It's out of "chronological order" but here's a note on an odd little aspect of the kids that I'll likely forget about if not recorded.
When Daigoro was younger, between being newly born and about six or seven months, he'd often make a throat clearing sound that sounded for all the world like a horse whinnying. It's so distinctive a noise, we even recorded it for posterity. Funny thing was that he wouldn't necessarily do it to convey any particular state of mind. It was just a vocal tic, or so it seemed.
Kenshin, on the other hand, developed between three months and six months a piercing sharp cry we dubbed the "pterodactyl" shriek. It wasn't angry or sad, particularly, though there were times when it was used to express those emotions. It was mostly a catch-all noise, much like Daigoro's whinny. Little outbursts of baby shriek that, as one might guess from our name for them, sounded an awful lot like the sound effects typically used for pterosaur-type dinosaurs in B-movies and TV shows.
Not particularly insightful but fun to note, nonetheless.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Out of the Mouth of Parents, Part the Second
So, short little post, but I thought this one was funny enough to share.
I occasionally buy Daigoro and I a 10-pack of Tim Horton's Timbits. He seems to enjoy them and as long as we limit him to two or three (and share the rest with Marli), it's a relatively harmless and cheap snack.
The other day he was digging through the pack and he picked out a chocolate frosted one. I guess it was only lightly coated, because I think he thought it was a plain chocolate Timbit (no coating). So, he starts to get sugar coating on his hands, to which he reacts by saying,
"Oh! My hands are dirty,"
and scrubbing harder at them, using his Timbit like a sponge. This of course leads to more icing coming off on his hands and further consternation at the defilement of his fingers. To which I reply, without considering the absurdity of the statement,
"Please stop cleaning your hands with a Timbit, Daigoro."
Ah, parenthood. Dadaism got nothin' on you.
I occasionally buy Daigoro and I a 10-pack of Tim Horton's Timbits. He seems to enjoy them and as long as we limit him to two or three (and share the rest with Marli), it's a relatively harmless and cheap snack.
The other day he was digging through the pack and he picked out a chocolate frosted one. I guess it was only lightly coated, because I think he thought it was a plain chocolate Timbit (no coating). So, he starts to get sugar coating on his hands, to which he reacts by saying,
"Oh! My hands are dirty,"
and scrubbing harder at them, using his Timbit like a sponge. This of course leads to more icing coming off on his hands and further consternation at the defilement of his fingers. To which I reply, without considering the absurdity of the statement,
"Please stop cleaning your hands with a Timbit, Daigoro."
Ah, parenthood. Dadaism got nothin' on you.
Looking Up
This past month has been running hot and cold... some very busy weeks and some very ordinary. We took the kids on a fairly long road trip to Montreal this past weekend to visit family there. They travelled well but we had made an effort to travel mostly at night. (For future reference, 550km / 5.5 hours direct by 401, 620km / 6 hours by a detour to visit other relatives in Carleton Place). It was fun to see their faces as we pointed out the rising sun - I don't believe they've seen one other than on TV before.
Kenshin figured out how to crawl this weekend and has been scooting along with more and more confidence in the past three days. It's amazing really - before this past Sunday (November 18th) I'd say he was about 10-20% of the way to crawling as well as any toddler his age. Now he's about 70-80% a scarce four days later. Incredible learning rate, these humans.
Kenshin has also cut his primary left maxillary central incisor (the one beside the first one) and the tips of the matching top two teeth can been seen just under the surface of the upper gums. It seems that Kenshin, much as Daigoro did at his age, will be cutting all of his teeth in a hurry.
On a relatively unrelated note, I was thinking today about the question oft-asked of me, "what do you think are the differences between the boys?" It came to me rather randomly today that Kenshin has a very noticeable tendency to look up and around. Now, this seems like a relatively minor difference, I know, but as much as Daigoro was/is a very observant child, he didn't seem to look up as often as Kenshin does. This gives Kenshin a sort of dreamy, star-gazing quality at times, especially in the evening and early morning when he looks up at the lights and the small starfield ceiling pattern I've mounted over his bed. It's quite nice, really. Some people have observed that Kenshin seems to be more of a "watcher" (compared to the "doer" that Daigoro is at times); I'll agree that Kenshin is more patient and observant.
Daigoro continues to surprise me with his memory and comprehension. He'll often remember the location of objects or something that we did together several months later, without having seen the object or done the activity since.
For example, I bought a picture frame from Goodwill almost eight months ago which contained a picture of a Lamborghini Countach mounted on a cardboard backing. I only needed the picture frame, not the picture - but the picture itself was mounted on some heavy cardstock which I figured I could use some other time, so I kept it. I had shown the picture to Daigoro once or twice; we used it for a few evenings as a door to play with in a "fort" we made under the kitchen table. Eventually he tired of the game, so I tucked it behind a piece of furniture in our dining room and haven't touched it since. Last week, out of the blue, he tapped the piece of furniture I had stored it behind and asked to see the "picture of a car". I had actually forgotten it was there but, once I figured it out, I pulled it out for him and he was very pleased, behaving as if he knew that's where I had been hiding it all along.
He's also developing some unsavoury whiny traits that seem fairly common to toddlers (especially two-year olds) that we had hoping to avoid - demanding treats when none are forthcoming, throwing tantrums when asked to go to bed, etc.
He's still, by and large, a fairly easy going kid, but it's... disappointing? Frustrating? - I don't know the best word to use in this case - to see that he can be just as annoying as anyone else's kid. I suppose most parents think this way; they hope/think that their child isn't the one who pushes or shoves or throw tantrums or won't eat his supper. Someone has to be "that kid". I guess you just don't expect it to be you, especially when you put so much effort into discipline and loving and setting boundaries and yadda, yadda, yadda.
In any case, he's two and a half. I don't expect him to be perfect. Just blowing off some steam.
Kenshin figured out how to crawl this weekend and has been scooting along with more and more confidence in the past three days. It's amazing really - before this past Sunday (November 18th) I'd say he was about 10-20% of the way to crawling as well as any toddler his age. Now he's about 70-80% a scarce four days later. Incredible learning rate, these humans.
Kenshin has also cut his primary left maxillary central incisor (the one beside the first one) and the tips of the matching top two teeth can been seen just under the surface of the upper gums. It seems that Kenshin, much as Daigoro did at his age, will be cutting all of his teeth in a hurry.
On a relatively unrelated note, I was thinking today about the question oft-asked of me, "what do you think are the differences between the boys?" It came to me rather randomly today that Kenshin has a very noticeable tendency to look up and around. Now, this seems like a relatively minor difference, I know, but as much as Daigoro was/is a very observant child, he didn't seem to look up as often as Kenshin does. This gives Kenshin a sort of dreamy, star-gazing quality at times, especially in the evening and early morning when he looks up at the lights and the small starfield ceiling pattern I've mounted over his bed. It's quite nice, really. Some people have observed that Kenshin seems to be more of a "watcher" (compared to the "doer" that Daigoro is at times); I'll agree that Kenshin is more patient and observant.
Daigoro continues to surprise me with his memory and comprehension. He'll often remember the location of objects or something that we did together several months later, without having seen the object or done the activity since.
For example, I bought a picture frame from Goodwill almost eight months ago which contained a picture of a Lamborghini Countach mounted on a cardboard backing. I only needed the picture frame, not the picture - but the picture itself was mounted on some heavy cardstock which I figured I could use some other time, so I kept it. I had shown the picture to Daigoro once or twice; we used it for a few evenings as a door to play with in a "fort" we made under the kitchen table. Eventually he tired of the game, so I tucked it behind a piece of furniture in our dining room and haven't touched it since. Last week, out of the blue, he tapped the piece of furniture I had stored it behind and asked to see the "picture of a car". I had actually forgotten it was there but, once I figured it out, I pulled it out for him and he was very pleased, behaving as if he knew that's where I had been hiding it all along.
He's also developing some unsavoury whiny traits that seem fairly common to toddlers (especially two-year olds) that we had hoping to avoid - demanding treats when none are forthcoming, throwing tantrums when asked to go to bed, etc.
He's still, by and large, a fairly easy going kid, but it's... disappointing? Frustrating? - I don't know the best word to use in this case - to see that he can be just as annoying as anyone else's kid. I suppose most parents think this way; they hope/think that their child isn't the one who pushes or shoves or throw tantrums or won't eat his supper. Someone has to be "that kid". I guess you just don't expect it to be you, especially when you put so much effort into discipline and loving and setting boundaries and yadda, yadda, yadda.
In any case, he's two and a half. I don't expect him to be perfect. Just blowing off some steam.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Thank You, Ferber, Wherever You Are
On the November 3-4th long weekend, Marli and I employed the Ferber Method to train Kenshin to sleep through the night without requiring a feeding every three to four hours. For those too rushed to follow the link, you basically let the baby cry for increasingly longer periods of time, until the kid figures out that although he will eventually be comforted, the screaming and the fussing has little to do with it. You go in every 5, then 10, then 20 then 40 minutes (and so on, doubling each time) to comfort the child, but do not pick him up. Eventually the child settles down and sleeps through the night.
It has been astoundingly successful with both our children. We employed the method on Daigoro at eight months and decided that we should have done it months earlier. So, this time, we tried it on Daigoro at just under seven months (for a variety of reasons, including a number of successive mild illnesses, it was ill-timed on his sixth month mark) and it worked even better, in two nights instead of three, as was the case with Daigoro. Kenshin woke up twice in the first night, (once for a prolonged fifty-minute stretch) and only three times (the longest stretch was thirty, the other two times were brief) and has slept through the night since.
It's a little hard on the parents and seems cruel to the child, but the dividends are many, not only for us, but for the grandparents who occasionally have to provide child care. After enjoying uninterrupted sleep several nights in a row for the first time in months, Marli must be feeling much better.
Thank you, Dr. Richard Ferber. I can't recommend this technique enough to other parents who have children who aren't sleeping through the night.
It has been astoundingly successful with both our children. We employed the method on Daigoro at eight months and decided that we should have done it months earlier. So, this time, we tried it on Daigoro at just under seven months (for a variety of reasons, including a number of successive mild illnesses, it was ill-timed on his sixth month mark) and it worked even better, in two nights instead of three, as was the case with Daigoro. Kenshin woke up twice in the first night, (once for a prolonged fifty-minute stretch) and only three times (the longest stretch was thirty, the other two times were brief) and has slept through the night since.
It's a little hard on the parents and seems cruel to the child, but the dividends are many, not only for us, but for the grandparents who occasionally have to provide child care. After enjoying uninterrupted sleep several nights in a row for the first time in months, Marli must be feeling much better.
Thank you, Dr. Richard Ferber. I can't recommend this technique enough to other parents who have children who aren't sleeping through the night.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Catching Up - Wounds, Teeth and Sitting Up
A busy few weeks combined with a temporary memory lapse about my blogger password has made me extremely behind on my chronicling.
So, in short order... Kenshin cut his first tooth a few weeks ago on October 20th, a "primary right maxillary central incisor", if I have my dental terminology right. Baby teeth, like baby fingernails, are surprisingly sharp.
Kenshin has started sitting up on his own around the same time and has already progressed to trying to pulling himself up on furniture and convenient objects.
Two weeks ago, on October 30th, Daigoro took advantage of a lapse in my monitoring during a drop-in centre visit to climb up on a chair back and fall. He bashed his head on the edge of a wooden stage, resulting in a fairly bloody forehead gash. We bundled him quickly into the kitchen to staunch the bleeding, by applying direct pressure and calming him down. He cried initially but calmed down quickly, keeping a brave face through much of the experience. The centre caregivers insisted on calling an ambulance but we got to the hospital (St. Joseph's) fairly quickly on their own after declining the ambulance ride (they did bandage up his head fairly well).
A forty minute wait and three stitches later, Daigoro was taken care of. All things considered, Daigoro received pretty good care, though I was a little surprised to have a very young-looking intern doctor take care of the procedure. He was frightened but with some firm enveloping in a bedsheet and a nurse, a parent and a doctor to hold him while the sutures were put in, he made it through. Aside from my wife's two home births, this was one of the hardest (momentary) experiences to deal with in my life - it's one thing to deal with your own pain, it's quite another to watch a loved one in pain and being unable to ease it.
So, in short order... Kenshin cut his first tooth a few weeks ago on October 20th, a "primary right maxillary central incisor", if I have my dental terminology right. Baby teeth, like baby fingernails, are surprisingly sharp.
Kenshin has started sitting up on his own around the same time and has already progressed to trying to pulling himself up on furniture and convenient objects.
Two weeks ago, on October 30th, Daigoro took advantage of a lapse in my monitoring during a drop-in centre visit to climb up on a chair back and fall. He bashed his head on the edge of a wooden stage, resulting in a fairly bloody forehead gash. We bundled him quickly into the kitchen to staunch the bleeding, by applying direct pressure and calming him down. He cried initially but calmed down quickly, keeping a brave face through much of the experience. The centre caregivers insisted on calling an ambulance but we got to the hospital (St. Joseph's) fairly quickly on their own after declining the ambulance ride (they did bandage up his head fairly well).
A forty minute wait and three stitches later, Daigoro was taken care of. All things considered, Daigoro received pretty good care, though I was a little surprised to have a very young-looking intern doctor take care of the procedure. He was frightened but with some firm enveloping in a bedsheet and a nurse, a parent and a doctor to hold him while the sutures were put in, he made it through. Aside from my wife's two home births, this was one of the hardest (momentary) experiences to deal with in my life - it's one thing to deal with your own pain, it's quite another to watch a loved one in pain and being unable to ease it.
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