Scraped Knees

Poor little Griffin scraped his knee for the first time yesterday, and then again today for the second time. I guess it's the price he pays for learning to walk!  It's so sad to see his cute little knees made imperfect with light scratches, but it's just another reminder of how big (and adventurous) he is becoming. 

Dad and Griff Bachelor Weekend - Take Two

Griff and I spent the weekend together. Vicki went to a wedding in TX.

Friday:

• Bren came to babysit for the morning so I could use some of my holiday to just relax. I rode the KZ to motorcycle shops and five guys burgers for lunch.
• Griff and I went for a (chilly) bike ride in the afternoon.
  
• We watched Curious George.

Saturday:

• Rhode Island to see my sisters Chris and Kate, plus my parents. First time seeing Griffin walk for them. Chris is moving to Alabama in a few weeks. We got her kitchen table.
• We stopped at IKEA to pick up some kitchen samples - door fronts plus an entire cabinet to try out. Griff rode in the backpack, ate a bunch of Cheerios, and made friends with Laura, the girl at the kitchens desk, and Rob, the guy at the pickup counter. If I can generalize here: People love kids, especially plumpish Asian ones.
  

Sunday:

• Morning walk to the water - Griff in the backpack. Happy Easter to the neighbors we saw.
• Bike ride to Fort Sewall. Griff is getting used to the rear seat on my bike - although he's still not a fan of stopping, waiting, or getting into the seat.
  
• Grandma and Grandpa Hendrix stopped in to drop off the rest of the table (it didn't all fit in the Altima). Griff was super Huggy and cried when they left. He does this thing where he puts his head on your knee and kinda flops with his arms - its soooo cute.
  
• We picked up Vicki at the airport - Welcome home sweet angel!

Two and a half days and we both survived with only minimal damage. Oh, I guess he took a digger off the couch on Sunday night and slipped Saturday in the tub. So I guess "moderate" damage. Still, smiles all around and I love being a dad.

Vicki is a Few of My Favorite Things - A guest post by Tom

Vicki and I both like the idea of flowers, but really only find value in  my giving them to her on rare occasions.  The other times, I just say "I saw flowers today and thought of getting you some," and she says "Awww!  I love you!"  and I get a smooch.  Boom.  Saved like $20.

Sunday was different.  When she got back from the weekend with the girls (in New JERSey!), I was more in love with her than ever.  Doing the solo parent thing for just two days was a fun new experience, and a great insight into what its really like Monday through Thursday when I'm not there.  Griff and I bonded big time.  And it was a lot of worry and work. 


Griff and I planned our afternoon on Sunday around going to pick her up at the airport.  Those sunflowers were definitely part of the plan.  We parked the car at the airport and walked inside to meet her at the security gate and smiled like crazy when we saw her through the glass.  It was like Christmas.

Here's why:  Vicki is an amazing Mom and Wife.

We joke about how most of my birthday, valentine's day, and anniversary cards to her are just lists of things I love about her.  Well (sorry Vick) here's some more things that are awesome about her.  You probably already see these things about her - its pretty obvious. 

• her vacation planning skills
• this blog
• Griffin's social calendar
• the walnut and broccoli stir fry she makes
• the fact that she stays sane taking care of Griffin and I 7 days a week
• her hotness
• missuer
  
• her deep loyalty to her friendships and to family
• the fact that she (almost always) waits to watch Grey's Anatomy with me
• she gets me. Vicki shares in my giddy joys, even when they aren't that big of a deal to her (the KZ, snowboarding)
• she taught me to be a better hugger.  Really.
 

I love you Sweet Angel.  I'm so happy you're my Wife and Griffin's Mom.

Terrific Lady Weekend!

Tom and I have an agreement that every 6 months each of us gets to do a weekend away with no baby and no significant other.  My first one was last September for Youngna's shower/bachelorette weekend in NYC.  It was my turn again this past weekend:  Terrific Lady Weekend!  College friends Ashley, Ellie, Rachel, Mary Ellen and I went down to Cape May to stay at the Graham's shore house, and (bonus) Megan came down and spent a night with us too (since her Mom lives in Cape May).

With a few glasses of wine, Modern Family season 1, 3 seasons of Friends DVDs, delicious meals at Tisha's, George's and the Blue Pig Tavern, Scrabble on the iPad (which I am now addicted to), 2 Tony's Pizzas (split between Ash and I), fudge from The Fudge Kitchen, ice cream, half a day of pampering at the spa, and some lingerie shopping, it was a classic girls' weekend complete with pillow fights in our underwear.. :) It was so nice to get away and be and feel like my 'old self' again.

Bonus highlights were that I flew out of Philly to get home, so I got to pick up some delicious Philly pretzels (yum), and I was greeted by my adorably smiling family outside the security checkpoint of Terminal E (Tom brought flowers!).

A few pictures from the weekend: (The full album is posted on my picasa page:)

It's Official: Griffin is a Walker!

Yes folks, he's done it!  Alert the press...  Just 3 days shy of turning 15 months old, Griffin Hendrix is now officially a walker.  (Holy S@#&!  That's crazy.)

For the past 3 months, I've been asked several times by various people (neighbors, coworkers, relatives, strange old ladies at Market Basket), "Is he walking yet?", and I always have to give my long-winded spiel (babble/excuses/justification for why it's ok that my toddler aged son is not yet toddling) of "Well, almost, I mean, he cruises and stands, and likes walking while holding my fingers, but he's cautious, like he doesn't want to do it on his own until he's perfected his skills which is totally how I am..  yeah, and all of his friends are walking and he's the last one, but he will soon.. any day now.."  Now, I'm finally able to confidently just say "yes", as if Griff's a total veteran, like he's flawlessly walks miles and miles, but let's be real, the kid has taken a total of 5 steps in a row (as of this morning at Aryn's house), just before an almost face plant/stumble.

The progression from "Total Amateur/Never Taken A Step Ever" until "Slightly More Natural 5 Step Walker" went something like this:

3/20/11: Our last morning in Hawaii, I held Griff by the shoulders while he stood up (so he couldn't grab my hands) and Tom coaxed him to walk toward him... Griffin took 2-3 steps.  We celebrated and cheered.  He did another 2 steps from Tom to me, with a lot of encouragement.  (All of this was caught on video too!)

(and click HERE for video #2..)

3/21/11-4/2/11: Not much action at all, other than some random sleep disturbances, and a few times where Griff maybe took 1 or 2 steps (with active encouragement) before reverting back to the crawl.. and who can blame him, as it's so much more efficient.

4/3/11:  Griff took 4 steps at our neighbor Annika's house with a slight bit of coaxing.  I'm convinced it was because he was wearing his new magical walking shoes.  

4/6/11: When I picked Griff up from daycare yesterday, he was standing up a few feet away from me.  I held out my hands and said, "Come to Momma", and he just casually took the 2 steps to me, like it was no big deal.  (FYI: In all of the prior instances Griffin would take some steps, and then have this proud smile on this face that says "I'm the shiz, you should be clapping your butt off for what I just did."

4/7/11:  Today I called it official.  I tested Griff's walking skills this morning just to make sure his few casual steps at daycare weren't just a fluke.  Sure enough, he walked some more this morning, and walked his 5-step marathon at Aryn's...  

Great job Griffin!  Mom and Dad are so proud of you, and we love you so much.

Missing Dad

During Griffin's drop off this morning at Runamuck, his teacher Miss Rachel recounted a sad but funny story...  They have a board book in his class called 'Families', and the other day when a teacher was reading this particular book to Griff, his eyes welled up with tears when she turned to a page with a photo of an Asian Dad with his infant son, who at quick glance, looks fairly similar to Griff.  ("all Asians look the same... ")  It's a side profile view of the Dad, who has spiky dark hair and is dressed in a white t-shirt; he is sharing what looks like a banana with his white onsie wearing son.  It's definitely an image I can see Griffin mistakenly recognizing as he and Tom. To make matters worse (or funnier depending on how wierd your sense of humor is), Miss Rachel said that a second time Griffin was being read to, he started balling when he saw the Asian Dad/son page, and a third time when he was reading the book by himself, she said he looked at every page except for that one... awww! 

Hawaii Story: Griffin's Balls

Griffin loves balls, all kinds, ping pong, rubber, bouncy, beach, and even his own.

So, I accidentally taught Griffin where his balls are.. oh yes, by "balls", I do mean his "testicles".  Apparently it is a well known fact that little boys will start playing with themselves around the age of 9 months, though I must have been the only Mom not to know this.  Anyway, Griffin is right on that ball-playing track.  In Hawaii while I was changing him (or maybe he was in the bath tub?), I said something along the lines of "Ok, let's clean Griffin's balls". Of course, my darling little baby proceeded to grab his balls, totally on cue, and he repeated "bauhhhlls" a few times.  It most certainly was not a coincidence.  This was a moment where it took every ounce of my being not to fall over in complete hysterics, and although I couldn't keep a straight face to save my life, I sort of succeeded in not drawing too much attention to one of the best Griffin moments to date.  Oh what kind of mother am I!? (I kind of love the fact that he learned where his balls are.  What a smart boy!)  What was even funnier was that once in a while he'd poke his finger into his penis, almost inverting it like a scared little (I mean, totally normal sized) turtle head, and say "bauhhllls", and of course I had to correct him and say "No Griffin, this is your penis, and those are your balls."

14.8 months old, the Stats!

Griffin had his 15 month doc appointment today and here are his stats:

Ht: 32in.(80%)
Wt: 25lbs 8oz (67%)
Age: 14.8 mos
Weight for Height: 72%
Head Circumference: 48.5cm (86%)

As a followup to my ever so negative venting session from yesterday: Dr. D'Souza said that babies will tend to act out/misbehave more with the people they trust most.. so that made me feel a little better about the fact that Griffin is whining and throwing his mini tantrums with me.  Phew.

Whiny Griffin = Frustrated Mommy

Holy smokes.  For the past few days, I've been really losing my patience with Griffin.  His new found whining sounds worse than if our cat Penny were scratching a chalkboard with her 12 front claws (she is polydactyl).  It is driving me nuts, and causing me to question my ability to parent.  His animated determination to do what seems like the exact the opposite of everything I need/want him to do is pushing me to my absolute limit.  I'm not sure why, but my fuse seems shorter these days and I can't seem to stay as calm as I used to.  I said to Tom yesterday, "It's days like this where I never want to have another baby!" I feel like Griffin is starting to get very headstrong, and he and I are beginning to battle, especially because we both love getting what we want.  Yikes, I've created a monster.  I screamed at poor little Griffin today, twice.  "NO MORE WHINING!!!!", and I yelled at him again when he grabbed my legs from behind, stood up, and bit me..  Grrrrr.  I know things will get better, but man, these days are hard.  I still love you Griffin, more than anything.  

(Good venting session, good blog therapy)

Neighbor Dates

This past weekend we spent some time with our neighbors. We went to Jack Tar for dinner on Saturday with the Barr Family (Ben, Susan, and Fiona), and then Griffin played in Annika's yard on Sunday afternoon with Charlie and Greta. We are so fortunate to have neighbors with little ones Griffin's age- Fiona is 3 months older, and Charlie is 2 months younger, and in total, Willow Road now has 8 kids under the age of 3 (don't drink the water on our street, as I think it makes you extra fertile).

Shoe Shopping

Today we took Griffin to lunch at Chipotle with Unkie Bri, then shoe shopping at the North Shore Mall. You'd think that being a Stride Rite model, Griff would get some type of discount, but nope, we paid the small mortgage payment price of $39.90 for Griffin's first pair of walking shoes.

We also stopped into Lens Crafters and put some cute Dad-style glasses on Griff (just for fun).  He looked exactly like a mini-Tom.  It was adorable.

Other than when Griffin made a total scene screaming bloody murder in the tiny and overcrowded Stride Rite store when the clerk attempted to measure his feet (size 5 1/2W!!), the trip was a success. Here is a closeup shot of Griff's first shoes, as well as a family shoe pic!

Griffin, aka "Kobayashi"

For the little Asian he is, Griffin can really pack the calories...  Yesterday morning for breakfast, Griffin aka "Kobayashi" ate 2 scrambled eggs, half a Kashi multigrain waffle, 8 strawberries, and a small bowl of oatmeal.  This is all after an 8oz bottle 30 minutes prior.  Are you kidding me?  This 14 month old is eating me out of house and home...

Hawaii Story: Noozles

We taught Griffin how to do "Noozles", or our version of Eskimo kisses:

Kauai Pictures!

Phew.  It's taken me a full week to recover from our family trip to Kauai, HI.  I think I need another vacation.  On March 11, Tom, Griffin and I traveled across time zones to bask in the Hawaiian sun for 9 sweet days.  A picasa album is posted at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Liang.Victoria/201103Kauai?authkey=Gv1sRgCPrA9sL-5YCr2gE&feat=directlink

Our Hawaiian adventures/stories to come...

First: It's A One Nap Day

Well it's official.  Griffin has transitioned into taking just one nap a day.  It's 2:19pm and he's been passed out in his crib since just before noon.  In spite of my efforts to cling to our 2 nap routine (in my head 2 naps = 2 opportunities a day to have some quiet time to myself...), Griff has natually shifted himself to a new found schedule: 6:30am awake, whining for his morning bottle, 8am breakfast, 10am milk/small snack, 11:30am lunch, 12pm nap, 3pm snack, milk, 5:30pm dinner, 7pm bedtime (hopefully an earlier bedtime!?)  This is yet another reminder that my baby is turning into a big boy... oh crap, I see him waking up...

Gender Trade?

On Friday, Griffin’s teacher reported that he said “I don’t want to be a boy, I want to be a girl because I want to have a baby.”

Good Signs

Griffin has become quite adept at picking up sign language. It's amazing how fast he can learn these days, and it is really fun to be able to communicate with him.  So far, he's mastered the following words/signs:

1. "more" (He abuses this one... Griff knows I'm a total sucker, as he knows if he looks at me with his big almond shaped eyes, he'll get another pile of his favorite snack- graham bunnies, or I'll read several more books to him, even though we've already read 15 and it's past his bedtime.)

2. "love" (This one is my favorite. Griff is a cuddly boy, so it's appropriate that he picked his one up.  I can't wait for the first time he tells me he loves me; so far he makes the sign for "love" when I say the word, but he hasn't combined that with pointing at me or anything else for that matter.)

3. "please" (Gotta teach the kid manners...Miss Lisa taught our Kindermusik class this one last Thursday, and we've been practicing at home. My goal is to get him to combine "more" and "please" so at least if he is going to demand things, he can do it politely...)

4. "clean up" (Griffin has made a ton of progress on the action of actually cleaning up.  In music class he used to cry when we had to give up his beloved egg shakers or balls, but today, Griff actually participated in the cleaning up, and returned his eggs to the plastic bin, tear free.  He then of course proceeded to clap for himself.)

A First: Griffin Stands Up!

Whoohoo!  Griffin achieved a milestone yesterday: he stood up for the first official time (3/9/11- 2 days shy of turning 14 months old).  By "official", I mean that once he did it, he smiled and celebrated, and then repeated his new trick over and over to earn my enthusiastic clapping and praise!  It was adorable.  I ran to get the camera, and was able to catch this video:  Caution, your head may explode at the cuteness...

Pretzels and Cheesesteaks

We celebrated President's Day Weekend with the Gonzales Family. We packed up the good ol' Altima and drove her the roughly 350 miles from Beantown to Philly in search of the perfect pretzels, cheesesteaks, and company. We did a two hour pitstop at the New Haven Ikea, where Griff literally drooled, and Tom and I figuratively drooled over the amazingly functional kitchens and swedish meatballs plate. (We are planning to put in an Ikea kitchen into 20 Willow sometime this Spring, hopefully.)
Overall, the trip was a blast. Johnny and Griffin lit up when they saw each other and it was just like old times. We laughed extremely hard, relaxed a lot, and each gained approximately 3 pounds. Here are some pics and highlights:

Together again!

"I love you Jawhnny" -Scout

Griff & Johnny with Scout & Scout



On our Philly Bucket List: "Eat Cheesesteaks".  Complete.

We visited the Philly Pretzel Factory...

... and bought 15 pretzels for $5.00!

Took a car tour of the art museum and boathouse row...

and stopped at the Fairmont Park to check out the Smith Playhouse.

Meg & I look so sexy with our tasty cakes covered teeth.

Here's Griffin picking some tasty cakes of his own...

 Gonzales Family- We love you guys and miss you like crazy. Thanks for a great weekend!

Cupid

Happy Valentine's Day!  Love, Cupid's Crazy Mom

The Shift to Grandparenthood

One of the best things about having Griffin, has been watching my Dad transform into the cutest Grandpa ever. 

Like Father Like Son

Here is an excerpt from my text conversation with Tom from a few minutes ago:

At 3:07pm I texted, "On the smelly poop scale, Griff's just scored a 12. Oh my. Love you." 
Tom's response was, "Oh my indeed.  Well, I have some 12's every now and again, too. XOXO"  Then I said, "Like father like son.  Gross, I love you both a little less.  I'm a lady so I don't even poop."

Oh we are such embarrassing parents.  Don't worry Griff, when you're older, we'll tone it down... or won't we..?  Sorry in advance for all of the embarrassing comments/things I will make/do around you and your friends.

P.S. Speaking of poop, here are 3 classic pictures that we currently have hanging in our downstairs bathroom. 

The Past 2 Weeks

Wow, I think the cabin fever has gotten to me as I've forgotten to blog for the past 2 weeks.  You'd think being cooped up with a one year old in an 1200 sq foot house buried beneath the 60+ inches of snow we've gotten in the past month would have me begging for things to do, like blogging.  Alas, Griffin and my job keep me busy, or too tired to remember what things I have to do.  

So, let me fill you in on the last two weeks.  We've had some memorable times to share and document.

1. Griffin got conjunctivitis, or so we thought...

2. Despite the supposed "conjunctivitis", we had a family birthday party for Griff, complete with a Dad-made snow fort/tunnel and a duck shaped cake.

(Griff was NOT a fan of the snow fort, though I think he just got too cold.)

 (Thank you to our wonderful family for making the trip down to celebrate!)

 (Griff's first birthday cake was handmade by Dad, with a tiny bit of icing help from Mom.)

(Duck cake death.. it was a tasty death)

 (Anny was sick so she hugged Harry Bear instead of the baby..)

3. We celebrated Johnny's 1st birthday via breakfast skype.

 

4. Turns out it wasn't conjunctivitis.. Griffin got his first official ear infection.  Here we are at the doctor's office (again).  I think we've spent upwards of $200 in co-pays already this winter.

5. We took a family trip to the Museum of Science to catch the Amazing Nano Brothers Juggling Show, which totally lived up to its name- it was amazing.

(Griffin measured at just over 700 million nanometers tall!)

6. We caught many sightings of the family of 5 turkeys, or as Griffin calls, them "bahhllls".  They caused a traffic jam at the intersection of Village and West Shore the other day, and 2 nights ago, they slept up in the trees behind Joyce & Paula's house.  Griff and I love watching them fly up to the trees from our front window.  Who knew huge turkeys could fly so well?

7.  We took Griffin sledding on a slightly warmer weekend day.

(This was Griff's reaction to the sledding.. and to the snow in general..)

 (...until he realized he could eat it.)

 (then it wasn't so bad.. mmm..)

8. We got snow/freezing rain/rain/sleet again... (Dear Mother Nature, this is a little ridiculous. 60+" in the month of January? 36 days until Hawaii, 36 days until Hawaii...)