Starting Daycare

Now that I have a new job, Eddie gets to go to daycare four afternoons a week. We found a nice in-home daycare in South Jordan that we are taking him to. Last week, Eddie and I visited twice, just to get to know the provider, Brooke, and to introduce Eddie to the other kids. Both times, he had a lot of fun playing with them, so I was hopeful that he would do okay when I actually left him there.

In preparation for this new adventure, we bought Eddie his own Toy Story backpack to keep his stuff in. Here he is all ready for his first day:


I took him into daycare yesterday and he was instantly clingy. He wouldn't let go of me, so when I had to leave, he had a breakdown and tried to climb up my legs. Luckily, Brooke took him off my hands to allow me to escape, even if it was a little disconcerting to leave him screaming my name. I imagined him spending the entire afternoon terrorizing the place and having Brooke tell us that she couldn't handle him. But, apparently he calmed down after a few minutes and did fine... even taking a nap, which I was sure he would not do. Hopefully this means that he will adjust well to the new arrangement. Now let's just hope that I'll adjust well to the new arrangement too!

Big Brother

We have been pondering how to approach the subject of our pregnancy with Eddie. So when I came upon our 2007 Christmas card while looking at his baby book with him the other day, I tried to seize the moment. I pointed to the ultrasound image and the box around Kristen's belly, and we had the following exchange:

Me: Did you know that you used to live in Momma's belly?
Eddie: Tree!
Me: Yeah, that's a tree. But you used to live in Momma's belly.
Eddie: Yeah, tree.

Clearly the concept is still a little above him. Picking a name for the fetus seems to have helped though. Now he will point to Kristen's belly and say "Morsel" (it sounds more like "muh-sow"). Of course he is also under the impression that I have a baby in my belly too. Silly boy, that's an entirely different kind of morsel.

Big Brother is watching you, Morsel.

Naptime Toys

Lately Eddie always wants to take random things to bed with him for his nap. Here are a few of the items he has slept with in recent weeks:

• Empty milk jug
• Sunglasses (on)
• Flashlight
• Sippy cups
• Cereal boxes
• Various toys

Yesterday, it was a rock. He found the rock on our walk home from church and didn't want to give it up, so I just let him take it to bed. When he got up hours later, he was playing normally when suddenly, he rubbed his nose and said "Rock. Nose." So I asked, "Did you put the rock in your nose?" and he replied, "Yeah. Bed." So I tried looking up there, but couldn't see anything, so I took that to mean that he put it in there at one point, but it was no longer in there.

A few minutes later he was rubbing his nose again, so I took another look. Sure enough, there was a rock in there. Luckily for us, it was small enough that it worked its own way down to where we could fish it out. Of course, as soon as I got it out and disposed of it, Eddie cried because he wanted his rock back.

Eddie's Phrases

Since it has been quite a while since I posted about Eddie's words, I think another installment is due. Eddie has now moved on from single words to phrases, some of which are quite amusing. He is getting into the stage where he will repeat weird things that we say, so we have to be careful what he hears. Here are some of our favorite Ed phrases:

Want one.

I suppose this stems from me asking Eddie if he "wants one" of something. So now whenever he wants something, he'll just say "want one!" Generally we try to ask what he wants so that he'll learn how to better express himself, but if he doesn't know the word for something, he'll just get angry and shout "WANT ONE! THIS ONE!" until we figure out what he wants.

See it!

Back before Eddie was so observant, we would point things out to him while driving. We would say "Eddie, there's a temple. Do you see it?" So now, Eddie notices things himself and always yells "TEMPLE! SEE IT! SEE IT!" until we acknowledge that we have also seen it.

So like. Um.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Eddie started saying "so like, um" when Dave and I were making fun of me one day in the car. At first it was just cute and funny. Now it is getting a little out of hand. Eddie will be playing and suddenly will shout "SO LIKE! UM!" I'm not sure how to discourage it, since there is no adequate replacement to teach him.

Blender noisy.

Eddie is very sensitive to noises. Anything that makes any sound at all is quickly dubbed "noisy." The blender and vacuum are the worst ones of all. He has a love/hate relationship with the blender, often asking to see it in the cupboard, but never wanting to be around when it comes out of the cupboard. He is always sure to tell us repeatedly (with a very serious look on his face), "blender... noisy."

Reach it!

I suppose all parents will be familiar with this situation -- Eddie drops all his toys while we're in the car, then demands that I get them for him. If I'm riding in the passenger seat, I can usually retrieve them. However, if it is just he and I, I have to tell him no, which infuriates him. So I tell him I can't reach it. Then he'll try to reach it and grunt and groan and say "REACH IT!" until something distracts him.

Geet down.

It seems like ever since Eddie started talking, we have been trying to get him to say "up." He can say the word. I think he knows what it means. But whenever he wants to be carried, he always says "GEET DOWN!"

My goodness!

Since Eddie's favorite cousin, Sarah Sue, has older brothers, she now says things like, "Oh geez!" Since I don't particularly like the word "geez," I have opted to teach Eddie to say "my goodness" instead. I love when he says it spontaneously after something happens.


Sharkbait, oo ha ha!

Eddie's favorite movie is Finding Nemo. He will repeat many of the lines from the movie, but his favorite is this one. He struggles with the "oo ha ha" part, so it usually comes out sound like, "shark bait ha!"

Yummy good.

We probably should stop encouraging this one, but it cracks us up every time. When Ed is eating something, he used to always say it was yummy. Then I started asking him if things were good. So now he says things are "yummy good." Now, he was started adding "licious" into the mix, so often things are "yummy good. licious."

Good job.

I believe in the power of positive reinforcement, so I generally try to tell Eddie "good job" when he does something that was hard for him or when he does what I ask. But now he tells me good job... and he tells himself good job. I'm not sure if I should be concerned about him ending up with some sort of complex.

Help you!

Apparently Ed needs help with pronouns. We have been working on getting him to stop calling people "it," but he doesn't know the word "me," yet either. So when he wants help with something, he always says "help you!" He also says "to you" when he wants us to read stories to him.

More Daddy please.

This is the newest phrase that Eddie started saying over the weekend. We have been trying to get him to say "please" for a long, long time, and now he suddenly will... but only in certain cases. Just to clarify, he's not asking for more Daddy... he's asking Daddy to get him more of something.

Ten Things...

...I Have Learned From Having a Toddler

1. Out of sight, out of mind
The person who came up with this saying must have been a parent. We have found that one of the most effective ways to reduce tantrums and conflicts is to avoid letting Eddie see or hear anything about something which could make him upset. For example: We now have a habit of laying a kitchen towel over the cookie container so he can't see what is inside. Eddie's trike stays in the closet when not in use. One of us distracts Eddie upstairs or outside while the other uses the blender. We spell words that we do not dare say out loud, like "park" and "snacks" and "cookie."

2. Shoes and socks should not be worn in the car
Every car ride (no matter how short) involves the removal of Eddie's shoes. If the ride is long enough, his socks go too. I have considered removing them before we even start to save him the trouble, but he would probably be upset about that and demand to have "shoe shon" just so he could take them off himself.

3. If Momma suggests it, it must be a bad idea
90% of the suggestions I make to Eddie are swiftly answered with a "NO!" Then if I suggest the complete opposite, he replies "NO!" For example: The other day I was eating some cheese. Eddie walks in. I say, "Eddie, do you want some cheese?" He yells "NO!" I say, "Okay, you don't have to have any." Eddie then yells "CHEESE!" like he wants some. This goes back and forth for a good 5 minutes before I finally say "You can't have any cheese," which is when Eddie breaks down into hysterics. Then I give him a piece of cheese, which he promptly throws on the floor and stomps on in tears.

4. Hills are made for running down
This makes for long walks around the block, since we inevitably have to go downhill, then back uphill. He can't simply walk up the hill. He must walk part way up, then charge back down, over and over. This would go on all day if I didn't finally pick him up amidst writhing screams and carry him home. Maybe one of these days I'll let him keep going until he stops on his own... just to see how long it would take.

5. If you're going to eat fruit snacks, you should be able to eat as many as you want
I do what I can to regulate Eddie's sugar intake. I am not sure if it does or does not affect his mood, however, I am keen on helping prevent diabetes if possible. So I try not to let him eat sugary things like fruit snacks every day. Then when I let him eat them, I will let him have one package. This fills Eddie with rage. It is almost better to have no fruit snacks because as soon as he horks them down in 2.4 seconds, he is angrily demanding more "nacks!" Upon being informed that there are no more snacks, he continues demanding them until I either give in or find some way to distract him.

6. All statements must be properly acknowledged before we can move on
This has become a habit for me. I simply repeat what he says back to him so that he'll stop yelling it. Occasionally, though, Dave and I will be having a conversation and Eddie will be repeatedly shouting something at increasing volume until one of us breaks off mid-sentence to acknowledge it. Then Eddie will happily move on to the next thing. For example, when we are driving in the car and see a church and/or temple, Eddie feels compelled to shout "SEE TEMPLE! SEE IT!" until we tell him that yes, we also see the temple.

7. Sand is yummy; chicken is not
No matter how many different forms we try to feed to him, Eddie will not eat chicken. We have occasionally gotten him to eat other types of meat, but with chicken, he is stubborn. Sometimes he will even put it in his mouth, chew it up, then spit it out. Sand, on the other hand, is one of Eddie's staples. This grosses me out because I have seen dogs root around in the same sand that Eddie likes to eat. I am somewhat worried that he is going to end up with ringworm or some other parasite from eating park sand. He insists on eating it so much that I have considered buying a bag of sandbox sand just so I know the sand he is eating is reasonably clean.

8. If something is worth doing once, it is worth doing over and over and over and over and over and over
Unfortunately for me, during our recent ride home from Cedar City, Eddie suddenly wanted me to do "piggies" on his toes. We were about 10 minutes outside of Nephi, where we were planning on stopping for dinner. So I did 10 minutes of "this little piggy..." on Eddie's feet, all while twisted around uncomfortably in the seat so I could reach said feet. After every "wee wee wee," Eddie immediately said, "gain." I was trapped.

9. Having the sun shine on you in the car is like having your eyes boiled out with acid
This is why we own hats and sunglasses. Now if only Eddie would realize the wisdom of putting on his hat and glasses when the sun shines on him. Instead, he writhes. He shrieks. He yells "SUN ON YOU! GO WAY!" This makes for some miserable car rides... especially when it is just the two of us and there is nothing I can do to get the sun off of his face. Or when he simply refuses to be comforted despite Dave's attempts to shield him from the sun.

10. Getting all wet is always fun
It doesn't matter if it is winter. It doesn't matter if the water temperature is 40 degrees. It doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing... if Eddie can get wet, he will. He will splash until he is turning blue and shivering, and then he'll splash some more. I have now learned that I should always pack a change of clothes when we go somewhere with a fountain.

Zoology

I included a shot from our recent trip to the zoo on the main blog, but since when have I only taken one photo? Here are a few more.

Ed was more interested in this little watefall than most of the animals.

Love this shot. Neil is clearly not enjoying himself on the rhino.

We got the boys to leave the gorilla's "chest muscles" alone for just long enough to get this one.

The aftermath of the ball fountain incident.

Two Year Stats

Lucky Eddie got to visit the doctor for his 2-year well check on Tuesday. Eddie has come to dread the doctor's office. I don't think it has anything to do with shots, but I think he just doesn't like being prodded and examined. He started crying as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. Then we had to take the elevator (there was no way I was carrying him up to the 4th floor), which terrifies him.

Apparently now that he is two, he is no longer considered a baby and gets to stand on the scale and stand up to be measured. They didn't make me strip him down to be weighed, which was nice. Then when they asked me to strip him down, they provided a lovely Looney Tunes hospital gown for him to wear. Apparently modesty is important once you turn two.

We had to wait just long enough for the doctor that I was able to get Ed calmed down. We read stories and he clung desperately to his Diego figurine. Then the doctor came in. He seemed to like her as long as she wasn't touching him. She made sure to give Diego a check-up, too, so that Eddie could see that he didn't need to be afraid. Of course, as soon as she tried looking in his ears, that was all over. The doctor was impressed by Eddie's words, even taking him out into the main office to show off his most famous trick of shouting "BATMAN!" after someone says "na na na na." She was cracking up at some of the things he said, including the word "salami," which she described as awesome (which Eddie then repeated). All in all, he appears to be healthy and reasonably normal.

He weighed in at a whopping 27.8 pounds (48th percentile) and is 34.1 inches tall (50th percentile). That was a pleasant surprise after he slipped to the 8th percentile on weight at his 18 month check-up. It's good to know that he is growing despite his picky eating.

Happy Birthday, Ed!

Today is Eddie's 2nd birthday! To celebrate, we had a big birthday party on Saturday.

Since Eddie loves Curious George, we thought this would be a good party theme. I looked at hundreds of Curious George cakes online, trying to figure out what sort of design to do. Eventually, we settled on this:


I stressed about the cake more than anything. I even woke up at 5:15 on Friday morning and laid there for two hours thinking of the cake. Luckily, it turned out pretty well. I felt it was a success when I finished decorating it and showed it to Eddie and he said, "George!" Luckily, he didn't realize it was a cake or he would've spent a lot more time begging for cake before I could let him have any. In keeping with our theme, we also splurged on some Curious George party supplies.


Eddie's big present from Dave and I was a tricycle. Eddie has always liked bikes and loves watching the neighbor kids ride their bikes around outside. I spent a lot of time researching trikes and trying to find one that would not be too big for him. We ended up with this Radio Flyer Fold 2 Go trike, which folds for storage and has an adjustable seat. We made sure to have Eddie get on one at Toys R Us before we bought it -- just to make sure he could reach the pedals.


He has been riding his bike ever since. He doesn't know how to work the pedals, so he climbs on and then makes one of us push him around the house. On its maiden voyage outside, Eddie didn't take long to tip over and crash. Hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon... before one of us throws out our back pushing it around.




Dave was a Curious George fan when he was little, too, so Dave's parents brought down his old Curious George in a jogging suit for Eddie to have. He also got a couple more George DVDs, so that we know have 24 episodes to watch instead of the 8 that I have memorized. Uncle Jason got him a fold-up race track for his cars, which was a big hit. All the kids loved it and Eddie loves to send anything and everything down the "big hill." He got his helmet and pads and a t-ball set from my parents, a doctor kit from Aunt Cheryl's family, and a Diego truck from Aunt Christie's family.


Thanks to everyone for celebrating with us!

Eddie Update

I've been having a bit of blogger's block lately and haven't been able to think of anything interesting to post. But, I feel like a new post is overdue, so I figured I would give a general update on Eddie and his antics. So here are a few fun facts about Ed:

Eddie is a singer. The two songs he sings are "I Love to See the Temple" and "No More Monkeys." Sometimes these songs get combined into one. He's getting better at remembering the words. He used to sing "No temple day! No temple day!" but now he sings "I goin' temple! I goin' temple... no monkey bed." It's precious, as you can imagine. He loves seeing the temple and insists on seeing it out the window before naps and bedtime. He also points out every church we pass while riding in the car and can even say "Moroni," which sounds like, "Oh Why."

Eddie has recently become obsessed with tractors. I'm not sure what brought it on, but I remember him asking what something was, and I told him it was a tractor. So now he keeps his eyes peeled for "trackas" everywhere we go.

Here is Eddie when he got upset that there was no mail on Sunday.

Eddie loves to play outside. He gets excited whenever I ask if he will go with me to get the mail. If I even go near the front door, he'll start saying, "Side? Mail!" So I generally try to avoid that area of the house unless I am prepared to go out. His new favorite thing to do outside is to play on "big hills." He likes to climb them and he likes to run back down. One day on our walk around the block, he realized that we were walking uphill (a very gradual uphill), but he insisted on turning around and running down the hill at least 4 times before I forced him to move on. He also discovered puddles last week when it rained and had to stomp in every puddle we saw as we walked around the block.

Eddie will put himself in time-out and thinks time-outs are funny. We're not really sure how to impress the seriousness of punishment on him. He will stand in the corner and press his little face as far into the corner as he can. Then every once in a while, he will turn to smile at us and either go back to the corner or try to run away.

Eddie's favorite foods are pizza, noodles (noons), bread (dread), and dip-dip. He doesn't care what kind of dip-dip he has, as long as he has some. He eats it with a fork, or just with his hands. Occasionally he dips other foods into it, like strawberries in mustard or grapes in ketchup. He likes pretty much everything he tries, but refuses to try some things on principle (like chicken). We often find ourselves telling him that a certain food tastes just like something else he likes in order to get him to try it. He doesn't usually fall for that trick any more, but it is how we got him to try bacon (which we told him was like a cracker) and now he loves bacon.

Eddie went through a phase where he didn't like to snuggle or hug, so I am very happy that he now likes to "huggle." He will climb up on the couch for huggles, or will huggle at the grocery store while hanging out of the shopping cart. If he wants attention, that is his sure-fire way of getting it, because who could resist Eddie and his huggles?

Bippity Boppity Boo

It always seems to be windy in our neck of the woods. I think this is because the community is so new, thus there are no full grown trees to slow the wind down.

Aching for some sunshine without getting blown away, we invited ourselves up to Christie's neighborhood on Saturday afternoon.

We went to the "Princess Park," which features great old school playground fixtures like this pumpkin carriage.

Bouncing is one of Eddie's new favorite pastimes. On a related not, having to change a dirty diaper after said bouncing is not nearly as enjoyable.

Eddie and Kyle had all sorts of fun making a two man train down the slide.