The Easter bunny came!

Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from Oma and Opi--AND the Easter bunny! (Nonno and Nonna visited recently too, which was wonderful, but unfortunately we didn't take any pictures!). Sorin (and Opi) had fun dying eggs. And Sorin especially enjoyed looking for Easter treats! Oma, Opi, and Sorin went to the Easter parade on Sunday and then spent a long time at FAO Schwartz. However, the apparent highlight of the day was a ride in a carriage pulled by Alice the horse. Sorin loves watching the horses and carriages, and he was obviously thrilled to have ridden in one. Apparently he told all his friends and teachers in the Yellow Room today that he "rode on a horsey in a carriage" and that "the name is Alice the horsey and it's white."

A baby growing in Mommy's tummy

As most of you know, Sorin is expecting the arrival of a sibling in a few weeks. When asked about "his" new baby, he usually replies that it's in Mommy's tummy and that it's growing. Last weekend he asked me whether the baby will come live with us when it come out. I'm not sure he liked the reply:). Some of you have been asking about my belly, so here's a picture of me feeling huge.

Budding artist

Sorin has recently started drawing things! It started a few weeks ago when we were at brunch with Juliet, Matt, and Liana and he drew an elephant. Then when we went out with Annick, Kevin, and Giselle he drew balloons and various (round) fruit. This week it's all about spiders. I think this developmental leap is so cool!

Wintry weekend

Last weekend we had our second (more or less) snow of the winter. Sorin was thrilled and got a huge kick out of carrying around snowballs. Unfortunately it rained soon after, so the snow turned into ice. But that didn't stop our little guy from enjoying some time in the playground.

Les amis

We recently had a wonderful visit from our friends Annick, Kevin and Giselle, who sadly (for us) moved back to Montreal a year and half ago. Sorin and Giselle spent most of their first plus year together in the Purple Room and were great play mates. They haven't seen each other since last Easter, but it seemed they immediately knew each other. It was so much fun to see them really interact and communicate/negotiate as little people. They shared a room at night and actually managed to fall asleep (after a few renditions of Old MacDonald and other toddler favorites). And they played beautifully together (for the most part). Oh, and the adults very much enjoyed each other's company too:). We miss our friends so much, but are thrilled that they're happy in Montreal and that they recently purchased their first house! Felicitations Annick, Kevin, et Giselle! Vous nous manques.

Sorin and "Enimy"

Sorin loves his kitty, whom he has now started calling by name (more or less). Most of the time he's very sweet with her and knows that if he wants to pet her he has to move slowly in order not to scare her. Of course there are other times when it's his goal to make her skitter down the hall, which he's also very good at. Tonight they were communing on the couch. It started with a little whisker petting (top) and ended with a "hug" :). Who would have thought this was the same 'fraidy cat?

Sorin goes to the dentist

Sorin had is first visit to the dentist this week! "Dr. Mark's" office had a great play house with a huge backhoe, which kept Sorin entertained in the waiting room. He wasn't at all phased by the office, sitting in the chair (on me), the bright light, or any of the paraphernalia Dr. Mark used. Dr. Mark didn't spend much time on any one thing and definitely kept things entertaining while explaining what he was going to do, which probably helped a lot. Sorin had his teeth counted and inspected (no visual cavities), a cleaning, and a quick fluoride treatment (banana split flavored!). When it was all done he happily trotted off with the assistant to retrieve "treasure" from the treasure chest and a very coveted balloon while Dr. Mark gave me instructions on brushing, etc. All in all it was a good experience for our big little guy.

Catching up (again)...

I know, I know, I've been remiss in blogging lately (thanks for the reminders:). What can I say? Do a busy life and not really much out of the ordinary make good excuses?

Let's see. One of Sorin's (and our) most exciting outings was a trip to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. For my Birthday Nicole (aka Aunticole) and Aaron gave me (and Thadeous) a brunch date while taking the little guy on an excursion. I don't have pictures from the CMOM itself, but here are the three of them after. I heard (in both adult and toddler versions) that it was a blast. And Thadeous and I had very nice (and peaceful!) brunch together.


Sorin has had a few new play dates recently. We went to Jonah's house, where Sorin was enamored with his toy guitars. Jonah and Sorin take gym class together and the two of them and another little boy, Alex, are so cute together. Alex and Jonah are about 9 months older than Sorin, but he can really hold his own with them. I think it's good for him, too, to have older role models, especially since he's the oldest in his class at school. We also had a play date with Jacob, a little boy in Sorin's classroom. Sorin was very eager to show Jacob all his cars and trucks and they played really nicely together. Finally, when Sorin and I were off on Martin Luther King Day, we had Katie and her Mommy (whom I met when we were pregnant) over. Katie loved Sorin's baby doll (thank you Aunt Juliet, Uncle Matt, and Liana!), especially that he has a pacifier. She carried him around, "fed" him, and wrapped him up in a blanket. Since then, Sorin has taken much more interest in the doll (which is a good thing considering the impending change in our household!). Here are Sorin and Katie playing play dough together.


Unfortunately Sorin and I have been trading colds for over a week now. The poor little guy woke up with a fever on Sunday and was very much not himself. He went from the couch:


to our bed:


and back again.

But never fear, by Monday evening he was back to his energetic self:).

Happy Birthday Mommy

Puzzled

One of Sorin's current favorite activities is doing puzzles, and he's really good at them (in my totally unbiased opinion). He can do 24-piece puzzles with fairly complicated patterns, which I think is impressive for 2 and a half! He started with a 9-piece puzzle from Auntie Nicole. My teaching tactic was to find pieces of a particular object, for example a school bus. He then graduated to 12-piece puzzles. These are by Melissa and Doug and come 4 in a small box. One set is of vehicles (fire truck, cruise ship, motorcycle, airplane) and the other (from Auntie Ali) is of farm animals. These he can do in no time. Part of it, I think, is memorization, but part of it is problem-solving (see below). Sorin also has 2 24-piece floor puzzles. The first, from Aunt Shirley and Uncle Geoffrey, features jungle animals (in the photos). This too Sorin can whip through. What I found interesting is that for the first few times he assembled the puzzle he did it in the exact same order. But as he's become more comfortable with it he varies the order. The second 24-piece floor puzzle is a quilt of the alphabet. My ulterior motive with this one was to familiarize him with his letters. Because it's so busy the tactic is a bit different and requires looking more at the picture than finding bits of an object. But Sorin is learning how to do this, too. Finally, the ultimate test (to me) was when he went on a play date last week and assembled a Curious George puzzle he hadn't seen before, which definitely required problem-solving and not memorization. That's my smart boy!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2008!

This holiday season was filled with family, friends, and lots of excitement. We traveled to Nonna and Nonno's house for Christmas, and Oma and Opi were able to join us for a few days afterwards. Upon our return to New York we received a visit from Auntie Ali. And Sorin rang in the New Year (well, almost) with younger friends Jacob and Liana. Following are some pictures documenting the festivities.

Sorin visiting with Santa:


Playing with his new Christmas trains (or is it Dada and Nonno playing?):


Opening his hobby horse from Aunt Marian:


Visiting with friend Cecilia:


Visiting the horses with Nonna:


Playing doctor (while eating out at a restaurant):


Snuggling with Auntie Ali:


With little friends Liana and Jacob:

O Christmas Tree

Last weekend we went shopping for a Christmas tree! I have fond memories of going to Christmas tree farms with Peter and actually chopping down the tree you choose, but alas not in New York. I'm also almost positive tree farm trees were MUCH less expensive than their urban counterparts! Last year we had a synthetic tree, but unfortunately the cat liked to eat it (which meant it spent most of the time in the closet). This year we picked out a lovely, real "tree" that is the perfect size for little hands to decorate (and redecorate). Sorin is quite proud of this new addition to our household.

Look! Snow!

This morning we woke up to the first snowfall of the year. Sorin knew exactly what it was, and was very excited. In fact, he was so excited that Sorin and Thadeous were out playing at 7:30 this morning. (Thank goodness Sunday is Mommy sleep-in day:).


And after coming in from the cold, Sorin got to drink his first hot chocolate...

Sorin and his "big boy" bed

Thank you Oma!

Sushi anyone?

Unfortunately Sorin has become an extremely picky eater, but he surprised us when he tasted and liked sushi rolls! OK, so he really just likes the seaweed/rice wrapper, but it's better than mac and cheese:). He especially likes if there are "orange gummies" (aka roe). He also likes miso soup, as long as there are no contaminating "green things." Above Aunt Nicole is patiently picking out any offending green.

Grandparents galore!

It's been a busy few weeks with visits from Oma, Opi, Nonna, and Nonno. Oma and Opi came the weekend before last, and Sorin excitedly announced to his teachers that they were coming on the airplane. When asked where the airplane was coming from he said, "the airport!" But of course! They came with us to gym on Saturday morning. Sorin has been doing gym(nastics) since last year, and (in my impartial opinion) he's really good. He can walk on a beam unassisted, swing from the bars and bring his legs up to form a basket, do a summersault, and much more. The class he's in now is a gradual separation class and that Saturday was the first day the parents stayed outside the gym. I was worried he'd be anxious, but he followed his friends and coaches into the gym without looking back. What a big boy! I'll try to post some pictures of our little gymnast in action. After some detours on the way home, lunch, and long nap, Sorin was quite insulted to find that Oma and Opi had gone out without him! The nerve. But all was well again when they arrived back at the apartment, and Mum and Dad got to go out to dinner (by themselves:). It was a great weekend!


Oma and Opi left on Monday morning and on Wednesday afernoon Nonna and Nonna arrived to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Sorin was equally excited to see them and, like with Opi, was very much taken with Nonno. Nonna brought some great books about Christmas that Sorin loves. On Thursday we all took the train up to Aunt Jean's house for a delicious turkey dinner. Sorin got to play with his cousin Hunter (and Hunter's toys:), which he enjoyed.


Unfortunately Sorin wasn't so into to turkey--he's become such a picky eater! After a hard day of playing (and eating), the boys were exhausted on the trip home.


We had lots of plans for Friday, but unfortunately Sorin came down with a fever:(. He was definitely not himself, although by Saturday he was doing a lot better. It wasn't how we'd planned to spend the rest of Nonna and Nonno's visit, but does anything with a toddler turn out the way one plans? It was another great visit, and we'll see them again in 4 weeks!

I hear an elephant trumpeting in my ear!

Happy Halloween! Sorin's Halloween stretched over a number of days this year. Last Friday we went to a Gymboree playdate organized by Aidan's mom, Elaine. Sorin and a number of other 2-3 year-olds got to run around, climb, jump, and eat pizza and cupcakes. Needless to say he had a blast!


On Sunday we went to Grand Central Terminal for a Halloween celebration that included fantastical puppets. I was wondering whether Sorin would be afraid of the "creatures" as they were somewhat scary looking. Although Sorin was quietly watchful, he wasn't overtly scared. He was quite intrigued by the dinosaur and spent a lot of time following him around.


Last night we went trick-or-treating with Aunt Nicole and Aaron. Sorin practiced saying, "Trick or treat" and "thank you" and did very well. He was definitely into knocking on doors and walking down the stairs (we started at the top of the building and worked our way down). He was also in love with a lollipop that he got early on in the evening and wouldn't let go of it.

Maybe...

There's a song by Laurie Berkner (a children's singer) that goes, "This is me, this is me, this is me and my energy..." I think Sorin has adopted it as his theme song. He has serious energy. All the time. It's a good thing for me that there is another boy in the house with energy to match! Sorin and Thadeous love to roughhouse and get silly together. They have little games like "I'm sitting there!" in which they compete for the same seat on the couch. Above is a picture of the two boys being silly at the playground, and below they are dancing (aka running around the living room like nuts) together.


This morning we went to the diner, and Sorin sat like such a big boy in the booth.


Sorin's vocabulary continue to expand, as does his syntax. He's forming much more complex sentences and it's really neat that he can carry on a conversation. He had a long chat with Nonna on the phone tonight, and he likes to tell me about his day and who he played with. He is also a big negotiater. When we said it was time to leave the park this morning he said, "Two more minutes Mama." Sorin's new thing is that when he doesn't know the answer to something right away (or at all), he'll say, "Maaaaayyyybeeeeee...." It's very cute.

Some catching up

Since I've been remiss (again) in keeping up with Sorin's adventures, I thought I'd throw together some pictures of the little guy in action.

At the 92nd St. Y street fair:




Playing with chalk and Madison Square Park:


At the Lincoln Center fountain:


Hanging out with his "favorite" kitty:




Seeing double?


In one of his favorit haunts, the sandbox: