It Has Come to This...

Forget lullabies and stories, bedtime at our house is now defined by lock boxes and metal gates. But let me back up and explain...

We had a very rough week from a going-to-bed perspective. Max was getting out of bed over and over and over again, shaking the gate, screaming, and turning on the light. All of this would get Henry riled up, and by the time we got up the stairs, we'd find the lights blazing, Max dancing around in front of the gate and Henry standing in the crib, pumping his fists in the air and hooting his brother on. Not a situation that was conducive to sleep for either boy. The final straw was one particularly bad evening when Max pulled Henry's arm through the bars of the crib and bit it. For a few days after that, we started putting Henry down in our room and then transferring him back to the boys' room after Max was FINALLY asleep. This was a big pain for everyone involved, however, and didn't seem like a good long-term solution. Eventually, we decided that everything would be less intense if Max couldn't turn on the lights at all. He learned how to peel duct tape off the light switch pretty quickly, so we found this contraption at Home Depot that locks over the switch so he can't reach it. Of course Scott and I can't reach the light either without using a key, but the inconvenience is outweighed by the fact that Max is now going straight to sleep. At least for the moment. With his stubborn streak, I'm expecting chains and iron bars aren't far off on the horizon. By the time he's ten years old, it's going to look like San Quentin Prison around here at bedtime.

It's not all doom and gloom in Chez Gerber, though. The best news on the sleep front is that Max can now sleep through the night without wearing a diaper. I'm sure we'll have a few accidents along the way, but I can comfortably call him "potty trained" at long last. Hurray!

Not to be outdone, Henry has also made great developmental leaps recently. He's gone from being a baby to a full-fledged toddler in a matter of weeks. He walks everywhere now and (knock on wood) hasn't sustained any of the black eyes and other contusions that Max had CONSTANTLY in his first months of walking. His ability to understand language has also taken off and he can follow simple requests like "Bring me your shoes" or "Give this truck to Max." Speaking of trucks, he and Max have been spending a lot of time driving their cars and trucks all over the house. They can do this for twenty minutes at a time without any interference from me. Sheer heaven! It is so sweet to see the two of them becoming friends. With any luck, this relationship will continue to grow as the boys get older.

Henry's 1-Year Appointment

Henry had his 1-year appointment today with Dr. Lee. Everything is looking good. His verbal and walking skills are "advanced" (which a mother always loves to hear!). He is in the 5oth percentile for height and weight. The poor guy was subjected to five different shots including the dreaded MMR and Chickenpox vaccines. No matter how many articles I have read discounting any link between the MMR vaccine and autism, it still scares me just a bit. At the very least, I know we can expect a fever and crankiness from Henry over the next few days. Poor little guy!

Birthdays Galore

Last week was a week of epic birthday celebrations. We kicked things off with a 30th birthday bash for my little sister. Max and Uncle David frosted the cake, and everything was going well until Max raked the knife across the top of the cake to scrape up a little frosting for himself. But let's be honest, who can blame the kid? Frosting tastes good. Really good. I've been known to sneak a little myself every now and again. Max just needs to work on choosing a more circumspect approach.



Henry enjoyed keeping the birthday girl company as she finished her margarita and blew out her candles.




Next on the birthday bandwagon was Great Grandma Sophie who turned an impressive ninety years old! We celebrated with a small family fiesta at Don Cuco's in Valencia.


Henry made sure to wear the right shirt for the occaision.




The final birthday was Grandma Rhona's. It was a rare treat to actually be with her on her birthday. We drove out to Santa Monica and met up with the Fingerhuts for a lovely dinner. I always find it interesting to be in LA. In my ten-year-old jeans and old raincoat from Scotland, I definitely did NOT fit within the typical fashion profile of the natives. People in Santa Monica tend to be thin and beautiful and fashionable and busty and blond. Oh well. At least I had the cutest kids in town! And no matter what one might think of the people in LA or the overall "mojo" of the city, there's no denying that the beach is gorgeous. Not just a little gorgeous either, but jaw-dropping, sunny, warm, palm-treed perfection.

Passover 2009

We had a lovely seder last night for the first night of Passover at Nana and Papa's house in Oakland. They were kind enough to use the "30-Minute Haggadah", and it's a good thing, too, because the boys were rather restless. My favorite moment was when Henry let out a truck-driver belch in the middle of the recitation of a prayer. Max asked to go to the bathroom not once, but twice during the reading, and both boys dropped so much food on the floor that I'm not sure if Nana's rug will ever recover (sorry about that, Lynn!). Even so, we had a great time, and it was a special treat that Aunt Nicolle and Uncle David were able to join us from London and Grandma Dodie was up from San Diego. Next year again in Oakland!

Check Out That Physique!

Recent Beach Photos

The Good, The Bad, and The Scaly

The Good:

1.) Henry is progressing rapidly with his walking. He now goes from place to place with both arms held proudly aloft and with both hands rotating from the wrist. He looks like some kind of Bollywood dance star. It's pretty hilarious and I will try to get some video footage.

2.) In his ongoing effort to be the cutest baby in the world, Henry also says and waves "Bye, Bye" and also says "Hello" while holding the phone to his ear. This comes out sounding strangely foreign, "Alo? Alo?" which is even more entertaining.

The Bad:

1.) I lost my cell phone in San Francisco so if I'm not returning your phonecalls, it's not that I'm trying to avoid you (well, most of you at least).

2.) Fang was stung by a bee yesterday. You may think that this is an odd affliction for an indoor cat, and you would be right. Fang, however, beat the odds by hunting down and capturing a bee that had somehow made its way into the living room. At this point, the terrified bee stung him on the tip of the tongue. I had to make an emergency trip to the vet to have the stinger removed from his tongue. Poor kitty!

The Scaly:

1.) Poor Max has been diagnosed with eczema. He's had a scaly rash that has been getting worse and worse for the past month and now we know the cause. Hopefully the steroid cream will get things under control. In the meantime, I am grateful that the rash doesn't seem to itch. Usually eczema is miserably itchy, but Max doesn't seem bothered.

That's it for now. Never a dull moment around here...