Handyman

Can you hear me now?

Wee-wee Self

Oliver peed in his potty for the first time today!  I realized he'd drunk his entire sippy cup of cranberry juice and water in about thirty minutes and would probably soon be soaking his diaper, so I took him upstairs, put him on his potty, and got a big stack of books to read.  I kept encouraging him to go "pee-pee" so he would start to associate the word with the action.  And then, finally, he went.  There was lots of clapping on my part, but he just wanted to see how Curious George Goes to the Library turns out.

Afterward, when I got him up to put a diaper back on him, he turned around and splashed in the pee.  One battle won, one lost.  Still a victory.

Free Willy

Oliver is a typical little boy.  I suppose.  And he has entered what Freud would call the phallic stage.  So far, he fortunately doesn't seem to have developed an Oedipus complex, but he has begun to focus his attention, well, down there.  He plays with it when I change his diaper.  I literally have to pin his arms down to get the diaper on without a hand fastened inside.  Every time I've put him on his frog potty, he spends the whole time playing with his Wee Willie Winkie rather than peeing into the potty.  

Last week, on a nice afternoon when Oliver was in nothing but a t-shirt and diaper (which he kept taking off), I decided to let him run around the backyard without it on.  This is, I imagine, how he will spend parts of the summer in what I hope will be the first stages of potty training.  The thing is, I don't know if he'll use it if he keeps holding on to it.  (And I only hope that there's no phallus meets brick patio incidents that leave me without grandchildren.)

So tonight after his bath, I went to lotion Ollie up.  He likes to help, of course, and so I gave him little bit in his hand.  And what did he do -- well, he lathered it up, of course.

I know it's a stage.  I know it's normal.  But dude.  I guess this is just part of having a boy.

Here's the thing(s)

A former colleague posted on Facebook today asking about the "things you couldn't live without" as a new mother.  I can't believe I've never posted about this, though I'm sure I sent such an email to a friend during her pregnancy, so now I will blog it here in response to anyone else who cares to know down the road.  I'll pick five:

1. A wrap/baby carrier.  There are lots of warning out there against using slings (though many women love them and don't deem them at all unsafe if used correctly), but I opted for a Moby wrap and the Ergo Baby Carrier.  I used the Moby more when he was really little as, even with the infant insert, I didn't feel as secure with him the carrier.  Once he could be upright in the carrier, I used that all the time.  I would put him in it to take the dog out to the park, to carry him on the bus or the El, or even around the house if he was fussy and I wanted to do dishes or fold laundry.  Once he got bigger, I started using it on my back and found that useful, too, though it took some work to get the hang of putting him on by myself on back.  We have one of the backpacks that can be used with still larger kids for hiking and the like, but for the money, I liked these.

2.  An Exersaucer.  I didn't get a bouncy seat or a swing or any of those types of contraptions (though I used them gladly as a nanny and babysitter for some kids who loved them).  I did get a play mat that he used for maybe 4-6 weeks and a doorway jumper (I know, I know) that he never got the hang of.  But the thing that he seemed to love and really saved me was the Exersaucer.  I probably put him in it too early (his toes hardly touched the bottom), but he was even then happy to be upright, able to spin some to watch the dog, and interested in the toys and mirror.  As he grew, he loved to be in it to watch everything going on, and he interacted with the toys more and more.  I was able to get household chores done or even a little schoolwork while he played happily in it.  We definitely used it for months.  It is big and very much a kid item that takes up space in your grown-up room, but it was worth it for us.

3. A jogging stroller.  I looked and shopped a lot for our stroller, but we eventually decided to shell out the money for a Bob with the smaller wheels.  We used it mostly with his car seat when he was smaller, but he continues to fit in it really well now as a big kid and has room to grow.  I might not have liked it as much if I'd been living in the suburbs and always got in the car to go places, and I did and do use a $15 umbrella stroller now if I'm shopping (only because it's easier to navigate through aisles in store), but it's really nice if you're someone who likes to walk.  Now I use it to push Oliver to daycare on campus and walk him and/or the dog to the playground down the street or up near campus. 

4.  Sleeping sacks.  I remember putting some of my charges in Halo sacks when they were little.  I don't know how, but when Ollie was a newborn I discovered these and got two because it was, well, winter in Chicago.  We only stopped using them when he outgrew the smallest size around 6-7 months, and it was summer and we were moving south, so we didn't get the bigger size.  Oliver never kept a blanket on him, so these kept him warm enough and were still easy to change his diaper in when he was up several times a night.  I've given them since as gifts, and people seem to like them.

5.  A hands-free breast pump.  I wanted to breast feed for a year (and did!), but I knew I was going to work and wanted to be able to give him a bottle if I wanted or needed to, so a breast pump was a necessity for me.  Once again, I shopped around, and this was one of the things I spent some money on.  I got the Medela Freestyle pump, which can be rigged up so you can pump hands-free.  And I did -- while I returned emails, did dishes, or read in the book closet attached to my classroom (hoping people would heed the sign on the door and knock before entering).  I used this thing a lot and never had any problems.  I could attach a nipple straight to the bottle I pumped into or put it in a bottle or freezer bag (stockpile!).  This thing, for all women gripe about it and talk about how it's not actually breastfeeding, made that one-year goal reachable for me and Oliver.

Bonus Item (Hey, I made the rules): Co-sleeper.  I used this thing a lot.  I got it more to be able to nurse and soothe without getting out of bed, since I was working when Oliver was a newborn, but I ended up loving that he was in the room with us.  I would probably leave another kid in it a little longer (we ended up having to revert to it when he hit his four-month sleep regression), and now that we have a downstairs master, it would make a big difference.  I'm all for putting kids in the crib to nap, learning to let themselves self-soothe a little (which you tend not to do when they're bedside), and transitioning them sooner than later, but I enjoyed co-sleeping and would never have done it had it meant having the baby in bed with us.

The small things: Baby Bjorn bibs (for once baby's eating solids), Tiny Love mobile, Aveda bottles

Peekaboo!

Oliver has taken to playing peekabo a lot recently, and always unprompted.  He plays like an ostrich, though -- I can't see you, so you can't see me.  He covers his eyes with his hands, holds them there for a few seconds, then removes them quickly and shrieks with joy.  This usually repeats several times before he tires of the game.  In the later rounds, he leaves cracks between his fingers and peeks at us to make sure we're paying attention.  One time earlier this week, we waited for him to cover his eyes, then hid behind the kitchen counter.  That, of course, led to two rounds of giggles. 

Oliver's Alphabet (Version 1.6.3.5)

A is for all done.
B is for ball (which sounds like "gal") and bye-bye.
D is for dada and dog.
F is for foot.
H is for hat (which sounds like "ha").
L is for Lucy (which sounds like "soosy").
M is for mama and more.
N is for nose.
S is for shoe and sock.
T is for truck (which sounds like "ckt").
W is for water (which sounds like "wa").

So big

I was putting away some new clothes for Oliver this evening and realized that his clothes aren't that little anymore. 

Mr. Man

Slurp

Oliver's first fears

Ollie has been a pretty even-keeled kind of guy when it comes to being afraid.  He's appropriately cautious of the stairs, for example, and dogs he doesn't know.  But he's not really afraid. He just wants time to check things out, figure out what's going on, and then he warms up into his normally effusive self.  But Thursday, when Wes was working in the lawn, we witnessed his first fear -- the lawnmower.  Oliver watched us mow the lawn last summer, usually from the back door, with great interest, but he was never out amongst it while it was running.  I didn't see the whole thing go down like Wes did, but he said that Ollie got a little nervous when he pulled the mower down into the yard.  Then, as soon as Wes turned it on, Ollie fell apart.  He was sobbing and screaming and looking for the first available adult to pick him up.  He ended up sitting with me in a chair on the porch, safely in my lap, while Wes mowed.  He was rapt for the duration of the mowing, watching Wes go back and forth across the lawn, but he did not want to budge from my lap.  I enjoyed the cuddliness that I so rarely get these days and talked to him about what Wes was doing.  As soon as the mower was put away, he was willing to get up and go run around again.

He had a mini-meltdown again yesterday afternoon. We were sitting on the steps to the garage with the door to the garage open when Wes came home.  The sight of the Subaru coming at him scared him again, and he got upset until Wes got out of the car and calmed him.

It's good to see that Oliver is appropriately afraid of some of the most obviously dangerous things around the house.  If I could extend this good sense to being less outgoing with perfect strangers in the park, I'd be set. 

Spray it ain't so

Eric Carle's From Head to Toe