This is Halloween

We had a lovely Halloween.  Leo was Doc McStuffins and Zoe was his sidekick, Lambie.  I wrote a bit about my thoughts on Leo dressing as Doc McStuffins (from the Disney Channel show) over at VillageQ - but as I suspected, we didn't encounter even a raised eyebrow.  It's just another reminder of how much I love this community.  I know how lucky we are to live in a progressive, urban, tight-knit community where we know (and love) so many of our neighbors.  The only questions we got were from a few people who weren't familiar with the show(gotta love that there are a lot of TV-free people in our circles, as well).  

We marched in the neighborhood parade and trick or treated along the route.  The parade is a great neighborhood event.  Families gather with their children and march through the neighborhood admiring each other's costumes and chatting. Some homes along the route give out candy - those people are usually seated on their porch/stoop with a bowl of treats while the kids line up for a turn. Of course it does make for a lot of trick-or-treater traffic jams at each home, but it's very social and fun.  None of the kids seem to mind waiting a few minutes for each piece of candy.

Both Leo and Zoe trick or treated and they both LOVED it.  Last year was Leo's first year going door to door and he got a kick out of it then, but this year he really was bowled over with the excitement of it all.  And with Zoe wanting to do everything her big brother does, I knew it was hopeless to try and distract her from the candy collecting.  

The only blip on the radar of a fantastic Halloween was when Leo had a moment of costume remorse.  He saw a group of kids dressed as superheroes and he suddenly wished he'd dressed as one as well.  jb held him and reassured him that 1. his costume is awesome and 2. he can totally dress up as a superhero next year - or heck tomorrow!  He wasn't entirely convinced but got back to collecting candy (priorities!).  After a few houses we ran into another kid dressed as Doc McStuffins, and his face lit up.  Then we saw another, and another...and he was excited about his costume again and regained the bounce in his step and air of pride he'd had earlier.  Seems like the momentary regret had nothing to do with gender, but rather not fitting in.  Though, I suppose sometimes gender worries have everything to with fitting in.  The important thing is he bounced back quite quickly.

I'd tried to avoid any costume regret by doing a costume trial run at home a few days earlier.  Leo tried on his costume (which I pieced together with pieces from the thrift store - why yes, that is medical tape as stripes on his turtleneck, and that is a men's button down shirt I shortened and took in as a lab coat...)  Leo was thrilled with the costume.  I also had a Frankenstein's monster costume for Zoe - and she HATED it.  Which is a damn shame because she looked adorable and does this "rawr" thing that would have MADE the costume.  Alas, kids have their own ideas about things, so we were left scrambling for a costume - enter, Leo's suggestion of Lambie.

Funnily enough, though I didn't have any issue with Leo choosing Doc for his costume, my initial reaction to the Lambie costume idea was "Ack, it's so....pink."  I gently suggested to Leo that perhaps Zoe could be Stuffie, or Hallie the Hippo...but no, he insisted on Lambie.  And I'm glad he did, because she was adorable toddling from door to door in her little lamb ears.

Halloween parade emptying into the block party

At the end of the Halloween parade route there is a block party with tables of (more) treats provided by local businesses and neighbors.  That block is usually packed and I've never actually gotten close to the tables, but jb will duck in and bring back a cookie or a cupcake for us.  

After we mingled and talked with our neighbors (many of whom we've known since Leo was a newborn through breastfeeding meetings or play groups - it's so neat to watch the group of kids grow up) we trick or treated our way back home and ate some dinner before diving into the candy bags.  

It was awesome to watch him spread the candy out and sort it and see his eyes grow wide.  Of course he's still learning the different kinds of candies - so he doesn't know what he likes and is sometimes disappointed with a treat choice.  But he is so excited to try all these new and strange confections.  During trick or treating he equated color with better treats, so there isn't as much chocolate as I'd hoped for and there are a WHOLE LOT of Kit Kats.  Darn that red wrapper.  Meh.  Well, as jb reminds me, I can go buy candy anytime I want.  It's just not the same!

Halloween 2013 at our house has been a success.  How was yours?

Spoils Of Christmas

Scenes from Christmas Day

We had a fantastic (first) Christmas.  We spent it at my parents' home  and it was filled with family, friends, food, gifts, and joy.  This is the first year that Leo is really understanding things and watching his anticipation build for Christmas day was awesome.

The darkest days of winter calendar certainly helped draw out the excitement and he was really looking forward to seeing the whole family and to giving the gifts we'd worked on over the last few months.  As for receiving gifts, of course he was thrilled - but it was a bit of overload for him.  I thought we were doing a good job of not overdoing the gifts, but it did get away from us a bit - add to that the gifts from other family members and it was a little overwhelming.

The Darkest Days of Winter

Making Paper Snowflakes

Our holiday celebrations incorporate a mix of traditions. We have traditions from jb's side of the family (Ukranian Orthodox), my side of the family (Mexican and culturally Catholic)- and new things we've picked up along the way (Solstice and learning about other religions and cultures). It's a lot to pack into a couple short dark months, but we are trying to preserve the spectrum of our family history while still creating customs that are all our own.

Happy Pride!

Today Leo, jb and I rode on the Philadelphia Family Pride trolley in the Pride Parade.  Leo had a blast waving, throwing candy and taking in all the sights and sounds.  I must say, riding a trolley is the way to do the parade with kids.  You've got a place to sit, shade, and you don't have to walk the entire route.

As we rode the trolley and watched the crowds go by (young couples making out, groups of friends brunching, outrageous outfits) I thought about how my experience of Pride has evolved over the last fifteen years.

Handmade Holidays: Toddler Crafts

We really wanted Leo to feel invested in the gifts he was giving to family members.  So in addition to joining us for holiday shopping and giving input on picking out presents (which makes it take 10 times as long), we also tried to make some gifts at home that he could take ownership of.

The most successful of these attempts was our salt dough ornament project.  jb helped Leo mix, roll out and cut out the dough.  They used a basic recipe (1 cup flour, 1/2 salt, 1 cup water) and added a bunch of spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice) to make them fragrant.  jb baked them during Leo's nap and Leo and I took it from there.

Once they were cool they were hard as rocks - which was the intent, since it would be great if they could last for years to come.  I gave them to Leo along with an assortment of crayons.  At first he wasn't sure about coloring on them, but after I demonstrated a bit he LOVED it.  Seriously, this kept him busy for over an hour.  That's like a year in toddler time.

Happy Holidays!

We are celebrating Christmas at my parents' home today.  I hope you are all warm and surrounded by loved ones whether you celebrate today or not. 

Here is a little snippet of our day.  The Christmas morning parade.  Perhaps we are failing at our efforts to deemphasize the "gifts" component of the holiday. 

Dia De Los Muertos: Las Ofrendas de Ocotepec

For Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) we went to visit Ocotepec, Morelos - a small town just north of Cuernavaca (where my family lives) - to see the ofrendas (altars) that are still a tradition there.

To prepare, during the day we went to the market to buy candles because it is customary to give a candle to each family whose home you visit.   The market was packed with Day of the Dead things - sugar skulls, decorative paper, candles, and the traditional flowers for the holiday.

Sugar (and chocolate and gummy) skulls

  

Little Firecracker: The Face That Gets Me Out Of Bed

We ended up doing the parade but not the fireworks (they started at 10:30 pm!) for our July fourth festivities.  Honestly though, when we woke up on Monday morning - it was really hard to get up and go.  Neither jb nor I consider watching a parade a great way to spend a morning.  We are more coffee and newspaper (or better yet: sleep!) kind of people.  But, we suspected that Leo might enjoy watching the parade - so we dragged ourselves out of bed, packed some snacks and diapers and walked to the train that would take us towards the crowds, heat, and general un-bedness. 

And I'll me a monkey's mama (wait a second...) if that kid didn't sit through the whole darn thing.  For reals.  He watched each and every band, float and historical figure impersonator go by.  It brought a little tear to my eye to watch him.  So, I need to remember this face next time I'm debating whether it's worth getting out of bed to trek across town and fight the crowds for something I wouldn't choose to do if we didn't have a kid:



And yes, jb thought it was funny to put a Beatles shirt on him.  America's Independence - British Invasion - hahaha.  

Busy, Busy Bees

We've had a busy few days.  On Thursday we attended a rally in Center City - complete with drumline.  Leo loves rallies, going to center city, and drums - so this rally was a major hit with him.  I doubt he understood that we were calling out corporations that aren't paying their fair share in taxes - but he was shaking his little fist anyway.  You can read about the rally and the organization that organized it here.  Uncle Julian joined us for the rally and we all got these sharp t-shirts.  It was certainly a good way to spend a summer afternoon.

Easter

 I'm hopelessly behind on the TDBC.  We are in Pittsburgh visiting family for Easter and, as usual, it's been a whirlwind.  A wonderful, exhausting, joyful whirlwind. Here are some highlights.

The eggs turned out great.  The natural dyes were a lot of work, but I think it was worth it.  I'm excited to try some different dyeing agents next year.

Summer Bucket List

With Spring springing all around us, my mind is full of all the awesome warm weather things I want to do. Between getting to share these fun things with Leo and getting to know our new city better I'm positively giddy with excitement. To ensure I can stay focused and pack in as many of these things as possible before the season kicks the bucket, I'm compiling a list. Any excuse to make a list, right?

Jetsetters

Whoa. What a trip. This post will mostly be a photobomb with minimal commentary.

Travel day.

Scenes From Our Holiday: Part 2

We rounded out our holiday break and we are back home in Philly. We had a great time in Pittsburgh, but we are all so happy to back home to our big comfy bed.

Here is a rundown of our holiday - the sequel. We got in some good skyping time with Aunt Fanny.



We rang in the new year with some pots and pans.


Our New Year traditions include shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, salsa and counting down the last twelve seconds of the year with twelve grapes and twelve wishes. This year we also made a lasagna (which Leo LOVED). Sounds like we need some non-food traditions... Well, the banging pots and pans will stick around and I'd like to add in some board games to future years :)


We celebrated Christmas at Pops' house.


We put our shoes out for the Three Kings and Leo got a stuffed frog and a jumpstart on his college fund :)


Leo got some serious uncle love.



He was dressed up by both Abi and Pops.


He also took some major developmental steps while we were there.
- He moved from mostly scooting and a little crawling to more and more crawling.
- He can now stand up in just a few seconds and can move hand over hand to cruise a little. He also can bend down to pick things up he's dropped. He's getting smarter about testing the stability of things before standing up with their assistance and pushes his luck by leaning against a surface and freeing both hands to play with a toy.
- He began clapping.
- He taps his own mouth with the back of his hand to make an "ah-ah-ah-ah" sound.
- I *think* he's begun to sign. We've been doing some signing with him since he was a few months old and recently I think he's been signing "nurse/milk". Of course he signs it for nursing, for being tired, for more food and for general comfort. So who knows, but I think maybe...
- He's a lot more vocal and is really mimicking the sounds we make. It really sounds like he's saying words sometimes.
-He LOVES emptying things. Laundry baskets, suitcases, drawers, toy chests... You name it. It will keep him busy for a long time, but makes folding clothes pointless.

After all this celebrating, family time, and development we were pretty worn out. So finally, we packed up the car with our luggage, new presents, Talula, Uncle Jared, Leo, Daddy, and me and got on the road. Leo, Talula and Uncle Jared packed into the backseat and ate cheerios, napped, and held hands.


Leo volunteered to drive the last leg - which was very nice of him. I was a little nervous because he's kind of a speed demon (which surprised me since he can't reach the gas), but he did make record time.

Best Year Ever

This was absolutely the best year yet. I started it out pregnant (turns out I love being pregnant!), and about midway through we welcomed the most amazing tiny, little, itty-bitty newborn into our lives, and then for the rest of the year we watched him grow into the smart, active, funny, mischievous baby he is today. So so so much has happened this year, but most of it can really be boiled down to Leo. So many firsts, so many milestones, so many amazing moments. Watching Abi, Grandpa and Pops effortlessly slip into their roles as doting grandparents and our siblings shine as Aunts and Uncles. Learning things about ourselves and getting to know this amazing little person. I want to recap every moment - but that's what archives are for, so I'll spare you. Basically, this year has been incredible and I'm looking forward to many more good years ahead.

Other notable things from the past year:

• Snow storm - In February we had a crazy snowstorm fondly referred to by many as "snowmageddon". It was a disaster for many left without heat or electricity, but for us it was kinda awesome. The cafe became a gathering place for neighbors who lost power and wanted hot cocoa or soup. Talula and I took a walk through the neighborhood which was transformed into a winter wonderland.
• Job #1 - jb got a job at a local non-profit. This was the first step in our (still in progress) recovery from the financial mess of the year before. jb was good at it, valued by her coworkers and earning a paycheck.
• Generosity - I guess this is somewhat Leo related, but I think it deserves its own bullet point. This year was full of love and generosity from our family, friends, and community. We had two amazing baby showers that totally set us up for everything we could possibly need when Leo came along. We had amazing support on every level - from food delivery, to doula services, to company, to hand-me-downs to...well, everything.
  
• Niagara Falls - I went on a road trip with my parents, brother, and sister to the Canadian side of the falls. I was pretty pregnant at that point, so I was slow and a little grumpy, but it was so great to get to spend time with them all like that before Leo came along.
• Camping - Soon after welcoming Leo my whole family joined us for a week-long camping trip. We hiked, swam, kayaked, campfired, bocce balled, puzzled, and generally enjoyed each other.
• Bye-bye Aunt Fanny - Aunt Fanny set off to spend some time in Mexico. We miss her tons but are super glad that we have phone, email, facebook, and skype to make the distance seem non-existent.
• Philadelphia/Job #2 - We moved across the state. In like a week. jb was offered a good job out of the blue that needed her to start asap. So we up and moved to a new city in a leap of faith. So far we are liking Philly and beginning to make friends and find community. I am grateful that we are still close enough to Pittsburgh to visit about once a month so that Leo (and we) can see the family and loved ones regularly.
• The Boys - Uncle Daniel has joined our household, which has been great because three adults to one baby seems like just the right ratio; two isn't quite enough. Also, since we are in Philly we have gotten to see a lot more of Uncle Jared who lives in DE.

Epic Year. How did it compare to 2007, 2008, and 2009? Best Year Ever.

Scenes From Our Holiday: Take One

So far it's been lovely. Here is the run down.


We kicked off the season with Leo falling off the bed. We took him to the Doctor just to be sure, but he is fine. We were just all a little (lot) scared.

We started telling him about all the exciting things in store for him: "We're going to see Abi, and Grandpa and Pops and...." and "We are all going to cook a big big dinner and bake cookies" and "We are going to sing and dance!"

He seemed pretty interested.

We took a nap (sitting up) before hitting the road.

On the road we took turns attending to our potty needs.

Then we arrived and saw ABI! And more and more family!

And everything was decorated so nicely. And there was a cozy bed waiting for us (and even a cozy bed for Talula).

On Christmas Eve we baked cookies - and made a mess. The batches went pretty smoothly - except for the thumbprint cookies. My mom forgot to double the flour and they turned to butter puddles as they were baking - so they became twice baked thumbprints when we tried to salvage them.

Making Russian Tea Cakes - daddy's favorite.

Then on Christmas morning we had full stockings.

Stocking carnage. Books, underwear, socks, chocolate, a harmonica and homemade bubbles!

Then we exchanged gifts.

Leo's favorite was all the wrapping paper. Of course.

He was also pretty impressed with the doll that Abi got him.

We considered trying to transport a fish across the state twice, but opted instead to write an IOU.

Christmas morning naptime.

Then in the evening even more family came over and we got to eat that big meal that made the house smell so good all day.

Daddy's brussel sprouts were one of the biggest hits.

All in all a great success - but we do still have New Year's, Three Kings, and Orthodox Christmas to go, so we are resting up for round two!