I'm In Love... With Blingees!

OK, I have just fallen in love with a new website: www.blingee.com!

Check it out and I guarantee you'll be amazed at the wonders of bling-ology.  It's a huge timewaster, but oh, soooooo fun.

Kibi and I are off on a trip out of town for the week ahead to help out with some family stuff (don't worry, nothing terrible) so I likely won't be posting until next week.  Everyone had better create some glorious Blingees while I'm gone.  I'll be anxious to see your good work.

Have a great week, everyone.

A Cat Named Truck

K. has an obsession, it seems, with our cat these days.  His latest "shtick": pretending he IS the cat and getting into the cat's little cat bed.

He crawls in, roots around like a little piglet, then curls up on his side and lays down and says "Meow."

I of course play along dutifully, asking him "What's your name, little Kitty?" and so forth.

The best part of all?  His name: "Truck".  

He's been doing the kitty thing on and off for the last week or so and the routine's always the same: 

Me: "What's your name, little Kitty?"

K (proudly): "Truck!" 

Me: "Oh, hi, Truckie, how are you?"

K: "Meow, meow."

Here's a picture so you can see how proud he is to play the role of Truckie.

Wheeeeee!

Thursdays are J.W. Tumbles days, which I love because K. is now at the age where he really gets into the concept of running around a room filled with little kids' exercise equipment.  And it really tires him out, just in time for his late morning nap!

Here are some pics I snapped with my phone while we played.

Happy 17 month birthday today, Kibi!

Just a Short One Today...

I had to work half the day today at a conference downtown, so not a lot of time to post before K. wakes up from his afternoon nap.  

So.... I will devote today's post to giving a big Kibi shout out to my friend S., who I just learned has a fantastic little blog that tells of her adventures with her three wonderful kids in the Great Midwest.  Be sure to check it out here.

I'm so excited that my list of MFWB's* is growing.

Happy Wednesday!

*Mom Friends Who Blog

Why, Oh, Why... (part 2)

Readers may recall about a month ago when I described a little Shakespearean drama that had been going on in my house for several days in a row (see Why, Oh Why... Part 1).  Well, there's an amusing end to that story.

Thankfully, the let's-toddle-over-to-the-cat-food-and-pitch-its-contents-all-over-the-kitchen-floor phase is over, for the most part.  Every once in a while I catch Kibi walking up to the bowl and giving me the big cow eye to see if I'm paying attention.  Usually all it takes is one gentle but firm, "Nooooo-no!" to get him to give up and move on.

Well, for the last few days this week, every time K. points to or sees our cat, he has been saying "Eat."  Naturally I always ask him if HE wants to eat, and he says "no."  And I'm pretty sure he really isn't hungry himself,  because most of the times this has happened, we have just finished a meal.  So today, the cat walked by and K. followed him, first saying "Eat" and then saying "No no no no no!"  He did this not once but twice this morning when we were upstairs doing stuff in his bedroom.  

The great mystery was solved when we came downstairs.  Kibi again pointed to the cat as the cat walked up to his food dish and started eating.  This time he bypassed "Eat" altogether and just launched into "No no no no!"  

It was obvious: he wasn't allowed to touch the cat's food dish, so he didn't see why the cat should be, either!

Poetry In My Midst

I recently penned a number of household chore haikus that I'd like to share with you now:

Dishes

Caked on cereal

Flaky day old squash and peas

Dirty dishes suck.

Laundry 

Stinky socks and shirts

Pee-stained onesies and crusty bibs

This pile will not end.

Litter Box

I hear the "scritch, scritch"

And smell that familiar stench

Time to get the scoop.

Garbage Day

Just when I'd finished

Hauling in the recycling bin

Garbage Day returns.

One Generation to Another

We got a HUGE delivery from the West Coast the other day.  My father in law sent us 14 boxes (and no, I am not exaggerating) of my husband's childhood toys and related "stuff".  Yes, 14 boxes! 

Setting aside the issue of WHERE exactly we are going to store all the stuff, we focused on the positive - tons of new free toys for Kibi, and just the kinds he loves.  Cars, trucks, planes, and trains - and scores of them!

My husband turned 40 this year so that means that there's been a span of three decades since these toys were last used. Hard to believe.

We decided to stagger the opening of the boxes as to prolong the interest and excitement.  They opened two of them the other day and that provided hours of fun.  These are some of my favorite pictures.  

We sent the photos to Kibi's grandpa and he said the thing he loved most of all was seeing the exchange of the possessions between father and son and the look in my husband's eyes as he showed K. his favorite toys.  

The Food Wars

K. has reached the stage in which at least one meal out of every day is a ROYAL STRUGGLE. 

This is a huge bummer because we already have anxieties about his weight (he is a string bean). I'm trying not to let it get to me that usually once a day, on and off over the past week, he will literally refuse to eat anything I put before him (that is, anything that's not sweet).  And not only will he refuse, but he will put up a major fuss.  I mean tantrum, crying, screaming and sometimes, yes, even holding his breath.  

I always hope and pray that the fit doesn't happen during the dinner meal, when his dad is around, because my spouse will inevitably cave and give him cookies.  His rationale? "We need to give him calories, calories, calories."  Um, yes, but we also need to teach him good eating habits, and God knows I don't want him inheriting my junk food addiction!

All the sources I've consulted say "don't sweat it" when it comes to getting toddlers to eat.  You want to offer them a wide variety of healthy foods, which I really do try to do, but you also should not force them to eat anything.  I consider it a victory if I can get K. to take 1 or 2 spoonfuls of something before turning up his nose.  Vegetables are the big problem - he likes corn and peas but other than those sure fire favorites, everything else is a crap shoot.  I try to disguise the vegetables with tons of butter (also not a great habit to get into, but I'm desperate!) and sometimes that works, but usually I have to work like it's my job just to get him to touch the food to his lips.  Argh.

If anyone has any tips out there, or words of advice, please share.  Otherwise I'm just going to try to chillax and hope this is just a passing phase.

More BPA Jitters

Busy week this week, so I have to be quick today, alas.  

I'm sure everyone's aware of the dangers of BPA at this point, but just in case you've been on another planet, here's more news about the health risks from our local paper.

DWDBB versus DWDN

I've determined that men with children can be neatly divided into two categories: Dads Who Do Baby Bjorns and Dads Who Do Not.  (I think the capital city for DWDBB is Seattle, because that's where I actually saw a men's public restroom that had a sign saying there was a baby changing table inside. No joke!) Anyway, my husband is a quote-unquote Modern Dad in many ways, but as much as I'd love for him to be a member of the former, I'm resigned to the fact that he is, alas, a DWDN.  

Case in point: we spent a lovely day yesterday at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, which incidentally provided ample entertainment for K. but not in the ways I had imagined.  (For example, no matter what the specimen - the most brilliant and unusual exhibit of wild tree frogs or a spooky tank containing an electric eel - he would fixate on the same thing: the little metallic keyhole at the bottom corner of the glass. Or, the exposed electrical sockets lining the walls.  Which made for an average of only about 9 seconds of enjoyable exhibit observation time per tank for me and his father... but then again, such is life with a 1 year old.)  

Anyway, I digress.  The aquarium was filled with people, because that's what you get on a 96 degree day in the Baltimore/Washington metro area.  Conseqently, we had to constantly carry K. around lest he get lost in the shuffle.  And you couldn't use strollers; you had to check them at the door. 

I've simply gotten used to the typical way to hold a toddler - I call it the Side-of-the-Hip-Mom-Hold.  You mothers out there know what I am talking about.  I'm sure it's been adapted over the milennia ever since our ancestors carried their little cave babies around, scouring for food. It works pretty well, no?  

Well, no offense to my spouse, but I've marveled at how, even after 16 months, he has yet to settle upon a decent method for carrying K. around.  And this is what brings me back to the Baby Bjorn observation  - I would go so far as to say that DWDBB have more of a natural instinct for caring for babies.  Now, rest assured I am NOT SAYING that they love their children MORE than Dads Who Do Not; it's just that they "get it" when it comes to child care tips and tricks, at least more so than their DWDN brethren.

For me, yesterday brought this more clearly into focus where my husband is concerned.  

He tends to hold K. like a self-conscious lumberjack, carrying a cord of wood: arms extended forward, child supine and laying across forearms.  (I've spent the last 15 minutes trying to find a suitable photo on the internet as a diagram, but the only good ones are stock photos that are asking me for money.  So you'll just have to go with me on this one... or else do a Google image search for "man carrying firewood")  After about 1.5 minutes carrying your toddler in this way, you inevitably get tired.  So then, without fail, my husband goes through a series of attempts at other, less-than-ideal carrying positions.  

My question is: wouldn't carrying the child on your hip like a woman be really so bad?  What is going to happen -- will the child slide down the father's leg?  Will the Emasculation Police appear out of nowhere, sirens blazing and lights flashing?  No kidding, I'm really wondering here.  The Side-of-the-Hip-Mom-Hold seems like a win for everyone - baby is happy, Mom is relatively happy (it's probably not the most ergonomically-friendly position, but at least you're not more aggressively damaging your back and neck).  But again, and this is how we come full circle to my original subject, I think that attempting something a little out-of-the-typical-male-comfort-zone like the Side-of-the-Hip hold is something best left to DWDBB. Along with packing their children's lunches, taking them grocery shopping (solo), and dressing them in something that does not resemble linen shorts and a pajama top.*

Although I secretly long for a DWDBB husband, I understand that you can't have it all.  And I have to say, watching him do typical, stereotypically-gender-friendly activities with K. like setting up a Matchbox race track, or appreciating when he takes K. to the local Starbucks, ie., their "ol watering hole," so that I can get a bit of a break, shows me that there are lots of ways a father can show his love for his son.  And his wife.  And they don't always have to involve baby gear.

*I actually know fathers who do these things!!

Eye Duct Surgery - We Have Liftoff!

We FINALLY went through with the eye duct surgery this morning - and it was a success. Hooray! 

For those of you who have been following the story closely, K. has had a blocked tear duct and since he turned one, we had tried numerous attempts to have the procedure to open and irrigate it.  The surgery has been rescheduled THREE TIMES!  

First it got postponed because he was sick in April.  Then it got postponed in May because after reading K.'s medical history the anesthesiologist said she wasn't comfortable putting him under with his bad allergies.  We had to go to an allergist and figure out what the problem was.  Then, the third time we attempted to have the surgery (two weeks ago), about 10 minutes before he was scheduled to go under, the electricity went out and they were told the power grid would be down for at least 3 hours!  I didn't want to wait around with a hungry kid, so we rescheduled for today.

So finally, finally, we got it done.  Both mama and baby are happy about that -- I am quite convinced of it.  He's now sleeping peacefully in his bed upstairs and I think I may go take a nap too.  Nighty night.

You Take What You Can Get

This morning I was in the bathroom, getting ready to head over to the place where I do my volunteer work.  Our bathroom is fortunately big enough for K. to have the run of the place, and I've sufficiently child-proofed it so that he can more or less mess around as he pleases.  So I was putting on makeup over the sink when I heard him behind me, counting to himself... "One.... dooooo..... feeeeeee...." And he was doing it over and over, very slowly and meticulously.  

I was pleased to hear this little counting lesson and very curious to see what was captivating his interest.  (Don't worry, this is not going to be a reprise of the dog poop story!)  I slowly turned around - so as not to disturb him - and to see what was keeping him so busy.  

You'll never guess what he was counting out so meticulously on the bathroom floor.  Tampons!!

It was hilarious and so gul-darned cute, I wish I had had my camera.  Now THAT's a unique substitute for pick up sticks!

I suppose when it comes to counting lessons I'll take whatever I can get.

Argh

So the thing I've been paranoid about for months happened yesterday.  K. fell off the bed.  On his HEAD.  

Thank God he is okay, but I was so mad at myself for letting it happen.  Admittedly it was sort of a freakish occurence: we had been roughhousing with all the pillows on my bed and he kept climbing up them to lean against the head board.  He was standing there, focusing on the fake-out remote control, in exactly the middle of the bed. I was standing on the side, WATCHING HIM WITH MY OWN EYES (caps included to indicate the irony of it all).  

Suddenly he decides to sprint to the side of the bed opposite from where I am standing, and of course, you know how it goes, I see the whole thing in slow motion ... it sort of reminded me of those old cartoons where Wile E. Coyote runs off a cliff, except that K. managed to fall headfirst off the bed and actually landed on our (thankfully) soft carpet on his head, rolling over and winding up on his back.  

I know he was completely scared because he didn't do anything for a second, just kept his eyes open wide as saucers.  Then he held his breath (which gave me flashbacks of the seizure - not fun) and then thankfully he started wailing to kingdom come.  I was just so happy that he was breathing, it lessened the blow of what had happened.  

Fortunately he didn't appear to be hurt at all - the human skull is amazingly protective, isn't it? - and he acted normally the rest of the day.  No vomiting, sudden desire to sleep, or any of the other behaviors I've committed to memory so I am knowledgeable about concussions.

The best part of it all was that when I told my husband (who had been out of the room when it happened), his first question was, "Did you leave the room while he was on the bed?" Like I would ever do that.  I was tempted to tell him, "Yes, just like I leave him in the car with the windows rolled up and let him play with the hairdryer in the bathtub." 

You gotta love it.

Just a Little Off-Topic Rambling

Sorry my posts have been so light this week.  I'll admit that I have sort of been consumed by the two political conventions, and I am actually glad they're both over so I can stop obsessing. Most of you know my own political leanings (I worked for the ill-fated Gore campaign in 2000), but I would like this to be a nonpartisan blog, since Kibi prides himself on being nonpartisan ... so I will just leave it at this one and only comment on the Sarah Palin VP pick.

I am totally obsessed with McCain's choice of Palin for one main reason.  Regardless of how you feel about her, (and in the interest of full disclosure, I disagree with her on nearly every issue) it's amazing that either outcome in November will be tremendous for women in the political sphere.  

If she wins, that's obviously a major hurdle achieved for women.  If she loses, I think there will be some close-minded people out there who say, "See, a woman couldn't cut it after all."  But now that I say that, you can obviously say the same thing about Obama and African Americans. Duh.  Still, I guess I am obsessed with her because I can relate to her a bit more, being from a small town and all.  And to see the whirlwind that her life has become in less than a week, for better or for worse, is fascinating.

Anyway, just a little rambling on my part.  If anyone has thoughts to add, please share.  And I promise I'll go back to talking about Kibi's antics next week.

Have a good weekend.

Good News

Great news on the health front - we had K's abdominal ultrasound today and it checked out completely normal.  Thank goodness!  

Thanks to everyone for your kind words over the last few days.  We feel very blessed.

Go Cougs!

This past weekend was the official start of College Football Season.  That's a big deal at my house, as the hubster is a huge college football (Pac 10 in particular) maniac.  I've never been much of a football fan, BUT I totally get into the spirit nonetheless.  I know that statement appears to make no sense, but what I mean is I love the whole feeling of football season: the change in the weather, lazy Saturdays, loafing around watching TV and eating junk food, getting together with rabid fans, etc.  We are Washington State University fans at our house, and we usually invite a boatload of people who hang out in our basement and watch the games on the big screen.  I enjoy sitting on the couch along with everyone else and happily leafing through all the US Weeklys and New Yorkers I've saved up.  (Occasionally I'll look up and ask who's winning, but I've been known to sit through entire games without ever really knowing what the score was.)

Anyway, we took some pictures of Kibi all dressed up in his WSU Cougar jersey.  Look how much he's grown from one year ago!!  (Sadly, while both Dad and Son have changed in a year, the mess in our basement hasn't.)

GO COUGS!

I Knew I Was Doing Something Right!

Great article I just read in Newsweek about the benefits of blogging.