Port Discovery Children's Museum

This museum rawked...hard. I had seen this place mentioned in a number of Baltimore mommy blogs and put it on my mental list of places to take the kidlets. And boy am I glad we did. It's on the pricier side, $12.95 admission for adults, kids under 2 free and $13 parking but oh-so worth it. In fact, they offer memberships starting at $99 (for family of 4) and we're thinking of getting one.

Why so cool? The exhibits have a learning element to them yet are designed to be lots of fun for the kids. For example, our favorite was the Wonders of Water permanent exhibit. The cuteness was overwhelming. You walk in and there are little raincoats and rubber shoes for kids to put on. We had dressed Pig in a fast-drying thin romper and her yellow crocs so we decided to forego the outerwear, besides, there's also a drying wall (think: whole wall of those bathroom handdryers). Pig went crazy over the plumbing section. There was an elevated area with what looked like small sprinkler heads trickling water embedded in the ground. Pig and K got busy afixing pieces of plastic pipe onto them and creating enough water pressure to move the water about. I was busy trying to keep Pig from using these pipes as her personal drinking fountain.

Carrying Moo and maneuvering the stroller, I had a hard time keeping up with Pig and K who were running from exhibit to exhibit at the frenetic speed that a toddler amazingly is able to achieve. Pig and K floved the huge climbing er, thing in the center of the museum:

Needless to say, I was really nervous about them climbing this contraption. Luckily there weren't many kids at that time so Pig and K were able to take their time going up and down the climbing net tubes.

All in all, this museum gets two hooves up from The Barnyard and we will definitely go back soon.

Happy Father's Day

I'm kicking myself because I forgot to pack my camera when we out today. We had a wonderful day, after a late breakfast, we packed the kids and the kite we bought last year but never got to play with, into the car, and head to our favorite park and tot lot.

It was a beautiful breezy day, perfect for kite flying and after K assembled our little bi-plane shaped kite, he attempted to get it airborne. He did manage to get it flying a few times but for the most part, the kite preferred to dive nose first into the earth. K tried to involve Pig but as she was only interested in holding the string, ultimately K lost his co-pilot and Pig busied herself climbing it and out of the stroller and eating her bunny-shaped graham crackers.

K gave up after awhile and we headed over to the tot lot where Pig ran herself and her dad ragged. Moo and I did laps around the lot and checked out the park pavilions which incidentally would be an awesome place to celebrate the kids' birthdays.

The kids are asleep and K and I are now watching Real Time with Bill Maher, perfect end to a great day.

Pig - 19 months

Pig's brain is fairly pulsating with development these days. Every day brings with it a new skill or discovery. Because I intend this blog to be a baby book for my kids, here's a stream of consciousness list of all things Pig:

She is saying please and thank you when we hand her things. Her favorite words these days are juice, mool (Korean for water), ooh-yoo (Korean for milk), shoes, mine, me, no, baby, daddy, mommy, all done, Kirby and COOKIE (as in the Monster). She is stringing words together. Today she grabbed one of my slipper and announced, "No! Me Slipper!" Spoon and spork feeding is pretty much old hat for her...though oatmeal eating does get a little crazy still. She runs around nicely now...granted we're not talking about graceful sprinting, it's more like what Kirb does when he first busts out of his crate...limbs flailing, mouth open in glee, feet pounding.

I could watch her play for hours. It's like getting a glimpse of the world through her eyes. When she's playing with the toy kitchen set, she imitates what she sees us do when we prepare her meals. I saw her pretend to twist a lid off a plastic bottle and then shake the imaginary contents onto a tiny plastic plate. She loves shoes and loves to match the shoe to the owner. She knows that I wear one surgical shoe and one regular shoe so when we head out she makes sure to hand these to me. She wants to help so when Moo cries she rushes to his side and attempts to put the paci back in his mouth or pat his back and loves to hug and kiss him. She loves to sing and dance especially to anything from Barney or the Backyardigans theme song.

She's an excellent sleeper, an absolute champ, we're talking 12 hours at least at night and 2-3 hour nap during the day. She'll fuss and cry if she doesn't get her away but its a short episode and her daddy can always get her to laugh soon afterward. When she plays, she plays hard and gets dirty. She loves headbands and will snatch the one I have off my head if I'm not careful, in fact she has has broken all of mine. Computers fascinate her and she loves nothing more than to bang away at the keyboard like a mini Jerry Lee Lewis. She loves our little dustbuster vacuum cleaner and laughs as she drags it around the floor. Mommy, knowing a good thing when she sees it, follows behind and points her at the wisps of grass and dog fur. Today she cracked me up when she walked straight up to Kirby's water dish and announced "Kuh-bee!"

They say a child's brain triples in size by the time they hit their second birthday. The possibilities fascinate and terrify me. I feel this huge responsibility to ensure that this thirsty sponge of a brain gets enough to keep it pulsing with activity.

Moo - 2 months

Mr. Moo had his 2 month well baby check up today and holy moley, he's weighing in at 12 lbs, 6 ounces and stretching out at 23 .5 inches long. Yep, filling out nicely. You should see his thighs...folds and folds. And he's got a butt folks! Not quite the ga-thunka-thunk that Pig has but he could probably rock a pair of teeny bicycle shorts. We love 'em chunky in this family. Moo is catching up to his big sister fast. At this point, Pig was a delightful 12 lbs, 10 ounces. Viva la leche de boob!

Poor kid also had 4 big needles stuck into his fat thighs. On the car ride home, with the dulcet sounds of Moo grumbling in the backseat, I started wondering what it's like to be my kids. Do they get frustrated because their bodies won't do as they will? I watched Moo trying to squirm away from the needle and thought sadly that he might be thinking, this sucks, I'm going to get up and leave...but instead could only rock back and forth like a turtle on its back. And Pig, she jabbers on and on everyday and I'm sure she is saying something unbelievably profound and hilarious but her stupid parents just stare back at her in confusion.

Parenthood is a strange thing. You find yourself both wishing time could speed up and slow down at the same time. So many times I've thought won't it be nice when the kids are able to [fill in the blank] e.g. sit up, feed themselves, stand in the tub, speak in a language I can understand, take out the garbage, carry me around in a sedan chair (ha, I kid...sorta). But then these days as I pack away yet another outfit that Moo has outgrown, I wish I had a pause button somewhere. I want to be able to just sit and enjoy the now more, cuddle my kids more when they're not squirming to get away. I see Moo's huge, glossy eyes follow me as I move about the room and think, gawd, I know it won't always be like this, but is there a way to bottle this feeling for later so I won't have to just rely on increasingly fuzzy memories.

My Favs

While pregnant with Pig, I searched high and low for a list of tried and true baby stuff/gear. I ended up just cobbling a list of my own based on amazon.com wishlists, parenting blogs, and advice from friends.

Here's are a few of my favorite baby things, I'll continue to add to this list:

JJ Cole bibs - These seriously rock. The cloth bibs are great during the early drooling stages but once solids are introduced, these are the bibs you'll need, especially if your kid is like Pig and yanks the bib off first thing. This thing comes with three snaps so that you can adjust the circumference and no matter how hard Pig pulled, she could not pull it off. Muahahahhaha!

Phil and Teds Inline Stroller with doubles kit - We just got this stroller and it's the coolest thing ever. I absolutely love our Bumbleride stroller but if you're planning on having more than one kid and you have little storage space, you can save yourself some moolah by getting this stroller. There are four different models. It's super easy to use and can be configured to accommodate one toddler, a toddler and newborn, one newborn, or two toddlers. The newborn seat, which reclines flat, serves as a makeshift bassinet when you're out. The other day while at the park, I was able to feed Moo and then pop him into his seat for a safe place to snooze. We were lucky to find the Vibe model for a great price at costco.com and snapped it up. It maneuvers wonderfully on rough terrain but still managed to provide a smooth ride. And what makes me happiest is that it folds up and fits nicely in my small trunk.

Go-go Kidz Travelmate - This one drew envious looks from frazzled parents at the airport. Parents definitely get this gizmo. Let's face it, it looks kinda funny, in fact, I heard quite a bit of snickering from people who probably thought I was treating my kid as luggage. If you're going to need a car seat at your destination, you can strap it on this contraption. Basically, it just adds wheels to your car seat so that you can convert it into a stroller of sorts. So simple, but so ingenious. It did attract alot of attention but I felt better when I saw a group of parents lugging huge car seats on their backs.

Nosefrida - Ok, this is another weird one. BUT, you will learn to love it. In fact, there will be a point where you will pray that the Good Lord reap bountiful blessings upon the country of Sweden for producing such a wondrous device. What is it you ask? It's a booger sucker. And when your kid is sick, you will become obsessed with all things booger-y. Those bulb nasal aspirators are crap. We tried them and all we ended up doing was piss Pig off something fierce. The Nosefrida allows you to control the suction with your mouth and you don't have to jam it up an already tender nostril. The thing has a filter so there's no way you'll accidentally end up with boogers down your throat...but hey if it happens it just means a cool blog entry, no?

Kirkland (Costco) Brand Diaper Wipes - These are alcohol free, unscented and soft and gentle on the little hineys.

Diapers.com - We've been ordering our diapers from this online retailer. Since Costco only stocks Huggies and our house is Pampers country, we've found the best deal on this website. They offer free fast shipping for orders of $50 or more.

Earth's Best Infant Formula - when I ran out of frozen expressed breastmilk, we began ordering Earth's Best Cow Milk Formula. It's organic and gentle on the tummy, in fact we had no issues with constipation while Pig was on it.

Wish List:

Phil and Teds Lobster high chair - Parents are digging this so much, it's backordered everywhere. Having a very squirmy toddler, who enjoys standing up in her highchair, I've been looking all over for a good portable chair with an escape proof harness. This looks like it might be the one. Apparently, it'll be be available in July

Chuckling

A Happy Play Day

We absolutely love this huge tot lot.  It's surrounded by trees, it's well maintained and it's got something for kids of all ages.  I like to pack a meal for all of us and spread out a nice picnic for all of us on a big beach towel, under a tree.  While Pig and K play on the jungle gym, Moo and I sit on the towel and enjoy the weather.

How Doth the Busy Bee....

First week back to work...so to speak...I'm teleworking part-time until Emo arrives to help out. I figured this would be a cinch, Moo is easier to manage during the day. It's like the kid knows. He usually takes one nice long nap but today it's just been a series of short cat naps and fussiness. I'm able to work on my computer while nursing thankfully so I have been able to get things done but I'm worried about what I'll do during a teleconference...like the one I have tomorrow...argh. Lord, I'd like to cash in my brownie points now. I am planning on participating in a big meeting and I don't have no mute button on my landline phone.

K is working late this whole week so I've got Pig pick-up duty. Today was...interesting. I wasn't aware that K wanted me to pick her up until 4:15 pm so I was rushing around getting changed, readying Moo for the trip to his consternation and managed to get to Miss D's 5 pm on the dot. The kids had been playing hard outside so Pig was drenched in sweat and looking pretty pleased with herself. She gaily said her goodbyes to Miss D and one of her little friends (Side Note: Seriously, little kids saying hi and goodbye to each other is by far one of the cutest things ever, they sound just like chipmunks.)

So we're in the car and to keep everybody calm, I've got the Master and Commander sountrack playing. We're listening to Bach when Moo breaks out into song. I hunched my shoulders and concentrate on getting everybody safely home. Then, to my surprise, it became a duet. Pig started screaming at the top of her lungs. It was an I'm-in-pain scream and because I was on the highway, I couldn't stop to see what was the matter. So there I was trying in vain to soothe Moo Domingo and Pig Pavarotti...neither could understand what the hell I was saying but I felt like I had to respond in some fashion. At one point, it sounded like they were trying to out yell each other. Pig would scream, which would render Moo speechless for a few seconds and then vice versa.

After what felt like a millenium, I pulled into our driveway and jumped out of the car to see what was ailing Pig. By this time, I was convinced that she had broken an appendage and was picturing a trip to the same Urgent Care I had visited the week before. I saw that her finger was stuck in the hole of seatbelt buckle and grabbed a tube of A&D ointment thinking I could grease her little fat finger out. I inspected the damage. Dude, the finger wasn't even really stuck. She had jammed it in but was trying to pull it out at a weird angle, hence the pain. I pulled the finger out and Pig glared at me like the whole had been my doing. Relieved I stood laughing until Moo's outrage at his own plight brought me back to earth.

You Know You Love Parenthood When...

...your son projectile poops on you and you kinda like it (ok, not really, but I was quick to see the humor.)

...you wake up and the first thing you see is your daughter one chubby leg high up in the air as she struggles to put on a voluminous white pair of her dad's boxers.

...your child greets you with such exuberance you know what rock stars feel like.

...you eat something that your kid half chewed, perhaps even regurgitated and then open your mouth again when she offers some more.

...you see your daughter try to help soothe her crying brother by patting his back (that sound you hear is my heart blowing up from the cuteness).

...you hear your son chuckle in his sleep.

...you feel the warm soft weight of your child on your shoulder as they cling to you.

...you find yourself thinking damn, that Cookie Monster is pretty funny...and then secretly look up clips of him on youtube.