Sick Day

Carter's nanny was out sick yesterday, so Thomas and I split the day caring for him. Lucky for us, Ashley was also staying home with a feverish Anna, so we got to hang out with them. In the afternoon, we took a short trip to the zoo and hit the carousel and train. Ashley and I are in agreement that we'd appreciate it if the kids could plan their sick-but-not-too-sick days at the same time in the future!

Don't Eat Glue.

Add this to the growing list of things I never thought I'd say.

The video is over a minute long, but, in my opinion, it's pretty funny (especially if you watch to the end), and it provides a good depiction of the many personalities of Carter. Also, enjoy listening to me trying to be stern while simultaneously trying to hold back laughter.

(You'll need the sound turned up!)

Birthday Pics

Here are a few more pictures from Thomas' birthday.

The birthday/anniversary cake (we celebrated Thomas' birthday on Park & Ashley's anniversary) was pumpkin spice with cream cheese icing. Not too pretty, but tasty! Sadly, we were unable to light the candles because we had no means to make fire (our zippo is broken). Must remember to pick up some matches...

Carter helped unwrap the presents.

Thomas looks for his hidden birthday present (golf clubs).

Cousin Love

We celebrated Thomas' birthday at home last night because he (shockingly) wanted to go to a ball game tonight. I'll post some birthday pictures tomorrow. All evening, Carter wanted to be exactly where ever Anna was. The older she gets, the less she seems to mind that!

More from NY trip

If you haven't already, check out Kirstin & Patrick's blog entry on our NYC trip!

Carter at 2 and a Quarter

There are several things that Carter has done or said over the last few months that I've been meaning to blog about.

• A few months ago, Carter was very interested in commanding other people to run. Except that her pronounces it "rum" and says it emphatically, "RUM!!!" If you happened to be walking down the street with him, he might stop, out of the blue, command you to "RUM!!" and then watch you run away. These days, he's more interested in "rumming" together.
• Carter is increasingly difficult to convince to get into the car. It was a blessing when he got old enough to climb into his car seat by himself, but it quickly became a burden when he subsequently got old enough to refuse to do so. He'll get in the car, but would rather open and close the sunroof, turn on the lights, hang from the handles, etc. We've used a variety of tactics to coerce him into his seat: turning him upside down and pretending to 'toss' him into his seat (had to discontinue that one after multiple head bonks), empty threats, offers of toys, stickers or treats as rewards for getting into the car seat, and just today, after trying all the aforementioned tactics, and in a fit of desperation, "do you want to mess up Mama's hair? Get in your seat and you can mess up Mama's hair!" Hey - it worked.
• Ironically, I worry most about losing track of Carter when we are in groups . I figure, when there are lots of responsible adults around, everyone might assume that someone else has tabs on him. When we were in Savannah, we had five adults to one toddler--he was always looked after. But one afternoon, when four women and Carter were all walking together, my mom ducked in a shop to look at something. A short time later, Carter stopped and looked around, slowly taking in the three women walking with him. He exclaimed, "OH NO!" and proceeded to run back down the street into the store where my mom was shopping. It appears that he was actually keeping tabs on us!

Weekend

We had a lovely weekend. On Saturday, Thomas and Carter got reacquainted while I ran some errands and got in some girls-only shopping time with Anna and Ashley. On Saturday night, Thomas and I went to an Indigo Girls show at Chastain Park...

where we enjoyed fine cheeses and boxed wine!

On Sunday, I took Carter on a 25 mile bike ride from our house, around Stone Mountain and back (almost). By the time we made it back to our riding companion's home, the combination of a 40lb child on the back of my bike, 90 degree heat, a low tire and a head wind (not to mention burning thighs) convinced me to have Thomas pick us up, thereby cutting out what would have been the 26th (and mostly uphill) mile of the trip.

View Larger Map

Carter was very amenable to the lengthy bike ride, though he did become quite adept at pulling stuff out of the back of my bike jersey. At one point, he wiped my back with baby wipes (it felt nice!) and at another point, he pulled out our trail mix and scattered some for the squirrels. (I won't mention the times he tried to pull my shorts off). Finally, (as planned) he took a nap.

Needless to say, we didn't do much the rest of the day on Sunday!

Kiss

Almost 2 years later, and Carter is now a happy participant!

Home!

Carter and I arrived home on Friday afternoon. We were originally scheduled to fly back Thursday evening, but I realized that trying to get a 2-year-old, our luggage and a car seat all downtown on Thursday morning was overly ambitious. Changing our flight to Friday allowed us to pack more leisurely and to depart directly from Patrick & Kirstin's place. It also allowed us to have dinner with Cecily, Mark, Allie and Amy.

We managed the commute just fine (thanks, in large part to Kirstin's help and my colleague lending us a stroller), but I would not want to have that long of a commute (1+ hrs each way) on a daily basis.

Carter had a rough time with the daycare the last two days. He was fine the first two days, but I think by the third day he was starting to think this trip to NYC might be permanent, and he communicated his displeasure by being heart-wrenchingly upset at daycare drop off. Therefore, I did what any reasonable mother would do and bought him a delicious cupcake at the end of the last day.

We had a good time, and we are both happy to be home.

Liar, Liar

This morning, Carter woke up at 6am. While that may be normal for some kids, it's a full 2 hours earlier than his normal time--and almost an hour earlier than he needs to wake up here in NYC to make our commute. Carter was in bed with me, and he woke up on a mission.

Carter: Waffle!
Me: It's the middle of the night. Go back to sleep.
Carter: Waffle!
Me: Just lay down and close your eyes.
Carter: Waffle!
Me: You can have a waffle in the morning. Right now it's time for sleeping.
Carter: Waffle!
Me: Please, please, please. Let's go back to sleep.

Pause
Carter: Poop!
Me: .... Do you have a dirty diaper?
Carter: Poop!
Me: groan Okay, let's get up.

Suffice it to say, Carter did NOT have a dirty diaper. But Carter DID get a waffle at 6am.

First Day in NYC

Carter and I made it safely to NYC last night. It was pretty bumpy on the way in, due to the weather, and we had to take several detours on the way to Patrick & Kirstin's due to flooded streets, but we made it.

Here's Carter on his pint-sized pallet.

Carter (unfortunately) woke up at 6am and wandered around the apartment calling for me. I was sleeping on the bed right next to him; apparently, he didn't look that direction. Even more unfortunately, he didn't go back to sleep afterwards.

This morning, we went to a farm and farmer's market. I didn't get any pictures, but Patrick did, so I'll try to get some from him and post them later.

This afternoon, we played ladder ball in the yard and had dinner with Joo!

Tomorrow is the first of four days that we will brave Manhattan rush hour to get to work and daycare (my company's back up daycare center - near my office). I hope that Carter will be entertained by the train rides (one commuter train and one subway train) and not overwhelmed! It's only been a year since we lived here, but he's a lot more sensitive to his surroundings than he was a year ago!

Kids Workshop

We went to Piedmont Park this morning, where Home Depot was running a kids workshop. Carter (Thomas) made a bird house and got an apron!

Fun with...

Eyeshadow and a q-tip (you really don't get the full effect in this shot)

Two drinks

Oreos

To-go box (which he insisted on carrying, and which ceased to be so cute when he dropped all the food out of it in the middle of a crosswalk)

Mom

Lunch - 2 years later

Not too much different, really.

2006

2008

Savannah

Not the most child-safe city

In front of John Wesley
What is this wonderous pink drink they call lemonade?
The boys


The girls
Ship shots!
The trolley