A scary moment this evening. Thomas and I were on the front lawn waiting impatiently for the garbage truck to make its weekly appearance when the neighborhood bully cat showed up. Thomas wanted to pet him, but the cat was stalking Babbington, so I distracted the boy. Clearly I did not distract him enough, however, because a few minutes later Thomas ran towards the porch steps - and right between the two cats.
Before I could even see what was happening, the orange cat jumped at Thomas and ran away.
Then there was one of those crazy moments in time where everything seemed perfectly normal... until it was very clear that it was not: Thomas started to scream, Babbington attacked the orange cat, and I realized that Thomas was bleeding.
The cat had scratched T's forehead - luckily the scratch ended at his eyebrow, but it took me a minute of trying to wipe away the blood and pry open T's eyes (which were screwed shut as he screamed) to determine that his eye was unscathed. As I did all this, I cradled his head in my hand and moved toward the kitchen to get a clean cloth. Once there, I reached for the cloth only to realize that my hand was covered in blood.
I'd just like to say that the rational knowledge that "heads wounds bleed" is cold comfort when your child's blood is all over your hand. Or at least it was for me. I felt dizzy - so I quick picked up the phone & called a neighbor - thank the heavens for speed dial!
By the time Karine arrived - breathless with her two-year-old son tucked under one arm - I had regained my cool. There was a lot of blood on T's clothes, but I'd determined that he really just had a couple of ugly scratches. To help me maintain my new-found calm, Thomas touched his head and said, "Meow" then began to play with his buddy. Apparently he thought this was some elaborate plan to get him a play date!
André came home & after we talked it over he went to the neighbors and politely asked if the cat has its shots and if they would consider neutering it (since it is truly a menace). He does have shots but is sadly unlikely to lose his manhood anytime in the near future. Since André spoke with the husband, I'm hoping that the wife (and mother of their two small children) will be suitably horrified at the story to insist that the cat be neutered - but I'm not holding my breath.
I'm still a little surprised by how horrible it all felt in the moment. I guess that's why I'm writing about it. The short story is that my kid got scratched by a cat - and that's really not much of a story - but I'll tell you what, I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing - the surprise cat attack, the blood... I don't know what it was, but I know that I don't really want to repeat anything like that in the near future!
(And by the way, it has not escaped my attention that today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall - an incredibly momentous occasion which I remember very clearly. And yet when I felt moved to write tonight it was about the minutiae of domestic life. I suppose that's what this blog is all about - it's certainly where my life is right now.)
Monday, November 9, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sick baby on the mend
As some of you have heard, poor Thomas has been quite sick these last few days. We can't be sure, but the odds are that he has been experiencing H1N1 (since it is the only flu going around these parts). Anyhow, it has been tough for the whole family, most of all Thomas.
I'm happy to report, however, that he's doing better this evening. In fact, he has transitioned from "grateful not to be miserable" to "I want to be outside and watch big machines". And so that's exactly what we did ("... Heaven - I'm in heaven ...").
Still a ways to go before we declare this episode over, but for now it's a relief to be taking another step in the right direction.
I'm happy to report, however, that he's doing better this evening. In fact, he has transitioned from "grateful not to be miserable" to "I want to be outside and watch big machines". And so that's exactly what we did ("... Heaven - I'm in heaven ...").
Still a ways to go before we declare this episode over, but for now it's a relief to be taking another step in the right direction.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Worth a thousand words
One of Thomas' first words was "mess" and he has occasion to use it quite often. Usually we're philosophical about it, but sometimes it's just too much.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Empathy
I am seriously in love with the daily "report cards" from Thomas's daycare. They tell us what he ate, when he slept, what he did, what he liked - so much information on one little half-sheet of paper. But no matter how much I treasure the written word, sometimes there's nothing like a conversation - like today when Miss Tally (Thomas's favourite daycare provider) handed me the report card and then said, "OH, I totally forgot to write down that Thomas has begun showing empathy."
I have to admit I was puzzled. "He has?" I mean, sure when he was a baby he cried when he heard other babies crying, but lately most of his interactions with other toddlers involves bashing them in the head with trucks.
"Oh yes," reassured Miss Tally, "It's so sweet. If one of the other kids is crying he goes over to them and hugs them, and sometimes we find him patting one of them to sleep."
My boy?! I am bursting with pride. I can't believe he's old enough to show empathy!
I have to admit I was puzzled. "He has?" I mean, sure when he was a baby he cried when he heard other babies crying, but lately most of his interactions with other toddlers involves bashing them in the head with trucks.
"Oh yes," reassured Miss Tally, "It's so sweet. If one of the other kids is crying he goes over to them and hugs them, and sometimes we find him patting one of them to sleep."
My boy?! I am bursting with pride. I can't believe he's old enough to show empathy!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Shoe fetish?
A few weeks ago concerned staff at Thomas's daycare mentioned to us that Thomas was holding on to his shoes while he napped and suggested that perhaps he needed a lovey. We promptly sent in a small blue teddy bear. Thomas hadn't really chosen a special toy, but Blue Bear seemed to fit the bill for naptime: soft, cuddly, huggable.Today Blue Bear came home. Why? Apparently Thomas prefers to sleep with his shoes. He eats his lunch, says, "All done. Sleep." and walks over to his cot where he waits patiently for someone to take off his shoes. He lays down, says "Shoe, shoe," then cuddles the shoes to his chest and goes to sleep.
They say they've never seen anything quite like it before. Leave it to Thomas.
At least they're cute shoes.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Daycare
So Thomas has been in daycare full time for a week now and he appears to be doing extremely well. (André and I aren't doing too badly, either, though I had to find ways to prevent myself from picking him up early nearly every day.) By Thursday of this week Thomas left our house without crying & today was a banner day because he got dropped off without crying. Yippee!
Getting dropped off with no tears is especially important because André is the primary drop-off parent. My school starts at 8:05 and is 30+ minutes away, so André & T do the drop-off every morning. Poor André has had to survive the sight of his son screaming & twisting to get back to him day after day... but since I do the pick-up, André doesn't see Thomas playing contentedly & happily at the end of the day. Let's just say that we are all happy that Thomas isn't crying so much any more.
And speaking of being happy, I must now admit my secret: I already love many of the things I mocked about this particular daycare before we began. For example, they have a webcam so we can go on-line and see what our children are doing anytime during the day (except when they're outside). I mocked this mercilessly - "What? We can't survive 5 minutes without knowing what our precious children are doing?" I love it. Seriously. It's jerky & there's no sound & I check it regularly. I can't explain it except to say that I just like seeing him. He's cute & I miss him & there it is.
I also mocked the "report cards" we get. Yes, it's all true. We get daily report cards that tell us about food & diaper changes & naps &, mostly importantly, what our child did during the day. This is clearly ridiculous. I mean, the food and naps makes sense, but the narrative? Honestly, they can barely talk. But it's so darn cute I can't stand it. I've saved the entire first week's worth. I smile when I think about his teacher writing things like "Thomas appeared to be drawn to cooperative play," (Ha! That was a generous interpretation.) or "He played with every ball we have" (Now that sounds like my boy.) or, best of all, Friday's report card which said, "Thomas had an amazing day!"
And yes, I am completely aware that I just made you all read quotes from T's report cards at age 14 months (he's 15 months on Monday, ladies & gentlemen). I am going to be insufferable. Wait, I already am insufferable. But seriously, he's so cute you just have no idea...
I'll stop now. Keep your fingers crossed that next week goes well, too. For all that things are good, he still isn't napping well there, though supposedly that will come. And next week - on Tuesday - I abandon Thomas and André to their own devices for the mornings. I will be leaving the house just after T wakes up. We'll try to keep you updated on how that goes!
Getting dropped off with no tears is especially important because André is the primary drop-off parent. My school starts at 8:05 and is 30+ minutes away, so André & T do the drop-off every morning. Poor André has had to survive the sight of his son screaming & twisting to get back to him day after day... but since I do the pick-up, André doesn't see Thomas playing contentedly & happily at the end of the day. Let's just say that we are all happy that Thomas isn't crying so much any more.
And speaking of being happy, I must now admit my secret: I already love many of the things I mocked about this particular daycare before we began. For example, they have a webcam so we can go on-line and see what our children are doing anytime during the day (except when they're outside). I mocked this mercilessly - "What? We can't survive 5 minutes without knowing what our precious children are doing?" I love it. Seriously. It's jerky & there's no sound & I check it regularly. I can't explain it except to say that I just like seeing him. He's cute & I miss him & there it is.
I also mocked the "report cards" we get. Yes, it's all true. We get daily report cards that tell us about food & diaper changes & naps &, mostly importantly, what our child did during the day. This is clearly ridiculous. I mean, the food and naps makes sense, but the narrative? Honestly, they can barely talk. But it's so darn cute I can't stand it. I've saved the entire first week's worth. I smile when I think about his teacher writing things like "Thomas appeared to be drawn to cooperative play," (Ha! That was a generous interpretation.) or "He played with every ball we have" (Now that sounds like my boy.) or, best of all, Friday's report card which said, "Thomas had an amazing day!"
And yes, I am completely aware that I just made you all read quotes from T's report cards at age 14 months (he's 15 months on Monday, ladies & gentlemen). I am going to be insufferable. Wait, I already am insufferable. But seriously, he's so cute you just have no idea...
I'll stop now. Keep your fingers crossed that next week goes well, too. For all that things are good, he still isn't napping well there, though supposedly that will come. And next week - on Tuesday - I abandon Thomas and André to their own devices for the mornings. I will be leaving the house just after T wakes up. We'll try to keep you updated on how that goes!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Ducks in a row
For a few weeks now Thomas has been creating projects for himself. It started when he began moving some very light plastic children's chairs from the deck to the kitchen to the playroom and then back again. He would do this two or three times before he got tired.
Next came the ducks. He has four rubber duckies (thanks Aunt Bridget) and one black pirate duck (Grandma Leslie thought she gave this to André a while ago) which he plays with in the bathtub at night. Now he wakes up in the morning, "chats" with me for a minute and then says "DUCK". We go into the bathroom where he gets the ducks from the tub - if I have been especially clever, I've lined the ducks up in a row on the side of the tub the night before & Thomas claps in delight. Then he takes the ducks, two by two, into his bedroom and throws them on the floor. Once they are all there, he takes them back to the bathroom. Sometimes, if the stars are properly aligned, he takes a duck or two into our bedroom and gives them to Daddy to wake him up.
Project three is the magnetic letters on the side of the fridge (there are about 10). Thomas has a strong need to remove these letters - no mean feat for little fingers - and carry them to his booster seat. He throws them in until he's sure that they're all off the fridge, then he carries on with his day.
Smaller projects include getting tennis balls into and out of a tennis ball can, putting rocks into an old egg carton, (thanks to Grandma Shirley for those two) and stacking old containers into one another (a Grandma Patti creation).
I'll see if I can get some project pictures to go along with the descriptions...
Next came the ducks. He has four rubber duckies (thanks Aunt Bridget) and one black pirate duck (Grandma Leslie thought she gave this to André a while ago) which he plays with in the bathtub at night. Now he wakes up in the morning, "chats" with me for a minute and then says "DUCK". We go into the bathroom where he gets the ducks from the tub - if I have been especially clever, I've lined the ducks up in a row on the side of the tub the night before & Thomas claps in delight. Then he takes the ducks, two by two, into his bedroom and throws them on the floor. Once they are all there, he takes them back to the bathroom. Sometimes, if the stars are properly aligned, he takes a duck or two into our bedroom and gives them to Daddy to wake him up.
Project three is the magnetic letters on the side of the fridge (there are about 10). Thomas has a strong need to remove these letters - no mean feat for little fingers - and carry them to his booster seat. He throws them in until he's sure that they're all off the fridge, then he carries on with his day.
Smaller projects include getting tennis balls into and out of a tennis ball can, putting rocks into an old egg carton, (thanks to Grandma Shirley for those two) and stacking old containers into one another (a Grandma Patti creation).
I'll see if I can get some project pictures to go along with the descriptions...
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sick
Yesterday Thomas was sick - really sick - for the first time. Well, he had a fever once before and we got nervous, but this time he was vomiting. Somehow I never thought of sicknesses when I thought of all the firsts we would go through.
The poor kid slept nearly 13 hours, so we should have known something was wrong, but when he threw up just a little right after he woke up, I thought it was a fluke. 2 crib sheets and 3 outfits later, we knew: Thomas was sick. At first, every time he threw up he'd look really startled - what just happened to me? - then, after a minute, he'd start to cry. And the poor kid was hungry, so he wanted to eat and drink, but he couldn't keep anything down.
He made it until 1:30 - André was home alone with him for an hour while I frantically kept a coffee date with a girlfriend - and then he fell asleep in my arms. After a 3 1/2 hour nap, Thomas woke up feeling much better & he's been fine ever since. In fact, I can hear him talking to himself upstairs now that he's finished his morning nap, so I should get going!
Oh, and welcome back to the blog: I'm off for the summer & have finished the graduate class I had to take, so for the next few days I'm going to be going back and finishing up some of the half-finished posts as well as starting to write new ones. Wish me luck!
The poor kid slept nearly 13 hours, so we should have known something was wrong, but when he threw up just a little right after he woke up, I thought it was a fluke. 2 crib sheets and 3 outfits later, we knew: Thomas was sick. At first, every time he threw up he'd look really startled - what just happened to me? - then, after a minute, he'd start to cry. And the poor kid was hungry, so he wanted to eat and drink, but he couldn't keep anything down.
He made it until 1:30 - André was home alone with him for an hour while I frantically kept a coffee date with a girlfriend - and then he fell asleep in my arms. After a 3 1/2 hour nap, Thomas woke up feeling much better & he's been fine ever since. In fact, I can hear him talking to himself upstairs now that he's finished his morning nap, so I should get going!
Oh, and welcome back to the blog: I'm off for the summer & have finished the graduate class I had to take, so for the next few days I'm going to be going back and finishing up some of the half-finished posts as well as starting to write new ones. Wish me luck!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thomas's perfect day
We played there until the kids were exhausted & then headed home. When we pulled up to our house, another delight awaited: a digger! (Yes, the lead-pipe replacement project continues as they begin to repair our sidewalk.) The digger driver was the same man who's been coming since October and he was excited to see us, too: "I'm glad you're here!" he smiled. "I was afraid you might miss us."
But we didn't miss them and Thomas got to touch the shovel part of the backhoe. The whole crew was thrilled with his pure joy; they all took a break and watched him revel. If I can get it together, I'm going to send some of the pictures to the construction company: I'm not sure how often they are greeted with such enthusiasm!
Needless to say, Thomas is down for the count now - all that excitement has resulted in a good, long nap!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Poop Surprise
by guest blogger Grandma Shirley:
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh ... when Thomas woke from his morning nap (short one) he did not want me to take him from his crib so I said ok and sat and talked with him for a bit ... then asked him again ... again it was a strong no ... so I said I'd come back in a few minutes and get him and I went down stairs ... he did not protest and I had the monitor on and he babbled ... I had opened the window and curtain (due to the yesterday still lingering smell of his big spit-up vomit) .... I chopped rhubarb and listened .... when he made a big squawking I went up and .... his diaper which was loaded with poop was on the floor ... and he and his bed was covered with poop ... face, arms, ... and the clean sheets and the blankets which were fresh off the line covered in poop ... i did NOT over react ... I said .... oh what a surprise ... I may have said that a few times ... and then ran the tub ... he loved his bath ... (he had had a shower early morning with André because of vomit) ... so ... poop everywhere but good news none on teddy bear or stuffed dog ...
we did make it to the playgroup but an hour late ... still had an hour of fun and he's now downed a bottle of milk and is down for the count ...
(My note: obviously we are not including pictures in this one!)
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh ... when Thomas woke from his morning nap (short one) he did not want me to take him from his crib so I said ok and sat and talked with him for a bit ... then asked him again ... again it was a strong no ... so I said I'd come back in a few minutes and get him and I went down stairs ... he did not protest and I had the monitor on and he babbled ... I had opened the window and curtain (due to the yesterday still lingering smell of his big spit-up vomit) .... I chopped rhubarb and listened .... when he made a big squawking I went up and .... his diaper which was loaded with poop was on the floor ... and he and his bed was covered with poop ... face, arms, ... and the clean sheets and the blankets which were fresh off the line covered in poop ... i did NOT over react ... I said .... oh what a surprise ... I may have said that a few times ... and then ran the tub ... he loved his bath ... (he had had a shower early morning with André because of vomit) ... so ... poop everywhere but good news none on teddy bear or stuffed dog ...
we did make it to the playgroup but an hour late ... still had an hour of fun and he's now downed a bottle of milk and is down for the count ...
(My note: obviously we are not including pictures in this one!)
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Bono who?
For nearly 11 months now, Thomas has thought (rightfully, no doubt) that the sun and the moon revolved around me. André likes to say that it's like living with Bono and being the Edge. (For any of you who don't know those names, think John Lennon and Ringo Starr.) The Edge is really great, but if Bono's in the room, well, we all know who'd we'd rather be with.
Poor Thomas has been sick for a few days; he has the flu and is feeling pretty puny. On Sunday he wouldn't let me out of his sight and almost wouldn't let go of me. He and André muddled through Monday while I was at work (4 hour-long naps made Monday a little easier for everyone), and then this afternoon brought a wonderful surprise: Thomas looked to André instead of me for comfort. He was upset and tired and barely glanced my direction before he held his arms out for his daddy. I'm not sure which of the three of us was the most shocked, but I know that it was one of those moments where I was 100% sure that André and I made the right choice when we decided to split our parental leave so that we could both be the stay-at-home parent for a while: Thomas knows that we both offer comfort, and he might even know that we provide slightly different kinds of comfort. And that's exactly what we want.
Poor Thomas has been sick for a few days; he has the flu and is feeling pretty puny. On Sunday he wouldn't let me out of his sight and almost wouldn't let go of me. He and André muddled through Monday while I was at work (4 hour-long naps made Monday a little easier for everyone), and then this afternoon brought a wonderful surprise: Thomas looked to André instead of me for comfort. He was upset and tired and barely glanced my direction before he held his arms out for his daddy. I'm not sure which of the three of us was the most shocked, but I know that it was one of those moments where I was 100% sure that André and I made the right choice when we decided to split our parental leave so that we could both be the stay-at-home parent for a while: Thomas knows that we both offer comfort, and he might even know that we provide slightly different kinds of comfort. And that's exactly what we want.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Somebody GOT a Haircut
Just to set the record straight, I was planning to trim those bangs before I even knew that André was blogging about haircuts...
Somebody needs a haircut
I don't think we'll make it to his first birthday before that unruly mop gets trimmed.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Charleston
Early in March the three of us were down in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina for the wedding of two dear friends with whom we share a special bond: they met for the first time at the same time and place that Mandy and I did (the wedding of two other friends down in Washington D.C.).
We traveled to Charleston separately, since I needed to be there a bit early to do some groomsmen-related things. Fortunately everything went fairly smoothly (the return journey was not so smooth, but we all survived), and Thomas bolstered his reputation as a hardy traveler.
Grandpa Dave, Grandma Donna, and Uncle Justin joined us, and very kindly took care of Thomas while we were out partying (well, it felt like partying to us, but we were still among the first to leave).
While we were in Charleston we did some walking about and took pictures of the three of us at a couple of places that have significance for Grandpa Jim's family: Fort Sumter, where one of his relatives served in the opening battle of the Civil War (look over my left shoulder, it's the little bulge on the horizon) ...
... and St. Michael's Church, where his father was Reverend years ago.
In other news, little Thomas has been a bit miserable the last couple of days. It was only yesterday afternoon, however that we confirmed the cause (we had our suspicions, but had not seen evidence until then): four new teeth breaking through! Anyhow, he's understandably a bit grumpy and drools constantly, but otherwise is in fine form.
In the category of "firsts", Thomas and I went to the vet not once, but twice this week. The first visit was fairly routine, which was to check on Peter-cat's weight and heart (he has a bit of a heart murmur, but no other troubling symptoms). The other visit was decidedly not routine, since poor Babbington got into a very serious scrap and had some nasty puncture wounds and gashes that needed more medical attention than we could hope to provide. The good news is that Babbington is doing much better, but looks pretty ridiculous since the vet had to shave the area around the wounds (pretty much his whole right shoulder). Happily, Thomas enjoyed both visits since the waiting room afforded him an excellent view of the street and there were many passing cars and trucks, which provided a constant stream of entertainment.
We traveled to Charleston separately, since I needed to be there a bit early to do some groomsmen-related things. Fortunately everything went fairly smoothly (the return journey was not so smooth, but we all survived), and Thomas bolstered his reputation as a hardy traveler.
Grandpa Dave, Grandma Donna, and Uncle Justin joined us, and very kindly took care of Thomas while we were out partying (well, it felt like partying to us, but we were still among the first to leave).
While we were in Charleston we did some walking about and took pictures of the three of us at a couple of places that have significance for Grandpa Jim's family: Fort Sumter, where one of his relatives served in the opening battle of the Civil War (look over my left shoulder, it's the little bulge on the horizon) ...
... and St. Michael's Church, where his father was Reverend years ago.
In other news, little Thomas has been a bit miserable the last couple of days. It was only yesterday afternoon, however that we confirmed the cause (we had our suspicions, but had not seen evidence until then): four new teeth breaking through! Anyhow, he's understandably a bit grumpy and drools constantly, but otherwise is in fine form.In the category of "firsts", Thomas and I went to the vet not once, but twice this week. The first visit was fairly routine, which was to check on Peter-cat's weight and heart (he has a bit of a heart murmur, but no other troubling symptoms). The other visit was decidedly not routine, since poor Babbington got into a very serious scrap and had some nasty puncture wounds and gashes that needed more medical attention than we could hope to provide. The good news is that Babbington is doing much better, but looks pretty ridiculous since the vet had to shave the area around the wounds (pretty much his whole right shoulder). Happily, Thomas enjoyed both visits since the waiting room afforded him an excellent view of the street and there were many passing cars and trucks, which provided a constant stream of entertainment.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Walk like a man
Well, no pictures for the moment - and yes, we've been ridiculously bad about keeping this blog up since I went back to work (we're exhausted) - but the news of the evening is that Thomas walked.
He's been cruising around the house for weeks with one or both hands on the walls, the chairs, the cats, whatever, and he's been happily toddling around using just one of our fingers to balance, so we knew this was coming. And he's an excellent stander who can balance with a toy in each hand. More than that, like all good first-time parents we've been encouraging him to walk by playing "pass the baby" after dinner - we sit on the floor and he "walks" between us by falling forward & catching our hands.
But tonight, he stood up in front of André, took a good long look at me (on the phone, of course) and walked 5 or 6 steps before he caught my hand. Then, tickled with himself, he did it again. Our reaction must have completely delighted him because he took a few more steps over the course of the evening, but he quickly realized that crawling is much more efficient & reverted to his old ways.
Now, we'll see how long it takes before we can catch this development on film!
He's been cruising around the house for weeks with one or both hands on the walls, the chairs, the cats, whatever, and he's been happily toddling around using just one of our fingers to balance, so we knew this was coming. And he's an excellent stander who can balance with a toy in each hand. More than that, like all good first-time parents we've been encouraging him to walk by playing "pass the baby" after dinner - we sit on the floor and he "walks" between us by falling forward & catching our hands.
But tonight, he stood up in front of André, took a good long look at me (on the phone, of course) and walked 5 or 6 steps before he caught my hand. Then, tickled with himself, he did it again. Our reaction must have completely delighted him because he took a few more steps over the course of the evening, but he quickly realized that crawling is much more efficient & reverted to his old ways.
Now, we'll see how long it takes before we can catch this development on film!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
A quintet of quilts
There's something about babies that moves people to quilt since Thomas has received a number of beautiful, handmade quilts. After the kitchen was renovated, we converted what was the dining room (where we actually dined no more than half a dozen times) into a play room. Grandma Patti suggested hanging the quilts on curtain rods in this room, something that we finally got around to doing. The results, as you will see are quite stunning (given the way that Thomas stares at them, he clearly agrees). Many thanks to our quilt artists!
Quilted by Nancy from Ottawa, Ontario
Quilted by Grandma Shirley from Tucson, Arizona
Quilted by Laura from Vancouver, British Columbia
Quilted by Nancy from Ottawa, Ontario
Quilted by Beth from Portland, Oregon
Quilted by Grandma Shirley from Tucson, Arizona
Also quilted by Grandma Shirley from Tuscon, Arizona
(Note: this is a six sided quilt and we haven't figured out how to hang it yet. I think that some we might be able to do it with some dowels cut by a miter saw)
(Note: this is a six sided quilt and we haven't figured out how to hang it yet. I think that some we might be able to do it with some dowels cut by a miter saw)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Welcome to Canada, Mr. President
Today Barack Obama visited Ottawa, his first official visit to another country as President. Historically, U.S. Presidents have often made their first visit to Canada since it has the benefit of being 1) close, 2) friendly, and 3) safe. Although it was expected that he would stick with this practice, I was still pretty thrilled to learn that he was coming.
I decided that Thomas and I needed to see him, so we bundled up and headed out. As you can see, we made sure that his stroller provided an appropriate welcome (Thomas is, after all, a proud American, even if he doesn't know it). Note that although he is slumped to one side, he did not sleep through the event (one of my fears).
At best we expected to get a brief glimpse of the POTUS since no public events had been scheduled. We saw his motorcade arrive and might have seen him exit and wave, but to be honest I can't say that I managed to pick him out of the crowd. As a historical note, Obama attracted a smaller crowd than George Bush did (approximately 3,000, compared to 10,000). That being said, the 10,000 that showed up for President Bush's visit were protesters. The 3,000 that were there for Obama could easily have been compared to teenage girls at a Beatles concert. Incidentally, Obama did make an unexpected stop at a local market to buy a "Beaver Tail" (a flat oval of fried dough with sugar and cinnamon on it), which the local press can't stop talking about (and I must admit that I too am kind of tickled that he chose to deviate a bit from the formal itinerary).
I decided that Thomas and I needed to see him, so we bundled up and headed out. As you can see, we made sure that his stroller provided an appropriate welcome (Thomas is, after all, a proud American, even if he doesn't know it). Note that although he is slumped to one side, he did not sleep through the event (one of my fears).
At best we expected to get a brief glimpse of the POTUS since no public events had been scheduled. We saw his motorcade arrive and might have seen him exit and wave, but to be honest I can't say that I managed to pick him out of the crowd. As a historical note, Obama attracted a smaller crowd than George Bush did (approximately 3,000, compared to 10,000). That being said, the 10,000 that showed up for President Bush's visit were protesters. The 3,000 that were there for Obama could easily have been compared to teenage girls at a Beatles concert. Incidentally, Obama did make an unexpected stop at a local market to buy a "Beaver Tail" (a flat oval of fried dough with sugar and cinnamon on it), which the local press can't stop talking about (and I must admit that I too am kind of tickled that he chose to deviate a bit from the formal itinerary).
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
At the Museum
Today Thomas and I ventured out with Dave and Miles (who is a bit younger than Thomas) to check out the Museum of Nature (a short walk from our house). Venturing out was a bit less onerous than normal, given that the temperature was well above freezing - a rarity in February! I tried not to get excited, however, since it's a certainty that it will become colder before it truly warms up.
Happily, Thomas was pretty impressed by all of the bones and beasts (he seemed especially excited about a the polar bears). Although we didn't make it all of the way through, it was a big enough hit that I'm sure we'll be back soon.
Happily, Thomas was pretty impressed by all of the bones and beasts (he seemed especially excited about a the polar bears). Although we didn't make it all of the way through, it was a big enough hit that I'm sure we'll be back soon.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
On his own two feet
Today Thomas surprised us by reaching another milestone - and this one had nothing to do with sleep. (Thank goodness!) Our friends Dave & Christine were visiting with their son Miles (who is 4 months younger than Thomas) when L'il T decided to show Miles how things are done. He pulled himself up, looked around, let go and stood. The first time he was up for about 5 seconds. Then, giddy with delight, he did it again for much longer (maybe 10 or 15 seconds) - long enough to get Daddy and Dave's attention and have everyone ooh and ah. He especially likes it when we clap for him.
True to form, Thomas has decided that he must practice his new trick at every opportunity. He stood for a few seconds before his bath and tried it again in the tub (not very successful - hmmm). With any luck we'll have pictures in a few days.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Knock on wood
Well, knock on wood, but I think we've not only turned the corner, but are almost at the finish line. Last night Thomas went down at 7:45 p.m., fussed for a few minutes, and then stayed down until 3:10 a.m. I went to him, did a diaper check, offered a quick pat of reassurance and then left. A few minutes later he settled and then stayed down until 6:50 a.m. All told, he got about ten and a half hours of sleep with only minimal help from us. Hooray for Thomas!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The corner has been turned
It happened sometime mid-morning yesterday: Thomas began to sleep like a normal, healthy baby. After his first "naplette" of 20 minutes early in the day I wasn't optimistic. However, later in the morning, he napped for an hour, something that he has very rarely done before. Then, around noon, he napped for two hours. I couldn't believe it, and checked on him every 15 minutes to make sure that he was still breathing. Grandpa Yves, who was visiting, very kindly did not point out that I was being ridiculous, but he may have been thinking it.
Nighttime brought some welcome improvements too. He went down at 7:45 p.m., and after fussing for half an hour stayed down for over three hours. He finished the night with a solid four and a half hours of sleep, waking up at 6:30 a.m. Now, some of you might have done the math and spotted the two and a half hour gap in the middle. During this time he fussed a bit, I checked on him, and he didn't sleep much (or maybe even at all). Nevertheless, this is a dramatic improvement over where we were in the preceding days, and I daresay that in some cosmic sense, it's also an improvement over where he was before we began this process.
Anyhow, he's now two hours into his first nap of the day and I don't know what to do with myself since this is a new - but welcome - thing. We'll see how things go in the coming days, since it's too much to hope that progress will be completely linear. As well, exhaustion is doubtlessly playing a role. That being said, you can put me in the corner of the optimists for now.
Okay, enough about sleep. Thomas is actually up to some other interesting things besides learning to snooze in his crib (any one of which could merit its own blog post):
Nighttime brought some welcome improvements too. He went down at 7:45 p.m., and after fussing for half an hour stayed down for over three hours. He finished the night with a solid four and a half hours of sleep, waking up at 6:30 a.m. Now, some of you might have done the math and spotted the two and a half hour gap in the middle. During this time he fussed a bit, I checked on him, and he didn't sleep much (or maybe even at all). Nevertheless, this is a dramatic improvement over where we were in the preceding days, and I daresay that in some cosmic sense, it's also an improvement over where he was before we began this process.
Anyhow, he's now two hours into his first nap of the day and I don't know what to do with myself since this is a new - but welcome - thing. We'll see how things go in the coming days, since it's too much to hope that progress will be completely linear. As well, exhaustion is doubtlessly playing a role. That being said, you can put me in the corner of the optimists for now.
Okay, enough about sleep. Thomas is actually up to some other interesting things besides learning to snooze in his crib (any one of which could merit its own blog post):
- He now has two teeth (which are still hard to see, but easy to feel).
- He's eating practically everything we eat (we mash it, cut it into small bits, or grind it up in our food mill).
- He's "sharing" objects by passing them back and forth with us.
- He has become an absolute whiz at peek-a-boo.
- He is obsessed with eating the cats' food (we have not allowed this).
- He will not stay still when we try to change him unless we distract him. The best way to do this is to play the harmonica that Grandma Shirley gave him for Christmas.
- His fine motor skills are coming along nicely, and he is learning to use his thumb and index finger to grab things (like bits of rice crackers or - if they're not fast enough - the cats).
- Beside being an expert crawler, he is now doing some tentative cruising.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Crying it out, day 432
Ok, I think it's only day 7. And we didn't *really* start until Monday, so maybe only day 6...
Things are tough here. Two nights ago we thought we had a breakthrough when Thomas slept for 2 hours in a row after only an hour of crying. (Yes, that's how bad things are.) Last night he cried for 4.5 hours before we couldn't stand it and brought him into our bed.
You see, since he's a good sleeper in our bed, we had decided that we were trying to teach him to go to sleep on his own but that we would let him sleep in our bed once he woke up to nurse. As it turns out, this was a bad idea. Thomas is nobody's fool: he's easy-going but very tenacious when he wants something (anyone out there think this sounds like his father?) and he's obviously very smart. So our smart little guy figured out what we were doing began crying until we brought him into our bed - even if it took 4 or 5 hours. This is bad.
We're exhausted & our stupid book had no ideas for us. (I actually hate the book: I nearly threw it across the room last night.) We decided that since we're really doing more Ferberizing, we should buy the Ferber book & André took Thomas out to do just that. (Typical decision in this house: things are bad? Try a new book.) Of course, poor tired Thomas fell asleep in his stroller on the way home from the expedition and got the best nap he's had in a week. Personally, I think that bodes well. André read (re-read, since we've read this one before) as much as he could & we've tweaked our sleep plan.
The problem is that I start work tomorrow (and, if you can't tell from this post, which I know is a little disjointed & which I have no intention of fixing, I'm falling over tired) so André has become the sleep parent. This means that he is going to be checking on Thomas every 15 minutes until he falls asleep. Now, it's 9:15 right now & he's already slept a little, but he's awake and crying as I write. I'm about to go to bed - so when you read this, think of André because he may well have been up all night. He's prepared, but the deal is that 1) I have to get home ASAP tomorrow afternoon so he can nap and 2) he reserves the right to be in a bad mood until he starts getting sleep.
I think we're ordering out for dinner tomorrow night.
Wish us *more* luck.
Oh, and today Thomas is 8 months old. He can stand up & cruise a little bit. He talks a lot & he definitely has a "word" to tell us when he wants the lights turned on and off, on and off. Today he also successfully got a spoonful of food in his mouth on purpose. He won't sleep, but he's still a good eater and a happy guy. That's got to count for something.
Things are tough here. Two nights ago we thought we had a breakthrough when Thomas slept for 2 hours in a row after only an hour of crying. (Yes, that's how bad things are.) Last night he cried for 4.5 hours before we couldn't stand it and brought him into our bed.
You see, since he's a good sleeper in our bed, we had decided that we were trying to teach him to go to sleep on his own but that we would let him sleep in our bed once he woke up to nurse. As it turns out, this was a bad idea. Thomas is nobody's fool: he's easy-going but very tenacious when he wants something (anyone out there think this sounds like his father?) and he's obviously very smart. So our smart little guy figured out what we were doing began crying until we brought him into our bed - even if it took 4 or 5 hours. This is bad.
We're exhausted & our stupid book had no ideas for us. (I actually hate the book: I nearly threw it across the room last night.) We decided that since we're really doing more Ferberizing, we should buy the Ferber book & André took Thomas out to do just that. (Typical decision in this house: things are bad? Try a new book.) Of course, poor tired Thomas fell asleep in his stroller on the way home from the expedition and got the best nap he's had in a week. Personally, I think that bodes well. André read (re-read, since we've read this one before) as much as he could & we've tweaked our sleep plan.
The problem is that I start work tomorrow (and, if you can't tell from this post, which I know is a little disjointed & which I have no intention of fixing, I'm falling over tired) so André has become the sleep parent. This means that he is going to be checking on Thomas every 15 minutes until he falls asleep. Now, it's 9:15 right now & he's already slept a little, but he's awake and crying as I write. I'm about to go to bed - so when you read this, think of André because he may well have been up all night. He's prepared, but the deal is that 1) I have to get home ASAP tomorrow afternoon so he can nap and 2) he reserves the right to be in a bad mood until he starts getting sleep.
I think we're ordering out for dinner tomorrow night.
Wish us *more* luck.
Oh, and today Thomas is 8 months old. He can stand up & cruise a little bit. He talks a lot & he definitely has a "word" to tell us when he wants the lights turned on and off, on and off. Today he also successfully got a spoonful of food in his mouth on purpose. He won't sleep, but he's still a good eater and a happy guy. That's got to count for something.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Crying it out (II)
As Mandy said in her previous post, we are in the process of trying to get Thomas on a better sleep schedule since he ultimately needs to be able to get to sleep and return to sleep on his own (neither of which is happening right now).
Many of the leading sleep experts advocate strategies that involved allowing a baby cry under controlled conditions. A fair number of other parents that we know and trust have used these strategies and told us that they have led to positive outcomes.
Most seem to have healthy well-adjusted children.
Anyhow, before moving to such a regime we first had to convince ourselves that it really was the best thing for Thomas. In the end we decided that this approach - while excruciating for everyone - is probably the most efficient and compassionate ways to get things on track. And so we began.
We have been using the method outlined in the book that Mandy referenced. Its theory is that once the baby is down, you don't return to the room (for naps you return after one hour, if the baby hasn't gone to sleep). Quickly the baby figures out that crying for attention doesn't work and they go to sleep. As you can imagine (or in many cases know), this is tough for everybody, but typically a family has a few miserable days and then things begin to fall into place.
Well, we got a good dose of misery last night. We put down Thomas around seven and retreated downstairs. For three and a half hours he cried with only a single half an hour break. At ten thirty we decided that we had had enough and I went in. He was in quite a state and had at some point thrown up all over his bed. Although the books say that this can happen, and suggest calmly cleaning things up and putting the child back to bed, I felt absolutely awful, especially not knowing how long ago he had thrown up.
Intellectually, I remained committed to continuing. Emotionally, I felt unworthy to even hold him. He went out like a light once we took him into our bed, but I couldn't get to sleep for a long time. I wasn't beating myself up for my intentions (we're doing this for his own good), but I was questioning my judgment. Was this really the right thing?
So, this morning we held a strategy session. Unpleasant though this episode was, we were still prepared to continue. We did, however, revise our tactics. We're still letting him cry it out, but are checking at regular but increasing intervals (Ferberizing).
Over the course of the day we tried napping four separate times, but we only managed two twenty minute naps (which are widely considered to be too short to really count). I put him down around twenty minutes ago, and he is still crying.
Anyhow, thanks all of you who wrote or called over the last 24 hours to offer your support. It means a lot and it's good to know that others have walked this path before us.
Many of the leading sleep experts advocate strategies that involved allowing a baby cry under controlled conditions. A fair number of other parents that we know and trust have used these strategies and told us that they have led to positive outcomes.
Most seem to have healthy well-adjusted children.
Anyhow, before moving to such a regime we first had to convince ourselves that it really was the best thing for Thomas. In the end we decided that this approach - while excruciating for everyone - is probably the most efficient and compassionate ways to get things on track. And so we began.
We have been using the method outlined in the book that Mandy referenced. Its theory is that once the baby is down, you don't return to the room (for naps you return after one hour, if the baby hasn't gone to sleep). Quickly the baby figures out that crying for attention doesn't work and they go to sleep. As you can imagine (or in many cases know), this is tough for everybody, but typically a family has a few miserable days and then things begin to fall into place.
Well, we got a good dose of misery last night. We put down Thomas around seven and retreated downstairs. For three and a half hours he cried with only a single half an hour break. At ten thirty we decided that we had had enough and I went in. He was in quite a state and had at some point thrown up all over his bed. Although the books say that this can happen, and suggest calmly cleaning things up and putting the child back to bed, I felt absolutely awful, especially not knowing how long ago he had thrown up.
Intellectually, I remained committed to continuing. Emotionally, I felt unworthy to even hold him. He went out like a light once we took him into our bed, but I couldn't get to sleep for a long time. I wasn't beating myself up for my intentions (we're doing this for his own good), but I was questioning my judgment. Was this really the right thing?
So, this morning we held a strategy session. Unpleasant though this episode was, we were still prepared to continue. We did, however, revise our tactics. We're still letting him cry it out, but are checking at regular but increasing intervals (Ferberizing).
Over the course of the day we tried napping four separate times, but we only managed two twenty minute naps (which are widely considered to be too short to really count). I put him down around twenty minutes ago, and he is still crying.
Anyhow, thanks all of you who wrote or called over the last 24 hours to offer your support. It means a lot and it's good to know that others have walked this path before us.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Crying it out
This blog is about to get, as André put it, "grittier". If you're not interested in grit, well then stick to the posts with pictures. I still have to put up the Christmas/New Year pictures and Cayman pictures - the posts are written or half-written... sigh - so there are plenty more feel-good posts to come. But I'm typing along and avoiding the main issue here, which is sleep.
Actually, to be more precise, the issue is not sleeping. To date, Thomas has been an ok sleeper, but not a great sleeper. We've made progress with our various "gentle" methods, but 4 weeks of travel in the last 5 weeks did not help us establish any real routines. And I start work on Monday. (Yes, I promise another angst-y post on that any day now.) So we need to sleep - and Thomas needs to sleep. And even the gentlest of sleep books agrees that any one of the various "cry it out" methods is the fastest.
Fastest, however, is not easiest. We let Thomas cry two or three times in Cayman because he was so tired he could hardly keep his eyes open - and each time he fell asleep pretty quickly. Somehow I hoped he had already learned how to sleep and he would just naturally sleep when we got home. He didn't. Sunday night, our first night back, we did our routine & put him to bed and he cried for about 20 minutes. Hard but not awful. Monday night, similar thing. I thought we were golden. And then came last night.
For the record, we are using the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth as our guide. And also for the record, I have read or skimmed at least 4 other sleep books. My friend Louise gave us the Weissbluth book before Thomas was born & I actually read a bunch of it. Of course, I stopped at the 3 month mark because I assumed we'd have it all figured out by then. Our baby was going to be a good sleeper, no doubt because we were going to be perfect parents. Ha!
So last night was night 3 of Weissbluth (which sounds so much better than "cry it out"). He warns parents that night 3 can be a "revolution" where the child figures out what is going on and really begins to protest. Thomas screamed for HOURS. For 3+ hours, to be precise - with a few quieter moments in the middle. We were trying to do the gentler method, so we were going in to him about every 20 minutes to pat his back. Every time he would reach his little arms up and practically beg to be picked up. We resisted. Then, when we left, he would scream even louder. It was excruciating.
After more than 3 hours, he fell asleep - for 45 minutes. Then he woke up and screamed for another hour and a half. This time we left him alone. He fell asleep again for a short while and, when he woke again at about 1 am (I think - time had really lost its meaning by this point), we gave in and let him come into our bed.
And if that weren't enough, we're doing this at naptime, too. So we put him down this morning and he screamed for an hour - then André soothed him to sleep and he managed to get 20 minutes in. Now we're in the middle of another screaming nap (though he did drop off for 20 minutes near the beginning).
This is the worst thing I've ever done. I've read and read and read and I have to believe that this is ok for him. I've talked to so many of my friends who've done this with their children and have kids who sleep well and are not traumatized that I have to believe that this is the best solution in the long run. I know people whose children won't go to bed at ages 4 and even 8. I don't want that for Thomas; I don't want him to have trouble sleeping on his own for years and years. And I know that most of the adults I know cried it out at some point in their infancy. Even more, I know that it works - the flat out truth is that for most kids, crying it out leads to sleeping through the night.
But I don't know if this is the right way to teach Thomas to sleep. I worry that this is just parental laziness: after all, we could have kept on with our slow way of teaching him; we're really doing this because we are tired, not because he is tired. He was learning; and he wasn't crying like this. And as much as I want reassurance, I get a little freaked out sometimes when other moms who've done this are enthusiastic - it makes me think of fraternity hazing rituals: I went through this awful thing and survived so now I want you to go through it, too.
And I don't know how much longer I can listen to him cry. André keeps trying to get me to leave the house and go to a café to work, but I can't do it. I know I need to prepare for next week and I know André's right, but I just can't abandon my baby. If he's going to cry and cry and cry because of a decision we made, I feel like I owe it to him to be here. But I'm just sitting here crying and writing this so I don't even know if staying here is the right solution. André claims that I must have inherited some sort of Catholic guilt complex; he threatens to peruse my family tree for Catholic ancestors. My Protestant Irish ancestors would turn over in their graves!
I should probably add that even after hours of screaming last night, he was still a happy little guy this morning - not clingy or scared or anything. And even after his first "nap" this morning he was still playful and happy. So I have zero evidence that he's being negatively affected by this - except the crying when he's supposed to be sleeping.
Ok, enough, I'm going to go try to plan a French class. 10 more minutes and I can pick him up.
Actually, to be more precise, the issue is not sleeping. To date, Thomas has been an ok sleeper, but not a great sleeper. We've made progress with our various "gentle" methods, but 4 weeks of travel in the last 5 weeks did not help us establish any real routines. And I start work on Monday. (Yes, I promise another angst-y post on that any day now.) So we need to sleep - and Thomas needs to sleep. And even the gentlest of sleep books agrees that any one of the various "cry it out" methods is the fastest.
Fastest, however, is not easiest. We let Thomas cry two or three times in Cayman because he was so tired he could hardly keep his eyes open - and each time he fell asleep pretty quickly. Somehow I hoped he had already learned how to sleep and he would just naturally sleep when we got home. He didn't. Sunday night, our first night back, we did our routine & put him to bed and he cried for about 20 minutes. Hard but not awful. Monday night, similar thing. I thought we were golden. And then came last night.
For the record, we are using the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth as our guide. And also for the record, I have read or skimmed at least 4 other sleep books. My friend Louise gave us the Weissbluth book before Thomas was born & I actually read a bunch of it. Of course, I stopped at the 3 month mark because I assumed we'd have it all figured out by then. Our baby was going to be a good sleeper, no doubt because we were going to be perfect parents. Ha!
So last night was night 3 of Weissbluth (which sounds so much better than "cry it out"). He warns parents that night 3 can be a "revolution" where the child figures out what is going on and really begins to protest. Thomas screamed for HOURS. For 3+ hours, to be precise - with a few quieter moments in the middle. We were trying to do the gentler method, so we were going in to him about every 20 minutes to pat his back. Every time he would reach his little arms up and practically beg to be picked up. We resisted. Then, when we left, he would scream even louder. It was excruciating.
After more than 3 hours, he fell asleep - for 45 minutes. Then he woke up and screamed for another hour and a half. This time we left him alone. He fell asleep again for a short while and, when he woke again at about 1 am (I think - time had really lost its meaning by this point), we gave in and let him come into our bed.
And if that weren't enough, we're doing this at naptime, too. So we put him down this morning and he screamed for an hour - then André soothed him to sleep and he managed to get 20 minutes in. Now we're in the middle of another screaming nap (though he did drop off for 20 minutes near the beginning).
This is the worst thing I've ever done. I've read and read and read and I have to believe that this is ok for him. I've talked to so many of my friends who've done this with their children and have kids who sleep well and are not traumatized that I have to believe that this is the best solution in the long run. I know people whose children won't go to bed at ages 4 and even 8. I don't want that for Thomas; I don't want him to have trouble sleeping on his own for years and years. And I know that most of the adults I know cried it out at some point in their infancy. Even more, I know that it works - the flat out truth is that for most kids, crying it out leads to sleeping through the night.
But I don't know if this is the right way to teach Thomas to sleep. I worry that this is just parental laziness: after all, we could have kept on with our slow way of teaching him; we're really doing this because we are tired, not because he is tired. He was learning; and he wasn't crying like this. And as much as I want reassurance, I get a little freaked out sometimes when other moms who've done this are enthusiastic - it makes me think of fraternity hazing rituals: I went through this awful thing and survived so now I want you to go through it, too.
And I don't know how much longer I can listen to him cry. André keeps trying to get me to leave the house and go to a café to work, but I can't do it. I know I need to prepare for next week and I know André's right, but I just can't abandon my baby. If he's going to cry and cry and cry because of a decision we made, I feel like I owe it to him to be here. But I'm just sitting here crying and writing this so I don't even know if staying here is the right solution. André claims that I must have inherited some sort of Catholic guilt complex; he threatens to peruse my family tree for Catholic ancestors. My Protestant Irish ancestors would turn over in their graves!
I should probably add that even after hours of screaming last night, he was still a happy little guy this morning - not clingy or scared or anything. And even after his first "nap" this morning he was still playful and happy. So I have zero evidence that he's being negatively affected by this - except the crying when he's supposed to be sleeping.
Ok, enough, I'm going to go try to plan a French class. 10 more minutes and I can pick him up.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Who needs a walker?
I mentioned that Thomas did a sort of mini-cruise (between two buckets) early in our vacation. Well, here's what he was up to by the last day:
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Cruisin' (well, beginning cruising)
Today Thomas made his first foray (at least that we've seen) into the world of cruising. He discovered the joys of playing with some overturned buckets and then discovered the joys of moving between them - on his feet! We were startled to see it happen, but frankly not too surprised. Mr. Curiosity has been thinking about this for a while. Now we just have to see how quickly he figures out that he can do this on other furniture.
In the meantime, never one to let a little thing like not knowing how to walk get him down, Thomas found another means of locomotion, the supported knee-walk:
I foolishly thought Thomas was stuck & stopped the camera for a few seconds, but Thomas is nothing if not persistent:
And, in non-motor news, he's recently added g's and h's to his babbling repertoire, so we're getting lots of gagas and even some attempts (we think) at "hi"!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wish you were here
Sorry, it's been a while since our last post (we'll play catch up later). For now, we have a few cute pics of Thomas that we wanted to share. Warning: for those of you in the Northeast (or other cold places) these might be painful to view. Anyhow, we're in the Cayman Islands staying with Mandy's aunt Sara and uncle Peter and have been introducing Thomas to water other than that which fills our bath tub.
As you can see from the first picture, his initial impression was not positive. To be fair to the little guy, a) this picture was taken the same day that we left Ottawa (which required waking him at 3:30 a.m.), b) he was standing on a beach which was probably the largest open space he had ever seen, c) he was next to more water than he knew existed, and d) it was brighter than Ottawa ever is. The good news is - as the subsequent pictures show - he gained some confidence after some "training" in the pool and is now happy to plunge into the ocean (that is, with Mom or Dad right near by).
As you can see from the first picture, his initial impression was not positive. To be fair to the little guy, a) this picture was taken the same day that we left Ottawa (which required waking him at 3:30 a.m.), b) he was standing on a beach which was probably the largest open space he had ever seen, c) he was next to more water than he knew existed, and d) it was brighter than Ottawa ever is. The good news is - as the subsequent pictures show - he gained some confidence after some "training" in the pool and is now happy to plunge into the ocean (that is, with Mom or Dad right near by).
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