Was that my exit?

The other night, after working a long 11+ hour day, I was headed to the grocery on the way home, and I drove right past the exit. I could blame it on the fact that I was daydreaming about the colors of some of the leaves that had just started to turn, and that I was admiring the way the last light of day was hitting them just so, but really I was just tired and distracted. It only frustrated me more that I had done this, when I realized that every extra minute in my journey potentially cost me getting home in time to see the kids before they went to bed.

Just as that day seemed to speed to a close before I was ready for it, so does the last month before Liam turns one year old. I've been neglectful of writing here, but not for lack of things to write. Like so many other things these days, it just seems difficult to make the time.

Since I wrote last, our lives have been busy, filled with kid-focused activities, as well as milestones in our own lives. Entertaining Lucy played in public as a 5-piece band for the first times over Labor Day weekend and then later that week. The whole family video chatted with Grandpa for his 70th birthday. We celebrated our anniversary by visiting the Museum Center (site of our nuptials) and attending the wedding of another "broomball couple," which required finding a new babysitter for the occasion. Charlie enjoyed riding more of the rides at P&G Dividend Day at Kings Island this year, since he has now surpassed the 36 inch mark (just barely!). Liam acquired a third tooth (off to the side on top) and had a nasty double ear infection that kept him from sleeping well for about a week. His formula was recalled and we went through a series of brief dietary changes (including starting to move him to whole milk and then retreating from that) before locating some non-recalled versions of the same brand to get him back on track. John upgraded his suit collection so that he could attend the ceremony where his work team was awarded the GBS Excellence Award for Building the Business.



While many of our friends were having fun with "back to school" activities, we had our own version of that season. Just after Labor Day, Liam started music classes one day per week at daycare and he loves them! That same week, Charlie started Tumblebees classes at the same gym where we held his birthday party. The first week went great, and after a minor hesitation and moment of shyness when he first met his teachers, he jumped right in and had a great time. He listened to instructions, and followed along, waiting his turn for each activity. The second week was rough, with a lot of fussing, and John had to go out in the gym with him to keep him calmed down. I took him back for the third week, and he screamed when it was time to go in, and said he didn't want to go. So we left right away and I got our money refunded. I used the credit on our account to enroll Liam in swimming lessons for the rest of the term. He is doing great, and seems to be a natural. Charlie has not mentioned tumbling since.

Meanwhile, at preschool, Charlie has made a great friend in Larry, who he had a blast with at Kings Island. His friend Odin from the toddler room just moved up to his room as well. He is saying goodbye to Katinka soon, when she moves "way over the ocean" to Geneva. We had a sad goodbye last week when Charlie had to say goodbye to Miss Shernaaz, one of his teachers, who moved to Chicago. He has really been enjoying playing doctor in the dramatic play area, and learned a great deal about dinosaurs last month while they studied them in depth. They made paper mache dinosaur eggs and later hatched them, went on digs in the sandbox for dinosaur bones, and learned how to tell what a dinosaur ate by the shape of his teeth and the length of his neck. Charlie still takes Spanish twice a week at school, but he misses his Stretch and Grow class which is on hold for the season.



Charlie's not the only one learning and growing like crazy. Liam pulled up to standing for the first time last Wednesday. He's already cruising around while holding on to the couch, or Charlie's table, or sometimes our hands. We had him back at the doctor today and it seems his ear infection is back. Hopefully this stronger antibiotic will kick it for good and we'll finally get some sleep.



Lucy, meanwhile, descends into puppy-hood, as she strives to maintain our attention. She is escaping the fence in the backyard more frequently, and has started to steal food from the counters or tables whenever we leave the house. I'm really hoping this is just a phase. The food is one thing, but she has also started to destroy some of Charlie's toys here and there-- luckily I've been able to shield him from it and it's been nothing important so far.

The whole family is looking forward to Halloween, always one of my favorite holidays. After looking through catalogs of costumes, Charlie went through a succession of what he wanted to be, which extended beyond Halloween and into "when I get big." Among the choices were a fireman, Batman, and a train. (I'm not sure how he thinks he will become a train when he grows up?) We have settled on Spiderman for a Halloween costume, and Liam will be a lion.

This time of year also brings the start of the fall broomball season, and this season John and I decided to play on a blender league team together for a few weeks. Charlie had a lot of fun watching us play on the big ice with Grandma watching over him and Liam. Beth also took Charlie to the last Reds game of the regular season. We had not taken him to a game since he was little and could easily sit in our laps without fidgeting. We've been watching some games on TV, and saw Gapper and Mr Redlegs at our local Skyline recently. And Great Grandma got him a t-ball set for the backyard for his birthday. So he was all geared up for the game. It was chilly, but we bundled him up, packed him a bag with some Teddy Grahams and a juice box, and he had a great time. When the Reds hit a homerun, and they set off fireworks, Charlie cheered and got excited. He told Beth that he wasn't scared of baseball fireworks. John got to see some Reds fireworks the week before that, when he attended the game where they clinched the division championship. Unfortunately, I saw no fireworks last night when I attended game 3 of the divisional series, and the Reds were eliminated from the playoffs after a disappointing error-filled run. Still even this Cardinals fan could appreciate the excitement in this city that hadn't seen a postseason MLB game for 15 years.

I will close with a promise (as always) to write more often, and not let so much time pass without sharing our life's ups and downs with our loyal blog readers. But as we head into the season of birthday parties, festive holidays, and outdoor celebrations, I know that this is a promise I'm only somewhat likely to keep. Perhaps I can keep my eyes on the road, though, and not miss my exit next time.

Off and crawling

August has been a busy month. We made some trips to the neighborhood pool, where Charlie easily made friends with whatever kids happened to be there. We went to the zoo on one really hot day-- for the Chin Baby Reunion. Charlie made a safari hat, and Liam got to see a snake close up. Charlie stayed clear of the snake, as his month has been peppered with bad dreams about snakes. Beth stayed with the boys last weekend while John and I went to California for a wedding. While we were gone, they visited the aquarium, ate at Skyline for dinner, and went to the pool. We are extremely grateful for Beth's willingness to take on this task, because we don't often get even a few hours away from the kids together, much less a few days.

Both kids were a little clingy to Mommy for a couple of days after we returned. But we all survived the separation.

Liam continues to grow bigger every day. He's into size 4 diapers now, and wearing 12-18 month clothes. He still has only 2 teeth, but he's starting to enjoy some soft finger foods like Kix and Gerber puffs. He babbles a lot now, and kind of says "mah mah." He's not been sleeping all the way through the night, but usually only wakes once about 3 or 4 AM to have a bottle and then goes back to sleep for a couple of hours.


Charlie has been making progress with the potty training. We're not all the way there yet, but hope to be turning another corner soon. I sure will be glad to stop buying diapers for two kids! Charlie has been trying to learn some of his letters, and surprises me sometimes with the numbers or letters he doesn't willingly admit to knowing, but which he clearly does. He likes to talk about how he is "a really good _____" or "a really fast _____"-- fill in the blank with runner, eater, climber, walker, drawer, etc. Today he almost changed one of Liam's diapers all by himself. He really is a good helper for Mommy and Daddy.

Liam finally took his first crawling "steps" today. Even without actually crawling, it was amazing how quickly he could move around the family room, especially when wires and cords were within sight. It's time again to pull out the big heavy boxes to block the entertainment center from little hands!

Yesterday we spent the day in Oxford for Broomfest. John and I played on different teams, and neither made it past the first bracket round after the preliminary round robin. We were tired after 3 games each, and the kids were ready to go home then, so it was just as well. We were happy that cousin Morgan, a freshman there at Miami, got to stop by and visit for a while. She and Charlie had a lot of fun playing and he showed her what a fast runner he was as they circled the lobby again and again.

The band, now with five members, is finally ready for their first event over Labor Day weekend. I don't know yet whether I'll try to head down there with the boys, since I'd want to head home before the fireworks start anyway. Maybe I can get Charlie to watch them on TV with me.

I can't believe it's almost September-- time to finalize plans for Liam's first birthday. It will be here before we know it. In the meantime, the boys say "Who Dey!"

Growing up fast

We've had more milestones this past week. We told the teachers at Charlie's daycare that we wanted him to work on going to the potty, and he went 5 times on the first day! Charlie also had his second visit to the dentist last week, the first time for a cleaning. He did great. Charlie has been developing a "sense of humor." He asks me things like "is this Dad's car?" while pointing at my car. Then he says "just kidding!"

Liam is still not rolling over on his own, but just in the past couple of days he has started to reach out from a sitting position nearly into a crawl position. And he no longer cries immediately when he's stretched out on his belly. He's been really interested in reaching for Lucy's feet when she's nearby-- it might just be the motivation he needs to crawl. (until he gets scratched by her claws!) We have been putting "finger food" in front of Liam on his highchair tray for about two weeks now, but he still is not very interested in putting it in his mouth. He does like to play with it, though.

Liam had his 9 month visit to the pediatrician on Friday-- he measured 21 pounds (70th%), and was 28.5 inches long (70th%). His head was, of course, in the 80th% at 18.25 inches. He still only has two teeth, and everything else checked out fine. The doctor encouraged us to get him in to see Charlie's dermatologist about the rash on his face, and so we did that this morning. We were able to get an appointment sooner once she knew the situation. She gave us a prescription for his eczema, and suggested we use the same special sunscreen we use for Charlie on his face daily. She also followed up with the rheumatologist to see if he wanted to see them both, and he does.

Meanwhile, Liam is now going on a week of being home from daycare, due to a bug that has been going around his room. He finally cleared up the diarrhea symptoms today, and then came down with a new rash all over his back and belly, so he'll be home again tomorrow. Between his face, the eczema, and now this, he's one spotted baby!