Lots of traps are built in the back yard. This one with ropes, bungee cords incorporating the swing.
Category: Observations
Saturday morning with Asher
This morning Asher and I got up together and left mama to sleep in. I wasn’t around much this past week with all my work activities, so it was extra special. It seems he’s developed so much in the last week.
We made my bullet proof coffee. Asher helped with the beans and the timer. He’s excellent at transferring the beans to the grinder and setting the timer for the steep cycle.
After we made coffee and started my engine, I followed his pointing prompts to start the Pandora toddler radio station on the home iMac. Then we sang and danced to a number of tunes. Some I’m familiar with, many Asher is. It was adorable to watch him tumble his hands forward in a circle to the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round. He knew many of the gestures and hand signs. Absolutely adorable.
Asher knows a lot of the toddler radio songs. It’s been fun singing and dancing, learning the songs and dances with Asher this morning.
As I type this into the iPhone from the recliner by the window, Asher has laid the long foam roller down between us and the couch and he’s demonstrating his toddler super-strength development. He stands on the foam roller, puts his hands up and over the arm of the couch and then muscles himself up onto the couch.
This reminds me of an event that happened yesterday morning. I was making tea while Asher was sitting in his high chair. He wasn’t strapped in or covered with the tray. Next thing I know, I hear a slap and a groan. I turn around and see Asher stretched out with this feet on the highchair and his hands flat out on the counter top, hIs body suspended in the air, hanging on for dear life. I grabbed him and held him asking if he’s ok. He did something I haven’t seen. He was expressing his dissatisfaction with the outcome of attempting to get the salt and pepper from the counter top. He was waggling and waving his hands in one of his normal ways, with a crooked index finger pointing and his palm facing up, but his language was in a tone I’ve never heard. His tone and inflection was saying “that scared me, thank goodness my daddy was close by, that was exciting but scary”.
“I did that”
Asher took at trip to San Diego with his mom to see Grandma Silvia and the rest of the San Diego family at the end of January. I’ve grown to expect Asher to make breakthroughs when with Grandma Silvia. He said his first word, dada, first crawled, took his first steps, all under her watchful eye. I predicted he’d do some talking during Christmas vacation, but instead we spent the week being a sickly bunch. This trip made up for the last. You’ll see why in a minute.
Asher loves to press buttons and flip switches. We have a number of toys that he’s able to get immediate feedback from by pressing a button and hearing a sound or song or see a light come on or flash.
In the video below he has corralled his mom and grandma to help him get to the doorbell at Grandma’s place. He’s on his step stool so he can reach and press it. I notice, also, that he’s using his thumb. At Christmas he would struggle to press that button down with his index finger and his middle finger. I showed him that his thumb is stronger, I even explained it to him. I see here, he understood.
Listen to what Asher says when he presses the doorbell.
Time alone with Asher
Asher is 15 months old, full of energy and growing and changing all the time. He’s had various colds and sicknesses since November. His first fever was Thanksgiving weekend. Another I recall was during our Christmas vacation. He’s lying in his car seat getting a much needed nap and making a gurgling sound from his lungs that alerts us that even though he’s a busy body, he’s still sick.
Yesterday he took a solid three hour nap before Kathleen woke him up around 4. When it was time to go to sleep, he wasn’t interested and fought it until about 9:45. Then he was up at 3 am and rolling around in bed like he wanted to get away from himself. I guess the boy is still sick and feels uncomfortable.
I got up with him at 530 and he complained about being up but would not go back to sleep.
Now we’re in a parking lot, he’s napping, I want a nap. When he wakes up we’ll do our shopping.
Enough blogging about our adventures, day and night. I’m gonna nap with him.
Our pre-walking infant
Asher has mastered his car, crawling, sleeping in his own bed (!), pulling up, sitting down, climbing stairs, eating with his hands, loving everything we feed him and being a generally adorable pre-walking infant.
Here’s a cool video of him being industrious, excited and fast.
Catch up
Things have been busy, fun and joyful around here with Asher.
So many milestones; commando crawling, crawling, pulling up, standing with good balance, teeth (3 so far), solid food and drinking from a bottle on his own.
Here’s a video of him learning to clap to the beat of the music.
Enjoy!
Asher laughing at mommy’s funny faces
Asher was in stitches as Kathleen was making funny faces at him. When I pulled out the phone to record the moment he was sharing his attention between the camera and his mom. His laughs were muted a notch or two but it was still fun.
Asher learning cause and effect
While Asher and I were hanging out, I noticed that he’s beginning to figure out cause and effect. He loves to put everything in his mouth. His washcloths are favorites. We did a practice of him putting the washcloth in his mouth, then dropping in on the floor, and me giving it back again. I got creative in giving it back by hooking it on his bouncer to see if he could retrieve it. It was fun to notice that he doesn’t have a strong preference for one hand over the other but seemed to lean towards his right. Once he grabbed the washcloth, it would quickly make the rounds from his mouth to the floor and back again.
New Vocabulary
Asher has been growing and learning and developing everyday. Today he was very talkative and surprised us with his endurance to keep talking in multi-syllable hums and hahs, complete with new facial expressions. We could see his tongue moving in his mouth as he made new sounds. Here it is for the whole internet to see.
Sunny days ahead
Grandma Silvia left on Monday. Daddy went on a business trip on Monday also. I ran mom ragged for three days, and then I let dad in on the deal when he returned Wednesday night. No one has slept well in a few nights. I have been colicky.
Dad didn’t know what that meant other than crying a lot, so I told him to check out Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_colic. Turns out I’ve been exhibiting lots of colic symptoms. Fussy for no reason, lots of moaning and groaning. “The strict medical definition of colic is a condition of a healthy baby in which it shows periods of intense, unexplained fussing/crying lasting more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week, for more than 3 weeks.” The Wikipedia says for breastfeeding mom to avoid, onions, broccoli and cauliflower, cow’s milk and chocolate. Dad put it together quickly that being halloween week, more chocolate than typical had been eaten in this household in the form of m&m’s mostly, and the parents do cook with onions and mom has been eating cold cereal with cows milk lately. Chocolate has always been one of mom’s favorites even if it isn’t a candy focused holiday week.
What tipped dad off was my grandma Sandy. She told him about the one time she ate a whole pint of chocolate ice cream and suffered for the next 12 hours as dad expressed his distress. Apparently my digestive system isn’t fully developed and certain types of food cause me to be upset.
Aunt Karen told mom that when cousin Allie had colic, a naturopathic product called Colic Calm worked instantly. Mom sent dad to Wallgreens right away and I’ve been resting comfortably in dad’s arms writing this post on his iPhone since.
Mom and dad are hopeful that I sleep soundly tonight, and they too.
Here’s to relief for mom and dad and sunny days ahead.
