Clap your hands for some progress

Although the eating and drinking problems are not improving, Simon is making progress in other areas.  I've been trying to teach Simon to clap his hands for the past couple of days, since that was something on the survey at his 12 months appointment that they asked about but he couldn't do.  I wish they would just give us parents a curriculum guide and tell us what we ought to be teaching our kids by certain ages rather than giving us pop quizzes at the appointments.  Simon didn't know how to clap his hands because I hadn't taught him--it didn't seem like he would be attending any plays or concerts for a few more years, so it didn't occur to me that he would need to know how to clap.  We taught him to wave bye-bye because that seems useful on a daily basis, and we practice it every morning when we say goodbye to daddy.  But clapping?  How often do you clap on a daily basis?  (Note that I am defensive and logical on this point; I am not reverting to those hyperbolic and ridiculous phrases such as "I'm a failure as a parent.")

Anyway.  During the time I spend practicing sitting with Simon, one of the things I do is clap and then unfurl his fingers and smack his hands together, while singing a song I make up on the spot about clapping.  He seemed indifferent to these lessons (not seeing a performance to applaud and my singing falling far short of a concert).  But then today, out of the blue, he was sitting in his high chair and it was like it just occurred to him that he could smack his hands together.  I saw him straighten out his fingers, and in wonderment at his own genius, he brought the hands tentatively together.  I applauded his efforts, and then he clapped some more.  It was amazing.

I'm also teaching him to turn on and off light switches.

He also has some new words, although still not as consistent as kitty and ball.  He appears to be saying these words:

• uh-oh
• Yay!
• book
• up
• duck
• cracker
• here (when handing something)
• thank you (when he receives something he's trying to get)

It's so sad that just when things are getting really exciting, he has to go back to daycare.  He'll start on Monday with just two hours, then half a day Tuesday, then a full day Wednesday and onwards.

Play and Playdates

Alice is getting better and better at playing by herself and developing her own schemes.  These plans of hers usually involve her carting lots of stuff around.  If she ends up a crazy, homeless, hoarding bag-lady, these pictures will have foreshadowed it.

(Note: she is wearing the life jacket just for the fun of wearing it.)

These last two weeks of my summer vacation, I've also arranged playdates with two of my colleagues that also have little kids.  We had over my friend Becky and her daughter Sophia, who is one year older than Alice.  They played together some, but mostly did their own thing.  Lunch was adorable though.

The week before, I invited Dave and his son Ari over.  Ari is about 9 months younger than Alice and is bilingual but not actually very verbal.  Alice tried to engage him a few times, but eventually gave up and played with Dave (the dad) instead.

These play dates are fun because basically I get to visit with my friends from work, and we have accumulated a critical mass of toys so that they kids can pretty much entertain themselves.

Helper

The return on our investment is beginning.  Alice put away the clean silverware from the dishwasher.

Baby steps

Simon is slowly on his way to walking.  He'll let us hold his hands and he'll walk around a bit, and now he is also using this little push thing (Alice calls it a lawnmower).  Stay tuned to the very end of the video where there is an impressive crash.

The Cat in the Hat

A day at the beach

Saturday was hot, so we went to Jordan Lake to let the kids swim at the beach.  Alice went a couple weeks ago with Zac, but it would be Simon's first foray into the sand and water (he went to the beach in October, but he was still too little then to get in the water).

As you'll see in the video below, he wasn't too happy about standing in the water at first, but then he got used to it and liked it.  He spent most of the time walking (with our help) along the shore or crawling around in the sand.  He took a brief nap on me, too.

It is almost an understatement to say Alice loves the water.  She spent almost the entire time there (and we were there for nearly 4 hours) swimming around in the water holding on to her noodle with an elated smile on her face.

Simon sat

Simon sat today!  Instead of laying on his belly to examine something, he sat back on his haunches (with ankles next to his bottom).  This is known as W-sitting.  A brief google search will let you know all sorts of perils associated with w-sitting, but for today, I am happy about this development.  I will continue to work with him on sitting in the normal way, so hopefully that will come soon.

Strollers, Road Rollers and other adventures

Alice pushed Simon in the stroller on our morning errand to get bananas at S-Mart (a block from our house).

They were laying asphalt on Walnut Street so we stopped to take a look.

Alice was inspired by the construction work, so when we got home and Simon was safely down for a nap, she wanted to play with her magnetic trains and little toy dump trucks (only after changing into her ballerina costume and pink shoes, though.)

She has these Thomas the Tank engine-themed magnetic trains from Zac's cousins, and the set came with some duplicates. In this episode, Alice takes Thomas and Percy in search of another Thomas.  My favorite part of this little video is when she says, "Thomas is leaving all his friends!"

What Alice does with the paint when her mom is distracted by answering a phone survey:

I was outside with Simon when Zac got home, and Simon was so happy to see him for about half a second until he realized he could grab the wheel, then he was even happier!

"Dad lets me drive slow on the driveway."

Words!

Since Simon's wellness visit where we were reminded that he should really have at least 5 words in addition to mama and dada by now, we've really been amping up his tutoring.  Although he doesn't really say mama and dada (those were not among Alice's first words either) he has made some progress.

Simon's official first word: Kitty cat.  Although it sounds more like "key", he is consistent and always says it when he sees our cat or a picture of a cat.  He really likes our cat.

Simon's official second word: ball.

Today I also played a game with him where I would say, "Where's the banana?" and he would find the plastic banana somewhere on the floor and bring it to me and I would pretend to eat it.

"Don't laugh at me."

Whenever Alice says something unwittingly clever or cute, (which is quite frequently these days), Zac and I will often laugh.  The other day, when we were laughing at something she said, Alice looked right at us and said, "Don't laugh at me.  It makes me mad."  At first I assumed this was something she picked up from a kid at school or something, but she keeps repeating it and seems to be earnest.  Zac and I can't bear to not laugh at all the funny things she says, so we keep trying to explain that we're laughing because we like what she said.  Nevertheless, it is a somewhat sad turning point, because she is definitely becoming more self-conscious and self-aware.  She's also starting to back-talk.  I'm not ready for this yet!

Fun at Fountain Place

On Saturday, we went to Burlington to visit the Arcaro-Burbridges who have returned from Costa Rica.  Alice was super excited to go there, and wanted to eat lunch right after breakfast since we said we'd go there after lunch.  At another point, she said, "Hurry!  We have to go to Grandpa Arcaro's before they go back to Costa Rica!"  We managed to convince her they would not be going anywhere, and we needed to wait a while to eat lunch.  We went there in the afternoon, and had a great time visiting, feeding the fish at the fountain, and playing on the neighborhood playground.

Alice even got to try out Julian's old balance bike, which she loved!

A nice little creek

I've been roaming further afield in my walks with Simon this summer, and I discovered a perfect little creek for Alice to play in about a mile from our house in a teeny park called Heater Park.  Zac and Alice went there Saturday morning and had a great time.

Simon's 1 yr wellness visit

Simon had his 1-year-old wellness visit and he continues to be small, with his weight in the 10th percentile.  Honestly, I'm just glad it hasn't gone down.

The doctor had me fill out a questionnaire to see if Simon was meeting developmental milestones.  Interestingly, the one thing that I find most bizarre (he still does not sit) was not even on the questionnaire because they are assuming that all 12 month olds are sitting.  Anyway, Simon has three strikes against him right now: he's not sitting, he's not doing a good job eating table food, and he's not talking yet.  The doctor seemed to think the eating and talking problems might be related, and suggested I contact the Wake County Infant-Toddler early intervention program to get him evaluated.  I called them and he got in for an appointment in August.

For me, I am most worried about the eating.  I know that all three issues will eventually be resolved, but the eating is the most annoying problem.  He eats 8-9 containers of stage 2 baby food a day (because he gags on the chunks in stage 3 foods).  He is still nursing, but less and less, and he doesn't drink much milk or formula.  We continue to give him finger food like crackers, bananas, grapes (cut into 8ths), and avocados, but he doesn't eat much of these.  

Otherwise, the kid is healthy.

Tuesday - Thursday Routine

My days home with both kids are quite fun, and generally follow a nice little pattern.  I'm sad that I've only got about two weeks left home with them!  So here's the typical routine for this summer:

Morning: After everyone is breakfasted, we'll usually go outside and play.  Sometimes we do the swimming pool, the fountain, the water table, or just play in the yard.  I always have to put pants on Simon so he can crawl around the yard.

Then, whenever Simon gets tired, we'll come in and I'll put him down for a nap (usually around 10 am).  Then Alice will have her morning snack, which is usually fruit plus sometimes crackers or lunchmeat.  One time it was baked beans because that's what she wanted.  Sometimes she'll eat at her little picnic table on the porch.

After her snack, while Simon is still sleeping, we do art.  This is usually painting, playdoh, or stamps, or all three in succession if she has a short attention span or Simon has a long nap.  I often paint with her, but sometimes I'll use that time to clean up the kitchen or do other housekeeping activities.

When Simon wakes up, usually around noon, we'll have lunch then play in the living room.

Then, around 2:30 Simon will usually go down for his afternoon nap.  Once he's in bed, I'll get Alice into her pull-up and snuggly clothes, read her a book, and put her down for a nap.  She's on the verge of not needing naps every day, so I often have to hypnotize her to get her to fall asleep.  I will scratch her back or hair while softly saying, "Relax your feet, relax your legs...." etc. all through her body.  I also bribe her; if she takes a good nap, she gets to eat marshmallows (a handful, in a little cup) on the couch while watching Dora.  This usually works out well because she usually wakes up around 4:30 or 5 and it will keep her occupied while I get supper started.

While the kids nap, if it all works out and they are asleep at the same time, I will use that precious hour to read, or sometimes catch up on e-mails or this blog, but the time always goes by so fast.  I still always think I need a double life: one where I can focus on enjoying the kids all day, and another where I can be my own person, pursue other interests, and get stuff done.  Under the current system, I have a couple hours a day when the kids are napping or in bed for the night to do my own thing, and that time is too limited to get everything done, plus maintain the house.  Alas.

Book worm

Despite being illiterate, Alice will often become quite engrossed in books.  When I was home with both kids today and I needed to nurse Simon, I told Alice to look at the books on the bookshelf in Simon's room (since she likes to be in the room with me but often distracts Simon).  She ended up staying in there for an hour and looked through nearly every book on the bottom shelf.

Simon's 1st Birthday

On this day a year ago, our little Simon was born at 8:45 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  For his birthday, Zac made him a watermelon-themed cake in honor of his love of squeezing (and occasionally eating) watermelon. 

He only ate a few bites of cake, but had a lot of fun squeezing it and spreading it everywhere.

Simon had fun opening presents, with a lot of help from his big sister.

A happy Saddest Day

Today is the day before Simon's birthday, the "saddest day."  But honestly, I'm not very sad.  Although Simon is a very cute and happy baby, I'm glad that first year is nearly behind us.  I think he will just be more and more fun.

To take stock at this turning point: He can wave, crawl, pull-up, and cruise a bit.  He still doesn't sit unsupported.  He eats a little bit of finger food, but still mainly eats baby food (averaging 8 containers a day now).  He nurses four times a day (8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm) plus sometimes in the wee hours of the morning.  He doesn't like cold milk of any kind.  He does drink water out of sippy cups or straw cups.  He might have said mama, dada, fish, kitty cat, and bye bye but is so inconsistent we can't tell if it's just random noises that happen to coincide with the words.  He loves the fishtank, the kitty cat, ceiling fans, remotes, stereo buttons, the water table, the refrigerator, the porch, the outdoors, the bath, his bos, his sister's ponytails, his daddy's beer bottles, wheels on toy cars, and the magna doodle.

Going to the lake...

Although Simon and I were still not feeling great, Alice was fine, so Zac took her to the Jordan Lake beach for the morning and early afternoon.  He reports that she had a lot of fun and spent a lot of time swimming around with the noodle.

Dinosaur Jello Jigglers

To our knowledge, Alice has never had jello or jello jigglers.  But Cam got her a dinosaur jello mold for her birthday, so it was time for her to become acquainted with this culinary delight.

Snuggle sofa

On Friday, I was feeling terrible and Simon was also still very sick.  Simon took a nap for more than three hours in the morning, and I took one for about two hours.  In the afternoon, I still felt like I couldn't move, but he would have little bursts of energy where he would want to roam around.  I came up with the perfect solution.  I put the four couch cushions on the floor like a giant bed.  I laid on them and watched two movies, while Simon would crawl around for a little bit, then crawl back to me to sleep or snuggle.  It sucks being sick, but it was a such a decadent way to spend the afternoon that it could only be justified by being really ill.

How Alice eats butter bread:

The butter side first.

Not sure if this child will ever be civilized.

He didn't make it, but she was an angel

I was really worried about today, since I was still sick, Simon still had a fever, and it was Alice's day home from school.  But she was a complete angel and played quite contentedly by herself all day, as long as Simon and I were sitting nearby.  I may have indulged her a little more than usual too: she got to watch two episodes of Dora in a row.

While Alice was watching one of those Dora episodes, Simon tried to weakly crawl over to the steps.  He met a pacifier on the floor half-way there and decided to call it a day, taking a nap in the middle of the floor.  He wanted to play, but just didn't have the energy.

And that's the story behind this picture:

Fire hydrants

There was a thunderstorm followed by a light rain this evening, so after supper Alice wanted to take a walk in the rain.  She loves to wear her rain boots and carry her Thomas umbrella.  As we walked around the block, Alice kept pointing out the fire hydrants, and one time added, "That's where the fire comes out."  It was a logical guess, really, but I explained that only water came out of fire hydrants.

Sick Simon

Simon still had a fever today, so he just snuggled with me all day.  Luckily he is still eating well.

I didn't eat my chicken!

One of the days we were in Ohio, Alice didn't do a good job eating her lunch.  She generally doesn't eat well on trips, partly because the food is different, partly because there are too many other distractions.  But it had been especially taxing on this trip because her illness had greatly diminished her appetite, but she would still get super grumpy and crabby from not having enough to eat.  Even when the worst of her illness had passed, her appetite was still weak.  It was irritating because I knew as soon as we left the house to go do something, she would need a snack or would start to break down.

So one time Zac gave her a nice leftover chicken leg for lunch, which she barely ate.  When we went out for our activity, she soon turned whiny and needed carried.  In a futile attempt to teach her cause and effect, we explained that she had no energy because she didn't eat her chicken.

Since then, whenever she has been tired or wants picked up, she'll explain earnestly, "I have no energy...I didn't eat my chicken!"

Two kids, back at home...

On Tuesday, Alice's first full day at home since the vacation in Ohio, she burned through three activities by 10:30 am.

We always do art during Simon's nap, and she also did three things: stamping, painting, and playdoh.  I was impressed by how long she stayed sitting at the table working: about two hours.  This was good for me because I had a sore throat and was feeling quite achy.  I did use the time to reorganize some drawers though.  

Simon took a really long nap, and so he was still asleep when it was time for Alice's nap.  I tried to lay down for a bit while their naps overlapped, but Alice didn't actually sleep.  Instead, although she had refused to go potty before her nap, she suddenly let loose an extremely full bladder, surpassing the capabilities of her pull-up.  I got up to change her sheets and her clothes.  Then she said she wanted more lunch.  By the time I put her down again, she was under the impression she had already taken a nap (laying down in bed and tinkling everywhere apparently counts as a nap in her world).  So she just sang and shouted and jumped the whole time.

Simon soon woke up and the reason for his long nap became clear: he had a fever.  While thankful he didn't get sick in Ohio, I wasn't ready for another sick kid, especially since I wasn't feeling well myself.