Saturday, July 20, 2013

Tooth #12 ... Finally!

Henry's 12th tooth finally cut through today.  Yay!  This kid has been biting everything in sight me and his legs included, but thankfully not the cat, for months now.  I was sure he was cutting another molar since he enjoys chewing his entire hand after sticking it as far back in his mouth as possible without gagging.  Nope, just the last front bottom tooth.  He'd looked a bit lopsided for months ... a cute lopsided, though.

I don't expect any relief for him, though, as he's drooling like crazy today and still biting the furniture ...  Where are those molars?

Off on another work trip tomorrow.  Henry will be staying with my parents the week between trips and I'm looking forward to some time to myself.  Not that I'll get to relax.  Nope.  I've got too many things around the house that need to get done.  I'm not feeling the least bit guilty about him staying with my parents for a week.  I see many fellow moms with kids his age get so upset over having to spend a work day away from their kids.  Am I just strange?  I know he is comfortable with my parents and he is never phased by my leaving to go anywhere without him.  Plus he'll spend lots of time with his cousins which he enjoys.  I think the biggest difference is that as an SMC with no family nearby I can't just send him to his grandparents' house when I need to get something done.  Aside from day care where I go he goes.  And as much as I love him I do need some time by myself.  I'm really looking forward to getting to sleep as long as I want.  I certainly don't get the benefit of a partner taking care of Henry on one weekend morning every week like some couples I know.  I'd love to have that option!  Just one day a week.  And this from me sitting here in my pajamas at nearly 11:30 am because I'm still waiting for Henry to go down for a nap so I can shower ... Oh what a glamorous life I lead.  LOL!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Totally horrible blogger! 18-month update

Yes, I'm dropping in after weeks of agonizing whether I should own up to my shame of not posting in a very long time ... many months.  October, I think?  Sheesh.

Anyway, I went back to work in January and Henry went off to day care.  We both adjusted well.  Henry has adjusted well to my travel schedule and is a fantastic traveler.  He does very well on the flights even though he is now in the "I must scale and crawl on any upright object" phase.  The 2-hour time zone change we have during summer months isn't the best but Henry adjusts fine.  He loves getting to see grandma, grandpa (H calls him papa and made that up on his own) and his cousins regularly. And they love spending time with him too.

Henry is tall (85.4 cm) and heavy (13.5 kg) for an 18-month old so I'm convinced he's going to be a big kid and eat me out of house and home when he's a teenager.  That or he'll have to get a job to pay for the groceries.  He's been quite healthy since his last cold in January and no more bouts of wheezing, thankfully.  My fingers are crossed that he'll outgrow that issue.

He's finally started speaking and repeating things I say to him including 'moo' which he finally said tonight after a long time trying to get him to do it.  For the longest time he would only say about five words and no animal sounds and at his 15-month appointment the nurse practitioner told me they could intervene by 2.  Now he offers a variety of words spontaneously in varying levels of quality depending on the day.  Some days he's clear and others I just get a first consonant out of him.  He loves to answer various versions of 'good' when I ask him how he is.

He's a very physically active kid which will be a good thing down the road.  But he also loves music and books.  He's now started taking a book to bed with him and I don't care since it seems to keep him calm and busy until he finally falls asleep.  Tonight he started repeating 'moo' when I put him in his crib and was still going at it when I walked out of his room.  I heard this thunderous noise not that long after and went in to check afraid he was banging his book on the wall.  No need to worry about the neighbour going nuts from the noise.  Nope.  He was just banging his feet on the end of the crib to check out the sound.  Another thing he loves to do these days especially if it is something that can cause damage.  Oh yes, he's a little go.dzilla, this one.  lol

I'm busy with work, traveling, keeping the yard in order (I did a ton of landscaping in the front this spring) and generally just keeping up with things.  My house is always in a state of mess but I do my best to at least keep the main floor organized lest anyone think I'm a hoarder.  lol  Nah, more like someone who doesn't get the floor vacuumed nearly often enough.  I've gotten into genealogical research and am trying to get back into travel writing as well so that will also be taking up free time. I've also got to figure out how to fit some sort of exercise in there somewhere too.  I weigh less than when I got pregnant but my shape is a little different and I'm in need of some muscle toning.  A little cardio wouldn't hurt either.  I'd love to go for walks in the evening (and that was the plan before the ridiculously hot weather moved in) but that will have to wait until cooler weather appears.

I'm hoping I can do a better job of posting even if it will be a bit sporadic.  Because of my travel schedule I am unable to set a time such as Sunday mornings to post an update because we're often getting ready to catch a flight on Sundays ... well, at least every 2nd week until the end of September.  Until then here's a couple of new photos of the little guy from the day he turned 18 months.

He loves to play in my bathroom in the morning. (July 10, 2013)

I love climbing on the couch!  (July 10, 2013)