That Wasn't So Bad, Was It?

One of the worst tortures the pipsqueak endures is a shampoo.

To start what Carrie calls the The Seven Fights of Bedtime, the wind-down bedtime routine begins with a bath.  Knowing this is the beginning of the end of the day, he usually runs away crying as soon as we announce the nightly bath.  The protest lasts while we wrestle him out of his clothes and into the tub, where he stops crying the minute we get his feet wet and he sees the bath toys.  But then soon enough, bath is over and it's time for the dreaded shampoo.  In an attempt to make it faster and therefore less painful, Nerdy and I team up to hold him still and keep the soap and water out of his eyes.  Resisting all attempts, he screams bloody murder the whole time, "NOOO, NOOO, MAMU, NO!  MAMA, NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"  It's outrageously dramatic.  Once I have him pinned between my knees and the washcloth over his eyes (or in the general vicinity), Nerdy washes his hair at lightning speed.  Of course, he writhes and cries through the whole ordeal which makes it really hard to keep the soap out of his eyes and the water out of his nose.  And no amount of reasoning with him will induce cooperation.  Immediately after we finish washing his hair, Hulk Hogan/Mr. T team-style, he stops, turns calmly to us and says, "Oh. That wasn't so bad, was it?" and smiles a cherubic smile.  Seriously.  After every shampoo fight.

As you can guess, he didn't come up with that phrase on his own.  I said it to him once after the shampoo match, and now that vaguely creepy sentence is repeated back at me after every hair wash.

Then we all move on to the Diaper Changing Table Take-down.

The Puzzler

The boy loves his puzzles.  He has quite a few, though he's graduated from the chunky puzzles and peg puzzles to regular jigsaw-style puzzles with interlocking pieces.  Because I have nothing better to do right now than show you, dear readers, the path he's taken, I'm posting images of them here.  He can't actually do the spaceship 48-piecer, but he'll try to put the spaceship area together before he finds an interesting dustball to investigate.

Currently, however, he can't get enough of this amazing set we found at a stoop sale in our 'hood.  It's a set of 6 cardboard puzzles, 9 pieces each, with beautiful and simple images.  They are also very well-designed for a child's eye with colored borders and simple but contrasting backgrounds.  At first, he did them all, over and over again.  I used to ask him, "OK, which one is next?" and he'd get excited about choosing one.  Then after a few weeks, he decided that he loved only Peacock, and would put the peacock together over and over, announcing, "Peacock! 'gain!" "Peacock, Mamu, 'gain!" And now Bear has been welcomed once again into the fold, and occasionally Elephant or Turtle.  He may be fickle, but he does not mess around once the puzzle has begun.  Intense concentration, start to finish.

Jack-O'-Lantern

Yay!  We carved a pumpkin today.  Easier than usual with specially-designed pumpkin-carving tools courtesy of Nana and Zayde.  I thought Sasha would like pulling out the junk and sorting the seeds, but he recoiled from gooey stuff inside.  But when we lit a candle inside the end result, he was beside himself with joy.  He couldn't sit still and didn't seem to know even what to do with his hands because he wanted to touch it, but also not really.  Anyway, I got him to pose for a few photos.  They're blurry, alas, because he wouldn't sit still for the slower shutter speed required in the darkened room.  That's right, he wouldn't stop moving for one full second.

In the last picture, he wanted to show off his play-doh ice cream cone for the camera.  I made it out of boredom while watching him make 200 cookie-cutter apples, but he got so excited about it he wouldn't even pretend to share it with the dinosaurs. He cried when it fell apart.  But we put it back together (with reinforcements) and he is content with our morning of pumpkins and play-doh.

Morning Improvisations

Video captured by Mama this morning on her cell phone.

Apple-Picking 2010

Last weekend we marked Sasha's second autumn on the planet by going apple- and pumpkin-picking with Nana and Zayde.  The weather was perfectly gorgeous, with sunny skies and a cool breeze.  The Bub had a good time stumbling through the tall grass and eating as many apples as possible.  He also loved the wagon until he got crowded out by the fruit.  And I had a good time eating the world's best cider doughnuts. Yum.

Satisfied with pumpkin selections.

Following Mama's lead and taking a rest in the orchard.

Eating an apple in each hand.

Ever-vigilant undercover agents scoping out national security orchard threats.

Three generations.

Ready to go after 10 apples and a bottle.

Gymnastics is a Gift From the Gods

Today was the first day of Sasha's you're-spoiled-because-we-can't-afford-it-and-we're-doing-this-anyway gymnastics class.  What a perfect match.  He loved, loved, loved it and so did I.  Technically, it's my class, too, because we're officially a Dynamic Duo; I have to follow him around to provide assistance and prevent harm.

The activities include a trampoline, rings, a bar, a balance beam, bean bags in a bucket, a hopscotch form, and a bunch of foam thingies.  He liked most of them, and there's plenty of room for learning and development.  Like years' worth.

I failed at my duties today when he practically bent in half (the wrong way) and crunched his spine. I'm not sure how it happened, and he whimpered for a few seconds, but thankfully a hug was enough to fix it.  Needless to say, he didn't try out that piece of equipment again.

Here's a great video from the organization's (ok, it's one woman, Elizabeth, and she is awesome) website.

Dumbo Gymnastics from Blue Barn Pictures, Inc. on Vimeo.

Visiting Our Faves in Wisconsin

Last week we visited all of our favorite people in Wisconsin (our "faves," in Taylor-speak) and had a grand time.  

On our first full day, we went with Grandma, Aunt Carrie, Taylor, and Beckett to the brand-new Madison Children's Museum.  The new facility is amazing, though we had what I'd like to call a toddler scheduling event.  That is, when we got there, we first had to change a stinky diaper, then TG and the Bub played for a little while, then someone fell and got hurt, then the Bub got cranky and had to eat. So Taylor played arts and crafts while we sat in the cafeteria, and right when we were finishing up, Taylor needed to eat.  Then they played together in the cafeteria for a while until we decided to take them to the rooftop "farm," overriding Sasha's desire to visit the arts and crafts room.  While waiting for the molasses-speed elevator, TG had to use the bathroom 10 seconds before it arrived.  The Rosen/Jensen contingent also missed the elevator and took the stairs instead, which we thought was one floor up but in fact was 3 or 4.  Eventually, we had a good time meeting the chickens and the fish and stomping in gravel while Carrie was obligated to nurse B in a bathroom stall.  Shortly after that, both TG and the Bub developed the Long Stare, the universal indicator of the need for a nap.  In the end, I think the highlight for the kids may have been eating cheese and crackers and playing with the front door.  For which we all paid an admission fee.

The Bub also spent hours of fun helping Grandma in the yard.  In particular, he LOVED to fill the birdfeeders. Understandably, as it involved 1. helping 2. grandma 3. outside 4.birds 5. buckets 6. shovels and 7. putting stuff from one container into another.  He also picked and ate tomatoes from the garden; scrubbed the birdbaths; filled the dog bowls and handed out dog treats; and pressed the button.  The garage door button.  He couldn't go within 10 feet of the garage without begging, "Push da button! Push da button!" and he was frequently indulged by Grandma and Mamoo.  We also had many dance parties to the tune of the Big Wheel's batman theme song and Lady Gaga (courtesy of Aunt Wendy).

Cousin Taylor and Sasha got along semi-famously.  Of course, Sasha loved to run after TG and do whatever she was doing.  A few days found them both running around the house, emitting high pitched screams at the top of their lungs followed by giggles and big smiles.  They spent a day at Grandpa and Grandma J's where they hunted for tigers in the yard until Taylor announced that she was walking "downtown" and the rest of us could follow if we wanted.  Grandpa lives downtown, but I think she wanted us all to walk a few blocks to the Square.  At one point along the way, Sasha veered off and went up to a neighbor's front porch.  TG, exasperated, told him, "That's not downtown!" Also on the way, they found a low-lying apple tree and picked apples for everyone.

Taylor spent a night at Grandma Z's so we could maximize their togetherness and give Carrie a much-needed break.  We went to the nearby state park, Devil's Lake, and had a picnic with more of Sasha's relatives: Great Aunt Marsha and her two sweetheart kids Rachel and Andy.  We couldn't keep the Bub out of the water so let him and TG wade into the lake, checking out the minnows and fish and inspecting and throwing rocks.  That activity got a little dangerous, but thankfully it was time for BBQ before the injuries got too severe.

All in all, the love was flowing strong between the cousins except for a few expected toddler moments, followed by more hugs and kisses and chokeholds of love.

And little Beckett!  He is so stinking cute. Soft and cuddly and frequently cross-eyed, as though being awake is really just too much.  Nerdy and I got to hold him quite a bit and Sasha gave him a couple of gentle kisses-- and even one lick to the top of the head. And we found out that he actually purrs while nursing.  Unbelievably sweet.

 

  

Inspecting a hole.

  

Cleaning the bird bath

Bird feeding before dawn.

Impressing Grandma with his mad skillz.

Using his hand to put food on the fork.

Dance Party!

  

 

 

Which one has a future on Broadway?

  

 

Brooklyn Tornado

So as many of you know, we had a crazy storm here yesterday that may or may not have been a tornado. All I know is, the sky suddenly got very dark and greenish, the rain started to pour down in sheets, and the trees out our window were looking close to sideways. While my more well-informed neighbors were taking shelter in their basements or bathrooms, I picked Sasha up on to a table to look out the window to see the rain and lightning. He got so excited, he started jumping and shouting, "Go outside! Go outside!"

The whole storm lasted 10 minutes, but the damage around here is shocking. Trees down everywhere, blocking the streets, crushing cars, falling into houses. Here's a video of some of the Prospect Park damage. It's a little shaky because the guy filming is on a bike. (Thanks, Mom, for the link.)

Introducing...

Sasha introduces his friends/babies/animals/blankies for the camera. It's a little mumbly but I think you'll hear enough to enjoy the company.

Update: To avoid any confusion, I've decided to list the cast of characters in order of appearance.

Monkey, Penguin, Loon, Puppy, Piggy, Owl, Elmo, Baby, New Baby, Meerkat, Lion, Sloth-y, Froggy, Goose, Blankie, Panda, Froggy (#2), Robin, Monkey (#2 and #3)

Dinosaur Feeb

Oh, the never-ending game of dinosaur feeb.

Dinosaur feeb is an invention I regret and Sasha's favorite thing in the whole world. A couple of weeks ago, I bought some dinosaur figures from the $1 bin, thinking they had potential for imagination games. But I may have overestimated his ability to be create imagination games. The game, having been started by me, now doesn't really change unless I suggest something new.

This is the game: Sasha moves around a brontosaurus and Mama or I move around all of the remaining dinosaurs. (All remaining dinosaurs. If we have three dinosaurs plus a cup of coffee but only two hands, tough luck. We are not allowed to put one down.) Basically we just push around the plastic figures in or around the feeb, playing follow-the-leader. A feeb is a cave made of two pillows pushed together to form an upside-down V on the couch and seems to be the central joy of the game. (Why "feeb?" Because sometimes toddler pronunciation is inexplicable.) The game starts when Sasha shouts, "Dinosaur feeb!" and all the dinos go into the feeb, then out, then in, then do various other activities. Some other visitors from the stuffed animal collection visit the feeb and are greeted and kissed, then the dinos leave again, eat, go back into and on top of the feeb, jump up and down from the couch, etc., etc., etc. Game time is 5:00 am or thereabouts and the second round is after breakfast. Third and fourth rounds happen whenever the schedule allows, but there's usually another round before bedtime because now the dinosaurs go bathing, too.

A special benefit that the game provides is the many opportunities to use the word "too." The narration goes something like this:

"Dinosaur feeb! Baby, too. Monkey, too. Lion, too."

"T-Rex eating eggs. Triceratops, too. Brontosaurus, too."

"Visit penguin. T-Rex, too. Triceratops, too."

Yes it's cute, but after a few hundred games I think I'm going to lose my mind.