Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Julian's countdowns

These days it seems I'm constantly giving Julian countdowns. Any step along the day: getting his clothes, picking his diaper, climbing into the carseat or his high chair, anything, he will deliberately stop and wait to see what happens. I used to warn him that if he didn't climb into the carseat himself, I'd put him in, but he refined his motion so that he was still seeming to be climbing in, but it would take him forever. So I had to add the countdown. I tell him that if he doesn't do XYZ by the count of 10, then I'll put him in, and I don't have to say it angrily. It almost always works, but I really wish I weren't constantly counting!

It was another rainy day today, so our big outing was to return videos, grocery-shop, go to Subway for lunch, then to Learning Express (a toy store) to buy birthday presents for 3 upcoming parties. Learning Express has several train tables and other toy tables, so it's a great place to take them on a rainy day, except for the problem of getting them out of there! Especially on a rainy day, all this in-and-out of the car proved to be a real pain, since Julian needs a countdown for every entry and exit.

I mused at Subway during lunch how easy this is now -- I've completely abandoned the Restaurant Survival Kit, and can impulsively decide to just stop somewhere for lunch without baby accoutrements. Both boys ate a regular sandwich, and had apple juice out of plastic cups I got there -- no sippy cups, no bibs, nothing (except a high chair since Julian was too short for the bench). It was a wistful musing about our newfound, and soon-to-be-lost, freedom. One thing about impending baby, it makes our current life seem really easy!

We've gone public with the new baby news. I'll be more excited about it when I'm not miserably ill all the time, but a decent day today has given me new hope.

Gabriel has been building things with new sophistication and imagination lately. Yesterday I came across this little Lego train-station scene in the living room. Today, he made an "ice cream factory" out of a set of wooden blocks they got for Christmas last year. He's recently re-discovered these blocks and seems to have a new appreciation for the various shapes and colors and how to fit them together.

It occurred to me while writing to Andrea that Gabriel has never once named a toy. He certainly knows names of toys that already exist (the Thomas characters), but putting names and personalities to toys is just not in his reality yet -- very unlike his imaginative cousin Aidan! Building seems to be his thing -- and, of course, knocking it down later!





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