Newness

It's all over the place. So this is a long one. Ready? Youngest first.

Ezekiel:

New tooth!!! After weeks of difficult night sleeping, months of incessant daytime fist eating, and days of sore and blistered bottom gums, yesterday tooth #1 popped up, sharp, white, and strong. Thatta boy, Zekers! Tooth #2 is on its way, too. Poor baby.

New tricks: Although he has humored us with the surprise roll-over here and there since about a week old, now Zeke really, truly rolls over on a whim.

New sleep complication: When Zeke would ordinarily suck his thumb to get himself back to sleep, we hear him squawking and come to find our little tummy sleeper flailing around on his back like a little upside-down turtle. Though he is very close to purposefully rolling from back to tummy, he's not 100% there yet, so he gets stuck and needs a Turtle Rescuer to respond to his emergency squawks.

New food: Zeke has tried his first food, a lick of Luke's apple. At least we hope this has been his first food. Big Brother tries to shove a whole lot of tasty goodness down Zeke's throat in the blessed name of "sharing."

New awareness: All of a sudden, Zeke eyes our food determinedly as we eat. He is also perking up to sounds, which means that nursing is a challenge these days if Luke is awake. Zeke just wants to watch his brother 24/7. He can be nursing along merrily, but when he hears Luke, POP! He's off of that thing and ready to watch whatever entertainment Luke has for him that day.

New skill: grabbing. He is still slow, uncoordinated, and robotic, but he definitely reaches for things he wants. Daddy's food, Mom's necklace, Brother's nose. (The latter does not go over so well.)

New dimensions: 18 pounds and 27 inches long! For those percentile-minded folks among you, that's almost 90th percentile for weight and almost 95th for height. We like it.

New hair: fuzzier and lighter by the day.

New eyes: gettin' brown, folks, gettin' brown. (His blue-eyed lady loves them.)

New sense of humor: Zeke will start laughing when something scares him (bugged, panicked eyes followed by a chuckle), and he will laugh when someone makes a funny noise at him from several feet away.

New empathy: When Luke cries, Zeke often cries, too; and when someone is wrestling with Luke or otherwise causing Luke to produce loud warrior shouts, Zeke joins in the noise-making, but with a very protective fighting-back sort of tone. Hard to describe. But very, very neat.

New field trip: to the pool, to the pool, to the pool pool pool! Zeke took his first-ever trip to the pool last weekend and loved it. He gooed, splashed, and blew spit bubbles. Normally he stays at Grammy's and gets doted on while Luke and Mommy meet up with Sam and Siena and go without him, as Bethany's not quite ready to take two potential drowning victims to the pool at the same time.

Luke:

New phobia: glow-in-the-dark pajamas. Richie put some "new" (hand-me-down) glow-in-the-dark dinosaur PJs on Luke on a recent night, and Luke was truly traumatized. Now, every single night, Luke inspects his pajamas closely to be sure they are not the dreaded, horrific, petrifying glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs.

New structure of the English language: Asking where something is always comes out as "____ is?" So, "Where's Zekers?" becomes "Zeke-ulls is?" And "no da dum" precedes anything he does not like or does not want to do. "No da dum ny-ny" is how he says he does not want to go ny-ny. We hear it often.

New potty literature: Dad's "Stormrider's Guide to North America."

New confidence: Luke has faith in himself as King Navigator and will comment on where we are going as we walk or drive. Many navigational decisions do not meet his approval. If we turn onto a street he does not want to go on, he will point to the street and exclaim in a huff, "No da dum! No da dum!"

New favorite item of clothing: "Ba-ba-bat shirt!" (mesh basketball tanks)

New sense of time and numbers: When playing with Grammy, and upon hearing that Grammy needed to leave, Luke begged, "Eight more Grammies!" And this morning, Richie told him, "Daddy's going to have to do a little work today." Luke pleaded, "Baby work--two minutes!" When he asked Poppy to take him to the zoo, and Poppy said sometime soon, Luke bartered: "Poppy zoo four minutes!"

New fetishes: baseball, fishing, and lions.

New experience: waking up from a nap to the sound of his own thump on the floor as he falls out of bed.

New sport: tricycle racing. It's a solo sport. He tries to break the speed of sound.

New progress at the pool: Now Luke can put his head under water for a few seconds and blow bubbles. He thinks he can go off the diving board. He can't.

New sweetness: taking really good care of Mama and Sarah, feeding them things like chips, completely on his own volition. On a recent afternoon he patted Bethany's shoulder as they sat together on the stairs and as he patted, urged her: "Stay here, Mommy, stay here." He pattered into the apartment and reemerged with a Pyrex glass full of water for her to drink, along with a very proud smile. And he often picks Mama flowers. Melter.

New desire: for another sibling. He patted Bethany's tummy recently and said, "Nuther baby pop out." (If it were only that easy.)

New prayer: Usually at night, Luke prays for just two people. The same people every night. Pop-Pop and Dut-Dut. (Not sure why those two, but those are Luke's two prayer favorites.) Sometimes, he'll add Sam in the prayer to spice it up. But last night, he prayed a very long prayer for just one person. Ya-Ya. Richie could not decipher the exact words, but reports that it had something to do with airplanes. Asking God to bring her back soon on an airplane? That's our guess. Asking God to have her buy him an airplane? Yeah, could be that, too.

New trend when we visit the raptor center: As we leave, Luke calls loudly to the eagle, "Bye, vulture!"

New kind of park: Richie asked Luke what kind of park he wanted to go to. "Donut park," Luke replied.

New strategy: When Mommy and Lukey are drawing, and Lukey envies what Mommy is able to draw, he grabs her writing instrument and switches with her. Because of course, what Mommy is able to draw is 100% attributable to the implement she employs.

New phrase: "Show you sumping." This was a scary thing to hear Luke say as he and Shealyn got out of the pool and sped to the diving board!

Bethany:

New-food experiments: Credit going to that produce box, Bethany made her first-ever strawberry-rhubarb tart and cooked up some fava beans. (Not served together, thank goodness.)

New favorite words to hear her two-year-old say: hamburger, helicopter, self-control, Cracklin Oat Bran, and raptor center. They are too cute and too far off of anything in normal English even to attempt to explain how he pronounces them. Sam's observation is that Luke's intonation sounds a lot like Chinese languages, and that Luke is merely assimilating to all of our Orchard Park neighbors.

New sense of outnumberedness: With Luke being potty-trained, there is a much bigger mess in the bathroom these days. He has good aim for a two-year-old, but he still is just that: a two-year-old. Bethany complained to Richie this morning: "Man. There is a LOT of pee in here." Richie laughed and replied, "Just wait til it's all three of us." Now Bethany knows why there's that saying: "There's a special place in heaven for the mother of boys."

New topics of thought: schooling options for boys, how to organize and decorate a new house once we pack up from Orchard Park, and ... she forgot the other things. So go most thoughts these days.

New philosophy (told to Richie as she climbed over four loads of clean laundry waiting to be put away): "Life would be a lot simpler if it were socially acceptable to wear filthy clothes."

New love: cloth napkins. Prettier, cheaper.

New skill: jumping sideways. Trickier than it sounds, especially when carrying a baby. It has developed out of necessity, and usually gets practiced many times daily as Luke charges at Bethany with his tricycle while he is looking at construction vehicles rather than at where he is going. This morning on our walk/Luke's tricycle ride, we realized that maybe these tricycle near-catastrophes aren't always accidental, as Luke called out, "Hit Mommy!"--followed by a quick, impressive sideways jump by Bethany and a bright-side comment from Richie: "At least he gives you warning."

New accessory: spit-up. It goes with everything! It looks particularly good on the left shoulder of every shirt Bethany owns; and for a bold look yesterday, she sported it dripping down her leg.

New hobby: hunting on Craigslist for a good house to rent in September. We think we found one, and the lease is headed our way in the mail to sign... West Davis. We can't help it.

New bellybutton: not one of the good sort of things that happens as a result of pregnancy. Pool season means Bethany gets to don a bathing suit each afternoon--which, of course, is every four-months-postpartum-mother's dream come true. The other day as Bethany leaned into the car to buckle Luke in, Luke poked her bellybutton and asked, "Sthat?" ("What's that?") She responded matter-of-factly, "That's my bellybutton." Luke provided commentary: "DONUT!"

Richie:

New question: "If you were a donut, what kind of donut would you be?" At grad-student Donut Day yesterday, Richie told Bethany that if the boys were pastries, Zeke would be a croissant and Luke would be a chocolate old-fashioned. (Good thing those two pastries are in a tie at the top of our "Favorites" list.)

New love: Good Earth iced tea.

New find: cheap jalapeno olives almost--almost--as good as the pricier Armstrong Olives brand.

New way of getting exercise: Strapping Zeke in the Bjorn and speed-walking with his fingers in Zeke's mouth as a chew toy.

New hat:


Yes, you can believe your eyes. Richie got a job! He already started this past Monday, and he loves it. State of California, Department of Water Resources, Division of Safety of Dams. We are very, very grateful. In so many ways, it is a dream job. He is working part-time now, as he continues to work on finishing the Ph.D. This means he will be veeeeery busy for the next several months, as he works in Sacramento Tuesday through Thursday (with some traveling to inspect dams), and plugs along on the Ph.D. some evenings and every Friday, Saturday, and Monday. In September, he will start full-time with the state, and hopefully finish the Ph.D. in his "extra" time by the time 2010 comes around. He gets to do some really neat work, and is very thankful that his job is actually "special funded" rather than "general funded," which means that for now it is protected from state layoffs.

New job: Yes, another one. Bug-catcher. Several new varieties of bugs have come to live with us this Spring, and Richie is the designated bug-catcher. We race inside the house when we come in at night; but inevitably, bugs come in along with us. So Richie gets his "tools" ready, catches those bugs, and sends them outside again (unless they are smash-worthy, like spiders over Zeke's crib). Richie does not like this job at all. And the pay? Pretty bad.

New experience: Driving an SUV through Sonoma-county vineyards, stopping to hike in to some dams, passing mice and snakes on the way... See above mention of "dream job."

Dreamy, yes. But sheesh. Enough newness for now.

Except for new photos, of course. Enjoy.


New fun: Zeke bats the daylights out of his little bird toy.


Serious face.


Happy, happy, kissable face.


The monster is BACK!


Ha ha ha!


Davis is heating up, so on days we can't get Grammy to babysit the little Zekers, Luke is thrilled anyway to pull out his little inflatable pool from last year.


And the good thing about this pool is he gets it all to himself!


(And the only person he gets to splash is himself. And Mommy does not have to show the Davis poolgoers her donut bellybutton.)


Luke went with his Israeli friend, Naveh (seen here in the background), to watch a Harlem Ambassadors basketball game. Their daddies escorted them, of course.


Post-game gettin-those-wiggles-out: running a lap!


Up close of the little runner.


Bethany's greatest find this week was not olives. Blech. It was a nearly brand-new exersaucer sitting by the dumpster! Score! Luke insisted on being its first guest.


Back to big-boy toys.


Something was just way too cute about his face in this picture! Especially paired with that tricycle shirt from Grammy and Poppy.


First watermelon of the season!


Poor Zeke can not yet partake, but here's Luke at 8 months old.


Luke has been getting a bit too teenagerish sometimes. One manifestation is his "Oh, MOM!" attitude when Mom grabs the camera. Here is one way he shows her he does NOT want his picture taken.


Zeke plays too cool sometimes, too.


And he is trying so hard to scoot! When he is on his tummy and something he wants is just out of reach, he grunts and tries with all his might to grab it. His feet kick high in the air, and his arms go up, too--so all he is balancing on is his tummy, as his back arches way up and he flails around. Someday he will figure out that his arms and legs might come in handy.


Some brother shots... Zeke drugged with brotherly love.




Ka-pow!


Back to some serious love.


Singing in his new exersaucer!


Zeke looks more appropriately sized for the toy.


Luke's post-nap otter pop, with his groggy "robot" face. Have we told you about his robot voice? When Luke is really happy about something, and feels a little cool about it, he talks about it in a monotone robot voice. Hard to describe. But one of the funniest things you'll ever hear. This is the robot face that goes with his robot voice. Clearly, feeling cool that he has an otter pop.


One gooood way to get those hands clean. We're taking sign-ups for people who now want to hold his hand.


"Luke, smile for the camera!"


Same smile, just one year ago... My, how the little boy has grown!


Lukers showing off his new strategy for achieving morning isolation as he tries to overcome his post-sleep grumpies.


Zeke cranes toward wherever he hears Luke!




Ha ha ha, little man, if YOU aren't the cutest thing!


The other day Lukey and Mommy decided to do a little gardening while Zeke slept. This has been a favorite past-time of Luke's on recent mornings with his Grammy. Grammy gives him real big-boy garden tools, and he "helps" her trim the plants as they chat about tools, weeds, bugs, and life. Two problems when Luke wants to garden with Mommy: 1. We don't have a garden, and 2. We don't have any tools. So out came the scissors, and Luke and Mom trimmed the grass. Still being in pajama pants does not count as a problem, by the way. It just adds to the cute factor. (And you can be assured they are NOT glow-in-the-dark.)


They may not be Grammy's big-boy gardening tools, but WOW, scissors are FUN!


Cute feet.


Cute hands.


Cute boy.


Here Luke demonstrates another way he communicates to Mom that he does NOT want her taking any more pictures!


Zekers gets a daddykiss.


Luke tries on Daddy's new size 13 workboots. Wow.


The Boys. Luke is mid-yawn. That kid!


Mom tries to get one, just one!, good shot of Zeke smiling. Strike one.


Strike two. (Shirt tastes good. His favorite food these days.)


Strike three. Mangling his own face.


We're already out. But here's a sideways smile for you...


A final big-eyed shot of our handsome little four-month-old love!

And one more element of Armstrong newness: We need a new blog.

richieandbethany.blogspot.com has carried our faithful readers through the ins and outs of Armstrong life from the time Luke was the size of a pinto bean to now.

And we have reached 95% capacity on our website.

So... We can either delete previous posts (a sad option, if the boys are as narcissistic as the rest of us are and ever want to read about themselves someday), or we can make up a whole new blogspot address.

We're choosing the latter option.

And that's where you come in.

Any ideas??? Send them our way, pretty please!

(Note: Ideally, the new blog address would sum up what this blog is about--and clearly, it is NOT about richieandbethany anymore! :-)