Another Sunday at the Science Museum

This time with Ellie and family.

No title necessary

I'll take nature for $200, Chuck

Chava has a few behaviors Maddox never exhibited. She loves dolls. And stuffed animals. And if there aren't any of those around, she's happy to clutch a warm, squishy wet diaper to her breast. And she likes to dress up. In hats.

and to all a good night

Sunday at the Science Museum

....turned in to the Monday of Misery

Hanukkah!

Woefully behind

I have Hanukkah pictures to post. And then some from the day after. And then some of poor, pathetic Maddox, who has been really sick with a bad cold since Sunday. Chava, of course, did not get photographed even though she was feverish all weekend and diagnosed with ear infection #2 on Sunday. But that will all have to wait.

On Saturday night, Al put Maddox down about 7:30 and came downstairs so we could have dinner. At 7:45 I thought I heard something, but we both figured it was Maddox moving in to our bed, where he often likes to fall asleep. A few minutes later I was sure I heard more noise, but Al convinced me it was coming from outside. Well, at about 8:10 I wandered upstairs to put some stuff away and absolutely freaked Maddox out - he was standing at the top of the stairs, lost in thought. He was completely panicked, angst-ridden, you name it. It broke my heart. As I was hugging him to try to comfort him, he puked ALL over me (if anyone has good tips for getting kid's barf out of wool clogs, I'm all ears). He still asks me at least once a day, "Why did you scare me, Mommy?"

I'm not sure how we'll fit this in to our sleeping log for our appointment with Dr. Ferber on January 3rd.

I'm psychotic

My conversations with myself go something along the lines of this, lately (what?!? you don't have conversations with yourself??):

Me: Man, thank god Chava is one. I wouldn't repeat that last year for all the tea in China.
Me: Yeah. .... but she's getting so big! And so grownup! Wasn't it fun to have a little baby?
Me: Do you remember how she cried nonstop for the first three months? Do you?
Me: It wasn't so bad. And look at her now, she's a toddler. Soon she won't even sleep in those footed pajamas anymore.
Me: The day can't come soon enough. I can't wait until she's done with the highchair.
Me: Noooooo! Don't let my baby grow up!
Me: Get a grip on yourself, woman!














(You can't tell from this picture, really, but her feet don't even touch the floor.)

Multitasking

I think they were watching "E Eats Everything" on the computer here. (Hint: if you need a gift for a kid under 5, the CD/DVD combo from They Might Be Giants entitled "Here Come the ABCs" is great. Just ask Grammy - she can't stop singing it.)

Helping me remember why two is just right

Too Soon

Maddox is freaking me out in a couple of ways. He just turned three, and I figured I had plenty of time until the "difficult" questions starting coming up. But nooooo, he has pushed the envelope in this department.

The first issue came up when they put up the holiday lights in Davis Square. We drive through every night after Chava and I pick up Maddox from school, and one night Maddox pointed them out to Chava, saying, "Chavie, look at the Christmas lights!" I said, "They're holiday lights, Maddox, they could be for Hanukkah, too." "No," he said, "they're Christmas lights." And, of course, all over our neighborhood, people have lights outside their houses and some of the particularly tacky displays include the blow-up Santas (with Pooh and Tigger, Maddox's particular fave) along with lights and deer on the roof, etc. etc. So, Maddox naturally asked if WE could have lights outside our house, which I suppose technically we could, but somehow doesn't really feel right. So I told him no, that we celebrate Hanukkah, so we don't decorate for Christmas, but we could drive around and look at all the Christmas lights. Which of course led to the question, "Why don't we get Christmas?" which is particularly difficult to answer given that we'll go to Grumpaw and Nonna's and have a big Christmas celebration with pretty much more presents than Maddox sees at any other time of the year.

The second issue came up while we were talking about another kid in Maddox's class, whose mom is pregnant and due to give birth any day now. Every once in a while I will ask Maddox if Duncan's sister is here yet, and usually he just says no and moves on, but one night this week he wanted to talk about it. First of all, he's consumed with the idea that when babies come out they're dirty, because he's seen pictures of himself just after he was pulled out of my belly and he's covered in shmutz. So we always have to talk about why new babies are dirty. But this time he wanted to go deeper, and he asked me HOW babies get out. Oy.

Fun...?!

Maddox's new favorite game is called "Rolly Toe" (and, no, I have no idea why it's called that). It involves yelling at Chava to "STAND UP! STAND UP!" on the couch and then pulling her down on top of him while yelling "ROLLY TOE!!" The whole thing is pretty funny (only because Chava actually likes it, for the most part) and I'll try to catch it on video but it will be a bit tricky as I need both hands to make sure Maddox doesn't pull her right off the couch entirely.

You decide

We're taking votes on the outfit: ho or cute?


All photos taken by Noah!

Chava's birthday