Sunday, September 30, 2007

That's One Way to Stay Awake


It always amazes me to hear the various stories of kids and their "sleeping styles." Quantity, timing, location... all vary from kid to kid and even in the same kid from time to time. Just to keep us parents on our collective toes...

I was apparently one of those lovely children who didn't need much sleep. At all. Once my little brother came along my Mother had to enforce "quiet time" to try and get me to play or read quietly or something. My brother was on the opposite end of this spectrum and would sleep anytime, and almost anywhere. We have photos of him sleeping in the middle of someone's kitchen counter, and home movies of him ka-zonked in his highchair. A moving vehicle was the fastest way to put him out, and I think Mom worried a bit about putting him on the school bus.

Daniel's doing pretty well with the nighttime sleeping, but I am starting to suspect that we are phasing out the naps. He must still need them because he drops off pretty quickly, but one catnap of an hour or less and he's raring to go (usually... he blessed us with a 2.5 hour nap a few days ago).

Longer car trips can get a bit trickier: put a cozy car, with some of our windier back roads and the rhythm starts him nodding off. And that little bit of extra sleep can make bedtime a lot more interesting. H stumbled across a way to keep the little guy hopping recently. (Well it will work until the temperature drops dangerously...). Roll down the window on some curvy roads, and let the breeze blow through those blond curls! Daniel gets this elated look on his face, and we all laugh the last half of the trip home with the little voice from the backseat squealing: Do 'gen! Hair blo'!

Friday, September 28, 2007

It must be the full moon...


It's Jekyll and Hyde day so far here at the DmF house.

Yesterday H and I were having one of those conversations, just going over the day. I casually mentioned to him that I thought I might take Daniel to drop-in playgroup on Friday morning, and do a grocery run in the afternoon.

Daniel has started dawdling on the steps as we try to leave the house. We have two sets of stairs to get to the garage, all of which he usually wants to do himself. This involves lots of sitting and standing holding Mama's hand, as well as getting to touch every thing/texture within reach. I'm trying to remember to leave the house with plenty of lead time so that my patience doesn't wear too thin. Today as I was trying to coax him a bit: Don't you want to go to playgroup? He looked up at me all blond curls and big blue eyes and said: Groceries? Holy Cow I forget what little sponges a two year old can be! I wasn't even talking to him about this yesterday.

Baby Hyde came out to play at the playgroup just a bit later. I usually get complimented on my little angel-face, so it was a bit disconcerting to have him screeching at every turn and about nearly every thing. I'm hoping to nap the bad mood out of him, or the grocery trip this afternoon is going to get interesting.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Coincidence?


One of Daniel's newest favorite shows is "Word World." I like it too, as it is very letters and literacy-based. Letters make up the characters and pieces of "Word World". It is hard to see in this picture, but Ant is made up of the letters A N T. It's much easier to see the B A R N.

Just a small digression here: I have been doing the single-parent thing since Saturday, and so I'm a bit bleary. I love my kid to pieces, but sunup to sundown for this many days without a break is a wee bit taxing.

Anyhow, I stumbled into the kitchen this evening to start dinner, and found on the refrigerator in magnets: A N T. I suppose I'm going to have to reserve judgement, as Daniel wouldn't replicate it... he's a very focused kid, and this afternoon the focus has been on how to get Mama to knock her head against the wall (and for how many times and how hard). But... coincidence? Sheesh! Do I start saving for MIT now??

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Aacck!

There is very little that seems to scare Daniel, for which I am grateful. A few days ago we went to visit my mother-in-law and found this guy on the living room coffee table, courtesy of Uncle B. Daniel was nervous enough that we wound up putting him behind the couch and throwing a blanket over him. I thought we were home free, but last night just after midnight I heard a wail from the baby's room. When I went in he shakily said to me, "The Man!" This is the only thing I can think of, and I feel so awful about it! Hopefully it is a one-time incident and we can put it behind us. I may have to be more careful about the Halloween stuff coming up though.

In scare-Mama news I woke up this morning, and when I turned to go back into the bedroom there was another one of those heebie-jeebie spiders dangling from the doorway poised to land on my head. I managed to refrain from screaming and swept it down with a broom and out the back door.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Seasonal


A big thank you to the guys who started mowing the lawn around our complex yesterday at 7:45 ayem thereby ensuring that the toddler won't sleep in.

I poked my head in the door and he popped up like a jackrabbit saying, "Noise! Cut grass!"
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I love Fall in New England. There is a crispness to the air, pumpkins, apple picking, Fall colors. H and I even married in October. While it was tempting to try a costume wedding, we went for Fall splendor in an old church complete with pew boxes and a reception at an old New England home in the area.

I'm facing the coming winter with a bit of trepidation, however. Daniel is a bit of a bear if I don't get him out somewhere each day to burn off a bit of the toddler energy. H is of the "just bundle 'em up and get 'em out" strategy. Personally I find that harder to do the colder it gets, but then I'm a bit wimpy when it comes to the wind chill. Any ideas what to do in the wintertime other than replacing the living room furniture with a jungle gym and climbing wall? I'm trying to get prepared here.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Sick, Sick, Sick

Best not get too close! Some enterprising little bug has not only waylaid the little guy, but me as well. Perhaps a little present from our trips to playgroup last week?

It certainly could be worse, but it's enough to give everyone the crankies and not sleep well. Even though he got up sort of miserable last night, Daniel did me a favor and slept a bit more this morning. Which was a good thing because my head was pounding so hard in the early am that I thought my eyeballs were going to roll out of their sockets and across the floor.

H is ducking and running for cover as the only well member of the family. Even sick, I wish I had Daniel's energy. And I still haven't figured out this whole Mom/sick thing... taking care of business when all I want to do is pull the covers over my head. I hope to return you to our regularly scheduled blogging very soon.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Kick-Butt Mama

One of my favorite shows has always been Alias. I don't own the DVDs, but I can imagine myself watching and re-watching Jennifer Garner as kick-ass agent Sydney Bristow.

Out of the celeb Moms that are out there/in the news, Jennifer has always seemed the most down-to-earth. Married to Ben Affleck and Mom to Violet, the main paparazzi shots that I've seen are of them out in the park, at the grocery store... just being a family. I find that refreshing.

It looks like she is returning to the action scene in a new movie opening September 28th and starring with Chris Cooper and Jamie Foxx. The Kingdom: A team of U.S. investigators set out to find the perpetrators behind a deadly attack in a Middle Eastern country.

And it appears Alias co-star / hottie Michael Vartan also has a new show premiering this fall.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Playgroup a Go-Go

Sigh. I don't know what it is. Sometimes I think I must have lost my Mom's Club ID. I mean, I've got the kid and everything, but I was sent home from the hospital without the secret handshake or something. Why is it so hard to meet other Moms?

I've gone from a job I had for nearly 10 years of my life, to the life of a SAHM in The Kingdom of the Toddler. It's a life that has its joys, don't get me wrong. But I KNOW there are other people living here, and I'll be darned if I can find them some days.

We've been bouncing between two playgroups. Playgroup A: smaller, great leaders, am finally starting to feel recognized, like I belong and likewise for Daniel. We are recognizing in turn other Moms and kids, conversations are starting to feel more natural... things are just sort of progressing nicely where I can feel some relationships starting to widen and expand a little. It feels good. Since they have been between sessions, they are operating on "drop-in" time - which means plenty of opportunities to visit. We are about to swing into a regular session, which will limit available time outside of your "scheduled" playgroup.

We keep trying Playgroup B: larger space, more kids of a wider age range, loads of stuff to do. The most I can seem to bring myself to say is: The leader is nice. Daniel had fun. And I always leave there mildly discouraged. For such a larger group, you'd think there would be at least a Mom or two a bit more welcoming. Instead I feel in sort of a clique-y junior high, where Moms are in various states of watching and not watching their kids. This includes the charmer who was taking big mouthfuls of the rice that was in the sensory table for the kids to play in, while Mom was busy chatting about her shopping elsewhere.

H thinks I need to cut my losses and start looking elsewhere. I think I agree, but this is hard.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Mom Escape #137


Anyone who knows me knows by now that I LOVE all things science fiction and fantasy: movies, TV, books, you name it. (And just check out some of the selections in my sidebar...) I've even been known to watch some pretty awful stuff just to get that fix. Of course this sometimes results in my wishing for that hour/two hours/other random segment of my life back once I'm through. (Or looking back at some of the stuff I watched in the 70s and 80s and wondering What was I thinking?) But that can't deter me... All this was true pre-Daniel and continues even now.

The BBC has gotten on the bandwagon, and the newest entry at BBC America is Torchwood. A spin-off from Dr. Who, this series follows a team of people in Cardiff, Wales investigating alien and human crime sometimes using borrowed alien technology. I caught the first episode this past week. There is a bit of an X-Files-ish air to it, and I think it has possibilities. Stay tuned...

I highly recommend an escape into some mind-bending/worlds colliding/otherworldly stuff if your days are filled with diapers and wipes and (shudder) Barney.

(And in other geek moments: Did you hear the title of the new Indiana Jones movie? It's Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.)

Monday, September 10, 2007

Excuse Me?


Yet again, a call from my gastroenterologist's office regarding the liver bumps. The good doctor finally had a chance to go over my CT scan over the weekend. The message said that yes, it appears to be a hemangioma, they have blood vessel(s), can resemble a bruise, are benign, etc. (Yay, me!)

But... (you knew this was coming, right?)

The doctor wants to schedule an MRI in November to get another look at them. Is it just me, or is this starting to seem like testing just for testings sake?

Excuse me while I go shake down my doctor and find out just what is going on here.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Snips and Snails


There is a debate going on here at the DmF household. And I am firmly on either side of the fence depending on which day you talk to me...

Daniel turned two years old last month, and except for a mini bang-snip here and there so that he could see, he has yet to have a haircut. I get more and more (especially from the grandmas at the grocery store): Oh, what a pretty little girl. Or parents on the playground watch their kids interact with Daniel and I hear them use the pronoun "she." I was all set to charge right over to the local kid-cuts place when today no less than three people complimented me on his blond curls.

Anyone have any experiences/war stories they'd like to share about their kid's first haircut? We still have rolling/screaming/wrestling matches over the daily tooth-brushing and occasional fingernail/toenail clipping. So the idea of getting anywhere near him with a pair of scissors is somewhat intimidating.

Of course, I may also be just holding onto this last little bit of his official "babyhood."

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Too Cute


Mommy: "AAh CHOO!!"

Baby
(from the kitchen table): "Bess You!"

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From the Is It a Universal Kid Thing? Files:

Daniel has drunk from a cup with a straw ever since he gave up the boob au naturale and the very short-lived bottle. He has suddenly discovered blowing bubbles with his straws.

A new wrinkle: If you blow bubbles in one of those drink pouches like Capri Sun, and then stop, there is a fun fountain that results.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Dirt Makes Fat Maxim


Be careful the amount of smugness you exhibit when you remember the stroller for the two year old, whose legs you are certain will conk out while you are visiting down on the farm. This is in direct proportion to the number of times and speed with which the two year old will run away from you while you juggle the stroller and diaper bag - which is much faster than you anticipated.