Weekend Update

Carmen was in NY for a few days and Dallas for a few days last week.  It was a tough week for me, but Jayden and I had a good time.  On Wednesday night, we sent a "night night" picture to Carmen.  It took us a few takes to get it right, but here it is:

He was actually saying "night night Daddy" and "I love you Daddy" (in his words, which comes out "nigh-nigh dah-dee" and "i-ub-oo dah-dee") in this picture, but that means that his face didn't look so cute.

So then I tried "smile!" and I got this.  Which is also cute and shows his dimples, but isn't as good as it could be.

So then I got this one.  And even though his baba is taking center stage, he's looking pretty darn cute.  It was one of the few photos I put up on facebook and apparently everyone commented on it to Carmen.  :)

Last weekend I bought him a kid-size table and stools so he could draw, roll his cars, etc. on something he could actually fit at.

And he loved it!  I put it together Monday night, or maybe Sunday night.  And he came down the next morning saw it, pointed to it and immediately ran over and sat down.  It was a little harder to get him to Juju's that morning.  

This weekend my mom flew down to help us out since Carmen was out of town and working until last night and I had a conference Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I didn't get to see Jayden at all on Friday, only for a couple hours yesterday and only a few hours today.  It was a little sad, but it was also good that I was able to attend the conference.  Long story short, I don't have so many pictures from this weekend.  But here's one:

Carmen brought home new shoes last night, so I put them on Jayden's feet while he was eating his dinner.  He took it a little too far and got extremely upset every time one shoe started to fall off and even more angry when I eventually took them off.  It was hilarious.  

In slightly unrelated news, we are redoing our backyard right now.  When I came home Thursday they had done quite a bit of demo.

And they did a whole bunch more on Friday.  They'll finish the demo and then start building it back up.  We're hoping it's done in about 7 weeks.  We'll see.  It's pretty sad to not get to go out in the backyard but we just keep telling ourselves the end result will be worth it.  In the meantime we'll be taking Jasmine on a lot more walks and trying to prevent Jayden from whining about going out the back door.

Tomorrow is Carmen's birthday, so he and I are taking the day off work and taking Jayden to Juju's.  We're going to go to a movie and eat cheesesteaks for lunch, which is about Carmen's favorite day ever.  If anyone asks, he's turning 29 (again!  I know, he looks so young for his age).

Excitement

Carmen's out of town again so you guys get another weeknight blog post.  Well, and also my remote access to my work server is down so I can't do the work I brought home to do tonight.

Sunday Carmen and I went to lunch at this restaurant called the Iron Press that we've been to a number of times.  Their whole deal is that they make waffle sandwiches.  They are fabulous.  The last time we went Jayden was still eating his mushed up food so this visit was exciting.  We all got to eat the same thing - waffle sandwich and tater tots - yummy!

After meals is definitely when Jayden is his most cheerful so we wandered around the area after lunch and Jayden ran alllllll over the place.

Jayden discovered agua.  And then he put his entire hand/arm into the holes where the water was coming from.  He probably could have stayed here all day if we had let him.  One woman walked by and commented how wonderful it would be to be a child again and to be fascinated by the simplicity of water flowing over rocks.  I agree.  Especially after a loooong work day.  What I want to be when I grow up is someone who sits by a rock fountain and lets the water run over her hand.  Think that'll put Jayden through college?!?

Saying "bye-bye" to the agua.  I just missed capturing the wave he gave to the fountain as he walked away.

Luckily he then discovered the next coolest thing after the agua fountain: stepping stones!  He went back and forth over these stones trying to only step on the stones and missing most of the time.  I walked across these stones first and hopped from one to the other.  So then he tried to do the same.  Over and over and over again.  It was hilarious.  Until we were ready to go and he wasn't.

So then he found the path towards the top.  But that path ended in the bushes.  So he stopped and studied for a while before he returned to his regular back and forth.  Finally Carmen and I spotted a dog and told Jayden.  Worked like a charm.  He went running after where we said the dog was.  The dog was gone by the time we got there, but we found two other dogs.  Jayden shrieked "da-ga" and ran over to them.  I caught him before he got too close to make sure it was okay.  Luckily the dogs were friendly and loved to give kisses.  Jayden just kept giggling and gently patting the dogs.  It was so sweet.  AND it turned out one of the dogs was named "ju-ju."  It's like it was meant to be.  

This evening Jayden, Jasmine and I went on a walk.  We walked about fifty feet to the church next door to us and walked the fifty feet back.  And it probably took us 15-20 minutes to walk that distance.  Jayden had to sit in the grass, he fell down a couple times, he went the opposite direction, he tried to run into the church grounds, etc.  It was hilarious.  And I was only a little nervous that we were walking on the sidewalk of one of the busiest streets.  But it was nice to be outside and to stop and watch the trucks go by and do something different.  I wish I could get home at 5 or 5:15 every night.  It makes such a difference in how much we enjoy our evening.  And now it's late and we have an early morning tomorrow so I'm off to bed.  Hope everyone is well!

a beautiful summer (?!?) day

Sorry to those of you not in Southern California, but today was HOT.  Like really hot.  Like mid-80s hot.  And in April.  Ugh.  But it was beautiful, particularly when you were in the shade or in the air-conditioned house or restaurant or store.

Carmen and Jayden and I didn't do much, went to swimming, went to lunch, ran an errand or two and played at the house.  But it was a good day.  My sister (BLE, which is pronounced Buh-LEE if you're curious) sent me an article in the Washington Post about how women should be happy with having a "good enough" life.  As I just wrote to her, part of me hates the article and part of me completely identifies with the article.  I think if she'd really titled it properly she would have said have a "good enough" work life.  Her point is the roles of a professional and of a mother are often incompatible.  Her last line is "Motherhood is not a job, it is a joy."  I disagree, in part.  It is a joy. And I love Jayden more than anything - I love him more today than yesterday, if that's possible.  But it is a job.  And I don't mind telling Jayden that.  I don't mind him knowing that I worked my butt off to raise him well.  I brainstorm new interesting (but toddler-friendly) dinners, I try to come up with new activities, new games, new toys, new words, every day to keep him engaged and learning.  And I certainly do not always succeed.  Sometimes his dinner is whatever is in the fridge that he's willing to eat.  And that's fine.  But I have worked nineteen plus months to realize that.  So yes, it is a job.  A great job, but still a job.  But to make a long story short, the author of the article described a day when her daughter was eight when her daughter came from school and said "I had the best day!"  The mom/author tried to figure out what was so great about it, even calling the teacher to see if something special had happened.  But it turned out it was just an ordinary day; the author's daughter was just happy.  And that's how today was.  It was an ordinary day.  But it was a great day.  Jayden, Carmen and I got to hang out together all day long, we had fun, we enjoyed the weather, we laughed, we cried (some of us more than others), we ate, we danced, we swam, we ran (again, some of us more than others) and now one of us is asleep.  These days are why I don't like going out of town on weekends.

Here's some proof that it was a good day:

Walking from lunch to the car.  We eventually had to pick Jayden up and carry him at this point.  He wouldn't leave the store and he kept trying to close their doors.

Best part of the day.  Jayden found the water play area.  These grates are water spouts that spray up water at varying times.  It's probably the best game for toddlers, especially if you're willing to let them get wet (which clearly I am, especially when it's 80+ degrees outside).  This picture is Jayden staring intently at one of the grates, waiting for the water to come up.

He caught the water!

This is his sour face.  I don't even know why he was being sour.  We were outside, which is pretty much his favorite place to be ever.

Sweeping the dirt.  Obviously.

Swimming this morning was great.  Jayden was giggling, smiling and playing the whole time.  We got there a little early so we had time to play around in the shallow end.  When Ms. Stacy got there, he went with her without as much fuss as normal.  He also wasn't arching his head back as badly and he was closing his mouth, so he went under water quite a few times.  It was great.  He particularly enjoyed the games where we sat him on the wall and let him plop in the water into our arms (and usually under water for a quick second).  He also was pretty good at holding on to the wall and starting to walk his hands along the wall to get toys, etc. that we had spaced out.  We were really impressed - and it definitely stressed him out a whole lot less which made it more enjoyable for everyone.

We're going to miss the next two weeks of swimming lessons, which is a bummer since we're making such progress.  But I'm going to try to take him during the last week of April/the first week of May and then we'll be back at it the second weekend of May.  And we'll be spraying his face in the bath throughout that time to remind him that water in his face is really okay!

Lastly, if you haven't figured it out already, Jayden is hilarious.  Here is some proof:

(He's looking at the fan above his head and doing his "fan dance" apparently)

Handsome little man

For some reason it's always easier for me to post when Carmen's out of town.  Maybe it's because dinner when I'm alone consists of whatever is in the microwave or the freezer that I can heat up in the microwave or the toaster oven.  Luckily tonight I had some good soup.

Jayden has been incredibly clingy to me recently.  To Carmen too, but particularly to me.  Carmen and I switch off for bedtime - one night he reads the books and sets him in his crib and the next night I do it.  Well, on the nights that I do it, Jayden sits up and screams as soon as I make a movement towards the door.  So now, when it's my turn, bedtime goes like this:
Bath, put on his PJs, brush his teeth and have hugs and kisses
Read a book or two and talk about trucks for five minutes or so
Turn off the lights, turn on the stars and cuddle for a few minutes
Set him down in his crib
Leave; he starts screaming
Go downstairs, work on preparing dinner for 10-15 minutes (Jayden cries the whole time)
Go upstairs, soothe him to calm him down but not to put him to sleep, maybe 3-5 minutes
Take two steps away from the crib, Jayden starts screaming
Go downstairs, continue to work on dinner
After 10 minutes (9 tonight - yay!) Jayden lays down and finally falls asleep.

In the mornings when I drop him off he has a full on tantrum.  He kicks and screams and cries and grabs at me.  I have to hand him to Maria, tell him I love him, blow him a kiss and basically run out the door.  There's no point in looking back.  I just wish he didn't get so stressed out about separation.  I try to tell him over and over again that I'm just downstairs, I'll be back in a few hours, etc.  And I know he can understand more than I think - but whether or not he understands the concept that I'm literally thirty feet away while he sleeps, I don't know.  My guess is no.  In any case, we took one minute off our screaming time tonight.  I really hope we can continue making progress so that eventually we can get down to no minutes of screaming.  Someday!

In the meantime, he was looking pretty handsome this morning and I just had to share:

Brushing our teeth after breakfast this morning.  We love ourselves some agua.

I took this picture and then showed it to him.  He goes "mama!" and then "daga!" when he saw Jasmine in the background.  I also showed him a bunch of pictures that I have on my camera of him when he was a baby.  And he kept exclaiming "baby!"  I kept saying "baby Jayden" or "Jayden baby" but who knows if he had any understanding of what that meant.

Checking out Mama's car.  Turns out everything was good to go and it was safe to drive to Juju's.  Thank goodness for Jayden the mechanic.

Oh! And in two weeks Jayden, Carmen and I are walking in AIDS Walk again.  There's no pressure, but if anyone is interested in donating, here's a message from Jayden
"My Mama's organization provides free legal services to people with HIV and AIDS in Orange County.  She often helps these people fight debt collection suits and sometimes file bankruptcies when they have to.  My Mama and her organization are walking in AIDS Walk to raise money for this project.  Every dollar they raise through AIDS Walk goes back to PLC to help my Mama and her co-workers help even more people.  To help her out, I am going to "walk" in AIDS Walk this year with my Mama and Daddy.  It's just a coincidence that they also said I could go to Disneyland after.  Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support AIDS Services Foundation Orange County (and PLC!)."

And another one bites the dust

And by that I mean another weekend ends and we're back to work tomorrow.  So sad.

We had a good weekend, but it was full of errands and busy-ness.  Swim lessons yesterday were good, although I think Jayden was a little traumatized by sitting down in the shallow end last week.  He arched his head back anytime we got him close to the water.  Ms Stacy (the teacher) is great and she gave us all kind of tips so that we don't push him and make it worse going forward.  He did get his face wet, but we didn't push him to go all the way under too much.

Saturday and Sunday we spent some time at a shopping mall, going to a couple grocery stores and generally chasing our nineteen month old everywhere.

Thursday night Carmen was home late, after bedtime.  Jayden was touching the chair Carmen usually sits in and asking "Daddy?"  He also tried to put on Carmen's flip flop over his shoe and was walking around.  On Friday I was home late and apparently Jayden was doing the same thing - touching the chair I usually sit in and going "Mommy?"  It's amazing how much he understands.

These are the toys at the mall that you put quarters in and they start moving.  Jayden was so excited to sit in the toy.  As soon as Carmen and I scrounged up the 75 cents and it started moving he freaked out and grabbed for me.  Hilarious.  We were only a little bummed that we lost our quarters.  Carmen was a little more bummed than me when he saw the gumball machines a few minutes later.

This was his "Jayden, smile!" face.  So sad.  Hopefully this isn't what it looks like for the rest of his life.

Goofing off at home.

"Posing" for the picture with Mama.  Clearly I did something wrong here.

Cruising Lowe's in the coolest shopping cart ever.  

This week hopefully won't be too bad, although Carmen will be out of town Thursday and Friday which will make life a little more difficult.  And then it will be the weekend again!  It's terrible to live weekend to weekend, but sometimes that's the way it has to be.

Jayden is a monster, in the best way ever.  He copies everything we say.  He says "pweez" when I ask him to - most of the time.  If I tell him to say "Come on Daddy," he goes "Cama Dah-dee."  It's hilarious and oh so cute.  We're trying to teach him "sorry," so that when he hurts me, which is about 86 times a day, he says "sah-wee" also.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  He says "blueberry" ("boo-berr") and waffle ("wha-ff") for breakfast in the morning.  He is still obsessed with agua, so we talk about agua quite a bit.  It really is impressive how quickly he picks things up once he's ready.  When we went to his 18 month appointment Carmen and I estimated he was saying 10-12 words and that might have been a little generous.  Now he's probably saying 40 words or some other ridiculous number.

A quick note for anyone wanting to buy him clothes:
He has about 20 shirts and 10-15 pairs of pants in the 2T range.  So if you're in the market for clothes for Jayden, 3T would be the next size up.  He probably won't be wearing these until next fall, so fall-type clothes are best - although we are in California so it's not like the weather will be all that different.  Also, since he spends most of his days at daycare, t-shirts are the most comfortable.  He is super cute in the collared shirts, but he's by far the best-dressed kid at daycare.

Happy Sunday Y'all!

We've had a good weekend.  It's been relaxing and not so productive,  but I'm not complaining.  So I have to go to the grocery store during the week - it's ok.  So I haven't taken anything to the dry cleaner in over two weeks - it's fine.  So I have to pick up my prescription - no problem.

But really, I'm not complaining.  Yesterday we had swimming lessons where Jayden almost drowned.  We were in the shallow end with both Carmen and I right there and he sat down.  Yeah, not a good idea in two feet of water. I pulled him up right away and he was fine.  But this is exactly why we are taking swimming lessons!  The lifeguard watched us a little closer after that!

I had to work for a bit, but after that we hung out.  We went to lunch in Orange and ran around the park and played in the grass and the agua.  In fact, we tired Jayden out so much that he passed out in the middle of dinner.  It was actually kind of awesome:

Fork in his hand and everything.  Passed OUT.  

A couple more pictures from Saturday:

Trying on Daddy's neon shoes.  And even taking a step or two in them  - before falling over.  It was hilarious.  But he was super excited to be wearing daddy's shoes.

Helping Mama clean Jasmine's feet with the dog towel.  Jayden loves being helpful these days.  He always helps me with the laundry, he helps with whatever he can.  And I try to include him as much as he can, because the more he learns about housework, the better!

Hanging out at the fountain near where we had lunch.

Today was another relaxed day - nothing exciting in our world.

After a little tickling, I finally got a smile.  As Carmen pointed out, doesn't it look like we live in paradise?!?  It would so be true if only we didn't have to go to work tomorrow.  Oh well, at least we have Sunday to remember to get us through until next Friday!

Some Fun Pictures

Ellen sent me her pictures from her spring break visit, so I figured I'd share a few here:

Goofing off at lunch with napkin pieces in Jayden's hair!

Playing on the monkey bars with Daddy!

As Auntie Lizzle says: dental health is important.

Getting some Auntie Lizzle time - at least there's no screaming - but also no smiles yet.

Hanging out on the floor with Mama.  After Jayden took Mama's keys and went for a "drive."

Doing some yard work.  Jayden is the best helper ever.  I say that jokingly, but also seriously.  I read this about toddlers and it turns out it's true - they love being helpful.  Give them a job to do, that you're doing with them, and they're happy. Jayden loves helping me with the laundry.  He loves sweeping when I sweep.  He throws trash away.  It's pretty great.

NOW we have a smile.  Awww, Auntie-Nephew love.

Fun after bath time.

Jayden willingly put his hat on and was goofing off.  It was so awesome.

He would tip it up . . .

. . . and then pull it down over his eyes.  He is such a ham.

Sizzles and Jayden.  Close to bedtime, so not much of a smile here.

However, put the kid outside and everything is better.

Running around Downtown Disney after lunch.

Doing some pull-ups on the fence.  He loves climbing on things!

Sizzles and Jayden again - a farewell shot.  Hopefully we'll be reunited soon!

Day full of errands

I had today off - gotta love Cesar Chavez Day - mostly because of what Cesar Chavez did for farmworkers in California, but also because he gives me a day off at the end of March/beginning of April.  Someone should make it a national holiday.

In any case, I had nothing exciting planned, but it actually turned out to be a fun day.  I had to take my car in for service, so Jayden and I walked around the car dealerships in the area and checked out all the trucks and cars.  Most exciting of all, we saw a truck that carries cars and trucks.  It was pretty exciting.  We sat on the curn and ate our snack while we watched the driver readjust all the cars on the second shelf.  We missed the unloading unfortunately, but at least we got to see the truck.

Jayden was a champ - he walked for 45 minutes with me, even helping me push the stroller at times.

Pushing the stroller.  It's tough, but he did a really good job.  He should try pushing it when his thirty pound body is in there!

Snack time.  Jayden was fixated on the cars being moved around on the truck.  We were sitting on the curb outside the Cadillac dealership.  I was afraid someone was going to ask us to leave!

I texted Carmen this picture.  Seriously.  When did he outgrow the stroller?  His head is at the top and his feet are hanging off the bottom.  That was a fun new development.

We went to lunch and then home for a bit, and then off to the doctor, to make sure his ear infections were gone.  I wasted my co-pay, but as the doctor said, what he was able to give me was reassurance.  So I am no longer worried about ear infections, I will just suffer through them.  Who needs to get a good nights' sleep anyway?!?  In any case, the good news is that his ears are completely clear and non-infected.  Yay!  I guess that means whatever bit him Saturday night was teething or nightmares or just needing to "cuddle" with Mama in the guest bed by sleeping perpendicular to her with his feet in her side.  Sure.  No problem.

We visited Daddy at his office - he is obsessed with Daddy these days.  He and I were playing today and he heard the washing machine ding and he looks at me and goes "da-da!"  Why he associated the washing machine dinging with Carmen is beyond me - 90% of the time I am the one responsible for the laundry - but he did.  So I figured since he was so excited about seeing Daddy we should stop by and say hi.  It was fun - although the traffic was horrendous on the way home.  Definitely not doing that again at 4:30 pm.

Once we got home, I was cooking him dinner (fish sticks and spaghetti squash, followed by yogurt and cheerios - dinner of champions!) and he was being fussy.  So I brought his chair into the kitchen and gave him a bowl of cheerios.  It worked perfectly for about as long as it took me to make dinner.  He only dropped half his cheerios for Jasmine, which meant she got a little snack too.

As much as feeding a toddler is a struggle, sometimes it can be pretty rewarding.  After toiling over the fish sticks (cutting them into small pieces, dipping them in flour, dipping them in egg, dipping them in my breadcrumb concoction and then frying them), he devoured them like they were the best thing he's had in a while.  Made me feel pretty good.  It also means that tomorrow he'll throw them on the floor like they're chopped liver.  Oh well.  You take what you can get when you can get it.

Hope everyone had a good Easter - we didn't do anything different from any other Sunday.  Although after seeing what some of my friends did, it made me realized I probably should have at least put together a little basket or something.  Next year I'll be all over it AND I'll hide plastic eggs for him.  I promise.  Also, someone please remind me that I promised this - maybe in early March so I have a few weeks to prepare.  Thanks.

Happy April!