Andrea has been involved with her workshop this week, so there has been a lot of Emmett and Pa time in the Big Apple. We are settled into a good schedule now with Emmett sleeping 7-6 each night (could be later in the morning to make us happier, but not too bad) and then one nap starting at 11. The last two days he has taken a three-plus and a three-hour nap, so things are going great in that respect.
A friend here in the city had a bike I could borrow for the time we were here, so yesterday the kid and I took our maiden voyage on this side of the country. I had flown out the bike seat and our helmets counting on the fact that either I could borrow, buy, or rent a bike while we were here, so we were all prepared for riding. I was all geared up and ready to go about one-and-a-half hours into Emmett's nap (he had been sleeping two hours per nap up to this point) and spent the next nearly-two hours checking the monitor and waiting for him to wake up. I actually snuck into his room and checked that he was breathing (something I haven't done since he slept next to us at night) as I was so shocked that he had slept so long. Once awake I gave him a quick meal and we headed into Manhattan about an hour later than I thought we were going to get out of here. We crossed the Manhattan Bridge (bridges with bike lanes...how novel...why can't SF get up to speed on this?) and dropped into Chinatown with a long ride ahead of us to Central Park. We got into the city right about the start of rush hour, so traffic was pretty wild with taxis all over the place and lots of honking horns and were able to make our way to the park without incident and without Emmett complaining even though the ride took a bit longer than I had hoped. The entertainment when we got there was to be the Carousel, but I missed it when we got into the park so we just went to a grassy area and played for a while. I convinced him to get back on the bike and we finally found the carousel and took a spin. Besides my carousel ride in SF a few weeks ago, I don't know that I ever rode a carousel standing, but comparing that and this it was incredible how much faster this one spun than the one in SF. I actually thought I was going to fall over and slide off at one point. Emmett still maintained a face that seemed confused and slightly scared while on the ride (with the exception of the times he would point out the horse he was riding on to tell me it was a horse), but boy was that kid upset when it was time to walk away. It really made me wonder if the ride was worth his getting so upset when we leave, but I guess it is about time he starts learning disappointment.
I should have mentioned how excited Emmett was when he saw the bike seat and the bike all put together when he got up from his ride. His helmet was sitting out and he put it on (well, tried at least) and wanted to go for a ride rather than eat.
The ride home from the Park was equally long even though I thought I had chosen a better path. Emmett was not as happy with a long ride on the way back, but I had filled a snack cup with toastie-o's or something like that and he ate them on the front of the bike while we sped down 2nd Avenue. We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge on the way back which was crowded with lots of foot traffic, and quickly ate dinner, bathed and went to bed. It was nice to get on the bike again with Emmett, but I don't know that riding in NYC is all that fun. Sure there is the traffic thing, but actually it wasn't as bad as SF in some ways because there was so much traffic that cars couldn't really speed around us and it was easy to just take the lane and ride behind a car---breathing all of the exhaust was not pleasant at all, though. My biggest fear was pedestrians who were often crossing on red and not noticing the guy with the kid approaching fast.
Today we rode to Brooklyn's big park, Prospect Park, where we just hung out in the grass. There is another carousel in this park but I decided I would save another lesson in "all good things must come to an end" for another day. The park was on the landing line for JFK airport so approximately once every minute or two a large plane would pass overhead which Emmett would point out and give his best attempt at saying "airplane." I took a video while there where one can see Emmett getting excited at seeing me pull out the camera, approach, and suddenly change course when he hears yet another plane fly overhead:
Emmett's language has been evolving pretty fast it seems. He is trying to repeat much of what we say, and I noticed today that he is often trying to repeat the last word of a sentence that I say. Words that he has added that we could easily discern in context are things like pizza, helicopter, airplane, pasta, boat, truck, banana, train, milk, water, diaper, book, etc. The last couple of days he has also taken to letting me know that he has just pooped, not by saying it but by doing the sign language sign for poop. We didn't really ever get into the sign language thing, but the approximately three things we did show him (all done, more, and poop) he has really used a lot.
I have taken to going to a park that is relatively close by every morning with Emmett and we typically have the place to ourselves until around 9am. I would really like to understand how the park system works since the playground we have been going to is in a ritzier neighborhood and not long after we arrive each morning a city worker shows up who cleans the bathrooms then uses a leaf blower to remove most of the leaves for the play area. Someone had left a plastic tricycle there and the worker threw it away this morning, but the other playground we pass which is closer to our house has many tonka trucks, tricycles, etc. that have been left there and they remain and are used by those who show up...and there seems to be no one showing up to blow the leaves there. Strange.
I haven't been good about taking pictures. We went out to dinner tonight and this was the only picture worth keeping. Enjoy!
11 hours last night, 2-hour nap this afternoon, no crying when being put down for naps or bed...we are back on a routine and there should be no more multi-page sleep-centered posts (hopefully).
We are here...we have actually been here for a while now, but it has taken a bit to sit down and write on the blog. Now I have a little catching up to do, so here it goes:
Let's start with June 30. We spent the day packing in S.F. while a number of friends came by to entertain Emmett. We were to fly out at 10:30ish that evening, so we had all day to pack and prepare the house for our month-plus absence. We had to leave for the airport at around 8:30pm so we decided to put Emmett down bed around 6:30, wake him for the travels, and then hope he slept on the flight. Emmett, however, was a little off all day as it seemed that he could tell something was up with us packing bags, taking all of his favorite toys away, etc., so he decided he wasn't going to go to sleep so he could make sure we weren't going to run off on him while he slept with all of his favorite things in tow. We were already starting the night two hours in the hole
Jeff was kind enough to give us a ride to the airport and Emmett rode happily (I haven't mentioned this for a while, but Emmett now likes riding in the car quite a bit since he gets to do it so rarely). Similar to our last trip to Portland, Emmett fell asleep in the car seat just as we got to the exit for the airport, so he got in about four minutes sleep on the drive. We checked in with both of our bags packed to the brim and each weighing in at 50.6 pounds, just over the allowed 50 (they didn't complain about this, which was nice---I had packed each bag and checked them with the scale at home where they came in at 51 a piece, and I was hoping they would give us one-pound worth of leeway). When we had checked into the flight (or at least tried to) online, we could see there were about a dozen seats still available for sale. We had requested the aisle and window seats in our row in hopes that no one would want to sit between us, but someone had selected our middle. It ended up that the flight was sold out, so we were going to be riding with Emmett in our lap the whole way.
We didn't notice, but there was an "SSSSSSS" code on each of our tickets, and what this meant for us was that the three of us got to go through a special security screening. They patted us all down, had even Emmett take off his shoes, and took apart all of our luggage and swiped it all. It was a long, slow process and Emmett was not very happy about it. We were determined to be bomb free and they left us to repack all of our belongings in the corral they had set up for suspected terrorists. Oh, yes, I haven't mentioned this, but one of the primary bulky items to pack for the trip was 30+ cloth diapers and covers. As I knew we were running tight for space and weight, I made a carryon bag that was an improvized laptop carrier with both Andrea's and my laptops sandwiched between multiple layers of stained cloth diapers. I am sure security thought we were crazy.
We spent the wait before the flight walking Emmett around to try for sleep, to no avail, and then boarded when the time came. Surprisingly, the flight was relatively uneventful. Emmett was a little whiny and loopy from lack of sleep (it was 11ish-p.m. by this time) and we tried all kinds of tricks to get him to settle down. I had downloaded Elmo videos onto my ipod, deciding that it would be worth breaking his first 16-months without watching videos for the sanity of others on the plane. Emmett finally slept after half-an-hour or so on the plane and stayed asleep for pretty much the whole flight. We have watched him sleep on the video monitor quite a bit, so we knew he moved around a lot in his sleep, but it takes it to a whole new level when one is exhausted and trying to sleep too, and Emmett is rolling around every ten minutes or so. Needless to say, Andrea's and my sleep wasn't too great, and Emmett's was a little better but far short of his usual 11-12 hours a night.
We landed on July 1 at JFK and made it through the airport without incident. As we had so many bags, we took a taxi from the airport to our pad, and the drive was long with a pretty ugly accident. Emmett caught a little more shut eye (he was in a car seat which we brought along), as did his parents, and we made it to our new pad after an hour or so.
The flat we are staying in is simply amazing. It is probably 2400 sq. ft. and sits on the edge of the East River in Brooklyn with the Brooklyn Bridge immediately out our window, the buildings of downtown Manhattan right across the water, and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island out to the left (I am writing this as Manhattan is lit up for the night right behind the computer). The picture at left is as much of the living space of the loft I could get into the picture. There is another window to the left with the same spacing and another to the right around the corner. The pictures below are the view from one of the four windows on the right which face Manhattan. Ideally I would have sewn them together, but I am too lazy to do that now, but the first is starting from the south and moving to the north with the Statue of Liberty visible in the first. The lot where construction is being done in the pictures is the start of a park, so the view will improve later. Oh, I guess not every reader of this would know what is going on, but Andrea and I are doing a house swap for the month of July with an photographer who lives in Brooklyn. The first day was pretty rough as all of us were exhausted and we were not able to enter and leave the house as freely as we would have liked as floor to the lobby was being painted. On top of that it was hot and we were having a lot of trouble getting Emmett to sleep even though he should have been tired, but he was clearly thrown off by the new digs.
Emmett actually slept pretty well that first night, although he cried a lot going to sleep (a theme we will see repeated shortly) which is rare for him. The second day we saw many friends. Our friends from Indiana, Tom and Jacqui, arrived the night before and we saw them for a bit, we had friends from San Francisco over for dinner (Laura, Lesley, and Sal, all transplants from S.F.), and then I left for a karaoke party at a friend, Bob's, where I saw Thor and Liz, all three of whom I played Ultimate with in Indiana with the latter two currently living in Chicago. Lots of friends on our first full day. At the same time all of this was happening we were trying to figure out how to best deal with Emmett's sleep. It is hot here (well, for a San Franciscan...the NY'ers say it is mild and pleasant), and we have been trying different combinations of fan, pajamas, t-shirts, etc. to make sure that Emmett stays comfortable through the night. He was not sleeping well, part of which was clearly due to a new locale, but we assumed part must also be due to temperature/light differences in his sleep area. We have him in a semi-closet area in the second bedroom in order to keep the light relatively low while at the same time making sure air is flowing. Well, the short of it is that he didn't sleep as long on the second night after having a bit of trouble going to sleep to start the night, and on top of this were unsure how much of an effect jet lag was having. Basically we were not having luck and weren't sure which of the parameters we could control would be helpful or not.
The third day was similar to the first two in that we were trying to get all of this hammered out while exploring the neighborhood. There are a number of playgrounds within a ten-minute walk and we were feeling them out. Something we had never come across in S.F. is the presence of constantly-on fountains in playgrounds for children to run through. We had not arrived at the playground prepared for this when we first came across one, but we just let Emmett go to see what he would do. He watched a kid or two run under the water, just went for it, and loved it. Luckily we had him in sandals (leather, not ideal) so drying out wasn't too much an issue. The two nearest and most conveniently located playgrounds have these fountains, and unfortunately they are not fenced off or in any way separated from the remainder of the playground, so one must either be constantly on alert for one's child bolting for the water or cannot go to these playgrounds as a stop-off to run errands or the like. I don't really like this set-up too much, but luckily on a walk to a party at another friend's house last night I came across a very nice playground with no water which Emmett and I tried out this morning and will probably be our playground of choice.
Wednesday our friends, Tom and Jacqui, came back by and spent the day and evening, and they got to see Emmett's sleep situation at its worst. Emmett cried and cried when put to bed at 7pm and between two diaper changes, a bit of time spent wakling him around the house or reading to him, and additional attempts at putting him to bed, he didn't go to sleep until 9ish. This was definitely the worst time we have had getting him to sleep since he was a tiny baby and wasn't pleasant in the slightest. He woke the next morning hoarse from the crying (we think) and woke very early again. He had slept about 8-9 hours a night since our arrival and things didn't seem to be improving. His naps, when he took them, were 1 hour tops and usually only one per day (home: 1 or 2 per day with 2-4 hours total nap time). Andrea and I continued different combinations with airflow and lighting but nothing seemed to be working.
The Fourth came and we made our first trip to Manhattan since arriving to go to a free concert at Battery Park at the bottom of the island with a number of friends. Emmett had taken a morning nap for an hour (still woke early, early, early in the morning, though). Actually, I should say here that through all of this, Emmett has not really been all that cranky for not sleeping. It has more been the case that we know he normally sleeps much more and that he needs more sleep than he has been getting. He has been fun and cranky-free except at the very end of the day for the most part. The 4th of July was no exception and Emmett was a good sport as we waited for the concert to start and rocked out for a little while before heading for a hummus dinner. On the travels to the restaurant Emmett fell asleep in the stroller for a good half-hour or so and then woke up getting to try hummus and pita for the first time, liking both and really putting in a good effort at saying "pita." We made our way home and put him to bed a little late. He again fought sleep but was able to sleep through the fireworks.
Side note about the fireworks. Every year they are on the East River, basically outside our window, except this year which happens to be the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's riding in a boat so they set them off on the Hudson River on the opposite side of Manhattan from us. We could still see about half of the fireworks (the ones making it over the buildings), but in the end it was probably better for Emmett's sleep issues they were a little further away. I took a video that didn't turn out so hot, but here it is for those interested:
This brings us to today. Well, sort of. I went to a 4th party after the fireworks with seven people I played Ultimate with in Indiana while Andrea went to bed. I didn't get home until 3:30 or so and Emmett (and kind Andrea) got up at 5ish. Andrea had the brilliant idea that we turn the fan off completely (perhaps part of the hoarseness problem?) and Emmett slept pretty well for his first nap. I took him to my newly-found playground and ran him silly, and he came back for another 1.5 hour nap (a 2009 NY record) going down with little fight. We went to a different playground this evening and got Emmett to bed at 7:30 with hardly a peep. We may finally be getting somewhere.
This was long and dull. I hesitate to post it, but realize that it is pretty representative of how central Emmett's sleep is to our lives. We had gotten to where we could read him pretty well in S.F. and were figuring out how to make the shift from two naps to one that he was giving us the impression he wanted or needed. Coming out here where there are so many things that are so different for all of us really makes it difficult to figure out what the important things are that we need to get right. Back home both Andrea and I have our own routines to put Emmett to bed or down for a nap that are not too different. Both have parts such as reading books in front of the crib for a while before bed, etc., but with him sleeping in a cramped space here there is no room for these sorts of things near the crib so we have had to design new routines. Today is the first time that I have felt like when I was putting him down we had establishesd something that was going to work for both of us and that made him seem like he felt safe and wasn't just being stuffed in an unfamiliar closet in an unfamiliar crib. I hope we don't have to do a five-day restart and reinvention like this on our return to S.F.
I'll close with a picture from yesterday. Emmett trying on Laura's glasses with dried fruit between his front teeth. He is all NYC style all the time.
Quick post as we are supposed to be packing for NYC. Today is Andrea's birthday and we spent part of the day in the park. We decided to get burritos for lunch at L'Avenida and the person taking our order asked if we wanted beans or rice for the kid. We said no, that he would eat off of our burritos. She gave a kind of funny look, gave us our food, and we went outside to eat at one of the tables. A few minutes later she came out with a mini burrito she had made for Emmett and he was pretty excited. I took some pictures:
We just got back from the playground and I was playing with the camera while Emmett played. Emmett spends a good percentage of his time opening and shutting the two gates to the playground, but he can only open by pulling. I have often wondered if they would have designed the playground so that the gates swung outward if he would only be able to open gates by pushing? I have also often wondered if they designed the playground with gates that opened inward thinking that gates that open outward would be easier to open since inward opening gates could be swung open and harm children who are playing in the playground whereas the odds of hitting a kid with an outward-swinging gate are much lower. I have spent a lot of time wondering things at the playground.
Back to the video. Emmett is opening and shutting the gate and I ask him where the latch is. It is not that exciting, but illustrates how he says words that sound like the intended word, but that there is a good deal of interpretation going on. He really seems to like sounds with a "ch" sound---"lunch" is another favorite as are "peach" and "cherry," where lunch and peach actually sound somewhat similar and cherry is only said "ch." Anyway, here is the video:
As you can see, this video, like most these days, ends with Emmett noticing that I am holding the camera and coming to get it. While cleaning the camera I found the following picture from yesterday when he was on the attack, too. Nothing too much else going on that is too exciting. Emmett has been a little less than regular in the last week with his naps making us wonder if he is starting to make the switch to one nap. Yesterday he missed his afternoon nap and was spacey and sleepy at dinner and on Wednesday he missed his morning nap and I thought he was going to fall asleep face-down in his plate. He went down just fine today, so we will see what comes.
Oh, one other thing semi-kid related. Malcolm, the cat, had an increased limp that got to the point where he wouldn't put his foot down at all. On Wednesday Emmett, Malcolm and I took the bike (Emmett bike seat, Malcolm trailer) to the vet but due to bad communication between the vet and I we ended up riding home (after a 45-minute stay in the waiting room) and had another appointment at a walkable vet on Thursday. Ends up Malcolm had an abscess in his leg that got bad, gave him a fever of 105+, and needed to be lanced. He got that done and is now finally putting his foot down a little. It was sad to see him hurt, but I have to say that the plus-side was that he wasn't begging for food all of the time and he wasn't bolting for the door every time it was opened. Emmett was surprisingly good at both vet offices and just watched the whole procedure without complaint (well, not the lancing...we left for that).
Emmett is turning into a regular old parrot. He is starting to repeat words that he hears a lot, and yesterday Andrea and I took him to the park where he heard a woman yelling either to her kid or her dog "run run run!" and Emmett said "run run run." Both Andrea and I were shocked. Yesterday was the first day (that I recall) where Emmett really used the word "up" in its proper context...except when he says it his arms are held upwards in front of one of us and he yells it as a command which has made us realize that we should really push "please" as an early learned word. He is saying "mom" a lot (repeating it more than asking Andrea for permission to do something), repeats words like lunch and grass. He will point to our bicycle helmets or his hat and say "hat", although his "hat" often doesn't sound terribly different from "cat." When Andrea's mom was in town, she read an Elmo book to Emmett and he immediately tried (and continues to try) to say "Elmo"---which is easy to distinguish from all of his other words as it is his only two-syllable word. There are two funny things about Elmo: 1) when Jan read the book to him he had never seen Elmo on TV, had never seen a doll, and had never heard his voice, but he was immediately obsessed with Elmo carrying the book everywhere and repeating his two-syllable interpretation of Elmo's name. I am convinced that it is the perfect roundness of Elmo's head and eyes, the big smile, etc. that captivated Emmett, but this argument was countered by Andrea who pointed out that cookie monster also has similar features (though a bit heftier). The second funny thing is that we were over at Augie's house with Augie and Anne on Sunday and they had an Elmo book which Emmett found and immediately latched onto. What was funny about this (or perhaps not so) was that Emmett found it, said his two-syllable Elmo-ish word, and Andrea and I both immediately turned into "those parents" who were ecstatic that our child could speak when any unbiased person could tell that our kid is just making sounds. At least Anne was kind enough to not point out that our kid can't say Elmo yet.
One less place we can lock up Emmett. Yesterday I had shut the door to Emmett's room with him in there so that I could clean a diaper up in the bathroom. Suddenly the door opens and Emmett is in the bathroom with me. I figured I must not have shut the door all the way and forgot about it. Today the same thing happens, so I put him back in his room, shut the door, and watch as he grabs the handle, turns, and makes his way out of the room. Hmmmm.
Yesterday was the first day that Emmett threw a real temper tantrum. He and I were on a long bike ride so we stopped off at a playground with an amazing view (Haas picture at left...not great, but you get the idea with downtown in the background). I needed to change his diaper and he hates being on his back so I gave him the keys to bribe him to deal with being on his back. Change went alright so I wanted to put the keys away. Queue temper tantrum. Emmett got all upset and stomped away, crouching down then standing, crouching then standing. I couldn't stop laughing but didn't let him see me laugh. Tonight he repeated the performance, this time because he was getting fed cherries from the farmers market, wanted more, and Andrea took them away. Rather than do the crouch routine, this time he literally laid down on the floor and shook his arms and legs. It is great stuff. Andrea is right that it is funny now but will not be soon.
Peaches, nectarines, and cherries are coming into season in the farmers market, and Emmett has loved all three. Today he had his first pluot and liked it, too.
Just found another picture from today. Emmett was playing in the sand with a toy that some other kid had left in the park and decided to kiss the sand. I realized when he did this that a runny nose can be hard to spot from a distance, but sprinkling his face with sand is a very effective method to highlight the runny nose.
