Two Years Ago

Dear Dexter,

Two years ago today your dad and I went out to eat at La Cucina in Havre de Grace. It was the last time we'd eat together as a kid-free couple. We ate pizza. We ate dessert because, hey, why the hell not? We decided, after much struggle, on your name. Not that we don't love your name - we do. We really do. We just thought everyone would wonder if you were named after the serial killer TV show character. Which, of course, you were. It's an awesome show! He's a GOOD serial killer!

And then we went to the hospital, calmly said we had an appointment to have a kid, got checked in and hooked up to IV lines, baby heart rate monitors, mama heart rate monitors, contraction measuring devices, etc etc. And we settled in for a long, kind of sleepless night of waiting for your arrival day to come.

In a blink of an eye (in some ways. In some ways, giving birth to you seems like it was SO. LONG. AGO.) here we are two years later. TWO! And you are a funny, cute, happy little man who gets funnier and cuter every day. I can't vouch for your degree of happiness, as yesterday you were in time out about seven billion times and finally sat in your chair at dinner with the following choice: Sit down to eat, or go to bed? You thought for a second and pointed to your chair. Good choice, kiddo. Good choice.

Here's a little peek at who you are right now, at almost two:

Last time you went to the doctor you were 33 and a half pounds. I haven't the slightest idea how tall you are, except to say that at the babysitting room at the Y I have a hard time picking you out in the crowd of older kids because you are just as tall as many of them. You're in size 2T clothing, but some of those have already gone in the "too small" box as the arms seem to keep getting shorter and shorter, and the pant legs are slowly creeping up toward your knees.

You got a hair cut the other day. Daddy took you for the first time. He said you weren't terrible. You were by no means good about it. But you pretty much sat on Daddy's lap, pitifully whispering "all done" as the nice lady cut your hair. High five, Dex. Good work.

Your list of sign language is impressive. Last time I updated the list, it was well over 50 words. And you've picked up more since then. We still have a hard time deciphering. The other day Daddy asked me to come in to the room to figure out what you were saying. Wind? Blowing? Leaves? No. Sledding. You wanted to watch the sledding video.

Your list of spoken words grows daily. The current favorite word is "no." I suspect it will remain that way for about as long as you live in this house. We're working on getting you to say "yes" just to balance it out a bit, but for now you're pretty content to just sit around and sing "no no no no" all morning long.

Most of the words that you will sign you can actually say, if prompted. But you don't usually say them unless prompted. For some reason it's easier for you to use your hands than your vocal cords. But once you learn a word well, bye-bye sign. I quick did a video of you reading a few books the other day. It had been on my "to do" list for a long time, so I could capture your sign language. So I finally did the video a few days ago before you dropped all signs and just moved to words.

You LOVE cars. Your current favorite game involves a yellow and orange car for me and a blue car for you, and driving them around on the train table. Through the tunnels. Over the train tracks. Of course, explaining when the train crossing is up, and when it is down. And making the "bump bump bump" sound that cars make when they go over train tracks. That always makes you giggle. Coming in a close second to that game is one involving a school bus for you and a Thomas the Train for me. Your bus picks up various objects and takes them to school - a blue cup, a yellow car, a wood pile. Every object says "hi" when it goes up the stairs, and "bye" when it goes down the stairs. What your blue cup is going to learn at school, I have no idea. But I am certainly happy it has decided to go.

You dearly love your dog. Which is a damn shame, as John is convinced that the allergist is going to tell us to kick his little fat ass to the curb when we go there on Tuesday. Whenever you see Buddy's bone lying on the ground you pick it up and go running through the house calling "Buh-hee" so you can give it back to him. Bless Buddy's little heart, he takes that bone so gently from your little fingers. You like to fall down to the ground, and then call Buddy to come over to lick your face. You had a fit (and a time out) yesterday because I put Buddy outside and you desperately wanted "Buh-hee INNN." You know that "Mah-hee" is Grandpa's dog, and Buddy is your dog. And you get so excited to help lock Buddy in his crate every time we leave the house. If that doesn't say "I love you" I don't know what does.

You still love to read books. We read every day and you can't seem to get enough. When you play in your room by yourself you always pull books out. The other day I looked in to see what you were doing, and heard you babbling away, with the occasional "saahp" thrown in. You were looking at a book of shapes, and a stop sign. Oh, how you love stop signs. You know how to spell stop. And just recently you learned how to spell go.

You are a ridiculous back seat driver who will no longer nap in the car because looking out to see everything on the road is far too exciting. What if you miss seeing a stop light? Or a green light? Or a school bus? You just can't risk it, so you keep your eyes peeled to the road at all times.

You're a good helper. You toss paper towels around the room when I clean the windows. You help put cans on the check-out counter when we're at the grocery store. Sometimes you even leave them there so we can pay for them. You use your own broom when I sweep. You run and hide in the bathroom when I turn on the vacuum cleaner. And you LOVE to help me cook. You pull up a chair to the counter, climb up, and help dump in ingredients, stir, and of course, taste test. Your favorite recipes involve cheese. Any kind of cheese will do, so long as you can eat it.

You have a newfound appreciation for dancing. Your method usually involves lots of spinning. So much so that you eventually lose your balance and come crashing down to the ground. Which, of course, is part of the whole dance routine. If we go someplace with different colored squares or lines, you'll go dance on each color. Just for fun.

You adore a good game of hide and seek. Be it hiding in a box in the basement, hiding behind the shower curtain in the bathtub, hiding behind your hands, or simply closing you eyes because if you can't see me, certainly I can't see you... All of it makes you giggle like mad. Which makes everyone happy. There's not much better in this world than you giggling hysterically.

Happy Birthday, little man. There's a pile of presents on the table waiting for you to open in the morning. And two super cool balloons that Aunt Jeanne helped pick out. And CAKE! Hooray CAKE! I hope you have a kick-ass birthday.

Lots and lots of love,

Mama

Photos from the Please Touch Museum today. We took Daddy and Aunt Jeanne with us. Aunt Jeanne fondly described it at "kid hell." She likes kids. Honest.

Snow Day

Yesterday's forecast called for morning rain and some sleet, followed by a period of nothing, then a blast of 5 inches of snow or so. The forecasters, normally so completely accurate, really shit the bed with this one...

Wednesday morning

Since we weren't able to make the appointment we had on Wednesday morning, and sitting around doing nothing all morning really makes me crazy, and we had some nice fresh snow sitting directly outside our door and I didn't even have to put shoes on to go get it...

We did this for a while. Inspired by pictures posted on Facebook on Wednesday morning. I do believe the entire Bel Air Moms Group probably did this very same activity.

So you just drag a dirty water table up from the basement, wash it a little bit, grab a shovel from the garage, open the door, fill up the water table and "BAM!" Instant Mom of the year award winner.

I pretty much expected that snow in the kitchen would result in a wet mess, and instant kitchen floor cleaning. I kind of overlooked the fact that food coloring stains. And that small dog footprints tracked through the kitchen and subsequently the dining room floor would stain. As would footprints from a small child, chasing after the small dog. So part of the snow playing had me taking fun pictures. While the other part had me wildly racing around the kitchen with paper towels, mopping up food colored water. I do believe when we do this again I shall use 1) less snow and 2) no food coloring.

And in typical Dexter fashion, snow time turned in to snow cone time. Followed by some strange faces and tongues sticking out because, DUDE, snow is COLD!

Poor John shoveled the driveway twice yesterday before he went to work, and it kept snowing after he left so I shoveled again at nap time. And then, as promised, it snowed like mad yesterday evening and we woke up to this:

We also woke up to no power. No heat. No water. No promise of when things would be restored. I told Jeanne about it and she tried to see, from her fancy-ass power company maps, what the deal was. Her general consensus? Our power company sucks. No argument here.

John shoveled the driveway AGAIN, decided we're for sure looking for a snow blower this spring when they're cheap, and headed off to work. Only to return a few minutes later to switch cars with me. We tossed the car seat in the truck so I could go out if needed, because the roads were kind of crap. My compliments of PA's snow plows last week came back to haunt me, as slushy roads had cars off in ditches all over the place. We know because we headed out later in the morning to get some coffee and head to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart. With power. Warm. Nice.

Anyway, power was back on when we got home, and Dex slept too late this afternoon to play with more snow. So maybe tomorrow we'll play again. This time WITHOUT food coloring.

Heat Wave

It's been kind of brutally cold here the past few days. Although I think it's been like that everywhere, so it's not really shocking news to anyone. And we can't really complain about it all that much because John's mom emailed the other day and said that schools on Monday were on a two hour delay because the weather for the morning was forecasted to be 20 to 40 degrees BELOW ZERO. So, while it was cold here, our eight degrees was downright balmy compared to the Arctic Circle.

Anyway, we had some more snow here on Friday, but Dex never got to go play in it because it was far too cold. Until today, when we had a heat wave of like 35 degrees. Woo-hoo! Break out the swim suits, baby! We're goin' outside!

NOTE - the cold did NOT deter the sun, which was shining through the window so bright yesterday afternoon that Dex, I kid you not, had a pink arm after snack time. From a little sun burn. THROUGH THE WINDOW. Damn.

Dexter continues to talk up a storm. John told him tonight that he wasn't sure that he could get any cuter, and then he went ahead and did it anyway. The whole walking, giggling, and talking with his hands thing was cute. But the actual TALKING thing? OMG. Even cuter. As is his recent appreciation for dancing, as he spins circles on the kitchen floor and then falls down with a flourish. And then calls the dog over so he can lick his face.

When we're stuck inside, due to cold or darkness, we tend to do a whole lot of the following. Usually it involves one person chasing Dexter and his baby stroller, with Dex occasionally accidentally-on-purpose banging in to the wall, or the chair, or the dog crate, trying to get his baby to fall out. If he's not successful, he just tosses the baby out of the stroller. And then picks her up by her neck, kisses her owie, and tosses her back in the stroller. Usually upside-down and backwards. Anyway - today we mixed it up a bit and went different directions, because I was getting dizzy. Initial protest by the small child was soon met with giggles of glee every time the stroller and the shopping cart met.

We need a taller shopping cart...

After peeking around the corner and giggling when seeing Daddy... it's all business going through the kitchen

Hi Dexter! Hi Daddy! We've been working hard on "hi" and "bye" and I think he's finally got them down.

And they're off to do the loop again. And again. And again. It's a back-buster, this game...

The 365 Project

I read about a cool thing in the beginning of January - a project where you take and post a picture every day, and then at the end of a year you have a nice little reminder of things that happened that year. Take a picture of the same thing every day, or a theme, or just things that are happening with your life. Which is about all I can manage, unless you would count "Dexter" as a theme.

So why do it, you ask? Don't you take ENOUGH pictures already, woman? Dear Lord! You feel the need to take MORE?

Well, yes. I like taking pictures. I like capturing moments. Or artsy pieces of everyday life. Or fun expressions. And my goal with this project is to use the manual settings of my camera, try for no flash if I can (mostly because I am too dumb to figure out manual settings AND flash), and to not edit pictures before I post. No adjusting the lighting. No cropping. Just... what you see is what I took. How good can I be today? What has inspired me today? And hopefully along the way I figure out my camera a little bit more, and become more confident in the manual settings. I am all fine and good with them when things are standing still. But when you have, say, a VERY QUICKLY MOVING CHILD... all hell breaks loose and I freak out and just go back to auto mode. So, not everything is manual right now. Not yet.

Anyway - here's where we stand right now. I haven't taken anything yet today. We'll have to see what inspires me later, when the child finally wakes up (I do believe he is making up for his "I'm riding in the car looking at cars and stop lights, so I am not going to nap" day yesterday, as we drove home from New York. Thank the lord he's good in the car.)

New Years Day

Jan 3 - Giggling at the Flash

Jan 4 - Hess Truck

Jan 5 - Heading Up for a Bath

Jan 6 - Fruit (hey, it was late. John was like "Why the hell are you taking pictures of FRUIT?")

Jan 7 - Star Beads (another it was late, John saying what the hell, kind of night)

Jan 8 - Slinky. One of my faves so far.

Jan 9 - Trapped in the Moon Bounce. With flash, and on auto mode. It was the only decent picture I had from that day, though, so it was the big winner.

Jan 10 - Cooking with Mama. Yeah, ok. I didn't take this one. I'm cheating.

Jan 11 - Red Sky in Morning

Jan 12 - Snowy Nose

Jan 14 - Stupid Cat (I think I used flash and auto mode on this one. Not enough light at Mom and Dad's house)

Jan 15 - Small Hand and Beads

Jan 16 - Hiking Boots Playing

SCIENCE!

Dex and I are in New York as I type, keeping Grandma entertained as she recovers from knee replacement surgery. Sometimes, though, Grandma needs a break from our entertainment, and we need a little change of scenery. So we ventured out to the Ithaca ScienceCenter. Cute little place - Dex saw maybe 1/2 of it because we got so caught up in looking through colored blocks and playing with cars and train sets that we didn't have time to see everything.

We took Grandpa along with us, so he got to play with balls and play with blocks and watch Dex for a little bit while I went to the bathroom. That, apparently, went swimmingly.

Dex is definitely showing some of the tendencies that qualified him for early intervention services. Not in speech, mind you. No, Mr. I've Learned Ten New Words in the Past Three Seconds didn't qualify in the speech department. He did, however, qualify in the Social Development category. Which, I think, means "cries when left in a cool place with his Grandpa" and also "terrified of kick-ass ball tower thingy til he was convinced to come sit on Mom's lap, after which we couldn't tear him away from the damn thing."

We haven't yet decided if we're going to accept the (free) services. Part of us thinks "what harm could it do" while part of us wonders if we're just being paranoid parents. Because, sure, he's a little bit shy and timid. But he's pretty stinkin cute, and we both were shy kids and, hey, we turned out ok. Right? Right???

We're heading back home tomorrow to see Daddy, who has been hard at work doing fun things like replacing a hot water heater motor, and replacing a toilet valve. Nice relaxing weekend for John.

I know he misses us, although perhaps doesn't miss having to get up at 6:30AM every morning. But he'd have liked to ask Dex what color Mama was, and hear him say "saaahPP."

Oh - Grandpa got us a new sled. It's color? "Poo-poo." Ridiculously cute, this whole talking thing...

Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law states that any time you have somewhere you want to go after a child's nap, the child will nap for long long that you either A) miss the event you were planning on attending, or B) feel like a bad mom for opening the child's door, turning off his ocean, and slamming doors upstairs so you can wake him up without really being the one to blame for waking him up.

It also states that any time you have absolutely NOTHING planned for the afternoon, and you'd really like to take a nap yourself, the child will nap for exactly 37 minutes and five seconds. And then will wake up screaming and in a crappy mood. And then you shall both glare at each other, bored to tears, for the rest of the afternoon.

Murphy's Law states that any time you make a sick visit to the doctor, the 101 degree fever you recorded JUST before leaving the house will have dropped to about 97 degrees by the time you reach the nurse's station.

Murphy's Law states that immediately after calling Early Intervention services to set up an appointment with a social worker for a small child's speech delay, said small child will pick up four new words.

It also states that in the week and a half between the social worker's visit and the actual evaluation meeting, the small child will begin saying like three new words A DAY. So that when the evaluation finally rolls around on Thursday, the therapists will look at your speaking child and wonder what your problem is - DUDE, he's talking JUST FINE.

Finally, Murphy's Law states that when you have a well visit appointment with the doctor that you REALLY want to go to, so you can maybe get some sound advice about your small child's persistent cough and how to make the damn thing GO AWAY, ALREADY... it will snow 3 - 6 inches the night before. Meaning the doctor's office will call you on Tuesday and say "hey, if we're closed tomorrow we'll call ya." Gee, thanks. Thanks a whole lot. C'mon. We live in PA now. Things aren't supposed to close for 3 - 6 inches of snow. That's what happens to sissies in Maryland. (Note - the doctor's office was open and on time. The nice doctor basically said "Get thee to an allergist" and gave us a list of names.)

What's that they say about "Red Sky in morning?" This is the sunrise Tuesday morning. Tuesday night, as I type this? Snowing like a sumbitch.

Dexter and Buddy, panting at each other. Nah, this child doesn't need special help. Not at all...

Pointing to all the basketball hoops in the gym at the YMCA on Sunday - we were there for a birthday party. Because, OMG, Mama! There's THREE basketball hoops! And a whole lot of balls! Also, he had a death grip on this balloon the entire time we were there. Except when he was finally convinced to go jump in the moon bounce, and I told him he had to leave the balloon outside.

Today we went to the Y after Dexter FINALLY woke up from his nap (with a little help from Mama) and he walked down the hallway saying "ball, ball, ball" the entire time. Because he really really wanted to go in to the gym to see all the damn basketball hoops again.

We have this much snow here Wednesday morning. Not a lot. John had to shovel the driveway. But our road was plowed by the time I got up, so that was cool. School here? Two hours late. School in Havre de Grace? CLOSED. Bunch of sissies...

Sometimes you need a good assistant

Some things are best done alone. Enjoying a bath (for the first time since we moved in) in your enormous bath tub - best done alone. Well, not technically alone. A good magazine and a glass of Bailey's on the rocks joined me, too. Peeing - best done alone. I can't remember the last time that happened when the child was actually awake, though. Napping on the couch - more comfy when done alone, but I usually don't mind sharing the couch with a cute husband, who will actually stay awake to watch the whole National Championship football game, while I snooze through the entire second half, to be awoken late in the game by some sort of "What the HELL?" utterances by said cute husband. I don't remember exactly what happened in the game that made such yelling necessary. But it was fine. I got to watch the last two minutes, which was all I really needed to do anyway.

Some things are fine when done alone, and may well get done fast if done alone. But they are far cuter and more entertaining if a small child helps out. Case in point:

Tremendously helpful child assists in making Shepard's Pie for dinner last night. For the record, I really kind of hate Shepard's Pie. But this stuff that Dex and I made? Not too shabby.

Need help making your own dinner? I can provide an assistant. I cannot, however, promise that his little fingers won't end up in the ketchup.

Do you need someone to help push your baby stroller? Maybe you have a bad back, or you're tired, or you just don't feel like pushing your baby in endless circles around the house? Have I got the assistant for you!

That is, assuming you don't mind if your baby strolls with some animal crackers, a cup of water, a giraffe from our train set, and a plastic stop light (can't see it here - buried under baby)

Hey, I never promised that your baby would be safe. Or even comfortable. I am simply promising a very cute assistant.

Also available - baby fire truck rides. Sure to thrill your little one!

Do you need some help drawing on your Magnadoodle? Perhaps you need someone to make suggestions as to what to draw? Or where, exactly, to draw it? I've got just the assistant for you!

Also potentially available - this really very helpful black mutt. He could be your PERMANENT helper if you really want him. He's cute. He hasn't peed in the house in a good month. He usually comes back when you call him, from his forays to the neighbor's yard - ACROSS THE STREET. And John is becoming more and more convinced that Dexter's continual coughing, even while on the max dose of allergy medicine, is caused by said black mutt. We'll see if Buddy's days are numbered - peds visit tomorrow (if the snow doesn't close down the world), and hopefully a recommendation to see an allergist.

Bath time's a drag, I know. It's really hard to dump water on your head. It's tedious. But with THIS ASSISTANT, bath time becomes twice as fast, and seventeen times the FUN!

On a mildly related note - Dex started swim lessons at the Y last week. Our first lesson was unimpressive, and I seriously considered just sticking it out through this session and then going back to our old place, even though it's more expensive and more than twice as far away. But this week we got a new instructor who actually knows what she is doing. And our lesson was a billion times better. So maybe we'll keep going back after all. Know what we're for certain going to do? Take advantage of the rec swimming time at the pool. Because this small child. LOVES. IT. THERE.

Seriously. Give me a call if you're in need of some help. I can provide the assistant you need. He doesn't even eat very much. Unless you offer him a pear. Or some mac and cheese. Or, heaven forbid, a white pizza from Aurora Pizza in Jennersville. In which case you'd better get an extra pizza just for you...