A Dream Come True

There are matchbox car kids and dinosaur kids; there are outerspace kids and knights of the round table kids, and then there are basement guy kids.  Atticus is my basement guy kid.  First off , a basement guy is Atticus's word for all guys who ride trucks, climb ladders, and use machinery.  Construction workers are basement guys.  Landscapers are basement guys.  Firefighters are basement guys.  Aside from getting to use a lawn mower (which might make him faint out of sheer amazement), one of Atticus's life goals is to get to climb on trucks.  When we visited my family in Massachusetts this June, my brother made Atticus's dream come true.  Since he is a firefighter, he was able to arrange for my kids to visit the firehouse and climb all over the fire engine.  All three big kids enjoyed it.  They especially liked when my brother's coworkers let them spray water from a pressurized can.

Atticus's Foliage Photoshoot

Last week a ton of the leaves fell off of the sycamores in front of our home.  We had a day where there was a lot of wind and rain so it was to be expected.  I was feeling pretty awful the morning after all of the rain, and Atticus was begging to go outside.  I wasn't really feeling up to it, but I also wasn't feeling up to laundry, dishes, or anything else at the time.  Upon opening the door to see what the weather was outside, I realized that the blanket of leaves would make for some beautiful photos.  I dressed Atticus for a photo shoot, grabbed my camera, and we headed outside.  Not wanting to interfere with his play, I just followed him around and snapped away.

Atticus at 17 months

Atticus is 17 months old today.  I am writing a brain dump of little things that I don't want to forget about him at this age.

--He has lots of words and the occasional sentence.

--He is still nursing frequently, but has started to drink the occasional few ounces of cows' milk.  He calls cows milk "Dada mulk".  When Atticus wants a cup of milk, he asks for a "puck-a-mulk".

--He is so quick to tantrum, and I have to stop myself from laughing at how cute his tantrums are.  He often throws himself on the floor and marine crawls backwards as he screams.

--He loves playing with toy cars and with animal figurines.

--He is particularly attached to a couple of action figures of Mario and Luigi.  He calls Luigi "Weeji"

--Atticus loves dirt.  He earns his baths.

--His nap schedule is erratic, but barring illness or teething he sleeps through the night.

--When it rains, he stands at the door yelling "Wawa" (water) over and over again.

--He loves all kinds of foods except for broccoli. Oh the faces he makes when he bites into broccoli!

--Recently when he bit me on the shoulder he apologized by saying "Na bite. Na eat." and making lots of kissing noises.

--If he spills something, he will gladly wipe it up with a rag.

--He still loves playing with balls.

--He calls Little Ish "brother" and Lily  "Lilla".

--He sings and dances a lot.  Occasionally when I am singing him a bedtime song he'll stop me if I mess the notes up (sometimes by singing the right notes back at me).

He Knows What He Wants

Atticus is a baby who definitely knows what he wants.  He spends a lot of time saying "ow-side, doh!" (outside, door!), trying to make sure he gets his fill of outside time.  When he wants me to hold him, he stands at my feet saying "na-down!"(not down) or "bup!" (up) on repeat until I finish the task at hand and pick him up.  He is very adept at asking to eat and nurse.  And, lest I forget, he loves to ask for lights and ceiling fans to be turned on or off.

He is pretty verbal for a 16 month old, but that doesn't stop him from getting frustrated when his new talker pronunciation fails to get him what he wants.  On Saturday morning, Atticus was sitting in his highchair whimpering and clearly annoyed as we finished up breakfast.  Instead of asking my normal, "Are you ready to get down now?" I responded to his fussing by calmly inquiring, "Atticus, what do you want?"  Clear as a bell, he replied "I want mama."  Be still my melted puddle of a heart.

My Music Baby

Music.  It is one of those things that seems to resonate with everyone in some way.  I have had the pleasure of watching how music affects each of my children; they all have a clear love for music, but the way Atticus reacts to music is like nothing I have seen in his older siblings.

As young babies neither Little Ish nor Liliana had any strong preferences for specific songs.  I would sing to them or put on recordings for their enjoyment, and although they clearly reacted to the music they did not start to show any preference for one song over another until they were toddlers.  Atticus, on the other hand, has shown preference for specific songs and albums for months now.

The first observation of Atticus's inclinations toward a specific piece of music was several months ago.  Anytime he was fussing during a car ride he would immediately stop as soon as Blue Orchidby the White Stripes would come on.  This preference has become so clear that when Atticus starts fussing Little Ish likes to note that, "Atticus is making a request"; immediately we switch the music to Blue Orchid.   As one might imagine, listening to the same song all the time starts to grate on the nerves a little bit.  Little Ish was delighted a few weeks ago to realize that Atticus calmed almost immediately when I started singing a bit of Rag Doll by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  It isn't quite the magical cure-all for fuss as Blue Orchid but most of the time it does the trick.  Plus, it's a whole lot easier to sing.

Atticus's strongest reaction to music however is the clear joy that he gets anytime I put on the album Appalachian Mandolin and Dulcimer by Butch Baldassari and David Schnaufer.  He was having a sleepy don't-wanna-have-my diaper-changed kind of meltdown this morning; you know the kind of meltdown that makes you wonder if your ancestors were part banshee?  Well, I walked Little Ish through the steps to start the album playing, and as soon as the first track began to play Atticus stopped mid-scream and giggled. Thankfully Atticus isn't the only one who really likes this album so it may or may not be playing on repeat during not so great days.

I used to think people were crazy when they would indicate that their infant had a preference for a specific song or album, but after observing Atticus, I don't think they are crazy any more.  I also think it is justification for not introducing children to annoying children's music as babies--you might as well help them develop preferences for music that you enjoy too.

7 Quick Takes Vol. 4

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Ish and I have been married for 5 years!  Apparently the gift for 5 years is wood so we are going out for wood fired pizza and then to  Woodside Farm Creamery for dessert.  We are also planning to find a wooden wall crucifix that we both like at some point during this year.

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I found a box of Medela Pump and Save Breastmilk Bags for 99 cents at a thrift store last week.  My life has been changed! It is so much easier to pump when I don't have to manage holding glass bottles. My arms no longer ache at the end of pumping and I am sure Ish is enjoying the lack of bottles to clean.

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Little Ish came down from the art studio last week and declared, "Mommy, I turned myself into a clown!"  I couldn't help but be amused.  Thankfully, it was washable marker and came off rather easily.

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This has been a month of many milestones for Atticus.  He has started dabbling in solid foods; he especially likes cucumber. He has started signing and actually saying "milk".  He also started marine crawling this week.  He is still working on sitting up without toppling and much to his chagrine he is still waiting for his first tooth to break through.

Signing for milk!

Teething like crazy!

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The kids are way into dressing up this week, and have come up with some new characters to play.

Prince Ish

Kitten Lily (different than just a cat because of the hat!)

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I updated the layout of my blog. I fixed the formatting of all the 2014 posts but have yet to get to those from previous years.  Maybe one day! Also, I never mentioned that Life as a Trigonometric Function  is now on facebook.

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Last weekend I had an early birthday celebration.  Ish and several friends banded together to gift me with an ice cream maker. Aside from enjoying homemade ice cream and sorbet this week, the kids have been having a blast with the box.

Linking up over at Conversion Diary!

8 Postpartum Favorites

With Atticus being 6 months old tomorrow, I thought it was high time that I share my postpartum favorites--the things (and people) that made my life so much easier in my early postpartum months.

Postpartum Ice Pads from Pampered Mama--After delivering a baby, many moms are very tender.  After my first two children were born, I made ice diapers by soaking and then freezing size one diapers; they functioned as both a pad and a diaper.  Ice diapers do provide some relief, but as they melt they can leave a new mom feeling rather damp and uncomfortable.  During my pregnancy with Atticus, I discovered a wonderful solution.  Pampered Mama sells postpartum ice pads. They are cloth pads that come with a food grade ice pack that can be inserted into the pad.  They provide all of the relief and none of the dampness.  As an added bonus, they can be used as regular cloth pads when the ice pack is not needed.  For those who are curious about cloth menstrual products, this is a great way to try them out.

Heat Pack--  Ish bought me this heat pack for Christmas, and it quickly became one of my favorite things in the early weeks after Atticus was born.  It helped me cope with some intense after pains when the motrin wasn't quite cutting it.  It also helped to resolve several issues with blocked milk ducts.  I would use it before nursing Atticus, and it made the ache from the blocked ducts far less noticeable as well as helping to actually resolve the blockage. 

Reusable Waterbottle-- Shortly before Atticus was born, friends of mine gave me a Camelbak Water Bottle.  As a breastfeeding mom, this bottle has been my constant companion.  Not only am I able to keep well hydrated through out the day, the bite spout and straw makes it so I can easily drink while nursing with out having to even lift the bottle.  I will warn you, the one liter bottle is pretty heavy when full, so if you want something lighter weight but with comparable convenience, you can always opt for a child sized Camelbak.

A Fantastic IBCLC-- Breastfeeding has not ever been a completely easy journey for me.  In fact, I have a whole lot of breastfeeding baggage from all my nursing woes.  Thankfully, I have access to a wonderfully supportive and incredibly knowledgeable lactation consultant.  I often tell other nursing moms that I wish I could send Katie, my lactation consultant, to them in the mail (although now I can send her to them via her blog and online courses).  Although nursing has been going mostly well, Atticus's crazy latch and a few of his nursing mannerisms had me concerned (and honestly in pain).  Katie was able to sort out the issues, give me some strategies to change Atticus's behaviour, and a prescription to heal the trauma the poor latch had caused.  If you are currently pregnant and plan to breastfeed, I highly recommend finding and interacting with an IBCLC before you have your sweet little babe. 

Placenta Encapsulation--You ate your what?!  The majority of women don't give their placenta a second thought after baby is born, but there is evidence to suggest that consuming placenta can be beneficial to a mother.  One of the potential benefits is hormone regulation, which can help ease or prevent postpartum mood disorders.  As I  had panic attacks for the first 7 months after Liliana was born, I decided that placenta encapsulation was probably a good route to go. After 6 months, I can say that this has been my smoothest postpartum experience yet.  Although I feasibly could have encapsulated my own placenta, I decided to have it encapsulated by a friend who is a placenta encapsulation specialist. If you are local to Delaware and want your placenta encapsulated you should check out Placenta Encapsulation by Dawn. Otherwise, you can search for one here.  

Birth ball-- I purchased a birth ball during my third trimester of pregnancy per the advice of my chiropractor.  I ended up using it some in the quest to get Atticus head down before he was born, but it has gotten much more use since he was born.    Before we figured out that Atticus has reflux that needs to be managed with medication, he spent a few hours every night being a total fuss-bucket.  The birth ball saved me several hours of being on my feet an bouncing a super fussy baby at the end of an already long day. Just a note: if you are looking to purchase a birth ball, be sure to get a size that is appropriate for your height.

Friends and Family-- There really is no replacement for having a fabulous support network in the months following the birth of a child.  I have been so fortunate that friends and family have been able to come to my aid in countless ways.  If you have older children at home, asking friends and family to help with their care can be invaluable.  Help with meals, laundry, and other household tasks kept our household functioning in the first couple of months.  Being able to get moral support over the phone and via text message also eased the transition into life with a newborn.

Snow days-- Delaware isn't known for being excessively snowy, but this winter it was.  Since Ish works in education, he had a ton of snow days this winter.  Having him home for extra time during the week was such a blessing.  Obviously snow days aren't something one can plan on, but they sure were nice.

What are some of your postpartum favorites?



Linking up for List it Tuesday at Real Life at Home and Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

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