Just a Few Updates

A few things from recently:

Yesterday, Felix said "bye" to me for the first time when I dropped him off at daycare.  Aw.  He's starting to get the hang of when to use it, but isn't quite there.  Usually he says a big "buh-by-ee" after we've already shut the door on Nick and are walking to the car.

The kid is a natural mimic.  If you do something he hasn't seen you do before, there's a pretty good chance he will immediately want to do it.  We noticed it big time when I swept the floor a few weeks ago.  He HAD to have the broom and sweep (i.e., knock the handle into everything fragile in the area).  We've since put the broom in the garage where he can't get it.  His little Swiffer works just fine.

We've found the best way to tire him out at night.  He loves being chased, so Nick or I will pretend to be chasing him around our first floor.  It's a nice loop between the living room, hallway, kitchen and dining area.  We stomp behind him and almost catch him.  It's a nice workout for all of us.

Felix has five teeth and another that is just about to cut.

I'll be posting Halloween stuff soon.  Yay!

Felix: 15 mos

Playing in the Leaves

Last year, we got a great picture of Felix in the leaves.  I wanted to get something similar this year, so we bundled Felix up and took him over to the huge leaf pile next door.  He was... unimpressed.  The sound, the texture, everything seemed to put him off.  Or else he really just wanted to play with Nick's basketball.  Finally, some of the neighborhood kids came over to play in the leaves, too.  We finally got a few smiles when the kids started throwing leaves in the air.  Hooray!

Felix: 15 mos

Visitors

On Sunday, we had a visit from my uncle Steve, my aunt Lori, and their son, Eric. We'd never met Eric before, since Steve and Lori's last visit was before he was born. Luckily, we got to meet him on his first birthday!

Felix was napping when they arrived, so he was a little slow to warm up to our guests. Eric was right at home, eating Felix's crayons. To celebrate Eric's birthday, everybody got cake. Felix dove right into his, while Eric enjoyed smashing his. The boys got so dirty that we let them play in their diapers. By that time, they were feeling pretty comfortable with each other and started crawl-chasing each other around our dining table and "wrestling" on the floor.

Other than the Packers loss, it was a great visit - thanks again, guys! Hope to see you soon!

 Felix: 14 mos

 

Scrambling, in Pseudo-Panic Mode

We were tipped off last night and officially (though off-the-record) told this morning that Felix's day care will be closing permanently.  Today's his last day there.  Cue a sleepless night (sleep finally induced by a dose of NyQuil) and a tension-filled early morning. 

Thinking back to the places we toured before Felix was born, a couple stood out.  I called one this morning and they had openings!  Hooray!  We liked it the first time around, but as they couldn't guarantee an infant opening, we passed on it.  Now they have enough availability that Felix and his friend (whose dad tipped us off last night), and hopefully our neighbor's daughter can all be there together.  Our neighbors are on vacation and have no idea, so we've left messages with them today.  I also had to tell a coworker, whose baby was signed up to go to the closing day care in January.  I feel like quite the bearer of bad news today, so I've included a happy picture (of Felix and me with my new laser-eyes from Monday).

Update 10/11/10 - we found a place for Felix and his classmate Alana at the same center. Several other kids from our old center are there as well. They started on Monday, and so far Felix is doing well. One downside has been that the smaller room sizes make him more aware of other parents picking up their kids, so he's getting unhappy in the afternoon that I haven't come yet. And he's getting very clingy in the morning. I'm not sure if it's just a transition thing (that he doesn't quite recognize the people, friends, etc.) or if he's just developing separation anxiety (which we haven't gone through yet). But on the whole they tell me he does very well during the day and that he's adjusted well to their schedule and staff.

Our neighbors are still looking at different options - our new center isn't convenient for them.  But we have found out a whole mess of information about the center owner from them.  Holy crap.  Let's just say that cocaine, adultery, and divorce settlement were mentioned.

Felix: 14 mos

Jekyll or Hyde?

We have entered the frustrated-toddler time. We knew it was coming, but were still unprepared for what has been unleashed upon us. Sure, you may think I’m being hyperbolic, especially because Felix is such a good boy when others are around. But … argh.

Felix is getting frustrated by not being able to get what he wants, do what he wants, or communicate with us. Coming in from outside before he wants to results in a puddle of boneless, grunting Felix on the floor. Frustration at not being able to use a fork results in the fork and as much food as he can get a hold of being flung on the floor, and whatever’s left on his tray being smeared around by flailing arms. Knowing the animal crackers are there, but me insisting that he make even the most half-hearted “more” sign before I give him another results in even more grunting and bonelessness.

There is a bright side. His desire to communicate means he’s picking up on words and signs pretty quick. The other day, he overheard a neighbor say “eat” and he signed “eat” (I wisely, IMHO, took him inside for dinner then). I’m trying to work on “please”, “thank you”, and “hurt” now.

And then there’s the sitting on other kids. This week, Felix has decided that he wants to sit on his classmates at day care. Where he’s getting these bullying tendencies from, I don’t know. Is he trying to get his pent-up frustrations out? Is he truly not able to differentiate between “gentle” and “hard”? In any case, his daily sheet from Tuesday had the note that he sat on at least one child's head during naptime. We don’t let him sit on us at home or hit us. I know this is probably just a phase, but is I’m hoping we can break him of this sooner. Unfortunately, I only hear about it after the fact, so my saying "friends are not chairs, cushions or pillows" doesn't have a great effect. I'm considering buying a doll for him to play with to help model gentle behavior.

He can be such a sweetie, but there are definitely Mr. Hyde tendencies in him.

He's also getting bumps and bruises like it's his job now.  Yesterday, I signed two accident reports at his day care.  On Tuesday, he banged the bridge of his nose on a table (second time for that in a week), causing it to bleed and get a little bruised.  Yesterday, he was bit on the hand by another child.  I left him at day care this morning saying that I did not want to sign an accident report today.  Days since last accident: 0.

Felix: 14 mos

Tempers and Tantrums

Felix threw his first tantrum this weekend, when we wouldn't let him have more cinnamon roll.  And again yesterday, when I wouldn't let him go outside at that minute.  Cue the grunting, flailing, stiffened back, and screaming.  I suppose I'm glad it took a nice long time for the temper tantrums to begin, but I still could have waited longer.

It probably hasn't helped that he's teething again.  Here's the best picture I've gotten so far with his bottom two teeth.  He cut his top right front tooth on Saturday.  After reading a bulletin board post about the effectiveness of dark versus light Baltic amber for teething pain (apparently light is better), I took his necklace off after his bath last night.  We proceeded to have the worst night of teething we've had since I got the necklace for him (presumably for the upper left front tooth).  I put it back on at 4 am, and he was better after that.  I think there's something to it.  I ordered two more for him, light yellow amber this time, so we'll be set with the next teeth.

Felix: 14 mos

Where did my baby go?

Sometime in the last few weeks, someone snuck in and replaced my baby with an adorable little man!  Maybe it was his grandparents on their recent visits.  Or maybe the start of football season is the cause.  Either way, Felix is a baby no longer.  He's getting better at walking, and currently has two speeds (stop and RUN!).  He loves rolling on pillows or cushions on the floor.  He's starting to sign when he wants something (yesterday morning he signed "food"), and has a few other simple words in his vocabulary.  He is a total boy, preferring to play with balls and cars.  He's also showing other preferences, like not wanting to sit in his car seat or wanting something we've just taken away.  Trying our patience, in other words.  I'm getting very good at distracting and toddler-wrangling.

Felix is also 14 months old as of Sunday, and still only has two teeth.  He's been working on the top ones for over a month now, and they're so close to cutting through.  I'm not used to seeing him with any teeth in his mouth, and I think having top ones will continue to throw me for a while.

I'm glad that fall is coming with its cooler weather, because we can dress Felix in his many, many pairs of overalls, and he looks so gosh darn cute!

Felix: 14 mos