baby culture ... times two

Adelaide has recently burst into the Portland cultural scene. First, Cirque du Soliel "the circus," which she loved (Marissa and U.T. help her recreate the acrobatics on chairs act, to which she proclaimed "that's not safe!"), and she's now been to an IMAX production as well as her first theater movie! All went well so we are on a roll. Joe and I feel like we are regaining a little piece of life that we've missed for the past 2 years. And just in time ...

I'm now 18 weeks along with baby #2 (better known as Baby Roo). Roo, unlike Ada, has thankfully been quite stealthy. Where Adelaide announced her presence in my body with a fleet of drama and a myriad of symptoms, Roo has been particularly quite for the first 4 months. No sickness, no sleepiness, no vegetable aversion; I just quietly became two. In fact, I am just now starting to believe that s/he's there (because my belly becoming quite prominent!).

In addition to feeling very thankful that she didn't cause me much grief during the already overwhelming past few months, I'm cognizant already that they are very different babies, and will be completely different people. Perhaps he'll have dark straight hair, or not say a word until he turns 3 ... maybe she'll need lots of sleep or be a picky eater. How exciting that the second one holds as much mystery as the first! The only things for certain is that this baby is already determined to be different than his or her big sister, but I'll do my best to encourage Roo to be just as adventurous. Here's my first official "new baby" picture, with my dad. No big belly yet, but we are 3 generations on the summit of Mt. St. Helens (in a white-out).

because we love our family!

Two great stories from the past month: 1. We recently went for a long run on a gorgeous blue-bird day. Nearly an hour in, we got caught in a torrential downpour the likes of which Portland rarely sees. Having little alternative, we just kept going. (Adelaide's running stroller has a rain shield, but of course we had left it at home since the sun was so bright.) We all got sopping wet. Adelaide never complained, and when we got back to the car, I expected to find her feet would be wet from sticking out from under the canopy, but I was horrified to find that the vent behind her head had been open, so she had a stream of rain water that poured over her red curls and ran down the back of her shirt, leaving her sitting in a puddle. Feeling like a terrible mother, I picked her up, "Ada, you are all wet! I am so sorry." Like the trooper that she is, Adelaide gave me a hug and a sideways look, and said with a grin, "it's just water!!"

2. I have been working lots of night shifts lately, so we all eat an early dinner together, Adelaide helps me pick out my "hospital pants" and we say good-bye. Last week, we had a conversation something like this, "Are you going to hos-i-bal?" "Yes, I am going to the hospital." "Why are you going?" "I have to work tonight." "Why do you work?" (pause ... I have been asking myself the same thing lately ... masochism? Insanity? Because now I am so far in debt I'm not sure I have a choice ...) Fortunately, she answered for me, "You go to work because you love our family??" Yes! I have no idea where she got that, or what that means to her, but what a great answer!

terrific 2s

Well turning 2 certainly poses it's challenges: Adelaide is more opinionated, fiercely independent, and all the more determined to assert herself. But so far, "2" is anything but terrible. This is certainly the most fun age she's been; every moment with her is a treat. A couple of months ago she mastered the ABC's song (which, my mom was quick to point out, I could not sing in it's entirety before my 2nd b-day) and she loves to sing it (or anything) at the top of her lungs, complete with "em-o-mem-o-pee" and "dougle-me, x ...". She figured out that Twinkle-Little-Star and Baa-Baa-Black-Sheep all follow the same tune, and she switches between the 3 songs line-by-line sometimes. (How did her parents make it to this age without noticing that, and she figured it out so early? Music lessons are paying off!).

She's also been working hard on pronouns: me, you, I, my. With a few silly exceptions, like "you tuck my in" ... she's pretty much got it mastered, and she loves to practice. Absolutely everything is a conversation: "I like apples. You like apples? I give you apple to eat!" A constant stream of pronoun practicing. This is great for everyone as I no longer have to refer to myself (or her) in the third person. We talk like grown-ups! Although the days when she did whatever I wanted (without bargain or negotiation), were a bit easier, the sparkle of her little personality more than makes up for the 'terrible 2's'.

Easter "hot dogs"

For some silly reason, Adelaide calls all forms of candy "hot dogs". This has origin in the similar appearance of a wrapped caramel to a little plastic hot dog in her grandparents toy kitchen set. One of the few limits she has not bothered to challenge in the past few months is the restrictions on eating "hot dogs". She has learned (and we haven't corrected her), that Dad, and occasionally Mom, Grandma, or Papop eat "hot dogs", and Adelaide does not. Last weekend's Easter candy extravaganza afforded many opportunities to reinforce these notions. Adelaide loves to find "hot dogs", sort them, unwrap them, and deliver them to anyone whose mouth is in reach. At Easter brunch, she diligently opened every piece of candy she could find and hand delivered them to everyone in attendance. With no discouragement whatsoever, she never put one in her mouth but delighted in offering them to us; "Marissa want hot dog?". If she ever gets curious enough to taste them, she may discover that "hot dogs" are better eaten than shared, but so far it's our secret! Or perhaps one day she'll try real hot dog, and then we'll really be in trouble!

Adelaide turned two last week. This is a huge milestone as I no longer have to measure her life in months; now she's just TWO. Appropriately, her favorite new phrase is: "I'm a kid! Not much baby, no!" In celebration of her birthday we spent a few lovely hours at Grandma Mary's farm: chasing chickens, gathering eggs (Adelaide was so excited to throw the eggs into the bucket), holding the baby lambs and bunny, watching baby chicks, feeding the llama, playing in the hay loft, and riding on the tractor (after a few rounds in the tractor trailer, I asked Ada if she wanted to drive with Grandpa: "No. Ada drive by self."). It was a lovely time to spend together and such a great celebration of her life.

This past year has brought as many changes and developments as the year before, but much more settling as well. She's now a truly integrated part of our little family, and she's growing into all that personality. My favorite moments are when the three of us play on the floor together and Adelaide's favorite "family hug". On the rare occasions that Joe and I have a chance to be alone together (as wonderful as those moments are), I feel as though a small part of our relationship is missing. People said that I would forget what life was like before she was around, and that definitely has not happened (I remember my pre-baby independence all too well!). But I have forgotten how our marriage used to be when there were only 2 in the family, and I am already starting to wonder what it'll be like when she doesn't need us anymore -- if I'll adjust or if I'll always feel incomplete when she's away. Spending so many hours apart this year (as a result of my crazy residency schedule) has taught us to take full advantage of the smallest moments together. I hope that, as our lives get 'easier' over the next few years, we don't lose the ability to appreciate each other and enjoy the simple times we have together. Moving into her 3rd year of life, I am still so thrilled to be able to witness her development and to be learning together through the challenges.

Mastering Temporal Relationships

Ms. Adelaide is quite an organized little girl. Dirty clothes go in the hamper; books belong on the bookshelf; and the milk goes back in the fridge after you pour a glass. Lately she has mastered the concept of "time" (at a really young age, I think) and she loves to review the organization of time. Her conversations are full of "yhess-a-day" (yesterday) and "ta-marrow" (tomorrow). Of course, she doesn't realize the either of those are discrete time frames. Rather, "yesterday" represents all that has happened before the last time she was asleep, as far back as she can remember, up until just before she took a nap. And "tomorrow" represents all that is in the future. Interestingly, she's also figured out that "next time" means something may come again, though it's not clearly scheduled.

This comes up often in reference to cats. We have several friends with cats whose homes Adelaide loves to visit. So whenever we see a cat - a neighborhood cat out the window, or in our many cat books - she reviews the possibilities. Her monologue goes something like this: "a cat! Ada go Tia's house, see cat hiding!" or "Ken, Andy cat today!" or "This cat name Mike ... yesterday go Crystal's house, see Mike!" or "Eduardo cat ... next time see cat." She has many favorite cats, all over town, that we don't see nearly often enough for her liking. But they do provide a good conversation piece!

Christmas conversations

Adelaide's spoken language is finally catching up with her extensive receptive vocabulary, and she is so excited about it! In a matter of literally two weeks, she has figured out sentence construction, and she loves to show it off. These days she narrates constantly in choppy word strings: "What grandma doing? ... Ada do. it." "Ada go OMSI ... stamp hand ... two stamps!" "Dad hide ... Ada find. you" always full of animation. Yesterday when I came home she said, "Mama, Ada. missed. you. today." What a breakthrough!

It's so much fun to watch her delight in easily articulating the things that she's previously had to work so hard to convey to us. And how perfect that's she's figured out her language skills at Christmastime, when there are so many new things to do and see. This will definitely be a Christmas to talk about for a long time!