Snuggle time

My two sweet snuggle-muffins.

What Can I Say?

No one in our family wakes up well.

Success!

It's an odd and ephemeral thing, success; it's hard to calculate, sometimes hard to grasp.  Parenting can, I admit, make it seem like a pipe dream, even with such fabulous and brilliant children.  It makes me feel, sometimes, rather like Asa, when he grasps one of the enormous oak trees in the park and declares, "I'm gonna climb this tree!"  It's tough going, and those upper branches look dizzyingly far away.

Fortunately, my child is far wiser than I: he put his foot on an outcropping of root, pulled himself up those seven or so inches, and shouted out, "I did it!  I climbed the tree!"

And so he did. 

Saratoga Children's Museum

The last time we visited Nonni and Poppy, we took the boys to a nearby Children's Museum.  Nonni ended up not feeling well enough to join us... perhaps she was lucky, because we went, in all innocence, on Dr. Seuss' birthday, and the place was mobbed.

Still, it was a cool museum and we had a good time...


...as one will, when there are fire trucks with gear...


... and pretend power tools with real safety goggles.  Although Mommy and I were a little weirded out by Asa's reluctance to be parted from the fake chain saw.




In all, though, I do tend to agree with Poppy's suggestion that Children's Museums would have no funding issues if they would just put a wine bar in the corner.  Smart man, that Poppy.

Even Asleep...

We lucked out in so many ways.  Two sweet boys, two easy babies, two bright lights.  Elias gazes raptly at his big brother whenever they're in the same room, and Asa asks to hold and snuggle and kiss his brother with increasing regularity.  Even during naptime (exceptionally, in our bed), they like to be together.

Walk Softly

Subtitle: I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay.

Bathtime

Look at the chubby boy!  

Okay, yes, very overexposed - it's hard to remember to check the camera settings when photographing a baby in the tub.

Hard to believe he's three months old already.  Where does the time go?

Someone's mess is another person's...

No, seriously: if you walked into our living room and saw this (as you might, on just about any given day), what would you think?

Yeah.  That's what we thought, too.

But:

"It's my place, my hiding place where I can hide."

He's growing up, and his world is expanding and blossoming almost as fast as his vocabulary.

Boy in Sunshine

He's so earnest, it's irresistible, even when I really don't have enough light for the photos I take.

Spring Training

Thank you, Auntie Becke and Uncle Paul!

But what, you may ask (a few of you, anyway) does a green shirt have to do with the Sox?

Everything.

Elias is Sox-garbed from shoulders to toes.

GO SOX!

The Day, I Just Realized, that I've been Waiting For

The living room reading club.  After his nap, which was early and rather too short, Asa toddled out into the living room to find me in the middle of a chapter.  So I got up, got him a few books, and suggested we read quietly on the couch.  Which is what we were doing when M. took our picture.

Oh please let this become a habit.

It finally snowed!

Not at home - at least, not much.  But at Nonni and Poppy's house, there was tons of heavy, wet snow, perfect for packing.

The artist at work...

And then inside, where Nonni had cocoa waiting!

The next day, it was time for more snow sculpting, although the labor was divided: construction by the parents, destruction by the toddler.

And we discovered that heavy, wet snow is not ideal for sledding.  Worth a try.

It was much more fun to go for a pull...

although that, too, had its downfalls...

 And then helpful boy decided to shovel with Poppy.

Such a strong boy, to lift shovel-fuls of snowy slush.

Now he's napping, which is a surprise to no one...

Swim class!

The nice thing about M.'s maternity leave is that we can all go to Asa's swim class as a family, and I can be the photographer!  Or, in this case, videographer.  (Turn down the volume: recorded in an echo-chamber of an indoor pool.)





And although I love being in the water with him, it's pretty great to be able to capture this much joy: