Imagine this scene: Noah, Eva and I arrive home from picking up Noah from school, everyone (read: Noah) is hungry and tired and cranky. Then he trips, and sliiiightly scrapes his ankle. And collapses into tears. I set Eva down so I could attend to him, and she decides to try to walk down the driveway, and faceplants. Now both kids are screaming, and one is slightly bloody.
Yup, it was just about as awesome as it sounds.
This is where I'm happy baby skin heals so quickly. Also that most of our neighbors work during the day.
We had a lovely first night of Hanukkah last night. Noah claimed his place as a full-fledged preschooler and made a salt dough menorah.
Impressive, no? I think he may be an artsy kid.
Also, a character. He was apparently too hot in his clothes, so he stripped down for menorah painting.
The kids loved lighting the menorahs
And then it was time for presents, and my favorite thing Noah did all week. I will try to convey:
Scene: mommy is going downstairs to get tonight's presents. Earlier in the day, Noah "helped" her wrap Daddy's present, a star wars DVD.
Mommy: is it time for presents?
Noah: yeah!! Daddy, can I watch that movie?
Daddy: huh?
M: shhh!
N: (starts to jump in place) daddy, can I watch that movie?
D: huh? What movie?
M: Shhhhh!!!! Noah, just wait!
N: ( jumping) Daddy, we got a movie for you!!! Yeah! Can I watch that movie!?!
D & M: hahaha
So far, the approach to three years old has been a real challenge. So it's great when his energy and intense earnestness can be used for cuteness instead of thwarting my every plan.
She may not be walking, but I've got her hard at work.
(yes, she's not walking. That trip down the hallway I showed you last week was apparently a false alarm. Apparently she wants to do these things on her schedule, not mine. Huh.)
Yup, still busy. Haven't connected my phone to my computer in days. But look at the great pictures dad took of the kids!
(Also, my apologies to Charlotte, to whom this process and my children in general seemed a tad overwhelming)
Cheese!!
I love you, baby Charlotte
I'm not sure how to appropriately caption this one, Eva seems to have gotten used to having her picture taken, Noah seems thrilled with the responsibility of holding the baby, and Charlotte's mind has apparently been blown by the super soft texture of Henry's ear. In summary, this is probably the best picture we'll get of the three of them for the next several years.
Of course, that video was taken last night and this morning she has absolutely no interest in walking on her feet (the knees are perfectly acceptable, thank you). So we shall see where this gets us.
Still cause for congratulations, in my opinion. She's barreling towards big-girl-ness at the speed of light, leaving only a thin trail of drool behind her.
Eva and her buddy Alden, both 10mo. Please ignore the mommy chatter in the background.
I love watching the two of them play - they are so interactive. Shortly before they discovered the screen door, Eva picked up a small teddy bear and knee-walked over to hand it to Alden. They will coo at each other and pat each other on the head. They will both listen to a story together, one of them turning the pages while the other watches. I think they are both so relieved to get to interact with one friend who's at exactly their level, instead of trying to keep up with big brother.
Noah: Let's do a video! Me: Do you want to be in a video? Noah: Yeah! Let's do a video! Me: What do you want to do? Noah: A song. Me: Ok, you can sing a song and dance and I'll take a video.
You are welcome.
Also, I swear we don't feed him much sugar or any caffeine. He is just hopped up on preschooler crazy.
We love fall, when it is cold enough that we've taken in the patio furniture but nice enough to play outside still.
We also love the iphone, which makes it so easy to take lots of videos of the kids. My only disappointment is the sound quality is not the best, so you have to listen extra hard to hear Noah's running commentary and motorcycle noises.
Good god, it's been a while. Things here are nuts, and let's just say they are not going to change anytime soon. However, just because I have been too busy to blog does not mean Eva has stopped astonishing us about once an hour. For baby archival purposes I will swoop in here to post an update. And then a series of videos for the week.
Anyway, the update. Eva is astonishingly cute.
Duh, mom.
She is working hard on learning to communicate. She points at things she wants or at things in which she is interested. She says "mamama" when she sees me, and "dadadada" when she see Chad. She says "dat" when pointing at something. The other day she reached for her bottle and said "babababa."
She can do the signs for "more" and for "milk" and for "all-done," but really prefers pointing, smiling and crying to get her message across. She is still a great eater, but now requires to be eating the same food we are eating, preferably directly from our plates, preferably with her own utensil. We usually forget to give her a utensil, and then halfway through dinner she notices everyone else has a fork and she'll scream until we figure out that's what the problem is.
Speaking of the screaming, Eva is not a quiet baby. She makes her opinions known. She will be sleeping, and instead of waking and whimpering a bit before going back to sleep, she lays perfectly still and screams at the top of her lungs. Then goes back to sleep.
She and Noah are sharing a room now. In related news, Noah is a trooper.
Eva is totally fearless. In the bath, she'll put her face down and blow bubbles in the water (she started doing this all on her own). She crawls under the guest bed and through the tunnel and into the closet and into the cabinet. She loves to crawl around the playground structures, and would happily fling herself off the edge if given the chance.
Don't worry mom, I've got this.
She is super mobile, crawling and scooting and rolling. But now, her usual mode of transportation is a surprisingly effective bouncing knee walk:
She loves to play with toys, especially Noah's cars and trucks. She likes to put things into boxes. She likes to "draw" with chalk on the chalkboard. She loves books, and will chose one then knee bounce over to you waving the book. If you are busy reading another book, for example, to her brother, she will sit there and cry until you look at her book instead.
No idea where she learned that.
She is so capable. She can rock on a rocking horse. She can use the potty (when we get her all set and sit her on it). She can clap her hands and play peek-a-boo.
We got a pre-halloween surprise in the form of about six inches of snow last weekend. It is hard to believe that we're already headed into Eva's second winter.
I know, I can't believe it either.
Noah, needless to say, was totally thrilled. He made a snowman with daddy.
We convinced him to wait long enough for us to take a picture
And then he kicked it over.
Also, Eva isn't crazy about standing in those boots.
Some people think that soft, carpeted or padded floors are best for babies. Those people are totally wrong, hardwood floors are best because they allow for Eva's new favorite mode of transportation.
Let me tell you, we really did Halloween right this year. First, we went over to our neighbors' house for pizza and beer. Then, Eva put on her frog suit.
Froggy wants an iphone, please!
Eva and Max really coordinated with the green amphibian costumes this year
It is possible the mommies are more excited than the babies in this picture.
Next, we lined up all of the kids in their costumes and all of the parents stood, snapping pictures, until at one point most of the kids were looking at the camera.
We were told there would be candy.
After that, we hit the road. The herd of preschoolers was really quite impressive.
Perhaps I should be concerned about the lady down the street and her demon spawn...
The decorations were a big hit
Though Eva was skeptical
Not sure how I'm supposed to reach the doorbell from here, mom
After a tour of Ollie's pumpkins
We retired inside so the kids could take a look at Noah's haul
They wouldn't let me have any candy, but I'll show them!
Look! A crumb! From the floor!! I will eat it!
Then Eva went to bed and we let Noah eat two pieces of candy
This may have been a mistake...
And now Noah's arguing with Chad about going to bed while I sit in the kitchen and write this post. Wish us luck.
And it's awesome. I can just kind of sit by and stretch or drink my coffee or videotape them. For about 2 minutes until they both want the same toy and it's over.
Disclaimer: the following is really pretty dumb. I think it's totally hilarious. You probably won't, because in reality, it's not. In fact, you should probably click away now, back to work or school or your budget or whatever it is you are actually supposed to be doing on your computer.
You were warned.
May I present, Noah and Eva Pytel starring in "Fly me to the moon France"
and it's stunning sequel, "Fly me to the moon France, part Duex"