Things that make you go HHHHmmmm

On the way to Walmart and Target (to get some potty training stuff... more on that later...) something popped up in my head that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of before.  I texted Kevin to double check my thinking.  He confirmed it and also couldn't believe he had never put the two together.  

Kevin and I got engaged in Washington at a little B&B in Port Angeles called Domaine Madeleine.  It was so beautiful there.  We hiked and explored Olympic National Park over the next few days.  Gorgeous scenery.  

10ish years later we found out Nathaniel existed and was due on Oct 5, 2011.  In my and Kevin's head we got engaged on Oct 5, 2001.  Pretty cool right?  I had never thought about it. 

I wasn't sure if I was right so I dug into our mementos and found the original airline tickets and B&B reservation... etc.  Kevin proposed on Oct 4th.... I know :( BUT he was supposed to and his plan was to do it the next day, but he couldn't wait.  So the story isn't quite perfect.  Regardless, it is kind of a neat thing.  

Lie Down

What is Nathaniel's favorite thing?  It's not going to bed at night that is for sure.  His new thing is not wanting to go to sleep.  Each night is a bit of a struggle now.  We are hoping it is a phase.  That kind of made me laugh out loud.  I feel like anytime something comes up we just hope it is a phase.  I'm not sure that is the right way to approach raising a toddler... haha.  Shrug your shoulders ... 'eeehh it will pass' is apparently our mantra.  

The regular bedtime routine ensues.... milk, go to his room, rub lotion on his cheeks, brush his teeth and read a book.  This is where it goes downhill.  Once you put him in his crib he cries now.  He used to just lay down and go to bed.  Actually that isn't correct - he doesn't actually cry until you leave the room.  If you stay in the room there isn't any crying.  This is where he is funny, well at least to us.  It is especially funny to hear through the monitor.

You put him in his crib and then he points (pretty sternly) at the floor and says 'LIE DOWN' 'lie down'.  We comply.  It used to be just a few minutes and you'd get up and leave.  Now if you get up to try and leave you get more 'LIE DOWN's' That little almost 2 year old is quite bossy.  We didn't mind complying because we figured he just wanted a little more mommy/daddy time.  I know I know, he is taking advantage of us.  But I'm sure it is just a phase so no worries :) Right??  Don't disagree or you might find yourself being told to 'Lie Down!' too

Outbreak

Is it bad that I have temporarily nicknamed my son Outbreak?  Yep, straight from the movie with Dustin Hoffman and Renee Russo in it?  I haven't seen that movie in forever, but regardless I believe it is a fitting nickname.

Why did I nickname him that?  Well, Nathaniel woke up on Thurs and was 1 million degrees.  Seriously, I think it was around a million.  He was a little ball of fire.  We immediately knew we had to take his temperature.  This was the first time he has had a fever so I was running around looking for the thermometer.  We tried our ear therm.  Then we tried the digital regular therm under the arm.  They were both reading somewhere in the neighborhood of 101-102.  Uh-oh.  He is hot.  What to do next.  HHHmmmm.  

Having never had a kid with a fever I decided to procrastinate deciding what to do and just complain about our lame thermometers.  Our thermometers really aren't great.  They were good enough to determine something was off though.  I ran out later in the day and got a better one.  Nothing too special, but at least I know when it is reading and when it is done.  Sadly, my other 2 were less conclusive on that front.

Ok, so after complaining and Kevin zoning me out.  We decided to just let him rest and see what happened.  If he got hotter or showed any more symptoms I'd worry more then.  So it became a day of trying to get him to drink some fluids and just relax by my side.  It wasn't hard to get him to relax he was pretty out of it.  He just laid there and looked at books or watched shows.  Ok, honestly, it was mostly watching shows haha.

His temperature stayed the same pretty much all day and besides him having zero appetite nothing else really looked wrong.  So I waited some more.  That evening Kevin gave him a lukewarm bath and off to bed he went.  

Oh I forgot, we did give him 3 doses of Tylenol to help with the whines and fever.  We hadn't ever used the Tylenol and it was expired.  I was happy on one hand that we hadn't had to use it, but bummed on the other since it was expired and I wanted to use it.  After getting some new medicine we were all set.  It did seem to help.  He even ate a little after having one dose.  I have learned that I have mixed opinions about lowering a fever and need to do some more research.  I know fevers are good since it means your immune system is doing its job and you don't want to interfere with that unless you have too.  *have too* meaning too high of a fever or other aches that just need some soothing.  Nathaniel just had the fever and a few whines so I wasn't sure I wanted to lower his fever because maybe it was doing its thing.  What I learned is that it is possible the tylenol works through a different mechanism than the immune system thus not interfering with the immune's system's ability to operate.  Like I said I'll have to research that little tidbit further for my own curiosity's sake.  Is that interesting or am I just a geek?  Hhhhmmm

Ok, back to how my little Outbreak was doing the next morning.  He woke up with no fever.  His fever had broke.  Yippee.  He was still a little sluggish and lacking an appetite, but better.  About halfway through the day he started to show signs.  Signs of an outbreak.  AAAHHHH my little one has spots.  All over.  Uh-Oh.  Off to google I went.

I decided to channel my inner 'House' (the tv show) and write the symptoms on a white board in my head.  1) A fever that broke 2) Acting pretty normal 3) Spots 4) Spots that don't seem to itch or be bothersome 5) Spots (did I already write that one) 6) light appetite and 7) no other symptoms.  

Beep, boop, beep (that is the computer working) boop beep.  What I self diagnosed him as having was 'Roseola'.  The only contradictory part was that usually kids with Roseola have a fever for several days.  I took him to the pediatrician's office on Sat. just to be sure it wasn't some rash I should be worried about, plus he still had a light appetite and seemed a little irritable.  I figured I better double check.  Roseola confirmed!  Apparently by the time they show spots they supposedly aren't contagious.  Which is bad news for all the kids at the library on Tues when we were there.  Whoops.  I guess it is most contagious when kids don't show any signs, which is why it gets spread at daycare pretty easy.  

The good news. Yep, there is good news.  One is that he hardly played with anything at the library hopefully not spreading germs that widely.  And two you are immune to it after you have it once, which is why adults and most kids don't get it very often since most everyone gets it before the age of 2.  I guess some kids can get it and not even know it because they don't break out in a rash.  Who knows.  All I do know is that he looks like Outbreak right now, poor kid.  People are probably trying to stay away from us in the stores.  Maybe I need some biohazard tape to wrap around his head haha.  I know my germaphobe self and I'd be avoiding us if I saw us.  ;)  

Sign of the Times

This picture doesn't really need much of an explanation.  Kids and technology.  Look at him chilling with the IPad.  Guess it's time to find some more toddler friendly games.  

Mickey Mouse

Nathaniel's love for Mickey Mouse is official.  He can say 'Mickey Mouse' now.  It sort of sounded like 'Mickey Moose' at first, but it is slowly starting to sound like 'Mickey Mouse'.  

Nathaniel is currently addicted to 3 things.  The park, outside and show.  I hear those words several times a day.  Actually, The Park kind of has an added ark so it sounds more like 'Park ark'.  We are wondering if we used to say it twice in a row and he picked up on that.  

When he requests 'show' what he means (at least this week) is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Wizard of Diz episode.  He is completely addicted to it right now.  Probably not my best parenting moment when my kid is addicted to a show.  It is his love for this show that has him saying 'Mickey Mouse'.  

This means we should take him to DisneyWorld soon, right? right?!?  

The Turn

Not to be confused with 'The English Turn'.  Where the French tricked the English into turning around near New Orleans (the early established Orleans back then).  The French had settled down near the crescent in the Mississippi river and wanted control of the waterway for trade and stuff.  A small crew of Frenchmen overstated the French occupation when they stopped and talked to the English boat.  The big English boat thinking that they were outnumbered turned around and left the area.  Thus, aptly named 'The English Turn'  I only bring this up because it popped into my mind when I typed 'The Turn'.  There is a golf course named 'The Turn' so of course I wondered why it was called that and asked a local.  I thought the story was pretty cool and it stuck with me. 

Have you guessed what 'The Turn' is yet?  

Yep, we turned the little guy around in his carseat.  He is now forward facing like the rest of the world (well except for those smaller than him).  It is recommended now to wait at least until they are 2 or more depending on their size.  This is a fairly new recommendation due to their spines not being fully developed.  They are so top head heavy that if there is a car accident their neck's aren't always strong enough to keep the heavy head in place if there isn't support.  The rear facing gives the head a lot more support than forward facing lessening injuries.    

Nathaniel was reaching the max height for rear facing plus we are pretty close to his 2 year birthday so we just went ahead and did it.  We had the carseat out for a thorough cleaning so it seemed like a good time.    

It went over really well, he loved his new found freedom.  NOT.  Sometimes I forget how important routine is to a toddler.  There wasn't a mirror, he had nowhere to put his feet, etc.  He did not appreciate having his world turned around so abruptly.  There was definitely a mini meltdown.  He cried until about the halfway point on the way to the library.  He kept saying 'Out, out, out' :(  It was about at the halfway point I somehow distracted him enough so that he'd at least look around.  He looked something like this, but WWWAAAYYY more teary eyed.

Then he started to come around and chit chat about something.  He looked more like this.  A mix between emotionally distraught and complete goofball.

Now he just looks like this!  Content and happy with his new situation.  

Now, what I didn't realize is how backwards it turned things around for me.  Loosening the straps is harder and I have to get used to holding him differently to get him in.  But I think the worst part is that when he is having a snack or holding a toy, etc. if he let's go of it, it just falls to the floor.  It used to just sit in the gathering area between Nate's legs and the seat.  I miss that!!!!  I can't reach the stuff he drops while I'm driving so it just rolls around and he asks for it... what a pain in the butt.  There is a silver lining - I get to see that cutey patooty face in person instead of reflected in the mirror.  

Swings Are Awesome

Nathaniel and I try to go to the park a couple times a week.  There are 2 bigger parks and one smaller neighborhood park that we usually frequent.  The bigger parks have a lot of kids, tons of big things to climb on, slides, musical type stuff, etc., but you will usually (99% of the time) find us on the swings.  The kid LOVES the swing.  I'll ask 'Do you want to go run or go to the slide?' 'No' is the answer.  Or if you say 'Do you want to do something different' sometimes you will get a 'Yes' I'll get Nate down from the swing.... and he just goes to a different swing.  The green swing is WWWAAAAYYY different than the yellow swing I guess.  

The funny part about the swing is that he gets what we call 'swing face'.  You can't tell if he likes it or hates it or is scared or having the best time of his life.  He kind of just zones out.  It must be relaxing.  The only way we know he likes it is because he asks to go to the park all the time and runs to the swing.  Maybe he will grow up to play professional poker and his 'swing face' will become a 'poker face' or possibly a better profession requiring the same skill set ;)  He gets 'swing face' on the carousel at the zoo too!

If you are at the park long enough and he has exhausted all of the swing options he will run around a bit.  I like to see him branch out occasionally.  During the summer I haven't pushed him much because the swings at the parks we go to are usually in the shade which has been fine by me!  But, he will go down a slide occasionally and cross over some fun type bridges.  There is a TeePee at one of the parks that he likes to run through.  (Side Story - there was an unusually vocal kid at the park one day and I kept asking Nate do you want to go through the house.  We'd run through it.  The kid kept saying 'It's a teepee not a house'  He also told me I could stand up inside instead of hunching over... kids are goofy)  

I don't know if my memory is correct, but I'm pretty sure I used to cry when I had to try to go down slides.  I remember some big slides at Whataburger and I'd cry.  Or those really big slides at the fair, I HATED those!  It's possible he has my adventurous side (or not so adventurous side) haha.

I guess to follow the trendy quote.... 'Be Calm and Swing On' Maybe I'll make him a shirt that says that. :)

Kona Is Pulling a Mako

When Mako got a little older he would groan/moan like Barry White when you'd pet him and love on him (At least that is what my mom used to say and it seemed pretty accurate)  It was his love groans I guess or at least that is what I like to call them.  Apparently, as weimaraners get older they all do this because Kona has now become Barry White too.  When she is feeling especially lovey and you pet her she will groan. I just love when she does this because it reminds me of Mako.  I treasure anything that reminds me of Mako.  

Nathaniel will be in bed, the dogs have usually eaten and been walked, Kona is starting to get sleepy and this is when Barry White shows up.  I just keep petting her and squeezing her so I can hear the love groans.  It is my nightly moment of zen.  I just love my baby girl dog, I can only assume Mako taught her this - Thanks Mako!

The Fair

Nathaniel went to his first fair.  It was our little county fair and not as big as a traditional state fair.  We wanted to ease him in to the fried snickers, people watching and fast rides.  It only cost $3 to get in and Nathaniel was free - talk about good deal!!  We met a couple there that have a daughter Nate's age so he got to explore the fair with a little friend.

We ate straight away since it was dinner time.  Normally dinner is a boring thing to blog about, but you are at the fair so it is a chance to eat crazy food.  Kevin got a cheese steak, I got cheese pizza and we got fresh cut fries and lemonade.  Nate loved the lemonade and fries. (I fed him dinner before we went so he could just snack).  Our friends bought HUGE onion rings and they were so good.  Kevin got a fried snickers to share with everyone.  

We had to cut dinner short to make it to the dock dog jumping.  This is where dogs run and jump as far as they can into a pool.  The big dogs were jumping around 25 feet.  It kept the attention of the little ones for a bit.  They clapped for the dogs.  It was cute.

After that we headed to the agriculture center.  They had a neat little thing set up for kids.  The kids become farmers and walk through a maze doing farm like things.  At the end they turn in their work for money and get to buy something.  They planted corn seeds, milked a fake cow, combed a sheep to get wool, picked apples, feed chickens and collected eggs, harvested vegetables and other fun stuff.  They got to put all this stuff in a basket and carry it around until the end.  It was done really well.  Then they sold the stuff they collected for *money* and got to buy a treat.  Nathaniel picked animal crackers.  

Next was the farm animals.  Nathaniel loved looking at all the animals.  The goats, horses, bull, alpaca, chickens, pig (plus newborn piglets that somehow I missed, but Nate and Kevin saw them) Then we headed back out to lolly gag around the fair. 

I think Nathaniel's (and his little friends) favorite thing was dancing by a restored music car.  It was the size of a train car and played music like a music box.  It was built in 1892.  It was neat.  Nate and his friend ran around and danced and had a good time.  They also danced to the R&B music that was inside the fair ctr.  Maybe it was because they were up past their bedtime or maybe they are just crazy dancers! 

I really enjoyed going.  It was a perfect size and crowd for an almost 2 year old.  Unfortunately I didn't get that many great pictures, but here are a few.

Planting the corn

Combing the sheep

Hoarder

What makes you a hoarder.  I thought I'd do some self diagnosis and find out.  Some clues that might fit my situation.  You are unable to throw away possessions.  You feel embarrassed by your possessions.  You are suspicious of others touching your possessions.  You can't pass up a bargain.  Your house smells bad and is dirty, but you cannot clean it up.  You move stuff from pile to pile, but you don't throw it away.  You are sure that there is a treasure buried under the piles of stuff in your house.

There are many more signs, but I believe the above qualify me as a hoarder.

Now, you might ask, what could she possibly be hoarding.  Flash cards.  Yep, that's right - flash cards.  These back to school sales are so fun (fun meaning cheap).  So let's review the symptoms of hoarding that fit my situation.

1) You are unable to throw away possessions - We have sets of flash cards in binder rings, in boxes, in piles, etc.  When they get ripped or dirty (or Mocha chews them) I try to repair them.  They look horrible and can be gross, but I can't bring myself to throw them away because it ruins the set.  Crazy right? Right!

2) You feel embarrassed by your possessions - When Kevin gets home I cringe a little wondering if he is going to notice our stacks of flash cards have gotten higher.  Or gosh forbid someone comes over and sees the huge stacks of different flash cards on the kitchen table and various other places throughout the house.  Weird right? Right!

3) You are suspicious of others touching your possessions - We do flash cards at meal time a lot.  The more Nathaniel is distracted the more he tends to eat.  That being said, he likes to touch the flashcards with his sticky gooey hands.  I do my absolute best not to let him.  I can always tell when dad fed him because the cards are all sticky (that dad just doesn't follow the rules) Control freak right? Right!

4) You can't pass up a bargain - NO WAY!  That is the problem.  There is all of these back to school sales and everything is always a dollar or less.  Dr. Suess cards for $1, Animals of the world for $1, First words for 0.25 cents.... I mean I can't pass it up.  Pooh Bear on a swing teaching #'s .. how can I go wrong.  They are just so cheap and seem so useful.  Thrifty right? Right!

5) Your house is dirty and smells bad, but you cannot clean it up -  Wait, how'd this one get in there???  Did someone sneak that one in here as a hint?!?  (Kona perhaps)  

6) You move stuff from pile to pile, but don't throw it away - See #1.  I do move them around the house to change it up sometimes too.  

7) You are sure that there is a treasure buried under the piles of stuff in your house - If I don't buy all the flash cards I may miss the one set that Nathaniel will really love and learn from.  I can't hinder his future.  I mean for $1 I can't jeopardize his future.  LOL  Tiger mom right? I wish!! :)

These back to school sales kill me.  Crayons for 0.25, glue for a 0.10,  Folders for 0.25.  I feel like I need to stock up every time I'm at the store.  At almost 2 years old doesn't he need markers and construction paper and a million other things?  Especially FLASHCARDS.  

My name is Stacy and I might be a Flashcard (and possibly Crayon) hoarder.  

My friends

Ok, so Nathaniel doesn't really have many friends yet. Sad? I know! I'm working on it. It's possible he inherited his parents social skills. He does however have two friends that make him laugh. Mocha and Kaka. Yep, Kona is Kaka. Which is actually better than what he was calling her, which was Mocha. Yep, both were Mocha. Or something that sounded like Mocha. But, it is a huge step that Kona now has her own identity :) Kaka the weimaraner. This is a fairly new development. I heard him saying 'Bye Bye Mocha, Bye Bye Kaka' when we were leaving. He now says it all the time.

 

I call them his friends because friends make you laugh, right? Nathaniel loves when Mocha chases him around trying to get whatever he is holding. It cracks him up (not me so much since it is usually something Mocha shouldn't have), but it is fun to watch those two. He also likes to watch Kona out of the window rolling around in the grass. He yells 'Again' to her when she stops. She doesn't always listen. Apparently rolling around in the grass is hilarious. Also, when Mocha runs full speed in the backyard Nate tries to keep up, laughing as he runs after him. While he is laughing I'm cringing that he is going to get ran over. He hasn't yet, keep your fingers crossed.

 

Now it isn't always fun and games. Nathaniel hasn't quite mastered being gentle. Quite often he pets the dogs more like hits. We are working on that - I tell him he needs to be nice to his friends.

Go To Move

Nathaniel can still be easily spooked by people he doesn't know. If someone approaches quick or loud he gets that look of terror on his face. If it happens to be really loud or quick he doesn't know how to release that nervous energy and things get swooshed off of whatever is around. This has primarily happened at restaurants. For instance, at one dinner in particular a waiter was trying to be nice but came up behind Nathaniel and said some kid like things pretty loud. Nate panicked and just swooshed his hands back and forth and knocked all of his food on to the floor. His face was bright red. Once the waiter caught on and left, Nate cried. This reaction is the worst case scenario for him.

 

Luckily, most things that catch him off guard are less intense. His go to move for something a little less intense is to back up and wave. For example yesterday in music class he went to grab a drum stick. Another boy was already holding the drum stick and yelled 'NO'. Nathaniel turned a little red, took a step backwards and waved. It is funny. He has also done it if he gets bumped by a stranger. Or if someone starts talking to him directly that he doesn't know. At the reunion I remember him tripping over someone and he just got up and waved. I guess a wave makes him feel all better. Just glad his go to move is a wave and not a cry :)