Julia's First Hair Cut

Julia, Julia, let down your hair!

You are 4 and a half years old and have only ever had little trims for split ends and a few trims to your bangs (which you used to call 'fangs.') You LOVE your hair! You're proud of the color, the look, the feel, the different things you can do with it. But, you're also very adventurous and determined and practical...and open to change.

When you came to mommy and me and let us know that you wanted to cut your hair...and cut it short...we worked with you to make sure that this was what you wanted. 

You found pictures -with mommy's help- of what you wanted your hair to look like online. 

We double checked with you, to make sure you understood that you couldn't wear pony tails or pig tails or even a bun. 

You were calm and said "It'll grow back, Daddy!"

And so...Mommy made an appointment in a cool place in Deep Ellum with a stylist named Kennedy. Yaya came along too for moral support, and here you go!

 

You absolutely love it! And that's what is most important! 

It doesn't hurt that everyone else loves it too!

So a few snips, support from Yaya, Aidan, and Mommy during the cut, and one lollipop later, and you got yourself a brand new 'do!

Of Pig Tails and Tissue Trails

Julia, you are about 21.5 months old, but sometimes you act as if you've been here forever- wise beyond your years, too perceptive and smart to not even be two yet. This summer, your vocabulary has skyrocketed, your singing and dancing have gotten super amazing...

...and you've even learned how to jump.

Sometimes, you just leap forward physically, leaving your mother and I astonished at how much of a big girl you really are.

 

First and foremost, it's official: your hair has finally grown long enough to sport more 'do's. Today you wore your first ever pig tails, and they suit you to a tee. Just. Plain. Awesome. You are always beautiful.

Today you are beautiful with pig tails!

 

 

For just about a week solid preceding the pig tail incident, you were waking up moaning, griping, and sometimes crying in the middle of the night and nothing could console you except for being held. We could not figure out what the heck was going on, since you are normally such a good sleeper. Then, one day, after what turned out to be the last such night, your mother and I both independently noted that you seemed bigger...heavier...and then all of a sudden you could reach things you couldn't reach before. That settled it from an acadmic standpoint: you had a growth spurt!

 

 

 

Sometimes you seem to be growing up before our very eyes. Sometimes you seem like you've been here before.

 

Sometimes you seem like you might be from somewhere else altogether!

 

 

You love to color on yourself.

 

And you have to sleep with a tissue in your hand. You've been doing this for quite a while; sometimes a tissue to hold will comfort you if you're upset at night time...even so much as a year ago.

 

 You call tissues 'nanos'; even though you can say tissues. Each night, you request a nano, and then in the morning it's gone. Sometimes we see little pieces of tissues balled up, here and there. Sometimes you call down to us "Mommy, nano fall!" Sometimes you are pretty upset about their frailty, as one night when Mimi and Pops were babysitting and you kept yelling down "Mimi, nano broke!"

 

Most nights though, the nanos just seem to disappear...Until one day I moved the crib from the wall and found nearly a box-worth of tissues all torn up and balled up under your bed. You are so funny! Some people have security blankets, some people have security nanos that they tear up night after night.

 

No matter how strange that may seem as you're reading it, it is completely normal- and a good reason to buy stock in Kleenex- and completely a part of who you are: old soul, growing up too quickly, quirky and hilarious!

 

I think we'll keep you.

 

Cherry Pie, Being Seen, Toddler Beds, Feeling Green

Children,

Your mother's cravings continue to amaze. The other night she took a big breath in and said 'MMM...cherry pie!' I have no clue what she was smelling because I was making noodles. The good news is though, even though the first trimester blues has your Mom feeling a little green, she's feeling a little better.

She actually went to the store to get her own late-night craving. Also, the instructions were too complicated for me to follow: "cherry pie that is like flaky on top but not too thick and is ready instantly."

She found Mrs. Smith.

And Mrs. Smith treated your Mommy very well.
You might be wondering where your Mom is putting all this food...well, it's a lot of effort to build a new little Weinstein, so that's where it's headed.

And I do declare, your Mom is 'showing' already! Check it out: Here is the last picture of her - at week 10.5 - with her long hair.

This is going to be a rough summer. We're already in the high 80s and your Mom just couldn't take the heat anymore. So she chopped her hair off. I couldn't be a posed picture for the "after" view, but you'll notice in the following pictures that her hair is much shorter. I'm working on getting your Mom to pose for the belly pictures we did during Aidan's pregnancy. But every time I ask her to take a picture, she gets a little more green...you'll understand more later. But don't worry: we're starting tonight, with Week 11.



Okay, I'm going on the record here: I'm thinking that you, little one, are going to be Aidan's little SISTER. I'm officially thinking that you're going to be a girl. The cravings, the nausea, the way she's carrying you are all so much different that with you, Aidan.

Plus the Chinese Gender calculator predictor nonsense says you're a girl, little one. But it also predicted Aidan would be a girl. And he's definitely not. He's a boy.

And in fact, this weekend, Aidan, you got to take another big step toward being a big boy!

We did some re-arranging and bed trading and wound up with a toddler bed. You were super excited by this development and, after you got over being upset that we weren't going to let you just play on the wooden frame and that you couldn't lift the mattress off yourself (and no one was going to help you do it, despite your multiple requests for "halp...halp"), you really liked your bed. You stand on it to look out the window, you crawl up on it to sit. You brought some snacks up on it to eat while relaxing. And you called it "bed."

With this kind of reaction to the toddler bed, we thought we'd give napping in it a try.

So we tucked you in and sang to you as usual, and you were just really excited to be in the toddler bed.

I gotta be honest, I had my doubts that you, such an excited little boy, would fall asleep on the toddler bed. But, low and behold, you took a good, long 1.5 hour nap on your big boy bed.
Your Mom and I were so proud of you. But, of course, not being caged in a crib makes for an eventful time when you woke up. Your Mom was napping while I was outside doing yard work with Pops. Your Mom said she awoke with a start when she heard your familiar loud-stomping through the house. You just got up, crawled out of bed and decided to go to the living room and check out what was going on out the window. I guess you had places to go! You're getting so grown up, Aidan; but it's a good thing you've still go lots of room to grow.

And speaking of growth, little one, you are now 11 weeks along and you're the size of a LIME! (no wonder your Mom's feeling green!) I can hardly remember when it was lime time for you, Aidan!

Your head is the same size as you body, and your fingers and toes are no longer webbed. You're working on growing hair follicles, tooth buds, and nail beds. That sounds like a lot of work indeed. No wonder your Mom's a bit soured on making lime-ade out of these limes. She's feeling better, but sometimes, Pregnant Mommy feels so green that she says hilarious things.

The best line of the pregnancy thus far happened in our kitchen. I'm trying to have a conversation with your Mom, asking her question after question...with no response. Finally I stop and realize I'm talking to myself and say..."hello?"

Your mom looks up at me, lookin' pretty green and says "answering questions makes me sick."

We eventually had a great laugh over that one, and a great weekend playing outside with you Aidan, and watching you grow inside, Little One.

So, a week of hair cuts, cherry pies, new beds, new aversions (questions...who knew?) were just what the doctor ordered.

We've got a big boy and a bitty baby bump on our hands; and we're loving every second of it. As long as pie or strawberries and nutella or mangos or almond milk are readily and as long as no body ends a sentence with a question mark.

Any questions?

New 'Do

You've been such a good eater since day one. But, now that you're mostly feeding yourself, a lot of the food winds up in other places besides your mouth. Like mostly on the floor, the dogs' mouths, your lap and, your new favorite food location, your head! (don't worry, you always make sure that enough food ends up in your mouth; you never leave hungry)

I think it might be a custom from your peoples: if someone gives you a food you like, such as peaches, strawberries, raisins, or blackberries, then to show your appreciation you must wear the food on your head.

One particular evening, you really liked the chicken meat, tuna fish and peaches I fed you for dinner (aka a good representation of all of these foods wound up smushed in your hair).

So, what's a good Dad supposed to do?

After dinner, we retired to the washroom where I tried to clean your hair, but noticed instead that the buffet on your head gave your hair some new tenacity.

So, I styled it!

Rock on, baby!

Life's a Beach!

Well, it looks like we've been gone for a long time. And we were!

Over the week of your 5-month-iversary you got to take your first trip to the Beach!

And no, it wasn't some crazy old dream: your Mommy was there, your Daddy was there, Your Mimi was there, your Pops was there, 3 of your Uncles, 3 of your Aunts and all of your cousins (so far) were there too! And 1 of those aunts, 1 of those uncles and 2 of those cousins had never met you before...how exciting was that!?!


This adventure was too crazy for words. So I'll stop writing and just let the pictures and videos we took on our cool new HD under-water-safe digital video camera do the talking.

I realize this is a bit like looking at someone else's baby pictures, but it really isn't...because they're YOUR vacation pictures. And who wouldn't like to see vacation pictures involving a cute baby?

You got to meet your Aunt Deborah!
And your Uncle Keith!
And your Cousins Kobi and Ella!
And, of course, some of the folks you've already met got to hang out with you again too, including Uncle Taff!

And Aunt Mendi!Cousin Addy!
Kathryn!
And some regular suspects too:



Some of your jumping cousins!


Cousins Ruthy and Steve came by too!


Kobi was immediately captivated by you. And you were captivated by him too!

The mosquitoes were ravenous. But, don't worry...you didn't get bitten...except for maybe once...on your scrotum. But it went away very quickly! (the bite, not the scrotum). Sorry about that, by the way. That couldn't have been comfortable. And I don't know how the mosquito got there anyway!

Look! You have hair!

And a Mimi too!
You slept on my chest at the beach under the umbrella for a long long time!


We got you a little kiddy pool for 4 dollars and filled it with fresh water for more optimum beach enjoyment! And it turned out to be a family event!

You really seemed to (not completely dis-) like the pool and the beach breeze!

Look: 4 out of the 5 siblings with all of their children! Whoa!


Mimi and Pops (Saba and Safta to your British Cousins) with all 10 of their grandchildren (so far!)
Don't worry: I got you...
Here we go! It's your first time EVER to put your feet in the ocean!
No, don't look at my BFB (that's 'big fat belly'). Look at you! in the Ocean! (Actually it's the Gulf of Mexico, but who's counting?)





What a stud!

By the end of the trip you were so accustomed to the beach you didn't even mind it slapping you in the face a little. You're a little beach bum!



We also visited the historic Galveston strand!

The best thing about the vacation, though, was getting to spend all day with you for 9 days straight! I didn't want to go back to work. We got to show you so many cool things and have so much fun with you and your cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents.

You grew up so much during that week, or so said everyone who didn't go on the trip. But, I knew it too-- you got to play in the ocean, you stayed in a new town in a new house and slept through the night, you got sand on your feet and got passed around from family member to family member like a hot potato without a gripe! You made it through two 3-4 hour car rides without a major meltdown and you didn't even seem to mind sun screen. You were fascinated with the big kids and even managed to hold your own a little too!

By next summer you'll be digging in the sand and playing in the surf and probably won't want to take a nap all cuddled up on my chest in a beach towel, but your mom and I will never forget how fun it was to show you the beach for the first time...our little beach boy!