An easy week

Despite the steady rain that kept us housebound, this past week has been probably the easiest since Jack was born! He's been sleeping and napping well. Still eating next to nothing, but we weighed him and he's gained a pound since his checkup last month. A typical day's food intake is usually one banana, one cup of juice, a little bit of some other fruit, a small amount of dinner, and milk throughout the day. Crazy!

Jack at a glance 1/22/8

Sleeping: From about 8:30-9:15 to 6, pretty consistent.
Napping: Yes. About 1 1/2-2 hours a day.
Eating: Oh my, no. We have some luck mixing stuff into yogurt. He likes raisins and apples. Last night I snuck some peas into his zucchini and yogurt (it's all he would agree to). But he's really unwilling to eat most of the time. After his nap he gets a small cup of juice which is often a mixture of carrot and apple, so at least he gets a small amount of vegetable, albeit in juice form. We are vigilant about vitamins.
Strollering: Yes! He's doing great in the stroller. I think I've gotten him off my back (literally) for now.
Fun: Jack loves swinging at the playground. For some unknown reason he calls that "monkey tape." The Discovery Museum is the perfect destination these days. Not only do they have a wonderful train room, but there are small dump trucks to push around and a gravel pit for scooping and dumping. At home, he enjoys playing with his trains and legos. Play-doh is a new favorite, and he hardly ever tries to eat it :)
Miscellaneous: He doesn't seem to favor one hand when eating, so we aren't sure if he is left- or right-handed. Jack adores the moon, and looks for it every time we are out walking, and at night. Last week we blew bubbles to the moon! He puts Pinecone (that's his favorite monkey) under a blanket to keep him "toasty warm."

Meet the Beatles!

Hans put together a Beatles mix cd a few weeks ago. We listen to it in Jack's room, and he loves the songs! It starts with "Good Day Sunshine" and "Here Comes the Sun," and as soon as I go into his room in the morning, Jack says "Good Day Sunshine" over and over until I turn it on. He also really enjoys "Me and My Monkey" (of course), "Fixing a Hole Where the Rain Gets in" and "Yellow Submarine".

I'm wondering what other "adult" cds he (and we) would enjoy. Is "Dark Side of the Moon" too strange for a 2-year old?

If anyone can think of good songs featuring monkeys and/or the moon, let me know....

Helping

Not only does Jack not mind when I am busy with household chores, he wants to help! I am happy to devise tasks for him to do alone, or for us to do together.

Together jobs:
changing his sheets
making pizza dough or cookies
unloading the dishwasher (tricky)
vacuuming
laundry
grinding coffee beans

Jack-only jobs:
carrying anything up the stairs
unloading grocery bags
filling the bird feeder
carrying napkins and silverware to the table
weeding (when given strict instructions!)

Teeth, again

Jack's 2-year molars are coming in. He is doing pretty well with this, except that in the past few days he has eaten next to nothing. Today he had 1/2 banana in the stroller on the way to the playground, about 1 cup of yogurt with raisins for lunch, and then more yogurt (no more raisins... I fear the wrath of extra raisins) and 1/2 whole wheat cookie. In retrospect, I should have made oatmeal or peanut butter cookies, at least that way he'd would have had a little more nutrition.

He will not entertain the idea of anything else mixed into his yogurt. No blueberries, peanut butter, or bananas. He will not eat anything else, unless you count milk, which he is drinking quite a bit of.

Thankfully, he will still take his vitamins.

Ugh

Jack has not been sleeping better at night. Tuesday night he slept from 9:15 to 4:45. Last night, again, 9:15 to 4:45, except this morning I managed to get him back to sleep at about 5:30. He got up at 6:15.

Jack is nonplussed by his short nights, but it hasn't been easy on us. We've been taking turns sleeping in the morning. One of us gets up with him and the other puts in earplugs and sleeps a bit more. This morning, although it was my turn to get up with Jack, I reneged on the deal and asked for more sleep -- I had woken up at 1 and tossed and turned for some time, all the while thinking about how I needed to be sleeping.

This mild sleep deprivation is nothing compared to Jack's first few months, when sleep was a very rare and precious thing indeed. But he is very active and strong (body and mind) and after awhile not getting a good night's sleep wears me down.

Two year checkup

Jack had his 2 year doctor visit yesterday, and it went very well. He weighs 31 pounds and is 37 inches tall. Off the charts for height! He accepted his 3 shots without a whimper.

The doctor asked how he been sleeping and when I told her about his 9-5 schedule, she suggested shortening his naps. So yesterday after an hour and 20 minutes of napping, I went into his room, opened the shutters, then left his door open as I unloaded the dishwasher and did some dinner prep. About 10 minutes later he woke up. Jack went to sleep at 8:45 and slept until 6:15, (without waking in the night, which has been a problem lately) a significant improvement. It's rough to give up the luxurious peace and quiet of his 2 hour naps, but I'll make that sacrifice if the whole family can get a decent night's sleep.

Back in the saddle

After a 1/2 year boycott, Jack has begun riding in his stroller again. It's difficult to express exactly how relieved I am -- carrying 30 squirming pounds on my shoulders gets old very fast.

Caution: brain under construction

We are noticing many dramatic developmental changes in the past week, almost as if switches have been flipped in Jack's brain.

Jack can repeat just about anything he hears, even if he only hears it once. We get greatly amused by having him sing snatches of songs -- last night he nailed "throw your weapons down," a lyric from a Neil Young song.

When we read books together, Hans or I often omit key words and have Jack say them. He has a great memory.

The biggest new thing is probably a marked improvement in his motor skills. This happily coincided with a big tub of Christmas duplo, so Jack's been building and stacking for days. He makes tall duplo trains, stacks wood blocks, and lines up and arranges objects in specific ways.

It's been a bit tough getting Jack out of his room and outside these days. Luckily Acrosports starts back up this week -- he always wants to go swing on the trapeze, so I know he'll get lots of exercise at least one day a week!

The monkey way

It's a sure thing: if you want Jack to listen, laugh, or stop crying, just mention monkey. His little stuffed monkey friend delights Jack to no end, and monkey gets incorporated into all kinds of fun activities. He goes to the playground, plays hide and find, helps build duplo houses, and rides on the train. He kisses away owies and snuggles in Jack's pillow nest.

Monkey also worms his way into stories and songs. Thus we have new and improved versions of:
Beatles songs, including Yellow Monkey Train, All You Need is Monkey, and Me and My Monkey (well, the latter is perfect as is)
Books that he particularly loves, such as Baby Blue Cat and the Whole Batch of Cookies, now known as Baby Blue Monkey Cat, etc.
Hotel Monkey Cat California sung at nappytime

Jack's also very likely to reply to any question with monkey for an answer. Anything from what do you want for breakfast to what day is today. Monkey, monkey, monkey!

New phrases and words

quesadilla
no mommy sing song
monkeyroni and cheese
laundromat

It's the end of the nap as we know it...

and we feel not so fine.

We had a great nappytime (Jack's word) routine going -- right after lunch Jack would run back to his room and get into bed. A little reading, a little singing, and it was lights out for him and some rest for me. Last week, everything started to shift. Now Jack doesn't want to take a nap. He still likes the reading and singing and snuggling, but then he wants to get up and play, even though he's tired and needs a nap. He skipped his nap altogether once, and was a wreck by dinner time. The mixed blessing that day was a very early bedtime -- he was asleep by 7:30. So we see the future and it looks not so nappy.

Sleeping 9 to 5...

what a way to make the whole family crazy!

The past week was a rough one. I got smacked with the nasty ear/nose/throat/chest virus that's been rampaging through SF, and Jack turned 2. I don't know if it was the excitement of his birthday or just that big brain of his churning, but he was a bear all week long, and I was in poor form to cope.

He slept badly (either only 8-9 hours a night) and/or woke up in the night nearly every night. In his waking hours he was alternately needy or defiant and challenging. By Friday I was fantasizing about dumping him in day care (or a toddler military school) until he starts preschool. Hans didn't escape the trials of this week either -- Jack was challenging at bedtime too.

Things are better now. Hans took Jack to the zoo on Saturday, and I got some rest. On Sunday afternoon we all had a great time at Fairyland, then came home and had a homemade pizza dinner with lots of laughter.

Jack sings more and more each day. Yesterday he sang a bit of "Let it Be," and that brought tears to my eyes.

And even during a week of turmoil, we've still had very enjoyable nap time. As soon as his lunch is over, he heads straight for his room and gets into bed. I gather up his books, bring him a cup of milk, and we snuggle and read. After a few books, I sing him the "nappytime" song (a variation of the nap time song from Yo Gabba Gabba) and then "Hotel California" and he falls asleep.

I've come to realize that parenting a toddler is a series of frequent peaks and valleys, with a few straight plains every now and then. I try to enjoy the good days, endure the bad ones, and remember that these particular challenges are only temporary.

Jack's phrase of the day

Happy birthday to me!

Jack's song of the day

"Ring around rosie
ahi ahi all fall down!"

Conversation of the day

(at bedtime)
"Good night Jack... I love you bunny."
"night night mommy... I love you mommy."

Too much is never enough

Sleep. We never get enough sleep. Well, not true exactly -- one of us (Jack) sleeps as much as he wants, but that's only 9 hours a night. Jack goes to sleep around 8:30 and gets up at 6 (sometimes 5:30).

Or course, we are much better rested than we were as "young" (ha) parents. I remember our first pediatrician appointment when Jack was 3 days old or so. Hans and I were both so tired that we couldn't fill out the forms correctly. We dissolved into a fit of laughing until tears streamed down our faces. There would be more tears later in Jack's babyhood, and not always the happy kind. When Jack was just over a month old, I called Hans at work (on his birthday no less) in tears, pleading with him to come home -- Jack would not stop crying and I was exhausted.

In his second year, Jack slept better until his teeth came in, and then it was 6 months of agony for the whole family. He woke up crying almost every night, sometimes more than once a night. I can remember reading to him during the day and being so tired that I could not decode the words. I would stop, stuck on a simple, everyday word, and think for 5 seconds or so, until I could recall that word.

Now Jack is 6 days from his second birthday. He sleeps through the night and takes a nap for about 1 1/2 hours every day. Some time in the next year he will most likely drop that nap, which will be a mixed blessing for me. I cherish that 90 minute nap in the middle of the day. It gives me a break, a chance to rest, catch up on email, write, and relax. However, we are told that when toddlers stop taking naps they go to bed earlier, so it'll be nice to have a bit of time to ourselves in the evening.

Jack's phrase of the day

I know rhino
and/or
I know pine cone

One of life's mysteries explained

I always wondered why there are so many shoes and stuffed animals littering bay area interstates. Now I have a toddler. I know.

Jack throws and flings things. Chalk off the deck. Rice from the table. Water out of the tub. His hat off the Little Puffer train at the SF Zoo (after the second time we gained a new appreciation for coats with hoods). So far, he's refrained from tossing anything out of the car. Just to be sure, I'm keeping the windows up!

A Quiet Day and Very Good Dinner

Yesterday was wonderful; quiet, calm, and fun. Since the painters are done and the paint is dry, we didn't have to juggle the cars around so they could park their truck in the driveway, or worry about rain washing the paint off the house (it happened the other day).

We had a very good dinner of roast, rice, and gravy, one of Hans' favorites. I cooked the roast according to the cheap beef recipe in the latest (Jan/Feb '08) Cook's Illustrated, and it was very tasty and easy. The gravy was tricky, since this technique does not render any meat drippings. I cooked an onion in some butter until it was golden, then built the gravy on that. Luckily we have turkey stock from our deep fried Thanksgiving turkeys, so that helped a lot. The collard greens benefited from the stock as well, and although I cut back on the pepper vinegar, they were still quite sharply flavored from a good dose of cider vinegar. The greens were Jack's favorite part of dinner, and he ate a lot of them.