Happy (long) weekend!

We've had a good weekend, although interrupted quite a bit by Carmen's work.  Yesterday we went to the park and ran a couple of errands.

Walking the bridge between the parking area and the big kids play area at the park.  We had to walk this particular stretch a number of times before we could leave.  

Our first experience sitting in a booster seat.  It was rather scary since the benches weren't very secure.   We only did it because no high chairs were available; I don't think it'll be happening again any time soon.  In other news, Jayden had a cheeseburger and loooved it.  He clearly is our child.  He even picked it up with two hands and ate it the way normal people eat cheeseburgers.  It was pretty funny to see.

Last night Carmen and I had a date night.  Our last one for a month or so, probably!  We went to a restaurant a couple blocks from my office and had a wonderful meal and great service.  It was fun to be somewhere different, and lots of good people watching too!

Today we went to Carmen's office for a bit and then went out to lunch and walked around a local mall.

There was a lot of traffic this morning; Jayden waiting his turn to back up.  ;)

Jayden was apparently starving at lunch. He ate 1-1/2 bowls of macaroni and cheese and a little bowl of apple slices.  He ate the whole first bowl and the waitress offered us a "refill."  I hesitated but then figured maybe he'd eat a few bites.  No, he ate half of the bowl.  It was insane.  He barely ate dinner because I think he's still full.

We got to ride the carousel too.  It was both really fun and incredibly scary, depending on what moment you ask about.  I strapped Jayden in tight (on a horse that moved!) and had my arm around him the whole time.  He also had his arm around me most of the time - but he smiled too so some part of it was fun for him.  

Tomorrow I have off (thank goodness!).  I am going to try to lay low, but I do think I will take Jayden to the children's museum.  He hasn't been since he learned how to walk.  My only concern is that it's open to everyone tomorrow and it's a holiday so he may get run over by hundreds of older kids.  I'll have to find a corner where he can run in safety.  We'll see.  If it's a disaster then we'll just come home or stop at some other park where he can run around and explore.

I swear Jayden tried to say "I love you" tonight - but I also am pretty sure it's my own wishful thinking.  He kind of says "iii-ooo."  But he said it when I was saying "I love you."  So I was convinced.  And then I said "I love you" again.  And then he laughed.  So maybe whatever he was saying was unrelated after all.  I think I am so incredibly eager for him to start talking that I'm looking for words everywhere.

I hope everyone else had a good weekend and is excited for tomorrow's day off (hopefully you all get tomorrow off; if not you should call in sick!).

Oh, and turns out we have a superstar in the making!

Check it out: after he dunks, he even hangs on the rim for a minute.  This clearly made Carmen's day, maybe his entire weekend.  It's all because he was wearing his Jordans this morning!

Teeth Brushing

One thing this sickness made Carmen and me realize is that Jayden needs to be using toothpaste.  He had incredibly bad breath while he was sick - most likely because he was breathing through his mouth so much (I googled this because his breath was so bad I was afraid it meant something else was wrong).  But he's old enough and eating regular food, so toothpaste was probably needed anyway.

I bought this flavored non-fluoride toothpaste that's all-natural, safe to be swallowed, etc.  And Jayden loves it.  I also bought almost real toothbrushes.  Which he also loves.  Lizzle, you'd like them too - they're Winnie the Pooh!

Tonight I was brushing his teeth, which is almost never a fight anyway, but Jayden decided he was going to do it himself.  So he grabbed the toothbrush out of my hand, leaned over so he could rinse it and then started brushing.  He only brushed about a quarter of his teeth and spent half his time brushing his tongue so he could taste the toothpaste, but at least he enjoys it.

We have a 16 month old

...who hates sleeping, apparently.  It's amazing!  Or not at all.  Jayden was sick last week, so we were giving him the benefit of the doubt.  When he woke up at 2 am screaming, we'd go in and rock him to sleep.  But, if  we tried to put him in his crib he's scream and cry and clutch at us.  So I slept in the guest bed with him a couple of nights.  Now he's better, maybe not perfect, but better.  And he's still waking up at 11 pm, midnight, etc. and screaming.  So we're trying new things, like going in to soothe him, but not pick him up.  It's sort of working.  But Carmen and I are exhausted and stressed out.

Last night we got a babysitter, which was nice - we went to a quick dinner and then to see Argo - which was an amazing movie by the way.  Both of us highly recommend it and neither of us understand how it didn't get nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards.  If you haven't seen it, go see it now.  Anyways, we got home around 9:15.  Our babysitter left at about 9:20.  And Jayden started screaming at 9:25.  He finally stopped for good just before 1:00 am (he did take a break between 10:30 and 12:15 or so).  Rough.

He also hasn't been napping except in extreme circumstances.  I keep telling myself this is a phase, this is a phase.  But at the same time wondering if I should be doing something more to teach him to nap better.  Parenthood is full of questioning - mostly of yourself and your choices.

Here are some photos from the past week or so:

Out to lunch on his official 16-month birthday.  He refused to eat anything.  So I ate his meal for lunch the next day.  At least someone ate it!

I don't include Jasmine enough anymore.  So here's a cute picture of her being patient while she waits for us three humans to get our acts together to take her on a walk.

A trick Jayden learned that Mama should have stopped earlier.  Apparently it's pretty fun to crawl through the glass table in our living room.  After he did it two or three times Mama decided maybe the glass isn't completely strong enough to hold him and this might be dangerous.  So we don't do this anymore.  

But we do have a tunnel to crawl through!  And we think it's pretty hilarious.  It's even better when the tunnel is connected to the ball tent.

"Fun" with Mama

Here are the photos from the past week or so - like I said, there aren't too many but I'll give you what I've got!

This is actually New Years Eve.  He is sitting in this puzzle rack that Julia gave him, along with four puzzles, for Christmas.  He likes the puzzles, but he loves the rack.  He "drives" it all over the house.  And apparently he fits inside of it when necessary.

Yay for new bath toys!  Thanks Auntie Lizzle!!!

We went back to the park that I love that's near our house.  As usual we spent quite a bit of time on the slide.

I don't know why but I love this picture.  I think partly because Jayden looks 8 - or at least much older than he is right now.  He was watching this remote control car fly around the playground.  A couple times he tried to chase it but I quickly steered him the other way.  I don't think the other kid would have been so happy with Jayden stomping on his fancy little remote control truck.  BUT, it gave me an idea for something to get Jayden when he's five!

Sometimes Jayden looks so big and then sometimes, like here, he look so small.  He managed to smoosh himself into the corner of this table and just hang out.  It was so funny.  

A happy moment from the weekend when both of us were smiling.  :)

Grandma, the blocks are super  fun (and he figured out how to make towers himself by gently placing one block on top of another), but the box the blocks came in?  WAAAY more fun, especially when worn as a hat!

I bought paper and painters tape to go with the chubby crayons I got him (ahem, Santa got him) for Christmas.  He figured out how to draw but then became more interested in chewing on them.  Oh well.  It was a fun start!

I still haven't taken the time to download my mom's and sister's pictures from the holidays.  Basically as soon as I finish my chores I'm off to bed.  Hopefully this weekend I'll get a minute or two (or more) to download them all and put up a few more from the Christmas trip to Seattle.

A quick update

First off, this:

http://thehonesttoddler.com/the-nap-window/

I think this was my weekend.  Somehow Jayden and this cute charming evil toddler are conspiring.  It didn't help that I've been sick since last week and am already exhausted either.  Or that Carmen has been out of town since Thursday and hopefully gets back sometime tonight, probably after I'm asleep so I won't see him or get any relief tonight either.  But Jayden fights naps like it's his job.  He was doing okay over the holiday break.  But this weekend it felt like each minute of sleep was accompanied by hours of tears (both his and mine) and screams and scratches.  Yes, scratches.  When I'm trying to get him to sleep I hold him in my arms and he tears at my face, my arms, my neck.  I can't tell you how many times I've had the skin on my collar bone pinched.  I had no idea how uncomfortable that was until Jayden and I were introduced. 

In any case, I wanted to post last night, but after I had put Jayden to bed, had made lunch for today and had finished cleaning up the house, I was dead tired and it was past my bedtime.  So, I figured I'd get a quick post up this afternoon and put up more later on.  I don't have many photos from the past week anyway.  I was still going to put up one or two photos that I had emailed to myself, but apparently my internet has decided that's actually not going to happen.  Oh well.  I'll try to post a few pictures tonight between putting Jayden to bed and passing out myself. 

Happy 2013 Everyone!