Sunday, December 27, 2015

Casper, 2 Years

You have been 2 for over a month now but since we’ve officially stopped counting age in months you’re still just 2 (and this blog post is by no means over a month late).



I write from just beside the fireplace at Ama and Pa’s (aka Grandma K and Grandpa Horst) house on the afternoon of your 3rd (!!!) Christmas. You’ve enjoyed this one most of all. You love playing with your cousins and opening presents and eating pudding (and cookies and chocolates and ice cream and sugar straight from the bowl if we’d only hand you a spoon). And mama loves watching you play (and the occasional nap…) too much to spend a long time formatting this rambling blog post.


You want to do everything by yourself. If I lift you onto the bed I am thanked with enraged screams of, “Self!” If I reach down to carry you up the stairs to our apartment you panic and quickly tell me “by self! by self! by seeeeeeeelf!!!!!” I sometimes hear you whispering, “self, self, self” while playing alone. Practice for the next time your jerk mom tries to assist you with anything? It is amazing how many different ways you can refuse help.


My ears are still your comfort objects -- you grab at them when tired, when hurt, when snuggling. The inside of my ear is often tender and raw from your machinations. In the morning while we lie in bed with Mama on one side and Daddy on the other you like to reach over and hold an ear from either parent. Just in the last couple of days I have caught you fondling your own ear while napping -- independence.


You are just starting to grasp pretend play. Sometimes you toss your stuffed rabbit, Claude, off of the bed and tell me “he crying. need hugs.” After you rescue him from the floor you tell me, “He needs Mama” and then instruct me to hold him and “Mama say, ‘it ok!’”


Recently folks have commented on how verbal you are, shocking given how long it took you to speak, and yet it’s true. You’ve surprised me with what feel like complicated concepts. Asking, about a rock you found on your dad’s dresser, “where it come from?” Bringing me a block that matches the one I’m holding and saying, “this red also.”


You parrot everything you hear which has revealed just how often I use certain phrases. When I finally get Sesame St. streaming on the TV you’ll announce “Oh! There we go!” perfectly mimicking my own inflection. You walked into my bedroom the other day and out of nowhere announced, “Oh, that’s weird.” (It was never clear exactly what was weird -- life itself?)


You’ve started to grasp the concept of jokes -- your main attempt at humor is putting your wub-a-nub (pacifier) in your mouth and then trying to drink milk or water at the same time. You yell, “Mama! Mama! Mama!” and show me this while giggling uncontrollably. You also like to say things that are obviously not true (“Mama’s shoes? No!” while holding your own shoes) and then laugh hysterically.


You’ve also recently realized the power of choice. A favorite phrase around our house is “a different one!!” You ask for different pants, a different show, a different snack. One night  your dad and I were rolling on the floor laughing as you had argument after argument with yourself about if we would read books or put pajamas on first (“read a book! yes!... NO!!!! No book! Get dressed. Get dressed. NO NO NO!!!”). This past week you made an unfortunate discovery. We’ve often used the trick of giving you a choice between 2 items to force a decision but  one evening I asked you if you’d like Mama or Daddy to perform whatever bedtime preparation that we were trying to move along and you replied, “Nothing.” This choice loophole is sure to cobble many previously smooth paths.


You’ve recently started singing songs -- mostly the ABCs (having mastered your letters in lower and uppercase! Excuse my Mama bragging…). We downloaded you an iPhone application that lets you drag letters into their place in a word and you’re ridiculously proficient.


You recognize numbers up to 9 and you can reliably count to... 2. However, you believe you can count much much higher, “1, 2, 5, 6, 9!” Recently when asked to count over Facetime with Grandmom and Granddad you managed “1,2,5,6,7,8,9,10,3,4” which seemed pretty impressive.


In October we took you to Switzerland, France and Spain because you are a very spoiled baby. You saw many fountains. You saw the Sagrada Familia which you knew from a set of architecture cards that your dad picked up at a stoop sale. You’re still talking about it months later -- building block towers and calling them the Sagrada Familia, reminding me of the stained glass inside (red and green circles!).


You are still nursing once in awhile -- most days a quick suckle in the morning but some days none at all. We’ve finally convinced you that milk can be drunk in a cup and at 2 years and one month you are off of the bottle -- this has lead to a small uptick in requests for “Milk-a-Mama.”


When I’m stripping you down for a new diaper you often look up at me and announce, “Little Nakes, coming out!”  You find it hilarious when anyone is naked -- especially me. If you catch me coming out of the shower you squeal with glee, “Mama Nakes!!!” and then demand that I turn around so you can see my “naked booty!”


You love to color and demand that we draw things for you -- recently you’re requesting a fountain, an ipad an octagon and a Buddha.

On 11/7 you used the potty for the first time after peeing a bit on mom and dad’s bed during bedtime story naked time. You have refused to use it again. We have an exciting weekend of potty training/you peeing all over the house planned for 2016.


Sunday, August 30, 2015

Casper Speaks

Casper, you were a late talker. At a year you had no words. At 18 months we told ourselves that you were saying Mama and Dada but it was a bit of a wishful parenting leap -- you mostly ran around chanting "bitta bitta" and "minna minna my" which might have been words but we never figured out their meanings. I'll admit here that I was just a little bit worried. Logically I know that talking, unlike rolling or smiling, was something with a huge range of normal. And yet.... what did it mean that you didn't talk when other kids did?

Starting in May, you slowly found your voice. You said "bye bye" and "baby" and very slowly started picking up new words. For a long while, I kept a list.

Words as of 8/7/15
mama
dada
bye (first post mama dada)
baby
me (“memememememe” when you wants something like a bottle of milk (said while hitting the refrigerator) or dad’s iphone)
clock
dump (for dump truck)
hi (Kenesha taught you this on 7/14)
Zayd (for Zayden)
book
up
bus
apple
good (7/21)
dog (7/31)
hot (in reference to the beach sand in CT 8/1)
‘dilla (quesadilla 8/4)
nanna (banana)
poop (early August)
pee (8/7)

Not too shabby. In parallel you worked on your animal noises, mastering moo, hiss, peep peep and aroo (elephant). And mostly, you worked on your letters. You love letters. I blame the subway and books about the subway -- the first letter you learned was "F" for "F" train. At 21 months you know the entire alphabet save W (which I suspect you know but can't say). Often while walking the neighborhood or while riding the train you'll spot a sign and exclaim "A D! A D!!!!!" or quietly grin up at me to whisper "M. M. M."

A couple of weeks ago you and I took our 4th solo trip to CA to visit family (your 10th round trip plane trip!) and the new surroundings seemed to inspire your speech. I quickly lost track of your vocabulary as you sputtered about bears and cows and bugs and rocks. Quickly renaming Grandpa Horst to "Pa" and Grandpa Kay to "Ama" and demanding they take you to the car, to the tractor, to the horse, to the cat. Requesting crackers and cookies and apples and bread and snacks (always "'NACK!!!").

We came home after a week and the words continued to spill forth -- now in groups of two. "More book!" you yell. "Dada off," you demand. Frequently, you name things I had no idea you could identify -- this week alone I've heard toe, couscous, phone, on, light, read, meat, card, pig, goldbug, giraffe, yoga, all done.... Forget accounting for them all I can't even account for today.

Developmentally I believe this is called a leap. Welcome to the other side Big Talker.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Casper -- 18 Months

The Speroo, My Milky Face, Doodle.



At officially 1 and a half years old you are silly and sneaky and serious.

After over a year of baby yoga you can now do a mean downward dog. You’ve also picked up a move called “toes to your nose,” and the answering of ringing foot phones (enjoy it while you’re still this flexible, kid).

You recently started pointing emphatically at your empty plate to indicate that more food (usually snacks) is needed.

You’ve figured out that things can be hidden under our furniture -- you love to use your downward dog moved to search for stray toys under the couch. Or to shove your sandals, which you have developed an irrational hatred for, under Mom and Dad’s bed.

Pacifiers are now only for naps and bedtime, a transition that was surprisingly easy to make. However, nothing is funnier than finding a paci during waking hours and showing it to mom before popping it into your mouth and running away squealing. You love to run away. Though our apartment is small and you usually find yourself trapped in a corner you have begun to master circling the couch or dining room table to evade capture.

You have developed a deep love for coloring and we have accumulated stacks of abstract creations that I will have to learn to part with.

You like to point out everyone that you’re hanging out with -- meals around the table are peppered with finger pointing and roll call, “Mama, Daddy, and who else?” giggling you point to yourself, “and Casper!”

It has been weeks since you woke us up in the middle of the night. After a tough winter with my bed full of wide awake baby and one painful night of sleep training (AGAIN) (shout out to Grandma Kay for the phone support that night!) you are, again, a baby who sleeps well. Please let it stick this time.

You have fallen into a toddler eating cycle -- 2 days of voracious consumption followed by 5 days
of refusing everything save bananas, milk and snacks (crackers, yogurt drops and dried fruit). Nothing angers you like being offered milk in a cup. Milk is for bottles. Water is for cups. This rules shall not be broken or cups will fly across the room propelled by your rage.
You are talking, finally. You said your first word besides “mama” or “dada” on May 2nd when you shouted “byebye!” from your stroller. A week later I caught you staring at a baby and mouthing the word “baby” to yourself. After watching for a moment I asked, “Do you see that baby?” and you yelled and pointed -- “baby!” You say “moo” for cows and “peep peep” for chicks. Kenesha taught you to raise your arm like a trunk and “arooooo” like an elephant. After over a year of reading the Subway book you can say “F!” to greet to F Train like a true Brooklyn boy.

You are still a little guy, finally breaking the 20lbs mark this month. You seem perfectly chubby to me right up until I take you out of town and you go from having a big round cloth diaper booty to a skinny little butt that won't even hold up a pair of 12-18 month pants.

You have lots of baby tricks these days. You can "do a little dance" by spinning around in a circle. You stomp your feet. You "do a jump" (which mean you bend your knees and sit in a squat for a bit before standing up quickly and throwing your hands in the air -- I have yet to see your feet leave the ground). You do hand claps and foot claps.

You love to play hide and seek. Like all toddlers you are the worst hider. You pick the same spot over and over again. You make no attempt to not be seen. You laugh super loud the entire time.

You have started to get angry when daddy hugs me. You spot us cuddling from across the room and run over whining to hit daddy's hand. You are not comforted when we tell you that daddy loves me too. You do not find the option of a group hug acceptable.

You have learned to climb. Yesterday I was using the stool to get a can from the top of the shelf and found you perched right behind me (*Gulp*)


You don’t want to hold my hand when walking down the street. You shake your head and squirm and physically try to peel my hand from yours. You walk ahead of me as if pretending already to be on your own. Right now you have a purple bump on your forehead and a scrape on your knee as if to prove to me that you are a little boy.


Sunday, January 25, 2015

Casper, Months 13 and 14

Dear Squirm-bot 5000,

As you get older, I get lazier (or is it more tired? Hard to say.). Welcome to this decade's answer to laziness -- the listicle!




Things Casper Can Do



Walk. Like a penguin. Like a baby fawn. Like a drunken sailor. Like the most efficient and ridiculous version of all three of these things put together


Refuse food. Smirking, nose in the air, mouth clamped closed in a thin line, uttering a dismissive and bemused “uh,” as you turn your head away from things that just yesterday you devoured.


Find specific books and bring them to an adult to be read.  A cute trick that sadly enables never-ending afternoons spent reading books that I’m fast getting sick of.


Find a way to shove shapes into the right holes in your shape sorter toys even though you for sure do not know your shapes. You know that things can go into the holes and that if you twist them around and try all of the holes probably what you are holding will fit in somewhere. Trial and error plus determination are powerful tools.



Things Casper Loves



Baths. So much so that I have to not bring them up until the water is ready in order to avoid tears of impatience. So much so that I have to physically restrain you from clambering over the side of the tub to dive face first into the water/dry bath tub.


Books. I should be one of those parents who brags about her child’s love for reading but mostly I’m one of those parents who occasionally helps certain books go missing because she simply cannot read about lame-o Winter Friends for a 45th time in one day.


Empty carbs. Just like everyone else.


Knocking down towers of blocks and screaming a loud and proud “Eeeeeeeee!!!!!” It’s rare that I can get even 3 block on top of one another in this house before destructor swoops in.


Rolling off of the changing pad in the middle of a diaper change and toddling your naked butt all over my house. Giggling the whole time and looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re being chasing.


Bananas, yogurt drops and graham crackers. All of which have to be hidden in the cupboard with our glasses -- you’re on to the pantry and the wonder is holds.

My ear. Months ago when you started having a hard time going to sleep we tried to introduce a small stuffed bunny named Claude as your love-y. At night we all say good night to Claude and then he cuddles up with us before bed. And then all night long you ignore him. There is little love for Claude. But as soon as I pick you up, when I rock you, when you're tired, when you're crying... you little hand paws at my face, pushing my head to the side, creeping crawling up to my ear. You knead the lobe and trace the outline with your fingers before grabbing on and settling in for a snuggle.


Things Casper Hates


When Mama leaves. Even my morning bathroom break requires reassurance that I’m coming right back.


Having a fever and being forced to go sledding. (In my defense I didn’t *know* you had a fever until later and then I felt so bad that I let you sleep in the big bed with mom and dad all night).

Napping in his crib. Currently banned from life. Big bed 4EVER!!!!!