Sunday, July 26, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
20 1/2 months
In the past few days, Thomas has started really babbling. It's almost like I should be able to understand him, but he's speaking his own private language. Which, he probably is! He's also really taking on "no." He'll say no to everything these days. Sometimes he says "no" to a snack while reaching out simultaneously with his arms, so I've learned to hold things out for him for an extra beat or two to see if he really means "no." He also is playing with "u" (up) and "down" which he can really enunciate! I'll have him on the diaper changing table and he'll lift his legs up and say, "u!" and then lower them and say, "downnnn!" He's doing his own little calisthenics! What a great aerobics instructor he'll be!
Oh yes! We had an ultrasound a few days ago and now know the sex of the baby! It's a girl! Yay! The baby was very busy in the womb when we went to get the ultrasound (I just had a piece of chocolate -- oops!), so it took forever for the technician to measure whatever she wanted to measure. And then she took a slew of ultrasound pictures for us, including the new 4-D kind where you can see the baby's facial features while still in the womb! So exciting! Maybe I'll post some photos on the website.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
20 1/4 months
Matthew has been back from his trip for almost a week now! We have had lots of outings: to Barnes and Noble, twice to the community pool, to a friend's 3-year old birthday party, to Leu Gardens and storytime, to a friend's house for a playdate, and to the Fort Gatlin pool that has the water fountain shaped like a giant mushroom. It's been a lot of fun, and pretty busy! Now we can buckle down and get to work on our next big project: turning the computer room into another nursery/computer room. We have a lot to do, including tidying (gasp!), putting away all of the junk that seems to accumulate there, painting a color which will be decided after Thursday (that is the day we have an ultrasound to see if the new baby is a girl or a boy!), taking down the wallpaper border, and maybe even shampooing the carpet. Got to get cracking!
Matthew is practicing with Thomas on 1-2-3-4-5 and A-B-C-D-E and A-I-U-E-O (Japanese). Thomas gleefully and enthusiastically repeats the various sounds after Matthew. He's also a lot more interested in other children these days (and the toys they're playing with) and able to be in a big room filled with people and not be distressed or fussy. This made the last party a lot easier! It was for my former co-worker's 3-year old, with lots of adults, kids, food, opening of presents, and a princess cake. Made me think that these sorts of gatherings are a lot of fun to be in, but I don't think I have the energy to host something like that myself! Hooray for those people that do!
Today is my first board meeting with the Conway Mom's Club as Secretary. I have to take notes and other stuff! Thomas will get to play with the other kids, and I think there may even be some cool toys and snacks there. After that ... lunch and then naptime!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
20 months old!
Everything is going well here, me with my new full-time job of being a stay-at-home mom (bye-bye, Northwest/Delta!) and Thomas in the business of toddlerhood. I think he's been growing a lot in the last month, judging by the way his face changes shape in these videos! And he now has two more teeth! A bottom canine/cuspid and that final bottom incisor have come out! And yet he's still chewing on his fingers and my dress hem and having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. On closer inspection, it looks like another canine or two are coming out!
The other day, we were at the store looking at kitty litter and suddenly he points excitedly to one of the boxes and says, "coo, coo!" He usually says this when he's watching Blue's Clues and they find a clue, marked out with one of Blue's (the dog's) paw prints. Sure enough, on one of the kitty litter boxes, there is a teeny-tiny blue paw print on the label. Wow! ... or does this mean that Thomas is watching too much TV?! Still, television does have its useful points, and it's fun to sing the songs because it always gets Thomas' attention when I need it. And because of Blue's Clues, he knows what mailboxes are: he always points out the mailboxes with a "maaai" and loves to check the mail. As soon as he sees a letter in the mailbox, he takes it in both hands and shakes it from side to side, the introduction to the "we just got a letter" song, which I always sing on cue.
Last week our Mommy/toddler playgroup met at the library to sit in a real fire truck and hear firefighters talk to kids about fire safety. One of the firefighters put on all of the protective gear one piece at a time and then crawled around letting the kids examine him so they would not be frightened of him and run away in case they were in a real fire, which seems to happen. Thomas was very interested in the whole thing, and even let a strange man put him into the cab of the fire truck (amazing!). He calls fire trucks "ding! ding!" because he has a toy fire truck that Mom and Dad saved from when I was very young that goes ding! ding! And he also makes siren noises sometimes, and mysteriously also whenever he sees fireplaces or candles. Is it possible he makes the connection??
Thomas is learning lots of half-words or sound effects, like "e" for egg or "haaaa" for rice (the sound of blowing on hot rice to cool it down). He is starting to recognize letters and numbers and points at them in books, license plates and signs. The next thing for Thomas is a potty... we're thinking of getting the one that plays music (technology these days!).
The new baby is starting to kick and roll around my tummy, especially when I'm trying to sleep. This leads to some weird dreams. I'm just over halfway, so just over the 4 1/2 month mark! Morning sickness is all gone, and I feel great. Thomas still has plenty of room on my lap, too!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
19 3/4 months old
How's things? Today was my last day of work at Northwest/Delta. It's a bit of a relief to be done! The last day went very smoothly, with only one passenger being enough of a problem to make me thank my lucky stars I was quitting! All of my coworkers were so nice, and I got a few pictures with everyone who had a moment away from the ticket counter. After nine years, I'm still not sure if I'm vested in my pension or not, so I have to check on that, and it's sad to leave behind the flying benefits, but I'll be happy to spend (almost) all my time with Thomas instead of paying someone else to spend time with him! Dolores (retiree from work) has been babysitting, and Thomas seems to be contented with her, but he's always very excited when I come home, and me too! And here's to saying bye-bye to that 3:50am wake-up and getting more sleep!
More than a week ago, when Matthew was still here, my friend Pam (and Rose on a different occasion) babysat Thomas so that Matthew and I could go see the movie Star Trek! I really liked it! And they gave it a plausible twist that opened up the whole story to all kinds of possibilities! And the thing I enjoyed most about it was coming back and talking nerdily to Pam about the whole Star Trek universe. I love that I have a friend who knows more about the Star Trek universe than I do (not saying much)! So that was a wonderful few hours out, thanks to Rose and Pam!
Thomas and I went to Toddler Time (18 months to 36 months) at the library for the first time last week, not our usual Rhyme Time (babies to 18 months), and to my surprise, Thomas smiled twice and giggled once! He seemed to enjoy himself there, perhaps because the reader was such a ham and really played things up. Now that everyone in our playgroup is getting towards the 18 month mark, we have stopped scheduling playdates at the baby Rhyme Time. Thomas is one of the oldest in his playdate group, which isn't so great for me because I like to see what other people/kids are doing, what they're learning, training, doing ... like potty training ... that's the one I'm thinking about right now.
We've been reading Dad's journal of the trip to New Zealand in 2006, when we all four of us went to Lloyd and Anne's wedding. Thomas loves to page through and point out all the people and birds and cars and food and sheep. We've also been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and when we get to the page with "one slice of chocolate cake, one pickle, one slice of salami, .... " Thomas keeps pointing to the pictures one by one in sequence, over and over again. Also, when we get to "salami," he always says, "mama." Is he saying that salami reminds him of me? Or does he mean it in the Japanese way, where "mama" means food? We may never know.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
19 1/2 months
Matthew left for his trip yesterday, on Tuesday. While he was here, he gave Thomas a haircut (thank goodness! I was getting nowhere) and they went to the pool many times. I was also at work a lot these two weeks, so Matthew had a lot of solo time with Thomas. I think they got very attached to each other again! I have never heard Thomas giggle so much. Matthew's work people are changing his trip around because they don’t have enough captains, but if he's very lucky, he may have 24 hours to visit Mom and Dad in Menomonie! I'm sure they're very excited, and I'm very jealous! I've already asked him if he's going to visit everyone, and stop by Acoustic Café and Legacy Chocolates. He said, "we'll see how much time I have." May I interpret that to mean, "Yes, but I don't want to make you jealous"? In other news, Delta has disapproved my request for family medical leave, or maternity leave. Apparently you have to have been 1)employed with your company for the last year (check) and 2)worked 1250 hours last year (apparently, I was 221-- thank you, 2-day workweek and later, coworkers trading with me!) So, my days are numbered at work -- my last day is the eleventh! I'm sad, but also relieved. Finally. I've been thinking about this for the past 19 months! More, even!
I’m thinking about the new nursery (we're thinking the computer room at this point), and remembering how uncomfortable it was to nurse on a bed, I would like a proper nursing chair this time. So we went to a couple of furniture stores to check out what they have. At one of the stores, for almost the very first time ever, Thomas wandered away from me. Without looking back, he just walked and walked. One time he ducked around a corner, and when I peeked around it, he wasn't there at all! I had a moment of horror: This huge store with so many places to hide! Where could he be? When I called him, I heard him babbling to himself. It turns out that he had squeezed behind a dresser and was playing with the on/off switch of a power strip, turning lights on and off. He was finally entertained! And then I realized I couldn't squeeze back there to get him out! So I started telling him that we were going to go home, and then have a snack, and then kiss da-da good-night, and then go night-night. Wouldn't that be nice to go night-night? And he came out! Whew! It could have been soooo bad! What a good boy he is! But it looks like separation anxiety has worn off!
These days Thomas also loves to knock on doors, mirrors and windows. He gets a huge grin on his face and says, "kno kno kno!" as he knocks. He used to run up random people's driveways on our morning walks just so he could knock on their garage doors, but he doesn't do that anymore. But these days he does pause behind parked cars to point at the letters and numbers on the license plates so I can read them to him. He also likes to point at the letters on my shirts, and sometimes gets "R", O (he calls it "no"), "E". I think it's that Phonics Bus from my friend Dawn! It says all the letters and sings the sound they make. He loves that bus.
I'm not sure what is going on, but he's also starting to make faces. I would interpret these faces as tantrum-faces, teenage you've-got-to-be-kidding-me faces, but when I make the same face back at him, he breaks out into giggles, so I think he's just realized he's got facial muscles (I hope). He does pull some funny ones, though.
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