Cold Spaghetti

Will, peaking out from under his bucket-hat.  

Sunday night dinner! Leftover spaghetti from Nardo’s. Within seconds after this picture was taken, he managed to get this tiny bit of spaghetti throughout his hair, on his right eyelid, and up his nose (really, he sneezed spaghetti.)  

On Saturday in Audubon Park. Notice Will is waiting patiently, hammer in hand, for those ducks to get just a little closer….. 

Will reminded us of our favorite line from the movie Parenthood. He dumped out all of the legos from the container and spent the evening wearing the bucket on his head. He would put the bucket on his head, and then walk until he hit or fell on an object (another toy, the gate, the wall, furniture, a cat, etc.) It was hysterical. Every once in awhile, he’d peek out to see what was around him, but for the most part, he’d just continue to bang on whatever he’d hit over and over again with his head. We were laughing too hard to stop. We did get some video of it (but of course the tape only had about 20 seconds left!) Sometimes, as a parent, all you can do is sit back, watch, and wonder.

Today Will is 14 months old — and celebrated by showing how hard he can work on the computer! (Just like Mommy and Daddy!)  

We are having a rough week. Or a least a rough couple of days.

Will is (again) having problems sleeping soundly. He has joined us in bed during the wee hours of the last few nights, and for some reason, is more and more restless. (Particularly with me. His purpose of coming into bed with us seems to be to beat me up.) Thankfully, Paul has taken pity on me and taken Will to the front room where they sleep together for the rest of the night on the couch.

It’s been a rough week for me with classes — steep learning curves to climb in the start of some particularly challenging courses have meant long hours downtown and more hours at home. Will not sleeping soundly is definitely not helping. To make matters worse, I encountered some serious computer issues and Paul is now staying up all night wiping clean my computer… which means I’m even more behind on time and both of us are totally sleep-deprived.

Keeping things even more interesting, Will and I are both sniffly. I think mine is the result of horrible allergy attacks this weekend (we kicked up a lot of dust during our marathon cleaning this weekend — and it’s pretty much made me miserable) . However, the severity of the attacks and the lasting symptoms am starting to make me think I could be entering antiboditic territory. With the cold snap, lots of folks are walking around with the sniffles, so something is definitely going around. (50 degrees in New Orleans is a cold snap… although in a house with no insulation, 50 degrees is pretty chilly.) Tuesday Will started showing similar sniffly and sneezy symptoms, which is enough to make any mother nervous and concerned. He seemed better today, though.

Parenting is fun and kids are great… but some days are definitely rougher than others!

Teeth: 8 (four on bottom, four on top)

Words: Ma-ma, Da-da, Gato, Thank You, PapPap, Uh-oh, Ouch!, Agua, Ah-Ah-Ah!, Yeah!, El-mo, Doggie (and lots more that he tries to parrot back to us). He babbles A LOT these days.

Weight: approximately 22 pounds

Walking: Yes. Usually about 6 steps before falling, or getting down on knees to go faster. He seems to try to run more than walk, which plays a large part in why he falls.

Ouch(ies): Luckily, nothing here to speak of… yet. I know this is coming, but it’s hard to think about.

Drinking: Breastmilk (usually nurses 3-4 times a day), Whole (Cow) milk, juice (pear, white grape, apple, carrot, mixed veggie, fruit punch), water

Favorite foods: Tofu anything, corn, Cheerios, Sweet Potato Puffs, Graham Crackers, Matar Paneer, Spaghetti with sauce (a new menu item), Veggie Chili (complete with onions & peppers), green beans, jello pudding, carrots, mashed potatoes, eggs (scrambled)… otherwise, seems open to try anything!

Favorite toys: Any type of hammer (he carries them around… in other words, watch out for whatever he has hidden behind his back!), Mega-Blocks “Peek-a-blocks” station, big cardboard box, ball maze, ring set(s), stacking cups, anything he can get out of the kitchen drawers.

Favorite shows: Sesame Street, The Wiggles, Teletubbies, Baby Einstein DVDs

Schedule: Up between 6-8, 2 hour nap sometime between 11-3, showertime between 7-8, bedtime (hopefully) by 9pm

Not so fun when… Will is restless at night and won’t sleep. Also not so fun when diapers leak (rare) or when Will decides to roll around and take off during a particularly interesting diaper change. Sometimes feeding is trying if he is too distracted (or not distracted enough) to eat easily.

Disposition: FUN FUN FUN — he has a great sense of humor and laughs with great big belly laugh! He is easy-going, takes change with no problem, is friendly to strangers. He sometimes cries when Mommy leaves the room, but recovers quickly and happily plays with babysitters, friends, and family.

Activity Level: Playful! Copies actions and words, runs or crawls into our arms, gives zerbers, will do raspberry contests back and forth, is shameless about making a diaper, plays peek-a-boo, will seek out hidden items, and loves to sing.

And as for Mom and Dad….? We had no idea being a parent could be such fun.

After a restless night with the munchkin, Paul slept in while I made a yummy breakfast of whole wheat toast, eggs & veggie patties. We took turns having a blast with Will for the morning, while the other cleaned… and when Will went down for a wonderful 2 1/2 hour nap, Paul and I tackled the bathroom off of our bedroom. We completely gutted it, scrubbed it out, re-arranged everything to make it more usable, and basically improved everything about it. There were several bathroom-related boxes from the move that we got to and unpacked as well. It was a major achievement, we feel. (Even though my poor allergies are all a mess from the effort, it was worth it!)

After Will woke up, we had a light late lunch and went for a long walk in the park. We fed the ducks (and sea gulls?!) and walked around the park for almost 2 hours. We went down the south end towards the river, which borders on the zoo (near our house) — and saw three giraffe at the zoo fence, just feet away! Fun! Then we walked up and down the streets around our neighborhood, observing the houses, yards, architecture, and general state of our lovely city, finally ending up at a newly opened neighborhood restaurant. It’s called “Nardo’s Trattoria”, the food is very good quality italian, and it has a semi-family/neighborhood/upscale bistro-style feel. The food was great — and a little after we got there, our neighbor (Linda) and daughter (Chandler) came in for an early dinner as well. We chatted with the owner of the restaurant, her mom, and the staff. Everyone was so impressed with how wonderfully behaved Will was and commented on how totally precious he is.

We then walked home, got Will to bed by 9(!), and are now doing laundry and catching up on work. Tomorrow, we have a new babysitter coming to try out… she’ll watch Will for a few hours in the afternoon and give us time to work. (Paul under the house — he has been methodically re-wiring the entire home… a serious project! — and me at the coffee shop trying to learn how to use STATA for demographic analysis!) We are thrilled at the prospect of having a few hours on a Sunday!

Select lyrics from our new favorite on Muppet Radio:

“Eatin’ Cookie” (sung by Cookie Monster to the tune “Makin’ Whoopie”)

…In the summer, it very hot

Me go to the beach, me sweat a lot

It another season, another reason

For eatin’ cookie!

Me eat them every season

Me eat them day or night

When it come to cookie

Me got healthy appetite

So if it’s winter … spring … summer … or fall

It don’t matter!

Hey, anytime at all!

If it a season, me got a reason

For eatin’ cookie!

My schedule is filled with econometrics, biostatistics, statistical analysis, literature reviews, spanish, and BABY! We are doing our best to figure out how to fit it all. Here is our rough weekly schedule, with some variations each day:

5am: Paul wakes up and gets to work by 5:30-6

6-7: Will wakes up, nurses in bed with me. I try to get him back to sleep so that I can dress while he snoozes.

8-11am: Margarita comes. I go to CC’s coffee to study or to class (Wednesdays)

11-12/1: I come home, eat lunch, feed Will, and get Will down for a nap — then leave for afternoon classes (which I have Tuesday-Friday)

5-6: I get home. Meanwhile… by 2 or so, Will has woken up. Hopefully, Paul has his hours in for the day. If not, I’m watching him at night (and not studying). Or, Paul has to squeeze in hours through the rest of the day/evening.

6-8: Try to make sure Will stays awake so he’ll go to bed at a decent hour (this is more a dream than reality)

8: Shower time for me and Will.

9-11: Try to get Will to sleep.

10: Paul goes to bed.

??: I go to bed after studying.

And then (thanks to the graciousness of my wonderful spouse) I am gifted the escape of yoga once a week.

Somehow, we are trying to make this schedule work.

I seriously wonder how anyone ever has a second child. Honestly. When would you ever have time to even think about it??