Recently in ToddlingTeo Category

Here are the things we have been up to this month, none of which involved updating this blog:

- Went fishing, where Teo caught a beeeeeg fish, swam in the river, and threw some rocks.
- Enjoyed separate visits from Julie, Kara, and Kathy. Rock on ladies. So great to see all of you. Congrats to Mrs. Savoie, by the way. You guys are really blessed, and I wish I could have been there to celebrate with you.
- Tested out the camping idea. Conclusion: keep the kid up until 11 pm, and he will sleep anywhere. Also? Queen-sized sleeping bags nicely fits two adults and a kid, in a pinch. Good times.
- Made homemade curtains for half of the house. They look good, even better than I thought they would. Might attempt to make the second half this weekend. It wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I thought it would be.
- Got an interesting job offer completely out of the blue. More on that later. Maybe. Turned it down, but am still sort of aching from the decision.
- Learned some going-to-bed coping mechanisms. Give the kid the illusion of control. "Do I put the cover on or off? Do I close the door? Do I leave the light on? Ok... if I do all those things like you say, will you not cry like a big boy? Great." No going-to-bed issues for the past few nights. This is miraculous. Even better? He has started announcing to me that he is ready for bed, and that "I'm not gonna cry, mama." The pride bursts from my heart.
- Discovered the awesomeness of fake, wooden food toys. Cut them! Put imaginary salt on them! Pretend eat them! The fun never ends. Most recently, he learned the word cinnamon while playing with said toys. So cute to hear a little man try to say that word.
- Picked fresh peaches on Sauvie's Island and made a peach crumble. Tasty.
- Went to several kid-friendly concerts hosted by friends of Mr Whiskey. His friends do music, that's their thing, and it's definitely the sort of ambiance I can get behind exposing my kid to early on in his life.
- One little boy started peeing in the potty in earnest. Still not fully potty trained, but definitely heading in that direction. We have had several three-pees-in-the-potty days of late. On the flipside, sometimes T just stops, grabs his crotch, and says, "Oh hey! I'm peeing in my diaper!" Thanks for the news flash.
- Attended a live performance by Demetri Martin. Hilarious. The man is really, really funny. Before the show, we also got to enjoy drinks during our third child-free night on the town. I felt like an actual grown up doing things adults do for fun.
- Made several rounds of soup out of vegetables harvested from the garden. Hallelujah. I wish gardens produced good things year-round, but I sense this is the beginning of the end of fresh backyard deliciousness.

There is so much more than that, but if I don't publish this now, it seems I never will.

Hellloooo September!

So... hi. It has been awhile. I am returning to this blog like an out-of-touch friend, happy to see an old, familiar face. It occurred to me the other day that I won't want to forget the memories of today, and that, currently, the strongest link to memories from the last few years is this website. Thus, I return. Over a month later.

So: the update. All the credit for important changes of late go to Mateo: he's lively, animated, and freakin' TALKATIVE. He will narrate events as they happen. He will retell stories from his day. He will describe the imaginary meal he is cooking. All in GREAT DETAIL.

Most days, I feel blessed. He is obviously bright, clearly engaged, and generally fun to have around. I love being able to joke with him and for him to clearly see the humor in what I am saying. Recently, he has taken to asking, "Why?" This is constant.

Me: Here's your milk, bud.
T: Why?
Me: Because you asked for it.
T: Why?
Me: Because you wanted to have some
T: Why?
Me: Well, I'm guessing it's because you were thirsty.
T: Why?
Me: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

So sometimes, yes, I get frustrated. Sometimes I want to be able to go grocery shopping without having to sing "C is for Cookie" on repeat. Occasionally, I would like for him to play quietly in a corner, without requiring constant recognition from me about what he is doing. But these are small moments, and they pass.

Overall, it's so incredible and fantastic to see a little personality emerge even stronger and brighter than before. Sure, I felt like I knew him a year ago. Now that he is talking and interacting, I feel I know him twice as well. I imagine that, by the time he's three, I might just feel my understanding of him has tripled.

It's funny for me to think back to this time last year. I have much greater confidence as a mother. I go out with him with less hesitation, I know we are able to make things work. Recently, I went on an extended weekend trip with him to New Mexico for a friend's wedding. It was exhausting, for sure, and I was barely able to experience the wedding to its fullest. However, I was proud of the two of us for making our mini-adventure work. He was fantastic on the plane, reading books and getting into conversations with neighbors. Most of the weekend, he managed to keep it together despite the onslaught of new places, foods, and people. I gave him big hugs afterwards and told him I was so proud. He responded with a kiss on my cheek.

And yesterday, oh Lord yesterday, my little man went pee pee in the potty completely of his own initiative. We've been working on just getting used to the idea. It's summer, so he sometimes frolicks around naked. Nothing in my house is so precious that it can't get peed on, so I take the risk. He also always pees in the bathtub. Being able to recognize the feeling of "needing to go" is part of the battle, and I think Mateo is getting very close. So yesterday, after a long time playing in the sprinklers outside, I took him indoors to get a diaper put on his bum. But just before I did it, he said, "Mama, I wanna go pee in the potty." So we wandered over and he stood up, pointed, and more-or-less got a wee stream of pee in the potty. I gave him a big hug and told him to run into the other room to tell his grandparents. He ran out (naked) and got a little distracted, but I said, "What do you need to tell them again?" and he enthusiastically said, "Mimi, Baba! I went pee pee in the potty!" All the family (except Andrew) was there, and we gave him a little round of applause.

He deserves it.

Otherwise, non-Mateo news:

- Still with the man, still going strong, still not going to discuss it here. I do have to declare this one a keeper, though. He voluntarily went on a family vacation with me, he accompanied me on a visit to my grandma's nursing home, and he does all other kinds of wonderful things that people with big hearts do for those they love. Also: he is a very good cook. I have written proof that my only criteria for a man was that he knew how to cook, and I had no idea about that aspect of his awesomeness when we first started chatting one another up. Crazy to think we'll be coming up on six months already. In some ways, that seems super fast. In others, I think, "Wait, haven't I known him for years?"
- I took a class and am learning to sew. This was one of my only goals for 2009, other than the basic Make It Happen goals of keeping my job, eating right, and raising my son to the best of my ability. So thus far, I have made a pair of pants that is 80% complete. I have loved, loved, loved the experience, and can't wait to try something new. I am thinking a skirt (apparently easier than pants, but I won't have an instructor around to help).
- My house got robbed this week, the first time in my life that I have had the experience of coming home to a house after a burglar has been pawing through my stuff. I am a cheap bastard and have nothing worth stealing, so I think the guy must have been pretty disappointed. All in all, he got away with maybe $300 worth of stuff, though that would have been a much higher figure had he gotten away with my computer. It looked like he had tried to dismantle it and take it with him, but he might have just gotten spooked and run off before he could figure it out. I consider myself blessed, in some ways. Still, it's sort of creepy to think of someone crawling through the window and walking around our little home.

So as not to end on a low note, I'll throw in some of Mateo's favorite phrases. These are amusing and I never want to forget the sound of his little two-year-old voice piping in to tell me what's what:

- "Because... that's how it goes, Mama." (in response to the question "Why?")
- "Um... let me think about it." (in response to any question about what he's going to do later)
- "It's delicious!" (in response to "How is your food?")
- "Comb her hair with a dinglehopper!" (in response to "What can you do with a silly sailor?")

From this:

To this:

I love it that T knows much of the words to the "Once" soundtrack. He's so hip.

So this is late, as usual, and it will be exceptionally short. Happy 18 Months Mateo! You are practically a man, now. I have picture to prove it, too, but those will have to come later.

Things have been insane, what with the Christmas and the ARCTIC BLAST and The Crazy that is our lives. But you just keep on trucking, growing like a toddler should. You use words like "umbrella" and "octopus," so that's positively mindblowing. I don't have time to update you on all the changes from this past month, but they haven't gone unnoticed. Why, you have most recently gotten into playing soccer in the house, and you actually manage to kick the ball with some sense of direction. I happen to love this game because you play it with yourself and go absolutely wild with the giggling and the kicking and the giggling again, so it's a great energy-burning activity to say the least.

I did want to say one thing: tomorrow is the last day of 2008. This has been both one of the most difficult and most amazing years of my life. Sometimes I sit with you and I tell you how much you have taught me about what is really important and why I am so glad you are in my life. I doubt you can fully understand what I am jabbering on about, because to be honest I have a hard time wrapping my head around it all myself, but sometimes it is sort of eerie how you sit and listen to those stories more attentively than any others. Occasionally, you'll pitch in a little baby-voiced "Yeah," and other times you'll interrupt me altogether to point out where my eyes are on my face. On more than one occasion, you have just randomly broken out into a hug, which is not ordinarily your style. In the end, it doesn't matter how you react; I am so happy to share everything with you, and I always want you to know how important you are to me.

We are embarking on more journeys next year. I think 2009 is going to be a good year for us.

(Happy New Year to everyone!)

This evening, the Tates and I were hanging out, and I noticed it was bed time. We had already done our nighttime ritual, and I guess we were reading and playing and I just lost track of time. So I turned to him and said, "Hey, Teo -- do you wanna go nigh-nigh?"

"Yeah!" he said, dropping his book on the floor. He jumped from my lap, ran into his bedroom, and stared into his crib, grabbing the railings while he peered in. I picked him up, and gave him a quick kiss before lowering him downward. He grabbed Pedro, snuggling into his covers while I brought them up around his neck, said a quick "Nigh nigh" and shut his eyes.I told him I loved him and walked out. Not a tear, not a cry, just an already-sleeping little man.

I think he is officially a big boy.

I feel like I can see, in this picture, what he is going to look like in high school:

New pictures on flickr, starting with the one above.

Happy Seventeen Months, Little Big Man!

As I type this, you are taking your baby thermometer out of its packaging, and then carefully fitting it back in. Sometimes you are more successful than others, and at those moments you can't get it, you run over to me yelling a semi-frantic "Help! Help! Help!"

I'll always be there to help you, baby, no need to get all crazed about it.

So goodness, my friend, we have been so busy. You, in particular, are busy busy busy. I realized after last month - when I noted down all the words you know -- that I left out a whole bunch. I'm too frazzled to go through it now, but it's a pretty significant list. And of course it just keeps growing.

I've got pictures and stories and all kinds of things stocked up in my mind, but I am afraid they are going to have to wait until the mini Thanksgiving break. Your Aunt Kdogg is on here way to Ptown as we speak, so we'll have a lot more after this weekend.

Oh, I will say one thing, though. You've learned the word "poop." For some reason, you say it much better if you whisper it, so it's pretty funny to see you lying on the changing table, whispering a gentle "poop" to me on a daily basis. Speaking of which, I think I have some work to do on your bum right now.

So yes, Happy Seventeen Months. I know this is not the usual birthday fare, and I would love to compose a fabulous post on all the changes you've been through this month, but it will have to come later...

I love you, Teo!