Heavenly Father Loves HIppo

Hippo has had a rough winter, topped off by an awful month. It all started when he hit, developmentally, the terrible two's. To be chronically misunderstood is the most maddening of experiences.

A few Saturdays ago, innocent curiosity left him with curling iron-shaped blisters on his left palm and fingers. His Auntie felt very sad she had not watched him carefully enough to avoid this accident but Hippo quickly forgave her. Hippo maximizes his injuries for the most sympathy possible, so even though his blisters have healed to the point of rubbery new skin, he still inspects them carefully and says, "Oh. Oh NO! Owie! Kiss it better. Poor baby!"

We placed our house on the market and Hippo has a very hard time understanding why he can't pull the items out of the pantry anymore and why I lose it every time he pulls the items out of the donation box and why I anxiously usher him away from all windows out of which he is accustomed to gazing at cows and tractors daily.

Then, "Mommy-Daddy" (he refers to the both of us as one, hyphenated, name) abandoned him for several days while they traveled to Philadelphia. He had a difficult time understanding why he couldn't come, and quite frankly so did I; until I remembered that flying across the country is not all that relaxing without a toddler. For the first two days of his visit with Grandma he felt liberated from Mommy-Daddy's ridiculous rules, scheduling, nagging, and incessant "NO's". By the third day he began to request "Mamma" especially when his head rammed a side table leaving a large goose egg on the right side of his head. Waking up Sunday morning I thought Hippo would punish us for leaving him but he was so happy we were home, he almost acted like us being gone was just a bad dream which he was glad was now over.

On Sunday I wasn't feeling up to attending Hippo's weekly highlight, church. Then on Monday I wasn't feeling up to going to the gym either, even though I teased him by getting all ready. He asked all day to "Go to gym?"

Tuesday, Hippo woke up with a fever which lasted through Wednesday and he developed no other symptoms other than a terrible cough. At times he will cough so hard he will throw up. Unfortunately this was the case last night after dinner when he threw up taco salad and a plum all over me (wearing my precious white robe). What's funny is that he doesn't mind this throwing up at all and will simply say, "I throw up! I throw up!"

Finally, I have been struggling with winter-long ailments and stress-induced anxiety myself which has essentially put me "out of commission" as the active mother with whom he is intellectually stimulated and happy. I do the basics: feed, bath, kiss and hug, sing, read, usher anxiously away from windows, and place in time out for hitting. But I know it is not enough and it causes me great sadness to see him suffer, especially when he is old enough to understand things are not right but not old enough to understand why.

But Heavenly Father keeps little ones in mind.

Yesterday during lunch he exclaimed "HELICOCKER!" It took me a minute to realize he was telling me that the monthly power line checks, done by a helicopter hovering very close to our house for about 20 minutes, was fast approaching. When I realized this I swiftly grabbed him out of his high chair and let him stick his face and sticky fingers to the french doors windows and stare to his heart content. Every couple of minutes he looked my way, sitting next to him, and said something about the helicopter. Otherwise he carried on a private conversation with it, "HI! helicocker. What you doing? Cows out there. Tractor out there. Truck out there. See you later helicocker." After it left I asked him if he loves or likes the helicopter and he looked at me seriously and said, "Like."

And then, after his bath last night he asked, like he does every night, for me to lift him up to look out the small bathroom window in an attempt to see the moon. He has not been able, much to his breaking two year old heart, to see it for several weeks. Last night, the clouds dispersed just enough for a silvery full moon to shine into a small bathroom window in Utah to brighten a small child's grim month. "OH! MOON!" he cried. So we gazed at it for several minutes even though my arms and legs began to shake while trying to hold up the stout 30 pounds. Tonight, there it was again and this time he yelled, "OH! ANOTHER MOON!"

Yes, Heavenly Father loves Hippo. And so do I.

The City of Brotherly Love

L and I traveled to Philadelphia last weekend for an interview with University of Pennsylvania (for Luke's graduate school). Though he is decided on Oakland University in Michigan, we thought it would be fun to have an excuse to travel to Philadelphia 1) to see the sights 2) to see what the oldest University in America is like 3) to eat an authentic Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich 4) experience a very big city. We stayed in a high rise and didn't see the actual sun until the end of our trip when we traveled outside of the metro area...it was weird.

The Liberty Bell

Luke riding a monumental mouse

One of the things we liked a lot about Philadelphia was that it was a pedestrian-friendly city. It was quick and simple to walk around and find interesting things including Rocky!

I was not nearly as excited about Rocky as L was (is).

Rocky, I mean L, dancing around to "Gonna Fly Now" at the top of the stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We passed on the Picasso exhibit--we saw our fair share in Paris a few years ago.

It made me worry, for Rocky, that my feet are nearly as big as his are.

Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated/drafted)

I don't know if the picture captures all 13 tables (one for each colony) but here is the room where it all went down.

Our tour guide was incredibly enthusiastic which made our experience in one of the most historical significant places a little bit spiritual (I hope that saying that is not sacrilegious).

This is the actual chair in which George Washington sat as he presided over the constitutional debates.

Ben Franklin wondered, at a dire moment in the debates, whether the sun on this chair represented a rising or setting sun on the American Nation. After the delegates arrived at a compromise Ben Franklin felt assured it was a rising sun.

"Happy Valentimes Day"

In the beginning of the video he is saying, "Watch, watch," because he loves to watch videos of himself on the camera and blog. The other day I showed him the video of him throwing a temper tantrum in the last post. As I watched him watch himself I saw a sour facial expression (normally he finds himself quite charming and funny) sprout. I asked him if the baby was being naughty and he said rudely, "NO!" and glared at me.

L and I made Hippo, and ourselves, chocolate dipped strawberries for Valentine's Day. Clearly, he loved them. After his first one he asked for "more strawberry candies."

Even though Hippo's strong attitude poses parenting challenges, L and I continue to be captivated and in love with our baby. Watching him grow is our greatest joy and makes us fall a little deeper in love each day.

I'm Not Going To Lie

This parenting gig is not easy for me.

Hippo was born opinionated and determined, qualities I admire. Qualities that pose parenting challenges to the opinionated and determined, however.

I spent several hours researching temper tantrums and hitting last night, including a literature review of my child development library. What I found was discouraging, and confirmed my suspicions--there's not much to do until age 3.

Though there is not much to do in the scope of teaching them "NO HITTING!" and "NO THROWING TOYS!" and "NO HITTING MOMMY!" and "NO THROWING TOYS AT MOMMY'S FACE AT POINT BLANK DISTANCE!" and "THERE IS NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, THAT TEMPER TANTRUM IS GOING TO GET WHAT YOU WANT...BY THE WAY, WHAT IN THE WORLD IS IT THAT YOU WANT?" there are several things that can be done to avoid temper tantrums. The discouraging part is...I am doing ALL of them faithfully, consistently, clearly, and well.

So, am I a failure or not?

And Hippo is not even two years old yet!?

The above example is 1/1000 of what has become an 'average' tantrum. The above example is funny, an average tantrum is not funny.

Mid-Winter Zoo Trip

L works with a girl that says the only reason she works as a nurse is so she can volunteer at the Hogle Zoo. She has encouraged L to take Hippo this winter. She says the animals are much more active and it is a better zoo-experience than the traditional spring/summer excursions. "I don't buy it," I kept telling L until Sunday night when I had been complaining for 72 hours straight about 1) being sick for 2.5 weeks (the flu, cold, sinus infection, not sure what is currently going on) 2) Hippo being sick for 2 weeks (cold, sinus infection, and then pink eye) 3) my IT band being strained, again, preventing me from a thorough workout 4) L going skiing every Monday 5) getting our house ready to sell 6) not leaving the house for days as a result of the above mentioned when L said for the millionth time this winter, "Why don't you go to the zoo?"

I hate the Hogle Zoo. It's small, over-crowded, and there are more snack shacks/vendors than there are animal displays. I reviewed my other options for Monday: sit around, touch up paint, feel sorry for myself, deal with 467 temper tantrums, watch daytime television while trying to drown out 467 temper tantrums, clean out Hippo's baby clothes/closet, or deep clean the kitchen.

I chose to go to the zoo.

I figured that since it would be 45 degrees and sunny outside, and we could wear heavy coats there was no reason I couldn't take a pink-eyed kid (and a sick mom) to the zoo--he can't get anyone else sick there (he's been banned from all other children museums, the church nursery, and the gym daycare due to being sick). We both REALLY needed to get out of the house.

This mandrill came to the glass from the back of the exhibit to hang out with us. Hippo was quite take aback by the mandrill, which was surprising because I have never seen Hippo scared of an animal.

This tiger was pacing back and forth on this bridge. His brothers were off to the side gnawing on slabs of meat.

I was taken with this white wolf. There was only a description for the grey American wolf and so I am not sure what kind this one is. Isn't she beautiful? We talked to her for several minutes, Hippo refused to howl even though he knows how.

I included this guy in the picture because it shows how if this male giraffe bent down lower they could touch each other. The giraffe must have head lice because he itched his head the whole time were there. Hippo learned to say "giraffe" and I learned that giraffes have a special organ in their head, next to their brain, which adjusts to changes in air flow/pressure so the giraffe doesn't get dizzy or pass out. They are the only animals on the planet with this extra organ.

Now that's a big butt, Hippo and I kept saying to each other. Even though I didn't get it well on camera, this silver back gorilla was taken with Hippo. He mostly wandered around and ate but he would turn toward Hippo every couple of minutes and stare at him. He didn't like me nearly as much and always turned away from me. Hippo refused to pound his chest like I've taught him.

Does it surprise you that Hippo forced me to stop and gaze at this exhibit for 10 minutes?

There were only 30 other people in the park, maybe. It's the only time I've ever been to the zoo where I could take as long as I wanted to look at the animals, and at all angles. I have never seen all of the animals so active. My pictures of the cougars pacing and playing didn't turn out well, nor did my pictures of the bears running around. All of the primates were extraordinarily active, with monkeys coming right up to us and interacting with Hippo. One spider monkey ricocheted off of the glass (with his feet, about 20 feet high) right in front of my face. It was so funny.

Hippo's favorite part was the birds (I cannot believe he is not biologically related to his cousin, Buddy, who is more knowledgeable about animals and birds than an average adult). He loved the indoor rainforest area where parrots and other exotic birds flew around us freely. He also loved the duck and swan pond (I'm glad he's not traumatized by being pecked by a black swan this summer) and tried sneaking them a snack of pretzels and grapes. At one point we encountered a zoo worker who was holding a beautiful falcon, the fastest animal on the planet. Hippo loved this bird, who flapped her wings wildly for him. The zoo worker told us all about this beautiful bird and said that the orange/brown color on a bird's chest is called "roughage." I've heard this word before, probably from Buddy, but never knew exactly what it meant.

I've had a change of heart toward the Hogle Zoo. We'll remember to go in the winter, however.