ICA

Once a month the ICA in Boston has a free day for families. It's now our Thanksgiving tradition to go over the weekend.

Seeing Santa

Santa arrived by fire truck as is the Roslindale yearly tradition. Last year he was flanked by two urban youth. This year, it was a man with a 5 0'clock shadow. Both kids were excited to see Santa but then clammed up with they got on his lap. They looked pretty uncomfortable in the pictures and I think it was a little awkward as neither really answered him when he asked what they wanted for Christmas. The whole notion is new to Angelo, of course, who wouldn't even consider seeing Santa last year. On our walk to the square Angelo told me he was going to ask Santa for "a Christmas," and that he planned on saying please. They were both excited to get candy canes though. Abraham's Christmas request list is pretty simple this year: yellow chuck taylors and tonight he added a pair of black yoga pants to the short list.

As for their outfits. There was an impromtu altering of too small Halloween costumes just as we were leaving. I think Angelo thinks you dress up for all holiday so he got the costumes out. You don't have to ask Abraham twice to dress up so suddenly we had kids wearing animal tops and headbands to see Santa Claus.

Sharing

Abraham and Angelo continue to be great buddies. There's still plenty of normal brotherly ridiculing, teasing and the occasional karate chop to the head but for the most part, they get along great. Today, Angelo had snagged the one remaining pair of spider man fingerless gloves ("biking gloves") and as we were on our way to the Arboretum to bike, both kids wanted them. Abraham tried getting mad at Angelo but then realized that wouldn't work. He then moved on to trying to persuade him and finally settled on a compromise. Each of them would wear one glove. Angelo got so excited by that idea, he threw off one glove and laughed. He exclaimed, "Abey asked for one of my gloves and I was happy to share with him!" If most disputes were that easily settled, life would be very quiet around here.

A visit in Maine

We went up to Topsham Maine to visit Trey and Amanda. We went apple picking and hung out at their awesome new house. The kids got a long famously which is always good. Hazel was good at organizing the activities and the others followed. My kids introduced them to light sabers so there was some Star Wars action too.

The Pool

This year we joined a swimming pool. It provided a nice cool, green escape from the city. We went as much as we could and usually brought dinner. Both kids were swimming on their own by the end of the summer and had lots of fun so the membership was a well-used luxury.

Our last night at the pool ended in a little drama-Abraham fell and busted his lip.

Angelo loves art

Nothing really excites Angelo more than paper and markers. Our dining room table is covered with butcher block paper that he can write on anytime (an unsuccessful attempt at deterring him from decorating the furniture). There are little creations like these all over the house. I can't bare to throw them away. He is so focused when he's drawing too and work on one picture for 15-20 minutes.

Camping

This has been the rainiest summer ever. But that didn't stop us from taking two camping trips. Here we are pre-5 hour drive. Angelo created a persona called "Strawberry Face."

We went way up in Vermont for our early July camping trip with Boston friends but also met up with Amy and Elliott for a night. Thank goodness for good outdoor gear. We all stayed relatively dry. Abraham's description of that trip was: "It rained and then it was sunny and then it rained and then it was sunny and then it rained..." Pretty accurate.

We finished up the trip with friends who live in the Mad River Valley. They have a pool, and trails and it was a wonderful way to end things. On the way out, we took a scenic road that brought us up a hill to a bunch of farms. We watched cows and horses for a long time.

A Late Spring Evening

An early evening game of croquet. It looks civilized. I think there were at least 5 minutes of actually playing before the sticks turned into weapons and were confiscated.

Angelo is 2!

Angelo had two celebrations this year-one for each year of his life. The first was on a trip to San Francisco. He shared a party with Malcolm and they had an enormous giraffe cake. The second party was an impromtu gathering at Same Old Place with a couple of pals. When asked how old he is, Angelo's reply is consistently "five" while holding up 4 fingers.

Riding a two wheeler

Yesterday (Saturday) I discovered that the last time Abraham rode his bike (Monday), I had left it on the sidewalk instead of putting it in the car. The bike was his favorite thing-he could bike for miles on it and was getting very good at balancing. I knew this summer would be the one he started riding a two wheeler. 

Coincidentally, also yesterday, a friend gave us a Huffy Rocket bike she had just found in the trash. This morning we took off the training wheels, lowered the seat and gave it try. Abraham was not used to pedaling-his balance bike is pedal-less. We rode up and down our sidewalk a couple of times, put the bike in the car and went to the playground. We got the bike back out and Abraham was practicing up and down the street at the park. Within about 20 minutes, he was full on riding his bike on a crowded Centre St. in JP. 

We went back out in the afternoon to Forest Hills Cemetery-wide, smooth roads without much traffic and Abraham was off and riding for about an hour and half. I have been in awe of him all day.

Easter 2009

Angelo and Abraham have been sleeping the same room on the same futon mattress (thanks, Geoff and Karen!). This morning they both woke up and were talking. Then I heard whispering and hear Abraham say to Angelo "let's go see if they bunny bought us some good candy." LAst year's whopper eggs were not a hit. Then they started slowly down the stairs without coming into our room. 

Upon seeing the boxed chocolate easter bunny this morning, Abraham exclaimed: "I think that's an esophagus. What's that brown thing in the box?" Of course, he figured out fast what the candy in the plastic eggs all over the house were.

Abraham is displaying here a present from the Easter Bunny (the glasses not the large mouth) and Angelo is displaying a need to bike like his bro. 

Nicest day of the year so far

It was Spring in Boston for a day. We went to Green St. park. The kids played on the playground and then headed to hill to run up and down it and dig holes. 

Wednesday Afternoons

From November until recently I spent Wednesday afternoons working at Abraham's school. Angelo would come with me and we would hang out with the kids for 3 hours. Some dark winter afternoons would drag on but it was nice to be in a cheery space with lots of things for the kids to do. We would brave it outside even on cold days when the playground was covered in snow. Now that the weather is nicer, the kids spend hours out on that playground. Angelo loved being at school and Abraham seemed proud that I was there. It was fun while it lasted but hard work too!

One day at snack time, I put two juice boxes out for my kids. The whole group was sitting around the table. By the time I had gotten out the rest of their snacks, I looked up and Abraham had opened Angelos's juice first and then moved to his own. When Abraham wanted to get my attention on those days, he would call me teacher mommy.

The pig

Abraham is very interested in lots of things. He's very good at asking multiple questions about things I didn't even know you could have questions about. The other night was his introduction to eating ribs-we had leftovers from Lucy's b-day and the Farrells leaving town. I was pulling some of the meat off the bone to give to Abe and Angelo but Abraham requested eating one of the whole ribs. And while eating had some questions-

Q: what kind of meat is this? 

A: Pig

Q: what part of the pig is it from?

A: this part (pointing to my ribs)

Q: is it a leg bone (walking it on the table)

A: no

Q: how did the farmer kill it? did he shoot it?

A: I don't know, they use some kind of device to kill it. I'll look it up. 

Then I was not feeling very hungry so I told Abraham that some people don't eat meat at all. This created another string of questions...

Why don't some people eat meat?

Does anyone we know not eat meat?

Why do we eat meat?

So, two of my cousins don't eat meat but one of cousins does?

From there, the dinner conversation moved to other topics. Abraham decided he didn't want any more pig because it gave him a headache.

An oldie

I just stumbled upon these pictures while going through stuff the other day. They were pre-blog so I thought I would put them up. They were taken right before Angelo was born so Abraham was 2 years and 4 months and having a little tea party/ breakfast.