Gavin is at a slightly awkward age. He's beginning to get interested in the world around him. He's curious about everything he sees and is always eager to see more. But he's not quite old enough for proper outings yet. I want to take him to things, to start showing him the world. But he can't really appreciate a museum or a play. He doesn't really have the attention span or the bodily control for some of the things I want to do.
Usually we don't end up going much of anywhere. Maybe the store if I need to run errands. Maybe the park if the weather is perfect and his nap schedule is cooperating. But when it's just me and him, we tend to stay at home. Not that there's anything wrong with reading and exploring the backyard and watching some Sesame Street. It's just that it gets tedious and boring fast. For both of us.
Enter Kevin. When it comes to this sort of thing, he's the better parent than I am. He's willing to just pack up and go, though I think I'm better at remembering that Gavin does still need to eat and sleep when we're out and about. Naps are sacred. Without them, Gavin is cranky and irritable. With them he's fun and curious. I just wish there was some rhyme or reason to when he needed a nap. When it's just the two of us, I tend to plan the day around the nap, to the best of my ability. It's the only time I get for myself right now. When Kevin's around, I'm more willing to let him sleep in the car, because I can grab that adult time later.
I digress. The point of this is that we actually did a lot of stuff this weekend. And Gavin did amazing with it all.
On Saturday we woke up and were out the door by 9 am. We went down to Gravelly Point to watch the planes take off from National. Gavin was a bit scared of the first one, but his excitement quickly overcame it. For a while he'd bury his face in my shoulder when the plane was right overhead, trying to get away from the noise. But he'd immediately look up and grin and point once it was just past us. It wasn't long before he wasn't even scared of the noise.
After watching planes for a bit, we went to the Folk Life Festival, which is featuring Armenia this year. We got an early lunch, but the main festival wasn't open yet. So we went to the American History Museum, which was the closest and also has a kid's play area on the lowest level. We played for a bit, then wandered through an exhibit on advertising before heading back up to the folk life festival for a few minutes. This was all more about herding Gavin than paying attention to any of the information around us. But we survived. And then we got some ice cream and went home and Gavin took a frustratingly short nap in the car.
The next day, we were up and out again. First to brunch with friends, then Kevin and his mom took Gavin to the baseball game while I went home to enjoy a few hours of adult time. Gavin reportedly had fun at the baseball game, and even sat and watched it for several innings. That evening at home, he was actually telling me a bit about it. Well, all he said was "daddy", "baseball", "fun", "game", "daddy's mommy", and "woo!" But even without the complete sentences, it was pretty clear that he remembered going to the game and enjoyed himself. This is the first time he's ever talked about something in the past, and it's cool that this dimension of memory is starting to turn up.
It'll still be a while before I can take him to the local children's museums or a concert or something. But I also need to just suck it up and take him sometime. We have plans to do some of these things later this summer, and I'm starting to feel confident that he won't be entirely too young for them. Even as I sometimes feel bad about existing in public with a toddler. At least the understanding people outnumber the judgmental ones..
Showing posts with label milestones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label milestones. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Monday, May 7, 2018
18 Months
Eighteen months is proving to be a very fun age. I think it's my favorite age since ten months, which is the last time Gavin made a big leap forward in his ability to interact with us. Then it was all giggles and play. Now it's a positive explosion of words. Gavin talks all the time. He learns new words every day, and he's starting to figure out sentences. He can ask for what he wants now, and he can definitely understand most of what I say.
It's so much fun to watch him turn into a person and start to discover his likes and dislikes. He has recently become obsessed with Elmo. He often requests that we play the theme song to Elmo's World and then dances and sings along to it (sort of). If the song comes on unexpectedly he stops whatever he's doing and gets excited for Elmo.
We ended up buying him a stuffed Elmo, and he's been sleeping with it every night. This is actually something of a relief to me. Up to now he hasn't shown any interest in stuffed animals or blankets. He doesn't insist on carrying them around or sleeping with them or anything. He likes books and has his favorite toys, but he hasn't gotten particularly attached to anything long-term. He still forgets about Elmo half the time and is content to leave him behind when he wants to do something else, but it's nice to see him snuggling a stuffed animal.
He also getting better at a whole slew of physical activities. He's learning how to use a fork (which often results in a lot of frustration, but he's getting better). He can almost go down stairs on his own now, so long as he doesn't get distracted by anything. He can climb up on our couches and continues to love jumping and anything that involves him being upside down.
But he balances all this physicality really well. He's still a very observant and deliberate baby, who will often watch for a while before jumping in on his own. And he still loves to read and will happily hang out in my lap with a stack of books for as long as I'll let him.
It is so much fun watching him grow up and start to be more independent. I have to rein it in a little here and there - Gavin is pretty upset that I don't let him walk the dog on his own. But it's mostly exciting to see what he can do and how much he's willing to try.
It's so much fun to watch him turn into a person and start to discover his likes and dislikes. He has recently become obsessed with Elmo. He often requests that we play the theme song to Elmo's World and then dances and sings along to it (sort of). If the song comes on unexpectedly he stops whatever he's doing and gets excited for Elmo.
We ended up buying him a stuffed Elmo, and he's been sleeping with it every night. This is actually something of a relief to me. Up to now he hasn't shown any interest in stuffed animals or blankets. He doesn't insist on carrying them around or sleeping with them or anything. He likes books and has his favorite toys, but he hasn't gotten particularly attached to anything long-term. He still forgets about Elmo half the time and is content to leave him behind when he wants to do something else, but it's nice to see him snuggling a stuffed animal.
He also getting better at a whole slew of physical activities. He's learning how to use a fork (which often results in a lot of frustration, but he's getting better). He can almost go down stairs on his own now, so long as he doesn't get distracted by anything. He can climb up on our couches and continues to love jumping and anything that involves him being upside down.
But he balances all this physicality really well. He's still a very observant and deliberate baby, who will often watch for a while before jumping in on his own. And he still loves to read and will happily hang out in my lap with a stack of books for as long as I'll let him.
It is so much fun watching him grow up and start to be more independent. I have to rein it in a little here and there - Gavin is pretty upset that I don't let him walk the dog on his own. But it's mostly exciting to see what he can do and how much he's willing to try.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Words
Gavin is currently going through a bit of a language explosion, and it's a ton of fun.
A few weeks back, the only world he really solidly knew was "no". He said it to everything. He would shout "mama" if he was very upset, but he wouldn't say it on command. Everything was just no, no, no.
But now he's picking up words like it's his job. And the best part (to me) is that it's so tied to books. He's not reading yet, but this is certainly a sign of early literacy. So here are a few of the words Gavin knows and the circumstances he says them under.
A few weeks back, the only world he really solidly knew was "no". He said it to everything. He would shout "mama" if he was very upset, but he wouldn't say it on command. Everything was just no, no, no.
But now he's picking up words like it's his job. And the best part (to me) is that it's so tied to books. He's not reading yet, but this is certainly a sign of early literacy. So here are a few of the words Gavin knows and the circumstances he says them under.
- Runs into the kitchen saying "nanana" and pointing towards the fruit bowl. This means he wants a banana.
- In the kitchen, points to the island and says "ma ma", which means a teething biscuit (the brand we get is mum mums"
- Points to the fridge and says "ma ma". This means milk. The pointing is the key distinction.
- Opens a book to a picture of a cow and says "moo". This works with two or three different books that I know of, so it definitely recognizes cows.
- In Jimmy Fallon's "Mama" book, Gavin recognizes and says "ball" on the page with the soccer ball. He also identifies his own soccer ball as ball. It's unclear if this extend to other types of balls yet.
- In the same book, Gavin will point to the picture of the owls and say "whoo".
- In "Go Dog, Go", Gavin knows to say "dog" on the first page. He loves dogs. He knows that Kina is a dog, and he can almost always identify dogs and call them such
- I think he may also know "duck", but it sounds exactly the same as "dog" at the moment. But he will point to pictures of ducks, say "duck", and laugh when I quack. The goal is clearly to make me quack, so I think he knows the difference between the two words. He just can't quite articulate it.
- I can't transcribe this next one. It's about five or six syllables long, has lots of p's and t's in it and means "blow bubbles". He may also be able to say "bubble", but it sounds a lot like ball and he'll only say it about half the time. I don't know where this came from or why this phrase is three times as long as it needs to be, but it is very clear what he means.
This is all I can think of for now. It's so exciting to watch my kid figure out language. He still has trouble communicating sometimes, and more often than not it seems like his tears are because of his frustration about this. But he's getting there, and it won't be long now before he can express himself. He definitely understands almost everything Kevin and I say, and now it's just about figuring out how to do that himself.
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Milestones
In the past couple of weeks Gavin has hit a bunch of milestones that are pushing him closer to toddler territory. He's still definitely a baby. But sometimes I get glimpses of the kid he's going to be. These days are slipping by, and it's all happening too fast.
He finally cut his first tooth and is working on the second one. Granted, this isn't a sign of impending toddler-dom. If anything, he started teething much later than most babies. But it means that he's eating more solid foods now. More often than not we give him a little bit of whatever we're eating for dinner. He seems to like it more than the pre-packaged Gerber meals. He doesn't get a lot of his nutrients this way - the dog probably eats more of his dinner than he does. It's fun to watch him try new flavors, though, and to learn about new foods.
He's also a lot better at balancing now, which means he can sit for longer periods of time. We can finally put him in high chairs at restaurants and in the shopping cart. It makes grocery shopping and Target runs a lot easier (I don't have to limit myself to a basket).
Finally, Gavin has gotten disconcertingly good at pulling himself up. Considering how long it took him to crawl, I wasn't expecting this to happen so quickly. I blame it partially on the flight to Alaska. While stuck in his car seat for 6 hours, Gavin discovered the third dimension and started climbing all over the place out of boredom. A few days later he was pulling up on the couch in the hotel, and now he can pretty much climb onto the couch in our basement. It doesn't help my nerves that he's fearless. He's determined to stand up without hanging onto to a couch or bed. So he'll often turn and let go, only to sit down suddenly. I've also seen him attempting to stand without the aid of furniture, but his balance isn't quite there yet. I know it's only a matter of time before he's walking, and it looks like that might happen sooner than I was expecting.
It's fun watching him grow and learn new things. It's also exhausting, chasing him around constantly. I have to keep a much closer eye on him than ever before. At least the animals are both being patient with him. It helps that they can still get out of his range when he gets to be too much. I wonder how patient they'll be when he can keep up with them.
He finally cut his first tooth and is working on the second one. Granted, this isn't a sign of impending toddler-dom. If anything, he started teething much later than most babies. But it means that he's eating more solid foods now. More often than not we give him a little bit of whatever we're eating for dinner. He seems to like it more than the pre-packaged Gerber meals. He doesn't get a lot of his nutrients this way - the dog probably eats more of his dinner than he does. It's fun to watch him try new flavors, though, and to learn about new foods.
He's also a lot better at balancing now, which means he can sit for longer periods of time. We can finally put him in high chairs at restaurants and in the shopping cart. It makes grocery shopping and Target runs a lot easier (I don't have to limit myself to a basket).
Finally, Gavin has gotten disconcertingly good at pulling himself up. Considering how long it took him to crawl, I wasn't expecting this to happen so quickly. I blame it partially on the flight to Alaska. While stuck in his car seat for 6 hours, Gavin discovered the third dimension and started climbing all over the place out of boredom. A few days later he was pulling up on the couch in the hotel, and now he can pretty much climb onto the couch in our basement. It doesn't help my nerves that he's fearless. He's determined to stand up without hanging onto to a couch or bed. So he'll often turn and let go, only to sit down suddenly. I've also seen him attempting to stand without the aid of furniture, but his balance isn't quite there yet. I know it's only a matter of time before he's walking, and it looks like that might happen sooner than I was expecting.
It's fun watching him grow and learn new things. It's also exhausting, chasing him around constantly. I have to keep a much closer eye on him than ever before. At least the animals are both being patient with him. It helps that they can still get out of his range when he gets to be too much. I wonder how patient they'll be when he can keep up with them.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Becoming People
The sixth week of Gavin's life was the best week yet. He grew noticeably, both physically and mentally. And I was able to start getting stuff done around the house. It was a giant leap forward in me feeling like a person again.
Up until this week, Gavin had been alternating a 5-6 hour nap with 5-6 hour marathon feeding sessions. Not that he ate continuously for 5 or 6 hours. But he ate every hour for 20-30 minutes. It was often all I could do to find time to pee and eat between feeding sessions. There was no time for anything else. Though I did watch an insane amount of TV.
But Gavin has finally evened out, and is eating every 3-4 hours pretty consistently. It makes for a slightly more sleepless night (though Kevin and I have a good tag-team set up that helps). It also makes it a lot easier to get stuff done during the day. So on Monday, I was able to put Gavin down for a nap in the afternoon and clean the whole kitchen. Over the rest of the week I managed to clean the entire upper floor of the house. Kevin's been making fun of me for being so excited about this, but it's really nice to feel productive again.
Gavin has also been a lot more fun this week. He's more awake and alert. We've started doing tummy time every day, and I play with him a bit. He's not entirely interested in his toys yet, but he seems to stare at them with intent. At least for a little while. And he has this piano he plays by kicking that he seems to have fun with. It's hard to tell, but I'm sure he's only going to get more interesting.
He's also bigger. Clothes that he was swimming in a few weeks ago now fit perfectly. Which probably means that we only have a week or two of wear left in them. We've got some 3-6-month clothing that he should be able to wear soon. We're also expecting to have to buy some more clothes before we do the Christmas family tour. And he just graduated to the next size up of diapers, which happened surprisingly quickly. We ended up giving a whole bunch of diapers to neighbors because Gavin got too big.
I'm excited for Gavin to learn even more tricks and to get closer to being on a schedule. But for now it's nice to have reliable chunks of time when I can do things, even if the timing isn't entirely predictable. The nice thing about maternity leave is that my schedule is completely flexible right now. And we're so close to smiles and laughs and an actual interactive person. I can't wait
Up until this week, Gavin had been alternating a 5-6 hour nap with 5-6 hour marathon feeding sessions. Not that he ate continuously for 5 or 6 hours. But he ate every hour for 20-30 minutes. It was often all I could do to find time to pee and eat between feeding sessions. There was no time for anything else. Though I did watch an insane amount of TV.
But Gavin has finally evened out, and is eating every 3-4 hours pretty consistently. It makes for a slightly more sleepless night (though Kevin and I have a good tag-team set up that helps). It also makes it a lot easier to get stuff done during the day. So on Monday, I was able to put Gavin down for a nap in the afternoon and clean the whole kitchen. Over the rest of the week I managed to clean the entire upper floor of the house. Kevin's been making fun of me for being so excited about this, but it's really nice to feel productive again.
Gavin has also been a lot more fun this week. He's more awake and alert. We've started doing tummy time every day, and I play with him a bit. He's not entirely interested in his toys yet, but he seems to stare at them with intent. At least for a little while. And he has this piano he plays by kicking that he seems to have fun with. It's hard to tell, but I'm sure he's only going to get more interesting.
He's also bigger. Clothes that he was swimming in a few weeks ago now fit perfectly. Which probably means that we only have a week or two of wear left in them. We've got some 3-6-month clothing that he should be able to wear soon. We're also expecting to have to buy some more clothes before we do the Christmas family tour. And he just graduated to the next size up of diapers, which happened surprisingly quickly. We ended up giving a whole bunch of diapers to neighbors because Gavin got too big.
I'm excited for Gavin to learn even more tricks and to get closer to being on a schedule. But for now it's nice to have reliable chunks of time when I can do things, even if the timing isn't entirely predictable. The nice thing about maternity leave is that my schedule is completely flexible right now. And we're so close to smiles and laughs and an actual interactive person. I can't wait
Thursday, November 24, 2016
One Month
It's hard to believe that Gavin is already a whole month old. I feel like I've been living in some parallel universe for the past month, and I'm still not sure I'm ready to return to reality. But I'm getting there. And part of that is keeping up with this blog again.
The past month has been unlike any other time in my life. I spend a lot of time watching TV while Gavin eats, since I can't really do anything else. We've had a never-ending parade of house guests. It's nice that we have such a huge and loving family, and it's been great to see everyone. But it also makes it impossible to start establishing any sort of routine. And while Gavin is still a bit too young for a schedule, I feel like I'm struggling to find time to cook and clean because all of my extra energy is being spent entertaining. Thankfully our guests have all been incredibly helpful. But I'm looking forward to getting control of my house back.
Gavin is doing wonderfully. He's a great sleeper. By the first week he was going down for a solid 4-5 hours every night, and that's still true. If everything works out right, I can get 6 or 7 hours of sleep. In practice that only happens 3 out of 4 nights, but it's enough to keep me sane. Generally, I'll feed Gavin after dinner, then try to get to bed by 9. Kevin stays up with him until midnight or so and gives him a bottle. Then I'm up between 3 and 4, more because my boobs are full than because Gavin is crying. If I can't convince him to eat, I pump. But that's always a bit of a risk, since I can't feed him for an hour or so after I pump. I just have to hope he'll stay asleep that much longer.
Gavin is also a pretty calm baby. He gets fussy sometimes, but he mostly only cries when he's hungry or gassy or needs a new diaper. I've gotten better about not letting him get overly hungry, because then he gets too upset to eat, and it can be hard to calm him down. But as we get to know each other that happens less and less.
As for developments, he's still mostly a little blob who eats and sleeps. He's started to make eye contact, which is cool. And he has a whole range of fun facial expressions, though I think they're still mostly involuntary. He likes looking out windows and at lights. Really he focuses on anything bright. We got him a mobile a week or so ago, and yesterday was the first time he really seemed to look at it. I had to put him in the crib so I could run to the bathroom, and he started crying. But I turned the mobile on, and by the time I was back he had calmed himself down and was fixated on the little hanging whales. I think the music helped, too.
For the most part, Gavin likes music. When we play it, he seems to get quiet and listen. Then only exception so far has been when I played "Dance Magic" from Labyrinth for him, which set off a tantrum. I'm hoping it was just a one-off thing. He's got to learn to love both David Bowie and Labyrinth, but there's still time to bring him around on it.
I'm mostly holding up well, too. I have, once or twice, felt myself slipping into a depression. Sleeping late and having trouble getting out of bed. But I've been able to snap out of it after a few hours. I really don't think it's a postpartum thing so much as a combination of the election results, the constant house guests, and my own lack of sleep. Bit by bit, I'm returning to myself. Reading books (slowly) and finding time to blog. By next week I'm hoping to start figuring out a schedule for Gavin and getting back to my life even more. Though I may still mostly be in hibernation mode through Christmas.
The past month has been unlike any other time in my life. I spend a lot of time watching TV while Gavin eats, since I can't really do anything else. We've had a never-ending parade of house guests. It's nice that we have such a huge and loving family, and it's been great to see everyone. But it also makes it impossible to start establishing any sort of routine. And while Gavin is still a bit too young for a schedule, I feel like I'm struggling to find time to cook and clean because all of my extra energy is being spent entertaining. Thankfully our guests have all been incredibly helpful. But I'm looking forward to getting control of my house back.
Gavin is doing wonderfully. He's a great sleeper. By the first week he was going down for a solid 4-5 hours every night, and that's still true. If everything works out right, I can get 6 or 7 hours of sleep. In practice that only happens 3 out of 4 nights, but it's enough to keep me sane. Generally, I'll feed Gavin after dinner, then try to get to bed by 9. Kevin stays up with him until midnight or so and gives him a bottle. Then I'm up between 3 and 4, more because my boobs are full than because Gavin is crying. If I can't convince him to eat, I pump. But that's always a bit of a risk, since I can't feed him for an hour or so after I pump. I just have to hope he'll stay asleep that much longer.
Gavin is also a pretty calm baby. He gets fussy sometimes, but he mostly only cries when he's hungry or gassy or needs a new diaper. I've gotten better about not letting him get overly hungry, because then he gets too upset to eat, and it can be hard to calm him down. But as we get to know each other that happens less and less.
As for developments, he's still mostly a little blob who eats and sleeps. He's started to make eye contact, which is cool. And he has a whole range of fun facial expressions, though I think they're still mostly involuntary. He likes looking out windows and at lights. Really he focuses on anything bright. We got him a mobile a week or so ago, and yesterday was the first time he really seemed to look at it. I had to put him in the crib so I could run to the bathroom, and he started crying. But I turned the mobile on, and by the time I was back he had calmed himself down and was fixated on the little hanging whales. I think the music helped, too.
For the most part, Gavin likes music. When we play it, he seems to get quiet and listen. Then only exception so far has been when I played "Dance Magic" from Labyrinth for him, which set off a tantrum. I'm hoping it was just a one-off thing. He's got to learn to love both David Bowie and Labyrinth, but there's still time to bring him around on it.
I'm mostly holding up well, too. I have, once or twice, felt myself slipping into a depression. Sleeping late and having trouble getting out of bed. But I've been able to snap out of it after a few hours. I really don't think it's a postpartum thing so much as a combination of the election results, the constant house guests, and my own lack of sleep. Bit by bit, I'm returning to myself. Reading books (slowly) and finding time to blog. By next week I'm hoping to start figuring out a schedule for Gavin and getting back to my life even more. Though I may still mostly be in hibernation mode through Christmas.
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