November 2012

Lukas is one!

Our little moosh, the tiny smoosh, is already one year old! We didn’t manage to do a proper birthday party for the bro-hammer -- not least because of the general chaos of getting all the windows in the house replaced and everyone being thrown off their routines, plus an inability to schedule a bunch of friends to get together right before Thanksgiving -- but we did celebrate a birthday breakfast at M&H’s house on Sauce weekend, and when we got home, he had presents and a tasty vegan chocolate cake (more on that below); he tried to grab his “1” candle while it was still lit (see below re: Danger Baby). It’s astonishing how fast this year went; I was constantly behind on or unaware of the things I was supposed to be doing (like transitioning to self-feeding ... um, when do the books say to do that?) because it was just so hard to believe we were at that point already. Ah, well, that’s being the second kid -- less focus, but more fun, for all four of us! So here are some facts about the tiny man: 

--He is finally -- FINALLY -- sleeping through the night. It took a couple of rough nights of letting him cry it out (and by “cry,” I mean “scream his face off like he’s being murdered with scorpions”), but for months he had been getting me up and out of bed four to six times every single night, and for my own mental health and the safety of us all, that HAD TO STOP (I mean, I felt like I was hallucinating from tiredness; I couldn’t speak a complete sentence half the time; I did stuff like let pans of water boil dry on the stove and do an hour’s worth of grocery shopping before I realized I didn’t have my money with me ... like all the time, this  kind of thing was happening). But it was like magic, once we stuck it out -- and things are so much better since we did. Go little baby!

--He is Danger Baby. As I said before, we never really bothered babyproofing the old house for Annika ... but now all we do is try to keep Lukas out of trouble. His first word was “no,” which he says as “Nah!” or “Nah nah nah!” ... right before he does, again, whatever it was you said No to. And laughs. He’s devious about it, too -- he’ll back off a little, wait for your attention to waver, act like he’s content to do something else, then BOOM, back at it. Gaaaaahhhh! Of prime concern is the stairs; his speed and agility on the climb are amazing and horrifying. If you can’t see him from where you are, you know he’s a-climbin. Again, dammit. 

--He seems to have an allergy to whey. That’s milk, butter, cheese, and every food that contains any of the above. We discovered it over time -- he’d get these terrible red patches with clear, raised welts all over his face wherever the offending food touched him, and if he’d eaten enough of it, it would affect his breathing (thus the ER visit in October). It took a long time to figure out by process of elimination what was causing this, and it’s gotten tangled up in the process of transitioning to people food (we’re going broke on that stupid baby food and expensive toddler snax), but we’re figuring it out, and meanwhile, we have reasonable hope that he’ll grow out of it (apparently most kids do, before they turn 5). So for now, we just take care reading ingredient lists, and bring Benadryl wherever we go. 

--He is a sweet, merry, charming, smart little thing -- a lovable baby guy all around, and the perfect person to complete our family. 

Election 2012
Our polling place is in some neighbors' garage two blocks away, so we took both kids and walked over on the morning of November 6. We did our civic duty, got a big long strip of "I voted!" stickers, and took some pictures to mark the occasion. We were jumpy all day long ... but since things went our way, we felt better as returns started coming in, and let Annika stay up long enough to find out who won. Yaaaay! 

School Thanksgiving party

Annika’s class had a Thanksgiving potluck on the Tuesday before, and even though she doesn’t go to school on Tuesdays, she wanted to do this, so I got roped into making mashed potatoes (I didn’t see the other half of the sign-up sheet ... I’m in the kitchen peeling and chopping potatoes, because I have a rep to protect and could never just do instant, while some people were just bringing, like, juice or napkins -- slackers!). We managed to get there just barely on time (toting Lukas, because little bro gets toted everywhere we go) with the crock-pot full of mashed, and the kids (wearing construction-paper turkey-feather hats) did a little performance of a song, followed by each one of them saying what they’re thankful for (Annika: “I’m thankful for my mom and dad because they bring me to school to learn!”). It was cute and adorable and I got to eat a bunch of homemade Indian food (that’s what I love about Thanksgiving: tradition and diversity all at once, it’s everyone’s holiday!). Good times!

Thanksgiving

It was a skinny Thanksgiving for us this year, but a great one nonetheless. At the last minute, Tom accepted our invite, so we did have a guest to appreciate the stellar turkey, dressing and potatoes -- it all just seemed to come together this time, even the deviled eggs. Annika helped in the kitchen (she can peel eggs as fast as I can!) and generally had a great day; we got to watch the Macy Day Parade together while the turkey cooked, Lukas took two long and well-timed naps so we all got to actually eat together and he was in a great mood, and we got everything cleaned up and put away relatively early so we could go to bed. The leftovers were amazing, too -- Annika even requested turkey sandwiches (a rare departure from her preferred all-pasta, all-the-time diet, heh). Very thankful, indeed. 

The Nutcracker

Annika’s dance school does a production of The Nutcracker each year, and she wanted to see it, but we’re going to be in Texas during it, so we figured we’d miss it. But then we went to her DeLor friend Shotaro’s birthday party (at Airborne, heh), and his mother told me that his older sister was in her dance school’s Nutcracker, which was being performed in Mountain View on Thanksgiving weekend, then got us tickets! So Annika and I dressed up and went to the show -- her theater manners were perfect, she followed the story, and only got upset when it was over (“That was TOO SHORT!”, she complained, as we waited for Shotaro’s sister to emerge from backstage after the show so we could give her flowers). She wanted to buy several of the costumes (“Do they have a gift shop, Mommy? We could buy the costumes there!”), and declared she wants to be in a performance herself. Altogether a really fun day together, and she’s excited to see a different production of the ballet in Texas this Christmas. 

Walking!

Big milestone for the Lukas-man: He’s been walking holding onto stuff for a couple of months, but on November 26, he took his first unsupported, solo steps! Yaaay! R. was home to finish the exterior painting, so we both got to see it (and of course got it on video). When Annika got home from school, we did it again -- all three of us cheering like maniacs, him with the biggest goofy smile. Now he’s walking everywhere; he usually drops after a few steps to crawl because that’s still faster, but since he’s realized he can see (and reach, and eat, and destroy) a lot more at his full height, he’s appreciating this walking thing a little more every day.