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November 17, 2003
Hey everyone,
Do what I do…
I know as parents we spend a lot of time teaching – consciously teaching. But it’s the unconscious stuff that can be fun as well. I have always said “please” to Sam whenever he wants something. Eventually he started mimicking me and now asks “peese” whenever he wants anything. But what I didn’t realize that every time I said ‘please,” I would follow it with a “thank you” when he got the item. And Doug and I always use this language when asking for things from each other. And after the “thank you” always comes a “your welcome.” One day this week Sam came up to me with a “peese” for a crayon. I gave it to him and he said, “tank you.” I did a double take, did he really say that? He has done it every time I’ve given him something since. Then today he was bringing me alphabet magnets. Every time he gave me one I would say “thank you.” He would respond with a “you wecom.” I never told him he had to respond this way, but by modeling polite behaviour I seem to have a very polite toddler!
La, la la, la la
Can someone really sing all day? In Sam’s world you can. Sam is a singing machine. He wakes up singing and up until bedtime (which we all know he’s not find of!!) he’ll sing. He can now sing -- from start to finish -- the ABC song, Twinkle Twinkle, Old Macdonald (but only with a cow and a pig!!), Baa Baa, Pat a Cake, the Winnie the Pooh theme and the Blue Jays Anthem. And I have to tell you – they sound right. Sure the pronunciation is very soft and you KNOW he doesn’t have a clue what it is that he is saying – but it sounds like he does. For example, here’s what the end of the ABC song sounds like from Sam -- “Now I nooo my AECs, net ty ownt oo sing if me.” Not bad. I just find it humorous that he is always singing. Whenever the radio is on, he tries to sing the words (unsuccessfully). He tries to sing along with any toy that plays a tune. He tries to sing along to the words on Blues Clues (my fav – sit in tink chair an’ tink, tink, tiiiiiiinnnnnk). We also play a kids CD in the car and he’s picked up on the oddest words. In My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, he’ll hum along, say words like sea and me. But he sings very clearly and loudly – the word “dead.” Nice. He wakes up singing. I am certainly raising a singing fool.
Shy Guy
Sam is also becoming more and more shy. I have NO idea what to do about this. Now if any stranger (or friends he sees infrequently) looks at him directly, children included, he buries his head in my shirt or pulls his shirt up and ducks his head. When we are out with a crowd he has to see me at all times, and if anyone dares talk to him – he runs to me all panicky. Anyone else have a shy child? What do you do? Ever since the day Sam was born he has not liked being held by anyone other than family. It’s like he was born this way. I thought daycare would help, and I think it does to a point. But I am also afraid that being in a crowd of kids is terrifying for a shy kid like Sam. It’s funny how we all have to deal with stuff. I love that Sam is obedient and doesn’t have a temper. But maybe this submissiveness is just another manifestation of shyness? Who knows.?
Popping Teeth
Sam is almost done with his eye teeth. Thank goodness! Sam doesn’t teeth well; he gets whiny and sleeps poorly. He gets a bright red face and a sore bum. And he drools like a three month old. I know a lot of moms give Motrin for teething but for Sam it’s all about the Tylenol! Motrin might as well be candy. Last night I swear Sam had the worst night since he started sleeping through the night. He woke up twice and it required 45 minutes of rocking and cuddling to calm the tears and to lull him back to sleep. He woke up a half dozen other times and let out a few cries and went back to sleep. Poor guy. My DH ended up working until two in the morning so we were ALL basket cases this morning. So these last two teeth can pop through ANY time now. I am hoping we’ll get a year long respite before he gets his two year molars. Two and a half sound like a good age!
Computer Woes
The main reason I have been gone so long from updating is that my computer died. Again. This time the hard drive went and we lost EVERYTHING. Nothing was recoverable. And I am royally ticked about the whole thing. I bought this computer two days before Sam was born – not exactly an old machine. I bought an IBM because I wanted the reliability of a brand name. This thing has been in the shop four times and we’ve had three calls with their support line to get it functioning. In a year and a half! Now it is out of warranty. We paid for the new hard drive but I am FIGHTING with IBM to get it paid for. Obviously this machine is defective. Two of the reasons it’s been in is that the fan has died and it overheated, and the capacitors (sp?) were leaking and the mother board had to be replaced. Don’t tell me these didn’t affect the hard drive. But the worst is losing stuff. – especially budgeting info I did a backup in July – so we have everything up to then. This will teach me to back up more regularly. And luckily I had burned a CD of photos literally the day before this happened, so I have all the “good” pictures that I wanted printed. I lost my iParenting password, but luckily I had it at work as well. But my email address book is HARD to replicate. First of all, the only time I have an address is if people have been emailing me at work. Second of all I have no way of contacting many of my online friends to tell them to send me their address. And I have lost a whole slew of emails that I owed responses too. I also had all of my online friends’ mailing addresses and phone number saved on Outlook. Dumb place now that I think of it!! So if any of you email me at my home address (not the hotmail one) – please send me an email so I can start rebuilding my address book!
Weekend Away
This past weekend was my DHs birthday. I decided to surprise him with a weekend away. This involved a lot of planning over several months. Primarily – I had to maneuver to get my folks to fly out to watch Sam. My dad is a pilot and he bids for his schedule a month in advance. But we got all the logistics together. DH thought my parents were coming out for the long weekend (in Canada we get the 11th off for Remembrance Day). I took the Monday off which meant a five day break (I don’t work Fridays). Anyway, he just thought they were coming for a visit which just happened to coincide with his birthday. Plus, he was thrilled for the free babysitting (el cheapo!!!). After some last minute scrambling (I came down that morning to find the wheels off my car as he decided to change brakes for the first time in his life!!!) – we were out the door. He had no idea – I completely surprised him on the drive into the Rocky Mountains.
I rented a nice room in a “rustic elegant” resort. Very mountain-esque. For someone who usually looks to Super 8 for accommodations, this was nice. Our room had high ceilings with post and beam construction. One wall was dominated by a large wood burning fireplace. The bathroom included an old fashioned claw footed tub. The whole place had underfloor heating for that cozy feeling. Our balcony had an unobstructed mountain view and grapevine furniture. It was a bright, sunny weekend without a cloud in the sky. It’s amazing how easily you can recharge your batteries in just two days. We strolled through the mountain town, stopping for hot chocolate when we got chilled. We ate at a bustling (un-kid friendly!!) bistro in town. We had a gourmet supper by candlelight and read our books by the fire. Heaven!
Sam had a terrific time with Nanny and Poppy. He was calling them by name by the end of the weekend. They adore Sam and play with him non-stop. Sam isn’t shy at all with them, and although he’s been super mom-clingy lately, as soon as I leave he is happy as a clam. He even slept until 8 in the morning for them (as compared to the usual 6:30). Oh, and my mom taught Sam the whole Pat-A-Cake spiel complete with actions. This may not sound like such an achievement, but those who have read my diary know that my mom has paralyzed vocal chords and her voice is less than a whisper. But Sam obviously can understand her – he mimicked the words correctly. Made her day.
When we returned from the mountains we decided to take a few extra hours and do some Christmas shopping. What fun! We were like kids ourselves in Toys R Us. The thing is that the majority of toys we picked up said age 3+. But the 18 month + seemed way too babyish. Am I overestimating the abilities of a 20 month old? I figured as long as it didn’t have small parts and wasn’t too complex, he’d be OK. Any experienced moms out there with thoughts on age range and toys?
TTC
I thought I’d close with this fun stuff. The one thing that sucked about our weekend away was that AF arrived on Saturday. But I was expecting her. I haven’t known how to address this well, on the Internet for all to read so I’ll be brief and obscure! Basically I, and my drs., thought I’ve had a yeast infection (YI) for two months. It’s been torture. Much testing later turns out it is not yeast, but what is it? We are working on it. I have had a drs. apt. every week for ages. Right now I am taking estrogen as the working assumption based on results is that my, um, issues down there are as a result of an estrogen deficiency. I didn’t ask (why I don’t know), but I wonder if that explains why I am “sub-fertile?” I honestly think Clomid is causing all of this as all this discomfort coincided with my first cycle of Clomid. I just finished my last course – and then I am off it for the “Clomid break.” So we’ll see what happens I guess.
This is a long entry. And this is all I have to report!
All the best,
Jenn and Sam
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