this is the day!

This is the day that Jaxon decided he really could walk all by himself.  He started with about 7 steps, then 13, then 15, then all the way across the living room!  He’ll be 11 months next week.  Gah!  (Max walked at 13 months, Marty at 14.)  They say “the baby” grows up faster, and in this case it’s really true.  (It was actually Nov. 18th, but this got posted in the wee hours of the morning.)

one fine day

It was, just that.  One fine day.  At least the weather was fine, momentarily.  So I packed up the boys and scooted over to our neighbour’s house to get some pictures in her beautiful maple leaves. She said it’s the first time in 33 years that the tree has shed the leaves when they were bright red. She said they are usually brown when they drop.  How nice for the tree to do that for us.  What a nice welcome to the neighbourhood!  Max and Marty tolerated a few poses, but tired quickly.  There was really only one star of the show on this day, and the supporting cast didn’t seem to mind.

After a costume change, the star had HAD ENOUGH and threw a bit of a hissy fit.  Something about the cold, damp leaves and grass, just didn’t suit his preferences.  That’s all right.  He’s wearing the owl sweater.  He can do whatever he wants in the owl sweater.  He’s still cute, hissy fit and all.

And click here for previous appearances by the owl sweater.

(Made with love over 30 years ago by Paul’s Grandma, and to be passed on to future generations.)

 

Too bad there’s a Boo-hoo-hoo in his Hoo-hoo-hoo.

just checking.

When I got in the van today and started to drive away, Marty asked me if I put my OTHER leg in the van as well. He was relieved to hear I didn’t leave it in the parking lot at the bank.

Chelsea

At our house, Christmas music starts playing on November 1st.   Last year’s favourite songs for the boys were ‘Little Drummer Boy’ and ‘Kay Thompson’s Jingle Bells’ by Michael W. Smith.  Tonight, while the ipod cycled through our playlist, it came to a version of ‘Gloria In Excelsis Deo’ by Point of Grace.  Max suddenly asked, “Who’s that girl?  Who’s ‘Chelsea’ that they’re singing about?”

lo and behold

A post.  Imagine that.  As Marty’s been saying lately, “That’s odd”.  I guess I’ve been busy.  And tired. And reading other people’s blogs while I neglect my own. Shame on me.

I’m going to dedicate this post to this adorable tri-toothed 10-month old that lives with us.  He sure is cute, but rather consumptive of my time, attention, energy and sleep.  He adores me. For that I am profoundly grateful.  His first tooth finally came through just before he turned 10 months, and two more quickly followed. The fourth is slower, but I see it there, trying to break through.  They are all on the top.  The older boys both started with two on the bottom and then two on the top.  

My friend asked me the other day how often Jax nurses.  My answer was “Whenever he wants!”.  I am fully aware that I am reaping the consequences of not establishing him on a consistent eating and sleeping routine.  I’ve also come to know about myself that it’s totally okay.  Yes, he can be tricky to get to sleep. Yes, he wakes up a few times a night.  Yes, I bring him into our bed in the wee hours of every morning.  Yes, that’s usually the point at which he starts his long stretch of sleep.  Sometimes I have to wake him up because it’s time to head out the door to preschool or something else.  I have always said that I make the choice to demand feed, co-sleep, hold to sleep … and so I will put up with the downsides of those things.   I knew that this summer would be too busy (and HOT! SHEESH!) to sleep-train.  With holidays and moving and more holidays and the HEAT! SHEESH!  … I didn’t even attempt it.  Since then my plan has been to wait until we are well settled into our fall routine, and waiting for the time change.  (Yay, today’s the day!)  By now it’s only two months till I can start to wean him, so, really, what’s the point of sleep training now when we’ll need to do it all over again during weaning?  

I’ll tell you what it comes down to.  I’m lazy.  

But this will change.  Perhaps sooner than I had planned, as there’s a possibility I will be taking on some part time evening work soon.  If you know the part time evening work I did two years ago, it’s the same thing again.  Just waiting for confirmation.  If for some reason that doesn’t happen, there’s something else I’m considering to contribute to our household income.

Lazy – this boy is not!  He cruises all over the place.  His favourite spots include the cookie sheet cupboard, the lazy susan, the toilet (door is now closed at all times!) and wherever his brothers are.  Paul put Max and Marty to bed the other night and brought Jax out of the room with him.  He cried all the way to the living room, squirmed to be put down, then crawled all the way back and sat outside the bedroom door crying.  They’re quite pleased with him.  Marty does not respect his personal space, and is quite a pest to him, but we’re working on that.  He pulls up to stand on pretty much anything, can crawl up and down from the hearth, and can even get himself off the couch with ease.  Except for the times when he dives off the end of the arm of the couch. He did that once and I don’t think it was the last time we’ll see that.  He thinks it’s pretty funny to make a bee-line for it when he’s up on the couch.  Once he even managed to get himself down from our bed.  I had forgotten he was up there and when I came in the room he was sitting on the floor playing.  He can wave and clap, too.  So smart.

These are the only pictures of him in a costume for this year.  It was from an afternoon we spent at our favourite pumpkin patch with one of our favourite people from Prince Rupert.

Eating big people food is a bit of a challenge for both of us.  For some reason I’m kind of at a loss for what to give him.  He never really liked mushed up stuff, and if I give him chunks, they often end up swished or dropped to the floor.  He’s actually very deliberate in dropping food off the side of his tray, and even sometimes down through his legs to the floor if he’s feeling really sneaky. If I give him the chunks from a fork or my fingers, he’ll take a few but then often refuse the rest.  His main staples right now are Mum-Mums, bananas, peaches, pears, cheese, cheese toast (I make a grilled cheese sandwich, pull it apart, eat one slice for myself and cut the other into small pieces for him.), Bran Crunch cracker/cookie things (Peek Freans – so yummy!).  My friend suggested avocado spread on toast, so I’ll try that next.  He loves Kraft Dinner!  I always put peas in with it and he eats them but keeps the little outside shells in his cheeks long after lunch is over.  (When I told Marty the other day that we were having it for lunch he asked “With ketchup?! And peas?!”.  He was so excited.)

Also?  He’s a free-stander!  He can very quickly go from his bum to standing, and will hold the stance for quite a while until he plops back to his bum or gets knocked down by a certain 3-year-old.  The boys both get so excited when he stands on his own.  He’s been doing it for a few weeks but it’s the most exciting thing for them, every time.  I suspect he’ll be walking by his first birthday.  Max walked at 13 months and Marty at 14 months.  So far (except for the teeth thing) Jax has been several weeks to a month or two ahead of when the other boys reached the same milestones.

(He was on the way back down in this shot.)

So there you (finally!) have an update on our little Jac-a-mo.  Oh, and when I weighed him between 9-10 months, he was just under 19 pounds.  Not chunky, but not a pipsqueak.  He’s just right.  

We’ll keep him.

still here

new post. coming soon.  i promise.

nose dive

Max took a tumble on Wednesday evening.  This picture shows how the truck he was pushing ended up, after the front wheel caught a rock edge and all his 40 pounds went over and down.  He screamed “the scream”.  We’ve heard it before, not quite 17 months ago, when he broke his right arm. (Click the link for pictures, read the posts before and after that for the full story.)

It soon became clear that his wrist bore all of that weight, and was causing him significant pain.  In an attempt to calm down the hysteria, I suggested he have a bath to wash it and figure out how badly it was injured.  He agreed to that, but then said it was just too painful.  He agreed to our suggestion to go to the hospital for an x-ray.

Here’s what he did within minutes of returning home with his cracked wrist in a shiny new fiberglass cast:

Thankfully, it’s not his dominant hand in the cast, so he hasn’t missed even one dot-to-dot challenge!  Compared to the ordeal of his first broken bone, having this small, light cast for 3-4 weeks doesn’t seem so overwhelming.

Although his attitude seemed really good …

… I was nervous about how this could affect his field trip to the pumpkin patch the next day.  I didn’t think about it for very long before deciding that there was no reason for him to miss it.  We bundled him up and the cast up and off they went.  He had to be cautious with it, as it was still quite sensitive to pressure, and he was still baby-ing it.  His teacher said he seemed to have a great time and didn’t seem too hard done by that he only had one arm to use.  He came home with a humungous pumpkin that he couldn’t possibly have carried, even with two good arms!  Kudos to the chaperone mom who must have dragged it through the patch for him.

Today has been long and wonderful and I’m very tired.  Until next time …

just when you thought you’d seen it all …

… this is how I found Marty this evening, after Paul had tucked him into his bed.

The Rowdies Speak

I’ve been collecting another batch of the clever little things my boys (mostly Max, although Marty is coming up with some gooders) have been saying.  After the one I heard about today, I knew it was time to share the hilarity with you all.

• We’ve recently started attending a new church.  The reasons for the switch are many.  I may or may not elaborate on them in the future.  We know, or are familiar with, many people who attend there.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Max’s Sunday School teacher is my sister-in-law Kim’s second cousin.  That was a nice surprise.  She called me today just to say hello (Paul has been taking him to his class so far) and to confirm my email address.  After some chit chat, she told me that she and her husband (he  teaches with her) think Max is hilarious.   On the second week of class, they were talking about how God made all of us.  He made our families – some with only brothers, some with only sisters, some with both.  Max put up his hand to comment on the discussion.  He said, “We’re not going to have any more brothers or sisters in our family. My Mom is all out of babies.”  

• Max has all sorts of career plans for when he grows up.  When he got the idea to be a weather man, he decided his name should be Max Cox.  (Provincial news watchers will understand the reason for that.)

• Paul spent a few days working with his boss at a booth at an Agricultural Show and Exhibition.  I took the boys to see him and allllll the tractors.  They loved it, and would have tried out the driver’s seat on every machine if I had let them.  There was a seminar area, kind of tucked behind a curtain. Max took a peek inside, saw all the people sitting there, and said  … “Oh, that’s just church.”

• Max, to Marty, for some reason that I cannot remember … “I’m going to salute you.”

• Another one I can’t remember the background story for, but apparently he does have a conscience, as he often begins a confession with “Mommy, I’m SO sorry, I … “

• I was wearing a skirt.  Marty asked “Mommy , are you a princess?”
 I told him that, indeed, I am.

• While cleaning Marty up after a poopy in the undies episode, I told him to bend over so I could complete the necessary hygiene on his hiney.  I didn’t realize that his soiled undies were so close until he whined … “I don’t want to eat my poo.”

• Max, after I told him we’re not going to buy pizza from the new fast food pizza joint:  ”When I grow up, I’m going to live in (this city) and I’m going to do whatever I want.  Except one thing … blow cigarettes. I’ll never blow cigarettes. No, no, no.”

• Max, wondering about the raccoons on our back deck … “Why did God make them to eat garbage?”

• Max: “Don’t God’s hands get wet from touching the oceans when He’s spinning the world around?”

• Max: “Where does the smell go after we’re done smelling it?”

And the finale …

• Sitting around the dinner table, Max spotted some junk mail from our local RE/Max office.  He was so proud to find his name hidden in yet another sign.  We chatted about it for a bit, until the other talking Rowdy in our house said “Noooooo … Re/MARTY!”  It’s become an ongoing joke at our house.

my boy

Oh, dear.  Am I ready for this?  

Today I witnessed Max’s first real rejection from a friend.  

My sweet, sweet boy.

Pretty much every day since school started, Max has asked if we can play on the school playground after school.  I’ve said no up until now as it’s such a busy time with lots of kids and parents around, and one or both of the littler boys are usually sleeping in the van.  (Not to mention the HEAT!  – but I’m saving that for another post. – ) Today both little boys were awake and happy, I was quite early (had to get a good parking spot!) for picking him up, and it was not scorching hot outside. I decided to surprise him and take them all to the playground.  I had gone into the school through another door as there was a consignment sale on school uniforms.  I pulled him from his class that way rather than waiting for him outside with all the other K parents.  As his class lined up to leave, at least two of the boys called out ‘goodbye Max’ and giggled with him about something.  I was impressed with how well liked he seems to be by his classmates.  (Remember, all 7 of his preschool friends at this school are in the morning class!  A few of the boys are in his new Sunday School class now, which is very exciting.  - Oh, more on that in another post too.)  When we got outside, he hoped his very favourite friend would be there, as he often is with his mom, picking up his older siblings.  He wasn’t there, but another friend from his two years of preschool and new Sunday School class was there.  They aren’t close friends, but definitely familiar with each other.  Max gravitated to him, although The Boy was clearly more interested in tagging along with his older brother and his friends. The Boy’s mom went inside the school for something.  I was about 20 feet away and watched as the other boys started up a game of Four Square.  Max had no clue what they were doing, and just wanted them to pass him the ball.  When Max asked a few times for the ball to be passed his way,  The Boy friend seemed to be bothered by this and kind of ignored him.  When Max persisted (totally clueless that they were playing a real game with rules) The Boy said “No! You’re not my friend!” and shoved Max away with both hands.  It wasn’t hard enough to push him back far, but I could see instantly that it was hurtful.  Deeply hurtful.  He came straight over to me, trying very hard not to cry.  He got to me and let it wail.  I let him cry.  For a few minutes.  I tried to distract him from his hurt feelings before he got hysterical.   Then we talked a bit about it and I told him that what The Boy did was unkind, and reminded him that he could make a choice to not do the same kind of thing to somebody else, knowing now how it felt to be treated that way.  I reminded him that he is very good at being a friend.  (Earlier he had been going up to kids on the playground, asking them what “division” they are in.  Not grade, division.)  He’s so eager to meet new friends and is proving to be very outgoing. It will be interesting to see how those characteristics play out in the tricky social setting of school.

After the sobbing subsided, I had to make yet another trip to fetch Marty from the far reaches of the schoolyard.   On my way back I noticed my friend, The Boy’s Mom, talking to Max. I could tell they were talking about what had happened.  I came up and said that yes, it was a very sad little interchange.  She had come out to the spot I left Max, saw that he was upset, and asked him if “The Boy” (she used his real name, I will not.) had been mean to him.  Max said yes.  I asked her how she knew that, without even seeing or hearing about the incident.  She said “I just know my kid”.  That made me sad.  She’s a great mom who really cares about her kids, I don’t doubt that.  She found him and had a fairly lengthy chat with him, then brought him over to apologize to Max.  

Next thing I know … I look around and see the two of them sitting under the tree, chatting away like nothing ever happened.  They played together for close to an hour until we moms dragged them down to the parking lot.  Max hasn’t had much one-on-one time with The Boy, and I think the whole situation brought them closer as friends, in a way. 

And what effect did this have on me?  I’m glad I was there this time, as it showed me these are real issues we’ll be starting to deal with.  I’m glad it was my shoulder he cried on.  I also realize I can’t protect him from every heartbreak forever.  I know that.  I really do.

But …

WAAAAAHHHH!  I’m not ready for this!  The thing I’m hearing so many moms say about the baby/toddler/preschool years being the “easy part”?  I understand.  So begins the dealings of the heart. Character. Courage. Integrity. Wise Choices. Kindness. Generosity. 

Dear Lord, do carry us through.