Taking the Scenic Route

Happy.  Proud.  Relieved. 

Today was SUCH a good day.  The last 2 days or so it is like I have a different child.  He has occasionally shown gains with his verbal skills, but nothing like the last few days.  Tonight, instead of the typical bedtime stories (Say Cheese and Harold and the Purple Crayon being his biggest repeats), he wanted his picture books ( Little Word Book, Baby Words) and not only named pretty much everything in the books, but was able to follow instructions like “point to the blue things” over and over again, with different questions.  He also knew shapes (even some less typical ones) that we have gone over, but were never sure if he understood.  He also got really excited when the pictures of the Elephants & Chimpanzees came up and became very animated.  (we saw those today). 

Tonight when we went to the playground, he ’showed’ Justin how to climb up the equipment and go down the slide.  He also did a spectacular job of waiting for Justin to go down the slide with no prompting from us.  Yesterday Justin had come over for 20-30 minutes while Ann ran to Wal-mart to pick up some groceries and Zane had played so nicely it amazed me.  He would give Justin toys, and show him how to play with different things.  It was nice seeing the trend continue.  Cody and Zane are the same age difference (Zane being the younger in that pairing) and it was always a total disaster when we got the two together.  Cody was always pushing and screaming at Zane and I sort of assumed that it was just the age.  I still think that is true to a degree, but it is nice that Zane doesn’t seem to be doing that.  He does occasionally take a toy from Justin, but it isn’t a regular thing and he returns it when prompted to.  Kindness is very important to me, so I am very glad to see that he is at least capable of it.  I don’t expect it to always be that way, after all, he is just a kid, but at least I know it isn’t a total fantasy. 

One funny thing was when we were leaving, Justin tripped on the grass.  Zane saw him fall and fell down next to him and waited until Justin got up to get up himself.  He looked at Justin like he was worried about him…very cute.  He is also seeming to grasp the concept of pumping his legs to get the swing going, and didn’t need help getting in the swing tonight (although we made sure he was sitting back far enough before pushing him).  He isn’t quite ready to swing unassisted yet, but he is starting to make the connections on how to move on a swing. 

Also tonight, he was talking and we were only half paying attention.  After a bit, we realized he was listing something, but it wasn’t readily apparent what he was saying.  All of a sudden, Zach started understanding what he was saying….he was counting in Spanish….26, 27, 28….  To confirm that is what he was doing, he played the old game with him….In Spanish, Zach said 1, Zane said 2, Zach said 3, and on through the 20s.  He knows how to count at least to 29 in Spanish.  I don’t know how to count to 29 in Spanish.  The only thing we could think of was the Dora the Explorer computer game…there is a section that counts all the stars you gather in either English or Spanish.  It was pretty cool!

It is absolutely mind blowing how fast he is gaining words.  Today I heard probably around 50 words come out of his mouth that I have NEVER heard before.  That is really a low estimate too.  It was a much higher number if you take into account that he said most of what he did without hearing it immediately before and parroting it.  Totally blew me away.  I am in shock.

“Start Game”

edited to add:  I guess I should point out what is funny.  Instead of putting his name in one of the spaces (1,2,3,4 area), he copied the “start” and “game” from the other part of the screen.

Great Day!  We went to the ZOO!

Orangutan against the glass

Watching the Apes.

He was very excited to see the elephant.  He had a look of amazement on his face as he kept exclaiming “Elephant!  Go inside (the fence) to see Elephant!”

The sheep were pretty aggressive.  In order to get the food out of the little container, you needed one person to block while the other retrieved the food.  Zach’s first try the sheep stuck his nose in and Zach ended up with 3 pebbles of food.  Farm girl went back in and blocked, forming a team with another mama trying to get some food.

“There’s a TURPLE!”

A rather interesting little tidbit I discovered about the new SIDs guidelines I talked about on my Oct. 11 blog post.  Let’s take a minute to see who sponsored the study, as stated on their website  Notice, all of these companies have a vested interest in promoting pacifiers and crib sleeping.

Among the top Corporate sponsors ($100K and above)

• Halo, (makes crib mattresses, crib accessories, crib bedding & crib sleep sacks)
• Gerber (makes pacifiers & crib bedding)
• Ross (formula manufacturer, so no scruples about encouraging pacifier usage…interferes with breastfeeding). 

Other Corporate sponsors:

• Walmart foundation
• Babies R Us (sells cribs & pacifiers)
• Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory (again, sells cribs & pacifiers)
• Kiddopotamus & Co (sells sleep sacks for crib sleeping babies)
• Tiny Love/The Maya Group (sells crib mobiles)

Dr. Sears speaks out

Dr. William Sears, MD (author of a large number of Parenting books), Speaks out against the new AAP policy of co-sleeping.

• Back sleeping is the safest, and we agree
• We don’t recommend breastfed babies use a pacifier
• What the AAP continues to ignore, however, is the fact that virtually all of the 2500 cases of SIDS each year in the U.S. occur in cribs.
• co-sleeping is much safer

• Research around the U.S. has shown that about half of American families co-sleep with their babies. We should focus our efforts on teaching parents to do this safely instead of trying to get them to change their parenting instincts and use a crib.

Food Science for 3 year olds

Did you know that if you eat this cereal and hold it between your lips, you can blow and make a cascade of milk bubbles run down your chin?  Something to do with the physics of air pockets to milk ratio I guess. 

Bell peppers, my main craving this pregnancy, have gone back out of season.  They are now $1.78 per pepper.  YIKES!  They are already too expensive in season ($.50 /each).   I have always liked bell peppers, especially colored ones, but right now it is one of the only things that doesn’t leave me queasy.  I wonder how hard it would be to raise them in containers next summer.  It would be like planting gold around here.  They also freeze really well, so it would be something I could easily handle an over-abundance of. 

I think I am still fighting anemia.  I haven’t ever been diagnosed with it, but it seems like I will get super drained and feel just awful and Zach realizes that I probably need iron, gets me something high in iron (romaine lettuce with sour cream being my favorite…and no, not a weird pregnancy craving, although I have craved it with both this one and Zane.  It is how my paternal grandma and mom would fix garden leaf lettuce growing up.  Of course, if it wasn’t for me or my dad, they would also throw in chives).  Eggs in our cast iron pan has also been a big thing, especially when beef is too pricey (or sounds too greasy)

We have already had a busy day and it isn’t even half over.  Justin (neighbor’s 17mo) came over for a bit today.  I forget how much more work they are at that age.  Then again, other people’s kids are always a lot more work than your own.  We were going to go with them to Haysville for a Fall Fest, but decided against it.  We just don’t have enough money to go wonder around someplace where almost everything costs money (the main attractions are food and carnival rides).  So, we are going to clean for a while, then maybe go for a walk and/or the Y for some swimming.  It looks like the leaves are starting to turn.  If we can find some pretty ones, we will gather them and attempt to make a wreath for the door. 

Hi Mom & Dad!  Hope you guys are enjoying Colorado!

October 11, 2005, 9:07 pm PDT 10/07 The Latest Debates I am a bit late chiming in here, but the subject has been on my mind since the show aired.  I am astonished that people think a bottle of formula is an appropriate substitute for nursing.  Why is an artificial breast fine, but the real one disgusting in some way?  It makes no sense at all.  Plus, there are a lot of babies who do not cope well with formula.  I really don’t think it is fair for my child to be miserable and constipated for a week or two because some narrow minded fool can’t act like a human being.    I also laughed myself silly when I hear people talking about breastfeeding ‘discreetly’.  Have you ever been a parent?  Granted, some children will tolerate being under a blanket, but certainly not mine.  I did try for a while and realized how foolish it was.  In the first place, if I used a blanket it caused a huge amount of attention to what I was doing.  If I just nursed him, people would stand there and talk to me and my child, even touching his check and hair without realizing that I was nursing at all.  I find it terribly amusing that it is very likely a anti-NIP person probably oooh-ed and awe-ed over my child, not realizeing I was nursing at the time.  So, which sounds more discreet to you?  Second, who wants to eat under a blanket?  (or in a bathroom)  Babies are people and have as much right to common decency as everybody else.  If we suggested that elderly people need to eat in the bathroom or under a blanket because they drool, people would be outraged.  How is a baby an less of a person?   I am ready to have my second child in January.  This time around, I will keep a blanket in my diaper bag.  If somebody asks me to cover up, I will happily place a blanket on their head so nobody has to look at their attitude.

10/07 The Latest Debates

You know, the puking can stop any time now.