Baby Gussie

At nearly seven weeks, Gussie is quickly leaving the sedentary infant stage behind him and moving on to full-fledged babyhood. He now has several "wide awake" times each day, which he spends exercising his limbs and testing out all the different muscles in his face.

He doesn't quite have the push-up yet, or at least he can't hold it long enough for me to get a picture, but he loves to stare out the window.

The girls are convinced he says words when he's making his random sounds.

He gives us lots of silly faces.

 Likes to stick his tongue out at us, and occasionally gives us a hint of a smile.

And then there are the involuntary movements, the yawn and the "I'm about to sneeze!" face.

Other than the fact that they don't like being targets for projectile spit-up, Mary and Catherine are having more and more fun hanging out with Gussie.

Michael Jr is still feeling a little extra super clingy in the presence of his little brother, but he's trying. He really is.

Home Church

Our kids are not perfect in church. Sometimes they get squirmy, fight over Bibles, turn around and stare at the people behind them, attempt to use the kneeler as a launch pad for various gymnastics, or burst into song when everyone else in church is silent. But very often they are interested and engaged in the liturgy, and even when it looks like all they're doing is distracting everyone within four pews, it's amazing how much they take in. You might wonder how I know, but that's easy; everything they hear (and not just at church) is processed and reborn in some form at home.

A quick repeat story for those of you who aren't on facebook:

It's the fate of every boy who grows up with older sisters: dress-up time. But Michael Jr responded with a rather clever scheme for combating the potential indignity: he looked down at this snow white dress and declared it a "Jesus robe." Clothed in his Jesus robe, he reigned over play time with omnipotence all morning. If anyone questions his authority, he pats his dress and reminds them, "Michael Jesus." I imagine before long, Catherine will be consulting her catechism for an appropriate rebuttal.

(Actually, I think the real reason Michael calls this a "Jesus robe" is because the only male he's ever seen wearing something that resembles a dress is a priest wearing a chasuble. And he calls all priests "Jesus", so naturally, this is a "Jesus robe.")

Michael fits right in in his Jesus robe because Catherine and Mary like to hold mass at home, which first requires the construction of an altar:

Do you see the red blocks sitting on top of the three candles? Those are flames. That's how you know those candles are lit.

Once they have a proper altar they get dressed up and lead the choir.

Catherine is actually reading the words to a song on a page of music. She can pretty much read anything now.

Also, don't forget Gussie is going to be baptized (at real church) next Sunday the 30th. We are having an open house party at our place that afternoon from 2 to 5, and you are most certainly invited. If you want to come to the actual baptism, just give me a call and I'll give you the details of our church/baptism/lunch/soccer game schedule that morning!

Fall Festival

Suddenly, finally, thankfully, it is starting to feel more like fall and less like the underworld around here. I wore Gussie around in the Moby for several hours -- in the middle of the day -- at our church's fall festival last weekend and we were both only damp with sweat, rather than drenched from head to toe.

It turns out the fall festival is fairly major, complete with a parade and carnival rides. The parade featured a lot of neat cars that just so happened to have candy spewing out the windows and tops... Catherine and Mary each collected a purseful and every pocket Michael Jr could find was stuffed. (I let them each pick their favorite piece and I plan on bartering the rest of it for something else they want. Same goes for Halloween.)

After the parade we let them choose a few rides. I think the overall favorite was the flying elephants.

Did you see how much fun Michael is having?

He also opted for two turns driving the car ride.

Mom, does this remind you of a picture from Ocean City way back in the day? I was hoping Catherine was going to choose the motorcycle next to Mary... then it would have matched exactly!

Catherine's favorite was a little obstacle course. She is *way* into climbing things right now.

And then there was the Super Slide. It made Michael Jr so nervous that when Mary said she wanted to go on it he grabbed my hand and insisted several times that "Michael no ride super blue slide." You can see why he thought it looked a little large (that's Catherine just starting down!).

While Catherine and Mary were climbing the stairs Daddy had to hold Michael to ensure him that we weren't going to make him ride the super blue slide. I think this is the first time I have seen him show any regard for his personal safety, and he looks like he was still feeling nervous for his sisters. 

Perhaps he knows them quite well; they were excited on the way up, but they both looked very close to tears by the time they slid over that third bump.

 But when they eventually slid to a stop it was all fun and games again. Mary even claimed on the way home that the super slide was her favorite ride.

They were very disappointed when we went to Mass tonight and all the rides were gone and the lot where they had been was returned to a soccer field.

Friday Night Movies

Catherine is working on piano in earnest this fall, and she's actually starting to enjoy it a little bit. Daddy played the accompaniment for a song she learned recently - their first duet!



This video is pretty boring as far as action goes, but between Gussie sleep-nursing and Catherine's soft snore, I think it's about the cutest thing ever.

 

Turtle Park

I took the kids to Turtle Park for the first time yesterday, and, as expected, they loved it. Who wouldn't love to clamber around larger-than-life stone turtles?

Hooray! We scaled a turtle mountain!

Side note: do you see Michael's outfit? The shorts are one of his favorite pairs of "Daddy Orts"; he insists on wearing "Daddy Orts" pretty much every day. It was such a hot summer that Daddy spent a lot of time at home in basketball/running/workout shorts, so Michael Jr is convinced this is his signature look. Not bow ties, not suits, not Nantucket red trousers or pink polos; basketball shorts. I find this hilarious. Secondary side note: Michael refers to his shirt, which has Elvis on it, as his "Elmo shirt." 

Back to the turtles. They had fun sitting on this turtle's head:

There were also some smaller turtles for Daisy and Michael to ride at will.

But Catherine's favorite was hanging out in this turtle's mouth. She called it a hammock.

The First Game

Catherine had her first soccer game this afternoon, and I'm pretty sure she loved it. Here is a good general description of a kindergarten girls' soccer game:

The ball is going somewhere, and every girl on both teams is chasing after it, kicking away.

Although most plays eventually devolve into every girl on both teams huddled tightly around the ball, the coaches do a great job of keeping the girls excited and the game going, and teaching them actual soccer rules and the structure of the game along the way. Here is Catherine's highlight reel:

Going for an interception:

A throw from the sidelines:

Her first corner kick (she's been excited about corner kicks because of reading a Bernstein Bears book in which Brother Bear is a superb corner kicker):

And more kicking (it is soccer, after all):

Mary and Michael Jr are getting a head start on their practice time.

Did you know Grandma can play soccer while holding a sleeping baby? Impressive.

Catherine told me her team won, 6 scores to 2 (she and Mary always say "scores" instead of "points"). I honestly don't know if that is correct or not, but like I said, she had a lot of fun. And she participated in her very first "good game" line, which you could tell from the look on her face, was quite an unexpected cherry on top of the afternoon.

Catherine has a game almost every Sunday afternoon in September and October - if you want to join us for any just let me know and I'll send you the schedule and location.

Also a quick Save the Date note: Gussie's baptism is going to be Sunday, September 30, and we are having an Open House party that afternoon. I don't know exactly what time yet (we'll be squeezing a soccer game in there somewhere) but I'll get details out soon!

Happy First Month!

Gussie is a month old today! He still spends about twenty hours a day sleeping.

Surprisingly, I think this has resulted in the other kids sleeping more. Gussie was sleeping on the couch the other day and Michael Jr was clearly in need of a nap, so I asked him if he was tired and he said, "Michael go sleep on couch with Gussie." And he actually followed through with that plan.

Catherine still falls asleep almost every time she is holding a sleeping Gussie, although Mary usually stays awake; I think she is too excited still.

Or possibly too worried about being crushed if she doesn't make a constant effort to breath. Gussie was 10 pounds 14 ounces a few days ago, but he seems like he's as big as her sometimes.

When he's not asleep (and sometimes when he is asleep) Gussie's activities include eating and hiccuping. He has also recently started to take interest in his hands flying around in his field of vision, and he tries to hold his head up quite a bit.

Plus he likes staring at lights. Mary says his favorite color is white, because it's the color of milk.

Labor Day Fun

Clearly, Labor Day does not mark the end of summer (weather) in Saint Louis. But it was still a great day to spend playing with Grandma and Grandpa and celebrating Aunt Heather's birthday. This is how Gussie celebrates.

 Like usual, Catherine and Mary spent a good part of their time preparing and performing a dress-up show.

 Grandma had a newly acquired set of old hats, and the girls decided that anyone who wanted to watch the show should also be wearing a hat.

Catherine chose to wear her sunglasses on the outside of her hat's veil.

I think the dress-up shows never get old, but there was also something brand new to be discovered: a cooler-than-cool train table for Michael Jr, complete with conductor's hat and kerchief. He was beyond pleased (and very focused on making all the bells and whistles work).

Random picture from not-Labor-Day: Gussie does this a lot now. He should be happy with this picture - only two of his five chins are showing.