January Moments

Snow Day: Still life with outerware.

Let's face it. There's not much that's nice about January.

I forget how much I do not enjoy this time of year. The cold, the unpredictability of snow storms and potential snow days (which I have to admit, I don't dread as much as a I used to, both because I don't have to stress about attempting a commute into the city, coupled with the fact that the children are much better about amusing themselves on a day stuck at home). At least that's nice (trying to find a positive spin, can you tell?).


Snow days: Not what they used to be! (That's a snowman with his scooter and basketball, by the way--because, of course).

Nope, this is definitely not the easiest time of the year.  The holidays are over. Spring is a looooong ways away. It's cold. Did I mention it's cold?


This picture was taken back when we could see our driveway. Now? Not so much. Snow, snow and more snow.


We are doing our best to make lemonade out of the snow. Or, in my case, virgin bloody marys (see my glass, above). It was early Sunday morning and I was dreaming about a kid-free, bloody-mary-and-The-New-York-Times-Long-Brunch. Instead, we did a Valentine craft.


I'm going to the library as often as possible. The twins love when I bring home grocery bags of books, devouring them immediately. I usually just take Leo and Ellie with me to the actual library--when I pulled into the parking lot last time they both cheered, so I guess I must be doing something right.

Before the snow and deep freeze pummeled us, the Oregon Grandparents were here for their semiannual winter visit.



We took our traditional trip to our local zoo on New Year's Eve day and it was as magical as ever. For some reason--maybe it's that it's never above 25 degrees when we go, or because everyone has overdosed on the zoo (its "holiday zoo lights" display brings people from far and wide), but there is never anyone else there on New Year's Eve day. Seriously it's like having a private zoo, all to ourselves.



It was just the wolves and us. And yes, they were pretty much licking their chops at these scrumptious children.






One of the best parts about a frigid visit to the zoo is the hot chocolate/donut warm-up that follows.


The next day we feasted on Jewish deli food and watched the big Oregon game. It was fun to have family around to cheer on our "home" team. Most importantly, Ellie and Leo learned the art of chest bumping. (Thanks, Grandpa).


We bid the grandparents a sad goodbye, went back to school and Lucy managed to fall flat on her face and get her first black eye, earning her a new nickname, "Rocky." (I didn't know you could get a black eye wiping out the way Lucy did, but apparently you can).

But by far I think one of my favorite January moments was when Jake and Adam, Leo's buddies from the Friendship Circle, came over for a surprise visit while they were home visiting from college. It took Leo months to stop asking for these guys, who have been spending an hour every weekend with Leo since he was four and they were thirteen. So I thought it would be fun to surprise Leo and not tell him they were coming.



It was better than I could have ever imagined.

Lately

It's Wednesday, which means, time for another blizzard.



Let's shake things up a bit and make this a Nor'easter, shall we?



We walk the snowy, ice laden street of our neighborhood and the twins are (understandably) captivated by the icicles. They are incredible--many of them don't even look real. "Elsa (from "Frozen") made that!" Harry observes.


Today, I was the mom who brought three kids to the wine shop (remember, it's the day before the blizzard).

Hey, at least I didn't t bring all four.


Grandma and Grandpa sent us a box of art supplies, fueling our fire for watercolors.


Harry might be a bit more interested in the "water" part of watercolors.


Leo diligently addressed all his valentines this weekend. He proclaimed every female in his class his "girlfriend."


Lucy and Harry have fallen in love with Leo's bed (his room is on the main floor of our house and since it also holds the Lego table it's pretty much everyone's favorite place). They can often be found snuggling and "sleeping," until they are found, upon which they dissolve into fits of giggles. They better not be getting any big ideas about big kid beds. I guess they didn't get the memo: They will be in cribs until they are thirty, as all good children should be.





I have a new favorite quote, which I'm hoping will carry me through just about anything:





Peace.

When Life Gives You Fourteen Degrees, You Give it Felt Valentines in January

It continues to be ridiculously cold (I know, January) and it continues to be my least favorite time of year (Christmas is still over!). And so to that I say: Valentine's Crafts.



Ellie and I started working on this little ditty on Saturday afternoon while the twins napped. And here's some funny info which speaks volumes: I bought the materials for this "garland"…LAST YEAR. Along with a glue gun. Which I finally took out of its package this weekend. Hey, better late than never, right? Yes, I've long dreamed (for a whole year, apparently) of creating a little Valentine's Day garland (you can make garlands for pretty much any holiday-I'm already planning my Halloween version).



We worked furiously while they slept, in an attempt to get as much finished in the absence of the twin-nadoes precious darlings. I knew as soon as they woke it would be Game Over. We accomplished a lot, I'd say about 3/4 of the garland was complete before Lucy woke up.

When she came downstairs she was wide eyed at the craftapalooza. She announced, "I want to paint!"

Well, OK then.


Lucy, you're such a great artist, I told told her. "No I'm not!" she protested. "I'm Lucy!"

There was a time when I would have felt itchy to have so many projects going at once (shortly after Lucy started painting, she asked for lunch, so at one point I was simultaneously making a cheese sandwich, slicing berries and glue gunning burlap cord and felt hearts). The kitchen: Oh it was quite a sight. I guess I'm just much more accustomed to chaos than I used to be (Gee! I wonder why!). It still makes feel a little nuts, but I know in the back of my mind that everything is washable and everything has a place (eventually) and everything will get cleaned up.


Harry woke up a little later and joined our "salon."


He may have been a bit more interested in the paint water than the actual painting (don't worry, he took a drink when it was clean, before he'd dipped his brush).

Ellie alternated between decorating felt hearts for the garland and painting with watercolors. At one point I took a break from felt heart glue gunning and worked on some water colors too. This is so much harder than it looks, I mentioned to Ellie, who was working quietly beside me (It's been a while since I've used water colors).


"Not for me," Ellie replied. "I'm a natural."

By the way, about that working furiously? A funny thing happened. We were able to finish the garland after the twins woke up. This might sound silly, but I have to say that completing this did a lot for my confidence. I love being creative. I miss doing stuff like this. Yes, things have been pretty hectic for the last few years (Hi Harry and Lucy!). Dare I say we are seeing a glimmer of the future? A future in which creative projects can be completed at a time that doesn't involve nap time? A future in which it's not just the big kids participating, but the little ones too? I mean, don't get me wrong. There was still a toddler pulling on my leg the whole time I finished that last quarter of the garland and I'm sure at least two people were shouting MOMMY! and asking for a snack. But we finished the garland! We finished it! And I swear I didn't ignore the children. Too much.



Perhaps best viewed in darkened room, while squinting. But we had fun.




Felt, buttons, rick rack, ribbon, pom poms and sequins.

More. Is more.

The Epic "Break," Holidays and a New Year

Happy New Year!

The only thing you can do when you are horribly behind is just jump right in, right?

Right.

Winter break was wonderful. See also: Exhausting, dizzying, frustrating and hilarious. Everything that life at our house is, times infinity, full-time.

I look forward to the "break" all year long, even if it hardly lives up to its name.



The excitement on Christmas Eve? Oh. My. Goodness. I felt like I spent the last half of my day/whole evening scraping children off the ceiling. The anticipation was palpable. But eventually they all did fall asleep which meant…Erin and I got to put together toys and wrap seventy-nine presents! Weeeeee!

Photo below snapped at approximately 10:48 p.m. Christmas Eve. By the way, thanks Sweetie, for making me wrap presents a few nights in advance, rather than saving it ALL for Christmas Eve. That was a very, very good call (we wrapped 79 presents, rather than 219). Did I mention I've become a terrible procrastinator in my old age?


Note the tidiness and organization. Short-lived, trust.

Is there anything like that moment where you've finished wrapping everything and you're sitting there in your pjs, watching the final minutes of "It's a Wonderful Life" in front of the twinkling Christmas tree, thinking to yourself, yup, it really is just that. Wonderful.  Note: I'm usually drinking a glass of Bailey's at that moment, but I wasn't this year--it says a lot that I didn't even dip into it this year (sweet Erin even bought me the "big" bottle). Too. Tired. To. Drink. The hard stuff. I know.


Aaaand the next morning. It must have taken them about three minutes to open all 219 packages.


Absolute chaos. Like always.


New art supplies from Santa = momentary calm x 4. Did I mention no one asked to turn on the TV until about 3 p.m. on Christmas Day? I think we set a record.


These new stuffed animals were a favorite gift.




No Christmas breakfast would be complete without bouche de Noel (or, as we dubbed it this year, "Christmas Cake.") And yes, the twins instantaneously both learned to say "More Christmas Cake." Clear as little bells.

And if all that Christmas excitement wasn't enough, the Oregon grandparents came to visit, two days after the sugar/new toy high had begun to wear off.

We filled our days with watercolors, neighborhood walks, trips to the playgrounds (weather permitting), more new toys and books.








They also brought a little piece of Oregon with them, both in spirit and in the form of Ducky slippers from my sister and brother-in-law.


Artist Ellie paints a portrait of Artist Grandpa.


Harry and Grandma.


Playing ball in his room with Grandpa = Leo's Most Favorite Thing Ever.



Our now (so I've proclaimed-we've gone two years in a row so it's official!) annual New Year's Eve trip to our little local zoo was memorable as always. I love it for many reasons, one of which being that it's always freezing and we're always one of approximately two families there. It's like having our own private zoo and the twins can run crazy free to their hearts' content.


Looking for penguins. Right after I took this picture it started snowing, graceful, tiny flakes. Not going to lie. It was magical. 


Twins being penguins. Because, of course!




The walk home from the zoo. It was as cold as it looks!

The big kids were overjoyed to be able to take Grandma and Grandpa to the movies on a rainy Sunday morning, sharing their passion for "Frozen" (and I was not so secretly pretty excited about seeing it a second time, myself). We concluded our day in suburbia (a novelty for G&G but nothing but the "usual" for us), with a late lunch at Leo's beloved Five Guys, where Leo and Ellie taught Grandpa about the intricacies of the fairly amazing Five Guys soda machine.


It ended up being the "break" that kept on giving. The kids went back to school last Thursday, only to get a snow day on Friday.


Four (almost) snow angels. Or, someone's always gotta go rogue.

Some like the snow…




…a bit more than others (PS. I know, I know, he needs better boots and gloves. That will help. Lucy inherited all of Ellie's old snow gear and Harry pretty much got the shaft. Placing an order today, Hair-Man. Promise!).


After purging the house of ALL chocolate and bakery items and vowing to eat nothing but brown rice and steamed tofu for the rest of the year, I MAY have run out of things to do to keep the children busy and agreed to help Ellie make cupcakes for her teddy bear's birthday (See: The loooongest winter break ever).



And now, the holidays are over. It's a new year. I won't lie. The next few months have to be my least favorite. It's cold (5-degrees this morning, to be exact).  The tree is horizontal and naked on our curb looking forlorn and dejected. All that build-up and excitement and it's all just over. I mean, of course the holidays can't go on and on (then they wouldn't be special! I find myself trying to explain to the kids). But I'm secretly grateful that many of my neighbors seem to be holding on to the spirit a bit (see above). I always think of my mom though, when I see people with Christmas lights up, far into January and February. She used to grumble about giving people "tickets" for keeping their lights going past the season.

But the best thing about the holidays (if it's possible to pick a "best," which of course, it isn't, but I will anyway) is that they come every year. And every year you get the chance to have the Best Christmas/Holiday Season Ever. This year, the holidays were pretty darn fabulous, full of all the wonder and joy I could have hoped for (yes, in spite of Lucy's wails mid-menorah lighting). Nobody cried at Santa this year (a first!) and I even got to lay on the couch for a few minutes on Christmas Day.

It's a wonderful life. Yup, it really is.

Who's Going to Live Here When We Don't? and Other Profound Questions

The other day, Ellie was standing rightnexttome (as she is apt to do) as I changed Lucy's diaper in the babies' room. Ellie was flitting about as she is also apt to do. Rocking in the rocker, skipping around the room. That girl does not stop.

"Mommy, who's going to live in this room when the babies don't?" Ellie asked.

I reached for a new outfit for Lu. She's petite but we don't call her "Toot-in-Pants" for nothing. That girl can make a mess.

"Well, when the babies get older, I think you and Lucy will share this room." The nursery used to be Ellie's room and I was thinking that's what she was getting at, that she wanted her old room back.

"No, but what happens after that?" Ellie persisted. "Who's gonna be in that room after that?"

"Well, at some point, you'll get bigger and grow up and live with your family."

I mean, it's true, right?

Well. This was not the thing to say to a four and a half year old. Because as soon as I said it, Ellie's lip began to quiver and the tears came.

"But I don't want to live anywhere else! I always want to live with you guys!"

Honestly, I often forget she is four. That I need to be careful what I say. I went on to assure her that she could live with us for as long as she wanted. Forever and ever, if she wanted. And then she gave me a hug. So I guess we're good now.

In other news, it's the end of January and I'm happy to report our first snow fall.

Aside from an early morning trek to Disney on Ice (that was almost cancelled due to said snow--oh the irony!) we've had a cozy weekend.

Leo loves to read to the babies (see above). Speaking of Leo, his speech is coming along. He has a few new phrases including one that allows him to argue with me even more effectively (when met with me denying him something, most likely his beloved cheese crackers (which I'm constantly running out of): "Yeah you do Mommy!" He's also added "I love (fill-in-the-blank)" but it's usually a food item (grapes, pizza, cake). He also often hugs whatever he's referring to. Yes, you can hug grapes. Did you know? But he's also started to say, on his own accord, "I love you Mommy/Mama/LucyandHarry" (yes that's one word in Leo's world). And, well, speech delays and all, that's the kind of sentence that is truly worth waiting for.


Intermission.

Ellie danced in her seat throughout the entire show but when the performance was over, she announced she did not have a good time because "there weren't any princesses and Tinkerbelle didn't say hi to her."

Can you hear my eye balls rolling around? All I can say is, she'd adjust her criticism a bit when we take her to DISNEYWORLD in March (more on that, I promise).

The babies are good. Harry has his seventeenth cold. Poor dude. Every time I think I am going to let him CIO in the middle of the night, he gets sick and I just don't have the heart to let a sick(ish) baby cry. But man, I am tiiiiiiiired. I've said it before and I'll say it again:

It's a good thing they're cute.

Monday Notes

That's a (kid sized) car under all that, believe it or not.

1. This morning it was three degrees outside. If I’m going to live somewhere this cold, it should at least be a cute, quaint little mountain ski village. Preferably in a town with really great brew pubs. I know, I know. Blah, blah, blah: weather. Who cares?

2. Leo’s new favorite expression is “I don’t know,” (followed by an exaggerated shrug of the shoulders) which I think dovetails quite nicely with “I’m thinking,” don’t you? He says it a lot now (even when he full well knows) possibly because he knows it cracks me up. He says it clear as a bell, which is particularly exciting to me. We are just swimming in sentences over here and it’s amazing.

3. Leo is usually an “outside guy” in that he is constantly asking to play outside. It’s been so cold and snowy lately he hasn’t asked to (which is fine by me). Yesterday afternoon there was a request to make snow a man. I was feeling uncharacteristically peppy after a 4 p.m. cup of coffee (much needed), so I said, Sure! Out we went and first of all, there is a good two feet of snow in our back yard. And the snow? It’s like confectioner’s sugar. Powdery and wispy and pointless. So instead of making a snowman, Leo just threw snow at the dog and Ellie laughed uproariously. A great time was had by all (except for maybe the dog). And best of all, it was so cold, Leo only last thirty minutes outside.

4. Speaking of snow, here's a video I made a few days after the first Big Storm. Leo was furious because our dog kept taking the snow man's arm (imagine, a dog wanting a stick! Have you ever heard of such a thing?).


5. Leo lost another tooth. Top right. And by lost I mean, once again, lost. As in, never got to give the actual tooth to the tooth fairy. Poor guy. How does this happen? I guess he swallows them? He definitely notices when they are loose. He points to the tooth and says "my tooth!" We wiggle it and sure enough, loose. I think we are one for four: four lost teeth and one actual tooth in our possession to give to the Ms. Fairy.

Greetings From the Tundra and Other Fun Facts About the Weekend

I’m not usually one to complain about weather. I was born and raised in what many argue to be one of the more shall we say, depressing weather places: the gloomy, rainy pacific Northwest. It wasn’t until I left Oregon and lived in other places: southern California, even sunny-in-the-winter-yet-frigid-cold-New England--that I realized: OH. Rain and gloom is not normal. It’s not the way everyone else lives. In fact, I'll admit it. I like rain. I like it even more when I'm sitting in a pub in London and I have no where to go and nothing else to do.

But.

It has been cold here, now, for the last month I would say. And when I say cold, I don’t mean freezing. I mean, well below freezing. Highs in the 20s, on a good day. And as much as I pride myself on my sturdiness and my hearty Russian stock…I have to say the cold is getting old.

To wit, today I am wearing pants AND a skirt, as well as a “foundation garment,” long sleeved shirt and wool sweater.

Without kids on the weekends I could see myself holing up on the couch with a pot of coffee and The New York Times and a stack of library books and and lots of blankies. Heck, I would probably even take the dog on a walk in the afternoon when it “warmed up” a little (translation: when it goes from 19 degrees to 22).

And I confess, this is a rough time of year for me. On top of the cold, the Bright! Sparkly! Holidays! are over. The decorations are packed away and the house is returned to its previous, decidedly less-celebratory self. The visitors are gone. The staying home business is over (mixed feelings about this one, really) and the next vacation is not for a l-o-n-g time.

But we plug along. Someday again I will wear flip flops and a full, thin, billowy skirt and the summer breeze will blow. My arms will grow tan (the famous "mini van tanned arm," my nose will get red from too much backyard play (can there be too much? No way). My hair will frizz in the July jungle that is summer in New York. Most of all, spring will come.

We did our best to stay warm and busy this weekend.

-I kicked off the weekend with a trip to Crumbs on my way home from work for some of this ridiculousness:

I'm partial to the chocalate one with the white "squigle" in the front. It tastes JUST like a Hostess Cupcake only So. Much. Better. And, totally expensive and totally worth it. Life is too short not to, you know?

-We took the kids to see "The Princess and the Frog" on Sunday morning. The 11 a.m. showing, to be exact. Don’t think I’ve ever had popcorn before noon, but yesterday I did. And by the way Ellie ate about half the bag. She’d clearly had popcorn before, though not under my watch (daycare? I guess). Both kids loved the movie and sat enthralled, up until about the last ten minutes when Ellie started to get a little restless. The only hitch was that Ellie doesn’t weigh enough for the seat to be held down unless she sat right on the edge of it. I know, such problems.

-This is such a cliché for a cold winter day but seriously, the kids, on their own volition, built a fort. Doesn't that sound like a suggestion some exasperated parents would make?: "Go build a fort!" Sunday night, while the Cardinals and the Packers were duking it out, Leo took all the cushions off the love seat and made a tall pile.

He proclaimed his fortress a “hayride,” which I can only translate to mean, it was a vehicle like a tractor, the one that took us on our memorable October hayride. Boy did that word “stick” in Leo’s memory. He also took all of the various Little People vehicles and structures and piled them on his “Hayride.” That boy’s imagination…he slays me. It is a beautiful thing.

-We played A LOT of indoor ball (catch). When I got tired of playing with Leo I convinced Ellie to play with him and I have to say, that is a sight to see. Note to self: get some video of this.

-I read about a new TV that premiers next week called Life Unexpected. It is set in Portland, Oregon and is being compared to "Juno" and "Gilmore Girls." Of course I’m holding out hope that it’s the next "Gilmore Girls" (I’m still mourning its passing) and wonder...Portland...Gilmore Girls...did they write this show specifically for me? What can I say? We cancelled HBO and Showtime, "Mad Men" is over, "Breaking Bad" and "Friday Night Lights" haven't started up yet. My standards are low, but please don’t suck!

-Leo continues to "toast" us with his cup every chance he gets. Leo watched "Julie & Julia" with Erin and me over winter break. In the scene where Julia Child clinks glasses with her husband and sister, Leo reached over and toasted his Playtex Insulator Straw cup with my coffee mug. It took me a moment to figure out what he was doing. He was all smiles, beyond pleased with himself.

What can I say? We are raising him right.

Of Visitors and Nebulizers and Snow Man! and Soy Corn Dogs for Snow Suits

Busy times. You’d think I’d completed all my holiday shopping or better still, that I’d been busy crafting or making everything by hand.

Um, no.

First the good. My wonderful friend Jennifer (mom to the adorable Lily, one of Leo’s many prospective future fiancees) came from Portland for a long weekend. Thanks to my incredible partner, I came and went from home as I pleased, shirked pretty much all domestic and kid-related responsibilities and played New York City tourist with Jennifer all weekend.

We spent our days admiring the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, gazed at the holidays windows of Sak’s and Bergdorff’s, watched skaters twirl and fall at the exquisite skating rink at Bryant Park.

We walked about eighty blocks in one day, from Times Square to the tony shops on Fifth Avenue to the Plaza Hotel to SoHo, where we finally collapsed at a really bad bar for some extremely weak drinks (trust me, I’m an expert). Saturday we “did” suburbia. The Short Hills Mall, Target, my favorite kid’s resale shop. There was a delicious home cooked meal (thanks Sweetie), scallops sauteed with tomatoes and Brussels sprouts. And wine. Lots of wine.

Meanwhile, Ellie had a nasty, two-pack-of-Marlboros-a-day-sounding-cough all weekend (yes, while I was out shopping and boozing it up, you can go ahead and say it). Monday morning I just knew if Ellie went to daycare that I would inevitably get the call. I kept her home and although she sounded pathetic, she was in good spirits. An afternoon appointment with the pediatrician (because everything might be swine flu, I admit it, I’m a little paranoid) found some wheezing, which the doctor did not like. She assured me on the continuum of wheezing it was very slight, but still, I guess they don’t play around with two-year-olds and breathing problems, which is fine with me.

Probably no surprise that Ellie did not enjoy the nebulizer treatment, which involves a creepy looking mask and a mysterious, smokey looking medicine wafting through said, mask. There were tears and tears and many tissues and a hysterical crying I haven't heard since the newborn days. I’d like to make a public thank you to that poor nurse who helped me hold Ellie down while we tortured her with the nebulizer, for she had the pleasure of hearing me perform “Old McDonald,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “I’m a Little Teapot”…anything to appease a shaken and miserable Ellie.

The doctor sent us away with a prescription for an inhaler and an exorbitantly expensive “pediatric mask” that goes with the inhaler—and of course it wasn’t covered by insurance—why would it be? It is, after all, deemed “medical equipment” (cause most people buy “medical equipment” for fun).
***
In happier news, last night Leo said a new word: “Snow man.” He seems to be in the midst of a vocabulary explosion, lot of new words and better pronunciation of existing words. He now says a pretty clear “thank you,” as opposed to the old “day,” which seemed to be his version of “thanks.”

And this morning. One of those mornings in which by the time I get to work I feel like I’ve put in a full day already. As I looked out the dark window at 5:55 a.m. (thanks, Leo) while the slushy, snowy, freezing rain mixture pounded away, I contemplated if there would even be an open daycare to take Ellie to or if Leo would have school (the two are related since the daycare just announced it would close when our town’s schools close—cue me having a panic attack about his news but that’s a whole other conversation).

It took bribery with a soy corn dog (Leo’s idea, trust me) to get Leo into his snowsuit. Then Ellie was up and she took one look at Leo in his winter finery and demanded “snowsuit and hot dog!”

Two words probably not commonly associated with each other, which means, totally normal in our house.

In Like a Lion, Indeed

I'm not sure if the snow was unexpected to everyone (yesterday at Ellie's music class her teacher told us to "have fun in the snow" and I was all, wha..."?). Then I went home and checked the forcast. In any event, we're having a little March blizzard here. In case anyone was confused it's decidely still winter. New York City schools were even closed, the first time in five years they're saying. All told, NYC could get a foot and even more where we are.

No shock of course, the kids' daycare is closed too, so I am home.

It's a quiet day. It's been a quiet weekend here at Chez Green Snot. Spirits are high but mucus is flowing freely and so we've been laying low in the hopes of beating the relentless cold and congestion. Rest is good.

We're watching "Horton Hears a Hoo" while Ellie naps. She's such a little sweetie sometimes. How did I know it was nap time? She lay right down on the living room rug and covered herself with her blankie.

I'm considering taking Leo outside to play in the snow but it's so windy the snow is blowing sideways, so not certain how fun that would be. But he's a little top today (energy on overload) so we'll have to do something.

A Good Boy, New Kicks and Lots of (Fun) Yelling

It’s already Tuesday, so a weekend report feels dated, but here goes. Also some info that is not weekend-related.

I spent a lot of nice quality time with Leo this weekend. I am always amazed by how well behaved he is when it’s just the two of us. He holds my hand in the parking lot. He doesn’t kick me in the face and go rigid when I try to put him in his car seat. He walks calmly with me to the potty and doesn’t protest when I tell him it’s time to go. It’s so encouraging and refreshing. My little boy can be good. My little boy is growing up.

On Sunday Erin had work to do from home so while Ellie napped (well, that was the plan, she ended up waking up five minutes after Leo and I left the house) Leo and I went to a nearby indoor play space that he adores. There’s all kind of cool stuff to climb on and over and through. Plus it’s fun to see him interact with other kids and there are always some moderately friendly and sometimes downright annoying but humorous other parents there to either talk to or eavesdrop on.

After playing Leo was my shopping partner in crime. I went to Target ostensibly for diapers but of course, couldn’t just buy diapers. I simply had to get Ellie these:



How very Kurt Cobain of her, no? I guess you didn't know it but Ellie is a real hipster. OK so now you now.

Can you believe these are her first pair of sneakers ever? I wanted to get Leo a pair too but they didn’t have his size.

Later that evening Leo loved yelling along with Erin, as we watched the Superbowl. There was a time when Leo would cry at loud sporting events on TV (he hated any kind of loud, sudden noises, period—oh the tears) but those days appear to be long gone. NOW WE CAN YELL AS LOUD AS WE WANT! Yay!

And also:

Ellie has two new words:
“Uppy” (Up)
“Out”

It’s snowing here. Again. The daycare is closing early. Again. They are oh so sensitive to the needs of working parents, aren't they? Frankly, I'm losing my patience with them. I'm sorry, but the roads are not going to be that bad. I get that public schools have to close early because of buses, etc. but this is daycare folks. OK, rant over. Anyway, I fear a hellacious commute home (as everyone panic and scrambles to leave early) but look forward to hopefully being home in time to cook a real dinner, you know not Annie’s and not a Trader Joe’s frozen stir fry kit. Mom of the Year.

Again With the Snow

Schools are closed AGAIN. I've lost count of how many snow days we've had so far this school year. I'm going to work from home (like I have a choice).

Leo slept until almost 6 a.m. this morning. In his own bed! How downright indulgent.

Taking a cue from Leo, Ellie (she's so advanced! yay! (said sarcastically)) decided to rearrange my computer keys this weekend. It took me a while to realize the "c" was where the "/" was. We really really need a new computer.

And I just learned that the child of parent who started one of the support groups that was such a lifeline for me after Leo was born, has died from complications from leukemia. I don't know the details, how long he was sick, but please keep this family in your thoughts.

The Weekend of Violent and Just Plain Bad Haircuts

Why didn’t I leave well enough alone? Leo’s hair was not that long. Just a little shaggy. Certainly not long enough to warrant bloodshed.

I)
Erin called me from the car to inform me she was never doing it again. “It,” being taking Leo to the kid haircutting place at the mall. I can’t say that I blame her. It’s always been bad but this time, well this time apparently was the Worst Ever. I’m not sure what happens to Leo when placed in the hairdresser’s chair. This is even one of those “fun” places, where you get to sit in a car or a boat or a spaceship and watch the beloved Dora and suck on a lollypop as so called “distractions.” No matter to Leo, who undergoes some kind of primal flight or fight instinct when faced with scissors and a clipper and that plastic cape. And now, all 40 pounds of him is kicking and thrashing and well, kicking a poor woman in the nose, apparently, hard enough to draw a significant amount of blood, enough to require her to exit and another hairdresser to finish the job.

And it would be one thing if it was a good haircut. But it’s not. And of course I don’t blame anyone for that, how could it be good, considering what happened? We should consider ourselves lucky that it’s slightly even. It’s just, well, s-h-o-r-t. Let’s just say Leo could easily join the Marines and fit right in with the look he’s sporting today. Except he's not as stylish as a Marine. I know that it’s hair and it will grow. And I’m trying to cheer myself with the knowledge that with it being so short, he won't need another cut for a very long time.

II)
My own haircut experience was far less dramatic. I haven’t had mine cut by someone other than myself for at least a year. Every weekend I mean to and every weekend gets filled with all the other necessary “to-dos.” This weekend though, I couldn’t take it any more. Part of the problem is I’ve yet to find a place I really like. I went to one shop but they all spoke Spanish the whole time and I know it’s very Seinfeld of me but I felt paranoid, like they were talking about me or laughing at me. I do know a bit of Spanish but not enough to really know what they are saying, but sort of enough to be confused, if that makes sense. So I went back to a place just down the street that I swear was used as the inspiration for Steel Magnolia’s. I should have known better when I walked in and everyone had gray or white hair and they were getting it set in rollers or teased up with hairspray. I was the youngest person in there by thirty years, easy.

I walked out with a “mom bob.” Shorter than I’d like it but at least I didn’t give the woman who cut it a bloody nose in retaliation.

In other weekend news:

-It is still really cold here. I know I promised I wouldn’t harp on this but it’s just pretty remarkable. We are having a real winter. The snow from last week melted some but today it’s just bitter again and there is more snow on the way. I actually think my iPod froze this morning, and no I don't mean as in, had a computer glitch. I mean I think it was too cold for it too work. Really.
-Ellie is continuing to use the potty. She is so pleased with herself. She sits on it, gets a very thoughtful and serious look on her face and then jumps up, hands in the air a la Mary Lou Retton vault dismount, upon completion. Two nights in a row she used the little baby potty in the living room and for the first time ever, Leo used that one too (he always refused that one). Maybe Ellie will successfully potty train Leo, yet. I wonder when I should make the leap from diapers to training pants for Ellie.
-In Leo sleep news, Leo rules. Each night has been better and quieter. But Saturday night was just plain funny. After about an hour of silence from his room, I went to turn off his light (he tends to fall asleep with the light on). There was Leo, naked as the day he was born, sleeping in his familiar still-baby pose, tush in the air, legs tucked tightly underneath him. Nearby on the floor was a crumpled Pull-Up and pajama top and bottom. I was able to dress him without waking him, he actually snored through the redressing process. Oh how I wish I could sleep that soundly. He's still waking up too early for my taste but he's staying in his own bed during the night (so far at least) and for that I am happy. Just don't ask me what compelled the boy to try and sleep nudey on Saturday night.

Stream of Consciousness Check-In

Confession time. I'm a bit of a perfectionist blogger/writer (can't you tell from my usual stunning prose?). I normally write in a Word document, edit myself and then post. But lately I have been not posting at all and that troubles me, because I don't want to not post and so I am going to not really edit myself here (watch out) and just do a little check in to say we are alive. And to catch up a bit:

-Work has been crazy and busy and taxing and stressful.

-Adding to that stress is that Ellie is sick Again. I feel bad for her and I feel bad for me. I see why people have nannies/sitters at home. Not being able to go to work and having to stay home with her and miss work is feeling like a problem. This week was Not the week to miss a day. Big deadlines. Big stress. And I hate that I found myself mad at my own toddler for being sick. Ridiculous. And I find it ironic too that Leo was supposed to be Mr. Compromised Immune System and what has happened? Little Miss 46 Chromosomes has been the sickly one with never ending cold and mysterious viruses this fall/winter. Compared to her, Leo was a little healthy horse toddler. I won't even talk about the Exorcist style vomiting I was the lucky recipient of last night. Oops I just talked about it. The funniest part (if you can call vomiting funny) was that it happened at the kitchen table where Leo was eating his scrambled egg dinner. Ellie projectiled (sorry) and Leo just kept on eating his eggs as if nothing had happened. I guess when your four a little puke at the table is not such a big thing. He's probably seen it many times at school. At least I found some humor in the situation.

-Leo's sleep travails (and therefore ours) continue. He's still waking up between 5-6 a.m. every morning, but closer to the 5 side of it and sometimes a few minutes before 5 (which is r-e-a-l-l-y painful, even with buckets of coffee). I probably don't have to tell you how precious even ten more minutes of sleep is, but Leo is stubborn. Once he's up, he's up. There is no talking to him or convincing to just lay in our bed and watch some Noggin. To add to the travails, he's also waking up in the middle of the night and getting into bed with us. This is not OK but again with the risk of waking Ellie if we force him to stay in his bed (and cry) we've been putting up with it. At this point my feeling is we all just need to sleep-does it matter that much where it happens? Leo wakes up when Erin leaves at 5ish but he was doing that in his own bed too. Triple Ugh.

-It's cold here. Nine degrees last night said the car thermostat (wow!). I'm not going to complain about it because it's not that big of a deal. I mean it is January on the east coast so whatever. I do miss taking the kids outside and playing in the yard, taking walks. It's not going to last that long though. It does make me wonder how people can live in really cold places though. It's so limiting.

-Leo's in an obsessive phase. Ds? Or just annoying 4-year-old? He gets an idea in his head and will.not.drop.it. It's a little, ok A LOT maddening. The top request? Dora. Dora. Dora. It makes me want to throw that damn TV out the window. On the one hand, we need the 30 minute Dora watching here and there. It allows me a moment of peace, or the opportunity to do exciting things like unload the dishwasher, make dinner, tend to the laundry. On the other hand I don't know when he got so obsessed with watching TV. We don't let him watch that much but he just seems so focused on it. We'll be reading a book or doing Playdough and suddenly he will just think Dora, and start chanting Dora. I try to ignore it. I try to distract him. But it's hard.

-Most shocking event of the week? Ellie pooped on the potty! She is fascinated with the potty, she calls it "boppy." She crawls all over it, climbs on it and the other night when I was trying to get Leo to come into the bathroom to sit on the potty, Little Miss climbs up, sat down and did the business. I am not ready to be potty training two at once! I told the daycare people and they are going to start sitting her on the potty.

-I am trying to calm down and chill out about house duties. I just feel like we have so much clutter and everything is so disorganized and no matter what I do it's never organized enough. I feel like dumping half of our belongings in garbage bags bound for the Salvation Army. I guess it's an early spring cleaning thing. Or maybe it's just that the kids are walking mess makers. It doesn't hurt that I spend my days pouring over cleaning/organization stories at work.

OK, boring stream (hopefully not completely) stream over. So in short, we're alive. Puking. Whiney. Messy and disorganized. Cold. Trying not to watch so much Dora. But alive.

Better Late Than Never

I'm really late on posting a bunch of photos. As everyone knows, it snowed all over the country a few weeks ago. We had a nice time playing in it. Well, Leo did.



Ellie, not so much. Does that look like a happy face?

She's fallen and she can't get up (sorry, I couldn't resist). Seriously, she fell and just sort of froze, whining in that position until I came to pick her up. A bit of a priss, but we love her.

There's Leo yelling at me, as per usual when I try to take his picture.

The sad little Snow Princess.

Update #2

OK, it's finally snowing.

Come on weather. Bring it.

TV is turned off. Kids playing nicely. I am working. No, really.

I had thought about going to Target. We don't really need anything but I thought it would be good to get out while we had the chance. But now I'm not so sure.

What I really want is coffee.

Stuck in house with two trays of Lard Bars. Not good.

Snow Day With No Snow (Yet)

I got the call before 6 a.m. today. The district has closed the schools, even though there is no snow yet. Not one flake. Apparently they are predicting 6-12 inches, to start later this morning.

See, my west coast readers (my family in Oregon has been virtually housebound, the city of Portland paralyzed, gripped in the clutches of two inches of snow), even the east coast freaks about the weather!

Hearing about the weather forecast yesterday afternoon, I arranged to work from home today, thinking I would at least have the morning (if there was an early dismissal) to get my work done without hooligans around. And I also thought I could get a bit of baking in between the paragraphs and phone calls.

But, crap! Oh well.

It will be fun to watch the storm brew.

The only problem thus far: No Coffee in the House. How did I let this happen?

I think we'll walk to Dunkin after breakfast. It's the only way I see possibly getting through this morning.

Leo's School Holiday (Actually Blatantly Christmas) Party

Before the party. I had to document the outfits. Doesn't Leo look so dapper in his new cordoroy blazer? He's considering a part-time job as an English professor.

And of course I had to share this ridiculously adorable Ellie outfit, courtesy of Grandma Jerry and Aunt Marilyn. Note the fur collar.

Green sprinkles = Green mouth

Ellie really liked this truck. I might have to get her one.

I think it's safe to say that Leo "gets" Christmas this year. He is totally into unwrapping presents.


The school was very generous. Each child (student) and sibling/s were called to Santa and presented with a gift. Ellie got a stuffed bear and Leo a game that looks to have many, many pieces. Sigh.

Wouldn't be complete without a terrible picture of all of us. Ellie was not feeling Santa at all and refused to even get into a seated position on his lap. But, Leo looks great. A virtual pose-with-Santa expert.