Sick

We've all been sick this week with a cold. Aidan has been pretty chipper and has even slept pretty well at night all week. However, Kiana has been alternating staying up most of the night with sleeping decently, since she keeps waking up because she can't breath -- so, that means the other three of us haven't slept much at all! :( Fortunately, this weekend was very chill, and we all took naps, so that helped.


KIANA:
- Kiana has for the most part lost her long morning nap, and instead now takes a 30-60minute nap around 9am, and then another one about an hour later. So, I've started taking her to playgroup on Tuesdays/Thursdays pretty regularly now. It's fun! She loves watching the other kids and listening to Troy play his guitar, and it's fun to see her so engaged, with just the two of us. :)


- This week, Kiana has really worked on developing her reach: she managed to knock over THREE drink cups (milk, chocolate milk and apple cider)!
- Kiana is still teething, but no sign of cutting through yet, so we have cut out most medication, unless it's before bedtime and she looks like she really needs it. Back to the teething waiting game! In the meanwhile, she's blowing some really fantastic bubbles!
- We had a playdate with Leo and his Mommy, Karah, this Saturday while Aidan was on a train date with Daddy, and Kiana and Leo had a blast staring at each other and grunting and squeaking at each other.


AIDAN:
- We have been having regular playdates with Aidan's friend Rowan on Mondays and Tuesdays while Laurie babysits Rowan and Wesley, and they have been fun! This week the boys played at the hay-covered "big rock" at Benett Park, and pretended that the rock was a boat and then a train. They also spent at least an hour carrying arm-loads of hay from all over the park and dumping them into the trash cans!


- We told Aidan that Pop Pop (Grandpa Ross) used to call Mommy a "squeaker deeker", since Kiana has been squeaking up a storm this week. He thought that was really funny, and has been calling Kiana a variety of permutations on that, including "squeaky deeker" and "squeaker teaker".
- Aidan has also been really into keeping time with music lately, doing a rather presidential metronome impression with his hand (might also be a tomahawk chop or a karate chop). After Daddy told him he could move to the rhythm with other parts of his body, we had a dance party in the living room one night - it was fun! His favorite song right now is the Ting Tings' "That's not my name!" song. He walks around the house saying, "that's not my name! that's not my name! that's not my [count count, wait for it, wait for it] NAME!"


We're hoping that we all get some more sleep this week, despite a Post-Doc application deadline for Mommy this week and a conference for Daddy! We'll see how it goes.

Kiana Profiles

Because she's so cute, and because she doesn't yet say "NO CAMERA!!!" and run in the opposite direction when I point it at her (unlike another short person in this family)!

Flowers

Last week I forgot to say that we also had doctor check ups on that Tuesday, and the kids are getting bigger every day! Aidan is now 39 inches tall and 36 pounds (we're going to have to get a new car seat for him soon!), and Kiana is now 26 inches tall and 15 pounds, 2 ounces. While we were there, Kiana also got shots, and Aidan, who was supposed to get screened for lead, ended up getting jabbed with a needle 3 times without ever getting to a vein! (poor baby!!!) That means we have to take him to Columbia to try again, and we are not looking forward to it!




This past week, we started off the week well: we had a nice long Columbus day weekend, and then on Tuesday, Aidan brought me pretty fall leaves and bought me flowers! Daddy tells him all about how he used to bring me pretty leaves in college, and how I loved them, and how I also love it when he brings me flowers. So, Aidan has been collecting leaves when he goes to the park at playschool! And on Tuesday, when we stopped by Ahn's to pick up fruit for snacks, he told me that he wanted to get me some flowers. (How could I turn that down?) So, Aidan picked out a bouquet of six beautiful red roses and some white and yellow daisies. It was wonderful!!! He also remembered to bring me the leaves that he had been collecting for me the next day.



Things got a little more complicated on Wednesday, when Aidan (probably convinced by my happy response from the day before) decided that he wanted to buy *more* (of the exact same kind of) flowers for me, and I told him that we couldn't buy flowers every day, especially when we had beautiful ones waiting for us at home. He was determined to get them anyway, and I ended up having to carry him - in full fit mode - home, while (of course) also pushing Kiana in a stroller. It wasn't fun. However, it was at least a more interesting reason for a fit than normal (e.g., trains not staying on their tracks, not getting pastries). Despite that, it has been fun to have flowers from my beautiful boy sitting in the living room all week!




Highlights from the rest of the week:
- On Thursday afternoon, we had a playdate with Johnny and Oliver on Thursday: Kiana tried out their exersauser for the first time, and *loved* it!
- On Saturday, we went to a party celebrating autumn on Oscar's (Karah/Jonathan/Leo)'s house: Aidan painted a gorgeous rainbow, sparkly pumpkin and even put red and blue feathers on its stem, so it looks kind of like an native American pumpkin in warpaint (so beautiful!); Kiana tried out her bumblebee Halloween costume, and managed to stay happy from 5:30 to 8:30PM despite the tons of people and loud, happy, party noise; we all had a lot of fun!
- Mommy went out with friends twice (Thursday night and Sunday night) - unheard of! (and fun!)
- Kiana continues to teeth like crazy. I can see white nubs behind her gums - 2 on the bottom middle, and two incisors on the top, at bare minimum. We got blood on a tissue when we were wiping up drool, so she is working hard, poor baby! We've been really happy for infant Tylenol and Orajel this week.
- Kiana also got her feet in her mouth this week! SO exciting and incredibly cute! :)
- We are trying out a new bedtime routine this week: Aidan has been way too grumpy and sleep deprived with the old routine -- he doesn't nap, even though he needs to about once a week, and he just is not his usual wonderful self when he is grouchy. So, we've started having bath time *before* dinner time, and so far it is WONDERFUL. He is going to bed earlier, more easily, and with less fuss, and usually sleeping at least a little bit longer than before. I'm hoping it pays off with more happy Aidan time, which everyone will enjoy!

Bottle/ Teething/ Magic

Kiana has been teething like crazy this week. I can't believe that she's only 4 months old, and it's already happening! Maybe I just didn't recognize it when Aidan was this little. (?) She woke up screaming in the middle of the night a couple of nights in a row, and has been horribly grouchy unless we get her infant Tylenol. That calms her down, and somewhat reduces her manic chewing on her fists, though she continues to be a drool monster and still does the "ahhhhhhh, heaven" swoon when we rub her poor little gums. Early in the week, I swore I saw a little white point on her bottom right gum, and last week I thought I saw a bit of blood down there, so I'm guessing some front teeth are working there way through and will be here sometime soon. (Kids grow up so fast! All the cliches are true. :( )



In the meanwhile, Aidan has been nothing short of magical with Kiana. She will be fussing and crying and totally uninterested by anything I do to distract her, and will only be distracted by Daddy for a little while. But if Aidan talks to her in his "birdy voice" (part falsetto, part squeak), she almost immediately calms down, gazes at him, and starts telling him (in a cooing, rather than screaming voice) all about how her teeth hurt and she's tired, but she really, really loves him and thinks that his squeak-singing is the most wonderful thing in the world! Aidan is a life-saver!!!!!!!!! There's been more than one time this week that I have, in tired exasperation, interrupted him with his trains asking him to "Please just talk to Kiana for a minute!". He almost always obliges, and the results are miraculous! I am so grateful!



In other big news: we tried a bottle with Kiana this week! Well, the first steps to a bottle, at least. Daddy let her play with the nipple of a bottle with a little bit of breast milk in it on Tuesday, Saturday, and Monday. She didn't manage to do any real sucking, but she did get some milk out, so she's starting to get the idea that milk can come from somewhere other than Mama. We've started the process!



Other than that, Daddy had a one day conference in Amherst MA and was away Thursday to Friday night, and we all managed to survive (we missed him, but both kids still got baths, so it was successful! THANKS to Christa for your tip on how to get TWO kids into and out of a bath! Having them both in there together AND by myself was a first!). Then we had a long Columbus Day weekend: Saturday was a little nuts: we did a make up class for Aidan's soccer school, stopped by the Innwood farmer's market, did more playing with clay (we love-love-love this!), grabbed a late burger at Five Guys, and came home in time for Aidan to pass out for a brief nap. I caught the end of our neighborhood Harvest Festival with Kiana while Daddy took him home to sleep.



Saturday we chilled out to recover from the running around, and Sunday, Daddy took the kids out to play at the playground a few times so I could get some work done (Lord of the Rings and IR book revisions at the moment, alternating with Post-Doc applications). Kiana even got to play soccer, with Aidan! :) Now it's a short week -- hooray!


PS Cute quotes from Aidan this week:
- "Kiana, did you WAGGLE me?" (he loves making up his own language)
- "Mama/Daddy, you're a silly CHICKmunk!"

Poem

A little extra this week: a friend of mine surprised me the other week by telling me that "you make it look easy on that blog!" [having two kids]! I was thinking about that, and the "Real Baby Book" that Grandpa Ruane talks about making (one that captures the tears and fits and mess, not the smiles!). And then I saw a poem on our local parent list-serve that is just wonderful. And I wanted to share -- I love the feeling of this poem, because it captures the chaos and craziness of life with kids - even though, of course, in the end, it is all worthwhile. :) Enjoy!

PS The photos here are a nice visual, too!

"Advice to Myself."
-- Louise Erdrich

Leave the dishes.
Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator
and earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.
Leave the black crumbs at the bottom of the toaster.
Throw the cracked bowl out and don't patch the cup.
Don't patch anything. Don't mend. Buy safety pins.
Don't even sew in a button.
Let the wind have its way, then the earth
that invades as dust and then the dead
foaming up in gray rolls under the couch.
Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.
Don't keep all the pieces of the puzzle
or the doll's tiny shoes, don't worry
who uses whose toothbrush or if anything
matches, at all.
Except one word to another. Or a thought.
Pursue the authentic.
Go after it with all your heart.
Your heart, that place
you don't even think of cleaning out.
That closet stuffed with savage mementoes.
Don't sort the paperclips from screws from saved baby teeth
or worry if we're all eating cereal for dinner
again. Don't answer the telephone, ever,
or weep over anything that breaks.
Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartons
in the refrigerator. Accept new forms of life
and talk to the dead
who drift in through the screened windows, who collect
patiently on tops of food jars and books.
Recycle the mail, don't read it, don't read anything
except what destroys
the insulation between yourself and your experience.

Vacation

Daddy had a conference in Paris this week, so the rest of us went on vacation in the Catskills with Grandma and Grandpa Ruane! Aidan took the week off from playschool, Grandma and Grandpa helped drive us up, and we all hung out in the beautiful countryside.





Unfortunately, it rained most of the week: on Friday, it even rained so much that the two nearby bridges flooded! It just happened for a little while, although it was long enough to build up debris piles. Fortunately, tractors soon came to clean up the roads, and we all got to watch! (Aidan LOVED it!)








When it wasn't raining, Aidan played ping pong with Grandpa and helped him rake leaves and take care of the house (such a great helper!), and Kiana investigated the flowers in the garden and the trees and everything. When it was raining, Aidan helped Grandma cook (they made chocolate nut candies in Grandma's plastic molds - yum!), drew pictures of trains with Grandma, went to the library with Grandpa and got more books and a video (and managed to only watch little bits of it!), read books, puttered around. Kiana wasn't thrilled to be stuck inside, but was happy to watch Aidan, and tried out a Bumbo seat for the first time (thanks, Chris & Jim!)!






Daddy flew back to NYC on Thursday, worked Friday morning, and then took a bus up to Kingston Friday afternoon. Aidan and Grandpa picked him up from the bus stop, and then we were all together again! (Our first major separation since Kiana was born! Success. :) ) We all went on a scenic train ride on Saturday, where Aidan got a red balloon dog and we saw some more of the post-flood river spots. On Sunday, we drove home first thing in the morning (9AM): Kiana slept the whole way (yay!), and Aidan chilled out, so it was easy. We briefly checked out the Medieval Festival (Kiana *hated* it both of the two times I tried it with her), and Aidan went downtown on the trains with Daddy to Five Guys for lunch (Kiana had a fit, so we went home for a nap.) It's nice to be home!





In other news:

AIDAN: A couple of weeks ago, Daddy whistled at Mommy when I came out wearing a dress, and Aidan asked: "Daddy, why did you whistle at Mommy?"
Daddy: "She is so beautiful, I thought she was a bird!"
Aidan: (paused a few minutes, thinking, then laughs): "Haha! Mommy! Daddy thought you were a bird!!!!"
Then last week, when Aidan was talking to Kiana in his high baby-talk voice (like the one Mommy uses with Kiana), saying things like "hey, little girl, don't cry, little girl", he turned to me and told me that he was talking to Kiana in his "birdy voice" (!!!) I'm not sure if these are related, but he's pretty cute! :)




KIANA:
This week, Kiana tried a big bath for the first time! We've been doing bathtime in the sink until now, because it's easy for Mama to do by herself. But last night, Daddy was around, so I took her in the bath with me and she had a pool-sized upgrade! She was pretty impressed, and really liked the water coming out of the faucet and having me pour cups of water over her fingers and tummy and toes. :)