sail!

Captains KC and Aiden were both so relaxed they took nice naps on the most beautiful day for a sail. Huge thanks to Lulu and real captain Scott for the fun sail.  Uncle Billy was sailing in his own reinvented movie What about Billy!  (a la Bill Murray in What About Bob)

Super Gran held napping KC all sprawled out and happy to be out of his life jacket and deserves a huge thanks!  Aiden cuddled up to Lizzie for his snooze and then Pop kept him comfy out of the sun...huge thanks as my rumbly tummy eventually became more comfy.  

Fun in the sun!

stories in art

The National Gallery has an art program similar to the one we used to go to at the RISD Art Museum (although attend by a few hundred people in 20 well organized groups) It included a 'top secret' mission for the art explorers. They were discovering Henri Matisse this month with a story and an art project. Aiden was very interested in participating and told the teacher his favorite art activity was coloring?! (which he hardly wants to do but I guess he thought it was a good answer?). KC bounced around in the ergo and was stretching out his turtle neck to see the sparkly tunnel and hanging art.

lunar new year

We had fun at the Lion Dance at our neighborhood library to celebrate the Lunar New Year. It reminded me of the good 'ol Seekonk library programs. The girl scouts were running the show. There were two lions and a dragon for the dance performance. The smallest lion had two little girls Aiden's age dancing underneath. The pounding drum and instruments really jazzed the little guy and it was so loud you couldn't even hear his excited growl. Aiden was a bit freaked at first because he said the dragon's mouth was "too munchy." The crafts to celebrate afterward were right up Aiden's alley. We are now decked out in paper lanterns with Aiden original dragons, folded tissue flowers, dragon puppet, and a celebration sign. He earned some candy winning a round of bingo and even sorta learned how to use chopsticks by picking up bouncy balls. We had Chinese food for lunch and Aiden used his new chopstick skills for a while before asking for a fork.

catching kisses

I have very vivid memories of driving away from my very loving grandparent's house as a little kid. The windows were usually open and we were giddy to throw and catch kisses from our smiling grandparents. I'd probably just spent time helping make some of Grandma's famous cinnamon applesauce, tapping away on the piano pretending to play from my Grandma's choir music, or visiting my Grandma's childhood dolls that lived in a carefully organized box by the laundry.

This week KC learned to throw his first kisses and my lovely grandmother passed away peacefully. She was proud to be a gigi, a grandma, a mother, and a wife and we are proud to say she was ours. When we said goodbye at the holiday she caught our last kisses with her sweet grace and smile. She is now at peace and we are throwing her kisses from afar. I'm comforted thinking she is happily catching them alongside my grandpa.

Kayley is seven

Thanks to a change of plans, we were able to help Kayley celebrate her seventh birthday. It was the classic Chuck E Cheese celebration and I'm amazed at how easy they make it - the employees there are like a well oiled machine. This particular Cheese was big and not as hectic with employees that seemed to care. KC and I chilled out most of the time and he occasionally gave me a look of wonder - as if to say what is this place and did you see that giant dancing mouse? He blew an unprompted kiss at one of the friendly moms. He also tried to steal Kayley's blow up crown. Aiden played his little heart out. It seems everyone's favorite is the chance to appear on tv in the cheesy videos they play. Aiden told me the other day he wants to be a weatherman so he was brushing up on his green screen skills. The ticket blaster got all the kids in a tizzy.

Thanks for having us!

doc

Little bud had his 9 month doc appointment. He's 20 lbs 15 ounces (54%), 30 inches long (93%), head circumference was 45 which is the 37%. He's ready for the boat in Florida in his new life vest which he is definitely big enough to use. He was especially smiley and excited to see all the friendly faces at the doctor's office. The crinkly paper and cords were nabbed and caught in his iron grip. Although I told him he needed an MD to use that equipment.  He showed off his pincher fingers and standing bounces (trying his best to avoid sitting with his stiff leg gingerbread boy routine).  I felt like I hit the jackpot with no shots this time - but the blood draw topped the list of not fun stuff to do since they were somehow expecting him to lay his arm down like some sort adult. Two vials later I wasn't sure if my chin was bruised from his head butting and his poor arm was a bit beaten up. He didn't cry much just protested loudly which makes me into protective mama. I'm not sure why a quick iron check requires more than a finger prick, but oh well we survived. I told the doctor I wasn't too concerned, but some had expressed concern that he had an eye that seemed to cross in a bit. She said she tended to agree with me but didn't have all the tools to assess it. So she made a referral for that afternoon with the ped obtamologist. After a full exam with very dilated baby eyes, he was diagnosed with big strong eyes with a baby face. Essentially his huge eyes are not crossing or bending and as his face changes and his nose narrows the space between his eyes it won't look like it is moving in (which I don't think it really does anyway). Much ado about nothing... But Aiden was a super duper good patient big bro and KC didn't mind cooing at another doctor.

blowing kisses

KC started blowing kisses this week and I've been trying to capture it on camera. Since I'm usually holding him while he woos the doctor or strangers in the waiting room with his catchy kisses that is nearly impossible. But I snagged the camera and you can see the tail end of some kisses on this snippet right before Aiden's doguitar distracted him.

tumbler

The rec centers around here have a whole smorgasbord of fun classes for kids. It's a great outlet for Aiden and a stimulating environment for KC. Little tagalong buddy danced and bounced from the side line. Aiden jumped in with the big kids to learn some basic tumbling. The obstacle course had a swinging bar, parallel bars, a balance beam, wedges, crawling tube, and a bounce board. Aiden mastered crab walking across the parallel bars, but was timid about hanging on the swinging bar. The teacher told him he could just touch it if he wanted and move on, which he did for about three rounds before giving it a try.  His tongue had more of a workout than his arms (as you can see in the photos). He was cracking me up attempting to somersault by pushing his head into the pad as hard as he could. I'm betting he'll really learn some big gross motor stuff from this class.

baby stories

KC and I have been to music class just for him, but since he loves library storytime with his brother so much I found one especially for babies under one. He loved listening to the rhymes, stories, and especially liked the sensory blocks, balls, and bells. The teacher was really earning the big KC smiles. He has this certain excited babble and yell when he's particularly happy and it was in full effect. It's fun to see his little personality come out. We will be making this a weekly treat.

Here is a glimpse at one of our first big kid story times here in Virginia with the little guy chillaxin on our laps.  He's much more up in the mix now. And I can't believe how tiny he looks in this photo - and boy I thought he pretty bald now, but he used to be really bald ;)

winter?

I guess it really is winter after all, even though yesterday Aiden was wearing a sweatshirt and I thought his snowsuit was going to be waiting patiently in the closet for a while.  So just when we were rooting on the mild Virginia winter the weather surprises everyone with a "big" batch of snow! The perfect day for our first Virginia snowman, and KC's first jaunt in the snow! We ran out before the sun set as the snow continued to fall.  It was the perfect packing snow since it wasn't too cold, so we quickly rolled up a snowman.

Snow angels!

 Keaton preferred peeking over dad's snowy shoulder over sitting on his own in the snow.

 Mr. Crooked Hat

 Looking for eyes and sticks for the snow man

 Enjoying the big marshmallows in his cocoa!  Aiden just shared his snowflake with his class today.  He wrote what he liked most about winter, and hot cocoa made his list ;) along with snowflakes and sledding.

The funniest moment was when Aiden was running from snowballs and body slammed his snowman friend.  The oh man moment was caught at the end of this video - Poor Aiden - We did recover the pieces and rebuild, so our cute snowy guy is still standing out there. 

market

We ventured out on this nearly 60 degree January day to see what treats we could find at DC's Eastern Market. The outdoor and indoor market was in full swing. Aiden picked out chicken cordon bleu nuggets and a confetti cupcake. J got some BBQ pork and toll house cookies. I found some chicken noodle potato carrot soup and a peanut butter cupcake. Yum! We all shared some chai tea kettle corn (cinnamony unique goodness!). With full tummies my little hoodie guys trekked around the capitol hill neighborhood. It was the perfect day to stay on the sunny side of the street to let the sun do its job.

On the way home Kids Place Live on the radio had the best kid's song to celebrate Gran aka. Cat's birthday - Happy Birthday!

Mo!

Today was the long anticipated visit to see the Knuffle Bunny Cautionary Musical at the Kennedy Center for Aiden and Daddy (A very jealous Mommy and Keaton sat home and watched youtube videos of the show).  We jumped on this performance because we knew Mo would be there to sign stuff!  I had ordered this awesome poster from the American Library Association and you can see that he signed it way on the bottom right corner - Mo!  Aiden got a high five for bringing him a felted pigeon card with Aiden's special drawing of knuffle bunny inside. The whole lineup of Mo's books are absolute Aiden favorites, so meeting him, was in Aiden's funny little expression, "What THE cool!"

Did you know?  It's Ka-nuf-el, which means hug in Dutch.  Love the Huggie Bunny ;)

thanks

I wish there was more than one way to say thanks... or another way to show our gratitude to the ultimate Cat and Robot for keeping us all happy while J was away this week. Here is another classic Cat chase game - A Hunt:
 

interview with ab

Our neighbors were asking for your autograph on their copy of the Lake newsletter where you appeared as the bear scout for finding the bear in the tree.  You also appeared in the Montessori newsletter doing your addition booklet.

One word to describe you would be: Cute?

Why do you like being a kid? Because it's fun to play cars

 If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why? Horse because I could gallop more fast!  Look at me gallop Mom!

 Tell about a funny time in your life. When Woah handed me that funny pumpkin present and I hugged it!

 What is your favorite thing to do? Why? Play toy story and put together hundreds of legos myself!

 What do you love most about your sibling? When he tries to pull my hair because it's funny

 What was the nicest thing you did for someone? Give you and everyone presents on Christmas

 What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?  Playing legos and writing books like Daddy

What is the grossest thing you can think of? Bugs, because they are super gross and what do you say if something is super gross? Disgusting!

 What is your happiest memory? That day at school where we all got to play in tents and my zebra tent was cool!

9 months!

Dear Smiley Guy,

You clapped your way through this fun month with a big smiley usually revealing your solitary dimple.  You'd get excited to see something and your arms would open wide.  I think your arms barely stopped moving.  You like to do this funny arm lift that looks like you are working out.  You get in your arm reps with a big smile, sometimes a tongue raspberry, and a squeal.

We took a long drive to Ohio for the holiday so that we could surround ourselves with fun people and holiday excitement. You mastered the art of good baby car behavior on the two seven hour drives from Ohio and back.  We were seriously impressed that you were better on those rides than you are on a typical cruise to the grocery store.  I think it was a combination of cheerios, new sippy cups, and mom's crazy smiley face peekabooing at you from the seat next to you. Do infants eat Cheerios? Let's hope so, because I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to my infant KC.

Also, I discovered that if you did squeal that contraband will quiet you.  Baby contraband, like my sunglasses, are things you aren't normally supposed to hold.  I was sitting right next to you making sure you didn't actually have trouble but would pretend like I was going to take them away just so you would want them more.   Unfortunately, this plan was flawed as you continued to lunge and grab the glasses of anyone smiling at you.  You even tried to nab your smiling Gigi's glasses.  We were so lucky to see everyone and they enjoyed seeing you (as long as you let them keep their glasses ;)

You looked so chill in leaning back in your car seat chair. It is looking like you are going to grow out of it soon and we carry you into most stores and restaurants anyway.  The days of backward facing car seats will be for a while longer, which means you will still be able to play by smashing your toy bar against the seat.  Most of the time you like to play with the toys with your feet.  That usually means that your socks must get yanked off first.

You preferred to be up on your feet this month.  A pouty lip usually changes to a big smile if we simply set you on your feet.  You will usually stand with your tum smashed against something soft.  You figured out how to look over your shoulder and swing your arm around to get everyone's attention.  Your feet just barely shimmy around in something resembling a walk.  Your favorite method of movement is the bum shimmy usually backwards.

The holiday delivered one front tooth on the bottom to be precise, but the others are still out for delivery.  All signs point to more teeth soon, but you sure can mash just about anything with those strong gummies.  Your comfort seems to be putting everything in your mouth.  You particularly like backpack straps or dirty high chair strap, which is not my favorite.  I need to find some clean strap and create a new safe baby teether.  J thinks I should call it the tether teether - Here's to your college fund kid!

You were at a fun age for Christmas presents. You'd get extra excited or even overstimulated by half opened presents.  You would see what was inside and want to get at it quickly.  Lucky for you your brother was willing to help. Although I'm pretty sure you'd be happy to just to use wrapped gifts as  drums.

You had a serious case of the daddy clingy this month.  You would see him and make a very distinct pout to get him to come over to snuggle you.  You wanted him to bounce you and swing you over backwards. You will give a full open mouth giggle fit when he swings you up in the air.  We were lucky to have so much daddy family time this month.

We broke out a snuggle suit for you this month. Every time you smiled at me in that suit I couldn't help but say how snug as a bug in a rug you looked... then your silly brother would make up new rhymes. "Cute as a boot in the toot..." I kept saying I wish I had a big velour jump suit just like it to cuddle up in the car.  We thought that maybe the snuggly hood was helping you fall asleep in the car because you started cooperating with that idea more and more often. Sleeping in the car is fun - Hey, let's try it during car pool!

You spent most of the month smelling like spinach mango. Despite wiping over and over you'd usually have a tinge of some sort of food smeared across your cheek or under your nose.  You became a full fledge eater, not just tolerating our feeding game but seriously wanting food.  This, of course, coincided with our trip to visit folks so I broke down and bought some food to be shipped to my folks house.  You seemed to prefer the new flavors and I like the portable astronaut food looking capsules... but I will keep trying to refine my baby food making at least for your at home meals.  I like knowing exactly what you're eating and that it does not include gunk you don't need.

The Ohio cuddle crew was in full effect unfortunately just in time for a tiny bit of separation anxiety where you didn't like it if you couldn't see mom or dad or at a very minimum Aiden.  You would get this tiny whine that would build into a scream crescendo if you weren't sure we heard you.  You were ready to leave our friend's new years party by about 10:45, and you made sure we heard you. The screamy guy routine is not a good way to keep fans, but I know it's just a phase.  Everything is a phase, including all these cute baby cuddles...unfortunately...  I will soak in all the clings and cuddles, whimpers and giggles... I look forward to sharing more firsts with you this year.

Love, Mom 

so bright

I figured out how to describe 2011. It was so bright it was blinding. There were so many bright spots, welcoming a new healthy bundle of boy and navigating a smooth move amongst the largest. But I was happy to see this year fly by. There was just so many stresses that kept coming back usually related to random natural disasters and extreme weather. Stress felt like a cockroach that I just couldn't smash. It kept creeping back in just as I relaxed. But in the end 2011 left us with a warm feeling literally and figuratively. So far my mild winter wish is on target. I would like to extend that wish to a mild 2012. I even stayed up to watch the ball drop and smash 2011 into the ground one last time. Being surrounded by new friends, comfort food (chocolate was a food group for our potluck), and a general warm feeling rounded out quite a bright year. Thanks to everyone who helped make 2011 bright and thanks in advance for helping us take it easy in 2012.