He was pretty pleased with his medals, in any case. However, there was a little kindergarten girl who must have entered every category she could. After watching he walk away with *four* medals, Andrew turned to me and said, "Mom, next year, I want to enter *all* the categories." Um, yeah. Good luck with that, kid. I congratulated the little girl's parents (I have a pretty good idea how long it took them to help her assemble her entries), and they laughed and said that they knew better now; next year, they're only going to enter 2-3 categories.
Here's the photograph Andrew took (and composed) and his sculpture. The sculpture, in case you can't tell, is Oliver wearing a pumpkin hat and laying on his little gym. The theme for this year was "the magic of a moment" and Andrew, somewhat conflating magic and miracle, decided that Oliver would work for his entries, given that his birth is, for us, a kind of miracle.
Andrew started Tae Kwon Do two weeks ago; this week was his second time attending. Part of the attraction is that his best friend has been attending for some months. Another part of the attraction is that I'm sure Andrew envisions himself as a real life ninja (we have strictly forbidden that he practice his forms on his sister). I think he's starting to realize that it will be harder than he anticipated to get to black belt, though--after his first class, he confidently predicted it would be a matter of weeks. I think he has a slightly more realistic perspective now.
I'm hoping this will be good for him--a way to channel his physical energy that promotes respect (and isn't highly competitive). Also, I'm really impressed with his teacher, who charges a nominal fee ($25 a month) and then donates all of the money to the local women and children's crisis center.
The only tricky thing, so far, is that Tae Kwon Do falls right after Evelyn's swim lessons, so Andrew has to sit through her lesson with me, then Evelyn has to wait for Andrew's class to start before we get her home, which means a late bedtime for everyone.
I had a minor scare this week: Thursday, we had dinner with Bubby and Poppy at the Pizza Factory. The adults ordered the salad bar. I had just started mine when I started choking--on mandarin oranges of all things! Still, it lodged in my throat and I couldn't get it down; for a little while I actually couldn't talk, which is when you know it's serious. Dan did a modified Heimlich on me and enough came up that I could swallow and talk. It left me a little shaky for the rest of the meal, though. All I could think was: what will happen to my children if I can't get this out? Not fun. However, the kids enjoyed their dinner. We don't get out much now, for obvious reasons.
One of the things I enjoy about having another boy is getting to put him in Andrew's old outfits. Here's a picture of Andrew at 3 months, wearing a Beaver sweater that Laurie and Matt gave us while they were living in Oregon.
And here's Oliver in the same sweater. Blue eyes notwithstanding, I don't think anyone will have trouble telling that these boys are related: round head, fat cheeks, button nose . . . check.
Oliver discovered his fingers this week and has since been busy trying to stuff them in his mouth as frequently as possible. I can't wait till he discovers his toes!
Evelyn watched this photo shoot and so insisted on being part of it. She sure loves the camera (it seems to love her too). Dan says we're in for trouble in a few years.
Oliver hit his five month mark on Friday. It's hard for me to believe it's been five months since his tumultuous entrance. When he was in the hospital, some days it felt like we'd never leave. And yet he's been home now for two and a half months. And he gets bigger and stronger every day. We're pushing 14 lbs now.
Since this is the season of Thanksgiving, it seems only right to note how grateful we are to have Oliver in our lives. And Evelyn. And Andrew. For all the trouble they sometimes occasion, we wouldn't trade them for anything.
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