Progress

He's really making a lot of progress on his walking. It's really fun to watch. Here's an action shot I took tonight of his steps. It's truly a step, but it does seem more like Elaine's dance on Seinfeld.


This is a picture of his other new favorite trick, which is running is toy car up and down the wall. Bjorn thinks it's a trap since Andy usually leaves the car right on the other side of the baby gate, thus luring his father into slipping and falling. The kid is cunning, but I'm not sure I'd go that far. Also, you'll note in this picture that the blue rug is up in the hallway. After a year of spit up and most recently some baby urine, we pulled up the rug and threw it out. It's taking some getting used to for me visually and for Andy's knees, but I generally like it.

Squish

So his new favorite trick is sitting in the high chair and pressing down on his food to make it splat. Great. So last night I witnessed him going around the tray to find the peas so he could squish them onto the tray. This morning he did the same to the bananas. This does not bode well.

Walking

So he's definitely starting to walk. Today I could get him to walk three or four steps probably a half dozen times. It was so fun to watch I kept trying to set him a couple steps back so he could walk to me and I could catch him. So exciting to watch. I feel like showing him off to everyone!

He has also figured out how to open the kitchen cabinets with ease and pull bowls out and even put them back in on occasion. I have several of the cabinets locked up that have kitchen chemicals in them so I leave a couple of drawers and one cabinet with bowls and cutting boards open so he has a place he can get into.

Meanwhile, based on the recommendations of some friends, I've started Tivoing (now officially a verb) some other kids' shows. My new favorite is Jack's Big Music Show on the Noggin channel, which I hadn't even heard of until recently. The show has some decent music, a hint of a story and some cute characters. There also seem to be some throw away lines that adults would like, too. Bjorn and I took a peek at it tonight. I just hope Andy likes it as much as we do.

Uffda!

More steps today. In fact, I put him down and he stood for about 30 seconds, then turned and shuffled three steps to me. I was so excited. He them promptly refused to show Bjorn his performance when we got home. He's getting there. It's really fun to watch.

So the hunt for Swedish/English books continues. The funny thing is that now I'm on the mailing list for all these specialty shops like the Scandinavian Marketplace in Hastings, Minnesota, that sells imported Scandinavian goods. It's a whole new world of random products. Apparently "Uffda" is some nonsense word that Swedes, mostly in Minnesota and Wisconsin say as an exclamation. Since Bjorn's family is from Sweden, they don't get the joke. There are all sorts of things in this catalog that aren't funny to me, that someone must get. Like the "Lutefisk Buffet" book? Not for me, thanks. Or the "Six Basic Lutheran Church Basement Food Group Trivets" (where the food groups are hotdish, jell-o, funeral meat, pickles, egg coffee and bars)? I do wonder what egg coffee and bars are, but I don't think I need to own this charming set. Although perhaps the "Scrap Lumber King" hat and t-shirt would make an excellent birthday present for someone?

Update: I've asked around and apparently "Uffda" is not Swedish, but Norwegian and roughly translates to "Good grief." Here's a link for more information - http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/uffda.htm.

Blue eyed boy

Here's a picture of Mia and Andy in the little tent thing (technical term, I realize). His eyes are really blue sometimes. I put him in overalls for the first time in ages because he was out of regular pants. He looked pretty cute. We might have to go back to these.

Mmm...beer

We had friends over last night who have a nearly two year old. In a basement full of toys, beer bottles were by far the hit of the evening for both kids. We decided this picture of Andy will most certainly be shown at his graduation and/or wedding celebration. Meanwhile, he's making progress on his steps. He took a few last night in front our friends and then today he probably took two solid steps before he decided to drop to his knees. We were pretty excited. Andy, of course, didn't have a second thought about it.

Baby crack

So far, I haven't really been into the baby video thing. We got a couple as gifts, but we had DVD problems so I never much tried them now. Well, now the DVD is fixed and Baby Einstein is on. Man, that's some disturbing shit. The plot, if you can call it that, is so non-existent that it makes the Teletubbies seem like Shakespeare in terms of character and plot development. The couple we have mostly show some toys in action. For that, I wonder if he couldn't just play with the toys himself rather than watching it. Then it has some kids laughing, some puppets and a train - none of which seem to make any sense all together.

What's weirder still is the mesmerizing effect is has on Andy. He stares at the tiny TV screen in our bedroom with complete attention. He doesn't do that with much else. We've been calling it "baby crack" since it has him so rapt. I think they could have subliminal messages in there like "Drink Coke" or "Kill the President." If I were an evil genius, I would use these baby videos to take over the next generation.

Spring-like weather

With the spring like weather, Andy was insisting on standing outside. Well, he might as well be Coltrane as he just wanted to stand in the doorway - not really in or out. Letting fresh air in is good, but we have a bit of a step off the back door and I was paranoid he would slip and crack his head open on the cement. That would be suboptimal.

On an unrelated note, what is up with Europe and "The Final Countdown?" Everyone at work is joking about it and I don't remember the band or the song, which is saying something. I do love some tacky 1980s music. Bjorn doesn't even know of them and he usually appreciates all things Swedish (although hair bands tend to agitate him into saying Sweden exports more than just bad music).

Note: Thanks to Betsy, I now realize that GOB on "Arrested Development" always used to perform his magic acts to the tune. Here's a link to the song and GOB performing - http://gobarrested.ytmnd.com/. Beware - the music is terrible AND infectious.

Baby steps

We managed to get a few baby steps out of Andy today. I think the more we encourage him, the more stubborn he gets about it. Nice. I wonder where he got that?

No luck still on the Swedish books. I did find a bunch of kids' story books in Swedish. Since I don't speak the language, it doesn't do me much good. We have a couple left over from when Bjorn was a kid. There is one called "Kissen Kissen Snurr Snurr" about a rabbit that is indeed very odd. The story seems to jump around making Bjorn think it's missing a page. It's not, it's just still.

Svenska Skolan

I'm still on the hunt for Swedish/English kids books. I posted something on the granddaddy of all listservs - the D.C. Urban Mom- http://www.dcurbanmom.com/. They must have 50 or so messages a day going back and forth on everything from high-risk OBs to and nanny salaries. I got some interesting responses. Turns out there is a Swedish school on Saturdays in Falls Church. It's for kids 5 and over so it won't work for now, but they do have a library that is open every two weeks (I have a feeling the library exists out of someone's garage which is why it's not open more.

There were a couple of recommendations for books. Someone suggested IKEA, which I'm ashamed I didn't think of sooner. That would be the place. Also, a couple of bookstores - Tempo in upper Northwest D.C. and Candida's Books downtown. I think I need to do some shopping.

The windy city

I have returned to Washington, the new windy city. We have had killer winds the past few weeks, which is why it took nearly 6 hours to get to San Francisco and only 4 to get back. I expected, everyone survived without me just fine, much to the chagrin of my ego. The only funny thing is Bjorn fed him some of the few remaining jarred baby food. That's funny only because what was left were things like creamed spinach and green beans, which seem to cause exceptionally dirty diapers, a diaper rash and smelly toots. Sure enough, that's what they caused.

My mom had the great idea that we need to start going out to eat more so Andy gets more practice eating all together. We went out to brunch and ordered off the kids menu for the first time as opposed to just giving us something off our plate. Andy seemed to like the chicken fingers and the fruit that I had substituted for the fries (better for him AND me since I would be required to eat all his fries). It was nice. We need to do that more often.

Toothpaste and other babies

I am much better on this trip than others, but I still find myself getting pangs when I see little kids Andy's age. I did get out and cruise Chinatown so I'm glad to do some things not work related. And the fact that this has been an awesome meeting press wise is a nice bonus. I'm glad to be going home tomorrow though.

On a side note, staying at a Marriott is very odd. They don't have coffee makers OR mini-bars in the room. I believe the Marriott family is Mormon and since they don't believe in those things, we don't have them. I support them in theory although I really wanted a beer last night. After my dinner and work thing, I did have to get out in search of a toothpaste. There is fortunately a Walgreens next to the hotel. Strangely, the toothbrushes are under lock and key, like fine jewerly. There seem to be a lot of homeless here so I wonder if toothbrushes are stolen a lot. Seemed strange since items much higher priced than a $3.39 toothbrush were on the shelves. Heck, Us magazine costs more than that on the newstand.

Dinner time

A thread went around among the mothers in my playgroup about dinner. It seems we're all under the impression that we should be making time to all have dinner together as a family every night, yet very few have been able to actually make it happen and we're all feeling like failures.

In our case, Andy is really hungry by the time I get him home from the sitter's between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. So I usually throw some dinner together for him quickly, usually some array of fruits and vegetables, some cheese along with some meat like turkey, chicken, ham (often deli slices) or lately, fish sticks. If there are leftovers for myself, I'll eat with him. Often as he eats, I'll start working on our dinner, usually something fancy like spagetti. By about 6:30 p.m. or so, Bjorn gets home and if I'm lucky, he finishes dinner while I start the bath and bedtime ritual. So by the time Andy is in bed between say 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., I come down and we eat together.

I like the concept of dinner together, but it just ain't happening right now. I do find it interesting that as mothers, we're all preprogrammed for the guilt over doing the right thing. We're all striving for some ideal that is unrealistic yet we stress over our failure to acheive it. It's like all those that say you have to breast feed for at least a year, "wear" your baby for comfort and "cosleep" with your baby to help him/her feel secure or else you're a failure as a parent. I say, if your kid is happy and healthy, how could you be a failure?

Of course, as I debate this in my head and less eloquently here, I'm away in San Francisco for work for two nights feeling the guilt for being away. They boys will get along great. I think time with me out of the picture is good for their relationship. Although knowing that intellectually and knowing that in my heart when I'm sleeping in a spare (but quite expensive) hotel room are two different things.

Tonight

Not the most flattering pictures of either of the boys, but I like how Andy is really pushing back on him. It's part of a game they play where Andy pretends to push him away and they giggle. His newest trip though is that he can give a "high five." I haven't evidenced any clapping, but the high five he can do.

We're still having nap troubles. He didn't nap much at all at the sitter's today. He was a little cranky when he got home, but some fish sticks, cheese, strawberries and banana later and he was a happy boy again.

Fun camera phone pictures

We unearthed a cool hat my mom had given Andy so he had to wear it to school this morning. He looks very grown up in these somehow.

Nap time

Ugh, I feel like I've spent the better part of the last two days working on Andy's nap time. He's probably about to consolidate from two naps to one, but he's still really sleepy in the mornings. I guess he just needs a catnap then maybe. Now in the afternoons he's even having trouble settling down. He flings all his toys out of his crib and sort of jumps around. I guess rather than focusing on him sleeping, I should give him a set time to be alone and quiet. Then if he doesn't sleep, I just move on.

Date Night

So my mother-in-law came over to watch Andy and we actually went out. Together! Andy was a precious angel for his grandmother. I was paranoid he'd have trouble being put to bed by someone else, but she said he was perfect and wonderful, and went down without any complaint (it did, however, take him a while to settle down, but he wasn't upset).

We planned to get out and play Trivia, which was used to do a lot. The bar nearby has it, but it was smokey and lame so we headed to see a movie. "Syrania" was what was playing at the right time. Yikes, talk about a depressing movie - in addition to being violent, convoluted and complicated. And, granted it's been a year or so since I last went to a movie, but a large popcorn is the size a medium used to be and is the same price as a large. When did that happen? I wanted a bucket and what I got was a small bag full. Hrmph. I keep expecting to have free refills like at Northpark I and II when we were kids.

The flinging reflex, refined

Andy's flinging reflex has hit a new level. He now likes to get into his crib and fling everything out of the bed onto the floor. I must admit I was a bit startled to go in this morning after a failed nap and find him hanging on the crib rail proudly starring at all his dogs and binkies that have been relocated to the floor. He's starting to go from two naps a day down to one so the morning is always a little iffy these days, but I always try to give him some quiet time should he need it. Clearly, this morning he didn't need a nap or the quiet time.

Play tent

Our friends got Andy a play tent/tunnel combination for his birthday. He loves, loves, loves the tent part. He loves playing "tita-ut" (Swedish for peek-a-boo) and crawling in and out of the panels. I took it to playgroup and he actually played with some of the other kids (normally the kids sort of play indepedently near each other rather than playing together). The funny thing is that the tunnel really scares the crap out of him.

The nice thing about this toy is it really folds up very compactly - about the size of a record album if you remember those. My friend who gave it to me was touting the foldability saying if I read the directions, it can get really small. Of course, the first time I tried to fold it up, I presumed I was very smart and could fold up a stupid toy without the directions. I was wrong.

Happy Valentine's

My mother-in-law very sweetly came over early on the 14th to drop off cards and candy. Andy really seemed to enjoy his card. I didn't think he would even notice it, but he kept grabbing it off the table to "read" it.

He's still not walking, which is making me a little nervous at this point. I wonder if I'm part of the problem now. I keep encouraging him to walk, but then he gets nervous if I push him too hard to walk on his own and he immediately drops to his knees. I keep reminding myself that he's perfectly normal and progressing on target, but then I see all these kids his age walking and it makes me uneasy. And of course, then I'm uneasy for comparing him to others. I know intellectually he'll do it when he's ready and that it's probably easier with him not walking at this point, but knowing something and believing it are not the same.

In other news, I somehow pulled a muscle in my left arm - my Andy-carrying arm - and it's really bugging me. It had it hard to sleep last night and has been bothering me all day. I think the kid needs to learn to walk to slim down.

Playgroup Politics

So I've talked to several friends lately all of whom told me stories of getting "kicked out" of their playgroups. That whole concept just cracks me up. In both cases, they were just passively kicked out in that the group kept meeting they just stopping telling my friends about it. No wonder the company I keep is so fun and interesting.

Cat's in the cradle

I have taken to closing Andy's door at bedtime all the way now. I used to leave it open a crack so I could hear him, but now when he goes to sleep the crack is too distracting so I shut it all the way. I usually go in as I'm heading to sleep and open the door so I can check on him in person and open the door in case he needs us during the night. Unfortunately, my cats usually like to linger in the room so from the basement, I'll hear meowing on the baby monitor so I'll have to go up and release the hounds, as we like to say. It's funny to be downstairs thinking the cats are nearby only to realize they're on the monitor instead. Sometimes I realize they're in there because he'll have a tough time settling down only for me to hear him laughing (talking?) at the cats.

Boots

I realized the other pictures didn't full showcase the charming yellow snow/rain boots Andy had on yesterday. I bought them back in December when it seemed like it would snow forever. They're too big (they almost come to his knees) and he can't walk in them, but they are really cute.

Snow snow snow

We got a foot of snow (or close to it) last night so we did some venturing out today. Unfortunately, it was too mushy to really sled on and too deep so Andy wasn't having much fun. I did get him into an outfit we got from his Swedish relatives last year. It's a little short in the arms and legs, but seems to fit around the middle. At least this week.

Lots of new babies to report today. Andy has a new cousin, Simone Ava, who was born in Los Angeles last night. She was 9 pounds, 3 ounces and 20 inches long. My sister-in-law had planned to deliver at home, but something about her midwife being out of town so they delivered in the hospital instead. Both parents and older brother sound good. I also heard that my college friend had her baby, Julianne. Glad to hear everyone is happy and healthy.

Bowling night

Our friends from Baltimore came down with their three kids. It's kind of weird to see children I knew as tiny babies and now see them as kids. The oldest is in first grade now. Such nice kids to be around, even with their mischevious ways. They all loved the cats. In fact, the older two announced that they were going to have to move out because they want cats and their mother is allergic. Bowling was interesting with four kids under eight. We decided that probably six frames is plenty for the age group in question. The adults weren't ready to throw it in until the game was over. Scott managed to beat us all, even with the baggage he had to carry for certain frames. Dana and I did end up beating the four year old, thankfully. We played with the bumpers up, but I'm just enough of a bowler to not hit a lot of gutter balls so they didn't do me any good. Had I thrown the ball at the bumper, I probably would have done better.

Cuwte spelleng errorrs

What is it with kids toys that manufacturers feel they need to give them all really stupid mispelled names? Playskool, for instance. What is that teaching our kids, that spelling is important unless you're selling something? I have trouble with all those made up words, like Cingular for instance, but there should be a rule against doing that for kids toys. Not a law, mind you, we are libertarian enough. It's like those TV shows when I was growing up where the cute kid always had a lisp. Listen folks, having a lisp doesn't make you cute, it's just annoying. Likewise, spelling kids "kidz" doesn't make it youthful, it just makes you look stupid.

Charlie Sheen is apparently coming out with a line of children's clothes called Sheen Kidz. Granted, Charlie Sheen has never given much evidence that he could spell his name (except on checks to high-priced call girls), but you'd think someone in his vast Sheen/Estevez empire would have passed 3rd grade English.

What she said

Everyone is talking about the Britney Spears car seat fiasco. First off, I can't believe people are still talking about this. Second, Erin from the Redhead-Papers rocks. She's totally got it right - why are all those famous people going to Starbucks? They're worth bazillions. Why not have your bodyguard pick up the coffee for you? Or better yet, make it at home. They could probably hire someone from Starbucks to deliver it for them or hire a cook to make the damn coffee every morning. There is a theory that these people are on the payroll at Starbucks. I must say it's a little fishy that they're always there and always at a time when there are cameras.

Another one

We had another pregnancy announcement at playgroup today. I swear there is something in the water. The neat thing about this one is it's a friend who did IVF so I know she was pretty anxious and hormonal (poor thing said she'd put on 20 pounds just due to the hormone treatments). She's been so open about the whole thing that I've been asking tons of questions. Fascinating what biotechnology and the Shady Grove Fertility Clinic can do for you. They run the ads on the radio all the time so it's interesting to hear a first hand account. It makes me feel very fortunate that it's not something we had go through. Her daughter is beautiful and perfect, too, so it's amazing to think that if it weren't for science, she wouldn't be here today. I know some religions, particularly the Catholics, are really against this kind of stuff, but how can they deny the presence of God in science when the result is perfectly healthy children born to parents who love them?

Snow

We're expecting our first big snow of the new year tomorrow. They've even predicted a heavy snow warning that has me gleeful. I do love the stuff. We had a weekend of activities planned, but I have a feeling we'll be watching and waiting most of the weekend instead. I do find that I'm going to be one of those idiots that hits the store before snow is expected. With Andy, I find that we really do need to stock up on milk, eggs and diapers in case we're housebound for a couple of days. I really am turning into one of those people that I've spent my life making fun of. If Andy wasn't so damn cute, I would be more irritated.

Referree

This was from last night as Bjorn was heading out to ref basketball. Just cracks me up.

Naked baby

He's really getting into his toy cars now. After his bath, he all but sprinted to get back to his cars. He's now pushing the bigger truck all around which is fun to watch. For now.

A couple of fun things have started happening recently. He's still not walking, but every evening we walk (well, I walk and he walks holding on to my hands) to get the mail. The last couple of days we've walked back up the driveway with him just holding on to my right hand. He's also starting pointing at things. I also think that he's starting to understand simple commands like, "Hand me the ball." It's hard to know if he's reacting to the words or the gestures I probably give, but it seems to be a start at language.

I'm also turning into one of those people. I've put Andy on the phone to talk to people. How annoying is that? If my mom asks, that's fine, but I should force it on people. Blech.

Heartbreaker

This shirt rocks. I love that is says "Heartbreaker." He's started getting into cars and likes to move them up and down the hallway. I suppose that means he's ready for this Little People Garage that my sister sent him for his birthday. He's really getting into it so I'm thinking I might need to put the batteries back in. It's pretty annoying, but if he really likes it it might be worth it. I need to gauge what my sanity is worth in this as well.

Mr. Crankypants

I took off work yesterday so Andy and I could play after I'd be out of town all weekend. He seemed pretty tired for parts of the day and woke up from a long afternoon nap seemingly still tired and then was about ready for bed at 6:30, which is fairly early still. My theory is that he was so tuckered out after a hard-playing weekend with Bjorn that he really tired. He is also getting over (still) a cold that has his nose running all over the place. I suppose running noses are better than stuffy noses, but it's pretty gross. I keep calling him a snotmonster, which makes me laugh.

I've started work on our taxes and it's asking for some detailed stuff about his babysitter's tax ID and stuff like that. I called Infant Toddler, which sort of brokers the arrangement (I pay them, they pay her and provide benefits to her), but they don't have any of that kind of information, which struck me as odd since I would think that's what they do. I also signed up this year for a flex account so I'll get to get paid back at a pre-tax dollars for a certain amount of childcare. I think it only goes up to $5,000 for the year, but certainly saving 20 percent or more of such a high figure is worth the paperwork that goes into it.

I'm baack

I'm back after an intense work trip to San Diego. I had all of about 15 minutes when I wasn't working or in my room trying to sleep. I'm exhausted. The boys survived without me, as I figured they would, and Andy doesn't seem to be covered in peanut butter or hives as I'd feared(although he does seem to have small bits or food or snot in his hair since he hasn't had a bath in a few days). I'm going to do some work from home tomorrow (during nap times, of course) so he and I can play.

Doors

I like this picture because he's just so darn happy that he's flung open the door and is planning to make a break for the hallway. I am highly amused when he runs away, which undoubtedly means I'm screwed when he can run fast. At his fastest crawl, he's pretty speedy, but not faster than me. When he's full scale running, it's going to require me to be quicker. And quick has never been my strong suit.

Weekend

I have to go away for the weekend, which stinks. I'm flying out tomorrow afternoon and returning Sunday night - right in the middle of the Super Bowl. It sucks to lose a weekend, but I figure it will be good for the boys to bond without me hovering. Plus, check out the hotel. I could get used to that kind of life.

Computer geek

With all the awesome toys we have, the keyboard is probably his favorite. He probably sees us typing on it and wants to play along.

Other precious angel

I caught this cute picture of Miles sleeping in Bjorn's reffing bag. Good thing his shirt is 1000 percent polyester so it actually rejects cat hairs.

Retraining

Andy's had a bit of a cold of late that has disrupted his sleep. Now that he's mostly better, he's still having trouble putting himself back to sleep in the night. Last night he was up and angry at 11, 12 and again at 3:30. Lovely. I think he's due for a sleep "retraining" plan to get him back on track. Saying retraining though makes me think of something sinister, like out of an Ayn Rand novel about the evils of communism.

You can't always get what you want

Andy has now discovered that he MUST get whatever he wants, when he wants it. It's rather frustrating to realize that the crying, screaming, kicking that he's doing is no longer because he's hungry (although it could be because he's tired), but because he wants something he can't have. Last night, I was getting his dinner ready. I had a bowl of grapes washed and ready to cut up on the dining room table and went back into the kitchen to get something while Andy stood holding onto the chair. I wasn't moving fast enoughy so after a couple seconds, he reached up, grabbed the bowl and knocked it over to get the grapes. He's a crafty little bugger.

Toddler toys

We are officially moving into the land of toddler toys. This means I need to clear out some of the baby gear to make way for the new generation of stuff. I have successfully unloaded my bouncy chairs and swing on friends. My last hold-out is the Exersaucer. It gave us a lot of good use, but its time for Andy has passed. Now I have to figure out what to do with it. I'm hopeful I can lend it to a friend, but being that she delivered a couple of weeks ago, she's not ready for it yet. In the meantime, I did fold it up, sort of, in that it reduces to "40 percent of its size." However, 40 percent of really damn big is still pretty big.

More steps

So after convincing myself that the shuffle-step from Friday night was a fluke, he did it twice again today. I was so excited. They're tiny steps, mostly shuffling from one spot to another, but he's definitely on the move before too long. He's really starting to walk around the house holding onto the wall. Before, it was just a piece of furniture or a big toy. Now he's being more creative. He's also crawled for a bit on his hands and feet. I think he tries it and realizes that it's harder than how he's crawling now or walking, but I think it means he's really thinking about walking now.

On a side note, I went to church tonight. I'd seen a sign that the Methodist church we go to once in a while was having a Sunday night service from 7-7:45. With Andy, my women's soccer league and Bjorn's reffering, Sunday days are tough so I thought I'd try this out. It was interesting. It was basically an 1 1/2 hours (not the 45 minutes as promised) of accoustic Christian music. The singer was a local guy named Steve Kropp, who was very good, but the whole thing felt odd somehow. I guess years in a mostly uptight Presbyterian church will do that.

Public schools

I certainly don't need to worry about this just yet, but someone sent around a link on how to compare public schools and it's a pretty darn addictive tool - http://www.publicschoolreview.com/. I did it for my neighborhood in Fairfax and it's interesting to compare two elementary schools within the same zip code to see the student breakdowns. Fascinating stuff.

Andy has been struggling with a cold the last day or so. Poor guy was up several times last night and then got up super early. Bjorn took the morning shift (bless him) and I'm taking over the mid-morning shift.

Fridge Phonics

We went to Buy Buy Baby to return the demonic Fridge Phonics today. The woman that helped us seemed really surprised by the problem and suggested to her coworker that they check them all out for a similar problem. She replied (in that charming "I don't care" way) that they're been told by the manufacturer and headquarters that there were problems with this toy, but no one until now had said anything." Um, you knew there were problems, but you haven't bothered to find out if the ones on your shelves are defective? Not impressed. We just took the return on the credit card and left. I want to find something similar, but I haven't had a chance to find it.

And on my further rant about vanity plates, I saw a guy today in a red Ferrari with the license place "RED 4RE." Seriously? That's all you got? You spent $175k on a car and that's how clever you are? Granted, he didn't seem that smart to begin with in that he was driving a convertible with the top up on a day where it's 60 and sunny. If you don't put the top down on a day like today, when do you put it down?

Step in the right direction

Andy took his first step tonight. Well, and by step I mean he sort of shuffled from my hands to the baby gate unassisted. But that's totally new. He's also standing more and more unassisted and for longer periods of time (i.e. like 30 seconds). I'm going to regret encouraging this, I can feel it.

We had the final birthday celebration at playgroup. Well, final in a sense that we're done with the one year birthdays. In November, we'll start with the second birthdays. Andy did great for about the first hour, but after that he was ready for his afternoon nap. We were trying to get a picture of all the January babies together, but they weren't cooperating. Plus, Andy and Charlotte appear to be in a chugging contest. This does not bode well for the teenage years.

Noise

So every single one of his toys makes noise. A lot of noise. My sister got him the kick-ass Little People garage. It's awesome - the cars are cool, the ramps are fun - he's going to love that for a long time. But the noises? They're oh so annoying. And really loud, too. There isn't an off switch and you can't turn down the volume either so I just took out the batteries. Eventually, if he really gets into it, I'll put them back in, but for now, it's just not worth my sanity to keep them in.

Language

He's not talking yet, at least not that I can really tell, but then he'll start babbling and it actually sounds like a conversation. I usually play along and we talk back and forth. He usually seems very serious about what he's saying so I try to pay close attention. I'm also hoping for a word I'll recognize. So far, I think I've heard "cat," "bye bye," and "hi" but it's hard to tell. I'm also getting a lot of "mama" FINALLY. I'm not sure he knows what it means exactly, but he knows it gets my attention.

Meanwhile, note to owners of vanity license plates - if you're going to spend the money, please try to state something other than the obvious. So you, the owner of a black Corvette, please think of something more original than "BLKVETT." And you, the guy in a Jeep Liberty, couldn't you come up with something better than "MYLIBTY." I shouldn't complain, these idiots are paying the state $30 in taxes that I'm not, but is it too much to ask for something a little creative?

Plates

I am tasked with getting the paper plates and napkins for the playgroup joint birthday party (I usually volunteer to bring something I don't have to make. I'm no fool). So I went to the store planning to buy about 20 of everything for the group. I was surprised to find they sell them all in packages of 6 or 8. Is that really a party with that few people? Plus, they sell them in varying quantities, so you get 8 plates and then 6 napkins or vice versa. It's like selling hotdogs in packages of 10 and buns in packages of 8.

It's not a tum-ah

So I noticed Andy had a weird little bump on the back of his head last night. It was weird, it was about the size of a mento (as in singular of mentos) and moved under the skin. I pretty much convinced myself it was a brain tumor so I played hookey today and got him to the doctor's. Turns out it's a lymph node. Not all kids have them and they don't necessarily have them on either side (he doesn't). She just said to keep an eye on it and if it gets big or swollen, it could be the sign of something else, but as it is now, it's nothing to worry about. So check that off the list -- for now.

Meanwhile, I mentioned this to a friend who said she freaked out similarly and called the advice nurse who told her the same thing. So I'm not that crazy, right?

Progress

He's not walking yet, but he's really thinking about it. We've been practing walking holding onto both my hands and tonight he walked for a bit just holding on to one hand. He's pretty wobbly still, but he's getting there. I've also noticed more moments where he stands for a few seconds at a time without holding on. It's pretty exciting watching this develop.

One year ago

One year ago I took this picture. I call it the Ira Fernbaum look as he looks like an old Jewish man here. Good thing he's gotten a lot cuter since then. I would have loved him regardless, but still....

New toy

So I did get the Leapfrog Playtable thing. It was as expensive as I thought, but he loves it more than I imagined. We are happy. I think he's a right hander as he keeps transferring the ball from his left to right hand to put into the slot.

Fridge phonics sucks

So after a nice brunch with Liz where Andy behaved perfectly, we headed over to Buy Buy Baby to look for that table and use up my 20 percent off coupon. They didn't have the table, but they did have the Fridge Phonics that I was looking for. I'm totally disappointed though as it mixes up the letters about half the time. What a way to screw up your kid, teaching him that A really sounds like C. I read the troubleshooting tips and then searched online only to read that this is a really common problem. If it's a common problem that they've known about for months, why still sell them at all? It's not like they were on the clearance bin or anything like that. So now I have to schlep over to Springfield in the next week or so to return it. How irritating.

LeapFrog

At our friend's last night, Andy was all over this learning table thing made by LeapFrog. It says it goes up to 36 months, which is a plus. The downside is it's pretty big and costs $60. But it's educational, right? With all this crap we've bought/are buying, we almost need to have 12 more kids to justify owning it all.

More birthday presents

Andy's birthday keeps getting better and better. Today he got a package of goodies from Grandmother Dearest - several books (one of which he's sleeping on now) and this learning puppy. We were out at a friend's new place near Annapolis so he hasn't had much time to play with it, but it looks cool. We were checking out all the toys at Shelly's and they've got some fun ones I might need to invest in. One was this learning table kind of thing that he spent most of his time on while we were there.

Fury

It's been unseasonably warm here in Virginia so I've been encouraging Bjorn to drive the ridiculous blue boat -- a 1972 Plymouth Fury Convertible -- out front to keep it in working order. So today we hooked in the cool travel stroller/car seat and headed out. Andy seemed to enjoy it actually. We had him all bundled up just in case he got cold with the wind, but he didn't seem to have any problems with it. He did come back rather red eyed from our adventure, but he didn't really peep once except regular talking to us. It's a shame I didn't get a picture of us in it, but here's a shot of the beast in all it's glory from the summer.

DVDs

We have a bunch of kids DVDs now, but we haven't turned any of them on because it's such a pain to get our DVD player to work. We have older TVs and lack the requiste number of outlets so in order to get it to work on the downstairs TV, I have to turn the TV around without letting it slip out of the cabinet and land on my foot, unplug the TiVo, watch the DVD and then repeat. It makes me really want to watch something before I make that kind of commitment. But Andy seems to really be taking an interest in that kind of stuff now so I was going to try to hook it up to our bedroom TV, but that one is so old it doesn't have any of the right outlets.

So I made the executive decision that I wanted a new 13 inch TV. They sell them for like $59 and that would be that. Well, it's never that easy. We went to several stores not finding anything close to what would work and then got to Circuit City where we found a combo TV/DVD player for $99. Sounds perfect. Except they don't keep any of their TVs in stock. Seriously? Who's great business model is that? So I settled for the $19 converter from K-Mart and it works great. Screw Circuit City.

My new idols

Check out these Halloween costumes that a friend of ours did for their family. How awesome is that! She said they're homemade out of pieces of UnderArmour, which is even more impressive. I think the littlest is wearing a thong. I don't really want to know whose it is.

Practice

Andy isn't really close to walking on his own, but we do spend time (when he allows it) walking back and forth with him holding onto my hands. I do have to make sure he's got socks with tread on them or is barefoot, otherwise he slips and slides which undoubtedly is not helping his confidence. I think he's got all the muscles to do it, he just needs to decide he wants to.

Progress

Today was our first bottle-free day. The first one in Andy's entire life. Kinda of weird when I think of it that way. We ran out of formula over the weekend after mixing formula and milk for a week or so. Then we *tried* to go cold turkey to sippy with milk. It's had some bumps, but I think he's finally getting the hang of it (fingers crossed). He seems to like these Nuby sippy cups best and while they're close to cheating beacuse they're somewhat bottle-esque, they're an improvement.

I went to a precshool fair today. It turns out most of the preschools around here are half day programs at churches, which wouldn't really help me. Still, it was nice to see what all is out there in case circumstances change.

Sleepy Pete

I actually had to WAKE Andy up this morning at 7:45. In what universe does that happen? I think he has a little bit of a cold so he was up a couple times in the night. Perhaps he's a little groggy from not getting a good night's sleep.

Noah's trophy wife, part two

My friend Betsy did a bit of research on Noah's wife and sent me this passage. She cracks me up.

Noah's Wife: What was Noah's wife's name? There does not seem to be any passages in the Bible referring to her other than the account beginning in Genesis 7:7 which mentions Noah's wife. His wife is not named in the Bible for certain; however, according to Jewish tradition her name is Naamah. Why Tubal-cain's sister (a daughter of Lamech by his wife Zillah, and sister of Tubal-cain, a descendant of Cain) should be specifically mentioned is unknown. Jewish tradition made her Noah's wife. Her name, meaning "the beautiful" or "the pleasant one," reflects the worldly mind of the Cainites, who looked for beauty rather than for character as the chief attraction in women.

So not only does this poor woman have to repopulate the Earth, but the Bible didn't even bother to mention her name. Poor Naamah.

Noah's got a trophy wife

For this birthday, Andy got the Little People Noah's Ark - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007A1S5/sr=1-3/qid=1137605123/ref=sr_1_3/002-4598752-8488067?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance. Although I'm realizing he got gypped because looking at this online, we didn't get a toolbox or Noah's wife. Anyway, there is a picture of Noah's wife inside the ark. What's kind of funny is she looks way younger than him. I guess if you have to repopulate the earth, you need someone of child-bearing age, but still - Noah has a trophy wife. Heh.

Computer savvy

Seriously. This kid loves sitting at the computer. I have to do it when it's off or he does weird stuff that I'm not smart enough to know how to undo later. This picture cracks me up for many reasons. First off, look how big he seems here? Almost like a, well, person. I know, I know, he's a person and not a baby anymore, but it seems weird all the same. Second, check out the new shorter do. It's an improvement although it's taking some getting used to. Third, do you see where he left hand is? The kid isn't modest so it's more a fluke of the camera, funny though it is.

We're transitioning from formula in a bottle to milk in a sippy with mixed results. He's been such a good natured kid about everything else that I'm spoiled. He's also discovered that crying *really* gets our attention so now he tends to do it whenever he doesn't get what he wants. Lovely. I have gotten some recommendations on books on discipline that I guess I'm going to have to read. Great.

High and tight

Here are camera-phone pictures taken after the first haircut. I don't think he minded as much as all that. Apparently it's fairly short. I can't wait to see it in person. Today is a holiday at daycare, but not for our offices so Bjorn is home today and took him for his first haircut, since I wasn't prepared to do it myself. I'll stay home in February for whatever holiday that is that neither of us get off either.

Sports fan

This picture is a little blurry, but I just love his smile here. Bjorn was proving that indeed his head is enormous. This is an adult baseball hat on the smallest setting and it actually kinda fits.

Let him eat cake

This is a cake I made. Seriously. I really did. Stop laughing over there. My mother-in-law makes a mean hazelnut cake that is the family tradition, but since he can't have nuts, it was on me to make the cake. It wasn't hard either. I wonder why I don't do this more often. I imagine when school starts and that kind of stuff, I'll have to get into baking at some point. I should probably enjoy this bake-free part of my life now while I can.

He didn't quite get the blowing out part and wasn't wild about it coming towards his face, but I did at least get one good picture out of it.

Happy birthday, part tres

We had the family birthday party today. He wasn't much into the cake or the present, but we had fun.

He's got a lot to say

Andy likes to attack the keyboards when he comes in the computer room so Bjorn plopped him in the the chair and he really enjoyed "typing." It looks here like he's really working on something. Perhaps I can get him to file our tax returns this year.

One year visit

We went in for his one year appointment today. I saw a few people there with tiny babies and I already can't believe Andy was ever that small. He was having a good time flirting with everyone though and walking around on my hands. He's getting much better at it. Now, on to the v. v. important stats:

Weight - 23 1/2 - 70th percentile
Height - 31 1/2 - 90th percentile
Head circ - 19 1/4 - 95th percentile

He's still a big kid, it appears. And his head is still gianormous.

He got FIVE shots at this visit. It normally would be four, but he didn't get the booster for the flu shot around Thanksgiving because they were out, and now they have it back in. He got four in his legs - two in each thigh - and one behind his right arm. Poor guy. It was terrible. He cried real tears and gave me a look like, "What the hell are you letting them do to me?" I did get him Tylenol before the shots and gave him a bottle immediately afterwards so hopefully that helped a little. He's had a bit of redness near one of the spots on his thigh so if that's still there on Monday, I may have Bjorn take him in to get it looked at.

More presents

He got an awesome Swedish/English dictionary from Grandmother Dearest and Pop. It even came in cool Swedish wrapping paper. It's a tough life he's got.

Stroller heaven

For Andy's birthday, my mom sent me an awesome thing called a Sit and Stroll. It's basically a car seat that can transform to have wheels and be a stroller. It will be awesome for traveling so I don't have to lug a car seat and a stroller. And since he'll need his own seat on the plane, this can fit in the seat for that, too. It's truly awesome. I'm only sad we just got back from a trip so I can't try it out immediately.

Welcome Henry

My friend who we were to have the baby shower for last week had her baby yesterday. I haven't gotten the details yet, but it's a boy named Henry. How cool that he and Andy will have the same birthday? And how fun that we could have joint celebrations (if we ever got that organized)? I'm psyched as I can pass along some of his clothes and toys. Since they're the same age, the seasons are right, too. We got a bunch of hand-me-downs that didn't work because they were the wrong season.

Birthday celebration

I went over to his babysitter's at lunch today to share cupcakes with the kids. It was really sweet actually and nice to spend some time playing over there. Andy seems to really enjoy it and the kids are nice to him. Once they realized it was his birthday, they kept coming to hug and kiss him. Aw. Funny though, he managed to throw up on himself this morning and get his shirt all wet. I had forgotten to bring an extra change of clothes in case so I had to stop at Old Navy on the way so he got a few extra presents. The shirt he's wearing in this picture I think is a 3-6 month so it's pretty snug.

One year later

Happy birthday, Andy! Hard to believe where we were just a year ago. I'm going to his babysitter's at lunch time to hand out cupcakes and celebrate with his friends. Bjorn and I both sang to him this morning and then watched him open a couple of presents. We'll have a family thing for him this weekend, I think.

More daycares

I took a tour today of the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virgnia, which has preschool starting as early as 18 months. A friend of mine who is pretty Type A when it comes to everything, especially child care, raved about it so it was worth a look. I really liked the center. They have a movement teacher come twice a week to help the kids get limber. They have a music teacher who comes once a week. It's a Jewish center so they teach their holidays, which would be a cool education for Andy. They even have a full-sized gym so if the weather is bad and the kids can't go on the playground, they can run around the gym. Unfortunately, the center doesn't take kids until their 18 months starting on Sept. 1, and then it's only from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Starting when kids at 24 months, they have an after school program, but he wouldn't be eligible until the following Sept. 1 so we're looking at another year and a half so it's not really an option short term.

Right now, my favorite was the Merritt Academy. I have an application in there and I'm hoping by late summer/early fall to have a place. It's nice, but rather pricey. On a side note, my office is going to a compressed work week, where you can work 9 hour days, 9 days and take the 10th day off. So I could basically go back to full time at work, work an extra two days a month and make 20 percent more. We'll see. My boss really wants me to do that, but I said I need to figure out daycare first once the office moves.

My son the cannibal

My little sister gave Andy this cute kayaker with a kayak (well, he has two paddles, but that's not the point). He could not be less interested in the boat right now, but the guy is very, very tasty. Every time he gets in the tub he has to stuff a foot into his mouth and chew on it.

On another note, he's starting to think about walking. The past few days he's been walking more and more holding onto my hands and he's had a couple of spurts where he stood on his own before realizing it made him nervous. I'm excited for the milestone, but worried all the same in that he will be faster at pulling things (especially the cats) and quicker to get into trouble.

He turns one on Wednesday. Hard to believe where we were just a year ago. I wanted to have a party and invite lots and lots of people, but I was talked out of it. Hrmph. Next year though, look out!

Great hair

Andy likes to watch me get his bath ready so I put some water in his hair and spiked it up. Klassy. That's right - with a K.

He really reminds me of someone (no, not myself) with the way his face looks in this picture, but I can't quit put my finger on who it is.

Real estate

For fun, we love looking at Dallas-area real estate. It's addictive to see what they have (at least how it looks online) and realize the possibilities. It would truly take an act of God to actually make this happen, but in the meantime, it's fun to shop. Check out this one - http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1052555006. By contrast, do a search in Fairfax for anything under $350,000 on http://www.cbmove.com/VCouts and see the difference. It's startling. And depressing. The thing that makes it hard - aside from the fact that we like our jobs, our friends, our house and neighborhood - is that we have no idea really about any of these places. They're just pictures on a map at this point. I've heard good things about Plano and Richardson ISDs, but that information is pretty much 20 years old at this point. Again, it would require a real change in situation to make this happen. It would probably take someone offering Bjorn a ton of money and offering to move us and sell our house on their dime, which isn't likely anytime soon. Still...the fantasy is fun.

Party

So we were supposed to be hosting a baby shower today for a friend on my soccer team, but the baby decided to ruin things as she went into labor last night. She hasn't had the baby, but the contractions are such that she's in no mood for the festivities as she worries if she's really going to have this baby today. We talked about having a party anyway, but everyone felt bad having a party without the guest(s) of honor so we're just hanging out instead.

Andy has refused to actually sleep either of the two times today that he seemed really tired so hopefully the nap I just put him down for sticks.

Zits?

Click on the picture to enlarge it and you'll see how the cottage cheese attacked his face. Pretty funny.

Snaggletooth

Behold, a picture of his three-toothed bottom smile. It still cracks me up that he is missing the fourth tooth. I like to joke that it looks like he was in a bar fight and lost the fourth tooth. At least it would be a good story.

If this picture is too small, click on it and you'll see a larger version.

Texas rocks

Who knew Texas would win last night? Andy did apparently. Check out that jacket. He's a fan.

Redskins Fever

I foolishly bet on the Cowboys/Redskins matchup. It's been a good bet before, but this year, well, not so much. The upside is I have a pig snout and a Redskins t-shirt if I wanted to be a Hoggette. Mercifully, the guy I bet against chickened out of making me wear the mumu.

Ew

I know all the books say that you're supposed to start phasing out the bottle at about a year. Andy isn't too happy about the sippy cup or even whole milk yet so I'm been putting some milk in a bottle and some formula in a sippy cup to sort of mix things up. We won't make the switch at his birthday exactly, but I'm going to try to get it by February or March. I didn't know how strongly I felt about that until I was at the mall at lunch today and saw a lady with her daughter who must have been closer to three who was sucking on a bottle. It kind of weirded me out a little so I'm going to do my best to make the switch. I feel the same way about pacifiers. He's now down to only a pacifier in bed. We make a dramatic show of flinging it back into the crib when he wakes up so now when he's ready to get out he flings it himself. Pretty funny. I'm not sure how long I'll let him have it at night. I'm sort of squicked out by thumb sucking for some reason so the binky doesn't bother me as much as that. Go figure.

Crib sheets

Dang, they sure make it tough to change crib sheets. I don't do it that often, but when I do I'm always reminded of why I don't do it more. Jeez Louise, those mattresses are sure wedged in tight and I find I have to haul the stupid mattress all the way out to change the sheet and then wedge it back in. There has to be a better design, but I suppose when mothers to be are buying this stuff you don't necessarily think about design details like this.

Santa

It's a long story, but Elizabeth had a full Santa suit and convinced Bjorn to dress up - partly because he knows I find the whole "take your kid and put him on the lap of some strange man and take a picture" thing sort of creepy. Andy wasn't afraid at all since I think he knew who it was, but Megan screamed.

Plush toys

So a couple of months ago my dad got Andy a cute stuffed dog. It has quickly turned into a favorite, so much so that we have to take it with us on trips for him to sleep at night. To safeguard against disaster, I'm looking for a couple of spares. It's made by Gund, called "Little Treynor" so I figured it wouldn't be hard to find. Turns out Gund is like Beanie Babies, they sell limited quantities and then move along so no regular retailer has them so I'm looking on eBay at some possibilities. This is also throwing me into a world of collectibles that I'm not particularly comfortable with. Who are these people that collect this stuff? I'm not even going to think about that.