MoreCheese

23 Weeks

Me and the kiddos caught part of "Top Gun" on Sunday evening.  Nico very precisely summed up the plot while we were watching:

"Airpwane!

Mo' airpwane?!

OH NO!!!!! AIRPWANE!!!!!"

RIP, Goose.

Word!

New and awesome addition to the boy's vocabulary:  Yah-kay (as in "Yeah, okay.")

Related:  No-kay.

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In the category of Unfortunate Mispronunciations:  Nico is still mastering his consonants, and tends to drop the "r" in a lot of words, replacing it with an "aw" sound.  Better yet, he drops the first three letters in the word "truck" (one of his favorite vehicles!) and replaces it with the sound "Caw."  Also, "frog" is pronounced as if ending with a -ck.  Good times when out in public, because it seems there is a cawck on every road.

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Hugely momentous occassion this weekend:  I am in the kitchen.  Nico is in the living room.  He wanders in, swinging his arms around, and says, for the first time ever, "I HUNGRY."

Of course, I react as if he has walked in and recited the Theory of Relativity.  I whip around, stammering, and offer him every food I can think of.  I may have clapped.  I don't want my kid growing up thinking that everything he does and says is going to generate this kind of awe, but I'm having a hard time mastering my game face.

Its just that up til now, hunger was communicated by a general breakdown in behavior proceeding from a vague whininess to full-on tears and nuclear meltdown.  To have words to identify and communicate this need????  O. M. G.  This is second only to him learning to expel gas on his own (and thereby removing that from my list of obligatory motherly duties).

So, now, he says, "I HUNGRY!" and I offer him a variety of choices, and he choosees ("yoh-gut" or "daw-bewwy" are faves, or sometimes "fishy cack-uh"), and everyone is happy, the end, hallelujah and amen.

Sinking In

The other day, I was pulling Nico around the neighborhood in his little red wagon.  It suddenly, as if for the first time, occurred to me that the wagon has two seats. Two.  For two little bodies.  Two little buddies.  For the first time, I could really envision, clear as day, my TWO children sitting together, playing.  It stopped my heart and made me laugh out loud.

Throughout this pregnancy, I have worried about the effect that a second baby will have on Nico.  Right now, he gets 100% of my time and attention.  I feel guilty about the impending attention deficit he's facing.  In my head, I know he will be fine.  I have two younger siblings, after all, and I can't remember life without them. I can't even IMAGINE life without them, nor would I want to.

But I'm just starting to feel that in my heart with respect to my son.  Something shifted.  Now, its almost like I can't see the worry I used to carry, because I'm looking forward so much to the multiplication of everything that is awesome about having one child.

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Part of what's so amazing about being a mother is the perspective its given me on my own mother.  I mean, my Mom is one of those amazing moms who baked cookies and cake, took us on fun educational trips, dreamed up craft projects, embroidered our favorite Muppet characters onto our hoodies -- yes, she actually did that.  She was always tender and bright and yet exerted a constant pressure and expectation of achievement and independence.  When we were older, she went to work and still managed to be there for games and recitals and cooked dinner, etc.  She is literally Super Mom.  I've always known that, and I've always known how lucky I am to be one of her children.

But there was so much I didn't know.  So much I didn't know or understand about what drives a person to become that kind of Super Mom: the kind of magical, tender, unexplicable love that I feel for my children -- my son and my unborn daughter.  I was and am the recipient of that kind of love, going back to a time before memory.  And now I get to experience it again, through my own children.

What an incredible gift this is:  this love that goes back and forth, forever expanding, traveling to and from and through generations.  It makes me want to say "Amen."  Thank you.  I am so grateful.

Won Too Fee!

So we were driving home the other day and suddenly, from the back seat I hear "WUN TOO FEE FO FIVE!"  I could hardly believe my ears.  I asked what comes after five, and got a very prompt "SICK SEBEN ATE NINE TEN!"  He also counts to four in Japanese.

I mean, we have worked on counting.  I just didn't expect him to string it all together so soon. 

I realize I am bragging.  I hope you will forgive me.  I am not announcing this to the Internet because I think it makes my child better or more special than anyone else's child.  I am just seriously tickled by how he keeps amazing ME. 

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In other news, Baby Girl has been making her presence known on a regular basis.  In fact, R* was actually able to feel a good couple kicks the other morning while we were in bed.  (To which he had his usual response:  "UGH!  GROOOOOOSSSSS!  Let me feel it again.")  The sensation of movement has changed from little tickles here and there to full-on rolling, jumping, and other calisthenics.  She is just like her brother in this way. 

I love this stage of pregnancy.  I am past that lumpy bloated phase and am proudly sporting a well-defined bump.  My hips hurt, but that's really the extent of the aches and pains.  I have good energy.  And Baby Girl gets up and does a jig every 2 to 3 hours, which makes me very happy, especially since she is not big enough yet to wake me out of a sound sleep with all her carousing.

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We are putting our house on the market in exactly 17 days.  The last five weeks have been a frenzy of packing, sorting, cleaning, painting and other various fixing-upping as we try to make things look as pretty as possible.  R* has done 99.9% of this on his own, as someone has to make sure the toddler doesn't destroy something or set anything on fire, and since I am already carrying an  extra 20 pounds 24/7, he was sort of the default choice.  He has amazed me in accomplishing all this work.  He has done so much with so little time.  Lifting heavy things, using tools and stuff, getting all dirty.  I am seriously crushing on my man right now.

 

 

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah!! 

Whatever you celebrate, I hope your holiday was wonderful.

From our family to yours, here's to a 2012 filled with all good things.