WHEREFORE?????

We've officially reached The Land of Wherefore, which is a fancy way of saying that from the moment he wakes until the moment he is sleeping, Alex asks, "Why?".  Who am I kidding?  He probably asks in his sleep but I'm just too deep of a sleeper to hear him talking.

This morning's conversation went something like this:

Alex:  Mommy, WHY do sharks have hearts?

Me:  Sharks have hearts because they need to pump blood through their bodies, just like we do.

Alex:  WHY do they pump blood through their bodies?

Me:  Sharks and us need to pump blood through our bodies to deliver oxygen and nutrients to all of our other organs, like our livers, stomachs, and our muscles.  We need the oxygen and nutrients to grow and be healthy.

Alex:  WHY is there oxygen in our blood?

Me:  When we breath air our lungs take the oxygen from it and put it into our blood.

Alex:  WHY?

Me:  Because we need the oxygen for our bodies to work.

Alex:  When we die do our bodies still work?   
Note rare departure from the WHY questioning format

Me:  No, honey.  When we die, our bodies stop working.  That's what dying is.

Alex:  WHY?

Me:  Because that's what dying is.

Alex:  WHY?


I could go on, but I think you know where this leads.

I think the thing that I find most challenging about the many many MANY questions (OH MY GOD, THE QUESTIONS) is that so many of the questions don't have answers, or answers that make sense, and no matter what the answer, the QUESTIONER IS NEVER APPEASED.

In other news, last week I took the children to the NJ Aquarium to get out of the house and enjoy the fish.  Alex is a huge fan of the fish, especially sharks.  The kid knows the names of more sharks than I ever knew existed before he became obsessed with them.

We arrived shortly before lunch time and proceed to make our way to his recent favorite exhibit where you can touch a shark.  He loves it.  It's a major change from last year, when he wouldn't even go near the area.

After touching many sharks and nearly falling into the shallow tank with them (due to Mommy's error and poor balance), I explained to Alex that we would need to take a break for lunch.  He was not a fan of the lunch break idea, and begrudgingly followed behind me pushing the stroller.  In the line to get our food, he was dancing around singing a made up song about sharks eating seals...in the line to pay he was  jumping around and pretending to be a shark (including growling at the cashier, who lacked a sense of humor).  As we proceeded to our table, he wandered off in the general direction of the large shark tunnel and tank, by far his favorite.  I parked Charlotte, walked quickly to retrieve him and sternly explained that he needed to eat before we did anything else, or we were headed home.

To which he responded, "BUT MOM (extra emphasis on the Mom), THIS IS MY LIFE!  I WANT TO BE A SHARK SCIENTIST."

And that, friends, is why I am quite certain that I birthed the most dramatic male on the planet.

Dreaming of the Warm

It's mid-January, anything lingering from Christmas 2010 has been long put away, we've had two good snows, and so now I'm dreaming of summer.  I've had enough cold for this year, thanks.  I'm wishing the days were longer.  I'm craving the feeling of bare feet in flip flops, sun on my face, and just the slightest tan.  I miss my freckles and the smell of sunscreen.

Since it will be months before any of these warm-weather luxuries return, I spent some time today editing a quick video from summer 2010.  I hope it brings you some warm memories of your own!


Summer 2010 from Carrie Hill on Vimeo.

Not A Snuggler

Charlotte is not into snuggling.  She does like to wiggle...and climb...and hang upside down.  Future gymnast, perhaps?  

I miss the snuggly baby.  At this age, Alex was routinely spending a good portion of every night sleeping in our bed with one or both of us.  And looking back, as much as I hate to admit it, it was really nice.  We didn't plan to be co-sleepers; we fell into it when the need to function during the day collided with a non-sleeping 9-month old who was prone to nasty ear infections and bouts of screaming at 2:00 am.

There were more than our share of nights kept awake while my soundly-sleeping son had the jimmy legs.  There was that fun night when his diaper leaked and I woke up pee-soaked.   And I spent more than a few minutes worrying about whether he would ever figure out how to sleep on his own through the night.  All that said, I miss the feeling of that soundly sleeping baby breathing on my face.  I miss being slightly cramped in our bed.  I miss being woken by a cherubic baby face looking at me.

Charlotte, in contrast, has not spent an hour in our bed.  She is our marathon crib sleeper, with only a few sleep disruptions due to teething or the errant cold.  I am loathe to mess with that (she sleeps 13-14 hours a night, usually uninterrupted afterall).  She is the baby who was born to sleep.  It's wonderful.

But still, I miss the snuggly baby.

Epiphany...One Day Removed

In honor of yesterday being Epiphany, and out of my lingering Catholic guilt for having already de-Chrismtased our house earlier in the week, I took the kids to the Christmas at Longwood Gardens exhibit today after the snow subsided. It was amazing. I love the Conservatory. I always feel as if I've been transported to a tropical fantasyland when I step across the threshold.

Today was no different and probably the most beautiful I've ever seen it.

The kids had a ball.

Moving Moving Moving

First, it has to be said, I am writing this from the comfort of my family room sofa while wearing Bose Noise Canceling headphones, a recent husband purchase. And, while they are technically his, I do get to borrow them from time to time. Like when I've spent two hours in the car with Alex, who lately has achieved the stream-of-consciousness-talking-never-stops phase. Seriously, he talked for the entire drive today about jellyfish and octopi and DID NOT STOP. I had no idea there was so much to say about mushy sea creatures.

So, whenever my shoulders start to look like they're attached to my earlobes (or I'm editing video and Skip is tired of listening to whatever background track I've selected), out come the headphones. Every parent should have a pair of these. They should give them to you in the hospital along with the take home bag of chucks, extra diapers, the sitz bath and those green jelly pacifiers. Ten minutes wearing these things is completely restorative. Maybe not as relaxing as a full body massage and facial, but really really nice.

I'm watching my children play right now. And it is nearly silent. Collective cleansing breath, everyone.

Charlotte turned ten months old this week. And she is a ball of energy. The child is not into sitting still for any longer than it takes to put another one of Alex's toys in her mouth. And that would be okay, if his toys weren't all choking hazards. She has figured out how to pull herself up to standing, and is starting to take tiny assisted steps. It's hilarious to watch her goofy little body try to figure out how to be bipedal.

The other day we were hanging out together in her room and I happened to have my good camera upstairs so captured some stills of her moving about. Some are out of focus but I kept them in anyway. This was fun to put together. My little wobbly-kneed 10-month old.

Moving Baby from Carrie Hill on Vimeo.