02.26.06
Posted in Noah at 1:51 am by Chelle
I imagine all kids see the world in their own way, but I guess all of us do that, anyway. I’d love to live in Noah’s world for a while, because it’s so interesting sometimes. Here are some of my glimpses into it.
Noah got glasses today. When he put them on, he said “I’m a grandfather Noah!”. Then all night he proceeded to talk about being a daddy. I guess the assumption is that having glasses automatically ages you, or turns you into a Daddy or a grandfather.
When going to bed, he suddenly told me “I have a penis infection!”. I said “What? Honey, does your penis hurt?” He said yes. I asked, “does it hurt when you go potty?” And he said “yes, I have to go potty! That will make it feel better!” And then it dawned on me and I had to say “No, honey, that’s not an infection, that’s an erection.” We’ve discussed erections with him before, but apparently they sound similar enough that he thought it was something bad, an infection, and that peeing heals this, because as soon as he was finished in the bathroom he said “There! It’s all better!”
We read bible stories every night, and a few nights ago was the story of Elijah being taken to heaven in the chariot of fire. When talking about Elijah tonight, Noah told me Elijah went to heaven in a fiery cherry. And then he apparently asked Dan what he was going to heaven in. Despite me assuring him that people aren’t really crucified much anymore, Noah thinks this is how he will die. And then we had to have a conversation about how making messes isn’t a sin, but not cleaning them up when he’s told to is one. And how spilling isn’t wrong, it’s just an accident, and everyone has accidents. And when we tell him no one is perfect, we have to go through a litany of everyone he knows and agree that yes, that person is not perfect either.
Noah is very proud of himself. Because he has discovered that he can call us Mom and Dad now. He says them with relish, and you can tell he’s savoring the words as they come out. Like now he’s more of an equal. It breaks my heart to hear it, to tell the truth, but at least he reverts to Mommy when he’s not thinking. One day that will be gone as well. I think I’m Mom more than Mommy even now.
I’ve been doing some signing with Elisabeth, and so of course Noah wants to know them as well. The sign for Mommy is thumb pointing at the chin, with the fingers splayed away from your face. The sign for Daddy is the same thing but thumb pointing to the forehead. So Noah immediately said “This is Noah!” and put his thumb against his nose. I guess it works…. nose…. Noah.
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02.25.06
Posted in Noah, Elisabeth at 2:01 pm by Chelle
I am amazed that everywhere we go, people make comments on how much Elisabeth looks like her brother. Really I shouldn’t be surprised, because why wouldn’t she? It’s funny how a lot of people also say, though, that she looks like me, while they also say that Noah looks like Dan. So does that mean Dan and I look like each other? I doubt it. I remember when Noah was little, my mom sent me a picture from when I was little, and it could have been a feminine version of Noah. I can’t find that picture now, but it would be interesting to see if Elisabeth also looks like I did at that age. Of course, it also seems that more and more often now, people initially think Elisabeth is a boy. I don’t know if it’s all the dark hair, or if they see Noah and the similarities. I try to look at her objectively and still see girl. It’s in the eyes. But I do have to agree, they sure look alike. I mentioned to Dan that at least he knows she’s not the mail man’s kid, with as similar as she is to Noah. He then pointed out that they could both be. I guess, if the mail man looked like Dan. I have to admit I don’t even know what our mail man looks like. For all I know Noah and Elisabeth are dead ringers for him. Wouldn’t I be in trouble then!
There’s no doubting the love between the two; it’s like a giant gooey love-fest when they start grinning at each other. For Elisabeth, the sun rises and sets on Noah. For Noah, Elisabeth is the cute baby sister he has to tell every stranger in the store about. I constantly have to untangle the two, telling Noah repeatedly not to lie on his sister when he tries to hug her, and prying the freakishly strong grip of her hands off of his hair.
The thing is, there are so many similarities I see between the two, but then in other ways they are so opposite. I wonder how much of it is being a baby, and how much of it is the fact that they’re brother and sister, how much of it is boy and girl, and how much of it is just personality. Noah liked to sit and observe. We never had to worry about him putting things in his mouth. Elisabeth would eat anything. She also wants to socialize and flirt with everyone, and man can she grab. Noah was shy (and still is), and takes a while to warm up to someone even though he desperately wants to interact. I guess in that respect Noah is more like me and Elisabeth is more like Dan. They both devour books, although half the time that’s literally true in Elisabeth’s case. They’re both smart, and easily bored with new things and want to move on to the next thing. Aside from the obvious germ problem, I wish there were a toy library out there, because both of them figure out toys and then they lose their interest. They both have memories like elephants, a blessing and a curse. Noah was more methodical, he’d learn his sounds step by step, focus on the ba, then move to da, etc. Elisabeth has gained an entire repertoire of sounds at once, and makes sentences. “Ba wa wa da va ma ba fffft pa!” They can both be little imps at times and give these sly little looks that lets you know they’re in on something that you haven’t gotten yet. Noah was a grumpy baby a lot, and things bothered him. Elisabeth is easy going until she’s not, and then the drama starts with pure screams. Weird noises bothered Noah. For a long time animal sounds (made by people) scared him to death, but he could bang away to his heart’s content. Elisabeth thinks sounds are funny, but jumps and flinches every time you clap your hands, no matter how repeatedly you do it. Noah would wait and figure something out before he tried it, and Elisabeth tries and tries again until she figures it out. They both love music and are transfixed by songs. Both of them like opera. Elisabeth is desperate to get her hands on Noah’s cars, and he’s sometimes kind enough to share one for a minute before he gets protective and takes it back. Both of them are little shits, and drive me to distraction some days.
But they both are full of love, and smiles, and snuggles. Noah loves Jesus, and we’re teaching Elisabeth to love Him, too. She’s oddly quiet and observant when we pray. They’re both different, yet the same. They’re my precious children. Their smiles light up the world for me, and I can’t imagine life without them.
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01.06.06
Posted in Noah at 3:10 am by Chelle
A few more of Noah’s little gems:
His constant reply whenever we ask him why he did something (that he isn’t supposed to do): “Because I’m not supposed to do it.”
Noah used to nap as a matter of course, but of course now he’s growing out of that stage, so only needs them occasionally. Where napping used to be no problem, now that he’s had a taste of freedom it has become a battle when they are necessary. Yesterday was one of those days.
“Noah, you need to take a nap today”
“I don’t want to!” (whining)
“I know you don’t, but you need to. You went to bed late last night and you need sleep to be healthy and grow up strong”
“I don’t want to nap!!! I don’t want to grow up. I’m healthy! I don’t need a nap” (yelling)
“Yes, you do”
“No!!! I don’t want a nap. I don’t need one!” (yelling, on the verge of crying)
“Noah, you’re tired and grumpy, you need a nap”
To this he paused for a minute, then opened his eyes really wide and said in an upbeat happy voice “I’m not tired and grumpy anymore. I’m awake and happy now!”
After a long-fought battle with Elisabeth yesterday evening, she finally went down for a nap and was sleeping in our bedroom. The door was closed since Noah was going up and down the stairs playing. Through the monitor I suddenly hear the door to our bedroom close. Oh no. Then Noah appears downstairs. He knows not to bother Elisabeth when she’s sleeping. I asked if he went into our room. He said yes. Somewhat angrily, I asked him what he did. He said “I told Elisabeth ’sweet dreams’. ” I just couldn’t get mad at that.
During prayers last night… “thank you for dining on the cross, Amen.”
Which brings to mind something he’s been saying for a couple years now, and is so cute I can never bring myself to correct him. We have a picture of the last supper hanging in our kitchen. Noah always points at it and says in a sing-song voice: “that’s the LAAAAST supper where the JESUS-ES eat!”
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12.15.05
Posted in Noah at 11:03 am by Chelle
Sometimes it’s easy to forget how little Noah is yet. While some things make absolutely perfect sense to us, sometimes they don’t so much to him.
Tigger occasionally likes to.. how to put this delicately… examine the back ends of our cats. Our response is typically “Tigger, no butts!”. One day while eating dinner, Noah decided to take this thread and go with it. “Tigger, no butts! Tigger has a naughty butt. Tigger is a naughty butt.” This was repeated often until we told him no more talking about Tigger’s butt! There was a pause…. then “Tigger has a naughty penis!”.
Tigger was enjoying a bone in the living room when Noah took it from him and threw it. While sometimes they will play with toys together, this time Tigger was fairly content with his bone, so I told Noah to stop it. When he did it again, I asked “Noah, how would you feel if you were eating and I took your plate and threw it?”. To which Noah looked at me for a minute and then said “Mommy? I don’t eat plates.”
It’s so hard to be stern when you’re laughing.
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11.17.05
Posted in Noah, Misc. Thoughts at 1:28 pm by Chelle
As an adult, you have very little use for snow (unless you’re an avid skiier, I suppose). It’s cold, it’s messy, it gets in the way of putting up Christmas lights and driving your car. It means shoveling the driveway and sidewalk, sometimes more than once a day. It means it takes twice as long to get anywhere. Most people I know greet the arrival of snow with disgust. Nope, we have no use for snow unless we get to stay inside and look at it.
That is, until you have little children. Not too little, though. I remember trying to point out our first snow of the year to Noah when he was just 1. He looked outside but seemed relatively indifferent to it. I’m not even sure he knew what I was talking about. By the time he turned two, it was something curious, but that’s about it. Adventures in snow pants were more an excercise in frustration. By the time he was all bundled up he looked more like an animated pile of clothing than anything else. One that couldn’t move very well, tripped constantly, and couldn’t get back up on its own. Last year was slightly better. This year, however, it’s different.
It’s snowing this morning, our first of the year. It’s more a spitting of little tiny flakes that you can barely see, that melt before even hitting the ground, but hey, it’s still snow. I pointed this out to Noah. “Hey Noah, look outside. What’s falling from the sky?” Instant wonder. His face was transformed. “It’s snow! It’s winter now!”… followed by “I want my snow boots”. Hey, if it’s snowing, aren’t footwear called snow boots appropriate? Who cares if the only thing on the ground are leaves. This was followed by “it’s Christmas time!”. Yes, in about a month it will be Christmas, but first we need to have Thanksgiving. Apparently, who cares about Thanksgiving. “Santa’s coming!”. I don’t know where he got this. Although he knows who Santa is, we don’t teach him that Santa brings his presents. Presents come from mommies and daddies and grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles. Santa is just the guy we see in the mall sometimes. And then he rushed upstairs and put on his Christmas cd and hummed along.
I can remember this happening to me when I was in 1st grade or so. We got our first snow of the year as I was playing down the street with my friend Glorianne. Now that I think on it, I have no clue if I spelled her name correctly. Unlike Noah, I couldn’t read by the age of 2. Anyway, we were outside playing and the same sort of spitting, tiny, barely-seen snowflakes started falling. I ran all the way down the street, rushed into our house, and started going through the closet. Mom asked what I was doing. I was getting my snowsuit, of course. Mom said I didn’t need it. Yes, I did, it was snowing! And while in the back of my head I think I knew we weren’t going to end up with feet, or even inches of snow, it was my way of celebrating winter. The joys of being outside and making snowballs and snow-angels and eating icicles. The thrills of climbing the big piles of snow that were made on the edges of the school parking lot by the snowplows. The silliness of slipping and sliding around like crazy people, and trying to catch snowflakes on your tongue. The knowledge that Christmas was just around the corner.
So, who cares if it’s not going to stick. Who cares if we’re not even going outside. Maybe I should let him run around in snow boots this afternoon. And although I only really appreciate winter from the inside, maybe I should try to see it through Noah’s eyes. Someday he’ll grump about winter, too. But for now, it’s magical.
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11.08.05
Posted in General, Elisabeth at 6:19 am by Chelle
Shortly after having Noah, I remember reading in a parenting magazine about how something rarely talked about (namely, poop) becomes one of the central conversation topics in your home after having a child. I found it amusing until I realized that yes, it’s true. Once you have children, the subject of poop is no longer off-limits. At any time, really. You can frequently hear around our house “did he poop today?”, “how was it?”, “we need to buy bananas”, or “he needs prunes for snack”. All of this in relation to Noah, of course. The conversations regarding Elisabeth have some slight variations. “Did she poop?”, “How was it?”, “What color was it?”, “how much?”. There’s also the discussion of texture, and comparisons to mashed potatoes, pudding, peanut butter. Then, of course, there are the conversations revolving around which brand and style of diaper best contains the “poop explosions” that Elisabeth sometimes has, and the resulting conversations about how best to pre-treat and wash the clothing that was the unfortunate casualty of the explosion. Noah has picked up this phrasing - when he tells me that Elisabeth has pooped, he now says “she exploded”. I have no idea if he knows what he’s talking about. It’s amazing that Noah doesn’t have bad dreams about his baby sister spontaneously combusting.
Elisabeth has managed to catch a virus that Noah had or has. While in Noah it’s respiratory, in Elisabeth it’s presenting as abdominal. As a result, Dan and I tackled what seemed like a tag-team diaper marathon yesterday morning. No less than 7 poopy diapers in just under an hour. Then the conversations became something like this:
(after 2 poops)
“I’m getting worried about this”
“Well, she didn’t poop last night”
(another poop)
“It’s sort of green”
“No, it’s yellow”
“No, it’s not. It’s green. And it’s wet. That’s diahrrea.”
“No, it’s yellow. But it is wet.”
(another poop)
“That’s definitely green. If you put mustard next to it, it would look green. What do you think, spinach colored?”
“No way, that is not spinach colored. That’s like dark green. This is too yellow.”
(another poop)
“Ok, now I think you should call the doctor”
(another poop)
“Maybe we should take a picture with the digital camera to show the doctor”
(I don’t think I said anything. How do you respond to that?)
Then later, in the car…
“Ok, so what, like avacado color?”
“No, there’s not enough yellow”
“You keep saying it’s yellow, it’s not yellow!”
“No, I mean avacado doesn’t have enough yellow in it”
Then, in the doctor’s office, Dan looked around and found a picture of kids playing in the grass. He proceeded to try to find the shade of grass that best described the appropriate shade of poop. (This from the person insisting it was yellow).
- Completely aside, I think Dan sees the world in shades of yellow. We’ve had a long-running argument about our CREAM-COLORED house being yellow.-
Incidentally, our pediatrician told us that the majority of phone calls she handles are in some regard to poop. Too much, too little, color, consistency, etc. Seems we’re not the only ones who talk about poop all day. What’s ironic is that while this takes up a good portion of your day, you won’t find parenting forums or chat rooms devoted to baby poop, and the subject is rarely discussed with other parents. Perfectly acceptable to discuss your child’s poop over the dinner table with your spouse, but not in company. It’s the unspoken baby poop rules, apparently. One would think that if more parents would discuss their children’s poop with other parents, the poor doctor wouldn’t have to talk about somebody else’s poop all day. I wonder if she has nightmares about baby poop. It’s a wonder that we don’t, really.
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11.05.05
Posted in General, Misc. Thoughts at 11:49 am by Chelle
When you wash children’s clothing, you aren’t supposed to use fabric softener of any sort. That includes dryer sheets, which I’ve always used on my clothing. Apparently it ruins the flame-retardancy of the clothing. I’m not really anticipating a fire in the near future, but not being a big fan of toasted baby, I am refraining from adding the dryer sheet. Unfortunately, that means stiff and scratchy clothing. Not really scratchy, but definitely not the soft and fuzzy, fluffy stuff that I would imagine feels much better against a little baby’s skin. So the other day I went researching alternate methods of softening clothing. Dan suggested throwing a bucket full of rocks into the dryer along with the clothing. While I’m sure that would beat any residual stiffness out of the clothes, I think the neighbors would appreciate some sleep. Anyway… while researching dryer sheets, I came across some rather scary information. It seems that they contain all sorts of hazardous and toxic chemicals known to cause respiratory and central nervous system problems, as well as being carcinogenic. All these wonderful products remain on your clothing so you’re free to inhale them all day while wearing said clothing. Why on earth would anyone use such a thing? For soft and fluffy clothes, of course. What’s a little dizziness when compared with clothing that doesn’t snag on your skin? Who cares if you pass out while walking through the park, as long as you have that pillow-soft clothing to cushion your fall?
It turns out the natural solution to my problem is vinegar, which you add to the rinse cycle. This supposedly softens the clothing as well as breaks down any residual soap, meaning your clothes end up cleaner and softer. Ironically, we do have vinegar in our laundry room, but previously its use has been for the removal of cat urine. So now I can comfort myself with the knowledge that I will have a non-flammable, softly-clothed baby. And if, by chance, one of our cats mistakes her for a litter pan, well… now that’s covered, too.
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Posted in General, Elisabeth at 6:38 am by Chelle
It is currently 6:28 AM. A fairly reasonable time for someone to be up in the morning, right? Wrong. At least for me it’s so wrong. I am not a morning person by nature. Never have been (except for undocumented claims by my mother of my infanthood. I don’t remember it, you can’t prove it!).
I have been attempting to fix Elisabeth’s sleep schedule, meaning lots of frustration on both of our parts. So far it’s been slow going. In my limited successes in getting her to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour (which at this point is anytime before 6 am in my opinion), I forgot to address the fact that I am used to being awake at night now. I’ve always been a night person, but not since my days of college have I been so often awake until sunrise. So now my family is sleeping peacefully. Elisabeth woke to nurse at around 5 this morning and promptly went back to sleep. I, however, lay there wide awake, because as my body now knows well, when I wake up, I need to WAKE UP. I have become so accustomed to grabbing sleep when I can that now there is no such thing as a regular nighttime sleep pattern. Isn’t sleep training supposed to work the other way around??
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11.04.05
Posted in General, Noah, Dan at 8:31 pm by Chelle
Noah is generally calm (though he has his moments) during the day at home with me. But anywhere from 30 seconds before (when he spots the car pulling into the driveway) to 5 minutes after Dan comes home, Noah goes nuts. He runs all over the place, is very loud, and is generally just insane. Sometimes to the point of getting into trouble, because it seems he just can’t control his excess of sudden energy. This typically lasts until he goes to bed at night. What is it about kids that they express their joy in such outrageous fashion? Even Elisabeth will now hear Daddy’s voice and her eyes light up. As soon as she sees him she starts wiggling everywhere and will “talk” her head off with that little nonsense baby voice. It’s interesting to note that while Elisabeth seems adorable when she reacts like this, Noah’s behavior has become almost annoying. I really think if she had the ability, she’d be doing the same thing. And then of course there’s Tigger, who trumps them all when it comes to pure frantic, uncontrollable energy. When it comes down to it, it’s really a nice sign on all of their parts that they love their Daddy and are excited to see him. While Noah’s reaction can sometimes cause trouble and be aggravating, it’s really an expression of his love for his father. It’s sort of sad, when you think about it, that most of us have lost this way of expressing our joy. We may smile or laugh, or our mood might lighten a bit, but who of us gets up and does a little dance when we see someone we love again? Dan would probably think I’d lost my mind if I started yelling “Dan! Dan! Dan’s home!” when he walks in the door, then proceed to run around like I was on drugs, play frantically with whatever I came into contact with, and jumped and crawled all over him. Although… he might like that last part. Except for the random drooling, of course.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 8:55 am by Chelle
And so it begins… with little fanfare, no earth-shattering news, here is my first post.
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