"CAH!"

A few months ago, Ronin was saying "GA" for ball and "DA" for truck and everything else. But nowadays, he expresses pure delight when he sees a car, outside or on TV or in a pictures, and says, "CAAAAAHHH!" He repeats this with real gusto in his voice. It's so cute! Cars and trucks are somewhat similar things to him. He can distinguish what a train is, but can't call it a train yet. Ronin is also stubborn as hell and is going to be the death of me one day. He keeps banging the TV screen. I have told him NO and even tried putting up that red Stop sign to get him to stop. Instead, he bangs it again, defies me, rips down the sign, or just flat out ignores me. It's driving me crazy.

At 4 months and 1 week, Audrey is growing like a weed and looking a lot like Nikko did as an infant. She's awake a bit longer nowadays, maybe 2-3 hours between naps, drinks 7.5 - 8 oz of formula a meal, and is cooing a alot. She looks around at her surroundings and even crans her neck back to look at me when I hold her on my shoulder. Her eye contact is really good. When she wakes up in the morning and turns over to look at you (I help turn her over; she can't roll yet) Audrey squeals in delight and is full of smiles that go from ear to ear. I spend a lot of time kissing her smooth cheeks and nuzzling her clean-smelling hair. SUCH a cutie.

This Friday is a GNO at Drury Lane to watch Miss Saigon. I can't WAIT to go. I really, really need a night out with the girls. I love my kids so much, but I need some quality time away from them to recharge my batteries. The issue here is can Denis take care of all three of them without losing his mind? The clock will start around 5:30pm on Friday when I leave. I say that he can handle it. The boys will be easy; it will be carrying Audrey around and placating her until it's time to go to bed. Even then, he'll have to rock her to sleep. Once she's down, however, he'll be coasting fine. Ronin is easy to put to bed. And Nikko will be fine. I just have to remind Denis of putting all our safety measures in place i.e. keep the bathroom door closed when he's not in it, keep the basement door closed, put all knives out of reach, don't use the stove burners closest to the edge of the stove. Other than all that, our house is pretty child-proof except for a few doors I have to reinstall some hook closures. I am so looking forward to hanging out with all the girls (except for Wendie who's working, Rhonda who is in Michigan, and probably Rachel who didn't want to go see Miss Saigon at Drury Lane). I'm going for the bonding, man. I've seen Saigon 2 times and wouldn't mind seeing it again as long as it's the Cameron McKintosh version.