Mother's Day

This year, mother's day was dominated by pink eye. We skipped church, did not go out anywhere for dinner and pretty much stayed close to home. We called the pediatrician on-call Sunday morning for antibiotic drops for Benjamin. We hoped we could knock it out in 24 hrs.

Yep, that was 4.5 days ago. We've been to the pediatrician twice now. His eye seemed to be improving this morning but was still not better. By tonight, I'm not convinced that he's getting better at all. I'm preparing myself for something worse tomorrow, and of course a third trip to the pediatrician. Good thing we like our pediatrician. Speaking of that, Jasper is in love with one of the nurses. Miss Marilyn. She gives him truck stickers.

So, yes ... Mother's Day. Jasper told me in advance that he bought me a card with a bus on it. He thought it was awesome, and of course it was. It's fun now to have him be a part of the process. It was a beautiful day here - warm, but beautiful.



After our photo op, it was time to cut Jasper's hair. Nana's been doing this on her visits, but we can't wait for the next time we see Nana.


In order to get Jasper to sit still, we let him watch Cars.

Benjamin got a little introduction to Cars during the hair cutting, too. He liked it.

Jasper gets too hot outside in our Texas heat with his long hair. So, we had to be a little aggressive. I was nervous!

As you can see, the powers of Pixar are overwhelming to him. He cannot look away.

The final result is a little scruffy ... I had to do some touch-ups on Monday. But it's shorter now. That was the objective, and I'm not mortified to take him out in public - which was also a goal. :)

All that being said, the poor boy still gets hot outside. He was wearing his fireman hat while we were outside yesterday afternoon, and his hair was drenched from sweat in no time. It was so bad Drew thought Jasper had already had a bath when he got home from work. nope!

Potty Success!

I struggle with the appropriateness of this post, being that this is a public blog. But this certainly is a milestone to celebrate.

Last night and this morning we had pee in the potty!

We've had a potty chair in the bathroom for a while, a couple months. Jasper has shown waxing and waning interest over this time, but recently he's shown more interest in the actual action of peeing - peeing on the floor of the bathroom and on his bedroom floor after his baths. This week after his baths he's said "I have to pee." So we've gone into the bathroom and let him sit on the potty chair. He wants us to come with him, and he says "watch me pee." I can't quite convey his excitement, but there is almost always excitement to be sitting on the potty.

Last night there was success! It was pretty cool. Jasper thought it was awesome.

This morning when I was changing his diaper, Jasper again said "I have to pee." So we went to the bathroom. To my surprise and delight, again we had success. Jasper got to dump the pee into the toilet and flush, and we then got to call daddy and say "i pee'd in the potty!" Daddy was sooooo proud, too.

Have no fear, there will be no photos of pee or poo. Everyone knows what they look like.

Without the Help of Dora

... we're counting to ten in Spanish here! Auntie Lindsay suggested after the Cinco de Mayo post that if we'd just let Jasper watch Dora he'd be counting to ten in Spanish by the end of the week. Well, I didn't have to resort to letting a television show educate my child (not that I'm wholly opposed to that). This week I asked him to count to cinco at the doctor's office, and he breezed on past to diez. woo hoo!

hmm ... if I could just have remembered how to say something celebratory in Spanish, that would have really capped off this post wouldn't it? Oh well.

7 Months Old

Benjamin is now 7 months old. Don't ask me where the days, weeks and months have gone. Our baby is no longer looking like an infant, let alone acting like one. We don't have a "couch photo" so far, and I'm not sure if we will. We're fighting off pink-eye here, and I just couldn't bring myself to photograph him just sitting around (not doing anything to preserve) when he just looks so sad.

Eating solids has stepped up a notch from the beginning of last month (when he just turned 6 months). Benjamin loves cereal (rice and oatmeal). He opens WIDE to take in each spoonful. So far, sweet potatoes are ok but green beans & pears are summarily rejected. I don't remember how he feels about carrots, and I think he's warming to bananas. Yep, picky eater again. I guess it's payback to me.

He sits at the kitchen table in our hook-on chair. It works wonders! He's completely contained even without strapping him in. He'll sit there while I'm making dinner and just play with (and drop) toys or watch Jasper eating. It works way better than the Bumbo - because he was straining his way out of that pretty much the first time we put him in it on the table.

I had the boys in for a check-up this Monday, for Benjamin to get a weight check since he had dropped down as of the 6month visit. He's now up to 22lbs, and back at 95th percentile in weight. 22lbs is the limit of our infant car seat. Oh, that's going to be hard to let go.

Benjamin's first tooth broke through on April 22nd. He handled it quite well, requiring no painkillers. I knew it was coming and felt it before we could see it, and here you can just barely see it.

no image of the tooth, but check out that drool!

These photos were taken this weekend. Benjamin's toothy grin is adorable! You can just start to tell that Benjamin has pink eye. Poor kiddo!

tooth close-up


Benjamin is quite adept with his pacifier. If he can see it, he can pick it up and get it in his mouth. He's not addicted to it, but it is effective in getting him to calm down sometimes. He likes to just chew on the pacifier sometimes.

Benjamin is starting to push up and backwards in his attempts to crawl. He doesn't understand that he's learning to crawl, but each time he tries to reach for a toy he gets closer to figuring it out. I don't think he'll be a commando crawler like Jasper was. He's already figuring out how to get his big belly off the floor.

As an end comment, I think it should be noted that our outdoor loving boy also loves ... dirt. and grass. I put him on a blanket in the yard while I'm playing with Jasper, and in short order he's reaching so hard for the grass just beyond the edge of the blanket that he falls on his face. That doesn't deter him. He keeps reaching, and generally when we come inside his fingernails are full of dirt. I don't think he's tried eating any yet. He probably will, and once again Drew will have to remind me that ... we're raising a boy, two in fact!

Raising a Boy

For whatever reason, the city of Austin is having a hard time keeping the water line in front of our house from breaking. For the third (or maybe fourth) time in one year they've been out to rip up the curb and try to fix something. Two weekends ago we once again saw water gurgling up and spilling out onto the street. They came one day, made a bigger mess, and then left it over the weekend. So that weekend, my boys decided to make an even bigger mess. In the midst of it all Drew reminded me "we are raising a boy." Point taken. Have a look.

We found a "Jasper-size" shovel (a trowel) for Jasper to use, and he thought that was great. He'd say "let's dig, daddy!" Dig they did!

Benjamin stayed clean but was interested in the activity at the curb

Jasper is showing off his mess. Both boots are supposed to be red.

hopefully this is not an indication of a vocational calling.

he doesn't appear to mind having mud on his face.

clearly he was dirty, and i didn't really want to track that into my not-even-close-to-spotless house. so Drew decided to hose him down. here you can see the water just starting to reach his fingertips.

the initial onslaught of the hosing down was startling to Jasper (and me!), but after he composed himself he thought it was awesome!

cleaning off the hands ...

led to a very wet shirt!

here Jasper is doing a little jig because he's enjoying getting sprayed so much.

now starts the progression of clothing removal and general merriment playing with the hose.

This is all Jasper. Look at that diaper. It's pretty soaked!

Cinco de Mayo

Drew recently told me about the youngest person ever admitted into Mensa. She's a two year old, and on some published video this "savant" is shown having counted to ten in Spanish and listed state capitals. Call me crazy, but that hardly seems like genius material. She probably is smart enough to be doing calculus right now, but if that's the case, why not have her do some equations?

So, I decided counting to ten in Spanish would be a good goal. On Sunday night we started. I taught Jasper the different numbers. Today I drove the point home. We counted in Spanish every time we had a chance - looking at truck stickers, eating broccoli, sipping milk, etc. He doesn't get it all the time, but for the most part he can now count to cinco. In honor of that I was happy to teach him that today is Cinco de Mayo (how convenient!). I told him he should tell daddy it's Cinco de Mayo when he comes home. He didn't seem all that into it, but sure enough. When Drew got home and Jasper ran out to greet him, he said "dad it's Cinco de Mayo!"

Yes, I'm proud.

Sweet Berry Farm

On Monday April 20th, I took the boys to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls. Our friend Gayleigh Cotnam joined us. It was a gorgeous day - especially for picking strawberries. It wasn't too warm, but nicely so. A gentle breeze blew across the fields, and the sun shined down on us. It was just great!

Last year Jasper was gung-ho about picking and immediately eating the strawberries. This year, not so much. He had fun walking up and down the rows, but he just wasn't that into it. He talked a good game - pointing out big "daddy-sized" strawberries for Gayleigh to pick.

He and Gayleigh teamed up to pick together, and I kept Benjamin close to me in the stroller.

Benjamin lasted only so long in the stroller, and soon I was multitasking in the field. Surely I could have come up with a more efficient method ... but I wasn't planning to spend the whole day out there, so I just made do.

Under the giant shade trees at the farm is a host of mama and baby goats. Probably some dads, too. They were cute as the dickens, but Jasper didn't want to have anything to do with them.

I think he's trying to protect Benjamin from having to go near those goats. Look at Benjamin's feet! He doesn't have a care in the world!!!


So we left the goats in search of the horses.

And when we got there, the horses were not nearly as interesting to our little guy as the old horse trailer parked nearby. What a crazy kid!

Both boys fell asleep on the car ride home. It was a beautiful way to spend a morning! That night we had strawberry shortcake after dinner. It was delicious!

Brothers

I'm sure intense rivalry is in our future. Who escapes it, really? For now, the boys get along really well.

Benjamin totally adores his older brother. Jasper can get him to laugh and smile better than any of the rest of us. Tonight Benjamin was having a rough time through dinner, and Jasper sitting in his high chair was talking to him saying "hey, Benjamin. it's ok Benjamin." Benjamin also always wants to know what his brother is doing, and he never seems to mind when Jasper comes over to him, hugs him and pushes him over onto his back. Jasper will then come running to me and say "Benjamin fell over." He's doing what I've asked him to do ... it's just that Benjamin hasn't fallen over so much as be pushed over. Oh well!

Jasper loves his younger brother. He frequently wants to be holding, hugging, kissing or just being near Benjamin. case in point:

this day Jasper had been sick all morning and understandably sequestered from his brother. after his nap he felt good enough to want to have something to eat. once i gave him a bowl of dry cheerios, he made a bee-line for his brother and sat down so close to him he would not have been able to sit any closer. they're butting up to each other, sitting "cheek to cheek" as my dear Oma used to say.

Benjamin thinks it's funny when Jasper gets so close.

Jasper requested this picture. he's loving hanging out with Benjamin.

Benjamin loves both the piano and guitar. Jasper loves the guitar and loved the piano, but the piano hasn't been of interest to him for a while ... not until Benjamin started playing it. Yes, there are some sharing issues with these toys, but Jasper is learning through this experience. It's good for them both!

It's hard to tell, but both boys have fire trucks on their shirt/onesie. Jasper thought it was awesome! He loves his new shirt. He asks to wear it all the time, and the only time i can legitimately turn him down is when it's dirty. He gets dirty a lot, and sometimes I just slack off on the laundry for a day to get a break. Jasper wanted to be able to see the fire truck on Benjamin's shirt, and he is pretty focused about that type of thing. on top of that I was trying to get a joint photo. Oh well, there is just so much you can ask of a 2-yr-old and a 6-month-old.