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The Preschool Transition

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

My wonderful sister was kind enough to gently remind me that we haven’t updated Mad’s site in a bit!

There have certainly been some changes in his life recently too. Most notably, Maddox is now in pre-school (or, more accurately, pre-pre-school) at the local Kindercare. And when I say local I mean literally 1.1 miles up the road.

It was very, very tough leaving the wonderful, loving person that Maddox had watching him since three months old. We were so lucky to have her be such an important part of Maddox’s development, but we knew eventually we would want to move him into a pre-school environment — the time just snuck up!

The first day went absolutely fine. In retrospect, that was because he had no idea we’d be leaving for the day, since on our previous two visits we just visited and then all left together. The next few drop-offs though he cried and wailed for his mom, so much so that Leanne ended up picking him up before his nap both times.

I took over drop-offs after, and it was just heart wrenching to drop him off while he was yelling for me saying “No preschool please” and “Please home!” and “Peanut butter!” (the latter being because he figured out if he said he wasn’t done eating, he’d never have to leave home!).

Today marked the first day without a single sad face or sound. In fact, he actually squirmed in my arms to be let down. Also for the past several days as soon as I walked in the room he would say “Had so much fun at preschool today!”

Tags: crying, growth
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Sledding? Not so much

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Today, Leanne is in Boston for most of the day getting her hair cut (meanwhile, I got mine cut in twenty minutes this morning. Must be a girl thing). So I thought while mommy was awhile I would take Mads out and for a little risk and adventure and go sledding! I figured with Mom away there’d be no one telling us to be careful or slow down.

Except, it turns out, for Maddox. He’s not really a huge fan of the snow to begin with. For one, he seems to be convinced it completely immobilizes him, because he never even attempts to walk on it. Also, he’s never shown much love for “thrill” activities like swinging. He’d rather methodically move one pile of woodchips onto another.

So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that he absolutely hated going out into 20″ snow and trying to sled. First, he fell asleep on the way there. We arrived, at which points I realized that while I remembered all the boots, hats, mittens, coats, and other accouterments, I had forgotten the actual sled. So we drove home, got the sled, drove back, paid $2 for parking with a $20 and received 18 dollar coins, and made our way to the small sledding hill at Maudsley State Park. Maddox didn’t want to walk, or be dragged in the sled, so this was all carrying him in one arm and the sled in the other in two feet of packed snow.

But it was all worth it, right? Right!?

Perhaps not.

Tags: crying, outside, sports, video
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A Sick Baby

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

We have been pretty lucky with Maddox and illnesses so far. Looking back, he was never really sick beyond a minor cold once, and a temperature that went away after a day.

That changed on Thursday when we picked up Maddox early from daycare with a temperature of 101. Nothing dangerous, but enough to have him stay at home. We expected the temperature to disappear after 24 hours like it did in the past, but instead it lasted all the way until Tuesday morning. Long enough that the doctor actually wanted to see him in the office to do some basic tests. One more day and they would have done a blood test!

It was tough to see Mads be so unlike himself. I worked from home on Monday, and at one point early in the morning he pulled out his favorite book, sat in a corner, and just stared at it for almost five minutes straight. When we put him down at night, he would actually lie on his back in his crib and listen as we read to him, something he hasn’t done since he learned how to stand up! He was also extremely clingy (which admittedly was kind of nice). The worst part was his cough, because every time he would cough he would cry after, and you wish you could explain to him what was going on.

Yesterday, all his symptoms seemed nearly gone, but he was pretty much inconsolable all morning and wouldn’t stop crying, so Leanne stayed at home to watch him. And he napped for nearly six hours! So we’re thinking that all this sickness led to a lack of sleep, which led to a rather grumpy mood.

This morning though, he seemed nearly his same self, except for a new penchant for throwing anything he could get his hands on. But even mischievous behavior like that is welcome after the past six days! He even was feeling up to dancing last night, which at this point for him means moving his legs around really quickly and occasionally waving his hands.

Tags: crying, cuddles, doctor, sick, video
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Two Month Check Up

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Today Mads had his 2 month check up with the pediatrician. He’s healthy (yay!) and generally pretty happy. Unfortunately, our poor little guy missed his morning nap, had to have a bottle of semi-cold milk, and received 2 shots and an oral vaccine (blech). Needless to say, it has not been an overly smiley day. =(

Here are some of the things we learned at the doctor’s office:

Mads is the size of a four month old. He is 13.13 lbs and is 23.5 inches tall. Apparently, this is completely okay and we should feed him whenever he’s hungry instead of worrying about him eating too much.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to try to get in the way of his food consumption. When he’s eating, his eyes sometimes flicker back and forth like he’s checking out potential competition for his food and is ready to take them out.

triumph buggy

His size means that he can ride in his 3 month baby carriage, so long as we are careful that his head is supported. It seems so light-weight that I kind of worry about him riding in it at his age, but I’ll just make sure I go with him until I feel more secure, so I can keep an eye on him.

More good news: he’s been kind of nuts lately (see previous post). The doctor said that the fussiness is at its peak around 2 months, but should ease off in the next couple of months. We have a lot of patience (because he’s so darn cute) but it’s nice to know that he’ll chill out a bit eventually.

Another cool fact: we can start feeding him some solids at 4 months. I’m really looking forward to this – Jon and I love good food, and it’ll be really neat to introduce Mads to different flavors and textures. I’ve got a pamphlet to read about which foods are best and how to introduce them which will be neat to learn.

It goes by so fast!

I noticed the nurse put him in size 2 diapers after she weighed him. We’ve been using size 1-2, and I’ve had an increasingly difficult time changing him at night. When you’re trying to squeeze a baby into diapers that just barely fit him, it becomes like a puzzle and at 4am, no sane person really appreciates puzzles.

For me, this is a milestone. Even more than the different sounds he’s making, or the clothes he’s outgrowing, because he does both of those things so continually. But changing his diaper size means he’s really getting bigger, and while I am so proud of him, it’s kind of a pang because I now realize what other parents mean when they say, “It goes by so fast!”

We had another milestone today – Maddox was wrapped in his swaddler and he thrust his arms out to the sides and it burst open. He was surprised but delighted and so he laughed. He’s been doing little half-laughs and lots of smiles, but I swear, this was a genuine laugh. I love our happy baby.

To wind up:

After the doctor’s appointment, we went to visit Dad at work, and then Mads and I snuggled for an hour or two. It’s really cool – when Mads sits on my lap, the top of his head reaches so much higher than it used to.

Right now he’s watching his Bear Parade, yawning and making sad grumpy sounds which I translate to mean, “Whoa, look at that bear parade. Go, bears, go! Oh my god, my bear parade has stopped. Bears? Bears why aren’t you moving? Bears? BEARS ARE YOU OKAY? MOM, MY BEARS AREN’T MOVING! OH MY GOD SOMEONE HELP THEM! (Mom winds the bears) Whew, there they go. Yaaaaaaay! (Insert happy smiles) All is well…zzzzzzzz.”