We spent last night in a tent at Jordan Lake, all four of us. And we lived to tell about it! We consider our first camping trip quite a success. We went with our friends Marne and John and their daughter, Hallie’s friend Susannah.
The girls had an absolute blast. They raced around, made up songs, LOVED eating marshmellows, and even slept really well. Other than a couple of potty trips, Hallie was a perfect sleeper. (We took a portable potty, which was one of the highlights for the girls. I’ve never seen anyone have to use the potty so often, but I guess peeing outside has some novel appeal.)
Travis was a good sport, too. He led us all over the campsites until bedtime. It took a couple tries to get him settled. It’s the first time we’ve slept in the same room with him in months. I don’t know if he’s usually restless or if it was just the environment. But between 10 and 2 he did a lot of flipping around and making noise.
At 2 he was up for real and spent the rest of the night on the air mattress with us. Suprisingly, he didn’t want to nurse at all, which is his usual source of comfort. We actually got some bursts of decent sleep from then until morning as he stretched and sprawled between us. And both kids were full of smiles when we got up.
We did a little exploring our camping area this morning and then took a short hike before heading for home. We were a filthy tired bunch, but baths and showers and naps helped everyone. Travis slept for 3.5 hours, which is by far the longest nap he’s ever taken. He was tuckered out!
All is quiet on the home front now. Though it’s our last evening with Reut, I’m going to have to beg off for an early bedtime. I’m realizing that my brain isn’t processing information anymore.
One more month and you’ll be one! How in the world did that happen so quickly?!
Travis seems like he’s really starting to point at things. Right now he uses his whole hand, but he’s getting the idea. I’m also pretty sure I’ve seen him do the baby sign for fan a few times, or at least his version of it. Supposedly when the start pointing is the optimum time for teaching baby signs, so we’re going to have to pick up the pace. He’ll be talking to us in no time. Wonder when we’ll get that true first word?
We’re fully into the “we can’t let Travis alone for a second” stage of things. He can crawl pretty effectively now, which means he can always find something to pull up on. He adds a new bruise to his collection each day or so, usually by planting his face on whatever he’s trying to pull up on. Last week he had a nice one on his cheek, yesterday he got the bridge of his nose and the day before his other cheek.
It’s getting harder and harder to keep him entertained by anything other than moving around, so he doesn’t stay put for long. I know he’ll get more stable soon, but I think that just means he’ll move on to new challenges, like climbing the furniture. I’d better fasten my seatbelt. I think this ride takes a while!
Naps are also getting challenging. If he’s not pretty sound asleep when I put him in, he immediately stands up. He’ll be happy for quite a while, but after 10 or 15 minutes, he’ll get mad. So far, I’ve usually been able to go in, nurse him, and get him down for good the second time. But I’m pretty well ignoring that whole “put them in bed sleepy but not asleep” thing. Sleepy still means him standing and then we start all over again.
My hopes for a long afternoon nap have been dashed. He’s up there chatting away, and I just heard the music box come on. I can guarantee he’s just standing in there waiting for me to get him. Better go oblige.
Hallie and Travis (Hallie especially!) continue to be smitten by Reut. They both seem to love having her around, and she’s been great with them.
She brought them each an inflatable chair, one with a Pooh cover and one with another character. Both kids have been carrying them around, and Hallie’s made up all sorts of ways to play with them. For a while, one was even my birthday cake.
Hallie also received a set of 6 pairs of hair clips. You’d think she’d just been given the entire stock of FAO Schwartz. She loves these things! She sleeps with them, sorts them, stores them in things and takes them out again, piles them, puts them on her ponies and her clothes and Reut, makes up stories about them, you name it. She’s always had fun with her own hairclips, but this is over the top. Reut just looks on in wonder at how successful her gift has been.
Hallie is still talking a mile a minute, but Reut is catching most of it. One thing she couldn’t quite catch were Hallie’s repeated references to the “Wake County Parade.” Hallie had heard a report on Mark’s weather radio and I had explained that Wake County was the county we live in. Later that night, Hallie came up with a whole scenario about how all of Wake County was coming to our house around 11 o’clock on Monday night to have the Wake County parade.
And apparently we all needed to get shots before hand. She was using the airpumps for the chairs as syringes and gleefully doling out shots. She’d say, “Now this isn’t going to be bad but it might be a little bit sore.” I must have gotten 15 or 20, since they kept “wearing off.” Even the hair clips got shots.
Tonight I was working on dinner and could hear Hallie in the next room telling Reut about the Wake County Parade (which apparently has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning). Poor Reut kept asking her to repeat what she was saying. I finally had to call in that I’d have to explain since she’d never get it. I love it when our girl puts her imagination to work. She’s sure been doing a lot of that this week!
Reut Cohen arrived this evening to stay with our family for the week. She’s here from Israel for three weeks to work on her English before doing her military service. She has spent time with David and Anna and Gum and Gup and now with us.
Reut (Rah-oot) is the sister of Lamberto’s wife, Gafnit. We had a wonderful time with Gafnit on our trip to Italy, and the kids just adored her. It seems to run in the family.
Hallie could hardly contain her excitement when Reut arrived. She immediately wanted to show her her purple room (“Daddypaintedmyroompurple!” “PurpleismyfavoritecolorandIlikeblueandpinkandgreentoo!”) and tell her all about her toys. She was squealing and zooming all around the house. She talked so fast that Mark and I only caught about 2/3rds of what she was saying. Imagine how hard that is on a non-native speaker! Reut’s been a good sport and I’m really impressed at how much of Hallie’s yammering she’s catching. We’ll know her English has improved if, by the end of the week, she’s understanding more of Hallie than we are!
Travis keeps getting more dangerous. In one week he’s gone from taking his first truly independent steps (under close supervision) to crawling to something he can pull up on so he can toddle off on his own. Now, it seems the last safety net (for Mommy, at least) has been removed.
Yesterday, I was playing with him on the floor. He got himself up on all fours (feet and hands, with legs extended). He’s been doing this for a while, but lately he’s really been trying to go from there to standing. Yesterday, he did it! He stood up by himself in the middle of the room, without pulling up on anything. He toddled 2 or 3 very unsteady steps, at which point I caught him. But now I know even putting him down in an open area doesn’t keep him down.
I think Hallie was at least 16 months before she could stand up without pulling up. If she sat down at the playground, she’d have to crawl across yards of woodchips to get to a piece of equipment unless I rescued her. I guess this is what we should expect from a guy who was holding his head up at birth and turned over at 15 days. We got some new gates up today, but we’ve still got a long way to go!
I know all kids pick up on what their parents say. But today, especially, I was very aware of hearing “myself” through Hallie. Here are just a couple examples:
“Mommy, hey Mommy!” (while riding in the car) “Mommy, I had something to tell you, but then I lost it.”
“Mommy,” (while riding in a Target cart) “I’m very tired after a long day. Let’s go home.” (which got a good chuckle from the cashier.
“Mommy, I had a feeling that was just where it was going to be!” (after returning to Babies R Us, where I’d left my wallet this morning)
I know there were others that I’m forgetting. She keeps me on my toes!
“Fang” is about to become Travis’s new nickname. Either that or Dracula. He’s just about to cut his fourth tooth–I can see it and it’s sure to pop through any day now. It’s on the other side on the top, creating a center gap, so he’s going to have an interesting look until those middle two pop through. I think I remember Aunt Suzie saying Hadley looked like a vampire for ages. Guess it runs in the family.
I posted last night that it would be a “matter of days” before Travis was getting up and taking steps on his own. He didn’t even give me 24 hours!
I was working on dinner this evening. I’d planted T securely (I thought) in the middle of the den. He had several toys and seemed happy. I was working on cleaning some chicken. I looked down for a moment and then looked up to see T starting to pull himself up on the recliner. He’d scooted himself just far enough to get a grip and start pulling.
I knew what was coming next. Even as I frantically tried to wash my hands, T stood upright. He gave a HUGE smile and let go of the chair. And then he gleefully came marching (very nearly running) and chortling right into the kitchen.
He probably took 7 or 8 very stable steps before, my heart racing, I caught him. If I hadn’t panicked, he probably would have gone a lot farther. But all I could see was him falling flat on his face with me not there to catch him. Life just got a lot more complicated!
