Teancom's News

Teancom is asserting himself lately.  In fact, yesterday was a bad day, and at the end of it, Tank asked me to read him a story.  I refused because he'd been so frustrating.  Then I repented and cuddled with him until he fell asleep.  Someday I won't be able to cuddle with him any more, but for now I'll eat it up.

He likes to hit me, or even sneakier, NEARLY hit me.  He throws toys.  Bites people.  Throws himself on the floor in a heap.  Scratches, with the aim to hurt.  Screams at me.  ...  All that good toddler stuff.  It's not unmanageable, but it's frustrating.  Generally he is wonderful, but he can definitely have his moments.

Sushi

I came back from Key West with gifts for everyone.  I gave Teancom a baby sea turtle, which he called a Baby Giant Turtle.  Initially, though, he was quite unhappy with the gift.  He threw it on the ground and cried, saying, "It doesn't make noise!"  A few hours later, though, it was his best friend.  J also gave him a stuffed moose, and he had the moose riding on the turtle's back.  Super cute.

We pushed him to name his turtle, but he made it clear that the process wasn't to be rushed.  Why must he name it, you ask?  Because the other names he's come up with are so cute:  Twit and Tofa (his dogs).  Finally, after nearly 2 weeks of thinking about it and saying, "I'll give her a name tomorrow," he named her Sushi.  I told him it was a great name, so he was a little surprised when Dad and Miciah reacted to the name.

Chaga

This one has a back story.  We entered Teancom into an H1N1 study, where they gave him the H1N1 vaccine and seasonal flu shots.  We felt grateful that he got into the group that had the most visits, because it was also the group that got paid the most money.  But it also involved more blood draws.  By the 4th and last blood draw, Teancom was cowering under the chair, screaming.  Rob held him down on the exam chair thing as Teancom hysterically screamed, "Don't take my arm!  Don't take my arm!"  It was horrible, and in the end, we're not sure it was worth the money.

But it's Teancom's money, whether he understands how he earned it or not, so I took him to Toys-R-Us after the last visit and told him he could pick out any toy in the store.  I was grateful that he wanted the $25 version of the walking and roaring dinosaur instead of the $150 version.

It took him less time to name this toy.  His name is Chaga. 

And check out the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in Chaga's mouth. 

Doctor's Visit, the H1N1 Study Aftermath

Last week I finally took Teancom in for his 3 year check-up.  Our long-time doctor moved on with his career in June, and I didn't want to deal with shopping for doctors again, so it took me this long to set up the appointment.  Anyways, I took him in and intentionally didn't tell him where we were going.  When we got to the parking lot, though, I finally told him.  He of course reacted with fear.  "No!  I don't want shots!"  I told him that this doctor wouldn't do a blood draw on him (and for the first time was really sad that we hadn't made the distinction between shots and blood draws during the study.  It seemed fine, at the time, to refer to them both as "shots", since he wouldn't understand anyway.  That was a mistake.) and PROMISED that she "wouldn't take his arm."

Still, while we were sitting in the waiting room, he put his arms behind his back and said, "Mom, I'm hiding my arms."  I asked him why and he said, "So they won't find them."  I again asked him why and he said, "So they won't take them."  Poor guy.  Traumatized.

When we went in to see the doctor, she asked him to sit up on the exam chair thing and he instantly screamed and rushed over to me.  I explained how he came to have such an intense fear, and she was extra funny and nice and gentle with him.  I was VERY grateful, and super impressed, when she suggested that even though there's a booster given at 3 years, we hold off for a while.  I was ready to fight for that, but I didn't have to.  We'll be going back to her.  Test #1 passed with flying colors.

And on...

Other than that, Teancom is doing great.  He's ready to be a big boy so he doesn't have to sit in his car seat, and so he can ride his bike down the street.  He's really loving still (even with the fits) and gives lots of hugs and kisses.  He even makes up different kinds of kisses, which is a genetic trait, apparently, since his daddy does that, too.  And finally he's very insistent that we go to the store and buy cheese crackers for him.  When he found out we didn't have any more, he suggested we go RIGHT THEN and buy some more.  I told him we'd go later, and every time I've said, "What do you want to do now?" in the last few days, he's said, "Go to the store and buy cheese crackers!"  There's only so long you can resist that kind of cuteness.