dogs, donuts

I can't believe I forgot to post these. One weekend day, not so long ago, our friend Kate showed up at our house at 7:30am, muttered something about dogs and donuts in the park in 20 minutes, and sped off. Some things you don't say no to so we trundled ourselves out of the house and there you have it. Ollie somehow knows what the good stuff is, like from his genes or something. Kate supplied the cookie monster and I procured the baby monster.

Will surely end well

"Hey Dylan, what do you dial for an emergency?"

"Ninety-nine one!"

"And what's our address?"

"Nine one one!"

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I was impressed when I came upon Ollie sitting in a seat like a civilized human. Not so impressive in reality--he's strapped in there.

These ones are still best buddies. They just...go off and play together. All the time. Today Dylan let Ollie use her as a walker. She is certainly more patient than I've ever been.

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The Princeton team is winning on the Amazing Race. So proud.

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I haven't been looking up baby instructions on the blog by referencing Dylan at the same age as much as I did when Ollie was first born. I thought I would check in today and it was actually really helpful. We are SO EXHAUSTED right now and it was sort of reassuring to see that every other post was about not sleeping and being really tired and extra housework from having another person and such. I can't imagine it was all that entertaining to read, but it made me feel better because it was a reminder that having a baby this age is tiring. I know, right? Insightful. I think I remember it getting progressively less exhausting over the next 6-12 months, and Ollie is definitely a better sleeper. I also learned that we were into the Simpsonizer at that time. So much learning, today.

a walk in the woods

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I thought my computer had a weird virus or an identity crisis and that is why "My Computer" is now "ryusuiwitueiwou09w6u6jcjhchjcdkickkc." But now that I've gone and written it down I think we all know the virus is named Dylan.

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Ollie has a DUH sound that he gets a lot of mileage out of because he gets credit for saying Dylan and Doggy and Daddy. He now signs milk pretty convincingly, and usually pretty pointedly.

the boys

This one

is a giggler

with pretty pretty eyes

for a gremlin (runs in the family)

he LOVES the doggy

who loves him for having a tray full of food

works for everyone

hodgepodge of all the photos scattered around my virtual desktop, with brief captions

The dog park: hostile to children and partial to aged food.
Play doh: something I thought I would like to do with Dylan because I love projects but in reality it is more trouble than it's worth and I seem to have to be overly involved with it

and WHY? WHY?

She wore this all day. She got many an appreciative comment.

Ollie proudly wields the shopping list after he wrested it away from me

Nooooo! That is not only bad to eat, but without it I will flail around trying to find the things that will actually be good to eat so we don't have to feed on pens.
One of Aaron so he doesn't feel left out

Birthday gardening kit circa two weeks ago:

And circa 10:52pm:

Speaking of gardening, here is my secret garden. You thought we got a minivan for the kids, didn't you?

Hair cut

I thought I was capturing a nice kiss but it turned out upon closer inspection to be an attempted smothering

Happy feet

You know what is an awesome game?

Crossing guard.

dylan; darndest things

Not captured in those swing posts is Dylan's inability to judge how far back the swing will come. Sort of funny. Sort of hazardous. It's a wash, I guess.

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I am doing emergency medicine right now. I really like it, not least of which because I got to go up to the helipad the other day. The lights shine in our bedroom window and we've been watching the helicopters land for years, so it was like destiny.

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I believe "playing cards" are up for induction into the Toy Hall of Fame. Now whenever they induct stuff I am reminded of Jon Stewart's outraged reaction that "ball" was inducted after "stick" and "cardboard box." I think we can all relate to that.

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Dylan has been quite easy to date with the awkward questions about body parts/reproduction thus far for two reasons, I believe. One, I got her a book at just the right level and read it to her a bunch before she even thought to ask awkward questions. Two, she still remembers the whole "parents coming home from the hospital with Ollie after a number of months of an alarming growth in mommy's abdomen" thing quite vividly. She KNOWS how that works. What she prefers to ask endless awkward questions about is: death. We took her to the cemetery for a field trip a few weeks ago, which actually helped a lot. She's just starting to figure out to be worried about what will become of me, but so far it's been more concern with the logistics of where all those bodies go and what, exactly, they can and cannot do, rather than alarm.

Speaking of that whole Ollie's birth thing, the other day Dylan was very frustrated with me and my rules and told me she couldn't wait to be a mommy so she could make her own decisions. She meant "adult," not "mommy" because although she wants children she does not actually plan to have any because it will hurt. I told her it's her call.

She was asking me about why I don't eat meat and I explained a few reasons. Then she asked well why do you drink milk then? So then I said good point and had to explain veganism to her. I told her that would also be her call when she's a teenager and she said she does not need that much time to make a decision: she will always eat meat. So then I taught her omnivore so she would have a name too and she was happy. She certainly has her finger on the pulse of rejecting all things that are important to her mother. Her pediatrician says there's a bit of a teenage-ish stage around four.

She has also been decidedly grumpy lately, but then suddenly was less grumpy but understood phonics and can actually ride her bike pretty well (with training wheels). So I took that as a cue to let the internet teach her to read and we've been sounding out lots of stuff and it's sort of fun but I can imagine it will become tedious quite shortly.

She received a punishment yesterday, probably related to the grumpy. I told her to sit and think about what she wanted to say to me when she was done in time out and she said "okay, but it's not a nice word."

We've really been having to think about discipline more lately. I've mostly been using control things, like I get to pick out clothes or bedtime books instead of her. But then I got tired of having to come up with a punishment in the moment, so instead I use the vague and threatening "I will think of a consequence." So now consequences are like currency, and if she earns one I usually give her a chance to unearn it later, which works for everyone because it is a highly effective motivating tool because it could be ANYTHING as far as she knows yet I never actually have to come up with a punishment. We'll see how long this lasts. Ollie needs discipline too, but I mostly stick to corporal punishment with him.

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On our way home from Tully last weekend we stopped at a wildlife area I've been eying for years. It was cool. I think we'll go back and spend more time there one day when the backseat crowd is a little less cranky.

Do you know what they had all the telescopes pointed at? I will tell you. The Thruway. Not creepy at all.

And again