Hunt Family Connection

Monday morning

It is almost 7am on Monday morning and I've been awake since about 4:30 trying to keep Eleanor and Graham content and asleep. MUST shop for a white noise device or fan for Graham's room to try and keep him from waking up when Eleanor fusses during the night - I don't know if it's the noise she makes or hearing me in the squeaky hall that's waking him up....

And after a week filled with pictures, you'll have to use your imagination on this one 'cause I was too busy enjoying the show to get my camera...
Picture Graham in his blue Old Navy pjs with puppy dogs all over, wearing his red "fire truck" rain boots, running around with a beach ball "playing volleyball" just like daddy does on Sunday nights :) It's moments like that when I realize this is all totally worth it.

Hi, I'm 2!

It's like a bit of a showdown around here at times...

 

I'm a bit amazed at what a roller coaster we are on here at times. One minute the boy can be screaming, crying, kicking, and who knows what else...then two minutes later he's doing something that has us laughing so hard or thinking about how sweet and loving he is.  It seems that as time goes by, both extremes intensify a bit.

We attribute much of the crazy behaviors to being a two-year-old - it's just part of the deal to see him push some limits, explore boundaries, and try to get away with what he can. My friend Leila suggested something else that I had been wondering about - could be possible that he's starting to really sense that things are changing around here and that his reign as the one and only is about to end.

For the past few nights he's had a hard time settling down and staying calm - he's been almost impossible to get into his pjs (tonight I even had to get help from Wil) and then he becomes hysterical when I try to leave the room. Last night he cried and called out my name for an hour. Tonight is was closer to 30 minutes, but it was still pretty tough to take. It breaks my heart when that little voice pleads with me - "don't leave!" The other issue as of late has been meal time - he's going through a phase where he just doesn't seem interested in eating much. So instead of eating, he's been playing with his food - this usually ends in food flying around the dining room until I can get it out of his reach. Even his very favorite mac&cheese hasn't been safe from this fate lately.  We suspected that cutting teeth could be contributing to both behavior difficulties, but it's hard to say for certain.

At the same time, this age has proven to be so fun to watch as Graham acquires more language and skills every day. He completely cracks us up sometimes and has moments when you can't believe how sweet and caring he is. He continues to be quite tuned in to how other people are feeling and is always concerned that we're "ok."  His play is developing and he is doing a bit more "pretend" kinds of activities - very fun to watch. And he continues to be completely and totally in love with his Pa-Paw and gets sooo excited when he's around. In fact, just today when we were getting Graham's haircut, the hairdresser asked him to sit still and G asked, "like Pa-Paw?" - Yep, I imagine Pa-Paw would sit still while his hair is cut (and we actually did talk about that when we had dinner with Pa-Paw the other night...apparently it stuck with him!)

The other thing that was oh-so-helpful in getting us through the haircut was my iPod Touch. Graham LOVES that thing and we've been able to use it as a powerful motivator (that and his fav tv show - Jack's Big Music Show). His favorite thing to do with the iPod is watch episodes of Jack, but he is also enjoying alphabet flashcards and another app that has farm animals and sounds. Tonight when he was using the iPod I looked over and here he was holding the thing with his toes while he used his hands to click on different things. It was too funny and prompted me to put together this scrapbook page...

 

While there are so many highs and lows packed into just one day, I wouldn't trade one minute of our time with Graham. He's an amazing little guy and I really can't imagine a life without him.  These are busy and crazy times - about to get even crazier as we bring this baby sister into the mix. I'm doing my best to enjoy the moment and not wish it all by too quickly :)

Sleepover!

Graham is currently on his first overnight stay with Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery - this was the scene this afternoon...

 

We found the suitcase at Target yesterday - it was the only one like it there and seemed to be just sitting there and waiting for our little plane-lover. He wheeled it all over the store and has been enjoying it ever since. He's so very proud to have his own suitcase and we had a lot of fun packing it up this afternoon.

We anticipate that an overnight stay or two will become necessary when baby sister arrives, so we thought we'd better start practicing now. Graham was very excited about the idea and perhaps was far more ready for this step than I was :)  I know he will be very happy at Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery's house, but there is a little piece of me that will miss my goodnight hugs and kisses. 

Wil and I had a very nice dinner out together with no worries about getting home in time for bedtime. I wish I could enjoy sleeping in tomorrow, but have to get up to go to work by 8am. It will be nice to only worry about getting myself ready - showering whenever I'd like instead of trying to time it so I get done with everything before he wakes up.  No drop-off at daycare - just driving myself right to work. If it goes well, we'll make sure the next sleepover is on a non-work night.

Graham in action....

I have a couple of videos to share today - Graham "juggling" and Graham performing Itsy Bitsy Spider. Usually he does better with Itsy Bitsy Spider when I can do the hand motions with him, but you'll notice he does really nail the sun coming out :)  Enjoy!

A happy ending…

We had a bit of an adventure with Graham today after picking him up from daycare. The daycare provider took the group to the pool to play, and apparently they ran into a couple of bullies.  One of the boys came up to Graham and ripped a toy away from him, twisting his arm into a bad position. He was rather upset so the daycare provider got some ice for him and had a lifeguard check him out. It did appear to be bruised, but seemed ok otherwise (aside from the emotional trauma of course!) While the daycare provider was helping Graham, the bullies disappeared. It turns out that they were causing a lot of trouble and other parents had complained about them as well – they disappeared pretty quickly so the lifeguards don’t have their names or really know who they are. We were told that they have been “banned” from the pool for a length of time though…

So like I said, things seemed to be ok until I showed up to get Graham from daycare. He became really upset again and wouldn’t stop crying. He didn’t want us to touch his arm, and when we did he became a bit hysterical.  He refused to use his arm or hand, even when I offered to let him play with my phone. It was far too similar to the events surrounding the broken leg he had awhile back, so we were worried.  I cuddled on the couch with G while Wil called the doctor to see if he could get us seen at the orthopedic clinic. It was late in the day, but they somehow got us in. We saw the dr. that we saw for Graham’s broken leg (LOVE him) and after checking Graham out he suspected that he had “Nursemaid’s Elbow”. He said he was going to try and pop it back into place and that it would make Graham quite upset for a moment, but if that’s what it was, then it would be fixed rather quickly. While G sat in my lap he rotated his arm/hand around in a way that was rather painful to watch and Graham was indeed quite upset with him. He left us alone for a little bit to allow G to settle down and see if it had helped.  Minutes after the dr. left the room, Graham was reaching for my phone and using his injured hand to dial! It was AMAZING – like he was never in a bit of pain! 

So no further treatment is needed, but we were warned that since this happened, he could be more susceptible to it happening again. We are to be extra careful about grabbing at his arm or swinging him by his arms – stuff that can easily happen during play or while trying to help him out of the truck or jumping off of things (like he loves to do!)  As for the bullies at the pool – the daycare provider has been called by the pool staff a few times already and assured that they are doing their best to follow up on the incident. The protective mother in me would like to hunt them down (and more specifically the parents that should have been monitoring them) and make sure they are appropriately punished. I hate that we can’t protect G from bad things happening, but am glad that we were able to help make it better in this case.

Inside fun…

It’s been rather hot outside these last few days and I don’t think today is going to be any better. I was looking for fun things to do inside the nice, air-conditioned house, and got to thinking about these paint-with-water books we had when we were little.

 
I found a Handy Manny book at Target and yesterday seemed like a great day to try it out. G painted a little bit once I showed him how it all worked, but then quickly explored other ways to use his materials…

 
…like sucking the water off of his paint brush or just drinking the water from the cup – YUM! I tried to tell him that this was “icky”, but that just made him laugh harder. Luckily there isn’t much (if any) actual paint involved in all of this, so I don’t think anything horrible will come from ingesting the water. He did stick around and complete a page for daddy though – here he is looking over the finished product:

Other fun things we have enjoyed doing inside: reading books, watching Jack’s Big Music Show (over and over and over again!), playing catch with a beach ball, and building with Legos. Legos is really a daddy thing – he’s far more creative than I am.  Look at what he and Graham came up with the other night!

 
I also took him to the mall yesterday as it was just too hot to play outside.We walked around a little and then spent some time at the mall park. There weren’t very many kids there at all when we were, so it worked out perfectly.

Looks like we’re in for another hot day today, so we’ll be doing more of this stuff and looking for other ways to stay cool :)

Haircut – finally!

I’ve been putting it off for some time now, but am happy to report that Graham finally got his haircut today :)

Graham has never screamed or hollered when getting his haircut – he’s more whiny and wiggly. Last time he had to sit in my lap in the chair to get the job done. So it could be much worse, but it is rather stressful for me as I juggle all kinds of things to keep him distracted and occupied throughout the haircut – snacks, toys, and when all else fails, my cell phone (a very special treat!)

It went far better than I thought it would – he sat in the chair by himself (yay!) and even though he was still wiggly, it was a little easier to distract him and keep him still. He got a bit impatient toward the end, but really he did a great job.  He got a treat from the hairdresser – a little lollipop.  He seemed quite happy to earn it, but doesn’t really know what it is and it never even occurred to him to try and eat it – lol.

Credit where credit is due – we have found a wonderful stylist to cut Graham’s hair. She is so sweet and incredibly patient and understanding. It really makes all the difference in the world to have someone with realistic expectations of what a toddler is capable of doing/handling and who has a few tricks up her sleeves – LOVE her!

Graham and I had a nice day together at home and I enjoyed the break away from decluttering/organizing. I did do a little work in the laundry room during nap time though – it was necessary so I could reach the washer and dryer.

I’m excited to tackle the kitchen tomorrow so stay tuned for pictures and stories about that project :)

Fever!

My first clue that something was off, was the report from daycare that he took a super long nap, and then refused any snack item that was offered to him. Once we got home, we played for a bit, then all of a sudden he just burst into tears and could not stop.  His head felt a little warm, but nothing else was warm (when he has a fever his hands and feet feel hot to the touch too).  I asked him if he was hungry and he said he was, but he didn’t really eat anything. As the night went on he got warmer and warmer, finally to the point where I sent Wil in search of the Tylenol. He was more than ready to go to bed and slept (for the most part) until 5:30am this morning. He woke up feverish again so I gave him another dose of Tylenol…he saw no reason to go back to sleep, so that’s where our day began.

Throughout the day we were on a Tylenol roller coaster. When the medicine was working he was happy, playful, and eating (less than normal, but eating). When the medicine wore off, he started to cry and just couldn’t get comfy. He did a lot of resting/laying on me, but I think that might have been from the Tylenol (oh – and waking up at 5:30am!). We rode this roller coaster all day long and it never dawned on me (until one of my Birth-to-Three moms suggested it) that it could be teeth coming in – don’t we have them all yet?!?!

So after bath time, I asked him to open wide and sure enough…there it was. I saw a huge tooth breaking through on the bottom left – I didn’t get a really good look anywhere else so don’t know if that is the only one. I’m told these are his 2-year-old molars – geesh! 

He was in a great mood after bath and I got more Tylenol in him before the previous dose could wear off. He was also feeling rather independent tonight and wanted to do some bedtime reading by himself. I was repeatedly told that that was HIS spot in the chair…I was to stay away :)  The book he’s reading there in the photo is “The Prince and the Potty” – he’s LOVING it lately and I couldn’t be happier, because we’re going to be working on that very soon. 

Don’t know how long this tooth thing is going to last, but at least we can make a good guess that he is not sick…just teething :) Thanks to everyone who offered support, ideas, and wishes for sleep – I really appreciate it!

Looking Back – parties and bedtime routine

I was reading through blogs this morning, and a favorite of mine by Cathy Zielske was looking back on a picture she had taken on this day last year. It prompted me to go back into my picture folder and see what we were doing this time last year.  I also dug into the blog archive to see if I was writing about it too :)

I didn’t take any pictures on the 12th, but pulled up this one from the 11th

That’s my “boss” Larry and in the background is a bunch of the special ed. staff/co-workers that I work with. Larry has made it a tradition to invite the district’s special education staff to his beautiful home on the river for drinks, eats, and end of the year celebrating. 

We just had our end of the year celebration on Wednesday as well as an end of the year lunch/meeting/celebration with the school psychologists and consultants.  I went to both events and took most of my pictures at the school psych/consultant meeting – here is a shot of some of my wonderful co-workers :)

We were celebrating the retirement of two members of our group – very sad to see them go, but happy for them and whatever adventure they choose to go on next!  On Monday we’ll be gathering again to celebrate two more co-workers that are moving on to new jobs next year. 

Like I mentioned earlier, I also looked at the blog to see what I was writing about this time last year and found this post from June 11th: Worn out and a new routine – I just LOVE that picture of him asleep in the high chair!

It was also fun to read about the bedtime routine we had a year ago, just as he was giving up that bedtime bottle. Of course our routine looks a little different now…

Some nights the routine starts with a bath – I get G started by filling up the tub, help get him undressed, and recently we’ve been trying to sit on the potty to see if he’ll go at all before we get in the tub (no luck there yet!) Once in the tub I get him all washed up and then call Wil in to supervise tub play while I pick up around the upstairs. After bath we get pjs on, then head back into the bathroom to brush teeth.  Graham has been good about this so far and even lets me help – I’m hoping this continues!  After we brush teeth we go back into his bedroom to take his fluoride then rock and read stories. Right now his absolute favorite is the Amazing Airplanes book – it’s one we have on loan from the library, but I think we’re going to have to look for it at the book store because he is very insistent that we read it every night! We sometimes read more than one story, and sometimes he just wants to read the airplane book again. After stories we do hugs and kisses and he goes right down into his crib and gathers up everything he needs there….a sippy cup with a little water, his puppy, blanket, and yes…he still has the pacifier at bedtime.  I’m determined that it will not move to his big boy room with him though – a battle that will soon be waged :(  I start his bedtime music, shut off the light, and that’s it! He sometimes chats to himself or plays a little, but often goes right to sleep. We are very lucky that bedtime is this easy and even luckier that he sleeps all night long.  I usually get him down sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 and he isn’t up again until anywhere form 7:00 – 8:00 the next morning.

Oh that was fun! I will have to remember to look back more often :)  I never would have remembered all about G’s bedtime routine had I not written about it here on the blog – it is why I do this. Do you remember what you were doing a year ago today??

Such a big help….

…for the most part :)

Graham’s desire for independence continues to be something we find both encouraging and helpful at times, and incredibly frustrating and annoying at other times.

“MY DO IT!” is a phrase that he asserts many times throughout the course of the day. He wants to come down the steps by himself (though he does request a hand to go up the stairs because he wants to do one foot per stair – no baby steps for this kid!), he wants to put on his own shoes, he wants to zip his coat, he wants to throw away the diapers, he wants to ring the doorbell, he wants to close and lock the door…..the list goes on and on!

Most of the time we are able to let him do things for himself and sometimes he will end up asking for help after all (or just do whatever it is he set out to do), but sometimes, especially in the morning when getting ready to go, I run out of time and patience for he “me do its”.

There are times when he is incredibly helpful though – right now he loves to pick things up off the floor for me (I hope this continues through the summer as I am less able to get my pregnant self down there!) and he continues to enjoy “vacuuming”. Up until now he had just been using his pretend vacuum and dust buster, but the other night, after leaving a particularly large mess on the kitchen floor at dinner time, we decided to let him loose down under the table with the real dust buster…

He actually did a fairly decent job (with some supervision and direction of course).

The other day he spilled some water on the living room floor and I asked him to bring me a towel from the kitchen. He actually brought one AND helped me soak up the puddle – he also returned the towel to the kitchen!

I will enjoy this while it lasts and hope that they are habits/interests that will stick with him :) As for the independent, “my do it” stuff, that’s bound to work to my advantage along the way too…potty training is just around the corner :)