Rocky Roll

Get me Mick Jagger, STAT! I'm riding down the road with my little guys and here is the scene: Harper is wearing rainbow striped sunglasses, a pink t-shirt, purple leggings and red squeaky shoes. Graham has spiky hair, red, white and blue guitar shoes and a jacket with a giant guitar on it whose hoodie says "ROCK!" on it. Harper is yelling, "I need mo Rocky Roll, now please!"
All is fine and good, even cool, until you realize what "Rocky Roll" is. Raffi. Raffi, you know, the guy who sings "wheels on the bus", " 5 little ducks" and everybody's heavy metal favorite, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". Rock 'n Roll he is not. More like folk singing for children. And that's not all, we aren't even allowed to hear the entire cd. Instead, we are all subjected to Harper's favorites, which include the 3 above and another diddy called "Rise and Shine". You know a cd has worn out its welcome in the car when you are praying that she won't mind listening to "Daniel in the Lion's Den"- just for a change of pace. We have a three disc set, and yet, Harper only lets us listen to the one.
And so there I am, driving down the road, with the speakers turned off in front and fairly loud in the back (to accomodate her other frequent request, "Turn it up, PLEASE!!!!!". Graham is jamming in his seat, Harper is singing along and Lucy has begun her new tirade on how tired she is of this cd and how all she wants to listen to is her rock 'n roll (remember when I listened to Journey day and night- that's what Lucy wants, again.)
Let's hope that the cds that Harper said she wanted for her birthday are better and satisfying to her very selective ear. If not, Raffi might get tossed from the car window- in true rocker fashion.

Animals Gone Wild

I'm not sure what is going on here. I have kids who act like animals and animals that act like kamikazes. Harper is still acting like a dog whenever she is in a new situation. Graham is now hooting like a chimp on the playground and Lucy is just wild. That's nothing.
The past few days have included some strange animal encounters in our neck of the woods. First, a couple nights ago Ian and I were sitting in the living room after the kids had gone to bed and we heard a splash. This isn't so abnormal since we often hear Charlie, Lucy's fish, splash in his bowl. But this was a substantial splash. Ian got up to take a look. Sure enough, Charlie had jumped out of his fish bowl and onto the table. Good thing we were awake or it would have been a plunge to ol' Charlie's death.
Today while Harper, Graham and I were eating lunch in the kitchen we were watching the birds swoop all over the yard and we watched as a woodpecker ate his lunch from a hole in the top of one of the trees. Then SMACK! A sweet little finch flew right into the very window we were looking out of. Bad news for the bird. I ended up having to bury him in the backyard. Harper was mildly tramautized and said the bird needed a nap. Good night finch.
To top off our animal stories for the week: Our storm doors on both the front and back doors often don't latch all the way. Today I heard our front door open a bit and I went to the top of the stairs to see who was opening it, assuming it was a delivery. No. It was a squirrel. That's right, a squirrel opened our front door. His back was to me, but I stomped my foot and he darted, door slamming (and latching) behind him. What is going on?
Harper thought it was great. I did not. Wild thing.

Smashing in Pink

Don't let the pink and tutus fool you. Lucy is not wearing hers because she finds it pretty or wants to be girly or a ballerina. The girls put on the tutus and Lucy declared, "These are not for dancing, they are our wrestling outfits." And then mahem ensued. It was a pink massacre and both girls were taking and giving lumps. Giggles, tutus, and little girls. I'll take it. At least they looked pretty while they were trying to body slam each other.

It's good to be in the middle

As Graham gets older he is catching Harper's eye more and more. She used to walk by and sort of copy whatever Lucy was doing, but now she is trying to get his attention more and more. And vice versa. Now that they sit next to each other in the van, without Lucy between them, they spend that time smiling and talking to each other. He yells at her when she walks by, and she will now stop and play with him. A friend of mine the other day noted that she also loves to take care of him. She gets a little carried away sometimes, but in general, she will help wipe his drool, get him a toy, entertain him or hand him his cup or whatever else is out of his reach.

On the other hand, Lucy is letting Harper play with her more and more and actually hoping that she will do so. Lucy doesn't ask to play by herself as much anymore, rather she says, "Can Harper come out with me, too?" or she will make a snack for Harper when she makes one for herself.

Who says that being the middle child is so tough? I think that if Harper plays her cards right, she will be in the most enviable position of all.

One Month to Go!

Harper is in birthday mode. We have been talking about it so that she understands it when the day comes. She now walks around singing "Happy Birthday!" and talking about her birthday party. Never did I think we would end up with a little 2 year old who was a Wizard of Oz fanatic and who, in particular, loved the Wicked Witch of the West! Of course, Lucy has to have her hands in the planning and the day after I made Harper's bday invites, sealed and addressed, Lucy announces that "she and Harper have had a talk about Harper's bday party." She went on to tell me that Harper wanted a fish or turtle birthday party. This would be fine, except now Harper is wanting a witch/ turtle birthday. Not sure how those two work together except for the fact that they are both green. I need to keep Lucy out of the planning, or at least keep her from giving Harper more ideas.

Lucy also has ideas about what to get Harper for her birthday. They all include things she herself would like. For instance, there are some small unicorn figurines at the variety store that Harper has been eyeing for a few months. Lucy went to pick out one for her the other day, but wanted to get the blue maned one. This is Lucy's favorite, not Harper's, who would like pink or purple. Lucy then adds, "I will love to play with Harper's blue unicorn, that's why we need to get that one." In the end, they are a buck so I got two, both are Harper's, but now maybe she will have one to share. We'll see.

Right now, we are focusing on getting Harper completely healthy. After a week of a mild rash that wasn't driving her crazy, but was starting to spread all over we decided to have it looked at. She was also vomiting late last week so a trip to the doc was in order. It turns out that she has strep. Bubblegum, pink antibiotics never hurt a 2 year old girl, so she is on the mend. Today when I gave her her first dose of medicine she said, "thanks momma, now I'm not sick anymore."

We went to the doctor and that means H got weighed. She now weighs a whopping 20.8 pounds. I think Graham is about 18. Slow and steady wins the race. He is gaining, slowly, but surely and it will be interesting to see in June when all three kids go to the doc at the same time to see who weighs the most- Graham or Harper. In the meantime we plug away at trying to get her to eat.

Harper loves playing in closets. I'm not sure why, except it is sort of hiding, sort of peek-a-boo, sort of something that she thinks that she's not suppose to do.

Shake Your Groove Thang

Graham has found it, his GROOVE THANG, that is. We got back from KY and now he is a dancing machine. He hears anything resembling a beat and off he goes to the land of disco balls and dance floors. The girls love getting him to dance and so we now have a dance party at all times of day.
Dancing isn't the only thing he has discovered, bouncing in general is great fun. He loves to be jostled and bounced on my knee, or in my arms. And you can't stop. If you stop, you get some quick hip thrusts to get things going again. So when I rock him before bedtime now I am given a final hip thrust as I get ready to put him in bed. He may be half-asleep, but he is going to go dancing into his dreams.
So he will soon be introduced to our version of the Kentucky Derby, mounted on a knee, listening for the call to post and then a full call of the race, all while being bounced on a knee at full speed. He will always win, just as Lucy and Harper always did, and will be showered with a garland of roses. And I'm sure that win will deserve a victory dance.

7 Months

Graham is almost 7 months old- already! He has become such a happy little man and is truly developing his own personality. He loves to wrestle, be rowdy and silly. He is definitely not a passive player in the game anymore. He is nosy- everything distracts him and he wants to know where every sound is coming from and what everything tastes like or feels like.

He is talking a lot. He has started saying "Ma!" and usually starts chanting this before milk-time. He mimics loud noises with his very own loudness and will mimick your tone when you talk to him as well. Ever see a human try to get a dog to howl? We can do that with Graham as well!

He loves being outside and watching the kids play. He goes with us everyday after school to the playground and will squeal when kids run in front of him-he seems to think they are doing it for his pleasure. He loves to swing as well, although not too high, he catches his breath like he is on a major roller coaster.

He is sitting and rolling and reaching. He scoots backwards if he is on his belly so that he ends up under the couch, the bed or whatever else he can fit under. His hand-eye coordination is amazing and he is actually pretty quick at grabbing things and, of course, getting them into his mouth. His favorites are sticks off the ground (Harper is on the case though, she loves to scold him for putting "dirty things" into his mouth).

He is exploring his little body. You can find him with his fingers in his ears, eyes, nose, between his toes, etc and diaper changes have brought a new found toy into his life!

We think he is cutting his first tooth. You can't see it yet, but it is swollen and Tylenol seems to be helping. If it isn't a tooth, then he is playing us, quite seriously.

As you can see above, he has a mind of his own. When I put him in his carseat now he will straighten completely- stiff as a board- and not let me bend him to put him in his seat. He will also do this when I try to put him down on the floor. It's like trying to fold a brick wall sometimes.

He eats all the time. He eats 3 meals of solid foods a day, plus a little snack, plus he nurses about 5 times a day. And he is still always hungry. Speaking of hungry, there he is now. He is a growing boy, afterall!

Graham's First Visit to KY

All loaded up and off to KY in a car too small, really, for all of us and our belongings. The upside is that in a car that is too small, you pack lighter and Lucy can help with Graham. The downside is that Harper can reach Lucy- and that just means aggravation. All in all, the trip was flawless. Graham cried for less than 20 minutes the entire 10 1/2 hours, Harper managed to keep her feet to herself most of the time and movies pacified Lucy and that mouth which really needs a car of its own at times. And we made it to Lexington to see the last half of the UK basketball game.
We arrived in Lexington and stayed for less than two days. This was just enough time for the kids to be showered with gifts, attention and to squeeze in some funtime with Parker, Pop Pops' trains and Gramzie and the pirate ship. More time will be spent in Lexington this summer- we promise!
The next day was Graham's baptism. He got the shared honor of being baptized with Molly- whom we all met just hours before! Needless to say, Graham and Molly like each other. They ogled each other and smiled big goony smiles at each other much of the week. Molly cheered for Graham when he bounced in the jumparoo and they held hands a lot when playing on the floor. Graham is big enough to eat Molly, but he never had the opportunity to get hungry since he ate every hour on the hour while we were in town.
Back to the baptism... Graham was being dangled over a fountain of holy water when he heard Fr. Gary say his name, just as Lucy did a few years before, he craned his neck to see who was about to pour cold water over his head- a little guilt trip for the priest. Then Fr. Gary got his revenge, he finished the bottle of chrism on poor Graham. To say that Graham's head was slippery and smelly for days is an understatement. I know you only need something old, something new, something borrowed and something new when you are a bride on your wedding day, but since Graham was wearing a beautiful white gown, it needs to be mentioned:
Something Old- the gown, Nani made it and Lucy and Harper and myself and my sisters wore it at their baptisms.
Something new- does a fresh diaper count? or the scratch he put on his own head on the car ride over?
Something borrowed-Graham's shoes are borrowed from Max
Something Blue- Graham wore his UK jersey underneath with the number "1/2" across the front. Oh, and he bleeds Kentucky blue!
Party- cake, egg hunt, and friends and family. We won't mention the UK game, it did not add to the festivities.
All in all, it was a great start to our week in Kentucky.

Pops and Grandma

When we go to Pops and Grandma's, it always means one thing- Lucy disappears into the basement to play with Uncle D's old toys. This trip was especially thrilling for her since she found his old stockpile of Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear toys.

The kids always seem to find their way into bathing suits and into water as well. Lucy came in our first night over there to tell me that I needed to go buy her a bathing suit because she was going to go down the waterslide in the backyard. She "and Grandma" had decided. I went and bought her a bathing suit only to find out that nobody had agreed that getting out the waterslide in 70 degree weather with ice cold water running through the hose was a good idea except for Lucy. Buckets were agreed upon instead and she and Max whooped it up in the water while Harper stood tentatively by.

Lucy's highlight of the entire week was when Pops took her fishing. She is still talking about it and wondering when she gets to go next. Her version of the story is that she "caught a lot! And Pops only caught one." She says the second line like, too bad, I hated to show the old man up!

Lucy spent the night a couple nights (lucky girl, she got to miss Graham and all his crying all week!) and we all had an egg hunt in the backyard. You've never seen kids so happy as when they showed up at the house one day and Grandma had covered the entire dining room table with candy- all kinds of candy! Lucy took, literally, 20 minutes to choose her first piece. It was painful to watch her choose. It just all looked too good to her. Harper chose a piece and was onto her scond piece within 30 seconds.

Pops was a trooper and headed home with us. Never did he know that trip to take so long! Since he left last week Harper will occasionally say, "Pops is crazy!" or "Where's Uncle D?" We'll see them soon enough- Harper is counting on a birthday surprise and Lucy doesn't help by telling her everyday that "Pops and Grandma always come visit on your birthday!" She's had one so far, so I guess Lucy isn't telling a fib!

Bon Bon and Grandpa

We got to hang out with Bon Bon and Grandpa throughout the week. We had dinner with them at their house (never seen a kid each so much spaghetti and meatballs as Max put down that night!) and dinner with them at Lauren's where afterwards we walked to get ice cream. The girls got strawberry with extra sprinkles. Graham had his first taste of cold and creamy with little tastes of rasberry sorbet- he was panting between tastes! Max and Lucy were rowdy and screeching and yelling together in the wagon- enough to bring the neighbors out! And Bon Bon went with us to the gym and got to see my little acrobats in action.

Lucy spent the night one night "up in Taylor's big room- it's ok, Taylor doesn't mind". They watched The Wizard of Oz and had a great night. I'm not sure on our future visits I will be seeing much of Lucy since spending the night at her grandparents is now her favorite pastime.

Fahey Fun

We stayed at the Lauren and Damon's while we were in Louisville. This gave Max and the girls lots of time to play together. Harper mostly looked on while Max and Lucy wrestled and ran around like a couple of wild things. Max would cry when he had to leave Lucy and Lucy and Harper would both get so excited to see him every morning. Harper would say "Max is goofy!"

While we were in town Boog took us to All About Kids- a giant gym with everything kids love- bouncy things, things to climb on and Lucy's favorite- a trapeze. Harper even gave the trapeze a try a couple of times, and then she headed for the slide into a foam pit. Max tried the trapeze as well, although he is a pro at the jumping sidewalk.

We had so much fun at their house, even if Graham did a splendid job of keeping everyone awake every night. Next time it will be even better and maybe by the third time, we'll just lock them all in one room and let them have at it- they'll go to sleep eventually-right?