I need a raise

Funny how almost all of my stories end with, "...and then we had to go straight home and take a bath." This one is no different. We go to this hill of dirt (also known as a playground) every Monday after Luke's sports class. For some reason yesterday everyone got far dirtier than usual. My friend Christa was inspired to take this picture (with her phone) and immediately email it to Dave at his office with the subject line, "Your mess."

(Side note - The much-loved carrot shirt got so completely filthy that if it had been any other shirt I might have tossed it. But because it was the carrot shirt, I lovingly bathed it in a Clorox bleach solution, rinsed, bleached, rinsed, bleached, for about an hour until I finally got it close to normal. The things I do for love.)

Also, for anyone who happens to call or email Luke after seeing my last entry - please note that we are down to just one fish. Rexy died about 8 hours after arriving at our house. Luke was strangely OK with it, though. It might have had something to do with Dave's carefully planned speech about death and the fragility of goldfish. But Luke just kind of moved on and renamed Jerry as Rexy, so we still have a fish named Rexy, and he seems happy enough for now.

One last note - I seem to have scored myself a new little gig writing parenting articles for a new web site. The pay is probably less than I pay my babysitters, so it's no gold mine or house down payment, but I think it'll be fun and will put me on the road to doing more of what I really like to do. So for now - yay, me.

The Cat's Meow

When Zach and I used to go out for a run/walk, he didn't have much to say except for the occasional "Ba!" Now our soundtrack is Zach's constant narration of the scenery: "Aya! Gock! Gock! Aya! Aya!" and so on ("Gock" being rock). Every now and then we have the occasional "Maow, maow!" Yep, that's right - Zach has started making cat noises. He'll point to just about any member of the feline species (including a lion in a book) and say "maow, maow." Maybe it's not that interesting but it sure seems like a breakthrough to me because it wasn't a sound that I necessarily encouraged much; he just picked it up on his own. (He also makes a surprisingly gutteral and convincing dinosaur sound, but that doesn't come in quite as handy.)

It's a race weekend for us; Dave had his big 10-K yesterday and Zach will run the toddler trot today. On Friday night I got all prepared to help Luke make a sign for Dave; I turned around for a second and by the time I turned back Luke had already written the entire sign without help (including the "Go! Go! Go!" and the "Dad"). You have to admit (yes, you have to) that it is the cutest sign ever. At least the photographer from the newspaper thought so when she saw him holding it out on the street and took a picture. Let's hope they print it.

Today (we're back from the fair now) was going to be Zach's big debut into the realm of athletic competition with the annual Toddler Trot (25-yard race for the under-2 set). Usually when he wants to get from point A to point B (especially if there's an incentive like an open toilet) Zach is faster than Usain Bolt (see Beijing 2008) in getting there. But for this race, even though we had Dave with a balloon and Luke with a sign to entice him at the other end, when the emcee shouted "Go!" Zach stood there frozen with indecision. Stay with Mom? Run? Walk? Look up at the sky? Look at all of the hundreds of people shouting? Apparently there were too many options. In Zach's heat, a little toddler girl took off at the start and never looked back, leaving everyone in the dust. That's fine. I still see athletic glory, scholarships, and lucrative corporate sponsorships in our future.

The other news of the day is that we now have two new family members, Rexy and Jerry. Luke won them at the fair, thereby committing us to several weeks (or months) (or years - talk to my mom about this one) of feeding and caring for small goldfish. I pray that they are easy on us.

Line of the day: Luke, after studying a moving escalator for a few minutes: "What happens when it runs out of steps?"

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.

Pick your poison

Lots of things have happened this week, but unfortunately the one memory that is likely to stand out is Luke swallowing a toothpick at the farmers' market. It was a complete accident, not a goofy stunt, and it was apparently as painful as it sounds. So he and I spent the greater part of the day on Friday in the emergency room, waiting for x-rays, waiting for the doctor, etc. Once they determined that it was not stuck in his throat, they gave him the all-clear to go home and eat popsicles. Clearly it was a traumatic event for him, and yet I'm still astonished at how completely wiped out it left him on Friday night. In fact, I have never known him to go so long without saying anything. But Zach was clearly loving his opportunity to have center stage.

Notable milestones from the week: Luke is about 80 percent there in terms of really being able to swim; apparently it just took a few lessons at school to give him the confidence jump-start he needed in the water. He's also made astonishing strides in being able to hit a baseball pitched to him. Oh, and he's all gung-ho about his new soccer team. Not that he necessarily likes soccer or anything, but there some other cool kids on the team, and there are uniforms and they're green!

Zach has a new fascination with the tricycle. His little legs can't quite reach the pedals yet but he knows what they're supposed to do and he is desperate to do it. (The only drawback is that Luke now has a renewed fascination with the tricycle; go figure.) One other little milestone for Zach is a fierce resistance to anything he doesn't want to do, which includes getting into the car seat, getting pajamas on, and getting a diaper changed. Only one of these three things is potentially optional. If you've heard him screaming, which perhaps you have, then you know why I'm about to turn prematurely gray.

Speaking of prematurely gray, or not, today is my last day in my thirties. Yesterday, to celebrate, Dave took me out to a beautiful lunch at the spot where we got married. While we were sitting there, I got a little misty-eyed, but it was entirely out of happiness, not because I'm sad about getting older. In fact, I'm looking forward to something new. Where are those 40's, anyway? Lemme at 'em!

Hazards of life

On Saturday we were about two blocks into our 10-block walk to our breakfast restaurant when my sandal suddenly felt strangely off-kilter. I looked down and saw that the leather sole had split open and the super-thick foam cushion had started falling off in chunks. "Do you want to go back and change shoes?" Dave asked. "Nah," I said, "It'll be fine for these few blocks."

In fact, my sandal not only was broken, but it continued breaking apart in spectacular fashion. Everywhere I walked I left large chunks and chocolate-cake-like crumbs of brown foam behind. There was an especially big pile outside the restaurant, and then under the table where we were sitting (blame the baby!). Finally, after we ate, I crumb-trailed down the hill to the closest open store to buy some new shoes.

As it turned out, there was a sidewalk sale that morning and all sorts of shoes were already out in bins at bargain prices. "Mom! You have to get these! They're green and they have DIAMONDS on them!" yelled Luke, waving a pair of kelly-green flip-flops with metal studs. "Bah! Bah!" insisted Zach, handing me a pair of silver ballet flats with a sparkling skull at the top. How strange to go shoe-shopping with the whole family. Luckily, I found a plain little pair of brown flip-flops, just what I needed to get on with my day. As Luke helped me toss the old crumbly sandals into the trash can, I realized that I had bought that pair right before our first family trip to Italy in 2000. Those sandals have sure seen a lot. I think, more than anything, they finally had just had it with me.

Why did I share that story? I'm not sure. It's just going to have to fit into a general theme of random-ness that I feel today. Anyhow...


Last night we went to the Sunday evening concert in the park with Hatcher and family, and as an added attraction Luke and I made a hazard light cake (a long-promised reward for a Pull-Up-free lifestyle). It was especially sweet to share that cake with Julie and Stu, because they, more than any of our friends, have been through much of the same thing and have changed their share of Luke's Pull-Ups. I loved watching Julie give Luke an extra-big hug and seeing Luke just beaming from ear to ear all night long.

Another random thing to relate is that while Zach doesn't necessarily have many new words, he is starting to sing Luke's Volvo song. You know - 'V-o-l-v-o, Volvo! V-o-l-v-o, Volvo!'" As soon as Zach hears someone singing it, he'll chime right in, "Ee-oh-ba-ba-ba, BaBa!" completely in tune. Last night while we were leaving the concert Luke was singing the Volvo song and Zach was acting as his echo. Before long we had attracted quite an appreciative crowd. (Granted, many of them seemed to be a little on the tipsy side. Well, OK, most.)

And here's what's amazing about Zach: He really just walks everywhere. We now have a total of four strollers and two wagons in our garage, and we might be just fine without them. When Dave goes on a walk with the boys in the evening, Zach really walks. When we go down to play at the school, Zach really runs. None of this wimpy stroller stuff for him. Looks like he's bound to wear through shoes even faster than I do.

Photo booth

This here's a pic-strip from a little escapade that Luke and Zach and I had with my Aunt Liz in Cape May. Liz gamely (get it? heh) volunteered to come with us to the arcade and she played along while Luke pretended to drive the cars and Zach tossed the skee-balls all over the place. Before we left, we decided to cram ourselves into a photo booth just for kicks. So we put in the money and before we could even get situated...FLASH! What?!?! It's taking our picture already?!?! How do we know if we're all in the... FLASH! Quick, everyone smile! Come on, Luke! FLASH! Alright, let's at least try to look good for the last one. Zach, look at the... FLASH!

I held off on packing the little pic-strip because I didn't want it to get bent, and then at the very last minute I tucked it into a book so it would stay flat. Then when we finally got home, I couldn't find it. I emailed Liz to tell her that I was mourning the loss of this world-class keepsake. "I'm sure it will turn up," she told me. So I renewed my search, and - voila! There it was, tucked into Luke's pirate book in his backpack. Now why I would have stuffed it there thinking it would be safe, I have no idea.

I love this little pic-strip because I know it's going to be one of those things that we unpack years later and say, "Hey - do you remember that summer in Cape May?" or "Can you believe I used to wear those ridiculous-looking glasses?" or "Do you remember when we used to print photos on paper?" But mostly I'm happy because Liz is in it. We hardly ever get to see her, but when we do it's always the best. She reminds me in so many ways of her mom, our beloved Grandma P. , who was fun-loving, loved kids, and had a great sense of humor. Also, this is the first time we've really hung out since I've been a mom, and I was so happy to discover that she and I think so much alike about so many different mom-things. She bonded with Luke and Zach immediately, she gave me a much-needed extra hand at the end of the week, and I think she doesn't even hold it against me that I kept forgetting to bring diapers along every time we went out somewhere.

So, Liz, from 3,000 miles away, this one's for you!

Cleaning out the fridge

Nothing much new to report except for a few miscellaneous things, so I'll just forge ahead:

Luke, watching our neighbor Michael head off for work in his Land Rover: "Michael, are you going to drive over some big rocks on your way to your office?"

Zach, after being told NOT TO DRINK THE BATH WATER AGAIN, takes a big gulp of bath water out of his play cup, gives me a huge smile, and says, "Mmmmmmmmmm!"

Luke, after waking up and coming into my room on a morning when Dave is not home: "How 'bout I pretend I'm Daddy and I just lie here while you say all of the boring things that you and Daddy talk about?"

Zach, after deciding that he only wants to walk down the stairs standing up, and hearing me say "Careful!" after every step: "Kee-ko! Kee-ko! Kee-ko!" on each step.

Luke, when asked how "Olympic Day" went at school: "It was OK. We did a relay and we did balance beam but ( big sigh) we did not do the steeplechase."

Ka

I haven't had much to say in the last few days because I've been too exhausted to lift my fingers to type. (Clearly Luke has picked up on this, because he's gotten in the habit of declaring, "I'm the exhausted-est in the whole world.") I'm still in recovery mode from a long trip and a long trip home. Mom and Dad were here for more than a week; I (reluctantly) drove them to the airport this morning. In almost a month of being with them, I never once woke up before Zach. This morning I needed to leave for the airport at 6:30 and wound up needing to wake up Zach to bring him along. A cruel and unusual twist of fate. What are the chances that he'll sleep late ever again?

Mom and Dad swear that Zach is saying words all the time; I'm either not sure or I'm just too skeptical. But one utterance that is consistent and clear is when he says "Ka," for "thank you." (Ka just happens to be an important word in my life, given that it's the only two-letter word in Scrabble that uses the letter "k.") Dave was laughing the other morning because when he got Zach out of the crib, Zach thanked him. "Ka." How polite.

I've got a random collection of pictures here today; one is from Dave's phone, two are from Bill-o. The other pictures are all downstairs on the desktop computer and - fitting in with today's theme - I'm just too darned tired to go and get them. So enjoy this for now.

The Kearnies

Folks, it's award season, which means it's time for the coveted Kearney Street Awards, also known as the Kearnies. Competition was tight this year but we managed to find some winners from among the crowd. Without further ado, the awards are as follows:

Most Likely to Make an Omelet from Leftover Spaghetti and Meatballs: Joe

Most Likely to Injure a Major Joint (special lifetime achievement award): Dad/Papa/Grandpa

Most Dedicated Corn-Eater: Lily

Most Likely to Offer a Free Massage: Sam

Most Likely to Suffer a Cycling Mishap: Eric

Most Likely to Walk Off with Your Car Keys: Luke

Three-Part Award: Best Activity Planner, Most Likely to Gift-Wrap Bed Linens, and Least Likely to be Nicknamed "Beer Can": Mom/Grandma Joan

Most Likely to Stage a Major Theatrical Production: Antonia

Most Enthusiastic Ocean Swimmer: Helena

Most Likely to Provide Water or Bike Rescue Services: Julie

Most Dedicated to Personal Fitness While on Vacation: Sara

Best Tummy Raspberries: Zach

Most Trips Up and Down the Stairs to the Attic: Me

A lavish awards ceremony will be held in California at the conclusion of this vacation. Everyone is invited.

at the water's edge

OK, so it took a squad of no less than five adults, but Luke was finally convinced to go in to the water at the beach today. He went in as far as knee-deep holding on to Papa's and Joe's hands. He got some extra coaching on the side from me and Mom and Liz. Even still, he contined to tell me variously that he only wanted to go to the beach with Dave, that he'd rather be at Sunnybrook, and that he just wanted to go back to the house. But who knows, maybe by this time next year he'll be boogie-boarding as well as Sam.

Zach, on the other hand, can't seem to stay away from the water. This afternoon we went to the stony Sunset Beach and I wasn't prepared to go in, but Zach forged ahead and I wound up stripping him down to get wet because I foolishly didn't have any more diapers with me. As it was, I wound up buying him a sweatshirt to keep him warm after his shirt got soaked.

At one point at the beach today, I went down to the water to fill a bucket for our sand-castle project and Zach started freaking out and tried to follow me down. "He would literally follow you into the ocean," my dad observed in amazement. "Kind of funny that two years from now he'll be a master at ignoring you." Too true. I'll take this for now.

Crowd-pleasers

Zach is becoming endlessly entertaining: on the beach, he stood there with the bucket on his head playing peek-a-boo; in the house, he sat next to a tray of nectarines and sampled a bite of each one. After a while he settled on one nectarine, put it carefully into one of Grandma's pink Crocs, and proudly carried it around the house. The fun ended when he put it on the floor and plopped down on top of it. Splat.
Here he is again pretending to talk on the phone.


Luke is happy to be part of the swirl of activity. At dinner we made sandwiches and he insisted on putting his together, then Sam's, then mine, and then proudly carrying them all out to the table. When Liz and Ken came, he of course made a point of interviewing tham about their car, checking out their keys, and then leading the charge out to the car to practice sitting in the driver's seat.

"When Liz was a little girl, I used to call her 'Charlie' for a nickname," Dad told him. "Where was I?" Luke wanted to know. "You weren't born yet - that was a long time ago, probably 50 years ago," Dad told him. Luke considered this for a few minutes. "Were there dinosaurs?" he finally asked.

Just a quick story from this evening - We took a trolley tour around town and Joe stopped at the fudge store before we got on the trolley. When Sam and Lily and Luke (sitting all together in the front seat) saw the fudge bag, they started chanting, "We want fudge!" Suddenly for some reason (it was a rowdy group on the trolley) everyone else on board joined in until the whole crowd was chanting, "We want fudge!" Joe had to stand up in front of the crowd and good-naturedly promise everyone a piece to get them quiet. Tomorrow: Horse and carriage rides.

House rich

Let's see how well I can do this with my thumbs (on my blackberry). Not having a computer for a week is quite a handicap. We're in an amazing, enormous, and yet cozy house, two (flat) blocks from the beach. It has been alternately fun and challenging for me with the two boys. There are plenty of hands around to help, but there are plenty of times (or always, in Zach's case) that I'm the only one who will do. Plus Papa has a wicked knee injury that has sidelined him and kept him out of most of the activities (though he's still hobbling up to his third-floor bedroom) and he hasn't been able to help as much as he would like.

Speaking of bedrooms, I think the reason I like this house so much is because of our super-cozy spot in the attic. Luke, Zach, and I are all together in a room that is big but feels small-ish because of the low dormer ceiling. I love how all three of us get to wake up together. Usually we spend a few minutes laughing and mugging in the morning before we head down to the chaos downstairs.

Luke loves being with his cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents but he sure misses his dad. I think it's most apparent when we're at the beach and he doesn't have Dave to dig a hole with him or slowly coax him into the water. Today we were at the beach for only 90 minutes when Zach petered out and Luke decided it wasn't worth it to stick around. It's hard to balance their needs because Zach (and the rest of the cousins) want to be in the water while Luke wants to be in the sand. He dug for a while by himself today, then called it a day.

It's always a relief at the end of the day when all six kids are in bed. Tonight Joe and Sara went out and bought ice cream - now the grownups are all sitting around and slurping up dulce de leche, carmelized pear, and chunky monkey. Aaaaahhhh. Don't tell the kids.

Cream of the crop

Ahhh...I hate to write over "Magic and Dirt," one of my favorite recent posts, but I have to soldier on for posterity. This morning we had the Most Fun Ever at a local farm picking blackberries, eggplant, tomatoes, green peppers, and basil. Luke, it turns out, is really quite good at picking blackberries and was delighting in showing me how many more blackberries he had picked than me. Zach liked the idea of picking blackberries, but he soon realized that picking up mud and throwing it was much more fun. I would love to have a picture of us at the farm but I didn't bring the camera and it was one of those times when it was far better to enjoy the moment than to be snapping pictures. Instead here's one of Luke and Zach playing with the car seat box, which is by far the favorite toy in the house at the moment.

Zach has made quite a few strides in the past few days. For instance, he didn't use to drink with a straw and now he only wants to drink with a straw (like Luke). Also, I never gave him corn on the cob before and suddenly it's one of his favorite foods. I think he likes gnawing on the cob just as much as eating the actual corn. Oh, and it helps that it is the Best Corn Ever from the farm stand down the street. Mom has promised to keep going back there every day to make sure our nightly corn is as fresh as possible.

I'm not going to stay on the computer long; there's a big thunderstorm swirling around tonight. We had some scary lightning on the way home from the library. "Batten down the hatches!" yelled Luke, as we ran into the house. It's all part of good summer fun.

Magic and dirt

One thing we sorta forget about when we come here in winter is just how green it really is throughout most of the year, especially summer. Even though the heat is stifling this time of year, the trees and hedges and vines make a total canopy over all of the yards in the neighborhood, rendering them marginally comfortable - as opposed to completely oppressive - for outdoor activities.

Lucky for us, the next door neighbors on both sides have kids, which means they have cool play structures and equipment to play on. Today Luke discovered the joys of the tire swing hanging from one of the big trees next door. The movement on a tire swing is different from the herky-jerk back-and-forth of a swingset swing. Once you get on, you just kind of glide to and fro, changing direction with the slightest shift in weight, but never once coming up against a sharp angle. Luke was skeptical at first but once he started getting with the flow, he didn't want to get off. "This feels really nice," he announced dreamily, to no one in particular. In a way, it was sort of hypnotic to watch him drifting back and forth through the thick air, with the sound of cicadas buzzing above us and ...

...wait a minute! Isn't there another kid somewhere? Where's Zach? Ugh! Any time you turn your head for a second, Zach will find his way to the nearest pile of dirt. Like tonight when Rosemary and Fred came over for dinner and for a moment all attention was on Luke so Zach worked his way over to the potted plants and started methodically emptying the soil onto the dining room floor.

"You know, you did magic tricks for my mom at her birthday party once," Luke told Fred after dinner. It's true, as we pulled up the pictures to confirm: There we were, 36 years ago this summer, at my fourth birthday party, and there was Fred, '70s-style hair and clothes, hamming it up for a crowd of little ones who are now in their thirties and forties. Tonight Fred brought a few tricks for Luke, who screamed and applauded and couldn't stop laughing. It seemed like magic way back then, and somehow it does now too.

Breakthrough

There we were, at the end of the longest airport security line I have seen in recent memory, and even though the situation looked brutal from my point of view, Luke was undaunted. "I am the excited-est person in the whole world!" he declared.

Luke loves being on vacation, and he especially loves going back East to my parents' house. And if you think about it, what's not to love? Doting attention from grandparents ... A basement full of tools ... Crazy wildlife sightings (cicadas, rabbits, chipmunks, ant lions) ... The complete Calvin and Hobbes treasury ... Blueberry iced tea and strawberry jam ... Chocolate donuts from Wawa ... Proximity to Uncle Joe's house ... the list goes on and on.

But since that first excited morning, we've had a roller-coaster of a time here. Luke and Dave have both been sick from the get-go, so that is dragging everyone down. Plus it's been in the high 90's in the daytime, cooling off only as low as the mid-80s at night. And even though we are loving every minute we get to spend with Dave, we are all dreading his eventual departure (tomorrow) and the two weeks we will spend without him, which is almost unimaginable.

On the flip side, we've had one big development here that is so amazing that I can't let it go unmentioned. I haven't written much about this because it's kind of personal for Luke and because it has caused me such extreme anguish ... but ... drum roll ... Luke seems to have finally given up his iron grip on the Pull-Ups and is now doing his big business the same way the rest of us do. "You know Mom, you were right - it really does feel better this way," he told me tonight. God bless four-year-olds and their lovable, innocent candor.

Zach hasn't paid much attention to this major milestone for Luke because he has been too busy building synapses and making massive developmental leaps of his own. He's added some words to his vocabulary (balloon, bear, baby, banana) and one of these days he's bound to learn that there are words that start with letters other than "b." He's also entertaining us by carrying large objects across the room, pulling toy trucks while making truck noises, and playing peek-a-boo with any willing participant (mostly me).

It's worth noting that I started writing this blog three years ago, for the sole purpose of recording our trip back East and to Cape May. Who knew that anyone else would ever read it, or that I would continue writing for so long? Now, three years later, we're headed back to Cape May again and it's been fun to compare notes from the last time. My life has gotten incredibly more complex and wonderful and challenging and whatever other fill-in-the-blank adjective you can think of ... and just like then, I don't have any great words of wisdom to wrap it all neatly together. I'm just sitting here trying to get as much written down as I can before my eyelids crash from sheer exhastion. But suffice to say that all told, things are good. I'm happy to be here, I'm happy to have gotten here from where I was, and I'm looking forward to where we are all going.

The natural

If anyone doubts that there's such a thing as having inherent "ball sense," all they have to do is come and watch Zach, just two weeks into walking, dribble a soccer ball (see Zach blog pic for details). In fact, the best time to do this is during Luke's soccer class, when you can see all of the four-year-olds stumbling over the ball, missing it, and generally being goofy, while Zach quietly makes his way up and down the sidelines kicking the ball with complete competence and accuracy. Imagine him in ten years.

Oh, and speaking of balls, here's a pic of Zach and Daniel together at their gym class. If Zach's face looks a little different, it's because this picture was taken about three hours after his lip-ripping incident so he's a little puffy. In fact, he was unhappy that whole day except for the single hour that he was at the gym, so it's nice that Bruce managed to capture that picture.



I'm blogging this morning because Dave took both boys with him to run a race (in the double stroller we borrowed from Scott and Teresa). I don't have that much to say today but I do have the time to say it, so I'll just stick in a few random pics (all of the high-quality pics are courtesy of Bill-o) and thoughts.

Zach is surprisingly self-confident around the house. I'm sure he doesn't want to be in the high chair any more (even though we put him there) because most mealtimes he heads straight for the snack table and sits down. Also - and I can only mention this because Luke can't read all of these words yet - the other day Zach wandered off into the bathroom and I found him up on the stool in front of the sink, very calmly brushing his teeth with Luke's toothbrush. Yeah. So let's not mention this to Luke.

Luke isn't reading yet, but it's not too hard to imagine. He's really into spelling right now. "Do you want me to shut the d-o-o-r?" "Why can't I have a p-e-t?" When I took him to see WALL-E he really didn't seem to like the movie, but since then he has wanted to buy a book about the WALL-E robots (grrr...movie merchandising) and now he is really into telling people to "HALT! H-A-L-T!" like the security-bots...

OK - Took a little break there. Turns out that when Dave gave me a free morning, I really did need the rest. I felt a little tired, went back to bed, and woke up TWO HOURS later, feeling like, what just happened? Zach has slept through the night for the past two nights (if you consider sleeping through until 5 or 5:30 sleeping through the night, and I do) so that is a relief, but I have a LOT of sleep to catch up on. My sleep deficit is as wide as it is deep.

Funny thing is, if Zach actually sleeps through the night on a regular basis, I might really start to enjoy long summer days with these beautiful boys. This afternoon Luke took a nap (a rarity) and while Dave was working downstairs, I took Zach over to the school and we sat in the swing together looking at the clouds and letting the breeze blow on our faces. I found myself thinking, how much longer can life stay this idyllic?

Update, 7/15: Apparently only until 12:45 am. That's when Zach woke up last night, and again at 2:45, and finally at 5 am. Who knows what is up with him. But let's hold back on the idyllic visions for a while...

Brothers and Men

Our Fourth of July weekend started on Friday with a kids' parade and a whole bunch of bab-ms (that's "balloons" to Zach). Then we hauled a carload of toys, swimsuits, changes of clothes, and other equipment over to Suzi and Boom-Boom's for an afternoon at the pool with Tony, Joanna, and the cousins (for the first time all four boys were together). Finally, after a barbecue feast at Grandma Bobbie and Granddad's that evening, we realized that in one day we had already packed in more than a weekend's worth of activities.

(Side note: Zach encountered a situation at the grocery store that required him to use almost his whole vocabulary at one time: A balloon escaped and floated up to the ceiling. Zach was going nuts pointing to it and saying, "Uh-oh! Bab-m! Uh-oh! Bab-m!")

On Saturday, Tony and Joanna and their crew came to our house and somehow the boys all gravitated to the water (imagine that!). And of course when I say boys, I don't just mean the young tots. From what I understand, Dave and Tony have never met a pool they didn't want to go in. And of course the trend continues in the next generation.

Another side note: Luke absolutely adores baby Eli. He just can't get enough of him. Of course Eli is adorable and smiley, but I think it also has something to do with the fact that Eli is not currently able to take any of Luke's toys. Contrast that with Zach, who only is interested in a toy if Luke is currently using it. I put Luke and Zach in the bathtub together with some foam letters and numbers, and Zach had no interest in the letters I gave him; he only wanted the ones that Luke had carefully put up on the wall to spell a word (H-O-N-D-A or some such). I know Eli will be the same way soon enough, but for right now, he can do no wrong in Luke's book.

Today, Grandma Bobbie and Granddad and Suzi and Boom-Boom hosted an amazing, beautiful party in honor of our beloved boys, brothers, and men. Zach wandered around, knocking over sodas along the way, on a mission to put every single pretzel in his mouth and spit it out. Luke made the rounds at the party finding out what kind of car everyone drove and checking out their car keys. The cousins hugged and mugged and basked in all of the attention. Now we're all tuckered out and ready - maybe - for a somewhat more normal level of activity. But I still love these busy days anyway, just as I love all of these beautiful, busy boys.

Arrrr!

Just a few more party pics rolling in ... Setting up the pirate outpost (Zach is in the foreground sitting in the monster wagon); kids running down to the water (yes, some of those are girls wearing boy shorts - it was a little crazy that way); Luke glomming down pizza.

Leftover totals include: four pizzas, three dozen cupcakes, several dozen beers and sodas, and one very large bag of pirate booty. Oh, and thirteen bandannas. Anyone want one? It's a great look for the summer. Really. As Luke would say, "I'm serious."