Cyrus does what it takes to watch the Bears (TV) -- 12/6/09
Daily Triple:
Ava . . . Unplugged
10 hours ago
Saturday, February 06, 2010
PoD -- Cannibal Nile
12/3/09
Story: Not really all that sure why, but Nile has been inclined to cook (see those still in pot) and eat these little wood dolls since he first got them nearly a year ago. It's probably because we gave him those toys in the kitchen at the old house, and he was just copying Tina. Or maybe he's just a cannibal. At least he has good etiquette.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Child Pix -- A Million Words?
Anyone who’s had the chance to listen to me speak over the first 4.5 months of Cyrus’s life would have noticed I was disenchanted at best. More than once, Tina and I pondered what we were thinking. This is/was a feeling that far overwhelmed our initial reaction to Nile’s existence nearly two years ago.
Not because Nile was better, mind you. But, first-born children are just different. Everything’s new. They get away with bloody murder, because you’ve never experienced it before. There seems to be novelty and nobility in the suffering.
No such luck with the 2nd born. Not when their brother is just 17 months older. Not when you move on Day-of-Life #4 to a new house in a new town with a new job. And no local connections whatsoever.
So, Cyrus never really had a chance. Especially when you consider that you can’t – as a parent – fail to compare the children. This is particularly problematic when you’re me. I’ve been told I have selective memory, choosing to remember what I want. I acknowledge this to be somewhat true. Nile is a good example.
Cyrus at 4.5 months – no longer a monster?
Prompted by this thought process three months ago, I decided to consult the only objective evidence I could find on the subject: pictures. Once upon a time, I marveled at how emotionally evoking songs could be. How they could be tied to a person, situation, place, etc. to the point that the connection was inescapable. You simply could not hear the song without having that connective thought. Well, pictures of children are the same. I don’t believe pictures – in general – to be the same. But pictures of one’s children certainly seem to be. It is difficult to look at pictures of one’s children – particularly sequential pictures with the inflated quantity often achieved secondary to ease of the digital age – without immediate recall of all the emotions and situations of the moment.
It has often been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. And certainly, as I scroll through the thousands of photos that predate my children, there is much information to be culled. Hairstyles, clothing trends, relationships, etc. But most stop well short of triggering any emotions or actually placing me in the scene. There are stories, but then there are stories. There are the pictures – like the songs above – that are worth much more (a million words [for the sake of grandiosity]).
Nile at 13 months – Much more than a picture to me...
Anyway, going by this method of thinking, I started chronologically scrolling through Nile’s pictures from birth to present. I figured that I would probably start to like Cyrus about the same time that I started to like Nile. And I judged that to be the time when I could not escape the evocation of Happiness (not happiness, the transitive state of only that moment, but Happiness, when much more time spent with the child than not was good) upon looking at pictures of him at that age.
For Nile, that age was 4.5 months. So, I trudged through the misery that is the first 4+ months of infanthood with Cyrus, all the while longing for 4.5 months. And you know what? I was right. The timing was perfect. And we seemed to have captured it photographically, which is shared in this separate post.
'Piglet' Nile vs. Cyrus @ 4.5 months
At the time of this writing, Cyrus is a little over five months old. He has become amazing. Always smiling, laughing. Ticklish at his neck and armpits. Free-standing on hands. Eating voraciously (solids since Christmas day). Jovial. Cuddly. Docile. There is a clear difference in demeanor between who he is and who Nile was at the same age. We, indeed, will have two wildly different beings. Which is good. Maybe we’ll actually raise one of them right.
And it is no longer the case that when Tina and I muse on who the ‘Baby of the Day’ is, that it always defaults to Nile. In fact, Cyrus has been winning the last two weeks. Let the competition begin!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Dinners with Nile
Dinners with Nile are very frustrating. He’s a very picky eater, and makes it his mission to consume as much milk as possible. For the most part, he doesn’t eat what Tina makes for us. Tonight was another such case.
Knowing this in advance, Tina decided to make mashed sweet potatoes for Nile. She figured this would work because he tends to like sweet things, and he definitely likes mushy things that he doesn’t really have to chew (God forbid he actually use his teeth).
He takes the first bite and immediately reaches into his mouth to grab the food, throws it on the table in the direction of Tina and says, “Wash that.” (That being the table)
So, apparently, Nile’s a prick. To say that things have been rough with him the last two weeks would be a dramatic understatement. Smirking through time-outs (if he even stays in the chair for Tina) has accompanied several attacks at multiple boundaries. Notably, he has taken to violence against Cyrus in the last two weeks, including an unprovoked bite of Cyrus’s forehead three days ago. Nothing seems to be getting through to him. We think it’s safe to say we’re well within the spirit of the Terrible Twos. (The unfortunate part is that multiple parents we respect assure us that the 2s aren’t nearly as bad as the 3s. Ugh)
We’re surviving. We think.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Cookie Conversations with Nile
We're not good parents. We accept this. That's our preface.
This evening, we needed to feed Nile dinner prior to actually eating dinner ourselves. In a surprising bout, Nile polished off his dinner without spitting too much out or 'accidentally' knocking it to the floor. Victory for us. However, during our dinner time, we wanted to let Cyrus play in the Exer-Saucer. No doubt a story for another time, Nile likes to maul (bunny! bunny!) Cyrus when he's in the Exer-Saucer. So, we decided to have Nile sit at the table with us while we ate our dinner (Beef Stroganoff -- hence another of the reasons we had him eat separately). Given the good job he'd done with dinner, we decided to reward him with cookies.
Before you get carried away with him getting cookies, you should realize that they're just graham crackers. Unfortunately, he's apparently realized it, too. As evidenced by the following -- verbatim -- monologue when we placed the graham cracker box on the table. Enjoy (we did):
Nile: Not those. Not those. Not those. Not those! Close that. Close that. Put away. Other cookies? Daddy cookies? On counter.
In case you're wondering, he got a small piece from the 'Daddy cookies' from the counter (this week peanut butter). Mostly because he made us laugh so much.
While he does string together several 3-4 word sentences, what we found rather surprising about this display was the correct designation between those (cookies) and that (the box). We didn't even know he knew 'those.'
More pix coming soon.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Breastfeeding Sucks (Nile’s Adventures in Naughtiness)
I would not have guessed that my reason for wanting to cease breastfeeding Cyrus would be Nile. Lack of freedom (having to be there to feed 5 times a day), wanting to work out again, eating and drinking whatever I want, plugged ducts, etc. Those are what I would have thought some of my reasons would be. But no, it's Nile.
First, Nile hates it. Every time I tell him "It's time for Mommy to feed Cyrus," he runs to the rocking chair crying/whining and climbs in. He sits in the chair and looks at me obstinately as if to say "This is my chair now. And you can't use it,". Sometimes I try to wait him out. I'll change Cyrus's diaper or fold laundry, but he's caught on -- he'd sit there for an hour if I let him. Inevitably I have to take him off the chair and try to sit down before he can climb back on. Then there's the mandatory 2+ minutes of crying and clawing at Cyrus before he finally calms down. It used to be longer, but thankfully after 5 months it's only a couple of minutes.
Obstinate Nile refuses to cede the chair.
Second, Nile is not good at playing quietly on his own during feeding time. He generally does like to stay in the room while I'm nursing, which in theory works fine. I could bring in some toys for Nile to play with and he could sit there and occupy himself. But anything I bring in the room for playing Nile is not interested in. He will, however, go get more things to bring in and play with. Also fine in theory. In reality this creates an unbelievable mess of the house and an incredible amount of noise. And lately Cyrus has become more interested in Nile’s hijinks than eating.
During one particularly frustrating nursing session last week, after his obligatory meltdown, Nile spent 20 minutes jumping, yelling and wreaking havoc in the room while I tried to feed Cyrus. Cyrus ate for only about 7 of those minutes. I sat there glaring at Nile as Cyrus watched in earnest. Nile saw Cyrus watching him, smiled and walked over, pointed to my breast and told Cyrus to eat. Great. Thanks for the help Nile.
Third, and perhaps most compelling, is Nile’s mischievous alone time. About a third of the time, Nile goes off to play on his own while I’m nursing. It began innocently enough, he would go off and play with his toy phones and remotes. He even began to “read” his books on his own. Then he realized he could reach a few things on the kitchen counter and started pulling off the real remotes and cell phones. Then he realized he could climb on the couch armrest and turn the light switches on and off. Then he realized he could climb on the kitchen table. Then he realized he could open doors and got into the computer room to pound on the keyboard. Then he realized he could undo our homemade child lock on the media cabinet and busted our DVD player… Most importantly, Nile realized my aversion to getting up to check on him during this time – it’s not easy to walk and breastfeed at the same time, and stopping and starting over and over decreases Cyrus’s interest and thus my milk production. So I’m screwed no matter how you look at it -- and Nile knows it. He now flaunts his naughtiness. A month ago he learned how to unzip my purse, took out my Chapstick, brought it into Cyrus’s room and stuck his finger in it right in front of my face. Two weeks ago he took a dirty diaper out of Cyrus’s diaper can and threw it into Cyrus’s crib; also right in front of my face. From time to time, he brings in kitchen utensils he’s not allowed to play with. I hate him.
Fourth, pumping. I take it back, this is probably the most compelling reason. Not because I detest pumping, which I do. But because Nile uses this time to rough-house with Cyrus (also right in front of my face); to the point where I fear for Cyrus’s safety. While Cyrus is a good size for his age, he’s not quite to the rough-housing, fend-for-himself stage. And again, stopping to punish Nile (which almost always has to happen) just makes the whole process longer, less efficient and less effective.
So there you have it. Breastfeeding sucks. Because of Nile. Tack that on to the list of reasons I will not have anymore children.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
PoD -- Cyrus' 'Hand-Stand'
Cyrus demonstrates his glee over the Hawkeye victory with his first 'Hand Stand'
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
PoD -- Hawkeye Orange Bowl (pre-game)
Win or Lose, we're Hawkeye fans. What's that, Nile? "Go Hawkeyes!"
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