Band on the run

I’m really slacking in reporting the run of the mill details of daily life around here – so I’ll try and catch you up. Being home with the boys is going pretty well. I was worry that with the two of them I’d feel confined to the home, but just the opposite has happened. I find it easier to be out of the house and therefore more compelled to do SOMETHING every day. The reason behind this is that if I’m at home I have to entertain Noah and bounce the baby around the house but if we’re out Noah is entertained by his surroundings and I’m bouncing the baby around because we’re doing something and not just because I’m walking in circles.

Ray is ginormous. At his 2 month checkup he weighed 13.5 pounds and was in the 90 percentile for weight. He’s a pudgy, wudgy. I love squeezing his soft, fat arms. It’s funny, Noah was always in the 20 percentile for weight, so long and thin. Already they are so different – with Noah’s body type more like Mark and Ray more like mine. I hope his boobs don’t get this big. Ray does seem to be an early bloomer – he’s teething at 2.5 months old. Covered in drool and chomping away at my hands. This teething crap isn’t supposed to start until 6 months!

Noah’s third day of school on Monday went okay. He cried a bit when I said goodbye to him but apparently stopped as soon as he entered the classroom. Once again he had fun playing with the toys and talking to the teachers but hasn’t yet played with any other kids. At least so says Noah. The teachers just tell me how well he’s doing but I think they just mean he isn’t having any behavioral issues, which isn’t surprising. He saves his occasional uprisings for home. Still eating too slow and having the occasional over-tired refusing to transition meltdown. But he’s still incredibly sweet. And smart. That kid boggles my mind. He just soaks up information like a sponge. Yesterday when he was looking at Mark’s feet he remarked on “some serious lint.” And today out of nowhere he said “Mama, a car has a trunk. And an elephant has a trunk.” Very astute observation young man, especially since we were not discussing trunks, elephants or cars at the time. He’s very interested in letters in the moment – asking me to write words, tell him what words start with what letters, and saying things like “W-H-G-G-T. That means party!” And I’ve started working on number recognition with him since he can nearly count to twenty.

TV. I have to admit he is watching a bit more. Still at the same times of day – morning after breakfast as I prepare for our day, and afternoon as I wind down from our day and make dinner. But sometimes it’s for longer than I’d like. But I am still completely controlling what he watches. Nothing with commercials and mostly stuff on On Demand or DVR. I can’t believe it’s taken me a whole month to get around to whining to you about how PBS stopped broadcasting “Mr. Roger’s” in our area. I wanted to start a letter writing campaign, but, um… haven’t written one letter. Ha. But it really is a sin. That show was bar none still the best kids show on TV. And it was Noah’s favorite. Luckily I have a handful of episodes DVR’d and we’ve been watching them over. He does however have two new favorites. He digs the new PBS show “SuperWhy” – which is sort of annoying but very letter and reading centric and definitely educational so it’s on my short list of allowed programming. And he LOVES “Charlie & Lola” on Disney. I started recording it because we got a “Charlie & Lola” book about starting school and we both really liked it. (In fact when Noah didn’t want me to leave him at school on Monday he kept telling me he was too busy at home to go to school, which is a direct line from that book. It was funny and cute but he was being so honest and earnest about saying it I nearly cried.) Anyway, the show is so beautifully designed and written that I absolutely look forward to watching it everyday. And the British accidents definitely help.

TV for me? I’ve DVR’d Chuck, Reaper and Pushing Daisies and enjoyed them all. Any other suggestions?

And what have we been up to? The usual. Keeping busy with lots of playdates and spending time with family. Like I mentioned planning a field trip every day – like to meet Mark for lunch and then to watch trains at 30th Street Station, going to Camden Children’s Garden, Smith Playhouse, Liberty Lands Park, the library etc. A friend suggested creating an Arts playgroup that would meet every other Wednesday at different folks houses so we’re looking forward to that. And with Noah’s school on Mondays and Thursdays it leaves a couple of other weekdays for trips. We’re hoping to visit Janette in Reading next week for a doll house tea party (and yes, we both have boys) and to go to Linvilla Orchards to pick apples on Friday. This weekend we visit with my Dad on his birthday on Saturday and then go to Dorney Park on Sunday – we got free tickets because it’s my Mom’s fiance’s company picnic. I predict Noah will explode with ride excitement since he’s still talking about the rides he went on at the beach in mid-June. And then the extravaganza that is Halloween is just around the corner. Boo! Fall is busy, and I love it.

On a more somber note it has been confirmed that Laima will not recover from her stroke and they anticipate her passing in the next two weeks. As I’ve said, it’s far more sad for us than her. I just wish the process wasn’t so long for her, but hopefully she isn’t in any pain. I haven’t been to visit because I don’t think she’s still “in there” and because I don’t want to remember her in that hospital bed. But I have to admit I do feel sort of guilty for not going.

Well this is long, meandering and a mess but I haven’t time to fine tune. I am exhausted.