Neverland

Keller is in the midst of an imagination takeover! It's very neat to watch and it actually is allowing him (us) more time for him to play independently. This morning he was in the kitchen playing with the big construction floor puzzle, talking to the guys, using the colorform sticker things that go with it and taking toys from the toy bins to use when playing at the puzzle. Now he is actually sitting and has been sitting playing with playdough all by himself for well over 5 minutes, his typical alone playdough time!! Making pizza, mixing colors, using potato smashers...I know not all that impressive, but he has really been a "play with me" kind of kid rather than playing independently for extended periods. His favorite imaginary play at the moment is Pirates. They have taken him captive. I think it started from the Peter Pan book at my parents' house. Then at Trav's parents' there's a pirate ship with all the guys and kegs and canons which he plays with when he visits Bee Bee. Also where we babysit there's a pirate ship too, but that's been out of sight for awhile now. OH and most recently he's discovered the Jake and the Pirates show at my parents house. So now, most of the time, Keller doesn't live here. Jake lives here. And Neko is no longer either. The baby in this house is referred to as Hook. Daddy is Captain Smee. And I am Mommy Pirate. Beds are ships. Light saber "bonkers" are swords. Bandanas are pirate hats. Stickers over eyes are patches. It's amusing to say the least. For now. We'll see when it starts getting old. But I do remind him that in real life, pirates are bad guys. And fighting is not nice. But we can "play" swords as long as we're careful. And so it begins. Raising a boy. Who also pretends he's a mermaid sometimes. Or that he's dog named Emily. He's a kook! But I love his imagination:)

Our 5th Anniversary:)

Last weekend we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary:) While the actual anniversary day was spent at a baby shower followed by our nephew Finn's first birthday party, we had made plans for Sunday...into Monday! Yay! One of Trav's clients was attending a camp up in Rhinebeck, NY and the boy's mother had asked Trav if he'd go up there to meet with the counselors and folks who'd be working with the boy so we made an overnight of it...sans children--so nice. That was actually our first time without children since Neko was born. Granted, we've had a few nights out here and there for a concert or wedding but we always woke up to our responsibilities (children). This time we got to sleep in (well, a little!)

The kids happily stayed at my parents. Rhinebeck is just over an hour from my parents so we enjoyed our nice quiet, no-questions coming from the back seat drive up, parked our car at our B and B (too early to check-in) and walked into town for lunch. Since we didn't take any pictures, I'll be creative here...

Here's where the picture of the restaurant would be...a neat old church building turned restaurant with outside seating. We ate in this lovely deck-ish area beside an opening overflowing with flowers. We each had a glass of wine. I felt tipsy. Cheap date!

There's the quirky guy at the next table on a seemingly blind date with a younger, fitter woman who seems...stuck. The waiter approaches and introduces himself. "Where are you from?" the weird man asks the server who didn't even cross my mind as being from anywhere... "Chile" he responds. The weird man says, "now I hear there's differing ways of pronouncing that...Chillay?" "Cheeelay"....poor lady...

After lunch we walked around a little, in and out of a few shops then went back to the B &B.

This is a picture of us napping at 3:02 in the afternoon. (Check-in was 3:00)

4:00ish. Wake-up, hangover headache (couldn't have been, could it? Too much sun?) No afternoon tea to be had at the place (what?) but it was time to head out anyway. We got directions from the lady there to a park called Poet's Walk which I didn't know much about but had read a few reviews that mentioned it was pleasant.

This is a picture of us parking the car between CVS and the Coffee/Tea shop. Trav gets the beverages. I get the headache medicine. I never take medicine. I never get headaches. Caffeine and drugs ingested. Oh, and how could I forget the two big cookies Trav picked up! Don't they look delicious!

Beautiful drive to the park. When coffee and tea is gone, we're off. Here's a picture of me reading the map at the entrance to make a game plan. Looks like the whole loop is around 2 miles. Nothing we can't handle. Plus there's supposed to be nice views of the Hudson:)

Here's us walking on the trail through the meadow. There's the big gazebo, rustic, branchy;) Heading down the trail into the woods...ahhhh, trees, shade, birds, smells like the woods:) Here's a picture of Travis noticing goldfinches. There's one of me pointing to a "bird"...Here's us winding down and then this one is my favorite so far. It's us, sitting beside each other, in the woods, on a bench. Only just nature around us to look at and hear and smell. Only each other's company to keep. So nice. This is me not wanting to leave that bench especially after thinking that there was a backpack in the woods behind us. Does that look like a backpack to you? Long story....Bad eyes...

And here's a picture of that nice couple making out in the next gazebo overlooking the Hudson. Maybe it was there anniversary too. This is us just looking out at the river talking about bridges. And onward. Out of the woods. Up the trail. Fabulous! Another bench. This time in the sun. Here's a picture of us sitting. Alone. Together. Again. So Nice:) Here's me wearing Trav's sweaty old hat to block the sun. Here's a picture that shows the beautiful light at nearly 7pm...Here's me being surprised that it's already 7! Here's us leaving, Trav pointing at more goldfinches. The soda can beneath the bench. Should have picked it up. Here's us missing the road but enjoying the other road trusting it will take us back to where we needed to be, which it did. Here's one of us having our conversation over whether to go straight to dinner of whether to shower first? Here's me shower----oops! You weren't supposed to see that!

Thai for dinner. Lovely garden. No mangoes and sticky rice. But sticky rice and other treats instead. Jacuzzi. Bed. Here's a picture of the clock showing 11:09, nine minutes past my requested bedtime. Not bad!!

Down for breakfast and out to the camp in the morning after picking up a few novel toys in one of the shops, along with a magazine and book for me to pass my time at camp. Here's me sitting under a shady tree at the waterfront, wishing I could jump into the water. Here's us eating pizza before heading back home. So nice. So nice. We need to do that more often.

Here's the Facebook Post that I didn't post: Spent the last two days without kids, hanging out with this really great guy, handsome, too! Best part about it is that when I got home, turns out he lives in the same house as me. Apparently we married each other a few years back, had a couple kids...

And so the story goes. We need to do that more often:)

My Big One Year Old!

Okay, better late than never on the 1 year post, right? So much to catch up on! To begin, Neko is such a happy little guy:) He makes us all smile, Keller included (well, sometimes!) He smiles with his bottom two teeth and only one poking through the top for now. Cutie pie! His big brother cracks him up on a regular basis, but can also manage to induce an angry high-pitched scream. Of course when this scream was new and I was out of the room, I would run in, assuming Keller did something, but MOST of the time it was the littlest one either asserting himself or trying to get something from the bigger one. Now I know not to assume who is at fault. Poor Keller! Neko's just experimenting with the Little Brother card I guess!

Neko LOVES music. He bounces whenever he hears it. He rolls his chubby little arms around to sing Wheels on The Bus. He says, "Haaaaa" to sing Happy Birthday. He leans on the little CD player and bounces and sways to the music. He regularly practices turning the volume up. Luckily Keller is on top of things and tells him, "Too loud, Neko!" and turns it down. Thank goodness for big brothers! Haha!

What else. He's not walking independently yet but pushes his wagon, lawn-mower, little train thing, bikes, chairs, whatever he can to support those chubby little legs in their practice. He can crawl like it's no one's business to get where he wants to be though and he's definitely more of a climber than his brother was. No way is he going to be in his crib till 2 and a half like Keller was! Ugh!!

Neko loves water. He'll climb right into the little pool out back (whether there's water in there or not!) He tolerates his brother pouring water over his head quite well, crawls right into the water at the lake, splash-splashing all the while! Recently he has learned that if he puts his face in the water he can get a drink...bleh!

Neko still loves his bink and sleeps with it only at nap times. Still nursing a few times a day...Keller got 15 months so that's the goal for Neko, too. Though I'm thinking Neko is going to be a little harder to break of it...we'll see!

At his 1 year appointment, he was 20 lbs. 8 0z, which is 3 oz. LESS than what Keller was, thogh everyone thinks Neko is so much chubbier than K, although Keller measured 1/2 inch longer than Neko's 27 inches. Because of Neko's "short stature" and slow growth over the last three months, paired with the fact that his soft spot is not closed, the doc recommended that we have his thyroid checked, just to be sure. She said if there was a problem, we'd probably know it by now and his tongue would be hanging out of his mouth...Uh-oh! I told her that over the past week it HAD been hanging out and I just attributed it to teething. I looked up low thyroid online and saw the tongues of the "cretin" babies. Damn internet! Anyway, Neko's levels are just fine. I asked if he was on the higher or lower end of normal and the nurse said the exact middle. Phew! But, I'm glad to have had the test anyway, we were already at the lab for the lead and iron levels anyhow.

Oh, and Neko's favorite pastime, how could I forget...Eating! He is an absolute pro at signing "more" which is more like a clap so everyone thinks he's clapping cause he's happy when we're out in public. This mama knows however that that sweet chubby little slappy clap means "Give Me Food Now Or I'm Going To Be Very Unhappy!!" And he doesn't demonstrate that "I'm done eating" behavior regularly. Occasionally the cue will be that he's playing with his food or putting it onto the floor. But typically, if you keep feeding him, he'll keep eating!

And lastly, I must comment on Neko's hair. We can't go anywhere without someone commenting on it. "How do you get it like that"..."He has a mohawk like I do!" "That baby has a mohawk" "Look at that hair" "Is it ALWAYS like that?" So yes, it has been always like that, always sticking straight up on top and pin straight on the sides and back. Oh, "He's got Rod Stewart hair..." It seems to be taming now in the past week or two, might be getting too long to continue standing straight up, but still adorable, though he will require a haircut much sooner than Keller did since he doesn't have the curls going for him:)

I'm glad to be where I am now in terms of babies in the house compared to where I was a year ago! Little tiny babies are precious for sure but exhausting! While I continue to feel exhausted most days, it's not that lack of sleep exhausted, it's more busy, always on, always negotiating, always hoping for long naps, always thinking of what to feed children, cleaning children, cleaning dishes, picking up toys, that kind of thing. But I know this is all temporary and quicker than I know it, my babies will be all grown. So I'll savor my exhaustion and try for extra cuddles and kisses while I can still get them! My littlest baby is now a full-grown baby! Where does the time go?!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Almost a New Post...

I have clothes pins hanging from my hair and there's jellybeans "cooking" on my bed. A little naked boy in just his underpants climbed up onto the couch next to me handing me a book as big as he is:) "Mommy, I want you to read this book." And so I will. Right now. And this, my friends is precisely why I have not updated my blog in so long!