Beach Babies

A good example of our crazy cold wet summer ... yesterday was our FIRST beach outing. And also a good example of the weirdness of three-year-olds. They always do the exact opposite of what you expect. So I guess I should expect it by now, huh?

Last time we were at the beach was a random day in April or so. The Atlantic Ocean in New Jersey that time of year is FREEZING. Yet Kiddle eventually made his way down to the water and would not come out. Seriously. He was blue and shivering, but he kept getting further and further in. Eventually we had to drag him away from the beach, with him screaming, "I GO WATER! I GO WATER! I GO WATER!" all the way to the car and all the way home.

So I was thrilled to finally make it to the beach yesterday, thinking that Kiddle would absolutely LOVE it this year. Silly me. He had a great time running around and digging in the sand. But he wanted NOTHING to do with the water. And if I went in just to rinse my feet off, he stood on the beach screaming, "NO MOMMY! GET OUT OF THE WATER!" Weird, weird, weird. The only thing I can attribute his fear to was how rough the surf was. The waves were pretty intense, and — as a child of the bathtub-water Gulf Coast — I can certainly understand how intimidating it can be.

This, of course, marked Bigga's very first beach trip. He was a trooper as usual, napping in the stroller and hanging out under the umbrella tent.


Want some chips to go with that sand?

Don't you just love summer?

This kid just might be from Oklahoma after all

Business in the front ...

... and a party in the back.

Two-Month Checkup

We had Bigga's checkup at the pediatrician today and he's still truckin' along in the weight gain. But he remains longer than he is wide, as I say, so he's good and healthy. But, boy, what a noggin!

Weight: 13 lb 1 oz (63rd percentile)
Length: 25 1/4 inches (95th)
Head: 41.5 cm (greater than 97th!!)

Compared to Kiddle at two months:

Weight: 12 lb 9 oz (52nd percentile — or 60th? did I use fractions or ounces in my notes? argh!)
Height: 23 inches (31st percentile)

Great report from the doctor. He's doing everything he's supposed to do and then some. She pulled him by the arms toward sitting to check his head control and said, "Oh! He thinks he's a three-month old!" I'll tell you, there might have been some disadvantages to (kind of) popping out a nine-pound-plus baby, but right now there just aren't any. I love that he's strong and easy to handle. No delicate flowers around here, no sirree.

Aside from the fact that she's really involved with and knowledgeable about the kids, I'm loving our new pediatrician for another reason ... she automatically vaccinates on an alternate schedule. Such a relief because, while I'm not anti-vaccine, I do worry about how much their new little systems are stressed with so many vaccinations at once. It means more trips to the doctor for us, but that's ok. I'm much more comfortable with this schedule than the regular one we followed with Kiddle.

Sprinkler Time

It took him a while, but Kiddle finally crossed that line into realizing it's actually FUN to get sprayed with cold water. His very first friend Max is in town from Tokyo for a few weeks and they had a great time this afternoon getting as wet as they possibly could.

Bigga G is in da house!

Extra Little no more. He's now Bigga Bit. An homage to Kiddle's original (and sometimes current) nickname of Little Bit. One day, when he's an infamous white rapper, he's gonna be so embarrassed when it comes out he's been known as Bigga G since he was a WEE LITTLE BABY.

Not so gangsta now, are you Bigga?

Running with scissors

So I was on the phone with my sister early this evening and around the corner from the dining room comes Kiddle — WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS IN HIS HAND. I jump up and gasp, "Where did you get those?!" as I dash past him to inspect for damage. This is what I found.

"Is that dog hair? (We don't have a dog.) What is that?! Oh. My. God. Tash, I gotta go ... KIDDLE'S JUST CUT HIS OWN HAIR!!"

Shockingly, thankfully you can barely tell what he did. Even in person it looks pretty good. Even more amazing considering how big that pile of hair is. And the irony of it all? I finally broke down and trimmed his bangs a few days ago. Now they're just layered, I suppose.

Please, sir, may I have some more?

I have a sneaking suspicion it might be time to move him into his 3-to-6 month wardrobe.

I can't imagine why I think that, though. Hmmm.

Two months old today

Lots of great progress in the last couple of weeks:

• His hair continues to fall out but is also starting to grow back in. No definitive colour direction yet, but I still think he'll be blond. Kiddle's blondness wasn't really apparent until after he hit six months.
• Eyebrows! So weird to notice one day that they were suddenly there.
• Great eye contact. He can hear my voice and then find my face. What a joy to see that big grin as he focuses in. Lots of cooing and chortling too.
• I finally dug out a couple of toys for him (curse of the second child ... oh, you want something to play with? hmmm ... ) and he's really gotten into batting at the duck chime on his playmat. I've been pretty impressed with his aim.
• Still eating and sleeping really well. He consistently does a seven-hour stretch and one night we even got 10 hours out of him.

Now, Kiddle was a good, good baby. Not the best sleeper (I think I was jiggling him to sleep already at this point), but didn't cry a lot, very smiley and happy, a good eater — once we got past our first two months of breastfeeding hell. But this kid? He's just so damn EASY, we're amazed. He's made our transition to a two-kid family really pretty stress-free. I'm almost holding my breath, waiting for something to change.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm trying not to screw him up.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

In a happy coincidence of events, Mr. P flew back in to LaGuardia this afternoon AND it's his dad's birthday, so I packed up the boys and met everyone in Queens for a little birthday celebration.

The not so happy part was that Kiddle fell asleep on the way over there. Normally that would be a positive thing since he still really can't handle going out to dinner without a nap. But this was one of those impossible-to-wake-up-from slumbers and, once he was finally up and relatively coherent, he was a completely grumpy-to-the-point-of-embarrassment BEAR. His immediate reaction to any and everything was "NOOOOOO!!!!" He seemed to have forgotten that he hadn't seen his dad in three days. And I had to drag him into the restaurant while he protested loudly that he wanted to stay OUTSIDE, MAMA!

Back to the positive side, at least we were at a tiny, neighborhood restaurant where Mr. P's parents are regulars (and Mr. P worked at in high school). And since we were there at 4:30 (yes, I said 4:30!), we were literally the only customers. There was absolutely no way Kiddle was going to sit at the table without a meltdown, so I finally just left him lying on floor by the front door. Eventually he got over himself and managed to join us for a bit.

I'm a firm believer that kids need to learn how to act properly in public. Although, I'll admit we've been debating if we should start bringing his little Leapster game while we're out to eat. CON: he's not gaining any dinner time skills; PRO: he's quiet, sitting in his seat, and I can actually enjoy my food. So it was more than a bit mortifying to have such an ill-behaved kid, but at that point I simply didn't care and I didn't want to turn Grandpa's birthday dinner into a major scene.

At least there weren't many witnesses.

Can it be true?

Are we really moving out of the dreaded newborn stage into real babyhood? I think we're so close I can almost taste it. Extra Little has added hints of cooing and laughing to his smiling, happy periods. He's definitely much more connected to the world around him and responds to voices (mine in particular, of course) and movement. Today he really got a kick out of Mr. P chasing Kiddle around the living room.

I'm sure this emerging personality has had a boost by my dad being here right now. He's been fantastic about hanging out with XL while I shuttle Kiddle around and get things done. He's even changed some diapers (non-poop only!) and attempted a bottle feeding. Extra Little is going to be very spoiled to having an adult doting over him at all times. Unfortunately it's back to life as a second child and lots of time in the Neglect-o-matic once my dad leaves on Friday.

Welcome to the world, little one! It's lovely to see your personality peeking through the squishy newborn facade.

For the birds.

One of my favourite recent additions to our county zoo has been the new bird exhibit. Simple concept: you can walk along a path filled with parakeets and other tiny birds. For a dollar you can buy a feed stick and entice a bird or two (or ten) with a snack for an up-close encounter. When it first opened, I wasn't sure how Kiddle would react, but he loves it. As long as the birds don't actually perch on his hand, that is.

Happy Fourth of July!

We celebrated a day early with Mr. P's family in Queens. His sister and her family are in from the West Coast this week, which means we finally got to meet sweet Mary Cate for the first time. Four months older than XL — and the only girl in the family so far. We hadn't seen them in over a year, so Kiddle really got his first taste of big-brotherhood now that Tag is actively in his business.

We spent a big chunk of the afternoon at the local playground. Very NYC with its black rubber surface, chainlink fence and giant dragon sprinkler (if only it was an open fire hydrant!), but a great park, really.

Beautiful Mary Cate.

Kiddle chillin' with the dragon.

Extra Little chillin' in the double wide.

The deluge continues ...

Well, I think we ended June with rain 27 out of 30 days and 10-plus inches instead of the usual three. And July is off to a horribly similar start. Wicked thunderstorm yesterday. And today? Here's a glimpse:

I love the pop-up can floating by. And you might not have noticed my neighbor trapped in his car across the street. Hee hee!

Rain, rain, go AWAY!!

And summer begins ...

It's June 28th. Summer would be practically over where I grew up, but around here it's just getting started. School didn't get out until this week and the town pool only opened on Father Day's weekend. Of course, no need for the pool when it's barely gotten out of the 70s so far and it's rained 25 out of 27 days so far this month. That's right ... IT'S RAINED ALMOST EVERY SINGLE GODDAMNED DAY IN JUNE. Seriously. Let me put it this way — I haven't switched my closet over to summer clothes yet.

Finally, FINALLY, we had our dear friends and neighbors over for a cookout last night. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I love, love, love having neighbors who are also friends. Kiddle, Jack and LK are the cutest little trio of three-year-olds. And I love relaxing under the soothing canopy of the 100-year-old dogwood tree with the adults, as the kids terrorize our backyard.

However... if I'd did this trek to the backyard once, I did it 50 times:

Over the years we've lived here, I've tried to make the set-up and execution of my backyard entertaining more efficient, but I simply can't avoid going in and out, up and down, down and up, out and in ... to the point of total exhaustion. MY NEXT HOUSE WILL HAVE A BACK DOOR RIGHT OFF THE KITCHEN! NO STAIRS PLEASE! Oh, and while I'm making requests, a fenced-in backyard to keep the kiddos contained without screaming, "Turn around! Back up the driveway RIGHT NOW!! Stay in the back!" over and over again. I want my outdoor entertaining to be as effortless as possible. Too much to ask?

Six Weeks Old Today

Oh, my lovely Extra Little! You've already been around for six whole weeks as of today. What a good, sweet baby you've been so far. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that you still spend most of your time sleeping and that we get good five-or-six-hour stretches of sleep most every night.

Your hair has already started falling out. Right now you and your daddy are competing for the title of Best Receding Hairline. Of course, your hair colour is still a big mystery. Is it going to grow back in blond like your brother? Or will you keep your current dark-brown-with-copper-undertones colour? Only time will tell (but we're all betting on blond).

I'm afraid you'll have to move on to three-to-six month clothes very soon. You're just too damn long for your current wardrobe. Especially since most of it was Kiddle's and has been washed and dried one zillion times.

The biggest change in the last two weeks? Your sweet smile has appeared ... and you're practically laughing (or so we tell ourselves, at least). But no change to your monkey toes. They're as long as ever!

"THE CALLER IS INSIDE THE HOUSE!"

My lord. I just had a classic horror movie sort of moment.

Kiddle was theoretically in bed and I was sitting peacefully on the couch with Extra Little ... when I hear a phone ringing. Not my landline. Not my cell phone. Not any of Kiddle's random toy phones. And it sounds like it's coming from UPSTAIRS.

Then I hear someone talking.

I creep up the stairs to check it out (I know ... that's the WRONG move to make in a horror movie). Of course, it's pitch black up there because Kiddle is supposed to be going to sleep so I can't see a damn thing. I turn on a light and peek into Kiddle's room. He's not in his bed, so my not-yet-adjusted eyes automatically go to his usual alternate location — under the chair. Then I hear this little voice floating out of the darkness, from the chair.

"I call numbers, Mommy!"

He had managed to call some random number. ON SPEAKERPHONE, I might add. And got the classic "Beep, beep, BEEP ... the number you're calling in not in service; please check the number and dial again." Jeez, Kiddle. Way to take 10 years off my life!

What the damn phone was doing in his room is beyond me.

Out here on my own...

We had Extra Little's two-weeks-and-change check-up at the pediatrician today. I could tell he'd filled out quite a bit over the last week or so, but I wasn't sure just how much weight he'd gained. I was simply hoping he'd gotten back to his birth weight of 9 pounds 4 ounces.

No worries. He's grown half an inch already and weighs 9 pounds 10 ounces. That's a big boy, huh? As my neighbor said, "He just doesn't look like a newborn at all. More like he's at least six weeks old." So true.

And on a side note, we went back to the doctor in the afternoon for Kiddle. I thought (or maybe hoped) he just had really bad allergies and that we needed to try him on a different medication. But, alas, no. He has a ear infection and mostly likely a sinus infection. So much for keeping the ugly germs away from Extra Little.

***

I've tried to be good about letting my body heal. Really, I have. But it's so much different this time because life with a 30 pound three-year-old just doesn't stop.

It was my second day on my own with both kids and it just about did me in: preschool to drop off Kiddle, the doctor for Extra Little's check-up, grocery store to replenish our milk and fruit supply, home to feed XL, preschool to pick up Kiddle, home for lunch, a second trip to the doctor for Kiddle, back home so I could change clothes (don't ask), Target (just as a massive downpour was starting, of course) to fill Kiddle's prescription, home to feed XL again, then over to my neighbor's backyard so Kiddle could jump on the trampoline and play with his friends. My house is a total disaster and I'm just too tired to care.

It's true what they say ... my mom doesn't live here. Too bad I'm the mom now and she's back in Oklahoma. This place was much neater when she was around!

Men in Trees

Kiddle and I have an understanding. I let him climb this tree whenever he wants and he promises he won't break his arm until he's four.

Oh yeah. That new kid? He's two weeks old today.

No more bun in the oven

Sorry for the disappearing act ... did you hear I had a baby? I promise I'll catch up soon with all sorts of ridiculous minutiae, but for now here's a link to my lovely doula's announcement about the kiddo.