Our 11 month old boy!

Nothing seems to be more charming than a little boy who is "walking" with the help of his scooter toys.  He has 6 prominent teeth, sleeps beautifully, shakes his head when he gets really excited, and truly favors mama.  Can you tell we're in for trouble?  I wish I could stop the clock with him because he never sticks out his tongue and says "na, na boo-boo"  He does stick out his tongue all the time, however, for effect. He points to many things and says "dadadadad"  Tonight, Elias was convinced he said duck as he pointed to it and said, "dadada."  We need to start thinking about his first birthday...

The Creditors are Going to Get Me

Our poor guy Eli has a lot on his mind.  Tonight when I was putting him to bed, he told me that he doesn't like to climb in his bed because some creditors might get him and shoot him with a gun.  I realized he meant predators. I assured him that nobody was going to come into his room at night.  He persisted by saying that they might put ladders up to his window and throw a rock through the window to get in.  He told me that if he closed his eyes he wouldn't see them coming.  That could surely explain why it takes him forever to fall asleep.  Now this fear of guns is interesting because he loves to play and pretend about guns.  However, in my desire one time to explain that guns hurt people and were real I showed him a picture in the paper. (I barely remember this, but I say this because he brought it up tonight.)  He told me that he remembers this and wanted to know where that had happened.  I told him it was not our town; it's safe here.  But, he continued to ask so I shot from the hip and said New York City.  (Sorry to all my Manhattanites.)

We have had a tough time with Elias for about three months, and I haven't written much about him because there wasn't too much to say that wasn't colored by his fits of anger.  But, I wanted to note that the last two weeks have been very good.  Today he did not lash out at Adelaide when she knocked over his bubbles by accident.  Instead of seething with anger, he managed to say "Yeah, I know that was an accident.  It's OK."  She also apologized nicely, which certainly helped, and they moved on to solve the problem by wiping up the spill.

Last week, Elias took the letters L-O_V_E out of a puzzle, put them in a box, and gave them to me as a present.  He has been enjoying signing LOVE to us with American Sign Language.  I hope that he continues to work on excercising his feeling muscles in healthier ways.  A few nights ago he ceremoniously chose to pass on his yellow blankie to Josiah.  He just told us he was too old for it now and that Josiah could have it and then Josiah could pass it on to someone else.  Very sweet.

Pippi Longstocking

I am not very adept at girlie things, as I have mentioned before in this blog.  This morning I was able to convince Adelaide to wear a pair of jeans if I did her hair up in pigtails.  Mind you, she has very fine hair and this was the best I could do.  She was tickled pink, and even Elias, who is not very observant, said "Wow, you look like a different girl."

Over the past few nights Addie has been plagued by crabs.  She has climbed into our bed in the middle of the night, burrowed between us, and claimed there is a crab in her bed.  I have assured her that there are no crabs, so two nights ago, there was a turtle.  I found out later that they had been playing at the Arboretum and saw turtles that same day.  Last night, she did not end up in our bed and she told me she yelled at the crab, which is what I told her to do in the first place.  She also has been demanding socks at night.  I think they are to protect her from biting crabs and turtles.  Adelaide's other project at this moment is earning a nightgown.  If she goes 7 days in a row with a dry diaper (She still wears a diaper to bed.  In fact, she and Josiah wear the same size.)  I told her I would buy her a nightgown--she only owns pjs right now.  She came up with the idea because I was given a nightgown for my brithday.  She told me she wants a nightgown with a princess on it and an Easter bunny.  Good luck, Mom!

The Tongue

This stage in Jed's life is all about his tongue.  He sticks it out most of the time.  He seems to use it like a hand and wave back at people when they wave at him.  He also uses it as he concentrates--just like his uncle and his grandfather.  He is cruising everywhere, standing up against the oven (not when it's hot) , the screen door, and just yesterday he started too push his very own cart.  He is growing so quickly now.  In the past few days, I've noticed that he does like to protest if you take something away from him or if you pick him up when he wants to be moving.  But, he adores playing the "So big" game and I swear I've heard him say"hi" to people when I say hi first.  He is almost 11 months old.

Sex-Segregated Bathrooms

I came home from a meeting on Saturday and was informed that we are now supposed to use a boys' bathroom and a girls' bathroom.  Elias had made signs and hung them.  The first floor bathroom had been dedicated to the girls and the second floor to the boys.  However, the conundrum is that the tub and shower are on the second floor.  Elias informed me that girls can use that bathroom when they need to take a shower.  Such gracious hospitality.

He is really into gender-specific roles right now.  Much to his horror this morning, we couldn't find his lunchbox.  So, he had to take Addie's lunchbox to school, which is pink.  Apparently, it was absolute torture.  Adelaide has only added to these demarcations by refusing to wear anything but dresses for a while now.

Fighting the "Man"

Well, it was nice to discover that my comments at the school board meeting got picked-up and were quoted in the local newspaper, The Town Talk.  Our district is about to pick a new superintendent.  We all hope it will be someone with a better eye for young children, but not likely.  Apparently, the school board does all the interviewing and these are the same people who have never gotten full day kindergarten going, supported cyberkindergarten, and , of course, don't seem to know--or perhaps care--about the state of the kindergartens now.

Here is my citation:

During the public comment portion of the meeting, a Media Borough resident expressed distress that the use of standardized testing is, in her opinion, depriving children of play, which she noted is an integral part of childhood. She raised concern about the lack of toys in the kindergarten classroom and the practice of assigning homework at such a young age. She said kindergarten teachers "are losing the sense of engaging the whole child" and asked that the district's approach be re-addressed.


On we go...

A Boring Baby

Adelaide and I were snuggling and I asked her if she knew who loved her.  She quickly replied, "Mommy and Daddy."  I said, "Yes, is that all?"  I said, "What about Josiah?"  She said, "No, he's just a boring baby."

I snapped this picture of her because she has started to steal a page from Nora and Clare's book.  She wants to wear dresses to school.  This dress was hanging in the back of her closet with all the spring clothes.  It is a size 2T and way too small, but she's already requested to wear it for Easter.  Also, please note the striped tights, striped turtleneck, and the hat.  She wanted to protect her hair from the rain.  She is my funny girl.

Music Together

Just a family jam session.  Mardi Gras is truly a celebration...Tomorrow is all sackcloth and ashes

The Balloon Man Stops By

Pizza Faces

                                             Josiah enjoys his first night out for pizza