Fine

Yesterday at the farmers' market, Zach was trying to get out of the stroller, and I said to him something like, "Oh, Zach, come on, you're fine." Zach shook his head no. So Luke looked at him and said, "Zach, are you fine?" and Zach vigorously shook his head NO!. Now this has become their little joke: Luke will say, "Zach, are you fine?" and Zach will do the head-shake, and the two of them will laugh and laugh. Hilarious. Somehow I feel like it's at my expense.

I haven't been able to write for a long time because I've been stuck in a big hole of anguish and despair. Yes, sounds melodramatic, but it's true. Long story short, we had to unravel a complicated and unfortunate situation with Luke's school and with our friends, which somehow coincided with broader questions we were having about money, our house, our future - and also with Zach's alarming new decision to wake up during hours that start with the number "5." I think we're in a better place now that we've muddled through the situation, but I've had more than my share of sleepless nights and unforgiving mornings. Needless to say you won't be seeing any pictures of me any time soon.

Anyhow, since no one really wants to hear about my angst, here's a picture of Luke and Zach from a park that Luke and I named "The Restaurant Park." It has a little water-spout feature and a platform area with all sorts of crazy tubes and bowls and receptacles. We used to mix sand and water and pretend we were cooking at a restaurant. Now, inexplicably, Luke had decided that it is a kitty litter factory. But thankfully he hasn't wanted to rename it "Kitty Litter Park."

The trick is, when you go there, you have to be prepared to have everyone end up covered in wet sand and mud. It helps to have an extra change of clothes, a towel, water, and some snacks; but by law, I am required to forget some important item each time. Yesterday I forgot a towel. So we all shook ourselves off as best we could; the boys stripped off their shirts, and we piled back into the car (covered with a fine layer of muddy sand) and headed straight back home into the bathtub.

Tonight (continuing on Thursday now) Luke's school had a pizza party in the park. I had no less than three moms tell me that their daughters have declared that Luke is their boyfriend. Uh-oh.

I always feel like there's so much to say about Luke so it's a nice change to be able to say that there is SO MUCH going on with Zach. He communicates, even if it's only through small words or gestures, and he has an astonishing capacity to understand what people are saying. The other day we told him, "Zach, can you find 'Up Above and Down Below?'" and he dutifully went over to the pile of books and dug through them until he found the book we were talking about. The other thing is that he is a complete and total bookworm. If he sees a book, any book, he'll take it and snuggle up on your lap with it. He reads much more advanced books than Luke ever did at this age, just because we have those kinds of books around the house now for Luke.

At bedtime, we have a funny routine where Zach needs to go through 6 to 10 books (they each take about 30 seconds to read) before he's ready to read the final "good night" book. I could just watch him all day, toddling over to the bookshelf in his footie pajamas, with a very serious look on his face, contemplating which book should be next. If he turns out to be as good a reader as Luke, that'll tell me that -- in the middle of all of this uncertainty -- at least we're doing something right.

Closing: Luke's rendition of what a presidential debate would sound like: "I want to be the boss of the country!" "No, I want to be the boss of the country!" "No, I want to be the boss of the country!" etc.

We (heart) our readers

Lest we get bogged down in overly long descriptions of random incidents, we're trying a new reader-friendly format today.



News: Zach likes kissing.
Relevant to: Relatives, friends, cute girls in 14 years or so
Related anecdote: The real reason I didn't put pictures in the last blog entry was because Zach was kissing Luke and it was so cute I couldn't believe it... so I ran downstairs to get the camera, and Zach burst into tears because I left, and then Luke burst into tears because Zach wouldn't kiss him again, and it was just an enormous mess.
Secondary anecdote: Zach had to get some shots at the doctor's office yesterday, and they had him sitting on the table, and he looked down and saw the tray with all of the shot equipment... and I said, "Come on Zach, give me a kiss!" so I could distract him, and he gave me a look that was like "Are you kidding me?!?!" and shook his head "NO!" He's pretty smart, that one.

News: Luke's soccer game was better today, somehow, than last week.
Relevant to: Luke, me, Dave, coaches, teammates, interested relatives
Related anecdote: Luke finally got his big kickoff today. Not much else changed today except his attitude seemed better and we played a more evenly matched team. Oh, and the team has a cool new banner.

News: The only thing that Zach finds funnier than running into the bathroom and sticking his hands in the toilet, is having someone run after him saying, "No, Zach, no, Zach, no, Zach, no!"
Relevant to: Me, Dave, Luke, and anyone who uses our upstairs bathroom
Related anecdote: I bought him a dollar-book yesterday called, "Zack Practices Obedience" (not spelled the 'right' way, but still... hahahahaha)

News: Dave and Zach have the same hair; Luke and I have the same hair
Relevant to: Only my mom
Related anecdote: We all went swimming last night, then went out for pizza immediately afterwards. A full 45 minutes after any of us had been in the pool, Dave and Zach were sitting there with dry-as-a-bone, perfectly coiffed hair; while Luke and I still had completely wet, thick mop-heads.

News: We've started picking some of the carrots that Luke planted
Relevant to: Luke, me, Dave, neighborhood rabbits
Related anecdote: They're not pretty, but he'll eat 'em!

The Mystery of Aya

For all of the Luke-obsessions we have gone through (underground, fish, blades, hazard lights), none was more annoying and seemingly destined never to end than hazard lights. Everywhere you go, there are cars, and every car has a hazard light. So it was incredibly difficult to walk down the street, go into a parking lot, or do just about anything other than sit around in the backyard without having to stop and examine every single hazard light.

But somehow, against all odds, we seem to have moved on. These days we're actually able to move through the world without stopping to peer inside every car. Sure, if he sees a new car (like the Bentley we saw last week) or one of his favorite cars (Maserati, Prius, Mini Cooper), he might want to check it out. But otherwise we are pretty much enjoying a hazard-light-free lifestyle.

Of course there has to be a new obsession and now it's bees and bee stings. I think it started from the wasps' nest out on our balcony...and all of the dead wasps that he got to examine after the exterminator came. Then he wanted to find out more about bee stings, and when he learned that some people are allergic to bees, he was hooked. It had all of the elements of fear, drama, and danger to be a compelling new obsession. The other day I arrived at school to find him deeply engaged in a game that involved his friend Kaiya lying motionless on the ground. "We're playing Bee Sting Dead," he explained. It's a little weird, but as long as it doesn't interfere with my daily life, I'll take it any day over hazard lights.

Some of you may remember that way back before Luke could really speak, we were completely mystified as to why he called a bird a "dewp." He would point out the window and get all excited: "Dewp! Dewp!" It took me several months until we realized that he was trying to say "Chirp!"

Now that Zach is at about the same stage, we had another mystery on our hands. We have a book that shows a big desert scene and every time we turned to that page, Zach would point to it and say insistently, "Aya! Aya!" It cracked me and Luke up every time, trying to figure out what he was saying. Spider? Gila monster? Dry? Sand? Hot? We finally figured it out when we walked by a house with some big cactus plants and Zach started going bananas with, "Aya! Aya!!" I think (because he always wants to touch them) that he's been told that they are very "ow!" and that's what he's been trying to say. Luke loved the fact that we had solved the mystery, and he has been putting the book in front of Zach's face, pointing to the cactus and saying, "Say 'aya!'"

It's been a rough week with 5:30 am wakeups (and it's too dark at that time for us to even go for a run!) and Dave being gone. So no pictures, and no warm, fuzzy, or witty conclusion. This blog entry is just over. Go on! Do something else! Stop playing around on the computer! Time to move on.

Green Machine

Today I spent my first day as a soccer mom, and I've gotta tell you, it's easy to get swept up in the hysteria. Luke enjoyed the first half-hour, which was a practice session with some cool imported British soccer dudes (see pic, Luke is seated). The second half hour, which was the game, was not quite as thrilling for him. He mostly shuffled around the field, trailing the action, and he never even touched the ball. I could feel my frustration welling up until I finally laid it out on Dave: "The coaches NEED to give him a chance on one of these free kicks!!" So Dave dutifully worked it out with the coach, I gave myself a little time out away from the action, Luke was given the ball for one important kick, and... TWEET! The game ended before he could even set the ball down. The coaches have promised him he will do the lead kickoff for next week's game, but he's not so enthused. More importantly, he's disappointed that the team name is going to be "The Green Dragons" instead of his first choice, "The Joeys." I think we all need to work on our attitudes.


And when I say, "we all," I'm referring strictly to me and Luke, not to Dave and Zach, the good-natured half of the family. Zach is just happy to go to the game and pick up any available ball (see pic). He's also happy to play with the tetherball, stray tennis balls, and even balls that other, far bigger, kids are using.

Aside from balls, Zach is starting to take on a new interest in moving vehicles. It's amazing to me that he doesn't really have that many words yet but he can make convincing and distinct noises to imitate a car, a truck, a plane, a digger, a dump truck, and a fire or police siren. Imagine his delight when I gave him a shirt with a little fire truck on the front. He was pointing to his chest and saying "Wee-ooo wee-ooo!" all morning.

I'm not so hung up on my birthday anymore, but apparently it made a big impression on Luke. For the past week, any time he needs to say goodbye or goodnight, he feels compelled to add, "Oh, and happy birthday, Mom." It's funny - he just said it to me again as he went to bed - but I am starting to think this birthday is turning into Groundhog Day for me. How many more times until I get it right?

40

That's me, forty. Feels weird, but what choice do I have? Lucky for me we had a three-day weekend to drag out the celebration. Here I am on Sunday night with the boys, blowing out candles on the yummy carrot cake from Grandma Bobbie and Granddad. (The cake was preceded by a face-stuffing meal at my favorite barbecue place, so if I look a little puffy you can blame the beef brisket sliders.)

Tonight I wanted to take advantage of the wonderful apples that Bill and Joan had given us from their tree - plus I had a box of phyllo dough - so Luke helped me construct the World's Most Perfect and Beautiful Apple Strudel. Good thing we invited our friends Brandi, Bruce, Eitan, and Daniel over. Otherwise who else would have believed we made such a great strudel? And how would we have eaten the whole thing ourselves? (Strike that, I think we would have managed.) So here I am, where I am probably happiest, in the kitchen with the boys.

Forty is just fine.