Sigh...how true...

Bathtimes

Kiddo gets dirty. Yep, hard to believe he gets any dirt on him in our pristinly dirt-free house, but somehow he manages it (snicker-snicker). This means he gets a bath before bed, oh, about every other night. These go really well usually, because kiddo-bean really likes water and playing under the faucet. Luckily he is easily amused with his few bath toys and the running water. Lucky for me (knock on wood) we've had no pooping in the bath. I've heard this is quite disgusting.

However, the running water is a straight signal to his little brain that he should cut loose with the stream of pee. Every...I mean EVERY time I turn the water on within moments he's peeing on the side of the tub. It only took me a few weeks to get brilliant enough to put the towel down before urinating commences.

Sheesh.

Boys.

No naked photos; I didn't think we needed more evidence for blackmail when he gets older :-)

One nap versus two...

Tam has always been a fantastic sleeper. We were elated when he started only waking at 2am during the night. We were ecstatic when he finally slept through the entire night. Currently, his bedtime is between 6-7pm with him waking around 6:30am. He has always been an early-bird so far, much to my chagrin since I'm the night owl. And, yes, we've tried the whole "keep him up so he wakes up later" brouhaha and it totally doesn't work with Tam. It just makes him crankier the following day. Instead I whole-heartedly believe in the motto that sleeps begets sleep and to put the baby down tired (not asleep). This has let us put Tam down in his crib and have him learn how to self-soothe early in life. And, it means that we have never had to spend entire evenings rocking him to sleep or listening to him cry it out. (Thankfully). I also hold that this miracle has happened because of the music box that we play each night that lets him know that it is time to go to sleep. I love Bach.

Now on the nap side, we spent many months with three naps... the idea of 2 hours up / 2 hours down. Then from about 6months until now, we have held steady at 2 naps a day with one in the morning 'round 9:30ish and one in the afternoon around 2:00ish. Naps usually last about 2 hours...and it is AMAZING the amount of work one can accomplish in two hours without a toddler. Tam is very good at letting us know that he's tired. His cues include the oh-so-sweet eye rubbing, the oh-so-cute drunken stumble, and the oh-so-obvious snuggling with a blanket on the floor.

A new milestone has been stumbled on lately. Tam is trying to go down to a single nap per day. Eh. It is moderately successful so far. This means he is struggling to stay awake longer in the morning, bordering on 10:30 / 11:00. Then, on the flip side, he's fighting to stay awake in the afternoon. Once he hits the 3:00pm mark, he's at the point of no return and we make him stay up until bed time. Oh, sometimes that last hour around dinner time is a cranktastic time! We have been trying to support his new decision by moving bed time up a bit and this has helped.

As long as he keeps sleeping through the night, I'm still happy. My how he's growing up so quickly!

Wordless Wednesday - Bookworm

Our latest obsession is books that have flaps that lift up.

What's underneath?

Gold for the curious

Artistic forays

We've just started artistic forays with Tam in our house. No "happy little trees" yet, but I'm sure they will come with time :-)

We've only been marginally successful with the crayons so far. He can grasp them okay, but hasn't quite figured out that they mark the paper yet. Oh, and he's realized that they taste okay to gnaw on them.

In a different direction, I decided to let Tam try his hand at finger-paint (snicker). Instead of anything toxic or permanent, I got the idea from the parent hackers website to use foam soap with a bit of food coloring.

Here's Tam attempting to make a Valentine's day card for daddy.

He had a pretty gloriously messy time smearing the "paint" around the hearts I cut out for him. He even attempted to use the spoon like a paint brush with quite a bit of success.

Soap = $3.00

Food coloring = $.50

Red hands, smiling toddler, and home-made card = priceless

I didn't even mind dunking him in the bathtub afterwards :-)

I'm loving the classic rock station

Man-o-man...I struck gold this weekend listening to our local classic rock station! I had a grand time singing along at the top of my lungs with kiddo clapping along in the backseat of the car. It definitely made the crazy traffic bearable while we were out. The coolest thing is some of Tam's latest babble has taken on a lyrical quality. It does sound a little like singing as his pitches go progressively higher in his "sentences." Cute.

Can you name the tunes I heard?

I will walk 500miles and I will walk 500 more, just to be the man who'd walk a thousand miles to fall down at your door...

She's my cherry pie, Put a smile on your face ten miles wide.
Looks so good bring a tear to your eye.
Sweet cherry pie, yeah...

Come, as you are, as you were, as I want you to be
As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy
Take your time; hurry up
The choice is yours, don't be late...

Hop in my Chrysler, it's as big as a whale and it's about to set sail!
I got me a car, it seats about twenty, So c'mon and bring your jukebox money...

Who'd a thought we could be lovers
She makes the bed And he steals the covers
She likes it neat And he makes a mess
I take it easy Baby I get obsessed...

I kinda hope we get stuck, Nobody gets out alive
She said 'I'll show you how to fax In the mail room, honey,
And have you home by five'...

- - - -- - - - -
Give up?

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Pretenders' 500 miles
Warrent's Cherry Pie
Nirvana's Come as You Are
B-52's Love Shack
Paula Abdul's Opposites Attract
Aerosmith's Love in an Elevator