Thursday, January 31, 2013

Enrichment

reading

When I was pregnant, I did a lot of research into fun stuff to do at home with toddlers. Especially Montessori-inspired activities, that help small people do what big people are doing.

Well, after a very long time of waiting, Luca is old enough to start doing BIG BOY STUFF!! Here he is helping daddy make dinner.

chopping potatoes and onions



Greg made Luca and Leo each a learning tower, which we are very excited about. Because Luca sure throws a fit if he can't see what's going on up on the counter, and we're sick of holding him!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Goodbye to Dr. Luby

I received news today that my professor from UNC and violin teacher for 3 months unexpectedly died.

I went to his house to have a lesson with him when I was a senior in high school. I was extremely nervous about playing for him, as I was extremely nervous about playing in general, and about being accepted to UNC. His house was very cool, like all professors' homes you get to see, filled with antiques and trinquets from world travel. I was relieved that he was so nice and that he acknowledged that I was nervous. No one had ever said it out loud, much less that it was ok to be nervous. I think most people were either blind to it because I was very good at hiding it, or because they chose to ignore it.

While studying with him, I improved a great deal technically but I also discovered strengths I didn't know I already had. I remember playing Etudes while he pushed me to sight read faster and faster. I was playing so quickly that I was doing it without thinking, which was a big deal for me since I tended to over-think and inhibit myself. I didn't even know I sight read that way until he got it out of me.

Toward the end of the semester, I was falling to pieces. I missed a lesson because I missed my bus. I was late because I overslept. But instead of being chewed out, he asked me what was wrong. I told him that my boyfriend had just gone back home to Charleston and that I wasn't enjoying school very much. He said "That must be hard"; a simple acknowledgement of my feelings that no one had given me before. Then he asked, "Are you going to leave school?" "Yes." "Well, I understand how hard it is to be away from someone you love. But I hope if you come back, that we get to work together again." And then we finished our last lesson together.

Dr. Luby was the only adult at that time in my life who acknowledged my feelings as valid, and expressed any understanding or support for the choice I had made to leave school. He was also the first teacher I had who made me believe that I was talented, not by telling me but by helping me to fulfill my own potential. So thank you, Dr. Luby, for sharing the gift of music with me as a teacher, and for being a real person at a time when I needed it.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Flu :(

Well, we got the flu.

This is day 9 of respiratory symptoms for me, day 4 of a sore throat, but at least the body aches only lasted 3 days. Luca has been very sick too, but not sick enough to stop playing! Luckily Ash only got a sore throat and headachey symptoms, so he was able to get up and make food for us, etc. My parents are also helping when they can, keeping him occupied, but they too are mildly sick like Ash.

We have watched a stupid amount of TV and movies during this illness. But we didn't feel well enough to do much else. I haven't seen the sky in 4 days, and there has been an ice storm anyhows so we can't even go outside for a minute! Too risky with this cough.

Yesterday, Luca was sitting on the couch next to dada watching Star Wars (the bad one).... and he fell asleep. Just like that! All by himself. He has never fallen asleep all by himself before. He just slumped over and leaned on Ash's shoulder and was asleep.

sick with the flu

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Sleep update

On Christmas night, Luca slept through the night. He did it again the next night. He did it again last week. This week he has his fourth molar coming in, so it's back to super sad baby, day and night.

But we have seen the light at the end of the tunnel.... and it feels good.

Daddy has completely taken over nap duty... he puts Luca on his shoulder and walks him for less than 5 minutes and he's out. He will sleep for 1-1.5 hours alone, or 2-2.5 hours if we are with him. I just walked him to sleep tonight, while listening to a record, which is his favorite (and my favorite) way to go to sleep. Gives my poor nipples a break!

My favorite part of the day is first thing in the morning. When all three of us are in bed together, it's so nice. He's usually in a great mood when he first wakes up, and either starts playing silly games like "I see you...BOO!!" or giving us lots of cuddles. We keep books in the bed at all times for family reading time, and a couple of cute stuffed animals to practice giving hugs and kisses to.

Now that post partum depression isn't completely over-shadowing my life, I can actually enjoy breastfeeding a little bit. It's amazing how much easier life is when you aren't depressed every day.

I'm still moving forward with my gentle night weaning program... he was down to nursing every 4 hours until his tooth which put him back up to every 2 hours. I gave him ibuprofen tonight to see if it will help him sleep.

He's such an extreme child! He's happily playing for 5 minutes and then all of a sudden- WAAAAAAHHHH this scream that sounds like he lost his leg, but he only can't get the lid off of a jar. He's at level 0 or 100, no in between! If only I had known this about his personality when he was little, I would have understood his cries a lot better, and maybe not panicked so much about them. I have to raise my voice quite a bit- not because I'm yelling at him (ok, sometimes I do), but because he can't hear me over his own crying unless I do. He's whining and whining and finally I'm like "WHAT IS IT LUCA?? I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!" And he gives a more quiet whine, and then we say "use your words, tell mommy what you want" and he says very loudly "UP!" or "TITSY" (thirsty) or makes the nursies sign. All day long, my poor ear drums are subject to that WHINE WHINE WHINE. It drives me batty. Every want and need is this huge emergency to him. And mostly, he just wants to be held all the time so he can see what is going on up on the table, the counter, etc. And then he cries when he's not allowed to play with knives, or the hot stove, or whatever else it is that he's obsessing over.

I'm so excited about our tiny house. ALL of our possessions are in boxes in my mom's dining room or in the spare bedroom where we are sleeping. I'm proud to say a good 25% of my boxes are full of books!! I can't wait to move in the necessities and THROW AWAY all the rest of my crap. I always feel so good when I get rid of stuff.

Here is Luca and Leo playing together at the build site:



Sadly, this is the most recent family photo, taken by my sister:

picture from aunt alyssa

I remember making him that bib when I was pregnant!

picture from aunt alyssa

Sunday, January 13, 2013