Duet

Round Up

I anticipated things would slow down a bit after a recent work milestone, but instead the hectic nature of things keeps tick, tick, ticking along.  Work is still busy, kids are still busy, life is still busy.  I continue to over commit myself--somehow I managed to get myself roped into serving as vice president of the elementary school PTA for the 2013-14 school year.  The work for which, of course, starts now.  I know, I know.

Things will slow down at some point.  I hope.

In the meantime, Norah has been working with Bubby in the garden.  They planted basil and a few other herbs, tomatoes, banana peppers, and eggplant.  It is going to be an interesting harvest.

Lou continues to be a bruiser.  He gets put in time out almost every day at school for pushing or dog piling another kid.  He plays rough and loves to wrestle and while certainly the aggression is sometimes out of anger and/or frustration, more often than not it is because he's just trying to play. Norah and Reid are his usual targets.  Shockingly, he (knock on wood) is always gentle, loving, and kind to Baby Camilla.  He brings her toys, tickles her feet, hugs and kisses her, and generally wants to love on her all.the.time.  I think he legitimately really likes her but is also smart enough to know that the first time he dog piles her will be the last time he dog piles anyone.

When Norah was an infant, BVZ went to see his mom and sister and they saw the Pageant of the Masters in Orange County.  He wanted to bring something back for Norah so he got her a shirt from the pageant.  A small.  He figured it might be a little big but she could grow into it.  It has been in her bottom drawer for four and a half years.  It finally fits.

My car has a high backed booster for Norah, which is basically a five-point harnessed car seat for big kids.  It has a 100 lb. weight limit, which means that she will ride in it until she is old enough to ride with nothing other than a seat belt (probably about 10 years old).  She has the same seat in my mom's car since Bubby picks her up from school three days a week.  She has been tall enough for a booster for many months now (there's no back and no harness, you just use the regular seat belt), but just cracked the 40 lb. weight limit.  Most of her friends are in boosters--apparently this is a frequent topic of conversation at pre-K--and she is horrified by the idea that as long as she is in mine or Bubby's car she will ride in the car seat and not a booster.  I say too bad, so sad.  My compromise to her was that we would get a booster to have in case of emergencies and if she rides in BVZ's car (which is exceedingly rare), she could use it.  We drove around the block with it the other day and you would have thought the kid won the freaking lottery.

Later she admitted that her seat in my car is more comfortable and she likes the cup holder.  Suck it, booster seat.

These are the proofs from Norah's pre-K graduation photo shoot.  They are ridiculously cute and despite my proclamation that I won't be taken advantage of by the money making bonanza that is school pictures, I totally ordered a set.

Norah goes to bed in her own bed every single night.  Every single morning she wakes up with me (either in the master bedroom or in the spare bedroom if BVZ is snoring). We aren't really doing anything about it right now, it doesn't bother either me or BVZ and we are both of the mind that there will be a time when she wants nothing to do with us, so we are savoring it for now.  We have talked a lot about it with her and she says that she wakes up during the night and goes to the top of the stairs.  If she hears us she goes back to her bed.  If she doesn't hear us she knows we've gone to bed and she comes to find me.  She says that when it is dark and quiet she doesn't like to be alone.  I can't really blame her.  The other day she convinced Lou to lay down with her.  It lasted about 15 seconds.  

There is a great blog floating around called Reasons My Son is Crying.  Check it out, it's funny.  There are so many photos of Lou that could be on the site.  Like this one.  He's crying because the sidewalk is "bumpy."

Sidewalk chalk is a big after dinner event around here.  Our driveway is a swing one, meaning it's on the side of the house rather than in front.  It is a great place for chalking, riding bikes, and general mayhem and it's somewhat protected from traffic in the street.  Norah did this totally on her own the other day.  See why I don't care that she won't sleep in her own bed?

I refuse to pay the gas bill that it would take to heat the pool, so we are waiting until the water is warm enough from the sun (we checked tonight and it's really close).  I will however, heat up the hot tub, and we spend a lot of time in there.

Louie was really sick last week with his 800th ear infection.  I took the day off from work to take him to the doctor and give him some TLC.  Bubby came over to watch HGtv while he took a nap, I picked up Norah from school, and treated her to an afternoon movie and ice cream.  We saw The Crood's.  It was crazy fun.

The kids have been using my phone to take selfies.  They are cute, but they can take 100 photos in about 30 seconds, so I go through and do a lot of deleting.

It's also warm enough to get the sprinklers out.  The other day Reid and Lou had a great time.  Lou is really coordinated and can easily take his clothes (and diaper) off himself.  He's going to be such an easy teenager.

We had a low-key mother's day.  Breakfast at home and then a fun lunch with everyone at Bubby's house.  BVZ took Norah and Lou to Target and let them pick out whatever they wanted for me.  Norah got me a lovely sun hat that I plan to use all summer.  Lou got me a king size tootsie roll.

Norah also did a drawing of us jumping rope together over a rainbow.  It's awfully nice to have someone like her around.

Camilla is fat and happy and so cute.  I love having a baby around that I don't have to feed or be around at 3:00 am.

I give Lou a hard time because he is in fact a monster, but he's also incredibly cute and sweet and lovable.  He talks so much these days, in complete sentences and can articulate full ideas.  When I tell him I love him he tells me, "Oh, I love you so much!" If he seems me hugging Norah he comes and throws his arms around us and yells, "group hug!"  He asks to snuggle all the time.  He sings lots of songs, mostly theme songs to television shows, and tells knock-knock jokes.  He has a great sense of humor--his days as the class clown have just begun.

Consolation Prize

Ear infections suck. But he does have the body of a supermodel. Win some, lose some.

No Babies

Live in this house anymore!

Reprieve

Thing are kind of hectic around here.  I mean, things are always kind of hectic, but it's a particularly busy month.  I have a case that is filing at the end of the month and so my days have been long, my evenings longer, and my brain is full of expert reports, witness affidavits, legal claims, ballistics testing, etc.  It's hard to decompress and even harder to de-tangle because there's no real end to the day.  There's just breaks to sleep.  And then it starts again.   

I try my best to be as present as possible with the kids, but this last six week push at the end of a filing always means that they watch a little more tv, play a lot more with each other, and are more responsible for entertaining themselves.  I thought I was doing a pretty good job of making it all work but out of nowhere at dinner the other night Norah burst into tears and sobbed for a solid five minutes.  When I got her to tell me what the problem was all she could say was, "you work too much."  Knife.to.the.heart.  I asked her what I could do to help her not feel that way and she said, "make me a special dessert."  Maybe she was sincere, maybe I got played, I don't know.  But I still felt like a jerk.

Bubby had an event to go to this afternoon, so I came home early and decided the three of us needed a break and we deserved a dinner out together.  Any by dinner out I mean, they eat dinner and I drink a glass of wine.  They were stoked.

It had been a while since the three of us had gone out and it was a delightful time (I say that without even the slightest bit of sarcasm).  Lou had a basket of sweet potato fries and he laughed and made farm animal noises at everyone who walked by.  Norah and I had a really good talk about why Andrew K is such an asshole and what kind of dresses she thinks she would like to wear to kindergarten.  On the way home she asked if every Tuesday could be "special dinner night" and of course I agreed.  Maybe she was sincere, maybe I got played.  Who cares.

When we got home they played out front and Norah was crazy excited when a few of the neighbor girls came over to say 'hi'.  At one point she repeatedly shouted "this is the best day ever."  Don't worry, later on we had a talk about playing it cool.

Reader

If there has been one consistent thing about our girl since the day she was born, it is the fact that she really, really, really likes books.  Even as an infant she would sit and listen to multiple books in one sitting and by the time she could move around she would bring us the books she wanted herself.  There have been many nights that teeth did not get brushed or hair did not get washed (a lot of hair did not get washed nights), but I can probably count on one hand the number of times we did not read bedtime books.  It's been one of my favorite things to do with her and the one thing I somehow don't seem to mind finding 'just one more minute' for.

She may not be the most athletic kid out there, but girl has a crazy awesome imagination and an amazing recall for all kinds of stories.  She knew the alphabet as a toddler but I have been really impressed how in the last nine months or so she has really picked up the concept of phonics, syllables, and the concepts of capitalization.  Her pre-K program uses the Handwriting Without Tears program and her writing is really good (I think) for a four year old.  For several months now she has been really into chapter books.  Our favorite so far has been the Magic Treehouse series, and she consistently surprises me with her level of engagement and recall.  Basically, she's a genius.

She knows probably 30 to 40 "sight" words (words that you just memorize because you see them so often--like 'the' or 'and' or 'at' or....  you get the picture), and can identify and sound out a whole lot of non-sight words as well.  The other day she picked up an early reader book (it was about Clifford, the big red dog), and read the entire thing.  She had never seen it before so I know it wasn't because she memorized it (which she has done with several other books), but she actually read every single word correctly.  There were some words that I knew there was no way she knew or reasonably could have figured out (like elephant), and when I asked her how she knew she looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "it started with E and there's a picture of an elephant on the page."  When I told Bubby (a retired teacher and reading specialist) that she was reading but cheating a little by looking at the pictures, she looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "that's what they are supposed to do."  How was I supposed to know that?

According to the expert, Norah is currently reading at a first grade level.  I told you.  Genius.*

*We have never done a single flashcard, a second of homework, or drilled/quizzed her in any way.  We just sent her to a play based pre-school that integrates learning at all levels and then read to her each and every day.  She is starting to figure it out because she is interested and her brain is ready for it.  We are also employing the same concepts to help her do things like ride a bike.  At the rate she is going with that, she will be twenty-seven before she figures it out.  And will still need training wheels.

Side-by-Side

I was looking for something for work on an old flash drive this morning and found this cute photo of Norah.  Based on the date it was taken she was two years, one month, and three days old.  I did some quick math and figured out that the corresponding day for Lou to be the exact same age was Easter Sunday of this year, hence the photo on the right.  

They definitely came from the same gene pool.

Photo Shoot

Even though we don't celebrate Easter in a religious context, I love the idea of the Easter holiday as a celebration of spring and new beginnings.  When Kiki was here a few weeks ago, we found these ridiculously cute suits at Target for the boys and figured this would be the perfect occasion for them.  We tried to get them to wear the suits when Kiki was here but we made the mistake of waiting until the night before she left, right before dinner.  Suffice it to say, it was a no-go.  Amy brought Reid and Camilla over first thing this morning (first thing with a newborn being 10:30 am), we bribed them with jelly bellies and tried again.  I love having my Fridays off.  I don't know if I could ever give up my Fridays off.

Anyway, Norah was more than happy to oblige and wore her own Easter finest.  

These two are hilarious together.  In the past few weeks (knock on wood) they have gone from having a knock down drag out every 30 seconds to actually playing with each other.  I hope it lasts.

Unfortunately the suits weren't a great fit.  Lou's was way too big all around and Reid's pants were far too long.  Reid's outfit also had a bow tie, but we figured we were already pushing it.  I still think they looked adorable.  When Norah saw Reid she said, "You are so handsome, I want to marry you.  But, I won't marry you because if you marry your cousin you go to jail.  I don't want to go to jail."  I have no idea who told her this.  My money is on Bubby.

This might be my new favorite picture of Lou.  I think he had just swiped a jelly belly from Reid.

Always a delight.

I like the American Gothic feel of this one.

Norah's hair is losing some of its intense curliness and is slowly morphing into just being really wavy.  Her hair is currently a nightmare.  It's a battle to comb and she hates having it washed so much that I have taken to doing it maybe once a week.  When do kids learn how to wash their own hair?  I hope it's at 4 years, 10 months old.  

Lou had just gotten busted for something.

Amy wanted to try and get some shots of Camilla for her birth announcements.  I think there were some decent ones.  She was a trooper.  Later when I was changing her diaper she peed all over my bed and shot poop across the room.  I still like her.

I am not sure what we did before the ipad.  It allowed us a full 20 minutes to actually pay attention to Camilla.

Amy wanted to get at least one good shot of Camilla and Reid together.  He made it about as easy as you would imagine a two year old would.  There might have been more jelly bellies involved.  And maybe a time out.

Camilla got a costume change and Norah demanded some photos of the two of them together.

She's a sweet bunny, for sure.

Happy spring!

Snips and Clips

A round up of the last couple of weeks:

Lou's favorite color by far is purple.  He demands the purple plate at dinner, points out the color any chance he gets, and goes nuts when I wear my purple shirt to work.  So, of course, Norah desperately wanted to get him a purple shirt for his birthday.  It was really sweet and we searched high and low (and online) but no one makes a solid purple shirt for a toddler boy.  And so we got him a "girl" shirt.  It has darts in the front and capped sleeves and he looks adorable in it.

Norah got to meet Camilla when she was still in the hospital, which was the highlight of her life.

 A few weeks ago, Norah woke up in the middle of the night in hysterics.  She said it was because she thought the baby would be born and no one would pay any attention to her.  Totally weird, especially given the fact that she's never had even a moment of discord about her own brother.  Maybe because this baby is a girl?  I don't know.  Whatever it was it passed quickly and ever since Camilla arrived it has only been a great big love fest.

Louie did not get to go to the hospital (for the protection of all in the hospital), so he got to meet Camilla the afternoon she got home.  He was really into her and laughed and wanted to hold her feet.  Then he had a melt down about not getting to play with Reid's brand new garbage truck and we had to leave 10 minutes after arriving.

Lou's car seat got flipped forward the week before his birthday.  He loves facing forward and it's really nice to have him that way.  It's so much easier to count the school buses that go by.

Having a newborn around sure makes you realize how gigantic your toddler really is.

Lou goes to time out every day at school.  Usually it's because he's pushed someone, sometimes it's for hitting.  He just can't seem to deal when another kid gets in his space or wants something he has or had anytime in the preceding 10 minutes.  It is developmentally normal and I have been assured he's not getting kicked out but it is still frustrating and disconcerting.  It's terrible to be the parent of the hitter.

Norah does a lot of mediating between these two.  She eats it up.

She is very into putting together outfits for school.

Camilla is such a cute baby and, so far, seems super mellow.  I am sure her parents might disagree at 3:00 am, but in my world she is just about perfect.

Norah is going through a growth spurt.  She is eating like she's never eaten before and has finally cracked the elusive 40 lb mark.  This past week she's had some weird stuff going on with her belly and urinary system, but I am hoping it's just because her body is just not used to seeing all that food.

Kiki was in town to meet Camilla.

Lou is obsessed with the old Michael Jackson song "Beat It." I really need to get a video of him dancing to it.

See?  True love.

Norah got this cowboy hat from GG a few years ago and right now it fits Lou perfectly.  Sometimes he naps with it on.

The weather is so nice right now.  Mid 70's with a great breeze.  Since daylight savings we have been playing outside every night after dinner, mostly in the front with the sand table.  Soon there will be no more sand table play because Lou either dumps the sand in the grass or flings it into the air by the fistful.  I refuse to buy more cancer-free sand until he knocks it off.

Perfect apple eating weather.  It won't last.  All this week it is supposed to be mid to high 80's.  Yuck.

Norah drew this picture of me and BVZ.  He's picking me a flower.  My favorite part is his hair.

Kids table at breakfast.

Norah could not go to school on Friday because of the aforementioned stomach and bladder problems.  We were home bound so we made popcorn and watched Wreck-it-Ralph.  Twice.

Norah's latest and greatest triumph is that she can finally pump her legs on the swing.  She needs no help in getting on, swinging, and getting off.  This is particularly remarkable given the fact that she is the kid who won't try anything.  She is going to be seventeen and still using training wheels.

Just seems like such a big kid here.

 A big kid with cherry red toenails.

I always figured the best part of having two kids would be their ability to entertain each other and that is finally starting to come into fruition.  This morning I was making something to take to a friend who just had a baby and they played ballet school/day care in my bathroom for an HOUR.

Then Lou came out and grabbed a hot cookie sheet with his bare hand.  Norah got him a bag of ice and then insisted he sit on her lap until he felt better.  What a gal.

This kid is too cute.  I love having a baby around that I don't have to feed and don't ever see at 3:00 am.  LOVE.