Bryant Bulletin

Let’s take a minute to reflect upon the idea of a “blog.” Short for “weblog.” I suppose it was intended for writers and politicos to wax poetic about current events, global affairs and various controversial topics. There are certainly plenty of those, but most of the blogs that I follow are about cooking without losing one’s mind, raising kids without losing one’s mind and glimpses into the lives of other family and friends who are also trying to avoid losing their minds. So with that in mind, please recognize that this blog is an exercise in logging our life in the here and now so that we can always remember what it was like before we lost our minds. The good, the bad, and the ugly. But especially the good.

Today was a good day.

We have had a hard week with Davis. He’s such a happy, smiley boy until we try to feed him from a bottle. Here’s the story in a nutshell: he’s not having it. He weaned himself so he’s not nursing anymore, but he will not take any formula from any sort of drink receptacle. He gets a good bit in his cereal, and his solids are still quite liquidy. So he’s not getting any milk via breast or bottle, yet he’s gaining weight and having appropriate amounts of “output,” as the doctors say. As long as we aren’t torturing him by trying to get him to drink from a bottle, he’s a delight. I’m telling you, a riddle wrapped in a mystery and sprinkled with enigma all over. Once I spoke with the nurse today and she told me to back off with the bottle, he’s been an angel. Too bad he spent his whole visit with Nanny fending off her efforts to feed him a bottle. It honestly got to the point where I was spelling “bottle” in front of Davis. Folks, he’s 9 months old. Back off I shall. It’ll do us all some good. But he’s getting so big! Eight teeth and he just moved up to a big car seat from the infant carrier. Yikes.

Peter. Peter’s in a story phase. Every time we get in the car he asks me to tell him a story about Lowly Worm, a character from his beloved Busytown books by Richard Scarry. I have invented adventures and occasions all over the globe for this little worm, but Peter mostly likes the stories in which Lowly gets to operate machinery. Imagine. At dinner last night we were discussing camping and so now Peter is quick to ask Hayes every 20 minutes, “Tell me a story about camping please, Daddy.” So fun to watch his eyes twinkle as Hayes tells all about sleeping under the stars, hobo dinners, making campfires and setting up tents. Peter’s eyes are pretty excited too. Ha! I foresee lots of daddy-son camping time in their future... and it’d be silly not to see a bit of quiet time in there for Mommy. Now I think my eyes are twinkling too!

I haven’t mentioned potty training in a while. Not on the blog, not to Peter, not at all. We left it alone after the last attempt in July. I think he is one of few children in his class still in diapers, yet the peer pressure has not seemed to bother him one bit. In fact, Nanny asked him last week when he was going to stop wearing diapers and he answered, "When I'm 4." Um, 'scuse me?! The past few days have brought some progress with him wearing big boy pants for a few hours, having a “feewing” that he needs to potty, and then succeeding. Each day we end on a great note after having had a successful potty run. Honestly, now that Davis is out of the baby diapers and in the ones that look just like Peter’s, it’s gotten a little ridiculous. We’re putting the wrong diapers on the wrong child and it’s time to get this show on the road. I just keep telling myself that I will be glad in 10 or 15 years that he won’t be rushed to do something he’s not totally sure about. Patience is a virtue that I don’t model well…

So I leave you with a tidbit about today. After a relatively uneventful day with the boys coming down from a busy weekend, Davis cuddled with Peter and me while we rocked him at bedtime. Peter offered his usual goodnight kiss before leaving to go walk Chief with Hayes. Upon their return, we sat down to dinner and more camping stories. Hayes explained about Boy Scouts and campouts and various ceremonies in which he participated. Peter was mesmerized. After a successful self-initiated potty trip, Peter bathed and asked for me to tuck him in. I happily obliged, reading Curious George by flashlight just like we were on our own campout. After our story, I usually sing a song or two but tonight Peter told me he had a new song to sing. I can’t be totally sure of all of the words, but the kid carried a tune and sang something about a firetruck and “can I come to the moon?” I so wish I could see inside his little mind sometimes. Then he looked at me with his big blue eyes, asked if I would stay for “just some couple of minutes,” and snuggled up close to me with Lovey and Elmo. “I wuvv voo Mommy.”

Today was a good day.

Recent pictures, since my recent blogs have been verbose but not very colorful...