Mommy's Running Partner

On Saturday, Mommy had a race with her teammates in Central Park. There was a kids' run as well, so we decided to make a family outing of it and sign James up for his first race.

James carbo-loaded at dinner on Friday night.

He and Daddy cheered for Mommy in her race.

Then we waited for his race to begin.

Can you spot James on the starting line?

Sorry we don't have any photos of the actual race. It was pretty funny-- James, who usually runs everywhere, all of the time, just stood there when they said, "On your mark, get set, go!" The rest of the kids took off, and there stood James. I ran with him, and he just wanted me to carry him. What?! He still had a great time and was so happy with his t-shirt and ribbon.

Afterwards, we had a great time exploring the park from an almost three-year-old's point of view. There was much "mountain" climbing, playground playing, and walking about. We topped of our trip to the big city with a delicious brunch (James devoured his french toast!) and a well-deserved nap.

Spring Break!!!

James and I had different spring break weeks this year. His was the week after Easter; mine was the following week (last week).

Fortunately, Nana had the same break as James, so she and Pops came up for some fun. We had a wonderful Easter together, and James had a blast entertaining his grandparents all week. They went to the park, went to our little zoo, ate at the food court & rode the carousel at the mall, . . .

I even took a day off on Thursday, and we headed in to the Central Park Zoo.

James's favorite part of the zoo was the glockenspiel (he'd hear it and say, "The monkeys are hitting the bell with the hammer," which was true). He also really enjoyed the children's zoo. Watching him feed the sheep was SO fun and cute!

The "spider web" scared him off a bit at first, but once he climbed it, he was hooked and did NOT want to get out. Of course, at one point he got his foot stuck in the middle of the web immediately after losing the shoe from the other foot. At that point Mommy went bounding into the center of the web to "rescue" James.

The other Crazed Mom moment was at the end of our visit. James had just had a complete meltdown and was in his stroller leaving the children's zoo (much to his dismay) when we heard chimes begin for two o'clock. Knowing there were only two monkey strikes to see, I grabbed the stroller from Pops and tore down the hill toward the glockenspiel. It was like a kidnapping scene. But James got to see the monkeys wield the hammers followed by the dancing animals, so it was worth it.

We LOVED having Nana and Pops here, and it was sad to see them leave Saturday morning. That afternoon, however, we made our own impromptu plans to head down to the Lowcountry for my spring break! Stay tuned for more recaps and photos...

What a Great Break!

Well, the past week and a half have been wonderful. Like old times. James and I taking on the world together. But tomorrow it's back to school for us both. Hopefully all will go well. I think it will be really tough for both of us. (Plus it's a gym day for Dan, so that means I'm dropping James off in the morning.... I'm tearing up just thinking about it, darnit.)

So, sigh, let me wipe away the tears and recount our fun times:

Wed., Dec. 23rd-- Vacation begins after school. We hit the mall for shopping and Santa spotting.

Thurs., Dec. 24th-- Shopping, Maywood Santa, Church, Dinner, Visiting our neighbors, cookie fiasco.

Fri., Dec. 25th-- Christmas!

Sat., Dec. 26th-- Skype with Ali, P & Peg, Shopping, Party at the Whitakers' where James had SO much fun playing with all the toys in the basement and following the bigger kids up and down the stairs

Sun., Dec. 27th-- church (James noted the lambs and Mary & Joseph in the stained glass)

Mon., Dec. 28th-- a big day in the city with Mommy's friend Anna-- we saw the tree (in the days following he'd mention the "really big famous Christmas tree") and the windows at Saks, went to a fancy baby store, had lunch, walked through Central Park, went into a cute little knitting shop, got drinks at Starbucks, walked through Times Square, and went to Bryant Park. James was a champ all day! He rode in the stroller without much complaint (thankfully I had the Maclaren and could use the weather tent to keep him a bit warmer), enjoyed running around the baby store, walked down the sidewalk holding Mommy's hand on the way to lunch, and really enjoyed Anna's company! He talked about her the next few days. What a sweetie! I wish we'd taken more trips to the city...

Tues., Dec. 29th-- Our playdate got cancelled, so we did a little shopping in the morning then visited Daddy at work. Everyone in his office was so impressed at how big James had gotten. James loved running all around the maze of cubicles. Loved. It. We had a nice lunch together, then James took a decent nap at home (though it took him quite a while to wind down). That night Grandpa and Grandma came over and Dan & I went to see Sherlock Holmes. Fun!

Wed., Dec. 30th-- James had his official two year old picture appointment. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put the picture studio right by the carousel in the mall was foolish. Foolish. I let James take a ride before his appointment. He was sad when it ended, but recovered. He seemed excited for his photo session until it actually began. Then he kept running out saying "No Way!" And by running out, I mean running out of the room AND of the photo place into the mall itself. I was stripped down to a short-sleeved shirt and still sweating. Amazingly, there were some fabulous portraits taken! I rewarded James (I mean myself) with lunch in the food court where James proceeded to pour milk all over himself. Oh well. Back home for naptime (I think I may have treated myself to a quick nap that afternoon as well!) in jammies while the milky clothes went to the laundry.

Thurs., Dec. 31st-- New Year's Eve

Fri., Jan. 1st-- New Year's Day

Sat., Jan. 2nd-- James helped Mommy make pancakes while Daddy slept in. Then we ran some errands and went to lunch at Kinchley's (where James refused to eat anything but raisins).

Sun. Jan. 3rd-- James helped Daddy make waffles for breakfast. Daddy used the new hand mixer he got from Santa. After breakfast, he took the motor and cord out of the old one, so it is now James's. James announced, "A! Little! Tiny! Mixer! for! James!" We spent the day playing with toys and getting ready for the week.

They Might Be Giants

So, a week ago I found out that TMBG was playing in the Village on Saturday.  There was a show Saturday night, but better yet, there was a family show that afternoon.  After consulting with Dan, we bought tickets and headed in to the city for a fun family adventure.

Unfortunately the show was at 4:00, so that meant that the commute interfered with naptime, and the concert had the potential to encroach on dinner.  We made the best of it: got James to sleep in the car for the drive to Hoboken and hoped he'd nap on the PATH ride into Manhattan.  No such luck on the latter, so the nap was a bit shorter than usual.  Oh well.  We did give him lots of snackage-- greens puffs (a new favorite) and a cherry cereal bar and milk.  

James found the train ride pretty entertaining, and the snacks certainly helped bide the time as we waited-- first to get into the club, then for the show to start.  It was pretty funny-- this was a club that had completely made itself toddler/parent friendly for the afternoon: free stroller check, a clean floor for sitting with the kids in front of the stage...  They even handed out TMBG foam fingers to the kids!  (James LOVES his, even if he tried to feed me a piece during the show.)

When the lights went down and the music started, James was pretty awed.  He definitely recognized the tunes (we have our 2 TMBG kids CDs on heavy rotation) and broke out some dance moves to some of his favorites.  However, there was also a lot of clinginess (unfortunately, only to Mommy) and some whining.  No doubt due to the mini-nap and perhaps also a bit of unease at the strange situation (dark room, loud music, bright stage...).

If you asked James, he'd probably say his favorite part was one of the Special Guests.  No, not the young Hannah Levine singing "One Dozen Monkeys."  It was The Broom.  (Come on, you know how this kid loves the brooms, mops, swiffers!)  Imagine James's amazement and wonder as Broom "spoke" into the mic.  (It was a broom with a face made of tape being held up to the mic while John F. spoke for it into a different mic.)  Broom had quite a funny dialogue with John L. then, of course, they performed "I Am Not Your Broom" which, of course, is one of James's favorites.  The boy was MESMERIZED, completely awe-struck.  Dan said he doesn't think James blinked the entire time the Broom was on stage.  Hilarious.

It was a really fun show, and we had a great time.  We're looking forward to doing it again when James is a bit older. Oh, in case you're wondering, we went to a restaurant for dinner afterwards, so James ate at about the right time, and he fell asleep in the car (we'd put him in jammies in the parking garage).  So worth the alterations to the schedule!