Snow Baby

Here is photographic evidence of Seth's first official encounter with snow. It never actually touched his skin, and he spent less than a minute physically on the ground, but it counts.

SNUGGIES!

Guess who jumped on the "as seen on TV" bandwagon and got the big kids Snuggies for Christmas? Yep, we did. And you know what? They LOVE them.

The whole idea for the gift came from John, who lamented one morning while trying to eat his snack while wrapped up in a blanket, "Ohhh, why can't I eat my crackers and keep my arms warm?" Well, now he can.

And so far, the thrill hasn't worn off. Yesterday we trudged home through rain and snow after picking Rose up from school. Once we were inside, Rose requested hot chocolate and John requested (you guessed it) their snuggies.

B-A-T Spells Bat

So the other day, we noticed that John was doing pretty well at sounding out letters. Curious as to how much he could do, we wrote a simple word for him and asked him to try to read it. He sounded out the letters (buh-aaa-t) and then put them together (buhaaat) and announced what the word was (it says bat!). We were amazed! So we tried it out with several other small words, and he did great! There is still plenty for him to learn, but he can officially be classified as a beginning reader. What a nice surprise!

My Valentine

Eight years ago on Valentines Day, Stephen and I had our second date. It was one of the funnest dates I have ever been on, but I had no idea that is was only the beginning. So in honor of our eight Valentines Days together, I will list eight things that impressed me about him that day.

In no particular order, I was impressed by...

1- his sense of humor
2- his intelligence
3- his creativity
4- his thoughtfulness
5- his knowledge
6- his kindness
7- his cute accent
8- his great smile

Eight years later, I am still loving all of those qualities, and he is still finding new ways to impress me. I am so lucky to have him as my valentine.

Snow Day!

Wednesay was a snow day for all New York City schools. Unfortunately, it wasn't a snow day for all New York City advertising agencies, so Stephen still had to go in to work. He did manage to squeeze in some sledding with the kiddos in the wee small hours of the morning. They were all excited for Seth's first sled ride, but he slept through it. In fact, he never even emerged from his blanket to even see the snow falling, let alone sled in it. The big kids had fun, though.

John was a little leery of the sled, so he invented his own way of getting down the hill (much slower) and they both enjoyed the classic dad sled maneuver. Afterwards, hot chocolate and cream of wheat for breakfast. Mmmm...warm.

Gratuitous Cuteness

Another flashback blog entry. This picture was taken at the zoo way back in September. It is quite possibly one of my favorite pictures of all time. That's all I have to say about that.

A Semantics Question

Okay all you English buffs, here is a question for you. When your three year old develops uncontrollable diarrhea the day after he wins a prize for finally being potty-trained, is that ironic, or just lame?

Catching Up: First Day of School

One of the many many things that happened while I was incommunicado was the big kids starting school way back in September. I never posted the obligatory "adorable kid in front of the new school and in the new classroom" pictures. So here they are.

Rose is in Kindergarten now (Eek! My baby is in Kindergarten!). It is a public school just down the street, and she loves it. They wear uniforms, which I thought would bug me, but turns out to be both adorable and easy. No fuss over what to wear! Kindergarten admissions in NYC are worse than college, I swear, so we were really luck to find a great school nearby AND to actually get a spot at that school.

John is in the 3's program at the preschool Rose went to last year. He goes three mornings a week, which is a good amount for him. He likes being big enough to go to school, but also likes having "days off" to spend more time with mom and Seth. He really loves his teachers and is also a big fan of the school's pet Tortoise.

I also get to go to school this year, since I am teaching music at John's preschool. I spend half an hour with each class gettting into some very basic musical concepts. I am really enjoying the chance to be back in a classroom setting, without the responsibility of being a full-time teacher. It is still very rewarding. Today one little boy talked to me for the first time. All year long the other kids have been telling me "He doesn't talk," and I just kept telling them "Of course he does. And he will when he wants to." Well, today he wanted to. He not only spoke, but also made a puppet sing a solo. I almost jumped out of my seat, I was so happy.

So anyway, hooray for school and hooray for cute kids, both mine and the students I work with.

More Pathetic than a Wet Kitten

Here is a shot of our baby boy using his nebulizer. At first he HATED it, but now he is actually kind of enjoying it. We read books, sing songs and play with toys during the treatments. He even falls asleep sometimes. I am just grateful he isn't screaming and fussing all of the time. The first few treatments I think I cried almost as much as he did, it was so sad.

He is doing much better this week, and has a doctors appointment today. Hopefully he will have whipped those bronchioles back into shape and this will all be a distant memory by this time next week.