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).

Adin is reaching

I have been working with Adin to help him with side-sitting (sort of like cheerleaders do), and moving from sitting to hands and knees. He's become more adventurous when he's sitting. He'll reach further and further away to get a toy. A few times now I've seen him get down to his hands and knees by himself, although he doesn't stay up on his knees very long. He plops down on his tummy for a couple minutes and then cries to be moved. I guess after all that work, he's too tired to roll over himself!

I love how he leans his head to mine for kissing and nuzzling. So sweet.

Erik's bedtime

So tonight, Joe got started with Erik on the bedtime routine while I put Adin down to sleep. Then, when Joe was done, I went in and chatted a little with Erik. I left and moments later he said he had to go potty. I took him in the bathroom and became suspicious that he just wanted to play in the sink, but no, he actually had some business to do. While we were waiting, he asked me to draw a picture of him riding in the pink princess car with Kate. (This was a highlight of the most recent trip to Oakes.) He asked me to put in the lawn sign that he and Kate drove over, and Grandpa, who fixed the sign. Erik looked at the drawing for a while, and then asked me to draw the princess on the car. By that time he was done so he brought the picture to bed with him and promptly fell asleep.

Erik is learning the facts of life - Joe read Erik some nursery rhymes and had to say that cats sometimes eat mice. It was hard for Erik to believe this could be true. Later, when I was in the room with Erik he explained it all to me. "Cats eat mice but mice don't eat cats. They don't have very much teeth. Just two teeth like my brother."

Erik's Thanksgiving Update

Well, he's a pottying champ, for one thing. He needs a diaper for overnight, and for naps, but that's it.

We were all up in Joe and my room looking at the fan go around and Erik said it looked like a wheel rolling on the ground.

Sadly, he's taking his tantruming to a new level. He just goes crazy shrieking his head off. I don't like it.

He doesn't like scary things. This includes unfriendly things like sharks and the big bad wolf. He has a zero tolerance policy to masks, which now that Halloween has passed shouldn't be much of a problem!

Thanksgiving Update

Let's see, what's new with Adin? A little while ago, when I hold him he started turning his head to my face with his mouth open. It seems as though he's trying to give me a slobbery kiss. He also leans in to press his face against mine if I'm holding him.

A month ago he started sitting up. He's pretty steady now, although he does tip over, especially if I have him in a room with a hardwood floor! If I leave the room for a bit, he's getting better at reaching further and further away to grasp things. Once he got from sitting down to all fours! That's really important for his learning to crawl.

He might be starting to wave. If he sees me (or other people, too, I suppose) he'll wave one arm. It seems way to early, but I remember being shocked at how early Erik waved, too. I have no idea when it's normal to start waving, it just feels like something they'd do closer to one year.

Still tons of babbling. Sometimes it sounds like word. The other day he woke up, babbled in his crib awhile and it sounded like he said "awake"! Sometimes he does seem to accidentally imitate a syllable, like saying "ba" or "dada" if I do.

Halloween

Erik wasn't very interested in dressing up this year. So he wore regular clothes with Joe's high school football jersey. He enjoyed trick-or-treating until a neighbor answered her door dressed as a witch. Then he was scared and wanted to come home. Joe talked him into trying again and they visited some more people we know. It was great, Erik could eat his candy, but didn't really remember about it so he didn't beg.


Joe and Adin went to ECFE for a while before joining Erik and me at a pumpkin carving party. Adin enjoyed being Yoda. He could probably wear the robe again next year and be Anakin Skywalker. We went to a Halloween library story time and saw Anakin, Princess Lea, and two Boba Fetts.

More Updates

So tonight Erik set up his own drum kit in the basement. He took a saucepan and lid and an empty popcorn tin and lid, arrayed them pretty much as a drum kit - the lids were the cymbals, of course. I came downstairs and he was playing his drums with wooden chopsticks, singing, "I wonder where the yellow went when I brushed my teeth with Pepsodent." Then, "I wonder where the green went when I brushed my teeth with Pepsodent."

He's been using the potty about 75% of awake time for the last week and a half. He has an accident every day or so. He had one yesterday. I smelled something, asked if he had to go, he said no, I gave him a two minute warning and checked Adin's diaper. He was stinky so I changed him then took Erik to the bathroom. As I was undressing him he told me to cover my eyes, so I was suspicious. As I cleaned him up I said I thought he needed a bath and he had a small freak out. But once in the bath he had fun. After the bath he commented on how fun it was, and not that bad. This morning he had a bit of a nightmare, however, thinking he'd had an accident and would need a bath. So I guess I am accidentally using aversion to toilet train him. I'm not really sure where to go from here. Just keep on reminding him to use the potty? Wait and see if he'll just tell me on his own? I'm eager for advice from potty training veterans. I just never imagined this first phase would go so smoothly and quickly.

Catching Up

So here's the latest on Baby Adin. He has two teeth. As of Monday he can roll from his back to his tummy (not that he likes it there). As of tonight he can sit unassisted for a few minutes at a time. He's eating rice cereal and mushy pears. He has a six month check up next week so I'm excited to see his stats.

baby steps

No, not baby Adin. Erik has expressed an interest in not wearing diapers anymore. He wants to wear underwear and sit on the potty. He decided this, well, he announced it right before dinner. He used the potty successfully twice and no accidents, this evening. We have a chart up by his bed. He gets to make a marker stamp when he sits on the potty, put a sticker on if he's "successful" and once he's successful for a week he gets an umbrella. I think the umbrella is what led to his decision. It's quite possible that he will change his mind after a day, but it's exciting to see him motivated and proud.

Baby Adin is getting closer to sitting up. He now needs minimal support from us. Joe finds Adin is most successful when he has one hand on the floor to add stability. He started on rice cereal this week and seems to be a big fan. He isn't quite six months, but I went ahead with it because he's so close and he is so interested in our food. He really watches us eating and often will reach out and try to get some for himself.

Two's Company

Erik started a parent and child class for two year olds today. He had lots of fun painting, singing, and playing on the playground. We've taken Erik to this playground a couple times this month. Although there were other kids the first time we were there, last time he had the playground to himself. So today he pretty much wanted his new friend Levi to get off the fire truck and let him ride alone. Oh well.

Brothers

"Mama, I don't want to do this anymore."

Why is it they never smile at the same time?

theological questions

Erik and I have been role playing the last couple weeks. We'll pretend we're someone else. He'll want to pretend to be someone we saw at the park or a Sesame Street character. Sometimes he wants me to be a different one, sometimes we are the same character. Last night I asked if he was ready to pray to God. He said his prayers and then wanted to pretend he was God! I must admit, it made me uncomfortable when he said "I'm God" even though I knew to him it was no different from pretending he's Elmo. It just feels strange to hear him say he's God, or that I'm God. Then he asked me "who's God". Oh boy. Later, I wished I could use God's reply to Moses "I am" and just say "God is". But that wouldn't satisfy a two year old. So I told him God was our friend, God made us and God loves us. I mean, other than describing God, what else can I say?