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September 28, 2004
What I've learned this week about parenting (and other things)
1. I hate fevers of 101+ that start the very same night I decide it's okay to put a blanket on Gus when he sleeps, thus convining me I have caused Gus to have heat stroke. LESSON: I WILL NOT ALWAYS BE ABLE TO BLAME MYSELF FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO GUS.
2. It's hard to see someone you love so much feeling miserable. Having Gus wake up burning like a hot plate, crying and lethargic, scared me and I had moments of utter helplessness. LESSON: THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST OF MANY TIMES I WILL FEEL HELPLESS, BUT WILL TRY MY HARDEST TO NOT OUTWARDLY SHOW THAT TO GUS.
3. I've decided that I, too, want to go to a pediatrican rather than an adult doctor. They're uber empathetic, they don't make you feel like you're interrupting them when you call them on a Sunday, and explain everything. LESSON: I WANT A NEW DOCTOR. I DON'T LIKE MINE, I DON'T CONNECT WITH HER, AND I HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE. SO I WILL.
4. Ear infections apparently hurt. A lot. And may cause nasty fevers. And may make one prone to nursing every hour. Or all night long. Just maybe. LESSON: EVEN IF YOU TAKE GUS TO THE DOCTOR TWICE WITHIN THE WEEK PRIOR TO FINDING AN EAR INFECTION, YOU MAY NOT SEE ANYTHING BREWING. !!!!
5. Trying to work for the past two days while home with Gus is... challenging. I've found that PBS has wonderful kiddie TV shows during the day that seem to distract the little sick boy for a few minutes so I can sneak in some Visio drawing or email. I've also found that working when the sweet Gus is asleep works best. Overall? Being able to cuddle and comfort Gus during this time was heartachingly precious. LESSON: THE MORE I HAVE TO DO IN A PERIOD OF TIME, THE MORE EFFECTIVE AND CONCENTRATED I FEEL I AM COMPLETING THE TASKS.
6. I don't like mice.... let's say, I don't like THE SINGULAR MOUSE that is in our house. I will not freak out. I will not acknowledge that I googled "house mice" and found that mice have 21-day gestations, where they'll give birth to 4-7 babies each time. me <--- plugging my ears, closing my eyes, saying, "NA NA NA NA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" John saw it on Sunday. Today was my day for the sighting. Gus was nursing, the house was silent. Here comes the cute bastard, scampering under the TV table, stopping, perching on its back legs to sniff, and then scurrying back towards the piano. I stopped Gus, got up, went over to the piano, and pounded on the piano keys. (can mice hear??) I went and got Zeppo to come inside. I told her to eat the mouse. All she wanted to do was play with her stuffed hedgehog. Poop. LESSON: KEEP THE STUFFED ANIMALS OFF THE FLOOR.
7. Despite feeling bad, Gus was able to smile often, hug for hours, and say mama and a-da occasionally. LESSON: ALWAYS TRY TO SEE THE BRIGHTER SIDE, IT'S MUCH MORE PLEASANT.
8. Even though I can find twenty things at any one time to criticize myself about, I finally admitted to myself that I'm a good mom. LESSON: PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK OCCASIONALLY. AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR. :)
ps. Gus, the parenting books said starve a fever, but I think you should feed it.
Now Gus, I know I said feed, but you don't have to eat it all in one sitting.
Gus eating during the throes of the fever on Sunday. Naked but for a bib and diaper. You could cook an egg on him.
Posted by janna at 05:56 PM | Comments (1)
September 23, 2004
My Gussie
The other morning, John went in to Gustav's daycare. Upon entering, all of the little kids came running up to John and Gus. They began bantering among themselves...
"My Gussie..."
"No, MY Gussie!"
Whose Gussie is he? Everyone's!
The boy is burning calories like no other...and consuming them like no other. The commando crawl is perfected. For reasons I cannot understand as of yet, Gus seems to need an excuse to crawl...and he makes excuses for himself. For example, Gus loves the remote control. He'll crawl across the floor for it. But once he has it, he still wants to crawl. So... he throws it. It's a few inches at a time, depending on the force. He throws, then crawls a few paces?steps?inches? (whatever you call what he does...and however it breaks down into increments). I think he also does it to give himself a meaningful excuse for going places in the room he hasn't been. He's weaved himself between the piano bench legs, under chairs... He's still a fan of under the couch, too.
The babbling is still going strong. "P" is elusive, so Papa has not been uttered. There certainly is an alternative word being used though: A-DA. When Gus sees John, he says it with such force. AHHHHHHHH- DA!
I love him.
Gus has also taken to pointing. At everything. It almost sounds like he says "What's that?" just like we do. I've also noticed that his language comprehension has really taken off. We'll refer to some object and he'll look. Kind of scary. We've gotta watch what we say!
Posted by janna at 07:31 PM
September 19, 2004
girl's weekend (sprinkled with a little boy)
We're back from a fabulously fun and full girl's weekend in Iowa City. My dear friend, Anji, pulled a bunch of girlfriends from college back together for the weekend, and it was a ball. John and Gus accompanied me (thus the sprinkling), hanging out with Hans and Vince and Ivan when Lisa and I were out and about.
Highlights include:
-Friday evening eating and drinking at Hans & Lisa's house, including a wide awake Gus, waking up at 10:15 pm and laying on the charm until 12:15 am.
-Saturday morning spa treatments...first a massage for an hour, then a facial, both the most anti-social reunion gathering activities but so needed and appreciated! I think we should have that be a part of any weekend we have together! Highlight after the facial: walking around with my shirt on inside out.
-Watching Hans, Vince, Ivan, John and Gus walking down the street together to meet us for lunch. Lisa and I needed to feed the little ones, so the boys were allowed to infiltrate for a couple of hours.
-Driving out to Ely to visit Clary Illian's pottery studio. A few of us used to ditch class and go buy pottery. Some people drink, do drugs... we bought pottery. And we still are! She wasn't there, but an apprentice was. We made the visit worthwhile by leaving a whole bunch of money behind. I'll have to post a pic of what I bought... a beautiful cookie jar. We also got a tour of her studio and kiln. You'll see pics of that.
-Power napping between Ely and dinner!
-Dinner downtown in Iowa City. Yum yum yum. Had the best wine I've had in a while. I stole the cork so I could remember: Norman Vineyards, 'the Monster', Zinfandel. Buy it. Yum.
-Went to this piano bar called... the Piano Bar, where there was a guy playing... piano. It was hysterical and fun and a great place to sing and talk and be silly.
-Brunch this morning with everyone, including spouses and kids.
-Driving out to see my Grandma in the nursing home. My uncle Ken came up and spent some time with us...so fantastic. Big highlight of the day: Grandma saying she loved me in response to me saying it to her. I miss her always. I hate Alzheimer's. She's going to be 87 on Friday. I was telling her that she would be proud of the way I'm going to vote this November. I was wishing she were able to vote, too, as I know we'd be voting the same way. Let's just say I got my democratic tendencies from my Grandma! Some things skip a generation... tee hee.
-Stopping at the Illinois rest stop right over the boarder. It overlooks the Mississippi River. Then there are no more rest stops, I swear, until you get home.
-Stopping in DeKalb for dinner. I've never been to DeKalb before. Been there, done that.
-Home, home, home! I've physically been unable to do all the things I need to in order to prepare for a calm morning, such as bottles, laundry... but I got these pictures up!
Friends, it was great to see you all again. Hard to believe it's been so long since we've all been in the same room.
Off to bed...
ps. the pictures are arranged from the most recent back to Saturday morning. You'll notice on the first page there are several pictures of Gus with a clump of hair sticking out from his head. It was a momentus moment as Gustav has never had such blatant messy hair after napping. I almost felt the urge to lick my hand and pat it down, but refrained. See, the joke is always that Gus never has messy hair because there is some closet republican that smooths his hair down at night, making it look perfectly coiffed.
Posted by janna at 10:40 PM
September 10, 2004
If we didn't know already...
it's time to baby proof. Pronto. Gus has been able to push himself around, mainly backwards. A backwards commando push crawly action. Tonight was a different story. Gus set his sites on something in the distance and did a commando crawl forward, first by pushing off the ground with his toes and then, simultaneously, pulling a leg slightly under him, off of which he would push and move his body. Gus made a straight line, at least three feet, in less than 20 seconds. As a rational being, I understand that three feet in 20 seconds is not super fast. I also understand that this is only the beginning, that whole rooms will be transversed in the blink of an eye; that some tiny itty bitty object that I dropped on the floor will be picked up; that Gus will not stay in the confines of our 8 X 10 rug (damn, damn...).
In other words, Gus is growing up, and I've gotta say, he's amazing.
Gustav's personality is exploding in all its happy glory. The kid loves to smile and he does it well. He knows full well his smile will elicit a smile from a stranger and it just encourages him more. The other day we were at Walgreens, waiting to pick up our pills (we're both on antibiotics for gross and productive coughs... in other words, bronchitis!). Gus turned on the charm for the lady sitting next to us. She giggled and smiled back...mission accomplished. I told her that I hope he's this happy when he's 14. I hope he's not quiet, sullen and hating me, tee hee.
We're now struggling with the whole finger food business. Tonight John scrambled an egg with some mashed green beans, and Gus went WILD. Gus had something to say about it. I'll put a video up soon.
Gus can also sometimes pull himself up to a stand... when he's sitting in the laundry basket. He's not in it all the time. Really.
Here's Gus with Kye and Alex. Welcome back, Alex! We're glad you're back in Chicago.
Posted by janna at 10:37 PM
September 06, 2004
I know what I want, dammit.
Gustav is nine months old today!
In case you were thinking of trying to give Gus some kind of mushy baby food... oh silly you. 'I'm not a BABY, thank you!' is the answer you will get. (I translated that... what Gus does is cry, shake his head back and forth and outright refuse to put that green mushy CRAP in his mouth). Now, if it's yogurt, it's a different story (and he knows the package, you have to hide it until you're absolutely ready to give it to him). Finger foods are the name of the game these days, and Gus prefers if it comes from our plates. Gone are the days of trying to get the sole Cheerio in the mouth; now his precision is astonishing.
Posted by janna at 07:24 PM
September 05, 2004
The crud.
That's what my friend Lisa calls it when little kids have colds and coughs. In this instance we all have the crud, passed from Gus to me to John. The family that is sick together stays together, no?
Tomorrow Gus will be nine months old. Three quarters of a year. This little person!
Posted by janna at 09:29 PM
September 01, 2004
some iowa pics
I was lazy...you get to see almost all of the pictures I took. No Janna filtering. I realized that not everyone is captured here. I took some video as well, I'll have to pull some stuff from there.
Posted by janna at 09:49 PM