He eats quiche

Thanks to the woman in a white shower cap at Costco, Jeremy sampled some quiche. Several times. He kept devouring the petite cups of florentine quiche, and making me go back for more. "Dat!" accompanied by the pointing finger. I think the woman caught on that we were making a midday meal out of her free offerings. So, I indulged her and asked where the quiche could be obtained. "Really, I am not a mooch," I tried to transmit. She smiled blandly and pointed to the ice box behind her. As I deposited the oversized freezer pack of 72 quiches in my oversized cart, I wondered whether Jeremy would eat them with equal gusto at home. Or whether he was just starved.

Fortunately, he eats them here too, making it less likely that the remaining 70 pastries will develop freezer burn en route to the trash. It certainly makes MY diet more interesting. Since I have assumed a "one for you one for me" meal plan on my days home with Jeremy, I find myself subsisting on yellow and orange foods like banana, macaroni and cheese and ... cheese. The quiche is a welcome treat! Just think, I can even whip them out at impromptu play dates and impress the moms! Yeah, right.

Testing Testing 1-2-3

"And the rain rain rain came down down down..." Sacramento could be the 100 Acre Woods. We've seen the sun maybe three days in as many months. The vernal equinox did nothing to disperse the ubiquitous grey cloud cover and wet sky falling falling down on our house.

And in that house we've been huddled for the last four days. Except for an excursion to Lowe's and Aunt Betsy's on Sunday, we've stayed fairly close to home. As in, in the home. All of this nesting seems to have served as a sort of cocoon for Jeremy. Yesterday, the metamorphasis was complete. Out popped ... a TODDLER!

I should have known something would be very different from the moment he woke up. Usually, he cries himself awake and remains grumpy and fuzzy for around thirty minutes. But yesterday, he woke up gabbing to himself and ready to go. In retrospect, I think he was making a mental list of all the ways he could test Mama Nay.

Our house is somewhat child proofed. Mostly so, but not to the nth. Our philosophy is that children must live in the world, not in a padded cell, and that it is important to teach young ones how to be safe, to control their own impulses, and to discern the point where risk outweighs the fun. Of course, that means that we have to be ever-more present and on guard in these next few years. We can't just sit him in a room with some toys and go about our own business. No, we have committed ourselves to be the omnipresent hand helping to keep him out of true harm while holding back and letting him roam and explore.

After yesterday, I was wondering if it is too late to build that padded cell.

How did he test me? Let me count the ways.

1. He climbed the stairs, turned around, stood up and attempted to step down without holding on to anything. My request to have him sit his butt down was met with a giggle. In response to my gentle nudge to ensure his butt was down, he popped on his feet and laughed aloud.
2. He pulled on the power cord (not plugged in) to a floor fan, obsessed with tasting the prongs and the entire length of it. When I plucked him hastily away, he exploded in dramatic cries directed at the heavens.
3. He stood next to the living room window, turned his torso to face me, ensured that we had eye contact, flashed me a Mona Lisa grin, and then deliberately placed his fingers on the venetian blinds -- which he knows is off limits.
4. He toddled into the kitchen, glanced back to be sure I was looking, then shoved his hand in the dogs' water.
5. He crawled behind the end table to play with the lamp cord, which he has not done in months.
6. He rocked a floor lamp back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.
7. He did all of the above, and more, over and over and over.

Um, did I mention that he did this all day long? I kept my calm facade, reminding myself that this is his job right now, to see whether Mama means what she says, all the time, and whether she will keep him safe. But, ohmigosh, was I glad when Barb got home and I could run in the other room and tear my hair out.

Sweet Sixteen Months

Take a look at these shoes. Worn at the toes, frayed at the seams and too small. Jeremy got these shoes a few days before his first birthday. What a transformation this little child has undergone in those four months. From baby to little boy.

Yesterday, Barb and I and Jeremy and the dogs were lounging around the family room. As Barb and I were chatting, Jeremy came over to me on his own initiative, grabbed a kleenex off of my knee, held it to his nose and blew into it, then toddled out of the family room, through the kitchen, down the hall and into the bathroom, and threw the kleenex away. And then he pushed the garbage can back towards the wall where it usually sits. Barb and I sat there with the gaping mouths, wondering where this little person came from. It's not as if we trained him to do all of that. Sure, in the last couple of days we have been teaching him how to blow his nose while we hold the tissue, but all of those other things?

This is what Jeremy has been up to this month:

1. Climbing up the face of the slides at the park, turning around and sliding back down.
2. Sitting at the table to eat, and using a spoon and fork -- at least until he gets impatient and thrusts his fingers in the food.
3. Sleeping through most nights.
4. Drinking his milk from a sippy cup, except for the very special wake-up and bedtime bottles.
5. Sporting his first hair cut. Well, it was really just a mild trimming of the flyaway ends that were reminiscent of a crazy professor. Jeremy didn't even notice me snipping away, while he splashed with his toys in the bath.
6. Stacking towers four blocks high.
7. Chasing the dogs around with gleeful abandon, and they are now afraid.
8. Finding his belly button, which is a little more difficult now that he has a little bit of a belly. (He actually has to pull back on his tummy to see his own navel!)
9. Growing a "garden" at his daycare, and his corn and sunflower are sprouting towards the sky.
10. Enthusiastically eating fresh rosemary bread, pesto jack cheese, blueberry swirl ice cream at B&R (to which he exclaims "mmm!" after every spoonful) and mac&cheese by the fistful.
11. Picking flowers and bringing them to his mommies.
12. Sitting down and looking at books independently.

Jeremy's favorite books right now are "The Lorax," "Little Quack," "And Here's To You," "Shades of Black," and "A Mother for Choco."