Just another Sunday

- Jack's Crazy Man Dances are now up to 17. He's keeping track in his head, evidently. I think some of them are kind of similar.

- Kate's vocabulary is increasing. "Baby" and "Pablo" are some recent ones. By far the most common ones, however, are "No," and "Mine," and "No!" Sometimes in rapid succession.

- Jack said something funny today, and I can't remember what it was. That always bugs me.

- Kate sometimes likes to be fed. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I think it might be a kind of a control thing. "I could feed myself, yes, but wouldn't it be better to make HIM feed me? He will, I know it. Yes, I will do that." When she wants food, she opens her mouth wider than necessary. When she doesn't, she not only shuts her mouth and shakes her head, but shoots me a look, like, Are you crazy? I'm not eating that. Where's the good stuff? The strawberries we had last night. That was good. I would like more of those, thank you.

- Jack was only so-so about going out to the store with me today. But when Emily suggested he could wear his new/old (Mikey's) Spider-Man rain boots, suddenly he thought it would be awesome to go outside.

- Took Kate swimming yesterday. She likes the "Wheels on the Bus" part. (You make splashes for "Horn on the bus," I move her back and forth for "Wipers on the bus," etc.) She also likes "Ring Around the Rosey," where I toss her in the air. We had fun, but at the end she was shivering. They need to keep that pool warmer.

- Jack was sneezing out projectile boogers today. We've decided that he might have allergies and are trying Claritin for kids. Doesn't really seem like he has a cold. Itchy eyes, runny nose. He's pretty agreeable about the whole thing, but it gets tiring for us to run around wiping mucus off the floor where he's standing and stuff. Yes, I know, unpleasant.

- It rained all day, so we didn't go outside. It's nice to have a day like that every once in a while. Day 2 or 3 would be a drag and we'd all be sick of each other, but one day is fine.

Dancing like a crazy man

Jack sometimes likes to do what he calls, "acting like a crazy man." I'm not sure who first coined the term, probably me or Emily. It basically involves him making really goofy faces while running around or dancing wildly. It's pretty tough to explain beyond that, so this will be a shortish blog.

"Running around like a crazy man" is where Jack, after undressing for his bath but before getting into the bath, runs naked from room to room upstairs. He's been doing this one for, oh, I don't know, a year or so now. It's pretty funny. We tell him it's time to get into his bath, but he says, "But I haven't run around like a crazy man yet!" Or, "But first I need to run around like a crazy man." Or, "Can I run around like a crazy man first?" It's pretty hard to say no to that, so off he goes. His little knees and elbows flail about and he says, "Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Woooooo!" As he runs from room to room. Even Kate doesn't know what to make of it, she just stands and watches and we try to keep her out of his way so neither one of them (or both) gets injured.

"Dancing like a crazy man" is where Jack dances, it's basically much like him running around with his elbows and knees flailing wildly, except his movements are confined to a single room. And he's not always naked. This morning he was half naked, just wearing jeans, showing Emily his "six different crazy man dances." "This is #1," he explained, running about and kicking his legs up. "This is #2," he continued, throwing his arms out and sort of boogeying in place. I walked in around #4, at which he had brought his stuffed puppy into the show. He ran about holding puppy by his front paws, making "Woooooooo!" sounds. #5 involved holding puppy by his ears, and #6 had him holding him between his knees. And dancing, of course.

Day with Jack and Kate

Emily let me sleep until 7. That was nice.

Came down and the kids were eating breakfast. Kate turned and smiled at me. Jack was already leaving the table but he at least glanced my way.

Jack and Kate watched a Backyardigans while I drank coffee and checked my email.

Emily went to work. Kate brought me the Eric Carle book with the big gorilla on it, Head to Toe or something like that. I read it to her.

I had breakfast. Jack and Kate had a second breakfast. Jack had two more bowls of cereal. It's crazy. If you give him a big bowl, he doesn't finish it. Give him a small bowl, and he'll eat 3 or 4 of them. Both ate strawberries. They like strawberries.

We went upstairs and got dressed, Kate in sweats, Jack in clothes he picked out. He did well. Emily tells me that one day last week he picked out an outfit of sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt, and an orange floral print Hawaiian shirt over it. Classic.

Went out for Jack's haircut. There was no line so Jack (who'd wanted me to read him a book at the barber, as we usually do) got to go right away. I told him I'd read a book after.

Kate walked all around the barber shop, again and again. Pausing at the barber chair each time to gaze up at Jack. The kindly old barber, Mr. Ruvo, stooped down to say hi to her. She looked at him for a long moment and then came right over to me and wrapped her arms around my legs. Oh well.

I read Kate books while Mr. Ruvo continued to cut. At one point Jack appeared to be joking with him, making small talk, I don't know. Just like a regular customer. It was funny. Then Mr. Ruvo said something to make him laugh. Jack has a great laugh.

After his haircut, when Jack climbed down from the chair, Kate wanted to climb up. When I pulled her away, she wailed. Wants to do everything just like her big brother.

I read Jack his book, a pretty lame version of "Billy Goats Gruff."

At home, we had lunch. Yogurt and avocado and ham for Kate. Hotdog and yogurt and an apple for Jack.

Kate went down for a nap, Jack watched "Cars." Daddy worked for an hour and then watched the end of the movie with Jack.

Kate woke up. We played upstairs a little, in all three rooms. Just ran around, me reading books every once in a while, or stopping Kate from banging on something with a toy or plastic toothbrush holder or Emily's contact lens case. She likes to bang things.

Came downstairs. I took a huge strip of paper off of Jack's easel and lay it on the floor. Gave Jack and Kate markers. We drew for a little bit. I drew my staples: dog, shark, dinosaur. Jack drew a happy face. Kate scrawled all over the paper, the floor, her clothes, whatever happened to be within reach.

Snacktime. Apples. Goldfish. Milk. I admit I don't know why I haven't had goldfish more often these past couple of decades. They're good!

Piggyback rides for the kids. I learned that Kate doesn't really understand the concept of an equal number of turns, and that even if she goes first, she also has to go last. And that she never wants the game to end even if Daddy's back is starting to ache painfully. Jack at least understands that, no doubt because he sees the tears of agony rolling down my cheeks. What can I say, the kids get heavy after a while. Plus there's the stress of running stooped over so I don't whack anyone's head on the doorframe.

Mommy comes home. Daddy goes to get pizza and opens a bottle of wine.

Dinner, hide and seek before bed, baths, story time, songs, good night.

A good day.

She Bangs

Kate was home sick today, although actually she was fine. She got sent home yesterday with eye boogers (that's probably the layman's term), and I got eye drops for her which cleared things up right away. Still, though, she had to stay home today.

Getting those eye drops, or getting more sleep last night, or both, made her a lot cheerier today. And what she really likes to do is bang things with other things.

First she walked around with a couple of plastic pirates from Jack's pirate ship. She likes banging them together, and laughing about it.

Then she walked around with plastic toothbrush holders. Which she likes to bang together. And laugh about it.

Then she decided she really liked the noise it made when you banged something against the side of the TV upstairs. First she banged things against the screen, which I quickly put a stop to. But then she banged things against the side, which I requested she stop. She did. For a moment. Then started again. The pirate, the toothbrush holder, Emily's contact lens case. All made slightly different banging sounds. She enjoyed it.

She also enjoyed my getting up to stop her. I stood up, she screamed with laughter and ran around behind the TV. I sat back down, she came around to the side, looked pointedly at me, and banged it again. I asked her not to. She paused. Started again. I got up. She laughed and ran around behind the TV.

Finally, I brought her downstairs and sat her down by her drum. Handed her her drumsticks. For about a minute, she banged.

Then lost interest, and wandered out to the kitchen looking for food.

Missing them

I've been away from the kids for the last week, helping my parents out up in Vermont. Until you spend that much time away, you don't realize the things you'll miss.

- I miss Jack saying after dinner, "Did I do pretty well?" (i.e., do I get to have dessert?)

- I miss Kate bringing me over a book like Backyardigans or Brown Bear, Brown Bear to read to her.

- I miss Jack placing whatever toy he's favoring this week on the little table next to the kitchen table while he eats his food.

- I miss Kate getting excited when she sees The Backyardigans on the TV.

- I miss Jack asking me to play Superheroes.

- I miss Kate trying to put on her own shoes or slippers.

- I miss singing Kate swing on a star and singing Jack high hopes before bedtime.

- I miss giving them baths.

- I miss getting Kate at school and having her run into my arms.

- I miss getting Jack at school and having him casually continue playing with his friends, but his little face lighting up at my being there.

- I miss Jack talking about his day. I miss Kate just making her random talking noises, which sometimes include "Daddy."

- I miss the two of them running around the backyard. I miss the two of them running around the driveway.

- I only kind of miss Kate wailing as I strap her into her car seat.

- I miss Kate standing up in her crib and babbling excitedly when I come to get her after her nap.

- I miss Jack coming in in the mornings, pointing out the clock radio and the fact that it's after 6 o'clock, and then giving me his stuffed toys while he goes in the bathroom to pee. I further miss him then shuffling into his room with his pajamas around his ankles to get a pair of underwear on.

- I miss making Lego structures with Jack. I miss doing block puzzles with Kate.

- I miss my kids.

Friday in the driveway

The gloomy weather gets to us all, so it was nice to have a sunny afternoon yesterday to get outside with the kids. First we tried the backyard, which was still wet and snow-covered. Jack was a little uncertain but ran around anyway, largely keeping to the grassy patches. Kate looked doubtful, but ran off in a straight line anyway, directly into some snow. After a little bit, she slipped and put her hand in the snow. She straightened up, gazing at her cold, wet hand with chagrin. Her face was slightly scrunched with disappointment, so I ran over and scooped her up. I said, OK, let's check out the driveway. Jack agreed with this plan.

In the driveway, it was dry (and a little sandy) and both kids ran around happily. I'd brought out the little basketballs and pulled the hoop out into the driveway, which Jack enjoyed for a few seconds and then wanted his bike. And Thomas. Thomas was a gift he'd been given by the Rosenfelds when he was under 2 years old. It's a riding train that plays the Thomas the Tank Engine theme and makes choo-choo sounds. Now he's too old for it and too big for it, and loves it more than ever. I got him to give passing interest to his bike, which he enjoyed for a bit, but, you know, it's more work than Thomas is. Which is OK at first but gradually he's thinking, this is difficult, Thomas is easy! Whee!

So Jack rode Thomas and Kate chased one of the basketballs around the driveway, shrieking and clicking her tongue making her dolphin noises. Every few minutes the ball would head toward the street, and I'd track it down and give it to her, and she'd take it ("Tchoo," she'd say, or Thank you), run over to the hoop, drop it through, and it would begin the long, slow roll toward the street. We did this for about half an hour, interrupted by bouts when she'd want a turn on Thomas, Jack would let her have one, then start saying about 1 minute in "Is it my turn yet?" "Is it my turn yet?" "She's been on it for a while. Is it my turn yet?" And then she'd want to try his bike, which was definitely too big for her, but she'd try to put her foot up onto a pedal anyway. And then she'd lose interest and go back to playing basketball, her basketball, where the ball went through the hoop and began its long slow roll, and she'd run after it laughing and clikcing and shrieking, and I'd make sure her path didn't intersect with Thomas', and I'd again try to interest Jack in his bike, and he'd try again for another minute or two, which went well when it was going on a downslope, like when it was headed toward the street.

Every once in a while I'd get to stand and just watch them running around, enjoying the warm weather, enjoying their toys, and then I'd have to intercept everything: the ball, Thomas, Jack, and Kate, all embarking on a slow journey toward the fortunately not very busy street yet again.