The Number Field

Once it became clear that Moonbeam wouldn't be here today, Jenny made plans for a family outing. We went to three yard sales and a farmer's market, picking up blankets for Moonbeam and new clothes for Elena along the way. At one of the sales Jenny found some funny hats, and gave Elena a quarter to buy them. Elena has been increasingly fascinated by money, so it was a real treat for her to hand the money over to the nice lady in exchange for the merchandise. She even got change in return!

We happened on the last yard sale when we chose a different route home than usual. A friendly teenage kitty was sitting with its owner, the sale's purveyor. As we got out of the car, the cat came over to see us but quickly lost interest and started to climb a big leafy tree next to the curb. While Jenny went to look at books, Elena focused in on some Polly Pocket toys.

Jenny has been reading the Yard Sale Mommy blog, and wants to attempt to monetize her yard sale and thrift store hobby by reselling items on eBay. She hasn't committed to the project entirely, but has started to figure out what has resale value. Today it was books from a popular juvenile fiction series, along with the Polly Pocket dolls that struck Elena's fancy.

Although we bought the dolls with the thought of turning them around, Elena didn't want to leave them alone; even on the short ride home she asked to keep playing with them. Once at home she played with them quietly on her own until lunchtime, more than an hour later. After her nap she played with them even more. That alone was worth more than the small price we paid for them.

Elena's prolonged, productive pretend play with the dolls brought a somewhat humbling realization to Jenny and me. She hasn't been playing with her toys as much as she used to (or even as much as I have), but we thought she was just bored with them. We didn't realize that she had in fact outgrown them. This changes things--we need to start replacing them with toys that will capture her interest, feed her imagination, and assist her development. Luckily, there are always good toys at yard sales and Elena's not shy about diving right in to play with the things she likes.

Moonbeam isn't here yet. We can only hope that he isn't hanging on until he's at least as big as Elena was. We already know that he won't be as late as she was early, because at our last appointment the doctor scheduled Jenny to be induced a week from today.

There's also the possibility that Moonbeam will come on his own before next week. However, at Jenny's most recent appointment the doctor told us there hadn't been much progress since the week before. Apparently Jenny's body is not ready to let him go, or he doesn't want to leave the cozy confines of his mother's womb. It could be that he wants to come out but doesn't know how; he's still kicking and pushing like he wants to come out through the belly button. At this late stage of pregnancy he should be moving less because of the lack of room, but Jenny reports that his kicks are still getting stronger and more painful.

Every pregnancy is different, but it's hard to avoid comparisons--especially when things happen differently than they did last time, all the more so when we think it was better before. But now we're in entirely uncharted territory. Not only that, but there were things that weren't so smooth before. Even though she's almost always uncomfortable and isn't sleeping well, Jenny hasn't had to repeat some of the hardest trials: rashes, gall bladder issues, and sore swollen feet. The labor and delivery was also extremely intense and difficult; we'll find out soon enough how this one will be.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow Everyone is just waiting.

--Dr. Seuss

Compare.

I've written about Elena's bedtime routine before, but not in detail. I don't think we'll be able to maintain it after Moonbeam arrives, but I could use help figuring out how to streamline.

We start by changing into pajamas. This is a good time to get Elena to use the potty--often she succeeds in using it, but even when she resists we can usually get her to sit on it while we count to ten. Elena picks out her own pajamas most of the time, unless we need to move quickly and have them already prepared.

Next comes story time, usually in her room but sometimes on our bed. She picks a story which I read, but more and more of the time she knows the words well enough to fill in some of the details. While I find the right page in the our picture scripture book, Elena finds Jenny and brings her in. Elena gets the first shot at the scriptrues--she 'reads' or 'sings,' inspired by what she sees on the page. Then Jenny reads from them; tonight it was part of the story of Joseph in Egypt. We follow scripture reading with a family prayer.

Elena was having difficulty behaving during this portion of the routine last week. One evening I showed her that we could forgo the rest of the routine if she didn't shape up for scriptures and prayer, and she's done much better after that.

After hugs we say goodnight to Jenny, then Elena and I go into the bathroom to brush teeth. It's better for me not to describe in full detail our intricate tooth brushing ritual. It even includes a short game of hide and seek, but she always hides in the same place (between towel and door), and I have to be the one who comes up with a different way to find her every night. We also take turns with the toothbrush--first she does it all by herself, then on my turn I actually clean her teeth. Then we rinse. Elena is having a very hard time figuring out how to swish water around in her mouth without swallowing it, but she keeps on trying.

For the last stage we head into her room, where she turns out the light, with my help because she isn't tall enough to reach it by herself. I make sure that her chosen stuffed animal is appropriately swaddled. We sit down for cuddle time, during which I make up a story, sing some extra songs, or we look at pictures of play a game on the iPod. She climbs into bed, I arrange her blankets and sing her songs.

The most recent addition to our routine is the way I exit the room. One night she didn't want me to go, so I exited like a choo-choo train. Now I have to do that kind of thing every night, either as a train, a plane, or a boat. By the time I get out of there I'm so relieved to be done that I can't seem to remember when we started or how long it's been. For instance, tonight we started late but my plane didn't fly out of her room until 9:40! We have to simplify.

After our recent success playing catch with a ball, one day Elena wanted to throw around her frisbee. We decided to go outside; she doesn't throw the frisbee far, but makes up for it by being very inaccurate. While we were out, we ran down to the mailbox to pick up the mail. On the way back she was running on the grass and tripped onto the sidewalk. She got up saying "it'll be okay, Daddy," but only seconds later little red lines appeared on her scraped up knee.

She gamely kept playing--she wanted to ride her tricycle for a little while--and kept telling me it would be okay, but by the time she was ready to be done it was clear her knee was hurting. Jenny cleaned it off and bandaged the wound, and now it's almost completely healed . I've noticed that when she climbs on things, like the couch or into her car seat, she avoids using that knee for support. It's interesting to see her learn to adapt, but I hope she realizes soon that it's just as good as new. The cause of the problem has been addressed, but she's still worried about its effects.

Ever since we moved into our current home, the sink in the master bath has drained poorly. We tried various remedies, but while some helped for a little while, they never addressed the root cause of the problem. Elena and I decided to look into things more closely. We got our tools out and squirmed in under the sink. I opened things up to take the stopper out and get a good look--it turned out there was a huge hairball right at the top of the drain. Although it wasn't pretty, clearing it was easy and the sink is now working like it must have when it was new. Elena was a great assistant.

I am a child of the computer age. I still remember that magical day, not long before Christmas one year, when I accompanied my father on a trip to CompUSA. We purchased our very first computer, a Mac Classic. Before that my dad carried a Mac Plus to and from work almost every day, but it belonged to his employer. These memories surfaced as I was pondering the fact that Elena has never known and will never remember a time without powerful handheld computers. They display pictures and movies, play music, and connect us with the whole world all at once. It's pure magic made mundane by ubiquity.

Although my iPod connects me to the world, sometimes it separates me from those who are closest. Elena's not afraid to call me out on this. When she wants me to play with her and I remain distracted by the little screen, she'll tug on my clothes and say "Daddy, you put iPod right here in pocket" while pointing at my pocket to make sure she gets her message across. This week I worked on not letting that happen. With Moonbeam arriving soon, Elena needs to know that she can capture and keep my undivided attention.

However, it's more common for Elena to want me to take the iPod out of my pocket so that we can play with it. I won't yield to her request every night, but about half the time we spend some time with it while we cuddle, just before she climbs into bed. Her favorite thing to do is look at pictures. She usually asks for pictures of herself and cousin Ginny but also likes other selections, especially those of herself and other members of her extended family.

Recently a second toddler appropriate activity has entered our repertoire. I found an activity for her to do--or maybe it's a game for her to play. A voice instructs her to pick one of several shapes, and when she touches the right one there's applause. After several correct answers, she gets to pick a 'sticker' to place on a scenic background. I think sometimes she knows which one is the right shape, but touches all the others first to see what will happen.

After we're done with the game or pictures and put the iPod back in my pocket, Elena climbs into bed and I take on the role that iPods were originally designed to fulfill: personal music player. I sing through the playlist of her favorites, usually in order but sometimes on shuffle. Once in a while I'll try a new song. If she likes it, she'll add it to the playlist. There are about five songs in our regular rotation now--I'm afraid I don't have the chops to add more.

Elena's hand-eye coordination is getting pretty good. Watch: