Fabulous At Five

My little man was five months old on Thursday. All the cliches ring true -- time has flown, I am more in love with him each day, and it's so incredibly fun to see his personality develop. Each milestone in our children's lives feels, to me anyway, like it's the first time it's ever been done -- as if he or she has the first tooth to ever pop, is the first baby to roll over, or gives the first big, slobbery grin to light up our morning (or middle of the night). Never mind that I've had another slobbery grinner before, these little joys are just as exciting the second time around.

I suddenly feel as if I don't have an infant on my hands; he has really become a baby over the past few weeks. He's still in love with Molly but he has his own little attitude now -- he'll grab at her hair, which sends her into a tizzy, or try and reach for her nose or lips and she gets her knickers all in a twist about that. I like that he's a little fighter and already seems to know a bit about pushing his big sister's buttons. I also love how sweet sweet sweet they can be with each other; she's still his biggest cheerleader and he loves to grace her with a gummy smile. I love both of them separately, obviously, but I really adore the relationship that they already have with each other.

He's still an active little man, rolling back and forth, scooting 360s, jumping and standing when he's held (move over Denise Austin, I am coming out with my own Arms of Steel videos soon... actually, I think I said this about Molly, too. I need to get on this), and very interested in being in the middle of the action. He's a better sleeper now that his tummy issues are medicated but he still would prefer to know the who, what, where, why of a situation rather than fall asleep. He's a cuddler, though, and I love that about him. He's getting better at sitting up, which I think will please him immensely when he can really do it on his own, since his vantage point will be that much closer to the action.

I don't know why five months feels so momentous to me (maybe because 3-4 months was difficult), but here we are and it feels big. I really do love this little man more and more every day.

Teach Your Children Well

Like most parents, I spend a lot of my parental energies thinking about the boundaries I set for my children, how to teach them to operate in the world, about the process of give and take and sharing, and how to lose gracefully. I have to remind Molly sometimes that other kids get to use the playground (it wasn't dropped in that exact location for her and her alone, much to her chagrin) and we all have interceded in a dispute about a truck, a doll, a puzzle, etc. So, we spend all this time teaching these lessons to our little ones and then, when they grow and up and become members of Congress, they apparently get to forget all of these life lessons, that someone hopefully taught them and, instead, act incredibly ungraciously.

I don't mean to be overly misty-eyed about our process of government (although, in reality, I can be), but reading about the conduct of some members of Congress during the passage of the health care bill over the weekend was disgusting. Seriously. Disgusting. I don't mean to condemn the passion that many of these people bring to their cause -- that's fine. It's great, really. But, if you lose, no matter how you lose, no matter how much the loss hurts, hurling insults as your colleagues (or your president, for that matter) is simply illustrating your own horrendous manners that someone likely took a long time to teach you. How do we teach our children to set boundaries when they see examples by our Congressmen and women that directly contradict our lessons? These are people who have chosen to serve and be examples -- they were not drafted, they were not magically elevated to their positions, and they are not there because of some un-asked for physical talent. They decided to become examples all by themselves, yet many of them gave up that responsibility during these debates just because they lost a (granted, very big) vote.

I know that our heroes let us down, almost daily as of late. I know that these are just men and woman who are allowed to make errors and I know that the opposition isn't blameless and not without many flaws. But, that this day and age, we have leaders who are egging on protesters hurling racial and homophobic epithets at their colleagues is unconscionable. I'm not saying don't go down without an argument, but it does make me wonder why I take the time to make my kids play fairly on the playground if these guys and ladies can't play fairly on theirs.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some nice kids who actually do like the playground around here.

Postcards From the Edge

You might think that with daylight savings plus a three hour time change, not to mention lingering RSV in Jack and a random stomach bug for Molly, might spell disaster for our Florida adventures but the sand in our bathing suits proves otherwise. The little ones and I accomplished our first mommy-and-me cross country trip, which was surprisingly uneventful, and we've been soaking up the sunshine and the sand ever since last weekend. Thankfully, John got a pass to come back to the gate with us (I think the check-in lady took one look at our merry traveling band of craziness and realized that it was in everyone's best interest to let him help us through security) and our vacation started off well and has kept on going. We've been able to swim, play at the beach, have even managed a few dinners out, and have just generally been enjoying ourselves and all the extra hands and love.

We've had mostly beautiful weather but Jack asked us to please abort a walk through what amounted to a wind tunnel.

And he likes getting his vitamin D the old fashioned way (don't worry, John, I've been covering him up and there have been no dome burns to date).

Molly has been splish splashing away and has been loving the ocean (despite her INSISTENCE that it's a lake). I'm shocked at the difference between now and last summer in how independent and adventurous she is in the water.

and on the beach... lots of building, knocking down, remodeling, and getting completely, completely sandy. The amount of sand she gets covered with is her Aunt Holly's idea of a dream come true.

And we've been absolutely loving the help and entertainment that only grandparents can provide.

Cheers to that!

Date With Destiny

Each day, I usually get a good chunk of time when both kids are sleeping in the afternoon. Perhaps in order to make up for some challenging night times, Jack has turned into a really good napper (most of the time). More importantly, though, I almost always have time when just Jack is awake. I love our little afternoon dates when the human whirlwind is snoozing and we aren't running around to various activities. It's just the two of us and we get to sit (or lie) down and make silly noises and practice new skills without feet in the face or fingers in the eyes. It's time that I probably didn't appreciate enough with Molly but am soaking up with Jack. Second (and third, fourth, fifth... we're not going there) children may miss out on one on one time with mom and dad (and gain so much with sibling time) but I think I'm often more present with him during these moments than I was with Molly since it's usually a fairly small window of alone time that we have each day. He's a busy man but also a cuddly, funny cutie pie. He's got blue big eyes that just look and look and look at you and he gives enormous slobbery grins and kisses in return for a laugh or smile. His littleness is flying by and I'm grateful for my daily, drooling, date.

Hey mom, look -- it's just us!

First, we're going to eat our fingers. If you don't want to eat yours, I'll chomp on them.

Now, we will make funny faces because you laugh at me and I will do anything for a big, goofy smile.

And now, I will talk and talk and talk and talk. What do you mean, mom, that you hope this doesn't mean that I'll be like my sister and barely breathe during my running commentaries.?

What, I can look sweet AND try to sit.

Do I have to do this for much longer, though?

We are off to Florida for awhile so may be quiet for a bit. Jack is looking forward to staying out of the sun and STILL coming back tanner than his sister. We're also excited (consider this your first apology) to thoroughly disrupt any quiet mornings that all the grandparents usually enjoy.

Enjoy your weekends!

Pulling the Red Handle

Molly's birthday wish list is going to contain exactly one item this year: duct tape. The duct tape is actually for me. I'm thinking about wrapping my little mischief maker in tape for our outings from now on. A little mini mummy, if you will. Many, many, many little klepto incidents have spurred this decision but now may be the time to execute.

Jack has had to have a couple of ultrasounds over the past two days. One was to look at his head because, well, it's huge (I didn't have luck convincing our pediatrician that big heads run in this family) and the other was to check his belly because of his tidal waves of spit up. Molly didn't accompany us to the head one because a friend offered to watch her. I showed up to it yesterday only to find out that the belly one had been rescheduled for today (seriously? just move the wand down a foot -- the boy isn't that big. Anyway...). Since yesterday's procedure was short, I figured today's would be the same and Molly could tag along since she's obsessed with all things obstetrical anyway. When we showed up, the technician told me that she's going to measure a bunch of his organs and internal gobbildy gook since she's wanding around anyway. Not a good sign for my impatient little lady. She was SO good and I could tell that she was really trying to keep her mitts to herself and not touch all the machinery in the room despite her love of buttons and baby monitoring devices. I had to hold Jack in position so I couldn't corral her much. At one point she found a cord hanging on the wall and was batting it around pretty benignly (or so I thought). Next thing, a man burst into the room asking if we're all okay... apparently it was some sort of emergency button/pull cord. Oops. Good to know that their emergency response procedures are up and running.

Thankfully, everyone was very kind about the whole incident and told me other funny stories about emergency cord mishaps. Ah, thank you. After our hospital adventure, we stopped at the store to get fun and exciting things like toilet paper and toothbrushes. Next thing I know there, someone has dropped in a tube of, well, KY intimate massage oil in with our stuff. Seriously? I didn't even know that we had passed that aisle much less that sticky fingers had snagged something and dropped it in our basket. I swear, I watch her like a hawk in stores so that she isn't hauled off to the clinker for thieving at the ripe old age of two. I was going to just drop it in the aisle where we were and no one would be the wiser until I realized that we were in front of the kids toothbrushes and toothpaste. I could only imagine the horror that the next mother might experience when she stumbled across that inappropriately stocked goody. Of all the things she could have taken, a KY product??

Curiosity is going to kill this cat...

Nice face... and nice accessorizing. There's nothing like two headbands to accompany strawberry face.

Molly has started to get very opinionated about her outerwear. Doesn't give much of a darn about her inside clothing (except that she'd prefer to be sans pants most of the time) but is very insistent about her jackets and shoes. There was not a cloud in sight or a drop of rain in the forecast this day but rain boots and jacket it was.

Ever since Greg and Meg were here and we used our Camelbacks a bunch, this is the preferred drinking method all the time around here.

The little (big headed) man is just fine, thankfully. Just carrying around a big ol' set of smarts.

Laugh In

I'm thinking about picking a comment of the week because some of the things I hear around here are so darn funny (to me and perhaps only to me although John usually gets a kick out the funny lines too. Ah, parental perks). This was actually inspired by Meg after she mentioned to Molly that she didn't really need to play one of those grabber claw games at the store since "Mickey Mouse just takes your money." All I could picture was Mickey Mouse holding up a convenience store.

This idea was reignited today at the grocery store when Molly said "hey lady, you have a nice watch" to the cashier. I don't know why but it was super funny to me.

Hell In A Handbasket

This morning, I was one of the those moms. I fell into one of three camps for onlookers: a) the pity camp -- "oh, that poor woman. I would be so embarrassed if my baby was screaming and the other little one was stealing pens off of civil service workers desks or b) the great form of birth control camp -- "I wish my girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife were here to see this madness and that would show him/her why bearing an 8 year old child is much better than having one who comes out under two feet tall c) the I'm wearing grumpy pants camp -- "grump grump grump those kids are loud and annoying. Grump grump grump." The fact was, though, that I was a traveling road show of kleptomania and vocal opposition.

I had to go get a social insurance number, which is shockingly easy here and doesn't require navigating through the labyrinth of mean and hateful government employees and hard to read signage like it can be in some places. When we left the house, Jack was asleep and we were heading to Molly's tumbling class after our little stop so I figured I was golden with nappy pants and excited girl. If hell had broken loose as soon as we walked through the door, I would have just left and come back later. Instead, my two peanuts decided to wait until we sat down with the nice lady (who apparently wanted her desk rearranged) to lose their minds. Jack woke up, decided he was hungry THAT MINUTE and Molly decided that this lady's calendar was awesome and that her pen collection was hers for the taking (all the while squeezing herself into the smallest space possible between the desk and the wall). It was an awesome 10 minutes and I think the nice office worker who offered me the conference room to feed Jack, the elderly gentlemen who basically walked us to our car, and the Moses-like parting of the Red Sea of people all indicated that they were all pretty happy to see us go.

I pretty much had to just laugh (and retrieve the pens from a small clamped fist).

Slow Morning Moments

Sometimes hanging out at home isn't such a bad thing. I usually get ants in my pants and need to get out and moving (that's where she gets it...) but yesterday's planets aligned to keep us in our abode for the morning. As usual, it was an inadvertent reminder to slow down and enjoy those small moments that are fleeting and lovely. You find out a lot by asking little people questions (sometimes you get an answer and sometimes you get a big slobbery grin, you know, depending on who you ask). Sometimes you have to wonder how point a got connected to point b to c to d to x, y, and z but the little insights can be meaningful and sweet.

The morning started off with a small scare -- I thought I had at least a score of years before I had a teenager on my hands. Yikes.

"I'm busy, Mom. Whaddya need?"

Our little buddy has recently been diagnosed with GERD but his new meds are making him much happier, happier, happier (and means that mom is getting some more sleep!). He proudly shows off his dimple upon request because he isn't yakking quite as much.

Sometimes being in kid in the candy store isn't as much fun as being the kid in the toy box.

And watching that crazy sister is even better than candy or toys.

Once again, Mom and Dad's little parrot decided to make a Tim Horton's run (along with her other errands) and (loudly) ordered up several large double doubles throughout the morning -- all from the comfort of her little red car.

She even comes armed with her own cash.

"What on earth is she doing? Here I am, practicing my sitting up and she's yelling coffee orders to no one in particular."

Yet he still wonders when he gets his own coffee and cash... what's with these two?

"Okay, mom, I'll wait for my own credit card as long as you keep that crazy singing loon from toppling me."

Family resemblance much?

Walking and Talking

Our lovely week and then some of visitors sadly came to an end today with Greg and Meg's departure. We've had a week of gorgeous weather, complete with adventures and lots of exploring. I didn't bring my camera out nearly enough (and I need to pull some off of John's phone from Holly's visit) but we did manage to get some pictures of today's walk. The shocking fact is that Molly (with some cajoling) actually walked (with the occasional sit and sift the sand).

Here I am!

Here I go...

And go...

And go...

And stop. Whew.

Some uncle Greg (who apparently has a brown chin and not a beard) strolling and chatting...

And some Auntie Meg hugging

Slip Sliding Away

Jack is getting FUN. Smiles, raspberries, belly laughs -- he's having some good times these days. Mr. I Don't Like To Sleep Because I Miss Things still encourages visitors to wear ponchos while holding him, but I think Auntie Holly only got slimed on her socks during her visit this weekend. Progress! Eric and Mary passed along Emmy and Katy's exersaucer so Jack has started taking it for test drives... and Molly keeps trying to shimmy her way in. Like I'm not going to notice when a giant plastic thing starts tipping over. Luckily, her number one fan can find no fault in her so he gives her a pass. The meany, fun-spoiling mom is the one who puts a stop to shenanigans. That girl has never let a small, clearly uncomfortable looking space pass her by.

happiness is watching a wild show from one older sister

Egad!

Good Golly Miss Molly is still grooving and enjoying our recent spell of lovely weather. She got a new slide from Nana and Grandpa for Christmas and we set it up for her today. We've dragged her on enough walks lately that we figured it was time to let her enjoy the 50-degree weather on her own terms.

Muscles Magoo wanted to show off her tumbling moves.

Sliding while bubbling = very interesting hand/eye coordination stunts (and isn't done very successfully).

We're in the midst of a small slew of visitors -- it's always super fun to have folks swing up and over. Molly will hunt you down every morning to show her appreciation! We want to give Holly a hearty thank you for enduring hours of curling coverage because Molly was obsessed with the women's final. Speaking of which... I'm not sure how I felt about all of the closing ceremonies. Giant beavers? Oversized Mounties? Huh. Interesting choices. I also want apologize to those of you who had to draw conclusions about the Finnish hockey team's good looks based on their post game coverage yesterday. I didn't know humans could sweat that much, good gracious me.