A picture's worth a thousand words

We went to the zoo today. Connor was a bit more fascinated with all the things he could climb on that the animals. Because...after all, they're building a new space for the elephants, which means there are DIGGER TRUCKS!! at the zoo. And, have you ever noticed this panda grotto that you can climb in?

Elaine

He's got a shoulder boulder!

Yesterday, Connor faked Grandpa - a man who had brain surgery in 1998 - out pretty good. He went in for the hug, but at the last minute, decided to head butt my dad instead. Why?!? Because I guess I only explicitly told Connor that head to head contact was not allowed with Helen. I guess guests in our home are fair game. So consider yourself warned.

Connor did take Grandpa's telling him that he did not want to be head butted to heart though, because later, I heard Connor say sweetly to my mom "Can I head butt you Grandma?"

The answer...

"I guess you can, if you do it softly", because I guess my mom just wanted to really cement in Connor's mind that she would never tell her grandchildren no.

Elaine

Some folks in my office have started reading this...

We think the connection between my office and Ed's office is a bit strong (we're guessing it's someone whose name starts and ends with the same letter and a vowel in between). While folks at my office have known about this blog for quite some time, Ed's been keeping it on the down low. He thinks his discovery will mean that I won't mock him anymore, but frankly, it just makes it even more likely that he will be appearing in these pages. After all, he spent a decent amount of time defending his telephone pole climbing this evening. Only trouble is, my dad totally understood his burning desire to climb a telephone pole, which just led to the two of them talking about all of their childhood dreams of seeing the city from up high. Now I'm wondering if I should keep track of my dad tomorrow since Ed has alerted him to the fact that the poles in our neighborhood are scalable by mere mortals.

Ed has announced he may have the last laugh on this one. As house Webmaster, he has threatened to unplug the internet. He's willing to go so far as to climb the pole and pull the wire. And strangely, I believe him.

Elaine

PS: Therese - I was playing bridge with my folks this evening and almost neglected to post! But...in under the wire I am with this - so let Nablopomo continue!

Big Bday Bash!

Today Connor celebrated turning two (what is this, the 4th time?) with the kids from my mom's group. He started out by downing a box of juice.

At some point, one of the moms decided to herd everyone (minus Theodore who left early) over to the couch for a photo.


The lucky little man came home the proud owner of a new tent (which was tested with bedtime books tonight), a backpack filled with camping gear, some paint (remind me to invite Esther - the gift-giver over to enjoy this!), cookie cutters, and a weed eater. We guarantee Esther won't be looking this clean when she leaves our house! Many thanks! We were thrilled to be the beneficiary of Ellen's thrift store habit. I am forever grateful that I do not live close to this famous thrift store because I do believe we would have to purchase a storage shed for Connor's toys. This week's project is clearly to take advantage of my parent's babysitting and sort and organize the lot of toys. Surely doing this will magically create some room.

The update on my little gal is that the spit continues - despite an increased dosage of meds. But, it's confined almost exculsively to nighttime - which is a bit of improvement. She also slept for 5 consecutive hours (from 3AM to 8AM) last night. It was quite a party before that, so at least we all got a bit of respite at some point. Thankfully, Connor slept in a bit and then my mom convinced him to read about 300 books with her. Of course, Connor only slept in because he stayed up until past 9:00 entertaining us over the monitor.

Elaine

Running the grandparents ragged

Connor hasn't gotten any slower on his bike since my parents last saw him. If anything, he's gotten even faster. But my mom was up for the challenge of running beside Connor. He ran her all over the basketball court - and even did a bit of off-roading just to keep her on her toes. Only trouble is, sometimes he takes sharp turns, and one must be pretty quick on their feet to avoid getting their heels clipped.

My mom survived - but barely.



Connor then drug my mom up the very scary climbing structure that I refuse to climb up - but even my mom who's pretty much game for anything didn't make it down the terrifying slide. Instead, Connor went down that solo and then took my mom on the much more modest slide.

He let my mom have a break after taking her on a trip around the perimeter of the park.

From all this action, you'd think my mom would be begging for mercy, but it was Connor who requested to be allowed to nap without eating lunch on the way out of the park.

We have learned though, that an 11 AM nap is not a good nap for Connor, so we decided to start Christmas early. Helen opened some soft blocks which Connor was delighted she was willing to share with him and Connor opened a golf set that made for much fun until lunch was ready.

And look...at the end of the day, Helen smiled!


Elaine

Going out!

The grandparents are here, ready to babysit the crew for the night. Ed and I are off to see Neil Young. Hopefully Connor is in bed by the time we return. Of course, I suspect he'll go right to bed and not ask for "just one more story" and "just one more song" and "just a little bit more milk" and "just a few more Cheerios" and "lay down with more for just a few minutes" and all the other things he asks us for nightly. But then again, maybe he'll be pleasantly surprised if he tries since he's likely to get lots of yesses!

Elaine

Welcome Grandma and Grandpa!

Connor wasted no time settling in with the grandparents. He asked my dad for the “1 2 3 quarters” he had been promised the night before and acquired a bag of candy from my mom. He then presented my mom with a stack of books that needed to be read “right now”.

My dad took charge of the sleeping baby.


Ed was delighted to hear that I had stored a guitar – that I never learned to play – at my parent’s home for the past few decades. And now, due to Connor newfound interest in Mrs. Patricia’s guitar, my guitar and I have once again been reunited. It’ll need to get a tune up, as two of the strings are broken and the thing is dreadfully out of tune. Luckily, it still “plays loud”, which is all Connor cares about.

Elaine

Get the camera...

we're going to be cute!




Don't you know, you're always cute!

Elaine

Happy 27 Month Birthday!

Dear Connor,

Yesterday, you turned 27 months old. It is the first month of your life that you have been able to spend every single day with both your dad and me. You're one tough little dude to keep up with. I hope we haven't bored you too much. We've certainly tried to keep things interesting.

The biggest change this month, of course, is that our three person family grew by one with the birth of your sister. And much to my delight, though not surprise, you have been incredibly kind and welcoming to her. This is not to say you haven't taken advantage of the situation. For the first few days after Helen was born, it seemed like you could sense when your dad and I needed to discuss something important because you would walk up and say sweetly "Can I have another piece of candy" and of course, we allowed it because we didn't want to deal with an upset toddler when we were trying to figure out what to do with an infant. In the scheme of things, this doesn't seem too bad.


Since the birth of Helen, you have birthed no fewer than 6 babies of your own. A couple had to go back in your tummy at first, but I believe they are all on the outside now for good. Due largely to the fact that we talked about Helen being yellow, I believe, your babies are a rainbow of colors - though I tend to hear about the red baby the most. These babies come everywhere with us. This morning, your dad had to do some fast thinking when we were a few blocks from the house and you discovered you had left them at home. He looked at me and announced that I had them, and that seemed to appease you. Lest anyone think you're toting around a bunch of dolls, I should be clear that each of these babies are completely imaginary. This fact has led to some awkward moments - like when they get sat on occasionally, or someone steps on them. They are great fun to toss in the air and catch, and the only problem with them seems to be that they're a little bit "pitty".


Which brings me to an update of your language skills. It has come to my attention that the color formerly known as "geen" in this house has turned into green. Truth be told, I sort of miss geen. Now, I think the only pronunciation oddity I'm left with is that you don't pronounce a leading "s", so Helen 'pits up, we read a book about 'nakes, you insisted on sleeping with a 'pounge last week, and coming home from 'chool one day, you wanted to 'top at the 'tore. Try not to correct these things too quickly, Connor. I sort of like 'em.


You have become noticeably more polite in conversation. For example, after you finished eating the cupcake Daddy gave you tonight, you brought him your dirty plate and said (with no prompting) "Thank you for the yummy cupcake, Daddy", and this is not unusual. It totally warms my heart.

You've also begun to play by yourself regularly, which allows your dad and I to clean up on occasion, which is a nice thing. Sometimes, you even read to yourself. It strikes your dad and I as pretty amazing that you can memorize most books brought into this house as fast - or faster - than we can. You've even read a book or two to your sister.



The phrase we have probably heard the most in the past month is "can I hold Helen?". After a few seconds, you announce that it's now my turn to hold Helen, because I guess you are a very busy toddler and just can't be pinned down by someone so little. But then, just when Helen and I get settled, you ask again "can I hold Helen?". It is wonderful and maddening at the same time.

A friend of mine made this video and Connor, it sums up perfectly the reason you have a sister. I hope you keep enjoying her.


Love,
Mommy

Happy 1 month

Dear Helen,

Today, you turned one month old. We celebrated by going to the pediatrician's office and you know what? He thinks you look great. He was very impressed that you already make eye contact with me and he didn't seem bothered in the least by the fact that you sleep almost all the time. (As I type this, I know that someday you will stop sleeping and I will wonder why it bothered me so much that you were such a sleepy baby.) He suggested we up your dosage of baby zantac in hopes of getting your reflux under better control and on the advice of another mom, we're going to go to a compounding pharmacy and have them make you a better flavor of the stuff in the hopes of you not looking at me so annoyed each time I give it to you.


Here are a few things I thought you ought to know about yourself. You were named after your dad's grandma, Helen. Unfortunately, you won't get to meet your great-grandma in this dimension, because she died a few years ago. She was an incredibly kind person, and at one point I told your dad that even if he dumped me, I was keeping his grandma. On our second meeting, she gave me a book of stories from women Kansas pioneers for no other reason than she saw it when she was in the used bookstore and thought of me. I hope that someday you are the kind of person who makes random gestures such as this to others. Your middle name is a mishmash of my mom (Carlene), your Aunt Linda, and your dad's mom (Lynn). You will have the opportunity to fall in love with each of these women.


You entered this world in dramatic fashion. Just like Connor, my water broke, and shortly thereafter labor started. You were slightly poterior, which meant your entrance into the world was accompanied with a lot of pain. Your dad actually slept through most of my labor with Connor, because really, it wasn't all that painful and we figured if he could sleep it was a good thing. He had no such luxury with you because he couldn't stand to leave me alone for long when I was having such a tough time. I walked, I knelt down and leaned on a chair, I sat on the birth ball, I laid on one side, I laid on the other, and I kept on moving. I was able to lie down and rest for a bit at one point, not because I was feeling better, but because I was completely exhausted. At one point, my midwife asked if I wanted to be checked and I said "yes" because I needed to hear that your entrance was close. But no such luck. I wasn't all that dilated, and there was nothing indicating you were coming quickly. I was really bummed to hear that news. After your brother was whisked out of the household to go to Zoe's for the day, I took a hot shower, and during that shower, I decided I had nothing to prove. I'd given birth to a baby at home without pain meds. This time, it wasn't going to work. When I got out of the shower at 7:00 AM, I was feeling pretty defeated. I told your dad "I can't do this" and your dad said "OK". This was not the response I was hoping for. I was hoping he would tell me that everything was going to be fine - that we'd been down this road before, that it wouldn't be long. Later, when I asked your dad why all he said was "OK" he told me it was because he didn't know if I was telling him you were never coming out (and if that was the case, he didn't want to be the one to point out that indeed, you were coming out at some point) or if it was something else. I rested next to him for 15 minutes, and then I got out of bed again. At 7:36, my birth assistant darted up the stairs to alert my midwife that things were changing and she and the midwife came rushing back down the stairs. You were born at 7:41 AM. The very short pushing stage almost makes up for the 8.5 hours of labor before that. When you came out, it was very obvious that my due date for you was wrong. You were not a 39 week baby, but probably a 37 week baby.

On Monday, we went to visit the pediatrician, and he thought you had lost too much weight and you were too yellow. We went to the lab to check your bilirubin levels and indeed, they were high. Our pediatrician recommended you be hospitalized. I was devastated. In what turned out to be a very big, stressful showdown, we ultimately got home-based equipment and you never had to be hospitalized. As part of that, we also scored a new pediatrician.

For a few days now, your dad has been telling me he thinks you're pretty chunky. And you know what, for our family, you are a bit chunky. You weigh 7 pounds 4 ounces which means you are in the 10th percentile for weight. Whoa. I didn't even know how to respond to this exciting news. You see, your brother didn't manage to find the weight chart until his 18 month appointment. You are median length and your head is in the 40th percentile.

It's hard to sum up your first month, but I can assure you, your dad, brother, and I love you a ton.

Love,

Mom