1.  Looking out the kitchen window while I washed dishes at twilight last night.  “Ah,” thought I. “Must be about 4 o’clock.”  It was actually after 5 o’clock, which means that once again, the days are getting longer, just like they’re supposed to.  It’s always a relief when I notice that happening for real.

2.  In the grocery store yesterday, stocking up on Henry-food–frozen burritos, bananas, and wondering what fresh fruit I can give him when everything’s so out of season & he’s so tired of apples.  I pushed him to one side of the aisle so another cart could get through and when I looked back, he was happily munching a nectarine.  With profuse apologies I offered to pay double for my toddler-nommed nectarine, but the guy at the checkout counter said, “Eh, don’t worry about it. You’d be amazed how many people put them back.”  Well, yeah–that is amazing. And gross.  I was just relieved that no one considered it a lecturable offense.  (And I guess I need to keep a closer eye on my little monkey’s hands when we’re out in public!)  Another nice thing is, I guess he likes nectarines!

3.  The dog, who refuses to eat perfectly good dog-stuff, like popcorn that’s fallen to the floor under a high chair, has decided that crayons are delicious.  I look forward to cleaning up the yard this week.  It should be…colorful.

4.  The Boy & the wee one are off having a Boys Morning Out.  First he got the baby up while I lazed in bed, he changed him, fed him, dressed him, entertained him.  And now they’re off to Gymboree class sans Mommy.  Woohoo!  House to myself!  Partay!  (Ok, really just coffee/breakfast, and blog-writing/reading, and maybe a tiny bit of writing before they come home, but still, woohoo!)  One of the very few times I have not been the Parent In Charge for this many hours in a row!

5.  Toasted English muffins for breakfast remains one of the most perfect foods in the world.  Yum.

1. So, apparently it’s not the wet diaper so much as it is the hungry that’s waking him up. I’ve been making sure he ate a big dinner, but last night, what with one thing and another, he didn’t eat as much. Big mistake. Today we’ll go buy more yogurt, so if he doesn’t like what we’re having for dinner, he’ll still go to bed with a full stomach.

Oh, and why am I convinced it was ‘rumblies in his tumblies’? Because at 4am when it finally occurred to me to ask the child why he couldn’t sleep, he promptly signed ‘eat’ and then clarified by saying ‘cracker’ ‘bottle’ and signing ‘please’

He didn’t get a cracker but a bit of warm milk did the trick.

I really need to remember that the wee one is semi-rational now and can help with such riddles!

2. I can however, be forgiven since his room was hosting a ghost. Realize I’m not superstitious, but we were lying there–or rather, I was lying there and he was using my prone, exhausted body as a jungle gym–when I heard his little red wagon roll across the room.

To be fair to myself, my first guess wasn’t a ghost, but an earthquake. Except his mobile wasn’t moving (which also ruled out ‘spontaneous collapse of the house’.)

Obviously it wasn’t any of my fears. I had forgotten that when I’d cleared his bed so I could lie down, I’d propped a whole sleeve of diapers against the wagon. Which had fallen over, pushing the wagon. Glad we don’t have a wagon-pushin’ ghost waking him up at 4am because really, that’s more than I feel qualified to address.

3. I offered Hen some almond milk today at breakfast. You would have thought from his blissed out expression that I’d offered him the nectar of the gods. Guess he likes almond milk!

4. I was able to repair his ‘monster slippers’, which is good because I hate buying more slippers before he’s outgrown these.

5. Leftover night, and the Boy is taking Hen to his class tomorrow–which means I have like 12 hours with minimal responsibilities! Woohoo! Party in my brain! (or at least perhaps temporarily regaining the ability to complete a thought.)

1. This is a hard day, but there are so many things to be grateful for that it makes things a bit easier.

2. Playdate was fantastic. It will be nice to make some friends locally.

3. Bigger diapers seem to have done the trick. So happy to be back to getting enough sleep.

4. Watched The Avengers last night And thought it was a hoot. I want to be Emma Peel when I grow up.

5. Watching Hen develop a sense of self: he’ll see an old photo of his dad with a baby and proudly tell me that the baby is ‘Hen’. He loves detailing who owns different things in the room. Mommy’s computer, Daddy’s phone, Henry’s dump truck. And when we’re done divvying up the world into mine, yours, theirs, he usually ends with a litany of the people he loves. I am so very lucky. Even when things are hard, I am so very lucky.

4. A

1.  Loving the date. Because I’m a geek.

2.  Having a talking baby is a hoot.  He comes out with the weirdest words/combinations of sounds, and when I guess what he’s trying to say?  I get this beaming grin, just replete with happiness that he’s managing to communicate with mama.  Poinsettias = popopopo.  Daffodils = dadohdih.  So adorable.  Last night, I got cranky with the dog because she was grabbing brussels sprouts out of his free-ranging-baby hands during dinner.  Told her in no uncertain terms to ‘Back off!’  Went to get another bs on my fork and looked up to see him disappearing around the corner into the kitchen–walking backwards, of course!  When I caught his eye he dissolved into giggles, and the dog assumed all was forgiven and snuck back over to retrieve the sprout from the fork I was waving helplessly as I laughed.  Kid knows when he’s being adorable (and so does the dog.)

3.  Hen still needs a good bit of ‘warm up’ in order to be properly tickled.  Just tickling him doesn’t produce much besides a confused baby, but telling him, “I’m coming to TICKLE you!” can make him collapse with laughter–the tickly fingers are just icing on the cake.  Lately, he’s been wanting to be tickled a lot.  To the point that when he catches his breath after a round of tickling, he’ll demand “more!” “more!” “more!” which is funny, but it’s even funnier when I refuse to chase him, and instead demand that he needs to come to  me if he wants to be tickled. And all this for a kid who isn’t actually particularly ticklish. Awfully silly, though.

4.  My sourdough bread came out beautifully!  Made a loaf-pan loaf & a round loaf, and they both rose beautifully.  I think my next batch, I’ll proof one more time to try to eke a bit more sourness out of it, but it was delish even relatively sweet.  Perfect interior texture, and I think if I get a spray bottle for the water (instead of just brushing it on with a bristle brush) I’ll be able to perfect the crust as well.  SO PLEASED WITH MYSELF RIGHT NOW!  Now all I have to do is exercise enough restraint not to eat it all.  Which will be difficult.

5.  When my adorable boy tries to smack me as a punishment for being unwilling to read his new favorite book to him for the (literally) 18th time since breakfast, do I laugh or cry–given that the book in question is Hands are Not for Hitting?

1.  Size 6 diapers.  Baby slept through the night–all the way through, no whining and moaning at 1030pm–for the first time in a LONG time.  We’ll see if this trend continues, but right now, I’m feeling pretty grateful for giant, astronaut-sized diapers!

2.  Aforementioned sleeping-all-night-long also meant a cheerful, cooperative baby, which I haven’t seen in a longish while.  Granted, Henry’s version of non-cooperative looks like some toddlers’ best days, but I’m spoiled and am used to Mr. Happy going along with whatever I’d like him to do or stop doing without protest.  I know it won’t last, but I’d just as soon delay the crankypants part of toddlerhood as long as possible, and him getting a good night’s sleep is pretty key for that!

3.  Today is bread-baking day.  I’m rather excited.  Waiting for noon to roll around so I can knead up my first batch of bread dough in years!

4.  Besides being easier on my back, not rocking and patting and singing the wee one to sleep, I have to confess that I really love sitting downstairs, writing my post, and listening to him chat with Bunny and Turtle in Henry-ese.  There’s something wonderful about hearing a baby talk to himself!

5.  This is awful, but I’m really glad that the Boy has made bathtime rituals his job.  Yeah, he gets the adorable baby-in-the-tub stuff, and he gets the happy baby excitement (because baths are one of Hen’s favorite things in the world,) but he also ends up doing an awful lot of ‘cleaning out the bathtub because of unexpected poop’.  I change 90% of the diapers in this house, and I don’t mind doing that, but it’s nice (though embarrassing to admit my pettiness) that I don’t mind knowing someone else is in charge of dealing with any unexpected excrement, for a change!

1.  Adjusting the thermostat so that the heat kicks on again at about 3am gave me my first full night’s sleep in I-don’t-know-how-long.  Guess he’s been cold, or it’s just a coincidence and will make no nevermind tonight.

2.  I think I have to start reading some how-to-deal-with-your-toddler books.  Hen’s getting, um, tantrum-y.  Throwing toys, walking over to try to hit me when I tell him ‘No’! (That last one isn’t flying around here at all.)  Seems my happy little baby is going through a bit of a frustrated, sullen phase.  I think he’s just realized that there are rules he’s going to have to learn and follow, and he doesn’t like it one bit.  But it’s hard to figure out how to deal with this sea-change in his easygoing personality, so if anyone has any toddler-book recommendations, please let me know!

3.  New TV which should enable us to stream Netflix movies & TV shows.  Since we don’t have cable, we haven’t been able to even get PBS.  Not a big deal, I’ve been TV-free most of my life if you don’t count DVD watching, but I’m starting to need a bit more variety in my baby shows (ie: that precious half hour of the day when Hen’s interested in something that isn’t me entertaining him.  We loves us our Rachel from Baby Signing Time!), but the 4-disc rotation isn’t really holding his interest now that he knows all the signs.  We’ll see what we can find for him on Netflix.  Woohoo for new and exciting tv with which to warp young minds!

4.  Did I mention I got a full night’s sleep last night? Still pretty excited about that.

5.  Henry calls popcorn ‘Dada-corn’. I nearly died from the cute when I figured out what in the world he was trying to communicate.

1.  Took Henry and the Boy to their first father/son Gymboree class.  We opted for the Saturday time slot so that they can occasionally do this together, leaving me alone at home!  Everyone had a good time, Hen just LOVES this place.  Have a feeling I’m going to get VERY familiar with the drive up to Rye in the next few years.

2.  Just made a batch of sourdough pancakes because I was so tired of dumping all that ‘pancake batter’ consistency starter.  Consistency wasn’t really as fluffy as I like my pancakes, but I rather like the tang, and with maple syrup–well, is anything not good once you’ve smothered it in maple syrup?

3.  Henry’s getting better and better about putting himself down for his nap by himself.  No crying, just some babbling as he discusses his options for escape with Constellation Turtle.  And then at 11:01 he falls completely asleep. Ah.  Makes 4:30am seem not quite so bad, and I’m hoping that it will mean that eventually I’ll be able to walk away from him, still awake, at 4:30 without dooming us all to 3 more sleepless hours.

4.  There’s a daffodil blooming in my pot of indoor bulbs.  Cheerful little yellow flower that has completely charmed Henry, as we’ve watched it grow taller each day and spend all day yesterday getting ready to bloom.

5.  Bright sunny day today.  Warm enough that I can go outside without bundling up.  So glad we moved to frigid, bitterly cold New England!  Seriously, it’s just lovely out today. Must find something outdoors to go engage the baby boy in–we’re all getting a bit stir crazy inside!

1.  This made me roar with laughter and thereby almost wake the baby yesterday. Warning–it’s from the Colbert Report, so yes, it’s satire. There’s some political stuff in there, so if you don’t like Colbert/Jon Stewart, you probably won’t like this either. And neither of these guys is particularly reverent, though they’re both smart as smart gets.

And also frikkin’ hilarious.

2. Henry said ‘Cracker’ yesterday. Out of the blue. Which is cool, but also means he’s eating a lot of crackers (or the dog is) because he loves practicing his new word, which gets him SO MUCH ATTENTION from Mama.

3.  Naps continue to be easy, even while the middle-of-the-night wake ups continue.  Small blessings.  At least I know that when 11:15am rolls around, I’ll have a couple of hours of writing time to look forward to.

4.  My sourdough culture hasn’t gone wonky yet.  Smells like SF sourdough, times a zillion, but no nasty smells that would indicate contamination by a local yeast culture.  Woohoo!  Only a few more days of the feed/grow/dilute stage of activation of the dormant culture, and then I can start baking!

5.  Peppermint tea–as well as my new peppermint shampoo, actually.  Something about the smell of mint when it’s cold out just really does it for me.

1.  We are developing a kind of a routine for these 4:30am wakeups.  Oddly enough, it helps make them more bearable. I go in, make sure he’s not unexpectedly poopy or anything, then, instead of holding or rocking him, I just go to his twin bed–his eventual ‘big boy bed’ and I put him between me & the wall, and I tell him it’s time to go back to sleep.  Even if it takes him 20 minutes of flinging himself around, bouncing off me, bouncing off the walls & the pillows, he settles and then sleeps deeply, and when he’s been deeply asleep for 10 minutes or so, I can scoop him up and deposit him back in his crib and seek my own bed again.  Not ideal (because what, really, is ideal about waking up at 4:30?!!) but doable.  And that’s an improvement.

2.  Henry knows the letter ‘O’ when he sees it.  He was having a great time at the library this week, playing with refrigerator magnets.  And we went through the whole alphabet, examining the letters, and of course I told him each one and he tried to say each one with varying degrees of success.  So when I was at Walmart buying proofing box supplies I bought a set (which is missing a Z, much to my dismay.  Seriously, Walmart, how hard is it to get a complete alphabet in an alphabet set, eh? THIS is why I don’t shop there, normally!) and brought it home and Henry helped put it on the refrigerator. I was somewhat distracted, thinking of something else, and wasn’t telling him the letters as we worked.  But then he plucked off the ‘O’ as soon as I put it up, and handed it back to me saying–without any prompting–’O!’  He can also find the A & B, but O is apparently his favorite.  Wow. I realize he’s a way off from reading, but, damn, the kid can read and remember letters.  Woohoo!!!

3.  Brownies. Specifically brownies where all you do is add oil and egg and water. Couldn’t be easier, and awfully darned tasty.  Yum.

4.  The smell of sauteing onions is just the most wonderful smell. My grandmother tells the story that her mother, when she’d been out shopping or gallivanting all day, would hurry home and start a pan of onions frying, regardless of what was for dinner–it made the house smell like she’d been busy in the kitchen all day!  I’ve always loved that story, and I do understand. I wouldn’t mind if my house ALWAYS smelled of frying onions…

5.  Yesterday, I cleaned out the drain in my shower. Ok, I have long fine hair, and I use gloppy conditioner on it every day–which leads to clogged drains no matter how careful I am with drain strainers.   So my shower usually drains slowly.  Finally, mine got so bad that even I knew I had to deal with it. I expected it to be a major project involving drain snakes & tears, but it was pretty straightforward and easy.  Yay for an easy shower drain to clean out, and was it ever nice not standing in soapy water while I bathed this morning!  Woohoo for non-soap-scummy feet–I think I’ll never wait so long again to do the dreaded drain-clean!

1.  Henry (And I!) slept All. Night. Long.

2.  I put him down for his nap while he was still awake and he only cried for about 30 seconds.

3.  We went running around outside in the melty snow and there were no tears (kid’s developing quite a snow-phobia that I’m trying to ease by lots of mini “fun” expeditions into the slushy backyard.  Since going outside mandates the wearing of The Hat, he’s a happy boy up to the moment he falls and his hands land in cold wet stuff.  Now if I can only get him to understand that The Mittens are even more wonderful than The Hat, we’ll be all set.

4.  My handmade proofing box for sourdough is working beautifully & I have a deliciously sour smelling batch of starter bubbling away in it.  Another 24 hours or so and I’ll be ready to start trying bread recipes.  Sourdough is really one of the coolest things ever, and I’d never realized how different breads made from different starters can taste.  I went way out of my way to find & buy a San Francisco sourdough starter, because that  is the sourdough from my childhood.  My dad used to take business trips to SF when I was a kid, and he’d bring back baguettes of sourdough that rocked my bread-lovin’ world.  And all sourdough since then? Not. The. Same.  So, with the magical SF yeast burbling away in my dining room, I’m hoping to recreate that little bit of bready perfection here in New Hampshire.  We’ll see how close I can get!

5.  Planning a trip to see my folks, which is stressful because of all the shit that traveling entails (kennel, rental car, hotel, flights, etc.) but delightful because I’m so looking forward to seeing them & my brother’s family for a few days.  So excited!