Charlie’s Finale Ballet Performance

Charlie and Alaythia had their ballet recital last Wednesday night.   Both sets of parents have decided that this recital also marks the end of their (short-lived) ballet careers.  For me the decisive moment came about 30 second into their performance, when I had begun laughing so hard I couldn’t see through the tears filling my eyes.  I glanced over to see Jonathan laughing and blushing a beet red.  In every direction were the convulsing shoulders of parents trying their hardest to keep from guffawing out loud.   Charlie?  He was totally oblivious, dancing a solo in head-banging style--wiggling his hips to the music and once, even falling down in his enthusiasm. 

Oh, and he and topped it all off by jumping off the stage rather than walking down the steps at the end. Yes, I think the ballet world will be better off without Charlie’s arabesque…and his parents certainly don’t have the guts to sit through more performances like that! After admitting this, there is not really much space left for saying we are proud of him, but we are.  He certainly enjoyed himself immensely.  (That counts for quite a lot at this age.)  And no one will forget his performance easily.
Here’s the video:   No extra charge for its anti-depressant effects!

Study Break

It is that time of year again, when finals begin and Jonathan dissapears into the back room/office and we don’t seem him for many days while he studies and writes himself to exhaustion.  We’ve been keeping ourselves pretty occupied, without him, but occasionally the kids still break through my barricades and try to engage Jonathan in some play time. You may or may not remember my summary of Charlie’s complicated attempts to ‘distract’ Dada from work and study.  Wendy has been developing her own strategy for claiming Dada’s attention. 

Who me?It goes like this:  She walks in, puts a hand on his arm, looks up at him, babbles a few baby syllables and then he turns into mush….

It works every time.  Here they are working on their sword fighting skills, when he is trying to cram for an exam less than two hours away.  But that’s how it is with girls and their Dada’s!

Wendy Week: Happy 1st Birthday!

You woke up at 6:30 this morning, but that’s usual.  Dada brought you into bed to nurse. I love nursing you.  You love being done so that you can flop over on your stomach, wiggle your legs over the edge and slide off.  You head straight for the curtain to see your tree and check for birds and squirrels.  If you see one, you lean up on your tip-toes to watch it run or fly as far as you can.  Then you check on us, lying in bed, watching you, to see if we saw it too.   We didn’t, but that doesn’t stop us from talking about it with you.

                          Then Charlie starts humming.  He does that every morning when he wakes up, and every morning I promise myself, that I’m going to get a recording of it before he grows out of this stage.  I love his morning songs.  He loves having the bedroom to himself to wake up in.   He takes a while to wake up, he likes to be alone, and snuggle with his blankets before he is ready to see anyone, but especially you, Wendy.  Your exuberant “Eye(Hi)!” is too much for him first thing.  Except this morning.  When I walk in and I tell him that it is your birthday today, he is immediately up.  Excited.  And he wants to give you a birthday hug.  You love it!

We have breakfast in stages, and video chat with your grandparents while you open your packages from them.  Charlie helps you.  You have no idea what it is to do something interesting by yourself. When you are bigger, you are going to fight for independence from his interest in your life just like you fight for independence from us. But you aren’t big enough for that yet. Right now, whatever you are focused on is better if you are next to him and he is doing it with for you. After presents, you take a nap.  This morning there were thunderstorms and Charlie was very worried about the noise, but it didn’t bother you at all.   You slept from 8:45 to 10:45 and woke up very refreshed.  Charlie wanted to get in with you, which made you bounce and shriek and bonk your head on the side of the crib.  Sometimes enthusiasm can be painful, but I love the way you don’t let that stop you.  You know its worth it for the fun!After some snacks we got dressed to go to the store.  I remembered we had some rain boots for you, and Charlie was so excited about going “mudin WITH Wendy!”  It turns out you rock boots.  I have never seen cuter knees in boots. Ever. To Market to Market to buy some fresh cream, white chocolate and bread
Home again, Home again, let’s bake up a cake, just like we said….I do have to say, this picture is reminding me that I adore the way you wave to everything and everyone we pass when you are in the stroller or any kind of cart.  It makes me feel like I’m pushing the Queen of England, or Miss America on a float….elbow, elbow, wrist wrist, touch your pearls and blow a kiss….Today, because it was your birthday, you and Charlie each picked out a little balloon.  Actually Charlie picked them both out.   A blue smiley face and a yellow smiley face.  You immediately began to gnaw on your balloon while Charlie hyperventilated about it popping and I repeatedly told him, it was fine and to let me be the Mommy.   Until I noticed that you had a strange golden smile—the yellow paint was coming off where you were licking the balloon—and then it was time for me to hyperventilate.  I only tell you this so that you will know, someday when you are a Mom, that sometimes you will make the very best, most well-intentioned mistakes.   And it is Ok.  Also, balloons are really not a toy, but they should be. Thankfully, you were just as happy to chew on the little plastic stick that came with the balloon for the rest of our trip.  After lunch and a glorious nap with your brother,  we shared a bowl of blackberries.   It makes me laugh how very anxious you get about making sure that your tray stays full when you are eating something you really like.  If you get down to the last five or six bites you start asking and crying for more as if you had none left at all.

  

Then it was time to go muddin!  Charlie was really excited about going with you! 

    You on the other hand, planted your feet, leaned over to touch the muddy water once or twice, and then signed to me in no uncertain terms that you were “All done!”  You watched the rest of the proceedings from the stroller, with a wary look. 

…Until we found a puddle that didn’t involve grass and squishy mud!Of course, after the muddin, we needed baths.  You and Charlie sang a bath-time duet.  Charlie was singing about the snack he was about to get.  You were singing for the pure joy of bathing (and being with Charlie)!

After your baths we had dinner.  I made a favorite: peas with chicken and rice in coconut milk, and a little ginger to flavor it.  You ate a LOT for dinner tonight!  

Then our neighbors, the Sandersons walked over to help us sing to you and watch you blow your candle out.  You weren’t really sure how to.  Don’t worry, we will work on that.   But Charlie was glad to help!

Everyone was happy to eat cake!    (I made the butterflies out of white chocolate. It was fun to imitate your first birthday cake, though mine is not quite the creation that first one was! )…Looks like you did a good job eating it yourself!Not many girls get two baths in a day.  Still, but I figured it worked out perfectly, since they are one of your favorite activities.  

There you are, Zu-zu, heading off to bed with sleepy eyes.   Full of rice and chicken and cake; fully ONE!   You sure celebrated well today! What a great first year!   I can’t wait to see you through other!  

Happy Birthday, Wen-d-dee-dee-deee!

Wendy Week: Guide to Communication

Wendy, thought she’d write this post, since she is becoming an expert! 

“Words?  Well, if you are going to get anything around this house, you have to make your requests known.   Apparently when I got here there was already another child (I haven’t quite figured out what to call him yet) taking all of Mama’s time and energy.  I’ve done my best to commandeer her for myself, but he is pretty tough competition.  She seems to think he is cute and is very committed to keeping him around, so I try to work with it the best I can.  Of course, he is fascinating and really, if I’m honest,  very handy in some situations.” 

“The big people seem to have  this weird complicated system to communicate.  It involves an endless variety of sounds, which are fun to imitate and all, but let’s just be honest here.  If you really want to get some action, just scream.  It works every time.” 

“Of course, Mama will tell you that she has taught me signs for lots of words.  She has this theory that giving babies signs to communicate is like giving them tools.  She thinks that if I have signs, I won’t want to scream.   What she doesn’t realize is how much faster she turns around when I yell at her, than when I sit there quietly moving my hands in some asinine repetitive motion.   But I’ll give her props for being almost as stubborn as I am.  Even after I scream and she knows exactly what I want, I still have to make the stupid sign to get it!”

“All that to say, signing is not so much a tool for me, more a frustrating  incentive to get on with talking.   I’ve discovered if I make a noise even remotely like the word that belongs with the sign, she stops making me move my hands to get what I want.  So recently, I’ve been dropping signs left and right and super motivated to get on with the talking.” 

“Here’s what I’ve figured out so far:  You can get a lot of mileage out of three or four simple sounds.  Try changing the inflection and, viola, it’s a whole new word!    For example, I get a lot of attention for saying Batman.  It gets me kisses!  I’m so good at  saying Batman, now that I can picking it out of a conversation in the next room and repeat it back.   They think I’m so smart, but really all I did was put a growly voice on my sound for bye-bye.   Seriously, Batman = ‘ba-ba” with a growl; Bye-bye = “ba-ba” in a sing-song tone!  And they think I’m fantastic for it!   That, my friends is how you get the cover-your-whole-body-in-goose-bump kisses!  You really have to make sure they don’t make you work to hard, how do you think I’ve managed to maintain my chub this long?  Shortcuts!  It’s all in the shortcuts—well, and food.  (But that is a subject for another day!)”

“Anyways, I was about to show-off to you how much mileage I’ve gotten out a few simple sounds:”

• “Bwa-bwa”  = bottle, or to nurse
  
   
• “Wa-bwa” = water cup (certainly not to be confused with ‘bottle’)
• ”Aba” = Amen
• ”Bee-bee” = Wendy, baby, please-please (I use this to get something that I want, but it certainly took Mama a loooooong time to figure out what this one meant)
• "Ba-ba” (with growly voice) = Batman
• "Ba-ba” (with sing song voice and wave) = bye bye
• “Na-na” = night night (said over and over after I leave the room and she is falling asleep)
• “Chssss” = cheese (first word)
• “Aaaaaaa” = ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I’m ready for the next bite’
• “Da-da” or “Da” = Dada
• “Ma-ma-ma” = Mama
• “Apee” = ‘up please’
• “Ah dya” = ‘all done’ or ‘all gone’
  

  …from February
  

  …from May

• “Tzzss” = ‘brush teeth’
• “Eye” = hi
• “Ma” = more
• “Mwaah” = kiss

“Impressive, right?  Also, it is only fair to admit, that I do keep a few signs around for their cute = cuddle properties.   I do love a good hug and cuddle!  Here’s my most effective one: the sign for sleep.”

“Na na!”