Morning Glory

Finley has returned to his old happy-go-lucky tricks and after a restful night's sleep, he had plenty of energy to burn this Saturday morning. When I finally convinced him that he should have some breakfast, we sat at the table and the silliness continued. As he finished his last few spoonfuls, he was trying to find his nose (he knows where his head is but isn't quite sure about nose versus mouth) he smeared his yogurt all over and got a fair amount on his hand. Then, he stuck that sticky hand into his beautifully clean hair and pulled.

Pretty good volume, huh? Who needs Dep?

Our weekend is off to a glowing start! Hooray that Finley's Aunt Ellie is on the road up to Boston from NY as we speak :)

Arlington Parks and Rec

As Finley continues to feel more like himself post-ear infection/conjunctivitis, we have been venturing out into the wide world of Arlington as spring slowly comes our way. Over the weekend, we walked to Robbins park (20 min walk) and it was so much fun to see Finley running around there since last time he was there, the swings were the only thing suited to his age.

He went up into the toddler structure with encouragement from Dan and had fun running across the bridge to the slide. We're still working on getting Finley to SIT DOWN before going down the slide or off a step and at times, we think he's getting it...Later, we wandered over to the wooden car where Dan and Finley hopped into the front seat.

Can you see that beautiful blue sky in the background?? Amazing!

Today, after checking in at the doctor to find out that Finley's ear infection has cleared but there's still some fluid in there, we tried out another Arlington playground. Magnolia Park is on the other side of Arlington from us and right next to the fields where Dan and I have played countless summer league frisbee games. This playground has lots of stuff for kids Finley's size, so I knew he'd have fun. There is a big structure and toddler one, lots of swings, sand toys, old play kitchens, trucks and bikes, and a basketball court. However, I never imagined how easily Finley would take off and find his own fun!

Finley found out fairly quickly that pushing things in sand can be pretty tricky, but thankfully he found something else more fitting to play with. An "outdoor spoon" aka a shovel!

I tried to show him how to shovel up the sand, but he wasn't too interested until he realized that he could try and eat some of the sand. Oops. He picked up a piece of microscopic gravel and popped it into his mouth. I nearly dropped the camera and then stuck my finger into his mouth to retrieve it. Success! From then on, I said "yuck" about a dozen times before he figured out that he shouldn't eat sand. Finley, the shovel, and the soon-to-be-discovered bucket were inseparable for most of our time at the playground.

(the above is my favorite shot from the day!)

He made some "soup" for me and even offered me a bite (which I pretended to eat and enjoy).

The trio went up the structure and the fun continued.

They even went "off the reservation" for a while, where did this little trailblazer come from?

He wandered back and after a few trips down the slide, we found yet another fun place to play.

We ended our visit with some vehicular fun. Finley LOVES to push things around--things with wheels and things without. Lucky for him, there were plenty of things with wheels to test out.

Finley showed some signs of toddler-frustration when the vehicles would go off the sidewalk and refuse to be pushed any farther (i.e. tantrum-esque pouting), but hopefully he'll realize that learning to steer will be beneficial in the near future!

It was tough to leave, but we took a little walk around the neighborhood before getting in the car. Finley had fun on the sidewalks and touching some parked cars we passed, though it was hard to reason with him about not going onto people's lawns and up their front steps.

I know there are a TON of pictures in today's post, but getting to be outside in the sunshine and watching Finley be his adorable, happy self was such a lovely (and much needed) experience. I had to share!

Sick Days #1 #2 and #3

It finally happened. After nearly 16 months of life and 6 months of me going to school and Finley going to daycare, I had to take a day off to stay home with a slightly under the weather little boy. On Tuesday, I took Finley to the pedi to see if he had an ear infection. Since we missed the last one, I didn't want to take any chances and try to nip this one in the bud. Not to mention that he had goop in his eye when I picked him up from Beth's that afternoon, yucko.

Dan met us at the doctor's office for our 5:45 appointment and the doctor took one look at our patient and said, "Ok, we can start with conjunctivitis, but we'll see what else he has." Boo #1. She listened to his heart, lungs, looked up his nose, and into his ears. "Left ear looks good. Right ear, not so much. He's got an infection." Boo #2. She said she'd write a prescription for some antibiotics that will magically cure both the ear and eye situations. I asked, "Oh-so I don't have to put anything in his eyes? Phew!" Ten days of meds and that's it. He should be back to feeling like himself within 48 hours.

So I took Finley home while Dan went to pick up the prescription--boo on Walgreens for spelling Finley's name Finely. Here's Finley goofing around having a granola bar snack since he hadn't eaten much for dinner. Doesn't seem that sick, right? Looks more devious...

Except that his eyes were kinda goopy up close!

We doped him up and off to sleep he went. I called my boss and told her I would be staying home on Wednesday. So sick day #1 was spent mostly at home, except for a brief outing to the post office in the morning. After waking Finley from his morning catnap, he was quite sad and soon curled up on my lap and fell asleep! This is unheard of and clearly a sign of how terrible he was feeling, but I didn't mind the snuggling. Until my leg fell asleep, my arm, my butt, etc. So I adjusted a couple of times and he simply snoozed away. After snapping a few camera phone pictures, I managed to scoot up to the couch where we both slept for another hour. Pure heaven, aside from the fact that this all stemmed from illness.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home, attempting to eat, drinking lots of water, and taking his temperature with our fancy temporal artery thermometer (thank you, Costco coupon!). His fever continued throughout the day and into the night, but he pulled through. Sadly, since he can't return to daycare until he'd been fever free for 24 hours, Dan went into work and then turned right around to come home on Thursday to stay with Fin. Their day was much like the one before, lots of low key playing and tons of reading and lap time. I came home in the early afternoon and Dan did some work from home while Finley and I hung out. Poor guy was still warm to the touch despite the Tylenol and antibiotics coursing through his little body.

As the day rolled on, it became clear Finley wouldn't be able to back to daycare on Friday either. Oh help. After racking our brains for who could come over and chill out with a somewhat sick, but mostly recovering toddler for a while we were stumped. Since I had been out Monday for an all day conference and Wednesday for sick day #1, I felt bad being away from school again and Dan was quite behind after skipping work on Thursday. Oh heck. I emailed Sangwha who coaches my Alma mater frisbee team at Tufts (Dan coaches the men's team, too) to see what college chicks she knew who might be free. She came through with flying colors by connecting us with Jess, who was able to come at 7:15am to care for Finley. While she wasn't a really stranger, since she'd never met me or Finley...I was a bit nervous. To calm myself, I typed up two pages of notes about Finley and his schedule before going to bed on Thursday night.

We all slept well (enough) and Finley was still running a fever in the a.m. on Friday, but we were otherwise ready for the day. Jess came right on time and I gave her the rundown while Finley smiled away at her. I left feeling confident and managed to get through my school day (well, most of it, since I'd already planned to leave before lunch). I came home to full of strawberries and hot dog Finley, who immediately burst into tears when he saw me. "He was fine all morning, I promise!" Jess said as I scooped up my little boy. I told her that I had no doubt about that, but moms have this effect on their kids :) She said he was great and that they played trucks, did puzzles, played in the basement, and read Goodnight Moon 400 times. Sounds about right!! We said goodbye to Jess and Finley even gave her one of his hard to come by waves, sweet! Now he's napping away and I'm wrapping up this sick post, since I'm really hoping that tomorrow all will be right in Finley's world. Otherwise, back to the doctor to see what else we can do to nurse him back to health. Fingers crossed!

Challah!

We have been trying to capture Finley's chatterbox cuisine etiquette for a while now, but he tends to clam up whenever the camera comes out. Yesterday, near success! While he wasn't as chatty as he usually is when he eats, he was quite fun to watch. Finley eats most of his slice of challah bread and takes advantage of the 5-second rule, but more entertaining was when he tried to catch a glimpse of me from "behind" the tiny camera.

A Weekend Wonder

We may well never experience this again for a while, so I had to mention it here and look back someday to relive the glory. Both Saturday and Sunday mornings, Finley slept until after 7am! He squeaked here and there, but was basically snoozing well past his usual arousal time and the fact that he did it on the weekend when no one had to get up was downright exquisite!

We lounged around in our PJs after finally getting out of bed on Sunday, but Finley wasn't terribly interested in just wearing his PJs. He requested his shoes, so I obliged and then he sat happily watching Dan prepare our challah french toast for breakfast.

After breakfast, we pulled off his shoes and had plenty more playing to do. One of Finley's favorite new ways to "play" is to use the milk crate to crawl up onto the couch (that clearly needs a slipcover!) and hang out. Sometimes he walks back and forth on the cushions or tries to talk out the window to the kids who are playing in their backyard next door, but often he likes to just sit down and enjoy the view.

He still needs help getting down on his own, since he'd just walk off the edge and hope for the best, but Dan's been making progress getting him to sit down, turn around, and get a leg down onto the floor. Finley rewarded him with some rarely caught on camera snuggling :)

I doubt if Finley knows what a "weekend" is, but I suspect that any morning when he's not immediately changed out of his PJs clues him into the fact that it's a "home day." Thank you, Finley, for sleeping in and then sharing your happy, smiley self with us all weekend long.

Wet and Wild

After a two week hiatus (who wants to go during school vacation week with all those stinky school aged kids??), Finley and I ventured back to the Children's Museum. Finley climbed the stairs himself today, which was great for my back and his level of excitement. By the time he got to the second floor, he was just bursting to explore. We popped into the water table room and to my delight, Finley found a ladle and got right to "work." With every 1/2 inch he gains in height, he gets that much closer to being able to actually reach the water and swish it around. This time, he found out how fun it is to scoop the water out and dump it overboard.

Love that grin!

He worked really hard to turn the ladle the right way in order to actually get some water to dump out. There were many failed attempts. His shirt and shoes got quite wet on the more successful tries. The best part: I got to just sit back and watch. He would turn and chat to me frequently, but then get back to his own thing. The only time he "needed" me was when he dropped the ladle into the water and couldn't get it back...maybe next time he'll be tall enough to reach in and grab it!

We spent so long in the water table room that there wasn't much time left before we had to skiddaddle, but I did make sure we stopped in the PlaySpace so Finley could get into "his" car for a few minutes.

He pressed the music buttons and jammed for a few minutes before he finally took the wheel!

After the car ride, we jetted down the stairs and ran into a student of mine who was thrilled to see Finley and me. He shouted to his mom, who was one floor below us, "MOM--ALLISON AND FINLEY ARE HERE!" and after a pause, "ALLISON AND FINLEY ARE RIGHT HERE!" It was hysterical, almost as funny as later when his mom said to me, "I don't think he ever thought about you being out in the world like he is!" We said our goodbyes and made our way to the car. Finley chatted all the way in the stroller and we were both laughing as I put him into the car. It's can be very hard to shut the door on this adorable face!

Another great trip to the museum, who knows what we'll discover next time!

Just Cute

Well, we're biased, but we can't seem to get over how cute Finley is these days. I have nothing useful to report, but wanted to post these recent picts to reveal Fin's continuing adorableness :)

I know, I know--you're shaking your head, but it's my blog and I get to choose the content! Enjoy!

Took these this morning before we headed off to school. Too bad the Aquaphor I put on his forehead scratch reflected the camera flash...Thanks to Auntie Annemarie for the great shirt and matching socks!

Yes, Finley's a morning person--even on a weekday!