August 2012

Mademoiselle bebe le sophisticate

Annika is such an interesting little person, full of questions and contrasts and prone to monologues chockablock with thoughts and information she thinks is important to share. We speak fake French to each other, she learns something new every day, she can sometimes be UNBELIEVABLY frustrating. She’s full of contradictions, like the way she’s of two minds about food. First, all she wants and all she asks for is pasta (all kinds, all preparations, except no marinara sauce). But then she also has this really adventurous cheese palate -- we often have a fruit and cheese lunch when it’s just the two of us, consisting of whatever fruit I can get plus bits of cheese I buy from the odds and ends basket at Whole Foods’s cheese counter, and the stranger the cheese, the more she likes it -- garrotxa, brie, Cotswold cheddar with chives, hard aged Gouda, manchego, whatever. It’s pretty awesome. She’s also got an unpredictable mix of independence and babyishness; she can’t brush her own hair (though she tries, and insists it’s perfect), but she’ll do stuff like dress, toss and plate salads for five all by herself, with tongs almost as long as her own arms. I think four-going-on-five is just like that, and though it’s rough roads sometimes, it’s mostly pretty awesome. 

Danger Baby

We never really babyproofed our house for Annika -- maybe it was too small to really need it (we could intercept her more easily), but it also seemed like she didn’t need it. This one, though -- OMG. He is a perpetual motion machine, with arms like a Gumby octopus, an eye for the finest scary detail, and a complete disregard for health and safety. He knocks stuff over on purpose, he bonks his head, he crams everything he finds into his mouth, he pursues stuff like cords and electrical outlets with relentless focus -- and he’s FAST. You literally cannot turn your back on him for ten seconds without danger a’happenin. It’s exhausting, and it means that unless he’ll consent to spending a little time in one of the various baby-containment devices around the house, your own productivity will hover around eight percent of normal; he won’t even sit on your hip, in the crook of your arm, while you do things with your free hand -- always twisting and turning and nearly flopping out of your arms in his struggle to be free. Diaper changes are like wrestling matches with a particularly strong little piglet, and baths ... well, go get another towel, cause the water’s all over the bathroom. Like I said: EXHAUSTING. Good thing he’s so cute and merry or there’d be Issues. 

A month of grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa were here August 1-18, and then Mamalah came on the 21st for 9 days, so August was pretty much the kids’ Favorite Month Ever. Swimming, story-reading, crafting, jewelry-sorting, swinging, playing in the sandbox, drawing, going on walks, talking talking talking -- it was heaven, as far as Annika was concerned, and Lukas always had a grownup’s attention as well, so he was a happy baby indeed. The kids are very lucky to get to spend time with their grandparents! We enjoyed the visits as well, and thanks to the babysitting, R. and I got a couple of date nights for the first time in months. There was somewhat of a letdown when it was just the four of us again -- boring old Mom and Dad aren’t nearly as much fun as Mamalah and Grandpa&Grandma. Awww! 

New baby skills for Lukas: 

• One-finger exploring: very patient, very detailed. Right before he crams whatever it is into his mouth or chucks it away from himself. 
• Peek-a-boo: He thinks it’s hilarious when someone does it to him (I hide behind my hair, or around a corner, or behind my hands, whatever), but it’s even funnier when he’s the one hiding. Give him a cloth of any size -- washcloth to beach towel -- and he’ll cover his face, wait for you to say “Where’s Lukas?” and then yank it away, laughing like a maniac time after time.
• Waving bye-bye: Boy, you think this one doesn’t charm the folks out in the world ... cute as all get-out, especially with his dimple-headed two-toothed smile.