Some things to be thankful for

As we pack up our house in preparation for the second move in 6 months (yay! not.) I'm reminding myself of all the things we have to be thankful for this week. Like, a brother/best buddy to play endless hours of fire chief with:

getting into the holiday spirit early decorating gingerbread men:

ymmy desserts and matching shirts on Thanksgiving:

Hallowasn't

Well, Halloween was kind of a bust this year, and most of it is my fault. Luckily, the kids are still young enough that I'm pretty sure they didn't notice, so all's well that ends well. But I must admit, I feel a tad guilty anyway. Oh, well. We decided to go to Boston to celebrate the holiday because a friend of mine was having a giant halloween party Saturday night, and also because my parents' favorite holiday is and always has been halloween. Since trick or treating was on a monday (and my new job starts in a few days, marking the end of my weekday flexibility) we decided we'd hit up the halloween party in west roxbury and then trick or treat at my parent's house Monday night. Earlier this month Owen told me he wanted to be a firefighter for halloween. which I was estatic to hear, because we already had 2 fireman hats, and it's a pretty easy costume. I figured I'd make both kids firefighters and that would be that. Of course, while packing the car for our trip to Boston, I remembered the kids toothbrushes, their blankies, my work phone, my computer, a bag of snacks and distractions for the road, two pairs of shoes for each kid and every other damn thing in my house EXCEPT the firefighter costumes. Which is how I ended up in the Watertown Target at about 5pm on Friday afternoon staring at a very, very sparsely hung rack of halloween costumes. The other worst mother in Watertown and I were standing there dejectedly poking through the sad remains of witch costumes missing the hat, a few rumpled and returned costumes which looked worse for the experience, and a wide variety of dog halloween costumes (I spent a while debating how I could get Elias into one of the larger dog pumpkin suits without raising suspicion, but alas, it was not to be). Finally, I found a doctor costume that looked undamaged and said "fits most, ages 3 and up" on the label. perfect! Paging Dr. Cox to OR 3, stat! And that's how this happened:

Clearly, that costume is not designed to fit any 3 year old this side of the NBA. I couldn't figure out what had happened until I looked more closely on the label. Yes, in prominet letters it did say "fits most ages 3 and up", but in much smaller letters on the side of the cardboard was a little letter "M". On the back, I noticed that they had a size chart - XS, S, M, L, XL. Ahah. so in fact, you have to buy the size that corresponds with your kid's age, with XS being 3-4. duh. So the M was for ages 6-8. oh, well. we rolled up the legs and arms and just went with it. Eli ended up with the last Yoda costume in the store, which was pretty much just a robe, because he refused to wear the hat unless I was actively bribing him with candy:

and in fact, he only agreed to wear the robe for about 5 minutes. for some reason he really hated the yoda getup. I have no idea why. We're not big Star Wars fans around here (I've never even seen any of the movies) and so of course neither of my kids know or care who Yoda is, making it overall a flop of a costume. The above pictures are of both kids right before the halloween party. they both took them off immediatley, Owen because his was so huge he couldn't walk or hold anything and Elias because he was just being petulant. nonetheless, I convinced them both to try again to go trick or treating (read: bribed them with candy). Joke's on us, though - my mom's town cancelled trick or treating due to the storm. Luckily, my mom's next door neighbor called and said we could walk over and trick or treat there, and we left my dad at their house so they could go at both houses. This went a little better in the costume department - I mean, what life experience doesn't candy make better, really?

So in the end, it actually ended up fine. neither kid objected to only going to two houses, and I don't think they even noticed anything was amiss. which actually saved us from having 2 big tubs of candy which we wouldn't let the kids eat and then snarf after they went to bed.

A good time and plenty of m'n'ms were had by all. better luck with the organization next year, and in the meantime, happy halloween!

Eli loves beets

Healthy for him. Messy for me.

 

Sometimes the hipsters are right. buy your kid a balance bike.

So, about 2 years ago, I was standing at the playground talking to one of the Cool Moms I know. She was talking to me because none of her other Cool Mom friends were around - I'm definitely not usually hip, toned, well dressed or well travelled enough to make the cut. Anyway, a little guy zipped by on a kettler trike. "those kettler trikes are pretty neat", I mused. "I think I'll get one for Owen for his second birthday". "They are ok", said Cool Mom. "But what you really should do is get a balance bike. In Europe (side note: as far as I know she's from New Jersey and has never lived in Europe, but whatever) the children don't use trikes and they go right to riding regular 2 wheeler bikes without training wheels at age 3 or 4. They use balance bikes instead. I just bought one the other day".
Since Cool Mom's kid was, like mine, about 16 months old at the time, she didn't have the bike with her and I have to admit that I had no idea what a balance bike was. So I went home and googled it, and found the skuut website. I forwarded it to my mom. "this is what I think you should get Owen for his second birthday". I wrote. She was skeptical, and suggested she get a snazzy radio flyer trike. I persisted. "no, really. I heard that in Europe, they don't even use tricylces, they use these. And all the kids can ride a two wheeler bike at 3." She wrote back. "that is ridiculous. No 3 year old can ride a two wheeler bike. you didn't learn to ride one until you were 8." But I went ahead and got him the balance bike anyway - what can I say? I am susceptible as the next gal to Cool Moms, and a whiff of European sophistication. But I have to say, in this instance, whether Cool Mom has been to Europe or not, she was right. Behold, my barely 3 and a half year old cruising on a 2 wheeler like he's been riding all his life:

those Europeans and their balance bikes and socialized medicine. Always a couple steps ahead.

Hi Blog Readers. Who are you?

I get a little email with stats emailed to me every Tuesday. I can't remember when or how I signed up to make this happen but I assume that at the time I thought it would tell me somthing about who reads my blog. It actually doesn't really tell me very much, just the geographic location of where my blog is accessed from. What's interesting to me is that the few people who seem to regularly read my blog I honestly cannot figure out how I might know them. There is one person (hi, whoever you are!) who reads my blog every time I update it from Canada. I have thought and thought and simply don't know a single person in Canada. On the other extreme, my own parents and husband do not read this blog, so I'm somewhat amused that there are people that don't even know me reading my posts.

Anyway, all this just sort of randomly to say that although I'm under the impression that almost no one reads my blog (and I still think this is largely true - I'm wondering if a lot of the blog 'hits' I get are from web bots or some other not-real source) I actually get over 200 page views a week. Again, people who actually know me (with some exceptions) tend not to read my blog, so I have no idea who you guys are - but whatever, if you like visiting my blog, great! that leads me into my real reason for musing about blog traffic....

I haven't had the greatest luck driving donations through facebook (again, trying to hit up people I know) so I thought I'd give it a stab with people I don't know! Hey all you anonymous internet friends....I'm glad you're here. Now that you are here, please take a look at my cute pictures and unoriginal thoughts on being a parent and while you're at it, could you please donate some money to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society? I'm trying to reach my goal of raising $2000 by October 2nd for the mission and I'm 80% of the way to my goal. If all of the 200 people that stop by here in a week donated $20 I'd be there! Your gift goes directly to patient services and research, is tax-deductible, and I really hope you can find a few spare dollars to donate. I am participating in an event with team in training in october (a half marathon in maine) which is the impetus for me raising this money, but the race is neither here nor there - the important part is helping LLS reach their fundraising goals. You can donate here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/maine11/jcoxpa, and feel free to tell your friends!

If you don't feel like donating, but you do feel like introducting yourself, please do. especially my canadian friend. You've been with me since the beginning....here's your shout out. But a curious blogger wants to know...who are you? and will you make a donation to cancer research?

Well, we're here.

I'm trying to be positive. I'm really trying. And believe me, that's not my usual MO - my ability to see the glass half empty is long and well documented. But since even I can figure out that refusing to give it a chance out here will end badly, I'm forcing myself to look on the brightside.

So, the brightside:

It really is beautiful here. There's a reason people buy second homes and take their vacations here - the scenery is pretty spectactular. Among the dozens of reasons I'm bummed that my camera broke is because I'd like to post some pictures to illustrate my point, but I'm sure your imaginations will suffice.

There's a pretty endless number of places for the boys to explore - between the abundance of state parks, rail trials, mountains, valleys, and all the cultural stuff the Berkshires has to offer (which is, suprisingly to me, a lot) it's not like there's nothing to do. Plus, we have a 5 acre backyard with a stream running through it, which so far has pretty much fit the bill as far as they're concerned.

You can get more house for your dollar out here. When we're ready to buy our next place (which may be sooner, rather than later, since our rental isn't really working out as well as we'd hoped) we'll be able to get a nicer house for less money.

For obnoxious food police like us - hey, it's true - this place is a heaven. We live down the road from the adorably named 'pigasso farms' which sells natural and pastured beef, chicken, pork and lamb and free range eggs. In addition to Piggaso, which is just the closest, there are I think three others on the 27 miles of rt 22 between here and the pike. There is a farmer's market with local and organic produce on pretty much every corner, and I'm loving the roadside stands with produce where you just put your money in a box. In the winter, of course, the fresh produce options will be less, but there are still some farms that make a committment to year round produce. there are several dairies we can buy direct from. It makes me feel less depressed that the nearest grocery store is 35 minutes from here, because the remaining things I need to get at a grocery store can be condensed into trips I can stretch out to two weeks or so.

There's no traffic. At least not around us. This is nice, especially coming from Boston. I can get 37 miles in about the time it used to take Andy to go 8, from Cambridge to home. On the negative side, of course, is the monstrous amount of gas we're going through. From someone who put less than 6000 miles on her car last year, this is a total culture shock. Drive 22 minutes to get to the playground? are you kidding me?? but people around here think that's nothing.

In terms of the bad things...well - you know, I think I'll just leave off here and try and focus on the good. Because of course I could go on and on (and on and on!) about what I don't like, but I think the wise advice to "bloom where you're planted" is appropriate here. Focus on the positive and eventually you'll actually feel positively, right? At least that's the plan!

Vacation

We just got back today from our vacation to Newport, RI. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show you, because the very first day we were there, the camera (which was in the beach bag) got sand in the autofocus mechanism and no longer works. I'm so sad about it, because I now don't have any photos of this vacation except for a few random shots on andy's cell phone. Which is ok, I guess, because although we went down there with grand plans to do all Newport had to offer, including packing our bikes and gathering data about local kid friendly attractions, all we really did for 4 1/2 days was go to the beach. So all of our pictures would have looked the same anyways. But the longer term issue of the camera being broken is a bummer.

Last summer, as you may remember, we went to Smuggler's Notch in Stowe, VT for a week. That was totally awesome, although it definitely fell on the once-in-3-or-4-years end of the price spectrum for vacations, and that was with both our kids being able to stay free and going during a "off" week to get a reduced rate. This year, we spent aa little less than half as much and rented a condo from a friend in Newport. And what did we learn? We learned that it's not how much you spend, it's the quality time that you spend with your family that makes a great vacation.

ha! Do you really think that's what we learned? no! We learned that you get what you pay for.

that's not to say the kids didn't have a great time - they did. But the bottom line is that whether you're doing it at home or somewhere else, taking care of a preschooler and a toddler is a lot of work and coupled with the threat that one or both or them might drown if you drop your guard, totally exhausting. Andy and I have decided that it would be more accurate to call it a "family experience" than a "vacation". I mean, it's lovely to spend your vacation at the beach. It's slightly less lovely to arrive at the beach at 7:45 am because your kids have already been up for two hours begging you to take them there. Pros: at 7:45, you have the beach to yourself, and the chances of getting a sunburn are significantly reduced. Cons: you're already at the beach at 7:45 am. Which means you're in for a really, really long day.

Both kids had a lot of trouble with thier behavior and also with sleeping the whole trip - I'm guessing from the combination of excitement of being on vacation, over stimulation, and being in a strange place. The first day, Eli refused to nap entirely, resulting in epic crankiness all afternoon followed by him passing out face first on the floor at 4:30 pm, and then proceeding to wake up at 4:15 am the next day raring to hit the beach again. Both kids were up multiple times each night, to the point where even I, the queen of all night waking suckers was ready to baby gate them in their room and put in earplugs. Owen's behavior could have been a lot better, and that's a charitable understatement through the rose colored glasses of motherly love. I also don't think it helped that the condo we were staying in had significant noise transmission issues to other units and we were on the top floor. We were constantly following the kids around hissing "don't jump! don't yell! no banging!" etc. I think it probably stressed them out a little bit.

We did do a lot of fun stuff - we rode a carousel, went to an aquarium, took the kids on a boat tour of Naragansett Bay (the point during the vacation at which the chances one or both kids would drown peaked), walked the cliff walk, went to see a yacht restoration shop, went out to lunch,etc. but overall we just beached it. I worried the kids would get tired of the beach after the first couple days, but it turns out there's no amount of beach that's too much.

As we were leaving this morning, Owen said "we have to go home? I want to stay on vacation forever!" which is high praise, I suppose. But Andy and I couldn't pack up the car fast enough. we've had enough family vacation, and we now need a vacation.

and I think we're opening a savings account for another trip somewhere like Smuggler's Notch in a couple years. Somewhere where part of the vacation experience includes babysitters.