The Circus

When i picked the boys up from Brenda's this afternoon, Henry excitedly waved a flyer for Barnum and Bailey's Circus which is coming to some huge coliseum outside of Chicago in November. It made me so glad that we had already "done" the circus in a way that fits just a bit more with our preferences.


The Midnight Circus performed in five Chicago City Parks the past few weekends. The shows were fundraisers for the parks that participated and we had the pleasure of going with the Smerry's a few weekends ago. It was everything i like about the circus without any of the stuff that i'm a little creeped out by. First of all it was intimate. We were in the first row, but there were only two rows to choose from. There were no elephants or vendors, just acrobats, juggling, clowns, magic and other circus fun. There were snacks but no $10 cotton candy of $25 flashlights. And did i mention we walked to it? All the things i love about the city and our neighborhood-- positive, creative, local and affordable.


Oh yeah, even on the "normal" size and quality setting i had to delete a boat-load of pictures twice, because Henry and Silas filled the camera up with a frame-by-frame account. Who needs a video camera!

10 week challenge

No, it's not a new diet, or a pledge to read a book a week or anything like that.  The title refers to JT's current quarter at cooking school which (praise be!) is over in 2 more weeks.  In addition to the 6 days of classes that have JT leaving the house by 5 am, he's working at a restaurant Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon until late.  Oy.  It's been challenging on many fronts that i won't go into here, but it has coincided lately with a) a realization that we MUST get out of the house on the weekends and b) warm weather and the opening of the Chicago beaches.

From June 2010

So this week we "discovered" Humboldt park.  We've driven right by it for years, and we went sledding there this winter but what an even more magical place the park is in this warm season.  Thursday we went to the side of the park where there is a large pond (that had just been stocked with catfish).  Lots of people were out fishing in little nooks that have been created by rock steps down to the waters' edge.  There are bird and butterfly sanctuarys all around the exterior of the pond and meandering nature paths to saunter down.  The boys LOVED watching the old guys fish and Henry has been talking a lot about a fishing poll.  Silas kept asking when he'd get to "tow" the fish.  But personally i don't think i'm up for actually hooking a fish, so we just might need to get out to my grandparents farm again soon so the boys can learn!


On Friday we went over to the other side of Humboldt park where the beautiful field house looks out on the pond that they have dredged, and created a small guarded swimming beach.  We had to find a spot away from the teenagers using less than choice language (so glad it doesn't even register on their ears yet) and then had a blast.  It's a beach, without waves, so it was perfect for the boys to play in at their own pace.  After swimming and building sand castles, we had a picnic right next to the beach on the grass.  In the early evening sun, there was magic to the evening.


Plus, when we got home the boys both went to bed without one little peep.  We'll be going to that beach as much as possible this summer-- and hope to explore the park more and more as the season unfolds.


Today, we went on a epic journey down to the Crown fountain at millenium park.  The forecast was rain all day but i figured the boys had planned to play in the fountain and be wet anyway-- so why not just go anyway.  After we got off the train and walked the 4 blocks or so to the fountain, it was absolutely pouring.  And when we got there the fountain was working and indeed we were the only nutters out there in the pouring rain at the fountain.  We played for awhile and made the first of our 7 trips to the bathroom, and at some point the rain tapered off.  After hitting the cultural center to have sandwiches out of the sog, we went back to the fountain and enjoyed mostly clear skies and lots of fun (and several trips to the bathroom).


After all that, tomorrow we'll be hanging out at home, catching up with the neighbor kids, putting laundry on the line, and generally slowing down before we begin another week.  Night.

Catch Up

Suddenly it's 80 degrees and it feels like summer is upon us.  It makes me feel very negligent in posting.  So here's an attempt at a catch-up.


About a month ago i got to accompany Henry's class on their first field trip to the fire-station.  It was a rousing success and turned out to be beautiful weather.  The kids even got to see the firefighters come down the poll-- even though they explained it doesn't get much use anymore.


There were new gardening tools and the early planting to do, and then a big trip to Virginia.


I had to go for a conference so the boys came along and got to spend the weekends with me and my parents and the week while i was away with JT's folks.  They had a blast and Silas did so much better than last year about traveling.  I'm hoping it's a good omen for a more settled beach trip this year.  


Henry took the reins on the camera and ta-da, i'm finally in some photos.  Really cool to see his point of view as well i might add:
 

Unfortunately as we were waiting to be picked up at the airport in Chicago Silas fell off a bench on his forehead.  He immediately had an enormous goose egg.  I was apoplectic and not sure whether i should abandon our luggage and go careening into the airport to look for the Doctor's station, wait for our ride and go straight to the ER, or just calmly call the Pediatrician.  Troy suggested that i call the Dr. and if need-be head to the ER based on the Doctor's advice.  So i did just that and she told me the signs to watch for in terms of a concussion, but said that he sounded like he was going to be okay.  And thankfully he was.  It was a scare for sure and his forehead is still looking pretty bruised and nasty.  Silas is in a phase where he doesn't like his picture being taken though-- so no photographic evidence.

The week we returned i got to go with Henry and his class to the zoo for a field trip outing.  There were so many adult chaperons that we were assigned a few kids and then able to go off on our own rather than try to maneuver 20 kids around the zoo.  I had a great time with Henry and his two friends and I'd say we pretty much covered the zoo.

This weekend we got together with our good friends Corey and Troy and had the last supper in their condo.  They have lived several blocks from us for the 4 years since we've been in our house and we've loved being so close and able to spontaneously get together.  They're moving temporarily to the south side and then out to the (near) suburbs.  So it's not like we won't see them again, but impromptu meetings at the park will certainly be harder.  On the other hand they have a beautiful big house and the boys are already planning on sleeping out in their back yard in the summer.

Halloweeen?

Today we scored a pass to the museum of science and industry and i took the boys on the first ever big outing solo, with no stroller! All was amazing. Some shenanigans getting out the door but nothing major, two boys that did awesome in a very over-stimulating museum, just enough to see and do, and then lunch in the car ride home. Awesome. And naps which went smoothly for the first time in a few days. I didn't bring the camera, but thought i'd share a write-up of the outing so it was fixed in my minds eye.

After some web research and recommendations from friends, we decided to focus on seeing the full-size Sub, the Zephyr train you can walk around and go on, the enormous model train area and the airplane area above the trains. We had some incidental contact with other exhibits, but we focused on those. We probably could have skipped the airplane one because by then Silas was getting a tad overwhelmed, but really i couldn't have asked for a more fun outing.

We started by exploring the outside of the Zephyr train and found out they offered free tours inside the train every 15 minutes. I told Henry we could do it on the way out and we all agreed we go off in search of the submarine. It's a pretty meandering path through some other exhibits, but we made our way to the Sub are. Silas says "submarine" but it sounds just like "halloween" and i kept getting confused when he'd talk about the big halloween.

There are all these movies and mini exhibits about the war on the way to the submarine. Henry wanted to stay put and watch each old black and white newsreel but a) i'm not sure wartime newsreels are the best "screen time" for him and b) Silas was not interested and a little scared. But we finally made it down to the enormous room where the full-size submarine is kept. You walk down and around and get to see and do lots of little exhibits along the way. Henry found some more videos and Silas found buttons (which come to think of it is exactly how we spent our museum day a year ago). Henry and I started having a pretty big conversation about war at the tail end of the exhibit and he revisited the topic as i was tucking the boys into bed. I answered a few questions and told him we could talk more today. But his brains all stirred up and hopefully won't beset by too many bad dreams.

Next up was the enormous model train exhibit. We spent a long time there, checking out all the different aspects of the model train country. Silas finding all the buttons, Henry scanning for the built-in steps to stand on for a better view. Silas' favorite part of the museum was here, where you could push a button near the Sawmill vignette and listen to "TIMBER" and the crack of a loud tree falling. We did that many, many times.

Upstairs for a quick poke through a big airliner, a bit of getting lost trying to get back down, and then the promised tour through the Zephyr train. Seems it was the fastest train in 1930 and was able to travel 120 miles an hour. It made a special trip between Denver and Chicago for the World's Fair, and a donkey was picked up in Denver, brought on the train, and presented to the train president (i think) once they arrived in Chicago.

All of this to explain why a portion of the tour was led by an animatronic donkey. When the boys were questioning the donkey on the tour i explained it was a robot. But then later i said maybe it was magic donkey. On the way home we debated which was probably right (Henry-- robot, Silas- magic donkey) and Henry told me we'd have to go back and be scientists to figure it out.

Then pb&J in the car, a little belly-aching and some good rest for all our sore legs. Plus we cleaned the house, which i will write about (scintillating cliff hanger) in my next post.

Fall Fun

A noted lack in posting. I was away an entire work-week two weeks ago and i feel like i'm just about caught back up where i have some time to mess around once the boys are in bed. Plus, i hosted my parents for a fall visit this weekend that was lovely; albeit cool.


After several years of sticking largely close to home during their visits, we were all over greater Chicagoland. The nap schedules or our little people still constrain all day touristing, but we headed out to the NW suburbs for fun at a local pumpkin patch. The highlight of Silas' trip was the tractor ride-- which i remember him balking at completely last year. Henry loved every minute of the kids truck ride he got to go on. I believe the wacky fun house and the strawberries were also a hit, although at that point i had taken Silas to look more at the animals because the wanting to ride, afraid to ride conflicting feelings were just too much for him.

From October 2009

He did very much enjoy watching the sheep eat, the chickens peck around and the rabbits nuzzeld up against the warm back corner.

That night Henry had his first swim lesson at the new "warm" pool and he seemed to do quite well. Once i saw him get in and follow the teachers' lead without begging me to get in too, everything else was gravy. It was a little chaotic before class started with so many kids getting sorted out, but i'm hoping it will be a little calmer and Henry will be a little more assured.

Sunday my parents and i went out to the Frank Lloyd Wright house and studio in Oak Park. I hadn't been out there since soon after moving to Chicago, and it was very fun to play tourist again. It's a cool house and amazing to picture the prairie coming right up to within sight of his house. The boys sat this trip out and probably just as well. Henry might have at least listened attentively for the tour but we had a 2 hour wait before it started that would have thrown him over the edge.

Last event was JT volunteering at Henry's school to get the flower beds cleaned out and planted with spring bulbs. Volunteering seems to be a new thread running through our days. This Saturday it's my turn to help set-up the fall festival.

Three (attempted pool visits)

Summer is finally here. It seemed it would never come and then just in time for my aunt and cousin's visit-- we had 90 degree heat and the unrelenting jet engine of our air conditioner. We did get to take them downtown to see the Lake and some of Chicago's great parks. Henry had wanted to see Buckingham fountain ("big water" by Silas' naming) and they had a lot of fun in the Crown Fountain-- doing a bit of splashing. JT bundled them home for naps and the rest of us did some walking on Michigan Avenue and then took the Architecture tour on the Chicago river. It was hot and sweaty, but fun to get downtown. I do have to say that until Silas is another year or two older i think that was the one big "downtown" outing for the summer.

He wanted in the stroller, or out, or to walk, or to be carried, or none of the above. He had fun but he also was grumpy and he's just impossible to reason with. I can only presume he'll at least get more rational as he gets older but i guess i should be prepared that his stubbornness will not subside.

Today we took the boys to the park for a bit before Tammie and Morgan headed off to the airport. Then i took Henry to swim lessons (i'll write more about that next time) and after naps i took both boys to the baby pool. Now i'm sufficiently exhausted and ready to get the boys to bed, eat dinner with JT and catch up on a few tv shows and 6 enormous baskets of laundry!

We'd like a side of small mammals with our support for the troops

JT and i both had off today for Veteran's day and the boys were home with us. First thing this morning i headed over to the library to see what museum passes they had available. I decided to go to our "other" library branch (Logan Square) just to see if i had better luck with anything being in. I was lucky enough to be able to pick from three passes to museums that i thought would all be workable for the kiddos. I jumped on the elusive Field museum pass. I'm a little chagrined to say that we've lived in Chicago for wow, 7 years now and this was our first visit. We just tried to focus on a few areas and the boys immensely enjoyed the first exhibit we spent a chunk of time in all about animals-- different shapes, sizes, colors, habitats, skeletons, etc. Henry had several favorites from this part of the museum. From there we went through the more "traditional" mammal exhibits which are pretty awesome-- including three full-size giraffes, a rhino and hyenas which Henry liked immensely.

We took a gander through the Native American section and Henry liked their "fancy boots," the totem poles and the dioramas of life in ancient villages. The area was overrun with school children and Henry's energy was flagging (Silas was happily munching away on crackers from his stroller at that point) so we headed to one last exhibit on the way to out to the car-- Ancient Egypt and mummies. It was really too old for them and a tad gruesome and Henry said he wanted to leave so we did. Both boys conked out in the car which i assume means the trip was successfull. Thankfully they both napped after lunch at home as well.

We hope to make it back and hopefully enjoy some other museum outings on holidays in the new year. I haven't posted pictures yet but when i do i'll include some here. Once we got home and the boys were in bed i headed out for a 4 mile run, in the sleet. So, you could say i'm rightfully tired.

Okahopa!

It's not quite the musical you know and love, but Okahopa (H's pronunciation if you couldn't guess) proved to be a great trip for Henry-- and somewhat for Silas. After i returned from CA late Thursday night and had Friday off to unpack and then pack again, we headed out very, very early on Saturday morning.

The flight was thankfully on time and only an hour and a half. There were some seat assignment antics and a very, very unhelpful gate agent to contend with (name Versher-- still need to write a letter to United) but after the help of a fellow passenger and a supervisor we were on our way.


We met-up with my Dad at the Tulsa airport, picked up our rental (H: "are we getting our car fixed?") and then we were off for the approximately 2 hour drive to my grandparents' farm. Midway we stopped, and Henry had his first taste of McDonald's ("is this chuckecheeses?") and was really psyched at the matchbox car that came with his happy meal. Evenmore so that the display car matched the one that came in his bag ("they're similar mommy!")


The rest of the weekend involved me not getting all that much sleep (what with early mornings, some night wakings, and Silas' cold returning). Silas had a particularly rough day on Sunday-- so much so that i worried he was developing an ear infection. But in hindsight i think he was just seriously overtired.


Other than his Sunday hysterical mid-morning meltdown and subsequent fitful nap laying with me on the bed he actually enjoyed himself quite a bit. He really, really dug the cows and also had a lot of fun playing with the cousins. While he was wary with all the new people he eventually warmed up to my grandmother and grandfather in particular and even deigned to sit in my grandmother's lap whenever it was time to put his shoes on. He was exercising his funny bone a bit too by purposefully missing his seat and them cracking up when he fell down-- making sure everyone else was laughing too.


Henry unequivocally had an amazing time. He didn't nap for three days and when he didn't see the cows upon arriving on Saturday afternoon he was concerned, but Sunday's drive in the back of Grandpa's truck out to see all the cows, round two of playing on both the old and new tractors, getting to actually drive the old tractor with Grandpa around the field and then playing for hours on end outside in their yard with his 5 cousins (aged 3 to 9) was possibly one of the most fun weekends of his life.


We got back safe and sound and on time and all managed to catch up on some sleep. I'm looking forward to staying put now for awhile and actually tackling some of the fall chores and projects that i have in no way had time to address recently.

Field Trip

Today is Silas' first field trip and possibly Henry's-- for the life of me i can't remember if he's been on one already or not. The boys are headed to the zoo with daycare and Henry has been excitedly anticipating the outing for a few days now. I think he's also been having some fears about seeing all the animals because he's asked me several times if the animals can get out of their spaces. I've reassured him that they can't-- that the animals stay in their spaces and people stay in theirs and that seems to have calmed his fears.

When i asked him what animals he was going to see today (as i know they voted on their favorites in advance) he told me to "wait Mommy, i will tell you at the end of the day." That's his new thing-- he seems to enjoy the power of making me wait and then filling me in only after something has happened. I can no longer get him to conjecture on what he'll do that day; whether it be a park outing, puzzles or puppets he wants to wait until it's happened and then let me know. Unfortunately his powers of capturing a full day's events are somewhat limited so at the end of the day i usually get something along the line of "i was running around and around and then NeNe told me to stop and i listened!"

I've tried to break out more creative questions like "what's the silliest thing you did today, or the most fun thing, etc." This strategy worked exactly once for each question-- now no matter what *else* he might have done he reverts back to the first thing he told me when i asked-- usually involving running around in circles and shrieking.

9 Mos, 3 weeks/ 2 Years, 9 Months

I think we made full-use of our three-day weekend, even though the temperature is about as cold as it generally gets here. Saturday Kerala's Nanny, Ellen, watched Kerala, Silas and Henry over at our house while we went to a party. Splitting the babysitter was certainly economical, and you know you have a keeper when the babysitter is disappointed that one of the kiddos (that would be Silas) was already asleep by the time we left.

Henry did some painting this weekend at his easel-- although we had to temporarily relocate it upstairs because the basement is absolutely freezing at this point. He's getting in to making his little masterpieces, and we realized we needed some new painting supplies-- i bought his paints before he was born and the brushes he uses are all cast-offs from my past crafts projects.

Although Henry had fun grocery shopping with his dad, i think the highlight of the weekend was a trip to the children's museum on Monday with Silas and Kerala and all the parents. Henry got to drive a boo-boo truck, a bus, go grocery shopping and pay for his purchases, catch salamanders in a stream, dig for dinosaur bones, and use the public potty four times while we were out. He had a blast. My only concern is that he now associates pretend play with "museums." I'm planning on taking him on Saturday to an exhibit on maps at the Field museum. He loves maps and he sounded excited about going but the Field museum is a little quieter and more hands-off than the children's museum, so we'll see how it goes.

Silas is having a monumental week. He's continuing to hone his sleeping through the night skills and he stopped breast-feeding. We had been winding down since the New Year, but this week he stopped completely. I'm a little sad, but like with Henry, it's been a pretty gradual process so it wasn't too emotional. Of course, now that we're on formula full-time i have to make it to costco at some point today or else that's going to be our "date-night" outing.

2 Years, 4 Months/ 5 Months, 1 Week

I've made a few tweaks to the blog lately-- i'm including my latest signature on the right hand sidebar. I'm also including an automatic age counter at the bottom of the page so i don't have to manually track Henry and Silas' age. I like to title one post per week with their ages, so that when i read back over the posts i can be reminded when the boys did things for the first time or went through various phases.

Silas and i have our first music class on Saturday, and Henry has gym for the first time on Monday. We're looking forward to upcoming visits from both sets of grandparents and trying to make sure we keep taking advantage of the good weather-- albeit hot.

Here are a few more pictures from the zoo this past weekend (thanks Corey) Henry and Rollie are rocking the hippest toddler color for this season-- orange!

Official end of Summer-- boo, hoo

I think we did a pretty good job sending summer out. Saturday we bought a new tv and JT re-taught Henry how to do the "touchdown" sign after spending most of the day relaxing in front of college football. Yesterday we went back out to Tabitha's pool and Henry had another great time. He seemed even more comfortable in the water this weekend than last weekend. Tabitha and i talked about trying to get the kids to the pool during the winter months-- even just for some free swim. It will be an additional option for outings during the long winter months.

Today we met 3 other families at the zoo and Henry definitely enjoyed seeing all the "aminals." He saw giraffes, and elephants, lots of monkeys and even an otter. I think his favorite might have been the polar bears. Both days we were home by early afternoon, which was nice to have time to accomplish all the weekend chores that need doing.

Silas has had a fairly eventful weekend as well even though all the outings weren't exactly targeted at him. He has been rolling over sporadically for the past several weeks but this weekend he pretty much non-stop started rolling. Unfortunately he has been exercising his legs when it's time for sleep, so naptimes have been pretty rough.

Happy 5 Months Silas!

Having two little ones makes life busy, don't get me wrong. But i think we've managed to not feel as harried as is often the assumption given JT and i both work full-time and have two little boys under three. I have noticed that life has picked up the pace now that i'm back at work, so i'm not suggesting that i'm spending hours in a hammock. I do however think that that working from home, not having a commute, JT's equal share in parenting, and two layed-back children, makes for a busy and fulfilling life that i wouldn't characterize as "out of control." I have a sense that the really busy times will come when the kids are a little older, in school, and busy with homework and their various interests. We'll have to figure out ways to manage all the competing demands at that point, but i'm sure we'll work something out when we get there-- or you'll hear me complaining about it here.

The torrential rains and thunderstorms finally let up this weekend, and we got to take advantage of one of the last two official weekends of summer by going with the Pendleton family out to their fancy pool and closing out Sunday with a bbq at our house. Just to give you an idea of JT's idea of an "easy Sunday bbq," the menu consisted of Thai-style bbq chicken, Thom ka soup (thai coconut milk-soup with mushrooms and shrimp), and sauteed asparagus. Tiffany gave me some great ideas for the basement revamp i'm planning and i hope to start tackling some of the projects in the next few weeks.

Although the month isn't quite over, i loaded photos from August onto Picasa.

Summer Deluge

I'm really glad that Henry got over his "scared phase" before all of these summer thunderstorms hit. Some of them have been absolutely gigantic-- very loud and very close. He just says "big rain" very dramatically and makes the sign for rain falling. He also sleeps through them no problem.

This weekend is supposed to be clear, which is good because we've finally managed to plan our big pool outing with Tabitha and her family. We've made it to our local pool several times this summer, but the pool out by Tab's family is more like a water park than the local pool. Henry had an amazing time out there last summer so hopefully he'll enjoy it as much this year.

I tweaked the side-bar items a tiny bit. Silas is mostly sleeping through the night now. By mostly i mean that he goes to sleep around 6:30 and i don't get him out of the crib until 6 am. Most nights he wakes up once or twice and i give him the pacifier and he goes right back to sleep. So, now i'll document what times he woke up during the night. I also added an item to help me keep track of my frozen milk supply.

I've been working down in the basement the past several nights trying to get things organized and cleaned up so that i can move ahead with my playroom plans. Right now i'm planning on areas for: arts and crafts, dress-up, sand table, blocks and big motor play, i.e balls, bikes, and slide. I know the big motor stuff will be necessary during the long winter months, but i think the dress-up area will be a big hit too. Henry is getting more and more into imaginative play. He frequently makes "soup" for us and "cold treats" and loves to watch us pretend to eat his concoctions. I let him wear an old costume of mine the other day and he had a ball parading around. I can't wait to raid our closets to find all manner of good dress-up items!

4 Months, 2 Weeks, 4 Days/ 2 Years, 3 Months, 4 Weeks

Thankfully i did get better and stay better enough for us to enjoy our weekend. We had a lovely time trucking out to see Genine and her family on Saturday. Henry couldn't get enough of their pool and he and Maia actually interacted this time around. Sunday we went to dim sum and Silas obliged by napping in his stroller which was helpful considering Henry was a handful. He did enjoy sampling all kinds of dim sum nibbles from my chopsticks but he also wanted to run around and in general be a two-year old. We haven't been going out very much, because Silas is ready for bed by about 6:30 so i've gotten out of the habit of coming prepared with toys and snacks. Before we attempt another outing i need to re-pack my bag of tricks.

I think i'm jumping on the organic band-wagon, albeit a little late. In general we try to be an environmentally-friendly household. We recycle, we compost, we buy things off of craigslist instead of new as much as possible. So although buying organic probably also should have been something we did, it often got overcome by a) my thriftiness and b) my skepticism that non-organic was really that bad-- i mean hey, better living through chemistry right?

It's not that i've had a revelation or anything, but i did start reading about the high levels of toxins that have been found in baby shampoo and then i found the cosmetic database that lets you easily search and browse safer products. Finally, after some amount of sticker-shock at Whole Foods, i found a pretty in-expensive source online, where i got free shipping with my order. I just decided that buying organic/non-toxic when we can is in-line with my beliefs and fits how we like to spend our money-- on living well. You can bet i don't want to wash my kids with toxic levels of chemicals, but as long as i'm upgrading their products, why not buy mild ones for me as well? I'll get down of my soap-box now :)

In Henry news, although it wasn't necessarily pretty, he went to sleep without old Ralph and new Ralph last night. He's gotten re-attached to them in recent weeks and has continued to sleep with them each and every night. In fact, he uses them as a pillow. Well, yesterday we left both of them at Brenda's. He cried for real when he realized he wouldn't have them to sleep with, but we just talked about how they were sleeping with NeNe (Brenda's sister and Henry's favorite right now) and he'd see them in the morning. After he got to pick out a book to read he calmed down and then i brought him an extra lamb and dog to sleep with. Of course this was on top of the other two monkeys and the dog that he has in his bed, so he was well surrounded. He was however, VERY happy to see them this morning.

p.s. after you freeze the granita, you EAT it!
p.p.s i've looked very closely and Silas' eyes are still blue-- i believe it was just the countertops making them look brown.

12 Weeks, 2 Days/ 2 Years, 3 Months, 4 Days

Henry has his first dentist appointment today and while it could have gone it worse, it wasn't the greatest. Unfortunately the waiting room almost proved to be the most traumatic. I'm not sure if their carpet was particularly "grippy" or what, but Henry tripped about 4 times while we were in their offices. The first fall catapulted him headfirst into the bookshelf which definitely led to tears. He calmed down pretty quickly and they brought me some ice. I think it looked worse than it was because it's a little red but didn't seem to be bothering him much after just a few minutes.

The Dentist was very nice and they did a good job of trying to show him what was going to happen but he was shy and then a little freaked out. He laid in my lap while she looked at his teeth, counted them and assessed there risk for decay. She said that he has all of his last molars coming in and that in general his teeth were in good shape. She said for now we could delay flossing but to stay on-top of brushing twice a day. Primarily because of the crowding in his mouth, she said he was at a "medium" risk for decay. She also said that although his thumb-sucking was nothing to worry about (he only does it when he goes to sleep for a few minutes by now) that he does have a serious overbite. She didn't mention braces, but as someone that's had them twice (because of an overbite and a seriously overcrowded mouth), i figure we better start putting money aside for braces as well as college!

Silas and Kerala accompanied Corey and i to get pedicures today. They were both ready for a nap so we took turns holding them and getting them to sleep while we got our toes done. I'm washing all of our clothes with the special Rit SunGuard i bought that adds SPF to your clothes. Yes, i'm THAT mom, and i've already got the pictures to prove it...

Attire

Henry has been more and more psyched about his clothes lately, and also more specific about what he wants to wear. I pulled out two bathing suits we had kicking around from last year to see if they still fit, in anticipation on our beach trip later this month. Henry was so excited to try them on but after putting the first one on he would have no part of taking it off in order to try the next one on. It can't have been very comfortable, but he wore these for several hours and only reluctantly agreed to change into pajamas for bed.

One thing i wanted to mention so that it's recorded for posterity is his current pronunciation of out. He says it like he's from the far reaches of Canada so it's something like Ow-UT! He just learned that it means you've finished something, i.e. "run out of milk," in addition to going outside, so he's been walking around yelling it emphatically for the past few days. His newest word-- is above, which he learned this afternoon on the way home from Brenda's. His newest obsession is with all the bridges and overpasses around the city. Several are for the elevated trains, some for the highway, and some that are out of use but used to be for trains. I was explaining that the train tracks are "above us" on the bridge so now he calls the bridges, "a-buh-buh" which is his interpretation of "above us." It's extremely cute.

Silas had a content and slow day so i'll regale you with another Henry tale. We went to the bookstore this evening so that Henry could pick out a book for his friend Helen to take to her birthday party on Saturday. When i told him we were going to the book store he started saying "shh" and holding his finger to his mouth, indicating that we had to be quiet in the book store. When we got there he was so excited that he kept saying "MOMMY!" and then very quietly, "shh." He's got more personality that i sometimes think is possible given his small size.

Silas' 2 Month Appointment

Yesterday was Silas' two month Dr. visit. The visit itself went well-- he's just doing great and we didn't have a lot of questions or complaints. The weigh-in was probably the high-point of the visit-- he's up to 13 lbs. 2 oz! Then the lowpoint was the four shots and one oral vaccine that he had to get. He was a trooper and quieted down pretty quickly after getting the last shot. He was running a very mild fever last night and today but Tylenol seemed to help. He was pretty sleepy last night and a little fussy this afternoon, but we still made another IKEA outing and except for the last few minutes, he did great.

Henry has been as happy and energetic as ever, but getting to sleep isn't quite as easy as it was before. I think he would definitely still be considered a good sleeper, but i think it's taking him longer to fall asleep and he'll whine and cry out with all kinds of "another drink of water" requests. When you go in and ask what's wrong he'll tell you it was the dogs barking, but really that's a ploy and a lead-in to one of the many things he really wants to talk about-- his bubbles, drawing with chalk, reading books, etc. We'll go in once or twice and tell him that we can do all those things in the morning, and then we tell him he has to go to sleep and not to call out anymore. Most of the time that works. He's done great in his new bed and still stays put in the morning when he wakes up-- calling out for JT or I until JT goes and gets him.

8 Weeks/ 1 Year, 1 Month, 5 Days

We seem to be stuck at about 5-6 hours of sleep for Silas' longest chunk. I know i shouldn't be greedy, and if this is a normal progression towards sleeping all night, it's fine. It's just that since Henry's sleep deteriorated so badly about this time (struggling to get him to sleep for an hour-- asleep 30 minutes... repeat) i'm worried about "messing Silas up." I think we're going to start trying to put him to bed earlier, and see how it goes. I also think i need to consider being home more during the day so that he can nap in his bed a bit more instead of always on the go.

That said, we accomplished another fun outing today with Silas' best friend Kerala-- we went to the mommy matinee at the theatre by our house. The babies were really good and it was the first time i had been to a movie in the theatre since Brokeback Mountain was released. Prior to the movies Corey took me out for my birthday and the babies were as quiet as could be during the whole meal.

Eureka!, we found a babysitter that Henry is excited and comfortable about that isn't family. Lauren came back tonight for her bi-weekly babysitting gig and Henry did the "bye bye" act even before we were really ready to get out the door. She said he was totally happy and about 7:30 wanted to read books in his bed and then go night night with "new Ralph."

Frequent readers of Good Intent will remember that Ralph has been Henry's best monkey companion since he was several months old. We had been looking for a back-up Ralph ever since original Ralph became so important and this winter Henry's Oma scored us two identical new monkeys. Until just recently they were kicking around with Henry's toys without a whole lot of attention paid to them. Now "New Ralph" (which is honestly what Henry calls him) has become Henry's pillow at night, and occasionally when Henry wants to take someone along to Brenda's it's been New Ralph. As we just finished listening to the Velveteen Rabbit, i'm feeling personally responsible for "old" Ralph and make sure he gets into bed with Henry along with New Ralph.

7 Weeks, 2 Days/ 2 Years, 4 Weeks, 2 Days

Yesterday Silas and i attempted an outing that i would have never dreamed of with Henry-- we journeyed to IKEA which is in what i consider the far-reaches of suburbia. I believe i mentioned we're planning to convert Henry's crib to a toddler bed this weekend, so i headed to IKEA to get him some new sheets a grown-up comforter and a pillow. While i was there i wound up getting several other things as well including new duvets for both our bed and the guest room and a really cool tent that goes over Henry's bed. We went ahead and assembled that yesterday and although it's not really made to go on the crib (getting in and out is a little tricky) he was so excited about it and wanted to go to bed before i even asked last night. Hopefully the transition to his new bed is as exciting for him.

This Sunday is my birthday and JT managed to score tickets for us to see the Cubs/Sox game. He got them kind of last minute, but we actually managed to get a babysitter as well, so this will be the first time we leave both Henry and Silas with someone other than a family member. Our babysitter Lauren has sat for Henry a few times and starting this Tuesday, she'll be providing us a bi-weekly night out which i'm very much looking forward to!