Getting THE QUESTION

Yup, he asked it. The question.

"How does the baby get in the mommy's belly?"

Really? Already? He's not supposed to ask that for another few years.

While Michiel discreetly walked away, I yammered something about how when a mommy and daddy love each other alot they decide to make a baby and then the baby grows in the mommy's belly.

Great, right? Quick thinking. Skip over the difficult bits.

Nothing doing. Alexander was not deterred. "No, what I mean is: How does the baby get IN the mommy's belly?"

So, what did I do? I panicked, of course. I laughed and promptly changed the subject.

The next day, he brought it up again at lunch, apropos of nothing. "But I was really wondering how the baby gets inside the mommy's belly."

I swear, there is no distracting this boy! But this time, I was better prepared. I told him about the egg and the sperm and the egg getting fertilized. I drew comparisons to the animal kingdom. All the while Alexander chewed and nodded thoughtfully. I hoped this would be enough for him, especially since he probably didn't understand all of it.

At the end he said, "Okay. Can I have a toetje (dessert) now?"

Halloween

Though the week leading up to Halloween this year was a bit hectic (sickness, too many things to accomplish), the day itself (or should I say, eve?) was lovely. Annabel kept her gnome hat on reasonably well, and Alexander's snail costume got lot's of compliments. He definitely stood out in the sea of store-bought costumes.

Michiel constructed the shell with cardboard and tape, and Alexander and I painted it. I, of course, had to supress my urge to make it look perfect and yield to the mother/son creative process.

We all went over to Mom and Dad's house and went trick-or-treating from there, since our neighborhood isn't the best for that sort of thing. Alexander was so cute walking/running around the neighborhood, as interested in looking at the Halloween decorations as in getting the candy. He always said, "thank you," after getting candy.

Annabel got a lot of attention for her outfit. The teenagers especially liked her. One punk kid saw her and said, "Oh, sweet, a garden gnome! Gimme knuckles, girl!"

When we got back to Mom and Dad's, Alexander barely had time to examine his loot before he had to answer the door and pass out candy. I'd say he liked that better than trick-or-treating himself. When he and Michiel went out for a second round, he hadn't even got to the door of the first house before he stopped in his tracks, turned, and ran back. Michiel says it was an epiphany. He realized he would miss out on handing out candy. So, back he came. And every time the doorbell rang, he bolted for the door.

I think my parents got around 300 trick-or-treaters this year. That's a lot of candy!

Bluebird Report Card

Last week we had parent-teacher conferences at Alexander's preschool, Bluebird Montessori. We'd been just dying to know what was going on in the classroom because Alexander hardly tells us anything. At first, we were drilling him on what his day was like:

"What did you do?"

"What did you learn?"

"Who did you play with?"

"Did you have fun?"

No wonder he wouldn't really answer us. His teacher, Teri, says that's pretty typical for kids just starting school. They're experiencing so many new things and they don't know how to put all these experiences into words.

So, we were trying to lay low until the conferences. Although, I got pretty sly with my questions: "If I were to ask Teacher Teri what you did today, what would she tell me?"

Strangely enough, he didn't have a problem telling me what Teacher Teri would say.

After weeks of trying to pry information out of Alexander and surreptitiously peeking in the classroom windows at drop-off and pick-up times, the conference day finally arrived.

And of course, we learned that Alexander is doing fine, wonderful, and all that good stuff. But there were some surprises. We learned that our son is a good observer.

To fully understand this, you have to understand that in the montessori classroom a child is allowed to work on something until he is finished. If the pink tower of blocks is already in use when Alexander wants to work with it, he can either find something else to do or he can observe. Observation posture is very specific--standing quietly with hands behind the back. Aparently, Alexander will walk around the classroom like this, observing at one table then the next. Quite a change from home, where he can't keep his hands off anything!

We also learned that of all the other children at the school, Alexander is the one most concerned with order and tidiness. He always has to put things back exactly as he found them and will help other children when he sees that they haven't done it correctly. Now if we could just get him to do that with his toys at home!

I'm amazed by how much he's learning. When we're out and about he's always pointing out shapes to me. "That's and oval." "What's that cylinder over there?"

The other day he asked me, "Why do grandma and grandpa both start with a G?"

And he can add and subtract on fingers (up to ten).

I guess I'm proud of our little guy!

Annabel at 8 Months

She's a cheeky little thing, very determined about what she does and doesn't want. She's getting to be quite social. Often I call it nosy. The minute I get her up in the morning and carry her out to the living room, she's whipping her head around to get a look at who else is there.

Nursing in a public place? Forget it. She's constantly popping off the nipple and flinging back her head to see what's going on. Alexander's learning to be quiet while she's nursing, but he can be a little stinker sometimes. He'll purposely chose the loudest toy to play with while she's nursing.

As of today, she weighs 21lbs 3oz and is 29 inches long. That puts her in the 97th and 95th percentiles. Not terribly surprising.

Alexander Rides a Bike!

He went camping with his grandparents and came back a bike rider. Who knew it could be so easy? For a while now he's had a little push bike--you know, one of those bikes without the pedals. And he got really good at balancing and steering. So I guess when he got on the real bike for the first time he knew just what to do.

Oh, and here's Annabel in her vehicle:

We have a Playhouse!!!

We have a new playhouse for the backyard! It was quite an ordeal getting it in. But we had five guys, one little boy, a hand truck, and a small trailer. It took two hours, and one of the ferns didn't make it, but the playhouse is in place and nobody got hurt (although Michiel got his fingers smashed and at one point the house toppled over onto Kevin...luckily he diverted the corner from falling onto his thigh).

Thank goodness for cousins and friends and neighbors!

Now we have to decide what colors to paint it. I'm thinking a different bright color on each side, with the door the same color as the back side. White trim. Maybe the kids can do handprints all over the inside.

Active Annabel

I love this age! Annabel's, that is. (Alexander's is another story--I could do with a little less threeness in the house.) But seven months is so exciting. She's so active--crawling and standing and interesting in everything.

Last week I was reading a board book to her and she just had to turn the pages. I wasn't even helping her. She concentrated so hard to get her fingers to cooperate, wrap around the page, pull, turn, and ta-da! New pictures! Amazing.

She also got a big kick out of playing the washcloth game in her high chair. You know the one. Mama puts a washcloth on the tray. Annabel grabs it and flings it over the edge. Mama picks it up. Repeat from beginning. We must have done this about 20 or 30 times. Always she grabbed it with her right hand, even when I placed it to the far left side of her tray. Fun times!

But the best is that she wakes up so happy in the morning! She doesn't cry or fuss. She just wakes up and starts looking around the room at all the fascinating things. I only know she's awake because I hear cooing and gurgling noises. And when Alexander and I (or Michiel on the weekends) come into the room, she greets us with a huge I'm-so-glad-to-see-you smile. And our hearts just melt.