schmits.org

Motion Baby

Once a motion baby, always a motion baby.

Today, I had the opportunity to once again hold Andrea, and sway, and bounce as I did when she was an infant. Today, Andrea was overtired and was attempting to refuse taking a nap. I started holding her so that she couldn't run away or head downstairs. In spite of her squirming, I could tell that she was tired. Eventually, she gave in to the fatigue and I could feel her body relax. So I stood, and swayed and bounced a bit more as she got more and more tired. Finally, she asked to lie down on the futon (in her room) and she was asleep in seconds.

As an infant, we had many opportunities to contend with our motion baby. We would often walk and bounce with her in our arms until she fell asleep. When we were both fatigued, the bouncy seat sometimes came to the rescue. At daycare, I have many memories of Ms Karen happily dancing with Andrea in her arms. Andrea also motivated them to buy batteries for the vibrating bouncy seat that hadn't had working batteries in quite some time! The sling was our friend as she got older, as she would ride contently until she dozed off. Sometimes, we relied on the stroller and a walk around the block in nice weather.

I'm not sure if I'll ever forget our trip back from one of Andrea's early doctor appointments. She was screaming as loud as her little lungs could in the back seat of the car. As instantly as a light being switched, her screams turned to snores as we crossed the bumps of the three railroad tracks. It went something like this: Waaaah! Waaaaah! Waaaaaah!, Bumpity, Bumpity, Bumpity, ... {silence}.

And then, there was our disappointment when they re-paved a local road that we travel frequently. We would drive trying to hit the small bumps in the road to provide some soothing and comfort to our backseat passenger. Those bumps and potholes were our allies! Somehow we managed, but I suspect we dealt with a lot more crying that we would have had the potholes remained.

So, I guess I am thankful for the bumps in the road... both figuratively and literally.

Growing Up

Andrea is growing up!

We've seen remarkable growth and change in the last month or so. Andrea has really taken an interest in writing and is now writing what looks to me like an "H" but I think that she calls either an A (for Andrea) or a D (for Dylan). Andrea also is joining Dylan with lots of imaginative play. They have been playing much more interactively. Both of these changes have made a world of difference at church, where Andrea will now sit in the pew with us for an hour plus.

Just yesterday we encountered a huge milestone: Andrea rode in the truck for the first time. Over the weekend, Dylan rode in the back in the jumpseat. After investigating the rules of the road in Illinois, I learned that as long as there is only a lap belt this is permitted. The truck manual had guidelines for being at least 40 lbs to sit in the seat; Dylan is 42 lbs. Yesterday, we had a parent-teacher conference for Andrea, and both kids wanted to ride in the truck with Daddy. We were going to put Andrea in the carseat and adjust it, but then realized that in that carseat she is too big for the 5-point harness. So, she had her first ride with a belt-positioning booster. Upon arriving home, after a wonderful dinner at Jason's Deli, Andrea weighed in just over 30 lbs, so she is legit in the belt-positioning booster.

The car seat we have in the truck was never my favorite. I'm not sure who it's designed for... but let's keep this positive for tonight.

Conservation of Crankiness

Newton's long-forgotten fourth law, according to the physics teacher in the family, is the Conservation of Crankiness. We observed this in action the other night. It was quite amazing. Dylan was as grumpy as can be, while Andrea was very happily getting ready for bed. Then, once Dylan calmed down ready to listen to stories, Andrea became grumpy. We did not see how the crankiness was transferred, but it was quite a phenomenon.

The mystery to me is how on some evenings we have a low level of total crankiness, but on others it is a high level. I need to understand how to transfer the crankiness outside of our house!

M&M's, Skittles, and Genetics

I'm always amazed how genetic inheritance manifests itself in Dylan and Andrea. Tonight at dinner, Dylan and Andrea were eating Skittles from their Halloween loot. Dylan dumped his bag on his plate and remarked how his green Skittles blended in on his green plate. (After which Andrea remarked how her green Skittles blended in on her pink plate.) He then sorted his Skittles by color and counted how many he had of each type. He then proceeded to eat whichever color Skittle he had the most. When he had the same number of all colors, I believe there was a priority order in which he ate them, but I'm not sure what it was. This continued until he ate all of his Skittles.

I eat M&M's the exact same way. After sorting by color and counting, I eat whichever color I have the most. When I have the same number of more than one color, I eat them in this order: brown, red, orange, yellow, blue, and green. This order may be influence by some commercial or story about green M&M's resulting in a home run in baseball.

It Broke

The day that I was fearing is finally upon us. Daddy's Blanket broke. It is now two blankets. The wear and tear of all the pulling of fuzzies has taken its toll.

Fortunately, my reaction to Dylan's proclamation that "It broke!" was a calm, simple, "Now you have two." He accepted that, and is cuddling with two Daddy's Blankets at bedtime tonight.

Now, Daddy's Blanket can be in two places at once.

First Sentence

IAMGtoohth
Prk

"Mommy, what does that say?"

"It says, 'I am going to the park.' Did you write that, Dylan?"

"Yes."

"Who helped you write it?"

"No one. I wrote that in my journal this morning. I sounded it out."

It wasn't until after Andrea brought me a piece of paper and was waiting for a big hug that I realized how excited my response was to Dylan. I gave him a big hug, and was beaming from ear to ear.

I'm almost certain that he did in fact write it this morning. It was accompanied by a picture of a stick figure that was standing in grass with what might be a bench nearby. There is a blue line for the sky and both yellow and black suns. Perhaps I'll get around to scanning this page to share. The picture and writing were done with markers that we have at home, in his journal from school from last week. There was one blank page at the back, because they did not have school on Monday the 13th.

I think that I was about as excited with this as I was with his first steps. A proud moment as my little boy grows up.

Pictures - Camping and Cousins

Now available are two new sets of pictures: camping over the summer and a visit from cousins last month.

Unless I am overly ambitious, these are the last pictures you can expect for a while. The next commitment I have is for Fourth Quarter pictures. However, I may make a separate album out of events over the next several months if the number of pictures warrants it.

Two and a Half

Andrea is nearly two and a half. Yesterday, she had her two-and-a-half-year-old well-check at the pediatrician's office. She also had her flu shot. And Dylan received his flu shot.

Of the three measurements that are taken, the one that I believe the most is the weight. This time, Andrea weighed 29 lbs and 4 oz, which places her just above the 50th percentiles for girls her age. Her head measured at 20", which is above the 95th percentile. The measurement that I have a hard time believing this time is Andrea's height. Measured lying down, by drawing lines on the paper at her head and heels, Andrea is supposedly 38 1/2". If that is the case, then she is above the 95th percentile for height. When you look at her growth curves, there is an obvious error in height measurement somewhere. For this check-up, I could believe 38", which would be between the 90th and 95th percentile. I could also believe 37 1/2", which is just below the 90th. I could also believe 36 1/2" if last times measurements were accurate. Looking back at Andrea's numbers from her 2-year check-up, I now believe the measurement of 34 1/4" was on the low side. It seemed strange that she had dropped from just above the 90th percentile to just above the 50th in only six months. It now seems strange that she grew only an inch between 18 months and 24 months, and a full 4 1/4 inches in the six months since.

But, enough hypothesizing about the measurements taken at the doctor's office. The important summary is that Andrea is growing. And, Andrea is healthy.

Andrea did not utter a peep when she was given her flu shot. Total silence. Dylan on the other hand, made quite a bit of noise. However, the noise was probably louder before his shot than after.

Yesterday, I also noticed Andrea's lower left 2-year molar barely peeking through the gums. For those who are counting, this is tooth number seventeen.

Officially, we have five more days until two-and-a-half. But, I've already started referring to Andrea as being there.

Trash Collector

I am now a trash hauler. Okay, maybe that's being a bit extreme. Trash collector is probably more accurate.

At work, I have now lost my trash can at my desk. If you recall, over the summer, I lost my walls and door. Now, my trash can. This is part of an initiative that is called "cooperative cleaning." Instead of a cleaning crew coming in after hours, they work while we work. In order to minimize desk-side disruptions, everybody will dispose of their own waste into centralized containers. Since folks in a pilot of this process were not able to empty desk-side trash receptacles regularly, we now have only four large trash containers for the entire floor. Instead of one member of the cleaning crew taking a moment to dump my trash can into the bin that was pushed through the floor, I now have to either collect trash on my desk (used piece of gum anyone?) or I have to walk approximately 25 yards to and from a trash can whenever I need to throw something away. Cost savings at its finest.

I'm just waiting for the list to be distributed that tells me which day I have toilet-cleaning duty. And I'll take vacation that day.

Third Quarter 2008 Photos

New pictures are now available! The third quarter just ended this week, and SURPRISE! that brings pictures immediately your way. Also newly added are pictures from our opening weekend trip to the LEGOLAND Discovery Center. Still awaiting editing are pictures from our camping trip in August and pictures from last weekend's visit from the cousins, Uncle Tom, and Grandma.