Leaf Peepers

This weekend we went to see my brother Charlie play football for Middlebury up in Vermont. It was our first trip as a family of four and we managed to all stay in a single hotel room. Of course Charlie got his own bed and Diego, Carlos and I crammed in the other bed because Charlie is a tornado in his sleep. No one can sleep near him and come out unscathed. We had a great time seeing uncle Charlie and my whole family and the weather was amazing. I guess it's high season in Vermont because people actually go 'leaf peeping.' I don't know exactly what that means, but I guess other people do because the flights to Burlington were all full.

Charlie had a tough time getting the concept of an uncle with the same name and so kept insisting that Uncle Seth, who was sitting next to him, was on the field. But after rushing the field after the big win and putting on his helmet Charlie seemed to take to big Charlie. Admittedly he was a little disappointed that it was just a football game and not a marching band. He kept waiting for the 'marching men' to come out. I wonder if this means he is going to be the type to join the school band....

Charlie also enjoyed running the hallways with cousin Wallis. And although he liked the concept of the airplane he was a monster once he had to take his seat. So much so that Carlos declared he no longer wanted a large family! Oh no! I've been trying to shelter him from kid duty this week in hopes he'll change his mind.

Diego is a little angel and the sanest one of us all. Anytime I get sick of Charlie's terrible two behavior I can rely on Diego to make me smile again. He was definitely worth all those varicose veins afterall! I feel especially guilty when I neglect him to do something for Charlie and then when I take him out of the bjorn or pick him up he gives me the sweetest smile. I also feel terribly guilty because I spill food on him all the time when I have him in the bjorn or nursing. Poor guy. He still wakes up at 3 or 4am but it's not too bad and then I usually let cozy up with me after he wakes up again around 7. We went for his 2 month doctors appointment and all seems well. He weighed in at 12lbs 8 oz. That's a relief - I was worried that he might not be getting enough to eat given work and my divided attention.

Wild Thing

Charlie isn't the only one telling stories these days. Diego coos full sentences! I know it is a full story because he'll raise his eyebrows, his eyes will get big, his voice fluctuates and then his limbs flap around. It seems like an exciting story! I wish I knew what he was saying. Maybe he is describing how Charlie turned Diego's bouncey seat into a sling shot that almost sent Diego flying or how Charlie likes to climb into Diego's swing and turn it on.

This past week's treat was that we got to see our friends the Ralleses who were back in town from Cape Verde. Rachel Ralles knows more about babies and labor than I do (despite not yet having a baby) and Mike Ralles always wonders what tricks the boys have. He didn't seem very impressed when I said Diego can hold his head up...for a few moments. I wasn't very impressed either when I heard that Diego's yoga buddies (who happen to be girls his same age) are basically doing flips already. It did remind me of my favorite shirt growing up which read: "Anything boys can do girls can do better." Clearly this still holds true. Anyway, I decided my favorite trick of Diego's is being absurdly cozy.

Here is Charlie on his morning commute and enjoying happy hour at a bar on H st:


I've decided that Charlie should be Max from Where the Wild Things Are in homage to his inner monster. Unfortunately I seem to be the only one excited about this idea and even about Halloween. We decorated the front of the house because I thought I could finally enjoy Halloween now that I have kids. We don't have that many decorations out but we've had at least 5 people take pictures of the house (I assume that is why they are taking pictures...). I find it a little weird - who wants a picture of a few halloween decorations on a random house?! But I'm glad some one likes it because Charlie isn't that impressed.

Here is the most recent house project - the guest bathroom. Carlos has been hard at work tiling the shower (which unfortunately entails lots of cutting tiles and thus a big mess). Of course it was supposed to get done in time for our family to use when helping out when Diego was born. But plus or minus 2 months is a lot better than our plus or minus two year record so far...!

Terrible Twos

Awhile ago we were talking to a mother of a 2 year old who informed us that when her son turned two he turned into an asshole. I hadn't heard quite that version of terrible twos before, but I think I'm now experiencing it. Charlie will be sweet as pie one minute and then the monster of all monsters the next minute. He tests us about every little thing like putting on clothes in the morning or holding hands while crossing the street. I'm worried that I'm going to turn into the type of mother that lets her child out wearing pajamas the whole day because I can't face the fight. He literally went out the other day wearing two different pairs of shoes! Not two different socks - two different shoes!! I was mortified but I couldn't face the boneless screaming to get him to wear a matching pair.

Thank goodness for Diego. Diego is the sweetest baby and seems to sleep better than Charlie already! He doesn't mind Charlie's kisses or his body slams. He does still get me sometimes with his multiple consecutive poos, but other than that he is the best. My favorite is that he loves to stay cozy in bed and would happily stay cuddled up until 10am if he could. Unfortunately work and big brother's breakfast usually get in the way.

Other than the temper tantrums we've been having a great time with the fall weather. Last weekend we visited aunt Mary in Waterford for our annual pilgramage to the Waterford Fair. Charlie loved the Civil War re-enactors who marched (or "stomped" as he calls it) through the town. He got to ride on tractors, pose in a painting and try popcorn. We've been practicing our stomping ever since.

After his lobster truck love affair we decided to visit the food truck extravaganza this weekend. Charlie wasn't as taken with the lobster truck this time around but Carlos and I got to enjoy the TaKorean food after a 30 minute wait in line. These food trucks are making a killing! Check out the line:

We also had a great picnic on Saturday with friends which included some unathletic looking tennis and volleyball but the food was great and I was happy to be exercising outside. It's been awhile!

Sunday we got treated to Mark's super carrot pancake concoction. I totally want to hire him as my manny.

Back to Work

Last week was my first week back to work. It went smoothly only because I work from home and Diego was my lunch date everyday. He takes the bottle okay, but not happily and he refuses a pacifier. Charlie is happy about that because he got to add Diego's pacifiers to his growing collection. He like to go to sleep with a pacifier stuck on each finger. Diego started smiling but I've had a tough time capturing a smile in a picture. He is also continuing to get chunkier and grow out of all his newborn clothes. We went to the doctor last week to check his eyes and he weighed in at 11 lbs 10 ounces. He is still playing catch up to Charlie who was 12 lbs at 4 weeks, but I figure that Diego should get a 2 week handicap because he came early and Charlie cooked longer.

Last weekend we had so much fun visiting the waterfront park, going to the H street festival and to friend's birthday party. Charlie loved running in the fountain and did not want to leave. Luckily there was a bbq truck there and I lured him out of the fountain with promises of bbq chicken.

The birthday was so much fun and included a hard hat which Charlie refused to take off. He wanted to wear it to bed and it was the first thing he put on the next day. He calls himself a worker boy when he wears it. And he loves to help do work around the house. Here he is helping his father with the light and I'll try to upload a video of him building shelves. I think he'll surpass his father's skills by age 4....

Charlie seems to have adjusted to toddler bed. He hasn't fallen out yet, but I did find him the other night with his head and arms hanging off the back and his feet nearly upright and caught in the back rails. It didn't look comfortable, but he was fast asleep. At some point I'd love to video his sleep and watch how he does 180 turns, stays asleep and manages not to fall out.

My favorite new term is his version of cinnamon - it sounds something like cinnaminimon. One of my fond memories of maternity leave (and sadly only weekends now) was all of us sitting on the porch drinking foamy lattes. Charlie had to stick with foamy milk with cinnamon. He loves it! Here he is saying it:

I may be in the baby honeymoon phase (or maybe it helps that Diego is a much better sleeper than Charlie was) but this is the happiest time. And Carlos has started declaring that Charlie is now at his favorite age. In fact Charlie often asks for daddy over mommy. On Wednesday Charlie and I commuted to his playschool along with the thousands of other people heading to work. It was hysterical - I was pushing him in his car so he would honk his horn as he sang the Old MacDonald song at the top of his lungs as we passed by people dressed in suits and ties. The juxtaposition was the best and made me so happy.

Family Visits

Some of the highlights from last week include: a visit from tia Veronika, chasing a lobster truck and being on duty at Charlie's playschool. It seemed like an active week, but I guess it's all relative when getting out the door is a big accomplishment. The good news for us is that Charlie seems to be getting back to his sweet self (with sporadic temper tantrums) and his sleep schedule. The bad news is that we are at the end of our family visits. Carlos' sister was here last weekend and Charlie adored her...and of course it was a huge help to us. He seems to have a hard time saying 'veronika' so it is more like 'mronika.' It was depressing to see her go and know that our planned family visits were over.

Charlie and I chased a food truck 4 blocks last week, stopped to ask the policeman where it was headed, flagged the truck down and then waited in line until Charlie fell asleep in my arms. That scenario has been replaying in Charlie's head for days now. He still talks about chasing the lobster truck and standing in line - understandably it gets a little fuzzy for him after that. Another thing that seems to catch his imagination are cute girls. He is captivated by two girls his age - neither of whom he has really talked to/played with and definitely to whom he wasn't particularly nice. Seeing pictures of them on the computer is only slightly out ranked by his demands to see pictures of trains.

We went to Roosevelt Island to take a family friendly 'hike' in hopes of exposing Charlie to more nature. He loved it -- the only problem was that the part that he loved was around the Roosevelt statue which was mainly concrete and empty fountains. He did pick up a few rocks and we saw a turtle in the Potomac so I guess that's a little bit of nature! We had a yummy meal afterwards

And finally I'm not even sure how to describe my experience being on duty at Charlie's playschool. It was chaos and 4 kids screamed the entire time. That's a lot of tears. Charlie even complained and I was on duty! I can only imagine how he is when I'm not there. Don't let these sweet, sitting children in the picturesfool you!

Firsts

This past week Diego had his one month doctors appointment and Charlie had his first day of playschool. Diego, like Charlie, is putting on the pounds early! Although he was only 6 lbs 15 ounces at birth he weighed 10 lbs 3 oz at the doctor's visit - 3+ lbs in a month! I asked the doctor if I should worry about him eating too much (e.g. an obese baby) but she said they don't worry about that with breastfed babies. I guess that means they do actually worry about baby obesity with formula fed babies. He hasn't quite made it to the 99th percentile like Charlie, but he is definitely starting to get chubby cheeks and the multiple chins. Unfortunately his chubb isn't making him more jolly as we still haven't had an official happy smile (only gas smiles). And really unfortunate is that I think he might have reflux or some over-eating problem as he will do a projectile puke at times.

Charlie started his cooperative playschool last week and while he loves all the toys he kept asking where his mom went. When I arrived they said "He sure likes cars and trucks." I guess the on duty parents couldn't get him to do the hand print activity because he wouldn't let go of the cars in his hands. He was clearly kindof sad when I arrived, but then wanted to show me all the toys and didn't want to leave. I think this will be fun for him eventually and give him his own time away from Diego, BUT it made me realize that this is the beginnings of many years of making school lunches. I already don't like it and it's only the second week. Besides the prepping and packing is the fact that I think the othe parents will judge me for what I pack. Last week I packed him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheese and fruit and then was scolded when I arrived for packing something with peanuts. They wouldn't open his lunch because some girl in class might have a peanut allergy. When I asked why the girl would be eating his sandwich I was told that all the kids eat eachothers lunch so it becomes more of a communal picnic. duh. I wanted to say that I thought we might develop free rider problem and that perhaps school lunchs should be treated as a public good. But I shut my mouth and apologized.

This weekend we went to Kidsfest at Lincoln Park and Charlie discovered the joys of glue sticks! He also decided to decorate himself instead of the stroller.