Friday, August 31, 2012

Bridget: Four and Five Months Old

Bridget at four months old, getting photo-bombed by Finn:






(And loving the nuzzles!)

Bridget in Ohio, refusing to nap--cheerfully:


Bridget at five months. Still cheerful:





Saying goodbye to her beloved babysitter:

Girl time in New Hampshire with Fiona and Skye:


Letting the lake rhythms put her to sleep:



Happy, happy baby!













(And wannabe crawler!)

She makes me happy too:

My beautiful five-almost-six-month-old girl:



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Status Quo(tes): End of Summer

All the posts in my queue right now are photo-laden and thus time-consuming to write. And the one thing I don't have right now is TIME. I  have a lot of fun, and I have a lot of cute kids, but I have absolutely no time. Those long posts will have to wait.

In the meantime, here are some Noon quotes from the last month:



8/15: The TV is on while I get breakfast on the table. "Look, Mom!" Finn suddenly shouts. "It's BARMEY! Hey! BARMEY! I LIKE BARMEY!"
[He was referring to the notorious purple dinosaur, which he had previously called "Farmey!" Both mispronunciations are adorable, but neither is cute enough to make me let him watch that show. Not even close.]

8/16: Will woke up and said, "Mom, did I go in a helicopter and swim in dirty water with Dukie [his toy dalmatian] last night? Or was that just a dream?" When I told him it was a dream, he asked, "Well, can we go in a helicopter sometime soon?"



8/18: I asked Finn to bring me a paper towel and he replied, "I can do it in a moment!" "What are you doing right now?" I asked. "I'm hugging Bridge," he explained from the living room.



8/24: The boys were carrying their enormous, lifelike dogs down the hallway. Will said to his brother, "Let's go to the dog show." "Okay," Finn said agreeably. "That's where dogs watch shows wih their owners," added Will. They perched on the couch and proceeded to "watch TV" with their "dogs."





8/26: "I used to do that," Will told me and Dave in his most grown-up voice, responding to something Finn had just done. "Yeaaaaah. Back in the day," he clarified. [Will's also started saying things like "Allllright, Mom. If you say so!" and "I don't know where he got that idea!" accompanied by a sort of polite chuckle.]



And something Finn just stopped doing was his double negative routine: "I don't can't do it!" or "I don't not want that!" He said it so authoritatively for so many months that I almost forgot it wasn't normal.





 







Friday, August 17, 2012

Nap Post for Posterity

This week was my first help-free week since Bridget was born. No Danielle (our fabulous summer sitter, whom I've all but contracted in blood to come back next year); no Dave; no Nan and Mamp except for the more spontaneous playdates. Of course I still had the boys alternating between two morning camps all week, so in order to avoid messy logistical situations, I decided to cut out naps. Altogether.

Will, at almost four, is a sleep-happy guy. As recorded here over the years, he liked night sleep early on, and although his nap seemed to be on the way out as he edged closer to three, something in his brain BOOMERANGED back in the other direction. He's actually been my more consistent napper in the last nine months.

Finn, just past two and a half, is my Typical Toddler in terms of napping (also, incidentally, in terms of pouting). His brain doesn't switch off the way Will's does. He wants to keep going, and reasoning with him is pointless.

Let's pause and take a look at how Reasoning with Children works in the Noon household:

Joanna trying to put a reluctant Will to sleep:

J: Honey, you need to put your head down and nap now. Remember, our bodies need sleep so they can stay healthy and strong. And we can go to the playground after nap, but you need to stay quiet until it's time to get up!

W: [already sleeping]

Joanna trying to put a reluctant Finn to sleep:

J: Honey, you--

F: Look! I can jump! SO HIGH! [jumps off bed]

J: Finny, you need to--

F: I don't WANT to go sleep! [belly-flops, tears suddenly streaming down face]

J: Finny, it's okay, sweetie, it's just that our bodies--

F: I'M A LION! [growling] I'M EATING YOU UP, MOOOOM!


So although Will was still content to take a nap and Finn still needs a nap, I decided to "go on adventures" instead. This week our destinations included the library, the train station and a restaurant (actually fun) and the supermarket, gas station and paint store (sort of a stretch to call those "adventures," admittedly). Finn catnapped in the car on two of those days, and Will on one, and of course Bridget's naps have to be similarly random after she gets a good morning chunk in. But we didn't organize around naps.

And we had SO MUCH FUN. The days paradoxically seemed to go by faster because they weren't so piecemeal. Instead of struggling with constant transitions--two drop-offs and pick-ups by noon, seven bedtimes PER DAY if you count each kid's nap and bedtime--I was actually enjoying my kids, and they were happy, too. Tired, but happy!

Last night the sleep deprivation had caught up to them by early afternoon and they didn't really recover. They'd been sleeping from 7 p.m.-7:15 or 7:30 a.m. this week, but last night Finn woke up with a nightmare and I couldn't help but wonder if it was the exhaustion playing tricks on his poor little brain. So this morning I told them they were going to eat lunch and take a nap after getting home from camp, and Will was very excited. Sure enough, they hit the proverbial hay at one and are out cold.

Sports, Sweets, Swimming, Slides & Sleep

Alternate title: How I They Spent My Their Summer Vacation June and July

Will loved soccer and can't wait for the fall season to start:

Finny...uh, achieved substantial success with potty training (three days in a row!),
so he and Will (his coach) got make-your-own cupcakes at Treat:







 Too bad the boys didn't enjoy the cupcakes at all...

We splashed around with Kaben, Fiona and Skye at the pool:

(As always, please excuse my booming, right-next-to-the-microphone voice in the video)

 Finny spent many Wednesdays at Creative Movement,
and we even saw one of his BFFs, Jack:

He also canoodled with Natalie in her backyard:

 While Will and Abby finally made it official:

(Dave claims Susan and I were egging them on, but I swear--Abby picked out the tree under which they would tie the knot, and they both asked us what to say!)


That didn't stop Will from having fun with other (platonic, of course!) cute friends:
 Sprinklers with Catherine

 Waterslide with Connor



Finny showed off his derring-do with some full-immersion backward slides:






We went to the Curious George store with Mamp:

Finny took the opportunity to climb into the Snap 'n' Go basket during a shopping trip:


The boys usually end up looking like this at the end of the day...

...but they're not the only ones having fun:

 loving the jumperoo


 lots of rolling on the activity mat

chi-zilling with her bestie Grace

playing with Nan

Then we were off to Ohio! (To Be Continued)