Sunday, November 23, 2014

A Few More

Williamsburg, 2014

Thank goodness for warm-ish weather. And I couldn't resist taking a picture of the sign above...ah, toddlerhood in Williamsburg.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Weekend

Williamsburg, 2014

It's a little hard to take that it gets dark at 4:30 these days, but so far we are having a cozy weekend, complete with my inaugural 'what to bake for the class Thanksgiving potluck' tizzy.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Grateful

via Raya Brass Band
One afternoon a few weeks ago, we took the boys (giant stroller and all) to meet a friend at Radegast Beer Hall. There was a great brass band playing and the place was packed with neighborhood people and families. It was a really warm, lovely crowd.

We settled into a booth in the corner, and took turns taking Axel to see the band up close. Back at the table, he settled in with some Peppa while we chatted, but he kept wiggling around to the music, dancing in his seat. "I'm so happy!" he said.

It was probably the cutest thing I've ever heard.

So often, on the weekends especially (and more so in the cold weather, when we are cooped up inside and notice the crumbs on the floor and the gazillion toy cars underfoot and everyone is crying), we get a little frayed around the edges.

But then you have a moment like that, and it's just so crystal clear how very lucky we are. I love that Axel is better and better company, and that he's able to express things like that to us. It makes all my bedraggledness (that's a word, I'm sure of it) worthwhile.

Will is traveling just now and last night it was just me and the fellows. I put them to bed at the usual time, but Axel was still rustling about an hour later. "Are you having trouble sleeping?" I asked. "Yeah," he said, before whispering "I'm in a castle." What a nut.

Etc.

Ivory Tower, 2014

We always joke that by the time Axel and Oscar are college-bound, we'll have to move to Sweden (we are not entirely joking.)

Thank goodness for those EU passports.

I watched the new documentary 'Ivory Tower' on CNN last night. It's about student loan debt, why college in America now costs $60,000, and whether there are any alternatives. It's worth watching, if you're interested. Do kids really need rock climbing walls and multi-million dollar student centers to get a great education? Can new ventures like Udacity and EdX help? Hopefully we'll have figured all this out sometime in the next sixteen years.

I've been on a bit of a documentary kick lately. I also loved Fed Up and Spark: a Burning Man Story. Something about cold weather makes me want to curl up with a film that makes me think about the world in a new way.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Cirque d'Axel



Axel is loving his classes at Streb, and I am in awe of how creative they are with him. It's far better than him using our living room as an obstacle course, which happens the rest of the week.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Oscar: Eight (and a half) Months Old

Oscar, 2014

Here we are!

We had dinner out (sans kids) at Il Buco Alimentari on Saturday night. A few tables over there was a couple with their FOUR children (aged 2 months up to maybe eight.) We almost bought them dinner.

The restaurant is fairly fancy, and the kids were being brilliant, and the parents looked very chill.

The parents both joked that it all starts to get easier after three kids, which is hard to fathom, but...maybe?

Friday, November 14, 2014

11211 Love

Williamsburg, 2014

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

We are making chicken pot pie for friends, going to Axel's swimming lesson, and maybe out to dinner.

Good thing Brooklyn is the place to be, er, or something. Hearing Marty Markowitz say 'hotbed of style' is pretty unique.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Boundless

Williamsburg, 2014

Axel took a trial gym class called Baby Action at Streb this morning...he loved it so much; at the end of class he said, "I go again?"

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Axel Says...

Williamsburg, 2014

So at our parent teacher conference the other day, Axel's teachers asked where his British accent comes from. Yes, both Will and I are half-English, sort of. But I'm pretty sure that's not it (I didn't have the heart to confess it might be from Peppa Pig.)

But seriously, Axel, now twenty seven months old, has taken to saying "You're most welcome, mummy", whenever I say thank you.

He also loves repeating this little joke from the show (he usually does it just after falling down):

"It's not funny, mummy. Okay, it's a bit funny, mummy..." It's always in a proper British accent.

He's full of energy these days, turning boxes into houses, obsessed with 'space rockets' (watching them take off on Youtube, building them out of cardboard with his papa, throwing the cardboard rockets off the balcony and then retrieving them with his papa...)

When I reminded him it was a school day, the other day, he said: "I want to sit on the sofa and relax!"

When I put him to bed in his room, he sometimes says, "I wan't to go back to my house," (meaning the living room.) He loves the sprinkles ice cream at Oddfellows, pointing out our apartment building from afar, talking about the L train, taking off his socks at inopportune moments, and watering plants. In school, he is learning all about dragons, making pumpkin smoothies, and studying the color blue.

Etc.

Williamsburg, 2014
A few things I've been reading lately: this article, on round the clock daycare centers.

I also really thought this quote really resonated.

"FT work and raising kids is like being outside in a hurricane. Sometimes someone darts over and hands you an umbrella, which helps for a while; soon enough, though, you’re soaked again." 

This week hasn't been too bad, work-wise. Everyone seems to have recovered from their latest virus. But sometimes it's when you take a pause that you realize, 'Oh man, I am tired.'

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Report Card

Williamsburg, 2014


We went to our first parent teacher conference for Axel, which was very cute. I'm so happy with his little school and loving seeing him learn all sorts of new things.

But it still feels weird to be sitting in the 'parent' seat...

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Weekend

Williamsburg, 2014

Swimming lessons, roast chicken, Ms. J's (the usual weekend swirl.) I finished a big project on Friday and am sort of in recovery mode, feeling more run down than usual, though it's not particularly interesting to say so.

What else? I got a kick out of this article by Heather Havrilesky.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Gear

Alexander Wang X H&M


It's highly possible that I've lost the plot, but I was on assignment today to cover the launch of the Alexander Wang for H&M collaboration and got carried away by the lines and sold-out-in-a-day hype.

So I might have bought this grey parka for winter. It's a little space agey, with this big cowl of a hood. Anyway, if the polar vortex returns, I am ready for it.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Fuzz

Oscar, 2014

I love this phase: this is all Ozzy wants to do....stand, wobble, stand, wobble. I also love his dandelion fluff hair. He has been working on his dismounts, to mixed success.

Ha, and note the odd little parking area in the corner of our living room.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Chill

Williamsburg, 2014

We had some hints of the cold that's to come this weekend, like a visit to a totally empty playground which had to be cut short because (as everyone else had already discovered) it was way too cold for the playground.

It had me wondering what I am going to do to keep these boys occupied inside until April. So there was that, and the marathon, and several 5 a.m. wake ups due to the clocks going back. Yay!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Oscar: Eight Months Old


Oscar, 2014


Gah! Oscar is eight months old today, pulling up on boxes and furniture and people, trying to stand...

Here's a look back at Axel at the same age.
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