Simon didn't sleep well on Friday. When he woke up at 11 pm we thought it might have been because he was in a blanket sleeper. It was a cold night so we put him in the zip-up footy pajamas for the first time since last winter. After it was zipped up, Simon asked: "Where'd da belly button go?" We haven't mentioned it before but Simon is very attached to his belly button, when eating he likes to try to stuff food into it, when frustrated he grabs his belly and squeezes, and when he is tired, he rubs and holds his hands over his belly. After removing the pajamas and restoring access to his belly button, Simon went back to sleep. It was when he awoke again at 4 am screaming and crying that we realized that something more serious was bothering him. The next morning we noticed a new molar on the bottom right to pair with his new molar on the bottom left. This tooth slipped in relatively undetected. Our focus had been the upper left molar which is just now breaking through the gum but has been pushing through for weeks.

We're eighteen and a quarter down, one and three-quarters to go.

Posted by kagledom at 08:11 PM | Permalink

Of course Simon says "my."

Most often heard when other toddlers are attempting to take things out of this hands: "That's MY [enter object here]."

He still doesn't say "me."

Posted by kagledom at 05:12 AM | Permalink

In the car on the way home from school yesterday Simon opened his hand to reveal a shiny penny and said "Ta da!" He proclaimed that he was doing "Magic Tricks!" (only he had to say it several times because, until we corrected him, it sounded more like "Adge Ics!"). When asked where he learned how to do magic tricks he said "Caillou [simonese, Caillou, simonese, simonese, Caillou, simonese] Magic Show." In other words, television has taught him a viable career option.

In another conversation he mentioned something about falling and getting an owie but it wasn't until we tried to feed him something acidic that we realized the owie was his and it was on his lip. After not eating much of his dinner and then squealing when Hava washed his face, Simon declared "My mouth hurts!"

This may be the first time Simon has used "my" instead of "your" on his own in an original sentence. Instead of "help me" he first says "help you." Instead of "hug me" he says "hug you."

And when he says "hug you" what he means is "Look how adorable I am. Now pick me up because I'm feeling lazy."

Posted by kagledom at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday morning, just because he loves us, Simon slept in an extra hour. Unfortunately, it was the wrong day to prove his love because we had a nap schedule to keep. A sitter (our generous neighbor) was arriving at nap time to watch over sleeping Simon while we went to the touring production of Annie. So we took Simon to The Museum with our new way cool membership (thank you very much) and with the intent to wear him out completely. We encouraged him to run from the Toy Maker 3000 to the space ships, down the stairs to the police cars, and back over to the foyer to pet the enormous turtles. That was before dancing through the oil exhibit, running around the baby chickens, and sashaying into the cafeteria for a filling lunch. All of that was followed by a climb up the John Deere combine for an imaginary ride and another run over to the old fashioned ice cream parlor for some ice cream, then back to the toy maker, down the escalator, past the train, and through the parking lot to the car. Fortunately, it worked.

Being that we are not the smartest people in the world, we forgot to check the weather before changing into thin dress shirts and not bringing along something smart like a rain coat or an umbrella. By the time we walked out of the subway there was a torrential downpour. To prove that we are not terribly bright, we both had different locations for the theater - in opposite directions - and neither of us was correct. So we ran through the streets of downtown Chicago lamenting the lack of overhangs. By the time we finally found Annie we were both soggy and dripping and very uncomfortable. We bought two red sparkled Annie t-shirts, ran to the restrooms to change, and only missed the first scene. *Whew* By the time it was over, we were pretty happy with our decision not to simply turn around and go back home. Unfortunately, as soon as we got off the L, four (long) blocks from home, the torrential downpour started again. Simon was still sleeping when we arrived home which was good but our new Annie shirts (in addition to everything else) were soaked through.

Note to Mike and Cindi: Yesterday Simon started calling for you again.

Simon: "Mike! Cini!"
Simon: "Where are Mike and Cini?"
Hava: "Do you miss Mike and Cindi?"
Simon: "Yes, Mike and Cini my frens."

(We think you should plan your November visit today.)

This evening Simon asked to go "Ou-side" and "put shoes on" so he could "go to da hospital." We can only imagine that his desire to go to the hospital came from the experience of Curious George.

Also this evening Simon yelled to Hava "Got all wet in da shower and now I'm NAKED!" (And indeed he was.)

Just an aside, Simon went pee pee into a potty three times today.

Posted by kagledom at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

No movement on tooth number eighteen (still in the gum).

Simon allegedly (we'd rather be in denial) pulled two kids off of the school teeter-totter in separate incidents on different days. We hope his teacher gets the picture soon that what she is doing IS NOT WORKING and that, over the summer, when the other teacher gave him time-outs, the problem stopped as soon as it began.

In other school news, Simon has started singing and counting in Spanish.

Simon is back to making a deposit into the potty (third day in a row) instead of merely using it as a chair from which to sing. He is very proud of himself this time around so we think (and hope) it will continue.

Last night Simon chose to read "Matthew's Dream." On each page he pointed out Matthew (the mouse) and said "His name is Matthew Kagle!" and "That's Matthew Kagle!" We think this is pretty great. He knows he is Simon Kagle (presumably from school) but we never mention that Daddy is Matthew Kagle and Mommy is Hava Kagle; associating our last name with his? Cool.

Tonight Simon was playing with coins (one of his favorite activities) and, kid you not, he put his closed hand behind Hava's ear, whipped it forward, and then opened it to show her the coin (as in the magic trick). Maybe it was coincidence but it sure seemed like he knew what he was doing.

Where does he learn these things?

Posted by kagledom at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For the first time in months, we didn't turn on the air conditioner.

Posted by kagledom at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tooth number seventeen is half way in and all the way through the gum. So when Simon spent time throughout last night crying we went in to check on him and felt a sharp bump under the gum on the upper left side (directly above tooth number seventeen). In addition to all the symptoms of tooth number seventeen (runny nose, watery eyes, sleeplessness, irritability, pain), tooth number eighteen has the audacity to provide Simon with diarrhea. Because of that unpleasant turn of events, Simon ended up with diaper rash. Earlier in the day he slipped and bit open his lip, and later he snapped two tight rubber bands around two of his knuckles causing them to inflame, and wondered several times, "Where's Mike?"

Despite his suffering, most of the time Simon continues to be adorable and fun and incredibly silly. He entertained himself and the "Feefadders" (Grandparents' Kagle) yesterday during a video conference by yelling words into the microphone and collapsing into giggles when he heard his echo: "bugs!" (giggle giggle giggle) "fire!" (giggle giggle giggle) "stars!" (giggle giggle giggle) "pumpkin!" (giggle giggle giggle). We also played "Costco" yesterday; Simon gave Mommy a piece of paper and then directed Mommy to "Take it to Simon." To make things even better we actually took him to Costco where he was able to give the receipt to the person at the door who drew a smiley face on it (per the Costco way). Costco is high on the list of Simon's favorite places (we imagine it is because of the free snacks).

Simon is back in school today and after five mostly toddler-free days, he seemed eager to return.

Posted by kagledom at 09:25 AM | Permalink

Mike and Cindi are currently on a plane back to San Francisco and we are once again virtually friendless in Chicago. We were discussing with them before they left how impossible it has been for us to make new friends; when we listed all of the people we've met and contacted for first and second friend "dates" it became increasingly clear that one of the following is true:

1. there is something about us that is scaring people off, or
2. couples with toddlers here, in general, are much less eager to get together.

In any case, there STILL isn't really anyone we can call up and ask if they'd like to come over this evening. So the winter promises to be VERY long and boring and we welcome any additional visitations from friends and family. Call up and invite yourself. You'll be surprised how eagerly we plan your stay (Now accepting weekend reservations for November, early December, and January through May. Weekdays are also available if you are self entertaining.).

Simon, unfortunately, wasn't able to say goodbye to the new loves of his life, Mike and Cindi. He was so unbelievably tired and cranky we were forced to put him down for a nap after a short trip to the zoo and a quick lunch. Almost as soon as Simon woke up this morning there was the hitting of Mommy and Daddy and lots of cries of "NOOOOO!" and more than a few time-outs. We are must less confident about his teachers' proclamations that he hits because he is not intellectually challenged and more certain that he hits because he knows it really grates on our nerves like nothing else.

Posted by kagledom at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Simon stayed home from school today for the first time since he started (back in June). He seems to have a cold but with all the drooling going on it is particularly hard to tell what is sickness and what is teething. In any case, he and Matthew (who also has a cold) spent a day together on the couch. We've been very lucky since we came to Chicago; Simon has only been sick a couple of times. We expected him to have near constant minor illnesses once he started school and that just hasn't happened. Maybe Chicago kids save all their illnesses for the winter months?

We should have mentioned that the large cookie featured in this week's photo is from Bittersweet an oh-so-delightfully-decadent bakery we visited for the first time last night. Simon selected the cookie from the display case and when it was brought to him on a plate he said to the waitress: "WOW. Thank You! You're Welcome! Look at that!"

Posted by kagledom at 08:10 PM | Permalink

We're pretty strict about a few things and food is definitely high on our list. Simon had very little sugar in his diet before he was two (and he doesn't have much more now) and almost nothing fried. He is forced to eat fresh vegetables and fruit every day whether he knows it or not. His pasta is whole grain and his "special" drink is steamed soy milk. His peanut butter has an ingredients label which reads: "peanuts." We willingly admit that we get a kick out of reading the AP and Reuters health news that, with increasing frequency, reports just how important good nutrition is in the first three years of life. It isn't easy getting a toddler to eat healthily and these articles are our reward. Simon WILL be healthy into his 90's. Oh yes, he will.

Simon, however, is no longer in our hands for lunch Monday thru Thursday. His preschool program provides him with a balanced meal which is occasionally fried and often sweeter than we would like. What we do like is that he isn't offered the same meal more than once a month. We figure a little exposure to new things is probably worth the extra empty calories.

Last weekend we took Mike and Cindi downtown and ordered Simon a toasted cheese sandwich that came with fries. Simon was restless in the restaurant so Hava and Simon were out exploring the escalators when his meal arrived. By the time they returned, Matthew had dutifully removed most of the fries from Simon's plate (to be replaced with a plum we had brought from home). When Simon sat down and saw the few remaining fries he asked for ketchup. We were a little taken aback by his request (we didn't know he knew about ketchup) but Hava squeezed a bit on his plate. As if he had been doing it for years, Simon lifted each fry one by one, dipped the fry into the ketchup, and brought it to his mouth. When he finished the fries he asked for more.

The next time we went out, we asked that no fries make it to the table. Sometimes we're just that mean.

And sometimes? We're not...

Posted by kagledom at 08:11 AM | Permalink

At Navy Pier on Sunday.

Posted by kagledom at 07:53 PM | Permalink

We thought (hoped) that Simon's hitting and shoving problems at school were over but apparently they are not. Simon's teachers reported to Matthew that it is still a problem but they hope to deal with it without using timeouts (which these two teachers apparently don't favor). They explained that he learns things faster than the rest of the Blue Birds, especially when it comes to musical instruction, and that he acts out only after he has become bored and frustrated with the pace of the class. When they see him becoming disinterested, their plan is to show him something new. We've had problems tackling Simon's boredom since he was fresh out of the oven so it may just be that they are right.

Simon finally napped yesterday (though not for long) but he woke up crying four times last night. Until last night we had avoided night time teething issues (although we are beginning to wonder if he was teething in Madison). Only one corner of the tooth is poking through the gum.

Oh, and Simon stood on the bathroom scale yesterday until it read 32.5 lbs.

Posted by kagledom at 09:01 AM | Permalink

There has been a minor setback in our attempt to have a contentedly happy and willingly obedient child. Simon's seventeenth tooth - the first of his set of second molars (bottom left) finally broke through on Saturday. We've been waiting for a new tooth to appear for months and we're pleased that the teething pain is finally coming to an end (the other teeth will soon follow). He hasn't napped in three days, his nose is runny, he drools, and he isn't very interested in food and not at all interested in vegetables or fruit. What he is interested in is running, dancing, jumping, and becoming increasingly dangerously active. The less sleep he gets, the more interested he is in climbing the walls, sliding down the stairs, jumping off the couch while demonstrating new twirling techniques.

Fortunately for us, our friends Mike and Cindi are visiting from San Francisco for the weekend. Simon loves visitors and is particularly thrilled when Cindi and Mike enter the room. Simon actually walked from the parking garage through Navy Pier yesterday while holding their hands, Cindi on one side and Mike on the other (he will not hold our hands and walk contentedly for more than a few seconds). When Mike leaves the room Simon is determined to follow yelling "MIIIIKE?" all the while. Mike isn't supposed to spend a moment out of Simon's sight. Simon was beside himself when Mike took a shower yesterday and he wasn't allowed to follow. Yesterday, instead of requesting pancakes the moment he woke up (as usual), Simon requested "Mike!"

On a side note, Cindi reports that, after reading the blog, she interpreted Simon's "bad" behavior as something much worse than it is. No, these days Simon doesn't scream or kick or flail about. When Simon is particularly bad (throwing things or hitting) he often smiles and laughs all the while - providing little evidence that he knows what he is doing is wrong. His "bad" side is more mischievous than angry or sad. It is as if he loses control over what is and isn't funny once he is tired or hungry or bored.

We are grateful for the timeout chair and its power to instill remorse.

Posted by kagledom at 08:18 AM | Permalink

Simon had a great day in school today followed by a very long nap, an evening outdoors with his friends, and a bath with Daddy. No one was hurt and nothing was damaged.

Posted by kagledom at 06:39 PM | Permalink

Simon officially started the school year yesterday as a Blue Bird with a new teacher and a few new classmates. We like to report positive things here in Kagledom but, if we were to only report positive things about his first day of school this post would end after the following line:

Simon's teacher reports that he ate well and enjoyed Spanish and guitar playing.

If we report the negative things that happened, we can continue with this:

Simon's teacher reports that he tore down some blinds, threw things across the room, shoved a cup of milk in the face of a fellow classmate at lunch, and may have hit one or more people.

Being in school and behaving badly were not necessarily connected. Even before we took him to school he spent time in the timeout chair for hitting Matthew and, after school, he spent time in the timeout chair several times for hitting Hava. Last night he intentionally dumped his crackers and raisins on the floor and when Hava asked him to help pick them up, he started to fling them across the room. At bath time he threw water at Hava when she made him mad. At story time he said he didn't want to have anything to do with Curious George or Blast Off! A Space Counting Book. He calmed down after Hava began "Mama, Do You Love Me?" He wanted to talk about the page where the little girl tries to be careful but falls and drops the eggs she is carrying and is sad, and the place where the Mama gives the little girl a hug and a kiss, and, of course, where the little girl makes the Mama angry by putting lemmings in her mukluks; this part is hysterical.

He continues to eat as much or more than his parents at every meal and he is exhausted even after a three-hour-plus nap and eleven-hours at night so we imagine, this will pass, and, in the end, he will be even taller.

Posted by kagledom at 10:19 AM | Permalink

Simon has a new favorite book and, rather shockingly, it doesn't feature Curious George. Completely of his own volition, Simon has fallen in love with Blast Off! A Space Counting Book ghost written in part by none other than Matthew.

(Simon does, however, insist that the spaceship is an airplane.)

Posted by kagledom at 07:15 PM | Permalink

Today we were supposed to be enjoying our vacation in Madison, Wisconsin. Instead, we slept on an off and hung out at home.

We left for Madison yesterday around 12:30 pm and drove through the five toll ways from Chicago to the Illinois-Wisconsin border ($0.80, $0.80, $0.80, $1.00, $1.60). Just over the border is Beloit wherein resides Beloit College, Matthew's Alma Mater. So we stopped and ran around the lovely old buildings, climbed some climbable art and offered to get some cheese for the "mouse" eating nuts on the grass (the mouse Simon saw was actually several different squirrels). We piled back in the car to finish our three hour drive north and arrived in Madison around 5 pm. After checking into our hotel we took a walk down to the capitol building a few blocks away and mingled with the thousands upon thousands of Wisconsonites at the Taste of Madison. Simon had only slept an hour of the drive so he was very tired and hungry. We saw a noodle shop offering "Real Wisconsin Cheese Macaroni and Cheese" and stopped in.

The fatigue was becoming too much for Simon so after just a couple hours out on the town, we called it a night. We three Kagles brushed our teeth, put on our pajamas and climbed into the very comfortable bed at the Doubletree Inn. And then we waited. For FOUR hours we waited for Simon to fall asleep. At times we read to him, we sang to him, we turned on late-night PBS, we rocked him and held him, and we let him run around the room. After four hours of frustration we were very very tired and becoming quite angry. It was at the height of this frustration and anger that Simon did something heartbreaking. He sat up and in his most sincere voice said "I'm sorry. I can't do it. I can't sleep in this room." Then he climbed off the bed and said "Open door. Want to get my room." The vessels of our tired hearts squished; not only had he conveyed that he had tried and this was just not working for him, he had spoken three sentences together using correct grammar.

So we decided to drive. By the time we reached the first highway exit he was out. We drove back to the hotel around midnight, placed sleeping Simon in the bed, and then collapsed. Four hours later Simon awoke to find himself in what Simon now refers to as "the room." He cried and he cried and we couldn't get him to stop. We turned on the Eggs and he settled down but the moment the laptop went away the crying started again. "Open door! Open door!" yelled Simon as he tried in vain to escape. After nearly an hour of this we decided to give up. We were going to be zombies even if we managed to get him back to sleep and if he was this scared of the room he wasn't going to get any better on the second prepaid non-refundable night of our stay. When we asked Simon if he wanted to go home and see Winslow (who was actually at the bird sitter) his demeanor immediately changed. At that moment Simon would have done anything we asked and thanked us for the opportunity. "Thank you, Daddy, for providing me with this uncooked broccoli wrapped in cooked spinach with a slab of ham and a layer of Tabasco to eat. Can we go now?" Simon thanked Daddy for pushing the button in the elevator. He thanked Mommy for putting the coin in the machine to open the gate in the parking garage. WE WERE GOING HOME!

Simon slept through the trip back but woke up at the fourth Illinois toll ($0.80) in Elgin. We stopped to get gas and then stopped to get pancakes and even though he was having a good time, Simon couldn't wait to get back into the car. We and the happy to go home boy got back on the highway ($0.30 into a basket just in case we had skirted the toll booths) and had him home by 8 am. He has been talking about "the room" today and now says it was "too dark" (in our desperation we actually adjusted the lights to various levels and it didn't help) -- we're not sure we're ready to believe him. We're also not sure we want to go to another hotel again unless we're absolutely totally completely positive it won't even be slightly creepy.

We still have "the room" in Madison for the night - any takers?

Posted by kagledom at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is a hint about the inner workings of Kagledom. When Hava has a bad week, nothing gets posted. The bad week wasn't the result of anything happening but, in fact, nothing happening at all. But you're here for an update on the goings-on of the Simonial Underunit 2004.

Simon continues to be amusing...

He now refers to himself as "Simon Kagle" instead of just plain ol' "Simon." There aren't any other Simon's in his class or, for that matter, in his home, so we're not sure why he feels the need to refer to himself so formally.

Yesterday, Simon and Matthew went to The Museum and made a plastic mold of the space shuttle to complete their plastic mold museum collection. Simon thinks it is an airplane called "space shuttle" which, really, it kinda is.

This afternoon Simon picked up Matthew's wallet and ran around calling it "Daddy's wawet" which isn't interesting but was really cute so we kept finding excuses to make him say it again. Yesterday he played with the same wallet but called it "Daddy's wawus" which sounded a lot like "Daddy's walrus."

This evening Simon played in the courtyard with some neighbor toddlers, James and Sophia. When they went in for dinner Simon began to cry and wanted a hug from Matthew. Simon lifted his head from Matthew's shoulder and cried "SO-PHI-AAA!" just like in the part of the movie where Rocky yells "A-DRI-AN!"

His most impressive feat of the week was last night when he ate almost an entire box of macaroni and cheese mixed with half a cup of pureed (hidden) cauliflower and a half cup of peas. ALMOST THE ENTIRE BOX. IN ONE SITTING. Adults don't even eat that much. We then made cookies and ate those too.

Tomorrow we are off to visit WISCONSIN. We'll be sure to sample the cheese and let you know how it compares.

Posted by kagledom at 07:08 PM | Permalink