Hello, Goodbye


The last month has involved a lot of comings and goings for Bobby. In the middle of June, we said good-bye to Aunti Em and Uncle Peter, and cousins Amos and Etta, who left for their big adventure to New Hampshire. It feels really weird knowing they no longer live right down the road. However, it will be great to see them and to check out their new digs when we go to visit in August. We managed a brief visit with Uncle Peter when he swung back through town last week, but he was pretty busy.



On the same day in June, Daddy left for a week-long trip to India. Bobby & I managed pretty well on our own, thanks to Jude's help. I definitely gained new respect for single parents.

The hardest goodbye of all, though, is yet to come. Bobby's beloved nanny Jude is moving back to Montana next week. She's been taking care of Bobby since he was three months old -- nearly 16 months. We totally support her decision, which gives her a great educational opportunity and lets her be back near her family. But it's going to be so hard to say goodbye to her. Bobby adores her and they have such a great time together -- I keep realizing that even though he will have other teachers and baby-sitters in the future, he'll never again have quite the special bond he has with Jude. And for me and Roger, it's been such a huge comfort to know that we have someone we can completely trust looking after him.

The big "hello" in his life is that he's starting a new daycare tomorrow! We found a wonderful school about a mile from our house -- Bobby will be with other one and two year olds, and can eventually graduate to the pre-school. Tomorrow he and I will be visiting for a few hours ... over the next week he'll spend more time there in the morning, working his way up to half days & then spending the afternoons with Jude. By next week hopefully he'll be ready to spend the whole day there. It's very exciting that he'll get to spend time with other kids. We know it will be a huge transition for him, but we think he'll have a great time once he gets acclimated.

In the midst of all these changes, he's been growing and learning new things every day! While he doesn't say any recognizable words, he makes distinct sounds -- in particular he barks every time he sees a dog. He also says "ma" when he's asked what sound a cow makes. He's a great little mimic. The other day I had given him some mac and cheese in a bowl. When he finished his lunch, he picked up the bowl and held it up to his face. I had seen him do that before and couldn't figure out what he was doing. Then suddenly it dawned on me that he sees me do that every morning -- I finish my cereal and then drink the milk out of the bowl. He just concluded that when we finish our food, we hold our bowl up to our face. Of course.

We keep hoping that sooner or later he's going to get tired of climbing the stairs, but it doesn't seem to be happening. He likes up; he likes down. He likes practicing different ways of going up and down (crawling, holding onto our hands, holding the railing, holding the wall). He'll even try hands-free if it's just one step, but that hasn't really been working out so well for him. He can't stand being confined to the living room any more -- he wants to be out and exploring. We finally started teaching him that it's not polite to grab us by the shirt when he wants to go somewhere -- now he comes over, reaches for my shirt, thinks for a second, and then grabs my hand and leads me off on an exploratory mission. Since we're trying to reinforce this behavior (much preferable to being grabbed by the shirt-front) we end up having to go wherever he wants.

About a week ago we took Bobby out on our sailboat for the first time this year. He's been out on a few rented sailboats but this was his first trip in our boat since he's been independently mobile. He did a great job. He loved the seaplanes on Lake Union -- roared like an engine every time one took off or landed. He liked moving around the boat and particularly liked drinking water out of a 2 liter bottle (this is a new form of entertainment). The best part was that Daddy had the foresight to build a slide right into the boat! Sure enough, the centerboard trunk slants down on the perfect angle for sliding, and the varnish makes it nice and slippy.


Mom

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

We miss you!

Love, Bobby & Mommy

A Pox Be Upon You

Bobby has the chicken pox. Or not.

You'd think it would be obvious one way or the other, but he either has relatively few chicken pox, or a lot of bug bites. Our pediatrician said it could certainly be an unusual presentation of chicken pox, and said we should assume that's what it is (as he was ushering us out a side door so we wouldn't germ up any of his other patients). Alternatively, Bobby's frequent trips to his favorite new playground in the Arboretum are resulting in a few more friends than we realized, the kind who climb inside his shirt and nibble away.

One way or the other, we're researching bug spray and will have to have him tested for chicken pox antibodies at his next check-up (the one in three weeks, when he would have gotten the chicken pox vaccine. What timing this boy has!).

Mom

The Bobster at 17 Months


How is it possible that the whole month of May went by with no posts from us? Well, we're just slackers, I guess.


May was a fun month of travel and all kinds of new developments in Bobby.

In early May headed east to Vermont and NH. In VT, we attended my cousin Mark's wedding. It was the first time in six years that my cousins have all been together, and Bobby got to meet his four second cousins, Emily, Sean, Courtney & Sadie. He had a great time chasing after the big kids, watching what they were up to, and joining in occasionally.




Bobby was a trooper during all the airplane travel -- spent a two hour layover in Chicago running all over the waiting area, trotting up to strangers, saluting them with a raised arm (and in special cases, showing them his belly) then trotting off to the next person in a continuous circuit. He got so attached to some of his fellow travelers that when they got up to board their respective flights, he tried to follow them onto the plane, then looked at us, baffled, as if to say "Hey -- where's my new friend going without me?"



After a great weekend in Vermont, we headed to New Hampshire to visit Grandma and Grandpa. You'd think they would have been tired out after a three week visit from Amos, Etta & Emilie, but apparently they only need a few days to recover between toddler incursions. Center Sandwich was experiencing blissfully warm weather, so we enjoyed the opportunity to run up and down grassy hills for hours on end (a joy Bobby discovered here in Seattle, fully indulged in Vermont, and continued in NH). Since Bobby's balance headed downhill is good but not fully perfected, this requires a grown-up to be willing to hold his hands. I'm glad he's not completely reckless, but it did get to be a little tiring.



Speaking of being reckless, Bobby is thrilled with any opportunity to climb things and jump down. He loves the stairs -- he's happy crawling up on his knees, or having us hold his hands so he can walk up. Mommy sitting at the computer is an invitation to climb up her chair. And he's not subtle, either -- he'll walk over, grab my arm, grab my hand, and insist that I help him climb. The slide at the park is fun to go down, but much more fun to climb up. He's not so adventurous that he'll jump unaided -- instead he'll grunt and shriek until we hold his hands and help him jump. And once is never enough -- usually 10 times is the minimum.



Another fun skill he's discovered is the ability to run in place. Or maybe it's tap-dancing. It's a riot to watch.



A less fun skill is the hurling of food from his highchair. He and the dogs are terrible training for each other. The dogs have all but determined that Bobby's now the head of the pack -- Scylla has stopped listening to Roger or me entirely, but sits with rapt attention waiting for a 'command' from Bobby. He raises food over his head (which Scylla interprets as an instruction to sit), smirks slyly, and then hurls his food. She either catches it or scrambles for it -- either one is pretty entertaining and a pretty good motivator for Bobby to repeat himself. Consequently nothing Roger or I can say to either of them seems carry much weight, when they're so mutually entertaining.

His non-verbal communication skills are quite impressive. As I mentioned, he's not subtle about just grabbing us and moving us to what he wants. When he wants to read a book, he sticks it in our hands (even if it means grabbing our arm, opening our hand, and sticking the book in it). He also has a preferred book-reading position (on the floor, sitting between our knees and resting his back against our belly). Should we fail to adopt the correct position, he'll move us accordingly. He's also learning body parts and can point out his and ours. Ears, eyes, nose, mouth, head, belly -- he's happy to point to his own (Where are Bobby's ears?) or jab a finger at ours (Where are Mommy's eyes? Ow, that's right!). He knows which dog is Scylla and which dog is Homer, and reliably points to the right one when asked. And he's certainly learned how to say "no" by shaking his head (interestingly, this is his response to being offered homemade Jello. First he shakes his head, then he giggles and throws it to a dog).



His actual spoken vocabularly is, well, non-existent. He's close to saying "cat," and I'm pretty sure he said "Homer" today. He says mamamamamama quite often -- it generally means "something's wrong -- fix it now."



His latest trick is putting on Mommy's shoes:

I stand corrected. His latest trick, perfected just moments ago as my back was turned, is climbing up onto the couch unaided. He was pretty pleased with himself. The cat, for whom the back of the couch was safe territory until now, was less enthusiastic.

Mom

Bobby and his Boppy, Then and Now

Opinions

Bobby has started developing a fairly strong sense of what he likes and doesn't like.

For example:

Cooked carrots are Good. Cooked carrots with butter and pepper on them are Not Good.

Blueberries were Good in March. Blueberries are Not Good in April.

Fish sticks are Good fresh out of the oven. Fish sticks are Not Good the next day.

Mac and Cheese is Good. Peas are Good. Spinach is Good. Broccoli, apparently, is Not Good.

He's willing to put any offered food into his mouth once. If he doesn't like it, he's learned to take it out with his fingers (I'm sure spitting it out will be next). If we leave something he doesn't like on his highchair tray, he carefully moves one piece at time into the cupholder, away from the rest of his food.

He's also got a pretty good idea of what he thinks is funny, and his belly laugh has gotten even deeper. For a long time he would laugh if we did something funny, or if we were laughing and he wanted to join in. And then he learned to do funny things to make us laugh. But I think last night was the first time Bobby and I actually found the same not-on-purpose thing uproariously funny at the same time, so that we were truly sharing a good laugh. He just outgrew his jammies so we put on a new pair last night. They were way too big -- loose in the belly, bunching around his ankles and with giganto feet. We both got a good look at these enormous green feet and just completely cracked up. I think Daddy thought we were nuts.

He's developing a great vocabulary -- of words he understands, anyway. Still no talking, but he's very good at responding to requests (could you close that drawer? Can you get your shoes? Can you give that important piece of paper to Daddy before you rip it?). We're particularly pleased that he recognizes a few books by name. The other night we asked if he'd get Owl and the Pussycat, and he did. Last night Roger asked him to get Goodnight Moon. Bobby looked thoughtful for a second, then trotted off with great purpose to his toy nook. Roger & I continued our conversation for a minute or two, and then I peered into the nook to see what had waylayed Bobby. He was sitting on the floor perusing The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I turned back to Roger, figuring Bobby had long since forgotten his Dad's request. Not so. Next thing I knew, Bobby came out carrying Goodnight Moon and presented it to Roger.

Mom

Tickle Monster!!

I've been hunched over a computer the last few days and it's taken a toll on my back and neck. I say this only to set context. So Roger was very kindly rubbing my back and shoulders after dinner as I sat on the floor in front of the couch. Bobby, who had been wandering around the living room in pursuit of things to climb, suddenly glanced over and took in the scene.

The next thing we knew he was across the room like a shot. He clambered up and started rubbing my collarbones. What service! I think he thought Daddy was tickling Mommy, and hey, he wanted to be in on that. Daddy, recognizing an opportunity, decided it would be better if he did tickle Mommy. Bobby redoubled his efforts. Hilarity and hiccups ensued.