Baby Boy Weather Forecast

I can totally see this kid practicing single eyebrow raises in a few years...

Some parenting moments are giggles, hugs, or pride. Others are realizing that your child bent your glasses into an impossible shape while you were dozing on his unpadded bedroom floor after 4 hours of sleep. (Yes, this morning). I'd actually managed to close the door, do a quick sweep of his room for child-safety, and hide my glasses under the rocking chair footstool before sleep overcame me, but kids are clever and "hiding" is a current favorite game.

Some recent sunny moments:

• At the local brew-pub he started strumming a pickle and singing "oh-hi-oh-hi-oh." The pickle juice everywhere was so worth it.

• If he's really tired he'll instruct you how to put him to bed. Actual directions uttered while he was being held: "RoRo in crib. Mama outside"

• June 30: first 5 word sentence: "Dada bringing a milk bottle." Followed by "Big tadpole in the water" on July 4.

Ronan in a good mood is talkative and playful and a fantastic giggler.

Stormy moments:

Ronan in a mini-meltdown has one hell of a voice and explores creative ways to express his feelings. Rules are understood, but apparently fun to break. I must say it's far more frustrating to watch a child throw food onto the ground with glee, or bite you and then say "no biting", than to supervise the accidental flailings of a baby that might lead to the same results. There seems to be a gap in time between the cognitive development needed to understand rules and the restraint needed to follow them. I start to understand why babies are born 2 years apart, or four, but not as often 3.*

*(Actually, while I've heard this, I was unable to find any histograms of birth spacings so who knows if it's real. For now I'm amazed anyone has >1 child.)

News from Lake Wobegon

Lots has been going on in the last few weeks. We are in the process of buying a house, we got a second car, and we all got a flu. Fortunately it looks like we will have a few quiet weeks before we head out of town, move, and all hell breaks loose!