John's Car

We indeed figured out that this is John's car. Whoever is chauffeuring him will be driving the new car...

So here it is in all its glory. It will never be as new again. It got rained on last night, and I already found a drop of sap on it... I also wanted to make sure to have pictures of the crumb-free, fur-free interior!

I haven't driven it yet. I'm afraid to, but I'm sure that will change Monday morning, when we all pile in and begin a lifetime of travel in it, complete with sweat, tears, dog fur, bagel crumbs, and all of life's other messes!





In case you can't tell, its color is "glacier blue." It looks kind of silvery in the pics.

New Car plus nap

John took a 2-hour nap at school today!
Yea! He was so much more fun after school until bedtime. Which was good because we spent most of the afternoon buying our new car.
Yea!
It's a 2008 Honda CR-V LX 2WD.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Tony is very relieved that the car-purchasing ordeal is over. Just ask him what a living hell his life has been as I created so much agony in the process...

More soon. Good night.

No Nap

Our latest challenge is that John has refused to take his midday nap at school, all this week. Which means that he is VERY tired and cranky all evening long. NOTHING is the way he wants it, he doesn't want to do ANYTHING, and EVERYTHING sets him off into temper tantrums, crying, and screaming. Tony has started to adjust well, but I, of course, took a little longer. We are back in survival mode and muddling along.

Last night was tough. We had several time outs, hitting, kicking, lots of yelling, screaming, and the stamping feet dance. He went to bed about 7pm. Woke up at 9:15 calling for Daddy. After about 5 minutes I went in, didn't say anything, helped him straighten his blanket and smoothed his back, and he lay back down an went to sleep. (That was fine and lovely.) Up again at 5am. Wanting bagel and water. Then he (and all of us) slept till about 8:30am, and had to drive pretty hard to get to school by 9:30. (We like to get there by 9 at the latest)

It's just a phase and he'll get past it. He's not ready to give up that nap but he's trying to. The teachers at school have been really great at trying everything and being patient with him. I told Miss Katie that we are happy for them to do whatever works for them. We'll see how this weekend goes. He's always taken his nap at home for us, so we'll see.

I think we've hit the terrible twos. I wish we could get his old sleep schedule back! It was really working... Sigh. I know, that's not how life is...

We still have glimpses of our lovable, mischievous, sweet boy. They are just surrounded by a lot of Sturm und Drang.

We're Home ...

... From our toddler-less week on Hilton Head Island. We had a good, if low-key, time. I was mostly battling fatigue and dizziness from anti-depressant withdrawal and Tony was working and stressing about the show. Which looked very good as always.

It was so good to see John today. I knew we would miss him, but I missed him a lot! He looked older in person than I remembered in my head, and his voice seemed deeper...

Bedtime tonight was rough. He was very tired, overstimulated from visiting his friend, and adjusting to having Mommy and Daddy back and Mimi and Pa gone. We had several small meltdowns and one big one, but we all made it through and ended as friends. As Tony and I were saying our last good nights and heading out of his room, he said "Bye, you two!"
We thought that was pretty funny.

It's good to be home, and boy, I'm very thankful we have tomorrow and Sunday to recover before getting back into the groove.

It's going to be a jam-packed year for Tony, who will be doing 16(!) shows, which means it will be a lot of Mommy-John time...

Happy Mother's Day 2008

My photography traditions are shots for Mother's Day and Halloween, and in typical style, we were 2 months late on Mother's Day. But that's ok, it counts for Father's Day and John's birthday too!

This is just a sample, I'll try to get more up soon!

Feiste says ...

... that there were two things I HAD to put in my blog:

1) The best potty training is no potty training. Let them train themselves. Which I am very happy to do.

2) We're allowed to have a second child! I must have looked and acted a thousand times better than when we last saw him...

So, today was our two-year, two-week well child visit.
John is now in the 10th percentile on weight (but that was with all clothes on and a diaper full of pee) and is at the 30th in height. Which is down from 50th percentile, but it's also the change from measuring on the table (like a baby) and measuring on the wall (like a big kid). The nurse said she would re-do it, but I told her I would be ok...

Topics covered include changing to 1% milk, drinking too much milk, being a good talker, looking healthy, Feiste's agreement with Malpass on the type/sound of heart murmur, the relative seriousness of open heart surgery (it's come a long way and they have vastly improved techniques in the past 20 years), John's great development, his good-looking circumcision (that comes up at every visit), that Tony and I are good parents (my usual request for reassurance), his fall 2008 run for president, and reasons to have another kid.

John did very well during the visit. He cried when they did the hemoglobin test, a finger-prick. I felt bad because I had told him there wouldn't be any shots. But he cheered up after he got a band-aid for his finger. He also cried when Daddy and Feiste put him on his back to look at his diaper area, but I think that was mostly because he didn't know it was coming. He and Feiste played "Where's your nose, ears, thyroid, kidneys." John will have to work on the thyroid and kidneys, but the way has been paved. The whole experience was so much more pleasant now that John was an active member of the John Penna medical team, rather than us doing stuff to him and him being upset. He reassured me several times that "It not hurt" and "I'm okay." He called Dr. Feiste "Gooberfish" and gave him a hug and a kiss.

I promised Feiste that we would go to him in the future for all our little appointments instead of his practitioners so that we could see him more often. He said that John was the "total package" and that we were his "buzz." I am SOOOOOOO thankful that we have the best pediatrician in the world. AND that he is so gracious about treating ME every time we take John in!

Now we just have to wait for John to get sick again... :)

Go Feiste!

Another Toddler Milestone

It's 7:30am on Monday morning, and John just went from saying "I don't get up" in response to his dad's request to get on his lap to "I WON'T get up." It's the beginning of a whole new adventure.

John's first joke

A few weeks ago John and I were driving to day care. He was in the back seat chattering away to his Muck toy. After a particularly lively passage, he suddenly burst into laughter, apparently enjoying his well-crafted punchline. I had no idea what he said, but of course I laughed along.

Oh Deer!

This is the second day in a row we have been visited by a deer. Tony and John also saw the deer on Monday morning. Evidently she likes to eat the poison ivy behind our fenced-in back yard.
Hopefully I can get a picture. I love wildlife!