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Today Magnus had his six month check-up. He weighed in at 20 pounds 13 ounces and measured 29.5 inches long, placing him above the 95th percentile for height and at the 95th percentile for weight. (In related milestone news, Magnus is officially too big for me to carry using only one arm…)
It also looks like we may have to resort to a corrective helmet to fix the flat spot on the back of his head.
Magnus also has his very first head cold, so the timing worked out well on his appointment. Usually we go in healthy and bring back something awful. Today we killed two birds with one stone.
One final note: Magnus hates the air conditioner. Does not like the sound of it and gets downright angry when it blows on him. So that’s fun.
So.
Lately Michael has been attempting to influence Magnus’s first word by wandering around the baby saying, “Dadadadada.” In turn, I say “Mamamamama” to Magnus. Not to be outdone, Hunter has started saying, “HunterHunterHunterHunterHunter”… I wonder who will win…?
Probably the cat. (Hunter’s first word was “meow”…)
Another funny thing Hunter has been doing is grabbing us by the cheeks and, what she means to say is “dimples”, but what she’s actually saying is “nipples.”
Ha.
First Ed McMahon, then Farrah Fawcett, and now Michael Jackson.
I’m not sure why the news of Michael Jackson’s death makes me so sad… maybe it’s because CNN’s coverage of the event is atrocious. Maybe it’s because Thriller was the first album I ever owned, and man, we played the shit out of it.
Michael Jackson was just so cool. The jackets, the gloves, the moonwalk… And he remained cool, even when we found out what a freak show he was. Probably because in the burgeoning days of MTV (when it actually played videos…) the Thriller video was the coolest thing any of us had ever seen.
It’s like a piece of my childhood had died, and I’m sad.
This morning both of my children woke up before seven o’clock. I heard them in their respective rooms making their early morning noises; Hunter twanging her door stop while singing some unrecognizable tune, Magnus trying to get the attention of his creepy mobile. I put aside my story and got ready to start our day.
A few minutes later, as I walked down the hall, I heard Hunter’s high-pitched voice coming from her brother’s room:
“Whatcha doing in your room, brother?”
Magnus gurgling and cooing… (…probably kicking his feet.)
“I’m supposed to be in my room, too.”
“Yes, you are,” I said, walking into the room. Hunter jumped about a foot and gave me her sweet, guilty grin.
Then we came downstairs for some pictures…
To celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary, Michael and I drove up to Central California and spent the weekend in El Paso de Robles. This weekend was particularly significant because it was the first weekend we had ever spent away from our children. Three days has never seemed so long…
It was a lovely weekend. We had a couple of really great meals (and one awful one, Mexican food, go figure…), drank some even better wine, and even saw a movie (Star Trek… Spock as cage fighter… awesome!) Turns out we don’t sleep in, even when we can, and we (read: I) don’t really know what to do with ourselves (read: myself) without our children.
If we had stayed another day we would have made it out to the beach and maybe even Hearst Castle since Michael has never been. Maybe some other time.
Here’s a picture of the fifty acres that may change our lives.
The gentle slope of the low rise gives way to several acres of flat, usable land, bordered by a neighboring vinyard. There is even more acreage stretching out behind this vantage point, and in the distance, (fewer than ten miles away) there is Lake San Antonio, from which the river valley takes its name.
The land is very nearly in Steinbeck country, about twenty-five minutes north of El Paso de Robles, California, and another twenty minutes west of Highway 101 in an area called Lockwood. I write “area” because we did not see an actual town. There are mountains to the west, the storied Coastal Range, and past them, the Pacific Ocean. Only twenty miles away as the crow flies.
I loved it the moment I saw it, and I know that Michael did too because I felt ill as I watched him walk around the little hill, staring off into the distance, plotting.
It would be something to live in such a place, to build something from the ground up, accountable to no one but our creditors.
I want this for him. I really do. Who follows their dreams anymore? Who follows their dreams?
Is hard to believe we’ve had our little boy for six whole months… it’s so strange to think of having something so new but feeling like he’s been ours forever.
Magnus has been doing some interesting things this past month. It turns out he can roll over. If he feels like it. It also turns out that he doesn’t feel like doing it very often. Sometimes we’ll lay him on his tummy and he’ll flip over onto his back. Other times, when we lay him on his tummy he’ll just scream when he wants to change position. He does like to hang out on his side, though. Laying there, looking around, reaching out for toys. Of course he never seems to want anything badly enough that he’ll actually move to get to it. Hmm.
Magnus has also been experimenting with the symphonic range of his voice; and while he can make all sorts of sounds, he only seems to have one volume level: LOUD. (Something he no doubt learned from his sister…) Magnus can mimic facial expressions too, his favorite being the sticking out of his tongue. No, that’s his second favorite. His favorite is smiling. That kid smiles all the time… kicking his little legs and waving his arms as he does his happy dance.
Magnus continues to be a big fan of solid foods, so much so that he has dropped his consumption of milk to less than six ounces per feeding. He seems to only drink enough to quench his thirst, and yet he gets angry when he’s in his high chair and all of the food is gone. Magnus has also been more interested in sitting in his “Rainforest Jumperoo” lately… kicking his little legs and bouncing wildly while his sister runs circles around him.
This month Magnus survived trips to Disneyland and California Adventure and his first weekend away from his parents. (He survived better than his Momma did, that’s for sure…) And he continues to grow and amaze. He’s just the sweetest little boy; so happy all the time, sitting in the corner, watching everything.
We can’t wait to see what the next month will bring…
If I were a proper blogger I would have dug out the wedding photos, but since they’re on a disk in the safe and I’m pressed for time, this one will have to do.
Four years ago today, I was a nervous wreck, I mean I married the man of my dreams. Ha. Really, I couldn’t ask for a better partner, and I certainly deserve worse.
Later this morning we’re heading up the coast to Paso Robles for a romantic weekend away. We have big plans for sushi (since I’m pumping and dumping anyway), wine tasting, a spa treatment, and spending a day with a realtor. (Yes, Michael still wants to be a farmer…)
For the record, I should state that I am having serious anxiety over leaving my children for the weekend. I’ve never been away from Magnus for more than a few hours and I miss Hunter whenever she’s not with me. I cannot even express how much I do not want to be without them. Nor can I express my gratitude to my brave sister who has agreed to care for our children and all of the rest of our creatures this weekend.
Here’s hoping everyone fares well!
Most children ask for a glass of water or to go to the bathroom in a bid for a little post-bedtime attention. Some might even maintain that they’re afraid of the dark or the monster under the bed.
Not my daughter…
My daughter tears a piece of her diaper off (the size of a cotton ball!) and shoves it so far up her nose we have to use tweezers to retrieve it.
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