Ranting Radish

Carter Bueller

2011-10-18T09:39:00.000-05:00

The scene: In the kitchen making breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning.

Carter: Mommy, we do the same thing every day, and I don't want to do the same thing every day. I don't want to go to school today.

Me: Okay, you can stay home today. You don't have to go to school.

Carter: I'll stay home by myself?

Me: No. Mommy and Daddy will be here today. We'll have fun today!

Carter: Yay!!! No school today!!

(Nobody tell him it was Sunday.)

I believe I can fly

2011-09-25T06:31:00.001-05:00

Yesterday in the car:

"Mommy, I wish I could fly for real, and not pretend my arms are wings and put them out to my side and run around."

Maybe when you're a grown-up they'll have invented something to help you do that.

"Yeah! Like rocket shoes!"

More religion

2011-09-15T12:47:00.000-05:00

I'm taking Carter to Tot Shabbat at the local reformed synagogue on Friday night. They have it once a month and I think it'll be good for him to start being exposed to Jewish religion and culture. When I told him the other day that we're going to shul on Friday to learn about being Jewish, he said, "But I already AM Jewish!"

Break it Down

2011-09-13T14:14:00.000-05:00

Carter likes to know how things are going to happen, and in what order. He responds best when he's given a task, broken down into three parts. For instance, if we want him to get ready for bed, we'll tell him to take his clothes off, get a pull-up (yes, he's still wearing them at night), and pick out pj's.

So last night he was on the potty before bed and I was chatting with him and I said, "Okay, now here's what we need to do..." He interrupted and said, "I know, Mommy. Let me break it down for you. First I'll flush the potty, then I'll wash my hands, and then I'll go give Daddy a hug and a kiss."

Break it down for me? Where did he get that? He said he heard it on one of his Land Before Time movies but I couldn't stop laughing.

Harmonica

2011-09-12T15:22:00.000-05:00

We were at Five Below yesterday just looking around and I spotted a coloring book with a menorah on the cover. I pulled it out and showed it to Carter and asked him if he knew what it was.

"Yes, that's a harmonica book."

Harmonica. You know, that holiday that falls around the same time as Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Don't worry

2011-08-08T14:17:00.000-05:00

Carter seems to be on a God kick lately.

Last night we were in his bed reading his new dinosaur book. His bedroom wall is a shared wall with our neighbor's living room. I heard what seemed to be our neighbor messing around with some electric plugs or something, and tapping on the wall, and I said, "What's that?"

To which Carter responded, "Don't worry, Mommy. That's just God."

We're not a religious family. I grew up Jewish, and my husband grew up an unaffiliated Christian, but I want to introduce the idea of religion to Carter, and he seems to be really receptive to it.

I think it's time to start taking him to church and synagogue...

P.U.

2011-08-04T09:08:00.000-05:00

Mommy, did you know that a jellyfish stinks?

That's "stings", baby, not "stinks".

That guy

2011-08-03T15:53:00.000-05:00

We were in the car the other day and had the following conversation:

Carter: Mommy, who's that guy at church?
Me: What guy? The priest?
Carter: The priest? Hmm. Maybe.
Me: Or do you mean the man at shul? The rabbi?
Carter: Oh, I know! It's God.

A minute later...

Carter: Where is God?
Me: He's everywhere but He lives above the clouds.
Carter: (looking out the car window) I don't see any houses up there!

And that was our theological conversation for the day.

Mighty Math Power!

2011-07-26T18:59:00.002-05:00

Sometimes Carter does something that completely shocks me. Today, in the car he started telling me that 2 and 2 is 4. So I asked what 1 and 1 is and he said 2. I asked a few more and he got them right every time. I couldn't believe it. So, tonight, before bed, I took a quick video of my goofy kid.

What's wrong with this picture?

2011-04-16T21:07:00.002-05:00

Can you spot what's wrong with this picture?

Parent Teacher Conference

2011-04-13T08:52:00.000-05:00

We had our semi-annual parent teacher conference this morning at Carter's school. I wasn't sure what to expect, since his lead teacher has only been there about six weeks. But apparently that's enough time for our little man to make quite an impression. She had nothing negative to say, even when I asked if there was anything we needed to work with him on at home.

He exceeded expectations in the following categories (my notes in parentheses):

Listens to stories (this was actually surprising to me because when we read at bedtime he's constantly asking questions and talking)
Comprehends prepositions (over, under, beside, behind, etc.)
Uses correct names for common object
Participates verbally in class activities
Asks questions (Hello? He's three...of COURSE he asks questions.)
Can say whole name.
Beginning to recite alphabet (he's way past BEGINNING)
Recognizes or names some upper case letters (he can do all of them)
Reads written first name.
Enjoys looking at books.
Sequences three events in a story
Retells simple facts after listening to stories.
Rote counting (1-10, 1-20) (He counts to 29 and then it becomes twenty-ten, twenty-eleven, etc.)
Cutting (holding scissors, clipping action, sliding movement, cutting on lines)
Manipulates crayons using appropriate grasp
Strings beads.
Builds with blocks, Duplos, etc.
Puzzles (6-9 piece, 9-12 pieces) (He does 40-piece puzzles at home sometimes, with help)
Says "yes please" or "no thank you" (This kid is so polite, it's insane.)
Joins class easily
Engages in associative play
Exhibits a positive self concept

Everything else on the list he received an "at expected level". I'm so very proud of him. The teacher sent us home with some examples of his cutting (zig zags, following a line!), sorting beans, and simple patterns. He also scored perfectly when they tested him on his knowledge of BOTH uppercase and lowercase letters, his recognition of numbers up to 10, his colors, counting (again, just to 29), and simple shapes.

And now I'm done boasting. Carry on.

Impetigo

2011-03-17T13:18:00.002-05:00

Whoever is in charge of crowning the Mother of the Year...you can skip me this year. Apparently, my son had strep and impetigo for a week before I even thought to take him to the doctor. A week!

Here's the deal. He gets these little bumps on his face sometimes when he gets a cold. He rubs his nose and the snot gets on his face, and his face breaks out a little. They last a few days and then go away, until the next cold.

Two weeks ago, I got hit HARD with a bout of strep. I felt like all I could do was lay in bed and moan. But I dragged myself to the doctor and was diagnosed with strep, and two days later I was pretty much back to normal. I kept an eye on Carter's throat to make sure he didn't catch it from me and all seemed to be fine.

Except a week later I noticed those little bumps on his face again. I figured they'd go away in a few days like they normally do, but by the end of the week they had multiplied and concentrated around his nose and mouth, not where they typically would show up. So finally on Saturday morning I asked Chris if he thought we should take him to clinic hours, just to see what was up. We headed out a short while later.

I, for one, was woefully unprepared for what awaited us at the doctor's office. We were behind maybe 15 kids, all of them miserable. We sat there for a few minutes until I suggested maybe we should try the Minute Clinic across the street. Out we headed and waited about 45 minutes to be seen. The NP looked at Carter's bumps and said she thought maybe it was MRSA (gasp!) and that she wasn't equipped to take swabs of that sort of thing, especially given his age, so we should go back to the ped's office. Great.

My heart racing, thinking my son has had MRSA on his face for a week, we went back to the doctor's office and waited for 1.5 hours to be seen. This doctor was great, said it looked like impetigo and that she'd test him for strep since his tonsils and glands were just a little bit swollen. Okay fine. I'd actually looked up impetigo the night before and his face looked NOTHING like what I saw online. These were just little pimples, so I wasn't buying her story.

Lo and behold, he had the strep test, it was positive, and the strep is what caused the impetigo. So not only had I given him strep, but he'd been at school all week and likely had spread it to all of his friends. Fabulous.

Fast forward two days. Antibiotics are working beautifully, the dots are clearing up, Carter's feeling fine (as he was all along) but a letter is sent out to the parents in his class that three of the teachers and many students were out with strep and/or impetigo. And we caused that. Oh, the guilt.

A Lesson in Patience

2011-02-03T14:51:00.002-05:00

Carter is constantly wanting to do things himself. Turn the light on or off, flush the toilet, put on his shoes and socks, lock the door, put away his toys (yeah, not arguing that one), etc. Sometimes I'll turn out the light in the bathroom when he's done, and he'll freak out until I turn it back on so he can do it himself. There have been countless times that I've had to shut the door again after I'd already opened it, so he can do it himself. Or put puzzle pieces back in the box, so he can take them out and "set them up." You get the point.

I was discussing Carter's independent streak with my mom yesterday when I had what Oprah calls an "A-Ha Moment."

His independent streak is not just a learning opportunity for him, it's a lesson for me as well. A lesson in patience. I'm always rush rush rushing him to our next task or destination, when the reality is that we're not in a hurry. An extra couple of minutes is not going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but it WILL make a difference in his sense of worth and independence. I need to take a breath, sit back, and let him do things on his own without offering help. He needs to learn to ask for help when he needs it, and to be proud when he can accomplish something on his own without Mommy constantly intervening.

So what if it takes him longer, or if he makes a bit of a mess. He can do it himself. He's told me many, many times.

What a lesson.

Pink Eye

2011-02-02T11:47:00.003-05:00

Last week, Carter had a sheet of paper in his school folder that indicated that someone in the school had pink eye and to keep an eye on him. The next day, he looked like he had a sty on his left eye. I asked my mother-in-law just to confirm that's all it was and she agreed and said pink eye would manifest more quickly than this had. It was basically just a bump on his lash line. No ooze, no goop, nothing gross about it, really.

Fast forward one week. The left sty had healed, but now there's a bigger one on his right eye. We go out bowling with friends and his lash line has a large red bump, but we still think it's a sty. Still no ooze or goop.

Fast forward 12 hours. Carter woke up and couldn't open his right eye. This is what it looked like:

Off we went to the doctor and whaddya know...pink eye! AND an ear infection. Poor kid was falling apart but you'd have never known. He was happy as could be and just wanted to play and read and have his usual good time.

Part of his treatment was antibiotic drops for the eye. Man is it awful having to wrestle your child just to get an eyedrop in his eye. I was able to get it in there the first time after much coaxing, but then the second time he got so hysterical that he started gagging and heaving and almost puked on me. Since then, I've done it when he's sleeping, or tag-teamed him with Chris with us holding him and just doing it. Poor kid. But his eye is much better today and he's back at school after being on antibiotics for two days. The good thing is that the antibiotics for his ear infection are also helping with the pink eye.

I just felt terrible for our friends that we went bowling with because I didn't know it was pink eye, and it's so contagious. But my friend Janet was totally cool about it. She said it's a rite of passage and no big deal. I love her for that.

Lessons in Manners

2011-01-24T10:32:00.000-05:00

Lessons in manners, courtesy of Carter, age 3.

Excuse me: What you say when you burp or toot.
Scuse me: What you say when someone's in your way.

Facebook killed the blog

2011-01-06T13:52:00.003-05:00

Does anyone even come here anymore? Hello?

I find it's so much easier to type a quick Facebook status than to come on here and blog about Carter's latest hijinks. Everyone who has any interest in him is already a Facebook friend (I think...let me know if you're not) so it seems redundant to post in both places.

Your thoughts?

You say tomato...

2010-10-25T11:18:00.002-05:00

Carter mixes up the words for "potato" and "tomato." He knows the difference between them, but will usually call them both a tomato until we correct him. I think it's easier for him to pronounce "tomato" so he just uses that one most often. Because when he says "potato", he really enunciates it slowly. "Poe. Tay. Toe."

Last week we went on a field trip to see Toy Story 3 on Ice and I was listening to him tell my mom all about it on the phone. When he said, "And we saw the tomato heads..." I couldn't stop laughing.

Busy busy busy!

2010-10-04T19:23:00.001-05:00

We’ve been jamming our weekends full of fun, but leaving little time for me to blog at all. My poor food blog is also severely neglected.

A few weeks ago we met up with our friends and their little boys at Cox Farms to enjoy the FREE preview weekend. The weather was a little warm but we still had a fabulous time. Carter even went on one of the big slides all by himself. He especially loved the hayride, as he’s still talking about it a few weeks later.

The next weekend, Dulles Airport was holding their annual Plane Pull. Again, another FREE event. Gotta love ‘em. And, again, the weather was HOT. But we survived and Carter enjoyed it for the most part. He got a little crabby when we took him away from the hobby train area, but he liked seeing all the airplanes everywhere. His favorite part was something we can do anytime we want, though. He loved just watching the planes land. It made his day.

The next day we took Carter to a parking garage down the street to ride his bike, since it was pretty hot outside in the sun. His school participated in the St. Jude’s Trike-a-Thon a few weeks ago, and something clicked for him, and he finally figured out how to pedal. He’s completely obsessed with riding his bike now. He even insisted on wearing his bike helmet into a restaurant last weekend. LOL

And finally we come to this past weekend. My middle brother and his family came into town, as did my grandparents, because my oldest brother got married. I adore his new wife and consider her a friend, as well as a sister. The wedding was at 1:00 p.m., which is Carter’s naptime, so he was crabby as expected for most of the beginning of the celebration, but once the band started up, he was rocking out. Shaking his booty like Beyonce.

Of course, as soon as we were on our way home, he fell asleep in the middle of talking to us. He said, “I don’t want to go home” and as the word “home” came out of his mouth, his eyes were closed and he was immediately asleep.

My new sister-in-law is so beautiful, isn’t she? She looks so happy. And uncomfortable having everyone staring at her. But it was a great, casual, intimate wedding. We had a wonderful time and my brother couldn’t have picked a better partner.

This coming weekend will be the best one yet…ROAD TRIP!

My Baby Can Read!

2010-09-14T07:34:00.002-05:00

My mother has always claimed that I was reading at 2 1/2 years old. I always thought she was exaggerating, but sort of was proud of that regardless. I remember in elementary school, I used to sneak out of my bed at night to read by nightlight. I LOVED reading as a kid. I still enjoy it, but really don't find the time for it anymore. Of course I find time to watch Gossip Girl and 90210 though.

Carter has known his letters and the sounds they make for a while now, but only recently did we start working on putting them together into words. He watches Super Why! a lot, and has learned quite a bit of phonics from that show, so I thought maybe it was time to see what he really could do. Boy was I surprised!

He has flashcards with pictures of items/animals/whatever on them, so we started with that. I'd hide the picture (as best I could) with my hand, and have him sound out the word. Sometimes he'd get it but sometimes he would say something like, "R-A-B-B-I-T"..."Bunny Rabbit" because he knew what the picture under my hand was. So I took out his Magnadoodle and wrote the word "cat" on it. That little munchkin took his pointer finger to each letter, said the sound they make a few times in a row, and then shouted "Cat!" I was shocked. So I tried another word. He did it again with "dog." My heart swelled with pride.

Last night I brought home a new book to read (for 56 cents at the consignment store!). We sat down and I had him read all the three-letter words. He got them all. Sit, pig, cat, dog. All of 'em. He was a pro.

I talked to his teacher today about it and she said she's going to do more work with him on reading and letter and sound recognition. A new group of kids that just turned two just joined his class, so now he's one of the few almost-three-year-olds, so I was a little concerned that he wouldn't be challenged as much, but I trust Ms. Dorothea and I know she's going to help him succeed.

A friend of mine told me over the weekend that parents who read early tend to have children who read early. I don't know if it's true or not, but it sure is in our house. I couldn't be more proud of him!

Cool Tricks!

2010-09-09T09:32:00.002-05:00

First, watch this:

Then, watch this:

Gross Habits

2010-09-08T19:29:00.002-05:00

Carter started biting his fingernails pretty much immediately after he started school in January. I hate how short they are but if there’s even a tiny bit of white, he needs to gnaw it off. And I can’t cut it off because it’s such a tiny sliver. We’ve tried putting the nasty nail polish but it didn’t do anything. He didn’t even notice. We remind him not to bite when we see him doing it, but now it seems he just does it when he goes to bed. I rarely catch him doing it anymore.

Another gross habit he has is licking pillows. He lays on a pillow to watch tv, sucking his thumb, and every few minutes, turns his head and licks the pillow. Then he sticks his thumb back in his mouth and rubs the wet spot with his other fingers. I have no idea why he does it. He doesn’t do it as much anymore as he did a few months ago, but I still catch him every once in a while. A few times, I told him to stop licking and he would spit a tiny bit and rub that part instead. I *think* we’ve nipped that one in the bud.

He picks his toenails. Especially his big toes. He basically peels the toenail in layers. I keep them short but he picks and picks until he eventually gets some sort of satisfaction from it.

I’ve recently caught him picking his eye boogers, and then putting his finger in his mouth. Gross. Regular boogers he presents to me so I can wipe them with a tissue, but eye boogers go in his mouth for some reason.

I don’t know what to do to stop this bad habits. Is mine the only gross kid out there? Please tell me I’m not alone. What does your kid do that grosses you out?

Update 8/8/2011:

He no longer licks pillows and points out his dry pillow at least once or twice a week.

Also he's cut back on the nail-biting too, as long as I keep them short. As soon as they grow just a little bit he bites them down. But we make a big fuss over him if he grows his "whites" and he gets really proud of himself if he doesn't bite them.

He doesn't pick his toenails much anymore either. Occassionally I have to remind him to leave his toes alone, but it's pretty rare these days.

The eye boogers are sort of a non-issue anymore, also. And when he gets a regular booger, he has learned to let us know and we'll get him a tissue. I'm still working on the whole don't-pick-your-nose thing. He's three...what can I say?

What we’ve been doing

2010-08-29T19:38:00.001-05:00

This, right here, is part of the reason for the silence of the past weeks. We had grand plans to install new laminate flooring but after 8 hours of trying to lay them, Chris and my brother and SIL realized that our concrete was not level enough and they wouldn’t ever click in right.

After much drama and negotiation and waiting waiting waiting, we finally were able to secure a concrete guy to come in and level our business out. He finally came last week and we spent over a week at Chris’ parents’ house waiting for the concrete to dry, and allowing Chris time to lay the floors. Yes, theoretically we could have gone home once the concrete was dry, but this is what our bedroom looked like:

And this is what Carter’s room looked like. Yes, that’s a couch on his bed. LOL

We had to remove EVERYTHING from our living room and dining room, in order to allow the concrete guy to do his thing. And there was no point in moving the stuff out of our rooms until the floor was down. So we got to hang out with family for a week, and it was actually pretty great. Carter and I shared a bed and he slept pretty well, the meals we got were amazing, and my commute to work was mostly through farmland. Not bad, but I couldn’t wait to get back home and get this house straightened out.

We’ve now been home for two days and made some good progress. The excess furniture is now out of our bedroom, and back where it belongs. There are a bunch of boxes and such that we still need to go through and decide what to do with, but I’m hoping to have that all done by the end of the week.

A preliminary photo, before we moved the stuff back in. My husband is a rock star.

WonderPets theme song

2010-08-26T08:58:00.001-05:00

Just a little something to whet your whistle and satisfy your need for cuteness until we're back full time. Right now we're staying at Chris' parents' house but we'll be back home soon and once we get settled I plan to blog a lot more.

Summer Vacation

2010-08-12T11:41:00.001-05:00

Let's consider this break in blogging a summer vacation. We'll be back soon!

Hacked

2010-07-25T08:03:00.002-05:00

My SIL, Sarah's, Gmail account has been hacked, and she can't post on her blog anymore. So, for those of you that read it, that's why there aren't going to be any new entries on there.

And, for anyone that was concerned, she is NOT in the UK, and she is NOT desperate for money (although if you'd like to donate any of your extra cash, and I'm sure she and Brian would be willing to accept).

Dentist

2010-07-13T20:13:00.002-05:00

Carter had a dentist appointment this morning and he did so great! We talked about it for about a week ahead of time, and read a few books about going to the dentist, and he knew what to expect. I knew he needed to be prepared for what was going to happen. He tends to freak out when something happens too quickly that he's unprepared for (like, for instance, last year when the hygienist just came at him with the brushing tool, without even showing it to him first). So, up until the minute we walked in the door, he knew what was going to happen. And, thankfully, it all happened like I said it would. Except for the fish on the walls of the waiting room. They redecorated since I was there last.

Anyway, he did really well. Yes, he cried, and he was scared at points, but I didn't have to hold him down and he wasn't in hysterics. He knew he wanted to cover his ears when they used the polishing brush because I had told him it might be loud. So as soon as the hygienist pulled it out, and I told him what it was, he said he wanted to cover his ears. I told him that was okay to do and that seemed to be a comfort to him, that he had a little bit of control over what was happening.

He got a clean bill of health. He has all 20 teeth, no cavities, and no ill effects (yet) from sucking his thumb.

2010-06-27T18:56:00.004-05:00

The past few weekends have been chock full of fun stuff and I haven't been able to find the time, or the energy, quite frankly, to blog. We've had outdoor puppet shows, picnics with friends, birthday parties, sprayground playdates, etc. keeping us busy the past few weeks. This weekend, however, was our first weekend where we really didn't do anything. And, surprisingly, Carter just rolled with it. I thought he might get antsy but he was fine just going to the garden and the grocery store today, and spending the rest of the hot, muggy day inside with us old folks.

Our garden is coming along really nicely. The only bummer is that what we thought was going to be Japanese eggplant, is actually ANOTHER tomato plant. But Monica said she has an eggplant ready to rock for us, so I may pick that up from her this week if I can.

A few updated pics of our little slice of farm.

Our herb garden. The huge ones are chocolate mint, and regular mint. I trimmed them down just after I took this picture. Smelled so good cutting it! The basil in the back is now trimmed back quite a bit too. We grabbed a bunch to make pesto for dinner tonight, along with some rosemary for focaccia.

Carter and Chris getting water from the rain barrel.

As for the little man, he's doing amazing. He's in underwear full time except for sleeping. However, he still demands a diaper for making Number Two. He's done it 2 or 3 times but pretty much refuses the majority of the time. I'm not worried though...seems that's a normal part of the process.

He's really enjoying school and learning so much and having tons of fun. I just watched a video we took of him from November and it's unbelievable how much more of a "big kid" he is now. He's learning so quickly. I taught him how to spell "bus" using sign letters in the 15 minutes it took us to go to school the other morning. Sometimes he switches the "u" and the "s" but more often than not, he gets it right.

He's hilariously funny, too. Last night we were at Safeway getting ice cream, and he kept yelling out, "Wow! That's a low price!" I'm still laughing about it.

That's about it over here. Chris is still doing amazing in school. He's a rock star, what can I say.

Fruit of our labor

2010-06-18T11:15:00.001-05:00

We finally have something producing in our garden!

Our plants are all growing beautifully, especially since we bought plant food (duh, didn't think to do that), and now we finally have a tomato. Woot!

Potty Training Update

2010-06-05T19:44:00.002-05:00

I'm amazed at how quickly and easily Carter transitioned into using the potty. He's had very few accidents and has gotten really good at telling us when he needs to go. He's also gone in restaurant bathrooms, which to me was a big worry. We bought the Potette Plus and it allows him to use the big toilets in public places without being scared of falling in.

He asks for a diaper when he has to poop, and gets very upset if I press him about pooping on the potty. He'll get there eventually, I suppose. He had an accident at school yesterday but what I think happened is that he went to toot but poop came out with it. He'd had some slight diarrhea so that's why I think that happened. But he tells us to put a diaper on him, and as soon as he's done pooping, he has us clean him and put his underwear back on.

Such a rock star, that kid.

A story for his wedding day

2010-06-02T12:47:00.003-05:00

This past weekend we were at my in-laws' house (Chris' parents) hanging out. It was time for Carter to change from his pull-up that he wore for the drive over into his underwear. He pulled off his pull-up and danced around proudly yelling, "Look at my penis!"

Then, the other night we were video chatting with my mom and, again, changing him. This time from underwear into his overnight pull-ups. He shoved his crotch toward the webcam and said, "MomMom! Look at my penis!"

What can I say? He's proud.

Week of Changes

2010-05-23T18:49:00.002-05:00

It's been a big week here in the Anderson household.

Carter's convertible crib/toddler bed was recalled so we decided to bite the bullet and get him a twin sized bed. He had a day or so of some transition stress, but he did pretty good after a few days. He's still a little weird about his comforter because he's used to just a throw blanket, but he's warming up to it. (Ha, see what I did there??)

Chris has been working hard and our garden is finally fully planted. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, and tons of herbs. Some of the peppers have holes all over the leaves, so I'm thinking we have a bug situation. Any organic suggestions out there?

And, finally, the biggest news of the week. Drumroll please....

Carter has started going on his potty! He's done a drop here, and a drop there in the past few months, but every time we asked if he wanted to go, he always said no. But yesterday, out of nowhere, he told us he wanted to go on his potty. Of course we obliged and he peed! We were so excited! He went about a hundred more times between yesterday and today, with only 2 accidents thus far. He loves wearing his new underwears and tells me every time we put them on, "You don't peepee in these, Mommy." He's resistant to wearing his diaper now, but I think he understands my explanation of why he has to wear one when he naps or goes to bed. He stopped fighting it so much once I explained that when he sleeps, he sometimes will forget to potty and he'll make a mess in his new underwear. I think that registered with him.

So, anyway, big exciting things happening here.

First School Pictures

2010-05-12T09:24:00.003-05:00

When he came home from school that day, I asked him if he smiled big for his pictures. He said, "No, I put my lips together like this." and then pressed his lips together to show me. Figured the pics would be cute regardless. I was right.

I love the first one, where it looks like he's on the verge of tears. If I have a camera in my hand, he INSISTS I take a hundred pictures. But I guess if it's a stranger, he's a little more wary.

Great weekend!

2010-05-09T19:36:00.002-05:00

We had such a great weekend! Chock full of fun and relaxation.

Saturday morning we met my friend and her family at the Reston Zoo. Her little boy just turned 3 and we were celebrating his birthday. Plus, she just had a baby a month ago and it gave me an opportunity to see her newest sweetheart. He is absolutely delicious. The zoo was really great. It's very small, yet really accessible. The monkeys were just feet away from us, and most of the animals weren't separated by chain-link fences, like at other zoos. We spent 2.5 hours there and the boys were still in great moods and we weren't exhausted and it was just really relaxing and enjoyable.

Later that afternoon, after naptime, we met up with my friend and her family again for a local moms' get-together at the House of Bounce. Carter was more interested in the water fountain rather than the bouncing, but he still had a great time. Plus, he got pink lemonade and pizza, which always makes for a happy boy.

Today, for Mother's Day, Chris' parents came over for brunch (my parents were in North Carolina for my cousin's wedding). We had Pioneer Woman's French Pastry Puffs, eggs, potatoes, (turkey) bacon, and fruit salad. So delicious!

After brunch and naptime (for both me AND Carter) we headed over to the garden to do the final setup. I laid out where I want everything and the plan is for Chris to go out there tomorrow and plant our stuff after his last exam. Chris' parents got me a boatload of herbs to put out there so our herb garden is going to be AWESOME. In addition to those, we have a ton of tomatoes (thanks, Monica!), summer squash, zucchini, japanese eggplant, hot peppers, and red and yellow sweet peppers. I can't wait to harvest all the goodness!

And now, to watch the season finale of The Amazing Race. Happy Mother's Day, y'all!

Jealous much?

2010-05-04T19:26:00.003-05:00

Yes, I met Ree. Yes, I know you're jealous. We had a whole conversation and she's very, very awesome.

Sadly, the yumminess that is Marlboro Man was back at the ranch. Bummer.

Happy Anniversary!

2010-04-23T09:12:00.002-05:00

To my wife, who I love without bounds,

Happy Anniversary! These past 4 years have been the best years of my life. We have had some ups and downs, but we have been able to rebound consistently with great results! You have sacrificed for me to go back to school and I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate you for that! Watching you grow as a mother has been one of the coolest things to watch! I can only hope that our relationship continues to grow at the same rate as it has until now! You are my life and I love you immensely!

r = 1 - sin(theta),

Chris

~Want to know what r = 1-Sin(theta) is; check it out here!

I'm not a good friend

2010-04-13T09:19:00.003-05:00

I'm not a good friend. I know this about myself, yet I can't seem to do anything about it.

I have very few real friends. I have plenty of acquaintances, but not people I'm really close to. My best friend only lives a little over an hour away, yet I rarely talk to her on the phone or see her in person.

I try to make friends. I try to talk to other moms at the mall, or the playground, online, or wherever, but nothing really ever comes of it. And my friends that I do have, well, I have trouble maintaining those relationships. I don't call them on the phone because I feel like it would seem weird to call just to talk. I feel like I'd need something to say and I can never really think of any GOOD reason to interrupt their time spent with their family. I have two sisters-in-law that I really, really like. Yet I don't put forth the effort it takes to be close with them. I don't know why, really. They're both approachable and both go out of their way for me, yet for some reason I don't reciprocate. I'm lazy, or self-centered, or something, I suppose.

I made a New Years Resolution this year to be a better friend. Yet, I've done nothing so far to obtain that goal. I went to North Carolina for a weekend to see my friend Marty and I feel like that was a step in the right direction. Yet, that was weeks ago and I haven't called her since then. Haven't made a single effort to maintain that relationship. Why do I do that??? What is wrong with me? I've lost several friendships over the years because I felt that I was putting forth more effort than they were. Yet, there seems to be a recurring theme and just maybe I needed to take a step back and think that perhaps it was ME that was the problem.

And now that I realize that I have this problem, I have no excuse to not work on it.

Phase III COMPLETE

2010-04-11T12:26:00.006-05:00

So after a few days of steady work and a lot of help from the family (wife, son, and my mom) we are finally finished with the AWESOMEST 20'x 20' Garden plot ever. Well we are done building it. I suppose now comes the hard stuff. It was great having everyone out there helping with the AWESOMEST 20'x20' Garden plot ever, and I want to thank everyone who chipped in.

Carter was HILARIOUS out there. When he was into it, he was really into it. My mom bought him some little fingerless gloves so he didn't get blisters while he was digging for worms.

Yesterday was the group cleanup day, so we all helped each other for about an hour or so, until the major things were cleaned up. Then we all broke off and worked on our own plots.

And we picked up a little home project for Carter too! This is his little 2 inch pot that we are trying to grow Chives in.

And thnaks again to my wife who went back out there to take the pictures of the AWESOMEST 20'x20' Garden Plot ever.

Potty Power!

2010-04-08T18:40:00.001-05:00

Okay, it's not huge, but it's still exciting nonetheless. Carter peed in his potty for the first time tonight. It was about 6 drops. We're very proud.

Garden Phase II Complete

2010-03-31T15:02:00.003-05:00

So after all the hard work and research (on pricing) to draw the schematic, I finally went and bought all the supplies for the AWESOMEST 20' x 20' Garden Plot EVER. That's 12-8' landscape timbers, 10-2"x4"x8', 4-2"x4"x9', 3-3'x50' rolls chicken-wire, bow tine rake, and round point shovel (not pictured: lumber tie-ins, galvanized nails, 3" outdoor wood screws, 2-T-hinges, and bolt clasp for gate door). Thank you to the In-laws for the gift card to Home Depot, and to my wonderful wife for indulging my super OCDness in order to give me the AWESOMEST 20' x 20' Garden Plot EVER! And a minor shout out to the person we share the garden plot with for paying for half of this.

Phase III to begin this weekend...More pics to follow!

While we were gone...

2010-03-21T19:23:00.004-05:00

Chris was busy sketching out his ideal garden plot. It's...um...detailed. My particular favorite part is the top and bottom of the chicken wire.

What happens when you travel alone with a two-year-old

2010-03-20T07:33:00.004-05:00

This is what I found when I got out of the shower at our hotel in North Carolina (which, by the way, is beautiful and I'll post pics at a later time).

When funny goes too far

2010-03-17T13:02:00.002-05:00

Last night, Carter was tooting in the tub because, well...because I encourage gross behavior. But this time, he tried too hard. And he squoze out more than he bargained for. And I can't stop laughing today thinking about the surprise on his face.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

2010-03-17T07:45:00.003-05:00

From our little leprechaun to yours.

Busy month!

2010-03-10T10:03:00.002-05:00

Wow, March is a really busy month for us.

This weekend I get to see my friend D, who I haven't seen since I was first pregnant with Carter (like, eight WEEKS pregnant), my friend Heather who I haven't seen in probably, um, 8 years, and my BFF Heather (a different one) who I only get to see every few months. Gonna be a great weekend!

Then, next weekend, I'm headed down to Raleigh to see my dear friend, Marty. I got to meet her in person for the first time last year, but we've been friends for several years now and I'm so excited to see her again and smooch her two boys over and over. Plus, I'm looking forward to spending time in Raleigh again. I love that town.

The weekend after that, my grandparents are in town for my grandmother's 80th birthday. Carter video chats with them every once in a while, but that's not the same as them getting to kiss and hug on him in person. It keeps 'em young.

And THEN, the weekend after that is Chris' birthday and Easter.

Busy, busy days ahead of us! But they're filled with family and friends, and that's all that matters.

Sweater Update

2010-03-07T20:17:00.002-05:00

A few people have asked how my sweater is coming along. So far, no MAJOR mishaps. Well, except for the part where I thought I had to knit for 41 inches and was about 20 inches in when I realized it was 14 inches, not 41. Um, oops. There are worse mistakes that can be made, I suppose. So I ripped out 6 inches and finished off the back. Here's a pic of the finished back. It looks really skinny because the sides are all curled in from the stockinette stitch (it tends to do that).

I'm now about 3/4 done the right front (or is it left front?). The pattern is super easy so far and I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

Thumbsucker

2010-03-02T09:56:00.002-05:00

Carter used pacifiers as a baby. But once he turned one, he stopped using them with no issues. It just sort of happened. Then he started sucking his thumb, but only in the carseat or when he was laying down to go to sleep. He's started doing it more often recently. The moment he gets in the carseat he sticks his thumb in his mouth, as soon as he lays down to watch tv he sticks his thumb in his mouth, as soon as he gets in his bed he sticks his thumb in his mouth. I'm not TOO worried about it at this point but it does concern me a little because he always has raw skin and calluses on that thumb from sucking it. But his doctor said as long as the skin isn't breaking that it's okay and we don't need to worry about infection or anything. And his dentist isn't concerned at this point, either, about it impacting his teeth in any way. So, I've sort of ignored it and let him have his comfort. It's very cute and sweet to watch him lay on my pillow watching Monsters Inc. sucking his thumb and letting me stroke his hair.

Last night while he was sucking away, I asked him why he sucks his thumb. He looked at me, paused a moment, and said, "Because I love it!"

Can't argue with that.

That kid

2010-03-01T16:32:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, he's THAT kid. The one from that movie Parenthood that walks around with a bucket on his head, banging into walls. And all I can do is laugh.

I have sick

2010-02-18T08:44:00.002-05:00

Carter came home from school with a cough yesterday. When my mom and I went there on Monday for his Valentine's Day party I noticed the little girl sitting next to him coughing all over the place, so I wasn't surprised when he got it. I asked him if he had a cough, and he said, "No, I have sick." LOL

A little pic from this morning to brighten your day:

My First Sweater

2010-02-11T20:05:00.004-05:00

A few days ago I started knitting my first sweater. It's also my first experience with cabling so I was nervous about how it would go, but I'm happy to report that so far it's going really well. Here are some pics of the first three days worth of knitting. If you're on Ravelry, you can find me as "amyradish" and follow my progress. If you're interested, that is.

Domestic Goddess

2010-02-08T20:20:00.003-05:00

What with there being a hundred feet of snow outside, and our having been stuck at home since Friday, plus my computer being broken, I've had some time to work on my domesticity. I've been knitting a lot. Just finishing a pair of socks, and started gauging my sweater yarn. I'm really looking forward to knitting my first sweater!

I've also been cooking a lot more. You saw the bread I made, which I still swell with pride over every time I think about it. Tonight I made glazed salmon with roasted asparagus and rice, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Pretty damn delicious, if I do say so myself! And I think Chris would agree.

SNO-M-G 2010

2010-02-06T20:04:00.005-05:00

When there's over two feet of snow outside and you've been stuck in your house for two days, it's hard to find entertaining things to do. Tonight we had a photo shoot.

And I also did this (FROM SCRATCH!!):

I never thought I'd be able to bake bread without a machine, but apparently I can! I'm so insanely proud of myself. And it turned out delicious, if I don't say so myself.

2010-02-02T09:37:00.002-05:00

One of Carter's teachers takes pictures every once in a while and she posts them for us parents to see. Here are a few from his first few weeks of school.

Cups

2010-02-02T09:17:00.003-05:00

If there's one thing that stands out that Carter has learned these past two weeks at school, it's learning to drink from a regular cup. They don't allow sippies at his school so they have the kids drink from Dixie cups. That quickly transitioned at home to him using big boy cups and he's doing really great with it. In fact, he's doing so well with it that we finally got rid of all of his sippies except a few to keep for car rides and such. It's nice to have that cabinet space back!

Toddler Talk

2010-01-31T14:24:00.003-05:00

Before I was a mom, it always amazed/amused me at how parents seemed to understand their toddlers perfectly well, while I just looked at them in confusion trying to figure out what, "Myfdakl;afdkajfdkda;aaaad no!" meant. Now? I speak Toddler. Or, rather, the Carter dialect of said language. I can understand my kid perfectly fine, but other kids? Not so much. I still look at them with a big smile and said, "Really?" in a very excited voice, but have no clue what they just said to me.

And what's funny is that I don't even notice the words that Carter mispronounces until it's pointed out to me. To me, he's speaking perfect English. For instance, I never thought twice about the way he said, "What are you doing?" until my mom laughed about how he says, "dooning" instead of "doing." Sounded right in my head. It's like when people are immersed in new languages and they stop translating to their first language and start to dream in the second language. Carter is my second language.

So now I'm trying to keep an ear out for how he says things, just so I can remember these toddler days and how he sounded. For example:

girl = gwer-uhl
doing = doo-ning
ladies = wadies
Miss Dorothea (his teacher) = Miss Dor-fee-fah

There are many more, but as I'm paying closer attention, I'm actually finding that he really does have good pronunciation for the most part. If you talk to him on the phone, you can have an actual conversation and understand what he's talking about. In fact, he even speaks dog. He talked to Uncle Brian's dog Remi on the phone the other day. They had a whole conversation. For real.

Catching Up

2010-01-24T21:03:00.002-05:00

I've been offline a lot recently. I've gotten back into knitting and find that I'm doing that more at night, rather than getting online. I miss my online friends but I'm really enjoying knitting again. I just finished a pair of fingerless gloves for work. My hands get freezing and I'm hoping these will help. I've also finished a sock, and am getting ready to cast on the second one. I love knitting socks. They're quick, fairly easy, and don't require a lot of "finishing" work.

On the Carter front, he's doing really well. He took about two weeks of training for him to stay in his bed but he's consistently staying in there through the night. He calls for me or Chris and waits for us to give him permission to get out of bed. Usually. There were several times in the beginning where he'd just stand next to my side of the bed and quietly wait for me to wake up and notice him. Scared the crap out of me more than once. Imagine opening your eyes at 2 a.m. and a little person is right there in your face. Makes me shiver just to remember it.

He's enjoying school a lot. He's participating and making friends and learning all sorts of new songs and games. His teachers are great and give us a positive report every day. I take him in the morning, and sit with him in the multi-purpose room while he eats breakfast, and then I either leave then, or I walk him to his classroom and then head out of there. I try to wait until he's done eating because he gets VERY upset when I go to work. According to his teachers, he recovers fairly quickly, which I'm sure he does, but it's so hard leaving him like that. He never even noticed when I left him at Shaista's. But I realize it's a very different environment for him and it'll take some getting used to. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later. It breaks my heart every morning to see him so hysterical about me leaving. Chris gets to pick him up in the afternoon when he's happy and smiling and life is good. In fact, the other day Chris sat down right next to him but he was so enraptured with Story Time that it took a full two minutes for Carter to even notice Chris was sitting there. One of his teachers takes pictures of the kids every few weeks and it's so cool to see what they do all day long. I can't wait for Carter to be in those pictures. Hopefully this week I'll have a few to share.

And in other happy news, my dear friend Canape had her baby boy Colin Henry this morning. I couldn't be happier and can't wait to meet the little dude. He's gorgeous, of course. I'm a thrilled "auntie"!

First Day of School

2010-01-19T21:40:00.004-05:00

Today was Carter's first day at his new school. I was nervous about his adjustment from the small group at Shaista's to a larger class with multiple teachers and new routines. We've been talking about his new school for weeks and he's gone to visit and play a few times with Chris. He pretty much knew what to expect and was as prepared as we could hope for.

We got there at 8:00 and his teacher saw us out there (we were waiting on Chris) and Carter took her hand and went with her into the multi-purpose room for breakfast. He was given the choice of cereal or a Pop-Tart and he chose the Pop-Tart and some milk. He sat with the other kids and ate breakfast and when he was done, we took him down the hall to his classroom.

He played for a little while, always making sure at least one of us was in very close range. He colored a little bit, played with trucks, read some books (or, rather, had me read him some books), and looked at the posters with shapes and colors on them.

Chris went to school and I stayed for a little while later. He did Circle Time where his main teacher sang some songs, and he sang along as best he could and even imitated the hand motions the other kids were doing. He caught on really fast! He wanted to sit in my lap but I made him sit on the carpet with the other kids, but he turned around a lot to make sure I was right there.

After Circle Time it was time for their snack and I thought that was a good time to leave him there. I got him situated and explained that I was going to work and that I'd be back for him later, just like when I would leave him with Shaista. He got very upset and started crying but I left anyway, knowing that he'd be okay after a little while.

About two hours later, I had to come back to drop off a copy of his birth certificate, and I saw him in the multi-purpose room eating lunch with everybody and he was doing great. One of his assistant teachers came out and told me that he cried for a little bit after I left but then he was fine. They played outside and he enjoyed that. That made me feel better about leaving him while he was so upset. But I couldn't stay all day and he has to learn that when Mommy and Daddy leave, we always come back to get him.

Anyway, Chris and I went to get him together at 5:00 and he was having a great time sitting at a table with a few other kids playing with Magnadoodles (which happens to be one of his favorite toys at home). He was happy to see us but when I asked if he was ready to go, he said no. He wanted to stay and play with the kids. We stayed for a little bit longer and then told him to say goodbye and give his teachers hugs. So he walked up to another kid's mom and gave her a hug. It was hilarious. He didn't know she wasn't a teacher; he was just looking for big people. She was a good sport about it and thought it was funny too.

His report for the day was good. He had a few crying episodes, and got upset each time it was time to change his diaper, but all in all he had a great day. He even was able to take a nap, which surprised me. I thought being in a new place, in a new bed (they sleep on little cots), with a lot of people around would be too much for him but he took a little while to fall asleep, but he eventually did.

It only gets easier from now on. I'm so happy he's at this school.

Some pics from his first day:

And for comparison, his first day with Shaista, and his first day with Miss Dorothea:

This is how we entertain ourselves

2010-01-07T09:34:00.002-05:00

This is how we entertain ourselves on cold winter nights.

Bed Update

2010-01-02T07:50:00.002-05:00

Okay, so Night #1 didn't go so well. He went to sleep just fine, as I said in the last post, but at 12:30 I heard him thump out of bed and next thing I know, he's in our doorway. I let him come into bed with us because he kept whining/crying every time I suggested he get back into his own bed. He laid with us for a while but I find it impossible to sleep with him, so I offered to lay down in his room with him. He said that was okay so I laid down on his new toddler blow-up mattress that we use when we go away, which is more like laying on a pool raft. It sucked. But I dozed on and off for an hour or two and then snuck out back to our room. He slept the rest of the night in his bed and around 7:00 (maybe earlier?) I woke up to a little boy breathing in my face staring at me.

Last night we spent the night in Baltimore and he slept on his blow-up bed. He fell out around 12:30 (something magic about that time, I guess) and slept for another 15 minutes on the floor, but then wanted to come into bed with me. I let him lay with me for just a little bit and then put him back in his bed while I laid on the floor next to him for a few minutes. I told him I'd be right there in my bed next to him and he watched me get into bed and seemed fine. He fell out of the bed/mattress a few more times throughout the night, but both times put himself back in. Thank goodness!

Hopefully each night will get a little easier. We're bringing home a bigger toddler rail from my mom's house to use for a little while and maybe that'll keep him from falling out so easily. The rails that came with his crib are pretty tiny.

New Year....New Bed

2009-12-31T21:30:00.003-05:00

New Years Eve seemed like a good night to start Carter in his toddler bed. We took the front off and attached the rails and he was so excited. He was running in and out of his room, getting into bed, getting out of bed, taking his pillow places and putting it back in his bed. It was awesome.

He went to sleep with no problem. Tomorrow morning may be a different story, though. I'm anticipating a small person licking my nose and saying, "Wake up, Mommy!" at 6 a.m.

Wish us luck!

Some pics of him trying out his new bed. The last one is about 9:00 tonight, after he'd been in bed for about an hour. So far, so good!

School

2009-12-29T14:21:00.002-05:00

Ever since the infamous biting incident this summer, we've been trying to get Carter enrolled at Child Development Center near our house. They don't take children under 2 years old so we had to wait until November to even get on the real waitlist (before that, we were waitlisted to be on the waitlist). But, after some persistent calling and begging and chatting, they moved us up based on our "urgent" need and Carter has now been accepted! He'll be going all day and be in a class with 19 other children 2-3 years old. I'm so excited for him...he's going to love it. And the great part for us is that the hours are longer and we're paying the same as were were for part-time care with his current provider. Plus, they feed him lunch trucked in from the local elementary school so I know he's getting a variety of foods rather than just the chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and Chef Boyardee that I'm fairly confident he gets every day now.

We really think he's ready for school. He can recognize all the letters of the alphabet and knows what sound the majority of them make. His favorite car game is to have us do "letters" where we ask him what certain letters say and he tells us the sound. He's pretty darn good at it for being barely two!

He's going to miss his friends, I'm sure, but I'm hopeful he'll make new ones quickly. I'm anxious about the transition but maybe he'll surprise us. We're going to take him a few times beforehand to play for a few hours and then I'm taking off work on his first day so I can be there for a while in the morning if he needs me, and come early if he needs that as well. It's going to be quite a change for him.

Can't and Have To

2009-12-20T20:28:00.002-05:00

Carter's new thing? Saying he can't do something, usually pertaining to not being able to reach something. He says, "I caaaan't, I caaaan't." And then if he asks you to do something (like read the book Aunt Jamie got him for the 100th time) and you say no, he tells you that you have to. I say, "No, I don't have to" and he says, "Yes. Have to." It's kind of funny. No idea where he got it from though. I'll blame it on daycare.

Close Trees!

2009-12-15T21:37:00.002-05:00

Poor Carter. We're getting new windows tomorrow morning so we took the curtains and curtain rod off his window in preparation so we wouldn't have to do it tomorrow before work/school. I put Carter to bed and made it as far as our room (just across the living room) when he started crying really hard. It was a different cry than his usual I-don't-want-to-go-to-sleep cry. I went in to him and he started asking me to "close trees" in between sobs. He was crying so hard he was shaking and sweating. And it had only been like 2 minutes! I looked out the window and the trees were lightly illuminated from the light from our building. He was scared and wanted me to close his curtains. The trees are really tall and don't have any leaves and it was freaking him out. Poor baby. So we put his curtains back up and I'll just have to take them down in the morning.

Holiday Weekend

2009-12-15T21:05:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was chock-full of holiday activities. On Saturday morning, we headed out to a local church that was hosting a free Breakfast with Santa. Carter loved the puppets singing Christmas songs, and the muffins, and seeing Santa. But sitting on Santa's lap? Not so much. He freaked out so quickly we couldn't even get a picture. Oh well. The best part was when we were all trying to get Santa to come out, the whole place was singing Jingle Bells and Carter was singing along with us. It was so cute!

After his nap, we headed up to Maryland to celebrate Hanukkah with my family. Carter played with his cousins, and sang the dreidel song, and loved opening presents. He got some great gifts and was such a good boy the whole day.

On Sunday, Carter and I went to a Hanukkah party sponsored by a local synagogue. We didn't stay long because it was really crowded and a little overwhelming but he colored some pictures, and got some stickers, and played with Legos with other kids before he was ready to head home. We didn't even last long enough to get some latkes and donuts, but I'm grateful for that. Or, rather, my slowing shrinking thighs are.

He's a genius

2009-12-11T08:50:00.001-05:00

3 years

2009-12-06T14:05:00.002-05:00

It's almost three years to the day from when we lost the Nugget. I don't think about it as often, even though we keep our sonogram picture up on the refrigerator. I can talk about our miscarriage and not cry (usually). I thought I was healed.

And then I watched part of Marley and Me, and all those feelings came rushing in and the tears started flowing. There's a scene where she's having a sonogram and there is no blinking little spot. No heartbeat. And the memories and feelings of being in that doctor's office and realizing that our baby was gone were as real as if they'd happened yesterday.

I thank God for Carter every day, but especially on days like this when the darkness hits and the sadness stays with me. He's my sunshine. My meaning of life.

My baby boy wouldn't be here if we hadn't lost his big brother or sister. And for that baby and that experience, I am forever grateful. Because now we have Carter and he is the truest blessing.

DC Cooking Expo

2009-11-24T20:11:00.008-05:00

Now that I have my computer working again, and a few minutes to spare while my meringues are cooking, I wanted to talk about the most awesome birthday present I got this year. Chris got us tickets to go see Paula Deen at the Washington Cooking and Entertaining Expo a few weeks ago. I love me some Paula. And what a creative gift!

Right when we got there, we ran into the Deen boys! I yelled out their name and got Bobby to pose with me (Jamie was on his cell and they were running off to something they were late for).

We entered the expo and it was enormous. Crowds of people everywhere, so we formulated a game plan and started visiting the booths and eating all sorts of yummy samples. It took 2 hours to make our way through the whole show and by that time, it was Paula Time! But first, I had to grab a shot of Carla from Top Chef. I love her. Hootie hoo!

Right before Paula's thing, Richard Blaise (another Top Chef-er) was doing a quick thing so I caught a few pics of him throwing these weird popcorn ball things out into the audience.

Paula's presentation was great! Her husband and boys were there and she answered audience questions. She's so hilarious and lovely and it was so fun to see her in person. Here's a pic from me stalking her on her way out of the theater. She was so close to me but moving too fast for my camera to catch her well (stupid automatic mode...I need to learn how to use this damn thing already).

On our way out, all of the sudden Chris yelled out, "It's Mike Isabella!" and ran up to this guy and started pumping his hand all excitedly. Another Top Chef guy that Chris loves. He was so psyched.

We had such a great time and the show was so fun and interesting. I hope we can go again next year!

Mayday! Mayday!

2009-11-22T01:36:00.003-05:00

My computer is dead. I haven't been able to check in with my friends, or play enough Cafe World, or update this blog for a few days now. I have pictures from the Metro DC Cooking Show, where I ran into a few familiar faces. I have pictures from Carter's birthday.

I have stories to tell, like the day he didn't want to get out of the tub even though the water was gone and he was cold and shivering and he said to me, "Mommy, I'm mad!" I laughed and told him, "No, you're not." He said yes, that he's mad and then put his head down. I asked him why, and he looked at me for a minute, thinking about it, and then said, "towel." He was mad because he didn't want to get out of the tub and have me wrap him in a towel to get warm and dry. If that's the worst thing he gets mad at me for, I'm a happy gal.

He's used the "mad" thing a few more times and it makes me laugh inside every time. But I just tell him that it's okay to be mad and to let me know when he's happy again. It doesn't take long. Toddler feelings change more quickly than pregnant women!

Gasp!

2009-11-15T03:52:00.002-05:00

I was laying in bed in this morning, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. No real reason...just one of those nights. After a little while, I finally decided to give up and come out to the living room and watch some tv in hopes that it would lull me back to sleep. I thought it was about 5:00 a.m. but gasped aloud when I put my glasses on and looked at the clock and saw what time it really was.

3:46 a.m.

Two years ago, at exactly that moment, Carter was entering this world, fist raised like a rock star. Two years ago, life as we knew it ended and became a distant memory. Two years ago, I became a mom.

Happy birthday, my little Turkey. I love you more than you can ever know.

Time Out

2009-11-08T21:43:00.003-05:00

We implemented our first Time Out tonight. Well, make that, our first TWO Time Outs. He responded really well to them, though! Once I sat him down and he realized he was in trouble, he cried for a couple seconds and in between breaths I calmly talked to him about why he was in Time Out and asked if he was ready to do what he was supposed to (in this case, clean up his toys). He said yes and I let him up and he cleaned up his toys! Took all of maybe 20 seconds. A little while later, Chris was trying to have him clean up another part of the room with us and he kept saying no, so he got a Time Out. Again, maybe 20 seconds before he agreed to do what he was asked and didn't cause another problem.

I love Time Out!

ABCs

2009-11-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

Carter singing his ABCs...with lots of baby tush. Don't you just wanna pinch those cheeks?

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T17:56:00.002-05:00

Carter had so much fun trick or treating. We pulled him around in his wagon and he loved getting in and out all by himself and walking up to the doors saying "trick or treat." But, of course, the minute the person answered he got shy and would only say anything if I prompted him on what to say. Then, once he realized what was going on, he kept yelling, "Candy bucket!" between houses. He'd never even had candy before, except for a few M&Ms, but he sure was excited.

His costume worked out really well. He was good about keeping the hood part on and would even do his Frankenstein imitation upon request (but of course I didn't get any video of it...just picture him holding his arms out in front of him and grunting).

He got a pretty decent loot, for only going down one street. Plus, we got leftovers from my in-laws. The funny thing is, where I grew up we had TONS of trick or treaters and we'd give one candy to each because otherwise we'd run out. So, that's what I'm used to happening. Well, didn't I feel stupid when my father-in-law was like, "Feel free to give out more candy. We have plenty." Oops.

All in all, a good night. The weather cooperated for the most part, Carter behaved himself, even staying up until 10:30, and we came home with a ton of candy. The bad part? I started Weight Watchers this week so the candy is just sitting there taunting me. I was very proud of myself though; I made it through Halloween with no candy. I had one candy bar today (so far, LOL) but I'm eating a super healthy dinner so it all balances out.

Bedtime TV

2009-10-29T19:59:00.003-05:00

Every night, Carter gets some time to lay in our bed and watch tv and just hang out before he has to go to sleep. He loves laying in Mommy and Daddy's bed and usually asks to watch Horton Hears a Who or Jack's Big Music Show. Tonight, he asked for "Jack" so I put it on but then he changed his mind and asked for "Who" so I switched it over. Again, he changed his mind and said "no Who." I hit stop and asked him what he wanted to watch, Jack or Who. He sat up, looked at me, and said, "Oprah?"

Yep, he wanted me to put Oprah on. So I did and he happily watched for the next 30 minutes.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-10-19T01:16:00.002-05:00

Going to work

2009-10-15T18:57:00.002-05:00

This morning Carter told Chris that he was going to work. He then picked up his "briefcase" (a box with a handle that holds 3 books), gave a hug and a kiss and pretended to leave. He even waved goodbye and pretended to open the door.

Tonight, he did it for me and it may have been the funniest thing he's done so far. Okay, fine, the tooting on command when I put powder on his butt is pretty darn funny, but this is a close second.

He's got great taste

2009-10-08T19:21:00.001-05:00

Carter and I walked in the door tonight and I asked if he wanted to watch tv. He turned to me and said, "Tennis?" I said it wasn't on. Then he asked for football. I told him it wasn't on. Then...he asked for TMZ. I kid you not. God, I love him.

Weekend fun!

2009-10-04T19:14:00.002-05:00

Carter went to his first bounce party yesterday. He had so much fun! He climbed up the big blowup structures (with some help) and loooooved sliding down the big slides. He wouldn't do it by himself but he had no problem sitting on my lap. Every time we'd get to the bottom and he'd yell "Again!" and go running back to the entrance. They had a bunch of bouncy balls, and bouncy horse things you could ride, and a big firetruck you could bounce inside of (his favorite since he is currently obsessed with firetrucks), and a couple of bouncy slides. Plus he got to eat pizza all by himself and play with his buddy "Handsome" who he has so much fun with.

He had so much fun, in fact, that he didn't want to leave. He gave Handsome a sweet little hug (and when Handsome hugs he pats you with his little hands which just ups the cuteness factor). We went outside and the little turkey just plopped down on the curb and organized a sit-in. Once he sat down, these other kids sat down and no one would go to their cars. Little rebel.

Today we went out to breakfast and after Carter's nap we went to an awesome playground near my house. It's similar to Clemyjontri in that it's made to be accessible to all kids, but it's a much smaller version. He ran and played and had a great time. Then we headed to another nearby playground that has a big sandbox. At first he wouldn't walk on the sand and got all panicky. Then I finally coaxed him in but he wouldn't touch the sand at all. There were a bunch of shovels and sand toys in there so he picked up a small shovel with his forefinger and thumb, scooped up sand, and gently put it in a container. If a grain of sand got on his hand he made me wipe it off. He must have played in the sand, but without actually touching any of it, for 15 minutes. Finally I got him to sit down and touch it with his forefinger and that got him interested. Needless to say, when he got home he got a bath to get all the sand off of his scalp.

It's been a lot of fun seeing his reaction to the season changing. He absolutely loves crunching on the leaves, and collecting pinecones is his new hobby. He lines them up and counts them. Today, he counted straight through to 12! I had to help him because he skipped 10 but once I reminded him about 10, he finished by himself. It was really impressive! A baby genius, that one.

Books on Tape

2009-09-29T06:39:00.002-05:00

Now that I have a bit of a longer commute, I've been listening to books on tape. I just finished a 20-cd marathon of The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. To say I loved it would be an understatement. I truly feel that if I'd sat down and read the book, I wouldn't have gotten even half of the emotional connection to the story that I did. I tend to speed read and gloss over what seem to be boring paragraphs, but listening to it sort of forces you to hear those "boring" parts, that actually turned out to be not boring at all! This book was so amazing. I laughed plenty, I cried even more (with actual tears and snot!) and I looked forward to being in the car every single day.

Now I've decided to get a little culture and I'm starting Pride and Prejudice this morning and really looking forward to it! This book got me interested in reading/hearing some of those books that I never wanted to sit down and read because I thought I'd be bored and I'm looking forward to hearing what all the excitement is all about.

Weekend

2009-09-27T19:41:00.004-05:00

My life has been a blur for months now. When I gave my notice at my old job, it was a frantic rush to get them all ready for me to leave. Then I started my new job the day after I left my old one and I'm so busy there that my days just fly. I have no time to read any blogs, talk to my NMD girls, read about what's going on in the world. I'm in an absolute bubble.

So many times I've thought about things that we've done, or things Carter has said and I've wanted to blog about it and share it with everyone, but by the time I get home, and get dinner made, and entertain Carter, and relax a little, I'm ready to fall asleep and start over again the next day.

Our weekends have been busy and full of fun. Sidewalk chalk, crayons, pumpkins, homemade play-doh, hugs and kisses, bubble baths. Lots of good memories being made.

Our version of timeout

2009-09-19T13:57:00.002-05:00

We're pretty strict in our house.

Quote of the Day

2009-09-09T19:50:00.002-05:00

The funniest part of our Labor Day weekend? We were over my brother's house and Carter said to my niece and nephew, respectively, "Hi Bella! Hi Other Bella!" because he couldn't remember Brandon's name. Cracks me up every time I think about it.

Attacked...again

2009-08-31T18:06:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, I'll be calling the program that we use for Carter's daycare. Remember the biter from last year? He's on the attack again. The other day Carter came home with a bite on his arm and I asked who did it and he said the kid's name. And kept saying, "(name of kid) bite, (name of kid) bite." I talked to Shaista about it and she said she'd keep an eye out. Okay, no big deal. I was just bringing it to her attention so she can look out for this kid biting again.

But today, my baby came home with bite marks all over his arm. At least SIX of them! One of them is pretty bad, but thankfully none of them broke the skin. Chris picked him up and talked to Shaista and she said the kids were playing out back and one of the older kids (about 10 years old) caught the kid biting Carter and tried to stop him but the kid turned on him and started attacking him too! So at least we have it confirmed by a third party who the biter is, and not just relying on the testimony of a one-year-old.

Since this is AT LEAST the 3rd time this has happened, I feel it's time to get the program director involved. I'll be calling tomorrow, you can count on that.

(Click on the pics to make them bigger. You can really see the bite marks in the full size version.)

Puzzles, and other miscellaneous stuff

2009-08-22T15:55:00.003-05:00

Carter has several Melissa and Doug wood puzzles that his grandma and grandpa got him for Christmas. He's always enjoyed telling us what the animals are and what noises they make, but he didn't grasp the concept of putting the pieces where they belong. Yesterday, however, we discovered that he can do it now! He picks up the pig, says "pig" and then points out the pig on the puzzle. He has some trouble getting it to fit perfectly and gets frustrated, but he at least understands the concept. So cool!

But what's not cool is that he knows how to curl his little hands into fists and make contact with another person. He does it and then says, "hit" so he knows what he's doing and is doing it on purpose. Not very nice.

Oh,and one more thing. He has a serious OBSESSION with the Horton Hears a Who movie. It's insane. He's constantly asking to watch it and if you try to put it on in the middle, he throws a fit until you start it from the beginning. He won't even watch Yo Gabba Gabba anymore! All he wants is his "Who" movie. Good thing it's a good movie so I don't totally hate it yet. I just wish Horton would sing the alphabet or count to ten or something so I can at least call it educational.

Speaking of counting, Carter has a pretty good grasp on counting. He can count to five pretty much without mistake, if he's really trying. Otherwise, he says, "1,2,5,10!" But he knows the numbers and when you get to 10, he says 11 and 12. So I guess you can say he can count to 12? His favorite is saying, "8,9,10!"

New job

2009-08-17T19:23:00.002-05:00

My new job started this past Thursday. I left my old job on Wednesday and started my new one the next day. It would have been nice to have had a day or two to myself, but my old job needed me as long as I could stay and the new job wanted me as quickly as I could. So, that was my compromise.

The first day I spent training on their computer system (it's a different program than the one I used at my old job) and I think I picked it up fairly quickly. It's not really an intuitive program, but I took a lot of notes and screenshots and by Friday I was left to myself to grind out some commitments (I'm a title insurance underwriter) and see how it went. I got a bunch of them back today for edits, but it was stuff that was just related to weird kinks in the program that I need to learn to work around, not underwriting issues, for the most part. So that was good.

The first day has some good stuff and some bad stuff, but it seems to be getting better each day. Right now my desk is right out in the open, no walls or anything. I'm told my cubicle has been ordered but it takes a while for delivery. It'll be nice to have a tiny bit of privacy again. I'm used to having my own office, so the open work environment is taking a little bit of getting used to. The other thing that I didn't like was that on my first day, no one offered to go out to lunch, or sit with me at lunch, or anything. I sat outside on a bench and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was lonely and embarrassing, to be honest. Now, I just bring my Kindle and eat in the lunchroom, and chat with whoever's in there. It seems that most of my coworkers eat at their desks, but I don't want to get into that habit. I did that for too many years.

My coworkers are nice for the most part. I'm still getting to know them but we seem to work pretty well together. As with anywhere, there are those I click with more than others, but so far no big conflicts of personality. Ask me again in a few months and I'm sure I'll have more colorful things to say. :-)

So, that's what's new with me. As for Chris, his last day of work is this Wednesday, and then he starts school on Monday. He's very excited!

And little Carter...well, he's just a hilarious dude. He imitates EVERYTHING. We were at Dick's the other day and there was a man bent over, looking at the bottom shelf of one of those glass displays. Carter stood right next to him, leaned over just like the guy was, and smiled at him. The guy was like, "He's imitating me, isn't he?" We said yes and we all laughed and laughed. And then we ate bologna sandwiches. (Only Heather will understand that last line, so the rest of you can ignore it.)

And since I haven't posted any new pictures in forever, here's a pic of Carter after we went blackberry picking a few weekends ago. He tasted some of the merchandise, as you can tell.

Labels

2009-08-07T04:47:00.003-05:00

Everything now needs a name. I hear "Wut dis?" a hundred times a day and I never tire of it. First of all, I love the way he says it, but second, I love that he's curious about his world and wants to know what things are. And when I tell him, he repeats the word and moves on with what he was doing.

And there's a new body part that he knows. Armpits! I didn't teach him that; Shaista must have. I was just going through his body parts with him the other day and just decided to ask where his armpits are, thinking he'd say he didn't know. But he reached his arms up so his pits were showing and said "armpits." Love it.

Other than that, we've just been busy wrapping things up at our respective jobs and looking forward to all the changes that are coming. Chris' textbooks came yesterday along with his new graphing calculator (1. damn, those are expensive and, 2. they're just as big as they were in 1993 when I had to use one in high school...isn't technology supposed to be getting smaller???). My job has hired my replacement and she's learning quickly and doing well, and my boss is comfortable with how things are going to end up there. She sort of panicked when I gave my notice because it's hard to find someone who does every aspect of what I do, but thankfully this woman came along and she's going to work out great. It's all going to be good. I feel it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2009-07-29T02:57:00.002-05:00

Chris has applied for and been accepted to utilize the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, since he served active duty after September 11th. He's been talking about going back to school for years now, but it's never been feasible financially. Thankfully, his service has now paid off and he's going back to school next month to finish his degree. He'll be going back full-time, which means he'll be leaving his current job and will be a student and SAHM dad (on the days he has classes at night or no classes at all). This is a good thing for a lot of reasons and we're all very excited about it.

Since he's going back to school and leaving his job, we'll be losing our medical insurance (his company provides our insurance benefits). As much as I love my job and the company I work for, I quickly realized that in order to make this school thing happen, I'd have to move on and find somewhere that can offer me insurance for my family. It was a really hard decision to make, and one that made me cry more than once, but it's a sacrifice I need to make for my family.

I applied for a few jobs that sounded like something I'd be interested in, and I quickly had three interviews lined up. The first interview offered me the job on the spot but I had to wait for a background check to come in, the second interview just didn't feel like a good fit, and with the third interview I got a call 10 minutes after I left offering me the job. After a lot of deliberation and talking to Chris and my mom about the pros and cons of both, I decided to go with Offer #1.

I'll be working for another title company out in Chantilly, so my commute will be quite a bit longer than my current 10-15 minutes, but the pay and benefits are more beneficial to what we need to survive the next few years. I'll miss my one day off a week, but that's sort of gone by the wayside recently anyway since most Mondays I find myself dialing in from home or even going in to the office for a little while.

Giving my notice to my current employer was really, really hard. She and her husband (also an owner of the company) are like family to me and I really enjoy working where I do. But, after seven years, it's time to move on I suppose. I'm really going to miss it there.

One more before I go to bed

2009-07-22T20:30:00.001-05:00

One more video before I hit the hay. Pretty self-explanatory.

You spin me right round

2009-07-22T19:16:00.002-05:00

Haven't had a video in a while. Here's Carter imitating his buddy, Ricky.

We're here

2009-07-21T12:35:00.003-05:00

We're still here. Busy weekends, busier workweeks. Lots of changes but I can't talk about any of them just yet.

We were in Delaware this weekend to see Chris' family and Carter has taken on a new look. Really it's just a furrowed brow but it's hilarious because he can't look at his great-uncle David without making that face. I got a picture of it and will try to post it tonight if I can remember. Poor David. Although Carter did give him a hug when we left, so that was progress. And Chris' grandmother? Well she got tons of kisses and hugs from the little man. It took him a little while (okay, about a year) to warm up to her but he's been asking for her ever since we left on Sunday. We'll have to go back soon. I know that would make his MomMom happy.

Mea Culpa

2009-07-15T05:34:00.003-05:00

I recently responded to a blog post of someone I've been reading for a while now. I've found her to be crass, smart, entertaining, and hilarious, but something about this particular post rubbed me the wrong way. And I decided that instead of being my usual non-confrontational self, I'd post a comment expressing my displeasure. She took the time to email me to explain her post a little further and I was really impressed that she cared enough about me as a reader to do that.

But then? I never wrote her back. The email was lost in the insanity of my inbox and I dropped the ball. I should have just written her back right away but life got in the way, I suppose. Now she's called me out on her blog, rightfully so, and I feel like a total shit.

I'm sorry, CP. It wasn't my intention to ignore you or your reaching out to me. I just suck, that's all.

Oh, come on!

2009-07-13T10:15:00.003-05:00

I took Carter to the fountain this morning to play and there was a little boy there, maybe two years old, down on the ground crying and having a hissy fit. Carter was very concerned and was watching him for a minute and then said, "Baby?" I said, "Yes, the baby's upset and crying." The mom (or maybe she was the grandmother; she was quite a bit older) made a point of asking me how old Carter is and then said to the other kid, "You're not a baby, are you? You're older than that boy. You're no baby!"

Get a grip, lady. I wasn't trying to insult your kid. Carter calls all kids "babies." He doesn't know the difference. So I told her that he calls all kids babies and she said, "Yeah, at THAT age, they do." in a tone that insinuated that I shouldn't be calling him one. Whatever.

Damn you recession!

2009-07-12T06:23:00.002-05:00

We tried to go to our local Fractured Prune yesterday for breakfast. Closed down. Bah.

Feeling Itchy?

2009-07-06T09:48:00.003-05:00

Yesterday marked seven years since Chris and I met and started dating. Is the itch supposed to start seven years after dating or seven years after marrying? Because I am feeling just fine, thank you very much.

I give up

2009-07-02T13:14:00.002-05:00

I have to give up on Carter's Word List on the right-hand side. He's adding so many new words each day that I'd have to keep a piece of paper and pen on me and write them all down before I forgot. He's doing a lot more combining of words, which is really cute and exciting. He has a little trouble making it flow easily so there's always either a slur in the middle or a little pause between words. For instance, "I louhdooiuyouyouh Mommy" for "I love you, Mommy" or "yellow (pause) bus." And another thing I'm noticing is that sometimes he gets his letters out of order. Like, he'll say "pack" instead of "cap" or where "zebra" used to be "bahbrah" it's now "bahbree."

A new thing he's doing that I just love love love, is that he kisses everything. He pulls my shirt up and kisses my bellybutton as I'm standing over his crib. And then will walk around and kiss all four sides of his crib. And then the tv. And the coffee table. And himself in the mirror.

In case you were concerned, and I'm sure all four of you are, Carter's butt is much, much better. I'd say it's about 90% healed. I really think it's the Epsom baths that did it. That stuff is magical!

Two Days Later

2009-06-28T15:48:00.003-05:00

Still a very angry butt. Between the last post and when we went to the doc the next day, the part at the top got more brown and scabby, rather than bumpy and red.

The doctor was, um, confused, as to what was going on. He called it "interesting." He put Carter on a trifecta of steroid cream (just for a day or so to get the anger away), then antibiotic and Lotrimin. He said between the three, one of them should work. Helpful, right?

And, per NG's suggestion, I also put him in an Epsom bath for a little bit today. It seemed to work on it pretty quickly. The scabby part started turning whitish, which I supposed is a good sign.

Below are some updated pics if you can stomach them. Kinda grody, unless you're into that sort of thing. Which I am. Parts of it look better, but other parts look worse. Damn thing is mystifying.

Rash

2009-06-26T19:10:00.003-05:00

Carter's got a helluva rash on his butt. He had a few days of diarrhea the week before last and got a bad butt rash from it. I had a lot of trouble getting it to clear up. It would start to get better but then have another flare-up. Today, it got worse than it's been. And it's migrated from his cheeks to the top of his crack. It has a horrible texture to it and the top part seems a bit yellowish. We're headed to the doc in the morning to get him some help. We've tried all the usual treatments: prescription butt cream, hydrocortisone, etc.

The End of an Era

2009-06-25T06:01:00.002-05:00

Carter has nursed for 90 seconds in the past three days. I started weaning him when he turned 18 months. I stopped offering it in the morning and throughout the day, but if he asked for it, I would oblige. I was still nursing him before bed though. That was my favorite time, cuddling with him in the glider. We spent this past long weekend in Baltimore and Pennsylvania and he was so exhausted by bedtime that he had no interest in nursing and when I offered, would say, "No meemees, no meemees" (which is how he pronounces "milkies"). I think this weekend was the boost we both needed to take the plunge and just stop altogether.

It makes me sad but I think we were both ready.

New Hat

2009-06-14T19:25:00.003-05:00

He wore it all day.

I've created a monster

2009-06-12T08:43:00.002-05:00

I had no idea how many school buses there were until Carter started saying "bus." Good lord, it's all I hear now!

Oh, and we got a childproof lightswitch cover last night and moved his room back to how it was. He went to bed perfectly and slept until I had to wake him up to leave this morning. Heavenly.

So proud of himself

2009-06-11T08:20:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to teach Carter the differences between a car, bus, and truck for a few days now. Maybe a week. Anyway, he gets car. Everything is a car, even motorcycles. We see a lot of school buses on our way to daycare and he always notices them and yells out "Car car car car" repeatedly until I acknowledge him. I correct him that it's a bus and ask him to say "bus" and he does (except he puts the "sh" sound at the end which is so cute I could die). Yet, he still continued to call them cars.

This morning, though, we pulled up next to another big yellow bus and he yells out, "Bus! Hooray! Clap clap!" and clapped his hands. He knew he got it right and was so proud of himself. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm laughing now remembering it.

He No Likey the Change

2009-06-08T15:41:00.003-05:00

Last night we rearranged Carter's room to move him away from the light switch. And the curtains. His crib was on a wall where the top part was accessible to the light switch, and the bottom side was at the curtains. Yes, it's a very small room. I tried moving him closer to the window but he liked pulling at the curtains to see outside.

So we moved him to the opposite wall. I hate how his room looks now but we really had no choice. He would constantly turn the light on and then whine and cry and not sleep until someone came in to turn it off. Forget the fact that he could reach it to turn it off also. He just didn't realize he could do that.

Anyway, last night? Didn't go so well. He was very, very upset at the change. He can't see out the door anymore, which is probably a little scary. He could see the light from our bedroom before and now he has a view of the big chair in our living room. I think he likes the reassurance that we're right there, and the way his crib is now doesn't give him that. We let him cry for about 5 minutes and then he fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion (it was 9:00 and he hadn't had a good afternoon nap). This morning he woke up crying. Typically he wakes up and plays and talks and says "Hi Mommy" over and over until I come get him.

I hope he gets used to it soon. I don't know what else to do to keep him away from the light switch. They don't make a childproof cover for them, do they?