A Word is Worth 1/1000 of a Picture

We moved the computer to the kitchen, and wouldn't you know when we had the cable turned on I must've thought, "We'll never have a TV in the kitchen" so I didn't have that outlet turned on. The point is, we still don't have internet on the computer that has the camera.

So I actually have to write something here, instead of just narrating photos.

English is Tricky
Lately, Little Man has been trying to be subtle when he wants something. If I'm eating something he wants, he'll just stand near me and stare. Or if he wants something from the pantry, he'll ask to hold hands and lead me to it.

I want him to use words, so when he's being passive like that, I ask him, "What do you want?" This has backfired, as he now associates those words with getting snacks. So now when he's hungry he comes to me and says, "Whachuwant." I'm not quite sure how to straighten him out on that one.

New Hobby
LM's new favorite activity is "running." It is as it sounds. He and T. run around and around (all houses should have this nice loop design) and say, "running!". This is very fun and hilarious to Little Man.

Letters
He's started to get interested in the alphabet, so I bought some magnet letters for the fridge today. He calls all letters "A" or "W," but he is interested. We spent some time this evening with him asking, "Whas Dat?" and pointing to the various letters.

#2
Had a routine checkup for #2 yesterday. All is well. We scheduled the big mid-term ultrasound for Feb. 23. Different doctor this time so thing work differently. This time we go to the hospital for the ultrasound, and we get a 3D ultrasound! Hopefully we'll find out the gender. Apparently babies that early term look kind of creepy on a 3D u/s (they look better once they get some baby fat); I'll let you know.

Cold
It's really cold here. That is all.

Funny Boy

The computer that's attached to the camera currently doesn't have internet, so I can't show you how we rearranged some rooms this weekend (hence the lack of connectivity). I will tell you of a funny conversation Little Man had on the "hello" (phone).

He was talking on an old phone that we took the battery out of. He handed it to me and I said, "Hi Abi. Are you having a good day? Is Pepe (the dog) with you? Okay, here's Little Man."

He took the phone and said, "Abi? Pepe there? Okay," and held the phone up to Daisy's ear. I guess it makes sense that if anyone would want to talk to Pepe, it'd be Daisy.

___________________________________________

Every once in a while he'll identify all the parts of my face. He was doing that this evening and I said "Honk" when he squeezed my nose. This was of course very funny, until he grabbed my eyelid and squeezed it to see if it honked, too.

Parent of the Year

Tonight my child ate broccoli, voluntarily. Ta-Daaaa!

Serious Business

This potty stuff is no joke (still, nothing happened). The book is "Too Big for Diapers" featuring Ernie.Daddies and Babies (Yes, there is a child missing. He was no doubt at the train table. The train table is the table we used to call the "coffee table."):And a recall is a good way to clear out a bunch of junk food at once. Thankfully it wasn't an Oreo recall.

You have GOT to be kidding me! (updated)

The daycare just called. Little Man has a fever. So he's out today and tomorrow. Let me remind you how the last two weeks have gone for us.

Monday the 5th: LM's eye is pink. I take him to the doctor, hear "viral pinkeye" ("thanks for the $20 copay, there's nothing we can do for a virus"), and more importantly hear that I can send him back to daycare on Tuesday.

Tuesday: T. and I are both supposed to be out-of-town, but T's flight is grounded. He's still stuck on the phone all day long, so we give the daycare our good friends' contact info just in case. 12:00 p.m., Little Man has a fever. Friends have to go get him and take care of him all afternoon.

Wednesday - Thursday: I come home early and try to work with LM at home. I'm sure my co-workers either think I have 5 children, amongst whom there is a lot of illness, or just that I'm lying about my kid being sick ALL THE TIME.

Friday: Little Man is almost better, but at 2 p.m. stick a fork in me, I'm done.

Saturday - Tuesday: Done, done done.

Wednesday: One full day of mediocre health and productivity. Oh, except now MY eye is pink.

Today - Friday: Little Man sick. That's right, because he has a fever today, he cannot go back to daycare tomorrow.

Unbelievable. I hope he infects all the little rugrats before he leaves. Are all daycares like this, or do we have a place full of people with poor personal hygene?

*** My dad just e-mailed to remind me that my last post was of my child sticking his hand into the toilet. Whatever. It's still the daycare's fault.***

Boy Meets Potty - Part 1

I know a 1-year-old boy is not ready for potty training. I just wanted him to meet the potty. Good thing we're taking it slowly.

Like my Christmas rug? I missed it when I was putting away decorations.

Take 1:
Me: Little Man, do you know what that is?
Little Man: Water ("wawoo")
Then he stuck his hand in the toilet water and got yelled at.


Take 2:
Me: Little Man, that's Little Man's potty seat!
LM: Little Man Seat?
Me: Do you want to sit on it?
LM: No.

As an aside, we're listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary's kids album Peter, Paul, and Mommy right now. It's great.

It's Green Pee!

There's a website I visit, Babble.com. I wouldn't call it a "parenting" website. I'd call it more of an editorial website for parents. It's entertaining. Anyway, they have a blog where they show new kids products, sales at kids websites, etc.

A couple of months ago one of the new products they featured was the "Intelligender" test. It's not unlike a pregnancy test - something in the mother-to-be's pee indicates whether it's a boy or a girl. I guess the "Intelligender" company gave Babble several tests to give away, so I snagged one.

The test says it works as early as 10 weeks. I'm at almost 15 weeks with #2 now. I was going to use the test this weekend but then I was struck down with The Plague. I didn't want the test to tell me I was sub-human, so I waited until today when I feel a little better.

Supposedly the test is up to 82% accurate. The magic chemicals inside turn your pee a different color for a boy vs. a girl. Call me a skeptic, but I wouldn't go out and buy any gender-specific clothes based on it. But if I WERE going to buy gender-specific clothes based on it, the test is telling me to buy.... Nothing! Because we already have boy stuff, and the test says it'll be a boy.

I do hope to find out the gender by ultrasound, likely in late February. I'll let you know. This was a fun (and free! - it's usually $35) way to kill time in the meantime, though.

Thank You for The Plague

The Plague. I've got it.

Actually, the doctor says it's strep. But I'm almost two full days into an antibiotic and I am not even a little bit better.

This weekend I have been thankful that I am not a single parent, as I spent the weekend in bed while Daddio did all the child feeding, cleansing, entertaining, etc. And in a weird way, I'm thankful for daycare because today Little Man went there while I spent the day in bed, again. Which is where I'll be tomorrow as well. Although if we didn't have daycare, I probably wouldn't have The Plague.

I do worry that with The Plague I have about the same level of energy I will have when I'm 9 months pregnant, and for a while after Baby #2 arrives. Yes, millions of women have done this before me. My mom and mother-in-law both did it before me. But I'm tired. Goodness gracious am I tired.

I promise that once I am back to my charismatic self I will take and post pictures of Little Man. Just give me a day or two here. And thanks for letting me whine.

Been Meaning to Tell You...

It's time for Baby #2! That thing at the top is our ultrasound photo from December 1. The photo of Little Man was the picture we sent immediate family in their Christmas cards. Friends and family have known for a few weeks, but I just told work yesterday so now I can tell the Internet. Doc says that #2 will arrive around July 10. I'll be sure to post pictures of my 9-month-pregnant ankles in July. You're welcome in advance.

Which reminds me, I don't think I ever showed you the photo of LM from our regular Christmas card. What a cute boy.
In other news, Little Man is still sick. Whatever he has, I don't want it. Ah, daycare.

Conversations with Little Man

This kid cracks me up.

He's home sick today. Just generally under-the-weather. Not hungry, sleepy, snotty, poopy. We were hanging out eating Cheerios (I'm supposed to be writing my self-appraisal for work today. I'd rather hang with a sick toddler.) and then we had this conversation.

Little Man: Nuk?
Me: You want your Nuk? You want to go night-night?
Little Man: Night-night. Puppy.
Then, as we're leaving the room:
Little Man: Bye bye, Daisy. See ya.

The "See ya" thing kills me.

Conversations with Little Man

This morning I was loading the dishwasher and Little Man was riding his bike around. I looked down and he was holding a knife that he'd pulled out of the silverware holder. He knows he's not supposed to take things out of the dishwasher, and we have this conversation often so I went into my usual speech.

Me: Little Man, NO. You know you are not supposed to take things out of the dishwasher. That is a knife, you could....

Little Man: Bye bye, Mommy.

Just a little "talk to the hand" from my son.

No, My Knees!

We got Little Man this cute Radio Flyer trike for Christmas last year. He's always loved pushing it around, but just in the past few months got the hang of riding it.

You can see here that there are tassles on the handlebars. Lately, every so often when he's riding it, he'll get really frustrated and start saying, NO! I always assume there's something in his way. But then he says, "No, my KNEES!" He's angry with the tassles. I know I could tape them up, but I think it's funny.

In other news, two out of three members of the Stuff Growing household agree: pizza is the best food ever. (Yes, I changed his shirt between the pizza picture and the bike picture. He wanted to wear his airplane shirt.)