Gametes In Love

• My parents insisting I stick with English classes (and making me go even when I wanted to play with my friends)
• A revolution against communism: without which my father may have returned back to Bulgaria (from Japan) and not come to the US
• Parents that recognized that I am an experience learner and had the patience to watch me make my own mistakes and learn through them
• UC Berkeley: which gave my father employment and the opportunity for us to live amongst some of the most beautifully diverse and open minded communities in the world
• UC San Diego’s non-existent architecture program (although advertised): with which, had it actually been there, I might not have taken a CS major instead
• Having my own apartment. Sure it was in the middle of no-where, and my commute to work was ridiculous, but I learned a lot about who I am on my own
• Skydiving: which showed me a new level of freedom, introduced me to some awesome friends, and tested my boundaries
• All the break-ups I had and the guys I went through with to show me who I was really looking for
• Scient: for introducing me to S and kicking off a great career
• Being laid off from Grand Central networks: which have S and I a push to move in together
• Yahoo!: for introducing me to amazing minds, helping me figure out who I want to be, and showing me that stock options CAN be worth something (even after a .com bust)
• Caring and loving in-laws that I really enjoy spending time with
• Science: which made my kids possible, and their delivery safe
• Stanford REI: see part 1 above
• Sleepless nights with healthy kids, although at 2am I can’t say I feel particularly grateful 🙂
• 2 awesome little dudes… Even when they drive me crazy
• 1 great husband, who is patient, and loving, and does more than his share of contribution to our home
• A snugly fur-ball
• A sister that contributes more to our family than anyone realizes
• Friends
• All the people that support us daily

Happy Thanksgiving!

My littlest dude is on a mission to have me prematurely go gray. He has derived a fun little game for himself that he calls ‘Guess what I just put in my mouth?’ Clearly winner gives mom a heart attack.

Last Monday morning (because I can’t find the time to sit down and write this) S proceeded to take G to school and S2 and I stayed behind, since we had a pedi appointment for duder’s 1st year checkup.
We were in the master suite, me getting dressed and S2 playing on the floor of the office. While not child-proof entirely, our office is not an unsafe place. Except that morning. That would be the day that S2 decided he needed to go over daddy’s bank records. The bank records sitting on top of the filing cabinet. The bank records that were weighted down by a paperweight. A paperweight that just so happens to have a little well for storage of little knock-knacks. A well that just do happened to contain several push-pins, that were placed there so long ago one had forgotten they were even there. Well… with S2 yanking the paperwork off the cabinet, the paper-weight came down too, spilling the push-pins on the carpet (hence me hearing nothing). So now I see a toddler waddling off proudly with papers in his hands. I pull them away and return them to the filing cabinet. To see the spilled push-pins. Thinking ‘Where did these come from?’ and ‘I need to pick these up before S2 comes back here trying to take them’ I proceed to pick up about a dozen pins. And as I turn around what do I see? S2 trying to shove a push-pin in his mouth. I hadn’t seen him already in possession of one as he was hiding it in his fist while clutched around the paper. When I took the paper away, I didn’t think to inspect the palms of his hands. So here I sat trying to figure out if there was more than one pin in his possession and if any had already made it down the hatch.
Lemme give you a word of advice: Don’t search online for ‘I think my child swallowed a pushpin’. Just don’t! It’s not good.
So I called the pedi’s office and awaited a call from the nurse. She assured me that (at his age) if he had swallowed it I’d know it, but just to be safe to come in (which we were already planning to do) and to bring the offending pin with us.

In summary: S2 is safe. He finds it funny that I can no longer get dressed without constantly staring at him. Apparently being a parent means automatically becoming a nudist and exhibitionist. And white haired.

Last night G and I made cookies. Specialty’s is a local bakery that just released a line of cookie mix, and I couldn’t pass it up. So tonight after dinner G got his treat of cookie. How does he pick? Largest one in the batch. Duuuuh.
G proudly paraded his cookie before S and exchanged the following:

S: Woa! That’s a really big cookie!
G: (smirk)
S: That cookie is so big, if you eat it we’re going to be in trouble.
G: Yeah. I know!

Hmmm. I might need to re-think my baking strategy going forward.

From our visit to Grammie and Poppa’s house…

G was in heaven with all the train tracks and cars Aunt K brought over. He would play with them ALL day long, and would make the longest tracks, and the longest train chains he could. You see that box behind him? That one was for JUST the tracks. There were two more containing track buildings and cars. Cousin J has a sweet set-up!

On our way to visit Great-Grammie P

Chillin’ at home with the boys and crazy dawg Daisy

Yes. Overheard on the preschool playground from G. By Ms. S.

Apparently S’ pleads to NOT do that when being carried (G has a tendency to swing his foot while carried… and he’s just the right height) have been well listened to, and interpreted as something not pleasant. More impressive is that he’s associated it as something one would not appreciate and therefore is using it preemptively as a threat.

Now… if only someone would tell him that girls don’t have “nuts” and therefore the threat directed to one would go un-heeded…

(While changing diapers)

G: Daddy, I want my penis to be green!
S: What? You want a green penis?
G: Yeah!!!
S: Uhmn… I don’t know how we could do that.
G: I think you have to paint it!

I slacked off on pumpkin pics for the boys BIG time this year. All of a sudden, I turned around and Halloween was a week-end away. The Pumpkin Festival spoiled my plans one week-end, and general timing the next. So when all was said and done the first chance we had to take the kids for some pumpkin photos w/o the crazy was when we were visiting family in Virginia. It was a cold, recently wet day, and G wanted nothing to do with the gourds (despite the fact that he watched the Dinosaur Train gourd episode a dozen times before we arrived), but S2 at least sat amongst some orange orbs.

I really tried to cojole G to play along. I don’t know if he was shy or not, but he really wasn’t in the mood. I showed him Moonka amongst the pumpkins but really, all he wanted was to bury himself in dad’s sweater.

An “R/S” family photo:

S2 with his cousins. J was SO awesome with him. There’s a lot of love there, and seeing S2 peek over J’s shoulder as he carried him showed so much comfort and trust.

Oh my sweet, little monkey!

I am writing this as you are resting your head over my chest. We ended up here tonight after a battle of wills. As we’re visiting daddy’s family we are roomies, and I was happy to bed share with you. However, you refused to sleep w/o a boob in your mouth and no matter how many cuddles, pats, shushes and songs I gave you, none would suffice. So I put you in your Pack N’ Play, in which you cried even harder no matter how I tried to rest my hands on you or tried to comfort you. Finally I caved and brought you back into bed and you promptly conked out. I’m gonna say tonight’s battle was a draw. True, you are asleep by my side (without knowing on me) as I had initially hoped for, but you did your best to wear me down.

I am filled with pride, amusement and aggravation all at the same time for your stubbornness and determination. You know what you want, you go after it, and most of my attempts to redirect you go nowhere. You are a master, already, at sneaking in between my legs, going around me, and even pushing me aside. My wish for you is that this determination serves you well in life, and that you don’t drive me too crazy until then 🙂

Your cuddliness also makes my heart swell up. Since the day you were born you were happiest by my side. In the hospital you slept in my arm-pit as I cuddled around you. Just the simple proximity to another person calms you down. You showed me the sweet side of co-sleeping while my fear of it was constantly present. My wish for you is that you extend this desire for a human connection and embrace. That you continue teaching others the power of human touch despite their fears.

You’ve been in a rush to get to something all along. You showed up positive on a pregnancy test days before you were due to. You came into this world 3 weeks ahead of schedule. You walked earlier than I thought you would. I don’t know what you’re running towards, but my wish for you is that you make it worth-while.

I am sad already that you are no longer the teeny, sleepy, squeaky little baby of a year ago. I won’t experience those early baby days again. But I am so thankful that I am watching you grow in our presence.

You admire your big brother so much. The way your eyes smile at him, and the way you laugh at him (being funny) makes me so happy. My wish for you is that the two of you become good friends for life, and you find a strong bond beyond just DNA. Sure there will be lots of hair pulling, yelling and fighting along the way, but I hope those experiences will only help you find a way to each other down the line.

Here’s a video retrospective, showing just how far you’ve come

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/30940395]

Weight: 21lb

Height: 29″

Favorite activity: getting into trouble

Favorite food: Mum Mum crackers, and bananas

Number of teeth: 2, but by your attitude of late I hope more are on their way

Naughtiest moment: partying out like a rockstar for an hour and a half at 3am in the morning. Mommy is too old to party this hard, my friend

Important milestones: You walk!!!

Happy birthday!!!