Dad-O’s gibberish + some background Bocelli = Christmasy good times on the play mat. 🙂
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We’ve had a ball this Christmas having Margot’s folks in town. We’re still busy chasing the lads & fighting the flu (as Finn would say, “Byyuck!”), so I’ll keep things brief for now. Here’s a little gallery (HTML). In it you can see the terrific Thomas the Tank Engine play hut & monkey slippers that Grandma & Grandpa Liggett got for the Finnster; some balls & “Luchador keys” from MrsW; and the righteous “SQRL POD” license plate Mom-O got for the bike trailer!
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Ho Ho Henry
Look at this little package I found under the tree. 🙂
(Click each image for a larger version.)
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Coyote Pants
Our man Finny is fascinated with the National Geographic Desert Pop-up book that Dad-o got him in Death Valley. A particular favorite is a jumping coyote who is pursuing a “fat squirrel”. Soon Dad-o and Finny were making up all kinds of coyote attack scenarios using Dad-o’s pinched thumb and forefinger as the coyote (or “guy-o-dee” as pronounced by Finn). The “coyote” sneaks through cracks between the mattress and crib bumper, appears below small holes where a young lad’s finger might wiggle through, and nibbles on various toddler appendages like earlobes and exposed toes. And since Dad-o likes to greet Finny each morning with a new kooky gimmick, the coyote makes lots of early morning appearances.
So, as I was out Christmas shopping the other night at Target, when I saw a rack of coyote-print flannel PJ pants out of the corner of my eye, I literally did a double-take and shouted “OH MY GOD! COYOTE PANTS! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”. At least several dozen shoppers must’ve thought I had just escaped from the local nuthatch as I pawed through the pants, looking for the right size. That particular store did *not* have the right size, so I hopped in the car and drove to a different Target, where I successfully found my prey and took it home with me.
John then became the immediate recipient of the “Best Pre-Christmas, Could Not Have Planned Something This Great Gift”. Here is a larger version of the photo featuring the pants. Needless to say, John was as excited about them as I was, and could not *wait* to wear them in to greet Finn in the morning. And happily, Finn’s response was just what we expected. When Dad-o walked in, the first thing he shouted was “COYOTE PANTS!!!”
As I mentioned the other day, getting our little guys to sit still for a family Christmas photo has been no easy deal! Fortunately, however, Margot’s fellow Madre Veronica was able to catch the dudes at a peaceful moment:
(Here’s a larger version.) Many thanks, Veronica.
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“No Eh-SCAH-pay, Goonie!”
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Of Banking & Dentistry
We’re having big fun with Finno’s imagination these days:
- Lately he’s taken a shine to Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day? At one point in the book, Farmer Alfalfa (a goat) deposits his money at the bank (run by a pig, naturally). Up in our bathroom last night, Finn spied some coins on top of the little dresser & started forcing them into a slot. “Finny goin’ to the bank!” he said. “Givin’ money to the pig!”
- Several months ago he accompanied Margot on a visit to her dentist, Dr. Vandi, where he was entertained by the kind Mrs. Vandi. In the basement today he spied a manilla office and said, “Dr. Vandi’s office!” From there we were off to the races, with Finn trucking back and forth: “Finny goin’ to see Dr. Vandi and Mrs. Vandi!” I’m pleased to report that Leo’s teeth got very clean. 🙂 “Thank you Dr. Vandi!”
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C is for Cookie
Finn has become intimately familiar with Cookie Monster and the “C is for Cookie” song, thanks to YouTube’s vast collection of Sesame Street clips. He is also very adept with the Play-Doh these days, and really digs rolling out the Doh and using the little plastic “cookie cutters” that came in the Play-Doh kit. So imagine his delight when I told him we were going to roll out, cut, and decorate Christmas cookies today!
Here are a few pics (HTML) from our adventure, plus some other recent goings-on. Needless to say, Finn enjoyed the raw dough, the cooked dough, watching me put the food coloring into the icing, and shaking on the sprinkles and colored sugar. Against my better judgement, but in the spirit of not being a Grinch, I let him eat far too many cookies. All evening he was requesting “mo’ cookies!”.
In other news, Henry’s turning a corner on napping and is becoming more alert, smiley, and active each day. We’ve included a few recent pics of our little big man in action. We got him a little sleep sack, which is like a blanket he can wear. He’s moving around a lot in the crib so using a regular blanket is now out of the question, but he sure likes feeling warm and snuggly. John likes to call it the “sleep bag”, and I like to call it the nap extender. I have no idea if it actually contributed to his much improved napping over the last few days, but I’m not going to stop using it to find out if there’s a difference!
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A little Yuletide oddity
Last year, Grandpa & Grandma Liggett gave us a great Advent calendar. It’s a large box containing numerous drawers, each containing a tiny ornament, a bit of story, and instructions to sing and/or a figure to the crèche. Finn’s really been enjoying the process this year, though he’s gotten a couple of wires crossed. This morning he was looking at a cast of Margot’s belly when it contained him:
“Mom-O tummy!” he declared.
“That’s right, Finny,” I said. “And who was in her tummy?”
“Baby!”
“Right–and who was the baby?”
“Goonie.”
“Uh-huh. And what other baby was in there?”
“Jesus!”
Oh my. 🙂 We sorted out the confusion, and now Finn’s back to talking about how he went “POP!” out of the tummy. Meanwhile, no word on whether he’s connected the dots in determining that the same Mary who appears atop the Golden Dome in his Notre Dame picture book is the same one that appears in the Nativity scene.
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Henry The Fifth
Today “little” Henry turned five months old! To celebrate, he napped for 1.5 continuous hours, then accompanied Finn and I to “tiny playgroup” at our friend Tara’s house. The rest of the day was spent doing tricks in the crib (rolling over) instead of sleeping. He is so amazed at his own rolling skills that he absolutely refuses to stay on his tummy during playtime. He just instantly lurches to one side and flips over.
He’s following in his big brother’s footsteps and is becoming totally fascinated with lights and light fixtures. He marvels at the Christmas tree and I catch him gazing up at the lamps in the living room quite a bit. He’s also every bit as big as Finny was at 5 months–he’s already sporting his six- to nine-month wardrobe! His little thighs look like turkey drumsticks!
We’ve been struggling to get a decent family photo that we can send around for Christmas. Our boys lull us into complacency, getting all dolled up & sitting cheerfully until the moment of truth. Then, wham, it’s been American Meltdown Theater.
Fortunately our photographer-friend Maria had the inspired idea of wrapping Finny in some Christmas tree lights during her brief visit. “Tree dude!! Binny the tree dude!!” he declared, and magic ensued (HTML) :-).
Maybe now we just need to wrap the G-Man in some strands (“Shrub dude,” perhaps?) and snap away.
In the immortal words of John Lennon, “Strange days indeed…most peculiar mama, whoa!”
4: number of 35 minute naps Henry had today
3: number of fullblown nuclear shrieking freakouts Henry had today between naps
2: number of times Mom-o cried because she couldn’t figure out what else to do for him after nursing, dosing with baby Tylenol, changing dipe, rocking, and pacifying him
1: number of emerging teeth contributing to Henry’s wrecked state
So uncharacteristic for our little guy. As a wise parent once said, “bedtime always comes.” Well it came, and Henry’s asleep. For now.
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Yep yep yep yep… DOHHHH!!
Many if not most days, Finny & I start the morning with some “leche-bud” (milk) and some cruising around YouTube. Old Sesame Street clips are a big favorite, especially the Martians who say “Yep yep yep, AH-ha, AH-ha!” We especially love how they freak out (“Feek out!!”) and hide behind their lower lips, saying “Dohhhh!” Today, playing off of this clip, we had a bit of fun with Finn as the wind:
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Henry On the Move!
Our littlest guy has a lot going on these days. Henry’s been very actively working on his core strength in order to start rolling–arching his back, kicking his legs, and tipping his torso over, diligently practicing.
Today it all came together for him, and he was triumphantly rolling from tummy to back. He can roll both to the left and to the right! Next up: rolling back onto his tummy, or a continuous roll from tummy to back to tummy. We’ll keep mama’s milk on his training table, and make sure he’s got enough room in his ever-smaller PJ’s to get good momentum going.
I think he’s also teething again–he’s making some really weird expressions with his mouth, and is chewing on anything he can get into his tiny maw. The drooling and fussing seem like good evidence as well. We’ll let you know if any new chompers appear!
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Cool as a Cucumber: The Henry Nack Story
Well, we all made it through Henry’s test, and although it was no fun, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, and it’s over now. Henry was remarkably calm. The waiting was the hardest part. He had only 30 minutes of morning nap under his belt, and was not to eat for an hour before the test, which was scheduled at 1:00. So he ate at 11:30, just before we left for the hospital for a 12:30 check-in. Of course they were running late and the stupid test didn’t even start until 1:30, so he was getting more tired and more hungry by the second.
We all hung in there, and the test itself took only about 20 minutes total. They had to catheterize him and flood his bladder with x-ray visible dye, then wait to see where the dye went as his bladder filled up. He cried and squirmed but not nearly as much as I would have expected, and he was actually quite calm for a large part of the test. We got to watch the whole thing on a video monitor. John, who had to stand behind a protective screen, took a handful of photos (HTML) with his camera phone.
The radiologist said he did not see what they were looking for, which he took to be a good sign. He was expecting to see the dye go up into the ureter between Henry’s kidney and bladder, but it didn’t, even when his bladder was full and as it was squeezing. So that might mean he does not have reflux after all. Too early to say for sure, we’ll have to wait to hear what the pediatrician says once she reviews the images with the radiologist.
Thanks for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers, we’ll keep you posted when we know more.
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This one goes to eleven…
Finn turns 21 months old today, and is taking it somewhere new on a daily basis. We’ve been looking at lots of ABC and number books, and Dad-o and Finny have been spending some quality time with the Sesame Street gang, singing “C is for Cookie” and counting things with, of course, the Count von Count. We were wowed when Finny actually recognized the letter C and a couple others in one of the library books. He even knows, courtesy of Kermit, that a capital B looks like a fat man with his belt too tight. “B… Belt too tight!”
We were also excited when he counted to three (instead of his usual “two!”) one day. So imagine our surprise when Finny was running around the other evening, chattering about various things, when, almost under his breath and without fanfare he exclaimed:
“onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten… Eleven!”
I totally missed it, but John and our sitter, Laurie, caught the tail end of it. Luckily for me, he did it again a few minutes later and I got to hear it that time.
Now, he still really can only go to three or maaaaaybe four when we’re actually counting objects together, but he sure has the syllabic sequence of numbers one through eleven down pat as a thing unto itself. It’s almost like a little chant he does every once in awhile.
Oh, and when we ask “And what comes after 11, Finny?”, his reply is “Six!”
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Stick ’em up, Tickle Terrorists!
Yesterday our pal Maria and her friend Alex stopped by for a visit. Alex, being a friendly giant, reached out for a passing Finn & laid a few tickles on his tummy. Finn’s going through a rather shy period, so he didn’t know what to make of these advances. In the kitchen he remarked, “Dude… dude tickle!” He kind of froze up upon returning to the living room, unwilling to venture past Alex. The problem was solved when Alex and Maria agreed to hold their arms up (“Arms up up!”) and grant him safe passage. 🙂 [Click the image for a larger version showing the circumspect Finn.]
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Henry’s Kidney Situation, Updated
When Henry was born, we had to have his kidneys checked out due to possible hydronephrosis (too much fluid swelling the kidney). His ultrasound (at the ripe old age of 2 days old) showed that his left kidney was indeed swollen, and we have been keeping him on a daily antibiotic to prevent kidney or bladder infections.
At Henry’s 4-month check up, Dr. S ordered another renal ultrasound for our boy, which we did last week at the hospital. Dr. S called us yesterday and said that the swelling is still present, and so she wants us to do further testing to determine if it has gotten worse, and also how serious the condition is on a 1-10 scale. She thinks he is “mild to moderate”, but needs more info. We are scheduled for the VCUG (X-ray test) next Wednesday.
Regardless of the severity of his condition, we will continue to give him the antibiotic and meet with a pediatric urologist to set up a plan to monitor the situation. If it is bad enough to require surgery on his renal valve, we would still wait until he is older to do the operation because he is just still too little right now. And there is still a decent chance that he will simply outgrow the problem, which is what happens in most cases. We’ll just keep checking it every 6 months or so.
Please think good thoughts for us on Wednesday, because the test won’t be any fun for Henry, who has to get catheterized. Hopefully the test itself won’t last longer than an hour. I do hope we confirm that his case is mild or moderate, and not severe.
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Sunday in the Meedgit House with Boys
Ah, we’ve finally had a chance to take a few snapshots of our lads. In this little gallery (HTML), you can see our fellas…
- “enjoying” a new tub (sink),
- dumping “fruit” into Finn’s “Casa de Meedgit,”
- partying on the playmat,
- “sleeping” with Dad-O,
- reading Arthur Geisert’s great “Hogwash,”
- and hanging out with bulldozer driver/armpit denizen Tiny Monkey.
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Momzi Schemes
This week has been loaded with mini-milestones for both boys. This means that Mom-o has to start getting crafty to outwit her little guys when needed!
For instance, Finn has started to understand and repeat the sequence of numbers from one to five. He has also started to buy into the idea of just eating “a couple more bites” of something before he is allowed to get down from the table. It’s great because now we don’t face flat-out resistance to eating his dinner, he cops a plea bargain. This is where Mom-o takes advantage of the little perp, saying “two more bites” and then working on our numbers as he continues to eat. “One bite! Two bites! What’s after two? Three! Four! Do you remember what comes after four? Five!” After he eats a decent amount of dinner I ease up on the counting, but I figure learning and eating is a good combo!
Henry, too, is working on a lot of things. He’s grabbing and pinching everything in sight, including my skin while he nurses. I’ve introduced Ollie the owl in hopes that he’ll grab and twist *him* instead of me, and it works sometimes. Henry’s also turned a corner on napping, it seems. I am now able to dispense with the rocking and holding before putting him in his crib. Now I just put him straight in while he is awake but ready to sleep, and he does the rest. He’s also starting to nap for a decent amount of time (anything over 60 minutes is fantastic), and can resettle himself if he partially wakes during the nap. Yesterday he had two big long 2-hour naps instead of three 30-minute ones. *That* is a development worth celebrating!