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.