It's teething time!  Avi's lower right front tooth is puffing up his gum line and making him quite cranky, reminiscent of his brother's experience with teething.  In fact, he appears to be cutting his first tooth at exactly the same age (to the week) as Noah would have been if he hadn't been born a month early.  Which makes sense, because teething would definitely seem to be a result of one's gestational age rather than experience.  He's also been throwing up a lot.  Not just spit up, but real throw up, enough to make me worry.  Enough to soak whatever he's wearing and my shirt and pants and the chair we're sitting in too.  It's delightful.  I don't see how that could be connected to teething, but I wonder what it's about because he doesn't otherwise seem sick. 

Noah on the other hand was sick this past week.  That child has been so healthy; I find it rather amazing that this was the first time I can really remember him being sick to his stomach.  It's a test of parenthood to be sweet and comforting while scooping up a comforter and bed sheets holding Lake Barf.  The amazing thing about Noah was that although he tossed his cookies several times, he was perfectly normal (as in his high energy self) in between.  No lethargy, no mopping, no fever.  Just play, ride bikes, run around, test limits, and then hurl again.  We had considered getting rid of that old overstuffed chair in the play/dog room.  Noah helped expedite the process the day he vomited all over it.  Apparently at 4, kids still don't have a lot of control over that bodily function.  Not surprising given the lack of experience with it, but still, if you can't make it to the sink or toilet or bowl we've had you dragging around with you, then at the very least, try to go for a hard floor, please.   Oh well, he helped us move forward on getting rid of the chair.  It was cleaned off, put out on the sidewalk where the sunshine helped mask the stench, advertised with a "free" sign, and gone by dinnertime.

Noah's dance class ended.  The one with him and the gaggle of 3 and 4 year old girls.  He liked the tap part.  Mostly he just liked being with Emma I think.  She wants to take another dance class and I know he would want to do it with her, but I don't think that class is quite right for him.  He needs to get a little bit more energy out.  That one is pretty focused and designed for dainty cooperative little girls.  I wish I could find him just a tap class through Parks and Rec, because the classes were quite a bit cheaper, but there are none offered, and I don't think we can swing for $10 a lesson classes.  Especially since he's taking piano too.  On the other hand, given that he is taking piano, I'm kind of ready for a break in classes.  We've had classes nearly every week since October.  It might be nice to have a little more down time in our schedule.   Noah's excited for Emma's birthday party tomorrow.  We've had fun this week making her a mixed CD of his favorite songs.  (It wasn't until we were in the middle of the project that I realized how funny it was that he was making his first "mixed CD" for a girl he has said he is "going to marry."  His top 23 (in no particular order):
Yellow Submarine by the Beatles
Ya Got Trouble / Seventy-Six Trombones from the Music Man
Volcano by Jimmy Buffett
Use a Word by Red Grammer
Shake Your Brain by Red Grammer
Step In Time from Mary Poppins
Chim Chim Cher-Ee from Mary Poppins
Rolling O by They Might Be Giants
Robot Parade by They Might Be Giants
The Edison Museum by They Might Be Giants
D Is For Drums by They Might Be Giants
Miracle Of Miracles from Fiddler on the Roof
The Marvelous Toy by Tom Paxton
I Have A Little Baby by Rich Glauber
Homey Bulgar/Dir Odessa/Mayim/Freylach/Sirba by The Klezmonauts
Goin' To The Zoo by Tom Paxton
Free To Be... You And Me from the same musical
Down To The River To Pray by Alison Krauss from O' Brother Where Art Thou
Cheri Bim Bam from the Oy Baby CD
Brazzle Dazzle Day from Pete's Dragon with Helen Reddy
Boy Meets Girl with Mel Brooks and Marlo Thomas from Free to Be
Big Rock Candy Mountain by Harry McClintock from O' Brother Where Art Thou
Amoeba Hop by Christine Lavin

 

But don't get too excited about the prospect of upcoming nuptials.   Although he's switched girls from Lena to Emma, he is also still interested in marrying Uncle Pete.  When I explained that he would have to find someone his age and not in his family to marry, he decided that Luke would be a good choice.  

In other Avi news, he is quite consistently pulling himself up now, mostly just on stools.  He loves them, and not until now did I realize how many we have in the house.  He'll find them in the kitchen, his and Noah's rooms, and the laundry room (the places were we spend the most time) and stand up.  He likes to show off his ability to hold on one-handed and wave with the other hand.  I know this is showing off because he grins when he's doing it.  He flashes the same smile when he kneels in the tub and holds onto the side of the tub with one hand.  One day in the kitchen he managed to stumble forward about a foot or two while scooting the stool he was leaning on forward.  He's also climbed one step of the stairs several times, most often in pursuit of the dog toys which I have tried to put out of his reach.  He can't quite get the next step and then usually falls backwards, which he finds very upsetting.  For as mobile and adventurous as he is, he gets pretty upset when he bonks.  One would think it would discourage him, but apparently his brain doesn't work that way.  I think he just watches his brother and wants to do everything he's doing.  

Avi hasn't been very interested in literary pursuits.  I know that despite his adventurous nature, Noah already liked to listen to books at this age, but until yesterday, Avi showed absolutely zero interest.  I've tried reading with him in my lap, on our backs, on our stomachs, on the bed, on the floor, etc.  It's as if I'm reading to aloud to myself.  He pays absolutely no attention to it.  He wanders away to eat toys or climb on things.  But we may have had a breakthrough.  Yesterday when reading Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider, I noticed that he stopped and looked at me several times when I made the animal sounds.  He also likes the Grow Up book by Nina Laden, but just because of the mirror on the last page.  I have to read it quickly enough to keep him around until the last page.  So tonight I pulled him on my lap and read those two in the rocking chair, and he actually seemed to be paying attention.  (As much attention as a 7 1/2 month baby can pay to anything other than an older sibling - to whom endless attention is happily granted).   

My favorite moment of the day is usually at bedtime, when Cary is reading Noah a story, and I have finished bathing, massaging, and diapering Avi.  I then take him in to get hugs and kisses from Noah and Daddy.  The joy and love between the two boys is palpable.  If there were frustrations in my day, they seem to melt away when I see the sweet smile on Noah's face and watch him eagerly reach for his brother to hug and kiss him.  Avi often squeals and wriggles his whole body with excitement.  It makes me think of that expression "my cup runneth over;"  in those moments, life stands still and there is nothing that needs to get done or nothing else desired.