DeJaVu all over again

Big Week for the Little Man

We are mobile. Eli can get to where he wants to go by himself, and our world has officially changed. Unfortunately, "where he wants to go" is usually the Candyland game. Specifically, the blue gingerbread man piece of the Candyland game, which just happens to be the one Myka is using at the time. We have tried playing it everywhere, even behind the couch, but he still finds us and dives onto the board for the blue guy. We are learning, though. I now hold all of the cards in my hand throughout the game, and Myka has finally agreed to allow the other gingerbread men to stand in as placeholders while the blue one is being mauled by her brother.
Finally figuring out the crawling thing has led us to another big step this week - sitting back up by himself. This one is a relief, as he has been getting more and more frustrated lately when he is tired of laying down but couldn't move very far if he wanted something. Now he just pops back up on his bottom and hangs out again. Now, if only he would stay there...
And our final, and proudest, moment of the week came on Tuesday. Eli ate a puff! It doesn't sound like a big deal, except for the fact that we have the kid who won't eat ANYTHING but an occasional dose of rice cereal. You could put any food in one hand and a block in the other, and he will immediately bring the block to his mouth and suck away and drop the food on the floor. And we know this because we've done it pretty much every day for the last 5 months. We've tried every kind of food acceptable for this age (and a few that are not) and he won't touch them. Since I bought a can of Gerber Puffs a few months ago and realized they were only going to be eaten by Tetley and Myka (who both seem to love them, by the way), we give him a few to play with while he sits in his high chair with us at meals. One by one they end up on the floor. But the other night I glanced over and noticed he was making some pretty interesting faces, and it dawned on us he had eaten one. He didn't look like he was particularly enjoying it, but he did try one more after that. We were elated! Of course, he has not eaten one since, but we've seen twice as many go in and stay there than we had before, so at least we're headed in the right direction!

Easter Equality

I know there are a lot of parents out there who keep track of every penny they spend at holidays so each child gets the same "amount" and no one feels like they got less than another. When I was in Junior High, there was a Valentine's Day where I got a barrette (the big, metal kind that you could use to clip up a ponytail. Practical.) and my brother Chris got a guitar (a big, real kind that you could use to start your own rock band. Awesome.)

So this Easter I was feeling a little guilty as I saw the guitar vs. barrette scenario replaying in my mind as I prepared my own children's baskets. Practical as I am, Myka's basket included items she had mentioned she wanted and I felt she actually needed:

And here is what her brother got:

Not exactly equal. However, it is all justified in my mind as 1) my kids are too young to care, and 2) Myka's basket cost 4 times as much as Eli's. In much the same way my mom was able to score a FREE guitar that February for my brother, I managed to put together a little pool-of-fun from materials we already had around the house. And in much the same way I "borrowed" my brother's new (but cheaper) gift (when he wasn't around), Myka hasn't let the fact that the pool is for Eli stop her from jumping right in.

Septo-moms

A few weeks ago I wrote about getting together with my college friends to celebrate each new baby. There were 6 little ones already, and lucky number 7 was born in March. So this week the kids and I headed to Illinois to meet the newest little swimmer. There were seven kids age three and under in the house for three days, along with the three moms, occasionally one husband, and for a couple hours one morning another college friend who happens to live in the area and her two children. We had a blast! Throughout the craziness we kept bringing up how there was no way the "Octo-mom" was going to survive her situation, as there was only one of her and twice as many kids. On my drive home on Wednesday I started to think about all of the ways the Octo-mom and our little gathering were different. Here is what I came up with:

Us- 7 kids ages 0-3
Her- 14 kids ages 0-6

Us- At one point during the afternoon, 6 of the 7 kids were sleeping. Each night we were there there were many times all 7 were sleeping, as well as all 3 moms and 1 dad.
Her- Someone will ALWAYS be awake. Someone will ALWAYS be crying. She will never sleep through the night again.

Us- Three friends who help take care of each other's kids and trust each other in any situation even though our children teach each other bad words, pull hair or pass buggery germs around.
Her- Constant rotation of strangers coming in to help her whom she is paranoid are only there to spy on her.

Us- Two baths got almost everyone clean.
Her- Five baths. At least.

Her- Each of her kids will have to share a room with at least 3 of their siblings.
Us- Eli shared a room with the washer and dryer.

Us- We spent our evenings mindlessly watching "reality" TV.
Her-She mindlessly plans to put her real life on TV.

Us- More than 13 years of higher education and almost 22 years of marriage between us.
Her- um...

BUT! It seems there is one thing we DO have in common...

We all tend not to think so,

but it seems everyone else calls us crazy!


Welcome, Riley Louise Bathan. We're glad you are here!
And while we love you, we're glad there were not 8 of you.