First Ski

On Sunday we took Ethan cross-country skiing for the very first time (at Great Brook State Park). He fell a lot, but loved it anyway. He especially liked the hills, and was even starting to get some glide into his skiing. Can’t wait to take him out again. I think there should be a law that all parents have to take their kids skiing when they’re small, since they learn so much more easily than adults.

Snow Day

We have a snow day here today (again!). We’ve been pretty white here since mid-December. The snow literally had just melted enough for the hard-working landscape guys to come pick up our leaves yesterday (Sunday), and today we’re getting another 10 inches. .

It’s 7:30am, and Ethan is snuggled in bed watching a “Ben Ten” video that his sister Jen and her husband Tim gave him for Christmas. I’m sitting here beside him, working on my laptop computer, in a somewhat futile attempt to get some work done while I can. Ben’s cousin is named Gwen, so I jump every few minutes when they call out her name in the video. (Ut-oh, Gwen just got kidnapped, so they’re saying her name even more).

It’s nice to have the day off with Ethan. He’s been getting so tired at school, that it’s good to have an excuse not to go today. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been picking him up early from after-school anyway. It had become increasingly apparent that he was just too tired when I showed up at 5pm. I feel very grateful I’ve had the flexibility to pick him up early.

Yesterday I made a mad dash to get Ethan a new pair of snow pants, since he grew out of the old snowsuit. (At his doctor’s appointment last week, they measured him at 45 inches.) He was starting to hate snow since he kept getting wet feet in his old suit.

Merry Christmas

Monday morning I looked out the kitchen window to see two (2!) foxes frolicking in the snow in our back yard. They were there long enough for me to call Ethan, who saw one of them walking back out of the yard. I can’t help thinking that the children’s stories I read Ethan about the various and sundry wise and tricky foxes must have some merit in order for these creatures to coexist so closely with so many humans.

Christmas went very well. We had all the older kids over on Christmas Eve, and Alec and Julie over on Christmas day. Santa brought Ethan a giant tiger and a transformer. Other presents included a transformer mask, dress up wigs and hats, DVD’s, stuffed animals, and PJ’s. We opened presents slowly, and luckily Ethan didn’t get too overwhelmed. I, however, got quite sick with a bug on Christmas, and have been fighting it off every since.

This weekend my friend Dave and his wife Amy and two kids Laura (5) and Michael (2) came to visit and stayed over. The three kids got on really well, and we were actually able to have some adult conversations (which of course were just about the kids anyway, but oh well….). On Sunday we went to get Dim Sum in Chinatown, and all the kids behaved themselves very well.

When I read books with Ethan, he likes to point to the pictures and say, “I’m going to be this one – which one are you going to be?”. He often points to the kid (or puppy, etc), and wants me to point to the mom. For example, in the three bears, he’ll point to the baby bear and say, “I’m going to be him – which one you going to be?”. He isn’t satisfied unless I point to the middle sized ‘momma’ bear, and I have to be a female character. If there aren’t any creatures on the page, he’ll often pick a superhero, or a car/truck to be (he’ll be the small one, I have to be a bigger one). This morning it was food (he was the pizza, I was the cooked chicken).