Just the "witch" 

C the good witch, and his assistant, the cauldron stirrer... We had a great time trick-or-treating...

Our roof is still leaking. Plus the water is starting to go into the kitchen wall.And the roofer isn't returning our calls. Now what do we do?

We had 20-30 people over for a potluck yesterday; it was really nice to see a bunch of our friends, meet a few new people, and get to hang out for a while. We need to get ourselves invited to other people's houses more, though, so we don't have to clean before AND after.

A slept for the first hour of the potluck. When I brought her down, I was afraid she was going to freak out because of all the people, but she did really well. She was a bit overwhelmed, and had to turn way from everyone sometimes, but overall handled it great. Only six months ago, she cried whenever someone outside of her immediate family LOOKED at her. She's come a long way!

I am hoping, though, that we're done paying for our sin of leaving her for all of five hours last Friday. My friend Mala came into town and Dan and I went to a party with her Friday night- other than C's hour-long open house, the first time we've been alone together since A was born. The kids stayed with Nana and Yeye, and we all spent the night. A wasn't thrilled while we were gone, but apparently she held up all right until bedtime, at which point Nana had to keep her in the sling to keep her content- which isn't unheard of at our house, either! BUT, ever since then, she's been super clingy, and for the first few days she was horribly "not-the-mama," even with Dan sometimes.

We had an excellent time at the party, though; food and drinks and music and friends and NO KIDS. Despite an unfortunate swing-dancing accident, we had a blast. Too bad we can't do it again without incurring A's wrath....

This activity sheet came home with C from Kindergarten today. Is anyone else as confused and disturbed by "boo blocks" as we are? (there were no additional instructions)

I really shouldn't make fun of other people's kids' names- who am I to judge after all- but I received an e-mail from a very nice woman today whose kids are named Samuel and Delia. I did a double-take before realizing that they're not ACTUALLY Samson and Delilah, but....

I'll write about our Night Without the Kids soon. But probably not in like 5 minutes. (Is it obvious Dan and A aren't yet home and C's in bed?)

And a happier post

The rest of the family went to the local coffeehouse to listen to some bluegrass tonight, and I picked C up at 8 to get him home for bed. On the walk home he pretended he was climbing onto some monkey bars and swinging across them. And there was a special button on top, and when he pressed it, it made it so when he came down, he was in Arizona! (There was a long, detailed explanation about how I got to Arizona too, but it involved rules of physics I haven't learned yet, so I can't recreate it here.) The rest of the walk home he talked about how Uncle Monty's ranch (the REAL Uncle Monty, not the imposter Uncle Monty) was right up ahead (from a Trixie Belden book we read like two months ago), and he played the game all the way through his going to bed routine- how the ranch was decorated so beautifully, and how he was going to meet Trixie and ride horses tomorrow, and how he'd better take off his shoes so he didn't track desert sand into the house. It felt like my C was back; the one I haven't seen since August. I hope he stays a while, now that he's gotten into the school groove.

And the bus drama continues

Apparently the bus garage realized that kindergarteners shouldn't have to sit on a bus for over 45 minutes, and added a new bus with only 10 kids that goes pretty much straight to our street. (They, of course, didn't tell us this, even though Dan had spoken with the woman in charge at length about why we were switching stops, etc.- we heard it from a neighbor on Monday, and the new route had begun on Friday.) I decided there was no way I was going to trek a few sidewalkless blocks to C's current bus stop when they started a new route essentially just for him, and when Neighbor Friend was on the new bus. He was freaked out; didn't want to switch; etc. We agreed that Dan would go to the school to get him on the bus the first day he rode it, and C was still not feeling good about it, but he had to suck it up.

And Dan calls the bus garage Monday to switch him, and is told only one person is allowed to switch bus routes, and she had a day off. (Tallying the number of things wrong with the bus garage evident in that sentence alone will be left as an exercise for the reader.) Really, it would have been no big deal, except we'd already gone through the angst with C, and we ended up having to do it again today, along with additional phone- and fax- tag with the bus garage.

Everything went fine today, and C's bus beat Dan home; we're really happy about the new route. Soon we'll have another "discussion" with the bus garage about dropping Cadao off at our house. They drop all the kindergarteners off right at their doors, except for him, because the circle we live on is tight for a big school bus. We have to walk to Neighbor Friend's house. BUT now he comes home on a mini school bus, which can easily manage the road. I'm sure they'll claim that equipment can change, etc. and refuse. Grrr.

I'm especially annoyed at the bus garage because I feel like Dan has spent vast amounts of time lately on the phone with various entities just trying to get them to do their jobs. When we came back from Twin Trees on Columbus Day, our mudroom roof was leaking. It had been repaired last January and the roofers guaranteed their work for a year. Dan called the roofer multiple times, the roofer claimed he'd come multiple times, never did (and never even called when he didn't bother showing up), and most recently claimed he sent people over who did the work on it while we were out on Saturday. (There's no evidence of work having been done, but it finally stopped raining, and thus leaking.) The roofer is still ignoring us. Dan also recently spent hours on the phone with our insurance company, which pulled a bait-and-switch routine on us; and we won't even talk about the various health insurance and government offices that are lying to or ignoring us.

bus drama

We live a 5-minute drive from Cadao's kindergarten, but it's not a viable walk or bike ride for him, and there's no way we'd drive him to or fro daily, so he has to take the bus. (This would not be necessary if his kindergarten was in the same building as his first through fifth grade will be, but that's another rant.) He's one of the last picked up on the way to school, so has a quick trip there. However, his ride home is about 45 minutes long. He doesn't enjoy sitting on the bus for 45 minutes, and I can't say I blame him. (Why does anyone think it's okay to have 5-year-olds sitting around bored and essentially unsupervised for 45 minutes? School is only 2 1/2 hours long, and if he spent a quarter of his classroom time sitting still with no teacher guidance, I don't think anyone would find that okay. But whatever.)

His bus route makes a loop however, and in the first part of the loop, it passes Cadao's old preschool, about 2 blocks away. It's an annoying walk, because despite our complaints the local car shop thinks it's okay to park all the cars they're working on in the sidewalk, but it's not too bad. So we decide to switch Cadao's bus stop so he'd get off at his old preschool and we'd walk home from there. This makes my life significantly more difficult, but cuts a half hour off his ride- definitely worthwhile.

Dan calls the bus garage, explains the situation, and sends a note in to make the switch as directed. He specifies the exact route number Cadao would continue to ride. At 3:25, I go to the new stop to wait.

At 3:35, his bus roars by, stopping a few houses down to let off another kid, and takes off again. I chase the other kid's mom into her house and borrow her phone to call Dan. He calls the bus garage to find out what's up while I drag Whiny Baby back towards home, figuring I'd get him at his old bus stop.

Halfway home, we encounter Dan running around the corner. Despite explicit instructions to the contrary, the bus people decided to put Cadao on a different bus. Luckily, this bus goes even closer to our house, and we meet it at the corner and retrieve a crying, distraught Cadao, who had been all psyched up and prepared to ride his regular bus but get off at a new stop.

We were furious (and I didn't sleep last night, feeling sorry for poor Cadao; the experience felt lik a kidnapping to him), but rather excited to know that an earlier bus comes so near our house, so Cadao could have a shorter ride without an annoying trek down the sidewalkless street.

But, of course, after his experience on that bus, Cadao refuses to consider riding it. Ever. In his whole life.

So we gave in. Dan spent forever talking to the bus people and ensuring they were going to put him on the RIGHT bus this time, and he was going to get off at the NEW stop, and we had to pretend his babysitter lived there for some obscure reason, but at any rate, it's done. We used that stop today for the first time, and it worked well, although its going to be much less pleasant when there's a foot of snow on the ground. Even with the walk, he gets home 25 minutes sooner than otherwise, which makes us all happier. But none of us like the bus garage very much....

Ah, so much to write about when we update so rarely! Let's see. One of C's friends got the chicken pox, and we made the mistake of telling the school about it, so when C went to school with bug bites on his neck, they sent him home early claiming that he had the Dreaded Pox. So we had to take him to a doctor, who confirmed that he did, indeed, have bug bites, and that bug bites were not contagious.

A usually refuses to eat anything from a spoon now, which makes it hard to sneak in foods like brewer's yeast and ground flaxseeds that I like to add to her cereal. However, she willingly eats many things she can feed herself, and they're cut into such tiny pieces that it takes her FORVER to finish a meal. She likes tofu and beans and green peas, and tolerates rice, but she LOVES broccoli and fruit. (We suspect she likes broccoli so much because she's rebelling against our efforts to prevent her from putting leaves and grass in her mouth.)

She doesn't care for long sleeves and long pants, and while she has adapted to crawling with long pants and socks or slippers on her feet, it takes a much greater effort so she's more likely to stay put these days. Her frustration with crawling may be why she's taken to walking with push-toys so much lately. She toddles along, using a toy for balance, and complains loudly when she is thwarted by a wall/rug/toy barrier. (She has not mastered the art of turning yet.)

One of the toys she often pushes along is a large bead-and-wire toy. She encountered a smaller version at Maia's house, and despite the different size, shape, and colors, recognized it as belonging to the same family of toys. Alas, Maia's had suction cups on the bottom, and even if it had been tall enough to function as a satisfying push-toy, the suction clubs kept it from sliding at all. A grew very angry with what she perceived as a malfunctional toy. Maybe someday she'll learn that you're supposed to push the beads along the wires....

A is also currently very frustrated with Dan's sneakers. We spend a lot of time hanging out on the porch, where we can enjoy nice weather without the threat of choking-hazard acorns, and the porch is also home to about a dozen shoes. A thinks they are toys and crawls around with them and fiddles with their closures and generally enjoys them, and we figure the exposure to all the nasty stuff on them is probably good for her developing immune system. Well, we haven't figured out just what it is that she wants Dan's shoes to do, but for the past few days she's been furious with them, so much so that today I had Dan spirit them away when she wasn't looking. I tried tying them, untying them, giving her both, taking one away, flipping them over, putting them on top of each other- to no avail. Whatever she's expecting from them just isn't happening, and she objects to this injustice very loudly.

She's equally obsessed with her swing, and she demands to go in it every time we walk past it outside, and sometimes she'll stand by the porch door pointing to it and asking to go for a ride. (She has her own word for it too, that sounds something like "een.") She likes to go super-high and she likes it when we let it go crooked, in "loop-de-loops" as C says. The only problem, besides the fact that I frankly find swing-pushing to be quite boring, is that she never wants to stop, and cries nearly every time she is removed from the beloved swing.

C is still adjusting to kindergarten. He's still not really himself- much whinier than usual on school days, maybe in part from overtiredness- but it's improving, and we're hoping a soon-to-come switch to a shorter bus ride home will help too. He continues to refuse to tell us much at all about his school days, but he is very excited about a book-writing activity they do, in which the kids draw pictures and dictate stories about the pictures to the teachers. So excited that he told us about it before he remembered that he's supposed to keep everything that happens at school secret from us, just to be contrary.

He's been on a big inventing kick lately. He's been drawing plans for "inventions" for a long time, but lately it's been several a day. Some of them are really innovative- like the device that pushes a platform up from the bottom of a swimming pool if it detects that someone has been underwater for more than 30 seconds to prevent drowning, or like the microwave accessory that stirs food while it's being microwaved so it's evenly heated- and all of them are beautifully illustrated. Most of his pictures are intended to become advertisements for the future product, so he includes prices on them, and incorporates clever marketing strategies in his art. ("I'll draw a bunch of people smiling and looking happy so people will see that they're having a great time and want to buy it!")

We're mourning the lessened sunshine, but enjoying the cooler weather. I've made a habit of brushing my hair outside, to minimize the shedding inside our house, and have come to enjoy feeling the changes in temperature every evening, noticing the position and phase of the moon if it's risen, and hearing the insects in the dark. We'll see how long I can do it into the winter.

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.

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...) 

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

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

Waiting for their first bus! 

Toasting "brown bears" is fun. 

Our bird in flight... 

A small portion of today's parade route... 

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

Pumpkin keeps growing... 

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

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.

Old business: staining the deck. After Dan and C's trip to Pennsylvania for Opa's birthday, Dan pressure-washed the deck in preparation for staining it. And we waited a day for it to dry. And it rained. And we waited a day for it to dry. And it rained. Throughout this period, Dan would not allow anyone, including the dog, to step onto the deck for fear of getting it dirty again, so getting into the backyard was rather annoying.

Finally, we looked at the sky, decided that the gathering clouds would just have to blow by today, and got to it. The poor, mistreated deck, which had been neglected for several years even before we moved in, soaked up the stain like a sponge. We barely got one coat on it with the first gallon, which was supposed to provide enough coverage for two coats. So back to the store for Dan and A, unfortunately too late for us to start the second coat until the following morning. We still have trim to finish up, but we're done with the walking surfaces, so we're allowed to use it now. It does look better, but unfortunately due to the bad shape of the wood it still doesn't look especially good. We can at least count on it lasting a bit longer at least. Half-joking, I suggested to Dan that we start replacing the boards that need replacing with Trex plastic lumber, and eventually we'll have a new no-maintenance deck out there; he didn't seem to think the idea was too far-out. Will post photos soon.

This past Sunday was a traditional summer family-fun day of berry-picking at Indian Ladder Farms (blueberries and raspberries; the raspberries are eaten up and the blueberries fill our freezer), followed by a backyard campfire in celebration of the NWF's Great American Backyard Campout (which Dan had planned to participate in, but forgot until 7:30 p.m., at which point none of us were up for it). Dan baked rolls and we toasted them over the fire to make Brown Bears: rolls dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. They were excellent, and we told C he could have as many as he wanted. He was shocked. The rolls were so filling, however, he only managed 2 or 3. Will post photos soon.

Tuesday was Aunt Maureen and Uncle Gene's 45th Anniversary Celebration, with Aunt Jeanie as the Special Surprise Guest, a Re-Enactment of their Marriage by Puppets (and aren't we all puppets, really?), a Photo Video Chronicle of their Past, and of course Games and Refreshments. Will post photos soon.

A has been on an unfortunate sleep schedule for the past few weeks of waking up around 7, napping from 11-1:30ish, napping again from 5-6:15-ish, and not going to bed until after 10. (And then, of course, keeping us up all night, but that's unchanged.) We had her getting to bed around 8 for a few heavenly weeks, which is C's bedtime, and we then had some evenings to ourselves. No more, until she's able to go down to one nap a day I expect (currently not possible due to crankiness). But yesterday and today, Dan at least has taken advantage of the situation and gone out at night with her- yesterday to a Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace meeting, today to an outdoor movie. He'd been frustrated by our inability to get out to evening events for much of the summer, and now he can, a little bit. I'll be interested to hear how the movie went when he gets home- she's not usually a fan of hanging out in the dark- but I hope it went well.

stalking the goose 

Five Rivers 

C and his Lemon Boy tomato 

baby with a tree growing out the top of her head 

Our pumpkin is growing (green ball in the middle of the shot) 

skipping stones 

A picture of C and A playing "train," in which they both put their hands on a box and C slowly pulls it while she walks behind.

Everyone likes it. 

It's been a busy, busy week. Friends came over Saturday night and we had such a good time we stayed up much too late. On Sunday, we decided to pack a picnic dinner and go for a hike at Five Rivers. (We'd been there the day before, and C wanted to go back around dusk to possibly see more wildlife.) That was a lot of fun, and we plan on making it a weekly event as long as the weather stays warm enough. Deer, snakes, rabbits, frogs, and a very tame goose were spotted, but since the trail we chose was misleadingly long we didn't get home until well after the kids' bedtimes. So we were up late then, too.

Monday was Layla and Eliana's funeral, which was emotionally exhausting, plus Mondays are usually somewhat hectic because Dan has a rehearsal right after dinner. Tuesday we went to a potluck farewell party for a member of both Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace and Dan's a cappella group. Dan's group performed, and C had a good time with our host's kids. He's still shy, but Harriet, who is 6, was able to successfully tempt him into socializing with offers to show him the cat and lead him to the dessert table. And seeing 3-year-old Evie riding a scooter emboldened him to give it a better try than he does at our house. We left there at 8 to get the kids to bed and to meet some other friends at our house. A had been pretty unhappy for the latter half of the party, but when we got her home and the stimulation level decreased she decided she was happy. Instead of going to bed, she crawled around on the oh-so-clean floor of the pool shed until 10:15, when I decided enough was enough, and it still took me 45 minutes to get her to sleep. I wouldn't have minded going to bed by then too, but our guests stuck around until after 2. The drunken logic of one of our guest's arguments for gunowners' rights reminded me of being 18 again, and not in a good way. No one felt well the next day.

C went to Nana's house on Wednesay, and after the kids went to bed some neighbors came over to hang out on our porch. We had a lovely time, but after so many late nights I was glad that they, unlike us, had the sense to retire at a reasonable hour.

Our house also decided fall apart this week. The pipe under our upstairs bathroom sink developed a leak and the toilet started to run. The toilet was easily fixed (though how the float had become completely unscrewed is a mystery) but we haven't had the energy to do any more than turn off the water to the sink. Our basement generated a large pool of water, which we very much hope originated with the bathroom leak and is not a separate problem. The small front burner on our stove (the one we use most often, of course) decided to only warm foods, rather than heat them. Since it's a ceramic cooktop, we can't easily fix or replace it like we could a standard cooktop, and since it didn't quit entirely I spent several days wondering why water was never coming to a boil. (I even started to wonder if it was so humid the air was just too saturated to allow any additional water to evaporate at a normal temoperature.) The garbage disposal stopped working- particularly frustrating because it had already been replaced TWICE under warranty, and now the warranty has run out. (It's obviously not a good model to buy.) Miraculously, it began working again spontaneously, so we had that to celebrate.

A turned 9 months old yesterday, and got to go to the doctor to celebrate! As expected, the doctor had no useful information to impart about the cause or cure of her constant spitting up, which is getting worse rather than better. She measures somewhere around 29 inches long, and weighs something like 16 pounds, but those are both rough estimates. She's started climbing stairs, and indeed is COMPELLED to climb anything she can. She still tries to go down headfirst like a squirrel, though, so this new development requires my constant vigilance. No more reading while the kids play. She's also wanting to stand more and more, and I suspect that one reason we have trouble getting her to sleep is because she sees her crib as just an amazing opportunity to practice standing, with all the bars and rails for her to balance with. Too bad we can't just move her into our bed because of the aforementioned squirrel descent method. (There is a school of thought that believes that babies/ small children avoid danger pretty well on their own. A does indeed stop at the edge of the bed to think about her strategy, but then she tries to shimmy down headfirst. While she may recognize danger, her judgment is sorely lacking.)

After Dan played chess last night, I rode my bike to the end of the next street over in an attempt to escape streetlights and see the meteor shower. Unfortunately, there were enough clouds in the sky to reflect the city lights. Since I could only see about 30 stars, I figured the likelihood of seeing much else was pretty slim, but I stretched out on my blanket for a while anyway and enjoyed the night. There were no cars, and virtually all the houses I'd ridden past were dark, and it felt good to be alone. But then I was afraid a deer was going to come step on me so I left.

We are trying to plan how to re-stain our back deck before it completely rots away. We expect to get it done by next weekend, since Dan is taking the week off, but we need to decide whether we really need to remove all the old stain first and whether using an opaque stain is a really bad idea. Comments on these questions are welcome.

Old business: C's day camp still sucks, but he apparently loves it, so we're very sad that tomorrow is his last day. I'm hoping that this bodes well for kindergarten, but I suspect the main thing he likes about camp is the stoner counselor who's willing to play cards with him (and probably lets him cheat). Maybe we can try to convince the school to create a card-playing position on the kindergarten staff.

A has added peaches, green beans, and avocado to her repertoire, and is still having a lot of fun crawling around. She's been fussy this week, which could be because she ate oats, because I ate cheese, because she's teething, or just because. We stopped the oats and dairy and hope for improvement by this weekend. She's very happy for the first hour after she wakes up after each nap, but things go downhill from there until her next nap. Trying to give her more naps doesn't work (she won't fall asleep; she's too busy being cranky) and we've tried everything we can think of to get her to nap longer.

Luckily, she put on a good post-nap face on Sunday, when we hosted a family party for my cousin Gus, who just got out of the army. (Well, provided a venue is probably the better term; Gus's mom took care of everything else, which made it very pleasant for us- a bunch of people came to our house, bearing food and beer, and we got to socialize without having to go anywhere. But anyway.) A was very charming for much of the afternoon, but she needs more sleep!

C does, too. He's been getting super-cranky in the afternoon, but will never agree to a nap. He's been getting less sleep at night because it's taking him forever- sometimes over 2 hours- to fall asleep, which pretty much sucks for all of us. We'll see if things improve after camp ends, and if not we'll change bedtime somehow. He clearly needs the sleep- he's been throwing whiny tantrums- but just can't get it....

And last night, in the 1.5 hour stretches that A allows us to rest, I too had trouble sleeping because I was thinking about my cousin and his wife, whose twins just died at 22 weeks gestation. Remembering how horrific it was to lose Teiva three years ago, I hate to think about what they're going through now. And it reminds me how lucky I am to have C and A, and how important it is that I enjoy them as much as I can each day, because everything could change tomorrow. Dan and I used to do a lot of long-term decision-making, and we chose to make some sacrifices for our future well-being, such as living on half of our income to pay off loans/ build savings in the first years of our marriage. We even began paying our mortgage down, and I started a retirement fund. Now we really don't plan ahead. I turned down another out-of-the-blue job offer last week because I decided that it just wasn't worth the busy-ness it would add to our lives. (Plus it was at Union College- commuting to Schenectady? Yech!) We'll need an additional bedroom to materialize within the next year, when A moves out of our room, but I just can't focus on any tasks that aren't fairly pressing. Maybe most sleep-deprived parents of young children are in a similar state, but losing Teiva definitely changed our outlook on work and savings.

Continuing the day camp saga:

On Tuesday, C and I again arrived at camp. In a remarkable and unusual display of social skills, he sat down next to a counselor who was playing cards with two other kids and said "hi." The counselor ignored him. He said "hi" again. The counselor ignored him. The third time, the counselor looked over and sort of smiled at him. Then C asked how to play the game. The counselor ignored him. (He had no excuse now, since he definitely knew C was there and was not just a nattering little voice inside his own head.) I couldn't take it anymore and forced the counselor to acknowledge him- not that it was too helpful, since the counselor was apparently too hung over to be able to explain the rules of "War" in a coherent way. (One of the other five-year-olds was somewhat helpful, at least.) After the thankfully short game, I told C I was going to go, and asked whether he wanted to stay where he was or use the cardboard bricks, and he (unfortunately) stayed where he was.

Dan called the parks department as soon as I came home with my new report. The woman in charge of the program apologized, said that she had told them to be sure to introduce themselves, etc., and assured us that she'd meet with the staff that day and have words. (She also said something vague about "trying to make it better this year," implying perhaps that last year was pretty darn bad too. Hmm, maybe SUPERVISION would help?) She also asked Dan to call her again later in the week to report improvement or lack thereof. (Seems to me that she should go spy on her own staff if need be, but whatever.)

Today seemed slightly better in the morning; most of the staff were at least engaged with the kids, although many kids were still at loose ends and no one bothered to help them. Another parent was clearly annoyed, and I caught up with her as she left and asked her to also call the parks department so they realize this is a real problem and we're not the only ones who expect camp staff to at least feign interest in their jobs. It sounded like she probably would. I'm really hoping that the administration realizes that they need to have someone on-site who actually cares. (I'm also really disturbed that there haven't already been complaints- this is the third session of the camp. None of the other parents stayed more than five minutes, even on the first day, despite the clear lack of- well- anything positive.)

Moving on. A is sleeping worse than ever, but having a lot of fun crawling and pulling herself up during the day. She's trying a lot of new foods now that she's decided to eat; so far she's had rice, millet, sweet potato, banana, lentils, raspberries, blackberries, and tahini. (And tomorrow she can try the first summer squash from our garden!)

Last weekend, we went to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. We had beautiful weather, and the kids were reasonably well-behaved until the ride home (which was hellish, and that theme carried on through the night), but given our focus on child-management we barely got a chance to enjoy any of the music. So while we had a good time, I think we'll wait a couple years before trying anything similar again.

In addition to crawling more determindly, A is starting to point/ touch things with one finger- a precursor to using the thumb and finger to pick things up, rather than raking at objects with the whole palm of her hand. It's amazing how she's making enormous strides in both gross and fine motor skills simultaneously, especially since she's also making more and more sounds. (She's not saying "hi" like C clearly did by this age, but she MIGHT have said "mama" and "da-da" a few times. We like to think she did, anyway.)

C began a morning day camp sponsored by Bethlehem Parks and Recreation today. It was so poorly run that I almost didn't leave him there, but with kindergarten coming up, I was worried about setting a precedent of backing out before giving the program a chance. (We'll be fully prepared to pull C out of kindergarten if it's not working out, but we want him to go for at least a month before making that decision.) None of the teenage counselors (there was no one there over 20) there introduced themselves to either me or C, and none of them made an effort to engage C in any activity. I might have excused them since I was still there and they may have figured I wanted to work with him, but there were two other kids who clearly needed help yet were just left to stand by themselves looking hopeless and confused. After half an hour, despite C's protests, I forced a counselor to take charge of him and left (feeling horrible). Once at home, Dan suggested that before we decided to pull him out, he'd check it out again and see what was going on now that I was gone. The kids were on the playground and a school administrator let Dan into a classroom facing the playground so he could spy on the kids. C was trailing behind the counselor I'd left him with, talking continuously, so obviously doing okay. Probably in the hopes of shaking C, this counselor was actually engaging with the other campers. The rest were chatting amongst themselves, except one who was sleeping on a picnic table. (Keep in mind- this was the FIRST DAY of a camp session for PRESCHOOLERS. When I was a day camp counselor, I certainly had days I sort of blew off, but I was working with grade-school aged kids that I knew well enough to know if one of them needed attention.)

Expecting the worst when I picked C up, I wasn't surprised to find him milling aimlessly around the cafeteria where the camp is based. But when I brought him out to the car, he was in a pretty good mood- apparently someone managed to break through their apathy for long enough to organize a game of duck-duck-goose, which for whatever reason he loves. And he said, "Maybe we'll play it again tomorrow!" So despite the mediocrity of the program, we're hesitant to pull him out when he's willing to go- again, because of kindergarten coming up. (Which raises a whole lot of questions about whether we should even be considering sending him to kindergarten if we think a camp where the kids are ignored is suitable preparation for it, but we have another month to contemplate them.) After tomorrow, we'll decide for sure whether or not to keep him in; either way, Parks and Rec will be getting a call from us demanding that they monitor their employees better. (There was a grown-up supervisor at the camp I worked at, and it definitely made a difference.)

A's newfound mobility is keeping us on our toes. It's been so hot that we haven't had the energy to completely babyproof our house, and we're not entirely sure how to go about it since her brother strews choking hazards in his wake wherever he goes. So I've just been sticking really close and, when she goes for something dangerous, distracting her until I can remove it. But the aforementioned brother has the right to play outside of his room, and A is already throwing fits when I keep her from devouring his Playmobils. (I plan to have him store them out of reach, but this is when he was actually PLAYING with them.) Removing un-baby-friendly temptations made it a lot easier to keep C from getting frustrated when he was little, but I'm trying to console myself by remembering that he was more often bored because he didn't have another kid to entertain him.

Until today, she's been only marginally interested in solid foods. Maybe she's burning off a lot of energy now, because she devoured all the rice and sweet potatoes we gave her, and threw fits until Dan gave her the black raspberries he'd been picking for the rest of the family. Looks like we'll be making big batches of baby food soon!

from our trip; hike up Balm of Gilead (few other photos cuz our camera died) 

we baked many large cookies 

the balloon pump is a big favorite 

C opening birthday presents (note his 5 shirt)