Reinforcement

I love love love our Miracle Blanket. It keeps Dexter bundled up, arms confined, so he can get some sleep. It's easy to keep one arm out, and one leg out. My only complaint to the Miracle Blanket folks is that the foot bag is too short for my long legged boy. So really, only one leg fits in there right now. But otherwise - Miracle Blankets rock.

Except that Dex has superpowers, apparently. And Mr. Superman is completely capable of unswaddling himself from this seeming inescapable straight jacket by the end of a night of sleep, leaving both arms out and flailing wildly and letting blanket ends wrap around the child's neck. Which 1) freaks Mom out a bit and 2) leaves Dexter saying "Ow, stop hitting me. OW, who is hitting me? OWWWW - why are you hitting me?" to his flaily arms at about 5AM.

So I needed to find some Kryptonite for Superman. I first thought I'd just take a roll of duct tape up to his room and tape him in to his swaddle. But then I found this:

(enters stage right singing "Here I come to save the day!")

And the velcro option (notice it is INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH velcro) seems to be working. For the past three nights we have no escaping boy. The first night I used the velcro option I had a boy who was still sound sound asleep at 7AM, which hasn't happened for, oh, a good three weeks. Hooray for Kryptonite! Til John goes and breaks it. He is apparently too weak to separate the velcro pieces, so he just pulled the velcro tab right off the blanket. No worries - he will fix it. Mostly because I am A) useless with a needle and thread and B) should not be trusted with glue of any sort. And either of those two options seem to be the only solution for fixing the velcro.

We had a very celebrate-y weekend, with our anniversary on Thursday, John's birthday on Friday, and Mother's Day on Sunday. Plus John's parents and sister were in town and staying with us, so we had a very full house. Meaning Dex slept in his Pack-n-Play in our room. Which means I got zero sleep, because for about four hours a night the boy just grunts and groans and picks his little legs up and then BAM crashes them back down on the mattress. Which means? I really really need a nap. And of course it's gorgeous outside, and of course I shall feel bad that I will be napping instead of doing something productive outside. Too bad! I shall soon be kicking the cute little dog off her position at the end of the sofa, so I can take a nap. Sorry, CoCo.

Why, Mom? Why are you going to make me move?

The Left Thumb - it's the New Right Thumb

Over the weekend Dexter was trying to suck on his left thumb - he's been a right thumb-ed boy til now. He only got it once or twice. Til this evening. And now he is ALL ABOUT the left thumb. Right thumb be damned! Which is cool, as now he can be all ambi-thumb-trous. Or something. Hmmm. Ambi-DEX-trous. HA!

Also in the last week Dexter has become quite the Chatty Cathy. He is currently up babbling away in his crib (he's supposed to be sleeping, but babbling is WAY more fun). He babbles when playing now, too. I have it on video, for your viewing pleasure. But to get it up here I have to:

1) Finalize the disk in the camcorder. Which is not yet full, and thus prevents any further taping on the disk. Annoying. Especially as I am running out of disks. Hey - good Mother's Day present if you're my husband and are reading this...
2) Put material from disk on to computer
3) Edit material so you are not completely bored
4) Upload to Blogger

So, I figure that'll take me a good year or so to do. You'll have to use your imagination for now. As Aunt Maria can attest - it's ridiculously cute!

And also - CoCo is an ENORMOUS sissy. Still shivering with her two-week-old buzz cut.

I am NOT a sissy. I am just old and hairless, and thus COLD...

OMG!

On Friday Dex had a bath, then was doing some naked tummy time to dry his butt out and to give me a chance to giggle at his lack of butt cheeks. So he was on his tummy and then, all of the sudden, he wasn't! The boy rolled over. Cool! I don't think he has any idea how he did it, and it probably won't happen again for a while. But, still - my boy is growing up! I am not sure I am quite ready for a mobile child yet. No more leaving Dex on the bed while I run to the bathroom!

We enjoyed a weekend with Aunt Maria - who loves playing with, feeding, and putting Dex to bed. Awesome. John and I went out to dinner. Gotta love when Aunt Maria visits!

Three Month Promises

Dear Dexter,

Three months. Three whole months we've survived, little boy. Not even just survived. Thrived. Enjoyed. Had fun with. Impressive, eh? Everyone says that after the first three months everything gets easier. Well, as the first three months weren't that bad, I figure the rest of our lives will be gravy, right?

So to celebrate three months of our being together (kind of sounds like a high school boyfriend/girlfriend love note, right?), I have a few promises for you. Hopefully you'll hold up your end of the bargain.

1) I promise to keep making silly faces if you promise to keep laughing when I do so. Like for the rest of your life. Or at least until you're 18.

2) I promise to keep singing silly songs with made-up words (what ARE the real words to "Hush little baby, don't say a word"?) if you promise not to tell Dad what I am doing. He already thinks I am nuts. Let's not tell him what words we try to rhyme with "orange."

3) I promise to keep nursing you if you promise to keep gaining ridiculous amounts of weight and keep eating a billion ounces of milk per feeding.

4) Along that same thread, the breast feeding shall only continue if you can remember to NOT eat Mom's nipple off. So, promise me you'll keep working on that, ok bud?

5) I promise to try not to obsess about short naps, if you promise to continue to sleep through the night.

6) I promise to keep you in fresh clean diapers, if you promise to not pee on me when I change you. Pee in the bath tub - no problem. But how about not on Mom's fresh new pajamas.

7) I promise not to tell Dad about all the spit-up on the couch, if you just promise you won't POOP on the couch.

8) I promise to always love you to pieces. You don't have to promise to do the same, but I hope you will.

I love you, little boy. Happy three month birthday.

Love,
Mom

Check me out, double fisting my gym as I kick my heels up
Owww! Someone's biting my ear! (aka, another one of those photos we'll be sure to show your first girlfriend...)
Dexter. It's what's for dinner.
Happy Birthday to me!

I rode an Ay-Rab

When you're immersed in the hunter/jumper world, or even dabbling in the eventing world, you tend to look down your nose a bit at the Arabian horse breed. Why? Cuz they move funny. And are flighty. And jump HORRIFICALLY. And they're little. And they're Arabians. Nuff said.

But Sunday I went to the barn to ride a friend's spotted horse (appropriately named SPOT), and she said "here, ride Max, too, while you're here." Max is the Arabian endurance horse she has at the barn right now. He just did a 50 mile ride at Foxcatcher last week. Is going to North Carolina to do 75 miles this week. So I hopped on Max, not expecting much. Because, you know, he's an Arabian. And? He. Is. Way. Cool.

Shocked! Shocked, I was! I kept giggling when I saw my shadow because 1) he is not large, and I am not small and 2) his little Arabian tail was just flipping around in the sky, 12 feet above his back. But seriously. What a cool horse. Smart. Responsive. Doesn't feel like a small horse. Just generally fun fun fun.

And today I am sore. Riding two horses in one day is a lot of work for these out of shape legs.

We enjoyed the summer weather here in Maryland - spread mulch, washed car, waxed car (these are all things JOHN did...), walked on the promenade and got hush puppies at the Promenade Grill, took Dexter for a walk in the billion degree heat. A nice weekend.

And now a little photo story from Dexter:

Damn. All my toys are way down there, and I am stuck in this silly chair. What's a boy to do?
I guess I can play with this wiggly little toy that seems to be attached to my leg.
What? Why you looking at me, Mom? And what was that noise?
Ahhhh. Poop. That's better...

Smooth Operator

Hello, Norman residence. This is Dexter speaking.

No, I'm sorry, we don't want a new car warranty/new phone contract/have anything to donate to purple heart/want to donate to the police even if it's only $30/any of the other plethora of crappy phone calls we get during the course of the day

Ummm. A little help here? I can't answer the phone when I can't see, Mom.

CoCo, this call's for you..

What'd you say, Dex? I didn't hear you. (The joke here is that CoCo is DEAF)
911? HELP! HELP! I'm on my belly and I can't get up!
OMG. I can't even BELIEVE he called. He's soooo not cool.
What??! Natasha and Nadia called! Wheeee! My girls! Quick! Call them back!
Yeah, hi girls! Can you come over to play? I've got cool toys, and I promise I'll share!
The wind blows through CoCo's hair. Oh, wait. There's none left. OK, then. The wind blows through CoCo's ears...
Ridiculously cute.

Eventually, it'll get better...

Ah, the naps. The goddamn naps! Why? Why will this child not sleep for longer than 30 minutes? Why does the sucking of the thumb seem to keep him AWAKE instead of lulling him to sleep? Why do we have a very nice routine to put him to sleep, and he'll fall asleep nicely on his own in his crib, but will wake up after 30 minutes and cannot figure out how to put himself back to sleep? Why? WHY?

John thinks that perhaps I should just accept the fact that Dex is a 30 minute napper, he's a good kid, he doesn't cry (until about the time John gets home from work. Poor John), and he sleeps well at night. So just accept what you have and move on with life. To that I say: what fun is that? What would I DO all day if I wasn't sitting here obsessing over my child's 30 minute napping problem? I'd have to do laundry or clean or something to keep myself occupied. Now I at least have stuff to do - I can google "why doesn't my child sleep for more than 30 minutes GRRRRRR" and see what kind of suggestions pop up. OH the suggestions that pop up! They range from the carry-your-kid-around-and-never-put-him-down types who say that a breastfed baby needs to eat every 3.4 seconds so why should he nap for longer than 30 minutes, to the oodles and oodles of people who say "well, I have no advice for you, but my kid was the same way and I can just say that eventually it DOES GET BETTER!"

Well, you know what, nice people? When you're in the trenches of 30 minute naps and desperately searching for a solution so your poor kid can get some sleep and develop his big old brain so he can become a rocket scientist and support his old Mom and Dad in 30 years... a day feels like a week, and a week feels like a year. So, it'll get better, eh? When? Next century? Truthfully, you can take your "it'll get betters" and stick them where the sun don't shine.

Anyway, on a less bitter-and-obsessive-I-need-to-get-out-of-the-house-more note... Dexter is ridiculously cute, and seriously gets cuter by the second. He's giggling and smiling like mad. We just today discovered the secret to a more happy tummy time (go outside, put him on a hill). He can suck his thumb like it's nobody's business. And his sister is cute, too. And MUCH less stinky. She got her traditional "Mom never brushes me" once a year buzz cut. On a gross and cold miserable Monday. Poor pup. But she is now cute and tiny, and will track in many fewer leaves, so I won't have to vaccuum as much. Which leaves me MUCH more time to google "GRRRRR 30 minutes NAPS!!!"

CoCo sports her summer 'do. And is now perpetually cold.
The big boy sits in a big boy chair. And the Grandpas can fight over which one of them Dexter's bib is about.
Just sittin here, lookin cute, suckin my thumb...

PS - Dexter went to Fair Hill over the weekend to score an endurance ride. And meet some horses, and some of Alissa's friends. And the horses? Didn't phase him one bit. Not sure he even knew they were there, to tell you the truth.