Sophie has recently discovered the rocking chair that Mary Kay's grandparents gave her 38 years ago. 6-24-04 

Baxter's Latest Obsession

We got a catalog in the mail from a company called Smith & Thompson, with all things Thomas the Tank Engine (or, as Baxter usually says, “Ank Engine”). Since the moment I gave it to him, he’s been dragging it all over the house, poring over it for an hour at a time. He’ll bring it to any available adult and say, “Let me show you what I don’t want,” which is actually a wise move since it’s a shorter list than what he DOES want. Fortunately he hasn’t latched onto the Thomas-shaped toddler bed, but it may only be a matter of time. I’ve had to tape the catalog together once already. Sigh.

A "Fun" Activity

On the Sunday before Memorial Day, we got lucky and all three kids had a good nap. This was unusual, as Madeline has not napped regularly since I was pregnant with Sophie, and Baxter has not napped in well over a year, either. Jon & I talked about it, noting they’d probably be up late, and I said, “we should do something we can’t ordinarily do because it’s too late.” Jon had the BRILLIANT idea of taking them to the drive-in movie. There’s still one near us, and it was supposed to close last year but is open for one final season. “Shrek 2” was playing, and we got all three kids in their jammies, fed them dinner, popped corn, and set off about 45 minutes before the movie was to start.

Our first sign of trouble was a line that backed up onto the limited-access road above the theater. We slowed to a crawl, and gradually made our way down to the road the theater’s on. As we crept toward the entrance, taking odds on the likelihood they’d be sold out when we got there, Baxter said “my tummy hurts.” I questioned him, and he didn’t seem to be nauseous, but it wasn’t completely clear. Just as we got to the turn to the box office, people began to leave, telling us the movie was sold out. We thought we should do SOMETHING for them, as they had not known where we were headed in the first place, and there were some Little League fields a couple of exits away. I checked with Baxter—“My tummy’s fine”--- and we headed off. After the first exit he wailed, “My tummy hurts!” and we talked about pulling over. I asked if he felt like he had to throw up, and he said he did. Jon dismissed this, noting that he’d hardly ever thrown up and how would he know if he had to. We passed the second exit. Less than a minute later, Baxter started to ralph. He threw up all over his jammies, his car seat, his blankie (but narrowly missed his Stuffed Buzz)…

The next exit was (it seemed) miles away, and Madeline was screaming, “Stop! He’s throwing up! Stop! Help him!” Finally we pulled over, and Jon got him out of his seat (yuck), peeled off his jammies & underpants (ewwww), and I put the still-dry side of his blankie over the wet parts of the car seat for him to sit in--- naked. Since we weren’t in the van (we’d thought they’d be able to see better from Jon’s Impala), we didn’t have the change of clothes I usually carry everywhere. I found a burp cloth in Sophie’s bag that I stuffed between the seat buckle and his little parts, and we headed home.

As we passed the screen from the highway, Baxter said, “Mom! There’s a movie! Outside!” It wasn’t Shrek (it was the other screen), but I felt compelled to tell them that’s where we’d been going. Madeline started to yell in outrage, “We’re going HOME? Why can’t we go to the movie? I want to go!” Her brother’s plight, nauseous and naked on the other side of the back seat, left her unmoved.

Needless to say, when we got home about 9:00, they were all nodding off. An inauspicious ending to our big adventure!

Madeline and Baxter enjoyed the rides at the People's Fair last weekend. Note Baxter's jaunty sunglass position; he does this a lot, and Mary Kay thinks it makes him look like some frat boy... 

Madeline was "Principal for a Day" at preschool, and the role really suited her. 5/04 

Though trapped in her stroller, Sophie appears to be enjoying the festivities at Madeline's preschool graduation. (There were strawberries involved.) 5/17/04 

Madeline's decked out in what looks to be the entire contents of her dress-up drawer. 5/04 

Baxter rarely smiles in photos; this is about as good as it gets! 5/04 

Trying Something New

Hi, all. We're trying to keep up with technology, so we're moving our family site to a blog format. Don't expect daily postings, but we hope to be able to put out quick updates on a more regular basis. (In addition to time pressures, technological problems prevented an update of our previous site after Sophie was born.)

So here's the latest:

Sophie's nearly 16 months old and she has a TEMPER. She reminds us of Madeline in that way, though neither of us remember it being quite this challenging with Madeline. Perhaps this is because we had ONLY Madeline to deal with? Most of the time Sophie is incredibly sunny and sweet, giving kisses, petting the dogs, following her brother and sister around... but deny her what she wants, and you think her head's gonna spin around. She has several words now, including "mick" (milk), "boock" (book), "baby," and the all-purpose "goock," which means, "look at that!" or "I want that!" or "what on earth could that thing be?" She also says "whazzat" like her brother did, and imitates most any word or sound. "Yee-hah" while she rode the horse at the supermarket this morning is one of the best.

Baxter is a little over three and lives on Planet Baxter. He is stoic but not gloomy, just having little to say much of the time. He and Madeline have been in day camp for a couple of weeks; if you ask him what he does there, it's "I dunno." If you ask who's in his class (or most any question to which he doesn't know the answer but suspects he should), it's "I not going to tell you." He's a mischievous little bugger, too, not above sneaking a treat if you're not looking or breaking any rule he deems unneccessary or inconvenient. He's so sweet and loving, though, it's hard to stay mad about his various antics. He often says to one of us "I want to love on you!" or "I want to be wif you." His obsessions, and I do NOT use that word lightly, are Buzz Lightyear and Thomas the Tank Engine. Rarely does a sentence pass his lips without one of those in it (unless it contains "snack").

Madeline will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and she is quite excited. She's a bit ambivalent, though, as it means leaving behind nearly all of her buddies from the last three years of preschool. She's just on the cusp of reading (and can occasionally make out a word, as when she announced, "My jammies say 'cat nap'!"). She loves art and Disney Princesses (ewwww-- but better than Barbie, says her mom), and she and Baxter play so well together. They will often disappear for an hour or so, playing some elaborate game (usually involving Buzz Lightyear and the Space Ranger persona Jon made up for Madeline, Micheline Morningstar). She is looking forward to her 5th birthday party, an encore beach party (her 3rd was as well). We have strict instructions that the pool must have fish on it. Um, okay, Madeline.

In other news, Jon has been working 13-hour days as Dex rolls out its new, all-encompassing computer system (replacing something like 70 separate, legacy systems) and he runs the "Solution Center." The center, which Mary Kay likes to call Mission Control or Command Central, is the place everyone calls to report defects, problems, etc. It has been a very demanding couple of weeks since the first regional roll-out; there are two more roll-outs to go before summer's over. Sigh. We're both chronically exhausted, and need a vacation.

Hope you all are well, and we'd love to hear from you. E-mail or call!