Random Assortment

Just in case anyone missed the obvious, young Master B is an awesome kid. Here are a few highlights:

In the picture included with this post, young Master B is listening to his beloved songs from Yo Gabba Gabba, his favorite television show. I would prefer that he took a nap, but I suppose having quiet time with a few stuffed friends is okay too.

For young Master B’s language development, we’ve been trying to get him out of repetition mode and into conversational mode. If you’ve known for Parental Unit #2 for a long time, you might be aware that he used to respond with an occasional “beep” over the course of conversation. The beep usually signaled an affirmative response. Once we had Bertram, the beeping fell out of favor. So you can imagine our delight at the breakfast table when this happened:

Bertram: Yummy. Cereal.
Parental Unit #2: Bertram, do you like cereal?
Bertram: Beep!

Parental Unit #2 swears that he did nothing to encourage this. Bertram is drawn to the sounds of computer beeps and car honks.

After his bath, Bertram likes to run naked around the apartment. The other evening, while wearing just a diaper, he ran around in a circle yelling at the top of his lungs, “Naked boy! Naked boy!”

Edited on 4/29/09 to add the following: I got out of the shower in my natural state, and young Master Bertram pointed to his mommy and said, “Naked boy! Naked boy!”

Oh, the fun we have here.

Comparison Shopping

Don’t think about the color green. Forget it even existed for just one moment.

If you are like me, you are thinking about green in every shade—from lime green to forest green.

I know that I should not compare my daughter to my son, but I can’t help myself. Last week during a rare walk outside with both kids, a friend said, “You don’t talk about Vivian much, if at all.”


It’s true. I don’t. Compared to her brother, she is an easy baby.

True, she is a newborn, and she keeps me busy with the usual, exhaustive schedule of feeding and changing. Yet unlike her brother when he was a newborn, she sleeps. Vivian takes naps and even sleeps for a nice stretch at night. In fact, she’s sleeping right now. I can type this post with two hands.

The newborn Young Master B did not sleep. In a nod to the “never nude” Tobias on Arrested Development, I called Bertram the “never napper.” I was lucky to have a two-hour stretch without feeding, changing, or soothing a colicky young Master B. Indeed, I can remember going on new mommy death marches—simultaneously walking and bouncing young Master B in the Baby Bjorn during the dreadful summer heat, sweat running down my back, mosquitoes nipping at my legs—because it was the only thing I could do that would yield precious quiet.

Just yesterday, Parental Unit #2 said quite accurately, “Bertram sleeps more now than he ever did as a newborn.” Gentle readers, the reverse is supposed to be true.

Now that Vivian has entered our lives, I know how other moms had the time to get into crafts or cook elaborate meals. Something I always regarded with bewilderment, how could these moms have the time? Clearly, their babies slept. I guess the point here is that young Master B broke his Parental Units’ backs to the point such that anything less—by comparison—feels like a walk in a very green park.

We Are the Tiny, Ugly Germs, Post 2

017, originally uploaded by hal(var). A: Two sick kids!

Parental Unit #1 had the crazy idea that she could get a "karmic reprieve" from illness--immediately after major surgery and a new baby--but things didn't work out that way. We (me, Bert, Vivi) spent the last week recovering from some respiratory bug that young Master B procured from the ol' playground. And, I must say there are few sounds sadder than a 3-week old with a belly cough.

We Are the Tiny, Ugly Germs, Post 1

015, originally uploaded by hal(var).

Q: What's better than one sick kid?