The phantom smile

As much as I like to take photos, I have now determined that aside from trying to get photos of Sean, child photography is a gift I do not possess. Thank goodness for the digital camera era! Though I have been lucky a few times with catching Sean smiling, his smile is a sneaky character. Ask him to smile and you'll get a big grin. Ask him to smile while holding a big, black object pointed at him...
and you get a curious brow. Though yet another trait that proves he is Kris's son, no smile. So then we try lining up the image and moving my face around the camera so that he can see me to smile. After the usual games the smile appears, big and bright! I press the button without breaking eye contact...I can see the smile in his eyes, but alas no film proof. So I next move on to coaxing it out while taking numerous pictures and discover that my son, though barely aware he has hands, has ninja reflexes that allow him to move his hand in front of his smiling face at lightning speed...








Hand gone, smile gone. I then opt to take one more shot and achieve a Mona Lisa-esque smirk.

One that can be interpreted anwhere from please stop blinding me like the paparazzi to I had no idea that hiding my smile from Mama's big black flashy thing could be so much fun.

So as any good wildlife photographer will tell you, patience is a key asset to getting that perfect shot. The camera is usually handy so that I can take photos as they come and yesterday, after only three flashes, I finally hit pay dirt! Smile: check. Hands out of the way: check. Adorable outfit that makes Mama cry to see the photo: priceless!

Snow dayz...

This season has seemed like a constant blur of white. I remember being at West Point as a cadet and mesmerized with the snow. Now I dread it. I hear, "snow in the forecast tonight at 11" and my heart sinks. My mind automatically whispers a prayer of thanks that Chris and I are considered "Mission Essential" personnel and thus have guaranteed child care no matter the weather, as long as they can get the doors physically open. Sean is doing so well at daycare and the ladies in his room are quick to tell me about his day, or call just to give me a head's up if he's a little gassy or fussy. So when they say "snow" I am thankful that I have child care, but a little blue because Sean isn't with his usual ladies but rather in a new room with whomever could safely make it to work. I am thankful they are there, but a little bummed that he won't be spending the day with the women who get to see him and watch him grow everyday.


Snow days now mean figuring out how to get up the "hill" to the daycare and praying the road has been plowed at least a little. With Sean safely bundled in his car seat, I lift the bucket out of the base and trudge (I now fully understand this word) through the snow into the building. He is too small to appreciate a snow day, and now that I am grown woman working no matter the weather, I am apparently too old to enjoy them. So here's to the years in between him and I--those years that he will smile with glee at snowflakes and run through the house to put enough winter gear on to go outside and play in it. I am looking forward to those years, but for now, I'll silently be wishing for spring to arrive a little early this year...and enjoying his playtime indoors...

The many faces of Sean

I know I am biased; I won't deny it. My son's face is one of the coolest. As I watch him master the many different ways we humans express ourselves, he makes me smile. Even as his bottom lip turns upside down and the pout starts, I smile because its funny (not at 3am, but 3pm is funny). He has mastered smiling and I believe is trying to laugh--and I can't wait until he masters that. So, in the mean time, here are some of favorites of Sean's coolest faces...

Two months old!

As the snow falls outside for the second time this season, Kris and I both had the chance to come home early and play with Sean!

Routines vs. schedules

Sean has taught me a lot about schedules and had tag-teamed with Koby to remind us what routine really means....

As a first-time mom, I poured over the books and settled on the thought that raising a child from day one on a "schedule" sounded great. What new parent wouldn't want a list by hour of what to do with a newborn? I didn't have that feeling coming home from the hospital of "what do we do now?" I knew: it was 1pm and he should be sleeping until 2:30pm at which point I must wake him up to eat, etc... So the schedule continued for a couple of weeks. I can't express just how thankful I am to my mama who didn't sneer at me upon arrival when I presented my scheduled plan. She simply supported it and I believe opted to let me learn the lesson on my own. After all, who responds well to being told they don't know what they are doing? :)

Along the way, Sean proved to have not read the book, or the follow-on memo, or for that matter attending the scheduled meetings. He generally ate, slept, ate, and slept some more, but as for minding a clock, he reminded me that he could barely recognize my face, much less read time. His tummy and brain had a clock all their own and since this was HIS body, he was going on HIS clock. So on we went...I scrapped the schedule and started listening to my son. So what if he got 6 hours of day sleep instead of 5. It didn't seem to effect our night sleep (of which he is wonderful and has been since we brought him home). We have a routine, not a schedule. We wake up, cuddle and eat. He gets some blessed play time, then naps, eats, plays, naps, eats, etc. He generally goes down at night about the same time, but sometimes we work at it. By and large, I now know what to expect, and I don't need a clock to tell me.

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Koby has his own way of reminding us what a routine is. For 18 months, I'd get up, feed him, getting ready for work, we'd walk around the block, I'd come home about the same time each afternoon, we'd play a little, he'd get dinner, and then maybe a second walk weather permitting. He could count on being home alone for about the same number of hours. If I drove past the house anytime after 2pm, he'd be in the window watching people and waiting. I knew before that time he was asleep on the couch. Then came maternity leave and me home everyday. Oh, and the new addition with his own routines that definitely encroached on Koby's routine....most days went well because I was home all day. Now both Kris and I are back at work and Koby's first day "back on the routine" proved a mess. Kris came home to things pulled off the counter, a spastic dog, and a half-chewed tube of eye medicine for him. Needless to say, Koby was not used to being alone and had something to say about it. I suspect it will take a few more days of silliness before he returns to his routine, and we remember to give him some attention of his own now that the kid brother has arrived...