Garden Raider

Lately when I turn my back on the garden I find my green peppers picked and looking like this. What back yard animal is responsible for such carnage?

If you guessed Reuben, you're right. He picks them all by himself.

He kind of reminds me of this guy.

By the way, my peppers have grown surprisingly well. I had no idea peppers grew so easily.

Pigging out on Figs

Figs are in season so I'm happy. There's not much that I enjoy more than fresh figs. I've tried to introduce Reuben to the small black fruit but he wasn't impressed.

Me: Reuben this is a fig. It's yum. Try it.

Reuben (carefully examining it): No.

Me: It's yum. Fig.

Reuben: No. oink oink

Me: What?

Reuben (pointing): Pig oink oink

Me: Not pig Reuben, Ffffig. Fig.

Reuben: oink oink oink

Now every time Reuben spies me eating a fig he points up at me and starts oinking. It makes me feel kind of self conscious.

Thursday was a very important day in Reuben's life. He figured out how to snap duplos together. He built this fairly impressive duplo tower car all by himself. I was savoring the moment, feeling proud of Reuben's brilliance. Then he dumped out the duplos and spent the next twenty minutes running around the house with the duplo bucket on his head.

Aaron's had to work some very late nights this week. Bath time on my own was a little unnerving at first but now we've got it down. The nice thing about having Aaron gone several nights a week is that it makes the nights he can get home to see the kids seem really easy.

Here's Miriam hanging out watching the action.

Here's Reuben filling up a bucket with water that he will try to pour on Miriam.

Loosing Sleep

Lately I've been unable to resist taking pictures of my kids sleeping. I like having some hard evidence on hand to prove that they do occasionally succumb to their exhaustion.




There is a reason there's only a picture of Miriam. Reuben has decided he's invincible and doesn't need to sleep. The scary thing is I'm starting to believe he may be right. He can stay very grumpily awake for forrrreverr.

The boy is currently sitting in his crib and singing an angry song about me. It goes:

Mama Mama up up! All done!
Mamaaaa Mama Manama
Meow meow mama meow
Mama Grrrrrrrr! Roarrrrrrr meow
Mama
Mama mammmmaaaa

I put him down for a nap more than 30 minutes ago. We spent all morning running around the park. He went to bed after 9 last night, was up before 7 and had no nap yesterday. How is he still going? I think he might be a mutant. I want to steal his magic powers.

The Usual

Nothing too exciting going on. Work and kids are keeping both me and Aaron busy. So here are some pictures.

Here's a sequence of pictures of Miriam smiling. When she smiles she's so happy she can hardly contain it. She smiles with her whole body, wiggling and kicking her legs.

And here's Reuben waiting for his dad to come home and take him on a bike ride. He hunts the house til he finds his "bike hat" then "dada's bike hat" then pleads for a "bike ride. bike ride. bike ride. Pleeease." The kid wears that helmet for hours in the vain hope that it will summon his father back from the office.

Reuben walking around everywhere in a helmet makes me look like I'm a really over protective parent. Sadly the helmet makes him so top heavy, I swear, he runs his head into everything - the table, Miriam's swing, the banister, me. At least he's protected and I'm getting my money's worth on the helmet purchase.

Goat Kisser

I'm feeling pretty good about today. I was brave and took Reuben AND Miriam to the zoo. I'm proud to say we all enjoyed ourselves. Reuben was thrilled to get out of the house and see the animals. Ialso enjoyed the outside world. Miriam was her usual sweet and easy going self.

It did take some juggling. We were in the farm animal section and a goat stuck its head out the fence. Reuben ran over gave the goat a hard look, then tried to stick his hand in its mouth. The goat lightly nipped him - which I think he deserved for trying to stick his hand down its throat. Reuben's response? He became determined to kiss the goat on the mouth. I tried to stop him but he wouldn't quit so I dragged him away to see the cow across the way. A minute later I looked down and discovered Reuben had disappeared. I looked back to see him planting a big wet smooch on the goat's mouth. What goes on in that kid's head?

And here's a picture of Miriam with her butterflies. She's cute.

Sunday Best

We took Miriam to church for the first time. Before we relieved her of her Sunday dress we took a few more 1 month pictures. She smiled a little for the pictures but she smiled a lot more once we got her out of her very pretty dress. She's a girl after my own heart.

The Spock eyebrow again.
A smile, for her dad who is walking by. I'm jealous.

Reuben is alive and well too. He lives for the bike rides he goes on with his dad. He's also lately figured out how to count to ten. Everything in our house is being numbered, over and over again in a kind of repetitive Reuben inventory. I feel like I'm living with the Count from Sesame Street.

1 Month Miriam

One month has flown by. Miriam is a sweet tempered, fun baby. She is an incredible sleeper. She can sleep through anything, anywhere - fire engines, thunderstorms, dogs howling, the cat jumping on her, her brother yelling, her brother giving her love "pats" But she insists on being awake from 11 pm-2:30 am. She's my little owl.

So I've been catching up on my night time television. Everybody Hates Chris is a funny show. So is The Choir. I've been enjoying Star Trek reruns too.

Since her birth I have also read Parrot and Olivier in America by Steve Carey, The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson, Jack Maggs by Steve Carey, the three Hunger Game books and I am almost finished with The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman which I recommend. I think there may have been one or two more books but my memory is a little hazy. I'll probably finish The Spirit Catches You today so if you have a good book recommendation I would love to hear it.

Anyway, back to Miriam. She's got a lot of hair which I have no idea what to do with besides laugh at when it sticks up all over. She started out wonderfully small at 7.5 but is now a healthy 12 lbs. She's crazy tall too, over 23 inches. That puts her in the 97% for height and weight. And she has a big beautiful smile.

I'm not sure how well you can see it in this picture but she raises her eyebrow like Spock when you catch her interest which I love. Maybe she's got some Romulan in her.

Fascinating.