Happy Birthday Mom

Happy 58 Mom!

If you were here, I’d take the day off from work. But I bet you’d want to meet me at work. You’d want to see my office and meet my co-workers. I’d like to think you’d be proud of me.

I’ve gotten to know “your” city a lot better since you left. I think you’d be quite impressed. I never even have to look at a subway map.

I had always wanted to treat you to a meal at Erin’s restaurant, so we’d have to go there for lunch. You never got to go there, just like you never got to meet Erin. You would love her. You would also love how we would get “fussed over” at her restaurant, treated like princesses, or celebrities, or both.

We’d have oysters (did you ever get to try oysters? I hope so, at least once…), shrimp cocktail, ceviche, goat cheese tart, followed by chicken paillard (we’d split it, “halfsies”). You always liked to have “lots of little things instead of one big thing.” And of course there would be Sancerre. Lots of Sancerre. And for dessert, profiteroles. Heavenly. Maybe just as good as the chocolate fondue we had one Valentine’s Day at Bread & Ink in Portland. You'd complain jokingly, "so much food!" But secretly, you would love it.



After that big lunch we’d have to take a nice, long walk. We’d meander through SoHo, (you’d marvel at how much the neighborhood had changed, when you and dad lived here there were “real” artist lofts). We’d stop in the wonderful bookstore on Bleecker and then we’d get lattes on Mulberry at one of the outdoor cafes (and maybe another glass of wine) and we’d people watch as the late afternoon light began to dim towards evening, the buildings and people like outlines in a Magritte.



Then we’d head back to New Jersey, because you’d probably want to spend at least part of your birthday with your daughter-in-law and grandchildren. You would remark how you couldn’t believe after everything, that I would end up in the suburbs, but you would understand, and I think you’d be proud of the sacrifices we made (no Thai or Indian takeout! No coffee shops in walking distance (unless you count Dunkin Donuts-pfooey)! so that Leo could attend an amazing school and so that both children could have space, a yard, room to grow.

You’d love my garden. I would complain how I don’t have enough time to make it look as good as I’d like it to, to look as good as yours, and you’d tell me there will be plenty of time for that someday.

And of course, you would marvel at your little grandchildren. You’d remark how light their hair is, how blue their eyes are (thanks for that Mom!). You’d delight in Ellie’s dancing, her “conversations,” how she nods her head in agreement/approval when you feed her something she enjoys. You’d compliment Leo on his sense of humor, his whistling abilities and at how well he writes his name. You’d read him book after book (you would be so proud of how much both children love to read). And you’d laugh as you watched Leo chase Ellie around the stairwell, the contagious giggles reverberating through the house.




You’d say you wish Bubby could have met them.

I’d make a nice dinner (though you would protest and insist on helping). We would snack on manchego and bread, both laughing about how we would never be hungry for dinner but knowing it didn’t matter.

Happy Birthday Mom.

I love you and I miss you.
xxxooo,
Maya

The Weekend in Pictures

It rained a lot this weekend. But rain isn't always bad. Because you get to wear these.


And it's official. Ellie has a blankie. She has attached herself to this particular blankie, one of Leo's old ones. I confess I am encouraging this blankie love. I Because I had (OK, still have, you can laugh all you want!) a blankie. I think it's adorable. She sees it and gets all giddy and squeals and throws her round little arms around it.



And check out that belly. I mean, seriously? I just want to get some blue cheese and take a bite out of her.

Sunday we went to DUMBO (a neighborhood in Brooklyn for the non-NYC readers) to see our friend Dora and her family. I forgot to take any pictures during the actual playdate (Dora's mom Penny and I were a little busy wrangling Leo, Dora, Ellie and Dora's three month old sister Bibi) but took this cool shot outside their apartment (oh excuse me, loft). That's the Manhattan Bridge and this image pretty much personifies DUMBO, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

It reminds me of those pictures people take of stuffed animals traveling around the world, a shot of a famous landmark and then their little characters thrown in as proof that they were there.

We drove across the Brooklyn Bridge to get to DUMBO and my heart fluttered a bit. I lived in New York off and on for close to ten years and I have to say, I think I will always be impressed by the skyline. Shoot, by the city itself. I've always had a bit of a love affair with the city, an idealized vision of it, even if the closest I ever came to my Woody Allen fantasy of it was a graduate school apartment (pre-war though!) on the upper-upper west side. You can say what you want about New York. It can be a real pain in the ass, but come on, it's New York City. Sometimes I can't believe this girl from Portland, Oregon is now in New York (well, now I'm in New Jersey, but you get the idea).

All in all, a lovely weekend.

Redecorating (dreams)

Does anyone else out there watch Mad Men? I am a little obsessed right now. Last night I stayed up way too late watching it. I’ve only seen the first three episodes of Season one and since they took them off of On Demand I’ve been relegated to watching Season two and trying to figure out what happened. It’s not so hard (and I’ve read about it a little online). And it’s totally addicting.

I love the show, though find it a little sad (such miserable marriages!). But on to more important matters. I am preoccupied with painting the walls in our house the same robin’s egg blue of the Drapers’ home.

I love this color. It is so bright and happy and just, lovely (though the same can certainly not be said for the Drapers’ relationship).



I do worry a tiny bit that it's a little trendy right now. Would I still love it in a year? In three? Honestly the chance of it actually getting painted this color is so slight that to actually worry about tiring of the color is laughable.

We paid a decent amount to have our house painted before we moved in a couple of years ago. I still like the colors but am just itching for a change: the living room is a warm light brown, the study an earthy green and the kitchen is warm, cranberry red. But that robin’s egg blue is just so happy, and in a funny way neutral enough that I think many colors would compliment it. I guess as we head into winter I think of needing this brightness. Also, I like the idea of changing things a bit interior wise (fall is, after all, my New Year).

Now if I can just figure out how to get the walls painted without doing it myself or paying someone to do it. Oh well, a girl can dream.

Interesting Quote on Motherhood

"When [a mom] is with [her children], she is not herself; when she is without them, she is not herself.

-Rachel Cusk, author, A Life's Work

Bill Clinton and Down syndrome

Bill Clinton, on why Sarah Palin is popular in the heartland. People relate to her:

"I come from Arkansas; I get why she's hot out there, why she's doing well."

Clinton said voters would think: "I like that little Down syndrome kid. One of them lives down the street. They're wonderful children. They're wonderful people..."*

You just have to love Bill Clinton.

*Speaking on Monday to reporters before his Clinton Global Initiative Meeting.

You can read the full text here.

Weekend Pics

Ellie looking tough, getting out of her car and ala Tony Soprano on the way to whacking someone.

Couldn't get either one of them to look at the camera.

Leo is obsessed with covering our poor dog with a blanket. He thinks it's hilarious. Follows that unbelieveably patient dog all over the house with blanket.

I like this self-portrait of Ellie and me. Oh I'm so arty.

Leo is also into putting inappropriate things on his head. I realize we shouldn't encourage this, but honestly I think he just really likes to make people laugh. He's a total clown and I don't mind encouraging that. Pictured above, Leo and his pizza box. Because, why wouldn't you want to put a pizza box on your head?

I'll Always be a Library Girl at Heart But...

I actually accomplished nearly everything on my list this weekend. That does not happen often. Granted the list was not long, but still, that was quite satisfying.

Saturday I went to the library by myself which was absolutely luxurious. I spent about an hour just scanning the fiction shelves. I had a list of new releases in my hot little hand but they were all checked out. I put them on hold, and ended up with a couple of novels that should hopefully keep me occupied on the commute for the next week or so.

Sunday we made it to story time at the new Barnes & Noble. It was so lame! So sorry that I sort of rushed us all out the door for that one. It was just a weird woman sitting on the stage, reading from a dorky Disney version of Winnie the Pooh. I can do better than that in my own living room. But the good news is the store is beautiful. And the kids section is really lovely (I especially liked the mural of favorite children’s book characters: Eloise, the Cow jumping over the Moon (from Goodnight, Moon), Harold, from Harold and the Purple Crayon). It’s almost entirely enclosed, which meant I could let both kids kind of wander around without being too worried about them going in completely opposite directions. My heart still goes into my stomach if I can't SEE them both at all times and this did happen about twice. Luckily, Leo seems to be nearly out of his wandering aimlessly stage (at least when there are books around to distract him) and Ellie is at least for now, on the mellow side. She even sort of listens to me if I call her (unlike some people, ahem). She was quite content to climb over the store’s small wooden chairs and the stage, and also to take the baby board books off the shelves.

I’ll always be a library girl but I have to say it was pretty nice hanging out in a brand new bookstore with crisp new books, and it makes such a difference when the books are displayed covers out, as opposed to spines only. You can really see the books better that way (duh). Oh and did I mention there's a Starbucks? And although I’m sure the store wasn’t happy about it, we managed to leaving without spending any money (except at Starbucks). You know what else is great? The kids can fight all they want about wanting to read the Same Book at the Same Time because there are multiple copies of all books. Hurrah!

You can say what you want about boring chain stores but I think I know where we’ll be hanging out a lot this winter.

A Love of Pumpkin, Cordoroy, Chasing Children and Misc.

This was a Really Good Idea.

I just decided to treat myself (and by treat I do mean treat, when a drink costs as much as lunch and there’s no liquor in it? Geesh!)

But it was worth it. SO worth it. Not that Starbucks needs the advertisement (well heck, in this economy maybe they do) but if you like pumpkin, run don’t walk and get yourself a Pumpkin Spice Frappucinno Blended Crème. Boy that is a serious mouthful.

Something else I am happy about? It was chilly enough to wear cordoroy today. Yes, cordoroy.

Pumpkin and cordoroy, really, what else do you need in this world?

A busy day (no, seriously!) today but I wanted to post a few things:

-Leo’s has developed an irrational, insatiable addiction to organic red grapes. I think he could live on them. He can eat bowl upon bowl. I allow a two (small bowl) limit per meal. He was like this as a baby with frozen blueberries. Yes, frozen (by the way, Ellie has carried on this family tradition by also enjoying these). We used to joke that blueberries “made Leo mean” (as in, he’d get mad if he couldn’t have more). The same can now be said for grapes. He is well on his way to becoming a fruititarian. I guess you could say worse things about a person.

-The past two nights in a row I have put Ellie down without nursing. Dare I say, she is, gulp, weaned? I am not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand it is freeing, to just lay her down and cover her with a blanket and watch as she drifts into an adorable, peaceful slumber. On the other hand, I miss the closeness that nursing affords (not that she was really nursing much anymore, in fact I don’t think there was all that much left). But still, is it really over? Also, I’m nervous for the nights she doesn’t magically drift off (she is usually just wrecked after daycare and passes out). Nursing is such a crutch for sleep, at least for me.

-There is full on chasing going on at our house. Most of the time Leo is chasing Ellie. She both loves it and fears it, but I think it’s mostly love. She sometimes appears a little scared, but it’s like a good scared, a “stop it/I love it” scared. She runs over to me and throws her little arms around the backs of my knees and buries her face, giggles, and then hurries back for more.

-A potty update (because I know you are all clamoring): So far, Leo is doing much better with the pottying at school than he is at home. I wish I had a good explanation for this. He regularly sits on the potty at home and then five minutes later has an accident in his pants. I think we’re on Week 2, so really it hasn’t been that long. I think we’re going to start him in Pull-Ups around the house. The school discourages this because with the low tone, he supposedly doesn’t feel a wet Pull-Up the way a typical child would. But guess what? Wet/dirty underwear doesn’t faze him either! And unless his school wants to buy me a new living room rug and loveseat (where he’s already peed) then Pull-Ups it is.

-On tap for the weekend:
1) I would like to attempt to pay at least five minutes attention to my sad, neglected garden
2) There is a new Barnes & Noble opening nearby and they are doing a storytime on Sunday. I’m so excited because it seems like in my area all the storytimes are during the week when I’m working and the kids are at school. I doubt either kid will sit still for it but I’m sure going to try and make them.
3) I would really like to make the zucchini crusted pizza, the recipe of which I’ve had sitting on the counter since we came back from Oregon.
4) I just want to sit and stare at my children. And Erin. I really miss them.

TGIF!

Daycare Rant

There is an outline of a mouth and teethmarks on my sweet baby girl’s milky soft shoulder. There is peeling skin. It didn’t break the surface, but still. Erin thinks I'm overreacting. I know this happens. It’s daycare. She’ll be fine. But I’m not happy about it. It happened yesterday on the playground. They tried to ice it but Ellie insisted instead on carrying the bag of ice around like a little purse. Apparently she recovered fairly quickly and they assured me that the biter got a “long timeout.”

And also: I’ve asked several times that Leo get his “what I did today” sheet filled out. He isn’t able to tell me what he did at school so I’m dependent on his caregivers to fill me in. I fork over roughly half my paycheck to these people. Is it too much to ask that they give me a few details about his day? I’m looking for stuff like “played outside,” “read books.” Nothing fancy. Hell, they could lie and I’d never even know. But it’s important to me, especially now, with the potty training business. I absolutely need to know how he is doing with that (since you asked, he seems to be a much better “performer” at school for some reason). He still acts absolutely insulted when we suggest he try the potty at home.

OK, rant over. Thanks for listening. And I called the director today to ask once more and nicely, to request a sheet about Leo for the end of the day. I didn’t mention the bite. Grrr.

Control. Ha.

About a month after Ellie was born, it dawned on me just how much harder it is to have two kids (I know, newsflash). More specifically, it became much more difficult to have a clean, or even neat house. When it came to the toys that seemed to be endlessly strewn about my house, I felt like Sisyphus with that damn boulder, perpetually pushing it up the hill. Perpetually picking up toys. Also perpetually loading and unloading the dishwasher, sorting and doing and folding laundry. You get the idea. After a lot of obsessing, it occurred to me that my house was never going to look the way it did before I had kids. Hell, before I had one kid, even.

I’m a sucker for a P-Touch (gotta love that illusion of control and order they give) so one day, in the height of frustration, I typed the words “EMBRACE THE CHAOS” (yes, in all caps) and stuck it on my refrigerator. I’m not sure where the urge to do so came from, but it’s been there ever since, a constant, quiet reminder that basically says, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. It’s going to be pretty crazy around here for some time, so you might as well deal.

I can’t say I’m perfect (at all) and that I don’t still get just a tad stressed out when the house looks like a tornado has swept through it ( this is often, specifically most evenings and especially Saturday afternoons). Let’s just say I’m dealing with it much better than I used to.

In that vein, there’s a wonderful article about kid clutter, the need to maintain control, and the lessons we can garner from that need for control in the latest "Parenting magazine." And boy did the author hit the nail on the head when it comes to dealing with toys with multiple parts. Oy. It’s a great read if you’re an OCD-in-recovery mom like me, or if you just get really annoyed by all your kid’s stuff lying all over the place.

You can read it here.

Romp

Sunday we attended the Romp for Research, which raises money for the Down syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation. It was held in New York City.

It was a lot of fun. And also miserably hot (have I mentioned how over summer I am and ready for fall? I am talking jungle hot. Southeast Asia in its warm season hot.) But anyway, fun.

Leo got to try out his soccer skills. I had been kicking (ha, soccer, kicking) myself for missing the registration for the neighborhood “pee wee” soccer league but secretly thought he was too young and not quite ready for that anyway (it would be with typical developing kids who I suspect have much longer attention spans). It was fun to see him playing around with the ball. As we suspected, he picked up the ball a lot. No matter, he could be goalie! And the guy in charge of the soccer station took a real liking to him. I’m hoping next year Leo can do the team thing.



No question the highlight of the day was when the NYPD took out a huge hose and sprayed the crowd (I think they had a truck parked outside the event for kids to explore, it wasn't like some random thing where they just decided to open fire on us with the hose).


Do you think Leo had fun?



What a welcome relief. Not to be dramatic but I bet it prevented some cases of heatstroke. You know how little kids are, they run around and don't really think about the fact that they are incredibly hot. I mean look at Ellie's pink little face. Sweltering.



Ellie enjoyed the ball pit.


I loved the fire hose "waterfall" because it seems so quintessentially “city.” When we left Brooklyn for the burbs I mourned my kids not having the city upbringing that is so easy to glamorize (not so glamorous are the mice that infested our last apartment or the fact that our living room was ten feet wide). Like most people of my generation, I grew up watching "Sesame Street" and always thought it would be so cool to play in the water of a spraying fire hydrant. Not much of that going on in the New Jersey burbs.

I like this picture of Ellie. It really epitomizes what life is for a 14 month old. Busy. Always walking away from something and toward something else. See that little fish in her hand? She made off with that! I found it in my purse when we got home. Nicely done, Ellie.

Fashion Week

It's Fashion Week here in New York City for those of you who are not aware (real important on my radar...ha). Erin is actually quite involved in it through her job and the whole thing just cracks me up.

So I thought in honor of Fashion Week I would devote this very important post to my latest favorite outfit of Ellie's. A co-worker has long given me adorable hand-me-downs for Leo--her son is exactly one year older. Yesterday I cleaned out one of my closets at work and found some very cute clothes she had given me. Only trouble was I'd forgotten about them and they were definitely too small for Leo. But then I spotted this shirt (see below). It's a little faux gas station attendant shirt. I am a sucker for little girls in tomboyish clothes. The trick is to mix them with something feminine. Overalls with Mary Janes or, as seen here, a gas station shirt with a mini skirt. And Mary Janes, of course.

The whining and tugging and sticky hands really aren't so bad. Because I get to dress her however I want. At least for now.


Strike a pose

Close-up detail of gas station emblem

Things That Are Calming and Comforting and Don't Involve Wine (Though There's Still Plenty of That Going On)

Another great quote:

Author Anna Quindlen reminds us of the brevity of all of this. She reminds us to pause:

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”
From the book, Loud and Clear (Ballantine Books, 2004)

I am really working on this right now. There is so much that is “grind-like” about being a parent, being a mother. I want to sit and play with Leo and Ellie the second we get home but there are lunch boxes to clean out and dinner to be made and baths to be given. And right now, Leo is really testing me. The potty training is hard. But of course, necessary. Do I really feel like rushing upstairs and sitting him down on the potty at the end of what’s been for all of us a long day? To listen to his whines and pleas? Of course not. It would be so much easier to give into Dora.

Sometimes it’s easy to get bogged down by the neverending tasks. I feel so proud at the end of the night when the dinner dishes are stacked neatly in the running dishwasher, the lunches and breakfasts for the next day are made, the clothes for tomorrow are layed out, the laundry is spinning gracefully in the washer. The children are asleep, snoring adorably as they do. And then my heart sinks when I realize I will have to do it all. Again. And again. I am working on being at peace with this, which I know sounds funny, because. I guess I should say I’m trying to find the “beauty” in it. Rather than looking at each task like it’s well, a task.

Also, just to add fuel to the fire that I have become a Complete Fruitball, I have wanted to share a wonderful CD called "Little Bird" that I stumbled upon (read: got free from work). It contains a song that has become my meditation of late, when I am feeling weak or like I’m about to snap (when even the merlot just won’t do the trick). It’s an old folk song or hymnal, I’m not sure which.

I’ve got peace like a river
I’ve got peace like a river in my soul,
I’ve got love like an ocean
I’ve got love like an ocean in my soul
I’ve got joy like a fountain
I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul,

In moments of frustration, I am thinking about this. The kids really like the CD too. We’ve been listening to in the car (I’ve even been able to get Leo to listen to it over the blasted Dora CD that he usually prefers over everything else). It seems to have a (wait for it…) calming effect on both kids. Leo tries to sing along to it. And yesterday I caught Ellie doing some sort of conducting to the music. Adorable. And they don't even seem to mind if I keep hitting "repeat."

All By (Ourselves)

Sunday Erin took Leo while Ellie and I enjoyed Girl’s Afternoon at Target. The trip was necessitated by a need for more underwear for Leo. A lot more.

But I digress.

It was so interesting to be alone with Ellie. I don’t know if it’s because her little personality gets steamrolled by Leo (otherwise known as the Greeter of the World who has to say Hi to everyone). But it turns out Miss Ellie is perhaps the runner-up in the Greeter of the World contest. On Sunday she said hi to pretty much everyone within earshot. I know I’m her mother but it was so adorable, her tiny little voice and these shocked people who heard her speak and then did sort of double-takes. Was this little person talking to them?

I also noticed how relaxed I felt. And how nice it was to not be spending so much time on “damage control,” that is, keeping Leo from grabbing everything Ellie touched, as well as keeping Ellie from aggravating Leo to death. It was good for both of us. Note to self: more of this (for each kid).

My New Favorite Quote

"Happiness is an inside job."

Normally, so called inspirational quotes inspire me for about a day and then they lose their oomph. But I love this one. I am hoping it has staying power. I just think it's really powerful. No other explanation required.

Another Reason Why I Love The New Yorker

Read this. Please. I confess that I love the show 30 Rock and I do find the actor Alec Baldwin quite funny as the character he plays on the show, but I've never felt strongly about him as an actor. I still don't, after reading this, but this is one of the most well-written, interesting profiles I have ever read. That's one of the things I love about The New Yorker. It can take something you never thought you really cared about-say, Alec Baldwin, or thumbtacks, and make it interesting.

It is about restlessness, creativity, dissatisfaction, loneliness, self-loathing and a reminder that money most definitely does not buy happiness.

Sound depressing? It's actually not. In parts it's actually laugh-out-loud funny. And trust me, it's way better than thumbtacks.

The Obligatory First Day of School Photos

Here's the annual First Day of School Photo in Front of the Tree Out Front.

It wasn't Ellie's first day of school, but she did start in the toddler room last week, so I'm glad I got a picture in of her around the time that she "moved up." Here she is with the cute little box that her new shoes came in (doesn't she look like she's going somewhere important?) That white stuff on her cheek is sunscreen. She likes to carry bags/purses around and say "bye-bye." Speaking of her new shoes, I am love with See Kai Run shoes and I love them even more now because they have a new line called Smaller, for babies 12-18 months. They are very soft soled but still shoe-like and ideal for new walkers. Leo's fatty feet never fit this brand (they even make cute boy shoes). Ellie seems to be liking her first "real" shoes (though I still love her new Mary Jane Robeez which I found at a steal at an outlet mall in Oregon).

And here they are, the two hooligans in a rare, still moment. They look a little guilty. Sorry for the head chop-off, Leo. You guys are just to fast for me.

Leo's Name in Lights

I mentioned back in June Leo had a photo shoot for a magazine. Well the issue is out and he's in it! If you're interested, check out the online version here. This was right before we chopped off the beloved bowl hair cut. He looks so much younger to me! I'm still on a desperate search for the adorable suede shoes he got to wear at the shoot. They were Stride Rite and they were c-u-t-e. It's hard to find cute boy shoes, not to mention when you have triple E-double-wides like Leo!

There are Skittles in My Bathroom Vanity Drawer

Yesterday was Day #1 of Operation Potty Train Leo (or as his school calls it, "toilet train"). I guess Potty sounds too babyish to them? Whatever. I have never been a big fan of the word toilet. I'm going to call it potty.

And the aforementioned Skittles, which I have set aside as a potty bribe? No interest. Nada. Leo might be the only four-year old in existence who doesn't like candy. I mean seriously, he just doesn't care for it or show any interest at all (I know, can you believe I am whining about this?). I also made a poster with a place for stickers for when he performs on the potty. It's bright and colorful and lots of fun! Yeah. Also seems to hold no curiousity in that.

Right now it's just a struggle to get him on the potty. Books seems to help. I dug up an old book that I remembered we had: Too Big For Diapers, which deals with Ernie from Sesame Street and his experience with potty-er-toilet training. That made this morning's session a bit less torturous.

Right now the pattern seems to be, sit on the potty and then pee in pants about five minutes later.

It's also hard because the school's instructions are to take him to the potty/toilet the second you get home. Let me tell you about last night: me loaded down with backpack, two lunch boxes, my purse, a 24-pound Ellie, trying to get Leo into the house. Then deposit Ellie in crib for the five minutes that Leo will need to sit on the potty. He cries. She cries. And I am sweating to death because it's 90 degrees outside and the house has been closed up all day. And I really need to get dinner started.

I know what you're thinking. It's only been one day. We'll get there. I am just thinking about how long Leo's "stages" have taken (in other words, how long it has taken for him to master a skill). Six months. A year? Is that how long it will take? I mean, I'm fine with that (like I have a choice). I'm just you know, wondering. It's going to take a lot of patience and I am mustering it, I really am.

I also need to buy a LOT more underwear.

Plugging Along

The vacations are over. Fall is in the air. Well to be honest, it’s humid as all get out in New York City today and I am Over it. But I’ve checked out the ten day forecast and there is a cooling, dare I say fall trend in the air. Also, the mosquitoes ate the crap out of me over the weekend, which tells me that they are freaking out and trying to begin foraging for the fall, for the impending chill. So there is hope.

I love fall. I really do. In some ways it feels like New Year to me. New beginnings, opportunities, possibilities, chances to start over, make good changes. And the weather is so much nicer than it is in January.

A few goings on to note:

-Leo starts back to school (no more full-time daycare) tomorrow. The little yellow bus will start coming for him again. And we will take our annual First Day of School Stand By the Tree Out Front Photo.

-Ellie started in the Big Kid (aka toddler room) yesterday. I know I am silly but I was sort of emotional about it. I went to put her food away and forgot that she no longer has a little shelf in the cabinet. Her name tag was gone. Of course I know that she's ready for this. She’s not a baby anymore (newsflash!). Leo was a baby for so much longer it seemed (I guess because he didn’t walk until he was two). This whole Ellie-baby thing went by so so fast for me. She reportedly had a great first day as a Big(ger) Kid. She took a nap on a cot. She played on the playground where she drove a small car and enjoyed pushing the push toys around. That’s my girl. She was also out of her mind with exhaustion by the time I picked her up at 6:30. That’s what going down to one nap does to a little one who is used to two (they are going to let her take two today).

-Operation Potty Train Leo is starting up in force tomorrow. Wish us all luck.

I leave you with two photos from the weekend. Our babysitter/dog sitter/friend MaryAnn brought over new puppy, Angie. Leo was in love (pay no mind to the blue lip liner lips—he’d just had a rather messy Popsicle experience.)


And, the biker chick.

I hope everyone else’s Fall/Back to School transitions are going smoothly and happily.