Baby Bird's First Solid Meal

Eating. It's tricky, tricky business. Especially when you can't sit up without listing over to the side. But our Baby Bird was all, "I'm six months old and I. Am. Hun-GRY! Bring it." So this morning, she had her first solid meal. Rice cereal and breast milk. Mmm, mmm good! Ted prepped the rice cereal in a pink bowl and pink spoon. Baby Bird took right to that spoon. She was all over it; wanted to guide it right into her mouth and check it all out. (She never met a thing she didn't want to check out.) You can see how this check-me-out-checkin'-things-out tendency got the table progressively messier as the meal wore on. Good thing Joe was around to mop up. (And he could have cared less that Baby Bird was in the high chair.)

Happy Halloween!

After a fun playdate at Graham and Conner's house this afternoon, Joe and Clara came home to change into their costumes. After we had Joe in his Yoda costume we realized that Clara wasn't going to last much longer and should be nursed, so we had Joe eat dinner too - with a bib to protect his costume. Clara needed to get to bed, so just Ted and Joe went out at first. We got in the wagon with a blanket and went to Graham's house first where we scored a few pieces of candy. From there we ran into Darby across the street, so we joined them for a few houses. It was great to see the two kids walking together and confidently up to the house to claim their treats. We bid adieu to Darby, and headed towards home. Julie was handing out candy while we passed by to hit up the neighbors - so we pulled a parent switcheroo (distracting Joe by letting him eat a piece of candy) and Julie took Joe to the last couple houses before parking the wagon and heading inside to count up the loot. You can see he did much better this year! He got to eat one more bite size piece of candy and was good about going off to his bath and story time. We can't wait for next year when Clara can go too!

Clara's Six-Month Check-Up

The results from the six-month weigh-in are in! She's long and lean!: 16 pounds, 6 ounces (57%); 26 1/2" (76%). That's only about a pound and an inch gain over the four-month figures, but Dr. H said she wasn't concerned given the extent to which Clara is moving around. Clara showed off her skills in this regard by fighting to army crawl down the exam table throughout the entire exam. She was pronounced in perfect health (oh except for the touch of pink eye she had) and as a reward, got all the shots for which she was due.

Joe came with us so he could get the flu vaccine. He was in his Yoda costume and spent the time playing with the yogurt cups we grabbed form the car, tucking himself into a Joe-sized corner, clambering up the chair to the exam table, and trying to turn off the lights. He was successful about halfway through Clara's exam. We think he was surprised at how dark it was!

Brrrrr

We had a big storm roll through town and now it is cold. We even saw some snow flying around this morning! With cold comes more winter wear. Here is Joe sporting his winter coat, hat and mittens. You may notice a round sticker on the jacket - that is from the post office from when Julie and Joe were out and about yesterday (Joe was calling it the "post officer"). The green fleece should be back in about five (long, cold, dark) months.

Clara Is Six Months Old!

Yesterday was a big day in a lot of ways. It was Clara's six-month birthday. She was sung Happy Birthday by everyone before we left for school, and at school, she spent her day motoring around the room. Army crawling her way about is now, apparently, her favorite thing to do:

October 19: "I held the purple ball in my hands tightly as I army crawled around the room."

October 20: "I played with the beaded rattle toy--sharing and chewing it--as I scooted across the floor."

October 25: "I pushed the block from the ABC mat to the Excersauce[r]."

October 26: "I was busy scooting around the classroom and repeatedly went under the table going after cars I pushed under it."

(This last seems remarkably similar to a "game" Clara Jane saw her brother playing in which he pushed his "worker" trucks [a small dump truck, concrete mixer, and front loader] under her crib.)

Clara is pleased to know that she can easily remember Quinn McDermott's birthday by remembering that it is her own half birthday, and would like to send some love to the newest member of the Ekkers tribe, and her parents.

Before the Vomit

Before the vomiting began, Joe had a great day at school, and we got a report with more specific information about him that usual now that Miss Nicholle is but a memory, which we present here in total because it's kind of hilarious:

"Three of a kind" this mat which we started working on yesterday basically is another activity which strengthens sorting skill and also helps with repetition of color names. Today we used red, yellow, blue and green blocks. Joe is great at it. I [Miss Marjorie, we think is writing this] tried to trick him by placing yellow on the sorting of each row. [Then there was this is different handwriting; Miss Maneesha we think:] A friend of Joe's was not picking up the right color. Joe said, 'Focus.' We all turned to look at him and he added 'Please.' Now you know why my job is fun. We all started laughing including Joe."

We had a very clear picture in our minds of this scene.

Our Hero Vomits

Fans, looking at this picture, in which he is sporting a pair of Clara's pants over a pair of his own pants, the legs of which have been bunched up high, you would never guess that Our Hero slept probably all of four hours because he was up vomiting the rest of the night. It was awful. Julie went in to the bambini's room shortly before heading up to bed as usual, and discovered that Joe had vomited all over himself, the bed, and roughly three-quarters of the menagerie (those that escaped this smelly fate were Babar and the birdies, and maybe two others who were eventually evacuated for their own safety). He has apparently caught this stomach virus that seems to be sweeping all of the Twin Cities. This is our first exposure to either Joe or Clara vomiting and it must be said: it's awful. [Amendment: When Julie called her dad this morning to say hello and report these events, she remembered Joe had a tummy bug when we went to spend Thanksgiving with them last year. he threw up on the way there, just past Milwaukee.] I* find I forget how awful it is, and then it happens, and you remember. Your toddler vomiting can remind you how awful it is, too.

As our loyal readers know, our big thing is we just don't go in their room after goodnight until the next morning, unless the world seems to be coming to an end on the other side. This seemed to qualify, so Julie spent the night tucked up in Joe's bed. We went through a lot of pajamas, and a lot of blankets, and a lot of towels. Sometimes, we took a break from the Big Boy Bed to sit on the couch. We sang At the Zoo to our book of the same name that Kate sent months ago. His spirit remained undaunted; he still filled in all the words at the end of the lines as he usually does. Clara slept through all of this, and the super gusty winds we had yesterday and last night** that were themselves quite loud and that caused Raleigh to be in and out of their room until Julie decided enough was enough and woke Ted up to dope Raleigh up with some Benadryl and take him upstairs.

This morning, Sara called to see if we were without power, and I realized it could have been worse: we could have been doing all of this is the dark, and without the dryer. I was creating a tremendous pile of wet and smelly laundry at the foot the stairs, which Ted kept taking down to the basement to put in new loads of laundry. Ted also gave Joe a bath this morning while Julie was nursing Clara. (Joe smelled a lot better after Ted washed all the dried vomit out of his hair.) So go Team! We made it through.

Our Hero is asleep now, having exhausted himself, pitching a fit with low reserves to begin with, because he was not allowed goldfish crackers. I don't know. Maybe they would be o-kay, but we're sticking strictly to the "BRAT" diet*** after last night.

*Julie

**We awoke to find the trellises on the side of the house completely uprooted!

***Bananas, applesauce, rice, toast, and our pediatrician also allows plain crackers and yogurt.

b Zfffffgggggggggwwdezzzza*

Z dccccccccccccc˛¸´SSSSSSzz˛zzDcccc jhh5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555xvvvzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzdffev Since Baby Bird isn't at the table with us yet, what we often do is put her in the Excersaucer, and drag it closer to the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. The other day while Joe was eating and Bird was in there, he asked for her to be dragged closer so she could watch.

*Fans, Julie began this companion post to The Case of the Missing High Chair post while doing her early morning pump. It was still on the screen when Joe made his way up on the desk chair to sit it the computer and watch the scrolling pictures and eventually punch at the buttons. You can tell what buttons he punched, right?

The Case of the Missing High Chair

Fans, it's true: Tuesday, Miss Clara Jane "Baby Bird" Ekkers will be six months old. Who--who--can believe it? And you know what that means: solid food is just around the corner. She seems interested and is working on sitting up like a big girl. Of course, Baby Bird will need a place to do this big girl sitting. We had hoped not to acquire another high chair and thus, have been talking up the big boy booster seat to Our Hero--who was having none of it. So he arrived home one night last week to find the high chair GONE! He was perhaps fit to be tied about it. But, it all worked out, as you can see.* For now anyway. Hopefully, by the time the Case of the Hidden High Chair is solved, he will be wholly enamored with his big boy booster seat.

*In this video, you can also see Joe's penchant for saying "cheese for the camera," when asked to "Say cheese for the camera."

Marco's Halloween Party

So we can't just throw "Halloween party at Marco's" out there and not follow up! Fans, it was spook-tacular. It was Our Hero, Marco the Man Huger, Darby "Crazy Curls", and New Friend Miles, and Clara. The two-year old set tore up the living room, and Clara tore up the kitchen, seen here doing her pilates (again), working her core. Perhaps the most spook-tacular happening of the evening was that Julie nursed Clara sitting up! Whoa. This is not how we usually roll as our Loyal Followers know. There were a few moments where Clara was sort of flipping around, but mostly, she was all "I got this, Mama." So we stayed longer than we'd thought we would at the party, and tucked the Bird right in when we arrived home, and Joe after a quick bath and a story or two.

Am I gonna crawl?! Oh, I'm gonna crawl!

We went to a Halloween party over at Marco's house tonight. Clara was the first to get cleaned up and into her party clothes so she was hanging out on the floor where she was going after Ted's foot. She was all "I'm gonna bust me a crawl."

What a Night

Among other things, the dogs escaped. They are safely back home. Raleigh was spotted running down a white minivan on his namesake street toward Minnetonka, barking for all he was worth. Ted called him, Raleigh turned, and came straight to him. Julie came outside after flinging on her puffy vest to find Ted with Raleigh in his arms. Ted headed off to look for Boo, Julie went in for Milk Bones, and returned to find Boo right in front of the porch door and quickly hustled her inside. Boo wouldn't tell us of her adventures. But undoubtedly, they were awesome. They are still coming down off the high.

Before that though, Clara hit the hay early. She no takey the naps today apparently, so by 5:30pm, she was done for. She was in bed by 6:30pm. So Julie headed outside to find the boys collecting sticks and leaves for the Big Garbage Can in back. It was a beautiful fall day here, and a full moon, so Julie and the boys watched the moon rise from the slope in the front yard. We were talking about how the moon rises, just like the sun rises, and Joe said "We make a day!" We did.

No Pants!

And here we are, moments before heading downstairs. Sometimes, Joe likes to linger until the timer goes off downstairs. Keen-eyed (and not-so-keen-eyed) observers alike will undoubtedly notice that Our Hero is pant-less. Yesterday morning, we found him having freed his legs from his footed pj's. This morning, we found his having shed them entirely. Having just looked in on him, we can report that he has done the same tonight. Apparently, this trend is extending into his daytime clothes as well, at least initially. He always did sort of like to be naked.

A Bird and Boo Morning

Mornings find Julie and Clara upstairs nursing while Joe eats breakfast as Ted showers. When Ted is done showering, Joe will accompany Ted upstairs to put Ted's clothes in the hamper, and play around. By this time, Julie will be reading Clara books, or they may be playing around themselves. (Clara likes to read books in bed on her belly, or reclined back against pillows.) Berenice and Raleigh are sometimes upstairs, sometimes downstairs. This morning, they were upstairs and feeling frisky! Boo was right up in Clara's grill, but Clara didn't seem to mind!

Today At Pick-Up

Julie is traveling tomorrow (just down to Winona, Minnesota), so she was later than usual leaving work because she was tying up this and that. When she arrived at the daycare, all but three of the infants in Clara's room had been picked up or transferred to the pick-up room, and one was asleep. Bird was in the excersaucer facing the door, looking straight through the glass, one assumes, watching all the comings and goings. When she caught sight of Julie, it was like the clouds parted. What a smile! Hearts skipped beats!

Then, we were off to get Joe who was found absorbed in loading cargo of the circus and zoo variety (an elephant) on to a truck and vroom-vroom-ing it along. When Julie squatted down for his hug, Joe (as usual) picked his feet up off the ground and really leaned into it, which turned into a fun, gentle game of tackle.

Then, we headed off the foyer, where the Scholastic book fair is going on. It was mobbed last night and Joe didn't wade into the fray. But tonight, only Marco was also scampering about so Our Hero bounded right over to a book entitled Trucks!, which claims to feature more than 100 trucks.* Here we admit to our legion followers, that the book is contraband at this point. As we did not have a check or cash on us, and Our Hero could not be persuaded to part with it, we absconded with it reasoning no harm, no foul if we brought the payment tomorrow. Julie knows what it's like to be at the bookstore with your pile of prospects and when a book is calling to you, a book is calling to you, and the siren's song is not to be resisted (unless you do not have payment, and it is not a book from the Scholastic book fair found a half hour before closing time and you will bring payment tomorrow).**

*We are suspicious of this claim as there is one truck featured for each letter of the alphabet and there are only 26 letters in the alphabet (no flies on this reporter!). Even accounting for the multiple say fire engines, more than 100 seems a bold claim.

**This is Catholic guilt and formal legal training at work and on display here.

First Nights Away

Fans! We are back! We have spent our first mutual nights away from Joe and Clara. We missed them, but think we comported ourselves fairly well, though it should be noted we talked to each other in Joe-speak at times--e.g. upon seeing a huge pumpkin patch in Geneva, Illinois, "All the. . .all the. . .ALL THE PUMPKINS!" and "There's more pumpkins over there!" It meant so much to us to know they were in such good hands with their Aunt Kate, assisted Saturday morning by Kendra who took Joe to his Little Gym class. Our adventure included a stop in New Glarus, Wisconsin at the New Glarus Brewing Company. You can see there new facility behind Ted in the first picture. It distributes in Wisconsin only and apparently, it is doing quite well for itself. We had dinner with Julie's parents and spent Saturday morning with them before heading to Julie's friend Rose's wedding.*

When we arrived home, both Joe and Clara were napping. Clara woke up first. She and Julie spent some time staring at each other and smiling after Clara nursed. Then we found Ted on the porch reading the paper. More smiles. She is full of them, Fans. When Joe woke up, Julie went in and he crawled over to give her a hug. Then, he popped back and said, "Where Daddy go?" and then, "Aunt Kate not here." Can't put a thing past this one. So, as always, though we were happy not to have missed seeing Rose get married, we are so happy to be home.

*Some of our readers know Rose, and so we included a picture in which you can see her and Ron on their big day, and her dress! (You cannot see it as well in this picture, but on the left side of the gown, where the gathered fabric meets the flounce, there is a sparkly pin that was a pretty fabulous touch.)

Take That Cutchogue!

We have been having warm days, but the mornings and nights are cooler. In other words, it has been the perfect time to break out the Southold sweatshirt that Grandpa Tom gave to Joe. Julie noticed that it says Southold was established in 1640, and told Joe that meant Southold was a whole lot older than him. Ted informed them both that Southold was the oldest permanent settlement on Long Island. Take that Cutchogue!

Bird Baths

This past weekend was the last the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden we like to go walking in was to be open. We didn't go knowing that so it was a happy accident that we squeezed in one more walk before its season was over. Clara was in the Moby, and by the end, had fallen asleep, but Joe walked the whole way. Trees tat have fallen down are still alligators to him. He was taken with the "big rock" near the front, all the benches, and all the bird baths here and there. (We explained to Clara that even though they were bird baths, they were not for her. She was perhaps a mite miffed.)

After the Zoo | Trucks! Football Players!

After Joe woke up from his afternoon nap, we all piled out into the beautiful day for a spin around the neighborhood. Joe rode in his wagon, Clara in the Moby, and Ted and Julie walked and pulled or toted. Our destination was the construction site by the synagogue via the orange digger that has been sitting in someone's yard one block over for over a week now. The workers were still at it when we rolled up so we learned about active construction sites and how that meant we could only look at the fork lift (new!), digger, and front loader. But more delights were to come! The Catholic school (conveniently located across the synagogue's parking lot it rents during the week) was holding football practice. So we headed on over there and Joe scrambled all over the bleachers, kept tabs on the "tractor" (cart), and we watched the players practice. Go Red Knights!

Where Was Clara?

Oh she was supervising from the excersaucer, keeping tabs on all the goings on. So much more interesting than the excersaucer delights. The excersaucer usually lives right next to the rolling butcher block cart, and after Julie nursed her and got her all changed and ready for the day's adventures, Julie deposited her in there. As she sat down with her yogurt at the dining room table, she looked up to see that Ted had moved the excersaucer into the doorway, so Clara could see her mommy. And there she was all smiles and ta-da! So sweet and clever!

Before the Zoo (Blinded By the Light)

A bulb has been flickering in our kitchen light for at least a few weeks now. Julie wandered into the kitchen at one point to discover that Ted had taken off the shade to investigate. The investigation revealed that two of the four bulbs were out, and later Ted told Julie we'd been using dim bulbs. So Ted went off to Home Depot for bulbs and Julie stayed behind with the bambini. Joe was quite taken with the (step) "ladder" and, seeing Julie cleaning the light shade, quickly grabbed a used wad of paper towels and got right to work on everything within reach from the "toppy top" of the ladder (save the oven which we learned was still a "Mommy-Daddy-only" item). Julie was also putting away the dishes and Mommy's big tower of dishes was also much admired. Finally, Ted came home, reassembled the light, and it was time for the big reveal.

Holy buckets. It's like our kitchen is illuminated by a floodlight.

Columbus Day = Zoo

Joe and Clara's daycare was closed today for Columbus Day, so we both took the day off. Julie stayed at the ranch with Clara while Ted and Joe went to the zoo. Bonus of the zoo trip was we met up with Joe's friend Marco! We had great fun together, especially at our first stop - The Farm! The boys saw the horses, goats, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. It was a quiet day at the zoo, so they had the run of the place. They were both adamant about walking/running everywhere (it has to be a full mile to get to the farm) for the first hour, but they agreed to get in their strollers and eat some fruit snacks and were happy to stay in the strollers the rest of the morning. An added bonus was the construction project at the zoo entrance, which meant there were several large trucks to see! It was a fun morning - thank you Christopher!

SLP's Own Big Dig

Big things are afoot in the parking lot of the synagogue down the street. Last weekend, we headed out on a wagon ride post-nap and spent sometime visiting the digger (front hoe)* and crane that we found there. Driving past the parking lot one night this week, Julie noticed that earth had been excavated and some new trucks were in residence. So we plan to check it out at some point this weekend.

*If you are unfamiliar with your trucks and wishing to increase your familiarity, may we suggest Trucks, from the Bright Baby series, in which you will find labeled pictures of 21 trucks. Joe knows them all! But now, he knows he knows them all so he likes to label all of them "dumpy" which is very fun to say, thus foiling our efforts to video tape him doing the whole smash, including giant EX-cavator!, and the obscure but early-learned brush rig.

Let There Be Light!

Joe is all about a light switch right now. Oh the power! He has four favorite light switches: the switch in his room, the switches in the bathroom, the switch at the bottom of the main stairs, and the switches at the top of the steps leading to the basement stairs. The former two he reaches with his bathroom stool, but the latter two he can reach with no assistance. When he's experimenting the the switches by the steps leading to the basement stairs, he will go on the side of the gate closest to them and pull it shut. Sometimes an unsuspecting dog is trapped back there with him.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

By now, we all know that the Twins post-season play has ended. But at the start of the week, we were filled with hope and excitement. Our Joe's Joe Mauer shirt returned (conveniently, temperatures have reached into the 70s all week), and he got to watch a little baseball with Ted before going to bed while Julie nursed Clara. As you can see, he was getting himself comfortable to watch for Joe "Mauers" and to see the Twinkies beat the "Wankies."

Radio Silence Broken

Fans! We have been in absentia, it's true. We have been kept from our reportage by an unfolding mess: we are to go to a wedding next weekend for one of Julie's close friends, and had some time ago secured Joe's beloved Miss Nicholle to babysit. No sooner had we done so then she went AWOL from the KinderCare. The messages as to why have been mixed, but AWOL she remains. So we called for reinforcements from Paoli. Why didn't we think of it before?! We are flying Aunt Kate in to watch the bambini--two-leggeds only (four-legged bambini to be boarded)--and are mush relieved. So all's well that ends well, and now we can return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Big Boy Booster Seat

In other milestone-ish news, Joe ate dinner in his big boy booster seat last night! For a while, he wasn't tall enough that the boost got his arms high enough over of the table top to be comfortable eating from it, but now, it works. Clara Jane turned five months old last weekend which means she's just a month or so away from starting solids (We know! Who can believe it?! Halloween weekend will be rice cereal weekend, too.), so we're hoping Joe will relinquish the high chair over the course of this month.

I Make a Mess!

Fall is upon us so porch season is winding down. Also, Clara Jane is working on sitting up which opens up a whole new world of toys. So Julie spent some time this weekend while Joe was napping rearranging the toys--bringing in the bin that was on the porch, tossing some things that were broken or otherwise bedraggled, and shuffling things around. Clara assisted from the floor. The two red plastic baskets with which some Fans will be familiar now flank the shelf of bins in the living room (one is entirely filled with balls!), and Clara things are in the low bins with Joe things being moved up higher. So there it was, looking all pretty. Julie heard the usual raucous downstairs while she was upstairs nursing Clara before putting her down, and this picture is what she saw after she came back downstairs. Holy. Buckets. Ted explained that Joe apparently wanted to stack the bins and naturally, the bins have to be empty to stack them. (And, let's be honest, it's super fun to make that much of a racket.)

G.I. Clara Jane

Fans, we had thought maybe Clara Jane was army crawling, and it has now been confirmed by an independent source, namely, Miss Melissa. On Friday, Miss Melissa said Clara Jane had been really busy all day and was army crawling, and asked if we had seen it at home. So we spent some time this weekend trying to engineer some situations that would cause Baby Bird to be all that she can be. And here she is!

Hoppy Cat

Hopping: it's suddenly all the rage with Joe, aka Hoppy Cat, which is what Julie took to calling him one morning when he was hopping around. It seems clear that he's in it for the noise.