Movie Time

What life is now like...

For Rachel and Pickle

I stayed up too late trying to finish a knitting project so I am going to post some pictures tonight and will save funny stories about them for tomorrow. I am attempting to get a jump on making holiday presents... we will see how well that works. I am sure no matter what December will be a blur of needles. Anyway, as promised, here are some good mug shots of the boy. I also got some fab. video which I hope to have up soon as well. Picture the Green Monster telling you "you're a little terrified", yeah, it's that good.

The goggles never cease to slay me.

Here is Otto as the Green Monster. We have had this towel for a while now, but he has just taken to wearing it around the house as a costume. He takes on this WWF wrestling voice and says "you're a little terrified" while roaring. It is priceless.


I am still working on more pictures, but this is a good start. Now if I can just get the computer for enough time when I am not doing other projects I will write more, but for now it is bedtime for me.

hmmmm

Did anyone notice anything special about today? Anything at all. It may have been a subtle shift in the winds, or perhaps the recent start of fall. Regardless the shift was not lost on Mette. For some reason I thought to offer her breakfast this morning. I don't usually for two reasons. One, I just don't have my act together enough that early to feed two kids, and two, she doesn't eat anything really breakfast like and peas first thing just seems strange. She hates baby cereal of all varieties and only sort of likes fruit. I have been waiting until she is 8 months when she can have yogurt to start with breakfast since that actually is real food and my guess is she will like it just fine. Still, for some reason this morning I defrosted some pears, added some baby oatmeal and offered it to her fully expecting complete rejection. To my complete surprise she inhaled the whole bowl (it was a small amount but still). So I made her some more and she ate that too. Plus a handful of cheerios and water from her cup. She was practically begging for more. I assumed it was a fluke and at lunch gave her ripe fruit to pick up and more cheerios, surely she didn't want MORE food. Then tonight at dinner I made peaches and oatmeal and green beans and brown rice. Again she cleaned her plate and had seconds. There was no batting at the spoon. No trying to put it all in her ear. Just mouth open and "give me more dammit" glares and grunts. She still really likes feeding herself and cleared a whole dish of cooked carrots as well. Just makes me wonder, why today. Why did it suddenly seem like a good idea to eat baby food today. I am still very much looking forward to 8 months when we can give her things like tofu, cheese, yogurt all the good stuff. Though her sudden interest in food is making me think I will make her some veggie meatballs this weekend and perhaps cook up some baby muesli and rice dishes.

Dude quotes

"Mom, you are delicate, like the banisters."

no doubt comes from me telling him not to (climb, hang on, pull, kick, squeeze between or hammer) the banisters as they are delicate.

"I have a mouth, I would like some juice."

after seeing eric's glass of juice

tonight he gave me a hula hoop, called me a princess and told eric to check me out because I was getting married. Love that kid.

in or out

What a day. I had high hopes of getting some things done today, I just wasn't prepared for all that came my way. To start I made a parking garage for Otto's cozy coupe because the number one selling car in America really should be garage kept. I have had some large appliance boxes laying around for a while waiting for a good idea of something to make with them and finally I am getting around to building with them. I started with a garage but like any good contractor I have plans for an addition. Otto was very helpful as you can imagine with the painting. He managed not to make too much of a mess. We did somehow get the whole thing painted grey while Mette napped this morning. A small miracle, especially since I couldn't find a color in the basement I liked so I mixed my own. I am my mother's child.

After naptime for the girl we all headed to the grocery store. Don't take the casual statement of a trip to the store let you think that it was anything other than a well planned military exercise with terrorist negotiations. Both kids are for the most part good at the store (and my that I mean Mette is an angel) but I still really need to be on my A game to get in and out without a major meltdown from someone. Hopefully not me. Having parked the car in the garage, removed both children from the car and made it to the back door carrying Mette and four heavy bags of groceries I thought the trip was complete. But no. Somehow Otto managed to lock the back door in such a way that it couldn't be unlocked with a key from the inside or the outside. Luckily the florida room door was open and we could all get inside but the back door was now locked shut. After the kids were down for a nap, calls with Grandpa Ken and eric I finally just decided to see what I could do. It seemed to silly to call someone to come fix the door. One strip of molding removed, a plastic shovel from the sandbox and a credit card later the back door was open. As my mom pointed out, funny it took a kids toy to open the door because if I didn't have a kid the door wouldn't have been locked. Ah, the circle of life.

So with the door fixed I went about painting the letters on the garage. They could be more even I know, but I was trying to get done before Mette woke up. The wrench was a last minute add and came out well I think. Go me!

Otto loves his new garage. I am going to let him graffiti the sides with a brush (I don't dare give him spray paint!) for some added color and then it will be time for the addition. Then I am going to try and get some pictures of him playing in it as I am way behind on pictures of the kids. I will also try to get some action shots of Mette as she is now officially crawling all over the place!

Funny Memories

Unlike some people (eric) I have very few memories of being really small. One thing I do remember though is sitting on the floor in the kitchen of my grandparents house on Glen Hall Rd. I was on the floor in the door way to the back hall by the refrigerator with my mom. She had just bought me new shoes and was trying them on my feet. I think I was only a little older than Otto is now. She was really struggling to get them on my feet and looking back I am sure she was starting to worry that she had bought the wrong size. It didn't hurt but she was really trying to squeeze my foot into them. Actually I thought it was kind of funny. Then my mom took the shoe off the half crammed foot, looked inside and pulled out the wad of tissue paper they put in shoes to help them keep there shape. No wonder they weren't going on! It is just a small little snippet of a memory, but for some reason I kept that afternoon in my mind all these years. I was reminded of it yesterday morning when I spent 15 minutes trying to cram Mette's feet into little slippers only to discover they were stuffed with tissue paper.

Dude-rsations

Otto talking on the (pretend) phone with Shark, a bath toy, while sitting on the couch watching a new show on PBS, Dinosaur Train.*

Otto: Shark, can you come over here please and see this show. It's awesome.

*For the record, Dinosaur Train has wonderful though highly catchy theme song.

Otto is also really starting to look like me when he talks. Never have I seen a two year old who uses their hands quite as much as Otto does when they talk.

We have Swine Flu, She learns to crawl

There are many advantages to working for a University. Summer off (well, at least there are no students, I haven't seen eric take "off") tenure, sabbatical, being part of a community, tuition exchange... the list goes on. It's a good gig, never mind the insane driven work ethic of a professor, the absent mindedness (at least my prof. has that!), crazy academic climate. Still, I call it a good gig. That is until all the students come back to campus with their lovely germs that they are more than willing to share. And share they do. School started up in August and this is our second time being sick. The first time is was a bad cold with a nasty sore throat. Now we have the swine flu. Yes, you read that right, the swine flu. It is spreading like wildfire across campus's everywhere and ours is not to be left out. Eric came down with what we thought was a nasty cold on Monday and was not getting better. We didn't think it was near bad enough to be the flu but he went to the doctor on wednesday to see if he could get medicine for a nasty sinus headache. They have been testing everyone with cold symptoms to be on the safe side. Sure enough, an hour after he was home we got the call that he tested positive. Now this wouldn't be too big of a deal if it was just us, but we have two small kids. One who is under a year old, so that makes it a little different. Eric was told to stay home from work for the rest of the week and we were all, including Mette, put on Tamiflu. Eric and I take it for 5 days, the kids for 10. The hope is it will either prevent the kids from getting it, or if they do get it, it won't be nearly as bad. So far that aspect seems to be working. They both have the sniffles, but otherwise seem fine. Which is good, except eric and I just want to be in bed all day and they are not old enough to fend for themselves. Nothing like feeling like poop and having to take care of little people. I don't seem to be as sick as eric was, but I do not feel good by any stretch of the imagination. I have big hopes for feeling better tomorrow.

So what does Mette do during this time? She works on crawling. For weeks now she has been on the brink of really crawling. That is not to say she doesn't get around, because boy does she ever! She can commando crawl faster than I thought possible and it especially quick where there is forbidden fruit ie. snacks or wires available. Then last night she was really looking like she was going to start moving her hands while up on all fours rocking away like mad, but no. Today however was a different story. On two occasions this morning she did a solid three or four movement crawl. She looked prouder than a pig in shit each time and I don't think it will take her long to realize that while commando crawling works, cross crawling is even faster. Her main interests for crawling are, anything Otto has, food of any kind, including small bits that have been ground into the carpet, wires, anything plugged into an outlet. So, you know, luckily she is going for safe things! She also looks like she is about to start pulling up. If I remember correctly, crawling is not bad, it is the cruising where you really need to watch out for all the trouble they can get into. Looks like fun times are ahead of us!!

Speaking of which, she is waking up so I must drag my sorry butt up the stairs now.

Lunch

I am fairly certain that out of the at least 20 tiny pieces of roasted sweet potato I gave mette to snack on at lunch today only a few actually made it into her mouth. Regardless, I was able to sit and eat a whole meal without getting up.

We are going to count that one as a success.

On race cars and cheerios

This past weekend we made our way to what is now an annual trip, to Watkin's Glen for the historic races. Eric and I have been going since before there were bambinos in the picture. Of course back then we brought a picnic lunch with a bottle of wine and leisurely strolled the track watching races and admiring cars. We still leisurely stroll about except this year we had a stroller carrying Mette, Otto on the loose, a chase car full of toys, blankets, a potty, food, the ergo to carry Mette when Otto took over the stroller, diapers and whatever else we could fit in. In addition this year we also brought Ben and Shannon along. In fact we made a whole weekend out of it. The kids and I headed up to the cabin on Friday afternoon while eric taught and waited here for Ben and Shannon and headed up once they made it to PA. The weather was rainy and cold on Saturday so we all spent the day lounging around in our p.j.'s enjoying the true cabin effect. In fact the cabin effect was so strong I never even thought to get out the camera, sorry about that!! Otto and Mette were spoiled with all the attention from grandparents and Ben and Shannon. To make a snugly rainy day even better we feasted on homemade soup, bread and grilled flank steak. It was pretty decadent. Sunday we got up earlier than I am guessing Ben has been in a month at least and headed to the race track. It was a glorious sunny day perfect for exploring the track. This was Shannon's first time at a race and while I don't think it was the first thing she could think of to do that day, she seemed in good spirits and was great company. Otto was thrilled to have her along if nothing else.

Otto was so excited about seeing race cars that he put on his headphones before leaving the cabin at 8 a.m. and only took them off when we told him he had to at 2:30 as we were getting in the car to go home. He wore them the whole way there in the car while requesting that we keep turning the radio up. Once at the track we went into one of the tents selling model cars and got him a Maclaren F1 car that didn't leave his grip for hours. Later he scored a Brumos Porsche GT1 and a Lexus GT1 that have been racing all over the house since we got home. Seeing real cars up close and watching them go fast in addition to new cars in his "garage" at home made him about the happiest little boy you have ever seen.

This below is my favorite photo of the day. Rarely do I capture a good smile from eric, he must not have seen this one coming. Notice, headphones on and car clenched tight to chest.

Eric, Otto, Ben and Shannon checking out the MacLaren.

Heaven.

Mette wooing Ben with her charm in an attempt to eat his camera.
The boys watching some cars go fast.
Even crew chiefs get tired and need to take a nap. Notice, headphones still in place!

So in addition to all the fun race track excitement, we have also been expanding Mette's food horizons. She is determined to feed herself and is finally starting to have the skills to actually do it. Here are some shots of her first Cheerio experience.
Sometimes they get stuck on her sleeve...
Taking no prisoners with the sippy cup.
This is Otto and I making biscuits for dinner. Fine example of things you never thought you would have to repeat, "Otto, don't lick the table". Or "Otto, stop eating flour". Still we had fun and the biscuits we delicious. How can you go wrong with buttermilk biscuits?

Beans, beans

The magical fruit. Oh no wait. That's not right. Otto's latest toy obsession is a large roasting pan filled with dried beans, diggers and bowls to scoop with. I am going to make a larger version of this since it is proving to be quite difficult to keep all of the beans in the small pan when doing major excavating.

Aaaahhh

And on the eighth day the heavens opened and a second floor laundry room appeared. Actually it is more along the lines of, grandma and grandpa came down from the cabin and grandpa busily went about running hot and cold pex lines, drain pipes and #10 wire from the upstairs porch to the basement. After that I cleaned out the rest of the room, mopped and put up drying racks. It is a dream come true.

Let me explain

Dear Otto and Mette

You should not worry, your daddy loves you very much. So much that even if you didn't look like the spitting image of him at birth, he still would have stayed to take care of you. So much that despite the fact that you are capable (or were at 7 months in the case of Otto) of making a "mama" sound you insist on only saying dada. I realize it is some evolutionary trick to keep him from fleeing the roost. But really he isn't going anywhere. It wouldn't kill you to look at me and say mama. Instead you spend your days cooing and giggling while you say dada dada dada. When he enters the room you squeal with joy and exclaim "dada!" which is adorable. But when prompted to say mama you just smile and try to eat my nose. You do seem to dearly enjoy my company. Mette when not being held by me constantly scans the room to make sure I am still around. But really, how hard would it be to say mama to me?

lovingly,

mama, mama, mama mmmaaa mmmmaa just once??

Team of Four

Before Mette was born, before she was even a small cluster of cells making me sick, I wondered what it would be like to have two children. Otto is such a great kid, how would two change that dynamic? There is part of you that doesn't want to do anything to take away from his reign. But as strong as that feeling may be, stronger still was the desire to give him a sibling. Someone who hopefully would be a friend for years. Someone to share with, to argue with, to play with. Someone else besides eric and I who would be there for him no matter what. Say what you will about siblings, they have your back when you need them. So, along came Mette. At first Otto didn't seem that interested in her. Which quite honestly seemed a blessing. While he wasn't posing for adorable photos wanting to hold her, he also wasn't poking her eyes out. As she gets older he gains more and more interest in her. The more she engages with him, the more he wants her attention. Now that she is sitting up on her own and on the verge of crawling he is starting to really think she is a person who he likes. He is learning what he can do to make her laugh and thinks it is hilarious when she does. He also seems rather concerned when she is upset. It is quite sweet. Yesterday I was cleaning up in the back room while Mette was napping. Otto was playing in his room. Mette woke up from her nap and started to cry out. I could tell she wasn't too upset and was trying to finish what I was doing before I went in to get her. I saw Otto come out of his room and look down the hall towards her room, then back at me. I asked what he was doing. He told me he was going to give Lighting McQueen to Mette. For those who know how deep his love for Lighting is, you will understand the significance of the gesture. Wanting to see how this would play out I let him go into to see her and listened on the monitor. He walked into her room and I heard him say in his most adorable concerned little boy voice "what's wrong Mette, are you sleepy or tired?" Then he offered her Lighting McQueen. I came in to find him talking to her in her crib and handing her all the toys he could find. She looked so happy to see him and thrilled he was giving her the time of day.

It is times like that when I realize having a brother or sister is such a wonderful thing. They aren't taking away your attention, they are giving you so much more to enjoy. No matter how much I play with the kids or do special things with them, nothing will come close to the fun they are going to have making up their own games together. I am looking forward to all the adventures we are going have. Our team of four.

I'm sorry tow truck

The Scene

On the third floor playing this morning. Otto is about to carry a very large tow truck downstairs.

Mom: Otto, I think that tow truck is too big to take downstairs.

Otto: (looking down to the tow truck) I'm sorry tow truck. It's ok, I'll play with you a little more. (he carries him off to play a little more) (still talking to the tow truck) You have a good day. I'll see you later.

You know it's going to be a good day when this is how it starts!!

We did in fact have a good day. We were all dressed and out of the house by 9 (!). I wanted to get out the door before Mette took her morning nap so she would sleep in the stroller and we could take advantage of the crisp (50's) morning we had. It worked like a charm, she was out not long into the stroll and Otto and I cruised BU on our way to a friend's house. We played there for a little then headed home for lunch which we ate while running in the yard. Well, really, I ate lunch sitting on the back steps and Otto ran over every few moments for a bite. Some days this seems like the easiest way to have lunch. He is happy and since I tend to make very little mess while eating, most of the time, it is quite a quick clean up. Both kids blessed me with a nap which is a rare and glorious occasion. They both usually nap in the afternoon but rarely at the same time and Mette rarely for more than 30 minutes. Otto was down for almost 3 hours and Mette for about an hour. It was lovely. I wasted the whole time doing nothing and am not ashamed at all. All in all is was a lovely day. We even got in a second walk with eric once he got home from work. The weather is too nice right now not to get out as much as possible.

But really the best parts of today are best shown below. I ordered a hair clip for Mette on Etsy mainly because I wanted to see how it was made so I can make more myself, and because HOLY CRAP they are cute! It came today and WOW. It is proof positive that Mette has eric's hair is this would have lasted less than 30 seconds in my hair. It stayed in until I took it out. In the first picture you can kind of see her two bottom teeth.

And then there was this....

The Pottery Barn Kids catalog came today and they must have just gotten the rights to BARBIE. The cover and first two pages are all BARBIE rooms and little girls holding dolls. Otto took one look at the catalog, needed to have it and said "that's BARBIE". He then went and got his Barbie and had to hold her while he looked at the pictures. I like the way he carries her by her ankles over his shoulder best.