In Which the Monkey Begins to Resemble His Mother

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.

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

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

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!

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!

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.

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

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

Monkey tidbit

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.

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

Due January 9, 2009.

Martha's Vineyard Monkey

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!