Gametes In Love

Today marks G’s 13 month b-day (yes, I’m still counting). This month has been quiet, but none-the-less eventful.

G is now walking around with assistance. He enjoys pushing his car and giraffe riding toys around and doing laps around the coffee table.

He has 7 teeth. He now has all central incisors, both top lateral incisors and a top first molar. The molar kind of snuck-in on us. I knew he was teething his lateral teethes, so I didn’t even think to look in other places around his mouth. Woe and behold this week-end at Augie’s as G was throwing a little “I don’t want to wear this outfit to pictures” tantrum we saw the molar. S and I both looked at each other in shock.

He has 3 words: uh-oh, da-da and ball. He’s working on the “m” sound, and although he’s said “ma-ma”, it’s really been more like “ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma” with no end in sight. As much as I would like to think that this is representative of his un-ending love towards me, it’s just him working through sounds. I could have sworn the other day he mimicked the sound of the word “tissue”, but I believe that is also wishful thinking.

Daycare is going well for him. His adjustment to the new place was phenomenal. I still can’t get over how quickly he clicked with the new kids and teachers. He’s not napping as well as I would like, but it is getting better. The teachers really like him, which is a huge relief for me: I was worried that in a bigger place he wouldn’t get the 1:1 attention and care and the bond between him and Ms. F wouldn’t be found anywhere else. I’m happy to say I was wrong. Instead of getting love from Ms. F and her assistant, Ms. V, he now has at least 4 wonderful teachers oogling him.

Lastly, we spent some time last month chasing the Boogie monster around. Although, thankfully, G never developed a full blown out cold, he was a snot transport vehicle for awhile. Glad we’re getting over that, but with winter around the corner, I know this isn’t the last we’ve seen of nose goop.

That’s it for now. So…. uhmn, what do you think of G’s new shirt sticker? ;p Thank you! Thank you! They did turn out pretty awesome.

The first story of our home has a step down off the hallway to the living room and dining room. It’s a bit strange really, but while it works for adults, it’s a little hard to navigate for little crawlers.

For awhile the multi-level part of our home was actually a good thing — it was an “invisible” barrier for G that kept him from doing things like 1) frolicking around Neko’s litter box (located in the downstairs bathroom); 2) pulling out every shoe in our shoe cubby. Alas that barrier has now been broken and G’s done each of the things listed above.

We have gates for the stairs leading up to the second floor, but the step down into the living room is so wide that there’s no way to block it off. So the only thing we can do is teach G to maneuver this on his own. Luckily he figured it out on his second try. I’m proud of my little man!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS_Bqm-N_oQ]

Of course with all of this, keeping him out of places keeps getting exponentially harder. I’m especially concerned about Neko’s potty as the last thing I want is to find a scoop-full of kitty litter in G’s mouth 😮 I’m seriously considering installing a kitty door in the downstairs bathroom. The only problem? At the moment the cat and the child are both the same size — making a whole big enough for Neko, means plenty of access for G. Sigh (and grr)! Note to others: Maine Coon cats (as beautiful and amazing as they are) are not child proof!

Last Saturday we had a family fun day with A, R and R. We went to the East Bay (where we could meet in the middle) and had a fun time at the park. And by fun I mean everyone but G apparently. You see, the park had a fun water fountain, and while all the kids were loving to frolic around in the water, G decided that he wanted nothing to do with it. That’s right: on a hot day, my bath-time-splash-loving’ child wanted nothing to do with the water. It was like being at the beach again. Anytime you got G close to the water, he pulled up his feet. You’d swear he was ready to flip upside down and start climbing backwards. Now what kind of future swim champion does that, I ask?

The Fountainhead (tee hee)

“I said ‘Get me outta here’!”

“Save me! Please?!?”

“I’ll just applaud the others from my dry perch, ‘kay?”

Little R

R’s on the prowl

R and his mama

Upside down keessis

I was in a meeting today, when my phone rang and G’s school-name came up on the caller ID. Normally I won’t step out of meetings to take a call, but since school calls are rare, and it wasn’t expected, I took the call. It went something like this:

Teacher: Hi, this is C from NPC. I want you to know that G is ok.

Me: Ooooh-kaaaaay

C: I wanted to call and let you know that G lost his balance today while standing by one of the toys…

Me: Uh huh

C: … and he got a bruise. But he’s completely OK.

Me: So it’s just a bruise?

C: Oh yes, but he really is OK. I just wanted you to know for when you picked him up today.

She sounded so apologetic, all the while reassuring me that my kid was OK.

I want you to know that I appreciated the call, but as sweet as I find it, I also thought the whole exchange was hilarious. I mean, it was just a bruise… the first of many to be honest. G’s going to learn to walk in the next few months and with that will come bumps, bruises and face plants a’plenty. If they needed to call me each time he got scraped up, I will need to keep my line open with them non-stop 🙂
I felt worse for the teacher than I did for G: I think she was taking it harder than I was. Still, awesome that they take this level of precaution and alertness.

To boot there’s a “Boo-boo report” that needed to be signed at Pick Up, detailing the incident. A “Boo-boo report”!!!

After hanging up the phone (and giggling to myself) I forgot all about it. I got wrapped up in my afternoon meetings and forgot to let S know about what happened. This was my bad, as S was the one that did pick-up today. As he arrived to get G, the teachers approached him with “So I guess you heard about G’s incident today?” only to hear “What incident?” on behalf of S. Yeah, oops!

So yeah, here’s G sporting his first big Boo-boo and the really important “Ouch report”.

The only thing that is unfortunate about this incident is that this week-end we’re taking G’s 1 Yr photos w/ Augie. I’m really excited about it. Apparently G is too as he decided to bring a shiner to the party. I guess I’ll have some PhotoShop work to do on the photos when we get them. Anyone  know if it’s OK to put concealer on a 1 year old?

One of G’s favorite past-times is to move object around. Boxes of any size, toys… chairs, you name it — he likes to move it. He gets on his knees and starts scooting pushing “stuff” to a new location. At day-care he’s known to re-arrange the dining furniture.

Yesterday afternoon he determined that the kitchen trash can looked much better in the middle of the floor (as opposed to the corner of the room). For reference, the trash can is a 40Gal bucket, twice his height. Watching him move this thing was like watching an ant push a boulder. He was very proud of himself when he was done… judging by the big grin on his face anyway.

So the way I see it, G could grow up to either be a Mover or an Interior Designer. Not sure which yet, but I’m glad he’s giving himself options 🙂

G has a new word (making his dictionary now 3 words rich): Ball. Although he doesn’t quite finish the “ll” sound, so it sounds more like “baah”.

Here he is playing ball w/ Auntie S. He actually says ball twice in this clip if you listen carefully: at the 3rd throw to S, and at the very end.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toVtFDV7jZc]

Yey, for interactive-fun babies!

Are you the kind of parent that likes to try out things before subjecting your kid to them? S isn’t, but I am. I don’t mean testing the absorbency of his diapers by trying one on, but for example, I’ll taste his food before offering it to him (and lemme tell you some if it is G-r-o-s-s, w/ a capital G: no wonder he turns his nose to 1/2 of it!). Anyway…

G brought a lovely souvenir home from day-care this week: a runny nose. I’m not sure if it’s a bug going around, or the fact that he’s teething (again), but he’s been mighty sniffly these past two days. So enter in the nose sucker: G’s nemesis. He hates the thing with a passion. It takes two of us to suck out his nose. One to actually maneuver The Device, and the other to hold down his arms. Meanwhile G screams, kicks and flaps around like a fish out of water.

So today, waking up with a stuffy nose of my own (G likes to shove his fingers in my mouth while he nurses, so maybe it is a bug), I decided to try out the bulb syringe. I expected to feel like my brains were being sucked out of my head, based on G’s reaction, and it really wasn’t bad. At all. So I don’t get it. Why does he make such a big deal out of it?

In G’s defense, S tried to tell me that we needed a proportional mechanism: I needed to stick the vacuum cleaner house up to my nose, turn it on the low setting and then try it. I don’t quite buy it but O.K.

Either way — I can’t wait for G to figure out how to blow.

It’s a short one, but I get some “ME” time with the monkey.

Have you noticed the fun milestone onesies G wears for his monthly birthday photos? Well they’re no special onesies. All it is is a plain white onesie with a sticker onto it. I got these super cute stickers from an Etsy seller, pickysticky. They’re great and I highly recommend them.

My only problem? They only go to 12 months. Yet G will change so much in how he looks over the next year and I want to continue doing the monthly sticker photo until he’s 2 (who knows, maybe even longer). So I emailed the seller asking her if she’d be able/willing to create a 12-24 batch. She wrote back saying she’ll work on it and fell off the face of the planet (as far as communication goes) since. I’ve emailed her twice, but her lack of response leads me to believe that she’s either 1) really busy, or 2) not interested. I’m not mad: she’s a mom herself. I get it. Stuff happens. I still recommend her product.

However, I decided to give the sticker thing a shot myself. I have just enough PhotoShop skills to be dangerous, and have no issue ripping off the MS Clipart Gallery for personal use, so here goes. My version of the 12-24 stickers:

And since I’m making them for G, I can be as G-centric as I want. For example, he’ll be 14 months over Halloween, and 16 over Christmas. I found sticker paper online and using my fancy printer managed to get the first two printed out. I’ll do the rest over time too. Am I crazy about each design? Not really, but I’m pretty happy with the first 5, which gives me time to mess around with the rest.

So what do you think?

G started at his new daycare today. It’s too early for me to have a well-rounded opinion, but first impressions count, and today’s was pretty good!

I had a knot in my stomach all day: it felt just like dropping him off at daycare that very first January day. I wonder if I’ll feel that way each time he starts a new school or a new room. I don’t know why I was worried: being neglected perhaps and not getting enough care and attention.

As S and I left, we braced ourselves for G crying. Yet nothing… or at least we heard nothing as we walked past the door.

I called mid day to check-in on him and had the following phone conversation:

Me: Hi I’m calling to check on G — it’s his first day today.

K: Oh, the police is here with a dog… [insert long pause here, at which point I’m thinking “Are you about to tell me something’s happened to my child onlywithin 3 hours of me dropping him off?”]… doing a demonstration and all the kids are outside watching and having a great time.

Me: Ughmn, G is in the infant care program. Is he out with the dog too?

K: Oh, lemme check… Nope, he’s inside. Here’s the director!

The director and I proceeded to have a much calmer discussion.

When S and I came to pick G up in the afternoon his face lit up when he saw us. He pointed to S and said “Dada”. (Now, he says “Dadadadada” a bunch, but today I’m pretending it was in context ;p)

Overall, today was a pretty good day. I’m pleasantly surprised because I really expected this week (and into next, to be honest) to be quite rough. I was expecting Screamfest 2009, paired with no naps and little eating. Instead, we got a well-fed kid who took 2 naps (albeit short) who was hanging out in Ms. J’s lap, surrounded by two classmates and smiling when we arrived. So yeah, score for Day 1. I can only hope the rest of the transition goes as well.

One of his new teachers made my heart pitter-patter when she handed me a list of his daily activities: when he napped, how long he slept, when he ate, and when his diaper was changed. And I didn’t even have to ask!!! I have a small crush! They also gave us a collage of G playing in his new digs to commemorate his first day. It was sweet! What’s even better is that he’s not crying in either photo. I don’t know if that was the exception or the rule of his day today, but I’m pretty happy.

P.S. As S and I were signing out (signing in and out each day is something we’re going to have to get used to), we saw that the new place does Parents Night Out. Once a month from 6-11pm, they keep the kids for $30 (TOTAL!) so the parents can have a night out. It’s the same teachers as during the day, but they get to stay longer. This is huge! S and I are excited about trying it out. Not that we wanna party ’till 11, but I smell a movie night, or perhaps socializing with people that like to eat dinner after 6pm.

So that’s the review of our first day.