Mayday! Steps, stitches, and joobies in the eyes.

This is how I spend a typical outing; Apollo perched atop my shoulders, laughing, and bantering.
 "Dada, I want to go up top!" is how it usually starts. Even in the house on the way to bed Apollo will ask to ride "up top", as he calls it, and often he will beg for it. There is bargaining and compromises and it is often thrown back in my face when I ask for something of him. "Apollo, we forgot to hug today! Come here so I can hug you," I will start. "Dada, we forgot to go up top today! First I will go up top, then I will hug you!" will be his snarky reply.
 I love the relationship I have with this rambunctious 4-year-old of mine. There is an enormous amount of trust, and a deep seeded connection that I never could have imagined. It is as if
 my sarcasm was genetically encoded in his DNA and is manifesting itself  beautifully in Apollo, much to Melanie's dismay. Apollo knows that I understand and appreciate his sarcasm in a way that no one else can, and although he will take it up a notch seeking my approval when I am present, it is his mothers daily reports (complaints) of Apollo's rottenness that I truly relish!

  With all the fun and a games, the flip side is life's little tragedies. Apollo made his second trip to the ER recently. Swinging from a hammock in the backyard, and an extra hard shove from an overzealous friend, sent Apollo airborne with only the edge of a coffee table and his head to break his fall. Moments later, while seated at my desk at work, I received a phone call from Melanie. "I need you to call the doctor and make an appointment for Apollo to get some stitches," she says. Several things raced through my head in the next half of a second; 'Appointment? Who makes an appointment for stitches? Does she want to have his mouth sown shut? Is his (our) sarcasm really making her that crazy?' Then, in the background, I heard Apollo whimpering... I raced home to pick up Melanie and my battle weary boy, and off to the hospital we went.
  Here is where the trust becomes instrumental. It had to have been terrifying for Apollo, not knowing what the doctor was going to do. He was visually shaken, yet maintained his composure as he looked to his mom and I for support while at the hospital. We explained to Apollo that the doctor was our friend and that he was there to help him and that he would make the pain go away and fix his wound. Apollo was amazingly brave. His somber and sullen face never gave way to tears throughout the treatment and suturing process. He only squirmed a small amount when the doctor stuck a needle in his wound in several locations, to numb the sight prior to suturing. 45 minutes, a $170 co-pay, and three stitches later (plus untold extra charges not covered by my insurance still to come), and we were on our way home. Apollo even managed to muster up enough courage to give the doctor and nurse a fist bump on the way out.
 Apollo returned to his normal self as soon as we left the hospital; "Do I get a new toy now because I was so brave? Can we go to Old McDonalds and get a toy? Because I am hungry!"(Yes, he calls McDonalds, 'Old McDonalds'...somehow, he has connected the song and the restaurant)
  Upon showing the carnage pictures to Apollo later that day, he was sure that the pictures were not the right ones; "Thats not my owe-eee! Thats too little! Mine was bigger!" It is funny how in his mind with all that he went through, he had painted a picture of this enormous wound. When he saw the pictures of his stitches, he responded with, "Hey! The doctor didn't fix my head! Its still broken!" After a 15 minute discussion on how the body heals and what the stitches do, Apollo was satisfied and ended the conversation with, "I really like my doctor."

  Apollo was probably not the easiest child to raise thus far. I really wouldn't know since he is my first experience in child rearing, however, Melanie lets me know in no uncertain terms, that he is no cake walk. Now that we have Orion, and I can compare the two, I am convinced that I am incapable of producing "easy" offspring. Orion and Apollo are so different in disposition and personality, but some of their similarities are the traits that just about do Melanie in. Neither of them are sleepers, meaning, they are not consistent nappers, nor do the get to the place where they will sleep through the night until well after a year (or two) old. They like to stay up late and get up early.

  Orion hates to miss out on anything, and will fight off sleep by shaking his head from side to side, in an attempt to thwart off sleep. He listens intently to everything around him, and has memorized footsteps and walking patterns for everyone in the house. I am amazed when, after great effort, I can get him to fall asleep in my arms while waiting for Melanie to come to bed, and he will hear her footsteps down the hall, and snap out of a deep sleep and spin his head in the direction of the sound. He will pause and listen intently for more steps to confirm it is his mother and then burst into a dramatic, desperate, tearful, cry. "Mama!...Mamamamama!" he will wail. He will also stir and wake at the sound of others walking through the house, but will quickly fall back to sleep when he realizes it is not his mother. Yes, Orion is the biggest mama's boy ever and a velcro baby. He would be happy to be stitched to his moms side, as long as she followed his agenda.

  Orion can be very bossy, demanding, and needy, but he is also a lot of fun. He has a pure joy for life. He is full of laughter, loves to wrestle and play rough, explore and get into everything. This kid is mischief. He is big on hugs and cuddling and is overwhelmingly affectionate. He has a gorgeous smile, and shows it off frequently. He will initiate play in an instant, and will join in with anyone that is already in play mode. He is very observant and watches everyone and every thing around him. He is vocal and learns which sounds get him whats he wants, very quickly. Although most anyone can get him laughing at any time, Orion finds Apollo to be the funniest. Maybe because Apollo is not trying to make him laugh... he is just being Apollo.
   Orion is our mocking bird, and at just under 10 months, he will repeat back many words. He for sure knows mama, dada, and no no, as far as what they mean, but he has repeated back names like, Ian (his brother) and Remi (our dog) which comes out sounding like 'Weme'. He also has repeated back several other simple words.

  On May 17th, Orion's first tooth popped through; one of his bottom front teeth. Over the next week, two more teeth made their way through; another bottom and then a top front tooth. It looks like the other top front tooth is working on catching up. To top it off, he was battling a case of pinkeye at the same time. Needless to say, Orion has been unusually cranky, and clingy since Mothers day.

  Orion has also managed to slip in his first couple steps this past week as well. Mostly by accident or with a small amount of trickery. He has not totally committed to walking hands free yet.
  Looking back, it has been a crazy month.

 With all that I have listed here, we also had Ian graduate from high school. His dad, Aunt Celina, Uncle Wade, and Grandma Linda all came from Oregon to be a part of it. The weekend before, we had a visit from Melanie's sister Sarah and her husband Levi, and spent our time taking day trips to San Francisco, the Russian River, and Bodega bay, with the icing on the cake (for me at least) being the annular eclipse that made such a nice showing here in Santa Rosa, to finish off the weekend.
  My funniest memory of the month stemmed from Orion developing pink eye. It developed over the weekend, and while waiting for a week day to schedule an appointment with the doctor, Melanie remembered that she had once read that breast milk is a great home remedy for conjunctivitis. We confirmed this online with a google search, so Mel expressed a bit of milk into a container which she then used to drip the milk into the baby's eyes. First you have to understand that I refer to Melanie's breasts as her joobies, and her milk is of course called jooby juice. While I held Orion's head still and Melanie dripped some milk into his eyes, Apollo looked on and inquired, "What is mama putting in baby brothers eyes."
  "She is putting jooby juice in them," I replied.
"What!" came the obviously disturbed voice of Apollo, "Why would she put joobies in his eyes?!"
"Well, his eyes are sick. That is why they are pink, and the jooby juice is like medicine. It will help to make them better," I began. "If you get pink eye too, mama is going to do the same thing to you."
"NO WAY!" Apollo's voice was filled with terror. He threw himself to the floor and cried out, "I DONT WANNA PUT MAMA'S JOOBIES IN MY EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYES!"

  

Only a mother

Only a mother can love you unconditionally.
Only a mother can bring a wrath upon you that rivals that of a tornado but in the same instant would willingly give her life for yours.
Only a mother has the power to heal with just a gentle touch, softly spoken words, a kiss, or a hug.
Only a mother can see you for all that you are.
Only a mother knows you better than you know yourself.
Only a mother can forgive you for how you treated them throughout your teenage years.
Only a mother will be there for you when everyone else has let you down.
Only a mother will put you before herself.
Only a mother can bring you into this world, yet she will always carry you inside of herself for the rest of her life.
Only a mother
 
For my beautiful wife who is an amazing mother. I love the way you look upon our children everyday, in the same way that you looked at them the day that they were born.
Happy Mothers Day.

Replaced by a stuffed animal

The long, warm days are upon us. The air is filled with the smell of citrus blossoms and freesia. It is a great time to be outside. As I water our plants in the late afternoon, I inhale deeply through my nose and with each breath, I try to guess at all the subtle fragrances that I detect; lilac... citrus... jasmine... with hints of lavender and rosemary. (I sound like a wine connoisseur describing the subtle flavors in a glass of wine. How different is it really?)
 The smells that take me back to my youth are citrus blossoms and jasmine. Not only did we have citrus trees in our yard when I was young, but we had orange and lemon groves around our neighborhood. When the trees were blooming, the smell was so intense. I remember the intoxicating smell being carried on the afternoon breeze. The memories come rushing back every time I get a whiff of our lemon tree in bloom. We took it for granted back in those days when we raced between the rows of lemon trees, plucking fruit as we went, in an all out lemon war with the neighborhood kids. Getting nailed with a semi-ripe lemon, and the welt that it would leave, was a right of passage for a 10-year-old boy. If you could hold back the tears, you became a legend.

  As I watch Apollo and Orion grow, and start to play and interact more and more, I can only imagine the mischief that they will get into together, and what smells and sound will trigger memories from their youth.
  Although the two boys will play together, Apollo is not always sure he wants to share his toys with Orion and I am sure he doesn't enjoy not having all the attention on him all the time, but for the most part, he loves to play with Orion and Orion is already pretty adept at playing with toy cars. He has figured out that they roll back and forth as long as the wheels are in contact with the floor. I love watching him sitting next to his brother while both of them are driving toy cars around. Apollo offers up tips and instructions for proper car driving etiquette; "You have to hold it like this baby brother."
  Orion is so playful these days. He has discovered that climbing in and out of Apollo's toy tent, and pretending to hide, is great fun. He squeals and laughs, and races in and out of the tent with Apollo joining in the fun. By the time Orion is done playing, he is covered in sweat.

  Mile stones that this little 9-month-old terror has reached this past month are; standing and balancing with one hand hold and very briefly with no hands, climbing up on things off the floor, improved self feeding skills, pointing at things, mimicking sounds and facial expressions, and my personal favorite, saying "Dada" while he points at me. I hate to admit it but, his first word was "Mama". We are fairly certain that he has been saying "mama" since he was about six-month-old, but we are sure that he has been saying "mama" and "dada" for the past few weeks now. There is nothing better than walking into the room, and when your baby sees you, he smiles from ear to ear, points and says "dada!" and then crawls at full speed to greet you.

  Apollo has become quite the little man. He can be very pleasant and well mannered, and really wants to be able to do everything by himself. Climbing in and out of the van and even buckling his own seat belt and making sure it is in the right position, is one of the best examples of a "big kid". Apollo also has a bit of a bully in him. He enjoys being sarcastic and finds great pleasure in being a bully to his brothers and friends. Pushing your friend over while tying his shoe, or dumping sand on another friends head at the beach, brings great laughter and enjoyment every time.
 We are of course teaching Apollo the Golden Rule and explaining to him that although it is funny to torture your friends, it is not always nice and you have to expect this kind of treatment in return. I cannot help but laugh when he does these types of things, which I am sure encourages this behavior. I am thinking that some martial arts classes are in order, so he can learn to defend himself when upsets the wrong kid.

  Apollo has learned to write his first name this past week. It took a little bribing and a whole lot of encouragement. Apollo begged us to give him his "prize" (bribe) first, and explained that he would work on writing his name later...after enjoying his prize. We stood our ground and told Apollo that he had to earn his prize first. He threw a few big fits, but after that, he seemed to get it down very quickly. The best part about it is that he was so pleased with himself, that he has not asked for his "prize".
 Apollo is finally working through sleeping by himself. I am not sure if he has found a coping mechanism, expanded his imagination to give personalities to inanimate objects, or if it is a transference of affection, but Apollo has adopted two plush animals as his new "best guys"; Lizard and Sharky. Apollo told me, "Dada. I won't be sad that you go to work in the morning now, because Lizard and Sharky will take care of me after you leave."
  Yup, I have been replaced by a stuffed animal.