fresh new start

we're desperate for some cool weather around here, this summer's worn us clean out. what is it about autumn that just washes it all away? fresh start, is what i think of, when the soupy heat finally lifts from my early morning commute.

this weekend, we're taking henry to a puppet show. eh anold, is what henry would call it, except it's a surprise, so henry has no idea he'll spend his saturday morning surrounded by farm animals on strings (i think...). i hope he loves it, i can already see his squirmy body working out all those squeals. being a mom is really the best. these days, he's been calling for the beloved "e.yiy.e.yiy.yoh" every blessed second of the live long day. it's on repeat in the car, on demand from dr. youtube the second we get home, and pulled from the shelf as soon as bedtime nears. only the craziest kind of parents would seek out the incessant tune when it could well be avoided. mom and pop crazy we be.

today, cody started chemo and radiation. what a segue. i do that a lot lately. in the middle of a scheduling conversation at work with a faculty member - something exciting, like which room we'll hold a class in next week.

"no not that room, we already have the 'cardiac and circulatory functions' session in that room." and also, cody starts treatment today. but i can't say that out loud, because how do you say that out loud without screaming?

did you feel that? did your chest tighten too? something must be wrong with my circulatory function.

"what should we do?" i ask.
"there's no other option?"
no! there's no other option!

except he means about his room, and i care less about his room than i've ever cared about anything.

i meant, literally, what are you going to do about this? you're a doctor. what. are. you. going. to. do. about. this?...

but there aren't any answers. none that are good enough.

a few months ago, we bought henry a potty chair, because we like to set ourselves up for months/years of impatiently waiting. it took a few tries, but we finally convinced him the plastic throne was safer than safe, and now he loves it! he'll sit/stand/sit/stand/put his foot inside the bowl for multiple minutes at a time. fully unclothed is how he prefers to take his potties. although, he hasn't actually done the pottying in the chair... yet. i emailed daycare yesterday to inquire, because if he's going to feign all this potty exuberance, we're going to need the people he loves most (not his parents) to hold him accountable. not five minutes after my email sent, daycare emailed back to let me know we were definitely within reason to start the potty training process (yay! and also, what?!).

joey brought out the potty chair to bring to daycare this morning, and henry demanded to sit (unclothed, with his milk, on the potty) for some morning silence before heading out. they arrived to a standing ovation at daycare, everyone cheered as the potty was brought in. henry stood confidently, slight smile, and enjoyed the cheers. we'll keep you posted on how it all shakes out ;)

and also, wear grey! :)

9 months

henry turned 9 month old yesterday, and because work has been so busy this week and joey was out of town, h and i were up before the sun for a quick photo shoot before we had to rush off to daycare + work. he tried to tell me his morning cow licks were out of control, but i couldn't see them in the poorly lit living room, nor did i really care. so here we have it. my very tired boy, up before dawn for his 9 month shoot.

this month, hucka:

1. grew two whole bottom teeth!

2. moved from alexandria to arlington, and he loves his new room!

3. does not even pretend to be interested in crawling, or scooting, or moving in any way other than in the arms of another or incessantly rolling about - he would roll to africa before he entertained the preposterous idea of crawling.

4. continued to perfect his fully supported standing position. and now he likes to spice things up with lots of bouncing and one handed table holds to make his mother's heart shoot straight out her throat in fear that he will crack his head open on the edge of whatever hard object he's standing near or on.

5. slept through the night the entire time his mother was away, and jumped back into the every-other-night wake-up routine on precisely the day she returned. angel, that one.

6. surpassed his mother's nutritional maturity level and started eating meat! spaghetti with meat sauce? chicken noodle soup? his daycare provider will steal his heart right from my grasp if i keep up our pathetic regimen of hummus and apple sauce around here.

in case you care to reminisce... 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, and 8 months.

a day - or two - in the life

around henry's three month birthday, joey decided the sleeping pattern we'd been perpetuating with henry wasn't going to work. he was right, the hours were annoying! h woke up every morning around 7 o'clock - which i loved - but he refused to go down at night until at least 11. more often closer to midnight. of course he woke several times in the night too, so mama bear was lucky to bank herself three or four good hours of sleep each night. i'd gotten used to it by the third month, but in the beginning that schedule was my version of straight hell. the first night of our new initiative - operation 'get da mama some sleep' (gdmss) - we dimmed the lights in the house, bathed our grumpy babe, and nestled in for a few books before his scheduled feeding at around 8:00 pm. when it came time to eat, huck and i shut ourselves into my bedroom with the lights dim and one of us ate while the other silently pleaded for mercy and a solid 5-7 hours of sleep. strangely, that first night henry slept from about 8:30 pm until 7:30 the following morning. he didn't wake up once! we tried again the next night - equal success. and so it began, our celebrated nightly ritual of bathing, reading, and feeding, and eventually henry was asleep by 8 each night and regularly slept through the night, unless he woke once or twice for a (very quick) snack and went back down in less than a half hour. consequently, mother found her long lost mind again, and joey and i were able to re-establish a semblance of our old relationship, where we actually got to spend time with one another again without the company of our needy infant. life was good!

but you know i wouldn't be sharing all of this good luck, nor would i be writing in past tense, if our bubble of happy sleeping continued to hold strong. because on saturday night, exactly one month since we started operation gdmss, the clocks played a nasty prank on the larson household - oh, it happened at your house too? weird - and sprung one hour ahead so that henry found himself awake at 8:30 sunday morning instead of 7:30, and when the clock struck 7:30 that night, and his parents tried to begin the nightly bedtime routine, henry's body said, "hold it right there, mom! it's only 6:30!" although henry's always been a sucker for a cuddle and feeding with mom, and so an hour early didn't stand in his way of falling asleep right on time at 8 o'clock (new time). but something inside little huckleberry sent up smoke signals and sounded the alarms, because that night henry woke up six times before 1:00am. the next night he did the same thing. and last night, he was awake every two hours allnightlong! newborn henry came back in a big way, almost seven pounds heavier and four inches taller with much less hair! a speedy fast forward back to four month henry might not break my heart. because sleep has been such a welcomed part of my life again, and i missed hanging out with my husband!

it's also been a month since i swore off dairy for the good of huck's tummy, and today we had a follow-up with his pediatrician to make sure it's been effective. it hasn't, at least as far as his diapers are concerned, so the next step is to cut out soy. you know soy, the key ingredient in any of your major dairy replacement food items: cheese, yogurt, creams, fake chocolate, etc. so now i think i'm safe to eat... lettuce? i'm clearly exaggerating (like always), and of course it's a worth-while sacrifice for henry. plus, his pediatrician assures me it may only take a few months before we can start fazing dairy back in again, so i won't complain (much). but that is it for my lenten fast. i think god will understand if i don't commit to giving up decaf coffee this year. i hope.

henry and i visited his new daycare a couple of times this week, and i let him stay on his own while i bit my fingernails off and paced nervously while watching the clock like a mad-woman. the center is run by a peruvian woman named ana and her three spanish-speaking employees. the infant room - henry's room - is supervised by the only caregiver who doesn't speak any english at all. i couldn't even ask her what her name was. but when we found the center, we fell instantly in love. imagine how cool it'll be to have our kids so far ahead of the game they're exposed to and learn to speak two languages from infancy! plus we really loved the energy, the care-taking philosophies, and the overall cozy, homey feeling we got the minute we walked in. i finally got official word that my new job at george washington university starts in a few weeks, so it will no longer be just me and h all day every day (don't get me started on how that feels - horrible! - because that's not what this is about. don't worry, i'll (over) share more veryveryvery soon). lots of changes in our neck of the woods these days. if you have a minute or two, your thoughts would be appreciated.

hope all is well with you and yours!