Mirror Mirror

Like many kids, both of ours just love the mirror.  Huelan uses any reflective surface and we'll frequently catch her scoping herself out dancing and posing in our mirrored cabinets, sliding glass doors, even the glass window in the oven door.  Vansen so far is the same- he just lights up when he sees himself in the mirror (though to be fair, he has no conception of his own reflection... yet).  We've supplied him with some kiddie mirrors he plays with, and if we want him to be in a good mood, we know that putting him in front of a mirror is a great way to do it- the vid above is a good case in point.  It's also captures his weird reverse-laugh.

We didn't use the baby carrier a lot with Huelan- one of us could be with her and free the other one up to do something.  But with two kids we've been using the carrier more, since Vansen's heft makes it so that neither of us can carry him in our arms very long.  The carrier frees up both hands, allowing us to at least clear the dinner table and tidy up around the house while holding him, so it will probably get a lot of use.  Thankfully, he seems to dig it, especially the occasional dance jam.

Multi-Lingual

Since about Thanksgiving, Vansen's definitely showed that he wants to join the party. Tons of social smiling and giggles galore. He doesn't quite have the laughing thing down yet- he makes most of the laugh noise on the inhale. Either that or we've been doting on his baby asthma....

The other new thing is this tongue- he  rarely has it in his mouth. He's just flapping it all around. Flat, pointy, up, down. The only constant is the drool. 

Logan James

Sunday we also got to stop in to meet Vansen's new little buddy Logan James, who was just three days old- THREE DAYS OLD!  He wasn't too interested in meeting us, but since we invited ourselves over he didn't have much of a choice. 

We popped in on Vivien, Jason, & Stella just in time to watch the last two minutes of the 49er game- the last game Jason will watch in its entirety for a while. 

HBD

With the two kids and the holidays, which feel a little more compressed this year because of the short time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we feel like we've been hustlin a little bit lately. But we were able to celebrate Liz turning thirtysomething with a rich chocolate cake, a couple of scoops of eggnog icecream, dinner out, and a movie in a theater (thanks Grandma, Papa, and Sophia!). It's the little things....

We followed that up on Sunday with our first family trip to a Christmas tree farm. We bundled up the kids (it's been chilly here- like ice in the driveway chilly) packed up the car, bolted on the roof rack, and made our way to Sebastapol. It's kind of out of the way, but we thought it'd be fun. 

Not only did we cut down our own tree, but Huelan got a tractor hay ride, a pony ride, and a candy cane from Mrs. Claus. At the end of the day, when I asked her what her favorite thing was, she considered cafefully and answered, "I think all of it."  Yup worth the drive. 

One Track

The kid has just one thing on his mind. He knows when we're at the counter where I make his bottles. He'll hear me prepping up the formula and crane his head around to spot it. Once he does, he's locked in.

I'll lean him back, then let him reach his little overstuffed sausage link arms out to grab the bottle. He'll guide it, shakily like he's got the DT, to his pre-pursed lips then go to town. 

Ding Ding Ding A Ding A Ding Ding

Whatever it is the fox is saying, Vansen is digging it. 

Roadie

8.5 hours was just 30 mins longer than my projection, so I'd say we did alright. For the most part it was painless, even the Denny's lunch stop, which was the only place open on Thanksgiving. The five of us ate a sit down meal for only $21- it might become a regular spot for us....

At Ba Noi's now, post dinner living room lounging. A little more settling then we're going in on the pies. 

High Roller

Fun couple of weeks culminated in David's 50th birthday/retirement party.  Too tired to caption this pic, so give it your best shot in the comments.

Some more pics here

1-2-3

Him on her lap, her on my lap- she calls it the Triplestack. The combination of his chubby heft and her bony bottom is going to make this difficult to do much longer. 

Beguiling

See this pensive, cherubic face? 

He's pooping. 

Chatterbox

He's figured out how to make noises, but doesn't have a lot of range just yet.  He mostly makes a sound that's about 60% laugh, 20% squeal, and 20% cry.  Sometimes is tips to 60% cry, hovers there for a little bit, then tips back to laughing.  It almost always tips back to laughing- he's not much of a crier, which we're very thankful for.

We're also thankful for the FIFTH night of no waking. After our anxiety the first night, Vansen settled in very nicely.  If we stirs a little at night, he soothes himself right back to sleep.  It's like a different life- food tastes better, the sun's brighter, and my jokes are funnier.

Portrait Day

We just got the proofs from Huelan's preschool picture day. The photo company is pretty crafty- they have a bunch of sheets already printed out for the parents- combos of 8x10, 5x7, and wallets- for and try to upsell everyone into buying more sheets. And the fact that they invite little siblings to the shoot just adds more bait to the already well-set trap. 

Dang them and their aggressive heartstrings marketing tactics!

C.I.O.

The subject (again) is sleeping through the night. Can you tell we think about this a lot?  Could be worse, we could be talking about poop all the time....

With Huelan, we were pretty lucky.  We documented her first few months fairly well, and our records indicate that at three months, she was consistently sleeping from 11PM through until 6AM- all we could ask for.  We haven't been so lucky with Vansen (which has been well-explored in a previous post), BUT, we've gotten close a number of times.  He commonly does 9:30 to 3:30, which is pretty good, and even did 10-4 one night, which works great for our weird schedule.

What we've *been* doing when he wakes in the middle of the night is nursing (by "we" I mean Liz) or bottle feeding him to get him back to sleep.  He's learned to expect it. Need it maybe? Well, we're pretty confident that there is no physical need for nourishment overnight, so last night we tried the Cry It Out method for the first time.  

In theory, the baby slowly realizes that he doesn't need to eat at night and eventually just sleeps through til after we've had our coffee.  This, however, takes a little time- it's not called Cry It Out because everyone sleeps peacefully through the night. 

The first night was not easy.  We have to resist the natural urge to go and sooth him when we hear that first soft cry, which last night was about 2:30.  Over the next 45 minute, he would work his way through 4-5 distinct types of cry, each progressively more fervent than the last.  All the while, Liz and I would lie fully awake, wondering exactly how large the psychic scars would be.  He'd stop crying and we'd feel some vindication, only to take a deep, audible breath and start in again more fiercely.  At one point, we were both lying there in bed, in the dark, our faces lit pale blue by iPhone glow, as Liz scanned the internet for articles justifying going in there to soothe him, while I scanned for counter articles saying it was okay to let him go til he tired out.  The conflict added to the already tortuous wailing.   

How much longer? What if he's hungry? What if he's cold? What if he's scared? As we alternated between consoling one another and psyching each other up to do nothing, he just stopped.  And slept til 7:15. 

I'm sure tonight will be different. Maybe we'll be more rational about letting him Cry It Out. Maybe he'll suprise us and just sleep through. Maybe I'll have my articles queued up before I go to bed. 

Caaaaaandy!

 

It's amazing how single mindedly kids pursue candy.  There's probably nothing in my life as an adult that I am obsessed with as much as kids (younger me included) are candy in all its devine incarnations.

And it's kinda weird that we encourage them to ask strangers for candy handouts once a year, but it's cute, so there you go.  And bonus- we get to mooch some while they're alseep.

The rest of the Halloween pics here

Boo!

This year she rocked kind of a throw-back costume; she made up her mind weeks ago to be a ghost, and there was no detering her.  Though it was a simple costume, she was the only ghost we saw and she got tons of comments. 

This year, she was much more assertive with her Trick-or-Treat, but her favorite part was the "Boo!" followed by, "It's just me- I'm just a kid!" 

We went to the local Halloween parade, where they had the Wells Fargo stagecoach, complete with horses, a firetruck, and the local HS marching band lead the way.  Behind them, it seemed like a thousand kids mobbed the storefronts as they handed out candy.  Usually in Oakland this type if scene ends up with tear gas canisters flying, but the mob was mostly peaceful today. They only teetered on the edge of violence once, when one of the stores ran dry with a large group of princesses, wizards, and dragons gathered in front.  

Huelan was a champ, identifying where the candy sources were and navigating her way through the 4-foot tall crowd to get hers. She did spare a few seconds to get a picture with Mayor Quan, though. 

Vansen on the other hand, just chilled sporting his own ghost/pope outfit. 

We went to SF with the thought of visiting some of the Sunet neighbors, but failed to actually leave the house. Huelan had enough treats, and Liz and I both accidentally caught a quick snooze in the livingroom.