Vegetables

We've been visiting my parents since last Wednesday and it's been great fun. We'll be heading home tomorrow. My brother and I were discussing whether he'd drive back with us or not:

"Whatever you decide," I said, "Just let us know."
"Ha! Lettuce?!" said D, "Why are you talking about lettuce?"

***

In other vegetable-related news, D has decided she no longer likes cauliflower or avocado that isn't in sushi. We are leaning heavily on broccoli, brussel sprouts, corn and peas.

Nocturnal Habits

I was chatting with a couple other moms at D's daycare and they asked what baby A's nights are like. My response was vague. I know he wakes up in the night but I'm not exactly sure how often or at what intervals. This imprecision is a good sign: it means that I can nurse and comfort him so easily that I don't wake up enough to check the clock. Hooray for breastfeeding and co-sleeping!

When he was more of a newborn, I did have a more distinct sense of his night-time schedule, partly because I would sit up to nurse him at least once and because we'd often change his diaper when he woke. These days, there are some mornings when I do wake up with the impression that he had more night wakings than usual but overall, nights are okay. I have no expectations about him "STTN" (on-line parenting forum code for Sleeping Through The Night) since our daugther didn't STTN consistently until she started sleeping with us a couple months ago!

And what about the mama's sleep habits? Well, I've gotten myself onto this unconventional but rather enjoyable schedule. I stay up late. That's right, after the kids are both asleep I stay up for hours doing stuff. Then in the morning, I get up with D (which could be as early as 7:00 or as late as 8:30) but - here's the secret ingredient that makes the late nights sustainable - I go back to bed when baby A has his morning nap. Then when we wake up again towards lunchtime, I almost feel like I've slept in.

I must stress that this is our routine for the moment and I know it will evolve. It wasn't the case when he was smaller and I relished turning in early. It likely won't be the case in a few months if his naps consolidate or if we have more active days. But for now, it's working out.

Now I must go to bed because it's really, really late!

Adult Privilege

D: I wish I could be grown up right now.
Me: You do? Why?
D: So that I could reach the toilet paper when I'm sitting on the toilet.

Sam, Kristen, Meagan and Beth

One of D's favourite toys is a collection of four wooden magnetic dolls and their wooden magnetic wardrobe. She's been playing with these for maybe two years already. In her latest scenario, Beth is Sam's mother and sends her to various kinds of lessons (soccer, swimming or "kitchen" lessons). Conflict arises at the lesson when the nasty Kristen torments Sam by stepping on his feet and calling him poopy-pants. The teacher must intervene. Eventually Beth comes to collect Sam and they go home, put on their pajamas and go to sleep.

This evening as we played with these characters Sam asked if he could sleep in Beth's bed. Beth agreed and then they had the following conversation:

Me/Sam: Where's papa?
D/Beth: He lives in another building.
Me/Sam: Why does he live in another building?
D/Beth: Because...umm... he doesn't like my bathrobe.

She's obviously been eavesdropping on a recurring bathrobe-related argument between her father and I. (Kidding.)

When Parents Get Their Hair Cut

The last time I got my hair cut, it was the morning of my PhD graduation ceremony in May. When D saw me at our celebratory supper, she cried.

This past weekend, LePapa got a haircut that was a thousand times more radical (i.e. a bigger change) than mine. We prepped D for days in advance. Her concern was both heart-breaking and comical: "I don't want Papa to cut his hair because then I'll think he's somebody else."

But she has accepted it with grace. In fact, she didn't really comment on it at all until LePapa asked her what she thought of it, at which point she explained, "I know it's you because your voice is the same."

I'm pretty sure I know the inner workings of her mind and that this comment relates to a scene in Shrek 2 when Prince Charming tries to convince Fiona that he is the non-ogre version of Shrek, and Fiona says, "But what happened to your voice?"

(P.S. You can see how the Shrek obsession has made its way into my blog title: if baby A has the "fontanelle" then D is most certainly Princess Fiona!)

Rock Star

We bought tickets for the Iron and Wine show way back when, and thought it might be our first night out sans children since A's birth. October 14 (the night of the show) thus became my deadline for making sure that baby A would take the bottle - except that in reality, I never actually got around to pumping my milk and offering it to him. This happened because 1. I was lazy about it and 2. as the date approached, I realized that neither I nor him were ready to be separated for an entire evening.

And so we had no choice but to scalp our tickets for twice their value! Just kidding. We had no choice but to bundle up that baby and drag him to his first concert! He did great. He was really into the opening act, mesmerized by the elaborate spotlights. We had seats in the balconey although LePapa ended up walking around with him quite a bit. He slept in the baby sling through most of the main act. It was way louder than I expected (there were 10 musicians on stage!) and I was slightly worried that it somehow might not be good for him to be in such a noisy environment. But he only startled a bit when the crowd applauded.

We were clearly pushing it when we attempted to go for a quick beer with some friends post-concert. He woke up almost as soon as we sat down and was awake on the metro all the way home, but he was smiley and content so I'd say the evening was success!

Guess who else was awake when we arrived back at the apartment at 11:45pm?!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year, at nearly 33 years old, I made Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. It was a small crowd - just us and my brother on Thanksgiving Monday - but the feast was large: chicken, potatoes, dressing, gravy, asperagus, squash, corn on the cob, gravy and cranberry sauce. After the meal we did our usual Thanksgiving game in which we go around the table stating what we're thankful for and accompanying each item with a bite of something chocolate. D proclaimed her thankfulness for: her Snow White baby doll, her stuffed Shrek, and her uncle.

We're always at my parents' place for Thanksgiving but this year we stayed home (because we'll be visiting them at the end of October). Instead, my in-laws (hereafter known as Grandmaman and Grandpapa) were at our place from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. The weather was impeccable - sunny, breezy, 23 degrees - so we spent a lot of time outside.

On Saturday we had a special meal. It was D's first time trying meat fondue and she liked it, after she got over her initial fear regarding the fact that fondue necessitates there being a fire in the middle of the table. At first she thought the thinly-sliced beef was smoked salmon. We dipped shrimp too, which she loves. I asked her if she remembered eating chocolate fondue on another occasion but she couldn't recall it. Whenever she doesn't remember something we mention, she always says, "Was it when I was 2?" Two represents the nebulous pre-memory phase for her. Anyhow, I don't think she really understood what I meant by "chocolate fondue" because the next day she asked if we could eat "that meat that is chocolate." Took me a minute to figure out what she meant.

Squint / Glare

D, outside in the sunshine this afternoon: "The sun makes my eyes like they're angry but I don't feel angry."

3 Months

Baby A celebrated his 3 month birthday by performing is very first little baby laugh! With all that smiling, we should've guessed that laughing was just around the corner. He was lying on my lap all fed and refreshed and I was saying, "Baby! Baby!" in a ridiculously exagerrated cooing-mama-gaga voice. The little "heh" noise that often accompanies his smiles suddenly became multi-syllabic and chuckle-y. It was great. I remember that when D was a little baby, she went through a phase during which a drawn-out "b" sound would make her laugh, and now A likes the "bbb" sounds of BaBy. That letter B is such a riot. 

The Evening's Memorabilia

(5-6pm) - Baby A and I go to fetch D at daycare and the 3 of us walk over to the grocery store, with A in the awesome floral baby sling (that LePapa wears inside out so that it's navy and not girly-floral) and D in the stroller, eating rice crackers and hummus. I'm forever grateful that she likes such a healthy and easy snack! 

(6-7pm) - We make it home with $45 worth of random groceries and hang out outside a bit while LePapa prepares food. It's chilly. D wants to wear gloves, but not her scarf. She seems to think that if she answers with a cheerful "no, thank you!" then we will respect her refusals. Supper is brussel sprouts, sausage and Mini-wheats for D, and brussel sprouts, pizza and salad for us, followed by chocolate ice cream for all. Our most frequenly heard phrase whenever we sit down for a meal together is "Tell me a story."

(7-8pm) - Usually D sits on the carpet and plays with her Playmobils after supper. Tonight she insists that one of us come with her right away. She says she's scared to leave the table by herself because I told her a story that had a scary part. The scary part is that one of the characters had a green face. Oops. We play on the carpet for a while. Her little Playmobil girl is called "Meesh" but then it evolves into "Leash." I introduce my guy as "Patrick;" she calls him Hectic and then Panic. LePapa walks around with A in his arms but after a while he wants to nurse and then sleeps in my arms for a bit.

(8-9pm) - We forego the bath to play a family round of Candyland. When LePapa gets to the Candy Castle first, D says, "Let's keep gaming until we all get to the castle with the green guy." Pajamas on, the 4 of us lie in bed and read: Pinkalicious, The Gingerbread Man, Now I Eat My ABCs, and My Pretty Pink Counting Purse. D drinks "hot milk" that LePapa has frothed for her with the espresso machine. Baby A is awake now, and look up at the books like they might be a bit over-stimulating.

(9-11pm) - I lie in the dark, D falling asleep on my left as I nurse A on the right. When D falls asleep, I get up to rock A to sleep, read a bit of my novel (Lionel Shriver's So Much For That), and spend some time on-line, sitting at the desk with incredibly poor posture as baby sleeps on my chest.

Smiler

When D was little, she always had these big, round, curious eyes; it was by far her defining feature. So far Baby A seems to be known for his amazing grin. Seriously, if he's not hungry or tired (or bothered by a bodily function), he is one happy baby. His smile is so enthusiastic, so unabashed and genuine, so enormous that it's like a full-body reaction. It makes people laugh. When he's lying on his change table, or lounging on our laps, or looking up at us from his little seat - if his eyes meet our face, he smiles. It's awesome.

It's interesting to gage his vision this way. That is, we can tell that sometimes we're just slightly beyond his visual range because he seems to be searching with his eyes. And if we move a bit closer, he sees us and breaks into a smile. It's also interesting to think about what this means in terms of his development as an infant. I mean, babies need to be able to cry from birth so that we will tend to them, and A can certainly cry if he needs to. But these little creatures have to learn to smile. At first, smiling is a lot about imitation, I suppose, but there must be so much work going on in his head to connect that imitative muscular response with real feelings of security, recognition and happiness.

Here's how immediate and instinctive his smile is: sometimes at bedtime, after he has fallen asleep in my arms I put him down in his little co-sleeper bed right beside our bed. If he's not quite ready to be put down, he opens his eyes instantly and gives me a big smile. I pick him up again, look down immediately, and his eyes are closed again. He's back to sleep.

:)