Hairless Cat With A Colostomy Bag

Here I am, 4 months along with my darling Nibblet. I can't believe I will be officially halfway through my pregnancy next week - time is flying!

I had the most hilarious conversation with the Precious about the Nibblet a couple days ago. First, he informed me that the baby was growing in my left boob, which entertained me greatly. I showed him my sizable tummy and told him that, oddly enough, the baby was growing in there. He had quite a time sticking his finger into my belly button over and over, "Baby in there?" Then he asked to see the baby and pressed his face to my stomach, eye up against the belly button, to get a peek. I tried to explain that the baby had to grow for a while yet before we'd get to see him/her, but that one day he would come out to stay. He ended the conversation by once again pointing to my belly button and declaring, "Baby come out big hole."

Daddy is traveling again ... sadness ... so we decided to brighten up the day with lunch out at a nearby Mexican restaurant. Andrew loves this place. It was adorable.

The Tiger Can't Change His Spots. No, Wait, He Did! Good For Him!

My Precious has been really into trains lately, specifically railroad crossings, and more specifically, the railroad crossings for the zoo train. Every day he begs me to go back to the zoo, not to see any animals, but to stand and wait at the crossings for the train to go by. Yesterday I finally gave in to his pleading, which was a big deal for me since I knew we were going to freeze our collective bickies off.

Here's my little one waiting (the beginning of much waiting since the arctic zoo was deserted) at his beloved RR crossing:

I'll translate: "That part goes down, gagons go on, train comes." Gagons has been his word for "lights" since the beginning - I have no idea why. I hear this description of what happens when the train comes at least 17 times a day. Poor soul waited for over 30 minutes yesterday to see the train go by until finally I bought us tickets so we could ride it (the only way we were going to see it in action since everyone else there was huddled in the reptile house).

In other adorable news, Andrew has really been enjoying his friends lately. Eunice Chantilly* and her little sister, Patrice* came to play this week. Here he is just about to kiss Patrice on the cheek.

At one point, Andrew and Eunice went running up the stairs to his room, Patrice and me trailing behind. When I walked in, the two of them were sitting together in Andrew's chair, each with a stuffed animal, and Eunice was "reading" a book to him. Ahhh! Here they are sharing a graham cracker snack.


I've been enjoying my friends a lot, too. Rachel came to stay with me a couple weekends ago so that we could throw a party to celebrate our friend Erin's new addition, Mignon*, a beautiful little boy she recently adopted from Ethiopia. Unfortunately this photo doesn't allow you to totally take in his eyes. Next time you're in the grocery store, take a close look at a package of YoBaby yogurt (the yellow cartons) - the baby on those looks just how I imagine Mignon would have looked at about 9 months.


And Sunday many of my closest came over to celebrate my friend Sally as we eagerly anticipate the arrival of her little girl in a few weeks. I tried out my camera's automatic setting, placing it on the couch. This was by far the best shot. I won't quit my day job.


*Yet again, I have changed these names to protect the innocent (and to amuse myself).

"How Exhausting," Said The Frosting

Halloween was lots more fun this year than it's been in ages. First, we decided to crash a friend's neighborhood party (that's where we were in the video above), then we let Andrew try his hand at trick-or-treating at about 5 houses. I actually shot some video of him at a house getting candy, but it's about 2 minutes of dim footage of me trying to get Andrew to say "trick-or-treat" to the people at the door and not to me while hordes of other kids fight their way on and off the small porch. And you'd need to take Dramamine. Anyway, the trick-or-treating, though chaotic at moments, was really sweet since he actually did say the magic words and seemed totally captivated by the whole notion of getting candy from strangers (something I hoped to foster early). We wrapped it up at the right time, however. He'd been perfect until house #5, whereupon Mr. No Nap decided to go completely insane when I told him I didn't think we should open any more candy. You haven't lived until you've been smacked in the head with a bag of Skittles by an exhausted and hysterical 2-year-old Superman in front of a large group of friends and strangers.

Thanks to my dear friend Heather, fellow lover of wigs, I was able to throw together a costume this year as well.

As I have casually mentioned in every post for the last 3 months, naps are very hit-or-miss. I'm pretty used to it now, and since when he doesn't nap, he usually goes down nicely for an early bedtime, I'm fine with it. The new element that I'm currently trying to figure out is the clothing removal that occurs when he doesn't nap or fall asleep quickly at night. The pants always come off (but, for some reason for which I don't understand but am utterly grateful, the diaper stays on). The shirt usually stays on, but, as you see below, not always as I had last seen it arranged. And now he can get out of his zip-up footy pajamas. I went in to see what he was hollering about the other evening, and he had them completely undone with only his arms still covered. He was frantically pulling on the arms saying, "Wambones OFF!" I may be reduced to going in at 10pm to quietly cover his shivering nakedness with a blanket.


And now for something totally random ... a high school friend who I haven't seen in 12 years recognized a picture of my hands on Facebook. That was it. She had no idea what my married name was and nothing but my arm was visable, but one look at my spidery, jointy hands she knew exactly who I was. I'm proud to say that I used to totally freak out a kid in my middle school with my hands, and that may have been even before I realized I could turn them 360 degrees.