exploring Portland's children's scene

We have been very busy exploring some of the amusements that Portland has to offer children, and are so far very happy with what we've found. There are lots of fun things to do and see inside during this winter.  Plus, from a New Yorker's perspective, everything is practically deserted. :)

We have been to the Portland Children's Museum twice, the Oregon Zoo twice, OMSI - the science museum, the new train museum, the Hillside community center's indoor park, the Chinese Garden, and an indoor playspace with giant ladders and multiple tunnels and slides called PlaydatePDX.  And we have gone for joyrides on the Max train and streetcar, because we can, and it makes Seb happy.  And to the library, of course - my Multnomah county library card was the first Portland ID I received. :)

Still to come: ice skating, roller skating, swimming, other indoor playspaces, the children's theatre, storytelling....

These pictures are from our first visit to the Children's Museum, with my mom:

On our second visit, we spent most of our time at the special exhibit on Chagall. They had some amazing interactive exhibits, and the kids loved painting. Especially Liesl:

Steve and Seb got haircuts at the barber shop, and Liesl was so jealous and insistent that we had to pretend to cut hers as well. Big tip to the very kind lady who combed Liesl's hair and pretended to cut it.

At the Zoo, which has a new baby elephant. (Not pictured here. :)  )

Our second visit to the Zoo was today. We spent a long time watching Lucy, the baby elephant, and then visited the lions. After that, we were freezing, so we went into the aviary and saw some beautifully bright tropical birds.

At the Chinese Garden in old Chinatown, with a short visit to Voodoo doughnuts beforehand:

week one as a housewife....

The kids and I went out and about every day, and I did a whole lot of cooking and baking. Butternut squash soup, Grammy's hermits, apple-oatmeal muffins, pecan granola, chickpeas from scratch, and innumerable vegetable dishes from our farmer's market haul. Yum.

snow day!

We woke up this morning to find beautiful, fat snowflakes falling all around us. It only stayed around for a few hours - a light dusting - but we went out and played in it anyway. We made tracks and followed each other around, wiped clean all surfaces, and built a tiny snowman. And then the children piled into the red wagon and we went down the hill to our local Starbucks and Pizzicato for  a lunch of hot chocolate and pizza.

exploring the trails and playgrounds

Despite the winter weather, we have been out walking and hiking nearly every day. Sebastian has been a real trouper, going out and walking for pretty long distances without a fuss.  We especially like playing hide and seek - one person runs ahead and hides behind a tree trunk or in a clump of bushes, and the others have to find them.  Both Seb and Liesl love the game, although I admit it gives me a bit of anxiety when they disappear from my sight around a curve in an unfamiliar forest.  We also count all of the steps up and down whenever the trails have stairs, and compete to see who counts the most.  One of our loops is the 101-stair loop, which is short and steep. I love seeing Seb and Liesl run and play in these forests - Seb crows over the moss-covered trees and loves all of the creeks and streams and bridges, and has stopped (unprompted) to admire some enormous redwood trees.

These pictures are all on the trails in our neighborhood, Forest Heights.  We christened this particular one the Bompy loop, since we first explored it with Grandpa Avery.

These next pictures are in Forest Park, on the Lower Macleay Park trail.

And finally, at our local duck pond and playground:

the Nuk fairy

As if leaving our home and moving into a new one, and leaving her daycare and friends, and leaving Grandma and Grandpa Raab, wasn't enough, we decided to take away Liesl's precious pacifier, the Nuk. She was getting into bad habits - like waking me up in the middle of the night to find it for her. And it was starting to push out her upper two teeth. So we took a deep breath, prepared for some sleeplessness, and hatched a plan.

We told Liesl she was a really big girl, and the Nuk fairy was going to come and take away all of her Nuks, but that the fairy would leave her a really good, really big present.  She seemed excited about the prospect of the present, and about the idea of a fairy.  (It was probably a good thing to schedule this right after Christmas, as she had the idea of unseen beings bringing presents fresh in her mind.)  We put all of her Nuks in a bowl by the window, and she went to sleep for a nap. When she woke up, the Nuks were gone and a giant stuffed dog was in their place.  She was amazed and happy.

So far, so good. It's been about a week and she hasn't even really asked for the Nuks - she seems to get that the fairy took them all away. She's even sleeping through the night without waking up and asking for it. The only problem is that whereas she used to happily run into her room for naptime and fall asleep immediately, she now insists that she isn't tired and doesn't want to nap or sleep at nighttime. She delays, she stalls, she makes up excuses, and it takes her an hour. We have had to hold her hand or pet her head to help her. And she's waking up really early in the mornings and finding it tough to fall back asleep - which in combination with the difficulties falling asleep means that she's been really overtired and a bit cranky (i.e. willful).  But all in all, a success.

Next up: potty training!

out of the mouths of babes....

Seb, on our 3rd day in Oregon: "Why would we move to place where it rains all the time?"

Of course, it hasn't actually rained all the time. We had a really sunny week last week - crisp and cold. This week it's cloudy again, but on the upside, it's 50 degrees. We can go out in that. :)

Christmas, parts 2 and 3 and 4

New umbrellas from cousin Danica!  We love them!!

Cool Christmas ornaments from cousin Roxy! Thank you!

And new pajamas, with Madeline! And a crazy cool car tshirt! Thanks Carl and Kim!

OOOOH. A baby doll stroller from Grandma!  She LOVES it. Loves. Loves. Thank you!

Two remote control cars! thanks Mary and Joe! We have been crashing into everything with them!

And what's this???

A Giants tshirt!!! Haha! Steve is horrified. Thanks uncle Joe!

The remote control car and the new baby - two favorites. They both came grocery shopping with us. Nice job, aunt Mary.