8 months

*** I actually wrote this post several weeks ago, but sat on it without publishing it because I wanted to be able to add some pics from our recent photo shoot with Meghan. As usual she did an amazing job in such a short amount of time. Ari was a little off at the shoot. I had to wake him up from a marathon nap to make it there on time. Unfortunately he probably woke up starving and there was no time to feed him. So he was still tired and hungry and not his usual smiley self. So we didn't get any shots of his toothy grin like I was hoping for, but Meghan perfectly captured his sweetness. The ones that are "most Ari" to me, are the ones where he has his forehead pressed against my head or Kai's and the ones where you can see his little hand rested on us. If someone he likes is near him, he will always reach out to touch that person. And, if you are close enough, he will simply melt into you with his whole body. It melts my heart... Every. Single. Time.***

 Not to sound like a broken record, but it feels like I just wrote Ari's 7 month update. And yet, here we are. Off the top of my head, I can't really think of any big developments in the last month. No new teeth have popped through, no new tricks to report, and no, the child still isn't rolling... or sleeping through the night for that matter. But he continues to charm and delight me nonetheless. Since there are no "big" things to write about, I will indulge myself by sharing some of the little things that I love about my littlest man.

• He constantly "claps" his feet together, especially when he's excited
• He often fake laughs when Kai is around and then watches eagerly to see if Kai will laugh too
• He's been on a hunger strike--he'll only eat yogurt for past couple of weeks so I've resorted to mixing everything (EVERYTHING) with yogurt to see if I can trick him into eating it. 
• He is the sweetest little cuddler. If I put my face anywhere to close to his, he will nuzzle his face against mine. When he's tired his nuzzling is more like a headbutt. Consider yourself warned. 

• He cries every time I leave the room. He's a momma's boy just like Kai

• He also says "Mama" constantly, but not in context yet. But I'm hoping it's just a matter of time.
• He's graduated from his baby bath to a bath seat in the big tub so now he gets to enjoy bath time with his big brother. He's still a big splasher.  

• He's started eating more "solid" solid foods like graham crackers, cheerios, yogurt melts, bananas, pancakes and other bread-like foods. He much prefers this to baby food.
• Like Kai he is not a big fan of his veggies, but unlike Kai he does not have a sweet tooth.
• He still doesn't "stand" when we are holding him, but he will now put a minimal amount of weight on his legs with his waist doubled over as if he's bowing. It's pretty funny.
• He hasn't been measured in a while (since his 6 month check-up), but I think he's had a growth spurt because he practically skipped a clothing size. He's now wearing mostly 6-12 month clothes or even 12 month in some cases
• For some reason he loves to hold these little toy dinosaurs of Kai's.

• He has blowouts all the time. I keep thinking I should try a different brand of diapers, but I don't know that it would help because the child is sitting all the time and almost never cries or otherwise lets me know when he's poo'd.

• When he and Kai are riding in the stroller Kai often sings little songs and it's not uncommon for Ari to sing (chant/babble?) right along with him. They also often hold hands in the stroller. It makes my heart smile.

• If you ask Kai what his brother's name is he will usually say, "Ari baby". He got this nickname from a little song that I made up that I sometimes sing when I'm rocking him:

Ari Ari baby
 We love you Ari baby
Sweet sweet Ari baby
We love you baby boy

• Nothing makes him laugh harder than when Yo tickles him with his whiskers
• Ari is super vocal. He is constantly making sounds... often loudly. 
• I'm afraid Ari might be the dare devil in the family. He loves being thrown, held upside down, spun around, and basically anything else that is equal parts scary and thrilling.

Thanks again, Meghan MacAskill, for capturing Ari at such a yummy stage. You do such beautiful work.

Hardcore preschool parents

Last year I started looking into preschools for Kai in the summer... about 5 months after registration to most schools had been closed. To say my pickings were slim would not be an exaggeration. With Ari's arrival in July I was in full scramble mode just to get the paperwork gathered in time for Kai to start on the first day of school.

This year I swore I would be more on top of things. After weighing all the options, I decided that Kai is a well-adjusted kid who will be fine anywhere. So, why not save some money, right? Several of my friends have had a positive experience with the Safari Preschool program run by the city rec department. And it is super affordable compared to most of the other preschools in our area so based on those two factors I was sold.

A few of my friends decided to go that direction, too. We all attended an information night about the class that we wanted to enroll the kids in. We knew that there were only 20 spots available, but counted a lot more than 20 parents at the info session. Enrollment was offered on a first-come-first-served basis, so we decided to play things on the safe side and get to the office ridiculously early.

As the enrollment date was approaching, Alyssa and I were discussing the likelihood of people forming multiple lines outside of the building where the registration was taking place, especially because the building has multiple entrances. We have also noticed a (perhaps cultural?) disregard for lines in this here part of the country. So we started joking around about how funny it would be if we created a sign saying, "Form one line here for preschool registration."

While Alyssa and I laughed about it initially, we both thought there was some merit to the idea... and Alyssa totally went there...

As an aside, if you ever want a partner in crime for preschool registration, Black Friday shopping, or any other hardcore event that requires being awake at a ridiculous hour, sitting in lines, and adrenaline... Alyssa is your woman!

This lady picked me up at my house at 5:45 AM with two Starbucks hot chocolates in hand and three camping chairs loaded in the back.

The best part was that she was shocked (shocked) when we got to the parking lot and there was not another car in sight. After talking about our line strategy, we decided that it would be wisest to hang up our sign immediately and then wait back in the car until someone else showed up so that we could wait until they "discovered" the sign and then get out of the car and innocently ask them, "Oh? Is this where we're supposed to line up?"

After all, we are going to have kids in the same preschool class as the other people in line... we don't want to come across as totally psycho from the get go.

So Alyssa sneaked to the door under the cloak of darkness and hung up her sign (of course she had scotch tape in her pocket). While I watched, giggling from the front seat of her car. We then watched and waited.

A few minutes later our friend Meghan arrived and joined the party in Alyssa's car.

Around 6:30 AM another car finally showed up. Alyssa was ready to spring from the car, determined to be the first one in line, but we noticed that the driver of the other car parked about as far away from the building as he could and when he got out of his car he was holding what looked like a lunch box. Turns out he was an employee.

He entered the building at one end and eventually made it to the lobby doors where our sign was hung. We held our breath. At first he walked right by, seemingly oblivious, but just as he was about to turn down a hallway away from the doors, he looked over his shoulder and did a total double take. He came to a complete stop mid-stride and spent a suspenseful 30 seconds or so staring at our sign before he moved on.

All the while, Alyssa kept remarking that she couldn't believe no one else was there yet. Ha!

But at 6:45 AM, Alyssa glanced toward the door and was shocked to see two men approaching the door. We were blind-sided. In all of our calculations we did not account for pedestrians. Of all the oversights!

I've never seen Alyssa move so fast. She was out of the car and grabbing our chairs from the trunk before I had a chance to put down my hot chocolate.

The sign worked like a charm. The men read it and obediently formed a line right in front of it. We, as planned, said, "Oh, it's great that they put up a sign," and joined them in line wearing our best poker faces.

Shortly after that people began to join the line by twos and threes. More than once we saw someone beginning to line up at the entrance opposite us, only to see the sign through the double glass doors and join the growing line on our side of the building. Priceless.

By the time the doors were opened, there were more than 40 people standing in line. We felt totally validated showing up as early as we did. Even if it was a little excessive. What can I say? When it comes to our kids, we are committed... especially at $206/month. :)