2012 Recap

Wow, a lot happened this year! Just as Micah and I were beginning to feel more like normal adults and less like toddler-handlers, young Kai Lucas came along. True to his nature, he knew what he wanted and there was no stopping him. Forty minutes after Micah and I got to the hospital, he arrived, and immediately, our lives were upended and sleep became a distant memory.

Kai Lucas Ledbetter, December 5, 2012 around 11 pm.

Xander meeting Kai for the first time.

 In January, we started Xander in preschool at Rockridge Little School (check out the blog to see what the kids do each day--question of the day is a favorite.) After a week or two of screaming, tearful goodbyes, he got in the swing of things and now absolutely loves school. I'm so proud of how much he's grown. I can see him transforming into a kindergartner right before my eyes.

Xander and his good buddy Kazuya making secret gifts for parents in late December.
(It was a candle holder. Very classy.)

Question of the Day is my favorite part of the daily blog.
Xander is clearly an introvert and knows it.

I was able to take four months of maternity leave and started back at work on a reduced schedule in mid-March. Unfortunately, February and early March were not kind to me. I had several minor infections and the week I was to go back I developed pneumonia. I tried to take it easy after that.

We started Kai in daycare in March, and it quickly proved to be a problem. He is persistent, and tells us exactly what he wants and doesn't want. He literally cried all day at daycare, only stopping to drink milk and sleep. After several weeks of this, in which he had some good days and some bad, we came to the mutual agreement with the daycare provider that he could not be in daycare. We started to search for a nanny share in May.

Finally, after two months of ad-hoc childcare, including two days with a nanny who ended up being allergic to our cat, in July we found Clelia, who has been a lifesaver for us. Kai took to her immediately, and he greets her with a big grin and open arms. He's learning Spanish (which means I'm learning it and Micah is relearning it). He shares his days with a little boy about a year older than him. Every so often, we come home and Clelia has cooked us chicken soup or beans for dinner.

Clelia and Kai at the Oakland Zoo

Clelia, Kai, and Kai's friend at the Temescal Library story hour

The rest of the year, well, you can go through the archives and see what we did. A trip to Portland to see family, several trips to Humboldt, awesome Halloween costumes, Xander turning four, a low-key Thanksgiving, Kai turning one, and a Christmas at home (so low-key I didn't write a post.)

And no retrospective of  2012 is complete without a list of the top whatevers. So I bring you 2012's greatest parenting moments:

10. Kai's giggly grin. 

9. Xander learning how to spell "on" and "off"

8. Xander says to us, "I love you to the moon and back!"

7. Kai starts saying "uh oh" and doesn't stop for four hours.

6. Kai jumps out of his high chair while on Mom's watch, but is OK, say the ER doctors.

5. Every morning the whole family, including the cat, end up in Mom and Dad's bed.

4. Xander reprimands Mom for yelling at Daddy to get her a towel after Kai spit up on his newly changed clothes. "Next time Mommy, you should just get the towel yourself."

3. Getting locked out of the house and asking Xander to go through the cat door to let us in.

2. Xander announces after a BM "Who wants to wipe my butt?"

And the best parenting moment of 2012:

1. Kai spits up on the floor. And licks it up before we can get to it.