Hair Today, Hair Tomorrow

Ike’s hair has become a major part of his little identity.  This is in large part due to my attachment to said hair, but lately it is becoming more and more about his attachment to his hair.  As in, it is his hair and he loves his hair.

It is becoming more undeniably chaotic every day.  We have a variety of hair care products especially for Ike that rivals what you see on a teenage girl’s vanity.

(Yes I let my child color on the bathtub walls, I also bribe him with chocolate to bathe)

So I have been trying to gently broach the subject of perhaps getting a tiny trim.  His answers have remained the same, simply NO.

“Ike do you want to get a haircut?” “NO!”
“Ike do you maybe want to trim just a little bit of your hair?” “No”
“Ike maybe you’d like to go and see one of your friends get a haircut? I hear they have a car-chair?” “No”
“Ike what if mommy just cuts this much (shows him an inch of hair between fingers)?” “No”

When asked why he doesn’t want to cut his hair his response is usually, “It’s my beautiful hair” or the less articulate “don’t touch mah hair!”

Nevertheless, it is July in Georgia and as someone with an abundance of hair on her head I can attest that something must be done to save my child from heat stroke.

Ike went to my hair stylist (so now in addition to a collection of headbands, curl milk, wet and dry brushes and special gentle curl shampoo, Ike has a hair stylist).  I prepped her by asking for her to 1. Do no wet his hair, he hates that 2. Do not even show him scissors, he will run 3. Be as quick as possible, he has the attention span of a gnat.

He did very well in the chair, although it was clear from his face that he was not enjoying it one bit.

The result was wonderful and after the initial “where’s my hair?” concern he grew to like his braids quite a lot and is already asking when he can get his hair done again.

 

Two!

He’s been two for over a week now, and I still cannot believe how time has flown!

For real little guy?!

You’ve mastered so many new skills this year, taking your amazing little personality to brand new heights!  You’ve learned about a hundred words, so many new songs, you can get dressed (and undressed), you can feed yourself, you can dance, you can jump, you can climb, you can do puzzles, you can say your ABCs!  You amaze me every day and I am so excited for what you have in store for this year!

Ike’s Favorites:

Favorite Foods

1. Avocado
2. Blueberries
3. Strawberries
4. Noodles
5. Broccoli
6. Ice Cream
7. Most other food put in front of him.

Oddly enough he asks for cake after singing Happy Birthday to everyone but does not care for the actual cake, he also frequently requests pizza for dinner but also does not appear to like that either.

Mommy I need cake, sing happy birthday need cake.

Favorite Songs

1. Old MacDonald
2. Wheels on the Bus
3. Happy Birthday
4. Baby Bumblebee
5. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
6. One two buckle my shoe
7. Row Row Row your Boat

Favorite Toys

1. School Buses
2. Airplanes
3. Slides
4. Guitar
5. Play kitchen (also real kitchen)

Favorite TV shows 

(Please don’t judge us)

1. SuperWhy
2. Handy Manny
3. Harry the Bunny (Aka “a bunny”)
4. Thomas the Train

Favorite Pieces of Clothing

1. Helicopter Pajamas
2. Dragon Shirt
3. SuperWhy Shirt
4. Spiderman towel
5. Koala bear hat that is way to small for his giant head

One week into being two and we have found that Ike is behaving, very TWO-ish.  I can see how this phase may be misconstrued as terrible.  Personally, I think you just need to have the right mindset.  You see, I am completely prepared for this to be the most difficult to take him places, hard to get through the day, patience-testing year.  Now that my bar is set low enough to need a shovel to bury it, things can only go up from here!

Cheers to Two!  It’s going to be amazing (or at least not as terrible as I already think it is).

PS Ike had three total birthday celebrations, zero of which were on his actual birthday.  He had a Montessori birthday “lesson” at school, a Harold and the Purple Crayon party at home, and a SuperWhy birthday over Thanksgiving at Grandma’s.  More to come on the party animal another time.

Teen in Training

Have you ever noticed the similarity between the toddler and teenage years?  I am noticing some glaring likenesses between our fourteen year old and our soon-to-be-two year old.  Maybe that’s why when you ask how old their toddler is parents roll their eyes and reply “3 going on 13!” Or maybe why parents of teens often ask them “why are you acting like such a baby?!” Hmm are toddlers teens in training or are teens somehow reverting toddlers in an attempt to skirt adulthood?  Either way the resemblance between the two are remarkable.

Here’s how:

Tantrums

Toddler tantrums are more slam fists on the floor and scream gibberish and cry (always in public), while teen tantrums are more stomp away and scream hateful words that make parents want to cry (never in public).  But I say a tantrum is a tantrum and there is really no other way to describe such raw displays of disappointment and frustration.

Complete Defiance

Tell a toddler to go pick up that book they threw on the floor.  What do you get?  I get “no!” and usually several more books tossed on the floor for good measure.

Tell a teen to pick up that plate that has been sitting at the table for several hours after dinner.  What do you get?  A plate that has become infested by wildlife when you wake up in the morning.

Both ignore you and somehow make the problem worse.

Difficulty with following directions

Go to your room and do you homework, you tell the teen.  They go to their room and listen to music, text their friends, and try on all the clothes in their closet (That’s what they are doing right? That must be why the clothes are always on the floor and not on hangers?).

Take off your shoes and put them away, you tell the toddler.  They go sit down and proceed to remove their shirt, shorts, and diaper but leave the shoes on.

Being able to follow two step directions is a big toddler milestone.  Apparently it is also a teen milestone that is often overlooked.

Impossibility to wake up

Tip toe around a toddler who has just dozed off for a nap and he will snap to attention.  Try to sneak off to the grocery store before the teen wakes up (at noon), they meet you at the front door dressed with a list of prepackaged junk food they need.

Try to get either of them up for school?  

Turn on all the lights – toddler is oblivious, teen has the good sense to pull the blanket over head.

Shake the bed – toddler is still oblivious, teen mumbles some unpleasantries in your general direction but does not open their eyes.

Blast music – toddler does a little involuntary booty shake but does not open eyes, teen groans loud enough to drown out the music but still does not budge.

Angels when you’re looking, devils when you turn your back.  

When they have your undivided attention.

Toddler – obedient, happy, puts diapers in the trash and leaves them there.

Teen – sits at the kitchen table and asks thoughtful questions while diligently working on their homework.

When you turn back.  

Teen – lies about finishing homework and reasons they need stay after school.

Toddler – makes a mural on your wall with the contents of the diaper that you watched him dutifully put in the garbage.

Moods change at the drop of a hat.

Teen – OMG I love you you’re the best parent ever, I’m gonna work so hard to pay you back I promise.  Thirty seconds later OMG That’s so unfair! Why do you hate me!? You are TOTALLY RUINING MY LIFE!!  

Toddler – Mommy, I wanna go outside and play, goes and get shoes and happily shuffles towards the door.  When it’s time to come inside.  Becomes completely limp and crumples self to the ground yelling “noooo!” repeatedly while you drag him in by his shirt.

They both take forever to bathe

Teen I’m going to take a quick shower. 45 minutes later you knock. OMG I just got in here!

Toddler – wash face, scrub muddy knees, clean cheese toes and wash hair – 5 minutes.  Taste, play, and display all 26 foam letters in the tub Are you ready to get out? no! puts each letter back into the water and then throws them out of the tub- 114 minutes.

Rooms stay clean for approximately 30 seconds per week

Every other second it looks like the same tornado tore through both rooms.

Toddler – I’m not sure, why anyone bothers to clean a toddler’s room, it’s like issuing a challenge.  Mine walks in and his face lights up and I can actually see him deciding what he can throw onto the floor first.  The basket of neatly folded school shorts?  No, definately the basket of perfectly matched tiny socks.  The set of 3 pull and go cars? Haha yeah right, try the tub of 57 toddler legos.

And Teens?  My theory is they manage to stuff all their crap just barely out of sight so you stop yelling, then when they open the closet/drawer/magic wardrobe it all just springs back out into the same areas of the floor they have always occupied.  Something like the way that can full of snakes works I believe.

 

So is that why people generally avoid teens and toddlers in the same house?  Is it nature’s natural evolution to generally have children slightly closer together?  Would it have been too much to ask to have someone warn me?!

One thing they can both do that doesn’t make me cringe?  Their chores.  Sometimes.  Well, that one time.

A conversation with Ike

This little guy here.

Loves to talk!  We unpacked my vintage rotary dial phone this weekend and put it on the coffee table at his eye level.  Personally, I wasn’t sure he would know what it was, since I’m pretty sure he’s only encountered cell phones in real life.   They must have a landline phone at school or something because he went right over and picked up the receiver and said “H’lo?” Then he said a bunch of garbled up words then “ok bye” and slammed the phone back down.  A few second later it must have rung again because “H’lo?”

He’s starting to piece several words together to make short phrases, which is making back and forth conversations a lot of fun right now.  For example, here’s what we talked about yesterday morning over breakfast.

 

Me. “Ike you need to take a bath this morning you stink”
Ike. “Stink?”
Me.  “Yeah you smell like outside, we need to take a bath”
Ike “Okaaaay”
Me.  “Ready to go take a bath Ike”
Ike. “Battte?”
Me. “Yes let’s go”
Ike.  “Okaaaaay”
We walk over to the stairs.  The stairs that Ike LOVES to play on and go up by himself because our new gates have not arrived yet.  Ike goes up one step and looks up to me.
Ike. “Halp?”
Me. “Help what?
Ike. “Halp me peas?”
Me. “You want me to carry you up the stairs?!”
Ike. “Yah”
So I pick him up and carry him up the stairs, lazy bum!  We go into his bathroom and run this water.
Me. “Oh Ike we forgot your brush downstairs”
Ike. “Brush?”
Me. “Yeah, come on let’s go get it” I pick him up and carry him back down the stairs.
Ike. “Batte? I nee take batte! I nee take batte!”
Me. “Ok Ike, we need to get your brush though”
Ike. “I nee take batte, batte, batte, batte! I nee take batte!”
Me. “Ok, let’s go back to the bathroom and take a bath”
Ike. “I nee take batte!” We get back to the bathroom and I get Ike undressed and put him in the tub.
Ike. “Noooo!  Noooo!”
Me. “What’s wrong? You need to take a bath Ike”
Ike. “No, no, no batte, no!”

Fun times.

You Give Me Fever

Fever! In the morning
Fever all through the night

We have four new additions to report in the Salinas Household.  Ike has managed to cut four different molars in the matter of four days last week.  These four big teeth caused him quite a bit of distress, including an almost constant fever of over 100 even with the aid of a steady stream of Motrin.

The fever and general discomfort started on Sunday morning, but we assumed he would be getting A new tooth (as in ONE) and the fever would likely subside in a day or so.  Not true!  It elevated quickly and by Sunday night he was over 102 degrees!  The pediatrician on call suggested we call for a same day sick appointment first thing in the morning.  We did and were seen at about 9am.  No fever.  Obviously.  A cool 98.6 degrees and a cherry disposition I had not seen since Saturday.  I had been dealing with this pathetic face all day on Sunday.

Monday night?   Back to 101 and general panic at home just after the doctors and urgent care centers had closed.  We managed the fever and the discomfort as best we could for the next few days.   He didn’t want to sleep, he didn’t want to play, he couldn’t go to school, and most of all, he didn’t want to eat.   The only thing that wasn’t met with outright refusal was popsicles.

Which by the way, Ike calls “pizza”.  I think that “pizza” to him must mean any form of junk food he isn’t supposed to have.  Because I took him for actual pizza and ordered a sensible thin crust/light cheese/veggie topped pizza and he would not touch it, yet complained that he wanted “pizza”.  Then at home, he dug into the freezer and pointed at the popsicle box and asked for “pizza” again.

The nurse practitioner we saw on Monday advised us to return if the fever persisted for 5 or more days.  I made an appointment on Thursday afternoon for Friday, at the time Ike’s fever was just over 100.  When we got to the doctors on Friday?  97.9!  DUDE!  I am positive the doctors think I am a full on nutcase.

Ike was like “What mama?  Are you ok?  You look a little stressed out… I’m fine, I’m just gonna go lick this door handle on our way out ok?  The doctor is so cute, we need to come back here real soon.”

Long story short.  He’s fine now.  He’s happily enjoying all of our family company as we prepare to move into our new house this week.  Me? I am recovering from the whole ordeal much slower.  I still sleep with a thermometer and a bottle of children’s Motrin on my nightstand.

No Babies Here

Ike’s teacher sent me an email this week about my most dreaded toddler milestone.  The potty (or “toileting” in Montessori speak).  Ike is in the toddler community with children ranging in age from 14 months up to about 3 and a half.  He wears pull ups to school and cloth training pants while he is there.  He is offered the opportunity to use the potty at the designated “potty” times throughout the day.  Previously he was pretty erratic with his interest in this activity.  Sometimes he would sit, sometimes he would refuse, sometimes he would potty, sometimes he would not.

Well, this week he has shown a much more consistent interest in the potty, or so I am told (I am also told to say “toilet”, I listen so well ya’ll).  Apparently, he goes and uses the potty on his own now, at school.  Ok, he has given me some indication of being aware of his bodily functions for about a week now, but I thought he was just exploring a new word.  The word?  “Poo poo?” phrased as a question.  Every time.  How am I supposed to know if you have to go poo poo kid?

Anyway, the teacher alluded that perhaps it is time to start reinforcing this potty time thing at home.  So now we have this.

Two of them actually, one upstairs and one downstairs.  When we went to but one of them Ike insisted on sitting on it in the shopping cart and asking “poo poo?” throughout the remainder of the shopping trip.  That was not embarrassing at all.

I have spent a good part of my evenings this week removing and replacing Ike’s diaper at every “poo poo” question.  He has pottied on the potty exactly once for me.  For some reason I feel like this is going to be a long process.  Does anyone know if Amazon Prime Now offers Pull-Ups in Atlanta?  Oh and also disinfectant wipes?

Broken Phones and Lost Shoes

We bought a house on Friday.  Hooray.  Well, technically, we bought a house.  We signed the papers and paid the lawyer A LOT of money and now I have a piece of paper saying that we own the house.  We do not have keys and we have not moved in because we are renting the space to the owners until next Friday…

Last week, on my way to DC for a work meeting my phone died.  It just decided that it was time, that life as an iphone was just not worth living anymore.  I was listening to music and flipping through some form of social media when it just…well it just died.  The battery was good, it showed no signs of having any trouble, I didn’t drop it or cause any other trauma, just spontaneous failure to operate.

When I finally managed to get an appointment that was at a reasonable (not working hours) time frame at the apple store, it was Saturday.  They replaced the phone because their technical “genius” response was “huh, I guess it just died”.  Thanks.

Along with my now dead phone, died three posts worth of photos.  I have more or less made peace with that, I guess, not really, but whatever.  Life is as what it is in our world of technological reliance.  Incidentally I have maniacally hit the save button on this post at least 20 times so far, because electronics man, you never know!

Also happening last week, Ike has managed to lose three shoes.  Not three pairs, three shoes.  By the way, Ike owns 4 pairs of shoes, and one pair of rain boots that are so big that they fall off when he walks.  That left one pair of lace up Adidas as safe footwear.  At Ike’s montessori school, they encourage independent care of self, which includes getting oneself undressed in the morning and removing one’s shoes.  Therefore they encourage shoes that children can remove and put on, on their own.  Translation?  Velcro not laces!

Toddler shoes do not come cheap, especially when you consider they only wear a given size for about three months.  Saturday morning I was determined to find Ike’s missing shoes.  When he wants to go outside he generally brings me one of his shoes, to get his point across, so the pairs are often separated.  I figured the others had to be around somewhere, likely under the couch with all the millions of little plastic balls.

I searched and cleaned and rearranged the furniture downstairs and upstairs in the bedrooms for about 4 hours.  I found these all of these shoes downstairs.   None of Ike’s lost shoes were anywhere to be found.

Sunday I caught Ike putting his T-shirt into the garbage, so I have an idea of where the shoes may have ended up.

By noon Ike and I were in Target in search of some decently priced, non-lace up, extra wide (marshmellow feet), Montessori-approved shoes.

Well folks, there you have it.  500 words on missing shoes and a broken phone, that about sums up my week.

Spring Bucket List

Spring is definately in the air.  So is pollen, but we can overlook that.  The weather is beautiful here in Georgia and the flowers are in full bloom.  My very outdoorsy child is in heaven.  The only time he cares to go inside is to eat, which these days is occurring more and more frequently.  Otherwise it’s outside for “wah wahs”.

Since Ike is in a pretty major exploring phase, this spring is an opportunity for us to get in some good development and fun activities before the unbearable heat of summer begins.  We need a bucket list!  A Tot-sized bucket list.

1.  Go to the playgrounds.  Go to ALL the playgrounds.  Play on slides and hone those climbing skills!

2.  Pick some strawberries.  We heart all things berries in my house.  Strawberries are grown locally here in Georgia at a variety of farms around the metro Atlanta area.  We are planning to go to Cottle Farms just south of the city to try our hand at some picking.  I see lots of strawberry shortcake and strawberry milkshakes in our spring future!

3.  Visit the Zoo. Technically, we can check this one off, Ike and Ivanal and I hurried off to the zoo the first weekend it was sunny out and monkeyed around the bird habitat for a few hours.

But we will keep this one the list since my mother’s annual pass is still good through the summer.

4.  Go to the Dogwood Festival. The dogwood festival is one of Atlanta’s most popular spring festivals.  I’m embarrassed to admit in my 8 years of living in this city I have yet to attend.  We have already made plans to meet up with Ike’s buddy Jacob on Sunday.

5.  Play in the rain. April showers are prevalent in the southeast.  Being a normal girly-type I am prone to sitting on the couch and watching chick-flicks during this rainy time, but my mud-loving toddler must get some good splish-splashing in.  He’s got a cool new raincoat in preparation for it.

6.  Have a picnic. We do own a very nice, vintage picnic basket after all.  That has been used exactly once.  This will totally justify it’s retention. Plus this activity combines Ike’s two most favorite things; eating and outside.

7. Eat. Pick some flowers. The dog and Ike are pretty impressed with the wild flowers (weeds) around our house.  They are also impressed with the grass and it’s assorted flavors.  I think we’ll go and check out some real flowers though too.

8.  Get wet. Cousin Mei’s favorite park the “yellow park” also known as Old Fourth Ward Park, has a pretty cool water feature.  So does Olympic Centinneal Park.  I think these would help Ike’s new aversion to bath time.

9.  Drink some smoothies. Made with our fresh picked strawberries of course!

10.  Take lots of walks. When all else fails, or mommy just runs out of time, Ike’s always down for a stroll around the neighborhood.

Obsessed with Outside

“Wah Wah?”

“Wah wah” is Ike’s way of asking to go for a walk.  Outside.  Which is not so much a walk as it is just take him outside please, right now, thanks.  Sometimes he is happy to sit on the porch in his little blue lounge chair and feel the breeze through his bird’s nest hair.

“Wah wah?” Is the first thing I hear when I go to Ike’s room in the morning.  Or when I walk through the door after work.   Tiny, little, bright brown eyes staring up at me from knee-hieght.

“Wah wah?”  he asks again.  If I ignore the request or tell him that I need to do something else first (like oh I don’t know go pee or something) he goes and gets a shoe.  Only one shoe, usually his, sometimes mine, or the closest one he can find.  And he asks a little louder this time “Wah wah?”

If the response is still unfavorable, or if I make an unreasonable request like “go get your other shoe”, he contorts his face into a sour expression, throws the shoe on the floor, stomps his chubby little foot and shouts “WAH WAA-AAH! MAAA!”, then grabs my hand and drags me to the nearest door.

Does this only happen to me? Is he satisfied after going outside for a walk (wah wah)?  Um no.  We go outside, we walk, we blow bubbles, we play on his Little Tykes slide.

Eventually I coax him back inside to start dinner, and as soon as his sister walks in the door it starts all over again.

“Wah wah?”

Then his Dad gets home.  “Daddie-O! Wah wah?”

This weekend we were pretty much outside all day, both days, until dark.  When we came in for dinner what did he ask?  “Wah wah?” Of course.

 What a lovely morning.

Think I’ll take my coffee and go for a wah wah.

Oh, this your coffee mom-mom?

And at night, after we’ve been outside at the house, outside at the playground, and outside at the zoo, he asks once more after dinner.

Ike. “Wah wah?”
Me. “No wah wah it’s dark outside.”
Ike. Thinks for a moment.  “Bah?” Which is bottle.  Because if we aren’t walking we must be going to bed.

School Daze

Ike went to preschool for the very first time ever today.

After much deliberation, we chose a little Montessori school near work.  Isaac and I both agreed that around a year old we wanted him to have some sort of regular interaction with other children his age to help with social skills and developmental play.  We chose the Montessori principals because we think that they most closely align with our parenting techniques (or plans at this point).  In an overly simplified statement, Montessori education is a guided educational journey, led by the child to foster a nurturing environment while supporting independent growth throughout early childhood.  All of this sounded very good in a theoretical, let’s do this for our child one day, you know, when he isn’t a baby anymore.  I guess that day is here.  And all of a sudden any school or care program just seems a little overwhelming.  For me at least.

He looked so much older standing in the classroom than he does when he races over to hug my knees when I come home from work.  I’m very glad I was already gone when they put the training pants on him, because I could not handle it!

Ike was not too sure about the whole ordeal.

He cried when he noticed we were all gone, which broke my heart and Isaac’s.  We both circled back to the school in an attempt to go check on him, in the end cooler heads did prevail though and we let him tough it out.  For all of five hours, he’s only doing the half day program for now.

Obviously, he survived.  His daily update showed that he even went to the potty!  On his first day!

I’m a proud momma now, although still reluctant to go through the separation anxiety all over again tomorrow.  Good thing his daddy is dropping him off!