Electricity and Magnetism

In which I wax philosophical about schooling

2011-09-26T23:49:00.001-04:00

There were a couple of posts recently on the parenting list-serv that I co-moderate about how to deal with kids who seem to be academically ready for kindergarten but who miss the arbitrary birthday cutoff set by local school districts. This is of interest to me, since Jonah misses that cutoff by about six weeks, and he is clearly "academically" ready for kindergarten--whatever that means.

The first poster asked about the pros and cons of starting a kid "early." I put my two cents in, since she asked. My philosophy has been that first of all, it doesn't matter at this point in their lives. I refuse to believe that whether my kid goes to kindergarten now or next year (and whether it's a public or a private school) has that big an impact on his future success. There's SO much that goes into that; kindergarten or pre-K can't be the determining factor. And secondly, there's more to kindergarten than "academics." My nonexpert opinion is that academics are probably a pretty minor part of kindergarten. Social adjustment, learning routines, figuring out how to be one of 22 (or more, in some places) kids in a group – all of these things, as well as others, are just as important, or maybe more important, than learning ABCs and 123s.

The first poster didn't realize that the districts around here are all pretty strict about the cutoffs, and once she learned of that, she was pretty content to let it go. The second poster, however, was actively looking for ways to get around it – primarily via private schools. In particular, she was looking for private schools that did not also conform to the same age cutoffs as most of the public schools. It really riled me up. I started to write one response to her (not an answer to her question, but a reason why she shouldn't try to get her kid into kindergarten early). I then started composing another response to her in my head, this one a kind of snarky dig at private schools and how they'd probably overlook their own "guidelines" about cutoffs if someone was willing to put down $20K to send their four-year-old to kindergarten.

I managed to hold myself back when it suddenly hit me that this was ALL ABOUT ME and my issues. I try to reassure myself that we're making good decisions about this, but Jonah is currently reading Harry Potter #3 and adding up our Yahtzee scores in his head. In school (he's in K1, the Boston Public Schools equivalent of pre-K), they're not even close to reading and for math, they are counting. When I talk about him, I worry that people will think I'm bragging. I'm not. I'm simply amazed.

Certainly there are things Jonah could stand to work on. He's not so into art. (That may be my fault. I'm not so into (making) art.) As a consequence, his writing skills are not so great (even for an almost five-year-old) and he's not so keen on working on them.

But. What if he should be in a private school? What if we should push him more? What if it DOES make a difference what we do for pre-K? It feels so much more important because he's not an average kid. I think having a child on either end of the bell curve must make it so much harder to know if what you're doing is right. Or enough.

Or does everyone feel this way?

Mummy napper

2011-09-25T15:01:00.001-04:00

Swimming lessons FTW.

She said what?

2011-09-23T12:10:00.001-04:00

On the way home today, Ava kept asking for something that sounded like ball. Or maybe bowl. Then she said she wanted to eat a whatever it was.

Finally, I figured it out.

Bar.

So...

2011-09-22T13:26:00.001-04:00

Now that I've quit Facebook, perhaps I'll have to shake the dust off this...

Resolutions

2011-01-03T21:19:00.026-05:00

I've become a pretty big fan of Ju-Ju-Be recently. I got my first diaper bag from them around the time Ava was born (thanks, Mom!), but it wasn't until June or July of this year that I started spending time online in JJB's Pink Room, an online discussion forum for JJB enthusiasts, who are known as Pink Ladies. I've been more of a lurker there than I have in other online forums, but I've gotten sucked in to both the forums and the bags in subsequent months, much to Matt's chagrin.

Ju-Ju-Be is an amazing company. Their bags are phenomenal - highly organized diapers bags, but with lots of style. Their customer service has been nothing short of spectacular (and sadly, I've had lots of experience with customer service lately, so I can tell the difference!). And the community of women in the Pink Room is unbelievably supportive. The drama that I've seen in other similar communities...just doesn't seem to be there.

One of the things that JJB has done is to give away a bag every couple of weeks. Amazing, I know. They call it the "Real Mom Giveaway," and there is a new topic every two weeks. Real moms post their answers, and a couple of winners are selected based on their entries.

The contest posted for the end of 2010 read as follows:

"NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS!!!! This contest will be a few days longer than normal due to the holidays...so it will end 3 days after NY's Eve. I thought it would be fitting to share any or all resolutions we might have. They can be serious or light-hearted. I'm horrible at resolutions but i still like to set new goals each year. I guess it is a tradition (i guess it is also a tradition to break my New Year's Resolutions!! HAHAHAHA!!)"

This was also going to be the last of the Real Mom Giveaways. I had to come up with something good. Hee hee! Really, though, I searched my soul for what I needed to do in 2011, and this is what I came up with:

Honor my mother(s)

I have had stormy relationships

with both my mom and my mother-in-law, but I want to change that in the new year.

My mom and I mostly get along, but sometimes I totally lose my patience with her and lash out. She is retiring next month and will be spending 3.5 months living at my aunt's while my aunt is in FL for the winter. She'll be 45 minutes away instead of 7-8 hours! It's a great opportunity for my kids to have more Nana time, and for DH and I to have some backup. My mom is totally awesome with the kids, and loves to spend time with them (including doing early morning wakeup duty with DS, who gets up at 6 AM most days!), and I am truly lucky to have her.

My MIL and I got along fairly well until I had kids, and we continued to do okay until my second was born. We had a pretty major falling out when DD was 2 months old, and while we've managed to mend things a bit, visits with her can be pretty tense. She and I butt heads a lot - I'm not a huge believer in astrology, but we are both pretty stereotypical Aries! She hasn't been willing to take the time to learn how to do things my way, and I haven't been willing to roll with it during her visits.

My dad died 8 years ago, and DH's dad died 5 years ago, so these are the only grandparents my kids have. I need to nurture my relationships with them, because otherwise I will damage the kids' relationships with them.

So...I hereby resolve to work on my patience, to let things slide and laugh them off, and if necessary, to be the bigger person. They won't be around forever, and I'll regret it every day if I don't cherish them now!

And believe it or not...I won. My entry was one of the three entries selected to win this last of the Real Mom Giveaways. But better yet...thanks to this great and supportive community, I was able to open up about something that has been really hard for me over the past several years.

So now I'm opening up to all of you, many of whom are my "real life" friends and family. I wanted you all to know what I said online, so I can be held accountable for this resolution in my real life. Because that is where it matters the most.

And now, if you'll excuse me...I have a new bag to pick out.

Socks and shoes and uh-oh!

2010-04-13T16:06:00.018-04:00

Overheard one morning:

Jonah: What I really want to do is go up on the roof.

Matt (who was, at the time, naked): Well, we need to put some clothes on if we're going to do that.

Jonah: All we need is socks and shoes!

Ava's first word was uh-oh. (Is that a word?) She has now progressed to hi, cheese, and blackberry. Or maybe it's blueberry. We're not totally sure. She can also tell you what a duck says.

Jonah has taken to calling himself John. He claims he is John from They Might Be Giants, but he won't tell me which one. When I ask who the other John is, he says, "John is singing, and I'm the other John."

I'm knee-deep in my first class. I'm doing well (2 As so far!), but it's definitely been an adjustment. I love being in school, but I hate the papers/ presentations/ other assignments--which, I have discovered, in business schools are called "deliverables." I used to say I wanted to be a professional student, but I think that really, I'd prefer to get paid to audit classes, so I can avoid the "deliverables." Anyone know of a career like that?

A little girl named Cora

2010-02-22T22:48:00.012-05:00

I'm a little late to this, as Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Week (February 7-14) is long past. (I'll use the excuse of being caught up in writing my first academic paper in nearly ten years….) However, I didn't want to let that stop me from writing this post.

I've recently come to learn about congenital heart defects. CHDs are the most common birth defect. Nearly 40,000 babies each year are born with a CHD, or nearly 1 in 100 newborns, and nearly 1,800 newborns die from a CHD each year. Congenital means "present at birth." While a CHD may be genetic, more often there is no obvious cause or way the defect could have been prevented.

However, there is a test that can catch some CHDs. While there are no tests that are 100% effective in screening for CHDs, pulse oximetry, a quick, painless, and inexpensive test, can catch those that are associated with low blood oxygen levels. I won't go into the details of the test here, but more information can be found at the website of 1in100, an organization that works to raise awareness of CHDs.

I'm sure you're wondering why this post came about. Back in early December, someone I follow on Twitter mentioned something about wearing pink for someone named Cora. At first I ignored it, but after seeing it from a few more people, I followed some links, and I read Cora’s Story. The long version can be found here, but the short version is that Cora was five days old when she died in her mother's arms while breastfeeding. Cora had an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. I immediately started to follow Cora's mother, Kristine, on Twitter. It was the day before Cora’s memorial service, and Kristine and her family were asking people to wear pink (and post pictures) the next day, in Cora's memory. I read Kristine's tweets backwards. I found the tweet from the day Cora died, the tears streaming down my face. The next day, Ava and I both wore pink (I know, I know, I should have made Jonah and Matt wear pink, too!).

Over the nearly three months since I learned about Cora, I've been amazed by Kristine's strength and passion. She is working hard to make sure that no family has to go through what she went through. She has good days and bad, but she is channeling her grief into building a movement. She has also inspired and motivated me. And on the days when the kids are driving me nuts (and lately, there have been a lot of them), all I have to do is think of her and her sweet Cora, and at least for a moment, the craziness melts away.

I'm writing this blog post because I pledged to Kristine that I would share information about congenital heart defects, as well as Cora's story, with the pregnant women I know, and their families. I want to encourage anyone who is reading this post to pass it along. If you are pregnant, ask for a pulse ox test to be performed on your newborn before you leave the hospital. You can even add it to your birth plan!

For more information:

Cora's Story

1in100

March of Dimes

In Which Elmo and Amy Sedaris Step in for a Sleeping Sitter

2010-02-05T20:03:00.011-05:00

Jonah had a fever of over 103 on Tuesday evening, so he couldn't go to school on Wednesday. It was my turn to stay home and play nurse, although he seemed more or less fine and we had a lot of fun together. Thursday wasn't so bad, either, so we were fairly confident that he would be heading to school as usual today.

Wrong. I took his temperature this morning just to be sure--we've been having some difficulty getting a good reading--and it was 101.6. Not an emergency, but too high to go to school. Unfortunately for Matt, he had stayed up til almost 4 AM working, so he was a little concerned about it being his turn to do sick boy duty. Fortunately for Matt, Jonah is one of the best patients I know. Especially if he's allowed to watch as much TV as he wants. Which, when he is sick, he is. Also, I work from home on Fridays, so he had some backup.

Jonah fell asleep on the couch (never happens) and then he and Matt went to Shaw's. When they got home, they ate lunch and then it was naptime. Since he had taken the earlier snooze on the couch, Jonah was not terribly interested in a nap, so Matt laid down on the floor in Jonah's room.

About an hour later, Jonah came walking into the living room and asked to watch a DVD.

I obliged, and seconds later, he was enthralled.

I, on the other hand, found it incredibly amusing that Amy Sedaris was guest-starring on Sesame Street.

Then I went into Jonah's room to check on the real babysitter.

Nice, huh?

One

2010-02-01T20:17:00.006-05:00

Poor Miss A had a fever at her birthday party, so she wasn't terribly interested in the cake. We didn't realize it til later, which is kind of weak, considering how feverish she looks in these photos. Oops.

Fortunately, she had several willing helpers when it came time to blow out the candle!

Happy (belated) first birthday, my little monkey!

364 Days

2010-01-12T20:01:00.036-05:00

Yesterday was a big day for me. What's so special about January 11, 2010? Not much, really. But it was the last day I had to pump.* Ava will be one tomorrow (where has this year gone?) so not only was it the last day I had to pump, but it also means I've successfully breastfed two kids to their first birthdays. In a country where only 22% of babies are still breastfeeding at all (let alone exclusively) after 12 months**, this is quite an accomplishment. I'm pretty proud of us for making it.

Both Jonah and Ava have been pretty easy to nurse. Both had good latches from the beginning. Both gained weight well. And I have had a lot of success with pumping, something that a lot of women are not fortunate enough to have. I understand that nursing can be really challenging and that for some (many?), formula seems so much easier and more convenient. But for me, there was never any question that I would breastfeed for at least six months, and ideally, til one year.

It hasn't always been easy, though. When Jonah was six months old, I went back to work full-time at a new job and I wasn't able to pump as often as I had at my previous, part-time position. For much of the second six months of his life, I lugged my pump home every night, and pumped once after he went to bed. I sometimes pumped on the weekends, too. It was the only way I could maintain a supply commensurate with his demand!

Nursing Ava has offered different challenges. I have been blessed, until recently, with an amazing supply, so I never had to pump extra at night or on weekends. And after winning the Sling and Swaddle Journey contest, I had two pumps, so I was able to leave one at work all the time and depend on my old pump when I needed it at home. Since I telecommute one day a week, I've even been able, sometimes, to nurse her on that day instead of pumping.

When Ava was about 8 months old, however, I started to have some big problems with pumping. I'll spare the audience the gory details, but suffice it to say the pumping became painful and I had serious and legitimate concerns about my ability to continue to pump at all. After enduring several weeks of discomfort, I finally figured out what was wrong, and I've been able to pump without problems ever since. Although we did end up taking Ava on a trip that was supposed to be our first non-kid getaway as a result.

Not too long after that, Ava started to perform acrobatics while nursing. I can't tell you how many times I've told her, "Ava! You can’t take that with you, it's attached!" She wiggles, climbs, looks around, you name it--all while trying to nurse. It's a normal part of nursing an older baby, but it led to two things. First, it became really challenging to nurse her in public, because all that moving around tends to leave me exposed. Not cool. Perhaps worse, though, she now gets so distracted that she has been nursing for shorter lengths of time. This, coupled with a one-week business trip during which I pumped exclusively (along with working 15 hour days—how fun!), has led to a decrease in my supply. If it had to happen, though, it couldn't have come at a better time. We started Ava's transition to cow's milk about a week ago, and it's going really well. We've gradually increased the amount of cow's milk mixed in with her breast milk, and tomorrow she'll start getting cow's milk exclusively. We also started giving her milk in sippy cups instead of bottles. I'll still nurse her whenever she wants to nurse, which, unfortunately, still includes 4 or 5 AM at this point. And we'll go as long as she wants to.

Jonah weaned himself at just about 16 months old. At that point, he was only nursing every other day, in the morning. One morning, he woke up, I went and got him from his crib, and asked him if he wanted to nurse. He said no, and that was the end of it. I had such mixed emotions about it. I knew we would have another, so I knew I'd do it again, but it was such a huge milestone. That was when I truly felt like he transitioned from baby to toddler or even kid.

I'm not sure how long Ava will nurse. I'll be away from her for five days in March, and I wonder if she'll be interested when I get back. I'm sure it will be even more bittersweet, since we're not planning to have any more children. The funny thing is, when you let your child decide when to wean, you never know which time will be the last. I'll just have to cherish each time I nurse her as if it were going to be the last time I do it, as if it's something really special.

Because regardless of whether it's the last time, or the second-to-last time, or the 100th-to-last time, it is something really special.

*I'm traveling for work in March, and if Ava is still nursing at all, I will likely pump once or twice a day. But I will do it kicking and screaming.

**The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding continue for at least 12 months, and the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until age 2 or beyond.

Breaking News

2009-11-20T19:43:00.011-05:00

I had this miserable day yesterday. Jonah the Tiger (seen here after our last day of bowling, at which he got his face painted--and I won the league) has been sick with the flu since I got home from Nashvegas Monday night. I'll give you one guess who stayed home with him (and Ava) three days in a row. It was a long three days. Yesterday's fun and games included all of us making a mad dash from the eating area at Costco to the bathroom, Ava trying to eat some paper, and me getting pushed by Jonah.

And then...Ava started walking.

She'd been working on it for a couple of days, taking one little step every now and then, and she'd been standing all on her own for a couple of weeks. But yesterday afternoon, she stood up, pivoted around on one foot, and then took two real steps forward before falling down.

She's been practicing ever since, and I could see how much better she'd gotten between this morning and this evening, when I got home from work. (Note: both these videos are from this evening.)

It's really amazing. At this age, Jonah still had another week before he would even start to crawl, and walking was more than 4 months away.

Videos (post 3 of 3)

2009-11-08T20:52:00.007-05:00

#1: Jonah sings (and plays!) the days of the week--in Spanish.

#2: Ava plays peek-a-boo.

#3: Jonah pops bubbles while wearing his "scary teeth".

Boo! (post 2 of 3)

2009-11-08T20:24:00.012-05:00

Halloween = party in neighborhood on 10/29 + party at school on 10/30 + party at cousins' on 10/31 + trick-or-treating for Jonah on 10/31

Let Elmo = Jonah and let Monkey = Ava

Elmo + Monkey = Cuteness!

Vitals (post 1 of 3)

2009-11-08T20:10:00.008-05:00

Here's the lowdown: October was a busy month. One trip and a wedding, one birthday, another wedding (local, whew!), and then Halloween. I'm not quite sure where the month has gone. But I do have some lovely documentation of the month.

Stats: Jonah weighed in at 31 pounds and was 39 inches tall at his 3 year old visit. Ava, at her nine month visit, was 18 lbs 12 oz and 28 inches tall. They're both tall and average weight, which is just perfect, in my opinion!

Scenes of the season:

My streak would have continued if today was September 25

2009-09-17T20:41:00.016-04:00

I realized that if I'm going to use the blog to track the kids' milestones, I'd better get to it. I know that pretty much everyone who reads this thing already knows about most of these, but this is for posterity, kids.

Ava is officially pulling herself up on anything and everything. She's also cruising. I hear that early walkers start around 8 months old, so she clearly won't hit that. But I wouldn't be surprised if she's walking before Jonah turns 3. She is also finally cutting her first tooth.

Jonah is potty trained!

After our disastrous attempt at potty training back in July, Matt started telling Jonah that he could have five (!) M&Ms if he peed in the potty. (Matt didn't consult with me before determining the quantity of M&Ms that a peepee was worth.) Jonah was still not interested—until we gave him an M&M to try! Once he knew what he was missing, he was pretty much potty trained in two days. It's been over a month now, and he's not even wearing a diaper for naps. He's also often dry overnight. I was terrified of potty training; I'm shocked and amazed at how easy it was.

Jonah has also started preschool, and he loves it. He's going to Pine Village Preschool, which is a Spanish-immersion preschool that just opened up a site in the South End. How we got to this particular school is a whole other story, but we're happy with it so far. And Jonah can already count to at least 20 in Spanish!

Ava and I attended Katie and Blythe's non-bachelorette party/non-bridal shower last weekend. We spent two nights on Block Island with them, Mom, Aunt Sally, and Blythe's mom, Adrienne. Ava had been a little sick, but she was a real trooper, and she was great the whole weekend. The adults had a lot of fun playing games and drinking wine after she went to bed.

Labor Day weekend, I flew down to Memphis for Tiffany's bachelorette party (and I held my own, even though I haven't done much partying lately!), and Matt drove ALL BY HIMSELF with both kids down to New Jersey for the weekend. I'm truly impressed that he did that. Personally, I find the idea of driving alone with two kids to New Jersey on a holiday weekend way more terrifying than the idea of taking care of them by myself for a few days.

We had a busy summer, and it's carrying on into fall. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up!

Jonah being Jonah

2009-08-25T20:41:00.008-04:00

I feel like all I ever write is about how lame I am for not writing more. So instead wading through another of my own personal guilt trips, enjoy this Jonah video montage. Note the part where he counts to 11...the kid is already channeling Spinal Tap!

Quick Kid Update

2009-07-25T18:50:00.009-04:00

Even though I have a few other thoughts percolating in my mind (gender identity and baby clothes, trip to Colorado, why I'm becoming an accountant), I decided to write a quick kid update. I realized that I've been trying to use the blog to track Ava's milestones, since I don't have a baby book for her, and I could miss a few if I don't get them in here pronto!

Miss A mastered the art of sitting up in early July, and the day before we left for Colorado (July 9), Emma and I observed her go from her belly to a sitting up position for the first time. She kept working on it while we were away, and now she's a master sitter-upper. In fact, when I go to get her after a nap (or check on her while she's falling asleep - it's kind of a problem!), she's usually sitting up.

Over the weekend, she pulled herself more or less up to standing in her crib. I know, yikes, right? It's too early! No photographic evidence of this yet, but for your reference, Jonah did not do this til he was almost four months older than she is. We're in trouble.

She saw the doctor for her six month check up yesterday, and she is growing growing growing! She is now 28 inches tall, taller than Jonah was at six months, and weighs 16 lb 11 oz.

About a month ago, we did one disastrous day of attempted cold-turkey potty training with Jonah. We took off his diaper and told him he was going to use the potty and wear big boy underpants from then on. Not only did he not use the potty, he refused to even wear the underpants. So he went commando under his shorts, wet himself once (and freaked out), and then peed like crazy during his nap, during which he wore a diaper. (We're not masochists.) Then he held it until bedtime. Clearly he can do it, but convincing him to even sit on the potty fully clothed is a battle. Good times.

Tonight, after both he and Ava went to bed, Jonah climbed into her crib and wound up the mobile, much to the delight of both of them. (This from a kid who, while he was sleeping in the crib, never climbed in nor out of it!) Mean Mommy went in, admonished him, and put him back in his bed.

Finally, in case you didn't know, I WON the Sling and Swaddle Journey! I'm so thrilled. My prizes arrived over the weekend, and I think the best one is the new breast pump. I'm actually looking forward to giving it a try. I can't believe I'm actually saying that!

Got milestones?

2009-06-29T15:41:00.011-04:00

We're tired. And it's not because of a lack of food.

(Ava's first cereal: Friday, June 19, 2009.)

It's because we're 5.5 months old, and we really, really want to crawl.

On a side note, I do see some similarities between Ava and Jonah at this age. But I think his eyes were already brown. Hers still have a lot of blue, but some brown in the middle. I wonder how they will turn out?

Jonah's first cereal, mid-March, 2007

Oreos and other diet foods

2009-06-23T19:54:00.010-04:00

I was a skinny kid. I can't find any photos, so you'll have to trust me on that.

That lasted through college. Perhaps it was all the walking I did in school (no car), or maybe it was the crappy food. But I never really gained the freshman fifteen, even though I probably could have used it. Once I graduated, though, I started to gain a little. Not a lot all at once, just five pounds or so a year. By the time I hit 30, I was more than 50 pounds heavier than I'd been when I graduated from high school. (Hmm...no photos of this era, either. Go figure.) But in the summer of 2004, after needing to buy size 16 shorts, and after seeing my sister eat Oreos while on Weight Watchers (more on her later), I decided it was time to lose some weight. I figured if I could eat Oreos while on a diet, that was the diet for me.

Six months later, I had lost 40 pounds and bought a size 6 wedding dress off the rack. I looked great, and I felt great.

So naturally, I turned back to Weight Watchers after both my pregnancies. I gained nearly 60 pounds when I was pregnant with Jonah, and lost all of it before he was a year old. I kept it off for a few months, but my weight started to creep back up when we decided to start trying for #2. (I treated both my pregnancies as my last opportunity to eat whatever I want, and once the decision was made, I guess I started a little early.) I only gained about 40 pounds with Ava, but I started fifteen pounds heavier. Weight Watchers has once again been my savior, though. She's five months old, and I've been below my pre-pregnancy weight for nearly a month. And that's with hardly any exercise. Now I just need to lose 10-15 more pounds and I'll be at my goal.

(Warning: here's the part where I go all WW cheerleader on y'all.)

The great thing about Weight Watchers is learning tips for a new lifestyle. This is not just a diet, it's a new way of life. I've made a lot of small changes in my eating habits that have really added up when it comes to weight loss. Best of all, I'm setting an example for my kids. I'm sure they'll inherit good genes—neither Matt nor I have ever been grossly overweight—but they'll also inherit good eating habits. (I hope. Jonah's a picky eater, but at least we're keeping him away from junk food.)

But don't take my word for it. Here's a photo of my sister from two years ago.

We were all pretty worried about her. She did not inherit the best genes, and her risk for things like diabetes and heart disease were only exacerbated by her weight.

When I had Jonah, I was truly concerned that she might not be able to run around with him on the playground, or worse, that she might not be around to see him grow up.

Here she is today, having lost more than 40% of her body weight.

It's taken a few tries, but she's lost it all with Weight Watchers and exercise. This former couch potato is now a gym rat who actually runs. I'm inspired by her story, and thrilled that she's doing something to be sure she'll be around for her niece and nephew, and hopefully, someday, her own as-yet-hypothetical kid.

Katie and Ava, spring 2009

Katie and Jonah, summer 2008
(I couldn't find a more recent picture of them!)

You're going back to school for what now?

2009-06-18T20:12:00.006-04:00

Masters of Science in Accounting.

Lots of people have been asking about it, so I thought I'd write a bit about it. Yes, I'm going back to school to get a degree in accounting. Yes, I already have a graduate degree in social work, perhaps the 180 degree opposite of accounting. Sometimes I think I'm a bit nuts. Sometimes, when I say it, I feel like I have to hang my head in shame, like I'm some sort of traitor or defector. My favorite grad school professor wrote me a recommendation, and when I first asked him to do it, he told me he'd be happy to write a rec for a job in social work, but that he didn't think he was the right person to write this. (I talked him into writing it, since they ask for my aptitude for graduate study in general and not accounting or business specifically.)

It started in April, when I was working on our taxes. Now granted, I was just entering numbers into TurboTax, not really doing any real accounting. But two things occurred to me while I was doing it. First, I really liked working with those numbers. My jobs since getting my MSW have been all about working with people. (Well, duh.) I think I'm a little burned out on people. I realize that there will be people involved in an accounting career, but I like the idea of focusing on those numbers. In addition, I've done some accounting and financial management for the EMA Fund, so I have a little bit of an idea of what I might be in for. And I'm not a clinical social worker. I concentrated in management and community practice. So I've never been interested in being a therapist.

The second thing that occurred to me while I was working on our taxes was that I really need to earn more money. Don't get me wrong - I'm eight years past my masters degree, and I earn plenty of money. For someone who lives, well, pretty much anywhere other than Boston. But childcare for two kids is eating up my entire salary (and it would even if I were working full-time – remember, full-time work requires full-time childcare). Once Jonah starts preschool in the fall, it will eat up more than my entire salary. We can swing it, but it would be nice to minimize that financial hit by creating opportunities for higher earnings in the future.

I don't want to be a CPA, so don't start signing up to have me do your taxes. Instead, I'd like to be a private accountant, keeping track of some company's money. Down the road, if the day comes that we can manage with me making a lower salary, I'd love to work for a nonprofit again. In the meantime, though, perhaps I can do some pro bono accounting work to fill my need to repair the world. (EMA is first on my list, of course!)

To write this blog post, I did a google search on "What is accounting?" The first definition I found read:

Quite simply, accounting is a language: a language that provides information about the financial position of an organization. When you study accounting you are essentially learning this specialized language. By learning this language you can communicate and understand the financial operations of any and all types of organizations.

(Source: http://www.moneyinstructor.com/lesson/accountingintro.asp)

I've always been good at languages. And also math. I almost majored in math. So you can see why this field might be appealing to me. I like how accounting is so...concrete.

So, assuming I get in, I'll be enrolling at UMass Boston in January 2010. (Here's a bonus - since I used to teach GMAT courses for The Princeton Review, I've already taken--and aced--the GMAT.) UMB has a fabulous program. They're really geared toward working students, so I'll be able to continue to work part-time while taking classes at night. I think I can swing two courses per semester (and two in the summer), so I'll be done in about 2 1/2 years. Just in time to stop paying for childcare for two kids.

Back to Basics

2009-06-08T20:45:00.007-04:00

I've gotten some super-cute shots of the kids lately. This contest (follow me! twitter.com/Mom_04) has really been good for my photo-taking. Jonah has started to pay more attention to Ava, and Ava has discovered her feet. So without further ado, here are some of the best:

Back in the s(w)addle again

2009-06-03T13:29:00.003-04:00

My Miracle Blankets arrived yesterday. It's so ironic that this happened now. As longtime readers (hi Mom!) know, I recently stopped swaddling Ava. It's not that I don't have love for the swaddle. When I was in the hospital after she was born, one of the things I most looked forward to about going home was swaddling her with the technique I learned for Jonah (the Super Swaddle) in our own stretchy blankets. I don't remember exactly when we stopped swaddling Jonah, but I think he was at least 5 1/2 months old.

But Ava wriggled her way out of the swaddle with considerably more ease than he did. When it was clear that the Super Swaddle was no longer enough to contain Ava, I was at a crossroads. One path was to stop swaddling. The other was to try the Miracle Blanket. But I didn't want to shell out when I had no idea if it would work (and when she'd only be swaddled for a few more weeks or months anyway), so when we implemented the Great Baby Move of 2009, we stopped swaddling her, thinking we'd do all the sleep transitions at once.

Enter the Sling and Swaddle Journey, and I find myself in a pickle. Do I go back three weeks, and start swaddling her again? Or do I let these fabulous blankets languish in a closet?

I figure, as long as I have them, I might as well take them for a test drive. It's only sleep, after all!

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter!

Slinging and Swaddling My Way Through June

2009-06-02T12:00:00.002-04:00

Note: I had originally scheduled this to go up on June 1st, but delayed it to post yesterday's installment about Dr. Tiller.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/Mom_04!

Today marks the first day of the Sling and Swaddle Journey, a contest of 30 moms who are tweeting about their lives with their babies. I was so excited when I learned that I had been chosen to be one of the 30 moms. You can read all the details at the Sling and Swaddle website, but basically, all 30 of us have been set up with Twitter accounts, and we'll be "tweeting" like crazy from now until June 30. (We also got two Miracle Blankets and a Hotsling to help us along our journey!) The mom who has the most followers, the most updates, and the most creative content will win a fabulous grand prize package.

Since I got the word that I'd been selected, I've been practicing over at Twitter, as well as stockpiling some blog post ideas (and clever tweets!). And I've discovered that I have a lot of ideas about things I could be writing about, aside from the standard "update the grandmothers" photo shoot kinda post. I've been saying I don't have time, but really, I just need to make the time to do this instead of something else. (Something else has lately been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD.) Anyway, it's given me a whole new perspective on things, and I thought I'd start this journey by sharing a few of the things I'm planning to write about, as well as a few of the new things I'm going to be trying in the next 30 days.

Things I want to write about:

Sleep (you knew that was coming, right?)
Gender roles (as they relate to my kids)
Losing baby weight (hello, Weight Watchers!)
Easy meal ideas
Parenting two children

Things I'm going to do (or try to do) this month:

Blog twice a week.
Start the 100 pushups training program. I learned about this from a friend almost a year ago, and tucked it away. It's time.
Implement more FlyLady stuff. I started this with gusto in April, but I've sputtered a bit.
Make progress on my grad school application. Yes, I really am going back to school to become an accountant.
Hire a contractor to remodel our bathroom.

Seeing it all spelled out like that is kind of scary, but also scarily motivating. It's going to be a busy month. Buckle up!

Dr. George Tiller

2009-06-01T00:00:00.002-04:00

I can remember almost the exact moment I went from being sort of wishy-washy, noncommittal pro-choice to knowing without question what choice I would make in that situation. It was my senior year in high school, I had had sex (for the first time!) without using birth control, and my period was late. My first thought was, "How much does an abortion cost, and where will I get the money for it?"

As it turned out, I was not pregnant, and I have never had to make that choice. G-d willing, I will never have to. But I have since counseled numerous women about their choices and helped scores of women who chose abortion to come up with the money they needed to pay for the procedure (through my paid work at PPLM and my volunteer work with the EMA Fund), and I've witnessed the range of emotions that women have expressed at that time in their lives.

When I learned yesterday of Dr. George Tiller’s murder, I was holding Ava in my arms, surfing the web while rocking her to sleep. As the tears welled up in my eyes and I cried out, "Oh my G-d, no, no, no!" she woke up. I quickly shushed her back to sleep and put her down, sick with grief for this man I had never met, but who was a hero to me and, I daresay, thousands of women across the country.

A staff member from Dr. Tiller's clinic came to speak to us at PPLM while I worked there. She told us about the protocols they used with their late-term patients. I remember being overwhelmed by the care and compassion they had for their patients. The women they served were often in the worst of circumstances. I always knew that when I referred a patient to Dr. Tiller, she would be receiving wonderful care, both physically and emotionally. And now that he's gone, I wonder what will happen to these most desperate of women. Who will they turn to?

Ava and I will be attending a vigil for Dr. Tiller tonight. It's important to me that she be there. I want to be able to tell her that she was a part of this fight from the beginning. And if we’re still fighting it in 20 years, I want to be able to show her why it's such a crucial, vital, essential fight. If any of us felt that we could become complacent now that a pro-choice president is in office, Dr. Tiller's murder has shown us just how wrong we are.

God bless you, Dr. Tiller. You will be missed.

Please consider a donation to the EMA Fund in Dr. Tiller's memory.

Silly Shakespeare Titles - Continued

2009-05-14T21:38:00.011-04:00

I decided to throw everything I think about sleep out the window and make some BIG changes right at the time when Ava's sleep would be predicted to get even worse – the dreaded four-month-old sleep regression. Jonah hit this one hard. After a month of sleeping relatively well, when he hit four months old (at right: Jonah at 4.5 months), it all went (back) to crap, and remained crap for months and months, with small, teeny-tiny baby steps of improvement along the way.

With Ava, I figure it can't get much worse. So we're making changes. My new Plan has a goal: transition her to the crib in Jonah's room Memorial Day weekend, when my Mom will be here to help with childcare if no one gets any sleep due to the transition. (We can all take turns taking naps!) I think that if she's not right next to me, I'll be less inclined to feed her in the middle of the night to get her back to sleep, and if she's not getting fed, she'll be less likely to wake up subsequent nights. (That's my theory, anyway.) But to move her to Jonah's room, I wanted her sleep-trained, so I can dump her in the crib and him in the bed, and shut the door, and they'll both fall asleep on their own. But to sleep train her, I wanted her to be unswaddled, because I feel bad about sleep training her if she doesn't have her hands free to give her some comfort.

We're eight days into the Plan. We started last Wednesday by getting rid of her swaddle. I was going to do the one-arm-in method, but she got the one arm out several times the first night, so we've pretty much done it cold turkey. While at first she slept a tiny bit worse, she's now back to the two or three wake-ups she was doing while swaddled. We started sleep training last Friday, and it's going very well, especially if she's really tired and ready to go to sleep when we put her down. The past couple of nights, she's fallen asleep after only one or two visits to re-insert the pacifier. We have a week until Mom arrives and the big transition takes place, and in the meantime, I'm going to transfer some night-waking duties to Matt. Now we just have to get Jonah to agree to have her sleep in his room!

Of course, this week Jonah has been sick, so I'm even more tired than I was before, because now they're both waking up at night. I guess someday they'll move out, and then I can count on eight solid hours again....

To sleep, perchance, to dream.

2009-05-13T20:50:00.011-04:00

Seems like all I want to do these days is talk about sleep. It's the most important topic of conversation in this family: who's getting it, who's not, and how much (if any). So indulge me as I continue the conversation (no one ever said that this blog would be devoid of narcissistic navel-gazing).

Back in March, I posted about how Ava could sleep. The girl got better and better, regularly sleeping for 6-8 hours a night. While we were away for Passover (and our first few days back), she slept through the night – down for the count around 8 or 9 PM, not up til 6:30 AM. Full stop. Contrast that with Jonah, who the night after we got home from Passover (when he was almost 6 months old), woke up six times (SIX!). And that with me starting a new job the next day. It was not a pretty first day of work.

But wait, there's more. The day after the day after we got back from Passover, my fabulous little sleeper became not so fabulous. She started regularly waking twice (or even three times) a night, every once in a while throwing a single 5 AM wake up into the mix. And strangely enough, it happened right when I went back to work. With Jonah, that transition coincided with improved sleep. Not so Ava. The inhabitants of our household spent most of April battling one illness or another. (Well, the human ones. The cat seemed unfazed.) I thought that when we all were finally well, she might settle back in. Wrong. Then she learned how to roll, and I thought, "Aha! She's been working on something developmental! Surely she'll go back to sleeping well now." Wrong, squared. In the meantime, I'm struggling to get enough sleep to recover from my hellish sore throat, snapping at everything that moves, and generally not appreciating the lack of zzz's.

So what did I do?

Oh wait…what was that?

Sounds like Jonah has prematurely awoken from his nap. Sigh.

To be continued…

You know I'm a fool for statistics.

2009-05-11T22:08:00.005-04:00

Four month doctor visit today!

Weight: 14 lbs 1.5 oz (48th percentile)

Height: 26 in (91st percentile, and equal to Jonah's height at four months)

Head circumference: 42 cm (66th percentile)

Ava rolls, Jonah waves

2009-04-27T07:50:00.006-04:00

We've had fun watching Ava practice her rolling the past several days. She decided to do the opposite of what most babies do, and she's been working on rolling from her back to her tummy for a few days. We had lots of close calls over the weekend, but she just couldn't get it done.

This morning, I put her down on her back and went into the kitchen to do a few things. When I came back into the living room, she was on her tummy. I asked Matt if he had turned her over, or if she had done it herself, and he said that he didn't do it, so it must have been her! We put her back on her back, pulled out the camera, and recorded her second roll from back to front for posterity:

Jonah was going to show us his back-to-front roll, too, but he got a bit camera-shy when it was time. :)

Works, in progress and otherwise

2009-04-03T20:08:00.000-04:00

I was a prolific knitter for a few years when I first moved to Boston. I made hats, scarves, and a handful of blankets. I even knitted and quilted a couple of bags. But my knitting has fallen by the wayside since I had children.

Here's Ava wearing the hat and sweater I made for Jonah:

The hat, he wore. The sweater, not so much. It was my first (and so far, only) attempt at a baby sweater, and I'm not sure I followed the instructions exactly right. By the time I tried to put it on him, I could not fit it over his head. Honestly, though, I think it's because I knitted it wrong, and not because it was too small. So I ripped out the neck, and it sat on a stitch holder for about two years.

Fast forward to this winter, when I pulled it out again. My mom took it home with her and gave it to someone she knows who finished up the neck. It's not like in the pattern, but at least it fits over her head.

The pattern included a blanket, too. I started it while pregnant with Jonah. Here's how it looks today:

Maybe before they go off to college....

Video Bonanza

2009-04-01T19:38:00.005-04:00

Okay, this is a truly self-indulgent post. But I think the grandmothers might enjoy it.

Video #1: Here's Ava, on the road to becoming a little chatterbox. This one is a few weeks old, and she's already even more talkative than you'll see here.

Video #2: This is primarily for Tiffany. Here's Jonah, enjoying his guitar. This time, without turning the camera sideways. :) Next time I post video, I'll get him "grooving" and singing "Dancing Queen."

Sleep when the baby sleeps

2009-03-17T14:06:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to think the whole "sleep begets sleep*" thing is a load of crap. I totally bought into it with Jonah, but I could never really document that he slept better at night when he slept better during the day. His daytime naps were crappy until he was about seven months old, at which time he finally settled into a consistent twice-a-day nap routine (from his previous three or four 30-45 minute naps a day routine!). But his nighttime sleep didn't really change - or get any better. In fact, he didn't even sleep through the night (and I mean real sleep through the night, not the "five hours is sleeping through the night" definition) until he was 15 months old.

So let's talk about Ava. The girl can sleep, and I love her for it. When she was six weeks old, she slept for 6 or more hours, four nights in a row. I was giddy from all the sleep. She's been a good nighttime sleeper from the get-go, regularly doing four hour stretches even at a week or two old. And I've been preaching the "sleep begets sleep" gospel to anyone who will listen.

However, this weekend seems to discount that particular gospel. Her naps are less than consistent. Some days it's 30 minute catnaps all day, others she'll take a good afternoon nap (or a good morning nap), and still other days, she seems to sleep all day. On Saturday she took a three-hour nap in the afternoon. It was great, because not only did it give both Matt and me some downtime, but it mostly coincided with Jonah's nap. Saturday night, she was a bear to get to sleep (it took over an hour of walking around the house in the dark), and she woke up twice overnight, having trouble falling back asleep the second time (which was about 5:30 AM).

On Sunday, she was in the Baby Bjorn and the stroller for good chunks of the day, and did most of her napping in 20-30 minute stretches in them. She only had one nap in her bassinet. Sunday night, she fell asleep with no trouble at 8:15, woke up once around 9 and settled right away, and then proceeded to sleep until 5:45 AM. That's right, almost 9 hours in a row. I'm still recovering from the shock.

Today (I'm writing this on Monday, but not posting til Tuesday) is another story altogether. I had to wake her up twice from naps (once to go the doctor, and once when we arrived), and now she's napping again. All bets are off, since she had shots today, too. One thing this kid is not, and that is predictable!

*Dr. Marc Weissbluth

Ava Vitals

2009-03-16T13:49:00.003-04:00

Two-month doctor visit today!

Weight: 12 lbs (63rd percentile)
Height: 24 in (87th percentile)
Shots: Three (she was smiling again less than five minutes later!)

Ava's First Bottle

2009-03-12T16:41:00.001-04:00

I almost forgot!

We had a little scare earlier this week, too, when she refused a bottle from our new nanny (who is doing a "training" week with us this week). Fortunately, however, it appears she just wasn't hungry. Jonah and I spent the morning out together, and Ava successfully drank over 3 oz from a bottle while we were out. Whew!

So many children, so little time.

2009-03-11T16:18:00.017-04:00

It's so hard to keep up now that our help is gone. We had Grandma for almost two weeks, and then Nana for 10 days, and then the whole family came into town for Ava's naming. We were terrible about taking photos that weekend, but Matt managed to snap a few at the kiddush afterward.

Since then, Ava's been working on her tummy time:

And Jonah decided that Tigger wanted to hang out in the Baby Bjorn:

We got Jonah to stand near Ava long enough to take some photos, but Ava refused to smile:

But since she sleeps six or more hours most nights, we've forgiven her!

Smiley girl

2009-02-23T20:21:00.004-05:00

Jonah tidbits

2009-02-10T21:07:00.005-05:00

Here are some of the funny things that have come out of Jonah's mouth lately:

#1: (As Jonah takes off down the hall)
Me: Where are you going?
Jonah: I'm gong to Chinatown!

#2: (I put on a non-maternity shirt that I probably haven't worn since June.)
Jonah: Did you get a new shirt?

#3:
Me: Nana is coming to visit us in three days!
Jonah: No, it's four days, honey.

And here's the bonus footage.

Guitar courtesy of Tiffany (thanks, Tiff!). It has rapidly become Jonah's favorite toy. Video courtesy of Matt. Unfortunately, he didn't know you can't rotate a video the way you can a photo!

Ava's first bath

2009-02-09T11:33:00.005-05:00

Grandma was here for almost two weeks, and the first item on her agenda was Ava's first "tub" bath.

As you can see, she enjoyed it fairly well...

Until it was time to get out!

A few minutes of drying off and snuggling with Grandma and she was back to her contented self.

We enjoyed Grandma's visit, as you can see!

Yesterday's post notwithstanding, Jonah remains less than interested in his sister.

However, he has not yet asked us to take her back.

He does love her stuff, though!

Breaking News!

2009-02-08T11:26:00.003-05:00

Jonah let me put Ava next to him long enough to take a photo!!

Right after I took it, he was all done with having her anywhere near him.

The Progress Report

2009-01-27T19:29:00.006-05:00

Sigh. My little boy is growing up.

Yesterday, we set up his Big Boy Bed (BBB). The plan has always been to move Ava into the crib and Jonah into a bed, and have them share our second bedroom. I read somewhere that it can be helpful in making the transition to set up the bed ahead of the actual move, giving him time to get used to it - playing on it, etc. After we got it set up, he decided he wanted to take his nap in the BBB. We read books and he snuggled up in the BBB, but just a few minutes after I left the room, he called out for us and decided he wanted to nap in his crib after all.

I figured that would be the end of it - until naptime today, when he again wanted to nap in the BBB. This time, Matt read his stories and tucked him in, and thirty minutes later, all was quiet.

As I type, he's getting tucked in for the night in his BBB. Wish us luck!

In Ava news, we had a two-week check-up today, and she is up to 9 lbs, 2 oz. The doctor asked what I was feeding her. :)

Her belly button is all healed, which means her first real bath will follow shortly! And, she can wear onesies. A whole new avenue of fashion is open to her.

What we've been up to

2009-01-24T19:48:00.006-05:00

Jonah has been riding in the "blue line":

There's a "green line", too, but that's full of stuffed animals, and so most of the time it doesn't get used as part of the T. Although today, he emptied the green line, put it next to the blue line, and transferred back and forth between the two. I guess he was at Government Center.

He's also been wearing my shoes around:

Ava has been having lots of diaper changes:

And she's had two sponge baths since we've been home:

She's even sleeping fairly well, although we're all trying to nap as often as possible:

Ava's Arrival

2009-01-19T08:26:00.008-05:00

Miss Ava made her arrival into the world on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 8:06 AM, weighing in at 8 lbs, 2oz, and measuring 21 inches in length.

I woke up to a contraction at 5:50 AM that morning. The next one came at about 5:58 AM, and the one after that was at about 6:03 AM. By 6:15, I knew these were real contractions and that they were getting closer together QUICKLY. I woke Matt up, and then called Katie and Blythe and had the midwife on call paged. By the time the midwife, Susan, called me back (about a half hour later, which is unusual, but she was at a delivery when I called), the contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and very strong. We let her know we'd be coming in soon.

For a few minutes, I thought we might have to wake up Jonah and bring him with us, and have Katie and Blythe meet us at the hospital, but fortunately, they arrived shortly after the midwife called. Also, Jonah woke up right around 7, so I went in to let him know that we were going to the hospital to have his baby sister, and that we'd see him soon.

From then on, I'm not too sure about the timing of things. We pulled up to the emergency entrance and I was wheeled up to the maternity floor. They took me to a triage room, but I was only in there for about five minutes when Susan came in and decided we should go right to a labor room. I didn't have time to take advantage of a whirlpool tub, so it wasn't a big deal that I didn't get one! But I did take about five minutes in the shower before we decided it was time to push. I'm not sure how long I pushed, but Matt thinks it was only ten or fifteen minutes, and then she was here!

I can't say enough good things about Susan! She wasn't the midwife I saw for my care, but she was just amazing. I switched to a different practice for this pregnancy, and I'm so happy with the care I received. We also went to a different hospital this time, and overall, had a much better experience than Jonah's birth.

We went home Thursday, and so far, so good. Ava's eating well, gaining weight, and gives us three or even four hours stretches of sleep. Jonah's struggling just a little bit with having to share his Mommy, but he's also been easy to distract when I've been busy with Ava. And best of all, he still naps every day, so we always get a little rest in the afternoon.

Thanks for all the well-wishes!

Sometimes Mommy needs to say what she means

2009-01-07T20:38:00.004-05:00

Monkey has this shaker toy, kind of like a maraca, but shaped like a cylinder, that he recently rediscovered. This morning, he was banging it against a wall, and I told him, "We don't bang things against walls. If you want to bang something, you can go get your drum and bang on that."

I turned around to do something else, and a moment later, I saw him walk past me, carrying his drum. He continued down the hall to the same spot where he was banging the shaker on the wall. I caught him just in the nick of time.

"No, no, honey, I meant that you should bang on your drum! With your drumsticks! Not bang your drum against the wall!"

Photos courtesy of Nana's camera, which she graciously lent to us until little girl is born.

In Which the Monkey Begins to Resemble His Mother

2008-12-17T18:00:00.002-05:00

Monkey has always been pretty easy-going, but lately, he has really started to assert his own opinions and show his stubborn streak. Here's an excerpt of a recent conversation I had with him:

Me: "Jonah, can you please do [insert task or activity here]?"
Jonah: "No, I cannot." [It's cannot, not can't.]
Me: "Jonah, I think you can."
Jonah: "No, I cannot can!" [Commence screaming, whining, flailing and/or stomping of feet.]

I think part of it is the normal terrible twos stuff, but part of it is also the total and complete upheaval that he's been through over the past 6 weeks.

We had to say goodbye to our fabulous nanny, Sabine, and our nanny-share partners. Since Amelia's mom had her little sister, and I'm not planning to go back to work full-time, we figured it made more sense for Sabine to work for them once Amelia's mom went back to work.
I went away for a week.
Once I got back, we had less than a week before we went away for Thanksgiving.
Since I got back, day care has been a combination of two part-time babysitters, "emergency" day care at Bright Horizons (a benefit Matt gets from work), and a sporadic day off here and there with Daddy.
And of course, the baby could come at any time, so we've been trying to prepare him for that. Although I'm not holding my breath, since Jonah was two weeks late!

I stumbled upon an article in the Globe recently about dealing with a three-year-old's specific behavioral issue, and some of the recommendations really struck me. Best of all, the author offered to send anyone who was interested a link to another article she had written that dealt with three-year-old behavior in general. I wrote her for the article, and I think it's really making a difference.

For example, lately, Jonah has been really resisting his bath. It's gotten to the point where he refuses to sit and pretty much screams the whole time. So last night, when he started to yell about how he did not want to take a bath, I thought I'd try some of the article's techniques. I squatted down at his level, and told him that while he had to take a bath, he had the choice of reading a story before his bath, or after his bath.

It worked like a charm, although he made up a new choice, that fortunately was a perfectly acceptable alternative. He grabbed a book off the table, and told me he wanted to read now, and then walked directly into the bathroom with the book. So I followed him in, and while Matt gave him his bath, I read the book to him. He got right into his tub, sat down with no struggles, and listened, laughed, and splashed - with only a minor screaming bout when it was time to rinse his hair.

What a relief! Now if we can just reacclimate him to the bath before his sister is born...because I don't think we'll be able to continue to do bathtime as a two-parent job!

Technical Difficulties: Please Stand By.

2008-12-04T22:20:00.006-05:00

We left our camera in Bethesda after Thanksgiving, and on it were Halloween photos and G-d knows what else. So here's one Halloween photo for now.

We won't get the camera back, most likely, until after the Monkey's sister arrives next month, so any posts that go up between now and then will be very text-heavy. Which is fine, because Monkey likes to say funny and clever things. For example: He was having trouble napping on our last day in Bethesda, and so I went in after he'd been making noise in his crib for 30 minutes. I said to him, "Let's read another book, and then go to sleep." And he said back to me, "Mommy, I want to play."

Minor edit: I guess I should have read my previous posts before putting this up. Didn't remember that I had already posted this photo!

Milestones

2008-11-05T18:00:00.002-05:00

Today is our third wedding anniversary. While I'm saddened by the results of Proposition 8 in California, and recognize the irony in celebrating my marriage on a day when so many others are losing hope that they will ever be able to celebrate their own marriages, I'm thrilled and elated and [insert litany of very positive emotions here] by Barack Obama's decisive victory.

Last night, as Charlie Gibson silently counted down the seconds to the closing of California and other West Coast states, I knew what the result was going to be. Somehow, I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming flood of emotion that would wash over me. As ABC called the presidency for Obama, I burst into tears and silently wept for at least ten minutes, trying not to wake up my Mom, who had long since fallen asleep on the couch. I finally realized that I needed to go tell Matt that it was over, and so I waddled into our room where he was working to let him know. "He won, honey," I somehow croaked out. We gave each other a big hug, then walked back out to the living room to watch the aftermath together.

And as the clock ticked over to midnight and November 4 became November 5, we watched Obama's acceptance speech, perhaps the best anniversary gift we'll ever get.

Two Year Doctor Visit

2008-11-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

Monkey saw Dr. Cohen a few days after he turned two, and he continues to do well. He got a flu shot and had blood drawn (yuck!) but he also got some Thomas stickers, which is always a good thing. He weighed 27 lbs 4 oz, and was a half-inch shy of three feet tall.

Bonus: here's a sneak preview of Halloween!

Happy Second Birthday!

2008-11-01T12:23:00.005-04:00

Work stresses, child care stresses, and a disfunctional internet connection at home have all contributed to making it harder and harder to keep up with all that Monkey has been up to. Fortunately, the child care stress is more or less solved (although we miss our 'Bine, and it's only been one day since her last day!), the internet connection should be fixed on Monday (fingers crossed), and work stress should dissipate once I leave for our conference in Florida in 12 short days.

Here are some photos from Monkey's two birthday parties. We had one on the 17th, for his daycare friends, at the Pru.

We also had another one, on the 19th, at home, for other friends and family. They were both lots of fun!

Haircut!

2008-10-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

Monkey has had two haircuts in his (nearly) two years. The first one was relatively painless. We took him to Supercuts while visiting Nana in Buffalo, and he was incredibly nonchalant about it.

I don't think I posted about the second one at all, but it was like a totally different Monkey. He cried (screamed, even!), pushed away the hand of the hairstylist, wouldn't hold still...not our favorite morning activity. For weeks, he talked about how he had a haircut and he cried. We were a little concerned that he might hold a grudge against Uncle Brian, since name of the stylist who cut his hair was Brian, but apparently, he understands that different people can have the same name. :)

So needless to say, that second haircut, which was in June, was not the best nor did it last for very long, and he's been sporting quite a 'fro for a few months now (as evidenced in recent photos and videos). Don't get me wrong, for the most part, I think his curls are adorable, but he definitely has his bad hair days. But he wouldn't let anyone go near his head with scissors. The entire time we were in New Jersey, Grandma would ask if she could cut his hair. He would say yes, but as soon as he saw the scissors come out, he would change his tune.

This weekend, Matt decided to start making the case for a haircut with his clippers. Matt has been cutting his own hair (with greater and lesser degrees of success) for many years, and has his own set of clippers. He wondered if Monkey might take better to a full shearing, rather than a snip here and there. So he started showing Monkey the clippers, talking about how they buzzed, and about how Daddy was going to cut his (Daddy's) hair this weekend. And would Monkey like to have his haircut, too?

Well, here are the results:

First, he helped cut Daddy's hair.

Then, Daddy started working on his hair.

Oh my gosh, is he enjoying it, even?

And then we got to here, and for a while, Monkey wanted to run around (and worse, wanted nothing more to do with the clippers). I was terrified that we would have a half-shorn Monkey, but fortunately, he went back for more.

And here are a few shots of the finished product:

(I have no idea what this pose is....)

Totally adorable, in a very different way. And am I the only one who thinks he bears an even more striking resemblance to Uncle Zach now?

It's been a busy summer.

2008-09-13T11:42:00.019-04:00

We had a major computer malfunction just before our August vacation, and sadly, lost about a months' worth of photos. It took quite a bit of time to get the computer back up to snuff, and I'm still not sure it's really 100%. But we bought an external hard drive, finally, and so now we have plenty of storage space for everything.

Part of what we lost were some fun photos from our 4th of July trip to New Jersey, but I do have these (admittedly low-res) photos from my camera phone, including Monkey's first "amusement park" ride, from a fair at the park near Grandma's beach house.

Monkey wasn't too sure about the ride at first, and the operator was about to stop it to take him off because he was crying, but I got him settled down, and by the time it was over, he had enjoyed it so much he didn't want to get off, and cried again.

When we got back from vacation and finally got the computer up again, it was time to start watching political conventions. Matt and I stayed up WAY too late during both the Democratic and Republican conventions, cheering and jeering.

In case you needed a hint about which convention got the cheers and which convention got the jeers, check out these Monkey videos:

(Okay, "Go Bills" isn't terribly relevant to the election, but it's awfully funny!)

I also decided that it was time to make my wedding album. (Almost three years later, with kid #1 approaching two years old, and kid #2 on the way, I'd say it was more than time!) So I've been spending a lot of time on that. In fact, once the conventions were over, I started staying up late to finish the book. But it is nearly done, and anyone who wants a look-see can e-mail me and I'll share the Shutterfly link.

We did, however, take some time to visit with Nana over Labor Day weekend, and the highlight of the weekend was our trip to Edaville USA, for a "Day Out with Thomas." Monkey loved the kiddie rides, the ride on the train (according to him, we rode on Clarabel), and spending time with Nana and his aunts. Check it out!

More pix of Jonah's sister

2008-08-08T16:28:00.005-04:00

Yep, it's a girl! (Not that you can tell from these shots...)

Monkey tidbit

2008-08-01T21:49:00.002-04:00

Monkey has taken to yelling or screeching loudly from time to time. The other day, I yawned loudly, like a lion, and he said, "Inside voice."

"It's hot," Pooh said out loud to no one in particular.

2008-07-31T20:20:00.009-04:00

Just snuck this one in for July!

We've had some scorchers this summer. Here are some shots of Monkey keeping cool:

And here's his favorite shoes!

(Okay, those are mine...but he does love his crocs!)

Coming soon: Our 4th of July trip to the beautiful Garden State, and Monkey performs his tricks on camera!

Why I haven't been posting so often

2008-06-22T16:46:00.006-04:00

Due January 9, 2009.

Martha's Vineyard Monkey

2008-06-16T19:09:00.024-04:00

When the dust settled from our synagogue’s silent auction and a weekend on Martha’s Vineyard was still up for grabs, we jumped at the chance to snap it up. The weekend in question was June 6-8, so last week, we headed out for a long weekend of exploring a new island with the Monkey.

We stayed in Aquinnah, the town formerly known as Gay Head, and perhaps the most isolated of the several towns on the island. It was a very different experience from our “usual” of Block Island, where the (one and only) town was a twenty-minute drive from our house. But it was definitely fun to experience a new place.

Friday and Saturday were on the cold side, but we did some exploring. Monkey enjoyed looking at the lighthouse in Aquinnah (“Red light!” “White light!” “Red light!” “White light!”) and digging in the sand. However, he does not like having sand on his hands or feet, making for a unique challenge. He did his digging primarily from the safety of the beach blanket.

Here’s where the story has an interesting twist. On Saturday evening, we decided to drive into the town of Oak Bluffs to grab some dinner. We walked along the water, and then turned into the large green and walked past the gazebo back toward the town.

A minute after passing a group of people near the gazebo, we heard someone shouting “Matt Fried! MATT FRIED!” Turns out we had just walked past Rob, Matthew, and Jess Goldfarb, brothers who Matt knew from his summers on the Connecticut shore. Mind you, these are people he hasn’t seen in close to twenty years, but in their words, he looked “just like Matt Fried. Only grown-up.” We had dinner with them and the others with them, and learned that all three live on Martha’s Vineyard now, and Matthew and Rob run a farm in Edgartown called The FARM Institute, which offers community-supported agriculture and programs for kids ages 2 and up.

Now for the real treat: on Sunday, we met Rob and his wife, Magda, at the farm, and got a tour! [Bad Mommy and Daddy did not think to bring the camera...oops!] We got to see chickens and baby chicks, piglets and a great big momma pig, a cow and her four-day-old calf (already running around, of course), and lots of other animals. Our Monkey most enjoyed chasing around the guinea fowl, listening to the ducks quacking, and watching the bunny hop, hop, hop away from him. Oh yeah, and sitting on the tractors was a big hit, too – he’s still talking about it! It was so fun to reconnect with old friends, and to hear about the really amazing work that they do. Check out their website and see for yourself!

Animals, Cooperative and Otherwise

2008-05-04T15:57:00.000-04:00

Monkey really likes giving his kitty hugs. It doesn't usually last very long, because the cat can't take more than one at a time. Fortunately, one morning last week, I had the camera ready:

Last weekend, we went to visit some other animals at Franklin Park Zoo, courtesy of Aunt Sally.

Daddy tried desperately to get photos of us with interesting animals in the background, but sometimes animals don't cooperate. That includes both zebras, and Monkeys:

After reviewing the results, I'm just glad we weren't attacked by this emu!

Vital Statistics

2008-04-30T21:14:00.007-04:00

Monkey had his 18 month doctor visit today. Here are his stats:
Weight: 24 lbs 3 oz (40th percentile)
Height: 33 inches (80th percentile)
Shots Received: 2 (DTaP, Hep A)
Thomas Stickers Received: 4 (Geez, I can't name them all yet!)

He is in excellent health. Hooray!

Cousins!

2008-04-30T19:20:00.001-04:00

We spent a long weekend at Passover with Grandma, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Brian, and cousins Samantha and Landon. Here's a series of photos that recreate that classic family photo dilemma...how many do you shoot before you give up on that perfect snapshot?

I guess the fifth time's the charm!

Strategic Product Placement

2008-04-28T20:52:00.005-04:00

Monkey loves playing with his school buses (yes, he has two). Here are a few shots with a strategically-placed bus...for the most part.

Opening Day and Grapes

2008-04-08T21:04:00.015-04:00

It's opening day!

So what do all good Monkeys do?

They put on their Red Sox gear!

(Thanks, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Brian, Samantha, and Landon!)

And here's a peek at one of Monkey's favorite foods.

Interview with a (Monkey) Toddler

2008-03-12T07:45:00.003-04:00

Monkey is talking all the time now, and I finally get how it is that parents can understand the seemingly incomprehensible ramblings of their small children. I tried to get him to perform his tricks for the camera, and the (very mixed) results are below. Enjoy!

Weekend Monkey

2008-02-25T21:55:00.006-05:00

Monkey and I had a lovely walk on Sunday.

There was a big snowstorm on Friday, so we couldn't go to any of our normal weekend parks. What to do with a Monkey who wanted to get out and run around? We walked down to the Esplanade and along the river...err, the canal.

We saw some ducks.

Monkey chased his shadow.

Monkey pushed the stroller.

It was a perfect Sunday afternoon outing!

Two five-letter words that start with V.

2008-02-18T16:44:00.007-05:00

Monkey had a visit (that's the first v-word!) from his Grandma last week. Five fun-filled days that went sooo quickly. Grandma took care of him while Mommy and Daddy were at work, and they had lots of fun doing puzzles (see below) and negotiating three flights of stairs (not pictured).

We spent some time at the park, where Monkey recaptured his previous love for the swings, and was encouraged to walk up the slide.

All in all, this v-word was a big success.

And then...this weekend, we were visited by a stomach virus. Hmm, that's not exactly the five-letter v-word I was thinking of, but it's in better taste. Fortunately, the virus only hit Monkey, and after a rough morning on Saturday, he was more or less better. Whew!

Someone else's words

2008-02-08T13:19:00.002-05:00

http://blogs.parentcenter.babycenter.com/momformation/2007/11/30/weaned/

She says it better than I ever could. (And no, it's not because I'm pregnant again. He's just...done.)

Ahoy, matey!

2008-02-07T15:37:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry I don't have a photo to accompany this little monkey tidbit.

Monkey received a Halloween book from his Nana this year, and he's recently decided that it's time to read about Halloween. The book is one of those baby books that just has pictures of different things along with the names, and no actual story. To make it more interesting, we tell him what the things in the pictures do, or say, or point out what color they are.

One of the photos is of a kid dressed as a pirate. When we get to that page, I always say, "Here's a pirate! What does a pirate say? Arrrrgh!" Well, now Monkey's gotten to that age where he's learning to repeat everything we say. So I can add one more to the list*:

What does a cow say, Monkey? Moo!
What does a duck say, Monkey? Quack!
What does a doggie say, Monkey? Woof woof!

What does a pirate say, Monkey? Arrrrgh!

*Note: this list is not comprehensive. Monkey knows what lots of things say!

Musical Monkey

2008-02-02T16:49:00.001-05:00

Monkey is very musical. He's been taking a music class called "Baby Wiggle," which I was able to attend this week. It was very cute. He likes to play the maracas. Here are a few shots of him refusing to put them down before he takes his bath:

Here is a video of him playing with his new basketball game (thanks, Grandma Rosemary!), where you can see he's almost as interested in dancing to the music the game plays as he is in scoring baskets!

And here's his latest trick:

Eating

2008-01-27T21:30:00.001-05:00

Feeding Monkey used to be so easy. He was breastfed exclusively until he was 6 months old. As long as I was there, his meals were easy to prepare, and he was easy to feed. Even when he was introduced to a bottle, he took to it like a champ.

Once he started eating solids, he was a pretty good eater for a long time - despite how this looks!

But at some point, things changed, and now this kid is picky, picky, picky - especially at dinnertime. I dread dinner some nights, when I'm particularly tired, or Monkey is. Mostly, Matt handles dinner! However, I thought I'd put up a couple of shots of an enjoyable dinner recently.

And here's Monkey using a spoon for the first time. He's not hitting the target so well, but hey...baby steps!

Things that make me feel old

2008-01-14T13:57:00.001-05:00

Watching football this weekend, I was reminded by one of the commentators that it's been 10 years since the Packers were in the Super Bowl. I remember that game. I had already been out on my own for a few years at that point. Is it really possible I've been a full-fledged adult for over 10 years?

He's not drunk, I swear!

2008-01-08T20:37:00.000-05:00

Rumor has it

2008-01-07T22:11:00.000-05:00

Today was day one of the (new) new nanny. She's fabulous. So fabulous, apparently, that she taught Monkey to walk.

Oh, the mixed emotions of the working mom who has, for the first time, missed a major milestone!

I'll let you know when I see it...and hopefully, I'll capture it on film.

PS - really, the new nanny is fabulous!

Shuffling off to Buffalo

2007-12-27T21:50:00.000-05:00

Here's how Monkey felt after we arrived in Buffalo:

We were supposed to leave Thursday night and go home Tuesday night. Instead, we left Friday night (one cancellation, three rebookings, and an hour-and-a-half delay later), but we did extend our stay to Wednesday night instead.

On Monday, we went out in a major snowstorm so Monkey could have his first haircut. Here he is before:

And here are a few after shots:

You can blame Nana for the lack of shots of the haircut-in-progress. He was very good, though he did give the stylist some funny looks when he (the stylist) pulled out the trimmers.

Here's how he felt afterward:

In other news, Monkey is now regularly referring to me as Mama (yay!) and he also says bye-bye (and waves). It's really very cute. And here's his latest trick:

Giving Thanks for Monkeys

2007-12-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving trip to see Grandma and family. Almost last minute, we decided to fly, Wednesday night, after work. We are very glad we did, because driving that night would have been a nightmare. Plus, Mommy and Daddy had to get up in the morning to run in the Turkey Chase!

Monkey had lots of fun riding on this little car thing,

and being chased and hugged by his cousins.

For some reason, we only got pictures of him playing with Samantha, but he loved playing with Landon, too! We can't wait to see you all again soon.

Long overdue: A Very Monkey Halloween

2007-12-06T21:34:00.000-05:00

Here are a few shots of the Monkey in his Halloween costume.

We didn't get a lot of good ones, because by the time we had a chance to take some photos, he was exhausted.

Can you tell what he is?

And here's a bonus: Monkey video!

(The credits are messed up, but I tried for over an hour to fix them, with no luck.)

Mr. Monkey goes to...Tennessee!

2007-11-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

(I'm so behind, so many things to document. It's not fair that I have so much to say, and so much work to do!)

(Many thanks to Mark for most of the photos in this post!)

Last month, we all went to Tennessee. But we didn't make it easy on ourselves. You see, I had a conference to attend in Nashville. So Monkey and I flew to Nashville (not a direct flight from Boston, believe it or not), rented a car, and drove 3+ hours to Memphis

to spend the weekend with Tiffany and Mark.

Matt flew in to join us the next day. He flew directly to Memphis. Lucky Matt!

We had lots of fun in Memphis. Monkey met a giant teddy bear named Paddington. Or maybe he was a dog. No one's sure.

We parked at Parking Can Be Fun.

We went to the Peabody Hotel to see its most famous residents, the ducks.

These ducks live on the roof of the hotel, but spend their days in this fountain in the lobby. Every morning, the take the elevator down to the lobby and march across a red carpet to the fountain. They swim around all day, and then at the end of the day they march back across the red carpet and take the elevator back up to the roof. We didn't get to see the show, but Monkey enjoyed watching the ducks swim around.

He didn't enjoy the roof so much.

Here we are at the Rendezvous after having some yummy BBQ.

Monkey slept through lunch, so he got to eat on the trolley.

On Sunday, the three of us drove back to Nashville for my conference. Matt and Monkey spent all day together on Monday while I worked.

Then Matt drove back to Memphis on Monday night, to fly home early Tuesday morning, leaving Monkey and me to watch baseball in the hotel. (Okay, I watched while Monkey slept.) I worked again on Tuesday while Monkey was in the hotel daycare, and then he and I flew home on Wednesday (and in case you forgot, it's not a direct flight).

I'm tired just thinking about it all. Like I said, we didn't make it easy...but we sure did have fun!

Go Sox!

2007-10-24T20:29:00.002-04:00

It's a very exciting night in the Levine-Fried household.

My apologies to those who thought there would be Monkey pictures in this post. Nope, Game 1 of the World Series is about to get underway, and I just wanted to take a moment to muse about baseball for a bit.

I feel like the World Series is an even bigger deal this year than it was in 2004. Maybe it's because that year, the really big thing was coming back from being down 3-0 to beat the Yankees. Even though coming back from being down 3-1 was a big deal, and the series against Cleveland was spectacular, it's just not quite the same as doing something no one has ever done before. The World Series in 2004 was almost an anti-climax after the emotionally draining ALCS against the Evil Empire.

It may also be because I walk past Fenway Park nearly every day. My new office is literally down the street a few blocks. The atmosphere has been so exciting on game days during the playoffs, with people milling about, excited and nervous, all decked out in Red Sox garb. It's so fun to see them all, and to wish I was one of them. I especially enjoy watching the little kids going in with their parents. I passed by a father and his son, who looked to be no older than five or six. He seemed awfully excited, but I wondered if he truly grasped how monumental an occasion it was. All I could think was that 20, 30, or more years from now, that kid is going to have an unbelievable memory.

I know this for sure: I'm going to be a tired Jen for at least the next five days!

Happy Birthday, Monkey!

2007-10-18T20:26:00.000-04:00

It's been ages since I've had time to post, because we've had lots of adventures in the past two weeks. But today, I thought I'd share some photos of Jonah's birthday feast (the cake is coming this weekend)

and opening of a big box that arrived today.

Soon, more about our travels to Connecticut and Tennessee, including Jonah's big bear hug of a dog named Paddington and his trip to see real live ducks -- in a hotel!

Photographic evidence

2007-10-03T21:08:00.001-04:00

Busy weekend

2007-10-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

Nana was here.

We went to the Children's Museum, where Monkey learned to climb stairs...

...and crawl over obstacles.

He also tried really hard to pull a butterfly kite down from the ceiling.

We went on the swings. Monkey loves the swings.

Monkey drove a car.

We watched the Bills win. Finally. (Okay, Monkey was napping through most of it.)

And Monkey achieved a couple more milestones, although I don't have photos of either: his first molar starting poking through, and he pulled himself to a stand on the gate across the stairs.

Pasta dinner

2007-09-27T05:43:00.000-04:00

Last night Monkey had pasta for dinner.

It was his first ever totally self-fed meal.

It was a big hit.

Today's going to be a coffee day for me. I never fell back to sleep after Monkey's 4:30 AM feeding. But at least y'all get a new post out of it!

Excerpt of a recent e-mail exchange

2007-09-23T20:07:00.000-04:00

Between me and Monkey's Auntie K:

K: Is Monkey particularly loyal to any college football teams?

Me: Monkey is not a big fan of Division I college sports in general, because he believes that the attention paid to the big name college sports detracts from the primary reason why the players are there: to get a college education. Additionally, since the college sports that get the most attention (and therefore, the most money) are men's sports, the system is inherently sexist.

(That said, Monkey is a BIG UConn basketball fan...but mostly the women's team.)

But if you must get him some Ohio State gear, I suppose it's fine. ;-)

K: Wow, the sociological analysis that Monkey can do at such a young age is impressive! :)

Me: Monkey is very advanced. Not only can he do complex sociological analyses, he also knows what a duck says. (It's "quack," in case you didn't realize.)

This one goes to 11

2007-09-18T20:15:00.000-04:00

Monkey is 11 months old today. He celebrated by taking off one sock and reading a book.

Mommy celebrated with a glass of wine and a sigh of relief that the commute was much better today.

I heart the T...NOT!

2007-09-17T20:28:00.000-04:00

Matt and I have been having such problems with our commutes - I was doing drop-off at daycare in the morning, and rarely, if ever, getting to work on time. He was doing pick-up in the evening, and had to leave 15 minutes early to get to daycare by 5:30. And he rarely was able to leave at five, let alone before! So I put in a request for a schedule change, which was finally approved last week. Now I'm working 8:30-4:30, Matt's doing drop-off in the morning (which he likes, cuz it's easy for him to drop off and then get to work by 9), and I'm doing pick-up in the afternoon (which I like, cuz I can be early for pick-up and we might even have time to go to the park before going home).

Today was the first day of the new schedule. I was so excited to get to work on time! Then my phone rang at 9:30. Matt was still not at work, which was very unusual. That was only the beginning, though.

I thought I was in for smooth sailing when my bus trip to daycare took only 25 minutes. I picked Monkey up (and he was even happy to see me! Full of smiles!) and we arrived at the bus stop to go home at 5:35. I won't bore you with the details of the calculations I made as we waited (and waited) for the first bus (should I take this one? But what if the one we want comes next?), and then waited (and waited...and waited!) for the second bus. What I will tell you, though, is that a trip that can be as short as 20 minutes took us nearly an hour and a half.

Monkey was a trooper, but I could tell he was tired. Sure enough, when we finally arrived home, at 7 PM, here's what he looked like after nursing:

Argh! We had to wake him up to feed him dinner. It was eight o'clock by the time he finally got to bed. Tomorrow we're going to try something a little different.

Don't expect a new post every day. Today I just happened to have a story to tell, and a cute photo to go with it. :)

Monkey meets Web 2.0

2007-09-16T20:34:00.000-04:00

I'm finally joining the ranks of the bloggers. Actually, I was a blogger of sorts before blogging took on a life of its own. But that's another story. Anyone who is reading this is most likely interested in the Monkey. I'll try to update this thing every now and then with photos, stories, etc.

Five points to the person who knows what this blog is named after....

Enjoy!