The kids. They grow. And stuff.

I’ve been kinda lax lately in reportin’ on the chitlins. Truth is that things are just happening with them at a lightening speed and I can’t even keep up with exactly what is new and unreported. But here is a stab.

Ever since Noah started coloring in the lines he has shown great interest and dedication to coloring. He also has a newfound love of mazes and dot-to-dots and he has a fierce interest in learning new his numbers. He’s also constantly wanting me to spell things out for him so he can write them. I really do need to spend some time working on the numbers 13 – 20 and on the lower case letters – but regardless of my not concentrating on teaching them he seems to be picking up a lot of information by osmosis.

Noah will return to school in a week and a half. He’ll be in the 3 year old class at Bridesburg Rec and attending on Thursdays and Fridays from 12 to 2:45. The program is predominately play and social experience based though I’m sure they will do some light classwork but I imagine it will mostly touch on things Noah already knows. Next year we may enroll him in more of a fulltime program so this may be the last year that I have him home with me for most of the day. I hope to continue to make the most of it.

Ray is still in a hurry to do it all. He is a climbing, chattering, playing, chomping little fiend. And such a charmer. He’s really interested in talking. We hear a lot of jibberish and a huge amount of mimicry. His newest word is balloon – which are a favorite among toys. He is a fairly fearless bold little man. He will attempt to do anything he sees Noah doing. Anything. And he will demand anything he sees you with. I’m constantly astonished at the contrasts between him and Noah. I just spent almost an hour looking at the blog from when Noah was Ray’s age and two striking things are 1) WOW! I blogged a lot back then and 2) thank the gods Ray is a better sleeper than Noah was. Sheesh – every post starts with me saying how Noah had me up in the middle of the night and how exhausted I am. Ray is having napping issues now – seems he might be dropping that second nap – but damn in comparison to Noah he’s nearly Rip Van Winkle.

Well I’ve been laid up with a weird stomach bug for the last two days and I’m feeling just too weary to sit up straight any longer. Auf Wiedersehen.

Chick Please

Hummus, anyone? Forget the pita and carrots. Dipping is for suckers. I say - go straight for the gusto.

Pimp Batman

Adorned in costume bits from the dollar store and the top from his Batman pajamas, Noah was out on the town looking fabulous as we prepared for Ms. Tracey's birthday party. Sure, we got a couple of cross-eyed looks but Noah's unabashed joy trumped them.

Eating, but not Sesame

We are at Sesame Place. My Dad treated us to memberships for 2009, but can be used for the remainder of the summer. It's been a very good, very exhausting day. And it ain't over yet. We are shuttin' this joint down.

and more

i was amazed and very pleased at how patiently the boys waited in line today.

blog test

on the carousel at sesame place. experimenting with taking photos with phone and posting directly to blog. it seems to work only some of the time. noah seems to often be doing this pursed lip, contemplative expression lately.

another one

He talks alot. More than you'd ever know.

The one where she gets wierd and weepy about every thing

Things have been rushing by fairly seamlessly as of late, so there isn’t too much to report. Not to say that every second is sunshine and roses, anyone with small children knows that is a lie. But we’ve been busy and the kids are growing healthily and happily and time is flying.

My Oma has gone back home to her sewing and her GSN. I particularly have to thank my friend Wendy who hit it home to me that I should treasure the time she had with us. It was fantastic to have the kids get to know her better and watch her really enjoy them. Grandparents aren’t with us forever, and certainly not great grandparents. Ray won’t remember her staying with us and possibly Noah won’t either – but I will definitely treasure it always. When I was a kid I loved spending time with her – playing cards, drinking tea, doing puzzles, dancing the polka. She was certainly my most involved and treasured grandparent. And watching Oma down on the floor with Noah putting a puzzle together really brought it back in an emotional way. She’s getting pretty forgetful and her health isn’t what it should be so I fear our time with Oma is limited. I need to remember how much our attentions mean to her and try to continue to make time for her.

Also in Eggerts household news - I got my overly-connected ass a Blackjack II smartphone and can now check my email and read blogs endlessly from wherever I’m at. It is sweet. However I’ve had issues with commenting on blogs for some odd reasons and it’s too much to really blog from my phone because that is a hella lotta typing on tiny little keys. But the phone is great. I love him. I call him Bob. Soon I won’t remember life before him.

My post on Facebook got a lot of thoughtful, smart and sweet comments from folks – some on the blog and some off. Thank you all for that. It really did help reading what you wrote. It made me realize that what I’m facing isn’t just a SAHM thing – it’s more about being an adult and reconciling your current self with the projected future self you had in high school/college. It seems we all have issues with that. And also it’s a bit about labels and how we are all so much more than an occupation and a bunch of statistics. Or even a bunch of Mommy blog posts for that matter. It really is only a treasured few people in our lives who get real and complete pictures of who we are at any moment. I guess that’s why it seems so weird to get back in touch with people who you felt really knew you at 20 but couldn’t possibly fathom you at 34. But life is truly a journey and parts of us are ever-changing and ever-adapting so it would be weirder still to be the same person. We can just hope to be truly content with who we are now – and at this point in my life I am more content and proud than I was in any other. And that speaks volumes.

Oh! And - Noah is insanely sweet and smart and Ray is the funniest, cutest little thing ever. How’s that for a kid sum-up? Ahhh… you have to check the Twitter stuff to get more info on what the kids are up to. It’s too hard to remember it all when I sit down to blog.

Multimedia message

mobile blogging is a mystery.

YOU HAVE TO USE THE REMOTE.... please.

Things have been pretty crazy here. We were very busy with social and family stuff for a couple of weeks. And now my Oma (German for Grandma) is staying with us. Have you ever lived with a 78 yo German lady? She could be here for a couple more days or weeks - only time will tell. Things are going pretty well considering she can be a bit stubborn and easily frustrated, and worst yet we don’t get her beloved Game Show Network on our cable system. But she seems to be really enjoying time with the boys and it’s really nice having them get to know her better. She is being pretty gracious about being here and all in all it’s a good thing in the midst of a bad situation (it isn’t safe for her to be home with my Grandfather at the moment and she needs to be away until things get sorted with him) but I still have to remind myself to be patient with her. Like when I have to tell her things repeatedly. For example - several times a day after she gets totally flummoxed with the television I have to remind her that she needs to change the channel on the cable box and not on the TV. It's not just the remind part, it's that she is so damn pissed off at our STUPID TV! But the hardest part is I’m jonesing for more computer time and it’s in the room she's staying in. I can’t move it because there isn’t another convenient phone jack. So for the time being my computer time is even more compromised. And with that I've got to go. Oma is knitting and watching Price is Right but also trying to talk to me about somone's bonus spin and how she doesn’t like Drew Carey. It makes it hard to concentrate.