The Small Family     

Happy May Day, everyone! We’ve kicked off May with lovely, warm weather--although I have to say, the wind has been brutal on allergies. Theo and Chris are both suffering; oddly, mine were far worse a few weeks ago. We must be allergic to different things.

For me, this was a week of work, work, work, and more work. The main publisher I work for has their fiscal-year end coming up, so that means crazy deadlines. But, I will be thankful when the invoices get paid…even though my brain is a fried mess at the moment!

One thing of note from this week was Theo’s three-year well-child checkup! I was curious to see his stats, as I always am. I had him figured for moderately tall and very thin. I was right on the very thin part, but not the moderately tall part. Our little guy weighs 30 pounds, putting him in the 29th percentile for weight, and he’s a mere 36 inches tall, putting him in the 14th percentile! Surprising, given that he’s usually been semi-tall and was a fairly big baby. Go figure--I guess birth weights don’t really mean much, eh?

You would think, perhaps, that the boy isn’t eating, but that is far from the case. He continues to be, for the most part, a terrific eater! He goes through phases where he’ll have a few picky days or a picky week here and there, but in general, he’s a very good eater. That kid can put away a plate of asparagus faster than you’d believe--I should probably find some sort of asparagus-eating contest to enter him in (ha!).

Evidently, his BMI (body-mass index) is absolutely perfect, so his pediatrician was very happy about that. He’s just a small, slender little guy.

She was also really impressed that he completed the eye exam. I guess it’s standard procedure to have the three-year-olds read an eye chart, but she said most of them don’t really get it. Theo whizzed through his, though. The nurse told him it was a game, and he does love his games, so that lured him in right there!

Overall, he got a great report. Dr. G was impressed by his language/verbal skills, and she was quite amused by some of the things he said while in her office. At one point, she needed to look in his ears with that little light thingy. (I should know the name of it, but I don’t--you know, what I mean, though. The little tool with the light on the end that they use to look at your eyes, ears, and so on.) Theo did not want her putting that in his ear, so when she said, “I’m just going to look in your ear with this!” he replied, “Look at leg instead.” Ha--that’s my boy! She got a laugh out of his persistence, too, when I was telling her about just how determined he is to make sure everyone around has understood his point when he has something on his mind. Dr. G has two boys of her own, so I suspect this is all too familiar to her!

Theo always seems to have some sort of achievement when he’s in the doctor’s office. One of my favorite memories of him as a baby was at his two-month appointment. He was on the exam table, and I mentioned to Dr. G that I was pretty sure he was rolling over, as I had put him down on his back and found him on his tummy a couple of times. She replied, “Oh, he’s really too young to be…” and literally RIGHT as she said that, Theo flipped from his back to his tummy, and she finished her sentence with, “Well, okay, I guess you can roll!” It made me laugh because it was like Theo was saying, “Oh, give me a break, lady--I certainly can roll! Let me just show you....”

Anyway, this time his achievement was surprising us by reading the words “on” and “off.” We know he can sight-read a number of different words, but we weren’t aware he knew on and off.  There was a baby scale in the room, and on the front were five buttons--all round, brown, nondescript buttons with nothing identifying on them except words in a plain font. In other words, the off button didn’t have a stop sign to identify it as an off button, nor was it red to indicate off. It was just a plain, round, brown button with text on it. Next to it were three other similar buttons, and then on the other end of the scale was a similar button that said “on.” Theo walked up to the scale, pointed to the off button, and announced, “That says off!” Rather surprised, we pointed to another button and said, “What does that one say?” He just looked at us blankly (it said “tare,” I think--obviously not a word he would know). Then we pointed to the on button and said, “What does this one say?” and he replied, “On.” Well, duh, Mom and Dad…of course I can read those…. The toddler mind just amazes me….

Speaking of the toddler mind, I’m having so much fun finding out what’s on Theo’s mind these days, because it’s just a crazy cornucopia of information and ideas. On Saturday, I was driving to the gym with him in the car, and he was playing with a toy that talks to him. It said, “My best friend is Violet! Who’s your best friend, Theo?” So I chimed in and said, “Do you have a best friend?” Theo replied, “Yes,” so I followed up with, “Who’s your best friend?” I expected him to say “Mommy” or “Daddy” or “Luna” or something, but he replied very matter-of-factly, “Grandpa Steve.” Interesting! I can’t say that we talk about my Dad a whole lot, though we do have a picture of him up in the hallway, and Theo knows that’s Grandpa Steve. And I’ve told him before, “You have two grandmas--Grandma Kathy and Grandma Diane. And you have two grandpas--Grandpa Tom and Grandpa Steve. Grandpa Tom is here for you to see, but Grandpa Steve is up in heaven, like a star, and he watches over you.” Obviously a concept he’s probably not going to get, but I do like to keep in his mind that he does indeed have two grandpas--even if he only gets to meet one of them. Anyway, I didn’t think he really thought much about it, but he must’ve had Grandpa Steve on his mind or something.  It was pretty cool. :-)

Another neat thing this week was Luna’s birthday. My sweet puggie turned eight on Friday, so when Theo woke up, I said, “Hey, guess what? It’s Luna’s birthday today!” He immediately said, “Get Luna a present!” so I told him we might go to Target later and pick one out. He said, “Get Zoe present, too!” I agreed that it was a good idea to get something for Zoe so that she didn’t feel left out. I thought he might forget the idea, but no--all day long, he brought it up several times. So in the evening, after dinner, we went over to Target to pick out a birthday present for Luna. I suggested a bone, and of course Theo pointed to the ultra-gourmet, ultra-expensive dog bones! $17 per pack--um, I love my dogs, but I don't think so! Luckily, I was able to steer him to the much more economical brand. :-) (As an added bonus, the dogs now have better breath, as they were dental bones!)

It was a beautiful weekend, so we drove to Napa on Saturday. Theo’s favorite kids’ museum had open play day, so we spent a couple of hours there before heading over to the Oxbow Market for a yummy lunch of Peruvian food and Kara’s cupcakes. Mmmm….

Sunday morning, after a walk to the park for some playtime, we decided to embark on a new adventure with Theo: his first movie! He enjoys watching shows at home, but they are only 20 minutes long, and he gets a maximum of two per day. So we weren’t sure whether a 90-minute movie would hold his interest. But, I’d heard that Rio was a great animated movie for any age, and Theo has been asking to go to the movies for months, so we decided to give it a shot. I’ve been priming him for months on this--every time he asks to go to the movie theater, I tell him, “When you’re a big boy and can sit very quietly and watch, then we’ll go. Because you have to be very quiet in a movie theater.” And what do you know--the kiddo did it! He got a little nervous during a few chase scenes where poachers were trying to catch the birds, but it was nothing too scary, so I don’t think it freaked him out too much. And he loved the birds and the music. It’s set in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival, so there are lots of bright colors and lively music. Theo was cracking us up when he started dancing in his seat to a samba number! And then the love song in the movie turned out to be Lionel Richie’s “Say You, Say Me” (remember that from the 1980s??), and Theo was samba-dancing to that, too. Ha! We also found out that he loves popcorn. I think he ate his body weight in popcorn….

Speaking of music and dancing, the more I watch my kid, the more I realize that in a year or so, music lessons are a must. He loves music. Not just in a “little kid dances to everything” kind of way--he actually seems to have specific tastes and picks out specific beats. He has several children’s CDs that he likes, but he seems to like adult music just as well. Several times a day, he’ll turn on our clock radios, tune them to a station of his choosing, and listen intently. Sometimes he’ll dance, sometimes he’ll talk about the music, and sometimes he’ll just listen. But any time, he seems transfixed. Oddly, he is particularly fond of female pop stars (Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Pink are some of his favs), 1970s funk, classical, and mariachi. Now, I do like some of the stuff by the pop stars and I do like classical, so I suppose it’s no surprise that he might pick up on that from me. But I can’t say I’m a 1970s funk fan, nor am I a mariachi fan. Chris isn’t, either, so don’t ask me where he got that from.

At the gym playcare, they’ve mentioned to me several times how intently he listens to music when he’s there, and I have noticed him really studying the CD player or radio when he listens. And lately, he’s more often picking up one of his instruments to play along with his own singing. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s really listening to the patterns in the music and wondering how to put them together on his own. When he’s a bit older, I think he might find it really cool to learn how to play songs on his own, so I’ll be looking around for some music lessons for young children. We tried a mommy-and-me music class over a year ago that was a bust, but I think something like that might be better received now. He’ll get some music education in preschool, but I think he might enjoy an outside class, too. Hmmm, I shall have to be on the lookout for a good one.

Anyway, that pretty much wraps up our week. Hope you all had a wonderful May Day!