House, M.D.

Home! With a week of travel behind us, I am glad to report we are all home safe and sound this evening. After our Disneyland adventures, we had a full week of activities with the extended family and many friends in Los Angeles, despite various members of the family (kid and adult alike) falling ill with colds, coughs, and stomach bugs. But somehow despite it all we had a wonderful if exhausting time - and if we were sick, at least we could all help take care of each other along the way! Thankfully the boys were on the mend after their pre-trip bugs (though L got a brief bug towards the end) and ready to burn off much energy.

We set up shop in a very functional house in Redondo Beach, and stocked it with seemingly twice daily trips to grocery stores -- but managed to work our way through most of the food with dinners cooked for each other almost every evening. Friends B and R came one night for dinner and somehow ended up picking up the spatula and taking over the cooking for us - not quite sure how that happened, but we were most grateful to have them as guests! There were actually a steady stream of friends to see, both in the house and out and about.

Of course needless to say there were multiple trips to various parks with fabulous playgrounds, including one conveniently located a block from the house we rented. The boys even got out of the swings on occasion to slide, climb, run around, watch other kids bring crazy RC helicopter drones and flying cars (hey, it's 2015 now, right?).

Foodwise, we enjoyed our favorite burgers and grilled cheese drive through (twice even; I detoured our drive to the airport by a few blocks for a quick pre-flight lunch), grabbed some kosher deli, discovered the kids' favorite Seattle conveyor belt sushi now has a prime real estate Hollywood location, and Meh and I even got a date night at an excellent Manhattan Beach restaurant (thanks to our family for the free babysitting, and to friend J for the recommendation!).

And we did many of the tourist things that I'd actually never done when I actually lived here: we visited the lovely Getty Center, where the kids really enjoyed the automated train up to the campus (I actually was there for only about 15 minutes for drop-off and pick-up between meeting good friend J for his birthday lunch); the kids got to ride on a scale train and explore a bunch of old real trains at Griffith Park's railroad and Travel Town; we rode the Exposition Line light rail past my alma mater to check out the California Science Center's excellent Pompeii exhibit and the hangar housing the space shuttle Endeavor.

Meh got her cooking fix at Surfas, and B and J graciously surprised me with an early birthday present that restocked my tea supply from our favorite LA tea location. And of course we had a lovely time getting to know cousin M and spending time just hanging out with, as grandma would say, "the whole family". Hard to believe the week has already come and gone, and that this afternoon we were once more boarding a plane to come back home. The boys are already conked out, and the recovery period begins (perhaps unwisely along with the restart of school tomorrow) -- happy 2015 everyone!

Nine months a lady

Happy nine months to Eleanor! Unbelievable that she's already grown so much and is already showing the petite personality of happy, smiling, giggling, and vocalizing little girl. Today was her nine month well check; the report card:

• Weight: 19.95 lbs (50th-75th percentile)
• Length: 27.5" (25th-50th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 16.8" (10th-25th percentile)
• Hgb: 12.3 (yes, another random new test metric to figure out - but apparently normal values for L!)

She fell asleep on the way to the appointment, and though she had to wake up and was a little cranky for the doctor, the actual shot she got was responded to with a single cry, then a sigh and snuggle. She slept again in the car as Meh drove to get her Chanukah nails done in a very Chanukah (blue and silver, very nice!) color scheme.

Tonight we had family movie night and chose a film that I had remembered liking very much when I saw it (jeez, probably 15 years ago) but that Meh had never seen, The Iron Giant. While Z was a bit squirmy and O was asking questions roughly every ten seconds, we all enjoyed the film (yes, both Meh and I were crying at parts) -- a very solid recommendation to others, whether you have kids or not. It was also fun to hear so many familiar voices as the animated characters, and I'd forgotten that this was one of the pioneers of computer animation (the robot) meshed with hand-drawn animation (everything else).

Sweet tooth

Early last month (like, the second day of school), Z lost a tooth at school. His teachers discovered this because apparently one of them noticed something in their pocket that hadn't been there a moment earlier; Z had decided to bring his tooth to the faculty rather than keep it himself. At least it wasn't thrown away -- it came home in a cute little envelope (and within that, in a little tooth-shaped pouch on a string necklace). Yesterday, a second tooth fell out - alas, this one was not recovered. But the lost tooth was perfect timing for a gap-toothed Halloween smile for Z, who did reflect on the holiday in the daily journal sheet he brings home.Z had declared many months ago that he wanted to be the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz -- and he was super pleased with the excellent version mommy devised; my favorite part was the silver spray painted funnel oil can hat.

Meh kicked off the holiday in style, with excellently ghoulish green chocolate chip and eyeball pancakes (as well as orange jack-o-lantern ones) for the boys this morning. During the day, Z reportedly had fun at his class parade (as per the journal above); I managed to entertain coworkers and trick-or-treaters alike at work with my costume. And in the evening, it was time to take the boys out to trick or treat -- everything was indeed awesome, as proven out by our costumes.

For those who haven't been watching The Lego Movie on a loop, that would be Emmet, Wyldstyle, and then the boys as Tin Woodman and the Red Power Ranger. She'd already gone to bed at this point, but here's a picture of our cute little winged fairy L as well.

It only took 7 years, but both boys successfully traversed the entire neighborhood - and with daddy solo to boot, while mommy stayed home to pass out candy to the other neighborhood kids. I was so proud to be able to stop at the foot of the driveway and watch the boys scurry up to the houses. Sometimes they even remembered to say 'trick or treat', and once I may have even caught them saying 'thank you' afterwards (despite me prompting them nearly every time -- manners, people!). We returned home to count the candy hordes and have one piece before bedtime. Happy Halloween!

Six months, four shots

L is now six months old! (Or, as O prefers to think of it, less than a week until he's officially four and a half.) She had her checkup yesterday, and the poor girl had to get four different shots! That made her a bit fussy/sad, even to the extent of a low grade fever that kept her and us up last night - pobre Eleanor! The stats:

• Weight: 17 lbs 11 oz (75th-90th percentile)
• Length: 26" (50th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 16.55" (25th-50th percentile)

Tooth or dare

Yesterday was Z's annual dentist check up, and I continue to be impressed by how well he manages the appointment -- a great job of listening, paying attention to the doctor and hygienist, dealing with toothbrushes and dental utensils and floss in his mouth, and more. He was given a clean bill of dental health - yay for Z! I continue to be even more impressed with Meh, who took him along with L -- great job to both of them! The dentist indicated several teeth were loose, and as if on cue, tonight he lost a bottom front right tooth. Z was excited to talk about the forthcoming tooth fairy visit, and started saying "you have another loose tooth" as well; sure enough, the corresponding left one is wiggling a bit. Go Z!

A seat at the table

Today was Z's 7 year checkup. Hooray for no shots (apparently he's clear for another few years? Why do I remember them from like every single appointment from my own childhood?), and he did a great job following instructions and answering questions from both the nurse and the doctor. The only one that moderately stumped him was what sports he liked to play; I suggested "running" (which is very true for Z) when the many other options garnered a blank look - perhaps time to start introducing some local franchises and/or recreational play. The stats (I love how the "head circumference" tracking of babies gives way to blood pressure for the nearly first grader):

• Weight: 42 lbs. 10 oz. (10th percentile)
• Height: 45.6" (10th-25th percentile)
• BMI: 14.41 (10th-25th percentile)
• B/P: 100/56

Another milestone for L today - we dusted off (er... literally, as it had been sitting in storage in the garage, though at least sealed inside of a plastic bag) one of our old high chairs, and L joined us at the table for family dinner. While she didn't yet eat anything, she smiled and happily screeched her way through the yummy hamburgers and hot dogs while O commented on how cute she looked (in between declaring how much he disliked the smell of both the burgers and the lovely steamed scallions Meh had prepped).

Four months a lady

Happy four month birthday to L! The time has flown, though perhaps not quite as fast as we thought; I accidentally took her to today's four month appointment last week. The receptionist shook her head sympathetically and said to come back, but no worries - we were back there today, and L was happy and cooing the whole ride over. Once she was down to the diaper, she got a little more angry, and an oral and two injected vaccines didn't help things. But all's well that ends well; she has two cute band-aids and a clean bill of health for her big international trip in (eek) 11 days! By the numbers:

• 14 lbs 3 oz (50th percentile)
• 24" length (25-50th percentile)
• Head circumference: 15.6 (25th percentile)

The weather has emphatically flipped to summer; we hit 100 earlier this week, which is pretty unusual overall for the area, let alone in early July. We've been trying to keep everyone cool through fans, blinds, open windows, and juggling our two portable room air conditioning units among three bedrooms, but it may be time to pick up a third so everyone can sleep comfortably. In the meantime, sunscreen and hats for both boys as they spend so much of their days outdoors at camp and pre-school!

Two month stats

Eleanor's two month well-check was yesterday. The gratuitous stats:

• 11 lbs 1.5 oz (25th-50th percentile)
• 22 1/4" length (25th-50th percentile)
• 14.9" head circumference (25th percentile)

Meh reported that L even started to coo a bit yesterday morning -- though alas, that was followed up by several shots at the doctor's office that had her sad for much of the rest of the day. As the boys would (and do) say: "It's okay, little lady." Poor pretty and super cute girl!

First cousin

Yesterday was L's one-month checkup. Amazing to see just the deltas from just three weeks ago:

• Weight: 8 lbs 15.5 oz (25-50%)
• Length: 20 3/4" (25%)
• Head circumference: 14.2" (25%)

Much big news in the family -- the boys and L have a cousin, and Meh and I have our first nephew! Aunt J and Uncle B welcomed their son M this morning, and we're so excited for them!

Spring break begins with grandma and J visiting from Michigan -- the boys have been talking about seeing them "on Friday", and today was the day. O was particularly excited to introduce them to L, and we had a nice family dinner before grandma and J helped field bath time for the boys. There's even talk of the boys having a sleepover at grandma and J's hotel (which is temptingly close to one of the boys' and our favorite breakfast places -- I'm sensing a brunch in our future).

Doctor Doctor

O had his four-year check-up already booked for today, and as it happened to be just over a week since L's birthdate, Meh phoned the doctor last week to see if we could do a two-for-one. Thankfully it worked out and we were able to get both appointments done in a single sitting -- both of them are in great shape! The gratuitous stats:

For L:

• Weight: 6 lbs 12.5 oz (25th percentile)
• Length: 19.3 inches (25th percentile)
• Head circumference: 12.8 inches (<5th percentile)

And for O:

• Weight: 37 lbs 2 oz (50th-75th percentile)
• Height 39.8 inches (25th-50th percentile)
• BMI: 16 (75th-85th percentile)

I was really impressed with how well O did listening to the doctor's and nurse's instructions - he answered all of the questions very politely, laughed a lot at the doc's silly jokes about dinosaurs in his ears and frogs in his tummy, and even got to do his first eye test; we tried letters but he was a bit shy and/or unsure, so we flipped over to shapes. And he was super brave for the two shots as well; L had her second PKU foot prick and got slightly angrier, but all in all I was pretty proud of them! L gets to come back for her one-month appointment in three weeks; O visits again in a month for his second flu vaccine booster, but we were told he shouldn't need another shot until he's 11 years old (!).

Double Digits

With Eleanor's (proposed to be shortened to L for the blog, though I'm sure we'll debate L vs. El vs. Elle for the spelled version if it becomes an actual nickname) arrival, our family has now cornered the market on matched month/date birthdays, with at least four: mine (1/1), papa's (5/5), Z's (8/8), and now Eleanor's (3/3). I've also been surprised to find at least three people in my high school class share her birthday (they each made a comment on our favorite social media site about 3/3 being a superior birthday) -- so in my sampling, it would appear that September has got nothing on March 3!

Yesterday after the many hospital staff visits, I ran home to collect O and mima to come meet their new sister/granddaughter; I had accidentally forgotten to leave the car keys, so mima was housebound with O this morning, but successfully got Z off to school (and informed our favorite elementary school bus driver, who was ecstatic!). Meh was awesome enough to plan for L to have presents waiting for her brothers (and, impressively, O had also decided on a board book present for Tiny "to chew on" so she wouldn't try to eat the big kid books). O was very excited to meet his sister and had a giant smile on his face the whole time, even if he was a bit shy and preferred to focus on the present she gave him (a book about Jake of course). Afterwards, Mima took him for lunch at his favorite restaurant and he apparently walked in and immediately announced to the host/waiter that he now had a sister named Eleanor.

We were discharged from the hospital after Meh had her dinner, with L decked out in her first of many pink outfits (with matching hat). And we were home in time for the boys to welcome L before bedtime. She clearly has both of them already wrapped around her finger; O did an excellent job of holding her during story time (and kept talking about how she was "super cute"), and Z very gently wrapped her in his favorite blanket and gave her a little hug -- super cute indeed!

Third and inches

As she wrapped up making O's amazing birthday cake, Meh announced that, with its completion, she was now ready for the baby to arrive. The baby must've been listening (to both that and all of Meh's reverse psychology, saying that she was resigned to the baby being late after Z and O), because she waited less than another day and a half, and has now arrived! Meh even went into work yesterday, but around 4 pm I received the call that Meh was heading home and that I really should collect O from school and head home too. The boys had a mostly normal evening, though as I'd mentioned that Tiny might be arriving soon, every time O heard someone downstairs (mima, papa, and Uncle J came to visit) during bath and bedtime, he was asking if that was Tiny making noise. At 9 pm Meh decided the time had come, and the two (three) of us were headed to the hospital, while Mima settled in for a reverse slumber party with the boys two nights after they had one at her house. (Thank you mima!)

By 9:30 we were admitted, and at 11:29 pm, she arrived! Introducing Eleanor Batya Selfon! By the numbers (also now enshrined with an age counter in the rightmost column of this blog):

• 6 lbs 14 oz
• 19.5" length
• Head circumference: Shoot, I recall them jotting it down in the records, but somehow it didn't make any of the paperwork we were given. Ah well.
• Eleanor: A name we liked (plus mildly Hebrew derivation - "Eli nor" = "My God is light")
• Batya: Named for Meh's grandfather Bernard (Hebrew derivation = "daughter of God")

Here she is just a few minutes after being born:

She was super cuddly right from the start, and had much snuggle time with mommy right after she was born; I don't think we got the actual weight for a few hours -- and that was after a bath that she emphatically did not like! But beyond that she has been very happy and making tiny little snuffling sounds. The pediatrician came by this morning (as part of a cavalcade of medical staff visitors -- hearing test, Hep B shot, hospital photographer [who actually seemed to do a nice job, though we'll still be visiting our favorite baby photographer before she moves to Arizona], lactation consultant, nurses, and more), and announced that she was looking great -- so much so that he was fine with us heading home this evening after dinner. More pictures of Eleanor's first day here!

O, brought to you by the letter Z

I didn't mention that last week Z had his dentist appointment, and did fabulous - no decay, good looking teeth, and he did awesome following instructions from the hygienist and dentist, letting them use the 'buzzy brush' and 'Mister Thirsty'. Go Z! This was particularly impressive as they were running so late that they actually gave Meh a gift certificate and offered profuse apologies for her, Z, and O (yup, he was already out of school for the day) for having to wait so long -- they were literally the last patients out of the building. On the plus side, both Z and O were given tokens to claim toys from the little gumball-style vending machines they have at the post-appointment checkout area; Z got a plastic ring and O got a superball.

Also last week, Z brought home my new favorite piece of completed "table work", where the exercise appears to have been to name, spell, and illustrate three things that begin with the letter O. I love his "otupus" (in kindergarten, they encourage kids to creatively spell out by sound; focusing on correct spelling comes later, once they've clearly mastered the sounds of the various letters), but our favorite is that he thought of including his brother -- and even gave him a little smile and a hat. Well done, Z!

Favor in the morning, favor all through the night

With O's cough continuing to persist (and getting so bad as to make him actually barf a few times -- poor little man!), Meh took him to the doctor yesterday, and alas, he had a sinus infection. A round of the pink stuff is now in progress; he's been taking it like a champ and is already doing much better. He was talking today about having to take medicine for his "favor" (fever) -- I'm very glad that we were able to get it sorted and treated.

Chanukah has continued with much enjoyment by the boys as well as by us, though sometimes they start to ask about gifts before we've even had breakfast in the morning. They've done a great job of sharing the various gifts (perhaps in part because we made it clear that all of them except the ones for the upcoming last night of Chanukah will indeed be for both of them), and we've gotten to successfully play some fun new turn-based games from grandma, J, Uncle B, Aunt J, mima, and papa -- it's been great to see both of them start to understand the basic logistics of classics and new games alike -- sometimes they even encourage each other. My favorite is that they're still convinced (based on a few earlier games we've played with them) that when you win, you shout out the name of the game. Why not?

Mister Bump

Several times last year, Z would return home from school wearing a brightly colored bracelet -- this indicated some kind of 'head injury', though thankfully they were all minor. There would also be an official paper write-up describing the injury ("bumped into a door", etc.) in his backpack. Mister Z came home yesterday with a bracelet, and *two* head injury write-ups -- poor Mr. Bump! Apparently there were two voicemails on the answering machine, but only the second merited a phone call to Meh's cell; when she asked if this was the same one again, the school indicated, nope, another bonk.

In slightly happier news, Z continues to amaze us (and amuse himself) by using repurposed Bananagrams tiles to spell out words and now increasingly long and complex sentences. Sometimes I'll visit the dining room table to see he's left a little message for us -- once it was "mommy is cozy", though as I tried to snap a picture of it for Meh, he scattered the tiles and started a fresh sentence. Meh was amused/mock saddened by the image below (Z later answered his own question, even if not quite correctly).

Second Run

Sunday was Z's first film screening, and O was extremely excited to hear that he'd get his opportunity to experience some movie magic today! Same movie, different audience: Meh and he had an excellent time. (Well, Meh indicated the film itself was fairly weak compared with Pixar quality, but she had fun watching it with O.) O apparently was good about sitting still through almost all of the film, only getting a bit bored and climbing around for the last few minutes.

The movie theater adventure was preceded with O's dental appointment; Meh reported that he did amazing with the whole process, paying good attention to the dentist and hygienist throughout. He scored a new green toothbrush featuring Tigger. One of the boys' favorite parts of our dentist is that at the end of the appointment they get a token and can feed it into bubblegum-style machines for a variety of prizes. O picked out a fabulous purple ring, and then very politely asked for another token so he could get a present for his brother. Such a thoughtful boy! He clutched the dentist bag all through the movie, as you can see in the picture.

All's well that ends sick?

Yesterday was Z's 6-year wellness exam. We were concerned that he might have to get some booster shots, but apparently he's free and clear of those for another four or five years. Somehow my own memory of childhood doctor visits wasn't nearly as shot-free, but we'll take it! The stats:

• Weight: 39 lbs 2 oz (10-25%)
• Height: 42 3/4" (10-25%)
• BMI: 15.1 (25-50%)

Meh then dropped him off at camp with a successful exam behind him. Three hours later I had a phone call that he was acting under the weather and likely had a fever -- poor Z, when I got there to pick him up, he was lying asleep in the counselors' office. I got him home with snuggles and a quiet evening, and he bounced right back with a bit of Tylenol.

Speaking of bouncing, the boys are pretty much pinballing their way to bed lately, wild beyond belief even after bath time, stories, and a trip to the potty. Sometimes there's fighting or whining, and that can get a little frustrating to deal with. Other times you just have to try not to laugh -- here was what we heard at the top of the stairs tonight:

Second Tooth

He's been wiggling it and talking about the tooth fairy since the first tooth came out, and sure enough, Z's second tooth came out while brushing his teeth after bath time last night. Unfortunately yesterday was Seattle's hottest day of the summer yet, and between that and the excitement, both boys were ridiculously energetic and uncooperative for way too long past bedtime. O didn't get to sleep until nearly 10 o'clock, and when I tried to sneak in for the tooth fairy to replace the tooth, he stirred a bit, so I had to abort until this morning. Somehow it all worked out, and Z was pleased to open his tooth fairy pillow pocket to discover an Eisenhower dollar coin. Of course his first thought was that it was chocolate gelt, but eventually he got the idea and happily plopped it into his piggy bank.

I forgot to mention Z's reaction to his tooth fairy present for his first tooth. The morning after putting his tooth under his pillow, I showed him how to pull a rolled up dollar bill out of the same pillow pocket; he unrolled it, looked at it, and proclaimed, "It's a picture of a man!" Indeed it is.

Dental Record

It finally happened - after putting O and Z to bed (followed by their inevitable winding each other up, chatting, and running around mostly in their room) tonight, when Meh went to check on Z, he had a gap in his mouth: his increasingly wiggly loose tooth had finally fallen out! She asked where it was, and at first he indicated that he'd swallowed it -- but a shake of the blankie and the little white piece of calcium fell to the floor. We've been reading Meh's favorite childhood book on the subject, so Meh quickly showed him that she'd put it in a tiny pillowcase underneath his pillow so the tooth fairy might come to visit. Now of course we've just got to remember to book that visit before we go to bed tonight. Congrats on your first lost tooth, Mr. Z!

Loose Tooth

On Friday morning I noticed a gap in Z's teeth, and yesterday Meh commented on the same -- when we asked Z about it, he touched it, and you could see one of his bottom front teeth moving quite a bit. It's Z's very first loose tooth! Fear not, the internets (source of all truth) indicate it's typical for kids to start losing baby teeth by the time they're turning six, so he's only slightly on the early side. But very exciting times - the thought of loose teeth jarred some childhood memory for Meh, and she's planning to hunting for a library book that she remembered reading about rabbits and loose teeth.

Meh has been having a very full weekend of activities with friend I's wedding shower (magnificently executed by Meh and several other friends from what I hear) and some quality mima time involving toes and tea. The boys and I took the opportunity to go to a friend's birthday party yesterday (the boys were very well behaved, though O did insist on raiding J's entire fabulous collection of toys and emptying them out all over the family room), and then today we all checked out the castle park O and I visited in our day-of-four-parks. When I attempted to circle the park looking for parking, I instead found more street parking along with a bonus mini-playground. The boys were very excited about the see-saw ("Zachary, go up!" was O's helpful suggestion/command to Z), and we then got to do a lovely nature walk in the fabulous summery weather (in June no less, quite novel for Seattle), right past the fire station (and multiple firehouse ambulances and engines) to the bigger park, before looping back around through the forest and having a nice snack and more play time at the smaller playground.