Happy October

Yay for October. Just one step closer to November, then December, then.....okay, yeah.
Anyways, we finally got some video clips uploaded of MonkeyPants playing the piano and walking. He also sings.
Not much time to write much more right now. Here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di1RJzvixzc

Mine! Mine!

That's right. I think he understands the word "mine". Joshua, that is. Shaun still doesn't understand "mine" when I say it to him. Hee hee.
He had his dump truck with the blocks in it and from across the room, he goes "No!" and gets to that truck as fast as he possibly could. Then he snatches the two blocks from inside it and says quite clearly, "Mine!" And pushes the truck.
What we are not understanding is how he didn't realize that the truck is his too.

He--Joshua again--has also learned how to share. We know this because we have been trying to teach him and this morning he had a grand old time taking a bite of pancake, then stuffing a fistful into my mouth. Here ya go, Mama, I'll share! I was laughing so hard I almost choked on a mouthful. At one point, I said "Mmmmm that's yummy." Then he decides, OK, she wants some more. And literally used his fist to hold my mouth open while shoving in several more fistfuls. Yay, he knows how to share nicely.

Why either of those stories would be interesting to anyone, I don't know. I have no idea why I wrote them down. Except that I need to fill space and that worked. Nothing else new here. It rained today so we stayed indoors all day.

mama mama, noooo Daddy!

Saturday we took Joshua to the pumpkin patch. He rode a little tractor and had himself a fun time in the corn maze, and picking out some pumpkins for me to cook with.








Lots of fun. We got lost in the corn maze because Joshua has no sense of direction and we let him lead. Who was the smartest in that scene?

Sunday, Shaun woke up with an extremely scratchy throat and sore so he stayed home from church. One little boy informed me that I am "Just a little bit crazy." I has lots of great needs-a-second-adult activities planned, so I was doing double duty, and double characters in the story reenactment. I asked him if that was a bad thing, and he said" I like crazy."

I thought it was especially funny that when Joshua woke up in the morning, we didn't get him right away, and he started to wail. "maMA! maMA!" here, I started to get out of bed, "maMA! noooooooooo DA-DEE!!!!!!!!" hee hee, your turn, daddy.
I took some time to pick up his books and toys BEFORE bedtime last night, and when Shaun brought him back in to the living room, the little monkey-butt just tore everything right out.
Also, not sure if it made it to this blog or not, but there have been incidents around here with his food. He likes to stash it--in pants, diapers, corners, pockets--and save bits of it for later on snacks. We are trying to catch him in the act to explain no-no to him, but so far, we watch him like a hawk and don't see it until he's sitting there pulling the food from his diaper and eating it! Sits next to a table in the living room and all of the sudden there is food there. We found cereal puffs stuffed under the furniture when we moved it to vaccuum. Isn't 9 mo. too soon to be this sneaky? Anyway, today, he put some dry cereal puffs in my bra.
Thats right, he came up to me with a fistful of puffs and pulled back my shirt and BURIED them. He didn't just drop 'em in. No, his arm was almost up to his elbow in there and then he patted them into place over my shirt!
What do I say to that? I should have said no-no, but I was just so surprised! And of course, as soon as I begin to say something to him, he pulls the wet one from his mouth to add to the stash. I say no, so he shares it with MY mouth instead. "I bet Mama wants to taste this one that I slobbered and sniffled all over...."
Oy!
And it's still morning today. I think I'm going to be BUSY MOM today.

We got a Walking-Talking-Snot-Mobile

Almost a week, I know, I know. I tried to post once and accidentally deleted my post, sooo......I gave up for a few days. We have been busy.
Joshua can walk. Two to Four steps if he is pleasant and conscious of it. If he is angry and crying, he has made it all the way across the room! He also picked up his gate system and moved it out of his way today. Uh-OH!!!!!!!
Joshua had his nine month checkup on Monday and had a good review. He grew two inches in one month!! No wonder those clothes didn't want to fit anymore! He is in the 90% for height and 95% for weight. He is a little bit behind in clapping, pointing, waving. He is the most coordinated baby his doctor has seen, but can't seem to master hand-to-hand. We will just keep teaching him.
Friday, we were back at the doctor's office because of bloody sneezes. In less than a week, this kid managed to get fluid backing up his ears, double ear infection, and a sinus infection. Thankfully, he still didn't know he wasn't feeling well and was playful and friendly with the doctors. He also is still behaving at home. Hopefully the antibiotic(which tastes like candy) will work before he feels any pain. Tomorrow it is time to clean the humidifier again. Sigh. This is likely allergy related, but if it continues(he's always got fluid buildup!), we will have to see an ENT and talk about the possibility of tubes in his ears. Hopefully not.
My week has been boring otherwise. I picked out some shoes for Joshua, and a pair for me...hee hee. Then I changed my mind, then I found a generic brand that is supposed to be similar. I will have to go to Target and see.
My biggest point of interest this week has been learning about Seventh Generation Feminine Hygiene Products and also about something called MAma cloth---boys don't want to know, I promise. These are all natural products that I had no idea existed! All I have known is an allergy to the main product line. So nice to find out about this stuff. I urge other women to Google both products and see if it is right for your lifestyle.
Shaun came home from work early with a head cold, so I hit the walgreens and am drugging him up. We will see. Tomorrow is our scheduled day for a trip to the pumpkin patch for some "fall" pictures of baby. I'm excited.

A step, A step....!!!!!!

OKAY.

My son kept me up every single hour last night. I have not had a nap yet today and it is almost 6:30. I did my social duties as a Children's Church leader at church and hung out in the nursery for Sunday School. I have been sleepy and dealing with sleepy and cranky kids all day. I think I've handled myself well, AND managed to get a homemade dinner on the table, just in time to hear my husband say, "I don't want any." WHO is the baby in this house and WHO is the grown up? :) Yes, that was just a little bit evil of me and I shouldn't have said it. I'm tired, so what.

It is all made worthwhile when Shaun says, "He took a step. A real step! He wasn't holding onto anything." And of course I figured he made it up. Why I would think that, I do not know ;).
Then he did it for me after his bath. It was a lonely little step, sort of small and not holding onto anything, and yeah, he did decide after a couple seconds that crawling was more efficient, but he did it.
He was also excited to hear his mama, "Yeah! You did it! A step! Good boy!" And to see the clapping hands must have made it well worth his trouble. It made my day of playing and trying to hold myself together seem worth it for me. It made standing him up in the middle of the floor and saying, "Take a step!" all week seem worth it. He took that step.

Now I want to go cry and wonder exactly how far away from me that step will lead him.

He misses me....

My mom stayed with my kid today. We had to leave the house at 6 am and did not get home until 4:30 in the pm. That was crazy. She didn't call to tell me he was OK, either. I had to call her. He was tired, late to bed, midnight wakings and early wake up will do that to a kid. Especially a 9 month old. But he was well behaved. He preferred milk to food, and was acting sleepy and not feeling like playing.
Then we got home and she said it was like unleashing the wind. Little monkey-butt, was so excited, and crawling, cruising, wrestling with us. Ate 3 oz of yogurt a little bit of chicken and a little bit of squash, plus a bottle of milk. Then down to bed peaceably. I am sooooo glad he missed us. I felt really weird without him all day, I have never been more than 4 or 5 hours maximum away from him. I was worried about him. But his grandma did O.K. with him.
I am glad for that. Makes me feel comfortable about the possibility of more day trips in the future.
She got him to eat off a spoon for her. Little nut will BARELY do that for us.

The conference for the Children's Church went really well, we came away with lots of cool ideas. I am really glad about that.

That's about all I can think of right now.

Ting-a-ling-a-ringy-ding-ding

If you didn't guess by the subject of this posting, last night was an official start to children's handbells and our Wednesday night Kids Club at church. Shaun and I had fun, me in charge of the kids and their story and craft and snacks, him in charge of the music we will be working on for our Christmas program. Here's a bright, bold newsflash. I CANNOT PLAY HANDBELLS. Seriously, I was a filler bell until we get more kids. They did so much better than me. Alas, I am apparently only good at arranging their reading and music/acting. oh well. Shaun kept wincing at me and I think the girls got a huge laugh out of it all. The sad part is it is all color-coded, since they are bells for kids. *whoops*

Shaun is currently playing with the little monkey we call a son. He is playing Poke Joshua in the Belly Button. It is a new favorite around here. So much so that Joshua will randomly crawl over, stand up while we are sitting on the couch, pull up my shirt and poke MY belly button and then laugh and laugh. He thinks he is the silliest kid in town.

HSM came on the Disney Channel the other night and SOMEBODY can see the television from his high chair. All of the sudden, between bites, we are hearing an echo. "Bop bop bop, yeah"(television). "Boo boob bob bob bob yah yah yah bob bob" (Joshua). We almost choked while he worked out his bop-bops, it was so funny.

Got my sleep training book from the library today. Hopefully it's going to work. :)

That's about all I can think of since it is almost bedtime. Want to come go Night-nights with us?

dun, dundun dun, Duuuuuunn.......

I feel like today was the warning bass music for those bad mystery movies. He's either teething or about to get sick. Possible growth spurt, but the last time he had a growth spurt, he did NOT have diarrhea from it, he has short-pants syndrome from it, but not diarrhea. So my mom is coming out Friday night to watch him all day Saturday. I REALLY hope he doesn't get sick. Like, REALLY.
Naptime today was totally freaking awesome. As in a FOUR HOUR nap(one of the signs of teething/sickie), I got so much stuff done. Also the UPS and FedEx guys were here to deliver the bookbags that I ordered and part of my Christmas gift order. YAY. I was really excited about the bookbags. I put one on Joshua.



He wouldn't sit still for the picture. He picked a book and we put it in the bag and put it on him, and as soon as we went outside it was totally like, "Let me go to school or something. I got places to go...."

The Children's Handbells at church are going really well for me, except that I am really really awful at them. :) Good thing I am just acting as a filler if some of the kids aren't there. But the group in general is excited and pleasant.

I wish my kid would stop knocking down the tv. gate.
Really that is all for today, I got housework done because my kid was particularly sleepy. oh well.

Maybe tomorrow there will be something more interesting.

AHHHHH!

Cry-it-out sucks.
I am a firm believer that if and when all else fails, let them cry themselves to sleep. Joshua has never been a problem sleeper, but the past few weeks, he has developed nightmares and wakes up screaming like a banshee. In contrast, he is also afraid of his crib now. tenses up and starts screaming when put to bed.
Re-sleep train him, I've been told. So here we are. We haven't dealt with this up-all-night syndrome since he was 5 weeks old. I am having a hard time adjusting, and am tired and cranky. So we got out the books and methods and re-read up on them, and have settled on cry-it-out. Not my first choice, but he didn't cooperate with the more gentle theories.
The pain in my heart of sitting, listening to him scream to be picked up, is tearing me up. Poor guy. So far he hasn't asked for Mama or Dada yet. We have done it for 3 nights and days(naps) now, and it is getting better. we are at my parents and no nightmares last night! One wake up, but he was 'happy baby' at that time. Maybe I will be able to catch up on my sleep soon. Migraines suck too!

On an amusing note, when we stay at my parent's house, the portable crib is in the same room as us. Shaun was snoring really bad last night, in fact it woke me up at around 1:30 am. as I am trying to fall back asleep, I hear this giggling. that's right, Joshua was sitting up, laughing hysterically every time that Shaun snored. He thought it was a game. When I picked him up to go get some warm milk, he tried to peek inside my mouth. Hey, it wasn't coming from ME, kiddo!

Yesterday we went to the Wayne County fair and saw horsies and moo-cows and piggies and he ate funnel cake(thank you Grandma!) and watermelon, and was generally excited. Come back to Grandma's house and see Granddad, and the puppies and get even MORE excited. Yay!

We found that Mott's has some blended applesauces, like peach-mango-applesauce that is sugar free, and I am going to try that to get some apple into him. :)

Not much happened yesterday, so not much to write about.

WELCOME TO MY WORLD...

This is going to be my blog. I had strayed so far away, but alas, as if raising a 9 month old who is contantly on the go is not enough, I thought to stretch my boundaries. Blogging away. Welcome to my world. It is the strange, mundane, occasionally twisted, always obsessive over my kid place that I am blogging to escape. :)

WHAT DID JOSHUA DO TODAY?
Joshua threw a fit at church. The girl in the nursery caught me in the hall and asked me with a slight look of terror on her face...
"Why does he have such a strong dislike for the word no?"
What am I supposed to say to that? You know, because when I am told that I can't do something that looks like fun, I usually smile sweetly and go on about my business. He's 9 months old and he knows what "no" means. He has a fit when told "no." She had never seen this precious baby boy throw a fit. A knock down, fall on the floor, kick and scream, tears pouring out F-I-T. She didn't know what to do with him.

To that I answer--well, most of the time I don't even know what to do with him, and I have him for more than just Sunday morning. Ha. Point, Match, Game, I win. I'm beginning to wonder if his new nickname ought to be "Toddler of Terror." With a big bass DUNDUNDUN in front of it. He has begun to figure out how to get around SO MANY THINGS! Including getting into the mailbox and tearing up the mail when I'm not looking, tearing down his gates. Yes, you read correctly. Down with gate-systems, he has figured them out.

And my latest whammy...We do infant potty training in this house. It works really well. Yesterday I dumped the poo chunks into the big potty to clean his chair out, and of course, I blinked. And in went a fist to SAVE HIS POOP FROM THE SWIRLING VORTEX OF DRAINAGE. Of course he wanted to share it with me, while I spent the time doing to hop around dance going,
"Ew. Ew. Gross. Put. That. Back. Right. Now. Gross. Ew."
And he was laughing and laughing. He very gingerly set the poos back in the toilet water, like he had saved a fish. Whether or not he actually understood me is up for debate, but he was proud of himself. He had a fit when I flushed again and took him to wash his hands. He seemed genuinely concerned for the disappearing poop.

And that is how I have spent my weekend. Rescuing poop from little boy rescuing hands.
Not sure that interests anyone, really.