Month: January 2012

We visited Blue Marble down the street from us this afternoon. It was an unseasonably warm 55 degrees. I think today might mark the first time Theo and I have really shared a treat together. As in, we each had our own spoon and we scooped as desired. It was really sweet and we had a nice little post-nap excursion together. Theo watched dogs, birds, and people from the window and stood on the bench inside enjoying blueberry sorbet with delight. He didn’t care for his sticky hands afterwards but he had fun dipping them in water to clean them before we went home.

It’s a beautiful day in Brooklyn. We visited Underhill Playground this morning with my mom friend, Maddy, and her daughter, Emma. I’m trying to make more of an effort to set up playdates for Theo. I want to encourage the growth of his socialization skills. He definitely hangs a lot more with adults. He sees kids at the weekly singalong we go to, and when we are at the playground, of course, but I want him to get used to playing more with other kids and being comfortable with me not around all the time. I am going to do some babysitting swapping with Maddy and Emma and I think it will be good for both of us. Not only so I can get a couple weekday hours to myself, but for Theo to start having friends and playing without Mama around. Theo seems to be very independent and social so I don’t think this will be tough after the initial, “where is my mommy going?”. We have another playdate tomorrow with Rich (the guy who used to babysit Theo) and his daughter, Mara.

Theo is doing really well. He is still happy as a clam, for the most part. He has his occasional tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants or can’t figure out how else to express his frustration with something. He loves to point at airplanes in the sky, dance to music, climb on things, play with his musical toys, read books, and he has become very excited when he hears outside noises now (such as sirens, or voices in the hallway outside of our apartment). He makes this face and looks at me and sort of gasps, like he’s is shocked and surprised… there is that sound again! If it’s a kid, he says, “baby!”. He gets his shoes ready when it’s time to go outside and he helps me get them on much better than he used to (he used to fight and scream!). We are slowly mastering the use of the fork – mostly because I often forget to use it and often because it ends up on the floor anyhow. He can do it, he’s just not entirely skilled at it quite yet. He can identify many different animals either by name or sound and he likes to play with balls, cars/trucks, blocks. I think he’s a bonafide boy. I’ve never been one to encourage gender stereotypes and I always thought much less of nature then nurture but I have definitely been proven different. He gravitates towards wheels and trucks. I need to get him a doll. I don’t want to just bombard him with these things because they are “boyish”. He’s been eating more fruit lately, bananas, pears, and apples. I’m always trying to get more creative in that category and remember to try new things and try, try again. After this week, Jay has two weeks off. We are really looking forward to spending some quality time!

Here are photos from Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, some our friend took for us, and also just from lately!

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My uncle, Allen, passed away last Thursday. Theo and I flew home on Friday and spent 5 days in Cleveland with family for the funeral and shiva stuff. My uncle lived with us for pretty much my entire life growing up (about 20 years) and he never married or had a family of his own. It was sad to be there for that reason but it was really great to come together with family to remember him. We learned that he had all of these work friends who really loved and admired him. My sister and I did a eulogy and I wanted to memorialize him here so that I don’t forget.

Allen did not like to be the center of attention, so to honor him we decided to share the important lessons that we learned from him. He didn’t realize he was teaching us then, and we didn’t know we were learning.

#1 You can never have too many TV’s, or radios.

#2 There is no such thing as too many pieces of toast.

#3 It’s important to be generous. He always loaned us his car when our parents wouldn’t (as long as we brought it back with a full tank – using his credit card, of course!). And also his phone line when ours was in use.

#4 Tradition is good. Especially when it’s Geraci’s pizza every Saturday night. I used to steal pepperoni off his leftovers in the fridge.

#5 Very good items can be bought from infomercials.

#6 Sisters make good friends.

#7 Keeping secrets is important. For example, when I had a party with a band in the living room while our parents were out of town, Allen never said a word. When Marci had a party and someone practically lit the carpet on fire, Allen just came downstairs and said, “can you please just keep it down!”

#8 A bedroom is the perfect place for a pinball machine.

#9 Being a good uncle includes letting me watch Saturday Night Live in his room when our parents weren’t home and I’m scared.

#10 Lastly, it’s okay to be a little eccentric, those are the things that make you interesting and unique and will be the good memories that people have of you.

Allen was a very sweet and kind man. He will live on through the memories we all have of him.

Our boy is 16 months. I haven’t posted many updates lately. Theo is doing wonderfully. He is truly a happy boy. He is in the midst of cutting several new teeth. He has about 7 right now, including one molar, and I can see at least three starting to break through his gums. It’s hard to tell because he hardly let’s me look! I have to sneak a peek when he is laughing. He doesn’t seem too bothered but I have noticed him chewing on his monkey more and I wonder some days when his nap is shorter than normal or when he wakes up earlier than normal or during the night. He doesn’t seem bothered much during the day, though.

He has gotten pretty good at going down stairs while holding on and he goes down the slide by himself now as shown in the video I posted the other day. He has a blast at the playground! We have been able to take advantage of the many nice, non-winter like days we have had recently. The cold, yucky days can be tough. We usually at least get out for a walk. That reminds me, unfortunately our stroller was stolen from our apartment lobby. Pretty sucky and upsetting. In NYC, it’s basically like my car. We do everything in that thing, multiple times/day. I grocery shop and transport many things with that stroller. We quickly bought a used one from the local parents listserv I’m on and I pretty much hate it. It will do for the time being but I want to get a better used one that is more comparable to the one we had. Anyhow, it is amazing that we were able to get a new one the very same day. I can’t believe people steal strollers.

Theo says about 10 words, or so, these days – “baby” is a hot new one that gets a lot of play time. He understands everything I say to him pretty much, which is sure fun and makes things a bit easier with the day to day. He points at airplanes all the time when we’re out. He is still interested in books more than anything else. He loves his different musical toys and if you say, “let’s play with your musical instruments!” he goes straight to them. He loves a shaker. He likes listening to music and dancing and playing with his blocks. He can stack them, too. He really likes getting to walk around anywhere. He is quite social and loves to just explore and check things out. He seems pretty independent.

His eating is mostly the same. I have been trying to give him more fruit instead of just relying on smoothies. Try and try again, right? So far he has been eating some apple and orange slices. We can sneak berries in his morning oatmeal but when I try to give him blueberries I get “the face”. The disgusted-eye-shutter-gag-face. It’s hilarious, albeit annoying when I wish he would just eat the deliciousness I am trying to feed him! He does enjoy an occasional few ounces of juice. Pear, Mango, and Peach we have had lately.

He has a new face lately when he hurts something or sees something he doesn’t like. It was cracking us up this past week. We had plumbers here for two days and they were using lots of loud equipment. He scrunches his face and sort of pouts and puffs.

I’m already looking forward to the spring. Picnics and much, much more outdoor play.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve over at Cori and Scott’s. We had dinner, drank a little, and hung out with Theo’s cousins, Sam and Will. Theo was up late and eventually fell asleep on my lap for awhile so we actually stayed through midnight even though we hadn’t planned to. He woke up for out taxi ride home and was a zombie. He was completely out of sorts when we got home but as soon as we got him changed and cozy we all hopped into bed together and passed out. He slept in until 9:30am! It was great.