Dominick's Christmas list

If Santa were to ask Dominick what he wants for Christmas, this is what he would say (as of last night, anyway):

Bertie bus

Ball thing that shoots balls on you

His very own paper clip

Batman

Years from now, when Dominick's gift requests total hundreds of dollars, I'll wistfully look back upon this first Christmas list of his. It's so modest. Awesome. Unfortunately, we don't know what ball thing Dom is talking about. And I didn't know he cared for Batman. Batman isn't Thomas!

Just a virus, thank goodness

Noel suddenly got sick yesterday morning with symptoms that mimicked those he had the night he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Fortunately, a doctor visit and chest x-ray confirmed it was only a virus. He's back to normal today. We'd just been to the doctor last Thursday for his two-year checkup. Everything looks good. We've got a 26-pound, 5-ounce boy who measures in the 25th percentiles for length and weight and still has a much bigger noggin (75th-90th percentile). All that gray matter requires a lot of space.

When Noel and I got back from his busy afternoon yesterday, Dominick was excited to show us the handmade Do Not Enter sign hanging across a doorway. Two chairs had been set up in front of it so that, as Mike told me, he and Dom could sit and look at the sign. Next, Dominick wants to make a Wet Floor sign. To each his own, I guess!

Greetings, December!

How lovely to wake up on the first morning of December to a blanket of snow on the ground. It's the perfect kind, too: just enough snow to give everything a pretty wintry look without sticking to the streets. Nice! Today was the first morning for dropoff at the door at preschool. We pull up, and a teacher comes out, unbuckles Dominick and takes him inside. It's a wonderful thing.

Thanksgiving was spent at home. When you have little kids, you know what a luxury that is. Christmas, with its annual around-the-state trek, will be here soon enough, so why make the trip twice? Mike took Thanksgiving week off, but Dom had school through Wednesday. I had all these grand plans for getting stuff done while Mike was on vacation, but in reality, my lengthy to-do list was barely touched. We had a nice Thanksgiving meal, just the four of us. I had a close call when Mike told me Wednesday night that the bird I had defrosting in the refrigerator was a chicken, not a turkey breast. Had this been discovered Thursday morning, it would have been too late, but I thawed the turkey in the sink instead. It cooked beautifully.

And now that Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas season is officially here. We've started decorating, and the Christmas music is on heavy rotation. I love it.

Just the three of us

Mike is on a (blissfully) rare business trip for most of this week, so it's just me and the boys. I figured I'd be going mad by now and ready to run out of the house screaming, but it hasn't been too bad. Today it was nice enough for us to get outside for a walk, which of course meant seeing and touching the nearby Road Closed signs, cones, and temporarily stand-mounted stop sign. What will we do when the sewer department finishes this project, I wonder? Noel's new pants are too big and kept falling down as we walked. For once, he didn't do it on purpose. (A funny aside: we met some neighbors the other night, and as we talked in their yard, another neighbor boy who was playing there came over and said, "He pulled his pants down." We looked, and yes, he did. A great first impression!)

To fill out this post, here are some of Dom's recent sayings. I should mention that Noel's speech is blossoming daily, and he's putting three and four words together. I love how he says "big cwock" and "petzuh" or "putzuh" for pizza.

Dax is a hand. Don't ask me. He was saying dax in the car tonight, and I asked what that means, and this was his response. Immediately, Noel said "Dax is a hand." We all ended up laughing as the boys kept repeating it.

The air has faces. Huh?

To Noel, who was biting a Thomas engine...That will taste painty.

The library does not eat anything. That means it can't go pee.

He'll hate me for this when he's older...I pooped so toughly. Look how tough it is.

Also, he still enjoys eating "hamburgergers" (I'll be sad when the extraneous syllable comes off) and stepping on "tree stomps."

New look

Considering the main photo of the boys was so outdated that Noel wasn't even walking when it was taken (was he even crawling?), I thought it was probably time to make a change. That led to some other changes, as you can see. This space hadn't been touched in some time, which can get boring, like when a room always stays the same. This room was due for some rearranging.

Photos from the birthday festivities

Opening a present

Blowing out the candles. He really did!

Not exactly loving the cake. He eventually ate a few bites.

That's a hot pig-in-a-blanket! Or perhaps I should call it a cow-in-a-blanket.

Birthday boy

Happy birthday, Noel! It's been a dramatic year--let's see, partial amputation of fingertip, running away from a barbeque, two stitches to the forehead, pneumonia--but you made it to two anyway. Let's hope this next year proceeds much more smoothly. We love you!

This picture represents my attempt to capture Noel at the moment he turned two (8:08 am). He wasn't cooperating very well because he would rather play with a truck, so I ended up chasing him down and got this picture a couple of minutes late. We'll pretend that the clock was fast. And yes, I know he desperately needs a haircut, but you try using scissors on a screaming, moving target. We've had enough emergency room visits this year. So I put it off...and off.

To celebrate Noel's birthday, Mike took the day off, and when Dominick finished school, we went out for lunch. After Noel's nap, we made a brief visit to the zoo to take advantage of what might be the last day of warm weather. My silly boys--we couldn't interest them in seeing the animals. All they wanted to do was find the train tracks and crossings throughout the zoo. We did manage to see an elephant and some big fish at the River's Edge and catch a glimpse of two small black bears and some sea lions. Then it was back home for a few presents and dinner. Saturday will be a (very) small family party.

Follow-up

I was wrong about today's appointment: it was not the scheduled two-year checkup but a quick follow-up to Noel's hospitalization. The doctor said his breathing sounds good, so it looks like he's recovering well. I rescheduled his regular appointment for early December to put a little space between the pneumonia and the immunizations that are due at two years.

So we handled pneumonia, but now we're having to deal with another evil: the time change. Noel was awake before 5:00 this morning but only took an hour nap today, so there was much fussing by evening. My fingers are crossed that we make it until 6:00 tomorrow.

Home again

Noel was released from the hospital early this afternoon. Prior to his release, he had been climbing up to the window sill and going head first back to the window seat (repeatedly), riding a Thomas toy, playing with the buttons on the bed, and just in general being himself. In addition, his fever had been gone for 24 hours and he'd been off oxygen nearly as long. The number of wet diapers today showed dehydration was no longer a concern, so we were ready to go. Noel will be on antibiotics for the next 12 days and has his two-year checkup on Monday, which will be perfect timing as he needs to see his pediatrician to follow up on his illness.

As we left the hospital, we stopped by the rooftop garden. What a great place. The weather was insanely nice today, by the way. Is it really November already? Somebody's got a birthday in five days!

Noel's third visit to the ER (and first hospital stay)

Wow, I'm tired, but before I go to bed I wanted to post a quick update on Noel. I took him to the ER at 10:30 last night because of fever, labored breathing and retraction. Chest x-rays and lab work confirmed he has pneumonia, so we were admitted, but even before then, Noel was started on IV fluids, breathing treatments and oxygen, which helped immensely. We had a long, rough, mostly sleepless night, but by this afternoon, Noel was feeling better. He even got to come off the oxygen. Mike and Dominick came to the hospital for a few hours this morning, returned home to prepare for trick-or-treating, and came back so that Mike could stay over with Noel and I could come home and sleep. So that's what I'm going to do now. I'll keep everyone posted. We're hoping Noel can come home tomorrow, but that depends on test results and whether he's drinking enough to stay hydrated.

Friday night at the Y

Halloween festivities began for us tonight with the Y's annual party. The boys donned their tree costumes (Dominick was an apple tree; Noel was a sassafras) before we headed up to Brentwood. Well, I should say that Dominick got dressed except for his tree shirt, which had plastic apples on the back and could not be worn comfortably in the car.

The Y was a madhouse, yet some intrepid souls dared to work out in the midst of it. The gym held several activities, such as cookie decorating, tattoos, games, and a huge inflatable slide. After a costume parade around the track, the kids lined up in the gym for the costume contest, judged by Thing 1 and Thing 2. The first award was for Most Original Costume, and the winner was...drumroll...the apple tree! Woo hoo! We estimated there were about 150 kids, so I was pretty excited to have won a prize. Of course, as the ribbon was presented, one of the apples fell off. We lost a few leaves, too, so I'll have to do some repair before the next Halloween event. Darn that cheap felt.

The finale tonight was a pumpkin rescue in the pool. Dominick wasn't grabbing any pumpkins, so I fished one out from the side of the pool as the canoe went by and gave it to him, but he promptly threw it back into the water on the opposite side of the boat. I did manage to snag another to bring home.

So it was a fun evening, more than worth the $5 admission. I hope the late bedtime (9:00) translates into at least a 7:00 am wake-up for the boys, but I'm not holding my breath. I should also mention that I have been a Y member for a year now, and I'm still actually going! That's something of a miracle for me.

Noel's second visit to the ER

Just a quick one to pass along what happened this evening. During his usual post-bath naked run around the house, Noel slipped and fell, hitting his head on a rectangular piece of coal from the Thomas set. It left a fairly small but deep (to me, anyway) gash in his forehead, so I took him to the emergency room while Mike stayed home with Dominick. (That was kind of funny, actually: Dom wanted to go, too, so he started putting his shoes on, though he was still naked from his bath.) The doctors initially hoped we could get by with tissue glue, but once the wound was cleaned, they saw that it would require sutures. Poor little guy. I was so proud of him. He was great on the way to the hospital, in the waiting room, where he played with Thomas, and in the treatment room. He slept in my arms for a good portion of that time. He didn't love the stitching part so much, mostly because he was being held down. He kept screaming, "Done! Done!" Two stitches and some glue later, we were. Now Noel's at home asleep, and I hope he sleeps well tonight.

Update: Noel slept until 7:20 this morning (late for him) and has been acting normally since he got up. His forehead doesn't look too bad, considering. Luckily, both the glue and stitches will dissolve on their own, so there's nothing more we need to do, other than watch for signs of infection, which are rare in injuries like this. The doctor expects it to heal beautifully and leave a small scar. Maybe it will heal as well as Noel's finger. That scar is almost imperceptible. Amazing.

Noel this morning, and the culprit

Girls and boys

This morning was my spinning class, so after dropping off Dominick at school, Noel and I headed to the Y. He stays in the nursery while I work out. It's a beautiful thing. When I returned after spinning, Noel was just about to start his snack, so to avoid a meltdown, I let him eat it there before we left. He took his goldfish and cup into a play gazebo, and I squeezed in with him. A couple of girls nearby were playing with some My Little Ponies, which they brought over to the gazebo. They wanted me to take care of the ponies, and I thought, "Awww, aren't girls so caring and nurturing when they play." Then one of the girls said, "Don't touch the blood!" Apparently, the poor ponies had fallen and were bleeding from their eyes; the girls wanted me to give them shots to feel better. It was very enlightening, although in retrospect I shouldn't be surprised that girls can be a bit morbid in their play. I was one, after all.

Health and home

Mike had a visit with the oral surgeon on Monday. He's healing well, and the biopsy came back clear, so he's in good shape. I hadn't mentioned the biopsy on here before, just because. Fortunately, there's nothing to worry about.

And now Noel and I are having our own issues. He's been limping since yesterday, and today he held his leg and said "hurt." Also yesterday, something happened to my right pinkie toe. I have no idea how I hurt it, but it's bruised all around, swollen and painful. Very strange.

On the house front, the chimney is finished and looks beautiful. Getting rid of that nasty red has greatly improved the appearance of the entire house. Here is how it looks now:

And for comparison, a really "before" picture, taken just before we bought the house in September 2000:

[Shudder] I hadn't looked back at this roll of pictures in a long time. Wow, we've done a lot of work on this house! Maybe some day I'll add more photos of the house before and after to Picasa. Some of you may not have seen all the changes we've made, and some might just want to relive such special memories as the (badly painted) bright blue garage doors, fuschia playhouse trim, fake parquet and fake flagstone carpets, gun racks in the basement, and the Schlitz light fixture. Actually, all of the light fixtures were hideous. And yet, despite all of the renovation, our to-do list remains a mile long. It never ends.

New photos

At my parents' urging, I've uploaded September's photos, which include our trip to Branson, bike riding, Eckert Farms, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. I guess October just started, but it seems like a long time since I last posted pictures, so here they are:



We've got another busy weekend ahead: chimney painting, moving several shrubs, fixing the broken hose so that I can water the transplanted shrubs, working on Halloween costumes (the boys will be trees), and many other things on my list upstairs. Tomorrow we're doing something fun, at least: the fire station is holding its annual open house, which we attended last year. I'm sure I'll have pictures from that to post later. Have a great weekend!

The latest house project

Thanks to a letter from the City of Webster Groves, which apparently has some sort of issue with spalling brick and peeling paint in our fine community, we have finally embarked on our long-delayed but much-anticipated chimney repainting project. For those of you less familiar with the details of our house, the chimney is constructed of white brick that was painted a rather unfortunate shade of bright red by a previous owner. I've hated it ever since we bought the house (eight years ago yesterday, incidentally). Mike borrowed a 29-foot ladder from a coworker and began patching and priming over the weekend, finishing this morning. (He took the day off for some family fun that we timed to coincide with my birthday.) The finish coat/s, to match the original brick color, will follow soon, but even with just the primer, the chimney looks so much better. Mike rocks.

A silly boy and a poor daddy

We ate at Bandana's in Rock Hill tonight. The weather was lovely, so we sat outside, which really helped keep the boys entertained, as there was a busy intersection and a large fountain to watch. As it turned out, this particular fountain was much like the ones at Tilles Park and the Missouri Botanical Garden: jets of water shooting up from the ground, just made for running through. Dominick couldn't resist, and we decided to let him go ahead. So here it was, getting dark, and our crazy child was screaming and running through the fountain. Periodically, he stopped to run circles in the grass but always headed back to the water. As we left with our soaking wet boy, another boy's dad said to me, "Good luck with all that." No kidding! Mike had to strip Dom down to his underwear in the parking lot and wring gallons of water (well, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly) out of his clothes.

Mike had a fun day yesterday. He went to an oral surgeon to see about a clogged salivary gland and ended up having it removed. Apparently, the surgery did not go very well. It's never good when the doctor yells, "We have a bleeder!" Mike's been taking it easy since and seems to be feeling a little better, but he'll be on meds for a few more days.

Rant on behalf of my innocent child

This morning, after dropping off Dominick at school, Noel and I went to Aldi. He and Dom both are obsessed with bumps, be they railroad crossings, curbs, thresholds, or whatever. Aldi's tile flooring has metal seams between large sections. They're not very bumpy, really, but bumpy enough. So Noel was riding in the shopping cart, repeatedly saying "bump." As we approached the bread section, he was still saying it, but not too loud and definitely not throwing a fit. An elderly woman came over to get some bread, I guess, and Noel said "bump" to her. She said to him, "Are you talking to me in that voice?" and gave him a long, withering look before turning away. There was so much wrong with that I don't even know where to begin! Maybe I shouldn't, on second thought. I'll just leave it at that. As I said so eloquently on Facebook, grrrr!

Speaking of Noel speaking, he's really starting to put words together, two to three at a time. Sometimes it sounds like more words, though longer efforts are usually unintelligible. I'm sure they mean something to Noel. He says "please" a lot, which is lovely. We had a cute little exchange yesterday: I was changing him and singing "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" to keep him still. The second I took a break, he said, "Again. Song, please." So I continued, but a second later he held up his hand to me and said, "Dop! Dop!" You know, as in "dop sign." Funny.

Welcome to the Yellow Room

Dom has just finished his first week of his second year of preschool. He's graduated from the Red Room to the Yellow Room. Because of the summer program, he was already acquainted with the room and his two teachers, so the transition was incredibly smooth. Everything is going really well so far.

In other news, I learned today that the insurance company upheld its original decision regarding coverage of laser treatment for Noel's birthmark. No dice, as Dom would say. (The things his daddy teaches him!) The next step would be to appeal to the state of Missouri. We may do that just to see what happens, but honestly, if that effort fails, I'll be okay with it. I don't love the idea of putting Noel under six to eight times for treatment. We can always do it later, too, although the benefit of doing it soon is that Noel won't remember anything. I spoke to his dermatologist this afternoon, and she told me, interestingly enough, that her teenage daughter has a birthmark on her cheek, and she (the daughter) has chosen not to have it treated. We'll see. I'll keep you all posted.

Back from Branson

We arrived home early this afternoon after a lovely three days in the Ozarks. I've just finished looking through all the photos we took. I'll try to put them on Picasa over the next couple of days. For now, I'll just tell you briefly what we did:

Thursday evening: arrival at Tribesman Resort (stayed in a one-bedroom apartment with full kitchen and free washer and dryer) and a late dinner out. Noel just about fell asleep at the table.

Friday: Silver Dollar City. We had decided to pass on this because of the expense (about $150 for admission) but sucked it up and went anyway. Then we experienced the most amazing phenomenon: season-ticket holders giving away guest passes at the entrance to the park. We were approached twice, but the first time it didn't work because we had to enter with the season-ticket owners, who had already gone in after giving us their discounted passes. A second generous couple came up to us, this time with free passes for adults and $5 off a child's admission, so we got in for $36! If this kind of thing happens often, it was news to us, and we were blown away. Not only that, the weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a wonderful day, staying from opening until nearly closing. Dominick loved the Lost River, American Plunge, and the Flooded Mine. His favorite part of SDC? The railroad crossing. He drove us crazy constantly wanting to see the "bump." Another memorable moment was when Dominick stripped down to his underwear to run through the fountains near Geyser Gulch. It was a struggle to put his clothes on again. After all that, he didn't really go in the fountain. Noel's favorite part was the ball play at Geyser Gulch.

Saturday: Miniature golfing (the fastest, most frenetic game I've participated in, although I did get two consecutive holes-in-one) in the morning, lunch, back to the resort for Noel's nap (yes, he took a good one!), then out again for go-karts and dinner. Despite all the fun, the highlight of the day, for me, had to be when we returned to our room for the afternoon. Dominick, poor deprived child, was fascinated by the wrapped bar soap and amused himself for a significant amount of time by talking about it, wrapping it in a towel to give to Noel for his birthday, and then creating conversations between the bar soap and a penny. Both were later lost, but Dominick took it like a man.

Sunday: home, and time to get ready for a new school year and a new refrigerator tomorrow.

(That's me and Dominick in the front of the boat going down the American Plunge.)

The staycation ends

I don't really love that term, but whatever. We decided, on somewhat short notice, to take a trip to Branson this weekend. I haven't been there since I was a senior in high school. I'm sure it looks much different now. We'll be heading out tomorrow afternoon, which means I should be preparing right now instead of blogging. Many of us have been mildly sick this week, so we're hoping for good health and good weather for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend. And may Noel sleep in the car instead of crying for four hours!

The pool, at long last

I can't believe it took us until the penultimate weekend of summer to make it to the pool, but we've been so busy doing other activities that it never happened. So we went today, and it was a perfect day for swimming. First, we had to pick up our resident ID cards, which took a few minutes. Dominick received his very own (see August album in Picasa). Noel won't need one until he's four.

Once we got to the pool, Dom headed straight for the kiddie pool, with its fountains and slides. He had a blast. Noel spent most of his time there wading in, stepping out, and repeating ad nauseum. He got up to his waist in the water, but he didn't like any of the spray fountains. Dom and Mike also went into the bigger pool for a little while. The boys made it about an hour and a half before they became fussy, so we went home, cleaned up, and went out for pizza. Because we missed our workouts both days this weekend, after Noel's nap we loaded up the boys in the stroller and wagon and walked a mile or so to the produce market. It was an eventful day.

Check out the Picasa site for more pictures from the pool today and the rest of August's adventures thus far.

Thanks, baby!

Tonight's post is to record (and share, of course) one of those lovely details of life with small children. I had a bad afternoon yesterday, but Noel did something to cheer me up. I had just changed his diaper and leaned over to talk to him. First he reached up, stroked my hair, and said "hi." Then he said "hug," and pulled me down to wrap his arms around my neck. He had no idea how much I needed that! Sweet boy.

More Tour de St. Louis

Wow, I haven't been here in a while! How quickly two weeks have passed. This entire summer has flown by. We're now in a short break between summer program and the start of Dominick's second year of preschool. I love how his first day is September 8, yet we pay for the whole month.

Over the past two weekends, we've visited two more places on our St. Louis tourism list. The first was the Museum of Transportation on August 9. I thought the boys would like a place devoted to trains and, to a lesser extent, cars, boats and airplanes. Dominick was most interested in the tracks and what he calls bumps (crossings). Their cousin Seth was here for the weekend, and in addition to that outing, the three older boys (that includes Mike, of course--I'm so outnumbered) played a round of golf.

This Sunday, we went to Powder Valley Nature Center and walked the longest trail (1 1/5 miles). Dominick and I had been there once before when he was about a year and a half old. The most lasting memory I have was of nearly losing him and his stroller down a very steep embankment. This time, I knew better, so we decided to forgo wheeled transportation and just carry Noel when necessary. The trail has several (non-stroller-accessible) bridges, which I thought Dom would like, but at one point he said, "Another bridge! That's enough bridges." We also saw some deer and two lizards.

Back to the subject of trains, the boys have been loving their new Thomas stuff. We have tracks all over the place, in addition to the original train table. Noel says "Thomas" about a hundred times a day. How fitting, since that's his middle name. Look what happened to this poor boy the other day, when he took a spill on the exterior basement stairs (I think he tripped over the hose). He'd just gotten over a scrape on his nose from tripping on a sidewalk the week before, too. Boyhood is full of scrapes and bruises, it seems.

Note: I've just added July's pictures to the Picasa album here.

Time to catch up

I've been remiss about blogging lately, so here are some notes on the past few weeks in the Atwood household, in no particular order:

We went to Joplin to see my parents and gush over their new garage, landscaping, and flagstone patio. I'm so jealous! While there, we treated Dominick to his first movie theater experience ("Wall-E"). The movie was good but perhaps a bit too much for Dom, especially considering the length and volume of the previews and commercials that preceded it. Come on, theater people!

The four of us went to the Magic House. The admission there is ridiculous: why is it $7.50 for anybody over 12 months? Fortunately, we used two buy-one-get-one coupons, and we had a good time. (I'll post pictures eventually.) One of these days I'll get Dom to touch the big metal ball to make his hair stand up.

The dark area underneath Noel's fingernail along the line of the laceration has gone away. Maybe it was just dirt after all.

Dom can eat a full-sized cheeseburger with bun, a hot dog with bun, and potatoes and still want more.

I reworked the curtains in the boys' room, shortening them and adding sewn-in lining. This project was fraught with difficulties (it seemed like I made every mistake possible), but I persevered. Treating it as a learning experience helped me keep a positive attitude; otherwise, I might have chucked the sewing machine out the window. Thank goodness for my seam ripper.

Dom and I went to the Soulard Farmers Market together. He was overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds but got a balloon-dog-hat out of it, so he was happy. I bought blackberries and made a blackberry-white peach thing with not-so-puffy puff pastry on top. I'll call it rustic.

Noel uses words for real communication now, not just labeling. Even more exciting is that he's started telling me when he has a dirty diaper, which gives me hope that he'll toilet-train earlier than Dominick did.

I learned that Noel definitely does not like chocolate. Could this really be my child?

Dominick, on the other hand, loves watermelon, pronouncing it "gooder" than black beans, pickles, everything.

I can have an allergic reaction to cats just by holding a baby who lives in a cat-infested house. (Sorry, Storms!)

Mike has haunted eBay over the past two weeks, searching for the perfect Thomas set for the boys. I don't know how many auctions he bid on before finally winning two. Dom is going crazy waiting for the stuff to arrive. When that day comes, Mike wants me not to open the packages before he comes home from work. That will go over well with Dominick. "Sorry, sweetie, but you'll have to wait another six hours to play with your 52 new engines." [Update: Box 1 arrived just after I posted this. I let Dominick take out 21 engines and some track before Mike came home. Now they've set up a fairly elaborate track in the basement.]

Watch for new photos on Picasa...sometime.

Mud puddles

Closet reader?

Driving north on 270 on our way to playgroup today, we passed the Highway 40 interchange. Dominick pointed to a sign and said, "Do you know what that sign says? It says the road is closed." Sure enough, as anyone living in St. Louis knows, the road is indeed closed. So...did Dom read it? When I asked him, he said yes and giggled proudly, just as he had a couple of weeks ago when he told me he had "readed" part of a book. Now, if he'd seen a stop sign, that would have been different, but "closed" is not something Dom sees on a sign every day. I'd love to think that he's beginning to read, especially since he has resisted efforts on our part to sound out words. Quite often lately I find him sitting quietly with a book. He and Noel both love to read, which is so lovely. Dominick just completed the library's summer reading program by reading 50 books. I took him to pick up his prizes on Sunday. He was most excited.

I have to mention something funny Dominick said yesterday at dinner: "I'm stirring it up so it bes a lot gooder." I'll let him get away with that for now because he's four and it's cute.

Because I'm too tired to write a real post...

...and too easily distracted by the Internet:

Photos courtesy of PhotoFunia

Homegrown goodies

I'm going to try a little experiment with what's left of the summer. For the first time ever, I bought some vegetable plants: a bell pepper and a tomato. (Yes, of course, the tomato is a fruit.) The beautiful part is that they cost me a total of 94 cents, including tax, so if I kill them, oh well. But if I don't, yum! My new friends will have to go in a planter on the patio for now, but that's probably the safest place for them, given the abundance of little bunnies in our neighborhood. What to do about the boys, though? "Mama, look what I picked!" Fried green tomatoes, anyone?

Update: Dom and I went out to plant the goodies just now. He was excited to see and hold the plants in the bag. In his excitement, the pepper was knocked off. It was an accident, but still...Not only that, but we don't have enough potting soil, so I'm waiting for Mike to get home. There's a full bag of something garden-y in his trunk that's been there for months. Fingers crossed that it's potting soil.

Dom with the plants before the pepper fell off

A belated happy Fourth of July

I hope everyone had a happy holiday. My parents came to visit, arriving on Thursday, July 3, and staying through Sunday. A splendid time was had by all. We celebrated the 4th with a trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden (free!) and a cookout later. The most exciting part of the day was taking Dominick to see his first-ever fireworks. My parents stayed home with Noel while the three of us headed to the AT & T building downtown. We had a prime parking spot in the garage where Mike parks every day and a perfect view of the Arch and river from the thirtieth floor. (I wish I'd taken the camera, although who knows how the pictures would have turned out.) Dom thought the Old Courthouse was a castle. We could also see into the eastern part of Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals were playing that night. Dom wasn't as into the fireworks as we thought he might be. He wasn't not interested, but he wasn't jumping up and down, either. When the fireworks first started, he kept saying "They're going to get us!"

On Sunday, another photo op presented itself, this time when my neighbor, the Goat Lady (Merryl) told me she had two new baby goats. Mom and Dad and I took the boys up to our friendly neighborhood farm to see the goats and chickens. The babies were quite cute but stayed on the other side of the yard, so we didn't get to see them up close. The bigger goats were more than happy to venture over and even ate some greens from Dom's hand. I stumbled across this video yesterday featuring Merryl and her son. Check it out for more information on our unique local resource. As for our pictures, I've just posted them on Picasa. By the way, that picture above shows the blueberry-and-strawberry parfaits we had for a festive holiday dessert. They were soooo good!

July already?

Despite the calendar turning to July, the weather has been mild, and we heard a brief excerpt from "The Nutcracker" (written by Mike, if you'll remember) on the radio today. It will be hot and miserable soon enough, though the holiday looks pretty good, if a little wet. Hey, if it keeps me from having to water the plants!

So, what have we been up to since June 22, when I last posted? My memory is short-term tonight, so let's stick with the past weekend. It was very productive, with a little bit of fun thrown in. I won't bore you with the productive part of it (weeding, car washing, garage cleaning, blah blah blah). The fun part was a trip to the Incredible Pizza Company, which was new to us. It's a cross between CiCi's and Chuck E. Cheese's, basically. We went with our friends and their one-year-old daughter. It was good, though a bit high-priced (six dollars for go-karts???), but something different to do. Dominick bowled his first game ever, with some help from Noel, who loves balls. Dom's score was 44. The gutter bumpers were like little fences with widely spaced posts and stopped short of the pins, so they were somewhat useless. Dom was robbed, if you ask me.

Noel amazes me every day with his burgeoning vocabulary. I can't begin to keep track of all his words, but here are a few new ones: soap, cup (meaning gallon of milk), TV ("tee"), pea, pee, poop, horse, belly, nose ("pose"), foot, bird, sock, light, hot, cute, bite, goose, Thomas ("Nah-meh"). I've been trying to teach him animal sounds, but he gets a little mixed up. Me: "What does a dog say?" Noel: "Cow."

In closing, here's another fun fact from Dominick: bees bite your hair to make it shorter. Who knew?

Tour de St. Louis: Raging Rivers

Mike took off work today, and we went to Raging Rivers Water Park in Grafton, Illinois. The forecast promised perfectly gorgeous weather, and it was right. The drive took about an hour, enough for Noel to start fussing (one of the reasons we opted to be local tourists this summer--he hates long car rides). To get to Grafton, you have to cross the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, so we got a firsthand look at the flooding. I was sad to see Elsah, such a picturesque little town, under several feet of water. All along the Great River Road, water was lapping up close to the highway.

Raging Rivers was fun. First we went to the kiddie areas, but the boys weren't really into those. Dom didn't like the bucket dumping water, and Noel cried when I got him two feet from the Itty Bitty Surf City. Dom did ride the Cascade Body Flumes. I took him first, holding him tightly on my lap. It was fast! We landed at the bottom with a big splash, going under the water slightly. I assumed Dom would be freaked out by that, but instead he said, "Let's do it again!" He liked the wave pool, too. Noel was most interested in pushing the stroller around. By naptime, he was getting pretty cranky, so we left at 3:00.

Back at home, I saw on the park's website that it will close starting Friday because of the flood. Our original plan had been to go then, so I'm glad we went today! I took some pictures and will try to post them to Picasa tonight or tomorrow.

Overheard today

Dominick, to Noel: "I'm not going to ask you again. I'm tired of saying that."

Hmmm, where do you suppose he heard such a thing?

Summer school begins

Emmanuel started its summer program today, and after two weeks away, we made sure to take advantage of it! Dominick was very excited because he got to take his lunch. Instead of fussing that he wanted to stay home, he grabbed his lunch bag and put on his shoes several minutes early, saying he was ready to go. Once we arrived, he was a little apprehensive about going into the Blue Room, but with Mrs. Cassilly's encouragement, Dom did fine. He even made a new friend today, a boy named Colin. I hear they hit it off really well.

I have to say here that now I feel somewhat older, having made Dominick his first school lunch (peanut butter and jelly, a mix of leftover peas and cauliflower, and grapes). Working a booth at his school carnival last month did the same thing. I've been a mom for more than four years, but I still don't feel like a "mom," if you know what I mean. I'm still me. I remember when I was a senior in high school, not feeling as mature as I thought the seniors looked when I was a sophomore. It's that kind of thing.

Here we go

So, despite the ridiculous heat this afternoon, I found myself rummaging through our recycling cart (which I love, by the way) for the elusive list of words. I was hoping that nobody attending the open house next door would think the potential future neighbor was some kind of recycling-cart-diving weirdo. Alas, the search was futile, but later this afternoon, I sat down with pen and paper and racked my brain to come up with the words below. This time, I reused a piece of junk mail (am I thrifty or what?). To avoid losing the words again, I am ensuring that they live on, at least until Blogger crashes, by posting them here. If it seems a bit silly that I'm putting so much effort into this, it's because this blog is as much a record as a way of communicating with friends and family. I don't keep a journal, and I'm waaaaay behind on baby books, so this is it.

Here are Noel's newest words: cracker, bubble, eye, balloon, paper, hat, shoes, teeth, fish, cheese, cup, down, phone, Cheerios, ball, my (he's even said "my book"), car, truck ("guck," just like Dom used to say), hi, sit, strawberry. He also likes to say "poe," which may sometimes mean pillow. Also, he refers to his boy bits as "peese" (as in "peace") or "beese."

Even more pictures are up on Picasa. Yesterday was Mike's birthday, and we went to the zoo to celebrate. It was the third stop in our Summer 2008 Tour de St. Louis. On Friday, May 30, we went to the Boathouse in Forest Park to eat lunch and ride the paddleboats. My months of spin class came in handy there. It was a lovely day, a perfect beginning to our jaunt through the city, but I FORGOT THE CAMERA! All the mental reminders to bring the camera were for naught. I came home and stole some other people's Boathouse pictures from Flickr, but that's only small consolation. What I really wanted, obviously, were pictures of us. Lesson learned. The second stop on our tour was the Missouri Botanical Garden, which is holding its Niki de Saint Phalle exhibit. I took the boys on Wednesday morning, and we had a good time. By some miracle, I remembered the camera that day.

As for the zoo, it was fun and not too hot first thing in the morning. Noel had never been before, so he needed to go. Dom's favorite part was the train, specifically the train tracks. He didn't even go in the fountain in the Children's Zoo because he just wanted to go to the tracks. The only other thing he cared for was a bench with bugs in the seat. I'm not sure what Noel liked best. Maybe it was the slide in the Children's Zoo. He did well on the train, not laughing but not crying, either.

Scrambled eggs

We've been fairly busy lately, but I'm too lazy to write about our activities, so instead I'm posting some of Dom's newest hilarious sayings. These date from about the last month. Here they are in order:

Daddy thinks we can have worms for dinner.

If you don't feed me [i.e. I know how to use a spoon but don't feel like doing it myself], I'm going to take your drinks away!

I'm going to throw away all your crossword puzzles! (Whoa, Dom! Calm down!)

The clouds had to pee to get out some rain.

I'm going to take all of the kids outside the house who came here, and I'm going to throw them at spiders. (Nobody was here. When he's mad, it's amusing to watch him try to come up with things like this to say. He always emphasizes certain words, usually the threatening verb, which makes it even funnier.)

dried-out Play-doh with hooks (dough ornaments)

I forgot to wash my other hand.

I had a nice, long list of words from Noel, too, but it apparently went to the recycling cart. That's what I get for reusing random scraps of paper. My memory won't tell me the words now, so I'll try to coax them out later. I'm probably better off going through the recycling cart. In the meantime, check out the Picasa page. I finished May and started a folder for June. I wasn't happy with my point-and-shoot digital camera, so I've switched back to my film SLR. I'd forgotten what a pain film is, but at least I'm getting better pictures. In a somewhat risky move, I've bought a digital SLR on eBay. Here's hoping it actually arrives and is in the described condition. The digital just isn't doing my gorgeous boys justice. I do like the movie mode, so I'll keep using it for that.

In case you're wondering, the post title is a reference to Paul McCartney's working title for "Yesterday." I couldn't think of anything on my own (it's getting late), so I'm taking Paul's idea.

Anniversary weekend

Saturday was our 11th anniversary. Last year, on our big 10, we celebrated by eating out at Macaroni Grill and alternating who carried the screaming baby. It was not very special. This time around, we decided that Noel was big enough to go without me for a couple of days, so the boys spent the weekend with their grandma in southeast Missouri. It was great. We ate out (and ate too much), went to a movie, got up late (10:00 on Sunday!), went clothes shopping, I took a nap and did two crossword puzzles, we played Rock Band. So much for painting, fixing the chipper-shredder, and cleaning the house! The one thing I really wanted to do that we didn't was play tennis. The weather did not cooperate.

So after this relaxing weekend, we met Mike's mom to pick up the boys this afternoon, and wouldn't they immediately start crying and fussing? Noel made it very clear that he didn't want to go back in the carseat, and Dom insisted he hadn't just eaten the snack I'd given him. Having come off two days of peace, I was in a state of mind to find it all amusing. Still, it is good to have the boys back. I guess I've gotten used to having them around. The house was so strangely quiet without them.

By the way, I've finally gotten around to renaming my recent photo files, and I even managed to post them to Picasa. They're in folders by month from March through May, so I won't embed them here. April is pretty sparse. I don't know what we did all month.

Off-topic post: AI results

This has absolutely nothing to do with my two boys, but hey, it's my blog, so I can write whatever I want. And tonight I want to say hooray for Missouri's own David Cook! For once, my favorite on American Idol actually won. Honestly, though, the only other time I really cared was when it was Bo vs. Carrie. (I like Bo.) I did my part for David C., having voted 11 or 12 times last night. I must admit that when the results were announced, I threw my arms in the air and cheered. Yes, I really did. And now another season of Idol is over. What am I going to do until January?

Have you seen a little boy?

I don't know whether I am strong enough for this motherhood thing. We had another bit of drama involving Noel. Here's the story:

Saturday afternoon we went to a barbeque at our friends' house, and while we were there, Noel managed to wander off. I guess Mike thought I had taken both boys back inside when Dominick said he wanted to eat. A little while later, I was giving Dom his lunch when Mike walked in alone. "Where is Noel?" I asked. The look on Mike's face told me we had a problem. We ran outside and started searching for Noel. Mike took the car, while I ran up and down the block frantically, asking anyone I saw if they'd seen a little boy. A man from a few doors down went off on his four-wheeler or riding lawnmower or whatever he'd been on in his yard to help look. Soon, word reached our party that Noel had been found. Apparently, he had been playing with a ball and kicked or rolled it from our friends' driveway all the way down the block and around the corner toward the next street. When Mike drove that way, he spotted Noel, who had already been found by a woman. It didn't take all that long to find him, but in that time, my mind was playing out a number of scenarios, none of them happy. I couldn't wait to get Noel out of the car and hold him. Not long after, with Noel safely inside the house eating lunch, a police car pulled up. A neighbor must have called the cops. The officer came in to see Noel and make sure everything was alright.

So that's the latest incident in our family. What could possibly be next? I can't take much more of this!

Here it is...

The first of many school photos

A couple of weeks ago on picture day, it was with some trepidation that I sent Dom to school with a check and an order form. Who knew what images I was paying for? Portrait studios are annoying, but at least you can see what you're getting. Would Dom throw a fit and refuse to sit for the photographer? To my relief, my boy came through for me. Is he handsome or what? And so BIG!

The class picture is cute because very few of the ten kids (three were missing that day) are actually looking at the camera. Dom's doing something funny with his arm. Still, it's nice to have that picture for Dom's (neglected) baby book.

Noel said a new word tonight: apple. He was pulling out pieces of play food and said it while holding up an apple slice. Supposedly, toddlers have an explosion of vocabulary at 18 months. We missed out on that with Dominick, so I'm looking forward to experiencing it with Noel. I'm happy with anything he says, of course. I was trying to post a video of Noel talking on the phone, but YouTube is having issues right now, so I'll have to add it later.

Noel's visit to the pediatrician

Noel had his 18-month appointment this morning. The little guy was not too pleased about being weighed, measured, and examined. Lucky for him, there were no shots today. Here are Noel's latest stats:

Weight: 23 pounds, 8 ounces (almost 25th percentile, up from 10th)

Length: 30 3/4 inches (10th percentile)

Head circumference: 49 1/4 cm (a whopping 90th percentile. Why do my boys have such big heads?)

Fortunately, there's not much more to say about the checkup. Noel's a healthy boy, if small. The next visit, barring illness or injury (that sound is me knocking on wood), will be at two years, which doesn't seem that far away.

In loving memory

My beloved sassafras tree came down today. It had been dead for about a year and a half, but I was giving it one more chance to show some leaves before we did anything. Not only were there no leaves, but the branches were brittle and brown inside. I started breaking off big ones this afternoon and asked Mike to go for the chainsaw when he got home. He made short work of it.

Here is a picture of the tree several years ago in its glorious, fiery fall color. I'm sure it would rather be remembered this way.

All may not be lost, however: three sassafras babies are growing near the base of the old tree. Funny how they didn't show up until last year when the tree was already dead. Why is that, I wonder?

The big move

Noel has finally moved in with his big brother. Last night we took the crib out of our room and set it up in what is now Dominick and Noel's room. Mike and I were relieved that the boys went to sleep easily and slept through the night. Noel woke up at 6:30, and because we'd forgotten to put a monitor in the room, we didn't hear him crying until he'd already woken Dom. As expected, Dominick was in the crib with Noel when I came down. We'll see how night two goes. The real test of this new sleeping arrangement will happen when Dominick wakes up in the middle of the night.

After moving the crib, we went to visit the goats that live up the street. Meryl was outside when we came by, so she introduced us to two beautiful, snow-white goats who were born six days earlier. She took the goats into the tennis court next to her house and told Dominick that if he ran, the goats--Olivia and Rebecca, in case you were wondering their names--would follow him. I really wished I'd had my camera with me! It was fun to see Dominick cavorting with the two baby goats. Noel loved them, too.

Update on Noel's finger

Just a quick post before Noel and I join Dominick for his preschool's Fruit Day picnic. I realized earlier this week that Noel's fingernail is growing back. It's about halfway there. Noel is quite the little trooper. At the hospital, the doctors were less than optimistic about his fingertip surviving because the blood supply was not intact, nor were they optimistic about his nail growing back because the laceration occurred right where it generates. Well, look at him now! It seems as though he'll come through this with nothing more than a scar around his finger.

From the mouths of babes

I haven't posted any of Dom's recent funny sayings, so it's time to get caught up. A couple of these will embarrass him when he's older, but they're not too bad. I'm sparing my readers the more graphic examples.

"He thinks hands are for hitting."
"Our house is not where we live."
"I don't like fun."
"Daddy wrote 'The Nutcracker.'"
"Everything in this house is mine."
"My stomach's not full. All my food went down the toilet."
"You can wipe my behind if you want to."

Also, Dominick tells me that he has three hammers in his stomach for mashing food. They don't have handles because there's not room, and they work by themselves because he doesn't have a hole in him to reach them. You learn something new every day, don't you?

And now I get to brag on Noel, who has a nice little vocabulary of his own: up, down, ball, book, Mama, Daddy, diaper, bathroom (by which he means the toilet), truck (guck, just like Dominick used to say), door, cheese (dee), hi, bye-bye, no, wow. He's good at combining words with gestures, like when he needs my help and points under a table and says "ball," or when he waves "dye-dye." The funniest thing is when he plays phone. He'll pick up a toy phone (or any other remotely phone-shaped toy), put it to his ear, say "hi," wait a second, then set it down with a "dye-dye." He did this repeatedly while we were driving the other day.

Show and tell

These are the best I could do. I had hoped for a good smile shot, but Dom's not always the most cooperative boy. Maybe another time...

The dentist and the dermatologist

The boys have been busy this weekend. Yesterday morning was Noel's long-awaited visit to the pediatric dermatologist. She confirmed that his birthmark is a port-wine stain (nevus flammeus). She called his birthmark small, which I'm sure it is compared to some of the marks she's seen, and said it is not considered disfiguring but rather a distinguishing feature. I like the positive sound of that. Because of its proximity to the eye, there is a very small possibility of complications, namely glaucoma. The doctor said it is unlikely to be a problem, but we can rule out any issues by having Noel examined by a pediatric ophthalmologist. Treatment of port-wine stains is by pulsed-dye laser. For a child of Noel's age, general anesthesia would be required. He'd need to have four to eight treatments. The big question now is whether our insurance will cover the treatments. We'll figure out how to proceed after we find out.

Dominick went to the dentist this morning. It was a pretty quick visit because there's really nothing to be done. Dom will have a slightly different smile for a couple of years until his adult teeth are ready to come in. Oh well! We'll get used to it.

The rest of the morning was spent on more-exciting things. Mike and Dom headed to Whittle's Shortline Railroad store in Fenton from the dentist's office, while I took Noel to the Teeny Weeny Olympics, a PAT event. Then we all gorged ourselves at Sweet Tomatoes. Dom's hilarious. Thirty minutes after we got back home, he tells me he's hungry. Hello?!?

When it rains...

It has rained a lot this week, but I'm not talking about the weather here. We were getting ready to go to the Y this afternoon when Dominick, who was playing in the laundry basket, flipped over and started crying. His mouth was bleeding, so I thought, "He's bitten his lip." Then I noticed the tooth in the basket. Surprisingly, the bleeding stopped quickly, and Dom calmed down. By that time, I was on the phone with the dentist's office. Because Dominick lost a baby tooth (they called it "deciduous"), it can't be put back in, but the dentist is going to take a look at him on Saturday morning. Dom hasn't been to a pediatric dentist yet, so he'll be seeing our regular dentist. Wish us luck.

After Dom fell, it took him several minutes to realize that a tooth was missing, but he wasn't upset about it. He commented, "One of my teeth is gone. It'll grow back soon," and later, "I don't have 20 teeth anymore." He looks like he's been in a fight, what with the missing tooth and the black eye he has sported since Saturday, when he ran, slipped and hit the front of the computer desk. Cross your fingers that Dom's preschool doesn't call child protective services when they see him tomorrow.

Ironically, I was just telling our PAT educator this morning that, since Noel's accident, people have been telling us that with boys, these things are going to happen. Life with two boys, indeed.

Spring Break

Dominick was on spring break last week, so the boys and I went to my parents' house, which Dominick thinks is Joplin, the day before Easter and stayed until Friday. Before leaving St. Louis, we had an early Easter at our house so that the boys could celebrate it with Mike. The drive was uneventful, except for the 20-minute delay at Fenton, where we saw the flooding. When we arrived, eggs were awaiting Dom's artistry. He dyed them over and over again, so that they all ended up purple. Our visit was pretty low-key. We hung out, watched American Idol, went to the Y and the playground, and ate lots of good food. On Wednesday, I had new front tires put on the car and got to spend three whole hours (at the mall) by myself! Now that we're back home, I feel like such a grown-up for taking my first trip to Joplin with the boys. They did great, even during stops, so I didn't need to worry. Too bad Noel really didn't sleep in the car. I guess some people just aren't good car sleepers. I never was.

An update on Noel's finger: it's healing fabulously. The fingernail fell off last Wednesday morning. Who knows where it went. Surprisingly, the finger looks much better without the nail just sitting there. Everything is nice and pink, and the line where the tip was reattached is difficult to see. Noel has no pain and no need for the splint anymore. That's just as well, considering it kept coming off.

Good news!

The doctor said that Noel's fingertip is, and I quote, "definitely alive." Hooray! He also said that it looks a little weird because of where the fingernail is sitting. He recommended continuing with the same course of treatment (soaking twice a day in warm, soapy water) because at this point, surgery would be overkill.

After the doctor visit, we headed across the hall to the hand rehabilitation clinic, where Noel was fitted for a splint. We have two: a small one that fits on his finger and a larger one that wraps around his hand. Somehow, neither one wants to stay on, but maybe once Noel gets used to wearing it, he will leave it alone. The splint will protect Noel's finger better than the bandages did, so the pain should be less now. He cried quite a bit overnight, so it must have been bothering him.

Needing happy thoughts

Just a request for you to continue to keep Noel in your thoughts. He's been having more pain, which might be because without the splint, his finger is much more vulnerable. Tonight we tried to change his bandages, but the gauze was stuck again (new bleeding), and it was obvious Noel wasn't tolerating it well. Yesterday morning, I succeeded in removing the dressings, but only after letting Noel play with a bowl of water and some toys while I tried to keep his finger wet. Actually, Noel somehow knocked the last bit off as I was trying to wrap him up again. I won't get too graphic here, but I will say that the fingertip appeared pinkish. It wasn't black, anyway, so I'm cautiously hopeful.

We have another appointment tomorrow morning. Noel probably won't be very cooperative. Not that I blame him, of course. He's been through a lot, especially for a 16-month-old.

I'll post again tomorrow.

Noel's visit to the orthopedic surgeon

I came away from Noel's appointment today without any answers about the fate of his fingertip. The doctor called us back and talked to us for a couple of minutes. Then the nurse came in, gave me a bowl of saline solution and left me to remove Noel's dressing. Once I got most of it off, I was supposed to soak his hand to soften anything still stuck to the wound. Try doing that with a screaming, thrashing toddler! Ultimately, the last bit of dressing stayed on, so the nurse wrapped him up again (no splint, though, just bandages). The doctor gave us instructions to soak the hand twice a day in soapy water until the gauze comes off. We'll go back Thursday if there's something to see. He said that Noel's finger looks good in that there's no sign of infection, but that the skin might be dark. We just couldn't tell. The good news is that Noel can stop taking the antibiotic now. He'll be thrilled.

I've started scouring the Internet for some sort of device to prevent this from happening again. Apparently, the British are much more interested in protecting little fingers from amputation by door than we are. I did find some finger guards, just not many that are suitable for exterior doors. If anybody has experience or recommendations with these, please let me know.

Update

Fortunately, there's not much to say. Noel continues to act normally, showing no signs of pain. He's gotten used to the splint on his hand and doesn't mess with it anymore. Thursday, the day after the accident, Noel was so intent on playing that he barely let me hold him, which was all I wanted to do. Since then, he's been more content to snuggle. He hates taking his antibiotics, though I think he's starting to resign himself to having a syringe shoved into his mouth three times a day. We'll be finished with that on Monday, thank goodness. Yesterday morning was Noel's previously scheduled PAT screening, and because he'd been in such good spirits, I went ahead and took him. After warming up to the situation, he did fine.

Me, I still can't get the sight of him caught in the doorway and his damaged finger out of my mind (they will be there forever), but I am coping better now. We're just focused on taking care of Noel and getting to his appointment on Monday, where we'll see how well his finger has been healing. I will keep you posted on what the doctor says.

Poor baby

Some of you already know about Noel's accident yesterday, but for those who don't, this is what happened.

Dominick shut the front door on Noel's pinky finger, nearly severing it. My friend Jill, who was here at the time, called 911 and stayed with Dominick while Noel and I went to Children's Hospital in an ambulance. Mike met us there as soon as he could. The doctor reattached Noel's fingertip, and after X-rays and a visit to the pharmacy, we came home. Noel slept all night and woke up in a surprisingly cheerful mood. He spent the entire morning playing with Dominick's remote-control spider. He even showed some of that lovely little ornery streak that has just developed. It was as if yesterday had never happened. If it weren't for the splint on his hand, you'd never have known what Noel had just been through.

Noel has an appointment for a follow-up visit with an orthopedic surgeon on Monday afternoon. At this point, we're keeping watch for any signs of infection and hoping that the fingertip survives. The doctors and nurses couldn't promise us that it will, but then kids are amazingly resilient, so we are trying to be optimistic. I was pretty freaked out yesterday, but seeing how well Noel has done today has helped tremendously.

As for Dominick, what he did was an accident. He had no idea Noel's finger was in the door when he closed it. He's done many things to try to hurt his brother, but this was not one of them.

A promotion

Our little swimmer has been moved out of the Terrified of Water class because he did so well today. It started out a little rough, with Dom not wanting to put on floaties and get in the pool. Being hit in the head by the locker room door he was standing in front of didn't help much, either. Within a few minutes, though, Dom calmed down and went to the edge of the pool. Megan, the instructor, came right over and talked to him, and he got in the water with her fairly readily. After that, he was fine, so I slipped out and went to the cardio room. When I came back to get Dominick, he was crossing to the far side of the pool with a noodle and a board thing (what are those called?)--by himself! He was obviously having a great time. What a relief.

Here are some of Dom's latest humorous sayings:

Blincoln hat (Lincoln hat. Get it? Abe Lincoln...A blincoln. They made Lincoln hats in preschool. Dom's is pretty funny. I have to take a picture of him wearing it.)

Plumper (plunger, as in "The plumper! The plumper! Get the plumper!")

Inspired ("Are these coupons inspired, Mama?")

Tepescope (did I post this one before?)

A different kind of Isabelle (I wish I could remember the context. He must have been talking about some other girl.)

Dom: I don't have boo-boos 'cause I don't feed babies.
Me: Boys don't have milk like mommies.
Dom: I have milk, right here. (points to cup)

And my favorite, spoken while sitting on the toilet at 2:00 one rough night:

I just love that baby so much. I love all you guys.

Hooray for Dominick!

In preparation for Saturday morning's swimming lesson, Mike took Dominick to the pool at the Y last night while I was at spinning. The plan was to coax him into the pool for 20-30 minutes before caving and letting him out. So you can imagine my surprise when I came out of my class 45 minutes later and saw Mike waving to me from the shallow end of the pool. I joined them and found Dom happily splashing and floating around on a noodle. He was having a blast and didn't want to leave. How about that?!? Let's *hope* that now he will be more receptive to his lessons. You can never tell.

For anyone who doesn't know, Mike and I are big American Idol fans. Our tastes in TV are pretty divergent (sports versus design and cooking shows), so this is one show we can watch together on a regular basis. (I think he's a closet What Not to Wear fan, but he'd never admit it.) Anyway, I was sad to see Asia'h Epperson go, simply because she is from Joplin. So much for that Idol viewing party in a couple of weeks! I liked her well enough, but the guys are more interesting to me this year. With Asia'h gone, I'm rooting for our other Missourian, David Cook, as well as Jason Castro and Michael Johns. I have to admit I liked Danny Noriega, too, because he was full of attitude. He was to American Idol what Christian Siriano was to Project Runway, minus the extreme talent.

February turns into March

Mike bought a new Xbox game tonight (sigh), so I am doing some computer work while he plays. I renamed all my digital photos from October to today (note to self: TRY to keep up with this task before it becomes overwhelming!) and have just uploaded several to our Picasa account. They're posted as a slideshow below. Included are Dominick's birthday photos, so I should give a brief summary of his celebrations.

On February 16, we had a smallish party, his first with friends his age. Everything was great for the first few minutes, until Dominick fell and busted his nose. Subsequent pictures show him with band-aid under nose (more for comfort than function) and blood on clothing. He wouldn't let us clean him up at the time. My cake design turned out very well, if I do say so myself. For months, Dom had been requesting a phone cake, so that's what I gave him. My parents and sister came into town for the party, which was much appreciated. We all played Rock Band Saturday night, except for my mom, who chose to be our fan. Dominick took cookies shaped like 4s to preschool the day before his birthday. He did a beautiful job decorating them with glaze and sprinkles. On his actual birthday, Mike took off work so we could celebrate properly. Unfortunately, I was sick, and the weather was horrendous. We braved the sleet to eat out for lunch and play at Monkey Joe's, which is full of huge, inflatable slides and bounce houses. Dom loved it. We knew he would. That night, we recycled one of Dom's cakes, which had been frozen since the party, and let him blow out candles again.

This morning, Dominick started swimming lessons at the Y. We put him in the Terrified of Water class. We know our boy! It went as we expected. One of the teachers (not his) ended up spending the entire time with him in the pool. Mike and I had gone dressed to work out but were glued to our seats in the lobby, watching him. We could see that he was crying. Why didn't any of the other kids seem terrified? Eventually, Dom calmed down and splashed a little, even laughed, but he told us later that he doesn't want to swim again.

This afternoon, we took advantage of the weather and went to Laumeier Sculpture Park. You'll see some of those pictures in the slideshow. It was interesting to see that some of the sculptures I remembered from last spring's visit with my parents had been removed.

An update on Noel's sleeping habits: I am cautiously optimistic about his progress. After a couple of rough nights, he slept through the night last night, until 6:30. Woo hoo! Dominick has his own nighttime milestone. He's been staying dry overnight, so we've started having him sleep in underwear. It's just as well, considering he's basically outgrown his extra large Fuzzi Bunz. He really seems like a big boy now.

I'll close with some words of wisdom from our birthday boy: "Fake leopards don't get you. They only do nice things."

Seven band-aids

Both boys had their checkups and the requisite immunizations this morning. Dom was pumped up about the elevator and seeing the fish and playing in the castle in the waiting room. Oh yeah, there were stickers, too. So what if he had to endure four shots? Noel had less to look forward to, though he did find a few things to occupy him in the exam room. He was furious at having his head measured and ears examined (how dare they!) and shots given (of course).

Dom and Noel are growing in their established patterns, one at each end of the charts. Here are the current measurements:

Dominick
43 pounds (95th percentile)
41 1/2 inches (75th)

Noel
21 pounds, 11 ounces (10th percentile)
30 1/2 inches (25th)

This visit included Dom's first blood pressure check, which he allowed only after the nurse demonstrated putting the cuff on my arm. She also tried to do hearing and vision tests, but he didn't cooperate with those. Colette said that's normal for a four-year-old. Maybe next year!