Noah Update and Thoughts on Parenting

I am almost always trying to compose new entries for this here blog.  As you can see, they haven't made it out of my head too often lately.

I'll start with, wow, I thought kids had growth spurts in between times of staying the same size for a while.  Not Noah.  I swear he's constantly growing.  He just seems to slowly always be outgrowing his clothes.

We joke that our dearly departed cat Little Man has somehow inhabited Noah.  When we got Little Man as a kitten, he had huge paws and we knew he was going to be a big cat.  In the past month or so, Noah's hands and feet have gotten noticeably bigger!  On a stranger note, Little Man also loved to hop in the shower when we'd get out of it and drink all the water.  Well, Noah had this habit of waiting until the water drained out of his bath  and then trying to slurp up what was left.

Every night, Nerdstar bathes Noah.  Most nights I'll come up and help a little and hang out with them after bath time.  On the nights Noah runs out of the bathroom and down the hall naked, I think, "Heh, I finally have my own Calvin!"  Although, it seems he might be an equal mix of Calvin and Hobbes.  He's a sweet boy.

Disclaimer:  These next thoughts are representative of exactly two people and imply no judgement on anyone else's way of parenting.

We spend a lot of time post bath talking about Noah, and being parents, and how to raise him.  I am so glad that Nerdstar and I really share most of the same ideas on parenting.  I've always wanted to keep it as simple as possible.  I want my overriding goal to be HAVE FUN.

One idea we run across is that of "toughening up" kids.  Letting them cry it out.  Putting them out into the "real world" to learn to deal with other people and situations.  I'm not a big fan of that idea.

I spent the first five years of my life mostly at home with my mother.  My brother wasn't born until I was five.  I was never in daycare.  I started school with kindergarten.  There were no play dates.   I did just fine when I did start school.  Nerdstar also spent her first years at home with parents and/or grandparents until she started school.  We're in no hurry to put Noah out into the world.  He's a sweet, happy boy.  He does well with people and will talk with strangers.  He still likes watching older kids play, even if he doesn't exactly "play" with kids his own age - that's still normal for two year olds.

A lot of this is that he's still just a little boy.  He's just about to be 2 1/2.  He will have a life time of the real world.  Even a year from now will be different.  But we're in no hurry.

The other thing we talk a lot about is education.  I think I'll save that for a later entry.

Noah Rocking Out

Noah's been rocking out/head banging to this video for quite a while now.  Finally got it on video.  He always looks back to make sure you're rocking out, too.

Toto

"Toto" - that's how Noah tells us he wants to go watch Our Neighbor Totoro, again.  If we simply put it on a loop somewhere in the house for him, he'd be very happy.  At least there are three movies to rotate between - Our Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle.

I think Totoro is actually his favorite, which is good, it's the most simple.  Not only does he talk along with the dialogue he can say, he does the sound effects and motions, too.  It's so cute. 

Most of the time I sit on the sofa and watch with him.  I remember the first time watching these movies I had a sort of "huh, that was interesting" reaction.  They aren't as black and white and linear as Disney and Pixar.  But the more I've watched them, the more happy I am Noah really likes them.  It's interesting that all three deal with moving into a new house.  They're about going on a journey and family and love.  And they are just so beautifully made.  We've also watched Ponyo a couple of times. I like it because the main character is a little boy, but it's my least favorite of the four, and I'm still not sure if Noah likes it enough to buy it.  (Right now I have it through Netflix.) 

I almost feel bad for him watching them so much, but it's winter and cold and the flu is out there.  This week is  a little warmer, so we've played out in the backyard more.  Today we might go run around the mall for a while.  Fortunately, he still loves getting out of the house.  Yesterday, after his nap, he said, "Toto?"  I said, "No, we've already watched it."  Then he said, "Store?"  Heh.  I had to say, "No, we're not going to the store today." 

I'm also using it to teach him that other things have to happen first before he can watch "Toto" - like getting dressed or eating breakfast or changing his diaper. 

Programming?

We've done a lot of traveling with Noah in his short 2 1/2 years.  He won't remember any of it.  So, we wonder if it's all making an impression and he'll either really love or hate traveling when he's older.  So far he seems to enjoy it, although, like us, we can tell he's happy to be home today - playing with his toys, in his room, and sleeping in his bed!

On this trip, he mastered escalators and moving sidewalks.  In fact, there were many times him and Nerdstar would go back and forth or up and down for quite a while.  This was a good thing at the airport to wear him out some before the flights.  He was also very happy to get to ride on the shuttle buses and the big city bus several times. 

We really made the right decision having a crib in the hotel room again.  I don't want to think about how hard it would have been to get him to sleep without it. 

Trips with my family can end up seeming like a lot of herding cats for me, and this time that was true sometimes.  But overall things went about as expected and a good time was had by all. 

Nerdstar and I have become complete hotel snobs in the past few years, so staying at Circus Circus wasn't all that we desired.  The room was nice and the bed was soft enough, but the crowds did not make us feel all warm and fuzzy towards humanity. 

We had hoped Noah would let us hand him off to Granny and Pa and his cousin Zach quite a bit so Nerdstar and I could gamble a little and go eat some good food without him.  That didn't happen as much as we would have liked, but we made do. 

I'd say one of the biggest things was the three hour time difference.  Between the long travel times and the time difference, we were all tired early. 

Our biggest splurge was going to the buffet at the Wynn hotel.  Oh my.  We're afraid it has ruined all over buffets for us.  The food was really, really good.  This was one of those times we wish we'd had more time, and without Noah.  But the whole family came along, so we couldn't hand him off. 

It was a good trip, it wasn't a great trip.  We're learning as we go - literally.

This and That

It's been a while since we've updated, there are lots of little things happening, but not many big ones so it's harder to find things to write about.  It's easier to do short little updates on FB.  

These are a couple of FB updates:

We went to Chick-fil-A for some dinner, after we'd eaten, Nerdstar got a strawberry shake - when Noah saw it he said, rather loudly, Wow... Wow... Wow... and then proceeded to drink at least half of it, looking rather concerned whenever Nerdstar would take a drink!

I've heard tales of toddlers who stop eating or get more picky. OMG our boy is a pig. He's even branching out a little. Funny thing, it's in a white trash direction. He insisted on a slice of bread with butter for a snack. Then the other day he had a slice of bologna - but no bread with it. At least he doesn't know about fried bologna yet. (and yes, I sing the oscar mayer song to know how to spell bologna.) Still no rice or tofu!

Now for more of an update.

We didn't do Christmas this year.  No tree or lights or presents or anything.  Partly because Noah still doesn't know what it's all about or get excited when he sees Christmas trees and such.  Last year we thought this would be the year, now we figure it'll be next year.  

We also decided to just meet up with my family in Vegas this week instead of flying down to Dallas.  None of us have been there in years and it sounded fun.  I think Noah is going to have a blast with his Granny and Pa and cousin Zach and uncle Jason!  Nerdstar and I are looking forward to some good food, some good naps and maybe a little gambling.  

Our boy is starting to have his routines.  He's learned how to say "tunes" so when he wakes up he tells me to turn on his tunes so he can dance either in his bed or out of it first thing in the morning.  Then he's getting to where he wants to go watch "T" - tv.  He's still just watching his three Japanese movies. He didn't even sit through all of Toy Story.  He also still watches Foster's Home while we eat dinner.  I know he should be watching less, but it's winter and a cold one at that.  He'll be more than ready to spend lot of time outside when it's warm enough.  He's ready to spend more time outside in the cold than we are.  

Hehehehe

While there's still so much we don't know about our boy due to him still not speaking a lot of English (he often sounds German or just plain ole alien ) but we do know he has a sense of humor.  Having a sense of humor was one of the things I wondered about early on.  So far, Nerdstar is a lot more funny than I am.  And, naturally, most of his humor is slap-stick in nature.  If he can do something that makes Nerdstar say "oowww" or get her to make a funny face - that's hysterical.  Last night, he would look at her and whisper something, then when she's whisper something back, he'd totally crack up.  And even though we don't understand him, there are still many times he'll be jabbering away then stop jabbering and just laugh, like he just said the funniest thing ever.  Of course, that cracks us up, then he laughs some more.  He still laughs anytime he hears other people laughing.  So cute!

Viewing Habits

Noah has developed some pretty specific viewing habits.  I've mentioned on FB that he LOVES Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends.  (Don't worry, you're not the only one who's never heard of it.)  Seriously, check it out on you.tube.  There were six or seven seasons, but only the first season is available on dvd.  I read they're all on i.tunes, but we don't have that on the computer he uses to watch stuff.  Anyway...

He also likes to watch the videos we've taken of him.  He gets to watch those on my lap in the mid-mornings while I surf.  He gets to watch FHFIF in the evenings when we eat dinner.

Over thanksgiving, he started saying "T" to refer to the tv.  We took his FHFIF dvds and Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro.  He will sit through both of those, usually 1/2 at a time.  They are absolutely beautiful and mostly calm.  We have no idea why he likes them, but he does and that's ok with us.  He's getting Howl's Moving Castle for Christmas.

Our tv is downstairs, he and I still spend all of our "home" time upstairs.  He's getting to where he'll ask for "T" time about once a day, or when we come in or out of the house.  So, we'll come down and snuggle on the sofa - he has already picked out "his" spot on the sofa - and watch one of his two movies.

I've put in Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, Lion King, and Monster's Inc.  Can't say he liked any of them.  Ok.

He also doesn't like the cartoons on Sprout or Nick, Jr.  And for that, I thank God.