Oh the Park!

Our new house is 7 doors down from a really great playground and park. There are two school playgrounds within a half mile and another public playground just over half a mile away. If we walk a little over a mile south we hit a large park on a lake (two playgrounds, long walking trail around the lake, paddle boats, etc) and in the surrounding neighborhoods another nice playground. There's another park southwest of us that is technically walkable but I find it most useful as a stopping place when we need to waste time after a trip to the library or church or grocery store. Those are just the parks within walking distance (I define walking distance as the length of sidewalk I can traverse with 80 lbs of kid in a double stroller and 12 pounds of kid in a carrier of some kind). Within 10 minutes of our house there are too many parks to count but we've started hitting the ones we've found. Now that area schools are out of session I'm sure we'll have even more fun at parks, but the following is a description of our particular interactions at the park.
June - June's goal at any park is to make friends. In fact, if she can ascertain from halfway down the block that there are no "friends" at the park, she gets pretty depressed and may not even want to go to the park. A friend is defined as...well, anyone really. She would prefer a 4 year old girl but if not that then a boy of similar age will suffice. Big girls are intimidating but definitely intriguing. She may spend the whole park visit standing on the curb just watching and listening if there are enough big girls there. Toddlers are fine, but June tends to strike up conversation with their mothers once she realizes they aren't interested in playing with her. Conversation is as follows, "Hi, this is my brother, Ruben, he's two. That's my mom and my baby sis-tah. I'm four." Sometimes she'll approach moms of older children who have decided not to play with her and ask his/her mom if the child will play with her. She's getting pretty bold. Tonight there was a really tall two year old girl playing with her parents and older brother. The girl loved to run around and every few minutes you would see June running after her yelling "you want to play with me." The girl didn't even acknowledge June's presence but that didn't dissuade June from trying.
Ruben - Ruben goes for the smallest toy available may it be sand, dirt, woodchips, or pebbles. These toys must be piled, dumped, moved, and thrown - although we're working really hard on remembering not to throw them at all and have managed to at least keep him from throwing them at people - unless that person (babies included) first throws the woodchips/sand/dirt at him. Then all's fair. Ruben has yet to meet a climbing apparatus that he can't climb. His particular favorites are the climbing walls. He's wary at first and asks mom or dad to watch him but once he's got the hang of it, he shimmies up the wall super fast. He and June both prefer to play on playgrounds without shoes no matter how hot or uncomfortable walking on woodchips may be.
Kendra and Iris - Iris spends most of her time at the park in carriers of some kind. Since my cousin Rachael is emptying out the house and getting rid of all her baby stuff, new and exciting carrier are keeping us busy trying out what works best. For long distance walks I prefer the Ergo so I can switch Ruben to my back when he gets tired of the stroller and Iris can hang out with June in the double stroller. Short distances I prefer the sling for quick transitions and my new long wrap (Storchenweige) for when I know I'll be standing around for a while. I try to strike up conversation with anyone who's there (maybe that's where June gets it). Today I had a long conversation with a mom of a 19 month old about breastfeeding, yesterday I talked with a mom and grandma about the Renaissance Festival, last week I talked with a really skinny Polish mom about how much milk was too much milk for her 3 year old, and every once in a while I'll actually see someone I know (or someone who knows someone I know). With every relocation I've become more and more comfortable striking up conversation with complete strangers - I know from experience that these could be my new best friends.

Our first month as a family of five

Wow! Where has time gone. It seems that first crazy week might be a compact reflection of life going forward. Iris is five weeks old and last night slept through the night (10-5:30). She probably would have slept through the night the night before last as well but I woke her up at 3:45 to save myself the effort of getting up to pump. Her typical day look like this. Wake up at 5 to eat, sleep til 8, eat again, sleep until lunch time, eat again, sleep until  4, wake up and be fussy while I try to make dinner, eat (usually when I want to eat), stay awake until 9ish, eat again and hang with mom and dad after the kids go to bed, sleep some more. We've started to get glimmers of smiles from her during her awake times, but mostly she's a sleeper. We left her last night with the McCabes while we went out to eat with some couples from church. That was her first full bottle, and it took her forever - probably because she more used to having food shot into her mouth rather than having to suck it out herself.

Iris was baptized on Sunday, May 12 at 11 am. Karl finally got to baptize one of his own kids. Blake and Sarah Ramsey are her sponsors and managed to view the baptism via video chat along with Aunt Betty and Rick and Pam. So at first, it was just Karl, Iris, and I at the front of the sanctuary, but Ruben soon joined us.  I woke Iris up about 10 minutes before the baptism to give her some time to calm down before getting dunked. She stared quietly at Dad while he talked and then when he was starting to get longwinded fussed a bit to get things moving. Karl's pretty liberal in his water pouring, but Iris stayed pretty calm during the actual baptism. At the after party at our house, Aunt Julie, Uncle Paul, Aunt Jane, and Papa quickly identified the shell Karl used to pour the water as a shell once owned by Mort and Dolly. It was used as an ash tray for years. I'm sure there's significance there theologically, but don't think too hard about it. I just found it impressive that my aunts and uncle could identify that particular shell from across the room. It looks like any old shell to me. Other friends and family that came for the event were Great Grandma Schaefer, the Casads, the Schmitzers, the other Fays, and the Hookers. It is so great to be close enough that we can share these life events with so many great people.

Enough about the baby already, right?! 

I"m pretty sure Ruben thinks this in his mind at least a couple times a day. The thought is quickly replaced by "oooh...I feel like kissing that baby" which he does with much frequency. Unfortunately, she's most susceptible to his kisses when she's sleeping and his kisses are not tender, soft pecks. They involve both hands on her head, lips pressing, a bit of slobber, and a loud smacking sound. 

Ruben's big trick lately is his ability to fall asleep anywhere. We're in the stage of the dreaded 5 pm nap. Too late to keep a strict 7:30 bedtime and too early to sleep through the night, I do everything in my power to keep the child awake until dinner even if it means bribing him with Dora or M&M's. Sometimes I just can't catch him in time and I notice a sudden hush has fallen over the house. Then I go on my search for the sleeping 2 year old. 

 I can't win them all.

Ruben's new best friend is "Eee-vI" or in layman's terms Levi Hooker who is about 3 months younger than Ruben. We've spent a lot of time with the Hookers in the last 3 months and it has been wonderful to watch their relationship grow. At first, they could only interact for about 10 seconds before one or the other was hitting or screaming. Right before Iris was born, they took a turn and started playing together but as it happens with 2 year old boys, it still ended in punches and tears. Now, there is still plenty of violence but it seems to be more a part of the game even though Rachael and I discourage it outright. We don't tend to leave them alone together very long and I think we might be justified in that behavior given the mayhem that broke out at Iris' baptism party. Not exactly punches...

What will they come up with at the Lake in the years to come. Look out, Weller cousins, these two are a new breed of Wellertives. 

And finally, June. I only write about her last because she's mature enough to be patient. At least in a blog that she can't, as of yet, read. Poor oldest children are neglected when a baby comes along and June has done her best to be as cute as possible and when that doesn't work, as whiney as you can imagine. Her room has a full size closet with mirrored doors. With the hardwood floors and no real rug, it turns her room into a veritable dance studio. She's expanded her dance moves to include spinning, this adorable head shaking thing, and graceful flying wings. In fact, at church a few Sundays ago as I herd kids out of the pew to go to communion, June pulls out her imaginary wings and gracefully flies up the side aisle. Ruben exits the pew next, sees June flying and jauntily flaps his wings behind her...all the way to the front. 

At Iris' baptism party, all three of June's best friends were in attendance - Hallie, Vera, and Lucy. When I asked her what she was going to do with all three of her best friends, she got this intense look on her face and said, "I'm just going to take all of those girls into my room and play." When Hallie had to leave, June was pretty sad because I'm pretty sure she thought Hallie was moving here for good. So sad :(

I do envy June though. A sister is something I always wished I had (Katie and Starla, you guys count, but you never lived in my house long enough). June is a marvelous big sister and loves to help dress Iris -  morning, noon, and night. She also loves to hold her, but quickly gives her back if she starts to fuss. Now that Iris will actually stay awake for more than 10 minutes at a stretch, June can be found sitting or laying next to her on the bed or in the bouncer singing songs and telling stories. Iris is calmed by June's presence (almost as much as she is on alert in Ruben's). I love to watch this relationship grow because I'm watching something totally new to my experiences - the love that grows between sisters. Brad and Paul, I love you guys, but I'm glad June has a sister to love as well as a brother.