Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah

Michael has finally discovered why mommy spends so much time in the kitchen. It has cupboards! They open and close and hold secret things Michael isn't allowed to touch. What could be better than playing with these magical doors with shiny knobs?

In all seriousness, I'm surprised it took Michael so long to discover cupboards. Not that I'm complaining. I've had the kitchen to myself for 10 months. Now it's only a matter of time before he gets tired of slamming them and decides to empty them. I guess it's time for more babyproofing and maybe even reorganizing the kitchen. I do have a gate I can use to keep him out, but I usually just close it if I'm dealing with raw meat. He's not too much trouble... yet.

Plus, he's so dang cute to watch.

Playing with cupboards is second only to playing with the dishwasher. If I unload the sharp knives quickly, Michael gets free reign with the silverware, which he then drags all over the kitchen. Since I've got a boy crawling everywhere, I'm keeping my kitchen cleaner and I can usually just rinse them and put them back in the dishwasher (yes, I could put them away, but then what would Michael play with?).

Yesterday, Michael and I were eating pasta, when Michael seemed to get upset that his hands were so dirty. At least, that's what I got from him staring at his hands and whining. I cleaned them, and gave Michael a fork to show him how he could eat and keep his hands clean.

In truth, I thought he'd just bang it around and entertain himself while I finished eating. It's still a win for me. Instead, he immediately grabbed the fork and shoved it in his mouth, only to be disappointed that there was no food on it. I spent the rest of that meal spearing pasta for the boy, while he fed himself. It was really fun to watch.

Here's a quick video:

Later on, he wanted to do the same thing with his spoon and baby food. It didn't work out quite as well, but it's so much fun that he wants to do it himself.

Such a happy, clever boy!

Anecdotes and Favorite Things

Michael is a funny kid. It's a lot of fun to take him places, but he's rather shy around other people, so it's hard to show just how clever and hilarious he can be. Sometimes it's hard to tell if he's in a "stranger danger" phase or if he's simply very clingy. Either way, most of what anyone else sees is Michael hanging onto me for dear life. Not much personality. So, I've collected a couple of fun anecdotes from our daily lives to share.

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Just yesterday, I decided that the crumbs embedded in the carpet were no longer safe for Michael to snack on and that it was finally time to vacuum again. Michael hates the vacuum cleaner. Some baby books recommend vacuuming to help calm your newborn if they're crying, but, for us, it resulted in a lot more crying and a serious dislike for vacuuming on all parts. It is not to be attempted here unless you're willing to put up with a very angry boy.

So, when I pulled out the vacuum this morning, Michael took one look at it and started crying. I was planning to just pop him in his walker and deal with the crying while I cleaned, but he crawled over to me and clung to my leg. It was too pathetic to ignore. As long as I held him, he was okay. He buried his face in my shoulder and grabbed my shirt, occasionally lifting his head to look down at the vacuum and whine, then he'd shove his face down again and concentrate on not letting go.

I finally had to pry him off so I could put the vacuum away. He acted like I was handing him off to the grim reaper instead of just setting him on the floor. Thankfully, it only took a few minutes and a singing hamster to calm him down and make him the forget about the scary vacuum cleaner.

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One morning, I was applying mascara while holding Michael. He watched me, fascinated with the little pink tube. When I was done, I screwed it shut and handed it to him for further examination. Michael looked at the tube, and he looked at me. Then, holding the mascara sideways, he tried to jab me in the eye. I assume he was going for a spot I had missed, but lacked the necessary delicate touch.

Luckily, I had already put my glasses back on and no damage was done.

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Michael enjoys grocery shopping, especially now that he can sit in the cart and look around (and yell at people). Last week, we were wandering at Maceys, when Michael started pushing and hitting my hands. I stopped the cart and removed my hands. Michael grabbed where they had been, looked up at me, and laughed. When he let go, I tried to push the cart again. He lunged at my hands and tried to shove them off the again. I let go, and he laughed. It turned into a game, where I was allowed to touch only metal on the cart, not the blue plastic on the handle. If I ever "forgot" and put my hands in the middle, he'd grab my hands and push them as hard as he could. When I let go, he'd grab the blue plastic and laugh up at me. It was easily my favorite shopping trip with the boy, to date.

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In the morning, Jeff will hold Michael while he gets ready for the day. Michael loves to watch him brush his teeth and comb his hair. When daddy has to leave, I'll help Michael stand on the bed so he can watch Jeff walk to his car from the window. It's become tradition for Jeff to turn and wave to Michael before getting into his car. Michael thinks it's the greatest thing ever. He'll laugh and smack the window and watch the car pull away. He'll often knock his head into the window, trying to watch Jeff drive off. It's very cute to watch.

Here are just a few cute pictures of Michael encouraging me to blog. He's such a helpful boy:

Also, Michael's got your nose:

Continued

Hooray for naps!

Now, to finish my 15 things. I promise to keep the rest shorter than number 1.

2. I use to have a lot of hobbies. Reading, playing outside, card games, writing, drawing, video games, puzzles. I've even tried my hand at photography and woodworking. Recently, they've turned into Michael, audio books, Michael, the occasional computer game, Michael, and cat naps.

3. I love to cook. I'm not calling it a hobby, because I rarely cook unless we need a meal or there's a special occasion. The funny thing is that I don't always follow the recipe. In fact, I almost never follow it as written. I tend to change amounts or add/remove ingredients. Jeff says he loves it and doesn't mind that I have yet to have two meals come out the same way.

4. I collect comics. If I had the money, I'd have a room full of them. My small collection is mostly Batman, as he is my favorite superhero of all time, but I also own some X-men, stuff written by Joss Whedon, and a random selection of other superheroes and writers.

5. I am terrified of zombies. Not kidding. I have nightmares of the joked about "Zombie Apocalypse". I get frightened reading about them, playing zombie video games, or even talking about them. Jeff once made me cry by pretending to be a zombie while I hid under the covers.

6. I can sew! I know this has come up before, but I am so glad my mother taught me to sew. I'm not great at it, but I have a sewing machine and I can use it. Just the other day I hemmed the curtains in Jeff's office so they didn't drag on his desk anymore. I've also patched our favorite quilt that's sadly falling apart. They're not big projects, but I'm proud of them and Jeff likes having a wife who can take care of things like that. He says it's cute.

7. Someday I will paint a mural on Michael's wall. I've been planning it since before he was born, but I've never gotten around to doing it. I want to have it done before 2012. Good luck to me.

8. Taking a break from me, Michael is crawling:

I'm such a mean mom to laugh at him, but did you see the crawling?! Hooray for Michael!

9. Despite number 1, I really am a good driver. I was something of a terror when I first started, and over the years I've had some run-ins with inanimate objects, but I've never hit another car. Also, my last accident was over 5 years ago, and my last speeding ticket was some time before that.

10. I'm getting laser eye surgery. I don't know exactly when , because I have to wait at least 90 days from when I stop breastfeeding Michael, but it will be relatively soon. Hopefully sometime this year.

11. I love my Michael boy. Yes, I'm running out of things to type, but I am half tempted to keep Michael an only child and just spoil the heck out of him. He's such a Momma's boy and I wouldn't mind being able to give him my undivided attention forever. Unfortunately for him, my desire for a bigger family (and babies) is much more tempting.

12. Writing things down helps me remember them , even if I lose the piece of paper. Otherwise, I have a very bad memory. Sometimes I have difficulty remembering what happened the day before or what I just said 5 minutes ago. It's kind of embarrassing.

13. My favorite physical things about myself are my hair, my smile, and my feet.

14. My favorite color is green.

15. My husband is amazing at his job. In fact, he is so good that at his last annual review, both of his bosses (one of whom is the VP of Engineering) congratulated him on doing so well. :)

15 Things

A while ago, one of my sisters-in-law tagged me to post 15 things about myself. I've procrastinated as long as I could, but I finally have the time and nothing besides illness to blog about. I might cheat and post one or two things about my husband and son, since I'm having a hard time thinking of that may things about myself.

1. Let's start with a classic: my most embarrassing moment. When I was sixteen, I crashed a car into a fire hydrant.

I was driving home, and on my own street, when I saw a friend walking home from band practice. I turned to wave to her as I passed, and took the steering wheel with me. The next thing I knew, the car had stopped moving and the sidewalk was a lot closer than it had been a moment ago. I know there was an impact, but I don't quite remember it.

Bingo, our dog who had been in the backseat, leaped over me as soon as I opened my door. He raced down the street towards our house with his tail between his legs. Not surprisingly, he didn't like driving with me after that.

I slowly got out and reassured my friend that I was okay. Three out of four wheels were up on the curb, and the hood of the car resembled an accordion -if it had been smashed into a bright yellow fire hydrant. Neighbors started coming out of their houses. People I knew and saw almost every day, including the residents of the house the hydrant was in front of, one of which happened to be the boy I had a very large crush on. Someone called my mom, who drove up in our suburban. Her jaw dropped. It would have been funny if I hadn't just embarrassed myself in front of our entire neighborhood.

The car was totaled and the fire hydrant was stuck at a 45 degree angle. I learned something that day, though, besides don't turn to wave at friends while driving. Fire hydrants have a trap door in them that snap shut if something (say, a car) smashes into them. So all those scenes in movies with cars smashing into hydrants and geysers shooting out of them is just a load of Hollywood drama. Cool, huh? I could have done without the object lesson, myself.

The fire hydrant had to be reset, or whatever, so it could be used in case of a fire, and they were able to correct its awkward angle. They weren't able to make it look completely normal, though.

For years afterward, when we drove past the fire hydrant that stuck a foot out of the ground, everyone would say "Look, Cyndi, there's your fire hydrant!" Ha ha ha. Awesome.

We don't have a scanner, so here's a picture of my scrapbook page. I was suppose to make it pretty, but the story makes it cooler than any stickers ever will, so what's the point?

That story should count for at least 5 things.

I took too long with this and Michael has woken up from his nap. I'll end here for now and finish my 15 things the next time he falls asleep.