Mom and I spent yesterday trading off between watching boys and excavating from the old house. While I was over at the old house there was a serious but brief rainstorm with some marble sized hail mixed in. I got to drive through some good sized puddles and one section of road in the neighborhood near the pond with about 3 cm of water on it.
After I finished unloading and Mom was on her way back to the dig, the boys and I hung around in the house for a bit. Despite the fact that there are now two computers for two boys, there was some contention because we only have one CD which can’t be copied for some of the games. So to distract them I took Charles outside. We played in the driveway for a bit and then I suggested that we go stomp in puddles. The dead end next to the house had a lot of water on it. The far end of it was completely underwater and some parts where 5 or 6 cm deep. So I sent Charles out to stomp about. He was not particularly enthusiastic until he persuaded me to take off my shoes and socks and join him. Then he was able to have fun.
I showed Charles how to swing a foot and kick a big spray of water across the puddle but Charles didn’t have quite enough coordination to do it himself. He’d end up just stomping instead of kicking up a spray but it was sufficient to get him soaked.
Later I managed to get Corwin to come out and play as well. We chased each other through the puddles until Corwin fell down and got wet. At that point he immediately wanted a bath. I managed to persuade him that he could be dirty for a little while because Charles was still having fun in the water.
Eventually we went back in and for the first time I actually used the multiple bathrooms that we’ve had in houses for years. I got Corwin set up with a shower in one and Charles with a bath. I had to scurry back and forth to adjust water temperature, get soap and shampoo, provide towels, etc. But eventually we had too non-filthy boys (although Mom did comment on the debris Charles left in the bath).
Corwin is giving Charles a run for his money on acting skills. When I went up in to Corwin’s bunk to read to him, he leaned back a little to fast and far and banged his head in to the railing / head board. He winced when he did it until he saw me watching at which point he switched to a rictus of pain and started crying. I managed to “cure” him by noting that I had seen his transformation and that he hadn’t banged his head all that hard. He still looked kind of pained (he had actually hit his head) but was well enough to continue. I suspect that the lesson he learned is to tear up immediately rather than waiting to see if a parent is watching.
Corwin and Charles seem to have adjusted to the new house with little problem. Charles in particular as been a skippy boy since I got back. He quite frequently just skips from place to place for no apparent reason.
Last night Charles was quite the terror because of this. It was time for bed and we went up to the boy’s room for a bed time story. Corwin got up in his bunk and I popped up as well to read to him. Charles, of course, was not one to be left out so Mom hoisted him up there as well (definitely worth the money to get sturdy furniture). Charles was just a bundle of bouncy energy which is a bit unnerving when expressed the top bunk of a bunk bed. He alternately threatened to pitch off the bed head first from a jump or put a hole in the ceiling. At one point he stopped and reached up to touch the ceiling which was a major amusement. Eventually I had to have him airlifted out by Mom because Dad’s nervous system wasn’t up to it.
Charles has started to play with words. He enjoyed trying out “messy” the other day. When I changed him last night I told him he’d made poop, which he then repeated back to me in various inflections. “Poop”, “poop”, “poooooop”. For dinner I told Charles that it was time to eat and he played with that as well. “Eat?” — “yes” — “eat?” — “yes” … Charles is saying “yes” or “yeah” much more than he was before I left last week. He still doesn’t use proper nouns much, if at all. What’s most endearing is his sudden outbursts of nonsense which he delivers in this bright, upbeat voice. “Doo gat mich!” (with a nice gutteral on the ‘ch’).
Mom tells me that while I was gone last week, Erica decided to be Mary Poppins for a day. She took the boys out to pick mulberries on some local mulberry bushes. Both boys had stained feet from the juice by the time they got back. After that adventure it was time to come home and make cookies. Corwin enjoys helping mix almost as much as he likes the final product. It is rumored that Erica had a test that evening and was suffering from a bout of nervous energy. It’s a tricky trade off - more classes means more tests but less time to actually watch the boys. I wonder what the optimal balance is …
Since we’ve moved Corwin has changed from his old bed to the top bunk of a new bed. I didn’t really think about this too much with regard to Corwin’s habit of requiring a story at bed time until he fell asleep. He insists on doing this in Mom’s bedroom which means Dad hauling him over to his bed afterwards. I could generally get him to a state where he (with some guidance) could basically move himself. However, getting up the ladder to the bunk bed is trickier operation. I can’t just let him flop in as I’ve done in the past either. As a result I’ve been working on my upper body strength so that I can heave Corwin the 6 ft in the air I need to get him in to his bed. I may have to seriously consider changing some habits before my back gives out.
In order to alleviate the audio deprivation of the boys, Mom put on an Elvis Costello CD. The sound for that worked just fine. I’m not sure just how much Corwin appreciated it, but Charles was happy to sing along for a bit with it. In a very unfair manner, Mom thought that it was very cute of Charles to do that while if I sing along I get nasty looks. And frankly, Charles does not have a much better voice than I do. Heck, he can hardly get the words right!
During the move our access to Big Media has been restricted. The boys had to endure a day or two without any electronic visual stimulation, which was hard on them. Corwin spent some time just sitting in a chair facing the (non-operational) TV, complaining about being bored. Eventually Mom brought over the DVD player but despite a lot of fiddling we were unable to get the sound to work. This didn’t stop the boys from wanting to watch their RugRats™ episode collection DVD. Hearing the episodes seemed to be a luxury that was nice but not required. After watching a few episodes one night and then going to bed, the next morning as soon as he was downstairs Charles found the DVD case. He brought it over to me with his best pleading look and said “peas?”. He was not a happy camper when I arbitrarily denied his request to spend the day in silence with the RugRats™. Corwin took the decision with an air of oppressed indifference, obviously practicing for being a teenager.
Corwin is taking swimming lessons this summer at the Swim Club (fortunately it’s during the day so Erica has to take him there). When we first visited the swim club Corwin had been interested and scared of the diving boards. Last Friday he had progressed far enough to go off the low diving board. Corwin said that he was scared the first time but jumped anyway. His fear quickly evaporated and when Mom took him swimming on Saturday he was off the board with gusto.
Charles had a big word day yesterday. He was eating yogurt and Mom explained that he had turned in to a messy boy. Charles asked, “messy?” which Mom confirmed. Charles said it several more times, savoring both the word and the state.
After this quick word acquisition, I decided to test Charles’ grasp of proper nouns (which had not previously really used). I asked him who Corwin was and he said “bah-ee” which we think is his version of “boy”. He labeled me something that sounded very much like “da-dee” which is pretty good. Mom was just “mah-ee” which at least is as close to “Mom” as “bah-ee” is to “boy”.
Today was the big move. We spent Tuesday hauling more delicate things and stuff we didn’t feel like packing. Today was when the professionals showed up to move the furniture, boxes of books and the massive set of boxes in the garage attic left from the last move. It was tiring but nothing went really wrong It turns out that we have a lot of stuff. But not enough, because Mom took me out shopping for book shelves (which, as we had thirty boxes of books, will be useful). A local furniture store has some very nice floor to ceiling ones that look built in which Mom plans to use to frame a set of pocket doors from the formal room to the sun room.
Charles and Corwin had a reaosnable time. They played in the basement for a while, scattering toys everywhere. Around noon Corwin went off to swim lessons. After he got back I tricked Erica in to taking him to see Finding Nemo. Worse, I saddled her with Jacob and Jared. I did keep Charles, though. The movie didn’t let out until 5, which was a bit of a problem because Erica has class at 5:30. As she dropped Corwin off she said that the movie was “the longest movie in the history of Western civilization”. Hopefully she’ll be back tomorrow, although I didn’t have time to mention that we didnt’ have plans for another movie.
Charles is now using sentences on a regular basis, even though he has a vocabulary of no more than 25 words or so. He asked me today “what does that do?” about some Legos. Although he generally says “peas” as a general “do what I want right now he has started saying “peas hep” [please help] when he needs help as opposed to service (such as opening a door). This evening he asked Mom “What’s that thing?” about a picture in a book.
However, Charles still does not say “mom” or “dad” or any variant of them. Mom claimed that Charles was using “Dah-ee” for Daddy but that was only a couple of times one day and he didn’t use it subsequently. Alledgedly one of those two words is one of the first words a child learns, but not our Charles. He can say “truck” and “car” and name several colors (“blue”, “green” and “black”) but “mama” and “dada” is still not in his repetoire.
I was talking with Corwin this morning about moving. Today is his last day in the old house. The movers are coming tomorrow and tomorrow evening we should be living in the new house instead of this one. Corwin wanted to know if it was a problem, but I assured that Dad just wanted him to know.
Corwin’s next question was whether [BlaineMcNutt|Blaine and Sarah] were going to move in to the old house. I told him no, that it was people we didn’t know.
Corwin: Did you get their names?
Dad: Yes, but I don’t recall off-hand. I don’t think they have any little poopers of their own.
Corwin: What are they going to do with my room?
Dad: Maybe they plan to have little poopers and will save this room for them.
Corwin: If they make little poopers then they’ll be born here and grow up just like me. It’s like traveling through time!
Dad: Yes, it is.
While Mom did some unpacking at the new house I went over to pick up Corwin from soccer. I took Charles with me so that Mom could get some unpacking done. Charles understands enough to know that we were going to get his big brother so he was pumped and ready to go.
We retrieved Corwin without further incident and headed back. Unfortunately I made the mistake of going over a fine gravel cover baseball diamond, which both boys immediately decided they must play in. Charles discovered that if you throw very fine gravel in to the air it leaves a little dust cloud. He found this gut bustingly amusing. When that no longer thrilled, he decided to throw dirt at Corwin. I told him “no!” in a loud voice. Charles stopped and then walked across half the diamond to come over next to me. He looked up with those big blue eyes wide open and said, “why?”.
After I explained that throwing things at people wasn’t good, he decided that he would throw the fine gravel at Corwin’s shin guards instead. At first he just attacked them as they lay on the ground, but eventually he decided that Dad should hold them up to make it more interesting. So I stood around for a while, watching Corwin kick a soccer ball on a baseball diamond, holding out one of his shin guards at arm’s length while Charles threw dirt at it. Not quite what I pictured as an outing with the boys.
It’s coming up on the big moving day. Yesterday when we took a load of things over to the new house we took Charles along (Corwin was over playing at Jacob’s house). Charles is still in a crib but he’ll be switching over to a bed when we move (we decided it wasn’t worth the hassle of switching before hand). Mom has Charles’ new bed all made up in the bottom of the new bunk bed and Charles and I went up to see it while Mom unpacked kitchen supplies.
Charles seemed very excited by the bed, especially I after I told him that it was his bed. He got up on it himself and then made me sit near by while he hurled the stuffed animals that Mom had artfully arranged on the bed at me. Charles would hold up the animal, I would name it and then Charles would fling it. He found it all very entertaining.
After a bit, Charles wanted up in the top bunk. I put him up there and he started walking around making Dad very nervous. Charles then walked over to the side where the ladder comes up and jumped off. Dad, having seen Charles affinity for jumping wasn’t surprised by this and caught Charles, who thought it was very cool. The next few weeks should be an interesting time.
Things had settled down for a while but Corwin’s brain is once again not helping him. Corwin has been having an extra difficult time lately getting ready for the day. This morning he got started around 7:00 and he’s still not ready. He overheard me mentioning this to Mom can called downstairs “I’m trying but my brain is not helping me!”. I’ve suggested having it taken out entirely since it doesn’t seem to be particularly useful but Corwin, for some reason, is emotionally attached to it.
On Friday, Erica took the boys see Rugrats Go Wild!, a new Rugrats movie. Corwin was very excited for this excursion, so as he was sent to get socks and shoes on, Corwin found it necessary to jump on the stairs and push on the bannister. Erica decided to cancel Corwin’s jungle-gym like activities by telling him to stop. Little did she know that Corwin had even more evil tricks up his sleeve.
Erica: Corwin, you need to stop hanging on the bannister…
Corwin: Oooooookay…MOMMY!!
Erica: What?
Corwin: Ooooooookay SUSAN!!
Erica: Como?
Corwin: Ooooookay ALAN!!
Corwin continued to throw out names for the Mom and Dad…but finally stopped and proceeded to laugh maniacally on the stairs. Erica was going to leave him there and just go to the movie with Charles, but Corwin was all too quick for the plan to succeed, and quickly darted towards the front door. After loading Charles into his car seat, and putting Corwin in the trunk (tucked securely in place between a tack box and pair of ice skates…safety first!)…the trio headed to the movie.
I was upstairs with Charles after changing him. Instead of walking down the stairs, however, Charles decided to slide down them on his behind. Naturally I followed suit and we went bouncing down the stairs. When we got to the bottom, Charles stood up on the last step and made a big jump down to the floor and then headed off to the office (the room with the computers). I followed him but he became very distressed. I just couldn’t figure out what was the matter. Charles just cried and said “Peas! Peas!” very pathetically. Baffled, I asked for him to show me. Charles walked over, grabbed the pant legs of my jeans, drug me back to the stairs and made me go up one step. Suddenly the light dawned and I made a jump off the stair onto the floor. All was well again.
Corwin performed at church today as part of the Bible school group. They had a little skit and the kids sang some songs. Corwin actually vocalized during part of the activity which is pretty good for him. Everything went well except for my having to dart in front of the congregation to retrieve Charles’ sippy cup as it rolled forward through the pews.
Afterwards there was a picnic. There was a bounce house and a dunk tank to occupy the time while the food was being cooked. Corwin managed to hit the button hard enough to get a dunk which surprised me. To get in the bounce house the kids had to remove their shoes and once Corwin’s shoes were off they didn’t go back on. That would make it harder to generate dirty socks. Corwin’s socks were so filthy by the time he was done I wouldn’t let him put his shoes back on. I suppose he counts that as a victory.
Erica was surprised at the extent of Charles’ head banging (although she should have read this weblog in order to prepare for her Summer Adventure). What seems to be different for Charles is that his head banging is an expression of either happiness or affection. He doesn’t do it when he’s upset or mad. Instead Charles’ banging his head is much more of a spontaneous expression of happiness. Or affection. Such as when Dad comes home and Charles does a full tilt head bang into Dad’s thigh. Three times. In one evening. In the same spot. Dad’s walk now signals how affectionate Charles has been. Frequently when I change Charles (which he doesn’t like much) he gets happy when I’ve finished cleaning and start putting on a fresh diaper. At the point he’ll grab my arm, give it a hug and then lift his head while simultaneously pulling either my hand or elbow into his forehead.
But if you hang with Charles, here’s a tip. One warning sign of a big head bang is a smile from Charles and a hug. That’s joy and affection, a critical indicator of impending impact. You’ve been warned.
Charles is exceptionally cute but that doesn’t just happen. While gifted with natural cuteness, Charles follows a rigorous training program to accentuate those gifts and maintain him at the top of his cuteness form.
Case in point: today we dropped by a food store to pick up some wierd foods with Charles. As we checked out he practiced his “shy” routine on the clerk checking us out. He did the head bob with an extra ‘peek from behind a leg’ flourish. Charles is not one to just do the minimum, he always has a good follow through. As we left the store the song Feeling hot hot hot was playing. I did the chorus “hot hot hot” once (because Mom so loves to hear me sing) and then Charles, figuring it was time for him to show up Dad as well started doing the chorus as well. Charles would just pause, give his little smile and say “hot hot hot” in his cute little voice. He did this not to get us to do something but just to say in top form. What a trooper!
Corwin is in Bible school this week. He was very eager to go the first day, Monday. On Yesterday I woke him up to get ready to go and he didn’t believe me that he had to go to Bible school again. Corwin asked me what day it was and I told him “Tuesday” and he replied that since it wasn’t Monday he didn’t have to go. I think he expected it to be like soccer or swimming, one day a week. After some cajoling I did manage to get him moving in direction of getting ready for the day.
He wasn’t very up for going this morning either, mainly because Dad got distracted and didn’t wake him up until 8:25 for 9:00 Bible school. Corwin was a good trooper though. I managed to give Charles a bath and still ended up arriving early. I think Corwin’s just not liking getting up (which doesn’t bode well for the fall) because he’s very upbeat when we pick him up. He doesn’t complain about going after he’s been, only when he has to wake up. I really see myself in him because I generally have trouble motivating myself to go do things even though I know I’ll have a good time once I get there. Plus waking up sucks.
Charles can hold food in his mouth for a long time, ten to fifteen minutes at least. He combines this with the habit of deciding, after all that time, that he really didn’t like the food much anyway and wanting to get rid of it. Mom, the silly girl, has trained him that the correct way to rid himself of chewed food he no longer desires is to whine until a parent puts an open hand out near his mouth at which point he disposes of the remains. I suppose it’s better than him just spraying it out over the furniture. It’s sometimes hard to guess that he has a food problem because it can have been a while since he ate. Yesterday he insisted on carrots with breakfast. Afterwards he went in to play some computer games. He’d switched to the second game before he started making his little whining sounds. Charles had kept a mouth full of chewed up carrot the entire time. It wasn’t quite what Dad was expecting…
Erica took the boys swimming yesterday. It was their first time at the new pool. This one is just across the street from the park that is near the house so it’s quite convenient. We signed up the boys for the full summer but they hadn’t been able to go because it’s been unseasonably cool. It wasn’t really warm enough yesterday either but I think that Erica was getting a little desparate to do something other than watch Charles try to play games that require far more time sense and motor coordination than he has available.
Everything went well from what I hear (Mom debriefed Erica so I have this third hand. If only Mom would write it up…). Erica got a good upper body workout because Charles (who is well over 30 pounds) enjoyed getting in and out of the pool much more than the pool itself. Perhaps I should do charge back for providing that kind of health benefit.
Corwin is at vacation bible school in the mornings this week, so it was just Erica and Charles for the early part of the day. After chasing each other with planes (and making all the necessary noises of course), Charles decided that it was time to play some computer games. Today’s game was Jump Start Toddler. In part of this game, the user can color pictures using the mouse. Charles had a go at this, but then grabbed Erica’s hand and demanded “try”. So, much to Charles’ joy, she did. While the artist was at work, Charles cried “Cool! Wow!” in encouragement from time to time.
Finally, it was time to quit the game. As the main character (a duck) stood and said goodbye, Charles called back “Bye bye, bye bye” and waved to the duck. The game credits rolled, which made Charles extremely happy. He sat back in his chair, threw up both arms, and proudly exclaimed “I won! I won!”
The summer of Erica appears to be off to a good start. Charles is fine with being left with her. Mom and I have even dropped by the house during the day to do various moving related things and Charles is completely unconcerned. When we dropped him off at Aunt Debbie’s he was very tearful. When we got back, he refused to let Mom out of sight in apparent concern that she would leave again.
And today, we were a little late getting in motion. Around noon I tried to get the boys outside, in response to which Corwin says in his bored voice “when is Erica going to get here?”. I had to explain that Erica has weekends off, which Corwin accepted although I don’t think that he approved.
Just a few little Charles vignettes.
Charles has an interesting relationship with dirt. This evening he had a chocolate chip cookie (provided by Grandma – Charles says “thanks!”). He of course ended up with cookie bits smeared all over his hand and mouth. As a result Charles came to me in some distress because he had a big smear of chocolate across his hand. We went off to wash which made him happy. Unable to tolerate that, I decided to wash the cookie off his face as well which made him howl. That cookie residue was just fine where it was.
On a related topic, Charles doesn’t understand why he can’t have dirt inside the house. He’s taken to playing with some Tonka trucks, hauling dirt and doing landscaping. He picks up Mom’s discarded plants (if Mom doesn’t have a use for it, it’s gone) and puts them in the scoop of his front-loader to be hauled off for disposal. He moves dirt as well and he gets very upset when the parents won’t let him continue playing with his pile of dirt in the house. It’s hard to disappoint the little tyke but Mom’s a pretty strict house keeper.
I took Charles up to change his diaper.
Dad: You need a new diaper, Charles.
Charles: Why?
Dad: You made poop. [lays Charles on the changing table]
Dad: Daddy will take the poop away and make you all clean.
Charles: Bye bye poop! [makes little hand clench ‘goodbye’ motions]
Charles continues to grow his vocabulary and he’s using sentences more often. Interestingly the sentences are all questions as with “Can I try that?”.
I’ve been working on his use of “now” as an imperative. He now uses enough different words on and off that the set of words that he “knows” is becoming amorphous. And sometimes he uses words in a slightly different sense than others. For instance, “ow!” doesn’t mean “I’m hurt” but “something is happening to me that I don’t like”. Such as getting one’s face washed. As I scrub the grime off, Charles lets forth this howling “ooooowwwwwww!” as if I’m poking him with rusty needles.
Mom and I went up north this weekend for a memorial service. We took the boys along with the plan that we would drop them off at at Aunt Debbie’s house for a fun day of adventure. As we drove up in the evening Mom kept trying to call and confirm the delivery but Aunt Debbie was not answering. Mom’s theory was that they were out painting the town red. I commented that that was cool – we’d wake them up, bleary eyed and hung over, in order to receive two energized boys. I was instructed, however, not to tell the boys that what their Aunt Debbie missed most since her own children grew up was the sounds of children about the house. Mom apparently thinks that that would be gilding the lilly.
On our trip north, we stayed at the Embassy Suites hotel, primarily because Mom knew where it was and it was reasonably convenient to our destinations. This morning we rousted the boys and went down to the breakfast buffet.
Charles was rapt with the wonders of the hotel. It’s set up with a central courtyard that goes all the way to the roof so it’s a vast space. There’s couple of water ponds connected by rivulets. The elevators are open to the courtyard so you can watch them go up and down. That’s what Charles did. We sat at a table from which Charles could watch the elevators and there he sat, the entire time, staring fixedly at them. Mom tried to feed him but his response was to grab a piece of bacon and clutch it while he watched the elevators. Mom tried to take the bacon back but Charles insisted on keeping it, so he could sit there with his little arm straight out from the elbow, holding on to one end of the dangling bacon strip. Mom just didn’t understand why it is so necessary to have bacon to watch elevators. Charles didn’t try to explain because if you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand.
Corwin likes alternate forms of communication. Frequently we will ask him a question and he will make a gesture or perform some action which he apparently believes will be clear to us. If we persist he will patiently explain that “when I do this it means ‘no’ and when I do that it means ‘yes’”. Sometimes it is sign language, or spelling the words out in the air, or sometimes throwing a ball in to different corners of the room. I think that we should get some slack since he doesn’t seem to use the same signals more than once or twice. What I probably need to do is make a note of one set and use them on him at some later point in time. Heh.
Corwin: Dad, can I have my allowance?
Dad: [throws a ball in to the north east corner, indicating yes but not right now]
Corwin: Dad, can I have my allowance nooooowww?
Charles has learned the word “now”. I heard him practicing it on Mom the other night. She was a bit dilatory in fetching him milk so he started saying “now!” after the failure of “peas!” to elicit the desired response.
It’s summer and Corwin is free of school. I wanted him working in the fields but Mom, the softie, decided he should have at least one summer free before he was sent out to earn his keep.
We have Erica watching the kids during the day so they’re spending the summer at home. Corwin and Charles are both quite fond of Erica so there was no problem in them adjusting to this change. I wonder what it will be like in the fall when we send them back.
Erica has been taking them over to the new house on and off and Corwin is becoming reconciled to living there. He and Charles really like the basement, Charles especially. He scoots around down there on his little push car like a maniac. Going to that park, however, doesn’t seem to tire them out all that much. We’ll have to get Erica to run them harder.
I knew I’d regret Charles learning to talk. He’s gone hard core with asking “why?”. I know get that very frequently when I try to get him to do something.
I think Charles uses “drive” to mean “go on the road”. He’s also picked up “done”. He knows that Mom and Dad like to finish dinner before gratifying boy whims so he’ll ask us now when we momentarily stop shoveling food, “done?”. Not to mention that “peas” [please] has become Charles’ verbal weapon of choice.
The most annoying verbalism he has, though, is using “nan” for “that”. I’m really not sure where he picked that up. But of course he also uses “nah” for “no” so sometime it’s very hard to figure out what he means. I have to cycle through the cars on his driving game while he says “nah” for the wrong cars and “nan” for the right one. Since he frequently needs to cycle a couple of times through the entire set it’s a bit tiring.
But he is insufferably cute when you ask him something, “would you like to go outside” and he gives this little nod while looking very silent and serious, as if it were a grave decision.
Corwin had another accident on his scooter yesterday and scraped up the same spot on the same knee again. Previosly it’s been a light wound but this time it bled seriously (not suprisingly since it’s never really healed since the first accident). Of course he was riding without his kneepads. We have no idea if the kneepads are actually protective or that just by wearing them Corwin doesn’t crash. Maybe that interfere with his leg motions enough that he doesn’t get going fast enough to crash. Hmmm, perhaps some ankle weights would be helpful…