1-27-09
quinn requests to have his dad call me now, and he is JUST starting to understand that i can hear him when HE talks on the phone. so instead of just sitting there smiling and listening to me, he is now starting to answer questions i ask him, etc. it is so much fun. he is adorabubble.
1-28-09
quinn is VERY into helping me do things. and he wants to do them “Too!” so if you try to go ahead and do something and he is trying to grab it so he can “help” he will often say very emphatically “too!” which i think is funny. sometimes it’s “quinn too” or more often “too quinn”. but the funniest one yet was the other day i was trying to read some boring thing about vaccines and he was playing and wanted me to play. i told him “mama’s just being boring” and he ran over and tried to get whatever i was reading and said “boring too!”
1-29-09
quinn now requests the indigo girls. he is so cool.
1-30-09
quinn has been having a little trouble sleeping, now and then, and i think he is basically running a little behind on sleep (got up early a few days with a wet diaper, things like that.) last night he went to bed at 8:30 after we had a great time playing and painting and coloring together. then he asked to go to bed. but he couldn’t seem to get settled into a peaceful sleep, he did fall asleep but i kept having to go in (in my towel from the bath i attempted to take) and help him back to sleep. and i was just about ready to go to bed at 10 when he decided he just couldn’t stay in bed any longer. soooo we got up and painted and colored some more. he painted a lot actually, and it was pretty much art
therapy as far as i can tell. he wanted to use a lot of red. usually he is more of a blue green kind of painter. but red and black were popular. at one point he was doing big fast “angry” looking strokes with the big paintbrush, and i thought maybe he was getting out anger except that he had a big smile on his face… so i asked if he was having happy feeling while he painted with the red and he said “yeah!” then he said, in kinda a sad way, “mama work”. and i understood that he was having a big feeling that actually was NOT happy, but he didn’t know what to call it… and he
stopped painting for a minute and we talked about how it feels sad when mama goes to work and stuff and how it’s ok for him to feel that way and that i always love him even when i’m not there and dada takes good care of him, etc. and then i was like can i give you a hug? and he FLUNG himself at me and wrapped his arms tight around my neck. my emotionally intelligent little boy… i need to remember the painting/therapy thing to do again in the future. i have heard others say things about how it’s a great way for kids to get out their stuff, but that was pretty striking proof to me.
2-1-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
“hi beach! love you!”
enthusiasm. gratitude.
paints! bath and hair “pantsome”
2-2-09
i had a headache when i went to bed and didn’t take anything but when i woke up at 3:30 i needed to get up and take ibuprofin. i came back into the bedroom and he coughed twice, and i thought uh-oh did i wake him? and he said, “WHOA!” in response to his coughs, and i thought, yup he’s awake. then nothing. silence. i love that he just randomly talks, really enthusiastically, in his sleep.
his dad called just now as i was having lunch (he was checking in to let me know if i should come nurse Q for nap or not) and he had already fallen asleep in the backpack and it was all good… he fell asleep HARD in the backpack. his dad said it’s that kind of sleep where you can’t wake him up if you try. he took him OUT of the backpack, put him in the bed, changed his diaper, took his jacket off… usually any one of those things causes him to stir, and if you try to do a second thing to him, he wakes up or needs to nurse. apparently his dad was making fun of him for how asleep he was and Q was laughing in his sleep at dada.
yesterday we went to the beach first thing (it was low tide and the agate beds are exposed- i guess it’s only in late winter) and we went to this place where the beach was just covered in rocks and shells and agates. the thing i kept finding were fossil shells i mean i found TONS of them, and that was even with quinn wanting to be carried for a good half of the trip. so it was nice to do some treasure hunting. and quinn did have fun for a while, running around behind me, picking up rocks and playing with us. so it was cool. then quinn and i went to trina and noah’s to play and have lunch. and then we went home for nap time. later as we were pulling into the driveway quinn looked over his shoulder (because the ocean is behind us as we pull into the driveway) and said, “hi beach! love you!”
2-2-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
“how’s your day dada?”
at bay front, a sea lion sneezed, “bless you, sun-in!”
2-3-09
last weekend beach trip- sand castles and anemones
people sleeping in the dump truck- night night people!
feeding baby kitty is his new passion in life
nacho night
new paints
hair in braids quinn looking handsome (“pantsome”)
last night, slip and slide with the fingerpaints on the kitchen floor. he would get up, go across the room, then turn around and run and slide through the paint. i’m serious. the entire kitchen floor was green. little green footprints. you can see the whole sides of his legs are green. he is probably bruised today from falling so many times. then he
went in the bath and was saying “i’m sam! eggs n ham!” while i cleaned up the kitchen.
a lump under the purple blanket: “where did quinn go” is such a favorite game. he just giggles and giggles under the
blankets. and pretends to sleep. and giggles some more.
2-4-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
“big milk and little milk”
“mama milk/dada coffee”
while playing with blocks and people with me, “mama work sad.”
2-5-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
shop “bum boat”
did trains, ate big burrito for dinner and two vitamins.
made blackberry muffins. “muffin beep! yay! muffin beep!” while running to kitchen.
2-6-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
5am “see muffin!”
smoothie “‘member eating a moovie?”
2-10-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
dada song, mama song, quinn song.
2-11-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
Q snack at dada’s: apple envelopes.
Q told dada he had to edit his plan for the day to include “beans in the grinder.”
“feels better”
“after this”
“then”
“nothing like the might Quinn!”
(“sing it again!”)
2-12-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
dada and Q took bus to shop, then went to hatfield visitor center for a few hours. Q fixated on a display of “chaos” where water spilled sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right.
2-13-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
i left work at 3:30 and we went to seal rock while there was still some sun. Quinn did a lot of climbing around the shell pile and i think it tired him out. he was mellow for dinner (duck eggs and quinoa and spinach wrap with a blueberry “moovie” smoothie.) and then rode on my back for a few minutes while i did some chores. before too long he was ready to “see milk!”
“rules do not give life
the Tao gives life
and the Tao is seen in butterflies
and in galaxies.
if children were trusted to discover God
in the center of their own hearts
the world would be at peace.”
the parents’ tao te ching
2-14-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
AM yoga (Q with dada at aquarium.) Q and i went home, ate lunch, (he ate pasta dipped in toby’s) and he took a long nap (1-3:30). then we baked blueberry muffins and brought them to share with noah and trina. we had a good time playing and listening to music and eating salads and mac and cheese. trina remarked that Q seemed taller than one week ago, and i agree. I think the lengthy nap and lots of night nursing have to do with growing and teething (3 of 4 molars on their way in).
2-15-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
woke up at 7 and ate bagels, then picked dada up for a rumpus. drove down to beaver creek and into the forest a ways. scavenged some firewood and went for a nice hike (aka rumpus) in the forest. before we left home in the AM, i told Q he could bring a toy or baby in the car with him. “baby bear in the red bag,” he said as he put his koala in the bag to go in the car. then he added, “feels better.” he then proceeded to put both pirate duck and christopher robin, two other toys, into the bag, “pi-ate duck in the red bag. feels better. sopher wobin in the red bag. feels better.” when we were out i the forest, he remarked that, “sun in eyes. feels better,” and “trees up! feels better!” after dada and i were commenting on the gloriousness of seeing the sun in the trees… i have been working hard on talking Q through his feelings, and helping him find ways of “feeling better” (having milk when he falls down, hugging dada when he hears a scary noise, etc.) and it seems like the concept has really taken root. it is so nice to see! after a brief nap in the car, we carried/cut/split/stacked wood in the backyard, Quinn helping in various ways from actually hauling and “helping” split a log, to carrying handfuls of sawdust from one end of the yard to the other, lying on the tarp, and playing in the bamboo (there is a fun crawl space between the bamboo and the fence where both Q and kitty like to hang out.)
2-16-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
picked them up at the bay front after work.
read “addy” last night and quinn woke up saying “please take this” quoting one of the zen shorts where the uncle gives his only robe away. sharing!
2-17-09
he is trying to avoid a diaper change by hiding behind the curtain, where he realizes he can look outside and see
his dad chopping the wood (dad bum woob!) he is looking extremely sleepy by this time in late afternoon with only the half hour nap…
2-17-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
I had a gift certificate for Kam Meng. Q liked the egg drop soup and the rice very much. He also tried shrimp and bamboo shoots (panda bear food!)
2-18-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
Quinn and dada took the bus to seal rock and mama drove there after work to pick them up and have a few minutes on the beach too. the water was calm, the sun was getting lower but it was still not too cold – no wind. very nice. they had built a very elaborate sand castle, and i helped Q add to it after he had some “milk on the beach!” while dada hunted for sea lion teeth. Q had a hard time calming down once we got home, and never really did until he fell asleep. sort of agitated, it seemed. as he was lying down he told me, “teeth hurt! teething tablets!” but he continued nursing and fell asleep without pursuing the tablets. he seems to be growing/teething/developing intensely right now so we are trying to do all we can to nurture him through all of that.
2-19-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
woob at lunchtime. nurse for nap. crab dock.
evening – dinner, smoothie, bath, reading lorax, bedtime.
2-20-09 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
out and about with dada all day. “bye bye dada see you later yuv you.” ate chowder and salad with mama, groceries, sling on back, read three books (pish posh, one nighttime sea, and “panda bears”), then bed.
2-20-09
seems like quinn is growing an inch a day right now.
the happy spot
quinn’s second birthday:
his dad got him an 8 foot octopus kite (they told him at the store it was the easiest and most indestructible, and it survived and did indeed get flown at the beach.
later, coloring his balloons.
baking his own bday cupcakes (“muffin cakes” he called them. same cake as last year, but in cupcake form) the eggs are from my office mate who has ducks. they are actually green eggs. he was really excited about green eggs.
devouring sushi (his dad rolled sushi for dinner. yum.)
i was noticing his self awareness, that he knows if he is hungry or not. his dad wanted to give him another bite of sushi on birthday night, (which he had already devoured a ton of, plus all the “toe-food” out of his miso soup) and he said, “no. mouth too full.” this morning i asked if he wanted cereal (he had just woken up and had a bunch of milk) and he said, “no. tongue too full.” he is hilariously awesome for inventing such things to say. i have occasionally asked if his tummy feels full but that is not a common phrase, i don’t think. i just think that is his way of understanding eating and where the food goes.
he blew out his “2” birthday candle about 6 times. he didn’t eat the cupcake though. mostly he was infatuated with his play table and playing with his new garden toys.
i think quinn was really overwhelmed by the birthday, even though it was so low key. he slipped on his kite and hit his head at one point, and afterwards everything he said for like an hour came out in sob form. “i need JUICE in there! waaahhhh!!!” or if his toy fell down “people down, ahhhhh!!!!” you get the picture. he was just totally overstimulated. his nap was 3 hours later than normal… went to bed at 10 which is 2 hours later than normal…. though he did that again last night… (as i was putting him to bed at 9 he asked me to take a bath. so i let him because
that helps him AND me settle down.)
so he was just busy all day, doing one thing then jumping to the next. you can see him in the balloon coloring (his idea) pictures, he is post nap but late in the evening there, still going full throttle. and he didn’t even open half his presents yet like the kitchen set. he loves his new “play table” as it is called. yesterday he wouldn’t leave it. he’d play there and color there and when it was time to eat, he’d eat there, sitting in his little green and yellow chair.
(added on 8-20-20 from found notebook) when I was putting him to bed, “Gampy Gammy sing happy birthday phone!”
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