Of course.

So day care has been going really well. RUS didn't cry during drop off today, either. He's napping well, and eating well. Overall, he's a happy baby.

And he has pinkeye, so he has to stay home tomorrow.

Sigh. It's always something, isn't it?

First Day of Day Care

Today has been a pretty emotional day. I feel like I've been strung really taut and as I write this, sitting in bed with my laptop and loads of work to do, I'm starting to let go of some of the tension a bit. I was pretty stressed about RUS's first day of day care, for reasons that I can't quite pinpoint. Maybe a bit of guilt at paying a lot of money for other people to take care of my baby even though I know I have to work. There is also a certain amount of anxiety that I haven't thought through all the details and that I don't have everything I need lined up. Somehow, with RUS, maybe because he's not my "only" baby, I have a hard time feeling like I'm focused and that I really know what I'm getting myself into.

This whole time, in fact, I've felt somewhat blindsided by a lot of things that I was 100% totally and completely prepared for with R. For example, feeding solids. J actually had to persuade me that it was okay to start feeding RUS things other than breastmilk, and at every stage of the game I remember going, "wait, he's not ready for that yet, is he?" In contrast, with R, I was reading ahead in the baby books and anticipating everything before it even happened.

With RUS I feel like I'm always running from behind, trying to catch up to a train that's leaving the station.

Anyway. Today was his first day of day care. As far as I know, we didn't forget anything, other than that we can bring his tiger lovey in tomorrow (I cannot rave enough about these--many thanks to J's brother and sister-in-law for giving R her "giraffey" as she calls it--she's so attached to it I had to get one for RUS to have as well).

He did great! We haven't experienced one iota of separation anxiety with him, and he was happy as a clam when we left him this morning. The day care teacher was holding him and he was pointing every which way, and having a great time crawling around and exploring the toys in the room. He fell asleep rocking but woke up when laying down (J explained that we have no luck laying RUS down after he falls asleep--you've got to let him fall asleep on his own in his bed) but took a more successful afternoon nap. Ate great. Took his bottle great.

We had intended to pick him up "early" but he ended up spending pretty much a full day there.

An Accident

R is for the most part completely potty trained. She does, however, still have the very rare accident. She had one today. I was asking her afterwards what happened and she said, "My pee pee was knocking on my bottom."

"It was knocking on your bottom?"

"Yes, and I let it flow."

"Well, next time your pee pee comes knocking, run to the potty and don't let it out until you get there!"

Movie Star Glasses

While I was at work today, J and R made movie star glasses. They were too long to make out of one piece of construction paper, so of course they are taped in the middle. They're awesomely nerdy movie star glasses. Before dinner but after the pictures were taken, R added some flower stickers to make them flower-iffic awesomely nerdy movie star glasses.

Another Reject from the Gender-Neutral Pile

This is another outfit--some pajamas--that J pulled out of R's old 12-18 month clothing bin and marked as "gender neutral." Um. What do you think?

Even More Princessy!

Yesterday R's day care was closed for one of their scheduled professional development days, and she happened to want to wear her party dress. I said what the heck and let her. Then she wanted a ponytail. Usually she won't let me do anything to her hair, so I was excited to pull it back. Then she wanted her tiara. Yoiks! Then she told me she needed me to find a blanket so she could have a cape. Goodness gracious, here she is, turning into a real princess before my very eyes! Then she put on her fancy Tinkerbell ring and her sandals and agreed to a photo shoot.

What a Great Back-to-School Idea!

Making time capsules for your kids at the start of the school year!

When I Thought It Would Storm, and Then It Didn't

Yesterday J was cooking dinner but it was going to take awhile longer, so I got the kids outside so we could enjoy the GLORIOUS weather we've been having. It's nice and cool, with a breeze, the kind of weather that just makes you want to be outside and do everything and anything outside. The exact opposite of the blisteringly hot weather we've had most of the summer. Thank goodness!

At first I was going to try and go to the park down the street, but as we started on our way, it looked ominously like rain. So we plopped down in our front yard, and I got R to start collecting things in her bucket. I sent her off to find clover in our yard, and she had a blast digging up rocks and picking clover flowers. RUS entertained himself trying to eat grass and only sometimes getting upset when I took it out of his hands.

He just recently learned to point, so this is him exhibiting his newfound skills. He points constantly! At everything! But it's great because it reminds me to tell him about everything around him. I've started describing everything I see, everything that could possibly be what he is pointing at, that is, which, really, is everything.
R gave RUS several kisses on the top of his head and I missed it every. single. time! This is the closest I got, with her just finishing up her kiss and in the middle of saying "mwah!"

Some more shots of that tooth!

His second tooth, as I've mentioned before, is on its way, but it's not poking through yet. I've got my little pirate for a little while longer!!!

tales of the circus

Grammy and Grampy brought R to the circus today! It was her first circus - and here's what she had to say about it:

I didn't like the loud noises.

There was a horse. I rode on a little horse. It went around and around. Someone walked next to me while I rode it. It went a little fast.

There were elephants. They were big elephants and one little elephant. There was a baby and a mommy and a daddy and a grammy and a grampy.

[in response to what was your favorite part of the circus] The ladies on the swings. They put their feet together. It was a little scary. They were up high. You and me could do it.

The clowns were happy. They played ball. There was a car with the clown in it and it broke. It came apart and the front kept going and the back part was there with the one and it didn't go. Maybe it was glass. And then they went away.

There was a lion. It walked on the lights. It walked all the way and then it walked back. It was a friendly lion. I was far, far away.

Despite the fact that she didn't like the loud parts, I think it was a successful trip. According to Grammy and Grampy, it was very hot and humid in the tent and that's why they got the sno-cone. Also, at times they would turn the lights down and have all the kids wave their sparkly light-up toy things, so that was why Grampy had to buy R a sparkly, light-up, loud-music-playing butterfly wand. Exactly the kind of thing we would have gone crazy for as a kid too.

The Tooth

This picture that Grammie took at GiGi and PopPop's house in Connecticut last weekend is the best one yet of RUS with his one little pirate tooth!

Family Visit to CT

We had a wonderful visit to Connecticut last weekend. We drove up Saturday and returned Sunday, so it was quick, but we packed in quality time with all of J's grandparents, several aunts and uncles, and his brother and sister-in-law. R and Little Frog had the best time playing together--it was like they were best friends from the moment we arrived.

They share a love for Dora and dressing up in princess outfits.

Princess for the Evening

R had to miss the first birthday party we've been invited to because she got sick--throwing up and very wheezy--the night before the party. She was SO excited and had been talking about the party over and over again and I was so sad for her to miss it. When she brought it up today I had to tell her she couldn't go and she just bawled. I lost it, too and cried along with her. I was also disappointed to miss it myself as it was going to be at the brand-new Delaware Children's Museum and I was really curious what the place was like and what kind of things they would do for a party.

Anyway, she was feeling much more chipper by evening, and we had fun being princessy. Here she is with her tiara and bows!

OH NO. I'm seriously going to cry. It's a long story, but I lost the picture. I only had one. And it's gone. It was seriously SUCH a cute picture. I know it's not the end of the world but I am really sad.

RUS has croup

Poor kiddo. He's been coughing at night and really wanting to be held a lot. So we're doing lots of holding and cuddling and such. We took him to the pediatrician today and he was prescribed a small dose of a steroid for the next couple of nights just to help him get better faster.

She's Way Too Young For This, Isn't She?

R has told us twice in the last week that she doesn't like boys because boys are not nice. I have no idea where this is coming from other than that she goes to preschool/day care every day and there are boys in her class. We talked about it and I told her that I like boys and that Daddy and RUS are boys, and they're very nice. At any rate, I didn't think I was going to have to deal with this for at least a few years, or ten!

Hand-me-downs

J finally pulled out a bin of R's 12-18 month old clothes, thank goodness, because we found quite a few things we can pass down to RUS. Although, in a few cases, I thought J exercised some questionable judgment.

Of the following items, which would you say are appropriately gender-neutral? Would you dress RUS in them?

R 38 months

Dear R,

One of the biggest developments in the last few months has been your interest in artwork. There have been huge transformations in the kinds of things you create with your crayons and other art supplies, so I decided to feature some of my favorite things that you've done in this monthly letter.

I love the colors on this one. If I didn't already have my favorite beach landscape of yours taped to our kitchen wall I might've considered adding this one up there.
Another abstract skyscape. The purple mixed in makes me feel like this is a painting of the sky at dusk.
You drew this next one during your rainbow phase. If you can't read the writing on the picture, it says "Rainbow Alligator." There's another one on the other side, too.
And here is where everyone should start to be astounded. One of the changes that has occurred in the last few months has been that you've started coloring in the lines. You like to find random shapes and fill them in--like if you are coloring a picture in a coloring book you want to color in every shape you can find. If I draw shapes for you, you want to make marks on every single one. Depending on your mood, you'll either draw a single dot, scribble one or two little scribbles, color in the entire shape very heavily, or color EVERYTHING in and around that shape as if you want to obliterate it from the page. We were VERY impressed when you colored in this giraffe! I was particularly taken with your color choices.
But THEN, you colored in this toucan, looking at a picture of a toucan on the cover of one of RUS's board books. I absolutely love how well you colored in the bill in stripes of alternating colors! It's phenomenal!
And here you are proudly showing off your creation!You've been doing so much more than just artwork lately, too. Just this morning you did several somersaults entirely on your own. Previously we'd always had to help you along. You're having a great time with friends every day at day care, although your "best friend" changes daily. That's good, though--you want to have good friends and I don't think you need to tie yourself up with just one best friend yet.

Love,
Mama

THAIBOXING

And, it's R for the knockout!
(shorts from my friend H, who recently spent time travelling around Thailand and picked these up for the kids!)

Back Dated, A Bit

I posted our North Carolina vacation pics below! (Look around July 17th or thereabouts.)

RUS 10 months

Dear RUS,

You are 10 months old, and the parade of milestones keeps on coming. Since learning how to pull up, you've become a pulling-up, cruising fiend. The first thing you do when we put you on the floor is crawl to the nearest thing that you can pull up on, and I've actually seen you climb cushions and make it quite high!You're processing newer signs and hand movements. Right now you do "so big", or as Grampie taught you, "Show us your muscles!", you blow kisses, you sign all done and more, as well as milk, and when we say light, you raise your arms in the air (although you don't do it in relation to the actual light changing yet).

Lately, your favorite thing to do is point. You point in every which direction and it is the funniest thing! At a spaghetti picnic at GiGi and PopPop's house this past weekend, Big D (J's uncle) and I were laughing and laughing at you pointing like you are the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.Speaking of the Wizard of Oz, that'd be an awfully cute Halloween costume, don'tcha think? I've actually been thinking of trying to make you a pirate for Halloween since you've still got just the one little pirate tooth and it's so adorable and pirate-y. But we can see your second tooth on the bottom working its way through so I know you'll have more than 1 tooth by the time Halloween rolls around. I'll have to keep brainstorming until we hit on just the right costume idea.

Love,
Mama

Story Told at Dinner

. . . taking a walk before dinner and GOLDILOCKS came and ate them all up.

Wait, who ate them all up?

GOLDILOCKS

Oh, right, okay, what did Goldilocks eat up?

The THREE SPITS!

Something Else From Dutch Wonderland

We stopped in the Dutch Wonderland cafeteria before heading out to the car to eat our packed lunch because it was air conditioned--the day we went it was SO hot all of us were just melting in the heat. While in there, R spotted this machine and started goofing off with it, and J decided to give the thing a shot. As a kid I remember never ever, not once, winning something from one of these machines but always wanting to try (not that I ever tried very often--I can't even remember doing them, really, just that they were everywhere). Anyway, they went for it. J controlled the thing but let R push the button to decide when the dinosaur's mouth would drop.

She ended up winning not just ONE, but TWO plastic dinosaurs. They were her favorite toys on the way home and I've actually been pleasantly surprised with how much she's enjoyed playing with them since then.

Scroll down a bit

I've added a few posts to July--some of these were posts that I started back in July but didn't finish until just tonight, but I still want them to appear in chronological order. So if you haven't checked lately, scroll down a bit to find those posts.

Dora, By the Numbers

1--Dora dolls R owns
2--Dora DVDs R owns
3--Dora books we own that R insists we read her almost every day
4--Dora "CDs" that go with one of her books
1,572--times R read her Dora Goes to School book on the 9 hour drive to Ohio.
5--number of Explorer Stars R collects at the beginning of Dora Goes to School
2--Dora pajamas R has
at least 10--number of times per day R asks to watch a Dora movie
8--number of times R reminds you that she wants to watch a Dora movie in between dinner and bath

Jam-Packed Trip to Ohio

Whew. It's been a really really busy few weeks for us. We got back two days ago from a whirlwind trip to Ohio. We spent one night visiting one of my best friends from college. She has a son who is 3 months older than RUS. We even dressed them in matching outfits! That was a total coincidence, though. RUS got the outfit from J's grandmother & great-aunt back in June, and when I dressed him in it, D mentioned that her son had the same outfit. I took more pleasure than I ever expected I would at seeing them in matching clothes.
Here's us! I'm impressed that J got a shot where everyone was looking at the camera. R has been VERY camera-shy lately--she insists she doesn't want any pictures taken, or she looks very grumpy at the camera pointed at her--so it's been hard to get pictures with her in them.
After leaving D's house, we drove to my grandmother's house for her birthday bash. Here she is with both kids--you can just see how thrilled R is at having her picture taken. Thank goodness for my Aunt C who really got R to open up and start enjoying herself. I think she was a little intimidated by all the strange adults she didn't know. But she remembered Aunt C as we've spent time at her house several times before when R has just had a blast running around and playing jack-in-the-box. So they wandered around my grandparents' property and pretty soon Aunt C had R talking about the balloons and feeding everybody different flavored balloons.
My grandma also has tons of baby and kid toys that she's saved from when we were kids--someone dug up this little wooden rocking horse that might have been Local Hero's when he was a baby and RUS looked so cute riding on it. He is such an easy-going baby that he just loved being passed around and held by anyone who wanted to hold him. I'm frankly surprised we haven't experienced any separation anxiety with him at all yet.
Then we drove to my parents' house and stayed for 1 day before heading back to Delaware. We had no agenda for the day other than spending time with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Geg. My mom got so many smiley pictures of RUS, it was awesome. I'm still trying to get one that's really good of his one little tooth. I call it his pirate tooth because he looks like an old toothless pirate when he smiles really big. I've even started trying to figure out if I can wrangle a pirate costume for him for Halloween!
We went to a delicious thai restaurant to celebrate my birthday and then had cupcakes back at home. R was really tired as she didn't nap, which is why she looks thrilled to be having cupcakes in this picture.
We left the next morning to head back and while we were running around getting everything in the car (well, while J was loading the car and I was packing up my stuff) RUS fell asleep on Grandpa. I couldn't resist taking this picture.
The drive home was really really good: we are really lucky to have kids who do well in the car for long drives. R spent most of the drive--there AND back--reading this Dora book over and over again with her LeapFrog Tag Reader. I have the story memorized. And all the activities. So does R. It still is so crazy to me that she wanted to read that book over and over and over and over again. I honestly don't get it: what is it about Dora that is so captivating and addictive? At any rate, it was great to have something that kept her really focused and entertained for so long.