An Overdue Update

Well I wish I could say that the absence of blogging has to do with me being lost in some more escapist reading. But no, it's because I'm getting slammed from every which direction at work and seem to be flailing just to tread water. I know it will get better eventually, but I'm fried. By the time I sign off at the end of the night, I just don't have it in me to sit at another keyboard or think coherent thoughts. This week was so busy that I didn't even have time to jot down bullets, but I've got a few things in the back of my mind that I can share.

Unfortunately I have had to resort to a tv babysitter more than I would have liked lately to get us through the gap between the end of his nap and the time that used to be the end of my day (but is now more or less a long dinner break till his bedtime). To ease my conscience, I ordered the Noggin channel -- billed as "preschool on tv." Yeah I know, I'm exactly the kind of sucker they're marketing to. I do feel a little better that he's not watching mindless cartoons - these really do have some value and luckily he seems interested in a few of them, especially the ones that involve some sort of problem solving. Dora, Diego, Ni Hao Kai Lan and Blues Clues, in particular. I guess at least he might come away from this with multilingual skills at any rate! He plays with his blocks and Aquadoodle and whichever toys interest him for the day, and will go watch a few minutes at a time if something grabs his attention. From time to time I'll hear him answering questions and calling out letters he sees. In between shows, they do little puzzles like memory games or "find which one is different." He hears that background music and RUNS to the tv to study the pictures. I can't help but get a kick out of that because I've always gravitated to those kind of games too. Uh oh. :)

This weekend he's been in a limit-testing mood. Exasperatingly so. And about everything. For some reason, this weekend he decided he'd start putting things in his mouth that he's not supposed to -- behavior that he really hadn't displayed at all for the last 6 months. And he's not satisfied unless I know he's done it. He'll come up with a smug little look, grunt and point to his open mouth. An example from yesterday: he was standing in front of me, grunting and pointing to his open mouth. I asked him what he had, and he pulls out a wad of tissue paper. I tell him, "no WeiJ, we don't put paper in our mouths. Paper is not for eating." What does he do? He brings me his dirty sock and puts it in his mouth and looks me directly in the eye with the tauntingest little expression. I was almost successful at not laughing at that, but it was just too ridiculous to see him standing there with that so there look and a dirty sock hanging out of his mouth. Yeah, WeiJ, you really showed me.

And then - and this one made me groan with dread - I put him to bed for his nap today. Not even a minute later, I hear the heavy rapid-fire thuds of his running footsteps coming into the living room. Noooooo! I turned to see his triumphant little face grinning from ear to ear at his accomplishment - he dared to get up off the bed on his own. For 6 months he's been too wary of falling, and I knew I had it easy that I could just put him down for a nap and trust that he wouldn't get up until I came to get him after his nap. But methinks those days are over....

And the last thing I can think of for now is I measured him on Friday. I've been marking his height at the beginning (roughly) of each month since December since the inconsistency at the doctor's office was driving me bananas. So like always, I stood WeiJ up against the inside of the computer armoire door and made a mark. We went to get the measuring tape to see the total and the difference, and he studied everything I did. Ten minutes later, I looked up from doing dishes and saw him standing against a different wall, looking straight ahead and placing a flat block against the top of his head the same way I'd done with the pen. First thought: awww, so cute and so smart! Second thought: hide all the pens!!! Anyway, he has changed so much that I was sure there would be massive differences from month to month...but it's "only" a half inch per month since January. He's now 34 1/4", which still keeps him hovering around that 70th percentile. I should get a scale to track his weight too, but I'm almost afraid to know. This kid is built solid, no doubt.