Becoming a Bookworm

On Thursday, Sept. 10, Kevin and I dropped off Harmon in his new classroom for the first time. He’s transformed from a Lightning Bug to a Bookworm now at Annie’s Children’s Center and being a Bookworm is serious business. When we went to orientation in August, his teacher busted out the workbooks and we were like WTF! Neither of us (or our siblings) ever went to daycare or preschool so this whole thing is foreign to us. But, we’re all in so we got him some workbooks for home too.

We’re not exactly sure when we’ll start him in kindergarten (his birthday is JUST before the cut-off date so it’s up to us) but we’re determined that he be at least academically ready (if you can use the word “academically” when referring to kindergarten).

All this workbook talk is a bit of a change for him after his summer of hot lunches, field trips (Mill Pond Park, Timber Town Park, Kerrytown Bell Tower, etc.) and being the big man on the playground (he was the oldest in his class this summer as the handful of kids older than him made the move to the Bookworm room in June). He was fine his first day and was excited about it beforehand, noting with excitement that his NEW room has computers. It also helps that he “visited” a few times over the summer months. I’m sure he’ll be fine as he usually adapts pretty well to new situations. And, we’re excited about all that he’ll learn in this new environment, even if it does put him one step closer to “real” school.

Simon @ 9 months

We had Simon’s 9-month appointment on Sept. 4 and, after the weigh-in, our doctor declared him “mega baby.” While we’re fine with our big, healthy boy, we couldn’t help but think back to his first week when we had to wake him to eat so he wouldn’t keep losing weight!

He is a big boy – 23.5 pounds and JUST shy of 29 ¾ inches – although STILL not as big as Harmon at the same age (25.3 pounds and 30 ½ inches). While he may be smaller than his big brother, he definitely beats him when it comes to cuddling. He loves to snuggle up to you when you’re holding him and he’ll just lay with you and reach for you the time and again. He doesn’t like it at all if you get too far from him. He’s such a good baby – we’ve so far been blessed with two of them – and he really only cries when he wants his food. He has six teeth now – top front, bottom front and one on each side of the bottom fronts – and you would never know he cut them, unless you measured the amount of drool that flows from his mouth.

He wakes up so happy, after going down between 8:45 – 9:15 p.m. each night (I know, I know, our boys have late bedtimes compared to most). While he’s not too active in his sleep, he has figured out how to successfully sleep on his side, which is adorable. Just like his big bro, he prefers to roll rather than crawl to get where he needs to go. He is developing quite a repertoire of words, which sadly still does not include “mama!” I honestly feel like he’s holding out on me on purpose, especially after my parents have sworn THEY’VE heard him say it. He says dada, along with baba, rara, wawa and what sounds like an “h” sound. He’ll probably say some version of Harmon before he says mama! He also loves to make this teeth-sucking sound and is interested in any mouth noise you can make.

He eats a ton and is getting new and different foods all the time, with yogurt and a few different kinds of dry cereal being the big highlights. One of his favorite things to do before he eats is to kick the tray off his high chair. I think this may signify that we’re just taking too damn long to get his food ready!

He loves his toys, loves going to “school” and especially loves his big brother. At times, Harmon can get him to smile or laugh even when we can’t. Now that Simon is a little bigger, he and Harmon are starting to play together a bit and it’s great to see (and will be for many years to come).

His eyes are still blue and they don’t look like they’re changing anytime soon. Still baffled by this, I spoke with my Dad a bit about his family background. After thinking about it a bit, he remembered that his Uncle Johnny had blue eyes and blond hair. So, assuming someone in Kevin’s biological family has blue eyes, this might explain it. I also learned that my great Uncle Johnny was a minor league baseball player so maybe Simon will inherit his baseball skills too (note: my Dad was a not-too-shabby baseball player too). Genetics are amazing!

Running the bases

We took the boys to their last Tigers’ game of the season on Sunday, Aug. 30 (um, happy birthday, Kevin). The Tigs won (we got ANOTHER Verlander game), which is always a good thing, and Harmon tore up the base paths after the game. His first year, I had to hold him and run with him. His second year, he was very hesitant and was kind of scared. This year, wow, he flew and had so much fun with it. Check him out:

Newt Pneumonia?

After Harmon was diagnosed on a Monday, Aug. 24, we tried like hell to a) keep them apart (yeah, right) and b) disinfect the entire house but, as the end of the week approached, I feared that Simon had pneumonia as well. So, we hightailed it back to East Ann Arbor General Pediatrics. After a quick listen to his little lungs, he also was sent for an x-ray. Let me just say that a 9 month old getting an x-ray is a pathetic sight! He sat on the same “seat” as Harmon sat on but they had to strap his arms up with four different Velcro contraptions and also had to put some kind of plastic strap contraption under his chin so he would not look down and interfere with the x-ray. Of course, he was perfect throughout the whole thing – he didn’t make a peep. While we waited for the x-ray, Simon received his first Albuterol treatment via the nebulizer, which seemed to help. The doctor then came back and informed us that Simon DID NOT have pneumonia but advised us to keep up with the treatments for a few days and just to keep an eye on things. Over the weekend, he improved a ton and by the time he had his scheduled 9-month appointment, he was just fine (thankfully)!

‘Nator Pneumonia

A few weeks ago, Harmon wasn’t feeling well. He was coughing a bit so we suspected just a summer cold but it turned out to be a little more than that. On Sunday, Aug. 22, he was having a tough time breathing. He would play a little and then crash on the couch, which never happens! And, when we ventured out to the U-M Football Fan Day, he couldn’t walk more than 10 feet or so without stopping to rest. So, the next day, we went to the doctor and he was diagnosed with pneumonia in his left lung. The highlight of the doctor’s visit (besides his stats – 41 pounds and 40 ¾ inches) was his x-ray. We told him he had to get a picture taken so he was smiling big when they were taking his x-ray! The doctor started him on some antibiotics and we continued with the breathing treatments we usually do when he gets a cold and he felt better right away. He got a little winded for a week or so but otherwise he was back to normal quickly.

FOLLOW-UP: He had a check-up at Simon’s 9-month appointment (on Sept. 4) and was given a clean bill of health!

Just a little poke … or 8!

After the great cashew butter and jelly incident in Chicago, we, along with Harmon’s doctor, thought it might be a good idea if Harmon got some allergy testing. So, on Aug. 19, we headed to the U-M Food Allergy Clinic at Domino’s Farms. Side note: while we were parking, we saw a few longhorns as this clinic is in the same complex as the Domino’s Petting Zoo. Holy cow (har, har), they are HUGE! I also can see how there would be some serious goring happening with those things around!

ANYWAY, after talking to the allergist a bit about what happened and other things that we’ve figured out Harmon is allergic to, it was time for some testing. Instead of doing it on his back, which we were expecting, the technician did four picks on the inside of each of his forearms. He then had to sit for 20 minutes to give his body time to react to the serums. I held him on the exam table while he sat with his arms facing up and resting on a pillow. The clinic had portable DVD players (and Harmon watched Air Buddies) so that made the 20 minutes go by much faster. We could see him getting small hives on some of the picks so what we thought was confirmed. He is allergic to fish, eggs (straight eggs only, like scrambled eggs), cashews (NO WAY), pecans, walnuts and hazelnuts. Surprisingly, he wasn’t allergic to almonds (he has had those on a couple of occasions with no reaction) but the doctor recommended we just steer clear of all tree nuts just to be safe. We also had orders for a blood draw but we decided he had been through enough that day. So, we instead headed to Toys R Us where he got a nice Cars surprise.

Since the testing, he’s been just fine. We’re learning how to avoid tree nuts, mostly by reading food labels, and we have an EpiPen for emergencies. If I HAD to choose, I would rather have him allergic to tree nuts than peanuts, mostly because he wouldn’t be able to have PBJ anymore. This is his favorite thing in the whole world AND the thing that really got this allergy business started.

This is the ONLY cool thing about Chuck E. Cheese's:

Funny Harmon things

10 funny things about Harmon lately:

1) We let him ride his tricycle down to the fire hydrant in front of our neighbors’ house and back again. When you ask him where he's going, he says he’s going to ride his bike down to the “fire department.”

2) When Harmon was a baby and we all would snuggle up in the bed, he always used to roll toward Kevin. Kevin would say that Harmon was “bum rushing” him. The other day, both boys were in the bed and Simon started rolling toward Harmon. Harmon promptly said that Simon was “bumming” him.

3) He sings “We Made You” by Eminem. He also loves the video.

4) His favorite cookies are Pepperidge Farm Chessman Cookies. BUT, he calls them Chester Cookies.

5) He has a new-found love of strawberry Pop-Tarts.

6) He calls Taco Bell “Bells.” We’re not sure why. We’ve never taken him there and we’ve only been through the drive-thru a few times since he was born.

7) His “th” sound comes out as an “f” sound. He’ll say, on bath night for example, “I don’t have to take a baf?”

8) Sometimes, his “s” sounds come out as “sh” sounds. Case in point – sausage becomes shaushage. Hilarious!

9) Instead of ridiculous, things are ridicleous to Harmon!

10) He just recently decided that he likes things like frozen yogurt and donuts, after basically refusing to try these things for almost three years.

Three hots and a cot

I’ve always loved the “three hots and a cot” line from Boyz n the Hood so I like to work it in when I can!

Anyway, on Monday, July 6 – which happened to be the first day of our vacation – we started Simon on a three-meals-a-day schedule. He had cereal and fruit for breakfast; cereal and vegetable for lunch; and fruit and vegetable for dinner. With each meal, he also had a bottle and then had one last bottle before bed. So far, it’s going very well. Let it be known he’s not one to turn down any food. I buy the two-pack tubs of Gerber baby food and he was having a half tub at each meal so we were going through one tub of fruit and one tub of vegetable each day. Since it’s been about a month of this and he’s still ALWAYS hungry, tomorrow we’re upping the intake to one tub at each meal.

His nine-month appointment isn’t until Sept. 4 and we can’t wait to see how much he weighs. I’m thinking he might finally catch big brother.

Simon @ Eight Months

Simon’s eighth month was pretty eventful. He delved more into the world of Gerber baby food and transitioned to a more regular eating schedule. When he’s hungry, which seems to be a lot of the time, he does this wrist twist thing, complete with spirit fingers. It’s too cute. One thing that's not so cute is when he gets his feet up under his high chair and kicks it off when you're trying to feed him.

ANYWAY, because of all the eating, and subsequent growing, we had to move him to the next car seat. He finally outgrew his carrier – our trip to Chicago was his last time in it – so on Monday, July 13, he got to ride in his big, comfy seat. This move to the next car seat also allowed us to ditch the matching stroller and bust out the Jeep stroller, which we like SO MUCH BETTER.

While he hasn’t sprouted any more teeth to help with the food, lots of other things have been going on with the mouth. He has had a “dada” explosion and loves to blow raspberries. The scream pterodactyl scream subsided for a few weeks and then returned but along with it came a lot more babbling and gurgling. He sometimes sounds like the singing Gizmo from Gremlins when he gurgles! He is ticklish in the rib area on both sides and, if you get him at a good time, he’ll laugh really hard. He laughs a lot and is happy most of the time, especially in the morning even when he wakes up full of pee. Just like his brother, he seems to prefer rolling to crawling. If you put him on the floor, he is gone in a flash, especially if Harmon’s cars are anywhere in the general vicinity. And, speaking of Harmon, Simon is SO IN LOVE with his big brother. No matter what is going on, once he hears or sees Harmon he is locked on him. Seeing them like this is something so sweet that I can’t even come close to putting it into words!

He’s finally adjusted to school and is doing very well. He plays and talks and the word on the street is that he loves to body paint. And, one last note, as of eight months, his eyes are still blue, which CONTINUES to baffle us. We’ll see if there’s a change in month #9!

Guess we won’t have to worry about Harmon picking the cashews out of the bowl of mixed nuts at Christmas (who DOES that?)!

Not too long ago, I was bitching up a storm about kids and their damn peanut allergies. Harmon loves PBJ and I KNOW he’ll eat it but I can’t pack it in his lunch because some kids in his class are allergic. Well, all that bitching came back to haunt me when we were in Chicago on vacation.

My sister, Stacey, offered to watch the boys after work while Kevin and I shopped so we stopped to pick up something for Harmon to eat for dinner. We searched for old reliable – PBJ – but could only find CASHEW butter and jelly so we bought it. About 45 minutes into our shopping trip, I got a call from Stacey. She said Harmon didn’t like his sandwich so I told her to make sure he ate everything else and we would bring something back for him to eat when we returned. Problem solved. Just a few minutes later, Stacey called back again and calmly explained that Harmon is PUKED. She’s not sure WHY but she would love for us to get back to the hotel ASAP. We practically jog up Michigan Avenue all the while thinking WTF. When I open the door to our hotel room, I see Harmon sitting on the couch looking like a blowfish. His eyes are all puffy and swollen, his nose is running like a faucet and he’s having some trouble breathing. He’s already puked so the ONE BITE he took is out of him, thankfully. I had some Benadryl so I gave him some and then I TRIED to get him to calm down. He was crying so hard, probably because he had NO IDEA what the hell was going on. I held him for about an hour and he finally settled down and then got totally ravenous. Kevin ran out to get some dinner (so glad the Cheesecake Factory was less than a block away) and Harmon ate the whole time he was gone. He then ate what Kevin brought back too. By bedtime, his breathing was back to normal and most of the swelling had gone down. The next morning, he just looked a little puffy, like maybe he had just been crying.

He has had small reactions to food before (some face puffiness from scrambled eggs and a measle-looking rash on his chest from fish) but NOTHING like this. When we got back home, we went to see our pediatrician who promptly a) wrote us a prescription for an Epi-pen (YIKES) and b) referred us to a pediatric allergist. Our appointment is Aug, 19.

Since the great cashew incident of 2009, I’ve learned a lot about peanuts versus tree nuts. I’ve also replayed that night in my head many times. I’m glad he only had one bite and I’m glad Stacey and I didn’t decide to “play the heavy” and make him eat the rest of his sandwich (we often have to do that – he IS three, after all). I’m also glad he didn’t LIKE it – can you imagine? I think we all aged about 10 years that night, especially Stacey. Here’s hoping we don’t discover any other such allergies along the way.

And, to all those allergic to peanuts, I am so sorry! I feel you!

Was Harmon blown away by the Windy City?

Hard to say; after all, he is just three-and-a-half. But, our first family vacation as a foursome was a lot of fun for me and Aimee and the boys. We drove to Chicago July 6 and came back to Ann Arbor July 10. In between, we saw fish and sharks and dinosaur bones and the White Sox and Navy Pier and the inside of more train cars than Aimee ever wants to see again.

Monday, July 6
We left Ann Arbor about 10:30 a.m. and rolled into Chicago just after 3 p.m. We checked into the Hilton Suites/Magnificent Mile, ditched the car for the week, and had a little bit of downtime before heading out to dinner with Aunt Stacey and soon-to-be Uncle Marc. It was there on the 26th floor of the Hilton that Harmon saw it for the first time: yes, for 5 days, he was simply transfixed on the parking ramp attached to the adjacent John Hancock Center. Every morning, he had his breakfast near the window so he could watch the cars circle for hours. We packed the stroller and boys and headed out to Gino’s East for a dinner of, what else, Chicago-style pizza. We peeked a little at the stores on Michigan Avenue, and even went into the Disney Store to look for more cars from Harmon’s obsession: the movie, “Cars.” We took it easy for the rest of the night and, true to our intentions of being rested and ready to go when the boys beckoned, were in bed by 10:30 p.m. most nights.

Tuesday, July 7
On our first full day in Chicago, Harmon and I walked a few blocks to Water Tower Place to get a few breakfast items, including, as Harmon told a few people in the hotel elevator, “We need to get a poppy for Mommy.” This was our morning ritual during our time in Chicago and Harmon loved it because he got to ride the escalators up and down every morning. He also liked going up and down in the elevators and showed he is well on his way to being our little gentleman, as he always held the doors for people getting on and off.

Our first trip took us to the Shedd Aquarium. We took the redline from the Chicago/State Street station to the Roosevelt stop and walked a few blocks to the museum campus. Once we got to the entrance, we realized the best thing we ever did for the trip happened when Aimee purchased the City Pass, which allows you to enter several tourist points for one price. While we did have to stand in line for a half-hour or so, it was nothing compared to the snake of a line down the front steps and the adjoining sidewalk.

Once inside, we took in all of the galleries and then went below to see the penguins, beluga whales and sharks. Harmon paid a little attention; he might have liked it more if we had been able to see the water show that is put on several times a day, but it was full twice while we were there. We did purchase starfish stuffed animals for the boys. Harmon named his “Blueberry,” called it “his grandson,” and told us many times in the subsequent days that “Blueberry misses me so much; I am going to go home and give him a hug.” You can’t make this stuff up.

We headed back to the train so Harmon and Simon could rest for a few hours before we headed to U.S. Cellular Field to see the White Sox-Indians game. We hopped the redline back down to the Southside and purchased the cheapest tickets we could find ($23, but still better than going to the city’s other dump of a baseball stadium). After walking up seemingly 30 ramps (because we had Simon in the stroller), we reached the 500 level, which could affectionately be called the nosebleed pavilion. We knew we would not be able to see much of the game, but we sat for a few innings before the boys were ready to head back uptown. It is funny that we were 250 miles from home, but because Harmon was wearing his Michigan sweatshirt, he got politely “trash-talked” by an Indians fan. See, even during baseball season, Ohio fans/residents are obsessed with Michigan 24/7. It was all in good fun. Another train ride and short walk put us back in the hotel and in bed for the night.

Wednesday, July 8
The start of the day brought another train ride and trip back to the museum campus and the Field Museum. Not the greatest place for kids, but we did enjoy looking at “Sue,” the huge dinosaur skeleton on display in the main gallery. We walked around a few of the other galleries, including one we thought would be on the planets; instead it was plants. I guess it shows how tired we were that day. We thought about heading to the nearby Adler Planetarium, but it was raining and Harmon did not seem to be in the mood for more galleries. We headed back to the hotel for a little R&R before Aunt Stacey came to watch the boys while we did a little shopping.

We hopped back on the train to Lincoln Park so Aimee could shop at the Patagonia store. We had just made it back into the city when Stacey called to say that it seemed like Harmon was allergic to his dinner. We had bought him a cashew butter and jelly sandwich to take the place of his favorite meal (PB&J), and the interaction was not a good one. We ran back to the hotel and found our firstborn looking like a blowfish with puffy eyes and hives. We gave him some Benadryl and he calmed down pretty quickly, but there were some anxious moments. We felt so bad for Stacey; obviously it was not her fault, but it had to be scary to see her nephew have an allergic reaction. We had missed dinner, so we ordered takeout from the nearby Cheesecake Factory. All in all, a good way to end a crazy day.

Thursday, July 9
Our last full day in Chicago was the mostly leisurely, but also involved the most walking. We stopped at a few stores, including Niketown. The merchandise was awesome, as always, but it was also depressing. Right as you walk in the door, you are hit with Terrelle Pryor and Juice Williams jerseys. It is then that you are reminded that Michigan dumped Nike for Adidas and their riches, so there was not a single piece of maize and blue clothing to be found. Ugh! After that uplifting experience, we then had the worst meal of our lives at ESPNZone. We then walked about a half-mile to Navy Pier, where we had to get after some Garrett Popcorn and walked to the end of the pier. Harmon was a little fussy, so I faked that I had thrown his “Sally” car from the movie into the drink. He bought it, no pun intended, hook-line-and-sinker, and it wasn’t until the next day that we had him convinced that Sally swam all the way back to our hotel to find him again. He still believes it.

After Navy Pier, we wanted to see one last attraction: Millennium Park. It has the coolest fountain that features the faces of Chicago residents spitting water on the shallow pond below. Aimee and Harmon took a cab to the park, while Simon and I hoofed it to the park, as Harmon was getting tired after our long walks. Harmon really dug it there, even when I dragged him under the spout and he got soaked. We jumped the train back north (our final train ride, during which we realized that Harmon was now naming the next stops), and after Aimee and boys were safely just a few blocks from the hotel, I headed back out to P.F. Chang’s for takeout. Great call by Aimee, especially since I owed her one after our lunch tasted like ass. After a brief stop in the hotel pool, which included Simon's first swim, the boys took it easy, Harmon assumed his perch in front of the window to the study the parking ramp next door, and we began to pack for home.

Friday, July 10
We were all packed and ready to leave, and thought about going to the top of the John Hancock Center, but the weather was cloudy and the visibility would have been poor. So, we decided to check out, fetch the car and begin our trek back to Ann Arbor. We did drive north and by Wrigley Field. The Cubs were playing the Cardinals in about two hours, and there were a ton of Redbird fans there. It was entertaining to see all the lowly Cub fans who have successfully embarked on their second century chasing that elusive next World Series. Harmon summed the trip up perfectly as we urged him to take a look at the stadium as we drove by: “I am not concerned with that; I am concerned with the train station.” We thought about going to see Northwestern University, but it started to rain and so we decided to just head back. After some fun on the I-90-94 parking lot, we were in Indiana and headed east.

Overall, it was a great trip and the boys, while worn out, seemed to enjoy what we had planned. The good: Food, “Blueberry” and Millennium Fountain. The bad: Cashew allergies, Cub fans and Simon’s newfound pterodactyl scream (loud and piercing!). The ugly: The end of our first family vacation; ESPNZone lunch, and my still-throbbing deep bone bruise from trying to jump one of the subway turnstiles.

Thanks to Aimee for planning such a great trip. She is always so thoughtful in trying to plan fun things for the boys!

P.S. – Our vacation coincided with the week that Simon went to three meals a day. Let’s just say that No. 2 is an absolute eating machine, and if you are late getting his “ba-ba” or vegetables or fruit into his grill, he will let you know about it. Overall, he was very well-behaved on the trip, and it had to be hard for him to be sitting in the stroller all the time.

Late seven-month update

The night of Simon’s six-month appointment, we started with the baby food and fed him some vegetables. We chose squash first, only because Harmon liked it, but Simon wasn’t so into it. He liked it the first night – probably because it was something different – but he didn’t really dig it after that. We then moved on to (in this order) carrots, sweet potatoes, peas and green beans. Next was the fruit, which, surprise, went much better. He had, in this order: peaches, bananas, prunes, pears and applesauce. He’s now ready to start with the Stage 2 foods and to move to three meals a day consisting of two servings each of cereal, fruits and vegetables.

As we were working our way through the foods, all kinds of other things were happening. On June 3, he spoke his first word – dada. It happened on a Wednesday so, when I called my Mom to check on him, I got to hear it over the phone. My Mom claims he also said mama but I’m not so sure. I’ve heard dada many times since then but have not heard mama. I hope he’ll say it for me soon!

He’s awesome with the rolling-over thing – belly to back and back to belly. We’ve found him many times on his back in his crib when we get him in the morning. Harmon was a huge roller (in lieu of crawling) so I’m wondering if Simon will be the same way. He does, however, have more leg movement than Harmon did so maybe he won’t wait until 10 months to crawl.

Now that we’ve been through a little more than half a year with Simon, we were thinking about the differences between him and Harmon. Besides the obvious – like Simon being pasty white with blue eyes (at least so far) – Simon is hungry all the time! He is ravenous, no matter what. It’s like he knows he has to play catch-up or something. Maybe because of this hunger, you cannot take a drink of anything while holding him because he’ll have his hands all over it. Harmon was never the least bit interested in sitting up but Simon prefers to sit up as often as he can. He especially loves to sit up in his stroller on the porch and watch his big brother take batting practice every night. Simon has one small character flaw and that is that he HATES to be alone. On bad days, he’ll cry if you break eye contact with him. Mostly, though, he requires that SOMEONE be in the room with him at all times. If not, he’ll cry and, when Simon cries, he quickly produces real tears. It’s very sad. Fortunately for us, though, this is pretty much the only time he cries because, overall, he is the happiest baby we’ve ever seen. He wakes up smiling, smiles most of the day and goes to bed smiling too! While Harmon was happy, Simon is happier.

Late six-month update (complete with stats)

At Simon’s six-month check-up, he weighed in at 19 pounds and 7 ounces and he measured 27 ½ inches long. While that put him only four ounces and 1 ½ inches off Harmon’s pace, I need to point out that Simon’s appointment was almost two weeks later than Harmon’s. So, Simon had the advantage of extra bottles and oatmeal cereal!

The whole sleeping situation improved during this month. In mid-May, Simon started going to bed at the same time as Harmon – 9 p.m. We started noticing he would pass out for a long nap every night between 8-9 p.m. We then would have to wake him up for his last feeding and he would rarely finish it. So, one night, we fed him his last bottle around 9 p.m. and then he passed out. It’s worked ever since.

Although he was passing out, he was waking up often. Our theory was that he was pretty much tired of being swaddled. So, we ditched the swaddle and, on Tuesday, May 26, we put him to bed on his belly for the first time. He loves to sleep like this even though he pees up his stomach almost every morning! I think we’ll take the extra time and extra sleep and just deal with the extra laundry.

Harmon quote bag

Below are some pretty funny things that have come out of Harmon's mouth recently! 3-year-olds are such characters!

"That kid is a ball baby!" - after seeing some little boy eat it on the pavement outside of Noodles & Company.

"Edwina, the dinosaur that stinks!" - his title for this book.

On the way home from work/daycare, he saw a police car and a tow truck down a side street and screamed out, "shenanigans!"

Upon seeing Kevin with his St. Louis Cardinals' shirt on: "Daddy, you have parrots on your shirt!"


"Who's that man? I don't like that monster!" - his take on Ronald McDonald.

When he was REALLY bored one night (and after previous trips with Kevin to Comcast to get a functional cable box), he asked: "Daddy, can we go to cable box store!"

Father’s Day and baseball

On Father’s Day, we went to our first Tigers’ game of the season, which also happened to be Simon’s first Tigers’ game ever. We bought cheap seats and met up with our friends Brian and June and their adorable daughter, Zoey - who is just two months younger than Simon. They totally hit it off and Simon seemed to like hanging with another baby! I also think Zoey may have taught Simon a little about jumping because he’s been jumping like crazy ever since! Later that night, Kevin joked about that being their “first date” and he advised Simon to “wait at least three days” before calling her! Not to be forgotten, Harmon had a good time too. He enjoyed his hot dog and HUGE box of popcorn and he had a blast running the bases for the first time. He was SO CUTE! Despite seeing only three innings of the game (which was another Verlander win), we had a great time and we hope to hook up with Brian, June and Zoey again real soon!

*photo courtesy of Brian and June!

Batting practice

Once it FINALLY got warm outside, we took out Harmon’s tee, bat and balls. He played with them a bit but didn’t seem too interested. So, when we were at my parents’ house for Memorial Day (May 27), I didn’t think he would be too interested in hitting but he was – just not with the tee. Kevin, my Dad and my cousin all took turns pitching to Harmon and he did awesome! Pretty much every night since that day, Harmon has asked to go outside and hit balls and we’ve definitely obliged. He’s had batting practice at home and we’ve taken it on the road to local parks a bunch of times too. He totally loves it! In the beginning, he was early on almost every pitch so the balls would be scattered to his left (he’s a righty). Lately, though, he’s hitting the ball square and has even sent some back up the middle at Kevin. While he doesn’t hit every ball (he does SWING at every ball), he’ll get on a hot streak and smoke 8 or 9 in a row. It’s so fun to watch and I hope it’s something he’ll like to do for a long, long time!

Movie night

Harmon’s not one for a lot of Disney movies (he’s usually just happy with Cars). But, back in May, Kevin had to work on a Saturday night so I told Harmon we could rent a movie and stay up late to watch it. He chose Monsters, Inc. and he LOVED IT. Since then, we’ve done “movie night” every other Saturday and we usually couple it with a picnic – meaning we all eat dinner together on a blanket on the living room floor. In addition to Monsters, Inc., we’ve seen Finding Nemo, Toy Story and Happy Feet. He LOVED Finding Nemo but I’ve struck out with the other two. I need to redeem myself next week so he doesn’t lose interest. Movie night is a blast!

Dinner on October 23 will be ...

They say when you have kids that you should enjoy every moment because the time truly does go by too fast. Well, this is true, as Harmon seems like a little man right now and Simon is a big boy. But, it doesn't help when your 3-year-old is constantly pressing the fast-forward button on life. An example: This morning when Harmon got out of bed, I told him to take off his pajamas and go to the potty. He was, however, more interested in knowing what pajamas he would be wearing to bed tonight. Innocent enough, you say, but he is always doing this. When it is breakfast, he asks what is for lunch or dinner. When we get home from work/daycare in the late afternoon, he wants to know what is happening the next morning. Don't get me wrong, this really is cute and we get a chuckle out of it. Maybe it is a good sign that he is always thinking ahead. Maybe his Mommy can help him organize his upcoming days and nights, meals and pajamas, etc., into a spreadsheet?

BIG LIP

OK, I think Simon wins the big lip contest. Kevin called him "NEWTAGE" really loud this past weekend and this was the result:


Don't feel too bad for him - he didn't cry at all. Actually, he started smiling right away. Weirdo.

This was the result in early 2006 when Kevin called Harmon "NATOR:"


Harmon was a little more sad after the fact but that didn't stop us from doing it again and again. They both have cute pouts and we like to see them so ...