Mr. Independent

My parents may be proud that the college education they paid for is finally getting put to use, although the payoff is not exactly monetary. I majored in Human Development, emphasizing in child development (aka. The "I plan to be a teacher" major). I taught for a few years after college, but ultimately became a nanny for two families and then went on to work for a surgeon when we returned to Southern CA.

And now...I'm a mom.

When Sal was an infant, education aside, I was at a loss for what was normal (maybe I slept through those classes?), but now that he's a toddler, and starting to assert his independence, I feel like I am able to understand the "why's" of his behavior and it all comes down to him trying to test boundaries and become independent. 

He wants to do things on his own.

My job, as his mom, is to make his journey to independence and autonomy possible with age appropriate (and maybe a few challenging) tasks that he can master without assistance. It also makes my husband and my life a bit easier.

Here's what we've done to help Sal gain some independence and pride in his abilities to accomplish tasks:

Toddler friendly snacks placed on his level that he can choose from. 

Today he chose a tangerine.

And peeled it himself into an accessible garbage can.

Plates, bowls and sippy cups in a low unlocked cabinet. He can get his own cups and plates for mealtimes.

We turned off the hot water, so he can now fill his cup with water unassisted. The rule is that there must be a cup under the water spigot or he loses his privilege of filling his cup for the morning/afternoon.

Books and boxes of toys easily within reach.

A couple of 3m hooks placed at his level so he can hang his hat or jacket alone.

A bucket of easy to put on shoes. He finds the matching shoes but still needs help getting his foot in the shoe. Until he is ale to put shoes on easily himself, I plan to stick with Velcro closures. I really like pedipeds first walkers because of the tongue that flips out and wide Velcro closure. They slip on easily. 

I've moved his weather appropriate clothes to the bottom drawer. He chooses his shirt and bottoms for the day. Sometimes they match, sometimes they don't. It's his style. His choice.

A work in progress...self dressing. He tries himself but I am there to offer help if needed. 

It's been really fun and rewarding to watch him exceed my expectations of what he is capable of at this age.

My hopes in terms of giving him tasks he can do himself is to curtail some of the tantrums and frustrations that kids his age often exhibit. Don't get me wrong, we still go through the daily tantrums (how dare I close the bathroom door--he was playing with the flusher!) but I think that the more he feels in control the smoother his late teen months will go. In just the last week of making the household changes above, we've had much smoother days.

Lesson of the day: never underestimate what your kids are capable of. They rock!

Qtips in a bottle

This activity seemed too easy (& clean) to be true, but we had the items on hand so we tried it. An empty Parmesan shaker with the large hole, and a travel pack of Qtips kept these little hands busy for over twenty minutes. 

This activity is small and easily portable for dinners out, Dr. appointments , car rides and I'm thinking it will make out airplane travel bag next month. 

Have any of you tried this or something similar? Please share!

Bagel Sunday

I did it!

I brought Bagel Sunday back into our lives!

Having tried to make bagels a few times before, I wasn't very optimistic, but with my latest infatuation with cream cheese, I figured I'd give it another go using a recipe from about.com and they worked.

Don't get me wrong,I'd rather pay a buck for a Noah's or Old New York Deli bagel, but these don't suck, either. 

Even more noteworthy, I may finally be mastering the yeast beast that's been my nemesis for years (although really,I think patience with yeast is more likely my nemesis...I hate waiting for things to rise!).

Lets see if  next week's batch is equally successful.

Recipe:

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/kosherbreadrecipes/r/bagels.htm

Mediocrity

Another cultural phenomenon that I just.don't.get.

Mediocrity.

Last December, we found that the shower in our guest bathroom was leaking under the floor tiles. This resulted   in paint (lead based, I'm sure), peeling from the saturated interior wall and staining our wood baseboards black. 

We notified management, and they set up a crew to come fix the problem. Starting Christmas morning, we had jackhammers going, concrete dust permeating the air, and a useless shower. This lasted a week. 

After one week of digging up the tiles, then re-applying cement layers, they said the job was complete and we would need to wait one more week to use our shower. We asked that they repaint the section of wall that the paint had peeled away on, and they said they would come back. Someone else had to do that job.

Seven months later, still no paint.

Hmmmph.

So, a month ago, we reported that the shower was again leaking, but this time into our master bedroom (from the back wall of the guest shower). Our wall was starting to peel, the baseboards and floor turning black. We were told the workers would come back to fix the shower leak the next day. We would need to be home all week.

Sal and I cancelled all of our plans for the week and sat.

And sat.

And sat..

No workers.

Finally my husband's assistant got hold of the supervisor and was told we would receive a call 24 hours before the men would start. I resumed normal life, and got Sal out of the house for some fun. 

Two weeks later, a call. They would start Monday. It would take 10 days. Each day they will arrive at 8:30.

Day one. 8:30. Nothing. 

Day one. 11:00. Nothing.

Day one 3:45. Workers arrive. Want to work until 7:30! 

(I told them they must quit at 5:30, so my family can have normal dinner, bath and baby bedtime)

Days, 2-8, exactly the same..they'd say 8:30, they'd show whenever the heck they wanted to. They jackhammered, made dust, left plugged power saws out and available to my curious toddler and stared at me while I prepped food in the kitchen (presumably waiting for cement to dry? This guy watched me for the better part of an hour while his partner smoked in the bathroom). From what I could see, they were doing the same layered cement "fix" as last time. 

Anyways, after a "bad talk" with my husband's assistant, they finally showed up on time the last day. They caulked the joints and said we could use the shower today. 

Okay, how about replacing floor boards and painting walls?

Someone else must do this, I'm told.

The painter and floor person will come another day.

Wtf?! Isn't 10 days enough? We're going crazy here.

To top it off, Nick examined the shower when he got home last night, and found that there are gaps in the caulk-job, and some sections aren't caulked at all.

Thankfully, my friend downstairs speaks mandarin and is having the same bathroom demo (and caulking problem), so she complained to them for me today. 

Supposedly tomorrow I will be visited by the caulk engineer, painting captain and floor guru.

For being professionals at their jobs, they sure do mediocre work at best.

Unfortunately, this is commonplace here in China. 

Mediocrity sucks.

*** Friday update***

Workers arrived on time, photo bombed my Skype conversation with my mama, helped the,selves to a glass in my kitchen to mix caulk in (what happened to the trigger tubes of caulk?), pulled up the hardwood in our bedroom that needed replacing....

...and this is what I'm left with for what I'm being told will be another week while the subfloor dries.

Seriously? This is right outside our master bathroom which, being pregnant and all, I tend stumble to least four times a night. This is an accident waiting to happen between my frequent bathroom trips in the dark and having a curious toddler in tow.

I hate to complain but I'm seriously 'bout to lose my shttt here.

18 weeks

Showing? Hello maternity clothes, goodbye in-between clothes.

How am I feeling? A bit more relaxed this week since we got a good report last week...I do feel the anxiety creeping in though. I've been feeling flutters but always second guess myself as to whether they are real or not. I learned the hard way that getting up too fast will make me faint. One night last week, NZ locked himself out so I hopped up out of bed to ring him in, and as I waited against the door for him to come up the elevator, I passed out cold. He knocked to no avail so he returned to his friends to get his keys and when he came back home I had come to and was back in bed with a battle wound.

      note to self: get up slowly, or you'll pass the eff out!

Doctor’s Appointment? Nope. 3 weeks to go until our anatomy scan.

 Workouts? Sal and I walked to the vegetable market and I got out my 5lb dumbells for some tricep and shoulder workouts. Just to do something. Going crazy without regular exercise.

 Sleep? My nightmares about the baby dying were replaced with crazy Sons of Anarchy dreams, thanks to marathon watching of season 1&2 in less than a week.

 Weight Gain? Probably. Even my maternity shorts are feeling tight!

 Baby preparation? I bought a petunia picklebottom layette on eBay (we love their receiving blankets for swaddling) and bid on some gdiaper covers since I need more smalls.  I also ordered fabrics for crib sheets (thank you sister for making them for me!)

                                           Can't wait to see these in the crib

I hate that I'm already ordering things for the baby because I am so worried that something will still go wrong, but because of our circumstances of living overseas, I've got to get the imported things while we visit the US next month.

 Likes/Dislikes? 

Dislikes: Garlic, which is cah-razy because garlic is a staple in our household. 

Likes: lemon, gummi candies, tortillas and cream cheese.

Bean transfer activity

I ran across a picture of a friend's daughter transferring beans from one bowl to another with a spoon, and decided one hot humid August morning to give it a try in our household. Sal is a bit younger than the little girl, but not by far. We got out a couple bowls, a variety of "scooper" shapes and sizes, and sat on the kitchen floor. Without any instruction, Sal picked up the spoon, and started transferring beans from one bowl to the next.

Sure, beans ended up missing the bowl, followed by "uh oh", even when they were quite deliberately scattered on the floor, but we are lucky enough to have a kitchen that can be enclosed by two sliding glass doors. Really though, beans scattered on the floor aren't that messy.

In fact, Sal got our ayi's broom and dustpan and helped "sweep". 

This activity kept him busy in one way or another for over twenty minutes. Back and forth with the beans, then cleaning them up and starting all over again. 

It dawned in me that this is a Montessori activity, so I Pinterest searched more Montessori activities for the future and plan to try some. I haven't really subscribed to a particular teaching method for my son, but I guess if I am drawn to activities like this, that don't include tv, batteries or direct instruction, I may lean a bit towards the Montessori way.

I'm excited to try out some new activities especially since I'm already slowing down and looking for things to keep Sal busy within the confines of our home and limited supplies.

It's a......

                            

                                                              Girl!!!!

I found a duck call onesie on etsy and sent a picture of it to my pop along with, "would grandpa Jet take HER hunting in this outfit?"

My dad,an avid outdoorsman/hunter, answered back, "Hell yes, she can".

Gender aside, we are happy to be expecting what has so far turned out to be a healthy, growing baby.

May it be smooth sailing til January!