2. The baby informing me that he’s tickling his bunny and then proceeding to do so–complete with the deep HoHoHo laughter that, apparently, bunnies are prone to? Absolutely the funniest thing ever. “Tick! Tick! Ho Ho Ho!”

3. Not quite as funny at the moment, but hilarious at a remove of a few hours is the fact that one of his aunts recently sent him a package containing every “Llama Llama” book in print. He loveslovesloves these books–to the point that he will sit and read any of them ten or fifteen times in a row. That’s a lot of red pajamas, Shop-o-ramas, holidramas, and Mama llamas, folks. Good thing the books are so darned cute and fun to read… Seriously, Hen loves books but I’ve never seen him this obsessed before.

4. I found a great deal on tomato cages which was good since I have an awful lot of seedlings ready to be planted out.

5. The sun came out this afternoon. Finally. It’s been a long, gray, humid-sticky week and I’m very glad to be going outside again.

2. Having my toddler mimic me when I say something slightly off-color really sucks. Damn, Dang, I think I’m going to have to resort to Utah swearing pretty soon. Shoot. Darn. Oh my heck.

3. Just had three flying ants? Termites? What the hell heck are these things? fly into my reading light as I lay here in bed. Are we infested? Will I wake up covered in flying ants? Ick.

4. I am, once again, forced to come to terms with the fact that I’ve completely lost any tolerance I might once have had about reading or watching a storyline in which a child gets hurt. I just can’t read through it. The book gets put down and almost never picked up again. Hell, Heck, I’m having a hard time finishing the paper most days.

5. And in a similar vein of musing, I had never, before about five years ago, realized how prevalent miscarriage and infertility were in literature. It’s like there’s this community of parents out there, writing their lives and their griefs in code, into their fiction. It’s everywhere, and yet it always seemed so invisible.

And until you’ve had a similar experience, the coded passages barely make sense, and you read right past them. But then something makes you look at the world through a different filter–like a super-secret-spy-decoder-ring!–And suddenly that throwaway line in your favorite book has a much deeper meaning and all the heartbreak is right there again waiting for you. It never goes too far away, it just disguises itself for a while, like the evil queen coming back to Snow White again and again–now disguised as a tinker, now as an old woman.

Have an apple, dearie.

Feeling sad tonight. Pensive. Apprehensive even, though I’m not entirely sure why. My joy is fast asleep in his bed, skinned knees kissed, Bunny beside him. But life is uncertain and grief–well, grief sneaks up on us in the middle of living, just like a witch offering us an apple that we cannot refuse to take, no matter how certain we are beforehand that we’ll never let her back inside our doors.

And on that cheery note, I’m going to go kiss my darling boys, check my pillow for flying ants, take the latest book-I-can’t-read-because-of-scary/disturbing-plot-threads back to the library, play a game or two of Angry Birds (omg, what a goofily enjoyable game!) and then go to sleep. Happier thoughts tomorrow, I promise.

2.  The poor guys fixing a section of our roof found old squirrel dreys, a bee hive, and way too much misplaced insulation in the single 15′ stretch of eaves they pulled out for me to be anything but thrilled it’s not me up there.  Sorry, guys, but damn am I ever happy not to be dealing with any of that at a close remove!

3.  There’s a Renaissance Faire!  In New Hampshire!  About fifteen minutes away!  I’m such a geek that this thrills me almost beyond words.  (I worked for a series of Ren faires for several seasons.)  Although the baby’s very late nap might mean that going to it today is out of the question, it’s open tomorrow & also next weekend.  Got to start inculcating him with a love of  all pastimes goofy at an early age.  Bring on the sword-swinging knights!

4.  Warm tea on a cool day.  Even nicer to hold than it is to drink.

5.  My Murakami sweet potato slips should be arriving in the mail this week.  But even cooler news? My local Market Basket (low end grocery store) is carrying them–at about 79 cents a pound instead of the insane $2.79 I’ve been known to pay per pound at Whole Foods.  I’m looking forward to seeing if I can convince sweet potatoes to grow well in the frigid north, but even more, I’m looking forward to being able to afford to eat them regularly again, even if they’re beyond my gardening capabilities!

Which reminded me how very lucky he’s been, healthwise. I don’t take it for granted, but I guess I do sometimes, after all. I’m grateful. Seriously, deeply grateful.

2. Bunny has started being ‘allowed’ to play with Henry’s cars. This playing usually consists of being swung at the car until the car rolls. Upon which, Hen will say something like, “Bun play car”, in case I wasn’t sure what was happening.

3. Even when he’s having a rough day (and thank heaven today was easier than previous days–I love play group so much!–) Hen is one adorably empathetic little human. He was playing on the sofa behind me, and in horsing around, managed to kick me upside the head. I yelped, as one is wont to do in such circumstances, and spun around in time to see his face fall into lines befitting a tragic actor. “Mama ow? Hold?”

I’m pretty sure he’s the one who needed comforting–I don’t think he’s figured out yet that it would be comforting for the injured party to be held by him, but he needed to be reassured many times that I was ok and that I knew he didn’t do it on purpose.

“Hode?” is his go-to plea these days, whether he’s trying to fall asleep, trying to calm down after a tantrum, or simply wants an after-dinner snuggle. And it melts my heart every time.

3. Curried chicken is the newest meal I’ve had to increase the recipe for. Between The Boy’s prodigious appetite and Hen’s, I might just start doubling all my recipes pretty soon. This is getting ridiculous.

And again: not complaining. And I know this could change at any time, etc. but oh my heck, this child can eat. OJ, a slice of watermelon, 2 servings of oatmeal, bites from my breakfast yogurt and his dad’s cereal; an entire Amy’s frozen burrito, a banana or apple or plum, graham crackers, pretzels, another banana, then one or two adult servings of whatever I’ve made for dinner, is a pretty ordinary day for him. Seriously, this child eats WAY more than I do. And I was worried he’d be a fussy eater…

4. Play group is wonderful. Henry’s having a great time now that he knows all the people involved and will even play in the next room for minutes at a time! The other women are so nice, their kids are sweet and just the right age for Hen to learn to interact with, and it’s good training for me–except I keep flubbing mommy etiquette.

Other moms brought little presents today for Mothers Day. Who knew this was something people do? And this wasn’t the first holiday I’ve blown–oh no. So far I’ve brought nothing for valentines day or Easter. Seriously, how do mommies stay on top of all these pesky holidays. And what’s the next one? Memorial day? Independence day? Are sparklers appropriate gifts for toddlers? A little bag of cherry bombs? No, I didn’t think so. Sigh.

5. I put clove oil on my hairbrush and now my hair smells divine. And rather like all my memories of college. Mmm, cloves!

2.  Oh boy, has Hen ever been in a Mood today.  He ate great yesterday (Udon! Another new favorite!) and today, and he slept beautifully–so happy to be home, with all his gear surrounding him!.  But today he’s been a bratty, kicking, screaming, whining toddler. (Which I know just means he’s tired & frustrated, so I don’t take too personally.)  But oh, the tears.  Tears because Bunny is in the next room & I insist that he’s fully capable of retrieving Bunny without holding my hand.  Tears because he’s having a hard time turning only a single page.  Tears because I don’t understand what he’s trying to say.  So it was an early nap day–which I think he appreciated.  Despite sleeping til after 7 (yay!) this morning, he settled right in when I turned out the lights for a 10:45 nap.  And it’s 12:15 & he’s still asleep, so maybe he’ll wake up in a better mood.  And in the meantime, I’m enjoying my tear-free, toddler-free lunchtime!

3.  Laundry.  I like doing laundry, I think because it’s not that much work for the amazing feeling of accomplishment it provides.  I needed the spiritual boost of feeling productive today, even though I really wasn’t.  Thank you, Mr. James King.

4.  Henry’s got a new obsession.  My purse.  Or more specifically, my wallet.  This would be a cuter idiosyncrasy if I hadn’t also caught him trying to throw away paper money and receipts (the child cannot abide paper trash, even when it’s neatly contained before he gets to it!  I think I’ve impressed upon him how important money is: it’s what we use to buy horsey-rides at the grocery store!  But he still cannot resist disemboweling my wallet if my bag is left where he can reach it.

But then how can I get too mad when this is what I see?

Note the careful attention to spreading the cards out evenly?  After I snapped that picture, I was informed that there was a mess.  A BIG mess.  And that we should clean it right away.  Yeah.  Good idea, kiddo.

5.  So happy with the way we’ve got our parenting schedule working.  The Boy basically takes him from 4:30 on, bathes him, gives me a break to cook dinner, so I’m not stepping over a fearless monkey-climbing toddler while juggling hot pans/sharp knives.  It also occasionally gives me a chance to update my blog while he’s dressing the baby in jammies for the night.  Yay for passing the offspring off to his male progenitor!

We are exhausted from all this eating.

But seriously, giving him an ice cream cone and watching him jam it up his nose, trying to get more of it in his mouth? OMG the cute.

2. Ice cream and honking car horns are definitely going to be the impressions he takes away of this trip. “horn. Beep. Car. Man” accompanied by the sign for ‘drive’. And it’s adorable for the first thirty or forty times he wants to verify that he’s hearing a car horn being beeped by a man, but after that it starts to get a little repetitive.

3. Did I mention that dinner tonight kept him up 2 hours past Hen’s bedtime? That kind of sucked. But he did eat an enormous amount/variety of food he’d never had before, so that was good. And if we had to go walk around outside a couple of times to avert a meltdown, at least we DID avert a meltdown. And he’s fast asleep, where I hope he will remain for the next 10 hours. It was hard getting him to fall asleep because of the …

4. “Big Mess” we were greeted by when we walked in the door! My neatnik son burst into tears when he saw the havoc wreaked by the dog, “mess!” he wailed. “big mess!”

Diapers in unsecured garbage bag + bored, resentful, cranky whippet-with-a-fondness-for-nasty-smells = big mess. Yeah. Won’t be forgetting that experience anytime soon. Rotten dog.

5. Reading The Magician King by Lev Geossman and am thoroughly enjoying it!

2. Baby’s almost as tired today as I am. Yawn. Stupid cough. He’s been pretty damned good though, given his lack of good sleep. I’m praying for a huge honkin’ nap in the car tomorrow. For both of us, actually.

3. Total cuteness when the long legged Boy casually walked over a baby gate in Hen’s presence, and the baby watched, gape jawed, then immediately set about trying to get his leg to go over like that. As I told The Boy (when we’d both done snorting laughter through our noses,) if the baby happens to figure out tonight that he’s totally big enough to climb out of his crib, I’m not the one who’s going to be dealing with him!

4. Henry is convinced that Eeyore is actually Pumba (of “pee-enwww, Pumba!” fame). Ah well–as Eeyore might say, “well, at least you thought about me…”

5. Whenever I make baked potatoes for The Boy, I make myself a Japanese sweet potato. Henry is offered both, and I have to confess that I’m rather more excited than the situation warrants when he consistently prefers sweet potato to potato. I’m going to have to start making two pretty soon That’s my boy!

2. Another rainy day–which is good, don’t get me wrong, my trees and other new-planted things are happy for the water–but it’s meant that Hen’s been stuck inside for a few days now. So very ready for a sunshiny day–even a single one will do!

3. That said, my seedlings have almost all sprouted, even the ones I gave up on long ago.

4. Watching the dog wiggle with joy when The Boy came home just now? Makes me not mind so much that she loves him so much more than she does me.

5. (Also, The Boy looks really hot in his “dressed up for a business dinner” clothes.)

Today, he piled all his toy cars (maybe 15, assorted sizes?) and all 4 bunnies into the basket, made me wait while he put on his Greek fisherman’s cap sideways, and then signed “Go!” very regally while looking straight ahead. How could I resist? We went. For rather a long time.

2. My first time ever cooking pork chops and I didn’t bungle it. Still not my favorite meal, but the Boy deserved a treat after a few of the meals I’ve tried out on him over the past month. The pork chops passed muster, and the green beans were delicious. Whew. Give me a complex stew to season any day!

3. Having the baby climb up into my arms at the dinner table after he’s finished dinner and has been freed from the high chair so he can have a quick snuggle is one of the greatest joys of my existence.

4. A dear URL friend got a positive HPT today–one that was, i suspect, unlooked for, though VERY hoped for I’m beside myself with giddy joy on her behalf. Seems like friends are catching pregnant all over the place! Babies for everyone! Yay!

5. Hoping for another night of decent sleep tonight, and if we get it, then I’m going to call this most recent family-sized head cold over with even though I never did really get it, and even though poor Hen’s nose is still positively streaming. Ew.

Completely adorable.

2. Also, spare-bunny, who lives in the top drawer of Hen’s dresser, gets taken out, hugged, then carefully put away again at least a couple of times a day. He might not be Real Bunny, but he’s still deserving of affection, apparently!

3. Last night, instead of trying to accomplish anything late at night, I just curled up with a book. Used to do that all the time. It was really nice.

4. We still haven’t had any actual, tangible success on the potty, but bath time is now bath-and-potty-sitting time–by his choice. He seems so interested in using a potty that, even though he’s obviously young for it,we’re trying to make it available to him. Given that he’s never liked having a dirty diaper, and given how enthralled he is with The Beateous Rachel singing him potty songs, I’ll be interested to see how this chapter of toddlerhood goes.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Stories to share about how you dealt with making training less stressful for everyone involved?

5. When do kids start trying to sing? Hen is all about requesting demanding certain songs but really doesn’t try to sing along–not even when he’s reciting the alphabet, which he does when I sing the song. Am I singing to him too much? Too little? Hmmmm.