Category: Uncategorized (Page 23 of 40)
For the last year or so, I’ve been hacking away at D’s curls whenever I had an opportunity, and when I could convince him that the sound of the scissors shouldn’t be something to fear. Needless to say it was not very pretty. So we finally hopped into the big chair last weekend. He was nervous at first, and didn’t want to sit in the chair by himself. So he sat on my lap, and by the time Melissa was ready to do the other side of his head he was yawning.
The light was perfect last weekend to get outside and take some new pictures. We had the “good camera” out from Baby Sloane’s arrival, so we took it along…some of these I included just because they capture the color and the light of the Pacific Northwest in winter.
Click on any shot in the gallery to open a larger view, then use the >> and << buttons to navigate between photos. You can hit the "ESC" key to go back to normal viewing. What you see below are just thumbnails. If any one wants prints and/or high res e-copies, let me know what shots you like and I'll have them made up... [nggallery id=21]
D is now “reading” all the street signs we see, asking what they mean. And same for any prominent writing on packages. The other night he spotted his Weleda brand bath soap, and, as if seeing it with new eyes, asked if it said “Weiss.”
He also likes to reply, “I don’t know” when asked a question, or, when we’ve laid down a rule to be followed he’ll often quip, “I understand.” It’s also time to report that most sentences start with “I”, not “me” these days, and that it’s rare to not understand the words he’s using.
Yesterday we chased away the gray sky doldrums with a visit to Playtime PDX, an indoor playground / cafe. We were so happy to run into my new boss and her 2 little ones there–total coincidence–and one of D’s school mates (everyone is running out of playtime ideas!). When we were leaving and getting buckled into the car, I asked Jeff what the best way to get to the highway was, and D piped up and said I should use “the wayz lady” to get us home. Jeff often uses this app on his phone; it’s got a woman’s voice that talks, like any other GPS device. We have other methods of finding our way, but D likes “the waze lady” best.
A few weeks ago D let us understand he knows we have identities outside of being parents. He said and I quote, “Mommy is a Maida. Daddy is a Jeff.” He also knows that he is “Dashiell Weiss.” It’s so funny to hear him state his full name. One of the books in heavy rotation right now is a Tale of Tails, which has a boy wondering why, if all the animals have tails, doesn’t he? D recognized that the boy looked like him, asking if that was “Dashiell Weiss” in the book.
Oh, and did I mention someone’s nearly potty trained? He’s still wearing a pull-ups (often with underwear over them!) but they’re almost always dry when we get to the potty.
For my birthday, Mom sent a battery-operated vacuum cleaner that is supposed to save me time. Any new item in the house must be vetted by my management, though, before it can be used by me.
So much for saving time…
…now do you have a machine that will dress my boy?
Doing, doing doing…this little guy is interested in all things mechanical. Here are the young one and the old one conquering new Ikea filing cabinets.
A couple weeks ago we got to host Jannine and Peter with their new baby, Sloane, who was born in perfect health on January 29, 2013 (another Aquarius in the “family”!). We got lots of new baby smelling in, and managed to even throw a small party for relatives who came down from Olympia. Dashiell loved having everybody here–especially having dogs and another little person to play with (Poppy and he played catch out in the street. Thanks for indulging him, Poppy!).
Here are the party highlights.
During their stay, Jannine and Peter were so sweet to make sure D didn’t feel left out in all the new baby excitement. They got him a Skip-Hop backpack (the dog) which he holds in high esteem, and they managed to spend some quality time together reading books and talking.
All that camera use got Dashiell wanting to graduate from the play camera to a real camera…here are some that make me laugh.
First there was Underpants Head:
…now we have Buckethead, brought to you by the keep-bathtime-interesting crew!
(“watch Buckethead, Daddy!”)
D is getting really into dress-up. At school they have a big bin of costume dresses, hats and purses. D is just starting to want to wear the dresses, but he much prefers the hats. Today when I came to pick him up he wanted to show me each one: police hat, fire hat, construction worker hardhat. Once and awhile he’ll put on the Snow White dress, but there’s something about putting things on his head that just cracks him up.
Here are some recent noteworthy outfits.
(courtesy of Grandma Sherry and Aunt Amanda’s travels to exotic locales).
Thanks to Grandma Beverly for the train engineer’s outfit! It’s finally not too big (in the waist). I remember when you first sent it, it looked so huge, like something for a 4 year old. Silly me–this little bunny is growing so fast I can almost perceive it from day to day. Now the length at least is perfect. D wore this ensemble 3 days in a row!
We are in the thick of the distracted and delay-tactic toddler phase. Every day, D thinks of a way to deviate from the schedule. This is particularly challenging right now, since I am trying to get out the door to my new job at a certain time and with all of our stuff (lunches, phone, spare clothes, pull ups, scarves, mittens…). D thinks of all kinds of creative ways to prolong the inevitable trip to the car. First, he tries to stay in bed (“me still sleeping!”). Then, he wants to take his time (and he gets plenty) on the potty (“me still peeing and pooping, Mommy!”). Since he has always needed “transition time” from event to event, I’ve taken to simply sweeping him out of bed (still mostly asleep after 12 hours!) and taking him into our bed, where we read a book together, “skin to skin.” This has helped because it is a mirror of what we do at bedtime.
So now that mornings are getting easier, D has simply moved his delay tactic to the end of the day instead. After pickup, he doesn’t want to go home. He insists (with real tears!) that I turn right where I should turn left. The other day I played along and followed his directions instead of going home, and we ended up at the grocery store. Of course we did need a few things so that was ok, but it made the rest of the evening harder, because we were playing catch up against the clock. Last night we went to the library, where we picked out a few books and then rode the elevator.
Like all phases, I know this will pass, so I am trying to work with him and enjoy it before it is gone.
Another morning challenge can be getting him cleaned up; he needs at least a wipe down after that long, drool-encrusted sleep and full night time diaper. Often he has to be convinced to get showered. He and Daddy play a game in the shower called “Greased Piglet.” Daddy holds him and soaps him up, calls him a “greased piglet” and then D tries to slip away from his arms (Mommy is not strong enough to play this game). D roars with laughter when he successfully slips out of Jeff’s arms. Then he says, “Wash the geese off me, Daddy!”).
I was reflecting this morning on how he has now been a sleeper for longer than he was not a sleeper. He started sleeping through the night around 8 months, and about 6 months later, he was sleeping reliably past 5am. Since then he’s been an exceptional sleeper, with 12+ hours of sleep each night and long naps (2 hours on weekdays, and on weekends we have to wake him up at 3 hours). If he wakes on his own, he’ll lie in bed and rest (and say later “I was waiting for you, Mommy.”).
Until about a few months ago, he always feel asleep to the electronic Muzac-style tunes on his baby monitor (we now use an iPod with real songs). We used one song for nighttime and a song for napping. At nap time, I’d wrap him in the Didymos, go into his pitch-dark room, play the napping tune on the monitor, and we’d walk the room until he feel asleep (well before the 15 minute loop was complete). I didn’t recognize the tune we’d settled on for napping, so I made up my own words to sing along. I later consulted the manual and discovered the name of the lullabye was Golden Slumber, apparently an English song).
Last June we stopped napping together–that was 7 months ago! Since I don’t sing the song anymore, I am already starting to forget my unpoetic, sleep-deprived, made up lyrics, so I’m posting them here (real lyrics follow). After all, I might want to sing them to him one day, in some future “Let’s Play Baby” phase.
You are my baby,
through and through
I will always
Be here for you
I’ll always hold you and love you and care for you too
You know it’s true
The real words:
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles await you when you rise.
Sleep,
pretty baby,
Do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Cares you know not,
Therefore sleep,
While over you a watch I’ll keep.
Sleep,
pretty darling,
Do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Asleep with the lights on, 8am
Once Jeff recovered from influenza, we had the pleasure of a few outings into town, and relaxing at home…
No vacation would be complete without a bus trip:
First (and last) tasting of flavored carbonated water:
Video of factory operation for luxury super cars, like Lamborghini–entrancing!
Practicing writing “D”s with new stocking stuffer sparkly pencils!
Loving the LED lighted cars with light up track–thanks Aunt Amanda and cousin Victor!
Thanks to Aunt Laura for the granola and pancake mix! Here we are enjoying those organic buckwheat pancakes:
We’ve noticed D gets distracted while sitting on the potty. When Grandmas Sherry was here she started playing a game with him, pretending she didn’t see him on the potty. So we started making him “privacy” with a nearby towel or shower curtain, and he loved it. That got Jeff thinking about an actual privacy screen, and since it was a holiday, he simply had to build something. This project involved sawing, routing, sanding AND sewing.
You can’t tell from this picture, but this is hinged and has 2 sides…video of it in action still to come.