Our Very Own Cherry Blossoms

I am so in love with the new weeping cherry tree in our front yard. It is in full bloom right now--just a few days ahead of the peak bloom for the cherry trees down on the Mall.

Abel put in this flower bed last summer and built a lovely little half circle stone wall in front (sorry I couldn't seem to get everything in with my the camera on my phone!). I dreamed of putting in a crape myrtle but when I went out to our local nursery to just look around, I fell madly in love with the shape of the weeping cherry trees. Not to mention, the day I happened to stop by was the last day of a big sale: all the flowering trees were 50% off! I was almost late to pick Lucas up from nursery school so bought it on the spot (with very little deliberation and no input from Abel--so unlike me!). Since I was also several months pregnant and had our little car, Abel picked it up a few days later.

We planted it fairly late last fall and then when it got covered by so many feet of snow this winter, I was sure it was going to be a goner. But, I'd say the little tree has done quite well! The cherry blossoms are one of my favorite things about DC and now we have our own little tree to enjoy each spring. Yay!

Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Success!

I'm sure over the past four plus years and into the next 20 plus years, I've made and will make about a million parenting mistakes. But there's one success I claim with GREAT PRIDE.

Nathaniel, like Lucas before him, falls asleep On! His! Own!

Yes, my friends, when it is time for bed (at whatever hour I deem that to be...usually between 10pm and midnight), Abel or I change his diaper, wash his face, put on his jammies and sleep sack (yes, my little baby has already moved beyond the desire to be swaddled!). Then I feed him, burp him and put him down in his little bassinet. He lays there for a bit and falls asleep On! His! Own!

Sweet Success!



Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Great Weekend

I'm so totally lucky to have lots of awesome cousins and one of them had a wedding reception this weekend giving us the kick in the behind that we needed to spend a very fun weekend in Philadelphia with my brother. Philly is so close! And, it is a great city, with or without kids. If you haven't ever been there or haven't been there recently, GO!

We got to my brother's apartment mid-afternoon and trekked all our stuff up to his 3rd floor apartment before heading right over to the oldest zoo in the nation. It was chilly but very sunny and there were only maybe a few dozen other people there--it kind of felt like we had the place to ourselves which was very fun. Plus, the animals were all out and about and pretty active.

Saturday we spent most of the day at the Please Touch Museum. That place is totally worth the trip to Philly if you have a preschooler. It was awesome! Lucas had a blast and we all enjoyed watching him play and playing with him.

After the museum, we went back to Eric's apartment and quickly got ready before Lucas's babysitter--a friend of Eric's--came over. Kids weren't invited to the reception (only a reception because the couple had eloped a few months earlier) but I requested and received a special dispensation to bring Nathaniel. (Of course he was a hit, but he was also very good. Grandma held him for much of the evening and he slept in his car seat for another good chunk of time!)

Sunday afternoon my parents, aunt, uncle and cousin came over to Eric's for lunch and then we headed back home. Both boys slept for most of the drive and it took almost exactly 2 hours to get home.

A few observations:

1) Little Nathaniel pretty much doubled the amount of STUFF we had to take with us!
2) I'm getting soft as an official 4 year suburbanite. My brother's neighborhood is somewhat sketchy and I was totally worried about our mini van!
3) Maybe everyone should have their wedding and reception on different days. My cousin got to wear her (stunning!) dress twice and had a totally relaxing day before the big par-tay.
4) If you take a baby to a wedding reception, arrange to have a grandmother there to hold him most of night so you can mix and mingle and dance the night away!


Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

500 Winner

Because practically everyone who commented on my 500 post for the $50 gift card to Barnes and Noble is either a close friend or family member, I made sure to not look at the comments before drawing the number via random.org. I just glanced at the number of comments and put it right into the random number generator. And so you shouldn't be the least bit suspicious about the fact that my sister won! I truly, truly wanted each of my readers to win and wish I had a gift for each of you. But, I also have to admit that if anyone deserves a little treat right now, it is Sarah.

Congrats, Sis! I'll hand you the gift card at Easter right after my great big hug!

And thanks again to everyone--even those of you who didn't comment--for reading Smiling Mama. Here's to 500 more!

Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Thoughts Elsewhere

I'm over at DC Metro Moms with a fun little post about my future at the park. You can read it here.

However, my thoughts today and yesterday and tomorrow are really out in California with my little sister who had to kiss her hubby goodbye last night as he heads to Afghanistan for a year. Let me repeat: a year. I can't even imagine. They've weathered two 7 month deployments already (both of those to Iraq) and came out stronger as individuals and a couple.

At Mass on Sunday, in the Prayers of the Faithful, one of the prayers referenced "as we mark seven years since the start of the Iraq war." I thought, can that be possible? Seven years. Indeed, it has been that long and even longer that we've been in Afghanistan.

No matter what your feelings are on war and peace or these two wars in particular, it is so so important that we all keep our troops and their families in the forefront of our minds, our hearts and our prayers. And if you want to put particular names to your prayers, please make it Sarah and Mike.

I can't wait to give Sarah a big hug when she comes to visit over Easter. Hopefully some newphew therapy (and meeting Nathaniel for the first time!) will help just a bit.

Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

I Have Seen My Future at the Park (and I Like It!)

Over the past week and a half of wonderful, gorgeous DC spring weather, we've been at the park approximately 100 times. Seriously. Lucky for us, the neighborhood park where everyone congregates is about five houses up the street. Quite often we are there and back multiple times during the day.

One day last week I caught a glimpse of my future at that park. And let me tell you, it was pure bliss.

But let me back up a bit.

I've been through several different stages of park life with my 4 year old son. When he was a few months old, big enough to sit up but not yet crawling, I'd take him over to the park for my own socialization. I'd push him a bit in the baby swings or hold on to him down the smallest slide, hoping as we walked over that there would be another adult there to talk to.

As Lucas got a bit older, my socialization decreased because I had to stay within a foot or two of him as he careened around the park on unsteady toddler legs. I'd get about five words of a sentence out before having to move along with him on his next adventure.

Most recently, my conversations have resumed. Lucas is big enough to be across the park without me worrying too much about him hurting himself. But, I still need to keep an eagle eye on him because these days when he does something dangerous, it is VERY dangerous. I find that I'm able to get good conversations in with the other moms of the 4 year old boys: as the boys rove the park in a pack, the moms rove together, too, keeping an eye on our sons.

But last week, glorious last week, I got a glimpse of the next stage: being a mom of a mid-elementary school aged child. You see, the second, third and fourth graders are big enough to do anything they want at the park. They don't need pushed on the swings or watched on the big slide. Their moms aren't worried that they'll chase a ball into the street because if they do, they'll look for cars first. Their kids aren't going to knock over the smaller kids or careen around with sticks flailing. Their kids barely need supervised.

And so what does the mother of an elementary school aged child do at the park? She sits and chats with the other moms. She doesn't break eye contact every 10 seconds searching for her child's shirt. She doesn't suddenly dash away while yelling for her child to "come back" or "put that stick down" or "share!" Rather, she sits and chats, occasionally fielding a request when her child runs up to her. But, this request is never to be pushed in the swing (her kid has already mastered the sacred art of pumping!) or to make so-and-so share.

She sits and chats; starts and finishes conversations; enjoys a lovely day at the park.

I have glimpsed my future and I like it very much.


Original post to DC Metro Moms. Unfortunately for Aimee Olivo, just as her oldest son reaches elementary school, her younger son will be in the stick-yielding, non-sharing phase of park life. But, the sit and chat is in her future, she is sure of it! Read more about life with her boys at Smiling Mama. She also blogs about getting out and about with kids in Prince George's County, MD at Out by Ten.

Dawn Mooney said...
I hear you on this one! But for me, I'm still chasing after the 2 year old and calling to the 3 year old (4 soon) who's usually in her own imaginary world. The 9 year old, though? He goes off to the playground with his buddies, leaving me to either hang with the little ones or, if it's naptime for the little ones, *gasp* have some Mommy time! :)

March 22, 2010 at 05:38 PM Suzie P. said...
Same here! I glimpsed that world briefly when I just had three. Now that there's a fourth, I've been ripped away from the precious sit and watch your kids play at the park stage. Sigh...one day soon!

March 24, 2010 at 02:10 PM Meg said...
I don't miss chasing the wee ones in the park. And it gets even better: Just wait till they get old enough that you can read a magazine while they confidently swim in the pool!

Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Gumption

On our way into Panera for lunch today, Lucas held the door open for me pushing the stroller, his dad and a very, very tall gentleman who was right behind us. As I went through, I said, "Thank you very much, Lucas." As the tall gentleman went through he said, "Thank you very much, Sir."

Abel and I stepped to the side to let the very tall gentleman pass us and to wait for Lucas. He practically ran past us and tapped the very tall gentleman on the thigh, saying, "Excuse me! Excuse me!"

"Yes," the man said as he leaned way down to Lucas's level.

"You can just call me Lucas," my son replied.

"Okay, Lucas, thank you very much," chuckled the man.

************************

Lucas was at the park for hours this afternoon. First with his dad, then with me. About an hour into his second trip, Nathaniel got very fussy and needed to be fed. I'm not very comfortable breastfeeding in public anyway but I didn't even have so much as a blanket with me. As we're literally five houses from the park, I thought we could all just run home, I'd feed Nathaniel and we'd be back in less than 20 minutes (the babe is a very fast eater!). Of course Lucas as not so happy with this plan. I explained that we'd be back really soon, I just needed to feed Nathaniel. He asked, "Why can't someone just watch after me?"

There were about a million people at the park including no less than four moms I knew well and would totally have been comfortable with. But for some reason I didn't want to ask for help. In thinking over the whole situation now, I realize that is just silly: had any of them asked me, I would have agreed to watch their child or children in a heartbeat. I guess I just don't like to ask for help.

Luckily for Lucas, he has no such problems. He marched right over to one mom and asked her, "Can you please look after me? Mama has to feed baby Nathaniel." Of course she and another mom standing right next to her both looked over at me and I explained that I just needed to run home to feed the baby and would be back in 20 minutes or less. If they were planning to stay that long, I asked, would either of them mind keeping an eye on Lucas?

Of course, both agreed.

Nathaniel and I walked home and were back at the park in no time.

************************

At dinner tonight, I asked Lucas what his favorite thing was about playing at the park.

"I. Like. Playing. With. Big. Kids."

(Seriously, he said it just like that, as though he knew I was going to blog about it!)

"Why do you like about playing with big kids?" I asked.

"Because they are mighty and fighty just like me."

It's true. Lucas loves to play really rough and generally the bigger kids are into that, too. Plus, when he's wrestling with someone bigger than him, I figure the other kid can handle himself and don't tell Lucas to stop or to be careful. So bring it on, big kids! (But watch out, because my little buddy is one tough guy!)


*Don't forget to enter my $50 giveaway in honor of reaching 500 posts! Also, if you have a tween girl in your life and live in the DC-area, head over to Out by Ten to enter the giveaway for a set of tickets to attend Rosalind Wiseman's Girl World Tour event.


Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!