Cold Spaghetti

It was a close shave, but we have survived the madness of the past two weeks. We did it only because we’ve had wonderful HELP. First, my Mom came and stayed with us for a few days (two days longer than initially planned because we threw ourselves to the floor begging). While it was a very busy visit with Paul working around the clock and me lecturing, assistant teaching, holding office hours, translating, and volunteering, I did get to take my Mom and Kate out to lunch.
I found Jim’s Yard Service via Craigslist and decided to give them a call. Our yard was a mess and we had no time to fix it… without decent strides, there would be no pirate birthday for Will. Jim and his brother, Curtis, did a tremendous job. They moved the bricks on the dirt pile (center) and cleaned up the yard. They offered to plant and maintain anything we bought for $5…
….so I went to the The Green Parrot and bought the plants on the right (hibiscus, trained into a tree; two camellia sasquana bushes; and lantana, trained into a tree). The nursery, located right around the corner and filled with great neighborhood folk, sold them with a 25% discount and delivered them for free.Then, I posted to craigslist looking for someone to help remove the brick stairs from the back of the house… the first step in starting to renovate the back of the house. (Note: no stairs off the house!) A local contractor called us, or actually, his secretary did. Turns out, he’s a local: licensed, insured, BBB registered, etc… but his english is poor and he uses an office staff to arrange work. He found out that we are conversational in spanish and things really took off. Bottom line: we’ve got a great, experienced contractor willing to work under the radar and piece-by-peace as we figure out each step and have the funds to pay for it. Paul is hoping to pour a new foundation within the next week.Then, Paul’s Mom arrived! She’s been here almost a week. Will has been in Grandmother heaven… presents, attention, kisses, and constant playtime. Nancy spent a morning at Abeona with the kids and was there to offer extra help during my volunteer hours on Friday. She has watched Will in the afternoon, allowing me to do fun things like … get my hair cut for the first time in over 8 months! She also brought cool aprons (see above) so that I don’t have to keep washing paint out of Will’s clothes.
Saturday, we all went to the Children’s Museum. They were having a special Native American celebration: we listened to storytelling time and Will made a beaded bracelet.
Saturday night, our favorite babysitter Michelle came over and we took Nancy out to Jacque-Imos for dinner. Like Paul and I, Nancy has been adding more meat into her diet. They both seriously impressed me by sharing in one of Jacque-Imo’s signature dishes: shrimp and alligator cheesecake. This morning, Paul was invited to go to the Saints-Bengals game with our neighbors, who ended up with an extra ticket. (Note: This is a REALLY BIG DEAL.) Nancy and I took the kids to Music Together, where Kate was actively involved until we turned UP the music for dancing… and she promptly fell asleep. This afternoon, we’re going to have a little birthday party for Will so that he can open his presents from Nana, Aunt Amy, Uncle Kevin, and cousin Brayden.
We’re very sad that Nana Nancy has to leave tomorrow. But we are excited that our help is not stopping with her departure… we have a CLEANING SERVICE cleaning the house for the first time tomorrow morning!! It’s like Christmas!!

Kate, you’ve been with us for just over 6 months. Your short time with us has been filled with moments of learning. The relative ease of caring for you in those first days shocked me. I had no idea having a new baby could make me so happy. Your sweet big brother and I worked so hard, so hard, for everything… until I had you, I had no idea how sick I was at that time. The guilt of those lost moments with him plagues me. You seem to have inherited your parents warped sense of humor, intuitively knowing what makes us crazy and picking away at those pockets of sanity. For example, while every other baby on the planet is content to sit in those wonderful Bumbo seats, you fling yourself around like a fish until you’ve got enough foot leverage to push, yes PUSH, your little butt out of the seat. Twice we’ve caught you before you landed head first on our dinner plates. You remain blissfully unaware of your desire to destroy brain cells and happily throw yourself around, a free spirit ready for the fall. Having you convinced me of something that I’ve wondered for some time. I am now confident in the fact that I make the world’s most beautiful babies. One might think that being the World’s Most Beautiful Baby-Maker would make me smug. But no, in fact, it scares the pants off me. I fear that the universe will present me with one huge smack-down striking one of you ill or hurt or worse. Josefina (our Peruvian nanny) gave me a red bracelet for you to wear to ward off mal de ojo, but I just can’t get the darn thing to stay on! It is very stressful to be the mother of the World’s Most Beautiful Baby. Please remember this incredible stress I’ve gone through for you when you consider what nursing home to put me in.

Even more than the cats, which you chase around the house in that bumpy crawl, your brother is the light in your day. Dad and I can act goofy, making our voices hit ranges that would embarrass us to tears if heard by the outside world, and you’ll generally respond with a happy laugh. But Will… his mere presence is enough to put you into hysterics. We’d like to believe that the two of you share a special bond of understanding. We’ve heard that older siblings can translate the rough speak of younger ones into sounds that us old people can understand. Granna swears that Uncle Skip was practically mute until Kindergarten because I translated all of his whispers and signals with expert attention. We are waiting for Will to carry on in this tradition. You talk a lot… A LOT… and often say things with such conviction that the neighbors call to ask why we are torturing that poor woodland animal and please, for heaven sake, let it go! It would be wonderful to explain that no, we aren’t performing any sacrificial rituals, but just trying to figure out whether you’d like applesauce or bananas for breakfast. So when you say something like, “AAAAWWWGGGGHHHHHAAAAAA” we eagerly ask Will if he can tell us what you are saying. He takes each request seriously, focusing and clearing his throat to answer: “Baby Kate said ‘AAAAWWWGGGGHHHHHAAAAAA’”. I guess you two have some work to do on that sibling communication thing.

You should know that, at least during my childless days, I lived a life that generally did not accept the notion of fear. Having your brother gave me a decent sense of fear, but it wasn’t until you came along that the overwhelming, crippling sense of fear set in. I used to live in a dream bubble where the risks of the world were muted and dulled; I could convince myself that if we were to fly off a bridge and into water, I could somehow transform into AquaWoman, pulling your brother to safety. Your addition to the picture brought reality into my focus. My cape disappears when bridges are near. The fear of loosing one of you is crushing; somedays I wonder if it has the power to take over. My love for the two of you is unconditional and nontransferable. I used to think I could overcome anything. Now, I am much more aware of the limits to my heart.

– Kate is 6 months, 4 days old.
– Kate is crawling. Forward and back.

It was Bud’s Broiler, not Port of Call, that cooked up Paul’s first hamburger in 16 years. Will, who has been asking for nothing but hamburger for 4 days straight, was in heaven. It was in this memorable moment, between dipping his burger bites into his little cup of red-eye, that Will turned to me and clearly asked:

“Mommy, d’you havea pee-nus?”

I blinked and cleared my throat, quickly looking to catch the eyes of fellow diners, glancing over with smiles. Is this a conversation that we want to get into now? Here?

“No, Will. Mommies and little girls do not have them. And remember,” switching to a loud whisper, “we talk about penises at home, right?”

“Okay, Mommy.”

Pause. Another bite of burger goes in.

“Mommy?”

“Yes, Will?”

“Does Granna have a pee-nus?”

Kate, in her favorite outfit.

These and more on up on the Shutterfly photo page.

Monday morning: Kate and Will visit Dr. Milvid.

Will: 37.7 inches tall; 31.4 lbs.
Discussion: While he’s grown an inch or so in the past few months, his weight has been roughly the same for about a year! Will’s previously infected ear was “retracted,” meaning that the swelling was subsiding and it was healing appropriately. No tears, not even a flinch, when he got his flu shot.

Kate: 25.5 inches tall; 16.7 lbs.
Discussion: Ear is still infected. New antibiotic given to try. No flu shot; back in 10 days to check. When we told the doctor of Kate’s lengthy unsupported sitting, backwards scooting, and up-on-her-knees moves, Dr. Milvid gave us a sly smile and said, “Good luck. You’ve got an early walker on your hands.” “How early?” we asked, noting that Will was walking at about 13-14 months. Her answer: “This one looks like a 9-month walker.”

On Saturday morning, I took
and
to the
. We wanted to empty our fridge of the frozen bread we’ve been keeping to feed the and
and. Will did a good job of protecting Baby Kate from aggressive geese, who he told to “get back” and “be nice”. Will did a lot of talking to the birds and ducks and squirrels and geese and people. He did a good job talking to everyone. Kate enjoyed her brother’s attention, but was perfectly happy watching the animals and playing with her feet.
Every once in awhile, she shot her brother a quizzical look, having no idea what he was continuously babbling about on such a beautiful morning.

— Two Saturday afternoon teaching sessions of “Biostats & Epid 101: The Very Basics” for the handful of students without prior coursework. Why those classes aren’t pre-reqs I have no idea!

— A part-time freelance writing gig. Writing text book assignments for a technical writing course. Pay is okay, not enough for a career change but twice the slave-labor rate of being a teaching assistant.

— Mr. Strongbad, our household spider, is perhaps Mrs. Strongbad. Baby Strongbad has made a web right in front of Mommy or Daddy. Teeny-weeny-itty-bitty crab-like spider!

— Two guest lectures this week for INHL 712: Measurement and Evaluation of Maternal and Child Health Programs in Developing Countries. I’m lecturing on newborn health and developing/measuring indicators for newborn health programs.

— In-home translation during home-nurse visits for a spanish-speaking mother of twin preemies. She and her husband are desperate for english classes… I’m contemplating giving free weekly lessons, if I can figure out when.

— Twice weekly volunteer sessions at Abeona. The Reggio-Emilia philosophy (with which I agree) calls for parental volunteerism. Personally, I think that parental involvement should be a precursor for being at Abeona, but maybe that’s something to work towards as the school continues to define itself.

Kate is:
1. Sitting up unsupported for about a minute at a time.2. Getting up on her knees.We are currently working to locate diving weights.

Since birth, Kate’s hair has only grown on the front of her head and over her ears. The hair in the back is pretty much the same as the day she was born. But the hair in front and over her ears have been on the job. The poor thing got my hair genes… her hair grows directly, do-not-pass-go, do-not-collect-$200, straight into her eyes.

A few days ago, we received two wonderful packages in the mail. One was from my Aunt and Uncle, who had sent Halloween treats to the kids, including homemade super-cute no-slippy hair clippies for Kate. The other was a holiday package from Paul’s Mom, which included a hair band for Kate.

It was perfectly fitting that these arrived when they did. Because the night before their arrival, I finally got around to cutting Kate’s bangs out of her eyes.

Because she is our squirmy-wormy, I waited until she was asleep. Not my best work. Pretty awful actually.