The Jokester

When we got home for a date night tonight (we had a sophisticated night out at Le Grande Bistro downtown), we came home and my Mom told me that Daniel had been "joking" with her. When he did something funny, he'd telling her "joke!" Afterwards, all night, Daniel would say, "Joke Grandma 'Neese!"

Daniel's 1st Movie: The Lorax

Daniel went to his first-ever big screen movie this afternoon, "The Lorax." He lasted about an hour, with several sightseeing trips during that time. At one point, he hopped out of his Mom's lap and headed down the aisle. His Mom chased him back and forth under the big screen as he feinted towards the exits. In retrospect, the popcorn was fine but the Coke-flavored Icee was probably a bad idea (rocket fuel).

His favorite part of the trip was playing with the old-school payphone in the lobby, he thought that was pretty fascinating.

Bonus: An excerpt from Daniel's naptime this afternoon: "MOM-EE-MOM-EE-MOM-EE-MOM-EE-MOM-EE..." Yep, the dreaded "Mommymommymommy..." has begun.

Daniel's Neighborhood Tour

Now, when we are driving around Arvada, Daniel likes to point out all his favorite places as we go by...

"My Jay-um!"

"Yep, that's My Gym. We went there yesterday."

"Sun-Sun... Sunflower Grow-shri stoh-wer!"

"Yep, Sunflower. We've already been to the grocery store this week."

"Green Coffee Place! Green Tree Coffee Place!"

"Yep... Starbucks. That's where Daddy gets his coffee."

"Beans & Rice place!"

"Yep... Little Anita's."

"Logo grow-shri stoh-wer!"

"Uh-huh... Target."

"French fry place!"

"Yep... McDonalds."

"Gramma & Grampa!"

"Yep, Gramma & Grampa like to take you to McDonald's for fries."

Daniel's Solo Slide Trip

Today, while we were waiting for meet Fiona after school, Daniel made his first solo ascent & descent on the orange slide in the park next to Excel Academy. His Dad was terrified, and he slid down on his knees (like a rockstar) - but he made it without crashing, and then did it himself again about five more times.

Fiona joined Daniel & Jarl for lunch @ Gunther Toody's, and we all had a grand ol' time playing the "Lord of the Rings" pinball game. I put Daniel on a chair and told him to "watch the silver ball," which he did. We even "matched" and won a free game.

Daniel-isms

• Back-yarn: Great place to explore.  For instance, "Sandbox. Back-yarn!"
• Egg-grop soop: Daniel's favorite soup.
• Blanquet: Good to cuddle with during naptime.  Daniel loves his "star blanquet".

Say My Name!

During class today at My Gym, when asked "What's your name?" by Mr. Justin, Daniel responded: "Daniel!"

Major milestone. His Daddy is very proud.

Traffic-Jam Talkin'

I've noticed a lot in the past week that Daniel is now trying to talk over me when I'm speaking with Christy. Usually, I'm saying something about my day, while he is loudly repeating whatever he is also trying to tell her at the same time.

Christy asks: "How was class today at Naropa?"

and then, at the same time...

Jarl: "Well, I went to my field placement job"
Daniel: "French Fries! French Fries! French Fries!"

Battles and Errands

Mondays tend to go one of two ways in our house:
1. Fun Mommy-Daniel time with lots of laughs, play and adventure.
2. Errands punctuated by a battle of wills (usually over food).

Today has been the second kind of day.  It's 2 o'clock (nap time) and I'm exhausted.  It started at 5:30a when Daniel awoke crying.  Jarl brought him to bed with us where he (eventually) slept.  Though he would wake occasionally to tell me Tashi was on the bed or the next door neighbor's door is yellow or that he wanted eggs for breakfast.

At 8:30 I let myself be dragged from bed and confirmed that Daniel would like eggs and oranges for breakfast.  I scrambled an egg, peeled a clementine, made tea and toast for myself.  Daniel saw the toast and asked for red jelly.  So, I made him a piece with strawberry jam.

We sat down and the battle began.  Daniel didn't want to get in his high chair which isn't rare these days but is also a sign that he won't be eating much.  He drank his juice and ignored the food on his plate.  I asked that he take 5 bites before we called it quits.  He ate a section of clementine which I counted as a bite.  The egg that he'd been asking for since bedtime the night before? Shunned.  Toast slathered in butter and strawberry jam?  Eschewed.

After 20 minutes of cajoling, I lowered my expectations.  "One bite and you can get down."  Oh no.  This was a moral issue at this point.  I tried to make a game of it.  "I bet you can eat one bite of egg before I finish all these pieces of orange."  I explained that all the fun stuff ("grocery store. french fries. beans and rice place. mommy's car.") he was rattling off was out of reach until he ate one bite.  His reply? "Done."

I was angry.  I was tired, needed a shower and had to get to the grocery store for a few things but had painted myself in a corner.  We couldn't even go to the grocery store until he ate one bite.  We sat for a few more minutes and I upped the ante.  If he got out of his chair without taking a bite, he would have to go to his crib.  And that's how it went.  I took him out of his chair and put him in his crib.  Now he was angry too.

I took a shower, emptied the dryer and put a new load in.  By then, I had calmed down a bit.  I took him out of his crib and started folding laundry.  He asked for a "squeezie".  Ah ha - a compromise!  I gave him a squeezie (which he ate) and got him dressed.

First he got a haircut.  He did great though he clearly does not enjoy the process.  He got to watch "Bob the Builder" and play with the trains.  Then we headed to the shoe store and found two pairs of shoes (size 7).  Then grocery store.  Our list was really short since we have lots of plans in the evening this week.  By the time we were heading home it was 12:30p and Daniel was asking for "lunch place. french fries." almost non-stop.

We unloaded groceries then back to the car.  I toyed with the idea of going downtown but remembering the breakfast battle thought we'd both be more comfortable eating at home.  I bought french fries.  We came home and I made Daniel a peanut butter sandwich with chocolate milk.  That meal was about as close to an ideal Daniel lunch as I could get without handing him a bowl of ice cream topped with cookies and cake.

He ate a few french fries and a quarter of a sandwich and drank about two fingers of milk.  When we counted it up, it came to about 5 bites.  I'll count it as a win even though it did not feel like one.  Now? He's napping.  Before he went to his crib, he protested missing "Lazy Town" and took issue with my mandate of no TV.  It took about 45 minutes but he's quietly sleeping.  That would be a win too but the maids will probably show up and I'll have to preempt the nap. 

Spare a Kiss

Daniel was watching carefully as I made dinner tonight.  I boiled noodles, chopped veggies (asparagus and artichoke hearts) and mixed everything together.  I offered him a small piece of asparagus but couldn't get him to taste it.  He happily fed pieces to me though. (I seemed to enjoy them soooo much.)  As I was putting plates on the table, Daniel said "spare a kiss".  I repeated as a question to make sure I heard right.  He said it again and pointed to the kitchen.  I finally made the connection - 'spare a kiss' = asparagus.  The Cute-o-Meter jumped 10 points!

Stars Upon Thars!

I just finished "The Happiest Toddler on the Block" and one of the methods of encouragement has already been put to good use.  Dr. Karp recommends putting a check on the back of the child's hand when s/he does something asked of him/her.  Daniel loves getting his hand stamped so we modified the hand check system slightly by drawing stars on his hand to log a good deed.  He stopped struggling and sat in his high chair for dinner when promised a star for his hand.  He also did a great job eating his beans and rice (two stars for that).

Another tip from the book is to review the "checks" at the end of the day, reflecting on how helpful/patient/kind your child was that day and what you look forward to tomorrow.  Daniel and I sit in his room while he winds down for bed so this chat is a nice way to remember the day.

I'm a fan of "The Happiest" kids series.  Dr. Karp's ideas are easy to implement, respectful of your child, and generally a lot of fun.

Mu-see-um

We visited the Denver Art Museum today to see the "On the Road" exhibit which is timely because Jarl is taking a writing class focusing on Beat Writers.  Since it's the first Saturday of the month, admission was free (bonus) and there was a good crowd.  Daniel and I spent much of the time seeking out the many kid-friendly activities.  He stomped on "bubbles" projected on the floor until he and a bigger boy went for the same bubble, collided and both hit the floor. 

In the North Building, we found kids coloring Chinese dragon masks.  Daniel was happy to color leftover scraps of paper and move markers in and out of cups.  In the same area, we found blocks to stack and, better still, knock down.  Daniel pointed out "number one!" on the stairwell door. 

We decided to try lunch at Palettes in the museum.  Daniel wasn't too interested in the food even though they accommodated our request for scrambled egg and french fries.  He ate some fries and snubbed the egg.  The staff was fabulous - the waitress happily took our rather strange order, the host found Daniel an orange marker when he saw Daniel was less than impressed with the ballpoint pen he had, the tabletop was covered with paper so lots of space to draw.

After lunch, we visited the bathroom.  First, Daniel explained to the host that it was time to "use the bathroom".  He suggested we try the singing sink.  Having the sink sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" was a little disconcerting for Daniel, but he enjoyed watching the group of German students fix their hair and gossip.

Before heading home, we visited the gift shop and found a surprising number of board books featuring artwork from various artists.  Jarl found a Rousseau book and I picked up a coloring book by Taro Gomi (author of "Everybody Poops").  Daniel liked: the rings made of beads with flowers, the big people books, Erector set type building components with plastic sticks and balls ("bake pop!"), a ball made of magnetic parallelograms that broke apart in a very satisfying way when dropped on the rug.

It was a fun visit.  Unfortunately, nap was not achieved when we returned home but Daniel was in good spirits for the rest of the evening and fell asleep quickly after his bath.