February 13, 2008

Some memories from Talia's 1st birthday:

Shortly after we heard the happy early morning banter begin in the kids' shared room, Seth and I made our entrance to usher in our little lady's special day with a chorus of "Happy Birthday." She seemed quite pleased with all the lavished attention. The kids and I had an unexpectedly relaxed day at home as inclement weather prevented our normal Wednesday church routine. Late in the afternoon Papo and Mamacita (Seth's parents) arrived from Nashville where they had spent the weekend and first half of the week. Shortly after their arrival we headed to our local mall where we subjected the poor birthday girl to the rite of passage known as ear piercing. I consider it her introduction to that age-old womanly truth "beauty is pain." Fortunately the tears lasted only a few moments and her new sparkling accessories are an adorable addition to her sweet and shining countenance. In the words of Renoir, "The pain passes, but the beauty remains."

Thursday began with an early-morning picture appointment. Talia was what I would call more "interested" in the whole picture-taking process, than "into" it. After the first several shots she actually began to anticipate the flash, which led to some hysterical shots of the eyes-half-closed variety. The pediatrician's office was the next stop. By the time he finished the check-up (Talia is at the peak age for stranger anxiety) and finger-stick to check her blood, I'm pretty sure she had decided that this birthday stuff is overrated. We made it up to her by taking her to Mimi's for lunch and then home for a good long, well-deserved nap.



The big party on Saturday was lots of fun! The theme was "Our Sweetheart" and it was the pinkest, frilliest, girliest little party you can imagine. My favorite mental image is of Seth, kneeling on the ground, patiently applying masking tape to the backs of nearly 100 construction paper hearts for use in a game. What a great Daddy! Talia enjoyed playing in the toy corner (stocked with all her favorite toys), sitting on the laps of various family members and friends, eating birthday cake off of Mama's fingers (she refused to touch it), and pulling tissue paper out of gift bags. Unfortunately the birthday girl was in a bit of a daze, not to mention her parents, as she had been up from 1:30 to 4:00 am the night before.

We enjoyed celebrating with many family members who came to town for the occassion: the aforementioned Papo & Mamacita, Uncle Phil, Aunt Vicki and cousins Siena (with whom Talia shares her birthday), Paris & Zack. Three days after the party Mima (my mom) flew in and spent a week with us.


In case you are wondering, Benjamin handled the showering of attention on his sister with poise and dignity. Actually, he really appeared not to notice that much, other than taking advantage of our preoccupation during the party to stuff his mouth repeatedly with the Sweetheart candies ("conversation hearts") decorating the tables.

Sweet 1

The night before Talia's first birthday I was stressing out over all the things I had to do before our company came and the big party. I was in task mode, making my grocery list, dealing with last-minute details around the house, and running to Wal-Mart to get all the food we would need for the next several days. When I got home Talia was waiting (and wailing) to be fed and in the middle of feeding her I realized...this is the last night my baby girl is going to be "none." Suddenly all the hurry didn't matter anymore.

So we turned down the lights and sat in the rocking chair and I sang her special lullaby (the first one I sang to her in the hospital just after she was born). Sigh. Everyone always tells you "they grow up so fast," but what they don't tell you is how happy and sad it makes you.

Snow Day!

Being from California, Seth and I have always been rather partial to the idea of snow in winter. You might say, in our minds, it was one of the perks of moving to Kentucky. And so I'm sorry to say that, in general, we have been rather disappointed on that front, especially the last couple of years. Last night we finally got what we have been waiting for: a big, huge, beautiful blanket of snow!

Now we have gotten a dusting or two in the past couple of months, but nothing that really stuck around for long. Every time the flurries would start to swirl Benjamin would look outside and exclaim, "SNOWMAN!" And I would explain to him, "no, Babe, there's not going to be enough snow for us to make a snowman. I'm sorry."

Today Benjamin finally got his winter wish. Seth stayed home this morning and worked remotely, so at lunchtime we all bundled up and trooped outside where we set to packing the icy crust into three large balls. Benjamin helped me tromp across the yard to find stick arms while Seth selected rocks from Benjamin's copious collection for eyes. A limp carrot (no longer fit for eating) became the characteristic snowman beak; I even donated my hat for the cause.

This is our 6th winter in Kentucky, and our first snowman!

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

It's been awhile since I've written about Benjamin's latest accomplishments. In some ways his development has slowed down, now that he is in the 3rd year of his life, but in other ways he continues to amaze me daily as he learns more about the world and his place in it.

Much of Benjamin's attention, these days, is absorbed by the fascination of letters and numbers. He knows all 26 letters of the alphabet (and a few other assorted combinations such as "ch" and "sh") by what sound they make and is starting to know some of their names as well. His favorite song in the whole, wide world is the "A, B, C's." We sing it at least 20 times a day, sometimes even for his bedtime lullaby. He is not yet "reading," in the proper sense, but can sound out the individual letters in a word--for example: if he sees the word "pot," he will say, "p...ah...t." When he is not pointing to letters and making assorted sounds, he is counting any and everything in sight. He sometimes gets lost at 13 and will say "mm-teen" several times until he finds 16. Our favorite trick at the dinner table is to tell him to count his bites. He sometimes gets up to 18 or 19. (Sneaky, sneaky!)

Benjamin is also very fascinated with making music. He loves to play the piano, the kazoo, and the "flute" (which is really a plastic recorder which was a party favor for his birthday). For Christmas he received a great set of toy percussion instruments. He has been learning how each instrument is played and now goes about crashing cymbols, dinging the triangle, and shaking the tambourine quite professionally. (Well, it depends on your standards....)

He continues to read, build with his Legos, climb, rough house with Daddy (Mama is not a very good rough-houser), and hide. In addition, he has a new level of interest in cars, hightened by the fact that he received 25 assorted cars for Christmas!

Health-wise, we have had some challenges over the past few months. We had some more testing done and have not learned anything new, which is good and bad. His symptoms, at times, have been quite severe and are concerning to us as parents. The doctor is keeping an eye on things, but is less concerned. I suppose that is encouraging. His most recent regimen consists of nebulizer treatments 2-4 times a day, an antibiotic for returning eczema (which was infected), and a probiotic to help with digestive issues. We are thankful that he is feeling better and continue to pray for complete healing from his food allergies.

What I have not captured in this recital of accomplishments is the eager and earnest spirit of our sweet boy. He is so warm and friendly in his interactions. My heart is warmed each time he reaches out to hold my hand or give me a spontaneous hug. His zeal for life gives a new sparkle to each day. Our home is a happier place because of our Benjamin.

Favorite moments of the past week

One morning, shortly after waking up, Talia began to fuss. Over the baby monitor I heard Benjamin begin to sing in a soft, sweet voice. I think he was trying to comfort her. :)
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Benjamin has been obsessed with counting lately. He is even learning to count backwards. One morning he was counting backwards, mostly to himself. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." After a moment he added: "BEEEEEP!" (I think the microwave is his inspiration.)
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For dinner one evening Talia was eating small pieces of thin-sliced turkey. Noticing she was having difficulty picking them up, Seth began to feed her with his own fingers. Evidently she liked that; she began to pick up other finger foods from her tray and, pulling Seth's hand toward her, deposit them in his palm for him to put in her mouth!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Talia, at almost 11 months old, is a distinct joy to all of us here in the Rodriquez household. Even Benjamin exuberantly shouts, "Ya Ya!" when she and I come to retrieve him from his bed after his afternoon nap.

I recently read that babies Talia's age are "dedicated wriggler[s] and squirmer[s]." This would certainly describe our baby girl. Her feet, especially, are in constant motion, whether in her crib, bath, or highchair. She vocalizes quite a bit, as well. She shouts to attract attention, screams in anger, and babbles loudly and tunefully in long strings of syllables. And what a delightful laugh!

Tali is not yet among the majority of babies her age who are utilizing some method or another of deliberate movement to change location. She's just not interested in crawling, whatsoever! She will happily sit for quite some time, exactly where you leave her. We have, however, as of yesterday, reached another long-awaited milestone. Tali now has two newly-cut bottom front teeth (her first)!

Books are among her favorite play things. She adores sitting, surrounded by a mountain of board books, turning pages, which may or may not be right-side-up. She also loves her new baby dolls and wiggles like a puppy dog whenever I bring one out for her to play with. They are often the recipients of repeated wide-mouthed, wet kisses.

We are experiencing a bit of good ol' sibling rivalry already. Talia always wants what Benjamin has (even if she has a pile of 6 sitting right next to her) and whenever I sit her down to play, suddenly everything is Benjamin's "special" possession. Any book she wants is his most treasured book, any toy is suddenly the object of his most focused attention. Most of the time, though, they are making each other laugh, squeal, and shriek. Either that or they are blowing spirited raspberries at one another.

Assorted Stories

For Christmas, Benjamin received a new Baby Einstein movie about animals: Baby Noah. (For those of you who are outside the Baby Einstein culture, each DVD has a theme and is named Baby _____, appropriately. For example: the video about the sun, moon, stars, and planets is called "Baby Galileo.")

One evening, while we were watching this "movie" (or "mwee," as Benjamin calls it), I was thinking about how enamored Benjamin had become with the story of Baby Jesus ("Baby Sus") during the Christmas season. He had learned the Christmas story so well, it dawned on me that it would be fun to teach him other stories in the same way, focusing on one per month. And why not start with Noah? So I began to point out all the references to Noah in the movie (artwork, toys, and cartoons depicting the ark.) Later, just as we had with the "Baby Jesus" story, we found the Noah story in his children's Bible and read it to him before bed.

The next morning Benjamin brought his Bible to me. Opening it he handed it to me, just as he had when he wanted me to find "Baby Sus," and implored, "Baby Noah?"
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On another occasion Benjamin was sitting with his Bible, flipping pages and looking at the pictures. "Uh oh," I heard him say. Curious, I looked up. The picture on the page showed John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. Jesus was in the water, with only his head showing, clearly dripping wet. Benjamin was pointing to the dripping head. "Uh oh," he repeated with a concerned look. (Did he think Jesus had fallen in?)
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One afternoon last week the kids were playing in the living room while I was doing dishes in the adjoining kitchen. Unfortunately, Benjamin has been known to push his (immobile) sister, knocking her over backwards, so I was keeping a fairly close eye on them. I heard Talia protest and stepped back to see what was bothering her. Benjamin was standing close to where she was sitting and was clearly "in her space," but was not touching her. She wailed again and then, looking up at him with furrowed eyebrows, she very deliberately threw herself backwards and started wailing loudly! Had I not seen it, I never would have believed it. Wow.
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Benjamin recently marched into his bedroom, where I was changing Talia's diaper, and announced, "Potty!" Not understanding I told him, "Yes, I'm changing Talia's diaper." "Potty," he repeated, indicating I had not understood his intent. "Ben. Potty!" Oh my! I was not at all prepared for that one! (We don't have any of the appropriate potty training equipment yet.) "You want to sit on the potty?," I asked him. "Ben! Potty!," he joyously repeated. So we went. He didn't do anything except sit there, but he was so pleased with himself. He hasn't asked since and we had already decided, with his personality, we are not going to push it. Still, I think a new phase may be just around the corner. Oh my.
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If you're not laughing yet, this one will do it:

Last night the kids were having a hard time settling down to go to sleep. Benjamin would screech loudly, making Talia screech and babble, which would get them both laughing. We have been working to curb this kind of bedtime delay lately and so I was keeping a close ear on the situation. I removed Benjamin from the room for discipline and explained very clearly that there was to be no talking, no laughing, no screaming. He was to lay down and close his eyes because it was time to go to sleep. The expectations were clear and Benjamin confirmed his understanding. Looking into my eyes he said earnestly, "obey Mama."

I placed him back in his bed and closed the door. Almost immediately I heard him screech and laugh, getting Talia started again. This cycle repeated itself several times. I was amazed at the seriousness with which he would repeat, "obey Mama," only to turn around and immediately disobey again! I was beginning to get frustrated!

In my frustration I pulled out one of those pointless phrases parents use on their kids: "How many more times am I going to have to discipline you?" Benjamin answered in a small voice, "Three."