Peas!

Happy birthday to me, the first peas of the season arrived gift-wrapped for our enjoyment.  I taught Adam how to open his own pods, which he got very good at, which made him proud.

Things We Enjoy

Adam and Mike play Beatles Rock Band together.  Mike's the one actually playing; Adam's just rocking out to Ticket to Ride.

We also have a LOT of picnics. 

Adam doesn't like to eat meals, but he does like to eat picnics, so we eat on the lawn a lot.  Of course, his idea of a picnic is very rigid.  Fortunately, it's also very healthy--hummus with red pepper sticks, cucumber sticks, and pita chips.  There HAVE to be cherry tomatoes, and if there isn't potato salad, I have to bicker--though when there is, he only wants one bite.  It's more a formality.

Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday, Brenda and Jason came over to use our yard for tent practice.  We set up a little colony and hung out in the yard.

Portrait of a Dad.

Tickle monkey!

I honestly thank that Adam didn't have quite as much fun as the rest of us, since the rest of us had kind of a blast. Adam took a tent colony in the yard as his due, though he did get a lot of fun out of the hide and seek aspect of the whole thing.  It was a really nice day. 

Last Week: Beach Edition

Last Wednesday, Adam and I went to the beach.  Well, at first we tried to go to the beach, but the parking lot is full.  So we went to a park nearby and had our picnic there.  Then we sat near the rocks at the edge of the ocean and used our sticks to go fishing.

Then we made it to the beach.  We built a sand castle, and then we went over and waded into the ocean just a little bit.  The splashing was a blast.  After that, Adam decided our sand castle was a stool of some sort, and spent a while sitting on it.

 

Lots and lots of fun!

OSV

We spent the morning at Old Sturbridge Village with Stephanie and Chris.  It was very rainy and a lot of fun.  Stephanie is at real risk of running off to become a sheep farmer.

Ask about the striped pig!

What Adam tells this story:


(Subtitles: he's talking about making a 7 out of paper and sharing his cake with it.)

...he's talking about this:

(Seven - They Might Be Giants from They Might Be Giants on Vimeo.)

In case you were wondering.

A Long Walk

Adam and I set out for the library yesterday, Adam on his tricycle, cheerfully singing the library song.  We had many adventures on the way--we ran into our neighbors and watched Adrian jump the curb on his mountain bike.  

Then we walked past City Hall, where there was a community bike day going on.  They were doing inspections and tune ups; they had a little bike course, and the rotary was selling discounted helmets.

 

So now Adam has a bike helmet.

Then we kept going toward the library and we passed the 21st Century Bank, where they were having a little kids' day.  There was a balloon bender, a drum teacher with all kinds of cool percussion instruments, plus free tote bags and keychain flashlights.

 Adam got a balloon monkey in a balloon tree with balloon bananas.  He didn't want to wear it, though, so I did.  No photos of that, sorry to say.

Finally we made it to the library, where we read some Thomas books and checked out a bunch of kids books on recycling that I ordered.  On the way back home, now laden with purchases, library books, and other acquisitions, we stopped at Modern Pastry for Adam's favorite treat, a green cookie.  (I'm pretty sure it's just an almond butter cookie with food coloring, but it might have a pistachio flavoring.

And then we came home.  I missed most of the rest of the day, since I fell asleep after lunch, but Adam and Mike played outside and in the basement and then later Adam and I played with his car collection in his bedroom.  But we had a really lovely morning, with balloons and drums and bike rides, and it was a great time.

Memorial Day

We're finally up to Memorial Day weekend, which was really nice.  We don't have a million pictures, but there was plenty of good stuff--a trip to the zoo with Daddy, a light barbecue with Jo and Tom (we were three blocks away from their house afterward when he asked if they could come over to our house), several lovely meals out on the town.  

And on Sunday, a trip to the furniture store, where Adam demonstrated his new way to walk, and Daddy tried it on for size.

Adam also found a chair just his size--one with TWO cupholders!

On Monday, we went into Boston.  We were going to go to the Chihuly exhibit at the MFA, since there was free admission for the holiday, but we could see from the train that the line stretched all the way around the building.  Have you seen that building?  We are not talking about a trivial line.  So instead we took the train back downtown and ate lunch at the Parish Cafe.

Then we stopped for ice cream. 

 

Adam was disappointed not to have a "little wooden spoon like a knife" to eat with, but he muddled through.

And then we took the train home.

An all around fabulous weekend.  Seriously, one of those stretches where you kind of realize how much fun it can be to have a kid, and go out and do things as a family.  Also that the T can be fun, and that ice cream is serious business.

The City of Boston

Adam likes very much to go on the train to the City of Boston. He doesn't fully comprehend what the City of Boston is, however; he has trouble reconciling the skyline we can see from the bridge with the streets and sidewalks and buildings.  Even in the middle of the city, he'll point to a tall building a few blocks away and say, "Look, there's the city of Boston!"

Last Wednesday, we went to Boston to see our friend Sheila Spinney.  It was a gorgeous day, so we went on the swan boats in the Public Garden, and then had a hot dog for lunch from a cart in the Common.

Adam takes his fun very seriously.  He often doesn't seem to be enjoying things because he looks very serious and focused. 

But this is generally a good sign--he's concentrating on whatever it is, because it's fascinating.

We watched the other boats, and even saw a real swan (plus ducks, and geese, and pigeons, all of which are equally thrilling when you're two and a half).

 (Note his look of intense concentration.  This is a good sign--really!)

 

The sweetest part, though, is that he brought his pet with him, and carried it very carefully everywhere we went downtown--on the train, on the boat, and at lunch.  The fish loved the City of Boston as much as Adam did.

Not This Weekend, But Last

We've had a string of really great weekends around here.  Last weekend (not Memorial Day, the one before) is up first.  We took Adam's new trike for a spin to the library book fair.

After that we stopped for a sushi lunch at the local Japanese market, Ebisuya.   Adam is not the most (nor least, I will say) flexible eater in the world, but he's good with world cuisine, just because so many of them involve rice.  Adam loooooooves rice.

We also watched an episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood in which Mr. Rogers makes a pet--in this case a construction paper fish on a stick.  Adam had to make a pet, and so did Mama and Daddy, and later Brenda and Jason.

Jason went off the reservation and made a pig, which Adam insists is not a pet, since a pet is a fish on a stick.  He loved, loved, loved his pet.

As an added bonus of that episode of Mr. Rogers, I pretty much constantly have the song Troglodytes Aedon stuck in my head. Now you can, too! Enjoy.