To Infinity and Beyond!

Okay. I admit it. The first week of summer wasn't as great as I thought it would be or planned it to be. It started out great with our long walk on Monday and a fun playdate with new friends on Wednesday. But at the mid-point things went downhill. Between Hobie's illness and death and two cancelled play dates two days in a row, we were a bit tipped on our axis.

But we prevailed. The week was rescued by a great movie--Toy Story 3. We saw it on Friday morning and both Connor and I loved it. It made me smile and it made me cry--just like a truly great movie should. My favorite film critic, David Edelstein wrote a review in New York Magazine. A brief version of it can be found here. He's a great writer with great insights and in the review, he wrote the following:

"I don't think of the Toy Story pictures as "escapism" even though they're rooted in a child's dream of what happens when the lights go out and the toys come to life. At heart they're about aging, impermanence, loss, an death. Pixar likely borrowed the premise from Thomas M. Disch's The Brave Little Toaster-Objects once prized lose their newness and become disposable. But they have spiritual properties, and to discard them carelessly is to dishonor the past that shaped us. It's almost Buddhist in how it invests all matter with a life force worth of reverence."

He got that just right. And so did the movie.

Shot Of The Day-Snoozers

Bye Bye Love

Yesterday, we lost our last kitty--our beloved Hobie. He had either kidney cancer or feline infectious peritonitis--both of which are terminal and not treatable, so we chose to put him to sleep. All of us went to see him and give him a last hug, kiss, and pet. And his Daddy held him tight as he left us.

Hobie came to us by way of my parents and a visit to a friend's farm in Hobart, New York-hence, his name. He fell in love with Bob over a Thanksgiving weekend, and Bob fell in love right back. Hobie was the one who opened our hearts to being a house with pets before we had a baby.

He was a really playful kitten. Bob was remembering yesterday how he loved to tangle with jewelry and a little Raggedy Ann doll thay he used to assault. As he grew, he mellowed and became a snuggly, loving companion.

Here are our three boys together as we'd frequently find them. Tangled up on our bed in a furry knot of tumbling love . Now they are all gone. And we are the lesser for it.

Rest in peace Hobie--The Lion of Bankbarn. We love you and are thankful for all the joy you brought to our lives.

Summer Solstice

Connor greeted me this morning as I emerged from the baby's room after changing a diaper. He was sitting at the top of the stairs in his tightie-whities. He looked right at me and softly said, "Happy summer." Nice.

We loaded Palmer into the stroller and headed out for a walk. We stopped and got breakfast on the way. And look what happened. I think this pretty much sums up how we feel about the great family summer ahead.

A Celebration (Not Really)

So, I had all these big plans for the last day of school. Massive balloon bouquet at the bus stop. Silly string. A #1 sparkler to incinerate. All of it was foiled by emotion.

Bob came home from work early to be at the bus stop, too. The bus pulls up and his bus driver looks pained. She sees us with the silly string and she knows it will be a disaster...because my boy is in emotional pieces on the bus. Right away, she tells us that he is REALLY upset and he's crying. I am befuddled. Why? What happened?

He's sad. He's going to miss his teacher.

Oh boy.

He comes to the door of the bus and his face is screwed up into a mess. Tears everywhere. Mouth opening in a howl. "Mom! I'm gonna miss my teacher."

Caring parents that we are, we decide to totally disregard this and douse him with the silly string anyway. Good choice. He stopped crying pretty quickly and asked for his own can. But still, the whole thing wasn't the joyous occasion I'd hoped.

Later on he told me that he was so upset as they were packing up the classroom that his teacher had to personally walk him to the bus. And their class mom, Karina, told me later that she witnessed the meltdown. Apparently, when they started piling up the chairs for good, he just fell apart. She said all of his classmates were trying to help him feel better and that his teacher was really touched by the outpouring of emotion.

My poor big boy. I'm the same way. I can be kind of happy about something coming to any end, but still, at the end of the thing itself, I lose it. Its the marking of change that gets me, and I suspect what gets him, too. I also feel so sad for him that he went through this and we weren't there for him. But that's what growing up is all about. I'm glad his friends were there to help him through and I'm so glad Karina shared that with me. In life, really, that's the best you can hope for--that when the sadness comes, people who care about you are at your side. If he learned nothing else in first grade, I hope that in his heart he learned and knows this.

Sad or not, we're proud of everything he did this year. Congratulations, Connor!

We Are The Mowhawk

CONNOR-8 WEEKS OLD

PALMER-3 WEEKS OLD

DIANNA-AGE UNKNOWN

Anyone else want to tell me that my sons DON'T look like me? Huh?

The End of The First

Today we attended Connor's First Grade Award Ceremony where he received the two awards above. No doubt, he earned the Most Improved Reading award. At the beginning of the year his teacher was SERIOUSLY concerned about his reading abilities, but with the help of a great Reading Specialist, Lisa Schwarz, he's reading at grade level now. And he actually enjoys it because he's figured out that if he can read he can meddle in more stuff and he'll have a better idea about what's going on around him. As to the Arts and Sports Achievement award, well, we don't really know what that's for. Honestly. Only about 10-15 kids got it out of 7 first grade classes, so he must have done something to earn it, but it wasn't really well explained. He was so happy when they called him up for the small group and we clapped and hollered. But later, in the car, he even asked us "What was that for?". Too funny. The truth is that it really doesn't matter. We think Connor is great, even if some days we don't quite know why either!

Palmer Ellis 101

At three weeks old, here's what we know about Palmer:

1. He's really cute.
2. He likes to sleep curled up like a marsupial in the Moby Wrap. (Though, he gets all sweaty.)
3. His left eye is crusty alot.
4. He's pretty gassy. Not stinky gassy, but big blaster fart gassy. And he acts seriously pained and disturbed when a gas venting is about to take place.
5. He has a single, yelp of a cry that he lets loose when he is just about to go to sleep. Like a shut down alarm.
6. He likes the heat better than the cold.
7. He smiles alot when he is sleeping.

That's about it for now. He's not too technical at this point. But the biggest thing we know is that all three of us love him very much!

Hail To The Chief

In the car, on the way home from today's baseball end-of-season luncheon:

"Mom! Mom! Palmer is smiling in his sleep! I think he must be dreaming that he is the President of Babies!

Shot Of The Day-Moby Wrapped

Wow. Does he love this thing. Slept for an hour curled up in there yesterday afternoon. But boy, did we have a rough night last night. I'm more convinced than ever that dairy is the culprit. I had cut back/almost totally eliminated it for a week and then consumed a normal amount yesterday (And for me, normal is alot. I'm a milk/yogurt/cheese whore.) which resulted in abdominal agony for Palmer all night long. So, today I got serious and dairy is gone all together. Not really sure what I'll eat, since I can't eat much meat either due to the Lap Band. Rice milk smoothies, I suppose. I guess you can call me the "accidental vegan".

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jack!

Bob and Connor got to enjoy Little League day at Nationals Stadium today. Looks like it was a great time---but Palmer and I hit a few home run diaper changes at home. Here's the River Bandts lineup:

And here they are in the parade around the field. Yeesh--my boy is a GIANT among the small men.

A storm came through and many of the fans left, so Bob and Connor got to move to front row seats on the first base line where Connor got his first game (foul) ball from Claire, the Ball Girl. And, they got on the Jumbo Tron due to Daddy's spastic dance moves. I'm sorry I missed that!