Sunday, June 28, 2009

getting close to nature

Two photo opps in two days confirms that Elias is still not terribly fond of the feel of grass. Exhibit A:


Hanging out in the side-yard, where the grass is a bit on the overgrown side. It probably didn't help that Elias was wearing new sandals for the first time. He was having a hard time getting his footing so everytime he fell back on his bottom he just kind of stayed there.

Exhibit B:


Same thing happened today. We drove to Connecticut to spend the day with my brother and his family and spent a lot of time outside, today being one of just a few days during a very cloudy, rainy June. Later we provided Elias with an oversized beach towel, which gave me a solid half-hour to eat my grilled steak, since the grass around the towel acts as a sort of invisible fence for the baby who's not fond of it. Wonder how long I can milk that.


As for an addendum to Elias's official one-year update, we still haven't taken his picture with the guitar prop. Things have been a little nutty around here. Following his party, we continued to host Grandma Joanne for a couple of days, during which we tried to think of still more rainy day activities and outings to do. When Elias slept I was forced to be antisocial so I could make apartment and home-viewing appointments for Neal, who traveled to California with said Grandma and our two cats to complete the first phase of the move. The trip was successful in every way. The cats have been temporarily deposited with Grandma, who lives about an hour and a half or two from our new apartment in Oakland and Neal is on his way home via a red-eye flight tonight with a scone from Arizmendi for tomorrow's breakfast. The move is bittersweet for me (I'll really miss being so close to my brother and his family...no more day trips, obviously), but I am overall feeling pretty positive about the whole thing and as a stay-at-home Mom for the indefinite future, I'm pretty stoked about the neighborhood we'll be in and the friends-with-kids we'll be so close to. Elias and I will be able to walk to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, a lake, various parks, a library branch, a weekend farmer's market complete with a kid-friendly splash pad fountain, and several of our favorite eateries that we'll by then be too broke to eat at. Right away, at least.

Anyway, I've been parenting solo while Neal took all of 24 hours to find this sweet pad for us. It's easy to say now, this being my last of five nights on my own, but it honestly went better than I ever thought it would. Don't get me wrong - I can't wait for Neal to be home for a number of reasons, not least of which is for all the help he provides, particularly first thing in the morning and between the time he finishes work and we put Elias to bed. But it was kind of empowering to discover that I could do it all on my own. The key for me has been to wake up a bit before Elias typically wakes up for the day, getting myself mostly ready before his day begins and doesn't stop for the next twelve or thirteen hours. Also helpful, on the nice days at least, were the late afternoon walks, to break up the long stretch between the end of the nap (sometimes as early as noon) and bedtime (sometimes as late as 8 or so). I was ready to hand Elias off to just about anybody by about 4 or 5 o'clock. But alas, there was no one to hand him off to. Except the stroller. And I think he enjoys those walks (and pointing out the occasional airplane overhead) as much as I do. And of course, once Elias did go to sleep for a nap or for the night, that truly quiet time (no baby, no cats, no husband) was indeed, as a friend recently described it, "golden."

More on other stuff he's been up to in the past month or so later this week...

Monday, June 22, 2009

1 year: once again, with cake


I almost forgot to wish Elias a happy birthday yesterday morning since we did the bulk of the celebrating on Saturday. I didn't plan on Elias's pj's matching his party decorations (nor my own outfit, as you'll see below) but that's how things worked out.


In fact, Elias spent the entire morning in his festive sleepwear, taking a walk to the swings with Neal and his Grandma Joanne, in town for the big event. Their walk and the brief nap Elias took (more on that and other "milestones" later) gave me time to get the place cleaned up and ready for the party. I thought about having the party elsewhere, but with a small group and an inconsistently napping baby, we decided to stay home, and I'm glad we did. We don't have the best floor plan for entertaining - everyone huddling around the table in the middle of the kitchen, where all the food was...but that always happens, right? - but I think it worked out pretty well, especially since Elias's room is right off the kitchen and provided party guests young and not so young with some space to spread out.


Uncle Brian and family drove from Connecticut, with the cake, courtesy of the always delicious Sweet Maria's. I think they did a fantastic job matching the cake to the invite. Other than cake, we enjoyed a spread of chips and guacamole, salad, and sandwiches from Panera, which worked out pretty well. After everyone had arrived and been fed, we proceeded to the pinata portion of the party. Here I am with Elias, helping him with the pull strings.


Cousin Alejandro, coincidentally the oldest and biggest kid in attendance, pulled the lucky string that released quite a stash of candy.


Way more candy than necessary for a group of three children and two babies, resulting in way more candy left here for us to finish off.


After the candy had been sorted and distributed we moved on to presents. Here he is opening gifts - sort of - with Dad.


Elias got some fabulous new toys, a couple of puzzles, some clothes - including a swim outfit that I'm eager to try out - and a little spending money (I - I mean, Elias - has his eye on an umbrella stroller and some bib upgrades).


That's right, Elias, take it all in...But don't eat that Snickers bar.


After that we returned to the kitchen for Elias's first taste of cake and frosting.


Not surprisingly, I had to reassure him that this gooey blob of sweet goodness was in fact edible. He took to it pretty quickly after that, attempting to shove large chunks in his mouth. I was a little paranoid about how we might have to pay for this indulgence later, so I only let him eat about half of his birthday cupcake. He didn't nap that afternoon but otherwise seemed to tolerate it all pretty well.

Overall, it was a bit of a blur of activity and the 2+ hours flew by, but I felt like the afternoon was a success. More on what we've been up to in the past month in a separate post.


Easy, kid. Don't go growing up on me too quickly now.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

1 year!

When I first added the Lilypie widget almost a year ago, it seemed like it would take an unimaginably long time for that little baby to crawl to the end of the caterpillar. And yet here we are, one year later, almost to the hour.


Happy 1st, Elias! Full report on birthday shenanigans coming soon!

Friday, June 12, 2009

it walks!

Yep, that's right. According to the folks behind the What to Expect series of books, we have a toddler on our hands.



Elias has been taking two or three steps at a time on and off for much of this past week. Neal managed to not only capture the toddling on video but also during one of Elias's longest walks so far. And of course I've watched this short clip about a million times. It's funny because the first year has been one milestone after another and yet there's something about Elias's first steps that just makes me want to cry. In a good way, mostly, or rather, in that bittersweet, they grow up so fast kind of way.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

away we go

So for those of you who read my other blog or follow my tweets (yep, I'm on Twitter now and even though my username is wazotweets, implying a more direct connection to my other pursuits, not surprisingly, I find myself tweeting - or is it "twit"? - about Elias and related events quite a lot), you know that the family and I are headed west this summer. Neal and I moved to Boston almost four years ago to attend grad school. So now, "masters" that we are, and with the added bonus of a soon-to-be toddler, we are headed "home" - or, the closest my chronically itchy feet have ever felt to being rooted. Oakland is our goal but the greater East Bay is our general target.

I feel pretty good about our decision, even though I always imagined we'd eventually move because of a job (preferably one that paid for our move). I won't go into all the details but Neal's job is flexible as far as location, which freed us up from the nagging obligation to "make it work" here in Boston, a city that we've enjoyed for the past four years but has never felt like home. It's a strange situation to be in, theoretically able to go anywhere. When you can go anywhere, what influences that decision? Family, weather, opportunity, affordability? Even though it breaks my heart to, once again, be 3000+ miles away from my big brother and his family, we're betting on California providing the best possible balance of all of those elements.

Anyway, the timing of the release of Sam Mendes' film Away We Go couldn't be more perfect. Check out the trailer:



Looks pretty great, don't you think? My favorite part, of the trailer, at least, is when Maya Rudolph's character says, "All we can do is be good for this one baby. We don't have control over much else." That sentiment is both reassuring and overwhelming.

So, just how do you move your two-bedroom apartment chock full of stuff, your parental selves, your soon-to-be toddler, your hoopdie of a car that you never dreamed would make it back across the country, and your two highly neurotic cats 3000 miles away in less than two months time? Well, for starters, you unload the cats onto your mother-in-law who's coming to visit for your son's first birthday in less than three weeks. While I'll have Elias all to myself for five days and nights, Neal has the daunting task of returning to California, by plane, with his Mom and their feline carry-on, setting them up with her temporarily, and then driving a couple of hours to the Bay Area to snag a new pad for us. Assuming that all works out as planned, the three of us will follow, stuff and car shipped separately, two to three weeks later.

Piece of cake, right?