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) 

pre-crawling baby 

pre-crawling baby