Monday, April 28, 2003

Turning 'Round and 'Round

Yesterday, I discovered that I can turn around and around like a fan or a falling leaf. I slowly spin around and watch the world go 'round. Sometimes I even make my hand-sign for "fan" or look up at the ceiling fan before beginning this endeavor. While I did this only once yesterday, today I have turned 'round and 'round a number of times. I tend to lose my balance and fall down after a few turns though. Mommy says this is called getting dizzy!

Rocks

My Daddy was mostly in charge of me this weekend as Mommy was not feeling all that well. That can only mean one thing---lots and lots of outdoor play. Mommy was mildly complaining that after eash of my expeditions with Daddy, I always come home smelling like a dirty, sweaty little boy. Oh, but it's worth it. On Saturday, I got to meet lots and lots of dogs. Some dogs run really fast while others move slower. I like all dogs, and I'm getting better at figuring out how to pet them gently. I think their tails are interesting too. I like to chase back and forth after a wagging tail. I wonder why I don't have a tail?

I also got to play with a bunch of rounded rocks which were near the dogs. Rocks are almost as fun as dogs. You can bang them together and make a satisfying noise. You can move them into separate piles and then rearrange them back into a larger pile. They also have nice heft for short throws. Rocks are good too.

When I came home, Mommy insisted that Daddy and I have a bath. Baths are good too.

On Sunday, my Daddy took me to a big park where I could run around. I liked riding on the horsey with springs under him. I also liked climbing up the play equipment. My climbing skills are increasing by leaps and bounds. I managed to get myself up to the top of the play structure and then slid down the sliding board. Wheee. This park also has many steps, which I enjoyed exploring. I find that crawling is the best way to get up and down steps. To get up steps, I face my body toward the top and crawl. Th get down, I do the same thing but in reverse. I still face my body toward the top of the steps and then crawl backwards to get down. I like the symmetry of my solution. I found many lovely sticks to pick up and give to Daddy as presents in the park. I also encountered many interesting trees. With my newfound mobility, I can walk right up to the trunk of a tree and bang on it to let the tree know that I'm visiting.

Friday, April 25, 2003

A Fall

Well, it happened- and sooner rather than later. I was climbing up on the couch to sit next to Mommy this morning and fell backward and banged my head hard on the coffee table. It happened so fast that Mommy couldn't catch me in time even though she was right next to me. It really hurt. It hurt so much that I actually sat still and let mommy put a bag of frozen carrots on my head for a while. (With lesser bumps, I just try to eat the ice or walk away with it.) I have been acting normally since my accident though, so I think that I'll be fine. (The coffee table only reappeared about 2 weeks ago. It had been stored in the garage for months since it was the cause of many injuries once I started crawling. It may have to disappear again due to my climbing.)

My Mommy's Lap is Just for Me!

In other news, I went to Music Together today and then went to lunch with 2 other Mommies and their babies. We made quite a mess ar Nordstrom's Cafe! After lunch, we retired to the Mother's Room for diaper changes and a bit of walking/crawling around. The two other babies, Sam (10 mths.) and Joey (12 months), were very friendly with mommy-- a bit too friendly in my opinion. Each boy invaded my mommy territory at a different time-- daring to climb onto her lap and look deeply into her eyes. Sam even kissed her on the chin! These incursions made me quite upset. I cried and made it quite clear that my mommy's lap is only for me. I am happy that I was able to repel the invaders from my mommy's lap.

Outside

I love to play outside. In fact, one of the biggest frustrations in my life is when the patio door is opened and I don't get to go out. I let Mommy and Daddy know my displeasure at that situation in strong terms. Yesterday (and today) it was raining off and on so it looked like an indoor day. Happily, the rain stopped by the evening so that I was able to go outside after coming home from the supermarket with Mommy. One thing I like to do is push my Cozy Coupe car around. I actually prefer to push it than ride in it. Every time I hit an obstacle (which is often), I like to say "boom" and laugh. Daddy hopes that by the time I'm sixteen my attitutes toward running cars into things have changed a bit. I also like to go on my little sliding board. I love the thrill of sliding down. Plus, I've discovered that we have a big sliding board in our yard. I try to walk up the sliding board, but it's really hard to do this. Instead, Daddy boosts me up toward the top and I go sliding down---really fast. I love this. Daddy makes a little sound effect as he boosts me. To indicate that I want another go, I climb back onto the sliding board and start making the sound effect back at him. Up I go...and then down. Yay.

We also like to run around the yard. Daddy can run really fast, but I'm starting to catch up. He'll usually toss or kick a ball around as he runs and then "pass" it to me. Daddy seems to love playing with footballs and baseballs almost as much (maybe even more) than I do. Yesterday, he was trying to teach me how to "dribble" a ball with my feet, like in soccer. I found this pretty difficult to get, but I did have the idea that putting my foot on the ball was a way to make it move. I love being outside.

Thursday, April 24, 2003

I'm all Ears

I've discovered a new trick that I like to do with Mommy and Daddy. They ask me where my ear is, and then I point to my ear. Sometimes they'll ask me where my nose is. Often, I'll point to me nose, but sometimes I'll point to my ear. Then they ask me where my eye is. Very often, I point to my ear in response to this question. Daddy says I'm all ears.

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Climbing


This past weekend, I figured out how to scale the couch. I stretch my leg up as far as I can until my heel or toes are about couch seat height and then scramble up. While I get very frustrated sometimes since I don't always succeed at the first try, I work at it until I make it. Then I like to stand up and stake my claim to the couch territory. Unfortunately, my parents are less happy about my newfound ability since they are worried that I will pitch myself off the couch by accident. They are going to work on teaching me that I can only be on the couch if I sit or lie down. This will be an uphill battle, I think.


This weekend I also managed to climb into the bathtub by myself-- and it wasn't even bathtime! Again, I stretched my leg up and then fell (gently) into the empty tub. Mommy and Daddy keep the bathroom door closed to keep me out unless it's bathtime, but this time I had accompanied Mommy into the bathroom while she was hanging some things to dry. She immediately snatched me out of the tub and seemed very unhappy about my latest climbing activity.


P.s. I added one new food to my short list of acceptable foods last week-- raisins. I enjoy feeding them to Mommy too.

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Dancing

I've always liked to dance to music, but now with my walking skills I've discovered a new pleasure---dancing with another person. When my Daddy came home I grabbed him by the hand and tugged him out of the kitchen into the family room where the music was playing. Along the way, I demonstrated to him my ability to walk backward. (I like backward---it's full of surprises!) We got to the family room and I started to bounce around to the music while holding his hand. Then I took his other hand so that he couuld be more bouncy. We danced together for awhile.

Monday, April 21, 2003

Easter Egg Hunt

I went to my first Easter egg hunt yesterday. Mommy and Daddy took me to a church in Oakland with them. It was a big Presbyterian church with lots of interesting lights. I also really enjoyed the music too. They had a brass quartet and a giant pipe organ and played several really good songs. When one of the songs ended, I found myself still signing along to it. For most of the time, I was happy to stand in the pew and lokk around though my patience wore thin towards the end. Mommy kept me plied with raisins and bagels for much of the time.

After church, there was a big Easter egg hunt. While many of the other kids tried to grab as many of the eggs as they could and would eat the candy inside, I preferred to receive only two eggs (one for each hand) and found that the candy was much more enjoyable for the shaking noise it makes in the egg than for eating. Mommy repeated the Easter egg hunt at home (where I faced no competition from other children). She also replaced the candy with equally shakable goldfish crackers inside the eggs. Unfortunately, they were yucky parmesan cheese goldfish instead of the cheddar ones I like. I tasted a few and did not like them. When I don't like something, I find it best to spit it out. We had a nice Easter but I was really tired from all the running around. I went to bed at 7:15 (way early for me) and didn't get up until around 8 the following morning.

Friday, April 18, 2003

Yeeeah (baby)

I like to celebrate all my accomplishments and I've found a really effective way to do it is to give a throaty "yeeeeaaahhh" when I succeed at something. Yesterday, I was playing with my shapes puzzle. While some of the shapes, like the diamond, are quite tricky to put back into their slots, others, like the circle, are less so. Every time I'd put the circle in its slot in the puzzle, I'd say "yeeaahhh". Daddy would then reply "yeeeaaah" too. I'd take the circle out, then put it back in.

"Yeeaahh," I'd say
"Yeeeaah," Daddy would reply.

Yeah.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Doing the Wave


I know when I want to go outside, but it takes some doing to convince Mommy that we should go when I want to. The other day, I put on a hat, walked over to the back door, looked directly at Mommy and started waving bye-bye. She understood and told me that I was very clever, but she did not immediately fling open the door for me. She seems to operate on something other than toddler time. Why can't adults live only in the now like me?

I find that the bye-bye wave is adaptable to many situations. When I don't want to eat something, I drop it on the floor and wave bye-bye to it. When I want Mommy to get up and go to the kitchen to get me some milk, I say "MMM" and then wave bye-bye at her to hasten her departure. Of course, waving is effective in the traditional taking leave of friends or toys usage too. Then there is the always exciting wave hello-- and the even friendlier double wave hello-- and the more emphatic double wave accompanied by a string of enthusiastic "Hi!" greetings. Waving is good stuff.

15 Month Checkup

On Monday, I went to the doctor for my 15-month checkup. My latest stats follow: Height: 30 1/2 inches; Weight: 23 lbs. 14 oz. After stalling at the 10th percentile for the last few well baby visits, my height has now lept to the 25th percentile for boys my age. I'm just skying over those 10th percentile guys now! My percentile for weight has dropped slightly, but is still around the 50th percentile, and my head-- always a prize-winning specimen-- is in the 90th percentile. Mommy often has to buy me hats in size 3T-4T!

I had to endure two shots while at the doctor's office, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and Hib (influenza type b). This is my least favorite part of visiting the doctor, but Mommy told me that I was very brave.

Saturday, April 12, 2003

Wheels

After my enjoyment in driving in the little car belonging to my Miami cousins, Mommy ordered me my own car. It came yesterday and Daddy built it. It's a sporty one-seater with its own door, keys to the ignition, and other great features. Daddy built it for me and let me take it for a test drive last evening. It was great! I loved being in it, but I haven't quite figured out how to make it run well. When Daddy would push me around in it, I liked to use the "brakes" by putting my feet on the ground and stopping the vehicle. When given a chance to drive it myself, I seemed to only be able to push it so that it went in a backward direction. This was fun, but not as satisfying as going forwards. Perhaps it needs a new transmission. If you're interested, the make and model can be found here. As usual, Mommy figured out some way to get it for an even better price than this though.

Thursday, April 10, 2003

Aidan's Clubhouse

Mommy built a clubhouse for me and I got to play in it yesterday evening. It's great. It has a sliding board, an interesting ladder-like ramp to climb up, a foldable table, and lots more. I had a great time investigating all aspects of it and sliding down the sliding board. I quickly mastered the ladd thingy as well. Of course, sometimes I would want to leave my clubhouse so that I could play with all the interesting wood chips that are nearby. I like to reorganize the wood chips by moving them from here to there. Daddy also picked me up and flipped me upside down from time to time. I love upside down!

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

Choosy

Lately, my Mommy has been less than happy with my eating habits. She does not like the fact that I am refining my palette and becoming more choosy about what I eat. Right now, I've decided that I only like cheese and bread and not much else. She also keeps giving me these impossible to understand sippy cups, which I find more fun to slosh around than to actually drink from. I've also discovered that cups filled with anything are perfect for dropping stuff into. She seems to like it when I put things in my stacking cups, but not so much when cups are filled with liquid. How confusing.

Tuesday, April 08, 2003

Lachaim

Yesterday, Mommy was bouncing me on her knee and singing Hava Nagila to me. Interesting that both Mommy and Daddy like this song, but for different reasons. To Mommy, it's a song with a nice rhythm and will expose me to different cultures. To Daddy, it's a song to associate with baseball games. Anyway, at the conclusion of the song, I decided to try singing a verse myself. As Mommy put me down, I smiled and said to her "Hava" quite clearly. My Hebrew is coming along nicely.

Saturday, April 05, 2003

Play Date

I had an impromptu play date today. Many months ago, my Daddy and I met a Mommy named Selena and her daughter Athena while stroll(er)ing through a nearby park. They don't live too far away from us, just a short walk. Anyway, we were strollering around again today when we ran across them in their front yard. They invited us in to visit Athena's play area, which they recently added to their house (Daddy seemed to be calculating whether we could do something similar). Athena has many interesting toys including one where you put balls labeled A through D into some holes in a toy. The balls then "run" down a series of ramps leading to the bottom of the toy, kind of like the toy at my Nainnie's house. While I never really got the hang of that toy at Christmas, I finally understood it here. I had a very nice time with Athena. Daddy had a glass of green tea with Athena's Mommy (Athena and family are Chinese).

Friday, April 04, 2003

Toys

Mommy and I went shopping in Macy's yesterday. I personally selected a stuffed bird that makes a delightful cheeping noise. Mommy tells me I have other animals that make noises, but thus far they've been very quiet when I play with them. The bird, on the other hand, cheeped loudly when I first squeezed it and continued cheeping happily. Mommy tried to ply me with other stuffed animals, but I liked the bird. He went home with me as Mommy helped us to adopt him. I think adoption involves Mommy paying a bribe to someone in the store.

Thursday, April 03, 2003

Fireplace

I've found a great place to put things---inside the fireplace. This morning as Daddy as playing with me I would take whatever object I was playing with at the time---as baseball, a stacking cup---and stride purposefully to the fireplace to put it inside. Daddy didn't seem to think this was such a good idea since he kept taking the objects from me and rolling them to the other side of the room, much to my frustration. Perhaps he doesn't know where things go.

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

Skills
Mommy recently pulled up a sheet from Babycenter.com to see how my development is going. Mostly, I'm right on track, but in one area, I'm way ahead of schedule. It turns out that throwing stuff overhand is a skill that typically only comes for children aged 18 months and up. But for me, it's come much earlier. I can throw overhand---using either hand---right now, at only 15 months. I've made lots of other strides as well. Whereas before, if I wanted to get somewhere quickly, I'd crawl there; now I frequently walk instead. It's true that crawling is still a good way to get around, particularly if I'm planning to pick stuff up off the ground, but walking is good too. Daddy is trying to teach me how to run a little bit. He takes me by the hand and we try to walk hurriedly from one end of the room to another, all the while saying "run, run, run". This is really fun although sometimes I find that my legs don't quite go where I want them to and I end up falling down. Still, I can definitely tell that I'm getting better at it.

I went to see some of my play friends today and we had lunch together. Mommy made me one of my favorites, a grilled cheese sandwich cut into easy-grip strips. Some of the other children ate only organic stuff and one of the other Mommies seemed to think that grilled cheese was no good. She's crazy. I tried to offer some of my grilled cheese to the others (I like to share). At the end, my Mommy decided that she wanted to blend in better, so she bought us a big jug of Odwalla carrot juice. We also have healthy, vitamin-packed Odwalla bars of various varieties. Elsewhere on the food front, I've discovered a new delicacy that I really like. Mommy and Daddy were having Japanese food earlier in the week and it came with Miso soup. This is a soup made mostly from soy and tofu with some spices. Mommy gave me some to try, and I loved it. I ended up eating a good portion of miso. I hope she gets this again soon. At this point in my life, I'm pretty much a vegetarian. Mommy tries to give me meat occasionally, but I'm not really interested. Mostly I love carbohydrates.