Milestones

On Sunday Ray turned three months old and giggled for the first time. The trigger oddly enough was me using a cloth to wipe some of the drool out of the folds of his many chins. And of course since then Mark and I are endlessly trying to make him laugh. I concentrate on repeating the chin maneuver while he changes it up quite a bit – ever the showman aiming for the big laugh. But GOD – those first giggles are one of the best sounds in the whole world. It’s a moment I’d love to freeze forever and have access to in sad and bored times.

The other big milestone is that today is my fifth wedding anniversary. I always feel kind of cheated by anniversaries because the number does not seem near big enough. Mark and I have been together for ten years – so FIVE, well that’s nothing. I’d love to say I’m the easiest person in the world to be married to or that every moment is romantic and spark-filled. But hey – marriage just isn’t like it. Occasionally things are so lovey and over the moon that rainbows shoot out of your ass – but mostly it’s just real nice and comfortable with the occasional over-tired parent snapping at each other because you can’t yell at the kids. I’m married to my best friend and not only do I love him, I like him a whole bunch and we’ve always wanted the same things out of life. So thank you, Mark, for loving the city nightlife, music, eating out, travel, movies and reading – but for also being grateful to be able to put all those things on the back burner in order to raise a family who over time we can share all of these things with. You rock. Even when you are annoying and I’m a being bitch.

As for Noah’s milestone – well school is going well and not so well. He doesn’t cry and he does seem eager to go - loves the teachers and the story time but still isn’t really playing with other children. He seems to have social anxiety in groups of unfamiliar people. It makes me feel sad for him, but Mark feels even more distraught and worried about it since he inherited it from him. Last week in one of many conversations with Noah about playing with the other kids he told me “I can’t play with them. I don’t know them names.” So on Monday I asked his favorite teacher if she could be sure to introduce him to other children and she agreed. But what concerns me is that he isn’t even playing with the girls he knows and sees outside of school. He said “Lily and Maia were playing. I went by them but they didn’t say anything.” To which I asked “Did you say anything to them?” And of course I got a “No.” On Monday his teacher told me he spent awhile just laying on the story carpet – she asked if he had been tired or sick. And he hadn’t. Noah said he was tired but he had gotten a fine amount of sleep the night before. Plus he has NEVER just been so tired that he lay down on the floor at home. NEVER. After much prodding he said “Maybe I missed my Mama.” And today just before I dropped him off at school he told me he was feeling sleepy (actually so am I since he’s had nightmares and kept us up the last three nights) and maybe he was going to lay down again. I told him he could do what he wanted but that I wanted him to have fun at school and if he was tired and always laying down in school that he was going to have to come home and take a nap. I saw a horrified look in his eyes since it’s been almost six months since he’s had a naptime. And now it’s time to pick him up so I will see how it went.

Oh – and any nightmare tips?