Number Two

Quynh Mai was born on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 2:55am. She weighed-in at 7lbs 4oz.

No, you are not seeing double and I did not have twins. I just thought this was a good spot to showcase Tai and Quynh's "home from the hospital" pictures side by side. Quynh is on the left and Tai is on the right.

LEFT-overs

A couple months ago, we ordered Tai a table and four chairs for his new playroom.  Once the room was all done, Tai and Minh set to work assembling the furniture.  Adorably, they sat together on the living room floor and put together the table and three chairs, but the fourth chair could not be fully assembled, because it came with two front left legs (and no right right leg).  Luckily, Tai accepted the explanation that we needed to get a different part before we could use the blue chair.  Being just one kid, he was happy to have just the three chairs for a while.

I went online to the company's handy-dandy replacement part ordering website and ordered up a front-right-blue chair leg.  I triple checked the part number and hit submit.  Within a week, a package arrived.  It was another left leg.

So this time I called and spoke to a real person and explained which part we needed and gave her the part number.  Despite my being certain what is left and what is right, she suggested that I was mixing up parts 11 and 12 and decided to go ahead and send me both, just in case.  Within a week, another package arrived--this time containing both a left and a right leg.  So we now have one complete blue chair and two extra left legs.       

Then, a couple weeks ago, we made our first pilgrimage to the Promised Land of Inexpensive Furniture (IKEA) and bought, among other things, this for the playroom.  Finally, we thought, the playroom will be complete.  Not so.  The very first box Minh opened up, containing the centerpiece of the vast "storage system," included -- are you ready for it? -- two left walls.  No joke.  

After talking with the national IKEA customer service center, and the local store, Minh got them to agree to send us the missing part (originally they wanted us to drive our butts 1.5 hours to New Haven to pick it up).  Within a week, a package arrived.  Do I have to tell you what was in it?  Of course, it was another left-hand wall.  So, Minh called them back and explained the (still comical at this point) problem and they apologized and rush-ordered us another delivery.  This time, the package arrived in just 3 days.  Another left-hand wall.  

Seriously.  I could not make this up if I tried.

We have a call in to IKEA and are waiting to hear back.  We can only hope that they'll get it right this time.  And quickly.  If you know how Minh nests before babies arrive, you know it's killing him that we cannot finish organizing the playroom because of this one missing piece.   

Our house is now littered with extraneous left-hand parts.  If this keeps up much longer, we'll be ready to open our own children's furniture store.

Toddler Crack

I'm not sure what that put in the food at McDonald's, but it sure makes Tai happy and pleasant to be around.

This past weekend, after a trip to Home Depot to return the heavy machinery that Minh could not resist renting, we stopped at McDonald's for an afternoon snack.  Although he initially requested mac-n-cheese, Tai was really very pleased with his Happy Meal of McNuggets, apple slices, and chocolate milk.   He also scammed a few fries off our tray, of course.  What's not to like about a meal that involves three (!) dipping sauces (ketchup for the fries, sweet-n-sour for the nuggets, and caramel for the apples)?

Now, we've been to this particular McDonald's once before and learned (the hard way) that Tai cannot focus on his food if we sit in the room with the indoor play structure.  Thinking we were being slick, Minh went and grabbed a high chair out of that "kids room" and brought it into the main part of the restaurant.  While eating, Tai was very pleasant and happy to sit in his high chair at the table, periodically offering to share his apples with us and asking very politely for "more fries, please."  He did steal a few glances through the giant glass wall at the kids playing in the other room.  But he said nothing and continued eating.

When the meal was about to come to an end.  Tai announced, "I want ice cream."  When we said that were not having ice cream, he pointed to the older man sitting in the next booth, enjoying a sundae, and said (loudly) "That man have ice cream!" as if to make sure we were aware that McDonald's does indeed sell ice cream.

"Yes, he does," we explained,  "but we're not having ice cream."  Surprisingly, Tai readily accepted this fact.  Then he pointed through the glass wall to the play area and said "I want to climb on that big climber now."  (And I think I heard him whisper under his breath, "Did you think I couldn't see it?  Idiots.")

But the Toddler Crack was already coursing through his veins and he happily accepted our answer of "No, we have to go home now."  Honestly, he was grumpy and whiny for much of the weekend, but the time we spent in McDonald's was peaceful and pleasant.  I know they are evil and the food is not good for you, but we can still eat there, right?

The Final Descent

As we enter the home stretch of Pregnancy #2, Minh and I each have our own way of preparing.  Some examples:

Minh recently stayed up until 2am assembling IKEA bookshelves for the new office.  (Because, obviously, if the baby arrives and the books are not organized, she's going to be *pissed*).

Even though I plan to nurse for the first few weeks before pumping any milk, I am freaked out that I cannot locate my pump *right now* and even called Minh at work the other day in a slight panic to ask him if he knew its whereabouts.

Minh ordered 10 yards of mulch and is renting some heavy machinery this weekend (anyone shocked?) in order to get it all spread in one day, and before what's-her-name arrives.  Honestly, a smarter man would wait until after the baby arrived and then use this as an excuse to get out of the house.

I attended a Savory Suppers session and assembled 6 meals.  Between those and our usual supply of "quick dinners," the freezer is now stocked and ready.

I'm hoping to stay pregnant long enough to have tea out with my friend next week before life is turned upside-down. I think Minh is hoping he gets to finish watching the NBA finals.

We are both, however, looking forward to the arrival of our daughter.  I can't wait for heartburn relief, backache relief, and the occasional glass of wine.  Minh can't wait to have his non-pregnant wife back so we can move five tons of wood pellets into the basement. 

I am currently 36 weeks and 4 days pregnant.  I went into labor with Tai at 36 weeks and 5 days.  Surely, this means that this little girl will be 2 weeks overdue and we still have a long way to go......(and plenty of time to locate that pump!)

The Continuing Big Boy Bed Chronicles

After a few rough nights of Tai waking in the wee hours and insisting on climbing into bed with us, we decided something needed to change.  So we plugged a night light into a timer (like you'd use for Christmas lights) and placed it on his dresser.  We explained that whenever the night-light was on, it was time to be in the bed -- i.e., no getting out of bed in the morning until it has turned off (6:15am).

And he bought it.

Now, each night at bedtime, he gets excited to see that the light is on, and explains to us that this means it's bedtime. And when I kiss him goodnight and leave the room, I remind him to stay in the bed all night and then come get me when the light turns off.  And he does.  For Tai, this system works like a charm.

These days, I am often woken by the sound of his bedroom door opening.  Some mornings he walks right into my room and announces, "mama, my night light turned off!  it's morning time! want to see?"  Other days I hear his door open and then.....nothing.  These are the days he has knowingly broken a rule by exiting the bed with the nuk still in his mouth and Emmit still clutched in his fist. On those mornings, I find him sitting in the hallway between our rooms, staring off into space, caught somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.

Either way, he's staying in his bed all night, consistently.  Let's hope this keeps up when Baby Sister gets here and he discovers that she gets to sleep in our bed.......    

Parent Teacher Conference

This morning we had our spring semester parent-teacher conference at Tai's "school".  The spring conferences are optional, but what parent wouldn't sign up to sit and hear someone tell them how wonderful their child is for 30 minutes?  It was all about seeing lots of pictures of Tai having fun at school and hearing what a great kid he is and how he fits into the group dynamic.  What we heard is this:

• He fits into the group very well.  She could not find any pictures of Tai playing by himself.  This comes as no surprise, as at home we constantly hear, "mama (or daddy), can you play with me?"  The only things he manages to do solo are sleep and watch TV.

• He throws (and attends) numerous tea parties each week.  (He's really into the finer things in life).

• He is the "class clown" and attempts to dominate all mealtime conversations.  (Shocking, I know).

• He has no interest in dressing or undressing himself, but is happy to let a "staff" of other children do it for him.  (Those were, perhaps, the best photos.)

• He has excellent rhythm and likes to play the drums.  (Obviously, he gets that from me).

• He's not the most agile kid in the class (unless tripping over your own feet is a special form of agility.)

FINAL Renovation Haiku

The house is all done.

The dumpster is gone.  Next task:

Trip to IKEA.

The Statute of Limitations has Passed...

....and it is now all right to joke about the fact that I "let" Tai fall down the stairs yesterday.   He appears to be fine and it has been nearly 24 hours, so joke away.

Interestingly enough, *every* time I am pregnant, Tai falls down the basement stairs.  Last time, it was our old, un-carpeted stairs with a cement floor at the bottom.  Luckily, he was protected by the fact that he was still in-utero.  This time, I could not protect him, but at least everything was carpeted.  

I guess maybe I should stop getting pregnant.

The Big Boy Bed Chronicles

April 14th (night #1): Tai happily climbed into bed and slept soundly all night.  He was discovered at 7am the next morning, sitting up in bed, chatting away to himself.

April 15th (night#2): An exhausted Tai skipped bath time and went right to bed after dinner.  He was next heard from at 6:30am, sitting on the top step of the stool at the foot of his bed.

April 16th (night #3): Iwas suddenly woken at 4am by the sound of my bedroom door latching shut.  While my half-asleep brain was trying to figure out how a cat (or dog) could possibly manage that feat, Tai toddled over to my bedside.  Nuk in mouth and sippy cup in hand, he calmly announced something like, "I got out of my big boy bed."  When I offered to help him get settled back in, he became upset and insisted on sleeping with us.  After 10 minutes of trying to coax him back into his bed, I gave up and snuggled him in between me and Minh.  He fell right back asleep while I lay there worrying that I'd just set a very bad precedent.

My keen powers of observation tell me that he seems to be waking earlier and moving farther from the bed each night.  Surely tonight we will find him watching TV in the living room at 2am. 

Scene from Arizona Pizza Company

Tonight the three of us met up for dinner at the Hampshire Mall and this is the conversation that occurred at the table:

Tai: I want dessert.
Kathy: Well, let's eat dinner first, OK?
Tai: Daddy, you want dessert?
Minh: Maybe. But I want to eat some pizza first. Let's look at the menu, OK?
Tai (desperately trying to gain an ally): Mama, you want dessert?
Kathy: Not right now, I want my dinner first.

Waitress: Hello, how are you all tonight?
Tai (directly to waitress): Can we have ice cream?
Kathy: Let's have pizza first and then we'll see.
Tai (ignoring Kathy and speaking only to waitress): I want dessert.

In the end, after everyone had eaten some pizza, we did order one dessert to split three ways. The newest addition to Tai's ever-expanding vocabulary? "cheesecake."

Mini-Vacation Mini-Post

Here's a bullet-list recap of our weekend get-away.....

• Talking about work over dinner is better than talking about the kid, right?

• Mass MoCA is worth the drive.

• I was asked "when are you due?" and "is this your first?" about 14 times. And all 14 times I resisted the urge to say "I'm not pregnant" just to see their faces turn red.

• When I answered "June 1st" to the due-date question I shocked one woman because of how "tiny" I am and I shocked a man the next day who said "woah, don't you think you might go earlier than that?"

• I only almost made us jump in the car and drive back to (sick) Tai once.

• No matter how tasty the food, it's hard to make up for a one hour wait for a table and grouchy service.

• When cooked with enough butter, salt, and cheese, grits are actually really yummy.

• When in doubt of what to do next, buy stuff for your kid(s). (Carter's Outlet, oh yeah!)

• The smell of freshly finished wood floors lingers for a *very* long time.

Renovation Haiku #3

Painting is finished.

Carpeting in on Monday.

Bathroom done today.

Big Time Nesting

Lately, nesting = shopping.  

This past weekend we ordered Tai's Big Boy Bed (and dresser) and it should be arriving sometime in mid-April.  The best part about this new furniture is that it's called the "Morgan Captain's Bed".   How could we resist buying our son a bed that's practically named after a rum? Tai knows we've ordered it and is excited about the idea.  He also knows this means he's moving into the study, which is now called "Tai's New Room", or sometimes "Tai's Big Boy Room".

 

And, since our renovation to make our living room larger accidentally included making our existing couches no longer fit, we've also been shopping for a new living room set.  Oh, fun.  Minh stumbled upon this unusual piece online.  

My initial reaction was pure horror.  

He then spent a few weeks trying to win folks over to his side by showing them the picture online, but to little avail.  Some of them were polite in their criticisms of it.  Others told him it was plain old Fugly.  But I agreed to go see it in person and give it a chance.

And maybe it's better once you meet it?  Or maybe I'm just ready to be done looking and buy something?  Not sure, but we're very close to purchasing this "2 piece sectional" as well as this ottoman that actually slides in to make this couch even more like a giant bed.  They fit together like Pangea.  It's either really tacky or really cool.  

Then, since the occasional guest needs someplace to sit that will allow them to actually keep their feet planted on the floor, we figured we've sit two of these in front of the bay window.  They swivel, which will undoubtedly delight Tai to no end.

Finally, we'd like to get this for in between the swivel chairs.  As Tai pointed out this morning you can put toys inside it and you can put your snacks on it.

 

R&F's sales tactics being what they are (aggressive) this entire order is already entered into their computers.  All we have to do is call them up and say "go" and arrange a delivery date.  So yesterday Minh made life-size paper cut-outs of all this stuff and laid it out on our living room floor.  Now all we need to do it stare at it for a few days and decide what to do....      

(Next phase of nesting = clearing out the study.)

Mom of The Year Award

Yesterday I was trying to rush Tai out of the house for a dog walk, while he was interviewing the flooring guy about each tool in our living room. Finally, I had everything ready: the dog, the leash, the stroller, jackets, clogs, hats and mittens. I asked Minh to take Tai out to the stroller while I dealt with the dog. As they reached the bottom of the steps into the garage I heard Tai calmly announce, "I walking in my socks."

Yes, I had neglected to put shoes on his feet.

Renovation Haiku #2

Bulkhead tomorrow.

Sheetrock makes rooms feel smaller.

Painting starts next week.

Weekend Quotations

Some notable quotes uttered during our weekend of taking care of Tai and his good buddy, Natasha:

T: "My penis huuuuuuurts!!"

N: "I hurt my tushy."

N (on phone to her parents): "I hit Tai. I had time-out."

K, to N: "Say, 'sorry, Tai' "

T: "Sorry"

K or M: "Who wants to...."

T & N: "Me!" "No, Me!" "No, Meee!" "No, MEEEEEE!"

T to N, or N to T: "I still using that!" (often in reference to a toy that was lying 15 feet away on the floor)

T: "Waaaaaaaaahhhh!"

N: "What's wrong, Tai?"

T: "Tasha, you have pink medicine on your bib."

K & M (nearly constantly): "Who wants to go potty?" "Who's turn is it to go pee?" "It's time to use the potty." "Who wants to try to poop?" "Do you want to use the red potty or the ducky potty?"

Stranger in restaurant: "Are they twins?"

K (out loud and smiling): "No, no. He's ours, but we're just babysitting her."

K (internally and horrified): "Oh my god, no! I can't imagine how anyone survives with twins!"

M: "I'm ready."

K: "For what?"

M: "A vasectomy."

He's Officially Too Smart for Me.

This morning, while getting dressed for school, Tai asked to watch some specific TV shows that are not on until about 10:30am.  I told him no and explained that:

(1) It was time to go to school,

(2) Those shows were not on at the moment anyway, and 

(3) We only watch those shows when we stay home sick from school.

After only the briefest moment of consideration, Tai announced, "I not feeling well.  I sick".

Get-away Booked

Thanks to everyone who offered advice on this topic.  We are indeed taking our friends up on their offer to watch Tai for an entire weekend (I hope they know what they signed up for!) and have a grown-up weekend to ourselves.  It's a hectic time at home right now and maybe not the best time to take off, but I figured we'd better do it before spring because who's ever gonna volunteer to watch two kids all weekend?

We're headed to Lenox, MA for two nights at a B&B in early April.  Hopefully this will help me get over my reluctance to stay in B&Bs (I've always been a large-anonymous-corporate-hotel kind of gal).  I loathe the idea of having to sit at a large table and eat breakfast with people I don't know and, possibly, even have to make small talk.  Ugh.

But I am whole-heartedly looking forward to this trip -- especially since the B&B has already sent us an extensive list of places to eat and things to do.  Is it April yet?

Renovation Update (and my kid is soooo cute!)

The fireplace is long gone, the playroom is all framed, and the plumbing is roughed in.  Before long, we should have a very large hole in our kitchen floor as well.

Buttons has been temporarily shipped off to Hadley, MA to sleep on exotic dog beds, harass different kitties, and take walks with her buddy Arrow.  Poor Smudgie cowers under the futon all day long.  He actually took off mid-breakfast this morning when the contractors arrived, not to emerge from the study until they leave.  Nibbles sleeps on the futon all day and doesn't give a shit about any of it.   

Each morning Tai looks out the front window in anticipation of the arrival of two pickup trucks.  And when the contractors enter the house he greets them with an enthusiastic "Hi Don! Hi Kenny!"  and, occasionally, an "I'm Tai!" (as if they don't know by now).  He then tries to pepper them with questions about what they are doing and the tools they are carrying, but they are too fast for him.  By the time he gets out, "Don, why you have..." Don is already halfway down the basement stairs.

Each afternoon we inspect the progress that has been made.  Tai is beside himself with this new development of Being Allowed in The Basement.  He's either going to be a contractor or a gymnast, for sure -- he's very much into examining the tools and walking along piles of 2x4s.  If he tries to stick the landing, we'll know which path he's chosen.  And yesterday afternoon he decided that his orange plastic slinky is actually a measuring tape.  He repeatedly held it up to the plywood wall where the fireplace used to be and announced, "I measuring playroom!!"  The game of "measuring" every inch of the house then lasted a good 30 minutes.

Practically our own Branch of the Public Library

As part of our preparation for construction, Tai and I organized the books and toys in his room this past weekend--and promptly realized that his bookshelf is full beyond capacity.  The books pictured below are just the ones in his room.  He has others scattered around the house and some of the very babyish ones are already set aside for his sister. 

Looks like we're gonna need a bigger shelf soon.  Since many of these were gifts and hand-me-downs, let me make a public plea.  Please, no more books for Tai.  At least not until we get some nice big shelves set up in the playroom.  I smell a trip to IKEA.....