Squidbits. And news.
A lady at the store where we got hot chocolate in Chicago was enamored of the Squid. "He's so busy!" she kept saying. And if I had to pick one word to describe him these days, "busy" would probably be it. He leaps out of bed in the morning (having figured out how to get out of his crib on his own) and comes in already bouncing. "It's time to wake up!" he says. "Mommy, come on! The sun is up!" He is into everything - by the time I have put away the last thing he had out, he has his paws on something new and inappropriate. As soon as he is distracted, the current object is dropped to the floor and he moves on to the next, despite our recent efforts to talk to him about how big boys clean up after themselves. It's a whirlwind I can't keep up with.
Nor can anyone else. On Thanksgiving we had two older girls watching him – not babysitter-older, just old-enough-to-know-what's-what older. And despite their warnings (and they did tell him not to!), the young man managed to find a sharp knife, play with it, and cut himself. Thank God he didn't put out an eye or lose a finger, just sliced up the base of one fingernail, but it was terrifying to run downstairs at his howl and find him gushing blood, sobbing, saying, "Why is red stuff coming out of my hand?" We handled it calmly, with much admonishment about Not Playing With Sharp Things and Listening When People Tell You Not To Do Things, and all's well that ends well, but it was scary.
It was a huge relief to have all four grandparents present for the Thanksgiving vacation, because it provided both of us with a much-needed rest. My parents and Himself's parents fielded almost half of the Squid's early mornings and some of his nap wakeups. They also did playtime activities, question answering, and general Squidwatch, all of which was particularly crucial for me as I spent the two-week vacation transitioning out of the exhaustion and nausea of the first trimester of pregnancy.
Yup, we have another one on the way. Due in early June, and thus far shaping up just fine. Six months feels like forever, but I am just glad to be over the first, worst part and feeling vaguely human again. Amniocentesis preliminary results are back and looking clear, and I am looking visibly pregnant, so we are finally telling everyone.
The Squid took the news about the baby surprisingly well. We'd done a lot of talking about how babies grow, because he was skeptical that I had really grown him in my tummy, and he had asked if I could grow him a baby. I told him maybe, if he asked nicely (knowing it was already in progress)… so after we told the grandparents, I was in the shower with him, belly poking out, and I said, "I want to tell you a secret!"
"Whisper it in my ear," he commanded.
Obediently, I bent down and whispered, "I'm growing a baby in my tummy."
"No, in THIS ear," he said, pointing to his other ear.
I whispered it again.
There was a long pause.
"See what I can do with my squeegee?" he said.
…and that's the sum total of the angst we've seen thus far. It will probably look a little different once the baby gets here and starts taking more of our time and attention, but right now, he's cool with it. See what he can do with his squeegee?
Today, after poking my boobs and informing me that he was "just checking to see how they're fatter because of the baby," (his observation! I didn't tell him that!) he volunteered, "I'm going to take good care of the baby." He has also stated his unequivocal preference for a sister. Well, actually, he wanted two big sisters, but he will take one little sister if that is all that is on offer. We told him we couldn't guarantee, but that we would do our best. And, apparently, our best has sufficed - the ultrasound technician assured me this week that the fetus was very clearly female.
In rottener news, Uncle E, whom we have not seen for several years and whose visit we were really looking forward to, will not be able to make it for the holidays after all. This also means Grammy and Grandpa will be flying out of town and unable to celebrate with us. Woe all around. Still, our tree looks wonderful, we're having the neighborhood over for potluck on Christmas Eve like we usually do, and the Squid and I are even hoping to make it down to LA for New Years to see Grammy Vi. Still, we will miss Uncle E! I'd looked forward to having him get to know the Squid - I remember E at this age, and I think he and the Squid would get along.
The Squid continues to be a very talkative young man. "Why" is in full effect. He's not just using it the way he was, to ask questions, though he still does that too. He uses it to ask the same question we've already answered several times. And sometimes he uses it to ask a question that contains its own answer, like, "Why do I have to wear my coat because it's cold?" It seems less of an information gathering tool and more of a communication strategy, much like the way "how are you?" and "what are you up to?" work for adults. If we don't respond, he repeats the query over and over and over. If we ask him why, he says, "That's enough why!" He also has some funny new expressions, like "Stop it this!" for asking us to knock it off.
My mother says that he is forthright in a way unusual for this age. At 3.75 years, he still confesses misdeeds if asked directly. Or even volunteer the information, sometimes, if it is relevant to the situation. He'll tell me if he has a potty accident (a rarer and rarer occurrence - we're down to once a week or so) almost as soon as it happens, and he's frank about his misbehaviors at preschool as well. For those of you who have had kids this age, is this unusual?
He's learned a lot of songs from preschool and is fairly tuneful about them. I've even heard him vary the tune a bit now and then intentionally, and he's gone past remembering the words to the songs to changing them to be about himself and whatever he's interested in singing about at the moment. I am totally floored by how well he usually makes his substitute words scan with the usual rhythm and tune of the originals. At the preschool Christmas program he sang his little heart out, and it's not unusual to hear him singing himself to sleep at night, either.
We went to a couple of museums on vacation – a Mississippi river museum, where they had a great lizard exhibit (he likes the way chameleons can see in two directions at once) and the Shedd aquarium in Chicago, where he said his favorites were the frogfish but also enjoyed rays, jellyfish, sharks, lionfish, and many other critters, and correctly identified leafy sea dragons without any prompting from us, just from repeated viewing of his Blue Planet movies. He was quite disappointed in the dearth of anglerfish, gulper eels, and bioluminescent deep sea critters, as his current fascination is the deep ocean, but there were enough otters and dolphins and corals and frogs to keep him running for almost three hours, so it was a great experience.
I get him one ornament every year that will be his to take when he starts having his own tree, and this year we got it from the Shedd, which had the best collection of blown-glass jellyfish, octopi, starfish, sand dollar, and seahorse ornaments I have ever seen. Christmas is my favorite holiday (followed closely by Thanksgiving, now that I have married into this wonderful warm family of cooks and eaters and togetherness) and I am very excited for it this year, though I have done no baking or shopping, thanks to, you know, growing a person and stuff. Indeed, I forgave myself in advance for late cards, incomplete shopping, not hanging the lights, and a myriad of other guilt-inducing holiday sins, and it's really helping with peace of mind.
May you all have wonderful holidays, and know that we are thinking of you. Who knows, you might even get a card from us for New Year's ... or Chinese New Year's ... or next year. I could have my act together by then, right? Right?
Nor can anyone else. On Thanksgiving we had two older girls watching him – not babysitter-older, just old-enough-to-know-what's-what older. And despite their warnings (and they did tell him not to!), the young man managed to find a sharp knife, play with it, and cut himself. Thank God he didn't put out an eye or lose a finger, just sliced up the base of one fingernail, but it was terrifying to run downstairs at his howl and find him gushing blood, sobbing, saying, "Why is red stuff coming out of my hand?" We handled it calmly, with much admonishment about Not Playing With Sharp Things and Listening When People Tell You Not To Do Things, and all's well that ends well, but it was scary.
It was a huge relief to have all four grandparents present for the Thanksgiving vacation, because it provided both of us with a much-needed rest. My parents and Himself's parents fielded almost half of the Squid's early mornings and some of his nap wakeups. They also did playtime activities, question answering, and general Squidwatch, all of which was particularly crucial for me as I spent the two-week vacation transitioning out of the exhaustion and nausea of the first trimester of pregnancy.
Yup, we have another one on the way. Due in early June, and thus far shaping up just fine. Six months feels like forever, but I am just glad to be over the first, worst part and feeling vaguely human again. Amniocentesis preliminary results are back and looking clear, and I am looking visibly pregnant, so we are finally telling everyone.
The Squid took the news about the baby surprisingly well. We'd done a lot of talking about how babies grow, because he was skeptical that I had really grown him in my tummy, and he had asked if I could grow him a baby. I told him maybe, if he asked nicely (knowing it was already in progress)… so after we told the grandparents, I was in the shower with him, belly poking out, and I said, "I want to tell you a secret!"
"Whisper it in my ear," he commanded.
Obediently, I bent down and whispered, "I'm growing a baby in my tummy."
"No, in THIS ear," he said, pointing to his other ear.
I whispered it again.
There was a long pause.
"See what I can do with my squeegee?" he said.
…and that's the sum total of the angst we've seen thus far. It will probably look a little different once the baby gets here and starts taking more of our time and attention, but right now, he's cool with it. See what he can do with his squeegee?
Today, after poking my boobs and informing me that he was "just checking to see how they're fatter because of the baby," (his observation! I didn't tell him that!) he volunteered, "I'm going to take good care of the baby." He has also stated his unequivocal preference for a sister. Well, actually, he wanted two big sisters, but he will take one little sister if that is all that is on offer. We told him we couldn't guarantee, but that we would do our best. And, apparently, our best has sufficed - the ultrasound technician assured me this week that the fetus was very clearly female.
In rottener news, Uncle E, whom we have not seen for several years and whose visit we were really looking forward to, will not be able to make it for the holidays after all. This also means Grammy and Grandpa will be flying out of town and unable to celebrate with us. Woe all around. Still, our tree looks wonderful, we're having the neighborhood over for potluck on Christmas Eve like we usually do, and the Squid and I are even hoping to make it down to LA for New Years to see Grammy Vi. Still, we will miss Uncle E! I'd looked forward to having him get to know the Squid - I remember E at this age, and I think he and the Squid would get along.
The Squid continues to be a very talkative young man. "Why" is in full effect. He's not just using it the way he was, to ask questions, though he still does that too. He uses it to ask the same question we've already answered several times. And sometimes he uses it to ask a question that contains its own answer, like, "Why do I have to wear my coat because it's cold?" It seems less of an information gathering tool and more of a communication strategy, much like the way "how are you?" and "what are you up to?" work for adults. If we don't respond, he repeats the query over and over and over. If we ask him why, he says, "That's enough why!" He also has some funny new expressions, like "Stop it this!" for asking us to knock it off.
My mother says that he is forthright in a way unusual for this age. At 3.75 years, he still confesses misdeeds if asked directly. Or even volunteer the information, sometimes, if it is relevant to the situation. He'll tell me if he has a potty accident (a rarer and rarer occurrence - we're down to once a week or so) almost as soon as it happens, and he's frank about his misbehaviors at preschool as well. For those of you who have had kids this age, is this unusual?
He's learned a lot of songs from preschool and is fairly tuneful about them. I've even heard him vary the tune a bit now and then intentionally, and he's gone past remembering the words to the songs to changing them to be about himself and whatever he's interested in singing about at the moment. I am totally floored by how well he usually makes his substitute words scan with the usual rhythm and tune of the originals. At the preschool Christmas program he sang his little heart out, and it's not unusual to hear him singing himself to sleep at night, either.
We went to a couple of museums on vacation – a Mississippi river museum, where they had a great lizard exhibit (he likes the way chameleons can see in two directions at once) and the Shedd aquarium in Chicago, where he said his favorites were the frogfish but also enjoyed rays, jellyfish, sharks, lionfish, and many other critters, and correctly identified leafy sea dragons without any prompting from us, just from repeated viewing of his Blue Planet movies. He was quite disappointed in the dearth of anglerfish, gulper eels, and bioluminescent deep sea critters, as his current fascination is the deep ocean, but there were enough otters and dolphins and corals and frogs to keep him running for almost three hours, so it was a great experience.
I get him one ornament every year that will be his to take when he starts having his own tree, and this year we got it from the Shedd, which had the best collection of blown-glass jellyfish, octopi, starfish, sand dollar, and seahorse ornaments I have ever seen. Christmas is my favorite holiday (followed closely by Thanksgiving, now that I have married into this wonderful warm family of cooks and eaters and togetherness) and I am very excited for it this year, though I have done no baking or shopping, thanks to, you know, growing a person and stuff. Indeed, I forgave myself in advance for late cards, incomplete shopping, not hanging the lights, and a myriad of other guilt-inducing holiday sins, and it's really helping with peace of mind.
May you all have wonderful holidays, and know that we are thinking of you. Who knows, you might even get a card from us for New Year's ... or Chinese New Year's ... or next year. I could have my act together by then, right? Right?
posted by The Stute Fish at 19:56
3 comments
