Henry rode the train

Today Mom did something with Henry I'd been promising for over a year: she took him on the train to Philadelphia for the day.  They rode in, took the subway down to the historic old downtown, walked to the riverfront, went to the ship museum, and then did the whole thing in reverse and came back home.  She said he did great, although he did get tired and was ready to come home a little earlier than she expected.  She suggested that they return to the station and eat lunch there while they waited for their train and he said, "That would be lovely!"  

When he got home he went right upstairs and went back to building.  For the last few days he's been absolutely obsessed with his new lego set.  It came with a book that shows you how to build about 10 different pirate things-- rafts, a harbor, a ship-- and at first Michael or I had to do it with him, but now he can do the whole thing himself, carefully following the instructions step by step.  Yesterday he worked on it all afternoon until I finally convinced him to take a break.  

And, here's a photo of a nightly ritual: tooth-brushing in bed.  This looks worse than it is: Henry now willingly opens wide so that we can brush (just with ACT, though, not toothpaste)-- a big improvement over the first three years of his life, when we had to physically restrain him to do the job.  Tonight he was just covering his eyes for fun and asking us if the light was still on.

Finally, here's a picture of Agatha playing on Henry's new rug.  She has learned how to go stiff as a board when you are carrying her and passing Henry's room, so that she can slip down out of your grasp and scurry into his room.  She loves it because it is full of forbidden delights, like Playmobil knights with all their tiny swords.  Henry hates for her to come in and mess up his stuff, but he does like us to be with him, so it's a conundrum for him.

Sleep transitions

Agatha is transitioning from two naps to one.  This is has been going on for a couple of weeks, but since last Saturday I've been trying to really be consistent about her schedule, and after a few days of loud, screechy irritability (hers and mine!), we seem to be getting back into a good routine.  She is sleeping 12 hours at night, 6 pm to 6 am, and then napping about 90 minutes in the middle of the day, about 1-2:30.  I remember when Henry went through this, I was dreading losing that morning nap, but actually it was great-- nice to have a chunk of time in the mornings to get out and do things together, plus his afternoon nap was a long and wonderful time to get things done at home, 2.5-3 hours.  Hers hasn't lengthened to that yet, but I'm just glad to be getting into a predictable schedule where I know roughly when I can expect to get certain things done.  And I'm certainly glad to see Agatha's patience and good humor returning!  My nerves are much calmer.


Henry is more tired, now that he's back in school and spending three long days there a week (8:30-3; the other two days he's done at 11:30).  He doesn't nap anymore unless he's sick or something, but he is going to bed early and sleeping around 11.5 hours.  He also seems to enjoy the rhythm of some long days and some short days.  He loves school, but I've noticed that he seems glad to have some afternoons at home, too.  Especially because he's so into playing in his room with his pirates and knights and legos.  A neighbor commented the other day that they don't see Henry driving his trucks around the block anymore, and I realized it was true.  His play now is more about acting out little dramas and setting up his guys and their ships and so on.  It is really fun for us as adults to play with his toys now!

Pesto pasta and a cherry lollipop

Pirate Birthday Party

Today was Henry's 4th birthday! We had a pirate-themed birthday party that was a big success. It was the first party that Henry actually helped plan himself, choosing the theme and the guest list. He really worked hard to be a good host and mostly succeeded. He and Michael plotted a treasure hunt that began with a message found in a bottle (in the pond), and clues to the location of the map (under a brick in the patio) and the tools (in the sandbox) and then a traipse around the block to discover an X marking the spot in Gran's backyard. They dug up a real wooden treasure box (Gran's; Henry said, "But it will get dirty, Gran; is that okay?") and found their treasure inside. Then they all came back for cake. We outfitted the kids with kerchiefs and eyepatches and the like, and we all had a great time. As the last friend left, Henry said, "In a year, I want to have another birthday with the same party and the same friends!" Which made Michael and me feel pretty great. (There are no pictures of the actual digging because I had to stay at the house with sleeping Agatha, and I had the camera. One of the other dads took some photos so I might post them a bit later.)

Deciphering the map.

Come on, pirate crew!

Singing Happy Birthday. He actually knew what to do this year: wait for the song, smile bashfully, then blow out the candles. Last year he drooled on the cake (by accident!) trying to blow.

Cake on the lawn. Gorgeous day!

Balloon-fighting. Scurvy pirates!

Cool tats.

After it was all done, Henry opened presents. He got lots of wonderful pirate-themed gifts!

A is for Aesthete

Henry has been very picky about what he wears for a long time, now. I have learned only to buy him things that are pre-approved (by him!), or else it's a waste of money. Last January I took him to Old Navy and in about 5 minutes he whipped through the store like Tim Gunn, saying "this; this; this; not this," and by golly he stuck to it. It wasn't just a whim; he had a strong aesthetic reaction to what he liked and didn't like and he loved and wore the things he picked out (two pairs of gray fleece pants; one black; blue sweatshirt with yellow piping). It's helped that we've gotten so many hand-me-downs, because I can just hold things up from the bag and if he says yes, we keep it, and if not, we hand it on down the line. But now he's getting to the point where boys wear out their clothes, and pickings are slim. It's getting to be long-pants weather, and all his long pants from last spring seem to end 3 or 4 inches above the floor. So, he needs new clothes.

I took him to JC Penney's a week ago and it was a disaster-- he didn't want to focus, wasn't interested in anything except pajamas and sweatpants, and I was annoyed. We gave up and went home. Monday his Grandma Cookie sent him some things from LL Bean that were not up to his standard-- he took one look at the carpenter jeans and said "I am never wearing those!"-- and I said we could return them and choose something else. He looked at me warily (he assumed I had picked the things out) and said, "are you okay with that?" We consulted the catalog on the web and agreed on some dark olive drawstring cargo pants and a red and gray hoodie. And today, a triumphant trip to Target, where we filled out his fall wardrobe. No more ragamuffin! (This photo does not include the arctic camo pants that he fell in love with in the Land's End catalog. Not green camo-- it must be arctic.)

This morning, on the way to school, he said, "Mom, do you know what I love? I love gray. And purple, and orange, and that's it." I pointed out that he was wearing red shorts and red shoes. "Well, I like them to wear, but I don't like them as colors. As colors, I just like gray, orange, and purple. And light blue."

Michael has been working on a painting of peaches. He had it propped on the sideboard in the dining room so he could look at it all week and decide what needed to be done to finish it. Henry was contemplating it during dinner, and said, "Daddy, I can't see the red on the peaches enough. It needs to be redder, and darker." Michael thought about it for a while, and then agreed that was good advice.

Agatha stats

Agatha had her 12-month check-up on Monday (halfway through her 13th month), and she has gotten taller and skinnier: 29.5 inches tall, which is the 60%, and 20 pounds 2 ounces, which is only the 35%. She's only gained about 1.5 pounds since her 9-month check in June. The docs weren't concerned, though, saying that at her age she is starting to revert to her genetic tendency, which is probably on the slim side, and she's gotten a lot more active. She still hasn't taken any independent steps, but she is inching towards it, a little every day. She sure is fussy, now, though, when she's bored. Wow! Where did my placid baby go?

Senator Kennedy

Henry noticed on the drive out to West Virginia that many flags were at half-staff. I explained that this was done to honor someone important who has died, and in this case it was to honor Senator Kennedy. I said that he had worked with Barack Obama. "But, how did he die?” I said he had a disease, and he was very old. "Is Barack Obama going to die?" Not for a long time I said, when he's very old. "Does everyone die?" I said that we all die eventually, but not for a very long time. “But I don’t want to die!” I know, I said, but even after someone dies, those who knew the person remember him, and the good works he did in the world live on. He wasn’t too satisfied with this, but let it drop.

The next day, Henry asked, "Mama, when Sen-a-tor Ken-ne-dy died, did that just mean... was he just not really there anymore?"

Yes, I said.

Upside Down

Agatha has always, since she was tiny, loved being tipped upside-down-- my mom discovered this. Now when you hold her in your lap and say "Want to go upside-down?" she dives backward, so you'd better be holding on tight! She also loves to look up at the sky and trees when she's outside. She does this when walking in the Bjorn-- just tips her head back against my chest and gazes upward-- and also when she can get a good grip on something, like this pole outside our cabin. She just stands there and looks!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Back to school! Henry started his second year of preschool yesterday. Wonderful for him, wonderful for me! Note the new dinosaur backpack and coordinating dinosaur shirt.

A Week in the Woods

We had a great week in West Virginia. We stayed in a log cabin in the state park, swam in the pond, fished, took out a boat, watched the guys shoot clay pigeons at the shooting range (Henry's favorite), took the waters in Berkeley Springs, and Michael even got in two rounds of golf (he figured he hadn't golfed in 13 years). The kids slept like logs and loved going for walks. Our first day we took a two-hour hike and Henry walked the whole time. You never get a vacation from parenting, so there were a few trying moments, but overall it was lovely, capped off by a bluegrass concert in the park on our last evening. A wonderful way to close out a great summer!

Helping Dad cut kindling for the fire. It actually got pleasantly chilly a couple of nights.

There were many nice rocks to pull up on all around. I made sure to bring only clothes that Agatha could drag around and scuff to her heart's content.

Fishin'. There were millions of fish swarming all around, but we didn't catch anything. We didn't have any bait except the Bisquick mash I made and some chewed up dried mango we brought in our picnic. The fish liked it! But they didn't bite the hook. So really, we just fed the fish.

Henry said: "This game is called Skip-Rock. I win!"

The childrens' favorite place to play in the cabin was inside a large, mostly empty cabinet in the kitchen.