Thursday, November 29, 2007
Vomit and Fat jokes
This is why you don't confide in your kids. Frost has begged to go to Baskin Robbins on the way home from school. We haven't been for 6 months so I agree. We go in. Frost orders a vanilla chocolate caramel swirl cup with m&ms on it. He picks the m&m's off as we leave. I ask for a taste. He says, loudly:
"Mummy, remember about your weight watchers and how you are getting fat! I don't think you should have a taste".
Of course, after 10 minutes he says that it is "a little rich" and he is "full" and I finish it off anyway. Wren is denied a taste even though he is pointing at it and hooting insistently. He is denied because he threw up in the Lighting Aisle at Lowes today. He threw up in a dramatic and voluminous fashion - 3 times, all over me and the cart and his clothes and the floor. He seemed to feel a lot better afterwards even though he was not noticably ill beforehand.
Later, he had the most stinky diaper in human history. It was the sort of thing that would be an evolutionary leap for carnivorous plants if they could but create a tenth of the stench. Not being a stink drawn insect I was appalled. Frost ran screaming. Wren has been a bit clingy this afternoon but I am not too concerned as he has not thrown up again or had diarrhea again.
We shall keep an eye on him tonight.
My first thought was that he has an awful tummy infection from chewing on the toilet plunger which he found in the cupboard this morning but now I recall he has had a little bit of spit-up and reduced appetite the last few days so perhaps he has a tummy virus.
We both bathed in the afternoon.
"Mummy, remember about your weight watchers and how you are getting fat! I don't think you should have a taste".
Of course, after 10 minutes he says that it is "a little rich" and he is "full" and I finish it off anyway. Wren is denied a taste even though he is pointing at it and hooting insistently. He is denied because he threw up in the Lighting Aisle at Lowes today. He threw up in a dramatic and voluminous fashion - 3 times, all over me and the cart and his clothes and the floor. He seemed to feel a lot better afterwards even though he was not noticably ill beforehand.
Later, he had the most stinky diaper in human history. It was the sort of thing that would be an evolutionary leap for carnivorous plants if they could but create a tenth of the stench. Not being a stink drawn insect I was appalled. Frost ran screaming. Wren has been a bit clingy this afternoon but I am not too concerned as he has not thrown up again or had diarrhea again.
We shall keep an eye on him tonight.
My first thought was that he has an awful tummy infection from chewing on the toilet plunger which he found in the cupboard this morning but now I recall he has had a little bit of spit-up and reduced appetite the last few days so perhaps he has a tummy virus.
We both bathed in the afternoon.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Another Tooth
Wren is growing his 15th tooth. This is a tooth which usually erupts between 17-22 months. He is very toothy.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Wren on the rampage
It seems that Wren has very suddenly turned into a micro-toddler. He walks longer distances before plopping down on his bottom. He has learned to stand and wobble without falling over then totter off again. He has also become very strong willed.
The Desk and the bedroom
His favorite wickednesses are to get into Frost's room and chew the hair off playmobil figures and to climb, via the couch, to my desk where he throws all my pens, papers and laptop (if he could) onto the floor. He loves to close the laptop on my hands and then stare at me as if to say "so what are you gonna do?" If I say "No" and set him on the floor he shouts loudly "sstheee! sstheeee!" and quickly crawls back to the couch to return to his perch on the arm of the chair.
Knobs and buttons
He is fascinated by knobs and buttons which he finds in strange places. There is the power buttons for the X-box and my laptop kayboard which he pushes with infuriating regularity. He likes to press buttons on the telephone and has recently learned to turn the floor lamp on and off by twisting the knob (very entertaining). He also likes to play with the boombox, finding strange AM stations and static. He loves the little knob on the faucet which switches the water flow from bath to shower, standing in the bath and pulling it up and down with his little pincer grip. If he is trying to examine a mole or freckle he can also delivery a mean pinch to the skin!
Signing wildly
To signal his strong intentions Wren has taken to signing a great deal. He knows two signs as well as waving hello and goodbye. He signs MILK and ALL DONE. At first, he knew only MILK and he signed MILK on every occasion he wanted something. He would stare at it and sign MILK MILK staring at me and hooting. When I taught him ALL DONE he signed it appropriately for a day or two - even playing by signing MILK and then signing ALL DONE as soon as I nursed him. Then repeating this little game and smiling. Recently, he has taken to signing ALL DONE whenever he really really wants something - food, more raspberries, to get out of the bath, to get down, to get more yoghurt. I think he needs to learn MORE and greater vocabularly to help us get beyond this sliding of meaning.
Okay, I will post more later. We are getting ready for school now and Wren is coming with me. He has a sniffle which led to some night wakings and then a sleep-in so we are all a bit off the routine.
The Desk and the bedroom
His favorite wickednesses are to get into Frost's room and chew the hair off playmobil figures and to climb, via the couch, to my desk where he throws all my pens, papers and laptop (if he could) onto the floor. He loves to close the laptop on my hands and then stare at me as if to say "so what are you gonna do?" If I say "No" and set him on the floor he shouts loudly "sstheee! sstheeee!" and quickly crawls back to the couch to return to his perch on the arm of the chair.
Knobs and buttons
He is fascinated by knobs and buttons which he finds in strange places. There is the power buttons for the X-box and my laptop kayboard which he pushes with infuriating regularity. He likes to press buttons on the telephone and has recently learned to turn the floor lamp on and off by twisting the knob (very entertaining). He also likes to play with the boombox, finding strange AM stations and static. He loves the little knob on the faucet which switches the water flow from bath to shower, standing in the bath and pulling it up and down with his little pincer grip. If he is trying to examine a mole or freckle he can also delivery a mean pinch to the skin!
Signing wildly
To signal his strong intentions Wren has taken to signing a great deal. He knows two signs as well as waving hello and goodbye. He signs MILK and ALL DONE. At first, he knew only MILK and he signed MILK on every occasion he wanted something. He would stare at it and sign MILK MILK staring at me and hooting. When I taught him ALL DONE he signed it appropriately for a day or two - even playing by signing MILK and then signing ALL DONE as soon as I nursed him. Then repeating this little game and smiling. Recently, he has taken to signing ALL DONE whenever he really really wants something - food, more raspberries, to get out of the bath, to get down, to get more yoghurt. I think he needs to learn MORE and greater vocabularly to help us get beyond this sliding of meaning.
Okay, I will post more later. We are getting ready for school now and Wren is coming with me. He has a sniffle which led to some night wakings and then a sleep-in so we are all a bit off the routine.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanksgiving started early
At about 12.08am wren woke up and yelled. I responded (foolishly). Wren was thankful. He woke again at 3am and I did not respond, at first. After half an hour of Wren chatting and crying and shouting, I went in to get him back to sleep more quickly. He was pleased. He was up for the day at 5.45am. Ugh.
This is my favorite Thanksgiving image (so far). It is from the Brothers-Brick blog.
This is my favorite Thanksgiving image (so far). It is from the Brothers-Brick blog.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
The body in the basement
I think we have a body in the basement. I hope it’s a small one, perhaps the carcass of a rat or some unfortunate rodent which strayed into the crawlspace and could not escape. I don’t know what it is and am loathe to investigate because the basement is crammed with toys and clothes which I have saved to span the years between Wren and Frost along with all the plates and plattters from the unfinished kitchen, Joshua’s discarded computers and game platforms and journals from high school, every board game known to man and a lot of other crap beside.
Joshua says the air from the heating vents smells like burning bugs or hot dust and I have noticed large black flies coming up the basement stairs when I open it during the day. We really notice the flies at night because they are attracted to the living room lamps and it took some rushing around with the old masai zebra tail whisk to fell most of them. The few remaining we lured to the porch light by darkening the house and letting the icy night breeze come in the open door. I don’t like either of these signs. I asked Joshua to sniff around and find the origin of the burning dust-bug smell but he claims it is pervasive and non-directional. I have had a diminshed sense of smell since pregnancy (along with my diminised aural acuity which suggests some sinus issue going on) and can smell nothing short of burning fat or toast and in these I am helped by the signs of smoke and blackening, so I do not consider myself a good judge of stink.
Once, long ago, I found a dead possum in a fridge which had been stored in the garage by the owner. At first I thought it was the neighbors cat and only after calling around noxious cleaning services (and getting exhorbitant quotes) did I don a plastic smock and gloves and noseplug and go and clear it out myself. It was vile and scary and full of maggots and tragedy. Now these flies have me worried.
Joshua suggested they could be eating something benign like compost and that the thing could be very small to hatch a crop of flies but I am tainted by CSI and Grissom with his experiments and I know he would find something altogether more ominous. The other weird thing is that the flies are silent. In Australia and South Africa these large glossy black flies are called “bluebottle flies” and they make a large and irritating buzz as they move around. These fat black flies are noiseless. There were 3 of them in the bathroom and I heard not a sound. You could say that this was due to my (alleged) hearing impairment but Joshua did not comment on the noise so I suspect it to be true.
I will post more on this peculiarity when I have more clues.
Joshua says the air from the heating vents smells like burning bugs or hot dust and I have noticed large black flies coming up the basement stairs when I open it during the day. We really notice the flies at night because they are attracted to the living room lamps and it took some rushing around with the old masai zebra tail whisk to fell most of them. The few remaining we lured to the porch light by darkening the house and letting the icy night breeze come in the open door. I don’t like either of these signs. I asked Joshua to sniff around and find the origin of the burning dust-bug smell but he claims it is pervasive and non-directional. I have had a diminshed sense of smell since pregnancy (along with my diminised aural acuity which suggests some sinus issue going on) and can smell nothing short of burning fat or toast and in these I am helped by the signs of smoke and blackening, so I do not consider myself a good judge of stink.
Once, long ago, I found a dead possum in a fridge which had been stored in the garage by the owner. At first I thought it was the neighbors cat and only after calling around noxious cleaning services (and getting exhorbitant quotes) did I don a plastic smock and gloves and noseplug and go and clear it out myself. It was vile and scary and full of maggots and tragedy. Now these flies have me worried.
Joshua suggested they could be eating something benign like compost and that the thing could be very small to hatch a crop of flies but I am tainted by CSI and Grissom with his experiments and I know he would find something altogether more ominous. The other weird thing is that the flies are silent. In Australia and South Africa these large glossy black flies are called “bluebottle flies” and they make a large and irritating buzz as they move around. These fat black flies are noiseless. There were 3 of them in the bathroom and I heard not a sound. You could say that this was due to my (alleged) hearing impairment but Joshua did not comment on the noise so I suspect it to be true.
I will post more on this peculiarity when I have more clues.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wren is 11months and walking!
Wren is 11 months and one week old. Since yesterday he has moved from occasional tottering steps to taking up to 10 little steps towards a goal. His gait has changed. Instead of throwing himself forward in a plunging tumble towards my legs he makes steady little steps and stops himself between them. He is most likely to fall over onto his bottom if he loses his balance. He stands up at every opportunity.
He has also taken to climbing. He climbs onto the couch and then uses the side pillows to climb up to and sometimes ONTO my desk. This is over a meter off the ground and is haven for sharp implements, camera, laptop and various precarious stacks of CDs and papers. I do not like him being up here. However, Wren believes that he must do everything we do and since I am often at my laptop doing things to it he feel entitled to do the same.
He also copies holding up the remote control to the TV and taking plates out the cupboard. When denied he becomes frustrated. He screams, falls over, cries buckets and then tries again.
I try and allow him as much freedom as possible and he is permitted to climb on the couch as long as he doesn't use it as a route to something higher.
Wren is also enjoying pushing the little red ride-on toy that Mum bought for Frost when he was 18 mths. He pushes it up and down the living room and into the kitchen, shouting in frustration when he bumps into something and cannot go any further. Sometimes Frost sits on the car and lifts his feet up and Frost pushes him hooting and happy.
Wren is still sleeping short nights (less than 10 hours) but only wakes once around 3-4am so I am getting some good stretches. He gets up for the day between 5.15and 5.45am. I wish he would sleep 11 hours from 7.30-6.30am but he hasn't agreed to my request. He naps well in the daytime - two naps that are 3 hours in total when he is not interrupted by carpool in the afternoon and errands in the morning.
Its late. I must go to bed but will write a few more anecdotes of Wren tomorrow.
He has also taken to climbing. He climbs onto the couch and then uses the side pillows to climb up to and sometimes ONTO my desk. This is over a meter off the ground and is haven for sharp implements, camera, laptop and various precarious stacks of CDs and papers. I do not like him being up here. However, Wren believes that he must do everything we do and since I am often at my laptop doing things to it he feel entitled to do the same.
He also copies holding up the remote control to the TV and taking plates out the cupboard. When denied he becomes frustrated. He screams, falls over, cries buckets and then tries again.
I try and allow him as much freedom as possible and he is permitted to climb on the couch as long as he doesn't use it as a route to something higher.
Wren is also enjoying pushing the little red ride-on toy that Mum bought for Frost when he was 18 mths. He pushes it up and down the living room and into the kitchen, shouting in frustration when he bumps into something and cannot go any further. Sometimes Frost sits on the car and lifts his feet up and Frost pushes him hooting and happy.
Wren is still sleeping short nights (less than 10 hours) but only wakes once around 3-4am so I am getting some good stretches. He gets up for the day between 5.15and 5.45am. I wish he would sleep 11 hours from 7.30-6.30am but he hasn't agreed to my request. He naps well in the daytime - two naps that are 3 hours in total when he is not interrupted by carpool in the afternoon and errands in the morning.
Its late. I must go to bed but will write a few more anecdotes of Wren tomorrow.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Pictures from James
Here, belatedly, are some pictures James sent us after his visit last month. They are some of the best pictures we have of Wren, the neighborhood and even of me.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
14 teeth - 11 months
Wren now has 14 teeth and is 11 months old. Over the past few days he has been growing the upper incisors. If you have a look at a chart of normal tooth development you can see that Wren is growing his teeth very early. On the chart he already has upper teeth 1-4 and lower teeth 1, 2 and 4. In fact, he has all but one pair of teeth expected by 18 months!
He came with me to a school Parent meeting tonight and I fear it will be his last public appearance there for a while. He climbed on the table, pummeled a satsuma into a puddle of juice, ate food from the floor, shrieked loudly amid quiet reports, smiled and stood up on the table, begged for grapes and pointed at everyone. It was hard to concentrate.
We also went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Audubon exhibit. It was the first time I had seen original copies of the Birds of America folio - they are HUGE. The format is called Double Elephant and is about 70cm high. I was amazed at the detail and line work in the etchings, also the drama in many of the pictures. Wren has come to like owls which we have in our house as Halloween decorations. Every morning he points to the plastic owls lurking in among the potted plants. He seemed similarly fascinated by the owl paintings and I was going to buy one for him if they had one in the gift shop. They did not.
I shall write more about Wren at 11 months tomorrow. I really need more sleep tonight. The 5.15am risings have been routine for the past few nights and I have been having trouble getting back to sleep quickly after the 3.30am nursing so it is a short night and I need to get as many hours as possible before midnight.
He came with me to a school Parent meeting tonight and I fear it will be his last public appearance there for a while. He climbed on the table, pummeled a satsuma into a puddle of juice, ate food from the floor, shrieked loudly amid quiet reports, smiled and stood up on the table, begged for grapes and pointed at everyone. It was hard to concentrate.
We also went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Audubon exhibit. It was the first time I had seen original copies of the Birds of America folio - they are HUGE. The format is called Double Elephant and is about 70cm high. I was amazed at the detail and line work in the etchings, also the drama in many of the pictures. Wren has come to like owls which we have in our house as Halloween decorations. Every morning he points to the plastic owls lurking in among the potted plants. He seemed similarly fascinated by the owl paintings and I was going to buy one for him if they had one in the gift shop. They did not.
I shall write more about Wren at 11 months tomorrow. I really need more sleep tonight. The 5.15am risings have been routine for the past few nights and I have been having trouble getting back to sleep quickly after the 3.30am nursing so it is a short night and I need to get as many hours as possible before midnight.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Buddha bashing
I know Wren is in Frost's room again. I hear a shout "no no noooo Wren" then the appeal: "Shannon, Shannon, HELP ME. A little guy just invaded my personality!!"
I know how he feels.
Wren seems to get into everything these days. If I put a cup away he creeps to the cupboard and tugs in frustration against the baby locks. When I put away a Halloween decoration he fetches it from the box. Out and in, out in an he loves to take out and sometimes put things away. When I go into the bathroom he follows and pulls all the toilet rolls out of the closet. When I flush he crawls over to the toilet and pulls up and flushes, again. He is compelled to copy and be everywhere we are.
He is very sweet.
Tomorrow is his 11 month birthday and I starting to see his one year old self emerging. I will write more later. Today he goes to the pediatrician for his flu shot. I hope his reaction is better than mine. I had my flu shot on Friday and was ill for 24 hours with fever, chills and aches. I am all better now.
Wren is bashing the brass buddha with true enthusiasm. I shall go and save one of them.
I know how he feels.
Wren seems to get into everything these days. If I put a cup away he creeps to the cupboard and tugs in frustration against the baby locks. When I put away a Halloween decoration he fetches it from the box. Out and in, out in an he loves to take out and sometimes put things away. When I go into the bathroom he follows and pulls all the toilet rolls out of the closet. When I flush he crawls over to the toilet and pulls up and flushes, again. He is compelled to copy and be everywhere we are.
He is very sweet.
Tomorrow is his 11 month birthday and I starting to see his one year old self emerging. I will write more later. Today he goes to the pediatrician for his flu shot. I hope his reaction is better than mine. I had my flu shot on Friday and was ill for 24 hours with fever, chills and aches. I am all better now.
Wren is bashing the brass buddha with true enthusiasm. I shall go and save one of them.
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