Random Blogging about the Kids

21 January
We made the trip up to Flint to see Stefan's grandpa. He's 85 and quite a character. He still cuts hair in his barbershop 6 days a week. It was worth the trip out in yucky weather to see him basking in happiness as Jameson laid between Pop and I on the couch and gazed up at us.

Jameson and Alex have started taking baths together. Jameson—at first—was able to be somewhat controlled and put in one place. Now he’s learned about mobility and water. When he is set down sitting—with my hands still hovering over him—he throws himself forward so he can lay on his stomach and attempt to doggy-paddle. His intense determination is impressive, if tiring on my back and legs as I hold myself at strange angles over the tub. When he’s on his stomach in the tub, he has discovered he can lower his face down and feel the water in his mouth. The problem is that he doesn’t quite stop at his mouth and lowers his nose down into the water about half the time. Then, after attempting to inhale water, he’s coughing and sputtering as I am holding him upright. Another 20 seconds later, all is well with the world, and Jameson once again launches himself forward to be on his stomach.

He’s also become a little more mobile. After learning the basics of rolling, he has now mastered rolling towards items that he desires to put into his mouth. He can also rotates 360 degrees on his stomach. He can bring himself to all fours or onto his hands and feet (down-dog style for those yoga fans out there) but can’t quite grasp what to do next. It won’t be long now… must start baby-proofing the house.

17 January
So here’s a funny Alex story on this very pretty but very cold morning (17 degrees when I started my car!)…

Wonderful Stefan has been organizing the basement recently. He does this after I go to bed—he’s the night owl in the family—and then when I come out in the morning there are some things sitting out that I have to decide on (keep or toss). This morning there was a box of old baby feeding gear in the kitchen for Jameson to use. In the box, there was a toy that consists of a plastic box with slits in the top for rings to slide through. There were originally 4 rings, but only two were in the box. Alex ran off to find one of them (in the bath toys). He got back and I mentioned there was one more red and white ring that was originally with this set. He said, “I know, Mama, it’s under the fridge.” I didn’t really believe him—I hadn’t seen the ring in years! He kept insisting—“No, Mama, I put it under there when I was 2.”

Well, I told him to show me… so he ran off and got one of his many flashlights and found it right away. I got down on the floor and checked—sure enough, it was there! Stefan got down on the floor too confirmed it—the ring was spotted. Jameson, watching from his exercauser, must have thought we were all crazy, seeing the three of us kneeling down with our heads on the floor. “Alex,” I said, “Why didn’t you tell us that it slid under there?” The answer—“Because, I put it under there when we first moved here.” Parent’s response: “Why?” Alex: “Because I wanted to put it there.”

Huh?

Hmm… was he hiding it? How does he remember that from 2.5+ years ago?? Why did he put it there in the first place?Then Stefan pulled out the refrigerator but the ring moved with it(note: I do not suggest doing this before coffee in the morning… there was a lot of cleaning to do and we still didn’t get the ring out anyway). So we’ll try again later tonight.

5 Jan
Last night was my “late night,” when I stay until 6 or later for cadet training. I came in after 6:30 to find that the family, sweet boys that they are, had held dinner for me. Alex promptly launched into a 5 minute soliloquy describing his methodology for setting the table. It went something like this:

“Mama, look, I set the table tonight! And I’m using glass dishes instead of plastic! I did it all myself. I got everything out of the dishwasher except the knives. I had to get the knives out of the drawer. I did it all myself. I gave each of us one big plate, one little plate, a bowl, a fork, and a knife. Oh, and we all have glasses too. I used your glass from breakfast because it was still here. I put the glass into the bowl and put the bowl on the little plate and have the big plate on the bottom. The bowl is for potatoes. The little plate is for the chicken. The big plate is for the salad. We have to eat them in that order. Of course, you’ll have to take your glass out of your bowl before you use it. I didn’t have to get any of the plates out of the cupboard because I got them out of the dishwasher.”

Then repeat that 3-4 times until it takes up five minutes. He was very, very proud.

Later, during dinner, Stefan and I talked about a running event I’d like to do. It’s all indoors at the U of M track and field building. There’s even a “stroller” run for parents with young children and a “kid’s run” around the track as well as open running time for adults. Alex was quite thrilled with the idea of getting to run. He immediately started planning what he would wear. He verified with me that he could wear shorts—and not pants—but decided he should probably wear pants OVER the shorts and take the pants off when he gets there. Smart kid. He sat and thought about this for a while, and then went and picked out the clothes he’s going to wear (I should point out this event is over a week away). Because I’m in the middle of laundry, he pants selection was slim in his drawer, so he decided to wear corduroys over the shorts. And he picked out his thinnest shirt (an AF shirt, I should point out) to wear “so he won’t sweat too much”.

He may have been so excited because of what we did last Sunday. I wanted to go running and it was rainy and yucky outside. I decided to head to the U of M north campus track since I was doing interval running. Alex was in one of his “I’m attached to Mama” days and wanted to go with me. After some careful negotiations regarding his behavior and the lack of kid-oriented activities, I decided to bring him along. Just as we were leaving, Jenni called and asked if she could take me up on my offer to watch Sylvie (also age 5) for a few hours.

Okay, I thought, this could work. I could skip my run if necessary and just give them some time to run around in the gym. We picked her up and went to the gym. As we went inside, I gave them the opportunity to get a basketball and play in the big gym. There were 2-3 games going on, but we could find space on the side. Alex wasn’t interested and Sylvie only wanted to play with her doll. Okay, not a problem. We went upstairs and I showed them a racquetball court while offering to get balls and rackets. No interest. Alex announced his desire to color and Sylvie repeated her desire to play with her doll. Hmm… this was looking promising. We went to the track and I settled them in a corner on a mat. They spread out their things, unloaded their backpacks and started playing.

Luckily there were only a few people on the track, and they looked to be older than me, so I was hopeful that they wouldn’t mind a few somewhat-behaved young kids. It turned out to be a fabulous time. Each time I passed them (which was often—it is a small track!), I got applause and encouragement. Alex started giving me “high-fives”. They would shout, “Faster, Mama, Faster!” much to the amusement of the other runners.

After a while, they started to get fidgety and started running around the track too! Sylvie proved to be an excellent runner and beat Alex on the first lap. In total, I think they both ran 3-4 laps. I was impressed. And they were worn out!

5 January
It’s 7am and I’m in shock. Jameson slept through the night! Jameson is still sleeping!! I peeked in there about 20 minutes ago to make sure he was okay—and I saw movement—so I came out and made a bottle and am waiting. And waiting. And am as pleased as can be.

Yesterday he went to the doctor for his 6 month check-up. He weighed in at 17 pounds, 2 ounces. (I won the bet with Stefan—at breakfast he thought he’d be 18 and I knew it would be 17) He was an absolute delight at the appointment—trying to grab the nurse’s hands, stethoscope, rings, hair, etc. He aptly demonstrated his ability to roll (luckily we were standing guard by the table). The only down-side was the dreaded shots. Alex couldn’t handle being in the room—so he and Stefan went to the waiting room. As always, it is difficult to see him get hurt, but I keep telling myself that it is for the better. Right??

3 January

Jameson rolled over (from back to front) for the first time today. I set him down in the hallway while I was putting away some of his clothes and I asked Alex to watch him. Alex started shouting "he rolled over! he rolled over!" when I was in Jameson's room. Honestly, I thought Alex "helped" by pushing him a little, but then Jameson did it four more times---once on camera. It was a fun moment. I think my favorite thing was seeing just how excited Alex was about it.

A few moments later, however, as I sat next to Jameson feeling all sorts of warm-Mama-feelings, Alex felt the need to demonstrate his abilities and had Jameson and I watch him shimmy up the side of my door frame. What great boys.

2 January
With quite a bit of convincing (he’s a shower boy these days), Alex took a bath tonight with Jameson. It was Jameson’s first time out of his “baby” tub and into the real tub.

Babies are slippery!! It was hard to hold on to him, especially given that he was doing everything possible to wiggle, splash, and move all over in the warm water. We spent most of the bath laughing.

At one point, I asked Alex to hold him while I reached up to get the shampoo. Well, I did mention he was slippery… he slipped out of Alex’s arms and plunged head first into the water (sorry bout that J-Mo!). I grabbed him up quickly and expected some crying… but Alex was laughing and cheering and after quick moment of shock, Jameson was smiling his big grin.

Then, about 30 minutes later, I managed to pull Alex out of the bath. During that time, I had dried off Jameson, put him to bed, and folded a load and a half of laundry. I guess baths are still fun for five-year-olds.

1 January
Stefan put Jameson in his crib for bed---and I headed in about 10 minutes later to give him his final bottle. I expected that he would be asleep—he normally falls asleep for a little while before his final bottle—but he was laying sideways in the crib (he turned himself 90 degrees) and was laying under his blanket smiling up at me. It was so cute!!

30 Dec
On the way back from my parent’s house, we stopped in at my Aunt Mary Lou’s house to see my cousin Sarah and her baby Lilly. Lilly is almost exactly 2 months older than Jameson—so she was 8 months old. It was great to see my favorite cousin again, although I could tell she and Dan were very tired from the wakeful night they had just had with Lilly!

Then we headed out of town when Jameson was sleepy and capitalized on nearly two hours of nap-time. Bladders and sore backs in the front seat pushed up to stop even before he woke up. We made it to Van Buren state park (again) and let the boys play on the swings, have some snacks, and generally goof off. That’s twice now that we have been to that state park during drives from Ohio—and it great weather.