5/24
memorial day weekend- going to Newport tomorrow to drop off truck and tools.
5/25
quinn in carseat a lot today. Went to beach while in Newport, walking distance from new house. Trip home was rough for everybody.
5/26
bad fight in middle of the night. Quinn and I came to stay with susan after he woke up. Plans are changing- I’m going to move to Newport with Quinn. Lots to do this week to get ready- I start work in 7 days!
5/30
got the uhaul and packed it today, with tons of help from steve, tons of help with cleaning from susan, and tons of help from dena with watching 4 boys! Quinn was mostly glued to me, as I “directed” traffic and sorted boxes and finished packing the remainder of things. Quinn napped in the sling. We have been so blessed this week by susan’s family opening their home to us, and have managed to have a really good time in spite of such huge changes.
5/31
Grammy and Grampy got into Portland last night, and we picked them up at their motel this morning. We went back to Susan’s, then pretty soon Grampy got in the uhaul and we drove back to the apartment for the last few things, including baby kitty, and left the key. Drove all the way to Newport! We stopped at Elmer’s for lunch on the way. Got to the new house around 5, and had the truck unloaded by 6. (much quicker than loading! Thank goodness.)
6/1
went to Newport café for breakfast. Got lots of things unpacked and put away. Quinn getting acquainted with G and G.
6/2
Started my job, Quinn staying with G and G while I work, and until I can find childcare.
6/5 WALKING!
Quinn started walking this evening! He saved it up until he knew just what to do, and started right in with multiple steps. He spent probably a full hour practicing, laughing uproariously the whole time, and hugging and kissing me when he arrived in my arms each time. He was so pleased with himself!
Lately he has been saying more words and doing more signs. He both says and signs “done” now when he finishes eating, nursing, or playing with a certain toy. His sign for cat is not the one I taught him per se, it is his imitation of me snapping which is how I “call” Baby Kitty. He also signs milk, bird, tree. I am working on food and more with him.
6/6
Friday finally- a long, hard week. Quinn came with me at lunch to look at another daycare (the 2nd one) and was so happy to see me at lunchtime that it was very hard for me to leave again to finish the work day. He took 17 steps in a row for grampy today!
6/7
sat! mama and Quinn have all day together finally. It started out drizzly, so we went to the farmer’s market and salvation army first. We came home with strawberries, chard, broccoli, and a rose for grammy, as well as a few new dishes, a rug and some odds and ends. We also got a new sewing machine at a garage sale on the way home! (mine has been broken and I can’t borrow his dad’s anymore…) then after Quinn’s nap it was sunny so we all went to the beach and he tried out his new bucket and shovel from g and g. we got chilly but had a great time. Quinn snuggled into the sling to warm up again and then we went out for an early dinner at the apple peddler. He ordered a quesadilla and applesauce. We had a quiet evening and Q went to bed at 8- his schedule has shifted earlier to work with our new life here…
6/8
Sunday. We decided to hit the beach early today, as it was sunny and beautiful. We drove to Ona beach and found a nice spot with a “backrest” for g and g to sit against while Q played and played in the sand. He dug and dug, tossed shovels full of sand in the air, buried rocks, filled his bucket, and even, yes, tasted the sand. He also practiced his walking a lot. We went to the bayfront on the way home to visit the sea lions and buy some clam chowder to go. Before we even got out of the parking lot Quinn was doing his sea lion barking impressiong- he knew exactly where we were.
Earlier this morning, Quinn saw me pick up the rose and smell it while we were eating our eggs, and he said “vow!” (his word for flower). He kept saying it until I brought it close to him to see. When he reached out to touch it, I said “gentle”. Other times with plants and flowers I have told him we are gentle with flowers just like we are gentle with Mr. Kitty, but this time I just said the one word, so he touched it very gently and looked me in the eye and said, “meow, meow, meow.”
6/9
had a discombobulated day today, mostly worrying and feeling sad about Quinn having to start daycare. I came home and cried while Q nursed. After he nursed, Q sat with me and got a worried but smiling look on his face, touched my eyes, and then patted my heart, right in the center of my chest where it hurts to have all these feelings stuck, and then did his sign for “happy” (clapping). It was so apparent he knew I was feeling sad, maybe he even understood the exact reason, and yet he reached out to make me feel better.
6/10
today was better than yesterday (Mondays are going to be hard.) leaving Quinn is always painful, but he seemed a little less upset today, and he cried very little according to Grammy. I had a busy day, and when I called at lunch Q had invented the “pillow bum” game where he drops pillows off the couch and says “pillow bum”. I guess it is his first two word sentence. J this evening we took a bath (had our very first poop in the bathtub experience- I am amazed it took this long to happen, actually!) and Quinn did a lot of walking practice. A few times he crawled to the opposite end of the living room and down to the end of the hallway, then got up and walked all the way back to me (20 feet?) only losing his balance once along the way. He is amazingly surefooted in under a week of being bipedal.
6/11-6/16
the “ladies’ hammer,” the crowning gem of my tool collection (yes, it says that on the label!) has become Quinn’s favorite toy. He plays a lot of “bum” with it, and in spite of how dangerous it looks to have a one year old swinging a real hammer, he is astoundingly sure-handed with it. I really believe he could actually drive nails into wood, given how hard he swings it, and how accurately, but so far I only let him hit wood, no nails (we have to have SOME rules!) he had a great time helping Grampy stack firewood, then he played “bum” with a few of the logs.
He is a well rounded boy, however, and could also be seen attempting yoga poses while I practiced in the yard. I love when he tries to get under me while I’m in downward facing dog pose and stick his butt up in my face! He is a hoot. Sometimes he just goes “under the bridge” and other times he does the pose next to me. He’s also incredibly brilliant (I’m not biased either!) as evidenced by his play with his new mega blocks. (garage sale score from g and g!) immediately.after we opened the bag, he pulled out all the single purple pieces first, then the single yellows, and proceeded to sort them by color and make one tower of each color!
He has also learned (by watching) how to pull the leafy caps off the farmers market strawberries before he eats them (in large quantity. We bought lots and made jam!)
We made some friends at the beach yesterday (6/15). A mom (Trina) and her 2 year old son Noah walked onto the beach near where we were all sitting and we struck up a conversation- turns out she is a doula from Vermont, and almost as new in town as we are!
6/16
Grammy and Grampy left this morning. L we are on our own! It is sad to see them leave, but empowering too. And yet, having car trouble as I left Quinn at Summer’s house this morning was not exactly what I had in mind… we walked to the food coop after work and bought red quinoa and yogurt and apricots.
6/17
tonight we went to my boss Kym’s house for a lab get together. It was fun- we ate fish tacos and razor clams caught by todd (who I’m replacing- this was a farewell to him/welcome to me party) and brownie sundaes for dessert that I brought the fixins for (brownies fresh out of the oven; cook’s secret: buy the cheapest organic box mix, they taste a million times better than betty crocker!) the jacobsons have a great house right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We watched the sunset from their deck and played with Guinness, their chocolate lab puppy.
When we got home, I had a message from Summer that she had to take her son to the hospital in Portland right away, and so she couldn’t watch Quinn for at least a few days. So at 9:33 pm I was calling next door to Becky of Creative Kids, where Quinn is supposed to start permanently in July, to see if she could squeeze him in for at least a day. Luckily she has 2 kids on vacation this week, but I am sad that he has to go to a second place so soon after adjusting to daycare to begin with…
So far it has been ok with the nursing situation. He nurses a lot when he gets home, and extra evening nursings, and the bedtime one seems long, too. He is sleeping a nice long 6-7 hour stretch though, so that makes it easier to deal with the multiple times from 5AM until wake up time. Pumping is going ok too, I guess.
6/18
Quinn has a fever- Becky called at 2 right as I was going into a meeting but I left at 3 and took him home. It went up as high as 102, very briefly, and soon after he fell asleep for the night he didn’t feel feverish at all. I am not sure, but I think it may be teething related. (canines?) he was drooling a lot, and pulling on his mouth.
6/20
low grade fever again in the afternoon, but he was able to stay at daycare, and it did not spike again. On the happy side, Talan Thomas Rew was born today! He was a wee tiny thing at only 10 lbs and 3 ounces, and everyone seems to be doing very well! I’m so excited to have a new nephew and for Quinn to have a new cousin!
We went to a “function” briefly this evening. Scott baker, the marine mammal geneticist here at hatfield, invited me personally to a gathering at his house… considering I’d like to work with him someday I made an appearance. Quinn came, in the sling, and we were only there for maybe 20 minutes, then I took him home to bed.
6/21
farmer’s market
6/22
beach! Practicing shoveling
6/23 SIXTEEN MONTHS!
Went to trina and noah’s house this evening for dinner, it was great! The boys played very well, noah is very good at sharing, as is Quinn. We even watched Quinn at one point take noah’s hand to “ask” noah to walk with him (Quinn is more steady on his feet all the time, but felt like having someone hold his hand at that moment- so cute that he picked noah for that task.) we ate beans and rice and spinach salad with craisins and pecans. Yummy! Quinn ate a ton. Quinn wanted to nurse at one point and noah inspected, then said matter of factly, “Quinn’s eating the belly button.” I LOVE the innocence in that statement. If only more of society were 2 year olds.
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