Friday, October 30, 2009

Pumpkin Patch

It's Autumn, but I have to keep reminding myself of that fact while walking in 80+ degree heat. Here the leaves do not change color and fall to ground. Instead San Antonio is smack dab in the middle of a butterfly migration path and we can see fluttering butterflies of all sorts of colors. Pretty, but not really Fall-ish. To get into the spirit of the season, the kids and I went to a pumpkin patch.

A Pumpkin in a pumpkin patch


Matthew and Melissa being silly


Playing in the bucket 'o corn


Melissa posing.


Isaac being chased by an "older" woman. She's 15 months and kept kissing him and attempting to poke him in the eye. "I like you!" Whack, whack. Sweet romance!

(Isaac was more interested in the pumpkins, dirt, straw, twigs...)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Paging Doctors Ellis and Ellis


"Mom can you call me Dr. E?" - Matthew

Daddy's checkup. Melissa peered into Jonathan's ears with an otoscope. "Daddy you have pretty ears!" Giggle.

Say "Ahhh!" "Wait a minute...is that a clean popsicle stick?" Too late! "Dad, I can't hear your heart, are you sure that is where your heart is?"

I got a checkup too, and since I was such a good patient, I got a popsicle from Dr. Melissa. And I didn't even need a shot! "When I grow up, I will give popsicles to all the kids after their checkups."

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Peanuts

  • I just realized that Matthew is now as old as our friend Joe was when he asked me almost 10 years ago, "Is Rachel part of your family?" Rachel says that my answer ("Not yet, Joe") was her first clue that I was serious.
  • Matthew: "What are those things that are like computers, but you put paper in them, and you have to pull a lever to make the paper come out?" Me: "A typewriter?"
  • Matthew is walking to school now, per The Mommy Compromise. (He wanted to six months ago, but Rachel wanted to wait 'til he was 7. So when he turned seven I twisted her arm and she okayed it.) Most mornings he walks with his friend Connor, but sometimes Connor forgets or is late and Matthew goes by himself. He's very pleased with this sign of independence.
  • Melissa, praying: "We're thankful everyone has lips." Rachel and I opened our eyes to exchange glances and suppressed chuckles. Not something that would have occurred to me, but Amen!
  • Did my 2008 federal taxes on Oct 14. (All you people who thought waiting 'til April 15 to file was procrastinating? Amateurs.)
  • Melissa was playing with a sequin (yes, just one) on the toilet and dropped it. Apparently I was supposed to fish it out. Sorry; there's a pretty short list of things I'll stick my hand into poo-swirled water for, and that's not one of them. I declined, and a grand mal tantrum ensued.
  • "It's all broke! I HATE these!" Matthew has a love/hate relationship with legos. Mostly hate.
  • Missed the fine print on Amazon's return policy: 15% fee for opened computers. Ouch.
  • Rachel: "Now that X moved out of the ward, Melissa has the shortest attention span in Sunday School." Good thing her teacher is a saint. But just in case, we have a standing offer with her to come sit with Melissa if she needs help sitting still.
  • Rachel made bubble tea -- sugary drinks with tapioca "bubbles," or "balls," as Matthew calls them. This resulted in comments such as "Everyone wants my balls," and "Who wants some of my balls?" I kept cracking up, and Rachel kept glaring at me. Comedy GOLD.
  • I was just starting to lift Isaac's legs to wipe when he reached down, grabbed his dirty diaper, and pulled it out. "That's why I change him over a [cloth] diaper," Rachel pointed out. But in this case, it wouldn't have helped; the poop was, quite literally, far-flung.
  • Matthew was climbing the fridge to get down the milk from the top shelf, and knocked down the apple cider Rachel just bought. It split open, spilling half a gallon all over the kitchen floor. Half a gallon covers a wide area; most of the kitchen, in fact. After wiping it up I mopped three times with water, pine sol, and water again. Then the mop broke, so I called it good. Still need to get a new mop.
  • Isaac just victimized the last door stop thingy. He likes to pull the rubber heads off the springs. Now he got the one by the garage door; I think that's all of the
  • Matthew's first sarcasm: "Thanks a LOT for losing my math thing, Mom." They grow up so fast... (And yes, he gets this from his father. I don't remember Rachel being sarcastic in front of the kids.)
  • The universal unit of size to Matthew is The Daddy. At the zoo, everthing was "It's as big as Daddy! It's taller than Daddy! Daddy, could you pick that up? What about that, is that as big as Daddy?"

The invisible birthday party

Melissa informed me that tomorrow is her invisible friend's birthday. "And you don't have to clean your room to go!" She insisted on this point several times: she didn't get to go to a real birthday party on Thursday because she hadn't cleaned her room for two days. But since room cleaning day isn't until Tuesday, I assented.

Melissa further informed me that besides cake, her invisible friend required presents, so we needed to go to the store. Of course! But I pointed that invisible friends only get invisible presents. Melissa was not immediately convinced, but I held firm. Finally she agreed, but still insisted that the invisible presents Need To Be Wrapped.

So, she got a sheet of wrapping paper. I thought I was going to find out what the invisible friend's name was, but she just wrote "M" on it. M is for m-visible, of course! And then she wrapped... something, I suppose. I'm actually not sure what happened to it after that. I imagine I'll find out tomorrow.

A walk with Isaac

We took a family walk tonight by the library. It's a mostly-paved track between 1/2 and 3/4 of a mile through woods and brush. The kids liked it, although I carried Melissa's scooter more often than not. (It's only "mostly" paved.)

Isaac wanted to walk like The Big Kids, of course, so he and I lagged behind while Rachel and Matthew took the lead. Melissa spent time at both ends.

Isaac saw lots of things that interested him. We stopped for further examination of four rocks, one stick, two dogs, and a used band-aid. (Daddy quickly confiscated that one.) Everything is fascinating when you're one.

Intermittently I would pick him up and walk quickly to catch up, but he would squirm free again to walk some more with that wide-legged toddler stance of his. I think he had a good time, until Rachel stowed him in his car seat for the ride home. That, he Did Not Approve of.

Monday, October 19, 2009

I'd be grumpy too!

Isaac is still recovering from a miserable cough and runny nose. He's also cutting 6 new teeth at once (two of which are molars), and he has a fierce case of diarrhea and diaper rash.

He's not a happy Pumpkin...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

How was your day?

To start out the day, Isaac and I did dishes. I put them in, he took them out. While we were busy, Melissa cleaned her room. Then I tossed a load in the wash and a load in the dryer. Hoot! Hoot! [play with me mom!] I crawled on my hands and knees and growled at Isaac. He squealed and toddled away as fast as he could, but not fast enough! Nom, nom, nom, I ate his belly* Giggle, giggle. After playing for a while he got tired. He curled up in my arms and nursed to sleep. He went down for a nap just in time for Melissa to come bounding downstairs. "My room's all clean!"

Great! It's PLAYDOUGH time!

Melissa stirring the pot.


What color do you want to make?
PINK!


Then it was time for lunch. While I fixed it, Melissa worked on writing her 5s, sorting items, and counting 1-5. Crayons, pencils, and M&Ms were involved.

Lunch time!
PB&J, peaches, and carrots for her; pork chops, mushrooms, and rice for me. "Mom, can I try that?" Um sure. "Mmm! I like dis!" Then she ate about half of my lunch. (Maybe she's outgrowing her food pickiness? Nah.)

Reading time.
Melissa picked a story. We read. "How would you like to learn how to read, Melissa?" "No thanks, it's too hard." "We can just do sounds, how about that?" "OK!" Pulled out Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons


It's the same book I used to teach Matthew and really is a fantastic beginning book. It builds step by step on the sounds the letters make, and introduces blending sounds in an easy to understand manner. There is a lot of repetition to reinforce past lessons which we sometimes skipped if Matthew already had it down cold. Overall I found it a good, parent/child friendly book. Melissa and I flew through the first three lessons easily. She seemed to enjoy it.

Isaac got up so I turned on Harold and the Purple Crayon for Melissa and attempted to feed Isaac lunch.

This is what he thought of it...

Those peaches were really sweet too!

Next Isaac decided to play TV monitor. He likes it OFF.

We find it rather tedious. "No! Isaac!"

He can also shut the doors to the entertainment cabinet. Melissa was getting frustrated. "Come here my baby trouble!"

[Grin] My work here is done!

I fed him some Cheerios and played with him so he'd leave the tv alone for a bit, then it was time to walk to Matthew's school. It was another muggy day. I later learned the heat index was about 109. That's getting pretty warm.

We get home and everybody had something to drink and an after school snack. Matthew showed me his folder and schoolwork. He read a story and I did some more laundry. Hoot! Hoot! [I'm getting tired again!] Nursed the Isaac and he crashed for his afternoon nap. 'Night, night, big guy.

I was feeling a bit tired too, so I decided to lie down on the couch and let the big kids watch some Teen Titans.

And that is precisely where Mr. Ellis found me when he came home an hour early from work.

Hello Handsome!

Since Isaac was still napping and I couldn't go back to sleep, Matthew and I started working on his lego bulldozer that grandma gave him for his birthday. Melissa "helped" too. We got about 1/3 done when it was time for dinner. Jonathan wanted to try a Caribbean place, but they went out of business, so the kids thought bubble "tea" sounded good to them. We stopped at Pearlberry for the bubble tea (taro flavored is my very favorite) and a great little Vietnamese place that we really like. Isaac was rather grumpy through dinner. His majesty threw about half of the things we offered him onto the floor. Check please!

Then it was...

Bedtime! Sweet, sweet bedtime. Teeth, jammies, a story, prayer, and into bed! Goodnight my little loves.

*I just discovered the option to change font colors on blogger. My darling man may find it annoying, but how fun for me! Next I need to do some tinkering with the layout...

Monday, October 12, 2009

Styling

Tonight Matthew decided to wet down Isaac's hair and comb it straight just like his. Surprisingly not only did Isaac tolerate his hair being combed, but when Matthew was finished, Isaac picked up the comb in one hand and grabbed Matthew's hand with the other to indicate more hair combing. Naturally Matthew obliged. Isaac made pleased noises.

Matthew went to bed satisfied that Isaac's hair was now straight. Shh! Don't tell him it didn't last long. Within 10 minutes, Isaac's hair started springing up again. He's got curly hair like his sister.

The Power of Placebo

Matthew and Melissa take any injury or ache (real or imagined) very seriously. Okay, they are hypochondriacs. Add that to an almost mystical belief in medicine curing anything and you have a recipe for unrelenting requests for medicines at inappropriate times. We try to limit over the counter drugs to a minimum; high fevers, congestion interfering with sleep, that sort of thing. For vague complaints of "my tummy isn't feeling well," there really isn't anything we can do. Of course M&M don't believe us and keep asking for something.

Enter Jonathan's stroke of genius.

"Here Matthew, try some placebo." He put a drop of dilute menthyl based rub on Matthew's stomach and magically it worked!

Placebo, the wonder drug of the ages!

Friday, October 09, 2009

Matthew's Birth


Seven years ago we welcomed Matthew into our family. On that day a mother and father were born too and we became a family of three. Matthew sometimes asks about his birthday, and I tell him a silly, happy story as I tuck him in at night.
Before you were born you were nestled inside my warm belly. You were happy in there and not in a hurry to come out. You loved to kick and stretch. We were so excited to meet you, but waited patiently for you to pick your very own birthday.

Daddy and I went on a long walk one night, and we talked about you. We thought maybe if we went on a walk, you might want to come out and take a walk with us. We went to bed and a few hours later I sat up in bed and said, "Oh, oh, oh the baby is coming!" Daddy and I waited a few hours and decided to go to the hospital. [Matthew interjects: I was born in a hospital? How come? "Well, we thought that was best then."] So we went to the hospital but the nurses said, "Not yet!" We were a little sad because we wanted to meet you, but still excited because we knew you were coming.

We went home and waited a day and I said, "Oh, oh, oh! The baby is surely coming now." [Matthew giggles] So daddy and I drove back to the hospital. The nurses said, "Not yet!" We were very sad and went home.

Another day passed and I was getting very tired and really, really ready to meet you. Finally I said, "Oh, oh, oh! The baby MUST be coming!" [Matthew giggles some more] We went to the hospital for the third time. This time the nurses said, "Yes! The baby is coming!" And you did!

When I first saw you I exclaimed, "My baby, my baby!" Daddy said, "I think he looks like a Matthew." So we named you Matthew and we were so happy you were in our family. [Matthew snuggles up next to me. "And I was the first kid in the family, huh? I like being in this family.]
That is the Matthew version of his birth. I realized I've never written about his birth like I have the other two. His was a difficult birth. Worth it? A thousand times yes, but still very difficult.

Matthew's birth, grownup version


I'd had a very healthy and active pregnancy. The due date was looming in a few days, so after a good walk we went to bed to get plenty of rest. A few hours later I was woken up by some powerful contractions which seemed to originate from my back. It was about 1 AM on Monday morning. I tried to go back to sleep several times, but when that failed I timed them. They were five minutes apart and lasting a good minute. Hmm. This might be it. After several hours of very uncomfortable back labor which ached even between contractions, we called a close friend and went to the hospital. We had to stop and wait a few times on the way in because the contractions took all my focus. Still we were excited.

When we arrived about 4 AM, we were met by a very stern, grumpy nurse. We put our bags and pillows in a corner. She handed me a gown and I changed. The nurse put a belt around my belly to measure contractions. Just as we had timed it, they were roughly five minutes apart and lasting over a minute. Without asking, the nurse announced that she was going to check for progress. I could feel another contraction coming and asked her to wait. She didn't. The pain was excruciating. Her digging fingers caused an intense burning pressure down there, which combined with the contraction was unbearable. I begged her to stop; she wouldn't and kept poking and prodding. I cried, and I do not cry easily and certainly not in front of strangers. She announced that I was only 1 cm and 70% effaced. We said we were leaving. I do not know the name of that nurse, but Jonathan dubbed her "nurse psycho-frankenstein."

We drove home a little frustrated, but ready to work with the labor and hopefully get things moving. Still the contractions came every 4 to 6 minutes and the pain in my back was quite fierce. I tried all different positions; hands and knees, leaning on the wall, lying on my side. Through it all Jonathan pushed hard on my lower back, held my hand, and encouraged me. He tried to get me to eat, but my stomach was in rebellion so I just sipped what little water I could keep down.

About 6 PM on Monday we drove back, the contraction pattern remained constant. We brought in our overnight bags and pillows thinking surely this was it. This time the midwife and midwife-in-training were there. They were both very calm and patient. The midwife-in-training asked if she could check for progress, and to let her know when was a good time to do so. I said okay and steeled myself for another excruciating experience....and found it didn't hurt. Huh!? Until psycho-frankenstein nurse, I hadn't had any cervix checks and didn't know that it wasn't supposed to hurt! That was the good part. The bad part was I was only dilated to a 1.5 and 90% effaced. After a full day of laboring, this was devastating news.

As we got ready to leave the senior midwife wanted to take my temperature again and discovered it was 100.5. At the hospital that is an automatic admission for a suspected infection. I received an IV with antibiotics and they used a straight cath to check for infection. I said I was pretty sure I didn't have one. No matter. Now I'm a big girl, but catheters hurt! Yeeowch! Later the results came back verifying no infection. Since I was running a low temperature, the baby had to be monitored constantly on that narrow, hard bed. One strap went around my belly to measure contractions, another strap to measure the baby's heart rate. The midwife encouraged me to eat and drink, but my stomach would have none of it and I threw up in a box that had Jonathan's dinner. Poor guy. The fluids from the IV must have helped, because my temperature dropped and we asked to go home. Through it all the contractions continued unrelentingly, and even between contractions my back ached. The midwife-in-training asked to do another cervix check since it'd been several hours. She said hesitatingly (perhaps trying to be generous),"Maybe a 2?" That was a fresh blow. Why wasn't anything happening despite the hard contractions? The midwife looked at me and said I really needed to get some rest. If I didn't, she didn't think I'd have the energy to push out a baby. I certainly couldn't argue with that; I was exhausted and barely holding it together. The midwife suggested a shot of morphine and explained that it may or may not stop the contractions, but either way I'd get some rest. I asked to think about it for a few minutes. After some discussion with Jonathan, I decided that the morphine might be my best option for recovering some energy and maybe getting things back on track. Jonathan was very concerned about me and was looking very tired and haggard himself. He'd had as little rest I had. I got the shot and Jonathan drove us back home. It was around midnight; I was completely demoralized and cried most of the way. Jonathan just held my hand. We were nearly 24 hours into this adventure.

Fortunately the morphine kicked in once we got home, and I drifted off to sleep still feeling contractions, but not much caring anymore. The pain was blissfully deadened. After about 5 hours I woke up still feeling contractions. It was Tuesday, early in the morning. I waited through a few of them but when they became too uncomfortable to lay on my side I rolled out of bed and landed on my hands and knees. Unfortunately in the process I woke up Jonathan. I told him I was fine, go back to sleep. But Jonathan is very loyal and insisted being up to help. He pushed on my back for hours upon hours. That day I found urinating very difficult and painful. There was a bit of blood mixed in, so I think the catheter used the night before must have bruised or scraped something. One more unpleasantness in a very tough labor. I leaned on the wall in the shower with hot water running down my back to ease some of the backache. It helped marginally. Jonathan tried to get me to eat and even went to the store and brought back powered protein which he mixed in a drink. It came back up as did the partial banana. Small sips of juice and water were about all I could manage. I began to think that this baby would never come and I'd slowly burnout completely. It was very taxing physically and mentally. Through it all Jonathan was there, strong, kind, and solicitous. About 4 PM Tuesday while sitting in a straight backed chair with a hot rice sock pressed firmly on my lower back I felt three powerful contractions right on top of each other with no rest. It felt like one continuous contraction with three peaks. At the same time I could feel the baby move suddenly and shift inside. Then labor resumed its former pattern. We left for the hospital once again.

Feeling very uncertain and a little hopeless, I suggested we leave everything in the car. A different midwife was on duty and she checked. 4 centimeters! Hallelujah! Some progress was being made, if slowly. Jonathan went to the car to retrieve our things. We called a friend, Jessica, and said this time for sure! She'd had given birth just three months before and brought her baby with her. Little Jacqueline nursed and then slept through nearly the entire labor. We were officially admitted around 6 PM and first thing I did was hop into the tub. The warm water helped take the edge off of the contractions, but did not take away the backache. Still it was somewhat better. Since I was going natural, I didn't have an IV or constant straps around my middle. Not being tethered to anything, I kept changing positions to find relief. The midwife just checked with her doppler periodically. I labored on the birth ball, in the tub, in the shower, and on the bed. I think the nurse was newer because she was quite the Nervous Nelly. The midwife seemed to think things were fine though, and mostly stayed in the background. Jessica and Jonathan took turns pressing HARD on my back during contractions. They really couldn't press too hard as far as I was concerned. My back was bruised the next day, but at the time it helped considerably.

While lying on my side feeling intense pressure, I heard a pop and felt liquid trickle. "Oh? My water broke!" The midwife seemed a bit skeptical but asked to check. Not only did the membranes break, but now I was at an 8! That cheered me up considerably for about 3 contractions, but then they got even closer and more intense. I got on the birth ball hoping to speed things up because I was getting very, very tired. I started to moan that there was no way I could do this any longer. Between contractions I rested my head on Jonathan's lap as he was seated in front of me. Upon hearing my complaints, Jessica chirped "Oh! You must be in transition! The baby is coming soon!" I was feeling very grumpy and had a hard time sharing her enthusiasm or optimism. Soon though I felt the urge to push. The midwife wanted to check, so I got off of the birth ball and gingerly climbed into bed. 9.5 centimeters with a lip! She explained that just a bit of cervix was left and that she could push against it during a contraction to move it past the baby's head. "It will hurt, but if it works it'll speed things up." Fine. She had me get on my hands and knees and when a contraction hit she urged me to push while she pushed against the lip. I pushed and yelled. Didn't work the first time so we tried again. "Push!" I pushed and yelled even louder as she pushed. 10 centimeters!

Since I was already on the bed it didn't occur to me to push anywhere else. (My other two children were not born anywhere near a bed!) The nurse instructed Jonathan to hold one leg, Jessica the other and I started pushing while propped up in a semi-sitting position. The nurse said, you're going to have your baby today! It was a half hour before midnight so I was encouraged. Then the minute hand slowly moved past midnight and I started tiring again. Two days without eating and little rest was really taking a toll. The nurse coached on when to push, but after a while I just ignored her and pushed when I could muster up a good one. Really, she didn't need to coach, the urge was irresistible and hurt more not to push. After a bit the nurse gave up and became silent. Overall, I found pushing less painful than the earlier labor, but much more tiring. It didn't help that my body was running out of steam. Finally a bit of head was visible and I could see his head move down and then retreat. It was 2 steps forward 1 step back. Then the head crowned and the midwife warned not to push once the baby's head was out. I couldn't believe we were that close... The next contraction I gave it all I had. First thing I saw was his sweet little face instead of the back of his head. Wasn't expecting that, but in retrospect it explains a lot.

Immediately the rest of him flew out without any effort on my part. A boy! I cried out, "My baby! My baby!" and reached for him. The midwife wrapped him in a blanket and handed him to me. The time was 1:34 AM on Wednesday, October 9th. 48 hours later and he was finally cradled my arms.

He looked up at me and it was love. I felt an overwhelming sense of awe, fierce protectiveness, pure joy, and responsibility.


He came out pink, alert and quietly gazing at us. That was lovely.

You can sort of see in this picture the swollen lump at the brow of his head. My theory is that he was presenting his brow until I felt the sudden shift Tuesday afternoon. I think at that point he moved his head enough so that he could be born. He came into the world ROP, face up and gazing at the stars.

Happy Birthday Matthew! It was a wild ride, but oh so worth it to be your mother!

Thursday, October 08, 2009

A New Milestone

Isaac has been sleeping through the night for the last week. This is some sort of Ellis child record! Neither Matthew or Melissa slept through the night until around 18 months. It is so nice to wake up in the morning after a full night's rest. The world is a great place!

Take Your Medicine!
Yesterday Isaac was running a fever so we gave him some Motrin. He protested mightily, "No mama! I do NOT like it!" He wasn't going to let it go down without a huge fight. After two messy attempts Jonathan and I got it in. Since he was running a fever, we had to check his blood glucose. I washed his heel, pricked, and squeezed it. He didn't even flinch. No tears, no fuss, no dark baby glares. His glucose was fine so we didn't need to give him a shot, but even if we had to he'd probably take it in the same good grace. Funny kid.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Family Pictures

Just a few from the photo shoot. All looking at the camera - check. All smiling? - almost.

Mugging the baby brother:
More mugging of the baby brother:

There's a smile!
Melissa had many wiggles during the photo shoot.

Quintessential Matthew
And the two that started this circus.

Monday, October 05, 2009

Muscle Dance

Matthew received a camera for Christmas and he loves to take pictures and make small videos. I borrowed his camera to film Isaac walking, and found this gem on the memory card...




Hysterical!

Walking!

Peanuts

  • Official family pictures CD arrived. Rachel will probably post some highlights soon. I hadn't realized how thin my hair has gotten on top. At least the kids are photogenic! (Although catching Isaac smiling is a challenge.)
  • Rachel: "Every time I fold laundry he wants to play Underwear Gun." Matthew runs by the folding station while Rachel tries to shoot him with the elastic waistband. (This is harder than it looks: Daddy is a lousy Underwear Gunner.)
  • Matthew will unpredictably choose to take things he learns Way Too Seriously. Latest example: healthy foods discussion at school. For about a week he didn't want to eat anything without asking "Is it healthy?" first, and complaining if it wasn't. Public service announcement: you're a skinny little boy. IT'S OKAY TO HAVE SOME PIZZA.
  • Watched the Paris and NJ segments of "No Reservations." I liked it ("One thing you get from growing up in New Jersey is a sense of humor"), but Rachel was underwhelmed. Having one segment in the first show set in a strip club didn't help. We liked "Pushing Daisies" more, although I'm already tired of the narrator.
  • Matthew: "Numbers never stop. Not even when you die."
  • Matthew (while picking up the DVDs Isaac pulled off the shelf): "I'm not grumpy. I'm just mad at Isaac."
  • Rachel really enjoyed watching General Relief Society Meeting this year: Andrea was in the choir, right behind/in front of the conductor.
  • Isaac is sleeping through the night about 50% of the time now. Hurrah!
  • Me: "Do you hear Isaac noises?" Rachel: "Yes. I think he's in the recycling." Something plastic clatters onto the floor. Neither of us gets up. Such is the lot of a third child.
  • "Cool! Dad, cool! The flowers do that! When they're in the water." "Look at those flowers! The water's going down, down!" "The flowers died. They tumbled, so they died." "Oh, pretty fish! I saw a pretty fish, Dad! Pretty fish! People feed fish, right, Daddy? Fish is good for you, right Dad? Fish is yummy! I tried fish, and I liked them! a long time ago!" -- about five minutes of Melissa watching Fantasia
  • The difference between Matthew's more abstract pieces and what you see on the walls of "artistic" restaurants downtown is only the choice of medium. (And I mean this more as an indictment of the shallowness of modern art, than as praise of my son.) I need to get that boy some oil paints. This could be lucrative.
  • Me: [describes how good Rachel's from-scratch brownies and carrot cake are]. Mom: "I'll bet you've gained 10 pounds, haven't you?" My mother's always looking out for me.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Man's best friend

It's safe to say that Isaac has gotten over his fear of the Roomba. Now he spends many minutes a day playing with it. (One of his more expensive toys, but by child number three as long as there is no potential for permanent disfigurement, and there's at least the possibility that he won't actually break the appliance in question, you pretty much go with the flow.)

Isaac also figured out that if he is quick enough he can climb on it after pushing the start button and take a ride. Here he is taking it for a spin.