One great well baby report

Sometimes our lackadaisical approach to parenting means we are late getting around to scheduling things like the 18 month checkup for our toddler, in this case nearly two weeks past Henry's eighteenth month day. Egads. Henry's doc has made a prediction that Henry's weight gain will take off by the time he's two. You can place your bets here. Also, she is quite certain that whatever weird medical issue Henry had will resolve itself without us ever having an answer. Woot! Bye bye, enigmatic wanna-be illness. Hello, healthy kid. For now, Henry has resumed his non-live virus vaccinations finishing up the Diphtheria and Polio vaccines. He handled the shots in the legs like a champ.

Weight: 20.14 lbs / <3%
Height: 32.9 in / 75%
Head Circumference: 18.5 in / 30%

His weight and height are holding steady percentage-wise but his head is growing larger. Must be all of that strawberry-flavored fish oils we've been giving him. (Note: Henry actually seems to like that stuff. Avocados, no thanks. Strawberry-flavored fish oil? Yes, please!)

So, here's the checklist according to the paperwork our doc left us with:
Gross Motor
trots or walks fast - check
walks upstairs holding hands - check
kicks or throws a ball - check

Fine Motor
stacks three to four blocks - check, and then will knock blocks down
turns single pages - check
uses a spoon - check
draws crayon strokes on paper - check
may eat crayons - check
drinks organic juice from a plastic camping wineglass - check

Language
can understand directions but has trouble following through - check
says five to ten words that may be indecipherable to others - check
parrots words that others say even if that word is "shit" - check
identifies some body parts by pointing - check (currently working on "boob")
maintains eye contact - check

Social
wish for independence is stronger - check
interested in how things work and where they are kept - check and check
may want to imitate behavior, such as housecleaning - check
may have a loved doll or pig for comfort - check

To do list for parents:

1. limit juice to 4oz a day - okay
2. avoid making mealtime a battle - no problem
3. offer healthy snacks - sure
4. no more bottles - been gone for a while
5. supervise all outside play - of course
6. apply sunblock or sunscreen - yep
7. read to toddler - always
8. establish a regular bedtime - working on this

Recommended reading for parents:
Parents, Please Don't Sit on Your Kids by Clare Cherry

We've already purchased The Happiest Toddler on the Block book and dvd, should any other toddler parents be interested in this hippy doc's approach to child rearing and want to borrow them.

And finally, because it's good to pass along info, here's the Poison Control number. I'm going to go and key it into the old cell phone, which is actually the new cell phone but that's for another post. Here's the number:
1-800-222-1222.

When all things go right

Yesterday was excellent. Henry was the happiest of toddlers and I was doing all things right according to chapters one through five of the supermom handbook. When that happens on the same day the planets are in alignment, Darr gets to come home to dinner on the table with freshly baked pie. 

Practicing me pirate speak

Sure, 4 a.m. dance parties are all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked. This we learned last night, or shall I say early this morning, when Monsieur Henry in a moment of sublime ball happiness - we were reading a book and it had pictures of balls - enthusiastically signed ball (we use the arm-throwing ball sign, in retrospect this seems a bad choice). And in a moment of mom is slow because it's 4am tiredness, his finger connected with my eyeball and it resulted in a corneal abrasion. A "pretty nasty scratch" according to the optometrist we saw this morning. Luckily the event came at the end of the party because I was able to put away the food, collect baby, change his diaper, turn off the lights, and return to bed without waking up pops. In two words, it hurts. But the doc okay'd the use of Vicodin - ah, sweet, sweet Vicodin - and since I am no longer incubating a human I have no qualms about using pain meds. Darr is on toddler and dog duty, earning him the Awesome Husband of the Week award, while I am sequestered in my dark room trying not to see. There's no eye patch but negotiations for parrot purchasing has begun and I've muttered more than one "argh" while stumbling my partially blind behind around the condo.

Photo credit: www.eyedoctors.com

Welcoming Mr. Specter

A Republican becoming a Democrat!? What's next? Universal health care? 

Kid safety ideas

1. Take a digital picture of your kid(s) before entering an amusement park, zoo, sporting event, concert, museum, fair or any other crowded place. That way if your child gets lost, you can show the employees and/or authorities exactly what your kid looked like, including what he/she was wearing.

2. Write your cell phone number on your kid's belly with a Sharpie before letting him/her loose in the above mentioned arenas. Then explain what the emergency plan is in the event he/she gets lost. 

Hat tip: Parent Hacks

Toddlers take over the zoo! It's true!*

Monsieur Henry and I hit the zoo this morning with friends Miss Avery and Jojo, plus moms Megan and Amber and Grandpa Bruce. It was a most excellent zoo adventure day. The weather was perfect and all toddlers behaved splendidly. Henry had to suffer through a most embarrassingly public diaper change but he was rather calm through the event so I doubt anyone even noticed.

Of course there was video footage...


Zootoddlers from Christie Glynn on Vimeo.

*Modified title courtesy of the book Animal Strike at the Zoo. It's True!

Holy schnikes, that's steep!

Darr's been skiing on the weekends. After his last venture to the mountain he mentioned skiing this one run called God's Wall. Given that name I figured it'd be a little treacherous but I didn't realize how treacherous until he brought back video fellow skier Hai shot. Holy schnikes, that's steep! My favorite part is at the end when he gives a wave to signify he made it (at least to that point) because it means he didn't die.

Skiing for dads from Christie Glynn on Vimeo.

Sports at the condo: Basketball

Monsieur Henry and I played our first basketball game at the park today. We used one of Henry's plush soccer balls because he's still a tad too young for the regulation b-ball. Henry racked up assists and I learned that I'm really weak when shooting from the left. In a word, it was awesome.

New score

I realize now that old high score is embarrassingly low. The new one is 287,582. Look out 300,000, here I come!

Op zoek naar Maria

Besides my kid, husband, and pets this is the coolest thing I've seen today:

As noted on YouTube:

More than 200 dancers were performing there version of "Do Re Mi", in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of march 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music".

Month Eighteen

Dear Henry,

Today you are eighteen months old. That's 547 days. Or 13,128 hours. Or 47,260,800 seconds. No matter how you choose to add it up, it still comes down to your being on the planet for a year and a half, minus the incubation period. I'm certain the next time I look you'll be graduating from college or returning from a stint in the Peace Corps. And that a few short moments later, you'll be married and expecting your own kid. That's how fast it sometimes feels your toddlerhood is going by. (Your dad's perspective is that things are progressing slowly. I'm sure he's ready for you to start studying for the SATs but he realizes it'll be another 16 years before you do so.) 

Eskimo kisses are my favorite development from this past month. We shared our first one a few weeks ago. We were sitting on the stool by your crib the way we normally do before bedtime. You had just finished having some milks while I read to you and were looking up at me so sweetly batting those obnoxiously long eyelashes of yours when I mentioned an Eskimo kiss. You smiled and waited expectantly as I bent down and touched the tip of my nose to your nose. Wiggle, wiggle. The tiniest of giggles escaped from you and then you signed for more. As I bent down to give you another Eskimo kiss, you lifted your head ever so slightly to meet me and our noses touched again. Wiggle, wiggle. That smile grew into the world's biggest smile ever displayed on the face of a toddler. And I was hooked. I'd give you Eskimo kisses all day long if you'd let me. But there are other things for a young lad to do, like throwing balls off the patio and jetting out into roadways.

Our new Monday activity involves The Little Gym where we've signed you up for classes. I was hesitant to take you after having a less than stellar time at the Gymboree music class but this is definitely more your speed. You zoom from one end of the gym to the other, often hitting the mat during your travels to roll around or begin an ecstatic crawl. You are a whiz at the balance beam. Lots of tots sort of stumble along with feet that are uncooperative and miss the beam, but not you. The first time you got up there, with me as spotter and guide, you nearly ran down the dang thing. You were more sure-footed on the beam than you are on regular ground. On a side note, I'd like to take the time now to point out that definitely is spelled "d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y". I've been seeing that word misspelled all over the place and it drives me bonkers. You'll learn someday, if you haven't already, that misspellings are one of my pet peeves. There's a difference between a mistype and a 'I don't have a frickin' clue how to spell this word so I'll just put this down and not bother to use spell-check or a dictionary' misspelling. The former is forgivable the latter is not. And let me just give you this tip since I always had a hard time with the words "former" and "latter". Former is for the first - both start with an "f". Latter is for later - both start with an "l". Hopefully this will help you keep these two straight so you can use them correctly. 

You can play for longer periods of time by yourself, which is awesome. But this 15-minute phase of self-sufficiency comes with a price. It means that when you do require my attention, you want it without delay. Forget putting the cake in the oven or finishing the last of the dirty dishes. Your need is immediate and must be attended to before all else. I'd begrudge you this requirement if I wasn't so overjoyed at having a few seconds to not read the same board book over and over and over again. I've tried being sneaky and swapping out the books but you're pretty persistent and when you want a particular book you go and find that particular book. Then you track me down and we read it because, well, what else am I going to do? 

You can walk up stairs all on your own if there is a railing low enough for you to hold on to, you can complete simple puzzles, and you can recognize jokes. There's this one book by Mo Willems (a favorite author of yours) called "The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too," and there is a part toward the end when the pigeon realizes he has been fooled into being happy. When we come across the "Wait a second," line you laugh and smile at us. That pigeon gets you every time. In the bath, you are now quite fond of lying on your belly and blowing bubbles in the water. You must know you have stinky toddler feet because you are more than willing to raise each foot individually so I can suds 'em up and make 'em all sparkly clean with a fresh scent.

We have now gone on two official hikes - not mere journeys around the neighborhood but actual 'feet in the woods on beaten down trails' hikes. So far you seem to enjoy the hiking, even with our near miss after the first hike when we lost our way back to the tram station. The best part is that you are enjoying nature. You toddle. You run. You walk. And you occasionally stop to point out whatever element of the wilderness has captured your attention, typically pine cones that have fallen on the forest floor and rocks and flowers and the ground and the sky, the trees, the birds, and various plants. So, yeah, pretty much everything. On our latest hike the ground was mushy from many days of rain and you sought out my hand to hold during the majority of the hike. I'll always be nearby to help when the ground beneath you is mushy, bean.

Love,

Mom

This could be you

Morris Turtle Kapowski Powers

I'd tell you about this video, but it's funnier if you just watch.

Happy Easter!

Has everyone else's Easter revolved around family and food? I can't believe the amount of food we've prepared and consumed. And it started early with dinner last night after we learned Darr's best friend, Rick, was coming to town. We invited him and his family over for dinner.

Saturday night menu:
Easter ham
Homemade macaroni and cheese
Sautéed spinach
Chocolate cream pie

On a side note, I've been wanting to make the chocolate cream pie recipe FOREVER. Darr's not a huge fan so every other time when I suggested it as a possible dessert option I ended up nixing the idea because of his lackluster response. I was not to be deterred yesterday and you know what? IT. WAS. AWESOME. This recipe is the epitome of yummy and just when you think it can't be any better they have you make the crust with Oreo cookies. That's right, I said, "Oreo cookies." If anyone wants to come over and try it, I'll happily make it again.

We were joined by Brother Nick, Megan, and Miss Amels for brunch earlier today.

Sunday brunch menu:
Strata with Gruyère and spinach
Bacon
Fruit salad
Oatmeal
Mimosas

Of course there were pictures:



And Darr's dad just arrived for dinner. The boys have headed up to the store for croutons and bread. The weather is crappy but it has been a great albeit busy weekend.

Sunday dinner menu:
Pasta all'amatriciana
Caesar salad
Roasted carrots
Ice cream

What have you done for me lately?

There's a new blog post from the great-but-not-exactly-laconic Steve Yegge titled Have you ever legalized Marijuana?

He's a programmer and his analysis is non-traditional for the genre

This blog is about complexity, the bugbear that haunts software developers, program managers, project managers, and all other individuals associated with trying to launch new software projects and services.

And my favorite:

Shit is NOT easy. Remember that. Shit is NOT easy. If you think it's easy, then you are being naïve. You are being a future VP. Don't be that way.

So true. So true.

Toddlers + sprinkles = cookie deliciousness

Henry and Josie sprinkle while Anneke tastes the goods.

Methinks Anneke is impressed by Henry's skill with the sprinkles.

Josie is a meticulous sprinkle applier.

Avery using the up close and personal sprinkle application technique.

Busy

Friday: 

Henry and I visit the Oregon Zoo. We haven't been back since last October. We hit the hogs, petting zoo, polar bears, and turtles before ditching the zoo in order to get Henry home in time for his nap. Noodle shows up shortly before 2pm. (Can you believe her parents trusted me with Miss Alexandra?) Henry is still asleep so we read a couple books and start making cookies. When it comes time to mix the sugars with the butter I realize the huge bag of brown sugar I thought I had is actually a nearly empty bag of brown sugar. So Noodle and I head into the hallway to knock on doors to see if anyone is home so we can borrow the cup of brown sugar that is needed for the recipe. Since no one is home and a walk to the store is out of the question, I jump on Google to see if there are any substitutes. Thank Zeus, there is. You can use regular granulated sugar and molasses. Nice. Cookie baking continues. Henry wakes up. More books are read. A quick snack and then we go into the bedroom and read even more books. Books and snacks continue until Sara arrives to collect Noodle. I'd like to report that Noodle successfully utilized the potty chair on three occasions during her three hour stay. And she wiped herself so I didn't have to do anything other than hang out and read to her while she peed. Phew. Dodged a bullet there, I'd say. 

Saturday:

Darr goes skiing. Henry and I have a nice morning at home and then head down to the Pearl District for the Pearl Bunny Hop. We spend the late morning and early afternoon hopping from business to business. Green Frog Toys had Pat the Bunny, who Henry wouldn't de-cling himself from me long enough to hug so I could get a picture. At Little Urbanites, Henry gets his face painted. A girl, I'm guessing she was about six to nine months older than Henry, cuts in line in front of us but Henry was content to let me hold him so we didn't make a fuss. She goes with the pink nose. A wise choice. Henry got a turquoise nose and a day later there is still a residual stain on the tip. The line for the complementary bunny ears is too long for us so we head back outside and make our way to Hanna Andersson. Surprisingly, we depart without making a purchase, although Henry does get an Easter egg with a piece of chocolate. Next, we go to Cupcake Jones and Ben & Jerry's, collecting two more Easter eggs filled with treats and toys and a chocolate bar. We end our Tour de Pearl at Powell's where Henry is able to pick up a sticker book that's vehicle themed. (I'm saving this for when he's a bit older.) Thankfully we make it home in time to receive Megan's cupcake message. Mmmm...cupcakes! The best part of this day for Henry was when a sirens wailing, lights flashing fire truck came down the street. Henry started mimicking the siren and pointing and I swear if he was an owl his head would have rapidly spun 360 degrees in pure fire truck sighting happiness. Also notable was the moment when I inadvertently let a "shit" escape my mouth and Henry immediately volleyed back a "dtchit". Oh frak. It's time to watch the cursing. Probably it was time to watch the cursing when Henry was in utero but I don't see any way I can go back in time to fix that so I'll have to settle with watching what comes out of my sailor's mouth going forward.

Sunday: 

Darr, Monsieur Henry, Beauty the wonder dog and I grab breakfast at Lili Patisserie. The walk up there takes FOREVER. But Henry is a pretty good kid and we're able to nearly finish our meal before his patience ends and a hasty exit is required. For Darr, the biscuits with mushroom-thyme gravy - I tried a bite, so frakken good. For me, Swedish pancakes with lingonberries and a side of bacon. For Huck, scrambled eggs, bacon, milk, dried cherries, pretzels, and chocolate. I highly recommend this restaurant. I don't think we've ever had a bad meal there. But service can be a tad on the slow side so if that is one of your pet peeves, don't go. We make our way home, stopping at the schoolyard long enough for Henry to almost be tagged in the head with a flying soccer ball another family is kicking around. Then Darr took Henry over to grandpa's and I spent the day cleaning. It's amazing how much more you can get accomplished when a toddler isn't underfoot. While they were out I did a couple loads of laundry, swept the floors, vacuumed, switched out Henry's toys, dusted the living room, jogged/walked two miles on the treadmill, and showered. I was in the process of changing the sheet on Henry's bed when they finally arrived home. 

Of course there was video...

Busy baby bee from Christie Glynn on Vimeo.

Future job prospect #228: Farmer

If U Seek Amy

It took me a bit to figure this one out. My brain is fried. 

This year's best investment

Life at the Condo's best investment this year ... wait for it ... the huge amount of money we overpaid to our friends* at the IRS. Yes, folks. This year we're ecstatic about the opportunity to give somebody our money and have them give it back with zero percent interest! woohoo!

* characterization strictly time-limited