2/26/08

Avi fell off the bed today. He appears to have suffered no long-term consequences, but I feel horribly, because I know better. I knew the risk, and yet I continued to let him sleep there. I always hear him instantly when he wakes up, but I was in the playroom for a minute helping Noah with paint, and I think I didn't hear him immediately. By the time I did, I went running, but was only half way up the stairs when I heard that terrifying thump. He was pretty scared, but was smiling again within 5 minutes. I don't know what I'm going to do because I can't get him to take a decent nap in his crib. It looks like it's the end of an era. I feel really guilty and thankful that he didn't get seriously hurt.

Noah continues to perplex me.  He had a meltdown this morning because he didn't want to use the lunch bag I wanted him to use.  I won't get into the details, but there was a "you hit you sit moment" and the tired "I'm your mother, you do what I say without arguing" lecture.  Then things turned around and he had a decent day.  He did well at school (despite a lunchtime meltdown because his lunch didn't have "treats" like some of the other kids - i.e. CapriSun sugar drink and cheese and cracker crap package), there were only minor infractions at the grocery store, and he went down easily for a nap without argument and slept for nearly two hours.  He had a bit of a meltdown when I wouldn't give him two treats before dinner (nevermind that he usually doesn't get any), but I successfully diverted his attention to a painting project.  He painted pretty independently for awhile.  I kept checking and admiring his work, not showing any of my stress that there was paint dripping everywhere.  Then when he was ready to clean up, I was helping him and there was a small puddle of paint on the tile floor and he was kicking a ball around and I told him clearly not to get the ball near the paint.  I told him and he just worked harder to get the ball in the paint.  I called him on it and he just maneuvered around until he got it smack dab on top of the paint.  "What's wrong with you child?  Why do you do the exact thing I've asked you not to do.  On purpose.  After we've been having a perfectly nice time!"  I so don't get it.  And no, I don't think we can blame the treat.  It was one candy orange slice.  It's not like he was jacked up on sugar.  So what's it all about?

2/25/08

Well, the fact that I’m writing this is proof that Avi survived my 36-hour absence last weekend. We weren’t sure how it was going to go, because he had yet to take more than an ounce from a bottle, but convinced he wouldn’t starve to death with his father, grandma, and brother around to take care of him, I left him without a boob for a day and a half. He survived. He took the bottle and he ate a lot of cereal, but boy was he hungry when I got home! I’m so glad I went. No one is the worse for it, and I’m better off.
Avi pulled himself up to a stand yesterday. He was playing on the laundry room floor messing around with a stepstool for the longest time. Whacking it, shaking it, sliding around it, tasting it, etc, when I looked over and he was nearly standing. He had his feet on the floor and his hands on the top of the stool and the rest of his body in the air in between. Then he toppled, but “holy cow!” I said, “You’re standing kiddo.” He wasn’t perfectly vertical, but that’s because of the height of the stool. He’s definitely crawling now. He moves fast enough that he disappears. He was playing on the kitchen floor this evening, and when I looked over, he was gone. He was making his way into the playroom/dog room (which has things unsuitable for him like dog food and small toys), so I picked him up and brought him back to the kitchen. By the time I walked back to the other side of the kitchen and turned around again, he was halfway across the threshold to the playroom again.
He certainly has a mind of his own. He inherited that from his brother apparently. God help us. He has discovered that he loves boinging the doorstop in his bedroom. He boings it until it twists off, and then he grabs it and sucks on it. Figuring that it’s not the best thing for him to be sucking on (it’s not like there’s any shortage of appropriate baby toys in the room, I propped up the large cloth playmat against the wall behind the door. Out of sight out of mind, right? He can’t have object permanence yet?!? Maybe it’s that or maybe it’s just the Scherer-Hughes-Lieberman strong willed-stubborn gene. It had been a day or two since he had last messed with the doorstop, but when I heard that distinct “boing” from the next room I came in to find him sucking on the detached doorstop having crawled across the room from where I had put him down, squeezed behind the playmat and found his favorite of favorites.
When he’s not crawling around, he is sitting up quite comfortably now. He can’t quite get into that position on his own, so he likes to be sat up, but then is happy to play with toys for long periods of time like that. Of course, he pushes the toy out of his reach and then gets frustrated that he can’t grab it anymore. Soon enough he’ll have the forward lunge and back to sit move figured out. He wants to be sitting up, but on his own he mostly just manages a sideways prop (see photo). Sort of lying on one side, holding himself up at an angle with one arm, but that makes it hard to do much else (see photo).
In other developments, Avi has learned that he can get a rise out of me if he blows raspberries while eating. He thinks it’s pretty hilarious when I say “no” with a stern voice and face. Meanwhile I’m convinced he learned these atrocious manners from his otherwise well-mannered cousin, Colin. I’m going to have to have a talk with that boy. He’s older, he should be a better role model.
Noah had a great time with Grandma Sandy here last week. When it was time for her to leave, he had a melt down and hid on the couch under a blanket sobbing great heaving sobs, saying, “I don’t want Grandma to leave.” He’s such a sensitive little guy. What a mix of stubborn, difficult, sensitive, and high feeling. Wonder where he got that from?

2/11/08

Avi is very focused on practicing sitting up in the bathtub. He does it over and over, with a look of determination. Then he falls over, looks startled, laughs and goes for it again. The bathtub seems to be the place where he really tries out his new moves. Given his pattern, I expect to see him scooting into a sitting position outside the tub within the next week or so.

Noah and I experienced a big first this past weekend. I dropped him off at piano lessons without going in. I told him I was going to do so about a block before we got to her house. I pulled up, stopped the car, got him out of his car seat, and started to walk him to the stairs. My plan had been to walk him to the bottom of the stairs and have him go the rest of the way up and in on his own, but as soon as I started to follow him, he turned around and said “I don’t need you Mama. I can do it all by myself.” I started to explain that I was just going to go part of the way, but he repeated himself emphatically, so I let him. I stood there in the alley next to the car, listening for his footsteps up the stairs. I could see that there were people in the apartment, so I knew someone would answer the door. I waited to hear the door open, and then I left. Wow. When did he get so old? He just turned 4. It wasn’t until it was all over that I realized just how significant that moment was. It’s the first time in his life that he’s ever gone in to anything on his own. He’ll be going away to college before I know it. Or at least kindergarten.

2/8/08

Last night we experienced a few moments of bliss. I even noticed it at the time and turned to Cary and told him to soak it up. He was cooking dinner. I was happily finishing the dinner prep dishes so that we could sit down to dinner with no dishes to do afterwards. Noah was playing with instruments in the music room and Avi was playing on the carpet beside him, happy to be near his super-star of a big brother. Ahhhhhh, I thought. This is it. Better take note, it may not last for long. It did though. It lasted several minutes until we brought them in for dinner. There’s hope for the future after all.

Today Noah spontaneously asked me what I thought was the best part of his day and then proceeded to tell me that it was when I got to the preschool Shabbat circle and sat by him. Enough to make a mom cry. Mind you, he never wants to sit on my lap there, always preferring the lap of a teacher. (Which works out for his friend Sammy who is always eager to plop down in my lap.) Nevertheless, given that I’m there every Friday afternoon for Shabbat circle, I was surprised and touched by his comment.

Tonight at the oneg after the Tot Shabbat service, Noah had more cookies than I’m afraid he should have, not to mention a slice of cake we shared. So when I saw him reaching for another cookie as we were leaving, I gave him a firm, “no,” complete with raised eyebrow. Much to my frustration, it didn’t stop him from reaching for it anyway. But I wasn’t prepared for his next move. With that familiar devilish twinkle in his eyes, he snatched it up as fast as lightning, licked the bottom of it, and then said, “Now it has my germs, so no one else can eat it!” But I was faster than he. I snatched it from him, saying, “but that doesn’t mean you’re going to eat it." (I had wanted another cookie myself, so I proceeded to eat it myself after he was out of sight. I'm not afraid of his germs. Heck, my lunch half the time is the uneaten food from his lunch box.) Given how wired he was when we tried to put him to bed tonight it’s a good thing he didn’t have one more cookie.

Avi’s 6 month check up was today. He’s no longer remarkable in the height and weight category. Although our bathroom scale measured him at 19 lbs a month ago, he weighed in at 17 lbs, 11 ounces today. While Dr. Feurth said that he probably hasn’t actually lost weight (any more than the normal daily variation everyone experiences), I suspect he might have due to the combination of his lack of appetite and his constant motion. Either way, he’s at the 50th percentile now, which as she pointed out, is about where we would expect him to be genetically. That’s okay, I’d rather have my kids remarkable in other areas than height or weight. The fact that he’s crawling at 6 months, and I’m pretty sure he’s beginning to say mamamamamama with some meaning some of the time is remarkable enough.

2/6/08

One day recently when Noah was supposed to be napping, I can hear him squirming around in his room. I go in to give him my typical lecture about how hard it is for him to fall asleep if he’s not laying down with his eyes closed and his body still. But before I can say anything I notice that as he’s wiggling, strange crinkly noises are coming from his pants. “What’s in your pants?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he replies, as one would expect.
“Noah, what’s in your pants? Take it out now.”
He reaches in and pulls out his doll Shushu, and has a sheepish grin on his face. Meanwhile, I’m trying to be serious and maintain my appearance of stern reprimand, but I’m finding it difficult. “Is that all?” I ask.
He reaches in again and this time brings out a plastic bag of markers. I take them. This time I just look at him. It’s nearly impossible at this point to keep a straight face, but I’m doing my best. Out comes a toy tool, and then another toy tool, and then two or three other things. I take them all, put them in the toy cubbies, tell him in my “listen up buddy” voice that he needs to take a nap, suggest rhetorically that putting stuff down his pants isn’t going to help him fall asleep. Then I leave the room as quickly as possible so I can escape to the pantry downstairs – as far as I can get from his room – to crack up laughing over the whole event. He is such a nut. Are all kids this crazy?

Jenn and Pete and Colin were here for a few days. It was such a treat to get to spend the time with them. We decorated rooms all over the house, doing things I’d been wanting to do since we moved in, but haven’t done because of lack of time or vision. It was great to have the boys together again. Colin has passed up Avi in weight, probably because Avi isn’t interested much in food, other than the kind that comes directly from me, whereas Colin has a hearty appetite. Compound that with Colin’s tendency to be a bit more sedentary, content to smile and laugh and squeal, compared with Avi’s constant motion. He is officially crawling now, not a well-developed rhythmic crawl, but it’s a crawl nonetheless, and combined with rolling, it can get him all around a room in no time at all. He uses this skill to his nefarious advantage to routinely travel to Colin, steal the toy that his cousin was enjoying and then often bonk him on the head with it. Mostly though they had fun together. They enjoyed watching each other. And we only had dueling tantrums a few times. We did discover that Avi finds sharing his evening bath with anyone else completely unacceptable. We put them in the boys bathroom together on the first night, and Avi, who is routinely giddy over bath time, started screaming his head off. We plucked him out, held him in a towel, finished bathing Colin, and then put Avi back in to enjoy his time by himself, which he did. The following night, thinking that the issue was not enough personal space in the regular bathtub, we put them in our big tub in the master bathroom. Same scene. Avi howled again until we pulled him out. Apparently he doesn’t like to share a soak.