Cleanest kitchen floor ever

Quinn has developed an intense love for the kitchen broom and dustpan. He goes to the utility closet and says "Ah! Ah!" until we open it and give them to him. Then our 2.5' tall son carries the 4' high broom around everywhere. He quite often gets it stuck in things but he's improving his broom navigation. He often moves it back and forth as if he's sweeping.

He also is a pretty good dustpan operator. Bec gave him a couple lessons yesterday about holding the dustpan while she swept, and then showed him how to dump it in the garbage can. This morning he wanted to do the same thing with me. He started by shaking the dirt out of the back door mat, and then brought the broom to me and shoved the handle end into my hand. I swept up the dirt and got him to hold the dustpan on the floor while I swept the dirt into it. Then, with only a little bit of help with dustpan stability (and a couple of tries) he dumped the contents into the garbage. He picks stuff up quickly, this kid! Our kitchen floor has never been so clean.

Not a bad kid even remotely

We have a bathroom off our living room. This morning I took short and had to have a "sit" while taking care of Quinn. He and I played through the gate to the bathroom for awhile. Then he spotted the remote control sitting on the couch. Where he could reach it. His eyes lit up. He walked across the room to the couch and reverently touched the remote that he knows he's not supposed to have.

He looked over at me, immobilized on my perch. Unfortunately nature was not to be rushed on my part. I tried to remain calm and asked him to bring the remote over to dad. And lo and behold - he carefully picked up the remote, toddled over to me and passed it over the gate! What a good kid!

As a reward, I promised him we'd have a remote lesson later on. True to my word, we practiced turning the TV on and off later on, and he was thrilled (although I kept the emphasis on operating the remote, not watching TV...that's still verboten).

Soon he'll be able to give nana and grampy remote lessons :)

A good 'ol hootenanay

I was sitting on the kitchen floor with Quinn, amid all his kitchen toys. Bec came in and sat down on the floor too. I grabbed a plastic bowl and started tapping on it. Bec took the eggbeaters and started banging them on a metal pan. Quinn started banging on a metal pan too. Then I found the marinade pump - what a cool toy that is! By blowing across the opening and moving the pump up and down it makes a neat rising and falling sound. It also clicks nicely at both extremeties. We cacaphonied away for awhile, Quinn rocking back and forth in time and occasionally banging on things, to our encouragement. Bec's 'Creative Family' book talks about such family gatherings and refers to them as 'hootenanays'. I think we shall have to make such hootenanays a regular occurence.

After Quinn started to lose interest in hootenanaying, I found the turkey baster fit quite nicely into the inverted marinade pump. With a suspense building countdown, I'd then punch the pump and launch the turkey baster into the waiting hands of mommy, to the great squeals of Quinn. That game lasted quite awhile until we decided we should wind things down with some reading so he wasn't swinging from the chandelier when it was time for bed.

A great night all around really.

Solo sliding

Quinn goes down the slide at the park on his own now! He's quite proud of himself when doing so, apparently. I haven't seen it yet but hopefully tomorrow. He also spent some time pushing his wagon around in a circle today at the park - another first. He was splashing at the river's edge (under Bec's constant supervision of course) yesterday. New explorations and capabilities every day - what an exciting age.

I've been quite ill with a flu / cold / chest infection of some sort, including losing my voice for a few days. It doesn't take long to fall out of the loop I tell you - between all my sleeping and my silence, Quinn almost forgot who I was I think. I never realized how much I actually talk to him until I couldn't. I'm now recovered to the point where it'll drag on at 10% because I won't rest enough to finish it off :) At least Quinn remembers who I am now.

Another great leap forward

Another visit from nana and grampy, another Great Leap Forward for Quinn. He seemed like a whole different kid by the time they left. He has become even more socially interactive, laughing and smiling at things people do, bringing books to be read, giggling at the books, responding to tickles and being chased. He has become fully mobile too, walking on his own, going "under the bridge" of propped up legs when people are sitting and popping back up onto his feet on the other side. He clearly understands so many words now, although he doesn't speak much yet - I think his ability to communicate effectively without words may mean that comes a little more slowly. I'm trying not to worry about it. His disposition has really become much more sunny too - he smiles and laughs a whole lot more, and gives visible and audible reactions to so many things now.

The advent of spring weather has improved things too. He and Bec spend A Lot Of Time Outside now, at the park, at the river, and biking / walking / jogging everywhere with Quinn in the chariot. All the exercise and fresh air is making for better sleeps - after a recent sleep training effort, which was much easier I think probably due to the previous efforts and the fact that he was just more ready for it now, he goes to sleep easily on his own, and stays asleep until early morning. The last two nights in a row he's actually slept in to a reasonable hour! Could we have turned a corner? Here's hoping!

Dances without wolves

Nana and Grampy brought Quinn a little toy train that plays "Mary Had A Little Lamb". Since it's the only song it plays, and it's not the Stevie Ray Vaughn version I think it might not wear so well...however Quinn seems to love it. He bounces and sways with the music, looking all the world like he's dancing. Hopefully he'll learn his dance moves from his mother, not his father. The train has got some animals that came with it that ride on the train cars. Absent among them are any wolves.

Rebecca takes Quinn to a "Make Music Meaningful" class once every week. It's made it such that Quinn thinks of music as something he does as opposed to something he listens to, which I am quite pleased about. Some evenings I play guitar and Quinn plays along too, shaking his shaker, his tambourine, or banging on his drum. Singing to him often soothes him when nothing else will. I think already music is meaningful in Quinn's life, and I look forward to nurturing that over the years.

Gotcha Grampy!

Quinn's Nana and Grampy are here for a visit from Nova Scotia. Yesterday afternoon we were all in the living room and Grampy said "come over and give me a hug, Quinn". Quinn toddled over to Grampy with a big smile and gave him a hug that lit up his whole day. Then we said "go give Nana a hug" and he repeated the exercise back across the room towards Nana, to similar effect.

Then they said "go give Grampy a hug" again. He started off towards Grampy again with hands out and eyes lit up. Grampy was all lit up in anticipation. Then at the last second Quinn veered off in another direction, seemingly with a twinkle in his eye. Everyone had a good laugh. In his own way perhaps Quinn was stating that while he can follow instructions, he's not a trained seal. You can only go to the well so often. Something for us to keep in mind as we all get older I think.

Afternoon at the park

Quinn has a newfound love of playing outside. Today was an absolutely beautiful day, and I had a little overtime in the bag at work this week, so I came home early and we all went over the the nearby park. Quinn had a great play in the sand, on the swings and slides, and walking around the empty wading pool. A great afternoon!

We're sleep training again. After a hard-won relative peace, things went off the rails during Christmas travel. Then we achieved a new less-strict equilibrium post-Christmas. When we traveled to Wichita and we all got sick, sleep went completely to hell in a handbasket. I guess we have to cut Quinn some slack - I certainly wasn't on a train or an airplane for long-haul travel at Quinn's age. That doesn't make the sleep challenge any easier though.

It's Night 4 now. It's going well at bedtime, and he's made it mostly through the night the last two nights. The 430AM wakeup is the tough one though - he's used to nursing then, and he's usually pretty awake and quite able to scream for an hour until we (well, Bec) just get him up. That one may take awhile. The particularly sad part is knowing that any time we travel or get sick we'll have to go through the same training again. Hopefully it at least gets easier every time.