1. Hen slept through the night all the way across the country in a very different time zone and he put himself back to sleep when he woke up at 4am. A good thing because…

2. Yesterday? A 1 hour drive followed by a 6 hour flight and then a 3 hour drive was just purely miserable for all of us. Fortunately, we were not the only toddler party on the plane. In fact, Hen might have been the best behaved of all of them. At least until I had reason to really be grateful there were other little ones on the plane about an hour away from landing, when my well behaved little boy..

3. Blew through his diaper. Yeah. His LAST diaper. On a plane. Another mommy gave us two of the precious poop catchers (bless her!), and he just didn’t wear clothes for the last leg of our trip. I was not at my brightest and best yesterday. I needed that sleep. Oi.

4. But it’s been beyond lovely to see my folks and to have a few days of just taking it easy with them planned. Looking forward to it (though rather dreading the trip back.)

5. The baby has, though, been fairly charming. Not giving hugs and kisses, but trying valiantly to say the right names, eating everything in sight, and loving the presents being handed out left and right. This little boy is so very very loved.

(and yes, I’ll be taking no fewer than 27 diapers and two cartons of wipes with us on the return flight. Lesson learned about traveling light. So. Not. Worth it.)

1.  When we got Chinese food last week, we got a little plastic-wrapped package of fortune cookies with two cookies mashed into a single-cookie space.  Since the time before that we got a sealed, inflated, but empty fortune cookie package that sort of freaked me out, this one brought the universe back into balance.  Whew.

2.  Weaning Hen off the bottle has been (and why AM I saying this out loud?) no big deal.  He asked for it, but when I told him that, no, he was a big boy now, he just curled up and went to sleep.  So, I guess it’s done.  No more bottle.  Sniff.  Whew.

3.  This morning, after consuming half my husband’s oatmeal and half my yogurt (yeah, the yogurt thing didn’t last) Henry went to the bread drawer and brought me a loaf of bread.  Somewhat bemused, I gave him a piece.  Of which he ate almost precisely…half.

4.  I found the believed-lost receipt that proves Nellie’s been vaccinated for rabies & kennel cough, thereby saving me a trip to the vet’s office this afternoon.  Yay!

5.  Hen was being adorable this morning, and I asked him the rhetorical question–as I often do–Do you have any idea how much I love you?  He looked at me quite seriously and simultaneously said & signed “Moon.”  Anyone’s who’s ever read their kid Guess How Much I Love You? knows to what he’s referring.  I told him he was absolutely right, and he went about his morning as if he hadn’t just said the sweetest thing ever.  Because, yeah.  I love him as wide as I can reach, as high as I can touch, all the way up to his toes when I swing him over my head, to the river and over the hills, but really? If he loves me to the moon, I love him to the moon and back.  It’s been a long time since I’ve read him this book–it’s a bedtime book, and my husband gets to be the bedtime reader of stories.  So it means Hen remembered, and took it to heart.  And that he knows.

1. We had another adorable example of Hen trying to parent his Bunny. Bunny, apparently, had to use the potty. Sadly, Bunny opted for the Mommy and Daddy potty instead of the Henry potty and so was immediately removed to the laundry for some sanitary work.

As some of you might recall, we are prepared for such happenings in the Sprogblogger household, and have a back-up bunny: one Not-Bunny by name, so named because of Hen’s emphatic rejection the last time a similar scenario played out. To my surprise, not only did Not-Bunny get a big hug, but he was also pronounced “Doft!” (soft) repeatedly and with great delight. (and it’s true–Bun is overdue for some grooming even had the potty mishap been averted. Never thought I’d be so pathetically grateful for my kid embracing an ersatz lovey..

2. I don’t have to eat turkey leftovers tonight.

3. Got my oh-my-god-what-are-THEY-doing-in-my-mailbox asparagus crowns planted. Really, Burpee, is March 31 a truly appropriate time for shipping asparagus with no warning? Really?

4. Warm baby leaning against me while he watches The Beauteous Rachel on signing time. Life is quite good for both of us right now.

5. He’s been using all my old keychains hooked together to ‘lock’ and ‘unlock’ the doors. In between cleaning up ‘messes’ and reminding me about ‘no hitting.’ Duly noted, kiddo. I am pretty consistently amazed at what his brain chooses to latch on to and imitate.

1. Turkey didn’t, I dunno, explode or anything. Stuffing wasn’t great, and the gravy was too bland. I am a complete failure as a cook– no, as a homemaker! I am teasing myself a little here because I AM taking the nonperfection of the meal rather too much to heart. And why oh why do I judge myself based on a meal that isn’t my fave even when it is faultlessly prepared? But I do. (and I am a failure). Fortunately, the Boy liked it, and that’s all that matters, really. (Next year I shall do better!)

2. I had some excuse though because last night was rough. Spent all but a couple of hours of it in with the baby. Between the time he went down at 7 and 10pm when I finally went in to him, he developed a horrible croupy-sounding cough which–happily–seems to have dissipated since he woke up this morning.

But he was getting a bit freaked out by that horrible feeling (and I don’t know about you, but I have this terribly clear memory of how awful croup feels. *shudder*). So I wanted to make him feel better.

Sadly, all he wanted was “Mama hold?”. What was I going to say? No? Hah. So I held and cuddled him almost all night long (because also I was maybe just a bit freaked out myself about that cough and the subsequent struggle to catch his breath and, well, I didn’t sleep much but it was still probably more than I would have slept in the next room, straining to hear him breathe all night long.)

It wasnt the worst night I ever spent but I’m hoping tonight is easier on all of us.

3. And since I woke up with a ticklish throat too, I think the most I can manage on that score is a bit of gratefulness that assuming this is the same bug my husband brought home, at least it’s not a high fever kind of virus. Sniffles I can take with equanimity, but fevers? Turn me into a whining, shivering mess.

4. I bought a felt kit to make a Christmas card holder. You know, the ones with embroidery and little embellished borders, etc. Not particularly restrained, but it’s in celebration of almost being finished with the Christmas stocking from hell. I’m looking forward to not feeling obligated to work on the same project for two years running. Ugh.

5. Woodstock is installed but one of the workmen put his foot through our lovely wood ceiling in the process. So the company’s carpentry unit was here all day trying to match the age/stain to camouflage the eventual repair. Sigh. One thing or another, always one thing or another But we’re breaking in our stove, and are very much looking forward to having a useable room one of these days…

1.  Sorry about the weird formatting on yesterday’s post.  I love posting from my phone, but I DO not catch HTML errors on it, the screen is just too tiny.

2.  I think Henry may have just weaned himself entirely off his sleep-time bottle.  We’ve been cutting him back slowly–he’s down at 3 oz a bottle, but today at his nap he pushed it away and just wanted to be held.  Well, ok then!  Yay for weaning a mere 6 months after his pediatrician first started bugging me to do so…

(and does anyone else think it’s a bit weird how fast babies are pushed to leave bottles behind? If I had been able to keep breastfeeding, I’d've probably been aiming for 18 months or so as weaning time, but I probably would have let him keep going til 2 if he’d wanted to.  When bottles are so very comforting and soothing for babies, and they’re not actually being put to sleep with a bottle in their mouths, why the rush to wean? I know, tooth decay, obesity, etc., but still–it seems to me there are likely other culprits that are probably more to blame than a few ounces of milk after teeth have been brushed, yes? Seems to me that taking away something that important to a baby before he’s ready to give it up is kind of mean.  ok.  /rant)

3.  Um, I’m glad that we got some more winter weather so that we can use OUR NEW WOODSTOVE before it’s summertime here.  So this crummy, grey, miserable sky out there is a GOOD THING!

4.  Having a playgroup to go to is really really proving to be a good thing for Henry.  As bossy and imperious as he is at home, he’s actually rather retiring in playgroup, which is both good & bad.  Good that he actually does understand that it’s not ALL about him, but I worry that his dad & I aren’t getting him out & about enough.  Which is one thing playgroup is good for–also good for ME to get out of the house and talking with someone who I’m not related to, and who isn’t counting change into my hand in the checkout line.  Yay for grownups at playgroup!

5.  Lunch & then it’s time to start boiling broth for Turkey Dinner tomorrow.  Yay giblets.  Um, yeah.

1. Oh, such a hard day for the big boy. His temper is just on a hair-trigger. Something about returning the DustBuster to its charging stand is apparently not to be borne. Foot-stomping is followed by tears–real tears–which are then followed by heartbroken sobs and requests to be held (& to find Bunny so he can be held, too).

Thank you, Rachel, for confirming that at least I’m not damaging him by understanding more of his Henry-language than, maybe, other people do. Now if only I could understand what he can’t really communicate yet, we’d be all set. Did I say he was heartbroken? I’m right there with him. This is hard.

2. That said, he was an angel during a meeting for the closing of our refinancing. Charmed the attorney and was generally adorable.

3. Woodstove should get installed tomorrow. Must go get some firewood soon.

4. My darling husband has requested a turkey dinner for his birthday on the 30th. Which means tomorrow I’ll be boiling turkey innards for the broth with which to moisten the stuffing and make the gravy. Which also means that tomorrow we’re either eating canned soup or bringing in Chinese food. And we’ll be eating leftover turkey for a while since a 12 pound bird was the smallest I could find.

Wish me luck. (gulp).

5. Everything’s going great for Mo & Will over at Life & Love, and I don’t know when I’ve been so relieved and happy for someone else’s success. We all deserve the families we want, but damn–they’ve been trying so long and with such soul-crushing setbacks–and yet here they are at almost 10 weeks and all is well. All is wonderful even though there were a few hours there–(hours, Mo!)where I was refreshing email and blog page rather compulsively, waiting for news and fearing bad things. So today’s best thing is that the bad things stayed away. Because sometimes they do stay away. Sometimes people get their happy beginnings despite every obstacle that gets thrown up in their path.

And now I’m going to go in and stare at my sleeping son for a moment When I accidentally return to that place of terror where I lived for years, it doesn’t even feel like that could have been me. But then a friend is still stuck there and I’m remembering the horrible, gut-knotting dread with which I faced every single dr’s appointment I had with Henry’s pregnancy; it is an almost impossible maneuver for my brain to switch back and forth between those two states: the memory of the fear, and the daily joy–or at least the deep contentment–that has become almost commonplace in my life now…

(In fact, can you all just pretend I didn’t actually just whine about my fussy, tantrummy, wonderful, perfect-in-all-ways-that-matter, son? Because really, I’d take tantrums every hour of every day over what my life was like in the years before he was born. I am so very lucky.)

And I’m talking in circles. Pretty much all I really need to say is this: Yay for continuing good news for Mo & Will!!!

1. My health insurance was approved so I can finally drop my very-expensive-and-really-only-accepted-by-drs-in-the-NYC-area COBRA coverage. This is a very good thing. Yay for being able to find a local doctor!

2. Watching Pride & Prejudice with my husband, while doing needlework. Is there anything more comfortable and homey in the world?

3. Cold again tonight, so I’m hoping that the daffodils (or rather, the dandy-dills as we heard them called by a child in the park this weekend,) will survive. I wouldn’t mind a leetle bit more winter, if only because I am so woefully unprepared for the planting season!

4. Henry has started begging to take the DustBuster out to clean up various real and imagined “messes” throughout the day. Who am I to prevent a child from reaching his full potential? Now if he’d only decide that scrubbing bathtubs was as engrossing as using a vacuum cleaner, I would consider my job as a parent to be pretty much complete.

5. I am currently in the midst of preparing to completely overextend myself in the creation of The Most Awesome Treehouse Ever. Realize that I grew up in a new subdivision in Mesa, Arizona. There were no treehouse-able trees.

But I have Maple Trees now. Gigantic maples that are crying out to be put to use to build the treehouse of my Henry’s dreams.

I’m pretty handy, have built a real, live house before, so the construction part won’t be as intimidating as it might be otherwise. I know there should be a rope net-ladder, and possibly a pole (or an anchored rope) to slide down. Windows that swing open and closed, and possibly a railing-enclosed walkway all around. A bucket on a pulley for bringing up provisions. Yes–I know I read too many cheesy kids books that stuck with me. So what?

But my question to you all is–what is missing here? Help me out, if you’ve ever had treehouse longings of your own–what would you want in a treehouse, both when you were a kid and today?

This is an ongoing project and I’m only in the very first per- planning phase (ie: I’ll be building a chicken coop before the tree house. I’ll likely not be doing tree house stuff for a year or two at the earliest.) So you have time. If you have a great idea in the next few months, take a minute and zap it my way? I’ll Henry will thank you for it…

1. I left my phone in NH while we were in Brooklyn and it made me realize that it’s just possible that I spend too much time playing games and checking email at home. Maybe. Possibly.

2. Brains are pretty cool things. Two days ago I was desperately trying to remember the name or author of some books I read, oh, almost 30 years ago. All I could remember about them was that they were set somewhere along the Mississippi delta and that this family of women turned into swamp monsters sometimes. Needless to say, my Google searches brought up not a blasted thing.

But last night I dreamed that a friend made up these nifty detailed polls of movies watched, books read. And on her list was a book called The Levee by Michael. When I woke up, I did an Amazon search & lo and behold, Michael McDowell wrote a very well-reviewed (though sadly OOP) series of books about women who turn into swamp monsters. One of which is titled The Levee.Guess I’m going to be spending some time tracking down old books and–hey, sleeping brain, good job!!!

3. We’re home and it feels so good to be here. Hen woke up this morning and the first thing he said was “Done. Home?”. Kid likes his routine. So do I.

4. Henry is in an unbearably cute, and very attentive phase right now. He still tries to share whatever he’s eating or drinking with people or Nellie but if we aren’t responding to his offers half-chewed crackers with enough enthusiasm, then he offers them to Bunny–eyeing us the whole while like, “you see what you’re missing out on?” Purely adorable.

5. Also–the first joke that Henry ever understood was me putting something strange (and I do wish I remembered what it was) on my head. This was months ago, maybe closer to a year, even; but he still will do this when he’s trying to make me laugh. Something about his love of this silly thing, his unshakeable faith in its intrinsic humor, makes me think I’m really going to like the man he’ll become someday.

1.  I left my phone in NH, which is sort of a bummer since I’m in NY.  Ah well.  It’s doing me good to be away from the constant temptation of Words & Scramble.  If only I had something to DO here, I’d be accomplishing a lot.

2.  Henry slept ok last night.  Not great, but I didn’t have to go in to him.  And best of all? When I finally went to get him at 6:30 or so this morning, he was so happy to see me that I got a round of applause.  First time that‘s happened.

3.  My little boy is learning the fine art of sophistry.  Since I explained the difference between patting and hitting to him–patting being a touch we use with people or animals, because it feels nice to be patted, and hitting being something we don’t do because it hurts and we don’t like hurting anyone–he will still make as if to hit me when he’s frustrated, but instead of stopping himself just in time scolding himself: “no hit!” he’ll ask slyly, “Pat? Pat pat?”

Um, no.  Good try, but no, kiddo.

3.  He put himself down for his nap despite the excitement of being in a ‘new’ place, AND having Daddy run the vacuum cleaner for 45 minutes beforehand.  Henry was in heaven, with so much cleaning-of-messes going on all around him.

4.  The little stroller I bought a few trips ago for using in Brooklyn continues to be worth its negligible weight in gold.  Stands up on its own, easy to fold/unfold/steer, and Henry does LOVE his stroller rides–even more than he loves walking on his own feet, since Mommy is mean and insists upon holding his hand.  SO much easier to push a 35# kid than schlep him over one hip.  Yay for strollers and, please forgive me, all you mommies I used to see pushing a kid around who was obviously too old/big to need a stroller.  Why so lazy? i wondered, stupidly.  I had no idea how blissful walking at a quick pace would feel when traveling with an 18-month-old.  I had no idea how precious was a few moments of contented-being-pushed baby, after a long day of traveling.  I had no idea how heavy 35# is when draped as dead-weight around your neck.  Forgive me, I really had no idea about a lot of things.

5.  Lunch with two stepdaughters today, then brunch with the third tomorrow.  A successful see-everyone trip, and not as harried as we usually overplan our time here.  Might try to squeeze in a trip to some overpriced baby boutiques later for airplane presents (yes, I intend to try to bribe/surprise my child into quietness on our upcoming plane rides.  What of it?)  And this is Brooklyn, land of fancy, overpriced baby toys so I’m in the right place.  Maybe I’ll even splurge for the baby backpack shaped like a penguin.  Or the subway train cars to remind him of his first home.  Yay Brooklyn!

1. The dead, burned body found less than a mile from my home-in-the-peaceful-north-woods appears to have died from smoke inhalation. No foul play just some wicked bad luck. I’m feeling rather sorry for that poor guy but rather pathetically relieved that we don’t have a crazed killer loose in town.

None of which means I’ll be any more likely to take out the trash after dark…

2. I’m not one for moisturizing regularly because I have oily skin. However, the two exceptions in my life were while I was pregnant and during the winter in this forced heat NE house. And so I’ve been rubbing the last of the ‘belly cream’ on my hands at night. I hadn’t thought that I remembered pregnancy fondly, but apparently–at least according to the smile on my face–I do. Who knew that such a simple act could bring back good memories I’d forgotten?

3. Henry requested an egg when we got home from play group and I told him we were all out of watermelon. That’s my boy!

4. I’m feeling rather proud and complacent about his sleep habits right now ( which certainly means he’ll stop sleeping well immediately!). But he now tells us when he’s done cuddling and just wants to be put in bed so he can fall asleep. It makes me less resentful of the times he needs more help, since I know that he’d prefer to do it himself.

5. Cardinals have found the bird feeders that we finally filled last week when we realized that the birdies were not going to be snow-starved this year, so we might as well feed them up for spring. I do love seeing the flashes of red as this pair flutters in for snacks throughout the day.