than play with the already open gifts! Once he discovered what was under the paper, he was content to check out that toy/book/puzzle. We still have unwrapped gifts at home because we ran out of time! We had a fantastic, relaxing morning at home. It was really nice to have a quiet Christmas morning. After nap, we headed out to Grandpa's for Christmas dinner. It was us and Grandpa and Melissa, her mother and some family friends. We had a blast. It was the best Christmas day in ages. Sam loved getting to play with the young ones there and also loved the MORE gifts he received! The meal was fantastic and Melissa had decorated the house to the nines! Perfect.

Christmas happened again on Friday when we rose ourselves out of a perfect slumber and caught an early flight to Grandma and Grandpa Tim's in Florida. Sam looked at Grandma quizzically at first then gave her a big smile. He, of course, got even more presents after arriving here! Grandma got him a little more plastic than we did! Sam's been having a blast swimming in the pool (at least twice a day) and roaming around the house holding court. The little man is certainly the one calling the shots. Its hysterical. He has taken to the Florida lifestyle quite well and is toddling around in his shorts and sandals with pride! I think we may never go back to the cold...

We'll enjoy another 6 days here then head back home to reality and another Christmas because a delayed box from the Mississippi family apparently just arrived at our doorstep. More presents!! I think we're going to have to put some presents away and rotate the toys. I'm overwhelmed at all of them!

I definitely need to get to posting pics to this blog soon. We have some good ones of the little man this holiday season! Until then...

Seriously???

So apparently when Sam gets sick, he means business.  Last week he had a cold.  An annoying, snotty, sneezy, cold.  He finally starts to get over said cold and move through life as usual.  Well, both Saturday and Sunday evenings, Sam became increasingly irritable as the day would go on.  I used my mommy checklists - hunger, diaper, sleep, boredom...  He was not easily satisfied.  I didn't think much of it...  Then I pick him up at Grandpa's on Monday evening.  He was a BEAR despite having had a great nap and a great morning.  So I chalk it up to separation anxiety (we've had this issue developing now that we've started daycare) and head home.  At bedtime, I'm passing him off to daddy for the toothbrushing, book aspect of our routine and think to myself, "self, this boy seems hot".  Sure enough, he had a 102 degree temp.  Eh, Tylenol and bed should fix it, no problem...

So yesterday, Sam wakes up with a 103 degree fever.  Darn!  No daycare, work schedule shuffle, etc.  It was our indoctrination to this new phenomenon.  I HAD to work so Dave got to stay home and then Grandpa came to pinch hit until I got home...  My poor dude was SO miserable.  He even fell asleep on my chest in the afternoon.  It was so hard to get the fever down... But other than no appetite, I couldn't figure out what was wrong.  He had no other symptoms.  So, we went to bed last night hoping the fever would break and we would carry on.

Fast forward to this morning.  Sam has found her way into our bed around 2:30 and was sleeping great.  Then I wake up at 6 from a deep sleep to him spewing bile in my face.  YUMMY.  Fortunately that was an isolated incident.  However, the temperature was 104!  So we got to go to his pediatrician this morning.  Our visit started with a benign assessment.  Then we got to go to the lab for a CBC and blood culture.  After that, we had to kill some time waiting for the blood results so we hit up the amazing (note sarcasm here) cafeteria since I managed not to have breakfast.  The blood results came back a little off so his pedi decided to give him an antibiotic shot, except it was two shots because the dose was too large to give in one shot.  She also needed to catheterize him for a urine culture.  He wasn't so fond of that.  On top of it all, she ordered x-rays based on his history of a cold/cough and the vomiting of bile this morning.  Wow.  We did a lot of stuff in three hours.  He passed out after all of that!

The good news-so far, everything is negative.  The blood culture results won't be available until tomorrow.  His x-rays looked fine.  His urine is good so far, too.  That's a relief, for sure.  On top of that, after another bout with high fever this afternoon, he seems to be much better.  Hopefully, the antibiotic did its job and the worst is over.  That would be good.  This fever business has been no fun.  He's been so cuddly and pathetic.  Its sad!

I've come to the conclusion that when Sam gets sick, he means business.  There's no in between with this kid!

The Quilted Quicker Picker Upper (aka Independence)

I'm a delinquent poster...

Sam has joined the ranks of "I'll do it myself, thanks".  This morning he would NOT eat his oatmeal.  That is, until I relinquished control of the spoon.  A little light bulb went off above his head.  For the next 30 minutes Sam laboriously dipped his spoon in the cereal then licked off the miniscule amount he managed to get to stick to the spoon.  Oh, but it was FUN.  Once he realized how painstaking it was to eat oatmeal speck by speck, he turned to his fingers as a much more useful and efficient dining instrument.

Fast forward 30 minutes or so...  Sam found one of his plastic cups in the cabinet.  Not a sippy, a "real" cup.  I, the obliging mother, assemble a sippy cup and fill it with water.  I mean, he must be thirsty, right?  Sam follows me with his big kid cup and holds it up to the fridge, right by the water dispenser.  Ohhhhhhhhhh... he wants his water in the real cup.  Great.  So, I put a splash of water (I've learned never to put more than a sip in a open cup with him).  Of course, we have had 3-4 "uh oh" moments resulting in said sip on the floor.  There was one successful swallow of water involved in this process.  Hey, batting .250 ain't terrible!

So, I'm resigned to the fact that I will be buying stock in Bounty.  Those paper towels really are the best.  Those quilts, they really absorb.  As we struggle with learning new tricks, there are bound to be messes.  This is clearly an important stage of development.  I can't be packing him sippy cups in his boxes for college, nor can I show up in the dining hall every morning to feed him oatmeal.  Why does this learning business have to be so darn messy?

A side note an and added bonus is that they must be teaching him to clean up in daycare.  The other day after he spilled some water on the floor, he pulled the dishrag off the stove and blotted up his mess.  Here's hoping that he learns the old adage "if you mess it up, clean it up".

Winter... brrr...

Wow, so winter is here. Its going to be a long haul! Sam and I have been flying solo a lot this week because Daddy has been tied up three evenings in a row. Wednesday evening was our ultimate mom and baby adventure. After nap we bundled up and trekked up to the Burlington Mall to meet Sam's friend Gavin and his mom. We hit up the new play area which was quite fun. Everything is padded, squishy and new. Its right in the food court so its out in the open. Sam loved it. Then he got Chick Fil A for his dinner. He thought that was equally exciting. After that we hit up all the toy-ish stores the mall has to offer. Wow. What a stimulating evening! But hey, I was out of the house. We have got to find more interesting things to do or I will need to go back to work full time!

Last winter I have fond memories of hanging out with our baby friends and being a mall rat or cozied up in someone's house. Sam is a lot more fun, a lot more predictable and a lot more animated than last winter. However, he is a lot more high maintenance, too. This means the hours of meandering through the mall, pausing to nurse in the cushy bathrooms, are over. Maybe he'll sit in the stroller for a bit, but certainly not for hours and there are no more stroller naps, either. If we get together with friends at a play space or someone's house, new challenges also arise. The kids all go in their own direction. I can't remember the last time I finished a conversation with another mom! Moming a toddler is a lot more challenging in the winter.

So, as this week offers us our first taste of winter, I have to get creative. We will definitely be seeing more insides of malls. This time for the playspace and not the shopping and gelato... Perhaps story time at the library? Museusm? Any other wild suggestions are always welcom.

We're travelling for Thanksgiving this week. We will have Daddy around all week and a whole slew of family. Maybe I can sneak out for a few minutes!? Me time? Nah!

A breakthrough?

No splashing in the water bowl.  Not a one single time.  Is it too soon to say, this might just work?  Here's to hoping.

The new thing is clamoring up onto the ottoman, standing, then jumping.  A bit more risky than the dog bowl.

I have a true, 100%, bonafide, boy.

Discipline Part II

I'm sure Sam will appreciate this as a teenager, but yesterday he had his first time out.  I'm growing increasingly frustrated with his lack of regard for the word "no".  I KNOW he understands me.  Its the water dish.  How can you blame him?  That water dish is COOL.  Its wet, its just the right size.   However, its cold.  If he plays in the water dish, my floor gets wet, he gets wet and the dogs have no water.  It is just plain annoying.  

More annoying still is the fact that he knows he is not supposed to do it.  He does it anyway.  He walks up to that water dish, says something in gibberish and waits until he has mine or Dave's attention.  We say no... gently first then more harshly as he continues to babble over the water dish.  Then he strikes (splashes...).  Then he laughs with glee.  ARGH.

So yesterday, I realize removing the bowl every single time he is in the kitchen and/or awake is not realistic.  He's not going to learn anything and I'm going to forget to put it back and the dogs will be thirsty.  In comes time out.  Now when he walks over to the bowl and deliberately splashes after multiple "no's"  I swiftly pluck him off the floor and into my arms and hold him for the requisite "one minute".  I'd like to say this was a breakthrough and we now have no issues with water.  Not quite yet.  However, my hope is that he will associate this repeated action with a negative consequence.  What one year old wants to do something that gets him restrained on mom's lap?  

That my friends, was our first (and second and third) time out.  We survived.  I felt silly "explaining in a calm voice" why Sam was swiftly whisked away from something "so fun" and plopped into my lap.  You've got to learn the meaning of "no" somewhere, somehow, right?  I figure we should start here rather than wait until he is stealing cars and rummaging through our wallets...

Toddler-dom

On the eve of Sam's 15 month birthday, I realize that we have left infancy and are fully in the throes of toddlerhood.  This is the part of parenting that counts.  Sure, infants crave stability and love, but I felt fully prepared for that.  This is different.  Along with stability and love, a healthy dose of discipline and boundaries come into play.  I keep reading that discipline has its roots in the latin "disciple" which means simply, "to lead".  When I put it in these terms, it SOUNDS easier.  Discipleship, this notion of leading, takes so much more effort and energy.  While sleepless nights take a toll on your psyche and energy levels, constantly keeping up with a busy one is exhausting!  It is demanding and constant.  We've reached the adventurous, exploratory phase and we must set and enforce limits.  The trick then is remembering those limits and re-enforcing them next round they are pushed!  

We invested in space heaters to take the edge off our oil bill this winter.  We had to pull them out yesterday.  So obviously its a "no-touch" situation for Sam.  Enforcing this rule is the challenge.  He's at the cusp of innocence vs. defiance and is pushing back at every turn.  He wants to push the buttons at every opportunity.  I mean, it lights up, it makes noise, its FUN.  I feel like I spend my day saying "no touch! hot!".  So we have to persist at this until hopefully he learns to listen and not touch.  Its a matter of safety and safety is never an option.  But what about the lesser offenses?  

Sam LOVES to splash in the dog water bowl.  We keep it out in the kitchen and he's usually barricaded in his play area.  However, he is looking for more freedom and I'm inclined to give it to him when I can. If the bowl is down and I've forgotten he races over, plops down and starts splashing with GLEE.  This kid is thrilled with the water bowl.  This drives me NUTS.  He splashes water on the floor, soaks himself, and the dogs have no water.  Ultimately there is little harm involved in this activity.  More of a minor annoyance at best.  But no matter how many times we tell him "no" and redirect him, he's back at it the next time he can scheme an escape from his play area.  Obviously the simple solution is to pick up the bowl when he is out in the kitchen.  Inevitably, I forget to put it back down and the dogs go without water.  Not a good thing either.  I know this is a time of discipleship, of leading my child toward the right decision.  But it is hard work.  It is the constant, persistent, on my toes parenting that makes me weary.  It also makes me grateful for naptime and playgrounds.  

Verbosity

My little guy is a budding linguist.

Ok, NOT really.

We have added a new word to our repertoire, though.  His vocab has now expanded to a whopping 5 words.

"uh oh" - sounds like "uh uh" or just plain "uh".  We're mastering the "oh"

"hi" - said repeatedly until he elicits a response

"bye" - sounds eerily similar to hi, the difference is the accompanying rapid hand wave any time we depart somewhere

"cheese" - um... I have a cheese addict

"banana" - aka "nnnA", our newest word, added while looking at a picture book with among other things, a picture of a banana.  The child is also a banana addict.  Probably would eat 2 or more a day.

I mean, he says "mama and dada" but not really to us.  We have the obligatory grunts that mean both "up and down" "in and out", etc., but they all sound like "uh".

One day soon I'm sure he'll never stop talking.  For now, I delight in the cheese.

Smellin' like Dove

I think its high time I start documenting the life of this child so I don't forget all the crazy things he can do.  I'm amazed each day what my once innocent, motionless child has figured out!

Today took the cake and I found the impetus to start a blog and aptly name it after my adventurous child.

Sam will be 15 months next week.  I'm not quite sure how that happened because I believe we just celebrated his first birthday.  Alas, here we go.

We started out with some first steps a few weeks ago and now are outright walking, climbing and monkeying around.  Which leads me to today.  I was sitting in my family room minding my own business when squirt wandered off.  He is essentially cordoned off in two rooms of the house where he can explore without too many limitations.  One is our family room and one is the playroom.  However, the bathroom is between the two rooms and I usually close the door to avoid the many hazards that exist.  So I'm trying to do a few things for work.  I hear Sam in the bathroom.  Oh well, I think, at least he's happy.  Its more of a minor annoyance to pick up all the stuff he pulls out of drawers and cabinets, anyway...  So he's babbling away and I hear tub toys and what not.  Happy kid=happy mom, right?  Yeah.  So then he starts whining and fussing.  Atypical for a bathroom adventure.  So I, being super mom, head off to save the day.  Behold, I find my child IN the tub, eating a bar of soap.  He now smells deliciously of Dove soap and is on his second pair of pants for the day.

Second pair of pants on, we head out for groceries.  On the way home he eats the sticker that the bag guy gave him.  Mmmm.

I'm not sure I'm prepared to handle the rearing of a boy.  We have our hands full!