Firsts – The Mothners

Happy Fathers Day!

Today is the one month anniversary of the move to Pelham. The kids were pretty enamored with the ‘new house’ right away and kept asking if they could stay. They love wandering around the yards and going up and down the steps. Julie especially likes looking at all the different color flowers (though she does not understand why she can’t pick them all).

We all love playing baseball and soccer in the yard.

While Mark supervised the movers Friday afternoon, we walked downtown for fro-yo and a stroller nap. The main drag is quaint and small but has some cafes, a movie theater, a yoga studio (with kids yoga classes we’ve taken), and a pretty nice grocery store.

On Father’s Day, for some reason Brittney got to sleep in while Mark took the kids out to breakfast. Then we headed to a vintage baseball game at a nearby historical mansion (just across the Bronx border, so we were technically back in NYC).

Julie was more interested in books and ice cream with Daddy than the game.

I had a lot of fun explaining the rules of baseball to math-lover Max. we all loved the vintage costumes and facial hair (poor guys, it was so sunny and hot)

After the game everyone played Rounders.

Afterward Julie and I checked out the historical mansion. She found the stairs perfect for sitting on. Next year we will be wearing these dresses (and hoping for cooler weather).

Mark said it was a great father’s day, plus he got to spend time in his new basement man cave.

Click here for more photos

March Part 1 – Getting Big

Julie is getting so grown up. She loved the six-week Saturday morning toddler Montessori program at Max’s school. She worked very independently, arranging flowers, stacking, sorting, dancing and making her own snack. Now she gets even more upset when we drop off Max at school and she doesn’t get to go in.

At a Korean festival at the Natural History Museum, Julie liked watching K-pop in her Korean scholar’s hat and making bamboo paper collages.

She loves art class.

She often has strong opinions about what she wears. She chose this outfit with the yellow pants down to the striped socks. She loves scarves but her favorite accessory, indoor or out, is her Michigan hat – it goes with everything (or nothing).

In the photo above she’s holding the hand of a sitter we met at a bus stop after Max did a Sesame Street focus group (and Julie was in Elmo heaven), right away she took the sitter’s hand and said ‘bye-bye mommy.’ She also likes to say ‘go, mommy,’ like when I got on stage with her for a musical theater workshop at an arts festival at a local school. She stayed on stage with the big kids for the whole 30-minute workshop and was quite the star, even though she was selective about which moves she would actually do and got distracted by a hole in her tights (‘ripped,’ she’s trying to tell me).

She loves ‘dancing’ as she often says, esepcially ‘spinning.’ She talks so much already, other favorite phrases are “I’m one,” “going Dora’s house” (as in Dora the explorer), pointing out anything of Max’s (“Max’s shoes, Max’s water, Max’s boo-boo)” and “no sleepies – awake,” often heard around naptime – that’s when we know she’s tired.

Max is also so grown-up and fun to take on adventures. He made Quark dumplings with a famous Austrian chef at the Bryant Park Kids Food Fest. Yum.

He played a Greek kanaun at a Byzantine concert at Lincoln Center.

His writing is coming along (this says ‘Julie and Max’).

He’s starting to make jokes, most of which involve noses and hair, “i.e. let’s eat hair for lunch…(lots of giggles)’. He also likes to say “I see something silly! why…,” in this photo, “Why do I have duck feet?” (and it was pajama day at school, also very silly).

Then he put his hat on one foot, which made him half pirate.

Sitting on a ball, falling off a ball, and making a ‘snowman’ on what might have been our one sunny afternoon.

Click here for more photos

June: Julie’s Firsts & Max’s Talents

As summer winds down – Max’s school starts next Tuesday – we are reminiscing about all the fun we packed in this summer and looking at all the photos we took but were too busy to organize.

Our very strong and independent little girl had lots of first in June. She pushed herself down a slide for the first time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK7kLyYIfI4

She took her first few steps on her own in the ‘Snuffy’ conference room of the Sesame Street office where Max was doing a focus group (i.e. getting paid to play video games, lucky kid).

The site of Julie's first few steps! The Snuffy conference room.

Hanging with Elmo and Cookie Monster.

Her first word – ‘Bubbles.’ So useful in our everyday life.

Our first Zip Car experience – we played in a park and might have looked at houses in Pelham, the first town in Westchester bordering the Bronx. We’ve found one house we really like but Brittney’s still not quite convinced the suburbs are for her (or our adventurous kids). Thanks Bubbe for the adorable summer outfit.

And thanks to Mark’s siblings for these stylish ensembles.

Looking so grown up in Brittney’s sun hat – but still sucking on her toes on occasion.

Our little explorer gets more expressive and social everyday.

Max honored the recital season of June by displaying his emerging talents, such as interpretive dance with balloons from a birthday party (featuring his super short summer haircut)

At a Chinese folk dance concert at Lincoln Center, Max volunteered to go on stage to do a monkey dance. He started crying in the middle of learning it because Brittney couldn’t hear something he was trying to tell her, amusing the audience, but he managed to pull it together and complete his performance like a pro.

Singing a solo in a trial music class.

Every June these decorated pianos ‘pop-up’ around Manhattan. We heard some amazing impromptu concerts everytime we walked by the one at Lincoln Center on the way to Max’s gym. This concert was not so amazing but pretty cute.

Click here for more photos

Boys/Girls Weekend

In June Mark and Max took their first boys-only trip to Florida to visit Mark’s parents. Max loved reading and playing with Grandpa.

Which meant that Brittney and Julie got their first girls weekend! Here the ladies are eating lavender and sage olives, sipping mocktails and listening to a violin/piano concert on the Met’s balcony. A kind woman noted how sophisticated our baby was, then Julie farted and started sucking on her toe.

Max had fun swimming in Bubbe’s pool with Aunt Becky (who he couldn’t get enough of), Poppy and his cousin Ryan.

Swimming all by himself (with a little help from water wings).

Meanwhile Julie and Brittney caught up with lots of girlfriends, listening to music and shopping. We spent the morning dancing to drums in Bryant Park then met up with my friend Rachel at a craft fair at Lincoln Center.

Every girls’ weekend needs a dance party. We found one on the pier. Julie spilled water all over her clothes so she could boogie naked.

Spilled water on her shirt so she could get naked at a dance party on the pier

Apparently hula hoops are the new glow sticks. Julie is skeptical (and tired – we may have been out past bedtime with no Daddy to worry about us).

Back in Florida, Max devoured a blue cupcake at Bubbe’s (PS Mark needs an iPhone).

Back in Florida, a blue cupcake from Bubbe

The girls continued their musical adventures on the dance floor of a jazz age lawn party on Governors Island.

Mark was so sad to miss all the fun costumes (and the dance lessons and subway-bus-ferry ride). If he had been in town we could have had a fabulous vintage picnic like this one. Julie was stuck with some cantaloupe in an un-1920’s take-out container.

Max was a great traveler and we all decided one-on-one parenting is a whole lot easier than two-on-two parenting (or of course one-on-two). His brown bear and Uga stuffed animals have been taking lots of pretend plane trips to Florida since he returned. He is very excited to get on a plane tomorrow to visit Brittney’s family gathering from around the world in Utah (minus Mark but plus Brittney, Julie and Aunt Ashly) where there will be lots of boys and girls to have more adventures with.

Click here for more photos

May (and beyond…)

Someday (maybe when Julie’s in kindergarten?) we will catch up on our blog posts. In the meantime, some highlights of May. It’s so fun to discover what Julie’s favorite activities are. Swinging at the playground is up there.

And clapping and playing with scarves in music class.

Admiring and making out with herself in mirrors.

Sitting on Daddy’s shoulders at an art fair (or anywhere).

Eating bananas all by herself.

Riding on sea horses.

Cruising on benches in adorable outfits from Bubbe while Max plays soccer in Riverside Park.

And maybe her favorite, making messes with Max’s usually off-limit puzzles while he’s at school.

What Julie likes to do while Max is at school

It’s fun to get glimpses of possible futures for our funny kids. This month we explored some possible careers for Max (don’t know if that professional soccer player thing is going to work out from what we’ve seen…). Maybe a baker? He is a great assistant to his mom in the kitchen, cracking eggs, measuring and dumping, and licking the beater.

Scientist? He was very amused by some experiments in a demo science class we tried.

Dancing magician’s assistant? He laughed so much at this show at our gym that he could have been a plant.

Bounce house promoter? He held his own with the bigger kids.

Face paint model?

Mock dental patient? He was so excited about his first cleaning and talked about it for weeks after.

Max's first cleaning at the dentist - he loved it and talked about it for weeks

Or maybe a one-shoed Irish dancer? He was eager to dance at an Irish festival, just only not with his mom.

Pinata breaker? (PS he did not break the piñata, nor did any of the kids).

Alphabet reenactor? (this is the letter I)

Fashion designer who creates from household objects like so-hygienic bathroom rugs?

Butterfly catcher? We had fun in the butterfly garden at the Natural History Museum.

Max’s resume is almost as complicated as his mom’s. Brittney revisited one of her favorite career adventures and choreographed a piece for Max’s preschool 1920s themed benefit.

Directing and choreographing are hard to balance with young kids, so Brittney’s been working on more flexible endeavors like her website Kid On The Town. She’s been revisiting her programming past to make the site more database-driven and is working on a searchable summer music calendar. Watch its progress if you want to know how the kids are napping these days (currently Julie will sleep in her crib after about a minute of hysterical sleeping, Max likes to fall asleep in the stroller but not in his bed).

Click here for more photos