Why I love having little kids

I can kiss them anytime I want to.

60 seconds in the -saucer

Oliver speaks

I was going to do a post about Oliver, how much he's talking and his funny intonations and his likes and dislikes at this age.  But then I figured he could speak for himself now, and so he has.

See, reach, grab

Emme has hit another milestone -- she has finally gotten enough control over her arms to see something she wants, reach out, and grab ahold of it -- and then, naturally, put it in her mouth.  Two nights ago, while Wes, Ollie, and I were having a dance party in the living room (a great scene, really -- Ollie and I have some serious moves), Emme was lying on her playmat under the bumble bee.  And she was staring really, really intently at this thing.  Squirming away, but eyes locked on the bumble bee.  And then, somehow, she managed to get her arms under control, reach them both up, and grab the bumble bee.  She held on and shook it around and just seemed altogether pleased with herself.  I knew what she wanted, so I unhooked it and let her slobber all of it.

For the last two days now, she's been reaching out to grab all kinds of other things, including her chew toys  (is it just me, or does it sound like I'm talking about the dog there).  When she drops it and can't get back ahold of it, she bursts into tears.  Very sad and yet, very funny.

I'm sure I saw this same kind of development with Oliver, but it's been especially pronounced with Emme.  One day she couldn't do something, and then one day she could -- and I'm watching it happen.  So, so cool.

Shock and awe

It happened.  Emme slept through the night.  And not once, but twice.  On Wednesday evening, after getting her shots at her four-month checkup, she had a really hard time going to sleep.  I put her down once and let her fuss, but it turned to wails and I went and got her.  I tried a second time with similar results, and at this point, she was screaming with little consolation.  She wasn't especially hot to make me think she had a fever, but she seemed very uncomfortable (which happened after her two-month shots also), so I gave her a dose of Tylenol.  She more or less passed out 15 minutes later, and I put her down in her crib just before 9:30.  When I woke up a little after 5am, I realized she hadn't been up.  And she didn't get up until her normal waking time around 6:30am.  I was amazed but realized that she was probably extra tired from the shots, the Tylenol, and the screaming that led to sleep.

The next night she got up around 1:30am, but that was it.

And then last night, after finally getting her down in her crib around 9:00pm, she again slept through the night.  She was up at 5:45am, but I nursed her back in my bed, gave her a pacifier when she got fussy, and she went back to sleep until after 8:00.

I don't know if this is a permanent shift, but even if it become some "one-up" nights and some like these, it's an improvement on where we've been.  The later bedtime makes it hard to get work done in the evening, but that will soon not be an issue.  It took me until eight months to get Ollie to sleep through the night, and it didn't become the norm until almost ten months (when, I sense, he knew that either he had to start on his own or momma was going to make him).  Here's hoping the trend continues.

Dear Husband, Part 53

Emmeline has had a tendency in the last few weeks to go down in her crib between 6:30 and 7:30 but then wake up an hour or so later, wide awake and in no way ready for sleep.  When I'm working or need a break, Wes will often take her, and his caretaking usually involves sitting with her in front of the television while he watches whatever sports are on -- of late, the NBA playoffs.  She's been so content to sit with him on these occasions that I joked she just wanted to stay up to see how the game turned out.  (Wes sees no correlation in the fact that she's often "ready" for bed right when the game ends and that she might be "ready" sooner if he didn't sit with her in front of the television, but, bygones.)

Last night, Emme went down in her crib right at 7:30, seemingly exhausted, no fussing whatsoever.  But an hour later, she was wide awake.  Wes went and brought her downstairs, and then, on realizing there was no playoffs game on, commented, "I guess nobody told her it's a travel night."

Other fathering

Cookie down for a nap in the swing.  Ollie got his pacifier
and turned on the mobile and music for him.

Ollie took a picture of Cookie on his "camera phone" while
I took a picture on our camera.  He even says "click."

My little girl

Emme had a well-baby visit today, so we got more recent measurements.  She is 12 lbs., 13 oz. (25th percentile), 25 1/4" (80th percentile), and her head circumference is 15 5/8" (15th percentile).  This is all in line with her previous percentiles, so it's fine for her.  She is clearly health and very happy, smiling and cooing at the doctor during her appointment.  And right now, she is -- inexplicably -- a long, skinny baby.

Just for comparison, Oliver at eight weeks was already heavier than Emme is now, at 13 lbs. even.  At four months, he was 16 lbs., 3 oz. and 26" long.  But he, too, was only in the lower percentiles for head circumference.

Missed you

Emme at the Nashville airport.
When people saw her, they either smiled
or looked really, really worried!

This spring has been one full of travels at our house.  Wes has been off to several locations for conferences and leaves in about two weeks for Boston, where he is presenting at SAEM.  I took two trips this spring, one with Emme to Savannah to do data collection for a research project and one by myself to New Orleans for AERA, a large educational research conference.

My trip to Savannah turned out to be the more difficult one.  Although I got to spend almost four days with my wonderful sister and let her visit with her niece (who was still only 8 or 9 weeks at that time), I had the challenge of airplane rides (with transfer) with a newborn, both flights delayed.  Emme was still in her "fussy with no clear reason" phase, which made bedtime really challenging, though she did pretty well on the flights.

One unexpected part of these travels was how it affected Oliver.  I don't travel much, and I've hardly been away from him.  But I leave him enough on a day-to-day basis that I didn't think it would be a problem.  Especially since Wes and I had both been away from him last summer when we went to Phoenix.  And Ollie was fine while I was gone -- but he was trouble when I got home.  Especially after the trip to Savannah, he acted out a lot and showed a lot more hostility toward Emme.  I think one day I walked into the living room and found him standing over her with his plastic saw.  ("No sawing your sister" is just not one the things Supernanny regularly addresses.)  He did eventually even out, and there seemed to be less resentment after my trip New Orleans (presumably because Emme stayed here and wasn't getting bonus time with me), but the misbehavior after my travels (but not Wes's) is definitely a trend we've seen.

The one fun thing with Ollie that the trip to Savannah afforded me, though, was a chance to talk on the phone with him, something I almost never have occasion to do.  And this was the very first time that Ollie actually spoke on the phone.  Usually when we try to get him to talk on the phone, he just smiles and breathes loudly and tries to push buttons that hang up on people.  But this time he dialogued back and forth with me, and even after we got off and I was talking to Wes, Ollie would ask to get back on with me and tell me something important (like, "Mommy, I need want to jump on the couch.").

So call it my travel advisory warning, but at least now we know that Ollie may require some extra mommy attention if I go away, especially if accompanied by Ms. Em.  Fortunately all our planned travels for the summer involve either both kids (to Savannah and my parents' house near Atlanta) or neither (San Diego, here we come!).

Me and Grammy Kay

We have been fortunate to see a little more of Wes's mom in the past few months, and we'll get to see a lot more of her soon as she's about to move up to Nashville.  She'll be close enough to easily come over for dinner or to help us in our garden (love having two moms who know way more about the yard and flowers than we do) or to just visit.  Plus she has a pool at her new apartment complex, and well, if that doesn't get visits from the grandkids, I don't know what does :)  The pictures are from several weeks ago when I went to New Orleans for a conference.  Kay helped out Wes, who had the kids for almost five full days.  They even ventured out for a visit to Radnor Lake, where they saw lots of very friendly deer.

It's been especially nice to have Kay here more because it's given Oliver a chance to really get to know some of Wes's family.  My siblings are closer geographically and are all on Skype, so Ollie knows almost everyone's names and has some idea of who goes with whom (like Aunt Laura and Uncle (G)Reid).  Kay, Wes's mom, is Grandma Kay (with the red car), and my parents and Grandma and Grandpa.  Consequently, my mom has become "the other" Grandma (with the yarn).  Both often come bearing gifts (despite any minimal protestations on our part), so when he once said (with an indescribably knowing look on his face), "She brings presents," it wasn't clear who he was talking about.

We are now looking forward to a visit from the kids' Uncle Bruce and Aunt Meredith, who live in Philadelphia.  The beauty of having Kay here, other than just having her here, will I suppose be to use her as bait! -- where she goes, there come the other children.  Looking forward to having all of you here.

The pool guy

This is from several weeks ago, which anyone in the Tennessee or Georgia area knows, since it's in the low 60's today and definitely not pool weather.  I kind of regret getting this thing instead of another little plastic one, since it takes up so much water to really play in and space in the garage when not being used, but it does make it possible for me to get in with Oliver and, once really warm, Emmeline.  I'm sure it won't last more than the summer, though, with rocks and a dog in the yard.

Ollie starts swimming lessons for this summer in a little over a week.  This is one without me, so we'll see how he does.  I think he'll be fine, but it might take a session or two for him to relax.  I considered having him doing it a second time at the end of the summer just to give him more exposure, but we're traveling three times this summer to family members who have access to pools in their neighborhood, so hopefully he can get adequate time there.

Exersaucer-cise

Emme has now been introduced to the Exersaucer.  I pulled it out of our upstairs eaves a few weeks ago.  She's been happy on her back and belly, squirming and seeing things, for a little while now, and I thought she might like a different perspective.  She definitely likes being upright.  If Oliver is around, he plays with all the toys and she just kind of watches him.  If he's not around, she plays with some of the toys herself, batting at the things that rotate and jingle and looking at the bold pictures on the plastic "book" toy.  Her toes barely skim the bottom of the Exersaucer, so she can't push up or turn herself yet, but I think in a month or so she'll be moving around quite well.  This was one of those truly ugly, bright, obnoxious toys that I got for Oliver that he absolutely loved and that afforded me time to do dishes or grade papers (when I was teaching).  Here's hoping the same for Ms. Em.

Four months old

All about Emme

Emme is 4 months old today (which means I need to get a picture -- this is from Sunday), and I can hardly believe it.  I'm not a mom who tells new parents "They grow up so fast!" because honestly, with Ollie, while I wish I could go back and revisit certain points along the way, it feels like just about right.  Here's been here 2 1/2 years or so, and it feels like it.  With Emme, though, things have been so busy that while I can believe she's four months, it just sounds so old, and I hate to believe that we've flown through so many fun weeks.

The good news for me, though, is that she's more fun than ever.  She was a truly adorable newborn, though fussy, but now she's a lot more sociable and happy, and still cute as ever (I mean, did you ever see such a smile!).  I finally feel like I'm starting to get a sense of her personality, which is nice.  She is a very social child.  She's much happier when she's in the stroller riding like a big girl than in her car seat because strapped into the stroller itself, she can see a lot more.  We went to the grocery store this afternoon, and I left her in her car seat in the basket of the cart but turned her away from me, and she was totally happy whereas normally she's super fussy in the store.  I really think she just likes to see what's going on and look at people's faces.  Unless she's sleepy or hungry, a big smile at her will get a big smile back.  She has a bit of a giggle, though not a clear laugh.  And now that she can roll and squirm in circles, she's constantly on the move to be able to see what's going on in the living room.  She'll even try to turn her head to see the television, I guess trying to figure out what we're looking at.

She's getting much, much better at falling asleep on her own.  Her naps and stretches of sleep at night could be longer, and she sometimes fusses in the midst, but it's unbelievably easier to get her down in her crib at night than it used to be.  Last night I tried doing a "dream feed," getting her out of crib when I was going to bed but hopefully without waking her too much, so that I got a longer stretch.  It kind of work.  I nursed her around 10:30 and she wasn't up until almost 2:30.  Unfortunately, she didn't want to go down after that, and after three trips upstairs, she did end up back in bed with me until after 7am.  The two nights before that were all in her crib, though, which is good.  She's still eating well, but she's still a little peanut.  I'm curious to see what she weighs and measures next Wednesday at the pediatrician's office.  I think her skin is more fair and her hair color lighter than when she was born, but her eyes are still a lovely gray-blue.  Not a vibrant as Oliver's, but still lovely.  She really likes to be outside (good for me, since the older one does, too), and she's also enjoying the Exersaucer, though her feet don't reach the bottom yet.  She grabs on hard to almost anything, and sometimes I think it helps soothe her to have something to hold.

So basically, I've been blessed with another wonderful (but different) kid.  She's fun, she's cute, she's cuddly (hurray!), and she seems to be as in love with all three of her (human) family members as we are with her.

Sleep, revisited

Sleep has been a continued source of frustration for me with Emmeline.  She's not a horrible sleeper.  She's just bad enough, though, that I'm getting really tired.  When my mom was here around the end of spring semester, she let Emme cry some to get her to give in to sleep, and that did help.  But after she left, what had been 5 or so minutes of crying became 5 or so minutes of screaming and/or extended sessions that ended up in us having to go get her.  This past weekend and early this week, she was up maybe every hour or two.  So I decided I need to start keeping better track of what our nights look like so that I can come up with some kind of plan.  (Perhaps this is what happens to graduate students who just finished a research methods class, perhaps this is what happens to really tired moms, but either way, here it is.)

For the evening of Tuesday, May 10:

7ish -- Emme is sleepy.  She is rubbing her eyes and squirming.  I sit and nurse her downstairs, and she continues to rub her eyes.  I take her upstairs and continue to nurse her while we rock.  She eats well, but is still awake when she is finished.  I give her the pacifier and put her in the crib.  She cries on and off but not hard for 10-15 minutes.  By 7:20 or so, it's quiet upstairs and she is asleep.
8:21 -- Emme has woken up and is fussing for more than a few minutes, so I go up.  Once in her room, I realize the mobile is playing and surmise that she has (like her brother) kicked the mobile on, and it woke her up.  Wish the mobile had an off switch other than the button, but for the moment, sit and nurse some more until she is calm and sleepy.  Put her back in the crib.  No crying; quickly asleep.
10:30 -- I go to bed.  Everything upstairs is quiet.
Midnight -- Wake up Emme crying.  Go up, change, and nurse her for about 10 minutes.  Put her down sleepy but awake, and she falls back to sleep without any fussing or crying.
3:15 -- Wake up Emme crying. Go up and nurse her for about 10 minutes.  Put her down sleepy but awake.  She fusses for maybe 30 seconds, then evidently falls asleep without any real crying.
6:30 -- Wake up to Emme cooing.  Go up and nurse and change her.  She is obviously up for the morning and very pleased with her more rested state.

She was sleepy again by 8:30 when I left to go to an appointment with Wes, but she hadn't really slept when I picked her up from the sitter after 11.  When we came home for the neighbor's house where Hailey is sitting today, I changed her, nursed her, and put her down. She cooed and babbled for a while, then fussed, and then slept.  She just woke up for a few minutes crying but now it's quiet again.  I'm not sure why she's having trouble staying asleep for longer, as that used to be the one thing we didn't have a hard time with, but there are a few things I do know:

• I sleep much better at this point when she is not in the room with me.  It has nothing to do with the sleep I get when she's asleep in the co-sleeper, but the bad habits I give in to because she's in the room with me -- like nursing in bed and falling back to sleep with her in the bed, or not paying attention to how often she's waking and eating because she's then in bed with me, or not changing her diaper as often as I should (since I don't know how long it's been), which results in way more sheet washing than I prefer to do.
• Emme sleeps well when she's in bed with me, but I think her best quality sleep is when she's by herself.  The swing helps get her to sleep, but it's almost impossible to transfer her out of it without waking her up, which is often how she ends up in bed with me.  She really needs to sleep in her crib, and she will do it if helped along.
• Emme only spends the night in the crib if she starts there.  If she goes down for the night in the swing or the co-sleeper, she ends up in bed with me.  (I swear some nights I'm not even totally awake when I pull her into our bed.)  So even if it takes a little longer or multiple trips upstairs, I have to take the time to get her to go to sleep in her own crib at the beginning of the night.
• She can and will go to sleep with a little fussing or crying.  If it's going to lead to sleep (and not just louder crying), it's pretty mild and only lasts 5 minutes or so.  It bothers Oliver more than anyone, but he's getting used to it.
• I love the sight, smell, and feel of a sleeping baby cuddled next to me in bed.  There is almost nothing better in babyland.  But folks, I'm tired.  I have a school work to do, a messy house and people coming over Friday, and errands to run, but the thing I really want to do right now while she sleeps is take a nap.  I've got to get more sleep at night.  And unfortunately, I think that might require nights like last night -- when I'm up more frequently than I'd like but manage to keep her in her bed -- in order to get her to longer stretches of sleep and not in my arms.  

Here's hoping!

On Mother's Day

Here is what I found in the kitchen after a much-needed nap Sunday afternoon.  Wes has been doing some landscaping in our backyard, and he decided to add some color and fragrance to our garden area with these lilies (one of our favorite flowers -- lilies were in my wedding bouquet).  Oliver evidently didn't appreciate Wes using his letters to make the message on the table and came to collect them later on.  He also seemed confused by the close proximity of my birthday (May 1) and Mother's Day, and so periodically throughout the day, he would say, "Happy birthday!"  

By the books

When Emme began consistently rolling over recently, I did something I almost never did with Oliver -- I looked at the milestone chart for kids.  And then I became curious about where both kids are based on this chart.

According to the milestone chart for babies, Emme should at four months be able to:

• Keep head up and steady -- For sure.  She's been doing this for a while.
• Bear wear on legs -- Same.  I think she'll be really happy when he feet reach the bottom of the Exersaucer.
• Make cooing sounds in response to your talk. -- Yep.  She's a babbler, for sure.

"Still learning" and "rare" skills at four months:

• Can grasp a toy. -- Yes, but it's not intentional, and she can't let go even if she wants to.
• Reaches out to touch or grab objects. -- Not really.  She is probably close to having a little control over her arms and being to touch or grab things intentionally, but she's definitely not there yet.
• Rolls over. -- Yes!  She usually likes it, too; it doesn't scare her like it did at first.
• Imitates sounds and speech. -- Not that I can tell.
• First tooth may show up. -- Possibly.  She drools SO much, so I wouldn't be surprised.  Ollie's first tooth came in between 4-5 months, I think.
• May be ready for solids. -- Not in my opinion.  She's growing fine and is totally satisfied by breast milk, so I won't rush this one.  I will ask the pediatrician next week if she suggests starting some basics before six months, as I've recently heard it can help cut down on potential food allergies.

Looking at other months, there's only a few things she can already do.  She can roll in both directions (milestone for 6 months), recognizes and turns to look at the source of new sounds ("still learning" for 5 months), and reaches for objects and puts them in mouth ("still learning" for 6 months) -- but this last one pretty rarely.  As busy as Oliver was, I definitely see her developing a little faster at a lot of these things.  I know all kids are different, and this may change at some point, but it's funny to me to see this little person doing things so much sooner -- and she's "little" not necessarily because she's younger than he was but because she's so much physically smaller than he was at the same age.  Oh, and of course, she has a smaller head.

As for Ollie, the milestone chart for children says he should be able to:

• Stack up to six blocks to make a tower.  -- Check.
• Know at least six body parts by name. -- He can sing all of "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" while pointing to the parts.  Plus he knows the proper name for his genitalia (and that daddy has one, too, but not mommy), his butt, and other random parts.  He also knows which piggy went to market, if that's important.
• Throws ball overhand.  -- Yep.  Sometimes the ball goes backwards when he does it, but it is overhand.

As for "still learning" or "rare" skills at 32 months:

• Puts on a T-shirt on his own. -- Sure.  He sometimes has problems and needs help, but not usually. 
• Can keep balance on each foot for a moment or two.  -- I think so but will have to check tomorrow for sure.
• Learns to brush teeth on his own. -- He knows what to do, and we always let him brush first before we have our "turn."
• Calls friends by name. -- Definitely.  We get a run down of who was in daycare and what everyone did on the way home each day.  Today Curtis played with Oliver's tractor, and he wanted it back to put away.  He was still a little bothered by this.  Maybe because Curtis is new, I'm not sure.
• Washes and dries hands on his own. -- Yes.  
• Can use up to two adjectives in one sentence. -- I think so.  I can't name a specific example, but his language has developed a lot in the last few weeks even.  His word use and conversational skills have really improved, and his intonation, facial expressions, and gestures crack me up.

Looking at older years on the chart for Ollie, he definitely is well ahead on social and emotional development and much of the language development (his pronunciation and enunciation can be poor at times, but if what I repeat back to him isn't what he said, he'll try over and over again until I understand what he's saying).  The kinds of things he can't do yet have to do with holding a pencil correctly, drawing basic shapes, cutting with scissors, all of which sound like fine motor skills.  

I know these charts aren't the final say on whether kids are behind or possibly more developed than their peers, but it's fun to compare and see what they should be doing.  So long as they seem like they're still developing (present participle), I'm happy.

Roller girl

Emme can officially roll over in both directions.  She will be four months on Friday, so this is definitely on time or even a little early for her (this is a "rare" skill for a 3-month-old or something "still learning" for a 4-month-old; it's not a common milestone until 6 months).  She's been rolling easily from her belly to her back for at least two weeks now, and in the last few days, I've seen (or missed) her rolling from her back to her belly.  My sister claims she did this back in March.  I was upstairs packing for us to leave for home the next day and missed it all.  My mother-in-law also said she did it several weeks ago.  But it's not until now that I've actually been able to either see it or confirm that she went down on one side and I found her on the other.  It's a fun development, of course, but it does ruin my efforts to get her to sleep on her belly in the hopes that it would help her settle more quickly.  Of course, it also makes it a little safer to put her anywhere on her belly since she has the ability to get off.

The last few months have flown by, mostly because of how busy things have been around here.  But I know looking at Emme -- still little, still a baby, still a lot of months left to nurse and cuddle and tote around -- that time has passed and almost certainly too quickly.

A mommy and me day

Today was a special day for Oliver and me.  Since I had the day off (I'm between the end of the semester and the beginning of my Maymester class) and had the babysitter (who we pay for set hours regardless), I decided to spend the whole day with Oliver, just doing fun things together.  I probably could have taken him to run errands with me and he would've loved it.  We probably could have stayed home and played in the backyard all day (although there were two babies inside with the sitter, so that seemed like a bad idea).  But I wanted to do things I knew would be difficult or less fun with Emme in tow.  And with that -- and the nice weather -- in mind, I made a plan.

Ollie was up this morning about 7:30am, and we got a shower.  Once Hailey was here and I was ready to leave the house, we walked to Frothy Monkey for hot chocolate.  Oliver asked to bring Cookie Monster along, and for once I relented to let him leave the house.  Our neighbor's dog came down to sniff us and showed some interest in Cookie, which made Ollie nervous.  We sat on the couch in Frothy sipping our hot chocolate while Oliver asked me about everyone else there.  Cookie even got a sip. We walked home and got in the car to head to Murfreesboro, where we went to the Children's Discovery Center.  It's one of those children's museum/learning center/play spaces all in one.  The downstairs has a fire engine and an aquarium with turtles in it and an area with rocks that kids can "excavate" for fossils.  There's a big water play area where kids can learn about waves and aquaducts.  There's a play house and shop and a tot area with a music store, Home Depot, post office, play house, and grocery store (a Kroger!). The upstairs has a big "Wheels" exhibit with a car that kids can service, a coal mine section, and lots of other things we didn't even explore.  We were there about two hours, skipped the outdoor walking area around some manmade wetlands, and played briefly on the small playground.  After our first (and last) ever lunch at Zaxby's, we headed back to Nashville, about a 30-40 minute drive.  I actually took my nursing cover and pumped on the drive back (and was very happy not to have had an accident or been stopped by a policeman).  Oliver, as I expected, fell dead asleep.

I had given him a few options for what to do in the afternoon, and he asked to go the playground at the zoo.  He was asleep when we got there, so I called Wes to chat for a few minutes, at which point he woke up.  He was sluggish at the zoo but still having fun.  We were at the zoo for probably a little more than an hour.  We saw the macaws and the crane, played on the playground, got a chocolate soft serve ice cream cone, rode the tiger on the carousel, and fed the lorikeets.  By then it was time to head home, with a detour at Home Depot for bird food.  Unfortunately, when I got to the car, I realized my wallet was missing.  I thought briefly that it had been stolen but thought it strange that they would have left a camera and phone but taken a wallet.  I decided to go back in the park to see if I had left it at the cafe where I'd bought the ice cream cone.  I didn't have my zoo membership card, though (obviously), and when I told the person at the ticket counter that my wallet had disappeared, he directed me to the information counter.  Mercifully, it was already there.  I don't know whether I left it at the cafe or some kind person found it and turned it in, but I was beyond grateful to not have to deal with having lost my ID and all my various cards.

At this point it was too late to get our bird food, so Oliver and I braved the crazy traffic (4pm on Thursday?) and headed home.  We got back to find Emme cooing and smiling on her playmat in the living room, having evidently had a pleasant day herself.  The afternoon and evening were spent swinging on the couch, doing puzzles in the living room, and just hanging out.  Cookie got hungry, so Oliver fed him the remainder of one of Emme's bottle (and when that ran out, nursed him a bit).  Ollie started acting out as the evening wore on, but he did fine through dinner.  Afterwards, though, he was obviously just worn out.  Once I got Emme down in her crib (though unfortunately, not for the last time), I took Ollie up, got his pajamas on him, read him a new book from Grandma, and said goodnight.  This, I might add, was just before 7pm.

I have no idea what time Oliver will be up tomorrow morning, and I have no idea if he saw any difference between today and other days.  I hope that I get to keep having "mommy and me" days with him (and Emme) over the years, though.  Siblings are great, and all kids need to know how to get along without the undivided interest of their parents, but there's something special about getting a day (or at least eight hours) all to yourself -- both for him and for me.

One year ago today

I found out I was pregnant.  I cannot think of a better late birthday present or early Mother's Day present than my darling daughter.

A professional job -- All together now

A professional job -- Emme's picks

A professional job -- Ollie's picks

Pacified, revisited

"Now I know my ABCs..."

Or most of them anyway.  I guess we need to work on "m" and "n" (more pronunciation than anything else), and "f" and "v," but not bad for 2 1/2 I think.  He doesn't recognize any numbers, though he can count to twelve, so we're working on that, too.  Oh, and he was looking at the letters on the Starfall page when we were videoing this.  That's what he's "reading."