And now we are six!

When I was One,

I had just begun.

When I was Two,

I was nearly new

When I was Three,

I was hardly Me

When I was Four,

I was not much more

When I was Five

I was just alive

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever
-A. A. Milne

Fall (October!) 2015

Our yard this Fall

Sooo many photos (Sept/Oct)

It was a gorgeous fall—the best since we've moved here.  October had beautiful leaves, a ridiculous share of 70 degree sunny days, and some nice crisp clear ones too.  It's hard to catch our breath with everything going on, but we managed to get out some.  We took a wagon ride, bowled for butternut squashes, made a batch of yummy applesauce, and topped off the month by launching produce at the FarmFest's veggie slingshot. 

Farm Fest! 

Halloween was a hit this year, as Ronan finally enjoys approaching strangers'  houses and yelling trick-or-treat.  We've never gone trick-or-treating in the same neighborhood twice.  At age two, I hauled Ro around the nearby cohousing community on a wagon, at three we went in his buddy E's old neighborhood, at four we were in California, and at five we made the rounds in E's new neighborhood! 

The dread knight-king Nanor and his buddy Harry Potter
(Thanks to Jenny for the costume!)

Red lobster
(Thanks to Lolo for the costume)

The wee one in month 4:

Blue = baby sleep!

Orion is growing up, and growing.  That means not so much sleep at night for me (much less than the first time), but at least he's now got a regular bedtime.  Naps aren't regular yet, but when they are, I'll know, because we are sort of compulsive data collectors around here.  From graphs like this one I also learned that he sleeps a lot more when our sitter/nanny is with him (M-Th until early afternoon) than when I am!

This month Orion found his toes, followed shortly thereafter by the discovery that they could be stuffed in his mouth.  The guidelines on food and babies are changing, so he also sampled a few things actually intended for consumption.  He mostly decorated himself and surroundings, but managed to down a bit of avocado, banana, carrot soup, apple sauce, hummus, and whatever else was at hand. He seems to especially enjoy gnawing on dill pickle slices at restaurants.  He is intent on locking away dribbles in his chin folds, so we have to do extra tummy time just to keep him clean.

O has had a blocked tear duct in his right eye since birth, and frequent eye issues, so I am happy to say that it finally resolved this month.  Apparently it often does, but if it hasn't done so by 9 months it typically leads to surgery.

He is delightful when he has slept and eaten.  He reliably laughs when airplaned overhead, raspberried on the tummy, or gently squeezed around the ribs.  He is also a fan of weird noises.  He will engage in "conversation" of spitty bubbly sounds with you at some length.  He also grunts the moment he is left to his own devices, reminding me that the currency of infants (beyond food) is attention.  If the video below works, you can hear some of his noises.

The not so wee one:
Kindergarten continues to be an amazing growth period for Ro.  One day he told me that now that they had finished their studies of caterpillars, they were studying something even more important -- they were studying kindness.  There is an ugly pillar in the center of the classroom, and the teachers use it to one by one talk about the values that hold up the classroom community (first putting up traced hands from the kids with examples of one value, then another).  After a month of kindness came patience.*  The Dalai Lama (!) was slated to visit their school in October in part because of their unusual values curriculum.  His visit was canceled for health reasons, but they still held a special peace assembly (and Daniel Goleman visited instead).

*It's a little funny to see the lack of transfer from one context to another, though.  After telling me about patience he was supremely impatient, and he gave me a whole talk about kindness before being a dictator at dinner one night.  :)

I've heard that kindergarten is the year of the greatest transformation in kids in school, and I can see it.  I'm glad that he is also having a great time.  He is even lobbying to be allowed to do the extended day program after regular after-school.  From the parent-teacher conference today, it is clear that Ronan's teachers really know him: delightful, careful, articulate, thoughtful, a bit of a perfectionist, and also spacey!

Ro has been singing up a storm -- learning tons of new songs at school and sharing them at home. This makes me happy!  I so fondly remember singing in camp at his age and he is even learning a few of the same songs.  The others he teaches to me and then we get to try out harmonies and rounds. Apparently he got to define harmony for his class the other day, saying that it was when you sing a thing that is different from someone else, but that when sung together makes everything even more beautiful.  I couldn't agree more!

Ronan has also become a fiend for playing/watching Minecraft with his dad, he makes special laminated stickers for us and friends regularly, and he reads Bedtime Math (1 or 2) every night in the bathroom. In our house it should be Bathroom Math. 

General happenings:
We bought a new car!  It's the first brand new car we've ever bought.  I have feature shock (and Ronan is in heaven), but it also makes me feel a little old.  This is a replacement for our trusty Subaru (i.e the car that hauls stuff), but gone are the days when the most important feature was ability to sleep two in the car on road trips.  With 40 coming up, maybe we should have gotten a sports car :)  I'd take a new version of the old Honda Insight 2-seater in lime green.  David would choose a Tesla Model S, and Ronan would like the BMW i8.  Maybe I'd choose an i3.  Ronan has taught me a lot about cars (which I never thought about previously) but we all look forward to some day getting an electric one.  For now, our new Honda seems very fancy.

Farewell "Space Whale"

Hello "Jupiter"
Will the neighborhood kids love you as much?

Quotes:
R: Do you know the best kind of kindness?  The best kindness is the kind you show not just in your words, but also in your eyes, and in your voice, and in your whole body.

R [to teacher]: Did you know that I am actually descended from a king? 

[upon arriving home]
R: Mom, will you keep me company in the car?
A: Sure!  [Grabs Ro and hugs him]
R: Not that kind of company!

Belated September 2015

Thanks to kindergarten for requesting a family photo

So much is happening and there is no time to record any of it.  From looking through photographs, I can tell that in September:

First day of school

Ronan started kindergarten!  He made the transition very smoothly, and often tells me how many days he's been a kindergartner (especially if he is calendar helper for the week).  He loves the responsibility of kindergarten jobs, and looks forward to being line-leader.  He likes his fourth grade reading buddy, he is learning tons of new songs and poems, and on Spanish days he almost always greets me with "Mom: como estas?"  The year started with learning about caterpillars and watching them change into butterflies.  When Ro learned that I did not study caterpillars in kindergarten he had two reactions: first, perhaps I should go back to kindergarten!  Second, maybe if I get tired of studying voles I should study caterpillars next.  Honestly, I wouldn't mind going back to kindergarten in his class.  

Also in September, I started working on campus again.  It felt too soon, and I'm both lucky to be able to have a flexible schedule and spend some time at home, and unlucky my line of work and research lab doesn't allow any time to really be off.  My favorite days are my Fridays home with Orion when we go for long walks and hang out in cafes and I don't have to multitask (unless you count nap time computing).  

I turned in my tenure dossier, got two new graduate students up and running in my lab, and am teaching a seminar called "Behavioral epigenetics." David started going back to NYC once a week and we both learned how to handle two kids at once (especially tricky at bedtime).  Sleep and personal time remain elusive and seem directly in opposition.  On multiple occasions I have paid for childcare just to sleep (handing off Orion to our sitter and then catching up a bit), which I couldn't have imagined a few years ago but now seems just part of getting by! 

Orion started to reach and grab and laugh and probably lots of other stuff.  We enjoyed some late warm weather and got outside as much as possible.  Whew! September seems like a long time ago!

Quotes

Outdoor naps are the best

R [tears in his eyes]: Ow, I accidentally bit my own leg
A: Were you trying to bite something else?
R: No
A: Would you like a hug?
R: Yes

S: Can I have this [gold] coin?
R: Um, I don’t think so.
S: But I really, really want it.
R: Well, I don’t think you understand how playdates usually work.
S: But can I have it?

R: I think Orion is kind of cold.  I think he’s using some kind of goose technology.

R: You know what I might do when I'm older?  I might actually marry you or dad.

2015 End of the Summer

August (and early Sept) photos

I don't have nice things to say about August this year, so maybe I shouldn't say them.  What started as a short trip to Cape Cod turned into 11 exhausting, scary, misery filled days in the hospital with Orion.  But we came out the other end with an apparently happy and healthy child, and Ronan had a great time on a family vacation in Vermont without us (thanks, guys), so I will count our unlucky experience as lucky enough, and cross my fingers we don't see anything like this again.  

The ambulance ride was not one of the scary parts

September kicked off better, with a trip to the tri-county fair.  They fry twinkies!  They race things gratuitously!  The rides were the best part, and Ronan was finally old enough to join us on rides exciting enough to challenge the inner ear.  September also brought the official start of childcare for Orion, and several playdates in advance of Kindergarten.  The semester is getting underway.

Piglets don't actually understand races very well

Orion now grabs everything, enjoys cooing conversations, and even laughs. Ronan is more grown up than ever.  He plays chess and khet and iPhone racing games voraciously, he can read more than he admits, he has become camera-shy much of the time, and he says "uh, hello-o-o" with the rich intonation of a sarcastic teenager.  (He also says "awwwight" with enthusiasm).

Full lotus!

Also, he has started making up jokes!  I blame Brent and Dawn and action at a distance. Here are the two I remember:

OK, so there's a kid sheep and a kid goat.  And little goats are called kids, right? So the goat kid says to the sheep kid: "I kid you not"!

When ninjas are young, do you know where they go to school?  Ninjagarten!

Finally, in the department of mundane but sad/funny, my Fitbit stopped working because I got barfed on (down the shirt) too many times by Orion and it got waterlogged.  Things have been too hectic to correct the situation.

Quotes:

Ro in VT: I'm not tired, but I bet my mom could tell us why my brain feels like it's tired. [Promptly falls asleep]

R: Orion doesn't know how to cut the quiche, but he does know how to cut the cheese

R: Labor Day? Is that like a day when you can try to make a baby brother?

Still happy after all the unhappy 
(Ro playing Asphalt 8 or AG Drive in the background)

Snuggle party

A perfect temperature day

July 2015 (2 months)

July photos, proving a younger child can be over-photographed too (in this age of camera phones).

Here are 5 things that have happened since Orion joined us.  Guess which are funny and which are sad!

1) Getting pooped on during a diaper change
2) Getting peed on during a diaper change
3) Crashing on the couch and talking in my sleep about mice
4) Missing events because I slept through them
5) Accidentally washing milk-absorbing bra inserts on hot

Answer: 1) sad, 2) funny (only because there were two of us), 3) funny, 4) sad, 5) hilarious

Before

After - that's not going in my bra!

Don't you want to pinch these?

This month Orion started smiling at us and cooing (around 7 weeks), making him the current cutest baby on the planet.  He sticks out his tongue when he sees Ronan (who spent a long time sticking his tongue out at Orion).  Aside from a propensity to launch his meals onto our shirts, he is the quintessential easy-ish baby, and has come with us on many small adventures.  His cheeks continue to exert their own gravitational pull.

Ronan finally wondered where babies come from, starting with how amazing it was that I made Orion in my body.  From there we quickly progressed to "did Dad help lay the baby?" and a lesson on how eggs need to be fertilized.  Next up was "does it happen when you hug?" Assured that it's not that easy he proceeded to wonder how you know you're pregnant, but I managed to save a detailed explanation of dipstick-based enzyme immunoassays for an older age.

Happenings:

• Fourth of July fireworks and visits with friends
• The children's concert at Tanglewood with friends
• A most excellent day on Hammond pond with friends
• O came with me to an R workshop on campus and snoozed through the lectures
• A visit from L&P&E
• We all went to see "Inside Out" at the theater (Ronan's first big screen film)
• We went to a children's circus at the fairgrounds
• Ro tried his first Slip N Slide at a friend's house
• Ro opened his first coconut (inspired by reading Swiss Family Robinson at bedtimes)
• A visit from D&L&D
• We started working part-time and had a sitter (Marie) for a couple hours each day

Ro Quotes:

Don't we just live in the perfect environment for happiness?

[Re: thank you note to his buddy William]: We should write on the note that maybe W and I might get married when we're older, 'cause we really like each other.

Isn't is awesome that I have a baby brother?

Tongue!

(Click on any picture for a larger version)

Starting smiles

Free cuteness

June 2015 (aka month 1)

Ro & Bro 

The "& Co" part of Ro & Co has expanded!  On June 6th we welcomed Orion to the fold.  The jury is out on whether this blog should become Ro & Ri, Ro & O, or Ro & Bro.   

June photos: week 1 & the rest of month 1

I make being a baby look easy...

Orion is so new we don't know much about him yet.  He's cute, and likes to gaze into your eyes during the few minutes he's awake during the day. He's also huge (>98th percentile for length, and all cheeks).  When he was coming out the first thing I thought of was the opening scene of Star Wars where the panning view of the ship just keeps going and going and you wonder when it will stop (we watched it recently with Ronan).  Amusingly, he has two behaviors consistent with before he was born: he is very strong (he kicked dramatically in utero), and he gets hiccups a lot (he hiccuped almost every day in my third trimester).  He's already working on holding up his head, and if you spend a lot of time sticking your tongue out at him, he'll stick his tongue out at you. Behold the power of a baby to turn adults into weirdos!  (OK, we already were).

...but this is what my parents look like

Orion is a spit-up machine, and he's growing like crazy.  He really wants to figure out how to get his fingers in his mouth, but mostly rejects pacifiers.  This makes him less calm than Ronan as a baby, but only slightly.  Actually, that could be totally wrong.  I only think I have memories of the time after Ronan was born because there are pictures (so we must have been there).   

He's now had a month of firsts -- first sort-of smiles, first spit up through his nose, first bath, first peeing during a bath, first spitting up through his nose during a bath... I think I'll stop there.  Our life is mostly about taking care of inputs and outputs with a little funny-face making in between.  I expect next month may come with more of the funny-face making (and also the other parts).  

DS: Dependent: Noun.  A being that emits fluids that are your responsibility to clean up.

(Our cat was joining in the fun of dependency this week).

First bath in a tub.  Do you like my fig leaf?

First all-family photo (including cat)

Ronan

Ro is taking the big brother thing in stride, mostly by doing his own thing as usual, although he is very gentle with Orion.  All the kids at school are currently obsessed with Star Wars, and Ro has been making light sabers in addition to his scores of paper airplanes.  Strangely, he insists that they are called "light savers" and that all adults have it wrong.  He and his gang at school (they call themselves that)  have all the lore down, so that even though Ro hasn't seen much of the series he knows about all the characters.  We decided after the first Star Wars that it was a little advanced for him (and too violent) so we are waiting indefinitely on the rest of the movies, but we may yet look at some picture books so he doesn't feel left out.  Back to Wild Kratts and Octonauts for the time being.  This month Ro got to see the makers of Wild Kratts in person (which he talks about all the time), we took in our first Tanglewood kids concert where he enjoyed trying out the french horn, and we had a few great weeks of grandparent time with Nana and Papa.  Ro also learned to pump his legs to swing recently, which he has been enjoying greatly.

In a recent house cleaning we purged some of the paper airplanes Ro has been making (by testing them all in flight, of course), and there were probably more than 50 of them in the house.  He's gotten into folding several of his own designs, and one morning he decided he wanted to make a wing suit so HE could fly.  He made two different versions.  When the first, single-wing variety didn't work he tried a split wing.  He was genuinely disappointed when neither worked.  Another morning he woke me up saying he wanted to design a cardboard C-5, and could I help him make it?  It's hard to resist an earnest plea for an art project!

Cardboard and duct tape C-5

Early flight attempts before school

June 2015 Quotes:

R: Mom, look.  Orion is counting in binary.  See his fingers?

R: Dad, do we have a billion dollar bill in the bank?
D: No.  Only a few people in the world have a billion dollars, and they’re called billionaires.
R: Do we have a million dollar bill in the bank?
D: No.  More people have a million dollars, but still not that many people.
R: Dad, do we at least have a few thousand dollars?   [spoken with some concern]
D: Yes sweetie.  We’re doing okay.

R [After hearing that M did something nice]: We should give M a bottle of wine or something!

R: I agree with myself...

[Ronan is rifling through silverware drawer at a non-mealtime]
A: What are you looking for, Ro?
R: Nothing you really want to know about.

R&T: You don’t know us.  We’re explorers.  You don’t know our names.
A: I see.  Have you known each other long?
T: Um, I think since high school.
A: Oh, so a long time.
R: Yeah, and we’re married
T: No we’re not!
R: We’re not?
T: No!
R: Oh.  Well I’ve been getting a little confused lately.