BayDad

Before having kids, I guess I had some preconception about what they’d be doing, where I’d be, etc.  At almost age 2.5, Mr. Busy is buckets of fun and happiness, but still, quite a bit different than I would have thought.   Here’s a brief list of some things that are still somewhat surprising.

• Potty training.  We’ve talked about it, he’s talked about it, but there really isn’t much action on this front.  We’ve had only 1 or 2 “successes” and in general, he seems to not really want to give it a good effort.  We don’t want to pressure him, so we’re taking a laid-back attitude, but I suspect we’ll kick it into high gear sometime in the next few months.
• Eating with utensils.  Again, we haven’t spent a lot of time really focusing on this, but in general, he pretty much eats with his hands.  He can do cereal & milk, yogurt, etc. fairly well and not make a huge mess, but that’s not really what I expected.
• Drinking from a cup.  Same as above.  We haven’t really focused on it, but he can do it pretty reliably unless he’s extra tired or fussy.  I thought that sippy cups would be long gone by now.  Oh, and when he drinks from a cup, he drinks way less, and that can lead to problems.
• Putting on & taking off his own clothes.  Again, we’ve tried to get him interested in this, but he just shows no real motivation to learn how to do it. (vs. things like washing his own hands, which he’s totally comitted to doing himself).
• Imaginative play.  He’s just starting to really have imaginative play.  I thought this happened way earlier than 2.5 yrs.
• TV.  I think when we had him were were on a “no TV ever” kind of track.  But, we caved, and he’s a big fan of Dinosaur Train, Thomas, and train videos (railfanning) on YouTube.  But, when he gets too demanding, we cut him off and go sans-TV for a week or so.
• Drawing.  He likes drawing, but isn’t an artist.  Maybe with more practice with coloring paper (vs. free drawing) he’d be better able to make shapes and fill them in.  It’s mostly all just scribbles, but he does talk about what he’s drawing as if it’s real, so I guess that’s good.
• Numbers.  When he was younger (say, 18mos) he could easily recite the numbers 1 to 10.  Now, he’s actually not that good at it.  He can make it to 4 or 5 without problems, but now gets somewhat confused.   I think this is because he’s just beginning to now truly understand numbers and counting, and it’ll take him a while to build up to 10.
• Singing.  This came on recently, but I was actually surprised at how late it was.  Even at his 2yr birthday, he couldn’t really sing any songs, even though we had been going to music classes for almost a year.  Now, at 2.5yrs, he can sing many “classics” and a few others, and seems to understand “singing” as a concept and can be taught new songs fairly easily.

This place is a great way to spend a fun day with a 2-5yr old.  Because school has started, they’re offering deep discounts on admission.  Here’s a link to a coupon to Gilroy Gardens.

I just wanted to say that we went to go see Ponyo with Mr. Busy and Miss Otter this weekend, and it was absolutely awesome.  Great story, wonderful voice acting, beautiful images.

And, in addition, this is the first movie that Mr. Busy has sat through (in a theater) from beginning to end.  He started out in my lap (with his blankie) and about half way through the movie, decided he wanted to “sit by myself” so he sat next to me for the rest.

We’ve tried a couple other movies in the theater with him, and haven’t had much success.  Here’s the short rundown:

• Horton Hears a Who @ 1.5 years:  This one almost worked, but he was only about 18 months at the time, so still a bit young.  I think there was too much talking for him to really understand what was going on.
• Disney Earth @ 1.9 years:  Not enough plot to keep him interested, and lots of “what’s that animal’s name” and “what’s that bird doing” type of questions.  Also I think we went at a pretty bad time, with a 5pm showing, and that overlapped with dinnertime.
• Up @ 2.25yrs: Too scary.  Too much talking.
• Ponyo @ 2.25yrs: Perfect.  He had already watched “Totoro” (another great movie for kids) at home, beginning to end, so we were hopeful.  We went to a Saturday matinee (showing at 4pm) which was pretty good timing.  Bring his blankie was also key to success.

I’d recommend going to see Ponyo for pretty much everyone, with the added benefit that if you’ve got a toddler, he or she will likely enjoy it and sit through the whole thing, which is a huge win for the parents, because you’ll actually be able to see it uninterrupted as well!

I just want to give a quick “shout out” to the CSMA (Community School of Music & Art) in Palo Alto and their toddler-friendly art classes.

Mr. Busy has been going to the bilingual art class for the last month or so on Saturday mornings, and has a great time.  Last Saturday morning, I asked him what he wanted to do today, and he said “Art Class” and I said “What else?” and he said “Rocks”, which, I think, was a reference to the rock garden that they have in the front of the building.  He loves playing and climbing on the rocks!

A short list (somewhat tongue in cheek):

• Projects?  What projects?  Doing things around the house becomes very hard.
• Waking up at 7am or earlier seems normal.
• Going to sleep at 10pm seems normal.
• Video games?  Hah!  Wait until the kids can play with you.  ETA: 4 years from birth
• Blogging?  Only while at work!
• Music?  Your new favorites will be everything from Putumayo, or “100 toddler favorites”.    That’s about as hip as it gets.
• Your dinner time will now be 5pm.
• Touching poop won’t seem like that big of a deal anymore.
• All bodily functions will be discussed in some great detail.
• A fun way to spend Saturday afternoon will be going to play on the slides at the playground.
• Going for a bike ride now means riding for 10  minutes to the nearest playground.
• Thou shalt not leave the house without: Water, Goldfish crackers, juice, diapers, wipes, a change of clothes, 3 matchbox cars, 2 board books, 2 pacifiers, a hat and several jackets and coats.

Some last minute adds:

• You’ll likely not shave every day, through a combination of “oh my god he’s going to swallow that shampoo I better go get him” and “oh my god I’m so tired if I don’t shave I can sleep for 3 more minutes and still be on time”
• Putting in an 8-hour work day will become hard, and seem like somewhat of a chore.
• You’ll begin to “essentialize” everything.  Do you really need to wipe that up right now?  Do you really want to spend the next 20 minutes re-wiring the home theater?  Etc.
• Meals will be designed around how easy they are to eat using no utensils at all.
• You’ll start considering statements like “Ok. Day. Bye” as a genuine conversation.  (i.e. “Okay, I’m going to work now, Have a good day, bye bye!”)
• You’ll realize that nearly every surface of your house has been covered in either (sour) milk, (sour) formula or baby urine.
• You’ll think baby urine is clean and not really worry about how it kinda gets all over everything.

What’s on your list?

This is from a while ago, but is still *really* funny.

If you’ve just had breakfast at the wonderful Original Pancake House, and your toddler is itching for some outside time, then I’d strongly recommend going across Foothill Expressway to Shoup Park in Los Altos.  It’s a wonderful small park nestled in the redwood trees near a small creek, near downtown Los Altos.  There are 2 main play areas, one for the < 3 years group, and another for the > 3 years group, so you won’t have to worry too much about the “big kids” pushing and shoving like they sometimes do.

Oh, and while you’re in the area, why not stop by the Linden Tree and pick up some books?  It’s by far the best children’s only bookstore I’ve ever been to.  Fantastic place, great fun for everyone.

Shoup Park, Los Altos

We’ve been home with baby number 2 (no cute nicknames yet, maybe Ms. Squirmy?), anyway, I’m actually really surprised with how well things have been going so far. She eats well, she sleeps well, we sleep well, and we’re all hanging together pretty well.

Having a newborn around the house again has this sort of surrealistic deja-vu feeling to it. On the one hand, we’re still doing our same routines with Mr. Busy. He’s mostly sleeping the same schedule, getting up around 6:45am or so, playing, showering, drawing, trains, eating, etc. Our nanny arrives at 8:30, and he’s off to start his day.

At the same time, we’re up a few times each night with Ms. Squirmy, but she’s been quite easy so far. The last few nights, she’s only been up twice (~1am, ~3am) all night, and with our usual early bedtime (9pm or so) things are seeming pretty good. Ms. Squirmy doesn’t really like her crib very much yet, and we’re going to be working on that. In the mean time, she sleeps in the bed with us. This is something that we tried with Mr. Busy in the early days, but both of us were so worried about SIDS and rolling over on to him that it was more stressful than restful.

But, with Ms. Squirmy, we’ve sort of grown to enjoy it. We trade her off in the middle of the night so that we each get our times “on duty” sleeping with her (yes, I know, this isn’t actually true some nights, but I think this is what we should be working towards). SIDS is still scary, but not sleeping at all is even scarier.

The pacifier issue hasn’t been so much of an issue either. She usually falls asleep after feeding, and that’s usually without anything in her mouth. Even when it is with something in her mouth, she doesn’t protest when it’s removed. At night, things can sometimes be a bit harder if she thinks it would be a good time to be awake, so there’s a bit of finger sucking during those times, but it’s not actually that bad.

Just as a measure of how much sleep we’re getting: I’ve felt almost no need for a nap for the last 2 days. But, without a morning coffee, I’m pretty non-functional, which was true before Ms. Squirmy was born.

Mr. Busy is a little jealous, with some fits of “I want to be carried around by whoever’s currently holding the baby.” but those have been getting less over the last couple of days. He’s giggled at her crying a couple of times, and once woke up in the morning with his usualy monologue adding “baby cry cry cry,” which we both thought was pretty funny.

I’m in the process of uploading photos, so there will be plenty to see soon, hopefully by this evening, but I can’t promise anything since I don’t have a good progress meter for the process. Maybe tomorrow morning?

Just like last time, we’ve had more wonderful food donations than we could ever imagine. Our neighbors are totally awesome, and we’re so very grateful for their help. Finding time to shop & cook would still be particularly difficult, especially on the weekends when we’re “fulltime” parents.

That last sentence pretty much sums up how it seems — like a newborn is about half as much work as it was for the first. Maybe it’s that we’re used to keeping up the energy level, or maybe it’s that we’ve settled in to an “early to bed, early to rise” routine with Mr. Busy, or maybe it’s that we were mentally prepared, or that we’re more relaxed this time around. Anyway, I feel like my parental leave is actually really enjoyable this time. Spending time nesting at home is just what the Dr. ordered.

[Ed. note:  Forgot to actually "publish" this post earlier, and now the newborn has arrived!]

We’re expecting our 2nd kid any day (hour? minute?) now, so I thought I’d just leave a quick note here to say that I may be incognito for the next month or so.

I’m actually hoping to be able to get some time to log on here and post about what the first weeks of a second kid are like. I can only vaguely remember what the first few weeks with Mr. Busy were like. No sleep, diapers, diapers, diapers. And now, when the little Miss arrives, Mr. Busy is going to force us to continue life as normal… It’s going to be an amazing time.

We’ve been spending a lot of time with Mr. Busy and his new play doll friends. He’s got his own blue stroller, and a couple of “babies” that he brings around with him almost everywhere. It’s really great to see him so interested in the idea of “babies” (even if he has absolutely no idea what he’s really in for). I was meaning to set up the infant seat in the car so that he could put one of his dolls there before the real one arrives, but just haven’t had time.

Mr. Busy (in his ultimate busyness) is frequently asking to draw, and I’m always looking for ways to make things fun for me, so I found some old Pastello chalks and colored construction paper.

The amazing thing is how great of a toddler drawing set this makes.  For some reason, he has much more control when using the chalks than any other media.  I think its because of the pressure needed — crayons take too much pressure, so he loses control, and markers take too little, so he just scribbles back and forth.  With the chalks, he likes to sort of wander around the page making interesting shapes and colors.  The colored paper means that he can draw “white” and it actually becomes meaningful.

Oh, and the nice box that the chalks come in means that he can (almost) take them out and put them back my himself without making a total mess.  (Crayons and markers on the other hand are troublesome — marker lids are too hard to replace, and crayons are too difficult to get in the box)

Another great benefit is that the chalk won’t mark up our tabletop (which is quartz) like markers and crayon do, so it’s easy cleanup.  Similarly for his hands — the chalk is an easy wipe when compared to markers.  Oh, and you don’t have to worry about staining clothes as well, since the chalk will wash right out.  I’m just amazed that I haven’t seen a kids-branded version of art chalk as nice as the ones made for adults.

Anyway, if you’ve got a toddler around the house, I’d strongly recommend going to a local art supply store and picking up some of this chalk.  It’s awesome.  Oh, and while you’re there, get some “art tape” and you can tape the paper right to the table so it doesn’t move around, for drawing par excellance.

Prang Pastellos

By the way, make sure not to get “oil chalks”.  They’ll make a huge mess.  Oh, and the nice case isn’t shown in that picture above.

I just keep thinking about great things about this chalk — they’re great for learning colors, since they’re so bright and pure, easy to hold and use (no paper labels to get in the way), they only need a very light touch to draw, they’re non-toxic, they wash easily.  Wow, even I impress myself with how much I love these.   Go get some now!  They’re great for all ages!

Here’s a link to Prang’s page about the Pastello chalks — and has a better picture of the nice box that they come in.