This Wheel Is So Much Fun!

Desmo Cool

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. :)

Busted!

They look really concerned, don't they? 

Dexter is Two and a Half!

Actually, he turned two and a half back in April.  But it wouldn't be our blog if we weren't a few months behind.

AND it would appear that I didn't even get a picture of him *on* April 4. So here are a couple from April 6.

And here's one from April 7 - so very Dexter.

(... and that's as far as I got writing this up. Oops. He's cute, though, isn't he?)

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.