Social Climber

My law school buddies came for a visit this weekend, and AJ got treated to fun playtime with his Auntie A. and a trip to the playground on Sunday with his Auntie N. As you can see from the pictures, this guy loves a good climbing structure. Just in the past week he has started climbing on everything from a box of diapers in his room to his train table. I even caught him trying to climb on top of the toilet tonight.

Joe has a scar on his ear from an incident when he was a little boy in which he thought he was Spiderman and attempted climbing the window blinds. He tells me that he remembers that day well and truly believed he had the ability to climb walls. Although AJ has no idea who Spiderman is yet, I fear that he has the same suspension of reality when it comes it his Spidey climbing skills.

Two Pregnant Ladies Go to a Football Game...

It sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn't it? Two pregnant ladies go to a football game reminds me of the old "a guy walks into a bar" opening line of a thigh-slapper. I generally try very hard to keep this blog about AJ and not wander into my life, my political opinions, my work angst, etc., but I am making an exception to post a picture of me and my good friend, S., at the Northwestern homecoming football game last weekend. We had planned to take AJ until we found out that game time coincided with nap time, so I went to the game with S., who flew in from Boston, and Joe stayed home with AJ.

This is also a way for me to share the news that AJ is going to be a big brother in late December. The reality that another baby is soon on his or her way is starting to sink in now that we are two months away. S. is due with her first, a little girl, in late February, so this baby will have a long-distance friend in Boston who may be a future college roommate in 18 years.

PS--I oddly don't look very pregnant in this picture, but trust me, I am getting big. A lady asked me in the elevator the other day if I am having twins. I went home and threw that pair of maternity pants into a storage bin.

Little Helper

AJ was an enthusiastic assistant last weekend in helping his Chicago grandma to plant some tulips in our front yard. AJ is still obsessed with handyman tasks of all kinds around the house and yard, and his absolute favorite things to do are to watch and assist with projects around the house and yard work, especially if they involve tools. We have had some of our biggest battles of the will over AJ's intense desire to possess and manipulate tools. Last weekend, Joe was using a hammer to pound sinkers into the wall to hold nails that would (finally!) hang some pictures. Joe said before he knew it, AJ had a hold of a screwdriver out of the toolbox and was banging it against the wall like Joe was doing with the hammer. Joe said AJ was distraught when Joe took the screwdriver away. He thought he was imitating his da-da and could not comprehend what he was doing wrong. We have tried the toy versions of tools, but while he enjoys playing with the toy tools when that is all that is around, his eyes get big and he starts saying "ooh! ooh!" when he spots a tool box or a stray tool.

The other day I caught him standing on tip-toes with his hand blindly digging around in the junk drawer for a screwdriver. His other obsessions are scissors and knives, and he has watched me in the kitchen enough to know that they are kept in the silverware drawer. He has also been caught red-handed standing on tiptoe with his arm stretched up over his head blindly rooting around in the silverware drawer for sharp, pointy contraband. It reminds me of an elephant rooting around with its trunk looking for peanuts. We are definitely in the no-no phase at our house.

More Words

The words are coming fast and furious now. We are constantly surprised by what AJ is coming up with. The other day when AJ and our nanny picked me up from the train, AJ asked me for my "back-berry," meaning he wanted to see my Blackberry e-mail device. He now also calls raspberries, one of his favorite foods, back-berries.

Then a few weeks ago, Joe was watching the Bears game on t.v. when the Bears had a last minute upset loss. Joe yelled an unprintable word at the t.v., and AJ promptly ran toward the t.v. shouting the same word. Way to go, dada! Luckily, Joe's mom was over and promptly told Joe that language would have to stop immediately, so I didn't even need to weigh in. When Grandma talks, daddy listens. I think Joe was a little embarrassed to hear AJ saying that word. Live and learn.

Tonight Joe got home from a business trip to find AJ running around with handfuls of play dollar bills shouting mun--ney! I think it warmed Joe's heart to hear his son so enthusiastic about the dollar and capitalism.

Other new words include camel, bear, muffin, cupcake, zan-ya (lasagna), drink, juice, apple, carrot, cold, hot, home, kiss, pretty, hah-mer (hammer), scissors, knigh (knife), cut and gah-bage (garbage). He is also starting to put together two words in combination, such as up high, get down, and all done. My favorite new language skill is watching him associate objects and words with people. For example, he is very observant about what people eat and drink and points this out to anyone who will listen. He points at wine bottles, wine in a glass or just an empty wine glass and says da-da! Then he will point at a tea cup and say gand-ma! When he spots a beer in the refrigerator door it gets a pap-pa! (for grandpa). Last weekend my mom was visting and she had half a Corona in the kitchen while cooking. AJ saw the empty bottle on the counter after she had left for home and said affectionately "gand-ma!"

Patch Attack

This weekend AJ and I had plans to do an outing to our local pumpkin patch with his buddy, H., to snap some cute pictures of the little ones in their Halloween costumes with the pumpkins. The plan was to go after lunch and before H's nap. At lunch I let AJ sample my salad, and shortly after sucking on a raw red onion for a minute or two, he broke out in a red rash with hives all over his cheek where the onion had been. After consulting with his pediatrician, we gave him a dose of Benadryl and were on our way. The Benadryl kicked in about the time we hit the pumpkin patch, and you can see the results in the photo above. I learned my lesson--Benadryl + plans to do anything do not mix.

After the inaucpicious beginning, I foolishly attempted to wrangle him into his costume. This was the best that we could manage after bribing him with the cookie that is clutched in his hand. When it came time to put on the turtle headpiece, major meltdown ensued.

As a consolation prize, here is an adorable photo of H in her zebra costume.

Shortly after we left, AJ had recovered from the costume trauma enough to enjoy assisting H. with pushing her stroller home. (How cute is H's little red cape?!)

Mugging for the Camera

Look at this guy! He is getting to be such a little boy. AJ's nanny, K., took these pictures, and I love how they capture his playful personality that is coming out more each day.

15 month checkup

AJ had his 15 month checkup this weekend. It was closer to 16 months for him, but when I called in August to schedule the appointment, the pediatrician was already booked on Saturdays through October. What's a working mom supposed to do? Plan ahead, I guess.

AJ checked out fine. His height and growth continued on the same curves (99th percentile and 95th percentile respectively). He is now 30 lbs., and trust me, you can tell when you carry him around. We are working on encouraging him to go up and down the stairs by himself, but it requires patience and time, as he seems to have inherited my puttering tendencies when it comes to getting from Point A to Point B. As I have mentioned on the blog before, Joe is Mr. Efficiency when it comes to almost everything in life and quickly moves through required tasks. I am one who putters a bit more. If I am going upstairs to change AJ's diaper and he is walking up himself, we will stop to name people in the pictures on the entryway table, open and close the baby gate at the foot of the stairs 10-15 times and pet the cats on our way up. So you can see why I often end up just scooping him up and hauling him up to avoid the fiddle-farting around, as my mom would say. But this does not lead to him developing self-powered efficiency on the stairs, so I am brainstorming new ideas. I am considering importing a two year-old for an afternoon so that AJ can observe the big guy's machine-like focus in going up and down.

On other fronts, the pediatrician said AJ's gross motor, fine motor and verbal skills and developing on time. We are working on drinking milk out of a cup without a lid!, having him help put his shoes on and having him help zip up his jacket now that it is fall in Chicago. I have noticed that he is getting much better at manipulating the fork and spoon when he is eating. He can even feed himself half a carton of yogurt now using a spoon. Although he might eat it all if I were feeding him, he usually loses interest after getting halfway through the carton on his own. I ordered him a toy that arrives tomorrow in the mail that I am extremely excited about. It is a play wooden food set that he can cut with a toy knife. Apparently the food makes a satisfying "thwack!" noise like an apple being cut when the kid gets the knife through the velcro, so I think AJ will love it. He has been obsessing about cutting up food lately and asks me to cut everything I serve him, from a cheese stick to avacado to bananas, into smaller pieces for the pleasure of watching the knife do its work.