Growing Up and Letting Go

I'm so proud of Quinn. He has gone two nights now without a pacifier. When we got back from Charleston the last time, we went back to only using it during naps, bedtime, and moments of extreme distress (mostly his, sometimes ours). When that went well, Jalal suggested we stop using it overnight and see how he did. To my surprise, he only cried for a couple of minutes each night. He's such a big boy. I told my sister about it today, and the poor thing burst into tears. She feels like she's missing so much of him growing up. I completely understand and I wish I knew what to do about it. We are planning a trip to Daytona later this month (I know, another freakin' trip!) to help Mom go through some of our old things as well as Dad's stuff. So hopefully that will help. I guess there's no use hoping we'll ever live too near each other. Wade refuses to leave Woodville, and I can't imagine Jalal ever finding a career path that leads to (or even through) Tallahassee. So instead we can just work toward one or the other of us becoming rich enough so we could afford monthly visits. Hmmm...lotto tickets anyone? Well, Jalal and I have to go look over our tax returns now. Yay! (insert sarcastic font here) Love, Us.

The Numbers

For those of you who want the official numbers from Quinn's checkup, here they are. [Drumroll please. . . ] Weight: 25.81 lbs (50th %); Height: 32.5 in. (57th %); Head circumference: 18.5 in. (28th %).

I thought he had a huge head because it's tough as nails to get a shirt over that noggin, but the numbers don't back me up. Oh well. Also, we now have a dentist's appointment scheduled for the end of this month. Won't that be fun? (Where's a sarcastic font when you need it?) He gets to watch me first, which is a much better idea than him watching Jalal. I won't scare the pants off the kid. I don't mind the dentist. I actually liked going to my old dentist. Everyone was so nice and it usually didn't hurt, at least not as much as the monotony of my work cubicle did. Jalal has only been to the dentist once in the last 10 years and that was because a crown broke off. I shudder to think . . . Well, maybe he is smart to fear going to the dentist. We'll see because he is also going to the dentist soon! I have the power to make appointments for him and the power to make him go whether he likes it or not. (I think. I'll let you know how this one plays out.) By the way, I've marked off six items on my to-do list. And yes, I actually did all of them before I marked them off. Naysayers. All of you! More later. Love, Us.

It's a Two Skittles Day

For those of you who don't get the title of today's post, two Skittles is the reward Quinn gets for going number 2 in the potty. He did it! Now, if you've been reading, you know that we are sort of gearing up for potty training. I know it's early, but there's no harm in getting him used to the idea. He has started calling his little potty chair "Bobby." He's been saying "Bobby" for a while now and we have no clue what he means by it. He always says it very enthusiastically, like "Bob-EEE!" He sounds like a cartoon character. So when I started to say "potty," I guess he confused the two. Now he calls his potty Bobby. Cute, right? I admit we haven't been super consistent about it and I seem to be the only one who will suggest he try to go, so that's tough. This seems like it takes way more effort out of me than Quinn. One of the blogs I follow just had a post about potty training the other day because that mom has gotten two boys out of diapers by age 2 so far. Unfortunately, one of her techniques is to let them run around bare-bottomed while plying them with lemonade. NB: She has wood floors! I have carpet, and I'm not ready to let him run around peeing on the floor yet. Anyway, while I was on the exercise bike this morning (just four more minutes!!), he started grunting and going on. I said, "You're going to the bathroom right now, aren't you?" to get him to associate the feeling with the words. He runs over the gate at the hall and starts saying "Bobby, Bobby!" So I get down from the bike and take him to the bathroom. Now, he eats way too many bananas, so number 2 is not always effortless. He sat on Bobby for a while and then wanted to get up. I got him to sit on the toilet instead and after a few minutes, we had success! I let him flush and say bye-bye, then we had to wash his hands (better than usual because he actually put his hand in the toilet before flushing). He has his own soap now, too. Then he got two Skittles and lots of praise. When I finished getting everything and everyone cleaned up and put back together, I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 9:00. REALLY? I feel like it should be noon by now! I'm exhausted already. And my to-do list is staring at me right now. Other than running the dishwasher and doing most of my bike workout, NOTHING has been done. Jeez. Did I mention that Jalal had a day off yesterday? Hah!

Seriously though, some stuff did get done. We bought a new router so our wireless is back up. Don't assume that I'll blog more as a result, but I am trying. I have a couple loads of laundry to catch up on, plus I'm still behind on my work work (that's the paying gig) thanks to that really bad edit the weekend before last. I admit I didn't get much done on Monday because we had friends over. Some of you not on Facebook may not know this, but we got snow! I'm talking anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of the stuff! It started Sunday afternoon. We had a great time playing in it, but we didn't expect as much as we ended up getting. Starting about 8 p.m., Jalal's work phone went nuts and everyone called to say they would not be coming in to work the next morning because they couldn't drive two or three miles in the snow. Now granted, it was supposed to be pretty icy, but those people didn't think about how far Jalal would have to drive to get to work. The phone didn't stop after we went to bed, so neither of us got a good night's sleep. Crazy-suicidal as it was, Jalal did get up and leave for work at 4:00 in the morning. He took his time (hour and a half instead of 35 minutes), threw on his hazard lights whenever it got slippery, and tried to stay out of the way of all the stupid people (18-wheelers included) who didn't think they should slow down at all. He called I-85 the "85 Luge." Nobody could believe he made it to work, but what was he supposed to do? Almost everyone else called in, the restaurants were slammed because everyone was snowed in at the hotel, and even his own boss (who assured Jalal he could handle it) couldn't make it out of his own driveway. Some of his night crew did volunteer to be there, so they got through, but it was a crazy day. Yesterday, when the power went out (some 17,000 people were without in Spartanburg and Greenville Counties), people were yelling at the front desk because they couldn't blowdry their hair, and the whole reason they stayed at the hotel was that their power was out at home! Anyway, my friend Karen's power went out Sunday afternoon and I told her she and the kids were welcome to come over on Monday if it wasn't fixed. She took me up on it and grabbed Happy Meals for the kids and Quinn on her way. She and I ate the yummy chili that Jalal made the night before. Even though her kids are older, 3 and 4, they had a blast playing with Quinn's toys, and by the time they left, every single one of us was completely wiped out. Quinn loves Karen. He always tries to sit in her lap and cuddle with her whenever she's around. I think it's great. Gives me a break! So the snow is about half gone now, but it was so beautiful! I just kept taking pictures because I never thought it would snow like that here, especially not in March! And now it's supposed to be up to 70 degrees by Friday. Crazy! Well, I better jump into my to-do list now. The washing machines is calling to me "Use me!" and the dishwasher is whispering "Empty me." Darn talking appliances. Love, Us.

Doctor's Visit

It seems it's time for a new nickname for Captain Distractable. I've been calling him this for weeks now, but when the doctor calls him "Chatty Cathy," you know there's something to it. We had Quinn's 18-month checkup this morning, and it went really well. I love our pediatrician. The whole office is great. We show up at the stroke of 9, our appointment time, sign in, get a form to fill out on how I think Quinn is progressing, and before I can even uncap the pen, they are calling his name! Fabulous! The doc asked if we had any concerns about language and I laughed. Quinn barely stopped talking the whole time we were there. He showed the doctor his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth, colored all over himself with the doctor's pen, and read a book while pointing out things he recognized. Geez! The doc said at his age, 10-20 words is normal. Let's see how many I can think of: Mama, Dada, ball, juice, shoes, hi, bye-bye, knees, nose, no, dog, car, yes (sounds German, "das"), baby, truck, two, milk, peas, please (sounds the same as "peas" but context is different), banana, corn, cheese, book, ear, eye, teeth. . . that's all I can think of right now. But there's also mow for cat, bok bok for chicken, moooo for cow, ooh ooh ahh ahh for monkey, and probably a couple more I'm forgetting. The doctor said he's very talkative for a boy his age and then stopped himself and said "for ANY kid his age, boy or girl." Hmmm, he does have a lot of Langston in him. We come by that pretty honestly. Poor kid, he also seems to have inherited the freckles from me and my dad. I found two on his leg the other day and one on his hand. Took me a few minutes of scrubbing before I realized they weren't coming off! Anyway, he's growing like a weed. I'll have to get the exact numbers, but he passed the 50th percentile in weight, I think about 26 pounds. (Feels like 30!) He had to get two shots and he barely cried at all. He even got a blue lollipop, which helped with the shots but drove me crazy trying to dress him and wipe up all the sticky blue slobber. Well, just wanted to check in while I had a couple minutes. Tonight is girls' night out: Carrabba's and the movie "He's Just Not That Into You." I can't wait! More later. Love, Us.

Long Awaited Catching Up

Our wireless internet isn’t working, so I’m only online a few minutes a day. I apologize that I didn’t get back on here right away. We got a new washing machine yesterday! It was a great deal, a Kenmore 800 series for $399. It was brand-new but majorly marked down because it was blue and they had a surplus. So what? It’s nice to know our clothes are actually getting clean now. We also decided to get a little potty for Quinn. I know it’s a bit too soon to push him into toilet-training, but he did go in the real toilet a few days ago. I was giving him a bath the other night and he started making his “poopie” face. Trust me, this is not mother’s intuition. He gets all red in the face, holds his breath, and starts grunting. So rather than let him go in the bathtub, I picked him up and held him on the edge of the toilet seat until he went to the bathroom. He seemed perfectly comfortable with it, so I thought maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get him thinking about potty-training. I’m not really sure about the best way of going about it, so any experienced advice is welcome. Wouldn’t it be great to have a 2-year-old boy who’s potty-trained?

Quinn has his 18-month checkup with the doctor on Friday. As usual, I can’t wait to see how much he weighs. I think he’ll be over the 50th percentile by now. That kid is getting huge! Every day now, we retire another outfit (18 months) that is too tight or short, more tight than short lately. Luckily, Jalal and I are the masters of economical shopping. We have a decent-sized spring wardrobe for him already that we haven’t paid much for. We haven’t paid more than $10 for any item, including shoes! We picked up most of it from the outlets in Charleston. Speaking of which, we’ve had two fun trips to Charleston, plus a road trip to Cincinnati, Louisville, and Gatlinburg.

Our first Charleston trip was for the wine expo. I did start to feel better, but not much. I couldn’t really enjoy the wines too much with a stuffy nose. I remember tasting a J Vineyards pinot noir, one of our personal favorites, and it tasted nothing like it should have. So right then I knew there was no point in drinking any more than it took to make me feel better. Oh well. Vicky and Barry came with us the expo while Aundrea and Erika, their girls, watched Quinn. They are so good with him. I wish they lived here so they could sit for him all the time! The next morning, we met for breakfast with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Bruce, who were coincidentally in town for a few days. It was great to see them since we hadn’t seen them since dad’s funeral. Plus, Aunt Linda had been very sick and I wanted to see for myself how she was doing. It stinks that we don’t get to see them as much since we left Charleston. I never see Uncle Bruce as happy as he is when he’s feeding something new to Quinn. Uncle Bruce is the reason Quinn dips everything in ketchup, including tomatoes (redundant) and Cheerios (gross). They gave him this stuffed Curious George, which he took on our road trip. It was very cute. Whenever he got tired, we’d give him George and he would hold him over his shoulder and pat on the bottom. Haha!

Our road trip was a lot of fun. We were expecting snow and cold, but we ended up with temps in the 60s most days. First we spent the weekend with Lauren (Auntie L.C.) in Cincinnati. It was so nice to see her again, and she adores Quinn. We went to the Children’s Museum there, which was fantastic. I wish we could’ve spent more time there, but Quinn has his limits. While he slept, we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. Even in winter, when a lot of the animals weren’t out, we had a great time. There was a snow leopard that actually meowed at me and Lauren! It was so close we could almost touch it (behind a cage, though, of course). Then it bit its own tail and sat there with the end of its tail in its mouth watching us. Lauren was so funny. She talked in her cat lady voice and asked if the “kitty” wanted a new mama to snuggle with. Nut. Then Lauren kept him for an evening so Jalal and I could go out. We went to Morton’s Steakhouse for an early Valentine’s Day dinner. It was wonderful! The works: valet parking, expensive bottle of red wine, tuna tartare that melted in our mouths, steaks cooked perfectly and bigger than your head, lyonnaise potatoes, asparagus grilled with balsamic vinegar, and the best soufflé in the world. They make this Grand Marnier soufflé with fresh Chantilly cream that is to die for. It must have come straight from the oven because it was huge! I can’t thank Lauren enough for that. When we got back to her place, it was after 10 p.m. and Quinn was still awake. He was crazy wound up and driving her poor cats up the wall. They were probably very happy to see him go. Then we went to Louisville and stayed with Mike and Crystal for a couple days. It was nice to see them for a happy reason instead of all the bad reasons or working reasons we’ve seen them lately. First they flew down to help us move to Greenville, then they came to California for Louella’s funeral, then they flew to Florida when my dad died. They are good people. Anyway, they have a cat, too, Bob, so Quinn was happy chasing the “mah” around (that’s what he says for “meow”). We went ice-skating together, and they had skates small enough to fit Quinn (actually we had to go up a size from the smallest). He went around for a few times in Jalal’s arms before Jalal tried to get him to skate on his own two feet. He didn’t seem to like that very much. There was a woman there who gave skating lessons and she took him around once or twice with me skating alongside them. He did a little better with that (maybe because she was more in control). Still not his favorite thing just yet but we’ll try again. Our last day of vacation we spent in Gatlinburg. We were hoping to try sledding or play in the snow, but there was no snow! The wind was too strong for us to even ride the gondolas to the top of the hill where Ober Gatlinburg was. So we went to this cute little Rainforest Zoo. Everything was low enough for Quinn’s eye level, so we let him run around and see the lemurs, frogs, alligators, birds, kangaroos, goats, snakes, and more. We (Jalal) broke down and bought him two stuffed animals (because he’s running a severe shortage on them, don’t ya know?). They were absolutely adorable, with HUGE eyes. I’ll see if I can post a picture so you get the idea. That night, we took Quinn to the Dixie Stampede. That brought back a lot of memories. First of all, Jalal and I had taken Louella there once in Myrtle Beach. Second, the preshow included some classic bluegrass music played live, and one of the songs was “I’ll Fly Away,” the song my dad’s friends played at his memorial service. Anyway, though Quinn only ate a couple of bites of biscuit and then Goldfish crackers, he did enjoy watching the horses and lights. Our hotel room was really nice in Gatlinburg, too. It was only a Fairfield, but it had a fireplace and a Jacuzzi tub in our room, as well as a great view over the river. The next day, we took the scenic route home through the mountains. I guess the winding roads and play of shadow and light got to Quinn because he threw up. Poor kid. We’re up in the mountains where it was pretty chilly and windy, and we strip him down by the side of the road and wipe him down with baby wipes. We made it home just fine, though, and with enough time to do a big load of laundry at the Laundromat.

Our recent trip to Charleston was for Isabel’s third birthday. As usual, we drove down on a Sunday and came back on Monday. I really didn’t want to go at first because we had only been home from our big trip for two days. But I’m glad we did. We always have such a wonderful time with Willie and Caroline, and Vicky and Barry. Quinn held his own at the party among all the three-year-olds, too. I heard a lot of people say he was a cool kid. Uh, yeah. I knew that. This was another late night that he stayed up playing, but he was a champ. It was also great to see the remodel of the Wests’ home, which was more like a whole new house. It is incredible! And now Jalal and I have something to go on when we design our dream home. I think we might have to start smaller though, like skipping the “chronotherapy” lights in the bathtub and the built-in automatic cappuccino machine. It’s a good place to start, though. And we got to see Chris and Kim, which was great. Chris didn’t believe me when I told him Quinn is fussy (read: prissy) about getting his hands dirty. Then Quinn got a couple pieces of glitter on his hand and kept going to Chris to get them off! I swear I didn’t put him up to that either. The next morning, we met my old friend Desma at the Children’s Museum, where she works, and we all played for a couple hours. All in all, it has been a good (crazy!) month. Now that we're caught up, let's move on. I am going to make dinner now, but I'll try to get on again soon to tell more about the mundane, funny, day-to-day stuff in our lives, like my bowling league and Quinn's favorite words. Preview: his current favorite numbers are 2 and 9 (though I'm pretty sure that one is "nein" or however you spell "no" in German). Love, Us.

My Big Boy

Happy half birthday to Quinn! He is officially 18 months old today. Yay! And he ate an entire sugar cookie to celebrate. Okay, so this is going to be the shortest blog entry ever, but I have a good excuse. My internet has been down (okay, only for two days), but my sister won't leave me alone about it being a whole month since I posted. She swears she doesn't have anything interesting enough to blog about, but she has been catching (and then empathizing with) raccoons at her place, so I call BS! on that one. Anyway, the point is I'm here. I haven't abandoned you all, and as soon as I finish the CRAPPY edit I just got stuck with, I will write everything I can remember about the last month. And believe me, a lot has happened. Tune in later for more adventures of . . . Captain Distractable and his run-down sidekick Mama! Love, Us.

Sick day

How do I get a sick day? Now that Quinn is mostly better, I guess it's my turn to catch a cold. I felt pretty bad yesterday, but when I woke up this morning, I felt like I had been punched in the face. Literally, my left cheekbone feels bruised. How weird is that? Quinn still has a runny nose, but at least he knows what to do. He comes up to me and says, "No?" That means, depending on the context and inflection, either "no" or "nose." This morning, he's been grabbing tissues and wiping (or blotting) his own nose. Very cute. Between the two of us, I have to do tissue cleanup rounds every half an hour or we'll be buried in them!
I hope I feel better soon because we're supposed to go the Southern Wine Expo in Charleston this Sunday. I wish we were going to be there for the whole weekend. There are so many people I need to see and catch up with. But it will be a pretty quick turnaround this time. Turns out my aunt and uncle are going to be there at the same time. What a coincidence. And since we haven't seen them I think since my dad's funeral, we're going to stay a little longer on Monday to visit with them, maybe have breakfast together. I can't wait to see them. My aunt was very very sick a couple of months ago, and it broke my heart not to be able to be with her. So all you Charlestonians who are saying, "What about me?," I will catch you next visit. Or you can come visit me. I have all the time in the world to visit here at home. And it's only a three-hour drive! We're going on a road trip in early February since Jalal has to take some of his vacation time, but after we catch up from that, I'll try very hard to make a weekend trip to Chucktown and visit with everyone.
It's still pretty cold here. I know I need to get Quinn out of the house to play, but I just don't have the energy. I didn't even manage to take a shower yesterday. Maybe I can get up and moving today. I need to get a couple of things from Target or someplace, like a couple extra pacifiers and a new bib for Quinn. Jalal did the grocery shopping yesterday so that's one less thing to worry about. Our fridge is so stocked, things fall out everytime I open it! And we've resorted to cutting the cooking instructions off of boxes, posting them on the fridge, leaving just the food, like waffles and stuff, in the plastic bags.
So at the risk of getting too much advice, I'm going to throw this request out there. I'm looking for discipline tools for Quinn. The usual recommendations--taking away toys or privileges, ignoring him, etc.--just aren't working. I'm not talking about temper tantrums. Those I ignore, and they're rare. I'm talking about things he does repeatedly, knowing they are wrong, like turning off and on the TV, banging cabinet doors, throwing food at mealtimes. If anyone has practical advice (he's still too young for timeouts), please let me know. Thanks. And now, since I've literally just broken my nose piece off my eyeglasses, I better go. Guess I'm going out today whether I like it or not! Love, Us.