niQuo Joe

Walk the Walk

2010-10-23T10:21:00.006-06:00

Niquo Joe is now a walker! It's only been a few days, maybe a week now, that I'd call him a walker even though he's known how to for a long time. The "delay" has been in his comfort zone/preferences rather than his abilities. Leo boys/men; they're so easy that way. Well, what I know of them. They tend to be one with the moment and not stress for what's to come much. Of course there are more factors playing into that characteristic tendency than just when a person was born, but nonetheless...

(10/5/2010)

I've been noticing fun synchronicities around his development. Like, when Nate from work and I were chatting back and forth about how awesome parenting is and I mentioned how Niquo can walk, but that “I wouldn’t necessarily call him a walker” and then that very night Niquo Joe starts walking across rooms and stuff. Of course it was bound to happen after some conversation about it; how often are you not talking about your baby and their development? But, I choose to be excited about it. And then the other day, I pondered out loud to myself wondering when babies say “gaga”. Of course then my thoughts went to Lady Gaga wondering if she just wanted her name to be among the first out of children’s mouths – but that’s beside the point. I really believe it was the first time it occurred to me that my baby doesn’t say gaga. And then the very next day, Niquo Joe’s favorite word…? Those are fun!

It looks like he’s down to one nap, and a short one at that. Used to be he’d sleep around 10-11:30 and then again from something like 3:00-5:00; anywhere around then. Now; one nap, 1.5 hours, at noon. That’s been true for 2 or 3 days now. Out of nowhere. You can tell it’s a transition (and probably not a phase) because he’s nowhere near going to sleep outside noon-1:30, but he gets *sooo* tired! Seems like his bed time has gotten earlier, too. That happened before the naps cut, by maybe a week.

He’s really interested in the mechanics of things now which is fun. The little advances in levels of awareness have been by far the most fun aspect of him to witness. It’s fun to see his little bug face turn into a little boy and all, but not nearly as much as seeing him now starting to speak with a purpose. And his frustrations with his body and hands not behaving the way he must be imagining it should as he tries things are more than my heart can stand they’re so cute!

So far Niquo Joe has said (at one point in his life) “kitty cat” (for which he got a kitty cat who has no name until Niquo names her (but I think he’s going to name her Koqui), never to utter the words again), “moe” which is as close to “more” as he’s gotten (you gotta have something pretty special to coax that word out of his mouth, which now sounds like “mom” and nothing like “more”), and Dada is his #1 favorite word followed by the distant second favorite “Mom mom”. Well, actually, I think his favorite word must be “UH?!?”, but who’s counting…

(9/25/2010)

Children and Lying

2010-10-19T16:48:00.000-06:00

Not that Niquo Joe is talking or anything, but I learned an interesting fact that I think is worth sharing. And since all 2 readers of NiquoJoe.com have children, I thought this is a suiting forum to share.
I recently learned that children really don't understand the difference between telling a lie and just saying what comes to mind (which may very well may be strongly affected by their desire not to be in trouble, but nonetheless)...
I saw it on a morning show that I don't remember the name of, but when I see it again I'll edit this post to add it. But, I did find an interesting (enough) article for your linking pleasure. Other than that, Google it. I think it's important to understand not to be worried or disappointed in our kids if/when they say something that isn't true.
For instance, if your young child does something wrong and blames it on another child, they're probably speaking to how they FEEL or what they WISH had happened more than the fact they're being deceiving.

http://www.healthofchildren.com/L/Lying.html

Day at the Park

2010-09-19T22:24:00.010-06:00

How fast the time passes between the time a baby is content in arms wherever arms happen to be and the time when you actually need to take them out to play and actually put them on the ground and... let go of them... Yikes!

But, now we go!

Click this pic for better resolution

My Baby's a Cross-Dresser

2010-09-18T10:40:00.001-06:00

Watch out, Eddie Izzard!

Niquo. Ninja.

2010-09-10T22:14:00.001-06:00

I have it on good authority that when a baby's hair is shaved off when they're young, their hair will grow back thicker and fuller and be that way for the duration. I also believe that if you do it 2 times, it's more effectual than if you did it just once. So, since before I was even convinced I could *have* kids, I knew that I would shave their hair after their 1st birthday. So, Dad and I took Niquo Joe to Cookie Cutters to have a baby cutting expert take to it.
Click the photos to see/save in higher resolution.

Niquo. Ninja Monk.

Teefus

2010-08-05T13:55:00.001-06:00

Poor baby Joe...

With 8 chompers already in his mouth, his molars begin their descent (how dramatic can one make a child breaking teeth in sound?). I'd been wondering why he's been such a chump lately. Of course, being my first kid, I'm just thinking he's ramping up for his 2's... It's got to happen some time, right?
The thing is, it's such a subtle chumpity; it's not like he's nearly as bad as what I've seen. Just a bit moody, bording on agressive, getting forceful to get at things he knows he's not supposed to; stuff like that. Poor thing; he'd even been trying to get at where the pain was, but I interpreted it as him about to get an ear infection. But then it got bad enough that he's squirming around with his face stuffed in pillows (or worse - our chests), biting away.

Then (remember, this is over the course of like 4 days I'm talking), we go to my mom's house. Knowing he was WAY overdue for a nap (having been awake over 5 hours straight), even the fact that he wasn't in his crib didn't explain why he was as awake as he was. And when I say awake, I mean like he's plugged into an outlet awake. *Finally* I figure out that he's probably in pain and started investigating his mouth. Poor thing with such a dumb mom. A couple teething tablets later, he was fast asleep.
Well, maybe this will somehow make him stronger.
Besides the two steps he took over a week or so ago, Niquo Joe is showing very little signs of wanting to venture that way. There've been a couple of times where I could tell he was trying to work up the will to lift a foot to take a step; even at times looking as if he would have lifted it had it not been encased in concrete (soooo cute to watch how the duality manifests), there've been no steps since. Well,.. unless he's walked for Dad or Nana and neither of them had the heart to tell me ;-)
He's in a weird eating phase, too. Or, NOT eating phase. It's worrying me a little bit, but I figure it's a combination of just a phase and the fact that his mouth is throbbing with pain. I did figure something out yesterday that made me proud of myself, though. Our next door neighbor had pureed some green beans from her garden and made green bean ice cubes out of them. With my new-found enlightenment about the crux of his uncharacteristic behavior, I figured out to crush the cubes into small enough pieces that I could give them to him that way. 2 birds with one stone! He loves ice cubes as it is, much less they've got to make him feel so much better. But wait, there's more! He's eating green beans!
Speaking of eating good food being miraculous... It truly is a sad fact that the things that are the worst for us tend to be what we crave. ARGH! My mom brought over a Burger King breakfast biscuit thing for me one morning, but I'd already eaten. When Niquo Joe got to getting to where I figure I could feed him his now customary "3 bites you're out" meal, I decide that biscuit would be perfect. So I cut up a few pieces and gave them to him. *Gone* in less time than it took for me to think to check on him to see if he wanted more or wanted down! So, I cut up some more. *Poof*, gone. He ate more than half of that thing. Oh, but he's too good to share my lentil soup, eh!? hmph...
Right now Niquo Joe and I are halfway through Many Waters. Reading to him is such a fantastic way for me to center myself when he's getting me wound up. I'll put him in his crib for nap or bedtime and read; right through his talking, babbling, screaming, squirming (most of this is happy baby stuff, BTW), right up until they become forced whimpers. And then, nothing. That, and bathtime, are probably my faves right now.
Niquo Joe is going to be one year old in less than a week!!!

Let me see you 1, 2 step

2010-07-23T09:48:00.003-06:00

Wow, how exciting is all this!? Niquo Joe has gotten good at standing and has been brave enough to practice dancing while standing (muy importante, tu sabes). And then, with a deep inhale and a body tense from hair to toenail, he took a step! I was so excited! So we practiced a bit more, and then... TWO steps! I was so excited I screamed. Probably a bit much, but what do you do? My little boy is becoming a man! K, but a toddler nonetheless.

Niquo Stands!

2010-07-20T16:40:00.000-06:00

One small step... ok, not a step yet, but how is it that we forget the part between crawling and walking where we have to figure out how to stand?
My mom says boys and girls are so different in terms of how they develop and how quickly, and based on what she's told me, Niquo Joe is very "boy". It's taken probably a week of us knowing he's ready to stand on his own before he'd try, and then another 3 days before he was comfortable practicing. Up to now, we had to get him centered and then leave him stranded. He'd only let me do that once and then he wasn't having it anymore. Now he's all for it. Man it's fun! He likes to look in the mirror while he stands, and the he experiments with moving his hands and takes pride in maintaining his balance in spite of the motion.
While I try not to be overbearing, there's so much gratification in seeing these little advances. His personality is shining through more, he's doing more to get attention, making a variety of expressions (though sounds are still pretty limited), and totally comfortable stating his opinions.
I've started to read to him when he can't get to sleep comfortably. Up to now, I'd felt like I need to leave him to fall on his own. I'd let him whine for 5 or 10 minutes, go get him and see if he'd fall asleep to his bottle on our rocking chair, make sure he doesn't need to be changed, etc etc, then lay him down and leave the room for him to fall asleep. Some nights, we'd go through like 3 cycles of that. And then, one sleep-time (a nap or nighttime, I can't remember... even though it was only probably 3 days ago) I decided to get on the floor next to his crib and start to read a novel set we bought before he was born. I decided to pick up where we'd left off (we'd read to him while I was pregnant), so now we're in book 4 of the Madeleine L'Engle quintet which starts with A Wrinkle In Time. It's so fun to watch him go through his phases of winding down, and then falling asleep mid-motion in some funky position. And then the little bursts of attempts to fight it, lifting his head and it drops, or laughing with his eyes closed... The little things.

Wabble Wabble

2010-07-17T22:39:00.015-06:00

Niquo Joe is so fun to watch, as he goes through his slow (but EVER so fast) progressions. Nowadays, he's working on standing and walking with his push toy. He walks just like a duck, with his poochy diaper looking like a duck tail and all. And, oh how his hips move! And OH how far his feet turn out (it's taken me YEARS of work to *somewhat* fix that in my own walk)... I finall broke down and got the cheapest version of TV I could think of (can't be doin' no research or nothing), and I can get all the public stations. Niquo Joe gets to watch cartoons in the morning, the way we used to! It's such a trip to see how he likes the different shows. He digs Sid the Science Kid, and The Super Readers (gotta admit; that one's borderline unbearable)... But all our favorite.... Dinosaur Train!

Of course, the next morning Kyle has an opportunity to check him out, he won't do it. I know Loony Tunes got that singing frog idea from reflecting on time with babies, and kids as far as that goes.

He's got a crazy cool attitude. When he's at home, that is. We're working on getting him out moae, but that's *so* easier said than done. Naps here and there, need to eat, pack up everything in the house to take him out for an hour... It's a must-do, though. So, I took him to the gym with me so he could go to gym school (that's what we call the daycare), and he was alright through my workout. Well, starting after I stopped checking on him through the glass door from behind a poster where I swore I was hidden, but discovered he could see practically every part of me but my face... Pretty embarassing.

And, while I have my moments of self-pity at all the meaningless (in reality) things that feel were this great big sacrifice for my child, it's always so easy to center myself again and realize what it is that I'm wasting good appeciating time on; vapor.

Just a Random Day

2010-07-07T21:09:00.002-06:00

Ah, the first post of a blog. Where to start... Niquo Joe is going to be 11 months old in a few days, then one year old on August 11th! There's so much to cover. Perhaps I'll enter all his journal entries here...
Anyway, a random picture.