We all had our deal breakers when it came to picking our spouses. For me, she had to be able to poach an egg properly. Any woman intimidated by the preparation of a perfect poached egg need not apply. Now that we are back from our excellent vacation, we celebrated the return to routine with a special poached egg dinner. Robin excelled at making mine. Two runny delicious rounded eggs mounded on top of well toasted bread. Before tasting, I made my traditional examination of the poaching liquid. There was little evidence of any remaining egg white. Riley had his first poached egg this evening and I explained to him that the poaching of an egg is matched only on a culinary level to an omelet. The difference is that a poorly prepared omelet is palatable, while the only place worthy of a badly poached egg is the trash. To my dismay, he turned his nose up at it. In fact, the only way Robin got him to eat most of it was to dash on lemon pepper and trade him bite for bite with prune cake. I tasted the egg with lemon pepper, it was terrible. How can this be a son of mine. I nearly disowned him then and there.
Fortunately, he has many other excellent qualities. While as of late, he has shown moments of intense emotion, he is still fairly well behaved. If there is a picture of you in our house, he knows your name and can say it in his own way. Aunt Charlene is "lene" and Aunt Stephanie is "stepni." He understands counting and can do it with you through five, but he will also follow your eight with an enthusiastic "NINE!" His dexterity is pretty good. He loves to "seep seep seep" with his broom, pound nails into his tool box and manipulate bolts. The table manners are coming along. We now give him a plate with food on it for him to spear with his fork and a spoon for his soup or cereal. After holding out till he was 18 months, we finally let him watch an educational video that he knows by heart. He also knows several of his books inside and out. He can recite some pages before we turn them, including a particularly long one that I can't stand reading to him.
I guess I will keep him after all. Soon Robin will post pictures of our visit to Washington.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Bunny, the bunny, oh, I ate the bunny (Veggie Tales)
We have a bunny that used to frequent our yard. He's been coming on and off for several months. Late September, we started seeing him every night. One night, Scott went outside while he was there to water the garden. He let Scott get quite close and didn't seem scared. The next night when he came, Scott took Riley out. Riley loved it! He thought it was so funny. The bunny was very interested in Riley too. They got pretty close, then the bunny would dash away and dash right back. Maybe he was trying to scare them away, I don't know. It was curious. I had a video of it, but I can't find it. Riley really got giggling when the bunny did that. Unfortunately, we haven't seen the bunny since. Maybe he got too scared.
"Look, Mama!"
That silly bunny!!
The bunny is to the right of Scott's right knee.
"Look, Mama!"
That silly bunny!! 
Visit from Gramps & Grandma Pokswinski
Riley's grandparents came the first weekend of October, and we all had a wonderful time. Riley was so excited to see them and was saying "Grandma" pretty much right away. The time went by way too quickly, but we so enjoyed their visit. Riley loves his Gramps and Grandma so much. He thought Grandma was just a reading machine, and he enjoyed giving her lots of kisses and cuddles. He was always interested in what his Gramps was up to, and wanted to play with his cellphone and computer mouse whenever he could get his hands on them. On Saturday, Bebe stopped by for a quick visit. We were in the back yard when she arrived, and Riley was glad when we went to the front and she pulled up.
On Saturday morning, we realized that Riley had a cold. He was pretty snotty but seemed to be in a good mood. That night, after he had been in bed for a few hours, we heard an extremely loud cough come from the bedroom. I went in to check on him and he was just "barking" and having trouble breathing and scared. It was really scary for me. I was so glad that Scott's parents were there with us. Grandma got the shower steam going in the bathroom while I held Riley on my lap. He was drooling a ton and struggling to breath. The steam did start to help really quickly, but he was still "barking." We ended up taking him to the ER. They gave him a breathing treatment there that really helped a ton. They also gave him two shots. That was hard to watch, since he had already been through so much. One of the shots, they called the "John Wayne shot." Just the other day, the hospital sent us a copy of what they sent to our insurance company. It is simply unbelievable how much they charge, and all that they charge for. Truly outrageous....(Glad we have health insurance!!) He recovered well from that, though he did get diarrhea from the medicine. That was frustrating, because he had just gotten over a long period of diarrhea right before this croup business. Oh well, he's all better now. No swine flu yet (and no vaccine available - seems to be the story everywhere), but lots of people we know here have it right now. Hopefully, he's one of those ones that had it already with no symptoms.
Riley's learning new words everyday. He doesn't say a lot of words totally right, but he's trying. I think there are some consonants he hasn't learned yet. He's trying to say "doorknob" lately. He learned "oven" yesterday and says it very well. One of his favorite words for some time now has been "Ri-la" for Riley (maybe I mentioned that before). Yesterday, Scott was talking about lions and imitating one. He asked Riley, "Are you a lion? Is Riley a lion?" Riley said, "Tiger!" He knows....he's already an Auburn fan! Grrrr!
The potty training really took a nose dive with the two bouts of diarrhea. I didn't want to press it then, but we are trying to pick back up now. Riley was AWESOME when he had diarrhea, especially the last time, in that every time he had a diarrhea (which was 10 times one day) or even a diaper with urine, he would come up to me and make the potty sign and "pssss" noise. That was great, because he got a terrible rash. Even though he hated changing his diaper because that rash really hurt, he still let me know right away. I was so grateful for that! Even though his rash was bad, it seemed to cause him serious pain only one day. The next day, it was there (not as bad), but didn't seem to bother him. Anyway, he's continued to tell me most of the time when he wets or dirties his diapers, especially when he's wearing cloth diapers. When we started back putting him on the potty some, he also started signing and making noises when his diaper was dry. We assumed he was letting us know that he had to potty, like he did a few times in the past. Great!! So, I would put him on the potty and read to him for like 20-30 minutes - but nothing. He did this to me several times and Scott too without any "results." Finally, he just started coming up to us, signing and making his pssss noise, sitting in our laps and handing us a book. Ahhhh!!! He just wanted us to read to him (even though we read a LOT all day). So, I'm working on teaching him a new sign for "read," so that we don't get the two mixed up. He's picking it up quickly.
When Riley makes his little "pssss" noise (really "sssss") for him, we've noticed that he makes it by putting his tongue behind his top teeth instead of his teeth together. When Scott's brother Troy was little, he had trouble with his S's, and "Sthcott" used to make fun of him....maybe it's coming back to bite him.
Last Thursday, we went to MOPS at our church. Riley loves going to the church. I told him as I unbuckled his carseat, "Riley, do you want to go to MOPS? We're at church." His face lit up and he looked at me and said, "GRANDMA!!!" So cute. I hated telling him, "No, we aren't seeing Grandma today. I wish you were. We'll see Grandma in a couple of months."
On Saturday morning, we realized that Riley had a cold. He was pretty snotty but seemed to be in a good mood. That night, after he had been in bed for a few hours, we heard an extremely loud cough come from the bedroom. I went in to check on him and he was just "barking" and having trouble breathing and scared. It was really scary for me. I was so glad that Scott's parents were there with us. Grandma got the shower steam going in the bathroom while I held Riley on my lap. He was drooling a ton and struggling to breath. The steam did start to help really quickly, but he was still "barking." We ended up taking him to the ER. They gave him a breathing treatment there that really helped a ton. They also gave him two shots. That was hard to watch, since he had already been through so much. One of the shots, they called the "John Wayne shot." Just the other day, the hospital sent us a copy of what they sent to our insurance company. It is simply unbelievable how much they charge, and all that they charge for. Truly outrageous....(Glad we have health insurance!!) He recovered well from that, though he did get diarrhea from the medicine. That was frustrating, because he had just gotten over a long period of diarrhea right before this croup business. Oh well, he's all better now. No swine flu yet (and no vaccine available - seems to be the story everywhere), but lots of people we know here have it right now. Hopefully, he's one of those ones that had it already with no symptoms.
Riley's learning new words everyday. He doesn't say a lot of words totally right, but he's trying. I think there are some consonants he hasn't learned yet. He's trying to say "doorknob" lately. He learned "oven" yesterday and says it very well. One of his favorite words for some time now has been "Ri-la" for Riley (maybe I mentioned that before). Yesterday, Scott was talking about lions and imitating one. He asked Riley, "Are you a lion? Is Riley a lion?" Riley said, "Tiger!" He knows....he's already an Auburn fan! Grrrr!
The potty training really took a nose dive with the two bouts of diarrhea. I didn't want to press it then, but we are trying to pick back up now. Riley was AWESOME when he had diarrhea, especially the last time, in that every time he had a diarrhea (which was 10 times one day) or even a diaper with urine, he would come up to me and make the potty sign and "pssss" noise. That was great, because he got a terrible rash. Even though he hated changing his diaper because that rash really hurt, he still let me know right away. I was so grateful for that! Even though his rash was bad, it seemed to cause him serious pain only one day. The next day, it was there (not as bad), but didn't seem to bother him. Anyway, he's continued to tell me most of the time when he wets or dirties his diapers, especially when he's wearing cloth diapers. When we started back putting him on the potty some, he also started signing and making noises when his diaper was dry. We assumed he was letting us know that he had to potty, like he did a few times in the past. Great!! So, I would put him on the potty and read to him for like 20-30 minutes - but nothing. He did this to me several times and Scott too without any "results." Finally, he just started coming up to us, signing and making his pssss noise, sitting in our laps and handing us a book. Ahhhh!!! He just wanted us to read to him (even though we read a LOT all day). So, I'm working on teaching him a new sign for "read," so that we don't get the two mixed up. He's picking it up quickly.
When Riley makes his little "pssss" noise (really "sssss") for him, we've noticed that he makes it by putting his tongue behind his top teeth instead of his teeth together. When Scott's brother Troy was little, he had trouble with his S's, and "Sthcott" used to make fun of him....maybe it's coming back to bite him.
Last Thursday, we went to MOPS at our church. Riley loves going to the church. I told him as I unbuckled his carseat, "Riley, do you want to go to MOPS? We're at church." His face lit up and he looked at me and said, "GRANDMA!!!" So cute. I hated telling him, "No, we aren't seeing Grandma today. I wish you were. We'll see Grandma in a couple of months."
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
10 years and 18 months
Scott and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on the 5th, and Riley turned 18 months on the 14th. It's been a good month, an awesome 18 months, and an amazing 10 years. I stop and thank the Lord for "my boys" everyday - seriously. They are both huge blessings and reminders to me of the goodness of God and proof that God was definitely listening to my prayers growing up.
Last Friday, I took Riley in for his 18-month appointment. He's now 32 inches (50th percentile), 24lbs and 5oz (40th percentile)...so, he's pretty average...except for his head. He's got a big one! It's 19.5 inches which is in the 90th percentile. Perhaps that's why he has already learned how to mock his parents, but more on that in a minute.
Last month, Riley learned how to cross his fingers all by himself. He can only do it on his left hand. Bebe taught him how to cross his toes, and he likes to try to do that now. He's also learned how to pull doors shut. He pulls on the door itself until he's close to shutting it and then he grabs the doorknob to finish the job. If he doesn't get it just right, he will push it back open and start pulling it again.
Over the last month or so, these are a few of the words he's started saying: "mop" for "mouth," "thank you," "all done," "uh uh" for "uh oh," "i-on" is "lion," "dih dir" is Big Bird, "glasses" and "dog." He loves making sounds to imitate bears, tigers, lions and dogs.
Okay, now, to our little mocker. Yesterday, I was working on a quick sewing project. I really should have put my sewing machine up when he woke from his nap, but I thought I was "close" to finishing. So, I just tried to encourage him to play away from Mama. However, I or Scott were saying "no, no, no" quite often as he tried to touch the machine, play with the cord, snatch my scissors or grab the pin cushion. I kept thinking I was almost done, but it took longer than I thought. He started playing by himself very well for a while, but then came up to me and grabbed the cord. I looked at him about to say, "no," but before I could, he gave me a smart look and said in a VERY mocking tone, "Neh! Neh! Neh!" I think he even tilted his head with each "Neh." Then he smirked at me. My jaw dropped, as did Scott's. I know we really tried his patience more than we should have, but woah!! I wouldn't have thought that children learn to mock at one and a half. Self taught, too...as far as I know or recognize. Today, I haven't said "No" nearly as much, but twice he mocked me again. "Neh"...*sigh*
Last Friday, I took Riley in for his 18-month appointment. He's now 32 inches (50th percentile), 24lbs and 5oz (40th percentile)...so, he's pretty average...except for his head. He's got a big one! It's 19.5 inches which is in the 90th percentile. Perhaps that's why he has already learned how to mock his parents, but more on that in a minute.
Last month, Riley learned how to cross his fingers all by himself. He can only do it on his left hand. Bebe taught him how to cross his toes, and he likes to try to do that now. He's also learned how to pull doors shut. He pulls on the door itself until he's close to shutting it and then he grabs the doorknob to finish the job. If he doesn't get it just right, he will push it back open and start pulling it again.
Over the last month or so, these are a few of the words he's started saying: "mop" for "mouth," "thank you," "all done," "uh uh" for "uh oh," "i-on" is "lion," "dih dir" is Big Bird, "glasses" and "dog." He loves making sounds to imitate bears, tigers, lions and dogs.
Okay, now, to our little mocker. Yesterday, I was working on a quick sewing project. I really should have put my sewing machine up when he woke from his nap, but I thought I was "close" to finishing. So, I just tried to encourage him to play away from Mama. However, I or Scott were saying "no, no, no" quite often as he tried to touch the machine, play with the cord, snatch my scissors or grab the pin cushion. I kept thinking I was almost done, but it took longer than I thought. He started playing by himself very well for a while, but then came up to me and grabbed the cord. I looked at him about to say, "no," but before I could, he gave me a smart look and said in a VERY mocking tone, "Neh! Neh! Neh!" I think he even tilted his head with each "Neh." Then he smirked at me. My jaw dropped, as did Scott's. I know we really tried his patience more than we should have, but woah!! I wouldn't have thought that children learn to mock at one and a half. Self taught, too...as far as I know or recognize. Today, I haven't said "No" nearly as much, but twice he mocked me again. "Neh"...*sigh*
Friday, September 11, 2009
Pictures of Riley's first haircut
BEFORE: our shaggy boy
Riley was a little nervous
and a little annoyed
He did eventually relax (His dad thought he was relaxed the whole time, because he couldn't see his face.)
This was much less stressful than using scissors!
And it did a pretty good job.
Riley was a little nervous
and a little annoyed
He did eventually relax (His dad thought he was relaxed the whole time, because he couldn't see his face.)
This was much less stressful than using scissors!
And it did a pretty good job.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Scott's tips for a painless first haircut
Riley needed a haircut. Hippies were stopping to stare at him and everyone thought he was a little girl. Haircuts can be traumatizing and every first haircut that I have ever seen was pretty rough. Tonight we gave Riley his without a single tear. Here's how:
Step 1: Show the child this video by Pavement.
I have had this song stuck in my head prior to every haircut that I have had over the last 15 years. The video is a tool to help the child understand that all big kids get haircuts. Ask the child to point out the crazy things that happen when these guys get their haircut to show them that it can be fun. The bonus is that you will be introducing your child to a cool indie band that results in instant cool dad status.
Step two: Invest in a Flowbee. That's right, a Flowbee. Taking the child to a professional, no matter how good they are with kids, will be at least three times harder than being in a comfortable environment, getting a haircut by someone that they know and love. Imagine someone with a forced smile coming at you with scissors for some reason you don't understand. Instant tears. The scissor cut will take at least ten minutes if the child cooperates and they never do. A Flowbee cut took Riley three minutes including time for changing out the guides. That is less than two minutes on his head. He didn't have time to fret.
Step three: Turn the vacuum on and suck up some of your hair and laugh and make faces. Show them that it is fun to play with vacuums.
Step four: Take a before picture and cut off the first lock to save (we forgot the last part and I am not going through the shop vac to find it).
Step five: Give them the haircut. Hopefully you have experience with a Flowbee. After two haircuts on yourself, you should have the knowledge and skill to best a hair designer at one of the discount places.
Step six: Take the after picture and admire your cute child. The Flowbee has virtually no cleanup and doesn't require you to slap down nine bucks plus tip.
Pictures to follow.
Step 1: Show the child this video by Pavement.
I have had this song stuck in my head prior to every haircut that I have had over the last 15 years. The video is a tool to help the child understand that all big kids get haircuts. Ask the child to point out the crazy things that happen when these guys get their haircut to show them that it can be fun. The bonus is that you will be introducing your child to a cool indie band that results in instant cool dad status.
Step two: Invest in a Flowbee. That's right, a Flowbee. Taking the child to a professional, no matter how good they are with kids, will be at least three times harder than being in a comfortable environment, getting a haircut by someone that they know and love. Imagine someone with a forced smile coming at you with scissors for some reason you don't understand. Instant tears. The scissor cut will take at least ten minutes if the child cooperates and they never do. A Flowbee cut took Riley three minutes including time for changing out the guides. That is less than two minutes on his head. He didn't have time to fret.
Step three: Turn the vacuum on and suck up some of your hair and laugh and make faces. Show them that it is fun to play with vacuums.
Step four: Take a before picture and cut off the first lock to save (we forgot the last part and I am not going through the shop vac to find it).
Step five: Give them the haircut. Hopefully you have experience with a Flowbee. After two haircuts on yourself, you should have the knowledge and skill to best a hair designer at one of the discount places.
Step six: Take the after picture and admire your cute child. The Flowbee has virtually no cleanup and doesn't require you to slap down nine bucks plus tip.
Pictures to follow.
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