a reflection

2009 is about to come to a close and I am reminded of how much Eddie has grown and developed this year as I watch my nephew Noah today. Back in January Eddie was where Noah is at; playing on the floor, sometimes rolling over, grasping at small objects and gnawing on everything with that animalistic vengeance only a teething baby has. And now...well he is officially running around, climbing on everything in sight and trying his best at imitating whatever his Dad does. At 16 months he is now, well, a sort of menace at times. He unplugs the Christmas tree lights, grabs at the blind cords and pulls them hard, taunts Marty with his food and tries to steal her food, plays in the toilet, i.e. flushes it repeatedly, tears toilet paper into little pieces and then splashes in the water and is into biting us, amongst other pesky behavior. But, on the other hand, he has developed into this sweet little cuddling machine. He has these moments throughout the day where he will just come and climb into your arms or sit right next to you and nuzzle. His big thing now is that he can climb onto the sofa and chairs and he will do so and just chill for awhile, or grab the remote and try to turn on the tv or change channels. He will also nuzzle on our bed and in Marty's dog bed. His movements are more like a little boy and less like a baby. Lately he has become sort of clingy though, always wanting to be held. But it is mostly because he wants to be a part of our world, a world that exists at 5 feet high and above; he wants to grab at anything on the counter, such as pens and paper, San Pellegrino bottles or a cell phone or remote control. He wants to sit at the table and eat with a fork and knife; he has his own forks now and has mastered them pretty well. He wants to drink whatever we are drinking, and eat whatever we are eating. He is still a good eater, most of the time, but several times a day he seems to just give away half of his food to Marty. He is still not saying any recognizable words, although DOG seems to be close as he points to them in books and says "DAW" or repeats this when he hears a dog bark. But he understands so much. I can ask him to get his boots, and he will retrieve them. or you can say, "where is the ball?" and he will go find one. There are so many other examples of such that I cannot list them all, but it is a huge milestone when your child responds to your words, even if the response is an action and not in actual language yet.

In 2010 I look forward to our new music class which starts next week, learning to ride a tricycle (a gift from Grandma Bonnie that arrived today), planting our veggie garden in the spring and playing with worms, going to the zoo (we never made it in '09), swimming with cousin Noah, a trip to LA (for Uncle Charlie's wedding and to meet baby Alex), another summer in Maine and words, spoken words...this is what I am most excited for.

this christmas

Eddie's second Christmas was full of snow and presents. We went up to my parents' on the 23rd amidst a heavy snowfall. Christmas Eve highlights included Eddie building a snowman with his Dad and a dinner with traditional Maine lobster stew, which E3 and I prepared together, our first joint culinary effort. Christmas morning Santa came; E4 woke around 6:30 a.m. and we showed him his presents under the tree. He went for a big bouncy ball first and then slowly but surely discovered all his other gifts including Legos, a caterpillar pull toy, a glockenspeil/xylophone, a small Grover doll (because he loves the story "Monster at the End of This Book,") a Mr. Potato Head, a forklift truck and various books. Then my sister, Mike and Noah arrived and we went to the country club for an early dinner. Afterward we visited with family friends, the Duchelles. The 26th we celebrated our family Christmas with Noah and Eddie stealing the show for most gifts. Snow fell again and we all went sledding (or sliding as they call it in Maine). Eddie loved it. Laughed and smiled the whole time. Went sledding again on Sunday. And a magical end to an overall magical Christmas - after a busy morning of outdoor play, Eddie fell asleep on Gramps' lap...something he hasn't done since he was a newborn. He was watching the Packers play and just passed out in Gramps' arms...too cute.

one nap

I want to report that Eddie is now consistently only taking one nap. For the past month he was taking sometimes one nap, sometimes two, which made making plans with anyone very frustrating, so I am quite pleased that he is now on a one nap schedule. I thought I would miss his morning nap because it also gave me a chance to nap too, if needed, but I actually like knowing that we have at least four hours from the time to wakes up until he will need to nap, which means we can get a lot more done. His nap now lasts about two hours, which has been great this week as I am busy with holiday chores. Gotta go finish the cards...

dog dog

One could argue that Eddie's first word is "dog." For the past week or so anytime he sees Marty he utters something that sounds like "dog dog." The "g" is not as defined as the d, and at first I just thought he was saying "da da" because it is his syllabal of choice, but more and more it seems to sound like dog. Or he could be trying to say "good dog" since this is the title of one of his favorite books "Good Dog Carl." Whatever the case, dog and baby are the best of pals these days. Eddie loves to feed Marty by throwing food from his high chair, or if he has a snack while walking around he will taunt Marty by handing her some and then not letting go and laughing. Sometimes wherever Marty is laying, Eddie will go and try to lie down beside her. And today after running some Xmas shopping errands (which I must report he is a VERY good shopper), Eddie was estatic when we returned to the car and Marty was there waiting for us with her wagging tail and sloppy wet kisses.

festive weekend

Eddie had a festive weekend despite his continual runny nose - he was congested shortly after Thanksgiving and the nose started running last Wednesday and is still going. Snotty face and sticky hands; this was my other idea for a blog entry since it seems like every kid right now has a cold. We have taught Eddie how to blow his nose, which is good, but he often runs away from me when I pull the tissue out. I apologize for the lack of focus, the lack of blog entries lately. But Eddie is now primarily only taking one nap which means I have even less time to myself to attack the computer - we cannot use the computer, or our cell phones, in Eddie's presence otherwise he pounces on the technology and throws a fit if we take it away from him.

Anyway, back to our weekend. In my family we celebrated St. Nicholas' Day, which is December 6th. St. Nicholas was believed to be the original 'Santa Claus' in the sense that he was the first to drop gifts down a chimney. The legend goes that a poor man's daughters did not have money for a dowry and one night St. Nick came and dropped gold coins down their chimney and the money landed in stockings they had left hung by the fire to dry. So on St. Nick's Eve we put out stockings and they get filled with little goodies by the morning. Eddie didn't put out a stocking per se, but I did let him pick out a stocking from the several we had. And it was filled with some new tinker toys and books that seemed to excited and overwhelm him. He was taken by the first item, a book, and didn't even think that there may be more in the stocking. So precious. He also attended a very festive holiday party on Saturday hosted by my husband's boss. We walked to the party, as they live only a few blocks away, and they even had a stroller valet...that was just the beginning of the extreme organization, thoughtfulness and over-the-topness of this party. Needless to say Eddie was mesmerized by all the commotion and as we were leaving squirmed away and ran back into the party; he is quite the social butterfly. On Sunday we had our friends Bryce & Hilary over with their baby Mack who is 11 weeks. And we walked down the street to Roscoe where they were having various holiday events and promotions at the stores. One store hosted Santa and so we took Eddie and baby Mack. We knew that Eddie would do one of three things, either stare intensely at him, smile at him or cry. I don't want to give away his reaction entirely because it will be a component of our Christmas card this year, but let's just say I don't think we adequately prepared him for what we were doing.



On Monday it snowed! The first snow of the year always makes me happy because it feels more genuinely like the Christmas season. I put on Eddie's new boots and he ran around in the snow giggling. Today it snowed more and I showed him how to make a snowball. Wow. That was really cool to him and he tried to replicate it.

stairs

Eddie starting walking down the stairs today. All day long I was trying to get him to do it but he would just reach out for me to carry him down the steps like I always do. And then all of a sudden this evening he went down the bottom half of our staircase while holding onto the banister, all by himself. Crazy. Video footage will be forthcoming.

thanksgiving weekend

We spent Thanksgiving in Appleton, WI with our cousins. Eddie had a blast playing with all of Sophia's toys. Sophie, on the other hand, was not so enthused by Eddie's presence and every time he tried to socialize with her, she would just run away. The item he seemed to play with the most was her baby doll stroller and bottles - this was to Gramps' dismay as he proclaimed "don't let him play with dolls!" But I just asserted that we want him to grow up to be a good daddy...and even more so, to be a good big brother when the time comes. He reacquainted himself with the toy turkey which made him smile again this year. And he liked being held by tall cousin Johnny. The rest of the weekend we enjoyed the nice weather and spent a lot of time outdoors, watching the ducks and helping Nonni plant tulip bulbs. Inside the house Eddie perfected his skills of going down several stairs and getting off of a bed by himself. Cousin Noah and his parents came up to visit for only a day because he was sick with a fever.

15 for 15

Eddie turned 15 months this week. Becoming more and more of a toddler every day. Trip to the doctor for a check-up went well. He now weighs 21 lbs. 9 ozs., still in the 25th percentile, and is 31 and 3/4 inches, 75th percentile for height. I thought I'd do something a tad different this month and just share 15 great new things about him:

15. His tumbling. He loves to roll around on the floor, and loves it even more if you join him for a tumble. He also does that bent-over-looking-through-his-legs position that makes it look as if he is about to do a somersault.
14. His new found love for Marty. Sometimes he just walks up to her and strokes her coat so gently. Sometimes he grabs at her face and she licks him back. He also likes to feed her directly from his hand.
13. His ability to share. He loves to share his food with us, feed us by placing the food directly in our mouths or in our hands. He can also hand over objects if you ask for them, although he mostly just does a psyche and gestures to hand you the object but then never lets go of it. He smiles. He is so proud of himself.
12. Books. I swear the kid is crazy about his books and is very independent about reading these days. He carries his books into little corners of the house and sits there and flips through pages. Board books, big kid books, mommy's books, magazines, really anything and everything legible he wants to get ahold of.
11. Pens. He always wants to have a pen if he sees one or after seeing me use one. And then he will motion around on the floor that he is "writing." Maybe he will be a writer like his Grandma and Aunt.
10. Putting on shoes. He is not able to do it yet but he makes attempts and it is so cute. He often tries to put on my shoes too.
9. Blankie and Kiki. He has two of the same blankie - I bought a second one to have in case something happened to the first one and to have for when I need to wash the other one. Well he found the second blankie right away and so now he has two blankies and he loves them. He carries them everywhere - luckily though he dosesn't need to have them, as in we don't bring it with us outside of the house, but he is so happy when he has one. Kiki did go on an excursion this week though. I brought her to the doctor's office this week to give to him after he got his shots and he was so happy. He nuzzles his little face in the blankie and will often lie on the floor with it as if going to sleep. If you ask "where is blankie?" he will go find one. I named the second one Kiki because he repeats "kkkk" when he sees his blankie/s.
8. His independence. I love how he can just play and play and occupy himself without needing intervention. And how he loves to figure things out on his own. Like walking - he never went through that phase where the parent holds the kid's hands as they walk between their legs. He just did it himself. Now he is trying to step up and down and once again, he doesn't want our help at all. Sometimes I get a little jealous when I see other kids his age holding their parents' hands; he won't, I think because he isn't used to it because we let him walk by himself.
7. His dancing. There is something innate within humans to dance to music, right? Because it seems like all/most babies love to dance when they hear music. It is a pretty amazing thing. That an infant ear can detect sound and designate what is music and what is not. Eddie dances to everything from Beethoven to Johnny Cash to our own attempts to sing or hum or make music on the piano. He dances when I play a Kuhlau Sonatina and a tune like She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain...can't wait for Christmas music soon!
6. Gimmie five. His dad taught him how to do this.
5. His patience. His dad says that he got his focus and patience from his mom. It is evident with this magnetic puzzle he got from his friend Niah for his birthday. He can take the net, which has a string and a small magnet attached to it, and pull up the puzzle pieces from their small magnet center; it is something that takes precision and a whole lot of patience for a baby. And Eddie can do it. Another thing that impressed me the other day was he had a chapstick and was trying to set it on top of the garbage can and it kept rolling off. After it happened twice he figured out how to set the chapstick down ever so gingerly so as to make it stay put.
4. His new found love of cuddling. Along with his tumbling skills, Eddie now has become a total cuddler. If you sit on the floor he will run over to you and climb all over you and then hug you and sit in your lap. These are some of my favorite moments of the day.
3. Belly button. His favorite body part. Likes to find mine and poke at it.
2. Apples. His favorite food of the moment. He sees them in a bowl on the table and points to them and whines until I cut off a wedge and give it to him. He probably eats 2 whole apples a day.
1. Understanding. Even though he isn't saying much, all just babble and garble still, Eddie understands a lot. When I ask "do you want to go downstairs?" he will walk over to the stairs. When I say "do you want to play piano"" He will walk over to the piano and start hitting the keys. If I say "Let's go for a walk" he will go to the door and try to open it, or grab Marty's leash. Although I anxiously await for the day when he is able to verbally communicate back to me, I am content now that he is comprehending most of what we are saying.

nightmare on sesame street

Eddie doesn't watch tv. The tv is really only on during the weekends when Daddy is around and we limit the intake to sports, often changing back over to our xmradio music station when the commercials get going. But since it is the 40th anniversary, and since it was such a major part of my own childhood, I decided to let Eddie watch a bit of Sesame Street yesterday. I turned it on while he was still in his high chair, finishing up breakfast. The first skit was a take on 'High School Musical' - a bunch of muppets singing 'Pre-School Musical' and the sight of all these creatures bobbing up and down and squealing in high-pitched tones literally made Eddie cry. The next skit was with this new character whose name I think is Murray - a big red floppy hyper thing that interacts with people on the street. I have to say that the whole skit made my own head spin. It felt like the producers were on crack or heavy doses of caffeine. The pace was just so fast, so loud, so in-your-face. It made me realize that this is what our society, in particular, our youth, are all about - fast-paced hyperness. Scary. Luckily the next skit was with Bert & Ernie and had a familiar banter and slow, yet up-beat tune. Eddie was memorized and a few times pointed at the screen saying his noise of the moment: "kkkkk." But again as it switched into high-gear with Elmo's World, he started to whine and was then relived as I changed the channel back to classical music. Ahhh. Then he went back to Eddie's World and played with his toys on the door mat, rubbing his feet along its rigid surfaces. He is very tactile, very hands-on, and I so I think the overload of visual stimuli is something he is not ready for. And me either. I guess I am a classicist - Sesame Street to me is the dopey, friendly waddle of Big Bird, the humorous funk of Oscar the Grouch and soothing sounds like 'C' is for Cookie and 'Rubber Duckie.' Today's viewing was more reminiscent of a video game or thriller movie, in terms of its pace and cantor. It undoubtedly disturbed Eddie because I put him down for a nap shortly thereafter and what should have been a nice solid 2 hr. sleep was instead a quick 20 minutes that culminated with full-blown screaming, which is not usually the way he wakes up. I thought maybe he hurt himself up there. Nope, he was fine. He must have just had a nightmare on sesame street.

the cup, revised

Back in September I shared my sippy cup woes with our blog readers. Well, I am happy to announce that Eddie has successfully been drinking from ALL of his various sippy cups for almost a month now. Throughout the day I fill one of the spill-proof ones with water and leave it somewhere where Eddie can reach it, usually on a bar stool. He finds it, of course, and totes it all around the house that by the end of the day I cannot ever seem to find it. Then during meals I use the Take-n-Toss cups and fill them with milk. He is still not drinking the milk as much as water. And then he always has a sippy cup in the car and seems to drink it while we ride. I guess the reason I feel it is so relevant to talk about the cup is because Eddie never drank from a bottle, and is still breastfed four times a day, so I have worried that he would be dehydrated if I didn't present him with the boob. Even something as simple as drinking, needs to be taught to a baby...so I have realized. Once again, I am glad that he is capable of drinking. Even if it now means he is drinking his bath water too.

Above is a photo of Eddie just being one of the guys, "drinking" with his Uncle Will.

repetito est mater studiorum

Literally translated as 'repetition is the mother of learning', or more loosely, the more you repeat something, the more you master it. This phrase was iterated by my high school Latin teacher on numerous occasions, specifically before exams to encourage us to memorize conjugations but also randomly as this sort of wise, life lesson sort of advice. I am reminded of it today because I feel no where is this more apparent than in observing a toddler learn. Eddie has been mastering new skills daily, it seems, and he does so by repeating things, sometimes so much he seems compulsive or obsessive. Today he was working on stepping up and down. He wisely has chosen to master this skill in our shower where there is a ledge that is about 6 inches high before entering the shower. So he holds onto the shower door and steps up onto this ledge and steps down into the shower. He then turns around and goes out of the shower. And he repeats this over and over again until distracted by something new. Up until this point any time he encountered a change in elevation, per se, he would stoop down and crawl over the barrier or step, but now he is trying to stay on two feet and actually step up and down. It sounds simple to an adult but it is an arduous task for a baby and quite amazing to watch it in progress.

He also surprised me the other day by finally starting to show genuine interest in blocks beyond throwing and banging them, when he actually stacked them on top of each other. I have been showing him this for months but his only interest in blocks is knocking them down; I keep thinking, what is it about boys that is so destructive? But just the other day he carried five of his alphabet blocks into the bathroom and placed them onto the black and white tile floor and started stacking and un-stacking them. I was so proud. I just stood there for awhile watching with a big grin on my face, and then of course, applauded his efforts. Interesting, it seems like our bathroom is his sort of learning tank.

He is really into moving objects and will take items from one place to another, often from one room to another and then place them on the floor and walk away and then go back and repeat this. I guess this is object permanence learning. The funny thing is when he tries to do this with snacks. I am trying to teach him that if he leaves food on the floor, Marty will eat it. He still seems baffled when the little Bunny Grahams are not on the door mat where he left them.

lots o' leaves

for my birthday my loving husband got me a new camera...here are some fall shots with the new gear...and now using Flickr to upload photos instead of Picasa. I figured out the problem - had to make all the photos 'public.' The order is random so you will see scenes from a park in Chicago, from our home and also from our weekend at Nonni and Gramps:

it's a great pumpkin...

Charlie Brown!



We decided to capitalize on Eddie's baldness and dress him as Charlie Brown this year, a simple costume that entailed a $3 shirt which I painted the zig-zag black stripe on and rescuing my old Snoppy doll from my parents' basement and giving him a thorough bath. We didn't take Eddie out Trick-or-Treating officially since there is really no point when he can't walk up steps yet and the candy would go to waste, but he undoubtedly enjoyed the day as he raced to the door every time the bell rang and literally assisted in handing out candy to the kids. His Dad took him to a friend's party briefly - perhaps it would have been for longer but our guy came down with a slight cold on Thursday night so we had to take it easy this weekend. Uncle Will was here for the festivities and we all took turns holding back the barking Marty and opening the door with the candy basket in hand. Our neighborhood gets really into the festivities. The street is blocked off to deter any cars. Every house is decorated with lights, spooky decor and pumpkins. All the adults dress up too - our favorite was our neighbor Bob dressed as a woman - as they walk their kids around and tote a plastic cup filled with libations. And happy to see that many seem to make their kid's costumes. The most popular costume for boys seemed to be Thomas the Train, something all the parents tell me that Eddie will undeniably get into . For girls I saw some characters from our own childhood, including Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake and a Smurf. Cousin Noah came over for awhile and visited. It won't be long before the boys will be out there together racing from door to door!

watching noah

This was the last week we regularly watched Noah Wilson during the day. For the past eight weeks we had the pleasure of babysitting my nephew twice a week for a couple hours as my sister had regular appointments. Next week my sister goes back to work, at first part-time and then full-time in November and little Noah will be at daycare. It was a great experience for both Eddie and I, to have another baby and see what it would be like if I had two of my own. There were moments when it felt very natural and I was proud of my guy's ability to play independently. I was conscious of his need for attention and would often sing songs - it seemed to soothe Noah and make Eddie smile. Eddie smiles at Noah. He wants to touch him, pat his head. One time he actually hit Noah's head and Noah made such a sour puss face at him...perhaps an indication of future battles to come. I hope they don't pick on each other. My sister and I won't know how to handle that since our fights were always verbal exchanges of "you poop!" Eddie likes to play with Noah's car seat. And he has enjoyed having his bouncy seat back out of storage - he crawls into it and plays, mostly trying to figure out how to clasp the harness straps.

The most difficult moments came during feedings and naptime. When I was feeding Noah a bottle, Eddie would clamor to be fed too and start to climb in my lap, or at least attempt to. I often had to walk away or leave the room so that Eddie wouldn't see me feeding Noah and get jealous. The other challenge would occur during nap time - when I had to put Eddie down and simultaneously Noah was nearing the sleep stage too. Noah would get cranky and would not want to be put down, and yet Eddie would need his bedtime ritual of a feeding...so I was stuck. Sometimes it felt like dueling banjos, with both of them crying as I would try to set Noah down and he wanted nothing of the sort and yet Eddie would be whining to be picked up too. Noah reminds me a lot of Eddie as a newborn - he is a fairly high needs baby. He is not colicky like Eddie, but he does not go to sleep unassisted. Here I am back on the ball, bouncing a baby to sleep. It feels good to do it again, in a way. To know that I can soothe another baby to sleep. Noah also does not like to be put down for naps, he likes to be held and sleep in your arms. It is that same tricky eggshell battle of trying to put the closed eye baby down onto a bed, with hands still on him to make him feel as though you are still there, and then carefully removing them so as to not wake him...and then Eddie starts babbling and his voice wakes Noah. Ugh. This process continues at least four times before I succeed. Yes. I still have the touch.

a nice sunday

You turned 14 months on Sunday. It was a beautiful day - finally - a nice autumn day with sunshine and temperatures in the 60s. We spent a lot of the day outside, finishing up the fall yard work. I pulled the tomato plants out, a little saddened as unconsumed green bulbs fell to the ground. We planted way too many seedlings - 8. But it was our first attempt and we learned so much. How those little pants grow so quickly from mere seedlings to bushy fruit bearing structures that tower some 6 ft. high is quite amazing. And as I pulled them from the earth I was marveled at how comparatively small their root system is. And I thought about you, about how much you have grown too. I watched as you played on the deck with your balls and truck, taking in the day, the briskness in the air. I wondered if you are aware of seasons, changes in our environment. Of course we talk about the leaves and the flowers and the weather, but naturally I question your comprehension. Maybe you just recognize that the days are cooler because you are no longer wearing sandals and there is a new hat on your head, a new puffy coat on your arms and a blanket over you on our walks.

You are starting to babble a lot now. More consonants and more syllables but nothing that really translates into a real word. You also communicate a lot by pointing, reaching and whining for things you want. You seem taller these days. Your visual scope is widening as you see something you want high above on the counter or table top and then reach and whine for it when it is out of your reach. When you want to go play in the basement you go over by the door and reach for the doorknob. You are in to regular household objects: any kitchen tools, straws, food in the pantry, any type of bottle or glass, the Swiffer, the humidifier and of course the remote controls and our cell phones. Recently the Swiffer has become your new obsession. You push it around the house, as if you are cleaning, for up to 30 minutes with intense focus. You have figured out how to take the humidifier apart. You can flush the toilet. You are still fascinated by opening any drawer or cabinet. If you are in the bathroom when I open a drawer you will grab a bottle of lotion or hair product and run away with it, laughing. You even reached up to the sink and grabbed the liquid soap the other day. Yesterday you ate a piece of a leaf.

Teeth just keep coming and coming. You have 12 totally in and one incisor that is poking through. So you are still chewing on everything and anything.

Sleep is still sporadically bad...as in, you are waking 3-4 times a night. I am talking to a few different sleep consultants to figure out what to do beyond letting you cry it out. We tried this method one night and after 45 minutes I broke down and retrieved you. It is too hard to let you get it all worked up, stressed and full of snot, especially during flu season, when it feels like I am being selfish - your pain is our gain. I keep thinking that there has to be a reason, a genuine developmental/medical reason why you don't sleep through the night. I keep thinking that it has to be more than just you wanting to be nursed. Are you cold? Do your teeth hurt? Do you have bad dreams? Does your skin itch? Does your tummy hurt? If we only knew.

dancing machine

Uncle Will stopped in for a visit and taught Eddie how to boggie!

my bookworm

Eddie has really been into his books lately. When he wakes up from a nap and is set on the floor he often will go straight for his books, pulling them from the ottoman one by one and opening them on the floor, creating a literary mosaic. He pages through them all by himself, as if he is actually reading them. Just like everything, he wants to do it by himself. When you read a book to him he will often push it away and grab another one. This goes on book after book, like a sort of game, until he ultimately climbs out of the chair and onto the floor where he can "read" his books by himself.

a lull

There's a feeling of a lull here right now. The weather is grey and cold. Grandma Bonnie has left. Uncle Will already dropped in. We are back to our regular routines and feeling a bit down. Marty missed Bonnie's cookies and walks; she has been sort of off and got sick with the gurgy guts and runs this morning - I think she is depressed. Eddie is still showing off his new trick that his Grandma taught him - blowing bubbles. Bonnie did it one night while Eddie was in the bath and since then he has repeated the skill every time he drinks his water out of his cup. It is hilariously cute but makes for a big wet mess. Lulls are okay though...a lull translates to a stress-free existence, and for me right now that is probably exactly what I need since I am recovering from a bad head cold. Once again it seems like I have gotten sick in order to protect my son; I keep thinking that one day he is going to awaken with the same stuffiness that I have and instead, thankfully, he arises bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to play play play. He seems oblivious to the change of seasons - still wants to play outside all the time. We bundle him up in his new puffy coat - so cute. Can't wait to post some photos on the blog and share his new cuteness with you.

swimmy

We have been taking Aquababies swimming class for a month now...check out some photos:


and footage

the flow

Some days things just flow, everything goes according to plan and the day feels somewhat effortless. I have learned to appreciate these days because they are so rare, happening maybe once every couple of weeks. Life with a toddler is constant adaptation, a lesson in patience, flexibility and moment to moment decisiveness. Not to mention life with a corky dog that gets what we call "gurgy guts" in the morning, sometimes won't eat her food and will only go to the bathroom if I accompany her in the yard. So when I found out I had a last minute meeting for a project I am working on at 9 a.m. this morning at my neighbor's house plus plans to do lunch with friends, I was a bit worried that scheduling two things in a matter of hours would backfire and I would have to cancel on at least one of them. But everything went according to plan. Eddie woke up around 7 a.m. and went back down for his morning nap at quarter to 9. Evie came over to babysit while I went to the meeting. I returned around 10:45 and Eddie woke up shortly thereafter. Then after changing his poop (right on schedule) and having a quick lunch, we went to pick up lunch for our friends Hilary and Lauren who both recently had babies. We visited with little Mack and Grace and their mommies and then returned home for our 2 p.m. nap. For the past several days Eddie hasn't been sleeping during his second nap, he just plays in his crib, but today he slept for 45 minutes, allowing me to rest too. And then the rest of the evening just fell into place too with a nice family walk, dinner and bath. Just put Eddie down for bed and hoping he sleeps as well as he did last night - finally, a break from his recent bad habit of waking up so much - last night he only woke up around 10 p.m. for a feeding and then slept through the night. We aren't sure whether it was the addition of his monkey Dangles in his crib, the lightweight tight fitting pjs or the sippy cup with water that aided in his sleep...probably none of the above, just a lucky timing thing. But we repeated these elements tonight and are hoping for the same results. What a difference good sleep makes. I know this and know that the flow of today was no coincidence.

spilt milk

I started giving Eddie whole milk on his 13 month bday, now almost a month ago. He drinks it from his silver cup with his meals. He doesn't chug it as ferociously as he does his water, he sips it slowly, still trying to figure out what this white stuff that isn't from mommy is. But he does drink small amounts of it. The most annoying part about having him drink milk instead of water all the time is that when it spills, it has to be cleaned up thoroughly otherwise it will smell. We had a dishtowel in the laundry room that reeked like puke and we figured out it must have been used to clean up spilt milk. I was hesitant to give Eddie milk, thinking, why does he need it if he is still breastfeeding? We are the only creature to drink another species' milk. And over 70% of Americans have some form of lactose intolerance. But since he is so lightweight, only in the 25% for his age, I decided that maybe the whole milk instead of water would bulk him up...and help him sleep through the night. Well, he seems like he weighs a tad more but he is still not sleeping through the night. More teeth are exploding in the mouth - so many that I cannot even keep track of which ones they are. So I am hoping that the night waking will get better soon.

the season

Autumn has always been my favorite season - the foliage, the frost on the pumpkins, chilly days and cozy nights. And it is officially here as I watch the vines on our fence turn from vibrant green to burnt orange, fire engine red and eventually brown. But this year there is another sign that summer is gone and we must shift gears...flu shots. Everywhere I go I feel bombarded by the fear of influenza, or worse, gasp, H1N1. Signs outside of Walgreens have been displaying "flu shots here" for weeks now - there is even an ad on TV for them. And my email has been bombarded with discussions on the topic. Probably the best discussion of the topic I found here on a local blog, and it reinforced my natural instinct to NOT vaccinate Eddie. My pediatrician brought it up at his 12 month well visit back in August. And when I pressed her and asked, "really, what do you think, does Eddie need them?" She sheepishly answered that they are recommending them for all over the age of 6 months...of course because that's what the CDC and AAP are saying they have to say that. But I said I still wanted to think about it. And I have thought about it and feel pretty confident that we are not going to get either shot. Instead I am going to practice a strict regime of hand washing every time we enter the house from being out somewhere and if we have contact with other kids or public places. I will continue to wipe down the shopping carts with disinfecting wipes (I know it sounds silly). And we will be consuming foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, including salmon and flax seeds. I add flax seeds to our oatmeal now. And I just purchased a new supplement for Eddie that is full of omega 3's and vitamin D, called Eskimo Kids. That's the other big vitamin to push to protect against illness, vitamin D3 - for more info, go here. And I am taking vitamin D daily myself, which, since I am still breastfeeding, means Eddie will be getting extra doses of goodness. We have been very lucky with Eddie's health so far, and I am hoping that continuing to breastfeed and doing these other precautionary measures will mean that he stays healthy this season. Summer, and everything carefree and sunny about it, IS over...and for the first time I am sort of depressed. This is wrong. We should not be living in fear of the flu.

a few of my favorite things

here are some of my current favorite things:

the soy sauce bottle


playing with the blind cords (a no no that I get away with sometimes when mommy is closely monitoring me)


walking along the side of the house


charging through the house with my blankie

13 months

Last night as I was uploading some recent photos I started to shed some tears, tears of genuine love, tears of joy coupled with fear, fear that if anything ever happened to my Bomby I don't know what I'd do. He is just so darn fun. Despite his increasing self-agency and expressiveness which often translates to mini temper tantrums or breakdowns fostered by the desire to have something that we deem inappropriate, he is such a joy day in and day out.

He is a little guy. We are not really sure how it happened since his dad was such a big baby and he seems to eat a lot, but he is very active. He has the buff-est baby body I have ever seen. He is a slim jim, a tall drink of water and when I compare him to other babies his age I get a tad concerned, wondering if he will always be so skinny. I am trying to bulk him up by now serving him whole milk with all his meals instead of water - more on milk in an upcoming post. But his one year visit confirmed that he is only 21 lbs. and 30 inches, putting him in the 10th percentile for weight and the 50th for height. He is still in his infant car seat...will be getting the new car seat soon though.

Some of his favorite activities lately include toting his blankie all around the house and waving it around like a red flag in a bull pin, exploring the drain in the shower (still), doing body flops and "jumping" on our bed, playing outside, especially with rocks, anything with water (note, we started swim lessons a few weeks ago and he likes it), grabbing whole fruit from the fruit basket and eating it whole and playing with the soy sauce bottle - I know it sounds weird, but every time I open the fridge he grabs this bottle and carries it all around the house and babbles. If I take it away from him, he throws a fit. So I emptied most of the soy sauce out of it and just monitor that he isn't throwing it or anything causing it to shatter. One day I hid the bottle by placing it on the top shelf and he was so perplexed, looking all over the fridge for it. Too funny. The only thing I can think of is that he is trying to mimic his Dad - he sees him sometimes carrying a beer bottle and talking and so maybe he us trying to replicate that. He seems to be mimicking his Dad all the time now. His Dad roars, he roars. He is making attempts at playing hockey with the little sticks he has, especially after watching his Dad knock stuff around. He even grabs the remote and points it at the TV.

Changing his diaper is still a big struggle. I read recently in the book "Touchpoints" by T. Barry Brazelton that this is typical at this stage in development - that anything you do that prevents their increasing desire to move, especially to stand and walk, can cause them to have a breakdown. I dread diaper time. And getting dressed is something I do as he is on the move. It is a process. But he is showing signs of understanding this process. Yesterday as we were getting dressed to leave the house he actually attempted to put his shoes on by himself.

Walking is a process and as indicated through the video posts on the blog, you can see that he is progressing nicely and is taking more and more consecutive steps. Of course he falls, and of course he still crawls, but he is walking more and more. He seems to like when he has shoes on - must be a different feeling than walking around barefoot.

Verbally he distinguishes from "mama" and "dada" although he often just repeats the syllables so it is more like "ma ma ma ma." He also seems to understand "no" because when he doesn't want to do something, like have his diaper changed or go in his high chair, he shakes his head and says "na na na na."

Gastronomically we haven't introduced to many new foods lately because he is increasingly eating whatever we eat. We are starting to try to eat dinner all together before he goes to bed; this is a goal as the days get shorter and it gets darker earlier, and so that we are not eating dinner after putting him down which after preparing sometimes be after 8/8:30 p.m. I am trying to introduce more proteins and seeds & nuts - he has eaten chickpeas, sesame (ground as tahini), peanut butter, flax seeds, almonds, cantaloupe, plums and grapes this month.

We do swim class once a week, have been going to the park with Niah and have been watching cousin Noah twice a week (more on this in another post). I checked out Gymboree to see if we wanted to sign up for those classes too, but decided to wait until winter when it is too cold to play outside. For now, we are trying to enjoy the nice end of summer/start of fall weather and play outside and go for walks every day.

our stinky monkey

this scene basically happens every night between dinner and bedtime. Eddie makes a poopy and gets crazy. Check it out:

exhaustion

Nobody has ever said this to me, but it is something I will surely tell others: parenthood is a state of being able to function amidst exhaustion. I am exhausted. Going on 13 months of interrupted sleep and my body is really starting to break down. Two nights ago Eddie did something he has never done before in the middle of the night - he woke up after being put to bed and wanted to stay up. He wasn't what I would call playful though, he just wanted me to hold him. So I naturally thought that something was wrong, that he was sick, despite having no fever. So I grabbed a blanket and proceeded to sleep in the chair with him. He wanted to sleep on me, but just couldn't get comfortable so I thought I would bring him into our bed. My mind aching with the thought that I could be setting the stage for a dreadful habit...but alas, he was not able to sleep there between the excitement of being by his Dad and Marty and the curiosity of the shadows the ceiling fan made, so back to his room we went. He finally fell asleep on the boob, an hour and a half later, and I placed him in his crib. Last night he luckily did not repeat this behavior, but it was perhaps an even worse night of sleep because he woke up and cried out 4 times. Yes, 4 times. Count them. Went down at 7:30, woke at 11 p.m., again at 12:30, again at 3:30, then for good at 6 a.m., going back down for a nap at 8 a.m. Ridiculous. Like a newborn. I have read that this is common at this age/developmental stage and it is all because of the double-edged sword of independence - they want to be independent and the skill of walking is the the pivotal moment in achieving independence, yet they also want to remain close to you, hence the clingyness that Eddie has exhibited recently, and all the excessive requests for boob. During the day he is still nursing 4-6 times too. And I have been feeling really drained - headaches all the time, faintness, digestive problems. So one thing I did, and probably should have done a long time ago is calculate how many calories I consume on an average day - a breastfeeding woman should consumer somewhere between 1800-2200 and if it drops below 1500 they are at risk for losing their milk supply. I calculated that I consume on average 1200...way too low. So I am trying to eat more and more high calories foods. I am taking prenatal vitamins again too. And I have stopped taking the herbal supplements that were helping to flush out my system which was bogged down by what Chinese medical professionals call "stagnation." It all seemed well and has helped my skin, but what it really was doing was making me go to the bathroom a lot. Not to mention Eddie - he has been averaging three poops a day. Now that I have been off the herbs for four days he has only gone poop once per day.

And I keep thinking, this is how I feel with just one child. What happens when there are multiple? I ask my friend and neighbor Cindi who has three kids how she does it, and as the words fall off my tongue I glance over and realize that she has been drinking a Red Bull throughout our walk to the park. Oh. Caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine. Being active helps too. I feel much more like a human when we are busy and have plans with other people, as hard as it is to find energy to do so, vs. the days we stay home and lay low. Lounging around might sound recharging but it actually seems to make me even more tired and irritable and, I fear, a lackluster mom.

Now it is almost 8:30. Eddie has been asleep for about and hour and I think I am going to go to sleep too.

discerning palate

Eddie has always been a good eater but lately, pretty much ever since he turned one, he has become pickier and refuses to eat certain things at certain times. I know this is a typical toddler behavior. The funny thing is that he seems to have a sophisticated, discerning palate because the times when he refuses certain foods is because they just aren't the best. For example, for a week he refused to eat his Cheerios. Then I tasted one and realized why - they were stale. Got a fresh box and he is eating them again. Tomatoes. All summer long he has loved eating cherry tomatoes, especially the Sungold variety from the market. He also eats the Juliets we grow in our backyard. But for a week or so he wasn't eating the Juliets anymore. I tasted one and realized why - they just weren't ripe enough. One night I gave him some diced zucchini and spinach that had been frozen and then thawed in the microwave. He wouldn't touch it. It had freezer-burn. He also doesn't like more than one-day old pasta. And he prefers his peas to be fresh too.

a true blog

There's so much blogging backed up in my brain...things I have been meaning to write but haven't had the chance to do so. I have even made a little list of "to-blog" entries and have to now go through and actually write them so I can cross them off the list. But now that a have a free moment, my mind is mush. I have 12 minutes before Top Chef starts, so that constitutes a free moment. It is the only show I am committed to these days. Commitments are tough for me. Always have been. And it is even tougher with a baby. Every day I have a game plan of errands, housework and possible social engagements or outings. And often not everything on the game plan gets done. It's okay though. Take today, for example: woke up at 7:15 a.m., picked up Eddie out of his crib as Marty was barking hysterically, her way of telling me she has to go out and go potty or poopy. Took Marty out. Fed Marty. Let Eddie play for awhile before changing his diaper. Fed Eddie. Played more. Put Eddie down for a.m. nap around 9 a.m. Put in load of laundry, washed dishes, washed counter tops, swept the floor, finished putting photos from Maine vacation in an album, worked a tad on Eddie's baby book. At 11 a.m. Eddie woke up and we went to the Farmer's Market. Got home at 12:30 and prepared a quick lunch of tomatoes, bread, peas and a pear. At 12:45 my sister came over to drop off Noah. Babysat Noah until 2:30 - watching Noah is one topic on the "to-blog" list. Evie and Noah left and put Eddie down for a nap. We had swim class at 3:30 but I knew we weren't going to make it. Eddie was literally a mess from eating raspberries at the market, having a quickie lunch right as Noah arrived and playing with beer bottles as I fed Noah his bottle. Talked to Mom. Texted with Carrie. Uploaded some photos. Eddie woke up at 3:17. Nope. Not going to make it to swim class this week. It's okay though. I am less tense about breaking so-called commitments, about missing classes. I know it is money down the tubes, but what are we supposed to do, run out of the house in a frenzy and then stress when there is traffic and we get to the class totally late and miss it entirely? So not worth it. Instead we played out in the backyard, picked tomatoes and watched Marty chase squirrels. Then Dad came home with a bouquet of flowers. Today was our 3 year anniversary. Changed a poopy diaper, went for a walk, ate pasta as a family, then watched Eddie get all amped up over his new walking skills. Changed another poop. Bath. Boob. Beddy. Ah...Top Chef time for me. Good day.

the cup

I started buying sippy cups when Eddie was about 8 months old. I have purchased four. First it was Phillips Avent's trainer cup, then Born Free's version. Then at the advice of an experienced mom, I tried the Take-In-Toss cups from Target and Munchkin's brand sippy cup which is a simple 3 piece version compared to Born Free's complex system that includes seven components. The problem with all these sippy cups is that they are all "no-spill" style which means the child has to vigorously suck to get any liquid out. I try to drink from them and it practically gives me a headache to suck so hard. Eddie bites on the spouts of the cups a lot and they have proven to be good teethers and nice distraction devices during long car rides. But when I look at the level of the water after he has had it for several minutes I see that he has not consumed a drop. The Take-In-Toss cup is a tad different and more like the old-school style of sippy cup: a simple lid with a spout. But because there are no handles, it is a tad too cumbersome for my 12 month old. The Munchkin one is a cheap version of the new no-spill style cups with only three parts to it - the spout, the handles and the actual cup. It is not a good travel cup as it doesn't have a lid and the spout often does not securely fit into the top, making it liable to leak. He seems to like the spout on the Avent one the best, and it is also the smallest, making it the easiest to handle. So for now it is our sippy cup of choice, even if only as a teether.

Ever since Eddie started eating solid foods I have been giving him sips of water during his meals via a hand-me-down silver baby cup, actually my silver baby cup from years ago. Something that was used for me only on special occassions has become part of Eddie's every meal routine. Well, last week he started to do more than grab and play with the cup and spill the water everywhere - he started to confidently drink from it on his own. Today I gave him his water in a glass demitasse cup and he gingerly drank from that too. So maybe he has circumvented the whole sippy cup/trainer cup phase. He will go straight from breast to cup to SIGG.

first steps

Eddie has been taking a step or two here and there for the last month, but this week it has progressed to like four or five steps before collapsing back down into the crawl. Check it out:

monkey butt

We have been really fortunate to have not had a bout of diaper rash...until now. The last two days Eddie's bum has been red and his dad calls it "monkey butt." He has been pooping so much lately; yesterday was four times! I think it is because he eats fruit with every meal and tons of it. Yesterday I swear he ate a half a pint of raspberries and his last poop of the day looked like Smuckers...with seeds. And his bum was all red. I thought it was solely from the raspberries but then this afternoon it was red again. It could be because I am giving him his fruit with the rind on it now. He actually ate a whole apple the other day...just saw me eating one and wanted one too, so I figured, why not see what he does. He ate like 3/4 of it just like he should eat it, around the core and all...it was pretty cool. The new food we have introduced over the past couple of days is peanut butter. So maybe it is the peanut butter bothering his underside. I guess I will stop the peanut butter and see what happens. There is no way I am stopping fruit because he loves it so much and we have so much of it in the house right now. But maybe I will slow down the berry intake!

molar madness

On the teeth front, first of, I forgot to mention that Eddie got his 8th tooth (the bottom right incisor) around mid-July. Now he is getting his molars in. I have felt the uppers as I was sweeping his mouth after he attempted to eat a rock, and I think I see the lowers coming in because his gums are swollen. Overall his behavior is not too bad as he only has about 2-3 moments a day when he sort of freaks out in pain. He rubs his fist over his mouth or clutches to a toy in his mouth and shakes his head as if he is mad - and I mean mad in the true sense of the term - a little bit crazy, a little bit angry. And he has been a tad needy, wanting to breastfeed more and waking more at night. But the other crazy sign of teething that he has this time around which he has never had before is loose poops. For the last two days he has pooped three times a day and the third one is a tad loose. It is pure nastiness. It is molar madness.

party, morning after

We celebrated Eddie's birthday here in Chicago this past Saturday with a small afternoon open house and bbq. The weather was a tad on the cooler side for August, in the mid-60's, but luckily comfortable enough to be outside. I chose the theme of "The Hungry Caterpillar" because it is one of Eddie's favorite books and I think the transition from caterpillar to butterfly can symbolize the momentous changes that occur in the first year of life. You can see in the photos how we carried out the theme from the cake to the decor. We further extended the theme by showing Eddie's transformation in year one by putting all of the "Eddie and the Bear" photos on display - who knew the simple gift from Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Rick, which was delivered to us in the hospital, would have become our measuring stick on Eddie's growth throughout the year. We also hooked the computer up to the tv and had all of our photos of eddie running on a slideshow to one of the playlists I created for his birth. It truly was a tribute to E4.

The guests included Nonni and Gramps, Uncle Mike, Aunt Evie, Cousin Noah, Greg Buth, Tj & Jill Gliha (with baby in utero), Bryce & Hilary Prosser (also with baby on the way), our doula and friend Peyton and her kids Hope, Bowen and Jake, Tommy Carideo with sons Santino and Benicio and our friend from music class Madeline and her mom Debra. The afternoon flew by and Eddie seemed oblivious to the fact that he was the guest of honor. He seemed mesmerized most by the fact that we had our sliding door opened to the deck the whole day and so he kept going back and forth from deck to house and found much pleasure in doing so. Singing 'Happy Birthday' to him did not seem to phase him as he stoically just sat there. And he had no interest in the cake really - after being served a piece he started to cry and wanted out of the high chair. We only opened a few gifts that evening, and of the few opened, the favorite seemed to be the Gumby - coincidentally it's a great teething toy. So we opened the majority of gifts the next morning which had a whole Xmas morning feel to it as Eddie paraded around in his pjs and we watched him play with his new trucks, blocks and all the balloons. He loves his gift from his Uncle Charlie - a duck that waddles around to the tune of "Camptown Races." We will have to take a video of Eddie with this toy because it is hilarious - he dances and mimics it and when it stops he tries to figure out how to turn it on again. All in all it was a nice party. Of course I over stressed myself with all the cooking and preparations but I did have time to enjoy myself and chat with guests. My only regret is that I didn't have the chance to capture more of the day on film, namely our guests. Luckily my sister took some great photos with her new camera which are posted above. Enjoy.

stink eye

Eddie has this new expression, which I caught on film the other day, that we call the stink eye. He wrinkles his nose up...trying to figure out if it is something he sees me doing or what, and whether or not it is cute or annoying ugly...

8,700+ hours

To think that it was one whole year ago when our little bomba emerged, opened his eyes and mouth and let out a big newborn "whaaaa." A year. The 365 day calendar that dictates our lives in one way or another, that helps us celebrate holidays, make appointments, relish weekends and in most geographic locations, indicate climate and potential weather. It is sort of a wierd arbitrary thing though when you think about it: basing our lives on 12 months, 365 days, a little over 8,765 hours. And to think that I have literally spent probably a total of over 8,700 hours of this year with my son, my first child. Some may call this spoiled. To others it is labeled attachment parenting. To me it just feels natural. I have literally observed these hours of my guy's life in wonderment and awe, and most of the time in blissful glee. All who get to know him remark on his cute personality and the joy it brings them to literally just watch him. Even total strangers remark that he is a "cute baby" and find pleasure in acknowleding him because he acknowledges them first with his bucky tooth infectious smile. On our flight back from Maine we were seated in row 17, the last row of the airplane, next to the lavoratory. Ick. Or so I thought. Turned out it was a blessing in disguise because it kept Eddie busy throughout the flight as the in-flight entertainment; every person that walked by to go to the toliet received a playful smile from Eddie and every person smiled back. Babies truly bring out the best in everyone. People are nicer to you while waiting in lines and make small talk like never before. Even grown men will strike up a conversation with him. At first it sort of annoyed me, but now I realize that it is just because my guy is too darn cute, and therefore impossible to ignore.

Observing Eddie is all I do. And I feel so lucky. As both of his grandmothers have recently exclaimed, it is so much fun just watching him, just watching him do simple things like eat and play. Is that true about all babies? Not sure. Maybe. All we know is that Eddie has developed into a really fun baby and truly a happy baby. I no longer worry that he is an introvert - his social skills seem very keen as he passionately interacts with babies and adults alike. He is now clapping his hands in joy, pointing at objects and photos and is even laughing at appropriate times in adult conversations. Today he heard two Chinese women having a conversation and sat there listening intensely for several minutes, as if to acknowledge that it was another language. I was impressed. I cannot wait until his "da"s turn into words and ultimately phrases and sentences. He says "ma ma ma" when he wants something, like to be fed or picked up by me. He seems to know "dada" too but for some reason his syllable of choice to express anything whatsoever when he is playing is "da" so it is hard to tell whether he makes the association with his daddy, unless in his mind daddy=play, which is true most of the time. He is a major explorer and loves to crawl on all surfaces, even rocks and brick and sand - we met a year old baby today who is walking yet will only walk on carpet - weird. Eddie has no tactile issues, that is for sure.

He still does not sleep through the night, waking typically once but goes back to sleep easily after some boob. And he is still taking two naps a day and showing no signs of wanting to eliminate the morning nap, actually that one is the only one I can really count on. He loves to eat and truly eats everything - black beans, lobster, arugula and eggplant are some of the recent foods. Because of his chompers, he can eat things whole like corn on the cob and today he ate a whole peach. But what he really loves to do is play...and he plays hard, with bruises to show for it. Loves his little backyard pool, balls, and anything with wheels. For the past couple of months whenever he plays with trucks or cars he makes a car noise...crazy, how do boys just know how to do that?

Weirdly I am not very reflective these days, not very emotional about motherhood or that my baby is now a toddler. Sometimes I think it is part of having a boy - it makes you strong. Sometimes I wonder if it is because of his natural birth and my ability to withstand the pain of labor. I find myself looking ahead, levelheaded with an internal strength and filled with excitement for what this next year will bring...another 8,700+ hours of observation...wow.

maine...vacationland

Our family vacation in Maine ended last Wednesday, sadly. It was Eddie's first big trip and first time meeting all of his Washuk and Clark relatives. He was the life of the party, always smiling, always willing to be held by anyone and gladly accepting of new surroundings and tons of commotion. All week long people kept saying "he's such a happy baby!" The other big talk about Eddie, at least from the younger cousins, was how he had so many teeth. They would be like, "this is Eddie. he has teeth!"

There were so many fabulous memories, most of which I captured on film...too many photos to post here, but I posted a ton on Facebook, so feel free to check them out . Some of the highlights of the vacation include: getting the VIP priority service at O'Hare, watching Eddie and Gizmo play (Grandma Bonnie's shih tzu), watching Eddie play with Ella and share his healthy food with her (she went from eating Fruit Loops to kale after a week with us!), watching Sydnie read books to Eddie and make him laugh by her infectious smile, watching Tanner play the piano, jetskiing, playing Donut with the Grays, meeting Charlie's Katie, hanging out on the lawn by the lake and feeding Eddie picnic-style, watching Eddie and his Grandma Bonnie bond, going to Primo with my husband, the lobster bake at Uncle John's, swimming with Carly and Sydnie, visiting Grandpa Beano (Eddie's Great Grandpa) and spending time in his home and veggie garden, DNKY dogs, Uncle Charlie's stories including the boat ride with Great Uncle Dick, meeting Ellie Bird Hardy, going to the beach two days in a row and watching Eddie play in the sand and water, breakfast with the Turgeons, watching the morning ritual of Eddie's breakfast with Grandpa Rick, playing with Lucy's cage, Maine blueberries and Eddie's "almost one" birthday party at Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Rick's.

the trip

Reporting here from our "camp" in Maine, a beautiful lake home surrounded by loons, lush green forests and farmhouses with stone walls and natural perrenial gardens. Our flight out of o'hare went probably as smoothly as possible it was almost a tad strange - we pulled up at curbside check in and saw the massive 100 person line and then looked at one of the workers and he said, "would you like the v.i.p. service?" to which Eddie eagerly responded, "yes." It consisted of not having to wait in any lines and being escorted through priority...not sure how we managed to get such royal treatment but it made us want to travel with a baby all the time. Eddie did really good on the flight. Of course he loved the commotion of the airport and after a little boob, fell asleep on the plane right after take over for about 30 minutes. The rest of the flight he truly was a "lap child" and stayed contently in our laps playing with his books and chewing on toys. The only struggle he had was with landing - I tried to offer him some boob, bottle and a chew toy but he didn't want any of it. All in all, he was a very good boy and I was surprised and impressed that he did not want to squirm away and crawl all around. I, on the other hand, was a mess - felt nausous and had to use the bathroom like three times and the fasten seat belt sign was on the whole flight because of bad turbulance. I guess it was all the nerves of traveling with the baby for the first time. I found myself using the labor breathing techniques to get through the flight.

We have been here on Lake Cobbossentee since Saturday evening and our place has been the beacon to which all the relatives have swarmed, so we have had visitors day and night. Eddie loves it. He has no stranger anxiety whatsoever and can be held by anyone. He loves watching the older cousins play and move about, and often tries to join them as they all climb the stairs or run around the deck. We have brought him into the water several times and he clings onto us pretty hard because the water is a tad cold...at least for babies. For me it is perfectly refreshing and brings me back to our childhood trips to Crivitz, WI. We have all enjoyed swimming and taking the jet ski out. More fun to be had as the next few days have in store for us a lobster bake party, a pool party and our trip to Portland where daytrips to coastal beaches are on the itinerary.

pre-toddler

There has been a slight regression in Eddie's behavior lately. He is acting very needy at times - wanting to be held a lot, wanting to have "scooby snacks" (my nickname for boob sessions that occur outside of the usual pre-sleep schedule) and waking up a lot more during the night. He was sleeping through the night consistently for about two weeks, but now for the past week he has woken up once or twice a night to feed. I think he is just acting normal for his age, as he enters toddlerdom and explores with his new found sense of individuality and independence through his ability to move about and make decisions on his own. Not sure if "pre-toddler" is an actual term, but that is what I think accurately describes him right now. Sometimes he acts very independent, plays actively on his own and does not seem to need any attention, and at other times he acts still like a baby with high needs. The other day while visiting with cousin Noah he became very jealous of my holding and feeding a bottle to Noah that he literally climbed into the chair to be in my lap and stole Noah's bottle, sucking on the nipple. I had to put Noah down so that Eddie could then nurse - a little scooby snack was all he wanted. The exciting thing about this stage though is that the world is his oyster, or so I think the expression goes - he explores everything with such fervor and intensity that it never gets boring to watch his every move. He loves playing outside the most right now - he digs in the dirt with his big hands and crawls on every type of surface, even the brick and peat gravel path. He watches butterflies with wonder and hisses when the winds blow through the trees. He will love our vacation to Maine, I just know it. We leave in less than two days...so this may be the last blog entry until then...and maybe for awhile since I doubt I will have access to a computer until we are in Portland towards the end of our trip. Eddie is sure to enjoy meeting all of his cousins and relatives, and will probably love to stare at all the kids running about...maybe it will spark an urge in him to start walking...

new shoes

We had to go shopping for new shoes for Eddie. He is obviously growing because none of his shoes fit. I realized it after taking a pair off and seeing all these red indentations on his feet. So I went to two kid shoe boutiques and one baby store all in a span of a couple hours and needless to say both Eddie and I were shoed out. I felt in a panic to get something since we leave for Maine in a couple days and he needs at least one pair to where on the airplane. So I ended up getting three pairs of shoes on sale, none of which I really loved. So I had a minor breakdown that night, feeling like I made bad choices and was spending too much money on baby stuff. It's hard to be a stay home mom, have no personal income and yet also be the one making most of the household purchases. Now more than ever I feel a sense of anxiety and guilt when I spend money, even on trips to Target to get paper towel and toothpaste. Somehow the bill always adds up to over $100 and I find myself staring at the receipt as if there just may be an addition error. But how? I find myself saying. And of course baby stuff makes it so much easier to just spend spend spend. Everything seems like a necessity and you also always want "the best" for your kids, right? So what is a income-less mom with high standards of quality supposed to do? My husband has urged me to stay away from the Chicago baby boutiques and shop at the megastores - I will try, but I like to support the local businesses, the little guys, and they tend to have way better customer service and higher quality products. At one of the shoe stores they even measured Eddie's little foot - it is 19 1/2 cm, which is a size 5 in the US shoe market - and made the whole ordeal easier by just placing shoes on his feet as I held him. So I have decided that it is time to keep a baby budget - not sure why I hadn't started doing it sooner since I did keep a detailed one of all the stuff we purchased when Eddie was still in utero. I think the budget will help me feel more in control of the purchases...but as for regulating what is a necessity and what is a splurge when it comes to your own flesh and blood, I dunno, maybe nothing can really help one manage the natural instinct to nurture and ultimately spoil.

Video of the Week

Check out our guy standing up!

the thought of weaning

My breastfeeding philosophy has been and is that I will continue as long as Eddie is interested and it is conducive to our lifestyle. As a stay-home Mom there is really nothing to stop me from continuing and it still feels very natural, easy and seamless with our daily routines. But the past week Eddie has been showing signs of naturally weaning. Sometimes he just takes a few gulps and that's it, sometime he will only nurse from one breast and then leaps out of my lap to continue playing and sometimes he refuses altogether, squirming out of my arms and/or pushing me away. I don't take it personally of course - I know he just wants to play play play and has no time to take a break. The frustrating part about it though is two-fold 1) it is causing me to get painfully engorged since my milk is backing up, forcing me to pump more to relieve it, and 2) it is making me concerned about his fluid and caloric intake. I have read that he is supposed to be drinking 24-32 fluid ounces of breastmilk or formula a day, and there is no way he is getting that. I am trying to give him supplemental bottles and presenting milk in his cup with meals and in the sippy cup but he only drinks like 1-2 ounces at a time and he still cannot drink without assistance so I really can only do it during meals. He still will only suck on the nozzle of the sippy cup and bite it and play with it, but never actually gets any liquid out. I don't know what else to do. The whole transition from boob to cup or bottle to cup sounds so simple in the books, but what if your child has no interest in the cup for nutritional purposes at all? And to make matters worse, what if your child is on the slim side and he really needs those calories? The only info I have found in books discusses what to do if your child totes around the cup all day and is on the obese side.

Maybe I have done a disservice by always breastfeeding him before naps and bedtime; so now he associates boob with sleep. And since he always wants to be up and playing, he tends to get a little pissy when it is bedtime, hence he refuses the boob too. So I am trying to feed him more when he gets up from naps and throughout the day and not always in the same chair in his room, since, again, being in that chair must signal to him that it is time to go to bed. I guess only time will tell if he is truly weaning or if this is a nursing strike or what, but I feel a little lost in the woods about it all...

out the window

The whole introducing only one food at a time thing has gone out the window. Eddie has been wanting to eat whatever I am eating more and more. This week while out for lunch twice he took my sandwich and bit into it full on, eating turkey, tomato, lettuce, bread and mustard. Of course I look and the bread is full of various seeds, sunflower, flax...whatever, I say, and let him proceed to devour my lunch.

In general I find myself being a pretty lax parent when it comes to letting Eddie do what he wants, even if it seems socially unacceptable or downright dirty. He has a hard time sitting still and just wants to crawl everywhere. When carrying him, he motions to be put down all the time, even if just to examine a manhole cover (ok, of course I don't put him down in the street). But I have let him crawl around in restaurants, stores and parks. You'd be amazed how dirty the floors are in public places! His hands are black after only a few minutes of exploring. He loves it though. Crawls around so fast, with the biggest smile on his face - how could I deny him of such experience? It is getting to be more of a challenge to take him out and about though, since he wants to explore so much. In a way I cannot wait until he can walk and he can trot around on two feet instead of all fours, mostly so I am not constantly washing his hands but also because I will cease to feel the judgemental stares of onlookers.

my totie

11 months. The gap between newborn and toddler seems to have escaped us; I cannot recall a moment or day in which I felt like Eddie was no longer a baby because it seems to happen suddenly and yet your logic tells you it obviously occurred over the course of months. From pulling himself up onto objects and surfaces that appear out of his reach to opening and closing every drawer and door to climbing stairs and emptying contents out of buckets and baskets, Eddie is officially into everything. He is so active that he doesn't seem interested in eating or nursing and often squirms out of the chair to just play play play. Today we had a major scare and simultaneous realization that Eddie is no longer a baby - he climbed out of his highchair and fell. I am still sort of in shock that it happened right before my eyes - I was on the other side of our kitchen island and so I didn't see the full trajectory of his fall. It happened so fast. He was on the floor sort of on his side but it was obvious the front of his head hit because it was red. Of course he cried but not for long; the minute I picked him up he stopped. He seemed a little in shock and a little like the wind got knocked out of him. I held him as I called the doctor, whom advised that we just monitor him for signs of concussion and if he shows any then go to the emergency room of the childrens' hospital. This happened around 11 a.m. and it is now 2:45 and he is acting totally normal. He is napping now and they said to check on him every half hour and try to arouse him lightly but touching his arm or something to see if he moves. Of course I already have gone in to check on him and totally awoke him, having to re-initiate our bedtime ritual to put him back down.

My totie (short for toddler) is strong; this month amongst the usual bruises and scrapes he has sustained two split lips, a big scratch from Marty on his head and numerous tumbles. I know there will be more. He is acquiring new skills all the time now - clapping, dancing to music, raising his arms, attempts at waving and pointing. He can hand an object back to me if I ask for it. He has started throwing things. He feeds himself finger foods and grabs items from bowls to eat; loves to make a mess out of things like yogurt and oatmeal. Although he has been able to drink from a cup assisted for while now, he still hasn't mastered drinking on his own and prefers to spill the water everywhere and splash. He really likes every food I put on his tray, but especially likes his fruits (new ones include strawberries, watermelon, blueberries, peaches) and his pasta, in particular macaroni (whole wheat of course!) and his cheeses. I worry that he is not eating enough though for how active he is; and especially am concerned that he is not getting enough breast milk since he tends to just take a few gulps and then detach and want to play. I am trying to give supplementary bottles and milk in a cup, but he isn't very interested in actually drinking it. He is a skinny baby, long skinny arms and a wiry frame. I know I shouldn't compare but I feel like other babies his age are plumper and have true baby fat; Eddie doesn't have much fat reserves.

He is either sleeping through the night or only waking once. And regularly takes two naps a day; no signs that he will be moving to only one nap soon. Well, I take that back. If it was up to him, he would take no naps whatsoever because he just wants to stay awake and play. I think we have to revise his sleeptime ritual because our routine of books then boob then beddy or bath then book then beddy is no longer working. Now in the evening after his bath he wants to play again for another half hour to an hour and it is hard to not allow it because he seems to have so much energy that needs to be expelled before he will actually fall asleep.

Excited for the next couple of months, for our first vacation together, for more developments, for new classes and new baby friends.

standing and dancing

Eddie's latest skills which have blossomed this week are free standing and dancing to music. When he pulls himself up onto an object he now can let go stand holding onto nothing for several seconds. He then lowers himself down into a squat or onto all fours. His other new skill is that he sort of dances to music. For now this only happens while he is sitting down, usually while in his high chair. When an upbeat song comes on he will sort of sway back and forth from front to back. He also did it the other day as I was humming a song that I play on the piano, a Kuhlau Sonatina, which I think is hilarious and so smart - that he knows that music comes from various sources: the tv, radio, piano and from our mouths.

cousin noah

Yesterday, July 14 at 12:09 p.m. Eddie's cousin Noah Michael Wilson entered this world. I was honored to be a part of the process, aiding my sister in an all-natural, drug-free birth. I got the call at 12:30 a.m. that the contractions were becoming stronger and she had to breath through them. Luckily the call was no surprise because she had been having pre-labor signs for the past week and we had just had her "last supper" together just a few hours before. I got over to her house just after 1 a.m. and we labored at home until 6 a.m., mostly in her bathtub amidst candlelight and the sounds of Miles Davis. Her labor was arduous, emotionally charged and draining...different from mine with Eddie as even she recalled I seemed to labor "with grace." I likened Noah's birth to a Greek epic, whereas Eddie's was more like a fairy tale; both have their place on bookshelves, but of course the epic tales are those that have been deemed "classics" for a reason. Noah was born on a birthing stool, a sort of bar-like apparatus that is like a chair with no back and no seat. He hardly crowned in the traditional sense, only presenting a small portion of his head before he literally slipped out; the head slightly appeared and the nurse said to me "go get another nurse." I ran to the nurses station and said "my sister is crowning and we need another nurse" and by the time I got back into the room, there was Noah out on the floor, luckily on the soft surface of a pillow. The midwife didn't even have a chance to "deliver" him. Wow. On the homefront, my Eddies had a bonding day and little Eddie took crazy long naps, 3 hours apiece, which is unheard of normally. Maybe he missed his Mama. Or it is because he is still feeling under the weather - actually both Eddies are sick. E3 has had a sore throat for over a week and E4 had a fever Friday night and now has a cough and runny nose. So it will be awhile before the two cousins get to meet but I have already shown Eddie pictures of Noah and he smiles.

fever

We had a long sleepless night. Eddie woke up at 11:30 p.m. after having been put down at 8 and I went to feed him like always. I noticed he seemed unusually hot, but thought maybe it was just the temperature in his room and turned the fan on. He also seemed a bit restless on the boob, sort of whimpering. After feeding, although he seemed tired, he couldn't fall back asleep. I let him work through it for about 45 minutes because he wasn't crying - he was just sort of talking and yelling. Shockingly Daddy Eddie was sleeping right through it. But around 1 a.m. I woke big Eddie up to have him feel the baby and see if my assumptions of a fever were right. We fumbled through the medical kit that we have barely even touched beyond the nasal aspirator to find the thermometer and contemplated, do we do it rectally? Our squirmy guy and a thermometer up the butt isn't something I really want to embark upon. So I put the standard one beneath the armpit and it quickly shot up to 101. Then we busted open the temporal thermometer and that one read 100.7. Note to new/soon to be parents: get 2 thermometers; in the middle of the night you will be questioning whether they are working properly and it helps to have a second verification. So we tried some cold compresses and a small dose of infant Tylenol (another note: yes, buy this stuff and have it on hand because you never know when a fever will come in the middle of the night and you won't want to have to run to the store.). And then I just breastfed him almost non-stop between the hours 2 - 5 a.m. He would fall asleep in my arms but then the minute I would go to put him in his crib he would wake up. So then I devised a method where I would lay him in his crib and lay next to him on the floor and wait until he was truly asleep and not struggling anymore and then crawled out of the room. It sucked. My guy just seemed so uncomfortable and so tired yet unable to sleep. At 5 a.m. Daddy Eddie brought him downstairs and gave him a lukewarm bath. Then we put him back to bed and once again, he only slept for 30 minutes or so. He was in a better mood around 8 a.m. and so we fed him his Cheerios and banana and he played for awhile. Now, back in bed...but he just woke up after only having slept 30 minutes. My poor guy!

first fourth

Eddie's first fourth of july was full of firsts: first time on a golf course, first taste of watermelon, first encounter with a clown (he didn't cry) and first mosquito bite (on the upper rim of his ear; he doesn't seem bothered by it). I'd like to say that he also saw his first parade and fireworks, but there didn't seem to be a local parade in my parents town of Elm Grove this year, and as for the fireworks luckily he slept through them. He woke up 20 minutes after they ended with a pee leak, probably from all that watermelon. Nanni babysat as Eddie III, Gramps and I went to see Huey Lewis perform at Summerfest. We got to be right up front in the "mosh pit" because of a connection my Dad had. We danced the night away to childhood favorites "Heart of Rock n Roll" and "Hip to Be Square." I felt like I was seven years old again.

first swim

Eddie's baby pool arrived in the mail this past week and we blew it up and took him for his first "swim" on Sunday. As you can tell by the slideshow, he wasn't that interested in the water and instead wanted to crawl on the freshly mowed grass. Although he seems to love being outside, he still shuns the sun and will often take his hat off and use it to cover his face, which is hilarious. As for the pool, I know that in time he will love it too since he loves bath time so much - I think he was just too curious about the nature surrounding him to want to stay in the pool and play with toys.