passing the time

With drinks in hand, you will find there are two types of people: the sippers and the gulpers

And then there were eight

Emmett finally got tooth number eight in. It seems like it has been forever since number seven arrived, and for almost every cranky spell or poorly-slept night we were quick to declare "yep, that must be tooth number eight coming in causing all of this trouble". We were never right, and number eight just showed up with little fanfare. The only difference with this one is that all of the sudden Emmett started doing this funny thing with his tongue where he was sort of sticking it out in a funny way, as shown to the left. What it was, we realized later, was that he is getting some body control and sense of changes taking place and was using his tongue to constantly feel the new tooth coming in---which is exactly what any adult would do, I suppose, but would try to do it when people weren't looking.

So, what has he been doing with this newly symmetric set of chompers (four top, four bottom)? I went into the pantry and found that the skins of many oranges had been sampled and the limited tooth number made it so the culprit was easy to track down. I actually watched him as he did his work and he would bite one, it would taste horrible, so he would pick up another and try again.

This wasn't Emmett's only citrus adventure this week. On Sunday Emmett and I stopped by Belinda and Nick's house and they gave Emmett the first lemon off of their lemon tree. We were on the bike so he happily chewed on it all of the way home. He would make a funny face at first, but unlike the collection of oranges he had on the floor of the pantry, there was only one lemon so he kept digging, hoping to find improved flavor.

...and when eaten

This video is an example of Emmett's reaction to my culinary treats, such as the one pictured in the last post.

Cookin'

I have been reading and cooking out of Alice Waters' latest cookbook "The Art of Simple Food." I think that this is officially my favorite cookbook I have ever read and it is improving my cooking. Unfortunately for Emmett, this improvement is not showing up on his plate. Pictured below is today's lunch: a mixture of quinoa, spelt, kamut, asian pear, flax seeds, goji berries, carrots, broccoli, kale, sweet potato, and black beans. He ate it.

Going backwards

Emmett and I have an afternoon routine going, especially when the weather is as nice as it has been, where we go for a run (I run, he rolls in the jogging stroller) and then we finish up at the playground in the panhandle. For a long time playground time consisted of putting him in the swing and, if I was feeling up to it, taking him over to the slide (I would have done this more if he seemed like he liked it---he has a look on his face when he gets to the bottom like something has happened, he is not sure what, and he is not sure how he feels about it). One day, I believe it was with Andrea, we let him crawl all around the place and he loved it. Now when we go to the playground he will ride the swings for about 2 minutes before he starts pointing to the play structure and then putting his arms up to be taken out of the swing. Now my afternoons are spent chasing after him as he crawls all over the place, and the panhandle playground has many leaves and nut-like droppings all over the place---all of which must be taste-tested by Emmett where he starts to put them into his mouth while turning to look at me to see if I am going to stop him.

The reason I bring all of this up is because Andrea has spent a lot of time teaching Emmett how to crawl backwards off of the bed and I had some trouble believing that he had actually figured it out. Well, yesterday he and I were in the play ground and he had crawled all the way up this multi-stepped structure and was on his way back down. For steps that are about 6 inches tall he will just crawl down the steps, but I was watching him as he approached larger drop-offs and he will reach down with his hand to see if he can touch the next step (if so, crawl down), and if he cannot then he will turn and crawl backwards until his legs slide off and reach the next step. I could not believe my eyes when I saw him do it the first time, but he seems to really have it down. OK, not REALLY have it down, as what sometimes happens is he will check the level, turn and start backing, but will have turned only 90-degrees so that he is backing parallel to the edge rather than perpendicular, will continue backing until he strikes a wall or when he has backed long enough that it seems he should have reached the edge by then, crawl forward and turn to face the edge once again, and repeat. I want so badly to help him out of this repetition of a non-solution, but I let him go hoping that it will make him stronger. We will see.

Emmett is getting ever so close to walking and has been taking strings of 2 or 3 steps in a row. He has a lot of lean while he walks, so maybe it will be a bit, but he is getting closer.

Today Jeff and I took Emmett to a big open field in the park so Jeff and I could throw disc golf discs back and forth. Emmett was pretty content playing in the grass but he is constantly eating the flowers and the grass. I was thinking that this probably wasn't too big of a deal, but he woke up after the nap he took whinier than I have seen him in a long time and I was afraid that he ate so much that he was sick. However, after consulting with the expert, Andrea, after she came home we came to the conclusion that it is probably his eighth tooth that is finally breaking through. There definitely appears to be a bump there, so good money says that he is sporting number eight in the next day or so.

Other important news: the doctor called with the blood test results and his lead levels do not register on the test so he is good there. The other test concerned his iron levels and she said that he was on the low end of the normal range. As he is vegetarian so far, there was some question about how these would be but he seems OK and we are just going to raise sources of iron (black beans, greens, eggs, etc.) to pull him up a little higher.

I have fallen in love with pancakes or waffles for breakfast recently. It is pretty nice to make a meal that we can all eat together and that he can eat without utensils. He is actually getting to the point that he can take the spoon from me, put it in his mouth, and return it to me, but he is a far way from feeding himself with a spoon. Hand-eatable foods are so great, but it is pretty tricky to get some things into this form (mainly vegetables and yogurt).

I will try to take a picture or video of something---these posts filled only with words are pretty dull.

Jaded

Emmett has been interacting with people a lot more of late. Today, he and I were on the way to Andrea's school with him in the ergo on my chest, and we passed a couple who was discussing something that made the woman laugh. Emmett started to laugh too as he has found that him laughing and someone else laughing is his best means of communicating at this point (unless, of course, the person he is talking with would like to discuss lights). Laughing is not his only means of communication, however, as his other trusty tool has been the wave which usually gets a response from others. In fact, Emmett has taken to leaning far to one side when being carried on our chests in the ergo so he can see who is walking behind us and will wave to them under our arms. It is a little embarrassing as he waves a lot and one never knows if the person behind you enjoys the game or not, but it keeps him happy.

Emmett often seems to get positive responses from people when he waves or laughs, and I hate to say it, but I feel a little bad for him the times that someone doesn't notice that he has waves or ignores his laugh at him. I suppose he has to get used to the cruel world we live in, but it is hard to watch as a parent.

Today, however, Emmett got very badly mixed messages from a seemingly friendly interaction. Today Emmett got his blood drawn. As I mentioned previously, the doctor wanted Emmett's lead levels checked in his blood as we live in an old house that no doubt has layers of paint with lead. We didn't have much going on today, so I took him over to the blood-taking shop on foot. The walk was very nice with Emmett in a really good mood and laughing as I carried him about half the trip on my shoulders. When we arrived he was charming the phlebotomists and the couple of people in the waiting room by laughing and waving. Our pediatrician had warned that this would be a difficult trip as the pudge on Emmett's arms make it very hard to find a vein, and the phlebotomist echoed the same thing. To ready ourselves I had Emmett in my lap facing the soon-torturer and he was all giggles while she raised his sleeves and initiated the search for a vein. The right arm showed nothing but she found the left cubital fossa's (second use in the blog) vein which I couldn't see at all, and there was hope of a non-miserable visit. The blood-drawer called upon an apprentice fearing Emmett would start wailing and jerking around when the needle went in and the two ladies (needle and support) were hamming it up with Emmett as they applied alcohol to the spot and prepared all equipment. Emmett was all laughs, too, until the needle went in and a look went over his face like his pleasure drive had been cut short by a sudden plunging off of a cliff. He didn't cry, but rather seemed confused at what was taking place. Unfortunately paydirt was not struck and the needle needed to be withdrawn and plunged again. This required a new needle and a reapplication of alcohol (which on an open wound, our phlebotomist told Emmett, was going to sting). The ladies tried the same laughing games that had worked so well a minute before, but Emmett now had fear on his face. They quickly put the needle in again, this time striking gold, and Emmett began to cry at being wronged a second time. He didn't wail, just cried, but it was all over relatively quickly and when we left from behind the 6 foot partition that separated us from the waiting room, the patients all applauded him for doing as well as he did (the phlebotomists said he did very good for two pokes, too).

Emmett was a little whiney on the walk home and it was definitely not as fun as it was on the way there. I couldn't help feeling like something had changed inside of him with this experience. Additionally, he was a little lethargic this evening---no doubt in part due to losing two vials of blood. Hopefully he will forget what happened today and will still want to reach out to others. At least in the end he got a sticker:

One year visit

Yesterday was Emmett's one year visit to his doctor and everything seems to be progressing along nicely. I had read up and prepared myself for the immunization discussion, but it ends up that the doctor had decided to go with a slower introduction of the shots than the American Pediatricians Association recommends (according to them he should have gotten his Chicken Pox, Hepatitis A, and MMR on this visit). Our plan was to put off the MMR and HepA and say no to the chicken pox (Andrea joined a get-chicken-pox-parties mailing list as we are giving thought to intentionally getting our kid sick---we will see). I was thinking we would have E get the last of the HIB series this time and Polio next, but our pediatrician said to finish off polio and just gave us the info about the HepA and MMR for next time so we just went along with her idea. The appointment wasn't all that exciting with the major events being measurements (21lb 10oz, 29 1/2" height, 48.5 cm head circumference---50th percentilish all around) and the shot. We were a little worried as it has been about 5 months since Emmett has been jabbed, but he took the shot to the leg and didn't cry one bit (I was getting worried that he was going to start panicing as a kid in the next room was screaming at the shot-giving assistant "get away from me!" again and again loudly, but he didn't panic).

Oh, the other thing is that he needs to have a blood test as these old houses are filled with lead paint and it would be good to know if he has been finding a stash of paint chips that we don't know about. He and I may go do that, but we will have to see how the day goes.

He is still seeming to be on the verge of walking but hasn't yet (at least as far as I have seen. Andrea and her mom say they saw a one step and a two step case, but I have my doubts). He has started pointing at things he wants (e.g. putting another plate of food on the table while he is being fed the first and he will point at the second), and he started giving us things. The latter is somewhat funny because Andrea was just reading two nights ago about how he should be giving us stuff by now and he hadn't, but as has happened before, it is as if he gets a reminder when we read these things that he needs to keep up his end of the rearing bargain and perform every once-in-a-while and perform he does.

No new words, so we are still just hearing "light" continually although I really do think that he is saying "cat" when he sees malcolm and something that sounds like "that" when he points at everything else (note that cat and that aren't distinguished easily and it is only context that makes the differences clear).

The time change has been heaven for us. The week prior to daylight savings Emmett had started rising between 5 and 5:30, but since the change has been a 6:30 kid. I never have liked the time change thing very much, but getting an extra hour's sleep out of the kid has really been worth it (sure, a purist would note that we aren't getting any more sleep...just going to bed an hour earlier, but since we are all getting up an hour earlier (except Emmett) there is a difference).

Anniversary

It is so hard to believe, but today marks the one year anniversary of me writing this blog. Huge news, I know. Incredible that it has continued on this long. A reason to truly celebrate. Yes, amazing stuff. There is this sense of real accomplishment in having made it this far.

Other than that, not too much going on. Emmett is nearly walking it seems (his grandma (A's mom), who is here visiting with his grandpa, says that he took a step today while I was at work. I am not buying it as it sounds like there was still hand contact). Oh yeah, yesterday was Emmett's birthday. That is about it.

Who am I kidding...the big news is that Emmett did turn one yesterday and the blog is not any news at all (although today really is its inception anniversary). Yesterday a number of his closest adult friends came over to eat burritos, cake and ice cream. Emmett only had the cake (carrot---again), but everyone else had the burritos, apple cake, and salted caramel ice cream (Emmett had the best cake...the other wasn't spectacular and the ice cream was a bit of a miss with the ice cream freezer hardening method not hardening the ice cream). Emmett was the recipient of a number of gifts, primarily books (always a great gift), and is watching as his library grows. I am quite confident that Emmett will not remember his big day, especially as his primary birthday celebration was an 2.5-hour morning nap. It was a nice feeling for Andrea and I, though, to know that we made it through a whole year without dropping him too badly, lopping off one of his arms with a weed wacker, or any other mishap that we were confident was going to occur due to some mistake or another.

Anyway, this is a short post to say that we have all survived into Emmett's second year and we are all happy. I can't write much as we have guests still, but Andrea and I are feeling fortunate that we ended up with this Emmett kid and he seems to be taking to us, so we will continue on happily in this configuration.

Nearing one

First the big news: Augie, Ethan, and Emmett had a little get-together held in their honor yesterday to celebrate their surviving a year on the outside, and as you can see from the picture at left: it was their party and they were going to cry if they wanted to, to quote Ms. Gore. The picture was actually taken immediately before the singing of "Happy Birthday", there was all kinds of commotion to get people into the room, and the kids had to wait patiently while three Sarah-made carrot cupcakes awaited directly in front of them---I bet most would wither under similar circumstances. The party was hosted wonderfully by Anne and Alex and was a whole lot of fun with babies all over the place. Emmett was given all kinds of great gifts and got to eat his first cupcake. It was a big day in all kinds of ways and made today seem awfully boring in comparison.

I guess, to be fair, I should post another picture of what the scene looked like when people were assembled and the kids were able to tear into the cupcakes. See: no more tears. The kids made quite a mess with the cupcakes, but were pretty excited to eat sweets---especially Emmett who learned that not all food tastes unsalted or unsweetened and that food can have a non-mush-like texture. It was definitely a day of learning for young Emmett.

Though one would think that a first cupcake is quite an accomplishment, this would not be his last new experience for the day. I walked into the dining room to find a scene unfolding that ended up looking like the picture at left, where Emmett and Juliana were to be found open-eyed kissing. For the past week-plus Emmett has been kissing all of the humans that appear in the books he reads, so a more attentive parent should have seen this one coming. I did not. Actually, the most crazy thing to me is that you take a couple of young kids like this and they already know to tilt their heads in opposite directions to keep their noses out way. Nature or nurture?

In addition to parties, there have been other things going on (not as exciting as first kisses, but things none-the-less). Emmett really seems to be picking up pointing this week---he is even starting to move away from the hand point to the finger point. His favorite items to point out to us: light fixtures, light switches, trees, pictures, and a ceramic mouth that Andrea made in her youth which hangs above the doorway in our kitchen. We spend a lot of time asking him "where is the..." questions and he responds, sometimes, with points at the questioned objects. It is amazing how entertaining all parties involved find this game.

Other than that, we have been primarily just keeping on. Emmett still is having his short periods of standing unassisted, but hasn't decided to try to go anywhere while standing...at least not without crawling first. I am trying to add more self-feeding foods into his diet and recent successes have been waffles and frittata. Vegetables seem to be the hard one to make hand held without some coagulant (he eats sweet potato pieces fine, but kale isn't as easy to just slop in front of him).

Nothing hugely exciting, but we are still here.