Month: August 2013

This happened last week.

While we were lying in bed tonight, Theo rolled over and said, “Mom… peace”, as he was attempting to master the sign again. What a dang cutie.

We had a wonderful visit this past weekend to Windflower Farm, the organic farm that provides our CSA share. It is a magical place. The farmer invites all CSA shareholders to visit the farm once a season for an open house. Since our CSA began in 2010, I have wanted to go but we were unable for one reason or another. This was a great time to go since next summer we will have a baby, as well, and also since Theo is at an exciting age to appreciate and understand the farm and all it provides. He absolutely LOVES going to the CSA site every week, and he loves when we have to work our shift. I was so happy to get to travel with him to see where all of that food is grown.

Everyone drove up on Saturday and Farmer Ted gave two group tours as folks arrived. After that most people explored the grounds, set up tents for the night, and those with children watched them play on tractors and other awesome farm equipment. The barns were decorated with white lights and lanterns, cheese and fresh bread was set out for “cocktail hour” and we explored the second floor of the barn that was filled with games and a ping pong table. Saturday dinner was potluck so there was a ton of great food to eat, there was a Mead tasting bar open all night for those who wanted to partake and they had an acoustic trio playing in the barn while everyone ate. After dinner was a bonfire. We visited it very briefly and showed Theo how to roast marshmallows. He had no interest in tasting one and honestly I don’t blame him. A s’mores is one thing and a plain old marshmallow is another.

There was a giant field on the other side of the farm where everyone set up camp. There must’ve been about 30+ tents spread around the field. It was pretty cool to see. The weekend was gorgeous and the night was very chilly. Theo loved playing in the tent and seemed just fine sleeping in it, too. He did go to bed late and wake up super early so that was tough and it made for a cranky Theo once we made it to the County Fair on Sunday. Waking up there was awesome, though. The farm staff cranked out a delicious breakfast from 7:30-10:00 and people just drank coffee, hung out and (again) watched kids play on tractors. I got to go to the salsa making and canning demonstration, which was very informative, so I was a happy camper!

The county fair was interesting. Americana at it’s finest. Complete with farm animals, fried food in every nook and carnival rides for the kiddos. We promised Theo a few rides, we grabbed an unhealthy bite and blew out of there so the poor kid could snooze in the car as quickly as possible. We had hoped to visit the Battenkill, a nearby lake that was recommended, but instead we drove as long as possible as Theo slept and then took a detour through Westchester and stopped at Croton Point Park. It’s only about 30 miles north of the city and a sweet little gem on the Hudson River. The sun was already going down at this point but Theo had his heart set on swimming so in they went. It was very sweet watching Jay and Theo swim around and play together, just the two of them. Afterwards we got the sweet boy an ice cream cone and headed back to Brooklyn.

It was a lot of driving and work for only one night, but it was worth it to see the beautiful farm, meet the amazing family and staff who grow a lot of the food we eat, and to spend one of the last summer evenings together on the river.

At 17 weeks along we are already feeling the baby move! With Theo, I believe it was around 20 weeks. They say you feel it sooner with the second, since you know what to expect. I had been thinking this past week that I was feeling little flutters and taps and flips, but I wasn’t 100% certain. It did seem sort of hard to believe you can feel it so early when the baby is still so little. Anyhow, the past couple days I’ve been certain and tonight during story time Jay felt it, too! A big kick right on his hand. We tried to have Theo feel it, too, but he would put his hand there and pull it off quickly and giggle. He didn’t quite have the patience to wait for it. Once the baby is really moving around he will enjoy that.

At 17 weeks I have quite the collection of little girls clothing already. Many of it hand me downs from a Cleveland friend, some from a great thrift store in Cleveland and a bunch I bought this past week at two recycled kids clothing stores in Park Slope. It’s way easier to spend money on girls clothing and I’ve really got to contain myself. I’m happy to say, though, that we have a good stash going! I went through Theo’s boxes that we have stored back in CLE, I got rid of some things, but a lot of great gender neutral clothes and all of our baby equipment will be coming back to Brooklyn when Jay’s Dad comes to help us move.

We are looking forward to our upcoming 20 week sonogram, where we finally get to see her and check out all the good anatomy stuff. I’ll post a bump update then, perhaps. I’m certainly growing and, according to my 16 week appointment last week, I’ve gained about 8 or 9 pounds, I think? Definitely needing to bust out the old maternity wear.

Since we don’t have family here, I’m very happy that we have other parent friends that can help us out when we are in a pinch. On Friday I had a meeting scheduled with a new couple whose adoption home study I’m doing. We had a tough time scheduling this because one of the men is deaf so we had to match the schedule of five different people. I wanted to be flexible so I told them Friday was fine, even though I don’t have a sitter. I figured there is always the local drop-off childcare place that Theo seemed to like the one time we tried it. I asked the sitter and she was not available. I thought more about the drop-off childcare and felt hesitant since I wasn’t going to be local and it would therefore end up being over three/three and half hours when you factor in the commute to and from the IAC office. Anyhow, I called my friend Kate who stays home full-time with her daughter, Luna. She actually lives really close to the office in Gramercy and she said she would meet us at Madison Park playground and then take Theo and Luna back to her place for dinner, where I would pick him up later. It was a perfect plan and I was so delighted Theo would have a playdate and get to hang with them while I was working. He barely even said goodbye to me as he ran over to the swings!

Kate sent me this photo of Luna pushing Theo on the swing later.

I guess he was pretty quickly excited to get back to their house. Surely so that he could check out everything in their apartment and play with toys that were new to him. He got to ride on one of those rider boards on the back of Luna’s stroller and he loved it! Which is awesome because we plan to get one of those for Theo once we eventually have the baby in a stroller. I absolutely refuse to get a ridiculous double stroller. Kate said they played so well together and a couple hugs were exchanged. And of course Theo fully explored every light switch and light in their apartment.

It worked well for everyone and I’m so thankful to have people who can help out if we are in a bind. And I will gladly exchange the favor. I did bring her some sweet treats from Joyce Bakeshop so hopefully that made it even more worth it. Theo and Luna hugged goodbye and Theo and I had an evening stroll to Union Square, back on the Q train and the sweet boy got an ice cream cone on the way home. (I got one, too!)

Some of my favorite Theoism’s…

“I’m exhausted.” And he says it in a very adult, serious way. As if he just put in a 12 hour day.

When Theo and I were bathing together the other night, he said, “I want her (as in baby sister) to come in here. She will play with my toys.” I told him how lucky he was that he is going to have a permanent friend to play with everyday once she joins us and gets bigger.

“I missed you.” He’s been telling us this more lately.

“Excuse me, mama.” He still says this whenever he has something to say and I’m talking to somebody else. Then he’ll proceed to say, “weelll… [insert whatever he had to say].”

We took a train trip on Friday into the city and it had been a little while since our last trip. He was being so dang adorable. He kept asking, “Is this us, Mama? Is this our stop? This is us!” Or, “is that our train, Mama?”

He had a cup of water this afternoon in our bedroom and he set it down on the floor near the bed and asked, “Does that seem like a good place for it?”

Looking at photos from the playground with his friend Ayla the other day he exclaimed, “I was sliding happily!”

This morning, “Oh, you burned your bagel badly!” Yes, I sure did.

He often comments, “Let’s just see what’s going on.” Or, “I just want to talk a little bit.”

I was laying down yesterday and he looked over at me and said, “Making a baby is hard work.” He got that from our book about expecting a new baby. So sweet.

Today, “I think Ginger Ale would be a good name for my baby sister.”

He knows how to promise something. And how to pinky swear.

He is an amazing kiddo. Challenges and all. When he looks at us with those giant brown eyes and smiles, asks a question in the most genuine way you could ever know, you know it’s true love.

One of my favorite things that Theo has been saying lately is, “I had a fun day with you”. Not much makes me happier than when we recap our day and he says that to me.

I haven’t posted much about Theo and his developments lately, his likes and dislikes. Life has been so busy and I often forget all the little things I want to write down. The silly and amazing sentences he says and I can never seem to truly capture his sense of humor and personality on a computer. You just have to see him, to know him.

Some memories I have wanted to capture lately…

Theo is still warming up to the baby idea. He does some adorable things, like, putting monkey and hop under his shirt pretending they are a baby. He talks about her sometimes in positive ways, like yesterday he picked up a kid’s shirt and said “this is for Baby Ruby”. How sweet is that? He hears us talking about potential baby names often and he usually says no to all of them and replies with, “no, just baby”. I assume he’s not ready to actually name this unknown thing. We aren’t even certain on the name Ruby. It’s way, way up there as that was what we had planned if Theo had been a girl. Anyhow, it was touching that he is definitely listening to me and Jay when we discuss names and that he picked out a shirt for her. Jay said yesterday morning they were talking during breakfast about his baby sister and how she will be sitting at the table with us soon. He didn’t seem too happy about that. I think he’ll be loving. The other mom in the store yesterday had a little baby in a stroller and he pushed her back and forth while the mom was shopping. I have seen an interest in babies recently as he was also intrigued by little baby twins we saw at the zoo in Cleveland. A lot of the time, though, he will just blurt out “I don’t like babies”. He is a funny one.

Theo is very affectionate and says “I love you” often.

His language has advanced so much. He uses complete sentences and big words that are impressive. He will ask us what a word means. I was singing a song to him the other night and he said, “what’s understand?”. Opportunities like this to have real, meaningful conversations with him are awesome. I can’t think of another example right now but he likes to hear the definition of words that might be unfamiliar, or he hears often but never fully grasped their meaning.

He is interested in how everything works and he is still SO fascinated with garages and lights and watching everything function. He is an extremely curious guy. I was reflecting the other day on how I’m happy he’s not a hyper, rambunctious kid but he still never stops going, talking, asking and exploring. He will always stop for a book, though. One of the few things I can quickly distract him with. He loves listening to stories and snuggling up. He plays well independently and is using a bit more imagination than I’ve seen before. He talks about traveling to Japan and will pretend to fly there.

Theo loves to watch the guys at the park behind us playing dominoes. They are very friendly to him and will often give him a domino to hold. While they are playing Theo will slam down that domino repeatedly, as they do, while they are playing. It’s hilarious. He will repeat the things they say, which thankfully hasn’t been that bad! Just things, like, “my man!’ and “oh man, you got me!”.

Pre-school starts after Labor Day and our official goal moving date is October 1st. I can’t believe how fast time is flying. We are SO excited move. I know it will be a long process of getting Theo in his own room but we do hope to do this before the baby arrives. We are all getting a lot less sleep these days because we just don’t have enough room. If I’m on the couch, then Theo wants Mama and then when I get in there he pushes and kicks me off the bed 🙂 This morning he said, “this bed’s not very comfortable, I had a hard time sleeping”. I told him I think it’s time he has his own bed and space and that he will be much more comfortable. Our bed is really comfy so I know that’s not really the issue. He needs his own space but of course he’s used to being with us so I’m sure it’s a bit confusing to him. He has been so great to adapting to change, like when we got rid of the bottles and when we got rid of the diapers. I hope it will be a quick transition but who knows.

He still has a decent appetite and decent diet. He loves lettuce and cucumber in a salad with red wine vinegar and oil. He loves red peppers. He continues to loves eggs and we often sneak leafy greens in there with no protest. Beans, rice, avocado, whole wheat noodles, tortellini, mac n’ cheese, broccoli… stuff like that. The only fruit he really likes are apples, bananas, oranges and strawberries. He likes yogurt. He likes to share my delicious coconut yogurt with granola.

Theo is almost three!

After two long and lovely weeks in Cleveland, we are all back safe and sound in our cozy Brooklyn home (minus the poor Bossy Mossy but that’s a post for another time). We are happy. It was wonderful to spend extra time with all of our family and friends. It’s usually much more of a whirlwind and we often see people one time, at best. We did so much this time. And especially after having just been there for 10 days in June! It was tough, too, though. Two weeks is a long time for anyone to be away and it’s especially tough for an almost three year old. Theo definitely enjoyed himself, and I wouldn’t trade the valuable time he spent with everyone, but it’s challenging to be out of our comfort zone, our routines and our home. Dragging around from place to place, eating in restaurants more often and having a more erratic naptime and bedtime schedule will definitely present some difficult situations. Theo needs his structure and his routine. Needless to say we were all happy to pack up and drive back to Brooklyn yesterday.

In Cleveland Theo got to do lots of swimming, sprinkling and playground-ing, we visited the Cleveland Botanical Garden (which is awesome) with my friend Sam and her son Milo, visited the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo with Grandpa Joe and Amma, went to TWO Wade Oval Wednesdays (a weekly picnic on the grass outside of the Cleveland Museum of Art complete with live music and yummy food), have two big boy overnights at Amma’s house, spend about a week at Yia Yia and Papa Hankie’s and then about a week at Papa and Grammy’s, spend more time with Aunt Carrie and cousins Dylanne and Camryn, ride his first roller coaster at the Memphis Kiddie Park, go to his first wedding ceremony in a church, have playdates with Kai and Brekk, play in backyards (and many garages!), eat a lot of french fries and find out that he will be a big brother to a little sister. That’s a lot of great stuff. And there is still more we couldn’t even fit in. Thanks to everyone who helped take care of us, feed us and had fun with us. We love everyone! It just may be awhile before we’re back. 🙂