Predicting the Future

Wow, has it really been over a week since I posted? I thought about it every day this week and just couldn't find the motivation to sit down and type something. I also wanted to download some pictures to include and was even less motivated to take the time for that, so the task of blogging got to be overwhelming. This won't be the mega-post it should be, though, because I'm still lacking in the motivation area. It's something anyway, right?

I have some new predictions for Patrick's future profession. One is a meteorologist. Any time I have the news on, he generally ignores it altogether. He'll play with anything and everything without even glancing at the tv. Until the weatherman starts talking, that is. Suddenly he will become spellbound in front of the tv. Matt and I thought it must be the moving pictures that capture his attention, but I've noticed this week that he doesn't start watching when the maps pop up. He is at full attention the second he hears the weatherman's voice. He can recognize both of the daytime weathermen on our usual channel by voice alone. It appears as though he is actually listening to what they are saying, not merely captivated by the moving graphics on the screen. His favorite part is apparently the seven-day forecast, based on the gleeful squeal. I think I'd be okay if he grew up to be a weatherman. Of course, the obsession may only indicate that he has indeed inherited plenty of genetics from his daddy's side of the family! (Kidding!)

Another possible profession for Patrick may be that of engineer--not an engineer like his daddy necessarily (although I wouldn't rule that one out), but the kind of engineer that gets to ride on trains all day. Among Patrick's very limited vocabulary is the word "choo-choo." His absolute favorite book right now is the choo-choo book, a cute book about trains that is fun to read out loud. He can sit on the floor and read that one book for ages at a time--and for a kid as active as he is, that certainly says something. Sometimes we can decipher among his gibberish a sound like a train whistle: "whoo, whoooo," another sound repeated often in the book. When both Daddy and I read the book with him, we make sure to emphasize the whistle sound, so he has probably picked that up. I wonder if he likes the book because we read it with him often because it is so much fun to read out loud. The repetitive phrases probably also stick with him better, making the book more memorable. Either way, it's cute to see him so attached to the one book over all the others (although he does seem pretty attached to the "kitty book" and the Santa book as well), whether or not it speaks of an actual interest in trains.

Patrick is a walking maniac these days. Sometimes he doesn't even need toys to stimulate him; he can wander back and forth from room to room all around the house for half an hour without pausing to play with a toy. He totters less and less as he walks, too. It's obvious that each day his confidence in his walking abilities increases. Before long, I will have to break into an all-out sprint just to keep up with him. There's no wonder he sleeps so well at night right now with all the energy he expends during the day!

We've also been better about going on outings. Patrick gets excited the second he sees my shoes on my feet and when he watches me throw the diaper bag over my shoulder. He knows it means he's going "bye-bye." That's another of his few vocabulary words, one that he loves getting a chance to practice. One place we've been twice since I last blogged is church. Now that RSV season is over and the morning sickness has finally started to subside, we're making church-going a priority. It's wonderful to see how well he does in the nursery now compared to the last few times we made it to church, back before RSV season started. He suddenly cares about the toys there and playing with the nursery workers and the other kids. It makes the experience even more special when he sees us walking up to the door at the end of church, too. He recognizes us and comes running (or crawling) as fast as his legs can carry him, excited both from his hour of playing and seeing us (Daddy) again.

As far as pregnancy stuff is concerned (which doesn't relate to anything else in the post at all), both Matt and I are starting to nest just a little already. We spent quite a bit of time this weekend de-cluttering and deep cleaning, especially the living areas where Patrick spends more of his time. We finally have a nearly completely baby-proof living room for him to play in. You can also expect another post devoted entirely to the baby on Tuesday night. We have our big sonogram coming up on Tuesday, which we are totally excited about. With a bit of luck, and hopefully a cooperative baby, we should know the gender then. And, if you're really, really lucky, we might just decide to reveal the name then as well. So stay tuned! I promise to blog a bit sooner this time around.

Tantrum Central

Some days can be kind of rough around here. This has been Patrick's overall mood today:
He wants to do whatever he wants to do, especially if he knows it's a no-no. Then he gets mad when we tell him no. It's been one tantrum after another all day, and it's getting tiresome. Patrick is certainly testing his limits. I don't think he's happy with what he's finding out.

In between all the tantrums, I did happen to catch a few shots of happy Patrick, though. These periods were all short-lived, but at least the day hasn't been all frustrating.

This first is from dinner last night. Guess what we had? :)
He went straight from his high chair to the bathtub. I don't think anybody is surprised by that. Isn't this age fun?

Daddy's home! He ran (well, toddled really fast for him) right up to Daddy when he saw he was home for lunch. It was the cutest thing I've seen. He'd been asking for Daddy all morning, so I was glad to see he still wanted Daddy when he showed up.

Still happy to be around Daddy, as long as Daddy's holding him...

He loves playing the door game. He'll crawl around behind his bedroom door and close it part of the way. When I ask where Patrick went, he peeks around the corner, opens the door, and laughs. I have to say peek-a-boo to keep the game going, and he starts all over again.

This is one of my favorite pictures. He's always curious about what is going on outside the window, even if it is nothing.

And this is Patrick in the middle of walking across the living room, quite a big space for him to attempt to cross alone.

He looks happy walking, doesn't he? I love the chubby belly. Maybe he's trying to look like Mommy. :)

Not Much Content, Lots to Look At

I feel silly now for making such a big deal last night about how I couldn't get my pictures uploaded. I should have figured when Google Video didn't like my videos either that it was a Google problem and not my own. Fortunately today has been a remarkably good day so far. That means you get not only the video I posted earlier to tide you over, but also a bunch of pictures and maybe, just maybe, another video. I know you grandmas are thinking, "Jackpot!"

To start with, here's another belly shot, taken earlier today at about 17 1/2 weeks. Yes, I took it myself, which is why it's not the best belly shot in the world.
And now on to the fun Patrick shots. Here's Patrick playing with Elmo, before he figured out how to knock him down (see video in next post down).

And Patrick apparently surprised by the camera while playing with a book...

Don't be fooled by all the halfway decent shots of an actual toddler. I don't have a more cooperative kid than all you other toddler moms. I just take a bunch of shots at a time, and every so often I'm surprised with one or two good ones out of the bunch. It's luck, not talent or cooperation.

I have no idea what Patrick's thinking in this picture. I suspect he's a little confused about the concept of holidays and that they only come around once a year. He would much rather get to play with Easter eggs and have Christmas every day of the year. Good thing his parents are a little slow with putting away these seasonal items so that he can live at least part of his dream for a while longer.

By the way, Gigi, I love this outfit too. Patrick's not too fond of the hood (we're so mean sometimes), but he sure does look adorable in the outfit, hood or not!

Now how about that video I've been promising forever? I want to apologize for the poor quality, but you might just be able to make out Patrick. I think an appropriate title for the video might be "Finally!"

Slow on the Concept of Gentle

I had some issues posting photos last night, so I will try again later. Instead, take a minute to watch Patrick playing with his TMX Elmo. You may remember that he got this toy back at Christmas and couldn't care less about the weird red laughing thing at the time. Now he's a bit more interested, but he wants to deny Elmo the pleasure of being tickled.

Balloons and Bugs

Last night the three of us went to the grocery store. There was someone at the door handing out balloons to all the kids, so of course Patrick got one. I have never seen him so entertained at the grocery store, and he usually loves being around all the people as it is. He would grab the string of the balloon and pull it to his face, seeing the world through the blue haze for a few minutes, then let go of the string and shriek as the balloon flew back up into the air. I bet everyone in the store could hear each one of those excited shrieky laughs.

The giggly mood continued when we got home. He was so cute as we put him to bed. He didn't want us to leave him, so he kept playing peek-a-boo with us. He would pull his blankie over his head then yank it down, waiting for us to yell, "Peek-a-boo!" Then he would laugh hilariously along with us. Daddy threw an extra step in the game after a few minutes, tickling Patrick's belly when he couldn't see it coming because the blanket was covering his face. I've never heard a sweeter sound than the laugh that resulted. I swear, if you could bottle that laugh and sell it, you'd make a fortune. It could probably cure cancer and bring about world peace.

Although he's been a little less giggly today, the day hasn't been without its humorous moments. The funniest is also the most horrifying. Patrick was crawling around his playroom, hiding in the corner behind his swing that we have nowhere else to store until this new baby comes. He loves that corner because I can't easily reach him there. Since he's the only one who goes back there, I was a little concerned when he found something small and black on the floor to pick up. Before I could get to him to see what he found, it was already in his mouth. He only giggled at the fun new game when I tried to stick my finger in his mouth to make sure he wasn't eating anything dangerous. Speaking of dangerous, though, I nearly lost the end of my finger once I managed to get past the teeth. He may have left a bruise on that knuckle. Anyway, what little I extracted from his mouth looked suspiciously like tiny, crunchy pieces of a bug. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I tried to get more pieces out of his mouth, but he wouldn't let me. I'm left with no choice but to hope that it won't hurt him any. Either way, I'm watching him super carefully this afternoon to make sure he doesn't have any ill effects from his unexpected snack. As long as he doesn't, this is going to become one of those funny stories we tell about him years and years down the line.

Language Explosion

*Pictures to come later this week. I promise.**

I'm not sure what it is, but all of a sudden Patrick seems to have experienced a language explosion. He still chatters in nonsense most of the time, but he's trying more and more often to make his sounds into something that sound like real words. And when a word really stands out to him, he will try to imitate it.

It started last week when we left the house every day. As we would walk to the car, I would ask if he wanted to go bye-bye. About the third trip, he repeated "ba-ba" when I asked. Then Friday I decided to carry him with me to get the mail. When we approached the front door and he realized we were leaving the house, he volunteered "ba-ba" all on his own. He definitely understands what "bye-bye" means. Of course, he only thinks it applies to when he leaves, and he won't say it to others when they leave without him. Baby steps, right?

Then today he was acting like a garbage disposal during dinner, as usual, and Matt and I were on the search for more food to fill him up. We eventually turned to one of his favorite foods from a few weeks ago that we had forgotten about recently: a slice of cheese. He can recognize the sound of the cheese being plucked out of the refrigerator all the way across the house, and he gets excited immediately. Tonight, Matt decided to bribe him into saying the word "cheese." It worked. Before each bite of cheese, he would repeat "chiz" after his daddy so that he could eat another bite. Even when the cheese was obviously gone, he would keep saying "chiz" every so often, maybe to see if we would give him more cheese as a reward. Smart kid.

But the cheese story isn't the funniest. I noticed the other day that Patrick was starting to repeat one sound over and over and over. It sounds kind of like "oss, oss, oss." Anyone ever seen Meet the Fockers? If so, you know where I'm going with this. The way he keeps repeating the sound, he must think he's saying some word. But the only word we can think of that closely resembles the sound is not one that he has heard, at least as far as we know. (Anyone need to tell us something about now? Anyone?) Matt and I have struggled not to react to the sound at all so that Patrick won't figure out that there is anything unusual about it. That will only encourage him to say it more and louder. That would be great at church when we start going again (hopefully next Sunday). By the way, does anybody have any suggestions what he might think he's saying? Remember the only words he has said so far are words that he finds extremely important, like "mama," "dada," "chiz," "ba-ba," and "kitty." What word that sounds kind of like "oss" could be one with such relevance to him?

Thank Goodness Spring Is Back

Sorry I got on a roll there, blogging something like four days in a row, and then disappeared for a few days. You'll be thrilled to hear my absence from blogworld was due to busy-ness not sickness this time. This whole week has been go-go-go, and it's such a wonderful change. It feels great coming home at the end of the day totally exhausted but content. I like feeling exhausted from activity not illness.

Wednesday wasn't super busy, but Patrick and I did get out of the house for a short errand in the afternoon. We went to Babies R Us to pick up a few things for Thursday's anticipated outing. Of course we left the store with a few more things than were on our shopping list, but I restrained myself. It was great just being out, but on a relaxed schedule, not a doctor's schedule like Monday and Tuesday. I felt a little silly at first because I've grown so accustomed to talking to Patrick when it's just the two of us at home, and I ask him serious questions as though I expect him to hold a real conversation with me. I was doing that at the store too. I felt like I was talking to myself and that all the other moms with their little babies would be laughing at me. Then I realized that Patrick was talking back with me, even if I couldn't understand what he was saying. It would have been weirder if I let him jabber at me without acknowledging he was trying to get my attention. The only reason the other moms weren't talking to their kids was that their kids were little babies, unable to do much more than scream yet. It's great having an excuse for talking to myself finally!

Yesterday, Patrick and I got together with my friend Lauren, who is in town visiting her parents. She has a nearly-two-year-old son Will who came with her (I don't envy her making that flight alone with a two-year-old). It was so much fun hanging out with them. This was the first time in a really long time that Patrick had been around another kid anywhere near his own age. It was interesting watching them interact. Patrick wasn't nearly as timid or selfish as I thought he might be. We may have to work on the concept of personal space with him, though. His first instinct when he saw Will, just barely awake from his nap, was to toddle right up to him and start poking at the buttons on his shirt and grabbing at his pacifier (remember Patrick hasn't taken one since he was about six months old; he was curious what it even was). Will was a good sport about it, thank goodness, but I felt a little bad that he woke up from his nap to find another kid had invaded his grandparents' home, was playing with his toys, and wanted to grab his pacifier. Poor kid.

One of the big draws of going to visit Lauren--other than, you know, getting to hang out with a friend--is that her parents' house has a pool. Patrick and I got to go swimming for the first time this season. That's why we had to go to Babies R Us first; Patrick had obviously outgrown his swimsuit from last year (although not his swim diapers, oddly enough). The weather couldn't have cooperated better. It was gloriously warm and sunshiny without being hot. Between the warm sun and the warm water cascading into the pool from their adjacent spa, the water felt like bath water--just the way I like it. The boys had a lot of fun being carried around back and forth through the water, and Patrick squealed with delight every time he splashed us, which happened way too many times to remember during the afternoon. The best part is that despite being in direct sunlight for about an hour in the afternoon sun, none of us ended up sunburned. Usually it doesn't matter how much sunscreen I apply; I'm almost guaranteed to end up with at least a pink patch somewhere. I have yet to discover one on either Patrick or myself. I'm quite impressed with that cheap sunscreen.

Patrick played hard, both in the pool and out, and I was surprised that he managed to stay awake all the way until we got home. He didn't fuss at all when I put him straight down for a nap, though. He was an exhausted kid, probably just as worn out as I was. The exhaustion was completely worth it. We both had a blast yesterday.

Here are a few pictures from the afternoon. You'll notice that there are no swimming pictures. For one, it's difficult to take a picture when we were both holding kids. I also didn't want to get the camera wet; I'm just clumsy enough that I would have dropped it in the pool. Besides, both Lauren and I are pregnant and neither of us has a maternity bathing suit. We were making do with normal bathing suits, and at least in my case, it was bordering on obscene (think big ghost-white belly jutting out between the two pieces of what should be a sexy bikini). We had a good reason to be camera-shy until we made it back into normal clothes.

Patrick and Will just before swimming
A close-up of Patrick and his swimsuit (we got sandals to match)

Lauren and me--It was pure coincidence that we are dressed nearly as twins. By the way, she's about 25 weeks along with a little girl.

The four of us in the only picture where we were all facing the camera--too many distractions for the active boys

My Check-Up

I had my sixteen-week appointment today. Matt decided at the last minute to come with me. I didn't care too much either way, even though I always enjoy his company. I was sure I could handle Patrick at a quick check-up alone. By the time two hours in the office had passed, though, I was so relieved Matt came with me. Patrick was bored and fussy very quickly into the wait, and it was great having help distracting him to keep him from screaming. Still, I came home with a headache.

The appointment itself went well. The baby's heartbeat is still strong. We got the form that allows us to set up an appointment for the big sonogram. The doctor gave me some samples for some medicine that might actually help my almost-daily headaches. I may be trying some pretty soon, since the screaming-baby headache hasn't gone away yet. Then they drew some blood for a few more standard tests. We're all exhausted now, but at least everything went well.

The exciting news happened last night, however. Matt and I were in bed about to fall asleep, with Matt curled up next to me, his arm over my belly. Then we both felt it, a faint flutter that ran down his arm. The baby was kicking against that unusual pressure. It was the first time I had felt the baby, and Matt got to feel it too. How neat is that?

Patrick's Appointment

Everything's fine, of course. Patrick's perfectly normal, from his height and weight to his temper tantrums. The doctor seemed impressed with his normalcy. Here are the all-important vital stats: weight 18 lbs 2 oz, height 29 in, head circumference 18 3/4 in. Height and weight are still below the chart by quite a bit, but reasonable growth for Patrick. They follow right along his own curve. It's too bad we can't turn his carseat around yet, but at least he doesn't mind it the way it is. Apparently it's much safer to ride backwards, so we were encouraged to leave it that way as long as possible.

The most interesting part of the appointment was when the doctor brought up the subject of growth hormones. Patrick's right on track to grow up to be his daddy's height, or maybe an inch or two taller, but all of you who know us can attest to the fact that he won't exactly be a basketball player. There's no cause for worry about his height at all, but because Patrick was a preemie, he qualifies to take growth hormones on insurance's bill. It was very interesting to hear, and Matt and I aren't sure whether to consider this. It's going to take a lot of thought and research to decide what to do. Anybody have any experience with growth hormones that you care to share?

Happy Easter!

If these pictures don't say Easter, I don't know what does! Despite the cool weather, the three of us headed to the backyard for a quick egg hunt. Obviously, the eggs weren't exactly hidden. Patrick had much more fun playing with the eggs and basket than doing a traditional egg hunt. Doesn't matter...it still made great pictures!

He sat down after a little while. A boy can only stand and pick up eggs for so long. Unfortunately, it rained yesterday, and this is what we found when we came back in...

Despite the fun egg hunt, that wasn't the best part of the day. I was awakened early by my husband with breakfast in bed. He and Patrick hung out in bed with me while I finished eating, and we all had a great time with lots of laughter. My favorite moment happened when Matt accidentally let some gas slip out...audibly. Patrick heard and responded by smiling and spitting in perfect imitation of the fart. (Thanks, Papa!) I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. He is definitely a little boy in every way!

Eighteen Months

Dear Patrick,

I'm sorry it's been three months since your last letter. You'll be happy to know that Mommy is starting to feel much better again. You've been such a trooper, putting up with all sorts of changes as we've gotten used to Mommy feeling bad and then better again. I've never been more grateful for your laidback personality. Even as you've been undergoing your own transformation to a toddler, you've struggled very little over the last few months.
In the past few weeks, you have most certainly made that final transition to toddlerhood, just in time for your eighteen-month birthday. You took your first few halting steps last week, and this week you're showing off your talent walking for everyone. You'll walk short distances just for fun now, with less and less hesitation every day. You act as though standing unassisted is old hat, even though you seemed quite nervous about it not that long ago. I love how proud you are of your accomplishments, hiding the pride under your nonchalant attitude. You beam when Daddy and I praise you for anything. I love that aspect of your personality.

With the independence of walking has come a desire for all kinds of independence, especially in the eating arena. We knew to expect this long ago, and Daddy and I have been grateful that you didn't before now. Every meal that you ate off a spoon readily, without a care as to what was being fed to you, was a gift. We'd heard rumors of picky toddlers. Slowly but surely you are turning into one. Every so often we can still feed you a meal off a spoon, mostly particularly messy meals, but you prefer meals that you can feed yourself. We've had some huge messes to clean up after letting you get your own way. There are also some meals when Daddy and I have to get creative to find something, anything, that you will eat. Fortunately you are still always hungry, so we can always find something you will eat.

You definitely still have Mommy's metabolism, though. We'll be lucky if we discover at your check-up on Monday that you weigh twenty pounds or more so that we can finally turn that carseat around. You're tall, though. Those legs can't even straighten all the way out in your backwards carseat anymore. It's funny to watch you eat Mommy-sized meals--quite literally, I might add--with a big, poochy belly (also resembling Mommy's) when you finish eating. When we weigh you, however, you weigh the exact same you did last time. I know this metabolism is a blessing, but it's starting to get frustrating. Finally I understand the phrase "eating us out of house and home." I can't imagine what your teenage years will be like.

On the bright side, I think you're hitting a growth spurt. You've been less hungry and more sleepy for the last few days. I hope I'm right. This will be perfect timing. Pack on those last few ounces before Monday's appointment. Of course, it's also possible you're readjusting your schedule yet again, finally reaching that one-nap-a-day schedule I've been expecting...um, dreading for so long. I may miss that extra "free" time during the day, but it's a good sign that you're growing up.

It's fun watching your language development as well. You want to talk pretty much all the time. Daddy and I have even heard you muttering to yourself in your sleep late at night. Unfortunately, most of it is still in baby gibberish. That doesn't seem to matter to either of us. We still hold complete conversations, with neither of us understanding more than a word or two of what the other is saying. You were even answering, "Yeah," to Nana's questions over the phone the other day, acting like you knew what she was asking. These conversations are precious to me. It means a lot that you're making such an effort to talk to me.

Today you were mimicking whispering to me. You kept making "s" noises, and when I whispered back to you, you'd smile and "whisper" right back to me. Clearly you're understanding the concepts of a conversation. I expect a full language explosion before long. In the meantime I'll keep listening for the five or so words you have already mastered. I just can't wait to find out exactly what is going through that mind of yours.

My favorite thing ever, though, is your laugh. You are so full of life, ready to enjoy everything around you. You love playing with Mommy and Daddy, and any unexpected--or sometimes even expected--move can bring giggles or even belly laughs. You continally remind me not to take life too seriously. It is worth it to take the time to enjoy myself, the way you can any second of the day. In fact, playing with you is the best laugh break I can take. Your laugh is so infectious.

I've heard that having a baby ages you. Something about the idea of being someone's mother and all the responsibility that comes with it can turn hair gray faster than anything else. But I don't think so. All I have to do is get on the floor with you and tickle you--and suddenly I might as well be a kid again myself.

Thank you for keeping Mama young, my dear boy.

Love,

Mama

Uh-Oh

I hope I can blame pettiness on the pregnancy. I was quite annoyed that I had only gotten one comment on the last post (maybe self-conscious about the picture of me on it?), so I resolved not to blog until I had a few more. "If nobody's reading, why should I write?" I thought. Then I found out today that there are probably more comments out there that are not showing up for me for some reason. I'll look into that later to see if I can determine the problem. In the meantime, I'd like to apologize for my pettiness.

Will this help the apology? It's that promised video from awhile back. I was going to do a whole post about it, but I've lost the motivation. The video is cute enough alone anyway. It's appropriately titled, "Uh-Oh."

New Pictures

I apologize that I don't have a real post for you yet. I haven't had the motivation lately to do the post with the video. Don't worry, though; I haven't forgotten about it!
We ran out of Patrick's favorite sippy cups the other day, thanks to his sudden unquenchable thirst, so we pulled out an extra cup. As you might have already guessed, this sippy comes with a lid. He had a lot of fun figuring out how to get the lid off and then playing with it. It's now one of his favorite toys.
He also checked to see whether the lid fit on his favorite cups, like the one in this picture. It didn't. This is what Daddy and Patrick do when Patrick starts to wear out, though. I'm glad he's still small enough to sprawl across Daddy's lap like that, even though his legs are starting to hang awfully far off the end all of a sudden.
And here's the newest belly shot. We took it today, at almost right at fifteen weeks. I'm still growing, aren't I?