a few pics

August daze

So, it has been an eventful last few weeks. The new nanny is a thief- robbed our house on the third day she came to work. Wrote a fraudulent check out of Geoff’s checkbook for $350 and stole two credit cards out of my nightstand. Over that weekend she charged over $1000 worth of stuff and had the balls to actually come back to work on Monday. We found out about it Monday afternoon while she was still working. Geoff threw her out and demanded she bring the money back that night. After she left he called the police and filed a report. All of the lost money was covered, but I signed up Alex, Sophie and myself for identity theft protection because our social security cards were in the places where she stole the check and credit cards. So distressing. Geoff met with a detective later in the week to find out she had no prior record- and the detective guessed that she has a meth problem- super skinny and acne. I emailed Rachel about coming back and she agreed to do so- thank God. If she had not I probably would have quit work- Alex is too young for daycare and I don’t think Geoff or I would have let another stranger into our house after this happened. It was so upsetting and just infuriating to geoff. Each day that passes lessens the sting a bit. After all, it is just money. The kids are safe- it could have been so much worse. I can feel my blood pressure rising just writing about it!

Had a fun 38^th birthday weekend. I swear running after young kids keeps you young.

Took the kids to Venice beach with my sister last week- Sophie could not get enough of rolling in the hot sand- and had fun bodysurfing in shallow waves. Alex enjoyed the warm water too- and Sophie actually got on Stacie’s wave board for a minute. My little ones are natural water babies which makes me so pleased…

Since Rachel leaving the first time/all the construction, Alex has been very clingy and really a lot to handle. He will only sleep in the crib once he has knocked out somewhere else and really just seems to want to sleep with me. At night I am not even attempting to put him down in the crib as he just freaks out. I need to start some sort of program soon to get him out of the bed. Geoff is seeming really resentful of him being in there- and the longer it goes on the harder it will be for the baby to make the transition. It is really stressful and Alex not napping well or enough is really a strain on my sense of well-being. I did some reading online and will just need to suck it up and get exhausted working on this.

I am worried too about his six little teeth. I have not been vigilant enough in wiping them down with a wet washcloth after eating. His gums seems sensitive and I am seeing some staining already on his toofers. So upsetting. I really need to try harder.

His first adult-like mimic behavior is talking on the phone. He will pick up a random item and hold it up to his ear/mouth and start emphatically talking. It is hysterical. He loves the Neosporin tube and sunscreen tubes- something just fascinating about them. It is hard to talk on the phone with him near me because he just wants to play with it, push buttons and talk into the mouthpiece. He is really starting to get into all the cabinets including the TV credenza in the living room where the stereo equipment and dvds are. Need to get childproof handles for those. His knees are handily beat up from trucking around all over the place. I pulled out one of sophie’s walker toys and he is just adoring pushing it around. God knows we are all ready for him to start walking as he is so heavy. He does love being carried around though, and being up on a level where he can see everything from a higher point of view. He is totally enjoying the pool and loves when I “dunk” him under. He seems to have no qualms about submerging and stretches his arms out in front of him to “swim” as I hold him under his tummy. He stands on the jacuzzi seat benches and pulls himself up on the coping- not out of the water, but little pullups. It is so funny to watch at what a persistent and determined little person he is. When he wants something there is just no deterring him. He is blonde as can be and becomes even more bleachy after daytime swimming. His eyes are definitely hazel and the brown toward the middle is becoming warmer and richer. He hates the changing table and it is a battle to get a clean diaper on him- I am always trying to contort his little body to lay down flat – “No rolling! No rolling on the table!” and he CRIES and screams at me as if I am sticking pins into his feet. Same with getting into the carseat- I try to distract him with Daisy the stuffed dog but my trick is wearing out. He hates being belted in but is okay once he is situated. The little folds in his thighs are almost gone as he becomes more and more active. He adores his sister and is very empathic – when she has a timeout, usually for being aggressive somehow with him, he crawls over to her in the front of the house, trying to make her feel better, to see what is going on. He is doing really well with using his fingers for picking up bits of food off of his high chair tray, bits of pasta, deli roast beef, small cubes of sweet potato, pieces of bread, yesterday he tried some soft pieces of popped corn. He still adores his biter biscuits and loves to have little bites of coffee cake or cookies that I am eating. Also likes spoonfuls of cold smoothies I make for sophie and I – frozen berries, banana, yogurt, ground flaxseed, juice and ice. Every time he tries a new food he grimaces and looks in my eyes for reassurance. He is definitely pickier than Sophie was. I need to start getting more protein into both of their diets- especially beans.

My Sophie girl. What can I say? I feel like I spend so much time referee-ing and correcting lately. It is wearing me out even as my heart grows more fond of her regularly. It is so amazing watching her grow and mature. She is having a bit of a growth spurt right now. She tripped over a towel and fell into the pool last night- scared her more than anything- (geoff, alex and I were in the pool) and also took a spill at a park yesterday- tumbled a bit head over heels down a hill from running. Of course I was sad for her, but at the same time I know that experiences like that are exactly what is going to teach her physical limits- where her body can take her if she is not paying attention. She is enjoying preschool, though plays reluctant at drop-off- she hides her head under the back of my shirt. Lacey, a teacher from the older class who helps “receive” kids on the younger kids side in the morning, woos her with a plastic bulldozer, Muck, from one of her shows, “Bob the Builder.” They have had theme weeks all summer- carnival week, rainforest animals week, space week, western week. It is so cute- she comes home with photos of herself- on a pony ride, dressed up in a western hat with moustache, decked out in carnival star shaped sunglasses and funky pink hat. Her crazy passion for puzzles has returned- she keeps putting together a 100 piece hello kitty puzzle, and big floor puzzles- of a castle, and the solar system. Her two lovey objects, the bedraggled yellow blankie my mom made for her and “light blue care bear” (or officially “Bedtime Bear Country Fun Care Bear Beanie Plush” for future ebay type searching) the ratty country gingham character trail her out of her bedroom each morning. The bear goes for the ride to preschool but does not go in- he waits for her in the car, crying, as she says. She is still having issues with Alex touching her toys- when he is showing interest in whatever she is playing with. She now has a custom of sitting up on the dresser top when I change a poopy diaper of his. She hands me the diaper and is thus my helper.

I read a good article today on fostering sibling love- viewing the family as a support triangle- that it is not parents/top down management. Her favorite shows right now are “Little Bear” and still “The Little Einsteins.” And she still only watches two 30 minute shows per day- one in the morning on non-preschool days and one in the late afternoon after her nap. God she has a sweet tooth and cookies/cupcakes and any kind of CANDY are just the penultimate rewards and good things in life. I need to be spending more time teaching her things- math concepts, etc. I get so caught up in trying to keep the house reasonably decent looking that the better stuff, like taking the time to really interactively play, sound out words while reading, building structures out of blocks together- gets lost in the constant high chair tray wiping, dishwasher emptying, email checking, little pan scooping, bath towels washing, counter wiping, mail sorting, diaper bag repacking, teeth brushing, playroom picking up. God I wish I could just stop – I need to- set aside one hour per day for just enjoying my children. That is why playing outside of the house is so critical- time at the park or the indoor play space allows all that icky stuff to stay in the house where it belongs.

My Geoffrey is hanging in there. Boy it is a long day for him, starting at 6am and ending when he finishes telling his daughter a “Sophie the Grasshopper” story at 9 at night. He is exhausted and really has nothing left at the end of the day. It was one year and two days ago that he injured his neck. What a year it has been- I am so glad he made the decision to start prozac a few months ago. It has really leveled him out. Once the rest of the construction is done, and we have more distance from this robbery, I am hoping he will be able to enjoy himself more. Unbelievably, NFL superstar Brett Favre signed with the Jets this year. It should be quite a football season to come…

And me? I am okay. I got stung by a bee on my neck last night after getting out of the pool. I am happy my nanny Rachel is back. She has committed verbally to staying until April or May of next year. At that point she will probably need a full time job to pay her rent (she is moving out of her mom’s house in January) and by then Alex could go into daycare for two days as he will be walking and talking. Sophie could do two full days at preschool and I would not need a nanny at all. I have gotten to see a few movies this summer on my stolen Fridays- most enjoyably, “American Teen” with Cara last week. I have lost a few pounds from the swimming and the stress of the last couple of weeks but I really need to start a regular exercise routine. When it cools down enough I want to start our family walks again-they were really terrific. I am concerned about my marriage- I am feeling certain that I cannot give enough energy and time to my husband to make him feel special and worthy. The kids are just so demanding, and the housework too.

I am ready for fall- new preschool schedule, mommy and me class with Alex, the next season of the biggest loser…

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