Nathaniel’s been on “solid” food for a few months now and is ready for some more substantial chewing action. “Great,” I figured, “time to start stocking up on zwieback.”
Except I’m too late.
The Nabisco (division of Kraft) product of this name has been discontinued (July 2008)
Bummer.
Scene: evening bath, where a napless Sabrina is getting a little chill time before going to bed. Dad is likewise stealing a few minutes to read a book while she splashes around and colors on the tub with bathtub crayons.
S: “Daddy, I just stuck a crayon in my nose.”
D: (absentmindedly) “Great, dear!”
S: “Daddy, I’ve got a crayon in my nose.”
D: (absentmindedly) “Great, dear!”
S: “Daddy, I can’t get it out.”
D: !!!
Turns out the tip of the crayon got lodged in her nose and she’d pushed it further in trying to get it out. We couldn’t get it out with a snotsucker or tweezers or having her blow it out, so it was off to the local emergency room. A few hours of reading books and watching the game (Go Phillies!) in various waiting rooms and then they did some poking and prodding; the crayon bit was gone. I’m guessing it came out during the drive over, since she got pretty hysterical at the prospect of the hospital, though she calmed down by the time we got to go. (She got so comfortable that she didn’t want to leave. After an evening of not wanting to be anywhere but in my arms, she climbs up on the bed and declares, “Daddy, I’m going to stay here and you go find me a snack, ok?”)
Being a parent means doing what you must, even though every fiber of you is screaming out for sleep.
| It’s been a good week for sky-related sightings. On Saturday, we had some balloons from Hudson Balloon Fest come right over our house. |  |
The next day, a few ultralights we puttering in the area and did a 360-degree turn around us, I think because we were out on the porch waving like madpeople.
When I got home on Tuesday, after a cruddy day, I got to show Sabrina her first rainbow. Even better, I got a movie of her watching it.
And later that night I was taking the trash out and, while stargazing a bit, saw two satellites and two huge shooting stars.
Lots of neat stuff in the sky these days.
Mus-tang, mus-tang
Cho-co-la-ta
Mus-tang, mus-tang
Cho-co-SQUID!
A song by miss S.
(It’s been quite useful over the past day as it never fails to make her smile, even when she’s got croup. Which she does.)
A movie of the kids being cute at each other. http://www.ethersmith.com/movies/MVI_4348.AVI
…but nobody told Sabrina that. Tonight, at bedtime, she “read” (aka “recited to”) me The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog and Today I Will Fly, both pretty much word-perfect, with voices to boot. And she sat for an extra while on the potty while I read a bit of The Life of Pi to her.
Sabrina’s been doing a great job at being an older sister. Random vignettes:
- For a while, “I want to hold him!” was a constant request. Now she’s figured out that that’s boring and best left to adults with longer attention spans. I got some good pictures while it lasted, though. (sooncome, promise)
- She’s discovered that, now that Nathaniel is smiling at people, she can make funny faces and he’ll respond with a grin and a coo. The parents get double the fun with little effort. Win!
- When Nathaniel had his 2-month checkup (14.7 pounds, 95%/95%/95%. In the words of the pediatrician, “he’s a tank”.), he got a few shots. This pissed him off to no end, and he was inconsolable for the next 6 hours. (This is rare; he pretty much only cries when he’s hungry, tired or bored.) Sabrina got upset that he was unhappy and started crying in sympathy, urging us to “Make him feel better!”
- She’s not to the point of doing it herself, but she likes helping to change Nathaniel’s poopy diapers. She gets the wipes out, helps take the diaper off and even goes so far as swabbing his butt.
All in all, much better than some of the horror stories I’ve heard. We’ll see how long it lasts after he’s mobile and messing with Her Stuff.
S, during a pre-bed temper tantrum, lashed out at me with the most biting, hateful thing she could think of: “I’m not you best friend anymore.”
It makes me sad that she’s having to deal with that sort of thing at school but, well, she’s gotta get prepared for junior high at some point.
S: “Ok, daddy, I’ll hide in the bedroom and you check in the bathroom first and then come find me.”
She’s not really doing it wrong; the point of a game is to have fun, and she was having a blast ordering me around.
S: “…and this is the city where Gramsie and I live.”
Me: “Oh.”
S: “Me and Gramsie!”
Me: “Cool. Who lives in that city?”
S: “Gramsie and I live in that city.”
I don’t remember teaching her the different uses of “me” and “I” but she just picked it up. Nifty.
Nathaniel had his two-week checkup yesterday and all went well. Random notes:
Sorry for having been radio silent recently; we’ve been pretty focused on getting our routines in place. Pictures shortly.
Nathaniel Oliver Hankins, 09:40 AM, 10 pounds 7.7 oz, 21.5 inches.
Cord around his neck, double knot, low blood sugar, 9/10 apgar, good lungs, now sleeping through
everything (including a heel stick or two) with a cute little baby snore.
Pictures soon!
Lindy was justtaken away for prep and I’m getting into my scrubs (that sounds so cool) and trying not to pace.
Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukehankins. Here we go!
…and to think that Adam’s going to be getting up at this time every morning. You latte-sipping liberals better appreciate your “drive-time” radio and the sacrifices made by the people who bring it to you.
We got moved from the 10:30 spot to the 8:30, so we’re hitting the road in a bit. I can’t speak for Lindy, but I won’t need a sedative; I’ll just nap anywhere in this condition.
So now it looks like young Pip is going to get out of jail free on Thursday morning; we’ve got an appointment for 10:30. He’s breech, and it feels like every time we talk to a medical professional they send us down to the hospital for observation. All seems well, though, they’re just being cautious because he’s big, late and Doing it Wrong.
I’m overhearing a nurse talk to Lindy and another young (she looks like she’s 20 and she’s a bit scared. I wanna just give her a big hug, but that could be misconstrued.) woman about their fetal monitor charts, comparing the two. “…and those are the signs I look for that show me that he’s ok. <turns to Lindy> Your baby, on the other hand is not being helpful.”)
Lindy went in to see her RN Friday morning and, after a bit of poking around, she declared Pip to have flipped around to a breech presentation. Ugh. A trip to the ultrasound department confirmed it. (And estimated that he’s about 10 pounds…) Looks like we’ll be going in on Tuesday to schedule a cesarean, possibly on Thursday.
Nope. Contractions continue but we’re getting sent home.
The best way to slow down labor is to go to the hospital. *sigh* we’ll see what they say upstairs, but odds are that they’ll send us away for lack of progression.
How to convince a recalcitrant infant to begin his entry in to the world:
“Huh, that’s the low fuel light. Guess I’ll stop on my home from work.”. — me, passing a gas station on the way to work.
Contractions 5 minutes apart. Heading to hospital soonish.
Sabrina: “B”… “A”… “Y”… “X”…
me: “Hurm, that’s odd, I wonder what she’s reading?”
I peek around the corner and she’s pulled out one of the xbox games and is reading the manual, carefully studying the button mappings and reading them out loud…
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We usually read two books an evening before bed. The first one is variable, the second one is always The Sesame Street Dictionary.
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Sabrina and I still occasionally still take naps together on the weekends. For the last few naps, she’s asked for me to tell her the “equals story”. You know, the one that goes “one plus one equals two. two plus one equals three. three plus one equals four. four plus one…”
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Ah, my little geek.