Pebbles

Keeping up with the "second"

Adelaide had a little barrette in her hair. Elias didn't want to be overshadowed so he asked for a bow. Lucky for us, it matched his Kosovar soccer jersey from Uncle Andy.

Despite the beautiful bow, Elias seems to really understand gender. He knows Adelaide is a girl; he gives her girl protagonists to be like Madeline, while naming himself Pepito. But, he certainly doesn't understand the physical characteristics that make them different. The other morning, while I was changing her diaper, he told me, "When I was a baby I had a v*****." So, Freud, what do you make of that?

Baby Moses and sleep training

Today Elias and I were reading a book of Bible stories. He asked me about the basket that Moses was in as a baby. I explained that he slept in that little basket while his Mommy was hiding him from Pharoah. He said to me, "If Moses sleeps until 7:00 he could get up and get three Skittles."








And, yes, last night was a smashing success. Nobody got off the train all night long and stayed on until the train reached the platform at 7:08. Fingers crossed for another night on track.

Suckers for Sleep

Certainly, I have been open to all kinds of suggestions to get Elias to fall asleep faster and stay in bed until seven zero zero (7:00). I recently was told that kids who are highly verbal and imaginative just take longer to wind down at night. Usually, when we leave Elias at night he recounts all the Madleine stories and "reads" them back to himself after we have left. For the past week, I have been Miss Clavel, As Lord Cucuface, Adelaide Madeline, and Elias is Pepito (the son of the anish amnassador.) At least, he has seemed to have given up talkingin the third person. I digress. So, when he was in a crib, he chatted some times for an hour before he fell asleep. But, he had the crib rails to keep him from getting out and grabbing books and puzzles to do in the dark. So, we are trying to go back to that cocoon feeling of being closed in and not being tempted by all the fun stuff in his room. A bed tent was suggested as a way to keep a child in and not too distracted.

We talked it up, but there was no need. He was trilled when we set it up and immediately got his train hat and whistle. Heconducted Adelaide through the rails of our living room and was itching for bed as soon as supper was over. When we went to get him out of the tub he was missing and we found him already preparing to put on his pjs and climb on his train. We are hoping the train will not only serve as a vehicle (ha, ha) for calming and closing him in, but also for incentive. If he stays in his bed all night, he gets another night on board. If not, Thomas gets returned to the station. We sang "I've been working on the railroad" and kissed him good-night. So far, we haven't heard a whistle.

Baby in the House

The only sign of a selfish older child was Adelaide climbing in the boppy and declaring "MINE."

Too excited to sit still

What do you think of that Lovey blanket?

A kiss for the baby

It was fascinating to see the evolution of Adelaide's behavior towards our baby friend, Darian. When he was a baby of about 3 or 4 months, Adelaide did not enjoy his company. She would cry when I held him and put out her arms asking to be held. However, today she was singing a very different tune. Immediately, she exclaimed "baby" when he arrived. She kept pointing to him and smiling and clenching her hands: I thought she was going to have a major power surge. She then quickly went to get other toys and handed them to him. She also wanted to kiss him. Yes, at times, he let out a few cries of fear. Overall, though, the two got along swimmingly. When he woke-up from his nap, she marched right into her room where he was sleeping in her crib. They also enjoyed a snack in respective high chairs. Tonight she kept pointing to the high chair he was in and kept saying, "Baby." I finally figured out she was trying to tell us about her day. Now we have a glimpse of what the second child does when a younger one enters the picture. Hmmm.

a week goes by

It's hard to remember what happens in a week with kids. Here are some pictures of the kids co-operating on a puzzle. Adelaide having a bad hair day. Elias enjoying his new tool sweatshirt. And, Adelaide demonstrating a preference for her left hand.

Quote of the week: Elias tells the caretakers at the Y that George Bush was the president yesterday, but today OROCK Obama is now the president.

Too cold to go outside

We headed to Great Wolf indoor waterpark when we heard that we were going to have -23 windchills in Madison. We booked our night at the lodge one day in advance, which turned out to be brilliant. We were upgraded to a better room, got to check-in two hours early, and shared a waterpark with about 6 other families. The kids really enjoyed the waterpark, although Adelaide's hands literally turned purple. She seems to be prone to having cold hands. Meanwhile, her big brother enjoyed every aspect of the park, especially the waterslides that involved climbing on inner tubes. After three hours of waterplay we got to eat dinner in our "new house" and what was more exciting was sleeping in our "new house." Elias and Adelaide got the master suite because there was no door to the hallway. We were afraid if we left Elias to his own devices he would devise a way to get back to the slides in the middle of the night. It was bad enough that he entertained his sister with a light show until around 9pm when we unplugged all the lights in the master bedroom. We had fun waking up to another morning of waterplay and then, finally, succumbing to the -5 weather and driving home to our "old house." We want tot hank Bibi for making this respite possible!

A girlie girl?

I was one of the biggest tomboys as a child. It was so bad that people thought I was a boy and I was always overjoyed when they did. When my mother had my name placed on my school bag I carried it inside out so my name would not give away my boy persona.

I always prided myself on the fact that my girl wouldn't be a girlie girl. However, I know from my friends' girls that a non-girlie girl mother can have both a tomboy and a girlie-girl. Here are some pictures of Adelaide dressing up in my bridesmaid shoes. Also, a love for putting on bras seems to have developed and you will notice the little eyeliner pencil in her hand.

When the cat is away the mice will play...

at Target. We had the kids feet measured a few days ago and discovered that Elias was a whole shoe size larger than his current shoes. So, while I was on retreat at the monastery, Adam and the kids spent quite a long time at Target investing in new shoes. Much to my horror, I came home not only to Spiderman shoes, but worse, Spiderman shoes that light up. Save us from the time of trial! In Adam's defense, he didn't know that the shoes lit up. But, Elias has now been referring to himself as Spiderman and to Adam as batman. I'm sure his teachers must love us. In fact, he mentioned something about his teachersaying that his shoes were a little bit spooky.

The shoes have made bedtime more challenging. We managed to get them off his feet for bed, but Adam promised he could wear them in the morning. At 6:30 am we heard this funny sound and realized it was the sound of velcro as Elias slid on his lit, Spiderman shoes before he came up to wake us. (And before today he had been sleeping in past 7 for 6 mornings in a row!!!!)

Highlights!

Yesterday my friends were commenting on the highlights in Adelaide's hair. I explained that she had already gotten her first coloring and her manicures and pedicures with her, oh, so, sophisticated and pampered mom.

Jesus (and Elmo) cast away the "scary shadows"

Two nights ago, we had a 3am visitor armed with his Winnie the Pooh and Elmo by our bedside. He claimed there were some scary shadows in his room. Stealing a page from my friend Jocelyn's book, I remembered that when her daughter was afraid of things that go bump in the night, they enlisted the support of a lion (stuffed animal, that is). This lion perched on a big chair and watched over her through the night. So, Elias chose Elmo to stand watch over him and I pulled out the Jesus doll. After all, I figured that Elmo was cute and cuddly but Jesus had the whole casting out demons thing going on. Let's hope, and pray!, that these guys do the trick.

Now the blue hat is a new part of his garb because Elias has become Officer Buckle. Officer Buckle and Gloria is a book that was given to us by Elias' cousins. We have read it at least four times today. Officer Buckle wears a police hat and Elias has co opted the blue bucket for that job. It's a great book and very funny.

Another book that came at Christmas focuses on manners called Do Unto Otters. Today Elias told me that you say "Excuse me" when you burp and you say" May I be excused?" when you want to get down from your chair! I was pretty impressed with his refined approach to life.

Tonight as Elias was getting ready for his bath he informed me that I was not going to take a bath with him because I was too big for the tub! All I could think of was the late William Howard Taft and how they had to make tubs big enough for him in the White House. Somehow I don't think Barack Obama will have the same problem.

Hanging with the fam

Most parents of young children, especially in cold places like Wisconsin, do a lot of hanging out inside in the winter months. Yesterday we had already gone sledding and gone to the YMCA. It was about three and we knew we had a few hours to "kill" before we made it to supper, baths, and bed. So, we hunkered down upstairs and installed our new webcam so we can Skype the grands and the kids just played.

I must add that Adelaide has mastered the word "mine." While it is not charming,it is funny. These days the two kids are not only playing together, but conversing and that is a joy to watch. Tonight I overheard Elias asking Adelaide why she wasn't using her "nice" words. After all, every 15 month old should be saying please when she signs for more prune juice. Come on, Elias, no need to act like the perfect big brother already!

On the 10th day of Christmas...

my true love made for me an Italian stromboli! I must say it is time to reap praises on my husband. From the moment he stopped grading exams on the 24th until today I have yet to cook a meal. It has been a treat to be treated. We started with English cuisine to celebrate Christmas. We then felt in need of some greens to counteract the butter and cream motif so we switched over to Chinese and had a broccoli stirfry with fresh ginger accompanied by veggie fried rice. A few days later Adam got into a Russian mood after watching a movie called Eastern Promises, about the Russian mafia in London. Much of the movie, however, was set in a Russian restaurant. He contemplated making borscht, which I can't stand, and instead made a Russian soup called, tschi. It had sauerkraut and beef as its main ingredients. Both the kids and I were lukewarm about this one. We then crossed over to India after seeing Slumdog Millionaire and fed our broccoli and spinach needs with a great concoction on white rice. Finally, last night we had an after-the-kids-go-to-bed-dinner with steak poivre and red wine. But, tonight was the crowning achievement. The stromboli was made from scratch, including the dough and the sauce.We invited friends over to share the stromboli because Adam accidentally doubled the recipe for the dough. I have already declared a cooking truce so that we can get through all the foods in the fridge. I think our feasting is about to end as I will start to cook again and I tend to be more conservative in my creativity and my portions! Bon appetit!

Happy New Year!

We drove down to Chicago for our New Year's celebration. We visited with Rob and Carolyn and their kids, Tarek and Isabelle. The kids played beautifully, especially in their basement and the grown-ups hung out upstairs and chatted. We then went to the zoo and saw the zoo lights. It was a chilly night, but quite beautiful, and Chicago has such an amazing skyline. We then drove North a wee bit for Jamaican food and filled our tummies with fried plantains and goat curry. Then Elias and Tarek took a bath and Elias got to sleep in Tarek's bed. (He stayed in his bed and slept until 6:45. We were thrilled. The last time we were there we tried to put him in a pack n play and it was a disastrous night.)After the kids were down, we had chocolate fondue and waited for the ball to drop--in New York. Thus, we got to bed at a more decent hour.! The next day included a great brunch with another family who we knew back in the day and their two girls. We went home sleepy and stuffed. Thanks for the great visit.