Happy 61st birthday mom!

The day started with breakfast at Lenora's:

and then it was time for a girl's afternoon tea at 

600 Main in Tom's River:

The day ended with PopPop's homemade chocolate birthday cake.  What great memories!  Mom, here's to you being halfway to 122 :) 

Apple/Pumpkin picking & Autumn Festival

Apple and Pumpkin picking at Eastmont Orchards.  We only picked small pumpkins to paint since it was still pretty early to carve.  We've made applesauce, an apple pie and (of course) eaten apples.  

On a different weekend, we went to the Dearborn Market Fall Festival but fell short of making it to the hayride or corn maze due to a poorly timed poopy diaper, a ticket incident, and a rapidly approaching nap time.  This festival is ongoing so we're thinking of finishing the fun soon. 

Her first time letting someone paint her face 

(the owl on the left cheek is a temporary tattoo)

Fresh donuts!

Pumpkin poses :)

Bubbe & PopPop are here until Thanksgiving

I can't believe it has been almost a month already since Bubbe & PopPop arrived for our half of their summer/fall migration north.  We have already done so many things together.  Take a peak below:

Here is a proper tea complete with cookies

Bubbe & PopPop bought Gavin's first ever big boy bed

We were in a photo scavenger hunt for Mia's school's (Keyport Central) PTO: 

this was the one where we had to take a picture with sailboats in the background

Mom and I ran in Keyport's 5K

Daddy has been making weeknight dinners, which has been really nice!

Bubbe always joins us for bedtime stories 

(Mia's new thing is to go to bed with shorts/pants but no shirt)

Here is Gavin in a trick he learned from Mia "you can't pass" but it is funny because he is almost in a full straddle trying to pull it off!

and of course, you can't live on the Jersey shore without routinely combing the beaches for treasures

seen above is Mia, proudly, with her found butterfly wing

Stacie is halfway to 64

Taking advantage of Mary visiting the last week in August, Dave gave me a special birthday of just the two of us:  kayaking, a movie and then a vegan restaurant in Belmar.  I left my camera knowing a kayak was involved and had a great time just being present.  My favorite part was after our beach picnic just lying back and letting the water take us where it wanted.  Oh and making fun of all the people on their smartphones while out to dinner was fun too (I hope we don't ever turn into them!).  Then, on my real birthday, I came home to a slew of cards, homemade "rainbow pizza" dinner and a homemade cake (chocolate with strawberry butter cream frosting).  Thanks also to Matt, Harold, Mom and Dad for my birthday bike.  I have thoroughly enjoyed biking to work for the past several weeks.  It feels so good to get a workout while commuting and not leaving a carbon footprint is the icing on my homemade chocolate cake.  These were wonderful birthday memories.  Thank you all!

2013-2014 school year

Gavin started in the Wiggle Worms room at Miles of Smiles (Keyport, NJ).  Typical of daycare, he has a couple of different teachers but the main one and the one he has attached to most strongly is Ms. Tara.  They all sing such praise of him whenever Dave comes to pick him up:  he sings all day, he knows so many colors, he is such a cuddle bug. . . I wish I got to hear it first hand but Dave does the drop off and pick ups due to our schedules and then I grill him when he gets home :)  Although there are a couple of things I think aren't necessary (flashcards, "homework", rewards for a good day), this place is a small daycare that has a great family feel to it that I really like.

Miles of Smiles

His classroom

Ms Tara

Mia was sooooo mad that Gavin got to start school on Tuesday while she had to wait until Thursday to go to her new school:  Keyport Central School.  Her teacher is Ms. Francisco and it is her first year teaching (she just graduated).  Ms. Francisco sent Mia a letter introducing herself and with it she sent a night-before-pre-K poem and some special confetti you had to have near your bed the night before your first day at Pre-K.  Here is Mia with her confetti:

We are very lucky to be living in Keyport, NJ this year as it is the only school in the county with free full day (8:30-2pm) pre-K.  We drop her off at 8am and she has breakfast in her room before class starts (it used to be in the cafeteria but she and the others were afraid of the big kids as the elementary school goes up to 6th grade).  Actually in the morning, at drop off, there are big kids that help take the kids from the front door and walk them to their classrooms and Mia waits for a girl because she is afraid of the boys.  Here she is all ready to go:

Mia has listed about 3 girls she is friends with so far (Madeline, Ragen, Shantay).  When asked if there was a boy there was and his name was Dave ("like you daddy!").  Then I asked her what made each one a good friend and found out that Shantay doesn't know they are friends ("I haven't told her yet") and Dave is a good friend because "he is handsome".  This blew me away as it was the first time I heard her talk about a boy like this.  

Gavin still has a bit of tears in the morning drop off and Mia occasionally is cranky for her after school babysitter, Morgan, since she is still stuck in a time where she needs but will not take a nap but all in all we have swung into a pretty nice routine with everyone home and together by 5pm, dinner at 5:30pm and bedtime at 7:30pm.

Of course Dave (my handsome Dave) also started school recently but I did not force him to take a picture with his lunch box.  He is teaching at the College of New Jersey (First Years seminar) and Hudson Community College (American Lit.) this year.  

Gavin update (2.25 yrs old)

A snapshot of Gavin around during the first half of his "twos"

see that big bag of toys back there?

they don't matter, he only has eyes for Ariel.

Fears:  Alligators, pirates, eagles oh my, (sing approximately to the tune of "My favorite things"). . .these are a few of his scariest things:  despite a night light, despite a cuddly, despite his sister sharing the room. . . he simply can't put these things out of his mind and then he comes and geeeeeets his mom.  She puts him back and then he comes out.  Dave puts him back and then he gets out.  We do this over and over again.  These are a few of our frustrating times.  When we're walking, back and forth, and we just can't take more, we simply remember to take a deep breath and finally he staaaaaaays iiiiiiiiiin beeeeeed. 

Talking:  Gavin says "s"s with an "F" (smoothie = froofie), he went through a period of pretty strong stuttering but it ended as quickly as it began, he started drooling a lot right around when he turned 2 despite having all his teeth but it has recently subsided a lot,

Independence/skills:  Gavin likes to climb into the car seat on his own, open/close the car door on his own, take his diaper off on his own (and have private time, which resulted from me telling him he can only touch his penis in private). Gavin has been getting much faster and more brave on his balance bike and refuses to go in an infant swing at the park anymore.  He also loves and is quite good at big kid puzzles.

Ready for May 1, 2014:  With the help of the "Take me out to the ball game" we were singing at bedtime Gavin can now make the number 3 with his fingers, though 2 and I are too hard and he still has to get his thumb ("fum") holding his pinky by using the other hand.  "for it's 1, 2, 3 strikes you're out at the old ball game!"

Fruit allergy?:  I think Dave and I were in denial for quite a while but we have finally decided (without yet having seen a doctor about it) that Gavin is likely allergic to many fruits (anything with a high water content:  melons, kiwi, etc) will give him really terrible diarrhea.  The list of fruits keeps growing.  It is cute to hear him say "fwuit make me diaweeah"

Weaned??  Gavin suddenly went from nursing in the mornings and at our evening reunion (5:30pm) consistently to nothing at all for over a week.  I thought he was done and that I didn't even remember my last time nursing him (since it was so sudden) until he recently started asking again.  It is usually when he is thirsty or really missing me in which case I use delay/distraction techniques ("water?", "cuddles?"), which work quite well.  In any case, with me working so much I was not in a rush to force him to wean but since he started it, I have felt at peace with continuing to close this chapter in our lives together.

Frustration:  Gavin started roaring (with hands by his ears at the same time-- to be scarier I think) when he gets really mad/frustrated.  He also has been pinching and biting a bit.  Mia is so forgiving!  Once, after I told him to apologize to her and that he shouldn't bite people he loves (or anyone), Mia added "yeah and I love you more than any baby I know, and more than mommy and daddy and I even love you more than all the treasures I find on the beach".  How sweet is that?

Delayed gratification: What do you get when you are raised by a mom who does research in psychology for a living?  A mom who comes home with 2 pieces of cotton candy and tells you that you can have the small piece now or the big piece later (but only one).  We did this exercise with Mia when she was younger after reading how kids with the ability to delay gratification do better on a whole host of things later in life.  After this, we worked it into everyday life by making the whole table wait (at dinner time) until everyone is served before eating.  We used to exempt Gavin but lately started asking him to wait too and he is surprisingly amazing at waiting until everyone sits down to eat.

Bedtime songs:  
They used to be:  you are my sunshine, take me out to the ballgame, hippopotamus, row your boat
But now he keeps requesting "new" songs.  So I've tapped into non-kid songs.  I currently sing a portion of "Lean on me", "Eternal Flame", and (in its entirety) The Star Spangled Banner.

In 3 words:  Cuddly, Chatty and Sensitive

I'll close this update with a cute picture of Gavin sitting on Mia's lap (at her request) during dinner one evening: