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...
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.
Hey, where did the patio go?
This is my serious look.
Playing with my toys. This one is REALLY LOUD and sometimes I play with it in the middle of the night!
Most of the invitations for Simon's birthday are in the mail, we're ahead on the milk supply for the first time since I started working, Adlai has been sleeping well at night (but appears to be a terrible napper), birds are singing and flowers are blooming.
We made a major purchase recently of a backyard play set similar to this one for the boys which I still think is a really good investment but incorporating it into our backyard has turned out to be a major production. First off, we referred our beloved contractor to friends for their home remodel and now he is too busy to help. He is subcontracting the work to a friend and we finally have confirmation that this guy will start ASAP. All of the concrete in the backyard will be removed and just over half will be replaced by the play set area that appears at ground level but is actually six inches deep with mulch so our danger boys won't hurt themselves. The other part of the patio will be covered in cobble stones. Along the way, the enormous patio cover needs to be removed, an outdoor light installed, a sprinkler moved and replaced, a border built to keep in the mulch, the front porch rebuilt...
Fortunately, it looks like it will all be done in time for Simon's birthday (aka Father's Day) and before the delivery of the play set. Crisis averted.
Toys. Adlai loves them - especially the kind that make a lot of noise. Finally there is someone to appreciate the heaps of brightly colored plastic we've collected over the years. It's also nice that we can leave him in his crib for a while and he'll entertain himself by pulling, pushing, and grabbing the crib toys.
Us. Adlai is thrilled to be anywhere near Simon - even if his arms and legs are being shaken too vigorously or he's getting a hug that is a little too tight. This morning I spied the boys kissing each other - on the lips. This past weekend they played together for the first time. Simon gave Adlai part of a toy to hold and then he pulled the other half to make the toy shake back to Adlai. Adlai is also very quick to smile and coo at us. Unfortunately, his "hugs" often result in hair loss or painful pinching.
Food. So far he hasn't found of food that he doesn't inhale with the gusto of a pack of wild dogs. He's had oat, rice, and mixed cereals, bananas, sweet potatoes, peas, pears, and apples. It is proving especially difficult to find the time to make and freeze my own baby food this time around. We're working at micro-organizing our lives so we can get everything accomplished but what we really need is a (free) full time personal assistant. Volunteers?
Movement. Adlai hasn't yet mastered the push-up but he does manage to squirm his way into being on all fours. He's very VERY squirmy, bouncy, and determined to do everything while standing. Sound familiar? The only difference between the boys in this area is that Adlai is much less frustrated by his inability to move himself across a room. He is frustrated, yes, but he doesn't make that horrible "My life is meaningless unless I am mobile." moan particular to Simon.
Music. Adlai started singing a month or two back. If Simon is listening to music and singing along, Adlai will chime in with "uuuhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaaaaaaaa." The other day I was singing him "Baby Mine" when he gently placed his hand on my mouth and started singing the song on his own. His version went like this: "Aaaaaaaa aaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" (repeat in monotone). Adlai also loves to dance. For a good time, stand Adlai up while Simon is dancing around the room and watch as the excited baby moves his arms, stomps his feet, and squeals.
A three day weekend following a long weekend away is a wonderful thing. We have lots of friends to see, a birthday for one of Simon's close friends, time to really get going on demolishing the concrete in our backyard, yard work in general, and catching up on the frozen milk storage.
A couple of weeks ago we made formula a permanent fixture in Adlai's life after we realized that he didn't need to cry-it-out if offered three or four ounces of formula before he happily passes out on his own. That's after two full nursings and an enormous meal of solid food in the preceding two hours. He's a crazy hungry kid that way. In any case, after given a few ounces of formula he falls into a food coma and doesn't awaken until between 11:30 and 2 at which time one long nursing is usually enough to fill him up until morning. And after he passes out from the formula, I can safely assume he won't need me so I pump one last time adding to the next day's supply. I am a milk machine.
It is a great thing that we have electric pumps or breastfeeding and working away from home just wouldn't be realistic. However, pumping is just about the last thing you WANT to do during the work day. Sure, there are worse things... Well, I just can't think of any. It hurts, it takes time, it's not particularly business-like, and it's really disappointing when you can't make enough - after four or five twenty minute pumping sessions a day - to feed your kid without the addition of formula.
So it is nice that there is the option but you better believe there will be a celebration when the pump is permanently retired. Seven more months to go!
Based on the number of posts the week before we left, it should now be clear that I find it impossible to have more than a few things going on at once. Moral of the story: having something due at work and taking care of the boys and preparing for a trip all while being deceptive is hard work. Our vacation, though fun, marks the end of secret trips until Matthew and I are retired old farts.
Adlai's abilities seem to have exploded over the last couple of weeks. He now reaches, grabs, and manipulates objects with five-month-old-Kagle-boy-like precision, he can sit slouched over for a while (if he is focused on the object in front of him), he grabs his feet while on his back and tries to use them to sit up (a great abdominal workout but not a very successful plan as he almost always falls to one side). Adlai, it turns out, enjoys being in WARM water (not cold) and does not enjoy being splashed by his big splashy brother. Alas, he doesn't hold a grudge, the other day he put his arms around Simon and opened his mouth slightly and placed it on Simon's cheek. He didn't pucker up but it was pretty clear the action was intended to be a kiss (his first).
Simon aka "Cold Water Lover Splashy Boy", also made a developmental leap over the weekend. Last night he said he was writing "letters" to his friends. He'd rip a page off of the pad of paper, write something on it, fold it up and put it in a bucket "to mail." I looked over at one point to find that he was actually writing letters on the pages (the ABC kind). Get it? Writing LETTERS. He said "I'm writing my name, 'S I M O N'" as he wrote this...
S...i..m
He's been fascinated by reading recently and, just this past week, started to connect letters and their sounds. "Mmmmmm Mama!" "Hhhhhh Hava!" "SSSSsssss Simon!" As with most things, if you push, Simon stops enjoying the activity and regresses so we have not pushed him to read outside of buying him a Blue's Clue's activity book to play with and renting a Word's World video to watch. I find it particularly fascinating that his desire to read seems so strong. I really thought of reading as one of those things that kids had to be taught in school, you know, by a professional.
Here are some visual highlights of our trip...
Simon built "eggs and sausage" out of candy
Simon rocked every chair he passed at this restaurant
Adlai on the plane
Aunt Judy and Uncle Dave gave Simon this inflated penguin to play with in the pool. He named it "Ducky" and carried it around as his "friend" for the rest of the trip.
Adlai and Grandmother having some oatmeal by the pool
Simon and Grandfather in the water
While in Arizona, the camera always seemed to be in the bag that wasn't with us. Highlights of the Matthew Birthday Tour included:
and....