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Both boys have come down with colds and Adlai hasn't been able to sleep because of his congestion and general malaise. I don't think I've ever been so tired. Is it possible? I can't think straight enough to even know.
In any case, we're off to Cape Cod tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning for a week of sand and sun. If we can just get from here to there without fellow passengers killing us, we'll be fine. Wish us luck.
Matthew sends me photos of the boys throughout the day using his phone - it's how we keep in touch. I particularly enjoyed this week's collection...
The last two I took today with my new Moto RAZR2. I love the phone. Thanks, Moto.
More of the collection is up on Flickr.
Adlai has been doing a lot of yelling recently and when I say yelling I mean, repeating "uuuuh!" for several minutes without a breath at a decibel level so high that we've started using sign language around the house because we just can't hear. Whenever I'm nursing/changing/playing with him and Matthew leaves the room he looks at me as if I'm chopped liver and yells for his Dad's expedient return. He yells at the toys which are too complex or too far away. He is almost always a dinner time yeller - squashing any chance at table conversation.
Last night he was yelling at dinner and reaching for the container of food when we realized the yelling was about feeding himself. So we gave him the spoon and the bowl and he stopped yelling! Until he tried to get the mush into his mouth. "UUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
It was crazy hot both Friday and Saturday but by Sunday our typical Bay Area weather returned.
Adlai, the six month old, can't crawl but can get to anything with controlled rolling, foot-thump-rotating, side lying, scooting, and amazing grabbing skills. He thinks about crawling from time to time but, since he isn't having any trouble getting around, he isn't obsessed with it (like our other baby). Every few days we switch him to a new food. He eats everything. The only way to tell that something isn't going over well is that he stops and cries after about five minutes of eating. If he loves something, he cries after about five minutes because the food isn't coming in a constant stream. We introduced a sippy cup during the hot weather and he took to it right away. He doesn't hold it by himself but sucks water from the hard plastic spout when offered. He's fairly consistent about going to sleep by 7 pm and waking between 4:30 and 5 am (ouch). We've tried putting him to bed later with the idea that he'd sleep in a little but, no, he still wakes up at the same time.
Simon, the four year old, has been challenging us with increasingly difficult questions. On Saturday alone he asked for the technical details of baby making, circumcision, and why the universe exists. He was the only kid at his soccer class that had never played or seen serious soccer before. When the coach told everyone to stand on the orange line, Simon was the only child to speak up: "But why is the line orange?" When the coach told the kids that the cones were a flower garden and they should kick the ball to the other coach to get a ring to place on the cone to "water" the flowers, Simon was the only child to stop the coach for conversation "I don't think this is a flower garden, it's a more like a vegetable garden." We were amused. I'm not sure the coaches (young hard-core soccer guys) found Simon quite as entertaining.
Things are happening, it's just too hot to talk about them or, rather, to form complete sentences. It's over 100 here in Kagledom WITHOUT AIR CONDITIONING, without even a light breeze, and it has been this way for two days. Here is a summary without sentence structure:
Adlai: up on all fours
Simon: first soccer class
Hot.
Adlai turned six months old today. He celebrated by having his first solid breakfast (carrots and oatmeal). He'll be having at least two solid meals a day from now on which is sure to make him very happy.
Normally, there would be a link here to Adlai's six month music video. Alas, a full birthday takes precedence over a half one and Simon's took a lot of effort so the music video will be slightly delayed. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, good. Here is Simon's first music video.
We did, however, have a Boppy photo shoot this evening and we took a Boppy video...
Simon has an interesting way of naming things. He named his bike "Purpose", his stuffed cats are "Balcony" and "Oval" and his Easter Bunny is named "Hanukkah." So we asked him to name the new play set. He thought for a minute and then said "Random Playhouse."
Adlai had his six month checkup this morning. Here are his stats:
Weight: 15 lbs 2 oz (12th percentile)
Head Circumference: 42.5 cm (19th percentile)
Height: 2 feet, 3.75 inches (90th percentile)
Eyes: lovely blue
Overall appearance: adorable
He's a string bean - even string beanier than his brother.
If he were asked, and understood the concept, I think yesterday might have been the best day in Simon's life thus far. He had been seriously dreading the party but we went ahead with the planning knowing that he would want something to be done. He chose the Mickey Mouse theme (although at the last minute decided he preferred "race cars") and we worked on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse all week. For those of you not familiar with preschooler television, this is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:
This is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake:
Matthew and I had a good time baking and frosting. I was in charge of the head (rice crispy treats) and Matthew baked and shaped the cakes (the dome, the base for the hand, and the shoe). We made the hand together out of a cookie and Matthew quickly sculpted the slide out of blue fondant. When we put it together before the party Simon said "What a great day!"
The best idea I've ever had (maybe?) was renting this bounce house:
Simon is usually a bit scared of these things because of all the unfamiliar bouncy kids they contain. But yesterday Simon and his friends bounced and bounced and bounced and then went into the back for some swinging and swimming before running back to the front to bounce some more.
It turned out we had just the right number of kids and exciting older cousin Sarah was happy to play (thrilling Simon all the more). The kids only came in the house when it was time for cake. Here they are chanting "We want cake! We want cake!"
But then the singing started and Simon made a mad dash for the back door. Apparently he is happy to be the center of attention unless singing is involved. Matthew scooped him up and all the kids blew out the candles together.
After the party Matthew and I alternated bouncing with Simon and holding Adlai until bedtime. We were able to get him to stop and eat by making a picnic on the front lawn, next to the bounce house. Dinner was Simon's choice: meatloaf. And I finally enticed him to leave the bounce house with the suggestion that he might want to open some gifts.
He received many nice things and was thrilled: Maps! Indoor and outdoor games! Books! A race car! A learning clock! A bop bag! I don't think I've ever seen him happier and Simon is a pretty happy kid.
Adlai was not as pleased about sharing his day with so many "strangers." He cried every single time we tried to pass him off. But he enjoyed watching Simon - that's pretty much his favorite thing to do anyway. It should be mentioned that Adlai has slept through the night without waking until 5:30 or 6 am for two nights in a row. Do I hear a HALLALUJIAH? I think I do.
Matthew was cheated out of a relaxing Father's Day but when was the last time we had a relaxing day? I don't even think we know what that is any more. It was, however, a ton of fun, my Dad was there, and there were more than a few father-son moments...
Two, two, two celebrations in one!
Today is, of course, Simon's fourth birthday. We're having a party! Unfortunately for Simon, we planned his party for his actual birthday and now we know not to have a party on Father's Day if you want lots of people to attend. Next time it happens, we'll remember. We are very thankful to the friends and family who are planning to make it.
In any case, there is a REALLY LONG birthday letter over at Simon's site. I'm sure we'll have photos of the day up on Flickr sometime soon.
Enjoy.
Simon enlisted his brother in a game of sword fighting this morning...
The "swords" are the cross bars of the baby gym. We haven't been able to use the baby gym this time around because, somehow, the cross bars always end up detached. Hmmmm, how does THAT happen?
Adlai was up every two hours last night. We're pretty sure a tooth is going to show itself ANY MINUTE NOW. It also might have been the extreme heat in his room (despite the ceiling fan). As his punishment, we're only going to mention cute things about Simon...
Last night I tried bargaining with Simon, if he brushed his teeth, I'd read him some more Harry Potter. Without hesitation, Simon asked we were only to read, say, Curious George, would he still have to brush his teeth?
More Simonisms:
(How I know for sure Simon is my child.) He was eating from a pumpkin-orange plate and drinking from a pink-orange cup when he pointed out, "This cup has to go over here (moves cup away) because these don't match!"
And how we know he listens to his Dad's complaints: "Ohh, my back is hurting. I need more exercise. Let's go outside and ride my tricycle."
Clearly the highlight of the weekend (year? decade?) was the installation of the play set on Saturday morning. Besides that, Adlai worked harder at crawling but only from Saturday night until Sunday morning. And then yesterday he had his first cranky day. Lack of sleep from attempting to perfect crawling all night? Teething pain? Something else? We'll never know. In any case, it is odd for Adlai to spend more than a few minutes here and there in cranky mode. I suppose it is remarkable that we've made it almost six months without a serious daytime crying jag. In any case, we put him to bed last night at 6:30 and he woke up at 2 am for some food. After that he was in a great mood and wanted to party until 3 am (which has become his way over the past several days).
I can't really think of too many clear examples but over the past week Simon has become crazy smart. His vocabulary is suddenly shocking and his interests are in random things that don't seem very almost-four-year-old-ish - things like Northern Italy. We've never mentioned Italy to him but suddenly he has a great interest in "Italy, no, Northern Italy." He wants to know how everything is made (thank goodness for these videos on YouTube) and his favorite subject is "what happens if..." Last night he wanted to start Harry Potter (the normal no picture version) and he listened with rapt attention on my lap as I read the first chapter. A new favorite game is writing a new letter in each square of the patio. His interest in pretending with his favorite stuffed animals (formerly known as "his friends") has decreased because "They're just characters, Mama." Simon hasn't spent much time on his bike (the one he named "Purpose") because he had grown scared of falling off but yesterday I got out my bike and we rode around and around the neighborhood together for at least a half hour - at his request.
I think I'm going to like the four-year-old Simon very much, oh yes, I am.
The play set was installed today. I took a lot of photos which are now in our Flickr photo album. What excitement! It nearly killed Simon to wait for them to put the thing together.
And, in other big news, the lower half of Adlai started to crawl today. Unfortunately for him, his upper half is still very much stuck to the floor.
Here is a random video of a very tired Adlai playing with some toys but about to lose his cool when his Mama starts to record him instead of putting him to bed. In my defense, it was only 5:30 pm.
On a side note, Simon walked out of his room at 6:45 this morning, scolded us for being too loud, then went back to bed. Maybe the fifth year of life is where he begins to appreciate SLEEP?
The cobble stone patio is in and a nice redwood border has been built around the spot that will contain the redwood play set (and all those woodchips). The contractors built the border about six inches off the ground and put a little ledge on it where the boys can sit when they are tired. The play set is scheduled to arrive on Saturday and the rest of the work (the front porch and filling in the area with wood chips) will be completed early next week. Simon is thrilled. Adlai is thrilled too - he just doesn't know why he is thrilled.
Adlai has been working on "targeted" rolling - a combination of rolling and scooting toward the most interesting toy. He's very good at grasping and manipulating objects - grabbing and putting the pacifier in right-side-up, reaching for and pulling big Elmo's eyeballs right into his mouth. Everything goes right into his mouth but, so far, no signs of teeth. He still eats like a horse and, I assume, looks normal sized in photos but I imagine that, at his six month appointment, we're going to find out that he is still very thin. He has just started to grow out of the newborn hats and more than a few people have recently asked if he is three months old to which we protest: "JUST LOOK AT HOW TALL HE IS!" I suspect he's burning all those calories moving. The kid never stops moving (except while asleep - thank goodness).
Saturday was an errand day. Simon is anxious about turning four and suddenly being a "big kid" and we're anxious about Simon turning four and providing him with an impressive cake. As you may recall, last year's cake was a spectacular creation by our friend who is a pastry chef. This year she moved to New York and left us alone in the world of fantastic cake creations. I had convinced Simon that a Mickey Mouse face would be a fun and appropriate choice for his Mickey Mouse themed party. Matthew (who will be punished with rolled fondant and toothpicks) showed Simon a few cakes featuring three dimensional Mickey Mouse Clubhouses. Guess which cake is now required? Not the one with the easy three circles. So we spent some time in Michael's coming up with a plan. We'll see what happens...
And then we went to Costco and I just have to spend a moment here appreciating that wonderful store. Yes, there is the obvious appreciation: it has provided us with thousands of diapers and wipes over the years. The less obvious reason to love Costco? Samples. Simon has discovered so many new foods by trying samples at Costco. This weekend he discovered chicken salad on wheat; five small sandwiches later, we were allowed to leave the store (once we promised that canned chicken can be purchased in smaller quantities elsewhere). We heard about it all evening. Our family slogan: chicken salad, it's the new meatloaf. Knowing we would miss our Sunday trip to the farmers market we also picked up a bunch of good looking apricots, blueberries and pears. What do you do with 20 apricots? Puree most of them into baby food and make the littlest Kagle boy pleased enough to slumber for ten-and-a-half hours.
Sunday we took a trip into San Francisco to spend time with Aunt Arlene (Matthew's Dad's Sister - another A.B. Kagle) and Uncle Jerry (middle name also Bernard). It was a lovely day in the City so we took a walk down to Pier 39 and along the way saw S.F. Fire crews raise and lower a ladder to check out the roof of the Rainforest Cafe. A fireman watching us watch him walked over to meet Simon and let him wear his hat which would have been great if it wasn't terrifying for our suddenly shy boy. And then we turned around and watched the bakers make sourdough animals at the Boudin Bakery. Simon wanted to take all the bread animals home. We didn't let him. Once on the pier we watched the sea lions, the carousel, had lunch, and watched magicians in a magic shop. What a great day! At the end of it, Simon wanted to take Aunt Arlene and Uncle Jerry home. Maybe they could stay in his room and sleep in his bed? He was up a good portion of last night due to fear and loneliness. Having Aunt Arlene and Uncle Jerry in the bed would have helped also maybe a sourdough bread lobster and crab or a sourdough crocodile.
Adlai slept from 7 pm to 5:30 am last night without a break. That marks the first time he has slept for more than seven hours in a row. We should feel very rested except the other little boy was up over and over and over. Win some, lose some.
Weekend updates later.