Noah's 16th Illness

This is not earth shattering, nor is it all that interesting, but I need to mention that Noah got sick again last week.  For the 16th time.  Third time in less than 2 months.  Another cold.  Kind of ridiculous, if you ask me.  But luckily he was in good spirits and didn't needed any pain medication to stop him from being a terror.

This post was sitting in drafts for a few days, and I was going to say that the last two times Noah has been sick, I didn't get it, which is amazing because the previous 14 times he was sick, I was down and out with him every single time! But I did end up getting this cold.  Boo.  It's very mild, though, so I'm not really complaining.

To make a long story short, the fact that I didn't get his 15th illness is pretty amazing.  I have an autoimmune disease (ulcerative colitis) that has made me catch everything Noah has had.  I mentioned back in September how I had a really horrible flare up, during which I ended up in the ER and had to see a new specialist.  I had a follow up with her last week and things are awesome!  She did really thorough blood work to compare to the blood work I had done at the end of September, and the results were perfect.  Better than perfect!  She was amazed at how well my body has responded to all the health supplements I've been taking (not prescription, unfortunately, so it's cost us almost $4000 out of pocket).  I already knew that my colitis was a lot better, and that my immune function must be improving, since I avoided Noah's 15th illness, but it was nice to have it confirmed in my blood levels.

As happy as I am about my own health improving, I really do wish that Noah could be healthy for more than a week or two at a time.  It's so lame.

The Beginning of Cloth

I haven't posted in over a week.  It's not that I have nothing to say, it's just that I am currently obsessed with cloth diapers.  It's ridiculous, really, but I am.  I spend way too much time researching, reading forums, reading blogs, reading reviews, deciding if I should try this diaper or that diaper, deciding I am quite pleased with the diaper I have and have no desire to spend $20+ on a single diaper, and that my money would be better spent getting more of my favourite styles of the diapers I already have, which are far less expensive...

So today marks 7 full days that I have been cloth diapering Noah, except for at night time.  Not brave enough for that yet, but I'm sure I'll try it at some point.

My first mail delivery of cloth diaper paraphernalia included this bunch of accessories:

Wet bags, cloth wipes, odor remover, fleece and flushable liners, diaper cream (which, as it turns out, isn't actually that safe for cloth diapers), a diaper sprayer, and pail liners.

This was very exciting, but I received this package before receiving the big shipment of actual diapers.  So I was feeling... bereft.

The next day Noah and I drove out of town to meet up with Erin and Aubrey at a huge indoor play place.  It was super fun, and when I arrived home, my huge package of diapers was waiting at the side of the house!  I immediately ripped into them.  I considered just washing one of each type, but then decided to just go ahead and wash them all.  Diapers have pretty good resale value, so if I didn't like them, I would sell them.  I spent that whole evening doing several wash cycles to get them ready for the next morning.  Man alive, the washing machine really goes slowly when you're excitedly waiting for something that's in it!

This is all my diapers, washed, prepped, and stuffed (except for the bamboo diapers on the bottom right), prior to my first day of diapering:

I bought Kawaii's.  I got 30 diapers and 60 inserts (10 of which are bamboo) for $169.99.  I read the reviews, I liked the price, so I went for it.  I have 7 different styles of Kawaii diapers, but there's 6 piles here because the one pile is a solid snap diaper, but there's original and ultra soft in that pile.

I have used every diaper on that table at least twice, except for the ones with aplix.  They've only been used once.

I'll do a more detailed review of each diaper in another post.

For now, here is Noah in his first diaper of the day on his first day of full-time cloth diapering:

"Seriously, Mom, what is the big deal?"

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Noah just sprayed Pledge directly onto his face, and then stood there licking his lips. It appears he thought it tasted interesting.

It was all over his chin. Thank goodness it didn't go into his eyes.

~~~~~~

Today Noah was on my bed while I was sitting on the floor leaning against the bed.  Noah came over, hugged my head and said "Love you!!" (which comes out "Wuff yooouuu!"). That's the first time he told me he loved me without me saying it to him first :)

I love that kid.

Cloth Diapering!

Thank you all for your responses to my post a few days ago!  They were definitely helpful and thought provoking.

The next day I went ahead and bought 4 brand new cloth diapers from someone who was selling them out of her house.  They were $5 each, so no big deal if I didn't like cloth diapering.

Except that I DID like it.  Don't ask me why.  Logically, it makes little sense.  The idea of having to pull out pee soaked inserts, wash your diapers, and generally having to change Noah's bum more often... why would I like that?  I think only CDing Mamas would understand.  There's something about it that's just addicting and fulfilling.

So after I used, like, 2 cloth diapers, I decided I loved it and ordered all those diapers and paraphernalia.  I should get it all by the middle of next week, and I am EXCITED!

There were a few points brought up in the comments of my last post that were very valid, and I wanted to address them.  So, in no particular order (and the actual comments are going to be paraphrased):


1. I'd buy just a few to start out with to see if you like it and if you do then go for the full stash. I hear SO many stories of mommas buying full stashes and then that particular diaper doesn't work.

This is a fantastic idea, and I thought about doing it, but the deal I was going to be getting was time sensitive. And within the 30 diapers I am buying, there are 6 different styles. Not 6 different prints/colours, but actual styles. 6 different kinds of diapers (but all by the same brand). I figure that is diverse enough. Plus I had bought those other 4 diapers to test out. Those diapers were very basic. I liked them, but there were things I didn't really love about them. For instance, they wouldn't fit Noah right through until he's potty trained, just because he's so tall. But the diapers I'm buying have a larger rise when totally unsnapped, so that's good. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the suede cloth (why is it nothing like suede?), because I didn't find it kept his bum all that dry. But most of the diapers I'm getting have fleece lining. Some are bamboo. It's diverse enough of a sample, and the cost is cheap enough per diaper, that if there were a particular style of diaper I didn't like, it's not that big of a deal. However, this is still excellent advice. I would never ever spend $15-$25 per diaper on a whole stash without trying a whole bunch of different kinds out first.

2.  We used cloth diapers for one day, and the entire lower level of my house smelled like urine. And on top of that all the cute clothes I had for the baby didn't fit anymore because of the bulk.

This one definitely concerned me.  But I tested it out, and felt relieved to have a different experience.  I didn't have a wet bag at all, so I just left the wet diapers sitting out.  I even put them on my kitchen table for the whole night, and there was no smell whatsoever.  You had to put your nose right up to the diaper in order to smell any pee, and even then it was a very very mild smell, and not that unpleasant (maybe Noah just  has mild pee??  lol).  Also, we don't have a diaper pail of any kind.  We have always just thrown our pee diapers into the garbage can in our bathroom (which doesn't have a lid) and the poop diapers right into the garbage in the garage.  And we've never had any issues with smell (unless the garbage took a long time to fill for some reason, and the diapers were in there for a week.  Then you'd smell a little funk).  

I was worried that Noah would smell like pee when he peed, but he doesn't.  

The clothes thing - I was worried about this.  But the diapers really aren't that bulky.  And Noah is a skinny kid, so the things that fit him length wise have always been way too big around his waist.  So I don't think this will be an issue.  I thought it might be with onesies (the Carter's 5 pack onesies are really long, so he can still wear the 24 month ones), but it's not.  Besides, with disposables the diaper bulks up like crazy when it gets wet, and gets so its sagging down in between his legs.  This doesn't happen to us with the cloth diapers because the inserts don't expand when they get wet.  They just stay the same size all the time.

3.  From an environmental point of view, cloth isn't always better than disposable. We have severe water shortages where I live and tons of landfill space.

That's an interesting point. We have the opposite situation. We live right on an enormous lake, connected to 4 other enormous lakes (The Great Lakes!!) so we have an abundance of water. However, landfill space is limited, and our garbage all gets trucked hours away. Also, the way I see it is that water is a renewable resource, but land space is not. At least not when it comes to most landfill sites. In Canada alone, 4 million disposable diapers are added to landfills each day. And the fact that it takes 500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose (if it even does), assuming they are breaking down in optimal conditions with contact to sun, soil, and rain.... that's pretty icky to me.

Even when using disposable diapers, it is recommended that the poop be emptied into the toilet so that it can be properly treated by water treatment facilities. This rarely or never happens. Bacteria and viruses, such as Hepatitis B and Polio, are found in the solid waste of babies who are given routine vaccines in their first year. The landfills become breeding grounds for these types of viruses and bacteria and there is potential for them to become air-borne and/or leach into our ground-water.

4. There is the water usage, heating of the water, soap, etc to take into account.

We can pretty much make any argument to support the choices that we make. And I don't think disposable diapers are the devil. Definitely not. They are super-duper convenient. But the disposable diapers are made from materials and through processes that use up non-renewable resources. The environmental effects of manufacturing disposable diapers which use chemicals, plastics and heavy metals are greater than the effects of growing and processing the cotton and hemp for cloth diapers. Plus, you need a lot fewer cloth diapers to make it through a kid's life, so you are using less of those resources.

But yes, you have the water usage, heating of water, buying detergents (which don't have to be expensive).  However, the average cost for a family to use disposables for one baby from birth to potty-training is between $2500 - $3000. A full supply of cloth diapers, on the other hand, can cost as little as $200, depending on the type of diaper chosen.  For further cost savings, cloth diapers can be re-used with future children or sold to other families (they retain their value really really well!). The cost of using energy, detergent and water when washing the diapers depends on the efficiency of the machines being used, but is equal to approximately a penny per diaper.  Peanuts.

Don't get me wrong.  I am slightly ashamed to admit that I am not obsessed with saving the environment, so those aren't really my reasons for cloth diapering.  Pretty much everything we do in life is going to some sort of environmental impact.  I do believe (and have always believed, even before I ever thought I would try CDing) that cloth diapering leaves less of an environmental footprint than disposable diapering.  But, again, that's not really my reasoning for cloth diapering.  It's just an added benefit.

Maybe it's because I am not a 'Green' nut that I don't really care whether other people CD or not.  I'm not out to convert the world.  And hello, I used disposables for the first 20 months of Noah's life, and it's not like I'll never use a disposable again.  I'm quite certain that I will.

These are my main reasons for Cloth Diapering:

1. It will save me mucho moola.  Diapers are expensive, man.  I have never ever bought diapers that weren't steeply discounted, often with coupons taken off of the sale price, which is why we still have over 1000 Pampers sitting downstairs waiting to be used (they were bought at least a year ago, on sale). But I still have spent a ton of money on diapers. All for Noah to pee and/or poop in them, and throw them away. I hate spending money on something that just gets thrown away. Seriously, I never buy garbage bags. I just use store bags. I cannot handle buying something that I'm going to throw into the trash right away. I am way too Dutch for that.

I definitely don't think that I could spend more money on detergents and water than it costs to diaper a baby for 2.5-3 years.  It might be too late to save much money on diapers with Noah, but I hope to have another bambino or two (preferably not at the same time), so I will save the mucho moola on those little rugrats.

2. Cloth diapers are CUTE.  I've always loved a little kid running around in a diaper.  But disposable diapers... meh, not that cute.  Especially Huggies.  Somebody needs to redesign those bad boys.

Noah's rump in a colourful cloth diaper?  Adorable (say it in french).

3. Cloth diapers feel nicer.  I never really thought about this too much before.  But after I got the cloth diapers, I realized that the inside (and outside) of a disposable just does not feel as nice as a cloth diaper.  So now I kind of view it as pampering Noah, wrapping him in a soft, fluffy diaper, instead of a paper, possibly scratchy and itchy diaper.  I know I'd rather wear cotton underwear than paper underwear!

4.  I like doing Mommy Chores.  Maybe this reason is weird, but seeing as I'm a stay-at-home Mom, I have ample time to spend with my child, so chores are probably not the same nemesis to me that they are to a working mom, who has more limited time to spend with her child.  And doing Mommy chores has always been enjoyable to me.  Maybe that's the infertility in me?  I was thrilled to finally be able to fold his little clothes, change his crib sheets, refill wipes, and stock his change table with diapers.  And so far, I am loving washing, stuffing, and stacking his little supply of cloth diapers.  It's just one more Mommy activity I am thankful to be able to do.  Plus the cute array of colours in the stack of cloth diapers is nice to look at.

5. I don't have to be a flyer whore.  Oh, the time I would spend scouring flyers to find a good deal on Pampers (the only brand of disposables that I like). And they are always advertising different prices for different size boxes, so a calculator would have to be involved. Then I'd drive 25 minutes to town to go try to buy the stinkin' diapers, and they'd be sold out. And so I'd recruit other family members to try and pick them up for me later in the week. So. Annoying. Plus, there hasn't been an awesome sale on diapers in over a year. Uncool. I was actually getting concerned about having to spend all that money on diapers for the next kid, and spend all that time trying to find good deals so I could stock up.

6. All that other gooble-de-gook is just icing on the cake.  It does make me feel better that Noah will no longer have chemically treated diapers up against his little boy bits.  He doesn't have any bad skin reactions to disposable diapers, but I'm still glad that he's no longer going to be exposed to all the crap in them anymore.  And I feel a little bit proud that I am making a more environmentally conscious choice, seeing as I make many other choices that are not as environmentally conscious.

I think that's it.  But let me close by reiterating that I do not think cloth diapering moms are better than disposable diaper moms.  There are very few things in parenting that I feel are black and white issues, and CDing is definitely not one of them.  I do think that too many people have the wrong ideas about cloth diapers and the amount of work involved in them.  I was one of those people, so I know that side of it. I always thought "Why in the world would you spend all that money on a diaper system that causes you to touch and wash dirty diapers instead of throwing them away?  Way too much hassle!!"  But that was also back when I thought all diapers were $15-$25 a diaper.  

I think that if everyone could try CDing for a week or two, risk free, I bet at least 75% of those people would say "Yeah, it's really not that much work!  And I actually kind of like it!" (or love it, or are addicted to it, or whatever).  But like I said, I'm not out to convince the entire world to cloth diaper.  I'm just excited for my little family, and my future bambinos.

Hubby is theoretically on board.  He hasn't actually changed a cloth diaper yet, though, so I can imagine his reaction the first time he does.  "What the heck am I supposed to do with all these snaps?!?!?"

So What Wednesday

So what if I change Noah's morning (and usually poopy) diaper on my bed in front of Sesame Street every day.  If I change it on his change table, 4 times out of 5 he is crying and wiggling and trying to turn over.  Because really, diaper changes suck.

That is a king sized bed, by the way.  My kid is TALL.

And after the bum change is over...

Toddler zoned out in front of Sesame Street.  Freaky.  But he seriously loves that show.

Cloth Diapering?

So I'm seriously thinking about cloth diapering.  Until Friday, for $169.99, I can get a stash of 30 brand new pocket diapers in various styles, each with 2 microfiber inserts.  Except 10 of them are bamboo minkys, so those have bamboo inserts.  That is an amazing price!  And the diapers have really good reviews.

My main reason for not trying cloth diapering up until now is that I refuse to shell out $15-$25 for one diaper.  But at that price, I am paying about $5 a diaper.  But then I also have to buy wet bags and detergent and different diaper cream and a sprayer and spray deodorizer and and and...

So really I'd spend like $450.  Which is a decent price if you're using cloth diapers for your kid's whole diaper experience.  But Noah is 20 months old.  It seems kind of late?   We have about 1000 disposable diapers stored in our house right now for Noah to use in the upcoming months (more than that if you count the boxes of diapers we have that he grew out of before he ended up using).  So that's a 5-6 month supply, at the rate we're using diapers now.  I am sure he'll be in diapers longer than 6 months from now, so we will have to buy more disposables.  And we would like to have another child or two (but who knows when that will finally happen).  So my thinking was that maybe we should invest in cloth diapers now instead of buying more disposables.

But, like I said, what if I don't like cloth diapering?  For the most part I've had a really good vibe from the whole thing, but then I'll run across a few blogs that give a not-so-good vibe about cloth diapering.  I've spent days researching this, and was about to finalize my two orders (one for the diapers and one for the paraphernalia), but something stopped me.  I think I'm just afraid.

Disposables are SO easy.  I never have to worry about leaks, except the occasional overnight leak.  Noah can go for forever during the day with no leaks, if we happen to have overlooked a diaper change.  I think he's probably gone 6-7 hours in one diaper during the day on rare occasions just because we were so busy and he was so active that a diaper change would have been more of a fight than it was worth.

I know cloth is better for so many reasons, but it IS more work.  And they're bulkier.  That kind of irks me.  I don't have to think about disposables.  They don't leak.  Noah has no bad reactions to them.  They fit him well.  They fit under his clothes well.

I know so many people say that they don't even notice the extra work, that it's not a big deal.  But I did run into a blog that said they used disposables for a longer trip, and they had a really hard time getting back into cloth diapering again afterward.  And I've heard of a bunch of people who cloth diapered for a year or more and then switched to disposables because the extra work just got on their nerves.

So, I don't know... I know all the reasons to cloth diaper, and I know that the majority of cloth diaperers love  it.  And I want to do it.  I'm just afraid of messing with a good thing (disposables) and not liking it.  So... I don't know what I want from you cloth diapering Mamas... tell me I'll like it??

20 Months Old

At 20 months, here is where Noah is at:

-I haven't weighed or measured Noah this month, but I assume he is just slightly heavier and taller than he was at 18 months, when he was 27lbs and 35 inches.

-He is in size 4 diapers during the day and night.

-He wears size 2T and 3T clothing. Most 2T clothing is too short, though.

-He wears size 6 shoes.

-He nurses on demand, 4-8 times a day.

-He exclusively feeds himself his solids, either with his hands or with a spoon and fork. If he is given a utensil, he will always use it. He also drinks out of a regular cup quite well, although we try to use a sippy cup as often as he will let us since we run less risk of him purposefully pouring out his water.

-He has 16 full teeth. The only ones left are his 2 year molars.

-His broken leg is pretty much completely healed.

-He sleeps straight through the night now, between 9.5 and 11 hours total.  11 hours is rare.  He gets less total sleep now that he's not nursing overnight, which isn't great, but I am loving not getting up in the middle of the night with him.  Bedtime is still about 8:30pm.

-He naps for one hour, and we are finally at the point that I just plop him in his crib wide awake.

-At 15 months Noah was saying 18 words. At 16 months he was saying 42 words. At 17 months he was saying 79 words. At 18 months he was saying 137 words.  At 19 months Noah was saying over 300 words, although I had only recorded 281.

-At 20 months Noah is saying over 424 words (I have 424 recorded, but I know I'm missing some - I finally alphabetized them in an Excel document!  I know, so overboard.)

Sorry, here's where I record these words in case my computer crashes...

His old words that he's still saying are: Mama, Dada, uh oh, more, this, that, cat, night night, hot, up, yes, woof woof ("what does a dog say?"), baa ("what does a sheep/goat say?"), moo ("what does a cow say?"), car, ball, shoes, cracker, Noah, water, orange, clock, blech, hi, done, dirt, Bert, puff, swish, fluff, book, buzz, Papa, Nana, boo, fish, phone, again, home, sunglasses, Gramper, sit, stretch, glasses, food, laptop, love, hair, quack, bye, tshirt, shirt, aunt, poop, slide, cheese, Colton, danger, banana, feet, please, clock, cold, toes, ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh (monkey sound), bad, burger, boo-boo (as in, an owie), nurse, block, fly, stuck, chalk, out, fit, hat, bye-bye, and shit (yeah, I'm not proud of that), pool, eyes, nose, rice, pour, no, apple, bath, heck, help, eat, T.V., pup, corn, cook, moon, sun, on, off, mouse, brush, ice, neigh, push, yay, peach, buddy, you, hi, mess, flip, hose, toast, home, see you, pieces, pear, foot, me, tape, open, meat, ok, out, street, outside, keys, bits, pee, flies, away, whoa, cheerios, cut, gas, wet, hey, bless, plate, baby, kick, acorn, grass, light, dark, medicine, horse, cake, after, bar, house, two, three, go, doctor, windy, lid, hide, Elmo, get, it, fix, button, thank, beep, one, cookie, high, chair, highchair, whack, walk, tower, cute, breakfast, bawk (chicken), back, moose, lion, tiger, dinner, pocket, Ernie, draw, wall, welcome, Granny, Matt, Lynsey, aunt, Giliane, Nick, Hilary, cuddle, boat, pen, puck, ready, picture, coming, dude, cool, clothes, soother, green, purple, blue, both, you, I, love, fries, toys, red, playdoh, stick, hockey, hit, ribbit, frog (which comes out as f#ck), colour, found, plug, pizza, coffee, cricket, broke, ring, hug, rice, watch, arm, leg, ear, closet, open, dukie (dutch slang for washcloth), chicken, Abby, sweep, music, Emmie, Lexie, other, room, welcome, rain, clap, table, yellow, crayon, crib, music, lotion, cube, self, ice cube, new, giraffe, bite, blanky, dance, meow, cow, dog, rabbit, tomato, tree, bathroom, cup, window, honk, pretty, grape, fork, spoon, knife, goose, bang, Scout, peek-a-boo.

His new words are (and I don't actually expect anyone to read through this list):  

Sun, Whistle, Groceries, Bat, Head, Sweetpea, Soap, Squeeze, Knock, Bib, Beef, Fishies, Hand, Yum, Yummy, Mustard, Tag, Bubbles, Jeans, Kids, Sock, Nipple, Hammer, Dinner, Supper, Piano, Bear, Bed, Room, Bedroom, James, Pasta, Diaper, Zoe, Pushing, Computer, Sick, Basket, Egg, Working, Sleeping, Sleepy, Walking, Bumbo, Noise, What, Wipe, Empty, Big, Fast, Heavy, Football, Tape, Scissors, Getting, Buckle, Seatbelt, Potty, Swirl, Smock, Tray, Header, Baseball, Pass, Penguin, Pumpkin, Shower, Mommy, Daddy, Mom, Right, Flower, Bathtime, Wall, Spin, Heat, Wow, Neat, Clean, Here, Good, Fishies, Sitting, Tub, Bum, Berries, Wash, Washing, Nursing, Helping, Brushing, Puppy, Super, Grover, Drink, Drinking, Eating, Hitting, Warm, Bucky, Gross, Careful, Sleep, Yuck, Yucky, Take, Tickle, Bike, Ride, Riding, Funny, Cord, Cereal, Smell, peel, nothing, teacher, elastic, cushion, nope, yup, Dad, Blow, Goldfish, Throw, There, Is, Sheep, Pink, White, Where, Hiding, Nap, Camera, Pancake, Boots, Sandals, Stinky, Stroller, Squish, Squishy, excuse, fun, happy, me, under, over

-This month, in about 3 days time, Noah went from calling us Mama, Dada, and Wawa (how he pronounced Noah), to Mommy, Daddy, and Noah.  It made me a little bit sad.

-He is putting many two word and some three word phrases together. For example: thank you, bless you, get it, get you, got you, hang on, excuse me, there it is, etc.

-He still loves to play with the vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, any cleaning implement, or anything electronic that isn't meant to be played with.

-As for actual toys, his favourites are our Clifford Stacking Blocks, his Cozy Coupe car, his tricycle, any type of ball, his mini sticks, and mega blocks.

-He knows all 10 of the main colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, brown, white.

-He knows the shapes circle, star, and square.  We don't really work any discussion of shapes into our play, so far.  He just picked those up because his magnetic doodle pad has circle, star, and square magnets.

-He'll count "one, two, three..." but most of the time when he's counting he still says "Two, two, two, two..." as he points to different objects. It is so cute.

-He loves to colour, play with play-doh, blow bubbles, build towers, play in the corn table, play in the bubble table, play outside, kick balls... I could go on.

-He still loves Sesame Street, and the show Super Why.  I'm impressed with how much he will pay attention to Super Why, considering it's a full half hour show about reading, letters, and writing.

-Noah has been sick twice in the last month. The count is at 15.

-He is getting much less shy, but he still has separation anxiety from me.  The only people who can babysit him are my Mom and Dad (together - my Mom HAS to be there).  They've done this twice in the past couple of weeks so Justin and I could go out on an early dinner date - home in time for bath and bed!

19-20 months was a really nice month for us.  Noah was really fun, agreeable, and obedient.  There were no sleep struggles, which was awesome.  I guess it did suck that he was sick twice, but if he's happy and pleasant (which he's not with this latest cold), I don't mind him being sick as much.

Bubble Table!

Noah is pretty sick with a bad cold.  He is quite miserable, and is really hard to please right now.  I have been doing all his favourite things, like blowing bubbles in the basement (this kid is obsessed with blowing bubbles), playing with toys we don't play with very often, and even going to the park.  But he is not himself, and while he will be happy and distracted while we're in the midst of a fun activity, he very quickly goes downhill once he's lost interest.  I'm using all my best tricks, including some new ones, to keep him entertained.

What do you do with an incredibly sick and cranky 20 month old who wants everything and nothing at the same time, after you've already exhausted every other activity he enjoys?

Bubble table!!!
(Here's where we found another great use for our water table)

Like I said, he wants everything, but he wants nothing.  So he'll point to something and ask for it, whining, but when you offer it to him he starts crying and saying no.

He was crying and saying "Noo!  Noooo!  No!!!!" while I was making the bubbles in the tub, but I ignored him and kept going and suddenly he just stopped crying and started playing.

I wonder if he thought I was going to try and bath him in the bowl.

It was almost an hour of entertainment.  Sure, he spilled water while transferring it from the tub to the water table, but we were in the bathroom, so who cares.

So, to create the wonder that was the Bubble Table, I just poured baby soap into a big bowl and filled the bowl with water.

That made some bubbles, but there wasn't enough room in the bowl or extreme enough water pressure to make a ton of bubbles.  So in order to make lots of bubbles, I agitated the water by swishing my hand back and forth.  A lot.  This made mountains of bubbles over and over again.  I just transferred them by hand into the water table.

Noah dragged his potty over so he could sit on it and play with the bubbles at the same time.

Relaxing on the potty, playing with bubbles.

Noah saw the "soap!" and had to play with it.

My bathroom floor is now clean enough to eat off of.  And it smells wonderful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linking up to Mama Loves!

Seriously, People!

I really, REALLY wish that people with sick children would NOT bring them places like the church nursery, Mommy and Me, or parent-child drop in, where they can spread their germs to every other child present.

And a special thanks to the parents who brought their runny-nosed children to the church nursery this past Sunday. We are pleased that Noah now has his 15th illness.

(This isn't Noah currently.  This was when he turned one.  It was about his 10th illness, and was the sickest he'd ever been.  Again from a mother who brought her sick twins to a playdate.  Poor little Noah.)

Tomato, Apple, What's the Difference?

Today after I thought Noah was done lunch, I had cleaned him up and walked out of the kitchen for some reason.  When I got back about 30 seconds later, Noah was doing this:

He had somehow reached onto the table, grabbed the tomato, and started eating it like an apple.

I almost stopped him, but then I realized there was really no reason he couldn't do this.

Why not, right?

He literally ate 90 percent of the tomato. 

When he was done, he chucked it on the floor.

My kid totally cracks me up.