Halloween 2008. The boys are “Island Princes.” I’m not quite sure how we arrived here, settled in on this particular costume theme… all I can say is: what a long, strange trip its been. But, what can I tell ya? This is where we are. It is what it is. Twin Island Princes. And they are lovin’ it. And I mean, really, what Johnson-McCormick doesn’t love shells and sandcastles and tropical fish and island flora and fauna and all things ‘island’ that conjure up our gorgeous memories of our love(love-love-love)ly vacations together?! And seriously now, Halloween or not, K & O really are, afterall, Twin Island Princes. So, their pockets are full of flowers and shells to give out all day. And Owen is telling everyone he sees, “I really was born on an island!!! for real I was!!!” And they are just about as happy as two Island Princes could ever ever be. Happy Halloween everybody!!!!!!!

For anyone following the world series it won’t be a suprise, but it rained (and snowed a little of all things) here last night and today like crazy. So like crazy that rivers and streams are dramatically swollen and flowing.

On the way to the boys’ school we drive along (and the road has recently reopened from it’s 2005 flood disaster) a beautiful stretch of road (route 32 for those interested) that passes along a 100 foot cliff for about a mile that the Delaware gouged out eons ago. It’s beautiful on normal days, and spectacular today. We stopped to take a look, Meera and I stayed in the car, but Heather, Kyle, and Owen got out—- and K & O could not resist putting their heads under the falls.

Today Meera turned five months old. This baby continues to amaze and astound us with her ridiculously extreme happiness. Seriously, it is not normal. She is JUST. SO. DARN. HAPPY. This month has been her most eventful so far, by far. And we’ve seen her at her worst. But even her worst is just so good. Given that this is our third child, we’re in the position of knowing a good thing when we see it. If you know what I mean. Seriously, this girl has got to be the most mellow, low-key, easy-going, HAPPY baby that ever lived. Really. So, big things from Little Miss Meera’s 5th month:

• She continues to love, love, love the bath. But this month she took her love of the bath to a whole new level. She discovered the thrill and delight of sucking on washcloths. Man, oh man, does she love it. Loves it.
• Little Miss adores her brothers. She finds Owen, in particular, hysterically funny. He can make her laugh like no one else can. She spends lots of time watching her big bro’s and smiling smiling smiling at them just waiting for them to notice her. And then they do notice (or we tell them to notice) and her face just lights up. Her favorite times of day are: 1:00– when we go to pick up Kyle and Owen from school, and around 3:00– when all three of them sit at the table while the boys have an afternoon snack. This month she’s discovered the boys’ hair. Right up there in her list of top favorite things is grabbing a dreadlock and getting it into her mouth. She puts everything into her mouth, but dreadlocks seem to be a special favorite.
• Meera Grace discovered her feet. Currently, if you lay her on her back, at any time, day or night, she’ll immediately grab her feet and coo and gurgle in sheer glee. I’ve gotta say: it is really really just so stinkin’ cute.
• Eating has been big this month. She’s dabbling in it. She’s ambivalent about green beans and applesauce. She’s totally into rice and oatmeal (as long as it is mixed with breastmilk, not formula). She’s getting the hang of this whole food thing and slowly but surely some is actually getting ingested.
• Braydon continues to feed her one bottle in the middle of the night. This is their special father-daughter bonding time and they both love it. I hate the pumping. But it is worth it to see the results: their awesome bond.
• She finally got sick of the black Bjorn chair. I figure she spent four whole months in it, so she has the right to be sick of it. She won’t sit in it anymore. She’s moved on to her “pink chair” and is lovin’ it! She also is having a rekindled love affair with her little swing chair thingy. And she continues to love the play mat. She’s given up the Bjorn chair, but boy does she love the Bjorn carrier. She spends a lot of time in it every day. Happy camper.
• Meera is very interested in our cat Cooper. She can spot him from quite a distance. The boys have trained Cooper well. He now puts up with Little Miss grabbing him so tight that when he finally pulls away from her she’s left holding fistfuls of fur (and squealing with delight). Amazingly, Cooper always comes back for more.
• This month Meera travelled to New Hampshire for the third time in her short life. And she travelled to Connecticut for her baptism weekend. She’s a trooper, but it finally took a toll on her. She caught her first cold and it wasn’t pretty. She was not her happy self. And she had her mama up every 2-3 hours all night long every night for the past couple of weeks. Just when I started to worry that somehow her incredible sleeping skills had been lost forever, she rebounded!– and the past 48 hours or so have been deliriously wonderful yet again. Last night, for example, she went to bed at 6:00pm (her normal daily bedtime) and woke up at 7:00am with only one feeding (Braydon’s bottle) at 1am. {She then goes on to take two naps during the day – each of which is around 2 hours long}. And get this: to put her to sleep we simply do our little ritual (change her diaper, read her a little baby book, lay her down in her crib, then walk out), and within a few minutes she’s sound asleep. I know, I know, it is embarrassingly good. Believe me, we appreciate it. Like I said, this is our third. Just read between the lines… we know we’ve got it good with this one!
• Meera had her well-baby visit with our pediatrician one week ago. She weighs almost 17 pounds. She is 26 1/2 inches long. Her head circumference is 17″. She is in the top 1% for height, and the top 5% for weight. She’s a big healthy girl.

Lots of pictures here and more below.

Lately I’ve noticed that things are changing around here. Big things. Like, the boys seem to be outgrowing their obsession/addiction to macaroni and cheese. Six months ago I never in a million years would have ever thought I’d see the day. But there are times now that they don’t finish the entire box of Annie’s Shells and Cheese in one sitting. And sometimes they actually choose something else over macaroni when given the choice. Strange, but true. Strange, but true. Another example… the trash truck guys. For a good solid couple of years now the boys have been totally into them. They worshipped the ground our garbage truck guys walked on. They waited all week for trash day. There was nothing they loved more than chatting with the garbage guys at the end of our driveway. For goodness sake, they even exchanged Christmas presents with them for the past two years. But I’ve noticed that lately they have eyes for another man. Dave. Our yard guy. It seems that the trash truck guys are slowly but surely on their way out. And Dave is in. Big time in. Dave is now their Hero. With a capital H. There is nothing they love more than watching him mow. They talk to him at length about his machinery. They talk with each other at length about him. They pretend to be him. And just like the garbage truck guys, Dave seems to be slightly enamored with the boys and/or their idolization of him. I mean really, who wouldn’t get an ego trip out of this? So, it is out with the old, in with the new. I suppose we just have to roll with it. The times, they are a changin’.

From time to time I get questions about K & O’s locs in the comments to our blog posts, and sometimes people email me about it. I often have not responded — I usually mean to get to it but I often just never do and these things seem to regularly fall through the cracks. And so, I’m sorry about that to all you who have asked stuff and didn’t hear back from me. Just a couple days ago I got a question from ‘Jen’ about locs in the comments to the BarackO post— (Jen, I couldn’t find your email and your blog is private so this is the only way I could come up with to reply to you). Jen: K & O’s hair was probably at least 1.5 inches long when we started their locs. Like you, we had major struggles with keeping their twists “in” because they’d often come un-done, especially on the sides and back of their heads. Owen’s hair was much more difficult than Kyle’s to loc up (their hair textures are different), so I’ve seen two different examples of the process and it is interesting just how different it was with the two of them. Anyway, it often felt like were beating our heads against a brick wall trying to loc up their hair… it often felt like an uphill battle… but eventually it did loc. It just took a lot of commitment to it on our part. I think starting locs on very young children presents a whole host of challenges above and beyond ‘normal’ loc challenges! (especially if those children are wild and crazy, rough and tumble boys) If you haven’t seen it yet, I have a ‘Tell All’ post about the boys locs. You can find it here.

Still trying to catch up on the past few weeks…

Ed & Andrea gave the boys these Red Sox cookies. For a few days there these cookies were their prize possessions. Eating them wasn’t nearly as exciting as basking in the glory of the sheer delight of just simply having them in their posession. One afternoon K & O specifically asked for me to take pictures of them with their cookies… so, here they are…
(Ed & Andrea I hope you’re reading!)

Last week the boys got this piece of bamboo out of a neighbor’s yard and dragged it to our house. They played with it virtually non-stop for about three days straight. Finally they lost interest, but before they did they must have come up with about a zillion things to do with a piece of bamboo. And they were very proud to show it off to anyone and everyone who happened to come anywhere near our house (the mailman, the FedEx guy, neighbors walking their dogs, visitors, etc., etc., etc.).

A year ago, when the boys got their bikes, it was hard to believe that they’d ever be able to ride them without training wheels. And then, just like that, in the blink of an eye, it is twelve months later and here we are. Isn’t it just unbelievable how fast time can fly? Braydon had known for a long time that K & O were ready to have their training wheels taken off. And K & O wanted them off. A few weeks ago we started telling them that “when the pool man comes to close the pool, then we’ll take the training wheels off!” It was something to look forward to (and something to lessen the blow of the pool closing). On Thursday, October 9, late in the day, the pool man came to close the pool. And so, bright and early, on Friday, October 10, before school, Braydon and Kyle and Owen were in the garage taking off the training wheels! Kyle made sure we were all up early for the big event. It was still dark out when they got outside. And with the sun just starting to peek out, the boys had their first ride without training wheels. Of course, just as you might expect with K & O… they just jumped onto the bikes and started riding. There was virtually no transition time to go from training wheels to no-training-wheels. Rather than have to teach or push or run-holding-onto-the bike, Braydon, the ever-proud-Papi, drank his steaming coffee and watched, beaming, as his boys rode up and down the driveway getting their first fast taste of fully mobile freedom. And yesterday, less than two weeks later, I was watching them do “big skids!” and real honest-to-goodness-front-wheel-hopping-off-the-ground-‘wheelies’ in the driveway. The end of an era. And another start anew.

I don’t know how it started, but we’ve taken to calling Meera “Little Miss Meera,” “Little Miss M,” or –more often– simply, “Little Miss.” One of the boys’ favorite activities is giving Little Miss a bath in the kitchen sink. I don’t know who loves it more– them, or Little Miss. These photos were taken sometime in the past couple weeks (I’ve lost track of when exactly, but I know it was after school one day).

Growing up, my mom never hesitated to have me play hookie from school when she thought that I needed a day of R & R to re-group and rejuvenate. Even as a young child I was always an over-achiever, always driven, always pushing myself to the limits. She was a great mom for a kid like that — she was always on top of me about it, always encouraging me to slow down and “stop to smell the roses.” While other kids’ mothers nagged them to try harder, mine nagged me to take it down a notch. And when push came to shove, she’d keep me out of school to force the issue if she had to. She was more than willing to go to bat for me if any of my teachers had a problem with it. In my teenage years she began advocating for me to decide for myself when I needed these hookie days. And by the last couple years of high school, when I would tell her I needed to take a day to play hookie from school, she had no problem writing me an “excused absence” note to give to the principal’s office the next day. These were not days shared with friends. These were not days to get stuff done. These were not days jaunting off to do adventurous things. It was always just me, or me and my mom. I always stuck close to home. And the days were always planned so that they didn’t get in the way of tests or important school events. What a gift this was to me from my mom: the invaluable gift of teaching a highly-ambitious-go-go-go-kind-of-kid how to monitor herself and take time out when she needed it. To this day this is one of the gifts for which I am most grateful to my mother. So, it is a very conscientious thing on my part to now try to pass that gift along to my two go-go-go-go-go-and-never-stop boys.

We got back from Meera’s baptism weekend late Sunday night. It had been an exhausting couple of weeks both emotionally and physically. Lots of travel (to New Hampshire for four days when Eric died; to Connecticut for two days for Meera’s baptism), lots of people, lots of loss of routine, lots of eating on the run, lots of sleep deprivation, lots and lots and lots to think about. Sending the boys off to school first thing Monday morning just seemed wrong. And so it was… a day to play hookie from school. It turned out to be an absolutely glorious fall day. The boys were in their element playing together outside in the foliage all day long. And Tuesday they were ready to get back at it again– off to school they went, happy, rested, recuperated, regrouped, and rejuvenated. That hookie day ranks up there as one of our best days in a long while.

Meera’s baptism was Sunday! We made a big celebratory weekend of it in Connecticut with my parents and a few of our closest friends in the whole wide world. This baptism weekend had been planned for awhile, and we all agreed that despite everything happening in my family it was important for us to go through with it. Actually, we all agreed that because of everything happening in my family it was extra important to go through with it. We needed an up-lift… and leave it to Meera to uplift us. Meera Grace, full of grace, full of infectious deep boundless joy. This girl knows how to make a person feel that there is good in the world. Seriously. And it was time for her to be baptised. It felt so perfect in every way. Driving home Braydon said something to the effect of, “It just feels so good now — to know that she is baptised — it just feels content and complete somehow.” And I agreed. It just all felt so right. And that was/is a good feeling.

Beth, a camp friend of mine since we were in Junior High, and me and Braydon’s dearest friend, is Meera’s Godmother. She is also the pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut. We have a lot of wonderful history together and she’s the absolute perfect person to be Meera’s Godmother. We all gathered at Beth’s church for Beth to baptise her Goddaughter herself. It was really special and beautiful. Highlights of the weekend were:

• Meera’s first experience of the ocean. It seemed perfectly fitting that she’d go to the ocean for the first time on the weekend of her baptism. She liked it. Thank goodness (since the rest of her family adores it).
• Saturday morning at the beach. It was a cold fall day, but K & O had no problem swimming — fully clothed — in the frosty salty waters. A fisherman guy walking by shouted out to Kyle, asking him if he was cold. Kyle shouted back, “No!” The guy said, “THAT KID IS NUTS!” And we couldn’t have agreed more. It is not everyday that you see two four year olds splashing in the waves in late October in New England. While other people were bundled up with parkas and hats, there were K & O… swimming. On the way back to Beth’s house I said, “That was fun!” And Beth chimed in, “That was exhilarating!” ;0
• Skipping rocks & collecting shells, of course. And a special moment when Beth and the boys looked for a shell to use in Meera’s baptism. They found the perfect oyster shell for Beth to use to pour the water over Meera’s head. Kyle tested it out on Owen’s head a few times to make sure it worked right. It was done sweetly and the whole moment– just watching Beth with the boys as they prepared for Meera’s baptism– just felt really special for me. The boys (especially Kyle) were all about Meera’s baptism. He (K) continues to be extremely religious (and continues to pelt us daily with religious questions that we find extremely difficult to answer).
• Saturday afternoon at Jessica, Paul, and Sammy’s house with Beth and my parents. A gorgeous fall afternoon. The kids had a blast playing with MorMor and MorFar. Leaves galore. Food. Beer. Good, good friends. Who could ask for more?
• Beth’s hospitality and our wine-and-conversation.
• A Saturday night sleep-over for K & O with MorMor & MorFar! They got to spend the night with them at Carin Peterson’s house… this was very special for them to get to do.
• A beautiful baptism ceremony. It was a challenge to keep K & O from going completely crazy during the service, but we made it through it without any major catastrophes (although it was a very close call at one point when Owen almost tipped over the baptismal font and the sacred water). In a very sweet moment, though, Owen — the ever-concerned-and-protective-big-brother — lovingly and gently held his hand over his sister’s head as she cried out from the water being poured over her. It was so Owen. Especially so Owen to do something so sweet like that after just about knocking over the baptismal font. That’s Owen.
• A great Sunday dinner at Beth’s house afterward… including Beth and her parents; my parents; Jessica, Paul, and Sam (Jess and Paul are Kyle and Owen’s godparents); Roxann, Clifton, and Catherine (Catherine is me and Braydon’s goddaughter); Carin and Tom Peterson (my surrogate grandmother). The noise level was up there (with four very spirited kiddos running wild together and one newly baptized four-month-old). The grill was grilling (steaks with my mom’s gorgonzola butter). The cheesecake was deliriously good (Carin– I think I love it even more now than I did when I was a kid). The sun was shining. And the Party of Five left SMILING.
• A wonderful, wonderful celebration of Meera. The first of many, I’m sure.

Lots of photos below!!!