The Unnaturally Good Son · Nov 5, 19:19
Tonight we had mixed grill (like a Brazilian Steakhouse) which means I cleaned out the freezer of miscellaneous things (one rib eye steak, one pork chop, three lamb chops), yams and black eyes peas.
Midway through dinner, Champe politely said, “Mom, I don’t care for the black eyed peas. I don’t like them as much as the other things.” I told him that was a very polite way of saying so, and that it was no problem.
He still finished his whole plate, including a decent serving of black-eyed peas.
When done, he said, “May I be excused please?”
I said, “Sure, where are you going?
He said, “To get dessert.”
I said, “What are you having for dessert?” (I’m thinking we have about 14 lbs of Halloween candy, and after that dinner, he sure deserves some….)
And his reply? “Tomatoes, carrots and hummus.”
All of which he went to the fridge and got for himself, served it all up in a bowl, ate, and then when there were a few carrots left over, got himself a ziplock, packaged them up and put them back in the fridge.
Don’t hate me for spawning the Perfect Son.
— LCM
Sorry we don't have enough to share..... · Sep 11, 16:13
For those of you with a patience for cliffhangers, here is news you have all been waiting for.
Todd has harvested a Muscadine. Yes, three fruitless years (and now we know where that phrase comes from), and finally in the fourth year we have fruit. And yes, that is intentionally singular. Here, in all it’s glory is the fruit of four years of labor.
Perhaps by labor you think I mean Todd, sweating away, trying to get his grape(s) to grow? No, I mean me. It was work, I am telling you – HARD PAINSTAKING INTENSE AND OFTEN FRUSTRATING WORK – to listen to the ENDLESS stories about the grapes, to be summoned out at random to view the progress of the vines, to smile and nod patiently while Todd waxed poetic about fertilizing, to not tear my hair out in frustration when he spent hours lovingly covering them to shield them from the cold.
Anyway, so there was one grape. And Todd and Champe shared it.
It was bigger than a dime, but smaller than a nickel.
And then on the second night there was a plentiful harvest and we invited Myles Standish and Squanto over to share in our bounty.
— LCM
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Maturity · Sep 5, 11:05
A couple weeks ago, Champe got out playdoh to work with, sort of late in the day. He worked independantly while Tine and I were getting dinner ready and entertaining Caden. At some point we told Champe dinner would be ready soon, and shortly he came into the kitchen and ate with us. After, Tine gave both boys a bath. Then she said, “Hey, we also have to clean up your playdoh before we go to bed.” Champe said, “I already cleaned it up before dinner.” Tine was understandably a litte skeptical, but when she went to check this is what she saw:
Trust me, it had been a total mess, and this is what Champe did, by himself, with no one telling him to, or helping.
Impressive, huh?
— LCM
Stacking & Laughing · Aug 16, 06:40
If this doesn’t make you giggle out loud, I don’t know what would.
— LCM
A duck and a tree · Aug 1, 10:16
Not bad, huh?
Probably the most important thing about this to record for posterity is that these drawings were done typical Champe style – all by himself. He has always been a person who could entertain himself – very unusual for a kid. This morning he’d been sitting there for a while and all of a sudden he said “I drew a duck.” I thought it was great and took the picture, and then a few minutes later I noticed the tree. I am very proud of his self-sufficiency and that he’s motivated to follow his own interests without adult intervention, encouragement or help.
— LCM
Now I'm Just Blogging to Show Off · Jul 28, 16:16
I didn’t want to include this in the recap of the last 90 days, b/c it’s fresh news.
Yesterday we had Caden’s baptism. It went fabulously, which translates to: he did not scream at any point during the service, including the part where they sprinkled his head. In fact, when the pastor walked him up the aisle to show him off to the congregants, he went all Barack Obama on us and starting waving to the crowd and trying to reach out and shake hands. He’ll probably get a few write in votes in the upcoming November election.
Anyway, it was a wonderful day, capped off by a long brunch at our house with family, many friends, and of course, Caden’s godparents, Jill & Brad and Kirstin & David. What’s a good Jewish girl doing being the godmom of an upstanding Methodist boy? Well, the covenant we make at our church is to live your life by Christ’s example, so that the child will come to know God’s love through your words and actions. Since Christ was a good Jewish boy, this should NOT be a conflict of interest for Jill. And you can tell Nana Susan I said so. (And tell her we had a bris for Champe too, so she knows we are multi-faith over here.)
Here are a couple shots from our wonderful day.
Mixed-Set Godparents, Brad and Kirstin, with Brad predictably teaching Caden some early geek skills.
Nana’s beautiful baptism cake.
— LCM
IQ Part Deux · Dec 27, 10:04
While I’m boasting, I should add that Champe started reading this week. He phonetically sounded out and read these words: box, cat, dog, and mat. This was self initiated; he just said, “Hey, I can read this,” and did.
Of course reading readiness has been going on for a while, and much credit is due to his buddy Zander who has impressively been reading for a while, and the Leap Frog Letter Factory and Word Factory DVDs, which Zander’s mommy and daddy turned us on to months ago.
— LCM
IQ · Dec 27, 09:03
The other morning while we were eating breakfast, Caden said, “Egg,” while Champe, Todd and I were all eating….... you guessed it — eggs!!!! Coincidence, or child prodigy??
(Yes, I know the “g” sound is the first consonant babies work with, but I’m a mom, I’m supposed to be prone to hyperbole.)
— LCM
Capable · Dec 5, 21:34
This is a true story.
Today I was nursing Caden so I asked Tine if she could make me a tuna salad sandwich on toast. Champe said, “I can make you a sandwich, Mommy.”
He then went to the fridge and took out bread. Next, he drug his stool to the counter, where he stood and took out two pieces of bread. He then got down and moved his stool in front of the toaster. He put both slices in, pushed the slider down and waited. (No one has ever specifically shown him how to do this, but of course he’s seen us make toast.) When the bread popped out he got it out and Tine handed him a plate (those are too high for him to reach.) He went to the fridge again, got the already-made tuna salad and spread it with a fork onto the toast. At that point I called out that I’d like sliced tomato. Tine did help him a little bit with that – though he used a real knife with her guidance. He then cut the sandwich in half and delivered it to me on the sofa.
I kid you not, with the exception of the tomato, no one was even coaching him about the next step or anything.
Guess I should have taken a picture of the sandwich, huh?
— LCM
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Our Birth Story · Sep 28, 20:49
Our lovely Caden joined us almost two days ago, and despite the below humorous, and true, post; he gave me the birth experience I truly wanted, but thought impossible (save those three lllllllooooonnnnnnggggggg minutes!!)
Before Champe came, we were prepared for a natural childbirth in a wonderful DC birth center. But, with an uncertain GBS status, PPROM, and preterm at 36 weeks, we needed and are very grateful for, our hospital birth. After 17 hrs of unmedicated labor, I was clinically exhausted and needed Pitocin and an epidural.
With that history, and at age 41, I wasn’t a great candidate for a birth center or home birth this time, and I was truly fine with that. Instead, we took hypnobirthing classes, rented a birth tub for laboring comfortably at home before the hospital, hired a wonderful doula, and a planned a delivery with the area’s best OB, Dr. Tchabo, Chief of Obstetrics at Virginia Hospital Center.
So on Wednesday evening, 38 weeks, 4 days pregnant, we had just arrived at Coral’s house for a playdate, when my water broke! (5:50 PM) Coral’s mom was happy for Champe to stay and hang out there for a while, since Todd and I clearly had stuff to do. So the two of us headed home. On the way, I called the doula and the doc, and had my first contraction at 6:20 PM.
At home, I headed up to bed and from 7-9 PM I tried to rest and do the hypnobirthing thing (which worked fine). A 9 I asked my doula (who’d by then arrived) for permission to get into the birth tub. I was 2 cm and 90% effaced. From 9-10:30 PM, the tub was wonderful—contractions were getting stronger but pretty manageable. Around 10:40 PM, I started to regret my “no drugs” policy (which in retrospect was a classic sign of transition) and got out of the tub with the intention of heading in to the hospital.
My first contraction out of the tub was, shall we say, less than pleasant, and I reacted by screaming (let me clarify that I do mean screaming) that I needed to be airlifted to the hospital right that second. The second classic transition sign, but I was still clueless. By the third and thankfully last transition contraction, I was fully delusional.
Seconds after, I felt the unbearable urge to push that they tell you about, but Aimee and Todd were still yelling at me to get up “because we were going to the hospital.” I finally said, “I don’t think you guys are LISTENING TO ME. Look down, the baby is coming right now.” And then Aimee saw it too; the head was right there. We didn’t even have time to call 911, we just had to do it.
From that point, all was well. Most of the pain was behind me, and some cavewoman I’ve never met (who is much more level-headed than I) took over, climbed back into that birthing tub, and carefully pushed that baby out in about 4 minutes flat. From 5 cm to baby in arms, it was about 11 minutes. Caden was born at 11:02 PM.
— LCM
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