O Tannenbaum, Day 0.5

Well, Murray and I got the Christmas tree up yesterday during Gulliver's periods of wakefulness. I loved all the good advice I got, so this is where I'm at so far:

We put up the tree not in the place where the image from the last post showed, but in the place where we put it a year ago---it's kindof in a corner between the couches. So already, the tree is 80% protected.

I did not put ornaments on the lower 1/4 of the tree (although some beaded garland may be hanging a little low currently) except for some nice fabric ones that will come off the the tree easily and will not break.

I loved Azucar's advice of wrapping very heavy boxes. So I figure that will become my primary line of defense if Gulliver becomes interested in the tree. I even thought that I could wrap them in nice FABRIC, which Gulliver won't be able to tear. Smart, huh? And then, I can bring out these "box barrier bags" every year as part of the whole Christmas decoration, because guess what--we're going to keep having children, so I need to keep worrying about this problem for the next decade.

So then this morning I put Gulliver down in the living room and let him explore. No interest at all in the tree. I brought out the vacuum (gasp! on the Sabbath!---I know, I know) to make sure I got all the little pieces of crud on my carpet that were left over from putting up the tree, because having a self feeder means that he feeds himself carpet crud. He was very interested in the vacuum, and when the skinny nose attachment fell off of it, it was even more exciting because that became a weapon of assault that he could use to attack the vacuum as I tried to work around him.

But even after I put away the vacuum and Gulliver was ready to play again, he still wasn't interested in the tree. He ventured over because he is now much closer to being able to access Kermit, who is sitting happily near the tree. But he didn't grab the tree.

So. Day 0.5 has been a success! (And he is currently playing happily in the kitchen where he has taken everything out of the bottom drawer, but don't worry! I moved all the blades to very safe places and filled the accessible drawers with linens.)

Calling All Mothers: Advice!

All right, mothers. The Christmas season is in full swing tomorrow and I have a question! How do I have both a baby and a Christmas tree? Appropriate answers do not include having a tree on a table because I'm not going to do that for ten years and because we have a tree that we bought last year. So please share with me your collective experience and advice!




-- Posted from my iPhone, with apologies for any typos.

PLAYING!

I thought I'd mention another thing about what Gulliver does. I don't know if every baby does this, or just our Gulliver. I think it might be every baby but here goes.

Gulliver loves when there's one spot of something different. Like if I'm feeding him, and ONE drop of food spills onto his plate, he'll go after that one thing. It's very entertaining until he's spread it all over his tray and thus taken care of. This is the same for if there's one spot anywhere else. Like on the floor. He always finds the one spot of dirt, or the one nut that I've spilled.

Well, now combine this with his tendency to smash things with blocks. At this point in his life, that's what blocks are for. Smashing things. Now that he's a self feeder, all of a sudden I'm much more accountable for keeping my floors clean. So yesterday I was doing a thorough vacuuming and sweeping and mopping. I found a collection of blocks near a forgotten area of tile floor. And you know what I found? I found nuts and food debris encrusted on every single one of those blocks. Obviously he was chasing around misplaced food crumbs and obliterating them with his blocks!

Last week, Gulliver couldn't play on his own at all. It got to the point where I wondered if he had ever really played on his own before, or if it had just been a figment of my imagination. This week, he's back to his normal busy (and independent) self, and it's so much fun to watch. I feel like I'm able to see his imagination develop.

Here are some shots of Gulliver playing. In this first series, you can see a stick amongst his toys. This is a push-along duck that he loves. Of course he's not old enough to push it along yet, but he will grab it and then travel with it around the entire house. It's ball top is especially good for smashing things. 

Here Gulliver is inside one of his boxes. I have two toy boxes for Gulliver. In addition to organizing his toys, they have the added benefit of being places that he can crawl into and out of, much to my amusement. I've got to admit it. I think there are few things cuter than seeing a pair of legs sticking out the top of a box as Gulliver dives to the bottom to find a toy.

 

Gulliver's New Trick

Still really busy with stuff, but I thought I'd take a moment to share a big milestone that Gulliver reached this week. Gulliver up until now has not fed himself. I think that he's a little late, but I attribute his lateness to:

1) He's a first child, so his parents can give him all the attention he needs.
2) He's never been an oral baby. He just doesn't stick things in his mouth (except for his stuffed Ernie's nose, which coincidentally looks like a bright red nipple)---and didn't really love the whole pacifier thing, either.
3) He's too busy crawling around the house and walking along furniture (and getting into kitchen drawers) to take the time to figure out self feeding.

But the other day, we went to a Mexican restaurant. At restaurants, I'll give Gulliver large pieces of food so that he can have something to play with (and the restaurant staff can have something to clean up) while we eat. Well, I gave him a tortilla chip to play with at the restaurant, and like a little chipmunk, Gulliver took a bite out of it. Then another bite. And another. It was the cutest thing in the world. He ate that chip right up!

This morning, he gobbled down his food and my yogurt, so I grabbed a few of his dad's Cinnamon Toasters, and Gulliver bit into those, too! He even found one on the floor later and I didn't realize it until I heard him crunching and smacking his lips.

In other news related to Gulliver's development, here's how he's driving us bonkers these days. Gulliver has a sense of what is OFF LIMITS. And that means that it's especially ON limits. So for example, we have an air intake vent on the main floor that we can't do ANYTHING about. It's just there. And Gulliver loves to strum it. BUT it cuts his fingers. Drives me CRAZY. So in the beginning, I had the idea that if I just ran and picked up Gulliver every time he strummed the vent, he'd just learn that it was a reliable way to get mom to come! So I tried to sit down on the floor with him and hold his hands to the ground for a minute, immobilizing him. I thought maybe that would be a negative consequence associated with the strumming. Of course, that was more annoying (to me) than having to just get up and grab him every time, so I didn't stick with the plan. Well, surprise surprise, but now Gulliver has REALLY learned to associate strumming with parents' attention. He does one big strum and then turns around to see who's going to run after him. When he's especially playful, he'll start laughing and crawling away from you as fast as possible to make you chase him. When he's feeling especially musical, he'll just keep strumming as much as he possibly can before we get to him and stop him.

Gulliver also loves drawers and cupboards. If we're into this whole negative consequences association thing, you'd think that he'd learn from the times he's smashed or pinched his fingers that playing in the cupboards and drawers isn't a good idea. Or like the time he broke one of my bowls in the 0.5 seconds that it took him to get into the cupboard, right when we were madly trying to pack and leave the house for a few days. He also has blade radar, meaning that he KNOWS where my handheld blender blade is. It was previously in the bottom drawer, which he accessed very easily. I moved it up one drawer, since he never opens that drawer. The next day, he graduated to that very drawer. So I moved it up one more drawer, and, you guessed it, he's now capable of opening the THIRD drawer up. I currently have rubber bands on my cupboards. I have those plastic latches somewhere in this house, so I'll have to hunt them down and start using them on the drawers. And maybe consider moving all my rags and towels to the bottom drawers...

The fridge and the dishwasher are Gulliver's ultimate destinations, though. If he sees into the kitchen when I have the dishwasher open, he kicks the crawling into turbo speed, making really excited noises as he charges into the kitchen. Then he tries as hard as he can to get into these places while I try my hardest to keep him out. (The other day, I found a tupperware of mashed potatoes on the ground outside the fridge, evidence that Gulliver was able to get in while I wasn't looking and sneak something out without my noticing.)

So that is the Gulliver update. He's been pretty high maintenance for about a week, but today he seems to be back to his playful, low-maintenance self. Now if only we could get him a little brudder to play with...

Productivity Report

Today was supposed to be a very productive day for me and Murray. To begin the day's production, I needed to print off a sheet to test the resolution of screen shots for my up and coming book. (I know: I will soon be a [self] published author! The book is about the riveting world of Illustrator.)

I couldn't print it. (Have I ever mentioned how vehemently I hate home printers? Because they NEVER work. Not ever. Not even after you pay $300 for a brand new one that's supposed to be good for graphic art. Epsonality, my @$$.) We recently switched internet providers and set up a new wireless network for the home, but forgot to have the installer set up our printer on the new network.

So most of the morning was spent with Murray on the phone with Epson trying to figure out how to set up our printer on the new network. Eventually he just got disconnected, which was fine because it was time for a Costco run anyway.

At Costco we purchased toilet paper, diapers, bacon bits, and chicken nuggets. Emphasis on the toilet paper; the rest of those items could have waited for another day.

Then we went to Target, where I felt it was a good idea to stay in the car (to avoid spending money) but ventured into the store anyway, where I found my dream chairs on sale for $55 for a set of two. (We've already been through two sets of dining room chairs in our home, before I really learned that we'd do better with chairs that don't have arm rests. So now I have these sleek, fantastic, green chairs. And what a price!!)

We came home, put Gulliver down for his nap, and Murray got on the phone again with Epson. And then with Quest. Two hours later, we had answers, but no solutions. It turns out, our Epson printer isn't made to work with the type of network we have set up here, and ultimately, Quest is going to have to send out a technician to solve the problem.

So with our printer hard-wired to my computer (it's currently sitting on our leather reading chair---not the best place for a printer), I was able to finally print the page I was needing. At 8:00 at night.

The GOOD NEWS is that the screen shots print just fine.

The bad news is that I should have been able to find that out 12 hours ago.

(The GOOD news is I have new chairs!)