Nov 17: watershed day

I know i said I wouldn't talk about my son too much during this month of posting, but today was really a watershed day, language wise. There are so many new things that Tobo has done today, I can't keep track of them all. I think the biggest thing was that he has named himself, Ham, and sometimes Hammy. He's also named dad, (Standing out side our bedroom door yelling "Paul!" no less) My name is still mama, though he kind of got it when I said my name was Cat. He drank from a regular cup really well today, (though after he's done he needs to pay a little more attention) did pretty good with a fork. Came up with a batch of new ideas and basic sentence building the likes of which we have not seen before. (hammy happy milk milk puppy go = I'm happy I have milk after going out where the dogs play.) Ok, it's still not english, but getting there.

Tobo: dada go?
Mom: dada is at work, we'll see him later.
tobo: dada hello (holding his hand up to his ear like he's on the phone) looks at me with a question.
Mom: um, no we can't call him right now but boy would he be proud to hear you ask that.

Most exciting is we counted up to three today. I don't think he really gets the concept of three, just repeats it after two, but that we're even getting to talk about it is pretty amazing. We did a lot of playing in the snow today just because it was finally warm enough to do so before it all melted away. We had fun with our sand box bucket and the snow building little snow pyramids on our porch.

I also finished his socks. These are made from left over moda dea sassy striping yarn I had from a pair of socks I made a few years ago. This is apparently more rare now since this line of yarn has been discontinued. The socks are a little big, but not by much, so I figure he should grow into them soon. He is a bit approach avoid about them. I think they are kind of like his puppy dog costume, fun but "I'd like to take it off now." I've thrown them in his sock box for now, so we'll see if he warms up to them. Maybe after playing out side.

Nov 11: complex ideas

So today, Tobo was frustrated with his blocks. He shoved them all of the table and ended up lying listless on the floor in the hallway. In sympathy I brought him a slice of apple, our recent obsession. Right away he was so happy he signed "thank you thank you" with a big smile on his face. I am no longer in charge of a baby. This here is a toddler.

I was reflecting on that today. It is so different when you can communicate complex ideas. AND on the other side of the conversation he's able to communicated complex ideas. It's no longer just rote memory. Not that I think we are ready to tackle santa claus, the easter bunny or any of the other odd social lore our culture has (just like other cultures), but we are starting to get little stories about what just happened, or directions about what we should do next. I've said for the last few months that his language was going to take off. I don't think I really realized how fast his thinking is going to dovetail that language. He's started quizzing me on words he knows. Today when we were looking in the fridge, he was pointing out food and saying the names. I'd say yes when he'd get it right and he'd give a big smile. (The funny one was he pointed at the franks' red hot sauce and a few beers in the door and called them "dada". Who am I to argue?) He knows them, just doing a little review before moving on to bigger things.

I loved being Tobo's mom when he was a baby. I think I'm going to love being his mom as he starts to be a voting member of the family.

Nov 8: boy

So as I pulled up to the lodge at 7p at night and I'm getting tobo out of the car he looks right at me and says "boy." Cool I think. He has a new word. Little did I know that this is tobo's new name. All things are Boy. Boy is on the bed. That is Boy's juice. Mama can have this sippy cup, Boy will be drinking out of her water bottle. The big one was last night a two hour power of wills over if Boy was going to sleep in a bed or his travel crib and if Mama was going to let him. It makes me think more seriously about a toddler bed/single bed with railing, though the really answer is he is too big for the travel crib now.

So I'm off to wake up Boy, so he can hang out with Mama and Dada.

tobo update: 18mths

So I'm sitting here having breakfast with my late sleeping toddler - he once again slept in to 9am [ed note: this is because he spent 4 to 5am talking to himself] - thinking it's been a while since I wrote. It's been a busy couple of weeks. We had our 18mth check up, a fever, first time with the sitter, first time in the walker room, new couch and saying goodbye to the rocker. Also apparently, this is becoming a monthly blog.

So, the 18mth visit went well. Tobo is 32.5" in height, which is 47% for his age; He weighs 21lbs 6oz, which is 6% (we gain a percentage point from last time); and his head isn't that much bigger. (18.5" or 25%). All of sudden we are no longer in the 10% range of everything. When you see him next to other toddlers, you can't really tell the difference.

His doc's visit went well, so he immediately turned around and picked up the local variety of ick-with-a-fever. It was a really strange cold, no other symptom but the fever. I thought it was just a reaction to his shots for the first day until he didn't cool down. It was still awful since there was very little we could do other than give him tylenol drops and wait it out. He eventually cooled down about 3 days later. What is sad is that probably next week we have to go back for flu shots. :/ In the middle of all this sickness, he's also still cutting teeth. What's scary is he can actually ask for tylenol now ("ty" *nod*) at night if asked. [ed note: Maybe we depend on that too much.]

He also has started throwing tantrums more. Yesterday he was in time out twice: once for banging on the table, and once for pinching. He doesn't really understand being sorry for his actions, but he does stay put for a minute, even if he doesn't like it. I think if we keep at it, it will work for discipline for him. We get a lot of screaming too, usually out of frustration, rarely to get a rise out of us. It's kind of funny because tobo doesn't have a lot of practice at it, so his screams are more like yells and really aren't that loud or annoying. On the other hand, he is likely to share and hand over toys to other kids when playing and is very caring of any stuffed animals or even animal statuette doorstops. He pets them and feeds them, makes sure they have something to drink every day. It's nice to have the kid who plays well with others, at least for now.

With the change in the weather, I'm giving up on trying to heat tobo's room. We have horribly leaky windows in his room (and in our front room). These were the windows that did eventually seal up when a layer of _ice_ formed on the inside to block the leak last year. Also, mister wiggly refuses to stay under a blanket. When he was crib-bound we used a space heater in his room. Since we are quickly approaching the age when he will attempt to get out himself, I'm not really comfortable with that for this winter. We'd rather not do plastic over the windows (this is colorado. we get hot days and cold days) so I'm looking now at finding some kind of temporary weather stripping. The big solution would be to switch rooms. It also means we could do things after he goes to bed, like watch TV or have people over without all the sound filtering into his room. It's just a lot of sorting of stuff. Stuff I'd rather just box up and ignore for a few more years apparently.

We also said good bye to the blue rocker - it had been borrowed and was overdue to go back by about a year. Tobo's getting too big to rock and it would be much easier with travel if he could do without rocking at night before bed. We also got rid of the beige couch in trade for a teal one. The new one is a lot less like a bucket seat and more like an actual couch.

One of Tobo's favorite things to do is to sit at the table in a white chair and play with his cars. He tells us about them, if they are up, down or puppy. We don't know what qualifies a car to be a puppy. The lady across the way as she was moving out gifted us with three big boxes of duplos and hot wheels. Tobo has been playing with them ever since.

The walker room at church has been great. They actually got tobo to scribble while there, which is more than I can do during our days at home. We also tried a sitter (she watches kids in her home) but I think we're going to wait before we go back. It might have been all the busyiness, but Tobo pretty much broke down for two days after he came back, which says to me that he and I aren't ready. Other than that we've been doing a lot of play dates and lots of story time.

I'm trying to pull together a clothing swap at our church, in conjunction with the preschool there, for late October. Everyone thinks its a great idea but nobody has any time to organize it. I'm thinking about maybe including an informational meeting on cloth diapers, especially since cotton babies just came out with a more economical way to do them.

cuddly maniac

Our ant problem is subsiding. The tomato plant has survived me, tomato worms, and aphids. We should get some roma tomatoes before the end of summer. I've had the awful bump on my shoulder removed probably not a moment too soon. The doc had it tested and it is all benignly boring. Other than reacting to the latex-free band-aids I got (go figure) it's healing up nicely for which I am thankful.

The last few days have just been full of sweet sweet tobo-ness. Lots of new words and concepts, accompanied with alternating cuddling on the couch and running around like a manic. He is really at a sweet age. He has figured out that cats say meow. He chases the babysitters' cat around on tuesday's saying something like ee-ow ee-ow. This evening when I said, nope, we're not going to wash your hands because we're going to get in the bath, he pointed at the tub and said ba? So the pieces are definitely coming together. He's really enjoying all his teeth now too. He is often saying La-blah La-blah La-blah when sitting - like in the cart at the store, in his high chair. Maybe the veggie tail song I love my lips! is getting to him. Speaking of which he has many more teeth. They just keep coming. At the doctor's visit I found out that Tobo is skipping his canines and going right for his molars. He's cut 3 of his first 4, the most recent addition came on father's day. We figured something was up when he started to drool in earnest.

We broke out Paul's old brio train set this weekend and man was that a hit! Since tobo goes everywhere with his plug, he's really pretty good about not putting the trains in his mouth. He doesn't really get that trains run on a track, but that's ok. They are fun to run up walls, across doors, really these are gravity-defying trains. We also got a few byron barton books from the library and now have to read them multiple times a day. We got Airport and Machines at Work. He has a whole bunch of topics that were written with tobo in mind it seems. We seriously read both of these book 3 times a day each. He points out the planes (danes) or the trucks that look so much like his toys. It's really cool to watch. (though at times I hide the book so we can not ready it 7 times in a row. :D )

happy 14 months

It has been over a month since I wrote anything. Where did the time go? Well, some of it was traveling, some of it was getting ready to travel. We had some head colds and family visits, some card nights, some game nights, it's just like our social lives have kicked it up a notch since March. The head crud of doom that I got during our trip to Pittsburgh finally went away today. So I basically lost 2 or 3 days since we've been back being a lump. The scary part of this trip was that tobo came down with at 103 degree fever the night before we were suppose to travel. We ended up postponing, but it was a little bit chaotic as we rearranged our tickets and schedule and such. I'm glad we did. He cooled off by the next afternoon and got a good night sleep before we were up at crack of dawn early. This really was the only negative about the trip. It was great great times catching up with all manner of people. I got to eat at Lulu's, a treat I've missed the last few times.

Tobo learn many new skills from his god-brothers:
- dogs are not only furry, they are fascinating!
- running and yelling is the default activity of the morning, before anyone else is up.
- pianos are in reach if I stand on my tippy toes
- mikey is shy, but also likes to share/swap toys
- nathaniel likes to pet my head and tell me stories
- isaac is fun to chase...when he moves slow enough for me to follow
- dirt is fun!
- grass is fun!
- flowers are for pulling!
- I can play baseball with you all if I am 1st base (the base, not the position)
- church services are hard to sit through when it's nap time
- waffles are delicious!

Surprisingly he was really good about not trying the stairs. He was also really well behaved for his godmother and father which was great to see. Since we got home, he's grown 3 inches overnight and can now reach the door handles. (he couldn't before we left) He loves going outside and picking up rocks from our front yard. He is fearless around dogs now, which is at times worrying. He yells "Hi!" at every single animal he sees. Not at people, just at animals. He's gotten use to cats as well. We had one actually hiss at him, but he was just fine with that. He's recognizing letters now - that they exist and that they have their own song. "A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A...". He wants to climb everything. The couch, the table, the stroller, anything. We're going to have to safety proof the kitchen finally because we can't really keep him out anymore. We are getting tons and tons of new signs (though not always used consistently). He nods his head at everything. (very agreeable) but he is able to sign for "milk" "down" (he actually speaks this too) "all-done" (we made this one up). Of course done, down, and don, all sound the same. He often will point and nod to indicate that yes, he should totally be able play with the battery charger. So it begins. Also, he is absolutely brilliant. ;)

Still not sleeping through the night, he has finally given up on the sleep sacks we've had forever. He's now learning how to sleep with a blanket. Normally he's up once a night, though with the travel that's all screwy. He is eating like a champ. Lots of solids. Anything, just play it loud. His milk intake has dropped off some. It made it really hard to guess what we would need for the flight. (I over packed by about 8 oz).

I hope to do a first year album sometime once we are back. And after I've fixed my iPhoto library which is all messed up. No photos this post for that reason. I'll keep working on it.

Anyway, happy 14th month, Tobo. You are a brilliant child!