Shopping FAIL! Bedtime WIN!

Today, we met up with our friend L and her girls I & G at Ikea. L was a bit late arriving, since she had to come from the other side of the city, and also since she drives like someone's grandma. (Seriously, L - the gas is the little skinny pedal on the right. ;))

We decided to meet up for lunch. And then, we thought it would be fun to let the three big kids play together in Small Land while the rest of us shopped. J is finally tall enough to be admitted to Small Land. When we found out he could get in, H and I were over the moon! (Imagine the prospect of shopping sans preschooler!) But it was not to be. Because J, after taking far too long to eat and tying everyone up for a prolonged period, refused to go into Small Land. And he started having a tantrum, so we picked him up and just left. And poor L had to shop all by herself while we took J for a much needed nap. She must have been so lonely, shopping all alone, with not even a screaming preschooler for company. ;)

As we drove, we passed what appeared to be a carnival. Big rides. Looked like fun. J wanted to go and play, but we weren't about to have him miss his nap after his earlier display. Besides, there are those pesky height restrictions to think of. J is still pretty short for his age, the result of his continued refusal to eat, and he probably wouldn't come up to most ride height restriction lines. So we took a pass.

H: No, J. You have to be a certain height to ride.
J: I AM a certain height!

Well, he's right. We're all a certain height. But he still didn't get to go on any rides.

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Sadly, today's Ikea experience was more familiar to us than we'd like to admit. These days, we just don't get to spend quite enough time with other adults without children present. As a result, four-year old logic is starting to make sense to us. Like so:

J: Look at the big nose on my watch pointing over here.
H: That's an arm, J. Not a nose.
J: But it's on the watch's face!

Incidentally, does anyone know why watches have arms on their faces? Were they designed by Pablo Picasso or something?

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J has many interests. Mostly balls and blocks. But sometimes, other toys get his attention. Like paints. Or Star Wars.

H: Maybe they just know we're busy with our two?
J: D2.

(Seriously. Think about it. Say it out loud. It makes sense; I promise.)

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In other news, tonight N had a bath. While that doesn't sound like much, it was significant. It was the first time that N did not sob uncontrollably during bath time. He sat up in the tub and splashed happily, chasing after his little toy seal and spraying me with water. He frequently stood up for hugs, smiling happily. And he would lie back, knowing Mommy would catch him, and then roll over onto his tummy to crawl around in the warm soapy water. Such a fun time!

Then the kids went to bed. J wanted snuggles, and I happily complied. Always with a tune in my head, I lay next to my little guy with my eyes closed and I hummed. And J looked at me with love in his eyes, and sang me an impromptu lullaby:

Go to sleep.
Go to sleep.
Go to sleep, and sing.
I love you.
I love you so much.
So go to sleep, and sing.
You will be my mommy forever.
You will be my mommy forever.
And I love you forever.
Now go to sleep.

Sometimes, J can be a bit of a demon. But tonight's lullaby really made up for a lot.

Good night, J. Good night, N. I love you.

Lovin' the bathtimes

J adores baths. He is a real water-baby now. Odd, since he used to hate bathtime so vehemently. Now, he will just lie down in the tub and flatly refuse to move. Even after all of the water has been drained out and he's shivering with cold. He will fight all efforts to remove him from the tub.

T: Do you want to sleep there?
J: Yeah!

J's Uncle C & Auntie L gave him some bathtime presents for Christmas this year. He loves his new toys (Octipals), and his new towel too. He loves to run about the house in the towel before and after his bath, and will insist on "Towel" before he gets taken to the tub.

Here are some pictures of J during and after bathtime.

My water baby

Yesterday, J had pancakes with maple syrup at breakfast. He thought they were yummy. We were pleased.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to L&P's place for a barbecue. J ate his usual Minigo type fare, but also enjoyed a Digestive biscuit. He stunned me when, while chewing on my locket, he managed to undo the chain and pull the entire loose locket into his mouth. Fortunately, I noticed before he tried to swallow it, and I fished it out. The picture inside is ruined, but it was outdated anyway. Time for a new photo.

Today, J had toast with crabapple jelly for breakfast. We went to church this morning, and really enjoyed it. I think we will go back to that church; it seems like a good place.

This afternoon, H and I took J to a barbecue that my new moms network had arranged. It was good to see everyone again; I haven't seen them since I went back to work. J enjoyed a bun, some ground beef, and some processed cheese. He was doing well, until he shoved too much bun into his mouth at one time; then he gagged and threw up. But he kept eating his ground beef and cheese afterwards. More table foods - always good. I hope we'll soon be able to get J off the baby food completely.

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J loves bath time. He really loves bath time.

After returning home from the barbecue this afternoon, we concluded that J should have a bath. (He wasn't smelling like his usual April fresh self, after having thrown up.) So we decided to bathe him.

I held the still fully-clothed J in my arms, and started to run his bath. Temperature seemed good. I stopped the drain, and added some bubbles. Squirmy J tried to climb down into the tub while still fully clothed. I held him tightly, refusing to allow J to get his little Robeez soaked in the tub. He screamed, demanding his bath right that minute. Resolutely, I marched him into his bedroom, laid him out on the changetable, and got him undressed and ready for his bath. He screamed the whole time.

I carried the now bath ready J back into the bathroom, and stood him by the tub while I checked the water temperature. J was still unimpressed that he was not in the water. The water was too hot. I ran some cold water, to cool the water off a bit. J waited impatiently, and then peed on the bathmat to express his displeasure.

Finally, the bath was ready. I put J in his tub ring, and gave him his bath. He played with all his tub toys, and laughed and laughed. And the J saw that it was bath time, and it was good.

After the bath, I wrapped J in his towel, and dried him off. And then I gave him his baby lotion massage. Today, this made him giggle. A lot. He usually doesn't giggle so much. It must have tickled for some reason.

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Tonight, I lay close to J and tried to convince him that it was bed time. J insisted that it was not. He drank his milk, sucked on his soother, stood up, sat down, laid down, crawled around, and generally played instead of relaxing as I wanted him to. I talked to my mother on the phone while waiting for J to settle down. We discussed the words that J is learning. He can say "Mama", "Daddy", "Up", and "Baby". As I said each word into the phone, J repeated the word. He continued this until I hung up the phone. But once I hung up, J refused to speak to me any further! I assume he was just showing off for Grandma.

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Life is good. I enjoy my life. It's a most pleasant feeling to sit back and contemplate your life as it is now, and your life as you'd like it to be, and then to realize that the two are not so far apart after all.

I love my life. I want what I have. I just want more of it. All things I'll have in time. And that's pretty cool.

I feel grateful. Grateful to my friends. Grateful to my family. Grateful to my God. The world is a beautiful place, and it makes me happy.

Life is good.

J's food situation

Well, it's proving to be an eventful morning.

J awoke, had his diaper changed, took his medicine, ate some breastmilk, then played happily in his crib for about an hour while I studied. Then I got him up to feed him some solids.

Determined to win the formula debate, I made his cereal with formula instead of water. He squawked briefly, but he ate it. Cereal and applesauce. Yum, yum.

Halfway through bowl #2 of cereal, J decided he'd had enough. Really and truly, he'd had enough. He threw up. Twice. Then filled his diaper.

Too messy to carry any particular distance, I undressed him down to his diaper and sort of hosed him off in the kitchen. Then I brought him upstairs, changed him and plunked him in the tub. Bathtime was fun today! J really loves his tub toys. He clambers after them as they float on by.

So I don't really know how much food he ate and kept down. I hope it was sufficient. I'm really trying to get his weight to improve quickly. If he doesn't gain sufficient weight in 3 weeks, the doctor is going to hospitalize him with a feeding tube. That concept scares me. I hope we can avoid it.

Today, we are going to visit my parents. They have been missing J, as they haven't seen him this week since he's been sick. They sure do love their grandchildren!

Eureka!

J has now figured out that baths are fun!!

We gave him his bath tonight, and he played happily in the tub. It was his first time in the "big tub", as opposed to his smaller sized baby bathtub. He is big enough now and has enough upper body control to be in the larger tub. So we put his tub sling in there and gave him a nice bubble bath, complete with a little rubber ducky for him to play with. He smiled and played happily, kicking his little feet about merrily. There were no tears at all. (We got pictures. I'll post them ... hopefully tomorrow.)

Then we wrapped him in his little hooded towel, gave him his massage, got him dressed in a nice warm sleeper, fed him, gave him his vitamin drops, read him a story from the treasured "Little Bear" book, and put him to bed.

Also on the subject of "Eureka!":

This morning, J ate nearly all of his cereal!!

I have figured out that at least part of the problem is that my baby wants to exercise his independence and feed himself, rather than having us do it for him. So I put the cereal on his little plastic spoon and gave it to him to play with, and he promptly put it in his mouth and ate it. I kept doing it this way. He missed his mouth a few times, but yes, he successfully fed himself most of his breakfast.

Whatever works, I suppose.

Late. Tired now. Everyone else is asleep. No more school work tonight. Bed. zzzzzzz...

Things I Learned Today

1. J may have hated baths, but he loves swimming pools.
   
   J had his first swim class today. H had to miss it, since he had to work. J and I went together. J's little friends, Andraya, Izzy and Gemma were all in the same class. J learned floating on his tummy. He thought that was lots of fun, and he even kicked his little feet. He didn't quite get as into it with his arms, and he just sort of put them out to the sides as though he were an airplane and didn't splash.
   
   He wasn't particularly fond of floating on his back, especially when he got water in his ears. And he wasn't pleased with being cold and wet and back in the change rooms after swimming class. But he did behave very well today, really enjoyed playing in the pool, and made me so very happy.
   
   It was also lots of fun for me to spend time with theatre mommy and va1kyrie today. Good friends always make for a good time!
   
   
2. Paul is allergic to nuts, and can't even be near the smell without feeling sick.
   
   And I really should have known better, too. Especially after he asked the waitress not to bring peanut butter to the table. Apparently, my brain did not function at an appropriate capacity today. I thought he was just nervous he might come into contact with peanut butter if the kids were playing around; I truly didn't realize that the smell factor was a concern.
   
   Anyway, I'm sorry, Paul. And I promise that I won't order anything peanut-ty again when you are in the room. I hope you are feeling okay.
   
   
3. H is a wonderful husband and father, and I need to learn to cut him some slack when he has an off day or so.
   
   I really do know this, but I need to be reminded from time to time. When H is tired, he isn't as helpful as usual (which is a pretty normal trait of most people). But I need to remember how wonderful he is when he is functioning at full capacity. When he has those off days, he sure feels badly after the fact. And he really does make it up to me. I'm just an impatient person, and it is hard for me to go through it at the time. Especially when I am so busy these days.
   
   H was extremely helpful to me tonight. This was really great, since I have a headache and had a lot of work to do. It was so nice to have H take J and the house well in hand when he got home from work.
   
   I love my husband so very much! He is a wonderful man.
   
   
4. Interest rates are a big pain.
   
   When dealing with notes payable and receivable, apparently if the stated rate is different from the market rate, the stated rate is used to determine cash interest payments, while the market rate is used to determine values, interest revenue and interest expense.
   
   Not too hard, really. Interesting tidbit to keep in mind. It's bound to come up on the exam. (I hope I can keep all of these interesting tidbits in my head. There are many of them, and my flash cards are quite daunting these days.)
   
   Once again, it is very helpful to be able to plug all of the information from a problem into a financial calculator. But you still need to know all the rules, since the financial calculator can't read and decipher the question.
   
   Note to self: remember all the rules.
   
   Ah, if only it were that easy...

Study-udy-udy-ing

I'm taking a course. Taking a course and looking after a baby. Taking a course, caring for a house, and looking after a baby. Taking a course, ...

I'm busy; swamped. Trying to do well in my program of study, but plagued by various interruptions. I am thankful I have H to help me. I don't know how single parents manage.

Exhausted. Hard to concentrate. Frequent breaks are essential. This makes things difficult, when I am trying to study as much as possible when J is asleep. Breaks seem like a luxury I can't afford. But I must take them, or my mind fuzzes over and I stop absorbing anything I read. I am hoping that my time management skills will improve. I had this down to a science at one point in time, but J has thrown me way off-kilter. (Totally worth it, btw!)

J is sleeping. I am wrapping up for the night and will be heading off to the land of nod shortly. I hope for pleasant sleep tonight and more coursework tomorrow. Must be productive in spite of myself. Obviously failed to upload more pictures today. Hopefully tomorrow...we'll see. (H says J looks like a bat in the "flying baby" close-up from yesterday's post! Just the way his hands are.)

On a completely different note, J has decided that baths aren't so bad after all. He still doesn't especially like them, but he doesn't start crying until near the end now. I am hoping that we will get him enjoying his bath time shortly. It is fun to bathe the little guy, and I want him to have fun with it too!

Tomorrow at new mom's network: infant massage.

J and his feet

J is really exploring things now. Tonight, he started really grabbing for his feet while he was getting ready for bed after his bath. Here he is, lying on his hooded towel, and having just so much fun!

Fun so far - Updated

Posted at 10:45 a.m. August 8, 2005


J's hearing test is today. He has to be sleep deprived for it.

He woke up at 5:00 a.m., looking for a new diaper and some food. Knocked off his peepee teepee and peed all over himself and his burp cloth during his diaper change. Ate, then puked all over the bed. Many, many times. I was unimpressed.

We let him sleep a little while longer, as we figured it would be torture to keep him up from 5:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. But he's been back up for a while now, and he's very very tired. He really is trying to go back to sleep. My parents just got here to help us keep little tyke awake until his appointment. They are so good to us!

I think we may give him a bath in a little bit. He hates baths, so that should keep him awake. And fighting with us during bath time should really tucker him out for his appointment. (He'll need to fall asleep while he's there, you see. He needs to be plenty tired.)

I'll try to post an update after his appointment. I hope we will get the results today, but I don't know.

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Update posted at 3:46 p.m. August 8, 2005

J can hear! He can hear!! He can hear!!!

Test results show that he has perfect hearing in both ears. So we still don't know why he doesn't startle to loud sounds. The audiologist says best guess is he's just a really laid-back baby. (I say "Wanna come over some time? I think you'll disagree.") But what she meant is that he just doesn't really react to sounds, because they don't really interest or bother him in any way.

But he can hear.

(J is also very happy about his results! Can't you tell?)


Thanks, Paul, for the very cool effect. Me likes!!

Six Hours of Uninterrupted Sleep

It's blissful!

J refused to nap at all yesterday. I tried to put him down to sleep at his usual times, but he would have none of it. He was quite unhappy (probably because he was tired!) and he cried quite a bit. It was a tough day.

But it all balanced out in the end - proof, at least in my warped little mind, that karma does indeed exist.We gave him his bath before he went to bed last night. (He still hates baths, and he cried lots after he was done. More than usual, I'd say.) Then we got him ready for bed and settled in his little bassinet around midnight (what a night owl baby we have). And he did not wake up for his 4 a.m. feed and diaper change!! Usually, you could set your watch by him at the 4 a.m. feed. So when I woke up at 5 a.m., I got quite panicky. But he was fine - just sleeping soundly. He woke up at 6:00.

What a wonderful baby!

He's back in his bassinet now. I must return to try and sleep. Who knows what he'll permit me to do today? The baby is always in control.

Babies don't know from gravity

J's kingdom of pukedom has been improving over time. He no longer spits up anywhere near as much. But sometimes, he just lets it out, and it's absolutely unbelievable! Today, I kid you not, he puked in an upward direction. It was a milk arc, and it got all over his face, in his eyes and all through his hair. He then had a nice bath. He hates baths, but they are necessary.

He is screaming now from the after-effects. We're going to go for a walk through the neighborhood and see if that makes him happy. I sure hope so.

Tub time

J's umbilical cord fell off this week. So he got to have his very first tub bath in his little baby bathtub. He hated every minute of it. We strove to finish quickly, but we just couldn't possibly be quick enough. He screamed and screamed!

We don't yet have a tub sling for J, and he's so tiny and the tub is so big by comparison. We were pretty nervous about him slipping under the water, even though the tub is very small really. But it took both of us to give J his bath, so we couldn't get any pictures of J in the tub. We'll pick up a tub sling soon, and hopefully bathtime will then be a one-person job.

After his bath, he was so upset that he pooped in his little hooded towel. Baby poop is bright yellow. The towel is white. I don't think that stain will ever come out fully.

While we couldn't get any pictures of J in his tub, we were able to get a couple of good shots of him in his little towel. I hope you enjoy them.