Free-Range Baby

He's SUCH a boy.

2007-09-12T21:05:38Z

Dermot has had some gas lately. Actually, lots of gas.

He thinks that's the funniest thing ever.

At least we have some warning. After an episode, he'll look at us impishly and announce, "STINKY!" And then he laughs and laughs... Sometimes he'll try to force another one out.

He's a boy, that's for sure.

Some startling discoveries today

2007-09-10T19:23:22Z

I spent much of today thus far pairing socks. That's just because I have such a thrilling life. Most of the socks were not my socks. I keep mine paired as much as possible, because what cold-footed masochist wants to hunt down a pair of socks from a jumbled mishmash of foot coverings?

My husband, that's who. The same husband who is always complaining that he doesn't have enough socks. Well. At least now I know why. (Although... why exactly did we "have to" buy half a dozen more socks for him just a couple of weeks ago? He SWORE he needed them!) He likes his socks spread out. I found three separate drawers each containing an assortment of his unmatched socks (as well as various underwear and pajamas... oh, and two randomly selected shirts).

I have been in purge mode the last couple of days, partly because the place needs it, and partly because I have recently learned that we face an impending move. Not terribly "impending," mind you, but likely to occur while I am with newborn and don't exactly have the time or energy to sort, purge, pack, move, unpack, organize, and settle. So the sort, purge, pack is going to have to happen before Niblet arrives. Still, we weren't especially hoping or planning to move for at least another couple of years, so this was an unpleasant surprise. Anyhoo, I figured now is a good time to start going through our mounds of crap, some of which came with the house when we moved in, and some of which is actually ours.

I started with the bedroom, because there are three of us sleeping and dressing in there, it's a small room, and there's just way too much stuff in it. Plus, I had just done a whack of laundry last night and needed somewhere to put it. So, interesting trivia from my husband's dresser:

He could throw out socks as he wears them for the next THREE MONTHS and still have plenty of socks--and that's after I tossed out the ones with holes or stains.
He could do the same with underwear for a month.
He has more clothes than Dermot and I have PUT TOGETHER including my maternity wardrobe and my off-season clothes which are currently stored in bins.
He is the reason we have no space in our bedroom.

He is also the reason he can never find the item of clothing he is looking for, resulting in the purchase of additional clothing items which he can never find when he wants them. He is not allowed to complain of any lack of clothing for at least three years, because unless the house burns to the ground and takes all his clothes with it that will just be impossible. Yes, honey, you heard me. THREE YEARS. AND DON'T YOU DARE BURN DOWN THE HOUSE.

Another interesting discovery: MY clothes. Which were hidden among his clothes, in drawers and piles and in his closet. So THAT'S what happened to that top I haven't been able to find. THAT'S why I was having so much trouble pairing the few of my socks which were missing mates.

On a positive note, I found some things that I thought were were lost forever, and, despite the fact that I won't be able to wear them for many months (excluding the socks; I hope I'll continue to fit into the socks!), it's still a good feeling.

I know there's more in his closet, but I haven't ventured very far in there yet.

Oh dear.

2007-08-31T16:35:23Z

Well, it looks like I took too long blogging the bananas. When I went back up, I found him sampling some chocolate chips he had maneuvered down from the kitchen counter and pulled from a hole he poked in the bag (I'm about to make some chocolate chip cookies because I am a weak, weak woman).

Me: Oh, Dermot, you can't eat those! Those make you sick.

(That's kind of a lie, since he has never gotten sick from eating chocolate the several times he has managed to sneak some, but it's a risky food for this little boy and I don't want him unable to eat chocolate when it would really matter to him.)

Dermot: *heartbreaking little eyes welling up with tears, pointing at the bag* Mommy Daddy eat it.

(He has seen us both munching on those infernal chips for a quick chocolate fix lately.)

Me: *realizing I'm caught in a double-standard that I have to explain to a two-year-old* Yes, honey, Mommy and Daddy can eat it because it doesn't make us sick. Someday when you're bigger, it won't make you sick and you can have some too, okay?

Dermot: *cries*

Me: *wants to crawl under a rock*

I hate having to treat food this way with him. I hate having to fear the possible effects of a random exposure or a newly developed reaction to a formerly safe food. I hate that his list of absolutely forbidden foods keeps growing. Sigh. My life as a mommy to an allergic little boy. Sometimes it really sucks.

A few minutes ago.

2007-08-31T16:14:11Z

Dermot is on his second banana while watching Thomas the Tank Engine so I can be downstairs for a few minutes and take care of some laundry. Lemme back up and try to do this coherently...

First thing this morning, Dermot asked for a banana, except that we went back to sleep for most of the morning, which was awesome and I gotta figure out how to get him to do that more because I really needed it! So when we got up, I gave him a banana, set him up with some Thomas, and came downstairs to take care of laundry and sundry. While I was down here, I heard the (rather heavy) fruit bowl being moved from its usual location, and realized that he was going for the last banana. No problem, but I don't want him breaking his foot or shattering glass all over the floor, so I ran up to help him. No need, he had everything well in hand. The bowl was already safely on the floor by the time I arrived.

But where was his other banana? I went looking for it, but there was no sign of it anywhere. So I asked Dermot. "Where's your banana?"

"Table," he said, pointing to the coffee table. (He had left it on the coffee table earlier so that he could use the toilet.)

"But it isn't there, honey. Where did you put it when you were done with it?" I am imagining smooshed banana between the couch cushions or something equally terrible.

"Garbage." (Okay, so it sounds more like "gahbag," he's two, remember.)

"You put the banana in the garbage? The banana or just the peel?"

"Dut peel."

We walk into the kitchen and check. Sure enough, banana peel in the garbage. So despite his earlier requests for banana pops, which I hadn't made yet, I acquiesced and gave him the second banana before returning to the basement. Moments later I heard the familiar sound of the garbage lid in the kitchen.

"Dermot, are you done with your banana already?"

"No, garbage."

"Are you putting your banana in the garbage?"

"No."

Confused, I join him at the garbage can, thinking he is discarding perfectly good banana or something. Nope, he's just peeling the rest of his banana so he can eat it without any trouble. Just the peel in the garbage can, edible portion safely in his hand.

When did he get so grown up? Where's my baby boy?!?

So cute.

2007-08-16T00:06:48Z

Dermot likes to greet Daddy at the front window when he gets home from work (then he runs to the door and yells, "SURPRISE!" as Daddy walks in).

So today Daddy got home while Dermot was in the middle of eating a (rice) tortilla, one of his all-time favourite foods. As usual, Dermot opened the window so he could call to Daddy before he was even out of the car. "Hi Daddy! Hello! Lello Daddy!" ("lello" is "love you" in Dermot-speak). He then realized he had run out of tortilla, so he held up one finger and called out, "One mimmick, more tia!" ("One minute, more tortilla!"). Then he ran back to his plate, grabbed another piece of tortilla, and returned to the window to show Daddy.

I had never heard him use that phrase before (though I know where he got it; I use it plenty), and the finger-holding-up was the best part. I couldn't stop laughing. Too funny.

(And as I have not been posting, there is much, much more. But I'll get to it.)

An exciting night last night.

2007-04-03T16:30:43Z

This is Dermot.

This is Dermot having an allergic reaction.

(The yellow bruises are a separate, less harrowing drama.)

Any questions?

A New Dilemma

2007-03-16T01:49:32Z

Pottying-related, to forewarn you.

Dermot has been putting almost all of his pees and some of his poops in the potty for the last couple of weeks. If we have a miss, it's usually poop and he informs me of it immediately (thanks, kiddo!). The last time we had a miss at night was...at least a month ago, maybe six weeks (though to be honest he has always been very clear about signalling at night and we'd been at about a miss a month for a while). The last time he used training pants was over a week ago while we were out visiting. At home during the day, he's usually either nakey-butt or in little undies or commando under pants to facilitate easy pottying (still nakey-butt at night). Which is working out great. We've even had him in undies to go out to run errands, without incident.

This has all been precipitated by a recent and unforeseen change in his potty rhythms, wherein his potty intervals increased dramatically and overnight. Now even when I'm busy or distracted, I can remind him before it's too late or find a suitable break in his activities during which he can potty. We've been much more in sync the past couple of months, and it's only getting better.

So all is well in pottyland. Wherein may lie our problem. We're going to be away from home for the weekend at a wedding, thus departing pottyland for a while. That means he won't be able to run around nakey-butt, and we're not sure about the undies. I think actually Brian is more nervous than I am, but I don't want to send any mixed signals to Dermot. I want him to know that I trust him to go potty when he has to.

What to do? Bring a supply of undies and extra pants and hope for the best? Bring training pants again? A happy dilemma. And one I'm sure will be solved by doing a bit of both. But the undies are much, much cuter.

My little pro-star, part 2 -- The proof

2007-02-18T06:31:45Z

Got the pics from my brother. The first set is from December 9th, his second day having skates. By this point, he was able to walk on them and do a little stick-handling. He also learned how to get up by himself when he fell down. This was a Christmas get-together with extended family.

Then we had our Christmas with my mom and brother on New Year's Day, and we went out skating together at City Hall. Here are some pictures of our outing. This was, if memory serves, the third time he had been on ice in the skates.

His biggest accomplishment that day was standing for about three seconds on his own. He also managed to glide a bit while being pulled. That was it. Mostly a lot of falling down and slipping all over the place.

So, it had been six weeks since Dermot was last on skates on ice. With the abandonment of our backyard rink, it took much longer than we had realized to go out skating again. As it turns out, however, our neighbour (the former mayor) very kindly offered his own backyard rink to use. We went out today (er, yesterday--and I should be in bed!), with rather shocking results.

I don't know, maybe he's been secretly taking lessons or something. At first, we did the holding his hands, pulling him around thing. It worked about as well as it had the last time. We tried a skating sled. He wasn't a fan. He kept trying to let go of my hand as I supported him, so finally I let him try on his own. There was a lot of falling down, to be sure. Then, there was a lot of...not falling down. And some movement forward. And some movement backward. And some pivoting and turning. And some playing with a stick and a puck. All. By. Himself.

It finally occurred to me to grab the camera and record some of it, but the batteries were almost out of juice, so I didn't get much.

Trying out the sled...

Standing by himself...

And a little stick-handling...

Take that, Brad.

I may still get to uploading some video. Right now I'm off to bed!

Dermot's signs.

2007-02-18T04:53:21Z

And, as promised, the list of signs.

Italics indicate signs learned since 15 months. Roughly in the order he acquired them.

Dermot's signs at 18 months (current)

Everyday signs: more, potty, medicine, help (two versions), hear, all done, circulation fan, illumination light, all gone, bed, wash, gentle, want, home, again, brush teeth, like ("enjoy"), poopoo, where, fire, wait, awake, good, don't like, sleep, shower, night, work, day, sun, moon, peepee, stars, glasses, mail, nice, day, comb hair, now, today, soap, blanket, house, backyard, bandage, pinch, button, pray, morning

Opposites, etc.: up, down, hot, cold, warm, clean, dirty, big, little, smelly, out, in, wet, go, stop, dry, yes, no

People: baby, Daddy, boy, girl, Grandma, child/children, Mommy, Grandpa, adult, friend, cousins, I/me, you, my, family, Don Cherry

Clothing: shoes, hat, sweater, coat, socks, shirt, diaper, pants, boots, gloves, helmet, zipper

Body parts: teeth, ear, eye, nose, hair, feet, moustache, penis (by way of explanation, it's the same as peepee "urine")

Food: milk, eat, water, banana, cracker, apple, pear, juice, meat, delicious, chicken, cook, soup, pickle, cookie, grapes, rice, noodles, peach, cup, spoon, hungry, thirsty, cake, pie, full, fork, egg, melon/squash, bread, cheese, ice cream, candy, cereal, carrot, bean, potato, orange, pizza, corn, sour, bowl, wine, honey, lettuce, fruit, raisin, vegetable

Play and Activities: ball, book, train, boat, bath, swing, flag, telephone, car, airplane, drums, read, crayon, colour, fun, funny, play, swim, music, sing, truck, motorcycle, hockey, block, balloon, dance, draw, hit, computer, clown, key, walk, bike, bus, your turn, doll, football, my turn, camera, stick (hockey stick), spin, game, share, piano, skates/skating, explore, jump, puppet, keyboard, harmonica, fall, run, puzzle, magazine

Outdoors: flower, stone, rain, thunder, tree, leaf, wind, snow, grass, forest, path/trail, stream, bridge, cloud

Social niceties: hello, goodbye, please, thank you, you're welcome, sorry, kiss, hug, I love you, polite

Feelings and Sensations: hurt, scared, angry, excited, sick, happy, silly, surprised, sad, cry, frustrated, tired, laugh, love, feeling, itchy, disappointed, annoyed, burn, dizzy, wow

Colours etc.: red, green, orange, yellow, blue, rainbow, purple, colours, black, white, brown, pink, dark

Creatures: dog (two versions), fish, bird, mouse, cat, cow, frog, butterfly, giraffe, snake, monster, monkey, duck, bear, horse, pig, bug, turtle, rabbit, elephant, bee, tiger, dinosaur, squirrel, donkey, puppy, ape/gorilla, rhinoceros, lion, fox, hippopotamos, penguin, kangaroo, turkey, goat, moose, zebra, deer, rooster, porcupine, raccoon, wolf, bat, panda, seal, eagle, shrimp, camel, crocodile, owl, farm, mosquito, animal, crab, shark, starfish, spider, skunk, fly (fingerspelling), worm, caterpillar, octopus, lizard

Other: signing, time, "A," "L," "Z," smart, shelf, library, 1, 2, 3, 5, know, sneeze, together, great, beautiful, 4, 10, screwdriver, electric, "B," "D," "G," "R," "T," "W," "X," "O," "F," "Y," 6, "C," "E"

Dermot-speak

2007-02-18T04:34:45Z

As promised, here is a (mostly up-to-date) relatively alphabetized list of Dermot's words, for those who would like to understand him when he is speaking (that's mostly you, Mom--you forgot your copy on Thursday).

Dermot's Word Dictionary

"aww"
"aa-uh" (apple)
"baaa" (bath)
"baa-baa" (sheep)
"baa-buh" (blanket)
"baa-buh" or "bam-puh" or "baa-puh" (grandpa)
"baa-duh" (panda)
"bah-bah" (bottle; not baby bottle)
"bah-bah-wah-wah" (bottle of water)
"bah-boo" (balloon)
"bahw" (ball)
"bahw-bahw" or "foo[t]-bahw" (football)
"bak" (stop)
"bat" or "baa" (bat)
"baw-baw" (toboggan)
"bay-bee" (baby)
"Bay-bee" or "bay-wee"(Bailey)
"bayw" or "bay" (bear)
"bee" or "beek" (peach)
"bee" or "bin" (spin)
"bee-bee" (peepee)
"bee-boo" (peekaboo)
"beh-buh" (bellybutton)
"biiiiiii" (big)
"bock" (box)
"boe" (boat)
"boo" (blue)
"boo" (boot)
"boo" or "bay-boo" (caboose)
"boo" (spoon)
"boo-bay" (blueberry)
"book"
"bop" (pop—the sound)
"bo-w" (bowl)
"buck" (puck)
"buh" (cup)
"buh-boe" (bubble)
"buh-boo" (caboose)
"buh-boo" (peepee)
"buh-boo" (Zaboomafoo)
"buh-boo" or "puh-boo" (computer)
"buh-bo-w" or "buh-poe" (apple)
"buh-buck" (buckle)
"buh-buh" or "buh-buck" (button)
"buh-buh" (buzzer)
"bwah" (block)
"BYE!" (surprise)
"bye-buh" or "buh-bye" (butterfly)
"bye-bye"
"daaaa" (towel)
"daaaaw" (star)
"daa-duh" (tractor)
"daahk" (dark)
"dah" (down)
"dada"
"dan-duhw" (candle)
"day" (game)
"day" (train)
"dee" (green)
"dee" or "day" (stairs)
"dee-dee" (dizzy)
"dee-dee" (DVD)
"deh" or "ah-deh" (again)
"der-der" or "der-doo" (Dermot)
"dick" ([hockey] stick)
"did-dick" or "did-doe" (tickle)
"dide" (time)
"DOE!" (go)
"dog"
"doo" (shoe)
"doo" (stool)
"doo" (two)
"druck" or "ruck" (truck)
"du-doke" or "day-doke" (sudoku)
"duck"
"dude" (Dude)
"duh" (all done)
"duh-der" or "duh-doo" (other side)
"duh-dog" (doggie)
"eee" (eat)
"eee" (ear)
"eye"
"fa-wa" (flower)
"go" (goal)
"gug-guk" (cookie)
"guk" (skunk)
"guk" (clock)
"haw-aw" (hockey)
"hah" (hot)
"hi"
"huh-hoe" (you're welcome)
"I"
"maa-men" (amen)
"maa-muh" (grandma)
"mama"
"mao" (mouth)
"me"
"mee" (meat)
"mee," "mee-mee," or "moo-muh" (music—specifically Animusic)
"meow" (cat, cat says)
"mimic" (milkies)
"min-na-noe" or "na-noe" (piano)
"mnah mnah" (doo dooo doo doodoo)
"mo" (remote control)
"moo" (cow)
"moo" (moon)
"moo" (moose)
"muh" (milk)
"muh" or "mwuh" (more)
"muh" (mouse)
"Mye" (Mike)
"Nana"
"nana" (banana)
"naw" (now)
"naw" (snot)
"nee" (neat)
"nee" (sneeze)
"neeee" (airplane)
"neh-nuh" or "meh-nuh" (medicine)
"nnoe" (snow)
"no"
"noe" (nose)
"nuh-noe" (snowman)
"noo-noo" (noodles)
"num num" (yummy)
"nye" (night) and also
"nye-nye" (night-night)
"oo oo ah ah" (monkey says)
"ow"
"paw-baw" (potty)
"poopoo"
"puh" (up)
"pwee" or "bee" (please)
"tay-toe" (potato)
"uh-ha" (other)
"uh-ha" (all done)
"uh-oh"
"vraw-raw" (froggy)
"vuh-voe" (shovel)
"waaah" (draw)
"wah" ([wrist]watch)
"wah" or "vawk" (walk)
"wah-wah" (water)
"wee-wee" (really)
"weh" (red)
"weh-wee" (Eloise)
"woo-woo" (train says)
"wow"
"wraa" (giraffe)
"wrah" (rock)
"wray-vee" or "wray-wray" (raisin)
"wree" (three)
"wuh" (warm)
"wuh-wuh" (dog says)
"wye" or "wrye" (rice)
"yeah"
"yuh-wuh" (yellow)
"yum"
"zero"
<unreproducible noise> (rooster says)

A very late 18 month update.

2007-02-18T04:17:07Z

[It's about time I posted an update. I started this thing just before he turned 18 months because I knew it would take a while. And then it did. Hard to get this sort of thing done when my computer was tucked into a dark corner of Brian's (Dermot-free) computer room and I get 5-10 minutes a day of computer time. Pretend it's last month.]

So Derdoo is 18 (er, 19, but this is old information) months old. That's what he calls himself: Derdoo. So we sometimes call him that too.

I could never have imagined motherhood being so wonderful. Really, if I could get a guarantee that all my children would be just like Dermot I would greedily have a dozen more. Being his mother is fantastic. I could not have wished for a more likeable, more affectionate, more sensitive, brighter, more curious, more intense, or more energetic son. He is so eager to share his world with me. I feel incredibly blessed.

So what's new in his life…Nana (Brian's mother) lives with us now, and her dog Bailey. Dermot likes that a lot. Dermot is in love with the dog. He runs around after him calling, "Bay-beeee! Bay-BEEEEE!" (He can't pronounce Bailey, so that's as close as he manages most of the time). Many mornings the first thing he wants to do is go see the dog. He loves to give Bailey his "cookies" (dog biscuits) and even has an ultra-cute "cookie dance" for the occasion. Actually, it closely resembles a "peepee dance," except he's signing "cookie" while he does it.

Dermot's getting very used to having a dog, and to having Nana around. (Nana also came with some fishies, which are an occasional attraction, but nothing like the dog.) There are some things that we have to figure out as they come up, but that's to be expected. The one thing that very quickly showed itself to be problematic was that Dermot is allergic to Bailey.

At first MIL brushed off the possibility that he was reacting to the dog. As it turns out, however, he was reacting to Bailey, breaking out in itchy hives and redness upon contact with the dog, mucous membranes all aflame, eyes tearing, chasing the dog around saying, "Hi. Hi.… Hi. Duh-dog. Duh-dog-duh-dog-duh-dog! Hi. Hi. Bay-BEEEEEE! Hi." He loves to hug the dog, and pet the dog, and hit the dog in the head with one of his many hockey sticks. My son is obsessed with Bailey. Ob. Sessed. And it turns out that regular and thorough grooming sessions have made a world of difference for the allergies.

Then one day I found Dermot fresh off playing with Bailey's dog food and my heart stopped (but only for a moment—I'm fine) because dog food is nearly always made with corn, wheat, and soy. But the main thing was corn. Corn is Dermot's worst allergy. For safety's sake I prohibited the leaving of kibble for Bailey while Dermot was awake.

Also, Dermot has sampled all of Bailey's treats, some of which were Dermot-safe because Brian and I purchased them right after MIL moved in. One of the things I had specifically prohibited, though, was Milkbones and Milkbone-like treats, due to their corn content in particular, and the wheat and dairy and soy besides. Nevertheless, only minutes after telling MIL that Dermot could not touch—TOUCH—those particular treats, I discovered Dermot and Bailey amid a sea of Milkbones, as the boy was scarfing one down himself. I don't know whether it instantaneously slipped her mind or whether perhaps she felt that leaving the bin tucked away in a little-used corner would be sufficient to deter Dermot from getting into them (deter? Dermot knows no such word!).

And then while I was trying to rinse his face and mouth out in the sink (which Dermot DID NOT LIKE), he was jerking around and flailing and cut his ear on the faucet. And of course because he was having a fit at the time, where was all of the blood in his little body? Concentrated in his ears, of course. You'd have thought his jugular had been cut.

Okay, so that's hyperbole.

And there I am trying not to freak out because Dermot just ingested like FOUR things his body can't tolerate, AND he's bleeding all over the place, and screaming about it, and yeah. Not good. It healed up quickly, to set your mind (and mine!) at ease. Of course, for the next few days I missed about 90% of his pees, which were frequent and unannounced (that would be the wheat talking). And oh the rashes. My poor little guy. He's fine now, though. His legs are almost free of the scaliness.

So the dog is causing some trouble here lately, through no fault of his own. Also, the once well-behaved dog who stayed on the property and played in the stream (now verboten because he has been getting sick after playing in the stream) and chewed own-business-mindingly on his tennis balls, is fond of traveling hither and yon through the neighbourhood. And barking. For no reason. When he is chained. (So that he does not run hither and yon through the neighbourhood.)

My MIL sleeps during the day. The barking wakes her. Funny thing, too, she keeps saying that he never barks unless he has a reason to bark. Either she is mistaken about her dog or Bailey thinks that being outside is a reason to bark. I suspect the latter. He also barks inside at night (although reservedly) when he hears a train coming, which is, oh, about every half hour or so some days. I'm hoping he'll get used to the trains. Or we just got ourselves a handy-dandy chiming dog/grandfather clock.

Anyway, that's the new living situation. For the most part it's working pretty well. There have been mornings when Nana has spent time with Dermot so that I could get a little extra sleep or get things done. It's nice having her around, and her schedule makes it seem like she just visits every morning after she gets home from work, because she sleeps the rest of the day. And she sleeps soundly enough that Dermot doesn't have to be mouse-quiet all the time.

As for elimination communication (or "expulsion monitoring" as one friend coined when he couldn't remember the phrase…makes me laugh every time I think about it), we took some giant steps backward with the pottying after my father died. For one thing, I ended up way too tired to potty him at night and, for another, we were away from home so much that I ended up using disposable diapers now and then. They're not my thing; I much prefer cloth. Besides that, though, they are not conducive to elimination communication. I seriously wish we had just stuck it out with the training pants the whole time and never even looked at disposables. I got completely out of sync with Dermot's elimination patterns and we ended up missing over and over. To the point that we managed to move backward by a few months. There were other factors too, of course, but the sposies did not help.

Nevertheless, with a conscientious effort to get back in sync with the boy, we have made up the gap and we're about where we were at the beginning of November. He takes himself to the potty sometimes, other times he'll ask for help. But only for pee. Of course, we miss when both of us are distracted with other things.

The only thing that has been consistent, with the exception of a lapse shortly after Dad died when I didn't have the wherewithal to wake up at night, is his night pottying. He is a dry, dry boy at night. He still has to pee, but only one or two times a night now (YAY for longer sleep!) and it's really not a huge imposition.

He doesn't want to poop in the potty, despite knowing that's where poopoo goes (he'll tell you--just ask!). I'm not sure why, but in the meantime we're just waiting until he decides he wants to do it our way. Every now and then he'll warn me of an impending poopoo, but when I get him over the toilet he changes his mind (only to poop himself minutes later). Sometimes he pushes out part of a poop before calling it quits. I'm trying not to let it disturb me. It's just a matter of time.

Oh yes, also. He is in that random yes/no phase where he usually means what he's saying, but sometimes not so much. Sometimes "no" means "it's not at the top of my priority list, Mom." So I'm trying to get myself out of the habit of asking whether he'd like to go to the potty. Now, he has a choice of potties, or occasionally I'll just inform him that we're going. If he protests then, I know he's serious. Yay, a solution!

He keeps surprising us with new words. My mother and I were meeting up with my Great-Aunt to spend the day at St. Jacobs, so Dermot and I hitched a ride with Daddy on his way to work. As Brian was putting him into his carseat, Dermot started arching and wiggling out of the seat (as usual), so Brian put him back in and explained that he had to sit in his seat when he was in the car. The following conversation ensued:

Dermot: Buh-buck.

Brian: What?

Dermot: Buh-buck! Buh-buck!

Brian: You want your puck? Duck? Button? Potty? …

Dermot: *staring telepathically at Daddy* Buh-buck.

Brian: Can you sign it?

Dermot: *makes standard I-don't-know-the-sign-but-I'll-give-it-a-shot-because-you-asked sign* Buh-buck.

Brian: Uhhh… I don't know what that means.

Dermot: *continues staring telepathically at Daddy* Buh-buck! *lifts off of the seat and reaches for his bum*

Brian: Poopoo? You need to do a poopoo?

Dermot: *pointing at his own butt* Buh-buck. Buh-buck.

Can you guess? Dermot was sitting on the buckle. He had never before said the word (obviously we had said it to him), and we didn't even know he knew it, but there it was. Evidently it was sufficiently uncomfortable for him to mention it to Daddy. When Brian came in the house to help me carry some things out, he told me the story and we looked at each other with the how-did-he-know-that look which has become standard in our household. When the buckle was done up and we were underway, he pointed to it and identified it for us again. I asked (just to be sure that the story wasn't fabricated), "Dermot, what's this?" and "Dermot, where's the buckle?" Yep, the kid knew exactly what he was talking about. Then, for the first three minutes of our trip, from the back seat there was a steady stream of "Buh-buck! Buh-buck! Buh-buck!"

My favourite word of his, though, not because it's perfectly pronounced (indeed, quite the opposite), but because it's so cute, is "snowman." "Nuh-noe" with the O drawn way out and his little lips perfectly puckered into a tiny, tiny O-shape. Oh, it melts me every time. I go out of my way to show him snowmen just to hear him say it. His lips don't pucker much anymore, but it's still a precious, precious word.

His best pronounced words are simple things like "baby," "book," "dog," "Nana," "poopoo," "wow," "hi," "yeah," "no" and so on. There are probably about two dozen words that anyone would understand when he says them, but for the most part I still have to interpret for him, especially since many of his words are deceptively similar. For instance, Nana thinks he's calling her when he says, "neh-nuh" (medicine) or "nye-nye" (night-night) or "nana" (banana) because the pronunciation can sound really close to the untrained ear…which is basically any ear but mine or Brian's. Actually, the only difference between "nana" (banana) and "Nana" (Nana) is that he signs or points to a banana at the same time, so if you're not looking you may not know.

In a separate entry I'll post a cumulative list of his words so you can see what I mean when I talk about him talking. His pronunciation is very limited, but improving. He just got his K to a consistent level in the first couple of weeks of January. Generally he doesn't attempt words unless he thinks he can get close enough to be understood, but there are a few that aren't remotely like the signified item. It's so nice to be able to ask for a sign or, failing that, for him to point when we don't understand. He doesn't have a sign for all of the words he says, but there's a lot of very helpful overlap. Oh yeah, and I handily alphabetized the list so that it also serves as a Dermot-speak glossary for those times when we have trouble understanding him.

Of course I have to mention the signing (he recently came up with his own remarkably logical sign for "Don Cherry"). Skip over it if you're sick of hearing about it. I'll put his signs list into a separate post as well.

We hit a bit of a plateau with the signs for a month or so, mostly during the holiday rush when I didn't have as much time to devote to one-on-one communication with him, and after he had mastered and refined all of the signs taught on our first set of Signing Time DVDs. I carried our ASL dictionary around with us and we added a few new signs but nothing spectacular.

Then at the beginning of January he received two more sets of Signing Time DVDs as a Christmas gift (we had a late Christmas with my family because of work schedules). It's like I don't have to do anything but put in the DVD and watch the results. I can't say enough good things about the Signing Time DVDs. Cannot. The first three are good, but the six new volumes we got (Volumes 4-9) are fantastic. More songs, more music, more signs at a rate more suited to Dermot's level of comprehension and speed of acquisition (the first set was a little slow), just more of everything that makes them good. He LOVES them. Asks to watch them every day, and sits there soaking up the signs.

Signing Time not only massively increased his vocabulary in just a couple of weeks, but it also refined and polished many of his signs. Also, it's a fun and interesting way for adults to learn signs. There's a sign review feature on the DVDs which goes through all of the signs in about five minutes, the sign first done by a fluent signer, then a couple of examples of children performing the sign. I have always just watched through the episodes with Dermot, but for someone like Nana who will be spending plenty of time with Dermot without being up to speed on all the signs and who may not have time to sit through the whole thing with him, it's a very useful feature. (Nana has never used the feature, and I think she has sat through one of the DVDs so far. Nana is WAY behind on the signs thing, particularly for someone who lives with the boy.)

Anyway, I hadn't been keeping up with the signs list since my father passed away, so I spend a few days updating it and I was absolutely blown away by how many new signs he has acquired in the past three months. Also, just in the first two weeks of January he added close to 60 or 70 new signs, thanks largely to Signing Time.

Shockingly, however, the popularity of Signing Time in our household has been eclipsed by a new favourite show. Also for Christmas, we received both current volumes of Animusic. Had I not actually seen the animations and heard the music, it would not have been something to which I would pay much attention. I'm glad I was introduced to these DVDs, though, because they're complex and well-crafted and they're fascinating on so many levels. Which is a good thing, because we have a little addict who walks around requesting, nay, begging for, "mee mee" (music). And lest you think that just any music will do, as I unwittingly did, he means Animusic and ONLY Animusic. And he often means a specific volume of Animusic. The boy has opinions.

He comes up with some unbelieveable things, too. During my father's funeral service, Dermot was really quiet and low-key, which is not terribly surprising, but also not much in character with his normally energetic and excitable self. Anyway, toward the end of the service, Dermot started to get restless, so Brian and I passed him back and forth for a bit, then Brian let him stand on the floor and play with his fingers. At one point, Brian had his two index fingers pointed at Dermot and Dermot was going back and forth between them saying, "Dee. Boo. Dee. Boo. Dee. Boo…" I looked at him, wondering what in the world he was doing and suddenly realized.

I looked down at his shoes, and sure enough he was right. Dee and boo. Dermot's Robeez have a train ("dee") on one foot and a caboose ("boo") on the other. On our way to the reception I checked to see if I could replicate the results. Yep. Which means that in his own way, Dermot knows his left and right. He just doesn't call them that.

So that's a snapshot of Dermot's wonderfulness lately. Much of that information is a month or two old, but I'm saving more recent stuff in the hopes that I'll be able to post it in the next few weeks. Or, you know, whenever my life drastically changes and I get plenty of uninterrupted computer time again.

My little pro-star.

2007-02-10T05:51:36Z

I'm trying hard to finish up the 18 month update I started, uh, almost a month ago (almost there!), and I'm finding it long--too long to hit people with all at once. So I have decided to chop it up into smaller postings. Without further ado...

Dermot has an uncanny knack for skates, of which I should have written when it first appeared two months ago. My mom and I were out shopping December 8 and, on a whim, went into a sports store to see how small the skates came. The sales guy there was amused at our interest and suggested that it was probably premature to be putting a nearly 17 month old in skates. True enough. We put the smallest pair on Dermot just to see what the hockey-crazed toddler thought, though. He was delighted.

The sales guy (let's call him Brad, because I am certain that was not his name) opined that the skates were way too big for Dermot. Also true. Dermot did not care.

Brad pronounced authoritatively that unless my son's name was Wayne Gretzky, he would probably not be able to stand up in the skates, much less locomote. Meh to that, we said. Dermot stood wobbling on his skates while we held his hands.

"Wow, he's strong for his age," Brad said. "He's got really good balance."

"Yes," we said. Dermot took some very unsteady steps in the skates while we held his hands.

It's a good thing Brad was called away to another customer when he was, because he would have hit the floor (as both of our jaws did) when Dermot let go of us and took three or four steps on his own. We were just holding him back, is all. He needed some speed. Mom and I just looked at each other and stammered, "Did you see that? Did he really just...? Wow, that's...wow."

And then we went to take off his skates. Dermot protested, loudly and with kicking motions. In moderately sharp skates. Since we had nowhere to be and had only arbitrarily decided to leave, we figured we could give him a few more minutes in the skates. He was thrilled, the kind of thrilled that makes a mother's heart swell with pride. After a few more minutes of Dermot toddling precariously in the skates while he held our hands for balance, wobbling around, and falling down, we tried again to take the skates off. He still wasn't ready. He was also quite overdue for his nap. Our third attempt was successful, and Dermot good-naturedly deigned to have the skates removed.

Needless to say, we walked out of the store with an early Christmas gift for Dermot (and it was kind of a gift for his Daddy). His first few times on ice in skates were consumed with a toddler's fascination with the frictionless nature of skate blades on ice. He is starting to get the hang of standing and gliding with support, though.

And you should see him with a hockey stick and a puck (except that he pronounces stick with a d and puck with a breathy b, which makes for interesting looks from passersby when he notices such items while out in public). Be-skated or not, he is truly a force with which to be reckoned.

Brian is attempting a backyard rink, which would be finished were it not for the blizzardiness we've been experiencing. What we have right now is an inch of ice surface covered by two feet of snow. Dermot will be in his glory when he can have a little ice time every afternoon.

I'll post some pictures when I get them from my brother (he has all of the good ones). Maybe some video. We've got some decent video.

Thank you, friends.

2007-01-03T18:34:01Z

I have been avoiding that entry about my father for a while, and I'm sure some of you have felt that your comments were ignored. They were not. Actually, they were much-appreciated and my thanks is long overdue. Your kindness and sympathy have helped me through the past weeks. Just knowing that people cared enough to post replies meant so much to me. Thank you.

The holidays were strange this year. I had already bought some gifts by November, but all of them were for my father, bizarrely enough. He was always hard to buy for and then there was his birthday (tomorrow) following closely on the heels of Christmas, so I had planned ahead this year and looked for things early. How often do you think when you're buying a Christmas gift for someone that they won't be alive to receive it? I wish I had known to give him his gifts early. Or maybe just to space out the gift-giving throughout the year. Why wait for Christmas (or birthdays, or Father's Day, or Mother's Day, for that matter) at all? Life is so fragile.

And I'm upsetting myself now, so rather than being Captain Bring-Down for all of you too, I'll just sign off with the promise to return when I can keep it together a bit. Sound good?

Christmas and all that.

2006-12-27T15:02:05Z

I suppose it's time for me to get back on here. Christmas wasn't especially Christmas-y this year for me, partly because of the massive shortage of snow, partly because of preparing for my mother-in-law to move in with us, and no doubt mostly because of my father's death last month. So things have been relatively unfestive here. For those who might have been expecting Christmas cards from us this year, I apologize. I didn't get my act together enough after the funeral to get such things done, and, truth be told, I wasn't much in the mood for writing Christmas cards. Merry Christmas anyway!

Anyway, we finally did make it to the mall Santa for a picture. Unfortunately, it's pretty disappointing. Poor quality picture, ridiculously bad backdrop (er, there was a backdrop?), all in all, lacking.

I kid you not, that's what we got. Good grief, what were we thinking?! The only salvation of that picture is the nice man who was Santa and the sweet expression on Dermot's face.

Maybe it's just because I was thoroughly and unwittingly spoiled by last year's picture, which was much nicer, taken by a professional photographer (rather than teenaged girls) who had an eye for composition (rather than...well, take a look), printed by a photo store (rather than an instant picture kiosk--ew), with beautiful colours and a festive backdrop (don't even get me started).

Even the sleepy eyes on Dermie don't ruin that picture (kinda looks like he'd been crying but he was just overdue for a nap). And, oh yes, AND, last year's picture was considerably less expensive than this year's! So I expect we'll be trekking back to the St. Laurent Centre if we ever want another one. Unless someone can point us to a similarly good Santa setup which could save us the drive.

Ah, well. It's a good thing it doesn't really matter.

Goodbye, Dad.

2006-11-14T17:46:09Z

My father passed away on Saturday, very unexpectedly. We're still not sure why. Cause of death is still undetermined.

This is the proud Grandpa at his last birthday. He turned 52. Dermot was almost six months old.

This is from the first time Dermot met his Grandpa.

The funeral service is on Friday. It's hard to comprehend. The last time I heard his voice was in a voice mail message last week. The only memories Dermot will have of his grandfather will be the ones we give him; he'll have none of his own memories. None of our future children will ever meet him. My mother is a widow.

I look at the future and I don't understand. There was so much left for him to experience.

Dermot is looking at the pictures and signing and saying "Grandpa," which is too much for me to handle right now, so I'll leave it at this. I'll be away for a while, so I'm not sure when I'll post again.

We'll miss you, Dad.

Too cute not to share.

2006-11-05T03:11:32Z

As it happens, my darling son loves tobogganing. Not that he was on a toboggan, mind you. He was on a Magic Carpet (or whatever those flimsy, hazardous, but ubiquitous strips of plastic are called). But he doesn't know the difference and he loves it all the same.

Daddy took Dermot out this morning for some wintertime frolicking and Mommy remained relatively un-snow-encrusted while taking videos and pictures of the event. I didn't get any good action pictures, so I pulled some stills out of the videos for a couple of runs.

Top of the hill (AKA our driveway)...

Getting ready...

A little push from Daddy...

And then...

The kid loves to toboggan! I was a little surprised that he didn't freak out about being shoved down a hill and deposited in the snow at the bottom, but here's the proof.

Some more shots ('cause I know you're only here for the pictures).

*smile* I can handle a long, cold, snowy winter if this is what I get to see everyday.

So, um, hello winter?!

2006-11-03T23:40:36Z

It is officially winter at our house. I can tell by the snow. The snow I saw when I woke up this morning.

Here are some pictures I took this morning.

There's a car under there, if you look closely...

So, since I was going to have to pick Brian up from his carpool, I would need to clear the driveway. That thought occurred to me, oh, several hours after these photos were taken. During which hours it had continued to snow. So by the time I got Dermot all bundled up and got out there, the snow was closer to 8 or even 9 inches deep. Yay! We have no snowblower and Brian hasn't called the plow guy yet. That meant I headed out wielding a trusty, and woefully inadequate, shovel.

I got about 30 feet down the driveway (to about the front of that snowy car), then called Brian to see if maybe his carpool buddy could drop him off instead. "Oh," he says, "you don't have to pick me up. I'm bringing the company car home." Huh. Nice to know that before 45 minutes of shoveling. So I started at the other end of the driveway so he'd have somewhere to put the car when he got home.

Oh, and Dermot? Yeah. At first he did not like the snow.

I mean he reeeeeeally did not like it.

That's probably because he fell in it and it was cold. But then I made some snowballs for him to play with and gave him a spare shovel and he was hunky-dory.

The winter boots are working well for him, but he needs a proper winter coat. I had no idea his fall weight coats would have such a short season! This one was pretty snug over an extra sweater, but it wasn't all that cold out anyway.

Various and sundry.

2006-11-02T03:57:22Z

Last night I thought I was going to post about our new Signing Time DVDs that finally arrived. Shipping, handling, border crossings, everything took longer than it should have (except the filling of my order by the lovely people at Signing Time—that was much faster than I expected), so it took two weeks instead of one to receive our package. Not to mention the extra charges. And the having to sign for it. And the resulting inconveniences thereof. Because I ordered it from Signing Time and not the Signing Store. I wish I had known about the Canadian alternative before I ordered them! Wouldn't you know, I found out a couple of days after ordering. It's a good thing I get to do this over when we order again, so I can right the injustices of the USPS by avoiding it entirely.

So, the DVDs. Great fun, as anticipated, and Dermot was excited to see his "Time" on a bigger screen. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, he had already learned all of the signs taught on Volume 1, and two-thirds from Volume 2. Volume 3 had a lot more to offer him in the way of new signs, but the reason he didn't know a lot of them is that they're not much use to him. A child with dairy, wheat, and corn sensitivities doesn't eat bread or cereal or cheese or ice cream or candy. He knew "cookie" already, but I have only really used that in the context of dog biscuits, because we don't feed him cookies. That one came up in a preview clip anyway.

Still, a worthwhile investment. After seeing the many benefits of signing with this child, you can be sure we'll put the DVDs to use when we have another! Besides, there are a bunch more signs he could learn from the more extensive songs included. I've already learned a few just from those songs.

More exciting last night—and I thought nothing would outshine the Signing Time, but outshine it did—was his new skill. He can walk down stairs by himself now, unsupervised, mostly holding the rail because he's still little enough that it's ill-conceived just to drop a foot over the edge.

He did it last night (not the ill-conceived foot-dropping, the stair-descending) to get to his supper, which I had taken downstairs for him so we could check out more Signing Time together while we ate. Apparently he couldn't wait to get to his (rice) noodles and meat. So while I ran back upstairs to get us some water, I said, "Go on down if you want. You know how," and he started down on his own, using just the railing to help him down. By the time I returned, he was already scarfing down his supper. When his noodles ran out, he signed "all gone" at me until I reminded him that he also had meat. He would eat only noodles if I gave him the chance.

It was no shock to me that he could do it (the stair-descending, not the noodle-obsessing). The last week or so I've realized that he doesn't really need me to help him, it was just a lack of confidence on his part. He was holding my hand just for reassurance. So I started encouraging him to take the last few steps on his own and of course he could. He just needed to know he could. What surprised me was that he actually started down on his own. Ever since he fell down the entire flight of stairs when he was…ten months, I think, maybe 11 months…he has been wary of the stairs. He fell the first time because he was trying to walk down them, too, and he was just not tall enough to use the rail. I'm thrilled to know that he now has confidence in his ability to navigate those stairs on his own terms!

This morning he did it again, and then again this afternoon. He's always so proud of himself, too.

I may as well go on with today. There isn't much more.

This morning he found a tissue. He proceeded to wipe his (already clean) hands with it and then his (also clean) face, before he took off running for the bathroom. I considered just waiting for him to reappear but my curiosity got the better of me and I went after him. By the time I got to the bathroom, he was merrily on his way back, empty-handed. Puzzled, I asked him what happened to the tissue. He was not forth-coming, but I was cleverly able to deduce that he had put it in the garbage and was quite pleased with himself. I was pretty pleased with him, too, but confused. When did he become concerned with picking up after himself?

As it turns out, Daddy has been teaching him. "Here, Dermot, can you put this in the garbage?" Yes, yes he can. "Dermot, do you want to put this away in that drawer?" Sure, Dad. I knew of the drawer-putting-away after Brian demonstrated proudly the other day. I did not know about the garbage-putting-away until after I had discovered an assortment of building blocks, a water bottle, and a left shoe in various garbage receptacles around the house. Brian found it amusing, probably because he didn't have to touch garbage to reclaim non-garbage items. I found it somewhat less amusing, for pretty much the same reason.

My little cracker monster.

2006-10-31T16:18:34Z

Heheh.

How cute is that? Too tired to take a bite. Luckily, he stayed asleep long enough for me to run and grab the camera.

This may be even cuter than when we find him fast asleep covered in cracker shrapnel like a cracker exploded all over him. I wondered when I passed him that last cracker whether he was in the process of falling asleep. He hadn't asked for one, but he didn't turn me down.

For the record, dear husband, that's not how to do up his seatbelt, but kudos for managing to get it done up at all against such vehement opposition!

200 signs!

2006-10-29T23:08:25Z

I almost forgot, but this is a milestone that probably merits mentioning. I discovered as I updated Dermot's sign list that he reached 200 signs on Friday.

In a way, it's totally normal, because that's just how things are for us, it's just what he does. And then I think about it and I'm struck by the size of that number. I might have expected this at 18 months or so, but we're not even close.

Proud is not really the word. I am awestruck by my little man.

Dermot's first 200 signs (as of October 27, 2005)

Italics indicate signs learned since he turned 15 months. The running tally helps me keep track.
Two good online ASL dictionaries are here and here.

Everyday signs: more, potty, medicine, help (variation), hurt, hear, all done, fan (circulation fan), light (as in, that glowing thing on the ceiling), all gone, bed, wash, gentle, want, home, again, brush teeth, like (as in "enjoy," not as in "similar"), poopoo, where, fire, wait, awake, good, don't like, sleep (26)

Opposites, etc.: up, down, hot, cold, warm, clean, dirty, big, little, smelly, out, in, wet (13)

People: baby, Daddy, boy, girl, Grandma, child/children, Mommy, Grandpa, adult (9)

Clothing: shoes, hat, sweater, coat, socks, shirt, diaper, pants, boots (9)

Body parts: teeth, ear, eye, nose, hair (5)

Food: milk, eat, water, banana, cracker, apple, pear, juice, meat, delicious, chicken, cook, soup, pickle, cookie, grapes, rice, noodles, peach, cup, spoon (21)

Play and Activities: ball, book, train, boat, bath, swing, flag, telephone, car, airplane, drums, read, crayon, colour, fun/funny, play, swim, music, sing, truck, motorcycle, hockey, block, balloon, dance, draw, hit, computer, clown, key (30)

Outdoors: flower, stone, rain, thunder, tree, leaf, wind, snow (8)

Social niceties: hello, goodbye, please, thank you, you're welcome, sorry, kiss, hug (8)

Feelings: scared, angry, excited, sick, happy, silly, surprised, sad, cry, frustrated (10)

Colours etc.: red, green, orange, yellow, blue, rainbow, purple, colours, black, white, brown (11)

Creatures: dog, fish, bird, mouse, cat, cow, frog, butterfly, giraffe, snake, monster, monkey, duck, bear, horse, pig, bug, turtle, rabbit, elephant, bee, tiger, dinosaur, squirrel, donkey, puppy, ape/gorilla, rhinoceros, lion, fox, hippopotamos, penguin, kangaroo (33)

Other: signing, time, "A," "L," "Z," smart, shelf, library, 1, 2, 3, 5, know, sneeze, together, great, beautiful (17)

I am most impressed with "puppy," I think, because the sign is "baby" + "dog" and somehow it seems impressive that he could take two concrete signs like that and form a whole 'nother idea. "Chicken" and "wet" are also compound signs, but they don't include two completely unrelated concrete signs ("chicken" is "bird" + a pecking the ground motion and "wet" is "water" + "soft"), so it doesn't seem so exceptional in my mind.

(BTW, "adult" is a little hit and miss right now, I think mostly because we don't use it much, but also because I've changed it on him, which seems unfair, so I'm still including it because he was once pretty good with it and it's just a matter of adjusting to the new version.)

Seems like a good time to mention that I have changed my signing strategy with him, since his speech looks like it's doing fine without me fussing about it. Now, instead of trying to encourage his speech indirectly by dropping my end of the signing once he has the sign securely in his vocabulary, I am actively encouraging him to continue signing by asking him for the sign when it's a word he usually says. Also, I have been communicating to him with signs only, from time to time. Not all the time, but every now and then I'll have a silent conversation with him, and it's so sweet to see his eyes light up with recognition at seeing me sign to him. He loves seeing other people use sign language, which is probably a big part of why he likes Signing Time so much. Dunno if it will work, of course, but it's so worthwhile for him to know ASL that I don't want him to drop it just because he can say words.

While we're at it...

2006-10-29T22:23:27Z

Gotta love Google video.

The classic.

And the original.

R.E.M. meets Sesame Street

2006-10-29T21:35:33Z

Thanks to Metrodad for alerting me to this. I had forgotten how much I enjoy R.E.M., not to mention furry, bipolar monsters.

And now a certain little boy wants to watch it "deh." I'll prolly be back later.

Too funny.

2006-10-25T19:27:02Z

We're still stricken with whatever dread disease this is. Last night when I went to bed I felt like I had been scraped off the bottom of someone's shoe. This morning I felt worse. I can only imagine that Dermot feels pretty awful, though he's coping well and doesn't complain much. Except when the snot-sucker comes out.

This morning when Dermot woke up, he got out of bed and started saying, "Nnoe. Nnoe. Nnoe," while pointing to something. I realized it was the singing, dancing snowman I had tucked away in a little cubby. I don't know how he came up with "nnoe" after not seeing the thing for so long, but there it was. Pretty sure he was trying to say "snow." (!!!)

Then, just before I tried to put him down for a nap, he was telling me about his football and I mentioned that it was brown. Out of the blue, he signs "brown." I had no idea he even knew that sign, since we've only really used it in passing. Maybe he got that from the new Signing Time intro on the site. We've watched that a few times.

Dermot doesn't want to nap. I guess that's not entirely true. It isn't that he doesn't want to nap, but he can't breathe, so he keeps waking up. Anyway, after attempts at nursing (he keeps having to take breaths in between swallows) and then a snot-sucking (oh, he did not like that) and then another nursing session which did not yield the somniferous results I had hoped for, I started running through his similar signs and such, as I often do. There's a punchline here, honest.

Mommy: "What's brown, Dermot?"
Dermot: *signs brown*
Mommy: "Yeah! So what's black?"
Dermot: *signs a very sloppy black*
Mommy: "That looks more like 'cry,' honey. This is black. Can you see the difference?"
Dermot: *signs black*
Mommy: "What's hot?"
Dermot: *signs hot*
Mommy: "Yep. What's cold?"
Dermot: *signs cold*
Mommy: "Okay, what's warm?"
Dermot: *signs warm, but it looks a lot like rhinoceros*
Mommy: "And what's rhinoceros?"
Dermot: *repeats previous sign*
Mommy: "And what's elephant?"
Dermot: *signs elephant*
Mommy: "And whaaaat's...hmm...what's turkey?"
Dermot: *signs Daddy*

Ahahahahahaha! I didn't teach him that; it was totally spontaneous.

I'm gonna go try for a little bit more nap. Otherwise he'll be some cranky by suppertime.

I have Dermot's cold now too.

2006-10-24T19:04:35Z

Thanks to an ultra-late night last night and an early morning, I am congested and have a killer sore throat.

On the plus side, I also napped for two and a half hours with Dermot. And he's still asleep, so I get the bonus of time to accomplish things! My desk has not been this organized since...we put it together after we moved in. Not to mention I have some laundry on and have been able to tidy up the kitchen. Let's hear it for afternoon naps!

15 month update

2006-10-24T05:02:46Z

So, Dermot's 15 months old now and I should really write an update. So here you go. It's super-long, but that's kind of a given, isn't it? (Heavily cut so as not to assault friends pages.)

I'll begin with some vital stats, for those who like that sort of thing. He's over 31" now, and almost 22 ½ lbs. I get a lot of comments that he's big, but I don't think he's really all that big. Sort of average. He's no longer the lanky thing he was because his height is slowing down and his weight is piling on. Last month he put on almost a whole pound, which is way above average and continues a trend that began as he approached a year old. So even though he's only eating about 300-400 calories a day from solids (the rest is breastmilk), he's obviously getting plenty.

He climbs on everything. He likes to seat himself at the dining room table now, when he's not climbing on top of it to get at something he shouldn't. A handy trick: I keep the chairs pushed in so I can still use the surface for my own purposes. He hasn't yet needed to get up so desperately that he pulled the chairs out to do so. We're not sure whether to move him to a booster seat or just untray the highchair a little while longer. The problem with the highchair is that he likes to put his feet up on the table all the time, or push against the table with his feet. While he'll put his feet down if you tell him to, he'll also put them right back up again. I don't know what it is with his feet—he tries to use them for everything. Everything. Usually running around. I think running around takes up a good 90-95% of his waking hours. That's the way it feels at the end of the day, anyway.

He's starting to walk the stairs unassisted. Mostly up, thank goodness. Down makes me a little nervous, but he's good with shorter-than-average stairs, so I just hold his hand on the regular-sized ones. He's a smart guy, though, and he'll usually crawl up and down if he's on unfamiliar stairs or taller stairs than he's comfortable with walking up or down.

Lately he has been impressing people with his skillful use of a fork. Okay, it's pretty impressive, but sometimes less than convenient, such as when the only way he'll eat his meal is with a fork. By myself, Mommy, thanks.

He has recently discovered somersaults…well, we introduced him to them, but he's glad we did. He does really well if he starts from a stand, but after that it's hit and miss as he tries to plant his head on the floor and somersault kneeling halfway up. The past couple of days, though, he has figured things out and he can do a perfect somersault now. Most of the time.

Dermot seems to be hitting his linguistic stride. He's in parrot mode now, which is making it a lot harder to determine what is actually an acquired word and what’s just copycatting. Nevertheless, he has at least 60 (probably closer to 70) actual words now. I've just been having trouble counting them all because I've been so busy with other things. I'll see if I can update my on-going list soon, and maybe post it. Among his cuter words are "mo" (remote) and "boo" (caboose). We've found a couple of old, obsolete TV remotes for him and he often pretends they're cordless phones. He has whole conversations with imaginary phone buddies. It's insanely cute. The caboose is on his shoe. I had to buy him the next size of Robeez (he's wearing the 18-24 month size—the boy has enormous feet) so I opted for the train theme. Steam engine on one shoe, caboose on the other.

He has this intriguing little habit of pronouncing words almost perfectly the first time he says them. "Tay-toe" (potato) at Thanksgiving was jaw-droppingly clear, but it has sounded increasingly unintelligible since. It's as if he says it once just to see if he can and after that he doesn't have the patience to bother anymore.

Oh yeah, my favourite? Der-der. Which means Dermot. With British-sounding R's, remember. Too too cute, especially when it comes out Der-Dooo. "Who's that in the mirror?" "Der-Doooo!" And then when I say, "Awww" he says, "Awwwww." One afternoon, he actually said, "Der-muh" a few times, but it was one of those ephemeral things, gone without a trace the next day.

Heheh...if I go to check/change his training pants and find an extra-special gift in there, I usually gasp or shriek in horror. He now recognizes that gasp/shriek and as a look of recognition crosses his face, he'll say, "Poopoo" and start to sign it, as if to say, "Oh yeah. There's something I forgot to tell you, Mom." We're having a potty pause lately. I think it's safe to say I prefer when we're not having a potty pause. Lately 80% of the time if you ask whether he has to go potty, he'll answer in the negative. Roughly 90% of the time he's fibbing, and he'll potty if I convince him it's really not so bad. Often by means of the Poo and Wee Song. I got it from a little flash toon. It's kinda gross (ya think??), but he finds it amusing and I used to sing it to him while I pottied him when he was considerably younger. There's poo. And, not surprisingly, wee. Click at your own risk.

Back to words, I also like "vraw-raw" (froggy) and I think I'm probably most impressed with "bah-bah-wah-wah" (bottle of water). Another cute one is "bah-boo" for Zoboomafoo. An avid animal-watcher, he loves that show. He loves to sign all the animals he knows, and to ask me for the signs to the animals he doesn't know.

Which brings me to the signing. There is no end in sight, which is a good thing, because it would be nice for him to become fluent in ASL (I suppose for his age he pretty much is). At 15 months he had just under 170 signs. I can't remember whether it was 167 or 168, but I can't be bothered to go count them. That means he added about 70 signs since 14 months, which is mind-boggling. His manual dexterity is improving dramatically, too.

As of right now, eight days later, he has 188 signs…a quick calculation suggests that his rate of acquisition is increasing. Crazy. Today we reached sign acquisition previously undreamt-of; he added "good," "don't like," "adult" (so he doesn't keep calling all the older-than-baby people "children"…I taught him "child(ren)" so he would stop incensing all the school-aged kids by calling them "baby"), "spoon," "white," "ape/gorilla," "rhinoceros," "lion," "wet," and "together." Call it an acquisition day. I'll cut the list of signs again, because surely most of you don't care to read them all.

Dermot's signs at 15 months (as of the 15th)
(each category is roughly in the order that he acquired them)

Everyday signs: more, potty, medicine, help (variation), hurt, hear, all done, fan (circulation fan), light (as in, that glowing thing on the ceiling), bed, wash, gentle, want, home, again, brush teeth, like (as in "enjoy," not as in "similar"), poopoo, where, fire, wait

Opposites, etc.: up, down, hot, cold, warm, clean, dirty, big, little, smelly, out

People: baby, Daddy, boy, girl, Grandma, child/children, Mommy, Grandpa

Clothing: shoes, hat, sweater, coat, socks, shirt, diaper

Body parts: teeth, ear, eye, nose, hair

Food: milk, eat, water, banana, cracker, apple, pear, juice, meat, delicious, chicken, cook, soup, pickle, cookie, grapes, rice

Outdoors: flower, stone, rain, thunder, tree, leaf, wind

Social niceties: hello, goodbye (yes, these are different signs), please, thank you, you're welcome, sorry, kiss, hug

Feelings: scared, angry, excited, sick, happy, silly, surprised, sad, cry, frustrated

Colours etc.: red, green, orange, yellow, blue, rainbow, purple, colours, black

Creatures: dog, fish, bird, mouse, cat, cow, frog, butterfly, giraffe, snake, monster, monkey, duck, bear, horse, pig, bug, turtle, rabbit, elephant, bee, tiger, dinosaur

Other: signing, time, "A," "L," "Z," smart, shelf, library, 1, 2, 3, 5

Last week (was it last week, hon? I think it was last week), Brian was up with Dermot while I caught up on some sleep, and the boy was dressed in some pants that are a bit too long (2T), so we roll the cuff up for him. After playing on his own for a while, Dermot walked up to Daddy, signing, "Help! Help!" Brian asked him what he needed help with, and Dermot pointed to his unrolled pant legs. "Okay, have a seat, then." Dermot sat down and Brian proceeded to roll up a pant leg. While he was finishing the first one, Dermot started frantically pulling at the other pant leg as if to say, "This one too, Dad! Don't forget this one!" And when Brian was done, he trotted happily back to his toys. Honestly, sometimes it's a real conversation.

Lately, Dermot has been all about the drawing. "Draw, please! Crayons! Draw!" as he tugs at the (closed, latched) bin where I keep his crayons and paper. Yesterday, Dermot got my attention ("Mama! Mama! MAMA!") and when I asked him what he wanted, he signed, "Help!" and pointed at his colouring bin.

"What do you want, Punkin?"
"Crayons! Draw!"
"You want to draw?"
*nods of head enthusiastically* "Please! Please! Draw! Colours!"

So we spent a few minutes making random scribbles on construction paper, switching colours every five seconds. My little artiste. Must. Draw. Pictures.

Saturday night we were in a restaurant having supper after helping Rick and Christine move some of their stuff and Dermot wanted to walk around, so I followed him around for a while as he walked around, danced beside tables, and generally behaved like a toddler with energy to spare. When I wanted to go back and finish my meal, I suggested that we go see Daddy, and Dermot started signing "Daddy! Daddy!" while meandering back to our table. As we got closer to the table and Dermot took a couple of wrong turns, he started looking at all the men as we walked by the tables (still signing "Daddy"), asking, "Dada? Dada???" He seemed very confused every time it wasn't Daddy. *smile* I love being a Mommy. There's such an abundance of entertainment value in a toddler.

A funny side-effect of having a signing baby is that every time he gesticulates, someone thinks he's trying to sign something. And he probably usually is. But there are times when he's not being intelligible, and I'm not sure whether that's because he's signing something unintelligible, or he's trying to sign something he doesn't have the signs for (and is therefore making up signs), or he's just waving his hands randomly. He's probably laughing at us all for paying so much attention to his hands. Or maybe frustrated that we're not paying enough attention.

Right now I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of our first set of Signing Time DVDs. (By the way, if you're buying them in Canada, it's probably cheaper to buy them from the Signing Store, which is Canadian, so cheaper shipping, no duty/customs, possibly better dollar conversion, but I haven't done the math. Grandparents and such, if you're going to get some for Dermot for Christmas (HINT, HINT), that is the store to find them.) It became very clear to me the last couple of weeks that if we didn't buy them soon, he'd get very little educational value from them, so I finally ordered Volumes 1-3, of which he already knows about 70% of the signs. But the songs are fun, and I expect him to refine his signs as he watches other children do them properly. I was heartened to learn over the weekend that the two-year-old daughter of a mommy friend of mine signs cracker like Dermot does (upside-down). She is an accomplished signer, so I imagine I need not worry about righting that sign anytime soon. He'll probably do it himself.

I never expected when we began using signs with Dermot that he would be such a voracious learner. The Signing Time previews have helped a great deal, even though they're just previews. He walks around begging for "Signing Time! Signing Time!" so now they're available to him on his computer too. He loves that. Heck, he loves just having his own computer.

Also, for anyone using a Linux computer (I don't think it's available for other operating systems), Gcompris is an AWESOME set of educational games for children. Brian introduced Dermot to it yesterday. Dermot's new game is a mouse-teaching game which involves mousing over blocks to reveal an animal picture underneath (there are also versions which require clicking and double-clicking on the blocks). As the levels progress, Dermot has to mouse over increasingly small targets (the block uncovers a splotch which uncovers a teardrop shape). He has gotten through all of the levels several times and is becoming very accurate with the mouse. I have video. I'll get Brian to put the webpage back up so I can link to it. Our only problem is he really needs a mouse more suited to his hand size. We're thinking a laptop mouse would do the trick.

And he has a cold. Remember how he learned to blow his nose last time he had a cold? Well, it turns out he has forgotten since then, which means the snot-sucker has returned. And the nasal mist. To less than stellar reviews. Brian got him to blow his nose tonight, though, so maybe there's hope for the next few days. I hope there's not much more of the congestion. I had to take the snot-sucker to him four times today because he was so congested. Whose great idea was it for babies to get colds?!?