MR HAPPY AND THE SISTERS

(Deep breath.)

I'm tired.

It's fun and all, having 3 preschoolers in the house, but this is track season, which means Daddio is gone a lot. I'm functioning as a single mom to 3 kids who don't go off to skool every day.

Vanessa got the flu pretty bad. I took her to the doctor with a croupy cough, vomiting and diarrhea. Her temperature was 103.5 and her oxygen rate was 80. They didn't believe it, because she was running around. Well, I guess they did believe it because they gave her a nebulizer and decadron. Daddio was gone for the week, so I did all nighters, managed the kids by day, and kept Vanessa home from preschool (that's only 9 hours per week). It wasn't easy. I counted the minutes until Jack got home!

I'm doing a fair amount of referee work now. The girls play nice together - usually it's pretend about being sisters, puppies at the Humane Society, Scooby Doo, or students going to college on a plane to San Francisco or Santa Barbara. But they argue with the best of them. I do a lot of emergency praying when I'm not sure how to handle a spat. Of course Zoey misses her mom, too. That factors in.

We got to see Nicole twice this month! She came to visit us and then we went to Fresno to see her and Grandma Debbie because Zoey was in a family wedding. It was great to meet everyone and show off Keenan.

Speaking of Keenan, here are some notes on his development... He walks. He talks. He throws the ball. He helps with dressing himself. He claps his hands. He dances. He says a few words. He feeds himself. He blows raspberries on my belly.

Let's just say his dancing was a big hit at the wedding. He's ten months old for heaven's sake. See him here with Nicole's fiance, Erik, getting a lesson...

Keenan is obsessed with balls and loves to throw them at Milo. He's kind of athletic. He climbed two flights of stairs last weekend at the hotel. He'd never seen stairs before. Our pediatrician, Dr. Bravo, is very impressed.

He does say a few words, too. Not many, but "kitty cat" is the biggie. We think he got this from going to the Humane Society every week to pet the kitties. He also says bath and water (wah) and duck. He adores water. We have to teach him to say Cowabunga because he tackles anyone on the floor with a screech and great glee. He does say a primitive version of "I did it!"

After 3 years and 6 months of breastfeeding without a break, I have weaned. I'm done. Keenan is drinking formula and eating stuff we eat, in small bites of course.

Our friends' son Isaiah is in film school at UC Santa Cruz. He needed to do an 8 minute "observation" documentary on some topic, so he chose Keenan. He came to film on the day Vanessa got so sick. It felt like reality tv around here. Should be interesting to see the final cut.

Our adoption agency, Lifetime, puts on nation-wide telephone conference once per month. This month, for Father's Day, they interviewed a dad: Jack. It was well received, we think. Some of the questions were about open adoption and how that worked, and others were about having a transracial family. Lifetime said they may ask both of us to be interviewed at another time on the topic of attachment parenting.

We've had a few brave visitors, too. Loretta came from Seattle. We laughed and laughed. I had my first shower in nearly a week while she played with the kids. Nicole came. Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Doc came for the day.

I'm looking forward to some simple days and nights. Maybe even a nap.