Holiday Prep

Yesterday a friend shared a link to $5 potato head toys on Amazon. But they were only $5 if you bought a larger item, so I ended up buying a large item for Felix for Christmas. It wasn't exactly an impulse buy...I'd read reviews, thought about colors, compared prices and knew which features I wanted. I just hadn't planned on actually buying it any time soon. But consumer behavior is funny, and a $5 potato head pushed me over the edge. Amazon sure knows what it's doing.

I got all weirdly emotional and grateful when I was able to just add it to my cart and buy it. And now I can't wait for Christmas morning when he gets to see it! I didn't spend an insane amount, but it's definitely the most I've ever spent on a gift for him, or maybe anyone.

I also ordered our holiday cards yesterday
and hope they turn out as cute as they looked online. Groupon has a super $20 deal for Zazzle right now, so check it out if you want to order cards.

And, I may have found another evening and weekend sitter so I can enjoy a few holiday parties. She's really nice and down to earth, and has daycare experience. I just need to follow up with her references, then it's time to bust out the ugly sweaters.

Toddlerrific Tuesday

Felix was in one heck of a mood tonight. It started with not being able to wear Amaya's purple velvet boots home from daycare (she clung to the baby gate and sobbed while he tried to put them on), and the fussiness continued all the way home. Crying, frustrated outbursts, emphatic "NoooOOs" even when I hadn't asked a question, pointing and wanting things and never being satisfied.

At home, he refused to get into his high chair for dinner, then refused to let me take his shirt off. So he ate on his own terms and after a couple of bites, decided it was time to fling food and throw himself from his high chair. Exhausted, I looked at the clock at it was only 5:50. Ugh.

So I pulled out my mommy tricks - ibuprofen, fruit pouch, bath. Almost instantly he was calm and happy. He even offered me a "Cheers!" from the tub.

Nice save, mom!

He was really needy the rest of the evening, so I sat on the living room floor while he played with toys on my lap, and around 7:30 he went to bed without a peep. The books tell me being a toddler is exhausting, and I believe it.

Babble

I started keeping a list of Felix's words around 15 1/2 months, and he has lots. But I noticed a few weeks ago he doesn't use most of them very often. Instead, he's started speaking long "sentences" of total babble that don't have any identifiable words in them. He has different intonations when he's reading a book, upset about something, or asking me a question, so he clearly thinks he's communicating. It's pretty cute.

I posted a question in my online birth club and lots of other moms said they've noticed the same thing, so I'm not worried. He's also started signing "please", shaking his head no, and he figured out how to blow bubbles and roll his tongue, so those have to be good signs for speech development.

A few of the words he does use regularly are hi, bye, Jayda (dog), truck, dog, and as of yesterday, no. The dreaded no! He doesn't say his own name yet, but he pats his own belly and then points to it when I ask "Where is Felix?" He also recognizes himself in the month-by-month photo frame on his dresser and on my picture coffee cup. He gets a really sweet, huge grin when he looks at pictures of "baby Felix".

Practicing the tongue roll.

Endings and Beginnings (and Endings)

Last Friday afternoon I wrapped up at my old job, packed my car and drove straight to my new job. I surprised myself by getting a little emotional when I said goodbye, but I figure that's proof it was a great company and great group of people, and I wouldn't have left for just any old offer.

Things are going great at the new job. Lots to do, interesting stuff, fun people, and I have pretty much total autonomy (no 10-step process to fix a website typo). I'm excited to get through the little things and start thinking bigger picture by the beginning of next year.

Felix also started his new bilingual preschool Friday. Thankfully he was excited to go inside and play, so I didn't worry about him for one moment. I didn't get a lot of details when I picked him up because a Dia de los Muertos party was in full swing,  but one lady said he only slept for an hour during naptime and then woke everyone else up. Sounds about right! He is not used to napping on mats.

Firetruck!

The invoice I received for November was higher than I was expecting, but I chalked that up to an erroneous holiday charge and waited to hear back before paying it. Turns out, the pricing I had been planning on for the past 6 months was incorrect. Their website was out of date and wrong in two places, and the actual daily rate is significantly higher than I was expecting. Ugh! It's also more than double what I pay at his home daycare.

Technically I could afford to pay the higher rate for just one day per week (the initial plan), but transitioning him to full time would be out of the question. And I'm not sure it's worth it. His age group only has 2 1/2 structured hours, and the rest is free play, naps and meals like any other daycare. So, I've decided not to continue with the school at this time. Disappointed doesn't begin to describe how I feel! There are no other bilingual options in town, so I'm going to have to get serious about learning at home and with family.

Helping me sweep leaves off the balcony. He loves to participate.

Happy Halloween!

Fix-It Felix and Wreck-It Ralph before trick-or-treating.

It took us 30 minutes to stop at 4 houses, but the boys had a great time.

Distractions (and T42?!)

With the big job transition just around the corner, I’ve been in need of more distractions than usual. Thankfully the weather has been gorgeous and the trees spectacular, so Felix and I have enjoyed lots of time outdoors.

We visited a pumpkin patch a couple weekends ago and Felix was most excited about big trucks on the freeway first. Then he warmed up to the place and had a great time riding trains, petting animals and playing in the corn box. I asked another parent to take our photo and had a mini panic attack when I realized that if I go according to my plan B, I will be doing another home study before next October and THESE pictures will be part of my profile. Ahh! I am so not ready for that. (Plan A was to start again when Felix turned two, but the desire for a bigger house and life with a toddler pushed back the timeline to at least next fall.)

Look mom, trucks!

The corn box - challenging but fun.

Riding to the pumpkin patch.

Running away from the camera.

We also took a long walk on the greenbelt, and I could have spent the whole time taking pictures of the trees. Instead I decided to put away my phone and just enjoy it. I finally broke down and took just a couple of pics at the end when Felix was playing in the leaves. He knows when the camera is out and sometimes looks away and shakes his head "no", so I'm trying to keep the annoying mom habits to a minimum.

Last weekend we went to Baker City for a friend’s college graduation and Halloween party. (The same family we stayed with when Felix was a newborn.) Andrea went all-out decorating the house and coming up with freaky ways to serve food, and we had a great time! Felix wasn’t scared of any of it – he walked right up to a skull and said “Hi!” I consider this an accomplishment because he was scared when Halloween costumes first hit the stores, but I stopped to play peek-a-boo with the scary masks and little by little, he associated them with fun and games.

Fix-It Felix and Lois Griffin. He traded his hat for Stewie.

Another friend and her two kids were in Baker as well, so we had big sleepovers two nights in a row, breakfast together in the mornings, and I had babysitters on hand all weekend. On Saturday we moms sipped lattes and walked the quaint downtown shopping thrift and antique stores. Then we took pictures of each other’s families in the park (I’m saving my favorite for our holiday card). That night we had dinner at a brew pub, then played darts and had another drink at the new brewery across the street. It was a long, tiring day, and we were all home by 9:15. Ha.

My dad loves this pic because it reminds him just how small Felix is.

Mara (13) did an excellent job taking care of Felix and going through his bedtime routine. She prides herself on having “changed his diapers since he was newborn” and was able to tell when he was tired and ready for bed. She even had the sense to swap his empty milk cup for a stuffed animal when he started to cry, then read him a couple of stories and put him to bed. He slept soundly on his own all night.

Now I'm ready to get through my last few days at work so I can get into a new routine before the holidays!

Getting Organized

At Work
I have 8 full days left at my current job and they haven't posted my position yet. So there's little chance I'll be around to help interview, and no chance I'll be there to train the new person. This really stressed me out for a couple of days, then I had to just let go.

On Friday my coworkers scheduled a one-hour training session to become more familiar with the programs I use on a daily basis. They had pained looks on their faces by the end, realizing it would not be an easy task to just pick up where I left off "while" I'm gone, as my manager worded it. (Almost like he's thinking of it as another maternity leave, and you may remember I worked part-time throughout my leave.) Anyway, letting go.

I was invited to teach again this spring, but declined. I took the job for career growth and extra income, which I don't feel I will need with the new job. But, I do enjoy teaching and won't rule it out for the future.

At Home
I spent some time this weekend organizing my MacBook and iPhone. My desktop was covered in so many icons, there was no screen space left and they were piling on top of each other sometimes 10 deep. I'm stuck in this outdated cycle where I can't use Firefox or Chrome or upgrade flash because my operating system is too old. I can't sync my iPhone because iTunes is out of date, but I can't update it until I have the new operating system. I couldn't upgrade my phone's iOS because there were too many pictures on my phone, but my computer is really slow and not able to download my pics from the iPhone without freezing.

I had more than 5,000 photos on my iPhone dating back to before Felix was born. Photos on my computer dated back to 2010. Obviously technology has not been a priority over the past couple of years.

I ordered the new operating system for my MacBook on eBay, but there's a chance my computer is too old to run it. It is - GASP - 6 years old. The new OS was only $30 because it's been out so long. I also bought an external drive to backup my photos and other files before upgrading, but get this - I can't use the drive until I update my OS! Arrgh.

I love Macs, but I hate how expensive and time consuming it is to stay current. They're *this close* to losing me as a customer after nearly 15 years of dedication. If my computer can't run the new OS, it's going to be virtually worthless.

Proud Papa
As I toiled away on my computer most of yesterday, Felix was enjoying his new role as papa. One morning last week, I checked on him in his room and found him trying to feed a dirty, naked, one-handed baby doll that used to be mine. It was so cute! I figure he learned from watching his daycare provider with a new baby she watches. So I decided to get him his own baby doll with bottle, and he took to her immediately. She went with us everywhere yesterday. He loves to cuddle her, feed her, burp, her, then poke her in the eye and body slam her.