Kids!

This morning, Jesse got me up early. I have grown used to getting little sleep because of his erratic sleeping patterns (he woke up three times last night! UGH!) but I was still exhausted when I got up with him. I was stumbling around, changing his diaper and making the coffee and getting him his breakfast. I suppose I have to get used to this; school starts in 3 weeks! I have been trying to get Jennifer back onto a "school schedule" in preparation for this. And me on a new schedule, as well. But it's slow going.

When the kids were having breakfast this morning, I introduced Jesse to Honey Nut Cheerios. He LOVED it and kept signing "more." Haha. It was cute. But he didn't love it as much as Instant Breakfast drink, which Jennifer had with her toast. I decided to go ahead and give him some of that since that's about the same age Jennifer started drinking it with her breakfast (at that time, I'd received my mother-in-law's encouragement to give her that drink and it took some doing to measure it correctly because she threw it up the first time I gave it to her. Ever since, we've used the pouches and I mix it all in a tumbler instead of a regular-sized 8-ounce cup.) He drank all of his then, when it was not offered after he signed "more" (because he already had 2 full cups of milk!), he tried to drink Jennifer's and she kept trying to get her cup from him. No fun trying to stop him from crying and throwing a tantrum over not getting more Instant Breakfast drink. I felt guilty denying him more --since after all, he only had half a cup!-- but I had hubby's complaints over Jesse being fat hanging over me. I believe that a chubby baby is a healthy baby. Jennifer has always been a string bean and Jesse has always been chubby. And he's a boy! Boy babies are usually more chubbier than girls.

But, anyway. That's for a whole 'nother blog post.

My muse was on fire today. I'm trying to get three assignments done before the end of the month and have pretty much avoided writing anything else until then. So I was feeling guilty after I wrote an article this morning. One of the things I have due is a short story and, in my defense, at least the article was about writing short stories! Still, I felt bad. I was cutting back on other things to get these projects done. Bad writer for writing something else! But I remembered how we should take something bad and turn it into something good. So I decided I must be in an article-writing mood today. Maybe I can get my article (which is due) written up. But I didn't have an idea for what to write about. I've been tussling with this all week. What to write. What to write!

Finally, I figured out what to write. Yay! But before I could even put pen to paper, Jesse got stuck when he was trying to climb into the kitchen table chair. His arm and elbow got stuck in the slat. I was trying to get his arm free but no luck. Meanwhile, he was twisted around on the chair and in pain. "Jennifer, go get Daddy! Hurry!" I turned to call to my daughter. After she ran to get her father, I once again tried to get Jesse's arm free but I couldn't do it without hurting him. His dad came and took over. Both Jen and I were agonizing over Jesse crying so bad as his father worked to free his arm. Finally, when his arm was free and it was determined he was okay, we sat with him, holding him and giving him kisses as we tried to soothe him. (I have been on hubby's case about getting padding for the backs of those chairs to cover the slats. This is not the first time Jesse's arm got stuck in between them! He's also gotten his arm or leg stuck in the slats of his crib, despite crib guards. AAH! I hate that sort of design on furniture! I once saw a photo of a baby who suffocated after sliding through the slats of his crib, at the bottom of the railing, and that picture haunts me to this day.)

Later, Jesse took his nap on the couch and I wrote up the article.

One thing Jennifer kept doing today is going to the computer to play her game. (She's hooked on Mario Brothers.) And I had to keep reminding her it was not time to play her game yet. I was like, "First you have to eat breakfast. First you have to get dressed. First you have to wash up. First you have to brush your teeth and hair." She eventually got frustrated with all the interruptions and logged off. Which was a good thing, since she also had to clean her room!

I have Jen signed up for karate now (technically, Jeet Kune Do) and she got all excited about going to class today. We ended up getting there late because of a lot of running around (something Jesse was happy about, since he LOVES going "bye-bye." Every time I pick up my keys, he runs and grabs his shoes!). When I reminded her of her class today, she got all hyper and started doing karate kicks. We'll see if that excitement will last!

Before karate, though, we had to go to the store and the store we went to has a bunch of people there who knew me when I was pregnant with Jesse. It is always so mind-blowing to see them act around Jesse like they have known him FOREVER. Well, I guess technically, they have! But it's still so interesting! They say things like "he's getting so big" and "it's nice to see him again" and I think it's really special to have that sense of familiarity. I know I may not feel like I'm a "part" of Eugene and don't have REAL friends here, but that kind of familiarity people have with my children just really helps to ease the stress and anxieties of being so "alone" here. As it is, one of the mothers at the karate class approached me and said she knew about Jennifer because her son goes to the same school.

I just really had to think, you know, through my children, I am able to meet new people. Have some kind of "familiarity" with where we live. And build up relationships with others simply because of who my children are and what they do. It really is interesting and even reassuring. I am hoping this will mean I'll be able to have a friend to hang out with our send emails back and forth with.

Anyway, I digress.

After karate, we came home and just hung out. Then we decided to go for a walk. It was still daylight and the weather was beautiful. So we walked down to the market and bought some goodies. When we had dinner later and I was in the kitchen getting our plates ready, Jesse let me know he was hungry by making the sign for "eat." I thought that was really cute.

Later, after I gave Jesse a bath, I was sooo tired once again. I was dressing Jesse and forgot to put the lotion on him before I put on his clothes. Just as I was about to dress him, he said "Mama, Mama" and made his own home sign for the lotion (a rubbing motion on his chest). I thought that was neat and told Jennifer. She was surprised and said, "He's the smartest baby in America!" Maybe I'm bragging, but...I think so, too.