Fuzzy Love

I May Be Nesting...

But, rest assured, I am not pregnant. Maybe this is because Olivia is about to crawl soon? Or maybe it was all of us being sick this week that did it. You know how when you're sick you don't clean things very well? Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that you (I) don't clean at all? And then not only don't I do the regular cleaning, but I also drop pretty much everything just wherever I happen do be? And that such messes are invisible to Mark?

So by yesterday the house was a complete disaster from top to bottom and I couldn't take it anymore and I snapped. All day long I found myself muttering, "Can't we have just one room in this house without a toy in it?" and, "There isn't even a place where this goes." So when Mark got home from work I handed him Olivia, told Liam to stay put, and got moving.

Here's the goal: organize the entire house, like things with like; remove all things that (a) don't fit (b) are broken and can't be fixed (c) will never be used again (d) we don't want or need but just can't seem to get rid of. That's right - it's yard sale time again.

So last night I went through both kids' rooms (their closets have been our dumping grounds) and today I've done the kitchen, the dining room, the den/playroom, the living room, the bookshelves, and some of the basement. I've got a huge pile for goodwill (clothes mostly), a huge pile of garbage, and a huger (that's right, it's so huge it's huger) pile for the yard sale. After all, we're 99.9% sure we aren't having more children, so it's silly to keep some of the things we've got stored. Plus we seem to have kept the box for every electronic purchase we've ever made.

Mark's cousin and her husband are due to have their first baby in November, and we've promised them whatever baby things we don't need any more. When I made this promise I was so excited to get all this stuff out of our house; things we're already through with like the swing, the bouncy seat, and the mobile are just taking up space around here. Well, that cousin is in town this weekend and we're delivering the first lot of items to her tomorrow. But now that the time has come, I seriously want to keep everything forever! Both my babies swang/swung in that swing! They were mesmerized by that mobile! How can I part with this stuff?! It must be saved for the Smithsonian!

Deep breath...deep breath again...I'll be fine.

Monster Sighting

There is a round hole in the wall just above Liam's head. Not a big one - it's maybe a quarter of an inch across, left there by a screw that held up a shelf - but we've lacked the touch up paint required to fill it in. And Liam's not paid much attention to it. Until tonight, anyway, when he insisted that "dere's a monster innare!"

The monster in the bedroom was a parenting first for me. I admit I missed a beat or two, but then squished my face against the wall and peered into the hole: "Nope, no monsters in there." And then I blew into the hole (don't know why) and declared "But it's a great home for a ladybug" (don't know why that either). He thought on that for a second and quite seriously replied, "Yeth." And then he rolled over and curled up to go to sleep.

So I left. I guess that went well.

Six Months

Yup, Olivia is six months old already. She had her appointment on Monday, and all is well. She continues to be on the same track: long and lean. Right now she measures 27 1/2 inches (97th percentile) and 17 pounds 4 ounces (75th percentile). Big girl. If you are wondering why she's being ingested by a Muppet, that's actually a poncho I made for her. It's super soft and she smiled the whole time it was on her. Too bad it fits her right now, just as we're having a spring heat wave. I made the one-to-two year size, but apparently the designer had never met a one-year-old.

At six months, Olivia is super smiley, is starting to be aware of strangers, can sit for a few seconds (it will really click any day now, I know it), and can scoot herself all over the room. She either rolls wherever she goes, or she sticks her little butt up in the air and pushes off with her feet. We have to be careful about what ends up on the floor (Liam has so many tiny toys) because she can go pretty much anywhere she pleases.

But my god, just look at that beautiful face:

No pictures of anyone else today, because we're all down with the stomach flu. Well, Mark only got a touch of it, thank god, because someone had to take care of the rest of us. And what a trooper Mark was, too. You see, there's nothing messier than a little kid who doesn't quite get the concept of running for the bathroom when he needs to throw up. Especially in the middle of the night ("I had a big cough, Mommy."). Which reminds me, today's lesson was: no matter how tired you are or how sick your child is, do not let that pukey child into your bed with you, even for a moment. You'll just end up changing another set of sheets.

Not Yet...

Reading, that is. But Liam has an interest. For a while now he's been pointing out the letters he knows (which is about half at any given moment, but not always the same ones) and asking me, "Mommy, whassat word?" And usually I read to him about an hour a day. But just recently he's been wanting to read books to me. By "read," I mean that he recites entire books back to me while looking at the pictures. Wait, that's overstating it a bit: he probably remembers about two-thirds of the book, including most of the phrases and all of the point. It's so damn cute I have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing, it makes me so happy. He even remembers words that I don't think he understands. So, since he's about to turn three, I  thought I'd share a few of his favorite picture books of the moment that you might not know about.

1. Those Messy Hemples As the Hempels clean up their messy house in search of a whisk to make a cake, the reader is invited to participate in deciding where various objects belong. Liam loves a good mess.
2. Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me Monica's father fulfills her request for the moon by taking it down after it is small enough to carry, but it continues to change in size. Some pages fold out to display particularly large pictures, which is always a hit.
3. Buzz Buzz Bumble Kitty Kids flip the top or bottom half of any page, and the big, color illustrations change into all kinds of silly new things. A cowboy suddenly gets a striped kitty's chin and whiskers. A queen wearing her royal crown finds herself wearing a pineapple top on her head.
4. Muncha Muncha Muncha After planting the garden he has dreamed of for years, Mr. McGreely tries to find a way to keep some persistent bunnies from eating all his vegetables. We got this one free from a Cheerios box.
5. Zoom When Lauretta tries out a 92-speed, silver and gold, dirt-bike wheelchair, she gets a speeding ticket but also helps out her brother. Actually, anything by Robert Munch is a hit right now (especially Mmmm, Cookies).
6. Bark George A dog can't seem to bark right; for some unknown reason, he makes all sorts of other animal sounds. And then we spend the next twenty minutes pulling animals out of Liam's tummy.
7. Leonardo the Terrible Monster Leonardo realizes that he might be a terrible, awful monster-but he could be a really good friend.
8. That Pesky Rat A brown street rat, who longs to be someone's pet and to have his very own name, gets lucky when he meets a man in the pet shop who has extremely poor eyesight. By the woman who does Charlie and Lola, this might be my favorite of all his books.

Looky Here

lllllllllllllllllllllllllliamm

(Liam typed that. He's helping, so this will be short.)

Anyway, look who's sitting (for about ten seconds max):

and look who's regressing (he's yelling, "Whaa! Whaa! Whaa!"):

and look who likes green beans:

and look who's reading (not really):

liammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

To Zee Zoo

How we spent a day at the zoo:

Olivia in her new biggun car seat,

Liam in his new booster seat, drinking his miniature Starbucks hot chocolate (I know),

riding the carousel and the train (of course),

watching the penguins

and the monkeys.

Olivia did it all from the stroller (first time in there without the bucket),

Liam from Mark's shoulders.

We do have fun.

Liam's First Joke

This is the first joke that Liam got:

Me: Knock, knock.
Liam: Who's dere?
Me: Atch.
Liam: Atch who?
Me: Bless you! You sneezed!

Or maybe not. Even though he laughed at that joke, he quickly countered with one of his own.

Liam: Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
Liam: Liam.
Me: <pause> Liam who?
Liam: <very long pause> Bless you! You sneezed!

I know, it takes a lot of background knowledge to get jokes. Maybe he just needs a bit more time.

Baby Signs

I started using some sign language with Olivia today. You've probably heard a bit about baby sign language, which is based on the idea that babies want to communicate long before they can speak. I can tell you it certainly came in handy with Liam, even though I didn't do very many with him. For example, we started using "all done" at the dinner table, but he quickly began signaling when he was fed up with the stroller and the car seat and getting dressed. And these baby signs show up everywhere from Liam's tumbling class to Blue's Clues. So, with Olivia it may not take for a while, but I figure this is a good time as any to start; she is very alert and interested in what I'm signing to her.

I just use the American Sign Language signs (see them here too), but really you could use anything. I plan on initially teaching Olivia five handy-dandy terms: more, all done, milk, sleep, and eat. Maybe more, if those all go well, but I tell you, I don't really don't see the point of things like alligator and airplane and even thank you (she can be polite when she's older). I suppose they can provide insight into the baby mind, but we'll just see how things go. Anyway, it's really easy to teach them (I can't believe we almost paid money for a class): while the baby is watching, do the sign, say the word, and then make it happen. And, well, do that for a few months. But they catch on. And then some of the mysteries of the baby tantrum are revealed.

I'm sorry Mommy, but I have no idea what you are talking about.

A Growing Concern*

Mark made dinner last night. Although I started dinner, Olivia woke up and was hungry and since Mark doesn't lactate (damn it), he finished up the cooking. Liam noticed. He came into the kitchen and said, with great drama, "Oh no! Daddy! Mommy make-a dinner!" and then gave me a look that conveyed clearly that Daddy was up to something naughty and I better do something about it.

Frankly, I was stunned. I'm just not used to thinking of myself as the dinner-preparer in this household. Mark is the one that knows how to cook a turkey, how to mash potatoes, and what saute means. And when we both worked had jobs outside of the home, he did 90% of the cooking (the other 10% of the time I made Kraft Dinner or we had take out). But now we're in a new rhythm and I always make dinner. It works well that way since he needs/wants the extra time with the kids and I want the time away from the kids. Plus I'm getting better at cooking and, therefore, enjoying it more. (But I can't say that I'm getting better at cooking without mentioning a recent incident where I baked chicken in a plastic-topped container. After thirty minutes in a 350-degree oven that plastic shriveled up like a dead bug. But like I said, I'm improving.)

Anyway, Mark was out in the garage today after work and I popped my head out to tell him something. Liam saw me and ran over to inform me, "No Mommy, dat's Daddy's garage." So tell me, how did he get that idea? It's not like Mark is always out there tinkering or something. And my stuff is out there too.

So now I'm worried that Liam will grow up thinking that only women cook. And I'm thinking about instituting a rotation of dinner duties. I must get out the calendar....

*My grandfather always calls Liam "a growing concern." Get it? And happy birthday Judy!

Baby Butts