Fire Drills

A few weeks ago I picked Graeme up at school (the glorified way in which I refer to his day care center to make myself feel better about sending him) only to find that he was in time-out for refusing to wear his coat on the playground when it was 40 degrees outside. Graeme hasn't fully adjusted to school and has had a good share of "acting out" moments, so each day when I retrieve him I brace myself for the report from his teachers. Finding him in time-out wasn't a great surprise, but heart-breaking nonetheless.

While I was chatting with him teacher about the latest transgression Graeme was climbing around on some benches near us. Next thing I know the fire alarm is going off in the building and I turn to see Graeme's hands on the pull lever and his eyes wide. They weren't quite the "oh-shit, I've done something wrong" eyes. More the "oh-wow, that's a loud sound, wait I'm scared" look. I shared the "oh, I'm scared" look because I was sure we were going to be kicked out of school...both of us.

The Director quickly came running and ushered everyone out of the building. The two year olds were scared and the babies were crying while being shoved into cribs on wheels and pushed into the parking lot. (Recall, it was only 40 degrees, and starting to drizzle at this point.) I apologized several times and to the school's credit they took it in stride, claiming that they were due for a fire drill. Given that no one seemed to know what to do it clearly was a needed drill, but I was a bit embarrassed to be part of the cause.

We sat around with the rest of the nervous children and waited for the fire truck to arrive, which quickly became the focal point and relieved any fears the kids were experiencing.

Is this what it means to have a precocious child?

Visit from the Cousins

Last Friday my brother, Ryan, sister-in-law, Julie, and their three kids, Jack, Will and Dillon trekked to Arlington from OCMD (Ocean City, Maryland) to meet Ian. Graeme LOVES his cousins, whom he collectively refers to as "Jack." It was a fun afternoon where the boys all played and Ryan and Julie showered Ian with love. We can't wait to see them at Christmas.

Junk for the Mind and Body

All is going well in our family of four, though Graeme has been acting a bit out of control the last few days. He's fabulous with Ian, but a pain in the ass with Steve and me. Graeme has always been a bit obstinate, but the last few days he's been almost unbearable. EVERYTHING is a battle (getting dressed, eating, playing, walking, bathing, talking). We are trying to be patient, but feeling a bit short-tempered ourselves.

Last night Steve and I did a bit of psycho-analysis and decided to tweak some external factors in his life, as opposed to modifying our parenting. (Not that our parenting doesn't need modifying, but it's easier to start with the external stuff.) We've fallen into a not-so-great habit of letting Graeme watch videos or TV in the morning while we get ready for work. Sometimes this bleeds over into a "show" (as he calls them) in the evening. It's always age-appropriate, but TV nonetheless. In addition, we've been the lucky recipients of nightly meals from our family, friends and neighbors, all of which include a fabulous dessert. We have much more sugar in the house than usual and hence Graeme has much more sugar in his belly than usual. We thought we would try to reduce his intake of both the TV and sugar to see if this made a difference in his behavior.

Well, I certainly know better than to draw conclusions from a single datapoint, but Graeme had no TV today and only one sweet and his behavior was so much different than the last few days. Only two meltdowns...one almost immediately after eating a banana chocolate chip muffin (damn you, Daddy for giving it to him). In fact, the change in his behavior was so immediate after eating the muffin (homemade with wheat flour, but still) that it would be almost impossible not to attribute the sugar surge to his screaming meltdown. It was such a pleasure to have my good natured, sweet little boy back for most of the day.

So, we will continue the restrictions tomorrow to see if it helps deflect the meltdowns.

Kicked out of bed

Madison decided to take over Ian's bed so he's been "forced" to sleep on Steve. While Madison remains as skittish as ever and has kept her distance from Ian she can't resist his warm, cozy bed.

Ian has thus far been a very, very easy baby. He sleeps, grunts, eats, repeat. We've had a few fussy hours in the middle of the night, but nothing that isn't manageable. Graeme is adjusting so well to being a big brother. We've been trying to keep his routine as normal as possible and are giving him our first attention as much as we can. In fact, tonight I was ignoring Ian's cries while helping Graeme eat a cupcake treat. After a minute or two he said, "Mommy, pick up Ian." As if to say, please tend to the crying baby, I can take care of myself! We feel very fortunate, indeed.

Shark Attack

The cutest darn shark you've ever seen was prowling through the neighborhood on Halloween.

Happy Birthday Steve!

Daddy and his boys, as well as a family photo on Steve's 41st birthday.

We celebrated with steaks, grilled eggplant, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes. The delicious meal was topped off with a cake, baked by Grandma E and decorated by Graeme. Graeme was so excited about the cake. After singing Happy You You (Graeme's version of happy birthday) he said "Get me a fork, move the stars (candles)!"

A Family of Four

Welcome Ian Brown Maguire

Sunday, October 28, 2007

12:30PM

7 pounds 13 ounces

19.25 inches