Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Other than frantic, demanding cries of MAMAMAMAMAMA when she sees me and Dan is threatening to take her away, we hadn't identified any other words in A-speak until now. So what's her first word? Book. Well, she pronounes it with a silent B, but she's definitely saying it. She's still not signing at all, even though we've been using sign language for "milk" and "more" for several months now.

While we can't wait until we can communicate with her better, it doesn't have the urgency it did when C was a baby. Besides her being the second (which means we (a) aren't desperate for conversation and (b) know that once she starts she may never be silent again), her more mellow personality means that if we don't immediately understand what she wants at any given time, we are unlikely to be threatened with potentially hours of misery. Right now she has a cold and a fever, and isn't all that pleasant to be around, but basically she's being about as demanding as C was on a GOOD day at her age.

Monday, September 19, 2005

So C's gone for three hours a day now that kindergarten has begun, but somehow it's made our lives busier! He's needed a lot of attention for the past week; it's taking a lot of effort for him to adjust to school, and he needs us to be very hands-on while he's home. After his first day last Monday, he came home in a great mood and said he had a wonderful time- I think he was relieved that all was well after he'd been worrying about it for so long. We were thrilled and figured everything would be fine from there on out, but the very next day we could tell things weren't great. (This is C, of course, who only tells us anything that happens at school if we bribe him, and nothing would make him tell us something that was actually BOTHERING him.) We talked to his teachers and it turned out he had been disciplined, which really upset him even though it was done very gently (it wasn't even an incident the teachers thought twice about), and it basically ruined his day. And the next. And the next. This week is starting out all right, and we're hoping it stays that way. He's still super-whiny and needy and throws fits if things don't go his way, though, which (honest!) isn't like him. We've made a big point of keeping his homecoming after school low-key- I hang out with him and read a book while Dan and A are elsewhere (usually working and napping, respectively), but as soon as more people enter the picture it's all over. So we're still trying to find a routine that works for everyone.

Except for keeping us up all night, every night, A has been delightful. We went to a friends' for dinner last night, and she had a great time "talking" to their six-month-old. She was also exposed to a doll for the first time, one of the vinyl-ish semi-realistic ones, and we couldn't tell if she was fascinated or disturbed by it. It definitely made an impression, at any rate.

She tugs at the sleeves of long-sleeved shirts and gnaws on the toes of socks or slippers. We've only had to occasionally introduce these in the past few weeks, when the mornings are chilly, and I feel so sorry that she's going to be subjected to these indignities on a regular basis quite soon. (I must say that I am thrilled by the change of weather for myself, though. I'm done with heat and humidity. A few months of coolness-without-frigidness would be nice. Too bad we live in upstate New York....)


Our stripey kids (looking older than they do in other attire...) Posted by Picasa


C fossil hunting in the Kanakadea Creek in Alfred a couple weeks ago... Just like Dan did when he was his age... Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, September 13, 2005


After a fun first day of Kindergarten...(Click on photos for a larger view) Posted by Picasa


Waiting for their first bus! Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, September 07, 2005


Toasting "brown bears" is fun. Posted by Picasa


Our bird in flight... Posted by Picasa


A small portion of today's parade route... Posted by Picasa


Fun times in the yard (C's photography keeps getting better every day...) Posted by Picasa


Pumpkin keeps growing... Posted by Picasa


Welcome home sign for Daddy (with different materials, cool hidden flaps and more) Posted by Picasa

It's been a long time since this was updated because Dan went on a staff retreat to the Seattle area for several days, and the rest of the time we've been doing dumb stuff in the evening like figuring out how to fold shirts, researching backpack carriers for A(we have a framed hiking-type one and we all hate it; we went with the Patapum because several people said the straps shortened more than on the "new" Ergo- I am very thankful to the existence of message boards full of people who apparently think nothing of buying virtually every baby carrier on the market and comparing them), and figuring out just what the deal is with the edible tortilla decals that have been advertised on tortilla packaging lately. (Dan honestly thought that it was some kind of spoof.)

So Dan spent several days hanging out with adults and having fun, and wishing he were part of this community which, since we've left, is now full of babies and married couples who are in the same general life-place we are, and when he came home I was so tired I could barely stand and both of the kids were absolutely miserable and whiny. Welcome home!

C had a doctor's appointment yesterday and he weighs 41 pounds and is 41 inches tall. It seemed like he'd never break 40, and it means that he graduates from a harnessed carseat to a seat belt booster seat.

Our Teiva would be three years old today- imagining life with a three-year-old rather than a ten-month-old is hard. We miss you, little boy.