thematernalmoose.com

Locomotive

Abby is getting a lot more adventurous on the walking front. She scoots along the furniture and uses it as a launch pad to take several steps. The problem is that as soon as she takes off she’s in a constant state of falling forward. This met with disaster Saturday night, as her frenzied motion sent her hurtling into our TV stand, resulting in a small goose egg on her forehead. The next day I took the kids shopping and we returned with a padded exercise mat to use as an Abby barrier.

She’s gotten steadier in the few days since, and she walks around with an absolute look of self-impressed delight. With her birthday right around the corner, Abby will be doing laps soon!

So close . . .

Abby’s started walking . . . on her knees. She’s actually pretty good at it. She can do double-time and a full 180 degree pivot. I’ve told her that it’s a lot easier on her feet, but she’s not listening yet.

Potty time

Ryan has really turned the corner on potty training. The key, as Gina found out, was that he wanted to upgrade to underwear. She had let him pick out some “big boy” undies online, and he was so anxious to wear his dinosaurs, bugs and bats that he made the transition out of his pull-ups. The only accidents so far were when he intentionally wet himself so he could change into his next pair (an extreme but admittedly crafty tactic), and two occasions when he claimed he couldn’t make it to the potty on time. And we’ve yet to work on his overnight training. But overall, excellent progress.

Ryan’s also become a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to public bathrooms. He’s always interested in the type of soap dispensers and faucets each one has. He was so taken by one in a gift shop that he ditched Gina in the middle of the store in order to revisit it. And he’s cried potty on more than one occasion as an excuse to check out the restroom.

Now if only we could get Abby potty trained. She’s in the largest diaper already.

Abby at 10 months

What can I say about Abby as she approaches her first year?

If there were a record for the fastest sock-taker-offer, Abigail would own it.

She looks over her shoulder at her parents when she’s up to something, then smiles and speeds away.

Her shrieks would make a Banshee jealous.

She thinks her brother’s delightful.

Her smile spreads from corner to corner.

She’s curious, sly and tenacious.

When she roughhouses with Ryan, Gina or I, she tends to go for the face.

If you take something away from her that she wants, prepare for the consequences.

She pants like a happy puppy.

She’ll fall forward on a blanket but she won’t admit she’s tired.

She can squeeze through openings half her size as long as they lead to trouble.

Her reach is about a foot longer than you just thought it was.

When she wants to sink her teeth into something, you’d better move your toes.

She loves to dance by sitting or kneeling and swaying side to side.

She doesn’t understand that babies really need to get more sleep.

If you catch her when she’s tired enough, she’ll snuggle on your shoulder.

She likes her playpen as long as Gina or I are in the room.

She has a taste for metal knobs.

She throws her binky with gusto when it’s outlived its usefulness.

Like Ryan, she’s an excellent shopper.

She’s got smoochable cheeks, squeezable thighs, and cute little dimply hands.

There’s isn’t a day when we’re not grateful for our Abigail.

The Big 3

It was an exciting and exhausting weekend for Ryan, as he turned the big 3 on Friday. As usual, since the Moose lodge isn’t big enough to accommodate both our families, we spread the party over two weekends. We had the party for Gina’s side the first weekend and one for my side this past Saturday.

Between the two families and Gina and I, Boo cleaned up on the loot (and got three different birthday cakes!) He got an easy bake oven from Nana since he does so much baking with Gina, more vehicles and tracks for his Thomas and Geo Trax, his much requested Hulk poster from Uncle Jimmy, a new addition to his army of stuffed animals who we’ve named Brown Sugar Bear, a board game, books and more. We had great fun setting up his new Cars race track and trying to run each other’s vehicles off the road. The medical kit we got him was also a big hit once Gina started using it to diagnose his stuffed animals’ ailments. Ryan was quite the concerned vet but nurse Abby needs to work on her bedside manner. She yanked one of Ryan’s patients off his operating table on top of his box of train parts and dumped the poor bear on the carpet.

Ryan had a grand time between all the parties, presents and treats, but by the final festivities he was so wiped out he almost passed out eating pizza. Gina and I were pretty worn out ourselves, especially after making two Buzz Lightyear cakes and 48 decorated cupcakes, but it was well worth it for our beautiful little boy. We can’t believe he’s three already.

Valentines

Here’s my three cuties on Valentine’s Day. They make every day sweeter.

Big Brother

Gina and I have been delighted how Ryan’s taken to Abby.

He pats her head and gives it the occasional shy kiss. He jumps up when he thinks she’s about to crawl into danger. When he heard her crying while I was changing his diaper, Ryan told me, “Dada, play with Abby when you’re done.”

I carried a chair for Ryan into his room so he could watch a movie and he wanted one for Abby, too. He helped with every diaper change for the first few months. He piles toys into her playpen and on her high chair tray. He won’t get in the car unless he sees Abby’s there, too.

Ryan wants to check on Abby every time she takes a nap. He closes the bedroom and bathroom doors to keep her out of trouble. And no one makes Abby laugh as much as her silly brother Boo.

Abby, I’m sure there will be times when you and Ryan butt heads, but you should know how much he loved his baby sister from the start.

Thomas the Tank Trauma

I have a distinct disdain for Thomas the Tank Engine videos. They have absolutely no entertainment value for adults, and I’ve found that you don’t so much watch them as are subjecting to them. So one of my rules for our kids was, “No Thomas!”

Ryan’s cousin Andy is a Thomas fanatic, especially in regards to the loathsome videos, so I drilled my contempt into Ryan right out of the gate. Ryan gladly joined me in my “No Thomas!” chorus and showed little interest in playing with Andy’s plethora of Thomas trains.

But then, as Christmas approached, I was changing Ryan’s diaper in his room before a shopping trip. “What do you want for Christmas?” I asked, and Ryan gave his usual response. “I want Heatmiser, Snowmiser, and a red toy,” he said. The Heatmiser and Snowmiser requests came from “The Year Without a Santa Claus,” a Christmas classic he’d been watching since the summer, and the “red toy” was an arbitrary response he’d given ever since I asked him what else he wanted.

“What kind of red toy do you want?” I asked, hoping for clarification.

Then he said it.

“I like Thomas.”

I laughed at Ryan’s apparent slip, which brought Gina into the room.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ryan said he likes Thomas, but we don’t like Thomas,” I said.

“Ryan, do you like Thomas?” Gina asked, which brought on the horrible realization that Ryan had only been on the anti-Thomas bandwagon all this time because his daddy was. He fought the tears but broke down right there on his changing pad, while I was left feeling like the worst dad in the world.

So that night we went to Target and bought Ryan his first Thomas train. Since then, as you can see, he’s done all right for himself. For the record, I never had anything against the Thomas toys and admit that I’ve had a lot of fun building tracks myself.

But if any Thomas video tries pulling up to our house, I’m redirecting it to Goodwill station.

On the Move

After flirting with the idea for weeks, Abby started crawling today. She’s already found her way into the forbidden zone (the toy corner behind our recliner,) taken the grilles off one of our speakers, and wandered under our computer desk, so we’ll have to keep on our toes.

Her technique needs a little refining (she sort of bunny hops her legs forward when she’s not alternating her strokes,) but it’s pretty darn adorable having a baby crawling again.

Roomies

The post-Christmas cleanup meant some big moves in the Moose house. Much to Gina’s horror, my beloved recliner has relocated to the living room. This freed up space for us to move Abby’s crib into Ryan’s room after it spent all this time in ours.

So for the first time in his nearly three years, Ryan has a roommate. He spent the first few nights ratting her out and saying, “Abby, go good-night!” But they’ve quickly grown fond of their new arrangement. Their bedtime pj and diaper change the other night dissolved into a giggle fest as Ryan imitated Abby’s kicks and Abby made a headlong lunge at Ryan’s sock with him in it. We’re also using the move as an opportunity to sync their bedtimes up. Though as I write this Ryan’s asleep and Abby’s on my lap. But overall, so far so good.

They’re pretty cute together.