No, we have to change your diaper before you can play.
No, we have to change your diaper, I think you are leaking through.
No, you can not roll around on the changing table like that.
No, because that is poop!
No, now you have to take a bath.
No, you can not watch a Baby Einstein video, it is only 7:30 in the morning.
No, you can not watch a Baby Einstein video, it is only 7:31 in the morning.
No, you can not watch Elmo on the computer, it is only 7:32 in the morning.
No, I know you've been asking for an hour, but we are not turning on the tv yet.
No, do not throw your chicken nuggets on the floor.
No, I did not eat your last chicken nugget, that was your second-to-last chicken nugget, your last chicken nugget is on the floor.
No, you can not have it back, that is impossible.
Yes, it is time to brush your teeth - did you just walk right in to the bathroom?
Yes, it is time to put on your pajamas - are you smiling?
Yes, of course we can read one more book.
Yes, you are awfully cute when we get to this part in the book.
Yes, I will give you a kiss and a hug and a high-five and the rock.
Yes, I love you too. Good night.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Frustration
Conversation between Jett and me when I get home from work:
Jett: Baby!
Me: You want to play with your baby?
Jett: Baby!
Me: Where is your baby?
Jett: Baby!
Me: (Finds doll in crib). Here's your baby! Do you want to hold the baby?
Jett: (Points at TV in obvious frustration). Baby!
Me: Oh. You want to watch Baby Einstein. Great.
Jett: (Climbs up on to couch. Pushes one pillow towards end of couch). Mama! (Puts one pillow on his lap). Jett! Baby!
Me: (Turn on Baby Einstein video. Think it's so sweet that Jett wants me to sit next to him on the couch. Lay down on couch next to Jett. One hair on my head touches Jett's leg).
Jett: No! Mama, No! (Pushes me away, as if he is in pain). Off!
Jett: Baby!
Me: You want to play with your baby?
Jett: Baby!
Me: Where is your baby?
Jett: Baby!
Me: (Finds doll in crib). Here's your baby! Do you want to hold the baby?
Jett: (Points at TV in obvious frustration). Baby!
Me: Oh. You want to watch Baby Einstein. Great.
Jett: (Climbs up on to couch. Pushes one pillow towards end of couch). Mama! (Puts one pillow on his lap). Jett! Baby!
Me: (Turn on Baby Einstein video. Think it's so sweet that Jett wants me to sit next to him on the couch. Lay down on couch next to Jett. One hair on my head touches Jett's leg).
Jett: No! Mama, No! (Pushes me away, as if he is in pain). Off!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Happy Easter
I hope you all had a happy Easter. We did, even though so many of our minutes were used up wiping Jett's nose, eyes, and covering his mouth when he coughed. But that's kind of the standard around here so we won't dwell on it.
Otherwise we had a fabulous weekend. Jett and Charlie swam in the hotel pool. Actually, Jett spent most of his time walking up and down the steps into the pool, first waving to Grandma and Grandpa, then gripping my hand to get in to the pool, and finally gripping Charlie's hand to step down to the last two steps. He let Charlie walk into the pool with him, and Jett had fun hanging out in Charlie's arms for a while. But the pool was small and there were lots of kids, and after a few rides in Charlie's arms, Jett was pretty confident that he could swim over to those other kids without anyone's help. He used one hand to try to push Charlie away, and the other hand to grip his shoulder so he wouldn't actually leave him alone in the water. Oh, the drama!
On Easter day we visited the Garfield Park Conservatory, which is the only place in Chicago that feels like Spring. The flowers were blooming, the fern room was humid and warm, and Jett, seeming to appreciate everything, walked through all of it while holding my hand, which was a pretty sweet Easter present.
Our Easter had a few traditional elements too. Like Easter baskets! Jett loved his basket from Grandma and Grandpa, mostly because Jett pulled from it a zip-up bag with Elmo's face on it - ELMO! and inside the bag were three toy cars - CARS! He is sleeping with two of those cars right now, and after Charlie and I left his room tonight we heard him saying good-night to them.
Jett and Ellie hunted for Easter eggs this afternoon, and even though it only took about 2 minutes to hide the eggs, we put twice as much effort in to hiding the eggs as Jett and Ellie did in finding them. They did however, like throwing them.
Happy Easter!
Otherwise we had a fabulous weekend. Jett and Charlie swam in the hotel pool. Actually, Jett spent most of his time walking up and down the steps into the pool, first waving to Grandma and Grandpa, then gripping my hand to get in to the pool, and finally gripping Charlie's hand to step down to the last two steps. He let Charlie walk into the pool with him, and Jett had fun hanging out in Charlie's arms for a while. But the pool was small and there were lots of kids, and after a few rides in Charlie's arms, Jett was pretty confident that he could swim over to those other kids without anyone's help. He used one hand to try to push Charlie away, and the other hand to grip his shoulder so he wouldn't actually leave him alone in the water. Oh, the drama!
On Easter day we visited the Garfield Park Conservatory, which is the only place in Chicago that feels like Spring. The flowers were blooming, the fern room was humid and warm, and Jett, seeming to appreciate everything, walked through all of it while holding my hand, which was a pretty sweet Easter present.
Our Easter had a few traditional elements too. Like Easter baskets! Jett loved his basket from Grandma and Grandpa, mostly because Jett pulled from it a zip-up bag with Elmo's face on it - ELMO! and inside the bag were three toy cars - CARS! He is sleeping with two of those cars right now, and after Charlie and I left his room tonight we heard him saying good-night to them.
Jett and Ellie hunted for Easter eggs this afternoon, and even though it only took about 2 minutes to hide the eggs, we put twice as much effort in to hiding the eggs as Jett and Ellie did in finding them. They did however, like throwing them.
Happy Easter!
The best Easter eggs have Cookie Monster inside them.
COOKIE MONSTER!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Still Drawing in the Cardboard Box
Remember when I put Jett in a cardboard box and gave him a bunch of crayons to keep him company? That box has avoided a trip to the recycling bin because it is still Jett's pallet of choice.
The reason it has lasted so long is because we only use washable crayons, and washable crayons come off of everything, including cardboard. So, Jett draws a picture, invariably sits down on the picture, and literally ends up wiping off the picture with his bum, leaving blank space on which to draw a new picture.
Every morning the first thing Jett does when he gets out of his crib is walk over to the cardboard box and ask for the crayons (by pointing and saying "na!"). Then he hands me a crayon and tells me to sit. Then he hands Charlie a crayon and tells him to sit. We all sit and draw until one of us gets hungry enough to eat, or has to leave to go to work. It's our morning routine.
The reason it has lasted so long is because we only use washable crayons, and washable crayons come off of everything, including cardboard. So, Jett draws a picture, invariably sits down on the picture, and literally ends up wiping off the picture with his bum, leaving blank space on which to draw a new picture.
Every morning the first thing Jett does when he gets out of his crib is walk over to the cardboard box and ask for the crayons (by pointing and saying "na!"). Then he hands me a crayon and tells me to sit. Then he hands Charlie a crayon and tells him to sit. We all sit and draw until one of us gets hungry enough to eat, or has to leave to go to work. It's our morning routine.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Anecdotal Evidence
If you've been reading these posts periodically since December, you know that Jett has had a runny nose off and on since then. Sometimes it's seemed like a legitimate cold, and other times it seemed more like an allergy. How can I tell the difference? Because he keeps itching his face.
He takes the back of his hand and wipes it, obsessively, across his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his nose. It just looks like his face itches. This is especially problematic because it isn't easy to keep this kid's nails short enough to prevent him from scratching himself on the eyelid, cheek, and nose. You'd think with nails that long that he'd just itch his face with his fingers like the rest of us might - who knows why he uses the soft skin on the back of his hands to itch his face, but he does, and it looks, well, bothersome.
Some people named Charlie might say that he doesn't use the back of his hands to itch his face because, simply, he is not itching his face. He just has a habit of wiping his face - every feature of his face - with the back of his hand. But if you were named Charlie and that was what you said you would be wrong.
Anyway, sometimes his eyelids are puffy (no, not from all the rubbing, they were puffy before the rubbing). And sometimes his scalp itches. And his nose is almost always runny. And besides, our doctor said it sounds like an allergy and why not try liquid zyrtec, they sell it over the counter now, by the way.
I go to the store to get the zyrtec, but there isn't any infant zyrtec, only children's zyrtec, and that is not for kids under 2. Plus it says it makes kids sleepy, and our doctor said it was non-sedating. I think that I must be looking at the wrong medicine, so I go home, get online, and search for infant zyrtec, which I soon realize doesn't exist.
But what does exist is a website called askthepatient.com or something like that - I can't remember if that is the exact url or not, and I don't want to go back to that website anyway. But I will tell you about it.
It's a website where people can post about their success or lack of success using any number of medicines, including children's zyrtec. I know I shouldn't visit this website. I know it is going to be full of wackos who blame their medication for everything from their caffeine addiction to their cat's shedding problem. But still, I visit the site anyway, and yes, that is exactly what I find.
Except when I start reading about the children's zyrtec, and nearly every parent who writes in with a cautionary tale has the same cautionary tale. Behavioral problems, intense itching and withdrawal when their child stopped taking it. More behavioral problems. There were comments from parents whose kids had great success with zyrtec, but still. This website was slowly starting to sound less wacky and more consistent. Of course, maybe it was just consistent in it's wackiness. That is really the question, isn't it?
Actually, the question I was concerned with was, Am I wacky for taking these accounts into consideration? Or wacky for not taking them in to consideration? Will my pediatrician move me to her mental list of crazy parents if I tell her I'm concerned about something I read from a bunch of strangers on the internet? Or will she consider me a dutiful parent?
You might think it's silly to worry about what your pediatrician will think of you, but it is not. I want my pediatrician to want to spend as much time talking to me as possible. If I come across as crazy, Jett's going to get stuck with the grumpy nurses and the cold stethoscope, just to get me out of the office as quick as possible. I know doctors must have their ways of dealing with difficult parents, and I do not want to know what they are.
So after multiple obsessive conversations about this with Charlie and anyone else who happened to walk in my line of vision during those 24 hours, I left a message for my doctor, telling her what I read online (and hoping she wasn't rolling her eyes at my anecdotal research) and wondering if we shouldn't just stick with the clarinex that Jett has used before (and which I couldn't find any anecdotal information on at all - ignorance is bliss I guess). Then I spent the next eight hours biting my fingernails, waiting for her to call back. And then she did.
And guess what? She just heard similar information about zyrtec from an allergist. In fact, she just took her own daughter off zyrtec (for a different reason) and was watching for withdrawal symptoms. Relief.
Oh, but the story does not end there. Of course I get Jett's clarinex prescription filled, and then don't see him itch his face for three days. Not one drip of snot leaves his nose. His eyelids aren't pink or puffy. He is sleeping great, and I've wasted two hours of time reading that goofy discussion board, 24 hours fretting about the phone call with his doctor, and $23 buying his clarinex. Great. I consider dusting the entire house while he stands directly under every piece of furniture, and then asking him to shake out the dust cloth for me when I'm finished, just to get his juices flowing, but it's Sunday and I'm feeling too lazy for all that work.
But finally, to my great relief, Sunday evening produces puffy eyelids and a runny nose without me having to lift a finger. Out comes the clarinex. His nose was runny again this morning and this evening, so he got more clarinex tonight. I'm keeping a written record of his symptoms to see if this medicine is really working or not. But I don't know what I'm hoping for.
What do we want at this point? More allergy symptoms, to vindicate myself and my efforts? Allergy symptoms that come back when he stops taking the clarinex in two weeks, so at least we know the clarinex is working? Or an absence of allergies, so you know, Jett doesn't have to have them?
This is where I live my life now - midway between madness and making sense. I think I need my own discussion board, where I can vent about my own child's symptoms or lack of symptoms, or slight change of symptoms, or....
oh yeah. right.
He takes the back of his hand and wipes it, obsessively, across his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his nose. It just looks like his face itches. This is especially problematic because it isn't easy to keep this kid's nails short enough to prevent him from scratching himself on the eyelid, cheek, and nose. You'd think with nails that long that he'd just itch his face with his fingers like the rest of us might - who knows why he uses the soft skin on the back of his hands to itch his face, but he does, and it looks, well, bothersome.
Some people named Charlie might say that he doesn't use the back of his hands to itch his face because, simply, he is not itching his face. He just has a habit of wiping his face - every feature of his face - with the back of his hand. But if you were named Charlie and that was what you said you would be wrong.
Anyway, sometimes his eyelids are puffy (no, not from all the rubbing, they were puffy before the rubbing). And sometimes his scalp itches. And his nose is almost always runny. And besides, our doctor said it sounds like an allergy and why not try liquid zyrtec, they sell it over the counter now, by the way.
I go to the store to get the zyrtec, but there isn't any infant zyrtec, only children's zyrtec, and that is not for kids under 2. Plus it says it makes kids sleepy, and our doctor said it was non-sedating. I think that I must be looking at the wrong medicine, so I go home, get online, and search for infant zyrtec, which I soon realize doesn't exist.
But what does exist is a website called askthepatient.com or something like that - I can't remember if that is the exact url or not, and I don't want to go back to that website anyway. But I will tell you about it.
It's a website where people can post about their success or lack of success using any number of medicines, including children's zyrtec. I know I shouldn't visit this website. I know it is going to be full of wackos who blame their medication for everything from their caffeine addiction to their cat's shedding problem. But still, I visit the site anyway, and yes, that is exactly what I find.
Except when I start reading about the children's zyrtec, and nearly every parent who writes in with a cautionary tale has the same cautionary tale. Behavioral problems, intense itching and withdrawal when their child stopped taking it. More behavioral problems. There were comments from parents whose kids had great success with zyrtec, but still. This website was slowly starting to sound less wacky and more consistent. Of course, maybe it was just consistent in it's wackiness. That is really the question, isn't it?
Actually, the question I was concerned with was, Am I wacky for taking these accounts into consideration? Or wacky for not taking them in to consideration? Will my pediatrician move me to her mental list of crazy parents if I tell her I'm concerned about something I read from a bunch of strangers on the internet? Or will she consider me a dutiful parent?
You might think it's silly to worry about what your pediatrician will think of you, but it is not. I want my pediatrician to want to spend as much time talking to me as possible. If I come across as crazy, Jett's going to get stuck with the grumpy nurses and the cold stethoscope, just to get me out of the office as quick as possible. I know doctors must have their ways of dealing with difficult parents, and I do not want to know what they are.
So after multiple obsessive conversations about this with Charlie and anyone else who happened to walk in my line of vision during those 24 hours, I left a message for my doctor, telling her what I read online (and hoping she wasn't rolling her eyes at my anecdotal research) and wondering if we shouldn't just stick with the clarinex that Jett has used before (and which I couldn't find any anecdotal information on at all - ignorance is bliss I guess). Then I spent the next eight hours biting my fingernails, waiting for her to call back. And then she did.
And guess what? She just heard similar information about zyrtec from an allergist. In fact, she just took her own daughter off zyrtec (for a different reason) and was watching for withdrawal symptoms. Relief.
Oh, but the story does not end there. Of course I get Jett's clarinex prescription filled, and then don't see him itch his face for three days. Not one drip of snot leaves his nose. His eyelids aren't pink or puffy. He is sleeping great, and I've wasted two hours of time reading that goofy discussion board, 24 hours fretting about the phone call with his doctor, and $23 buying his clarinex. Great. I consider dusting the entire house while he stands directly under every piece of furniture, and then asking him to shake out the dust cloth for me when I'm finished, just to get his juices flowing, but it's Sunday and I'm feeling too lazy for all that work.
But finally, to my great relief, Sunday evening produces puffy eyelids and a runny nose without me having to lift a finger. Out comes the clarinex. His nose was runny again this morning and this evening, so he got more clarinex tonight. I'm keeping a written record of his symptoms to see if this medicine is really working or not. But I don't know what I'm hoping for.
What do we want at this point? More allergy symptoms, to vindicate myself and my efforts? Allergy symptoms that come back when he stops taking the clarinex in two weeks, so at least we know the clarinex is working? Or an absence of allergies, so you know, Jett doesn't have to have them?
This is where I live my life now - midway between madness and making sense. I think I need my own discussion board, where I can vent about my own child's symptoms or lack of symptoms, or slight change of symptoms, or....
oh yeah. right.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Twenty One Months
Happy Birthday, Jett! Last week you turned 21 months old.
My favorite memory of you this month is from just a few nights ago. Daddy and I were putting you to bed. We had finished changing your diaper, and had wrestled you into your pajamas. Now we were sitting on the floor, reading books. You had laid out the rules like you do every night - assigning each of us, including yourself, a book to read. You are so adamant about these rules. Here they are:
1. We each must sit on the floor with a book in our lap, and we must read the book.
2. If a book sits on my lap unopened, you will open it.
3. If I wait too long between turning the pages, you will reach over and turn the page for me.
4. We must all read our books at the same time.
5. The first person to start reading their book aloud has the floor...
6. Unless you change your mind and give the floor to someone else.
7. You will designate who does not have the floor by placing your hand over that person's mouth and saying "No Nahnning," which translates to, "Stop talking."
8. No matter who else is talking, you always have the floor.
But this night was different. This night you felt like rolling over on to the floor. But I am a good mama, and I follow the rules, so I kept reading. So you start squirming around on the floor, but I keep reading. So you keep squirming, and start laughing. I look over at you, and you have this glint in your eye, and I know where this is going.
I know you are begging for a tickle, a wrestle, a zerbert on your belly, and I give in. Then just as I start to wind you down again, Daddy gets in on the action, and soon you are flying like a plane in the air, turning flips, sliding down his back. You're overjoyed, we're all laughing, and even though I'm loving the moment, I'm wondering how we're ever going to get you to bed. But just at that moment, we all end up stretched out on the floor, breathless, as if we had planned it; your head resting on my leg, my head on Daddy's shoulder. Then as calm as a cucumber, you slide up next to me, turn over on your tummy, and finish reading your book.
Thank you, Jett. Thanks for surprising me in almost always good ways.
Happy Birthday. We love you.
My favorite memory of you this month is from just a few nights ago. Daddy and I were putting you to bed. We had finished changing your diaper, and had wrestled you into your pajamas. Now we were sitting on the floor, reading books. You had laid out the rules like you do every night - assigning each of us, including yourself, a book to read. You are so adamant about these rules. Here they are:
1. We each must sit on the floor with a book in our lap, and we must read the book.
2. If a book sits on my lap unopened, you will open it.
3. If I wait too long between turning the pages, you will reach over and turn the page for me.
4. We must all read our books at the same time.
5. The first person to start reading their book aloud has the floor...
6. Unless you change your mind and give the floor to someone else.
7. You will designate who does not have the floor by placing your hand over that person's mouth and saying "No Nahnning," which translates to, "Stop talking."
8. No matter who else is talking, you always have the floor.
But this night was different. This night you felt like rolling over on to the floor. But I am a good mama, and I follow the rules, so I kept reading. So you start squirming around on the floor, but I keep reading. So you keep squirming, and start laughing. I look over at you, and you have this glint in your eye, and I know where this is going.
I know you are begging for a tickle, a wrestle, a zerbert on your belly, and I give in. Then just as I start to wind you down again, Daddy gets in on the action, and soon you are flying like a plane in the air, turning flips, sliding down his back. You're overjoyed, we're all laughing, and even though I'm loving the moment, I'm wondering how we're ever going to get you to bed. But just at that moment, we all end up stretched out on the floor, breathless, as if we had planned it; your head resting on my leg, my head on Daddy's shoulder. Then as calm as a cucumber, you slide up next to me, turn over on your tummy, and finish reading your book.
Thank you, Jett. Thanks for surprising me in almost always good ways.
Happy Birthday. We love you.
Monday, March 03, 2008
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