A delicacy in some parts, I hear

As you may have heard, the world is ending this Saturday. I'm realizing now that there have definitely been some signs! For instance, the plague of locust at my house.

Okay, cicadas, whatever. The point is, science is crazy and freaky! It started with all of a sudden over night hundreds of the exoskeletons or skins or what have you (pictured above...and below) attached to our house and trees and bushes.

Seriously, EVERYWHERE. So many. These pictures don't do it justice at all. At first we only saw a few of the actual adult bugs, but then, unbelievably, even more crunchy skins everywhere and now swarms of adult bugs! They are slow and big and gross and everywhere and LOUD.

 

So we did some research, and it turns out they have a 13 year life cycle. So for 13 years they live underground, and then come out just once to mate and die. The picture above shows the holes that are all over the ground where they have emerged. Thinking of suing for property damage.

Here's what the adults look like. Luckily, they are pretty harmless. They don't eat the plants or bite or anything. They just swarm and then die all over your porch.

I showed the little bug shells to Abraham, and of course he didn't know that they're gross, so he picked one up immediately...

 

And smashed it gleefully between his hands.

vocabulary

I was cooking corn for dinner, boiling it still in the husk, and Abraham wanted to see what I was making. So I held him up, he pointed, and I told him it was corn. But then I realized that maybe he had never seen corn in the husk before, and I was trying to think of the word "husk" so I could explain it to him.

Me: I'm cooking corn. It's in the...um...what do you call it?

Abraham: Wa-wa. (Water).

I had to laugh. Poor kid, his mom can't even remember what water is called.

Baby brains

I read this blog post today about what the author calls a "toddler mind map" - basically a visual representation of all the things that are important to the toddler at the time. This is such a cute idea to me, mainly as something to look back on and remember what Abraham was like at different ages. So I want to draft a little list while the thought is with me of things that I might include. I really like the idea of it being visual so that he can enjoy it as well, but this will be a first step.

These are the things, people, events, etc that he is very into right now. He might express it through his conversation ("incoherent toddler speak HAMMER incoherent toddler speak"), choice of activity, or by CONSTANTLY asking me to tell him about things. He asks by pointing to my mouth and saying, for instance, "moon." This means I have to tell him about the time (like a MONTH ago) that he saw the moon outside in the sky and said he wanted to hold it, but it was too far away and he couldn't reach it. Then I have to tell him more about how he can be an astronaut and fly to the moon in a rocket (including count down and blast off) and then walk on the moon and find moon rocks. He especially likes the part about the moon rocks. He asks me to tell him about the moon nearly every day, often more than once, and always (Lord help me) more than once in a row. There is really only so much that one can say about the moon, I have learned.

So here goes! Abe's 19-month-old brain, in no particular order:

1. Trying to reach the moon
2. The moon in general. Anything even remotely crescent-shaped, he points out as a moon.
3. Going to the doctor (especially when the doctor hit his knee with a hammer)
4. Going to Feast at the Baha'i Center, listening to music and eating a cookie
5. The story of Abraham and the Three Bears
6. Food: Pistachios. Also, pistachios. And pistachios. Followed closely by cashews and cranberries. Seriously, this kid would live off of nuts and beans if I let him.
7. Playing with play-doh. Or more accurately, forcing me to play with play-doh while he watches and commands.
8. Letters and numbers
9. Counting to three and doing something, for instance, jumping off the couch, throwing a ball
10. Fingerpainting
11. Swinging
12. Eggs: he plays with the plastic ones and eats the real ones. And also plays with the real ones by smashing them when they are hard-boiled. Un. Fortunate.
13. Certain people...but I won't name them so as to not sadden those of you who may be left out.
14. Pink bear
15. Making shadows big and small (at night in his room with a little lantern)
16. A cheap little finger puppet that came with a pack of wash clothes. He wants the puppet to change his diaper. He wants the puppet to play basketball with him. This will be troubling if continued into adulthood.

Always loves:
Garbage cans
Music and musical instruments
Dancing
Chocolate : \
Stuffed animals

I'm sure I will think of another thing or two later, but this is a lot, actually. Especially if I have to draw it all. Maybe I can just use clip art... Oh technology, how lazy you make me!

PS - What a cute baby! What a good idea! I can already tell that even just 6 months from now I will love reading this list and remembering his little quirks and interests.

if he grows up to be a garbage man, i won't lie, i'll be a little disappointed

Whoever said you shouldn't let babies play with plastic bags is crazy. Because Abraham spent - I kid you not - over 30 MINUTES straight playing with one today. And if you know him at all, you'll know that, of course, it was a garbage bag. Anderson took out the trash and the recycling, and I got out two new bags. While I was putting one in the garbage can, Abe took the other and put it in the recycling bin. And then took it out and shook it, just like he saw me do to get the bag open. Then he adjusted it, put it back in, put the lid on, moved it around, adjusted, took it out, put it back in...you get the drift. I actually MADE and ATE dinner, uninterrupted! (Okay, the dinner was mostly made at this point...but I finished!)

Actually his whole process was really fascinating to me. This is where some of you might roll your eyes, but I'm serious! I have been reading a lot about Montessori education, and one thing that is talked about is the focus and concentration that a child will have when a task matches exactly right with his/her developmental needs. The child will spend a lot of time and energy on the task, repeating it over and over again, in a way that may seem super boring to us adults. And then when finished, instead of being tired, the child will feel calm and satisfied. The task is fulfilling some sort of developmental need that we may not even understand. And I have seen Abraham focused and spending time on different activities, but this was the longest I have ever seen him do just one task this way. I don't know what sort of need this was fulfilling for him at all - order? precision? mimicking adult tasks? And he might have even gone on longer except I unfortunately did something that distracted him.

Anyway, totally cool, garbage bag! I owe you one!

Coping

Abe likes to put his stuffed animals on the bed one by one to make them sleep, and today, after another night of too little sleep, I decided to get in on the action. I lay down with brown bear as my pillow and told him I was going to sleep too. I didn't actually get to sleep, of course. But lying down with my eyes closed while he piled toys on my head and checked me with his doctor kit was almost like a spa day.

I'm getting reckless these days. I fall asleep fast. Too fast. Too fast, and too deep. It's getting out of control. I can't even stop myself anymore. Prodded awake numerous times throughout the night, yet somehow I don't wake. I barely wake. I sleepwalk through the night and into the morning. I burrow into the mattress. My eyes fight to stay closed, and win. My brain is on autopilot. Every night, more of the same. I can't seem to kick this habit. I've even started sleeping during the day - sometimes only for a few minutes. But other days, like today, I sleep for hours. Then spend the rest of the evening looking forward to my next sleep. Preparing for it. Planning for it. It's sick. I can't even look at myself anymore. I don't recognize my own face in the mirror - the sleep-heavy eyes, sheet-creased cheeks, rumpled hair. Part of me wants to just accept it: this is now my life. But the other part, the rational part, screams that I can change.

Routine

Months ago, the days seemed so long. I couldn't wait for five o'clock when Anderson would get home and give me a little reprieve, especially on days when we stayed home. Now, though, the days zoom by, each hour slipping away unnoticed. Now I look forward to a day, like today, with nowhere to go, no plans. And the day is still flying by. I can't figure out what has changed. Here's a little run-down of our day so far...doesn't it seem like we have done nothing? How can the day be almost over already? (The times are not estimated. We end and start our activities precisely on the minute. Yes...)

7:30  -  Wake up (later than usual) just in time to say goodbye to Anderson, play around in bed for a bit.

8:00  -  Abraham plays around in the kitchen while I have a quick breakfast. (He usually nurses as soon as he wakes up and so doesn't want breakfast).

8:15  -  We play with the play-doh we made yesterday. I need to take pictures of this.

8:30  -  He eats crackers and cheese while I do the dishes.

8:50  -  Coloring with markers on the fridge. Well not ON the fridge...on paper on the fridge. This is actually an excellent idea, if I do say so myself. We were doing this with the paper on the floor, but he seems to prefer standing and find it easier to draw and move around. I wanted to take a video of him drawing with one marker, and then putting the top back on and putting it in the bucket, but as soon as I get out the phone/camera, he just wants to watch videos on it. But I was able to get a picture! What a little artist!

9:30  -  A little Sesame Street and Elmo's World. Man, does he love Elmo.

10:00  -  Outside! Raking, running, rescuing worms, and then a walk with Abe in the stroller.

11:20  -  Back inside for lunch and a little whining. Definitely getting close to nap time.

12:00  -  Start nap process

12:30  -  Sleeping!

He'll sleep till 2:30 or 3, and then if the weather's still nice, we'll go outside and blow bubbles. Probably color with markers some more. And we haven't even played with toys in his room at all today! Then dinner and the day's almost over. See what I mean? So fast!