Scooper rescue

When Bec & Quinn left the park today, The Scooper was nowhere to be found. Bec looked and looked where they had left it in the sand after going to the swings, but it wasn't there any more. Fortunately Quinn didn't seem to notice. When I got the news when I got home I think I was more distraught than Quinn - he probably would've moved right on, but I decided to go back to the park for one more check. Lo and behold there it was on a picnic table in plain sight! I was quite excited. Some kid must've taken it by accident and they or their parents brought it back when they discovered it.

Hose off eh!

Quinn has a new predilection for water sources. The kitchen tap, the bathroom tap, the shower tap. And the garden hose. He loves the garden hose. I taught him how to turn on the nozzle and helped him do it a few times. It's pretty stiff and he seemed to need the help - but then he walked away with the hose while I was momentarily distracted and very nearly squirted the neighbours who were passing by.

He also loves the kitchen tap. Every day, 7 times a day, he walks over to the sink, points at it and says "Ah!". Most times we say no. The other day I finally relented and sat him right in the sink and he turned the tap on and off and tried to operate the sprayer nozzle. Fortunately the sprayer nozzle is even harder to operate than the garden hose and I managed to escape unscathed. Quinn was absolutely soaked though. Now he asks 14 times a day. I've created a monster :)

He had a blast (pun intended) operating the hose at Gramma and Grampa's on the weekend. Grampa was trying desperately to teach Quinn to spray other people, but so far he's quite focused on the nozzle-operating part. It won't take long before he masters it and Grampa can move him onto the finer nuances of nozzle-operating motivations though, I'm sure.

Toys for Alan

We were dog-sitting Quinn's Aunt Caitlin's dog Alan this weekend. Quinn was quite excited about this prospect. Alan is sort of one step above a stuffed animal, so he's not too intimidating for Quinn. And while Alan gets a little startled by some of the vagaries of human 1-year-olds, really he handles Quinn quite well.

Last night after supper, Quinn was playing in the living room while Alan roosted on the couch. One by one Quinn brought all his toys to show Alan. Over came Quinn's most prized possessions - his excavator, his Scooper, his books. Alan handled those ok. Alan was slightly less excited about the walking sticks and fishing rod. Quinn was puzzled as to why Alan wasn't as excited about his toys as all the kids at the playground are.

It was an early glimpse into what it must be like to have two young kids. It involved constant refereeing as long as Quinn was awake - and we only had to worry about what Quinn would do to Alan, not vice-versa (Alan is the most placid dog ever...). I can see why people say two kids is more than twice the work. However, I think some important mental groundwork was laid for Quinn, and I think he and Alan will have fun together in future...once Alan is more convinced that Quinn isn't going to eat him.

6 am

I never thought I'd ever hear myself say it, but I'm very excited about the fact that Quinn's getting up at 6am. Compared to 5am, it's a huuuuuuuuge improvement. And I'm not even the one who was doing the getting up at that hour - Bec is practically beside herself with glee.

He woke between 6am and 630am 6 days in a row. At first we were concerned he was getting sick, as previously those were the only days he slept more. After a couple days it seemed he wasn't sick, and we dared to hope. It's still not a sure thing - he needed some help getting back to sleep at 5am, eventually getting up at 545 today - but we're hopeful he has turned a corner.

It seems like such a small difference, but it seems not all nighttime hours are created equal in terms of sleep. All three of us are sleeping much better. Bec looks forward to seeing him when he awakes, rather than involuntarily resenting the ungodly hour. Where I was unable to get back to sleep after 5, I seem to be able to after 6, and those two extra hours make a humungous difference for this former night-owl. I can get up at 7, feel much better rested, and much less guilty for not being with Bec and Quinn for that time. Quinn is in much better spirits too, with the extra sleep making him happier, more animated and more resilient through the course of the day.

All this sleep struggle makes me realize how key sleep is to happiness. I have cheated myself of sleep most of my life, oftentimes to my detriment. I won't say that my night-owl tendencies are gone for good, but I do have a more proper appreciation for slumber. Now if we can just imbue Quinn with that thinking before he's 40...

A Scooper full of imagination

Bec got another great toy for Quinn at the St. Vincent's today. For the worldly sum of $0.99, she got the Scooper. It's quite a good toy actually - rolls well, makes a satisfying mechanical clicking when rolling, bucket goes up and down easily, colourful, and has a decidely catchy moniker. Quinn is very excited by machines that dig, and he loves digging in the sand at the nearby park. He loves his Scooper. I mean, really really loves it. He dug in the sand with it. He carried it on the swing. He brought it into the bathtub. Fortunately we separated it from him in an inattentive moment just before bed.

The best part about it is that it doesn't take batteries. It's virtually impossible to find a toy that doesn't beep, flash, or drive on its own. Where's the imagination in all that?? Bec also scored some handmade wooden toys recently, including some planes and cars. With a little encouragement, Quinn has learned to make a fine "vroom" sound when he pushes his cars around.

When he was in the bathtub tonight with his Scooper, he started picking up something and putting it in the bucket of his Scooper. I looked a little more closely. There was nothing in his hand. He did it over and over. Finally I suggested it was probably full, and he dumped out the non-existent contents of his Scooper bucket.

It's an uphill struggle in today's society, but we might instill some imagination in this kid yet! All hail the Scooper! Vrooom!

Time to go Gladys

Quinn's not big on prolonged goodbyes. When I go to work in the morning, I tell him it's time for daddy to go to work, and he usually waves at that point. Then put on my shoes and collect my stuff, say goodbye and wave as I go out the door, wave at him through the front window, and wave again from the car. He completely loses interest after his first wave. It's somewhat reminiscent of my grandfather's impatient response to my grandmother (Gladys) and her 'infinite leaving' tendencies. Apparently I have inherited those from her, and Quinn has inherited my grandfather's reaction.

Quinn waves at everything. Mostly he only waves to things when he's leaving them now, rather than all the time as it was there for awhile. He waves to the park when we leave it. He waves to the living room when we take him upstairs for bed at night. He waves to his bathtoys when we take him out of the tub. But he doesn't wave more than once when you're leaving, so get cracking!

Early mornings

Quinn has me conditioned to wake up every day at 5am now. I wake up then even when he sleeps in til 630, although admittedly those times are rare. Unfortunately, while I'm going to sleep a couple hours earlier than is natural for me, I'm not going to sleep at 9pm so I'm accumulating quite a sleep debt. I'm lucky to break even sleep-wise on the weekends. Something's going to need to change.

Mornings seem to be the last sleep frontier. He goes to sleep easily all on his own. He stays asleep / gets himself back to sleep all by himself all through the night. I think Bec still walks and sings some for his naps, but he is capable of going to sleep by himself for naps if you're willing to let him scream for a half hour.

All in all sleep's going a lot better, but sometimes it's hard to see that because the improvements are so incremental. I'm not sure what we're going to do about 5am, and I think it's going to be a tough nut to crack, but I now feel we'll get there someday where historically there were times I really wondered. One more hurdle to overcome.

Scarry...Very Scarry

Richard Scarry that is... One time when I was home in NS, I absconded with two Richard Scarry books that I loved when I was a kid. One is copyrighted 1969 and the other 1972, but I was at another parent's house a while back and saw another one so they must still publish them. Anyway, Quinn LOVES them. He studies the pages, points at things and makes excited noises. He's beginning to know many of the recurring characters. And of course he LOVES all the pages with power shovels on them.

They're great books really, explaining how communities function, and houses and boats and many other things. Many of the things Quinn already has been exposed to, and the explanations seem to expand his understanding. They seem to have intensified his already-large love of reading. And that's a good thing. Whoa - did I just quote Martha Stewart? Scary, very scary.