Life with Emmett: Da do run run run

Emmett woke early again today, but last night we did our best to be ready for it by going to bed early. Very Early. We had Emmett in bed at 7:15 and we went to bed at 7:30. Emmett is still waking a night a bit, but we are letting him cry himself back to sleep. Normally there are one or two times where he wakes screaming, but normally after a couple of minutes he falls back asleep. Rather than just crying he calls out for us, which is nicer to hear in some ways. This morning, though, he woke at 4:15 and after 10 or so minutes was still crying pretty good. I finally couldn't take it and went in to find that he had diarrhea which had soaked through his diaper, diaper cover, pajamas, etc. I, of course, felt horrible. This is the second time that we have let him cry for a bit in the morning only to find if he had pooped. I really wish we could teach him to yell something that would let us know that it is a diaper issue he is crying about and not just wanting to hang out with us.

The illness is not surprising---I had something similar that kept me in bed on Tuesday morning (mine was coupled with a fever, achiness, and nausea, which convinced ever-swine-predicting Andrea that I was a carrier of the H1N1, but I am not sure what it was), and Andrea woke this morning with similar symptoms to Emmett (I am sure she is going to love that I have now advertised this to the world---luckily few read this).

It is now 10:45 and we are 6.5 hours into our day, and we just put Emmett down for his nap. He and I went for a walk through the neighborhood this morning as we couldn't go to the park since it had rained overnight. Just before we left Emmett came across his Halloween costume and begged to have it on, so I got to escort a dragon to the store and back. If you ever want people to talk to you, walk through your neighborhood a few weeks after Halloween with a kid dressed as a dragon at 8 in the morning. I had more conversations this morning than I have had before 10 am in years, I am sure.

I am secretly glad that we are all getting sick now. We are planning another attempt at a trip to see family in southern Oregon in a week and after the last trip's last minute cancellation because of illness, it would be great to have survived any bugs that might be floating around the SF air to prevent spreading them to others.

Sleep has been improving somewhat around here. By letting him cry for a while, we have made it to 6 a couple of times in the last week or so, but are a long way from the days when seven was the norm. Emmett is napping great, though---normally 2.5-3 hours.

I don't think that there is too much new going on. With the time change and dark coming around 5, Emmett loves to now sit in our front room and try to spot the lights of jets as they fly over the city. New to Emmett, also, is the satsuma tangerine which has finally showed up at the farmers market and which Emmett can eat almost faster than I can peel the next.

Oh, exciting news is that Emmett completed his first walk from the house to the park unassisted (~5.5 blocks). That he can walk this distance is not that surprising (he has been able to for a while), but to have walked to a named destination is surprising and quite an achievement. The trick, which Andrea figured out, is to get him to push his baby stroller with the baby in it. This way he doesn't get distracted by doorbells, stairs, open shops, etc. The baby is a new thing for Emmett...he has had it for a while, but only recently has incorporated it into his day-t0-day activities. He calls it "Bob" (Andrea just explained that the name came from her repeating possible names and when she said "Bob" he repeated it again and again, so the name stuck), and he will often ask "Bob?" as we get ready to go to the park. Apparently Andrea, Emmett, and Bob were walking the other day through the neighborhood with Bob being pushed in the stroller by Emmett, and every little ways Emmett would stop, go around to the front of the stroller, and kiss Bob on the head. He gets his good parenting skills from his mother.

Emmett and Bob at the park: