Happy Christmas

We're caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season here, but I did want to steal a moment and share this Esmé original. It is her own composition, lyrics and all. Enjoy!


And here we are visiting Santa. The request this year? A teddy bear. Oh, and, some toys for Theo. Theo just cracks me up in this photo, little man baby that he is. I swear he looks like he's ready to sell Mr. Kringle some insurance.

Eat Pray Love

It's about time that Theo have his own dedicated post. His sister does get the lion's share of the attention here. And when I last wrote about him, well, it was to vent about his erratic sleep habits. Suffice to say, we're still struggling on that front. I've taken a new attitude, though. Dr. F has been summarily relieved of his services. And instead I'm just going with it. We have good nights and bad nights. And I have good days where I'm able to rise above the sleep deprivation. And not-so-good days when I'm not. But we're managing.

The big news in Theo's world is that he is FINALLY eating. We introduced solids on his 6-month birthday. He was neutral at best about it. And it's been a long, slow process over the course of these two months. I've managed to keep the new foods coming, but it's literally been one tiny spoonful at a time. He'd grimace. He'd shudder. He'd make it clear that this was more my idea than his.

And then one day I broke out the prunes. Mainly because his system appeared to need a little encouragement. And he loved them! Ate the whole bowl. And he's been a relatively happy eater ever since.

So, here's what we're eating: cereal, avocado, peas, pears, kiwi, mango, prunes, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, egg yolk, yogurt and tofu. He seems to like food with texture so I'm just sort of cooking and fork mashing his food as we go. With Esmé I did a lot of advance prep, freezing batches of pureed foods. Our lifestyle, and his slow start, didn't warrant that approach this time around. He's not quite ready for self-feeding yet, but it's on the horizon, I think. And then we'll try O's and those sort of munchies. He does love taking over the spoon.




And I love seeing an empty bowl.

The Butterfly Effect

Halloween almost didn't happen.
On the morning of the occasion Esmé announced that she did not want to go trick-or-treating. This was a surprise. But one thing we've learned, the harder you push the more resistance you get. It's one of those laws, like opposites attract and what goes up must come down. So we tabled the issue and moved on with our day. To be fair, Halloween being on a Sunday ramps the whole celebration up to Chanukah proportions. There was the celebration at school on Friday. Followed by the big village parade. No wonder she had had enough. Even I was sort of done with the whole affair. But at the same time, I hated to think of her missing out on what I consider the best part. Something she'd never forgive me for later (and it's all laid bare here on the blog for her to see, so there'd be no hiding it). And I knew that once she knew what was in store, she'd be so game. But for Esmé the whole trick-or-treating thing was still so theoretical. So we began our day as if it were any other day...

Over breakfast, casually, I mentioned that Sofia would be trick-or-treating later. To which Esmé replied, "I don't want to go trick-or-treating."

As we ran some errands in town, Kristopher wondered out loud if we would have enough candy for all the trick-or-treaters who'd be coming to our house. Nothing from Esmé.

As I mulled over this new development I realized what was at the heart of it for Esmé. To be sure, there was a little Halloween fatigue at work. By being stretched over three days, it was exhausting for us all. But that all notwithstanding, we didn't get off on the best foot Friday. Esmé was reluctant to put her costume on in the first place. And it's something, with hindsight, I suppose I could have anticipated. Esmé wanted to be a butterfly. It was totally her pick. And she wanted Theo to be a caterpillar. Cute, right? We even themed their costumes around The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle for added fun. After failing at my first attempt at wings (damn you Martha), I Modge Podged up a set of wings for Esmé that were perfect. All that she needed were a set of pipe cleaner antennae and a black warm-up suit. Voila!



I see Halloween as a day where you get to check yourself at the door and transform into something else altogether. So, I totally took for granted that my pink-obsessed, skirts-and-dresses-only-please daughter would be totally on board with the butterfly plan. I even prepped her, briefed her and demonstrated to her what exactly she'd be wearing. But, as I said before, this was all still in the theoretical realm for Esmé. Sure thing, Mom. No problemo.

So we had fireworks Friday morning before school. I struggled to get the black pants and top on her. But ultimately I prevailed. It wasn't until Kristopher and I joined Esmé at school for her party that I sort of got it. Most of the little girls were dressed as some sort of winged creature be it a butterfly or fairy. And they were all a symphony of pastels and marabou, tulle and tiaras. And then there was my daughter, in her black warm-up suit and home-made wings. Pipe cleaners bouncing with her every leap and twirl. Though I was proud to have made my little girl's costume. I feared that in doing so I made things a little harder for her.



My mother always made my costumes. And I remember feeling nothing but pride about that fact. At home we'd scoff the store-bought costume as I quite literally transformed into a lion or lizard, King Kong or court jester. I was a frequent winner at costume contests taking home top honors and big prizes like a shiny new Schwinn.

Watching Esmé mingle among her peers at the party, my heart ached for her a little. Her wide wing span bumping this kid here, knocking over that juice box there. I knew I wanted to continue making her costumes. It's a creative act and gesture of love all rolled into one fabulous memory. But I also realized that I am going to need to respect where she is at that moment and how she is defining herself. Make-believe is a big part of her play right now, but it is never an escape from how she sees herself, it is almost always an enhancement of it. So for now it's all about pink. And ballerinas. And skirts. And dresses.

So while Esmé took her afternoon nap on Halloween, I pulled out her fuchsia tutu. I dug out her pink turtleneck and beloved stripy stockings. I insisted she layer for warmth, but I also made sure that all her favorites were on top for everyone to see. And we were all relieved to see her slip on her wings and happily bound out the door to join Sofia for trick-or-treating. It was quite a transformation.

Fall Round-up

Ideally the following post would have been broken into a series of shorter posts, scattered throughout the past few months. But I'm not nearly that organized these days and life has not been terribly accommodating lately. See my last post, for example. So instead, here's a look at all the fun we've been managing on surprisingly little sleep...

In early September, we went apple, pear and raspberry picking. Yes, raspberry picking. We went to Alstede Farm where you can pick just about anything if you time it right. Including gooseberries, who knew?



And after much anticipation (over a year's worth), Esmé finally took that pony ride. And she's hooked. What's next? Maybe camel rides this Fourth of July.


In addition to fruit harvesting and pony rides, there were all sorts of other fun activities, including swimming in a vat of corn kernels.







I made good on a promise and participated in the Lehigh Valley Marathon as a member of the Four Hawks and a Lion relay team. Here we are:



Rather than try to squeeze a regular routine of running into my life, I'm opting for the run the occasional race regimen. This way I get to run with zero preparation and often on little sleep. And in this case, while fighting a cold. I like the idea of maximizing my potential for injury while minimizing the overall benefit of running in the first place. It seems to be working for me. Check out how I leave one of my competitors in the dust. To be fair, he was actually running the full marathon. Not 1/5.


It almost goes without saying that we took a pass on hosting Oktoberfest this year. It was not an easy decision, but both Kristopher and I agreed that we just didn't have it in us. To be sure, we plan to be back in form next year. Meanwhile, we did host a much, much smaller version to celebrate the combined, September birthdays of K and Stephanie. And this gave Theo an opportunity to dress the part, courtesy of his pal Calder.


Also wrapped up into Kristopher's birthday celebration was a fun visit to The Crayola Factory with Tia, Tio and Bini.



And not hosting Oktoberfest does not exclude us from attending Oktoberfest celebrations elsewhere. So when Christy and Eric invited us out to Reading to experience the Reading Liederkranz's Oktoberfest, we were game. Esmé especially loved the music and dancing. And we all enjoyed the food and company, of course.








We managed two trips to the zoo. Once to The Turtleback Zoo. And once to The Bronx Zoo. We're members of both zoos, so this is an easy daytrip for us and one that never disappoints. Because it's fall, both zoos had lots of haystacks scattered about, so we took it as a (photo) opportunity to snag a rare pic of both kids together.





Apple picking- check. Sausages and sauerkraut- check. Zoo- check. Seems like all that's left is pumpkin picking and our fall rituals would be complete. Pop and Sarah took care of that for us this year and we all had a great day together.

Paging Dr. Ferber

Tired doesn't begin to describe the general sentiment here at TLGH. Exhausted would be putting it lightly. And there's only one hopelessly sweet, deliciously adorable little boy to blame. Every few hours, and even sometimes on the hour, Theo is up. And not only is he up. He's wide awake and screaming his little lungs out. Too make matters even more unpleasant, Theo still bunks with us. And while he's still causing such a nightly ruckus we cannot enact our larger plan which is to move him in with his big sister. Naively when I hatched this plan, back when he was just little tadpole sprouting arms and legs and cultivating his major organs, I thought by 6 months we'd have him and Esmé sharing a room. Ha. We're nowhere near that milestone. Meanwhile, three's swiftly becoming a crowd, and I'm getting ready to change the all-you-can eat nursing bar from the 24-hour establishment it's been to something a little more humane for us all. So we've called in the big guns, i.e., Dr. Ferber. Mr. Cry-It-Out himself. Or, as I believe he'd prefer to call it, progressive waiting.

How did we get here? Well, because we live in a little house where even the slightest bit of noise seems to reverberate off every wall and because Theo has a big sister whose sleep is also very important to us all, there's a chance I might have been over-responding to his cries. Maybe. I don't know. Honestly I'm too tired to know where we went from what seemed like a normal nightly routine to this.

And following Dr. F's program while we're all holed up in the same room is thoroughly, horridly unpleasant. But we are making headway (I'm striking every wooden and faux wooden surface in sight as I type this). We've had a few decent nights. And daytime sleep is starting to follow a pattern.

So while we're progressively waiting for our little boy to find his way to a more complete night's sleep, we're still filling our days with as much fun as we can muster under the circumstances.

Firsts

September has been a month of firsts. For Esmé, it's signaled the start of preschool. She's made the transition easily. The hardest part for me is getting her to tell me about what transpires the 3.5 hours she's there. Apparently like Vegas and Fight Club, what happens at preschool stays at preschool. The other day while plying her with question after question ("What did you sing at circle time?" "What did you have for snack?") Esmé finally responded, "I'll tell you about it tomorrow morning, Mommy." OK.

And not everything she tells me is reliable, either. Knowing that they had a guinea pig in the classroom I asked Esmé for his name. After a brief pause she said, "Guinea Pig Takacs." As it turns out, they call him "Oreo."

Not to be outdone by his big sis, Theo had his own milestone this month. We have been slowly (and somewhat surely) introducing him to solid foods. We started with cereal and have moved on to avocado, banana and now sweet potato. He's taking his time with this new activity. Rarely does the mouth open voluntarily. I sort of wait for him to sigh or giggle before sneaking the spoon in. He usually grimaces and pushes most of the food back out. But the diapers don't lie-- something is making it in. Today, day 2 of sweet potatoes, far less was being pushed out which is definite progress.

By George!

So another family vacation has come and gone. This one was spent on the shores of Hadlock Pond in the vicinity of Lake George, NY. The weather proved to be rather rainy and cold for a good part of our stay, unfortunately, but that didn't deter us. And by the last few days we were able to take full advantage of our waterfront location.

So... we hung out on the dock.




And took the canoe for a paddle.



Visited the Saratoga Raceway.















And toasted marshmallows by the firepit.



Among other things, of course. You can view the rest of our many, many photos here.

Three!

Esmé's third birthday was no small celebration. We stuffed over 40 well-wishers into our little grey house and "yard" for a party to end all parties. We were happy so many family and friends could be there. Sarah outdid herself with pig-eriffic cake. And Aunt Stephie worked her sugar-cookie magic for what may be the cutest party favors I've ever seen. Everybody's help, enthusiasm and well wishes were much appreciated.

And our little three-year old is truly something to behold. She can spell her name ("E-S-M and another E!"). She's starting to count quantities. She draws rainbows and ovals and people. She's hard on herself, too, which of course, worries me a little. The other day I pointed out a rainbow in the sky. "Oh," she said with a note of disappointment, "that doesn't look like the rainbow I draw." Recently we told her we were going to a museum. "Is it the Jackson Pollack museum?" she asked. I had to break the news to her that it was just a silly little children's museum. We have Olivia to thank for that. She's already talking about what she'll be able to do once she's four. Sleep in the "up" bed (that is the top bunk of a bunk bed) and play miniature golf. Two things she's witnessed her cousins do recently. Personally I'm in no hurry to get there, though. Three is already proving to be far too much fun.

I scream, You scream

It's been classic summer here at TLGH. From berry picking to amusement park fun, we've been on the go. And as I sorted through the pictures for this post, I realized that there was one common theme: ice cream. Lots of drippy, sticky, ice-cold deliciousness.
A big reason why we've been able to indulge in so much summer fun is because Kristopher has been able to take every Friday in July off. With three-day weekends all month long we've been able to do so much more.

Maplewood does the fourth up big and we were happy the Klopfers decided to join us along with Grandma and Grandpa. In an effort to come full circle, I revisited the 5K-- a bit tough as I haven't had much chance to train, but satisfying just the same. Ethan, Kris and Kevin also ran. We then cooled off at the pool where ice cream was enjoyed by all.













Except Theo, of course.





















Blueberries are a favorite, so we knew we wanted to go blueberry picking. We headed down to the Pine Barrens, to Pemberton where we came home with enough berries to make muffins, ice cream and pancakes with plenty left over to top our cereal and to snack on, too.


For whiling away the afternoon, listening to live music and hanging with pals and neighbors, Maplewoodstock can't be beat. It also happens to be a great venue for sharing frozen treats with friends.




Give me land lots of land and starry skies above... sure thing. But a fence is also kind of nice, especially when you've got a toddler with a penchant for roaming. Kristopher dedicated one of his days to constructing a fence. In record time, I might add. He started mid-day Friday and this photo was taken mid-day Saturday.



We've been wanting to introduce Esmé to Knoebel's, and we were happy that Christy was available to join us. The girl loved her first true amusement park experience. Which was rounded out with a healthy dose of chocolate ice cream, of course.

































We've been wanting to see Nonnie and Pop Pop so Tia Erin was kind enough to host us all for lunch. Esmé loved catching up with the family and was happy to take a moment to bond over a frozen treat with her cousin Rich.