2016 May/June

May photos are here
June photos are here

I can barely remember yesterday, but according to the calendar, some things have happened in the last two months!

First off, Ronan finished kindergarten.  It's a big year!  They send home all these great weekly notes about what the kids have been doing which is helpful when your child's answer to how any aspect of their day went is most often "it's sort of hard to explain."  The kids made monthly memory books, and just seeing how Ronan's drawing and writing changed over the year is neat.  Reading doesn't seem to come easy but he enjoys writing with "sound spelling".  After the school year ended, Ronan asked for school-style "morning messages" at home, and one morning he wrote me one back (see below, with UV pen shining on drawing)!

I found this note with an invisible ink pen attached

Dear mom. I found many messages and presents. Do you 
think I should also write you morning messages? Love, Ronan. 
P.S. I wrote this all by myself.  Look with my invisible ink pen.

Ronan has a fashion sense all his own, proudly dressing up with his self-knit scarves, matching socks to stripy shorts, and rocking silky dino leggings under his swimsuit. The first progress report we ever got on him as an 8 month old still rings true: Ronan knows what he likes.

Camp day 5

Ronan transitioned smoothly into his school's June program, and now we are on the second of four real camps for the summer as we sample some of the local offerings.  This week he is at a camp called "Ew that's gross" at a nature center, and last week and next week he was/is swimming and doing crafts on my campus.  For the last two camps he will be doing farm camp and another nature center.  He has at least one friend at each camp, so we are also are trying out carpools for the first time.

Ronan wanted a pet and through a process of elimination we ended up with two rats: Weasel and Comet (Weasel shown below).  The first choice--a rabbit--was vetoed based on longevity, but Ronan likes how smart and interesting and friendly the rats are.  So far he has been good about changing the cage with me each week.

TV: Ronan has moved past Wild Kratts and for a long time opted for the Netflix series that fills in the How to Train Your Dragon series.  These are great fun and well done, but unfortunately the kids spend most of the episodes making fun of each other with creative language. Whenever Ronan doesn't know a word he asks about it (sometimes much later), and this show has given rise to requests to explain (among others): elicit, dominate, rhetorical question, dimwit, and moron.  We coaxed him to move on to a new show and he now likes the Netflix reboot of Inspector Gadget which is a little less full of colorful phrases he wants to memorize.  It's going to be a while before we stop hearing "coming in hot, blowing out snot!" though!

*********************

Happy birthday Orion!  Happy survival of year one, parents!  Orion is now 13 months old, and he took 8 tiny steps in a row yesterday before diving into my arms.  He's not quite walking yet per se, but will happily lunge from a supportive structure to a person with some steps in between.  He's been cruising for a long time and climbing like crazy, so true walking is surely imminent.

Orion loves clambering and climbing and he is FAST.  If I set him down outside our front door he will crawl the entire path to the driveway, crawl with his knees off the ground across the gravel and pavement, and head straight the the garage where we keep the wagon.  If I get out the wagon, he will push it around the entire yard until it inevitably gets stuck.  At the river beach he will climb up and slide down rocks for an hour.  He loves baths (and tries to climb in the tub while you fill it), and once climbed into a full freezing cold kiddie pool fully clothed.  He can scale an entire slide solo, and sometimes lets go at the end to slide down and start over.

Orion signs food, water, and more all interchangeably, says "dat/cat" for the cat and the rats (and once for a ladybug), and takes an interest in ceiling fans, balls, and the present location of the cat.  If the cat is ever not in his heated cat bed (rare at this age), Orion points at it saying "Dat, Dat" and looking around for where Gandalf might have gotten to.

At Orion's age Ronan was saying and signing many more things, but was physically cautious. They are not that different, all things considered, but it is the difference that stands out to me.

1 year olds and 6 year olds don't have a lot in common (except for a desire to both play with the synthesizer in incompatible ways at the same time).  Nonetheless, we have had our share of sweet brother moments.  Some of these moments have come by surprise when David is out of town for work each week and bedtimes collide and everything is a little more hectic.  Ronan reads the baby books alongside Orion, sings songs with me, and is generally lovely (while simultaneously prolonging bedtimes).

Orion likes his crib a lot more when Ronan is in it!

Quotes:
R: I’ll be the king and you can be my servant
E: What’s a servant?
R: It means that you work for me.  Like you’re my sidekick.

April/May

Written on no sleep, but at least here are a few things that happened...
Photos (April)
Photos (May so far)

ORION
Orion is cruising, climbing stairs, feeding me, turning lights on and off, and just generally growing up.  He makes two clear signs now: food (putting his fist in his mouth repeatedly), and cheese (the Wallace and Grommit version).  I don't think he gets that you could ask for cheese, but if you ever mention the word he signs it immediately.  He also claps if you say "yay" and love to make a ba-ba-ba sounds with his hand in and out of his mouth.

At night we do one or two books, and his favorites are:

• CAT (has a squeaky ball in the book he can get to make sound, plus tails to pet)
• Moo Ba La La La (I swear he is working on saying Moo, but it sounds like Boo)
• Feely Bugs

Close to the end of April, Orion got a coxsackievirus (related to hand foot and mouth syndrome, but his was without the hand and foot symptoms).  Poor guy had GI symptoms and a mouth full of sores and stopped nursing for what turned out to be 2+ weeks.  At 2 weeks I got him to nurse while deeply asleep, and at 2.5 weeks he will nurse while asleep and also a bit while awake, but he really seemed freaked out by even the idea of nursing for a long time.  He's getting pumped milk mixed with cow milk in bottles for most of his feedings now.

RONAN
Ronan's class performed in a Spring festival with songs and dances and it was so sweet.  Ronan was so proud to be performing in Davis hall at Smith, and I finally realized he was thinking that's the same as Davies Hall (in SF).  :)

Ronan lost his first tooth on April 25th and his second today (May 13th) -- both at school (where they give you a tooth necklace to keep it safe).   He got no sleep that night because he was so excited, and this morning bounded into my room at 6am (David has been out of town for both, which I'm getting more used to). Of course the baby was already awake...

After the first tooth, Ro put a note in the "fairy house" in our yard asking for $100 from the fairies.  Apparently fairies have their own currency, and Ro now has his own $100 note.

Events:
Birthday parties, 2 reservoir trips, Grandma and Grossvater visit, bear visit, a robin laid eggs in our porch basket, the weather turned beautiful, and we've been eating outside again!

Quotes:
Ronan has started saying "I know, right?" a lot...not sure where he got that.

Saturday Art Projects

A couple months ago Ronan and I started doing Saturday afternoon art projects for a little baby-free hang out time.  In recent weeks it has faltered but here are some of the projects we tried.

Make your own (off brand) shrinky dinks!  

Candle making

Mould candles and sand candles

Paper dragons

Ice globe

Flex tangles

Mosaic box

And a medal for dad

Ro started making scarves on a peg loom

One of his scarves

March-mid April 2016

This hoodie has ears too!

Maybe it's a vole suit!  

Photos from March are here
March was a busy month!  

Happenings
I got Tenure!
J&B visit
Basement got finished (and cubbies, and painting)
Screening of An Intimate Dance
C&A visit
Easter egg hunt
David turned 40
Playdates and birthdays
JP visited
Endless basement projects

Orion's 9th/10th month
crawling started and became expert
then cruising
then pulling to standing
then using stacked chairs as a walker
then using a real walker!
more active means a harder time falling asleep (must stand up!)

Exhausting, exhausted.  But it has many moments.

February (and Jan/Feb photos)

Here are pictures from January/Feburary! 

O is growing up so much mentally and physically.  At 9 months he's 30.5" and 22.2 lbs (99th and 87th %iles).  He imitates clapping, hands things to you, grabs on, holds blankets over his face to play peek-a-boo, makes smacking noises with his tongue, and is just generally adorable. He has three teeth, and LOVES food, especially any finger foods.  He eats almost anything at this age, from eggplant moussaka to chicken tikka masala.  He liked baked pears so much he dove down to lick his high chair tray afterwards.  He is trying really hard to crawl and I'll arbitrarily say that his first real crawling was this morning (March 8).

Ronan's writing and drawing have changed so much this year and his creativity shines through.  We continue to do art projects every Saturday but he spends almost every morning before we are awake at his newly expanded art table making stickers, yarn knots, or origami.

Ro loom knit scarves for himself and O

O with scarf in front of art table

Ronan's school does a lot of practice with phonetic "sound spelling."  This just came home with him yesterday, after their celebration of the 100th day in kindergarten.

100 dollars

100 lollipops

100 barbarians in my house!!

play soccer

Ro made this for us
because we love coffee!

Ro Quotes:
R: What does prim mean?
A: [defines, and enacts being prim]
D: Instead of acting more like this...
R: Hey, I thought dad was supposed to be the polite one!

R: Mom what does thankful mean?
A: [defines]
R: Oh, so I’m thankful that you set up a play date for me and Lyra 

A: What do you want to do?
R: I think I'll just be running on the treadmill.  [!!]
A: Actually the treadmill doesn't work. It broke earlier today.  
R: What could be wrong with it.?
A: It may be a problem with the belt.  Dads going to try opening it up to see if he can fix it though.
R: Oh I'd just hire someone to do that.  Treadmills are really complicated.

[discussing current presidential candidates]
R: If MLK were still alive I think he would make a good president
(later that evening): Maybe we should have a banana puff for president 

From Ro's teacher L:
We were having Morning Meeting and talking about our featured letters this week (K and L).  Ronan raised his hand.
L: Ronan, do you have a comment or question?
R: Well, yes, it's a question!
L: What is it?
R: Well, I was just wanting to ask . . . did you dye your hair mahogany?
L: I did not! Why do you ask?
R: It's just looking extra mahogany today!

January 2016: Orion's 7th month

Looking back on month 7 of Orion's life here is funny because that is the age Ronan was when we moved to Northampton and started this blog.  Just look at this post!  And it keeps going (for years) from there!  I was terrible at keeping a baby book for Ronan (it lasted a few pages max), but now I know Ro got his first tooth in month 6, his second in month 7, and that this is the age at which he started his classic Wallace and Grommit style "cheese" maneuver.  When I see Ro's 7 month old face I remember so vividly, and yet it all feels like a lifetime ago.  His lifetime, to be precise!

I couldn't resist putting together a few pictures from the same age.  Here are Ro and Orion at 6 months, and at the very bottom are shots in the very same chair (in the very same clothes) on the occasion of being 7 months.  Ronan's shot is in CA, just before we departed for this coast!

I can't resist a parallel to that old entry, and so here is a short letter to you, Orion (warning, sappy!)

Dear Orion,

In your seventh month of life you continue to show us who you are, and I am smitten.  It really does make up for the almost unbelievably frequent night wakings.  When you wake from a good nap, you are joyful, and the cooing and smiling is entertainment for me for a good while.  You flash wonderful grins at familiar people, and bashful ones at strangers (grin and duck!). You sway your head side to side like Stevie Wonder, then head butt me when I least expect it.

You got your first two (bottom) teeth this month over two or three particularly rough nights, and they are so sharp I get why it's hard.  You mastered rolling, and now dive forwards and lunge for things, especially iPhones.  You are not quite sure what they are good for, but clearly the grownups want them.  We started signing with you this month, and I get the sense that you recognize some spoken words.  I also started reading to you at bedtime, and Moo Baa LaLaLa (one of Ronan's early favorites) is a huge hit with you.  You laugh so hard at the animal sounds you spit your binkie out.  

I'm gradually working on getting you to fall asleep with less and less intervention so you can hopefully fall back to sleep when you wake between feedings.  You're getting better at that, but you still want to nurse every 2h.  I'm glad to be able to do it, though.  And food!  My goodness.  The moment you are set in your high chair you start hooting.  We have to start feeding you IMMEDIATELY, or at least put a rice puff in your mouth or a spoon in your hand.  You eat enthusiastically (everything we've tried), but sometimes it comes up just like the milk does.

This age is rough on parents, and I'm doing my best to juggle work, life maintenance, parenting you, parenting Ronan, and occasionally sleeping.  While I can't say I'm doing any of it nearly as much as I feel like I need to, I am really enjoying being in these moments with you.  I know how brief and relatively simple they are compared to the (also wonderful and challenging) days to come, and I adore you.

Love,

Mom

------

I haven't gone through the pictures for the month, but another day!

November-December 2015

Whoa, all 4 faces in one photo!

So much more is happening than I have time to write about.  Here are a ton of pictures though (even more than usual):
Photos of November/December

Brief Happenings:
We enjoyed the end of a beautiful fall with great weather
Gandalf bonded with Orion
Ronan (and Papa) turned 6 and up
We had our first date night with 0 kids and 1 concert (Gillian Welch/Dave Rawlings)
I also advanced a year (and a decade)
We visited family at the lake house in VA for thanksgiving (and met new cousin C)
We visited family and friends in CA over Christmas/New Year
Ronan beat the pants off all of us at Asphalt 8, talked with helium, and started drawing octopi

Ronan!
Ronan has discovered humor, and is slowly amassing a collection of knock-knock jokes, puns, and an impressive array of homonyms (technically homophones).  One is expected to laugh at said jokes repeatedly, but he authentically cracks me up in other ways, including how he ceremoniously fluffs his pillow each night before bed (which, incidentally, he didn't appreciate me thinking was amusing).  

Ronan has become enthralled with watching his dad play Minecraft (and directing him), and he's crazy good at Asphalt 8, which he may have played rather a lot of on vacation.  We are definitely going to be navigating screen-time issues in the coming decade.  In the real world, Ronan has taken a liking to playing soccer in after-school, and is also (much to my delight) coming home singing all kinds of songs this year.  He has taught most of them to me, and we've sung quite a few as rounds now.  He recently enjoyed figuring out how to harmonize with me as we sing.  I think R is quite musical, and he's also surprisingly good at drumming.  One of these days I'll make a proper music post with some of the audio clips I've made (but there isn't an easy way to upload them here).

Orion!
Orion started sitting on his own (just before 6 months), he took his first cross-country flights and we all survived, and he finally figured out how to roll over (just before 7 months).  He is experimenting with sounds, especially dadadadadada (and once even mamamamama).  

I still haven't slept more than 2 hours straight in I don't know how long (and keep getting sick).  I'm pretty sure I still know my name and the capital of Surinam, but that's about it.  Parenting (and nursing) a hungry baby is exhausting.  Perhaps to make up for it, Orion is getting ever more delightful and fun to be around.  He is a loud baby!  Mostly happy, and sometimes shrieky.  We are just starting to use sign language for a few things again.

Orion has a special relationship with our cat Gandalf, who adopted him after he lost his best cat friend.  Gandalf will let Orion pull his tail and ears, smack him, and suck on him -- purring all the while.  We joke that Orion is going to first think the cat's name is "gentle". When O outgrew his bassinet we set up a mini-crib as a sidecar to our bed, and Gandalf is often to be found there (although less now that he has his own heated bed).  

Gandalf loves Orion (and everyone)

Tastes and feels good!

O and Gandalf!  (click to enlarge)

Here is a video compilation of Orion's first 6 months!  (My first ever attempt at video editing).  The password is the kids' last name.

Quotes:

R: Your sweater is so silky, mom.  I'm appreciating it with my hands.

Story: I don't have many quotes recorded this month, but Ronan is fond of telling the following story.  The grossest thing he knows about (that has actually happened) is this:  

Orion spits up a lot--although less so now--and at one point he spit up with his fist in his mouth.  His babysitter Amanda was holding him at the time, and before she could blink, Orion took his spit-uppy fist out of his mouth and put it straight into her mouth.  Gross!

Parent quotes:

D: I know what you meant to mean

A: Your attention span for otters is not as long as mine

[someone at NYE]: Humans are excellent sources of randomness.  You just have to process them correctly 

Family photo in our native state of confusion