We Went Down South

We just got home from our scouting trip to Virginia. In 3 short days we were able to not only see a little of Colonial Williamsburg but also find a house for the upcoming year, check out a few grocery stores, and even get to know the local Urgent Care Center. We made the 4 1/2 hour drive down last Sunday, stopping for an hour at a McDonald's with a play place so Jack could let off some steam. I've never been so grateful for a McDonald's although I really wish I could have that hour back. On Monday we wandered around Colonial Williamsburg ("the CW" to the locals) for most of the morning. It really is a spectacular place. I was really surprised by just how charming and impressive it was. I think I was expecting things to be more Disneyfied with a lot of Ye Olde Shoppes selling colonial themed junk made in China and people in cheap costumes talking in fake accents being overly friendly. Thankfully, none of this was the case. The buildings have been beautifully restored, the shops sell mostly hand-made reproductions, many made by local crafts people, and the people in costumes speak in normal voices but at the same time take their jobs very seriously and will provide a wealth of information if you are interested. Jack was taken by the drains and the crushed shells that line the sidewalks - combining the two was especially satisfying. Tuesday, Jack got to play with Mimi and G'Pa who came to town to entertain the boy while Dan and I looked for a house. While Jack spent the morning at the park with the Grands, Dan and I looked at overpriced apartments, several passable town homes, and some nice but far flung houses. That evening we had dinner at Shield's Tavern in the CW - really fun, good for Jack as it was incredibly noisy and there were kids everywhere, and kind of charming with real candles and a woman playing a harp - no serving wenches in sight. At this point it should be noted that Mimi and G'Pa both arrived feeling a bit under the weather - when we work up on Wednesday morning, Mimi had taken a turn for the worse and G'Pa carted her off to the local Urgent Care Center where she was diagnosed with bronchitis and loaded up with drugs. Dan and I took Jack with us as we looked at 2 last houses then we all headed back to the hotel for naps. Mimi and G'Pa took off early Thursday morning and we hit the road after lunch. On the drive home we finalized the details on a house so I can happily report that we have a place to live come July. It is a nice sized townhouse close to campus so Dan can walk to work. Best of all, it was central air and a dishwasher! CW here we come!

The Sound of Silence

Well, not complete silence just not any intelligible words. So far Jack has decided not to speak. From time to time he will bust out with a new word or phrase but in a few days it will fade out never to be uttered again. For awhile it was "Otis" then he moved onto "big truck" and the phrase du jour is "what's that." He is a whizz at making animal noises, the elephant is his favorite. He also makes a ton of noises on his own - we think he sounds like the aliens in the claw game in the Toy Story movies, "ooooooooo, aaahhhh" - and holds long conversations with us but all with out using any words that we can understand. He understands us perfectly, when he chooses to, and will answer questions with an enthusiastic "Yeah!" Because he obviously understands and know words I'm not at all worried about developmental problems and to be honest I'm not that desperate for him to talk. Given how chatty he is now with no vocabulary I'm sure that once he has words Dan and I won't be able to keep up. So for now we will enjoy his little sound monologues and wonder what's on his mind until he decides to share with us in English.

Success

We've had a breakthrough. About 2 weeks ago Jack decided that he actually liked going to the Academy. One day when I dropped him off I was braced for the usual fit but when I set him down he looked at me and walked over to his teacher, Miss Bonnie, for a hug then joined his friends in the corner for a story. It was all I could do to not run over and hug him and tell him how proud of him I was. Instead I quietly tip-toed out the door and had a little celebration dance by myself in the car. Since then every time I drop him off he gives me a little hug and then happily hops down and scampers over to play with his friends. I'm one proud and relieved Mama! And, what friends he has. When he comes in the door a few of the kids say, "It's Jack!" and come over to welcome him to class. One little boy in particular is especially happy to see Jack, he runs over and immediately starts hugging Jack and then lays a few big juicy kisses on him. As Miss Bonnie says, "Brayden is right at that line of appropriate behavior, we have to keep an eye on the kissing or it gets out of control pretty quickly!" I can deal with the kissing as long as the drop off tantrums are over!

The Monkey

The climbing has gotten out of control. He climbs everything he sees, the shelves in the kitchen, up and down the stairs, onto the dining room table, over the sofa, even out of his crib. He is surprisingly good at it. I turn my head for the briefest second and he is on top of the table reaching for the hot coffee. There have been numerous times when I have gone to the kitchen to refill my water glass and by the time I get back to the living room he is upstairs happily putting his toys in the bathtub - which he can also climb in and out of. To complicate our lives even further he is also very tall so can reach the tops of the counters - all the better to pull himself - and the door knobs. We've baby proofed the door knobs, making it difficult for all of us to get out of the house, but raising the counters seems out of the question. I'm fairly certain it will only get worse before it gets better. During a trip to Port Discovery in Baltimore with Mimi and G'Pa he thought it was hilarious to go head first down the slide he had just climbed up.

The Academy

Jack has been attending Chesterbrook Academy for about 5 weeks now. Well, 5 weeks very on-and-off as he keeps coming home with one illness or another that requires him to stay home the next day - "he's building up immunities" has become our mantra. Don't let the fancy, dare I say pompous, name fool you Chesterbrook Academy is basically day care. It hasn't been an easy 5 weeks. On the first day, Jack did great. Dan and I dropped him off in the morning and he clung a bit but eventually let us hand him over to Miss Darla. He did great, I was a bit of a wreck though. When we got back to the car after leaving the little guy I started crying. It was just so hard for me to let him go. He looked so small in that big room with all the other kids around and he didn't know anybody and even worse they really didn't know him. What if he needed a snuggle and they didn't notice him or if he got thirsty or scared and they didn't know what to do or did it wrong? What if he needed his Mommy? But I made it through the day, hovering by the phone the entire time just in case they called, and rushed out to pick him up as soon as I imagined nap time was over. He did great that day but sadly it has gone downhill since then. He has started to recognize The Academy when we pull up in the car and starts this pathetic little whimper in the backseat. When we get inside he starts crying and I have to pry him out of my arms and hand him off to a teacher. In the afternoon, as soon as he sees me he starts crying and runs to me. It has been hard on me. I hate thinking that he is unhappy or anxious while he is there. I know that he will get more comfortable over time. In fact, I'm fairly certain that he will love it once he gives it a chance. Until then I'll steel myself every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning when I drop him off and trust that he will be fine in the capable hands of the teachers at The Academy.

Down and Out

It's been a hell of a month here at Washburn central. I've been offline for awhile for a number of reasons, the first being that Jack played a little vigorously with the laptop and broke the screen. But the real reason for the long absence is that the three of us have been under attack by numerous nasty illnesses. The Monkey has really born the brunt of it all. He has had a terrible, and long lasting ear infection. It started in one ear, cleared up there and then moved to the other where it continues to rage. With the first infection we put him on antibiotics which really upset his digestion - or so we thought. He couldn't keep anything in him and finally stopped eating altogether. We switched him to an injectible version of the antibiotic which meant going in to the doctors office for three mornings in a row and Jack getting shots in both thighs simultaneously. Needless to say it wasn't fun for any of us. Finally it seemed like things were clearing up so we packed Jack up and sent him back to daycare. Then on Monday night Jack wouldn't sleep, just kept crying all night. At 2am we finally brought him into bed with us insuring that none of us slept that night. Turns out, Jack had a raging fever so we took him back to the doctor. She thinks that the fever is due to his ear infection. He's been home for the last three days. A sweet and pathetic little couch potato. He sits on our laps or on the couch watches the Street or Jack's Big Music Show and occasionally hoots at a dog or balloon on the screen but that is about it. Of course while all of this was going on Dan and I managed to get sick as well. Dan got it first, a horrible cold that left him barely able to speak. I thought I had escaped it which I did in a way, namely I got a wicked stomach bug that left me immobilized for 2 full days and off food for a week. Then Dan and I swapped, he got the tummy bug and I got the cold. Poor Jack was left with some pretty pathetic parents that week but somehow we managed to make it through. Dan and I are finally feeling better now if we could only get Jack back to normal.

Rockin' Around the National Christmas Tree

It was sunny and warm, in the mid-sixties, and we had a small earthquake the night before (3.4). All in all the quintessential San Diego Christmas, except we were in Lancaster. Mimi, G'pa, and Uncle Wolphie came to the right coast for the holidays again this year. We all met up in D.C. and spent the 23rd and 24th visiting the capital. The evening we arrived we took what will hence forth be known as "The Carriage Ride." It was a pretty chilly evening, temp in the 20's, but we were bundled up so didn't think too much of it. Things started off nicely, the ride took us on a loop around the major sites of the capital which were beautifully lit up for the holidays. It was all very atmospheric, the clip-clop of the horse, the lights, the cold, and the whole family huddled up together. Then, things took a bit of a turn for the worse. Jack, who never sits still got a bit bored and tried to walk over our laps. Then he refused to keep his mittens on so his hands were like ice cubes and he kept kicking off his booties so his feet were also freezing. Needless to say the Monkey didn't like being cold and started to fuss. I was able to calm him down and warm him up and we only cut the ride short by a little bit. Once we got back to the hotel and got him warmed up and fed he was back to his normal, boisterous self. The next day we took Jack to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. He really seemed to like the dinosaurs, lots of excited pointing and hooting. We managed to have a successful outing with a minimum of meltdowns and a little education to boot. We went back to Lancaster on Christmas day. Jack had a mountain of gifts, most of which he managed to unwrap. He got lots of things to bang on and push around and clothes to keep him in the "stylish toddler" category. Overall it was a pretty mellow family visit. Jack was not on his best behavior - several tantrums and lots of very willful behavior. It seems he is entering the terrible two's ahead of schedule. Hopefully the bounty of new toys will help keep him entertained!