Three Months: He's Coming For You

 

Rory is now three months old. He's marked this occasion by embarking on another growth spurt. Seriously, the whole first year is essentially a growth spurt but these intense ones involve near constant eating and fussing and a desire but inability to sleep. And if the baby isn't sleeping: NOBODY IS SLEEPING. We're all running around like zombies over here.

My brain has gone to mush and I had a very embarassing conversation with the pediatrician that went something like: "His name is Bo. Rainbow. No wait that's the dog. He's Rory. His birthday is....December. July. June! Don't ask me the date or I'll cry. Also, he was born in....20....20...now. He was born in this year, the one we're in now". Yeah. Gotta love the crazy tired mom.

Aiden started sleeping through the night around four months however, so maybe there's hope yet? Maybe? Soon?

Another terrifying awesome development: he's rolling over. He's been rocking from side to side on his back for awhile but today he kind of kicked his leg over and boom. He was on his tummy and very, very angry about it. Apparently that's not what he was trying to do, but he did it anyway and now when I walk away he tries to roll over to follow me.

I was so excited when Aiden learned to roll over but now? Now I know better. Rolling over = trying to roll OFF of stuff. Rolling across the room and trying to eat things. Rolling means constant vigilance is in order. Which is hard when you're really really tired. I have a feeling Rory is going to be like Aiden and hit these physical milestones pretty quickly, especially since he's got to keep up with his brother.

However, even though he's a bit of a holy terror, he's gotten even cuter. I wake up in the morning feeling groggy and grumpy and then from his bassinet (which he's way too big for but still sleeping in) I hear laughing. He wakes up laughing and giggling and just thinking the world is the most awesome place. I certainly softens some of the harder aspects of this particular stage, seeing this ball of chub looking so excited to see me each morning. 

You Can't Have Both

I mean to say that you can't have an uninterrupted conversation AND have a four year old. You just can't.

Me: So they're having a story time program at the elementary school for the incoming kindergarteners.

Aiden: I LOVE STORIES!!! WHAT'S THAT ONE STORY WITH THE ONE GUY WHO DOES THAT THING? WHAT'S THAT ONE CALLED AGAIN?

Sean: That's a good idea. When is it?

Aiden: I HAVE A GOOD IDEA! LET'S EAT ICE CREAM INSTEAD OF DINNER! CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM! ON CONES!!!

Me: It's during preschool but I think we could take him to it once in a while so he can make some friends that will be in his class next year.

Aiden: BO IS MY BEST FRIEND. MY FRIEND ANINA GOT HER FOOT RUN OVER BY A TRICYCLE AT SCHOOL AND CRIED!!!! SHE'S ALWAYS CRYING!!!
 
Sean: I guess that might work, I'm just hesitant to pull him out of class.

Aiden:  I GO TO CLASS EVERYDAY! I HAVE A PRESCHOOL CLASS! MY TEACHER IS MRS. CASTLE AND SHE TEACHES MY CLASS.

Me: Well let's ask him, I think he'd really enjoy it. Hey Aiden, would you like to go to story time and meet some new kids?

Aiden: No.

Preschool, Round 2

  First day of schooooool!

Aiden started school on last Monday (whoops this post is late!). The first day went great. He was a little bit nervous but a lot of his friends from last year were in his class, and best of all, the classroom has a tank with frogs in it so there was something that immediately caught his interest. When it was time for me to leave him he was a little clingy but mustered up his courage and said goodbye. I was all prepared to write about how smooth it all went, until Tuesday that is.

Tuesday he bounded into school chattering away and then we got to his classroom and he completely lost it. The teacher was not so helpful and just sort of stared at us as he glued himself to my leg and dragged me toward the door while I tried not to drop Rory. She finally helped me disentangle him from my person and I was able to leave. All day after school on Tuesday he was mopey and lethargic.

The rest of the week he'd do fine at school but come home and be a total tyrant. His post-school exhaustion coupled with a head cold made him less than pleasant. It culminated one night when he woke up more times than Rory.

Luckily, everything has sorted itself out. He's over the cold, I  make sure he takes a nap each day and he's adjusted to his new class. But wow, last week was rough. It's made this week seem even sweeter however because he's back to loving school and being the sweetest boy ever. Well, one of the sweetest boys ever because this one is pretty great too:

Rory is perpetually mystified by the camera, thus his shocked expression in every photo.

Also, Aiden drew this picture of himself and his brother. It's so fantastic I had to share:

 

Back to School

Aiden starts school again on the 10th. He'll be going five days a week this year. They're half days still but hopefully going a full five days will make it an easier transition next year into the full day kindergarten. Kindergarten. Ugh. I can't even believe that's coming next year. Wasn't he just born?

We completed our annual pilgrimage of  consumerism to the Lee Outlets to get him nice new school duds. Every summer he seems to grow by leaps and bounds so that he's practically bursting out of his clothes like he's been eating the cookies from Alice in Wonderland. What a shock it was to realize that he's out of toddler sizes and into regular boys clothes, even his shoes are boy's size now.

Gone are the days when I could lay out his clothes and he'd allow himself to be dressed each morning. Now he has an opinion on everything he wears, no he does not want to wear the blue one and no he will not wear anything with a collar or too many buttons or pictures that he doesn't like. I still try to lay out clothes for him but usually I find he's gone rummaging through his drawers to swap out items until he's created his own very colorful and unusual outfit. Socks will never, ever, ever be matched. That's rule number one.Needless to say this shopping trip involved a lot more back and forth on what he would agree to wear.

He came home with cool new shoes, lots of jeans, some bright red athletic pants he picked out and a couple of oxford shirts that we forced on him. Everyone was happy.

Then came the haircut. He hasn't had his haircut since about April and it was getting c-r-a-z-y. We're talking Paul McCartney circa '69. We always say we'll let him grow it out for awhile and before you know it the hair has taken on a life of it's own. Long hair on him is less Samson and much more Medusa. Remember this?:

 2009

 Long hair, don't care

Not quite there yet...

 Short 'n sweet

Anyway, he finally got a haircut and he's looking like my baby again. With new hair and new clothes he's all ready for Mrs. Castle's class next Monday. This year they'll work on a lot of pre-reading skills, early math concepts (they have a unit on graphs. Graphs! I didn't know what a graph was until third grade!) and lots of other things they need to know for Kindergarten. Ugh. There it is again. The K word. At least we have one more year!

 

My babies

 

 

Well...one baby anyway