• Home
  • About
  •  

    Boo! (or should we say Moo!?)

    October 31st, 2009

    G’s time in therapy is already a given, so I had no qualms in ordering G this year’s costume. As a matter of fact the moment I saw it, I got all giddy.

    Have I ever mentioned that my dream is to be super pregnant over Halloween, so I can dress up as a cow? I just want the udders sticking out over my big Baby belly. Alas, I can’t 1) plan for such an event; 2) find a cow costume my size. So, instead I shall live my dream through my son and torment him.

    At daycare yesterday, there was a parade and all the kids got treats. Of course, as we discussed last year, since G is too young for candy, what it means is that S and I got treats. We ate his bag of goodies promptly after dinner — hmn… yummo. But don’t be sad for G. We left him the mini Play-Doh, the pencil and paper pad. He can put them to use in a few years.

    You know that California Cheese commercial that says “Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California”? Yeah, well, sadly, G was not a happy cow. He wasn’t thrilled about the grass of all things. He didn’t know what to do with it. Yeah, we don’t play in the grass of our yard (like ever), and his daycare playground flooring is foam, so I’m not too shocked that grass is kind of foreign to him: he just wanted nothing to do with it. Yes, a city child you are, My Dear!


    Foto Friday

    October 29th, 2009

    “Now listen here, Dad…!”

    Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta GO!

    From our last swim class

    Walking the plank (well, crawling in his case)

    Elbow, Elbow, Knee (and soon the other Knee)

    Toy swim


    14 months

    October 29th, 2009

    Oh yeah, I’m still counting. When will I stop? Nobody knows (hehe).

    Although this has been a pretty quiet month, there are three major events that are notable:

    • G’s first unsupported steps: you saw it here, Folks! He hasn’t taken off running around the house, or even tried walking on his own yet, but I know it’s only a matter of time. I don’t think the little part of his brain has clicked over to walking yet. He’s a speed demon crawling (seriously, you have to run alongside to keep up with him), so from his perspective, why wobble and fall over, when crawling gets him anywhere he wants? None-the-less, as much as people warn how nice the “non-walking” days are, I’m still looking forward to being able to stand him up. Yeah, I’ll probably be eating my words soon enough, but it kind of creeps me out to see my kid crawl on all fours on dirty ground and then lick his fingers. I’m not a germ-a-phobe, really, I’m not — but that just can’t be good for him! I get the whole “what doesn’t kill him makes him stronger” bit, but still…
    • Tantrums: holy-shmoly! G has become a very chatty kid. Yeah, he’s always babbled, but now he’s really communicative. He still only has 3 words (although is working out a few more and I’m a harsh grader), but he grunts, babbles and points his way to what he wants. And if he doesn’t get what he wants? Ugh… it’s rough. We’re talking crying, screaming, throw himself on the ground episodes. I am really wishing that those words will come out already. It’s like being a first-time parent of a newborn all over again. You don’t know what he wants and go mad checking off all the things that can make it better. Sometimes what he wants really makes sense: the toy out of reach, he’s hungry, thirsty, or just tired: for those I obviously cave in. Then there’s the stuff he can’t have: access to electronics power cords, free roam of the surround speaker system, Neko’s litter… So yeah, I want more talking and more reasoning. Right now explaining & reasoning with G is about as effective as reasoning with my coffee table — just ain’t gonna happen. Still I’m keeping at it and trying to keep my cool. At some point it will sink in… right?
    • Swimming is fun again! I’m so excited about this. G’s last two swim classes have been really fun. We kind of slacked off and didn’t go as often as we used to. Our busy schedule reduced us to 1 swim class a month (vs. the previous bi-weekly visit). G retaliated by becoming a cling-baby as soon as his toes got wet in the pool. Bath-time at home was all sorts of splashtime fun, but swim class was like attending with a Koala who clung with every tool at it’s disposal to it’s trunk (AKA daddy). In contrast the last two weeks were rad! He participated in the songs, splashed around on his own, and crawled “the plank” like a champ. He’s even mastered “Elbow-elbow-knee-knee” and throws himself into the pool (well into our arms really) off the ledge on his own. I’m hoping this version of G will stick around

    Three other minor observations:

    • G doesn’t take more than 1 nap at daycare. This drives me bonkers as it produces one mega cranky kid each evening. He comes home and crashes ’till the next day. So no baby playtime 🙁
    • G’s hair is starting to curl. It’s cute, but I’m SO ready to give him a hair-cut. S isn’t though, so I can’t cut his locks just yet.
    • No new teeth this month. None that he’s let me discover anyway.

    Now, onto 15 months 🙂


    How to scare the eldery: 101

    October 28th, 2009

    I’d like to introduce you to an interesting product a friend brought my attention to: Baby Bangs (http://www.babybangshairband.com/). I for one, think it’s terrible for the mental & physical health of our society.

    (Although not stated so in the literature), I assume it is for the self-conscious parent who is:

    1. Tired of telling everyone what gender their little one is,
    2. Really eager to put hair accessories on their child, or
    3. Can’t wait for the kid’s own locks to come in

    Here’s the part I don’t get: how do you convince your child to keep it on?

    Let’s take G for example: the child hates (I mean HATES) anything on his head. Remember those hats he wore non-stop until he was 6 months old? Yeah, apparently I over-did it. Unless I can strap or staple the sucker on, any head-decorating object is promptly removed, and if not tugged on until it comes off. So… back to the little hair toupees above: how do you blackmail (I mean cajole) your child to keep it on?

    I mean, I’m picturing a mom taking little Kimmie out to the store with her new hair, while in the middle of mom’s retail therapy Kimmie decides she’s had enough of the hair piece and just yanks it off. Now take the elderly lady standing next to the pair — she just witnessed little Kimmie scalping herself more or less. Said elderly lady has a heart attack in horror. Hence bad for the health of our fellow citizens. Think of the fragile elderly… I beg you! Say “No!” to the Baby Bangs!


    Movie Monday

    October 26th, 2009

    Uhmn… G has a mobility update:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxK9j-GiY9s]

    It’s not true walking, yet, but we’re getting there!


    Blogging: it’s not just digital anymore

    October 24th, 2009

    I haven’t mentioned this yet, but this nifty little blog of ours exists beyond just the online, digital format: I print it out. And no, I don’t mean, use-my-printer-at-home-and-put-stuff-in-a-binder printing… I mean book-bound, Holiday-gift-worthy printing.

    Blurb.com makes this process super easy. Not only is the book creation software easy to use, but Blurb also imports all of your blog entries in for you.

    Sadly, until we can get moving paper (ala Harry Potter), Movie Mondays aren’t nearly as fun, but hey — the rest comes out pretty well.

    To date I’ve created 4 Gametes In Love volumes:
    – Vol I: Our journey through infertility, treatment and good news
    – Vol II: Pregnancy hi-jinx and birth
    – Vol III: 0-6 months of G fun
    – Vol IV: 6-12 months of G

    I’m not really sure if I’m going to be doing a book every 6 months. I’m contemplating doing one every year going forward, but seeing as my last two books went over 150 pages, I fear what the size of a years worth of blogging looks like.

    Either way, I wanted to spread the word about Blurb. Aside from making blog books, Blurb does amazing photo books too. Enjoy making your own!


    But I worked hard on that mess

    October 19th, 2009

    If you were anything like me as a child, you had a fine mess of a room to be proud of. In addition, your parents sighed in desperation as they picked up after you and you had many a “Go clean your room!” arguments discussions. It wasn’t until I was in my teens that I saw the light and realized that a clean room is actually a good thing.

    Well, it appears I’ve fully embraced my “parent” role. As expected, S and I now do our round of toy pick-up, nightly, after G goes to bed. It’s in our futile attempt to reclaim the living space of our home from the invasion of toddler toys.

    What IS interesting though is G’s response to our cleanliness efforts. Take last night for example. S and I were up in G’s room (with G of course), as we were approaching bed-time. S did the daddy-thing and picked up all the scattered toys and arranged them on/in their respective pegs/boxes. G meanwhile was getting  a diaper change. As soon as I let the little monster go, he scurried over to the now-straightened line of toys, and proceeded to dismantle everything that S spent the last while putting away. EVERYTHING.

    S sighed, saying “Buddy you just undid my work!”

    To which I replied “No, you just undid HIS work, and now he’s putting it back”

    And it felt so true. G was just determined to disassemble every wooden piece off of it’s peg, and pull every felt-food item out of it’s picnic basket. He was almost annoyed at S for putting it all together.

    So yeah, it’s a loosing battle at this stage. Honestly, at this age, this is as expected. If I had a well organized/clean baby I would be worried as to what was wrong with him (and run for the woods as he would be FAR more anal than either his father or I). So for now, his room now has a corner of well-scattered wooden blocks and play-food items. Go mess!


    (School) Picture Day

    October 18th, 2009

    Do you remember Picture Day from school? I won’t date myself here, but as it’s been awhile, I had completely forgotten all about it… until G started at his new daycare. Since the new digs are part of the public school district, even the infant/toddler class gets their “mug-shots” taken for Picture Day. The other day, S brought home the proofs.

    They’ve gotten pretty fancy, I must say. I remember being placed in front of a blue background, which only helped the “deer in the headlights” look I invariably acquired as the flash went off in my face. The result? Years of terrible ID and year-book pictures. Of course it never helped that I never could remember when picture day was coming, so I invariably wore the wrong thing, or had a pimple, or bad haircut. I’ll spare you (well.. really… ME) the embarrassing images, ‘kay?
    G on the other hand gets the nice foliage background with a little bridge to troll over. Cute, no? Although, I will say that he seems to have inherited his mom’s “deer in the headlights” look when it comes to that final snap. Oh, Child, I pity your high-school photo future!

    My favorite photo in the set was that of G’s class. Yes, yes, the pictures of him are adorably cute, but for some reason the plain photo of all his classmates and teachers is so much more rewarding to me. No, I don’t know all the kids’ names (I know — bad parent over here — I blame it on the fact that G’s the 2nd kid to show up at school, and I leave before the others arrive), but it’s neat to see who he interacts with during his day. Unfortunately, not all the teachers are in the photo, which is a bummer.

    P.S. Psst — It’s illegal for me to scan these, but you won’t tell… right?


    Foto Friday

    October 15th, 2009

    “Here Mama, have a coaster!”

    Yes, this is what a temper tantrum looks like

    “No, Daddy! You’re too heavy to push”


    Circle goes in which hole?

    October 15th, 2009

    G got a great toy from his Grammie a few months back: the Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks set. He loves this thing and plays with it all the time.

    When he was little I was really proud of him taking the blocks out of the bucket. Then I got proud when he started putting the blocks back in the bucket, as this demonstrated a mental development milestone he had reached.

    Then imagine my awe this week-end when he started using the bucket lid to try to get the right shape through the right whole. He was passing the circle through the round hole for a good two minutes. I got all giddy thinking that my kid was a genius and already recognized his shapes. Alas, I was wrong as he spent the next two minutes trying to cram the circle through the square hole.

    Eeeh, at least he’s figuring it out!