Feeding Ian

We have a new routine in our house....solid food for Ian! He's digging the rice cereal and sweet potatoes, and Graeme is quite a help, literally. I love this stage with babies. There's something about introducing new foods that excites me. I mean each taste, smell and texture is so very new in such a tangible way. You can see it on Ian's face. I don't really consider myself a foodie, which is maybe why I can get excited about mashed sweet potatoes. I'm hoping to do a better job with Ian's taste buds than I've done with Graeme. Steve reminds me that taste is probably primarily hard-wired, but I don't think I was ambitious, or patient enough with introducing Graeme to new foods and now he's a chicken nugget kid. Ian is getting an avocado for breakfast, and he's going to like it, by gum!

Mouse in the House

Oh yes, you read that correctly. We have an unwelcome guest in our house. I came downstairs this morning and Madison was scurrying around a trunk we have at the base of the landing on the stairs. I got a sinking feeling and called Steve. Sure enough, she had found a mouse. It ran into the corner by the door. Graeme, Ian and I jumped onto the couch, while Steve went to the basement to retrieve mouse evacuation equipment (i.e., a broom and a bucket). We then opened the front door and tried to politely encourage it to leave peacefully. When that failed it ran behind the couch and we gave up. I sent Steve to Rite Aid for some traps (on the advice of
the neighbors who were walking their dogs and witnessed all the commotion at 6:30AM). We put a trap by the couch and were hoping for some remnants this afternoon. I am so uninterested in being humane right now. The damn cat retreated to the bedroom where she probably slept all day while the thrill of a lifetime ran loose throughout our house.

At one point the mouse ran into the play farm we have in the living room. "Mousie's in my farm," Graeme declared. Yes, dear, it does belong on a farm, but not this one. I grew up in the country and love returning to my roots, but I'm all about being a city girl here in Arlington and have no interest in playing farm for real.

We returned home to a very untouched trap. Graeme and Ian were both exhausted after a long day at school, so the dinner hour was a chorus of various decibels of wailing. We scarfed down some food and stuck them in the tub. About half-way through the bath Graeme decided that he had to poop - and once that train leaves the station there's no stopping it. Yes, please feel my pain and don't really try to imagine how very, very, very disgusting it is to have poop floating in your tub. I scooped Ian up before the offending material hit the water and yelled for Steve to retrieve Graeme. I then went to stick Ian in the crib while we got Graeme together only to find what I am pretty darn sure was mouse droppings on Graeme's sheets. Did we like forget to say thank you for something, or is all the shit quite literally hitting the fan (or water) at once this week? I put Ian on the toddler bed instead and got Graeme put together while Steve changed sheets. Both boys are finally asleep, even Ian who is on day two of sleep training (another post - I was up no fewer than 4 times last night getting him back to sleep).

We now have two traps set with the finest peanut butter and are hoping Mr. Mousie enjoys the dinner party we've arranged for him.

Pull-ups

For months now we've been easing Graeme into potty training. A long time ago we pulled out the potty that my friend, Victoria, gave us. Every night at bath time we have encouraged Graeme to use it. At first he was using it about once a week, and now we are up to several times a day. I spontaneously created a little song when he was successful and now he asks for the song when he wants to pee. "Can you do song, Mommy?" He gets so excited to hear the little song and dance that I do. We've now graduated into pull-ups. Not exclusively, but on occasion, because the buggers are about double the price of diapers and he goes through them just as quickly. In fact, he goes through them quicker because he can put them on himself. More than occasionally I will find him stripped naked and putting on a brand new pull-up because "I don't want McQueen anymore. I want Mater," referring to the characters from Cars that don the boys size 2T-3T Huggies brand pull-ups. The other day we were in the bathroom together (parents don't pee on their own, you know) and Graeme, very excitedly said, "Mommy you have pull-ups too!" So now in our house we talk about Mommy and Daddy's pull-ups and how it's important not to pee in your pull-ups. A lesson I've thankfully mastered.

Where'd I Go, and Happy Birthday to Me

I didn't fall off the planet, I just went back to work. I guess that's sort of like falling off the planet. In addition to returning to work 3 days a week on March 31, RESOLVE had its big Family Building Conference on April 12 which I had somewhat ambitiously agreed to chair last fall when I was doped up on pregnancy hormones. The conference was a success, but a ton o' work, and not without it's headaches. It felt good, though as the chair I spent most of the day of the event talking to hotel staff about AV equipment, tables, chairs, signage, sandwiches, drinks, elevators, lighting, table skirts, outlets, parking, etc., etc. All of the absolutely mundane details that make a large-scale conference work, but provide very little soul-feeding, which is part of why I do this stuff. There were definitely a few "touched people's lives moments" which I'm not up for summarizing now, plus it's easier to just link here where it's summed up much better than I could do. At any rate, it's over, glad I did it, need a big fat break. Since that event, I have been indulging myself in my family and haven't had a chance to sit down and write about it.

Today is my birthday and the last year of my 30's, though Steve likes to tell me that I'm in my 40th year. I can't really wrap my brain around that fact, kind of like I can never remember if we're in the 20th or 21st century. It was a fabulous birthday that started with Graeme serenading me with Happy Birthday Mommy at 8AM (Steve and my mom let me sleep in which was nice because I drank way too much wine the night before at a great, I mean "tight" dinner party - did you know that "tight" is the new "awesome", or so I'm told by the 15 year old son of the hosts). The serenade was followed by an immediate card and present opening fest. Graeme could not contain himself with the presents and insisted that I read his card about 42 times. Steve gave me a fabulous dress - he really, really, really always picks the best clothes for me - and the boys gave me a cool necklace. After breakfast and a good run with Graeme in the jog stroller I showered and then did something totally crazy, but it was rather fun, I think, maybe, no not really, it was hell, but I did it and never have to go again. I took Graeme (and Ian) to a 3 year old birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. What the h--- was I thinking? It really deserves a post in and of itself. In exchange for allowing Steve to nap while we were at the party Graeme and I took a long nap this afternoon. We then had a family BBQ and ended the day with a walk to Maggie Moos. It was really one of the best birthdays I can remember. If the RESOLVE conference didn't remind me that I'm a damn lucky girl, than today did.