Finley and Girls

So, being a boy himself, Finley seems to prefer boys over girls. Except in my case, which is just fine.  He helped to make a wonderful Mother's Day weekend for me and his GG.  Grandpa, GG, Aunt Ellie and Soon-to-be-offically Uncle Donny were all up from New York this past weekend and we had a lovely time together.  We checked out some yard sales, a HUGE garden center, a great playground, and ate lunch in one of the towns we are house hunting in on Saturday.  GG and Grandpa babysat Finley on Saturday night while the four younger  adults had a fun dinner out in Cambridge.  On Sunday, Ellie made a delicious french toast breakfast for everyone before we headed out to Castle Island where we walked, talked, and Finley got to dig in the sand and dip his feet in the icy bay.  The weather was spectacular and just being together as a big family was all a mother (or a grandmother) could ask for.  Though it was nice to get some cards and my own pair of lime green crocs, too :) Thanks, boys!

GG played football with Finley in the living room before bed on Saturday night and it was the first thing he asked about doing when he woke up on Sunday so while Finley can be boy-centric, he doesn't seem to know about the professional sporting limitations for women which is great!! We won't tell him that his mom, Grammy, or his GG will NEVER let him play football when he gets older...

I'm crushed that we didn't take any Mom's Day photos, but we were just on the move having fun that the moment never presented itself!

But continuing on with the girl subject matter...Finley has learned a lot about girls from the friends he has at daycare.  There are two girls his age and two girls who are nearing four, all of which seem to leave quite an impression on our little stud.  One morning at drop off, I knelt down and gave Finley a kiss on his cheek and Molly bounced over and promptly gave Finley a kiss on his other cheek.  Ha! Finley seemed flustered, saying "Mollllly..."  A week ago, we were in line somewhere and a little girl had a barbie-type doll that she was waving around.  Finley asked, "What's that toy, mommy?" and I responded, "I think it's a doll."  Quick as a whip, he shoots back, "No, I think it's a princess." He went on to tell me that Janie likes princesses and Hannah does, too.  In NH a couple weekends back, we were in the restaurant bathroom waiting our turn when a teenage girl came in.  She was clearly in her prom dress and Finley asked me, "Why that princess in the bathroom?" So funny!

We are trying to get Finley excited about the impending arrival of his new little sister and so far, he seems to be getting it.  A few times when people have asked him if it is a girl or a boy in mommy's belly, he has said it's a boy...so I'm not sure if that's just wishful thinking or what.  I took him to my 32 week check up this week and after listening to the baby's heartbeat, the doctor asked what he wanted to name the baby (we're up for any and all suggestions!), he hesitated and then said "sister."  Cuteness.

On a final girl note, Finley's new favorite dance-in-the-kitchen song is Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"---totally awesome, right?  This dance party broke out in the middle of dinner tonight.  Listen right at the beginning as he sings along and don't mind Dan talking in the background (he wasn't in the kitchen and didn't know I was filming!).

Perhaps this song will be a good one to keep in mind as the number of girls in the house matches the boys this summer!

T is for the T in Tufts!

Last weekend, Finley and I went up to NH and VT to be in the cheering section as Dan coached the Tufts frisbee guys in the regional championships.  The weather was wonderful and there's nothing that Finley loves more than being outside running around.  Running around with all his sports equipment that is...our "sports bag" carries a baseball bat (or two), a tennis racquet, his baseball glove, Dan's baseball glove, a football, a soccer ball, a plastic/beach ball, a couple of tennis balls, and a plastic softball.  Good thing most of those items don't weigh much :)

We set up our chairs and spent the day back in forth between watching the boys play, eating snacks, playing sports together, and letting Finley run onto the field with Dan after goals were scored.  While Finley enjoyed playing sports with me, he was also very interested in playing with Eli (3rd grader, son of another coach).  Eli was a great sport and was very patient "playing" baseball with our guy.  Finley even ran off at one point to join Eli who was playing soccer with Gavin, one of the Tufts players.

Getting to go onto the field with Dan was certainly a highlight, though, and Finley even got to go and shake hands with some of the opposing teams after games were over.

Thankfully, when I needed a break, we could go wander over to find Eliot whose mom was coaching the Tufts women's team.  Finley and Eliot get along quite wonderfully and they happily shared some snacks, did some push ups, and then the giggling really got going.

After Saturday's games, we went back to our hotel and then went out to dinner.  A delicious dinner that was followed by a visit to an ice cream stand in a Home Depot parking lot just down the road that Dan and I recalled visiting years back.  What more could a kid ask for??  

Yes, that was the "baby" sized serving that we had to scrape into a bowl to prevent a huge mess.  Thankfully, after licking his way through 1/2 a scoop or so--he asked Dan to get most of the ice cream off so he could bite the cone.  He also sampled my strawberry ice cream and Dan's mint chocolate chip soft serve.

We tucked him into his travel crib and crossed our fingers for a good night's sleep for everyone.  Turns out he slept like a champ (until a heavenly 7am!) but I was up at 5am listening to him breathe...and trying to avoid walking past him to the bathroom (which at 31 weeks pregnant was more than a challenge!).  We then had breakfast with all the other coaches and Finley's adopted big brother, Eli, before heading back to the fields.

The team played really well and despite some moments of pure exhaustion on Finley's part, we had another lovely day at the fields.  During the finals, both Eli and Finley had fun trying out a new cheering strategy on the sidelines. Check it out!

Tufts beat Dartmouth in an uneventful finals game, phew!, and earned a bid to Nationals! Woo-hoo!

Here's the team photo that Finley was invited to be in as we were packing up :)

It was after 4pm at this point so we piled into the car with two of Dan's co-coaches, Mike and Mike, and by the time we were out of the parking lot-->

Both the Tufts men and the Tufts women will be competing for a National title at the College Championships in Boulder, CO over Memorial Day weekend. Dan will be flying out there but his two trusty sidekicks will be staying here in Boston checking updates online and cheering from the East Coast :)

Finley Rocks Out

Finley's been jamming for months with his guitars, drums sticks and just about anything else he can pretend is an instrument.  He has very particular musical tastes and has become accustomed to being the DJ in the car with me, making all the song requests.

His top five non-kid music choices these days:
1. Tom Petty's "Refugee"
2. Surivor's "Eye of the Tiger" (Rocky soundtrack)
3. Beatles' "Yellow Submarine"
4. Guster's "Ramona"
5. LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" aka Push it

Eclectic, no?

While we do love listening to music in our house, playing it is far more fun.  After baking some blueberry muffins and then tasting our hard work, it was time to rock out.  I put on the radio and Finley grabbed his drumsticks, flipped over the empty laundry basket and voila:

He often comes close to hitting himself in the head...maybe we need to bring his bike helmet upstairs...After drumming for a while on the basket, he moved on to air drumming and danced ALL around the living room and all I had to do was play the air guitar from a safe distance as he bounded around feeling the beat.

P.S. He LOVED watching this video of himself on my phone and couldn't wait to show Dan when he got home.  "Look at my with my drum, Daddy!"

Finley takes the Alpine PLunge

So I got this article forwarded to me from the NYT's most popular and while I kind of laughed it off at the time, it did stay on my mind later in the afternoon.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/a-surprising-risk-for-toddlers-at-playground-slides/

Finley and I rolled up to one the nice playgrounds near us and he immediately jumped out of the car and made a run for the giant alpine slides as he watched some kids going up and down.  He paused at the bottom of the huge staircase and said, "Can I go up there, mommy?"  I said "of course" and he quickly started up, but after five or six steps turned around and invited me up.  Ug. I don't know whether it was my tired-30-weeks pregnant self or that NYT's article impacting my decision more...but I said, "No thank you, go can go by yourself."  In a surprising turn of events, he actually seemed okay with going solo and continued up the mountain with lots of reminders from me to use the handrail.

Gulp, he climbed higher and higher with me being farther and farther away. Can you get a sense of how high up this slide is??? I almost ran up to join him out of fear he'd fall before ever reaching the top, but I maintained my composure and he made it!

He excitedly called out that he was ready and then went down with no prompting or cheering from me.

 I was truly in shock and awe that he climbed up there and slid down all of his own.  My little fraidy-cat was no more! Has our timid caterpillar finally sprouted wings and taken off???  At least for today...here's his second trip down where he waited for another little boy to come and go down with him at the same time.  The boy could've cared less, but luckily Finley's reading of subtle social cues isn't quite that sensitive yet.

He went down one more time and then it was off to the sandbox for some more low-key and low-elevation fun. Phew :)

Trash Days!

Being out in the world with a toddler is much more exciting than just walking around on your own because around every corner, there might be something that will make you jump up and down and scream out in joy...okay, it'll make the toddler do that, but the enthusiasm is contagious!

The other morning, Finley and I were out running errands and as we headed back to our car, we turned the corner and ta-da--a garbage truck! Finley's latest truck obsession live right in front of us, picking up trash!!  

He asked if we could follow it and so we did and he watched the two garbage men loading the trash like a hawk.

 We walked with the truck for about two blocks, got waves from the garbage men, and the driver even pulled the really loud horn for us.  Life was good.  At some point, we had to move on with our morning and we headed off to a playground about ten minutes away.  We parked the car and Finley commented that everyone had their trash on the sidewalk so the garbage truck must be on its way...brilliant deduction!  He asked if we could sit on the curb and wait for it but thankfully I convinced him that if we played on the playground, we could keep an eye out for the truck and come back to see it.  We played for about 45 minutes or an hour (with many false alarms for garbage truck arrivals, silly Finley), but as we were about to go down a pair of slides, I heard the much-anticipated truck around the corner so we made a run for it!

Amazingly, it was the SAME garbage truck that we saw in the center of town and I'm pretty sure the driver recognized me and gave me a sympathetic smile :)  We sat on the curb and watched all the bins and cans being emptied house by house on the street and when the truck turned a corner, Finley begged for us to run and catch it.  Ug.  I suggested we hop in the car to track it and he obliged, so the hunt was on!  We watched the big truck go down another street and a half before I made up a reason for us to have to get home so we waved to the truck and headed off.

Finley has loved trucks as long as we can remember and while his attention has mostly gone to the world of construction vehicles, trains and garbage trucks have come into his focus which has been a welcome change!  We have several different toy garbage trucks at home and each day (sometimes several times), Finley will use his fireman little people figure as a garbage man and pick up all sorts of trash.  He asks me to use the firedog as my garbage dog and fill up a second truck.  Recently, we have been talking more about recycling and now he has a line of four garbage cans (round blocks) and several recycling bins (small, upside down foam bridge blocks).

Thankfully life imitates art around here and Finley is an excellent trash man on Thursday nights after dinner--emptying trash cans around the house, dragging full bags to the basement door, and helping Dan roll the trash can and recycling bins down to the curb.  Plus, on Friday afternoons, he's eager to pull all the empty containers back up to the garage!  Boys will be boys!

The Big Apple Circus!

After much discussion and debate, we decided to buy tickets for all three of us to go see the Big Apple Circus! Why the back and forth? Well, it's hard to know with 2 year olds what they will like, love, hate, fear, find funny, etc. and Finley's no different.  While he LOVES airplane flights, he's 100% afraid of water sprinklers...so we weren't sure how a circus would be for him.  However, we figured it was worth a shot so we got some tickets, checked out circus books at the library, and even looked at pictures of the performers on the Big Apple's website.  We suspected the part he would be least fond of would be the volume of the whole thing so we told him that parts of the show would be loud but not scary.  We listed other loud things he likes: airplanes, garbage trucks, guitar music, drums, fire engine sirens, etc.  He seemed to understand, but wasn't thrilled that it was going to be loud inside the tent.  Ah well.

We wanted to make a whole outing out of it so that in case the circus went over like a lead balloon (thanks to Mary and Mr. Buggy for this useful phrase), the evening wouldn't be a total loss.  We drove downtown and parked and then went to check out the tent before it got dark.

Finley enjoyed hearing about how lots of workers had to set up the tent and get it ready for our show and he was thrilled to see it for himself.

 We passed by the tent and then made our way to Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market to get some dinner.  

Walking there was certainly great fun for Finley!  Look at that smile!

We stopped to watch some breakdancers performing in the market and Finley seemed interested, which boded well for the circus performers to come later on.  However, we were all pretty hungry so we headed for the Pizzeria Regina counter and ordered some slices.  Finley devoured his while I munched mine and Dan went in search of a gyro.  When he returned, we all enjoyed our meal and the people watching in the food court dining area.

After he'd eaten quite a bit, though, Finley's tune began to change.  He said he didn't want to go to the circus.  Hm.  He said his tummy hurt.  Uh-oh.  He said he wanted to use the potty since his tummy hurt.  Eureka!! Our hands off approach to potty training may have worked!!! Alas, he wasn't so keen on finding the bathroom after all and climbed back into his seat to finish his pizza.  Oh well.  We cleaned up everything and had some time to spare before the show, so as a distraction measure we went to the Crocs store to get Finley some Jibbitz to jazz up his handmedown crocs.  (What's a jibbit, you ask? It's a little plastic decorative figure/shape you pop into the hole of your crocs.)  Despite looking a bit green in the gills, Finley thoughtfully picked out a basketball and a cool, red robot.  However, by the time he'd picked them out and handed them to Dan to pay for--he was just not right and I figured perhaps a diaper change was in order as he continued to complain about his stomach hurting.  I told Dan that I thought he was really nervous and anxious about going to the circus and perhaps that is why his tummy was hurting him, call it motherly instinct ;)  No need for a fresh diaper after a visit to the changing table in the bathroom, oh well, but it was time to head over to the tent so Dan popped him up on his shoulders and off we went.  We asked Finley to tell us when he saw the big tent and he seemed excited to spy it off in the distance.

He showed the lady our tickets and proudly climbed into his own seat to wait for the show.

 No more photos once the show started, so I'll fill you in.  He took turns in both our laps, clearly getting worked up about the upcoming show.  Eek.  But all in all, he did great.  He sat in my lap and while he was nestled up pretty closely for most of the performance, he did sit up now and then pointing things out and leaning over to tell Dan what he saw.  We brought along his beloved Owly (his lovey that stays in the crib except for plane rides and long car trips), which turned out to be a great idea since it seemed to help him stay calm and watch the show.  He wasn't such a fan of the music and flashing lights, but he did like the jumping acrobats, kids who volunteered to come out from the audience, and the horses.  He never cried or screamed and he watched very intently never looking away, but I could tell from how he was breathing and snuggling into me that he wasn't quite sure about the whole thing.  I narrated things the best I could and reassured him throughout, he talked back calmly, asked some questions, and told me what was happening that he could see.  After about forty-five minutes or so, there was an intermission and we asked Finley if he wanted to stay for more circus or go home.  He said he was all done and ready to go home so we decided to go with his lead and head out.  He said goodbye to the circus and happily got a smiley-face hand stamp on the way out the door.  He told us he liked the jumpers (acrobats) and the horses as we walked away from the big tent. Phew! Dan was parched so we popped into CVS to grab a drink and being the nervous mom that I can be, I asked Finley if he would like a special treat to eat in the car since we were so proud of how brave he was at the circus.  The answer, of course, was "yes" so we bought a small bag of M&M's that he proudly carried back to the car.  Finley has only had M&M's a couple of times--from the one neighbor's house he trick-or-treated at in the fall and after some medicine this winter.  But I was pretty sure these little chocolate gems would assure a positive end to our circus adventure.  Below is a blurry car photo as he happily munched his dessert as we left the garage :)

Okay, so I probably overcompensated...but we all felt happier and more relaxed after sharing some chocolate!

Long, long story short--we had a good time and are happy that we took the chance and went to see the circus.  Can't wait to hear what Finley has to say about our evening's adventure when he wakes up in the morning!!

Update: Since typing this last night, Finley woke up this morning and when we asked him what we did yesterday he excitedly said, "the circus!" and he said he liked going there and he liked the jumpers and the horses.  Sweet.

Beach-Worthy Weather

After the mildest of winters and a week of July-like weather in March, we haven't been too sure what to  expect weather-wise but it was a scorching 89 degrees on Monday (sorry Boston marathoners) and near 80 yesterday.  Finley and I are on spring break this week and Dan kindly took off the week to spend with us, which means lots of family time.  However, it also means, lots of time for me to relax and let the boys hang out since I'm now 28 weeks pregnant (have I failed to mention that in this forum??).  Yesterday I had some appointments, so I left the guys to fend for themselves and lo and behold around 10am I got some photos emailed to me from them.

Yep--they'd gone to the beach! Well, a lake with sand...over in Winchester, about 15 minutes from our place.  The emails sounded like Finley was having a blast and they would be home for a late lunch.  Both boys arrived home sunned and covered in sand, raving about all the fun they had.  Finley snuggled in for a nap while Dan and I ate lunch and hung out. When Finley got up, Dan quickly asked him if he'd like to go back to the beach again but this time with mommy and daddy.  A resounding "yes!" was heard from his crib so after changing clothes and reapplying sunscreen, we were off.

This place had everything a toddler such as ours could want:

1. Parking lot right across from commuter line railroad tracks and since it was nearing rush hour, the trains were plentiful.

2. A Beautiful Lake

Fleets of sailboats were all around and it couldn't have been lovelier to feel the sun on your back and the cool water on your toes.

3. Ducks

After feeding the ducks matzah last weekend with GG in NY, Finley was quite interested in these quacking friends that weren't shy or skittish.

4. Big, abandoned shovels, enough said.

5. More toys.  After their visit this morning, Dan brought more toys including our blue ball which was just like one Finley had played with alongside some other beach goers earlier.

Kicking and tossing it were fun, but not as fun at whacking it with the shovel and getting everyone all wet turned out to be.  We threw the frisbee around, dug up rocks to throw into the water, and while Finley didn't get in much past his knees--he thoroughly enjoyed the water.

6. Airplane flight path from Logan right over our heads, lots of planes to watch and wave to.

7. A nearly brand new playground!

Here is Finley peering into his "barn" getting ready to feed all his animals.

While debuting his new-to-him crocs, Finley was careful to take them off and dump out the little foam rubber pieces that were on the ground under the play structure.

He enjoyed being the captain of this little boat.

Even letting on a first mate (me!) and driving the boat to the "boat station" that I explained was called a "dock."

After discovering a long stick, he took it aboard as a fishing rod and came to bring us his catch.  If only he knew how I felt about seafood...

What an afternoon! I suspect this place gets PACKED on hot summer days so it will be nice for us to enjoy it until school lets out :) While we are house hunting, outings like these make me very thankful for how close we now live to such a wide variety of free, outdoor entertainment!  Way to go Super-Dad, all this fun started with you!