He's Got Your Number

It's been a lot of fun to go on walks with my son through our neighborhood.  I've been doing this sort of thing almost daily for more than two-and-a-half years, staying in only if we have heavy rain, snow, tornadoes, or a high number of pollsters.  Until recently, Kyle had observed block after block of brownstones and other buildings without saying much about them.  Occasionally he'd want to go up on a stoop or open a gate, but otherwise he left most homes alone.  That was until the middle of last month, when he noticed the NUMBERS.

It was my fault.  I am always looking for new ways to make Kyle enjoy these walks outside, in part so I don't feel guilty dragging him out there just so I could feed my afternoon coffee addiction (it's the only way I know how to survive the toddler years).  I'd point out trees, cars, fire hydrants, and the occasional mugging, but nothing seemed to get the little guy excited.  Then, without thinking, I pointed to the addresses of the buildings. 

"Can you read that?" I asked about one of them.  I knew that Kyle already knew numbers, as I taught them to him very early on, when I was doing anything to get him away from those annoyingly loud baby toys.  Kyle stared at the number.

"EIGHT!  SIX!  NINE!  THREE!"  He was close.  The number was 398.  It seemed at first that my kid has trouble with his 6's and 9's, and might be a bit dyslexic.  But after a few more tries, he started getting the numbers right.  And that's when it struck him: the numbers are everywhere! 

Since then, every time we have gone out for a walk, Kyle has paused by each stoop to read off the address number.  As you can imagine, it's a very slow process, but one he absolutely loves.  Instead of going out for coffee, he now says we're going out "to look at numbers."  There's nothing like a child's happiness, so I give in.  In the meantime, Kyle has found ways to make these trips last even longer.  He now wants to climb up onto the first step of each stoop, probably to get a better look at the address.  Then he rattles off some nonsense before he shouts out the number, like a drumroll before we find out what's behind door number two:

"Digga digga digga DOO-doo!  FOUR! SEVEN! FIVE!"

That "DOO-doo" sound is his impression of the noise the subway makes before closing its doors.  Somehow that has found its way into much of Kyle's conversations these days. After he finishes reading the number, Kyle then takes a minute or so to get off the step.  Then he runs to the next home and does it all again.  What was once a twenty-minute walk to a coffee shop now takes three days.  Before the numbers, I would pick up my coffee and then go the long way home so that I could finish drinking it during the walk with Kyle.  Now every way home is the long way home.  For this reason alone we're not having Kyle take us to the hospital on his brother's delivery day...

Jennifer: "The contractions are happening more rapidly!  We have to go!"
Kyle: "Digga digga digga DOO-doo!  TWO! EIGHT! FOUR!"
Jennifer: "I don't know if we're going to make it!  The baby's coming!"
Kyle: "Digga digga digga DOO-doo! TWO! EIGHT! NINE-ummm-SIX!"
Jennifer: "Kyle, move it!  We've been out here for an hour, and we're still just a block from our home!"
Kyle: "Digga digga digga DOO-doo! TWO! EIGHT! EIGHT!"

I have to admit: it's fun to watch my son get so excited about numbers.  He probably won't get this worked up over numbers until he's an astrophysicist or an all-star pitcher studying his opponent's statistics.  At that point, he probably won't be taking as many walks with dear old dad.  So until this ends, I think I'll enjoy the long trips to get coffee.  I'm just glad he's doing this now, at the end of winter.

A Good Night's Sleep

I did not expect to get much sleep last night.  For the first time, our son went to bed in an actual bed.  Kyle has been a big fan of this bed since it arrived two weeks ago... except at bedtime.  Each night, we read him a story, had him lie down for prayers, and gave him a good-night kiss.  Just as all that finished up, he would suddenly see the bed as a toddler-eating monster and, using his inherited survival skills, would slide off it immediately.

"No bed," he said as he scrambled to the floor each night. "Crib! Crib!"  Then he did the opposite of what I would expect of a kid his age: he climbed onto the rail of his crib to get in.  After several days of this, we were starting to wonder if Kyle was going to fight the bed for months, perhaps through the birth of our second child.  I envisioned us trying to put our new baby in the crib as Kyle conducts a sit-in protest, complete with picket signs, which basically would be sheets of paper scribbled with crayon.  There would be no way to read them, but the message would be clear: NO BED.  Kyle could possibly stage a hunger strike, too, but, considering how picky he is, I doubt we'd notice a difference.  I hope, after last night's breakthrough, we will avoid this scenario.

The evening didn't start off too promising.  Even though we tried to make the bed much like the crib by removing the pillow and comforter, the little guy wasn't fooled.  He wiggled himself off the bed immediately, calling for the crib.  We put him back in, and he tried to get out.  We put him back in again, and he tried to get out again.  Finally, we put him back in, said good-night, and left before he could climb out.  Jennifer had read advice from the SUPER NANNY (the superhero who can leap toy piles in a single bound; arch nemesis of Lex Pooper) stating that the best way to handle this sort of thing is to remain calm, put the child in bed, and not make eye contact.  So, as we were doing this, Jennifer wished the window sweet dreams, and I gave Kyle a good-night kiss while staring at the ceiling.  We almost smacked into each other as we tried to shut the door and avoid our son.

We could tell things were changing once he reopened his bedroom door.  Instead of demanding that we put him in the crib, Kyle just cackled and then tried to get back into the bed.  This happened again and again and again.  I started wondering if I'd have to eat dinner by his doorway.  But then Kyle grew tired of it, and started crying - not for the crib, but for us to tuck him in!  Jennifer did that, left his room, and then we stood there quietly, waiting for more noise.  We heard nothing.

It worked!  It worked!  Hooray!  We finally were able to get Kyle to try something new!  And it didn't take six months for him to do it!  Jennifer and I probably would have thrown a loud party, had our objective not been to get the little guy to sleep.  Once we settled down, we heard some thumping noises.  Kyle was probably hitting his foot against the wall, but it was enough to make us wonder if we'd sleep through the night, knowing that, even with the toddler rail, there was a chance our little guy could plop out of bed, perhaps head-first.  We put some stuffed animals on the floor by his bed in hopes they would cushion any fall.  Nothing like a little peace of mind.

We initially thought that Kyle's first night in a real bed would keep us awake, jumping at any noise we hear through the baby monitor.  Fortunately, since we are parents of a toddler, we carry unusually high sleep deficits.  Unless Kyle is sick, only serious noises can jolt us out of bed once our eyes close.  Jennifer and I slept until the alarm this morning, and Kyle kept snoozing until after seven o'clock.  He seemed to have a good night's sleep, too.

Now, I am by no means declaring victory here.  I did that once with a turkey sandwich, and Kyle has been fighting meats ever since.  We still might have a battle on our hands. Yet it was nice to see that it can be done, and perhaps our son will not request a room with a crib when he heads to college.  We'll see how things go tonight.

Cruisin' for Cars

My wallet has decided to go on the Slim-Fast diet, and so far it's doing remarkably well.  Last week it shed some pounds as we bought Kyle a new bed.  This month it plans to lose much more, as we are now shopping for a new car. 

It's not like there's a problem with our current vehicle, a 2001 Toyota Corolla.  Here's a recent picture of it:

She's a beauty, ain't she?  Believe it or not, even after this snowstorm, my car started up right away.   It couldn't go anywhere for a month, but at least it was alive.  This car is still so reliable, I really have no reason to sell it, except for the fact that it's now turning into a black hole and may devour our entire family at any moment.  The inside of the car seems to be collapsing in on itself, becoming smaller as our family is getting bigger and needing more space.  We could barely fit one car seat into it, and there's no way we'd be able to squeeze in two.  It's not like it was back when Jennifer and I were kids, when you'd simply strap the new baby to the roof and just be careful on the highways.  These days there are laws discouraging that, so our only option is to get something larger.

On Saturday, the family drove out to Long Island to test-drive a few vehicles.  As I said, we were looking for big, but not too big.  I still park my car on the street, and most times I have to butter the bumpers so they could slide into a spot that's smaller than the car itself.  And that's with a compact car.  I can't imagine doing that with a full-sized SUV or - gasp - a minivan.  Still, we need more space, and we'd like a third row of seats, in case we want to take a couple friends along when we flee the city during the 2012 apocalypse.  The vehicle should be resonably priced, too.  We were rather surprised to find that our choices are limited.


(Above: Kyle chooses a new car for us)

It was much easier for Kyle to pick out a car.  He walked around the showrooms, saying he wanted this one or that one, without even comparing sticker prices or fuel efficiency.  Apparently color is what matters most to him.  That shiny sedan is perfect because it's black, though that blue SUV looks great, too - why not get both?  The one color he seemed to not like, at least not at first, was the color red: the exact color of the vehicle we decided to test-drive.

"NO RED!  NO REEEEEDDD!" shouted my son in the dealership lot as I struggled to fit his car seat into the vehicle.  He then cried and fought as we put him into the car.  The saleswoman with us stood there quietly, calculating in her head how she could use this incident to convince me to add on a feature that would distract our kid, like a sun roof or surround-sound golden-plated Blu-ray player.  I could tell she was looking forward to running me over during the negotiations.

That saleswoman ended up being the best one we had.  A salesman at another dealership seemed reluctant to even show us the vehicle we wanted to see, apparently sensing the destructive force of our child.  The last salesman we saw was more than happy to show us his cars, as he was one of those guys who acted like he was one of your best friends after having known you for all of 0.5 seconds.  After seeing us cram into a "crossover" vehicle, he said something that was probably true, but difficult to hear: "You guys are in minivan denial."

So, we test-drove a minivan.  There certainly was enough space in it to hold our family, and by "family" I mean Kyle, the new baby, their parents, grandparents, and about two dozen aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Plus there's enough cargo room to fit another car inside.  The salesman raved about all of the vehicle's gizmos, including a rear-window monitor on the dashboard, since the rear window itself is too far away to actually see out it.  The minivan cost about ten grand more than we were hoping to pay, but I suppose we'd be able to afford it if Kyle continues to shun expensive foods in favor of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches... at least until he's in his early twenties.  Yet I can't see me finding a spot for it in our parking-space-deprived neighborhood.  It was a nice ride and we were glad to have the experience, since now we know for sure that we won't be getting a full-size minivan, even if we are in "minivan denial."  We stopped at a gas station during the test drive, as the trip around the block drained the entire tank.  With gas prices being what they are these days, the salesman had to sell a car to the station owner just to pay for the fuel.

We now think we know what kind of vehicle we are going to get.  We won't be able to purchase it until mid-March, as we have visitors coming the next couple of weekends.  I'll let you know our choice then.  For Kyle's sake, let's hope we have more color choices than red.

Bed Time!

Now that we have a second child on the way, we're starting to think of all the things we have to do to get ready.  Since we're going to stay in our apartment for at least another year, we will have to find some extra space inside it.  Our landlady won't let us rip down a wall and expand into the hallway.  We're throwing away things, selling things, and chopping up Kyle's toys to make room.  We had considered buying monthly storage for a time, but then we realized that Kyle's bedroom can, in fact, hold two kids.  The only problem is: there's just one crib.

I'm guessing it's not a wise idea to have two kids sleep in the same crib, especially a three-year-old and a newborn.  There might be laws against that.  I'm sure the two will get along, but I doubt Kyle would appreciate the midnight wails next to his ear.  So, either Kyle must go or the baby finds another sleeping location.  We do have several nice shoeboxes around the apartment, but the baby would outgrow those awfully quickly.  It looks like our only option is to boot Kyle out and give him a bed.

On Saturday we took our son to a bed store.  He thought it was an amusement park, and immediately started bouncing on each of the mattresses.  The little guy kept us busy while the salesman tried to convince us that a two-year-old needs a space-age premium bed that gives you a massage while you sleep and pours a cup of coffee for you each morning.  In the end, the salesman was disappointed in us, as we decided to go with the basic name-brand mattress that was on sale.  To me, it didn't feel any less comfortable than the other mattresses, and I'm not totally convinced that a lower-quality mattress would be bad for a child.  The springs that poke through will build character, as they say.  He'll get to appreciate a good mattress once he moves out.

For now, Kyle absolutely loves his new bed.  It arrived with great fanfare yesterday.  Kyle watched intently as the delivery guys plopped the bed in his room, crushing his stuffed animals.  After they assembled the bed and left, Kyle climbed onto the mattress and started reading his books, much like his mother often does, though Kyle's reading style has a little more bounce to it.  So far the little guy has read on the bed, snacked on the bed, played with toys on the bed, and bounced on the bed.  It remains to be seen whether he'll actually sleep on the bed.  Sheets might help, and we will be putting those on soon. 

It will be strange having Kyle in a bed, as he will now have freedoms he never had before.  When he wakes up, he'll be able to get out of bed and move around.  He won't have to lie in his crib for up to a half-hour, shouting for us as we struggle to get out of bed ourselves.  He'll be able to get up and play with the toys in his room.  Maybe he'll read a book or two.  Maybe he'll make us breakfast.  Or maybe he'll come barging into our room and will start bouncing on our bed, with us still in it!  Hmph.  Maybe it's time for me to get a lock for our bedroom door.

Oral Report

On Monday, Kyle visited the dentist for the first time.  Initially I didn't think we had to take Kyle there at such a young age, but we ended up scheduling the checkup at the urging of my dentist, who is trying to pay for a new addition to his home.  Jennifer was due for a checkup, too, so we scheduled both for the same time.  The visit was an unsettling experience for the little guy, despite our attempts to make drills and tartar scrapers seem magical.  Kyle immediately was thrown off by the dentist's tiny waiting room, a one-foot-by-four-inch space that somehow managed to contain three chairs and a fake plant, but lacked all the things Kyle was used to seeing in a waiting room: toys, children's books, and diseased kids coughing and sneezing.  This room was dark, foreboding, and incredibly boring.  There weren't even kids magazines, not even Highlights (what kind of waiting room doesn't have Highlights?!?), so Kyle had to settle for the latest edition of Road and Track.

Kyle and I spent a good ten minutes or so in that tiny room, as the dentist chose to see Jennifer first.  Kyle sat on my lap and flipped the pages of the magazine, pointing out red cars, blue cars, and cars with turbocharged V-6 engines.  He was trying hard not to stare at the woman in the chair next to us, who was wearing a surgical boot on her right foot.  My son had never seen a surgical boot before, so I am guessing he concluded that the problem with the woman's foot must have been caused by the dentist.  He kept getting up on his own feet and pointing to the door, asking for his mommy and looking warily at the woman's crutches, wondering what kind of ankle-smashing procedure was in store for him.  The woman's attempts to be friendly with him didn't help, neither did her description of the invasive mouth surgery she was about to have.  Fortunately, the door to the waiting room opened, and a hygienist rescued us.
 

The dentist welcomed Kyle and me with a big smile and a handshake.  He's a very nice guy when you're not there for a filling.  He told me to sit down on The Chair, and to have Kyle sit on my lap.  The little guy was fine with this arrangement until Jennifer showed up and suddenly (and predictably) he wanted to sit on her lap.  I swapped with Jennifer and sat beside them.  The dentist began the checkup by waving a tiny camera near Kyle's open mouth, which projected a magnified view of Kyle's teeth on the monitor in front of him (our dentist office is very high-tech; root canals are done there with light sabers).  It didn't take long for Kyle to realize that the TV in front of him wasn't going to be showing Sesame Street.  Instead, he watched a horror show with giant teeth, that, for some reason, his parents and the so-called "tooth doctor" enjoyed.  Kyle sat there looking uncertain or terrified through most of the appointment, but he did not fight, even when the TV horror show ended and the dentist took over, telling Kyle to open wide before shoving a fistful of fingers into his mouth and stretching it.  Obviously, Kyle had avoided fighting out of fear that the dentist would retaliate by attacking his foot, much like he apparently did to the lady in the waiting room.

As the dentist peered into Kyle's mouth, he said our son's teeth were coming in nicely, but then asked if either of us had worn braces.  When Jennifer and I both said we did, the dentist's pupils turned into dollar signs.  I asked him whether that meant Kyle would need braces himself.  He said it was likely and then mumbled something to himself about a new sports car.  He then said Kyle's teeth are fine right now, and he'd be happy to see him again much later, when he's twelve and has teeth that look like Superman's Fortress of Solitude.  Until then, Kyle would have to see a pediatric dentist.  Our dentist says he knows one who's very nice and is sending four kids through college right now.  Considering this dentist is an hour away via subway, we might turn down the recommendation and find someone closer to home.

After the all-clear, and a high-five from the dentist, Kyle was set to go.  There were no problems with his teeth, and hopefully that will be the case for a long time.  The little guy was happy to leave.  So was Jennifer, who also passed her checkup.  My cleaning is scheduled for the end of the month.  I'll make sure to bring my own copy of Highlights.