Timing Is Essential

I think Paul was offended by that last post about him wanting finger food but being unable to get it into his mouth. He continued practicing and went from a success rate of maybe 25% up to 60% in a matter of days. He now grabs two or three O's, crams the fist containing them against his face and most of the time they go in or stick to his lips so he can just nudge them further in. He won't grab the squishy food yet, but I'm sure that's not far off. He has been enjoying the first tomatoes from our garden for the past couple of days. There are likely to be many more since we have 14 plants and they seem to be heavy-laden.

It took many weeks for a lesson to get bludgeoned into me - keep a schedule and life will be easier. We have been so involved in setting up the new place, big events, etc, that we just didn't bither with a schedule. Meals happened whenever convenient, bedtimes were guesses based on unruliness of kids, eaxh day was a different errand. There were some rough days, but Dan wasn't working, so we were able to muddle through somehow. With Dan at work from 4am to 7pm (except on days when it's 4am to 11pm), the unruliness that comes from catch as you can a bit too exhausting.

Typical day starts when Paul wakes at 6am. I have breakfast and do a chore or two because he's generally cheery and no longer hungry. Penny wakes around 7:30am for breakfast and Paul has something to eat in his chair. By 9am we have to be out the door to the park. My pale skin really restricts when we can play outside, so we're part of the early crowd at our parks. It's kinda funny, too, because the other folks at the park are speaking Russian or something and look pale like me. As we wrap it up at 10am or so, the tanner (more likely Italian descent) folk start to arrive at the park.

We have some nice parks to choose from. The one by Penny's future school has a couple of good playsets and lots of older trees for shade. The obviously new park on the beach has no shade because the trees aren't old enough yet. However, it has a great ocean theme, with pirate ships, a play structure shaped like the SI ferry, and a sprinkler system that turns on when you touch a certain pole.

After playing, we might run an errand like a trip to the grocery store, the library or the hardware store. Whatever we do, we have to be home for our 11:30am lunch time - both because the sun is too strong by then and I've got hungry little campers. Lunch takes forever as I make something different for each of us, the nap for Penny at 2pm. Paul usually requires a nap by 1pm, but he likes to keep me guessing some days. Penny's "nap" goes until 5pm. Nap prep - potty, brush teeth, stories, whining about how not sleepy she is - usually takes an hour, then she doesn't really sleep for a while, then she might actually start sleeping by 4pm. I tried starting nap later, but then she would wake from napping at 6 or 7pm in a horrific mood and that just made things awful. So this ludicrous three hour confinement to room is really what works best.

Then it's 5:30pm dinner, maybe a bit of playing, perhaps Daddy comes home at 7pm, we go water the garden, Paul's bedtime, Penny's bedtime routine from 8pm to 9pm. If I'm lucky, Dan isn't too tired and I get to do thre dishes before bed. If I'm unlucky, I just have to figure a way to do it during nap the next day. You can see there's not a whole lot of downtime or time for me to do chores unmolested. Yesterday, I mowed the lawn after putting the kids to bed for the night. Morning revealed a couple of patches I missed, but remarkably few considering the whole process was done in the dark. I then take a shower and go to bed.

It feels weird having my day so rigidly planned, but then days like today happen and I remember why it is that way. This morning Paul awoke early, then was ready for his morning nap by 7:30am, well before Penny awoke. With both kids asleep, I figured I'd capitalize on the opportunity and get a cat nap. Penny awoke me at 9:30am and we started breakfast at 10am. So we missed our usual going out window. As such, errands for the day were postponed to tomorrow. I tried to still do stuff with them outside, but further threw off the schedule, which led Paul to skip lunch and have a weird nap schedule and some serious crankiness from Ms. Penny. It's amazing how one little choice can snowball throughout the day, but getting back to the schedule can really help return sanity to the situation.

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Eating Challenges

I have been very proud of my ability to breastfeed Mr. Paul. After messing up my supply with Penny (stupid arm tests!), I really wanted to get it right this time. Unfortunately, Mr. Paul is so fond of breastfeeding that he never really latched onto taking milk from a bottle. This means I am the only one who can feed him and we've been joined at the...well...you know...for the past seven months and change. I have been desperate for a good night's sleep for pretty much that whole time. When I took Mr. Paul in for his four month check-up, the doctor recommended starting him on solids to see if the longer digestion time would help him make it through the night with fewer than five feedings. This was us trying cereal on March 30 or so.

We tried many times with the cereal and he really just wasn't interested in it to save my life. He'd take a few bites at meal times, then ask for more milk. All a pretty messy venture when he had to be held in my lap because he didn't know how to sit up yet. It was pretty discouraging. Then in mid-May I gave him his first non-cereal: Mangos. Aahh...suddenly he was interested in these puree things. He would consume a little jar of baby food over the course of three days, though, so it wasn't really a significant addition to his diet of milk. Thus he continued to wake in the night.

Then something magical occurred. I don't know if it was the heat, or the exotic location or what, but when we went on vacation in Orlando, he was absolutely ravenous. He'd down a jar in a single sitting, with a side-dish of cereal to boot. We had to go to the store to stock up because what I had planned to last for the week didn't last past day three or so. It was exciting stuff. He suddenly appeared to have learned how to sit up just so that he could eat more efficiently. I was so hopeful that sleep was just around the corner.

Then we got home and his appetite seems to have tapered off. He threw tantrums whenever I stuck him in his high chair. I never even got the opportunity to give him a spoonful of food. Oh, that meant he was REALLY hungry. He switched to waking every two hours overnight to eat. He'd go right back to sleep, mind you, so he knew it was night time. Just ravenous every couple of hours. It was awful. I tried everything from novel foods, to familiar foods, to feeding in different high chairs to just on my lap again. I thought perhaps he's like Penny and was determined to feed himself. I tried giving him Cheerios, even though he doesn't have teeth yet. He latched onto those like nobody's business. It's not really feeding himself, though, because he doesn't have pincer grasp - he can't grab the O's and when he does, he just mashes his whole fist into his mouth and hopes that the Cheerio will stay in there when he releases it. More often, I offer an O, he grabs my hand and brings the hand to his mouth, then I release the O into the gaping maw. We do this throughout the day while he plays, since the chair was taboo. 

I have now slowly built up his tolerance for the chair, though it is still a bit touch and go, and "tolerance" is only about ten minutes, hardly enough for him to gum to death too many food items. He won't let me use a spoon, so I cut teeny pieces of fruit, then hand feed him. It's tedious, but he does seem to be improving his ability to do it himself. He's picky about what he'll eat as well, so there's no use making anything in quantity because he'll be sick of it in a meal or two at most. So I cut pieces from a fresh fruit for him, feed him what he'll take, then eat the rest. It does mean that I'm eating more fruit, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. I fear my big plan to stock up on fresh produce and then save the purees in the freezer went out the window, though. Alas! On the plus side, as we build up his tolerance again, the hope of sleep is refreshed. He actually had a straight eight-hour night on July 3rd. It was more a result of sleep deprivation than improved feeding behavior, but it keeps the dream alive! Wish us luck!

Baptism and Graduation

Dan receiving his blank piece of paper

The moment of truth at long last - graduation day. The frame hung empty on the wall awaiting the arrival of the long-awaited document. The house was all ready to host the festivities. We had been debating for months who would get to use Dan's five tickets for the ceremony itself. One for each of his two brothers, one for Mom. They recommended that children under six not attend, so that left us with a dilemma...do I take Penny and Paul? Just Paul? We really wanted Penny to be there since she'd pretty much joined us at the beginning of this journey. But it was true that it would be a bit of a struggle. Maybe I could just entertain her in the neighborhood and then she'd be there for pictures, but then that meant I'd miss the ceremony.

Our debate was finally settled when Penny spent the night before graduation up every hour with diarrhea. Didn't seem like a good idea to drive two hours into town and then find bathrooms in Lincoln Center every few minutes. So Dad and Amanda enjoyed our seats while Penny and I perfected her potty training at home. She was actually in an awesome mood all day, managed to get to the bathroom in time at least a dozen times. Dad even emailed me to show me the exact instant that Dan was hooded on stage.

Dan, Mom and brother Dr. Charles Saha

From Dan's description of crowd dynamics at the scene, it really would have been craziness getting around to try to see the people we knew. His graduating class was still in the neighborhood of 500 students. The only place they had a nic little assembly line was in the photographing of the hooding process. We didn't purchase any of these official photos, though, because Dan claims they look as though he's in the process of being kidnapped.

After taking photos with the friends he could find in the sea of robes, Dad and Mandy drove mom and the graduate back to Mom"s house. Penny awoke from her nap and gave Daddy a big congradulatory hug. She also boasted about her great potty day. We've struggled to get a day where she goes potty willingly all day. Such days are "star days" because she is rewarded with a glow in the dark star to tape to her wall. With only one accident all day, this still qualified. So really, it was an awesome day all around, considering.

We took Amanda and Dad over to our place to visit and enjoy dinner while we put the finishing touches on our prep for the party the following day. Since evenings are pretty much just one event after another as the kids get ready for bed, it actually turned into an opportunity to catch up while Amanda helped with party prep. Dan also got to break in our new grill.

Godparents Aunt Rose and Brent with their little charge

Sunday was another big day for our little team. We had decided to take advantage of everyone being in town and scheduled Paul's baptism at our local parish. It's a very traditional parish: even asked for the godparents' credentials - a note of good standing from their home parishes. After the 12:30 mass, our family and friends gathered near the font with the three other infants getting initiated that day. Father managed to make the ceremony very personal feeling, even though it was a shared cwremony. He also complimented us repeatedly on how quiet and orderly we all were. Made me wonder how raucous these events usually were. There was no crying, just some very serious and contemplative looks between Paul and Father.

We were so excited to have both godparents able to attend this time. Brent claimed to have been studying for his role as godfather by watching the various movies. Dan gave him a brief pop quiz regarding said movies, which he failed. Perhaps he was studying more appropriate materials instead. He had brought his parents, Celeste and her parents on a mass transit excursion like no other to join us for the day. It's no easy matter getting to and from Staten Island on a Sunday afternoon, but they enjoyed the ferry ride, explored the often overlooked Staten Island subway, and generally seemed to take it all in stride. We did do a little assist in getting them from the ceremony to our place for the party becuase we didn't want them to miss the festivities brcause of the vagueries of Sunday bus schedules.

Aunt Rose managed to squeeze in a whirlwind weekend trip out to stand at Paul's side for the day. She and Aunt Helen overnighted at a hotel just blocks from my museum. I'm hoping their stay was more pleasant than the last time Aunt Helen booked a hotel near my museum (back in Silver Spring, MD, whew a memorable tale in itself).

Penny's tummy still wasn't quite right on Sunday, so she skipped Mass. She was thrilled to spend the time playing with cousin Catie over at Nanna's house instead. Catie is one of the few who can match or exceed Penny's energy. The pair were joined by cousin Christopher at the party afterward. They did some great pretending because Penny is still talking about it and tapping the creative juices they shared.  Christopher is reaching some kind of turning point as well. So far, Penny has been luke warm about playing with him because he's so fond of tackling. Recently, though, he has been more into construction and deatructiion, which are games Penny enjoys.

Graduates Celeste and Dan waiting for ice cream cake to melt

The party went pretty well, though we appeared to need another ten or so guests to eat all the food we had prepared. As it was, we convinced Dan's cousins to stay late playing Golf (cards courtesy of Amanda) and eat a whole other round of food. With some cleanup triage everyone here was in bed by midnight. We were eating salad and snacks for a week afterward, though. It was awesome to get to see our friends one more time before they head to Wisconsin, catch up with Salukes since I haven't been home for a year and a half, and get some games in.