Updates

We're having all sorts of problems with our computer here at Rizkerson.com headquarters, and locked inside the idle iBook are all the wonderful pictures of Reid and Sania we normally share with you all.

So we've got a text update, and if you want pictures, I'll promise some as soon as we resolve our technical difficulties.

Reid started at his new school in September. We've been relatively quiet about this, perhaps burned by the school jinx that has moved Reid from his homecare to the "school" to "Ballston" to "New School." New school is great. While the last two were pre-schools of varying degrees of niceness, this is a Montessori school with a curriculum and school administration and lots of other trappings that lead it to take itself very seriously. This isn't a bad thing, because we have felt the adverse affects of under-communication at Reid's previous schools. And this communication is mostly constructive, including a nice parent-teacher conference this week.

Reid is doing tremendously well in the new school. His teacher speaks highly of his abilities and told us all about how his balances his independence and his group play well, how he uses the bathroom self-directed all the time, how he is courteous and takes instruction from adults without a problem.

We just want to understand what child she is talking about.

But seriously, we sincerely believed going into this school that Reid would respond really well to the Montessori curriculum. In a lot of ways, the balance of structure and freedom that makes the Montessori method not perfect for all kids makes it perfect for him. Better yet, he has made some new friends who he discusses often, including such awesome-named gents as Owen, Liam and Josef.

What else is happening in Reidville? I'll tell you the short answer: Superheroes. And Vikings. And knights. And gladiators. Why? Because I foolishly thought to indulge Reid's interest in Batman by digging up a relatively non-violent old comic of my own, from a DC Comics miniseries called the "Best of the Brave and the Bold." (It's the first item listed on this nerdy, nerdy website.) The cover story is Batman teamed with the Green Arrow to solve the mystery of an attack on Bruce Wayne's senator friend. Bats and GA track down a crime-boss/real estate developer and foil him with arrows and Batarangs. Good times. Then DC Comics also-rans like the Viking Prince, the Golden Gladiator and the Silent Knight (seriously, a knight who can't talk). (Those three stories appeared in the original "Brave and the Bold" from the 50s, and were last-ditch efforts by the comics establishment to salvage something from their past before completely giving over to the super-hero era.)

Reid loves these stories and there's nothing we can do about it. Batman, Green Arrow, and the Golden Gladiator invade our home without warning. Reid can be wearing a cape, surprising villains as Batman one minute and then suddenly he's in a chariot thundering around the Coliseum to victory and winning his freedom. As he jumps from one to the other, he'll quickly inform us by assigning new roles. "You be Batman, I'll be Batman, daddy." Eleven seconds pass. "You be clapping and I'm Marcus," he says, using the name of the Golden Gladiator (because "gladiator" is a tough word). That's right, in the chariot race scenario, I'm the audience. "Hail Marcus," I say, holding Sania and wondering how we got here.

Oh, Sania. She's great. She's a healthy young lady, we're fortunate to say. Her 6 month appointment brought us the following details: She weighs seventeen pounds and thirteen ounces, which puts her in the 85th percentile for six month old girls. And she is 27 and three quarters of an inch long, which makes her taller than almost all the six month old girls around.

Six months means solid foods, and it's been wonderful and relatively simple compared to the first-time parenting histrionics that K and I went through with Reid. They are clearly different children, and Reid was all hands and blowback, with food ending up on every surface not protected with Teflon. Sania smiles and eats, pretty much whatever you give her. She's had the carrots and sweet potatoes, enjoyed them both, and wanted more. She had that rice cereal stuff, and prefers food with taste. Recently, we tried the green beans and then some peas. K bought oatmeal and apple sauce and without much discussion we've got this kid mostly eating food. We gave the thumbs up to solid foods to the nice lady who takes care of Sania the other day, and she said Sania happily eats up whatever is offered.

We don't want to jinx anything, but Sania has been an impressive eater. Reid was always a perfectly good eater of things; that is, if he wanted to eat, basically anything could be offered and he would eat it. But identifying the moment in which he actually wants to eat seems difficult. Breakfast is a reliable meal, and possibly one other meal a day. If we're lucky. I get the feeling that Sania isn't going to be a fickle eater. Just a hunch.

Summer Dress

Sania has been a pretty fortunate baby when it comes to clothing. Girls usually are, I'm told. People like buying girl clothing a lot more than they like buying boy clothes. We've spent three years popping up and down like moles in the massive Target infants and toddlers clothing section hunting for the stray rounder of boy pants and long-sleeved whatevers. Now it feels like clothing nirvana, shopping for Sania.

This is a summer dress that Sania kept not being able to wear. We were invited to a wedding where it turned freakishly cold and we couldn't in good conscience put her in the outfit. Then we planned on having her wear it somewhere else and I think she found a way to soil it before we arrived at our destination. I heard K muttering under her breath that Sania was going to wear this dress somewhere nice if it killed us. I don't know if we ever pulled that off, so here's a picture of Sania in her nice summer dress.

Happy fall.