Gametes In Love

Man, this has been one busy month! S2’s developmental milestone calendar has been quite busy. Monkey learned to crawl, pull up, figured out how to go over stairs, is taking a step or two while holding himself up AND sprouted a tooth. He’s even starting to let go and is testing his balance. It’s really felt like every other week he’s gone for some new feat. Trouble, I tell you. Trouble, all around.

His crawling, is fast! He’s a determined little bugger too, and has figured out how to go around his obstacles. If I stand in the way between him and the objects he shouldn’t be playing with, he swerves in a different direction. He cackles too when he sees that you’re after him and picks up speed, ‘cuz of course, chasing him away from digging his hands in the cat’s water bowl is clearly a game.

Trying to contain him is hard too. With G, our step up from the living room into the hallway was a very effective deterrent for quite a while. I could close the kitchen door, and know that he wasn’t going anywhere. Not so w/ S2. He figured out how to traverse the step within days of crawling. We’re trying to keep the kitchen & dining room doors closed, but when G sees that his brother wants to get in there, he’s happy to oblige and opens the door for him. A bit too helpful, he is. His reasoning was sound: S2 wanted to get in. How do you explain that that’s exactly what we were trying to avoid? Child-proofing with a toddler around is certainly going to be interesting. I want G to be able to have access to the house, because he (for the most part) knows what’s OK and what isn’t. S2 doesn’t.

S2 is also manipulating his go-go gadget arms skills. The little stinker has already figured out that if he raises himself on his tippy-toes he gets an extra inch or two of reach. Really, Kid, you are too smart for us!

He has proven that he’s able to do an 8hr stretch of sleep, yet is un-interested in sleeping past 4am. ARG!

Lastly, I should note how much this kid loves to eat. He’s so indiscriminate to food, it’s kind of awesome. And man, can he put it away. The other day, he ate a size 2 jar of baby-food, several handfuls of Puffs AND an adult size fillet of fish (from fish and chips), batter removed. Yeah. He loves him some fish, and apparently he went nuts for spaghetti at school today too. I’m pretty sure by the time he’s 1, he’ll comfortably transition to daycare’s hot lunch program. I’m about to move him up to size 3 foods, but it’s really a formality since he seems to do fine with grown up food cut fine.

Weight: 19lb 11oz

Height: 28″, but it’s not an accurate measurement, because he won’t sit still long enough for me to measure him.

Favorite activity: pulling up to stand on… stuff

Favorite food: puffs. Be ready to be attacked at the mere sound of the word

Favorite toy: music table

Number of teeth: 1 (with another one around the corner)

Naughtiest moment: 1) pulling on the plumbing lines of the toilet; 2) chasing after Neko

Important milestones: Crawl; Pulling up Stand; First tooth

Dear G,

Today you are 3.

This whole week I’ve found myself looking at you and thinking that just (about) 3 years ago your whole head fit in the palm of my hand. Now you sit at the foot of my bed, watching your favorite movie (more on this later) and you look so big! It’s amazing how little adults can change over the span of 3 years, yet 3 years for you have developed you into a little boy. That’s right, I said “little boy”! I struggle to call you a toddler because the way you carry yourself, talk and act is no longer the way of a toddler. We can carry on a conversation, and I can understand at least 75% of it 🙂 I find your insights surprising in their simplicity, humor, and honesty. I hope you keep that!

As of right now you are:
– Active. You don’t sit still for a minute. You’re running, twirling, (still tripping), and jumping ALL.THE.TIME. Your energy is exhausting just to watch, but also so endearing. You’re a very physical human being, and that is reflected in your favorite toys and even movies. I worry about the adrenaline-seeking man you might become, but I take solace seeing that even now you like to live life to it’s fullest.

By the way, hearing you say ‘Life is gooood!’ makes my heart swell.

– Mischievous. The way you look at me from the side of your squint-y eyes, turn your head, and grin just gives you away. I can see the little gears in your mind working. You have a nose for trouble and testing boundaries. I see you being the joker amongst your group of friends. Your jokes are well natured, but please don’t let my number be on speed dial at your school’s office!

– Funny. You have a great sense of humor. Please hold onto this. Right now you’re transitioning into potty humor, and you think the word “poop” is hilarious. Please get over this soon!

– A daddy’s boy. I know that bringing your brother home this past year changed the dynamics in our relationship a lot. I gave you a long hug before we sent you to daycare when my water broke, because I knew your life would never be the same after that moment. I didn’t think that our relationship would also not be the same. While I’m so grateful that you’ve understood that (right now) your brother needs me more, I miss our relationship and hope next year we’ll become closer again. I don’t push you when you ask that daddy helps you instead of me (except for moments when it can’t be avoided… like when daddy’s out of town… or driving). I know we’ll find our own groove again.

– Loving and gentle. You have a great deal of compassion and empathy. I love it when I see you unprompted, attend to your brother when he’s upset. My heart is filled with love, for you, when I see you hand over one of your loveys (your most valuable possessions) to S2 when he’s crying. I hope you take these traits with you into manhood, because I will be the proudest mom.

– An amazing big brother. I wanted to give this special attention from the above. I expected you to rebel against your little brother. You didn’t. I expected you to regress and tantrum more as he joined us, and became more mobile. You didn’t. I expected you to be jealous of our attention to S2’s development. You didn’t. Instead you cheered for him beside us. While I fully am ready for this to change as he continues to grow, I have admired you so much for helping us out. You bring me wipes, and bottles. You show your little brother how to play (sometimes albeit too rough for what he can handle). You make him laugh. He looks at you with adoration and appreciation and you fully deserve it.

– A hothead. Child, is your temper short!!! I suppose it’s part of your astrological sign, but I just don’t know how to tackle this one. I’ve learned patience since you’ve come into my life, but I don’t know how to teach it back to you.

– A shrimp. Yeah, you’re still a little guy for your age. I want you to never have to worry about being bullied for your size, so I keep hoping that Growth Hormone Faerie will stop by more often.

– A picky eater. Sigh! I wish you were more adventurous and willing to eat. You drive me nuts, still, to watch you go on for days on a fist-full of Puffs and a bowl of oatmeal. Negotiating over how much to eat has become an art-form in this house, and I gotta admit, I’m not winning as often as I’d like.

Today you:
– Weigh 30.6lb,
– are  35.5″ tall, and
– have dark blond with (amazing) highlights that some people spend hundreds of dollars to get.

Here’s what you have to say about yourself in your own words:

• What’s your name? Griiiifffiiiin
• Do you know your full name? [blank stare]
• How old are you? This many. I’m free!
• What’s your favorite color? Puh-ple
• Who are your best friends? Rhana and christopher
• What is your favourite book? How do dinosaurs go to school
• What is your favorite movie? Penguins. (aka Surfs Up!) I wanna watch it tonight
• What is your favourite TV show? Uhmn, Dinasor Train (you gonna riiiiide the Dinasor Train) (he actually sang the last part)
• What is your favourite animal? A Zebra!
• What’s your favorite food? Oapmeal!
• What is your favorite shirt? Monkey one. Monkey one? Yeah. Red one that says Silly Monkey? Yeah!
• What’s your greatest word of wisdom at age 3? (I’m cheating on this one, because he didn’t say it in direct response to this question) We don’t eat poop.
• What makes you mad? When someone takes away my Moonka
• What’s your favorite toy? A dinosaur. Which dinosaur? A T-Rex. The big T-Rex? Yeah

Happy birthday, kiddo!!!!

(a stroll down memory lane of the past year)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbViPGzR1yo]

S2 1st tooth broke through the surface today. I saw it coming, so I snapped a whole lot of pics of this toothless smile yesterday. I’m gonna miss it!

This past week-end, S and I had the opportunity to go camping with the kids.

THEN I got signed up for a training seminar for work, which was to go to 5pm on Friday (cruel, right?) so my plans to leave early to help S set up the camp-site went out the window. I wasn’t planning on spending the night, since trying to get S2 down in a pack-n-play in an enclosed tent for the first time in his life was not my idea of a good time. My thinking was we’d set up camp, have dinner and S2 and I would come home. Then after the training, it made no sense. By the time I’d get there, S would’ve already setup with G, and w/ a 7pm bedtime for S2 it was silly for me to drive for 3 hours to see G & S’ pitched tent.

So I opted to stay home the first night alone with S2. And honestly the thought of it sounded like a vacation.

That’s right — vacation. Which makes me laugh, because the first time S had to go away on a business trip and I had to stay home alone with G scared the lights out of me. Now anything that involves only one child seems like a piece of cake. My, my how times have changed!

P.S. Camping ended up not happening. S drove off, got stuck in traffic and lost all desire to go that evening. He attempted the next day, but after reports on how cold it was, we decided not to go. Next time.

S and I haven’t had an un-intertupted night’s sleep since S2 was born. Longer for me if you count all the months I woke up to pee when pregnant. Yes that goes with the territory of having an infant.
But what sux more is that we’re getting hit on two ends: both boys WON’T go down on their own, AND one of them still wakes up twice at night. Ultimately this produces two tired adults, the lucky one of which that puts G down gets nothing accomplished.
For the most part (night waking excluded) we’ve brought this on ourselves.

The story of G
G falls asleep at 10. That’s right. 10. We’ve tried putting him to bed earlier, but that results in him being in his room for the duration, still awake, still talking to you. We’ve tried killing his mid-day nap, which at our last (and only) attempt, resulted in one pissy toddler. There we made the decision that it was better to have a kid that goes to bed late, than one that screams and throws things at you for hours on end. Translation: the no-nap option was even more exhausting than the late-bird option.
If you recall, the day before S2 and I were discharged from the hospital, G got sick and raised a fever of 102+ degrees, which hung on for a few days. We battled this by S dedicating himself solely to G, and me to S2. S slept in G’s room, which was enough to get G to ask that he ‘snuggle wich youuuu’ (I don’t do justice how cute he says it) each night. I remember there was a time, when as a baby I would put g in his crib down for the night, walk out, and he’d fall asleep. Man that was ages ago!

The story of S2
Really, same story, second verse. Snuggle, rock, put down asleep. Tiptoe out door with fear of little monster waking up because you’d have to spend another 30 min for each put-down iteration.

Summary
It sucks! Sleep training for all is on our horizon. I told myself I’d wait until both kids get to their birthday. Actually, longer because we have two trips planned and I don’t necessarily want to redo everything we do now based on room stay accommodations.

I am NOT looking forward to this. I am hopeful, though, that at least if S2 figures out a way to fall asleep on his own at night, it will translate to him putting himself back to sleep if he wakes up in the middle of the night too.
For G, I don’t know how we’ll do this. He screams whenever we try to leave the room now. Sure I can close his gate, but then he’ll think he’s in time out and I’m worried he’ll grow to despise bedtime even more. If you have experience sleep training an older child, I’m all ears.

So yeah. This is my messed-up-sleep house. Signed,

At fault.

S2, as of two days ago, is crawling. Tummy off the floor moving. It just took me two days to get it on video, because every time I tried he’d stop what he’s doing and just look at me. Silly monkey!

But today we got him to perform… for food. Figures, all I needed were Puffs to bribe him. Puffs are his Kryptonite — you simply can’t utter that word in his presence without him going nuts.

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

With this new-found development, I am now never, ever alone. Because S2 is constantly on a Mama hunt too. I’ll go to the bathroom and 2 minutes later there will be a blabbering baby poking his head through the door. Good thing he’s cute 🙂

6 years.

2 kids.
1 cat.
1 (finally finished) home.
1 job change.
2 new cars.

Love you, babe.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/27277720]

Can you spot the troublemaker?

G has figured out that two triangles make a square. And two squares make a rectange.

meanwhile, S2 has figured out that shapes are delicious (triangles are best)

G and Gappa discussing the details of their week

… and nose picking

Monkey man

My very own 2-headed monster

6am

Belly slides

Tall towers

Long Lego snakes

G’s version of stadium seating

Bedhead

G is now the proud owner of a Wilson Volleyball ball. All through his charms and wiles.

We went to my company’s picnic yesterday. There was blow up house for the kids (which G ignored), water-balloon fight (which G refused to participate in), yummy food (which G had to be bribed to eat), and ice cream (which G was ALL over). But despite all this, it was fun, and today on the way to day-care G declared that he wanted to go to work with me, and I wouldn’t believe me that my office was really quite boring in comparison to his day-time gig. We agreed to trade, and I can go to preschool instead, and he to my job… except I had to drive him to work first. 3 yrs old (almost) and already demanding a personal cheuffer. Hmnf!

Anyway, back to the ball.

One of my colleagues brought a volleyball. It’s a Wilson brand ball, special edition with the red paw-print from Cast Away. Quite frankly G didn’t care what it looked like: just that it was round, and went far when kicked. And kick it he did. ALL. OVER. THE. FIELD. (He actually impressed quite a few of my colleagues, and they were using terms about what he was able to do that I’d never heard before). The family who owned the ball needed to leave before us, but they told us we can hold onto the ball and just return it the following day, since they didn’t have the heart to take it away from G. Today, I brought it in, and the woman said they watched how much G was loving on the ball and decided to let him keep it.

So. New ball for the monkey.

I am left questioning why this approach doesn’t work for me. There was a pretty blue Lotus parked in the parking lot yesterday. If I show it a whole lot of affection, what do you think the chances are the owner would give it to me just because I’m cute? Low? Yeah. I thought so too.

Didn’t I just do the 8 month post last week?

This has been an interesting month. S2 is no longer my “go with the flow” kinda guy. I mean he is, for the most part, but he’s also eager to tell me when something is not going his way. Like that “not a toy” toy he was just licking all over (for example daddy’s flip-flops): it’s the end of the world that I just took it away. It’s a bit startling for me, because his personality to date has been so mellow, and chill. Now that he’s coming into his own, it’s an adjustment.

G and he still get along swimmingly. Now that he’s mobile, though, I expect to be singing a different tune next month. Still, I’m in awe with how much G cares for his brother. It’s the little things he does: like giving S2 his lovey, when S2 is being fussy. I mean, those loveys are a HUUUGE deal. I see it as the toddler equivalent of taking the shirt off your back to give to someone else. S2 in turn adores his brother too. Now he’s following him around and trying to get into all his toys.

Night-time is quite a tease around here. He has slept from put-down until about 5:30am. However, he’ll do it once or twice, and then continue to wake up 2x/night for weeks to follow. I’m giving him a reprieve until his first birthday, and then we’ll start some sleep-training. It won’t be pretty, so I’m hoping he’ll get into the habit of falling back asleep on his own without having to execute on that operation.

Lastly, I’m noticing that this child is a sucker. He loves his paci. Perhaps a bit too much? He falls asleep best when he’s sucking on… something. When he’s upset, his paci helps him out. I’m surely not a help here, because I encouraged this behavior. Now I’m starting to wonder how long to encourage it before I start to wean him off. I keep thinking “once he learns to self soothe to sleep”, but then I wonder if that will be too late. I don’t need 2 kids with a hefty need for orthodontia.

Anyhoo… some fun S2 stats:

Weight: 18lb 8oz

Height: 28″

Favorite activity: same as last month: drool, lick and chew anything that he comes in contact with

Favorite toy: anything that is NOT a toy

Number of teeth: 0 (my nipples thank you, God)

Sweetest moment: smiling at his older brother (G loves this by the way)

Naughtiest moment: 1) trying to roll off the changing table; 2) refer to favorite activity above and use your imagination. btw, have you ever seen anyone try to eat a stroller wheel before?

Important milestones: Army crawl. Check!