quinn helped me pack the cds into their cases (he LOVES to do this…)
quinn walks around carrying a random squash going “heaby, heaby (heavy)”
10/24/08
quinn has been sleeping much better. 6 nights without night terrors. last night it took until 9 for quinn to go to bed (with me) and then he woke up at 2:30 for an hour… but not a terror, just woke up. and then he was hard to wake up this morning and did not want me to leave him at daycare, but that part has been going on all week, some kind of phase… but THANK GODDESS the night terrors have subsided or gone away.
10-25-08 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
last farmer’s market. 🙁 squash! apples! picked blackberries.
10/27/08
yesterday we went sailing in the morning. quinn fell asleep nursing, and i laid him down in the crazy creek chair, in the bottom of the boat and he just slept right through it. it was only a half hour nap, so he ended up napping again later when we took him for a walk in the stroller, (we had been playing ball in the yard for a while so he got to run around) and then he kept sleeping for a whole two hours at home! which made bedtime rough, because he was a bit twitchy. nap ended at 5 and normal bedtime is 7 so we didn’t go lay down until 8:30. always if quinn is having a wiggly night, and it takes me a long time to get HIM to sleep, it has the unintended result of putting ME to sleep too. so i woke up at 10:30 like huh? and went out and turned out the lights and put the food away and the clothes in the dryer, but i did not eat my ice cream.
10-29-08 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
walk to beach talking to “dammy” on the phone.
10/30/08
quinn is so cute when he wakes up in the morning. i was able to shower and start making lunches before he woke up and i was pouring my tea and heard on the monitor his little waking up yawn and him saying “hi”. really softly. i probably kissed his cheeks about a zillion times when i went in there to get him. we read him ‘if you give a moose a muffin’ (“muppin”) last night and he would have his dad read it, then me, then his dad, etc. and after each reading he’d look at the muppins on the cover and ask “in there” and it’s funny because he does that with teddy bear’s picnic too- the last page two teddy bears walking into the sunset basically with a guitar and banjo on their backs, and he wants to go “in there” with them. so we all pretended to eat the muffins off the book cover. i’m really astounded that he is doing that kind of pretending already- i wasn’t thinking that would happen before like age 3 or so but maybe i just had a gap in my babysitting experience…
in the book where the wild things are there is a section in the middle where max says “let the wild rumpus start!” and then there are three pages of just illustrations of max and the wild things jumping, swinging on vines, and dancing around, and so for those three pages we say “rumpus, rumpus, rumpus” while moving the book up and down, left and right or all over the place… so now quinn picks that book up, and opens it to any page and moves it around and says “wumpit!…… wumpit!…..wumpit!”
10/31/08
he’s growing out of his size 6 shoes. halloween plans: putting quinn in his pumpkin suit, trick or treating at becky’s house, then maybe going to his dad’s AA halloween party as a pumpkin farmer. (overalls, cowboy hat, flannel shirt? that’s about as much holiday spirit as i’ve got…)
11-3-08
on friday night (halloween), i left work early to go hang out with quinn and get him into the halloween mood while it was still light out. i put on his pumpkin suit around 5, and did a stroller cruise through the neighborhood, took him to see becky (his one and only trick or treat, which was a little box of mini charleston chew that took him forever to open and then i think he maybe licked one of them but never actually ate them. then at home i asked if he wanted to get out of the punkin outfit and he said no, so he stayed in it the WHOLE night. oh so the other thing that
happened friday (damn my memory is failing) is that becky wanted to close early (noon) so it ended up that his dad picked him up from daycare at noon and took him home, gave him a nap, then i got there at 3. so they did 3 hourstogether without me… so that is big. we started having kids knock on the door and quinn would come to the door with me and was all confused/pleased with the whole trick or treater thing. then he sat in the high chair facing the door, and i continued to answer it and give out candy while he ate dinner. then after he was done he helped me hand out the candy. we had 2 bags of snickers, i gave only one to each kid (quinn gave two to one of the kids) and we STILl ran out at 7pm. so crazy. i’ll know better for next year. i had on my overalls, flannel, and cowboy hat, and a button that said “support pumpkin growers” you know it’s bad when you have to use words to explain your costume. anyway… we did pictures and then went to his dad’s AA party and oddly enough it was fun lol. quinn was like “WHOOOOOOOAAAAAA” the whole time lol. someone gave him a bag of treats. he played with the plastic straw and the spider ring for a while, then dug in and found the tootsie pop. i didn’t think he’d get it open but he did, and he LOOOOVED it. he was soooo in heaven, all evening, just licking his lollipop. he would share it with me, and he just
had this look of joy on his face whenever he’d take a lick. that was the sum total of his halloween candy. he just seemed thrilled enough by watching the surreal people with long green eyelashes and the wrinkly head and the green face…
saturday we went grocery shopping and played and ate and napped. we went for a short drive to the reservoir that is literally a few blocks as the crow flies behind my house… but it takes a few extra blocks of driving to actually get there. a little hiking with Q in the sling, then he wanted “dowm” and he hiked too. he’s pretty good at it! we finally towards the end of the afternoon found that mossy spot (up a deer trail) where he’s sitting in the pix, eating his cheese and raisins.
sunday we decided to go for another drive, a longer one this time, into wilderness area/national forest and hiked a little more. i did not take pictures because it was already getting dark, but q was awesome, he had a stick and would take it to each puddle and stick it in. we saw a newt, and he would get so excited about each puddle- then he’d point ahead and say “mo water” (more water) and run ahead. at one point he was figuring out the word “way” like “this way” “that way” “other way” etc. because every now and then he’d turn around and we’d redirect him… so at one point he stopped, pointed at the direction we wanted to go and said “way.” then turned in the opposite direction and pointed and said “other way.” then turned again and went on walking the right way.
we painted some wooden letters. he had paint all over himself. thank god for washable paint. this morning i was showing him the finished, dry ones, and i said some of the letters, including Q, and then he held onto the Q and went “mo Q” and picked up all of the Q’s, there were 4 of them and every time he’d find one he’d say “mo Q”. more Q. i was kinda blown away by that!!!
11-4-08 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
Quinn in high chair at dinner “yay yay! Obama!” when we were cheering that he had won Ohio.
11-9-08 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
“tut tut! rain!”
pumpkin pancakes, squash bread (quinn on chair, kneading.)
Elaborate train set up with stations, tunnels, out of blocks. lots of books! bee-bo, rumpus.
“in there” is a popular phrase. tea kettle water in there. coffee in there. hat on, socks on, mama no, mama up, mama down, dada shop sleeping…
today he said “ah-dada?” and i said “where’s dada?” and he tentatively tried it “where dada”
asking for things he can’t see – apple, water, color, people in car.
telling his dad when he pees. “pee pee in there”
11-10-08
quinn and i went to buy groceries and he was FABULOUS as usual (he likes the store, but sometimes i have problems getting him to go back into the car seat but not last night- he had an apple that he was eating in the car- leaving it in the car was the only minor issue, but i was able to distract him quickly about that one, and he was so happy when it was there waiting for him that he got right into his seat. he will eat an ENTIRE apple, there is almost nothing left when he gets done- i try to have him avoid the seeds and the stem.
then he took a bath after dinner (stir fry with tofu- he liked it) and he didn’t need me to go in with him, so i cleaned the cat box and he let me brush his hair because i got him a new soft bristle brush, instead of the comb i was using (he didn’t like the comb). he was in bed around 8, but had to read rumpus one more time before he could sleep.
11-11-08
last night he asked to paint- i love that he is asking for things he isn’t even looking at… like he remembers it in his brain now, that painting is a fun thing he can do with mama… and says “paint!” and i go get the paints. he painted for over a half hour and then had a total meltdown and needed to go straight to bed. via the laundry basket to deposit everything he was wearing to paint, and the sink…
it is such a great painting- he was so into it, doing lots and lots of brush strokes and he would do circles and say “round and round” (wound and wound) and then do some straight lines, announcing each color (sometimes correctly) as he would dip his brush in it. he has two paintbrushes that i retired from my collection, one is medium sized and one is almost like a brush you would use to do trim in your house- wide and flat with a big ole handle, he likes that one a lot. as for the the meltdown- he was just tired and went into a desperate plea for more yellow and more purple and he still had some and he was just getting really more and more upset about it so i put the paint away and he was crying and saying mama no! i stripped his clothes off as we went to the sink and then he was briefly mesmerized by the sink spray nozzle so i could rinse the paint off him, but started fussing again on the way to the bedroom and was saying words like “sleeping (seeping)” and “milk” (sounds like milt or milnt) so i knew it was just tiredness.
11-13-08 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
Q with dada on sunny day. they went to co-op, bay front, Q rode in backpack to the reservoir where they saw “newt walking.”
“Quinn, are you?” (Quinn, where are you?)
11-16-08 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
“i had so much fun with you at the beach.”
“me too mama.”
11-17-08
i was outside almost all day yesterday and i’m glad. quinn napped as soon we got home (he was falling asleep in the sling as we walked back from the beach adventure) and slept till 1 (2 hours!) so naps were out of the way early and then we went and got dada, and all drove a half hour south along the coast and hiked in cummins creek national wilderness, and then stopped at a place where we could hike down and see tidepools. the hike was beautiful, it was a really pretty spot, and quinn was into hiking, he said hi to all the mushrooms (called them muppins though- same as muffin, but by the end he was saying muppoon) and picked up leaves, and his favorite thing of the whole day was probably throwing rocks into the creek. he LOVED it. i threw rocks with him and i would say “plunk!” when one went in the water and q would just GIGGLE.
then the tidepools, we had to carry him a lot for that, and he was so excited when we would get to a spot that he could walk, and he got to touch an anemone (best word of the day- “nummy-nummy-knee”) and the sun was setting and was really pretty. you can see how the pink sky was kinda reflecting on the tidepools themselves… that was what i was TRYING to capture anyway.
possibly the best moment of the day was when he woke up from his nap. i was telling quinn how much fun i had had with him playing on the beach this morning and he said “yeah.” and then he thought a second and said “me… too… mama.” i was not sure i had really heard him right but he said it again to me a little while later, coincidentally as i was writing “me too mama” on my notebook of quinn notes, which was really strange- i was thinking, can you read that? or are you just reading my mind??? he also said “me too dada, me too mama” later on in the day, and so it seems he has figured out what me too is all about. but i loved his first usage of it the best.
when we’re all together he is so happy. not that he is unhappy to be with just me… but when we’re all there he points at himself and says “Quinn”(tin) and points at me and says “mama” and points at his dad and says “dada”. and he’ll sometimes just go on and on about “quinn, mama, dada… mama, dada, quinn… dada, mama, quinn…” it feels like he is forming his identity or something and i just hope he isn’t being totally screwed up by all of this stuff… he asks me a lot where dada is. it used to be “ah dada?” and now he actually is starting to say “where dada?” and this morning it was “where dada go?” he always seems ok once i answer him, as long as dada is somewhere, at the shop, working, sleeping, etc. it is ok. but he does ask quite a bit.
oh this was funny- his dad picked up a few mussels while we were in the tidepools, since he has a shellfish license… and Quinn started yelling at him “jim, no!” i was laughing so hard internally. his dad kinda smiled, like, huh. he calls me by first name?
11-18-08 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
Q played guitar by himself on the couch while I sorted laundry, then at an apple, then we read 10 books under the blanket before he started rubbing his eyes. he was asleep by 8.
11-21-08
i’m not looking forward to the actual flying part but i really want to go for a new york visit! and i so want to meet talan and have quinn meet him! i finally got a couple of the talan pictures printed so i could show them to quinn and he can already say “baby talan” so he’s all ready for the trip!
11-22-08 (added on 8-20-20 from found notebook)
Q and I were up early and went out for a walk after breakfast while I talked to grammy. Q had walrus and racoon in his sling and wore his boots. Then he took a nap while i ate “lunch” at 9:30 am. we went to the beach when Q woke up (I carried him in sling to and from and he walked/ran a long way on the beach! we took nap #2 together and then ate a pizza bagel. read some books, painted – he is big on yellow and purple, bathed, post-painting he was somehow covered in blue in spite of the yellow/purple preference and then as I was reading to him (it is becoming a nightly ritual to sit with one of grammy’s afghans on our lap and read just before bed) he asked for water, so i carried him to get his sippy cup. when we sat back down i asked if he wanted milk, and he got up, ran back to the table to put his “water dowm!” and ran back, grabbed my hand, and led me into the bed – may he always be so willing to go night night! i am really enjoying his current age/stage and amazed daily by new personality traits. humbled by how much of a job it is to be a parent, also humbled by the impact i can/do have on him, motivated to continue to constantly learn and strive for better and better ways of being his mama. after his bath tonight he and i were giggling and funny-kissing each other (biting noses, rubbing noses, at one point he “latched on” to my lower lip) and it was just such a warm moment. he is a loving, sweet boy.
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