Feeling Better

Vincent is feeling better. After one rough night of sleep, we took him to see the doctor, and it seems like the antibiotics worked immediately. But, with a recovering child, comes a more cranky child. When he wasn't feeling well, he was just mellow, & wanted to cuddle more. This always happens. After he's had an illness, when he's on the mends, he goes through a few days of being difficult. He's gotten more energy to complain, but not quite enough energy to make any sense of himself. At least that's how it seems. I have to say that I'm glad David was here with me over the weekend, rather than me having to do it on my own on the weekdays. We can give each other breaks. It wasn't too bad, and you can't get mad at him because you know he can't help himself.

On another subject...one I said I won't talk much about...I'm HUGE! I dared to compare photos of myself from my last pregnancy. Yikes! Wanna see?

This is me pregnant with Vincent at 27 weeks:

Here I am, this time around, at 26 weeks:

Yes, each pregnancy is unique, and you tend to look bigger, sooner, the second time around...but yeah, I'm big!

**Okay, I just happened to read this old posting: http://vincenttomi.blogspot.com/2008/03/1st-quarter-review.html

Looks like I had the same comments (towards the end of that post) about Vincent, when he feels sick & is on the mends, even back then...

My Sick Child

Vincent has had a mild cough for a few days now; starting either Monday or Tuesday. Nothing major at all. It did seem to be getting slightly worse early yesterday, but it was hard to tell if it was actually worsening, or just changing a bit. As I'm typing this, I realize that this may all seem like I'm a horrible mom for not knowing my child's illnesses better. He was definitely acting more tired than usual by the time we left the Hutryas after Thanksgiving dinner. We figured it was because it was past his bedtime and he took such a short nap.

By midnight, last night, he had a fever. We ended up bringing him to bed with us. Vincent has never slept well with us, even from the beginning. That's one of the reasons we didn't co-sleep. There are mornings that he will wake up early, and we'll try to bring him into our bed, hoping that he'll just fall back to sleep in between us. Doesn't work. He does enjoy the cuddling & hanging out, and we get to lay about for a little longer, but there's no more sleeping to be had. When Vincent and I were in L.A. back in May, I did bring him into bed with me one night because he was having a tough time sleeping & he actually slept next to me. We weren't sure how it would go last night. I'd say that he didn't fully fall asleep until past 2am, but he slept. And, he slept until past 9am this morning.

He was definitely acting more out of sorts than usual today. After we got him down for his nap, David decided to call the children's clinic, just to make sure there wasn't anything more we should be doing for him. Apparently there was. They said they wanted us to take him in. Well, it's a good thing Vincent has a good dad because it turns out he has an ear infection in his left ear. A pretty good one, too - with puss. He was not happy about the visit to the doctor, but he happily took his antiboitics when we got home.

He just about rejected all of his dinner. He took the tiniest of bites here and there just to appease us, but didn't actually eat. I gave him a hot shower, and he was ready to call it a night. It's 10:30pm, I'm not entirely sure what kind of night it will turn out to be tonight. My poor baby. Thank goodness this is a long weekend for David.

Warning: Parental Advisory

Happy Thanksgiving! We made our semi-traditional trip down to Federal Way to visit our adopted family, The Hutryas. They're one of my bestfriend's parents, and I've spent several Thanksgivings with them since my move to Seattle. It's always a wonderful time, with tons of food. Vincent was very happy to enjoy some pumpkin cheesecake. He has recently learned the word, "dessert" & gets very excited over the idea of having it. I actually don't know when/how he connected the two, as we rarely ever have dessert.

Now, here's the "parental advisory" part...Vincent has these Chinese/English flash cards given to him when he was born. They're fun for practicing words in both languages. He doesn't look at them all that often. Today, he pulled out the stack with the "ABC's," one that he hasn't seen in a while. There are some extras to go with the alphabet, including this one:

Vincent was so amused by the naked boy and his, um, little boy parts! He kept pointing at it and saying, "Pee pee! Pee pee!" And, then he'd say, "Naked." Only, I'm sure it didn't sound so clear as that...more like "nek-ked" or something.

The Pictures Are Up!

Last week, Vincent posed in his very first photo shoot! It sounds more glamourous than it really was, but it was a lot of nonetheless. It was a shoot for Alina's Cucina, and they are working on putting out a cookbook. Vincent did a really wonderful job with it. I wasn't sure if he would be up for all that attention or the food (since he hasn't been too adventurous lately), but MAN! what a ham I've got! He really enjoyed the jerk chicken dish. Please check out this blog for the details & photos!
http://onetreephotography.blogspot.com/2008/11/last-thursday-i-met-alinas-cucina-at.html

And So It Continues...

The hitting. It's not just of me, it's of David, and this morning, of other children. It's so weird for me to see this happening with Vincent. Up until now, he has been many things: active, playful, a little naughty, wiggly, sometimes wild, full of energy, clingy, sweet, fussy, cuddly...but he certainly hasn't been aggressive. Usually, he's the one getting a little beat up. It's hard to see your child get hurt from another child. I can't say it's any easier having your child be the one doing the hurting. I mean, it's not like he never pushed another child aside while playing in the past. It just happened so rarely, and it would be barely anything. But, I'm seeing more and more aggression coming out of this little child of mine.

Yesterday, it was at our class at the community college. Today, at the community center. I will say, in his defense, it has happened because another child is trying to take away something he really wants to play with & he was actually there first. Well, it all depends on how you look at it. This morning, at the community center, the little girl was at the play kitchen first. Vincent joined her and started to play with the blender that she wasn't playing with. Soon as she saw him put his hand on it, she tried to grab it. He got defensive and pushed her hand away, etc. Then, there was the little slide incident. I didn't get to see the whole thing, but I think Vincent started it. I'm not sure who got to the slide first, but I did see Vincent smack the kid next to him several times before I could run across the gym and stop him. Poor kid was crying. And, finally, he was playing with his friend, Evan, and got aggressive with Evan, too. That was my cue to take him home. At least that's when the open gym playtime was about up, anyway. Sorry, Evan.

Why am I sharing all this negative stuff? Since this is my baby journal, I think it's important for me to keep track of these events, since my memories seems to fade day by day.

There are many positive memories as well. For example, I used to say to my friends that I will be rocking Vincent to sleep for his naps until he's 18 years old. About a month ago, it seemed harder and harder for me to get him to fall asleep in my arms during nap time. One day, out of frustration, I got up and just set him in his crib. I figured he would get up immediately and want to be picked back up. But, he just rolled over and laid there, so I walked out of the room. Not a peep. Now, when I go to put him down for his naps, we go through our usual routine, snuggle a bit while I sing, and he falls asleep in his bed. I still get the sweet cuddle time with him, but don't have to worry about the whole 18 years old thing.

Another fun thing Vincent's been doing is climbing into his highchair for meals. Today, for lunch, he climbed in there, and grabbed the bib in front of him & put the tray on as well. I had to go and adjust things for him, but he looked so proud of himself.

One thing David has been very happy to see with Vincent is during bathtime. Sorry, you get a blurry image, but it's hard to get a good shot when he's swimmin' around in the tub! Vincent has gotten very good at taking directions during his baths. When David tells him to stand up so he can wash his different body parts, Vincent does it! He has also started doing this swimming thing in the tub that is so cute. And, with his hair so long these days, we can make fun hairstyles for him with a little help of shampoo.

I don't have a ton of photos to share these days. I'll try to take more and post them soon.

**I just realized, this is the 100th posting of this blog!

Wow...

I got the Rufus Wainright, Release The Stars, album months ago. I played the CD, thought it was okay, but didn't really pay much attention. It was playing, in the background, while I hung out with Vincent, doing whatever it is we do in our daily lives. I might have even thought it a little boring at the time (the album, not playing with my kiddo - or maybe I was bored with him, too!).

But, today, while Vincent is napping, and I should be doing something more productive, I suddenly realized that I should be catching up on my music listening while he naps and I fart around online. Popped in the earphones, chose good ol' Rufus, and WOW...I'm really liking this album. Funny how things sound differently when you can actually listen. It's a good general lesson in life, huh?

It Could Happen To You

During Vincent's first year of life, I went to this support group through the Community Birth and Family Center. It was a drop in group that I went to once a week, for the first 6 months, and then once a month for the next 6 months. It was great, and helped with many of the day-to-day ins and outs of raising a newborn to age 1, and I've also made great friends from the group.

The facilitator, Ann Keppler, used to say to us, somthing to the extent of, "these are the things you worry about now, but when your child is older, it'll be discipline..." "One day, you'll find yourself in the middle of the grocery store, with a full shopping cart and a toddler throwing a huge tantrum, and you need to leave the store immediately, abondoning that cart full of groceries..."

You guessed the punch line - that was me, today, in the middle of Madison Market. Okay, not quite in the middle. More like at one end of the store: bulk items. Sure, it was crazy of me to try and go shopping at 4:30pm on a Saturday afternoon when all of Capitol Hill seems to like going to Madison Market (& Trader Joe's) for last minute dinner fixin's. I should know better. But, after being mostly cooped up indoors for the day, I thought Vincent would love to go to yet another non-toddler INDOOR space. In my defense, I was planning on taking him to a coffee place with an indoor play area between the market and cooking dinner. I figured the mini shopping cart would be fun for him. Ahhhh, so there's the difference. I abondoned a mini shopping cart & a handheld basket right in the middle of bulk items.

Why? Because bulk items seems to be a very popular area, and a short person (less than 3 feet tall) seems to get in the way. When you try to pick up and move said short person (for his safety & not to piss off the taller people), he gets very upset and begins to slap you (HARD) in the face. You calmly tell short person that "hands are not for hitting" (and in front of the crowd of bulk item goers), and he proceeds to whack you in the face several more times. My next move was to temporarily leave the groceries and duck into the nearby restrooms (both occupied) & have a little chat with Vincent. He seemed to get it and was calm, so I carry him back towards our groceries. On our way, I repeat, "Hands are not for hitting," and BAM! in the face again! Game over, we go home.

So Much To Share

I have so much to share!

Look at my little boy! He climbed up to this airplane play thing mostly on his own the other day, and his little feet can touch the "peddles" now! He seems to be growing up so fast.

This afternoon, Vincent and I had lunch with Sarah at a nearby Greek restaurant, Vios, with a play area for the kids. After he finished eating, Vincent went back to playing while Sarah and I sat and chatted. At one point, he sat down on the mini sofa with a little half plastic, half cloth baby doll (you've all seen these). Attached to the baby doll was a little pacifier. I sat, getting teary eyed, watching him play with this doll, and sort of talking to it, and trying to give it the pacifier. He was putting it in its mouth, and then he took the little baby doll hand and helped it suck its thumb. It was so sweet and loving. I felt comforted in thinking that maybe when baby #2 arrives, Vincent won't freak out as much as I have pictured in my head.

On the same day as the airplane, David and I tried to take Vincent in for a haircut. The place does walk-ins, but they didn't have a space available for another hour and a half...that's not a walk-in, if you ask me. I would have to book the appointment if I wanted the spot, so it's definitely NOT a walk-in. Anyway, I had to pee, as pregnant women seem to have to do ALL THE TIME. They had this nifty little seat in the restroom of the haircut place so that I could place my active toddler while I go. Lucky for me, I happen to have my camera!

Pictured below is a side view of what Vincent's hair is looking like these days. It's long, kind of bowl like in the front/top, and curly in the back. It's adorable, but he does need to have it cleaned up a bit. I'm obviously not in a hurry, as I didn't take that "walk-in" spot and haven't made any future appointments for him. Stay tuned...

Below, you can see Vincent's new toy. I got him a little razor scooter at a consignment store. It was the first thing he saw when we walked in the door, a pretty good price, and in good condition. I had a 15% off coupon for $30 or more, and this was under $30...looks like I'll need to buy him some books. My original thought was to go in that store and get him $30 worth of used books. That would've been a lot, which isn't a bad thing, but this is way more fun, and especially cool when you add the sunglasses. I just want to note that he asked to put those on (by his own accord) this morning while getting on the scooter. How did he know that he would look so cool? I think I've given birth to a natural hipster. I mean, just look at those doggie pajamas! It must've been all the hip music I listened to when I was pregnant.

Speaking of pregnant... Here's the most recent picture I have of my pregnancy...with a new haircut, too. This was about a week and a half ago, so I was around 23 weeks, I think. Much bigger than what I looked like at 23 weeks the first time around, for sure. I'm just chuggin' along here. I found out my friend, Nilu, just had her baby this morning...all natural, to a 9 pound, 10 ounce boy! I vowed to myself that this blog would be mostly about Vincent, so there's not much more to say about my pregnancy or about this other baby (that, and I don't know anything else about her baby boy). I will say that when Baby #2 - which we have nicknamed "Pat" - arrives, there will likely be a switch to a Hunt family blog of sorts. Sorry, "Pat," you won't be getting your own dedicated blog, but be comforted in knowing that Vincent no longer will either. We'll see how I feel. Maybe I'll be a multi-taskin' writin' machine. I do have that food blog, too! Is there a group for blog addicts?

At The Park

What did we do this weekend? Not a whole lot. I'm hoping that I didn't make some major commitments to anyone, but spaced out in actually writing it down in my day planner. When we woke Saturday morning & David asked what we had going on this weekend, all I could come up with was, "nothing." Well, except we had Mandarin class on Sunday.

We had a weekend free to do whatever the heck we wanted! Chores, cleaning, catching up on this or that...but, we really didn't do much at all. I feel like there was a lot of eating, but even that's not really true. Neither of us felt particularly great this weekend anyway.

But, this afternoon, we decided on an little outing to Madrona Park, then getting some cupcakes across the street. While at the park, someone fell. No, not the 22 month old toddler who can't stand still, but his 32 year old mother. Yup, I lost my balance and fell forward, tearing open my jeans, and gashing up said knee. All because I was rushing over to comfort Vincent when he started crying because I was on the other side of a fence from him, and trying to walk around to his side. Funny thing is, I fell while he was crying, but then he said something like, "Mama fall down," and then stopped crying and went on his merry way to play...not even coming anywhere near me, after making such a fuss about me being on the other side of the fence. I swear, I don't understand toddlers.

Later on, he was playing in a huge pile of leaves. It was so darn cute, but every picture I tried to take with my phone came out bad. So, you'll just have to use your imagination.

Potty

Vincent pee'd and pooped in his little potty today! I don't expect this to happen again soon, but I wanted to make sure I made a note of it - mainly for myself.

After his nap, I went to change his diaper and he said, "Potty." I wasn't going to put him on it, but he kept asking, so I thought, "Okay, I'll let him sit for a few minutes." I made a mental note to not let him sit for more than 3-5 minutes. About 4 minutes into it, he looked down and said, "Poop," but he was actually peeing. He got up quickly after being done, pointed and said, "Poop," again. Then, he grabbed the insert and walked it over to the toilet saying, "Bye, poop." I dumped it for him and let him flush.

I had a feeling he might not have been done, so I had him sit back down, and I read him a book. After 2.5 times through the book, he took a poop! Again, he stood up and said, "Poop. Bye, Poop." I gave him a wipe, dumped (no pun intended) the contents, & he flushed again. Then, we washed his hands and went to put on a diaper.

The Maltby Cafe - Round 2

Last fall David and I rented a Mini Cooper and drove out to Maltby to try out the famous cafe there. We just wanted to know how mini the Mini really is. It poured rain that day.

This morning, when we woke up, we realized it was the end of daylight savings. So, 7:10am, when Vincent woke us up, was really 6:10am. We were able to get out of the house by just after 7am, and make it to the Maltby Cafe before the rush.

At the cafe, they serve a cinnamon roll for $6.95, and it's about the size of my head! You can see how happy Vincent was to have some of it. The portion sizes of the rest of the menu were all large, too. We couldn't finish our food, but will have some tasty leftovers for breakfast in the morning.

Vincent did really well at breakfast, but then about 10 minutes before we finished up, another family arrived with a little girl slightly older than Vincent. Suddenly, he turned cranky & wild. He wanted her crayons, even though he had a cup full in front of him. Then, he seemed to want to show off to the other family that he was eating a biscuit or something. And, when we were getting up to leave, he threw a fit. It was so weird. Must be the end of daylight savings getting to him...