Potty at school

I meant to post this last week when it happened but totally forgot. Last Tuesday (Feb. 5), Harmon used the potty at school! It was the first time he's gone at school and we are so proud of him. Evidently, he was pretty proud of himself too because he talked about it all damn day (per his daily activities sheet at left).

He's been going at home on a semi-consistent basis since the Christmas break. I think he was hesitant to go at school because his teachers likely won't spend 45 minutes reading 20 books while he sits there (like we had been doing). Recently, though, we moved him from the potty to the real toilet (with the adapted seat) and cut out the books. He seems to go faster now and maybe that's why he went at school. Whatever the reason, we were glad there was some progress.

His teachers have told us that most of the kids in his class are using the potty consistently now and, while he's not there yet, this can only benefit him. We also need to keep in mind that he is THE youngest kid in his class so we just can't expect him to do what all the older kids are doing. As with most things, it will all come in time.

The power of persuasion

Most 2-year-olds get what they want. Some do it with just a smile; others cry for hours until they are satisfied. Harmon is a simple toddler. Don't get me wrong, he can charm the best of them with that smile, and he does throw a mean tantrum. But, Harmon usually gets what he wants -- simply by asking.

His favorite phrase of late is "How about (Mommy or Daddy) does ... (fill in the activity)." This morning while I was getting ready for work, Harmon wanted me to read him one of his new books. So, he went into his room, grabbed the book and then grabbed me by the finger, looked at me with those big brown eyes and softly asked, "How about Daddy reads this on the couch." So, off we went to the couch and took part in Harmon's favorite pastime -- reading.

Harmon's "How about ... " came about a month or so ago. While we were training him to sleep in his new toddler bed, he kept getting up -- sometimes four or five times per night. So, one night I decided to sit in the room and watch to make sure he did not get up. It worked, and now Harmon is down with having Daddy in the room as he drifts off to sleep. After we tuck him in, and he lays his little head down, the suggestion comes out like clockwork: "How about Daddy sits there."

The requests come in many other forms. When he wants to be held: "How about Mommy holds you" (see this entry for an explanation of his pronoun confusion), or when he wants to go play with his trains: "How about Mommy and Daddy go downstairs." You are a persuasive little fella, Harmon, but you don't have to ask us, "How about Mommy and Daddy love me always." You had us at "How about ... "

Scare tactics

Sometimes, with a two-year old, you just have to do what you have to do – even if you resort to scare tactics.

Early on, Harmon was deathly afraid of this bouncing Tigger that my parents have at their house. When you push him down, he yells “I’m gonna’ bounce” and then he starts bouncing. Harmon actually was OK until Tigger started bouncing toward him and then it was all over. He likes all other forms of Tigger – at Toys R Us and even on TV (damn Tigger and Pooh) – but this particular Tigger has always freaked him out. Over the weekend, we were at my parents’ house and we brought Tigger out again to see if things have gotten any better. Harmon is cordial now but they’re definitely not BFF!

Since he’s warming to Tigger a bit, we’ve had to introduce another big cat to scare him with – the black panther. One random day before the holidays, he was doing something I didn’t want him to do and I simply blurted “you don’t want the black panther to get you, do you?” Ever since then, it has stuck! For his birthday, he received “Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?” and there is a black panther on a page of that book (scanned image above) to make it all the more real. When he gets to that page, it reads “black panther, black panther, what do you see?” and, instead of reading the proper response, Harmon says “I see Harmon’s legs!” Kevin and I die – we must tell him all too often that the panther is going to eat his legs!

We use the black panther a lot, mostly to get Harmon to eat. If he’s being a good boy, we’ll tell him the black panther is at Charlie’s house (Charlie is one of his friends from school). I recently found the cutest black panther stuffed animal and sent the link to Kevin. He said that getting Harmon a cute and cuddly black panther would make us lose our edge. Amen to that - the mythical black panther lives on!

In the car

A ride in the car with Harmon lately has been pretty interesting for the following three reasons:

1. As soon as we are on the move, he yanks off his hat and gloves and tosses them back over his shoulder into the “trunk” area. Of course, it takes us forever to find them – especially if it’s dark outside – and, thus, takes forever for us to re-bundle him and get him out of the car. He takes great pleasure in a really good toss and LOVES to tell us all about it.

2. If it’s dark outside, he absolutely HATES for us to turn on the interior lights. He frets “turn the light off” relentlessly until we oblige.

3. No matter where we’re going or what kind of mood he is in, he simply cannot handle Kevin EVER leaving the car. Even if he’s just getting gas and is IN PLAIN VIEW, Harmon has a meltdown (see photo for evidence) and cries “Daddy comes back” until he returns. Kevin claims he does something similar when I leave the car but it can’t possibly compare to what happens when Kevin leaves.

Clean chiclets

Today was Harmon’s first dentist appointment. Apparently, I missed the memo that his first appointment was supposed to take place at age one – I’m only a year behind.

We were OK with waiting because he only drinks milk and water (he’s never been a juice fan, other than a little cran-apple when he’s not feeling well) and he pretty much hates all sweets. He uses a straw sippy cup and never slept with his bottle or anything like that.

So, the outcome was a good one – he’s got clean chiclets. The exam, however, was a little rough. The hygienist used the polisher to clean his teeth – which he hated – and then she used a regular toothbrush for a quick fluoride treatment – which he hated even more. It’s funny that he hated the toothbrush part when we’ve been doing it twice a day since he sprouted those choppers! After a quick flossing, the dentist came in for a look. Everything was fine and she recommended keeping up the good work. He’ll go back again in six months, just like a grown up!

Pacing the halls

This video has been in the camera for a while, as you can tell. In it, Harmon shows off his early wheels.

Voice of Victor(y)

If there is one thing Harmon loves to do more than even reading, it is singing! Here, he sings the greatest fight song in the world.



He's been singing this song since last summer (with help from my cell phone ring tone) but this is the first time we've caught it on camera!

Harmon caught in bed with ...

... A BOOK! God, this kid loves books. So much so that he gets up in the total darkness of night and manages to locate his "counking book" and then falls asleep with it.

Tonight, Kevin thought he was asleep so he took the book out of his bed. Bad decision! He was NOT asleep so he starting crying for it and we gave it back to him. I swear he was snoring within seconds!

I'm glad he loves to read and this book has paid dividends. He's counting everything in sight and can count 1 to 20 in English and 1 to 10 in Spanish.

Reading is good.

27-game plan!

On Thursday, my sisters, parents and I sealed the deal on a 27-game plan for the 2008 Detroit Tigers’ season. With tickets selling like hotcakes, we weren’t hopeful that we would get ANYTHING when single-game tickets go on sale March 1. So, we decided to split up the 27 games between the four of us and then, if we want to go to any additional games, we’ll have to go it alone. We decided on the Saturday plan mostly because that day is the most convenient day for all of us and, now that Harmon is a little bit older, I’m not too worried about keeping him up late every once in a while.

Now that we’re “in,” we really can’t wait for the season to start! Go Tigers!

TigerFest 2008

We went to TigerFest on Saturday and it was a good time. It’s the first time I’ve been to TigerFest since 1999 and, needless to say, it was a little different. Saturday, there were lines for everything! In 1999, my friend and I walked right up (no lines) to get a photo with Bobby Higginson, the most popular Tiger at the time. My, how winning changes things! I told Kevin that while I love my team’s success, I hate the bandwagon jumpers that come out of nowhere to snatch up all the tickets and bog down all the events. All those people that were fans when the Tigers’ sucked should have a card to carry around that affords them extra privileges for all their time and trouble.

ANYWAY, we did the tour of the press box, suites, administrative offices, clubhouse and dugout and that was very cool. We also shopped all the merchandise (I couldn’t find this cool hat there – they were sold out – so I had to order it) and went through the kids’ areas. Harmon is still a bit too small to get it but, next year, it is on!

All the baseball this weekend got me so excited for the season and I’m hoping we can get to AT LEAST one game per month (not sure with the way tickets are selling). At any rate, as I sit here on a cold and snowy January day in Michigan, I can look forward to this (from the Major League Baseball web site):

February 14, 2008
First date injured players, pitchers and catchers may report to Spring Training

February 19, 2008
First date all players may report to Spring Training

February 26, 2008
Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for all players

Tigers' Baseball 2008 - I can't wait!

Harmon at 26 months

Two years and two months is where we are today. Harmon is doing great, adjusting back to the normal routine after doing almost nothing routine since Thanksgiving. Over the holiday break, he made great strides with the potty training. He’s now going at least once a day and sometimes as many as two or three times a day (he’s motivated by stickers). He’ll tell us “poopy butt’s in there” and then we know to get to the potty fast! As he gets better and better on the potty, we’ll transition him to the big toilet (we bought him an Elmo seat for the top of it) and then figure out how to get him to go in public. After that, we’ll tackle the overnight thing and then that whole standing up thing!

As much progress as there was on the potty, there was some regressing in the big boy bed department. Just as he was starting to go to sleep without getting out of bed, we spent five days in Peoria with him sleeping in an inflatable bed. When we got back home, we pretty much had to start all over again as he was getting out of bed four or five times before finally falling asleep. Now, after two weeks of the normal routine, he is doing well again. One step forward, two steps back, I guess.

OK, other things. He’s done great at day care this week, two straight drop offs without crying – we hope it stays that way. And, when we pick him up, we have a whole conversation with him about his friends and teachers and all that he did that day. We also finally got all his Geo Trax stuff set up. We needed more tracks and all surrounding Toys R Us stores were out of stock so we had to order them directly from Fisher-Price. They arrived Thursday and we got it all set up that night. He loves it. But, it’s a lot. I don’t think he’s going to be getting any other new toys anytime soon.

Like most two-year-olds, Harmon does some funny things. First, when we’re out and Kevin, God forbid, has to get out of the car to go in somewhere, Harmon acts like he’s going away to Egypt or something. He cries the entire time all while yelling “Daddy comes back!” It’s funny. Usually, I’ll have to turn on some Springsteen (specifically Magic or Livin’ in the Future) to settle him down. Speaking of the car, he’ll direct us to our respective chairs in the front and he gets confused when we switch.

He loves Isabel lately, and frequently asks to hold her. He’s even to the point where he’ll sometimes give her a little kiss on the head. He is very gentle with her and she seems not to hate it so much! I secretly think she loves it when he chases her!

In addition to the reading (my God, the reading), he now LOVES to look at all his old photo albums, especially the one that has photos of his first haircut and first birthday party. He also still loves music and he sings along more than ever. He has gotten more picky, though, and if he doesn’t like the song, he’ll say “no iff (this) one” or “no aff (that) one!”

When he’s sad or gets hurt, he’ll run to one of us and say “Mommy holds you” or “Daddy holds you.” We’ll always ask him “do you want Mommy or Daddy to hold you” so he just repeats us. He’ll figure out that pronoun thing eventually.

A few more quick things he says lately:

Helpacacopter (he has called helicopters “helpacas” for a while and now he’s trying to say it correctly but the old word won’t die easy).

Fool bus – “School” comes out “fool.”

How about (fill in the blank)? If he wants something, he’ll say “how about cars?” or, at lunch, for example, it’s “how about raisins?” It’s always how about something! But, almost all the time, he’ll say “please” first!

In the morning, he’ll say to his snow leopard stuffed animal, “Hi, snow leopard, what did you do today?”

I don't even know what to say

I ran across this photo today and remembered that I meant to post it. Around Halloween, Harmon's day care had a photographer come in to take dress-up pictures of all the kids. Obviously, this didn't go over too well with Harmon. Is it any wonder we didn't order multiple copies of these? Hilarious!

Peed on

Last night, right after Kevin stripped Harmon down for his bath, he ran away from us and ran into the den. When Kevin chased after him, he noticed that Harmon's split-second head start resulted in an excited pee on the computer. I'm not even kidding. Before last night, Harmon only had peed twice - once on Kevin (at the doctor's office) and once on my Mom. So, imagine our surprise when he opened up on the computer. I think even he was surprised. Kevin said he was looking down like WTF! While initially we were pissed (no pun intended), we laughed about it a ton today. I'm thinking the fact that the computer is OK had a lot to do with our laughter.

Belated Christmas vacation update

This week, Kevin and I reluctantly got back into the swing of things, returning to work after 17 glorious days off for the Christmas holiday. Kevin had to get back to it bright and early Monday, starting work at 7 a.m., and I had to abandon a snuggly nap with my boy to start my work day at 12:30 p.m. And, surprisingly, Harmon’s return to day care went very well.

It was awesome being off together that long and we took full advantage of it. We had no schedule, no routine. We slept in (Harmon woke up at 8 a.m. most days), took family naps, ate out, stayed up late and did fun things. We planned on doing some home repairs but that’s NO FUN when the other option is to play Kevin’s new Nintendo Wii for hours on end! We played out in the snow, took Harmon to a U-M basketball game and also to the Chelsea Treehouse. After spending parts of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family, we spent Dec. 26-30 with Kevin’s family in Peoria. He was spoiled rotten in both places!

We look forward to the holiday season all year long and then it’s gone in a flash and you’re back to the grind. Bring on the next vacation!

A rare win on New Year’s Day (and more U-M football)

The Michigan Wolverines beat a very heavily-favored Florida Gators’ team on New Year’s Day to win the Capitol One Bowl. It’s been a while since Michigan has won a bowl game on Jan. 1 (Jan. 1, 2003, also against the Florida Gators) so it’s hard to believe. It’s also hard to believe the fashion in which Michigan won – throwing the ball all over and scoring at will (and the defense played decent too). Why don’t we play like that ALL THE TIME – that is my frustrating question! But, the win was great and it got everyone excited to enter the Rich Rodriguez era.

Speaking of Coach Rod, he was on Jim Rome’s radio show on Tuesday and was surprisingly candid. With Lloyd at the helm over the past 13 years, Michigan fans have gotten used to no information whatsoever coming from the halls of Fort Schembechler. It seems, though, that Coach Rod will be different. For example, he spoke openly about Adrian Arrington, Ryan Mallett and Mario Manningham not returning to the team. Later in the night, he held an impromptu briefing with the media and, when asked about Ryan Mallett, he said the following:

“Don't care. He's not playing for Michigan. I'm concerned with who's playing for Michigan.”

He was totally channeling Bo – stressing that the team is more important than any one player. I was impressed with this and with his earlier radio appearance – something I didn’t think possible after watching Les Miles hoist the National Championship trophy the night before. Although Miles was my first choice, I’m starting to like Coach Rod!

As for Mallett, I am sad to see him go as I think he’ll turn out to be a good QB. And, I’m more than a little nervous about our QB situation next year, especially if all-world recruit Terrelle Pryor chooses scarlet and gray over maize and blue. But, in the end, Mallett being here wasn’t a fit for either side and it was best for all involved to just move on. It was nice to hear that he’ll always consider himself a Michigan Man, no matter what color jersey he eventually ends up wearing.

Making up for Novembers past

In the past, November has been a rough month for my side of the family. Both of my Dad’s parents died during November as did my Mom’s mother. I also was nearly a goner after getting t-boned by a Detroit city bus just before Thanksgiving in 1996. In the past few years, Kevin and I have tried to make up for all the past November pain. We were married Dec. 2, 2000 (almost November) and then Harmon was born Nov. 12, 2005. Then, this year, Simon arrived Nov. 25. I figure my family needs one more late fall event to ATTEMPT to balance things out!

All I want for Christmas

Harmon and Kevin had a killer Christmas (mine was good but will get better as I have some money from returns to spend). Kevin got the Nintendo Wii – which requires its own special blog entry – and Harmon got A TON of Geo Trax stuff (not to mention cool clothes, lots of cars and trucks, a mini basketball hoop, etc.). We still are in the process of setting up the Geo Trax toys but, at this point, he loves it. It is SO extensive, I fear it may take up all of the newly-finished basement!

Ballin'

Back on Dec. 22, we took Harmon to his first basketball game as the Michigan Wolverines hosted the UCLA Bruins. Despite the outcome, which we anticipated when we bought the tickets, Harmon had a great time! In addition to actually watching some of the game, he sang “Hail to the Victors” a ton and did the “Let’s Go Blue” chant a lot too. While we have football season tickets, he has yet to attend a game. We’ll just stick with baseball (which he attended last spring) and basketball until he’s a little older and can fully appreciate it.

Quick hits

Reverting
The last few days, Harmon has wandered into our bedroom early in the morning and we’ve pulled him into bed to go back to sleep with us. Usually, he falls right back asleep and is snoring in no time. And, he’s so cute and warm and snuggly that it’s hard to resist him. We don’t want him thinking he can do this every morning but it’s hard. All this reminds us of those early days when we all would sleep in and take naps together all the time.

Up there!
Our Christmas tree is in place and partially decorated (we SO need a SET of ornaments) and Harmon loves it. He wants the lights to be on all the time and he loves to point out the colors of said lights. He also, apparently, wants to climb up into the tree. Every day since we put the tree up, he walks up to it and says “up there!” I’m not sure what business he has up in that tree but he definitely wants up there for something.

Panic in salary report town
On Tuesday, the University released its list of highest paid employees. Kevin and I were talking about this and Kevin said the following:

“I wonder when the salary report is going to be released so we can all spend a day being pissed!”

Since we work at a public university, the salary report is available for all to see (in fact, the student newspaper has a link to it). It’s REAL nice to review that report and find out that a co-worker got a four percent raise when you were told EVERYONE is getting three percent and, because of budget concerns, there isn’t any room for bigger increases this year.

Good times!

E-bah

Most of this blog is dedicated to Harmon, so that our family and friends can read about our big boy as he grows into a little man. But, there is another "child" in our family who does not get as much run (thanks, Rome), but means so very much to us. It is hard to believe, but our little Netherland Dwarf rabbit, Isabel (or "E-bah" as Harmon calls her), has been with us for six years. SIX YEARS! There were times when we did not think she would make it this far (bladder stone surgery a few years ago was touch-and-go), but she has perserved and is healthy and happy as ever. We do have to help her along a little bit, as she gets her teeth trimmed every three weeks or so to help her eat, but our "older gal" (coined by the staff at Animal Kingdom Veterinary Hospital) is strong and happy. Evidence of this has come the last few nights when Isabel has been playing under the Christmas tree. Not sure if she is getting high on the pine needles, or is just happy to have a place to hide from Harmon, but she has been running around and rabbit-dancing like crazy. When we brought Isabel home in nothing but a cardboard box just after she was born, we promised never to take her for granted. Admittedly, it has been hard to care for Harmon during his first two years and make sure all of her needs are met, as well. But, every day when we peel back the blanket from her cage, she is happy to see us and, usually, begging for a dried cherry. She is still kicking and still gives us kisses any time we ask. We love you, Isabel. No matter what happens with our next child, you will always be our first "daughter."

ADDENDUM: As many "teenage" girls do from time to time, Isabel decided last night that she did not want to hang out with Mom and Dad. After Harmon went to bed, we took her downstairs while I wrapped presents and Aimee walked on the treadmill. After about 20 minutes, I realized I had not seen her in a while and Aimee did not see her come in the exercise room. Sure enough, I went upstairs and she had assumed her position under the Christmas tree. She can easily scale the 12 steps and even comes down them, with a little coaxing.