Hercules, Hercules!

Well, I finally took a day off today to rest and recharge. It’s the first day off I’ve had since the pandemic hit and we’ve been home bound. There didn’t seem to be a point before now, since I’m already home with Troy, and we can’t go anywhere anyway. But my wife had to switch her schedule this week, so she’s unexpectedly home today. It seemed like the perfect time to get a little help with the baby and get some “play” time in for myself as well.

So, I called up a friend, and we were playing games online, which I haven’t done since maybe February. We were right in the midst of an intense battle with some demons of hell, when I hear this loud commotion come from downstairs. My wife is yelling, the baby is crying, and then I heard a series of words that froze my heart. “I need your help please, I’m having an emergency.”

As I leapt furniture and took the stairs three at a time, a million thoughts shot through my head; none of them positive. Was it Troy? Was it my wife? Was someone bleeding to death? How fast could I get to a hospital? And so on, and so on. But as I came around the corner into my wife’s office, I was completely unprepared for what I saw. It definitely wasn’t one of the million thoughts I’d just had on the way downstairs.

No blood. No injuries. My wife was standing there with the entire ten-foot curtain, that used to be hanging on her wall, draped over her head, shoulders, and out-stretches arms. And in her hand was one end of the curtain rod, which had ripped completely out of the wall, anchor and all. I looked up to see a gaping hole where it used to be.

After helping my wife dismantle the curtain rod and disentangle herself from the curtain, I asked the obvious question. “What the heck happened?” Apparently, the lawn guys had come by today to trim the front bushes and were stomping around in the flower bed. Hearing them outside, and his curiosity getting the better of him, my son wanted to look out of the window. But the curtain was blocking his view, so he had pulled it to the side. And while still holding it in his little iron grip, he had gotten so excited by the sights outside that he had inadvertently tugged on it while he was jumping up and down. Not realizing his own strength, he had tugged so hard that he had completely ripped the curtain rod off the wall!

I looked over to where he was standing, expecting to see fear or contrition. Instead, I saw curiosity and maybe pride. He had no real concept of what he’d just accomplished. He just wanted to play in the thick, flowing curtain which now laid within his grasp. He is so ridiculously strong for a one-year old. I fear this is not the last thing in this house that I’ll have to repair. Our little Hercules.

Beast Mode

I'm not sure what got into Troy today, but he started going full Beast Mode on his blow-up dolphin toy.  He was picking it up and throwing it across the room with force, slamming it into the wall, and tackling it to the floor.  I watched him do this again and again for 20 minutes.  And as I filmed him, I couldn't help but feel like I was taping a football demo audition for future coaches.  That I was watching the next JJ Watt, and that this was what opposing quarterbacks had to look forward to.  If that's the case, and he's only going to get bigger and stronger, then they are in for a rude awakening.  Because Troy in Beast Mode is a scary proposition!

Brush, Brush!

Today marks the first day that Troy willingly let me brush his teeth. We’ve been trying unsuccessfully for days to teach his about cleaning his teeth, but he hasn’t been cooperating. Most days he’d seal his lips shut, so I’d end up brushing the outside of his lips while he smiled. A couple of days, I tried prying his lips apart, so he just bit the toothbrush. But today, he opened his mouth and let me brush all his little teeths! Maybe it’s because he’s still teething and his gums are sore. The little rubber toothbrush is like a gum massage. Maybe he’s starting to like the flavor of the strawberry toothpaste. Or maybe like all things Troy, he just had to do it on his own terms.

Next, is flossing! He’s already sticking his fingers in his mouth and picking at his teeth just like dada is doing. He thinks it’s fun, which is a good start.

Jolly Green Giant

Well, Troy grew another 3/4 of an inch since I measured him in June. He’s now 34.5 inches tall, but he still weighs the exact same 30 pounds 7 ounces. It’s like his body just keeps stretching and stretching, getting leaner and leaner. Although, that could also be attributed to how active he is.

So, he was pretty much the exact same height, if not taller, than the 18-month old kids at his daycare back when he was one-years old. Now five months later, he’s another inch and a half taller still, and he’s not even as old as they were yet!

His food intake has also increased. He doesn’t just eat his normal meals, but he also wants to share everything we eat too. He loves to snack in between meals as well. I think we’re in for some hefty grocery bills.

Dance Fighting

Troy’s latest favorite video is the Puss in Boots dance fighting scene from Shrek Forever. In the scene, Puss is chasing a cat burglar who had attempted to steal the same magic beans that Puss was trying to steal. The magic beans would grow a beanstalk into the sky to a giant’s castle, where there lived a goose that laid golden eggs. Puss chases the other cat into a trap door that leads him down into a cat bar. Yes, a bar, where cats of all breeds and colors are sitting around drinking milk out of saucers and eating fish. As Puss confronts the thief, she starts to dance. Confused, another cat catches his eye and points to a sign on the wall, which declares that every Tuesday is dance fighting night. Puss acknowledges the contest and vows to Tuesday Dance Night the other cat to death. They then engage in a series of dance moves that alternates between known dances and typical moves that cats would do.

At one point the thief cat starts doing the “litter box,” where she’s down on all fours kicking her legs out behind her. Troy starts laughing uncontrollably at this part. He laughs even harder when Puss, appalled that she would dare do the litter box, starts to pull himself across the floor, dragging his butt on the ground. Troy finds this hilarious for some reason.

It’s funny to watch him watch the clip, because he’s dancing to the music that the cats are consistently playing in the background. Some days we have to watch it on repeat...over and over, because he gets upset when it stops. I guess it could be worse, like having to listen to Let It Go from Frozen on repeat.

Sleepy Time Giggles

I was putting Troy down for his nap today. He had just gotten comfortable, curled up on top of a pillow with his back resting against my side. When all of a sudden, he giggled. Just a single laugh at first, and then after a few seconds, another. And then another. I couldn’t help but smile as he turned to look at me, pacifier hanging out of the side of his grinning face. Looking so carefree and adorable. When he saw me smiling, he lost it and started giggling uncontrollably. I started laughing too, which made him laugh harder. It became infectious. He crawled up on my chest to give me a hug and share this moment, and as he felt the vibrations of my body moving and the rumbling of the laughter as it bubbled up inside me, he started to laugh harder. Feeling his body bouncing up and down on top of me, I let my laughter go. We kept like this for several minutes until he finally slid off me, sleepily closed his eyes with a smile still on his face, and drifted off to sleep.

I have no idea what set him off, whether it was a thought he suddenly had or a touch of the fabric on his face. Whatever it was, we both enjoyed just laughing for no reason.

Coronavirus: Shout Out

A shout out to all the moms and dads out there having to raise children during this pandemic, especially little children. And if you’re working full time while doing it, here’s a virtual hug as well. I want you to know that you’re all rock stars, and you’re doing a great job. It may not always seem like it, and I’m sure nobody is telling you how appreciated you are, but you are. They couldn’t do it without you.

It’s a tough, stressful job. You are pushed to the end of your rope all day, every day. Your patience is tested. Your endurance is tested. Your love is tested. I get it, I’m there with you. From someone who broke a light switch by throwing a watering can across the room (long story), I understand. The only advice I can give is to breath and pray...a lot. And remember 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, tell yourself over and over, “Love is patient, love is kind. It’s slow to anger.” And you love your family, so be patient and be kind, and let God take care of the rest. It’s not the people you’re really mad at, it’s the situation. If you want to be angry, then be angry at the coronavirus. It’s the one that’s causing your current predicament.

And know that someone out there, maybe a stranger writing on a blog, appreciates and understands what you’re going through. You are not alone, and you’re loved. We got this!

Headstands

Today, Troy and I were wrestling upstairs when all of a sudden he stopped, bent over, and placed his hands and the top of his head on the floor. He looked like he was about to kick his legs up in the air and do a headstand. I was going to be equally parts impressed and jealous, because I can’t do a headstand. But instead he just stayed in that position. I suppose he could have been some sort of yoga pose, a downward facing dog or something. But it really looked like a pseudo-headstand. He stood up, ran around, and then did another one. I’m not sure where he learned that, but he’s obviously enjoying his new-found talent.

Babyweight Workouts: Bench Press

CC sent me a video today of him doing core exercises with his son, Declan. He had Declan laying on his legs, and he was lifting him up toward his face while he laid on the floor. He was joking that during a pandemic, when you can’t make it to the gym, you have to improvise. I was inspired by his creativity, so I sent him a video back of me doing bench presses with Troy as my barbell. Troy was enjoying this new game with dada, at least until he got bored and decided he was done being used as an inanimate object for sport...which was around rep twelve. And then he collapsed onto my face.

Imagination Emergence

Troy was upstairs with me, keeping me company while I worked today. Having been ignored and shooed away several times, he decided to entertain himself. I heard what sounded like car noises, and I turned to see him “driving” a cardboard box around the couch in my office. Across the seat, over the armrest, down to the floor, and back again. As the part of the couch changed, so did the noises he was making. It was fascinating to see his imagination coming to life!

Manners

Today, I was making a snack for Troy after his nap. I was cutting up some turkey and cheese, which he was waiting impatiently for the entire time by standing next to me and pointing at the cutting board, whining. So to tide him over, I handed him a cube of cheese, which he promptly stuck into his mouth...the entire thing at once. I’m trying to instill good manners in him, so I said, “you’re welcome.” The cube of cheese was filling his whole mouth, so he had to try to slide it a little to the side of his mouth. And with his right cheek pooching out like a chipmunk, I received a garbled, “slthank hoo” in return. I couldn’t help but laugh. I expected him not to say anything or to at least finish his cheese first, but that works too.

Your Eminence

When one of us is on the stairs and Troy is in the game room looking down over the balcony, he will stick his foot through the bars and present it to us. My wife started to kiss his little foot, like some sort of Catholic pope or something presenting their ring. Now, he thinks he’s entitled to kisses on his foot all the time. Little turd!

Of course we gladly oblige, but that’s not the point! It’s the principle of the thing, that he expects it. Like just because he’s the little prince, he thinks he gets special treatment. Pfft! Fine, okay, he does...he does.

Little Engineer

Troy is so curious about things. Sometimes, I can see him trying to work out how something works. Like when he flips the light switches on and off to see which light come on. Today, he was sitting on the couch with me in my office, and I turned the lamp on. Suddenly, he was completely enthralled. I switch it on and off, as he watched the light dance across the shade. Finally, he climbed down on the floor, so he could look up underneath it to watch the light bulb come on and off. We have stories of my brother-in-law taking things apart just to see how it worked, and I suspect Troy will be the same way. One day, I'll walk out to find my drill or his mama's blender taken apart and parts strewn across the floor.

Boxes

Troy has been obsessed with boxes lately. He has this tiny little box that my wife got for Troy's toys, and he's decided that he has to be inside it all the time now. At first, it was just standing in the box, but lately, he's decided that he can fold himself up into a ball and sit down inside the box as well. Every once in a while, he'll get stuck inside the box, and we'll have to rescue him.

But it's not just this box, it's every box he can find. A diaper box, an Amazon box, anything. He even tried to get inside by PS4 box; but when he determined that it was too skinny for him, he threw the box down on the floor and just climbed on top of it.

And if all else fails, then he'll just find a bigger box to climb on top of or inside of. I mean there's always a bigger box, like a toy box, to get inside, right?! I've always said his spirit animal is a cat, so maybe he's part cat after all.

Love Language

I have been wondering what Troy’s love language is. I realize that as he gets older it might change, but I thought it a fun exercise to wonder at it now.

The five love languages are Quality Time, Acts of Service, Gifts, Physical Touch, and Words of Affirmation. They represent the ways that someone feels loved. If we connect to their love language, then they feel loved and happy. If we love them in a different language, then even though we’re trying, it’s falling on deaf ears.

That being said, I think Troy’s love languages are Quality Time and Physical Touch with a dash of Words of Affirmation. He definitely craves our time and attention. And ever since he was born, he’s been a cuddler. We have been trying to use positive reinforcement, rather than discipline to instill behaviors and new tasks in him, so we often clap and whoop when he does something we want. He loves this kind of attention, and he’ll generally repeat the behavior to get it again. That’s why I also threw in Words of Affirmation.

He doesn’t really care about gifts. He’d be just as content to play with a cardboard box as an expensive toy. And he couldn’t care less when we do something for him. That’s just our job as his parental slaves! It’ll definitely be interesting to see how these mature and evolve as he grows.

Stair Climber - Part 2

Now that Troy has mastered going up the stairs, he’s decided that he needs a new challenge. When I opened the baby gate at the top of the stairs today, instead of reaching out for me to pick him up like he usually does, he slid one tentative, little foot over the edge of the first step. Holding on to the baby gate for support, he let his weight take him the rest of the way down until his foot landed safely and securely on the second step. Suddenly feeling more confident, he awkwardly scooted his back leg out from under himself and dropped it over the side of the top step to land next to his other foot. He looked up at me with a huge smile on his face as if to say, “Look what I just did, dada?!” Understanding what a huge accomplishment this was for him with clapping and cheering, I held out me arm in front of him to offer support. First with one hand and then with the other, he let go of the baby gate and wrapped his little hands tightly around my forearm. There was no hesitation, no fear. He trusted me, and he trusted himself. And as soon as he had a good grip, he moved his foot over the side of the next step.

His steps got quicker and smoother as he gained confidence and experience, and he was almost running down the stairs, so eager to do this new thing. We made it to the bottom of the first landing; and he stopped, turned around, climbed back up to the top of the stairs, and started heading back down again. Up and down we went together, until his legs got tired from the exertion, my wife standing at the bottom, cheering him on the entire time. He finally decided to go all the way to the bottom, making the truth on the wider steps with a little less grace, but making it nonetheless. He truly is a stair master now!

Sesquipedalian

Troy has increased his vocabulary to several new words now. He says the following consistently, along with the occasional other word that we have to question if he actually said it or not.

Any time he sees water (e.g. in a cup, bath tub, pool, puddle, or creek) he says, “more.” We think this is because we would always ask him if he wanted more when we were trying to get him to drink more water.

Any time he sees a picture of or hears the word “penguin,” he will start singing “na, na, na, na-na-na, na” from Happy Feet 2.

Any time he hears the word “turkey,” he will start making the sound of a turkey with his tongue.

Any time he sees a picture of a bee, he says, “beeeeee,” while waving his finger around in an erratic fashion to mimic its flight.

Any time he sees a picture of bubbles, he says, “bubbles” with a lot of enthusiasm and joy.

He will say the word “moon” to mean the actual moon, the sun, a cloud, a star, or a circle. It used to just be the moon, but when he couldn’t describe all of the things he was seeing, he painted with a broader brush.

He will point to his own eye or the eye on one of his stuffed animals and say, “eye.” Sometimes, he will poke us in the eye and say it to make sure we grasped what he was referring to.

He will say, “ball” whenever he picks up the balls from the ball pit or his rubber balls upstairs.

He will say, “ooo ooo” when he sees a picture of a monkey.

The other day, I took him walking outside, and he fell and scraped his knee. After that, he would point at it constantly and say, “boo-boo.”

He still says, “dah,” to mean his dada, a dog, or a duck. Although it sometimes loosely refers to any birds. And it sounds closely like “that” which he says when he wants us to explain something.

Although, he walks around talking to himself all of the time, so we suspect he knows much more than that. He has a whole language of his own that we can’t understand!

Chasing Tunnels

Troy likes it when I chase him with his collapsible tunnel. He’ll run away from me, and I’ll try to drop the six-foot tunnel over his head and “capture” him. He’ll stop with the tunnel sticking straight up in the air, then he’ll fall over to make the tunnel land on its side. And finally, he’ll crawl out of it and take off running again. I’ll grab the tunnel off the floor and give chase again.

Goose Egg

I was playing with Troy today, running around upstairs, and I stopped to grab something off the floor. I only took my eyes off of him for a second, and that’s when it happened. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I heard a very loud thud and then a scream. I quickly turned to see him laying on the floor next to the wall. I ran to him, grabbed him, and gave him a hug to comfort him. I quickly gave him the once over, looking for blood, while trying to calm him down. Nothing. Small sigh of relief. I then gently started running my hand over his head, and that’s when I touched it...the goose egg on the back of his head.

I took him downstairs, grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables out of the freezer, put “You’re Welcome” on from the movie Moana, and held the vegetables to his head. At first, he was fighting me, but soon I guess it must have felt better because he sat still and just let me hold him. Unfortunately, this all occurred moments before he was supposed to be eating lunch and going down for his nap. So all of that got delayed while I tried to stop the swelling and make sure he wasn’t concussed. And of course it happened while I was home alone with him.

Eventually, nature started to win out, and he was falling asleep in my arms. The vegetables had helped, and the swelling had gone down a little bit. So, I got him fed and in bed. Tuckered out from the ordeal, he went straight to sleep. Poor little guy.

Closing Doors

Troy has become very conscientious, and let’s be honest, annoyingly anal about closing doors that we’ve left open. He’ll come along behind us, lean on the door, and close it with a slam. Then, he’ll give us a disapproving look, like a warning not to let it happen again.

This would be fine, except that sometimes he closes the door while I’m still in it. Like when I’m getting something out of the refrigerator or pantry. He meets resistance, because obviously my body is holding the door open; but instead of investigating the obstruction, he just pushes harder. Unable to get free because I’m pinned in a very small space, my body being flattened by a surprisingly strong one-year old, I have to try to push back on him to get out! And as soon as I’m free, Troy will come up behind me and slam the door shut.

Sometimes, I’ll mess with him and open the door again. He will come running across the room just to slam it closed. “Order and method, Hastings. Order and method."

Bouncy Castle

Since I have a holiday today, and I'm spending it playing with Troy, I decided to jazz it up a little and pull his bouncy castle back out.  We haven't had it set up since his birthday party in February, and he was a little too small to enjoy it back then. 

He thoroughly enjoyed the blower and the process to inflate the thing.  So much so, that I had a hard time getting him away from that to actually enter the castle!  Once inside, he was a little timid, not quite sure what to do inside this strange new toy.  I quickly indoctrinated him when I bounced next to him and sent him flying up in the air to land with a splat on his face.  He's a quick learner, though; and it took him only a few seconds to pick himself back up, propel himself upward to get some momentum, come down with all of his considerable 30 pounds, make impact, and fly back up in the air angled straight for my chest and head.  We collided in the middle of the castle and went sprawling, both of us laughing.

We spent the next hour chasing each other around, trying to knock each other over, and enjoying being off-balanced.  At some point, Troy just started running around in circles, trying to stay on his feet as the floor gave way beneath him, but landing on his face half of the time instead.  Afraid that he was going to make himself dizzy, and by association sick, I decided that it was time to take a break from the castle.  I apparently waited too long, and as soon as we got downstairs, he threw up.  He didn't seem to mind much, with the flush still on his cheeks and the smile still on his lips.  I just hope the exercise was enough to wear him out!