Thanksgiving 2011

We have had a thoroughly enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend in New York. We've been having so much fun, in fact, that I haven't gotten around to posting. And I've also managed to squeeze in a lot of grading and glorious glorious sleep!!!

Per usual, Nicholas' favorite part of the trip has been spending time with everyone. This little boy just absolutely can't get enough of his aunts and uncles and grandparents. This trip people were in and out and we were all together for I think a total of 12 hours, of which we slept for 7. But I realized that this marked the fourth time that we've all been together in the past year, which given how spread out we've all gotten, is really amazing. So I'm thankful we were all together, even if it was not for an extended period.

As usual, Nicholas' uncles taught him some new things. You've already seen the "Dominick the Donkey" video Joe posted. Since then Nicholas has mastered a lot more of the words and learned some dance additions from Uncle Brian.

From 2011 November

Uncle Brian also taught Nicholas the "special fist bump," a more advanced version that involves an exploding opening hand after the bump. Nicholas, of course, thinks this is both hilarious and totally awesome.

In addition to his aunts and uncles and grandparents, Nicholas also got to meet some second cousins who were in from England.

From 2011 November

We were extra excited Michelle and James and the kids were in because Declan is our godson and we haven't seen him since his baptism. Three years ago. Yes, we are that awesome as godparents. But it was so great to spend time with them all and made me vow that we have to make it out to England. Don't ask me when or how, but I am determined. Nicholas and Declan share an intense love for Elmo, dinosaurs, and fruit snacks. And Nicholas and Amelia enjoyed playing the piano and making the airplanes fly.

From 2011 November

And all three of them absolutely could not get enough of running laps around the living room-kitchen-dining room circuit. After Nicholas and Amelia got bored of the game, Declan and I added in a pit stop for him to get tickles or hugs each time through the living room, making it all the more fun for me. :) Since all the adults were busy catching up as well, however, there aren't many pictures.

We did Thanksgiving on Wednesday and so started in on pre-Christmas fun on Thursday. I'll post more on that later in the week. For now, I must sleep. Tomorrow we have to drive home and then re-enter the real world. But for now I'll leave you with some more pictures of family togetherness:

From 2011 November

From 2011 November

Passing the Torch

In my mother's family, "Dominick the Donkey," a 1960 Christmas song performed by Lou Monte, is a classic and a tradition. Nicholas is very excited for the song this year, in part because Daddy thinks it's cool (or so Mommy tells me), in part because it's about an animal, in part because the whole family lights up when he gets excited.

Also, the song is totally awesome.

If you don't believe how excited Nicholas is, take a look at this:

From 2011 November

Grandma and Uncle Peter

We had a great visit with my mom and brother. It was actually the first time Peter and Nicholas had met, since Peter has been living in China and hasn't been back in the States since a month before Nicholas was born.

My only regret of the visit is that we didn't get a great picture of Peter and Nicholas. Well, at least not in the traditional sense. Peter did capture this on his ipad:

From peter pics

Which is incredibly awesome. We had a really good picture set up at the zoo, but I just couldn't figure out which button to hit on Peter's phone before Nicholas got bored. And so, me being me, I am kicking myself for that missed one because I can see it in my head.

But, yes, I know, pictures are not the most important thing. Nicholas now has another uncle he adores, which is a much bigger deal.

I had to work Friday morning, so the three of them went to the Children's museum, where by all accounts, they had a blast. Nicholas certainly enjoyed trying to make the big bubbles:

From peter pics

And Saturday morning we drove down to Rhode Island to go to the zoo. It was a little on the cold side, but definitely tolerable, and probably the last chance for the zoo until spring.

From peter pics

Nicholas was SO excited! After we had finished going around the whole zoo, he was still exclaiming, "Let's go find some more animals!"

We also spent lots of time just hanging out at home, playing Candyland, building towers, reading books, making enchiladas, and just in general having a good time.

From peter pics

From peter pics

From peter pics

The only problem with having visitors is that they have to leave. I was crying a little after we dropped Peter off at the bus station and Nicholas asked me what was wrong. I said I was just sad because we had to say goodbye to Uncle Peter and it would be a long time before we saw him again. And, sweet Nicholas responded, "Don't be sad, Mommy. I make you happy."

And he does and I don't want him to think he isn't enough, but I do miss having grownups around. I am generally happy with my life and go about day to day fine. But after a couple days of a good visit, I find myself looking around and feeling very lonely and isolated here. In other words, I am happy with my current life as long as I don't have reminders of what I'm missing. And I miss my friends and family.

From peter pics

Fun Times

Lots of fun going on here. I'll try to post tomorrow evening after my mom and Peter leave. Nicholas has been in absolute heaven!

Next 2 Weeks

As you can see, from Nicholas' calendar, he has lots of family time in the next 2 weeks.

From 2011 November

We are so excited!

Baseball Drawing

When Nicholas draws/colors he usually just scribbles a bunch of lines, more interested in color than form. Sometimes he tries to draw "baseballs" and "airplanes," each of which he has asked us to draw for him on multiple occasions. And each time he has drawn these I could see that he was trying to mimic what we had done, even if the end result bore little resemblance.

But yesterday morning when I walked into his room and saw that he had drawn this

From 2011 November

my jaw dropped.

That is a baseball!!!! It is really, truly, clearly a drawing of a baseball. He even replicated the seams and stitches!

Good Week

Nicholas and I had a very good week. In fact, the best week we've had in a long time. Not that anything interesting or exciting happened this week, but we just were clicking and connecting really well, enjoying each other and keeping the bickering and stand-offs to a minimum. Hmm, I just realized that from that description we sound like a married couple. Well, I guess that what happens when it's just the two of us.

I think the difference this week is that I left work early almost every day, giving us a bonus half hour in the evenings, which was just enough time to actually play a little each day. In our normal schedule we get home about 5:45, he watches one DVR'd episode on tv while I make dinner, and then we eat, making it usually around 6:45 when we finish. Since 7:00 is bedtime, that means we go straight from dinner to getting ready for bed, sometimes with a bath squeezed in.

Add that to weekends of travel or full of errands and until last weekend Nicholas had forgotten he had any toys other than his animal puzzle, because he really only played at home for a couple hours a week. I know, pathetic.

Anyway, the combination of trying to get home before dark with daylights savings (which failed) and the fact that we are at week 10 of the semester and I was feeling a little burnt out meant that I left work early a couple days in a row. And then we had so much fun that I consciously made the decision to replicate that pattern the other days.

And, yes, it means I have an extra half hour of work to do each evening, but really, does it matter whether I'm doing 2 1/2 hours instead of 2 hours of work after he goes to bed? So I think we will continue to do this whenever possible. Of course this coming week I have advising appointments late each day, but I'll do my best.

Because, really, the flood of smiles and hugs I've been getting from this little boy all week have been amazing!

And I am loving working with him on his alphabet puzzle. By yesterday he recognized enough of the letters that I decided to blow his mind by singing the ABCs slowly while pointing to each letter. And he got it! His eyes were huge as he realized that as I sang, the words matched up with the letters on the puzzle.

Exactly what this tired mommy needed this week.