a minute to write about Lewis

So much Art and Tsundi activity lately, poor second-child Lewis has been getting the major Blog-shaft.  But there is a lot to say about Lewis lately.  He's been a busy boy.  He totally has a first word with "Hi!" Uses it in it's appropriate context all the time.  He especially loves to hide behind a door frame or a newspaper and suddenly show his face with a loud, "HI!"  And he is loving pouring water from one container to another.  That's all he does in the bathtub these days.  He can do accept a toast.  Just say, "Cheers!" and he will bring whatever is in his hand up to whatever is in your hand.  Turning into a little person more and more.  Those costumes we got have been fun.  Art was a monkey for two days straight and would walk around making monkey sounds.  He did it so much when I put any hat on Lewis – monkey, giraffe or even a sunhat, he started to make monkey sounds.   Ben and I actually had trouble telling the difference between Art and Lewis's monkey noises the other day.  So, basically, Lewis is an interactive member of the family.

I used to think it was so shameful that parents let themselves get so wrapped up that they didn't record their second child's babyhood as much as their firsts, but I realized that we are recording more than Art's firsts and milestones, we are recording our parenting firsts and milestones.  It makes sense to me now.  It seems a little selfish, though, now that I think about it.  Wouldn't Lewis like to know when he first grabbed a toy?  Or maybe he doesn't care.  I actually wouldn't care if I learned that kind of thing about my babyhood.  Now, knowing about making monkey sounds when someone put a sun hat on me?  That would be a fun tidbit.  I don't know.  This whole parenting thing is such a trip.  A person could drive themselves so batty wondering about everything little thing.  I know, because I've done that.  But then every once in a while I shake out of it and realize that everything in a child's life doesn't have to be just perfect to make a loving, respectful and responsible person, and that's really what a parent's job is, isn't it?  Love the kids, keep them safe and hopefully teach them what they need to know to be responsible, caring adults.  Yep, that's a good job description, to me.  

Brackett Field

Lewis slept terribly last night. After Jess let me sleep in, I whisked the kids off to one of the best parks in Minneapolis, Brackett Field, so Jess could get a nice loooong nap. Brackett Field has the best playground equipment and it’s in a neighborhood we love and hope to move to someday. Anyway, we spent most of our time in the woods nearby exploring and then giving eachother ‘haircuts’ under a pine tree. There’s a video of it below.


Art gives himself a haircut.

Late night love note.

At around 9:45 tonight, while I was winding down for bed, I heard Art fidgeting.  He was sitting up and ready to go to the bathroom.  I brought him in and while he was still sitting on the loo he said, gravelly voiced, "I love you, Mama."

I told him, "I love you, too.  Art.  I love you a lot."

More of the Art and Tsundi show!

Tsundi arrived while Art was sleeping. I started him off with some play dough which he really enjoyed. He made a lot of ‘pizza’ and while I tinkered about the house he kept asking, “What doing!?” Everything Tsundi says is in a sort of yelling, screaming sort of way. When I ask him to be quiet he whispers in a screaming sort of way. The intensity is always the same: INTENSE!
When Art woke up we played in the front yard, the back yard and inside. Somehow we ended up inside drawing with markers on construction paper. That was fun and quiet. So weird for Art and Tsundi. Then Art decided he wanted to draw on his foot. Tsundi took his socks off and Art drew on Tsundi’s foot. Then the two of them were busy coloring Tsundi’s shins for a while until Art got refocused on himself. Then Art wanted to take off his shirt and color his chest. Naturally, Tsundi wanted to do the same thing! Art got out of his chair and took off his pants. “I wanna color my WHOLE body!” And all this time Art has been saying, “We look SO CUTE!” and “We look so colorful!”
So Tsundi was now naked, too, and Art said, “Color your penis! Color your penis, Tsundi!” and “Color your butt!” The two were covered in marker all over. We went upstairs so they could take a shower. When they got in the water was running purply-red, like Kool Aid, and they were just laughing and having a great time. I was tending to Lewis in the hallway and would peek in the curtain now and then to make sure they were getting along and getting cleaned up (!). One time Art said, “No, Mama! Keep it closed! We need some privacy.”
They got all washed up and had dumped out the bath toys so I turned the shower into a bath. Eventually they were clean and Tsundi was freezing. Perhaps this is why he is always wearing two layers of pants.) Tsundi wanted to wear the frog costume and dance again. Art wanted just a tu-tu. So we did that. Put some jewelry on (what else would we do?) and went outside to meet Tsundi’s grandma.

It was a trip! It’s sometimes a little unnerving to have Tsundi over because he is so high-energy, but it is never boring.