First Tooth - Gone!!

February 4, 2015

Sophia loses her first tooth. It had been wiggly for quite some time (a good 3+ weeks). We survived a dentist appointment (where she got a tooth box from the dentist for when it fell out), numerous meals (for which EVERYTHING had to be cut really really small) and nightly wiggling. 

Finally, the tooth was ready to come out and with a gentle tug, out it came. Sophia was a trooper and was very excited. 

The tooth fairy came and brought 2 half dollars and a $5 bill. 1 down, 20 more to go. 

The Great Winter of 2014-2015

Winter 2014-2015 is going down in history. Literally.  We got 108"+ of snow - the most ever recorded in the city of Boston. Ever. The trains stopped for days and when they were running, they were so delayed it was crazy. I ended up biking into work because it was more efficient and traffic moved so slowly that it didn't really matter.


It was truly historic. The kids loved it for the most part. Mom & Dad got to be home a lot more (attempting to work and trading off coverage.) Dave took the kids sledding a lot. We did family walks around the neighborhood in most all of the storms, pulling the kids on the sled.


We also launched them down a few epic hills, some that ended with faces full of snow and tears. But everyone had fun.

We had 2 official blizzards and any storm under 8" became a non-storm. School was closed a ton, but luckily we got heartier as the winter went on. We met a lot of neighbors, helped people shovel out and got to see the awesome "Snow Eater" come up the street and shoot tons of snow into dump truck after dump truck.


By March, though, Sophia was ready for summer, and kept telling me repeatedly we had to go find it. I told her that "Spring was around the corner." To which she promptly responded, "Mama, can we go around the corner tomorrow and find it?"

Outside the basement door

Prospect Hill Tower

Backyard after the President's Day storm

Theo's First day of Nursery School

Theo has been ready to start "school" for some time now, but between his EI Speech sessions and EI playgroup, he had enough going on.
When he turned 3, he aged out of EI services, which was perfectly timed with the late winter session of Tot-Time at the rec center down the street.

He was so excited his first day - new backpack and all! He went right in, played with the train table and didn't look back as Sophia & I left.

Day two was a bit tougher on everyone. What I hadn't realized is that his routine, since he was 2 weeks old, was having Nonni & Milla show up every day to play, talk, read and take care of him. And this was an epic change for his routine.

When I dropped him off on the second day, he dissolved into tears and wouldn't let go of me. I had to do the handoff after we read books, went the bathroom and found more trains. The teachers said he settled down pretty quickly, but still, it broke my heart to leave him.

The 3rd day was more of the same - but then, Nonni brought Milla with her to pick him up. And he got to show her off to all his new friends.

From that point on, whenever I drop him off, after we say goodbye he says "Nonni come? Milla come?" Yes buddy, they'll be there.

#ittakesavillage

What I want to be when I grow up!

Sophia and I read one of my favorite books tonight - Rosie Revere, Engineer. That prompted the discussion of what she wanted to be when she grew up.
A scientist? An engineer? I asked.
Maybe Mama. But first...

I want to be a policeman. And an artist. And what was that other thing, with animals?

A veterinarian?

Yes, that's it.

For the life of me, I had no idea why she wanted to be a policeman. Nothing wrong with it, but she never has had (thankfully?) a meaningful experience with a policeman or law enforcement in general. So I asked her.

Sophia, why do you want to be a policeman.

"Well Mama, when I grow up to be an adult, I want to be a policeman....so I can drive REALLY REALLY FAST. "

Yup. She's got the need for speed. At 5.