Waiting to Exhale

I'm not sure what Jack is waiting for but he spends a lot of time looking out the window... I hope whatever it is shows up soon. Thankfully, things like the trash truck occasionally roll by so at least there's something to entertain him while he's waiting around for who knows what. I have begun to wonder what thoughts go through that little head of his while he very patiently gazes out of the glass... maybe he's enjoying his few peaceful moments of the day, maybe he's wondering when the stork is going to show up to take him out of the crazy house and bring him to his real home, maybe he's hoping that the kid across the street is going to stop blaring his bumping party tunes on his car radio. Whatever it is, enjoy peeking out at the wide, wide world little buddy. 

S is for Safety

You know that we're all about safety around here. I just didn't know that dinner time was such a potential danger zone.

I was aware, though, that coloring can be a contact sport. You have to be prepared for anything these days. 

Mr. Sandman... Please Come... Stat

Today, I'm tired. As in dog tired, weary-to-the-bone tired, could-I-possibly-close-my-eyes-behind-my-sunglasses-and-no-one-would-notice-oh-wait-that's-water-that-my-kids-are-near tired. When you wake up feeling like you downed 45 bottles of wine... except that you didn't... that dreaded "oh bugger, it's one of those mornings" feeling settles in. But you know what? In some ways I'm a better version of me (or the parenting me) when I wake up feeling like someone clubbed me behind the temples (and mind you, I can't drink caffeine because Mr. Jack Jack is still on strike when it comes to artificial pep in my step). I mean, it's truly awesome to look at the clock and do Mensa-speed math on how long until nap time... I feel so proud. No, I don't mean that my math skills are what make me better on days like today. It's that I know that the day is going to stink for everyone unless I pull from my innermost resources to put on my sunshine and rainbows face, find all of my being patient skills and use them, and reframe reframe reframe any and all challenges that I'm faced with (such as putting one foot in front of the other). Basically, it's a whole lot of practicing what I preach (the gods are saying "gotcha" every time someone realizes that yes, you do have to do what you say). I try to work with Molly on not flipping out over every. tiny. little. detail. and that while we all have unfortunate things happen to us, we need to try and maintain some even keel. Patience is something that we also certainly work on and we're always trying to expand those darned horizons and have more empathy for people around us. The ah-hah lesson of the day: what better way to teach these lessons than to actually live them (note: I may have failed a teensy bit on the empathy part with one lady in the parking lot at the library. Seriously, lady, there are lines on the ground for a reason. If I'm in my parking space with five feet of space between our cars, you can back your car out even if my door is open. Thank you for helping me teach my daughter what oh h-e-double hockey sticks means while I pretty much just back your car out for you)? On these most challenging days, it's as if I am participating in an in vivo experiment: this is what it's like to be two and emotionally unregulated. It's good to have these days where you marshall up your strength from the moment your feet hit the floor (at 2am or whenever it might be) and work at setting an example that your kids will never remember (hey ma, remember when I was 2 1/2 and you were overtired? Well, you sure taught me a lot that day) but that hopefully is one more little tidbit that is lodged in their emerging egos.

Nothing bad happened, there's nothing wrong, we're all fine... really... it's simply a case of it being 95 degrees (boo heat boo),  I didn't sleep well, and Jack wanted to party like a rock star in the wee hours of the morning, just because. But when all the small people go to bed at the end of a day like today, it can feel good to just reflect, pat yourself on the back, and say I did it. I made it through today. I didn't get to cure any diseases, I didn't add anything artistic to the world, I didn't really aid womankind in any way, but I did make my kids smile, we had fun, we goofed around, and they ate/slept/didn't soil themselves. Not heroic but meaningful.

Oh, and thank GOODNESS for spouses. It's always nice to see them walk through the door but it's double double special on some days. 

Sir Sneaks A Lot

Mr. Not-So-Sneaky-Pants thinks that he's getting away with all sorts of mischief when, in reality, I'm all over his shenanigans.

Yes, I see you trying to get over that stool. Not happening, my friend... not happening. 

 

Yep, and I also see you trying to "draw" on the easel or "put away" the crayons when I know what you really want to do is...

gnaw on them... and taunt me with your boldness.

First, I see you reading my magazines (despite what you may think, I can see under chairs and tables)... 

and when I turn around next, I see that you've found a discarded spoon (ew... not sure where that was hiding but it was definitely used)...

and now you think I don't notice that you're off to find some new trouble.

But really? How do I argue with this face?

Not every member of this household approves of my baby proofing methods. Some people think that squirreling away toys in her room, tattling on her brother when he has something that she thinks he shouldn't have, and offering him barrettes counts as keeping the smallest member (and her stuff) safe. 

The shirtless bandit is all ready to inform me about Jack's clearly dangerous move to wait for the trash truck with her. What could I be thinking letting him look out the window like that?

Ego Mania

Tonight for dinner we had tamale pie (don't be jealous, it does sound amazing, I know). Someone thought it was called Molly pie, though... all through dinner I heard "mmmmhhh... Molly pie is delicious". I'm not sure my concoction would have garnered the same enthusiasm had it not had a ringing familiarity to the name.

Lesson learned? If you want your kid to eat something, name it after them. Their little (developmentally appropriate) ego-mania won't be able to stand it.

Captain Band-aid has nothing to do with tonight's dinner... but this was the scene I was greeted with the other day when nap time was over (it was apparently over sooner than I realized). 

Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick

I got an email from a friend the other day that asked some questions about Jack and she said "I want to know him better!". Well, since my little man hasn't seen some folks in awhile, I thought he deserved a little Jack-focused update. 

Jack's a little smiler. He is really, really easy going but likes to get his mitts into everything (I know, it seems like a contradiction) or is better described as being busy but doesn't need to call attention to himself. Okay, no, he loves pretending that he doesn't seek attention but really, I know better. Naturally, he turns coy as soon as someone coos at him and turns away and buries his head in a shoulder so that he can flirt his way out with a big, wacky-toothed grin. He waves, gives high fives, and just started saying mama (it is undeniably heart-melting to hear your little boy utter the word), which is usually aimed in my general direction.

He is interested in whatever Molly is doing and wants to play with all her stuff (that goes over super well) but will also entertain himself for a surprisingly long time. He likes to bang on instruments, chew on blocks (and crayons), spread toys around, chug water, and eat sand. I thought Molly was a water baby but uh uh, no way, not compared to Jack. He loves getting knocked over by waves and sticking his face in the lake. He comes up with that big wide-eyed grin. I think he is just used to being mauled so a little water in the face is nothing to get excited about. He is a fast little man and cruises around all the furniture he can reach, but his body needs to catch up with his giant head and thighs before he'll be able to walk without assistance. He faithfully does his daily squats, though, so maybe he's trying to slim down. I like his little thigh rolls right now, though, because while he actually tans (yeah!), his creases are still lilly white. 

Jack's fussy moments come when he's hungry and thirsty. The shriek that can emanate from the small guy temporarily makes me think that an exorcism is occurring. He gets hungry and gets hungry NOW. The kid can suck down water from a sippy cup like he has thirty seconds left on earth. Blueberries and nectarines are his favorite foods but will happily nosh on any fruit or veggie. He is actually pretty easy to please as long as you keep tossing food his way -- and far prefers to feed himself, which makes my life easier (what a guy) because he munches on mostly the same foods that the rest of us eat. He's insanely messy but I've gotten better about giving near daily baths (sigh) now so what the heck. He's a good sleeper these days, even though I'm pretty sure he and Molly pow wow the night before to decide who is going to wake up at 6:30am and who is going to sleep in. It's nice that these guys are already working in cahoots. Boo. 

So, there's a little snapshot of our little buddy. He's a funny little dude who keeps me on my toes but doesn't keep me dancing in quite the same way as his sister does. Phew. My sanity and I are definitely a big fan of the complementary personalities. 

Free Birds

Our inner hippies are happy. We took the kids camping this weekend and all the happy memories of childhood camping trips came flooding back. John and I have camped here and there over the years but it's really, really fun when you get to take your kids with you (I think. I realize this is likely not everyone's cup of tea). This was our second camping trip with the wee ones this summer (and our first without a wild fire raging across the river from us) and we're slowly getting the routine down. It was fun to be sleeping outside, cooking camp food, and listening to a little late night guitar. The kids managed it all really well -- Molly tromped all over the place, was a little freaked out by the pit toilet, and got dirtier than Harry the Dirty Dog. Jack was, unfortunately, a little restricted in his mobility given his current penchant for eating dirt, twigs, pine needles and bugs but still managed to be his happy, little, shrieky self all weekend. Admittedly, we have given into gentleman's camping with an air mattress because (for all you purists) it provides a little physical barrier between Molly and Jack. Fortunately (?) for mom and dad, we also found out that four of us can fit on a double mattress... especially when the temps get chilly and everyone gets to pigpile on for added warmth. But, that's what it's all about, right? It really was a bunch of dirty, twiggy fun. 

Family style

Some people are better at sitting than others...

while others like to search out new nooks and crannies to explore.

Chilly breakfast.

The sous chef.

The gang is all tired out from our adventures. 

Grand Old Time

Sometimes, only a grandpa will do.

 Even when Molly is in a major mommy or daddy-phase (and sometimes the super extra double special treat is when the preference switches from moment to moment and you have NO IDEA WHAT SHE WANTS), she's always in a Grandpa or Grampy phase. Only one of my grandpas was alive when I was growing up and he was always really special to me (although even though my paternal grandparent had passed away, a little Italian ancestry goes a long way), so Molly and Jack are doubly lucky to have both the big guys in her life. There are some things that only grandpas are game for... and really, that's just grand. 

Water Foul

Sometimes a man just needs to be in charge. 

But sometimes, it's better to just eat grass.

St. Becca

Molly and Jack have had plenty of cousin adventures in their young lives, but they recently had the good fortune to discover how much fun their oldest and wisest cousin is. Becca endured her first trip across the border and jumped into the chaos that is our lives. As if that wasn't adventure enough, we did all that traveling with her. When I say that she handled it like a rock star, I mean it. She did better than I did adapting to all the change. On the plus side for her, she returned east with arms of steel from holding Jack for many of his waking hours.

I haven't had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Becca so this was a great chance for me to get to know her better. I sincerely enjoyed her company and was very impressed with how straight her head is screwed on. She's one of the good eggs who gives me hope for the future. She handled both Molly and Jack with poise and expertise and was really, really good to them -- and was just plain fun. True to form, Molly is still looking for her in our guest room... needless to say, we're looking forward (especially Jack) to seeing her on our trip east in a month.

Jack loved being held and snuggled so much... poor thing gets plopped on the ground quite often so that I can chase after the wild one. When Becca was here, though, he was in his glory. 

We took a trip to the slightly (or notsoslightly) scary petting zoo up the road from our house. While I was completely freaked out by the attacking bunnies and slightly freaked out by the guinea pigs and refused to pick up any of them for my children to pet, Becca handled all the creatures with care (for the record, I had a bunny as a kid and am not a bunny hater at all... except for these bunniculas). Thank goodness she was there, it would have been a disaster without her... seriously. 

The pig was also scary and I think Molly was happy to be on this side of the fence. 

The perfect small people's fair came to town with good rides for all ages. Becca and Molly took a swing around the Ferris wheel...

and maybe there were also some rides for other sized people to enjoy...

We drove out some of the forest roads to give Becca some of the back country experience and we were greeted by a mama and two baby moose (not the best picture, I know, but it was pretty neat). 

Thank you, Becca!

Put Me In Coach

Lesseee... so, after we traveled to Banff we undertook a 14 (yes, a one-four) hour car trip down to Issaquah, WA. Now, parts of this ride were great: we went through some other national parks that look beautiful and fastastic, I finally got to see the Kootenays, we traveled very close to one of the large polygamist settlements (Bountiful, BC), I revised my thoughts on Cour d'Alene, ID (previously, I had thought of it as the county seat of strange militia movements but now I think it's quite a beautiful vacation destination), and we had the fastest border crossing ever (revision: once we sat through an hour of waiting to get to the border agent, we had the fastest border crossing ever). We also had some downer moments. Actually, it was one, long, four hour downer moment going from Spokane to Issaquah. That ride is terrible and horrendously boring and our car became the death star for a gajillion bugs. I've done it before but I think I must have been catatonic last time because I didn't remember how bad it was. Thankfully, we had those stupendous travel mates of ours to keep our car ride rocking.

The next morning, our little angel children gave their parents the gift of getting up really, really early. It was incredible. Nevertheless, we hopped in the car (yes, we're sadists) and went for a lovely ride down to Seattle so that we could go to the Mariners/Sox game. It was Jack's first professional game and Molly's second but it was the first time that she got to cheer for Big Papi (her favorite player) in person. Both kids surpassed my expectations in their tolerance for sitting through nine innings of baseball. The keys to success? Jack slept on Becca for many innings and Molly got to eat her way through the park (although did actually sit and watch the game for FAR longer than I would have expected. Her attention wandered somewhere around the seventh inning but was refocused when she heard the whole stadium singing. HELLO! ).

The highlight, though, was that it was kids' day to run the bases after the game. John and I have both taken a Fenway tour and gotten close to the field but neither of us have ever been on a big league diamond. Molly and John ran the bases together and I was content to stand on the sidelines with Becca, Nana, and Uncle Eric until Eric gave me the nudge to run with Jack. What? He's a kid too and Eric was right -- when would we have the chance to do that again? He was psyched.

Geared up and ready to...

crash.

Watching the action on the field (and excited by the height of the railing -- perfect for grabbing and leaning over).

Katy and Emmy were in Wisconsin when we went to the game so Uncle Eric decided to amp up his niece with cotton candy instead... can you guess who was the fannette's favorite while she went on a sugar high?

Getting ready to run, Doyles, run.