Fuzzy Math

I just composed a post about how awesome it was that Elliot is officially a year and a half today.

And then I realized actually he's only 17 months. Well, 17 months is a great age to be, too. So happy year and 5/12ths, buddy!

Elliot still kind of looks like a baby (still not a lot of hair and only a few teeth) but he has become a bona fide little boy. He follows his big brother everywhere and tries to copy what he does, except he's much more mischievous and strong willed than Oliver ever was. Ryan is sure that our minimal baby-proofing measures are not sufficient to keep this boy out of trouble. He's probably right. He loves going through drawers and cabinets. He loves nothing better than to empty the contents of a drawer as fast as he can, literally chucking things out over his little shoulders. It is pretty funny to watch when I am in the right mood.

Elliot is just starting to talk, too (or maybe we are just starting to figure out what he is saying.) He can say CAR, BALL, MAMA, DADA, and my favorite, AH-VER for Oliver.

I love this little rascal!! These are some pictures we took on Tuesday picking out pumpkins.

Hey, check out my rock...let's see how it tastes

Oh how I love these little guys!!

The Best and the Brightest

...do not work at Wal*Mart. I realize that I may not the first person to notice this, but I was struck by this fact again this evening.

How I hate EVERY ASPECT of this awful, evil, soul-destroying corporation. Yuck. Every time I go there I leave vowing that I will never return. Had I been a better planner I wouldn't have had to go looking for a birthday present for a 4-year-old at 11:00 the night before the party when my choices were pretty much reduced to Walmart or the gas station convenience store. But alas, I am not a planner and I was out anyway so I thought, I'll just stop at Walmart on the way home, it can't possibly be as bad as I remember. Oh, but it was!! First of all they had such a freaking craptastic toy selection it made me so sad for the kids who get those toys. There were no toys that weren't plastic or didn't require batteries. I finally found a game which I hope won't be one this family already has...which is why I asked for a gift reciept. And that's where my trouble really started. The cashier couldn't figure it out. The shift manager couldn't figure it out. Finally they figured out how to give me a gift recipt for the box of tampons I also picked up (thanks, but no thanks...that would make an awkward gift for a 4 year old boy). This little errand that should have taken all of 10 minutes ate up 40 (FORTY!!!) minutes of my life. Ahhh!! And now it's eating up even more because I am taking the time to write about it when I should be asleep. Curse you Walmart! This time I mean it. I will never go there again.

New York City

 Ollie with his treasured "list"--the NYC bingo game Abby made for him

Abby is one of those people who would probably plan her vacations six months in advance even if her OB-GYN residency didn't require it. So when she told us back in the spring that she would be on vacation the week of September 19-26 we made plans to go up to New York to visit. Ryan just stayed for a long weekend because he had to be back at work on Tuesday, but I decided to stay for the whole week. I thought that in addition to being a lot of fun our extended stay would give my mom plenty of QT with the boys. Unfortunately I didn't consult my mom before I made our travel arrangements and she was already planning to be in Japan for the entire month of September. BUMMER.

In any case, it was really fun to explore New York from Abby's place in the West Village rather than from the Upper East Side where my mom still lives. It is such a different city!!! I LOVED it!There is so much to the City that is new (since I left for college 15 years ago--I shouldn't be so surprised). As Abby pointed out, this last decade has been very good to New York. There are so many new parks, new neighborhoods, and old neighborhoods that have been completely transformed. It is so vibrant, so lovely and so livable. I fell in love all over again. Or actually, more like for the first time. I didn't really even like the City growing up. Maybe it was just adolescent angst. But honestly, our neighborhood, Carnegie Hill, is pretty boring. It is safe (which counted for a lot in the pre-Guiliani/Bloomberg days) but pretty unexciting and wildly expensive.

Ok, so enough of that...here are the highlights of our recent trip. We had perfect weather for walking around and taking in New York so we hit the City HARD. These are a few of my favorite memories.

• Spending time with Abby and Adam and seeing a little bit of "their" New York: their favorite neighborhood restaurants, boutiques, fountains, parks, strolls, etc.
• Jogging along the Hudson River watching the boats and the people and the water and the Statue of Liberty and New Jersey's pretty impressive skyline (who knew?!?!)
• Checking out the view of lower Manhattan from the Highline: a former elevated freight train track that has been converted into a cool new park
• Visiting the aircraft carrier Intrepid
• Enjoying spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty and NY Harbor from Adam's 33rd floor office...and enjoying all the candy and treats pushed on us by his office manager
• Eating lunch outside in the Financial District and feeling the pulsing energy of the city
• Seeing Wicked on Broadway with Abby and Adam (LOVED it!!!!)
• Eating dinner outside at the Pier i Cafe, watching the sun go down over the Hudson River
• Catching up with so many old friends (and their progeny)
• Checking out some pretty amazing playgrounds around the city (Rockefeller playground in Battery Park City and Pier 51 playground near Abby's house)
• Eating awesome food and even more amazing treats (cupcakes at Magnolia and  Billy's , tiramisu gelato at Cones, and milk and cookies at... Milk and Cookies!) 
• Visiting the Central Park Zoo and riding the Carousel (Oliver was a bit scared but Abby hopped on behind him and convinced him that it was going to be fun!)
• Eating burgers from the Shake Shack with my dad by the lake in Central Park
• Walking around the city, exploring neighborhoods, window shopping, people watching, walking, people watching, taking the subway, walking, eating, people watching...oh, I could do this all day...and we did!!

Ryan and Ollie with our gracious hosts Abby and Adam

 

Me and the boys...just caaaasually walking by the Statue of Liberty (can you tell this is posed?!)Ollie and Ryan in front of an Army "he-di-docker" at the Intrepid 

    Elliot got right down to business at Adam's office, making calls and typing on the computer. Oliver asked if Adam had any toys...and sure enough, that's when the (toy) guns came out. Elliot apparently thinks workplace violence is pretty funny.

Elliot wasn't sure if it would hurt EVERY time he banged his head into this dodo bird's bronze beak, so he decided to do a little experiment.

  

 

Chilling at Abby and Adam's house. Watching TV in the living room...or in the bathroom. They have a TV built in to one of the three mirrored walls so you can sit in the world's largest tub and watch a movie. How cool is that?! The boys just loved swimming in that tub.

    

 

My friends Katie and Emily watched the boys while we went to see Wicked. The kids had a total blast as you can see from the mayhem.

 

My dad took us to his favorite bookstore in the City, The Strand. I love this picture of him reading to Oliver.

Once Elliot had determined that, yes, in fact banging his head into the dodo would hurt each and every time, he entertained himself for about a half hour on this perfect toddler-sized slide.     

When I was little, one of my favorite things to do was pretend that I was a mountain goat and climb all over the rocks in Central Park. I'm glad to see that Oliver is following this proud family tradition. New York really can be fun place for little kids, I'm glad that I can share some of these experiences with my boys.

Daddy's Boy

The boys totally hit the Dad jackpot when they got Ryan as a Dad. He comes home from a long day of work and dives right into "second shift", and man, what a star player he is. He organizes kickball games with all the little kids in the neighborhood, he helps Oliver eat his dinner (this is totally exhausting and thankless...take a bite, Ollie...now chew it...ok, now swallow it...Ollie, make that food go down to your tummy...sit back down, you are not done you've only taken one bite...). He plays games and wrestles with the boys, he reads them books and invents silly "Mike-the-monkey" stories.

Oliver is on to the fact that his Dad is a pretty awesome guy. Whenever we get home (no matter what time of day) Oliver rushes to be the first one in the house. He throws open the door and shouts "Hellllloooo, Daddy!!" He is often disappointed because it will be the middle of the day and Ryan is still at work. When Ryan comes home he is greeted by that same enthusiastic "Helllllloooo Daddy!!" and then entreated to "talk 'bout verk [work]." Oliver's fascination with his Daddy's work is both hilarious and endearing. After all, his dad isn't a cop, or a firefighter, his stories about work--the details that Oliver loves to hear repeated over and over again--involve such thrilling anecdotes as "today I had a meeting in a conference room" and "my new office is on the 5th floor". If we get off topic, Oliver will immediately bring the conversation back around to "talking 'bout Daddy's verk."

Last week Ryan took Oliver camping...in the backyard. What a cool Dad! He set up the tent right there in our backyard and brought out sleeping bags and flashlights. Ollie was thrilled (as you can probably see from the pictures below!) He assured us that "I promise I not be scared!!" and true to his word, he slept all night in the tent. Ryan thought that at some point in the night Oliver would wake up and they would both get to move inside, but Oliver must have felt totally safe and comfortable cuddled up next to his Daddy and slept the whole night through. What a lucky guy!

The Great Outdoors

On Tuesday the weather here was absolutely perfect. It was cool (high 70s) and sunny. I decided to take the boys for a hike in Umstead park. We took our bathing suits, our magnifying glass, and lunch and headed out into the woods for the afternoon. We did this a few weeks ago and it turned into a marathon 4 mile excursion. I learned my lesson and this time we stuck to the bridle trail and headed directly to the lake. I think it was still a good 2 miles round trip. I love that the boys enjoy being outdoors (what kid doesn't!) But it's so much fun to share these experiences with them.

     

Miss Jan's Preschool

Oliver started up at his new preschool this week and I think it is going to be perfect! Last year he went to preschool two days a week at the Catholic church in our neighborhood. It was a fine preschool but since we aren't members of the parish it was really expensive. I liked that we could walk or ride our bikes there and I valued the sense of community it fostered, but I felt like a big-time sucker when I found out that we were the first family in 12 (TWELVE!!!) years to pay the non-Catholic rate. Anyway, so this year I decided to send Oliver to "Miss Jan's" preschool. "Miss Jan" is a woman from our church who runs a very low-key but wildly popular preschool program in her home. Oliver started this week and already this is what I love:

* When I came to pick him up after the first day the kids were all out on the front lawn playing with this long cardboard box. It was so low-tech, but perfect! They had a blast crawling through it and rolling across the grass inside it. It became a cave/tunnel/house. I love that they were not given instructions in how to play with it, but just allowed to explore it and find out for themselves all the fun you can have with a cardboard box!

*I love that his artwork is messy. At St.Francis he brought home very cute crafts that really bugged me because it was obvious that he didn't do it himself. Miss. Jan realizes that art at this age is all about the process and not the final product.

*I love that Oliver knows most, but not all, of the 8 kids in his class already and I adore (ADORE!!) their moms. I am so excited that I have a built-in excuse to see some of my favorite women 3 times a week.

Oliver with his buddies Ryan (Ry-nan as Oliver pronounces it), Jack and Win.

I know you are asking yourself, "what's up with Oliver's weird fake smile??" The answer is that apparently he thinks it's pretty darn cool. Whenever he sees a picture of himself with that crazy squinty smile he comments, "I love dat smidle!"