Feeding the Birds

My first indication that we had a problem was when Eli started climbing up the stairs chanting, "Who's the cat? Who's the cat? Who's the cat?"*  I knew our troubles had escalated when I went around the corner in front of him at the grocery store and he cried out "Ca-Caw!"*  I decided I needed to take action when he was playing with Silas, who started to cry, and Eli said, "He's broken, I don't want to play with him any more."*

Then, my friend posted a link to a documentary on marketing to children, Consuming Kids.  It was all over.  I knew it was time to turn the television off and find something else to do with our days. 

So, out came the artillery.  I needed ideas, and I needed inspiration. I pulled out this book, called my mom for ideas, and made a list of things I want to do with Eli.  So it began: we put the DVDs in the closet, pulled out the double stroller, and went out to gather materials for our first morning of our new regime: we are going to fill our days with creative learning experiences, not movies!  And this is what we came up with:

There is a house down our street with an enormous pine tree in front of it.  From that pine tree hundreds of big, beautiful pine cones have fallen.  So, off we set down the road to collect some of the pine tree's offerings.  Eli went through several for every pine cone he picked.  Some were too small, some were too poky, some were smashed on one side, some were too big.  Finally he had picked five ravishing cones, and we were off to the grocery store for more supplies.  We needed peanut butter and bird seed.

We got home with everything we needed to make our little bird friends in our yard a snack. 

I wanted Eli to feel like he could do it himself, so I changed his shirt, gave him the spoon, and told him to dig in!

Silas watched from his Bumbo.

Eli enjoyed the peanut butter as much as the birds will, I'm sure. 

After we covered the pine cones in peanut butter, we rolled it in the bird seed, tied some wool yarn around it, and took it outside to hang for the birds.

We dropped the rest of the seed on the ground for the birds to eat, and went in to clean up. 

All in all, it was an incredibly successful day!  Eli didn't even ask once if we could watch a movie, and after it was all done he napped, without question, for two hours. Now, if I can just keep it up, our house will be littered with beautiful artwork and crafts made by Eli, and the ceaseless movie quoting will end!  Please feel free to comment with any brilliant ideas you may have for me! 


*Madagascar
*Robots
*Toy Story

When Three Became Four

The moment that Eli was placed on my chest (my arms were still strapped down to the table - what a wonderful memory) will forever be etched in my heart as the most emotional, wonderful moment of my life.  The primal instinct in me roared.  Despite the surgical birth we had just gone through, I didn't want anyone else to touch, or even look at my son.  I abruptly told Jared that he was not to worry about me, but that he wasn't to let our baby out of his sight.  I felt that every experience I had ever had culminated to that very instant, and that being a mother was all that I was ever meant to be.

I never felt the huge transition that some people say becoming a parent brings.  I don't know if I was blessed, or if the craziness that was my life when Eli was born didn't allow me to think much about it, but he and I didn't have much problem adjusting to each other. I felt prepared to take on the roll of motherhood, full throttle.  As the months since Eli entered our family have flown by, I have rarely felt overwhelmed or unprepared.  Sure, there have been moments of stress and worry, but in general I think I have handled it all pretty well.

Then came number two.

Who knew that this would be so much bigger of a transition for me, physically and emotionally.

In the first few days of Silas's life, I was dealing with, dare I say, disappointment of his birth, postpartum hormonal changes, and, most affecting, the emotional needs of my sweet two-year-old.  Up until the moment of Silas's birth Eli had been my best friend, my constant companion, and, other than Jared, my number one concern.  But suddenly all the rules changed.  He couldn't jump on the bed, because the baby was sleeping, nurse when he wanted, because the baby was nursing, scream, talk, stomp, or do so many things he had been allowed to do just days before, because of this new little creature we had brought home.  To be honest, I couldn't blame him when he asked us to take the baby "back to the hotel."  I found myself dealing with some of the same growing pains: never mind the surprise that the middle of the night feedings were, I wasn't prepared for the guilt and emotional exhaustion I would experience. I felt torn between the bonding that I wanted to do with my new sweet baby, and spending time letting Eli know that he was still just as important to me as ever.

Yet, here I sit, with my sweet, precious, wonderful baby boy sleeping beside me, and I can't imagine our family without him.  I feel like I have had to learn a whole new set of rules with him: he sleeps differently than Eli, nurses differently, plays differently, but each change is exciting and fun.  Juggling naptimes, bedtimes, nursing, meals and meaningful play has been an adjustment, that's for sure.  But, when Silas gently wakes us all up with his coos and smiles, and then Eli squeezes in between us to make him laugh, I know why we so badly wanted another child.  The joy that Eli's pronouncements to Silas that "if you see any bad guys, you tell your big brother, and I will get them for you" are worth more than I can express.  Silas's giggles when I run my hands across his back, or his squawks (for that's really what they are) of joy when he splashes in the bathtub, or his happy leg kicking every time Jared comes home from work bring so much happiness to our lives.

Sure, I just don't have time to spend hours staring at him, memorizing every feature of his face and recording every thing he does, but I am so grateful for the relationship that we do have, and am eternally happy that we didn't give into Eli and bring him back to the hotel.

A Picture a Day keeps Resentment Away

My little sister just got married.  She married the most wonderful, romantic, caring, amazing (did I mention wonderful?) man in the world.  We love them both!  Anyway, protocol dictated that she make a super cute slideshow, following her and her sweetheart through their childhood, teenage years, and short sojourn as young single adults, with the big finale of the very few pictures that they have of them together, since they were engaged for like, a minute.  I actually didn’t get to see the finished product, because my dad was sick of standing in the line-up shaking hands all night, and couldn’t stand one more thing on the program, so axed it at the last minute.  Sad. 

Anyway, the point of telling this tale is to make a point, I swear.  You see, when Chloe was collecting the pictures for her super cute slideshow she was astounded to discover just how few pictures there were of her. Like every other 7th child, she found, that despite what a beautiful child she was, there was very little photographic evidence to prove it.  I, of course, offered the picture of her at age 3 that found its way into my super cute wedding slideshow (I guess I must have been just as beautiful, since my own mother couldn’t tell us apart at age three, even though there is 8 years between us, and at age 3 I would have been wearing some awful brown, while Chloe was wearing neon pink, blue and yellow.) 

Due to the wonderful emergence of digital photography, I probably have as many photos of the first 5 months of Silas’ life than there are of Chloe’s entire childhood. Still, I think I have about half as many pictures of Silas than I did of Eli at this point in his life.  And, more often than not, if the camera does come out, it is to take even more pictures of Eli.  It seems that drooling just isn’t as exciting the second time around (I have an uncanny amount of pictures of Eli drooling, which is about all that babies do at 5 months old.)

"After much deep and profound brain things inside my head, I have decided to..." (King Julien the Thirteenth, self proclaimed Lord of the Lemurs) make a New Blog Resolution!  My resolution, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, is to take a picture of each boy every single day.  I’ll admit that not every picture will be fabulous, but at least then I will have a greater chance of having a few fabulous pictures of each stage of their lives.  So, the pictures you see here were taken at the quilting store, with my phone, but taken none the less.  I’m not going to post the pictures every day, but every once in a while I will, just to prove that I have not abused the power of the New Blog Resolution, which power, I’m sure I will discover, is immense!

See you later, Crocodile!