Baby Lent
April 28, 2012 at 8:34 am | Posted in Development | Leave a comment
Max blowing a pinwheel at a Saturday Easter egg hunt.
I thought I might have an Easter baby, or a Holy Week Baby, or perhaps an Easter Monday baby. On Easter Sunday I was 37 weeks pregnant, which once (a year ago or so) was considered “full-term”, although I gather it is now 38 weeks. I prepared for Easter like I was preparing for the birth, rushing to finish sewing projects for Max and sister’s room, washing crib sheets, rearranging the room, buying a couple of newborn outfits. When Easter came, we celebrated by dressing Max in little man clothes and smiling when people said I didn’t look too big or too tired.
And then Easter was farther in the rear-view mirror and my to-do list was checked off and I got more tired and more swollen, and here I am at nearly 40 weeks failing my spiritual test of patience. Instead of using this time as a kind of “baby lent”, I find myself counting down hours and days in a constant flurry of guessing when she’s coming, asking Jake to make arbitrary predictions so I have something to hold on to. I shout at Facebook when every friend due in April has their cute little babies, and when the May mamas started having them, I all but lost it.
Max on Easter Sunday still holding the pinwheel.
I wish I could be enjoying every last second with my almost two year old, but instead I find myself frustrated with both my children, the elder for not slowing down when I need it, and the youngest for not speeding up. It seems that she may be aiming to be a Mothers’ Day baby rather than an Easter one.
I have tried all the silly home remedies for bringing on labor: pineapple (3 whole ones in the last couple of weeks), walking (as far as my big body will carry me, anyway), eggplant parmesan, a touch of wine, every spicy food imaginable (Mexican/Indian/Thai). Today we’re even driving all the way to the East Bay to try something called Preggo Pizza, just for fun I say, but also to keep the hope alive.
One good outcome of this waiting period, however, is that I’ve gotten to reflect a bit on Max’s babyhood as I scramble to put together his baby book before another child is born and my two sets of memories merge with each other forever, never to be unwound. It’s hard to believe that my little boy, so capable (of mischief) and well-spoken (“kitty get you!”) was once a newborn baby who could do little else than sleep and eat, and he wasn’t very good at eating.
Big Boy Bed
March 21, 2012 at 3:38 pm | Posted in Firsts | Leave a comment
Helping Dad.
Since we already have all the baby gear set aside (or still in use) from Max, and since they will share a room, we have done very little to get ready for baby #2. One thing we did need was a place for the baby to sleep, once she graduates from the bassinet. To avoid having to buy a second crib, we decided Max would move to a small, inexpensive toddler bed. We were wavering back and forth about whether he would transition to his new bed before or after the baby arrives, and one Friday Jake says “let’s just do it this weekend”, which is how we roll, apparently. It had to be cold turkey, too, because as of now we only have one mattress between the crib and the toddler bed.
Max helped his dad put the bed up, which may have been just as exciting as the bed itself. When the bed was finished, he proceeded to jump up and down on it, lie down and try it out, and drag a number of toys into it to make it his own.
Trying out his new bed for the first time.
Though our friends think we are crazy for transitioning him (somehow he’s the only kid we know who has already transitioned), it has gone fairly well, or perhaps as expected. There were the first two nights of wake-ups when he wasn’t sure where he was. There was the naptime he wasn’t tired so he decided to read all the books on his bookshelf before proceeding to fall asleep on the floor with his face mashed in the carpet. There was the day he learned to stand on the bed and turn on the light, the day he learned to open the door, and the day he learned to unlock the door, and the day he learned to loudly boing the doorstop while we attempted to have bible study in the living room with our small group. And then there are the majority of days and nights when he peacefully drifts off to sleep. We are happy to have the transition complete.
Three Little Words
January 19, 2012 at 10:00 pm | Posted in Development, Firsts | 2 Comments
In his nightly bubble bath.
I never thought I’d hear my son utter those three little words to me… “Sit on bottom!” Ok, so they’re not the magical words every mother longs to hear, and he may have been mocking my command to him as he stood defiantly in his high chair, but to me it is still close to a miracle that Max has learned to string three words together. “His first sentence!” exclaimed Jake as we all gathered around in the kitchen for breakfast. And what a lovely sentence it was. At least among the words he could have chosen to describe his rear end, “bottom” is the least offensive.
Lately I’ve been convinced that in addition to his growing verbal skills, Max has been gaining weight exponentially. It is becoming harder and harder to pick him up, much less carry him down the stairs to the carport. “Can you please walk?” I plead with him, as he replies, “Up?” I took him to his 18 month appointment nearly a month late, so I felt sure that we would find he had packed on quite a few pounds. At the doctor on Friday we discovered that in 4 months since he was last weighed he had gained a whopping 1 pound. I’m pretty sure I gained 1 pound yesterday from all the brownies I ate. It turns out it’s me that’s changing, not Max. My belly is growing, it is getting harder to lean over, haul large amounts of weight (or even tiny toddlers in the 5th percentile of weight!), and breathe. So I guess both Max and I are growing at a rapid pace, I in size and he in skill.
Best Time of My Life?
January 9, 2012 at 7:57 am | Posted in Daily Life | 3 CommentsSome women say pregnancy is the best time of their lives. They say it makes them feel close to the baby. They feel special. They are in tune with God or Mother Nature. They glow. I don’t know what those women are talking about.
I talked to one of those women in the church nursery this week. It went something like this: “Oh, you’ve popped out over the holidays!” (referring to my bulging belly). Me: “Yep.” Woman: “I miss that.” Me: “Why?” Woman: “I loved being pregnant! It was the best time of my life.” Me: “I hate being pregnant.” Woman: “I guess it could be that I had pretty easy pregnancies. I didn’t get sick or anything.” Me: “That could be it.” (P.S. I hate you a little bit.)
For me, the discovery of pregnancy is followed by about five days of excitement before the nausea sets in. I don’t mean the kind of nausea that is fixed by a few saltine crackers in the morning, the kind of nausea that cuts your daily exercise routine in half. I mean the kind of nausea that keeps you from enjoying anything good in your life, like food, the cleverness of your child, the affection of your spouse, the company of friends. The kind of nausea that keeps you away from coffee shops, grocery stores, cleaning products, and anything that forces you to stand up for longer than five minutes. Nausea that lasts three or four months. When the nausea abates, there is about a month of adjusting to the fact that you are really pregnant, and in which you tell the world your news, during which you are still overpowered with exhaustion. That month is followed by the beginning of exponential growth. Which lasts for another four months, in which time I have transformed from a smallish person into a giant, swollen not-fun-to-lug-around person.
Max watching "The Grinch" with two of his best buds at Christmastime.
There are good things about pregnancy, but they are not physical. The anticipation of a new family member, choosing the name, organizing and rearranging the house to accommodate the new baby… (yes, I’m that woman).
For me, pregnancy is a necessary hardship that precedes the true blessing, a baby. And if I’m being honest with myself (and you), a baby is a mixed blessing that precedes a greater one, a child. I love the age that Max is now, and every week, every month, is even better. He is funnier, smarter, more charming. Recently he has taken up the habit of kissing me on both cheeks like a tiny European. If I don’t immediately turn my cheek for a second kiss, he says, “more, more”. I look forward to the day when my little tummy-baby is an eighteen-month old girl who has little quirks like that. Or at least a six month old who can sit and smile and giggle and produce a few tufts of fuzzy hair. All this is not to say that I will not savor the tiny kicks during pregnancy, or the nights of rocking my newborn. But just to admit that I seem to be the kind of woman who finds it easier to gush with love with a bit more sleep and a body that generally resembles my own. I’ve read that in the process of getting older (or maybe more mature), we learn how to admit who we are and who we are not. I am not the kind of woman for whom pregnancy is the best time of her life; I am the kind of woman who grins (sometimes) and bears it, in waiting.
Meeting Santa
December 14, 2011 at 9:21 pm | Posted in Holidays and Special Occasions | Leave a comment
Max's first time meeting Santa.
It’s a Girl!
December 7, 2011 at 8:44 am | Posted in Good News | 3 Comments
Our little girl in profile.
As soon as the ultrasound tech placed the wand on my belly, Jake shouted, “It’s a girl!” The tech swiftly looked at her screen and said, “Yes it is. How many of these have you been to?” This may only have been Jake’s second anatomy ultrasound viewing, but he happens to be a genius at ultrasounds, which is the opposite of me. “What am I looking at? Are you both sure?” The more I think about having a girl the more excited I become.
Of course, there’s a lot of important things to think about too. The stakes for parents are higher, I think, in the face of societal pressures and expectations placed on girls. We will need to stick to our decision to attend only churches who have women in leadership, because my daughter will be watching. I will need to be careful about how I talk about my own eating and body, because my daughter will be listening. You may have read Lisa Bloom’s article entitled “How to Talk to Little Girls”. It encourages us to talk to girls as if the things about which they are passionate are more important than the way they look. I recently saw a documentary entitled “Miss Representation” at the all-girls high school I attended. It discussed the limited portrayal of women in media and politics, and the affect this has on girls growing up in America. I was struck by the need to teach girls that they are expected to be whole people: intellectual, moral, emotional human beings.
On that note, we are pleased to officially announce that we are expecting a second child and she is a girl! She is due the last day of April, around her mother’s birthday. She and Max will be about 22 months apart.
Quack, Quack Says the Albatross
November 14, 2011 at 8:04 am | Posted in Development | 1 Comment
The quacking face.
The explosion of words I have been looking forward to is occurring at the Woodruff household. Max is trying out new words every day, naming objects around him and glancing at us to see if he’s said it right. Last week he mastered “cracker” so nicely that he decided to call cookies “crackers” also, because they sound the same. He stands beneath the cabinet where I had gotten a store-bought cookie out for him, in a moment of pity because of his bad cold, with his hand as high in the air as it will go repeating “cracker, cracker”.
The most useful new word is “more”, because I feel like we are finally communicating. At one point in his development, he could sign the word more, but when he discovered how to point all signs went out the window. Granted, his “more” sounds like “ma”, but it is so little and darling in his voice that I can’t resist giving him what he’s asking for. Jake is worried about the number of dried prunes I’m letting him eat because he’s learned how to ask for them with little “ma, ma”s.
Max’s first animal sound is “quack”. When he figured out how to quack, complete with full lips sticking out, he gave up saying the word “duck” entirely. Now when he sees a duck in a book and I ask, “What’s that?”, he replies “quack, quack, quack”. In fact, when he sees any kind of bird with a big beak in a book – penguin, chicken, albatross (it was a polar animals book) – he says “quack, quack”. Only later did he pick up a sound for his favorite animal (“ruff ruff ruff”) thanks to his new Sandra Boynton book Moo, Baa, La La La, which we highly recommend along with all of her ridiculous books.
It’s a Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2011 at 9:48 am | Posted in Good News, Holidays and Special Occasions | 2 Comments
Fall
October 29, 2011 at 9:20 am | Posted in Daily Life, Development | Leave a comment
Max at Webb Ranch pumpkin patch.
Fall is by far my favorite season. It’s the season of change. While some people resist change or fear change, I’m one of those who loves newness. I always loved starting the new school year with new shoes, new pencils, new teachers, new classes, new syllabi (I may be somewhat of a nerd). I mentioned last year that it was my first year not “going” (physically) back to school, as I had only one long-distance class to complete for my degree. But this year is truly my first year since age 3 that I am not beginning a new school year, a kind of change in itself. And in a couple of years, Max will begin his own school years. I guess it is the circle of life. I just didn’t know it would go around so quickly.
Some changes are sad changes. We were in Arizona this week to mark the passing away of Jake’s grandmother, Oma. Jake’s Oma was truly a unique woman. A spitfire who once tried to antique a table with her shotgun, who walked in the front door of liquor stores when women weren’t allowed, who infamously wore a ginormous red sun hat. Oma was very special to Jake and all his cousins, and her passing was the end of an era. We were glad that Oma had gotten to meet at least one great-grandchild, Max. Like she had with her grandsons, she told Max he had stinky feet (shee-yoo!) and “la-la-ed” him to sleep.
The weather has finally turned cold here in Northern California after an extended Indian Summer. We have turned on the heater, begun putting Max to bed in socks, and pulled our long-sleeved shirts out of the closets. We are gearing up for the holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas in rapid succession.
Max is demonstrating new changes every day. He has begun to imitate words: hat, cat, car. And is working up to his most important word, mama. He expresses his emotions more strongly: excitement with something new to play with, anger when other kids take his snacks or toys (or their own snacks or toys that he happens to be holding), despair when someone leaves the house to run an errand. Even with all the challenges of teaching and discipline, I love the age Max is right now. With each passing month, he is more fun, and more of his developing self.
Toddlerhood
August 16, 2011 at 9:49 am | Posted in Development | 4 CommentsTags: baby, bath, cat, climbing, toddler, walking
First morning walking, 7/30/2011.
Max is officially a toddler. He has passed his first birthday, begun to walk, become a picky(er) eater, and learned to throw a tantrum. We have traded purees for finger foods, sock-like foot coverings for flexible rubber soles, rattles for blocks. In the past couple of months, I have reluctantly put away baby toys, burp cloths, and gear to save them for future children.
Since learning to walk, Max now shuffles around the house with his arms out like a zombie or a young T-Rex, occasionally going too fast, tripping, and face-planting. It seems that we are past the days of bringing a calm Max along to restaurants or into church services because he doesn’t want to be held, he wants to walk around.
Photon is cornered by the newly affectionate Max.
Other new toddler skills include: 1) Throwing things in the toilet; or stirring the toilet water with a large spatula like he’s whipping up a batch of brownies. 2) Climbing onto benches and couches; or at least getting one knee up and then whining until I help him lift the other. 3) Hugging: his mom and dad, other moms at playgroup, and even the cat, who puts up with about 15 hugs before lashing out. 4) Splashing so much in the bath that he drains half the bath water onto the bathroom floor and walls.
I didn’t know much about babies, but I truly know nothing about toddlers. I have babysat, camp counseled, and taught elementary schoolers through the years, but never worked with kids less than 4 or 5 years old. My Toddler 411 book tells me that the stage from 1 to 4 is the most difficult until the teen years. Toddlers have lots of things they want to do, but only minimal language skills to tell you what those are, and bodies that do not always do what they want them to do. All this equals frustration for toddler, frustration for parents; an interesting few years to look forward to with Toddler Max.
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
