Thursday, July 31, 2008

LONG Day...

Wyatt has been refusing to nap all day. Well, that's not entirely true...he finally took an hour nap in the morning, but this afternoon, we've had no such luck. It is after 5:00, and seeing as he's been up straight since 11:00am, I would have thought he'd have gone down before now. I got so tired of waiting, trying to put him back down, and then getting him up again after agonizing screaming (feels like the 1st year of his life all over again), that finally I just put him in his crib with some toys and books and left the light on and the door open, for a little "break" if you will. You're probably wondering why I've never tried this before, but my kid is not an idiot and he strongly resents being "tricked". Such was the case today ;). I did manage to sneak out while his back was turned, and I went outside to spray for weeds (after 2 weeks away our driveway is sprouting like a jungle) while the protests ensued. Back inside, he still doesn't seem all that happy, but the fussing is interspered with "play chatter". Hmmm. And cries of "Mamama". Ok, kid, if you still want to get out when I am done typing, I suppose we can work something out. But, man, you drive a hard bargain.

I had planned on blogging about my trip (as much as I can remember), starting with an almost missed flight and ending with a partially naked plane ride, but I can see that will have to wait. The protests are getting MUCH more insistent. At this rate, I wonder how much I'll still remember...

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Home Again, Home Again

Ahhh...it's good to be home. Even though I had a wonderful time with family and thoroughly enjoyed the "Grandma Break", its nice to have my day once again filled with things that need to be done. This is not a sentiment I usually feel, so who knows how long it will last, but I'm just gonna go with it.

We got in about 6:45 our time last night and it was great to see Eric again. He was so excited to see Wyatt, and vice versa. As soon as Wyatt saw him, he said, "Dada, dada!" and held up his hands to be picked up. It was so adorable.

For the most part, Wyatt did extremely well on this trip, what with the time change, being shuffled around, and getting molars all at once. I think he really enjoyed all the extra attention and Grandma's huge yard, which he would run around several times a day. I was a little sad to take him away from all of it.

Although Wyatt did pretty well on vacation, the plane rides were another story. Let's just say we both spent the last flight home yesterday soaked, and one of us spent part of it naked. (No, thankfully, it wasn't me.) That is a story for another post. I will fill you in later, but right now I hear my little man arising from his nap. ;)

Monday, July 14, 2008

Last Day in Cali...

Today I am attempting to pack for my trip back east. Tomorrow Wyatt and I are flying to MD for two weeks to stay with my mom, and we'll also visit Eric's family in NJ while we are there. That should be exciting, because I will (hopefully) have two new nephews to meet while I am there! ;)

I know Eric is going to miss us like crazy. And Wyatt will probably miss his daddy. He has been becoming more of a daddy's boy lately. I think it is because Eric has been putting him to bed and getting him out of the crib in the morning more. Usually utter despair is directed towards me, but the other day when Eric went into the bathroom and shut the door, Wyatt started crying as if he had been abandoned. Normally this happens when I leave his sight, and he has never really done it much with his daddy. I picked him up to comfort him and he just wailed inconsolably. Finally I put him down and he just stood outside the bathroom door crying, "Dada, dada...." Fortunately, when Daddy emerged, all was right with the world again. It was so funny to watch it, because usually it plays out the opposite...haha.

Yesterday was pretty hot out, so after church we didn't do much until the late afternoon, when we turned to each other and said, "Let's get outta here." We have no air conditioning, only a measly ceiling fan, and that can only do so much. I think we were both feeling trapped indoors, and that was only made worse by a fussy, teething baby.

So we went to the harbor (again) and walked around. It was really nice, and we all (including Wyatt) needed badly to get out of the house. Finally we worked up an appetite and decided to go to one of our favorite pizza joints, the Pizza Port.

While there, Wyatt preceded to flirt nonstop with a cute blonde girl who was paying him attention. (Men, they are so easy...hehe). He was smiling and shaking his head and acting goofy, and when she would smile back, he would duck his head down and look at her coyly. This continued throughout the dinner. He is SUCH a ladies man. He does the same thing with this cute girl at the video store, and she LOVES him. She is the first person he willingly went to besides us, and he always goes straight up to her with his arms up when we go in. He sure LOVES the ladies. It is hilarious.

As I sit here typing, Wyatt is enjoying his lunch of cheese casadilla, broccoli, and "ball" as he refers to watermelon. It appears that he has taken it upon himself to rub "ball" all over his head. It must be bath time. ;)

Public Service Announcement

To the little old man who likes to sing loudly in Spanish while watering the plants outside our windows at 5:00am:

No es bueno. Por favor, vuelva maƱana por la tarde. Gracias.

*Yes, I realize this SEEMINGLY has nothing to do with the wakeful baby. But you see it does. Because the baby who never sleeps was actually sleeping THEN. And I really would have liked to have been too.*

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Random Saturday

Sushi is a good way to end the day. ;) We decided to make some for dinner, so we got some Ahi tuna from the market. Well, actually Eric made it mostly, but I, erhm...STIRRED THE RICE. He couldn't have done it without me. Really.

This morning we went for the Saturday morning prerequisite of coffee and bagels and then we took a nice little walk on the pier. The breeze felt wonderful and I was so glad Eric indulged me, as I am always wanting to go. Afterward we went to the bookstore, just for him. ;) Wyatt had a lot of fun playing with the "tains" again, and running off in random directions while we chased him down. (He was so occupied that tonight we searched for a train table on Craigslist. We found one for FREE that had JUST been listed. Of course, it was already claimed. Oh well, not like we have much room for it anyway.)

After the bookstore (or maybe before? I can't remember...) we went to some sporting goods stores and looked at kayaks. Just for kicks. Which progressed into the boat thing. So we indulged our fantasy of living on a boat in the Caribbean all day, and even went down to the harbor to look at various types of boats. I think as much as we hate to say it, we are both getting bored here, in the MOST BEAUTIFUL area of the country. Yeah. (But its crowded and expensive too, and I am looking into getting a job, which I really, really don't want to do. I know how lucky and blessed I am to still be home with Wyatt, and even though he drives me nuts at times, I must confess, I like being blessed...haha.) Anyhow, we used to have the best times just traveling together, seeing new territory, and now we sometimes dream about it to get us through the right now. We were both born with a serious case of wanderlust...

"Monster" indulged us pretty well for most of the day, even taking a bit of a nap in the car, but as that was his only one of the day, he started getting pretty fussy at about 4:00pm. When we got home I tried putting him down for another nap, but he was having none of it. I can tell his teeth have really been hurting him. Poor little man. With much protest, he finally went down around 7:30, and we commenced our dining experience. Yum. I feel mellow and happy, like after Thanksgiving dinner. And don't tell anybody, but yeah, I did just unbutton my pants. Shhhh.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Houdini

As I went to get Wyatt after his afternoon nap, I simultaneously asked myself three things.

1) Why do I seem to be standing in some sort of puddle?
2) Why is my baby naked?
3) What is that smell?

And that's when I noticed the poop. IN THE CRIB. Now, I have no idea if he pooped and then removed his diaper, or the other way around, but irrelevant. POOP IN THE CRIB. I also then realized that the puddle I was standing in was a nice big puddle of pee, from where he stood against the bars and peed outside the crib. FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK. Now, you would think I would learn, and put him down for a nap with pants on, or at least a snapping diaper, but I kept thinking it was a fluke that his diaper ended up OFF. Not so, I guess he has officially learned to remove it. Yay. (He did that once during naptime as a 5 month old, but I really do think THAT was a fluke...) I usually put a fleece diaper cover over top at night, so that prevents him from doing it then. (And I thought they were just to prevent leaking...who knew?) It has been too hot lately to put him down in anything but a diaper, so now I can see the wisdom in side-snapping diapers for older babies (more annoying to put on, but A LOT less likely to be pried off).

Guess I better do some laundry...

Organic Alarm Clock

Wyatt finally slept in for the first time today. On the day that our power had gone out overnight, shutting off the alarm to wake Eric up for work. How ironic.

I can't say I blame him for sleeping in, and I will say I am much appreciative, considering he awoke screaming bloody murder around 1:00am and I sat up with him until 3:00. On the plus side, I finally felt one of those molars poking through, but I just hope they hurry up, as we're due to visit my mom in a week.

I'm not sure why the power went out, although it must have happened twice. I noticed the clock flashing the first time as I came back to bed after 3:00, and I was quick to reset it. So when Eric and I woke up and looked at each other, I reassured him that the alarm was set for 7:30, not knowing it was after 9:00 already...oops ;). Today the weather is pretty gloomy and overcast out, only making it harder to determine the actual time of day. When we heard Wyatt we assumed it was obviously before 7:30, but then we noticed the blinking clock. Frantically, Eric ran to look at the analog clock in the laundry room which said 9:30. We double checked our phones. Confirmed. Yikes. Eric had a bunch of text messages from work asking if he was ok. Its a good thing we have this organic alarm clock, even if he did malfunction just a bit. ;)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

What does the cow say?

My little monster was a fussy one today. I suspect he is the future recipient of some brand new molars but, *sigh* I have been wrong before...

It was good we had a play date for today so we could get out of the house for a few hours and mama could commiserate. We have gotten together with three other moms and their babies maybe once a month since the beginning of the year. Two of them have babies within weeks of Wyatt's age and the other has a five year old and a seven month old. But the seven month old is almost as big as the rest of them, even my little tough guy, who was 25lbs and 32in as of his 15 month appt.

Anyway, I really enjoy spending time with these friendly, laid-back moms. I have since dropped out of that playgroup, but we still keep in touch. (Yes, I am a playgroup drop-out, but definitely not the only one. Junior high sucked the first time around and I believe that no one should have to endure it more than once a lifetime.)

After our trip to the fair and the petting zoo the other day, Wyatt has wanted to read nothing but animal books. Now he will answer, "Ba", "Moo", and "Ruff" appropriately when asked what sound a sheep, cow, and dog make. So adorable...LOVE. :-D

Monday, July 7, 2008

Monday Morning Post

Overall, we had a great weekend. As expected, Wyatt loved the fireworks even more this year, and was cracking everyone up with his constant chuckling. Apparently they were very amusing. Yesterday we used our free tickets (thanks to Eric's coworker) and headed down the the San Diego (aka Del Mar) fair. We told Wyatt in the morning that we were going to the fair, and all morning long he kept repeating, "Fai, fai?"

When we finally got down I was skeptical of how Wyatt might do, considering our arrival time coincided nicely with nap time. Thankfully, there was so much to see and do that he was great, and we spent the better part of four hours wandering around checking out all the sights. Of course Wyatt's favorite was the animal tent, with cows, sheep, goats, ducks, and pigs. They even had a little petting zoo and he was so excited. It was free to go in, but $1 for food to feed them. We didn't think Wyatt would be quite into that yet, so we just went in. But then he noticed all the other kids feeding the sheep and goats, and not to be left out, started picking up wood chips and "feeding" them to a sheep. The sheep, ever polite, pretended to actually enjoy the chips, and Wyatt was so pleased with himself. He kept picking up more and giving it to the sheep. All I could think was, "Poor sheep is going to be so constipated..." Then a little girl came over and shared some of her feed with Wyatt and he laughed so hard when a goat nuzzled it out of his hand. He went around and gave hugs to all the sheep and goats sticking their heads out of the fence. He really has no fear of animals at all, although I'm not sure that's such a good thing! It sure is cute to see how much he loves them though. ;)

Oh, one of his new words is, "Boo-bee". Yeah, great... He kept poking me in the chest as I was carrying him at the fair and I made the mistake of saying, "That's Mama's boobie..." So of course, randomly over the next hour he took great delight in poking me and saying, "Boo-bee!" Or more like yelling. And then giggling like it was the funniest thing in the world. And usually only around a crowd of people in a quiet space, like the fine arts display area. That's my boy...;)

Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th! The day has actually been pretty good so far. We woke up this morning at the deliciously late hour of 7:30am, by OURSELVES, not to the usual bloodcurdling screams. After rolling over and realizing we were both awake, and it was LIGHT outside, Eric asked me if Wyatt had already woken up and gone back down for a nap. To which I responded with a puzzled, "No..." I was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, but, out of character, Eric was the one who was immediately worried and thought he should go check on him, lest he was kidnapped during the night by a band of gypsies.

When he opened the door Wyatt was standing there in his crib smiling. SMILING. Now, for a lot of people this may not seem unusual, and all I have to say is I HATE those people. I can pretty much count the number of times my son has woken up cheerful on one...WAIT. I don't need any hands to count it, because it has NEVER HAPPENED. Needless to say, my heart was soaring.

Until about an hour later...when I emerged from a brief trip to the "loo" (I just love that word, don't know why...) to find what looked like black sand strewn all over. Oh no. It could only be one thing. Coffee. I found Wyatt playing in his room and panicked. His face was smeared with black coffee grinds and he looked not unlike pictures I had seen of myself eating dirt at age two. Eric thought it was quite hilarious, and I did too, after I thankfully realized it was DECAF. (No, the Wakeful Baby does NOT need any more stimulation.) The only part that was not funny was trying to clean the grounds out of the cloth covered glider chair...:(P

After cleaning up our little monster, we went out and got coffee and bagels. Wyatt seemed so good-natured this morning that I even acquiesed to Eric's usual request to go to the book store. I did have to spend most of the time in the kiddie section, while Wyatt pushed his stroller around like a madman, but they had a train table, and when he finally saw it I couldn't pry him away. "Tain, TAIN!" he shouted, and out of character boldly walked over and started playing with two 3 years olds. He still hasn't quite grasped that trains go, "Choo choo", and not "brrrrrrrmmmmm" as you push them around like a car, but it was so cute watching him play. It made me realize that he fusses a lot at home because he is so stinking bored with all those silly baby toys, and darn it, mama, he needs some big boy toys. Also at the book store he found a stuffed Boston Terrier which looked a lot like our dog Buster and was quite pleased to give it a hug and show it to Daddy.

He finally took a nap at 12:30 when we got home, and being that he skipped the morning nap for the 1st time, I am wondering if he will be growing out of it soon. Part of me hopes not, but the other part of me realizes how much more convenient it would be to only have one nap to worry about. He only slept for about an hour though, so it wasn't any longer than usual. (Maybe the coffee wasn't decaf after all...) I am hoping I can get him back down for another one later, because we're having some friends over for a bar-b-que and then fireworks are at 9pm. We can't miss those - Wyatt loved them last year! :)

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Um...yeah, hi.

Well, hello there. Being that I have not updated this blog since SEPTEMBER 2007, I think it may be due for an update. I was really looking forward to napping when the little man went down, but alas, I consumed a nice hunk of decadent dark chocolate before laying down. It seems this keeps me awake better than coffee. Who knew?

Anyhow, it is funny to read through this blog and see how everything has changed. I laughed when reading the last post about taking away Wyatt's pacifier...of course that didn't last...totally gave in THAT NIGHT. ;) But we did manage to do away with it for good around 13 months, around the same time we got rid of the bottle, and by some miracle it seemed much easier then. And I'm sure a lot more has happened since, things I would love to remember and those I would love to forget. But I'll leave all that for another post on another day. If I FEEL LIKE IT. Because this is MY BLOG. Neener neener neener.

Anyhow, now Wyatt is 15 1/2 months old. He has been walking for about two months and started talking roughly around then. Just a few words repeated here and there, until he was about 14 months, and his language really started to explode. He seemed to be picking up about 5 new words a day for a while, and while he only uses about 10-15 on a regular basis, I would estimate he has said maybe 50 or more. His favorites include "car" (pronounced with a Boston accent like "ca"), "clock" (he can't say the "l", which is interesting), "fan" ("fa"), "water" ("wawa"), "bird" ("bir"), "moon" ("moo"), "chair" ("tzair"), "train" ("tain"), "bus" ("bu"), "ball" ("ba"), "dog" ("daw"), "bread" ("bed") and of course, "mama" and "dada". "Dada" is usually said with delight, while "mama" is called out in distress. Of course ;). Oh, and I can't forget his new favorite, "Bob" (pronounced "Ba"). He has a Bob the Builder video which he found the other day and followed me around the house with, repeating "Ba, Ba, Ba" until like a good pushover, I gave in. Well, now it seems he wants to watch it at every opportunity and while it does come in handy for the occasional shower, I'm a little concerned about my kid being an addict this early on...haha. Whenever I put in a CD, he gets excited and yells, "Ba, Ba!!!" Everything that goes into the DVD player or looks remotely like a DVD is, apparently, "Bob".

Another thing he has been doing lately is bringing me a diaper. Now, I'm of the opinion that this is just totally random, and he would be bringing me anything he found in his room, but dear husband is of the opinion that since our son is an obvious genius, of course he knows what he is doing. And indeed, on the last few occasions when I thought there was no way he would need one yet, I was greeted with a nice surprise upon changing him. Hmm...I know it is the skeptic in me, but hubby thinks its noteworthy so I suppose its worth a mention. Anyhow, wouldn't it be nice if he was on his way to early potting training..har har. ;)

On the subject of diapering, I have started cloth diapering Wyatt, and we have been doing it exclusively since he was just over a year. It took some getting used to and experimenting to see what would work best for my little super-soaker, especially overnight, but I quickly got the hang of it and I really enjoy it. Just a few extra loads a week, and no more buying diapers...plus they are super cute and way more comfy then the plastic disposables which never decompose in the landfills. (Don't I sound like a public service announcement? Thought so.) After experimenting I've found that I like bumGenius Deluxe 2.0 All-in-Ones the best. They are very trim and I have never had a leak. I use them over night with a doubler and a fleece cover over top and never have to change in the middle of the night...which I was ALWAYS doing with disposables. And no more nasty diaper pail stinking up the place. Since Wyatt is older and on solid foods, the number twos just roll right off and get flushed down the toilet. Then I put the diaper in a zip up wetbag and throw the whole thing in the wash when I am ready, so I never really have to touch it. I'm sure it would be different with newborn/ exclusively breastfed poop, but I don't have to think about that now, and its been working great.

Anyhow, little man is still quite strong-minded. Take yesterday for example. We were in Target and I decided to get him one of those big bouncy balls for like $2.99. So I was having a bit of trouble getting it out of the cage and had to bat it up to get it over and out. It went flying down the aisle, crashing into an endcap. Wyatt thought it was hilarious and was doubled over in laughter. It WAS pretty funny.

But, I digress. As we are making our way to the front, of course he wants to hold it, but the first thing he does when I give it to him is throw it out of the cart to watch it bounce. Naturally. Well, obviously I'm not going to go chasing this ball all over the store, so I just put it in the back of the cart. Mind you, this entire time Wyatt is shouting, "Ba, Ba!" (ball), and it is only escalating until shortly he is in hysterics at the checkout counter. Now, I should definitely be used to this, as stopping to checkout when he was colicky would produce murderous screams and horrified stares from shoppers. But I was checking out and grabbing bags, and I didn't have an extra set of hands to pick him up at that point. Not that it would have mattered much. He was screaming his head off, while trying to leap from the cart, necessitating me to hold his arm to keep him from jumping out. As we were surely the center of attention at this point, it looked as if I was squeezing his arm causing him to scream. I love those dirty looks. Hahahaha..I was so NOT happy with him at that point and after the requisite hysterics in the car had started to wane, I calmly told him that it was not acceptable to throw tantrums like that in public. Right, like my 15 month old got that and was all contrite. Haha. As a friend of mine so eloquently puts it, "Sometimes I feel like hitting myself over the head with a frying pan".

Anyhow, when we finally got home, aforementioned ball was a great hit, with both Wyatt and the dog. They hit it back and forth and chased each other around, Wyatt in hysterics of the BEST kind. It's funny how something small like a ball (or a baby) can totally make or break your day.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go put in "Bob the Builder" so I can take a shower.