Eesh!

I have other plans for Jill Time today, so this post will be shorter and less detailed than usual, and with no pictures. (Now there's an enticing indroductory sentence!) I want to focus more on what the boys are doing at this point in their lives, rather than what we did each day of this week, so I'll just hit the highlights. On Tuesday, we toured a potential preschool for Henry. I was pleased with it, though I have nothing yet to compare it to, and I put down a deposit to hold a place for him there in the fall; we do plan to tour other schools before we make our final decision, though. Henry seemed to like the school well enough - he was very interested in the toys inside the classrooms, and the playground - but I think touring schools makes him nervous about being away from me. It makes me nervous, too! On Wednesday, we went to a fun Dr. Seuss party at Melanie's house. The boys went dressed as characters from Wacky Wednesday, naturally, because (A) it's our favorite Dr. Seuss book and (B) we're naturally wacky. I guess (A) is a function of (B). Henry was outwardly wacky in that he was wearing a backwards Hawaiian shirt, two different color socks, and two different shoes. Also, his hair, which is longish, was gelled into a stiff mohawk which remained mostly aloft until midway through the party, when it began to list and bend in awkward (wacky!) ways. Charlie's wackiness was limited to wearing two different color socks and a sign on his back that read, "I'm wacky." Not the most original costume, so he asserted his wackiness behaviorally while we were at the party by slipping and bashing his forehead on the hardwood floor (he still has a bruise) and by screaming his head off while I took Henry to the restroom. On Thursday, Charlie had his one-year checkup with Dr. Johnson, who persists in worrying about the hugeness of Charlie's head. This is despite the fact that we already put him through a CT scan to rule out head abnormalities, which he passed with flying colors. Other than that, he is doing swimmingly. He weighs 24 pounds and nine ounces, and developmentally he is splendid (which of course we already knew). On Friday, we went with our friends Christina and Maddie to the Adventure Science Center in Nashville, which was fantastic, and out for pizza afterward. When Henry and Maddie parted ways at the end of the day, she gave him a hug and a kiss, and as we walked away, he said, "I love Maddie." (!!!) Friday night, we took the boys to a children's ballet performance at the old Palace Theater in Gallatin, and they both enjoyed it. At the end, Henry got to go up on stage and learn some ballet moves. He didn't perform them on stage as the other kids did, watching instead, but he did try them out when we got home.

Charlie is going through so many changes right now, and I need to write them down before they pass us by. His main verbalization is something that sounds like "Eesh! Eesh!" This utterance is usually accompanied by pointing (also a new development), and it means, "I want that!" He has become a little...testy lately, not as laid back as I once thought he was. I think this is explained by his impatience to learn everything and frustration at not being able to make himself understood with language. I should teach him some sign language to help alleviate his frustration, but I have not done so...Henry and I did glance through a sign language book the other day and mention teaching Charlie some signs. Charlie loves to have Russell or me hold him while we walk around, letting him point at things hanging overhead, then lifting him up to touch them - light fixtures, fans, plants, anything hanging up high. He is not walking yet, although he has taken a few steps on several different occasions. He seems content to crawl when he is really intent on getting somewhere, but I can see in his eyes that he wants badly to walk. Charlie is learning to hit back when Henry comes at him, and I am not discouraging this! (He'll have "a character forged from conflict," Russell said.) I don't want them hitting each other, and it is a constant battle to keep Henry from hurting Charlie, but I do want them both to learn that it is OK to defend oneself when one is attacked. Charlie continues to be a terrible sleeper. I know it's not his fault, but he truly is atrocious at sleeping. I feel myself on the verge of a deep depression when I consider that he is now past the one-year mark and still waking every two, or at most three, hours every single night. Every single night! For over a year now! How am I still functioning? My mantra for the first year of his life was, "Just get through the first year," because after a year, Henry had begun to sleep, if not through the night, then at least in five- or six-hour stretches. Now I don't know how to cheer myself on...it's less heartening to say, "Some day he'll sleep through the night," but that's all I dare say now. I've stopped complaining about the issue to friends, because I know they get tired of hearing the same old whining, and I get tired of hearing it myself. But I am so very exhausted all the time, and so short-tempered. Arrrrrrrrggh. Charlie is a doll, though, such a joy to have around! I just wish he would sleep. Why won't he sleep? I keep asking myself what I'm supposed to learn from this situation, but I'm not coming up with much. Maybe I'm supposed to learn that there are some things I can't control, but OK, I've got it now, thanks, universe. Got it. Lesson learned. Check. Let's move on to another, less insanity-inducing lesson, shall we?

Henry! Henry is also changing rapidly. Today, for instance, he learned to cut with scissors. I'm pretty sure now he is going to be a lefty, like my sisters. He's displayed an interest in dancing, and for some time now, he has enjoyed watching "The Lawrence Welk Show," then emulating the tap dancers he sees. We went to a park last week with playground equipment manufactured circa 1978, and there were these concrete stairs to nowhere...about ten stairs up, a foot-wide platform on top, then ten stairs back town. Henry climbed up to the top of them, then, unexpectedly, proceeded to tap dance his way back down! I got it on video tape, and it is truly a sight to behold. Henry has more self awareness than many adults I know. He met a new friend the other day and after we parted ways, he said, "He's quiet like me, Mommy. I'm quiet sometimes. I'm shy sometimes." He seems a little concerned about being shy, which is probably a reflection of my being concerned that he is a little shy, and so I told him that I was very shy ("painfully shy" according to my kindergarten report card) when I was little, and he beamed at that and looked relieved. We practice talking and being friendly to others when we are out, and I think that is helping his confidence. When we were at the coffee shop drive thru today, he said hello to the barista and asked her her name! This was a huge step, and I could tell he felt proud of himself. I haven't spent much time trying to teach Henry numbers and letters - I feel like that is what preschool and kindergarten are for; now is for playing! - but somehow he has learned them. I think from "Sesame Street." I loaded some educational games onto my iPhone this week, and one of them is a letter identification game. To my surprise, he knows how to identify almost all of his letters! Ditto for shapes. So I guess that limited, tightly-controlled television policy we have is not a bad thing. Thank you, "Sesame Street"! I've brainwashed him into believing that commercials are evil (which they are), and so when we watch something we've taped on television (almost exclusively "King of the Hill," which we watch once a day, in the evening) and a commercial comes on, he screams, "NO!!!! Commercials!! NOOOOO!!!" That's my boy!