Ten Months!

I almost missed Alex's ten-month-birthday today because I was thinking it was tomorrow, but November only has 30 days. Such is the dilemna of those born on the 31st of any month!

This baby...

...drops everything when his daddy walks into the room (I'm pretty sure he has hero-worship)
...LOVES electrical cords and always seems to find a way to them, even if we've blocked them off- gotta watch him very closely!
...loves to crawl through Claire's princess tunnel.
...grunts for food when he's hungry.
...loves taking walks in the stroller.
...is REALLY ticklish underneath his arms and on his neck.
...has very fine hair that won't lay down flat.
...likes to chew on books.
...would rather play with grass than with the toys on his blanket on the grass.
...smacks his lips.
...tugs on his ear when he is tired.
...has six teeth.
...has just discovered the joy of baby food (particularly turkey dinners and sweet potatoes)
...loves his ferrous sulfate (lemon-flavored iron drops)
...pulled himself up to standing on the dishwasher two days ago
...makes me smile everyday.

...is crying for me to come feed him...

I want to remember this always...

...driving home tonight, Claire softly singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to a sleeping Alexander while she strokes his little hand (like she sees me do and like I do to her).

And that, my friends, is why I blog and scrapbook. :)

Now I just need to get me a new/working camera. :)

Thankful

I could make a list of all the things for which I am thankful, but it would be incredibly long, incredibly boring and incredibly inadequate as an expression of my gratitude.

So suffice it to say that this year, I am thankful. Beyond thankful. Inexpressibly thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Y

I was putting my hair up before leaving for Thanksgiving dinner at Noah's parents' this afternoon when Claire came in holding a leaf.

"Y!" she kept saying.

"Why what?" I didn't get it.

Then I looked at the leaf that she was holding out at me and saw that it was in the shape of a "y!"

Am I the only one who thinks that's pretty smart for a twenty-seven-month-old?

The Last Frontier

I was just telling Noah the other day that no place is safe anymore from the crawling aficionado that is Alexander James Minton. No place, that is, except for the elevated entryway.

Well, no longer.

Yesterday after we had eaten breakfast and Noah had left for a meeting, I turned on Baby Signing Time so that I could (maybe) take a shower in peace. Fifteen minutes later I emerge, clean, refreshed and ready to play, when I see Alex on the entryway floor! I put him back down the step to the living room to see if he would show my how he got up, and sure enough, he just crawled right up, effortlessly! When did that happen????

So then our concern became the getting back down, but he quickly showed us how he had already mastered that, by crawling to the edge of the step, putting one arm down on the floor, lunging his whole body forward and face-planting into the ground. And laughing.

Problem solved!

Oh boy, one more thing to worry about. :)

She cracks me up

So the sticker-for-going-on-the-potty is going pretty well. Claire has gone more times on the potty in the last two days than she has in quite awhile (she has a total of seven stickers now).

About 3o minutes ago, Noah took her to the bathroom to go on the potty, and as I peek out from our bedroom, I see Noah running to the bathroom, all excited, and Claire, sauntering behind him with my cell phone up to her ear, babbling, waving her hands for emphasis, in a tone of voice that said, "Oh. My. Gosh. My daddy is such a dork. He gets SO excited about me going on the potty. Whatever." It made me think of her as a teenager, telling her best friend all about the latest nerdy thing her parents did and I couldn't help but smile. But right then she looked at Alexander's closed door, realized he was in bed, and asked "baby kisses?" because she always gives him kisses before bed. And right now, she is in bed singing "twinkle, twinle little star" at the top of her lungs.

She may act grown-up sometimes, but she is still very much our baby girl.

Terrible/Trying/Titillating/Taxing/Tough/Treasured/Terrific Twos

(Yes, I am a fan of alliteration.)

We pretty much figured she would be a stubborn toddler from her stubborn newborn days, and we were not disappointed.

Dressing her two times a day (clothes in the morning and pajamas at night) takes WAY longer than it should. She runs away and wants you to chase her. She hides under her covers and wants you to come get her. She hides in her playhouse and wants you to come get her. And then when you go to get her, she runs away squealing. You finally get her to lay down and try to switch her pull-ups. You try to do it yourself. You ask her if she wants to be a big girl and do it herself. You finally leave the room and tell her when she wants to get dressed you would be happy to comply (that last resort works only because she gets cold without any clothes on.)You come back and ask if she's ready to get dressed now, "YES!!!" she squeals, throwing her arms in the air. But then when you try to put her tights on, she puts her legs up close to her face, wraps her arms around them and refuses to put them down. She finally succumbs to the clothes and even helps you (a little), but by then, fifteen minutes have passed.

It is quite the ordeal.

I will admit though, it is pretty funny that she is seemingly incapable of walking anywhere. She prances and runs everywhere, usually shouting "I race, I race!" though she doesn't yet understand the concept of the "winner."

She's been at the age for awhile, where she knows exactly what she wants but not necessarily how to communicate her thoughts/desires, so she gets frustrated. Some of her coping measures have been to cry, hit her face (we ignore this and she stops pretty much once she's begun, but it is still very disconcerting to see you child hit themself) and once or twice to hit someone else(we nipped that in the bud). Lately, she has resorted to screaming, not the shouting variety but rather screeching "AHHH!" in short spurts and at the top of her lungs. When she does this we send her to her room and explain to her that when she can stop screaming and speak to us with words, she can come out. It works really well (so far).

She is a master of stalling. "More water", "read books", "princess light", "tuck in", "Elmo blanket", any or all of these phrases are used on a nightly basis as a means of stretching lights out just one more second. It drives us crazy, but we have learned to allow more time for tucking in to make sure she gets to bed on time.

Potty training is still in its early stages. I think there isn't enough incetive for her to just tell me when she has to go, especially if it is interrupting playtime, etc. so we implemented a new program tonight: stickers. Whenever she goes on the potty she gets a sticker. She has gotten one sticker so far, and was pretty upset when we told her she couldn't have a second one until she went on the potty again. Hopefully that is incentive enough. :)

Sometimes in a moment of utter frustration and chaos, Noah and I will look at each other and say we can't wait until she's older and is potty-trained and capable of doing things for herself, like giving herself baths, getting herself dressed, brushing her teeth...but then I think about all the things that she won't need us for anymore, like reading books, tying her shoes, picking her up, kissing her boo-boos. So many things are difficult at this age, but so many things are simply glorious. The way she hugs me so tight around my neck and says "I yuv you mama!" The way she wants us to tuck her into bed ("Two mankets! Pooh manket! Beyoo manket!")(translation: "Two blankets! Pooh blanket! Blue blanket!") and sing to her. The way she wants to snuggle in bed with us in the morning. The way she is so proud of herself for helping me mix ingredients when I make dinner. The way she gives Alex toys she thinks he might want to play with (even though sometimes this is in exchange for the toy he already is playing with- the one she wants!). The way she helps me change his diapers. The way she pronounces his name, "AhhZANder." The way walks around singing "Happy, happy, happy!" The way she throws her arms into the air in a "v" shape, face towards the sky, when she is excited about something. The way she stands at the door and waves bye to Daddy in the morning ("bye! bye! bye!...") until she can't see his truck anymore.

Yep, parenting a toddler can be difficult. But I wouldn't trade these moments for anything.

Learning

It's amazing how many new things Little Buddy has been learning lately!

Just so I don't forget:

He can completely sit by himself without any support for as long as he wants. It took him awhile to get to that point, but he's there now! It's too funny to see him try to figure out how to get back to the ground after I sit him up. Sometimes he just leans over and lets gravity take over as he slowly falls.

He can "build" lego and block towers with Daddy, and then it is Alex-zilla's job to knock it over while Daddy exclaims "oh no!" and Alex chuckles a little belly-laugh. (I would have an adorable picture of this but our beloved camera is just about ready to die and would not stay on long enough for the picture to be snapped :)

He can crawl through Claire's princess tunnel, even while we are rocking it back and forth to make it more challenging.

I'm sure there's more but I'm blanking...

just in case you forgot what he looks like...

...I've had several text-heavy posts lately, so why don't you take a break from all that reading and feast your eyes on this handsome baby boy! Click the first one- you can see it better!!!

This baby loves to crawl and he often ends up stuck somewhere (like underneath chairs). My favorite is when he is crawling and he sees/hears you coming and he looks back at you, grins, then crawls away faster all the while squealing with delight!

Some of you may remember the Claire-barrier (it was our couch, set on the diagonal, to prevent her from finding a way to the cords. It also provided a fun obstacle course for the adults); well this is the Alexander-barrier- it keeps him away from daddy's video game cords which are Alex's favorite thing to chew on.

surprise date!

So I know the movie Twilight (and the books off of which it is based) is aimed at teenagers, but I went to see it today and I LOVED it! Total guilty pleasure. Horrible acting, cheesy one-liners and unintelligent dialogue notwithstanding, I had a blast!

Let's backtrack.

Over the summer, when Alex started going to sleep at 8pm instead of midnight, I took advantage of the few hours before I went to sleep and started reading for pleasure again. I discovered this book called Twilight, and I have never been the same again. Hehe, that's a tad dramatic, but I did enjoy the book and was stoked to find out that there were two more, plus another on the way, in the series. So I devoured the second one. Noah, bless his heart, very patiently endured my rambling on about the book and the romance and my opinions, etc.

Fast forward to last week when he saw on the front page of The Fresno Bee an article about the craze surrounding the release of the movie. That night he tells me he is going to take me to see the movie because he remembers how much I loved the book. He had it all planned out- his parents would come over and watch Claire and Alex while we went to a matinee.

He had a student tell him that she waited in line for seven hours to see the first midnight showing of the movie and tell him- "worth every penny!" (amen, sister, amen)

I think I would be more embarrassed to have enjoyed it so much if not for the fact that it reminds me so much of when me and my friends went to see Titanic in eigth grade. We saw it three times and we were IN LOVE with Leonardo DiCaprio, hehe. My dad even cut out the two-page newspaper article spread about Titanic and it's in my box in the garage!

Fun times. Now I have to go see if that third book in the series is at the library...

Operation Sleep Through the Night, Part 2

You might recall several weeks ago when I said I was using the Ferber Method to gradually eliminate Alexander's mid-night wake-up calls. It didn't work so well. I was inconsistent in my application of the method (which calls for you to gradually increase the time it takes you to respond to crying, starting small at five minutes and increasing it slowly until the baby puts themself to sleep/doesn't wake up in the first place), and perhaps more importantly, half-hearted about the whole operation.

Thus, Operation Sleep Through the Night, Part 2

I decided I need to get Alex sleeping better at night. For real this time. I've gotten so used to interrupted sleep that the wake-up calls don't affect my sleep much anymore (that's not to say I won't be completely thrilled to wake up someday and see that I have slept more than four hours in a row...bliss!) In fact, getting up with him is the path of least resistance because it takes less than five minutes to get him snuggled back in bed, whereas if I try to let him cry it out, it takes A LOT longer. What I worry about is that he is so used to nighttime feedings/cuddling that the habit will continue into toddlerhood and I'll still be getting up several times a night with him.

So I decided the time is now (actually it was supposed to be a few nights ago, but Alex caught the fever that Claire had and I couldn't just let a feverish baby cry it out could I? No. He got lots of love that night. :)) to begin to wean him of his nighttime dependence on me.

Now if my heart would not ache so much when I hear Alex crying...

uh-oh, spaghetti-o

We recently had to take drastic measures (due to Claire's coming out of her room at bedtime upwards of ten times, several nights in a row), and put a child-lock on the inside of her door to keep her in at bedtime/naptime. It was one of those white plastic thingies, you know what I'm talking about?

Well two nights sgo, we heard a noise and were a bit spooked to see Claire standing in the hall. She had gotten through the child-proof doorknob. We figured it was just a fluke, something she had been working at for awhile to figure out, and something she wouldn't easily be able to duplicate.

Wrong.

Last night, same thing, noises and then Claire in the hall. Actually it kind of freaked me out, because the hall light was off and I saw a figure at the end of the hall where I so wasn't expecting one. :)

We still, naively, thought it was a fluke.

Well, tonight it took her mere minutes after being tucked in before she worked her magic on the doorknob.

"hi mama," I hear from the bathroom. She's holding the doorknob cover in her hands. It's in two pieces. Since Noah is on the phone, I march her back to bed myself, get her some water (she simply must have a sip, even though its been like five minutes since she last had water) and put the knob cover back on. I ask her to show me how she gets it off, and in less than two seconds, it's in her hands. She unsnaps one half, then flips it around the knob and unsnaps the other, and voila, freedom!!!

I can understand an older child figuring it out but a two-year-old??? Is that what they mean by childproof? 27 months? That's ridiculous. She's at the age when we need this the most, you know?

Noah's idea is to superglue the cover back on. I'm not sure that's the smartest thing to do. :) We might wait a few nights and see how she does with no lock. To be honest, I really miss those nights before the knob cover when she used to climb into our bed in the middle of the night and I would wake up with my arm around her. Hopefully she won't take advantage and give us heck at bedtime, coming out of her room when she's supposed to be going to bed...

sharing is caring

Ever since Alex came along, we have really been pushing the sharing issue with Claire. We tell her, "sharing is caring," or "we share because we care," if (and when) she has some problems in that area. (She usually decides she wants whatever Alex has- no matter what it is- and tries to pacify him by offering him some other object. It usually works.)

So the other day I snuck a small (ok, big) handful of chocolate chips out of the fridge. I thought I was being all sneaky, but she must have heard me close the fridge, because I turned around and Claire is standing right there.

She looks at me, then at my palm, curled around the chocolate, and she says...

"Sharing is caring, Mama," and holds out her hand!

Moral of the story: be REALLY sneaky with the chocolate, hehe!

New Pages

Just look at these chunky monkey legs!!!

Claire mesmerized by Opening Ceremonies in Beijing...had to tell the Lillehammer story, hehe!!!

The photo is Alex "reading" and the journaling is about how I have a love affair with books. :)

I'm in love...

...with this book I found at Costco.
Every single front page from The New York Times, from its founding in 1851 to today??? Count me in!

nine month check-up

I took Alexander in for his nine-month well-baby check-up today. Dr. Chang said he was looking great- developmentally, physically, emotionally, etc.

Here are his stats:

Height: 27 3/4 inches- 15th percentile
Weight: 21 pounds, 9 ounces- 50th percentile

He basically just smiled the whole time, even after his shots! He's so happy. :)

Unfortunately, he has a slight iron deficiency, probably because most babies his age get extra iron from rice cereal and he is just not a fan. I have a prescription for some iron drops, and in the meantime, I am supposed to do everything I can to encourage consumption of rice cereal. I'll probably disguise it really good in hummus, his favorite food du jour. :)

Alex and Grampa

Mom and I went to Bri's other baby shower today, and I decided to leave Claire and Alex with Dad. We were prepared to come home at a moment's notice if Alex got hungry, cried uncontrollably, etc., but all went well. Claire played with Uncle Nathan the whole time, and well, let's just say she's going to sleep really well tonight. :) When we got back to Mom and Dad's, this is what we saw...too cute!

I'm a Scrapping Machine!

Seriously, I can't stop. :)

The Pose

Until I can get a better shot, this will have to do. He leans back on his side and elbow, with this look on his face that says, "yeah, I'm hot stuff; whatcha gonna do about it?" It cracks us up because he looks like he's posing for a magazine. Just adds to the "little old man in a baby body" joke I guess. :)

This one's just for fun- awesome toe-point, eh? (I think it's just the sock coming off but it sure looks funny to me)

bye bye water polo...thanks for giving us our favorite man back!

Claire and Kailey, Noah's assistant coach's little girl with their toy-of-the-game, a leftover balloon from the baby shower.




Pictures from the second to last game of the season (last win)

hehe

I told you a picture of this was coming. Apparently chopping onions requires goggles to protect the eyes. :) He does this every time he chops onions for me. Later that night, HOURS after the onions had been chopped, the food eaten, the kitchen cleaned up, he asked me "do you still smell the onions? my eyes are hurting" and closed the door to our room to keep out the smell. :)

Alex and Nana

LOVE these pictures from Bri's baby shower!

Dear Fresno Bee

I'm in the paper!!!

I love reading the opinion section- it's drama, it's current events, it's fun!!!

If I read a letter to the editor that I don't agree with I usually read it to Noah and we laugh it off. A couple of days ago, however, there was one that I couldn't help but respond to. This man's letter chastised opponents of Proposition 8 for continuing to fight for marriage equality because "the people have spoken." He equated Senator McCain's heartfelt concession speech ("The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly") to what prop. 8 opponents should have done, which in his opinion, was to bow out gracefully. I'm sorry, sir, but human rights should not be subjected to a majority vote and discrimination should not be codified in our state constitution. And yes, I believe the right to marry is a human/civil rights issue. So I responded, and they published my letter!

I wish I would have specified that the 19th Amendment (ratified 1920) gave women the right to vote. Oops. Oh well!!!

New Pages

remember to click if you want to see them bigger!

Trauma

I had a pretty traumatic yesterday afternoon.

I hit a beautiful labrador with my car and ended his life.

I was driving down a country road (which happens to be the street Noah's parents live on) to get to Noah's last polo game of the season. I wasn't even going the speed limit, which is 50. All of a sudden (I know it must have happened in an instant, but at the time, and in my crystal-clear memory, it happens very slowly), the dog comes bolting out of the orchard. Our eyes meet. I am thinking so many thoughts at once- can I swerve out of the way? Are the kids okay in the back? Hold onto the steering wheel really tight. No cars in front of me or on the other side of the road- but I know it's already too late. I pulled over, hysterical, my face in my hands, as cars slow down and drive around the sad soul. I wonder what to do. I call Noah's parents, because their home is a few hundred yards away and I know they'll know what to do. I turn around and drive back to their driveway, hands gripping the steering wheel, shaking, tears obscuring my vision. All of us drive back to the scene, where two people have moved the dog to the side of the road and are searching for signs of life. One of them is the dog's owner. I can't bring myself to get out of the car yet, though I do later. I can barely get the words "I'm sorry" out through the sobs. She is more concerned with how the dog got out of the yard. She doesn't blame me.

It is clear that his passing was instant. Luckily. That smiling face that I saw the second before it happened never knew what happened, never felt pain.

I know in my head that there was nothing I could have done differently; my heart just hasn't caught up yet.

At first I couldn't help but think of how unfair this was, how wrong-place-at-the-worst-possible-time. But then I thought, "What if there had been a car in the other lane into which I tried to swerve? What if I had been looking away for a half-second and wasn't prepared, with hands tightly on the wheel, for the impact? What if Claire and Alex had been older and understood what happened? What if this happened so that someday, the precious dog didn't have to suffer a painful, drawn-out death? What if? Maybe this was nature's way of ensuring a peaceful passing for the dog and reaffirming my belief in the oneness and connectedness of all things. Maybe.

My heart grieves for the beloved pet.

Abs of steel

Alexander is finally sitting up really strong, not falling over as soon as I set him down. It's his abs; he'll be starting to slowly fall backwards, but he clenches his abs and grunts, and when he's already halfway to the ground, he'll pull himself back up to sitting. This baby's got abs of steel!

She cracks us up...

...when we go into her room to check on her before we go to bed and she is sitting on her bed, naked, except for a hat and scarf, surrounded by every single toy/book/basket/doll from her bookshelf, with both her pajamas and her pull-up on the bed next to her.

We can't help but laugh. :)

Veterans Day

To all our servicemen and servicewomen, Happy Veterans' Day, and thank you for serving and protecting our country.

May you come home safe. And soon.

Weekend Update

Whew, we had quite a weekend!

On Saturday, we had tons of family over for Bri's baby shower. I didn't take a single picture (eek!) because I was too concerned with hosting, but I think other people took some. Love to see all the baby gifts!!! Can't wait to hold baby Landon.

On Sunday we had Noah's water polo team, plus parents, over for a pasta feed to prepare for their game yesterday (which they won, by the way). Needless to say, there was a whole lot of cooking going on. Luckily I got help from Noah, even if he did put on his goggles to protect his eyes while chopping onions (no joke). :) Picture will come soon.

It was a nonstop weekend!!!

Just the two of us

I love being with my two babies together. But sometimes I feel like despite my best efforts, neither gets the attention they deserve. Like those times when Claire is whining and needs me to play with her but Alex needs to fed, or when Alex just wants to be held but Claire needs her dinner made.

So when I get a chance to give my full attention to one child, I grab it.



This afternoon, while Claire napped, Alexander and I danced, read books, played with Jack in the Box, and played music on a xylophone.


And after Alex went down for his nap, Claire and I made brownies, sang songs, counted to 10, learned the five numbers that come after 10, and folded laundry.

And last night, after the kiddies were safe in bed and dreaming sweet dreams, Noah and I had good laughs watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. :)

It was lovely. :)

Bad, bad mama

Enthralled. Captivated. Blank-faced. A brief break for mama. :)


Here is what we call "t.v. eyes"

sorry, one more thing...

Cute Kids

To apologize for all the political talk here the past few days, here are some pictures of a couple pretty cute kids!

History. Made.

Seen on a shirt:

Rosa sat so Martin could walk, Martin walked so Barack could run, and Barack ran so our children could fly.

No matter your political creed, you have to admit that history has been made, and have faith in this great country of ours.

I will say that Mccain's concession speech brought tears to my eyes. It was beautiful and passionate and heartfelt.

Our children will read about this one in their history books, and how proud I will be to say that the American people voted hope, not fear. Like Oprah's shirt said on her show today, Hope Won.

I am a little, actually a lot, bummed that Proposition 8 passed. :( I hope that one gets challenged in the courts and possibly overturned or up again next election.

Thoughts

Just reflecting on yesterday.

A victory not for Democrats, but for the whole country, the whole world.

I found this video on youtube, watched by millions around the world. A music video of the words in Obama's "yes we can" speech. So inspiring, so uplifting, it just might bring tears to your eyes. Words are below, and if you want to watch the video, go to youtube.com and search "yes we can- barach obama music video." You won't be disappointed. It's powerfully positive words sum up my euphoric mood better than any I could come up with.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

GO VOTE!!!

Exercise your right, nay, your duty, as a citizen of this great country, and go vote today!!!

Engaged!

Congratulations to my sis-in-law Mira and her fiance Chris, who got engaged last Friday!!!

Big Boy Crackers

So he's still not a huge fan of baby food in its traditional thin, creamy consistency, but he is wild about these crackers. And bonus- it occupies and nourishes him at dinner so that I can eat at the same time as the rest of the family!

New Look

We know it's bizarre, and when it starts getting really cold at night we will have to take more drastic measures, but for now, she has a thing with unzipping her sleeper at night. Usually this is because she wants to wear shoes in bed and they won't fit over the slippered feet. Seriously, this is how she looks when she comes out in the morning. :)

trick or treat!

Noah got some pretty cute shots that I couldn't resist but to share.



Claire stood at the front window and would run to the door when she heard a knock. A few times she gave out candy and a few times she said "trick or treat!" She was pretty fascinated by the whole Halloween ritual.

Of course what ballerina costume would be complete without some dancing?