mardi gras begins!

It was a parade-y weekend. Friday we heard the drums and saw the lights from Mandeville's Krewe of Eve. Saturday night we fought for beads at Covington's Krewe of Olympia. And today - Barkus. Dogs all dressed up in skirts, hats and wigs. The highlight: watching two beautiful 5-year old boys running races in a gravel French Quarter driveway...watching Tibo crane his neck to smile lovingly at Nina (who, with a good car-nap under her belt, was NICE to him today!), and just being with my sister and brother-in-law.
80 degrees in nola today. Dad, get down here.

Nina's first birthday party

All gussied up for Tommy's birthday party.

my life is a beautiful life

she's ready for school

jump

nina dresses up, the video

Nina's first full day of school

Today was Nina's first full day at school; until today she's been leaving at 11:30. Today we left for school at 7:45, Nina armed with lunch and lovie. I dropped my little hair twirler off and her friend Paul hugged her, grabbed her hand, and they walked in side-by-side and fearless with their teacher. I was too sad to think about it yesterday; today, I enjoyed 5 hours of silence at home. WOW.
She was happy and proud when I picked her up at 2:30.
(Tonight at bedtime:
"Can I twirl your hair, mom?")

Nina likes to dress up

Stay tuned for the hilarious video.

back to projects

Kai and I had a great Sunday afternoon of science experiments while Nate worked and Nina napped. It's been a long time...We broke out the tattered, beloved, worn book from our days in Sac and hung out in the kitchen for a few hours.
It was a great day overall, which began with a run for me while Nate played guitar on the grass with the kids; we discovered a new hiking trail through the swamp where we saw a few dozen turtles sunning themselves on logs; and we ended the day with a swim at Franco's, all four of us. Brrr...not quite warm enough yet for me, but it was for Kai.
With the warm weather - really, it's gorgeous here, 70s in the day and 50s at night - come the critters. More than a dozen skinks are nesting on our outside walls, and as I type I'm watching the first frog-gecko standoff of the season on our window. We have a friend in our ditch, Funky Frog, a sole brown guy whose eyes appear above the water until Kai pokes him.

February

We loved watching the superbowl with Meecie, Fud, Sara and Tibo. Rejuvenated after a night on the town in New Orleans, Nate and I picked up crabmeat, oysters, and shrimp on the way home and we had a feast Louisiana-style while watching the Pack win.
We were spoiled by a very long visit from Fud and Meecie, although it was kind of hard to share them with Tibo. Grandpa went to Kai's field trip to the local pizza joint, and he gave Grandpa Fud hug-after-hug, smile-after-smile, he was so proud to have him as his guest. We had Tibo spend the night at our house, his first away from Sara and Matt. He was brave and easy and entertained by his cousins.
We celebrated the kids' half-birthdays with cake - cherry frosting for Kai and chocolate for Nina. Between King Cakes, Valentine's Day, and Mardi Gras these kids are on a sugar high. Nana sent V-Day gifts for the kids, here is Nina trying on hers.
We're still playing musical beds. Sometimes Kai and Nina are in my bed with me; sometimes Nina is in our "red bed" (i.e. our old bed which is still in our room, can't figure out what to do with it, can't quite part with it) with Nate; sometimes Nate is in Kai's bed. Ugh. It's driving us nuts, yet these kids are just so cuddly. Nina prefers to use my stomach as a pillow, sleeping horizontally across the bed. Likes to fall asleep cheek-to-cheek, when she wakes up she wants a bear hug. Kids are happy. Parents are sleep-deprived. Sleep training is in our future. At least Nina is now napping in her bed sans crib rail. Next week she'll nap two days/wk at her preschool...
We rented bikes and finally got out on the Tammany Trace last weekend. Tibo and Nina started out in one trailer and we rode for less than 3 minutes before Sara returned to get a second. Nina's not always so nice to her little cousin. He's learning to stand up to it. It was a beautiful afternoon, Kai just loved it and rode about 5 miles without his training wheels. We ended the ride with a stroll on Lake Pontchartrain, tons of people out enjoying our springy weather.
Meecie and Nina spent V-Day doing projects, while I attended Kai's school party. It was great for me to have some time with Kai without chasing Nina, great for Meecie on her last day with us to have some quiet time painting with the little one.
And here we are, six months under our belts on the northshore. It's starting to feel like home! The weather is warming up, this week at least, and our friends the skinks have reappeared in our shutters.

little ninsies

Nina with her nebulizer bear, she named him Poppy. The day we got him from her pediatrician she couldn't wait to get home to "food him real food."
"He likes real food. He likes grass. And he likes beans. And that's all."

heartbreaking parenthood

Kai is being really "aggravated!" by two little girls in his class. Bossy types. Last night I asked if Lainey is getting any better. He said, "Well, Lainey is just 99% bad and 1% good. But Natalia is 100% bad!"
He said Natalia is only mean to him, she's nice to all the other kids in the class.
:-(
Last weekend Kai got VERY upset when he couldn't draw something the way he wanted to. It was heartbreaking. He was upset the day Natalie colored over his lines at school, and keeps bringing that up. Girls are not at the top of Kai's list these days. I wasn't at the top of his list either for a few weeks, he just wanted Nate for everything, to play with, to sing at bedtime, to lay down with him. I tried not to let it get to me but I was really sad. Happily, I'm in his favor again this week. Still not sure what that was all about. I think he was in an extreme bonding moment with Nate through Saints and Hornets.

And poor Nina. For the fifth morning in a row she has had such a violent coughing fit that she threw up all over both of us. I imagine what it must have been like to see your child suffer from Tuberculosis back in the day. We're not sure what's going on, allergies or just a cold, but mornings have been brutal around here lately. Kai just hides behind the couch or under the table when Nina is having a fit, or when we're making her take medicine she doesn't want to.

missing little Kai

Thinking about Kai when he was Nina's age, what did we do together when it was just the two of us? Living in Dexter, MI, running out in back past the berm to play in the parking lot puddles. Playdates with Casey Ryan. He was an inconsistent napper at this point, I took him on lots of walks in the BOB (which is now completely moldy and destroyed in the backyard from Louisiana weather). Spanish classes. Music classes. Lots of library storytime.
I can still hear so clearly the "Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyy" I heard when I picked him up at June and David's.
I'm trying to remember what kinds of projects we did back then, so I can recreate those experiences with Nina. He loved fingerpainting, and that always turned into a full body paint. He loved eyedropper and watercolors. He was such a cerebral fellow, he loved letters and numbers but Nina is still all animals and babies.