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    I think my child is a little OCD

    January 28th, 2011

    A few weeks ago I camera stalked G as he was playing in the living room. I’m trying to understand how to work my Speedlight better (I still prefer natural light photography by, say a factor of 1000, but I want to be comfortable with the flash for the times when I need it: crappy indoor light, mid-day high-sun, etc.). Anyway, camera geek-ness aside, I got to observe G in one of his favorite past-times: making the biggest mess he possibly can by evacuating every put-away toy onto our living room floor. He enjoys it with immense pleasure (as witnessed here).

    And takes his job very seriously (as witnessed here)

    Of course, he pays strict attention to detail, by not only relieving the small toy bins out of the toy chest, but also opening each small bin and dumping it’s contents out.

    Mid-way through, my floor resembles something like this:

    And once the toys were fully freed of their containment, he celebrated a job well done.

    Now, here is where things got interesting…

    G proceeded to line up his blocks against the wall of the toy chest

    lining them up two by two. He would get irritated when only one would be left, and exit to get more blocks

    Now, we have two sets of wooden blocks: a Melissa & Doug set he got for his first birthday, and a couple of blocks from when S was a kid. The S cubes are a little bigger and darker. Whenever an old block was in the mix, G insisted it had to be matched with another old block. New blocks could only be paired with another new block. If he found a new block after he had started using the old blocks, he would shift the old blocks out of the way, so that all the new ones were stacked together. It was really bizzare to watch. And scary. He would also get agitated if there wasn’t another block around so that his rows would both have an equal count of blocks.

    So yeah, between S and my weirdness, I’d say we’ve managed to successfully pass our OCD onto him. Sigh.


    More room for ME!

    December 3rd, 2009

    In the section of our living room that is G’s play area we have two ottomans we got from Target a few months back. They help us contain his toys, so that our living space didn’t appear to be 100% invaded by a 2.5′ munchkin. Also, extra seating space is never a bad thing. Well, it appears that G has found a new function for them: hiding spot.

    Yesterday evening, while G and I were waiting on S to get home, I observed him carelessly tossing the contents from one of the ottomans out onto the floor. Little did I know, he was making room… for himself to climb in. And climb in he did. He played in that thing for awhile too, enjoying every moment of it. I sat there thinking “What are the chances he’ll sit in there long enough for me to take a picture?” Well, apparently he did.

    The fun part of this was me fiddling with the camera so I could take a decent photo. It was too dark, so I had to play with the settings. Still too blurry. I ran across the hall to to turn on more light, still too blurry. I got out my external flash. Blurry again! Then I gave in and just turned my camera onto Manual mode, with the flash still attached and finally success. In all this scrambling I was thinking “He’s so gonna get tired of this and move on and I won’t have proof for his dad!” Well, apparently I was wrong.

    Oh, and in case you’re curious this is how he got out. While he gracefully stepped over the ledge to get in, he went head-first to get out. Never a dull moment, I say.


    Silence spells trouble

    November 22nd, 2009

    My mother used to say that whenever I was quiet (as a kid) she knew to worry, because nothing good came out of my silence. Silence for her spelled trouble. Trouble I was getting into. I think I’m getting prepared to find out what she means.

    Yesterday was Neko’s annual check-up. As part of my routine, I get his carrier out early. I’ve learned with him that the moment he sees it, he bolts. As such I bring it out that morning and let it hang out for a few hours, while Neko regains a false sense of comfort. We also got him a new hard-sided carrier recently too, so I had that going for me as well.

    About 8 o’clock G and I are hanging out in the living room after breakfast. I get busy on my computer, but watch a little blue-jammy ball of fuzz shuffle around from the corner of my eye jabbering along the way. Well, all of a sudden I noticed that the room got quiet, and G was no-where to be found. I peeked over my screen to see two blue feet sticking out of Neko’s carrier. That’s right — G had crawled inside. I didn’t know if I should laugh, call S over or grab the camera. Well, I think you know what won out 🙂

    Don’t worry — the proper child was taken to the vet that day. He got an excellent bill of health too! S meanwhile is contemplating new baby-sitting solutions.

    P.S. No toddlers or fur-balls were harmed in the making of this post.


    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!


    Joys of a laundry basket

    August 23rd, 2009

    S and I have discovered a great way to coral (uhmn, I mean “entertain”) G in the morning while we get ready: a laundry basket. Yep! That thing you put your dirty clothes in (or in my case clean clothes that you don’t want to fold, so you just dig in for a daily shirt surprise).

    Anyway, yesterday morning while S was enjoying a last few Z’s, and I needed some “me” hygene time, I loaded G into the laundry basket and pushed him on the floor to the bedroom. He laughed all the way. Then I put the laundry basket on the bed next to S. G went to town in what I image he thought was his ship, laughing and babbling the whole time. Of course, watching him enjoy himself this much only made me run for the camera (as opposed to the shower), but still… fun time was had by all.

    Enjoy!