It looks like we might be reaching the end of Emmett's illness, but the unfortunate part is that I think that the parents' version is about to start. Andrea and I have both been feeling pretty icky and I feel worse today than before. No fun. Emmett has been sub-100 temps all day fever-wise, so things are looking up. Two nights ago he woke at 2am and was basically up until 6am. We tried all kinds of tricks to get him back to sleep but nothing was seeming to work. Finally Andrea got him to snooze a bit with her and I got a couple of hours of sleep (I had been up working on lesson plans until midnight before his waking so was a little beat). Andrea spent the day with him at home while I went to work, and then that night the whole house was in bed before 9pm. Oh yeah, that was our first night on the new 4"-thick mattress cover that Emmett and I had picked up earlier in the day via bike. It was pretty funny getting everything loaded up and hauling the both of them back up the hills toward home, but Emmett was a good sport about it all even though he wasn't feeling tip-top. I took a picture: The good thing about going to bed so early is that when your kid wakes up at 5 it doesn't seem to be such a big deal. He did it again this morning and we hadn't gone to bed early and aren't feeling well, so today is dragging a bit. I am not happy that this illness had to hit this weekend as Emmett and I had plans to go up to Oregon to see family, but now are not going to make the trip, I think, so as to save everyone else getting sick.
The days this week have been different as we have to stay away from our usual haunts (playgrounds, the Academy of Science, etc.) to avoid spreading the plague. Twice we have gone to the botanical gardens in Golden Gate Park which was nice. The first day Emmett basically stayed in my arms the whole time and we sat on a bridge to watch the ducks. The second day (yesterday) he was feeling much better and was walking around and excited to see the squirrels, ducks, etc. We had a deep conversation while seated under a tree about the pine needles and pine cones that were on the ground and how they fell from the tree above. I illustrated this by holding them up high then dropping them to the ground, which he would have me repeat while he tried to mimic my tale about them coming from high above. I think he got it.
I will just add some other photos without much explanation. First, from yesterday at the botanical gardens where we were watching turtles climb on a rock (in background). A moment later when Emmett decided he didn't want his picture taken. Later in the day when Emmett was showing me that he had figured out how his pockets work. From about a week ago when I was watching Emmett and Augie at the same time and gave them a family-style lunch by stacking everything in the middle of the table and having them go for it. From a few weeks ago at the park. Emmett loves to hang and swing pre-slide. (poor photo quality for this and the last as they are from my cell phone).
Emmett woke up this morning with a slight fever (99ish) and was a little whiny. I went to the lab for the morning and when I got back things had gotten a bit worse. He was ultra-clingy to me and was only happy if I was sitting down and he was in my lap. I knew he wasn't feeling too well and could tell he was warm, so tried combinations of taking him outside, stripping him down, etc. to cool him down and to keep his mind off of his not feeling well. Finally it reached the point where he was taking very short, quick breaths and looked really out of it, so I took his temperature again and found it was 104.1. I felt like the worst parent for letting it progress to this point, but quickly called the doctor to check if there was anything I should be doing besides giving him tylenol. I gave him the tylenol and it took about 10 minutes for things to improve, but suddenly he was happy and moving around much better. Magical pharmaceuticals! The doctor finally called back and upon hearing the symptoms thought there might be a chance it is swine flu (or H1N1 for those that want to make sure the pork industry doesn't take a hit from this one). It is horrible timing as Emmett and I were going to take a road trip tomorrow up to Oregon to see family, but now we are in a holding pattern to see if he is on the road to recovery. It is very sad to see him so ill, but there is part of me that likes it as it is the only time he will really sit still in our arms. I do hope he is better tomorrow, though. Andrea is going to stay home with him while I go teach. Hopefully she is a more nurturing and attentive parent than I was today.
I really wish I would have taken a video of Emmett doing this thing that he has done a few times where he stands in front of the couch and suddenly starts slamming his head down into the cushion repeatedly---almost seeming like he is punishing himself. He would be smiling and laughing the whole time he did it, too. Well, last night I think that the fun was brought to an end as he tried a repeat performance on the kitchen table. This got him his first real bloody nose and left him with many, many tears. I think the game is over.
Emmett is also having a crazy rash on his inner thighs and now on his testicles. Actually, I don't think that rash is the right word as it really looks like blisters. We are trying to figure out what is going on with our first thought being friction from running with wet diapers causing the spots, but they seem to be appearing at night, too. I don't get it. I have just finished boiling his cloth diapers to make sure they are sterile in case there was some bacteria or something that got into them. We have been forced to use disposables for a few days to try to get this under control.
I have been meaning to get back to the blog for some time, but always seem to find something I would rather do. Part of the reason is that as time passes I feel there is so much to talk about that I would have to write and write and I never feel like sitting down and writing and writing these days. So I am going to try to get caught up by posting a series of shorter posts and then ease back into what is happening now (for those keeping score at home, Emmett is now 19.5 months old, is saying a bunch of words with some two-word combinations coming out, and is a ton of fun to be around).
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words (so moving pictures must be worth millions). In order to make up some lost time, I will just post some pictures and movies and then try to catch up on things in later posts. First, start with the obligatory eating picture. Emmett loves green mush, and especially loves green mush then pictures. If you look closely, there is food in his hair too. This, actually, is very rare and I would say that though it appears we lost, I would say that it was probably a tie.
I went to a birthday party, actually two of them, last weekend and they involved dancing. There was a moment, mid-party when I had a realization that I dance like Emmett and it pretty much killed the party for me as I thought to myself that it is cute for a baby, not cute for an adult. The video is a good example of what happens each time we turn on music for him: especially AC/DC. There have been a number of very funny times with dancing with Emmett as we can be anywhere and if he hears a song playing (dance-able or not) he will break into dance---on the sidewalk, in the seat on his bike, etc.
I hate to post two dancing videos, but this is a good example of the way he works. He will be completely into something but feeling the music in his soul, then eventually a small dance breakout has to happen. I promise...no more dancing videos (in this post).
Sorry, that title is in the passive voice---we keep breaking things. There haven't really been any big breaks, but we have had to had an old chair fixed from me sitting on it and breaking a strap, we have superglued a couple of items around the house, and a few minor repairs here and there have had to be performed. It has made me realize that we must break a lot of stuff at home, but it is entirely different when they are your own things.
I didn't realize that I had let so much time pass since my last post here. We have been having fun and are really enjoying New York. Emmett has continued to be content with our locale, has been sleeping wonderfully (although waking around 6, which used to be 7 in SF), and we have gotten to do a bit here in the city. The weather has been extremely cooperative with most of the time being upper 70s, low 80s with low humidity, but the last two days have taken a turn toward the muggy.
I would have to say that the biggest thing that has been going on while we have been here has been the addition of words to Emmett's vocabulary. It is surprising that he is saying or attempting to say so many words we say, and that he is comprehending so much of what we say. This is a very fun age with him happy all (most, at least) of the time and actually being able to interact a bit.
The last two days he has had a bit of a fever, just as it got hot. Unfortunately we didn't bring the thermometer, but it doesn't feel too bad. The last fever he had was with tooth eruption and he has his four canine teeth coming in, so I am starting to think that he fevers a bit with teeth showing up (there has been some scientific evidence showing this happens, though they think it is only a few degrees and only the day or two before eruption...apparently they had troubles getting data because parents are the ones taking the data and they always seem to know with these studies that they are being asked to look for fever/tooth correlations).
Since we have been here we haven't been doing too much naked time with Emmett as there are rugs on the floor almost everywhere and we were trying to avoid him pottying on other people's floors. We have had a little naked time, primarily after baths in the evening, and he has taken these opportunities to poop on the floor three times. The first two were somewhat expected, but the third was three nights ago. Emmett was entertaining us by saying "baaa" (his scare noise) to wake his fake-sleeping father with me jolting awake. Emmett thought this was really funny. Actually, we took a video of near the end of the fun where Emmett is just laughing at me jolting awake. The video is sideways and I can't rotate it right now, but I am posting it because you can see where the thought takes over him that he must go potty. He starts walking behind the chair that I am sitting in and the video stops, but what happens next is Emmett emerges from behind the chair, plays the game for a little while longer, then starts pointing to behind the chair and saying something. I get up, go behind the chair, and find that Emmett has pooped behind the chair and wants to let me know what he has done. Luckily it was an easy clean up and he didn't step in it, but it was a bit of a surprise to find that there.
Emmett and I made our second trip to the Bronx Zoo and this time Andrea came along. Unfortunately it was a little rainy, but the zoo is amazing and worth the long trip there. Before our first visit, I had a negative view on zoos, but this one (and the others in NYC) is run by the Wildlife Conservation Society and had a good message and was set up very nicely. One didn't leave with the impression that the animals were unhappy and that perhaps there was a bit of value in teaching youth from cities about the value of nature.
The other bit of excitement was Angela and Scott visiting from Portland for nearly a week. It was fun having them here and they seemed excited to see Emmett (and Emmett was very excited to see Angela, especially, whom he would whine for and beg to hold him). We got to see "Hair" (no Emmett) with David Hasslehoff in the audience. What else could one ask for?
I will try to add to this later, but wanted to play a bit of catch-up. I will add some pictures below...we have not been very good about taking pictures...
I found a few more pictures on my phone. Not great pictures and just barely better than nothing. The first picture is Emmett eating his first NYC bagel
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!
The good thing about going to bed so early is that when your kid wakes up at 5 it doesn't seem to be such a big deal. He did it again this morning and we hadn't gone to bed early and aren't feeling well, so today is dragging a bit. I am not happy that this illness had to hit this weekend as Emmett and I had plans to go up to Oregon to see family, but now are not going to make the trip, I think, so as to save everyone else getting sick.
A moment later when Emmett decided he didn't want his picture taken.
Later in the day when Emmett was showing me that he had figured out how his pockets work.
From about a week ago when I was watching Emmett and Augie at the same time and gave them a family-style lunch by stacking everything in the middle of the table and having them go for it.
From a few weeks ago at the park. Emmett loves to hang and swing pre-slide. (poor photo quality for this and the last as they are from my cell phone).
