Trash Man

Baby M is obsessed with trash. He said the word "trash" before he said "Mama". He eagerly awaits trash day and with 3 separate trucks coming down our street (garbage, recycling and green waste) our Mondays are very busy with lots of pointing and shouting "truck." He also likes pointing out trash on the ground. Getting across the park can take all day as he gestures at every plastic bottle cap, cigarette but and stray candy wrapper. But what he really loves, at times seems to lives for, is throwing away trash. When we're at home he'll take his used tissue, walk confidently over to the cabinet under the sink, toss it in the trash and then smile at me proudly. When we're out he'll stand in front of the trash can with his arms raised waiting to be lifted up so he can throw away his granola bar wrapper. At Starbucks he loves dropping empty cups into the little round hole in the counter. But apparently the world is not producing enough trash for Baby M so he had decided to take things into his own hands.

Today he pulled all his swim diapers out of the nearly full package and ran into the kitchen with the wrapper shouting "trash! trash!" Yesterday he found a box of gelatin packets in the cupboard, dumped them out and tried to throw the empty box away. I showed Baby M the cute Easter card his uncle sent and it immediately went into the trash, along with some unpaid bills that I had carelessly placed on the coffee table.

Perhaps this janitorial calling is genetic. Baby M's 3 year old, bilingual cousin is also enamored of litter. In a somewhat disturbing Christmas tradition, we open our presents and then wave the wrapping paper in the air shouting "basura, basura" and wait for Baby J to come and collect it in his big black garbage bag. Come to think of it, this last Christmas Baby M helped his cousin carry that bag around so I suppose I should have seen this latest development coming.

The Eyezz Have It

So Baby M finally has a few words under his belt. His first word was (drumroll) ..... "eyes." He'll point to my eyes or his own and whisper "eyezz" and then give me a big grin. We read some Sesame Street books and he is totally obsessed with the Count's monocle. He keeps pointing at it repeating "eyezz, eyezz, eyezz."

He has also mastered "hot." Initially he would point to the heater, my coffee mug or the toaster oven and declare "HOT." But now it has become his go to (and admittedly only) adjective. Jell-O is hot, his rubber duckie is hot, a shovel is hot, it's like living with my own miniature Paris Hilton.

Still no Mama and Daddy is kind of hit or miss, but he's definitely making some progress on the language front. Hooray! Grunting and emphatic pointing is all well and good, but I am really looking forward to Baby M speaking.

Getaway

Now that Baby M is weaned my husband and I decided to celebrate and take our first overnight trip sans baby. Last week we had our house tented for termites (ugh!) and headed up to my in-laws house for 3 nights. On one of those nights my husband and I snuck away to the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa for 24 hours of baby-free recreation.

We left Baby M screaming in his grandpa's arms as we waved goodbye on Saturday afternoon. I hate seeing Baby M cry, but lately he puts on the same show if I leave him to take a shower so I was prepared for a dramatic exit. The drive up the coast was lovely and we arrived at the Inn in a little over an hour. The Ojai Valley Inn and Spa is a beautiful Spanish Colonial resort with gorgeous views of the mountains. I felt more relaxed just minutes after walking through their arches. Our room (the cheapest one at $350 a night) was small, but comfortable with a big 4 poster bed and a view of a courtyard with fruit trees. We took a quick stroll through the complex and then headed into town for a late lunch at Sea Fresh Seafood. I had the Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia, which was good and my husband had a mixed seafood plate which included fish caught that morning from the restaurant's own fishing boat.

After lunch we headed back to the Inn for a nap. Despite the Inn's many amenities -- golf, spa treatments, yoga classes, swimming pools, etc., the thing we were most looking forward to on this mini-vacation was sleep. Uninterrupted, unabashed, drool on the pillow sleep. We woke a few hours later, went for a dip in the salt water jacuzzi and then headed back to town for a late dinner. In hindsight, we should have eaten at one of the Inn's restaurants because there was only one restaurant in town still open after nine, a friendly, but uninspired Italian place. After dinner we returned to the Inn for martini's in the lounge and listened to an affable jazz singer with a crowd of drunk and unruly senior citizens (who were more entertaining than the singer!).

In the morning we rented bicycles from the golf shop and took the bike path into town to the Ojai Cafe Emporium. We read the newspaper on the heated patio over coffee and oatmeal. After a quick dip in the salt water pool we checked out and headed back to my in-law's place. This getaway was just what I needed. When I left for the Inn I was tired, annoyed and just wanted 15 minutes without a baby attached to my leg. By the time we returned home I was refreshed and ready to scoop Baby M into my arms and give him a big kiss.

So there you have the update. Of course, if you follow my husband's Twitter feed, you'd know all this already since he sent updates continuously through our trip-- seriously, he Twittered while we were in the jacuzzi.

Sesame Street

I'm afraid my baby is addicted to Sesame Street. I was all for keeping to the "no TV under 2" recommendation and except for the period when I tried anything and everything to calm his colic, I rarely parked Baby M in front of the television.

Then I caught cold after cold this winter and I started turning on the occasional episode while I recuperated on the couch. I also found that 10 minutes of Sesame Street would sometimes stop the inconsolable crying jags that Baby M often experiences upon waking from a nap. And I admit that both my husband and I have pulled up sesamestreet.org while we surreptitiously check our email in a separate browser. Although Baby M was happy enough to watch, he never seemed obsessed with watching, until now.

Now he wakes at 5:30 am and begins gesturing wildly at the TV set. He rummages through our DVD collection until he finds the Sesame Street Fiesta DVD and then waves it in front of my face. If I hide the Fiesta DVD he pulls out the unopened Baby Einstein videos I received as shower gifts and if I hide those, he brings me Austin Powers in desperation. So I have acquiesced and now allow him thirty minutes of Sesame Street a day. It makes him really happy and I can use those thirty minutes to catch up on email or wash the dishes. But a lot of the time I just sit next to him and watch. We love it when Elmo "asks a baby" --it cracks us up every time.

Time to Wean

So at 16 months, we are officially done breastfeeding. I know some women find this a sad milestone, but I am pleased to be finished. I enjoyed breastfeeding, but nursing a toddler was really starting to wear me down. At 13 months Baby M still nursed every 2-3 hours and I was having trouble keeping up my weight (I know, some of you are saying nice problem). Plus the hormones associated with breastfeeding were causing some other troubles which my OB/GYN summed up as "60 year-old vagina." But most importantly, the frequent nursing was affecting my relationship with Baby M. I resented his constant whining and tugging on my shirt. When he wasn't nursing instead of playing with him I just wanted a few minutes to myself.

I tried to start weaning him at 13 months, but he was not ready. He became extremely clingy and refused to eat solid food. At the end of November I noticed he had a renewed interest in food so I started limiting his nursing sessions. I went from feeding on demand to feeding him 4 times a day-- morning, before each of his 2 naps, and before bed. (We had stopped nighttime feedings a few months prior.) This change was the most difficult of the weaning process. We spent a lot of time outside and away from home so that Baby M could keep nursing off his mind. If he was really insistent or feeling bad I would go ahead and nurse him, but eventually we were consistently nursing 4 times a day. Then, serendipitously, Baby M dropped his second nap, so we were down to 3 times a day. Dropping the nursing session before the main nap was problematic since Baby M has always needed to be nursed to sleep. I tried replacing the nap with a drink, a story, rocking, nothing worked. Ultimately, I started planning car/stroller rides around his naptime, which worked, but now he must be in the car or stroller for his nap. It's okay for now, but I'd like to get him in his crib for naps eventually.

We held steady with the night and morning feedings for a few weeks as my husband and I debated which feeding to drop next. The nighttime feeding was part of his bedtime routine, would he sleep if we left it out? But the 5AM feeding usually secured an extra 30-60 minutes of sleep time for all of us, we certainly didn't want to lose that. Not being morning people, we decided to drop the nighttime feeding. Instead of nursing Baby M after his bath, my husband read him a story and tucked him in to bed. We prepared for screams of protest, but instead Baby M just rolled over and went to sleep. He didn't seem to miss the nursing at all. I was a little disappointed, but my husband was so proud of himself for successfully putting Baby M to bed.

After 2 weeks of one feeding a day it was time to drop the morning feeding. At 5AM instead of bringing Baby M back to our room for nursing and dozing in the bed I got up, played trucks with him and gave him some animal crackers to munch on (his favorite snack.) And that was that, no drama at all. Once in awhile he'll point at my chest and look at me quizzically, but I just shake my head and he goes back to whatever he was doing.

I thought I was going to make it through the weaning process without any engorgement, but after 3 days of no nursing my breasts became sore and lumpy. Not terrible, but definitely uncomfortable. Hopefully it won't last long. Now that we're not nursing constantly we have much more time for playing soccer, making playdough, and chasing the dog. I do sometimes miss the chance to sit down and relax, but I think it was definitely the right time to wean.

Caveman Baby

So Baby M is now almost 16 months old and still hasn't said a word. No "mama" or "dada", not "ball" , not even that old todler standby "no". Oh sure he makes sounds that are technically words but they are never applied consistently to the appropriate people or objects. I hear a lot of "yeah yeah yeah"'s and some "dada"'s, "yoyo"s, etc. There was a day I thought he had mastered "socks" but then it disappeared never to return.

It's quite clear that Baby M understands much of what we say. He will shake his head for yes or no, can follow simple commands like "bring me the ball" and even somewhat demeaning commands like "shake your booty." The other day while washing dishes in attempt to free my right leg from his vice-like grip I asked him to bring me a book about trucks. He promptly released my leg walked into his bedroom and returned a few moments later with the book Big Trucks. So he definitely understands language he just doesn't seem to be too interested in producing language. I guess he figures his combination of grunting, pointing, whining and tantrum throwing is working for him, so why change it? However, this mode of communication is not working for me, in fact every day it grates on my nerves just a little bit more. Especially now that he has started pointing in two directions at once and then bursting into tears when I stare back at him in confusion.

So I am redoubling my efforts to get Baby M to speak. Now, instead of handing over whatever Baby M points at, I try to get him to say something, anything, before giving him what he wants. It usually goes something like

Baby M: uunh! (points at rice on my plate)
Me: Oh you want rice? Say rice.
Baby M: mag-dah
Me: (feeds him rice)

Not terribly promising, but we'll keep trying. I also read that getting your baby to mimic silly sounds is a good way to start him on the road to language acquisition. So we started playing a game where Baby M hits my head and I say "Dong!" in a funny voice. Pretty soon he was joining in with the "Dong!" having a grand time and I felt very encouraged. But after a day he stopped making the noise and now he just hits me on the head. So I am living with a midget who grunts, throws food everywhere and whacks me on the head for fun. Whoever said toddlers are like little cavemen may have have been on to something.

You're a Mom?

Yesterday we attended Baby Z's first birthday party at her home in Pasadena. During the party Baby M needed a diaper change and so I snuck off to the baby's room to change him. Baby M does not like to have his diaper changed. He screams, he squirms, he grabs at his diaper, he rolls over, he stands up. Diaper changes are always a struggle and I dread changing him away from home.

So I was battling Baby M on the changing table when two girls around 4 years old came into the room. "What are you doing?" they asked. "I'm changing his diaper." I replied wincing as Baby M's foot narrowly missed landing in a pile of poop. "Do you know him?" they asked skeptically. "Yes, he's my son." I answered as Baby M tried to backflip off the table. The girls looked at me incredulously and said, "YOU'RE A MOM?!"

At first I was flattered and assumed that in my new Joe's Jeans I looked too young and hip for these kids to think I was a mother. But on second consideration, they probably figured anyone so obviously incompetent at diaper changing could not possibly have a child. I can only hope that Baby M's aversion to diaper changes means that potty training will be a breeze.