The Small Family     

Well, the day we have been waiting for has finally arrived! That’s right--Theo knows how to say “no!” Actually, it’s very cute so far…he says it quite politely. The other day, I heard Chris tell him, “We need to go change your diaper,” and Theo replied, “No.” He says it in a very sweet voice, almost with a hint of a question at the end…the epitome of politeness. Yet, he is resolute. No, we do not need to change my diaper, Daddy! (I’m sure you can guess who won on that one in the long run, despite Theo’s very polite but firm “no.”) We’re quite sure “no” will soon be accompanied by stomping feet, angry howls, and all other manner of toddler behavior, but for the moment it is just a quiet, polite, but firm little “no.” Rather enchanting, really…

NOT so enchanting is the fact that Mr. Theo has been quite the turkey this week! To his credit, he’s not feeling well (more on that in a moment), and unfortunately, he seems to take after his mom and dad in terms of “when I don’t feel well, I get cranky and combative.” He never slows down, that boy of ours…if he’s sick, he just gets surly but continues life at his normal pace. Is it bad to say that I sort of wish he’d get sleepy and slow down when he’s sick?! ;-)

So, although we can understand his crabbiness, it doesn’t mean he entirely gets away with it. If he hits us, he still pays the price of a timeout. Consequently, Mr. Theodore has spent much time in his timeout playpen over the last week or so. He has learned the sign for “sorry,” so he now says he’s sorry before getting off timeout, which is a small consolation to his beleaguered parents, who would be thrilled if he just gave up the practice of hitting altogether! Alas, I’m sure this is a very slow process. Teaching him that the stove knobs are a no-no took at least four months, and teaching him not to yank the mini-blinds took even longer, so we’re in for the long haul on teaching him not to hit. One day at a time…

The source of Theo not feeling well is yet another cold, which has turned into a second case of croup. He got sick right around Thanksgiving and it turned into croup (and he was kind enough to pass it to Chris and I…Chris is now over it, and I am still coughing and congested after a month--blah!). He was nearly over it after about three and a half weeks…and then several days ago, it seemed to come back. His nose started running again, and he was coughing so hard he couldn’t sleep. So, I took him into the doctor on Friday, just to be safe, and Dr. G was able to diagnose it as a second cold that came in on the tail of the first one…and, like the first one, turned into croup. She gave him a dose of medicine in the office that is supposed to ease the swelling in his airways for two to three days so he can sleep, and indeed it seems to have helped. In theory, by the time it wears off, he should be on the mend, though she said we should expect the cold to last for up to two weeks. Joy.

I guess that is the potential downside to taking Theo out and about a lot--he is indeed exposed to colds. But we figure that in the long run, the socialization is more benefit than the colds are a negative. Besides, I personally think some kids are just more prone to picking up colds than others. I know moms who keep their kids primarily at home, and they still get sick…and I know moms who take their kids all over, and they don’t get sick. So, really, I think it’s all a crapshoot anyway.

A sort of “home remedy” for croup, according to our doctor, is getting Theo out in the cold air, as it, too, tends to relieve the swelling that croup causes in the airways. With that in mind, we went out to see Christmas lights again on Saturday. We went to the same street as last week, but this time there were a lot more people out. It was really fun to see everyone out enjoying the lights, and Theo scored a little stuffed moose from a neighborhood person who was passing out tiny toys to all the kids. Luna also scored a squeaky ball from a house that was giving away dog toys in exchange for donations to two animal charities. I’m a sucker for animal charities, so of course we had to stop.

Sunday we ventured out again in the cool weather--this time to meet Auntie Lisa and Uncle Chris. They’re driving to Santa Cruz (from Seattle) to spend Christmas with Lisa’s family, and they were passing through Sacramento on their way. So, we met them for lunch at a little Greek restaurant we like. We’ll be seeing them again on Wednesday (in Santa Cruz, for our annual Christmas brunch), but we never miss a chance to see them when they’re passing so close by! Theo helped Auntie Lisa clean her plate of her remaining orzo salad--he’s starting to experiment with using a fork, which he thought was great fun to drag across her plate (causing Lisa to wince at the scrape-scrape of the fork against the porcelain!).

After lunch, we stopped at the zoo for Theo to get some outside running-around-in-the-cold time. He took a ride on the carousel with Daddy, and he was also VERY fond of the hyena, who is rarely out when we go to the zoo. In fact, many of the normally reclusive animals were out and about this time--the zebras, the hyena, the tiger, the lions. It was quite a good time to visit, and we enjoyed an hour there before Theo decided to smack Daddy in the face, which resulted in us going home. (Eventually Theo will figure out this whole consequences thing…)

And in the evening, Auntie Jeanette stopped by to exchange Christmas presents with us. Theo got a stuffed monkey, which he promptly hugged happily, and a really neat book of life-size animal pictures. Thanks, Auntie Jeanette!

As for us, this week has been a lot of work. I’m taking most of next week off, and I’m editing a book that has 52 authors right now. So, I was determined to get all 52 chapters off my plate before taking a week off…and I’m happy to say, I did it! I have another giant (very dull) book coming in right after Christmas, so I needed to get this one well underway before taking time off. Chris, too, has the next week off, so he put in a lot of hours this past week as well. We are really going to appreciate having some time off, methinks!

We did have one quite funny incident this week. Theo had been whining at me all morning one day early this week, and I rejoiced when it was finally time for his nap. As I was making his bottle, it suddenly got very quiet. Too quiet. Where was the whining? I turned around to see Theo sitting at the edge of the pantry in a giant pile of uncooked barley, with Luna happily eating it. Apparently, either we didn’t seal the Ziploc bag well or Theo can now open Ziploc bags…and thus, uncooked barley was everywhere. I had to laugh…thank goodness for our nice vacuum, which sucked up all that barley without so much as a hiccup!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas--or, for those who don’t celebrate Christmas, a lovely week in any case! We’re off to San Jose on Tuesday to spend a few days with Chris’s family (along with our jaunt to Santa Cruz to visit Auntie Lisa and Uncle Chris), but we’ll be back home Christmas Eve night…in time to sit up late building Theo’s main Christmas present--a play kitchen. Wish us luck!