max at five

When Max gets a pass from school and spends the day at home with us, which he does fairly often, he is a nonstop fountain of questions. He wants to know everything, and it doesn't even cross his mind that Mike or I might not know the answer. And he remembers everything, too, so if we don't know, we better not give him the wrong answer.

At school this year, Max has really come out of his shell. He runs inside to greet all of his friends, and at the end of each day, we have to wait for the hugfest to run its course before we can pull him away from his pals. He doesn't seem to be very shy there at all anymore, either with teachers or classmates. Every night, he's full of funny stories to tell about the things he did during the day. I think it will be really interesting to see how he handles the transition to kindergarten, considering he has been in this same building, with these same teachers and fellow students, since just after he turned one. I think it's going to be a big change for him, but hopefully having Liam already there will make things a little easier.


It's easy to know what Max's favorite things are because he talks about them all the time. This morning, Mike and I took him out without brothers for a special birthday breakfast, and he constructed stacks of half-and-half and jelly, then told us a long and involved story about how it was a special world from the game Mario Galaxy. When Max likes something, it really permeates all the areas of his life. And it's so much fun to watch him right now as he makes the transition from little-kid stuff like Backyardigans to big-kid stuff like Star Wars.


It's been a really fun year, watching Max become more confident and (slowly but surely) less scared of things like going upstairs by himself. It's going to be even more fun to watch him navigate all the changes and new things that his year of being five will bring. Not only the kindergarten thing, but a whole host of other things from playing soccer and doing 4-H for the first time to riding his first bike (which he got from Aunt Bethany and Uncle Joe for his birthday). And I'm looking forward to a great ride with him.

Happy birthday, Max!

dreaming of spring...

Last time I took the boys to get their pictures taken, it was a disaster. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas, and we went on a weeknight with Bethany and Klaudia (one of our goals was to get a picture of all four grandchildren for Christmas for my folks). Really, truly, it was awful. Henry wailed in distrust of the photographer (who, it must be said, really didn't give much of an effort by way of connecting with the kids), Liam scowled and sighed and wouldn't cooperate (though he was the best of the three), and Max faked being sick -- complete with tears! -- so he wouldn't have to get his picture taken.


So it was with great trepidation that I ventured back to the picture place with the boys on Saturday. This time, I was prepared. I took Avalon and Klaudia as backup, so we were playing man-on-man instead of zone defense, as it were. I made them take naps before we left the house. I stopped along the way for some chicken nuggets (even though lunch had been only 90 minutes before) and drinks. We got there early and played. I tried not to display any irritation, even when we had to wait for a long time or the boys bickered. All good things. But the best thing was that we got a different photographer, one who introduced herself to the boys, talked to them, made them comfortable, and asked me what I had in mind. "I don't necessarily want to worry about getting formal posed shots, or about making them smile for every picture," I said. "I think it's more interesting when they're just being themselves." And the photographer, to my great relief, smiled and said "Good!"


And the boys had no problem just being themselves. They spent the next 30 minutes or so taking turns posing for pictures and rummaging through all the props on shelves around the room. When Max was getting his picture taken and Henry wandered by to stand next to him, Liam would jump in to try to get a good one of all three of them together. And vice versa. It was so easy and smooth! And so many great pictures. I am still pretty amazed. And also pretty sure that next time, the pendulum will swing back around. Or could I get this lucky twice? Anyway, these pictures are just a sample. If you want to look at the whole album, go here.

off to the office

Henry's got his briefcase and his cell phone, just like every other harried commuter.

the great chocolate chip caper

Maybe you've heard, we've had a blizzard. It came through on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, everything was closed. Well, almost everything. Bethany braved the weather and headed to the local big-name supercenter to stock up on some provisions, then she stopped by our house to give the boys some things to entertain them while they were stuck inside. And she was nice enough to give me a bag of chocolate chips so I could make cookies with the boys.

In the late afternoon, Henry started fussing. The bag of chocolate chips was on my desk, and it was his regular snack time, so I opened the bag and gave him a few. Then I closed the bag with a binder clip and buried it under some papers so he wouldn't see it and start crying for more.

This morning, while I was brushing my teeth, I heard a strange noise. I came out to find this:


I guess his memory is sharper than I gave him credit for! Luckily, his big brothers were happy to help out with the cleanup. (The paper scraps are courtesy of Max, who is obsessed with cutting paper -- I just hope he doesn't get the idea to apply his scissor fixation to his hair like Liam did at his age!)


And it wouldn't really be fair if I didn't show you the result: a sugared-up baby who had his treat taken away and thrown in the garbage. And after he worked so hard to get to it!

on the ice

Yesterday morning, we packed up, loaded up, and headed to scenic Elkhart for a day of fun. First stop: the ice rink. This might be a good time to point out that Mike hasn't been skating since college, and I've never been skating, so we weren't sure quite how it was going to be to take the boys skating for their first time. But it turns out we had nothing to worry about. They were pretty wobbly on their double-bladed skates at first, but by the end, Max was doing a happy little foot dance across the ice, and Liam was having the time of his life, boldly trying all sorts of moves even though he fell approximately every 5.8 seconds. Mike had a great time out there too, which made me a little jealous since I decided to stay on the sidelines with Henry and cheer them on. It was probably for the best since I'm clumsy and would no doubt have broken an ankle.




Anyway, after skating, we scoured Elkhart for a place to have lunch, but apparently all the places close down on the weekend, so we ended up at Mexican restaurant. Then we made a quick stop at Mini Delights Bake Shoppe to use a groupon I serendipitously got the day before. Tiny cupcakes: what better thing to take to go meet a new baby? So we headed off to nearby Goshen to see my cousin Amelia and her newest daughter, Leigh. What a cutie! I didn't get to hold her since she was sleeping in her swing the whole time, but I had a really good visit with Amelia, and the boys had a blast exploring the foreign world of girl toys. And once we finally got back on the road to head home, all three boys crashed right away. It was so peaceful. And yes, I'll admit it: We took a few detours and drove around town longer than necessary just to enjoy the silence.

snowed under

Work has been overwhelming for both of us lately, with mandatory overtime for Mike and a bunch of unexpected (but welcome!) gigs for me. It's all we can do to get dinner on the table, spend time with the kids, and occasionally say hello to each other in passing. We've got a birthday to look forward to next month, which happily coincides with the last of my big deadlines, so in the meantime, please enjoy these strange but somehow wonderful pictures of Henry celebrating a belated Christmas with the extended family at my grandpa's house.

2010 by the numbers

Emergency room visits: 3
Surgeries: 3
Pounds of furniture moved (approx.): 8,000
Loads of laundry: 412
Family vacations: 1 (yay!)
Adults-only vacations: 1 (double yay!)
New cousins welcomed: 2 (just in time -- welcome, baby Leigh!)
LEGOs stepped on: 357
Clothing items sewn or repaired by Yami (min.): 10
Airplane rides: 2 (Mike and Liam)
New pets: 1 (but he's a doozy!)
Teeth lost: 2
Teeth gained: 11
Trees chopped down: 1
Trees planted: 1
Easter prayers interrupted by one of our children screaming "Dragonoid!": 1 (thankfully)
Works of art shown in galleries: 1
Photos taken: 1,658 (not counting all the ones I deleted right away)
Blog posts: 82 (including this one)

I'd say it all adds up to a pretty good life. Here's to more great things in 2011!

timber!

We almost made it to Christmas without one of the boys/pets pulling down the Christmas tree. We were so close! But this morning, Henry managed to walk (!) off by himself just long enough to get behind the tree, give it a shove, and send the whole works crashing to the floor. There were countless ornament casualties, though Max was very pleased that the candy canes seemed to have survived unscathed. We've got a lot of work to do to replace everything (including the fake tree, which was probably in its last year of service anyway), and the plans for next year will definitely include a barrier. Look, but don't touch, kids!

The boys reenact the scene.

The survivors.

at klaudia's gymnastics meet, henry shows off some moves of his own

anatomy of a tantrum

Henry objected vigorously when I asked him to act as the scale model to show off the new bed, though he eventually grudgingly relented.

this is not what it looks like

Charlie is amazingly patient with Henry, and lets him pet (read: smack repeatedly) him all the time. This picture looks pretty scary with the teeth and all, but really Charlie was just getting ready to lick Henry's hand (lots of food residue lives there, no matter how hard we try).


They're just two friends, forever separated by a gate. But at least they can -- and do -- pass each other things over the barrier. Henry offers toy cars, pacifiers, cups of milk, and, of course, his dubious affections. And in return, Charlie offers squeaky toys, hanks of rope, and plenty of slobbery kisses. Just the other day, I caught Henry sharing his Oreo cookie with Charlie over the gate, and I couldn't decide which sound to make: aww or eww.

there, i fixed it

Friends, we have moved every bed and dresser in this house this week. We really wanted to move Henry upstairs, but we were pretty sure he wouldn't enjoy having his own room after sharing with us for so long. But we ran into a problem: Neither Liam nor Max was willing to have his own room, either. The solution? Bunk beds. So on Black Friday afternoon, after the place had been cleared out, we headed to our local big box store to get an inexpensive but surprisingly well-crafted and sturdy set. We got it home and into the house (barely -- that thing weighs a ton!), but we still had to dismantle both twin beds upstairs and haul them down to the basement (where they will live until one of the boys decides he wants his own room after all), then haul the new bunk bed upstairs and assemble it, then dismantle Henry's crib downstairs, haul it upstairs, and reassemble it -- all with the "help" of three very eager boys.

The ceiling in the boys' bedroom is slanted, so I searched high and low for a short bunk bed, to no avail, but we thought it would be fine if we just scooted it out to the middle where the ceiling is higher. But once we got it assembled, we decided that just wouldn't do. So really, at that point, what choice did we have but to haul in a saw, jack the thing up, and chop off six inches at the bottom? None, really. So that's what we did Saturday afternoon. For a while there, we had most of the bed up on blocks, much like a car in a yard -- except that we used the boys' wooden building blocks.

Eventually, the bed was successfully shortened, and there was much rejoicing. Honestly. Can't you tell how much Max is rejoicing?

I won't bore you with any more details, except to say that we got new bedroom furniture (finally, we are adults with an actual headboard!) so we had to move all the dressers and bed and nightstands out of our room and get everything arranged once the new stuff got here on Monday. One good thing is that it forced me to deal with going through my closet and the boys' clothes and weed out stuff we don't use. It's all done now, and everything is looking great. And hopefully this is the last time we have to move any furniture for a nice long while!

welcome lucy!

The boys had an extra-special treat this Thanksgiving: They got to meet their brand-new cousin, Lucy Leigh! Lucy was born Monday evening (6 lbs, 12 oz if you're interested), so she was only three days old when we saw her on Thanksgiving. She is a sweet baby with lots of hair, and the boys liked her right away. I'm sure they're already trying to figure out when she'll be old enough to play with them, but in the meantime, they really liked hanging out with her.

Welcome to Lucy, and congratulations, Johnny and Erin! She's beautiful.

henry's big week

Last Monday, we took Henry to the hospital to get his ear tubes. It was a very quick surgery (15 minutes!) and we were on our way home less than an hour afterward. Once we got home, we decided to do a little family pool on when Henry would walk after the surgery (he hadn't walked yet, and we were thinking it was because the fluid on his ears was messing up his equilibrium). Mike picked Tuesday, Max picked Wednesday, I picked Thursday/Thanksgiving, and Liam picked Sunday. We eagerly watched him for signs of walking that first day. He didn't show any, but he DID show rapid verbal improvement. By Monday afternoon, he was clearly forming sounds and saying "cat" every time one of the cats walked by. Progress!

It turns out that I picked the right day. Henry walked for the first time at his grandparents' house on Thanksgiving Day! Mike and I sat on the floor facing each other, and Henry walked right to Mike, and then back to me. It was really a sweet moment with everyone watching and cheering for him. I think the applause confused him a little, but it also made him laugh. Every day since then, he's walked a little bit more.

But that's not the end of the big week! On Friday, Henry took another unprecedented step: He finally moved out of our bedroom and into his brothers' bedroom upstairs. It took some rearranging, but all three boys are now sharing a bedroom, and so far they all seem to love it. Henry especially thinks it's a whole new world up there, with so many new toys to play with, and he loves waking up in the morning and jabbering at his big brothers until they wake up and play with him.

So yes, it's been a very big week for a little boy. Baby steps? Who needs 'em?!?

a real classic

It's good to know that so many years later, the boys are still lining up to watch the big car chase from Bullitt.

quick hit: old equals tall

Saturday, Liam and Max got haircuts, and the stylist gave them each a balloon afterward. Henry loved the balloons, and cried and pointed every time one escaped his grasp and floated up to the ceiling. For reasons unknown, Max and Liam at one point decided to untie the string from one, and of course, it floated up to the ceiling and they couldn't get it. So they asked Mike to get it, which he did handily.

Sunday, Max and I drove to Oak Park for my friend Val's birthday party, and Max got to pick three balloons to bring home (one for each boy). In the van, one of them popped unexpectedly -- it scared the crap out of both of us! And once we got home, Max got out of the van in the garage, and lost control of one of the strings. The balloon floated peacefully into the rafters.

Max looked up at it thoughtfully, then said, "We are gonna need somebody really old to get that one down!"

And then a minute later: "Or I guess we could get a ladder. I don't know anybody that old."

sale of the century

My brother went to an estate sale a few weeks ago with an unbelievable number of bargains. Seriously unbelievable. He and my mom and Loni scored a table, a ton of tools, a china cabinet, etc. But the most unbelievable deal of all was an old and enormous desk -- for $15! Showing evidence of the mutant power formed by the combination of my mom's inability to resist a bargain and my dad's compulsive pack rat nature, he bought the thing, loaded it up, and brought it home. He didn't have any place to put it (it would take up half of his room!) and he didn't actually know anyone who needed a desk, so it went out to my dad's shop, a place with a very low turnaround, if you know what I mean.

Luckily, Lon happened to mention that they hit the yard sale mother lode. I've been looking for a new desk for a couple of years now, off and on. I definitely needed more work space, but man, those things are expensive! So I waited, and watched Craigslist. And waited some more. But now, friends, the wait is over and the price was right. I might even go so far as to say this was the best $15 ever spent by anyone, ever. Yes, that's right: two evers. Check this thing out:



Looks fairly normal, right? Aside from the size (the top is 60 inches by 35 inches, much bigger than my old desk) maybe. It has a middle drawer, three drawers on one side, and a cabinet on the other. When we opened it up, we found some interesting surprises.



This is the cabinet side. It's got a spring-loaded shelf that pops out and up (I say "pops" because that is what I assume it did at one time; now, it kind of groans and protests and requires a lot of pulling) to make a typewriter stand. There were even holes for the cord! The plan was to put the computer tower in the cabinet, but once we discovered this fascinating feature, I couldn't bear to rip it out. But we came up with the perfect solution, and now the typewriter shelf is home to the printer.



The drawers are really deep, and have the usual complement of partitions, but the bottom drawer had these cool wooden dividers for file folders. And the very very best part about the drawers is that there's some kind of lever system that locks all of the side drawers when the middle drawer is closed. It's the perfect defense against a baby who loves nothing more than a good drawer to gleefully empty.

It was a really long day breaking everything down and getting it all set up again, even with my dad and J sparing us by hauling it over here, but here's the finished product:

say what?

I've posted before about how Henry gets ear infections really often. Well, yesterday Mike and I took him to an ear-nose-throat specialist, and the verdict is that he needs tubes. Which will be a very good thing for him, not just to help with the ear infections, but because it turns out that all the fluid that's stuck in his ears has made it so he hears things like he's, well, under water. Which is probably why, at almost 14 months, the only thing he really says with regularity is "uh oh." And since fluid in the ears affects balance, it's also probably why he isn't walking yet.

The first available time for the doctor isn't for three weeks, and now that we know what the problem is and how to fix it, three weeks feels like such a long time. How many words could he have learned in that time? How many steps could he have taken? I know, I know. It's not so bad. I just want to get on with it already.

quick hit: maxisms

Max is constantly asking questions. Seriously, it's nonstop from the minute he wakes up in the morning until he zonks out at night. Mom, why do I have to wear long sleeves? Mom, do you want to know more about space rocks? Mom, do you know that's Jupiter in the sky? Mom, why are there so many planets up there? Mom, do you eat cereal with a spoon? Mom? Mom? Mom?

But yesterday, he came up with a really good one: Mom, are policemen allowed to have houses?

It took me a minute to get what he was asking, but then I realized: He thinks that police officers have to live in their police cars 24 hours a day. Like it's one of the supreme sacrifices they make in order to serve and protect. Which is really pretty clever, and shows that he's given policing an awful lot of thought. [Note: This is also in evidence by the at least 10 questions he asks me every single day about that time I got a speeding ticket and had to go to traffic school -- seven years ago.]

happy halloween!

I suspect this year is one of the last years -- if not the last year -- that I'll be able to persuade the boys to do themed costumes.* So we made the most of it with one of their favorite subjects: Mario Bros. Liam and (especially) Max love all things Mario. They know all the names of all the creatures, they discuss what happens at each level of the game (even when they're not playing it!), they draw pictures of the various levels. Their love affair with Mario dates back to last Christmas, when I got New Super Mario Bros. Wii as a gift. And even Henry loves it. Whenever we turn it on, as soon as he hears the first few bars of the music, he perks right up and starts making the excited noises that he usually reserves for cat sightings.


So this year we were beyond excited to find a Mario costume in Max's size. A couple weeks later, we went back, and they had a single Luigi costume -- in Liam's size! Perfect. The only thing left was to figure out Henry's costume since the only other pre-packaged Mario character costume was Princess Peach (we tried to talk Klaudia into getting that one, but she was having none of it). And then my mom came to the rescue again. We decided on the character Toad (a mushroom man who is a servant to Princess Peach and often assists Mario and Luigi) and I printed out some pictures. Then Marlene worked her magic, and a few days later, we had a wonderful little Toad hat and vest to go with his basic white shirt and light tan pants. Perfect!



Of course, when the big night came, it got pretty cold, so we had to rethink Toad for that part of the trip. Instead, Henry wore Max's old monkey costume, which was nice and warm and had a hood. We walked around trick-or-treating for about half an hour, then Max abruptly decided that he was done with all the walking and just wanted to sit at home and hand out candy to other kids. I was flying solo because Mike had a mandatory weekend work shift (boo!), but luckily I worked out a trade with Laura: Liam accompanied her, Kelsey, and Emma, while Max and Henry stayed home with me and cousins Jimmy and Gracie. And everyone was perfectly happy, except for poor Charlie,** who did not enjoy the comings and goings of so many strangers. After a while, Jan*** and the Holiday kids dropped by, and once the official trick-or-treat time ended, we headed to Grandpa's house for one last treat for the night.



On actual Halloween, we went trick-or-treating to Bethany's house, where the boys collected sweet bags full of toys and treats, and to my mom's house, where they got non-edible but fiercely coveted Kung Zhu pets. Whew!



*Full disclosure: Liam had two costumes. He went as Darth Vader to his school's fall festival, but went trick-or-treating as Luigi.
** Charlie was persuaded a few days earlier to wear a costume of his own. That post to come.
*** Janis had the best trick-or-treat strategy ever: Head to Laura's house, then sit down and enjoy a beverage and the Notre Dame game while her kids scoured the neighborhood. Then head to my house and repeat the routine, minus the beverage and football. Genius!