Slumber Party

This is Kate's first night away from Maceo. She has gone off to San Francisco for work, leaving Wednesday, coming back Saturday. Maceo and I are on our own! So, Wednesday afternoon, I get a call from daycare that Mace is sick and I have to come get him. Well. That puts a damper on boys' night in! I go and get him and bring him home, and the rest of the afternoon is essentially spent with me on the armchair and Maceo just limply lying on me. He slept pretty well through the night, but because he had had a fever, he was not allowed to go into school the next day. Truthfully, it seemed his whole face was leaking Thursday morning--rheumy eyes, runny nose, and drool. He's a good-looking kid, I swear. Very luckily, Mami was able to come over and watch him for the second time this week. According to her, the day was spent sleeping for 3 hours, eating applesauce, and insisting they go outside. Here's hoping that tomorrow, he's able to put in a full shift at school, and then I can put in a full shift, too. Also, here's hoping his cold is in retreat, and he feels better!

Manoloewens discover the Photobooth feature of an iMac

A Summary of Your Skills at 18 months

In keeping with tracking your development every six months or so, we dedicate this blog entry to you, Mr. Macers, with a somewhat all-encompassing list of your skills, talents, words, sounds, and musings about life.  Let's begin, shall we?

1. You weight approx. 30 pounds and are _______ inches tall.  What you feel like to me is a big ol' sack of rice.   A sack of rice that is putting on weight more quickly than I am gaining upper body strength.  I can see we are going to hit a wall soon. 
2. You can facially express the following emotions:  suspicion, sadness, surprise, anger, and confusion.  No, you don't know how to use them in context yet but tonight when I was about to give you teryaki tofu yet again, I briefly caught you giving me the suspicious face. 
3. You love, love, love pistachios.  I don't even know how you got me to give you pistachios in the first place but it happened and now you have a food addiction.  There is an exponential increase in your level of happiness when I grab the jar and ask if you want pistachios.  I find it hard to say no to you.  And feel relief that it's not sour patch kids you are addicted to instead.
4. You're a jumper.  I'll rephrase:  You are testing out your ability to jump.  About every 20th try, you actually get both feet off the ground at the same time and this surprises everyone.  Sadly, you don't do your surprised face but in referencing point one we know you don't know how to use the sad face in context yet. 
5. Your Mami believes there's a Bermuda Triangle in our house which makes you spontaneously fall.  It's the area where the living room transitions into the dining room. I don't disbelieve her.  There's no variation or unevenness in the floor.  You must work on smoother entrances and exits of rooms.  Take note, young man!
6. Words you can now say in some recognizable way or with just the right context:  ball, truck, flower, cheese, cat, car, dirt, quack (duck), and buh-boh (which is either uh-oh or boo-boo or both!), momma, and poppa.  You learned the last two words last.  Yes, it slightly hurt our feelings but we forgave you in the name of long term investments.
7. You, like many male children we know, have an obsession with emergency vehicles and construction vehicles, construction sounds, and construction workers.
8. You have an uncanny ability to spot airplanes in the sky when seeming to be looking at the ground.  
9. You want Tups to like you as much as you like him and don't understand why cats don't hug back.  
1. You don't hold it against Tups when he scratches you.  No grudge-holding for you!
2. You are not 100% sure we have a second cat.  
10. You have a healthy hesitation toward new situations, strangers, and unfortunately, flavors, textures, or anything that is not a fish nugget or cheese.  Or pistachios.
11. People think you are kind of a chill little dude.  You most definitely did not get this from your mother.
12. You play well with others and don't seem to mind when little kids take your toys.  Or, rather, if they try, you have a steadfast resolve, a  grip of steel and an unflappable demeanor that means there is no way in hell that toy is leaving your hand.  
13. Being your parent gets to be more fun every day.  We say this not to be cloyingly sweet but because it's true.

Flying acrobatics

Morning time

For a while, post France, Maceo was waking up consistently at5 or so, sometimes earlier, sometimes a little later. Then we got him a little owl nightlight, and he stays quiet till 5:40 or so, sometimes later! It's great! Then the ritual is to bring him in to cuddle till he wants to get down. He then wanders the upstairs for a bit, coming back in to check on us and to pet Tupelo until we get up. On the weekends, only one of us gets up and the other sleeps in. When he and I get up on the weekends, we go downstairs and he sits on the counter for 10 minutes or so, playing with the toaster oven and drinking some milk.

We play some more and when it's light enough out, Maceo insists that we go outside to play. He has a little car he really likes to push around, so we bring that across the street to the school's parking lot/playground/field,

and he can push to his heart's content and our neighbors's displeasure.

I was merely acting!

Maceo has a number of tricks. One is that he can portray some emotions on command.

Here, he is squinching up his eyes to check you out in a "suspicious" manner.

Here, he has stuck his lower lip out, evidently because he is "sad."

What is going on? Someone is very "confused."

What the...! Did you...! I mean...! So "surprising"!

This one is better in person, as he "angrily" breathes in and out at you.

Good listening skills

I've been commenting to Nick lately that I am happily surprised by Maceo's level of comprehension when I use longer commands and full sentences and it seems as though he understands my entire sentence. 

So, the other night, it's bath night and we are prepping to get into the tub.  One task we do before Macers gets in is to put his diaper and pajamas on our bed.  So, Maceo and I are in his room and I hand him his cloth diaper and say "Please go put this diaper on Mommy's bed."  Maceo looks at me solemnly, grabs the diaper and heads off to our bedroom to complete the task.

He reports back like a good little soldier and I give him his socks and say, "Maceo, please go put the socks on Mommy's bed. Thank you!"  Solemn look.  Big eyes.  Hands extended to grab his next task, you know what this looks like.  He turns and heads down the hall to complete the task and I turn to find the next item I will send him with.

When I look up again I see he's distracted so we head straight for the bath.  And there, floating in the water, are Maceo's socks.

Maceo and Julian

Julian recently has started refusing to get into his stroller. Until Maceo came along...

Maceo's various noises

Product Placement

The new Tonka truck. Baby and disembodied hand not included.

The Triple Play

We planned out this day quite carefully. First, we'd go to Gordes, another of the "Most Beautiful Villages in France", as Menerbes is. Then, we'd go to the Abbaye de Senaque, one of the most photographed buildings in Provence. And we'd end the day at Fontaine du Vaucluse, the source of the river that runs through Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. All are tourist spots, but all are close to each other and we planned to make a day of it.
Gordes is wonderfully picturesque, and we got there quite early and parked in the lot nearest the town center. It was market day, which wasn't going to help the agoraphobics in the area. We were duly impressed with the streams of people walking the narrow streets as we drove in, as well the folks leaving the parking lot heading the direction we were.

We spent some time in the market, but after doing the rounds, it just proved to be too crowded and touristed, so we returned to the car for the next leg of the journey.
We drove through some tortuous two lane roads up over a ridge and down into the valley where the Abbaye is. It was quite beautiful, and apparently, earlier in the year, when the lavender is in bloom and runs right up to its walls, it's quite the sight.

Maceo was asleep and the one hour tour started over an hour after we got there, so we just wandered around outside for awhile, and then we piled back into the car to go to Fontaine du Vaucluse. There, we found a parking lot and had a picnic on the banks of the Sorgue, which was quite lovely, cold, and fast-flowing. Maceo enjoyed wading in a little canal off to the side, and we all enjoyed the ham, cheese, bread, and peaches we'd bought in Gordes.

We finished and walked on into the town.

There's a Petrarch museum, but we didn't want to pay to enter. Instead, we followed various paths up the side of the river until we finally reached the spring that is the source. At various times of the year, there can be lots of water flowing out. At this visit, the pool at the source was a bit stagnant and yucky looking.

As we walked up the path to the source, we passed many touristy things, including glaceries, where Mom, Kate, and Maurice got some cones. They all shared with Maceo and he preferred salted caramel. As you can see.

Dégustation (Wine tasting)

Oppede-le-vieux

 

 Salut!  The vacation continues and we started this particular day at Oppede-le-vieux, another perched village in the Luberon region of Provence that experienced a decimation of it population in the late 1800s and only relatively recently (early 1900s) was slowly repopulated with artists and has now become known as an artist's colony in this area.  

For us, the average tourists, this lovely village and day is one of many where we begin the morning with coffee, pain au chocolat, and we load up the car and set off to a picturesque village somewhere within a half hour of our base, Menerbes.  Usually, a short hike of some kind ensues after four adults and one toddler give their input on where we the sun will be located at the end of our 1/2 day excursion so that the car does not become a hot pocket in which we are the tasty, warn innards.

Oppede-le-vieux was no exception to this daily itinerary; we climbed the cobble-stoned streets to the ruins of a chateau at the top. Next to the chateau was an understatedly beautiful and simple cathedral that overlooked Mt. Ventu and the other smaller mountains of the Luberon area. 

Note to reader:  people who go backpacking with 30-50 pound packs often practice for days and weeks before starting their treks, cleansing their bodies of toxins, eating well, sleeping amply, and hydrating well in advance of their vacations.  Do not think for one second that toting a 30 pound, oversized 16 month old training only on 1.5 bottles of personal self-consumption of wine, white carbohydrates, chocolate croissants, no water, and little sleep is a doable task.  Train, I say! Train many, many days before you vacation with a gargantuan child on your back!

Field trip to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

The other day was market day in Menerbes. It's a small market, as you can see. Maceo, Kate, and I wandered up and down it while we waited for the small grocery nearby to open so we could buy our baguette, pain au chocolat, and pain a raisin. There was a cheese seller, some veggies, some nougat (at 45 euro a kilo!), a butcher, and a fish monger. We got some veggies.

After that mini adventure, we got organized to go to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. La Sorgue is a river that issues from Fountaine du Vauclouse, a spring/small town nearby which we plan to visit on Tuesday and might even canoe on, if they let Macers paddle. The town of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is known for its antiques market, and it also has a floating market on Sundays, as it is criss-crossed by canals and is quite picturesque. This also means that the day we went, normal market day, it was quite crowded, too. It's a bit different, we are learning, travelling with a toddler. Excursions are truncated. But it's also fun, as everything is new to him, and therefore, we see it a bit anew, too. Like this chair.

Later that day, we went to dinner at the house of a friend of Lucy's. Laetitia had spent a few days in Amherst as part of a Fulbright program and ate dinner one night at the McMurrers's house as part of the program. Apparently, she and Lucy hit it off, and it turns out that her house is about 25 minutes from Menerbes, where we are staying. By the way, here's our street and the church next to our house (up on the right) here in Menerbes. The people at the door of the church are listening in on the daily practice sessions for an upcoming Mozart concert the choir is scheduled to perform.

We have dubbed the GPS in our car "Mrs. Pickles", as she has a bit of an English accent, is polite to a fault ("Follow the road, please"), and Kate has a colleague who shared that she has a Brit coming on an exchange program named Lucy Pickles. In any case, Mrs. Pickles steered us to the house in fin style, though we didn't fully believe her and ended up both consulting two tiny French women in the town of Lagnes and ending up in a field. Dinner was lovely; their house had a big yard with a pool, a small play house, a toy tractor for riding, and a Beagle, all of which enchanted Maceo. Dinner was roasted pork tenderloin, various sausages, a tomato salad, a green salad, and a dessert of cheeses and the local melons the region is famous for. We stayed till nearly 10:30, and even Maceo left happy and smiling. He wasn't so happy when he woke up at 7 the next day, but that's what happens when you stay up late, partying with a Beagle.

Hiking and Eating

We are waking up slightly earlier now, moving Maceo's bedtime back a little each night. Last night, he went to bed at 8 and awoke this morning at 7:30. Tonight, he is in bed at his normal time of 6, so we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Our expedition today was to a goat farm/restaurant in a village that is one of the highest in the Luberon Valley. We drove on small two lane roads through various villages until we arrived in Apt, where we were slightly lost. We found our way from there via maps and the GPS navigation in the rental car and finally arrived at the tiny village of Sivergues. From there, we could see a forest fire down in the valley below.


As we watched, and were joined by nervous villagers, we saw a number of planes come, descend quite low, and drop water to fight the flames. It was quite impressive and we were all very interested in watching. We hiked up the dirt road for about half an hour until we arrived at Le Castellas, a working farm and auberge. There was another family there, with two small children, and Maceo shyly eyed them from afar, not daring to go join them. They were both older, in any case, and French girls, so quite intimidating.

Lunch was soon brought to us. First course: sangria and ratatouille, along with roasted red peppers and baguettes. Soon, we were given slices of ham. This was followed by wine and a platter of potatoes and roasted pork, both with nice crunchy sea salt on their skins. Finally, we were given goat cheese and coffee. All the while, we were seated under trees on a hill at rough wooden tables on benches, gazing down into the valley while Maceo ran around gathering sticks and chasing a cat.

 We soon met Joseph, the little boy whose family runs the place, and he and Maceo proceeded to get into a bit of mischief at the fountain. We ended up spending about 3 hours here, eating, relaxing, and playing. Finally, we packed up and said our goodbyes and walked back to the car.

 

Back in Menerbes, pool play, Maceo's dinner, bath time, and bedtime reading. It is now 6:15, the sun is still strong in the sky, and we haven't really thought much about dinner, still feeling rather satisfied from the feast at Le Castellas.

Bonjour!

Bonjour de Menerbes!  After two plane rides, several hours of delayed flights, major sleep deprivation, and a crazy rental car ride to our little Luberon mountain-top oasis in Provence, we installed ourselves happily in our new home for the next two weeks, enjoying a wonderfully local lunch of rotisserie chicken, olives, roasted new potatoes, cheese, baguette, rose from the region, and $40/pound nougat with dried strawberries. 

Maceo adjusted very quickly to the time change in France and life in a 3-story stone house nestled along the mountains in a town that is almost painfully picturesque.  He adopted his new 'barrister walk' as we like to say.  Hands behind his back, deep look of contemplation on this face, and pacifier studiously chomped on.  Maceo could play for hours on this terrace that allows him to point endlessly at the doves around the yard and in the trees along the mountain and a spacious wrought-iron railing perfect for throwing his lunch over.  We all like life in France.  For different reasons.

We are placing a bet on the number of bottles of wine we'll have consumed within two weeks time. My money is on 15 bottles. That's two a day plus one extra for our last night which will merit greater wine consumption.

Did we mention there's a pool on the ground level of the house?  Someone loves the pool and someone loves streaking through the house a bit nude after the pool. 

This is the view from our house when you step out onto the street.  Maurice walks on ahead as we took a lovely, slow-paced stroll through the tiny town of Menerbes on our first day. 

Three generations of Man-ra-loewen-hans!

Maceo almost joined a different family when we were sightseeing. Luckily, he remembered who gave him sesame stick snacks on the plan.

 

Maceo eats his first of many pain au chocolats at the Paris airport.  We plan on making him super French by trip's end. Sans any pretension but with a great palate. 

More skills!

There's carrying the truck like a small briefcase into the kitchen and back to the front door. There's also dancing to Hannah Montana, unfortunately.

Just another Tuesday morning

 Maceo and I drove downtown with Kate, as she was going to a fancy work shindig and Maceo and I were going to the Zoo! We parked the car at Macpherson Square, ditched Kate, and began the adventure. First off, walking along K st NW in the morning, there are, as Maceo can tell you, an inordinate amount of busses and trucks. This does not mean that Maceo didn't try to count them, though ordinal numbers are beyond his ken. He points out every truck and bus he can hear/see and asks you, "Unh?" It's pretty much his favorite thing. Once we got to Farragut North, we took the metro to Woodley Park and walked up Connecticut Ave, pointing out large vehicles en route. We arrived at the Zoo at a little before 9. Buildings don't open till 10, so we walked through a pretty much empty Zoo. We stopped to see the cheetahs, but couldn't find them. We did find the panda. Maceo stared intently.

Next up were the flamingoes. Maceo liked them because they made noise and they were right up next to the cage and therefore rather easy to see.

Down the path were the giant rheas, which I thought were emus. They walked towards us, which Maceo found interesting, but they didn't come very close, so we moved on.

Once we got to the bottom of the park, we went to the petting zoo and then the giant pizza. Maceo very much enjoyed the pizza, though he was frightened and bemused by the model cow that mooed when a button was pushed.

He's our little pimento. 

The walk back to Mt Pleasant knocked him out, and so he was asleep when we got on the glorious bus, but he soon woke and enjoyed watching through the windshield and grabbing for the call for a stop wire, and smacking any flat object within reach.

Once home, and after a lunch, he was out for a nap. When he woke up, he and Tupelo and I lolled on the bed for about half an hour. Tupes was very patient and Maceo was very pleased.

"I love you, man."

Finally, the next day, we watched some of the Spain-Portugal soccer game in the European Championships. While Maceo has been cheering on the Italians, he found this game quite entertaining, too.