Punkin'

pumpkin boy, originally uploaded by Reid Pierce.

Allow me to break the ice. Now that October is officially here, blogging moms across the country will be posting pumpkin patch photos until we have seeds coming out our ears. Despite the fact that it was 80-degrees here today and nothing like an apple-cider sipping fall outing, Sawyer and I hit the local fall festival complete with hay ride and pumpkin patch. While this photo seems dreamy, you should know that I was trying very hard to get Sawyer to look at me, but I couldn't peel his eyes away from the two older boys playing in a big sand pile nearby. Other highlights included meeting a real horse (nothing like our horsey friend that hangs over the changing table) and a potbelly pig that seemed to alternate between wanting to run from us and wanting to charge us. Photos of the animal encounters are on Flickr.. Happy Fall!

Bye Bye Nuk Nuk

Bye Bye Nuk Nuk, originally uploaded by Reid Pierce.

His pacifier was by far the thing that Sawyer loved most in the world. Given the choice between having me for the rest of his life or his Nuk, I would have been packing my bags. But he wasn't given the choice. In fact, (think what you want of me - Scott calls me Cruella) I snatched the thing away from him cold turkey.

I'm a firm believer in cold turkey - coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, pacifiers - there's no such thing as cutting back.

So, one day Sawyer went down for bed and there was no Nuk there waiting for him. He tossed the crib looking for it, all his covers and stuffed animals had been thrown overboard when we went back in to easy his suffering sobs – not the 'I don't want to go down for bed' sob, but the 'my best friend was just murdered' sob.

It wasn't that he had the thing 24-7. We enforced a fairly strict, bedtime-only rule with the occasional exception for sickness or travel. When he got up from his nap, we always put the Nuk back down to sleep in the crib and waved bye-bye to it. Occasionally he managed to reach it through the slats and would wander out into the living room sucking away triumphantly.

I had been talking about strategy and timing for weeks, but first he was teething and then he had a cold. And people kept telling me it was too early. He needed to suck. He was only a year old. Even the pediatrician said the Nuk is fine until he gets his permanent teeth. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! Okay, honey, have a good day in first grade and be sure to leave your Nuk Nuk in your pencil box during recess, okay? I just couldn't see how it was going to get any easier to take the thing away next month or in five months than right now. And with Five on the way, and hoping she'll take a Nuk, I decided it was best if we eliminated the competition now.

I'll admit, the first few nap times were a disaster. He basically cried for an hour straight. But he went to sleep at night just fine. And, eventually, after about a week, he'd forgotten all about it.

We did bust it out for a wedding last weekend, three weeks after its initial disappearance. A faint glimmer of recognition sparkled in his eye as Scott pulled it out of the bag. He sucked on it for a few minutes - for old time sake - and then threw it on the ground. Vindication. See! I pointed. See! He doesn't even want it.

It's still a little sad. Sawyer doesn't have another lovey. We've always put him down with a few stuffed animals and soft blankets, but he hasn't bonded with any one in particular. Which is maybe just as well since I know several adults (whose identity I will protect) who just can't sleep without their tattered little shred of silky binket.

The great debate

The great debate, originally uploaded by Reid Pierce.

me: everybody is always commenting on sawyer's eyes.
scott: its their almond shape. he gets that from me.
me: well at least he has my hair color.
scott: but his didn't come out of a box.
me: what about the freckle that recently appeared on his left buttcheek? that definitely came from me.
(scott shoots me a skeptical look)
me: you have to give me SOMETHING!

(This blog post is dedicated to The Godmother and anyone else who has ever noted any resemblence between me and my son.)

Learning to Spoon

learning to spoon, originally uploaded by Reid Pierce.

Or not. It's a messy proposition. But, he has to learn somehow, right? Sometimes its easier to just lick out those last few bites.

Australia

Pierce Posse, originally uploaded by Reid Pierce.

Right. I wish. Actually, this was the Australia exhibit at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We went with Uncle Ross and Aunt Niki, who were in town visiting for the weekend. We weren't allowed to use our stroller, but the aquarium let us borrow a backpack and now I want one. We did let Sawyer run loose for a while. It's hard to say what he found more fascinating: the fish in the tank, the lighted informational signposts or the railing, which he constantly tried to climb. More photos on Flickr.