Of Boys and Swords and Dvorak

We've heard that there are two kinds of little boys: gun boys, for whom all toys and sticks and even garbage become pretend guns; and sword boys, for whom all things become swords. For Michael, even the swords we gave him become a violin and bow half the time.

As a result of his interest, we changed our schedule a bit and now try to do something musical every week or two. We've attended string performances, Jazz festivals, and on Saturday Michael went to his first symphony! He sat through the entire performance (which, if you know our energetic little boy, is quite the achievement), even dancing to the beat a little in his chair sometimes.

We have yet to see anyone perform a Dvorak piece, which is Michael's favorite (seriously, when I pop in a CD, Michael asks to listen to Dvorak - he really wants to hear Symphony Number 9 in E-minor), and I love to hear him pronounce "Dvorak." He also reminds me that we need to get some Copland, since we heard the National Symphony Orchestra play one of his pieces and I don't have any of his music at the house - which is odd because, seriously, what American doesn't love Aaron Copland?

I must admit that I now feel quite terrible each time I look at his short little fingers that he inherited from me - as most musicians I've seen have much longer fingers. Hmm. Maybe it's just a phase and his poor stunted digits won't haunt him throughout life...

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Jonathan has an incredibly busy schedule, as he is still working through military out-processing requirements, has begun a new job, and is finishing schoolwork from the semester before he left for Kuwait. On Saturdays, though, he comes home early from a day of studying and we head out for something exciting.

Michael calls it his "Saturday Surprise" because we don't tell the kids what we're doing until we get there. Rain or shine, cold or hot (one time the heat index was at 110 degrees), each Saturday finds our family out in the DC area doing something fun.

Giving the Plants a Talking To

When I was younger, I remember telling my parents that I would never, ever have a high-maintenance yard. I was sure that my future yard would be grass - with maybe a few trees if uninterrupted green looked really terrible. How funny it is to find myself in an apartment with no yard (a situation that would have sounded quite appealing to my teen-aged self!), and yet plants - that I planted!

Early this month I purchased some seedlings from our local nursery and potted them on our balcony. Most of them seemed to start off well enough, and I've enjoyed watching them grow while I plan all sorts of great uses for the fresh produce.

The red pepper, however, gave me problems from the very beginning. When everything else began to grow and flourish around it, the darn pepper just vacillated between "nearly dead" and "almost dead." It looked terrible! Finally I decided to give it one week before pulling it up and replacing it. I doused it one last time with water-dish soap solution to kill off pests, moved things around a bit to give it a bit more light, and told everyone that the plant would soon be gone if it didn't start growing peppers.

And grow peppers it did! Within days we saw the first successful baby peppers. This poor plant still looks like it's about to keel over, but it has staved off death (for now) by convincing me it will eventually produce something edible.

Michael Turns Three

Can you believe Michael is three years old? He's grown from a tiny baby who couldn't hold up his own head to a running, talking, jumping, and singing little boy.













Michael loves music, and has surprised me with the depth of his interest from the first time he heard an organ play. Last summer he was introduced to guitars and violins at my parents' home, and has since used everything from swords, rulers, and baseball bats to pretend he has these instruments. His doting grandparents on both sides of the family saw this and (with such coordination that I think they must have planned it together) presented Michael with his own little violin and guitar for his birthday this year.


In addition to all the great gifts from grandparents, Michael also got some from us - particularly from Jonathan who had great fun picking out some things for the little boy who aged a full year in his absence. And of course, those of you who know Jonathan won't be surprised, a skateboard was quickly purchased so that Michael can share his dad's love for all things related to skateboarding, rollerblading, and snowboarding (we'll soon start on the others, you can be sure).












How lucky we feel to have this wonderful boy in our lives! Michael makes sure that his sister is happy by giving her books, toys, and hugs. When he hears music he quickly grabs (or pretends with) an instrument. When he sees me unloading the dishwasher he runs over to help put away the silverware. And he protects kids when they are being picked on by smacking the attacker (hah!). We love our little boy.

Jax Turns One

My second baby turned one in April! As is our tradition, Jonathan and I used our amazing cake decorating skills that morning on a special birthday cake - a crown for our little princess.













Jacqueline is named after my wonderful grandmother who loves life and loves others and will always be one of my favorite people . We decided our baby's middle name, Grace, because we felt so blessed when she arrived just days before Jonathan's departure to Kuwait.


Already Jax has shown such kindness, love, and beauty that we can hardly wait to see what is ahead for this little girl. When she hears music she dances, when she sees a challenge she confronts it straight on, and when she needs attention she laughs. We love our precious baby so much.

Getting to Know All About You

We have really been enjoying ourselves now that Jonathan is back. Most everything we've done is fairly mundane, but it suddenly seems so great! We've been visiting family, visiting area parks, and I have even (I know, this is amazing) gone a few places all by myself.

Michael is certainly having a good time with his dad around. With Jonathan at home Michael has another adult besides mom to read him stories and play with him outside - and Jonathan doesn't tire of such activities very quickly, as he is making up for lost time. Michael loves it!

As for Jax, she was a daddy's girl from day one. In fact, in the first weeks of her life she would cry inconsolably at night until Jonathan held her. But with only four weeks of together-time in her entire first year I was worried that special connection they shared would be lost. But the two still enjoy each other so much, and when she hears the key unlocking our door at the end of his workday she runs to greet him.

One of my favorite things is a bit weird, since it occurs when Jonathan leaves. Each day when he heads out for work the kids run to give him a hug and chase him as he goes out the door. Then they wait at our gate, sticking their toes through the slats, until he tickles their feet on his last step. They love it. I love having a moment like that to start the day.

So, you've heard about some of the great things about having Jonathan home. Want some of the other stuff that happens when a man comes home after a year away to a young family?

- While Jax was sick she needed to be held by me for six weeks straight. If anyone else moved near her (including Jonathan) she'd scream. That made him feel welcome, you can be sure.

- Michael was sleep-deprived from Jacqueline's many late-night wakings, which exacerbated the fearful developmental stage he was going through. About a week before Jonathan got home Michael started following me from room to room, and if I walked out of the room he would completely break down. Once Jonathan got back, Michael got worse before he got better.

- I was going to write more but Jonathan doesn't want to put anything else down in the histories... Hah!

But, even with some bumps in the road, the kids have adjusted now and are so very happy to have him back home with us.

Jacqueline's Weight-Loss Program

Jax began acting a little sad and cranky a few days before Jonathan's return. She perked up a bit at his arrival but then the mystery illness came back full-force; continuing for six weeks, causing Jax to lose lots of weight, worrying us, confounding doctors, until at last she recovered - a much lighter child (she dropped from the 95th percentile in weight for girls her age to the 35th percentile), and she temporarily lost her language skills, but everything seems to be coming back to normal now. Her first healthy day was a happy one for all of us, and prompted Jonathan to exclaim, "Oh - she doesn't just cry all the time!"



We laid pretty low during those weeks. We did manage to squeeze in a "Welcome Home" party for Jonathan, though! (Of course, Jax was so sick and needing so much attention that I was a complete stressball by the time Jonathan got home from his day's appointments - he saved the party with his help with the many last-minute preparations. He now maintains that his next party must be a surprise party...)

Apart from all that, though, thanks to the illness Jax now has a new set of "first" words - and Jonathan was happy to be included this time. Her new set began slowly and by the end of May she had three words: mama, dada, and "mai" for Michael. By the end of June her vocabulary would increase to include "look!" (when she sees something that she wants to show others), "that!" (when she wants to know the name of something), along with some almost-unintelligible sounds that mean squirrel, trees, birds, shoes, and book.