Sunday evening

It has been a good weekend.  We've stayed busy, but also somewhat low-key.  As usually happens, as Jayden was getting over his minor illness I was developing something.  Most likely from him, and usually at least twice as bad.  I'm fine, just congested and tired.  But what's new between October and April, apparently?  In case you can't tell, I'm really and truly over being sick and congested and tired.

Friday night Jayden slept 12 hours - 7:45 pm to 7:45 am, which was amazing.  He never sleeps past 7:00 am on weekends.  And especially not when I'm home alone with him.  Along with each blessing comes a curse, and I of course paid for it later (by a late nap and therefore a late wakeup from a nap and therefore a refusal to go to bed), but it felt nice Saturday morning!

We went to the "swinnging cool" (aka swimming pool) first.  We had fun, although Jayden was a little less enthusiastic than the prior Tuesday.  He was still floating and kicking and maybe sort of thinking of moving his arms.  So that was good.

We got home, ran around for a few minutes and then got back in the car to head off to a birthday party.  One of the boys from Jujus was turning one and they were thoughtful enough to invite the whole daycare.  I felt silly; it never even occurred to me to invite Jayden's daycare friends to his birthday party, but it totally makes sense.  If I'm brave enough to have a party this year I'll make sure to invite them.  In any case, the party was fun and very cute.  It was cookie monster themed, and there was a cookie bar with take-home bags.  So exciting.  I now have my very own bag of cookies, on top of all of the other sweets from the holidays I'm still doing my best to devour.  Jayden had a great time running around with the other kids from daycare, watching the fountain outside and trying to steal Owen's toys.  I let him off by himself around the room and he pops back around the corner riding a bike Owen (really Owen's parents) had literally just opened.  The other parents reassured me and we decided Jayden was just doing quality control, making sure it was safe for Owen to ride later on.

As expected, Jayden passed out on the ride home.  He slept until a little after 4 pm (and I watched most of the recorded Seahawks game - GO HAWKS!).  We played around for a bit and watched the end of the football game.  

My two kids.  Sharing the same bed, neither happily.

Distracted by dinosaurs.

We then got back in the car and had our Mommy/Jayden date.  We went to a pizza place nearby and Jayden had pasta (shocking, I'm sure - this is the 1854th night in a row that Jayden has had pasta for dinner) and I had pizza.  It was lovely.  And we had a good time.  We got home and pretty much went straight upstairs for bedtime.  We skipped a bath and generally ran around.  We talked to Carmen on the phone and Jayden told him all about his day, "showing" him the ball he was playing with and telling him stories about our day.  And then as we were reading books Jayden told me he "no wann go sweep."  So I rocked him a little extra long and then laid him in his bed.  He immediately sat up and tried to get out of bed.  He wanted me to lay down next to him, which I would not do.  So we finally compromised and I laid in the hallway with the doorway partly open so he could see me.  For. An. Hour.  He finally rolled himself around to sleep at about 8:50 pm.  I had to turn on the stars again for him even, it took so long.

And then he woke up at 4 am, wanting me to change his diaper.  I did the fastest, worst diaper change ever with him in his bed in the dark.  I turned on his noise machine, laid down next to him and passed out for an hour.  Luckily so did he.  I was back in my bed by 5:30ish and then Jayden slept until 7:30 am.  We'll see how tonight goes.

Today once we got going, we went for a looong walk (with Jayden actually walking the whole way).  It was really fun.  We made footprints on the sidewalk with the wet grass, we hopped on Jasmine's paw prints.  We pressed the button to get the green "walk" signal, we saw another dog walking, which actually is a funny story.  We were walking on one side of the street and a man with a dog was walking towards us on the same side of the street.  Jayden actually saw the dog first and shouted out "doggie!"  I grabbed Jayden's hand and walked across the street.  We looked back and I said "good morning," and Jayden echoed me "goo' mohning!"  And he said it again later when we saw another person in their driveway. Apparently he's suddenly Mr. Social.

Jayden was adamant we go to the park, so off we went, yet again.  We ran all over the place at the park, down the slide, up the ladder, down the slope, up the hill, around the corner, etc.  It was fun.

Classic Jayden, examining someone else: "they go pahk?  they go swide?  they go up staiws?  they go on othew ones?"  Yes, I think so.  Well, I don't know, probably.  I think they will go up the stairs.  Yes, apparently you're taking up this entire stairway so they have to use the other ones.  

Funny story about the hat: we were driving down Newport when Jayden said his head was cold.  I asked him if he wanted his hat and he said yes.  He never asks for his hat, so I took the opportunity, made a u-turn and headed back up the street.  I ran into the house, grabbed his hat and brought it out to the car.  I put it on his head and he said "I wiiike it! I han-sum!"  At first I didn't understand him, but then I caught on, "oh, you're handsome Jayden?"  "Yes mommy, I han-sum."  It was awesome.  Good thing he's confident.

After the park, we went to the drugstore and the grocery store, quickly getting the boring errands out of the way before we went to the "west-waunt" for "cheez -buhgehs"!

Chowing down on his cheeseburger.  He ate the entire thing, half his milkshake and some french fries.  Yes, he's a monster.

I expected him to pass out on the way home, but of course he did not.  When we got home we went straight outside, played with the balls, played bubbles and generally ran around.  We were talking to Gwamma on the phone and Jayden kept "showing" her things also, like the "wemons" (lemons) that he found on the ground, the balls that he was throwing, the bubbles he was blowing, etc.  I had to quickly explain to Gwamma what it was she was "seeing" so she could appropriately comment.  An aside: last summer we bought a bat and a ball for the pool.  We bought a couple other soft balls too.  One of the games we play is me hitting the balls with the bat and then we all (Mama, Jayden and Jasmine) go chase the balls, retrieve them and start all over again.  Well, while I was on the phone with Gwamma it was hard for me to hit so Jayden picked up the bat and a ball and started doing it himself.  He actually hit the ball a couple of times a pretty decent distance (10 feet or so) by tossing the ball with one hand and hitting the ball with the bat in his other hand.  It was awesome - amazing hand-eye coordination.  Yeah, that's my kid.

I got him to sleep without too much pain.  He started crying and trying to get out of my arms so I told him the story of the five little monkeys jumping on the bed (because it's the only one I have memorized) and by the time I got to the mama jumping on the bed he was pretty much passed out.  He slept for a bit and then we played some more, watched some Golden Globes, ate dinner (guess what?  He had pasta!), took a bath and went to bed.

All in all, a good weekend and even somewhat productive.  And tomorrow it's back to regularly scheduled programming, for better or for worse.  Hope everyone else had a good weekend and that the work week ahead treats you all well!

Videos, hopefully.

I apologize to anyone who is not signed up for Google Plus.  For some reason the only way I can share these videos is by uploading them to Google Plus and linking to them from the blog.  I searched the FAQ/Troubleshooting section and apparently a lot of people are having this issue.  I get no explanation for the error, just that an error occurred.  So, if you don't already have Google Plus, I'm afraid you might have to sign up.  I'm sorry.  If I hear from Google that the problem is fixed soon then I'll upload the videos here.

From January 10, 2014:
Playing with cars on the couch

From Christmas 2013:
Opening his first present from Santa!

Singing after Christmas dinner

All personality, all the time

Jayden is a character!!!  I can't even explain.

He's just hilarious.

I'm ready to get really angry with someone at Google/Blogger/wherever.  I pay for extra storage, I'm using something like 1/50th of that storage and I still can't upload videos.  So in the meantime I'll add regular photos and hope that I can figure out how to get videos up here again someday.  In any case.  Here's the good stuff:

Even when Jayden is tired and grouchy, he still manages to make me laugh.  Tonight he was clearly tired.  At dinnertime he couldn't push the pasta on to his spoon, so he was sobbing, with tears literally streaming down his face.   He'd get one bite of pasta on his spoon, eat it and then start sobbing again when he couldn't get the next piece on his spoon.  I felt bad for him, sort of, but really it was hilarious.  I had to try really hard not to laugh.  And I'm sure I laughed a little bit.

Last weekend we had a really low-key weekend.  We barely left the house except for two meals and a trip to the grocery store by me and Jayden.  It was good, though, and nice to be home and relaxed.  I think we're all a little worn out.

Passing out in his sunglasses, because it was "bwight," on the way to the restaurant for lunch on Sunday.  About five minutes after we got in the car we realized we shouldn't have gone.  But by that point it was too late.  We had a good lunch, it just meant I didn't get the nap break at the house later.  Oh well.

Carmen left for a marathon trip Wednesday morning, hitting at least four states, more if you include layovers. When I tell people I'm single-momming it for a few days (and without any local family/friends for support), people feel bad for me. But honestly, single mothering Jayden isn't so bad.  The times I feel it the worst are after Jayden has gone to bed and I'm all alone with nobody to talk to but Jasmine.  And Jasmine is sweet, but she has never once given me career advice or anything else.

This was Wednesday night.

Jayden's fits are almost funny, except when we're trying to get something done.  On Wednesday night, that orange bump on the stairs was Jayden, protesting about coming upstairs.  It was almost hilarious.  Luckily, one of Carmen's friends/co-workers stopped by in the middle of the fit, while I was changing his diaper on the stairs, because that's what he required.  I tossed him in his room, butt naked, closed the gate and ran downstairs.  Because my husband is brilliant, he forgot a winter coat and part of his trip involves going to Denver, where it's negative something, I'm sure.  So his co-worker was picking up his coat to give to another co-worker who happened to be going to Denver tomorrow and will meet him at her hotel (sketchy, I know, but he assures me it's fine ;)).  In any case, the interruption was exactly what we needed.  After I went back upstairs, Jayden was in a great mood and went to bed quite easily. So apparently I need to schedule an interruption every evening around 7:10 pm.  I'll keep that in mind.

He'd also come down with yet another cold - a runny nose, a cough and a very slight fever on Wednesday.  I drugged him up and threw him in bed (again).  He slept a little more than 11 hours Wednesday night and woke up feeling much better Thursday morning.  I still wasn't convinced he was 100% so I took a half-day sick day on Thursday and picked him up after his nap.  We came home early, ran around outside (because that's how you get over a cold, apparently) and then ate dinner and went upstairs.  I was so happy I got home early with him; it really made our evening so much better.

This morning we were up on time and out the door by 7:45ish.  I have a clinic every Friday morning so when Carmen isn't home Jayden doesn't get to eat breakfast at home with me, and I don't eat breakfast.  Sad, but Jayden doesn't mind.  I drop him off and he runs straight to his seat at the table and starts eating his cereal.  Apparently he's very strict about what's his.  One morning Carmen dropped him off, someone else was holding his water cup and he ran over and grabbed it out of the kid's hands.  Carmen started to admonish him and Juju explained it was technically "his" cup so he had a right to it.  If nothing else, Jayden is really good with rules!

I had a busy day today, but Jayden and I had pasta for dinner and a great time after dinner once the tears subsided.

Lots o' pictures for Daddy.  Carmen called while we were getting ready for bed.  Jayden answers the phone now when Daddy's on the other end.  The other morning we were walking and somehow Jayden heard my phone (I didn't) and goes "Daddy!"  I started to laugh and tell him "No, Daddy is in Atlanta (or Alabama, or wherever)," but then I heard my phone and realized how few people call me.  ;)

In any case, Jayden can actually talk on the phone now, especially when there's a picture of the person he's talking to.  I need to put in a picture of everyone important.  But because he can see the picture of Daddy, he thinks Carmen can see whatever he shows him.  So tonight he walked around his room and bathroom, showing him all kinds of different things.  He showed him his baba (his giraffe lovey) laying in his bed; he showed him the cool ball he was throwing up in the air over and over again; he showed him his medicine on the counter in the bathroom.  I had to be careful to explain to Carmen what he was "looking" at and when he was "looking" at it.  Luckily Carmen played along.  He also cracked up when Jayden ran in to the room after one of his circuits around the second floor and exclaimed "I fahhhted!"  With Jayden, there is no shame.  Jayden and I also did some jumps and some dancing after he went potty in the toilet again tonight.  Yay!  We had just taken off his diaper and he was playing around.  Suddenly he stopped and ran into the bathroom and sat on the potty and went pee shortly thereafter.  Sometimes I wonder if I really want to potty train him if I should just let him run around with nothing on and see what happens.  I'm sure I'd clean up some accidents, but I'm also pretty sure Jayden would pick it up pretty quickly.

A couple more stories:
1. Jayden and I went to swim lessons on Tuesday evening.  We got to swim in the "big" pool, which is the outdoor pool, because the little pool was having maintenance done.  Jayden was incredibly excited to be in the big pool and spent his entire time splashing everywhere.  The cool thing was that he actually floated horizontally, face down, in the pool.  I was so impressed.  He'd jump off my leg, land face first, float for a second or two holding his breath, and then kick his feet and move his arms in an attempt to swim.  Inevitably as soon as he started moving he'd sink, but he's at least getting the idea.  He was also the only kid in the five kid class who didn't start screaming.  He was happy and grinning the entire time.  At the end of class, Ms. Stacy grabbed this surfboard and used it as a slide.  The other kids would barely sit on the surfboard at all, but Jayden sat on the far end and let Ms. Stacy dump him into the water.  I didn't even catch him, but let him sink and come back up before grabbing him.  It's so fun to see him so happy in the water.
He really wanted to go to the "swimmmm cool" (aka swimming pool) tonight, but I had to explain they were closed and that we could go in the morning.  It caused a minor episode in the car tonight but he got over it when we saw "big wigs" and "mo-cycles" on the "fweeeway" driving home.
2. Juju has started doing lessons a couple times during the week.  On Wednesday they learned things that start with the letter "P": pigs, penguins, pears, pencils, etc.  She sends the folder home with whatever they did that day so that we can see too and talk about it with the kids.  I love it.  It's not homework, because it's fun, and it lets me know a little bit about what's going on at daycare.  So we talked about what he learned and what the pictures were.  Jayden is also incredibly proud of his folder.  It has "fwogs," "stawws," "heawts" and a "fwower" on it.  It's awesome.  It actually has "thwee fwogs," a "puhple" one, a pink one and a "yewow" one.   Today he learned the number "five."  When we were on the phone with Carmen I asked him what number he learned about today.  He said "two!"  I said, "no, you learned the number FIVE!"  He said "OH!  yeah, five!"  It was hilarious.  As if he understood what I was saying and that he understood he got it wrong.  It's so cute.  

There's another story I wanted to tell you, but yet again, I can't remember it.  I will someday.  AND I am going to figure out how to upload the videos.  Someday.

A quick story

Jayden was really excited to see JuJu, Gloria and Licas yesterday. But towards the end of the day he got really whiny and clingy, completely out of the blue. By the time I picked him up around 5 he was a mess. Nothing but whininess came out of his mouth.

On the way home he was still talking to me, though, telling me stories about a collision between him and Owen that hurt his knee and how he and Owen both bumped their heads. He asked if we were going to the office and I told him no, Mommy was done working for the day. He said No, MY office. So I asked him if he had a business and he said "yesss." (He always accentuates the "s" in yes).  I asked him what kind of business and he said "Christmas." I said, "oh, a Christmas business?" He said "yesss."  I asked what kind of work he did at the business and he said "open presents." I was trying so hard not to laugh and probably not succeeding.  The primary lesson learned from this story: (1) this kid LOOOVES himself some Christmas.  Too bad he's got another year before it comes again.

To finish the sickness story, Jayden proceeded to get worse with the chills, a fever and shivers all over during dinner. I couldn't put him down without him throwing a fit. I fed him a pint of applesauce and then we drugged him up (really just gave him children's ibuprofen/fever reducer) and put him to bed. He was asleep by 6:45ish. He slept a solid 12 hours, until 6:40 or so this morning. And when he woke up he was giggling, smiling and all kinds of happy again. And no fever! So apparently he had a six hour fever that just needed sleep to cure it. He was fine all day today and tonight. We're all knocking on wood that he stays well this weekend.

Happy 2014!!!

I'm sorry it has been so long.  With traveling and everything else there just hasn't been any time.  Jayden and I left the day after Christmas to fly to Seattle.  I was a little nervous flying alone with Jayden, but I packed efficiently, checked our suitcase and planned the flights around naptime.  And it was a resounding success.  Most of the credit goes to our child, who is just the best little boy (big boy, if you ask him) ever.  He slept the first hour of the flight and then we drew for a little bit and then played on the iPad for a little bit.  And then we were there!

Jayden was very excited to see Gramma and Auntie and to ride in Gramma's car.  He wasn't a huge fan of the ferry boat at night but was very excited to piles of toys to play with when we got to Gramma's house.  We pretty much ate dinner and went to bed, and Jayden was great.  He slept in the crib and he slept all night, until a little before 7 am.  Not bad at all, especially for a new place.

The next day we opened the gifts that were remaining.  Jayden of course was excited to open presents.

A stocking from Gramma.

Opening a puzzle from Great Aunt Terri, Emily and Molly.  Dinosaurs!

We got out of the house in the rather chilly weather and went to a park and to lunch, before coming home to prepare for the Wrights (our good family forever friends) coming over that evening.

"Swide!"

Climbing!  And he is wearing his hat - a huge victory!

Checking out the Christmas shadow box-thingy with Gramma.

Jammin' to some music.

Some more jamming.

Hugs with Auntie, and with the new doggie from the Wrights.

Messing around with the present Jayden gave Gramma, a pig popper that shoots little soft green balls out of its nose.  It was loads of fun.

Saturday we hung around the house in the morning, exploring outside a little and then went in to Seattle to do some returning/exchanging.

Checking out the rocks and shells on the beach.

The game turned out to be finding mussel shells and throwing them into the water.  Until the tide started coming in and Jayden thought the water was going to "get him" and he had to be carried.  Oh poor deprived child not understanding the tides.  :)

Serious faces on the ferry boat.  With his hat on again!

Looking out the window for other boats.

Being silly for Gramma at dinner.

Talking to Daddy from the car on the ferry boat.
This might have been my favorite moment.  When Carmen calls I have a photo of him that pops up.  Because of facetime/skype, Jayden thinks that when he sees the picture he's actually seeing Carmen and that Carmen can see him.  So first of all, he called Carmen all on his own.  Second, he was telling him all kinds of stories: "Daddy, I on ferry boat!  It's uh sdkjnejadgisjfigjshtjtjsgljnsfkjthjs."  Normally when he's talking on the phone Carmen waits for me to interpret.  Well this time, not only could I not interpret but I couldn't even say anything because I was laughing so hard.  He seriously said maybe two or three sentences to Carmen that were completely unintelligible.  And finally, a boat with lights went by and Gramma pointed out the boat while Jayden was talking to Daddy.  So Jayden said "Daddy, a boat!  With wights!"  And then Jayden took the phone and pointed it towards the boat so Daddy could see too.  I explained to Carmen that he was "looking" at the boat, so luckily he played along.  It was so cute and so fun to see Jayden so happy talking to his Daddy.

Sunday we went for a walk near the house and then went to a family friend's house who we haven't seen in a while.  It was nice to see them and Jayden enjoyed worrying about their dog.

I saw these on one of my runs and decided I had to show Jayden.  I called them dinosaurs but when I showed the picture to Carmen he corrected me - this is Godzilla.  In any case, Jayden was not terribly impressed.  Above is about as close as he would get and even that was pushing it.

I forget exactly why we did this, but he asked me to do it.  :)

Walking on the public dock.  Jayden claimed he saw two green fish.  We're pretty confident we saw no fish.  But I'll fully support the imagination!

Playing marbles!

My little angel.  Except when he wakes up at 3 am and spends the next 3-4 hours literally kicking me in the head.

Monday was Ellen's turn to leave.  Her flight left midday so we went to the boat around 10 am.  We were a little early so we got some warm beverages.  When we went to start our car, it wouldn't start.  It was the weirdest thing - the controls were shaking and there was absolutely no turnover.  The local cops who patrol the ferry waiting lot came over and jump started the car, and the ferry workers were nice enough to let us on the boat, even though we'd need a jump to get off the boat too (it's absolutely not allowed to leave your car running for the ferry ride).  Mom was quick on her feet and explained we were trying to get to the airport.  By this point we'd sent Ellen running to walk on to the boat with her luggage, in case they wouldn't let us on the boat.  So I think maybe they thought Jayden and I were headed to the airport?  Who knows.  In any case, they jumped us to get off the boat, we drove straight to the airport, threw Ellen out of the car while it was almost still moving and then drove straight to get a new battery.  The dealership was great, although not in a great location.  Our choices for lunch were KFC, Pizza Hut or Taco Bell.  Oh well!

Not cooperating for Auntie's farewell picture.
Lizzle, if it makes you feel any better, he's been asking about you ever since: "Where Auntie?  Auntie in Yhorrr?"  (Yhorrr = New York in Jayden language).  Yesterday when I told him we were on our way to the airport, Jayden asked hopefully "Go see Auntie?!?"  I had to explain that you don't, in fact, live at the airport and that you were home in New York.  So now he just keeps asking me "Auntie in Yhorrr?"  And I say "yes."  And then we repeat that three to four more times.  

Trucks on his head!

Silly faces with Mama.

Rockin' out in KFC.  He was getting down to some bad elevator-type music.

Reading a book while waiting for yet another ferry boat.

Tuesday it was our turn to leave.  Gramma and Jayden played in the morning while I got us packed up and ready to go, and snuck in one last run in my favorite place to run ever (besides the giant hill at the end).  We got back on the ferry boat, for the final time this trip.  Jayden was excited when we told him we were on our way to see Daddy and Jasmine.  And to clarify, Daddy was more exciting than Jasmine, in case anyone was worried.  We had to explain to Jayden 465 times that Mommy and Jayden were getting on the airplane to go to California to "go fine [find] Daddy" and that Gramma was going to go back to Gramma's house to "be wif Grampa."  It was awesome.

A few last games of marbles in the morning with Gramma.

Mommy and Jayden in the airport.

One last goodbye between Gramma and Jayden.

"Our" airplane.  Jayden wanted a picture.

Passed out in my lap before we even took off, maybe even before we backed away from the gate.  He was asking me all kinds of questions about taking off.  I got his blanket out in preparation and he said "Mommy, put on me."  So I laid the blanket on him and he was out in about twenty five seconds.  Awesome.  He slept for a little more than an hour again, then woke up and we did the same as before, had some snack, colored a little and then played on the iPad.

The view leaving Seattle - Mt. Rainier.

The view landing in California - we're over the Pacific Ocean, I think just south of Long Beach.

For New Years Eve we had big plans, which involved football and take out.  Jayden was in a good mood, but was easily in bed by 8:00 pm.  Carmen and I made it to midnight, even though we probably shouldn't have.

Carmen left this morning on a 7:30 am flight and I had been up around 3 am on Tuesday when Jayden decided he needed to sleep with Mommy.

Today Jayden and I went to Silver Lake (in L.A.) to have lunch with a few of my friends.  He was a hot mess this morning but calmed down once he slept a little on the ride to the restaurant.  He gobbled up his pancakes and even ate a little bacon (usually meat is the hardest thing for me to get him to eat).  When we got home we pretty much went straight outside and spent the afternoon running around with the tiny lemons that fall off our tree and Jasmine.

A close up.  He told me "no smile Mama."  I said no problem, I just want a picture.  You can see the lemon on the ground behind him to the left.

The lemon landed in the "garden."  We had thrown it from behind me.  But for some reason, the only way Jayden believed he could enter the garden was to run forward, through the grass and walk in by the retaining wall.  Then he walked around the back of all of the plants to get to this lemon that was a millimeter from the giant concrete pad from where we had just thrown it.  Whatever.  The more he runs the better.

Throwing a lemon at a brick wall.  Turns out they either bounce back to you or get stuck in the bushes on the wall.  Good times.

Tomorrow it's back to work for me and back to Juju's for Jayden.  He is actually really excited to go see Lucas.  He's been without friends for about two weeks now and I think he really misses interacting with kids.   He always stares, but I feel like he's been staring extra hard at kids recently, probably hoping he either knows them or can run away with them.  He even waved and blew kisses at a little girl in the restaurant today.  Her name was Julia.  So cute!

He continues to grow, in all number of ways - physically, mentally, developmentally, etc.  He's really smart.  He has a great memory - when I tell him Daddy is in Carolina or Florida or wherever, he can tell me and other people without me reminding him.  He is amazingly curious.  I was asked "what's dat noise?" about 97234 times while we were in Seattle.  He listens so well, I can be less careful than I might otherwise be because if I tell him to stop he pretty much always listens.  He's charming.  And he's goofy.  He makes the funniest faces.  Last night during dinner he kept making faces at Carmen, just to be funny.  Kind of like the picture above of me and him in the car - where his eyes are squinty and he's kind of smiling.  He loves making that face.  And he knows he's being funny.  I hope he retains that sense of humor.  But I think he will with the two of us as his parents.

Now it's off to bed so I can try to stay awake at my desk tomorrow.  We wish you all a wonderful 2014 with many fabulous adventures and lots of love and laughter.