Happy Feet: The 4D Experience

Sasha describes a movie for Mama.

Piggy and Sister Piggy

For Sasha's first birthday, Aunt Margot got him a Pillow Pet.  A pillow piggy to be exact.  As you can guess from the name, they are stuffed animals that turn into pillows when you undo a velcro tab.  He loved to stuff his face into it's squishiness (who wouldn't?) when he was younger.

Over time, Piggy has grown in importance and now ranks as Indispensable. We travel no distance without taking Piggy along so that Sashsa can sleep peacefully every night.

Since he was old enough to be unswaddled at night, Sasha will only sleep face down.  This has unfortunate consequences for Piggy: it stinks to high heaven after a couple of nights.  Given our lackadaisical attitude toward laundry, the stench will sometimes transfer to Sasha's hair and face for a not-so-fresh morning.  And to make matters worse, he does not want Piggy washed.  He has cried to see it get tossed in the washing machine.  He has grabbed Piggy out of the laundry basket and put it back in the crib.  He has even started sneaking Piggy out of the laundry pile to avoid an argument from the Moms.

We tried introducing a Ugli doll as a secondary pillow, but it was deemed "not soft" by His Highness.  We tried introducing an actual toddler pillow courtesy of Nana, but it was too puffy to sleep face down on.  So we did the only thing left to do and bought another Piggy.  We were afraid he would reject another one.  But no!  He loves Sister Piggy as much as he loves the original.  They were immediate best friends.  After naptime yesterday, the Piggies ran around the crib looking for mud to wallow in because "pigs love mud."

Here they are together in a photo I took for Margot to show the visible difference love can make.

Party in My Crib

This was the scene when I went to get Sasha from his cozy crib at Nana and Zayde's house. That's an entire box of tissues strewn on the floor along with the two drawers from nightstand. The book light that was in one of the drawers made it into the crib. Oh, and he unzipped his pjs - just because he could! The plus side is that he slept until 8am. I guess staying up and playing Destructor makes for a tired boy.

Beeline to Freedom

Developmental psychologists who study children's behavior say that when babies become mobile, they've already developed an instinctive "safety zone" around their caregiver outside of which they won't travel.  Somehow they know that 30 feet, for example, is far enough and after that point, the world becomes too dangerous.  As they grow older, the safety zone grows larger.  Many parents say (and I've often witnessed) that if their toddler doesn't respond to requests to "come back here," they will pretend to walk away or even just step out of sight and, instantly uncomfortable or afraid, the kid comes running back.  Other parents, like me, invest in a leash.

OK, I didn't really invest in a leash but I've always wanted one.  I just can't face the imaginary people who might say, "I can't believe you would treat your child like a dog."  These same imaginary people take their children everywhere by strapping them into a stroller, but that's just the argument starting in my head.  Anyway, Carrie finally gave me one (cleverly disguised as a backpack) on my last visit, but as toddlers usually do, Taylor wanted to wear it when she saw it and then it got lost in the shuffle somehow.  Carrie, you may want to check under the couch.

One fine day when Sasha and I went to the park, I decided to experiment.  I would let him run as far as he wanted and I wasn't going to stop him.  The park is huge and there were no traffic or other dangers lurking as far as I could see.  There had to be some point where he started to care where I was.  The picture above is one I took during this experiment.  What, you don't see him?  Let me help.  Click on the picture below to see the arrow.  Yes that's a picture of his back and yes his legs are still carrying him farther away.

The result of my experiment?  A parenting success!  He doesn't give one whit where I am.  I have raised a child with a strong, healthy sense of independence.

If at first you don't succeed, try camping again.

As you may remember, I tried to take Sasha camping last summer and it was pretty much a failure.  Not for a lack of appreciation of nature, but because it was just too fun to be "sleeping" outside in a tent.

We went to the Catskills, at a park halfway between my friend Robin who lives in Syracuse and us in Brooklyn.  She took her dog, Hawley, who was showered compliments all weekend long because she's so cute: one ear permanently up and the other kinked halfway down, and a underbite that makes her look like she's pouting about some injustice.  One passerby asked what kind of dog she was, and Robin replied "part pit, part I don't know what."  Sasha suggested "polka dot!"  He enjoyed feeding the dog as long as she didn't get too close otherwise.  And he practiced his new-found "No!" any time she made a move.

(I've noticed that he doesn't stick up for himself at the playground or kid meeting places.  So I encouraged him to say "No!" if another kid takes his toy or pushes him.  He took it very seriously and now stands up for himself a little bit.  And he loves using it to fend off his mothers.)

Our campsite was nice and right next to a rocky river.  The town near where we stayed is a popular destination for fly fishing, known as Trout Town USA.  The river definitely had a River Runs Through It look.  The sound was peaceful and, as a side benefit, excellent at blocking out the sounds of the crowded campground.

Our site was next to a sweet family with a 3-year old boy named Ethan.  Sasha and he became instant best friends.  Most of the weekend was the two of them barefoot and squealing with delight in the sandpit or at the water spigot.  The first one awake in the morning went immediately to the other's campsite looking for fun.  So cute.

As for sleeping, the Bub has improved over last time.  He never went to bed before us, though.  Being alone in the tent was too much temptation.  He'd be inside for 2 minutes, then zzzzzip, and he emerged, leaving his shoes behind and the tent door wide open for easier bug entry.  The first night, Nerdy went in the tent with him and spent a heroic amount of time and effort trying to get him to sleep: telling stories, singing songs, giving massages.  He was overjoyed that she wanted to hang out in the tent with him, but if she thought she was leaving the tent alone, she was wrong.  By the last night, we realized there was no point in trying to put him to bed before us, so he got to stay up hours later than normal.  He slept all the way through the night, but morning still started for everyone at six oh oh.

 

More Pics from the Dairy State

Captains finding the way on the hike.

Bug? Rock? Snake?

Rock.
But this fearless girl pet a snake that crossed our path only minutes later.

The cousins spent an hour at the stream.

Aunt Carrie cuddling.

Throw me again, Grandma!

BFFs in silliness.

How about let's put our apples on this spinning thing and watch them fly?

After bath.

Posing with Grandpa J.

I just walked straight up a bluff and now I'm resting.

Even more resting.

Hiking with Aunt Wendy.

Running the last mile for the promise of food at the end.

Going for a ride with Grandpa Z. "Wow. That's loud!"

Fun in Baraboo

Pajamas and galoshes: a perfect first morning at Grandma's house.

Feeding oranges to the orioles.

Hmmm... what good stuff can I find in the garage?

Helping Grandma mail a letter.

Look, there's a spider in there!

Breakfast with cousin Taylor.

Going for a ride.

 

Taylor showing off her no-hands trick.

It's my Thomas the Train.

Sneaking into Grandma's bed... to read.

Sasha spinning, Taylor standing, doing their best to cause injury.

Hellaioh!

Riding on the clown train at the Art Fair on the Square.

Fearsome Pirate

Poor Baby

The Bub is well into his third day of fever.  He's so sick, we had to check our ears when he told us, "I want to go to bed."  He spent almost all day yesterday and most of today sleeping or lying around.  Strangely, he's in good spirits and we don't see any other signs of illness.  A mildly runny nose and no appetite, but those things happen a lot anyway.  Remembering that he usually gets a fever every time he gets new teeth, we just checked his mouth and lo and behold: new teeth!  The tiny peaks of his last 2 molars are just beginning to poke through the gums.  Look out, celery!

Making cookies