Three Weeks in Spring Time

If you check in here on a regular basis, you know we love going to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the neighborhod attraction that's practically in our backyard. And in springtime, there's always something new to see. Here are some pics from three (wildly different) consecutive weeks of visits.

Week 1: Mar 27. Day after a snow storm. Cherry Blossoms blooming.

Week 2: April 3. Children's Garden Opening weekend. Beautiful weather.

Week 3: April 9. Tulips and crabapple trees in full bloom. Temperature - upper 80s.

Discoveries

Everyday Holden surprises us with a new skill, or I should say--a new way to entertain us. Often, this involves his own unique interpretation of something we've been trying to teach him. A sample of just a few things that make us chuckle:

-I've tried to teach him what a chimpanzee says by curling my hands under my armpits and making the "ooo ooo" sound. He uses "jazz hands" when he does it.

-Thanks to a book that says that "teeth are not for biting, teeth are for smiling," he's learned how to smile on command. So bring on the cheesy pictures...and the fake smile.

-His teachers at school taught him to pant when he's asked what sound a dog makes. Yep, he really does pant.

-When we ask him what sound a cat makes, he screams. Which is pretty accurate, as you'd know, if you've ever been around our cats.

-He has the keenest sense of hearing for the sound of chirping. The faintest sound, and he blurts out "bird."

-I am, and forever will be, "ba ba." "Ma ma?" That's either "more milk" or "Miss Mo," his teacher at school.

-Holden can tell you what sound a coffee maker makes. Because ours grinds its beans when we turn it on. And because we love coffee.

-He has his own special dance. We call it the Holden shuffle. His daycare teachers call it the running man. I'm convinced his mad dancing skills are thanks to his Black Eyed Peas days in the womb.

a snowy weekend in March

Even though it is late March here in St. Louis (Missouri, not Minnesota), we had a very wintry weekend. On Saturday, it snowed 5 inches (more in surrounding areas), and we pretty much stayed inside all day and watched Nature coat everything in a thick layer of sticky white snow. If you set aside the fact that it was 85 degrees just a few days ago, the snow was actually very beautiful and interesting. It dusted, coated, and then buried all the blooming flowers, blossoming plants, and sprouting leaves, making for some stunning scenes.

While I did not capture any good photos outside, I captured some snapshots of what our day was like from the inside. Holden loves snow (as we've mentioned here and there), so he was so excited to see it snow again -- we spent much of the day pressed up against the glass watching the flakes fall from the sky.

We played with every toy in the house, made another fort for Holden, and even read a little art history (see photos at the bottom of this post). And today, the snow melted away completely, so we made a trip to the Botanical Gardens to see what was still blooming (lots, actually). Overall, a fun, wintry weekend. After a couple more chances for snow this week, we may actually be in the clear and headed toward some real spring weather (ie. rain).

man on fire

While we haven't been posting here a lot here recently, Holden has been changing a ton each week. He is truly a "man on fire!" Or, at least his brain is on fire. He's constantly working on new words and new skills, and it is so amazing to watch these changes. In fact, I was out of town recently on a work trip for 4 days, and Holden had changed so much by the time I returned.

He loves playing with blocks and puzzles, he always enjoys reading, and really likes being outside (esp. now that the weather is getting warmer). Tonight, Holden was standing by the front door, and Bryna and I said to him, "Holden, are you trying to tell us that you want to go for a walk," and he nodded with a very serious look on his face and said "uh-huh" as he reached for the door knob.

Anyway, I wanted to briefly try and post an update on some of things Holden's been doing in the past couple weeks. Here goes:

As you can see here, Holden's been getting really good at coloring and drawing. He especially likes the fine art of pointillism.

Holden now has three sets of blocks, and he absolutely loves to build big towers. This one was done with help from daddy, but Holden built most of the top half. And he still has a very skew or asymmetrical design sense -- he likes to keep things off balance and leaning in one direction.

I worked with Holden to create this chair (upper left) for him to sit on. The design was, of course, inspired by the eccentric furniture design of Carlo Bugatti, who designed the chair on the right which is in the Art Museum's collection here in St. Louis. Holden loved sitting in his little Bugatti chair (I wish I had a good picture to share).

Another tower, but this time it reached such heights without any help from daddy or mommy. And in case you're wondering, yes, Holden managed to topple the entire tower by trying to add yet another block to the top (a bit out of our little buddy's reach). At daycare, the classroom has even run out of blocks when Holden starts stacking them.

Finally, this past weekend (with daddy out of town), Holden and mommy built a fort under the dining room table. Holden had a blast in his own little hiding place, and he keeps asking for us to build another fort for him. Unfortunately, when he stands up, he now bumps his head on the underside of the table (ouch!).

See, I told you he was a 'man on fire.'

Punk Rocker

Busy times means less blogging. Things have been crazy in chez Campbell-Murawski, but we have some fun stories to share, so we'll catch up soon. In the meantime, to satiate anyone who might be stopping by for updates, here's our artist/punk rocker in his very best at daycare recently:

Bath Time...

...is a part of our regular routine.

...is something Holden has loved since he was about 2 months old.
...is when Holden gets his last sillies out.
...is just too cute to resist photographing (even if the lighting is bad).

VIDEOS: Still a Super Silly Boy

One thing that I always love to post about (esp. when Holden was an infant) is how silly he is. As he becomes more and more of a toddler, he keeps getting a better and better sense of humor -- and does some of the funniest things. And I still absolutely love his laugh/giggle. More than a year ago, when Holden was just over a month old, he was already becoming Mr. Giggles (see post) ... and that silliness only continued, leading to my favorite video of Holden giggling EVER! (see post). Last March, we added a nice video compilation that provided evidence of the continued silliness (see post).

Here are a couple videos from last weekend, when Holden had a major silly streak. I'll let them speak for themselves:

spring arrives early

Not that I want to jinx us here in St. Louis, but spring has definitely arrived early this year (or, at least for now). After a couple months of nasty snow, ice, and near-zero temperatures, we've recently seen temperatures climb into the 70s with sunshine to boot. And nothing could make Holden happier -- he just loves the outdoors!

Last weekend, we went to the zoo on Sunday (and so did everyone else in St. Louis, by the way), and today after picking Holden up from daycare, we all went for a walk before dinner. That's something I don't think we've done since November, and it was super nice. Maybe if this warm streak continues over the weekend, we can find some time to go to Tower Grove Park or the Botanical Garden. While I know that we're in for at least one more burst of cold weather (after all, it's still February), I think we're all psyched about this much-anticipated taste of spring.

Bring on the daffodils!!

My name is...

As most humanities grad students know (whether they want to or not), sometime around the 15th month of a child's life, he/she goes through what the theorist Jacques Lacan calls the mirror stage. At the "mirror stage" a child begins to recognize that the child in the mirror is not someone else, it's them. In psychoanalytical theory, this moment is critical: it is when we develop a sense of subjectivity, or 'self,' that is...well...inherently fraught.

Fraught or not, we're pretty sure Holden has hit this stage...because when we ask him where "Holden is" he points to both the person in the mirror AND himself. And today, when he saw a picture of himself, he pointed at it, then at himself.

Pretty cool right? Even cooler: he seems to be learning how to say his name. When we ask him about "Holden," he's been pointing to himself and saying "Da-den."

A sense of 'self.' Pretty heady stuff. And if Lacan is right about this stage, let's just hope that he--and Freud--are wrong about their theories of mothers.

my architect

Holden's been stacking his blocks a lot recently, and building some pretty interesting projects. So it constantly leads me to ponder, what kind of an architect he would be.

Here is his latest funky construction, followed by some likely influences ; )




or, it could be more like this...

finally, we have a 20 pound child

Today was Holden's 15-month appointment, and finally, after more than a year of feeding this guy, he tipped the 20 pound mark (20 lbs, 12 oz, to be exact). Woot! He's still in the 6th percentile, but he's gained a bit in height, up to the 10th percentile. Don't even try to ask me how tall he is...they told us in centimeters and I immediately forgot the number.

Other than those facts, there's not a lot to say about the doctor's appointment. All looked normal, and the doctor noted that his upper molars are "right there, just below the surface." She couldn't get a look at the lower molars, but I know for a fact that they are also almost ready to break through. It's been a long time since we've seen any new teeth and the H-bomb's been quite cranky about the whole phenomenon. Perhaps we'll have a nice little "tooth explosion" soon and see 4 pop through at once. One can only hope.

getting excited about science

Science Center Parking ... $9.00

Tickets to the Discovery Room ... $7.00

One year's undergraduate tuition with room & board at MIT ... $53,000

Watching your 15-month-old son get excited about science ... priceless.

Touch and Feel

One of Holden's favorite parts of daycare, I've been told, is the "sensory table"--a concave table space that his teacher fill with things like sand, dried pasta, ripped up tissue paper, and--apparently--some kind of cool bluish suds. Here are a few pictures of Holden taking full advantage of the kind of mess that he couldn't often make at home.

Newborns vs Toddlers

A very recent baby boom among our colleagues and friends has made me reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly of newborn vs toddler parenting. Yes, I must admit that I occasionally get "baby lust," as they say, for those early days when Holden was a wee wee one. But then I remember the 2-hr feedings and late night wake ups, and things stop seeming so rosy. So I thought it would be fun to consider some of things that make the "newborn" stage great, and some of the things that definitely don't!

Five Great Things about the "Newborn" Stage
5) Limited mobility (no baby proofing required!)
4) Communication is Direct (sure, they cry a lot, but it only means one of 2 or 3 things)
3) Need to do something? Just wear them! (I can't emphasize this benefit enough)
2) Car-seat sleeping (you can still bring them to parties at this stage, and they'll snooze through the entire thing)
1) The way they fall asleep on your chest for hours (nothing better!)

Five Not-So-Great Things about the "Newborn" Stage
5) Lack of adult sleep (no explanation required)
4) Limited mobility (I just LOVE watching my toddler run around with glee)
3) Breast Pumps, Bottles, and the constant dish washing, ugh
2) Sooo much diaper changing
1) No hugs, no blowing kisses, no "mamas," no giggles (these things light up my day, every day)

close encounters of the stuffed animal kind

Recently, Holden has grown quite attached to his expanding cadre of stuffed animal friends. He has some at daycare, some in his room upstairs, and some in our living room (and probably one or two in the car, too). When I was a kid, I loved stuffed animals, so I love encouraging his attachment to his little plush friends. And, it turns out that it can be very beneficial to a toddler's development to play with stuffed animals, as it can help them develop important social and emotional skills through role playing and pretend play. During nap time at daycare, Holden often gathers his stuffed animals (esp. Dog, who we'll have to feature in a future blog post) and has a party at his cot. His favorite animal rotates among the group (which is good ... prevents jealous rivalries from rising up within the crew).

For quite some time, his hands-down favorite stuffed animal was Terry the Pterodactyl. When Holden would wake up in the morning, he would reach out for his little psychedelic buddy, squeezing him and holding on to him during diaper changes. He still loves Terry, but Holden has learned to share the love with all of his animal friends.

So I simply wanted to introduce some of Holden's plush posse:





Reintroducing Terry the Pterodactyl
(quite the party animal)









Chuckanucka
(Holden now has more teeth than he does)










Teddy the Bear
(this was my stuffed animal when I was a kid)










Black Bear
(we picked this up for Holden during our trip to Tennessee)







[not pictured here] There's also Rosie the Bear, Peaco (another Ugly Doll), the aforementioned Dog, an unnamed blue bear that used to play lullaby music, and an array of smaller plush toys like some tiny bears and a little dog that barks when you squeeze it. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, and for that I apologize -- but we'll have to introduce more of Holden's furry friends in a follow-up post.