Marlowe is nine days old.

He had his first well-baby visit with our new pediatrician today and is back to birth weight after the typical losing a few ounces after birth. He's also gained half an inch in length and head circumference.

I like our new ped. We sort of stumbled into the one we had when E was a baby, and she was kind of nuts. Then I had to transfer a year ago because of insurance, which was nice, because I didn't know how to break up with the first one. But E only saw the new one once, because he was so healthy last year. But I wanted one I felt like I could develop a relationship with. The one I chose I feel like I can really talk to and that she'll respect me. She's a bit more mainstream than I would like, but she didn't balk at all when I didn't get the Hep B vaccine today. And the receptionist staff at this ped office is hands-down the most friendly, helpful staff I have ever encountered at a medical establishment! So anyway, new ped: check.

Overall, he's doing fantabulously! Get this, he sleeps! Can you believe it!? Like for multiple hours at a time! I sometimes have to actually wake him up to nurse!! It's a good thing we had Ellis first, because I know not to take this for granted. He also nurses very well. And is just totally adorable. He usually has a long stretch of wakefulness at one point during the day. He just looks and looks at us squarely in the eye.

We finally have a name sign for him, too, so that Ellis can call him something besides "baby". Since his nickname is Peanut and because he has a little dimple on his chin, his name sign is the letter M handshape tapped on the chin as if to sign PEANUT (the side of the index finger tapping on the chin).

Ellis loves on him. Kissing him and signing ILY (i love you). He wants to hold him whenever he gets a chance. And tells me MILK every time he cries. (He'd try to help him latch on, too, if I let him. haha)

But it's not saying much when your newborn infant is sleeping better than your nearly 3yo. Poor Ellis. He takes all his stress out on his sleep. All his growth and development, all his major life changes, it all gets thrown on his sleep and becomes lack thereof. Lately, he's actually made it to nearly 5 am, maybe waking up once and falling right back to sleep when sought snuggles are snuggled. It's hard to coax him past 5, though. Too early for mamas. Too early for little boys! Especially ones who don't nap. It turns him into a maniac bouncing off the walls. It's hard to balance the sympathy I feel for him, exhausted and upheaved life, and the irritation that creeps up on me when he is just flipped out crazy. I'm trying to spend some extra time with him during Marlowe's amazing naps. It's nice to be able to sit on his floor again. To feel like I can move and do things with him. Eventually we'll find our new normal.

Posted by at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

There are many cute little clips out there of kids dancing to music hearing it with their cochlear implants. I always feel like posting the videos the of E dancing when he isn't wearing any hearing devices. It looks the same. He feels the vibration through our wood floors. I guess I have an evil streak. heehee.

Seriously, though, I do think the CI has made a difference in his enjoyment of some things. That's okay. He's always enjoyed blowing in the harmonica, but recently he's really gotten into it. He knows what he's hearing and likes it. And that's kind of fun.

Posted by at 6:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We've been having a lot of spring fun at school lately.

Almost two weeks ago, the early childhood center had their spring fling, which included presentations by all the classes. Ellis's class (the youngest) did a little play/presentation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which they've been studying this unit. E and his best buddy A and Cute Little Girl were the "narrators" with some help from the power point on the big screen behind them. The other kids took turns showing big posters of fruit. E and A were especially cute. They were like a standup comedy routine, totally playing off of eachother and interacting with the powerpoint. They had everybody cracking up! I wanted to make a little movie of it with my clips...there's still time. My boy's first play!!

After the presentation, the kids played outside for a bit in the warm spring sun, and then we had a little pizza lunch in the kids' classroom. E was such a little host to me, I was really touched. He went up and got a plate from the teacher who was serving and chose his little pieces of fruits and veggies (he doesn't like pizza). When the teacher instructed him to go sit down at the table, he said NO, picked up another plate and signed Mommy, and made sure I had exactly what he had and then we sat down together. It was so sweet. *melt*

Saturday was Community Day at PSD, which basically translates for our family into Inflatable Paradise. Ellis went down these slides for about two hours straight. As soon as his feet touched the ground he was saying/signing "MORE", and off to stand in line again.

The Grand Finale for the class's unit on The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a trip to the Academy of Natural Science. One of the perks of being a stay-at-home-mom: getting to go with my kid on his first field trip! And let me tell you, there's nothing cuter than a little school bus full of car seats. So how does a field trip of 2-3 year olds work? One adult per child. There were a couple of other moms/grandmas and some extra staff, and I was impressed with how smoothly everything went.

We had some time to look at the exhibits, which the kids loved.

Then it was our turn for the Butterfly Exhibit, which is a room like a greenhouse, humid and full of plants. Butterflies and moths were flying freely everywhere and sitting on the plant life. It was really cool. I think everyone was entranced from the littlest kids to all the adults.

Posted by at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This morning while E was watching a little George, I changed his diaper and took off his pajamas. I had his clothes for the days with me, but he snuggled up in the blanket, so I let him be snuggly for a little bit, while I took a shower and told him that when I was done it would be time to get dressed.

As I finished my shower, he came bursting into the bathroom whining. He had put his shirt on!! (And was having trouble with the overalls, hence the frustrated whining. Turns out one of the legs was inside-out. Frustrating indeed.)

My little boy dressed himself!!!!! And I never taught him how. He just did.

Posted by at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

So we made our final decision today and bought our new camera. I looked at the Canon SLR and SI series, but they were both too much camera for me. I really, truly wanted super compact. And I found myself gravitating back to the A series. Our old camera was an A95. Today we got the A720IS (image stabilization). Really, it was either that or the A570, the differences were minimal. But the 720s were on sale at Target and we wanted to have the camera by the weekend, so we paid a little extra for the 720. Chris had ordered the 570 at the beginning of the week, but got on email saying they were out of stock. So we ended up with the 720.

The first thing we did when we got home was get Ellis to bed. And the first thing I did was get out my camera for the first step in the process: the Bath. We have found a new way to make baths appealing and exciting again to E, who had declared a bath hiatus (though he wasn't getting one; he just wished he was and proclaimed so loudly). Bubbles!! The Bath Giving Parent blows bubbles and E catches them, and since he's all wet and soapy he can catch quite a few. Today he was aiming the Squirty Penguin at them, too.

I took a bunch of pics with the flash. haven't figured out the manual settings yet. But I'm pretty excited. And this A model is so much more compact and lighter than the old one. Responds waaaaay faster. And the construction is more solid. There were some construction flaws that exacerbated the quick demise of the old one (mainly loose seams) that are all one piece on this one. So hopefully we are well on our way to Second Child Photo Plentitude. He shall not be left in pictoral abyss.

Posted by at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We had fun enjoying some warmer temps the other day. I played with my friend's camera and got some cute shots of Ellis and Maddie. He's about 10mos older than she is, and the age difference is starting to close a bit. It's fun to see!

Also, notice his car shirt? Yea, basically E's two favorite articles of clothing are anything with cars on it and fun socks. The other day he insisted on wearing a pair of my socks (infinitely funner than the white sport socks I was offering). And it's pretty much a Major Tragedy to take off a car festooned shirt or pajama if another such car sporting item is not offered in its place. Yea, I'm thinking some stencils are in order to make part of his wardrobe acceptable items. haha.
He also seems to favor the color green. I can get him to wear a shirt that has green on it if it doesn't have a car.

Posted by at 11:21 AM | Permalink

Just when you think you have two-year-old figured out, he goes wonky on you. Morphs into a new human. There's a hundred little ways he's growing and changing. He wants to do it himself--he gets the juice out the fridge, hands me the bottle to pour for him, and puts it back. (I'm dreading the day when he decided he can pour it, too.) He comes up with more games to play. He obsesses over his cars. He hangs out in Blue Ikea Bags.

And then after two years of a consistent bedtime routine that starts with a bath, which has always loved, he decides that he hates baths. I mean loathes them. Like the water is going to make him melt. And then two nights ago, baths are okay again. We never stopped giving him a bath, because we can't think outside the box of the Bedtime Routine. We all depend on it, so even if he just got his toes wet, we still could check that off the Routine Checklist.

And the CI? um, he's never been thrilled with wearing it, but was getting into a new groove. But then, he just decided he was over it. And now it's cool again.

Wearing shoes? well, he can be persuaded to wear yellow, rubber boots.

Because I'm the mom, I see the long-term benefits of having a bath, wearing the CI, wearing shoes, so I have to find a way to speak his language. And he will be persuaded eventually. For a 2yo life is play, a game. That's how he learns. I can't compromise on the things that need doing, but I can alter how I approach him about doing them.

This is a typical CI-putting-on session:
Me: "It's time to put on your CI." (signing)
E: shakes head, signs "no", covers his ear.
Me: "Should Mommy wear it?"
E: laughs, shakes head no
Me: "Should Monkey [or Bear or Cow or Doll or Lightening McQueen] wear it?"
E: laughs, shakes head no
Me: "Whose CI is it?"
E: signs MINE, laughing
Me: "Where does it go? On your toes?"
E: laughs, no
Me: "On your thumb?"
E: laughs, no
Me: "On your nose?"
E: laughs, no
Me: "Where?"
E: laughing, offers his right ear, where I calmly attach it to his head

Repeat scenario for dressing, diaper changing, baths, eating. At the end of the day we have a cared for toddler and a mom expert in diplomacy, seriously, the UN should hire me. Sometimes he needs more of this others. Sometimes, he's just like OK! What can I say? Toddlers like routines. Even if it is a play routine.

I only had to do the CI Routine 4 times yesterday. Beats 4 times in an hour.

Posted by at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

We played outside for a solid two hours.

And built a snow Daddy and a snow horse.

And enjoyed some drinking hot chocolate and watching a little monkey when we came back in.

Posted by at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

So last night I posted about how my little guy taught me the sign for chocolate.

This morning, I turned on Monsters, Inc. for him so I could get a shower, and I heard some knocking around in the kitchen, and I dreaded seeing a pile of Cheerios on the floor or something. He's been wanting to start helping himself to things lately. No Cheerios. After I got dressed, I peeked in on him in the living room and the big box of hot chocolate mix (in indiv envelopes) is on the coffee table, and he's sitting on the couch with an envelope and a spoon.

Uh-oh. Better go. I just heard him say "more".

Posted by at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

When I started teaching my son ASL, learning it as fast as I could teach him, I knew that someday, he would go off to deaf school and come home and teach me signs. I always wondered what that would be like. I'm sure every parent goes through this with their kid starts learning things that the someone else other than the parent teaches them.

Well, today I lived that experience for the first time. Ellis came home with a sign I didn't know (I had seen it, but couldn't remember it): Chocolate. He pointed to the big box of hot chocolate mix that I got at Costco today and asked to partake in its delights. I blame school. They did a unit on the book _The Snowy Day_, which included sampling hot chocolate. We don't normally have chocolate around here, so I just haven't really had occasion to use the sign. But my boy taught me the sign for "chocolate" today. Why couldn't it have been "broccoli"?

Posted by at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

from our roadtrip to Iowa in December

Posted by at 7:04 PM | Permalink

He actually was a help, too!

Posted by at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sometimes I plan an art or craft project with E and it totally falls flat. Other times, I suggest a simple, "let's paint," and it goes in directions I never would've planned.

Ellis was very meticulous and serious when he turned the paintbrush to his hands and arm. At first I was freaking out, "paint goes on paper, kid!" But he wasn't going nuts with his paint, he was really exploring it, so I sat back and watched (very closely) and took pictures as a coping mechanism. When he was done exploring, he went and washed his hands. I kid you not!

When he was done, we hung his beautiful art to dry. That last one is my favorite one. I think I might frame it.

p.s. Like his smock I made him for Cmas? :-) I made it a dark, solid color on purpose. I thought it'd be cool to see the paint mark it up over time...like a built-in canvas.

Posted by at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Yesterday at my mom's we made salt dough Christmas ornaments.* It's part of the Quest for Unbreakable Ornaments meets Crafting with Toddlers. It was fun to see how much Ellis has matured. He can roll the dough so well now and sort even managed cutting out a few. Today I stocked up on glitter glue from ACMoore. This weekend we will paint and beglitter our baked stars and birds.

*BTW, this recipe that I linked to worked out great! 1/2c. salt, 1. c flour, 1/2 c. water. Mix, knead. Roll on floured surface, bake on ungreased sheets for 2 hours on 250F. Couldn't have asked for better!

Posted by at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ellis likes to look at himself in the LCD screen of my cam, which can flipout and turn around to face him. I caught him making some hilarious faces. (Did you also spot the stud in the background doing dishes? whatta guy)

Posted by at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

After spending the morning at CHOP, getting speech therapy and a new mapping for his CI (the last mapping of the initial series of mappings after activation!), we had a lovely afternoon and evening hanging out at my IL's in their great yard and neighborhood.

Ellis's best girlfriend Maddie came over, and they both enjoyed wearing her headbands.

Ellis was Mr. Potato Head for Halloween. And Maddie was Mrs. P. Head. We were joined later by their buddy Judah, who was a Doctor. Maddie's mom and I had a lot of fun making the costumes. I used camel colored polarfleece and stuffed the lining a little to give the potato some shape. The kids actually didn't eat too much candy; they were having a blast running around and being crazy together.

We made it to a whole four houses this year!

I painted on a red nose and little moustache. Which was totally smeared off by the end of the evening. (For those who get will a kick out of it: Ellis is wearing his Spud Fest sweatshirt underneath the costume. The one that Spiker made in 2006. heehee.)

(thanks, amanda, for the great pics!)

Posted by at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

He loves those rubber boots.

Posted by at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My friend Keri sent me this fun video:

Click, Clack, Moo in ASL

Posted by at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Window Decals!

I got these rolls of translucent plastic in primary colors in the window treatment section of IKEA. One side is kind of grippy so they stick to the window. Though I think if you use a little moisture it would stick better. When the colors are overlapped, they create secondary colors with the light shining through.

I cut out shapes freehand for Ellis to stick on. This activity was a moderate hit with him. He had difficulty managing small sticky bits, and was more interested in unrolling the rolls of plastic. I think if I had shapes manageable for his hands already cut out that would've helped. And in that case, would also make it a good activity for a younger kid as well. An older kid might get into some of the things I was trying to do, like make a little face with eyes, nose, mouth. That was just way too detaily for Ellis and he does have pretty good fine motor skills for his age (27 mos).

I also tried the butterfly, which was a little more successful. I just kind of whipped it together, taping it up. If I were to do it again, I'd make two silhouettes of the butterfly and "sandwich" the colors between them with glue or maybe even on contact paper.

Posted by at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ellis's CI was activated on July 24. It is now August 25. So, how is E doing?
Well, not bad!

Sound awareness is the first step in the CI training process. Learning how to use the CI is often called "rehabilitation", but I find that term kind of yuck. I want to ask, Rehabilitation from what? So on this blog, I will call it CI Training, since it is a tool that needs to be learned how to use.

He's not responding to sounds spontaneously yet. Though we do notice that about every 500th time we call his name, he does respond--in a meaningful way, not just the coincidental nod. If we are in a controlled environment, playing one of our new speech therapy games, he's on the money. He's totally hearing it!!

In this video, we are going through the 6 Ling Sounds: aah, eee, ooh, mm, ssh, ss, which span the frequency of sounds. (Except I forgot Sss in the movie. Oh well.) I get him to focus by holding the train track up, covering my mouth, and when he responds I give him the track. He thinks it's great fun, and later I catch him "talking" to the train tracks. Ha!!

A word from the Technical Advisory Board: Okay, still working on video-editing skillz. So I forgot to delete almost 2 mins of nothing at the end. The video is only 2'50". I tried to make it equally accessible to deaf and hearing. Though my voice-over at the beginning is a little rough, and I didn't subtitle every little incidental comment I may have made, like "Do you have a silly train track on your head?". And there's happy train music at the end.

Posted by at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (49)

I made a new sling today. My first one I gave to a friend. The second one wasn't really working out, and was a little on the too small side. So I whipped up Cozy Purple this afternoon. My very tired boy fell asleep within 2 minutes. I am about ready to hyperventhilate on how amazingly adorable he is.

Posted by at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Lately, Ellis has been into the movie Finding Nemo (I know, someday he'll discover there's life beyond Pixar, but the secret's safe with us now). He'll sign "watch, fish" when he wants to watch it. It's pretty cute. Well, it's touched Daddy's soft spot, let me tell you.

Last week, I was really dragging, and Chris insisted that he would take Ellis with him on a couple of errands. I didn't need much convincing. They got back 2 hours later with a 10 gallon tropical fish tank! He told me he originally went to Petsmart for the goldfish and the bowl, but got totally hooked by the Fish Enthusiast salesclerk. I did not know any of this was happening. We are holding off putting fish in the tank until after our vacation.

In order to satiate the anticipation that goads us every time we walk past this empty fish tank, Chris suggested totally randomly out of the blue after breakfast that we go to Baltimore to the aquarium that very day! C is my major home-body introvert, so I jumped at his suggestion. Though, after talking about it, we decided to hit up the more local Camden aquarium instead, saving Baltimore for better laid plans. And we invited Ellis's best girlfriend Maddie and her parents along. And it turned out to be a crazy fun rainy day.

Now when you start the day thinking of Baltimore's aquarium and end it going to Camden's, it's a little anticlimactic. And the crowds were merciless. I took E's CI off and wished I could be deaf, too. The noise was dreadful! It's hard to know if the aquarium would've been easier to maneuver without so many people. It was a decent aquarium, but not stunning. Some highlights we managed to find at the very end: the hippo with the underwater glass so you could see him swimming (and pooping! and everyone yelling "eewww!") and the shark tunnel. I like all the tropical fish tanks, but it was hard to get a good look. And I had hoped for more jellies, but maybe they're more of a special exhibit kind of item.

The kids loved it. Ellis would stop at a tank awhile and then turned around and sign "more fish". Maddie kept saying "fissshh" "shakkk" "upoh" (hippo) and signing along with E.

And it was fun hanging out in the backseat with Amanda, being slap happy in the rain, finding McD's somewhere in Philly as we snaked through the rainy streets home, opting for better scenery than the congested interstate. Being with our buds totally upped the fun factor several notches! They probably took better pics; I had trouble not getting blurry pictures.

Posted by at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Lately, I've been really inspired by a couple of blogs--SouleMama and two straight lines--in how they bring their creativity and crafting into their lives, their mothering, and their homes. SouleMama has a book coming out about it. *coughs*great gift idea*coughs*

I've been trying to think of things to do with my crazy 2 year old who is still trying to figure out how scissors work. He's just beginning to get into crafty things, though he doesn't always get what we're doing. The gluing cotton balls onto paper fell totally flat.

This afternoon I took him outside to make leaf prints. He doesn't quite get the idea of stamping/printing. But he loves the paint brush. (And I had fun making leaf prints.)

He fell in love with the paint brush a couple of weeks ago when I gave him a couple of squares of fabric and some fabric paint. He was so serious about painting. He really enjoyed it.

And in the quest for ultimate toddler room coziness, I turned the squares into pillows that he can roll around with, cuddle up on, or lay on his tummy making the train go around the track.

Posted by at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

There is a break in the heat wave. Today was a bit muggy, but not too hot. I was going to take Ellis to spend some quality outdoor time at the playground, but on my way decided to hit up Wissahickon creek in Fairmount Park. I have the hardest time trying to figure out where to go to walk in Fairmount Park; I never can seem to find the parking lots. Anyway, I found a parking lot next to a walk that was kind of out of the way and down close to the creek.

It was a little overgrown, but there were a lot wonderful stops that sloped nicely to the creek, perfect for toddler boys to go down and throw rocks in the creek. At one point, another family came and stopped where we were with their fun dog, and the kids and dog played together for a little bit. Ellis got thoroughly wet and muddy, but it was worth over an hour of great fun. I have no idea if that creek is clean enough to play in, so we had a thorough bath when we home. It was absolutely lovely. Cool by the water under big towering trees. The creek rippling and gurgling. Rocks made big splashes.

(p.s. The pic is just one I found on the internet of wissahickon. I forgot my camera)

Posted by at 5:13 PM | Permalink

One of our many indoor activities lately was making cookies. I made a smock/apron out of Cars fabric that E got for his birthday.

Posted by at 4:57 PM | Permalink

Today Ellis lost his first helium balloon to the great vacuous sky.

It's so stinkin' hot. Our food supply took a big hit with the death of the refrigerator. The kitchen is a royal wreck, with frig parts and jars and garbage bags all over, cleaning efforts currently put on hold until the mad toddler is put to rest. So Ellis and I walked over to Friendly's for some dinner. (Friendly's is a Northeast chain, kind of like Denney's, but specializing in ice cream.) We got to wave "hi!" to our train along the way.

Well, dinner was uneventful if you discount the toddler that climbed all over me and the booth.

Afterwards he got a lovely green helium balloon with a curly ribbon. I attached it to his stroller, but didn't knot it too tightly because I wanted to be able to take it off once we got home. As we were crossing an intersection all of a sudden I looked up and saw the great green orb floating off into the heavenlies.

My poor boy!! The look of confusion and sadness in his eyes. When we got to the other side of the road, I tried to help him say goodbye to the swiftly disappearing green dot. "It's like an airplane now!" We got a gallon of milk at the convenience store. When we walked out on the sidewalk, he looked up again and signed "Balloon?" Poor kid. Guess we'll have to go to Trader Joe's tomorrow. We manage to keep ahold of their balloons.

Posted by at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today Ellis and I joined our friends for a trip to America's First Zoo. It was a hot day but a fun trip. Before we went in, I popped into the gift shop to find a hat for Ellis. A hat or double-sided tape for wigs are the best things to keep Ellis's CI on his head. He wears a behind the ear processor, which is a little bulky for the little guy, so a little extra help keeping it on his head in necessary for the active one. His hat was in the wash and I was out of tape, so I found one in the gift shop that was surprisingly affordable. And now E is the proud owner of a cute little safari style hat that says "Philadelphia Zoo. It was so worth it, too! But my friend and I both forgot our cameras. So plenty of photo ops missed.

Ellis and his buddy Judah, ran around, looking at animals, and trying to scale the fences. Some favorites were the elephants, soon to move out of the Philly Zoo. Ellis was totally entranced by a huge gorilla plopped right next to the glass. They road the little train around in circles. And, of course, the petting zoo with its amazing tolerant goats was a hit.

The boys wolfed down gigantic vanilla ice cream cones and went berserk with a sugar rush in front of the otters. We waved to the giraffes and went home. Arriving with snoozing, dirty boys in the back seat.

Posted by at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today, despite my tiredness--and E's for that matter, I feel like I really pulled some great parenting guns. First of all, we didn't go anywhere. I get to midafternoon, and then I just can't take it anymore, so we go somewhere, ANYwhere. It takes a lot of perseverance to get through that time without going anywhere. I'm glad we didn't, though, because Ellis is getting some bad diaper rash and a touch of diarrhea from the antibiotic they gave him after surgery (Cednifir, I think preemptive against an ear infection). I gotta tell you, the best cure for diaper rash is going commando for awhile, but that becomes somewhat difficult when diarrhea is involved...'nough said. I only mention it, because seriously, a bare bum is a better bum.

Okay, back to topic. So this is what we did today:
* really cleaned and vacuumed E's room
* made paper birds to hang from his huge green Ikea leaf that canopies his bed
* got a very grumpy E to sleep for a nap
* play cars
* hung new paper birds since the glue dried during nap (they're really cute)
* played ball outside for about 15 mins with Aunty Lu, but it was REALLY hot today
* put a blanket on kitchen floor and put three large containers of water on it, drip a little food coloring in each tub and provide measuring cups, colander, and baster--worth 30 mins of toddler fun right there
* played "teddy bear"
* introduced him to his new Memory Game. (right now we just notice that two cards match)
* played Playdoh
* ate an awesome dinner; he ate really well and got an ice cream cone for dessert
* played in the bath
* watched a little Toy Story 2 ("You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful.")
* read books
* went to sleep calmly

and there was a fair amount of playing cars all interspersed in there...

Meanwhile, I was on the phone trying to straighten out an Early Intervention snaffu. We get our services from Pennsylvania School for the Deaf contracted with our county, but there has been some problem with PSD and my county and the contract. I think it's mostly resolved, but the speech therapist we need to add to our plan only works during the school year. So I was trying to get a therapist to start immediately, since Ellis just got his CI. Well, my early intervention coordinator didn't understand the difference between Teacher of the Deaf, Deaf Mentor (the two people who already come), and SPEECH THERAPIST! Seriously!! So she transferred ALL my services to this one place in my county that I do NOT want to go, but wanted to get a speech therapist from temporarily. I had to explain to her that a speech therapist was an entirely different person. Ugh!! Don't these people educate themselves on basic services for the variety of needs. I mean it's not like being deaf is some obscure thing. Grr. I think it's pretty much straightened out by now. But still, so annoying.

Posted by at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Last night we had a a very fun Birthday Bash for Ellis. It was actually a joint party with another friend from church who turned 30 (Devin)--we figured that we would probably have most of the same guests and the same time worked best for both of us, so we had a joint party!

We couldn't have a party without Ellis's favorite friends: Charlie, Maddie, Judah, Lightning McQueen, Mater, etc. Cars themed paper-ware and balloons.

I also wanted to have a fun kids activity that would appeal to a wide-range of ages. So I went the whole bubble route. I filled a small plastic kiddie pool with three gallons of bubble mixture (1 c. Joy, 2 TB glycerin [found at RiteAid but not Walgreens], 1 gal water), and got a few fun bubble toys at Target and a couple of hula hoops. It was a hit from ages 15 mos to 6 years old. A little messy, but great fun. At one point we put a plastic stool in the middle of the kiddie pool and made bubbles over the kid standing on it with the hula hoop. (more pics on Flickr)

So thanks to all who turned out and celebrated E's bday with us! Good times. Good memories.

Posted by at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Like it's your birthday!!!

Today Ellis turns TWO!!!!!!!!

Posted by at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

In honor of Ellis turning 2 next week:

Ellis is an incredibly social kid. He loves being with other people and kids. It doesn't matter the age. Because of that (and his age), he really is not a huge fan of independent play. He loves it if we sit on his floor and play with him, which I love, but you know, I'm sorry to admit, sometimes I get a little bored, you know. I try to do fun things, vary it up a bit, get out of the house a lot, because if I don't, I get bored and will let him watch more than several Signing Time episodes.

So I'm toying around with some ideas to make the summer more interesting and educational for him (and me!). I've found a few curriculum resources for the early childhood years that I might incorporate into a more themed play plan, so that we can get beyond cars, cars, and more cars. (I have nothing against cars, but there is more to life than just cars.)

I do think on some level, the child can lead his own interests, but I think if I can open doors for him to explore, preserving his independence, but showing more options, it will help us both.

The first is the letter of the week preparatory curriculum that gives themes and guidelines for a letter of the week. I'll probably just cull some ideas. I don't know what I'll do about learning letter sounds. He already knows most of the letters of the alphabet: can sign all but a couple and can identify the English letter in its relation to the ASL letter. So it'll be fun to build on that.

There's also this Joyful Learning that incorporates some basic Biblical lessons/verses/ideas into some themes relevant to the season/holiday or whatever. (I gotta get over the cheese factor of combining early childhood and Bible verses that this website exudes.) Age appropriate for 2's. I love the list of resources at the bottom. That could be handy. (And I may end up supplementing with the Children's Shorter Catechism, or reinterpreting the curriculum or whatever)

So we'll see how it goes. I'll get some ideas. Offer some activities. And most of all hopefully we'll have more fun together. And if we'd rather spend all afternoon at the pool SO BE IT!

Posted by at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Need I say more?

Ellis is still zonkered out next to me on my bed. I've had my coffee and cruised the internet already. We've had a lot of late nights/busy days this week, so sleep away, sweet boy.

Posted by at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So apparently, my camera is all of a sudden working again. So maybe it wasn't a memory card problem. Maybe it was a Mac G3 problem. Hmm. Picture taking happened like normal.

We went to our friend's (friends') house today to enjoy Sunday afternoon outside in the spring sun and to celebrate the advent of 2 years in the life of our three little boys born within a month of each other. I didn't take enough pics, so hopefully, Livs will oblige with some digi fun later. I hope she got a good one of E with chocolate frosting smeared across every inch of his face. We won't say anything about the communal sippy cups or communal cup cakes. But I do think everyone had a blast! And the weather couldn't have been more perfect. And Jonesey made a chocolate cake to.die.for. (And I'm not even a fan of chocolate cake.)

I made matching T's for the three boys. The back says "I love you" in ASL, and the front has their initial on the pocket (but I didn't get a pic of that). Freezer paper stencil (of course), and I used the air brush from the orange and blue Ts (I couldn't find a color that we had that worked with the red, so I just the old sponge/fabric paint for that one). They turned out pretty cute, I think.

Posted by at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ellis and his buddy JMJ loving on the goat. (Me laughing hysterically in the background) thanks to frendz for pic

Posted by at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Originally uploaded by kirklin.

My camera is still weird so pics from friends. Of course, for any child, the petting zoo is a highlight of the zoo experience. When we got there I saw they offered pony rides. I was so excited. I thought Ellis would love it, so I forked over $5 for his first pony ride ever. He looked very nervous and signed "all done" the whole time. Boo. Not sure about that. Guess I was more excited than he was.

Posted by at 11:22 PM | Permalink

Originally uploaded by kirklin.

My camera is still weird so pics from friends. Of course, for any child, the petting zoo is a highlight of the zoo experience. When we got there I saw they offered pony rides. I was so excited. I thought Ellis would love it, so I forked over $5 for his first pony ride ever. He looked very nervous and signed "all done" the whole time. Boo. Not sure about that. Guess I was more excited than he was.

Posted by at 11:22 PM | Permalink

Last night I heard Ellis fussing. As I was lying in bed wondering if he was just crying out in his sleep or if he was really crying and needing comforting, all of a sudden, I heard the door! and the *pad,pad,pad* Ellis walking into our room!!!!!! I bolted up in bed, and yelled, "CHRIS! he got out of bed!!!!" I don't know how. But that child had climbed out of his crib. I don't think he fell, because I didn't hear any thuds or cries. I think he just climbed right on out. Guess I'll leave the side down now...

UPDATE: I think I know how he got out now. Today I watched him climb down from the changing table. (And then applaud his great feat!) It would be pretty easy to climb onto the changing table from the crib, so that is probably how he did it. Come to think of it, it's a wonder that it took him this long to figure it out.

Posted by at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

One more quick Ellis post.

He loves to be involved. I mean LOVES it. If there's action, he's there. He now helps us unload the dishwasher. If we even so much as crack open the dishwasher door, he runs over and signs "help." There are two meals I can count on for his help if Daddy's working late and can't offer distraction from cooking endeavors, spaghetti and taco salad.

Here we have Ellis cooking the spaghetti sauce. Adding a touch of oregano. He's very serious about it. The stove isn't on, though I had to stop the movie to stop him from messing with the knobs, which he isn't allowed to touch. (You can hear me stomp to get his attention towards the end.) I just like to think that I'm investing now in future skills later.

Posted by at 4:20 PM | Permalink

You know how it is watching your child everyday and then all of a sudden a new thing suddenly clicks. Lately, for Ellis, it has been crayons. I don't know if all of a sudden he started pressing down hard enough or what it was, but he's finally really gotten the hang of crayons. He loves to color. He puts the crayon box in front of him and vigorously scribbles casting waves of color all over the paper. We have a paper roll attached to his little table from Ikea, and it's a good thing, because his strokes are from the limiting 8.5"x11" of normal printer paper (the only other paper we have around).

This is one of his first pictures in the new style, the style of boldness and abandon and wanting to use every color (some of which he can name by the way!). I just love it. I know to any other person it is just scribbles, but it warms a mother's heart.

I think I want to scan it and print it out on paper and make a pillow for his room. We'll see. I found this great site with suggestions for printing onto fabric.

Posted by at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ellis is just growing up so fast. I can't believe him. Guess what he's doing now? Sitting on the potty! Can you believe it?!!? I'm totally laid back not really pushing him towards this milestone. I figure we'll aim for age 3. BUT he loves it! He hasn't gone IN it yet, but he loves sitting on it. And he really loves going commando (which totally cleared up his diaper rash). He's telling me when his diaper is dirty and he wants it off. So I figure if he can tell me that he doesn't like the diaper and that he likes to sit on the potty, I'll play his game. Who knows? maybe he'll go in it soon. and then maybe he'll be *gasp* potty-trained in a few months! Can this be real? I sort of miss my baby a little.

UPDATE: He went IN the potty tonight. Grammy was visiting at the time, and he couldn't have had a more enthusiastic cheering squad between the two of us.

Posted by at 4:49 PM | Permalink

Caveat: Only a Parent could appreciate another post on vomit, so if you're not a parent, don't feel obligated to stick around.

So anyway, since the Hot Dog Incident last week, wherein Ellis barfed once, and seemingly regurgitated the entire hot dog in one go, he's seemed pretty fine. His appetite has been pretty low and his regularly scheduled poo (that kid is regular as a clock) was more runny/diarrhea-like, but other than that no fussy or acting sick or anything. Seemingly normal. I have been a little worried about the diarrhea, but since it's no more than once a day maybe twice (just like his normal schedule), I'm not freaking out too much. I also have been worried that his appetite is so low, but it seemed to be getting better.

So then I wondered if his Bout with Barf had upset him just a little to give him temporary lactose intolerance, which may come with diarrhea. Because he's practically been living on milk this past week. So maybe that was counter-productive. So today we bundled up (it is frigid out there!) and I got him a few dairy free treats and some soy milk, hoping that abstinence will make him feel a little better.

We got home and munched happily on some pretzels and juice. We went to Ikea, but he mostly played with his dinner, but sometimes he does that, because it's a fun place. Besides he had just eaten a bunch of pretzels. He had a blast at Ikea, running around the store, playing games with us, opening and closing showroom kitchen cupboards, and laughing and laughing. In other words, not acting sick.

It was definitely his bedtime when we got home, so he was tired and fussy. Then the moment of reckoning, soymilk time. I had gotten a quart of regular and of vanilla, hoping he would like at least one of them. We tried regular. He drank a little and then pushed it away, giving us a that has got to be the grossest thing I've ever drunk face. So we tried vanilla. Again, rejection. Also followed by gagging, spluttering, and coughing...which persisted until he royally vomited. All over Me. All over him. All over the floor.

After getting cleaned up, he seemed fine, and fell asleep. So this is the question: is he sick? or did the soymilk gag him unto vomit? Well, I don't know, but I think it's the latter. He's not acting sick. I still won't give him milk. It's White Grape Juice, for you, pal.

I do feel a little upset, because I don't know entirely what's ailling him. It doesn't appear to be serious. He's rarely sick. Or dehydrated. I don't know? I also feel kind of bad, because I think if I were still breastfeeding, it would be less of a problem, so I feel a little guilty. I had always intended to longer than I did (16 mos). I just sort of stopped. But I guess at some point, even if I had b'fed longer, he would get sick and not have the breast milk. But then, on the other hand, maybe if I had gone longer and he had gotten to that point where he was sick anyway, he could at least tell me what's wrong. I know it's not something to take myself on a guilt trip over. But I still can't help feeling bad. Poor little guy.

Good grief, it's COLD outside!

Posted by at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Today we popped over to see our friends Amanda and 11 mo old Maddie. While Maddie was climbing all over me and handing me a teddy bear, Amanda managed to capture on video Ellis SAYING 'mom' (it's actually "ba", but since he can't hear it anyway, that's pretty good!). Watch the movie here.

What's amazing is that he has connected a vocalization to a word. I didn't teach him this, and he's had no speech therapy yet whatsoever. He also gets very little auditory access from his hearing aid. (So little that he's actually a cochlear implant candidate.) We've been focusing totally on the visual acquisition of language so far. He made the connection entirely on his own. Now he's using "ba" for other words. It's a definitive sound he makes for when he's intentionally talking. "Ba" is 'mom', but it's also 'milk". He links the sign and the word.

What a kid!!! He never ceases to astound me.

Posted by at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I'm in the middle of another post on academic angst, but first I have to interrupt with this breaking news. We have another first in the life of Ellis: Vomiting! Poor kid, we were out shopping with our friends this evening. He had a hot dog at Costco. We came home, got ready for bed, everything seemed fine, except that he was pushing his milk away, which is like unheard of, and then the Volcano of Undigested Hot Dog!

We were all stunned. All three of sat there for a couple of seconds; Ellis no doubt thinking "what just happened?" and we are thinking "what do we do with all this barf?" I have officially been barfed upon for the first time.

He seems fine now. I'm hoping it was just the hot dog (and that we do not infect anyone with a potential bug).

Anyway. Just thought you'd like to know.

NEXT AFTERNOON UPDATE: I think it was the hot dog. He seems okay; no future incidents, though he won't eat, but wants to drink milk, so I take that as a good sign. He's a little sniffly, too, which may have something to do with the eating thing.

Posted by at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I'm going to die young, folks. That's all there is to it.

Posted by at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

GGGHVGGGGVH VGGHV GVGHM?
:;l[ppppppppplgf ;[p;[df[4fvd
dfhrffffffffffhh<<

Posted by at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The day after Thanksgiving, my mom, sister, and I went to the Philadelphia Art Museum. Aside from a brief trip to the Rodin Museum when he was but a tender one month old, this was Ellis's first real museum experience. Since when we left the house, we were planning on going to the much smaller, cheaper Rodin Museum, I didn't bring the stroller. We decided en route, as we passed its classical perch on the bluff, to hit up the Big Art Museum. In the end, I'm glad all I had was the leash, because Ellis wandered, freely taking it all in. He loved it. He looked and looked, pointing at so many things. The atmosphere was festive, freshly festooned with Christmas regalia, serenaded in the middle to a live jazz band.

Posted by at 12:58 AM | Permalink

Totally loving this warm weather!!!

Chris works a lot of evenings. That makes the 5 pm to bedtime shift really hard. Ellis is a fun companion and all, but we're both tired by then. I try to vary it up, make it as fun as possible (complete with Mommy Dinner Theatre), so that the time will pass quickly. Sometimes, if C isn't working too late, I drop him off and pick him up right before bedtime so that I can have the car.

So today Ellis and I hit up some stores. I never did end up doing the more Christmas-y items on my list (mostly pricing, so that I can make a prezzie budget). I had a gift cert to Babies R Us (man, I hate that place), so that was the only reason we went. It's so hard to find stuff there, because it's either stupid or overpriced. And there must be a bazillion June babies out there, because I can never find his size! I let Ellis wander a bit.

From across the crowded room, his eyes lit upon his one true love. Oh the joy! The tenacity!! A red Radio Flyer Tricycle!!! It's just a tad too big for him, though promises to be appropriate for the 1 1/2 year old. Size does not daunt, however. He was on that thing for about 40 mins straight. (this was a very relaxed shopping spree.) he did not get off of it while looking at other things. He tippy-toed all over the toy section on that tricycle, stopping periodically to grin and sign "car". My boy loves wheels. And he may find a certain red trike under a certain festooned evergreen tree on a certain day in December, because Grammy and Mommy are push-overs. But then, you would be, too, to see the gleam in that kid's eye.

Posted by at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

For real. Done baking. Kitchen cleaned. Floor mopped.

Monsieurs et 'dames. Je vous presente Le Pumpkin Pie de l'An 2006:

Chris's aunt sent us this awesome "I love You" cookie cutter the other day. Since I like to make a little decoration for the top of hte pie, and since I was making a pie to take the Fall Feast at Penn. School for Deaf, the stars lined up perfectly.

We had fun at Fall Feast. Ellis's class (The Under Two's) made applesauce to contribute.

I linger as long as we can the days we go. I enjoy seeing Ellis play with the other Deaf boys (yea, there seems to be mostly boys in his class); and they're all getting to the age where they're starting to interact more. I can see subtle differences already between how Ellis interacts with hearing kids and deaf kids. I also like to talk as much as possible with the Deaf adults there. Everyone is so amiable, and I'm getting better at ASL, so it's more fun. (But, oh! I need the practice!!) When we leave PSD it's back to just our hearing world. And our constant work each day to sign more and more without the benefit of being around the native speakers. I really treasure those times there.

And finally, I present He Likes to Be Involved, Part 3. I let him help me make biscuits. He loved it. But he was so serious about it, it cracked me up!

I like to think of this one as the "Emeril Edition" given his attire of Mardi Gras beads.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!! Safe travels and all that.

Posted by at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

• As Amanda posted, Robert Altmann died. I love his work.
• Today I made three pies. Haven't finished the cheesecake yet, but the gingersnap crust is made. One of the pies was a pumpkin-chiffon pie, which is a nice way of saying Cold Pumpkin Pie Full of Marshmallow Fluff. It was an act of love for somehow who fancied it, associating it with a pleasant memory.
• Speaking of marshmallows...

  
  

• He likes to be involved, Part 2.

  
  

• Chilling after all that work in the kitchen.
  

  I really want to get him a play kitchen for Christmas. (Or in our case, build one from salvaged wood we already have.) Anywhere we go where there's a kitchen, he loves playing in it. But I don't think it's the right time now, because 1) we have no where to put it and 2) I think he would still end up spending all the time in my kitchen. So back to what we're doing: finding ways to help him be involved, which is ultimately what he likes.
  

• Today I walked down the toy aisles at Target (or anywhere) for probably the first time ever since having a kid. Between all the crap, there were some pretty fun looking things. Ellis and I walked out there with stars in their eyes. And I'm getting some pretty good ideas for Christmas. I'm making him a lot of little things, but I want to get him one nice present from us. And I'm thinking it'll be car centered, since cars are one of his favorite things. No one told how much fun it would be thinking about giving Christmas to your kid! Even Chris is excited. Chris! Mr. Bah-Humbug-Just-Let-me-watch-a-movie! He actually told me the other day that he was starting to get excited about decorations. The first Christmas CD has sneaked its way onto the changer.
  
• Ellis has recently figured out that his finger is the perfect size to fit into his nose nostril. He's also recently ascertained what size items can be to fit into said nostril...like..say, perhaps, a small bit of ground beef. I never saw it again.
  
• You know. i think one of my favorite years ever was 2003. That was a good year.
  

Posted by at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I can hear Ellis's steady breathing of slumber coming over the baby monitor. He's turning into such a big kid. He's a toddler. Each day he's more of a kid and less of a baby. I'm almost embarrassed to admit, but I'm kind of sad. I mean, I'm glad, definitely, but a little sad, too. That was a special time.

I think he's weaned, too. It's been a couple of weeks now. At 15 months he was still nursing a few times over a 24 hr period, and then somehow we got down to just in the morning when he got up. And then one morning we had to go somewhere quickly, so I rushed our routine and skipped the nursing and handed him a milk bottle. And the next morning, I just thought, "I'm done." And I haven't nursed since. I think if the opportunity presented itself, he'd take it, but he's perfectly happy with the bottle/cup, too. I didn't feel anything when I stopped nursing, no fullness, no pain. So I guess we truly weaned. I feel a little guilty. Sixteen months of nursing is good, but there's part of me that says that i should've gone to 18 or 20 or two years. I'm glad to be done, but at the same time, I'm a little sad.

We've had a busy weekend. A church event last night, worship today. I volunteered for Nursery Duty last night and then realized I was scheduled for Duty tonight. I've spent a lot of time in the nursery negotiating social relations of the Under Two Crowd. Is it any wonder I have a headache? Sharing is an abstract concept. It requires you to think beyond yourself. The Under Two's are just beginning to think; how much more is it to think beyond oneself? It's hard with Ellis being deaf, too. I can't call to him across the room, "Don't take!!" It's a social situation that requires immediate attention, because the offense is so quickly forgotten. It's hard explaining to him not to take, because inevitably I take the pilfered toy from him. He looks at me without understanding as I try to explain to him to give. How much more is Give Back? Ellis climbed on top of the toy kitchen in the church nursery. In addition to sharing, I hop around the nursery teaching him to sit when encountering a chair and not to climb (skills we are also working on at home).

I've also expended a lot of energy of late negotiating my own social relations. People who I don't know well. People who are not Like Me. People with whom I would like to spend more time. My baby is becoming a toddler; how I mother him changes. My husband works a bazillion of insane hours; how we maintain a relationship changes.

And recently, I feel like I've spent a lot of mental energy negotiating my own self relations. I've felt really stupid for a lot of this past week. And it's hard to explain why (beyond hormones). It's like I'm walking down the street, feeling like I should be walking down the street. And then I glimpse my reflection in a window that I pass, and I feel exposed like I'm on the wrong street and everyone else knows it. Feelings of inadequacy? isolation?

I'm exhausted. Hopefully, I will not spend part of tonight on the floor of Ellis's room.

Posted by at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This afternoon was one of those days when you have to get out and enjoy the fresh air. Since Chris was working there was no thesis work to be done. My friend and I went to the local incarnation of Fairmount Park with our kids. Her Maddie is 8 mos, and she's a social baby like Ellis. They were Thrilled to be together. They kept giggling at each other. It was so cute. Then Ellis tried to climb all over her stroller.

The peak of Fall's colors is over. But the pathway was lined with copper beaches whose remaining leaves created an amber canopy around is.

Posted by at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So I took Ellis over to my in-law's for trick-or-treating. They have a great neighborhood. We live in a state park. Nuff said.

Ellis went as a car. Which is currently His. Favorite. Thing. Ever.

We made it to one house, across the street. Then we came back and ditched the costume, which was great, but you know 1-yr-olds, they have a limited attention span.

Ellis had waaaaay more fun hanging out in the front yard watching the kids go by and cars crawl down the street. He wanted to follow every big kid that came by.

We met some neighbors, admired their jack-o-lanterns, and ran around. It was a warm, balmy evening, and everyone was out enjoying it. The costumes were great, too! My favorite was a group of kids plastered in face paint and drapey clothing paraphanelia. I always make kids tell me what they are before I give them candy. They professed to be zombies, but I think it was an excuse to go crazy with face paint. My other favorite was an eager brother and sister. They came up and said "trickortreatI'mCinderella!" "TrickorTreatI'maRobber!" Clearly, they were enthused about their costumes. The "robber" was an excuse to wear a miner's lamp on his head. I guess these city kids don't know what spelunkers are.

Will post pictures (of Ellis and car costume) later. Am. So. Tired.