Well hello everyone... it's been a long time since my last update (back in March actually) so this volume is way overdue. Sorry to all my fans out there (lol!) But being a daddy is just somewhat time consuming and it can be hard to find time for myself let alone dredge up the energy to reframe the joys of parenting a 2 year-old into humorous anecdotes just for your reading pleasure. So why this e-mail now? Well, loyal readers, what some of you don't know yet, is that we have managed to score the impossible. Yes, Virginia, we have daycare!
What seemed the impossible dream came true and by the grace of K.'s charm and sociability we bumped some other poor (less attractive and surely less extroverted) kids down the waiting list. In fact, what we learned is that having your name on a waiting list means nada. You need the daycare teacher to like your kid for him/her to get a spot.So, schlepping the little guy all over the place paid off in the end.And K. learned a valuable lesson that will serve him well in life:shameless flirting will get you everywhere.
The only downside to this daycare is that it is right next to a park.Yes, it's great for him during the day so he can play, but when picking him up in the afternoon it's then just another tantrum trigger. As soon as we step out the door, he lunges for the monkey bars while I try to carry him to the car. I wonder if they make blinders for kids?
So now the new adjustment I'm dealing with is being in an empty house and trying not to feel guilty (actually, I'm adjusting quite well!!!) What helps is that K. is having a great time with the other kids and despite a bit of whining this morning, there have been no major breakdowns with me leaving him there (yet). And it's really cute to see him with another little boy who is his age running circles around each other and essentially playing human bumper cars. Even more sweet is at the end of the day they all give each other hugs and kisses as he leaves. So even though I've gone through the horrible feeling of abandoning this poor child to someone else, I know he's in good hands.
I think what has also helped over the past few months is that K. has adjusted to our routine and he knows what to expect and that we are there for him (though we haven't quite adjusted to his routine of 5 am wake-up calls). What is amazing is that we no longer have the bed-time struggles that we did when he first joined us. We're at the stage where we have a story, a song (which Greg gets bored singing over and over again the same way, so he tosses in some Christina Aguilera vocal acrobatics from time to time), and then a group hug. We then put him to bed, tuck him in, kiss his bunny, kiss him and can make it out the door with not a word from him. It's night and day from the beginning where he would tantrum so much we couldn't even put the blankets on him to fall asleep cause he would kick and get all rolled up in them. Even more amazing is that the same thing is happening at nap time now too.
So aside from these wonderful changes, another big change happened. K. officially turned 2 in May. So now his tantrums are age-appropriate.lol! And he continues to be off the charts for height and weight.Everyone confuses him for a 4 year old, until they try to talk to him.He's still relying on mostly hand gestures to get his point across (which he'll probably revert back to once he's a teen), but more words are being added to the mix. Most words are food related: nana for banana, nun-yon for onion (don't ask me why this is a word he knows), and moooo-ore for more (yup, the first part is done like a cowmooing.) Oh, and he does ask for things politely... deeee is please.But of course, being 2, "please" is more of a command than a request.Not complying with said request at all (or even quickly enough) is grounds for a face plant to the floor with a giant "Noooooo!".
But K. reserves his best ear-piercing shrieks for the greater public now. I'm becoming one of "those parents" who has one of "those children" in public places. Mostly I just pick him up over my shoulder like a pack of screaming potatoes and hope it dies down. One day when leaving the park, I think a 5 block radius was informed that K. was not happy to be leaving. So yes, daycare is much appreciated (if only to give a bit of time for my eardrums to regenerate).
So now that it's been 6 months that K. has been with us, I guess it will soon be time for me to start thinking about getting back to work.... but there's still a bit of time for that (phew!) What I plan to do with this time for myself is take naps, and exercise to burn off all the Nutella I used to stave off massive sleep deprivation. I need to fit back into my work clothes after all... what's depressing though, is that K. has a better wardrobe than I do!
Anyway, that's it for now. I could go on about the many mundane and funny things that have happened since the last installment. I could elaborate on the case of the rolling poo, or how I learned through "Go Diego Go" that all dinosaurs were hispanic, or how kids want you to get into their kiddie pool with them even though the water temperature is just slightly above zero, or how having a kiddie-pool and a sand box next to each other is a recipe for a sand-coated kid, or how kids who watch you shower will eventually mime out all of your actions in front of family and friends. But, I'll just let you imagine the hilarity.
Oh and before I sign off, one last piece of good news. As of this past Monday, K. has become officially adoptable, so that means that within6 months, K. will share our last name and we will truly be hisforever- family. Although in our hearts, this has already been the case since December. (awwww...!)
Anyhow, wishing you all a great summer (it's coming, I know it is!)
Till next time!
Showing posts with label tantrums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tantrums. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Daddy Diary 7 - Month 3 (March 2009)
Well, it's been a while since the last installment, mostly cause K.'s naptimes have been fluctuating this past little while. Some mornings he's passing out at 10 am, others around noon, and sometimes he's down for 2 hours and other times just 40 minutes (then there's the 40 minute nap in bed followed by the 45 minute nap on daddy's lap on the couch after he insisted he was ready to get up). I'm never quite sure how long a break I'm going to get, but this morning should be good. We went to Ikea where he wolfed down a huge second breakfast, tried out almost every sofa in the store, painted a green shamrock in the kid's section and then raced up and down the aisles in the self-service section. His head dropped the second I put him in the car. Heh. Daddy has his tricks too.
It's hard to believe that it's been already 3 months since he's joined us. Time is going by so fast, and it's also amazing to see how much he has changed since he first joined us. He definitely grew taller, and has attached himself to us enough to now decide he wants to be independent about everything. Yup, the terrible twos have arrived 2 months early. As of last week, K. has added a new word to hisvocabulary: "no". This is usually paired with a emphatic shaking of the head (or a face plunge to the floor). So now diaper changes are again being refused, turning off his videos creates a monster, and telling him that the cat is not a squeezetoy also brings out the devil in him. I tell ya, parenting is really all about learning patience.Some days are better than others for both of us... but I'm slowly becoming immune to the ear piercing shriek (or pretending to) and just letting him cry it out.
But, as he is a Gemini, everything does have two sides. Two other words
he picked up are: Dada and Papa. Never mind that he mixes them up, it's music to the ears to hear the little guy call us.
As for keeping busy, K. and I have been doing some outings. We went to a place called Zig Zag Zoo in Vaudreuil which is basically a giant hamster cage for kids. He enjoyed the slides until he discovered the little carousel ride (you know the kind they have in the malls). They should call these things tantrum machines, cause whether you put the loony in or not, you're going to get a scream at some point. Whether it's cause you didn't give him the ride, or cause at some point you have to take him off, it's inevitable. We got lucK. one day though. As there are 3 horses and K. showed up just as a set of twins was getting on, he mooched 2 rides. Then a dad brought his little girl and he let K. get on too.... the little girl shrieked as soon as it started and got off, so K. had a free ride on his own. I wonder, is there a proper etiquette to these things? I wasn't sure if I should hand the dad a loony, but in the end, didn't. All in all, he got 4 free rides that day. So I'm raising a successful little beggar. lol.
Yesterday we went to the Aquadome in Lasalle. They have a great area for kids, complete with miniature slide and huge water fountain. The water is nice and warm, but we don't want to think about that too much. K. had a great time splashing around and I have to say, he cuts quite the figure in his speedos and diaper. What I find amazing though, is how much bigger he is than the other kids his age. He's going to tower over everyone in playschool. It's funny cause all the mom's (and their kids) ask, is that a BABY? Yup. All 40 pounds of him.
And though he's growing up fast, as I said before, vocab-wise, he's taking his time, but we did see some progress in the early stages of potty training. We bought him a potty and a seat for the toilet and of course they all have cartoon characters on them. (Gives new meaning to the show "Go, Diego, Go!".) We did have success one night after his bath and celebrated like fools. But we're taking it one step at a time for now. Though not changing diapers would be a welcome treat for me I think we'll wait till he's two and it's warmer for him to parade around in his skivvies.
Otherwise life together has been good. Though most of my time is spent accompanying K. through his many discoveries (like him discovering the grain in the wood floor that he thinks he should be able to rub off) K. has graduated to playing a bit more independently now, so when I'm cooking he'll play on his own. One toy he loves, but is quite tiresome is his globe that talks to him and speaks out the names of the countries when he pushes a button. But since K. is more interested in pushing the button repeatedly, it sounds like a geography lesson from Rain Man.
Anyhow.. that's about it for now. All the best to everyone, and will store up a few more adventures for the next installment.
Daddy Diary 6 - Month 2 (Feb 2009)
Well here we are already in February and I still haven't gotten used to writing 2009 as the year yet. Hope you all are doing well.
As for my continued intensive parental training, I've officially crossed some huge milestones. The other week I was finally christened by K. one early morning. Yes, what most parents deal with when they have very little ones, I got to experience with my not so little one. Picture it: St-Laurent, 5 in the morning. A weary father stumbles out of bed shuffling to the bedroom of the little one whose cries awoke him. He struggles to put an arm through a sweater as he climbs the stairs. Once in the child's room, he kneels down to hug and console the little crier. The little one rests his head on dad's shoulder, sighs and then, blort! vomits all over dad's shoulder. Thank god for the sweater, the dad thinks. (and also, ewwww!) And though once upon a time being vomited on was reserved for those unlucK. roller coaster rides (Picture it, La Ronde, June 1992, a hot summer day on theMonster...) I actually surprised myself by not gagging. (so now I'm officially a parent) Of course the vomiting was just a prelude to what was to come. Little K. ended up coming down with a major cold and again, he was happy to share. So I got to experience another parental milestone - the clinic!!! (duh-duh-duh!!) As it is impossible to find a pediatrician (and daycare space for that matter) for either love or money, we ended up going to the Tiny Tots clinic in Pointe-Claire. We wouldn't have needed to go, but K. decided to start pulling on his ear one night and after earning my vomiting parent-scout badge, I was not up for also earning the ear-infection badge in the same week. Luckily we live in the age of the internet, and I was able to get an appointment on-line for the next morning. As we got to the clinic, I couldn't get over how full the parking lot was. It was like boxing day at Fairview
Aside from that, today I thought it would be fun to try out an activity with K.. I saw an ad for a kids' gym (called le petit gym) and went to a free introductory class. We were the only guys there (asusual) and we spent 45 minutes bouncing on an air mattress, doing summersaults (kind of), doing the wheelbarrow walk (kind of) and dodging tantrums (mostly other kids' tantrums). K. had a fun time crawling all over things, but when we learned the price of membership- $400 for 20 weeks!!!!!! we were out of there. Of course, I should have known it would be out of our price range when all the moms came in with their Starbuck's lattes, their girls were dressed in lululemon tights and they had their Philipino nannies in tow. heh. I can get by bouncing K. on our bed and tossing him into a snowbank is still free.lol!
And in terms of K.'s vocabulary. He has now added bread machine to his inter-species communication. As the machine starts up and kneads the bread, K. spins his finger around and makes the whirring noise. So no new words yet, but he is fluent in Kitchen Appliance. (He converses with the coffee machine, dishwasher, oven and now this). However, he also now roars like a tiger and barks with Phoebe when she gets fed.
As for tantrums, K. is getting much better. He's no longer in exorcist mode, and is crying like any average baby would. So Daddy and Papa are much more relaxed now that we aren't walking through the major tantrum mine-field. I think K. is too. But he still keeps us on our toes. Over the last week, he decided that getting his diaper changed was now grounds for kicking and crying. After a few days of this, daddy went on-line and learned about the very special diaper toy that keeps babies occupied. It's a $2.99 flashlight from canadian tire. Not even a fancy one, just an ugly yellow thing. Now when the diaper drawer is opened, there is no more kicking and crying, just K. on his back making designs on the ceiling and occasionally blinding his father.
But all in all, it's a joy to keep discovering each moment and feeling the role of parent become more and more comfortable. In fact I impressed the nannies at the gym today when they learned I've been a dad for only about 2 months. Yup, I look like I've been doing it all these 20 months (must be the circles under my eyes). :-)
Well, that's it for now. All the best to you all!
Daddy Diary 5 - One Month Already! (Jan 2009)
Hope the New Year has been going well so far for all of you. As for our little family, we've reached the one month anniversary of K.'s placement with us. Seems like it's been longer in some ways (can't remember life without him) and shorter in others (incredible how quickly he has adjusted to being with us). What has been great is that each day there is a new discovery, a new challenge and something to make us smile.
In terms of discoveries, K. comes up with them daily. He continues to develop his vocabulary and he has the words "hot" and "down" down pat. Though the word "hot" basically means anything that might be dangerous or anything that he can't touch. So Papa's computer is "hot". And as for "down", he helps make sure that the cat gets off the table if it ever jumps up - one day my head was turned and K. pointed his finger at the table and yelled, "down!". Sure enough, the cat was on the table and jumped down, suitably chastised... so at least we know that despite his limited vocabulary, K. is able to speak with other species.
Another discovery K. has made is all of his body parts and one in particular (one guess). He also has discovered that Daddy and Papa have the same body part and likes to make sure it's still there, especially when we're wearing our pyjama bottoms. This led to our discovery that K. needed his nails trimmed. :-) As for discoveries on my side, I guess you can say that I've been learning how to adjust to being the house husband with a toddler. It was rough finding things to keep him occupied until I realized that I could also go about my day and that he would just have to tag along. So he now watches as I do laundry, wash dishes, and cook (I made chocolate chip cookies and apple bread just to find something to keep him busy - I am sooo a Stepford Fag!). He also watches all my other activities that up until this point had been fairly private. So now when I shower I have a little face peeking in (and I do get flashes of Psycho when the shower curtain rustles) and K. is very much intrigued by the mechanics of elimination. I guess you can say that his potty training is beginning through modelling. Though I wish his observation wasn't quite so up close.
In terms of challenges, they are actually getting better overall. The tantrums have diminished and have downgraded to whining. Kind of like how a hurricane gets downgraded to a tropical storm. It's a relief, but you still have to board up the windows and sit tight. We are working on this though, and through Batshaw we have a parenting educator that comes in to give us advice from time to time. Some of it is useful, but other times it's like having a nagging in-law tell you how to parent your child. Our response has been to smile and nod and use what we feel works as best as possible. So far, it seems to be going well. We even had a few nights where K. waved goodnight to us from his bed and didn't howl as we left his room. (That was short lived though, the past two nights we are back to having to drop him back into bed after each time he climbs off of it). In fact the howling is so commonplace that when he is quiet we know he is up to no good (like climbing up on a chair and emptying all his drawers). And since he has trouble with sleep, we've had to make sure that if we drive back from an outing towards his bedtime, we have to keep him awake or else if he falls asleep in the car and is moved to bed, we'll have an hour of shrieking (as opposed to>the normal 20 minutes). So this saw me one time in the backseat next to him singing, "If you're happy and you know it shake your foot", and me shaking his leg repeatedly until we got home. Good times! heh. I'm now realizing the things parents have to do to get some peace. (So I can kind of forgive my mom for drugging my sister and I with Gravol so we would pass out on a very long car trip.)
As for things that make us smile, what I love is that he has a dance he does when I start my espresso machine in the morning. He sings along as the coffee beans are ground and shakes back and forth to simulate the grinding. Again, limited vocabulary, but if you ever need someone to do a sound effect for a coffee grinder, he's your man.
In terms of the placement, we are supposed to have a meeting scheduled at Batshaw with the birthfather and all the social workers this week.This is for K.'s social worker so that he can file a complete adoptability report. We hope it goes well, but aren't quite sure what to expect. In the meantime, we're still having a visit from a social worker at least once a week. They will probably taper off to one visit every few weeks as they all have seen how well he is fitting in. K. has also gotten to meet extended family and little cousins and has managed to charm them all.
So all in all, life is going well, one month of parental leave already gone. 8 to go. Not missing work yet. (colleagues yes, but not thework) Though there are moments I would rather be sitting in a 3 hour advisory meeting rather than watching the wiggles for the umpteenth time. (oh, the good news is that K.'s tolerance of Barney the dinosaur is about as great as mine. 5 minutes in and he's already waving bye- bye to the screen!)
Anyway, want to say thanks to all who have been writing back and glad that you're enjoying these little moments when I have a chance to breathe.
Daddy Diary 4 - A New Year (Jan 2008)
Hope your 2009 started off well and will continue to be a good year for all.
As for us, we had a great holiday season, though it flew by so fast it was hard to notice that it happened. By the time the 24th rolled by, our little family had begun to establish a few set routines so now the coffees aren't getting quite so cold in the morning and K. is able to play on his own for a bit without needing to be in either Papa or Daddy's arms quite so much. We're still getting the occasional tantrum, though fewer and further between than the first week he was with us. Although what we miss in quantity, K. makes up for in quality cause when he does finally melt down, it's an impressive carpet rolling shrieking stamping affair and one minute feels like 30.However, these don't last as long as they actually feel, so we're all getting better at dealing with frustration. He is also getting used to us setting the rules for him and though he does test them (especially at nap time) our consistency is winning out in the long run.
Going to sleep is still an issue, but as of yesterday Greg and I have graduated to sleeping in our own bedroom again. We're letting K. get used to falling asleep on his own and though there are nights where he puts up a mega fuss, he does settle. He has his routine of bedtime story, some songs and then once his head hits the pillow, the fireworks start. We now leave the room and stay close to put him back to bed once he gets up, but as of this point, the sight of Greg or me at his gate is enough to get him to crawl back to his pillow (screaming all the while) but as long as he stays in his bed, we're happy. The only thing we would like to change is his early morning wake up call. He's usually up at 5 or 5:30, so even though I'm officially "off", my workday is going to start pretty early. There are the days when after a change and a bottle he will sleep a bit more, but those are the rare luxury. But all in all, we're glad we've moved from having him fall asleep in our arms to having him kick it out on his bed (our backs are grateful).
As for Christmas, K. had a great time meeting the family and we now know he has expensive tastes. Greg made a great meal on the 24th and K. enjoyed eating smoked salmon, liver pate, roast beef and a chocolate covered chestnut christmas log dessert. He also loved the presents. At first seeing all the boxes nicely wrapped was one thing, but once he realized there were things in them and that many of them were for him (in his mind, they were all for him), he at least got to help everyone open their gifts and once he found out it was something boring for someone else he moved to the next box. So the tantrums we were expecting didn't happen after all. In fact, my family thinks that K. is so well behaved and such a sweet little guy. Heh. what an actor!
After the holidays were done, he got to play with all his nice new noisy toys. Unfortunately, K. has figured out which ones have volume control and has learned how to bring more ambiance into our lives. Just picture a singing lawnmower with a happy shrieking toddler behind it and you'll get the idea.
What has also kept our sanity intact is youtube. Thank-god for the Mickey mouse clubhouse, baby beethoven (crack for babies!), and sesame street clips. K. is now able to spend at least 10 minutes in front of the screen enraptured by dancing babies and songs so repetitive and sweet that you will never get them out of your head ever again. Feist does a great do-over of 1-2-3-4 on Sesame Street and I love Andrea Bocelli and Elmo singing Time to say goodnight. I've even started doing the dance moves for some songs (Toot-toot chugga chugga big red car by the wiggles is my new favourite!)
But, the big test is about to face me. Greg goes off to work tomorrow (poor guy/lucK. guy). He'll be on his 3 day work schedule so he'll be back with me on Thursday and Friday. However, Thursday is my spa day. Time to treat myself to a hair cut and a massage. So I'll be downtown in the afternoon to drop off a card for my work mates on Thursday (sorry, won't be free at lunch time, but will be around 3 or so).
I've also started to look into some activities I could get K. involved in. Swimming could be cool, at least he'd be lighter to carry in a pool. :-)
Anyway, that's the news for now. Thinking of all of you and wishing you the best for 2009.
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