Erik the scientist

Before Erik was born I read somewhere or heard on the radio a story about babies being little scientists exploring and learning about the world. So when they drop a spoon on the floor 100 times, they are conducting an experiment. Erik pours so much energy into observing the people around him sometimes. I really notice it when he's observing kids in a group, what are they doing, can I do that too? But sometimes he does it with me. This morning he asked to go outside to play. So he put on his snowsuit, boots, hat and mittens and played while Adin & I watched through the window. It's quite icy and he loved sliding around. Then he wanted to come in but didn't want to walk on the ice anymore. So I put on boots and came out to get him. When I came to the house I tapped each boot against the frame of the door to get snow off the boots, then I stepped inside and wiped them on the mat. And what do you know, Erik tried to tap his boots on the door frame and then wipe them on the mat! I never would have asked him to do that and he just noticed and did it himself!

If only that level of mental energy could be sustained throughout the day. Unfortunately, he mostly begs to watch tv. It's a definite temptation for me when he does that. I wouldn't mind sitting around all day, watching educational cartoons on PBS.

more crawling!

This morning I learned how to make Adin crawl. I was feeding him some lunch and Erik complained that the electronic keyboard wouldn't work. Adin and I joined Erik in the living room and I plugged in the keyboard. He played for a while and I wanted to teach him a little song. So I put stickers on the three keys needed and prompted him. Blue, green, clock. Blue, green, clock. Green, blue, green, clock, blue, blue. That was fun but then I realized I actually have alphabet stickers. By the time I came back with them, Adin had crawled over to play piano too. This did not make Erik happy. I told him he'd had a turn, now it was Adin's turn, and after I switched the stickers it would be Erik's turn again. Then when it was Erik's turn I moved Adin back about five feet. He crawled back again and again! It was fun. Today he was crawling with two hands and a knee.

Adin is crawling! a little

So Christmas morning I saw Adin army crawling (pulling with arms, but his legs are straight out behind him) around on the hardwood floor. Joe saw him doing the same thing downstairs later. He doesn't do it much. He's way more interested in standing, so if anyone is around he wants us to pull him up to standing. If we're busy and not paying attention, then he will crawl.

He has been waving a little as well, and is sort of smacking his lips to make a kissing sound. It's very cute.

Christmas Eve pictures

I am not too handy with Picasa so pardon me if this link doesn't work. Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2008

Today

Erik and Adin had a bath together this morning. Erik requested that I please not wash Adin's hair, a nice touch of empathy. Adin refrained from crying for about 5 minutes, then lifted his arms to be taken out. I wrapped him in a towel and we watched Erik play for a while.

Adin is very close to crawling. The problem is that he practices his crawling when I'm not near him, as he reaches for things too far away. When I am around, he just wants to hold my thumbs and practice standing up.

Erik is branching into more imaginative play. Two years ago I claimed a used puppet theater and loaned it to some friends with a toddler. Last night they returned it. I didn't think Erik would be very interested but he kind of was. He asked me to make a curtain for the curtain rod, and entertained himself (mostly) while I sewed it. Then I did a puppet show for him with our pathetic cast of puppets: a monkey from the $1 bin at Target, and four stick puppets from Barnehage.

The stick puppets are: Papa, wearing a baseball hat, shirt and boxers; Mama, wearing a firefighter jacket; Erik, wearing normal clothes; and Eleanor, wearing pink and purple clothes. As the Monkey interviewed each person, he complimented Eleanor on her purple pants and shirt, then corrected himself that the shirt was actually pink. This turned out to be the funniest joke Erik has ever heard and he acted out the "play" several times, cracking himself up. I harbored hope that he would act out the play next week for family celebrating Christmas with us. Sadly, the more times he does the play, the more mumbled it becomes until by this evening no one who hadn't heard it 6 times already would have any idea what he said. He even bungled his punch line and cracked up so much on the purple shirt line he forgot to say the shirt was actually pink. Oh well. Maybe he'll think up a new play by next weekend. I did a Nativity play which he politely watched and then requested I do the silly one again.

PSA

I try not to be preachy but here's a great idea. If the link doesn't work, the good idea is quoted below...

As if you needed more proof that economic times for families are tough and likely to get tougher, consider this, In this 2008 holiday season, the average American consumer plans to spend about 1/2 of what they spent last year ($431 versus $816) on gifts (that still totals about $100 billion dollars nationwide).

Your kids will be, of course, still excited to their presents, which are - let's face it - pretty much the meaning of Christmas and Chanukah for most of them (and most of us).

I'm no Grinch, but what if each of us were to donate to charity a mere 10% of our intended expenditures on presents? That would amount to $10 billion dollars. And what might that teach our kids?

That's why I'd like to encourage you to sign on to our PROJECT GOOD HEART, in which you donate to a charity (of your child's choice) the money that you would have spent on one of his/her presents.

*****

Here's how PROJECT GOOD HEART works:

* Explain to your kids (over the age of 5-6 years or so) that instead of one gift you would have given them, they are to chose a charity to donate whatever dollars that present would have cost.

* Talk about the reasons charities exist and why empathy towards people less fortunate is a family value ("Remember when we saw those people on TV who lost their homes?").

* Discuss with them the various kinds of charities and how they help those less advantaged in many ways.

* Ask them what kind of help they would like to give: for food? shelter? medicine? toys? books? For kids their age? needy families? victims of disasters or war? the poor? endangered animals? the environment?

* Encourage them to put themselves in another's shoes: "If our family was unlucky and lost a lot of the things we now have or we were victims of a storm or a war, how would you want others to help us?"

* Guide the discussion: "Sure, Billy, buying a lot of Twinkies for a homeless family is a great idea and would make them happy for a short minute, but can you think of other ways to help them?"

* But, remember, in the end, it's their donation and their charity. Let them choose.

* On Christmas or Chanukah, give them a Project Good Heart card (you can print the logo above) that says, "X dollars donated by Billy to the ABC charity, where it will be used to ___. Thanks, Billy!"



Perhaps, one day, when the latest toy is rusting in the basement, your kids will remember their charitable gifts as having best taught them the true spirit of the holidays.

*****

The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.
- Hada Bejar

Adin's visit to the ophthamologist

I took Adin to the ophthamologist yesterday, to make sure his torticollis isn't caused by a problem with his vision. We saw three different people. A woman interviewed me briefly then took a look at Adin. She shined a light in his eyes, then held up some sort of prism in front of one eye while shining a light. She showed him big cards with a small hole in the middle. On each card, to one side of the hole there was a square of stripes. The stripes on the cards became less and less distinctly colored (from black and white to grey and white). She played a video on the far wall and looked at Adin's eyes while he watched. She made me tilt him 45 degrees each direction. Then she put a bunch of drops in his eyes and sent us to the lobby to hang out for a half hour.

If you are ever designing your own vision clinic, please keep the lighting in the lobby dim if you plan to send people with dilated eyes to wait there.

We were called back and a man looked into Adin's eyes, then held up some different lenses in front of them. He left, Adin fell asleep in my arms, then the actual ophthamologist came in. I actually forget now if he did any tests himself or just talked with me about the results. He said Adin looked great. He is tracking ok, his visual acuity is fine, he's farsighted (as babies are supposed to be). Everything looked good and he doesn't need a vision check until his three year old well-child visit! Yay! I'm not surprised to hear that everything was fine, but it is a relief.

Erik's observations

A couple weeks ago we were upstairs watching the ceiling fan Erik had turned on. He commented that it looked like a wheel rolling along on the ground!

The other day he saw something hook shaped and thought it looked like the letter J.

Lucky 7s

Ok, just since posting yesterday about Adin going on all fours, he has become more comfortable in that position and will move into and out of it more easily.

Adin had a flu shot today. It went fine. On the way out, my bold husband weighed and measured our boys. Adin was about 17 1/2 pounds (clothed but hungry). Erik was 37 pounds, fully dressed, and 37 inches (in boots).