Beware the Brownies

Last weekend we took Tai to a local children's museum for the first time.  Since it was a cold Saturday morning, the place was pretty packed.  And Tai was most certainly on the far end of the age spectrum--I think he was actually the youngest kid there that wasn't sleeping in a sling.  But he had a rockin' good time anyway.  He "drove" the forklift, crawled through a tunnel, and climbed around on a very large structure covered in the most slippery carpeting ever.  

Unfortunately, Minh and I had to spend most of our time making sure Tai did not get run over by all the big kids.  When we weren't picking him up and shuttling him to safety, we were standing in front of him, directing older kids to go around him.  And I spent a fair amount of time just flashing them dirty looks (to no avail).

And you know who behaved the worst?  The ones who showed depraved indifference?  The hyperactive boys, right?  Nope.  It was the Brownie Troop.  Dressed in their little brown skirts and vests, and present in such large numbers, they took over the place like a little biker gang.  They were everywhere at once -- running, jumping, falling, and pushing Tai out of the way to get where they were going.  Two of the future Hell’s Angels even tried to shut a mailbox door on Tai's head.  Apparently, with all the knot-tying and flag folding, there is no time to earn a Regard for Human Life badge.   

The museum has several different play areas you can visit, and Minh and I became focused on making sure we stayed one step ahead of the Brownies.  When they showed up at the ambulance Tai was driving, we moved on to the post office.  When they caught up with us there and nearly decapitated Tai, we moved on to the bodega, etc, etc.   The Girl Scout promise must also include something about waging turf wars because these chicks were ruthless.  They would arrive at, say, the bubble blowing station, and express their annoyance that Tai was using it with audible sighs.  And once Tai gave up some ground by taking a step back, they would hit him in the stomach with a tire iron, take his lunch money, and ride off on their tricked-out Hannah Montana Huffy bikes*.   

The whole time, Tai appeared blissfully unaware of his several brushes with death at the hands of The Brownies.  But maybe he was not as oblivious as we thought?  Later that day I asked him if he had fun at the museum and what he had done there and he said, "kids!  kids jumpin'! watch out kids!"

 

*This part may be embellished 

The Next Blues Traveler...

My dad is really great at selecting gifts for Tai. Seriously.  He has a real knack for picking out the kind of thing that Tai will love and that will drive me and Minh crazy (I know, I know, that's exactly what grandparents are supposed to do.)

At the age of, oh about 8 months or so, Tai received his first musical instrument from my father-- a wooden recorder.  At the time, he was (thankfully) too young to know what to do with it.  But now he's figured it out and (when we agree to let him play with it) makes ear-splitting music all over the house with it.  I think this is just my dad's way of paying me back for all the time I spent trying to play Mary Had a Little Lamb on the flute-a-phone that our public school system handed out to every third grader in town.  (Who's idea what that?)

Anyway, the newest gift from "Grampy" is a harmonica.  When he first received it, Tai turned it over and over looking for the on switch and, upon finding none, declared "it broke."  But after a few demonstrations of how it worked, he started to get the idea.  Just barely.  In the days that followed Tai would periodically go find his harmonica and wave it around declaring "harmonica!" and "Grampy!"  And sometimes he'd try to blow air into it, being marginally successfully.  And it was terribly cute.  

And then one morning it happened.  Out of nowhere, he just picked it up and started playing it.  Really playing it.  And it was terribly cute.....for a while.  And now we get treated to concerts, regularly:        

So if anyone is a big Blues Traveler fan and wants to come over for some mean harmonica playing, just stop on by.  Minh and I will hand Tai the harmonica and sneak out the back door.  Just know that each time he stops and stares at you, he's looking for applause. 

I Missed You Too

I was away for three nights and four days.  And Tai hardly noticed.

I know, I know, he's not even two yet and I can't expect too much.  But still.  Apparently, a couple times while I was away he said to Minh, "Mama gone."  But that was about the extent of his concern.  We did talk on the phone a bit (usually while he was eating breakfast) and I got lots of "Hi Mama!"  and a few stories about his Adventures With Daddy.  But when I got back he couldn't even be bothered to stop what he was doing to say hello to me.  

After not having seen him since Saturday morning, I excitedly arrived at day care pick-up on Tuesday afternoon to find him playing outside in the sand with, what else, a toy backhoe.  He was walking across the yard toward the backhoe when he spotted me....and kept walking.  He settled in and started playing with the backhoe.   

OK, no huge smile and no running over to hug and kiss me. But what can I expect?  So I went over to him and squatted down in the sand where he was playing.  He looked up and, without even a glimmer of realization that I'd been gone and was now back he said.  "It's broke.  I need help."  (The backhoe at the ridiculously expensive child care facility was indeed broken.)

Our afternoon and evening was pleasant, but ordinary.  It was like I'd always been there.  This morning, however, as he was eating breakfast, he may have noticed that we were not talking on the phone and that I was actually there because half-way through the meal he looked right at me and exclaimed "Hi Mama!"

I'll take what I can get :)    

The Results Are In...

Tai was the most adorable kangaroo anyone has ever seen. Although he practiced saying "trick or treat" all evening, including saying it about 30 times while heading down our driveway toward our neighbors' house, he would not say it at ANY of the 5 doorsteps we visited. He did, however, demonstrate that a kangaroo goes "boing! boing!" for each and every household.

He very much enjoyed carrying his pumpkin-shaped bag around the neighborhood and delighted in selecting a piece of candy and depositing it in his bag, exclaiming each time, "I got one!" But he had no idea the candy was edible--and we'll keep it that way for as long as we can :)

For Tai, I think it was all about the novelty dressing up and going to "play" outside after dinner in the dark. And all his neighborhood friends were outside too! Next year, I fear, it will be all about the candy. (And we'll see if that lion costume still fits next year.)

Your Opinion Matters*

Tai's kangaroo costume from last year still fits, sort of. Sure, the sleeves ride up his arms and the elastic wristbands leave red marks on his forearms. But it still mostly fits. And it's damn cute.

But we were also just given a hand-me-down lion costume which fits better (and will quite possibly still fit next year). Our problem is trying to decide which he should wear this Friday to go trick-or-treating. I've posted photos (my apologies for the quality -- he doesn't exactly stand still, ever) for your viewing enjoyment and also so that you may answer the question below.

Kangaroo

Lion

Please indicate which of the answer choices below best describes your preference:






*Actually, we are not obligated to follow through on the results of this poll, We'll probably do whatever the hell we want. But this was a fun way to post pictures of Tai in two cute costumes.

Brunching All Over The Valley

When a member of your family wakes at 6am (even on weekends) and naps right after lunch, weekend brunches are clearly the best way to get together with friends. Case in point, this weekend we are heading to two such brunches. And looking forward to both, very much.

In both cases, Tai should be in a very good mood because (1) it's his favorite time of day (2) there will be food and (3) there will be other kids to play with. In both cases, Minh and I will be happy because of the Tai's good mood, the yummy food (that we don't have to cook!) and good company.

We missed the whole damn thing.

Friday afternoon we left work early to head to a 5pm wedding in Boylston, MA (which, according to Google Maps is 1 hour and 15 minutes from our house). We left at 3:30pm. Maybe cutting it a tad close. But Google Maps always calculates things as if you were driving the speed limit, so I figured we'd be fine. But instead of zipping down the pike at 75 mph, or even 65 mph, we inched across the state at an infuriating 12 mph, for many many many miles.

At 4:40 our friends, who had already arrived in Boylston, called and asked "Where are you guys?" "Stuck on the pike, of course, " was my reply.

At 4:50 I realized we were going to miss the beginning of the ceremony. "Oh, how embarrassing," I thought, "What if the bride sees us come in half-way through?"

At 5:05, a good 10 miles from the exit and still barely moving, I realized we were going to miss the whole thing.

When we arrived (at very nearly 6pm) they were packing up the folding chairs, the bride and groom were taking photos, and the guest were already enjoying cocktail hour. We snuck in and tried to play it off, but everyone knew we'd just arrived.

Sorry Kristen.

Not Exactly the Same...

Well, I missed Mel. Entirely. He has come and gone and I didn't get "discovered" and cast in his movie, nor did I glimpse him filming in downtown Noho from afar. No, I was home those two days taking care of a sick toddler and napping while he napped. Woe is me.

But today I did see a celebrity of a different sort. As I sat and stared at the numbers on my computer screen with glazy eyes, John Kerry was directly underneath me, on the second floor of my building. I glimpsed the back of his head as he was leaving, just as I headed downstairs to use the bathroom.

Just think, if I had decided to go pee a mere 30 seconds sooner, I could have bumped right into him in the hallway. That would have been something.

Mel's in town.

It's Friday, I didn't feel like packing lunch this morning, and I have been craving a burrito for a solid 24 hours. So Minh and I decided* to walk into downtown Northampton for lunch at my favorite burrito spot.

Coincidentally, Mel Gibson is in the area this week, filming Edge of Darkness. (They actually had an open casting call for extras in August, but since they were not seeking adorable half-Asian toddlers, we didn't attend.)

Say what you will about Mel and his movies, but I think it's pretty cool to have him filming right near home. The movie crew has set up camp at Atkins in Amherst (with lots of trailers inside of which I assume are real, live actors) and will also be filming next week in good old Sunderland, home of Frontier Pizza. And next Tuesday they are shutting down part of Main Street in Noho to film Mel exiting the courthouse and driving down the street. I may just have to get accidentally stuck in the craziness on my way to work that day, and need to pull over and watch the filming for a while.

And on the way to lunch today we saw a very fancy, dark-windowed bus drive by that most certainly contained Mel himself. Then we walked by a stalky man, lingering on a street corner, clad in all black with loads of camera equipment on his person and at his feet. Minh assured me that this man was paparazzi. There were also six more of these camera-clad folks ordering themselves burritos for lunch.

In addition, today must have been some sort of school holiday or half-day because the burrito place was overrun with middle-schoolers. They were everywhere--in line, at the counter, seated in booths. Some of them were pooling their money with friends to be able to split a burrito and a side of chips.

So what this all means is that, in a crowded downtown restaurant, Minh and I were the only ones over the age of 11 who didn't have cameras slung around our necks.







*Actually, I talked him into it. he's not a big fan of burritos. But he's a big fan of me, so he agreed.

Rough Morning

Tai has traces of both urine and yogurt in his hair.
There's oatmeal on the bathroom floor.
There are peanuts in the high chair
and snots everywhere.

Apparently shoes are now the enemy (yesterday it was pants).
And being left at school by your daddy is just heartbreaking.

How was your morning?

I just saved $13.50

It's going to rain tomorrow. And at Tai's daycare they go outside everyday, rain or shine. So the boy needed some rain boots, and fast. My new favorite website has free overnight shipping, but even that wouldn't get the boots here in time for school tomorrow morning. Plus, the boots cost $20-$30 and I have a hard time paying that much for something he might only wear 3 or 4 times before he outgrows them.

So I called a local kids consignment shop and learned that they had gender-appropriate rain boots in Tai's size for a mere $6.50. Even if I bought the cheapest boots online, that's a savings of $13.50.* So I practically ran out the door, in the middle of the work day, to get those boots.

Now my boy has boots to wear tomorrow. And he really likes them. He was wearing them around the house this evening and was very excited to show them off to Minh when he arrived home from work.

Oddly enough, somewhere along the way, I must have developed a thing for green shoes. Without realizing what I was doing, I've purchased Tai three pairs of green shoes in the past several months (see photo). Someday I'm sure he'll tell his therapist all about it--how all the other kids had lots of different-colored shoes and he only had green.

*And for those of you who haven't studied Minh-conomics, that means I actually made $13.50 today and I rellay need to treat it like found money and go splurge on something.

"Don't take this the wrong way..."

That's how Minh started his proposal that he buy me the newest thing in hair-care because the Frizzies are just out of control.  Apparently, my hair is looking so tormented these days, it was actually distracting him during a recent staff meeting.  (So perhaps work should pay for this new endeavor, as my dry frazzled hair might actually be negatively impacting my co-workers' concentration and productivity?)

What remains a mystery to me, at this point, is:

(1) How Minh even knows about this new "hair phenomenon," especially since he doesn't have any hair of his own.

(2) Whether this really is the miracle product it claims to be.

(3) Which "flavor" he's buying me.

At some point in the near-ish future, I'll be sure to post a review. I know you'll all be waiting with bated breath. 

What did he just say?

Herpan-Coxsa-What?

Tai was a member of The Toddler Room for all of 3 days before catching his first disease. Last Thursday he was diagnosed with herpangina, (which sounds too much like Herpes). It's caused by coxsackie (which sounds dirty) and is similar to hand-foot-and-mouth disease (which sounds very much like a livestock issue to me.)

On Thursday our pediatrician (whom we love) warned us, "this is not a fun one." To which Minh quickly replied, "yeah, and RSV was a blast." And on Friday Minh was wondering what the big deal was--Tai already seemed much better. But later that night we figured out what the doctor was talking about. He was right, it's not a fun one (are there actually fun diseases?)

Long story short, Tai was pretty miserable for a couple days, not inclined to eat much, and (worst of all) too uncomfortable to sleep at night. But he's all better now and our only remaining problems is breaking his new habit of sleeping in our bed.

Dinner at the Farm

Last week we were enticed by an email invitation to come have dinner at our CSA. Since Tai absolutely LOVES going to the farm, we figured it would be a good time. And it was.

But after spending $12 on two very small sandwiches and $25 on a HUGE box of organic Maine blueberries, we still left hungry. Minh and I ended up eating frozen pizza that night after Tai went to bed.

The good news is we have enough blueberries in our freezer to last many months.

Leaving My Baby

Tonight I'm headed to Cambridge for a work thing on Thurs-Fri. Which means I'll be spending my first night (two nights, actually) away from Tai. Ever.

I used to make fun of parents who had 1 year-olds and had never slept away from them. Well, Tai is almost 20 months old and he and I have slept in the same building every night since he was born. Accordingly, this will be the first time Minh has done a solo overnight with Tai.

I'm looking forward to Hotel Sleep, all by myself. But I'm sure I'll miss Tai terribly. Yes, I am now the clingy mother that I used laugh at. At least I can admit it.

Happy Camper

Our trip went better than expected, which means I don't have any particularly interesting stories to tell. Tai slept really well, ate really well, and had lots of fun hiking, swimming, and playing with his friend Natahsa.

Best of all, we discovered two new people who like to play Maui. Unfortunately, one of them took to it so well that he kicked our butts several times.

It's Like We're Camping Already

If you live in South Hadley, don't drink the water. There's poop in the water.

Apparently E. coli was detected in our water and now we have to boil all our cooking and washing water and drink bottled water. What a pain in the ass it was to wash dishes after dinner last night. (We are soooo getting take-out tonight.)

Luckily, tomorrow we're headed here for our Second Annual Camping With-Child Adventure. It has to go better than last year's trip. It just HAS to.

Death Defying Dog

This past weekend Tai and Buttons and I had a lovely walk around the lake at MHC. Tai, riding on my back in the ergo, enjoyed frequently pointing out the water and occasionally suggesting that Buttons should "pee-pee." Buttons enjoyed trotting around off-leash, sniffing the smells left behind by other dogs, and taking a drink from the lake. We even ran into a long-lost doggie friend and walked with her and her parents for a while.

Since we were having such a lovely time, I decided we should take a little side-trip up the path that leads to the MHC stables, where all the Alexises keep their horses. We've done this a few times before and Tai always enjoys it.

So we said good morning to all the horses who were hanging out in their fenced-in pens. Each horse had its own space, separated from the others by a fence made of three horizontal planks, the bottom one being about 18 inches off the ground. We took about 10 minutes to walk all around and visit each horse. Several of them came right over to the fence as we approached hoping I had bought them their breakfast. Tai was having a blast and Buttons was being so good. She stayed near me, though occasionally ventured right up to the fence for a sniff and then returned to the middle of the path, with me.

And then it happened.

Apparently, the allure of tasty horse shit just on the other side of the fence was too much for Buttons. So she ducked under the bottom rail, into a pen that contained a horse. She immediately regretted her decision. The horse whose pen she had infiltrated was not pleased. Each time I replay the scene in my head it gets worse, so by now I can conjure up an image of the horse with fire in his eyes and smoke billowing out his nostrils as he reared up in the air directly above my dog.

It wasn't actually quite that bad. But the horse was clearly agitated and did start trotting back and forth a bit, and then started moving closer to Buttons. (Who was right up against the fence, frantically running back and forth, trying to figure out how to get back on the other side, and looking at me for help.) I, of course, was yelling for her to come to me.

After what was probably only 60 seconds, but felt like much longer, she remembered how to duck back under the fence. Of course, she ducked right into the next horse's pen and got that one fired up before taking a hard left and ducking out into safety.

After we hastily descended the hill back down the path around the lake, Buttons immediately ran into the water and took a quick swim. Then she got out, shook the water off herself, and looked me straight in the eye, and I'm sure she was thinking, "did you see what just happened? holy shit!"

Luckily, she was not hurt and I did not have to get yelled at by some stable boy about how I shouldn't have had my dog up there in the first place. I guess we got off easy and learned our lesson.

Maine: The 3rd and Final Installation

So yes, the trip got better after that first night.

Saturday morning we set out with two immediate tasks on the agenda: (1) buy Tai some shoes and (2) get some yummy breakfast. Luckily, the all-night Wal-Mart that sells cold beer also sells cheap imitation crocs that sort of fit Tai. Good enough for a few days, anyway. And despite being led astray by the Days Inn desk clerk, we did eventually find ourselves a place to eat breakfast.

Luckily, we checked out of the Days Inn on Sunday morning and moved to a charming little B&B right on the edge of Bowdoin's campus -- walking distance from the center of this cute little college town. The B&B was very nice, but I think we appreciated it even more because of our Days Inn experience. (Again, no need to discuss who wanted to stay at the B&B all four nights and who decided to cheap out and go for the Days Inn.)

Tai was instantly thrilled with our new room. As soon as Minh opened the door Tai squealed with delight "feeeeeeen!" And there was, indeed, a ceiling fan right in the middle of our new *huge* and very clean room. He spent the next 2 days periodically requesting that we turn the fan on. And then immediately off. He was always kinda miffed that after we turned it off it took 5 whole minutes to actually stop spinning. He'd give me a mistrustful look as if to say, "Did you really hit the switch? It's still going..."

I can't stress how wonderful these new accommodations were. There were two full-sized beds, a desk and chair, and two wicker lounging chairs, and STILL plenty of open floor space to walk around and play. The bathroom was bigger than my kitchen and there must have been about 7 clean fluffy-white towels in there waiting for us. And they brought us *fresh* ones the next day! Imagine that!

We had a lovely time exploring Mid-Coast Maine as a family of three. We took Tai to see the water and lots of boats. We attended a peace fair that included live children's music and we did some shopping in Freeport. Whenever in doubt of what to do next, we let him play in a toy store and then paid the "admission" for the 30 minutes of fun by purchasing him a toy.

Although I hate to make sweeping generalizations, I am certain there is absolutely no foam soap in the state of Maine. I think it's a state law or something. I was continually (and unpleasantly) surprised each time I pressed a soap dispenser in a public bathroom and the palm of my hand was dosed with thick, goopy liquid soap.

We came to rate restaurants based on their ability to meet our needs as people dining with a 19-month old. A restaurant that served luke-warm, mediocre food, but with very fast service and lots of free oyster crackers topped the list. This, we've decided, is preferable to excellent food and slow service. Don't even get me started on the place with incredibly slow service and mediocre food.

By the end of the trip, Tai and I even had a "usual" lunch spot. It was --get this -- inside a store. And not like how Wal-Mart has a McDonalds or how Costco has a food court. This was a real restaurant, with waitresses and daily specials, inside a "variety" store that sold, as best I could tell, fabric by the yard, nursing scrubs, shoes, and dried spices. The service was lightning fast, the waitresses (and patrons) fawned over Tai, and the BLTs and grilled cheese were delicious. Just to further set the scene...Tai and I lunched there two days in a row and both times we were the only patrons under 70 years old. As we walked out, slowly passing each table of senior citizens enjoying American chop suey and cups of decaf, I felt like we were doing a public service. Every face he smiled at lit up with delight. It was like taking a dog to a nursing home.

Despite my tendency to highlight the "quirky" parts of the weekend, it really was a fun trip and I'd visit Brunswick again without hesitation. But it is good to be back in Massachusetts, the Land of Foam Soap.