Random Babynotes

1. Donovan is trying to jump. He can't quite get the both-feet-off-the-ground thing. He tried jumping all around the house last night--around the kitchen table, thru the dining room into the living room and back again.

2. Donny climbed out his crib last night and landed on his back. It was a bad scene. I calmed him down while Mike lowered the bottom of the crib. Pretty soon it will be Big Boy Bed Time. Thank god we live near an Ikea.

3. We have identified another song: Frere Jacques. Reports of The Farmer In the Dell remain unconfirmed.

4. When Mike went to get him at daycare last week, one of the slightly older girls was petting and kissing Donny. Another boy was watching and she said to him, "Its alright--you can kiss him." I told this story to Sheryl who wondered if it was the same little girl who was very concerned that Sheryl was going to take Donovan outside without his rainslicker. Also, reports home have Donovan playing with some of the other boys in the class. That's a bit of relief--for awhile when I'd go in to get him, he always seemed on the periphery of things.

That's all I can think of right now. I am SO VERY GLAD that it's Friday! Its been a tough week at work and I'm looking forward to babyday tomorrow. Also, Mike has off on Sunday so we'll get a full family day in there as well.

And The Hits Keep Comin'

Tonight was night number three of the new sleep experiment: we lay down with Donovan in our bed, just like always, but we take him to his crib while he's still awake. I don't want to jinx it but, so far, no tears and no tantrums. Such a relief!

That being said, putting the kid to bed doesn't necessarily mean he goes to sleep. I laid down with him at about 8pm, put him in his crib at about 8:45pm and, from then until about 11pm we could hear him on the monitor. Singing. Singing for over 2 hours. I almost expected to go up and find an old style reel to reel tape deck in the crib playing a loop and a knotted ladder made out of his crib bumper hanging out the window, Great Escape style.

Singing for 2 hours wouldn't be quite so much of a tour de force if the kid knew more than one song. Actually, I take that back: he knows 3 songs, they just all happen to be the same tune. 42 years old before I realized the Alphabet Song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep were all the same melody. Oh Wolfgang Amadeus, it's all your fault!

Stuffed Animal Parade!!!

Busy weekend for all three of us. Mike had to work both Saturday and Sunday so that left me and the boy to our own devices. Saturday was a whirlwind that centered around a noon doctor's appointment for me and, thus, a date for Donovan with our good buddy Kirsten. Kirsten is exactly the type of person I want my boy hanging out with and they had their date at the lovely Squirrel Hill Carnegie Public Library. The timing of my appointment, however, did not match the timing of the bus system nor did it mesh with the all important Nap Time. Donny ended up falling asleep in the cart in the checkout line at Whole Foods. I had to hold his head up in one hand while I got my debit card out of my wallet with the other.

Today I tried harder to get the timing right and it worked out well. I took the kid to the playground in what started out as mist but turned into a downpour. Did'nt stop him from wanting to go down the slide. I brought him home, dried him off and put him down for his nap. He woke up happy and did'nt want to get out of bed. He insisted on taking all of his stuffed animals and laying them in a row in front of him. Then he picked up each one, kissed it, put it back, picked up the next one, kissed it, etc. etc. Really, it was too cute. I could literally feel shards of cynicism falling off of me melting ice floe style just watching him. I tried to get a good photo but the angle was off and, besides, I'm guessing its the type of moment where the value is in what you can't catch with a crappy digital camera. Here are some photos anyhow:

Miscellaneous Phone Photos

This is the outfit they had him dressed in at daycare. It is not the outfit in which he left the house:

Well, I see Donovan's got his brand new Tupperware Pillbox Hat:
And of course, spinning a plastic lid while waiting to see the doctor:

The Long Weekend

Hello, Comrades.

I'm typing this at the tail end of an extended weekend. I took two days off of work to Get. Shit. DONE. and while I did not cross everything off my list, I did make a good dent. Now I'm basking in the kidfree glow while Mike gets Donny from daycare. I think I have about half an hour or so before they come back home. Mike has practice tonight so its just going to be me and boychik and Thus Ends All Cleaning Projects.

But it wasn't all about cleaning. This weekend we had our friends Will and Kirsten over for dinner. Mike has this great rib recipe and we invited them over for Barbeque and Root Beer Floats. So we're a little late with the summertype stuff. Anyhow, I thought it would be funny to serve huge chunks of meat on the insanely girlified plates I picked up at Goodwill a month or two ago:
This weekend was also a big weekend for Polish Hill, with both the church festival and the arts festival. Donovan decided on Sunday that he wasn't going to take a nap, which screwed up everyone's schedule so we missed the Arts Festival. He and I did make a stop at the Church Festival tho and, I must say, it wasn't quite as nice as last year. Tho we did go to a crazy estate sale next door to it and I got an crazy estate sale mirror/shadowbox/knicknack shelf for $10. I did'nt get any photos of the kid at the festival but here is an example of window dressing that is pretty representative of the neighborhood:Because Donny didn't take a nap he ended up falling asleep at the table during our dinner with Will and Kirsten. No photos of that, I'm sorry to say.

Yesterday, Mike and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. The 13th anniversary is the Eating Every Meal Out anniversary, so bento box lunches from Sushi II on Walnut and dinner at Kaya which, I have to say, kicked solid ass. Before dinner we took Donovan to a follow up appointment with his doctor to check his weight. Since last time he has grown 2.5 inches and gained 13 ounces: Not Good. We have to take him to a developmental specialist to check on his weight and also the not talking thing. Which is good because I really need to take more time off of work.

Sigh.

Despite the metaphorical slap in the face from the doctor's appointment, it was a nice weekend. And a long one. I'm so glad my Monday is actually Wednesday...

Princess Donovan

Minimilestones

I have to fess up to being a bad mom. Well, not bad, per se, but impatient. For a few weeks now I have been stifling my jealousy as I hear parents of kids my kid's age or YOUNGER talk about all the talking their kids are doing. I know that every child grows and his/her own pace and, yes, I have heard that Einstein did'nt talk until he was four, but I think I've pretty much maxed out my interest in the Guess Why I'm Grunting game. I'm ready to communicate with Donovan on the next level.

So imagine how pleased I was when I came upstairs to put him to bed and Mike met me at the top of the stairs, "I don't think I'm imagining it or exaggerating this: I took off his shirt and said 'That's sticky' and he said, 'Thicky.'" So I asked Donovan if he was sticky and, clear as a bell, he said "Thicky."

What's the URL for the Fulbright website? I need to fill that thing out pronto!

Joking aside, it was a great weekend for Donovan advancements:

* He's started imitating Mike whenever Mike blows his nose.
* He's been singing some song and doing this little hand jive to go along with it. We have to remember to ask his teachers what that is.
* He noticed that his graham crackers are shaped like teddy bears. Now he kisses the first few that he eats and lines up the others like its some little dessert parade.
* He's trying to put his own socks on. The one thing he's missing is that they open up for the foot. He can't quite grasp that yet.
* When we went to the museum on Saturday he ran straight for the door.

Alright, none of this is really overwhelming in and of itself. All together tho, it was a fun weekend watching a happy boy enjoy running around, teasing his parents and just having a good time.

Art: It Tires You Out.

I was up and showered early for a Saturday as there was the chance I would have to go and give the first cemetery tour of the season. Turns out I didn't but it's alright as Donny and I were ready for the day so we caught the 9:45 bus to go the the Art Museum.

It's been months since Donovan and I have taken the stroller with us. He's been so good about walking and I'm just as happy having one less thing to lug around with us. So, in going to the museum, I was thinking we'd walk around for maybe an hour and then catch the bus home for somebody's naptime. We got as far as the first gallery and Donovan started to have a meltdown. Luckily, the museum has free strollers so we went back, packed him up and were on our way.

Back in the days when I was a museum docent, we were very strict about people not taking photos. But that was back when phones had dials and ladies wore bustles and cameras were big boxes on tripods. I sheepishly took a couple of phone photos of the boy and, when no one accosted me, I took a few more:
It's hard to see but I hung the little tag they give you from his pacifier. I thought that was hysterical but no one--including Donovan--seemed to notice. Oh well.

I took Donovan into one of the video installations (Migration, by Doug Aitken) not knowing if he'd like or if it would scar him for life. As usual with art, he was more interested in the bench I was sitting on. At first. Then he started to notice the images, which were a variety of wild animals in hotel rooms. Donovan gradually started to watch and, while I would'nt say he was enthralled or even interacting, at least he noticed it. Thank God: sometimes I worry...
This was the photo I took to see if I could get away with taking photos. Not a big fan of this particular piece but the sentiment is nice.
Donovan posed in front of a portrait of Joseph Woodwell. Woodwell is one of my Homewood cemetery people, plus he was buddies with Frick so I got to talk about him alot when I was a Frick docent. What I didn't realize until today is that this portrait is by Thomas Eakins. That buys old Woodwell some street cred, doesn't it?
I had to get a photo of my favorite boy in front of my favorite artist, Fernand Khnopff (the painting is Portrait of Madeleine Mabille)
And finally, what visit to the Carnegie could be complete with out posing your 2 year old son in front of Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus by Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret?

We did end up spending just about an hour there and then we hightailed it home. Between being lazy and having bare cupboards I ordered out for lunch and the poor kid had to wait for his nap. He was gearing up for crankiness but, the good news is that once his head hit the pillow it was Lights Out. In fact, I almost felt jipped: naptime is usually the time I get to play with the kid and curl up with him to get him to go to sleep--this time he went without me!

The Skinny Boy Waters Dad's Tomatoes

And in case you were wondering how those shorts stay up when the boy is such a freakin' string bean:

Observation in Haiku

For a kid who thinks
6 raisins consitute lunch
he sure poops alot.

Hooray For the Red, White and Blue

Happy 4th!