Christmas recap

I totally meant to post this adorable picture on Christmas Eve to wish everyone happy holidays in a timely manner, but somehow it slipped my mind. I was my usual ridiculous procrastinating self (who was also very busy with work) and left too many preparations to the last minute, and so, on Christmas Eve, I was shopping, wrapping, and baking into the wee hours. I was decorating cookies when Andrew threw up in his crib at 2:00 a.m. I drove my cousin home at 3:00 a.m. and crawled into bed at 3:30. Whew! Needless to say, I was exhausted the next day.

Fortunately, Andrew was in good spirits despite being sick. The first gift he opened on Christmas morning was a truck, and he was so excited by it that we had a hard time getting him interested in opening the next one. He did eventually really get into the gift-opening spirit, though, to the extent that he thought every wrapped box was his and threw mini tantrums when told he couldn't have one.

After breakfast, the three of us drove two hours down the highway to my hometown to spend a few days with my family. My mom totally spoiled us, as usual. We spent lots of time with my grandparents and the extended family, and we had two very nice visits with my dad and his family. Andrew had his moments — what toddler doesn't, right? — but overall he was fun and funny and adorable. My mom was thrilled that he started calling her "Grandma" during this visit.

The one shadow over this Christmas was that we didn't see DH's family at all. They are not speaking to us right now for reasons too ridiculous to get into here. I hope that this rift can be mended soon, but sadly that's not likely.

Anyway, I hope you and yours had a lovely Christmas, if that's your thing. And whatever you're doing to celebrate the arrival of 2011, I hope you have fun with that too. Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, and prosperous year!

Here are a few pics.

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Real kisses!

I never thought I'd be so delighted to have large quantities of drool smeared across my cheek.

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Holiday spirit

I've been feeling like such a Scrooge. I was so annoyed when my favourite radio station switched to its all-Christmas format on November 22 that I spent the following week scanning through the dial looking for a new station I could tolerate. Seriously, people? Five weeks of "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night"? And I hate that stupid sappy "Christmas Shoes" song! Why is Christmas a season, anyway?

I attempted my first major gift-shopping trip last weekend and came away empty-handed. Between us, my husband and I have 24 people to buy for, and you know what? I have no interest in shopping for anyone but my son. Christmas shopping is so stressful. I want to get nice, thoughtful gifts, but usually, after much indecision and many wasted hours at the mall, I end up buying just something at the last minute that I'm not really happy with. Multiply that by 24. No wonder I'm a Scrooge.

But yesterday, for the first time in several years, we put up our small, dilapidated Christmas tree, and even as I was lamenting its lameness and wishing a new one was in the budget (how about a 6.5-ft pre-lit, self-shaping pine?), Andrew ran up to it and said, "Oh, wow!" He doesn't know that it's lame. He just loves the flashing coloured lights and the shiny ornaments. I've never been much into decorating for the holidays — we're never home on the big day anyway — but I decided right then that we need more decorations.

It got me thinking about how much fun we're going to have with Andrew this year, now that he's old enough to be excited by everything that's going on. And now I'm a little bit excited too. With (only?) 19 days left till Christmas, I'm starting to find my holiday spirit.

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18 months!

Okay, so I'm a little late with this. It's been a busy week since he turned 18 months. I still can't get over that — 18 months. My baby is a year and a half. Amazing.

This month: The three of us have been sick on and off all month, so we've been lying low. Mostly just for the sake of making the purchase of his costume worthwhile, for Halloween we took Andrew to a trick-or-treating event put on by the businesses on the picturesque strip of Main Street in a neighbouring town. Unfortunately we had to carry him and he sucked his thumb the whole time. I'm sure he'll enjoy it more next year! (See adorable costume pics in post below.)

In other news, he started going to daycare two days a week. Actually, he returned after a two-month hiatus — long story, but we were thrilled that they were able to take him back. He adapts so well. They have nothing but praise for him. He eats and sleeps for them far better than he does for me.

Food: My boy is officially a terrible eater. He likes something one day and won't touch it the next. Sometimes he won't even eat his favourites (e.g., grilled cheese, pasta, berries). Often he eats very little. There was one weekend when he ate only a bit of cereal and a small yogurt cup. All weekend. I was beside myself with worry. My parenting books all reassure me that this is normal toddler stuff, that even though he might sometimes seem to be subsisting on air, he will not starve himself. It is my job to continue to offer a variety of foods and not to attempt to force-feed him, thereby giving him food-related issues that might haunt him for the rest of his life. Oy.

Sleep schedule: I thought Andrew was settled into a terrific pattern, but this month has been erratic. He often woke up at 5:00-5:30 a.m. and as a result needed two naps during the day. On the rare occasion when he slept in until a much more reasonable 7:00 a.m., he was able to have one nap, but that nap was never longer than an hour. He's also been waking and needing to be held at least once in the night, but like I said, he's sick and teething, and at his 18-month checkup the doctor found the beginnings of ear infections on both sides. Poor monkey. Things have been getting better this past week.

Loves: Any Youtube videos that involves animal sounds or trucks. My boy loves his trucks. He also loves playing in his crib: we're supposed to throw balls in to him and he tosses them back out. This will go on for quite some time.

Vocabulary: We have definitely experienced the vocabulary explosion people keep talking about (see list in post below). He has new words every day. Sometimes he'll say something, and we'll wonder where the heck he picked that up. He's very entertaining. He likes to say "knock knock" but doesn't yet know how to finish the joke. We'll say "Who's there?" and he'll either just say "knock knock" again or he'll say "Wherzeee?" (Where is it/he/she?) Funny boy.

New Tricks: I know he has no idea what he's saying, but after a great deal of encouragement from me he now says "I love you!" He follows it up with a "muah" kiss that is entirely his own idea, so maybe he does understand a little. He also gives hugs by leaning his head on us and saying "awww." Mommy is soaking up the affection.

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New plan

Oh boy, this has been on my mind constantly lately. I'm putting off any decisions about pursuing fertility treatments until the spring. I just ordered 100 OPKs. I'm going to POAS every day for however long it takes to get a positive. Today I am on CD86, so it seems completely fruitless at this point, but at least I'll be doing something sort of proactive. Maybe my doctor will be kind enough to write me a prescription for Provera on Monday when we see her for Andrew's checkup so that I can start fresh.

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Andrew says

The boy's vocabulary at 18 months. Because I want to remember...

Animals: dog, cat/kitty, bird, monkey, duck, sheep, frog, elephant
Toys: ball, book, TV ("teeee?"), slide
Sounds: moo, baa, neigh, woof, maiow, duckduck, roar, croak, awooo (wolf howl), bfphhhhh (elephant sound), vrooom
Body parts: nose, eyes, ears
Vehicles: truck, car, choo-choo, bus
Food: water, milk, bottle, cheese, cracker, apple, banana, cereal, grapes
Clothes: shoes, socks, hat
Commands: again, more, up, down, out, go!
Greetings: hi, bye, night-night
People: ma, da, baby, Riley, Michelle ("Shell")
From TV: backpack (from Dora), Elmo, Cat in the Hat ("Hat!")
Phrases (sort of): all done, where is it? ("wherzee?"), there it is! ("deyitizz!"), knock knock
Exclamations: uh-oh, oh no, oh man, no, wow, yay, whoa, all right, score
Miscellaneous: uh-huh, bath, bubbles, hot, brrr, rain, dark, light, fan, nice

And the list grows by the day. I love it!

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My little monkey

Considering his love for monkeys, we really had no choice...

He came.

He played.

He shoved stuff into the storm sewer.

And then he went home for lunch.

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