The Small Family   

Well, this week’s blog title actually refers to Chris and me, not to Theo. Because apparently my pay cut and the horribly declining value of our home has forced Chris and me to turn to a life of crime, in which we steal things from Target. Both of us. Twice in one week. But let me explain...

First, I had a bad day earlier in the week, so my very nice hubby took Theo for an hour and a half in the late afternoon/early evening so I could get some work done. And to cheer me up, he and Theo walked over to Kohl’s and bought me a very pretty little bracelet. That part was from Chris, and then he got the idea that Theo would like to buy me a chocolate bar, too, so he and Theo stopped at Target. While there, Chris found a couple other things we needed, and he loaded up the stroller with his bounty. He then walked home with an increasingly antsy Theo, who was fussy and ready for bed and making no bones about the fact that he was CRABBY! When they walked in the door, Chris made me stay upstairs while he wrapped my pick-me-up present, and when I came down and opened it, he then proudly announced, “And guess what? The chocolate is stolen!” Then he laughed in embarrassment and explained that when he unloaded the stroller at the checkstand, he somehow missed the chocolate bar, and he was almost home before he suddenly discovered it. By then it was dark, getting chilly, and Theo was very grumpy, so he didn’t have the heart to turn around and walk all the way back to Target to pay for the stolen chocolate. (Yes, we ate it, despite it being tarnished, stolen candy, and yes, it was delicious.)

So then comes this morning (Sunday), when I walked Theo over to Starbucks to get coffee for Chris and me while Chris stayed home and cooked French toast (again, being a wonderful guy!). I stopped at Target for a few toiletries and some new socks, and while there I picked up a $2.99 set of plastic bowls for Theo’s food. Meanwhile, Theo was once again grumpy (sensing a trend this week??), so to placate him, I handed him the set of bowls and let him hold them while I quickly picked up the socks and toiletries and went through the checkstand. We then walked home, and I let Theo out of the stroller in the house...only to see the set of bowls underneath him. I guess he had somehow maneuvered himself into sitting on them, and I had forgotten we even picked them up. So, yes, another stolen Target product. This time, though, I drove back over to Target, admitted our error, and made amends. In retrospect, we should’ve done the same thing for the chocolate, but oh well...next time.

So let’s move on to the less felonious activities from this week. Early this week, Grandma Diane and I took Theo up to Kaiser so we could get Grandma’s flu shot and Theo’s H1N1 shot. Theo was a very brave boy for his shot (as was Grandma Diane for hers—ha!), but upon leaving, he spied a golf cart that he very much wanted to hijack, resulting in a few moments of fussing before he understood that it was not our golf cart, and thus we couldn’t just get in and drive it. (Oops, I see we’re back on a criminal tangent here. Let’s move on...)

Theo also had a grand time Monday morning, when I took him to a free introductory class at the Little Gym. Auntie Tanya and Uncle Steve have been taking cousin Nik to a Little Gym in San Jose for a couple months now, and they said Nik really enjoys it. So now that float lessons are mainly over until spring (we’re doing a few refreshers during the winter, but nothing on a regular basis until spring, since the weather has turned much cooler), I had time to take Theo in and see how he liked the Little Gym. The class he’s in is called “Beasts” (relatively appropriate name!), and it’s for 19- to 24-month-old toddlers. It’s basically a gym/activity class where the toddlers do directed activities with mats, balance beams, bouncy mats, balls, bubbles, etc., all with their parents and led by a teacher. However, the good part about it is that nothing is mandatory...if your toddler just wants to run around and explore on his/her own, it’s totally fine. And this is a good thing because that’s precisely what Theo wanted to do. He had a blast playing with on the bars, beams, mats, etc., but he had no desire to participate in the group activities. His teacher, Miss Whitney, said that’s very common for toddlers for their first few weeks in the class—there’s so much to see and explore that they don’t care to do the group activities.

Anyway, Theo seemed to have a lot of fun, and we’re always looking for fun ways to get him some socialization time, so we decided to sign him up for classes (once a week) on a regular basis. We signed him up for winter/spring semester during a promotion they were having at their Halloween Party (on Saturday), which meant I got to spin the Prize Wheel. And I, who never wins anything, managed to win the top prize on the wheel—a free summer semester of classes for Theo at the Little Gym, which equates to something upwards of $200!!! Gee, and I thought I’d just win the boring old plastic water bottle....

The Halloween Party was actually a lot of fun even if we hadn’t won a nifty prize. Theo was the cutest kangaroo there (okay, the ONLY kangaroo there, but still...), and he had a great time playing in the gym and also reading books and pulling around a little wagon in the lobby. And it was so neat to see all the little toddlers and children dressed up...so cute!

Our other Saturday activity was a trip to the Farmers’ Market in Davis, where we haven’t been in a few months. Mostly we just watched Theo play on the playground, but we did indulge in a chocolate cupcake from one of our favorite bakeries, too, as well as a tasty lunch at Bistro 33. As an aside, I’m going to give us a pat on the back here for a moment. Which feels rather pompous, but I’m going to do it anyway. Because like most first-time parents, we are on a steep learning curve. Some things we do right, some things we do wrong...learning along the way. So when we have a “hey, we’re doing something right” moment, it’s cause for happiness. So we went for lunch at Bistro 33, which has a really nice, shady patio. We’ve long since realized that toddlers are very messy eaters, and there’s not much you can do about it...except clean it up and keep trying to teach manners, which is a rather long, slow process. And we’re always aghast when we see parents leave a horrible mess for busboys/servers to clean up at restaurants. So, we make an effort to always clean up after Theo before we leave a restaurant. So after lunch, I was squatting down and picking up a wealth of Cheerios and bits of bread that Theo had dropped (or thrown) under the table. And one of the servers stopped and said, “Whoa, that has to be a first!” I looked up, and he said, “Parents never clean up after their kids. Thank you!” And that pretty much made my day. A little thing, but we were able to say, “Hey, we’re doing something right. Next time we come back here with Theo, hopefully they won’t cringe when they see us coming with a toddler!”

The other amusing part about our morning in Davis was Theo’s sudden new obsession. For those of you unfamiliar with Davis, it’s a college town—home to the University of California at Davis. And thus, it’s a bicycle town—students bicycle all over town. Theo has never shown any interest in bicycles (as opposed to tricycles, which do interest him)...until Saturday. He suddenly kept pointing out bicycles everywhere and bursting into tears when we wouldn’t let him climb on them. Go figure. Maybe he’ll be the next Lance Armstrong? Except hopefully without the “leaving his wife and kids” part...

This week has been yet another language explosion week, which is a lot of fun. New words this week include apple, bite, good, bye, and hi, as well as please. He’s been using please for awhile (signing and verbalizing), but he’s now using it much more regularly and without prompting. (Which makes it very hard to say no when he’s saying please for something that I really can’t let him do!)

I know veteran parents are probably laughing when I talk about all the exciting things Theo is doing lately, thinking, “Um, yeah...that’s all normal toddler stuff.” And I’m sure it is, but to me, it’s fascinating. His skills in problem-solving, logic, and deduction are just developing like crazy, and I’m constantly amazed by how he puts two and two together without prompting. Case in point: This morning, we went for a walk to Starbucks (and to Target, for me to steal baby bowls). We turn right out of our complex to go to Target, but we turn left to go to the park. So I turned right...and Theo immediately threw a lovely tantrum because he wanted to go to the park instead. Okay, this is normal...nothing out of the ordinary. We continued walking about a quarter mile and Theo calmed down and began pointing out trees and birds and the like. Then we came to another road that happens to indirectly lead to the park as well...but it’s not a road we ever take to the park, nor can you even see the park from the intersection. We have occasionally taken that road away from the park, if I walk over to Starbucks or Target after a trip to the park, but it’s not something we do every time, and we’re always taking it the opposite direction. And yet somehow, Theo knew that this road would also lead to the park, and so when we reached it, he lunged out the side of the stroller and started crying and pointing and throwing a fit because he wanted to go to the park. I was amazed—how did he figure it out?? (This may be the only time I actually was marveling at a tantrum—ha!!)

He does this to me now on nearly a daily basis—figures out something I didn’t think possible and amazes me in the process. It’s absolutely fascinating to watch. I am so thankful that I get to stay home with him and watch him learning all this, even though it can be very challenging to juggle working pretty much full time and raising a toddler—I’m always going to treasure this time I’ve had with him. I only hope my job continues to be stable so I can continue to stay home with him and watch all this fun stuff happen!

As fun as spending time with my boy is, it’s nice to get some time alone, too. And lately, I’m getting some (that doesn’t involve working, which is usually what my free time is for). I’m still jogging almost every night (managed six out of seven this week), although I have to report that I am still horrible at jogging. After two weeks of it, I’m not much better than I was the first night, and I’ve already managed to tweak my knee. Ah well, I do still enjoy the 30 minutes of solitude each evening.

And my other “me time” this week was a Friday night pre-session for the photography workshop I’m doing this semester. It’s the Documentary Photography workshop again, and we’re again going to the Sikh Festival (next Sunday—so look out for lots of pix in next week’s blog). This time, our friend Amber is joining Kim and me, so that will be fun. And this time I’m going with an empty stomach, because part of the Sikh culture is centered around sharing food, so at the festival, all the food is free, and you can have as much of anything as you want. And oooh, is it fantastic! All vegetarian from the Punjabi region of India, and it is soooo tasty! So I’m crossing my fingers for good weather next Sunday so we can enjoy a day of shooting pictures and eating yummy food!

Chris and Theo had a nice “guys night” on Friday while I went to class. They walked over to Nugget and then watched a little Baby Einstein together before Theo went to bed. Alas, Chris got sick Friday night (Theo was sick Thursday, and he passed the cold on to both Chris and I), but it seems to be a mild cold. I’m just catching it today, but so far it’s not too bad. And Theo recovered quickly from it, so hopefully Chris and I will do the same.

Theo and I wrapped up our week by going to the Folsom Zoo with Auntie Jeanette, and then out for frozen yogurt. (They even had non-dairy, so Theo was able to share some!) Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of this outing because it’s rather challenging to hold my semi-heavy camera while corralling a toddler in a public place. However, Jeanette took a few pictures, which she is going to send me, and I will post them next week.

Last but not least, Theo seems to be suffering the same gender-confusion fate as his mama. This is actually rather ironic.... Theo and I have the same hair (and my Dad had the same hair as a toddler, too). The mass of blond curls came from me, even though you never would guess it now. Well, three times today, people commented on my “cute little girl’s blond curls.” Three times in one day—and that’s the first time he’s been mistaken for a girl since he was a newborn! What’s ironic and funny about this is that when I was a toddler, I used to get very angry because people mistook me for a boy all the time! My blond curls never grew long, they just grew out, kind of like a little blond Afro. And so, everyone thought I was a boy. And now my son has my hair, and people think he’s a girl! Well, that’s okay...I’m still not cutting the beautiful curls. I love them. I’ll cut them when they start hanging in his face or below his collar. Until then, I will love ruffling those adorable blond curls every chance I get. :-)