Becoming A Dad

There is a new unspeakable word in this family. Whenever it is uttered, chaos ensues. Juliette screams, Becoming-A-Dad rolls his eyes and Becoming-A-Mom mutters, “oh god…”.

Yes, it’s the word “Pringles”.

Juliette has been munching on these little crispy chips as a treat for some months now. Her brain has now formed enough to know that when we say the dreaded P-word, it means those tasty snacks. She also knows where we keep them (in the cupboard with the infant lock on it), so she either points to it and babbles or screams. If she’s walking around she’ll pull on the cupboard doors while yelling for us to open it and give her some.

Tonight was a minor disaster. She was seated at the table (in her booster seat, no longer in her high chair) happily eating yummy roast duck and roasted potatoes. I happened to make the fatal error of uttering the P-word (Becoming-A-Mom gave her some during her bath just before dinner as she was soooo hungry) at the dinner table as part of a conversation.

Immediately Juliette perked up, twisted around and pointed at the cupboard while uttering “gull! gull!” which I think is her way of saying the P-word. As neither of us responded by giving her any (me rolling my eyes and Becoming-A-Mom shuddering) this escalated to yells then tears and crying for several minutes. And no way, she didn’t want duck and potatoes any more, even though she was eating them with gusto mere seconds before.

After a traumatizing while Juliette was distracted by a bowlful of blueberry yoghurt and peace returned to the kitchen.

We have now banned the utterance of the P-word.

This was Juliette’s first notable Hallowe’en. Of course she was around for last year’s celebrations but she was only 7 months old, so she really didn’t get it at all. At least she wasn’t frightened by the noises.

So this year we had our guests with us. As they don’t celebrate Hallowe’en in France the whole troupe of them (Becoming-A-Mom included) were excited and fascinated by the whole thing.

In the morning they all got dressed up in their costumes and face-paint – the little boy was Spiderman, the girl was a witch and Juliette another witch. We carved pumpkins – we got 3 small pumpkins from the supermarket for a total of €5, or about C$7 (they were advertised as 2 for €5, but the girl at the check-out insisted it was 3 for €5… so we ended up with 3).

I got the job of hacking open their skulls and sucking out their brains. Errrr, I mean cutting open the pumpkins and helping the little ones scrape out the brains pith and seeds. Juliette at first looked at us as though we were space aliens (“what the HECK are you doing??”) but soon got into the action as she watched the other two working away on theirs.

Orian, the 6 year-old designed the faces and drew them on the pumpkins with a marker. And then good old Becoming-A-Dad played Pumpkin Killer and cut out the faces. I left the pieces in the pumpkin and then helped each of the kids push the bits out so they could see the face appear – they loved it!

After a quick lunch and non-nap (the kids were too excited to sleep… figures) we packed everyone up into the car and headed out to the National Botanic Gardens where they were putting on a Hallowe’en special for kids. They set up some artwork stations, a games station, a haunted house, a harvest display and of course a jack-o-lantern competition. We got there early and admired the different jack-o-lanterns before heading over to the different activities.

Juliette was less interested in the activities than just getting out and doing her thing. She seemed to enjoy watching the other kids in their costumes running about. The little boy got very scared when one of the staff wearing a latex mask with crazy hair came by – he screamed and was terrified, wanting to go home! Poor guy.

Juliette had her first lollipop then – she “won” it at the game where she was supposed to throw big pine cones into a bucket. She carefully picked hers up and walked about half-way to the bucket before setting it down carefully on the ground and repeating the trick. The lollipop lasted about 2 minutes before it was completely consumed!

A few more activities and treats later we headed home. We expected the kids to be tired out and want to fall asleep quickly after dinner — but then the sugar kicked in and dinner was a bit of a trial.

Finally they went to bed. Becoming-A-Mom and I did a bit of stuff on the computers, downloading the photos from the cameras before we too headed off to bed. Hallowe’en 2010 was over.

Well it’s been another month, and way too much has happened for me to write about in a single entry. And of course, life has been in the way so I haven’t been able to keep this up to date.

So in the past 3 weeks I’ve been nearly dead of a head cold, then nasty sinus infection, now a upper-respiratory tract infection being combated by sleep and antibiotics. Throw in a trans-oceanic trip to intensify the cold and add in some jetlag and voila, you get to read about me whining. But this isn’t about me, so I’ll move on.

Juliette changed a lot during the 10 days I was away, and has started picking up new tricks. Her grandparents came to visit from France during that time and Juliette has increased her vocabulary – she apparently was trying to repeat the words back to them. On the one occasion we got the webcam to work, I asked her if she was going to have a snack – and she repeated “Snack!” back a couple of times before running off in the general direction of the kitchen.

Just today a friend of Becoming-A-Mom has arrived with her two kids in tow – a little boy 3 years old and girl who’s 6. Far from being scared or possessive about her things, she’s taken to them right away, especially the boy. She’s been busy showing off her things to them and babbling away while playing little games together. It’s been really cute.

She’s soooo excited to have them here we had some dramas when we tried to give her a bath – normally she likes her bath but that meant she’d be away from the action, so all sorts of tears and drama there. Then I tried to put her in her highchair to eat dinner, but she saw the booster-seat in the Big People chair and had a small fit until I let her sit and eat there.

Half-way through dinner she had a minor tantrum and didn’t want to eat any more. I figured out that it wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry, but because she didn’t have a knife. The other two kids were using dinner knives to cut their food and Juliette of course wanted the same. A quick baby-knife presentation saved the day. *whew* In the short hour or so after I got home to dinnertime I was exhausted!

And finally, before bedtime she reverted a bit to old tricks. The little boy has a magazine that has her favourite character on the cover (Oui-Oui, or Noddy in English). Inside is a short Little Princess story as well, her second favourite. So she grabbed it from him and ran away with it to read by herself. And when I tried to get her to return it and say goodnight to them, she of course was completely upset and we had another drama before Becoming-A-Mom gave her the boobs and put her to bed.

I have the feeling that this visit is going to mean Juliette will change a lot… already she’s wanting to do everything the big kids are doing. I hope she doesn’t grow up too fast.

A new development happened yesterday for the first time.

Earlier in the day I was lying on the couch. Juliette was playing with both Becoming-A-Mom and I, and I was tired. So I closed my eyes (mostly) and pretended to be asleep, opening my eyes every so often to look at Juliette. She knew I was pretending to sleep, and was coming over to check on me and tap me.

Fast forward to that afternoon. We just got out of the swimming pool (she LOVED it!) and she was tired (she refused to have a morning nap). So once we got into the car she fell asleep almost immediately and had about a 10 minute snooze before waking as we slowed down in traffic.

The surprising thing was she woke up happy with a smile on her face. Then, when she saw me looking at her in the mirror, she closed her eyes to thin slits and with a smirk, dropped her head down and pretended to be asleep! She did this a couple of times, even making fake snoring sounds at one point.

This is the first time she’s done anything like that – and now she’s at the stage where she picks up on every little thing we do and wants to copy us. I think we’re going to have to be a bit more careful what we say and do now!

So both Becoming-A-Dad and Becoming-A-Mom took deep breaths, screwed up our courage and decided to do a quick weekend trip to Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland this past weekend.

We left Dublin at about 5 pm and drove up to a bed-and-breakfast in Belfast, arriving around 7 pm. As usual, little Juliette started freaking out, crying and acting clingy when we pulled out the suitcase and started packing. When Becoming-A-Mom went to take the suitcase down to the car without Juliette, our poor little girl collapsed into a screaming crying heap by the door and didn’t stop crying for several minutes after I picked her up and held her. Then she started again, only to stop completely when Becoming-A-Mom returned and held her.

It’s funny, we’ve never gone anywhere and left Juliette behind, but every time we pull out the suitcases and pack up the car she does this crying panicky thing. We joke that she’s thinking “I’ve got too far this time!” and worried that we’re going to leave her behind.

Anyhow we had a peaceful drive up as the little sweetie fell asleep for an hour and then was delighted when she woke up to see the fields filled with cows and sheep (“mooooooo! buh-baaaaahh!”).

Next morning we had breakfast and headed off north – the Giant’s Causeway is about an hour’s drive north-west of Belfast. We stopped for about an hour at the Outlet Centre in Antrim, then continued on to the Giant’s Causeway.

It was bloody busy! It was the middle of September on a cold windy day (it wasn’t raining for some strange reason) and it could have been downtown on a Saturday afternoon. At least 8 big tour buses and countless cars were in the parking lot, and a steady stream of people were walking down to the Causeway. At the Causeway itself it was a struggle to find a place to stand and take photos without tripping over the other tourists trying to do the same. Madness.

Juliette loved it! The Giant’s Causeway is a collection of basalt columns that cooled and fractured into large hexagonal tiles and pillars, about 50 cm across and up to a hundred or more metres in length, depending on the outcrop. It looks like someone made an obstacle course out of hex pillars – and they’re set up like a whole bunch of natural stairs. So Little Miss had a grand time walking up and down them, holding tightly to my hands as it was hard for her to balance. I carried her along the trails in the baby backpack so we could see some of the other outcroppings – a great invention.

Sunday we did a Black Taxi Tour of the political murals around Belfast – I have some mixed feelings about that and in general found the whole thing unsettling. But as the driver said, everyone needs to deal in their own way with the past and these were the Northern Irish ways of coming to terms with it.

And then we drove back to Dublin with a stop at another Outlet Centre, this time in Bainbridge. Bought more stuff (shirts and a suit for me, T-shirts and some clothes for Becoming-A-Mom and Juliette) before coming home.

As much as Juliette loved the trip she was ecstatic to be home – grabbing her big Hello Kitty doll and pushing it around the apartment in the stroller and saying hi to all the rest of her toys. Even for her, there’s no place like home!

Ok, a happier post. Juliette loves her bath. Today she spent about 45 minutes splashing around in her bath and playing with her toys. Her favorite thing right now is to have me fill up a little toy watering can (oops, I can hear her crying right now, only 1-1/2 hours after she went to bed. hope she falls asleep on her own) and then pour the water out like a shower. She loves to put out her hands and let the water splash over them, and also to step forward to let the shower of water hit her belly.

She thinks it’s funny to put her mouth in the stream of water and let the water in.

(ooops, she’s crying louder and I think she’s standing up in bed now. she’s not happy…)

The amusing thing she does is to lie down on her belly with her head held up out of the water, and push herself back and forth.

(Becoming-A-Mom just went into Juliette’s bedroom to find out why she’s crying and comfort her. Boobs!)

(10 minutes later… I went to check on the both of them after the last line. Poor Juliette was covered in sweat and half-asleep crying. No, no fever or cold I don’t think. We put her under a new quilt we got on the weekend, and I think it’s just too hot for her. She was all wrapped up in it so I think she might be a bit young for a quilt as she couldn’t kick it off. I spent about 5 minutes holding her and just passed her off to Becoming-A-Mom for the boob treatment. I’m feeling vaguely guilty about something.)

Back to bath-time. A surprising new activity of hers is to lie down in the water, then lift her legs and arms up behind her so she’s balancing on her belly holding her head out of the water. She’s done this several times now, and tonight I caught it on the camera so I could show it to Becoming-A-Mom.

Juliette usually calls the end to her own baths by pulling out the plug. Some days it’s after only 10 or 15 minutes, most days it’s after 30 mins or so. She will sit and lie in the receding water until it’s completely gone before she’ll allow us to pick her up out of the bath without yelling. Then it’s into her towel and onto our bed where she has a 5-10 minute play-time of us trying to dry and clothe her while she jumps and frolicks about in the nude. She finds this very amusing, until we trap her and put on her clothes – this sometimes results in screaming and tantrums, though I’ve started to give her “Upside-Down Girl” time as a reward.

What’s “Upside-Down Girl” time? Well, it’s mostly Becoming-A-Dad promising to give her “Upside-Down Time” in exchange for behaving – letting me dress her in her diaper and pyjamas for instance. After being cooperative I will grab her by the ankles and hold her upside down for a few moments before setting her down. And I’ll grab her by the hips and flip her upside down, then flip her back on her feet. Usually that’s enough. And if she’s being squirmy or I’m less sure of my grip, I’ll cradle her in my arms and then dip her head until she’s almost upside down.

Either way she loves it, and laughs and smiles.

And I have to say I find it fun too.

I hate to sound like a nasty guy, but I’m kinda tired of our little angel’s prolonged screaming and tantrums. Lately – as in the last few weeks on vacation – she’s become un-weaned, wanting Becoming-A-Mom’s boobs to fall asleep and during the night. Yes, she’s almost 18 months old and was over that at least a few months ago… but not any more.

What happened? Well, a number of little things.

First, she started teething again, her big molars then canines. This started in early July and lasted several weeks. It coincided with our going on a short vacation to visit the grandparents and relatives in France. Of course this meant difficulties putting her to bed and her waking up crying in the middle of the night. Easiest solution? Give her boobs. It worked and kept the rest of the family from kicking us out of the house we rented together.

This stopped after that vacation, more or less… though Becoming-A-Mom would give in to Juliette’s demands for breast-feeding before going to bed. She stopped getting a feeding in the middle of the night or early morning.

Next? We went on vacation again, the final days of August and first week of September. Staying in Bed-and-Breakfasts we were both conscious of our neighbors as well as of our own sanity. So the boobing of Juliette continued and expanded – she now wanted to nurse to go to bed as well as when she would wake up in the middle of the night or early morning.

Now the little darling has turned into a monster.

In an effort to re-wean her, Becoming-A-Mom has given the job of putting the little screamer to bed to Becoming-A-Dad. We do the usual nighttime routine of reading a book, doing “yoga” (stretches and calming exercises) and then we wind up the music box and put her in her crib. Make that I put her in the crib with her sippy cup and stuffed animals.

WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMM!!! BOOO HOOO HOOOO!!

In a series of waves rising in pitch to a feverish crescendo, slowing down and softening before reaching new heights of sonic power, Juliette just spent about 45 minutes voicing her unhappiness with this new situation. I talked to her and gave her hugs while she literally jumped and stomped about in anger on her mattress. She clung to me, wanting me to pick her up and take her to the Boobs but instead I’d gently talk to her and explain that she needed to lie down and go to bed without boobs tonight.

Yeah, that strategy worked out well. Three times I did this, and finally I just said “good night” and let her cry herself to sleep. That took 20 minutes or so. While there was no physical exertion involved and it’s only 9:20 pm, I’m exhausted.

So, if you’re reading this and are thinking about having a kid, either

(a) stop reading this blog if you still want to have kids or

(b) quietly find an excuse to disappear for a few days and have a visit to your local chop shop I mean clinic to have a couple of strategically-placed slices and dices.

Or (c) take up a vow of abstinence and become a monk somewhere.

Good luck. You’re going to need it.

Wow. It’s been almost a full month since I’ve had time to get back and post something. Mind you, 2 of those weeks were spent on vacation where I didn’t have access but still it’s been a long time.

So what is there to tell? Lots, but as usual as soon as I started writing this everything has fallen out of my head.

Juliette has grown taller in the past weeks – in a quiet, sneaky sort of way. Happening so imperceptibly, that we don’t notice at all until we put her in some clothes and we suddenly realize that it barely fits, or the skirt that was below her knees is now above them. And this in just the last 2 or 3 months!

The other indicator of her growing is that she can no longer walk under the kitchen tables… before she was able to barely walk under them (with her head tilted slightly) but now the top of her head is well above the top of the table. She’s now able to grab on to the edge of the table and stand on her tip-toes to peek at what’s up there. This has brought other problems with it, including her newly-discovered ability to reach up and grab things on top of the table.

Another continuing development is her comprehension of things we tell her and her growing vocabulary. Oh yeah, and her tantrums!

A month ago we were on a short vacation to meet Becoming-A-Mom’s family – and once again the space aliens gave her an upgrade at the same time her canines and molars decided to push through. This time we think it was a hardware upgrade – so much new abilities came out – but one that was fraught with technical glitches which we attribute to causing all the tantrums. I suspect Microsoft is run by space aliens as their software seems to go through the same sort of upgrade pains…

So during the last month little Juliette has started to speak more words – “au revoir”, “hell-o”, “hell-o kitty”, “oui”, and several others that I can’t remember. “Hello Kitty” is linked to a Hello Kitty doll she got from her uncle and absolutely adores.

Ok, that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll be updating this more frequently.

In the past couple of weeks little Juliette has, overnight, picked up a lot of new tricks. I suspect our friends the Space Aliens have swooped down at night and this time, instead of just a software upgrade they’ve given Juliette a CPU replacement as well.

Whoops, so much for this post… she’s just waking from her nap and yelling for me to come and get her. More another time!

Last week the whole Becoming-A-Family went to France for a short vacation. Becoming-A-Mom and Juliette left on Tuesday; Becoming-A-Dad followed on Saturday. We returned to Dublin on Tuesday evening.

During this trip one of Juliette’s aunt’s realized that she was saying “encore” or “core” when she wanted more – food, water, or to do something again. When we thought about it we realized that she’s been saying it for a while but we didn’t clue in.

Anyhow she seems to be going through another development stage – as usual it seems to coincide with vacations and teething. She’s picking up new little tricks as well as changes in her personality.

During this little vacation Juliette became very clingy and would cry or get upset if Becoming-A-Mom or I strayed more than 10 feet or so from her. Even if we were in sight she’d get up and move to be closer. And when I arrived after she’d been away with Becoming-A-Mom for a few days, she stuck to me like glue, wanting me to hold her and play with her. Given the choice between me or Mom she’d come over and want me to do whatever. Very ego-boosting for me but also a bit tiring after a while!

Now that we’re back home she’s settled down back to her routine – she was SO happy to see her room, toys and our apartment. She had a huge smile on her face and was laughing and dancing around… she stayed up much later than usual and had a full sleep through the night for a change. It was a really cute home-coming.