Meet Baby Jones

I took Avery to the park today. He slid down the slides with glee as we enjoyed an unseasonably warm October afternoon. Somewhere along the way he got the idea to go down the slide on his belly. I nodded when he looked at me for an approval thinking that it would be the only time but once turned into 10 times sliding down face-first on his belly and I reconsidered. This would be a terrible habit to develop on account of safety reasons.

On his next go around I instructed him to only go down on his bottom. He stopped dead in his tracks, looked at me and furrowed his brow and asked, “Why?” I explained to him the reasons for my decision, but I couldn’t help but smile. I think this was the first “why” of many more to come.

Ugh.

Yuck.

I can’t even believe it’s been *this many* weeks since I last blogged. I’m truly ashamed but what can I say? It’s been hella busy in our household. It just has been back-to-back-to-back something to do with no breaks in between. Now that the holidays are over, I’m hoping to be a little more consistent with the updates.

Ok, so what have we been up to? Hmmm…

Hmmm…

Wow, my brain is really rusty! I’m truly having a hard time composing my thoughts in a coherent fashion. I was afraid this would happen :o( I promise I’ll do some cognitive exercises so I can write again, but for now, I’m just going to give you Avery updates the easy way:

Eat
- Is Not a picky-eater. So far.
- Loves veggies. His favorites are broccoli, cucumber and bell pepper. Has taken a liking to corn (especially corn on the cob) recently.
- Loves fish, especially salmon.

Sleep
- Goes to bed between 9p and 10p and wakes up around 7a - 8a. Mostly sleeps through the night, but on occasion, has awakened from presumably having a bad dream.
- Will nap once a day for 2 - 4 hours, usually around 12p - 1p.
- Likes to be read at least 3 books at bedtime. Will look at books on his own if we tell him no more reading until he falls asleep.
- Still takes a bottle before bed. Oh, and his binky.

Learn
- Still goes to school 2x/week for 4 hrs/day. Has started to cry again when dropped off because of recent classroom and teacher change, but is happy when picked up.
- Can hum Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Bahay Kubo
(Filipino folk song - title literally means “grass hut”).
- Can perform the coordinating movements to the the songs Itsy, Bitsy, Spider and If You’re Happy and You Know it.
- Can say: Ma Ma (Me), Da Da (Melvin), Aya (Lola), Baba (Buh bye), Der (There), Spiduh (Spider), Ha Lala (Hi Leila). Tries to say many more words when he thinks no one is listening.

Play
- He still very much likes his self-esteem toy (a toy that has a mirror and piano keys that plays music) - a toy that he has played with consistently since he was about 8 months old.
- Has started to play with his ride-on toys recently, getting real good at getting on and off of them.
- Will occasionally play with some of the more expensive toys that we’ve bought him, ie. Elmo Live ($60) and Thomas the Tank train set ($200), but prefers to bang on pots and pans.
- Has started to learn that a tantrum will likely get him the toy he thinks he wants when we’re at the store.
- Can play independently and imaginatively for long periods of time.
- Loves to toss balls around with his daddy.

Other Random Stuff
- Has recently gotten into the habit of hitting us. Before we can even tell him no most times, he’ll give us a hug or point to different parts of our faces in an obvious attempt to distract us.
- Is very affectionate. He loves to hug (and he gives the very best hugs in the world, I assure you!) and kiss, but prefers to give them on his own rather than when he’s asked.
- Likes to hold hands with whomever is sitting in the back of the car with him (either his lola or me).
- Is a lot more comfortable with other people now.
- Is still big for his age. Wears 2T in clothing, size 6 in shoes and size 5 in diapers.

Until last week, Avery’s understanding of common bugs was that they must be annihilated. The method of annihilation may be one’s hand, one of mom’s flip-flops or a fly swatter, but as he understood things, all bugs must be destroyed.

So last Saturday I took Avery to the Philadelphia Insectarium to help him learn more about insects. Ironically, it shares a building with Steve’s Bug-Off Exterminating. The insectarium gift shop even shares the same space as the exterminating store, mixing professional pesticides with insect toys.

I paid admission and walked with Avery to the second floor. Our first stop was the American cockroach exhibit. Hundreds of cockroaches filled a small kitchen.

Then we checked out some mounted insects behind glass.

Afterward, our guide broke out a pack of Bacon and Cheese Crickets and offered me one.

I turned down her offer a couple of times but finally gave in and tasted a freeze-dried seasoned cricket. It wasn’t bad at all. I was pleasantly surprised.

The final stop was the third floor with live insect exhibits.

Avery checked out the Orange Head Roaches in their tank.

Our guide took a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach out of it’s tank and let me pet it. Avery looked on as it crawled around in her hand.

Before leaving, we checked out a Whip Scorpion, which flicks a vinegar-like substance when it becomes threatened.

I picked up a packet of rubber spiders for Avery to play with during the ride home. I think Avery enjoyed himself. He seemed most drawn to colorful images of ladybugs and stayed away from the live insects outside their tanks. Maybe I’ll take him back again in a year or so.

Nothing in this world gets under my skin more than people who act like they have had no home training. As such, I’ve decided that there is no such thing as “too early” when it comes to teaching Avery some manners.

At the table, Melvin and I narrate to Avery as we eat. For instance, I’ll say, “Ok, now I cut a piece of sausage, put it in my mouth, chew with my mouth closed, stop talking because I have food in my mouth, then take a sip of my beverage as quietly as possible.” When I put his plate in front of him, I say to Avery, “Say ‘Thank you, Mommy’”. Then when he starts the point-and-grunt at something on the table, I say, “Say ‘Please pass me *insert item here*, Mommy’”.

Avery is usually very well behaved at the table, able to feed himself efficiently, neatly and quietly. Most times. But sometimes (a lot lately), he thinks food is toys and the table is his playground. When this happens, my first instinct is to yell, “Boy, have you lost your mind?!?!” complete with the head-spin/bop and arm-flail, but love and compassion fortunately always pervades (shooooot, it is not my goal to piss off my possibly only child who could possibly have power-of-attorney over me someday). So when he starts playing with his food, I take his plate and/or sippy cup away from him, tell him we do not play with food, wait a few minutes and if he acts like he wants to eat some more, I give him the plate and/or sippy cup back. Strike 2 calls for physical removal of Avery from his highchair and being placed away from the table. If he wants more food, I feed it to him.

Another thing that we’ve shown Avery recently is how to wipe his face with a napkin. It is so cute to watch him because often times, he’ll ask for a napkin once we’ve sat down at the table. He’ll use the napkin properly too, dabbing his face with it rather than wiping with it.

Awww, he’s such a proper gentlebaby

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope everyone has loved ones with whom to share this special day.

This year, I am thankful :
1. For my family’s (especially Avery’s) physical, mental and emotional health
2. That both Melvin and I have pretty stable jobs
3. That my mom is able to care for Avery when I work
4. That we are able to provide Avery with preschool education
5. That my grandmother’s health seems to have stabilized
6. That I’ve reconnected with old friends and met some new ones through the wonders of the internet
7. That I have a loving extended family who remains pretty close despite our differences
8. That we live in such a beautiful, awe-inspiring environment

Ok, so Avery’s 2nd birthday is right around the corner (April 6) and as much as I try to quell it, the urge to throw him another birthday bash is just too overwhelming for me to ignore.

I get it that Avery doesn’t care what kind of birthday party he has. Heck, he won’t even remember it!

I get it that most of his “friends” don’t care either. And just like Avery, most of them won’t remember. Guaranteed.

But I care. I want Avery to look at his childhood photos and know that his milestones are important to me. No, we shouldn’t go into debt every time we want to celebrate a milestone, but certainly I don’t ever want to be accused of not trying my best to create special moments for him.

I contradict myself, I know. I went into a rant last February when I blamed my mother for forcing me to plan a more elaborate 1st Birthday Party for Avery than I had wanted. Well, I apologize because as it turned out, I really enjoyed the entire process and I suspect that subconsciously, I wanted a grand party all along as well but was too ashamed to admit it given our situation at the time.

This time around, it’s going to be different. I’ve started planning my kid’s 2nd Birthday party and I’m rejoicing in it, darn it!

Ok, so the theme I’ve chosen is Circus. First I was going to do a Circus/Carnival party, but after doing an image search online to get some inspiration, I quickly realized that the two are very different from each other. Carnival is more rides and games, while Circus is more animals and clowns. It was a no-brainer going with the Circus because Avery just loves animals so much right now. Besides, I have some Circus-themed invitations that I picked up from Target at clearance that might as well get used.

The venue has been picked after much research - the party is going to be held at Valley Green Inn in Chestnut Hill, PA. We’ve never dined there, but reviews of the place have been excellent. The party will take place out on the patio that has a nice white tent which can be opened or closed depending on the weather.

I’ve already hired a face painter for the children because if I did it myself, it would definitely look like crap. A balloon artist (they make shapes out of balloons) is on the list, but I’ve yet to find one. I don’t really want to hire a clown because I just don’t like them - ok, who are we kidding, I am deathly afraid of them, so I’m still working on Melvin to pose as one. If he doesn’t agree, I have 2 people who owe me big time who I can guilt-trip into being a clown for my child. I also would like a stilt-walker, a fire-eater and a contortionist, but they might frighten the little kiddies to death.

I have tons of great ideas for decorations that I’ve decided to do myself. I’ve started on the “Happy Birthday” banner and I like how it looks so far. I’ll post photos of my projects as I complete them

Here in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, we were treated to the first snowfall of the season yesterday.



It was only a dusting, but it was enough to thrill Avery to death.






Today was a different story though. We woke up to a little more than a dusting, to the utter delight of our child.



But it was truly waaaay too cold to be running around outside, especially since Avery’s had this persistent cold and cough, so he had to resort to watching from the sidelines.



Surprisingly, he didn’t throw a fit that he couldn’t go outside. I guess he inherited the Aversion-to-the-cold gene that his father and I both carry.

Avery appears to like books.

Immediately after waking each morning, Avery reaches for a book. And he’s not shy about asking to be read to. He’ll hand me a book and pat a chair or spot on the floor, signaling for me to take a seat and read to him. When I finish the first book, he walks to his bookshelf or book basket, retrieves another and asks to be read the next book. And so on.

Tired of reading Avery the same stories, I took the cost effective route and decided to introduce him to the Chester County library.

We went to the children’s section and started browsing the selections. He immediately grabbed a few books off of the shelf and started flipping through them in the aisle.

He grabbed some books from the book bin and brought them over to our sitting area for me to read to him.

He really seemed to like 10 Little Rubber Ducks, so we put that in the stack of books to check out.

I realized that it had been a while since I’d been to a library. I got a library card and took Avery with me to grab some books on business. I was surprised by how quiet he managed to be as I looked up books on business plans and traveled with him to the business section to pick out the books I’d searched for.

With a stack of books for each of us, I headed back to the checkout desk.

We left with some good stuff for Avery:

Last Saturday, Avery and I took a trip to Philly’s children’s museum, the Please Touch Museum.

We got there ahead of the crowd and the short line moved fast. A wizard puppet was entertaining the kids in line, but Avery kept his distance.

First up was the River Adventures exhibit. Avery put on a rubber smock to keep his clothes dry and joined the kids playing with rubber duckies and boats. Others had fun with waves and shooting streams of water.

Next we stopped by a play area with a slide. Avery tried walking down on his first try, but soon got the hang of riding his seat to the bottom.

He had a great time sitting in a race car.

And was mesmerized by a working miniature car wash exhibit. It was hard pulling him away from this one.

But the real treat was watching Avery’s excitement as we lined up to ride the 100-year old carousel.

I strapped Avery in and he patted his wooden companion. After sharing a farm with horses, he was finally atop one. He smiled, looked around and soaked everything in. My son looked really happy up there and it warmed my heart.

As we stepped down from the carousel, the attendant asked us if we wanted to ride again for free. Of course! The last off, we turned around and were the first passengers back on the ride with our pick of horses. I strapped him on a horse that moved up and down and he really seemed to enjoy it.

I had a fantastic experience hanging out with Avery, just the two of us. The following week I could see a change in his personality. My son was happier and felt better about himself because of our time together. From this point forward, I’m going to make an effort to spend more father-son time with Avery.