New Rollerblades

Elliot has been asking for rollerblades almost daily for the last few weeks. I finally took him to Target yesterday and bought him a pair. I know that rollerblading and ice skating are very similar, but it was still amazing to see Elliot buckle on the skates and take off. He put them on at the store, and wore them home. He barely took them off during the remainder of the day. He even wore them to the park in the afternoon, and skated around the tot lot instead of playing. I was beginning to worry that he would ask to sleep in them, but he seemed to have had his fill by bedtime. Here he is a few minutes after heading out the door. I can't help but picture a Sonic carhop job somewhere in his future...

Cwms [kooms]

We visited my parents this past weekend. The boys took advantage of every opportunity to play with their game-loving grandfather. Yesterday, Elliot played "Spill and Spell" with Pop Pop. I was playing with the other boys across the room, but heard Pop Pop say, with a chuckle, "Now that definitely is not a word." Elliot insisted that it was. Jack, hearing all of this as well, ran over the table to offer his "official" verdict. Jack took one look at the letter dice, and confidently declared that Elliot was right. The word in question was "cwms". Neither Pop Pop nor I recognized the word. So, how did Elliot and Jack both know it? Computer Scrabble. They have both spent hours playing against the computer, and have learned dozens of unusual 2, 3 and 4 letter words. They can't pronounce them, or tell you what they mean, but they know they are words (according to the official Scrabble dictionary at least!) Watch out, should you decide to play against them. And, certainly, don't challenge their words!

Quotes of the Day

"I have lots of room in my wallet. Could you just give me a credit card? Please, Mama? I need some lots of money. Ok?"

- Mattie









"Thank you for making a cake for us.

I mean me.

I mean everyone."

-Elliot, trying to set it right, after his initial attempt at thanking me for making myself a birthday cake. Ted and I just couldn't keep a straight face. Elliot knew he wasn't getting it right, but somehow managed to say something funnier each time!

Summer Reading

On a recent fall-like afternoon, I was relaxing on the couch nursing Theo, mindlessly watching TV.  I caught a rerun of 19 Kids and Counting. In it, Michelle Duggar said that she tries to praise her kids 10 times more than she criticizes them, and that someone once told her that when you compliment someone, you can multiply that praise by the number of people in the room who hear it. Her words of wisdom stuck with me, so here goes.

I had the pleasure of watching a small miracle unfold this summer. Jack and Elliot became book lovers. Both boys came home with some suggestions for summer reading, and I bought them each several promising titles. But, neither boy had any interest in reading when school let out in June. Frustrated, I decided to try something completely new. I offered the boys $1 for each chapter book they finished. I don't believe in paying kids to do something they should just do in the normal course of life, but I wanted a way to encourage them to read, that wouldn't require any involvement, nags or threats on my part. I was also interested in giving them a way to earn small amounts of money, to start teaching some spending lessons as well. So, I threw caution to the wind, and announced my payout promise to the boys. In my mind, I estimated that they were likely to read between 5 and 10 chapter books each during the summer.

Upon explaining the rules to the boys, they ran downstairs immediately, demanding their pile of books. And, amazingly, their enthusiasm never waned. Jack discovered a new favorite author. He read only Dan Gutman books all summer. Elliot continued with some familiar series, and got through the entire Magic Tree House collection. In total, Elliot read 37 books. Jack read 21. (On average, his books were slightly longer.) I am so incredibly proud of them. Not only did they exceed my loftiest hopes, but they discovered a joy that no amount of bribery could buy. All summer long I found them curled up with their books, nestled in corners and on the couch. They read in the car, and complained when the trips were too short. They read in bed, before and after lights out. I was so amazed, that I made them each type up a list of the books they read. I wanted them to be able to look back, years from now, and remember the stories they so enjoyed. Here they are:

Jack's List:
My Weird School #4 Miss Hannah is Bananas
MWS #5 Miss Small Is Off the Wall
MWS #6 Mr Hynde Is Out of His Mind
MWS #7 Mrs Cooney Is Looney
MWS #8 Miss Lagrange Is Strange
MWS #9 Miss Lazarre Is Bazarre
MWS 310Mr Docker Is Off His Rocker
MWS#11 Mirs Kormel Is Not Normal
MWS #12 Miss Todd Is Odd
MWS #13 Mrs Patty Is Batty
MWS #14 Miss Holly Is Too Jolly
MWS #15 Mr Macky Is Wacky
MWS #16 Miss Coco Is Loco
MWS #17 Miss Suki Is Kooky
Honus and Me
MWS #18 Mrs Yonkers Is Bonkers
MWS #19 Dr Carbles Is Losing His Marbles
MWS #20 Mr Louie Is Screwy
MWS #21 Miss Krup Cracks Me Up
My Weird School Daze #1 Mrs Dole Is Out of Control
MWSD #2 Mr Sunny Is Funny

Elliot's List:

Nate the Great
Nate the Great and the Sticky Case
Invisible Stanley
Stanley Flat Again
Nate the Great and the Missing Valentine
Nate the Great and the Missing Key
Flat Stanley
Nate the Graet and the missing pillowcase
Nate the Graet and the hallaween hunt
Flat Stanley
Magic Tree House #18 Buffalo before Breakfast
Magic Tree House #19 Tigers at Twilight
Hardy Boys Trouble at the Arcade
Mr. Docker is off his Rocker
Mrs. Kormel is Not Normal
Miss Lazar Bizarre
Magic Tree House # 20 Dingoes at Dinnertime
Magic Tree House #21 Civil War on Sunday
Magic Tree House #22 Revolution War on Wednesday
Magic Tree House # 23 Twister on Tuesday
Magic Tree House #24 Earthquake in the Early Morning
MTH #25 Stage Fright on a Summer Night
MTH #26 Good Morning, Gorillas
MTH #27 Thanksgiving on Thursday
MTH #28 High Tide in Hawaii
MWS 6 Mr Hynde is out of  His Mind
MTH #29 christmis in camelot
MTH #30 hanted castle on hallaween eve
MTH #31 summer of the sea serpent
MTH #32 winter of the ice wizard
MTH #33 carnival at candlelight
MTH #34 seasens of the sandstorms
MTH #35 night of the new magicians
MTH #36 blizzard on a blue moon
MTH #37 dragon of the red dawn
MTH #38 Monday with a mad genius
MTH  Dark day in the deep sea

Sleep

Sleep, is perhaps the most painful sacrifice of parenthood. Some kids are great sleepers, others are terrible, but almost all kids go through bouts of night wakings, depriving their parents of something they can't do their job without. We have had our share of it all, but it seems that we've been in a particularly long-lasting rut since Theo was born. He is not a great sleeper. Between our travels, teething (he has 3 of 4 molars at this point,) and illnesses, the last three months have been pretty bad. Add in the fact that he only sleeps 9 1/2 hours at night, and prefers to rise between 6 and 6:30, and it can be rough. His brothers like to do their part as well, choosing the nights that Theo sleeps soundly for their nighttime troubles. As I write this, Jack is upstairs in the bathroom, jolted awake by a full bladder, which resulted in a night terror. He hadn't had one in over a year, but his success with nighttime dryness has brought them back again. If he has to go to the bathroom early in the night, waking disturbs his sleep

patterns enough to launch a night terror. So, he's doing a beautiful job staying dry, but we're back to getting up to put him back to bed now too. Thankfully, there's Mattie. He is our best sleeper. I asked Ted last night if he could remember the last time Mattie woke up in the middle of the night. He couldn't. Neither can I. He sleeps from 7 to 7. I like to fantasize about what my life would be like if all of my kids slept like that. Ahhhh. Until that happens, I hope that you'll ignore my puffy eyes. And if I'm spacey, forgetful, or slow to respond, just nod and smile. Someday the boys will be teenagers, and sleep-in until noon. I just might then too.

Growing Up

It's been 2 1/2 months since my last blog entry. I had no intention of taking the summer off, but apparently that's what happened. We've had an incredibly busy summer. We visited family, went to the beach and Spain. While I was MIA, the kids have been busy growing up, as usual. We celebrated two birthdays. Jack turned 9; Elliot turned 7. I feel like I can handle 7 pretty well. After all, I've had a seven year old before. But, nine, that's a different story. Somehow, it feels like I've been preoccupied by pregnancies or a new baby for so long now, that Jack went and grew up while my back was turned. He graduated to riding in the car without a booster seat this summer. He measures slightly over 54" tall. Less than one foot separates us in height. He plays out in the alley alone, and was allowed to roam the neighborhood by himself for the first time this week. Increasingly, I find myself looking at him in awe. How did he get to be so big? How have nine years gone by so quickly? How much more time do I have before he's gone, ensconced in a world of friends, or moved away to school? Thankfully, he's still more little boy than big one. He still likes to hold my hand. He still waits for a kiss good night and to be tucked in. He looks for my permission before doing just about anything. But, somehow, without the tunnel vision focus of surviving a pregnancy or new baby, I have felt just the tiniest bit of heartache when I look at the boys this summer. I find myself trying to take every moment in and savor it, before it disappears. I feel like I have to hold on at all costs, lest another nine years pass by in the blink of an eye...

Thoughts from the Circus

I went to the circus a few weeks ago with Mattie and his class. During the final curtain call, I noticed that most of the performers were siblings, or groups of siblings. In fact, excluding the animal trainers and clowns, all but one of the groups of performers were siblings. Suddenly, and entirely unexpectedly, I had one of those transcendent mommy moments sitting there in the dark circus tent, surrounded by 50 preschooler and their parents. In the way that only a mother feels, my heart swelled to think of the profound bond that each group of performers had with their siblings, allowing them to entrust their lives to each other at each performance. With my heart in my throat I thought, this is what I want for my children.

My happy, weepy moment reminded me of a phenomenal parenting book that I read earlier this year called Siblings Without Rivalry. Like most parents of multiple children, I spend a (very) large part of my time listening to and dealing with sibling squabbles. But I always found it impossible to empathize with the boys, or even understand the fighting and meanness between them. This book put the whole concept of sibling rivalry into a different context for me. For the first time, I could actually imagine myself in my kids' shoes. Looking at family life from their perspective, I find it easier now to focus my energy and attention on each boy individually, giving them more of that personal love that they are fighting for. I also ignore and diffuse the negative attention drives much more successfully. Our house may still be full of squabbles, but I have noticed some very dramatic changes since reading the book. Of course, I still have my lofty hopes that they'll grow to trust and rely on each other like the acrobats on the flying trapeze. But in the meantime, I'll settle for having their feet on the ground and being kind to one another once and a while. If that sounds nice to you too, I highly recommend this book.

Vital Stats

Theo had his 15 month check up today.  He was 25 lbs 4 oz, and 34" long. He walks all the time now, and even tries to run when he sees something he really wants. His molars are coming in, so he hasn't been sleeping as well as usual, and has been pretty crabby a lot of the time, but it's hard to blame him when I see his red swollen gums. He has successfully transitioned to one nap a day, which I'm ecstatic about. He usually naps from about 10:30 to 1:30 each day, and then goes down for bed around 8, and gets up around 6:30 or 6:45. He loves the playground, and cries whenever he sees one and we don't stop. He has also just started showing jealousy towards Mattie. Whenever we hold Mattie on our laps, or pick up or kiss Mattie, Theo comes waddling over to fuss and push Mattie away. Theo still hates diapers changes, loves to be held, and breastfeeds about 5 times most days. He also likes to eat strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, pasta, grilled cheese, eggs, chocolate, peanut butter, asparagus, peas, pears, apples, bananas, yogurt, cheese, cheerios, chicken, ice cream and bread.

Theo is absolutely adorable. We love watching his personality unfold. But, he also drives us crazy with his insatiable need to be held, and afinity for climbing everything. He is definitely keeping us on our toes! Each day he is more of a toddler, and a big boy, chasing after his brothers in every way.

Quote of the Day

Elliot, preparing to confront Mattie, who was obstinately blocking Elliot's path up the stairs:

"Cub Scouts can face 3 year olds!"

va·ca·tion (n)

On our most recent road trip, we went back to the beach town where I went every summer growing up. I have so many fond memories there. It is one of the most peaceful and relaxing places I can think of. However, I found this vacation to be about as relaxing as my average day at work, which is to say, not relaxing at all.

Traveling with your children is like working from a remote location. While the scenery may be much more beautiful, it is not a break from work at all. We certainly had some of those blissful moments on our trip, when I realized that everyone was happy and enjoying themselves at the same time. No one was crying or whining, complaining or fighting. I would look around and smile, trying to take it all in and savor it, for as long as it would last. But, inevitably, the magic moment ended, and it was back to work as usual.

Vacation can be defined 4 ways.

va·ca·tion /veɪˈkeɪʃən, və-/ Show Spelled[vey-key-shuhn] – noun

1. a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday: 

2. a part of the year, regularly set aside, when normal activities of law courts, legislatures, etc., are suspended.

3. freedom or release from duty, business, or activity.

4. an act or instance of vacating.

But what I think I have realized on all of our family trips is that my idea of a vacation is quite different than traveling with kids. The vacation I am thinking of can only be defined one way.

va·ca·tion /veɪˈkeɪʃən, və-/ Show Spelled[vey-key-shuhn] – noun
1. a trip with no kids. 

Hopefully someday, not too many years from now, I'll get to take another one. 

Jack's World

Jack has an interesting personality. He lives more in his own world than most people. He is very interactive with everyone around him, but often in trying to bring us into his world more than sharing ours. His world is very imaginative, but also full of rules, and very black and white. Here's a glimpse from Tuesday evening with Jack.

Jack, who is learning Spanish for the first time this year, was very proud of one of his spelling sentences that day. He started the conversation like this: "I wrote a 20 point sentence for spelling today, all in Spanish, with 20 words, two spelling words, and without even using the word and!" (Lots of hand flapping.) I asked him to write the sentence for me. Mi amigo tiene que recortar su dibujo porques es un dibujo muy mal con un problema de matemáticas que es inexacto, he wrote. I was really impressed. I asked whether the teachers wanted them to try to write long sentences and gave them one point per word. "No," he said, "I just like to count it that way. They don't care how long it is, or how many spelling words you use in one sentence. And they don't care if you use and, but that's too easy, so I don't like to do it myself." At this point he noticed that the sentence he had written on our white board actually had 21 words. (Lots of hand flapping, again.) "I wrote muy mal tonight. I didn't use muy at school. I wish I had thought of that before. That makes it even more points!"

Later that evening he asked if he could type something on the computer. I said yes. When he returned, he had a pile of "homework" worksheets that he had made. Elliot, ever the eager participant, got to do Jack's homework. Here is Elliot's completed (and graded - by Jack) worksheet.

Jack gave him a 15/20 on the homework, even though Elliot got all of the answers right! He prepared an answer sheet himself which showed all of the elements which were required to earn full credit on the assignment. Here it is.

When Ted came home that night, he had the following conversation with Jack:

J: Who's the best player on the Mosquitoes?
T: Jack, I don't know any of the players on the Mosquitoes.
J: Yes, you do! Come on!
T: Um, Angel Pagan?
J: Uhhhh, Dad. He's terrible!

Before Ted could try to guess again, Elliot shouted out a guess from across the room.
He was right. Of course.
He spends a lot more time in Jack's World than we do. Duh.

The biggest fork

The following conversation between Mattie and Elliot took place recently at our dinner table.

M: I got a bigger fork.
E: No, mine is bigger.
M: But, I got mine first.
E: Mine's big.
M: Isn't mine the biggest?

At this point, a fork sword fight erupted.

Apparently, it's not enough to have something great, something that you like. You have to have something that everyone else likes. And wants.

New to the Gallery

Mattie has only two days left of his first year of school. As one of their final projects, his class did self portraits. I love this piece so much, as it showcases perfectly Mattie's progress this year.

Mattie started school unable to do any representational drawing. He didn't know or recognize a single letter. Without any specific instruction, he has developed enough pencil control to create recognizable pictures, and he has learned to print his name. Bravo, Mattie!

Quote of the Day

On our recent road trip to NJ, Jack spent a considerable amount of time pouring over our road atlas in the car. He's always loved the song "Wabash Canonnball", with it's long list of improbable Midwestern destinations.

(These Disney lyrics seem different from any of the other better known versions of the song, but all the more scintillating to Jack, with their lengthy list of stops.)

"Great cities of importance we'll see along the way,
Chicago and St. Louis, Rock Island so they say,
Springfield and Decatur, Peoria, Valvon,
(I'm not even sure that's what they're saying there)
You can reach your destination on the Wabash Cannonball.
This reindeer runs to Quincy, Monroe and Mexico
...
There's many other cities that you can go and see,
St. Paul and Minneapolis, Ashtabula, Kankakee,
The lakes of Minnehaha where the laughing waters fall,
You'll reach them by no other than the Wabash Cannonball."

He had successfully located many of the cities mentioned, but was stuck searching for Minnehaha. When Ted couldn't find it either, he grabbed his blackberry and did a quick search. This yielded the disappointing fact that Minnehaha, while the official name of a street, park, and body of water in Minnesota, is not a city, as Jack had believed. This threw Jack's mind into turmoil, forcing him to grapple with the fate of his beloved team, the Minnehaha Mosquitoes. (You can read more about the Mosquitoes by clicking on the label at the bottom of this post.) He said, quite alarmed, "Does this mean the Mosquitoes will have to change their name?"

Perspective

Jack and I got to spend some good quality time alone together today. He had an afternoon appointment at Children's. I picked him up early from school. We chatted the whole way there in the car. While we waited in the waiting room, we played "Chips On", the new board game he created last week. Then, after our appointment, we sat in the lobby for a while, waiting for our car to come back from valet parking. He stood mesmerized in front of the kinetic ball sculpture. I munched on a salad from Au Bon Pain. Then, I noticed a young girl sitting in a wheel chair just a few feet from Jack. She was a very recent quadruple amputee. All of her limbs were tightly bandaged, and she was still attached to an IV and oxygen. She was accompanied by a nurse, a ChildLife specialist or social worked from the hospital, and her dad. She too was entranced by the sculpture, but was silently crying. Her dad wiped her face periodically with tissues. In one instant, I felt my whole life shrink to smaller than the size of a grape. All the stress I had felt this morning over my untouched to do list, my anger over the kids bickering, my frustration watching them make mess after mess in the house, my exhaustion from Theo's night wakings, were gone. None of it mattered at all. My kids were healthy, whole, perfect in their own imperfect ways. I sat there with a huge lump in my throat, but thankful, so thankful, for that heartbreaking reminder of what is truly important in life.

Busyness

(This was written last week.)

Looking back at my last post, I realize it's been weeks since I last blogged. I have been busy! It's parent participation time of year at Mattie's pre-school, and I agreed to do a cape making project with another mom. I definitely bit off more than I could chew. It's not that the project wasn't a great idea, and the results really cute, but for a three year old's preschool project, there is really no commensurate benefit for the 10-15 hours of behind the scenes work that we logged.

I've also been busy chasing one newly walking, barely sleeping baby boy. One Tuesday afternoon, Theo woke up from his nap and decided that he wanted to walk. He had taken 2 or 3 steps countless times before, but had never really had any interest in walking. For some reason, that changed on May 12th. He still prefers to crawl to get somewhere, but he just keeps standing himself up and setting off on foot now. He's very proud of himself, and his brothers love it too! Mattie shouts out, "Look! Theo's walking!" every time he takes off. He's also going through that tough transition from one nap to two, and from what we can tell, getting his first molars. He's waking up in the middle of the night, rising with the sun each morning, often skipping his afternoon nap, and crying a lot. So, while our days have been full of excitement and new discoveries, we're both exhausted.

New Game

The boys have a new favorite dinner table game. Jack invented it yesterday. It's called "You Can't Say Any Words, or You're Dead." The rules are simple. You can't say any real words, or you lose. You can only say non words. So, Jack, Elliot and Mattie have been enjoying spouting gibberish, for as long as their breaths last, at constantly increasing volumes, to out non-talk the other. There is clearly only one real loser in this game.

Whisper Down the Hallway

I had to pick Jack up early from school today because he wasn't feeling well. (Stomach pains.) When I went back for Elliot at the end of the day, he ran out to greet me. He couldn't wait to ask whether it was true that Jack had broken a bone and had to leave school early!

Vacation Flashback

Massachusetts has the strange tradition of not having a Spring or Easter vacation. Instead, we celebrate the inexplicable (at least to those who grew up elsewhere) traditions of February and April vacations. I have come to appreciate several things about this unique school calendar. First of all, there are two weeks of vacation instead of one. Second, it's a great opportunity to travel when the rest of the country is in school and at work. We spent our most recent April vacation visiting my parents in PA. We had a great week, but like any trip involving four young children, there were plenty of unexpected twists as well.

The kids spent lots of time outdoors, playing baseball and riding their bikes. I can never get enough of sending Jack and Elliot out the front door alone to play! They got to go see a Phillies game with Ted and my Dad. We made several trips to our favorite Wilson Park, with the obligatory stop at Rita's Water Ice on the way home.

I took all four boys for haircuts, giving myself a rare break from the job. It was Theo's first professional haircut. Jack chose a buzz cut with a triangle shaped section of hair left long on top.

We visited with my 92 year old grandfather, who remarked how quiet the four boys were. I suspect that his hearing aids were turned way, WAY down.

We celebrated Mattie's 3 1/2 birthday.

We went to the Philadelphia Zoo with my parents. We were there from 10am until 3:30pm, which seemed like a really long day for the kids, but they had a blast. Theo was enjoying himself so much that he stayed awake the entire day. They had a neat Lego exhibit at the zoo, with lifesize versions of several endangered animals made entirely of Legos. The polar bear was amazing, and contained 96,000 pieces!

Unfortunately, after that part of the trip, things took a turn for the worse. After our wonderful day at the zoo, the kids went to bed normally. But, Theo started vomiting just after midnight that night. I spent most of the night up with him. Thankfully, the vomiting stopped the next morning. I thought we were in the clear by that afternoon, but then he started having diarrhea. That continue off and on through the night. The next morning was Friday, the day I had been planning to drive home to Boston. Alone with kids. I debated trying to go ahead with my plans, knowing that Theo was likely to have diarrhea blow outs on the road. While I thought things over, I breastfeed him. He started throwing up again, making the decision fairly easy.

He couldn't keep any milk down. He got worse very quickly that day, and I ended up taking him to the hospital that afternoon for fluids. When I took him home from the hospital, he still couldn't keep any breastmilk down, so I had to give him Pedialyte by syringe. I squirted 2 tsp. of Pedialyte into his mouth every 10 minutes while he was awake. But, just when we thought things were improving again that evening, my mother got sick. The three older boys were almost too excited to sleep, knowing that they were going to stay an extra day at Grammy and Pop Pop's. I crawled into bed myself, dreading the wake up calls I was sure would come. By 1:00 am I was throwing up myself. The only thoughts running through my head that night were, "how am I ever going to get back to Boston?" and " how many more dominoes are going to fall?" The answer to at least one question came quickly. By 3:00 am I was throwing up along side Mattie in the boys' bathroom.

Luckily this particular stomach bug seemed to be of short duration. While my father also succumbed during the night, only Mattie was still throwing up by the next morning. The grown ups felt awful, but we could at least function enough to take care of the kids. I gave up on any hopes of driving back to Boston alone that day, and called in reinforcements. Ted took the train down that morning, and arrived in time to help take care of Jack, who fell during the next night. We decided to make a break for it the next morning. It was Sunday, and 4 of the 6 of us had already had the bug. Ted had been scheduled to fly to DC that morning for work, but had to delay his trip for a day to help get us all home. I don't think my parents had ever been more relieved to get rid of us, or our germs. We made it home, with only one very neat, ziplock bag vomit incident in the car.

When we pulled into our parking space, relief washed over me. I had never been more happy to be home. Elliot never did get sick. Ted made it to DC before getting sick, and missing most of his conference. It was certainly one vacation I'll never forget. We may not be invited back for quite a while...

New to the Gallery

This is a still life drawing Mattie did at school. He was looking at a pink gerbera daisy, in a glass vase, with rocks in the bottom. I am so proud of him, and so amazed at the results! This is the first piece of representational art that Mattie has ever created that was recognizable. His teacher told me that he worked very hard on it, and spent a long time working to get it just the way he wanted it.

Here are all of the paintings from the class:

Happy Birthday Theo!

I'm a little bit late, but here are some pictures from Theo's first birthday party, which was attended by me, Ted, Jack, Elliot, Mattie and my friend and photographer Carrie Fletcher.

Theo was 22 lbs 14 oz and 32.5" long at his 12 month check up. He is a big, happy, playful one year old. He took two steps by himself today, but otherwise gets around happily by crawling. He has not shown much interest in walking yet, but instead prefers to explore the vertical plane. He is an adept and adventurous climber. I have found him atop the dining room table and his brothers' bedroom nightstands more than once. He climbed to the top of a workman's ladder unassisted, and frequently goes up three flights of stairs on his own (with me right behind him, of course.) His favorite places to play include on top of Mattie's bed and the Stokke chairs. As recently as one month ago, he still had very little interest in adult food. He has come a long way over the past few weeks, and has really increased his appetite and the list of foods he likes. His favorites are pears, bananas, apples, blackberries, blueberries, cheerios, chocolate chips, grilled cheese and peanut butter (he eats it right out of the jar, like his mom!) He hasn't fallen in love with veggies or meat yet. He still breastfeeds about 5 times per day. Theo is a great communicator as well. He knows a few signs (milk, more, all done,) and says a handful of words. His favorite is "hi" which he says to people (and phones) all day long. He also says mama and dada, wow, and last night wowed us by standing up and saying "up", then plopping down and saying "dow". He has also discovered how to point, and spends much of  the day being carried around pointing at things, saying "uh, uh, uh" until he gets what he wants. Much to my dismay, he still will not let me read to him. He either tries to grab the book and throw it on the floor, or just fusses and squirms out of my lap. His favorite song is the Eensy Weensy Spider. It gets us through every diaper change (he hates lying down on the changing table.) I sing, while he does the hand motions. We do the eensy weensy, the big gigantic and the wriggly giggly spiders, which gives me just enough time to change the diaper. I always end by changing the last line of the song (climbed up the spout again,) to "tickled Theo again," which is our family tradition, and always a big hit. He loves the park, and watching his brothers. His favorite person is Ted, which is so cute to see! He cries every day when Ted goes to work.

Theo's first year went by so quickly. I'm sad to see it end. I try to take a moment each day to make a memory of these remarkable times. If I don't remember to pause once in a while, it feels like I might blink, and it will all be gone!

Vacation

Phew! We made it home from our vacation. It was wonderful at first, then started to go downhill, and finally ended up feeling like we would never make it home. But, I'll save the details for later. I just wanted to post a few pictures, and try this new slide show format.

Quote of the Day

A trio of quotes:

I have a wonderful neighbor named Marleen, who makes delicious homemade spaghetti sauce. She generously brings us a jar or two whenever she makes a batch. To thank her recently, I made some bread for her and her husband, Walter. Ted walked it over to her house with the boys. The following conversation took place at her door.

Ted: Hi, Walter. Anne baked this bread for you.
Walter: Thank you very much. It looks delicious!
Elliot: It's for Marleen.
Walter: I will make sure to give it to her as soon as she gets home.
Elliot: Don't eat any!
Walter: Ok. I promise not to eat any unless I ask her first.

*  *  *  *  *

From our car ride down to Berwyn:

Jack: I like Grammy's house better that my house.
Me: I'm sure Grammy would really like to hear that.
Jack: It's because I get more things I like there.

Pop Pop's post Phillies' game joke today:

The traffic was so bad driving down to the Phillies game today. We were stuck for so long that we started to get very hungry. What do you think we found to eat in the car?

Traffic Jam!

New to the Gallery

Artwork by Jack, age 8.