Nearly an age

I spent the morning alone in the apartment, cleaning. Michael took the boys to Target and Chuck E Cheese while I worked, uninterrupted. I had to dig us back out from under the holiday accumulation. I'm not finished completely, but after 4 hours and 6 loads of laundry, 8 bags of stuff gathered to go to pregnant or recently pregnant friends, Elias' clothing mostly organized into bins and accessible storage areas, and an organized and cleaned closet (swept and mopped) in my bedroom, I feel mostly satisfied with how the day has gone. Seriously, it was so bad that I haven't been wearing a bra for a few days because I can't find the one that fits me amidst the mess of my bedroom. (Yes, I really only have one that I like to wear. Probably time to take a trip to the store.)

Oh, and we got a new rug for the livingroom. We all really like it. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)


I have so much to say. It will likely come out in random order.

First, it is a milestone night after a long and strange and sad week. The milestone is that Elias has slept in his bassinet for the final time, and tonight, thanks to a space that opened up in the room earlier today, he is sleeping in a pack n play at the foot of our bed. I waited with Kindred until he was 6 months to move him onto his crib and out of our room. (I broke rules. The bassinet is made for children under 3months and 15 pounds who cannot roll over or reach the sides. But Kindred preferred to be swaddled when he slept, so he didn't move much. I figured he was safe and kept him there for longer than was allowed.) Elias, however, greatly dislikes the swaddle and prefers instead to flail about at night and curl up into a backwards C position with his head stretched strangely so that it almost sits on the top part of his back. When he was in the bassinet, he would press his forehead into the head of the bassinet and push with his feet, and it always scared me that he would unintentionally break his little neck or something. I knew it was time to make the move. But because he still wakes up once in the middle of the night to eat, I want to keep him in our room for now. (Of course, I also fear moving him into Kindred's room because Kindred is such a great sleeper and I don't want Elias to disturb him. They are a weird combination. Elias can sleep through anything but wakes more frequently to eat or make noise, then conks right out again. Kindred would undoubtedly wake up if Elias started crying, and I don't know if he could go back to sleep, especially if it were closer to dawn. How do people make that transition?) So Elias, my baby, is growing up. At 5months.


He really is growing up. He has gotten such good control over his hands that he can almost take his pacifier out of his mouth and put it back in the correct way. He sees something he wants and will reach for it. He even nearly scooted forward while he was on his tummy the other day to reach a toy that was just a few inches outside of his arm span. He laughs sometimes at just funny looks, and he talks and talks in his own little language. I remember Kindred only talking when his fingers were in his mouth. Elias is often the same way. He gnaws on anything he can get his gums on. I'm not sure if he's teething yet, but if not, he is close. He's practicing sitting up. (It isn't working great yet, but he doesn't give up.) He adores his brother and will watch him for hours. Elias laughs at Kindred, talks to him, gives him kisses, kicks him, pulls at his clothes, and never takes his eyes off him when they are in a room together.

Elias has an appointment with the doctor on Tuesday and I will have stats then. His only trouble now is with his sleeping and pooping. We have gotten more and more afraid to leave him with a babysitter, only because if he wakes up after going to sleep at night, or if he doesn't sleep and gets overtired, he completely falls apart. He cries his head off, and nothing you can do will stop him. I'm sure it will stress out someone who might watch him. It stresses Michael out. And he poops on average once a week. I know this isn't as awful as it sounds since I am still nursing him, but it makes me a little concerned and I think it makes him a bit uncomfortable. He pushes and pushes and nothing comes out. A few days ago I spread out plastic on my bed and tried the Q-tip trick on him, and it accomplished partly what it was meant to, but I didn't get the explosion I was expecting. (And the funniest part is that Elias will scream bloody murder is I try to get a booger from his nose, but stick half a Qtip in his butthole and he could care less.) I guess we'll ask the doctor about this, but I'm nervous he's going to demand some sort of test on Elias and give him some wacky prescription that it is likely a simple little dose of prune juice could solve. Otherwise, Elias is in great shape and getting cuter every day. (He really is the most darling after a good sleep and after a good poop.)


Kindred is about to turn 2. I can't comprehend how much he is growing and learning. He blows my mind. He has started skipping on the sleep part of his naps every once in a while, an instead sits in his crib and talks and sings to his animals. Or he says parts of books he remembers, or he names everything in his room. He has pages of books memorized, and he remembers far more words to songs than I expect him to. He came to me yesterday and asked, "Mama, seeng happy knowyit song?" He will pick up the phone and pretend to call someone, usually gyammie and papap, and he'll say, "Hi! Hayadoin? Byebye see ya." He even strings lots of words together to make a statement: "No Jidjid go ahside pay football. Sew cood ahside." [translation: No Kindred go outside play football. Sooo cold outside."] Oh, and this is funny. Michael has a pair of Eagles socks that he got for Christmas, and now anytime he puts any of his socks on around Kindred, Kindred yells, "Go Eagles!"


He takes pretty good care of Elias, and lays down next to Elias on the floor and announces, "Tummytime!" Sometimes he "helps" Elias roll over. He kisses Elias unprompted, and gives him toys or chooches when he is sad. It's wonderful to watch their interaction. (Not that he doesn't get annoyed every now and again, but he doesn't hurt Elias on purpose ever which is nice.)

It snowed here a few days ago and Kindred, Elias and I went outside to play for a little while. We played tag and had a blast.


Tonight in the car we were all coming home from visiting India. Elias was screaming screaming screaming in the backseat. Kindred noticed that we were passing the Ben Franklin Bridge, the big bridge near where he watched the fireworks go off on New Years Eve. So he starts going, "BOOM! BOOM! Mama Dada fireworks say BOOM! BOOM!" Welcome to the rest of our lives.

My eyes are crossing. I will end now. (But let me list the sad strange week details: An old co-worker of mine, a good friend, died suddenly last week. A friend of Lara's lost her baby. A wonderful fireball of a woman who was a cornerstone member of our church died this week, three weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. One week, 2 funerals. Thank goodness for India, a bright light of the week's events. Bracing to see what next week holds.)

Next week Elias is 5 months old, Kindred is a week away from 2, and my blog will turn 1. (My first post was January 26.)

Goodnight.