No more Pafowahs!

Today is Wednesday, February 29, and I'm finally ready to say that Wednesday, February 15, 2012 was Desmond's last night sleeping with a pacifier! He was 2 years, 2 months,  3 weeks, and 1 day old.

I was honestly beginning to wonder if we'd ever manage to get rid of it. He was VERY attached to his pacifiers. They have been crib-only since he was about 5 or 6 months old, and he would eagerly go in there to nap or sleep because he knew it meant he could have his pacifiers. He usually had one in his mouth and 2 in each hand. Even though 4 of the 5 were identical, he could tell by mouth feel which was which. In the dark, if you gave him one, he would turn around and tell you, "No. Blue pafowah." (There were 2 blue ones. He could tell them apart. We still can't figure out the differences between them.)

In the end, it was a trip to Tootsie and Pop's house that did it. (That also worked to get Dexter using the potty last summer. I am OK with this trend.)

The first night there, he asked for the pacifiers. I told him, "Tootsie doesn't have any pacifiers." The little negotiator held up his empty hands and said, "Only 2 pafawahs." There was more negotiating, but he ended up going to sleep without them without much fuss, probably because he was so exhausted from being awake and pretty much constantly running around from 7am until 9pm.

The second night, he slept in the big bed at Tootsie's house. He knows there are no pacifiers in big boy beds. Again, his exhaustion helped us along a little.

There were a couple of HORRIBLE nights in there that probably would have been remedied with a pacifier, but by then, we weren't going back.

We decided that he would come home to a big boy bed and that would be the end of it. (I feel like this post should be more about his graduation to a big boy bed. But the pacifier thing is really much more exciting.) He hasn't asked for a pacifier since the weekend.

The big boy bed.
Yes, it's a mattress on the floor. Falling out is still an issue.

The downside is that Dexter and Desmond both LOVED hiding under that crib. It was a source of much entertainment. Eventually, their beds will be off the floor, and they'll be able to have fun like that again. Hopefully they won't have outgrown such things (physically or intellectually) by then.

Overall, I think we're all still adjusting. He's only been in his own big boy bed for 4 nights. Last night, he went to sleep at about 10:00, woke up at 11:45 to get himself some milk from the fridge, then woke up again at 1:30 to get more milk from the fridge, then again at 4:30 - more milk and then settled in our bed.

Hopefully multiple nighttime wakings will phase out quickly, and we'll all finally be on the road to more and better sleep. It's been more than 3 years since we've done that consistently, so it really is time.

YAY for big boy beds and YAY for no more pacifiers and hopefully a big YAY for less orthodontia in the future. So proud of my big boy.

Fwd: kid report (Mom is traveling for work)

From: Dennis Cooley
Date: December 7, 2011 11:14:04 PM EST
To: Danielle Cooley
Subject: kid report

Last night at 3am I hear Desmond in the kitchen asking for you quite loudly.  I run in there to quiet him down before Dexter wakes up and carry him to our room.  He was asking for something in his little nice guy voice, although quite loud (he had probably been up and talking for a while and I slept through it, so he got louder).  It sounded like broccoli.  So I asked him if he wanted broccoli, and he said "brok-ee?  umhum."  So whatever he was saying wasn't broccoli, but broccoli was an acceptable substitute.

But I knew the only broccoli we had was still frozen, so I talked him into an apple.  Only thing I could think of that he could eat in bed without crumbs and things.  After his approval, I went to the kitchen and peeled and cubed half an apple, put it in a little bowl, and propped him up on your side of the bed.  He was happy and ate all of it (or hid it somewhere - who knows? I was trying to get him to fall asleep by leading by example).

After his snack, Desmond couldn't really get comfortable, but he was mostly laying still.  Around four Dexter just shows up at the door and walks calmly to my side of the bed. I lift him in, and he lays down and proceeds to fall asleep - neither of us said anything.  He only woke slightly a few times when Desmond tried to say hi.

If I understood Melissa correctly, Dexter and Desmond got to nap together today in the twos room - and both napped very well.  I know both got a good nap in, just not positive they were in the same room.

Right before bath we were watching Elmo movie, and I gave them each some water to drink in a big boy cup (last night before bath they couldn't drink enough water after brushing teeth).  Desmond spilled his, mostly on me but some on him and the couch.  I told him not to worry about it, clock was almost blue.  He sat there for another minute then got up and went to the kitchen.  I heard him moving his stool around and though he might have been going for food, but I let him do his thing because clock was almost blue.  Then he shows up at the couch with a hands/face washcloth and proceeds to wipe my leg and the couch with it.

Since he sacrificed Elmo movie time to clean me, I moved bath time back a little.  :)

Gotta go - need to shower.

Desmond is 23 Months Old!

So big!

And happy! Most of the time, anyway. Being almost 2 still has its inherent challenges.

Teeth: Still 16. No sign of those last 4 molars yet.

Height: Tall. Judging from the way he fits into the clothes we've pulled out for winter, he's considerably taller than Dexter was at 23m. He's also the tallest in his class (and the oldest, so maybe that's not so surprising).

Weight: If anything, he's lost a few ounces this month, thanks to what we hope is just a standard toddler-esque finicky appetite. (see below)

Sleep: Much better than last month, maybe because that last canine is mostly through now. He has now realized, though, that he is able to climb out of the crib. Mostly, he only does this in the morning when it really is time to get up. On two occasions (so far), he has gotten out because he didn't want to nap. The most recent time, I put him back in his crib, and he just stayed there, upset, until he fell asleep. Please, if there is a god, let her keep the boy in his crib longer. A lot longer.

Food: Still hit or miss. He eats a good variety of food, just not too much of it, and not on our timetable. He will wander the house while the rest of us eat dinner, and be fine for the rest of the night. The next morning, though, the first thing we hear when he wakes up is"Behfist?" in his cute little squeaky voice. Waffles are still a favorite. He will pull them out of the freezer himself and eat them cold. (We do offer to toast them, but he apparently prefers them cold.) French fries ("Foo Fize") are also a big draw. We try to limit these and/or do baked ones at home so his arteries aren't completely clogged before kindergarten. But if he hasn't eaten much in a few meals, Foo Fize are a good bet to get him to the table.

Words: Desmond is dazzling us with his exploding vocabulary. He throws around 3-word sentences like there's no tomorow, often with very clear subjects, verbs, and objects. ("Alligator... bite... yooooouu" or "Not nice, Dehter!" or "Mow waffuh peese?")  "No!" is still very common, now often accompanied by a sincere stomp of his right foot. Interestingly, he isn't much on saying, "yes," even when the answer is yes. He'll just repeat what you say in a little high-pitched squeak and smile. ("Do you want more milk?" "Mouh meelgh?")

Books: Books are falling out of favor slightly, in that he isn't much interested in reading them during the day, and now he's so tired at night that he jumps at the chance to go to bed even if we've only done one book. Also? He likes to sleep with some books. Doesn't even really look at them, but he just wants them in the crib with him. If there are no books, he might climb out of the bed, get one, put it in the crib, then ask you to put him back in his crib (since he can climb out, but not back in). Fascinating.

TV: Yep. Still loves TV. "Watch... panda?" "Watch... fish?" "Watch... Yo Yo Gabba?" <-- that last one should be "Yo Gabba Gabba." Fun.  We'll just throw his love for iPhone games and videos on the computer in here, too. ("Mommy phoam?" "Daddy... phoam?") And yes, these things usually need to be fought over with his big brother.

Colors: Refuses to learn pink vs. purple and has regressed on white. (Black things are now "white.") Red and green are getting better, though.  We've tried to do some sorting by color, but he won't even sit still long enough for a demonstration. Stubborn.

Bikes: He still LOVES his tricycle! He and Dexter take turns on the big wheel and tricycle. Desmond still refuses to pedal with his feet. Apparently this is developmentally appropriate, but it's still frustrating because I really think he could do it if he would just listen to us for 10 seconds while we show him how. There was a lot of outdoor biking this month, and the basement is perfect for it on bad-weather days. I hope that continues to be a worthwhile activity as we go into winter.

Other Likes & Dislikes: Making messes, mostly. If he sees a neat pile of something, he can't resist scattering it about with whatever force necessary. He likes playing with the wooden trains and train tracks. So much so that he and Dexter sometimes get their own mini-loops, since taking turns is excruciating for both of them. He also loves driving cars around on the furniture and flying airplanes around the room. Very cute. :)

Jumping on Dexter's bed before bath and running around in his hooded towel after bath are both also seriously fun. He has a favorite bath towel - an alligator taking a shower. (Apparently it's actually a crocodile. We aren't going to correct him.) It's pretty sad when it's dirty, because flashing it will get him to cooperatively get out of the tub every time. And when you DO show it to him, his little face lights right up.

Another long-favorite? The penguin bath toy from this set. He's loved it for a loooooong time, but the toys are starting to get icky. It's going to be sad when we have to say goodbye to penguin.

Dislikes? Nothing specific. Hates everything when he chooses to (bath, diaper, dinner, trains, tv, shoes, whatever) and loves them when he chooses to (again, bath, diaper, dinner, trains, tv, shoes.)  Sometimes we actually work up a sweat wrestling a diaper onto the kid because he's trying so hard to get away. Other times, he says, "New diapuh?" in that squeaky little smiley voice and lies perfectly still while we do the change.  It's the same for bath, food, various toys, getting dressed, everything. Part of being (almost. ALMOST!) 2, I guess.

Dexter is 3!

Dexter is THREE!

So far, he hasn't turned into the horrible monster everyone warned me about. Being 3 is still pretty tough sometimes, but with maturity also comes (some) ability to reason. It's like a giant fog occasionally lifts, and he can get a clear view of cause and effect.

He is still a very tall boy (40 inches, 88th %ile), and crazy wiry (36.4 pounds, ??%ile). You can see just about his entire musculature. He has six-pack abs, visible head separation in his calves, pronounced quadriceps (not cut there, though - that's about the only spot he has any fat left on him), clear deltoids and lats, and firm little cheeks from laughing all the time. He can put his forearms on the counter - JUST his forearms - and lift himself up enough to get his knee up there and climb up. (Yes, I discovered this when I walked into the kitchen and found several things from high shelves sitting on the countertop. He was happy to demonstrate his technique for me.)

We get a lot of "Don't kiss me!" often followed with a big snuggle and a kiss not long after. Once it was, "You can only kiss me in the garage." Ha!

His favorite activities are still physical ones. Riding bikes is a lot of fun. The weather has stayed good for a while (even a month beyond the birthday, when I am actually writing this), so he has been able to ride outside often. Naturally, Daredevil Dexter can't just ride them on the large deck we provide mostly for this purpose. No, he has to go backwards down the hill by the basement door. Or, if his mean parents force him to stay on the deck, he is power sliding all over the place.

We've officially entered the "Mom! Watch me! Watch me do this!" phase, which is still pretty cute. Most of the time.

His second favorite activity is probably watching YouTube videos on Mom's phone, Dad's phone, the computer or the TV, roughly in that order. He has (finally) learned to use the mouse and can control his own video selection. We just check back occasionally to make sure he hasn't landed on anything inappropriate. Most common requests are "big boom boats" or "big boom trains." "Crashing trains" is another. We try to throw in slightly more educational things, like volcanoes or sea turtles, but I'd be lying if I said he's asked for that more than a handful of times.

Moving things of all kinds are still incredibly exciting. Diggers of all kinds - especially when they are moving - must be viewed for a few moments if we pass one. Airplanes, trains, boats, buses (school and city), dump trucks, jeeps - you name it. It. Is. So. Exciting!

He and Desmond play together a lot now. They will laugh and laugh and jump and run and laugh some more, until someone accidentally bonks heads or lays on top of the other for too long. Then there's drama and tears for a minute until they start laughing again. They're mostly good about taking turns, though Dexter is pretty sneaky about the way he goes about it - offering Desmond a different toy so he can play with the one Desmond has. Pretty transparent to us, but not yet to Desmond. As long as they are both happy, we are not going to complain. Desmond is starting to hold his ground more, though, so it should be an interesting few months coming up.

Dexter still doesn't sleep well. Really. 20 months and counting of this. Can you imagine how smart he would be if he got enough sleep? He wakes up once or twice a night, probably 6 nights a week now. Comes into our bed and usually falls back asleep quickly, but not always. Potty use at night is not as consistent as we would like. He'll go a week, even 2, with no accidents, then need to change pajamas at 2:00 a.m. three nights in a row. We had one freak daytime accident a couple of weeks ago, but he's been 99.9% with daytime potty use, even during nap.

His brilliance continues to impress. He's a counting madman, not even needing to do "1, 2, 3..." for small quantities. He'll just glance and say "There are three of them." He knows every set of opposites we can think of. He's doing 24-piece puzzles with incredible ease, but doesn't have the patience to sit still long enough to do anything much bigger. So we're trying to find new ways to challenge him there.

We are still working on left and right. And nose-blowing. But hey, some gradeschoolers don't have those down, so I think we're still OK there.

His imagination is really taking off. That's not necessarily a *terribly* new thing, but probably just within the last couple of months. Every night at dinner, some new piece of food is a boat (sailing around his spot at the table) or an airplane or whatever. He'll also tell you *he* is (a lion, a dinosaur, etc). Again, fun.

Aaannnddd....  That's about it. He is still the same Dexter he has been basically since birth - the first and loudest laugher (hiccups are HILARIOUS!), the energetic daredevil. And ridiculously brilliant and handsome, too. :)

Desmond is 22 Months Old!

And boy is 22 months VERY close to 2, in so many ways. He is more hilarious, more energetic, more verbal, and much much more opinionated, all in one increasingly tall package.

Teeth: ONE new tooth since last month!  His bottom right canine came in on or just before September 18.

Height: Still really tall. Holding out for his birthday for an official measurement.

Weight: If anything, he's lost a few ounces this month, thanks to what we hope is just a standard toddler-esque finicky appetite. (see below)

Sleep: I can't say this has been his best sleep month. In fact, it's probably one of his worst since infancy. Waking up once a night almost every night, often waking up his brother (and sometimes being awoken by his brother). He's also just started, in the last week or so, employing stall tactics at bedtime and naptime. Says he wants a song (often, the "burp burp" song - the one we sang to both boys while burping them as infants. An odd resurgence of that one, I think.) or "rock-rocks," but really he's just stalling. He used to be the kid that would tell you, "Naptime!" and now he is the kid who stalls.  Thank god he is still trapped in his crib, or none of us would ever get any sleep.

Food: Ugh. While we could usually count on him to eat 3 breakfasts if offered, he now refuses food (all kinds of food) often, and when we find something he IS willing to eat, we shovel as much of it into him as we can. Of course, that's the same food he refused the day before and will refuse again tomorrow. So it's not so much what food it is but what mood he's in at the time. He still drinks a lot of milk, which I suppose is better than nothing.


Words: Favorite new word? "Nope!"  It is pretty cute, I must say, even when he is refusing to do things he really needs to do (see "sleep" above). Strangers laugh when they overhear him saying it. He does string some sentences together, but we're still mostly just working with nouns and verbs. "Mom! Fish! Watch! Fish! TV! Please! Fish!" (That's "Mom, I want to watch Finding Nemo, please.") or "Mom! Fish! Eat! Fish! More fish? Please?" (That's "Mom, I would like some of those delicious vanilla goldfish grahams, please!") There is also the occasional adjective - "yucky" or "orange" (his favorite color, I do believe).

Books: This is another one of his stall tactics at bedtime.  He still does legitimately love his books, but lately he asks for more and more instead of going to bed. He still reads a lot of Frosty the Snowman, and we had a great rendition of "Moo, Baa, La La La" a few nights ago. He also really likes "Good Morning Sun," which is where we learned that he knows what a rooster says. ("Ca ca DOO doo!")  It's a good thing he is so cute saying all of the animal sounds, because that humanoid sun is pretty creepy, if you ask me. (Why are their favorite books always your least favorite?)

TV: We've given up all pretense of being a limited TV family. Now we just turn the thing on and sometimes leave it on. Interestingly, Panda has fallen somewhat out of favor. The new go-to is Finding Nemo, which is kindof putting a wrench into our Halloween and birthday plans (both were going to be Panda-esque). I am considering telling them that the TV is broken for a while, but then I'll just spend all of my time breaking up fights or putting people in time out, so I'm not quite sure if/when that will happen.

Phone: His love for the phone hasn't diminished at all in the last month. Nor do we really expect it to for a while, actually. Usually, he doesn't really want you - he just wants your phone.

Colors: Still being quite the stinker here, and I can't tell how much he actually knows and how much is just laziness.  He definitely gets orange every time, and I know he knows yellow and blue. Green and red are still hit or miss, and he often interchanges pink and purple for some reason. White and brown are pretty solid, too.

Other Likes & Dislikes: Play-doh is a new favorite activity.



He picks a color, tells one of us to "oh-pum-it?!" He gets the play-doh out of the container himself. Then you have to mush it for him to give him a flat (ish) palette for him to make various impressions with different cut-outs. He loves it, and it isn't TV, so we are all for that. 

Outside is still fun, but he'll often choose TV over outside. It's that time of year with schizophrenic weather, too, which makes it a little bit challenging to find the right wardrobe for outside play.

OH!!  Songs!  Desmond does love singing songs. Especially "FAST!" like "Foo foo FAST!" (That's "Little Bunny Foo Foo," sung very fast.) Other favorites are Wheels on the Bus, Baby Shark, and Itsy-Bitsy Spider, all of which naturally come with their own fabulous hand motions. What did we talk about at dinner before we spent it singing Baby Shark? I certainly don't know.

I'll close with a few more pictures from today, because whatever I write wont' come close to Desmond's cuteness. These also show his raw nose, since he has a cold that requires constant nose-wiping, and his recent too-short haircut. (Note to self and future stylists - going too short on this kid means spiky hair.)

How's Dexter doing?

Hey look! Another post I didn't finish.

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I've been so busy not keeping up with Desmond's blog posts, I've neglected to do any for Dexter, either.

In fact, it's been so long since I wrote anything substantial about Dexter, I don't even know where to begin, so I guess I'll start with the latest stuff.

Speaking of sleep deprivation, I'm afraid the whole last year and a half or so has been practically defined by Dexter's sleep patterns, or lack thereof. Ever since he climbed out of his crib (March 1, 2010, if anyone is keeping track), it has been a nightly fight to get him in bed and asleep.  Almost all the time, he falls asleep between 9:45 and 10:15. Occasionally, he will fall asleep earlier (July 24, 2011 - 8:50pm) or later (Sept 1, 2011 - 11:00pm), but 10:00, give or take, is the norm. He sleeps through about half of the time. The other half of the time, he ends up in our bed, where he is about 50/50 on either tossing and turning or going right back to sleep.  He's not a great napper (we don't even really try most weekends), so he's getting about 10 hours of sleep/day. Neither awesome nor horrible, but I think we might have slightly fewer tantrums if he were better-rested.

Dexter started putting the "X" in his name a few months ago. So he is now "Dextah" instead of "Deh-tur," which is great and a little sad all at the same time.  Growing up!

He's had all of his letters, with sounds, mastered for some time. I wish I had kept better track of when he nailed those down. If I had to make an educated guess now, I'd have to say it was sometime around February 2011. The Leap Frog Letter Factory video really helped with the sounds part. Who says TV is bad?!

Over the last couple of months, he's really gotten much better at recalling and recounting events, like what he did at daycare during the day, or what he had for breakfast at Grandma's house. It's pretty neat to be able to carry on a real conversation with the kid.

Desmond is 19 Months Old!

'sup?
(Photo taken June 25, 2011.)

As I type, it is July 3. So I am only ... something like 9 days late posting this one. Which, comparatively speaking, is pretty awesome. 

The most exciting thing about Desmond's progress this month is just his explosion of personality (and words!) He does his own thing, talks to you (in a fashion), has definite evolving likes and dislikes, plays, and laughs.

Before we get to the good stuff, here are a few more pictures from June 25.  (I was out of town on June 24, so really, that one is not my fault!)  He was playing on the crib mattress on the floor in Dexter's closet. I mean, it was seriously fun.

I'm a sucker for those tiny lips!

Action shot!

FUN!

And now, the details:

Teeth: No new teeth. Sorry to start off with something so boring. We're still waiting on those canines.

Sleep: He still has the pacifier. ("ah-faw-uh") He loves it. He sleeps well. There's enough other sleep drama going on (::cough:: Dexter ::cough::) that we aren't tackling the pacifier issue just yet. It is so strange and amazing and awesome (the theme of today's musings, I suppose) to behold a child who willingly goes to sleep and sleeps well. He even takes naps! Will run down the hall saying "Nap! Nap!" when we say it's naptime. Craziness.

Food: No big changes here, though he seems a little less willing to try new things. He is also playing more games at the dinner table. Stuff along the lines of "Hey watch me while I be sneaky and throw this food on the floor! And my fork! And I'm going to knock my sippy cup over!" Except he's so freaking cute when he does it that it's tough to be angry at him.  But there is indeed a reason that there are TWO bath towels under his "eating chair."

Words: Holy explosion of words, Batman!  There are so many that I think I may stop counting as of today, and I'll put a separate post listing all of them. It's pretty awesome, though. (See? Awesome!)  I do think I figured out today that what we thought was "happy" is really "help me." Clearly, he's never been in real peril - we never looked at him stuck beneath a giant rock or something, saying "happy!" and we just smiled and said, "You're happy?! I'm happy, too! Everybody is happy!"

Mostly, though, he is surprisingly easy to understand, even for people who don't see him very often.

Books: Desmond still LOVES books and will ask you to read a book randomly in the middle of the day sometimes. Of course, bedtime books remain a staple.His favorite at the moment seems to be "Mystery in Bugtown." He mostly just flips through it, tells us who is sad, then talks about all of the bugs listed in the back. (Ant, Bee, Cricket, Grasshopper, Centipede, Spider, Slug, Cockroach, Ladybug, Katydid... maybe some others.)  And then he tells us that the little bug on the last page is "running." (which he is!)  It's really cute. Awesome, even. :)

TV: Desmond does love TV, too. I'm not sure what would win in a book vs. TV contest, but it's sadly probably the TV. If he hears mention of any of their movies ("Monsters," "Fish," "Two Frogs," or "Panda"), he is in his favorite TV-watching spot before you can finish your sentence. It's seriously a case in which we watch what we say, because something like, "After lunch, we can watch TV" will turn lunchtime into a whinefest.

Speaking of TV, his favorite thing lately is Kung-Fu Panda. (The original one.) We realized today that he says "Pee-ba!" ("Panda") when he wants to watch it. There also seems to be an arm motion that goes with it. It's pretty freaking cute. Hilarious. (And yes, AWESOME! - The Panda says "awesome" a lot. Maybe that's why it's in my head.)



Likes & Dislikes: You know how you write a blog post and then realize later half of the stuff that you should have put in it? That's what happened with Desmond's 18 month update. And I was going to fix it, but I did that one so late that by the time I kept NOT getting around to it, it was pretty much time for the 19 month one.  So, anyway. Desmond really really really likes SWIMMING! Since he loves floating around in the bathtub so much, we started doing swimming lessons a while back. (Hopefully there will be a backdated blog post about that sometime. Maybe.) He loves them! And he's getting pretty brave. He doesn't need to hold your hands to jump into the pool. And he really isn't even all that clingy, although he certainly can't swim by himself, even with a bubble belt and pool noodle. But yes, the kid loves swimming. LOVES it!

He also likes the usual stuff - being outside, going downstairs. Those are pretty big.  He likes cars. A lot. He likes playing with cars and driving them around on the furniture, complete with sound effects. He likes watching cars driving through parking lots or down the street. He likes playing inside Mom's and Dad's cars.

And how best to combine cars and outside? A lawnmower, of course! He doesn't have a whole lot of patience for actual mowing. (It is pretty hot, after all.) But he LOVES sitting on the lawnmower when it's parked in the garage. He just climbs up into the driver's seat like it's exactly where he is supposed to be. As I've said before, I hope their love for the lawnmower and all things outside and yardwork-related sticks around for the next 18-20 years or so.

No big dislikes. He doesn't like it when Dexter "dog piles" on top of him. He isn't a fan of diaper changes. But he is mostly smart enough to avoid things he doesn't like. See above about actually napping when he's tired. And if he's too hot outside, he will actually come inside and drink some water instead of soldiering on.

See? Happy AND smart. (And awesome!)

A Day in the Life

Tootsie said I should post this recap of our adventures this morning. So when you get to the part about giant globs of diarrhea, be sure to tell her that you didn't need to read about that.

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Sleep sleeps weren't so hot last night. Desmond slept through the night, though, like a champ. Dexter finally crashed at about 10:00. Woke up at 2:20. Ended up in our bed, where I "slept" on my allotted 8" of mattress for a while, then switched to Dennis's side, then switched back to my space. Dex was kind enough to scoot over 3-4 inches, so I might have gotten a whole foot for the last 2 hours of the night or so.

Dennis had an early morning. Dex woke up almost immediately after he left, probably because Dennis spent 5 minutes trying to be quiet while he filled his pockets with change, keys, his pocket knife, lighter, money clip, and work badge. I got up with him. He ate a banana, which mercifully did not break in half while we were peeling it. While i was brushing my teeth, Dexter decided to go check on Desmond. Thankfully, Desmond was actually already awake, but Dexter seriously does not understand that he is not supposed to go into Desmond's room in the morning. gah. 

Then they argued and whined and argued and whined. So I ran to get dressed quickly so I could get them dressed and to daycare.  They were in my closet on their rocking chairs (which they had fought over) when I went to finish washing my face. Then Dex comes in and says, "I pooped."  I said, "You want to poop on the potty?" (knowing he had already pooped, but I like to ask) Dex stuffs his hand in the back of his diaper and said, "No. I poopy."  Pulled out his hand, which was covered in slimy diarrhea.  Awesome.

So I brought him into our bathroom to wash his hands, strip him down, and start cleaning him up. He had diarrhea all over the back of his shirt and pants and didn't really want to take them off.  Then he was losing patience with my methodical removal of all of his clothes and wiping of residual diarrhea off of his neck and back. He cried, 'I want a new diaper!!!"  Poor kiddo. He NEVER wants a new diaper. 

The whole walk back to his room, he was obsessed with Desmond, who was still in our bathroom playing in the jacuzzi faucet. I finally got Dex cleaned up and went to check the rocking chair. Blech. Globby clumps of diarrhea in a single, significantly-sized pile.  At least it was isolated, as opposed to Desmond's last diarrhea, which he tracked all over the office and living room. 

I sent them both to school anyway. Dexter may well be done with diarrhea for the day, and if he isn't, this will at least buy me enough time for a shower, which I am headed to now.

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This is really all much funnier (sadder?) when you get the whole backstory that we have been battling diarrhea from both kids for almost two weeks, despite my best efforts to sterilize everything they touch. In fact, here's an update from June 12 (this past Sunday) to put things into perspective:

=====June12=============
Dennis and I spent 2 hours this morning cleaning up vomit and diarrhea. Desmond threw up at some point during the night, then he had a massive diarrhea explosion shortly after breakfast. Dennis found him in the middle of the living room, dripping with diarrhea. My mission then was to find the rest of it, since he had clearly traveled a bit with a leaky diaper. <sigh>  There was a big puddle in the office, and then a trail into the living room.  Managed to get it wiped up, then sprayed the floor with 409 and wiped that up, then got my steam mop out to do some more sterilizing.  Stripped the bed and the changing pad, wiped down the mattress and changing pad and all of the crib slats, put the changing pad cover, crib sheet, crib bumper, and crib mattress pad into the washing machine on HOT, then washed all of the pacifiers with soap & water, then boiled the pacifiers, then finally put on new sheets and a new changing pad cover. 

So, I'm pretty much afraid to send him to daycare tomorrow. Because if he goes and gets sent home, then he is home until at least Wednesday. But if we keep him home tomorrow and he gets better, he can go back on Tuesday. 

Oh, and Dexter had a "loose" poop right as we were finishing cleaning up after Desmond.  Seriously, I have no idea what the heck is making them so sick so often, but I'm ready to sterilize the whole house as though we were bringing home an immunosuppressed chemo patient or something.

I have about 80 hours of work and conference prep to do this week, plus general cooking/cleaning/laundry/bath/bed/etc, so I've got to say I really don't have time for any more diarrhea. :)  And Monday is a firefighting night, of course.  As is Tuesday.

I did some meal planning and am about to get dressed and head to the grocery store. Dennis took both boys to the fire house (with a fully-stocked diaper bag and 2 changes of clothes). Desmond will be more than ready for a nap when they get back. 

 

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See? Fun.  And really, I don't know what parenting hormone it is that makes you want to snuggle and squeeze your babies after you just spent 2 hours cleaning up their diarrhea, but I don't think humankind would have made it very far without it.

Desmond is 18 (and a half) Months Old! (with official stats)

Dude. These boys never want me to blog about them. At least, that must be the case, because they keep me way too busy feeding them and cleaning up after them and reading to them and going outside to play with them. :)

About 2 weeks ago, Desmond turned 18 months old!
(Even though this post is dated May 24, I am actually writing it up on June 11.)

So much has already changed in those two weeks that I don't want to wait any longer, or I won't have anything to write about when he turns 19 months old.

The short version is that we've (finally!) had a Word Explosion! Our Desmo is talking up a storm, speaking surprisingly clearly for someone who's really only been doing some serious talking for a few weeks.

Let's get down to business, shall we?

Official Stats:
Weight: 30 pounds (91st %ile)
Height: 34.5" (95th %ile)
Head Circumference: 18" (14th %ile)

So yeah. He's tall. I hope you were sitting down for that one.


Teeth: Still hanging strong at 12 teeth! I keep waiting for those canines to pop through, but they aren't quite here yet.

Sleep: Desmond is still a very good sleeper. He has started to fuss a little bit at night when he goes down, but he either stops quickly on his own or is easily soothed. He still has his pacifier in the crib, though. Hopefully none of that changes when we take it away. (Which will be soon. We hope. We're trying to find a few days where it won't be tragic if we are sleep-deprived.)

Food: Desmond is still a good eater, though he seems to have slowed down a bit. He has some favorites - still mostly vegetables and carbs, though he is also a big fan of scrambled eggs. Daycare likes to joke about how much he eats. (But really - their "normal" breakfast is half of a waffle and 1/3 of a banana. At home, he's more of a 2 waffles, a whole banana, and 8 ounces of yogurt kind of guy.)

Signs: Really, we're down to "more," "please," and "done." Which is fine, especially since all are accompanied by their respective words. This will probably be our last "signs" update.

Words: At his official 18-month appointment, Desmond had about six words. Which was fine, because they were only looking for him to have 3 or more. (They set the bar really high over there.) Anyway, it was good to know he wasn't literally pathologically behind in his speech development.


But NOW he has at least 45 words:



Fish
Uh-oh
Blue
Dad
Airplane
Ball
Dexter
Pop
Please
Diaper
Thank you
Hot
Mine
Mom (as of May 29. Finally!)
More
Up
Down
Apple
Horse
Boat
Bear
Book
Birds
There
Spoon
Bread
Pee-pee (as an anatomical structure, not urine)
Feet
Bus
Car
Outside
Downstairs
Arm
Baby
Bee (Story below)
No
Sip
Truck
Dirt
Stuck
Help
Tractor
Flowers
Table

Shoes

The Bee Story: The evening of June 6 (a Monday), we were all out on the back deck, mostly doing our own things. Desmond suddenly let out a huge wail, followed by another plaintive "Beeeeeeeee!" Disbelief generally delayed my reaction speed a little bit, but sure enough, a bee had stung him on the tip of his right index finger. The stinger was still there.  It was clear that it hurt a lot. Poor baby.  His dad, ever the Eagle Scout, quickly whipped up a paste of baking soda and water to help ease the sting. Even Dexter was eager to go get him some ice for his finger. It was probably only 5 minutes or so before it started feeling better, but it seemed like an eternity. For days afterward, he'd show you his index finger and say a sad "Beeeeeee."  Poor baby. :(


Likes & Dislikes: I hate to say it, but Desmond likes TV. I mean, he really likes TV. All you have to do is mention "TV" or "a movie" or "Monsters" (Monster's Inc.) or "Fish" (Finding Nemo) and he runs to his little TV-watching spot between the sofa and ottoman. So, we pretty much just try not to mention it, because if he isn't thinking about the TV, he really does love being outside or playing downstairs or reading a book.

He tends to prefer men. Likes Dad more than Mom. Pop more than Tootsie. Granddad more than Grandma. He does give us womenfolk some love sometimes, though, so we don't get too bitter about being #2 in his book. :)  

He likes his big brother, too, and just about anything Dexter is doing or playing with. They're both pretty good (usually) about sharing, though. We count to 20, and then it's the other one's turn. Sometimes they lose interest before we get to 20, which is pretty cool.

Dislikes? Eh. Not much. Diaper changes are still big fights. And he doesn't like anything if he is overtired (and he often is just before bedtime.)


In short, he is a happy, healthy, developmentally normal 18 month old boy who gives his mom kisses just about any time she asks. So we're still keeping him. :)

Desmond is 17 Months Old!

 

Oh, Desmo, we love you. (That's "Des-moe," a nickname from Thanksgiving that has stuck.) I promise. I've just been having too much fun hanging out with you that I haven't gotten to chronicle your amazing 15- and 16-month milestones. (There are pictures, though!)

15 Months. Love this face!

16 Months. Yeah, he gives us this look a lot.

Teeth: Desmond officially has 12 teeth. Finally. Poor kid tends to have a rough couple of days when they first start to come in, but that's about it.

Weight: We've been to the doctor quite a bit lately, and he is right at 30 pounds. Some days 29.8, some days 30.4. I guess he has some heavy shoes? Big lunch? Who knows. 

Height: TALL. :)  OK, so we don't really know exactly how tall he is. But he is tall. He can reach just about everything and isn't shy about doing so.

Sleep: Mostly, Desmond is a champion sleeper.  He (usually) goes down with little fuss at about 8:30 and sleeps until 8:30 or so in the morning. We had a period there where he was waking up often with ear pain (see above about our frequent doctor visits. Boooo.), but he seems to be over that now and is back to his regular sleep patterns.  He also naps during the day, usually for about 2 hours (give or take). I guess that's sortof a lot for a 17 month old, but not too much.  Besides, it generally makes him a very happy boy, so it's all good.

Food: If I had to pick a favorite food for Desmond, it would be.....    broccoli.  Crazy, I know. But if you give that kid little (steamed) broccoli florets, he will go to town until you take them away. As eating habits go, we are going to ride this one for as long as we can.  He also still likes carrots. And bread. And he will sometimes deign to eat fruit or meat, but mostly he's all about the veggies and carbs.

Signs: As Desmond becomes more verbal (YAY!), we're pushing the signs less, and he is indeed signing less.  He is very consistent with "more" and "please," even unsolicited, but he's doing much better with actual words, which is very exciting.

Words: OK, I say he has a lot of words, but he really doesn't. He's just better about being verbal and pointing and communicating in other ways. He's showing a lot of promise here, though, and that's where we're focusing our efforts. He'll absolutely repeat anything you say, often with surprising clarity.  He has been saying "fish" ("ish") for a few months now. He also says "Dad" and "Daddy." And "Dexter" ("Deh Tuuh"). He also points to "Pop" ("Top") on the computer screen when we Skype. He usually correctly identifies "blue" ("boo") things. "Uh-oh!" is still very popular, too. "Mom" is coming, I just know it.

Tricks: You wouldn't believe it, but showing off his (adorable!) tummy is still one of his favorite things. He has a whole repertoire of animal sounds, including lion, tiger, and bear (all "roar"), dog, and elephant. He scratches his little tummy for "monkey," but we've only heard him make the noise once. Generally speaking, he's just much better at following commands like "Put that in the trash" and "Give that to Dad."

Books: Desmond still LOVES books. Nighttime favorites vary quite a bit, but Ten Friendly Fish is a common request. Sandra Boynton's Doggies is another favorite, as is Big Dog and Little Dog Go for a Walk. (Big Dog and Little Dog get to shake and shake and shake, shake and shake and shake, after their post-walk bath. It is FUN!)

Likes & Dislikes: Desmond LOVES going outside. In fact, you need to be very careful about using the word "outside," because he will be VERY disappointed if he hears it and can't actually go outside. He loves his big brother - chasing him and giggling with him and playing peek-a-boo and a million other things with him.  He also hates his big brother, mostly when there is a toy they both want. He likes his Dad. A LOT. :)  He likes to randomly come up to any exposed skin and give you raspberries. Heck, sometimes he will even lift up your shirt just so he can give you a raspberry. On most nights, he loves making BIG splashes in his bath. In fact, he loves it so much that we signed him up for swimming lessons, which he also loves.

As far as toys go, his favorites seem to be cars. He isn't much for puzzles or shape sorters. Noisy toys (like his noisy workbench thing and any "drop the ball in the hole" toys) are acceptable. Trains are a close second. But yeah. Cars. He's been "driving" them along the sofa and ottoman for a few weeks now, complete with sound effects.