Baby Blog

In January, the kids headed back to school after the break and we said goodbye to Grammie, who had stayed to visit through the first couple of weeks. The boys took a couple of ski lessons at Blue Hills and Sebastien really mastered the bunny slope and started coming down the real ski hills! Sebastien got to skate with his hockey team at Fenway, which was a very cool experience. He also celebrated his 7th birthday with an ice skating party at the N. End rink.

January’s photos:

February brought our annual trip to AZ, where due to some weird weather, it was possibly colder some days there than in Boston! We visited the wild life park, went to the rodeo, pretended to be cowboys at Rawhide, hiked some volcanic sites and visited some ruins, and had lots of fun. When we got back, we finally got some snow and Sebastien and Archer built a great snowman with dad.

February’s photos:

And some recent quotes:
Sebastien: Archer, wanna know a secret? (leans in, whispers) Isn’t it so cool that your brother is a big kid?

Sebastien: Blake, stop acting like the bus driver who made Rosa Parks go to jail.

Archer: (singing to himself) Salt and Pepper’s lonely hot dog band…

Blake: (at 12:30am) Dad, Dad! I want to talk to you! I want to talk about the planets! Do you know we live on earth?

Blake: (presents hands) Can you kiss me on the paws?

Annnnnd somehow I am so far behind, it’s crazy. I am going to blame it on holiday craziness plus first trimester sickness. (Baby Vuono #4 coming in July 2017! Hooray!) Photo dump to catch up.

Highlights from the fall included: Archer and Blake starting school (both loved it!), a fun dual birthday party to celebrate 4 and 2 at Castle Island, dancing at a music festival, our annual trip to Wilson Farms for pumpkins and cider donuts, a trip to Great Wolf Lodge with the Hassells, Halloween in Charlestown, putting together Thanksgiving food boxes with Archer at Hill House, Thanksgiving with Nick’s family in RI, a trip to the Polar Express in NH, Sebastien skating at the Garden during a Bruins game, seeing Santa at Thompson Square (no one cried!), a massive snowball fight during Vuono Christmas, gingerbread house making, celebrating Christmas and braving the cold for a parade and dinner at the 99 on New Years Eve.

We told the kids on Christmas Eve that they will be getting a new brother or sister and they couldn’t be more excited! They opened up their Christmas pj’s from Santa and there was an extra baby-sized pair. It took them a little while to catch on (Sebastien was sure they were for Ashlyn’s baby – due in May!) Archer says he thinks it’s a girl and we should name her Jesus. Blake says we should name the baby “Lllll” (like the sound the letter L makes). We will take both names into consideration…

And some recent quotes:

(After he hit a dead bug with his shirt) Mom: Eww, Arch, you don’t need to hit it. It’s already dead. Archer: Now it’s double dead.

Mom: (me telling Nick he did something wrong) Archer: (from the other room) You made a bad choice, Dad.

Archer: Can we have strawberry pancakes tonight for breakfast? Pinky promise me we can have strawberry pancakes.

Mom: Hang on, come here. (wipes cheek) Eyelash. Sebastien: WAIT, MY EYELASH FELL OUT?!? Do I look weird?

Mom: Can I have some privacy to go to the bathroom? Blake: Umm… no. I’m gonna stay with you a little bit. (sits down on the floor of the bathroom)

Sebastien: The birds think we’re weird right now because we’re not migrating.

(Nick asks Archer if he thinks we should have another baby) Archer: Yes! I wish we could havvvvve… Davie!

Mom: I love you. Blake: I love you too, Mom. You’re a good friend.

Archer (very earnestly over dinner): Why am I never growing up to be a pirate?

Now for photos. September:

October:

November:

December:

Ohkaaaay, so what has changed in the past four months. Whoops!

We finished out our year of school (Sebastien in Kindergarten, Archer in the 3yo Esplanade group at CNS) and had the requisite graduations and watermelon parties. Our summer was filled with a mix of camps, trips and weekends at the beach. Sebastien spent two weeks at MIT Sports Camp and a week at hockey camp. (Note to self: Although West Roxbury is only 11 miles away, it is an hour and a half round trip in the morning and an hour and a half round trip in the afternoon!) Archer spent two weeks at CNS camp and two weeks at Hill House camp. Both boys loved all their camps this year! We spent a great week at a BEAUTIFUL cabin up in the White Mountains. We went to Story Land and Santa’s Village, went to the adventure park at Loon Mountain, visited the Polar Caves, went tubing and swimming in the Saco River and saw a movie on our one rainy day. The boys discovered Monopoly (“Bonoccoli” to Archer) and Twister, which kicked off Archer’s new obsession with board games. We made s’mores and grilled and enjoyed running around the outdoor space. Archer turned “FOUR!” and told everyone his new age everywhere we went for a solid month. We spent lots of long weekends at the beach in Narragansett with Ra and Papa and both boys boogie boarded like crazy. Papa took the boys to the water park and rides in Watch Hill and Sebastien ate his weight in clam chowder (and chicken fingers) at every restaurant. Sebastien and Archer ran in the Bonnet Shores Kids’ Fun Run – Archer’s first race! – and did great. Archer gave high fives to everyone along the finish line and told Nick, “Phew! That made me tired!” when he crossed the finish. We took Sebastien to a “grown-up dinner” at our favorite restaurant and he nearly fell asleep at the table before dessert, but he made it through. We got a new car – a Honda Pilot – so we now have three rows and room to carpool. Grammie and Pop-pop stayed with us for a week and we visited Plymouth Plantation and the Mayflower, went to Canobie Lake Park for the day, saw Pete’s Dragon, visited the Tea Party museum and went to the Children’s Museum. Nick and I went down to Long Island for Dayle and Matt’s wedding (and failed spectacularly at taking a good, normal photo) while Ra and Papa watched the kiddos for us! Sebastien started first grade – his first year at the Mothership! And Archer spent a week at soccer camp while he anxiously awaited the start of CNS.

Bedtime has now evolved to a song and a story, which we have to make up on the spot based on someone’s request of subject matter. Recent abstract choices have included: people, a flag, a lamp, a fly who loses his tie, a monkey on a plane. Blake likes to hear Creep at bedtime for her song, or Lion Sleeps Tonight or Rainbow Song (aka the theme song from Reading Rainbow). All of the kids are obsessed with Paradise City and Smoke on the Water. Latest Blake phrasing that cracks us up: she calls a knife a “mife,” says, “NO WAY!” all the time and says “my eyes are bright!” if it’s too sunny out. Archer went through a phase of screaming, “You’re killing me, Smalls!” in a totally serious, angry fashion when he was mad at someone. Blake pretty regularly sings a song from Peg + Cat that goes something like, “Oh Mr. Baby Fox, you’ve got a dipey on your bottom. And it’s so stinky, stinky, stinky, stinky…”

And some memorable quotes:
Archer: “Square to God.” Picked up the phrase “swear to God,” but got it wrong.

Blake: “More patty-cakes!” for pancakes.

Archer: After deciding he NEEDED a cherry pie, getting his shoes on, making Blake and I get our shoes on, walking down to Whole Foods and picking out a pie, paying for it, walking all the way back home: “I don’t like pie. I’m not tryin’ it.”

Blake: “My eye! Fell down!” Sebastien: “MY GOD. How did THAT happen?”

Archer: “For my birthday, I want… I want… I want to be ten!”

Archer: “Daddy, you had a bless you and I had a bless you! We had two bless yous!” (after both sneezing)

Nick: “Archer, why do you keep coming into our bed at night?” Archer: “I just want to snuggle with yous guys.”

Archer: “Whatchu wanna be when you grow up?” Sebastien: “A professional hockey player. And if not that, a professional baseball player. What do you want to be?” Archer: “An orange.”

Sebastien: “WHOA! Did you know goats make the same sound we make when we make a goat sound?”

Sebastien: “Mom, when we get a new car, can we keep it cleaner than this one? This one is kind of gross.”
Blake: (while biting her own finger) “This finger is biting me!!”

After finding a spider in the house and putting him in a cup: Sebastien: “Can I show the spider my music?” (plays piano) Archer: “He’s not dancing!”

Blake: “Donkey, donkey.” (for okey dokey)

Tara: “Did you get the note I put in your lunch box?” Sebastien: “Yeah. It was ok.” Tara: “Do you like getting a note? I don’t have to do it if you don’t like it.” Sebastien: (thinks) “You can just do it on the first day of school.”

Sebastien: “Dad, I know what I want to be for Halloween.” Nick: “What?” Sebastien: “The Grim Raper.” Nick: “Umm, it’s reaper.” Sebastien: “No, raper.” Nick: “No, it’s not, and don’t say that.”

Oh, hey, consider this one a big photo dump because I just realized I never added text. (It is now September. Oops!)

Kicking off the first few photos is some of the pictures from Arizona (in February) that my parents took. Even though they’re not in the right month, I wanted to include them here! But moving on to March… At the beginning of March, we spent a weekend in Brooklyn, visiting Jared and Margaret and going to a baby shower (dubbed “the candy party” by the kids due to the strategically placed bowls of candy all over the apartment). We ice skated and had lunch in Brooklyn, then went to the party in Manhattan and crashed at a nearby hotel, and visited the Statue of Liberty the next day (Sebastien’s request). It was super busy and super fun and we can’t wait to go back. Sebastien had hockey tryouts for next year and come Fall, he will be on the Mites C team. Archer attended Maggie’s petting zoo birthday party, getting up close and personal with a black pig, then asking to have his face painted like one. The boys and I went to see a play (Caps for Sale) at the Boston Children’s Theatre and we all loved it. Sebastien began cooking some dinners with me (and trying new foods! He loves shrimp!) and Archer (finally) potty-trained. With a sticker chart, a jar of M&Ms and a bag of prizes, we set out on a long weekend of potty training and never looked back. He gave up his pacifiers (also finally) when he visited the dentist and gots lots of praise from Dr. DeFeo plus an extra prize from the prize drawer. He celebrated Allison’s birthday with her with a visit from the New England Aquarium (see: hermit crab costume). On the same day, Sebastien celebrated with Noor at her movie birthday party. We visited the Easter Bunny at the Burlington Mall. Blake liked him coming and going but not so much sitting on, as is typical. We recovered with milkshakes from Johnny Rocket’s. We “hunted” for Easter eggs (or… collected them from the grass in a mad dash) and Blake was thrilled to help “clean up” the eggs (and even more thrilled when she discovered they had candy inside). We colored Easter eggs and made carrot cake and played at the playground when we had a rare nice day. We celebrated Easter with church followed by brunch at Legal Oysteria with the Hassells and a trip down to RI to see all the cousins. Nick went to Archer’s LP Kindergarten coffee (where everyone seems to be connected by two degrees of separation) and I went out to dinner with the Kindergarten mom’s from Sebastien’s class.

In April, Nick and I went to the LP’s 80’s themed auction dressed up like the Breakfast Club (check out the wig!) and Sebastien went to Benno’s birthday party at the MFA. We closed on the first floor of our house (!!!) so we now own the whole thing, although won’t be able to use the space until Derek and Kerry move out this fall/winter. Drew and Alli came into town for a night and Nick, Blake and I snuck in a lunch with them in the North End. Sebastien finally graduated from Mass Eye and Ear with a good hearing test and confirmation that the tubes he had placed have finally fallen out. Nick went to Garrett’s bachelor party in Austin and I spent a (perfect) weekend with Katie and Alicia in Miami. In between, we had a VERY sick spring break week where Archer had a high fever for five days followed immediately by Blake’s high fever for five days. Flu? Not sure, but it wasn’t fun. We took the kids to Sesame Street Live, which was a hit for Archer and Blake (and Sebastien had fun sitting with Finley and eating candy and popcorn, even if he didn’t find the actual show riveting). Blake and I started a music class in which she shouted, “No! I don’t!” through most of, but fortunately it has grown on her as the weeks have continued. Sebastien presented his non-fiction report on scorpions at school to all of the K parents and administrators and we were all very impressed. Sebastien lost his first tooth! No big story – it was very loose and so he twisted it and POP, out it came. He spent the next several days reminding us all that he had lost a tooth and asking if we wanted to take a look. The weather finally started to warm up here and there and we hit the playground as much as we could, but it was generally a cool, wet April.

Archer, you gave up your nap and then when we realized that wasn’t really working, started napping again. We are in the difficult stage where no nap means 4pm to bedtime is really difficult (and you often fall asleep in the car and wake up on the wrong side of the bed… err, carseat) but a nap means you are popping out of bed from bedtime through 9pm. I’m not sure which is worse, but we are rolling with the nap for now until something changes. Arch, you are still screaming a lot when you are hurt, angry or very frustrated. I am trying not to wish away your 3’s but we will all be happy when this ends (your teachers included). You have started to be more gentle with Blake and will say, “Watch this touch,” to us before touching her gently. Unfortunately, she often does not want you to touch her at all and screams NO! or I NEED SPACE! but hopefully that will change soon. Your current drink of choice is “sparkly water and water and lemonade” and you eat hummus in a tortilla or a hot dog bun with butter and cheese (plus fruit) almost every day for lunch. You pop out of bed a million times because you “need another snuggle” and you ask us for a story “about a…” and we have to come up with one on the spot. (I am generally terrible at this, but you don’t seem to mind.) You are obsessed with the show Goosebumps although we are not sure if it is giving you nightmares and causing you to come into our bed in the middle of the night!

Blake, you love buttered toast (which you lick the butter off of before you take a bite) and peanut butter sandwiches and “big whole carrots.” You often ask, “Mama? Get a burger French fries?” and that paired with a trip to City Square Park might be your perfect day. You are always singing and dancing and have started singing in music class, which is totally adorable. Everyone is impressed with how you speak in sentences at such a young age and we are often impressed with how you can express yourself. You will tell us, “I want to hit!” (and sometimes you do) or “I’m feeling MAD!” (when you definitely are). When you are angry at me for something unrelated, you will pull your bow out of your hair and throw it on the floor, telling me, “NO BOW!” You are starting to have an opinion about which shoes you want to wear and sometimes which bow you want (or whether you want one at all). You won’t let me put a pony tail in your (now curly in the back!) hair, much to Sebastien’s disappointment. You were just using the pacifier in your crib, but after you were sick in April, you now want a “ba and a lion” all the time and throw a screaming fit if you can’t have them. You are certainly starting to have opinions and are not afraid to voice them. Welcome to the two’s (a little early).

Sebastien, you are missed by your brother and sister when you are in school and they can’t wait to play with you when you get home, even if sometimes you’re too tired and just want to chill. I love our Friday Thinking Cup dates where you always get a morning bun and a root beer (even though the morning bun makes a gigantic cinnamon and sugar mess all over the car). You don’t tell me much about your school day but I can tell you enjoy it and have made really great friends this year. And I love our script at bedtime: Goodnight mom, I love you. (I love you.) Sweet dreams. (Sweet dreams.) See you tomorrow. (See you tomorrow.) See you in the morning. (See you in the morning.) Bye. (Bye.) I love you. (I love you. Sleep tight.) Sleep tight. **kiss**

We started off January saying goodbye to Ra and Papa as they went to spend 3 months in Florida and finishing up our visit with Grammie and Pop-pop before they drove back to Arizona. Sebastien started guitar lessons, which he wanted for his 6th birthday, and learned Twinkle Twinkle Little Star well enough to play it for the second performance fest! Archer started swimming lessons with Emory and a Storytellers class at school after Lunch Bunch, which helped with nap timing once Blake switched to one nap in mid-January. Sebastien attended his first LP Read-a-thon and loved it. We went to see the Dinosaurs! exhibit at the World Trade Center on a very empty Friday night. We had just enough snow to go sledding at the monument (and then it all melted – the best kind!) And we all continued to spend lots of time at the hockey rink on Saturday mornings. Sebastien celebrated his 6th birthday with a movie party at the Capitol Theatre in Arlington (on his actual birthday!) He and all his kindergarten friends (plus Finley and Max) ate pizza, watched The Book of Life with popcorn and juice, then had an ice cream sundae party to finish. They all had a blast! (And Archer and I were stuck at home with a stomach virus. Big thumbs down.)

Sebastien’s kindergarten class celebrated the 100th day of school in February and each had to bring in a bag of 100 anythings. Sebastien chose popsicle sticks and numbered each one from 1 to 100. We spent February vacation out in Arizona visiting Grammie and Pop-pop and had a great time, as always. We picked vegetables and rode rides at a farm, swam in the pool and played baseball in the street, visited some Anasazi ruins (which Sebastien is learning about in school), went horseback riding (Archer too!), visited Great Grandma Mary, went to the rodeo and went mini-golfing and race car driving. When we got back to Boston, the boys took two ski lessons – and loved them! Blake loved the Karen K and the Jitterbugs concert and is still talking about the bubbles and dancing a month later.

Memorable quotes:
“I can’t stand tall! I’m just little!” -Archer, when asked to stand up tall to get dressed
“I think the food is all going to be Saw-bee Arabian.” -Sebastien, on going to lunch at Salman’s
“I love your potty words in your brain, Sebastien.” -Archer
“Do you think I’m gonna grow up?” (lots of concern) “Are you sure?” -Archer
“Blakey, mom is not a jungle Jack!” -Archer, when Blake was climbing on me
“Dogs don’t talk very good. Dogs only say woof.” -Archer
And Blake always asks for “a tiss and a hug” and “a high five and a fist bump” – both things always together.

Snapshot (because this new part-time job is starting out as a full-time job!):

Sebastien
– Read a Shel Silverstein poem (“A Use for a Moose”) at his first LP performance festival.
– Sang beautifully in the Holiday Concert which Grammie and Pop-pop got to see too.
– Loves watching Goosebumps (Archer too) even though it’s pretty scary.
– Is super excited that hockey is back in season and can’t wait for Saturday practice. He is in Micro Hockey this year which means 45 minutes of drills and 45 minutes of scrimmage every Saturday morning.
– Has lots of friends at school, like Matthew, Salman, Billy, Cavan and Liam and lots of requests for play dates these days.
– Was not excited for Thanksgiving because he hates all Thanksgiving foods, but ended up having lots of fun with his cousins. Was very excited for Christmas and his top gift requested from Santa was a Meccano robot.

Archer
– Is constantly in our bed these days, probably 5 nights out of the week. If you ask him if he has had a bad dream, he says, “No, I just want to sleep wif yous guys.”
– Tells you to “watch this touch” as he touches Blakey gently. Progress!
– Asks for “sparkly water and water and lemonade” for a drink and loves “big carrots” and peppers and going to Lunch Bunch at school.
– Says he’s “not playing with any Jackies” before his babysitter, Jackie, comes over on Fridays and spends 75% of her visit not speaking to her, no matter how hard she tries.
– Started the Learn to Skate program with lots of tears and sitting on the ice and is now doing so well! We were afraid he wouldn’t stick with it, but he did and now he really likes it (although he can’t wait until he is “big” and can use a stick like Sebastien).
– Is still not even a little bit interested in using the potty.

Blake
– Weighed in at 21 lbs 8 oz and measured 31.25 inches at her 15 month check-up. Also got six teeth in these two months: her bottom left molar on 11/5, top right on 11/8, her bottom right molar on 11/18 and top left on 11/22, plus both top eye teeth by Christmas (although not sure on exact dates because she would NOT let me look!)
– Says “DANCE!” before she starts dancing, “woof woof” any time she sees a dog, “want tandy (candy)” and “want a show” and “want dat!” Loves to say BOO! and then runs away laughing or later, says BOO! AHH! When she asks for “Buppies” she wants Bubble Guppies and the Halloween episode is her favorite. Asks for a “ba” and a “yi-ya” (lion) with accompanying hand motions when she’s tired. “Out-sa” means outside and lots of people mistake it for “Archer.”
– Favorite song is Old McDonald and he always has a “sheep” first (and usually second, third and fourth)
– Asks for “high fives” and “bumps” (fist bumps).
– Picks up one of the boys’ lunch boxes and says, “Bye! Bunch Bunch!” I guess she’s ready for school.
– Squeals with delight when mom or dad walk in the door after being away. She then often asks for a “tiss” and “a hug” or proclaims them before she gives them to you.

Notable recent quotes:
“It’s ok. Papa’s getting’ donuts.” –Archer to Blake, while patting her head when she was crying about something completely unrelated.
“Blake has mostly real words and some made up words.” –Sebastien explaining to A. Sha at Thanksgiving, after Blake babbled at the fan.
“What did you say, Arch?” “Ughhhhh. I not talkin’. I already talked.”
“Can I have a kiss, Arch?” “NO.” “Why??” “Cause I’m not a kisser.”
“This is sgusting.” –Archer, to himself, with much disgust, when his ice cream melted into his warm chocolate chip cookie

Fall! Back into the swing of a routine, especially now with one elementary school aged kiddo. (!!) This was the first year we had kids in two different schools and we definitely felt the increase in back to school “stuff” to do. Two meet the teachers, two parent coffees, two drop-offs at two different locations each day – we have the routine down now, but it is certainly a less relaxed pace than last year! In order to get everyone up and fed and dressed and out the door by 7:15am, I have to wake up at 5:30am, which means I have been falling asleep on the couch most nights between 9 and 10pm. And when I don’t, I am exhausted the next day!

Anyway… we kicked off September with a visit to the Mystic Aquarium with Sharon, Erik and Isaac (who we hadn’t yet met, despite him being older than Blake!) He was adorable and it was great to catch up, amidst the craziness of four small kids. We enjoyed the last of the really warm weather with some trips to the playground and the Esplanade. We checked out the new Boston Public Market and welcomed fall with cider donuts and chili on a very rainy day. Archer started his second year at CNS and told me he felt “shy,” but warmed up quickly and loved his new class. Sebastien had Field Day at school and we spent a night eating ice cream, listening to music at City Square Park and running around. We checked out the music and activities at the Lawn on D concert, seeing our old favorite, Mister G. Archer and Blake had their 3 year and 1 year well visits. Blake weighed 19lbs, 13oz and measured 30 inches (40th and 77th percentiles – still medium for weight but long) and Archer weighed 36lbs, 5oz and measured 38 inches (85th and 55th percentiles – the opposite). The boys started fall soccer, although Sebastien didn’t have as great a teacher as in the spring and missed doing the “big games” at the end of each session. Archer started gymnastics, which he absolutely loved but which we were late for EVERY week. (Noted: it is impossible to make it from the LP’s 3:10pm pick-up to a gymnastics class in Winchester at 3:30pm. And that should probably have been obvious…) Sebastien started religious education. He draws lots of pictures of “Jesus” and “love” and we’re (I’m) still waiting for the actual learning to start. Maybe kindergarten is too early for that…? Archer started his Creative Thinkers art studio at CNS on Tuesday afternoons, which he loves and that is no surprise, because it’s Emma and Erika. The fall theme was cooking fall’s harvest so he brought home lots of delicious treats (pesto, apple muffins, pumpkin butter, etc.) Archer and Blake started Thursday morning music class and both love it, although I would love it more if Archer would stop climbing on top of Blake constantly during the whole class. We went to the CNS Family Dance party which had a DJ this year, much to the excitement of all the preschoolers. (I told you we were busy.)

October continued with all of the above weekly activities, plus: We went apple picking at Russell Orchards which always makes for such awesome pictures. The weather forecast had been a little dismal but the day turned out to be fine, which actually made for pretty empty orchards in comparison to how October weekends usually are. We celebrated Maeve O’Donnell’s first birthday party; the boys got their faces painted and we got to catch up with friends. We explored the haunted hay maze at Wilson Farms and got more cider donuts and delicious treats. We attended our first LP Book Fair, which was crowded and busy but fun. The kids had fun trying on costumes to pose for pictures, making crafts, picking out books to take home and eating lots of yummy food. We went to a very chilly Esplanade play date and pizza party at Spaulding park. And we celebrated Ashlyn and Ben’s wedding with a really fun, really quick trip out to Arizona (Wednesday after school to Sunday night). We all had an absolute blast and the kids were great despite the long flights, time changes and logistics that come along with a wedding. All of the stress and planning seemed to take its toll on me, though, and I came home with the worst sore throat (and laryngitis) I’ve ever had outside of last year’s strep. A few days of rest, and we were ready for Halloween. Sebastien had his first trick-or-treating for UNICEF and Zoodio dance at the LP and we spent the next day at the traditional Charlestown trick-or-treating around the Monument. Sebastien (the vampire) loved it, as usual, Archer (the bat) was an intense trick-or-treater, never skipping a single house, and Blake (the pumpkin) enjoyed all of the attention and watching from the stroller. And we only almost lost Archer once! (Fortunately Rob Hassell found him several houses down and he was not at all concerned that he had left the group and trick-or-treated without anyone else.)

Blake is talking so much these days, has so many words and we have all heard her say sentences. (“I want tan-dy” (candy) is a frequent one after this past Halloween.) She has started getting her molars, with the top left molar breaking through on 10/8 and three big, swollen lumps nearby. She is really walking now, although she was down to the wire with Ashlyn’s wedding! Sebastien has picked up on reading so fast, it’s really amazing. He is constantly reading cereal boxes and signs while we’re driving; he really went from not sounding anything out to reading books so fast. And Archer is, well, still screaming a lot. We are hoping he is getting his difficult years out of the way now and from age 4 on, will be nothing but a dream…

July and August feel so long ago now that we’re in the routine of school! But I will do my best to remember the high points…

I have tried hard the past few years to find the right balance of camps and time off and I felt like this summer, we really nailed it. We kicked off July with a 5 day trip down to Narragansett over 4th of July (lots of beach and pool time and even water slides!) and then headed immediately to Long Island for the week of prep for Ashlyn’s shower. We pulled off the not quite a surprise shower and then drove back up to Boston. About one hour into the drive, on a 90+ degree day, our a/c died which made for a pretty uncomfortable ride home (as evidenced by my face in the photo below). The next week, Sebastien took a theatre camp through NEMPAC which he LOVED and ended the week with his first performance, Where the Wild Things Are. He was one of the “wild things” (like the chorus) and we were all super impressed with how quickly he learned all the songs and dance moves. (This also kicked off us listening to the soundtrack from the play non-stop for the next few weeks.) The next week was swim camp at Boston University which he liked but didn’t seem to love quite as much (and I wasn’t sure it really helped his swimming a whole lot). Having his buddy Grayson in the same class made it worth it, though. We took the boys to a Red Sox game in the PwC box which was super fun minus when Nick fed Archer some smoked gouda and he proceeded to gag and vomit all over. Thankfully I caught most of it in a popcorn bowl… until Nick tried to take the popcorn bowl away mid-vomit. Good times. We spent a day at the Franklin Park Zoo, visiting the playground and feeding the birds, and went to a Mister G concert with Max and Harper. Then we headed down to RI for a few days with Dani and the girls while Linda and Bruce were visiting and back up to Boston to pack for our trip to NH.

Back in March, we had bid on (and won) a week at a lake house at the Learning Project auction and decided to go up the first week in August. It was a cozy, rustic cabin set back in the woods with a huge field of wild blueberries and raspberries in the front and forest in the back. There was a fire pit where we roasted hot dogs and made s’mores and the boys played baseball every afternoon. We went to Canobie Lake Park, hiked to a swimming hole amid a bunch of rocks, pretended to be geologists as we mined for rocks, swam at Lake Sunapee, took the ski lifts up the mountain for a picnic and ate almost daily ice cream at this amazing dairy farm. Everyone had a really great time.

When we got home, we celebrated Archer’s 3rd birthday with family and CNS friends at North Point Park. He chose a Paw Patrol party, we ordered pizza and Ashlyn and I made puppy cupcakes for dessert. He really enjoyed seeing all his friends after being away for a few weeks and we were happy so many people could make it.

Sebastien finished up his camps with a week of Meet the Instruments, also through NEMPAC and also with his buddy Grayson. We spent the rest of the month down in RI with Ra and Papa and in LI with Grammie and Pop-pop where we pooled and beached and amusement parked and finished out summer with a bang. When we got home, it was back into the swing of things with new haircuts and dentist appointments and… Sebastien’s first day of kindergarten! He didn’t seem nervous at all leading up, but the first morning after we went in and hung up his backpack, the teachers asked him to write his name and draw a picture of himself and then the tears welled up in his eyes because he didn’t want to do it. (My little perfectionist didn’t think he could draw a picture that was as good as the example one.) But we talked about it, he did his best and I said goodbye – and from the moment I picked him up on the first day, he has been all smiles about school. He has two best friends, Benno and Salman, and lots of other friends too. He loves legos during choice time and playing soccer at recess and art time at “the mothership.” And we are so happy he is happy.

Blake grew so much in these two months. She started standing on her own in July and took her first steps at the end of August (at her 1st birthday party in NY – pictures to come next month!) She started waving bye-bye for sure and doing the sign for milk and maybe the sign for all done too, although that one is harder to tell. She got her seventh tooth (bottom left side) on August 14th after a week of terrible sleep. She gives a distinctive high pitched squeal any time she sees a dog or if she is standing on her own and wants to get your attention. Mira really got her to play peek-a-boo and it became her new favorite game. Some of her first words (after mama and dada) were “dog” in July and “balloon” and “bird” in August. And here is a list of her first words through September (in no particular order): doggie, mama, dada, ball, bird, bow, juice, balloon, baby, book, uh-oh, apple, lemonade, num-num (which means she wants whatever you’re eating or drinking) and Sa (for Sebastien). No definitive word for Archer yet! She also started shaking her head (and sort of her whole body) no when she doesn’t want something and boy is she sure she doesn’t want it.

Archer, your screaming in frustration really ramped up at the end of the summer but now you seem to have had a big burst of language so maybe you were working really hard on that? But please stop screaming now. Thanks. You raise your voice in an adorable way for a question and you like to ask, “Whatchou eatin’ some?” whenever someone is having a snack. During Sebastien’s camp, we started a pretty serious watching a show (usually Mr. Peabody & Sherman) and peanut butter toast on the couch ritual while Blake took her first nap. You are still quite unhappy with diaper changes but also refuse to use the potty. Maybe someday soon? You were very excited to go back to school and didn’t quite understand why Sebastien had two full weeks back at school before you started. My favorite quotes from you lately are:

“What’s in my nose?” when you smell something

Me (when Blake was crying): Maybe you can cheer her up?
Archer: CHEERS!

Archer: I’m gonna turn into a dog. ((spirit fingers)) TA-DA! I’m a dog!