The Cruise

It wasn't all peaches and cream, but we did manage to have some fun. Eli and Michela were great with our kids, and Grumps, Nonna and Grandma Faye helped out a lot, too. Of course, Noah and Cat, as the guardians of our issue, are like the second parents.

School Visit

Michela and Eli stopped by the Green Group today, after their last day of soccer camp at Tufts. Maddox has been talking about this visit all week - literally, the first thing out of his mouth each morning would be, "Is today the day my cousins are coming to my school?" He could barely contain himself this morning when I finally answered in the affirmative. From Eli's report, all went well (Annie, Maddox chose to have them read the first book from the book club you sent, one of his current favorites), although Eli thought it was a little peculiar that when the kids were given the opportunity to ask Michela and Eli questions, all they wanted to know about was when they could eat the donuts the visitors brought!

A little more Chava

Chava has started to play with her dolls, and it is so cute. Her current favorite game is to put them to bed on the coffee table. And Maddox decided it is too hard to stand up to wash hands, so he's taking the easy way out.

It's hard to be the Tasmanian Devil

On Friday, Nonna went solo with Chava. I wasn't worried about Chava at all - just about Nonna. Chava has this very adorable way of being truly exhausting.

But when I got home, the house was sparkling, Chava's hair was all neatly combed as it only is on Nonna days, and both Nonna and Chava were smiling. But then Nonna dropped the bomb - Chavie hadn't napped.

Chava and I went to go pick up Maddox and she fell dead asleep during the 7 minute car ride home. So asleep that I carried her in to the house and laid her down on the living room floor, and she continued sleeping (with her hands in the same position they had been in in the car). She was not happy when I woke her up. But she recovered quickly once she got a taste of the short ribs Nonna had brought us for dinner - Chava and Al went head-to-head in a contest to see who could have a bigger pile of bones on their plate. It was close.

Very late Passover pix

Spiderman!

Also...

Is it mean of me that, every time Maddox asks to read Frog and Toad go Swimming, I make him say "bathing suit" every time it comes up (about a hundred) only because he pronounces it "babe-ing suit"?

You can almost smell her from this picture

Chava figures out she's got a following

It's much harder to photograph the girlfriend now, because she's aware of what you're doing and wants to see herself on the camera even before you've snapped the picture.

Waaaay back when, Maddox had a Special Day

Last Wednesday was Maddox's Special Day at School. He got to bring a camera home a few days before and take pictures of his favorite things at his house. He took pictures of:
1. the pantry ("my snacks!")
2. his bookshelf
3. the tunnel
4. his new Owl book (LOVE Arnold Lobel)
5. the CD player (with the caption, "Dance Party time!")

He and Al made a book of all the pictures and Al and I accompanied him to school on Wednesday a.m. He got to wear a special necklace and the three of us got to sit in chairs while the rest of the kids sat on the floor for group time. Maddox did a great job of showing his book to all the kids and then they all got to ask questions. The the big finale - Maddox got to pick the order of kids who went to wash their hands before snack. It was all very awesome, and of course I didn't really get pictures because I was too busy sitting in my special chair, overcome with love.

I did manage to get this shot of the kids washing their hands.
















And here's Maddox having snack.










And a gratuitous picture of Maddox with a green tongue for St. Patty's day.

That baby smell

I find myself feeling sad a lot these days, worrying about Grandmum and the rest of us. So I've developed my own little therapeutic technique that involves sniffing Chava - the best two spots are behind her knees and in the fat rolls of her neck. Maddox smells like pee a lot of the time so he's not as good, although after a bath I try to get my fill of his head.

RoRo love

When the parents are away....

When I got home from work on Thursday, Chava was in a GREAT mood. She was clean and delightful smelling (a taller order than one might expect), she was having so much fun she didn't stop what she was doing to greet me, and she was full of smiles. What do we attribute this behavior to? Has she entered some new phase where it's all good? Nah. It's just that she got to spend the day with Aunt Catherine and Grumpaw and Nonna. We're hiring them full time.

I can say this because only my family reads this

My daughter is so beautiful she takes my breath away.

One of these days I'll update

We've had croup, a cold, the phlegm hacker cough, and now a daycare provider on vacation. I'm sure I'll get my mojo back shortly. But for now, here's a blast from the past (this was one year ago):














1. She's so cute!
2. She would not fit in there now.... not even one thigh.
3. She would not tolerate that confinement for a half-minute.

to the tune of "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria"

She spits her food and rubs it in
Her snot is in her hair
She climbs the playdo table
And likes her butt best bare

And when you try to change her
She goes on a holy tear
I even saw her climbing on the toilet!

She’s always making raspberries
And drooling on her chin
She’s always grabbing Maddox’s toys
And then she rubs it in

I hate to have to say it
But I very firmly feel
Chava is a terror in our household

I’d like to say a word on her behalf
Chava makes me laugh

How do you solve a problem like our Chavie?
How do you teach a child to have some fear?
How do you try to define our Chavie?
A fatso pudge! a lubby-dub-dub! a dear!

Many a time I think I ought to smack her
Many a time I hug instead and smile
But how do I help her learn
That when she touches the oven she’ll get a burn
How do Al and I live through this short while?

Oh how do you solve a problem like our Chavie?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

the goils

Chavie's passport photo

Okay, even I must admit that she is starting to look like a big girl (sniff, sniff). She certainly thinks she is all grown up, wanting to climb on tables, drive the car and go out to bars. I have a feeling that Chava is going to age me prematurely.

Opiate for the masses

First with Grammy.....















Then with the cousins....

Happy at the Playdough Table

I'm losing my mind. Nope! He's just not a good dancer.

This morning I was putting on Maddox's shoes. I had put one on the left foot, and when I went to put the other shoe on the right foot, I realized I was holding the left-footed shoe in my hand. So I went to take off the one he already had on his left foot, but it really DID look like it belonged there... I took both shoes off and stood there looking at them for a good, long time before I realized that he must have been sent home in one of his own shoes and one shoe that belongs to another boy in his class. He literally had two left feet.

WWYD?*

*What Would You Do?


If every time you turned around, your 14 month old daughter was doing this:



















....or this




















And kept falling off these high places and getting bruised, like this:

more funny Chav

Who wears the pants?

Chava is just funny. She loves to walk around clutching things - her dirty diaper, her dirty clothes. She loves to put things on her head - primarily hats, but just about anything will do. She particularly loves these pants. On her head.

Jumping

Maddox is feeling the strain of being cooped up in the house and at school - it seems to be coinciding with a bout of "boy-itis" when he wants to be as rambuncious as possible. Couch diving takes the edge off.

Bedhead

My life is a tragi-comedy, or a comic tragedy, or something

It isn't, really. I have nothing to complain about, but I complain anyway. It's all relative, right?

Yesterday I took the afternoon off because I felt sooo behind the 8-ball; the kids have both been sick, I haven't been sleeping (because they haven't been sleeping), we've been eating Trader Joe's frozen stuff for dinner every night, heaps of laundry, you get the picture. So I decided I'd go home early, take a bath (since I didn't get to shower yesterday morning), make a nice dinner, get some challah started, and maybe take a nap. Hadn't been home a half hour when our daycare lady called to tell me that Chava had puked all over herself while napping, and she seemed to have a stomach bug. So, I ended up washing puke out of Chava's hair, nose and ear instead of soaking myself in the tub. The good news is that she seemed almost back to herself by dinner time, slept fine, and ate a big breakfast this a.m. The other good news is that I had at least kneaded the challah, so Maddox and I got to finish it after Chavie went to bed.


Also, here is Maddox in his boxer briefs. I think he should be the next male model in his underwear in Times Square, don't you?

A Celebratory Evening

Maddox wore his underwear all day at school, and was in the same pants he had worn in the morning when I picked him up at 5 p.m. So, we all bundled up in the -10 degree February freeze and went out for ice cream to celebrate this milestone. The only other people in the ice cream place were a mom with her two young boys. Only parents of little kids are nuts enough to go out.

Well How-Dee-Do

Guess who went to school in underwear today (frog boxer briefs, if you must know). He started grabbing his butt before he even left the house and I was sure Al would call to report a poopshmear in the carseat, but I just got the call and he made it to school dry (and clean). Dear lord jeebus, please let it stick.

Also, Mom took this picture of Chava. Isn't it awesome?

Chava the movie star