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Mon, Aug 10, 2009 7:19 PM
Nicholas was wearing his new Rolling Stones shirt (he loves the Stones) so I commented that he looked cute. “Cool, Mom. I look cool.” was his response!

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Fri, Jul 10, 2009 7:18 PM
Alex had to have his 2 front teeth pulled recently (too many falls for my little accident prone darling) and he seems to have taken on the personae of the snaggletoothed little rascal along with it. He seriously went from being one of the most docile little guys who napped 2-3 hours a day and still went to bed without a fuss to a little mischievous imp who refuses to stay in bed, among other things. We made the bad decision that we should take his pacifier away at the same time as the extraction so it wouldn't hurt his teeth, but boy do I wish we could bring it back. I mean really, he doesn't have any front teeth to ruin anymore, so could it really be so bad? I'm sure I would falter except that I know Charlie would kill me. He's been trying to convince me to take it away for a year now, so I guess I should consider myself lucky to have lasted this long! It's only a problem because I had relied on that nap for work time, but soon he will be off to preschool so it won't be an issue anyway, or at least, not for me!

We were at a pool in Calistoga recently and Nicholas was jumping off the diving board. On his third or forth time, he walked to the end and did a front flip off! None of us were expecting that!

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Tue, Jun 9, 2009 7:18 PM
Alex had his last day of Billygoats today. That means he’s ready for preschool, which I can hardly believe. I still think of him (and probably always will!) as my baby, and he is quite content to play that role. Unlike Nicholas, who was always on to the next thing well before we even knew it, Alex is perfectly content to be the baby. We’ve been trying hard with the potty training, and have had some minor success of late, but it’s been hard. He still mostly refuses to poop on the potty, which creates a daily mess. Big boy incentives don’t work for him. We did finally move him into a big boy bed, which is actually just his crib transformed into a bed, so it’s still small and most often overflowing with books which he usually falls asleep right on top of after he’s read through at least 20.

He’s not napping quite as regularly these days, but will stay in his crib and read books for hours. The no napping seems to correlate directly with us taking away his “bay bay” (pacifier, see next entry).

Nicholas just had his preschool graduation from Little Bear School. We’re still in flux about where he will attend Kindergarten. It’s really a shame because he would benefit so much from playdates with new classmates to get him ready, but that’s impossible without knowing where he is going to go. Not to mention that he keeps asking where he’s going, so it’s obviously a concern for him, even though we’ve tried not to share our anxiety over it all. It’s extremely aggravating but hopefully someday I will read back over this and think that all the worry was for naught, that it worked out as it should.

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Thu, May 28, 2009 7:18 PM
Pretty soon Alex is going to be singing that about his two front teeth. That's right, they are goners. He has to have them pulled next week. Had yet another fall Sunday night when Charlie and I were out on a date. He and Nicholas were doing their usual laps around the house with their airplanes, and he fell on the kitchen floor. They were already crooked and a shade of gray from the first bad fall, and this one, while not as bad, seems to have done them in (plus probably countless other falls in-between). Luckily Gloria knew to look for any sores above the gum line as a sign of infection (something his dentist should have mentioned to me). He had one, so she knew I should take him to the dentist right away. They x-rayed it and said the roots are pretty disengaged, so the extraction shouldn't be too bad. He was so cute at the dentist, sitting there with his mouth wide open in the chair, even when the dentist was out of the room! I haven't told him what's going to happen yet. I'm sad that his cute little smile is going to be toothless. But I'm sure he'll still be cute. And it's going to make eating his favorite green veggie (artichokes) a little difficult.

First his finger, now his teeth. I hope that's it!

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Mon, May 25, 2009 7:17 PM
Last night was Alex’s first night in his ‘big boy bed.’ He called for me as usual this morning to come and get him, and when I came in, he was standing straight up in his bed just as he always did in his crib! Maybe it didn’t occur to him that he could just climb down himself!

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Wed, May 20, 2009 7:17 PM
Alex has been requesting that we hold hands and pray before we eat dinner so we've been saying the old stand by "God is Good." The other night Nicholas questioned, "Why do you always say him, why is it not her?" Good question! Now we always say her. We usually follow it by saying what we are thankful for. For Alex it's almost always Karen and Brian (his Wed. share care buddies); Nicholas is usually Shark Week (at school), Gloria and Hugo. The family gets a mention every once in awhile!

It's 9:30 and I think the boys are finally quiet. Usually it's just Nicholas, but Alex joined in the battle tonight. He had to go pee pee on the potty twice (I suppose I should be thankful for that, it is progress), needed chapstick, and then the new one - his tummy hurt and he needed a bowl to throw up in. Then Nicholas needed a bowl too, because his tummy hurt, then he needed a band aid for a tiny scratch that is a good 4 days old, and of course not any band aid would do, he had to spend 10 minutes searching for the right one. Plus all the usual antics. No one has thrown up, or even seemed like they might. So there goes my night!

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Tue, Apr 28, 2009 7:17 PM
Alex is back in the closet. A couple of nights ago he woke up in the middle of the night and said there was a slug in his bed and he wanted to sleep in my closet, so I moved him in there thinking he must have had a bad dream. But two days later and he still only wants to sleep in the closet! I've acquiesced; since he slept in until 8:15 one morning and 7:30 the next and still took a 3 hour nap both days (sure beats 6 am!). I'm not sure if he's still waiting for the sun to get up before he calls for me, or if he's really that tired. Could be a growth spurt. He had to stay home from Billygoats today because of his (perpetually) runny nose. They are being extra cautious bc of the swine flu. Unfortunately I have a presentation tomorrow that I need to be getting ready for. He got to go to the grocery store with me, which is actually one of his favorite things to do, and now he has been quietly reading books is his room for at least half an hour!

Keep your fingers crossed for Nicholas - round 2 school assignments get mailed on Friday.

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Tue, Apr 14, 2009 7:16 PM
Today is Alex’s 3rd birthday! I woke up to him singing “Bob the Builder” at the top of his lungs in his crib. We had sweet potato muffins for breakfast, and afterwards he said, “Thank you Mommy for making me sweet potato muffins.” He had his heart set on going to the Airplane Museum for his birthday, so we made it a Billygoat fieldtrip with me as the parent on duty (and Nicholas as a special guest). He had a great time, and it was a fun experience for all, especially since none of the other kids had ever been there. We nearly set the place on fire when I tried to capture the moment of him blowing out his candles on film. I tried to blow the match out too quickly and then laid it on the table where it ignited some nearby napkins. Oops!! Luckily Angelica put it out quickly and no one was hurt. That was almost as bad as Sunday, when we had a little party with cupcakes after the Easter egg hunt. Alex wanted to lick the candles, but licked the wrong end! Ouch!!

After the Airplane Museum Alex took a long nap, and then at dinner he exclaimed, “You make me happy, Mommy!” followed by a round of “You are my Sunshine”. I’m really not making any of this up! He is such a sweet little guy and is almost always happy. I’m sure some day I will need to go back and read all of this to remember!!

His current favorite songs are:
“Down by the Riverside” (and it almost always calms him down if he’s upset)
“Polly Wally Doodle”
“Skip to my Lou”
“Pull the Magic Dragon”
And his new favorite, “Hay is for Horses”

He still refuses to use his pedals on is tricycle, and believes the he goes faster with his feet. He has a special obstacle course that he has to follow every single day we walk to the park for billygoats – along the curb, up the wall, by the fence, over the log, down the dirt hill on his bottom, cross to the opposite side of the sidewalk, back again to the other long, climbs up on the half wall to reach and open the gate, etc.) I always have to make sure we allow plenty of time to get there!

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Sun, Mar 22, 2009 7:16 PM
We got our lottery results for Nicholas' elementary school. After spending countless hours touring 17 schools plus endless research, we went 0 for 7 on our choices and were assigned a school in the Mission that serves predominately English learners. I went to check it out last week hoping for the best, and did not see a single non-Latino child in any of the classes that I saw, or the cafeteria, or recess. I'm all for diversity, but this is hardly diverse and clearly is not going to meet our needs.

There is a round 2 where you can waitlist a school along with a new list of seven, but there are over 950 people in my same position and it's not looking likely that private school will be as big of a draw as in years past with the current economy. We have to submit our round 2 choices by next Friday, and needless to say I have been super stressed about it. On top of that everyone is sick in our house (except me for now, thankfully!) Alex has been completely out of character and fussy and whining non-stop. My friend Trish was visiting Thursday/Friday, and not only did she get to experience one of our all time worst bed times, she woke up to Alex crying incessantly for about 2 hours in the morning. I think she might be changing her mind about procreating! Nicholas has had a fever and headache for two days now, and Charlie's still not feeling well. It's been a rough month with illnesses.

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Sat, Feb 21, 2009 7:15 PM
Bedtime has never been easy with Nicholas. When it starts to get particularly bad, we resort to a star chart where he gets a star on his shark calendar for every night he does a good job staying in his bed and going to sleep on his own. After 5 stars in a row, he gets a present, and then he has to go an additional 6 nights, then 7 etc. to get another present. The most he ever reached was 10 in a row, so I thought I was safe when I offered up a trip on an airplane if he got stars every night in February. To my complete shock and amazement, he did it. He even forgot about the presents along the way.

Around February 16th, he decided he wanted to go to Little Rock on Feburary 28th, and then when I explained you had to book and plan ahead, he decided it could be Kansas for my birthday (a mere 6 days later). I had actually wanted to take him on a special trip with just the 2 of us, so my proposition wasn’t completely out of the blue. But I didn’t really expect to have to make good on my promise! He then decided he wanted Alex and Charlie to come, too. Luckily Bemo and Popsy are taking us to Disneyland for Alex’s 3rd birthday, and I think I’ve now convinced him that we could fly to Anaheim instead of drive, not that driving was every really a possibility, but he doesn’t have too know that! If I had more time when I could be away from work, I’d take him anywhere because it has made such a huge difference not having to wrestle him down to bed every night. Now we just need to work on shortening the bedtime routine: brush teeth, 2 stories for Alex, put Alex down, play game with Nicholas, read story to Nicholas, sing So La Lee, rub his legs, etc. etc.

Nicolas’ current obsessions (age 5):
-Wristbands. One blue and one orange. It’s especially funny when he wears them on his ankles. His best friend at school as a matching set.
-Basketball. He can make a goal in a standard basket!
-Superheros. Loves dressing up as Superman and Batmat (Alex is Spiderman with a red cape)
-Checkers and tic tac toe. He crushes me at any memory type game.
-Cars (the movie) and anything Lightening McQueen.
-Swimming. He’s a very confident swimmer now and has moved on to back flips underwater! We were at the pool the other day and he was standing on the edge about to jump. I was with Alex in the water several feet away, and the lifeguard called out to me in alarm that he was about to jump. But after he jumped in and started swimming, the lifeguard realized why I was not worried. Alex is the complete opposite. He has always clung to me in the pool until the other day when I decided to pry him off to see if he could touch the bottom (it’s only @ 2 feet deep). Of course he could, by a long shot, but neither of us had ever thought to check. I just remember Nicholas at about half his age standing on his tippy tippy toes with his chin up trying desperately to touch when he just barely could.

Comments:
Lorraine Hannah: I'm really glad to hear what you were doing as early as February!
I love you, Bemo

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