Vignettes

Henry and Silas are enrolled in soccer class for the winter and we had our first session on Saturday. I think the highlight for Silas was getting his uniform, although he momentarily put his bunny down long-enough to stack up the cones. As you might guess, the 18-24 month class is less about running and trying to kick the ball and more about playing games that are somehow soccer related. There was a lot of stomping on bubbles, ball play, and the parachute which seemed to scare all but the most dare devilish of the little ones.


Henry had a blast in his class which was his first "independent" class, i.e. Dad sat on the sideline and could have even brought coffee. Whenever i looked over Henry was at the back of the group but he loved it and seemed to have a coach paying him special attention. He's on the youngest end of the 3.5-5 year old class so i figure he's got a long time to get proficient running wind sprints and dribbling the ball.

Back to Silas and his bunny-- he's still very attached to bunny and rubbing it's ears against his nose is his primary means of falling asleep. But, now we've added another friend a little stuffed "baybee" that we're also carting around everywhere. I can't figure out if i've got a soft-spot for lovees or if Henry and Silas were just more attached to their transitional objects. Either way my pockets are overstuffed.


We got the Christmas tree up this weekend as well as the lighted garland we put up outside. When Henry asked about the garland and i told him what we were doing he replied, "garland is my favorite color!" He test-drove his snow pants and coat and was more than thrilled to get to use Dad's snow shovel. When we were decorating the Christmas tree we experimented with me raising him up to put the star on top but alas, he still wasn't tall enough. Henry asked if he could put the star on the tree when he's 14. Next year i'll have to remember to haul up the step ladder for him so he doesn't have to wait that long.

Back-up Childcare

One thing about having little kids, is the need for someone to have a flexible work schedule. Thankfully JT and i both can usually adapt our work schedule depending on what arises. This flexibility was put into practice today while our daycare provider had to be unexpectedly closed. I guess they found a gas leak at the house next door yesterday and the gas had to be shut off to houses on both sides of the house with the leak. No gas means no heat and no heat means no kids. So, JT stayed home this morning while i worked and then i took over until they (thankfully) both went down for a nap 2 hours ago. I'm expecting them to wake-up anytime, but JT should be home in another 1/2 hour or so which means i will easily get a full day's work in.

It doesn't always happen, but Silas often takes an afternoon nap that at least partially overlaps with Henry's. I think that we're moving more and more to Silas taking naps by the clock which should mean a solid chunk of naptime for both of them in the afternoon. Henry fights his nap a little more now, and can often be heard singing and chattering to himself long after he's in bed, but once he's asleep he generally sleeps the full two hours, so i don't think we're going to be phasing out the afternoon nap anytime soon.

This past week Henry seemed to really be struggling with falling asleep at night. He'd often call out to us after having been in bed an hour or more only to tell us that he didn't know how to fall asleep. Last night that didn't happen so i'm hoping it was either a very short phase, or that it coincided with old Ralph being gone for the weekend. That's right folks. We left old Ralph at Brenda's over the long holiday weekend. On accident for sure, but we didn't know what to expect the first night. Henry wasn't really too phased by it once we explained that his job was to keep Ms. Brenda warm for the weekend and that Mr. Frog was staying in bed with Henry to keep *him* warm. He didn't make a fuss really but he did take 1+ hours to fall asleep each night Ralph was gone. We'll see over the next few weeks if this is a new development or Ralph-related.

Speaking of new developments, right now we're planning to move Silas downstairs this weekend into Henry's room. It was always the plan to have them share a room, but we've been waiting until Silas' sleep habits improved and he wasn't breastfeeding anymore. I think we've by and large taken care of both of those issues so we're going to bite the bullet this weekend.

4 Months, 2 Weeks, 4 Days/ 2 Years, 3 Months, 4 Weeks

Thankfully i did get better and stay better enough for us to enjoy our weekend. We had a lovely time trucking out to see Genine and her family on Saturday. Henry couldn't get enough of their pool and he and Maia actually interacted this time around. Sunday we went to dim sum and Silas obliged by napping in his stroller which was helpful considering Henry was a handful. He did enjoy sampling all kinds of dim sum nibbles from my chopsticks but he also wanted to run around and in general be a two-year old. We haven't been going out very much, because Silas is ready for bed by about 6:30 so i've gotten out of the habit of coming prepared with toys and snacks. Before we attempt another outing i need to re-pack my bag of tricks.

I think i'm jumping on the organic band-wagon, albeit a little late. In general we try to be an environmentally-friendly household. We recycle, we compost, we buy things off of craigslist instead of new as much as possible. So although buying organic probably also should have been something we did, it often got overcome by a) my thriftiness and b) my skepticism that non-organic was really that bad-- i mean hey, better living through chemistry right?

It's not that i've had a revelation or anything, but i did start reading about the high levels of toxins that have been found in baby shampoo and then i found the cosmetic database that lets you easily search and browse safer products. Finally, after some amount of sticker-shock at Whole Foods, i found a pretty in-expensive source online, where i got free shipping with my order. I just decided that buying organic/non-toxic when we can is in-line with my beliefs and fits how we like to spend our money-- on living well. You can bet i don't want to wash my kids with toxic levels of chemicals, but as long as i'm upgrading their products, why not buy mild ones for me as well? I'll get down of my soap-box now :)

In Henry news, although it wasn't necessarily pretty, he went to sleep without old Ralph and new Ralph last night. He's gotten re-attached to them in recent weeks and has continued to sleep with them each and every night. In fact, he uses them as a pillow. Well, yesterday we left both of them at Brenda's. He cried for real when he realized he wouldn't have them to sleep with, but we just talked about how they were sleeping with NeNe (Brenda's sister and Henry's favorite right now) and he'd see them in the morning. After he got to pick out a book to read he calmed down and then i brought him an extra lamb and dog to sleep with. Of course this was on top of the other two monkeys and the dog that he has in his bed, so he was well surrounded. He was however, VERY happy to see them this morning.

p.s. after you freeze the granita, you EAT it!
p.p.s i've looked very closely and Silas' eyes are still blue-- i believe it was just the countertops making them look brown.

8 Weeks/ 1 Year, 1 Month, 5 Days

We seem to be stuck at about 5-6 hours of sleep for Silas' longest chunk. I know i shouldn't be greedy, and if this is a normal progression towards sleeping all night, it's fine. It's just that since Henry's sleep deteriorated so badly about this time (struggling to get him to sleep for an hour-- asleep 30 minutes... repeat) i'm worried about "messing Silas up." I think we're going to start trying to put him to bed earlier, and see how it goes. I also think i need to consider being home more during the day so that he can nap in his bed a bit more instead of always on the go.

That said, we accomplished another fun outing today with Silas' best friend Kerala-- we went to the mommy matinee at the theatre by our house. The babies were really good and it was the first time i had been to a movie in the theatre since Brokeback Mountain was released. Prior to the movies Corey took me out for my birthday and the babies were as quiet as could be during the whole meal.

Eureka!, we found a babysitter that Henry is excited and comfortable about that isn't family. Lauren came back tonight for her bi-weekly babysitting gig and Henry did the "bye bye" act even before we were really ready to get out the door. She said he was totally happy and about 7:30 wanted to read books in his bed and then go night night with "new Ralph."

Frequent readers of Good Intent will remember that Ralph has been Henry's best monkey companion since he was several months old. We had been looking for a back-up Ralph ever since original Ralph became so important and this winter Henry's Oma scored us two identical new monkeys. Until just recently they were kicking around with Henry's toys without a whole lot of attention paid to them. Now "New Ralph" (which is honestly what Henry calls him) has become Henry's pillow at night, and occasionally when Henry wants to take someone along to Brenda's it's been New Ralph. As we just finished listening to the Velveteen Rabbit, i'm feeling personally responsible for "old" Ralph and make sure he gets into bed with Henry along with New Ralph.

Surgery Update

I just thought i'd post a quick update to let everyone know that Henry did extremely well with his surgery. Henry was such a little trooper and the staff at Children's Hospital really made it as easy as possible. I was able to go back with Henry (carrying him and Ralph his monkey) the whole way and sit him on the operating bed. The anesthesiologist held the mask over his nose and i just kept talking to him and stroking him. He was trying to get away and you could tell that it was making him feel strange, but he didn't cry out or even really struggle much-- just tried to turn his head from side to side. I was really dreading that part so it was nice that he went to sleep pretty peacefully.

The surgery and getting him to recovery took about 2 hours and we got back to see him just a minute or two after he had woken up. The little girl next to him was really, really crying, and he had just started to cry when we walked in the room. I was able to pick him up and hold him right away and calm him down. He was quiet and mostly content and drank some apple juice. The rest of the hospital stuff was really non-eventful.

We got home and he took some real short cat-naps but nothing like everyone else experienced with their kids that have been through surgery. He was mostly content to just lay on the couch with JT and i drinking and eating some crackers and yogurt and stuff. As the afternoon wore on and the caudal block they used in the surgery (like an epidural) wore off, he was fussing and crying more and that was the most heart-breaking part. You could tell he was in pain and just trying to soldier through.

We called the Dr. after he seemed to be in pain even after getting his dose of Tylenol with codeine. The Dr. told us to double the dose, that they start them off with 1/2 the recommended dose (which is fine, but it would have been nice to KNOW that, grr). Anyway, we put Henry to bed about 6:30 and he slept until 8 this morning. He woke up as if nothing had happened, had a happy day playing around and throwing some normal toddler tantrums and went to bed a little on the early side at 7. Other than a dose of regular tylenol at bedtime he didn't have any pain medication at all and didn't complain all day. So hopefully we're through the worst of it, and now we just have to make sure he takes all his antibiotics and other medications to help everything heal. He'll have his dressing removed on Monday and then have a follow-up in two weeks.

Just to keep everything interesting, we're heading to Carmax to hopefully buy the new (used) car we had shipped from Nashville and then on Sunday i'm traveling for work.

19 Months, 1 Week, 6 Days

We're supposed to get some real snow here tonight so we may have pictures of Henry making snow angels tomorrow! While we were in DC it was pretty warm after the deluge ended on Thanksgiving so we were able to get down to the boardwalk for a stroll. Storms have washed away most of the beach, and the tide was high and fairly angry so it was a bit freaky for Henry. As you're walking on the beach the waves are crashing under the boardwalk below you. JT did a good job of helping him take it step by step and after awhile he was having a ball walking right along the side of the boardwalk. Eventually we headed for mainstreet because i was afraid he'd drop Ralph into the surf and we'd really be out of luck.

We went into a store that had some toys and Henry dominated the train table they had set up. There were no other kids around and tons of toys so Henry very contentedly played with the trains the whole time we browsed. He also managed to score a new train and a really cool set of wooden stacking/emergency vehicles. They're hard to explain but he got a big kick out of playing with both of them. He picked up a few of the "Thomas" trains on our trip and enjoyed driving them over his head and face the whole trip back!

Conversation Partner

Henry has been cracking me up lately. Until recently, once he got settled into his carseat he would hold his monkey Ralph, suck his thumb and happily zone out. I kept wondering about these other parents with babies Henry's age that were playing all manner of kids music, while i was free to listen to NPR. Then gradually Henry started to notice things out the windows and now he chatters literally the entire car ride. He's extremely interested in large moving objects, i.e. buses, trucks, firetrucks, etc. and in churches. He can point out a church blocks away and as soon as he spies one (or a truck et al.) he immediately starts signing more.

This is where his conversation skills come in. I find myself having to keep up a running commentary of interesting things to point out to Henry-- as if i'm guiding a double-decker bus tour. I do a lot of big pointing and tapping on the windows to help him figure out right from left and he dutifully says "yep" (or his version of it) to everything i say. Sometimes it's unnerving but at others i feel like i'm talking to a friend with a big capacity to listen. I only hope that my patter will forestall any Raffi tapes for the near future...

Exhausted!

We had a super-quiet weekend at home, venturing out just a few times to the park and to run errands, and yet by tonight i'm completely wiped out. Henry was uncharacteristically clingy all day today. He had a freak out whenever he didn't get something his way-- regardless of how crazy it was, and he just seemed kind of tired and out of sorts all day. He's still up but he's heading to bed at 7 prompt tonight, as soon as his lovely Ralph gets out of the dryer.

I'm eating some dinner taking a bath and just trying to recuperate before the busy week starts...