a lunchtime conversation: the birds and the bees

apropos of absolutely nothing at all, hugh and i have the following conversation:

hugh: where do babies come from?
me: where do you think babies come from?
hugh: target!
me: target? what about henry?
hugh: henry came from target. {pointing to henry} find the target symbol!
me: uh, sure. we'll look for it after lunch.


i guess you can get anything at target these days.

six months of henry

• can now burp on his own. hooray!
• can roll every which way and uses rolling as a form of locomotion. he's been known to get lodged under the sofa
• can ::almost:: sit unassisted. (he toppled over shortly after the above picture)
• still thinks he's the handsomest, funniest person in the mirror
• eats the following: pears, apples, sweet potatoes, squash and peas. hugh is also a re-converted fan to baby purees. silly older brother!
• doesn't mind when i dress him in absurd hats. see below for proof

ham

me: hugh, what would you like for dinner?
hugh: ham.
me: ham??
hugh: yeah! ham!

a day like today

• 6:00am: it becomes patently obvious that henry is not going back to sleep. go to get him and he laughs at me. dude, it's 6am, please read the memo about the time change. within the next hour i make coffee, get the paper, watch the news, play with henry and feed him a bottle
• 7:00am: young master hugh arises
• 7:45am: breakfast for everyone!
• 8:30am: get henry, hugh & i dressed, get henry into a nap
• 10:00am: playdate! hugh makes a turkey and plays with trains. i discover that henry's bottle decided to spontaneously disgorge 3 ounces of itself into my (surprise!) dry clean only diaper bag. a good time was (seriously) had by all.
• 11:45am: lunch for everyone!
• 12:45pm: naps for everyone!
• 1:00pm: mama considers a beer, but decides against it
• 3:15pm: snack for everyone!
• 4:30pm: hugh decides that life as he knows it depends on going to the park. immediately. it looks like rain but, sure why not? toss both boys into the car and we zoom off. hugh has a blast on the swings and slides. "these swings are fun, mama!"
• 5:30pm: dinner for everyone! wine for mama! henry becomes increasingly convinced that fingers are an appropriate chaser for rice cereal.
• 6:30pm: bath for henry
• 7:00pm: henry sleeps....
• 7:15pm: bedtime for hugh

during dinner i could answer honestly when hugh asked "mama happy". yes, baby boy, mama's happy.

henry at five months

• can roll over in both directions
• likes to have raspberries blown on his belly
• can almost sit up by himself, but is still more wobbly then weebly
• still prefers to be naked and especially likes to make funny faces at the naked baby in the mirror.
• is getting closer to being able to burp on his own

five months of henry

happy five months, mr. h.!

change

scene: getting hugh dressed after his nap. he's fiddling with the pocket of his overalls.

me: hugh, do you have something in your pocket?

hugh: yes.

me: what?

hugh: change.

???

happiness is...

sitting in a dusk-darkened nursery holding your sleeping baby while sipping a glass of red wine.

mama. hand.

i took the boys for a walk this afternoon since there was still a half hour until dinner and i was running out of ways to be entertaining. plus hugh loves walking around the neighborhood pilfering flowers.

i mentioned the pilfering and collecting, right? because after a couple of blocks, he'll have picked 2 dandelions, a stick, a stalk of liriope and other assorted flowers and detritus. i always end up his pack mule, carrying the bounty.

towards the end of our walk he starts grabbing at the wilted assortment in my hand, but never grabbed anything and was just getting frustrated. i finally asked "hugh, just pick something, what do you want??"

"mama. hand."

getting my ducks in a row

huh. it's been awhile. there's even a whole new human in the house, henry.

time has flown in more ways the me just not updating. hugh starts pre-school tomorrow. how, exactly, did it happen that i have a child that is now old enough for pre-school? can't figure it out, but there it is.

in an effort to save time and space and to keep up to date, here's the latest on the two (!!) boys in a handy bullet-point list:

hugh

* still loves balloons and flowers. he can identify verbally the following: sunflowers, day lilies, zinnias, puff balls and tulips.
* loves, and i mean loves, bleu cheese. kid, you're two years old, from whence the exotic tastes? nevertheless, he asks for it a couple of times a day so i have a feeling that the artisanal cheese shop will be seeing quite a bit of us.
* his obsession with wearing pajamas and only pajamas is slowly waning. i just figured out today that he calls all pajamas 'red cars' after one of his pairs. must be some hugh-specific shorthand.

henry

* loves being naked. no, seriously. take the kid's clothes off and he giggles and smiles.
* still can't figure out how to burp on his own.
* has the cutest bald spot on the back of his head.
* loves to snuggle. unfortunately, he also likes to be held upright so the snuggling often results in a sore and tired upper arm from holding 15 lbs. of baby.

happiness is...

dancing in the dining room to 'james' at 8:30am with your son and hearing him giggle the entire time.