March & April 2012
March and April were busy months. Your buddy Nate moved to Chicago, so we went to Kathryn and Ben’s going away party with all your friends to say goodbye. You were the social butterfly, trying to say hi to everyone, and eating cupcakes from the food table. We had a date with Avery and fam at the Children’s Museum followed by a dim sum lunch. You mostly wouldn’t try anything (as expected) but you did find a steamed bun that you seemed to like and you definitely liked the chopsticks. We followed that up in the afternoon with a Karen K and the Jitterbugs concert put on by CNS. You mostly hung back with us and watched all the kids dancing but you definitely enjoyed the show. That week, we headed down to LI to visit Ashlyn and to attend U. Phil’s funeral. You met a lot of Pop-Pop’s side for the first time and you were a rock star in church, staying pretty quiet throughout the whole service. Ashlyn and I took you to see the Lorax, which was your most unsuccessful movie so far – you lost interest about ¾ of the way through and were ready to go home. We went to a family concert at the Boston Symphony and you liked pointing out all the instruments. We also braved the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Southie which you LOVED once it began. (We thought we were late so headed toward the end of the route and ended up waiting in the hot sun for about an hour and a half before the parade even started. And you refused to take off your sweatshirt or baseball hat so your cheeks were BRIGHT red.) The following week was the FRESH BEAT BAND CONCERT! You were feeling a little under the weather with a cold, but you still had a great time and talk about seeing Twist and Kiki on a regular basis. Before we took off for our trip to Arizona, we went down to RI to see Ra and Papa and walked around Newport for a bit. We also went to visit the Easter Bunny at the mall. You were very excited to see him, but didn’t quite want to sit on his lap – just next to him.
At the end of March and beginning of April, we spent two weeks visiting Grammie and Pop-Pop in Arizona. Ashlyn came for the last week and Daddy came too, to go on his Grand Canyon hike with Pop-Pop and U. Greg. (While they were hiking, we took a “special trip” to a resort in Scottsdale with Grammie, Ashlyn and A. Celeste.) During our visit, we went to the rodeo (which you loved and called the circus), the zoo (which you wanted to be carried around), an Easter celebration (you couldn’t get enough of the bouncy houses although you weren’t so into the egg hunt), a boat ride at the lake, a gondola ride at the resort, to visit Great Grandma Mary (where you played with all her coins and cups and made me make you a can of peas which you did not eat), and spent lots of time playing in the pool and hot tub. You decided string cheese and pretzel crisps (eaten while in the hot tub) were your new favorite snack and that you mostly didn’t want to eat meals with us because you’d rather play. You ate burgers and fries in Cave Creek and peanut butter sushi rolls, cornbread “cupcakes,” and helped Ashlyn dye eggs, although wouldn’t try one.
When we got back from our trip, we went to a Vanessa Trien concert in Arlington and Kristie, Ryan and Ethan Machado came up for a visit. We went to the public gardens to ride the swan boats and ate lunch on Charles Street. We went to the Children’s Museum with Meredith and “baby Jack” and visited Amy and Max at their new house in Concord. We went to two more shows – Sesame Street Live and the Big Apple Circus – and you loved both (although you were a little scared of Mr. Noodle at Sesame Street and I will totally admit that he is a frightening guy). Dani, Eric, Gabi and Natalie came up to RI for a wedding so we went down to see them for the day and you loved playing with all your cousins. I took a trip to Baltimore to visit some friends so you spent the weekend with Daddy, going to your soccer class, to the playground and out for hot chocolate. Speaking of soccer class, you mostly cried through the first class and I was afraid it was going to be a total bust, but the second week, you clicked with one of the coach’s helpers and now you love it. You don’t really follow along with the exercises, but hopefully that will come in time (and honestly, most of the other kids don’t follow along either!)
You’re so fun and funny these days. I remember Wyatt’s dad (from your Isis class) telling me last fall that by the end of the spring, things would be so much easier because you guys would be talking and able to tell us what you wanted and needed instead of just having mini-tantrums and yelling NO! He was so right – you’re speaking in sentences (which we can mostly understand) and even though you still get upset when you don’t get what you want, at least we now know what it is that you’re asking for. You love love love hiding from me and daddy and we play along, even though we can usually see your legs sticking out from wherever it is that you’re hiding. You cover your eyes when you’re scared or when you’re hiding from someone, as if they can’t see you because you can’t see them. You like sitting in my seat in the kitchen instead of in your booster, reading books or playing with toys while I make dinner. We finally had a toothbrushing breakthrough when Grammie told you that you had to get your teeth nice and sparkly and now we can convince you to brush while looking in the mirror to see your “sparkly teeps.” Whenever you get the hiccups, you think it’s crazy and point to your mouth and say, “Pick-ups in my teeps!” When it’s cold, you always tell us it’s “so chilly! Brrr!” with an accompanying shiver. We downgraded your pacifier to just naptime and bedtime and when we tell you to leave it in your bed, you always whimper a little and cry “Ba!” but you’re easily distracted to something else. The other day, after seeing a picture of a chocolate cake, you made me make one (wouldn’t take no for an answer), but then when it came out of the oven, you wouldn’t even take a bite! (Luckily, Daddy was happy to eat it for you.) You think “sticky hugs” are hysterical – it’s sort of a combo hug and tickle where we don’t let go for a little bit – and will ask for “more sticky hugs” out of the blue. We’re back to bedtimes (and even naptimes too!) where we can lay with you for a minute or two, then leave you to fall asleep on your own. It makes bedtime so much smoother and you still like to snuggle when you wake up, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much. The other day through the monitor, I heard you say, “Snuggle garbage trucks. Snuggle digger. Snuggle forklift. Snuggle Mama,” and even though I’m fourth on the list, I’ll still take it.
