Laundry is my superpower

I've mentioned that Henry has learned all about Spiderman at school-- I even caught him doing the thing with his hands to let the web shoot out from the wrist.  He's now invented a superhero persona for himself: FireMan.  FireMan doesn't put out fires; he shoots out fire. "Owen is Spiderman, Mom, and I'm FireMan."  I think the red-garbed PowerRanger is what he imagines FireMan to look like.  Yesterday I asked him if FireMan had a theme song. (no)  And where does he shoot fire out of-- his ears?  his eyebrows?  Henry didn't know.  "What is your superpower?"  Clearly, he hadn't thought this superhero thing through.  A little while later, Henry was clamoring to do something with Daddy, so Daddy suggested folding laundry upstairs. "Very manly," I reinforced (Michael does all the laundry in our house).  As Henry was going up the stairs, he turned back.  "Folding laundry is my superpower, Mom!"

Tired Kiddos

After a long day in the fresh, cold air yesterday, everyone slept well. P.S. For those of you following her travails, Aggie's digestion is on the move again!  Everyone is happy and relieved.

Move-in Day

We had a great day yesterday, moving in all Mom's stuff. We were lucky with the weather-- it wasn't too chilly, and it was sunny and dry with no wind.  All our college kids showed up, including a bonus set of parents who tagged along with their daughter and worked their tails off. Besides the good weather, Mom's general good karma brought in many bonuses: a pot of soup and a loaf of bread from a neighbor; a free pizza when we ordered in for lunch; and another neighbor who took charge of the perilous Mattress Hoist and told everyone what to do.  The rental place even gave her the use of the dollies for free, after she mentioned she hadn't needed them.  Henry had the time of his life.  At one point I caught him at the top of the load inside the trailer-- he had climbed all the way up and was throwing down giant bags of cushions.  Best of all, there were no injuries to any humans, and very few to the possessions.  

Presidents' Days

Henry was off from school the first three days of this week, and as a result it's been a long stint of mostly full-time mommying for me.  Mostly it's gone very well.  Henry is now really mastering the potty, and it has had such a great effect on his behavior-- he's so proud of himself and it makes him want to do well in other arenas too, like being nice to his sister or listening to Mommy.  He gave his hippo a time-out yesterday, because he had his feet on the rug and did not listen when asked to remove them.  Aggie is still trying to poop, poor thing.  I called the pediatrician and was reassured talking with them, but till she can get things moving again she's suffering a little and her sleep is disturbed (and therefore, so is mine).  She's still a happy, cheerful child most of the time, though.  

There have just been too many blog-worthy moments with Henry lately-- so many I've felt overwhelmed and haven't posted anything.  So, here's just an impressionistic stab at a few items:

At the dentist yesterday, they had in the waiting room a large model of a lighthouse with a tv inside that was showing "Ratatouille."   "Mom, why isn't it showing a movie about a lighthouse?"  

Having just learned about foghorns (triggered by the lighthouse), he said in one of his epic filibusters, "Mom, I'm the lighthouse guy, and I was having lunch and it was a foggy day and I didn't turn the foghorn on so the boats all crashed and we needed to recycle them so a garbage truck came and..."

"Mom, when I'm four can I do the big work at school?" When asked which work he was particularly looking forward to, he said, "The big work that Owen does.  He does big, big work with the continents." 

"Mom, is it a school day today?"  When informed that school would resume tomorrow, he replied, "but I CAN'T WAIT!  I CAN'T WAIT!"  

Mom is here!

Mom arrived today in Lancaster at about 12:30 pm.  Safe and sound, ready to start her new adventure!  We'll unload her stuff on Saturday.  

Updates to follow!

Bedtime and Chinese Food

Michael and I had the secret plan to put the children to sleep and then eat Chinese food tonight.  For some reason, neither child was complying.  I took Aggie in to her room at 6 pm, when she's normally exhausted, and she was still wide-eyed and smiling.  We had a wonderful 15 minutes or so of cuddling, laughing, chewing on my shoulder, looking out the window at the street lights, scratching her fingernails on the fabric and noticing the sound, and so on. Finally, I just put her in her crib, still awake but calm and happy.  I listened to her on the monitor-- she made a few sounds, and then went to sleep.  Miracle baby!  

Meanwhile, while he was having his pre-bed movie time (tonight: Finding Nemo), Henry noticed Michael looking at the take-out menu.  "What are you looking at, Daddy?"  "I'm just reading."  "Are we getting some Chinese food?"  A few minutes later he asked me, "Where's Daddy going?"  "Is he going somewhere?" I asked, not so innocently.  "Yeah, he is!  He's putting on his outside shoes! I want to go with him!"  Then, getting down on the floor and looking right into Michael's eyes, so he couldn't lie, he said, "Where are you going, Silly-Bun?" 

So the jig was up, and Michael took Henry in his pjs to the Chinese restaurant to pick up our food.  Henry was giddy with the excitement of this unusual departure from bedtime ritual. He wanted some of everything and ate hot and sour soup, rice, and broccoli in garlic sauce. And then-- as he likes to say it-- "Straight to bed!"  

Things Henry Learns in School

Certainly not every day is a great day-- some days are really hard and downright disheartening, and we've had a few of those lately.  But this was a great day.  Henry resumed pooping in the toilet (instead of his pull-up diaper), and I gave him about 14 high-fives after he did it.  He was really pleased with himself.  It's almost like I can see the good angel and the naughty angel battling it out on his shoulders sometimes-- this time, the good angel won. To celebrate, we went to Target to buy underwear (this had been promised for a long time, and he called me on it right away).  

Now, first you should know that he has learned all about superheroes from his friends at school.  He can sing "Spider Man, Spider Man, does whatever a spider can"-- although he has never seen or heard anything related to Spider Man movies or videos, not even any commercials since we don't watch TV.  He also knows about Power Rangers, Bat Man, and Superman.  Today he came home with a bag of valentines from his classmates, and several were holographic (is that the right word?) Spider Man cards.  "Mom, Max is Superman and I'm Spider Man," he said. He has also learned to say that things are "awesome!" from school.

At Target, a whole wall of licensed character underpants greeted us-- SpongeBob, Thomas the Tank Engine, you name it-- and although at first he chose Spider Man, when he saw the Power Rangers, it was all over.  "It's the Red Guy, Mom!"  As soon as he got home, he put those on-- backwards, of course, so that the Red Guy could be in the front where he can see it.  He also chose a variety-pack of Pixar-character underwear-- Wall-E (his favorite movie), the Incredibles, etc.  In the car, he pulled out the underwear with Nemo on it, a bunch of little pictures.  "Mom, these are fascinating underwear!"

In the dollar bins near the door at the Target, he spotted something and made me go back.  It was a holographic Spider Man plate and cup.  Someone told me that three-year-old boys are all about power, and it certainly seems to be true.  I guess that the cute froggy and monkey plates he's been using for the last year are now going to be supplanted by Spider Man.  Cute has been replaced by cool and awesome-- already!    

Peace and Love?

Henry has learned what a knight is (or was).  And what do you know, he just happened to have this armor in the cast-off hand-me-down pile from our neighbors, and the sword was a present from a friend at Christmas.  Unsurprisingly, he has figured out how to put it all together (except for his pants).  

Food is good

Agatha continues to devour everything we give her.  With Henry, I held off till 6 months of age, but Aggie looks so hungrily at everything we are eating that I feel bad about it!  She has now tried sweet potatoes, applesauce, peas, corn, rice cereal, oatmeal, and yesterday, prunes. (Maybe that will help with the poop situation.)  

Bow Girl

Thanks to Tim & Kirsti for these bows of extreme cuteness!  They look rather hilarious at the moment in Agatha's wispy hair.  But hair or no hair, rhinestones are always right!

WIndy day

I woke up this morning to find that the casement window in our living room had blown off its hinges during the night-- it is lying down below, in the side yard!  We are having freakishly warm weather for February, so at least it's a warm breeze in the living room this morning!

Poop Doula

If you don't want to read about poop, skip this post.  Fair warning! 

Agatha has always been troubled by her digestion-- needing to burp as a newborn, gas a little bit later-- and now, needing to poop.  Oh, you should see her strain and get red in the face!  It is so sad!  Yesterday she was working all day on a poop.  Finally I laid her down on her play mat, undressed her, and pushed against the soles of her feet with her knees bent.  I grunted along with her and encouraged her, just like she was giving birth.  It worked!  Two sessions of that yesterday and she was much happier.  Michael said I was a poop doula.  

With Henry, I'm coaching him to hold it in-- or at least to put it in the proper receptacle.  He persists in pooping in his pull-up, just out of a reluctance to stop playing and go to the potty.  He often holds it all day while he's at school, and then lets it out at home or on the way home-- but in his pants!  This happened yesterday, and as I was scolding him and showing my disappointment-- yes, I know you aren't supposed to do this while potty training, but come on! who are these super-human mommies who can change willfully pooped-in pants without complaining!-- he said, "I'm not too happy about it either, Mom!"  

Today he wore underpants to school, so we'll see... 

Daddy dressed me this morning

Fascinating

Henry's friend Leo, who is still two, has started using the potty.  Tonight at dinner I was praising Henry for using the potty when we came home, and then mentioned that Leo was apparently using the potty too, which he had also heard.  "Leo is so fascinating, Mom," Henry said.  

Left and Right

We explained left and right to Henry a couple of months ago, but he hasn't mentioned it lately. But today he was talking to a little friend who is two, and who had something shiny and metallic in one hand and a piece of cheese in the other.  "Sidney, what's that in your hand?" Henry asked.  She kind of gestured with each hand in turn, unable to decide which one he was talking about, then held up the cheese.  "Your other hand," Henry said, "your left hand."  

(Now of course, he had a 50% chance of getting that right, so maybe I shouldn't be too impressed...)

Double Stroller

Today, for the first time, I put both kids in the double stroller to go over to a friend's house. 

(We acquired it last year to shuttle Henry and his friend, Frances, to preschool.)  Up till now I've been carrying Agatha in the Baby Bjorn and pushing Henry in the stroller.  But Aggie is sitting up pretty well now, and today when I took both kids to the grocery store and forgot the Baby Bjorn, I put her in the seat in the cart, strapped her in, and she was fine! It was really fun to have both my babies in there together.  A big basket full of little Clappers.

Henry looks cranky in this picture because he had just woken up.  In fact, both kids napped in the afternoon for almost two hours-- at the same time!  And Aggie took a two-hour nap this morning, too.  And went to bed without a whimper at 6 pm.  She's getting so regular in her schedule, and it really makes life easier to have that predictability.  I can count on getting some work done (most days) in the mornings, although afternoons are more varied. But she's solid as a rock for bedtime.  Now I take her up to her room around 5:45, put on pj's and nurse her to sleep in the rocking chair.  When I hear the church bells ring 6 o'clock, I put her in her crib.  She is a champion baby!  

Crows

Agatha loves to watch and listen to the crows that congregate in the tall trees near our house in the evenings.  When she's getting near the end of her day and a little fussy, Michael will often take her outside and she'll just watch them up in the sky, silent and fascinated.  He tells her about them and makes the noise, "Caw, caw."  And he says she makes the noise too-- not the "C" sound, but more like "aw, aw."  

Big Work, Big Boy

I love Henry's ambition.  He hangs out with the 5 year-olds in his class, and especially admires a 5 year-old girl named Chloe (earlier this fall: "There are too many friends at school.  There should only be two friends, Henry and Chloe.").  And he's always asking to do the "big work" that the kindergartners get to do.  The teachers' reply is that "the work isn't ready for him," but I get the impression that he pesters them regularly about it.  Sometimes he gets to do it anyway.  One thing the older kids do is match words with pictures, and then write the word in their composition books.  Henry can do the matching (I think because he copies the one the teacher does, doing it by eye rather than reading it), but of course he can't write.  As he put it himself, "I can't even write yet!"  But yesterday he was telling me how he wasn't able to do the words work that his friends were doing, but he did the objects matching.  I asked him, playfully, "Did you write the words in your composition book?" and he got kind of mad.  

He also has high standards for himself.  This week he brought home a paper with a picture of 5 fish on it and the numeral 5 printed several times.  The first one was traced perfectly with purple ink, the others traced very well with gray ink.  I was so amazed and impressed when he told me that he wrote those 5's!  (I'm still not sure that he really did it, but he says he did and he's usually right.)  Great job, I said!  "No, I didn't do it very well; look, it's not as good as Eileen's (the teacher)."  

But he's still working out whether he's a big boy or not.  He's still pooping and peeing regularly in his pull-ups, and sometimes he's not even really trying to get to the potty.  So we're at a bit of a stalemate, there.  This morning, he was playing and I heard him say quietly, "I'm not a big boy, yet."  (He had pooped in his pull-up.)

Mommy's warm

We're having some rather Oedipal moments lately.  This morning, Henry woke up super-early so we were all a little off our game.  He wanted to cuddle with Mommy and made it known loudly, and with tears, especially when Aggie woke up and wanted to nurse.  Michael offered to cuddle with him, but Henry said, "I'm cold, and Daddy's cold, and Mommy's really, really warm."  A minute later, "Daddy, are you warm?"  Daddy said he was.  "But Mommy's even warmer!"

Formula

Today I bought my first-ever can of baby formula.  I never had to with Henry; I just had plenty of milk and I was always around him enough to nurse or leave a bottle now and then.  Agatha is also doing fine with nursing, but for some reason I find it harder to pump this time around; maybe I'm just busier.  But the big spur is this 4-day business trip I have coming up at the end of the month.  (I'm dreading leaving the kids, especially Aggie, for that long, but that's another post!)  I haven't been able to stockpile enough milk to last that long, so I need to try out and get her used to formula so that can supplement the milk while I'm gone.  

I don't consider myself militant about breastfeeding; of course breast is best, but I've seen friends and their babies suffer when it wasn't going well and torture themselves over it instead of just switching to formula, which I always thought was too bad.  Formula is perfectly fine.  And yet, I kept going to the store, looking at the formula, and putting it back on the shelf!  It was really hard for me to buy it.  It feels like a relief to have it as back-up and supplement, but also a little bit like a defeat.  

What's up with that?  

Nudie Cutie