1,095...

... that is how many days Otto has been charming us up.

Otto, one month

Three. Wow. I am at a loss for words. Last year when Otto turned two it seemed huge and amazing, but somehow a logical progression from one. I don't feel that way about three. Three is little boy, not toddler and certainly not a baby. And, Otto really is a little boy now. He carries on REAL conversations with you, most of the time. There are of course the long and very detailed conversations about ferraris, Wingo, diggers, the broomies (snow sidewalk sweeping machines at the University) sandwiches and his shoes all at once where I get a bit lost, but for the most part he usually has a topic and things to talk about. You can even reason with him. As much as one can reason with a person under the age of, let's say 20. It is not unlike negotiating with a terrorist cell, but if you are willing to make deals, results can be found. Earlier this week after dinner Otto and I went to the grocery store just the two of us while Mette got a bath from dad. The whole way there we both were singing along to the Cars soundtrack in the car. At the store he walked with me the whole time talking about all the cool things we saw. We visited the lobsters, checked on the fruit and looked for but didn't find any Cadbury Creme eggs. It was a great little trip, and the first time in a while that Otto and I had been out doing something together just the two of us. It was really nice. It was very sweet, while in the produce section he all of the sudden turned around and said "where is Mette?" It's true, we don't ever go anywhere without her and it was sweet to see he noticed she was missing. He is a really great kid. He does really care about other people. Even if his way of caring is having so much emotion at times that it all comes out as screaming. The screaming could go away tomorrow and I would not miss it one bit but more and more I realize it is just all his emotion that he is learning how to handle. It is getting better and will continue to, but wow, it can be intense. Intense, that is a good way to describe Otto. He is intense in many ways. Very funny, very talkative, very serious about things he is interested in. When he is engaged playing with something, very little can distract him. He has whole worlds of imaginative play. I love listening to him play with his matchbox cars. They go on playdates, he gets them drinks and snacks, they take naps. He plays with them almost the way you would think a girl would play with dolls. Clearly young minds go through roll play as a way of understanding and exploring the routines they live in. He does that through his cars. He has SO MANY cars and knows them all by make and model and for the most part where there all are at a given moment. That is not to say I don't spend a fair amount of everyday looking for (insert car name here). He lines them all up for races or parades often categorizing them by make, or color or interest. They really are a whole world for him which is fascinating to watch. It is no surprise that Mette is very interested in them since he makes them look so interesting. He is more understanding than I would be when she messes up his lines of cars and tries to take everyone he is holding. He will often go and get one he is not playing with at the moment and offer her that one. For now that works and she is happy. He seems genuinely excited when she says his name. Now that she can say it she walks around the house calling for him when she can't find him. It is very cute. He loves getting her to laugh and is very good at it. They are even starting to play chase which will be the greatest thing ever when it happens. Now that she is devouring books (more on that later) he is enjoying reading a lot of his baby books again. I think he really likes showing them to Mette.

Still, when I look back on this year it is amazing. His face is changing into such a young boys face. He so much more of his own person and less an extension of me. It is wonderful to watch, but of course I miss when he was little enough to hold with one hand. This past year has been one of many accomplishments and I am very much looking forward all that this next year has in store for us. Though I am not at all ready for him to be four!!

2nd Birthday Feb.

March

April

May

June

July, inhaling sushi!

August Potty Trained!

September

October

November

December

January

February

Last week, wearing a shirt I made for him.

Scents

Somehow we must have worked our way down to the bottom of the towel rotation in our back bathroom. Tonight after I took out a towel I could tell from the slightly crunchy texture that this was one I had dried on the line in warmer weather, mmm. When I stood there wrapped in the clean, crunchy towel I smelled a very distinct smell I had not smelled for almost 20 years (wow). The bathroom in my grandparents house on Glen Hall Road. It was if a time portal opened and I was 10 years old again and standing in the front bathroom after a bath. There was even a tinge of post swimming pool chlorine. I will admit to being a person for whom scent plays a major part in my experiences and memories, but this was such a strong and fast association it took me by surprise. It brought back so many wonderful memories and good feelings, but it was also a little sad. The family no longer owns that house which my grandfather built and my grandmother now lives in a nursing home, my grandfather passed away when I was 8. Every summer my grandparents and later just my grandmother hosted all five of the grandchildren for a week to swim and play. A feat I have much more respect for now that I have children of my own. Smelling that bathroom reminded me of sleeping in the middle room with my cousin Claire on hot summer nights with the sound of the box fan lulling us to sleep. I am sad my children will never get to see that house. And I am really wish my grandfather could have met my children, his great-grandchildren. My grandmother gets a huge kick out of seeing the kids and Otto knows her as the singer of funny songs, which I think is a good way to remember her. Our children are very lucky, they have more grandparents then we know what to do with, SEVEN grandparents and just as many great-grandparents so it is not as if they are lacking grandparents, but I would have loved to share some of the places I spent my childhood with them. It makes me think, what smells with bring back memories for them 20, 30, 40 years from now and what will it make them remember?

Lazy Days

I thought I better get a quick line in while I had a spare second. This week is a bit on the crazy side, but fun. Yesterday I lugged both kids with me to look at a potential building for the co-op grocery store I am involved with. We got home just in time for lunch and naps. During naps I worked on wrestling the couch cushions into and then back on the couch while making dinner and cleaning. Always a challenge, but rewarding when it is done. After Mette was in sleepy land that evening I went downtown for a meeting with the rest of the steering committee to talk about the building and our goals and business plan. Fun but didn't get me home until after 10. Today was playschool at Rachel's house for Otto while Mette and I ran errands and did laundry. Now during naptime I am cleaning and getting the quest room ready for eric's friend and colleague who is coming tomorrow for a visit and to give a lecture at the University. Then tonight I have to get the food ready for Otto's joint birthday party with the 8(!!!) other kids in his playgroup who have birthdays in Feb. or early March. Eric's friend Peter will be here before the party is over.

Then in the afternoon grandmom and grandpa are coming down from the cabin with their NEW PUPPY HUGO!!! so we can meet him. I am very excited. Thursday I don't think we have anything planned but there are a lot of errands to run. Friday is open gym and Otto's party and birthday with us is on sunday so there is a cake to make etc.... So if you don't hear from me for a bit, that is why.

We are otherwise doing fine, but a bit on the busy side! :)

The nuk fairy

Ever since Otto was born he has had a nuk. I was dead set against them from the beginning though quickly changed my tune as soon as I saw how much it calmed him down. For a long time now he has only had them for naps and bedtime though they are beyond essential for both those things to occur. Last year when he turned two we thought about the idea of getting rid of nuk but decided that since there was a baby sister coming to wreck havoc on his life, we didn't need to add nuk angst to the mix. Somehow a year has passed and he still has nuk. Over the past few weeks I have been talking with him about it soon being time to give up nuk. Then on Monday the deed was done. Nuk went to the nuk final resting grounds in the sky. He still has blankie which if I have to make into a pillow cover for him when he goes off to college I will, but nuk is no longer with us. In addition to blankie, the monster Rachel made him has taken center stage in the snuggling scene. The first night was rough getting to sleep without nuk but he slept all night without a peep. Since then it has been getting better and better. He hardly ever mentions it now and if he does it is only for a second or two. I told him if he continues to do so well that the Nuk Fairy will come and bring him a special toy. He is very excited about this idea and wants her to come and play with him. I think this weekend I am going to get him a little gift which the nuk fairy can leave on his bedside table. This really does mark the end of an era. Somehow this whole turning three thing is starting to feel bigger than I was prepared for. Three is little boy territory and you can see it more and more in him each day. Not just in the way his pants and shirts all are getting too short faster than I can keep up with, but in the stories he tells, things he is aware of and questions he asks. Exciting and a little sad all at once.

Mette 1 Year update

Things are continuing to move along here in the land of birthdays. Mette celebrated turning one with the ever popular trip to the doctor for a well baby visit. She is healthy and on schedule you will all be shocked to know. She was 20 lbs on the nose and 29.5 inches long. She is a full two inches shorter than Otto was at this age which explains a bit why I think she looks so small walking around the house. That and I now have Otto who gets taller everyday to see in contrast to her. She passed all of the developmental milestones with flying colors. When I talked to the doctor about her eating, or lack there of she didn't seem to concerned. She said since she is obviously thriving, as long as I was ok continuing to nurse her she would be perfectly healthy. I am fine with nursing her for a while longer, however I will admit that if she started to eat more I would also be quite fine with that. I have a friend whose son didn't eat any food until he was 1 but self weaned at 18 months so there is hope. She did get 5 shots which was as you can imagine not very much fun. Normally she wouldn't have had 5 but she needed the second half of her flu shot and the changed the Hep. B schedule so to stay on track with that there was an additional shot. I thought for sure she was going to be miserable for days. In addition to the flu shot which makes you cranky she also got the chicken pox vaccine which can make kids not feel well. She was very much in need of tylenol for the rest of the day and that evening, but by the next day she seemed to be feeling fine. Amazing because I can't say the same for myself if I had that many shots.

Today Rachel and her boy walked over here with the small one pushing his baby stroller carrying muffins from the local coffee shop. Mette was very taken with the stroller. We put her doll in the stroller and she pushed it all around the dining/living room. I think this spring when the yard sale season starts I will be keeping an eye out for one of these. It was too cute. Otto also used it to carry around some matchbox cars but I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch him in action.

It is hard work pushing babies around!

Party Girl and Monsters

This past weekend we had a small luncheon in honor of Mette turning 1. (We also celebrated Rachel's other boy's birthday, but that was hush hush as he as the same opinion about birthdays as eric does.) Grandmom and Grandpa came down from the mountains and Rachel and her boys came over. It was also the weekend of one of Otto's best buddies birthday but they were swimming in family so we kept this very low key. Mainly it was about the food for the adults. I made some mac and cheese with the yummy tomato sauce I blogged about earlier and green pea parmesan soup. Nathan made fantastic lentil burgers and Rachel brought a cake. And by a cake I don't mean just any cake. This cake is the family tradition in her family and I think will soon be a tradition in our family as well. It is a poppy seed cake with custard filling and chocolate icing. Huge hit!! Rachel always says how she loves the cake but always eats too much of it and makes herself sick. I have always thought that was silly, who could eat too much of this cake?? That was before yesterday when I ate too much. Don't worry though, I took care of the problem and ate the rest of the cake today. There, solved that! The luncheon was quite a hit, at least for the adults... I suppose when the kids are older we will have to strive to make their birthdays more about them, but for now it is just a good excuse to have a yummy meal with people we like.

For the party Mette was sporting some super hair.

Along with an adorable dress. She received a bag of hand me downs from Otto's friend Freya a few days ago that included this dress. It is so wonderful I think she will be wearing it a lot. Machine wash and dry, can't be beat.

For her birthday Rachel made Mette a doll. Since she was making her a doll, I thought she should also have a bed for her doll. This bed was one my dad made for me when I was little. I repainted it and made a quilt for it. I have never made a quilt before and there are many things I would do differently in future quilt making attempts, but it was a fun little project. The backing and binding to the quilt are old receiving blankets from Otto and Mette which makes it extra special to me. I also made a little pillow. The "mattress" part is the same one my mom made for me.
Knowing that Otto was going to have to watch Mette get a few gifts, Rachel made him something as well. He is quite fond of monsters so she made him a wonderful little monster just the perfect size for snuggling with. He named it I Love You and it has slept with him every night since he she gave it to him.
Once again we got out candles and all sang to Mette. She seemed still a little taken aback at the idea, but a bit less scared by it this time. Otto couldn't be stopped at blowing out her candles which I don't think she minded since she wasn't going to do it herself.
Lately Otto asks eric for piggy back rides all the time. While I am sure he likes crawling around on the floor with a 32 lbs. toddler on his back, it is nice to have a break from time to time. We decided to teach Otto how to give rides to Mette.
I recently got my sewing machine serviced and my serge machine working which is making me go a bit nuts. I have been making pants, bags, curtains. Fabric trembles when I enter the room. I have extra of the Formula 1 material I used to make the pillow for Otto. I took some and made a pocket on a bag I made for him to carry cars and trinkets to friends houses.

Here is a better shot of the fabulous monster Rachel made for Otto.

I made him these pants out of an used men's shirt. I used the front pocket to make what I thought would be a back pocket on the pants. Otto seeing the big pocket felt it needed to go in the front. It doesn't really matter with the pants so he wears them with the pocket in the front. It just so happens to be the right size for his monster.

boys will be boys

This past week we had a bit of an impromptu playdate with some of Otto's buddies. For what ever reason there seems to be a magical time of peaceful play that happens after lunch and pre-prenap meltdown. Monday was no exception. While the boys had been playing fairly well together for most of the morning, just as everyone was getting ready to head home they started wrestling. I don't mean pushing and pulling with screaming and tears. I mean genuinely having a good time, being careful not to hurt each other while having a blast, wrestling. No one wanted to stop the good times they were having so I went and got the camera while they laughed and giggled and crawled all over each other. At one point it sounded like Otto was saying "get off, get off" but very calmly. We then realized he was saying "get on, get on!!". Much different.

Mette, the child with no fear of larger, faster, louder, older children couldn't take being left out and had to come see what the fuss was all about.
Not too much longer after that playdate the snow started to fall. We had a few days of steady snow which amounted to a beautiful winter wonderland here in the burg. We were supposed to host playgroup at our house this week, but since it was snowing so hard people couldn't make it. Rachel and company live close enough to walk so they came armed with snow pants and gear to play outside. I waxed up the runners of the Flexible Flyer and the boys climbed aboard.
Mette was bundled up to the point of not being able to move. Rachel carried her in the backpack while I pulled the boys and we set off to seek adventure in town. We did see a tow truck that was working on pulling a truck out of the river which was quite exciting. No one was hurt and it was the result of someone trying to look for a good place to launch their boat. I don't feel to sorry for someone who tries to launch a boat from an icy slope during a snowstorm so we stayed to watch for a while.
All the fresh air and the rhythmic motion of Rachel walking was too much for Mette and she fell asleep. Face pressed against the rain/snow guard.
The call of snowy hills was too much for Otto. He climbed off the sled and was waist deep in the white stuff.
We had a great time exploring the winter wonderland. As the morning wore on we all started to get a little tired and headed back to the house for some hot chocolate with marshmallows and lunch. Naptime was good, though I wish I could have slept too. I made up for no nap by getting in bed at 8 when Otto went to bed.

Mette Feta

I am awaiting photo approval on some of our winter fun shots. We have quite the covering of snow here and I have some great shots of Otto and friends playing in it but I need modeling clearance on a few shots before I post any for you. In the meantime I thought I would share with you some of Mette's cuteness. We recently received a large bag of clothes from one of Otto's friends for Mette. Among other things there were some fabulous dresses and skirts. This was what she was wearing earlier this week and I think she looks too cute not to share. She is also in just the past week really starting to change the way she looks I think. It seems like she is losing some of her baby chunk around her face and neck giving her much more of a little girl look and less like a baby. While I think it is totally adorable, I miss the baby look. I was getting out the basinet co-sleeper this morning to lend to our neighbors and realized that I am not going to need to use that again. While more than two kids was never in our plan, and isn't now, it did give me pause. Mette is growing up way to fast. I want her to stay tiny forever. With each milestone completed I am ever more aware of it being a stage of babyhood we will not experience again. My mom always says "this is just a moment in time" when it seems like I will never have a moment to myself again. She is so right, it is only a moment in time, and when it is gone, it's gone. On to bigger and better things I suppose, but there really is no better feeling than having a tiny little person asleep on your chest, all snuggly and warm.

For the record, she has a pretzel stick, we don't let her have cigars in the afternoon.

As I mentioned before, I have given up with the highchair and Mette. At least for the time being. Now she just wanders around the room getting bites of whatever we have to offer her here and there. She likes to climb up into your lap and request whatever you are eating. That is not say she will actually eat it, she just wants to see if you will offer it to her. Her she is eating whole halves of pears off a fork with Rachel. The only way she was satisfied with them. She doesn't have us trained at all!

Warning: Picture Overload

The Birthday Girl

Originally we had planned to be in Hoboken with Ben and Shannon but the threat of a big storm kept us away. Bummer. I had planned to get some cupcakes at the adorable cupcake store down the street from them for today but since we were home, we picked up a small cake at the store for the girl. Next weekend we have a small luncheon planned when I will make her a cake, or cupcakes, haven't really decided yet. It didn't seem right to let the day go by without having some icing. We went to Wegman's this morning and purchased to Mylar balloons. One for Otto and one for Mette. We got some groceries too.... The balloons have been quite the hit. Otto loves running with his and Mette has been very happy to eat the ribbon. Life is good when all you need is a balloon. After Wegman's we hit up Border's for a birthday gift for one of Otto's friends. It made for a nice morning out and about. Mette got to ride forward facing in the car. Always more exciting for the parents than the kid though Mette did seem to enjoy the new view.

Before the cake extravaganza I made a nice dinner. We had roasted chicken over a salad with peppers and feta. Simple and yummy. In addition to that we had baked brie, homemade bread and apples. Every birthday requires some decadence. Mette who never eats anything at the table had almost three pieces of apple and two small pieces of bread with brie!!! Figures, regular bread she is ho hum about, but add brie and she sucks it down. Eric thinks we should try caviar. We have just been offering her all the wrong things.

After dinner we brought out the little cake, had a candle and sang Happy Birthday. Mette was unsure the moment we turned out the lights.

Testing the viscosity

This is the one and only "bite" she took. She sampled a tiny bit, declared it no good for eating and went about to play.

It was good fun

Icing is very good for the hair

Otto of course wanted the lone blue flower.

We had a nice laid back family day. We also got Mette the next video in the Baby Signing Times series. She loves the first two so much and this was a HUGE hit. Both she and Otto have watched it three times already. He is even picking up the signs. Mette is just transfixed.