As of about three weeks ago, Dominick is no longer taking naps. It's a great loss, especially since he doesn't seem to understand the concept of quiet time. That means no break for Mommy and, therefore, less time for blogging.

We had a lovely snow last weekend. It was pretty but didn't mess up the roads. More importantly, it was perfect for making snowmen. Here is the one Mike and Dominick made on Sunday:

Noel (for that is what Dominick named him) was a great snowman while he lasted. It was just too warm Sunday afternoon, and we noticed his head beginning to slide off. He collapsed later and remains a sad pile of snow and sticks with a carrot sticking out of it.

After coming inside, Dominick got his first taste of hot (well, warm) chocolate. I still had the camera handy, so I took a picture of him enjoying his treat. Note the W sitting. We can't get him to stop!

Dom did very well at PDO this week. Again it took him a few minutes to go in, but once he found something to place with, I was able to take my leave without him protesting. I heard later that he wasn't interested in the craft project but enjoyed playing musical chairs and sank all his shots playing basketball. The teacher was very impressed. I asked if he'd said "he shoots, he scores" like he does at home. She said no. Too bad. That would have been really funny!

I know people are wondering about Dominick's first day at PDO on Wednesday. He actually did great, once he went into the room. That took a few minutes, but then he saw some blocks and charged right over to play with them. I told him goodbye and left. When I returned, he was playing in a tunnel. The teacher told me he'd had one "weepy moment" but had been fine otherwise. What a relief.

Yesterday Dominick fulfilled his greatest ambition since the baby was born: he pulled Noel out of his papasan chair. It was rather horrifying to see my little newborn, who can't hold up his head or roll over, face down on the floor, crying. He was uninjured, thankfully, so it only took a feeding to calm him. Dominick got a nice time-out.

The three of us have just returned from our first errand together. We've gone to doctor's appointments before, but that's about it. This morning we went to the post office. On the way in from the lobby, Dom saw the stamp machine, so the only problem I had with him was keeping him away from it while I mailed my package.

Dom just managed to wake up the baby, so it's time for me to go. Happy Friday!

Just had to post a quick one before going to bed tonight. Noel hit a little milestone this morning: he laughed for the first time! I was giving him a bath and splashing him, and among all the smiles came one small yet unmistakable laugh. Noel is just starting to do some splashing of his own, a bit timidly for now, but I think he likes doing it. Speaking of milestones, he's this close to rolling over.

Last night, I went to a moms night out at a tapas restaurant (yum!), and because he's still so little and needing to eat so often, Noel came with me. He was fabulous. When we arrived at the restaurant, he was awake but quiet. Soon after we were seated, he fell asleep and stayed that way for a couple of hours, even though he was only a few feet from the live entertainment (a guitarist and a flamenco dancer).

So tomorrow morning is Dom's first day at parents' day out. I'm a little nervous about how he will do, especially when it's time for me to leave him. Wish us luck!

Beginning next Wednesday, Dominick will be attending a parent's day out program at a church just four blocks away. The program is fairly unstructured, geared more toward providing an opportunity for socialization. It's a good next step for Dom, especially after attending Stay & Play. This is different because, unlike Stay & Play, I will not be there. This particular PDO is open during the summer, which is nice. Many of them end in May.

Then, starting in September, Dom will go to preschool three days a week. We visited on Thursday, and I mailed in the enrollment form today. I really liked the teachers, the rooms, the overall atmosphere of the place. Being an architectural conservator in my life before kids, I also love that the preschool is in a Gothic Revival stone building. The classroom has high ceilings and tall, arched leaded glass windows on two walls. You can't beat the convenience, either: it's just down the street.

When we got there on Thursday morning, the kids were making bread. After cleaning up, it was time for yoga. (Mike was skeptical of the idea of a bunch of three-year-olds doing yoga, but the teacher said they actually follow along. We watched for a while and saw that they do.) The bread-making is a special activity that happens once a year, but yoga or creative movement happens every week. There's also a music teacher once a week and a science teacher who comes in about once a month.

So, unless a rush of enrollment forms beats ours, Dominick is all set. I have a feeling he'll really like both PDO and preschool, even if there might be a little initial anxiety.

The last couple of photos I posted have been of Noel, so here are two new ones of Dominick. One shows him with some Play-doh food Mike made to match pictures in a book. The other is a photo of Mike swinging Dom upside-down like a pendulum. (They do this to the tune of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake as played by our Little Tikes alligator piano.) It's funny because Dom always holds his shirt up with both hands because he hates having his belly exposed, so he looks very rigid as he swings.

More photo problems for me! I have no idea why the first one is sideways. It's not that way on my computer. Oh, well. I'll post it anyway.

Aargh! This photo thing is driving me crazy! I switched to a different photo hosting site which is supposed to allow linking to web sites. I set up the link here, using the specific web address for my photo albums, but it links to the dotphoto.com main page instead of my page. Help, anyone? For now, if you want to see the two photos I've uploaded so far, click below:

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=Kelly%27s+photos

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this, at least, will work. I'll publish this post and then give it a go.

Sorry about the photos link not taking you to any actual photos. I spent considerable time the other night uploading some, but Yahoo says I don't have any until I sign in. I'll keep working on it.

My mission this week has been to research preschools for Dominick. We're going to go look at one tomorrow morning. It sounds great, so if it looks as good as it sounds, we'll probably go ahead and register. I'm afraid if we wait we won't be able to find a spot for him. Because we'd hoped to get him started on something this winter, I'm also looking into parents day out programs. There's one just down the street from us which we may do. It would be just one day a week (Wednesday) unless a spot opens up on Mondays, but one day is better than none.

I read a blurb in a parenting magazine recently about a study that found parents are attracted to babies partly because of their large eyes and heads, and how that attraction helps ensure the species' survival because we want to protect them. (That's my attempt at remembering and summarizing the article, anyway. I found this much better discussion of the subject of cute babies online.) Look at this picture of Noel, then, and try not to be pulled in by those enormous eyes!

Happy two-month birthday, Noel! In honor of the occasion, here is his new monthly photo. He wasn't nearly as slouchy on the chair as he was a month ago. I'm also posting this picture in the Yahoo photos page under the aptly named folder "Noel's monthly photos." I'm trying to do the same thing with Dominick's pictures, but Yahoo is having some issues today.

I did a quick comparison of the boys' weights after looking at Dom's baby book last night. At two months, Noel is 11 pounds, 3 ounces. Dominick was almost 14 pounds at the same age. He weighed 11 pounds at one month. I guess the newborn-sized clothing should last longer this time around!

We learned today that Dominick has a morbid streak. (I wonder where he got it...) For Christmas, we gave him a big Play-doh set that came with several cutters, molds, and a plastic knife. This morning, Mike and Dom were playing with the Play-doh, and Mike made this weird face that looked like a black Pacman. Dominick came over, stabbed it in the eye with the plastic knife, and said, "Oh, my eye! I can't see!" That's the first time we've seen him do anything like that. I'd be curious to learn whether any of Dom's buddies has exhibited similar behavior.

I've added a link to a photos page I've just set up on Yahoo. It's getting late, so I won't upload any photos tonight, but I will try to soon. We've got some cute ones!

Noel had his two-month checkup this morning. How sad is it that it took us all morning to get ready for an 11:00 appointment? The checkup went well. Here are his current stats:

Weight: 11 pounds, 3 ounces
Length: 22 3/4 inches
Head circumference: 40 cm

All are right on the 50th percentile line, where Noel's been since birth. I'd be curious to check his measurements against the new growth charts for breastfed babies put out by the World Health Organization, however. At the end of the appointment came the first in a series of immunizations, which are about as much fun for me to watch as they are for Noel. Poor guy. He did pretty well, though, and has two bandaids on each thigh to show for his ordeal.

The next appointment will be the four-month checkup in early March. I only hope Noel will make it that long. Dominick seems on a mission to become an only child again. I spend what seems like the greater portion of my waking hours--at least those not devoted to feedings-- stopping Dom from yanking Noel's arms off or pulling him out of his papasan chair. He's driving me crazy. It makes me sad to realize that one day, Noel too will drive me crazy. I think having a toddler makes me appreciate babies even more. Babies can't pull drapery hardware out of the wall.

Speaking of Dominick, yesterday Jacqui and I mutually decided to cut back on his OT services. I'm not sure how often she'll be coming (she has to contact Carol first), but it'll be every other week, if not less often. Given that Dom will turn three on February 21, he doesn't have much time left in First Steps anyway. What a productive time it has been! Jacqui remarked again how Dominick seems like a different child now.

His speech can be rather entertaining. Though he's using full sentences and his articulation has improved, Dom does say things like "hamburgerger" and "rectatangle." He also still says "muck" for milk. The other day, we were reading a book about monkeys which has a drawing of a banana peel on one page, and Dom exclaimed, "Oh! There's not a mamana in that peel." At least when he's not driving me to insanity, he makes me laugh.