Sunday, May 31, 2009

Long-distance service

Both sets of Biscuit's grandparents live far away. One set of grandparents live in South Carolina and the other grandparents live in New York. So Jeff and I are always trying to come up with ways to keep them involved in Biscuit's life.

We send pictures (TONS of pictures!), I keep this little blog of stuff that happens, and as I'm figuring out my new video camera, I'll have video records, too. And recently, we've gotten several family members to read books to Biscuit into Jeff's digital voice recorder. I'm going to burn the files onto CDs so when we sit down to read with Biscuit, he can have family members read to him as we turn the pages.

But the funniest thing right now is to see Biscuit "talking" on the phone. He doesn't understand the phone yet, so when we put it up to his ear, the first thing he wants to do is grab it and stick it in his mouth ... of course, that's what he wants to do with EVERYthing right now.

But as soon as he hears a voice on it, he gets really still and really quiet and starts to look around the room. He is really good at recognizing familiar voices, so as soon as he hears his grandmas' voices, he starts looking for them. He hears them, therefore they must be here. He doesn't get why he can hear them but not see them.

But he's not a phonehead yet. After a couple of minutes, he either wants to go back to trying to get the phone in his mouth or he starts pushing the phone away from his head or he starts "talking" back to them.

Guess which of those things the grandmas love the most?!?

Mama vs. Daddy

Now that Biscuit is rolling and scooting around, we have suddenly become aware of all the stuff that gets in his path while he's on the move.

I realize that kids have to learn from experience, but I don't really want to hand him a fork, point out an electrical outlet and say, "Stick it in there and see what happens." At the same time, he does have to learn that when you run into things, it hurts.

Yesterday evening Biscuit started heading toward his Daddy's chair. He rolled right off the quilt we put down for him in the living room floor, onto the carpet and right into the metal leg of his swing. Jeff just watched as Biscuit stopped for a minute, looked around, rolled back the other way, then went right back to playing. I wasn't in the room. Jeff told me about it.

But this morning, it was just me and Biscuit. He rolled off the same quilt, onto the carpet and right into the TV cabinet. Maybe the wood cabinet hurt more than the metal leg of the swing. But I also wondered, did he cry because I was in the room instead of Jeff?

How much of the mama vs. daddy stuff is true? Do mama's baby their babies more? Do daddy's make little boys toughter?

I'm not sure, but I think I got my answer when I scooped Biscuit up to comfort him before his cry even got wound up good, then Biscuit and I yelled at that mean ol' cabinet for jumping right in the path of his rolling!

So in the next few months as Biscuit gets more mobile, I think Jeff and I need to strike more of a balance. Jeff needs to get better at the comforting thing, and I need to pause for a second before I scoop the boy up and hold him. Isn't it amazing how much these little critters teach their parents?!?

Friday, May 29, 2009

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

Biscuit is on the move ... well, sort of.

He has figured out how to get from place to place by a very awkward combination of rolling, scooting and pushing off of furniture. It's quite entertaining to watch, but it does break your heart a little when he gets frustrated. It must be hard to see where you want to go and not be able to get there under your own power.

This morning, I was getting ready in the bathroom, and Jeff was dressing Biscuit. Every time Jeff would move his hands off the boy, Biscuit would do a quick rollover and raise himself up to see what I was doing. A yoga instructor would be very impressed. He was doing an excellent cobra pose.

I don't know which was funnier, seeing how nosey Biscuit was being (which is to be expected from the son of two journalists, I guess) or watching Jeff wrestle to get him spruced up and clothed.

To draw a mental picture for you, did you ever see a crocodile start into a death roll when the Crocodile Hunter put one of those noose things around its snout? It was like that!

My brother refers to Biscuit as Limp (as in the metal band Limp Bizkit). And coincidentally, Limp Bizkit has a song called "Rollin'." So guess what Jeff sings now when Biscuit's on the move?

Friday, May 22, 2009

Missing the moments

I knew when we put Biscuit in day care that there would be some moments I would miss. I knew there was the possibility of him accomplishing many firsts when I wasn't in the room. But I didn't think about him doing things for his Daddy when I wasn't home!

I came home last night and found out that Biscuit had scooted himself across the living room floor. He rolled off his play mat onto his belly and army crawled a few feet until he bonked his head on Jeff's chair. So Jeff picked him up and made a fuss (as big a fuss as Jeff makes).

When I got home, Biscuit was in Jeff's lap almost asleep. He had worked so hard that he could barely keep his eyes open.

Jeff told me what happened. And because he knows that I'm all about the details, he did a really good job of describing the whole thing to me. But still, I couldn't help but be a tiny bit sad that I wasn't here to see it.

I figure the only way I can get even is to make sure he says "mama" before he says "dada!"

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Travel hangover

We have to count our lucky stars that Biscuit is a good traveler. Well, all except for the day after we return. We’ve come to call them “travel hangovers.”

The day after we get home from a trip, I almost hate to take him to day care because he is usually cranky and crabby and doesn’t eat or sleep well. I guess it’s something akin to baby jetlag!

When we travel, Biscuit sleeps in his pack and play. Remember when these were called playpens? I do. Because much to the chagrin of some of my younger mom friends, I STILL call it a playpen!
Anyway, his playpen has a bassinet insert with a mattress and sheets, so it’s a comfy set up for him.

I’ve always told my friends when they’ve moved that the first thing you do when you get to your new place is to set up your bed and get the sheets on it. That way, whenever you hit the wall and can’t do anything else, your bed is ready and waiting for you.

That’s sort of what I do for Biscuit, too.

As soon as we unload the car, I set up his playpen, so once he gets tired, he’s ready to go. But even though it’s his playpen, he still knows that his playpen is sitting in a room that isn’t home. And he never sleeps quite as well away from home as he does when his playpen is set up in familiar surroundings.

Plus, he’s just a nosy little rascal. He is very aware of his surroundings, so when we’re away from home, he really fights going to sleep. I think he’s afraid he might miss something!

I hope he continues to be a good traveler. With Grandmama Linda 2½ hours away and Grandma Janice 10 hours away, this boy will be spending a good part of his childhood in the car!

A comfortable ride

The teachers at day care and some of my mom friends seem to be amazed that Biscuit doesn’t hate his car seat. He might get to that point some day, but for right now, he doesn’t seem to mind it at all.

When he was a tiny baby, we had this cool sleeping bag thing (real name: bunting) that strapped into his car seat to keep him warm. I never had to force him into a coat because this thing was lined with furry sheepskin fabric. The straps of his car seat fit right through slits in the back of the bunting and had zippers up each side. We would plop him in the seat, zip him up and be ready to go!
We had a lighter weight version of the same thing for early spring.

Now that it’s warmer and he’s sitting directly in the car seat, we are using this thing we got as a shower gift called (no lie) a Piddle Pad. The Piddle Pad is soft on the front and rubbery on the back. It’s basically a lining that fits under Biscuit’s rear end to catch any sort of spillover from diaper accidents.

It only took one such accident for us to say, “Hey. Didn’t we get a shower gift that might help out in these occasions?”

Now that he’s grabbing things, we attached a chiming frog to his car seat for him to play with. It has a Velcro strap that attaches to the handle, so it hangs down in front of him. It is bright green and yellow and has chimes inside it, so Biscuit really enjoys grabbing it and making those chimes sound.

His car seat faces the back of the car, so we even have a mirror that mounts on the back seat so I can see his face in my rearview mirror. Of course, after 20 minutes or more of riding, he’s always asleep anyway!

So by putting to use all the tricked-out gadgets we’ve gotten, Biscuit has found himself quite comfy in his car seat.

Busy, busy, busy

It seems like the months of April and May have just flown by. Biscuit seems to have gotten bigger by the minute, and it seems that our schedule has gotten busier by the minute.

We had an Easter trip, a birthday party in another state, a quick beach vacation, a weekend at Grandmama Linda’s house for Mother’s Day, a 3-hour round trip to visit family in another part of the state and a family reunion in Georgia. We also had a springtime visit from Grandma Janice and Grandpa Jim, a going-away event at the paper (Biscuit attended) and a 6-month checkup for Biscuit at the pediatrician.

I know you shouldn’t wish away time, but I think I’ll be glad when June gets here!

P.S. If you notice that I often post several blogs in one day, here’s why: I don’t always have time to get to the computer when blog ideas occur to me. So I jot them down on a notepad in my pocketbook and sit down and get them in writing when I can. That might defeat the purpose of bliggity-blogging, but I’m doing it my way!