Category Archives: Early Childhood

Paul Updates

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Paul finally has enough hair that I had to buy him a brush this week. When it is wet, it is matted and long. When it dries, it curls in the back to produce an adorable head of curls. Ryan is quite traumatized by this: every time someone comes up and says “What adorable curls! What lovely hair!” he has memories of his own childhood. He, apparently, hated having curly red hair because everyone wanted to touch it. Alas: like father, like son.

Paul is signing at least 30 words now — surprising me every day with new ones. I shouldn’t be too surprized since Signing Time is his only show these days.

Paul is saying at least 15 words. Sometimes his talking sounds like babbling and other times it actually is words.

Paul has become fascinated with dogs and birds. He also loves the train table at the library. He also loves the slide and the swing at the park: I need to fix up our play set in our yard because right now it’s not useful for a baby Paul’s age.

Paul has a runny nose again this week. It will never stop, I’ve decided.

Paul’s naps are still sporadic. I never know if he’ll go down or when he’ll be ready for it. (Saturday he was ready at 10 a.m. and he slept for three hours. Today it was one hour. And that’s it.)

Paul likes his binkie. He can only have it when he’s in his bed, so sometimes he begs to go in his crib, just to have his binkie. Ten minutes later, he’s ready to go on with his day again.

Paul is a smart kid. There are so many stories I meant to share. I’m going to have to write them down as soon as they happen because now I’ve forgotten!

Our Easter Weekend

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I mentioned the other day that we had a wonderful weekend.

First, on Friday, I volunteered at the library in the morning, sans baby. I love my son, and I love being a stay-at-home Mom. But there is something so nice about leaving home and knowing that his needs are being taken care of and I’m not the one doing it! For just one morning a week, I’m a working woman, useful for my brain. (Or rather, for my alphabetizing; do you need much brain to sing the alphabet song?) Of course, Paul has entered a new stage of clingy-ness and cried when I said good-bye — even though he was going to spend the morning with Daddy.

While Ryan worked Friday afternoon, Paul and I drove down to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I decorated Easter eggs with Daniel and Jessica and Grandma. Then we all went swimming. Paul had a blast splashing and kicking in the water.

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Paul and I ate dinner with the family and then we came home. Paul feel asleep in the car so Ryan and I had the rest of the evening. We watched a chic flick. (My choice of movie…)

Saturday morning, we decided to go bowling. Frank and Elizabeth were talking about how much fun their family had — even 2-year-old Jessica — and Ryan has been wanting to go bowling for months. So we took off at about 11:30 and went bowling! Paul was a bit scared/cranky at first. Maybe it was too noisy, maybe he was just tired. Eventually he gave up his turns and rested; we ordered food so that distracted him. Ryan and I had fun, although I won’t admit how low our scores were.

Then we went on a drive to pick up the grill we had ordered. We could only get it at a distant Lowe’s, and so we enjoyed the scenic rural drive and Paul had a nice little nap. What a beautiful world we live in! Some day we’ll take pictures and I’ll show you how pretty Illinois really is, corn fields and all.

While Ryan put his new grill together, I cleaned the house, top to bottom. It felt so wonderful. I love my house! Every time I mop the floor, every time I clean the counters and tiddy the messes, I just love my new home. I am so glad I get to stay here for the next 30 years, and that by the end of that time I’ll own it fair and square.

Sigh. There is something so satisfying about a clean home.

Sunday morning we had stake conference. It was wonderful how the speakers (including Elder Oaks and President Monson) testified of Christ in the Easter spirit. In the afternoon, Mom and Dad and Daniel and then Frank, Elizabeth, and Jessica came up. Ryan (and I helped a little) had cut most of the vegetables and made a marinade before church, so after church all we had to do was put the food on the grill. (We had steak and chicken fajitas. I know that is not a traditional Easter dinner, but I’ve been craving fajitas for weeks and yum! It was so good!)

Daniel was the Easter bunny and Paul and Jessica had a fun time searching for the eggs. I was impressed that Paul actually figured it out. He’s getting so old so fast!

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What am I forgetting? I’m sure there was something. At any rate, it was a great, energizing weekend.

How was your Easter?

Words!

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There must be something special about being 18 months old now (I mean, other than going to nursery). Paul has reach a few new stages. Thankfully, he’s back to napping; being sick last week helped convince him that naps are still nice. But I think I already mentioned the new stage of frustration. I realized this week that it is not all language related because (drum roll please….) Paul is saying words!

It has been a gradual realization. I started noticing that his babbles sounded remarkably like the words I had just said. And then I started to hear the words out of context: yes, he is definitely saying actual words. He has always said “dada” and “ball” and “Mooooo” (for more and milk both). But now the words are definitely clear.

Words I’ve noticed in the past few days/weeks:

  • Mom-ma
  • Dad-da
  • Go
  • Crack-er
  • Ball
  • Paul

I will listen very careful and report any others I hear! This is fun. I get very excited when the word he says sounds like an actual word. I’m sure he’s excited that I’m understanding too, although he’s more eager to sign the word than to say it.

Sorry, Closed

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It’s interesting how we remember general conferences by where we were during each one.

Eighteen months ago I spent the first session of conference (4 to 6 a.m. Sunday morning Australia time) trying to keep my mind off my progressing labor. (Only twelve hours later I held my newborn boy!) I recall Sister Beck’s talk to the mothers with fondness because I was a new mother first the first time that weekend.

Then a year ago I spent the week after conference (since it was delayed a day) listening to all the talks on my computer as I went about my week. I remember listening to Elder Uchtdorf’s and Elder Eyring’s talks over and over again.

Six months ago I went to my parent’s house on Sunday and we had a birthday cake for Paul’s first birthday. I remember Paul’s delight every time the choir started to sing.

This time the whole family zoned out on the couch in cold-induced delirium as the prophet and apostles spoke. I unfortunately don’t recall many of the messages, except it seemed everyone was talking about temples.

Yes, we were all sick. Again. Will the winter cold season never end?

Which is worse:

  • holding my feverish and miserable son while also feeling feverish and miserable
  • letting my energy-filled son hit me on my head with his toys all day long because I’m feverish and miserable and I don’t have the energy (or a voice) to say “please don’t” over and over again

Ever since I woke up this morning, the phrase “Sorry, Closed” has been going through my head. Why today? Because today was the day my husband (who has also been sick) got up before dawn and flew to Manhattan for the next four days. (He did offer to stay home, bless his heart.)

My mind has been telling my body all day to just put up a big sign: “Sorry, I’m Closed Today.” Hence, the toys hitting me on the head. All. Day. Long. (Apparently, the last 48 hours of almost-constant sleep helped Paul to get better. I’m glad. I really am.)

But we all know, moms never close, do we?

Off to put the laundry away. Maybe.

Helping

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I had to change the batteries of Paul’s jungle music box. (He loves it and I do to: he amuses himself at night if he doesn’t want to go to sleep and in the morning when I haven’t come in yet).

He wanted to do it himself (after I was done).

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The Stage of Frustration

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Paul has reached a new stage: frustration. He can’t talk, but he thinks he can. So he has lots of mini-tantrums every day. He says: “Goggol bubble mmmmmlophble.” When I don’t do what he wants, he repeats himself louder. Then he starts to scream.

On the other hand, he also knows about 25 signs. Apple, cracker, help, please, thank you, milk, more, banana, cookie, shoes, socks, play, ball, eat, water, bath, and I’m sure I’m missing a number of them. When he signs one of those things and I can’t do what he wants, he screams.

I know this is stage. And I don’t want to indulge his every whim. I’ll give him what he wants when I can. But some days it’s a bit frustrating on this end too.

Paul, the world won’t end when you don’t get what you want! How long will it take you to learn this?

On the other hand, I got him a hat for when Mommy and Daddy are working out in the yard and it’s sunny. Here he is eating his lunch on the deck Saturday. (For some reason, I couldn’t get him to smile at first. Maybe the sun was in his eyes.)

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Musings on Cleaning with a Kid

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I told Paul he could stay in the family room, playing with his toys: I was going to clean the bathrooms. I put the Scrubbing Bubbles container on the corner of the kitchen table and grabbed a few rags from the laundry room.

In the ten seconds I was gone, Paul grabbed the cleanser. (Apparently, he is now tall enough to reach things on the table. Make a note of that.) Then he took off the lid (I have no idea how he was successful so quickly) and went into the bathroom. When I walked into the bathroom, he was rubbing the green nozzle of the bathroom cleaner on the lid of the toilet. (He knew the bubbles had something to do with the nozzle, but wasn’t sure how to get the bubbles out.)

Wow. I was blown away.

Now, I’d love for you to suppose this is a reflection on how often I clean the toilets. Trust me – that is not the case. It’s been at least two weeks since I cleaned the bathrooms and the time before that was, I think, when we first moved in (three weeks before that). I think I just have the most clean-aware child on the face of the planet. Or maybe he’s just going through a very serious “I want to imitate Mommy” stage.

After I sprayed the cleanser on the countertops, Paul grabbed the hand towel and tried to reach the counters himself. As I Swiffer-ed the bathroom floors, Paul tried to steal the Swiffer from me. When I scrubbed the toilets, he wanted to take the brush away from me and splash it in the toilet too. (I didn’t let him, and he was very sad.)

(Paul did dip his finger in some of the Scrubbing Bubbles and put it in his month. Ooops. Trust me, Paul, that’s not whipped cream! I think he realized that when he made such a face…)

I don’t think this interest in cleaning is normal for an (almost) 18-month-old. Or is it?

Don’t get me wrong — I’d love to encourage it. I personally hate cleaning the bathrooms (among other things) and I dreaded Saturday mornings  as a kid when my sister and I were forced to clean (although we made up for it by singing “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” the whole time because our “mean mom” was like Miss Hannigan when she made us do chores). I look forward to the day when I can make cleaning the bathrooms a weekly chore for my son and not for me.  Wouldn’t it be nice if he actually liked to clean?!

I was going to post this little anecdote on Paul’s Page (where I post weekly updates and stories about Paul). But then I was hoping that some of the other moms out there can share their thoughts. At what age were your kids competent at cleaning? Did they ever express an interest in cleaning with you? How do I keep him interested in helping (even though, right now, he really isn’t helping)?

Sunshine!

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I had a great weekend. Daddy was home, finally, so I enjoyed playing with him. He makes me laugh a lot! He is a lot more fun than Mommy. Mommy is boring.

On Saturday I went to the store with Mommy. Then, instead of taking a nap (I just kept screaming for a long time, so Mommy got me up), I went outside with Mommy and Daddy. I wasn’t wearing my coat. There was this very bright thing in the sky. I had to squint. But I helped Mommy and Daddy rake the leaves. There were lots of leaves. I liked to run through them after Daddy got them all into a nice neat pile.

Mommy doesn’t have a picture of me running through the leaves because she was busy raking the leaves. (She wants me to tell you that it really is almost Springtime. There are leaves to rake because they were never raked last autumn before the snow came.)

Mommy and Daddy and I raked all afternoon, until I reminded them that it was dinner time. I think the front yard looks very nice now. But Daddy put all the leaves in a big bag, so I can’t walk through them anymore. It’s really sad.

Then I ate dinner and wasn’t feeling well, so I threw it up. I don’t think I can eat scrambled eggs, because I think that happened the last time I ate scrambled eggs too.

I didn’t feel very well all day Sunday either. I bumped my head on the bench during Sacrament meeting and I was very sleepy so Daddy held me close for the rest of the meetings.

Daddy isn’t here today, but Mommy and I went back outside to rake. I ran around the back yard. And Mommy showed me this really fun new thing called a slide. She has to help get to the top but — WHEEE!!! — I love to come down again. I laugh a lot.

I’m taking my nap right now. It feels good to rest after a busy morning.

Back to Napping

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My goal was to post an update on Paul on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday each week. Now it is already Wednesday. How time flies!

Paul got sick along with Mommy and Daddy last week. While he wasn’t coughing, sneezing, and otherwise acting sick, he certainly acted like he felt miserable. I mentioned in the last update that he was phasing out his naps — but then last week there was a day when he slept for more than 4 hours during the day! He was definitely acting unwell. He’s better now, but he is back to taking a two-hour nap. Only time will tell how long he’ll keep that up.

Daddy was working from home last week. Paul absolutely loved to have Daddy around, and always looked for him over Mommy. When Mommy tried to take him to do other things, he cried and whined for Daddy. Daddy is much more fun! Paul is definitely a Daddy’s boy. Daddy is traveling again this week, but Paul will love to have him home Thursday and Friday.

Other than being a bit whiny and testing Mommy’s patience everyday, Paul is still the delightful boy he’s always been.