During our lovely, lovely time in Amherst this past Christmas, we almost thought we'd spend our five days there with no snow. Luckily, nature rewarded a (somewhat) patient 20 month old and delivered enough snow for us to sled in our favorite spot in Amherst, Aunt Lucy and Uncle Dan's backyard! Behold, a toddler's first wild and crazy ride!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Sleep, or The Way Kate Likes to Live
We begin with the Owl.
The idea is that the Owl will turn green at a certain time. This will not awaken the baby, as sleep is preciouspreciousprecious, but that when he awakens, he will know that it is ok to awaken the parents and the day will have begun. As I wrote earlier this year, travelling wreaked hell with Maceo's sleeping and he was awakening LONG before the Owl was green and hollering for us for quite some time. But recently, something switched. It was last week...
I awakened at some sound from Maceo. It was 5:15 or so, but he wasn't crying. So, I went back to sleep. Then, I heard him again. I rolled over and told Kate that we should wait a little, that it was about 5:30. She retorted, "It's 6:05!" Maceo has now understood the Owl and the system is in place. He awakens at some time, and then he proceeds to play with toys and murmur until about 6, when he yells out either, "Owl!" or "Papa!" or "Mama!" and we are off to get him and praise him.
And praise him we do!
Friday, January 18, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
A, B, C, Easy as 1, 2, Mama!
Maceo has three go-to songs he enjoys. One is "The Wheels on the Bus", and he can add a variety of sounds to each verse. He especially likes the baby on the bus going, "Wah, wah, wah"; the horn on the bus going, "Honk, honk, honk"; and the dors on the bus going, "Open and shut." Another of his oeuvre is "Jingle Bells" which consists of him being quiet as you sing the chorus until just before the end, where he comes in early with a happy "Hey!" Finally, there is the Alphabet song.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Ho Ho Ho!
As has happened for the last three years, we realized, we came up with various plans for what we wanted to do during the vacation, ranging from going to San Francisco to going abroad, and then ended up chucking those complex ideas for a nice simple trip to Amherst and the McMurrers's.
The trip actually isn't that simple. It's about an 8 hour drive, so for the last two years with Maceo, we've broken it into two legs. This year, on the way up, we spent the night with the Abrams, friends who live in Philadelphia. They have a huge house and three absolutely lovely kids; Oliver is 7, Evan is 5, and Josie is 3. Maceo likes them all, though he doesn't really get any of them. Oliver is very nice and thoughtful; Evan is incredibly articulate and creative; and Josie is a good-natured little sister who follows and plays with the two of them, as long as they let her. From Philly we drove to Amherst where the McMurrers are.
For the past few months, Maceo has been a dream to put down to sleep at night. He snuggled right into bed, occasionally whining for all of 30 seconds at the most, and then he would awake early, but go back to sleep and not get out of his crib until 5:45.
However. Since we were in a house with others and we didn't want to disturb them (Nick's mom and her husband Maurice (or Monie, as Mace calls him)), we would take Maceo into bed with us when he began to cry. At 5, then 4:55, then 4:45 on successive nights. This was not fun. The rest of the days and nights were loads of fun, though, so it pretty much balanced out. There was biking, which was great.
There was singing, which was super cute.
While not everyone showed up in pictures, there were good times had with all the relatives! Thanks so much to the McMurrers for hosting us and doing so with such aplomb!
The trip actually isn't that simple. It's about an 8 hour drive, so for the last two years with Maceo, we've broken it into two legs. This year, on the way up, we spent the night with the Abrams, friends who live in Philadelphia. They have a huge house and three absolutely lovely kids; Oliver is 7, Evan is 5, and Josie is 3. Maceo likes them all, though he doesn't really get any of them. Oliver is very nice and thoughtful; Evan is incredibly articulate and creative; and Josie is a good-natured little sister who follows and plays with the two of them, as long as they let her. From Philly we drove to Amherst where the McMurrers are.
For the past few months, Maceo has been a dream to put down to sleep at night. He snuggled right into bed, occasionally whining for all of 30 seconds at the most, and then he would awake early, but go back to sleep and not get out of his crib until 5:45.
However. Since we were in a house with others and we didn't want to disturb them (Nick's mom and her husband Maurice (or Monie, as Mace calls him)), we would take Maceo into bed with us when he began to cry. At 5, then 4:55, then 4:45 on successive nights. This was not fun. The rest of the days and nights were loads of fun, though, so it pretty much balanced out. There was biking, which was great.
There was singing, which was super cute.
While not everyone showed up in pictures, there were good times had with all the relatives! Thanks so much to the McMurrers for hosting us and doing so with such aplomb!
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