Witty Winston

Conversations we must remember ---

Bathtime -

Winston is "swimming" in the bathtub, I (mommy) is sitting at the side and we are talking.

Winston: You're on the ship in the water. You and Daddy. Daddy Jay.

Me: Really? Where are we going?

Winston: No, mommy. You not really on the boat. You just sitting there.

Playtime:

Daddy and Winston are playing with toy horses. They are "flying" around.

Daddy:

A mother's day present

Barf. This evening. I kid you not.

And I suppose I should add diarrhea from Friday and Saturday. Winston has been sick (see previous post). He seemed ok since yesterday, so he went to school today, while I stayed home sick. Got the call from daycare that the diarrhea was back. No sooner was he home than he barfed all over the both of us and the living room rug.

Now that we both have showered and are sitting here watching Nemo together, I realize that this whole recent sickness was really my mothers day present. For only a mom can be drenched in vomit and be soley focused on their child. I scooped Winston up and rushed into the bathroom, did an initial clean-up and made sure he was ok before I realized that I had vomit in between my toes. But it didn't matter. Now, that's the real gift. I am indeed a mom. For that I am most thankful. Vomit and all.

I am not being sarcastic. I am serious. It's the times like this when I have perfect clarity and all the stresses of work, etc slip away. My child is sick and all that matters is how I can protect him and make him well and feel better. I need to remember to thank Winston for making me a mommy (and Jay too ((wink))). It shouldn't take vomit to remind me. :-|

Our latest illness and a milestone

Winston was super clingy last night and seemed super tired. But didn't get to bed and sleep until about 9:30. Then he was up at 6:45. Seemed really sad. Even had circles under his eyes.

I took his temp (in his ear) - 99 in one ear, 100.4 in the other ear. An hour later 98.x in both. Odd, yes? He wouldn't eat or drink anything this morning, although he did request it.

Then twice he cries out "OWIE!" in a sharp, shrill voice. First time tells us that the owie is in his lower back. DH massages the spot, gives cuddles, all is fine. Until the next time abotu 15 minutes later. Again, "OWIE!" but it's his tummy (lower right side) and he sort of bent over. He climbed onto my lap and just clung to me, sort of panting. Freaked me out to say the least. Then about 5 minutes later he's fine. Happy even.

We get in the car and he goes right to sleep. Drop-off at school was fine and he seemed ok. But I am worried. A coworker says it sounds like a kidney infection or maybe urinary tract infection. All morning I am thinking, "What could be up w/Winston? "

Around noon I call daycare to check on him. They said that Winston was super quiet and didn't eat but two bites of food. Fever 100 exactly. No further tummy/back owies, but he's "just not himself."

They were going to try and get him down for a nap and then I planned to pick him eary. Unless fever spiked before that, in which case I would get him immediately. If anything seems weird we are going straight to the pedi.

But I can't wait. So I call the pedi. Pedi wants to see him asap. So off we go.

Fast forward thru the pedi appt .....

Pedi says that there's a gastro-intestinal virus going around and Winston appears to have the start of it. She was concerned that some of his "owies" are in his back, so if his fever spikes we need to take him in. It could be a kidney infection. Otherwise, we just keep him hydrated and try to get him to eat.

He was sleeping when I got to daycare and I just scooped him up and headed out. He was so hot to the touch that he burned my skin. But when we got to the pedi his fever was fine. He was also hot to the touch to the pedi. To the point that she double-checked what the nurse wrote down. Pedi says she expects the fever is on it's way up. Faaabulous.

Anyhow, we are home. He had another owie incident, even said that the owie was 'scawweee: (scary). Shortly thereafter he had some diarhea. Looks like the virus is really here. In any case, we are camped out on the couch. Winston is eating popsicles and watching Elmo.

So there's the latest. And the big milestone? This is the first illness/pain incident when Winston could actually tell us where it hurts. That's a big one!

My son the impressionist

Last night before bed Winston was pretending to be different animals. He was a spider, an elephant, a giraffe, and a fish. He also showed us his pretend sleeping and a dinosaur.

Winston would run, crawl, hop around the room and make the appropriate animal noise. It was hilarious the different things he'd say and do. So then Jay tells Winston to pretend to be momma.

Winston starts running around the room, flaying his arms and shouting "I love you, I love you!"
How cute is that? It brought tears to my eyes. He did the same thing for Jay – minus the arms.

Now, I am a little concerned that he sees me as running about like a nutso lady (perhaps an accurate representation), but the "I love you" part just made me melt. I guess we say it a lot.

Also, Winston was saying his name a lot -- “Winston Judah Knott.” We asked him, “What is Daddy’s name?” His answer, “Daddy Judah Knott.” Calling out as we left the room, "Night night Daddy Judah Knott!" Too flippin’ cute!

The birthday song a la Winston

Words are not needed. My birthday buddy. Enjoy!

A morning in the life of parents with a toddler

Wake child up who is deep asleep at 8 a.m. Child doesn't even open his eyes, just stands up, grabs for his blankies and puts his arms up to be carried. We don't get out the bedroom door and he's calling "lambie, lambie". We get the lamb and go to get changed and dressed.

The light is on and it's too bright for our toddler. "Sunshine, no sunshine" he cries with his eyes squeezed shut. So we turn off the light ..

ADD MORE HERE

Once in the car said toddler needs, and I mean NEEDS, his "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" book. Both mom and dad start looking all over the house for it. Ends up it's been in the car all along.

REMEMBER

- drumming on the plastic dish in the car
- drop off and W calling after me, "No, Momma play, Momma play. Stay! Play!"

Yo ho, yo ho ....

Argh!!!!

It's going around...

Well, this is the third weekend (out of four) that Winston has been sick with a cold. It all started four weeks ago, on Thursday, when Lara received a call from daycare stating that Winston had a fever of 101 and needed to be picked up.

Lara picked Winston up and spent the remainder of the day cuddling and comforting a little boy who was not feeling well at all... that is until he threw up on her. Now, bear in mind that Winston is not one to throw up very often. In fact, this would only be the third time in 23 months that Winston has thrown up -- one night when he threw up in his crib during the night; once on our trip to Mexico; and now, all over mom while sitting on the couch.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask), dad was in CVS buying a new ear thermometer while Winston was busy vomiting on mom. So, when dad got home, Winston and mom were sitting on the bathroom floor with a giant blue bucket and a bathtub full of soiled clothes, as well as big chunks of hot dog and complete slices of oranges. So, in addition to realizing that Winston was pretty sick, we also realized that he doesn't chew his food very well.

After getting everyone cleaned up, we checked Winston's temperature with the new ear thermometer and found that he had a temperature of 102. With some hugs, kisses and a little tylenol, Winston was off to bed and slept through the night.

Friday was Jay's turn to stay home with Winston and the morning brought a very sick little boy with a hacking cough and a 103.5 fever. Wow, up to this point Winston never had a fever much over 102 -- this was concerning to us to say the least. Jay made an appointment with the pediatrician while Lara was off to worry... errrr... work. According to the pediatrician, there was a stomach virus going around. They checked for strep (which was thankfully negative) and checked all of his other vitals. Winston was not a very happy camper at first, but once he realized he wasn't getting a shot, he seemed to take the visit in stride. Outside of the cough, fever and general malaise, he was fine, so she just suggested rest and lots of fluids. Oh, and she mentioned that, unless it is causing him a lot of discomfort, the fever is actually helping the body fight the germs, so there isn't much of a worry unless it gets to 105+.

So, we went back home and spend most of the afternoon laying on the bed watching Sesame Street. He even took his nap at his normal time and slept for almost five hours. Although I am sure the rest did him a lot of good, he also woke with a fever of 104.5. Now, I realize that isn't 105, but I was really starting to get worried at this point, so I decided the fever would have to do its job with a little Tylenol involved. Luckily, the Tylenol brought the fever down to about 103.5, just in time for Lara to arrive home from work.

The rest of Friday and Saturday were spent with lots of Sesame Street, hugs and cuddles, Tylenol and lots of crossed fingers as the following weekend was Winston's first trip to the theatre to see... Sesame Street Live! Friday ended similarly to Thursday, minus the vomit. And, Saturday was quite similar to Friday.

Fortunately, Winston woke on Sunday in much better spirits and a temperature below 100. And, through the day, you could see the color coming back into his face and the spirit back into his eyes. He really seemed to be on the mark for a wonderful recovery, and it looked like he would be able to go back to school (daycare) on Monday. And, miraculously, mom and dad still felt quite well. Could it really be that Winston was healthy again and the germs missed infecting mom & dad?

More to come...

APB

There is an All Points Bulletin out for Winston's Mom and Dad.

Winston wants to know why his parents are such slackers with this blog.

Ah, life. Just gets in the way. The last, oh 8 weeks, (!) have simply gotten away from us. But we must get back to it. There are too many things that we want to remember and run the risk of forgetting if we don't chronicle everything.

SO, we're back to it.

Promise.

Happy Holidays!

We opted for a non-traditional holiday "card" this year. Giving credit where credit is due, this idea came from Winston’s Auntie Sarah. In the interest of being "green", as well as appearing technologically savvy, we are sending an electronic holiday card. We hope you enjoy it.

All our best wishes for a most happy holiday season

Lots of Nana (as in Jesse HtW Gray)

There has been alot of Nana reminders around lately.

I was at a memorial service on Friday and they concluded the service with a bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace." On any given day that hymn wrecks me. Teary, teary, teary. But on bagpipes? Forget about it. Tears? Try sobs.

Then this weekend I have been making Scottish shortbread. Lots of it. With every poke of the fork in the dough before baking, with every cut of the cooling shortbread, I remember Nana.

I know we can pass memories down, and I will. But they of course won't mean the same thing to Winston as they do to me. Since we live so far away from family we try to talk about the family members who are still with us. Make them real to Winston. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.

But by sharing with him my memories of my grandparents, I give him family history. Legacy. All that good stuff. Granted, he won't have the attachement to them that I do. Nor should he. I want him to build his own memories of his times with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. But he will have his own memories of his mom telling him stories, making him help with the shortbread and talk about his great-great-grandmother. I will share as many stories as I can about relatives who have passed. But the "Nana- Connection" runs deep in family lore.

I can tell him that he had a cousin who always reminded us of Nana. A cousin who died within 4 days after he was born. Whose spirit I am convinced hangs out with Winston occasionally. I can tell Winston that he has an angel named Gail, who was alot like Nana. I can tell Winston that I think his cousin Leah looks like Nana. Winston and Leah are only 6 mos apart. And I can ask Winston to look in the mirror. Look at his eyes. The only person on either side of his family that has/had eyes quite that blue was Nana - aka Jesse Hewitt Thompson Walker Gray.

He's so funny!

Winston is cracking me up lately. I love this age.

He's a little director. "Mama, this way. Mama, sit down. Watch. Look."

This all said while he pushes or pull me in different directions to go play, watch Elmo, whatever. At daycare drop-off one day last week he found a tow truck, took it over to a pile of mats, sat down, patted the seat next to him and said "Mama, sit down. Look. Big truck."

He knows his name now and loves to use it. He'll put a blanket over his head and say, "Where's Winton? Winton where ahhhhhh uuuuuuu?" then throw the blanket aside and say "Peek ahh Boo!" He also likes to give himself self-affirmations. He'll do something and then say, "Yay Winton! Go go Winton!" I won't even be in the room and hear him playing and cheering himself on.

Nana Tutu even got an unprompted"I love you" on the phone the other day, that was huge.

And he knows how to play it up. We have started to get the fake cry. When I called him on it, he actually stopped, looked at me sideways and giggled. He thought he was hilarious.

Oh gosh, there are a ton of other funny things. He can't say "Oscar" or "chalk" quite right yet, but loves to talk about them. (Oscar the Grouch and the sidewalk chalk in the basement) So, Oscar is "ocker" and chalk is (still) "cawk." Oh, and Grinch sounds something like "bitch." I just pray he doesn't pull that out at school or in public.

Last one ---
Winston says "ay yigh yigh" meaning "EI EI O" and that he wants to sing Old MacDonald. I always ask him if he wants a Mexican hat dance. "No, mama! AY Yigh yigh!!! Moooo mooo! Onk onk!" And it must be sung by mama. The two discs we have in the car with professional versions just won't do.

W: "No, mama! Maaaaaaahmmaaaaaah:
M: "You want mama to sing?"
W: "Yep. Mama."

So we sing, and sing, and sing. All the way from daycare home. I won't be done with the verse and he's already instructing me as to what the next sound should be. He's not limited to animals. He's asked for "tractor" the other day. Our funny little man!

The name game revisited. And other fun talking tells

Ok, so I posted before about how Winston knows his name. But that was just his first name. He's got the whole thing now!

He can say "Winston Judah" clear as day.

Ok, the Winston actually sounds like "Winton" most of the time, but the "Judah" is crystal! Then, when prompted he'll give us the last name.

I need to get it on video and post. It makes me all googly inside when he says it. Swoon, over my little man!

PLUS --

I think we are having another word explosion, with sentences this time. Last night in the car he said “I want bokuku” – which translated means “I want a popsicle.”

He gives me directions with things like “Momma, light please” and “Momma, this way” as he leads me around the house. And my personal favorite complete sentence “I love you Momma/Dada, up a skies.” (said at bedtime)

Ah, this is such a fun age!

Misc. weekend fun

Things to remember:

- Winston saying "gosh"

- Jay and Winston diapering the elephant

- Winston chowing on Lil Smokies at Costco

* if I don't just chronicle simple things like snapshots in my mind, I certainly run the risk of forgetting them.

20 months today!

NEWSFLASH!

Winston is 20 months old today! We are in the "twenties" in counting months. Soon we will be in years. Oy! This momma is not ready.

Vacation memories

Things that I want to remember:

How much Winston loved the stray cats that seemed to live on the resort. There was the first one he met at dinner the one and only night we ate on the outside veranda at the buffet. He wanted to find it no matter what and eating became a lost cause. "Meow meow!" was what said as he searched for her. He would get sad if he didn't see her.

Then there was another cat that seemed to live closer to the room. He would follow her and try to get close. And wanted to look for her all the time. One night close to the end of our time there we saw her on the way to dinner. Winston wouldn't go any further. He wanted to stay with "Meow meow." We let him get close and told him he had to say good-bye. He got upset and said "no!." But eventually we heard him say "Bye-bye meow meow, I love you." Oh, my sweet little man.

What's your name?

Winston thinks his name is "you" so we've been trying to teach him that his name is actually Winston. Here's how this went tonight while Winston was in the bathtub.

Momma La: What's your name?

Winston: You!

Daddy: (whispering, "it's Winston.")

M

What's your name?

Winston thinks his name is "you" so we've been trying to teach him that his name is actually Winston. Here's how this went tonight while Winston was in the bathtub.

Momma La: What's your name?

Winston: You!

Daddy: (whispering, "it's Winston.")

What's your name?

Winston has been thinking that is name is "you" so we've been trying to teach him that his name is actually Winston. Here's how this went tonight while Winston was in the bathtub.

Momma: What's your name?
Winston: You!
Daddy: (whispering to W., "it's Winston.")
Momma: What's your name?
Winston: Wiston!! (clapping)
Us: Yay for Winston!! (clapping)
Winston: Mo Wiston???

repeat 10 x

By about the 10th time he seemed to get it. It was adorable. But I can't believe that my kid thought his name was "You."

Trick or Treat!