Clio recently figured out the whole concept of presents. Needless to say, she was thrilled when the postman delivered a big, beautiful box of gifts from Great Granddad and Great Bonnie. She actually did very well with the idea that some of the gifts were for Eleri, too, and later, when she went back into the box of ribbons and bubble wrap, showed me "Eleri's box," which did indeed come with a very special set of ceramic baby dishes for Eleri. (Clio uses the bowl from the adorable enamelware baby set that Great Bonnie gave her as a pouring device in the tub.)
Clio's favorite new item (so far) is this charming fabric umbrella.
I missed it when she picked up the umbrella and said "This is my umbrella. Good bye, I'm going to Titi's House!" (Titi's House is Day Care), so here I am trying to recreate it. In my haste, I forgot, once again, that video does not go vertical. There must be plenty of other idiots like me out there, though, because Windows Movie Maker has a "video effect" that rotates your movie the perfect 270 degrees.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Two unrelated updates with no photos
Clio has a new friend. An imaginary friend, Ant. She's been obsessed with ants ever since Marco, a 6-year old at Day Care who, quite frankly, I think Clio has a little crush on, showed her how to spot them on the sidewalk in front of his building. Now, she'll carry "My Ant" around in her cupped palm, or say we need to wait for Ant to come with us before we leave the house. It's actually kind of tender and sweet. (Let's see if I still think so several years down the line when we've indulged this little fantasy and have a houseful of terrariums, or whatever.)
Clio also tried a cupcake for the first time. Usually, Dave manages to avoid the big dessert moment at birthday parties, but this weekend, at Zoe's disco dance party, all the kids were sitting at a long, low table, and Clio was watching with great interest as all the other little faces got covered in chocolate icing. I convinced Dave to cave, and he presented her with a mini-cupcake (from which he had removed all the frosting.) Watching her eat the thing was hilarious, and I wish I had it on film: it was sitting in front of her on the table, and she leaned forward, hands free, to take a bite directly with her mouth. She continued to do this, and despite a deliciousness factor that was clearly off the charts, Clio refused to get her hand dirty to get it all into her mouth.
I ate the leftovers, and Clio has a sugar rush that resulted in an hour of wild dancing with her Dad. It looked like a lot of fun!
Clio also tried a cupcake for the first time. Usually, Dave manages to avoid the big dessert moment at birthday parties, but this weekend, at Zoe's disco dance party, all the kids were sitting at a long, low table, and Clio was watching with great interest as all the other little faces got covered in chocolate icing. I convinced Dave to cave, and he presented her with a mini-cupcake (from which he had removed all the frosting.) Watching her eat the thing was hilarious, and I wish I had it on film: it was sitting in front of her on the table, and she leaned forward, hands free, to take a bite directly with her mouth. She continued to do this, and despite a deliciousness factor that was clearly off the charts, Clio refused to get her hand dirty to get it all into her mouth.
I ate the leftovers, and Clio has a sugar rush that resulted in an hour of wild dancing with her Dad. It looked like a lot of fun!
Vital Stats
We took the girls to the Doctor this morning for their 2-year and 1-week well visits. Everyone is healthy and happy, and it was quite an adventure juggling the two in one Doctor's office, even with two of us parents (Eleri pooped all over everything, twice, while Clio played a little game of Escape, dashing out of the room many, many times.)
At any rate, here are the basic stats:
CLIO= 27.5 pounds, 35 inches
ELERI= 9 pounds, 21 inches
Dave, in particular, was shocked to discover that Eleri is "only" in the 75th percentile. "You mean 25% of babies are BIGGER than 9 pounds at 1 week?" He couldn't seem to wrap his head around it.
At any rate, here are the basic stats:
CLIO= 27.5 pounds, 35 inches
ELERI= 9 pounds, 21 inches
Dave, in particular, was shocked to discover that Eleri is "only" in the 75th percentile. "You mean 25% of babies are BIGGER than 9 pounds at 1 week?" He couldn't seem to wrap his head around it.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Second Child Syndrome
Is it starting already?
I was checking our photo archive to see whether or not Eleri looks like Clio as a newborn, and noticed that at this stage in Clio's existence we had taken over 100 pictures of her; we've taken maybe half that many in the last five days, and truthfully, most of them are in some way of or about Clio.
So I just snapped this one to share a rare glimpse of Eleri awake.
We went to Zoe's disco dance birthday party yesterday, and I took Eleri to pick up our veggies from the CSA Saturday morning, and everyone I ran into was surprised that I was out already (WITH the baby), and commented about how cautious we are with first children; indeed, I don't think I left the house until Clio was about a week old, and she didn't make a real outing until my mom and I took her with us to lunch on her 10th day. In a way, this change in attitude definitely has to do with the confidence we've earned over the past two years of raising a daughter, and our faith that ordinary outings are not going to "break the baby." There is also a related casualness, stemming, I think, from the gradual understanding that perfection isn't possible in parenting, and often "good enough" will have to do. Take Eleri's name. At Zoe's party, our friend Peter asked where it came from, and if it is pronounced "el-AYE-ree." He'd never heard it before, and so looked it up. Funny thing is, the name, spelled Ellery, had been on our early list and removed for a handful of reasons. But when I saw what I thought was the Celtic (read: Irish) spelling of the name, I was sold. Plus, I had been discharged from the hospital, transport was on the way with a wheelchair, and the last piece of business was putting a name on the birth certificate. So we made a fast decision, and only AFTER we came home did I discover that the name is not Irish but Welsh, that it is, as Peter asked, pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable, and that it doesn't really mean anything at all. Luckily, we love the name and think it suits the girl, but this kind of thing would NEVER happen with a first child.
Finally, of course, second-child-syndrome has everything to do with the demands of parenting the older child: Eleri just had to cry and wait for a few minutes tonight when she got hungry while I was doing Clio's bedtime ritual; and after the 100th time of telling Clio to be "careful," you realize that there's only so much you can do to keep a baby safe from her siblings. Right?
Now, a disclaimer. Despite Missy and Jim's claim that babies are like fires and the ocean in that you can watch them forever, I understand that photos of infants aren't that interesting, and stories about them, even if they are your own, are even less so. But so far, to me, becoming a parent of two does have its tales to tell, and I just might indulge them here.
I was checking our photo archive to see whether or not Eleri looks like Clio as a newborn, and noticed that at this stage in Clio's existence we had taken over 100 pictures of her; we've taken maybe half that many in the last five days, and truthfully, most of them are in some way of or about Clio.
So I just snapped this one to share a rare glimpse of Eleri awake.
We went to Zoe's disco dance birthday party yesterday, and I took Eleri to pick up our veggies from the CSA Saturday morning, and everyone I ran into was surprised that I was out already (WITH the baby), and commented about how cautious we are with first children; indeed, I don't think I left the house until Clio was about a week old, and she didn't make a real outing until my mom and I took her with us to lunch on her 10th day. In a way, this change in attitude definitely has to do with the confidence we've earned over the past two years of raising a daughter, and our faith that ordinary outings are not going to "break the baby." There is also a related casualness, stemming, I think, from the gradual understanding that perfection isn't possible in parenting, and often "good enough" will have to do. Take Eleri's name. At Zoe's party, our friend Peter asked where it came from, and if it is pronounced "el-AYE-ree." He'd never heard it before, and so looked it up. Funny thing is, the name, spelled Ellery, had been on our early list and removed for a handful of reasons. But when I saw what I thought was the Celtic (read: Irish) spelling of the name, I was sold. Plus, I had been discharged from the hospital, transport was on the way with a wheelchair, and the last piece of business was putting a name on the birth certificate. So we made a fast decision, and only AFTER we came home did I discover that the name is not Irish but Welsh, that it is, as Peter asked, pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable, and that it doesn't really mean anything at all. Luckily, we love the name and think it suits the girl, but this kind of thing would NEVER happen with a first child.
Finally, of course, second-child-syndrome has everything to do with the demands of parenting the older child: Eleri just had to cry and wait for a few minutes tonight when she got hungry while I was doing Clio's bedtime ritual; and after the 100th time of telling Clio to be "careful," you realize that there's only so much you can do to keep a baby safe from her siblings. Right?
Now, a disclaimer. Despite Missy and Jim's claim that babies are like fires and the ocean in that you can watch them forever, I understand that photos of infants aren't that interesting, and stories about them, even if they are your own, are even less so. But so far, to me, becoming a parent of two does have its tales to tell, and I just might indulge them here.
Friday, July 11, 2008
How's Big Sister?
When Clio came home from the playground after day care yesterday, she was so thrilled to see me that I almost cried. (There's really nothing like the love of a 2-year-old, is there?). She came into the house and gave me a huge hug before laying eyes on the baby.
The moment of truth.
Eleri was in the car seat in the middle of the living room, sleeping. Clio went right over and looked at her, and said, "there's my baby brother. He's sleeping." (We're working on the "sister" thing, and Clio has been working out the pronoun problem in general lately). She touched Eleri's hat and helped put a blanket over her and Dave said "gentle!" a hundred thousand times.
While Clio had a snack, she told us all about her baby brother-sister, how cute, how tiny, and we breathed a sigh of relief.
This morning, same story: Clio came down for breakfast and Eleri was asleep in the car seat. Clio was again nonchalant, and we sat and ate breakfast together. Until the baby started to cry. It's lucky that the baby part is so much easier the second time: I was able to pick her up and get her nursing with one arm while standing over Clio helping her with her breakfast.
And we had what may be the real Moment of Truth:
Clio took one look at this new scenario, pointed at the car seat, and sort of whimpered, "put her back." I explained that she was eating breakfast too, that babies drink special milk their mommy's make, and Clio said "you're MY mommy," and didn't seem to like me telling her that I am Eleri's mommy, too.
After breakfast, Clio spent some time trying to get into the car seat, and ultimately settled for putting her own baby in there.
She did wear her Big Sister shirt today, wanted to help with Eleri's diaper, and ultimately didn't want to leave for Day Care until she had "fed" Eleri some "peas." So I'd say we're off to an auspicious start, all things considered. I'm glad to have a day or two to transition, and it will be interesting to see what this weekend brings. (While I say that the baby part is easier, this simply comes from the knowledge of having done it before. If we could isolate just that part, it might be a piece of cake. Unfortunately, I'm sure the new terrain called "parents of two children" is highly complicated. Any special advice from the pros is welcome.)
I'll say this much: I've heard all the cliches about worrying whether there will be enough love to go around, but I think having another baby has made me love Clio double. Or triple. My heart goes out to her as her world changes, but I look forward to all the funny, wonderful things she will do and say as a sibling and important member of our expanded family.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Birthday Present, Take Two
After her unhappy encounter with the little razor scooter I originally picked out for her birthday, Clio, Dave and I headed back to Lulu's to check out the tricycles. A trike had been our original plan for her birthday gift, but apparently 2 is an in-between age in trikes, and without her there to test them out for size, I couldn't quite decide. And since Clio has now figured out the concept of presents (she keeps finding the wrapped Big Sister gifts we're planning to bring to the hospital and saying, "present for me?"), it seemed important to let her actually open something. She's still warming up to the "Classic Flyer," but I think it was a good choice in the end.
We did eventually take all the packaging off, too. It just seemed better safe than sorry.
We did eventually take all the packaging off, too. It just seemed better safe than sorry.
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