Gametes In Love

We have a routine established with G whenever we get home: we wash hands.

It’s funny, when we get home now and put him down on the hall, even if we don’t say it, G just runs to the bathroom and just waits for one of us to come in and wash his hands. I dig it!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leakw-nj5xs]

I’m not perfect at this, but I’m really trying to be judicious over what we will allow G to do and not do. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m lax on a lot of things (you wanna play with a fork, kid? sure!) and yes, I cave in on a lot of his requests after a certain amount of whining (Ok, fine — you can take my computer mouse), but I really want to put my foot down on the big stuff. I also want to let him know when I mean business and that getting in trouble has consequences.

I’m trying to establish a “time out” zone for G. I wanted somewhere he won’t easily run away from, but not used for other purposes. His dining room chair is out. While it fulfills part I of the requirement, it fails horribly in part II and I didn’t want him to associate eating with being in trouble. So I had an epiphany: the Bumbo chair. He never sat in it much as a wee one: we still have it downstairs, and he’s got a small enough rear, he can still fit.

So I tried it (during a legitimate timeout offense, I assure you)!

Fail 1: I thought that he’d be small enough to still sit in it, but too big to be able to get out on his own. Wrong!!! 10 seconds into Time Out, G just got up and rolled away. I put him back in, he rolled away again.

Fail 2: A week later, I come to see this:

That’s right: in the middle of his play-space, G got one of his toys and quietly crept into his Bumbo and decided to play.

What gives, kid? Now, what am I supposed to do for a time-out chair? If he thinks Bumbo is for fun, it’s no good as a “you’re in trouble, Young Man” thinking place.

Darn kid! Neutralized my parenting weaponry even before we got going.

Back to the drawing board…

Every month I wonder where all that time goes. Pretty soon, we’ll have a 2 year old on our hands. I marvel at this little dude every day.

Let’s do a survey!

Weight: 20lb 8.8oz

Height: I’m lame — haven’t measured him in about 2 months. He was 30″ back then though

Number of teeth: 12, and working on adding some canines

Words: + 4 this month (and a swap):

• Naw (for No). Luckily we don’t hear this one too often. I’m sure in a few months though we’ll hear it more than we would ever want.
• Boo (for Book)
• Mama. FINALLY! Although he doesn’t use it in my presence.
• Mo (for more)
• swap: Ki (this now stands for Kitty)

Favorite food: Top pick: Spaghetti… by a big, messy landslide. Runner up: eggs

Favorite activity: First place: Swinging, and more swinging. Close second: Playing whilst on the Aeron chair

New accomplishment: G wants to feed himself

Potty trained?: Not even close

Naughtiest moment of the month: Captured on video for your viewing pleasure (aka Catch me if you can).

Sweetest moment of the month: (mine) Sitting down next to me on the raised foyer, eating a cookie and drinking milk; (S’) Giving a hug when daddy hurt his eye just ‘cuz he felt bad for him

Temper tantrum meter: moderate

Yes, TV IS fascinating!

Sprout lady is pretty

Helping Mommy fill out her DDS’ new patient form

Tylenol and Motrin sure are getting a run for their money around these here parts. You see, G is getting a visit by the tooth-gifting faerie and she has not been kind. His nose has been draining like a faucet, his diaper rash is never-ending, and his personality? Well, let’s just say it leaves a lot to be desired. To top it off he’s trying to gnaw on just about everything in sight… like my chair arm-rest for example… or my fingers. He’s never been much of a teether-kind of kid, and now that he’s got his incisors and first molars in, it’s hard to get into the nooks & crannies he really wants to scratch.

His incoming teeth are his canines. That will pretty much wrap up teething for us for awhile and G will be sporting a mouth-full of chompers. I can’t wait!

I’m only sorta kidding. I think our child likes his infant Tylenol a bit too much. The moment he sees it he stretched out his arms and grunts/whines after it. I gave him some this evening on account of the evil teething spell he’s been doing through (more on this soon), and he took the dropper out of my hands. Then he proceeded to lick and suck the meds out of it. I mean, LIKED.THE.DROPPER.CLEARN!!! Normally there’s a bunch of pink still left when I squirt in there — he cleaned right off.

Is there a toddler NA program I need to be looking into?

G now plays a good game of “Come and get me”. It goes something like this: find an activity you know you are NOT supposed to do (in this case make dents in the coffee table with a wooden toy peg), make sure mom & dad see it, devilishly laugh, and then run away giggling.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7VBZHzFYo8]

And this, my friends, is why you can’t get much done with a toddler around.

S and I aren’t fortunate to live close to either of our families. The closest, distance wise, is 370 miles away. Although we all make an effort to visit as often as we can, this means that G doesn’t get to get spoiled by his Grammies, often, or ride horsie ontop of the Grandpas.

This is where Skype comes in.

We now Skype with our families about once a week. We reserve this activity for week-ends (or the occasional evening) when we can battle time-zones, and daily schedules. All grandparents & aunties are setup with their own Skype accounts, so G now gets to show off his belly-button…

… and his nose

… or his latest toy

… LIVE to them all.

Personally, I love this! I love seeing him excited about the person on the other side of the screen. The best is when he reaches out to touch them. Yeah, it’s not the same as having the physical person near, but I’m thrilled that we live in a time when this is possible, common… and frankly free.

Thank you Skype!

PS. Occasionally we cover-up the keyboard since G is just as excited to type up his comments as verbalize them.

01.22.2010

01.21.2010

01.21.2010

01.13.2010

12.08.2009

11.25.2009

Note to self: pureed carrots are not the best breakfast food for toddlers. This is because:

1. Toddler will insist on a spoon of their own that they can “help” feed themselves with
2. Toddler will dip said spoon in said carrot puree and then fling it in your general direction
3. Toddler will realize that puree floor drizzle art is a lot of fun
4. While orange (color of carrots) and blue (color of shirt) are contrasting colors, they do not look good together in the above stated texture/format

… at least it’s Hump Day of a short week.