9-24 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
this afternoon got pretty gloomy and quinn asked, “sunny go?” then he requested “outside” where he ran around the yard with his hammer exclaiming, “windy!” he asked to eat “dinn-oh” right away after daycare. he also told me “sine-saur” (dinosaur – i didn’t understand so he told me “rarr!” and then i got it!) he helped empty the dishwasher by carrying the bowls over and putting them up on the counter.
9-25 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
this morning when it was time to go to becky’s i asked Q if he could bring me the sling from the bedroom. he could, and he did! it is so cool how he loves to be useful. i guess we all do. he likes to say “clip” and “snap” while snapping together the various buckles on the sling. we did a sling walk to the beach after work, and Quinn was talking up a storm there: “wa-ter!” (used to be wagh), sand, step, hill, beach, doggy, woof, bird, seagull, zipper. he is learning to unzip his jacket, and zip the backpack. as we were leaving, we got to watch a doggy workshop of some sort – about 20 dogs and their owners, learning how to sit/heel/stay. Quinn gleefully distracted the dogs by barking at them from the sidelines.
9/26
quinn picked out his own t-shirt this morning- his brown pisces shirt from aunt Lauren. He had a birthday party for Sydne today at daycare, and then we worked on packing for our trip to Portland. New words: curtain, breakfast, oatmeal…
9/27-9/29
we did a quick trip to the farmers market before we left town for Portland. Quinn had gotten up at 5:30 (early for him) so by the time we got on the road he was ready to settle in for a nap. He did really well in the car, sleeping a long time, then eating snacks and playing until we arrived at baby ariana’s house (“beebee ana!”) to drop off a cooler full of milk. Quinn got to play with his “milk sister” ariana for a few minutes, which was really nice. She is now 9 months old, and starting to stand up and cruise.
Then we were back on the road, to susan’s house, where ronan’s birthday party was just getting started. We ate ladybug cupcakes and homemade vanilla ice cream. quinn was really happy to hang out with his buddies “gippon” (gryphon) and “wo-wo” (ro) again. we took the new scooters to the park and they zoomed around, we took the boys to OMSI for old times’ sake, and we ate lots and lots and lots of good food. yummy burritos, farmers market potatoes with cheddar-beer sauce, farmers market veggies in a stir fry, blackberry pancakes… yum! i felt so well cared for!!!
at OMSI the 3 boys were all decked out in smocks and splashing around in the pool when i noticed quinn collecting all of the greenish-colored ducks out of the lake and setting them up on the ledge in front of him. he worked for several minutes at it, as one would invariably fall on the floor, or back into the water. But he eventually managed to get all of his ducks in a row, and he was very proud. (so was i.)
on Sunday quinn and I ran a few errands- had to get more gummi bear vitamins (“min-a-mins” are very popular with quinn at the moment- he requests one at almost every meal, but only gets one a day) at trader joes, and a few things from new seasons that we can only get in Portland.
Monday Quinn stayed with susan for a little while, as I took care of some things, and then we went to the park again in the afternoon- quinn was having a great time with a basketball someone had left behind. He also got to try ronan’s scooter and was even able to do the one-foot-on-one-foot-pushing action of scooters, he very obviously gets the conceptual end of it, and soon his motor skills will be right there.
We drove home to quinn saying “happy day! Happy day!” as he had been saying all weekend (I finally figured out it is “happy birthday” but susan and I decided it shall be an every day phrase “happy day” from now on…) Quinn slept (it was bedtime) but woke up in Lincoln City and was pretty bummed to still be stuck in the car for another half hour- luckily that was all that was left of the trip! We went immediately to bed on arrival home.
There were so many new and refined words I lost track this weekend- ones I rememeber: frog, ribbit,
9/30
nap
store
dinner
egg/yogurt
bath
books
nurse/bed
10/1
I picked quinn up from daycare at noon, because becky called and said he was not feeling well. He has been runny nosey for a few days, but nothing serious. But it was affecting his ability to have fun, for sure. Luckily it is October now so I had a sick day… just barely. He felt much better.
10-3 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
Quinn refused to eat lunch at daycare, and Becky thinks the hunger strike has to do with food envy – specifically she thinks he covets the other kids’ lunchables. luckily she knows me well enough to know i won’t buy them, so she saved me a bright red empty lunchable tray so i can reuse it to make Quinn hippie lunchables. tonight as i sang Quinn the ABCs, he sand along for Q, W, and “now I!”
10-4 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
we went to the much-reduced farmer’s market this morning and met noah and trina. we got some turnips to try, and some gorgeous kale. amazingly, there are still strawberries! Quinn started his nap earlier than usual (10:45) and didn’t eat much besides milk beforehand. he nursed a lot today and ate only small amounts until just before bed, in fact (yogurt and avocado at bedtime). after nap, we swung by salvation army to see if they had speakers/stereo equipment (no) and got Quinn 2 nice long sleeve shirts. then we went to the aquarium and spent the whole afternoon there. Quinn was more into running around the paths and climbing the rocks but did stop occasionally to watch the otter, sea lions, puffins, fish, crabs, etc. he got a little riled up (wanted to climb in the puffin tank), so i put him in the sling where he immediately asked to nurse. i threw on my big shirt over us and sketched in my sketchbook while he snuggled and got calm. he stayed in for a while and looked at fish (cowfish, lionfish, seahorses, etc.) and then he wanted to get down again and roam outside. we took the nature trail, and just as we got to the end of it, it started to rain, so we headed for home. we played trains, sang our ABCs some more, and then off to bed. words: butt, sorry, scattered (i was telling someone on the phone i was feeling scattered…) as for the alphabet, Quinn was singing W-X-Y-Z- now-I in the car, and this evening he added a bunch of new ones while I sang- he chimed in with E-F-G, P, Q, T-U-V, W-X-Y-Z-Now-I, Me!
10/6/08
the night before last i woke up to quinn giggling in his sleep! it was freakin hilarious. he just slept right through it.
10-7 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
first visit with dada since the move.
10-9 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
dada was waiting by front door for him after daycare. he was happy.
10/10/08
a while ago i recorded a video of quinn looking at pictures and at the end i said “dada misses you very much” or something like that and quinn looked at the camera and i don’t know if i imagined it or wHAT but had this sigh that was like…way too mature for him by like 20 years.
he is an old soul… i actually imagined in that last bit where he sighs, that he said “yub dada” or “dada
uv” or something to that effect which i heard as i love dada. sigh. this morning he was talking about dada first thing again, and he picked up a piece of wood to act as a phone (anything can be a phone) and put it up to his ear and said “dada bum!” into his phone a bunch of times. last night he handed each of us one of the blocks that he uses for phones, and dada and i had a conversation from the kitchen to the living room (i was making dinner breakfast burritos) and quinn stood halfway between us just soaking it up.
10-11 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
“it’s so funny.”
“tea kettle.”
10-12 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
mail box, bunny, rabbit, paddle, boom, line… words.
10/14/08
i made quinn a sling so he can carry his babies in it- got it all finished and laid it out on the couch for him next to the big sling, for when he woke up in the morning. except he woke up when i came to bed, and couldn’t get back to sleep. he nursed on and off, but would end up tossing or turning and needing to nurse more but finally he just got so frustrated and cried, and anything i asked him (do you want food? water? etc) he said NO! until i said do you want to get up? YEAH… so we got up, there was the sling on the couch, he threw it on the floor (i did not expect him to be super happy about it in that mood though) and i couldn’t do ANYTHING to make him happy, he went over to the window that looks out on the driveway, and hid behind the curtain and any time i came near yelled “no!” and cried. so… it was 11:30 so i called his dad, thinking maybe he might have advice. he hadn’t asked for dada yet and i hadn’t really said anything about dada, thinking if dada wasn’t an option, why bring him up? but he was up, actually out crabbing (crazy man. it’s full moon, he couldn’t sleep.) he said it would take him a long time to get there… and i said well he hasn’t asked for you yet… but just then quinn’s mad crying turned to sad desperate “dada” crying. oh man. so i asked him if he wanted dada, YEAH. we went to the fish dock, which was actually really cool for me, just to walk out the pier with q in the sling, i never get to be on the water at night anymore (i have a baby) so i was loving it. then we got to see dada pull up his two traps, and then he packed it all on his bike (including a bucket of 5 crabs) and we followed him in the car back to his shop. (it’s a block or two away). and we hung out while he put the crabs in a cooler with an aerator for the night so he could deal with them today, and we got back in the car and went home. then quinn was so happy. and he wanted to clip the buckles on his new sling, and then he wanted it
“on. on. on.” and so i put it on him, and we put the monkey in it, then a duck and a raccoon who could both fit together. he was just happy.
the aquarium was really fun. i didn’t get to see the sharks last time so that was cool. quinn loved it. he would drag dada through all the tunnels in all the rocks, and wanted to do all the stairs.
10/16/08
last night quinn napped as soon as we got home, and that always sets things off. i figured we’d do the library, maybe even go buy groceries, if he seemed not tired yet after the lib. so we did that, and all was basically well. the library was fun, the stories were about squirrels (squirrels are our THEME – say in ani living in clip voice). he wasn’t all caught up with dada at least. he made me go up and down the stairs at the library (two flights down to the children’s room) about 4 times before we could go check out our book and go home. so cute. then he asked for milk on the way to the car but i gave him peanuts and raisins mix (i always have some snack available when we go places to facilitate getting him back into the car seat.) so he loved that. he thinks nuts and raisins are just the greatest thing in the world. he was happy when we got home. he wore his sling a little, he played well.
i guess around this age a lot of kids have their first nightmares, so that could be going on. i think there is teething involved (2 yr molars- he is yanking on his mouth a lot) and both becky and i think his recent upsets have everything to do with dad being back in the picture- she had mentioned at the end of the week last week (the 1st week of dad being back around) that q is doing a lot more hitting/throwing/etc and that she actually put him in time out at times (in the pack and play) because he just needed to be alone to deal with himself. and i asked her this morning if she felt that was all pretty recent, ie since dada’s return and she said oh absolutely i think so.
10/17/08
quinn had another rough night. he woke up at 3 with another dream (if that is what it is.) and cried a bit but i was able to keep him in the bed and get him to nurse, i just had to sit up and hold him in my lap first. usually i don’t even sit up when he wakes at night… so yeah my sleep is short and very broken up compared to normally… i woke up at 7 and woke him up at 8:20 and we were less late than yesterday but still late… but he is making glitter pumpkin art today so he’ll have fun. and he has strawberries in his lunch because i felt like buying out of season fruit on sale.
10/18/08
last night went much better… quinn had no night terrors (which i think is what they are, not nightmares. if that is what it even was, and not molars. sheesh) he did wake up quite a few times to nurse but it was the normal eh-grope-latch-on thing where no one even has to open their eyes and certainly not sit up. so i had 9 hours of fairly restful sleep and he slept really really well from like 8 to 7:45. and he took a 3 hour nap at day care yesterday so he is getting caught up i think. i just read that being overtired can aggravate night terrors which was my hunch, which is why i was super happy about the nap and the relatively early bedtime (compared to this past week anyway.)
night terror description (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
Quinn went to bed last night at 7:50pm but woke at exactly 2 am asking for “song, CD, CD, up!” i told him we had to lie down, it was still night time. he got up out of bed, telling me no emphatically, and pointing to the door. as soon as i caved, though, and decided to get up and go in the living room, he wanted nothing to do with me – wouldn’t hold my hand, did not want me to pick him up or touch him at all, and began crying the same way he has on other recent nights. having researched it a bunch online yesterday, i think this is the “neural storm” of a night terror, and for 57 minutes, he cried and wanted me at a distance. he didn’t even end up leaving the bedroom, just stood in the middle of the floor and cried, eventually going inside the closet (where the light was on) and continuing to cry. it stopped very suddenly, and he wanted “mama” and quickly climbed into my lap. we changed his dipe and he nursed back to sleep. the suddenness is unnerving, and i can see his eyes change from a look of despair and confusion to a look of alertness and relief and “oh mama.”
in the morning we woke up together and had bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. we took the stroller to the farmer’s market and met trina and noah as they were parking by the coop. we walked the rest of the way together and worked our way through the market, quinn bopping his head to the violin music. he held onto a huge bell pepper for me, and after a while also accumulated a carrot and an apple, both of which he munched on – he was very mellow for the whole trip. almost as soon as we got home,he wanted to lay down and nurse (i love how happy he gets when he decides he wants milk, tells me, i ask, “do you want to lie down?” and he runs gleefully to the bed, laughing and acting like the luckiest kid on earth. it is so sweet!) he was out by 11 am, and i proceeded to make tomato sauce and put away carrots, broccoli and peppers in the freezer. (next week is out last FM for the year and i’m in denial and mourning!)
10/20/08
we had one more night terror friday night from 2-2:57AM, and then none the last two nights, phew! he got upset when i was going to leave him at daycare this morning, so i stayed a little longer again but he just needed a couple more hugs and then he was ready to go color, and it’s so cute, when he decided he was ready for me to leave he brought me my coat. (i had worn it over both of us this morning but took it off to get him out of the sling). so cute. sometimes he lets me out the sliding door and closes it behind me, little doorman.
we had a really good weekend. went sailing on saturday afternoon, quinn fell asleep in the boat and i froze my butt off. in fact i’m still chilled from it. that paddle was in our garage, left behind by former owner (before my landlords) and they said we can have it. so that one is for Q. how cute is that?
sunday we attempted to hike but Q just wanted us all to stand in the moss together, and play in the sand together, and not hike very far. then after nap we took him to the beach and he decided to climb all the way to the top of this long staircase that basically gets you from the beach up to the top of the cliff where civilization is (we usually just take the ramp) he had so much fun “stepping!”
10/23/08
quinn and i each ate a gigantic bowl of brown rice, squash, and salty squash seeds. best dinner last week, i know it’s ridiculously simple. my son loves orange-yellow veggies though. he has sweet potato in his lunch today.
10-23 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
“ten!”
“katydid”
twenty months old!
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