Alexander's loves

Alex is a young man with a strong set of likes and dislikes. Here's what he likes. It's important to know this, in order to quickly halt the unearthly wails that emerge when he doesn't get what he likes.

1) The empty box of children's ibuprofen. This box is the only way I can get a diaper on him these days. As soon as he's on the changing table, he flips onto his side and rifles through the box of creams and lotions until he finds it. It's dogeared and missing a flap, but he smiles as soon as he sees it. He turns it around until he's looking at the orange-logoed front, and only then will he lie still long enough for me to change him.

2) "Are You Sleepy, Petey?" This hardcover book came courtesy of Grandma, back before Alex was born. It's a simple little story about a boy coaxing his puppy to bed. The pictures are pretty realistic drawings and the prose is frankly kind of boring - this was on the remainder rack at Borders, I believe. Alex, who has never really liked books, LOVES Petey. He picks it up and carries it to the nearest adult, shouting "Eh! Eh!" He puts it in our laps and waits until we open it up and read the first page. Then he squeals with laughter, turns the page and runs away. He comes back a minute later to hear the next page, then runs away again.

3) The dancing logo at the beginning of Jonathan's recorded Harold shows. The channel is called Jam and the logo is a little bouncy purple splatter. It jumps around the screen making boing boing sounds and Alex stares, riveted, and bounces along with it. As soon as the show starts, he's lost interest.

4) My dinner. I've forgotten what it's like to relax over a meal at home. If I try the old trick of scattering Cheerios to keep Alex busy while I eat, he throws them over the side one by one. Then he hollers until I cut him some pieces of chicken, or asparagus, or tomato, or sauteed pepper. Whatever I'm eating, he wants. And he eats amazing amounts, too. Grandma bought him a darling outfit from the chichi boutique near her new condo. Last month, when he received it, we had to cuff the pants twice over so he could walk without falling over. This morning he stood up and they looked a little too short on him.

5) His big brother! (I can't have a blog entry without Jonathan, it seems.) The Michigan winters may be long, but we are really excited for the first few hints of spring. Today it was fifty degrees out when I got home from work, and with Daylight Savings Time, it stays light out until almost eight o'clock. Jonathan, Alex and I took off for a walk before dinner, and we saw a group of kids playing down the street. Jonathan, with a little encouragement, took off running and soon had disappeared into a neighbor's backyard. I had Alex stay with me while I spoke with some other moms. Eventually, though, we moved to the backyard to watch the kids. As soon as Alex saw Jonathan, he crawled up the stairs to the deck where they were playing. He weaved his way through the mass of kids, shouting his "Eh! Eh! EH!" until he got to Jonathan, then gave him a enormous hug. And Jonathan, to his credit, hugged him back and gave him a kiss.

And then tackled him. Alex likes that, too.

Shot through the heart

Jonathan is so cheerful in the mornings. He was getting ready for his shower when he came out to give me agood morning hug. He saw me in my work clothes and asked me "What works are you doing today?" I told him "Hospital work and dialysis work." His face fell. He said "Those works take too long. Maybe you should find some different works to do."

Well, there was my day gone to hell.

Jonathan and Alex, when you grow up and read this, please realize that I try every day to find the right balance as a working mom. I love you both so much - the best part of my day is when I see you, get a huge hug or a giant smile, and get to play with you. But I love my work also. I spent years before you were born to get to this point. I love what I do. I hope that you both realize that I'm able to be a happier and better mom because I have my job.

For the meantime, though, I know I could spend every minute directing my full attention at the boys and it would be just enough for them. So I let Jonathan pick at his lasagne, and we drove downtown to the fudge shop. I'm not above giving in to a little mommy guilt.

Music to my ears

We just had a lovely week-long visit from Grandma. She was here for the arrival of a truckload of furniture, most of it from her old house. The most anticipated arrival for Jonathan, however, came courtesy of Grandma Kwon - his piano! He was very excited to see it in the living room when he got home from preschool, and insisted on "practicing" right away. He listed everyone he knows who has a piano: Aunti Liz, Sylvia, Miss Alexa, and now Jonathan! Alex likes it too, by the way, but Jonathan's pretty possessive. He did allow Grandma to play, however, since she picked out songs he could sing along to. His favorite is from "The Sound of Music," and it goes something like this:

"Play Do a Deer!"
"OK. Do, a deer, a female deer. . . "
"What's a lady deer called?"
"A doe."
"Yes! What's a daddy deer called?"
"You tell me."
"No, you tell me!"
"A buck."
"Yes! What's a baby deer called?"
"Do you want to hear the song or not?"
"A fawn!"
"Ray, a drop of golden sun. . . "
"A POT of golden sun! You made a mistake, Mommy!"
"Me, I name, I call myself. . . "
"You sing it - it's too hard for me."
"Fa, a long long way to run."
"So, I really need a friend! "
"La, a note to follow so, Tea, I drink with. . ."
"JAM and BREAD!"
"That will bring us back to doe!"

Jonathan fell sick the last two days for Grandma's visit with a high fever and a double ear infection. Even ibuprofen didn't make much difference, so we took him in for a checkup and some antibiotics. We already knew they make medicine taste much better these days, but I wasn't aware it now comes premixed with caffeine. That's the only explanation, because Jonathan has NOT STOPPED TALKING for three days straight. We're glad he's feeling better, but there's such a thing as too much better. What he comes up with is so random at times, we can only shake out heads and laugh. Today he held up his lunch and said "This is CHEESE! It belongs in a church!" We asked him twice to repeat himself, and he definitely said church. Finally, I asked him "Jonathan, do you mean Chees-us?" He said "Yes!" No idea where this comes from.

Alex also had a wonderful visit with Grandma. He loves playing peekaboo and will walk around with a playsilk over his head, pulling it off and putting it back on, for an hour straight. He eats everything you put in front of him, except applesauce. And he's gotten a tiny bit better about letting me leave the room. He just learned how to wave "Bye bye!" so if I wave at him until my arm falls off, he's content to let me take a two minute trip to the bathroom.