Mmmmm... Mud Puddles

So the Energizer Bunny and I went to the park today before we get buried in snow and we're stuck inside for a while. We walked down the path a little (10 feet or so) until EB careened off to inspect something: a remnant of snow, a wood chip, a shiny piece of trash. All of the above. But what he eventually discovered and fell in love with is mud, particularly mud puddles. For the last month or so, he hasn't been able to pass a puddle of any size without stomping around in it for a few minutes. And a puddle with mud in it has stuff floating in it and makes cool swirling patterns.

The park, after 24 hours of rain, was a mud and puddle bonanza. He was running and falling all over the squishy ground and eventually I took pity on the dirty kid and picked him up and set him on the walking path for solid ground. But the path had, in addition to mud, some of the world's largest puddles, too. He ran straight at the biggest one and started stomping. I tried holding him by the collar so he didn't go in too deep but then I thought, hey, we're close to home, it's a huge inviting puddle, and why not let him get soaked up to his knees and then we'll head home. But what I didn't consider is that a deep puddle has sticky mud at the bottom. So there he is, stomping up to his knees in delight, when the mud slowed him down a little too much and he went face first into the muck. Oh my god, I thought, he just went swimming can he breath can he move what's underneath the water what's in that mud anyway and shit now I have to wade in up to my shins to get him. So I plucked the laughing bunny out and carried him home and into the shower. I tried to get a photo of his muddy glory but it doesn't do justice to the dirt, just the joy.

Stats at 15 Months

The Bub went to the doctor today and he's tall but not heavy according to the CDC's average growth charts. He is very heavy according to me and my biceps. 32 1/4 inches tall and 25 pounds! He even got to stand on the "big boy" scale to get weighed; no more countertop baby-in-the-basket scale for this young man.

He also got two shots but was so brave he only squished up his face and put out a big lower lip before quickly recovering. No crying, thank goodness. Probably had something to do with the big, distracting jar of lollipops the doctor set in his lap before stabbing him.

Once Upon A Time There Were 3 Cloves of Garlic

My two honeys enjoying the new issue of Cook's Illustrated. (Before dawn, naturally.) Hopefully he'll be cooking dinner by age 2. So far, he loves to stir things and to climb all over the Kitchen Aid mixer-- I think that's a good start.

I was just standing here innocently when the toilet started madly flushing itself

Birthday Cake Plunder

So we stored my birthday cake in the kitchen icebox because there was no room in the fridge. Guess who found it early one morning when I had my back turned? Yes, what you see is fistfuls of frosting.

Animal Sounds, Part 2

More animal sounds, this time from the farm.  

Sasha met some roosters this weekend at the Queens County Farm and chased them around, happily cockadoodledooing the whole time.

Animal Sounds

A video of Sasha reading his "Neighborhood Animals" book.

Note the Elmo pajamas around his neck. He also wears them on his head because he refuses to be parted from them even when they're too filthy to wear as PJs.

Reading the Blanket

Our son is a genius.  He's already reading!  And this image is his first reading material. (Sorry for the bad photo-- who knew it's really hard to take a picture of a poster?)

The poster hangs above his changing table and when he's fresh and clean, he likes to stand up on the table and read the poster out loud.  Not distinguishing between the alphanumeric writing and the patterns on the Pendleton blanket, he will point dramatically along the horizontal lines from left to right, pronouncing "Dah. Dah. Dah. Duh. Duh. Duh. Dah. Dah. Dah. Dah."  Very robotic and monotone because he's reading, not babbling-- which makes me wonder about my story-reading skills.

Sleep Deprivation

You may have noticed that my postings have become infrequent to the point of nonexistence. I'm not going to make excuses... I'm too tired and it's all Sasha's fault.

As his sleep pattern degenerated over the last couple of months and he was waking up at all hours of the night, Nerdy and I decided that maybe weaning him from nighttime nursing would lead to better sleep.  (During our Christmas visit, Grandma and Wendy woke up to play with him from 1am to 3am.)  This way he would take in all his calories during the day and sleep straight through the night, leading to better rest for everyone.  Nice idea.  He's been sleeping through the night all right, but night ends at 5:00 and not a minute later.  Sometimes a horrid 4:30 or 4:45.  And as Nana said, "Anything with a 4 in it" is a bad time to be awake for the day.

We looked for help in our "sleep expert" book which helpfully told us that early waking is one of the most difficult sleep issues to change.  They half-heartedly listed some suggestions, all of which we tried: white noise, black-out shades, later bedtime, earlier bedtime.  Nothing worked.  And now we're all more tired than ever.  Nerdy and I are suffering from a level of sleep deprivation that we haven't experienced since the Bub's early infancy.  

Now we have a new strategy, one that will hopefully restore normalcy (and blogging) to our lives: getting Sasha to transition from two naps a day to one. The theory is that this will have the magical effect of a later morning wake-up time.  Today we're on Day 6.  OK so far on one nap; Sasha has really gone the distance without a meltdown and we're proud of him.  As for nights/mornings, the results have been inconsistent so far.  Cross your fingers for us that one more week and we'll be back on a Normal People Schedule.

Adoption + Visit from Grandma

Last Tuesday, my adoption of the Bub was finalized.  Yes, I'm officially your mother, little man.  Grandma came all the way from Wisconsin to attend, and the Bronx-based grandparents woke up unreasonably early to get there, too. Fun to have an enjoyable reason to go to court!  We sat around for a while in the waiting room until enough families came in to start the proceedings.  Two other boys were there with their respective families, too.  Sasha made friends with one by walking right up to his chair and staring at him, unsmiling, for a long while.  Then he noticed the other boy was playing a Gameboy.  He walked up to him and tried to take it from his hands because if it's a computer and it has buttons, then obviously it belongs to Sasha.

The whole ceremony lasted less than 5 minutes.  Basically it consisted of me confirming my signature on a bunch of papers.  The clerk slid the last piece of paper across the table and asked us to confirm the Bub's new legal name.  He was sitting quietly on Nadya's lap, but at this point he reached out for the paper so he could see it and approve it, too. Then we took pictures and that was the end.  Time for brunch.

And Grandma's visit was a lovefest.  He remembered her from Christmas since only a few weeks had passed, so he was all smiles when she walked in.  He then gave her the grand tour of his apartment, pointing out the kitchen sink, the table, each of his toys.  She returned the love in kind, of course, being impressed with his new skills and silliness and keeping up with his nonstop energy.

I would also like to send out a special thanks to you, Mom/Grandma, for funding our adoption from your "egg money."  Without it, this process would have taken years.