Quarter-pint's First Haircut...

My little Quarter-pint was getting pretty shaggy. I could sometimes be heard calling him my "little redneck baby with a mullet." I decided to just take him in to get his hair cut. I scheduled the big event on morning while Half-pint was at preschool. I figured one little one was about all I could handle for the event. The day before the haircut, I plopped both boys in the tub and made sure I washed Quarter-pint's hair. Later that day, Quarter-pint was snacking in his highchair. He was freely eating a Handi-snack cracker sticks and processed cheese. It was the first time I gave him the entire little individual tray. I was busy doing other things, and when I came back into the kitchen I was met with a cheese head-literally. He has somehow gotten ALL the processed cheese out of the little tray and smeared it all over his hands, face, and head-on his freshly washed hair! I couldn't believe it! He doesn't like to be too messy, so he was not happy until I attempted to clean him up. I didn't have time to wash his hair again before his haircut, so I tried to rinse it out. Who knew processed cheese is such a good styling gel?

The next morning I took him to a fancy kid's salon, hoping that the fun shaped chairs (he sat in a golf cart) and the movies playing on TV all around the salon would make his first haircut fun instead of horrible. I was wrong! He cried through the entire process, and even screamed his frustration at times. It was much like his last well check- when the stylist was within arm's reach-that was TOO close. As soon as she moved farther away the crying stopped. We saved some of his blond locks and took a picture at the end (I didn't have time to scan it, sorry). With the help of Dad we took a few pictures right before bed. Here's the new do:

I think he looks like a little kid now-not so much like a baby. He was pretty mad at me when all was said and done; we had a battle getting into the car seat, and when I finally got his little body securely strapped in, he grumbled, complained, and basically let me have it for about 5 minutes!

Half-pint Gets Sick...

This past week has been one to mostly forget. It began well, with fun things to look forward to..and then as we were driving home from the zoo in rush hour traffic...Half-pint got hit with his first ever bout with the stomach bug. I know it's a disgusting thing to blog and read about. As he woke up from a fitful nap throwing up all down his front (all his clothes and the car seat) I quickly veered to the exit lane and somehow got off the interstate, pulling into the nearest parking lot (a hotel and busy Starbucks) and pulled him out of the car. I cleaned him up the best I could in the dark, parking lot and changed his clothes. It was a tender mercy that we hadn't gone home after preschool and still had his backpack loaded with TWO complete changes of clothes. I also cleaned up the car seat the best I could, but admittedly there was much to desire as we still had about 20-30 minutes of interstate driving before we got home. I called my Mom. somewhat frantic and we decided to buckle him into the only remaining back seat with the seat belt and drive home VERY CAREFULLY on the residential roads (opposed to the interstate). I emptied a paper cup and instructed Half-pint to aim for the cup if he felt sick again. We got about 10 minutes down the road and he got sick again. By this time it's completely dark and I had no idea if he actually aimed for his little paper cup. He quickly confirmed my worst fears as he said "Sorry Mom, I got it on the car seat." (meaning the seat of the car, NOT his car seat). Bummer! The first time was all contained on him or in his car seat. Thankfully we were very near Grammy's house, so I pulled in to clean him up again. I made him stay in the laundry room (tile floor) and got the kitchen trash can-just in case. Quarter-pint was at the end of his rope too; I had to get him out of the car. Half-pint was feeling a little better; so I ventured to give him a soda cracker and some water. Bad idea. We finally were ready to go home; I decided to just put him back into his wet car seat and cover him with a car towel. No sooner than I had him buckled, and he got sick again. This time I had the car towel (bath sized) to catch everything, but he still managed to get his shirt. I pulled him out AGAIN and took his shirt off. He was a really good sport up until this point, but as I told him we didn't have any more clean shirts, the poor little guy fell apart. "No shirt? But I be told! (cold)" I put him back into his car seat, but this time I took the remaining car towel and wrapped it completely around his body, then buckled the car seat belt over him in the car seat. "Mom, I don't think we make it home!" Thankfully, he did make it home, and quickly fell asleep.

As I pulled him out of the car to put him in the tub and then straight to bed, he got sick again. This time I caught it-all down my back. Did I mention we had a really busy day the next day? "Mom, I don't want Baby Buddy to hug me-I too sick!" After a through soak and cleaning in the tub, I read Half-pint some bedtime books. "Mom! I be sick!" Sure enough, he was sick again! This time he managed to get it all in a "barf bucket". He quickly decided he was ready for bed (which was draped with bath towels-covering his pillows, etc.) He was tuckered out-poor kid. When I checked on him a little while later, this is what I found...

I cancelled or rescheduled most of the things on my calendar for the next few days, but Grandma still babysat for me the next day. As she arrived in the morning, Half-pint got sick again. He came upstairs to where I was getting ready, in tears "Grandma said I can't eat cereal!" He was hungry, but was still having trouble keeping anything down. Thankfully, that was the last time he got sick! Now he has a really clean car seat.

Quarter-pint Well Check...

Quarter-pint had his 15 month well check last week. It was the first time I took Quarter-pint to to doctor's office without Half-pint (he was at preschool!). Half-pint was pretty nervous in behalf of his brother when I told him where I was going that morning, "the doctor's opish? Oh, no! He get shots??? I hate shots!" It's amazing how they remember that!

Quarter-pint was happy to watch the fish in the big fish tank in the waiting room and to roam around the exam room in nothing but his diaper and socks/shoes. He brought me his shoes while we were waiting for the doctor. It's funny the things that kids like; Half-pint has ALWAYS been a sock kid. He LOVES to wear socks. Quarter-pint tolerates socks, but LOVES shoes. He ALWAYS wants to wear his shoes-I think he has 5 pairs that fit right now! Whenever we look at shoes while we're out shopping, he consistently sticks his little feet in the air-waiting for me to try a pair on his little piggies. Back to the appointment...he's officially hit that stage where he doesn't like the doctor poking him, or being anywhere near his little body (think he remembers the double ear infection doctor visit ten days earlier?). He squawked his loud disapproval whenever our favorite pediatrician came within arm's reach. Overall Quarter-pint checked out; clean bill of health (minus a little fluid lingering from the ear infection). He is officially a little squirt (Quarter-pint is still very accurate); he weighed in at just under 23 pounds-that's the 25%ile. He's only 31 inches tall-that's the 15%ile. Don't worry-he still has a large noggin! His head came in at the 90%ile. He did get four shots-I was glad Half-pint wasn't there for that. True to form, Quarter-pint quickly camled down as he shoved his fat little fist into the hair on the back of my neck (not only does he have a thing for shoes, he also has a thing for hair-especially my hair). He is a happy kid, especially when he's relentlessly teasing his big brother. We are so lucky to have him!

Pre-School...

Half-pint began preschool in October. We got a late start in part because of his tonsillectomy. He goes twice a week for about four hours a day. He LOVES it! It's been fun for me to help him figure out "show and share" items for everyday he's at school. Each show and share item ideally should begin with the letter of the week, or the topic of the week (ie: shapes, etc). This next week is the letter I. Tricky! I haven't come up with anything yet. Half-pint has done a good job so far, especially because he's not very familiar with the letters of the alphabet. He recognizes them as letters, but doesn't know the name of most of them. For 'G' he wanted to bring a pair of gloves, and a golf ball. 'H' was a hat and hockey puck. (I'm noticing a trend...) 'I' is going to be a little more difficult. He was really excited to get a new backpack and he loves to bring it to school. He has two of his own hooks, one for a jacket and the other for his backpack. He always proudly shows me the artwork drying on his personal drying rack, and empties his own cubby at the end of each day. I also get a daily report on lunch.

Tonight as I was chatting with Half-pint after he was tucked into bed, he said "What I do on Tuesday? It Tuesday?" He knows Tuesday is a preschool day. I explained to him that Tuesday is still 3 days away. "Oh," he said with a little disappointment in his voice, "That a lot of days!" His teacher said he jumped right in and immediately fit in with all the other kids (it's a small class-8 kids total) and had no problem adjusting. That's no small feat, especially because he began about 2 months later than the rest of the class. We're still struggling with the potty-training issue, but he wears "big boy underpants" to school and keeps them dry! Now we just need to translate that to home life!

Quarter-pint misses his big brother when Half-pint is at school. Quarter-pint is generally more clingy on school days. I've been trying to run errands (it's so much easier with just one!!!) and that seems to help Quarter-pint. He's always pretty excited to pick up his brother! It's really cute to see just how much they love each other and enjoy one anothers company!