One thing I forgot to mention yesterday- my son has found a way to beat the gate meant to keep him off of the stairs. He discovered that he can pull himself up on the railing and posts on the outside edge of the steps and walk up that way. I'm not sure if it's normal for him to be this strong/ this good of a climber, but it's certainly made things interesting so far. Pretty much anything he can climb on, he's all over it, and I'm spotting him.
His climbing isn't limited to our home. At music class he has gone up the back of an upright piano and attempted to ascend the wall of filing cabinets. I've started researching colleges that give scholarships for rock climbing. We've got a decent climbing tree in our back yard. Maybe we'll start there and see what he's really made of.
I returned our rental car after music class today. I had to leave my son in his car seat and hook it up to the jogging stroller much like when he was too small to hold his head up. He looked ridiculous, but he managed to fall asleep anyway. He was probably trying to escape the embarrassment of seeing anyone he knew. I also had to carry the base along with pushing the stroller, and this was not an easy task. The straps and hooks that attach to the seat kept smacking against the hard plastic of the base, but it wasn't enough noise to wake up my son. After the mile-and-a-half walk back to our house, he was quickly shocked awake by our guard dogs. He needed to wake up for lunch anyway, but this short nap kept him from taking his usual nap longer in the day and made for an uncharacteristically cranky baby at dinner. Poor kid. Like I've mentioned before, at his worst he's still better behaved than most kids we've seen and heard at restaurants. Toot toot. Oh what's that? That's my horn.
-----
We didn't leave the house on this rainy day. We had plenty of outdoor time during the fantastic weather of the rest of the week. I filmed my very giggly son while pushing him in his swing on the aforementioned climbing tree in the backyard. He loves that thing.
He took a long nap today after a couple of failed attempts. His pal Scout wasn't quite doing the job for him today, so I had to step in and rub his back until he fell asleep. It's nice to know that he still needs me every now and then, but that toy has worked wonders for him- both for naps and bedtime. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to ask for nothing but batteries for Christmas this year.
His long nap allowed me to do some combination of yoga, dishes, and very little else for almost 3 hours. Thanks, son!
Showing posts with label climbing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climbing. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Days 39 and 40
I've been working a lot on stacking blocks and rings with my son lately. He's able to create some pretty tall stacks by himself, and he's able to make them a little higher than his own height when I get it started. He also takes great interest in knocking them down.
By far his favorite activity right now is climbing. He's been climbing up the steps on his own for several months now, and does so when we ask him "Do you want to take a nap/ bath?" or "Do you want to go to bed?". For a while he would reach out for my hand or grab the railing when he wanted to go down the steps, but last week he figured out that it's much easier to sit down first and work his way down.
Either way, we watch him very closely as he goes up and down the steps. Except when we had no idea he was doing it! It was very surprising the first few times he did it, because he wasn't even walking yet, and we didn't have a sturdy gate blocking the steps to our second floor. He eventually figured out how to push the gate out of the way and (thankfully) always gave himself away by smacking the steps or letting out a joyous squeal. That gave us plenty of time to walk the four paces across the room and grab or spot him. Even though he's gotten so confident now, it will be a while before we let him tackle the steps completely by himself.
-----
Today climbing went to a new level, as he made it up on one of our living chairs by himself. My first thought was "Great... One more thing to worry about!" Then I thought about how far he has come in 15 months. I remember when we were concerned that he wasn't rolling over, or that he didn't show much interest in toys, or when he wouldn't sleep through the night... How quickly all of those concerns went away just as soon as we realized we had them! As everyone told us he would, he's growing up so quickly, and I'm so lucky that I get to see so much of it unfolding this year. I still forget some days that this is my life now and how fortunate I am.
My first of six classes ended yesterday. For my final project, I wrote what I consider the worst paper I've ever written. Maybe it was a lack of interest in (or understanding of) the subject matter, maybe it was because it was the adjustment to taking a class while I was busy caring much more about something else, or maybe it was a completely unrelated factor, but I handed it in anyway. If nothing else, I had an introduction, I had a point (more or less), I had a conclusion, and I cited sources. Regardless, I was legitimately worried that I would get a really, really bad grade. The last time I handed in something of which I wasn't very proud, the grade was posted within a couple of hours, and it was very good. This, coupled with the general comments that came along with it, made me think the professor didn't even read it. I checked my grades once an hour or so until I went to bed on Sunday night and continued once I woke up. Finally, while watching TV after my son went to bed, the grade was posted.
I got a 91%.
I agreed with most of the professor's specific comments. I got an "A" in the class. *sigh of relief*
Two more classes start today. This should be interesting...
By far his favorite activity right now is climbing. He's been climbing up the steps on his own for several months now, and does so when we ask him "Do you want to take a nap/ bath?" or "Do you want to go to bed?". For a while he would reach out for my hand or grab the railing when he wanted to go down the steps, but last week he figured out that it's much easier to sit down first and work his way down.
Either way, we watch him very closely as he goes up and down the steps. Except when we had no idea he was doing it! It was very surprising the first few times he did it, because he wasn't even walking yet, and we didn't have a sturdy gate blocking the steps to our second floor. He eventually figured out how to push the gate out of the way and (thankfully) always gave himself away by smacking the steps or letting out a joyous squeal. That gave us plenty of time to walk the four paces across the room and grab or spot him. Even though he's gotten so confident now, it will be a while before we let him tackle the steps completely by himself.
-----
Today climbing went to a new level, as he made it up on one of our living chairs by himself. My first thought was "Great... One more thing to worry about!" Then I thought about how far he has come in 15 months. I remember when we were concerned that he wasn't rolling over, or that he didn't show much interest in toys, or when he wouldn't sleep through the night... How quickly all of those concerns went away just as soon as we realized we had them! As everyone told us he would, he's growing up so quickly, and I'm so lucky that I get to see so much of it unfolding this year. I still forget some days that this is my life now and how fortunate I am.
My first of six classes ended yesterday. For my final project, I wrote what I consider the worst paper I've ever written. Maybe it was a lack of interest in (or understanding of) the subject matter, maybe it was because it was the adjustment to taking a class while I was busy caring much more about something else, or maybe it was a completely unrelated factor, but I handed it in anyway. If nothing else, I had an introduction, I had a point (more or less), I had a conclusion, and I cited sources. Regardless, I was legitimately worried that I would get a really, really bad grade. The last time I handed in something of which I wasn't very proud, the grade was posted within a couple of hours, and it was very good. This, coupled with the general comments that came along with it, made me think the professor didn't even read it. I checked my grades once an hour or so until I went to bed on Sunday night and continued once I woke up. Finally, while watching TV after my son went to bed, the grade was posted.
I got a 91%.
I agreed with most of the professor's specific comments. I got an "A" in the class. *sigh of relief*
Two more classes start today. This should be interesting...
Monday, September 19, 2011
Day 16
After missing our first edition of Kindermusik last week, I made sure that I triple-checked the time before I set my alarm for this morning. I was up in plenty of time- my son, not so much. Regardless, we arrived just in time for class to begin. While this was not our normal class (we'll meet with them on Wednesday, my brain permitting), I got a pretty good idea of what to expect. Counting the teacher and children, our class had 13 people in it. Our class had one male over the age of 3 in it. It was fun learning the songs, playing the instruments, and being the only barritone in the room. It was fun dancing and chasing my son around the room. He was quite fond of a particular doorknob on one side of the room and kept returning to it during the songs. Rather than pulling him away from it and possibly turning this into a negative experience, I let him spend a little bit of time over there before bringing him back to our small circle. I was a little bit concerned about how he will handle being in this particular version of the class, as it is for 18 months to 3 years and he is only 14 months old. Then I remembered that he's 14 months old, and it doesn't really matter as long as he's not screaming most of the time.
Everyone in our house was feeling a little under the weather this past weekend, so I really wanted to take it easy the rest of the day. That meant there would be no adventure today. However, as I earlier posted on Facebook, it was an "obnoxiously gorgeous" day today. We made a quick stop at home to pick up my stroller before heading out again to pick up and eat lunch.
Wawa has been good to us in the lunch department so far. It has everything my son enjoys, and there always seems to be one nearby when we need it. Today's menu was pretty standard: turkey hoagie, apple slices, and fruit punch. However, after burning nearly 3000 calories running 20 miles on Saturday, I felt I (we) deserved a cheese-stuffed soft pretzel. He didn't complain. I drove us to the Reading Public Museum, found a bench near the ducks, and we ate our lunch in no hurry whatsoever.
He's very aware of every animal around him. He sees dogs across the creek, and he begins to wave at them. I've tried to teach him to wave and say, "Hi puppy!" There is a clear difference between the way he addresses dogs and other animals. For example, the ducks were "duh", and dogs were definitely "puh". Of course, many other things around the house could be a "duh" or "puh", but I like to think he's learning something. After pushing him in the stroller for a while, I put his shoes on him and let him walk around. He took this opportunity to go leaf hunting- at one point he was holding 8 of them that he had picked up 1 at a time. That seemed to be the limit, as he would drop more than he could pick up after that. He was very proud of his collection and even brought one over for me to hold. Then he pulled it away.
As we continued on our circuitous route back to our car, we came across a man and a woman walking a dog (off leash). My son walked right up to the dog and began waving. The dog soon sneezed, and the sneeze, of course, is easily in my son's top three bodily functions. He giggled wildly and chased the dog around the couple's legs for a moment. He soon lost interest in the dog, as he discovered the steps near the exit of the planetarium. In a dramatic show of determination, he ascended the steps and triumphantly raised his arms over his head. Though I promised not to tell, this was actually his signal that he didn't know how to get down. Please don't hate me, kid.
We explored the park a little longer before returning home for an abbreviated naptime. He must have known Mommy was on her way.
Everyone in our house was feeling a little under the weather this past weekend, so I really wanted to take it easy the rest of the day. That meant there would be no adventure today. However, as I earlier posted on Facebook, it was an "obnoxiously gorgeous" day today. We made a quick stop at home to pick up my stroller before heading out again to pick up and eat lunch.
Wawa has been good to us in the lunch department so far. It has everything my son enjoys, and there always seems to be one nearby when we need it. Today's menu was pretty standard: turkey hoagie, apple slices, and fruit punch. However, after burning nearly 3000 calories running 20 miles on Saturday, I felt I (we) deserved a cheese-stuffed soft pretzel. He didn't complain. I drove us to the Reading Public Museum, found a bench near the ducks, and we ate our lunch in no hurry whatsoever.
He's very aware of every animal around him. He sees dogs across the creek, and he begins to wave at them. I've tried to teach him to wave and say, "Hi puppy!" There is a clear difference between the way he addresses dogs and other animals. For example, the ducks were "duh", and dogs were definitely "puh". Of course, many other things around the house could be a "duh" or "puh", but I like to think he's learning something. After pushing him in the stroller for a while, I put his shoes on him and let him walk around. He took this opportunity to go leaf hunting- at one point he was holding 8 of them that he had picked up 1 at a time. That seemed to be the limit, as he would drop more than he could pick up after that. He was very proud of his collection and even brought one over for me to hold. Then he pulled it away.
As we continued on our circuitous route back to our car, we came across a man and a woman walking a dog (off leash). My son walked right up to the dog and began waving. The dog soon sneezed, and the sneeze, of course, is easily in my son's top three bodily functions. He giggled wildly and chased the dog around the couple's legs for a moment. He soon lost interest in the dog, as he discovered the steps near the exit of the planetarium. In a dramatic show of determination, he ascended the steps and triumphantly raised his arms over his head. Though I promised not to tell, this was actually his signal that he didn't know how to get down. Please don't hate me, kid.
We explored the park a little longer before returning home for an abbreviated naptime. He must have known Mommy was on her way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)