Feb 24

December

I have lots of pics that need to be transferred to my computer, and it was my intention to put some of those pics on the blog today. But my camera is being buggy, and I don’t know why. So I will have to wait for Marcus (aka Fixer of All Tech Problems) to come home and figure it out. In the meantime, here are some pictures from December that I never posted. I actually thought I HAD posted these pictures, but I can’t find them anywhere on the blog, so I guess I didn’t. If it turns out that you have already seen these, then I apologize. But if you haven’t seen them, then you are in for a treat because I think they are awfully adorable!

and now, for my personal favorite in this series:

Pookie is doing great. He’s definitely got a will of his own… a will which does battle with MY will several times a day. When he gets frustrated, or the opposite — too excitedly happy — he reacts by seizing my arm, or knee, or thigh or FACE in his little hands and then digging his nails talons into my skin. THIS DOES NOT FEEL GOOD. He started doing that at least a couple of months ago, I think, and yes I do try to keep his nails short, but it still huuuuurts.  Of course, we try to teach him not to do this. Despite all the temptation to pinch him right back and say, “How does it feel?! Huh? HUH?”, I have instead been taking a more positive approach. When he pinches or scratches me, I say, “No. Be gentle.” Then I show him what “gentle” looks like, by rubbing his arm, or cheek, or head, in a soft manner and saying “gentle” over and over again. I have been doing this for quite a while, and just this week I think it has started to work. When he pinches me I say, “No,” and then before I can say “gentle” he preemptively rubs his own arm and says “zhen?” I say, “Yes! Gentle!” And then I clap my hands excitedly to show exaggerated approval for the right behavior. Then we live happily ever after. Sometimes. Other times, after being applauded for gently rubbing his own arm, he celebrates by pinching the crap out of my arm again! When THAT happens, I say, “No! That hurts! You don’t hurt Mama!” And then he throws himself on the floor and whimpers.

We’re getting there.

 

Feb 22

Overdue

If anyone is still reading this… I know we haven’t posted in almost three weeks! I don’t really have any excuse either. But I have lots of pictures to post, and so starting tomorrow, I will try to post every day for at least five days to make up for the absence. Pookie is grand, btw.

 

 

 

P.S. I am tagging this post with “creative updates” because I think doing so is mildly amusing.

Feb 02

Pookie’s Everest

In light of recent comments demanding more Pookie (!), I took some video of the little one today while he was showing off a brand spanking new skill! He acquires new skills all the time, it seems, and this one is pretty big.

Today Pookie and I were in the office, um… playing. And by “playing” I mean that I was checking my email while Emrick emptied the bookshelves. When that apparently got old, he walked casually out of the office. Less than a minute later, my better-go-find-Pooks-before-he-takes-off-in-the-Rav sniffers became activated, and I quickly got up to find him. “Emrick!” I called as I hurried down the hallway. “Wa boogie whoa,” he responded.

I turned the corner to find my little baby boy standing on top of the big green chair in the family room, looking at me. Understand that until today the only big-people furniture I have seen him get onto by himself is Marcus’ old futon, which has a pretty low seat-height. I mean, he’s still too short even to get on his kiddie chair by himself! Yet here he was, standing mightily atop the the seat of our big green chair. As surprised and amused as I was to see him there, I actually knew immediately how he must have done it. There’s a giant subwoofer right next to the green chair, and Wednesday night Pookie learned to climb that for the first time. And as I should have learned by now, once Pookie figures one skill out, it takes him only a matter of hours to decipher all of its applications. If I can get on top of this subwoofer, he must surely think to himself, then I’ll bet I can climb from there to the green chair! And if there were a table behind the chair, why, I could get on top of that, too! And if Mom and Dad ever install that rope ladder I’ve been dreaming about, I could scale the wall! And from there? Everest, baby!

Yes, I am quite positive that these are exactly the thoughts in his head.

Anyway, I took Pookie down off the chair so that I could see him carry out this feat for myself. It took him a few tries (he kept accidentally stepping off of the subwoofer when he tried to transfer to the chair), but eventually he did it and appeared very pleased with himself. I was pleased with him, too! Next step was to get the video camera. My first attempt at capturing all of this was unsuccessful due to Emrick’s fascination with all things electronic; all I got was video of him grabbing at the camera. But I tried again later with great success! So without further ado:

Jan 23

And Then There Was More Christmas

Emrick threw his binky onto the floor just as I was snapping the pic. Can you find it in mid-air?

Emrick frolics amid the Christmas rubble.

"Play with me, Daddy!"

Snack time!

Ho hum.

Later in the afternoon, we had dinner. We kept it simple — just a pre-seasoned turkey breast that had been in our freezer for a while, and two high-carb sides. Plus croissants, which I guess makes for THREE high-carb sides. Yum.

Emrick was eager to get started.

After dinner, Marcus played a couple of Christmas carols on his guitar.

The End.

 

 

 

Jan 22

Also on Christmas…

Below are pictures from Christmas day. I meant to post these pictures shortly after Marcus posted video of Emrick opening his presents, but I have been busy and mostly computerless for the past week plus, which made it hard to post. Busy doing what? you ask? Why, busy painting and rearranging our office! Anyway, that meant that our computers were unplugged for about a week or so, and the office was an uninhabitable mess. Marcus had his work laptop to use, and I had the mini laptop I got for Christmas a few years ago, but it’s not good for viewing, organizing, or posting lots of pictures, so that’s why there’s a delay. Office pics to come soon, but for now, here’s Christmas!

Before we opened presents, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast of scattered Chex and milk with a straw. Em's fave.

 

After breakfast, we checked the cookie plate and found that Santa had enjoyed every last one!

After present-opening (see video) it was time to get dressed for the day. Emrick was dressed extra-snazzily since we would be having dinner in the dining room. What an occasion!

That's Emrick's briefcase that he's touching in the background. Or maybe it's the wrench and socket set I got for Marcus for Christmas, I don't remember.

More Christmas pics will be posted tomorrow.

In other news, Emrick had another appointment with the endocrinologist that he saw back in September. Nothing’s wrong, this was just the follow-up appointment that she asked me to make when she first saw him. His head growth has slowed down. His head is still at the 95th percentile, but that means that for the first time ever, there has been no increase in his head-size percentile ranking. That was good news, since I was prepared to hear that his head was off-the-charts in size. But no. It’s just off the charts in cuteness, which we already knew 🙂 His height is around the 2nd percentile, which is actually an increase, so… you know. Woot. I guess.

She continues to see no signs that Emrick has any misfortunes other than his short parents. She did note, however, that his soft spot has not closed completely yet, whereas most babies’ soft spots close by the time they are 9 or 10 months old. But she wasn’t concerned about it because she said it was to be expected with a child whose bones are growing slowly. She actually used the phrase “delayed bone growth” which sounds all disorder-y, but I think that was just her scary way of saying he’s short. She said she doesn’t worry about open soft spots until kids are around 18 months old. So, I told Emrick that he’s got two months to get it together (bad pun, hey-oh!).

Interestingly she also said that sometimes soft spots that are late in closing can be an indicator that the child will hit puberty on the late side. Then her assistant doctor lady who was also in the room asked me how old I was when I experienced menarche. I told her I was like four years old or something*, and she just said, “Oh. Hmmm.”

Anyway, TMI y’all!

*This is an extreme exaggeration.

Jan 13

Taboo

Load more