Sneaky Lou

Half way through our stay in California, my sister looked over at you asked, "Ilan, what do you do all day?"

My knee jerk reaction was to defend you. But really, you do spend an awful lot of your time riding around on someone else's shoulder.

On March 15th, the day before we left for California, you rolled over. Since then, you have only rolled over when no one is looking. No one believes me, that you are regularly rolling. I tried capturing it on my video camera, but you only cried.

Here are some moments I captured from your 3rd month -

At the lake in Prospect Park

Sneaky roller

Baby blue eyes

Watching the ceiling fan

With Grandma Mac

Cuzzies

Two Black Shoes

Last week I took Roan shoe shopping. He needed a new pair of sneakers and like everything else lately, he insisted that they be black. Black is his favorite color. When I ask him why he says, "because black steam engine, Mommy."

Roan rode wobble bike to the shoe store, and Ilan fell asleep in the ergo. The shoe lady measured his feet (9 and a half!) and after a lot of rummaging around in the back informed me that there were no black shoes in his size. I prompted Roan to try on gray shoes ("the color of coal in coal cars!" I said cheerfully), but no. Roan had started up an "I want BLACK SHOES" chant that threatened to turn ugly. So we left to ride wobble bike home and order shoes online.

We looked at a lot of black shoes on Zappos. We even watched videos about them. Roan didn't seem to like any of them. He was getting more and more demanding and added "I want TWO SHOES" to his "I want BLACK SHOES" mantra.

Taking into account the wobble bike commute, we had spent over 3 hours on Operation Black Shoes. Ilan was awake and crying. I was ready to be done. And now Roan wanted two pairs?

We finally settled on a pair of black Adidas that were on sale. I explained how the mailman would deliver them in a few days. How they would come in a box with our name on it that we'd get to open.

"But Mommy," he said, "I need TWO shoes!"

This went on all day. I got more and more irritated. It wasn't like him to be so ungrateful. I talked lot about being thankful for what we have and told silly stories about a little boy who always wanted more. I talked about the economy of using only what we need. It wasn't until late in the afternoon that I finally put it together. All the shoes we looked at online, they showed an image of only one shoe. He wasn't asking for two *pairs* of shoes, he was asking for one for each foot!

Days later, when the black shoes came in the mail, he seemed very excited that there were two.

Black Steam Engine Goggles

They help him go fast. In the pool and out of the pool.

Lana Lou

Dear Ilan,

Before you were born I had ideas about what I would call you, cute Ilan based nicknames like Illy and Illy-Bo. But in the hospital I started calling you Lana and Lani, and Lana Lou. I tried to fight it, because these nicknames sounded so girly to me. But I knew I had lost once I started making up silly Lana Lou songs. Then my Dad picked it up. Now, when Jay calls from work he says, "how is Lani Lou?" like he's asking after a Southern Belle.

That's when I knew it had stuck. Lana Lou doesn't sound so girly anymore. It just sounds like you.

I'd forgotten so much about babies - the way your face can grow over the space of a nap, the jerky way you move your arms, the thrill of hearing your name in someone else's mouth. The way you look at me and growl, one last time, before burying your face in my breast to nurse, just to make sure I know that I've made you wait too long.

It's easy to make you smile. You love laying on the changing table, looking at the bird decals on the wall. You love when your big brother pretends to eat your fingers and toes. You love taking showers with Daddy. And you love Bee, a hand-me-down rattle that can make you happy when nothing else can.

Bottles and pacifiers make you mad. So does Tummy Time. Even Bee has a hard time bringing you back from Tummy Time.

The most fun you've had was when we all took a bubble bath and Roan spent the whole time playing with you. You smiled and cooed through everything and cried when I took you out. You love getting such focused attention from Roan. I can already sense how your relationship with him is a separate thing, and how I might parent it, as if it were a third child.

We are falling into a bedtime routine. I read you Dear Zoo a few times. You like the snake best. Or sometimes you lay in bed with Roan while I read his bedtime stories - you smile when I show you the pictures. Then Daddy takes you down to the Man Cave where you yell at him for a while before passing out in his arms.

When you wake up I am almost always happy to see you, even if you've only slept a few hours. I know the night feedings will pass. You will get bigger and sleep longer. I know it will get better. I've seen, with your brother, how good it gets.

Happy 12 weeks, Ilani Lou.

Happy Purim!

The Ethical Store

This past month I've been reading Roan Aesop's Fables. When we reach the end of each fable I'll say something like, "what's the moral of this story?" And then I'll read the moral, which is printed in italics at the bottom of the page: never put off for tomorrow what you should do today, or honesty is the best policy, or whatever.

Yesterday Roan was play cooking and kept running out of ingredients. He walked around and around the room, going back and forth to the store to buy things. Once, after he paid for his food I overheard him ask, "what's the moral of this store?" before beginning his walk home.

We'll keep working on it, Aesop.

Mr. Safety

Having two children means not realizing that while you were feeding the baby your 3-year-old son unplugged the two electronic devices you were charging in the kitchen and replaced the child safety outlet plugs in the electrical outlets until he points it out to you by saying, "look Mommy, I'm very safe and careful."

Who does he think all this childproofing is for?