Summer? Wait a Minute

It was around 75 degrees on Monday and we had a lot of fun outside. Matthew was pleased to hear that Linus picked moss. He also tasted it. I had to quickly find something summery for Linus to wear. He looked cute playing around in red overalls with a doggy t-shirt outfit that was Brandon's about six years ago. Super cute. I even opened Linus' bedroom window to let some fresh air in.

Now we are back to normal Wisconsin spring weather and it is rainy and in the 40's. Even so, we'll go outside to play later if it isn't raining.

Our neighbor two doors down watches her grandson, Cameron, on a regular basis. We ran into them yesterday and he is a very tall two year old. Maybe he and Linus will play together. The new girls across the street are one and three, but we haven't seen much of them.

(Another Wildlife Sanctuary photo.)

"I Went to the Wildlife Sanctuary...

and all I got was this lousy goose egg!"

Linus and I went to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday and enjoyed being outside in the gorgeous weather. Sadly, Linus fell on pavement and got a big lump on his forehead and scrapes above and below his left eye. My opening is funny because the Sanctuary is home to hundreds of large Canadian geese. When a bunch of geese called out at once, Linus joined in with the voice he now uses with animals. He enjoyed watching the ducks in an enclosure. He also saw a kestral, some medium-sized fish, and lots of little kids. He walked back and forth across the floating bridge in the lagoon. I let him get a bit ahead of me when he walked down the middle of the bridge, but when he veered off toward one of the sides, I sidled up next to him and took his hand. It amazes me how he doesn't have much separation anxiety in new settings like that, but have Matthew come home from work and Linus insists I hold him while I cook dinner.

The second picture is of him having a snack in the car before we headed home and the third one is of him at dinner time with his new injuries. I asked him to please get to his first birthday without a trip to the emergency room.

Big Dogs

Linus and I went out and enjoyed the 57 degree weather today. After picking up dead leaves and trying to pick flowers that are about a third of an inch out of the ground, Linus decided we should walk in the alley. A few houses down there was a big dog in a fenced-in yard. The dog came running over and barked very loudly. Linus stopped and was nervous, but also curious. He started talking to it in an agitated way so I picked him up to provide extra comfort. Just then, a car drove up to pull into the back entry of a garage and hanging out of the car was another big dog.

Linus was also interested in watching a runner, cars, and the construction workers across the street.

Here are pictures from yesterday. This is the first time Linus had an interest in walking with his sippy cup and trying to drink from it at the same time. In the first picture, he is dropping bark and a walnut shell into the recycle bin. I guess he was confusing it with the compost pile! In the sippy cup picture you can kind of see the scrapes on his nose from falling last weekend and also the corduroy fish overalls I made for him.

Spring Jacket

Linus got to wear his spring jacket for the first time today. We played outside for quite a while and visited with Sue, our neighbor, who was out for a walk. Linus pulled an angel yard ornament out of the flower bed and walked around with it, stopping now and then to suck on its head and survey the surroundings. I wasn't concerned about it getting broken because it was here when we moved in and I'm not attached to it. To him it was a wonderful treasure. Then we came in and he snacked on peaches and graham crackers.

Bed Head

Here is how Linus' hair looked the other day after his nap.

At the grocery store today Linus became attached to a bag of black eyed peas I'd put in our cart. When it came time to check out, he cried when I took them away for the cashier to ring up. To her credit, she moved really fast to scan them and give them back, while saying, "I'm sorry, honey. I don't know the number for those." He insisted on holding them in the car seat on the way home and I ended up putting them to bed with him for his nap. Unfortunately, he can't play with them anymore because I'm afraid the bag will break and the beans are a choking hazzard for sure.

He has been ornery. He cries, so I pick him up. He squirms to be put down. Then he cries harder. Huh?! Is he teething? Is he just crabby? Is he conflicted between wanting me and not wanting me? I suppose I'll never know. Hopefully this passes soon.

Obstructed View

Linus has been cracking me up with his latest activity: walking around while holding something in front of his face. View blockers have included a magazine, a postcard, and an empty pear can. The best was when he was walking with an empty plastic ice cream tub in front of his face and he walked right into the aquarium. He wasn't hurt, but he recoiled in surprise.

He also thinks it is fun to dump out the mega blocks and walk around with the vinyl bag. By the way, Brandon handed down these blocks to Linus and he has started figuring out how to stack them. He can't pull them apart yet, but he plays with them every day now.

Gardening

Linus helped Matthew plant carrots yesterday. Yes; I know that it is only March and we are in Wisconsin. Matthew felt the urge. Linus also face planted. He was squatting in front of the garage and fell face first onto the cement. My little one has a scraped nose and a funny pattern on his forehead. We think the marks on his head are from the hat he was wearing being pushed into his skin when he fell. The tip of his nose is pink and has a scrape and the side of his nose is also scraped. These are the first of many scrapes, bumps, and bruises in his future and I suppose I'll get used to it.

At story time this morning Linus danced to the "Shake Your Sillies Out" song. He looked so very cute.

Here is Linus walking around with his first animal crackers. I couldn't resist buying them because I knew he would like carrying them around.

Sniffles, Writing, Playing, Etc.

I've been remiss in blogging because Linus has been sick. In addition, I've been working on projects, like sewing him a growth chart and making his birthday party invitations.

Linus is back to his normal self, except for his nose that continues to run profusely and, might I say, grossly. He has slimed me a lot this week. He also continues to drool. Now and then I find wet spots on the wood floor the size of a quarter or larger. I couldn't figure out what they were from until I witnessed a stream of drool come gushing out of his mouth.

Last night Linus took the little Magna Doodle from me and wrote on it. That is a first. He also figured out how to slide open the Spiderman Pez. Now that he feels better, he is back to drinking milk with meals and is doing better about drinking more than a sip or two. So weaning is well underway. He continues to be a good eater, but dislikes zucchini. He likes eating avocado at Johanna's house, but not at home.

These photos are from last Sunday when Matthew and Linus joined Linda, Alex, and Johanna at the zoo. Linus fed a giraffe!!! Linda and Alex took these photos.

Sick Ward

Linus is sick; sicker than he's ever been in his short life. Poor kid. So I'm busy looking after him and trying to comfort him. I'm trying to get him to take more liquids, but he is refusing. He won't take ice chips, Pedialyte, water from my glass or a sippy cup, milk, and not much formula in the last 24 hours. He isn't eating much either, although I did get him to finally finish 4 ounces of applesauce. He isn't listless and his fever isn't at 104 degrees, so the clinic said we didn't need to bring him in unless we felt we needed to for peace of mind. It is rather stressful monitoring a baby's illness.

First Museum Visit

I took Linus to the Fox Cities Children's Museum in Appleton this morning. The woman at the front desk cautioned me that I may feel we weren't getting our money's worth since the museum was geared more for older youngsters. I thanked her for warning me but said it was okay because we were looking for something new to do to get out of the house. Plus, I knew Linus would enjoy being around kids. He had a very fun time playing with toy pizza in the kid store, a real stethoscope in the doll hospital, bean bags and fabric blocks in the Happy Baby Garden, as well as watching all of the children running around. He lasted an hour and a half. Then we went to a nearby coffee shop for a snack before heading home. While we were snacking, he liked interacting with a young woman who was studying at the table closest to us. She played peekaboo with him behind her papers. And when he bobbed his head to the music that was playing, she joined him.

Linguaphile

Linus hasn't said anything in English yet, but maybe he is researching languages to decide which he would like to speak.

We had a fun playdate yesterday here at our house. Johanna had a pink barrette in her hair that Linus tried to pull out. I explained to him that it was a hair pretty and I felt a bit sad that boys don't typically wear barrettes. If he wants to, maybe he can borrow some from Johanna. Baby James has very sweet curls and doesn't need any hair accessories.

Linus had a rough day of teething yesterday. Having guests helped keep him distracted. He didn't sleep so well Sunday and Monday, but he slept for over 12 hours last night and woke up very chipper this morning. But, alas; still no tooth!

As an aside, someone wrote a guest column in our local paper complaining about Brit-speak getting into our language lately. Firstly, what do they mean by lately? We speak English, don't we? And that came from where?! Secondly, I love Brit-speak. I especially like the use of "whilst." The columnist complained specifically about the use of tarmac and centre. He said that it made users sound pretentious. I disagree.

Intuition

Yesterday my mother's intuition kicked into gear for the first time. I sensed that Linus was getting into something he shouldn't and sure enough, he was just beginning to get into the spider plant's potting soil. He hadn't even been quiet for very long, but something told me I should check on him. Or in this case, check on the plant.

Frog Friend

There were live frogs at the library story time today and Linus pet one. It was the coolest thing to see his curiosity as he intently watched them jump near him. When he reached out, I took his hand and helped him to gently touch a frog. A bit later he reached out and touched one with one finger. It was adorable!

He fell asleep on the way home and didn't wake up when I got him out of the car, which is unusual since it is cold out. He is napping right now with most of his snowsuit still on. He curled up when I put him in his crib, so I only got it unzipped and one sleeve and the hood off.

Linus is teething again today. He isn't fussy, but he is pulling on his ears, drooling, and chewing on his fingers.

Here are some tongue-sticking out pictures, as I know several blog readers like these kinds of photos.

Toddlerhood

Linus turns eleven months old on Saturday and is sliding rapidly into toddlerhood. He is getting into everything and sassed back at me for the first time yesterday. Yes, my sweet baby boy sassed at me. I'm still shocked. When he started getting into Matthew's cd's I told him "No," and he went at them again. I said "No," and as I started to get up he stood very stiffly, had an angry face, looked me straight in the eyes and hollered the baby talk version of "You're mean! I'm mad at you!" Then he switched gears and moved on to a new activity. Which was a good thing because I was struggling to hold back laughter and least he couldn't see me smile. What a sight: an angry Linus. I know not to take it personally, but I can't help but feel a little bad. That was another tiny step in his gaining his own identity and I'd better get used to it.

In other developmental news, Linus has begun learning how to use a spoon. After he's fed himself much of dinner with his hands, I put some food on the spoon and he grabs the spoon and shoves it into his mouth. Other interesting variations include him putting food on the spoon with his hand or grabbing the food off of the spoon and eating it. He also waved bye-bye to Mattthew yesterday and today. Babies' waves are so endearing. He danced to the sound of the washing machine chugging along and he has started to look at books on his own. In true Linus fashion he does not sit to do it, but squats down and turns the pages.