Life in the Boonies

Frank and mom zipped out in the car Wed, the 20th, to get grandma from the airport. We looked at trucks and motorcycles (Frank’s two favorites) but it was not enough to keep him awake. He was half awake when grandma arrived. Maybe he remembers? He let grandma hold his hand in the parking lot while mom loaded the stuff into the car. He didn’t sleep the rest of that day but was happy and calm. By dinner time he was quiet but not cranky. A new person to play with! Fun times in the sandbox and inside. Frank showed off all his new learned skills including spinning around in circles, all the signs he can do, knowing his body parts, understanding lots of words, and his version of a somersault (rolling to the side). Grandma was especially shocked by how fast he just slides down the staircase. Zoom!

Thursday we headed out in the morning to play in a local park. Frank showed off his climbing skills. Grandma followed him up and down the structure. Then we all walked from one side to the other and played on the swing. Frank stops often to find puddles and sticks along the path. It is busy keeping up with Frank so when he naps, mom and grandma also gets some shuteye. During lunch Frank and grandma plays the clapping game. Frank gives grandma high fives and low fives.

Friday is our usual tumbling class. Grandma watched as mom and Frank played on the trampoline and balance beam. Frank didn’t want to do much except run around and explore so not too successful of a class. Frank has been taking shorter naps so we went to the Contra Loma Park’s Lagoon to meet up with some other moms at 3pm. Frank loves the lagoon. He can sit there and play with the sand and water for hours without needing mom. Occasionally he gets up and moves a few inches to sit and dig again. Grandma sat in the shade and watched. Lots of sunscreen.

Weekend again. Frank still woke up around 6am. Dad played with him until mom got up and then we all headed out to the Farmers’ Market. Grandma is still getting used to our early routine even with the NY time difference. Lots of wonderful peaches and vegetables for stir-fries. Frank didn’t want to be put down until we passed the flowers. They were just at his level. He gently pointed without touching and did his sign with the sniffing of the nose. We admired all the difference colored ones until it was time to head home.

Sunday morning was less hot so we all get ready to go play tennis. Frank ran after the balls and played with grandma a little before he decided he wants the rackets. Dad let him hold it briefly. That was not sufficient. He came to mom and she let him serve the ball. So much fun. Now he won’t give it back. Dad tried to trade with him but he was determined and took off with the racket. We distracted him on the slide and dad hid the rackets on a tree branch. When Frank came back looking it didn’t take him long to look up and find them. He smiled the happiest smile. Oh well, no more tennis for us. We need to get another racket next time. A birthday party is from 1-4 so mom waited patiently for Frank to end his nap. He finally did at five minutes to 4. A FOUR hour nap! All caught up from waking at 6 and taking short naps the past few days. Frank loves to climb up our backyard hill. He and grandma also plays with the water hose outside. She fills up his saucer and he carries it carefully to the mint and dumps in the water (what’s left of it that is). He is not allowed to mess with the tomato plants so he knows the mint pot in where he can play. Lots of rocks and bark also ends up in that pot. Now he has an empty pot that he makes soup in. Bark, rocks, mint, sticks, and sand all gets mixed in there with water and stirred up with his trowel.

Mom leaves Frank with grandma for the first time. Frank looked for mom in the garage and saw her car gone. He walked all around the outside. He cried and cried and then grandma gave him his lovable bunny(which he is getting more and more attached to). He hugged the bunny and laid down by the door to the garage and sucked his thumb. Grandma bounced balls and played the piano and finally he got up and went to the back yard to play with her. About 10 minutes of crying grandma reports. When mom returned, Frank was still in his sandbox. If he missed her, he didn’t show it. He continued playing and then came inside for lunch.

Frank is beginning to be more affectionate. We went to our usual playgroup and this time Frank initiated a hug. The little girl was sitting next to Frank playing and he went over and hugged her. She is smaller and would have toppled over if her mom didn’t help hold her up. Frank also leaned forward and looked like he was going to kiss her too. At home he is increasingly enjoying stuffed animals and soft things to snuggle with. When he kisses mom, his mouth is open and she gets a big wet one. Back to short naps again so with a whole afternoon ahead of us, we went to the Lagoon. No other moms can make it so we played solo. Mom took Frank out passed the sand part and he floated around. He kicks his legs and mom moves him around. For the first time he laid on his back and floated. He didn’t stick his legs up in the air and try to grab mom. He just put his head down and it was like sleeping on the bed.

Mom’s car has been telling her it needs maintenance for quite some time now. So finally,,Wednesday morning we headed out to get it checked. After dropping it off, grandma pushed the stroller but Frank refused to get in. Mom didn’t give in to carrying him so he walked. This was a busy street leading to the highway. Frank was fascinated by the trucks and motorcycles as always. He points and yells DAAA! After making one block we found some construction workers drilling and digging with a bulldozer/backhoe machine. Frank stared and stared. We could not get him to budge. 2o minutes later, they went on break and Frank found a stick so we headed down the block some more. We reached a little park after 40 min of stop and go exploring the bushes and digging the dirt and pointing/yelling at trucks. Happy anniversary to mom and dad. We all go out to dinner. Frank was so excited he dashed to the door. Our choice Mexican place was closed so we wondered around and found a lovely Indian place. We all loved everything, except Frank who only loved the naan.

With the new serviced car, mom got motivated to wash and vacuum it. Frank and grandma played outside. Grandma fills up Frank’s bucket with water and he pours it down the driveway. They walk to the side and picks berries. Frank throws them into the street and the drain. Then they went across the street and patted our neighbors’ stone elephants.

Some new signs Frank knows are grapes and cheese. He tells mom what to buy when we are at the grocery store. More grapes mom, and bananas too. We are still working on apple and peach. He does love his fruits.

Dad’s alarm goes off at the usual 6:38 am. Just like it did on Saturday. Dad, however, doesn’t set his alarm on weekends… somebody little who likes to play with the clock must have been flipping switches. Maybe he can hear it, two rooms away, or maybe it’s the bright California sunshine: before anybody falls back asleep, a little sing-song floats down the hall. The sing song crescendos into a less lovely why-isn’t-anybody-coming-to-fetch-me tone, and dad stumbles in to collect us. Down the hall, and drop onto the bed at Mom’s feet.

DAT!!! After a quick bounce on Mom, Frank points to the shelf where the stuffed animals live. “DAT!!!” translates to: “It’s time for them to come down and play!” So Dad fetches them, one by one. Each has a signature song as they are brought off the shelf and tossed on the bed. Fluffy bunny’s is “Here comes Peter, cotton tail.” Gorilla has the opening bars of the Addams family theme. Seal comes with the “arf arf arf” sound that sea lions make, which Frank sometimes imitates back. Ralph, a bear or dog thing from Eddie Bauer, dances to the recognizable theme from Dukas’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice. And last comes turtle (he sits on the bottom) who sales over with a curt “Blorp.” Satisfied that all are over, Frank and Dad wave the sign language “finished” sign (which also means “all gone” in this household), and Dad comes back to flop into bed.

Mom and Dad try to coerce out a peaceful snuggle. Those last about two seconds, or longer under duress. Frank smothers the animals, and then climbs up to the window and throws open the shades to look out into the backyard. He walks back into the middle of the bed-”No Standing” admonishes Mom, to discourage falling off the bed. Dad pushes him over. He slides off the bed, runs around, climbs back on; “No Standing” again; slide back off; run around and pull the alarm clock off onto the floor (no doubt, setting it again for tomorrow); runs down the hallway; back, and climbs up on the bed. All of this accompanied, of course, by a running commentary of enthusiastic babble. Off the bed once again, and this time slides all the way down the stairs. A moment of quiet, and then the crash of something (a plastic activity table, says Mom), followed by hollering.

7:15 now. Dad rolls out of bed, pillow in hand, and lays down at the top of the stairs. Frank is at the bottom, just sitting and hollering. Today it’s nothing. Other days, he’ll be pointing to something in one of his books, hoping to hear affirmation that it is still a “duck” or “balloon” or “soccer ball.” Dad acknowledges the hollering toddler, and goes back to bed. A few minutes later, we hear the slow thump-a-thump-a-thump-a sound of Frank climbing up the stairs. Except Frank isn’t usually slow… Mom peers over and see’s that he’s carried the whole case of dried fruit packages up the stairs and into the bedroom. It must be breakfast time. Mom and Dad admit defeat and get up.

Dad starts, but Frank beats us down the stairs. Mom brings the box back to the kitchen. Pointing at the cabinet, DAT!!! After a few tries (do you want this? or this?) listening to the enthusiasm or dislike in the tone of the babble, Dad determines (or Frank decides) that he wants Cheerios. Dad pours some on the table, and dumps Frank into his chair. Frank eats, and drinks milk, while Dad stirs the pancake mix. Cheerios gone, Mom tries to distract him long enough for the first pancake to be ready. Little Frank Sambo ate several, and then decided he needed some banana to settle his pallate. The last pancake pieces end up on the floor, or smooshed on the table, and Mom brings the rag to wipe hands and mouth, release the child and wipe his bottom, and then quickly wipe the chair and floor before Frank comes back to eat the floor peices. Standing up must open up space in our stomach, because we’re hungry again. But, unrestrained, the train of thought frequently changes and Frank runs off to throw the tidied-up books and toys all over the room again.

Dad and Mom have their showers. Frank wanders around, throwing a tennis ball, climbing back up the kitchen table to see what there is to eat or drink, throwing open the shower curtain to enjoy the spray on his face, and just being busy. Dad goes off to have a haircut, and Frank tried to follow out the garage, and then coerces Mom to let him out the front door to see if Dad is maybe out there. He’s not, but by then we’ve noticed the neighbors’ yards and cars and cat across the street and all sorts of cool stuff. Dad returns home (the haircut shop opens at 10 on Sunday, not 9) to find Mom and Frank in the backyard.

More busy-ness, and Dad again sets out to the barber at 10. He returns at 10:30, and wanders through the house looking for Mom or Frank, but they are nowhere to be found. Not in the backyard, either. Back in the front yard, he finds them around the corner trimming the hedge. Mom is trimming, and Frank is waving branches around and plucking small red berries off the vine and throwing them into the street to watch them roll. Mom reports that earlier they found a golf ball in the shrubs, and Frank tossed that out and watched it roll down the street, around the corner, and down several more houses before disappearing under a car. Frank heads off toward the car, so Dad goes with him. Not finding anything under the car, we walk back home and finish playing in the bushes.

By now it’s 11:30, and everybody is hungry. So Dad makes grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, and Frank eats dried fruit, and animal crackers. As Dad cuts the cheddar, Frank wanders over and signs “cheese” (an unsolicited sign!) so Dad gives him a slice. Mom and Dad have lunch, but Frank doesn’t quite know what he wants. He eats bits and pieces, points at other things, and complains a lot. By 12:30, he hasn’t eaten much of the prepared lunch, but Mom washes off his hands and takes him upstairs for a nap. There’s almost always extensive protest before naps, but once he’s in the crib he lies down on his pillow and chats softly for a minute and then falls back asleep. Yesterday he slept for more than 3 hours… let’s see what today will bring.

4:30. Mom says he didn’t go to sleep until 1, but that’s still three and a half hours. So that’s the secret to being so bouncy so early in the morning… Mom fetches Frank, as Dad is laying out chocolate chip cookies to dry. Perhaps the smell is what roused us from our slumber? With them spread out on the kitchen table, everybody needs to sample a few. Frank and mom share a few, with mom picking out the chocolate chips (for her!). There isn’t much of the day left… but the matted hair reminds us that Frank is due for a haircut. So Mom carries him outside, while Dad connects the extension cord and clippers. Bzzzzzt!

Frank does not like this one little bit. Get-that-buzzy-thing-away-from-my-head! Dad crops a few bits here and there, and hopes the neighbors haven’t yet called the police. We move the operation back inside, and turn on the television (our last resort for distraction). Dad finds a nice horseracing program, and doubles back with the clippers. A few more passes with the buzzer, and the horses cut to commercial. Dad has a bit more success making stealthly cuts with the scissors, and Mom (holding Frank) has a bit more success distracting with another cookie (this time Frank gets the chocolate). Both successes are intermittent, and the event ends with a mostly-even head and most of Frank and Mom covered in chocolate-chip goosh. Good thing it’s bath time!

Dad sneaks in with the scissors and makes a few more cuts, as Mom washes and Frank plays in the bath. Washed and combed, all agree it’s a perfectly respectable haircut (a conclusion drawn from unwillingness to attempt any further scissors-and-screaming-toddler activity). No longer accosted by Dad and the clippers, Frank plays in the living room and backyard while Mom and Dad take turns following and resting.

Frank’s dinner begins with two nectarines. And pretty much ends there, as well. We set out cut green beans, leftover sandwich, and cheese cubes, and offer several other options, but non is received with more than a taste or two. Dinner ends with cheese cubes flung across the table. Mom takes Frank to the living room, in an attempt for calming play with books, and then eventually up to the bedroom for toothbrushing, PJs, an abbreviated “Goodnight Moon” reading, an extended goodnight-everything-around-the-house-tour, and a quiet settling into the crib. A bit past 8, Frank is fast asleep, where he will quietly remain until just past 6:38.

of our family is scheduled to join us on Jan 09, 2008.  I went for my first prenatal appointment today and got first peeks at the baby.  We saw the little heart beating super fast.  It looked just like the pictures they have on websites of them at this age, except more blurry.  I can see the little head and body, and even the little arm.

No spoken words any of us can recognize yet. That “nana” (banana) incident had no recurrences so we can only assume it was a fluke. Frank is finally starting to do signs. Our classes at FirstFive is also emphasizing it. Especially good to help alleviate frustration since Frank is not yet talking. Frank’s first sign was “milk”. At first he was doing it at random times. Then while shopping and passing the milk section, Frank pointed and did the sign. He is also doing “more”. He has three versions of it. Sometimes it is two pointy fingers touching, sometimes one finger touching the palm of the other hand, sometimes just clapping the palms together. Whatever works. Frank does the “finished” sign for finished and for all gone and no more. In the morning when he wakes before us, which is almost always, he comes to our bed to snuggle. All his animal friends on the shelf has to come. When they are all in our bed, he does the sign like a wave at the empty shelf. When we are done eating, Frank does it at our plates too. Frank also does “bunny” but instead of putting his fingers up on his head like rabbit ears, he tend to point at the side of his head with both hands. Inward growing bunny ears, heehee. We also invented the sign for fish, putting two hands together and swinging our bodies back and forth like a swimming fish. It came from the song we sing at the library storytimes. Not a sign but whenever Frank get hurt now he likes to point to where it hurt and the place that hurt him. Mostly his head and either walls or tables. He played in some bushes with throngs and had a cut on his palm. He still points to that as it is still healing.

Frank knows his body parts, mostly in Chinese. He will point to head, nose, ear, mouth, eye, hand, leg, and tummy. Frank loves to flip through his books and find things for mom to tell him what it is. If you ignore him, he will grow louder and louder until you tell him what it is. One morning he was yelling so loud when mom was upstairs that she thought he must be stuck somewhere. She came rushing down to find him sitting with his book pointing at the soccer ball. When mom said soccer ball, he got up and went to find his soccer ball among the toys.

The climbing has not stopped but Frank knows not to climb on the table and to sit in the chairs. He will still stand when he wants to reach something but he does not climb onto the table anymore. At the playground, Frank climbed up the ladder on the big tall play structure without any help. He is no longer fond on slides so after he gets up there he is stuck. He can’t yet climb down the ladder and this structure has no staircase for him. He just yells and mom tells him to go down the slide and eventually mom gives in and brings him down. Frank climbs up to our bed with ease. He is still learning not to stand and jump there.

Today at the playground we met a little girl and her dad. She is 2 and really wanted us to play with us. She grabbed Frank’s hand and wouldn’t let go. That got Frank so mad he was crying. She tried to hug him and that just made it worse. After a few more tries Frank was ok and she learned not to touch him. Then they played throw the tennis ball, except Frank always throws away from the requested direction. Frank still likes to watch when there are people at the basketball court but his new love is with tennis. It fits in his hand just right and it frees his other hand to do stuff, like carry a stick. He had so much fun chasing down the balls when mom and dad played over the weekend.

Eating has been frustrating lately. Frank is throwing food on the floor. We took away the tray and gave him a plate and sometimes he bangs on the plate or scoops all the food off of it and the table. He still loves Cheerios and sometimes will not eat anything else. One night he really demanded Cheerios right when dinner was being cooked so mom gave it to him one at a time. Mom held the Cheerio really tight and Frank got really upset when he couldn’t pull it out of mom’s fingers. So to alleviate, dad said “Frank, push the button” and pointed to mom’s palm. So he did and mom let go. After a few times, Frank knew just where to push and mom became the Cheerios dispenser. Speaking of buttons, Frank loves them. He likes to play with Baby Tad but gets frustrated with he doesn’t press the one that is blinking in time for the song to play.

Frank likes to play with blocks when mom does it with him. Mom stacks up 3 or 4 and Frank puts the next one on. Then mom says wait wait wait and puts the rest on to make a tower of 7. Then Frank knocks it down and laughs. He also does it with his pointing finger and gently pushes it until it topples. Or he swings his feet around and kicks it all down. We play this over and over again with extra sound effects.

Frank loves trucks. Whenever we pass them on the highway, Frank gets all excited and points and makes noises. Today at the gas station a oil tanker happened to be there filling up the station and Frank was soooo excited. It was shinny and huge. At home, he likes to zoom his firetruck and train carts around. He is discovering the difference between the carpet and the kitchen floor. When a motorcycle passes by he also makes vroom noises.