FLA!

We flew down to Orlando last weekend to visit our friends Crista, her husband Feroz, and their 16 month old Sabrina.

Maceo did a great job down on the plane and a pretty good job coming back. He loved the two airports, especially the Orlando one because it has a train between terminals.

Riding it and watching it arrive and depart on the tracks was a highlight. On Saturday, we spent the morning visiting a nearby kids's farm and watching a rowing meet. Maceo, of course, prefered the "ra-ra", but the enormous pig was a hit, too.

In the afternoon, we went to the beach in New Smyrna. Once he got over his initial cold feet, he ran around, chased balls and birds, and ate sand. We don't know why he liked eating it so much, but he wouldn't stop. Hopefully, that's a phase...






We also visited Kate's alma mater. Maceo was not impressed with the books in the library.

Reminiscing about Christmas in Amherst

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!

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!

The Cousins play Cars

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.

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!

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!