Hard To Get

When Roan and Willa play, they don't play together. Apart from Willa intermittedly swooping in to hoard Roan's toys, they play happily and separately, as if they are alone. It's not easy to get them in the same photo together.

They have totally different agendas.  While Roan auditions for the baby version of Breakin',
Willa ferociously eats a saw.

This playdate is a lot different than Roan's playdate with Mia. The difference is that Willa can crawl.  It doesn't bode well that when the lady babies are capable of movement, they move away from Roan.  Perhaps she is playing hard-to-get?  But I doubt it: it's near impossible to play hard-to-get with a baby who can only move backwards.

Bananas

On Sunday night I gave Roan his first solid food: mashed banana with breastmilk.

Though he was excited about putting the spoon in his mouth, he seemed ambivalent about the actual food, and I didn't think he swallowed anything until the next morning, when I found banana in his diaper.
On Monday night Jay fed Roan another banana.

Jay had much better stats than me - a higher percentage of banana ended up in Roan's mouth - and in the morning, we got 2 diapers full of banana.
Seriously, it looked like somebody mashed a fresh banana into our son's diaper.  It even smelled like banana.  How is that possible?
Tonight we offered Roan yet another banana.  He was like, "this, again?"  You can see that his initial enthusiasm for bananas has dimmed.

Tomorrow night we will try something new.

Play "Date"

Roan: "I thought this was a date. What's your brother doing here?"

Mia: "Don't worry about him, he's totally not paying attention."

Roan: "I don't know about this... your brother's really big. And I think he just found out about us."

Mia: "Ha ha ha ha ha! I love being the girl."

Roan: "On the other hand, he can't crawl yet. Wanna lean on me?

Taj: "I'm gonna strangle that guy!"

Mia: "My brother can't stop us now..."

Roan: "We should kiss again."

Mia: "I'm not so sure."

Rock Steady

On Monday the Robot got up on his hands and knees and began to rock. We were so excited that we videotaped him. The Robot was so excited that all that night, and every night since, he's woken up every hour or two to rock. It's been steady rockin' all night long.

We aren't so excited anymore.


Rockin' Out from Cameron McClure on Vimeo.

Best Weekend Ever

So much of being a new mom is waiting.  When will my boobs stop hurting and when can we go outside?  When will Roan sleep through the night and when will his reflux go away and when can I take him on my bike in one of those mounted bike seats?  When will he take a nap and when can I send him to the Deli to fetch me some chocolate?  So to have an entire day when you're not waiting for anything - that's magical.

The first warm weekend in New York is also magical.  Everyone is outside and smiling. On Friday I took Roan on a walk along the Hudson. We were out for nearly 5 hours. Roan saw the river for the first time, rolled in the grass, and tried to eat a real flower. He and Willa played tug-a-war with their toys.  Being a mom was so easy. The hours flew by. We didn't want to go home.

And on Saturday Grandma Lyons and Aunt Alisha (Auntie Leesha) came to visit:

When faced with a key ring specifically designed to attract babies, and a menu...

Getting to know Auntie Leesha
Making a grab for the camera
The table is even  better than the menu

On Saturday night Jay and I got a room and had our first night alone. We'd been looking forward to it for weeks.  In anticipation, Jay wrote up 4 pages of Roan Notes, including his  bedtime routine, favorite books, favorite games, and general Likes and Dislikes. Naturally, the Robot slept like a champ for his Grandma and Aunt, and only woke up once all night.  At the hotel, Jay and I woke up three or four times, out of habit.  Around 8AM, we had had enough of the peace and quiet, and went back to our tiny apartment full of toys and chaos and the occasional whiff of dirty diapers.  We were only two blocks away, but the walk back seemed long.  We couldn't wait to get home.

Maternal Sorrow

We just saw this tragic video about Willa, Roan's soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. We had no idea she had slipped so far behind in her studies.  Sadly, we must encourage our son to sever ties, and find a more suitable girlfriend, one with a better grasp of La Langue Francaise.


"Maternal Sorrow" from Melinda Wade on Vimeo.

The New Brunch

It's Saturday morning and sunny so we go to brunch.  We get to Park at 10AM, which is our new 1PM.  10AM is our new brunch.

Park is deserted.  The staff is still setting up tables, and it smells like mopped floors.  The hostess is polite and smiles at Roan and gives us a look like we're the kind of hopeless people who show up to parties 2 hours early.  The whole thing feels wrong, and I realize I've never been in a New York restaurant without other diners.  How will we ever chose our seats?

We've brought a highchair for Roan that we clamp to the table.  He seems to pick up on how surreal the situation is.  He thinks he's on a roller coaster:

As we wait for the check, more diners finally arrive: a dangerously pregnant woman with her husband and young son.  They chose seats that are far away from us. No one else comes.

Next time we go to brunch, we will bring the neighbors.

Bad Day

Yesterday was Jay's day with the Boo.  It was sunny and 58.  Today is my day.  It's going to rain.

We wake up to find the giant blow-up rat outside our window.  As most people know, the rat is used by unions to signal a labor dispute.  It is not used by the health department to mark a rat infested building.  But who's this blow-up pig with a cigar and pork pie hat?  Anyone seen him around before?

Then Robot tears my glasses off my face and eats them.

At nap time, he falls asleep face down, so I spend the entire time worried about SIDS.

There is nothing good in the fridge, so I decide to cook the Robot for lunch.

Roan can only be so patient with me.  Eventually he gives me this look, and the look says:

"Get ahold of yourself, or this will end with you taking photos of me in a watering can with a flower on my head."

Right.  I take charge and get us both out of our pajamas, because it is noon.  I put Roan on the floor to play.  He gives me a dirty look.

When does adolescence start?

Papparazzi

It's hard to go anywhere with the Robot. People are always stopping us to exclaim over how cute he is. Most of the time we appreciate all the attention, but sometimes it's like, "yeah yeah lady, out of the way, we've got a bus to catch."

Lately people have been like, "Your baby looks just like James Dean!"

"Oh, thanks," we'd say shyly, and walk away quickly. What were these people talking about?

On the street we'd see women elbowing through the crowd and hear their excited whispers: "isn't that James Dean in that Baby Bjorn?!"

Jay and I thought it was all a bit overblown, until we gave it some serious thought.



They are pretty hard to tell apart.

Ross Dock

Robot seems tense on the way to the park. It's across the Hudson, so we take the car over the GW. It's amazing how he's learned to be wary of New Jersey at such a young age.



It takes him a while to get his bearings.



We encourage him to explore...





Overall, he seems to have a good time.

Paradise City

If there is a heaven specifically for babies, I think this toy is there. The word "toy" doesn't begin to describe it. It's more like an amusement park. It occupies approximately 1/6 of the square footage of our living room. Roan loves it. Just look at these faces: