Blizzard 2011

So as you may have heard, we got some snow.

It was really quite impressive

I like the sticky snow because it makes everything look so pretty

I'd say we got a total of about 15 inches.

Which is about 12 inches too many for a toddler to really manage. Noah was pretty much confined to the shoveled walks.

This was fine with me, because I didn't have to worry about him running into the street for a change. He'd have to scale a 3 foot snowbank to make it out there.

We recycled his sand pail and shovel for the occasion

I think he may be ready for a bigger shovel.

Happily, the storm hit while Grammy Sue was visiting.

In addition to an excellent toddler wrangler, Grammy Sue is an expert shoveler.

But she didn't have to do all of the work by herself

Now if only I could learn to back our car into our (very narrow) driveway in such a way that you can access the doors on BOTH sides, we will be all set!

House update

So as you may recall, we recently bought a house. It is a little amazing that we have been so busy with everything that new home ownership has not been our only focus. But just to bring you up to speed, here's the story.

Our house is a brick ranch, built in 1981.

Also as best we can tell, last updated in 1981.

It's in a great location in a nice town (a suburb of Boston with excellent schools). Chad can take the subway to work and Noah can play in our new big back yard. When it isn't snowing, that is.

The problem was, the entire house was decorated by an elderly italian couple in 1981. There were some issues with the carpet choices. And the window treatments.

(living room)

You know you are in trouble when the 30 year old wallpaper is the least offensive decorating choice.

(baby's room)

(main hall)

So because we enjoy a challenge, the week between our closing and Christmas we had a fleet of workers in to strip & paint the walls, and install hardwood floors. We think it looks awesome.

(main hall)

(living room)

(baby's room)

The baby's room is still a little sparse since we don't actually have much baby stuff. We are counting on the baby to not notice her room isn't properly decorated due the fact that when we first bring her home she will barely be able to see. Also I am still optimistic by the time we bring her home we might actually have a changing table in there.

Noah's room is nicely set up and ready to go.

Also, gigantic. He lives in a toddler palace now!

Overall, we are very happy. We will be even happier once the kitchen sink plumbing issue of mystery is resolved, but you can't get everything you want all at once, right?

Birthday letter for Noah

Dear Noah

I've been telling people that you are two (or "almost two") for a while now, so you might think I am used to the idea. You might think that I would have gotten used to the fact that each day you are less baby curls and cuddling and more big boy energy and imagination. You sing songs that you've been taught and you make up your own songs. You can get most of the way through the alphabet song and identify basically all of the letters. You count to 14 on a regular basis, to yourself, for fun. You tear about our house jumping up and down and playing air guitar. Your favorite game is to order Daddy or Mommy to run away so you can chase us, or order us to chase you so you can run away. You have opinions about what to eat and what to wear and the negotiations we have to conduct to get you into the bath or out of the house are becoming increasingly more complex. You roll your eyes at me when I suggest doing something boring (let's read this book!) instead of what you want to do ("Noah watch [curious] George TV?").

The eye rolling I could live without, kid.

You totally understand what is going on in our daily lives "Daddy go work. Take train." "Dinner time! Noah have it chicken nuggets." "Hi Max!! Where Entropy? Max, go over there!"

(for the record, Max rarely tells where Entropy is and never goes where you asks her to).

We have asked a lot of you this year. I quit my job and we took you out of the day care you were used to. We put away a lot of your toys and interrupted our routine many evenings and weekends so strangers could walk through our house. We dragged you to Boston to look for a new place to live.

You responded by being generally delightful. By sleeping well in the Thoughtbot apartment. By having generally great behavior while eating out. By learning the motions to "Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes" and the Itsy bitsy spider.

We packed up our house, left all of your friends and the places you were used to, and moved to Boston. You responded with an explosion in language and started telling us what you saw.

We were amazed at your improved coordination and dexterity

and a total laid-backness about the fact that we were living (and asking you to sleep) somewhere different. You started asking to use the potty and we were crazy enough to encourage it.

A blink and a half later you were in a new school and mommy was sick and pregnant. You charmed everyone and started coming home with even more words and skills. You learned how to manage the playground and go up and down the slide by yourself. You learned how to jump. You continued to eat your vegetables.

You started to put two words together. You started to "read" books and build things with legos by yourself.

By the time the fall rolled around you were regularly using short sentences and we could have actual conversations (albeit, sometimes crazy ones). We took a leap of faith and in anticipation of the new baby put you in a big boy bed. You responded by sleeping great. A few weeks later we had most of our family over for Thanksgiving. You responded to the craziness by charming each of your many grandparents in turn.

And then, after all of this craziness, amidst the craziness of the holidays, we uprooted our family again and moved to a new house of our very own.

You clearly understood the process. You knew why the movers where there, why our things were in boxes. You understood why our old house was empty the next day. You adopted your new room without hesitation. You have continued to astonish me with your cognizance and ability to handle everything we have thrown at you.

Noah, you have been just amazing this year. I cannot believe how much you have grown. When we arrived in Boston eight months ago you seemed so big and capable. When I look back on that time I am astonished at how young you were then.

I am amazed by how much more mature and more able you are today.

You are a bouncy kid, with endless energy and a quickly-developing sense of humor. You say things that are clearly intended to be funny. You run around and around and around our house. But you also have a maturity that allows you to calmly accept the craziness that has swirled around us this year.

You are two. You have tantrums. ("Noah want different shirt. No! No shirt! [flailing] DIFFERENT SHIRT!!!!"). But even when you are upset I rarely get the feeling that you are confused and unsure. Mostly I see that you know exactly what you want (or what you do not want) and you and I just happen to disagree.

Luckily for me I am still bigger than you. You still have to wear a shirt to school. Also pants.

I want to thank you for your willingness to go along with the ride your father and I have taken you on this year. We have asked a lot in a very short time, and you have adapted gracefully, by acting exactly like the two-year-old that you are. I will take 10,000 shirt-related tantrums, because you have trusted us and accepted the things that are really difficult and important. The family moves. Changing schools. Potty training. My pregnancy.

We are going to continue to require you to change and adjust and throw you for another loop when your baby sister arrives later this month, and I am sure you will continue to amaze us with your depth of understanding and your trust in us. I can't wait to see all you will learn to do over the coming year. I don't understand how you could possibly be more articulate and independent than you are today, but as you have shown me repeatedly, you have a great capacity to amaze and are showing no signs of slowing down.

Noah, we are so, so proud of you. We love you. Thank you for another amazing year.

Post-Christmas, with Robot

We had a lovely visit with the Pytel clan for Christmas, and now we're hunkered down at home awaiting the storm. So far lots of snow in the air, not so much sticking to the ground.

Noah got a robot for Christmas, and has been playing with it a lot. And by playing with it, I mean directing it to walk places and talking to it. "Over here robot! Go in closet robot! Wrong way robot!" Also earlier today the robot helped give Henry a diaper change.

Obviously this adorableness stops as soon as I get out the camera. But then he started taking pictures of his turtle and his badger so I figured it was worth it to show the video anyway.



Happy snow!

hi again

So I guess it's been a while. It's been crazy around here. Let's see...

Hanukkah happened...

And that was fun. Then we got the stomach flu.

That was decidedly NOT fun. But did make us very grateful for our neighbor that brought us popsicles.

In more fun news, I am getting very pregnant...

And we bought a house. This was exhausting but we are very, very, very excited.

More to follow on the house front. In other news, snow! Amelia taught Noah all about how fun the snow is this morning.

So in summary, life is good, busy, more house, less vomit. I'll try to keep you better updated.

Hanukkah weekend

It was a beautiful weekend.

We went to the park.



I subject you to this next one because I was trying to capture Noah's running narration. Unfortunately, the leaves make it kind of hard to hear, but you can try to follow along:



Condensed subtitles (he repeats a lot of this stuff): wire, big stick, big rocks, come down there, all done woods, more woods, wire, come daddy!, leaves, leaves (no idea what this word is), ouch, orange

Unfortunately I was not taping when he first went into the woods and declared "Woods! Grammy in there!" I think there is some confusion about which woods Grammy lives in. Apparently it is not this tiny patch of trees in the park.

Then last night we had a great time at our temple's Hanukkah party. Noah was able to sit still for several minutes (!!!) while we lit candles and sang songs, then he painted a menorah, then disassembled said menorah while waiting for the rest of the group to finish. We then watched a short performance by Levi the clown. I know, I also thought it was a bit odd to have a clown at a temple Hanukkah party, but the kids (including Noah) absolutely loved it so I ended up impressed. Noah was very excited to "eat latkes" but didn't actually end up eating any latkes, he did enjoy using a spoon to spread sour cream all over our plates. Finally, we left to go home and had about the cutest scene ever:

Scene: Noah is riding on Chad's shoulders, walking to our car in the dark
Noah (shouts at the sky): Moon? Wherere you moon!??
Rachel: Honey, we can't see the moon because it is behind a cloud
Noah (shouts at the sky): Excuse me cloud! Excuse me cloud!!!!!

It was awesome. And even more impressive when we were talking about the party before bed and Noah said (unprompted) "Moon behind cloud." It is just amazing to me to watch his language and memory develop.

Overall, an excellent weekend!

Again, I don't know. Don't ask.

Noah loves to play in his closet. He will often ask for me to turn the light on and then go in there, close the door, and entertain himself by singing a song or whatever. I sit outside and laugh.



It's like his own little clubhouse!