The Sound of Silence.

It is two days after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, not even a cat. 

Finally, I am a getting a moment's peace. Ivan is taking his now one nap of the day and Victor is with his pop and the rest of the Hitch crew at the Please Touch Museum. Don't remember the last time I was able to catch up on my thoughts. Looking back on the past several days,  I can say it was a really lovely Christmas. We have been spending tons of time with family, in fact, today we will be going to my aunt and uncle's house for yet one more day of holiday indulgence. I swear I have gained at least 10 pounds, but I refuse to get on the scale to check. 

Both boys were totally thrilled with what Santa brought them. For Vic, it was a dragon Christmas and for Ivan, horses. Some of the gifts are already lost or broken. Imagine that.

As for me, I am absolutely wasted. Feel like I have had a cold or have been fighting a cold for several months. Trying to take care of the boys and keep the house from looking like a pig sty with no energy makes me feel overwhelmed and sort of blue. I believe my fatigue is due partly to hormones, partly to all the holiday mayhem but also I think having no time to myself is having an affect on my whole outlook on life. In 2009, I need to have some sort of real Wendytime. I haven't figured out what that may be yet. Maybe some sort of exercise class, like yoga, or even more appealing at the moment, a weekly movie night with my girlfriends. I don't know. I just think I need to make more time for myself or else a cranky lady, who has been appearing from time to time and whom no one likes, including myself, will be here to stay.   

Believe.

Today was our annual "Christmas in the City" trip with my mom and my brother's family. We did the Reading Terminal holiday train display, Wanamaker's (Macy's) light show, the same one that I have many memories of seeing as a child, a stroll through Dicken's Village,  a visit and photo with S. Claus and then a final stop at the giant Christmas tree at City Hall. We spent the remainder of the day playing, eating, talking, laughing at my parent's place. It was loads of fun, but I am almost too tired to form a sentence. 

Regarding the picture, Ivan is clearly not wanting to be on Santa's lap but he enjoyed observing him from a distance and even gave a high five to the jolly ole' St. Nick. Victor was very serious and told Santa as soon as he got on his lap that he wanted some mythical beasts book and a paint your own dragon kit that he saw at Barnes and Nobles. Hope they are still there. He is holding up his favorite toys of the week, a yoda head space craft and a cut-out of a spider monkey (from Spy Kids 2).

Must. Sleep.

Doctor, Doctor, Give me the news...

A cross-eyed moment.

Important business to discuss on his cellular phone.

"How exactly do I go about removing these here spectacles?"

I realize these shots are out of focus but I love them just the same. Two typical expressions from one silly goose.

Preshool Drop-out

So, here it goes...

I officially pulled Victor out of his preschool this afternoon. When  I picked him up yesterday, I ended up having an informal conference with his teacher and I got the sense she was frustrated and no longer willing to deal with him. She said she really doesn't think Vic is getting anything out of this experience. He constantly craves their undivided attention, which they simply aren't able to give to him considering there are 17 other children in his class.  During the structured activities, he seems to do okay but whenever there is free time, he does nothing but cry and ask to go home. SO, I thought the best thing to do for everyone involved was take him out of there and try something different. It wasn't the right place for him. At first I was upset and emotional, but the more time I have to think about it (I didn't sleep a wink last night, so tired) the more I realize that it really isn't THAT big of a deal. Victor is an amazingly wonderful child. So what if he has an extremely hard time being away from home and specifically, me.  He is only four years old. It is our society that urges us to get our children away from the home at such a young age, and that is why I was feeling the pressure and stress to get him used to school right away. Many children are okay with this transition but he is obviously not developmentally ready.  It seems unfair to him (and me) that I force him to be without me when I am home and able to provide him a loving and safe place until he is ready, which I know will happen eventually. In the meantime, I am going to be looking into different classes and programs, ones that allow the parents to be present. We really are in no rush.  If I have to home school him for a while, then I am totally fine with that. 

Springtime...

DSCN0079, originally uploaded by wendyhitch.

Oh, how I miss thee.

Fall is Fun!

A couple of weeks ago, I took these photos of Ivan, who was admiring the newly fallen fall foliage. He was making sure that I had noticed the beautiful colors all around, which of course, being a lover of autumn, I had. We were in the playground outside of Vic's preschool, minutes after we had dropped off a sad, protesting little boy. Yes, believe it or not, Victor is still having issues with going to school. I thought surely by now he would be over the whole crying, wanting to go home thing, but such is not the case. It is rather confusing to me. He seems to look forward to it when he first wakes up, but right before we leave he starts trying to convince me that he is just too tired to go and as I help him put on his shoes and jacket the sad tears start a-flowin'. He has development this new intense attachment to his "blankie" and the thought of being away from it for three whole hours is just too much for him to bear. The teachers say he is always asking when he can go home,  complaining that he is "so tired" and wants his damn blankie.  This past week he has improved a bit, still emotional at drop-off but not so much during the time he is there. We are having a play date with one of his classmates this Friday. Hopefully, having a friendship with this little boy, Vinnie, will make things easier on him. 

I am trying not to be so worried about it because he seems absolutely normal at home, happily pretending, creating all sorts of fantastic stories, often times too complicated for my dense adult brain to process. It is clear that the trauma of going to preschool is not going to scar him later in life. 

Ivan, on the other hand, has no cares in the world. He is one happy-go-lucky child. Curious and into everything, he keeps me oh, so busy.  I am downright exhausted at the end of each day.  He has really enjoyed this fall season and has taken on the habit of finding a pile of leafs, then plopping down in them with the hopes that either his big brother or myself will bury him up to his neck in the crunchy, crackling goodness. He is such a pure joy and makes me smile, giggle, laugh constantly.

 

Squirrel Fascination

Ivan has developed a love of squirrels.  We often go to our local park while Vic is in preschool so that he can watch their frantic pre-winter hustle and bustle. Sometimes when he is in a more vigorous mood (obviously not at this moment), he may even try to creep up on one... but if he gets too close and actually makes eye contact with the little rodent, then he gets rather nervous and runs back into my arms.  Whenever we see pictures of them in books, he points and stares and wants me to say "squirrel" over and over. Really, the same goes for horses, cows, crocodiles, and dogs. To be honest, I believe I have become quite a successful animal imitator. I could easily make animal sounds in my sleep.  

Playing House...

Parading around with dragons

I am almost too tired to type. It has been an extremely long day. We were brave (crazy) enough to join the two million people for the big Phillies parade. All four of us were packed into a can of sardines el train and then squished onto the sidewalk. But the experience was pretty unforgettable ; a multitude  of happy faces, red Phillies gear everywhere, confetti and toilet paper streamers filling the sky, and of course lots of loud enthusiastic cheering. Quite a sight to see and after all is said and done, I am glad, yet exhausted, that we went. 

And then after all that excitement, we still had Halloween to celebrate... 

Wild Times at Story Book Land...

This past weekend, the four of us went away to the beach house to celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary (doesn't that number make us sound old... but we were married very young, you know). Anyway, we spent the day on Saturday at a great little amusement park for kids, Story Book Land, an old joint from the fifties and, oh my word, what a blast we had! I really think Bry and I enjoyed ourselves just as much as the boys, if not more. Above, you see the fellows looking at the Three Pigs display. These adorable little houses were set up all over the park and at the push of a button, the characters start to move and on comes the old-fashioned music and the narrator's voice, telling a very summarized version of the classic story. It was absolutely magical for the boys and so much fun to watch their little faces light up with excitement as they took turns (not always willingly) pushing the buttons. Unfortunately, there was that darn big bad wolf of the Little Red Riding Hood house that scared the living crap out of Vic. He held it together as we watched the beast explain why his teeth were so big, but the image of it has been haunting our poor child for the last several nights. That evening, he was a bit out of his head with exhaustion and he seriously had a mini-panic attack when he saw a picture of the wolf on a brochure. He bursted into tears, saying "HOW can I get it out of my MIND..." over and over with increasing fear. Finally, he screamed out "HOME!! I WANT TO GO HOME!!" This boy loves being at the beach house so when he said this, I knew he was really beside himself. It seemed he was almost having a nightmare while still awake. I told him that he is super tired and that once he wakes up in the morning, he won't even hardly remember that stupid big bad wolf. This seemed to comfort him and he wanted to go to sleep right away. This has happened for the past several nights, as soon as he gets tired, he starts to think about that damn wolf and asks to go to sleep, which he does promptly, as early at 7 o'clock.

Onto more photos...

Here are Bry and Vic riding the "happy dragon" ride, one of his favorites, as he is really into dragons as of late. He is even going to be one for Halloween. Ivan, too. 

Next, the A-mazing Hay Maze. The baby didn't stay on Daddy's shoulders for long. His frantic squirming said, "I demand freedom" and once his little feet hit the ground, he was off... exuberantly busy, run/stumbling here and there, and then suddenly stopping to study some particularly interesting pieces of hay and then of course, he couldn't resist hiding in the many nooks and crannies. Had to keep my eyes (and camera) on him. 

Probably the biggest highlight of the day for young boy was this "Bubbles the Dragon" roller coaster. We went on twice, both times in the front seat. I know I'm a major spazzola. And I was only hamming it up a little.

My favorite boys on the train. Ivan is blowing a kiss.

Double-headed Monster?

No, just Victor and Atari.  These photos were taken about two months ago as the kids had just come in from playing with the hose in the back.  As you can plainly see, they are utterly thrilled about sharing a towel to dry themselves and stayed in this position for quite some time.  When the towel became loose and fell off, I was asked to wrap it back around them. 

I babysat Atari from the time both kids were about a year and a half until almost three years old and I am ever so glad that I did.  They have such a wonderful connection, almost like siblings but a bit more friendly (most of the time, anyway.)  Now that they are big four year old preschoolers, whenever she is over, these guys basically just go off on their own, into Vic's room or deep into our bedroom closet or really wherever and do some hardcore pretending... while I get to relax a bit and enjoy taking care of just one child. It's nice, real nice.

He's crazy about corn on the cob.

We eat it very often.  It is one of the few things that keeps him quiet and occupied... and is not thrown on the floor.

Behind Bars

This baby is getting more and more wild. Sometimes I think it would be safest if we just kept him in his crib more often, although he would never let that happen for more than maybe ten minutes at a time... and of course, I would feel too guilty not letting him free, free to destroy the house and put some seriously nasty things in his mouth. He is just too quick for me and before you know it, I discover that he has something swishing around in there. Recently, besides the occasional tiny toy of his big brother's (that shouldn't have been left on the floor), I have fished out a dead fly and kitty cat throw-up. Bleahhh!!!

There are times when he gets in these devilish moods (usually when he is tired and needs extra attention) and all he wants to do is bite, pinch, or pull our hair. He finds it hilarious when we yell out in pain. I am trying to discipline him but nothing seems to faze him and he just continues to abuse us.

Also, Ivan has NO fear of strangers and will approach and grab anything and/or anyone within reach. The other day at the library, his groping fingers came within centimeters from a man's bandaged elbow, ready to pinch off the big band-aid, but fortunately, this time I got to him first. Oh, and the entire time we are ever at the library, forget looking for a book for myself to enjoy, I am forced to follow this crazy child and quickly pick up the hundreds of books that he has thrown on the floor and prevent him from raiding all the garbage cans and digging in the plant pots. I am sure all the librarians get nervous the instant they see us come into the building. Thank goodness, Victor usually finds a book that interests him and stays in one place, intensely studying every pages. 

I forgot to mention the fact that he is loud, super loud. His varied shrieks are outrageously ear-piercing, and he takes great pleasure in trying to scream at the highest pitches and as loudly as humanly possible, especially when we are all in the car with no place to escape. But just look at him, he is far too adorable to make us angry, or at least stay angry. And he does actually have his peaceful, angelic moments, like when I shot these photos of him after a gloriously long nap, but they never seem to last very long. Despite all his boisterous behavior, which I do realize is quite normal for his age, I am greatly enjoying and loving him more and more everyday. 

Update on Victor:

He is getting used to school! Still gets a little sad right before we leave the house, but today was the first day that he didn't shed even one tear. So we had a "party" for him at dinnertime. We had gone to Trader Joe's right before mealtime, and the boys brought home balloons, like usual, but this time we used them as party material. I brought him to the table on my shoulders while cheering for him, and he got to eat an ice cream sandwich from the deli for desert. He was delighted.