Peek-a-boo

We continue our travels with a combined business/pleasure trip to lovely Phoenix, AZ. It was a delightful 62 degrees and sunny today.

E spent the day with his Dad and Granny seeing the sites (well, napping in the car while they saw the sights).

E spent the evening playing peek-a-boo with the Dean of very large university. He also had a blast flirting with the lovely daughters of said Dean, playing choo-choo (a word he pick up from his cousin) and reading books. And posing for pictures. The easiest way to get E to cheer up is to shove a camera in his face. Cheese!

We head back to New Mexico tomorrow; back to his favorite toy; a black lab named Molly.

On our trip out to Phoenix we stopped in the Petrified Forest National Park. The Painted Desert is beautiful but E never did spot a dinosaur. (He looked and looked though).

For a very small child, he's done a lot of traveling. He's been in:
IL, IN, MI, NY, MA, NH, ME, CT, NJ, PA, OH, NM, MO, NC, TN, AZ, and WI. That's 17 states already! And Canada. Not bad, huh? (amended to include the great state of WI, where E spent many a happy hour entertaining the other guests at the former Playboy resort. There are no Bunnies anymore, not even E's favorite little floppy-eared animals but the sophisticated little boy was more charming than Hef could ever hope to be).

Holiday Greetings From Denver International Airport

local time: 9:33pm. Feels like 10:33pm since we're used to central time. Been on the road since 11:00am (central) this morning.

Travel itinerary:
Leg 1: drive to Indianapolis airport. In ice storm. 3.5 hrs in car. (Usual drive time is less than 2 hrs). Highlight of leg: There is a brand new airport in Indianapolis, open only 6 weeks. Did not know this until we drove by the old airport exit and found a defunct terminal. New airport an extra 15 minute drive away. Real highlight of leg: new airport is extremely family friendly and passenger service oriented. Plus everyone was helpful and nice; way over and above the norm.

Leg 2: fly from Indianapolis to Denver. Flight delayed about 1.5 hours. Small child held still for about 1.5 minutes on 3 hour flight.

Leg 3: sit in DIA airport waiting for airplane. Attempt to eat dinner in restaurant with VERY tired small child. Upon our arrival in Denver we were greeted with the news that our airplane was in Chicago. After getting to Denver it has to go to Salt Lake City then back to Denver. THEN it can take us to Albuquerque.

Legs 4 and 5 will be the flight to New Mexico then a 30 minute drive. Project time for head to meet pillow? around 3 am central.

Small boy is asleep now, snuggled up with his blankie and toy doggie in his stroller. I'm so wishing the camera was with me.

16 months old

These pictures were taken when E was 16 months and 1 day old. That was a couple of weeks ago but better late than never.

Now that E is 16 months old, it is high time for him to get to work and become a productive member of the family. You can see him hard at working building the Christmas tree. He also "helps" me with my research by testing all of my laptop's buttons.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire

Stomach bug? All gone.

Ear infection? Check.

Possible side effects of antibiotic? same as stomach bug.

Days until 10 hour car-airport-plane-airport-plane-car trip out west? 2.5

Little E spent most of the morning (from 1 am on) screaming. Arching his back. Demanding we go from room to room. Demanding to be offered all types of food. Saying "no" to just about everything. Not sleeping. Not even wanting to watch TV.

Tylenol helped for a couple of hours but wore off long before the dosing interval was up.

Our new pediatrician's office has drop-in Saturday morning hours. We got there at nine. Picked up some Infant's Motrin on the way. After 10 minutes of screaming at the clinic we gave E the medicine.

There is no physically possible way that the medicine can work this fast but pain reliever almost always immediately changes E's disposition. No sooner had the dropper dispensed its last drop into his mouth than he turned back to his delightful cheerful normal self. Good thing too, since it was another hour and a half before we saw the doctor. We're talking a reverse incredible hulk transformation. The big green mean monster turns into a sweet happy baby.

We are 3 for 3 at this clinic: all three of the doctors we've seen (our "regular" doctor and 2 on-call doctors) have been great. Today's doc diagnosed a raging ear infection and sent us home while she called in the prescription.

Perhaps the difficulties of last week are already fading from my memory but I think I prefer the mellow, cuddly stomach-bug-baby, even with never-ending laundry, to the screaming, flailing ear-infection-baby in acute, writhing pain. Yet another aspect of motherhood I could not have anticipated: puke is better than pain.

On the up side, the little man weighs a whopping 21.8 lbs (fully clothed) up nearly 1.5 lbs from his worrisome 15 month weigh-in. He's turned into an eating machine. He still extremely picky but if he likes it; bring it on!

He's sleeping fitfully now. Hopefully he'll be good to go by the time we board the plane on Tuesday. We'll have plenty of Motrin on hand, just in case.

Here's a picture from the brief lull between illnesses when E was operating in full happy-toddler mode.

E is for Engineer

 

E built these towers completely by himself a couple of weeks ago. Note the proud hand clasping in the first one. I wasn't there for that one but the Mav said E just stood back and beamed. I took the second picture. This was actually not even the highest tower he built that day, I just couldn't get the camera out in time.

We have no desire to pigeonhole the little boy, either in terms of interests or abilities. But perhaps our little apple is sticking close to his trees after all.

Once bitten, twice shy

Before E fell ill last week there were exactly two foods he could be counted to always eat; bananas and gerber puffs. He had of late been rather obsessed with bananas. He would do the sign for banana while saying "ba-ba" (this is E-speak for banana). We had to move where we kept the bananas because he could see them from his highchair and would INSIST upon having one no matter what else he had on his tray. As for the gerber puffs, he had his teachers at school buying them just for him. He'd pick them out of any snack mixture, leaving the other items behind.

No longer.

The higher the esteem the further the fall. I believe he is taking it personally that these foods did not want to stay in his tummy last week.

On the upside; we pulled all dairy from his diet last week so it never had a chance to do him wrong. He still loves his yogurt.

This morning the Mav asked E if he wanted a waffle. "No" said the little boy. "Do you want a banana", I asked. "No". "Yogurt?". No reply (he does not nod or say yes yet). "E, if you'd like some yogurt go show Daddy where it is".

He reached up his hand, grabbed the Mav's finger and led him to the fridge.

He also needs to try whatever it is his Daddy has. After a 4 month hiatus from eating eggs, E sampled his Dad's breakfast sandwich this morning and then went on to eat 2 whole eggs by himself. After a whole cup of yogurt.

I wonder how long it will take for him to forgive the poor innocent bananas.

Half empty

Little E is wearing a soft little romper that has a bottle of milk painted on the front along with the phrase "half full". I guess this is supposed to imply some kind of optimism.

He's in this soft, cuddly, pajama-like outfit because he is still rather sick.

My optimism over his appetite for soup was misplaced.

The virus reared its ugly head again in the middle of last night. And again at breakfast.

He won't drink the pedialite the doctor's office recommends, neither in grape nor apple flavor. He won't touch most food, not even bananas.

The Mav and I were looking forward to a date tonight. E's school is holding a parents' night out event and we were going downtown for dinner.

Instead, we'll be home force-feeding him dropperfuls of flavored sugar water, trying to keep him from needing emergency hydration.

I'm thanking my lucky stars

(well, Campbell's Chicken and Stars) that E has finally kept some food down for longer than 4 hours, for the first time in 4 days.

E has been sick with a nasty stomach bug since Sunday.

He passed it on to the Mav who's been bed-ridden since yesterday morning.

Oh, the laundry.

Oh, the floor cleaning.

I have spent the better part (and I do mean the better part; the worse parts are not things I wish to remember) sitting in my yellow rocking chair with my small boy snuggled up tight watching TV. He's seen more TV and movies in the past 4 days than in his entire life to date.

I think things are finally looking up for the boys. Hopefully tomorrow they will start to recover their energy and their appetites.

Remember when I said it was cold out?

Well, now it's really cold out!



We took E to the park around the corner to watch the Christmas parade. It was a balmy 24 degrees and windy but this in no way affected E's enjoyment of the parade. He watched with rapt attention, waved enthusiastically and fussed when we took him home.

If you were wondering ...

what age a child starts to throw anything and everything and especially food, it is just shy of 16 months. At least that was the case here.

Sorry it has been so quiet here lately. Things are and have been very, very busy with holiday plans, holiday travel, work, work, and work. (ok school, but it's kind of like work, except you don't get payed as much).

I promise to get back to writing regularly very soon. The kid is doing all kinds of cute or frustrating things these days.

Pictures

As the boy grows so must the toy bin

Party in E's crib.
(No, he doesn't sleep with all this company. His friends came to visit when we were trying to wake the boy up after a 3 hour nap)

"No Daddy, please don't make me get near that man in red!"
I guess we won't be getting a Santa picture this year.

Checking in and checking up

 

We had little E's 15 month checkup today. All went well; the little boy is healthy and on track developmentally.

He likes his new doctor; he objected to her leaving room at the end of the appointment. "No" he said and even fussed a bit when the door shut behind her. But then I asked him if he thought she was nice and he replied "no". Pretty much everything is "no" these days.

I had planned to mentioned that our boy has not quite been himself lately. He's been crankier than normal, had some sleeping issues and has been very picky food-wise in the past week or so.

She wouldn't have believed me.

E was the sweetest, most cooperative little charmer at his appointment. Only smiles during the poking and prodding. He sat still and played peek-a-boo while we talked. He even turned his ear to the doctor when she asked to look in it.

Luckily he brought his good humor home and was well behaved and entertaining all evening. Lucky especially since the Mav is out of town again so I was flying solo.

The only blemish on his record for the day was dinner. Spaghetti and meatballs and a side of mixed vegetables.

He ate the peas out of the vegetables.

He put the spaghetti in his hair.

That was dinner.

I'm at a loss for what to feed this kid. It doesn't help that it turns out he's a little peanut of a 15 month old. The doctor, not yet having E's medical history, asked if he'd always been small. Not really, we said, about average height-wise and a little on the slim side. Today, at 20lbs 5 oz and 30.5 inches little E is indeed little; just 25% for height and a mere 3% for weight. Most likely he's just settling into his proper growth curve; there are certainly some small genes floating around in his pool. Still, it makes his minimal food and milk intake a bit worrisome.

He's certainly got enough energy these days though. No worries there.

The picture above is from a few weeks ago. I haven't got enough energy to track down the camera cord to get the new pictures. Maybe tomorrow.

Guess Who?

What's cooking?

Chef E really puts himself into his work. Or his wok. (sorry, couldn't resist).

He did this all himself. Those pots and the lid were all on the pot rack when he came to help me in the kitchen.

To entertain the boy while his lunch time pumpkin noodle soup cooked we explored the spice cabinet. I got down several spices and let E test them out. I'd put a small amount in my palm and encourage E to take a sniff (he completely does not get the idea of smelling something yet). Then he'd get a taste, either on his or my finger tip. He liked them all; coriander, cumin, cinnamon, all spice, tarragon, thyme, paprika, marjoram (I don't even know why we have marjoram or when we used it last).

The boy latched on the jar of tarragon and played with it (thankfully, he can't get it open yet) until lunch was ready. Once in his chair, he motioned for me to help him open the jar. I did, and sprinkled some on his tray. He ate it and asked for more.

This is the kid who didn't eat the chicken nuggets on his first trip to McDonalds. The kid who turns up his nose at cheese. The child who only eats pasta if it's served with peas. Tarragon, though, can't get enough of that.

My darling dissident

E's still under the weather so we've been home most of the week. I did decide to keep our appointment at the infant cognition lab since his energy was at full tilt and there wouldn't be other kids (and parents) around to be bothered by little E's drippy, rattly, coughing appearance.

We bundled up and headed out. I picked him up to carry him to the car and as we approached it he pointed away from the car and toward the route we walk to the park. I told him we were going in the car. He said "no no no".

This was the first time he's ever said "no" and meant it (and boy did he mean it).

Maybe it's his cold, maybe it's his French ancestry, but he says "no" in the most adorable nasal manner. To come close to recreating it you really have to press your tongue to the roof of your mouth and purse your lips as you peal off the "n" sound.

I convinced him we were actually going in the car despite his protests.

One of the studies at the lab had E handling a variety of objects. Once each phase of the study was complete the researcher asked E to handle the object back. Rather surprisingly, he cooperated immediately.

Except for one object.

The researcher asked for the object. E said "no". In a moment of parental weakness I admit that I laughed.

E has learned to disagree, and more importantly, how to express it. I predict this gets less funny in ... 3, 2, 1 ...

Little E has also learned to say cheese. Ham goes so well with cheese, don't you think?

Uh Oh!

The Mav taught little E to say "Uh Oh."

Mostly he says it randomly and often.

He is learning that his new word has meaning and context.

It is unbelievably funny.

Somehow his fork ends up hitting the floor. "Uh oh".

Those big blue eyes. That little "O" shaped mouth. Looking for approval; "did I use the word right Mom?" "I just dropped my fork so we could practice communicating". That's why I didn't teach him that word.

Little E is under the weather and spent some time watching a movie in his Daddy's lap this evening while I prepared dinner. The movie, a hit from the first since it features his beloved "fee-shees", captures E attention and restores his good humor.

He is apparently also getting the story, somewhat. The movie is "Finding Nemo" and in it, the Daddy fish emphatically issues a command to the little boy fish along the lines of "come here right now!". The little boy fish does not listen. "Uh oh" says little E.

The Mav laughed heartily.

Little E lost a strategic advantage however. Now I know that when I tell him to "come here" and he ignores it, he knows what he's doing.

Uh oh.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

As I write this, my weather.com status bar says it is sunny and 70 degrees out. It also says it is November 5th.

The cruel thing crashed at the peak of Indian summer and sits there taunting me. Really it is 31 degrees, but the windchill makes it feel like a delightful 21 degrees.

E is handling the weather about-face stoically so far. A cold has kept him from noticing that we're not playing outside. He offers no protest to being dressed up in cold weather garb. (To be honest he did strongly object to the mittens his first time out in the cold, so I let him go mitten free at first. Within 2 minutes he was "uncomfortable", I slipped the mittens on and haven't had a complaint about them since).

In the above picture, E was suited up for a trip around the neighborhood. We needed to stop at the post office and the bakery. The walk was brisk. The sites were surreal. An historic building just a few blocks from us and located between the post office and the bakery burned and collapsed that morning. You can see what we saw (and didn't see) here. Utter, horrible, destruction. (Luckily, the building was empty and no one was hurt).

I know that for some of you, the weather has been cold for awhile. So for you, and now for us, here are warm and happy thoughts from little E (pictured outside at the zoo just a week ago).

15 Months Old

Yesterday was an exciting and historic occasion. It was E's 15 month birthday. (I think some other stuff may have happened too but I don't think you visit this blog to learn about current events).

I had a hard time narrowing down the picture choices from E's 15 month photo shoot. That kid really knows how to work it for the camera.

E at 15 months is every bit as delightful as the pictures indicate. When we picked him up from school today one of his teachers told us that they all think E is a perfect child, so easy going, happy, laid back. A bit over simplified, but pretty much true. (They haven't witnessed what happens if you try to take away the crayons he's trying to eat ...).

At 15 months little E
-loves playing outside, especially on playground equipment
-is fascinated by bugs, especially the abundant pseudo lady bugs
-is starting to sit for "real" books; Go Dog Go seems to be a favorite, it is by far the longest book he listens to in its entirety.
-loves to be chased though he usually stops in his tracks because being "gotten" is the best part.
-really likes to be tickled. signs "more" if you stop too soon. leans into a chin tickle kind of like a cat.
-gives great big mouth to mouth sloppy wet kisses
-signs "help me" instead of fussing most of the time when frustrated
-is a very strong climber but likes to climb stairs just like adults; one foot per stair. his stride is too small for this so he ends up nearly horizontal by the top of the staircase (hard to describe this procedure in words ...)
-greatly enjoyed his first peanut butter and jelly sandwich yesterday
-shakes his head and laughs in response to being told "no"
-knows that trying to play with the outlets gets Mommy to tell him "no" and pick him up.
-finds it hilarious when the cat scratches around in the litter box.
-enjoys mimicking things he finds funny, like shoe-ears (i.e. putting a shoe on your ear).
-sang in his stroller while I voted
-loves fishies; crackers, stickers, stuffed animals, fishsticks. Not salmon though. Not for dinner.
-likes to swing. it took him awhile to come around but now he loves it.
-loves anything animated on the computer.
-loves bath time
-ok, he really loves just about everything. Especially the cat.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Man in the Yellow Hat, Curious George and all of us!

 

So, for those of you who didn't already know, E is the Man in the Yellow Hat for his second Halloween. The Man in the Yellow Hat is Curious George's caretaker and friend.

Little E was pretty oblivious to most of the costume; he didn't mind being dressed in yellow from head to toe. He didn't even bother about the tie much, he even found it soothing to rub against his face when he was tired. The hat he didn't care much for though he was better about wearing than I had expected.

He did not like the stuffed George though. He hasn't, not from the moment we bought it.

He loved the plastic George cake topper from his birthday. The PBS Curious George show is a huge hit. E really enjoys the books about Curious George. Our boy is typically a fan of stuffed toys; he grabs them off the shelves in stores to hug them.

He won't have anything to do with the Curious George doll. In the picture above, he sat there frozen, almost as though he was afraid of it. Typically he throws it.

Oh well.

He does love to hug the pumpkins. All 3 of them, but mostly the big one. The one he desperately wants to pick up. The one that weighs almost as much as him. The one the Mav painstakingly painted.

Here are a few more pictures. Our Mother's group took the little ones on a parade through one of the local nursing homes today -- we got some great pictures from that. Hopefully we'll get a web album or 2 up soon with some more pictures from today.