shhh. . . don't tell gus

Theo and I went to Target today to pick up toothpaste, toilet paper and some other essentials. And since we were so close to Ikea, we stopped in and shared an ice cream (actually frozen yogurt). When the ice cream was gone Theo hollered so loud that everyone turned to check out the commotion. He sure loves his frozen treats.

videos

Jonathan has been wanting to put video of the boys on the blog since the day he saw the video button on the blog tool bar. Well today the boys and Jonathan got up around 6 am and shot some video and later in the day went to Radio Shack to get a cord to connect our video camera to the computer. After some tinkering with the iVideo, presto! Gus and Theo's screen debut.

antics after the storms

The storms last night knocked limbs off of trees all over Center City. A huge limb fell down in Fitler Square right at the foot of the turtle statues. When we got to the square to play ball there were two 22-month old boys crawling all over the branches. Gus was not too interested in playing on it, and spent all his energy trying to get the boys, Adley and William, to play chase with him. So when he climbed on the big turtle and I pulled out my phone to try to capture him with the limb, it did not occur to me that he might dive head first into the branches. My very first thought was, "oh that is fun" and then immediately, "Aaaggghhhh!!! No, no, no," His eyes. His head. I guess, since his eyes and everything were in tact, the branches did a good job of breaking his fall?

during the thunderstorms

I think today was the first time we have had a thunderstorm since Gus has been talking. I kept them busy playing, hoping they would not notice how jumpy I was. I think it worked. They did not get scared.


Rode the lion


Read books


Tried on all the hats


Built a fort


Played peekaboo


Crushed the fort

feed the pig, eat the pig

This morning we went to the Please Touch Museum and I let Theo out of the Ergo for the first time. He had a blast but it was hectic. I lost Gus. It was probably not even for a minute, but terrifying none the less. He had been right under my nose, playing with a cash register in the grocery store with Theo and me when all of a sudden I hear a man reprimanding him for not saying 'excuse me.' I looked down and there was another boy in a yellow shirt where Gus had been. I quickly searched the grocery store, the art area, and then found him playing with the boats in the river. We had a talk about running off. Theo and I had a talk about not eating the barn yard animals. When I started to take this picture, he had been feeding the pig ears of corn. It was so cute.

the park tour--part two

TOT LOT, Westwood

On Wednesday we visited Debby and Delia, and after playing for a bit in their park-size backyard we headed down the street to their playground. You would think after four different playgrounds we would have seen everything, but not so. The Tot Lot had some fun teeter-totter thingys and a very cool jungle gym with a rope wall. Gus enjoyed playing with Delia. I do not think he realized that she is almost a year younger than he is. He kept sitting on her and then while playing chase he tackled her. I had my camera but did not take any pictures. The Tot Lot is a wood chip playground so I was preoccupied with keeping the wood chips out of Theo's mouth, which was all the more complicated with Gus sitting on and tackling little Delia. I wish I had taken pictures. The three of them were so cute. Especially on the teeter-totters.

YORK'S WILD KINGDOM, York Maine



On Thursday, after nice visits with Joan and Matt and May, we took the boys to York's Wild Kingdom, a zoo and amusement park. During the summer at my Grandpa C's house, if someone was whining, it was most likely because they wanted to go here and the adults were not moving quickly enough. The park is pretty much as I remember it. Lots of fun houses and lots of rides for little kids.

We started off at the animal park. Theo liked watching the animals, especially the monkeys. He was laughing at them with his adorable little rolling laugh as they wrestled and swung around their cage. Gus was fixated on the rides that he has seen on the way in. The only things he got excited about, or spent any time looking at, were the ducks and the remote control boats near the duck pond. The rest of the time he was whining, "I want to go on the train! NOW!"

Grammy, Grandpa, and I were shocked at how quickly and fearlessly he jumped on each kiddie ride. And he went on all of them, the train, boats, swings, helicopter and the Ferris wheel. He is usually interested but cautious with new things, but there was absolutely no hesitation. And he played two games. A water shooting game and a ball toss. He got two of the three balls in the basket for the ball toss and won a prize! But when asked which prize he wanted he pointed to the balls. He just wanted to play again. The lady working the game thought this was funny and let him do it again. He got them all in and he would have played all night if the lady had not made him take a prize and move along. He is now the proud owner of a huge blow-up guitar, which we left a Grammy's because Theo kept trying to chew on it.



I wish I had better pictures. The whole time we were at the park I complained about forgetting my camera, only to find it in my bag when we got home. You would think this was Mary Poppin's bag the way I loose things in it, but it is actually very small. The camera barely fits in it.


GRAMMY & GRANDPA'S WATER PARK, Dedham



Okay, we did not got to a park on Friday. Even better, Grandpa set up a really big sprinkler in his yard and Kate and Chloe came over and played in it with us.





Chloe was not as impressed with it as Gus was. She headed in to hang out with Theo while Gus soaked himself into drowned-rat status.



When Chloe arrived at Grammy's Gus ran up to her and said, "I love you best of all. Chloe is my best friend." It was very sweet. But Gus may have competition from Theo. Theo likes Chloe, too. And Chloe likes to hold Theo.

And finally . . .

LARZ ANDERSON PARK

On Saturday I picked Jonathan up at the airport and we took the boys back to Larz Anderson to tucker them out for the long car ride home. We met up with Grammy and Grandpa for lunch and the went back to their house to pack. Uncle Kevin and Linda came over to hang out with us until we had to go. It was a great week and we were sad to go. Thanks Grammy and Grandpa.

the park tour--part one

We are back from our week with Grammy and Grandpa in Boston. The theme of this visit was 'the park.' We visited quite a few.

UNION PARK STREET PLAYGROUND, South End

On Saturday we headed in town to Union Park Street to check out the new park that replaced the construction site that was the view from our old apartment. While we lived there it seemed that park would never be finished, so we were so excited to see it and play there with Gus. But Gus quickly nixed it when we found no slide and no shade. It is a large and pretty park, and will be great when the trees mature. The playground equipment is really cool, a la Smith Playhouse, but too "big kid" for us right now. No pictures--it was too bright.

So we headed up the street to our old playground.

RINGGOLD PLAYGROUND, South End



Though we were back in our old playground, it was a completely new experience. The last time we were there it was late fall and Gus was younger than Theo is now, and therefore basically confined to the swings. So not the case now.


Gus loves a playground with sand.


Can you imagine cleaning up from this every day?

Theo swung on the swings and hung out on the slide.


No sand!


And with Jonathan.

LARZ ANDERSON PARK, Brookline

On Sunday, Jonathan flew home to Philly and the boys and I hit Larz Anderson's with Grammy and Grandpa. Gus and I played on the jungle gyms while Theo swung and played with Grammy and Grandpa. After watching a little softball, and playing with the ball and bat that we are never without, we headed to the pond to look for the ducks. The ducks were not there, but the giant koi and karp were, so Grammy fed them bits of the bread she brought with her. Gus asked her for a piece of bread, and then promptly ate it. We got a good chuckle out of that. After running back and forth over the little pond bridge and throwing pebbles into the water we headed back to Grammy and Grandpa's. No pictures--I forgot the camera.

On Sunday evening Uncle Jerry and Amy Dog came over for dinner. Gus was more comfortable with Amy Dog than he was last time, but still cautious. But Theo, no fear. He kept trying to pull her tail and stick his hand in her mouth. (I have to get Grandpa to email the pictures.) Theo followed Amy Dog around all evening and she happily sat under his chair while he ate. Every dog should be so lucky. Gus, always trying to make connections, declared "Mumma, Amy Dog is your brother!" More like a cousin.

CASTLE ISLAND, South Boston



I think Castle Island is my favorite place on Earth. (Yes, earth! It is better than NYC, the Grand Canyon, not Aruba or Paris, but it is still my favorite.) It is so beautiful, even with its industrial drek. I love it. I love the breeze, I love that it is always crowded, and I love that everyone there is so laid back. There is an amazing energy there, I think from all the activity: walking, running, rollerblading, biking, scooter-ing (more on that later!), fishing, boating, swimming, kiting, people-watching, plane-watching, picnicking, playground-ing, fort-touring, dog-walking, painting, martial art-ing. You can do anything there! And I feel close to my Grandpa G. there.


Theo was impressed.


And look! Old school playground animals that I played on here, and at our park down at the river. Not as exciting as a twirling tower of terror, for sure.

The point of our Tuesday visit was scooting. Grammy and Grandpa ran out and got Gus a scooter after seeing how seriously into them he was at Larz Anderson. Sadly, Grammy had to go into work and could not join us on the first scooter outing. When I told Jonathan about our plans to take the scooter to Castle Island he said, "Do you think that is a good idea? He could fall into the harbor." So it was a good thing that Linda wanted to come with us. Having a nurse with us surely brought Jonathan some piece of mind. And us some extra fun. I think Gus is in love with Linda, or "that lady," as he called her for three days.


Linda, a stranger, Grandpa and Theo all watching that Gus does not get too close to the water.

now a word from our sponsor

Our trip to Castle Island, and all future scooting and biking trips, are brought to you by Mountain Dew. Do the Dew!

How is it that our two and-not-even-a-half-year old is sporting a soda logo, when he is not even aware of the existence of soda? Mountain Dew is considering sponsoring him for the 2022 X Games? Jonathan is a HUGE Dew drinker? Gus has a big head? Bingo.

His cute, age-appropriate fishy helmet has not fit him for months. A friend's husband even stopped us on the street to tell us this, but we had not gotten around to replacing it, since, honestly, replacing things just gets old, and we were not really worried about him "riding" (we are still pushing, and pretty slowly, 99% of the time) his trike with an ill-fitting helmet. But a scooter! That's a whole different animal.

So on our way to Castle Island, Grandpa, Linda, Gus, Theo and I stopped at Toys R Us to pick up a new helmet. Grandpa's treat. In my head I was getting a little cranky, anticipating the helmet Gus would pick. I suspected it would be Thomas and I cannot stand how companies capitalize on children's passion for their favorite characters by sticking them on everything under the sun. And sure enough, when we got to the meager selection of helmets, Gus gave them the once over and said, "I want the Thomas one." But it only came in size 3+, which is smaller than his fishy helmet! Phew.

Or maybe not, phew. Turns out Gus wears a size youth 8+. And the selection of those was even smaller. Gus got excited for a purple one with butterflies, "Sophie has that one!" But that was also a 3. Phew, for the battle Gus would have had with Grandpa over that one. So our choices were black with red skulls, kind of a mud grey, very plain, that was the one I would have picked, an ugly neon Mongoose one, or the shiny green one. Gus liked the green.

So now Gus is happily scooting around, advertising soda, which is so taboo with the parents of the toddler set. I am thinking we are going to get some funny looks, but that is okay. The Dew helmet is way cooler than a Thomas helmet. And if I get any weird looks, I can just say, "Your kid does not have a sponsor yet?"

ten months

Theo is ten months today. Poor fellow, had kind of a yucky day. He and Gus had fevers and were irritable so I took them to the doctor and they both have Coxsackievirus. And then we took a six-hour car ride. Not exactly a ton of fun, but Theo was in pretty good spirits considering. He slept for most of the ride, but he did wake up somewhere in Connecticut and spent a good hour giggling with Gus. They crack each other up--when they are not fighting over toys. All of a sudden, Theo wants whatever Gus has and tries to do whatever Gus is doing.


Theo with his perma-drool

favorite pastimes: pushing cars around, playing with the Little People, playing chase, taking baths, acting coy, following Gus around, dancing, playing 'How big is Theo?'

favorite foods: corn, blueberries, pizza, grilled cheese, MumMums

newfangled playground equipment safer?

We spent the morning playing with Lara and Anna at the Smith Memorial Playhouse. It was a lot of fun, but I question the judgment of the people who designed and selected the equipment for the new, state-of-art playground there. Surely the "see-saw" (pictured above) is safer than the old hand-jammers that I played on. Anna and Jonathan both took turns riding with the kids and no one went flying off it. But a merry-go-round/climbing structure?



Why would someone ever combine these two activities? It sounds fun in theory but I just cannot see anything but trouble here. Sure, Gus is too young for it, but is it really any better for bigger, faster, heavier kids? The big kids (grade schoolers) had this thing spinning, and it moves fast! Just like an old merry-go-round.



Luckily, Jonathan got Gus (kicking and screaming because he wanted to just hang up there) down before the spinning started. My heart was racing, mostly because of Jonathan's flip-flops. Flip-flops, rope steps, height, kicking toddler, bad, bad, bad combination. Next time we go we will have to make sure Misha is not on call and that he brings his doctor's kit.

The playhouse, which has three floors of toys, was more our speed. The best part is "Smithville."



Though Anna and I were both bothered by the dinosaurs and wild animals that adorned the walls of the otherwise quaint, play town center. Couldn't they have just painted a city scheme? Obviously, my imagination is suffering.


Gas in Smithville is $192.3. Yikes!


Theo was able to use his feet to push his little Flinstone car around the streets. Though we had to steer him clear of the median strip.


He had a blast.

happy fourth! play ball!

Our Fourth celebrations were very low key this year. We played ball at Rittenhouse, made hamburgers and corn on the grill, went out for water ice for desert, put the boys to bed and then watched the Boston Pops on tv and the Philly fireworks from our balcony (no Pinckney Street--but at least we could see the high ones). I decided to wake Gus up for the fireworks. He was sound asleep but when asked if he wanted to see the fireworks he said, "Yes, of course." So I picked him up and carried him into our room, but he was still very much asleep and kept burying his head in my neck. He could not even open his eyes, so I put him back to bed and then watched the rest of them with Jonathan out in the rain. It was a quiet but nice day. And I took a lot of good pictures (if I do say so myself). Here are some of them.

THEO PLAYING BALL




GUS PLAYING BALL


Gus played ball with an Isabella, Max and Devon, all new park friends, and Jonathan. He was so serious and so good about letting the others have turns with the bat, ball and glove. He is getting really good at throwing and hitting the ball. Catching? Why catch when you can just run after it and pick it up. Devon's father, who lives across from the real baseball field, said Gus "has talent" and is ready to play with the three-year-olds! Too funny. But my absolute favorite part of the game was when Gus decided it was his turn to be the catcher. He was crouched down and doing something with his hand near his mouth. Jonathan said, "Gus are you putting grass in your mouth?" and Gus said, "No, I am putting on my mask." We do not know where he is learning all this stuff, since we have not been watching any games.


Batter


Catcher


Outfielder


Pitcher


I do not recall what position he was playing, but he was throwing with a lot of determination.

THEO WATCHING GUS PLAY BALL


THEO IS EASILY DISTRACTED

by me


by people on the bench next to ours


by dogs


by the bench

AND AT HOME

Grungy after playing all day, but together. So hard to get these two.