Splash!

We had to run to school today and I figured that while we were there we would play at their little playground. What I hadn't figured on was that the rain from last night would make the equipment all wet. I had a towel and dried some things off the best I could, but that didn't keep John from getting into the water, which was not part of my plan. So we soon headed home. I figured since we were all sweaty, we'd go to the pool. We both enjoyed ourselves. John enjoys playing in the big pool as much as the kiddie pool. He did pretty well today kicking his legs, but would not let go of me enough to move both his legs and his arms. As we were nearing time to go, John was trying to attract the attention of a young girl about his age. He would smile and flirt. She was not impressed. So he decided to do what any red-blooded boy would do. He splashed her. I asked him to stop, but he would not be deterred. He did it again. She was still not impressed and didn't even react, really. I told Daddy tonight about the story and commented that he'll probably be using that tactic for the next 15 years or until he realizes it doesn't work!

A couple of weeks ago, I finally hung some pictures in the den. We've only been in the house going on 6 years. And it's not like I didn't already have them to hang. Just lazy. Today, JHP finally noticed what was on the pictures. We were reading some stories on the couch after lunch. He was doing his usual: get down, go get a book, get back up again. As he was getting back up, he stopped and pointed, saying "giraffe". "Yes, it a giraffe, and some zebras." I said. We went on to discuss the other subjects in the animal grouping. Then I had to get all teary and tell him about who took them. And how his grandfather would be so impressed with him. At least John didn't laugh at me like the last time I started crying. Toddlers aren't known for their empathy!

-EBP-

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Weeping

My son's obsession - "AB's, peas!", he says. In John-speak he's asking for the ABC game on the computer. And he's so serious with this game. He'll sit there for 10 minutes or so pushing buttons to hear, " U. U is for Urial." Have I mentioned it's an ABC Zoo game. All the letter examples are from the zoo. It's a very well -stocked zoo! It has fish, birds, and marine mammals.

John did not go right to sleep last night and he woke too early this morning, at least for me. So he was a little on the fussy side all day. I thought it would be good to get out of the house. So, we took a trip to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and some playtime. It was pretty busy and there were lots of older kids in the play area, unsupervised. I don't get overly protective of John normally, but I was not happy that these kids were (play) fighting in the area and their parents seemed to be non-existent. More than once I said something to them. John usually hangs down low, but eventually he got up the nerve to climb to the top. It was OK for a few minutes and then I heard some crying. It was John. Some little girl had been following him around and kept trying to pick him up. It turns out she must have tried to drag him down the enclosed slide. He's quite a cautious kid and it takes while before he decides he'll try something. And being forced into something like that not on his terms did not make him happy in the least. He was OK once he got to the bottom, but he decided it was time to go. So we went to eat. And then he got impatient. It always takes longer for me to eat than for him. He was anxious to get back to playing! We did play a bit more and then went to complete our errand.

We got some big paper for John for draw on. I only had some letter size paper here (well, and newspaper). And that was not quite suitable. So we went to Walmart to get a roll of 20+ inch wide paper. And we went right home and drew on a piece. And he liked it. A lot! He especially liked his blue crayon. Can you tell?

After he woke form his nap, he was in a very weepy mood. He'd slept until 500p, but had gotten his nap off to a rough start as we'd had thunder in the area for quite awhile when I first laid him down. Daddy went in to retrieve him. And rocked him and then rocked him some more. Still more weeping. So he changed his diaper and then I came in. I had brought my camera in to try to get a picture of them in the rocker, but Daddy had already proceeded to the changing. So when I took JHP, Daddy took the camera. John and I sat and rocked. And he continued to weep. I say weep because it wasn't his usually whine. It was sadder somehow. Anyway, Dad took some pictures of us.

This one's pretty cool. The composition is good, but the exposure in the original shot was horrible. The camera made some bad decisions on Auto. So I tweaked it a bit and made it a black & white. And I like it this way. John continued to weep for quite while even after he gave up his blankie and paapaa and we left his room. I figured food would help things, but when he's in this kind of mood, it's rather difficult to get him to eat. You've got to engage him. Today, the food of choice was pretzel sticks. And it worked. He eventually exited his funk after getting some food into him.

Dad had bath duties tonight as I had a meeting at church. When I got home, John N related this story that illustrates just how tender-hearted our son is sometimes. They were playing with the wooden blocks. Daddy would build a tower and John would knock it down, saying "uh-oh!" as he did it. Then John would build a tower and knock it down. At some point, Daddy covered all the blocks up and wouldn't let John have any. As John tried to get some, Daddy rebuffed him. This is a game they have played before. But tonight, John said John just burst into tears and came crawling into Daddy's arms. I guess he thought John was rejecting him and it hurt his feelings. He's had other similar reactions when you raise your voice at him, but it's not consistent. I think it depends on his mental state. This evening he must have been teetering on the edge, given all the weeping earlier in the evening. Also, Daddy said that during the bath, he raised his voice concerning John's insistence on touching the water faucet, which is a no-no and has been forever, and John lost it once again. Thank goodness bedtime was next on the agenda!

-EBP-

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Check up!

We had a rather long lag between the time the doctor left us today and the nurse came back with his immunizations. He occupied himself under the exam table, sitting and reading. Unfortunately, the old P&S is too slow to capture that (and it didn't help that John decided he NEEDED to see the camera the minute I got it out). This is what it captured instead.

The visit went well. He captured the heart of yet another nurse, even giving her a kiss on the way out. It happened to be the same nurse who gave him his shots. He forgave her when she told him he could have a sticker. During the exam, Dr. T was impressed that John actually understood and did as he was asked when it came time to look down his throat. John opened up and even stuck out his tongue. As a reward John got to play with the tongue depressor that Dr. T did not have to use. Dr. T said that only about 1 in 20 kids his age actually comply. John's stats were like so: 27 lbs 12.5 oz (75%), 32 in tall (25%-50%), and 49 cm head circumference (75-90%). (His percentiles haven't changed since his last check-up.)

After lunch John wanted to climb around in the red chair. So, I took the opportunity to snap some pictures. This the best of the bunch, I think. It seems to work out that I get some pictures in the red chair about once per month. While his legs are barely reaching the end of the seat, I notice in this picture that he's now as tall as the back of the chair. I really love this spot in the house for taking pictures without a flash.

Every time we visit the doctor for a check-up they give us a pamphlet on the age he's at. One of the things talked about in this pamphlet was potty training. For a while now, John will sometimes tell you when he's poo-pooed and sometimes even when he hasn't, which I suspect is when he's tee-teed. And he's been interested in the potty because Mommy and Daddy use it. And for a long while, almost every time he gets in the tub, he tee-tees. Barbara had passed along a potty seat that they no longer need and last Friday when they were here she suggested just putting John on it every time before the bath. So that last couple of night's we've done that, but nothing has happened. And it's also a bit challenging in that you've got to get him to lean over to even make the would-be stream in the potty. The trusty pamphlet today suggested to put him on the potty with the diaper on to get him used to it. So tonight as we were getting ready to brush teeth, John said tee-tee. So we put him on the potty and let him sit until he was "done". And I don't think he tee-teed in the tub tonight. We'll see how this goes. I really don't think he's anywhere near ready to be potty trained, but I'd rather get him exposed early and hopefully we'll avoid any fears about it (and the bonus would be not having to change the bath water every night). I say he's not ready because only occasionally is he anxious to get that dirty diaper changed. Most of the time, he'll just go on playing.

We usually start our routine with a tooth brushing. When we first started this, it was pretty painful for all involved. John cried and almost made Mommy and Daddy, too (from frustration!). But it's gotten a lot better! We still don't look forward to it, but it's not the drag it once was. We each get a tooth brush and we've learned that it's best if John sits for us to brush. Some days he's real compliant and other days he's Mr. Fidget. Tonight he was pretty good for John.

-EBP-

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