Kate and Reanna played the piano at Ian's parents' house tonight, sitting on the bench together, Kate smiling as she plinked away. I sat next to her at dinner, and she said, "I payed peeno, Daddy." Very proud of herself.
I fed Kate pasta at one end of the table while she ate and looked around for the people she knew. "Papa!" And: "Mommy!" And: "Aunt Caffee!"
She was beautiful in a little pink dress and tights tonight.
On the way home in the car, she kicked a shoe off. "Help you, Daddy," she requested. Well Kate, I can't, I'm driving now. "Help you, Mommy-Mo," she said. She sometimes calls Mommy "Mommy-Mo," and knows she's being funny to do it.
We told her Nana and Baba were coming down for Thanksgiving. She said, "OHH!" and made a happy face.
She's been saying "Yook," a lot. "Yook, Daddy! Yook!"
Jack became quite attached to the 9-month old (Josh's) at the party, Ben. Ben was fascinated by Jack and wanted to touch his hair and face. Jack lowered his head and let Ben touch him and bat at him. At dinner, Jack wanted to sit next to Ben's high chair; it was very important to him. He got to.
When we were home, Jack said to Emily, "I want Ben to come to my birthday party."
Went to get Kate out of bed early this morning. Jack came in and asked if he could go downstairs. Before I could answer, Kate pointed at him and said "No!" It's something she does these days a little too much. I said to her, Kate, don't point at Jack like that. Kate said, "Oh. Hug? Hug." I lifted her out of her crib and she gave Jack a big hug. After the hug she said, "Nice!" (Another thing she says a lot these days.)
Jack said, "Kate, want to come in my room and read books? I can bring your hippo chair."
So they did.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday
5 a.m. Kate wakes up. She's been doing this lately. Not wailing, not unhappy and sleepy-eyed, but wakeful and calling for Mommy and Daddy. We've tried dressing her in warmer or cooler outfits, tried putting her to bed earlier or later....haven't figured it out yet. Today I went in and firmly said, "It's night time, go back to sleep." And left. She wailed for 5 minutes, then returned to babbling and stuff. Naps too long is one thought. Today I'll wake her up after a shortish nap and I guess we'll try putting her to bed later.
6 a.m. After lying in bed and maybe dozing a little over the past 45 minutes, I get her up. She's in good spirits, I feel unwell. We go through the morning ritual of her lining up all of her stuffed toys in the crib, then handing them to me one by one. "Aw-tin....Ty-nohne...Uma....Pabool....Sasha!" We lift the various Backyardigans out, then I get Katie out. I hear Jack getting up and shambling into the bathroom. As he's coming out, I turn on the hall light, surprising him with the brightness. Sorry, Jack. He rubs his eyes in confusion. We play upstairs a little bit, Emily and I taking breaks to make coffee, drink coffee, etc.
7 a.m. Coffee kicks in. Breakfast occurs. Both kids eat large bowls of cereal. I thrill Kate by discovering we do, in fact, have another box of Shredded Oats. "Dotes," she says happily. I say they can have cantelope after they finish their cereal to be sure they'll actually eat cereal, too. Kate finishes her bowl and drinks the milk in it and holds it up. "Done, Daddy! Done!" The girl is terrible at dinner time, but she's a pretty decent eater when the sun is up.
8 a.m. A mish-mash that includes TV (Backyardigans) and second breakfasts (first breakfast for me, second for them; usually waffles or somesuch). I'm working on my Saturday column when Jack brings me over an envelope of things and gives it to me. In it are little squares of paper on which he's drawn different things: a happy face, a monster, a kitty, a dog, a Mommy, a Daddy. About a dozen in all. "For you, Daddy." Awesome.
9 a.m. Kate is playing with dollhouse. "Help you, Daddy! Help you." Kate wants help, so I go over, and she's sitting the Mommy and Daddy at the table. "Help you, Daddy," she says. I help put the Daddy in the dinner chair. Kate beams. "It's dinner!" she says. Minutes later I'm across the room again and she heads into the kitchen, then back to her dollhouse. She's brought her own breakfast plate with leftover waffles out to the dollhouse. "Again, Daddy!" she says. The Daddy has fallen out of his chair, probably because his daughter woke him up at 5 a.m. and he's really tired. "Again, Daddy," she says. I tell her we need to get play food for them. "Oh," she says. She wheels the shopping cart of food over to the table. Then: "Daddy fall! Help you, Daddy! Help yoooouuuuu!"She feeds the Daddy a giant toy pancake. Better get him some coffee, too, Kate. She makes eating noises. Pretty funny. "Some? Some?" she says. Five minutes later, she's still loading up the tiny table with giant facsimiles of food. I check in. "It's dinner," she explains. The Daddy falls out of his chair again, knocked aside by a mammoth piece of bread. "Help you.....!" Kate wails. Then: "Daddy fall again!!!!!" A minute later, "Mommy fall again." Then: "I did it!" Then: "Daddy fall again." I could go on; the monologue continues for a while.
10 a.m. We decide to go to the library. Kate brings over her sneakers. "Sneakers? Sneakers?" I nod. She gets one on and hold up her foot proudly. "I did it!" she yells. "I did it!" Later, when one comes off in the car, I discover she's put them on the wrong feet. This happens, with statistical likelihood, about half the time.
11 a.m. We arrive at the library, me yelling at Kate every once in a while to make sure she's not sleeping. We go on up to the kids room and they run around while I try to find a good book for Katie. Jack picks out "Dino Hockey" for the second time. I try to talk him out of it without success. Kate plays with the puzzles; there's a turkey one that's missing the piece that's his head, which later strikes me as a little macabre. Anyway, we have fun and sign out four books, all of which I'm certain I'll be sick of within 2 days.
12 noon. We get home, eat lunch, and I put Kate down for her nap. Not as easy as you might think; she wants to stay up and play with Jack. Jack to me: "Daddy, isn't it time for Kate's nap? KATE, it's time for your nap!" Kate: "NOOOOOOOO. No! No nap. No....."
1 p.m. I put Kate down for her nap. For a little while she shakes the bars futilely, then gives in.
2 p.m. Jack breaks a toy, and holds it up for me to see. "Look, Daddy!" I say, "oh, it broke." Jack, in a deep voice, says, "Don't worry, Daddy." It's a little odd. Like he saw part of Mission: Impossible or something. Anyway, he fixes it. "Fixed it!" He's very pleased with himself.
2:15 p.m. Jack wants to play cars. And so off I go.
6 a.m. After lying in bed and maybe dozing a little over the past 45 minutes, I get her up. She's in good spirits, I feel unwell. We go through the morning ritual of her lining up all of her stuffed toys in the crib, then handing them to me one by one. "Aw-tin....Ty-nohne...Uma....Pabool....Sasha!" We lift the various Backyardigans out, then I get Katie out. I hear Jack getting up and shambling into the bathroom. As he's coming out, I turn on the hall light, surprising him with the brightness. Sorry, Jack. He rubs his eyes in confusion. We play upstairs a little bit, Emily and I taking breaks to make coffee, drink coffee, etc.
7 a.m. Coffee kicks in. Breakfast occurs. Both kids eat large bowls of cereal. I thrill Kate by discovering we do, in fact, have another box of Shredded Oats. "Dotes," she says happily. I say they can have cantelope after they finish their cereal to be sure they'll actually eat cereal, too. Kate finishes her bowl and drinks the milk in it and holds it up. "Done, Daddy! Done!" The girl is terrible at dinner time, but she's a pretty decent eater when the sun is up.
8 a.m. A mish-mash that includes TV (Backyardigans) and second breakfasts (first breakfast for me, second for them; usually waffles or somesuch). I'm working on my Saturday column when Jack brings me over an envelope of things and gives it to me. In it are little squares of paper on which he's drawn different things: a happy face, a monster, a kitty, a dog, a Mommy, a Daddy. About a dozen in all. "For you, Daddy." Awesome.
9 a.m. Kate is playing with dollhouse. "Help you, Daddy! Help you." Kate wants help, so I go over, and she's sitting the Mommy and Daddy at the table. "Help you, Daddy," she says. I help put the Daddy in the dinner chair. Kate beams. "It's dinner!" she says. Minutes later I'm across the room again and she heads into the kitchen, then back to her dollhouse. She's brought her own breakfast plate with leftover waffles out to the dollhouse. "Again, Daddy!" she says. The Daddy has fallen out of his chair, probably because his daughter woke him up at 5 a.m. and he's really tired. "Again, Daddy," she says. I tell her we need to get play food for them. "Oh," she says. She wheels the shopping cart of food over to the table. Then: "Daddy fall! Help you, Daddy! Help yoooouuuuu!"She feeds the Daddy a giant toy pancake. Better get him some coffee, too, Kate. She makes eating noises. Pretty funny. "Some? Some?" she says. Five minutes later, she's still loading up the tiny table with giant facsimiles of food. I check in. "It's dinner," she explains. The Daddy falls out of his chair again, knocked aside by a mammoth piece of bread. "Help you.....!" Kate wails. Then: "Daddy fall again!!!!!" A minute later, "Mommy fall again." Then: "I did it!" Then: "Daddy fall again." I could go on; the monologue continues for a while.
10 a.m. We decide to go to the library. Kate brings over her sneakers. "Sneakers? Sneakers?" I nod. She gets one on and hold up her foot proudly. "I did it!" she yells. "I did it!" Later, when one comes off in the car, I discover she's put them on the wrong feet. This happens, with statistical likelihood, about half the time.
11 a.m. We arrive at the library, me yelling at Kate every once in a while to make sure she's not sleeping. We go on up to the kids room and they run around while I try to find a good book for Katie. Jack picks out "Dino Hockey" for the second time. I try to talk him out of it without success. Kate plays with the puzzles; there's a turkey one that's missing the piece that's his head, which later strikes me as a little macabre. Anyway, we have fun and sign out four books, all of which I'm certain I'll be sick of within 2 days.
12 noon. We get home, eat lunch, and I put Kate down for her nap. Not as easy as you might think; she wants to stay up and play with Jack. Jack to me: "Daddy, isn't it time for Kate's nap? KATE, it's time for your nap!" Kate: "NOOOOOOOO. No! No nap. No....."
1 p.m. I put Kate down for her nap. For a little while she shakes the bars futilely, then gives in.
2 p.m. Jack breaks a toy, and holds it up for me to see. "Look, Daddy!" I say, "oh, it broke." Jack, in a deep voice, says, "Don't worry, Daddy." It's a little odd. Like he saw part of Mission: Impossible or something. Anyway, he fixes it. "Fixed it!" He's very pleased with himself.
2:15 p.m. Jack wants to play cars. And so off I go.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Attention seekers
-Kate puts on goofy plastic sunglasses with star-shaped lenses and stands at my elbow at the computer. "Seeeeee, Daddy. See me! Eyes. Eyes? Seeeeeeeeee."
- They had school pictures a couple of weeks back, and they came in yesterday. The company always gives them a little gift with one of their pictures on it; this time it was a little lunch pail kind of thing. Jack holds his up and looks at his, with a picture of him on it. "It's like a little mirror!" he said.
- Went to the playground today. Kate got hooked on climbing up the slide, then sliding down backward on her stomach. This was great fun to her. Later she moved on to the swirly slide. She climbed halfway up, and slid in a spiral down. "See me, Daddy!" she said. "Dad-day!" (Sometimes she yells "Dad-day!" Sometimes it's "Daddy-Doh!" It's more frequent for Mommy: "Mommy-Moh!") "See meeeeee..." and goes down the slide again.
- Jack likes to put his hands inside his sleeves. I vaguely recall that maybe I used to do the same thing? So his arms look like elephant trunks. And then he occasionally flaps the lengths of sleeves around. And then pulls his shirt up over his head, too. He was doing that tonight. "Mommy! OOOOOoooooh! Look at me, I'm a scary, googly monster! OOOOOOOOOOoooooh!" Then collapses in peals of laughter.
- We went out with our neighbor the other day; she takes great pictures of the kids. So we asked her to take our pictures for Christmas cards and the like. We went to the beach and she snapped about 200 pictures. Kate didn't smile much. Jack smiled too much. Hammed it up every now and again, all immortalized on film. All beautiful.
- They had school pictures a couple of weeks back, and they came in yesterday. The company always gives them a little gift with one of their pictures on it; this time it was a little lunch pail kind of thing. Jack holds his up and looks at his, with a picture of him on it. "It's like a little mirror!" he said.
- Went to the playground today. Kate got hooked on climbing up the slide, then sliding down backward on her stomach. This was great fun to her. Later she moved on to the swirly slide. She climbed halfway up, and slid in a spiral down. "See me, Daddy!" she said. "Dad-day!" (Sometimes she yells "Dad-day!" Sometimes it's "Daddy-Doh!" It's more frequent for Mommy: "Mommy-Moh!") "See meeeeee..." and goes down the slide again.
- Jack likes to put his hands inside his sleeves. I vaguely recall that maybe I used to do the same thing? So his arms look like elephant trunks. And then he occasionally flaps the lengths of sleeves around. And then pulls his shirt up over his head, too. He was doing that tonight. "Mommy! OOOOOoooooh! Look at me, I'm a scary, googly monster! OOOOOOOOOOoooooh!" Then collapses in peals of laughter.
- We went out with our neighbor the other day; she takes great pictures of the kids. So we asked her to take our pictures for Christmas cards and the like. We went to the beach and she snapped about 200 pictures. Kate didn't smile much. Jack smiled too much. Hammed it up every now and again, all immortalized on film. All beautiful.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Shampoo
Took Jack for a haircut today. Afterward the barber always uses gel to give him a neat, sharp part and shiny look. It's pretty cute.
Anyway, later on I was sitting in the kitchen with Kate, who was snacking on an apple. I heard water running in the bathroom. Jack needs to be told to wash his hands and stuff, so I thought it was a little odd. It continued running for another minute or so. "Jack?" I said. "What's up in there?"
Jack walked into the kitchen. His hair was soaking, plastered onto his forehead. It actually had kind of a style to it, like some '90s boy band act or something. And it was hilarious. "Jack," I said laughing, "What on earth have you done?"
Jack said, "I didn't want to have to have a shampoo tonight. So, I washed my hair."
After stopping laughing and snapping a couple of pictures, I brought him into the kitchen and had him lean over the kitchen sink to rinse his head out.
Kate pushed a chair up to the sink. "My turn!" she said, and then, when I said no, "My turnnnnnnnnnnnnn......" (tears).
I let her help dry Jack's hair.
Anyway, later on I was sitting in the kitchen with Kate, who was snacking on an apple. I heard water running in the bathroom. Jack needs to be told to wash his hands and stuff, so I thought it was a little odd. It continued running for another minute or so. "Jack?" I said. "What's up in there?"
Jack walked into the kitchen. His hair was soaking, plastered onto his forehead. It actually had kind of a style to it, like some '90s boy band act or something. And it was hilarious. "Jack," I said laughing, "What on earth have you done?"
Jack said, "I didn't want to have to have a shampoo tonight. So, I washed my hair."
After stopping laughing and snapping a couple of pictures, I brought him into the kitchen and had him lean over the kitchen sink to rinse his head out.
Kate pushed a chair up to the sink. "My turn!" she said, and then, when I said no, "My turnnnnnnnnnnnnn......" (tears).
I let her help dry Jack's hair.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
KateSpeak, Proud Jack
Kate's become a chatterbox lately, but a lot of it has a similar ring to it. She likes announcing she's done something, eager to share her little achievements, like putting on her shoes or picking something up that's tough to reach. "My got it!" "My did it!" "Got it!" "Yes!"
She's taken to carrying these AutoBlox cars around that were Jack's. They're really awesome toys. She can spend up to 20 minutes just taking them apart and putting them back together over and over again. (And on completion, "My did it!") One is bigger than the other one. She calls it Big Car. One is smaller. She calls it Baby Car. She'll walk around saying, "Big car...baby car....Big! Car. Babycar." The other day she carried them everywhere, upstairs, into the bathroom when it was time to brush her teeth. I got her out of her crib one morning and the first thing she said was, "Big Car? Baby Car?"
The guy next door has a giant (8-foot-tall) inflatable Thanksgiving Turkey on his lawn. How do I know it's a Thanksgiving turkey, you ask? Well, it's wearing a Pilgrim hat, obviously. Anyway, we visit it each day. Kate has taken to calling it "chicken." "Hi, chicken!" "Bye, chicken!" The other day she apparently corrected Emily when Emily called it a turkey. "No," said Kate, seriously, reproachfully. "Chicken."
Halloween brings candy, and Kate has developed a taste for it. (Shocking, I know.) At random times when we're in the kitchen, she'll come in. "Candy?" she says hopefully. Then nods, smiling, sweet. "Candy? Pease? Candy?"
She likes identifying things she knows. Like when she sees a picture of several dogs, or looks at refrigerator magnets of dogs. She points to each one. "Dog." Pause. Points to another one. "Dog."
"Dog."
______________________________________________________________
Went to the playground with the kids on Tuesday, they were home for some odd reason. There, Jack climbed up this ladder thing he'd avoided in the past, and carefully stepped over onto the jungle gym. When he got there, and was safely standing on the platform, he was so proud.
"I did it!" he yelled down to me, beaming.
______________________________________________________________
We were watching football last Sunday. Brett Favre threw a touchdown. I got excited: "Touchdown!" Jack ran over. "Chest bump!" he said. Me on my knees, him standing up, we chest bumped. It doesn't get old.
She's taken to carrying these AutoBlox cars around that were Jack's. They're really awesome toys. She can spend up to 20 minutes just taking them apart and putting them back together over and over again. (And on completion, "My did it!") One is bigger than the other one. She calls it Big Car. One is smaller. She calls it Baby Car. She'll walk around saying, "Big car...baby car....Big! Car. Babycar." The other day she carried them everywhere, upstairs, into the bathroom when it was time to brush her teeth. I got her out of her crib one morning and the first thing she said was, "Big Car? Baby Car?"
The guy next door has a giant (8-foot-tall) inflatable Thanksgiving Turkey on his lawn. How do I know it's a Thanksgiving turkey, you ask? Well, it's wearing a Pilgrim hat, obviously. Anyway, we visit it each day. Kate has taken to calling it "chicken." "Hi, chicken!" "Bye, chicken!" The other day she apparently corrected Emily when Emily called it a turkey. "No," said Kate, seriously, reproachfully. "Chicken."
Halloween brings candy, and Kate has developed a taste for it. (Shocking, I know.) At random times when we're in the kitchen, she'll come in. "Candy?" she says hopefully. Then nods, smiling, sweet. "Candy? Pease? Candy?"
She likes identifying things she knows. Like when she sees a picture of several dogs, or looks at refrigerator magnets of dogs. She points to each one. "Dog." Pause. Points to another one. "Dog."
"Dog."
______________________________________________________________
Went to the playground with the kids on Tuesday, they were home for some odd reason. There, Jack climbed up this ladder thing he'd avoided in the past, and carefully stepped over onto the jungle gym. When he got there, and was safely standing on the platform, he was so proud.
"I did it!" he yelled down to me, beaming.
______________________________________________________________
We were watching football last Sunday. Brett Favre threw a touchdown. I got excited: "Touchdown!" Jack ran over. "Chest bump!" he said. Me on my knees, him standing up, we chest bumped. It doesn't get old.
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