Asher has these little yellow CAT trucks that move around the house. Sometimes they are in the bath, sometimes in his crib. Sometimes one is MISSING!! The other day I dumped out a bunch of barley and let him go to town. It wasn’t really enough gravel to do his “work-job” so I found lentils, rice and cous cous and threw them all onto the top of a rubbermaid bin. He played with it for 45 minutes. He wanted to learn all the different things that make up the gravel and cous cous was the funniest. “Coocoocoos” After his nap he asked for it again so I set it up. He made roads, he cleaned roads, he made the dump truck dump piles into a bigger pile. He’s played with it almost every day this week.
Novemblaaaaagh is a bit of a stroll down memory lane for me because I look through old drafts and photo files while posting. I had this fun idea where I’d find a random date in November where I took a photo of Asher on the same date each year and post it to see how he’s grown. I found something better.
Amazingly, I have video of him doing the EXACT SAME THING in 2009 and 2010.
I don’t know which is my favorite but man, was he adorable. When I re-watched the video from last year and saw him signing I almost thought about having another baby straight away! (I have since come to my senses) He never signs anymore but once in a blue moon I’ll move my fingers and say “What’s this the sign for…” and he knows it. Every time.
Yesterday was election day so there was no pre-school. Pre-school runs on Public School schedule and Public Schools are closed here, are they closed everywhere? I have no idea about life outside of NYC.
Jackie came in the morning instead of the afternoon and they headed out to the playground shortly after 9. It was a beautiful day, near 70 and sunny.
They came back around 12:15 and Asher was really excited to tell me they “went on the F train and on the R train” and with a little prompting he told me they saw a building with letters. Ok. So I said “What was in the building with letters? Do you know?” and he said “I don’t know, Mommy!” and Jackie had to remind him about the boats.
I still had no idea what they were talking about. We have lots of boats around here. They take the subway to see boats at Brooklyn Bridge Park sometimes and 2 weeks ago they went to Battery Park.
Well it turns out that this was the building with letters:
Staten Island Ferry! Exciting Stuff! Asher told me the boat was flying really fast. He also told me that it was really windy and he had to hold his hat. He saw boats and different boats and a statue with a green crown. And there was a farmer’s market with donuts.
I signed Asher up for Art Class on Friday mornings because I usually have him on Fridays and I like having somewhere to go in the AM. He loved the class we took (twice) last year, and this year we had more options since he is 2+
‘Creature Creations’ worked well with our schedule and sounded fun enough: Each class will begin with the introduction of a different small animal. We’ll examine and observe them, and talk about what we see. Inspired by these creatures, we’ll make 2-D and 3-D works, bringing science and art together.
I am not really sure how I missed this but “the introduction of a different small animal” meant a LIVE ANIMAL. The first class she brought out a newt and 3 of the 6 parents were like “WHA????” So it wasn’t just me.
It is so freakin cool! Asher really loves it. The teacher, Amy, is really just the best at keeping them interested. After the 1st activity we do to get settled she brings out a box and starts to give hints. The class is a mixed 2-4 age group so the older kids are really cute with the guessing. Asher just kind of stands there jumping up and down yelling about opening the box already.
She has this awesome way of incorporating the animal into the artwork. Honestly, she’s some kind of children’s art teacher genius. There should be an award.
This week we started free play with some carpet swatches and rocks (I know, I know)
Then we moved on to the animal. Snails.
You are encouraged to hold the animals while you study them and luckily we always sit by Shaylem.
Asher won’t touch any of the animals. Every week he keeps them trapped under his lens so they can’t slooooowly walk any closer to him. He loves looking at them and talking about them but he had no interest in touching them. Last week we did worms and he kept asking me to move them around for him. No thanks!
We watched the snails creep along the table and leave a slime trail then we made…
drum roll…
Slime trails.
After putting away the snails Amy starts explaining the related artwork and Asher goes running over. We normally sit on the opposite end of the table but since they day we met Amy he has been all up in her business.
Even the way she pours glue is fun.
She explains what we are going to do and goes around to each person to help and interact. On worm day we painted glue onto paper and pressed yarn (worms) onto it. Matthew went the week before that and they learned about fish and then used rubber fish as stamps.
This week we mixed some stuff together in a bowl till it was slimy and then played with it for a while then gooped it onto a piece of board.
The class runs a few more weeks and due to scheduling conflicts we can’t take another for a while. I’m gonna miss it and I bet he is too.
Since we had the Halloween party as sort of a rehearsal Asher was totally into the idea of more Halloween action. I washed his “lion costume” and put it back on him before we went out on Monday afternoon.
Matthew was working in the studio and was able to come home a little early. He and Asher were set on making a jack-o-lantern before we ventured out but after 5 minutes of watching Matthew, Asher decided to make his own face on his already-decorated-at-preschool pumpkin and completely lost interest in the real thing.
“I do my-sayelf”
Around here many people trick-or treat on the main strip of stores. They kind of go all out, some even had tents and tables out front! Some were giving out ACTUAL FOOD. It was totally insane though and not so great for a 2 year old. Think Times Square.
If you want to stick to a quieter place and do some regular old TOTing there are Halloween blocks, and not halloween blocks. We don’t live on a Halloween block so ventured down to one nearby, which happens to be where Caroline from preschool lives. On the way we passed by a bakery, the one we call the Cookie Store and Matthew showed Asher the trick-or-treating ropes. He was pretty shy most of the time because guess what, our usually outgoing lad doesn’t like to talk to strangers on the street. Small favors.
He did eventually warm up because ya know, candy. The funniest thing about it is that he has never ever had candy, and had probably never seen it before this weekend. He DOES know what a lolly is so every time someone came over with a big bowl he rooted around for one. I’m standing there shouting “Pick the orange one!” but no dice. We ended up with 2 measly reeses, 3 random fun size bars, a nasty NASTY hershey’s cookies and creme thing (WHY) and 19 lollipops that were promptly thrown away.
We gave him some chocolate at Caroline’s and the 2 of them sat on her steps quiet as can be lest their good luck turn at a moments notice.
After we finished up on Caroline’s street we were 3 short blocks and 1hr 15 minutes from the parade so we stopped for pizza and wine and warmth. Stubborn lion wouldn’t wear his jacket but don’t let that fool you, it was cold out there!
After dinner we made our way back up to our street to have a quick exit after the parade and it was totally nuts. Think Times Square on NYE.
It was our first time going and it was awesome! They have some big puppets and scary people on roller skates and I would have taken more pics but I was mostly hiding behind Matthew. There are some schools and organizations that march and cops and ambulances and someone built a ghost ship but other than that its just neighborhood people and kids that join the end of the parade. That King Kong is Julian from moms group/preschool who spotted Asher 2 seconds after this pic was taken and called out to us.
So fun! Everything was pretty much wrapped up by 7ish so we walked home candied, fed and entertained.
Asher got some quality time with the jack-o-lantern* and we called it a night. Success!
*No, seriously, he was hugging it and talking to it and made us put it in his room for the night. I think it looks like a Mr-Potato-o-lantern but that’s just me.
Its NOVEMBLAAAAAAGH! The threequal. I have been gearing up to post every day for the past couple of weeks and I’m really excited. Lucky for me (and you) I have a few more weeks before I start work and the posts become a little less…enthusiastic.
For now I have Halloween
Asher was a lion. It took a while for us to come to some sort of costume agreement. I tried to get him to tell me what he wanted but he had no idea what I was talking about. One day he was pretending to be different animals and I said “Hey, maybe for Halloween you can be a lion” and he said “Yeah!” so I got someone to make him a hat and there you go. He had the shirt and pants already so if he decided he didn’t want to dress up it wasn’t a big deal. Jackie was all “ooh! we should make him a tail” but I was all “ooh! maybe next year.”
This past Sunday was our annual Halloween party with the babyfriends. The same family hosted and it was so much fun to see everyone. The second we walked in I noticed that 75% of the kids were in animal costumes.
A bee, a cat, 2 ladybugs, A LION, a butterfly, 2 tigers, another (crappier) lion, a chicken, a owl and a bat. That’s just off the top of my head.
Then of course a few tv friends, a robot, 2 lady pirates and a zombie construction worker. WAITWHAT? Yeah. It was awesome.
Another highlight of our Florida vacation earlier this month was taking Asher to the beach for the 1st time. Its like the 5th time he’s been to Florida, and we technically live 15 minutes from the beach but we’re not “beach people” cause eew with the sand and the heat and the sandy sand sand sand.
He loved it. Of course he did. He was jumping up and down in the sand screaming:
“I LOVE THE BEACH! THANK YOU MOMMY! THANK YOU DADDY! I LOVE THE BEACH!”
I know what you’re saying. ‘For reals, Bar? He is over 2 years old. What took you so long?’ but the idea of putting a baby down in the sand didn’t really appeal to me. Plus if we had taken him earlier, we would never have gotten that enthusiastic of a reaction! So there’s your lesson in rushing things because your child might enjoy themselves. I assume he’ll have a similar freak out when we eventually head to Disney, maybe on his 17th birthday (Disney World is 2 hrs from my parents house)
(We aren’t “Disney people” and I’m not an “amusement park person” or a “big crowd of rednecks person” or a “heat person” or a “spend a ton of money on crap food” person. I’m more of a “lets take a walk around town person” and a “dining al fresco person” and definitely more of a “plenty for kids to do in Paris” person)
He does love a good sandbox though, so we figured we’d tough it out.
This afternoon during Jackie time I organized the freezer because things were falling out every time it opened or please, it wouldn’t be 1st on the list of tasks I need to attend to upon my return. I also did 3 loads of laundry that still needs to be put away. I started going through the bathroom closet and reorganizing it for literally the 5th time since we moved in but it’s not done either. Hoping that this one is the winner…Things are moving sloooowly because I’m easily distracted but its been really nice to have time at home.
I have to pace myself because after being away for so many weeks it’s going to take quite a few afternoons of Jackie time to get things back in order, or at least to a point where I don’t feel behind.
One of the things I miss the most when I’m gone is hanging with my mom friends during the week. Between working (lame) and then traveling (super lame) it can be a few weeks or even months between playdates and its not just me that feels out of the loop. Asher misses his buds too!
I gave myself the rest of last week to just hang out and not worry about what I need to do. Instead of rescheduling that dentist appointment I cancelled because I had a conference call, or working on all the filing I never did while I was traveling or even schlepping between getting things from storage then returning it all to switch our clothes out for the fall I made 3 playdates in 3 days and we had a blast.
Wednesday morning is our standing playdate with Otto. We meet him and his mom Sarah around 9 for coffee and snacks then we head over to music class. When that’s done we walk a block to the farmers market and roam around the park for an hour. We usually get home by 12 for lunch and nap then Jackie comes over for the afternoon. We have been doing this for ages, a year at least, and even when I’m working I try to work around it. I didn’t take any pics this week but I have literally hundreds so here is a random one after a storm this summer:
Thursday morning he has preschool so I did drop off, then organized some of my work files and picked Asher up at noon. In the afternoon we were supposed to take a field trip to the park carousel but it was raining and 2 buddies dropped out for various reasons so we ended up at Eva’s house instead. Her mom works 3 days a week so even if I’m only working part time it could be hard to see them, depending on our schedules. The kids always play really nicely together and even had a full on conversation at one point. The highlight was when her mom Sarah (or “Big Eva” as Asher used to call her) taught him how to use a drill.
(attn family: that toy is now #1 item on his chrismukkah list)
Friday morning we have art class which is better than ever this year, and that afternoon we went to Sydney’s house. Her little sister was born Aug 3 and this is the 1st time I’ve made it the 4 blocks to their house since her arrival. Crazy. Sydney’s friend Penelope came over too and it turned into quite a rager.
Everyone on the baby’s play mat!
SO happy to have a few weeks off work to catch up with friends and housework. Mostly friends.
All of a sudden Asher is all about trains all the time. We have to keep his tracks out, he will only watch Thomas and will only read Thomas books. He probably plays with his trains for 3 hours a day give or take, and talks about them the rest of the time.
A: “Mommy, what your favorite train?”
B: “uh…Emily”
A: “Mommy, what Asher favorite train?”
B: “Thomas!”
A: “What that train name?”
B: “Percy?’
A: “Noooooooooo ‘e not Percy, ‘e Gordon!”
Here he is watching Thomas the other day. While clutching a train with his train books at his side.
Besides his guitar (more on that later) the only non-train related item he will tolerate these days is the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and we read it every night.
His favorite part is this page, and he likes to read it to us himself…sometimes 5 or 6 times in a row. Sometimes 10x in a row. I finally got it on video. I love the way he says “One slice of salami” like “one sli-salami”
“On Saturday, he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon
That night he had a stomach ache.”
― Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
