Spiderman and the shark

Abraham and Romeo

Three kids on cars

It appears Angelo may drive before he crawls or walks! Also, please note Abraham's outfit. The lion shirt has been a staple for Abraham this week and he was devastated this morning to learn the shirt was in the wash. He's also discovered a new found love for the pom pom hat made by Bubbe. Lucy looks Abraham and Angelo's giant sister.

Urban Easter

Well, there was fun to be had by all at Roslindale Square's annual Easter Egg Hunt. This year was better for our family because we didn't miss the hunt and tramautize Abraham by my getting into a fight with the cupcake baker at Diane's bakery.

This "hunt" involves hundreds of eggs lying in the open in a teeny tiny space that passes for grass in our lovely square. Not a single egg was actually hidden. And once the "hunt" actually started, it was over in about 5 seconds. Still, Aaron and Abraham ventured to the younger kids area. We had been trying to drill into Abraham's head how it all works-you see, you try and take all the eggs you can as quickly as you can and put the all in your basket. You can't eat all or barely any of the candy in the eggs, but still, it's important to take and horde. The candy in the actual eggs was a disappointment--really hard taffy and some giant jelly bean that Abraham didn't even like. One kid we know got two eggs-both were empty. Poor guy.

And then there was the Eater Bunny from Donnie Darko there to to terrify any rational kid. Abraham didn't shriek with fear as some did but thinking back on it that afternoon, he said, " I didn't really like that Easter Bunny." Abraham, was however, a little afraid of Mayor Menino, and refused to shake his hand, leaving me to do it.



After the event we all headed to Emack and Bolios for refreshments--and to warm up as we had been standing out in 30 degree weather all morning.

Here are the little bros.














Here is part of the Farrell Family

Birds

Posted by kbarrali on March 20, 2008

Who's the new guy?

The kids in the pink snowsuits are different--photo on the left is October 2007 and on the right, March 08.

Angelo’s new expression

Posted by kbarrali on March 20, 2008

Angelo is very expressive these days. Making lots of sounds that actually sound like he’s trying hard to say words rather than babbling. He waves, claps and opens and closes his hands a lot. His newest thing is to turn his hands up as if to ask a question. And he loves looking at the family pictures going up the steps. He makes you stop at each one and he smiles and laughs and reaches for them. He says, da da when he sees the one of Aaron.

Dad Day

He lets Abraham wear whatever he wants.

Just a regular Monday

Part. 1. The Aquarium:We headed out early to the Aquarium with Joelle, Sammy and Zachary. Everyone was in pretty good spirits. On the bus, Sammy asked a strange man, “What does my mouth look like?” He didn’t know how to answer. The whole point of going to the Aquarium in Abraham’s mind is to see the scuba divers. Luckily we saw them right away and they waved to us. That’s a bonus. Angelo was intrigued by the fish and tried squirming out of my arms at the top of the tank. He wanted in. I managed to get out of there only having to buy a softserve icecream–of which Angelo was even demanding bites–even though Abraham headed into the gift shop and asked me if I had any money. Sammy had a different approach to getting a souvenir and walked right out the door with a pink stuffed dolphin. Abraham was considering doing the same when he saw Sammy’s mom return the dolphin to the shop.Part 2. Making Villages:We came home and set up a village with the castle and the farm. We then moved on to building a pirate ship, which Abraham called a “recipe for disaster.” I thought I heard him wrong, “excuse me?” Yes, that’s what he said. Of course the ship was made out of a stack of books. The same books I had just put away after Angelo had taken each one out of the book case.Angelo spent the afternoon thoroughly examining each article of a toy box we hadn’t gotten out for a while and generally seeming pretty content for a kid who had slept only 30 minutes.Part 3. Dinner with Sharon, Romeo and Enzo:Most Monday nights Sharon, Enzo and Romeo come over for dinner. Romeo and Abraham play very well together once they have had at least 4 heated exchanges involving one person committing a wrong doing and the other demanding an apology. Often loudly They are getting pretty good at settling things though.It goes something like this:Abraham holds his arms straight out in front of him at Romeo. Romeo sees this as the aggressive action it is and swats Abraham’s hand. Abraham demands an apology from Romeo. Reluctantly, Romeo apologizes. Abraham says thank you. Then a few minutes later Abraham apologizes to Romeo too “f0r being mean.”(An aside) Abraham has been apologizing in a way that seems so earnest it makes me a little sad. “Sorry for not listening to you mom.” But I am getting the opportunity to hear some of my words repeated to me. When Abraham was having a hard time explaining to me which sweatshirt he wanted to wear and I had gone up and down the stairs three times retrieving various items, he said, “Why are you being so difficult?!”

Dinner time:


Enzo spends his time alternately following the older boys, occupying himself with toys, chasing the cats and hugging and kissing Angelo. Angelo watches it all from the safety of my lap.

Post dinner mayhem:

Ken

We bought Abraham a Ken doll at Boomerangs this weekend. We did this because right when we walked in the store, he attached himself to a pair of hockey shoulder pads that he wore all around the store-of course they were way too big and made it hard for him to walk. But he was alternately calling them his hockey equipment and his space-off suit. Because I didn’t want to go home with someone’s stinky used hockey pads, I distracted him with Ken. He was psyched and named his new “guy” “Abraham.” I asked him if he knew what kind of doll “Abraham” was and he told me, “a brown guy.” More like orange. “Abraham” is wearing a white tuxedo shirt (which is actually a halter top and pants suit put together), purple sparkley jacket and white shoes. When Abraham stripped “Abraham” down he discovered that “Abraham” did not have the necessary parts to make him a boy. The absence of them, of course, makes “Abraham” a girl. And, the real Abe added, “She’s wearing lipstick.” I tried explaining they don’t make dolls anatomically correct but that he was still a boy. That did not convince him. He’s since come around to accepting Ken for who he is. A male doll without the right parts. This afternoon he told me it was ok for boys to wear lipstick. Yea, I guess so. If they want to.

Winter is the new Summer-Winter

Abraham is into re-naming things these days. His Adidas used to be his “Posey Shoes” after his cousin who gave them to him and recently he asked if they could be called is sneakers now. For some reason I bought him some tick tacks at CVS yesterday. He has a mild obsession with cough drops and has been working on an angle for a while now to get us to give him one, but today he asked “can my ticktacks be cough drops?” Sure. This afternoon Abraham ran upstairs for a costume change. He came down wearing some camouflage shorts and announced that it was summer now and warm outside. To prove his point, he went out to the backyard. Nope. He came in and told me it actually wasn’t summer. I told him, I know, it’s still winter. He asked if we could just call it summer winter. And just like that, we have a new season.

Pajamas and Hats

Some recent pieces

Posted by kbarrali on March 11, 2008

Bear.Abraham decorated this bear at preschool. Aaron tried to throw it away but Abraham saw it in the trash and retrieved it. Now it ends up in various places around our house.

Mask.Pillows.This is actually a spaceship, nest, house, etc. This is more of an interactive piece of art. The object is to get every single pillow from the house and place in one place.

Spaceship

The object of this piece is to get every single pillow from the house and put it in one place.

Bear

Abraham decorated this bear at preschool. Aaron tried to throw it away but Abraham saw it in the trash and retrieved it. Now it ends up in various places around our house.

Sleeping

Putting the two kids down when Aaron is out is always a crap shoot. They both end up sleeping but how and when is never the same. Abraham was in the process of negotiating with me about what he was going to sleep in, insisting that it is comfortable for him to sleep in his jeans and shoes when Angelo coughed himself awake. I went into his room and Abraham followed me. He was trying to stay awake for me to get Angelo back down and then read him a story but he didn’t make it. I tried to wake him up to no avail. Once he’s out, he’s out.

New Fridge

The finished kitchen–hand prints and all.

Thinking 'bout Grand mom mom

We had a visit from Grandmom mom this weekend. Sunday after she left, Abraham and I were on the way to the grocery store. He was actually being quiet so I asked him what he was thinking about. “I’m thinking about Grandmom mom,” he told me.

Here is Angelo giving his trademark hug and kiss.

\

Mask

Angelo is 10 months old today!

Angelo (Angeloey, Ango-Banjo, Ang) is a full participatory member of the family. Here’s a little update on what he’s been up to on his 10 month birthday:

He’s adorable (as you can see). He seems to be happy most of the time. Some of his favorite activities these days are:

1) Standing. He likes to stand-holding on the couch, your hands, a chair, anything.

2.) Roling. He moves around the room using the scoot and roll method. I leave the room and return to find him pinned under furniture.

3.) Playing. This guy has an unbelievable attention span and can focus on an activity longer than I can. He loves books-but he likes to flip the pages himself. A book can occupy him for 30 minutes.

4.) Eating. He LOVES to eat-vegetables, fruit, anything. He will sit in his highchair and consume in one sitting more healthy food than Abraham eats in a week. He has not met a food he does not like.

5.) Communicating. Angelo is like a proto-type of a baby. He cries, you give him what he wants, he smiles. He never cries more than is necessary. He wakes up in the night by calling out and stopping and waiting. Then when Aaron or I walk in the room, he laughs and kicks his feet as if to say, “thanks, this is what I was asking for.”

6.) Screaming. He’s also starting to realize that volume is important in our family. So, he’s adopted the scream as a way to get attention (usually requested from Abraham and almost aways in the car).

Angelo: AHHH HA HA : (continues until Abraham looks at him)

Abraham: Ha Ha. Hi Ang. Look at brother!

Angelo: Laughs

Abraham: AHHHH HA HAHAHHHAAH. Laughs

Angelo: HAHAHA. Laughs more.

He actually tried using this method to get some man’s attention on the train yesterday. He would quietly yell and try and swat at the man to wave, the man wouldn’t look, he would try it again. Finally the man looked at him and Angelo gave him a huge smile. He then did the same thing to the woman on the on other side of us. You have to be careful who you sit next to on the train.

In addition to this form of verbal communication, Angelo is making real attempts to make different sounds. He says things like ma ma -when he wants something or me. And da da-sometimes to Aaron but not necessarily. The past few mornings, as soon as he opens his eyes, he’s been working on a word that sounds sort of Russian or Eastern European and then throws in a couple of yodels ( a noise made by moving the tongue in and out of the mouth).

7.) Cat watching. Angelo is the only member of the family that really loves Orangey and Blackie these days. His whole face lights up with he sees them. And they are so desperate for attention, they let him pet him and pull their tails.

8.) Clapping and waving.

St. Simons

A couple of weeks ago we went to visit my parents in St. Simons. It was heavenly just to not have to wear hats and coats and snowsuits. Abe and Ang loved seeing their grandparents and aunts.

The flight alone with them both was not as horrible as I had imagined–thanks to a DVD player loaned to us by friends. The kids are good little travelers and were in great spirits the whole time.

Here they are hanging out at the airport. Abraham is of course watching CNN on the airport TV.

We rented bikes and the trailer was pretty successful. I envision some toy tug of wars if we use a trailer this summer though. Angelo is more and more interested in what Abraham has and less and less interested in the crummy trades offered by big bro too. And of course, Abraham has a sudden interest in the plush ball rattle or whatever toy Angelo has that Abe either never had interest in or hasn’t in years. On this particular trailer ride, Angelo really wanted to get his hands on Abraham’s new book about whales. Abe was fending Angelo’s reaches off successfully until he fell asleep on our way home from the beach. When we got to my parent’s I look back at Abraham hunched over asleep and Angelo with the whale book in his hand looking triumphant.

Abraham enjoyed taking walks with Bubbe and Grandpa and learned to identify ospreys and sparrows. It doesn’t take much to entertain kids though. Abraham’s most favorite activity was climbing the ladder to the attic with grandpa. They both loved the beach-Abraham was the only one on the beach who actually went in the water (naked). He’s been roaring a lot so he, while naked, roared at a group of senior citizens on the beach. I was about to apologize but then the whole group roared back-taking us both by surprise.

Angelo, pretty much happy everywhere, all the time loved the beach and the sand…especially the way it tasted! And while he’s not technically crawling, he did manage to get himself to the end of the blanket to investigate the sand.

I have posted a couple of photos but here’s the link to a bunch from January/February.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kbarrali/JanuaryFebruary2008