A Little Bit of Landon

I thought we'd focus a bit on the original focus of this blog from back in the early days- baby Landon!

Baby Landon who "graduated" Kindergarten on Thursday! I can't write that sentence without air quotes because the whole concept of a "graduation" program for the automatic progression across the hall to first grade is ridiculous, but WHOAH did JP and I find out that most parents seem think it is a VERY BIG DEAL. We walked into the auditorium 5 seconds before the start, thinking it was pretty impressive we were both even attending to find an explosion of balloons and flowers and stuffed animals. We took one picture and offered Landon a hearty handshake.

Not that we aren't proud of him, because we are- it's been an awesome year and he's an awesome kid, but I felt like all those bouquets of flowers the tiny "grads" were getting should really be going to the teachers. But speaking of school, we've had such a hard time tracking down Landon's friends in the summer for his July birthday parties- everyone scatters from daycare and many friends were moving on to new schools, and then last year he was going to different camps every week all summer, so I promised him that this year we'd do an early party with his school friends.

I'm so glad we did! I finally got to meet some of the parents of kids in his class and I got their contact info for future pool play dates. We kept things simple- a shark theme, blue gatorade, shark snack mix, assortment of gold fish, and a little bowl Swedish fish that was every kid's favorite stop at the snack table. We set up the inflatable slide, threw a bunch of toys in the pool, and turned on the Pandora "Tween Mix" ("No Frozen!" exclaimed Landon as I went to turn on the music).

For my put-some-effort into it treat, I did blue jello cups with gummy sharks grinning inside. Stuffing the gummy sharks inside the partially set jello messed up the smooth tops, so I added a bit of whipped cream and a fish on top to simulate the surf. So fancy.

I usually do the baking myself, but having just come off Claire's party and knowing that I could make something homemade for Landon's real birthday in July, I decided to outsource to the Kroger bakery. They usually do a good job and I just wanted a simple cake with a shark on it and "Happy Birthday Landon." OMG. There is no picture of the result, something I regret as I could have sent it in to cake wrecks, but it involved a gallon of blue gel, the worst hand-writing ever, uneven swirly edging, and fuzzy- FUZZY- non-edible fabric cut into lopsided shark fins standing up in the gel. I showed it to the manager as I was checking out and she immediately said, "Oh dear. Is half off okay?"

So yeah, no pictures of the cake. The kids didn't mind though! Everyone had fun and there was minimal splashing in the face and/or pool toy fights. Win!

After everyone left we cleaned up and opened presents. One of the moms works for radio shack and has the best toy closet. I love how Claire is applauding.

Cora got sprung from her pen and she immediately crawled over to sit by Landon. He is her favorite person.

And he's pretty fond of her too.

I took these on Saturday morning before the party. Little has captured the relationship between Landon and his sisters better:

He's like their mini dad- so patient and tolerant and pretty well wrapped around their fingers.

Oh, baby Landon. He gave us such a tough time as a baby- his prematurity, reflux, million ear infections, random eyebrow cyst, two surgeries, and a total of 25 days in hospitals, combined with our utter inexperience as parents (and JP in investment banking with an 1+ hour commute and me in law school and good god we barely survived that) made for a ROUGH first year. Even then his sweet personality shone through and oh how we've just gone up from there. From the mellowest and happiest of toddlers to an awesome big kid who couldn't be a better big brother. We used to think he had a lot of JP in him, and maybe he still does, but the older he gets the more we see that really he's just HIM- we may get a little credit on the nurture side, but the nature is pure Landon James.

He's a far more generous and patient big sibling than I was. He's a very fast runner (he won the 50-yard dash against 1st and 2nd graders at field day last week) and likes sports and games, but isn't the least bit competitive like his dad. He loves people and draws kids to him with a magnetism neither JP nor I ever had. We took him to a new camp every week last summer and just drove off knowing Landon wasn't the least bit concerned with the "I don't know a single person here" situation, something my parents could never ever have done with me! His teacher has told us about how other kids look to him in the classroom and he's always dictating the games of his gang at recess. He likes being right, but being wrong doesn't bother him for more than the second it takes him to absorb whatever the right answer was and move on (unlike his obsessive mother and stubborn father).

He's an artist and a reader. He loves his friends, but doesn't seem to mind that it's only family time on the weekends. He loves to be outside, ride his bike, swim, and climb in our trees. He's JP's wing man- on their weekend morning runs (Landon bikes the 5 miles) and all car rides and errands and, less enthusiastically, his second hand for all yard work. He throws fits and stomps his foot and cools off when left alone in his room. He does not want or need alone time and is never happier than when surrounded by people. He likes hugs but not kisses before bed. He's getting older, but he's still our little boy.

Almost-7. We've come a long way.

Four

Claire turned four yesterday. Four. That's like a legit big kid age. No more pretending she's in the 2-3 "toddler" range, no more daytime naps, no more "Biscuit" or "Clairebear." She's Claire and she's a big little girl and she is freaking awesome.

Of course, at only 7:15 in the morning when blowing out the tiny candle in her tiny ceramic pig seems totally overwhelming, she is still just a little bit three.

Actually at 7:15 a.m., she was still 3. As part of a brand new tradition, JP woke her up a few minutes early to go get donuts, just the two of them, at our favorite place. She was so excited and I hope it's something he can keep doing with all the kids every year. I love to think of a newly turned 18-year-old Bear getting a donut with her dad before high school one day. They brought the donuts back and I had her birthday table decorated, fresh fruit cut, and fauxmosas poured. The birthday pig was also ready to go.

It took her 6 tries to blow out that tiny candle. Birthday pig is wily.

She went to school, shared donut holes with her friends, and then I picked her and Cora up at 4:30 and said we could do whatever she wanted until dinner. And what did she want? To swim while listening to Frozen songs.

Cora watched intently- she REALLY wanted to go in the water like her big sister.

I love how much Cora loves them and they love Cora. It's so visible every time they're in the same room, which is always, because the three of them are rarely more than three feet from each other.

But back to the birthday- the kids get to pick whatever they want for dinner on their birthday and unsurprisingly, Claire requested pasta. What kind of pasta I asked, "pasta pasta!" exclaimed Claire. "What kind of sauce would you like?" I persisted. "Sauce on my pasta!" Claire responded cheerfully, "Sauce on my pasta with cheese on top!" And so spaghetti with red sauce and sprinkled parm on top it was. Except I started it later than I meant to, so we did presents first.

Inspired by her love of the Frozen soundtrack, my parents sent Claire a sing-a-long CD player. Right when she opened it Landon groaned, "she's just going to play Frozen ALL THE TIME."

Our present was next. This picture would be a throw-away, but I love how it captures my inability to stop kissing Cora's fuzzy bald head and Landon's hand haphazardly thrown across his baby Cora in a semi-hug. I really don't think he even thinks about it, it's just- Cora is near; must touch her.

After learning that all the Disney Elsa dresses in existence were sold out and trading for thousands of dollars on eBay, we got Claire a Queen Elsa dress from an etsy shop. It was declared VERY BEAUTIFUL and JUST LIKE Queen Elsa's in the ice castle.

With the powers of both gifts immediately combined, Claire was an unstoppable force of performance art.

Let it go... Let it goooooooo.

She changed back into her regular clothes while I checked on dinner and I came back to find Landon sheepishly singing a Frozen duet with her. The allure of real microphones combined with Claire's persuasive powers and next thing he knows he's singing about how love is an open door.

Dinner was presented, the birthday pig was blown out again (only two tries this time!), and pasta was inhaled so we could move on to cookie cake.

Cake time! With a Landon photo-bomb.

This series of photos just makes me happy. It so captures our birthday dinner table,, and it really captures the joy of the Bear.

She's funny and spunky; independent and super snuggly; crazy smart and very brave; sweet and loving and fierce and IN CHARGE. Lover of books, coloring, pasta, plastic princess shoes, having all of her family in the same space, and all things Frozen. She's our bear and she's four.

The Missing Ear Infection

Cora has fooled us once again. She was up all night - ALL NIGHT - sobbing inconsolably until about 4:30 a.m. when she finally passed out in exhaustion followed quickly by her parents. She had a mild fever, discharge from her ear, and wasn't drinking her bottles. She was doing All The Things that made us confidently call the pediatrician to request an appointment to diagnose an ear infection and prescribe antibiotics. Today would be Cora's second only sick baby visit and unlike last time when I was only 92% certain she had an ear infection but walked away with "just a cold," this time I was 100% certain. 101% even! She definitely had bright red ear canals and maybe even a perforated ear drum. My husband, survivor of approximately one thousand ear infections and 15+ ear tube surgeries said so too.

So sick. Can't you tell?

Guess what? She has just-a-cold.

Ha! Last night was SO FUN MOM!

Her only two ear infections remain diagnosed at her regularly scheduled check-ups and her only two sick visits after her only two nights of constant sobbing and no sleeping have netted us "try some saline spray."

Yay for unnecessary trips to the pediatrician! It's just like I'm the first kid!

Cora woke up delighted by life and basically had the best morning ever before heading to the pediatrician's at 8:45- me in my work clothes with 5 layers of under-eye concealer and Cora in her bunny outfit that I couldn't resist from the latest Gymboree sale even though she has inherited all of Claire's clothes and really didn't need a 6-12 month anything. But did you see the little tail on the back? What am I supposed to do? We call her bunny. It fell into the "essential items" budgetary column.

So I worked from home, having confidently taken a partial sick day in expectation of Cora's raging ear infection. But 8 hours of crying! 8 hours! Cora's bed is her happiest place- who knew a stuffy nose would offend her so deeply? (And so LOUDLY?)

Sun hat; taking a staycation day to recover from the rigors of screaming all night

JP is offthis week, something that happens four times a year and something  I now look forward to more eagerly than Christmas. I was so excited to be able to go to work and then come home to all the kids already being here and dinner already simmering on the stove. But I guess it was alright to just hang out in the same room all day with our absurdly happy baby while the big kids were both at school. I had two conference calls in the afternoon and turned around from the dining room table to find Cora chewing diligently on a foam tile in her pen and JP fast asleep on his desk. Cora had just woken up from a 4.5 hour nap, but JP just got 30 minutes of semi-permanent keyboard indentions on his head (and I got to not-bill 2.0 hours). So refreshing for everyone!

JP dragged himself away from his comfy keyboard to pick up the big kids and then we convened in the backyard to introduce Cora to the pool for the first time because I'm pretty sure just-a-colds are cured by a dip in chlorinated lukewarm bodies of water.

Cora found the (still kind of chilly!) water to be as delightful as her 3.5 hours of nighttime sleep and Landon immediately tried to teach her to swim. 

And Claire found my presence in the pool (all the way past my knees!) to be almost as exciting as her birthday party. The kids would never believe I once had Olympic Trial cuts. 

Cora's penchant for holding her own hands just slays me. As does basically everything she does. Except 3:00 a.m. heartbroken crying. Well, I guess that does slay me, but not in the chubby wrist-roll hand-holding way.

All in all, I think Cora went to bed tonight thinking she had the best day ever. I'm just hoping it made her tired enough to accept the stuffy nose situation and sleep for the usual 12 hours she has allowed us to take for granted.

Because how else I am supposed to have the energy for endless internet surfing for patterned barre tights and the perfect black eyeliner and maybe a strong eye cream? Cora, only real ear infections can justify messing with priorities like that.

A Frozen Pool Party

Claire's 4th birthday party was yesterday. For the first time ever (writing that makes me sing "For the first time in forever" in my head, but that isn't an accurate intro), Disney merchandise intruded into our lives and Frozen took over our backyard. Or took over as much as the very small Frozen display at Party City would allow (why isn't there more Frozen memorabilia? Isn't it like the highest grossing animated film of all time? And no, I can't believe I'm asking that.). So in the absence of things with Anna and Elsa's faces stamped on them, I took the main colors and the word "frozen" and ran with it in a way that involved as little prep work and pinterest as possible.

It was a pool party, which I love because it means all 15 kids and 20+ adults would be in our backyard instead of our house. This is the best part about a pool party- you clean your house for a party and don't have to clean it again after everyone leaves. But then the weather underground app (and every other weather app I immediately downloaded) showed an 80% chance of rain on Saturday all week. I became obsessed with weather reports and they were the first thing I checked when my bleary eyes opened in the morning. Luckily, while the skies greyed and looked threatening for a bit, the weather stayed dry and I didn't have to resort to my back-up plan of putting all the kids in the TV room on a big picnic blanket to watch Frozen while the parents drank beer around the perimeter. Actually, that wouldn't have been so bad.

Anyway, the Frozen pool party was on!

I've learned to keep snacks light for afternoon pool parties- the adults just want to hydrate and the kids are swallowing too much pool water to be very hungry. So for Saturday, I made "Sven's Reindeer Mix"- something I threw together with things Claire likes and the kids could snack on without throwing up in the pool: pretzel sticks, mini marshmallows, yogurt covered twist pretzels, rice chex, and little pink pearlescent sixlets (basically round m&m's; found at Party City). I tossed it all into a teal plastic serving bowl (party city clearance shelf!) with a silver scoop and a stack of Frozen cups (that did in fact have Elsa and Anna's faces stamped on them) and it was a HUGE hit.

I also made about 20 little baggies of the mix with a sticker label and put them in the gift bags, with a bunch of extras on the side for the siblings to take home too. The official gift bags also had a princess candy bracelet and some Frozen stickers. We kept it simple- I hate tiny plastic toys enough that I have a hard time buying them, even for other people to take home, and the kids all seemed super excited to bring Sven's snack mix home.

The snack table also had some yogurt covered stars (Trader Joe's! the colors matched so I threw them in the cart Saturday morning) and raspberry lemonade in my beloved water dispenser. Mini waters and much beer was in the cooler below.

My one allowance to googling recipes was these jello "ice cubes." They were pretty and easier to make than I expected, though the lovely layering effect of the clear gelatin and blue jello was mostly lost. But they were a bit hit when I brought out them out, so I'm upping jello on my list of pool party potential snack items.

As always, the cupcakes were my biggest project. Despite vowing last year that next time I'd just buy some cupcakes from Kroger, there I was at 10:30 pm on Friday night lovingly layering blue and pink cake batter into cupcake molds and swirling them in my own interpretation of the Frozen theme.

The purple homemade butter cream followed the next day (I found out it takes a lot of coloring gel to make purple) with some sugar crowns and/or birthday signs that didn't clash and- ta da, a Frozen cupcake!

But next year I'm buying them.

As always, the important part was that Claire had a TON of fun. She has been talking about "having my friends at my house" for FOREVER and she was thrilled (THRILLED!) each time someone new walked through the back door. She wanted to show everyone her swimming moves and I was impressed at how many kids were in the water (basically, all of them), particularly since they're still pretty young and the water wasn't very warm. But as many parents mentioned, most of them don't have easy access to a pool, so an opportunity to splash around to Frozen tunes playing in the background was already a reason for celebration- add in cupcakes and some reindeer mix and everyone appeared Very excited to be in attendance. The weather wasn't too hot and our backyard is super shaded (and all the beer was drunk), so I think the adults had fun too.

My favorite moment is always the singing of Happy Birthday and blowing out of the candles. As in the past, Claire took the huffing and puffing part very seriously but still took 3 tries to knock out her single candle. She'll get more practice on her real birthday on Wednesday.

And that's about it- a jambox streaming the Frozen soundtrack and then the Disney Pandora station when the adults couldn't handle hearing Let It Go again; light snacks and refreshments; vanilla swirl cupcakes; some plastic table cloths and a dozen balloons. And a pool. And no rain. Birthday party magic! Landon, who I just realized is barely pictured, had a marvelous time swimming around the deep end, retrieving the younger kids' swim toys for them. And Cora, Cora slept the entire party away, waking up in her party dress with seconds to spare and the last few guests walking out the front door. Some friends stayed behind to join us for dinner, so Cora was pretty sure the party was still happening (not that there isn't always one happening in her head anyway).

In a fitting compliment to the Frozen theme, we ended the day with frozen margaritas (and other food items) with our friends and their kids at our favorite Mexican place. I really can't believe our little Bear is about to be four, but I'll get to that in the birthday post on Wednesday.

Now I'm knee-deep in Queen Elsa thank you notes for Claire's friends and shark themed snack ideas for Landon's birthday pool party next weekend. And then I have to think of a non-pool-party idea for Cora's first birthday in November, but not now, because that is at least two years away and no one is allowed to tell me otherwise. For now, it's happy almost 4th birthday to Claire!

(She's getting a Queen Elsa dress from etsy and I can't WAIT for her to open it. Kids' birthdays are the best.)