Christmas #3

We celebrated Christmas with James' mum Jenny's side of the family on Sunday, December 28th. Most of the family was present, though we were missing 5 or 6 people I believe. Jen has a huge family - she is one of 4 siblings, all of whom have children, most of whom now have children of their own.

It was quite a circus, and Dorian did really well. He only fussed a bit when he looked up and saw all the big people around him and got a little overwhelmed. He loved playing with the big kids. He kept trying to give them pieces of food, and they would then feed him in return. So sweet! I can't tell you how much I love watching my son with other children.

Christmas #2

We celebrated Christmas with James' dad Graham's side of the family on December 27th. Graham's sister Gill, her husband Roy, their two adult sons Stewart and Daniel and their sons' significant others were present, in addition to Graham's brother Rob (who was also at our house on Christmas day).

Dorian was a little charmer, walking around "talking" to everyone and eating as much chocolate as he was able to get unwrapped. He loved the two dogs, got some more fab presents, and was simply a happy camper for the several hours we were there. Jet lag was almost gone that day, and he fell asleep around 9pm UK time that night. Not bad!

Christmas Day

We woke on Christmas Day around 12pm...Dori fell asleep around 4am that night, I think. James' uncle Rob was already there when we awoke and Hannah, Phil and the boys came over as soon as they heard we had arisen. Luckily, the little boys were able to open presents and their stockings at their own house so our jetlag didn't mess up their Christmas. We sat down for a meal almost immediately - it felt a little strange eating a full Christmas roast for "breakfast" and drinking wine 20 minutes after waking but we rolled with it. Dorian went straight for the bacon-wrapped-sausages and ate 4 of them! I guess we've been depriving him of meat. He was desperate for them when he saw them on the counter and that was all he ate! It was so funny. Boy, is Jen a good cook. I always forget. Thanks for all the lovely meals, Jen!

After the first of many good meals over the next few days, we took a little break so the adults could digest and the kids could go outside for a bit. It was unseasonably warm for the UK on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (it didn't last; it's freezing and windy now). Then we opened some presents. Dorian got the most amazing gifts this year. Wow. Lucky boy. He got dozens of board books, clothes, toys, British souvenirs, a fantastic play tunnel and tent center (from his grandparents) and more. James and I also lucked out...everyone was happy this year. After the first round of gifts, we played a game, then we opened some more. Then we played more games. The Crockers sure like to play games over the holidays - I just found out this is not a British tradition, but a Crocker one. I always assumed it was how the UK celebrated the holidays. I wonder what other Crocker family traditions I have just assumed are British traditions all these years? Anyway, what a wonderful day we had.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was our first full day in the UK. After Dori finally fell asleep at 5am, we woke at 12pm. Hannah and the boys (Rowan, 6, and Josh, 3) came over right away. We went for a walk and spent some time in the house - had to open a couple pre-Christmas crackers too of course.

The sweetest part about the day (and all the days since) has been the way Dorian just watches the boys. He loves the big kids and wants to do everything they do. And both Ro and Josh (especially Ro, the older one) are so good with him and love him so much. It's great that even though they live so far apart, they are still obviously going to be close with one another. I love watching them.

We've arrived in the UK

All is well. The journey was AMAZING. Dori played happily at SFO before our plane took off. He loved watching the people and running around. He slept for the entire flight (obviously nursing several times throughout, but still, he slept for the full flight). He LOVED the two trains we took down to Devon and was as good as gold. He talked and sang in the car ride from the train station to James' parents' house. We were stunned. What a little, happy traveller he is!

We got into the house around 7:30-8pm last night. We had dinner and then talked/played for a bit. We all went to bed around 10:30pm. Dorian woke up at 1am desperate to play. James and I took him downstairs and let him run around. We got Dorian back to sleep around 4:30am, but then James and I couldn't sleep until around 6am. We got up for the day around 12:30pm (4:30am California time, which is when Dorian normally wakes). Oh well. Jet lag was to be expected. We had such high hopes that after the long journey, we'd all crash out and sleep through the UK night. Dori went down for a nap about an hour and a half ago - long nap for the little guy. I'm wondering if this is actually a nap or a long sleep nap. And if it is a nap, well, it is 6:30pm here. This means he'll be up until 2 or 3 again! Is it wrong to give him Benadryl later to try to get him on a UK sleep schedule? We did give him some on the plane; it definitely helped, as he wasn't going to sleep when we first got on.

Anyway, enough about sleep. We actually haven't done much yet. After we woke and had breakfast today, Hannah (James' sister) and her 2 boys came over. Ro and Josh are now 6 and 3. Phil, their dad, couldn't make it because he has an eye infection and a cold. Hannah has a cold too. I read in The Times (UK paper) today that pretty much all of England has a cold or the flu right now - all the bugs came early this year and everyone is sick. You can imagine how happy this made me. We spent last Christmas sick for about 10 days of the trip. Very sick. Dorian actually had to go to the hospital. James and I were miserably ill too. I really, REALLY don't want to get sick this year but it sounds like it may be inevitable. I plan on drinking A LOT of alcohol to try to kill of the bugs!

Pictures soon. The boys love Dorian and Dorian loved them. We took a walk today (James' family's Christmas Eve tradition) and got some great shots of the three little guys. They are all at such fun ages.

If I don't post before tomorrow, Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Tomorrow

We leave for the UK tomorrow. I will post a written update (with perhaps a bonus pic or two) on the 24th regarding the journey and our arrival. Fingers crossed for a drugged, sleeping baby throughout the whole 10 hour red-eye flight. And then a happy baby for the next 6-7 hours of train-hopping.

More Drugs Please!!!

We took Dori to his doctor earlier in the week because we thought he was coming down with another ear infection. Dori's on cold #3 of the month and had a really bad night, screaming, arching his back, pulling his ear, etc. Turns out he's getting 4 more teeth!!! His back molars just came through last week. Crazy. It all happens at once. So glad we didn't resume sleep-training.

While we were at the doctor, I asked if we could give Dori anything to ensure he sleeps on the flight to the UK. He said we could give him Children's Benadryl...most doctors don't recommend it for babies/toddlers or for use as a sleep aid, but ours said go ahead and give him half a teaspoon. And that's why we love Dori's doc! He also advised us to try it one night before leaving because in 10% of children, it has the opposite effect and makes them hyperactive. We tried it last night.

Oh, BLISS!!!!! I adore drugs. I am a huge fan of them. Okay, now this is Dori we're talking about. So did he sleep 10 hours straight? Of course not. Any other child probably would have. But it was a huge improvement. Instead of waking after 2-3 hours as he has been doing for the past couple weeks, he slept 5.5 hours. When he woke up, I let him cry for a bit but he didn't fall back asleep. So I pulled him into bed with us. He nursed, then fell back asleep. I think he only woke up two more times and nursed after that (normally 4-5 times) and he fell back asleep immediately (he often will cry and fuss and writhe a bit before I am able to rock him back to sleep). MORE DRUGS PLEASE!!!!

Would it be wrong to drug my baby every night? (I'm kidding.)

Swiss Genes

This boy loves his chocolate!

Looks like Santa's Elf...

got into the cookies!

The most amazing thing!

This morning, Dorian was crawling all over James, saying "Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada." James said, "Yes, Dorian, what do you want?" Dorian said, "Up!" It was amazing!!!! A real conversation. To reward him, James jumped out of bed, picked him up...and then keeled over. Just kidding. But it wasn't far off. I did take Dorian and let James go back to bed. He's been doing some projects late at night and I was feeling particularly generous since he "let" me buy some new clothes recently (not that he really had a choice in the matter). Anyway, back to our genius boy. Already properly conversing. That boy has good genes!

Cold...

Both kinds. We're all getting over colds at the moment. And it's been cold in the Bay Area the past couple days. The low tonight is supposed to be 34 degrees! That's super cold for Oakland. Dorian and I often go for an early morning walk. He still tends to wake around 5am so by 7am when it starts getting light, he's ready to get out of the house. We got to try out his new gear (specially purchased for our upcoming trip to the UK) this morning...The scrape on his nose is from his first "good" fall a couple days ago. He fell while walking on the sidewalk with James (it never would have happened had I been there).

Silly Boy

So much laughter in our house these days. Makes for a nice change. ;) Dorian is too funny right now. There are a million cute and funny things he has done lately, but I can never remember them all when it comes time to write a blog. Here are a few I do remember:

1. He woke us up this morning, crawling all over us and saying "Up, up, up, up!" He got louder and louder and louder until we got up.
2. He is fascinated watching James pee, and today he just stared at me while I was in the shower. I guess he needs to learn about our different bodies some day; why not now?
3. He keeps ducking under tables, behind doors, etc and jumping out, playing a sort of peekaboo game. But he gets this really cheeky, ecstatic look on his face and he shouts "Ahhhhh!!!" to scare us.
4. We were reading him a book yesterday and he talked throughout the whole story...very quietly, a constant jibberish that sounded like an actual language. It was like he was translating.
5. In Gymboree class today, he crawled up on top of the bridge, picked up a ball, held it high above his head and shouted "Ball!" (The first time he said the word and it was crystal clear.)
6. I left Dori to play in his room a couple days ago while I was cleaning the kitchen. I faintly heard music starting to come from the room. I thought it was odd since I hadn't turned on his little music-machine before leaving his room (we keep it up high on a shelf). I went into his room and found the culprit...

Christmas Wishes

During our walk today, Dorian walked straight up to a toy store and wouldn't leave. They weren't even open yet but he just kept staring through the window, looking at all the toys. Such a cliche.

Christmas Cheekiness

We purchased an Advent calendar for Dorian this year. We wanted to continue on the tradition both James and I had as children. As yesterday was December 1st, we opened the door on the calendar marked "1" and let Dorian eat the chocolate. He loved it. Of course, we weren't surprised as he has loved chocolate every other time we have given it to him (it's in the blood- his maternal grandfather is Swiss). While Daddy and I were talking over our dinner, he managed to open other doors and eat more chocolate. The calendar is now "ruined." Luckily, Trader Joe's sells them for 99 cents (is there a better deal in America right now???) so we'll purchase another one for him. Mama was happy to finish the rest of the calendar chocolate for Dorian last night (it was the right thing to do).




He wasn't too impressed with the tangerine he tried after the chocolate (though he did try to eat it whole by biting into the skin!)