Mealtime!

Micah and I often wonder over the fact that housework never seems done, and we spend so much time on the weekends cleaning and tidying. We've managed to streamline some things, but one task we never seem to simplify is meals. Over the span of the last three days, we've made peach cobbler, pancakes, barbequed korean beef, potato chip cookies, irish oatmeal, cold brew coffee, lentil soup, strawberry-rhubarb cobbler, carrot salad, and, at Xander's request for Friday night dinner: bacon, broccoli, tofu, and potatoes.

Xander with olive bread in his mouth, and yams on his plate

Beyond the pleasure of eating, mealtimes are special family time. Kai goes to bed before dinner, but the rest of us almost always have dinner together. We take turns saying what made us happy that day. We practice "having a conversation," and Xander hones his negotiation skills (Dad: Two more bites of broccoli, and one more bite of soup and you may be excused, Xander: Four more bites of broccoli, no more bites of soup, etc...)

Given this, it's very exciting to start Kai on solid foods. I feel extremely satisfied when I watch him throw back four tablespoons of mashed yams. He clearly enjoys it, too, lunging with his mouth agape, grabbing the spoon and putting it in his mouth. We'll have to shift our schedules so we can start including him at the dinner table.

Kai nomming on some yams

And just look how healthy and happy this little boy is:

Kai rolling around diaper-free on the floor

Oh my goodness, shall I try again?

Kai Lucas at 5 1/2 months--born December 5, 2011

Oh dear, the last post on this blog was nearly two years ago. Given that there's still life going on, and still far-away relatives and friends who want to stay updated, I'm going to give it one more go. To assist me: a public commitment to update the website every Sunday.

But, enough navel-gazing. Here's the first installment:

Welcome Kai Lucas! Six months old now, and already making it clear he's a strong-willed, active boy with a great sense of humor.

It's very different watching him go through the stages after having experienced them with Xander. I know what milestones to expect and so time goes by much quicker. Kai's already eating his first solids, starting to sit on his own, and rolling over.

Seeing the boys' different temperaments confirms my belief that there's not much we can do to influence basic personality traits. (Nor would we want to.)

Kai is very physically active--he has collapsed his play gym on himself several times, can't crawl yet, but mysteriously ends up eight feet from where I put him on the living room rug, and arches his back and twists his body when he's on the changing table. I predict he'll be walking at 12 months or so--5 months earlier than Xander.

I suspect Kai is going to be outgoing and assertive. He's already managed to get himself out of daycare and into a nanny situation by making his needs known (loudly and inconsolably).

Xander, at three and a half, has become a stellar big brother. He comforts Kai with a pacifier or a song, makes Kai giggle, and has shown few signs of jealousy. He recently told Kai, "You're so cute. I love you." It's heart-melting. I think it may be a bit harder once Kai starts crawling and taking Xander's toys.

Xander has hit several milestones since Kai was born. He's completely out of diapers now--even at night. He rides his push bike to preschool nearly one mile round trip--with us riding alongside, of course. He's starting to show signs of wanting to learn to read, and he has a fun imagination. Yesterday, he was a mama piggy and made a nest of blankets for his purple eggs, out of which hatched ten little brown baby piggies. Today they joined us in the shower (don't step on my baby piggies, mommy!), went to school with him, got left at school, then mysteriously reappeared at home (shhh, my baby piggies are sleeping). Apparently, his imaginary friend might turn out to be a herd of egg-hatched, purple pigs.