Friday morning at the bagel cafe

Kindergarten registration

Sitting in the lobby of the Dows Lane elementary school, registering Seb for kindergarten. Eek! How did that happen? I'm the mother of a school-aged child?!

Compared to many of our friends and colleagues, we are incredibly fortunate to be able to rely on excellent local public schools. There's only one elementary, and it's great, and we just have to show up and give them Sebs name and information.

Valentine's Day

I was spoiled by 3 generations of Raab men. A chocolate box from my father-in-law, a sweet card and chocolate treats from my husband, and a magnet heart saying I love you from my son.

Liesl at 15 months

A visit to the pediatrician today, to have a 15-month checkup for Liesl. She is 31 inches tall (75th percentile) and weighs 20 lbs, 5 oz (15th percentile). All looks good.

Saturday morning

A good, happy Saturday here. I played frisbee for an hour this morning, we played outside with the kids for an hour or more, good naps for the children and me, and in the evening we managed a Chinese dinner at Aberdeen in White Plains. Peking duck, tofu and shrimp, pork and veggies. Yum. Gong xi fa cai!

New Year's resolutions

It's been a number of years since I regularly made New Year's resolutions. I remember thinking quite clearly and seriously about it when I was a teenager, and making lists of virtuous resolutions that I was completely unable to live up to (be nicer to my parents; eat less chocolate). In my adult life, although there are obviously still personal faults and daily shortcomings I'd like to address, I have been less likely to imagine myself embarking on a grand plan of self-improvement on January 1st of each year.

But I had a wonderful conversation with one of my advisees a couple of weeks ago - we were talking about winter break and the new term, and his awesome plans for the summer ahead (Bike & Build, a charity organization), and he asked me what my New Year's resolutions were. I laughed and said I hadn't made any. But then I had a flash, and just like that, without conscious prior thought, I had a resolution that I really felt strongly about.

If I were to make a resolution for 2012, it would be to find the time to reclaim one more thing for myself, just for myself. In my experience, you give up a lot when you have young children - your free time, your sleep, your hobbies, regular exercise, nights out with your spouse or friends. I've managed to take back an hour on Saturday mornings for my regular frisbee game, and it is truly my favorite hour of the week. I get to be child-like again, to run around, to laugh with friends, to focus on myself and doing something I love. I always return home rejuvenated, happy, and ready to see and rejoice in my family.

So what are some other things I would like to reclaim? Here's a list of the ideas that I was able to come up with immediately, while in conversation with my advisee: cooking from recipes and baking; photography - of places and things and not just children; running and biking; rock climbing; learning how to create and throw pottery; attending NYCB and ABT ballet performances.  Obviously not all of these things can happen, but I'd like to find time for one or more of them in 2012. I think it's time.

Unseasonably warm wednesday

 

Walking on a log

 Look at me! I'm walking on the log like mama and Sebastian!

 Uh-oh.

Crash. Oof. (Bad mama, continuing to photograph a tipping baby.)

tough week

It's been a tough week for our girl's health. She's had a persistent cough since we returned from San Diego and a horribly runny nose. She's thrown up twice (we think triggered by the nasal drip, and not by a virus or food, but who knows). I took her to the doctor on Wednesday to check out her cough and rule out bronchitis, and while she didn't have bronchitis she did have an ear infection. We picked up some amoxicilin to treat it, which triggered diarrhea, which gave her a bum rash. And then this morning after the amoxicilin dosage she broke out in hives.  Sigh.  So now we've given her Benadryl for the hives and an alternate antibiotic for the ear infection, and we're just hoping that nothing else goes wrong. Poor thing.

cartoon baby

Liesl continues to grow and change with extraordinary rapidity. She is clearly relishing her newfound ability to let us know exactly what she does and doesn't want with regard to food, activities, sleep, and clothing. She can shake her head no with gusto, say mama and more, point to her mouth for hungry and her chest for help, and point out objects of interest with her imperious little finger. She gets a lot of mileage out of those few skills. When crossed, she throws herself to the ground, screams and cries, and kicks her legs and pounds her arms on the floor. She's like a cartoon character throwing a tantrum.

I had a meeting with her daycare teacher yesterday just to check in and talk about how Liesl is doing. In general, she's just really happy. She loves other children and adults and will regularly make the rounds hugging all of the teachers. She sleeps well. She eats lots of fruits, veggies, rice, and pasta, but doesn't like most meat. Kelly described her as the easiest and calmest of babies, calling her "my little zen baby". Zen! Calm! I think it's fair to say she neither inherited nor learned that from me. But Kelly said that for the most part nothing really frightens, upsets, or bothers her. (obviously she's not nearly as zen at home, but that's to be expected).

She continues to astonish us with her physical confidence and willingness to try any maneuver and climb any obstacle. She saw Steve doing pushups and immediately got down on the floor and tried to copy him. She has tried to stand on her head, like Sebastian. She jumps. She can stand on one leg and do leg lifts. She likes to feed herself and brush her own teeth, she tries to comb her hair and put on her own shoes.  Her latest trick involves pushing the high chair over to the window and then climbing first up onto the seat and then from there up onto the window sill. It's so fun, and worrisome, to watch her.