Wes Ai-Yu Narucki

As many of you know, we have been considering 3 names for the baby boy for a long time. Clyde, Wes or Ellis. We solicited opinions throughout the pregnancy and while there was no clear front runner, "Clyde" received the most intense negative reactions. Julia refused input on our three selections, except to say that Ellis was a girl's name (Alice and Ella). Her choices were Baby Jesus (a favorite of hers after learning the nativity story this year) and Picture Picture Mama Mama (I have no idea). We thought she'd forget about the name Baby Jesus by February, but she consistently kept it as a contender. In fact, when cousins Lorenzo and Joaquin came to visit and called the baby Mitchin (as they have for the past 6 months), Julia argued, "But his name is Baby Jesus."

As with the naming of Julia, we waited until the last possible minute to make a decision -when having to fill out the paperwork to leave the hospital. In our despair, we did consider "Jesus Mitchin Narucki." Julia finally decided to weigh in on the real choices and selected Wes. So there's the story. (We'll ignore the part where we made her indecisive (call him Clyde, we just want to hear you say Baby Clyde . . .) and she told us that the baby actually wanted to be named Ellis and then that she thought Clyde was a good name).

A New Addition - No, not the "Cool It Now" kind

After a 12-hour induction, most of which was spent watching March Madness and 2 movies, Carol triumphantly pushed out our newest addition at 11:01PM . Measuring in at 8lbs. 15oz. and 22 inches, it's no wonder he took so long to come out. Anyhow, here are some pics.

Paranoid Learning

(As I wait to hear from the hospital as to when I can go in to get labor induced, I figure I should try to write one last post completely centered around the little girl)

"Stop, Daddy. That's Dangerous."

In his attempts to get Julia to appreciate juvenille male humor, Wayne is jokingly putting fingers up his nose. Wayne laughs, and respectfully obliges Julia's instruction.

"Now go wash your hands daddy."

Julia has been preoccupied with germs and cleanliness for the past month. I think they did some lessons at school and we happened to find what we thought was a cute book from the library, "Germs," about a little germ named Pox, who doesn't like to infect kids like all the other bad germs. Pox helps a little girl's immune system thwart the evil intentions of other bad germs and becomes a celebrated hero. Julia is quite enamored of him. But she is currently very concerned about washing her hands (which is a great thing, I know!) so that she doesn't get a rash. She will ask you before and after you go to the bathroom whether you washed your hands.

In the procrastination period after bedtime stories, but before she falls asleep, Julia talks about sickness. How she doesn't want anyone to get sick. What happened to the Strep germ that infected her uncle? Her belief that Uncle Eddie got better after eating the Ginger Snap cookies that she made with her daddy. Her concern that her cough will never go away without medicine. Why won't we give her medicine? The latest escapades of her immune system (the Germs books cutely depicts your immune system as a miniature armored army of little yous).

We all helped create Julia's paranoia with our explanations of why we get sick, why we wash our hands, etc. I wonder if you can instruct without creating these obsessions. But I'm reminded of all that gets lost in translation when you communicate with a child. I remember forgoing cereals for probably 2 years after watching some health video in second grade. I don't know what that video was really about, but I remember it showing microscopic bugs that eat cereal. I was horrified at the thought of eating those bugs when eating cereal. I'm pretty sure I never explained this to my parents - I just told them I didn't want cereal.

I'm not too worried about raising an OCD kid - I've already seen her outgrow some obsessive behaviors, like needing every door to every room closed at all times. But I'm just reminded to try and be a little careful with how we explain things.