Yard Sale

I channeled my inner Grandpa G. and hit a yard sale yesterday morning. Gus & Theo scored big time.


A digger (We call all construction equipment with buckets, diggers)


And a doctor's kit.

Raj came over for supper and showed Gus how to use all the tools.


Gus is super serious when it comes to examining things (People, vegetables)


This morning when Gus woke up he told us, "I am a doctor. And Raj is, too. Being a doctor is fun." Then he took my temperature. It was 40 lbs. He may need a few more lessons before he sits for the boards.

Too cute not to include

Normally I would not post nude photos on line, but this one is too cute (if I had only used the better flash).



Theo enjoys a good bath.

Theo's new hat

When I picked out Theo's new summer hat, Jonathan said, "You do know that people are going to think he is a girl if he is wearing that."



Well, Theo tried it on for Gus, and Gus said, "Theo has a fireman's helmet!" And then had to try it on himself.



Not too girly for Gus. Just too small.

Fun with the mail cart

I pulled the mail cart out of storage for Theo. He loves it but it gets away from him a little . . .



unless we put some weight in it.



Gus works perfectly.

Horsing around

After spending a nice morning with Anna and Lara at the Please Touch Museum, I was sure that there would be napping in 2042 land. Not so much. Gus will not stay in his bed, nor his room at nap time. After forty-five minutes of trying to settle Gus down, I brought Gus and Theo into my bed for a group nap. That was even less realistic.







I think Gus might have fallen asleep if Theo had not been there. Theo likes to horse around with Gus, and Gus says, "Again, Theo. Again," as Theo pulls his hair, pokes him in the eye and uses him as a climbing wall.

Update on the bigger-boy bed

It has been four nights in the bigger-boy bed, and to our amazement, Gus has stayed in it all night long. No popping up when we put him to bed and in the morning he calls for us before getting out. The only "incident" happened the first night. I woke up to Theo and Gus crying. When I entered the room, Gus screamed, "Mumma, get me out!" He was under his bed. I think he must have fallen out of the bed and rolled under it. I put him back in bed and then sat down with Theo to rock him back to sleep. While I was in there, Gus kept saying, "I'm okay, Mumma. I'm okay." Tonight when we were putting him to bed, he kept saying, "I no go under my bed." A scary experience, no doubt.

My extroverts

Today we went to a holiday playgroup at Kelly, Evan and Samantha's house. Meri, Ellie and Max were the only other attendees. This is my kind of playgroup! Small and not wild. Better yet, Kelly's husband, Dave, was home and played with the toddlers in the garden while we relaxed inside with the infants. Occasionally one of us would go outside to make sure everyone was okay. Dave's judgment on the climbing abilities of toddlers is questionable and Gus was wearing Evan's roller skates (he goes right for them every time we are there) so I was especially nervous (but he is surprisingly steady on them). Kelly's neighbor was in her garden doing yard work and Gus apparently had been talking with her, because when I came out he ran over to the fence and said, "I am a big boy," and she said, "Yes, you are Gus." And then Gus said, "And this is my mommy, Amy." I think she said her name was Beth. I was so shocked that Gus was introducing me that I might have misheard her. I know it is polite to make introductions, but unless totally necessary, I just try to lay low. I am happy for Gus that he is so comfortable talking with people and hope this does not change as he gets older, but I am not looking forward to being roped into his extroverted shenanigans.

Jonathan and I were counting on Theo being apart of team introvert, but all indicators point to extrovert, too. He chatters away all day long, just like Gus did at his age, and when we are out and about he tries to catch the eyes of everyone passing by. Today at Kelly's he kept crawling over to six-week old Max and talking to him. He also is a big flirt, and spent a good deal of time batting his incredible long eyelashes and Kelly and Meri. I think my days of public solitude are over.

A visit from Chloe

Chloe spent Saturday with us while Kate and Jon went to Princeton to scout out neighborhoods.


Chloe and Gus eating lunch in the garden.


Jonathan, Theo, Chloe and Gus watching the garbage train pass the park. Chloe, rightly commented, "That train stinks!"

We all had so much fun and cannot wait for Chloe, Kate and "Uncle Jon" to live nearby.

Goodbye, big-boy bed. Hello, bigger-boy bed!

It is here. The day I have been dreading. Gus jumped out of his crib. It happened while he was in a time-out. For what, hardly seemed important once we heard the thud and the announcement "I jumped out of my big boy bed." The landing sounded so controlled and Gus was so chipper that I initially thought he may be able to jump out safely. So I, to Jonathan's horror, encouraged him to show us how he did it. Let's just say he got lucky the first time. Jonathan went straight to the tool box and, with Gus's assistance, turned his "big-boy bed" into a real big-boy bed. I expected to be a little teary when Gus graduated from his crib, but not a drop. Maybe I would have been if we actually had dismantled a crib, rather than just a panel. I hope Gus likes his new bed and that he stays in it all night long.

Maine

Today we went to Maine. First stop, Rick's for breakfast, my childhood favorite. I have never been an egg person and loved going to Rick's because they have apple pie with ice cream on the breakfast menu. Gus, too, does not eat eggs, but he wanted fish and chips. He may have wanted pie if he had known about it. As soon as our waitress came to our table, Gus started saying, "Fish and chips please. Fish and chips, please." Unfortunately they do not serve fish and chips at Sunday breakfast. Gus had already had several meltdowns this morning, so in an attempt to avoid another one, I ordered bacon and home fries for him and asked the waitress to call it fish and chips. When the meal came we all held our breath while Gus ate his fish and chips. He commented on the deliciousness of the chips (bacon). Phew. Crisis avoided.

Next we went to the beach. Grammy, Grandpa and Theo sat on a bench and watched Gus, Jonathan and me fly a kite and play in the sand.


Theo and Grammy


Jonathan, Amy and Gus flying the owl kite


I REALLY liked flying the kite and was shocked that I could do it. I remember it being really difficult to do the last time I tried, oh some twenty-five years ago. My Grandpa (Gartland) made fancy kite reels out of fishing reels for Kevin and me and I could never get the hang of it. Maybe I just need a plain old spool.


Luckily for me, the kite hog, Gus was more interested in the ocean and playing in the sand. This was his first time at the beach and he was not at all scared of the water or bothered by the sand, which was very hot. I cannot wait to go to the beach with him this summer. I am a little nervous about going with Theo, who has entered the stage of putting everything in his mouth.

After the beach we headed to Intervale Road for a visit with Auntie Anne, Uncle John and Cousin Patrick. Cousins Katie, Owen and MaryKate were there, too, and it was so nice to catch up. MaryKate and Owen have grown so tall.


Owen, MaryKate and Theo

At Anne and John's, Gus was asked what he ate for breakfast. "Bacon and potatoes," he said. I guess he was just humoring us at the restaurant. I do not know why I thought he would be fooled. He loves bacon and sometimes will eat potatoes. He must have thought we were all crazy.

Before heading home we stopped for a quick visit with Auntie May. Theo sat with her for a bit and Gus played with her "magic lamp," asked her for a snack, and wished her a "Happy Mother's Day."

It was a lovely day.

Makeway ducklings

We are back in Boston visiting Grammy and Grandpa and have finally made it to the Public Garden to see Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. I had so much fun pointing out all the sights in 'Make Way for Ducklings' to Gus and Theo.


Mrs. Mallard with Mack, Pack and Nack.


Jonathan, Gus and Grammy on the swan boat.


Theo.


Grandpa and Theo under the bridge.


Gus enjoying jazz in the park.

After the swan boat ride and walking around the Garden, we headed to the Frog Pond playground on the Boston Common. Gus enjoyed the jungle gym and watching a man make balloon animals. He was in line with Jonathan to get a Spiderman balloon, but the balloon maker was very slow and I really did not want a balloon in the car, so I asked Gus if he wanted to wait for his turn for the balloon guy to make him a Spiderman, or go to 7-11 to get M&Ms. He chose M&Ms! Excellent choice. We were going to take a spin by John Kerry's house, but were all so tired and Pickney Street is soooo steep, that we decided to save our visit for another day.

Rittenhouse Flower Market

Gus, Theo and I met up with Belinda, Harrison and Cooper at Rittehouse today. It was Flower Market Day. Theo and Cooper played on a blanket while Gus and Harrison ran around.


Football (soccer-style but with a football)


Tackle trucks


Eating grass.


Cats for adoption.


Playing by the fountain.

Standing by the pesky water

I am finally out of the stoller and STANDING and I cannot go in the fountain.


The big boys were not happy, either.


They had to play around a tree.

Gus kept throwing trucks into the water. His truck, other kids trucks. We will be avoiding the fountain for a while.

Cheerios

On Monday I gave Theo a (Amy-size) handful of Cheerios to play with while I pulled dinner together. And I say "play with" because I knew he did not have the coordination to actually put them in his mouth. I was very proud of myself, coming up with this fun activity to keep him happy during his fussiest time of the day. And then, what should happen on Tuesday? He put them in his mouth and ate them! (He made his yuck face for each one.) Oh, well. Now I have to come up with some less dangerous activity to give him while my back is turned.

Even more surprising than how quickly Theo mastered putting Cheerios in his mouth, was Gus's reaction to all the Cheerios that landed on the floor. It use to be that Gus loved eating nothing more than scraps found on the floor. Not today.


"Snowplow bring Cheerios to the landfill."


"Beep beep."

Eight months

Theo turned eight months today and decided to celebrate by crashing our first child-free weekend since last summer. Yesterday, Jonathan and I were in DC at Rishi and Samantha's wedding. (It was awesome. Boys, try to become friends with some Indian people so you can go to some Indian weddings. Or better yet, marry Indian women so we can all be in an Indian wedding.) Gus and Theo were at Grandma and PopPop's house. But after not drinking all day (Theo will not take a bottle right now) and then crying from 9 pm until midnight, Theo hitched a ride to Washington so he could spend his eight-month birthday, and Mother's Day, at the Renaissance Hotel on 9th Street. He also caught the tail end of the wedding. Thanks to Grandma and PopPop for holding him off as long as they could, and for bringing him to us in the middle of the night.


Playing with Jonathan's shoe at 1 a.m.


I love hotels!

In addition to his first hotel stay, Theo marked his eight month with a new trick. Earlier this week Theo discovered how to sit up on his own. The first day it happened I never caught him in the act. I would see him on his belly, turn my head to do something, and when I looked back he would be sitting. By Friday he was practicing compulsively, and I had a lot of fun watching him go from Downward Dog, to tucking his feet under his bottom, sitting back, and then flopping on to his belly in order to do it all over again.

At Eight months Theo is:

eating solid foods with gusto;
drumming to music;
waving back when people wave at him;
"crawling" all around (its not on all fours but he gets around and is especially fast when he sees a potential choking hazard);
babbling a lot (watch out Gus);
but not sleeping through the night. Let's work on that for month nine!

Water back in the fountain

Today, like most days when we are out and about doing errands, we stopped to play at Rittenhouse Square. When we entered the square I pulled Gus out of the "tunnel" and he picked a tennis ball and his bat out of the stroller basket to play with. After showing me where people were break dancing when he was there with Jonathan on Saturday (Gus REALLY liked the break dancers), we headed to the fountain to find someone to play ball with. But horrors of horrors, the fountain was full of water! What??? I guess Gus does not remember the water from last summer. I was disappointed, too. Most squares have fountains, but Rittenhouse's fountain/playpen full of toddlers is quiet unique. And Gus cannot climb out of it yet, which it makes watching him at this busy park a lot easier.

We were looking into the fountain, longing for the good old days, when Gus said, "Mumma, what those pennies doing?" There were a dozen or so pennies visible on the bottom (I don't know how long the water has been back but the surface is already covered with leaves--looks horrible. Better empty and with children.) Oh! Introduction to the concept of wishing. I was excited and Theo was sleeping so we sat down on the edge and I explained what a wish is, how to make one, and pulled out some pennies. Gus tossed in his penny, then my penny and then his ball and bat.

M: (very, very frustrated but trying to remain reasonable) Oh, Gus! No! Why did you do that?
G: I make a wish.
M: (And Gus has quite the arm. They were both out of reach though the bat was floating back to us.) Oh. Oh. Oh. (Wants to scream, Why? Why? Why? Just works with pennies, but breathes and asks) What did you wish for?
G: I wish somebody give Gus a new bat.

I fished out the bat, but not the ball. Gus was not impressed by my save. He was still talking about a new bat. "I go to store and get a new bat." He definitely thinks that whatever his little heart desires is just waiting for him at Wholefoods or Target. Looking back, wish-making may still be a little abstract for Gus. And , as Jonathan pointed out, encouraging him to throw anything into a fountain is probably not a good idea. Oh well. We are down another ball.

That's so funny

Gus likes to pick out fruits and vegetables while we are grocery shopping. If he picks something that is not on our list, I will usually get one (unless it is an artichoke) in hopes that he will eat it. Lately he has not been big on fruits and veggies. Yesterday he picked out a cucumber and a green apple and was holding then in the grocery cart. While I was picking out some watermelon he turned to a lady near us and said, "This [apple] is like a ball and this [cucumber] is like a bat and I whack it!"

Firsts for Theo & Gus

Theo and Gus had a lot of fun together today. They played little people together for a very long time (20 minutes).







And they took a bath. This was Theo's first bath in the big tub. He liked it but was sliding a little too much for my comfort.

Twenty-seven months

It is Tuesday. Story time day! Gus could not wait to get to the library. He returned his books for the first time without any drama, and I could not help but think, 'wow, he is really growing up.' And then we went into story time. He is still two. It was kind of a small group so the librarian announced that we would wait a couple of minutes for late comers. Gus yelled, "I'm ready now! Wake up Toes!." Then when it was time to sing 'Wake up Toes' he yelled, "No! I no sing Wake up Toes!" (And of course when he got home he talked about how he sang 'Wake up Toes.')

The theme of the day was Mother's Day. The first book, 'Carry Me, Mommy,' was pretty good, but they went downhill from there. Gus agreed and he was not quiet about it. The librarian (a very bookish-looking lady) made this huge deal about this one book, how it was her favorite because it was an early work of Maurice Sendak (local hero). It was sooooo boring. And Gus told her. He kept saying, "I no like this book. This book over." Finally he said, "Mumma, I'm all done with story time." So we left. Maybe he was off because Zach was not there. Or maybe it was because of the awful books. Someone should write a better book about Mother's Day.

Other amusing things that happened on Gus's 27 month birthday:

Gus ran in from the garden saying, "Mumma, I no like those bees buzzing. I no like that noise." (We have a tree dripping with yellow flowers and the bees love it.)

We went grocery shopping and when we pulled into a parking space across the street from our house, Gus said, "That's my home. It is made of brick. It is my life."

I locked Gus in the vestibule so I could get Theo and the groceries out of the car. While I was doing this, he climbed up our iron security gate, which has a brick pattern and was just hanging there saying 'hi' to the people who passed. I really wanted to have him do it again so I could take a picture, but I figured that was a really bad idea.

Playgroup

It was our turn to host playgroup today. I think people had fun. It is hard to tell with all the tantrum-ing that goes on. Gus did a pretty good job of sharing his toys and Theo had fun playing with Cooper (who just turned one) and baby Samantha. He kept crawling over to Samantha. I guess it was nice not being the youngest.


Theo and Samantha

Most of playgroup was spent in the garden eating watermelon, crackers and grapes, and playing all sorts of ball games.


Harrison, Phillip, Gus and Olivia


Evan decided to put himself in the hoop.


Fio played golf . . .


and so did Theo . . .

Gus, who pronounces 'Theo' as 'Fio', spent a good part of the day telling me stories about "that girl Fio," and how she cried and yelled at Gus. Gus and Evan were taking turns running around with a pail on their heads. (They cannot see where they are going when it is on, but luckily it is hard enough that it protects them from all the things that they walk in to.) Gus tried to put it on Fio's head and she cried. He said he was sorry but tried it again a little later. The second time she yelled at him in Spanish. It was was very cute. I wish I knew what she said.