I love Fridays. I like to do special things on Fridays to mark the beginning of the weekend: on the way home from school, Benjamin is allowed to pick out a treat to have with his lunch; we try and do something special or easy (or both) for dinner; I go easy on the housework (even easier than the other days). But I’m always happy to add something new to our repertoire.
Archive for the ‘Baby’ Category
Calle family movie night
Saturday, January 21st, 2012Inscription
Friday, January 20th, 2012Every evening, after bath time and before bed, we have story time. Dan & I take turns reading to the kids — Liam usually only makes it through one or two stories, but Benjamin always gets four (unless he can convince us to do a few extra). I love it when it’s my turn to do stories. I love reading to them, seeing them learn and enjoy the stories, and I really enjoy many of the stories themselves – we have some really good ones, and a lot of them are favorites of ours from when we were little.
Benjamin visits the ER
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012First, let me say that everything turns out ok in this story.
Yesterday evening, just before story time, I was feeding Liam and I heard the sounds of “hide & seek” coming from the bathroom (where toothbrushing was supposed to be happening . . . and I imagine it did actually happen at some point). Benjamin isn’t 100% clear on hide & seek yet — he seems to manage to both hide and seek each time, but he really likes it. I heard both Dan and Benjamin count to 10, and then lots of giggling and “I found you!” followed by a serious “thud” and a cry. Not the I-need-to-think-about-how-bad-this-hurts cry, but the instantaneous, frightened, pained scream.
Playing in the snow
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012We woke up this morning to our first snowfall in Vienna of any real significance. By the time Benjamin got up, there was more than a dusting on the rooftops, and our terrace, which is pretty sheltered, but not enclosed, almost had a covering. Our rosemary, basil and cilantro plants (or rather, the pots the plants lived in when it was summer) had about an inch in each, as did the table where they sit.
Benjamin and the planets
Sunday, January 15th, 2012I try not to brag excessively about my kids. Of course I think they’re beautiful, brilliant, sweet, loving, strong, fast, kind and generally amazing and wonderful — I’m their mom, I can’t help it. But I do try to keep most of it to myself, because otherwise it would be all I would talk or write about, because they’re my most favorite people in the whole world.
But every so often they do or say something so cute that I just can’t keep it to myself. At only 3 years old, Benjamin knows all of the planets. I don’t know if that’s typical, but it’s pretty impressive to me. He can recite the names of all 9 of them (including Pluto — I grew up in a world where Pluto was a planet) in order, and tell you a little bit about all of them. He tells me that Jupiter is made of gas (which he says is funny), that Mars has lots of dust and that Neptune is very cold. Earth is his favorite, but he might like to try to live on Jupiter. He asks really good questions, like “Whats’ the difference between a planet and a moon?” and “What do the planets have inside of them?” and “Is the Earth spinning very, very fast?”
I can take almost no credit for this. Like many other things he’s learned in his 3 years, this came almost entirely from tv (in this case, I think we have Olivia and Bubble Guppies to thank) with some supplemental material from books. It’s so cute to hear him, and so impressive to see how his mind works. He told us, the other evening, that he wants to be an astronomer when he grows up – he has previously alsoexpressed a wish to be a fire fighter and a chef. I love watching him grow and learn and be excited about things. Being a mom is the best thing ever.
Ben ist da!
Friday, January 13th, 2012I’m still of a split mind about B going to school. On the one hand, I think the socialization he’s getting is positive, and I know he’s learning German in a way that’s more accessible to him than it will ever be again in his life. On the other hand, he wants to be at home, and I want him to be here.
I can’t believe how I can!
Thursday, January 12th, 2012We’re trying something new with Benjamin: an “accomplishment chart”. We’ve made a list of the things that he’s working on accomplishing, like dressing himself, drinking milk from a cup, and using the potty. Every time he does one of those things, he gets a sticker (which he gets to choose and apply to the chart himself, which he loves) and after every 10 stickers he adds, he gets a present. The presents started out as little things I’d had around the house that I’d been meaning to give him — new sheets for his bed, new pajamas, a truck — and I’ve progressed to toys and books he’s been asking for that didn’t quite make the Christmas cut.
Running with kids
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012We started running about a month agowith the “Couch to 5k” plan. We haven’t been perfect about it, but we’ve kept with it and now we’re on our fourth week of the plan. (And, to go along with my general directive to myself to not agonize about perfecting the details in favor of seeing the bigger picture, I am trying not to torment myself about having missed a few days.) I don’t love to run, but I don’t hate it. I do love the way that I feel when I have been running.
Vacation is over
Monday, January 9th, 2012Well, our Christmas vacation is officially over: Benjamin went back to school today. Leading up to today, he was really looking forward to going back — he wanted to see his teachers and his friends, he wanted to ride tricycles in the garden, and play with the train set at school (which, I think, is pretty much like ours but without a Liam around to destroy his progress). He was really excited to tell everyone, “Happy holidays and happy new year!”
Mine, mine, mine!
Sunday, January 8th, 2012In true “little brother” fashion, Liam likes everything Benjamin likes. Whatever Benjamin is eating, watching or playing with, Liam wants it too. Whatever Liam sees Benjamin doing, he is going to try. It’s resulted in some really cute behavior, like Liam already climbing up onto B’s tricycle (although he can’t yet reach the pedals), and Liam already attempting to figure out how to ride B’s bike (although he’ll need to gain a few inches before that’s possible). Generally, it’s cute to see Liam trying to be like his big brother.