Despite the decided lack of Spring-like weather and fertile natural rebirth that I consider Easter to be a celebration of, our Easter was rather delightful. Noah enjoyed hunting for eggs four times, and received a landslide of art supplies, toys and candy. We saw a bevy of family at two lovely gluttonous meals – and everyone seemed happy and to be having a fine time. I was very impressed by the fact that not only did my Dad hide eggs for Noah in 38 degree weather – he also had dyed them himself. And I was overjoyed watching Noah scampering around Grandma’s house with his cousins – those by blood, and those soon to be by marriage. It was really a nice day. Some folks dread the family functions, and I admit at times I have been in that camp. But with Noah I have a newfound appreciation for our family circle and how much love we get.
I have a bunch of pedestrian mis-matched stuff to mention, so please bear with me while I get some of this out there. First off I have to talk about something that has been causing me great agony – my hair. I got it cut a couple of weeks ago and though at first I didn’t mind it much, over time I’ve grown to hate it. And you know how when you get your haircut and noone comments on it you can tell it looks BAD – because if it looked good at all people would compliment you on it. There are a few problems. First off – I now have bangs. My problem with this is that bangs don’t work for me. By the end of the day they are oily and not lying correctly and I want nothing more than to get them out of my face. The second problem is that the cut is probably too long for my face shape, which is totally my fault because I’ve been hanging on to length as a novelty. The third issue is color – my hair has been it’s natural mousy brown for about two years now and I’m very sick of it. Because I never stopped nursing and I did a bunch of hair color/cancer research for a freelance client – I swore off dying my hair. And as I get older it gets more dark and mucky looking. I hate it. But I’m pregnant and afraid to do anything about it. Plus – it’s so pricey to get color and it’s a never-ending cycle of dying roots and whatnot. And speaking of pregnancy, color and hate – I’ll also mention that I’ve been meaning to whiten my teeth for three years now. I told myself I would do it as a reward for quitting smoking three years ago (YAY Me!) but because of the nursing and the chemicals I’ve kept putting it off. And after ten years of smoking they REALLY need it. REALLY. So yeah – I’m getting bigger by the minute, have bad skin, bad hair and yellow teeth. I’m a real winner.
On a more positive note – I’m very excited we made it on the list to join the Greensgrow CSA this year. With all the commentary (and blogs) I’ve read on the importance of eating more naturally and more locally – I think this is going to be a great step for us. Not only does the CSA provide fruit and greens – they also include milk, eggs, meat, fresh flowers, bread and the occasional local beer! It should be fun and challenging to figure out what we can make with everything we receive each week. I’ll keep you posted on any fun recipe discoveries.
I have a bunch of other stuff on the local front. A couple of weeks ago, thanks to all Mark’s efforts to help green our neighborhood, we got a street tree planted in front of our house. Right now Mr. Tree looks like a large twig, but hopefully he’ll soon be far more picturesque. Mark is doing a fine job thus far giving him 15 gallons of water every Saturday – and I think that is a huge accomplishment because every plant I’ve ever had died due to lack of water. This is of course why I am not scooping up a garden plot in our community garden at the end of the street. Mark said “Don’t you want to teach Noah how to garden?” My reply was “As soon as someone shows me, I’ll be happy to do so. Plus – I’ve never gardened before and I’m not going to start the summer I’m 8 months pregnant!” However we did help clean the garden this past Saturday, so hopefully just helping the other gardeners out will be a good lesson. Anything else community related? Oh – we’re supporting Matt Ruben for Philadelphia City Council at Large. He did an incredibly job as the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association president – and I know he’d be a great advocate for change on the City Council. So if you're voting in the Philadelphia primaries I highly recommend him.
Do I sound like some sort of developing urban hippie? We’ve just tried to become more aware and involved since Noah was born – and honestly Mark does the bulk of the legwork on most stuff. But I try to be moderate in most things – striving to be thoughtful but not extremist. But then again maybe it’s ridiculous to give your kid very watered down organic apple juice and then feed him Twizzlers. Who knows? I guess we’re all just trying our best.
Hmmm. What else? Noah’s art class ends next week. We’ll be sad to see it go. He really loved it. For his next class I’m planning to enroll him in swimming lessons at the YMCA. That should get him water ready for our beach trip at the end of June. And I'm in a tizzy over considering whether to enroll him in some sort of limited preschool program in the Fall or just hold off - but that's a whole other post.
OH the baby! I’ve dreaded mentioning this because it’s such a minefield and though I want to hear opinions, I also don’t. But here it is. NAMES. We are still at a loss for a baby name for this boy. For the longest time Ray was at the top of our list – not Raymond, just Ray – and I still really like that. But I’m not feeling convinced. What do you think? Somehow completely independent of any connection to Billy Ray Cyrus (I SWEAR!) I also like Cyrus – Cy for short. I picked it up from Cy Tolliver on Deadwood – and I like that Cyrus means “the sun,” but anytime I mention it to people I don’t get a very positive response. Thoughts? Also on my list, though not necessarily Mark’s – are Quinn, Luke, Gabriel, Konrad, Lee, Reed, Dean, Alden, and Glenn. Though Mark has specifically said we should not pick another biblical name so as not to convince others we are Bible thumpers – and that he doesn’t like Glenn or Dean. I like Konrad, it’s a family name, but I don’t want my boy called Connie. Input? I can’t promise I will take your opinions as gospel, but I will consider them.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Doctor Bozo STAT
Typically I schedule my prenatal checkups very early in the morning so Mark can go into work a little late and stay home with Noah. I know he'd be an angel at the doc office, it's just easier not to have to take him. And it's one of the few times I get to wander around alone - which feels sort of weird and timewarpy since my doctor's office is in the same building that housed my former place of employment. Anywho - this week my appt. got rescheduled to a later time so I took Master Noah with me. He was very excited to come along and very well behaved. However he eyed me suspiciously when I took him into the bathroom with me and then I peed in a cup. I explained that the pee was another way the doctor used to check that both me and the baby were healthy - and that seemed to satisfy him a bit. After my checkup and a run around Washington Square I took Noah to the Gallery to have his photo taken with the Easter Bunny. We got there at 10:50 AM and the sign said the Bunny we would be in at 11 AM. So imagine my surprise, disbelief and frustration when it was 40 minutes until we got to sit with said Bunny - and we were the first photo taken! The kids running the booth came in late, got McDonalds, chatted and fielded many calls on their cells before one of them scurried off to get the damn costume on. (You see Santa has to be an older guy, who talks to the kids and is personable -but any schmoe can don a bunny suit and sit silently in a chair while kids sit on him.) Seething though I was on the inside I kept cool and explained to Noah that the bunny was late, maybe he had to go potty. At which point Noah asked me "Does he have to pee in a cup?"
And the results of said Doc visit were mixed. Things seem very good (good ultrasound, good quad screen, good growth rate, good heart beat) except for my iron. My levels are still weird - and the two blood tests they have already done are odd and inconclusive so I have to go and get another test series. Not sure what they are looking for, and not sure I want to know unless they find something bad. Also Noah was really pleased because the Doc let him help by allowing him to hold the fetal heartrate monitor. It was super cute. He also keeps informing me and others that pregnant women are very tired because it's hard work to grow a baby in your belly.
I've mentioned it a million times - I gained 75 pounds when pregnant with Noah. And though I started out 10 pounds heavier this time, I've only gained 18 pounds thus far and therefore hopefully I'll complete this pregnancy with less than a 40 pound total weight gain. So though I'm not a small pregnant woman (or a small woman EVER) I'm not HUGE. So imagine my surprise when I had this exchange last week: "Nicole, you're really looking alot bigger all of a sudden." "Yeah - I just sort of popped out suddenly. He's getting bigger and bigger." "When are you due?" "August first." "OHMIGOD! THAT LONG??? WOW." "Ummm... yup...." WHAT person in their right mind thinks that this is an appropriate response? WHY on God's green earth do people assume it's peachy keen to talk to a pregnant woman about how large she is? Seriously. These people must be stopped.
Other super exciting news: THE CIRCUS IS COMING TO TOWN! I was so thrilled when Mark informed me that I almost peed my pants. We immediately bought tickets for opening night in two weeks. I hope Noah loves it as much as I think he will.
I still get Baby Center emails about Noah's development. These things seem ridiculously rigged to make you think your child is a genius. The one I got yesterday said about my 29 month old child: "Conversations with your child are a wonderful opportunity to help build her verbal skills. For instance, if she says 'Car go,' you might say, 'Yes, that red car is going down the street very quickly.' She won't be able to imitate your bigger words or complex sentences just yet, but she's learning from your example." CAR GO! ARE YOU SERIOUS? My kid is saying things like "Where is my water? You usually put it on the dresser." I mean at this point there is little Noah doesn't understand, and if he doesn't grasp a word he asks for clarification. In fact I was saying that last sentence verbatim to Mark last night and Noah said "What is clarification?" Of course the email also said he should be able to put on two articles of clothing himself - and since I've not been prompting him to do that at all he hasn't a clue.
And it seems like Noah has come down with a little something. What - I have no idea. He's running a bit of a temperature and he seems sluggish, but he has no other symptoms as of yet. Whatever it is I hope it's fast and relatively painless for all.
And the results of said Doc visit were mixed. Things seem very good (good ultrasound, good quad screen, good growth rate, good heart beat) except for my iron. My levels are still weird - and the two blood tests they have already done are odd and inconclusive so I have to go and get another test series. Not sure what they are looking for, and not sure I want to know unless they find something bad. Also Noah was really pleased because the Doc let him help by allowing him to hold the fetal heartrate monitor. It was super cute. He also keeps informing me and others that pregnant women are very tired because it's hard work to grow a baby in your belly.
I've mentioned it a million times - I gained 75 pounds when pregnant with Noah. And though I started out 10 pounds heavier this time, I've only gained 18 pounds thus far and therefore hopefully I'll complete this pregnancy with less than a 40 pound total weight gain. So though I'm not a small pregnant woman (or a small woman EVER) I'm not HUGE. So imagine my surprise when I had this exchange last week: "Nicole, you're really looking alot bigger all of a sudden." "Yeah - I just sort of popped out suddenly. He's getting bigger and bigger." "When are you due?" "August first." "OHMIGOD! THAT LONG??? WOW." "Ummm... yup...." WHAT person in their right mind thinks that this is an appropriate response? WHY on God's green earth do people assume it's peachy keen to talk to a pregnant woman about how large she is? Seriously. These people must be stopped.
Other super exciting news: THE CIRCUS IS COMING TO TOWN! I was so thrilled when Mark informed me that I almost peed my pants. We immediately bought tickets for opening night in two weeks. I hope Noah loves it as much as I think he will.
I still get Baby Center emails about Noah's development. These things seem ridiculously rigged to make you think your child is a genius. The one I got yesterday said about my 29 month old child: "Conversations with your child are a wonderful opportunity to help build her verbal skills. For instance, if she says 'Car go,' you might say, 'Yes, that red car is going down the street very quickly.' She won't be able to imitate your bigger words or complex sentences just yet, but she's learning from your example." CAR GO! ARE YOU SERIOUS? My kid is saying things like "Where is my water? You usually put it on the dresser." I mean at this point there is little Noah doesn't understand, and if he doesn't grasp a word he asks for clarification. In fact I was saying that last sentence verbatim to Mark last night and Noah said "What is clarification?" Of course the email also said he should be able to put on two articles of clothing himself - and since I've not been prompting him to do that at all he hasn't a clue.
And it seems like Noah has come down with a little something. What - I have no idea. He's running a bit of a temperature and he seems sluggish, but he has no other symptoms as of yet. Whatever it is I hope it's fast and relatively painless for all.
Hippity Hoppity
We made an impromptu visit to see the Easter Bunny after my Doc appt. on Tuesday. Noah was totally at ease about sitting on his lap. His observations were as follows "He was a very nice bunny," "The Easter Bunny does not talk," and "I didn't get any candy." Of course we then made a stop at CVS where I procured the lad a small chocolate bunny - because I'm soft like that.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Showman
Noah’s new obsession is the circus. We read a circus counting book at playgroup the week before last and ever since we’ve heard constant talk of clowns, fire eaters, tight rope walkers, and trapeze artists. And once again I’m lending fuel to the fire with the Youtube clips. I love having access to the internet to give him more knowledge on the things he shows interest in – but it means I’m also kicking myself when he asks to see them nine million times. I can’t sit in front of the computer without him saying “I want to see something.” Of course it isn’t just the online video clips that use to encourage whatever short-lived fascination he is harboring – we act things out, look for things on TV (when the hell is Cirque coming back on Bravo), and read any books we can get our hands on. Last night I ordered him an “All About the Circus” DVD. If it gets here in time it will go in his Easter basket along with a bunch of art supplies. Rather than loading up on a million chocolates and jelly beans, Noah’s getting stickers, paints, beads, paper and Play Doh. And just a little bit of candy to make it more interesting. We dyed some eggs today with Wendy and Victor but since Noah wanted to eat them all right away, we already have plans to dye more before the end of the week. And Easter plans? We’re once again having two dinners – at my Dad’s at noon and at my Mom’s place (with the in-laws) at 4pm. It should be a hectic but very fun day.
Oh – back to the little entertainer. We still have the occasional lion or dragon dance but the bulk of our time is spent dancing like clowns or balancing on things like tightrope walkers. The thing that kills me is that the boy is constantly putting on a show – and exclaiming “Audience clap!” If I ask him to say “Hello” to someone he doesn’t know well he’ll hang his head, yet he’ll walk up to complete strangers and say “I’m a clown” and start dancing.
What else is going on around here? I can’t think of too much. Spending lots of time out of doors, with Noah’s pals, with family. Ya know - the good stuff. The boy is growing – his 2T clothes are too small, yet the 3Ts are ginormous. He’s also been dropping a lot of naps lately. He seems to manage without for a day or two but on the third day he’s exhausted. He must have told me eight times this morning that he was sleepy and he went down this afternoon like a ton of bricks. But it seems a near certainty that naps will soon be a thing of the past, and I’m already mourning them.
I’ve been pricing and comparing bunk beds for Noah’s room. I figure with two boys they’re a good thing to have since I’ve heard lots of siblings actually prefer to sleep in the same room. Plus they’re good for sleepovers and whatnot. Not to mention that I wanted one desperately when I was a kid. I’m leaning towards getting him a model with a full mattress on the bottom and a single on the top. We have both size mattresses and we have to do something with the full mattress that was moved to “OUR ROOM” on the third floor when we move our queen mattress back up there from the “guest room” where we have been sleeping to be closer to Noah. And with the babies room as the former guest room we’d like to eventually put a futon for guests in the office. In fact I realized yesterday that we’ll have to get that sooner rather than later since Grandma will need a place to sleep when she comes to stay with Noah when the baby is being born. You following this? I barely am. I have the IQ of a flea – blame it on pregnancy stupidity. After telling Noah that a daffodil was a dandelion it took me ten minutes after realizing that wasn’t right to think of the word for daffodil. And this rambling post is a mess.
I’m looking forward to my OB checkup tomorrow – I like knowing everything seems copasetic. Gestation seems to be going pretty well. I feel much more energetic, which means I overdo it until I’m completely wiped out – but that’s just the price of doing business. The only thing that’s getting on my nerves is all this round ligament pain. I constantly feel like my left leg is going to just fall out of its hip socket.
I know – you want cute anecdotes. And I should have a million but I haven’t been good about taking notes lately. I’ll have some soon. I promise. That is if I can remember how to string words together.
Oh – back to the little entertainer. We still have the occasional lion or dragon dance but the bulk of our time is spent dancing like clowns or balancing on things like tightrope walkers. The thing that kills me is that the boy is constantly putting on a show – and exclaiming “Audience clap!” If I ask him to say “Hello” to someone he doesn’t know well he’ll hang his head, yet he’ll walk up to complete strangers and say “I’m a clown” and start dancing.
What else is going on around here? I can’t think of too much. Spending lots of time out of doors, with Noah’s pals, with family. Ya know - the good stuff. The boy is growing – his 2T clothes are too small, yet the 3Ts are ginormous. He’s also been dropping a lot of naps lately. He seems to manage without for a day or two but on the third day he’s exhausted. He must have told me eight times this morning that he was sleepy and he went down this afternoon like a ton of bricks. But it seems a near certainty that naps will soon be a thing of the past, and I’m already mourning them.
I’ve been pricing and comparing bunk beds for Noah’s room. I figure with two boys they’re a good thing to have since I’ve heard lots of siblings actually prefer to sleep in the same room. Plus they’re good for sleepovers and whatnot. Not to mention that I wanted one desperately when I was a kid. I’m leaning towards getting him a model with a full mattress on the bottom and a single on the top. We have both size mattresses and we have to do something with the full mattress that was moved to “OUR ROOM” on the third floor when we move our queen mattress back up there from the “guest room” where we have been sleeping to be closer to Noah. And with the babies room as the former guest room we’d like to eventually put a futon for guests in the office. In fact I realized yesterday that we’ll have to get that sooner rather than later since Grandma will need a place to sleep when she comes to stay with Noah when the baby is being born. You following this? I barely am. I have the IQ of a flea – blame it on pregnancy stupidity. After telling Noah that a daffodil was a dandelion it took me ten minutes after realizing that wasn’t right to think of the word for daffodil. And this rambling post is a mess.
I’m looking forward to my OB checkup tomorrow – I like knowing everything seems copasetic. Gestation seems to be going pretty well. I feel much more energetic, which means I overdo it until I’m completely wiped out – but that’s just the price of doing business. The only thing that’s getting on my nerves is all this round ligament pain. I constantly feel like my left leg is going to just fall out of its hip socket.
I know – you want cute anecdotes. And I should have a million but I haven’t been good about taking notes lately. I’ll have some soon. I promise. That is if I can remember how to string words together.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Singing, swinging and mingling
He writes the songs that make the whole world sing!
Ms. Janette gave Noah his first trapeze lesson on Tuesday night. It's just a matter of time before he's a Cirque cast member, and also the tallest person recorded doing trapeze.
Our neighborhood playgroup sits outside observing the main event - the TRASH TRUCK! And yes, we have a neighborhood nudist.
A breath of fresh air
Last week we got a gust of some warm weather and we were determined to enjoy every minute of it. Just knowing that spring-like weather is on the horizon makes everything seem brighter and more vibrant.Mark and Noah jump around at Penn Treaty Park.
Noah and Victor enjoy some sliding time at a playground near the Art Museum.
Noah dragon dances in the backyard, while Ella (the little one I watch on Wednesdays) leaps for joy.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Tip of the iceberg
I’ve been trying to load new pictures on the blog for the last week but having no luck. I adored the ease of Hello’s Bloggerbot – but now that I have to use Blogger to put my pictures up I’m having such issues. Any bloggers have suggestions?
Sunday was a great success. Everything went as smooth as silk. Noah was on his best behavior for Daddy in the car, and had a blast playing dress-up with Nana at Pop Pop’s place. I remained in fantasy land while they were away. I saw The Queen which was enjoyable, had a quick salad and then watched Pan’s Labyrinth which was STUNNING – and got home ten minutes after the boys. Easy peasy.
We have another momentous occasion on the horizon. Tomorrow night I have the amazing good fortune (and stellar mother) to go see Spamalot – and as a result Mark will be putting Noah to bed for the first time EVER. Even though it’s been ages since I nursed him to sleep at bedtime, Noah was just so accustomed to me staying with him until he fell asleep that to even suggest Daddy put him to bed would get you an earful. But he’s been warned and so far he seems okay with it. Worse comes to worse they are both still awake when I get home after 11. We’ll see what happens.
In the last month Noah has started to blossom a bit socially. He’s gotten a lot less shy with his playmates, is playing more interactively and has gotten a bit more assertive when he needs to be. Rather than just pouting and allowing another child to take a toy out of his hands, he will now say “I was playing with that” and look to an adult to intervene. Thankfully he still wouldn’t DARE grab another kid’s toy, he’s very comfortable with appropriate adult mediation and he’s very capable of sharing. He’s just becoming a little less of a doormat – which is great.
Oh and A BOY! As you know we are having another boy. The gender of a child is a 50/50 proposition (hopefully) and I would probably have been feeling both a bit excited and a bit disappointed either way. I’d been feeling a bit convinced I was having a girl since my pregnancy was feeling so different and I admit I was a bit excited (and daunted) at the idea of raising a girl, but I’m also quite excited and relieved to be having another boy. Many folks say “So now you have to try again for a girl!” And though I always thought I wanted three – I now have my doubts. And they are primarily financial. I’d like to envision us taking our kids to see plays, to do extra activities, to travel, etc. and that seems near impossible to afford with three. But who knows. The heart wants what it wants, and sometimes that’s stronger than better judgment. It saddens me so to think that this is my last pregnancy – and I’ve always thought of my self as an older woman surrounded by my BIG family – so who knows. (Did I say that already?) Maybe we’ll win the lottery or something. The baby lottery. Right now we'll concentrate on birthing and raising number two.
I have more cute and clever Noah things to report, but I need a nap. Seriously. And SOMEDAY I’ll get some new photos up. Sheesh.
Sunday was a great success. Everything went as smooth as silk. Noah was on his best behavior for Daddy in the car, and had a blast playing dress-up with Nana at Pop Pop’s place. I remained in fantasy land while they were away. I saw The Queen which was enjoyable, had a quick salad and then watched Pan’s Labyrinth which was STUNNING – and got home ten minutes after the boys. Easy peasy.
We have another momentous occasion on the horizon. Tomorrow night I have the amazing good fortune (and stellar mother) to go see Spamalot – and as a result Mark will be putting Noah to bed for the first time EVER. Even though it’s been ages since I nursed him to sleep at bedtime, Noah was just so accustomed to me staying with him until he fell asleep that to even suggest Daddy put him to bed would get you an earful. But he’s been warned and so far he seems okay with it. Worse comes to worse they are both still awake when I get home after 11. We’ll see what happens.
In the last month Noah has started to blossom a bit socially. He’s gotten a lot less shy with his playmates, is playing more interactively and has gotten a bit more assertive when he needs to be. Rather than just pouting and allowing another child to take a toy out of his hands, he will now say “I was playing with that” and look to an adult to intervene. Thankfully he still wouldn’t DARE grab another kid’s toy, he’s very comfortable with appropriate adult mediation and he’s very capable of sharing. He’s just becoming a little less of a doormat – which is great.
Oh and A BOY! As you know we are having another boy. The gender of a child is a 50/50 proposition (hopefully) and I would probably have been feeling both a bit excited and a bit disappointed either way. I’d been feeling a bit convinced I was having a girl since my pregnancy was feeling so different and I admit I was a bit excited (and daunted) at the idea of raising a girl, but I’m also quite excited and relieved to be having another boy. Many folks say “So now you have to try again for a girl!” And though I always thought I wanted three – I now have my doubts. And they are primarily financial. I’d like to envision us taking our kids to see plays, to do extra activities, to travel, etc. and that seems near impossible to afford with three. But who knows. The heart wants what it wants, and sometimes that’s stronger than better judgment. It saddens me so to think that this is my last pregnancy – and I’ve always thought of my self as an older woman surrounded by my BIG family – so who knows. (Did I say that already?) Maybe we’ll win the lottery or something. The baby lottery. Right now we'll concentrate on birthing and raising number two.
I have more cute and clever Noah things to report, but I need a nap. Seriously. And SOMEDAY I’ll get some new photos up. Sheesh.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Suspension of disbelief
I don’t much enjoy alone time. It’s how I’ve always been. And I’ve had plenty of it – being on my own, living on my own in the years before Mark. To me alone time is good for reading, and that’s about it. I’d much rather be with the ones I love – sharing my experiences makes them that much richer. Sometimes I feel like the years I spent alone didn’t really happen. If I’ve lost touch with the friends I’ve had at a certain time it makes me feel like that period happened to someone else because I can’t exchange the memories with a friend. My years at University of Pittsburgh, my living in London – was that me? I can barely recall it since I don’t talk with anyone that can spark the memories.
Everyone says Moms need alone time – and I understand why generally that’s true. But I also realize every Mom is different and needs different things. That being said – today I have some alone time. 6 hours of it. I’ve not had that many waking hours to myself since Noah was born – not because I couldn’t have had it but because I didn’t really want it. But today Mark took Noah to visit Nana and Pop Pop. It’s their first road trip without me – and I’m trying to hold it together. Mostly because I fear fatal car accidents more than anything else. But this trip needs to happen – because Noah and Mark need some time with just each other. A new baby is coming and with two kids dividing and conquering is a necessary method of pareanting. Noah needs to adapt to spending time alone with Dad – and Dad too. Oh, and me too.
So here I am – worrying about my boys on the road. Other than that, I know they're fine. In the past few months their bond has really flourished. Noah didn’t squawk once about leaving Mom behind, he was excited to go on a trip with his Daddy. I’m the one most at a loss. So what am I going to do with my alone time? I’m headed to the theater all by myself to see a double feature. I could have invited a friend to join me – but I didn’t want anyone judging me for feeling worried or eating too much popcorn, didn’t want to have to pick out movies with someone else, or work around anyone else’s schedule. Yet being in the movies isn’t really like being alone – it’s being wrapped up in someone else’s experience. And today I could REALLY use the distraction.
Everyone says Moms need alone time – and I understand why generally that’s true. But I also realize every Mom is different and needs different things. That being said – today I have some alone time. 6 hours of it. I’ve not had that many waking hours to myself since Noah was born – not because I couldn’t have had it but because I didn’t really want it. But today Mark took Noah to visit Nana and Pop Pop. It’s their first road trip without me – and I’m trying to hold it together. Mostly because I fear fatal car accidents more than anything else. But this trip needs to happen – because Noah and Mark need some time with just each other. A new baby is coming and with two kids dividing and conquering is a necessary method of pareanting. Noah needs to adapt to spending time alone with Dad – and Dad too. Oh, and me too.
So here I am – worrying about my boys on the road. Other than that, I know they're fine. In the past few months their bond has really flourished. Noah didn’t squawk once about leaving Mom behind, he was excited to go on a trip with his Daddy. I’m the one most at a loss. So what am I going to do with my alone time? I’m headed to the theater all by myself to see a double feature. I could have invited a friend to join me – but I didn’t want anyone judging me for feeling worried or eating too much popcorn, didn’t want to have to pick out movies with someone else, or work around anyone else’s schedule. Yet being in the movies isn’t really like being alone – it’s being wrapped up in someone else’s experience. And today I could REALLY use the distraction.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
ROAR!
I took Noah to The Philadelphia Flower Show for a few hours this evening. Mostly I just followed him around reminding him he couldn't walk on the exhibits - but it was still a good experience. I really enjoy taking him out into the world and showing him new things. It's fun to see him wide eyed aand enthusiastic when he experiences something new. Of course he was a little disappointed at first because he thought The Flower Show would be more of a "SHOW" and less a bunch of flowers. Luckily however the theme was Ireland this year and they had an Irish dancing performance which fit the bill. It diverted him briefly from dancing around the exhibition floor doing his Chinese Lion Dance - a pose from which you see here. His favorite part of the evening however was the Subaru SUV he got to sit in and pretend to drive on the show room floor. Maybe he would have preferred going to The Car Show.
Snippets and tidbits
- As I’ve said before I’m a Stay-At-Home-Mom not a Stay-At-Home-Maid and Mark does more than his fair share of chores around the house. In fact we have things pretty much divided up evenly, though I swear sometimes he cleans more than I do. Apparently I’m not the only one. I do all the cooking at our house since Mark’s not got much experience aside from canned soup and pasta and as a result Mark does almost all of the dishes. One afternoon this week after Noah and I made brownies I was rinsing out the batter bowl in the sink. Noah asked me what I was doing and when I told him I was washing out a dish he said “Like Daddy does?” I chuckled and said “Yes. Like Daddy does. But Mama does dishes sometimes too.” To which Noah responded “That funny Mama.”
- Ever since we happened upon the Chinese lion dancing in Chinatown on Sunday, it’s all Noah can talk about. We’ve watched videos on Youtube a million times, and we just keep dancing, dancing, dancing.
- At the El’s birthday party a clown gave Noah a balloon twisted into the shape of a teddy bear. It’s actually pretty remarkable. The other day Noah picked it up upside down and pointed to the end of the balloon knot which is used for the bear’s nose and asked what it was. When I told him it was the nose he said “I thought it was his penis.”
- This weekend Mark spent an hour fashioning a Play Doh universe with Noah. The game included making spaceships and space men and then introducing the space men to all sorts of earthly Play Doh delights like ice cream, banancas and dogs. On Monday morning after breakfast Noah asked to play Play Doh again, but this time he was stuck with Mama. After many failed attempts and much hemming and hawing I had to call Mark at work to ask him to instruct me in the construction of a proper spaceship. I just wasn’t doing it RIGHT.
- As I’ve mentioned before Noah has two TV times – one every morning while I shower, and one most afternoons while I prepare dinner. He typically watches Sesame Street in the morning, with the occasional change up to Zooboomafoo. In the afternoon it’s almost always Jack’s Big Music Show – and though I think the show is great, even I’m getting sick of it. For quite some time I’ve been thinking Noah would probably like Mr. Rogers, but curiously there aren’t any episodes on On Demand, and aside from things I DVR that is the only way we watch TV. So last week I started recording Mr. Rogers, and Noah adores it. I mean how could he not – there is a trolley. But it really is right up his alley since it’s real people and puppets – and I love all the real world knowledge stuff about people in the neighborhood, jobs, feelings and whatnot. GOD does it bring back memories.
- Art class continues to be a big hit. This week they worked with curvy lines. The coolest of these projects had the kids painting with marbles. We put a sheet of paper in these plastic bins, and then the kids were given a paper plate of paint on which they could roll marbles and then put them on the paper and roll them around. Noah took it to another level when he poured the entire plate of paint directly into the plastic bin – I couldn’t stop laughing. And though the paper was soaking wet with paint, and may have never dried properly, by the end the design looked incredibly cool. He’s a visionary.
- On Monday night we went to Target to pick up a few things, which of course turned into a few million things. When we were leaving the store and the automatic door opened we were greeted by a rather hostile wind. It took my 8 pack of papertowels and threw them off the cart. And Noah, who HATES wind, started screaming bloody murder and crying, since obviously we were all going to die. I hustled him into the car quickly and then went to collecting all our stuff up. While I was stepping away from the car Noah cried out desperately “Mama! Get the paper towels!”
- Noah continues to be a very musical boy. He’s always singing, sometimes real songs and also just singing his words and making stuff up. We’ve been spending a great deal of time recently listening to the Big Band & Swing channel on Music Choice – it’s really fun upbeat listening for us both. And Noah has become familiar with a few of the bigger hits – most notably “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree.” He likes it so much I had Mark download a version by Glenn Miller. Every once in awhile I’ll catch him singing “Til I come marching home.” My other favorite little song tidbit that keeps popping up is courtesy of his Dad. Noah was playing with his plastic dinosaurs on a plastic illustrated backdrop to which he referred to as the jungle. Which of course led Mark to sing a bit of “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses – and now quite often I catch Noah singing about being in the jungle, very much in keeping with Axl.
- As the weeks go by Noah gets more interested and invested in the idea of the baby in Mama’s belly. Since I recently explained to him that the baby eats what Mama eats, he will occasionally hand me something like a grape and say “The baby wants a grape, Mama.” And I nearly cried last night when he was talking to the baby and in addition to his normal “Nice to meet you baby. I love you. When are you coming out?” he added “Be safe for me!”
- Ever since we happened upon the Chinese lion dancing in Chinatown on Sunday, it’s all Noah can talk about. We’ve watched videos on Youtube a million times, and we just keep dancing, dancing, dancing.
- At the El’s birthday party a clown gave Noah a balloon twisted into the shape of a teddy bear. It’s actually pretty remarkable. The other day Noah picked it up upside down and pointed to the end of the balloon knot which is used for the bear’s nose and asked what it was. When I told him it was the nose he said “I thought it was his penis.”
- This weekend Mark spent an hour fashioning a Play Doh universe with Noah. The game included making spaceships and space men and then introducing the space men to all sorts of earthly Play Doh delights like ice cream, banancas and dogs. On Monday morning after breakfast Noah asked to play Play Doh again, but this time he was stuck with Mama. After many failed attempts and much hemming and hawing I had to call Mark at work to ask him to instruct me in the construction of a proper spaceship. I just wasn’t doing it RIGHT.
- As I’ve mentioned before Noah has two TV times – one every morning while I shower, and one most afternoons while I prepare dinner. He typically watches Sesame Street in the morning, with the occasional change up to Zooboomafoo. In the afternoon it’s almost always Jack’s Big Music Show – and though I think the show is great, even I’m getting sick of it. For quite some time I’ve been thinking Noah would probably like Mr. Rogers, but curiously there aren’t any episodes on On Demand, and aside from things I DVR that is the only way we watch TV. So last week I started recording Mr. Rogers, and Noah adores it. I mean how could he not – there is a trolley. But it really is right up his alley since it’s real people and puppets – and I love all the real world knowledge stuff about people in the neighborhood, jobs, feelings and whatnot. GOD does it bring back memories.
- Art class continues to be a big hit. This week they worked with curvy lines. The coolest of these projects had the kids painting with marbles. We put a sheet of paper in these plastic bins, and then the kids were given a paper plate of paint on which they could roll marbles and then put them on the paper and roll them around. Noah took it to another level when he poured the entire plate of paint directly into the plastic bin – I couldn’t stop laughing. And though the paper was soaking wet with paint, and may have never dried properly, by the end the design looked incredibly cool. He’s a visionary.
- On Monday night we went to Target to pick up a few things, which of course turned into a few million things. When we were leaving the store and the automatic door opened we were greeted by a rather hostile wind. It took my 8 pack of papertowels and threw them off the cart. And Noah, who HATES wind, started screaming bloody murder and crying, since obviously we were all going to die. I hustled him into the car quickly and then went to collecting all our stuff up. While I was stepping away from the car Noah cried out desperately “Mama! Get the paper towels!”
- Noah continues to be a very musical boy. He’s always singing, sometimes real songs and also just singing his words and making stuff up. We’ve been spending a great deal of time recently listening to the Big Band & Swing channel on Music Choice – it’s really fun upbeat listening for us both. And Noah has become familiar with a few of the bigger hits – most notably “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree.” He likes it so much I had Mark download a version by Glenn Miller. Every once in awhile I’ll catch him singing “Til I come marching home.” My other favorite little song tidbit that keeps popping up is courtesy of his Dad. Noah was playing with his plastic dinosaurs on a plastic illustrated backdrop to which he referred to as the jungle. Which of course led Mark to sing a bit of “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses – and now quite often I catch Noah singing about being in the jungle, very much in keeping with Axl.
- As the weeks go by Noah gets more interested and invested in the idea of the baby in Mama’s belly. Since I recently explained to him that the baby eats what Mama eats, he will occasionally hand me something like a grape and say “The baby wants a grape, Mama.” And I nearly cried last night when he was talking to the baby and in addition to his normal “Nice to meet you baby. I love you. When are you coming out?” he added “Be safe for me!”
Sunday, March 04, 2007
What? Me?
So I’ve been kind up until now and haven’t mentioned the headaches. The migraines. The ones I’m getting almost every day – and even when I don’t have a full blown one I still have a knot of pressure behind my right eye that feels like someone deposited some buckshot in there. Luckily I’m not the vomiting migraine sort. Just the blinding blurry vision, splitting pain and sensitivity to light sort. So not SO bad. Sources have been consulted and yes, these are a pregnancy symptom though I did not experience them last time. Fun. However I can try to avoid common trigger foods that may or may not be contributing to my headaches – peanut butter, dairy, yeast, beans, bananas, avocados, and chocolate. Um… right. Oh and today I overextended myself and hurt my pelvis muscles, so severely at first that I cried because I was worried it was going to cause a serious problem. I’m way better now, but that was scary. Need to knock that off. This pregnancy as a whole seems more difficult than the last, which aside from being voraciously hungry and having some mood swings was pretty pleasant. But maybe I’m just about to turn a corner.
As you know I have an advanced degree in worry. Last time I worried about being inexperienced at caring for a baby, being ill suited for it, going batty being at home and being apt to forget I had a baby and leave it in public places and in harms way. Luckily those fears are resolved, mostly. Now I can concentrate on other things like how hard it would be to raise a girl in our over-sexed society, how we’re poisoning our children with plastics, how I’m going to make these two the bestest and most closest siblings ever, how to make them not hate me and how I’m ever going to balance the needs of two children and ever get any sleep EVER. So ain’t no big thang.
Despite all the time I’ve needed to ferret out for the headaches and the worrying, we’ve actually had a really pleasant weekend. We had the in-laws and Janette, Perry and Jules over for take-out Indian food on Friday night. Yesterday we took a jaunt over to West Philly to visit with the family Juliloquy for a short playdate, had a frolic at Liberty Lands playground before nap and then had Grandma come by to watch Noah for an hour and treat us to dinner at Isla Ibiza. Today we were whisked downtown by the El on it’s 100th birthday – where we happened upon some Chinese lion dancing in Chinatown and then hung at the Septa celebration for the El’s big day. After a sparse, long and sad February – March is more than welcome respite.
As you know I have an advanced degree in worry. Last time I worried about being inexperienced at caring for a baby, being ill suited for it, going batty being at home and being apt to forget I had a baby and leave it in public places and in harms way. Luckily those fears are resolved, mostly. Now I can concentrate on other things like how hard it would be to raise a girl in our over-sexed society, how we’re poisoning our children with plastics, how I’m going to make these two the bestest and most closest siblings ever, how to make them not hate me and how I’m ever going to balance the needs of two children and ever get any sleep EVER. So ain’t no big thang.
Despite all the time I’ve needed to ferret out for the headaches and the worrying, we’ve actually had a really pleasant weekend. We had the in-laws and Janette, Perry and Jules over for take-out Indian food on Friday night. Yesterday we took a jaunt over to West Philly to visit with the family Juliloquy for a short playdate, had a frolic at Liberty Lands playground before nap and then had Grandma come by to watch Noah for an hour and treat us to dinner at Isla Ibiza. Today we were whisked downtown by the El on it’s 100th birthday – where we happened upon some Chinese lion dancing in Chinatown and then hung at the Septa celebration for the El’s big day. After a sparse, long and sad February – March is more than welcome respite.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
As artful as a pregnant lady grocery shopping in pajama pants
Noah started an art class at Fairmount Art Center this past Monday. He seemed to really enjoy it. The class is for two to three year olds and in the one hour period they do about four projects so the kids don’t get bored or lose focus. I was thrilled that the class was only five kids, including Noah and his friend Victor. I think more than that may have been a bit overwhelming. But since the kids are seated working on structured projects with parental assistance and teacher guidance it really is an ideal situation for him. He’s a great listener and student – unless there isn’t any structure and then he just clings. (At playgroup every week he sits on my lap during free play and isn’t happy or comfortable until we get to circle time for the song, story and craft.) Monday’s class focused on making dots – so they drew dots in their sketch books, painted a variety of different sized and colored dots on a large black paper dot, tapped dots in a little piece of copper, and then poked dots in a piece of clay that will be fired and painted during a later class. This was Noah’s first time working with clay that wasn’t Play Doh and he was really disturbed at the residue it was leaving on his hands. He spent half the time picking at the little bits around his fingernails while I reassured him we would clean them off when class was over. The class series itself is a bit costly for only six sessions, but it includes materials and will provide me with more ideas of art projects we can do at home – so in the end it’s worth the dough.
I’m horribly ashamed to admit that yesterday I went grocery shopping in pants I normally wear to bed. Unfortunately I’m in that horrible stage where my normal pants no longer fit and yet my maternity pants aren’t suitable either. Whenever I wear my maternity pants I spend half the damn time hiking them back up over my ass and well it’s hard to carry grocery bags while holding up your pants. Today I am once again in “house pants” but since I was babysitting Ella this morning we haven’t yet left the house. Hopefully I will have the wherewithal to don actual pants when we go to the library this evening. But likely not.
I still haven’t gotten my butt over to Whole Foods to get that Floradix iron supplement. But two things just made it a priority. After I read Missuz J’s comment that cream of wheat was an excellent source of iron I made myself the only two packets I found when I dug through the cabinets this morning. And this afternoon is the first one I can remember in a long time where I didn’t feel like I was going to collapse in utter exhaustion if I didn’t immediately take a nap. So it seems like iron might indeed help me out – which caused me to call the herbal store down the street to see if they carry Floradix so I don’t have to drive across town to Whole Foods. And indeed they do. (Oh and Lonna – it’s vegan safe so maybe you should check it out if you’re still having iron issues.) So if I start taking that liquid gold, or iron as it were, and eating insane amounts of cream of wheat I should be able to conquer the world. Or at least potty training.
Speaking of the evil deed, I haven’t really started potty training. He pees on the potty before bath time every night and again before we put on his pajamas, but that has been the extent of it. Last week I started putting Noah in Pull-ups and encouraging him to tell me when he needs to pee. Rather than doing that we’ve just been having a lot of leaks and rashiness – the pull-up are a bit big and cause a lot of chafing. He really doesn’t seem remotely ready or interested in being potty trained. And since I keep reading that children often regress to needing diapers after a sibling is born, I’m not really in a hurry. Why bother if I’m going to have to do it twice. Right? So I guess I’m going to get him back in diapers for awhile.
There are a few other big things that need tackling in the next few months. The naptime nursing behemoth which remains the same and doesn’t bear repeating, and our nighttime debacle. Noah goes to bed fairly easily every night. We read books, he kisses and hugs Daddy good night, he sits in the rocker with me for awhile, he lies down in the crib and paws at me sitting on the floor next to the crib until he nods off. Between lights out and sleep it typically takes about a half hour, and I’m pretty cool with that. The problem is that he also typically wakes up sometime in the early morning at which time I take him out of the crib and lay down with him on the twin mattress on his floor until morning. Obviously this has to change real soon as come August 1 I will be up at all hours of the night entertaining a newborn. Occasionally Noah will sleep all night in his crib, but the occasions are few and far between. After recently reading an article on sleep incentives I started offering him rewards for sleeping all night in his crib, and though he wants the rewards they don’t affect his behavior at 3 am when he wants to sleep with Mama. So I guess soon I’m going to have to lay down the wretched law and refuse to pick him up and lay down with him. And I feel just awful about this because as I’ve said to Mark “We don’t like to sleep alone but we expect him to want to.” Of course I need to make the change soon so he doesn’t blame the change in the sleeping arrangements on the baby. Ho hum. So much to do and yet it’s so much easier to just avoid it. And yet time ticks on. Only two more weeks until the ultrasound. I can not wait! However it's occurred to me that it will mark the halfway point in my pregnancy and GAH that is SO SOON. We won't ever be ready in time!
I’m horribly ashamed to admit that yesterday I went grocery shopping in pants I normally wear to bed. Unfortunately I’m in that horrible stage where my normal pants no longer fit and yet my maternity pants aren’t suitable either. Whenever I wear my maternity pants I spend half the damn time hiking them back up over my ass and well it’s hard to carry grocery bags while holding up your pants. Today I am once again in “house pants” but since I was babysitting Ella this morning we haven’t yet left the house. Hopefully I will have the wherewithal to don actual pants when we go to the library this evening. But likely not.
I still haven’t gotten my butt over to Whole Foods to get that Floradix iron supplement. But two things just made it a priority. After I read Missuz J’s comment that cream of wheat was an excellent source of iron I made myself the only two packets I found when I dug through the cabinets this morning. And this afternoon is the first one I can remember in a long time where I didn’t feel like I was going to collapse in utter exhaustion if I didn’t immediately take a nap. So it seems like iron might indeed help me out – which caused me to call the herbal store down the street to see if they carry Floradix so I don’t have to drive across town to Whole Foods. And indeed they do. (Oh and Lonna – it’s vegan safe so maybe you should check it out if you’re still having iron issues.) So if I start taking that liquid gold, or iron as it were, and eating insane amounts of cream of wheat I should be able to conquer the world. Or at least potty training.
Speaking of the evil deed, I haven’t really started potty training. He pees on the potty before bath time every night and again before we put on his pajamas, but that has been the extent of it. Last week I started putting Noah in Pull-ups and encouraging him to tell me when he needs to pee. Rather than doing that we’ve just been having a lot of leaks and rashiness – the pull-up are a bit big and cause a lot of chafing. He really doesn’t seem remotely ready or interested in being potty trained. And since I keep reading that children often regress to needing diapers after a sibling is born, I’m not really in a hurry. Why bother if I’m going to have to do it twice. Right? So I guess I’m going to get him back in diapers for awhile.
There are a few other big things that need tackling in the next few months. The naptime nursing behemoth which remains the same and doesn’t bear repeating, and our nighttime debacle. Noah goes to bed fairly easily every night. We read books, he kisses and hugs Daddy good night, he sits in the rocker with me for awhile, he lies down in the crib and paws at me sitting on the floor next to the crib until he nods off. Between lights out and sleep it typically takes about a half hour, and I’m pretty cool with that. The problem is that he also typically wakes up sometime in the early morning at which time I take him out of the crib and lay down with him on the twin mattress on his floor until morning. Obviously this has to change real soon as come August 1 I will be up at all hours of the night entertaining a newborn. Occasionally Noah will sleep all night in his crib, but the occasions are few and far between. After recently reading an article on sleep incentives I started offering him rewards for sleeping all night in his crib, and though he wants the rewards they don’t affect his behavior at 3 am when he wants to sleep with Mama. So I guess soon I’m going to have to lay down the wretched law and refuse to pick him up and lay down with him. And I feel just awful about this because as I’ve said to Mark “We don’t like to sleep alone but we expect him to want to.” Of course I need to make the change soon so he doesn’t blame the change in the sleeping arrangements on the baby. Ho hum. So much to do and yet it’s so much easier to just avoid it. And yet time ticks on. Only two more weeks until the ultrasound. I can not wait! However it's occurred to me that it will mark the halfway point in my pregnancy and GAH that is SO SOON. We won't ever be ready in time!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Not filled with iron-y goodness
The days fly by, except for the period between lunch and naptime – which drags on for what seems like eons. At my most recent checkup my doc said my iron was low. She didn’t diagnose me as fully anemic but she ordered more tests. It was kind of a relief to hear that there may be a reason I feel like I’ve been put through the ringer. Now I need to start taking some sort of iron supplement. My friend Janette recommended a liquid supplement that she uses claiming it to be a cure all. Of course she also described it as tasting like flowers and metal. Yum. But I’ll probably soon be heading to the store to get me some – as soon as I can summon the energy.
Mark’s been hard at work on his mini-album for that online music challenge. One day each weekend Noah and I have gotten out of his hair for a few hours by going to the Please Touch Museum to see a different jazz performer. They have a Junior Jazz Festival in February and we’ve enjoyed seeing three different performances – Erin Flynn did jazzy kid songs about trains, Louis Miranda did a latin influenced set of singalong songs, and today the drum ensemble Fandango spanned the globe with beats from Brazil, Cuba and Africa. Noah has been really loving the performances and I’m sad to see the series end. I have to figure out what other live music I can take him to see soon.
When we came home today we went to check in on Mark in the basement. A couple of weeks ago when we were at the Franklin Mills Mall Mark pointed out a child sized guitar to Noah and asked him if he might like to have one some day – and since then Noah keeps bringing it up saying he wants one now. Today he told Mark that when he gets his guitar that Mama and Daddy can go to the Please Touch so that he can play in the basement. It certainly seems Noah is catching the music loving bug, and with his shy streak that is a blessing. As Mark says the main reason he decided to learn how to play the bass was because he figured it was the only way in the world he’d ever get girls to talk to him. And well, I met him when he joined a friend’s band so the proof is in the pudding.
I’ve recently become a bit concerned with Noah’s speech. As I’ve noted he is totally verbal, incredibly so and at home he never stops talking and questioning. But he’s also started stuttering a bit. My Mom and Mark reassure me that it’s probably just because his little overdeveloped mind sometimes surpasses his mouth’s ability to get the words out, and that he’s getting stuck on the first sound of a sentence because he’s thinking about everything that comes after before he says it. But it’s still a bit scary. I hope it’s just a common toddler thing and he’ll grow out of it. I can’t imagine how shy he’d become if grew up having to overcome a stutter.
On a more positive note, we’ve had a few good meals as of late. We eat out about once a week, nothing extravagant mind you, but since Noah enjoys dining out and so do we it’s become a regular thing. Sort of a mental health necessity. Just recently my prayers were answered and an Indian restaurant named Tiffin opened in our neighborhood – and better yet they do takeout. Good takeout. Last Saturday we went down to Chinatown and had amazing Burmese food at Rangoon. We hadn’t been since Mark surprised me with a get together of friends there for my 30th birthday. And yesterday we had a lovely lunch at the famous Melrose Diner. Believe it or not our waitress has worked there for 35 years! Can you imagine!
The Oscars are on tonight and for once I can’t be bothered. I’ve always really enjoyed them but this year I’ve seen nothing. Worse yet – I don’t even know what any of the films are. It’s weird to think about since I’ve been a movie geek since I worked at West Coast Video at the age of 16. But our lifestyle just doesn’t allow for movies to be a priority right now and I’m cool with that. I’ll always have a bunch of stuff to catch up with later. Which is something that can’t be said about the cinematic genius that is Amazing Race All Stars – which is currently awaiting me on my DVR so I must go.
Mark’s been hard at work on his mini-album for that online music challenge. One day each weekend Noah and I have gotten out of his hair for a few hours by going to the Please Touch Museum to see a different jazz performer. They have a Junior Jazz Festival in February and we’ve enjoyed seeing three different performances – Erin Flynn did jazzy kid songs about trains, Louis Miranda did a latin influenced set of singalong songs, and today the drum ensemble Fandango spanned the globe with beats from Brazil, Cuba and Africa. Noah has been really loving the performances and I’m sad to see the series end. I have to figure out what other live music I can take him to see soon.
When we came home today we went to check in on Mark in the basement. A couple of weeks ago when we were at the Franklin Mills Mall Mark pointed out a child sized guitar to Noah and asked him if he might like to have one some day – and since then Noah keeps bringing it up saying he wants one now. Today he told Mark that when he gets his guitar that Mama and Daddy can go to the Please Touch so that he can play in the basement. It certainly seems Noah is catching the music loving bug, and with his shy streak that is a blessing. As Mark says the main reason he decided to learn how to play the bass was because he figured it was the only way in the world he’d ever get girls to talk to him. And well, I met him when he joined a friend’s band so the proof is in the pudding.
I’ve recently become a bit concerned with Noah’s speech. As I’ve noted he is totally verbal, incredibly so and at home he never stops talking and questioning. But he’s also started stuttering a bit. My Mom and Mark reassure me that it’s probably just because his little overdeveloped mind sometimes surpasses his mouth’s ability to get the words out, and that he’s getting stuck on the first sound of a sentence because he’s thinking about everything that comes after before he says it. But it’s still a bit scary. I hope it’s just a common toddler thing and he’ll grow out of it. I can’t imagine how shy he’d become if grew up having to overcome a stutter.
On a more positive note, we’ve had a few good meals as of late. We eat out about once a week, nothing extravagant mind you, but since Noah enjoys dining out and so do we it’s become a regular thing. Sort of a mental health necessity. Just recently my prayers were answered and an Indian restaurant named Tiffin opened in our neighborhood – and better yet they do takeout. Good takeout. Last Saturday we went down to Chinatown and had amazing Burmese food at Rangoon. We hadn’t been since Mark surprised me with a get together of friends there for my 30th birthday. And yesterday we had a lovely lunch at the famous Melrose Diner. Believe it or not our waitress has worked there for 35 years! Can you imagine!
The Oscars are on tonight and for once I can’t be bothered. I’ve always really enjoyed them but this year I’ve seen nothing. Worse yet – I don’t even know what any of the films are. It’s weird to think about since I’ve been a movie geek since I worked at West Coast Video at the age of 16. But our lifestyle just doesn’t allow for movies to be a priority right now and I’m cool with that. I’ll always have a bunch of stuff to catch up with later. Which is something that can’t be said about the cinematic genius that is Amazing Race All Stars – which is currently awaiting me on my DVR so I must go.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Weepy, curious, talkative, tasty, fishy and stubborn business
I’ve planned all week to post a million little Noah tidbits for me to remember and to keep the interested up to date. But it’s hard to start that post because today I had a major Mama meltdown. As I’ve mentioned before I haven’t yet dropped our naptime nursing because on those occasions when I’ve made an attempt to put Noah down for a nap without nursing him to sleep, he’s not slept at all. And today was another one of those. After over an hour and a half of Noah being in his crib, talking, jumping, asking to be let out – I gave up, took him out of the crib, and started crying. And I couldn’t stop. I was crying because I can’t seem to reach a solution and it seems like he’ll never nap without “Boppy.” I was crying because I was tired, emotionally and physically and I needed a nap. And I was crying because no matter how much it’s gonna suck making this change whether it means no nap or not, that stopping nursing my baby boy means he’s one step closer to moving out. And then I was crying because yesterday a woman at playgroup told me that upon having her second child the bond with her first child was changed immediately forever. And then I was crying because I was sitting on the floor weeping uncontrollably in front of my very sensitive and quite concerned two year old. So you can see, I’m a bit of an emotional mess today. A chubby one at that. With acne.
And now the boy. If you know Mark at all you know that he’s smart guy, but more than that he has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. In fact it seems he doesn’t’ feel like he can make a fully informed decision about anything because there is always more to know. It’s both noble and self-defeating. So it’s no surprise that Noah already wants to know EVERYTHING. He’s constantly questioning. If you use a word he doesn’t know he’ll ask you to define it. If you’re up to something he needs to know your agenda. If you pass someone on the street he wants to know who they are, where they are going and where is their Mama. A couple of weeks ago we were at my Mom’s place and Noah started in on my Mom’s fiancé with the royal inquisition. The poor guy was on his way out the door with a trash bag and Noah railed him with “What’s in bag? Where are you going? What is dumpster? You coming back?” and Larry just stood there with a quizzical and lost look on his face as if to say “Can I go yet?” This is par for the course. Here are a few things Noah has recently asked me to define: What is close? What is sausage? What is poop? What is exhausted? What is snow? What is June? What is hospital? What makes coffee?
Noah is a master of role playing. He’ll say to me “You are Lisey. I am Hunter. Daddy is Aunt Jess.” Or “I am Pa Joe. You are Oma.” He also loves to make all the toys talk to each other. A typical bath time ritual is for Noah to put his blue tractor on the bath tub ledge in front of a plastic moose and say “Mama, make Moose talk.” And then proceed to say in a deeper voice (because tractors are very manly) “Hello Moose. What doing?” What follows is a long and involved exchange which could be about any number of things – the Disney magic trick he saw in the Thanksgiving parade, the tractor’s job as a counter at BJ’s, or the jazzy train songs that Erin Flynn sang at the Please Touch Museum. I’m always baffled by the things that that tractor can come up with. The interplay is a million times better when it’s Mark’s turn at bath time – his moose is a far superior conversationalist.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned how much Noah loves to be in the kitchen. Our kitchen is the most used room in our house. It’s a nice sized room so we tend to just hang out in there and we have a storage unit in there that actually houses most of Noah’s toys. But aside from that Noah just loves to cook. He likes to help make cookies, pizza, chili – anything I will let him help out with. And when he’s not being my sous chef, he’s at work prepping his own meals. He’s got quite an array of plastic culinary treats and he knows how to use them. And he’s not afraid of using daring combinations for unexpected flavor profiles – he’s a regular molecular gastronomist. He’d be the first to tell you “I’m a good cooker and a chef!”
On Monday we went to the Camden Aquarium with our friends Wendy and Victor. Little Victor is nursing a major fish fascination and is fast on his way to becoming a marine biologist. Noah really loved the aquarium – but his enjoyment was much more like “Cool. Pretty red fish.” The funniest thing was that he constantly asked me to reassure him that the fish could not touch him. This was most pronounced in the shark tunnel. When a shark swum over his head I felt him tense up so I asked “Are you done with this now?” and he said “I’m done with this now - I’m done with this now - I’m done with this now” until we got out of the tunnel. I was also surprised that he was a bit afraid of how dark the aquarium was in some sections. He’s never seemed afraid of the dark at home, but I guess a strange dark place with fish that could swim out at you any moment is a different thing.
I’m often going on about how Noah is my angel baby – and I’m sure that is tiring to read about, so you’ll be pleased as punch to know he’s been testing boundaries and having fits a little bit more regularly. Transitioning from one thing to the next is often a battle. Apparently whatever he is doing RIGHT NOW is the coolest thing ever – and whatever is next sucks royally. So now we are more prone to whiny, crying jags- which are often a charade. I was detailing this new development to my friend Holly today and she said “You DO remember that he’s TWO, don’t you?” But the thing that is killing me the most is that he’s learned to talk back. In recent battles he’s told me that “No, you don’t love me” and it just about broke my heart. And yesterday after I explained to him that the piece of black plastic he had in his hand did indeed look like a trash bag it was in fact a car window shade, not only did he repeatedly tell me “No. It’s a trash bag” but ten minutes after I thought we let the matter go I heard him mutter under his breath “Trashbag.” Where on earth this child got stubborn I will NEVER know.
And as always I have a lot more, but I have to return to my husband, the DVR and a bag of dark chocolate covered pretzels.
And now the boy. If you know Mark at all you know that he’s smart guy, but more than that he has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. In fact it seems he doesn’t’ feel like he can make a fully informed decision about anything because there is always more to know. It’s both noble and self-defeating. So it’s no surprise that Noah already wants to know EVERYTHING. He’s constantly questioning. If you use a word he doesn’t know he’ll ask you to define it. If you’re up to something he needs to know your agenda. If you pass someone on the street he wants to know who they are, where they are going and where is their Mama. A couple of weeks ago we were at my Mom’s place and Noah started in on my Mom’s fiancé with the royal inquisition. The poor guy was on his way out the door with a trash bag and Noah railed him with “What’s in bag? Where are you going? What is dumpster? You coming back?” and Larry just stood there with a quizzical and lost look on his face as if to say “Can I go yet?” This is par for the course. Here are a few things Noah has recently asked me to define: What is close? What is sausage? What is poop? What is exhausted? What is snow? What is June? What is hospital? What makes coffee?
Noah is a master of role playing. He’ll say to me “You are Lisey. I am Hunter. Daddy is Aunt Jess.” Or “I am Pa Joe. You are Oma.” He also loves to make all the toys talk to each other. A typical bath time ritual is for Noah to put his blue tractor on the bath tub ledge in front of a plastic moose and say “Mama, make Moose talk.” And then proceed to say in a deeper voice (because tractors are very manly) “Hello Moose. What doing?” What follows is a long and involved exchange which could be about any number of things – the Disney magic trick he saw in the Thanksgiving parade, the tractor’s job as a counter at BJ’s, or the jazzy train songs that Erin Flynn sang at the Please Touch Museum. I’m always baffled by the things that that tractor can come up with. The interplay is a million times better when it’s Mark’s turn at bath time – his moose is a far superior conversationalist.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned how much Noah loves to be in the kitchen. Our kitchen is the most used room in our house. It’s a nice sized room so we tend to just hang out in there and we have a storage unit in there that actually houses most of Noah’s toys. But aside from that Noah just loves to cook. He likes to help make cookies, pizza, chili – anything I will let him help out with. And when he’s not being my sous chef, he’s at work prepping his own meals. He’s got quite an array of plastic culinary treats and he knows how to use them. And he’s not afraid of using daring combinations for unexpected flavor profiles – he’s a regular molecular gastronomist. He’d be the first to tell you “I’m a good cooker and a chef!”
On Monday we went to the Camden Aquarium with our friends Wendy and Victor. Little Victor is nursing a major fish fascination and is fast on his way to becoming a marine biologist. Noah really loved the aquarium – but his enjoyment was much more like “Cool. Pretty red fish.” The funniest thing was that he constantly asked me to reassure him that the fish could not touch him. This was most pronounced in the shark tunnel. When a shark swum over his head I felt him tense up so I asked “Are you done with this now?” and he said “I’m done with this now - I’m done with this now - I’m done with this now” until we got out of the tunnel. I was also surprised that he was a bit afraid of how dark the aquarium was in some sections. He’s never seemed afraid of the dark at home, but I guess a strange dark place with fish that could swim out at you any moment is a different thing.
I’m often going on about how Noah is my angel baby – and I’m sure that is tiring to read about, so you’ll be pleased as punch to know he’s been testing boundaries and having fits a little bit more regularly. Transitioning from one thing to the next is often a battle. Apparently whatever he is doing RIGHT NOW is the coolest thing ever – and whatever is next sucks royally. So now we are more prone to whiny, crying jags- which are often a charade. I was detailing this new development to my friend Holly today and she said “You DO remember that he’s TWO, don’t you?” But the thing that is killing me the most is that he’s learned to talk back. In recent battles he’s told me that “No, you don’t love me” and it just about broke my heart. And yesterday after I explained to him that the piece of black plastic he had in his hand did indeed look like a trash bag it was in fact a car window shade, not only did he repeatedly tell me “No. It’s a trash bag” but ten minutes after I thought we let the matter go I heard him mutter under his breath “Trashbag.” Where on earth this child got stubborn I will NEVER know.
And as always I have a lot more, but I have to return to my husband, the DVR and a bag of dark chocolate covered pretzels.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Unsung Heroes
So Ms. Elisha and Baby Hunter have come and gone. It was really lovely to have them here and now we are heartbroken to once again have them so far from us. It’s distressing to leave little Hunter at the airport and think about how much he will grow and change until we see him once again. But at least we have digital photos and emails to get us all through and keep us in touch.
Having Hunter here was great practice for Noah. By the end of their visit Noah was helping to bathe Hunter, giving him toys and putting lotion on him. It really was a joy to watch. And it was really an amazing experience watching my little sister being a Mom. She’s not got it easy unfortunately – she’s young and her and husband are barely scraping by financially – but she seems like she’s doing an excellent job of keeping her head up and staying focused on her wonderful little boy and all the joys that he’s bringing to her life, despite the daily grind and sleeplessness. And in my book that is the biggest key to being a good mother.
As for me and my pregnancy things seem to be progressing smoothly. I’d say I’m feeling slightly less exhausted and nauseated, but unfortunately my acid reflux has really started to kick up. When I was pregnant with Noah my acid reflux aided in my enormous weight gain because the only time I wasn’t feeling overcome with acid was while I was eating. Of course my food choices were also to blame. But I think I’m doing a somewhat better job of watching what and when I eat this time around, and honestly I am a lot less starved this time than last. I gained a whopping 75 pounds during Noah’s gestation to end at a hefty 225 – and though I’ve started this pregnancy 10 pounds heavier than the last time, I’ve promised myself to do what I could not to break the 200 mark. So far so good.
So I rarely mention Mark. Part of that is that he’s a more private person than myself and part of it is that I take him for granted. He’s always here helping, working, doing dishes, playing with Noah, and saying supportive and reassuring things. He really is the best. And in the last few months his bond with Noah has gotten a lot stronger. In fact Mark is a far better playmate than I. He’s more imaginative in his pretend play and he even does voices. But not only is Mark a better playmate he’s a better person. In the last year I’ve been really impressed with his efforts to recycle more and be involved in our community. As a member of our neighborhood association he’s working to make a difference even though he sometimes feels his efforts are in vain. Just recently he spent two entire days working to dig holes for 60 new street trees that will be planted to make our area a cleaner, greener place – including one in front of our home. This month Mark’s also spending time making music – he’s attempting to write an entire album in a month as part of some online challenge. So there is your Mark update.
The boy. So much to say. I've been wanting to give you some examples of the constant questioning that we are enduring here – but that will take more time on my part and I just ran out.
Having Hunter here was great practice for Noah. By the end of their visit Noah was helping to bathe Hunter, giving him toys and putting lotion on him. It really was a joy to watch. And it was really an amazing experience watching my little sister being a Mom. She’s not got it easy unfortunately – she’s young and her and husband are barely scraping by financially – but she seems like she’s doing an excellent job of keeping her head up and staying focused on her wonderful little boy and all the joys that he’s bringing to her life, despite the daily grind and sleeplessness. And in my book that is the biggest key to being a good mother.
As for me and my pregnancy things seem to be progressing smoothly. I’d say I’m feeling slightly less exhausted and nauseated, but unfortunately my acid reflux has really started to kick up. When I was pregnant with Noah my acid reflux aided in my enormous weight gain because the only time I wasn’t feeling overcome with acid was while I was eating. Of course my food choices were also to blame. But I think I’m doing a somewhat better job of watching what and when I eat this time around, and honestly I am a lot less starved this time than last. I gained a whopping 75 pounds during Noah’s gestation to end at a hefty 225 – and though I’ve started this pregnancy 10 pounds heavier than the last time, I’ve promised myself to do what I could not to break the 200 mark. So far so good.
So I rarely mention Mark. Part of that is that he’s a more private person than myself and part of it is that I take him for granted. He’s always here helping, working, doing dishes, playing with Noah, and saying supportive and reassuring things. He really is the best. And in the last few months his bond with Noah has gotten a lot stronger. In fact Mark is a far better playmate than I. He’s more imaginative in his pretend play and he even does voices. But not only is Mark a better playmate he’s a better person. In the last year I’ve been really impressed with his efforts to recycle more and be involved in our community. As a member of our neighborhood association he’s working to make a difference even though he sometimes feels his efforts are in vain. Just recently he spent two entire days working to dig holes for 60 new street trees that will be planted to make our area a cleaner, greener place – including one in front of our home. This month Mark’s also spending time making music – he’s attempting to write an entire album in a month as part of some online challenge. So there is your Mark update.
The boy. So much to say. I've been wanting to give you some examples of the constant questioning that we are enduring here – but that will take more time on my part and I just ran out.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Pretty as a picture
I'd like to introduce you to my sister Elisha and her son Hunter. A sweeter pair you could not meet.
Good enough to eat
By the end of the visit Noah and Hunter were like two peas in a pod. It made it clear to me that though there will definitely be some family growing pains when we have the baby, that ultimately Noah will be a wonderful help and a sweet and loving big brother.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Soul coughing
We’ve been quite busy and happy enjoying our visit with my wonderful sister Elisha and her sweet five month old son Hunter. The baby is such a jolly little thing, so even tempered and charming. And it’s really amazing and impressive to watch my little sister being a Mom. After a whirlwind weekend of Noah cavorting with various family in Quakertown, we left Hunter and Elisha at my Dad’s place on Sunday, and just in time too. Yesterday morning as I was bundling the boy up to go play at his friend Victor’s house, Noah leaned over and vomited on the floor. It seems he caught himself a stomach virus. Luckily he only got sick twice – once at 10:30 am and once at 4:30 pm and not since – but he’s still running a fever. And of course we’ve been up since 4 am this morning. We’re supposed to head back out to Dad’s today and collect Elisha and Hunter, but all that’s up in the air until Noah seems well. The last thing I want to do is put my sister and her baby on the plane on Wednesday afternoon with a nasty bug. Fun details and photos later.
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