return to the midwest

So we made it back to Michigan on Sunday. It was a 13 hour trip altogether and it began earlier than we'd intended due to the kids waking up and demanding action at 3:30. Ellis, as usual, didn't sleep at all on the road, but we managed to keep him entertained. Somehow I always mis-predict what he'll be interested in doing...for our Thanksgiving trip I thought he'd want to watch movies, but all he wanted to do was listen to stories on CD, this time I packed stories on CD and he only wanted to work on activity books. Not sure what he'll move onto next.

We're having a really good visit seeing all the friends and family here in Ann Arbor. Some friends of friends lent us their empty house, which has made things much more comfortable. And they have little kids, so Ellis and Maddox are digging all the never before seen toys. Ellis is also happily reunited with his second cousins, Bella and Holden. Because Holden is a few years older, Ellis has quickly become his shadow and willing to do anything he does- make goofy faces, speed down the sledding hill, stick his nose in piece of cake with icing, and so forth. Luckily, Holden seems to be generally a force for good or silliness, at worst.

9 months

Looks like we're just under the wire for getting this written during Maddox's ninth month. He's been a pretty happy camper this month, exploring like mad and keeping us all on our toes. The ninth month check-up went fine, though his recent increase in mobility seems to have slimmed him down from the 98th to the 95th percentile.

He has been enjoying the learning tower quite a bit and seems to have caught on to the magic that is being able to see what happens on the counter top.

We've been signing with him a little, but he does most of his communicating with grunting, screaming, reaching, and pointed looks. He says "ma ma ma ma" pretty often, but I can't really tell if it's an attempt at mama or just sound he likes.

Both boys have been enjoying the recently returned piano. Blues's approach is somewhat more subdued than Ellis, who pounds out a 10 second overture before a rousing acapella chorus of Old MacDonald.

He's a speedy crawling machine and doing well cruising along the couch or bed. We've seen a few experiments with balancing for example trying to move between a foot stool and the couch. But he tends to fling himself toward his target once he knows he's in range, so walking may still be a while off.

One rather interesting technique he's developed for disembarking from the couch is to slide off until his head is touching the floor, put both hands down and the wait a moment before flinging his head and torso up and out and trying not to smash his face on the carpet. I suppose it is more of a dismount. It is hilarious to watch but difficult to capture on film. He's also working on mastering the stairs and has gone from barely experimenting to being able to make it all the way up, and in less than 30 seconds at that, in a matter of days.

He loves having the slop sink to himself and laughs and laughs when getting a bath without big brother, who is ever so jealous. Blues also continues to be the snuggliest baby I have ever met, even settling for a snuggle from Dad when nothing else is available.

He is also eating everything in sight and screaming for a taste of whatever anyone nearby has. He seems to really prefer carbs and dairy at this point and still loves feeding the dog. More than what he likes, the interesting thing is his intense reaction when not offered anything when we are all eating. Something like a screaming rage. Apparently we forget to water him as he also gets quite enraged when he wants a drink. All in all though he is still a fairly happy little man.

haircut day

Maddox's first, Ellis's 21st, and Trey's 257th (but first one done by a preschooler)....

Hmm...these pictures make it look like this was somehow fun. Don't believe everything you see, people.

a game of cat and mouse for Halloween

eight and ate (everything that wasn't nailed down)

Blues is eight months old this month and headed for toddlerhood at an alarming rate. I feel like I never really had an infant with this kid...he was so big from the start and seemed to start sitting up and moving around so early. I don't know how big or heavy he is (except that he's big and heavy), but will get accurate number next month at his 9 month check up. Otherwise, physically, he's strong and health, holding steady at 5 teeth and blue eyes.He's been eating a lot more over the past month. But, true to form, he won't act like a tiny baby and accept spoonfuls of sustenance. He grabs for any utensil we put near him, pulling it away from his mouth and back where he can take a good look at it before feeding it to himself. His been sampling a variety of table foods including bread, apples, crackers, sweet and white potatoes, carrots, chicken, and cheese. I'd love to feed him yogurt or oatmeal, but he prefers to do it himself, so very little reaches his mouth. Thank goodness Aunt Lucy sent him a little mesh bag for feeding chunks of food to babies, so he can handle the slipperier stuff like mango and banana. Ellis call it "his feeder", which is perhaps a little too on the nose.
Maddox is increasingly on the go these days. Crawling at super speed and starting to cruise in earnest. He really likes "chasing" Ellis around the house, but hates being chased or "herded" by Ellis. He's been very keen on making friends with Scout, but it doesn't seem terribly mutual, probably because she hates having her hair pulled as much as I do. Though he's been exploring a lot, he fortunately hasn't shown much interest in the stairs. Our house has two little carpeted steps between the kitchen and family room, so he's been using those to get some practice.He's starting to get the hang of peekaboo and loves getting thrown up in the air and tossed around. If he keeps growing at this rate, though, I'll only be able to do that for a couple more weeks. Trey's already logged his "wrestling" with Ellis, which is fairly terrifying for me, but apparently part of being a boy. Sigh.

wrestling match

Despite his young age, Blues has been scrapping with his brother some. Ellis hasn't quite mastered the art of gentle wrestling, but then again, to be fair, neither has Blues.

Ellis apparently let Blues begin in the advantage position (above), but Blues just fell off of Ellis's back. I didn't give Ellis points for the take down because gravity on his lardy opponent really deserved most of the credit.

Blues wound up in a headlock. His weight is about half that of Ellis but the bigger disadvantage seems to be that when he is on top of Ellis his feet don't touch the ground. Hence hollering at him to "drive with his legs" doesn't mean a whole lot.

Coming out of the headlock Ellis crawled off and Blues put on his game face. Check out those Nixonesque jowls. As he crawled toward Ellis, the trash talking started. Turns out Blues can deliver some good verbal garbage. I am sure I heard him say, "If you got onions in the sack then don't make me chase your pajama wearin' ass."

Ellis continued to take things lightly and ended up paying the price. I gave Blues a couple of points for an almost take down (above).

Then Blues managed to turn him. I thought Blues was going for the pin, but then just before I counted three he let up and with speed that couldn't be captured on film he showed that he had already earned his name by delivering the patented family finishing move, The Poke of Death:

time lapse kitchen

For a few weeks now we've been working towards painting the kitchen. Here's a before shot. Ugh.
Stripping the wallpaper wasn't really difficult, at least not in the usual sense. More in the "must constantly monitor all scraps that fall to the floor lest they been ingested by a roving 7 month old." Nonetheless, I was ultimately successful. Trey worked on patching the many crazy places in the wall and we tried out some colors. The only picture I have of that features Maddox in the foreground; apparently he's having a breakfast of Cheerios and, uh, hinges.
This weekend...priming!
And painting begins!
We're hoping for some kind of color washing or faux finish over this. And eventually (maybe even before Christmas despite our glacial pace) new draw pulls and lighting.

and so it begins

Our mailbox has been inundated with "holiday preview" toy catalogs and so Ellis has taken to circling the items that he fancies. Today, as he paged through one, I heard him mutter to himself "ugh, I don't like girl toys... where are the boy toys?"

Uncensored at Seven Months

With seven months under his belt Maddox Schek is a baby on the move, challenging the norms at home and by all accounts ready to figure out the rest of the world so he can rebel against it. Following a recent visit to the farm where he felt largely misunderstood and a visit from his Grandpa Hank and Aunt Lindsey that left fraternal relations strained, Maddox, known as Baby Blues to his entourage and close associates, thought it a good time while on hiatus to sit down with ECE for an up close and personal look at what makes him tick.

.

ECE: Is it ok if I call you Blues?

Maddox: If you must call me Blues, go ahead. Or you can pretend that it is 2022 and call me Dr. Schek.

ECE: Ok then Blues, quite a bit has been made of your size and weight. Do you follow a special regimen?

Maddox: Until a couple weeks ago, I ate one thing. I ate about as much as I wanted including after I went to bed and this is how it turned out. But hey, I am comfortable in this body at this weight. I feel good. Strong. If I were 98th percentile just in head size instead of length, head size and weight, then I would worry.

ECE: What do you make of all of the developmental talk, milestones and such?

Maddox: It gets old. I try to keep a little ahead of the curve--I am crawling some now and pulling up--so no one starts to worry. I have actually advanced far beyond that secretly but I just reel it out a little at a time. For instance, I ride Scout around bareback quite a bit when no one is looking. Probably why I don't sleep so well--not getting enough exercise thanks to my beast of burden.

ECE: How about cognitively? Where do you think you are at?

Maddox: I am 7 months old and told you that I have figured out h

ow to ride the dog. That is more success training that bitch than dad has had in a long time so I don't think you need to ask about my cognitive development.

ECE: Well maybe you have a knack with animals. How about motor skills? You seem to be able to get the spoon in your mouth and find the pie hole with any food really.

Maddox: As I said, I have advanced beyond what I show them and just happen to have reeled out the ability to feed myself in a rudimentary fashion. If you want to really know where I am with motor skills ask the dog about the saddle I made for her. The attention to detail is fantastic.

ECE: Ok, I see your point. Since solids is still pretty new, I know that our readers will be dying to know what you like.

Maddox: Most of it really. I like those flavorless biscuits. Good exercise for my five teeth. Apples and apple sauce have been in heavy rotation and I like those quite a bit. Yogurt is good.

Dad makes a lot of beer but they don't let me try it.

ECE: So how about your relationship with your brother? Everyone seems to be watching and waiting for new conflict as you exceed old boundaries.

Maddox: I suppose that is to be expected. For now I just do what I want when he is at school and then go back to being a doughy little baby when he is here. He does love me and that is important, but I am laying low, waiting for my time to come.

ECE: It is interesting that you have subjugated the dog when your brother went to great lengths to form an alliance with the dogs, in fact among all dogs and babies. Is that indicative of a major difference between you and Ellis?

Maddox: Would you rather have a partner or a minion? I know my answer.

ECE: Ok, before this gets any creepier let's get back to the ummm....typical questions. So, what are you looking forward too in the next six months?

Maddox: Well getting rid of my first cold for one thing. It just hit out of nowhere this past weekend and I can't reach where they keep the tissues. Longer term I am looking forward to getting in front of the computer and figuring out how to use the mouse. It seems that is the way to learn a lot of new stuff. The computer seems the easiest path to gain control of the household finances as well. And I want to increase the ranks of my minions.

ECE: What are you enjoying right now the most?

Maddox: I do like to see Dad and mom when I show them something new I know how to do. Like just a few minutes ago when I got the book and sat up with it. The look on their faces was heart warming and indicated that they are well on the way to becoming two more of my minions.

ECE: Turning away from minions for a moment, you have heard a lot of new music lately. Have you liked any of it?

Maddox: Cash was misunderstood and he understood that he was misunderstood for much of his career, especially at the end. I admire that he was able to communicate that for those of us with the ability to comprehend.

ECE: That last comment reminded me somewhat of your mother, a controversial Mega-genius. Do you think your vast intelligence is inherited from her?

Maddox: It is probably a gamete mutation since I am clearly more intelligent than she. And she doesn't have minions, unless you count dad and c'mon...

ECE: What, if anything, would you like to clear up in print?

Maddox: That I don't desire to take over the world. That is a bloody lot of work. All I want is a small personal army of minions to do my bidding.

snack time

some school stuff

Ellis's preschool has some new toys and play equipment this fall and Ellis is in love with this thing: He likes it so much he hasn't played "ninjas" once yet. This is serious, people. There has been some confusion over what it's actually called. Ellis initially said "merry go rhyme", which made me pretty sure it was "merry go ride", but then I saw a sign at school indicating it was called "merry go cycle", which seems less catchy than either of the other options.

His teacher also reported an unfortunate incident today. Several of the kids were playing with plastic animals including zebras, giraffes, and lions. Though most of them were cleaned up, about a half hour later, Ellis informed his teacher that there was a wild animal under his table. She asked him three times to pick him up as he continued to look at her strangely and repeat there was a wild animal under the table. Whoops....turns out it was a live mole that had sneaked inside seeking refuge from the encroaching New England autumn.

new normal, in bullets

Various things are happening; I cannot make them cohesive:

• We just got back from 3 weeks in Indiana. Ellis ate his weight in popsicles, but was an excellent little road tripper for the 20 hours out and 18 hours back. Maddox met various Maddox and Freed relatives and was sweet.
• Today was Ellis's first day back at school. He acted like an old pro and had no problems.
• Maddox had his 6 month check up and shots. He was super crabby and clingy. Not sure if that's from the vaccinations of the lack of Aunt Catherine.
• Also today we had our first day of me staying home. It was rough, given that Maddox's doctor's appointment ate most of the morning and he cried most of the afternoon. And then it was time to pick up Ellis.
• The rocky day made me nervous about managing working from home and the ups and downs of daily child care.
• We finished canning the tomatoes, in the form of sauce and salsa. I am tired of canning. Thank goodness it is nearly fall. Next year, I will take the advice of certain mothers and great aunts and invest in a pressure canner.

half a year old, half a month late

Catherine, Ellis, Maddox and I drove back to Indiana last week, which was a 20 hour day stretched over 2 days plus a day in the middle visiting Aunt Carol. So, I'm just getting around to Maddox's 6 month update.

This month he's starting to get mobile, though crawling remains elusive despite some attempts at getting into full plank positions and lots of time spent on hands and knees. H

e rolls and scoots like crazy and is just beginning to be able to actually choose his direction of travel. For the first time, he also managed to scoot over the shelves on which toys are stored. He grabbed a basket filled with Ellis's hotwheels and brought them crashing down the floor. He wasn't terribly upset by the noise and spray of toys, but Ellis panicked immediately at the unauthorized toy access. Too bad this is just a taste of things to come. Poor boy.

He's also finally cut his first tooth. Well, teeth- two little ones appeared on the bottom last week. I've been trying to offer him some solid food, but with limited success. He still doesn't seem to have a very easy time swallowing, even smooth stuff like yogurt and applesauce. He does like playing and sucking on slices of carrot or apple and LOVED the bits of popsicle

and ice cream he stole from Trey.

His personality is still super mellow. He's really happy to hang out on the floor checking things out. Being at Grandma's with lots of other kids playing has offered him quite a bit of entertainment. While he's fairly snuggly, it's amazing to me how much less carrying and holding he seems to need compared to Ellis. Maddox is pretty big into staring at his finger and has a very strong grip. He's also finally experimenting with transferring items from one hand to another, realizing "Yes, I can control both these guys". Exciting times :)

endings are sad, beginnings are scary

Today was my last day at work and I'm sad to say good bye to my friends from work, but not terribly sorry about the job ending. Like most academic jobs, things will linger for a while...finishing up and then revising papers, completing a patent application, etc. But at least pumping is finally over! One last run through the sterilizer pouches and the breast pump is getting packed up and put away.

I've been pretty anxious and weird feeling the past couple days as we packed up the lab and I've seen at least two of my co-workers cry in the past month. Ah, academics is not for the faint of heart.

I'll take the smaller share of the split hair

When I got home today, the news of the day was that the back had broken off of the desk chair. Apparently, Ellis jumped into his mother's arms while she was in the chair and the back broke due to the impact. So I said that we would have to get a new one and that Ellis should see from this that it isn't a good idea to jump on the furniture. To which he replied, "Actually Daddy, I jumped on mom."

Camel Humps!

Since this was Ellis's last summer weekend in VT, we over did it a bit with outdoor activities. We started on Friday night with a couple hours of fishing. Then yesterday we tried to camp at North Hero State Park. Despite the staff's assurances that reservations were not needed and the camp never filled up because it is "primitive", we got there to find it full. So last night we camped in the back yard with a big fire and a dinner of hotdogs, camp potatoes ala Grandpa Hank and peach dump cake ala Grandma Lise. Recipes available upon request.

And today, we hiked to the top of Camel's Hump. Ellis still calls it Camel Humps which is fair since their are indeed two peaks close together. There are several routes to the summit and we decided on the shortest, approaching from the west. It was 2.4 miles with 2400 feet of vertical. That's an average grade of nearly 20%. Adults in decent shape usually do it in 1:45, it took us closer to 2:30, which I gotta think is pretty good since for Ellis it was probably 15,000-20,000 strides.

You might remember that last summer we hiked up Pinnacle. Ellis was much more independent and outgoing on this hike. If I stopped to take a picture, he was up around the next bend before I knew it. The trail we used was the Burrows for the first two miles and the Long Trail for the last 0.3 miles to the summit. The trail was quite rugged, being entirely rock over about 2/3 of the total distance.

Much of the trail was accompanied by small streams, and very thick green moss. Generally, the vegetation was so thick even a few feet off of the trail that passage would have been impossible.

The last bit of the trip, by far Ellis's favorite part, saw him scampering mostly with one or both hands down on the rocks to balance. (This is my favorite picture from the trip because his pose is so self-assured) To be fair, I did my fair bit of scampering too, as this section was probably 30% grade or better.

Despite what you see in the pics, there were quite a few people up there on the mountain today. The hiking crowd tends to be very friendly and they were all very impressed with Ellis's determination often asking how I kept him going for so long. I told them that the trick was to feed him every 15 minutes. Ellis was the only 4 year old at the summit that wasn't a canine of some sort. I was the only person under 40 who didn't have an exposed tattoo, facial piercing or at least one dog. I can say VT hikers put some money into their tattoos. I wish I had taken a picture of a couple, just to show the extent of the ink.

This is a long view of Lake Champlain from near the summit. At this stage it was still possible to walk around without restriction. The haze made photography very difficult, especially with just an iPhone, but some of these convey just how high up we were.

That little patch of water you see out there above the highway tucked into the mountains, is the Waterbury Reservoir where we fished last year. The reservoir is a bit of a mountain lake at least 20 miles distant from Camel's hump and surrounded by peaks that pass 1000 feet, so it gives you some idea just how high Camel's Hump is relative to the surroundings.

This is another view to the west of another section of the lake. These are the last trees before we entered the Alpine Zone which is protected, with hikers restricted to only exposed rock. This is only one of two mountains in VT that have significant area above the treeline and true alpine vegetation. Watching the vegetation change is on of my favorite parts of these vertical hikes. We started in a hardwood forest that transitioned to conifer. The conifer forest became less and less varied, with only a few firs at the upper reaches before the trees became stunted and then disappeared altogether at the Alpine Zone.

And here we are at the summit. It was about 50 degrees with a 25 mph wind. We managed to stick around for 20 minutes in our long sleeved shirts and got a nice guy to take a picture of us in exchange for us photographing him with his dog. Maybe he just wanted a picture of himself and the dog couldn't oblige, but a lot of effort was put into getting the dog to look at the camera.

Ellis fell asleep in the car on the way home so we didn't stop for the promised cheeseburgers and then he slept for several more hours after we got home. I finally pried him out of bed for some supper (and he did ask about his cheeseburger). I am sure he will fall asleep almost instantly tonight. It is amazing to me that it takes such exertion to wear him out.

splish splash

Tomorrow is Ellis's last day of swim lessons, so it figures that I'm just now getting to posting a couple of pictures. He's in a two week class at the pool in a nearby town and is the "Waverunner" level which is pre-Level 1 and termed "acclimation to swimming lessons". So, it's pretty laid back, but they do a nice job and are very patient along the lines "put your nose in the water" "put your chin in the water" "blow on the water" "now slowly bring your lips down to the water and keep blowing". MUCH more patient than I would be. Plus, they get to go down the water slide, which is usually off limits to the under 48" set. Fancy!

jungle garden

Well, it's late July, so I am right on schedule with getting totally overwhelmed in the garden. Here's what it looks like now:We are two time losers on the spinach. Planting one was a crazy variety that produced very little, which is maybe convenient since it looked like a vine and no one wanted to eat it. Planting two broke the land speed record going almost directly from sprouting to bolting. I've really never seen anything like it:
Peas are INSANE:Tomatoes are going to be a battle of the will right to the bitter end. I've been so careful to prune them back and continuing tying them up every weekend. Then a week and a half ago we had a hail storm which knocked over every stinkin' plant. So it's typical end of summer tug of war to keep the tomatoes off the ground as the fruit ripens. Arg..tomatoes don't play fair!As a final insult to my patience, my four year old grew this from a seed!But the most important is what makes it to the table, yes? So tonight we have our first big tomato on BLTs with a side of yellow squash, courtesy of Ellis: