The Walking Commentary

It's probably good that Dex doesn't talk yet, because I am ALREADY talking through our entire walk, simply because the sign language from Mr. Back Seat Driver never stop. Our conversations go something like this (Dex's are all signs, unless they are in quotes)

Me: Buddy, let's go

Dex: "Woof", Buddy

Me: Yes, that's right, Buddy is a dog

Dex: Cars, light

Me: Yes, I see the cars. And yes, they have lights. How many cars? One car, two cars!

Dex: Ball, light, slide, swing

Me: Oooh, yes, a basketball hoop! Cool! And a light on the garage. I see it. And a slide? Where? Ah, there. Right. And swings!

Dex: Buddy, shoes

Me: Does Buddy have shoes?

Dex: NO

Me: Does Buddy have a hat?

Dex: NO, socks

Me: Does Buddy have socks?

Dex: NO, car

Me: Ah, yes. I see the car.

Dex: Slide. Slide.

Me: What? Slide? We're not even to that house yet! You can't see the slide yet. Wait for it. Wait for it. SLIDE!

Dex: "giggles", "HOT"

Me: Hot? What's hot? The street light? Yes, it's a little warm.

Dex: "Saaaah"

Me: Yes, it's a flag. That one doesn't have stars on it. That one is a Penn State flag.

Dex: "Saaaah"

Me: Yes. Yes, there's stars on that flag.

Dex: "Ooooooooh"

Me: Shall we cross the street to touch the stop sign?

Me: Do you want to touch the tree?

Dex: YES

Me: Buddy, no

Dex: Buddy, no

And on and on and on. So, really, do I want this child to talk? Cuz it's not going to get any better...

Dexter's finger seems to be doing better. We had to discontinue Sock Hand after 2 nights because of prolonged coughing episodes at 3AM. For the sake of sleep for the entire family, Sock Hand had to go, so Finger Sucking could take its place and night time calm could ensue.

Here's a few pictures from a MOMS club events we were at today - at a Christmas tree farm that also has pumpkins. And a reindeer.

Lovin on a bumpy gourd

Dex kind of patiently waits his turn to get in the wagon

Hay ride! Well, ok. Straw ride, if you want to be technical. With a cool big tractor, which Dex pointed out many times.

Cute kid

Reindeer. Rudolph, I think. Or Blitzen.

Loved the little pumpkins. We came home with one.

WHEEEEEE!

Quit the slide to go back to the pumpkins. Seriously? No more slide? More pumpkins? YES.

YES, Mom. Pumpkins. And bumpy gourds.

Sock Hand/Containing the Beast

PART 1: Sock Hand

Sunday we noticed a... blister? Blood blister? Random stray tooth that decided to grow on a finger instead of in a mouth? Something. On Dexter's right index finger. Which is, of course, in his mouth 23 out of 24 hours a day. My feeling is that he's getting some molars in right now, so perhaps that finger has changed positions in his mouth, thus causing the blister thingy. Either that or something bit him. Like, maybe, Dexter.

Regardless, it was infected and swollen and sore and pretty well untouchable and he woke up mid-way from his nap sobbing and wouldn't go back to sleep.

So we called the doctor Monday for some advice, and she said to put some neosporin on it and wrap it in something that is big and bulky and prevents him from sucking his finger. And, you know, give her a shout back if his finger falls off. Or something.

May we therefore introduce...

SOCK! HAND!

It took a bit of convincing that Sock Hand was actually cool and fun and MAN did Mom and Dad wish they could have cool Sock Hands, too. But then John played a fun game of SOCK!! HAND!! during his diaper change (it's pretty similar to SOCKS! and BLANKET MONSTERS!, and it makes the small child giggle uncontrollably) and all was right with the world. He fell asleep with a bit of fussing and whining, but the sock was still on, and it lasted through the night. He still has a finger this morning. And it seems a simple bandaid prevents finger sucking during awake hours.

PART 2: Containing the Beast

Dexter has done about an hour of "Independent Play" a day, in his pack-n-play, for a long time. Happily. You can tell him we're going upstairs to play in the blue room (the guest room where the P-N-P was set up) and he'd happily trot upstairs, turn on the radio, and be ready to roll.

John thought a few weeks ago that Dex might be close to climbing out of the P-N-P, as he was standing on his blocks and was almost out. Then Friday Dex had two pillows in the P-N-P with him (so he could "sleep" - he pulls them in there off the bed). And I heard him crying. It started out as a "dude, I just threw my toy out and now I can't reach it" kind of cry. But it kept going and got louder. So I checked.

And there he was. Stuck. Between the bed and the P-N-P. In a standing position. But stuck. I tried for a bit to pull him out, to no avail. And then my dumb blonde brain FINALLY figured out that, hey! The bed has wheels on it! How about you just MOVE THE BED, dumbass?

So. Saturday. In the P-N-P. No pillows in sight (distressing for the small child). Blue room door closed. About 20 minutes in to independent play time I was in Dexter's room doing something, and I heard the blue room door knob turning. And saw the shadow of small child legs under the door. ESCAPED! I went back in, put him back in his P-N-P, told him that play time wasn't over, and left again. Went downstairs.

And a few minutes later I heard the pitter-patter of little feet above me. There was never any huge crash, so he escaped gracefully. But escape he did. Twice.

So we had to make a change. John quick bolted the book shelves in to the wall. I quick moved the baby monitor some place high, and put outlets covers on the outlets. We quick found a baby gate in the basement and put it up in his doorway. And independent play in the P-N-P has magically transformed to independent play in his room. Which I thought might come with some protest. Or some room demolition. But no. Not really. Aside from some rolling and banging of the Diaper Genie on the floor, things went pretty well unscathed. And Dex played happily for an hour Monday. I went in after play time was over to find him quietly doing this:

Our little man. Growing up. He can just about reach all the light switches now (I am finding out as the kitchen light suddenly turns off while I am cooking dinner). He can, on occasion, open a door. He can walk up the stairs all by himself, holding on to the railing. He tries to walk DOWN the stairs in the same manner but Mom freaks out and yells and tells him to TURN AROUND RIGHT THIS INSTANT.

He also, like just this week, figured out how to ride his bike FORWARD, and not just backward.

And he'd also like Mom to draw another "saaahh," please. Thankyouverymuch.

Odds and Ends

BALLS! Dex loves lining his balls up on a stair, then sitting down with them. Or in this case, on his cute toy box/bench.

I saved the dog's life this morning. And kind of scared the child. We were walking past a house with a boxer/pitbull kind of looking dog. Who kind of stopped at a line in his yard, barking. Then seemed to look at Buddy, decide he looked like a tasty snack, and sprinted across the line in the sand and up the hill at us. I yelled at him once, and he backed down, then charged again, looking ferocious, aiming at Buddy. I yelled my head off, doing my best Alpha Dog impression, and held the bad dog off, while continuing to walk up the road with the dog on a leash and the child on my back. The owner finally came out and called the dog off. Buddy's life was saved. And poor Dexter, who apparently was on my back doing his best dog barking impression the whole time, walked away with a bit of a quivering lip and an on-the-verge-of-tears kind of sorrowful "woof." Poor kiddo. We'll see if he's traumatized when we walk past that house tomorrow.

SHOES! Dexter's new fave game. If nobody is wearing shoes, we work our way down to SOCKS! Or FEET! Or, in the morning while everyone is romping around on the bed, BLANKET MONSTERS! Dex for some reason thinks that Buddy has shoes. Which, no. No, he doesn't.

Dex and I went to a play date today. It was supposed to be at Milburn Orchard, which is a fun place to play, but the rain changed plans and it was at a mom's house instead. It was Dex and three four-to-five year old kids, plus one two-year-old. It was no problem - Dex doesn't play WITH kids yet. He just plays with their cars and balls. Kids of all ages have cars and balls. Anyway, one kid just randomly got up from his chair, ran over, and pushed another kid. Then went back to his chair. His mom asked him why he did that and he replied "Because I don't like him." Bless his little heart for speaking his mind. I honestly was thinking "Ya know, kid, I just met that other kid a few minutes ago and I don't like him either. He's an annoying pain in the ass, and he kind of deserved that push. Good work, kid. Good work."

A rare, fingers out of the mouth photo from Dex. A rare, eyes open photo from John.

We hosted a play date at our house yesterday morning. Six kids and moms, and Buddy. Who was a GEM. He was right in the thick of the playing, sniffing all kids and moms, letting all kids pet him. He tried to run out the front door a few times when people came in, and he looked like he was going to jump up on the couch to join one mom and her coffee. But he really was about 1,000 times better than I thought he would be. I was impressed. And then I got home from a meeting last night and John told me the dog almost died. When I asked if he almost died because John almost killed him, or he just almost died because of something else. He said it was the former. Buddy apparently ran away to the neighbors across the street, and wouldn't come when John called him. So Buddy was in doggie time out in the sun room when I got home.

I've had this barn stashed in the basement since I bought it at consignment in the spring. Kept thinking it was too old for Dex. I pulled it out on rainy Sunday and set it up, thinking it'd be a good toy to have out for our play date. Dex played with it ALL AFTERNOON.

Dex and I went to the pet store today to get a few toys for Buddy, who kept stealing Dexter's plush Red Sox ball and wandering around the house with it in his mouth. The pet store has a very nice kitty that allowed Dex to molest it a bit. We found a few things for Buddy and brought them home. Now Buddy is wandering around the house with a toy in his mouth, just taking it from room to room and dropping it on the ground. He has a very soft and gentle mouth. Nothing has been torn apart. Yet. Although apparently he tore a sponge apart last night.

John was enthralled...

John mowed the lawn today, past sunset and in to the early hours of o'-dark-thirty. He needs a head lamp for his new lawn mower. He wanted to mow before it rains, again, some more. Some hurricane thingy is coming up the coast in the next couple days, and apparently the grass was long, or something. Or John just wanted an excuse to ride his cool new toy some more.

John rallies from his horizontal position

I turned down all offers to help (likely for free) at Maryland Million this weekend. Will I miss it? No. No, not at all. I am busy enough organizing dogs and mini horses and Pony Club kids and now apparently Shetland Pony races for Fair Hill International. Which, by the by, is October 14 - 17 and is going to be AWESOME. At least my part is going to be awesome. Bring your dog! Free dog agility lessons! We should take Buddy and see if his short little legs can jump a hurdle. :-)

My boys are cute

Dex has been ridiculously chatty the past few days and, yet again, we feel like he's on the verge of talking. Like in full, complete sentences. Or something. He just needs a little push, somehow, to get him over the babbling hurdle and on to talking. It is sooooo cute to listen to him say "OOOOOOOOOOH" every time he sees the letter "O." He apparently really likes the letter "O."

Dex found a "saahhh" on his saxophone. Which also has "lights."

That's all I got. I am distracted by the Dancing With the Stars results show, as John and I are sitting here saying "Who the hell is THAT?" with every other person on the show. Jennifer Grey looks way different with her new nose. And I am now distracted by a HUGE spider crawling across the family room floor. John has a new "no killing spiders" policy, with the hope that the spiders will eat some other bugs. So I'll just sit here and hope this spider keeps crawling the other direction. If he crawls toward me, I'll sick Buddy on him.

Dex is obviously very proud of his block tower.

Michael Bolton just got tossed. Apparently he was terrible. Cute Kurt Warner, though? He rocked.

Poor pool looking sad and deflated as John empties it and gets it ready for winter storage.

The Last Day of Summer

Today was the last day of summer in Southeastern PA. Not officially, I suppose. If you look at the calendar, the last day of summer was a few days ago. But the last few days have been hovering around 90 degrees, so it has still felt like summer. And we've still been doing summer things. Wearing shorts and tee shirts. Swimming in the pool, which warmed up nicely the past couple days. Hooray for the $15 solar cover from Big Lots!

Alas, summer must come to an end some time. Tomorrow's forecast high is 68 degrees, and the rest of the week isn't looking any warmer. So today was the last day of the swimming pool. Farewell, fun swimming pool. We've enjoyed you for the past month. Enjoy your vacation in the basement this winter. We'll see you again round about May.

Dex wasn't sure if he wanted to swim. He thought perhaps he'd check out the sandbox. Except the lid was closed. Damn! Foiled again.

Buddy usually hangs out by the pool while we swim. Til the splashing starts and he decides there's far too much noise around here.

Watering can makes cool bubbles when you put it under water

Watering the ummmmm... water.

This is not a bad gig I have, really. Swim? Get some sun? Blow some bubbles? Kick your feet a bit to make some splashing? Can do!

Mid-swimming we saw Daddy pull in to the driveway with this bad boy:

NICE! We can feel your jealousy.

Took it for a test drive after Dex went to bed. It goes up the front bank, piece of cake.

Garage was forced to become a bit more organized to make room for Deere John

Think skinny. Think skinny.

Plenty of room...

And a little video of our last day of summer adventures:

Last Day of Summer 2010 from Alissa Norman on Vimeo.

The last day of summer weather. We celebrated by swimming. And playing with a new toy.

The most-oft-used items, baby edition

I was thinking today, as I washed one of our bibs for Dex to use for lunch, that we've got a few items that get used pretty much every day. And have been used every day for a while. Those seem like good, logical purchases for this here baby. So, not like anyone really reads our little blog, but I thought I'd share. Just in case, you know, my sister turns crazy, decides she wants a kid, and needs some registry advice...

So we can start with the items that have been used five times a day, every day, for more than a year. And still going strong:

Baby Bjorn bib (we have two of them) and this high chair that attaches to one of our kitchen chairs. Both have held up great. Both are going to continue being used. Although I am considering a booster seat instead of the high chair. Note how nicely the bib catches dropped food, like this apple we stole from the corner produce stand.

Also of note - how well the small child is eating the apple stolen from the produce stand (we stole it with permission, so maybe it was kind of given to us). Also, Dex looks at the picture of the bear on his bib and signs "bear." Which he also signs when he is cold. "BRRRRR."

Another item used for about 12 hours a day, every day:

LOVE our crib. Dex naps in it every day and sleeps in it every night. He's not even close to climbing out yet (knock on wood) and we still have one more notch down that we can lower the mattress. So hopefully we'll keep him caged in til he's well over 2. And then it'll transition in to a toddler bed that he can nicely fall out of...

Toys you can never have too many of:

BALLS! This particular one is the best two dollar and fifty cent purchase I have ever made at Wal-Mart.

Ball arranging has become a new favorite Dexter hobby

The ball popper went from the scariest toy on the planet to the one that gets played with almost daily. His two favorite color balls? Pink and red. I know! PINK!

This table has been a daily favorite since we brought it home from the consignment sale a year ago. First Dex loved being able to pull himself up on it. Now he enjoys climbing on top of it. A couple weeks ago he flipped the switch to Spanish and all the sudden it was a BRAND NEW TABLE! That must be played with! All day! I now know the Spanish alphabet again, by heart.

Books are educational (shhhh! Don't tell the child!)

But try to keep out only books you can bear reading. These particular two are Dexter favorites, but are particularly HORRIBLE books to read if you are an adult. We all enjoy us some Sandra Boynton, though. And books with pictures of trucks and airplanes and such. And books with pictures of farm animals. Special bonus, in Dexter's mind, if you're a book that has buttons that make noises.

This here stroller:

It's a Combi. It's basically a big umbrella stroller. That folds up and has a shoulder strap to carry it with. That fits nicely in the trunk of the car and still leaves room for groceries. That is tall enough to be comfortably pushed by tall adults. With one hand, even. It was a good purchase.

And this here back pack:

Which I still use to walk with every day. The week Dex had diarrhea I used the stroller, thinking his red rashy butt might not like the back pack. And we got comments all week from the other folks out walking. Where's the back pack? Didn't recognize you with the stroller! I much prefer carrying the pack to pushing the damn stroller up the hill. And it gives me two free hands, so I can hold Buddy's leach and drink some water at the same time. Plus, Dex likes being tall(er).

We couldn't survive without these. Not things you can purchase, but things you can teach:

"I love you"

"Daddy"

John's Father's Day present this year. Sign language. We would not survive without it. As still, at almost 20 months, our only words are (frequently used) HOT and STAR. Plus the sound of the letter T, for toast. John swears he said ball last night. But John likes to make things up when it comes to Dexter saying words...

Indispensable, and fortunately carried with us wherever we go:

Fingers. A blessing and a curse. This particular day at Delaware Park I kind of shuddered to think of all the dirt going in to Dexter's mouth when he sucked his fingers. He'd better have one hell of an immune system when he grows up.

And finally, and most of all, I couldn't live without this:

Well, ok. Not this exactly. But the item that makes capturing this all possible. That's right. Dad's camera that I stole for so long that he finally gave up, bought a new one, and gave me his old one. Love me my Canon Rebel. Thanks, Dad!

How else could you capture memories like this, with such clarity? And speed?

We have a separate hard drive dedicated solely to the 500-ish photos I take a month. I have a 2 gig memory card in the camera. I bought extra space on my Picasa account so I could post photos. You all might get sick of looking at them, but I never get sick of taking them.

Somehow in the past week I have become the go-to person to ask about SLR cameras, as a couple friends are looking to buy one. They ask me all these technical questions, and ask about the difference between brands. I tell them I have no idea. This is all I have ever known. I didn't do the research. I just stole it and used it and loved it. And I tell then that no matter what kind of SLR they get, they will love it so much more than their little camera. Which, no disrespect to my little camera. At least a quarter of my photos are taken with that, as it nicely slips in to my back pocket for quick access when out and about with a cute kid.

This photo has nothing to do with this post. I just like to giggle at Buddy's wise, strategic location during lunch time...