Remembering Carol

Sadly, George's mom passed away on Wednesday. We will all miss her very much. She was a a fun, spirited person who enjoyed life. She even sat through baseball games in the rain to humor her family! She had a happy, cheerful attitude and ready laugh. I even heard her chuckle on our last visit to Ohio, when she was summoning her strength just to talk and visit with us.  

She saw each of her children get married, welcomed her new son and daughters into the family, and waited for grandchildren...but never suggested that we should hurry up and have babies. But how she cherished those babies when they finally arrived! She was a "hands-on" grandma who was always willing to hold, comfort, play with, read to, and feed her grandkids. She will always be in our hearts and memories.

Happy Haircut Day!

I just took Miles to get his first professional haircut. We went to see Jackie (what are we supposed to call this person? Stylist? Hair care professional? Hair cutter? Hair do-er?), who also cuts my hair. He did great! I was so relieved that he didn't cry, whine, or scream like he does when George gets out the clippers. She did most of it with scissors and just used the clippers (smaller and quieter than ours) at the end. No tears or even much in the way of anxiety. We took the stroller and I didn't tell him where we were going, but he caught on and didn't fuss when he figured it out. Whew! She gave him jelly beans when he was done so he probably won't mind going back again. Ruby was home with the babysitter. It was nice to have some alone time with my boy. 

He looks great, doesn't he? 

Motherin' This Time

I celebrated my first Mother's Day with two today, and it may be that Ruby is just so cute right now and so "easy" that I wish I could have enjoyed mothering this much when Miles was a baby. This time I have less stress, more joy, and more fun. Not that we didn't have fun with Miles....but there was also stress, less sleep, and that overwhelming feeling of responsibility and loss of freedom.

Now we just have a loss of quiet. Miles' nonstop chatter is cute, but we just don't know where he gets it. Will he always be like this?

We had a fun, low-key day. It was rainy most of the day so we didn't get to work in the yard like I'd planned. George and Miles opened a "candy kitchen" and made mother's day treats--Ritz cracker/peanut butter sandwiches dipped in chocolate. Yummers! We melted pieces of our remaining Easter bunny. Miles objected at first, but he got to eat some of the "raw bunny" so he was happy.  We also made a plan for our next  house project. We're going to renovate the 3rd floor bath to make it more guest-friendly. We'll finally have a functioning shower up there (eventually) if all goes well.  We took some photos and videos, for your viewing enjoyment....

Friday night audio

The kids are in bed, resting at the end of another week. Miles is telling a story in his sing-song voice, his "I'm telling a cute story to a baby" voice. I can't quite get the gist of it but it's very cute, and includes snoring sounds. George is making music too--playing and singing in the living room. He's rehearsing for a performance next Thursday. Ruby is quiet at the moment, and may be listening to Daddy. I think she's probably zonked out though, tired from her on-the-go lifestyle. She made her 1st full lap of the 1st floor this morning! She gets around, and into things...especially things her brother likes. He finally found a place to escape to today--when he figured out that she can't climb the stairs. He went up a few, she crawled over, and then he decided to try to "pull her up."  I intervened but I don't think he would have made much progress anyway. 

She has learned the more sign and will use it when she hears us say the word. She doesn't really use it to communicate that she wants more but I think she's catching on. She also seems to be more consistent lately about waving when we say "good-bye." She and Kalea will be able to have entire baby sign conversations!

Social Arrging

Miles had a very physical day today. When I picked him up for school he and 2 friends started running around in a circle, then falling down together in the middle. You'd think they'd be tired after a busy day of school, but not so much. We broke that up, took a brief break at home before driving to our friend Tanya's house for a playdate. Lori and Emily rode along. We played in the backyard, in their awesome sandbox, and then ventured to the playground. This was around 3:15. There was some whining during the walk, but once they got there the kids found extra energy reserves for running and climbing and such. Miles sometimes likes to "arg" with his friends, which is his word for horseplay--running into each other, pushing, playful rough-housing. Maybe he knows that this kind of play is not always welcomed, so he asked his friends if they would like to "come arg with me in that field over there." They said no, until we explained what argging is all about. So after some argging in the field, and chasing robins, we climbed the hill back to Tanya's (5:00 now) and drove home, by way of Costco. Lori and I both needed to pick up a few things, and since we and the kids were pretty hungry by this point we decided to take advantage of the Costco snack bar. Miles and Emily took breaks from eating their hot dogs to dance around and generally prove that 3-year-olds really do have everlasting energy!

Ruby, if you're wondering, had a nice morning at home with me, took a brief nap in the front pack at the playground, chomped Cheerios at Costco, ate a good dinner when we finally got home, and went to bed happily.

Sleep!

Ruby slept through the night last night! She has done this before, and she has slept long stretches before, but this was the first time in a while. She woke and cried a few times but we let her work it out and she got herself back to sleep each time. She and I got up at 6:30, did some ab work before the boys got up, and had a little playtime. It's nice to feel rested in the morning!

Joyful Noise

I know I'm supposed to appreciate the noises of my daily life, both the wonderful and the annoying, just like I should appreciate the fact that I have people in my life to cook and do laundry for. Right? But sometimes the annoying sounds seem so much louder and more frequent than the joyful ones. Like the sound of a Cheerio crunching underfoot. Have you ever noticed (and if you've fed a toddler at a high chair I'm sure you have) that it's so much easier to pick up a whole Cheerio than to clean up the ones that are crushed into Cheerio powder once you've stepped on them? One reason to have a dog, I suppose. 

The noises that are getting on my nerves the most lately happen to come from my own mouth. I hate the fact that I can sound so on-edge and fed up so early in the morning--namely when Miles is supposed to be getting dressed. He is fully capable of dressing himself, yet we battle through it every morning. He acts crazy and ends up whining about needing help and I end up taking away privileges or toys, and eventually helping him complete the task. If Ruby's awake it's even more difficult because she goes right after him, his clothes, or his toys, which totally freaks him out. 

I do enjoy the joyful noises though--Ruby's babbling and lip buzzing, and Miles' chatter....until of course the questions start! The Whys can be maddening, but I'm sure we'll look back on them fondly when the attitude and backtalk kick in.

If you're wondering what we've been up to--we had a nice low-key weekend in Dayton with George and Carol. We took Miles swimming at the hotel pool on Sat. and Sunday morning, and he enjoyed plenty of playtime at their house, inside and outside. We had a lovely day today in Pittsburgh. After school we went to the playground and about half of his class was there, along with my friend Barbara with Andy. The 2 of them came back here and Andy and Miles played in the sandbox for a while. I smoked a chicken on our electric smoker. It wasn't ready until after bedtime so George and I had a late, private dinner. He's back at work now and I need to get to bed soon. Ruby has been waking up at 1:30 and 5:30---her "sleep training" will be starting up again!