Day at the Zoo

Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka had a PG&E-sponsored free zoo afternoon on Saturday, and we took Iver for his first zoo experience.  While I always feel bad for confined zoo animals and don't really enjoy zoos, this small zoo has only smaller animals, and I can see why so many parents like to take kids to see zoos-- it was a hit with our little one!  Of course, every animal (there were some "bush dogs") seemed like a "bear" to him (his only and favorite word), but we enjoyed showing him around the monkeys, the fish, seeing the barnyard animals, and the pair of red pandas that the zoo has (one escaped last year but was found!)

He definitely enjoyed the little water stream

Pair of Bald Eagles!

The Red Pandas!

Alpaca!

World's Okayest Mom

Kelvin is back in town (sigh of relief), and his parents are gone (we are already missing them). 

Last week was really rough-- I won't lie. With toddler tantrums over everything-- sleep, food, carseat, stroller, every diaper change, trying out transitioning to one nap (pretty much a fail; as nighttime sleep was a nighttime), I was really short on patience. I felt really crabby during the week, still have morning fatigue headaches, sobbed with frustration at night, and yelled a lot at my child.

 

I appreciated these words, posted by various friends on FB.  Being a competitive person by nature and a bit of a perfectionist, I have to learn to let.a.lot.go. I am never going to be the world's best mom, but OK may be as good as I can be.

I really hope that this day is better than yesterday, and this week better than last week.

From, the

16-month update

Iver turned 16 months old today!

He

- Weighs just over 19 lbs --he was 19#1 at his 15-month well child visit last week and and down a bit into the 4% (at least this is not in the 1%, and his doctor is not concerned but I still cringed, especially since I'm pretty sure I saw a 18-lb four-month-old in the office a couple of weeks ago). He wears 12-month pants, and about size 4 shoes.

- is still breastfed and will drink small amounts of thawed breastmilk or whole milk (or Pediasure which my mother-in-law purchased to "fatten him up") from a cup or with a straw. He doesn't seem to want to wean himself, which is the cue I'm taking to quit the breastfeeding or pumping (when I'm gone for long periods, on call) altogether.  He still hates being strapped in the high-chair, and has been mostly being chased to eat, a habit which I detest, but I'm so desperate for him to eat that I'll do about anything to get calories in him and I am too tired to fight this fight every day. He loves fruit and Gerber garden puffs, but will surprisingly eat most vegetables and table foods-- what we eat.

-  is doing well in daycare, where he sometimes (but less often than before) fusses when I drop him off. He still gets frequent fevers about every two weeks where he'll have to stay home, but I hope his immune system is getting better! He loves the other kids/babies there.

- sleeps on his own futon in his not-very-childproofed room. He gave us one night of 10 hours "through the night" earlier in the month, but is back to waking at least twice, including about one nursing session after 4 a.m (last night it was 10 times but Dad is out of town).  Now, when wakes up, he cries and then sometimes just toddles down the hallway to our room to poke us. We have had many barriers to more "sleep training," including visitors, travel, and illness. At times (like today), I feel like I'm going insane from the night wakings and sleep deprivation but, at other times, feel more resigned that "my child is just not a sleeper " and nothing I do will change that.  Kelvin is currently out of town until the weekend, but when he's back and his parents aren't staying with us, I think I'm ready to make another valiant attempt to try to get more sleep at night.  It impresses me that, with how exhausted and cranky I feel most days, parents are brave enough to try this "parenting" thing a second time.

- has a few words-- "bear," "yeah," "no," "nana" (for banana) but signs well to communicate his basic needs, and understands/recognizes/identifies knows many words, commands, and body parts in English and apparently Vietnamese, too, which surprised me! Kelvin's parents have been in town in April, and it's amazing how much he understands in both languages.

-  still wears cloth diapers when we're home (and size 3 Huggies overnights), and will poop on the potty every morning and 1-2 more times during the day (there's usually a 5-6 p.m. explosion where we catch him squatting. We had a CODE BROWN in the tub yesterday. Ugh). If he's not wearing pants, he'll sometimes try to pull out the cloth diaper liner, which can get messy. He hates being changed and squirms, screams, and tries to run away usually.

- is very extroverted. He loves to give hugs and kisses, but he's not a cuddler. He loves other babies and kids, as well as dogs.

-  He's pretty much running. He loves playing outside, behind our house, on the porch or at the park, and is constantly asking us to take him outside. 

Pushing "Bear" in our umbrella stroller

Trying on the shades (he's broken 3 pairs of Kelvin's mom's glasses!)

We have been blessed with some uncharacteristically sunny weather, and took some nice pictures at Mad River Beach last weekend with the grandparents.

Pray for Ecuador

We are used to earthquakes in California but I'm not sure they're that common in Ecuador, which felt a major 7.8-magnitude over the weekend (the biggest in decades), killing up to 500 people, and which was struck with another 6.1-magnitude aftershock today.  We visited Vanessa there in October, and feel for the people of the delightful country, who are grieving enormously.  My sister stated that on Saturday, everything was shaking in her apartment in the town of Guayaquil (about 300 miles from the quake's epicenter), and that she lost power for a good part of the day, but that she and her friends/colleagues were unharmed (thankfully).
Remember that disasters can strike anywhere, at any time. Be safe.

The Best Ever!

I had to post a quick blog about the Golden State Warriors, as I'm not sure I'll see any basketball feat as tremendous in my lifetime as what they accomplished, last night, when they defeated the Memphis Grizzlies to go 73-9 in their regular season record, which is the best record by an NBA team ever (better than the MJ-led record of 72-10 by the Bulls team 20 years ago).
I have also never seen anyone shoot as well as Steph Curry who, ended the season with 402 (made) three point threes, which is over 120 shots more  than his previous season record of 286.

It's so exciting to have a GOOD California team to watch-- this Golden State team is really exciting to watch! I home they can repeat as NBA Champs. Here come the Playoffs!

Bear and his hair!

While he's been signing many things, Iver's first verbal word is officially "bear," which he started saying in Orange County last month, when he kept seeing the giant Costco bear in K's parents' living room. We have a 34-year-old Stieff teddy given to me by my godmother Inara, and Iver loves his "bear," who accompanies him on dino rides, to the toilet, etc. (bear wears a diaper, too, and sits in the high chair without complaining!).

Although he's never had copious hair, Iver's hair has also been getting pretty long, and we finally gave him his first haircut (just a trim) on the porch today. He did great!

"after" 

Oh, the milestones!

What a Week (sleep lost and sleep gained, aka the day he slept through the night)

This has been quite a week!

Monday, my first call day back from vacation, really made up for my time off!  Starting with a phone call to my home at 7 a.m. (apparently I'd inadvertently turned my cell to airplane mode. In general, no one of importance, only telemarketers, call our home phone so I'm glad I picked up!) and ending about 48 hours later, I was back and forth to the birth center about 15 or more times, where I attended 5 vaginal births and a c-section (and dealt with a pretty big postpartum hemorrhage), and got about 4 hours of sleep in that two days.

Iver, however, rocked it this week with "sleeping through the night" (8.5 hours, from about 8 until 430) for the first time on Monday night (3/28/16, which I'd like to note for future reference), while I was stuck at the hospital awake all night!  He went back to sleep for a couple of hours after that. I think he went for almost 8 hours in a row on Tuesday night, when I again was at the birth center until about 230 AM. On Wednesday night, with me totally sleep deprived after the two-day call and a busy post-double-call full Wednesday clinic day, Kelvin stayed in Iver's room and slept with him on an extended futon mattress, while I got a glorious 9 hours of sleep without nursing for a full 11 hours! I think there were one or two brief wakings. This improved sleep from our toddler was also in spite of yet another febrile illness (thanks, daycare!). I think, with more than 2 nights without intervention and avoiding night nursing until 5 a.m. or afterwards, we can call it more than a fluke. I am so hopeful that we are well on our way to consistent through-the-night-sleep soon (although I have to be wary of "expectations," as they often end in disappointment). It only took 15 months.

Iver seems to have outgrown, or decided he hates, his crib (he seems to HATE being restrained in things (like the carseat, stroller straps, high chair, etc.) and prefers to sleep on an open mattress, where he, clutching his blue fleecy blanket, is able to put himself quickly to sleep for naps and at bedtime if we are nearby. As a result, we are currently trying to be creative in rearranging his room (our former office which had the crib and baby gear in it) and trying to baby proof it and our upstairs floor so that it's safe for him to sleep there unconfined.  Fingers crossed!


ADDENDUM 4/3/16:
Last night, Iver SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT (2030 - 0630) in his room on the full mattress (after fighting going down in the crib), with one brief (a few seconds of crying) waking during which we think he grabbed a sippy cup of water from a side table, drank, and put himself back to sleep.
IT ONLY TOOK FIFTEEN MONTHS.  I didn't sleep though the night, but, in any case, we were doing a happy dance this morning.

I wasn't expecting him to "graduate" out of the crib so soon (it is a convertible one, so we could remove one side to see if he'd still want to use it), but he really seems to prefer an open mattress.  He didn't actually climb out of the crib ever, but definitely had been trying so maybe it's a good thing to abandon the crib altogether. When did your toddler move to a "big kid" mattress or bed?