Additional, Assorted Lake Photos

A few other good picts that I had to post from our trip, in random order this time :)

Finley happily chatted most of the way home from the airport, pointing out all sorts of trucks and vehicles to his grandparents' amazement.

We went to the clubhouse for dinner and Finley occupied himself while we waited for our food...until he got bored of that and Dan took him for a walk and found something awesome.

We went to visit to visit the Estate of James Monroe and while Finley wasn't thrilled with walking through the house, the grounds were fun to explore.

We also visited one of the playgrounds near the lake. Finley wasn't in a terribly playful mood after taking not one but two falls, but at least he doesn't look any worse for the wear.

Finley thought it would be funny to put on his dad's crocs while we rode back to the airport and he was right!!

Great (artistic!!) shot of the two boys eagerly watching the vehicles moving around the tarmac and the arrival of our plane.

Priceless

Before signing off for a while, I just had to post this awesome picture I snapped at a local kids consignment shop on Friday afternoon. We walked in and Finley's eyes bugged out of his head when he saw this huge THOMAS ride on train. "Hu-mas! Hu-mas!" (the T sound continues to elude him when referring to the beloved blue train)

He called out "choo choo" and "all aboard" about a dozen times and got out and back in several times. He was in heaven for sure. Let's just say that I was thrilled that Finley is still at the age when he doesn't think things from stores are "allowed" to come home with us :) This train was probably pretty expensive, even second hand, but his smile was certainly priceless!

West Hartford Day Trip

We got an early start on the day and drove down to West Hartford, CT to visit some friends who moved down there from MA last fall. Aliza and Finley are about six months apart and have met several times, but it was the first meeting with little Levi (Aliza's baby brother born in February). Whether it was simply easier to say or what, Finley said "Eevi" most of the ride down and upon seeing Aliza, called out "Eevi!" It was fairly comical trying to correct him the rest of the morning--"Finley, Levi is the baby and Aliza is the little girl" "Finley, Aliza is right there and Levi is night-night with Stacy" and on and on. At some point, it was a lost cause and I just enjoyed the fact that Finley was so interested in what Aliza was up to and wanting to communicate with her.

After getting acquainted, we set off for a farm just a short stroll away. No photos to share (oops) but the kids had fun checking out all sorts of animals: ducks, pigs, giant rabbits, chickens, cows, Mac the horse, sheep, goats, and even a turkey. It was great having Aliza there so I could say "Finley, go get Aliza" and "See how Aliza is walking like a big girl" to avoid having to carry him around! Then, we walked through the woods back to their neighborhood to play at their house for a while.

Stacy brought out some bubbles and the kiddos shared some pear slices. Finley wasn't quite sure how the bubbles wands worked, but licking it certainly didn't so at least he could cross that off his list!

I got to hold Levi for a while, too, until Finley decided he wanted to sit on my lap as well. Later we were off to the backyard and after a little bit of wandering, the pair sat down for a while. I like this picture, but I'm not sure what they both were staring at :)

After some more playing inside, we ate lunch and Aliza went up for a nap. Finley and I tried to entertain Levi while Stacy was putting Aliza down and Finley thought since Levi was laying down on a blanket, perhaps he was "nigh nigh." Finley grabbed a pillow off the couch to go " nigh nigh," too.

Finley sure seemed very grown up compared to little Levi and it was great to see him be so kind towards such a wee one. Finley saw Aliza hug Levi earlier and then asked if he could hug him, too, which he did. Aliza is a great big sister and Finley had a blast with his two CT buddies!

From Stacy's perspective: http://alizahazel.blogspot.com/2011/07/we-had-busy-week-as-summer-rolls-on.html

Happy C of O!

Last week, we celebrated Dan's building project receiving its official C of O (certificate of occupancy) with a big, homemade cake! As soon as I put the cake on the table, Finley smiled and called out "HAPPY!!"

Getting to celebrate everyone's birthdays at daycare makes him an expert on such holidays and therefore cake=happy birthday. So we sang "Happy Birthday" to Dan's building at Harvard and then dove into the cake.

Finley finished the remainder of this very generous piece (minus most the frosting) on his own and while he did ask for more, he settled on washing down his delicious dessert with a big gulp of water.

Happy C of O to Dan, we are so proud of you!

Haircut 2.0 and Unexpected Milestone

We certainly made a big deal of getting Finley's locks cut the first time around, but here we are about two and a half months later with a completely different plan of attack. Last week I mentioned to Beth (Finley's daycare lady) that he was in need of a haircut since his mullet was not the look we were going for and she said she'd cut like she does for some of the other kiddos. I said "oh, sure let me get back to you on that" and thought to myself, "no no no, we have to go back to Rosie in NY." However, after a few more days of looking at Finley's out of control mane, I decided to ask Beth to do it and see just how "hands off" and "chill" a mom I could actually be. On Wednesday, I dropped him off and asked her to cut it at some point during the day (basic cutting guidelines: short in the back, trim over the ears, and trimmed with layers on top). That was it. I left, taught my science class, gave blood, and went back to get my little guy. He was napping when I arrived (I love it when that happens!) and after hanging out with Finley's friends for a while, Finley came downstairs and my jaw dropped since he looked like such a little boy! I tell you, it was like he was suddenly 3 years old! Beth did a great job and she said he did pretty well on the stool getting his haircut, plus all the kids wanted to watch and made him laugh all the while. Beth even had to give a few other fake haircuts to the enthusiastic audience members afterwards!

The rest of the afternoon, I couldn't stop trying to picture what Finley had looked like that morning and how much more grown up he looked after his haircut. I hadn't taken any close up mullet, long bangs pictures lately so no befores, only afters:

Oh--and this picture also shows what's left of the scrape on Finley's temple from his first real tumble. On Sunday night, while we were having dinner with friends on our deck, little Finley was entertaining himself VERY nicely with his garden tools when he reached too far over the edge of the deck and rolled onto the concrete path below. It all happened in slow motion and I leapt from my chair to scoop him up but he'd certainly landed on his head. (imagine the horror!) He wailed in my arms, but it seemed to be more from shock than serious injury as he'd just scraped his noggin and a little bit above his eye. I took him inside and tried to put some ice on his head, but he requested to eat some ice instead. Okay. I noticed some blood on my shirt and discovered Finley's finger was actually cut up from the concrete. I found a smallish bandaid and wrapped up his finger before taking him back outside with a bowl of blueberries. He smiled at everyone outside and we all remarked how well he had recovered from his fall. He inhaled the blueberries, though never once using his bandaid-ed finger (on his semi-dominant right hand) and once he was off playing he avoided using that hurt finger--keeping it pointed out and stiff. It was quite comical actually. When it was time for bed, he held his finger out to me saying "off off" so I took the bandaid off and risked a little blood on his sheets. Something told me that he wouldn't fall asleep with that tiny bandaid on.

He slept well and when he started talking in the morning, I rushed in to see how big a goose egg was on his head...but just a scrape on his forehead, eye, and his finger was already scabbed over. What a relief!! And as you can see from the picture below--a bump on the head and a haircut are no match for Finley's enthusiasm at the dinner table :)

The Pride of Lowell

No, we didn't take Finley to see the Pride of Lowell, as depicted in The Fighter, but the next best thing that we know of in Lowell--minor league baseball! Our generous neighbors gave us their sweet seats to last night's Lowell Spinners vs Hudson Valley Renegades so the whole family piled in the car to take in the game. The park is really cool and our seats were SO close, we could almost reach the dugout and get onto the field. Since Finley had napped for so long, we made it to the game just as the first couple of pitches were being thrown so we quickly sat down and tuned in. Finley was looking all around and must have recognized "beeball" from our experiences of watching little league down the street, whenever he'd catch a glimpse of the ball he'd point it out and yell "BALLLL!"

In between inning, they did all sorts of fun stuff of the crowd: a frisbee catching dog, t-shirt slingshot, mascot relay races, etc. Sadly, Finley wasn't a huge fan of the giant mascots or the wild crowd cheers, but he handled it alright. He did like the cars racing around the outfield, the little girls sitting near us, clapping with the music in between batters, and the giant Hood Milk Bottle on the centerfield wall.

We sat watching the game for about 4 or 5 inning before walking around a bit.

There's a kid area which will be perfect for Finley in a few years (bouncy house, skeeball, t-ball, tokens, prizes, etc) and after taking him there to scope out the scene, we hopped in a food line. I assumed our cliche-picky-toddler would surely eat a hot dog and anything else would be a bonus. We ordered a hot dog (only $1.50!) for Finley, Dan got a sausage, and I got some chicken fingers and fries for all to share. We sat down and Finley seemed repulsed by the hot dog, seriously repulsed. Hm. We waited a few minutes and tried again, but got nowhere. Hm. He decided to try a french fry, which he hasn't liked in months, and loved it! He ate up a handful, asked for more, and ate my handful. But since hot dogs were a no go, I was worried he wouldn't be full, so I offered a chicken finger but that also seemed repulsive to his sensitive palate. Ug. While he did have chicken nuggets for lunch, I didn't think he was saying no out of boredom. He held onto that chicken finger for upwards of ten minutes and just when I thought there was no hope, he took a bite and devoured it. He asked for more and ate another half that I hadn't eaten (thankfully!). Phew, mission accomplished for a complete baseball game experience!

We stayed until about the 7th inning or so and decided to leave on a high note as Finley clapped with the crowd as the home team finally scored a run to make it 8-1 bad guys. Not a good night for the Spinners, but the Forseters had a blast and if our neighbors are so kind, it won't be our last (free!) visit to the LeLacheur Park. Play ball!

Finley Hits the Beach

Last Sunday we had the pleasure of spending the day down on the beach in Clinton, CT. Dan's best friend, Eric (whom he has known since he was 11, went to Tufts with us and was the best man at our wedding) was visiting his folks at their beach house and invited us to come down. No need to ask twice, we were packed and ready to go! With Finley's love of the sandbox, we knew the beach would be a big hit.

While the weather wasn't terribly cooperative, we made the best of it. Finley liked the sand, but getting to throw rocks (which is usually a no-no) into the waves was the main attraction.

After a 3 hour plus nap (yes, on foreign ground in a busy beach house) and a rainstorm, Finley and Dan went back to the beach and I snapped these photos from the second floor. It was funny to watch them and try to figure out what the conversation was between the two of them.

We also visited the pool just down the block, but as our swim lesson experience taught us--Finley was more of an observer than a swimmer. He did have fun throwing all the pool toys into the kiddie pool that had an exciting current that sent all the toys around and around.

I wish I'd taken more pictures, but Finley was a man on the go and really went with the flow from playing with boggle cubes on the living room floor and coasters at the coffee table, cooking in their play kitchen, eating A LOT of strawberries from Eric's mom, sitting in a grown-up chair at dinner and actually eating his food, watching Eric's four nieces dance to you tube videos, and generally being happy and outgoing. He chatted most of the way home and finally fell asleep with about a half hour left in the drive, but passed out nicely in his crib upon arrival.

Thanks to Eric and his whole family for letting us crash their pad!