life with my boys

California Dreaming

2006-01-11T00:09:18Z

FYI, I have a different blog now--leave a comment if you want the address.

I'm planning to come to southern California for either Caltech's Alumni Weekend in mid-May or for Adam's wedding over the Fourth of July weekend. I'm hoping to maximize the number of people I know being there when I visit. If I come in May, I'll bring the new baby and leave Peter with Dan. If I come to the wedding, the whole family will come. So it would be much cheaper to come in May (one plane ticket vs. three) but if no one else will be there, what's the point?

If you're going to be in SoCal during either of those times (or you know past Techers who will be), can you leave me a message here please and help me make up my mind?

Darn it

2005-03-08T15:30:52Z

Nothing like starting your birthday with a second day of vomit and diarhhea.

I have company coming in the morning--can you tell?

2005-02-25T06:15:34Z

Since Peter and Dan went to bed almost four hours ago, I have:

Watched Survivor
Knit quite a few rows on a project I'd been putting off
Baked scones
Baked 2 loaves of bread (these aren't quite done)
Washed the dishes
Decluttered the living room (including a month's worth of papers on the table)
Gone grocery shopping
Brought up a load of laundry

Peter's starting to stir so I'll probably need to nurse him soon, but holy cow, how much could I accomplish if I did this every night?

Just so tickled!

2005-02-08T06:05:49Z

FYI--after Peter's crazy evening the other day, he slept 6 or 7 hours straight (which is unheard of here) that night. Wacky.

Peter keeps surprising me with his development. Today, he wanted to get up on our big chair but couldn't reach. His play drum was nearby and he pushed it to the chair, carefully balanced on it, and got up onto the chair. The drum is barely longer than his foot. Then later, he took the water bottle we use to wet our wipes when we're out and about and tried to squeeze it onto some wipes (but couldn't get it open). He has been using the "nurse" sign and the "more" sign constantly lately. We realized that he uses "more" instead of "eat", so we're trying to teach him that now. We were at the grocery store tonight and he reached over to the cheese, so I gave him a sample. Then the darn kid kept signing for more! When the phone rings, he puts his hand over his ear as if he's talking, even before we go to the phone. He says "buh buh" and waves when people leave. He regularly takes a step to reach from one piece of furniture to another.

Some evenings Dan and I just sit and watch him to see what he comes up with next.

Have I mentioned that he's climbing now?

2005-01-11T08:48:54Z

He can't quite get up on the couch, but he tries. He also gets down from furniture (including our bed, thank goodness) by sliding feet first on his belly. I no longer fear that he'll break his neck if he sneaks up during a nap!

Still not walking, but he's standing a little bit longer and more often every day.

Dan+Shelob = 1 dead mouse

2005-01-01T07:42:41Z

On Tuesday when we brought her home, I told Dan that I'd donate $100 to the Humane Society if Shelob caught a mouse within two hours of being let out of the bathroom. Since she was too scared to come downstairs, that didn't happen. However, a few hours after moving her litterbox to the basement, Dan found her with the mouse down there. She couldn't kill it, despite having it in her mouth, but Dan gave the mouse a couple whacks and Shelob finished her off. She is also wandering around the entire house for the first time tonight. We feel like she did her duty, now she can just be cute and cuddly. Dan even encouraged her to sleep on our bed instead of throwing her off as he did on previous nights.

This is Shelob

2004-12-31T21:18:52Z

She inspired Peter's third word--ts-i-tsy. He finally moved beyond the -ah- sound to the short -i-. We were going to keep her out of our room, but I'm a big softy and can't kick her out. After 3 days of keeping her food, water, and litterbox up in our bathroom, we moved the litterbox down to the basement today and the food to the kitchen. Before, she wouldn't leave the second floor. Now she won't leave the basement. She's quite a cuddler and is kind to Peter, so she's won me over. She's 5 1/2 lbs and a year and a half old.

First pet?

2004-12-23T05:41:18Z

We have a little friend scurrying around the house again. Since the traps we put out in the spring didn't catch it and we now have a little boy who spends his day crawling and exploring the house's nooks, we're thinking about another approach--we might get a cat.

Back when we got married, Dan said he'd talk me into getting a dog by the time we bought a house. Now he thinks that would be too much work (and I'm not complaining). I always thought a cat might be better, but I'm not sure getting one now is the answer.

How much work will it be initially to keep a cat out of trouble and using the litterbox? Do they smell? Do they shed? Is (I hope) a single mouse a good enough reason to get a cat?

Yum yum

2004-11-24T08:42:23Z

Peter always thought books were better for eating than reading. Now that he's got 6 teeth to work with, he's become part beaver. After a few days of effort, he chewed the whole binding off "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" and the cover fell off. He eats solids now, but book corners and binders are still his first choice.

My knitting biz broke even last week, even counting the cost of all patterns and yarn and whatnot that I've purchased since spring. Yippee!

I'm in business!

2004-11-09T05:15:14Z

I bought a knitting license from Little Turtle Knits recently and my store officially opened today. To my amazement, two things (worth $85) sold within 2 minutes and another $50 pair of knit pants sold this afternoon. Whoo-hoo!

Baby signs

2004-10-30T07:45:17Z

Peter used the sign for "more" tonight. We started giving him Cheerios last weekend and unlike most solids, he actually likes them! Since Saturday, he's gotten better at getting them into his mouth rather than his lap. We gave him a handful while we ate dinner and when they were gone, he rubbed his fists together and banged on his tray. (See the actual sign here). Coincidence? Quite possibly. But then he finished his next round of O's and did it again. We were so impressed that we kept pouring more cereal on his tray as he repeated it a half dozen times.

He's been signing "nurse" as a request for the past week and while nursing for a week or two before that.

Our son is talking to us!

bad mother award

2004-10-29T17:17:23Z

In the past hour, I've let my son eat leaves, which he promptly threw up along with quite a bit of milk and almost let him fall down the cement stairs at our front door. We're both covered in leafy goo. Can I take a vacation?

Long, crazy day

2004-10-21T09:15:17Z

Peter and I got up at 7am today with 2 alarms blaring and me too tired to get to them before Peter was crawling all over me (there should have just been one easy-to-reach alarm set so I could temp).

I'd gone to bed at 4 am (admittedly, that's ridiculously late) and could hardly keep my eyes open. Peter was super-cranky and clearly not ready to be awake yet either. First thing he did was produce his first poop in 36 hours which was an oh-so-fun way to start the day.

I somehow got through the next couple hours. After trying to eat breakfast while Peter whined and tugged at my pant legs and insisted on being held, I put him in the mei tei carrier and raked our back yard. By 9:30 we were both ready for a nap.

We slept from 9:30-11:30 (ahhh!) and at least Peter was cheery when we woke up. I managed to peel him off of me long enough to get lunch. I can't remember what else happened before 1:30 so I must have really been out of it.

We slept again from 1:30-3:30 (double ahh!). After that nap, I finally felt awake. Oh yeah--I put dinner in the crockpot between naps, I remember now. Anyway, around 4, I vacuumed everywhere. Peter lasted 30 seconds into the vacuuming before he freaked out. Even in the sling, he still sobbed for most of the time. I guess I should vacuum more often. At 5, we went outside and raked the front yard. Peter thought it was hilarious. He was sitting on a blanket with a blade of grass in his mouth, cackling at me.

Dan came home and despite all the naps, Peter was acting tired already. Then he actually made the sign for 'nurse' without any prompting--it was so cool! He'd nursed fairly recently, but we tried anyway, and he was really hungry. He's been making the "nurse" sign while nursing for the past week, but that was the first time he asked to nurse.

By 7pm, he was rubbing his eyes constantly and Dan put him to bed. Generally, after 6pm, if he acts tired, I try to hold out until 7:30ish to make sure he doesn't take a late nap, but he looked like he was going to conck out in the living room.

I settled in to watch Lost, we ate dinner around 8 (squash takes a LONG time to bake!), and started to wash the dishes at 9 when I went upstairs and found Peter crawling around on the bed. It freaks me out when he does that without making any sounds to warn me! I nursed him for at least 15 minutes and if anything, he woke up more. Uh oh. Dan tried to get him sleeping for another 15 minutes before I gave up and brought him to his room to play. At 10:30, he was eye-rubbing again and I laid down with him. He didn't sleep immediately, but it wasn't a huge struggle. At 1am, I woke up and realized I'd fallen asleep. I managed to get out of bed without waking Peter and came downstairs to finish the dishes I'd started 4 hours earlier and to be a practice pupil for Dan -- he's giving a practice lesson in his education class tomorrow.

Now, it's 4am again and I'm wide awake after my 3 naps. Agh.

daddy's boy

2004-10-11T06:56:27Z

Peter spent the weekend following Dan around. Whenever Dan left the room, Peter started whining and crawled off in the direction Dan went. When he reached him, he'd pull up on his legs and cry until he was picked up. Cute, but irritating. I just hope that he can handle the next 4 days of Dan getting home late. It's better than Peter being scared of Dan or disinterested in him, at least.

This is getting fun!

2004-10-08T08:47:17Z

Being with Peter is becoming an adventure. Now that he can wander around, he has explored every nook and cranny less than 3 feet from the floor. He tried scaling the stairs today, but couldn't figure out how to pull himself up yet. We threw out half our house plants and put the others up as high as we could. I imagine they'll die soon since watering them is now tricky. I've been attempting to do lawn work while the weather's still pleasant, but I spend most of my time fishing dead leaves out of Peter's mouth. He's tried grass and dirt, but old leaves are his favorite.

Today, I was on the phone with Peter in my lap and he thought it was hilarious for some reason. He doesn't laugh, or giggle--he cackles. He discovered his tongue the other day and has been making clicking sounds and sticking it out recently. He still only has his two bottom teeth--I wonder if he'll hold off on the top ones like Samuel.

He is seven months old today. How odd--we're closer to his first birthday than his birth now. I put the rest of the 12 month clothes away tonight--he's fully into 18 month stuff now.

He's really, really mobile now

2004-10-02T17:01:16Z

Peter has perfected crawling and can now zip around a room. He knows that standing and walking is more exciting, though, and he spends more time attempting those. He now switches between crawling, standing, and sitting easily. I've seen him kneeling, and he can stand holding a toy in one hand and the couch in the other. He's almost cruising, but he can't go too far yet.

Flying meanies

2004-09-21T06:37:24Z

On Friday afternoon, I got stung by a wasp (at least I think so--I didn't have a stinger in my foot). I was in a store, a mile from home, with Peter tied to my torso. I'm awfully glad he wasn't stung, at least. The bus went by as I was figuring out what had happened and I really wanted to get to the bank, so I walked the 10 blocks home. The initial sting wasn't too bad, but the farther I walked, the more my foot swelled. When we got home, I convinced Peter it was naptime and laid down with ice on it.

It's four days later and my rotten foot is still purple, itchy, and swollen. I have to carry a 23 pounder everywhere I go and I'm getting tired of limping. Benadryl sort of helps and I can't remember whether it's safe to take ibuprofen while breastfeeding (Benadryl's on the iffy list). Apparently, it's normal for stings to cause a week of swelling.

Bleh.

He's crawling

2004-09-17T08:04:21Z

Peter figured out how to crawl yesterday. He's been rocking back and forth and kicking his feet around for weeks now, but he was finally inspired to reach out and pull his body forward. He promptly began chewing a lamp cord and trying to eat a plastic bag. We need to do some babyproofing around here. He stands up all the time, too (with the help of furniture to balance). At this rate, he'll be walking by Thanksgiving. I'm very afraid.

6 Months old--first solids

2004-09-09T02:04:52Z

Peter's been grabbing our food for ages, sits up well, and seems to pass all the other "ready for solids" tests, so we mushed up banana today to see how he did.

He swallowed like a pro and only gagged a little with bigger bites. I guess he was ready. Waaa, my baby's growing up!

Moving, but not enough

2004-09-04T09:14:42Z

Peter's rolling like a madman, especially in bed and on the changing table. We now have bed rails up (although he managed to roll off once anyway) and the changing pad is on the spare bed, not the desk. He's horribly frustrated that he can't crawl yet, though. He rocks, he pushes with his legs, but he can't figure out that he needs to pull with his arms.

He pulled to standing on Wednesday, just in time for my birthday.

Here's a recent photo, modeling a ribby wrap I knit him:

I'm actually going to be knitting diaper covers (soakers, ribby wraps, and long pants) and selling them soon. I bought a license from LittleTurtleKnits and am now waiting for yarn to arrive.

Argh!! Creepy crawlers!

2004-08-16T06:05:36Z

We own a 99 year old house. When we bought it, I was fairly impressed by the cleanliness of the basement. It's only good for storage and laundry, but it's my first basement and I'm grateful for it.

Until tonight.

I was carrying laundry up the stairs and saw one of the nastiest centipedes I've ever run across. Due to our narrow stairway, I had to get far too close to it, and it didn't even flinch. Once I turned the kitchen light on, I noticed that another one was on the top step. fish0251 was already asleep (he's my usual bug killing method of choice) so I grabbed a notepad and tried to whack the bugger on the top stair. The darn thing was so fast, it was down the stairs before I even got close. Meanwhile, the other one was just watching all this from the wall. I decided to try another tactic on it -- the vacuum cleaner with an extender. Again, by the time I was within a foot with the bug-sucker, away it went.

Now I'm left with the knowledge that I've got at least two nasty centipedes in the basement and probably a lot more. Maybe those were just the stair guards. Good thing that was my last load of laundry.

I've been sitting with my feet off the floor for the past half an hour...

the beginning of words

2004-08-16T02:30:04Z

Peter starting talking today. He's been yelling quite purposely for awhile, but today he repeated "bah bah bah" over and over. It's just astounding to see how quickly he learns. I thought computer learning algorithms were impressive, but this is far cooler.

Second tooth arrived this morning

2004-08-12T21:43:18Z

Now both the bottom teeth have poked through! People told me they'd come together, but I didn't realize they'd show up within 24 hours of each other! They're sharp little buggers, too.

First tooth

2004-08-12T06:19:54Z

Peter has been awfully cranky for the past two weeks (at least in the house--outside, he flirts with everyone he finds), and I was glad to discover the reason for it this morning--a little, sharp white line in his lower gum.

He's also flipping front to back, back to front, at will all of a sudden (especially while I'm trying to dress him) and he began scooting backwards today, too. I swear he's a different boy every week.

One click too many

2004-08-04T04:56:44Z

I finally downloaded a client to post entries more easily. I think that if the basic LJ form included choice of journal/community on the simple page, I wouldn't have bothered, but I got tired of having to click to extend the options. I doubt I'm suddenly going to post 3 times a day now, but who knows.