Quinn Update- Holiday 2008

It's about 4:54 in the morning on Christmas Eve Day, but if I don't write now, this post will forever be delayed by the flurry of holidays we have before us. A few weeks back, Luke and I enjoyed a really relaxed trip to Target while Quinn was with Nana and Papa at the Macy's display. As we careflessly wandered the aisles, oohing and aahing at all that Quinn might like, I felt and ease and joy at the notion of splurging on my little one. The past few days have been such a buzz with activity and anxiety that I cling to that memory to get through it all. Earlier this holiday season when I emailed folks about what they might like for Christmas I spoke about the true spirit of the season being the time, energy and search involved with finding a gift someone will really love. Turns out, when you start shopping so late in the season and on a limited budget, it's more about making sure lists look even and that someone hasn't been neglected; the heart seems sucked right out of it all. Fortunately, today was a salve for that. I spent 5 hours at Asha's working on small photo albums of Quinn to give to his beloved aunts, grandma's and great grandma's. They are absolutely adorable and I was able to spend time oohing and aahing over my son's photos and think back on another joyful year with him. I do hope people love this gift as it represents the best I have in me- both Quinn and creatively.

We're on Week 2 now of Quinn going to sleep on his own- sans nursing. He still BF's in the morning, afternoon and before bed but we are removing the critical "down to sleep" one and I think this will help in the long-run. I am behind in sleep and tired, but to be fair, so is Quinn. He is waking up earlier and earlier and yet won't head down earlier. Once the rush of this week is behind us, I think we can start initiating the 15 minute incrementel earlier to bed program/thing that ECFE taught Luke.

So many hilarious things seem to happen on a near daily basis:

The other day we had a slipper and hat parade, organized by Quinn. Dad was made to wear Quinn's cowboy hat, I wore his winter cap and he donned his John Deere cap. We all had on slippers: Luke and I wore our super cheap, but new IKEA slippers and Quinn wore his teddy bear ones. The image of us all marching around was so funny.

I sing a great deal in the car with Quinn, less when Dad is present:) On the way to pick up Luke from the train last week, I was singing the itsy bitsy spider but the wintery roads were prohibiting my arm motions. When I glanced back to check on Quinn "engagement" I saw him making the "out came the sun" hand motions I always make and I was filled with glee and joy. I love that way that he absorbs so much and then indiscriminately models/demonstrates his brilliance.

Last Thursday evening the whole family traveled to MOA on the train. Quinn had been asking to ride a great deal and so we took the time to head there for dinner and some light shopping. Quinn had an absolute blast at Lego Land. We ate at the Food Court above LL and when I walked him over to the ledge, he immediately said, "Legos" and started galloping around. Of course, his father was nearly as happy to check out the legos.

Lately, we love to be under things. The dinner table is a fine fort and we are sure to follow Quinn's request to "close door" and push in the chairs. Today he ate part of his animal cracker snack there. Other times, it's below the computer desk. Luke has just the right set-up to transform the couch and blanket into a stellar crawl space. With some work, he can wheezle his way under the crib and also the dresser in his room. I think I hear my family stirring upstairs. More later!

Words

"Touie"
"Bulls"
"Bis"
"Daryl"

Translation: Ratatouille, Incredibles, Chris and Sheryl. I love Quinn's language.

I am embracing the runner in Quinn because it means I'm being more active. Round and round we go in the front hall. I'm also dancing up a storm. The Handy Manny CD has some lovely Latin-inspired tunes and Quinn and I twirl around the room in my make-shift dancing moves. Quinn has a new winter coat and snowpants. They're a very nice blue and Columbia to boot. I've wanted to own a Columbia jacket my whole life, or for as long as I can recall, and it makes me happy to dress Quinn warmly. I, on the other hand, don't have a regular winter coat, but priorities change when you have a little one. Quinn loves to take pictures with our camera. He's learned to say, "cheese" before he takes the photo. He even puts the camera up to his eye, which he closes, before he snaps the pic. Another household tool he loves is the flashlight. He loves to have us turn the lights down so he can see it projected on the ceiling and walls. Smart boy. Last night Quinn and Dad went out to shovel. He's quite an adorable thing out there with his little man shovel. Two days ago we practiced shoveling his legos in his room; I'm sure the demo helped:) I do my best to talk to Quinn whenever we're driving; I sing and point things out as best I can. He knows that we go "'round the bend" on our way to Jo-Jo's and "over the choo-choo tracks" as well.

Quinn rules

This morning when I walked into the bathroom to use the facilities, I was joined by my son's toy lawnmower. The nightstand next to my bed is jammed with books about coming out experiences AND Dr. Suess books for night time stories. On the desk in front of me are random notes about how to brine a turkey, a pathetic attempt at financial book keeping and my son's green sensory ball. I love my life. I love that at every glance, my life is infused with adult and child necessities, in a haphazard way. To my left on the desk is our empty printer. Anytime we put paper in it, Quinn empties it. Also to my left is a piece of paper adorned with Quinn drawings. He loves to write and he loves the word "write". How appropriate. I join him in writing, since I am regularly invited, and my stuff always says, "I love Quinn" or "Quinn is fantastic". We've taken to using a VCR in the past couple of months because Quinn loves the Wallace and Gromit videos. He also knows his "bob", which refers to Sponge Bob. The downside to watching SpongeBOb, in my estimation is two fold. One, I think SpongeBob is a little neurotic and unbalanced and two, I hate watching commercials. We have lately discovered Playhouse Disney and like watching Mickey, Pooh and especially Handy Manny. Very cool. As far as I can tell, they really limit commercials, which I like. Quinn really enjoys mashed potatoes and I'm excited to know he'll eat at least one thing at Thanksgiving with relish:) This morning when I rolled out of bed, Quinn did just that-- rolled right into my spot with his little head on my pillow. I guess I won't be snoozing any longer:)

Sweet Quinn

Sometimes now when Quinn is watching a film or sitting in his playroom looking at a book, he'll cross his legs very casual and try out that position. He can still hold the frog yoga position perfectly, astounding us all with his flexibility. Similarly, he can lean back on his feet with toes bent in all directions with no sign of pain. Lately, he has had pain on his big toes where the corner of his nail is somewhat in grown. I think it catches on things now and again. Our remedy: trimming, of course, but also Sponge Bob band-aids on both toes. Quinn knows who Santa is now, excepting that the man he calls Santa need only have a long white beard to fit that description. A couple weeks back he inherited a play guitar from Katie Igo. He had spent the day with her because Jo-Jo had a medical appt. He loves his "tar". His desire for one came from watching School of Rock with Luke one evening. Quinn and Kairis, his pal at daycare, are quite the buddies. Apparently they chase one another around, fighting for the same toys, both making using of the "mines", but as Jo-Jo pointed out, they wouldn't know what to do without one another either. Today when we were leaving Jo-Jo's, he said bye-bye to Kairis and even said her name, minus the K. Lately, he's a total chatter bug, though some of what he says is hard to make out. All the way today in the car to pick up Luke from the train station he babbled to Luke on my phone, talking and talking. Fabulous boy.

My sweet boy

Quinn now can make the "mmm'ww" kind of kissing noise. It's VERY cute. He continues to love to chase, running around and around. When we were at Carolyn and Chris' on Saturday night he and Luke were running around and around their kitchen island. Unfortunately, Quinn is tall enough that when he leans into the turns, he hits his head. He did that a couple times and then ran a wider berth with each lap, holding his hands up by his head to ward off danger. Pretty darn funny. That night he also jammed a giant brownie into his mouth and even though the chocolate bulged from his mouth, he managed not to choke and to eat the whole darn thing.

Quinn loves to hide and yet he also LOVES to be found. He hasn't quite mastered maintaining a hiding spot though. And he really, really enjoyed being found. For example, he loves to hide under the covers with Luke or I, but when we "shoosh" him so that he won't be discovered by the other parent, he giggles ecstatically. When he runs into the closet with one of us to hide, he's more likely to open the door and chase after the pursuer than anything else. He is so happy and so wonderfully child-like with his hiding antics that we do it on a daily basis. That, and we chase. "Mommy, chase me," is a common phrase when we're downstairs and I've now started to include the regular runs around the hallway as part of my workout. We race round and round again. He loves to be tickled, to feel like we're right on his heels and to be caught and swung upside down by Dad. He loves to cover his face and think of that as hiding. Heck, if he turns away from us and covers his face, he believes we can't see him. Hiding behind the shower curtain is great fun and having him find us hiding in the spot, our feet protruding from under the curtain puts him in hysterics.

Routine

When I pick Quinn up from day care it's important that I follow a routine. He likes/loves to have his chocolate animal crackers in the car on the way home. Our ride is a short one minute, but it's still vital that his snack begin once we're on our way. One day I forgot to bring his snack and he cried all the way home. Sometimes I will pick up cookies at Bread and Chocolate, but yesterday he wasn't interested in them and wanted his standard animal crackers. The dedication he has to our routine is reassuring, but also educates me on how monumental it will be when Quinn and I consider ending our nursing relationship. For Quinn, nursing is safe, comforting, loving and nourishment. It is how he begins and ends each day and how he re-initiates our time together after my work day ends and his time at Jo-Jo's is concluded.

Hilarity

Quinn likes to shuffle his feet. I don't know if he simply likes the feel of the ground against his feet or if he enjoys the sound. Either way, I LOVE to hear his soft, small feet hitting the ground with quick frequency. The sounds of Quinn's childhood will stay with me forever. For example, the way his breath exhales when he is sleeping, puffs of life expelling from his small body. The way that he says, "Whoa" with a hearty inflection, or "Hey" with fabulous articulation. The look on his face when he excitedly asks for Luke and I to chase him. "Chase, please". He's so fantastic about his "please's". He was a runner for Halloween. More specifically, he was "running behind". We dressed him as a runner with the head band and arm bands and then added a sign to his back that said "behind".

Heels

Since Quinn was very little I have been a huge fan of his feet. I love every inch of his spectacular little self, but his feet especially are so perfect to me. Right now, they're already half the size of my feet- at 2 years old. We traced them the other day on some paper from his Makoto-given easel. His toes are like mine and the shape is also reminiscent of mine. His heels are slowly forming little rough patches from all his bare foot running around the house. We make laps and laps downstairs. He loves to be chased.

Legos

When we first got Legos for Quinn it was mostly about Luke's love of the toy. When Quinn "built" his entry for the Lego contest, it was an after thought to Luke's amazing Darth Vader bust. Nowadays, Quinn is just as accomplished as his father with the beloved toy. It seems like just the other day he had little time for the building blocks and now he's able to build skyscrapers that reach towards the sky (or the top of his bedroom). I want to buy him more and more so his supply never runs out and I never have to disassemble something amazing that he has built. When he builds, his face and posture is so focused and studious. His tongue comes to the front of his mouth, just passing his lips as he concentrates on his next move. Last night we went to bed later than was normal, but I just couldn't bear to force him to sleep when he was so contented playing with his Legos. Luke continues to amaze me with his spatial abilities. He was able to build a block out of bricks that spelled Quinn's name in Legos. Remarkable. When Quinn and I were putting away his Legos this morning, we counted as we threw them into the bin. Once again, I was in awe of how quickly he remembers things. I said one, he says two and so on.

Have I mentioned about the Owey's (spelling)? Quinn seems always to have mysterious injuries that he will point out to Luke and I, or anyone willing to listen. Most of these imaginary injuries require a band-aid, which usually leads to Luke or I needing a band-aid too. Of the three or four boxes of cartoon character inspired band-aids I've purchased in the last few months, maybe 3 or 4 bandaids were used for ACTUAL injuries. Hilarious. It's a easy and relatively inexpensive way to cater to his imagination and that seems worthwhile to me.

Remarkable Quinn

Last night I was standing outside of the bathroom, pulling laundry from the dryer, and eavesdropping on bath time between Daddy and Quinn and I heard the most marvelous thing: Quinn counting. Dad would say one and Quinn would say two, Dad would say three and Quinn would say four. They went up to 11. It was so great to hear him using his numbers. He can say his letters too and sing along with the ABC song. He likes to use his wordhammer Leapfrog toy and press a button to hear the ABC song. Then, he'll sing along in bits and pieces-- one letter here, one letter there. It's very funny and also a great sign of his comprehension. He can sing along with me to Wheels on the Bus when I say round and round. He'll wheel his arms around each other, rolling them round and round in his own approximation. When I sing The Itsy Bitsy Spider he will make the signs for the spider crawling up and the rain coming down. Pretty awesome.

Boy's Class

Last night Luke and Quinn were off to Boy's Class- Early Childhood Family Education. They had a financial counselor come out to talk to the Dad's. Luke was pretty psyched to learn more about the in's and out's of why we're in a current crisis. No injuries this week; last week a new boy pushed Quinn down and he was pretty upset about it. The next day at Jo-Jo's he pushed someone, but Jo-Jo quickly put the kibosh on that behavior and it hasn't reappeared since. Asha and I got together last night while the boys were spending quality time together. Quinn was happy to see "Ash" when we got home. He was also happy to see me, which I enjoy. He was all over the place last night, energized by his evening. We read choo-choo books a couple different times before he crashed. It's pretty phenomenal when Quinn snuggles in for the night next to me. For all the quirks to co-sleeping, I do love that he feels at home and safe between the two people who love him most in the world. He wakes up and knows we will be there. He reaches for us in his sleep and curls into us for warmth and care. Soon enough he;l be occupying his own bed and his own room and the door will be closed to us and he'll desire privacy. I'm wary of those days, but I know they'll come at the right time for him:)

Language

Every day it seems that new words appear in Quinn's vocabulary that weren't previously there. The other night Quinn wanted to watch Elmo, but he also wanted to nurse, so we asked him which he wanted- Elmo or nursing and he replied, "Both". The other week he was walking about with his knees raised higher and he said that he was "marching". So, when we're in his room as opposed to the roomier downstairs, we will march about instead of running. He's all about his Melissa and Doug easal lately. He likes that I can sit on one side and color, while he's on the other side using his markers. He uses the verb "write" with great frequency and that makes me enormously happy. Right now we're in a bedtime routine with the books that are read. We need to read his "choo-choo books" and that's what he requests. He knows Mom's pillow and Dad's pillow. When we're in his room and he wants to nurse, I'll ask him for a pillow. Off he'll trot to our bedroom and come back with a pillow for me. The first time he did it, he must have yanked rather hard because it took most of what was on the bedside table with it, but he still came back happy as a clam with what was needed for nursing. Funny fellow. He's so great with his locations too. He knows when he wants to go "down there" or "up there" or "in there" or "on there". We've got the on/off relationship pretty well figured out too. He asks for his "bears" to be put on his feet (slippers) and knows his clothing words too. He truly takes me breath away with all he knows.

Perfection

Sometimes when he's alone in the bed, when maybe Luke or I have both tip-toed out of the room in the wee hours of the morning, Quinn will lay with his arms spread wide out. It's marvelous to behold. During his Saturday nap, I watched him wipe his hands off while he was sleeping, just like he might when he's stumbled while running and has sand on his hands to dust off. Sometimes he giggles in his sleep and you know that's he's enjoying a pleasant dream. Other times when he turns to Luke or I in the middle of the night and gives us a hug, we know he's reliving a moment of happy family time. My hope is that Quinn's dreams will always tend towards the positive and light. Still, I know that there will be fear and sadness in his life. He's very much what I imagined 2 year olds might be. Little things will prompt real tears and he'll place his face on the ground, his butt in the air and very genuinely mourn something, whether it be hearing the word No, having something taken from him or the air in the room might shift... Typically, these moments are short lived and he is fairly easily distracted or soothed. Lately, he really likes watching Robots, but when there are scenes in the chop shop and it's darker and the music is more looming, he likes to sit in my lap and be held, as if I provide the security he needs to "handle" the scene. I'm slowly but surely finding that routines work well in our life and we have come to them naturally, instead of prescribing them haphazardly. For example, we do a bath every other night. Luke gives the bath and he has a system about the sprayer and when it can come down. Quinn knows all the key words for the shampoo experience. On Sundays or Mondays I clip Quinn's nails down. When I pick Quinn up from daycare, I have chocolate animal crackers for him in the car. There are some routines we're still working on. When to go to the gym, for example, or when exactly we're going to eat dinner. Tonight, Quinn has "boy's class" with Dad and he calls it such-- very cute.

Time at the park

Quinn and I headed to the park around eleven today after a long morning:) Someone- namely, Quinn- woke up at 6:30 in the morning and our day was off and running. After drawing at the easel, puzzles, building with legos (which he did fantastically, by the way. I've never seen him assemble so many together before. Next year's lego contest is going to be pretty spectacular!) and Robots (the movie) I was ready to get out of doors. We're homebound this weekend because Luke is out of town and I'm too tired to try and facilitate a loaner car for the weekend. Anyway, so after a wee early breakfast of sausage and pancakes (Quinn ate only sausage) and a lunch around 10:30 of pizza, we were off to the park. By the way, this weekend we're running low on diapers and as I said before, without transportation. Wouldn't you know it that Quinn went through 3 already today. Who knew? So we head to the park and on the way I hear cheering and raucous coming from the fields. Ah, pee wee football. With cheerleaders. Sad. My I'm tangential today. What was more tragic than cheerleaders at a game for 12 year olds? The slides at the park were covered with sticky pop and sand. Ick. The bottom of Quinn and my britches are soiled and gross. In an attempt to clear the path, I went down one of them first, but that didn't stop Quinn from landing in another soda puddle. Not his fault, of course, but a bummer. I even took out a half dozen baby wipes from the stroller and tried to wipe it down, but it was going to take more of my wipe supply than I was willing to part with to correct the slide situation. Have I mentioned that Quinn is now climbing with great expertise and additional confidence? He modeled those skills for me last week when we were at Chris and Sheryl's new place. The previous owner left the swing set, which is a great deal for them- and for Quinn when he visits. There's also a pool table that Quinn was completely smitten with; he rolled the balls all about and used the pool sticks too. He even spent some quality time with Chris and myself in their indoor sauna. Funny kid. Their new place has tons of room and so Quinn was having great fun playing in all the empty closets. He loves to hide lately. Whether it's behind the couch or in a closet, underneath the sheets or simply by turning his back to you and facing a corner, he's a master of illusion:) I do love when he covers his face and then reveals his face to say "BOO!" My lead sentence was poor indeed. I've been typing now for 200 odd words and I've not even gotten to Quinn's ride on the horsey toy and his independence doing so. Terrific kid. We had a little bit of a meltdown on the way home because it was time for a nap, but it gave me reason to jog with our running stroller and now I don't feel so bad about not going to the gym today.

My son

The other day Quinn was being brilliant. Wait a second, that's every day!

Anecdote #1- We moved the DVD player into Quinn's room in an attempt to shift movie time away from our night time routine. Since school began, we've been doing a good job of having the tv off by 8 and reading with Quinn before bed every night. I'd say that nearly every night he falls asleep by the end of his Thomas the Train book. He requests it and it is part of what he knows and expects. Every other night he has a bath and he squeels with glee when we use the sprayer, a new feature of this side of the duplex. The other night I took a bath with Quinn and when Dad/Luke would spray us it was so joyful and happy to laugh and giggle about the wonder of water. To continue in that area of the house, Quinn is such a mindful little man and very observant. Once, when he climbed up his step stool to stand in front of the mirror, he was able to locate Luke's electric shaver. Before I knew it, he was rubbing it against his face, shaving like Dad. This morning even, as Luke was readying for the day, Quinn wanted to stand right next to him and watch as he shaved. He pointed out to Luke that he was shaving his "lip, cheeks, neck". I love his vocabulary and smarts.