A teddy, the whale, Fluffy, broken blankie and new blanket

Here is what Noah takes to bed each night these days:

1.  Broken blankie.  The old stand-by.  You wouldn't recognize it as a blanket; it's more like old yarn knotted together.  

2.  Teddy.  Teddy made an appearance several months ago ~ the children at Montessori were invited to bring their teddies to school for a Teddy Bear Tea.  "Teddy" stepped up to the plate (thank you Nana Paula and Grandpa Steve) and inherited his place in Noah's bedtime routine.  

3.  Fluffy entered a few weeks ago.  A white cat, looks like our Fluffy.

4.  Mr. Whale (a favorite when Noah was one.  Auntie Denise got this for Noah at the Samoset one day when we were there with Grampie for brunch)

5.  Recently, Noah asked for a "big boy" blankie (he has mentioned that broken blankie might be a baby blanket and these days he is rejecting all things baby-ish).  He has taken to a very soft blanket that Cathy Rispoli gave him.  

Everything is in the photo below with a very tired boy.  Teddy is hard to see - he is black and under Mr. Whale.  Noah has been managing all these friends every night - brings down the whole entourage at 5:30 "when the light turns green" (on his special clock that tells him when it's OK to join Momma and Papa in their bed) 

This morning, Mr. Whale was sick and Noah showed some beautiful care-taking.  He wrapped Mr. Whale in a blanket and carried him around the house carefully.  I was asked to hold Mr. Whale (his symptoms seemed similar to Eli, who has a cold and is teething) when Noah went to the bathroom.   

Skunk cabbage and sticks

Eli and I went along with Noah's Environmental Club (an after school activity at Stillwater Montessori) to the Orono Bog Boardwalk.  It was a beautiful day...perfect day for a walk in the bog!  We have been to the Bog Boardwalk several times - it's a lovely walk and so fun to watch how the habitat changes from season to season.  

First, the children got a little Bog Boardwalk 101.  It was super cute listening to Noah tell his friends to "be careful of the habitat!" as they began their walk.   

Noah got such a kick out of the skunk cabbage.  He and his friends started to count all the plants that they saw along the path, but petered out around 16.  Joanne asked them "Why do you think that it is called skunk cabbage?"  "Because it is STINKY!" they all giggled.  Since then, Noah has asked for skunk cabbage for dinner.  Monkey!

And what is it about sticks?  Noah couldn't even concentrate until he had a stick in his hand.

Joanne shows the children the water (and bugs!) inside of a carnivorous  pitcher plant

Joanne points out the cottongrass: it looks like little troll heads! (from Jan Brett's Trouble With Trolls) The children love this. 

Nowdays, when Noah is asked to do something that he isn't thrilled about doing, he will say "aw-wite" (allright).  Got to get a video of that.  Here, I ask him to smile and he is slightly annoyed.  He says "Aw-wite" and then gives me this smile.  Under duress.

Super Cute:  Noah asks Phoebe if she wants to be his best friend?  She says sure, shifts her coat to her right hand and they walk arm & arm down the boardwalk for awhile.  Eventually, Phoebe runs ahead and Noah starts to cry and want me to give him a piggyback ride ( I have Eli in the Baby Bjorn, a camera in one hand and a water bottle in the other)  but this moment is Hallmark-perfect:

At the end of the hike, Noah is over-the-top excited to have a snack.  I am overjoyed that he chose Sun Chips instead of the neon orange Cheetos.  Four years olds eating Cheetos = gooey Cheetos fingers.  Gooey Cheetos fingers leave a path of orange destruction.  Food just shouldn't be that orange.

He's sitting with his friends Owen and Alex.  Owen's dad Greg is there, too.  Noah announces that Greg is his best friend now.

Who is that big baby?

Is this my infant son?  

In the last week at The Children's Center (where Eli does day care here on campus) he went from being the little baby on the block to one of the "big babies"  He's got some friends who are now 3, 4, 5 months while he is (gulp) going to be 6 months next week.  

He is so smiley and laid-back.  It's a good thing ~ his life always has a loud and fast 4-year-old in the background (this is why I love this photo)

He is loving oatmeal these days...taking some by spoon in the morning and at dinner time when we are all at the table.  I've got peas all queued up and ready for this weekend.  I'd like him to be enjoying veggies when they are all in season in our garden.

Speaking of garden, we will be planting soon.  The backyard is coming to life ~ I'll post some pics this weekend along with our trip to the Bog Boardwalk with Noah's Montessori class yesterday.

Eli has been battling a bit of a cold...he continues to be so stuffy at night.  He is sleeping well, though.  Down to 2 feeding at night - usually around 11 pm and then again at 3:30 am.  All in all, I'm feeling more rested.

Gene starts his first nighttime shift tonight - 7 pm to 7 am.  He's got mostly weekends for the next couple of months.  We sort of saw that coming - he's the new guy on the floor.  Our challenge will be finding a way for Gene to get good sleep during the day on the weekends when the kids are home!  I'll let you know how it goes.

Mark and Lisa go back down to Boston on Saturday.  The Bruins keep winning  - and they are really enjoying those playoff CLUB level seats.

Happy Graduation, Kelsi & Matt

Happy Graduation, Kelsi and Matt!  

Kelsi Whelden has been working with us at UB as our Graduate Assistant for the past couple of years.  Last week, she finished up grad school and Noah wanted to be at the party.  And at the party HE WAS.  He worked the party like it was a red carpet event; he posed for photographs with all of the unsuspecting attendees.  Here he is jumping on Howie and John Colannino upon arrival:

Becky presents the goofy graduation cake-guy

The Graduate & her husband

I will miss my rides up to Central & Stearns High School with Kelsi ~ she heartily endorsed my bi-weekly obsession with Orvieto's sandwiches and we had no problem finding things to talk about on the not-so-interesting drive north on I-95.  (just read in the BDN this morning that there is a proposal in August to bump the speed limit up to 75 north of Orono ~ )

I'm glad that she is applying for Guidance Counseling jobs in the area - the dream would be Kelsi as a GC in one of our target schools...... (got my fingers crossed)

Matt Leavitt also graduated with Master's Degree #1:  Intermedia.  Guess what he's doing next?  Yup.  MORE grad school.  This time in Higher Ed ~ and two more years as a GA at UB.  We're lucky to have him on the team....

Becky, Matt Leavitt (next in line to the UB Grad Assistant Throne) + Noah

Lizzie Colannino + Noah

Nathan Colannino + Noah

Tom Perkins + Noah

Howie  + Noah

Nathan + John Colannino + Noah

And CornHole!  Noah was pretty darned good at this.  He asked me why the game was called CornHole and I just didn't have an answer.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter and now I'm finally caught up to date with my life.  Sort of.  

Noah and his friend Colin

 Below, Noah with Monty the Moose.  This was a big deal - in the past, Noah has run away from Monty (and any other costumed creature).  He was feeling so good about it, he followed Monty for the rest of the day.  Lots of high fives and questions about why Monty isn't answering his questions. "Moose don't talk, honey."

We had a wonderful Easter dinner with the Aunties and Uncles.  Crab cakes and oh my gosh LOTS of presents from the Easter Bunny.

At church earlier that day, Noah insisted that he is a big boy now and can sit through an entire service without going to Sunday School.  Well, we tried it and......nope.  He just can't do it.  He was karate chopping my back as I tried to squeeze in a moment of silence.  The sermon?  Who knows?  I was keeping Noah contained to one pew.

So many blessings!

Just a few more photos from NC.....

I've had Aunt Dorothy in my thoughts throughout the year.  Can you imagine having both knees replaced at once - and then still not walking comfortably?  If life was fair, she would be getting around like the Bionic Woman with those new and improved knees.

However, she continues to put packages in the mail with the most wonderful and unexpected stuff.  The latest?  A cute flower pot of yellow crocuses that have little lights in them.  It's like a night light in Noah's room.  

She loves holding babies, so I had just the baby for her!

Grandma Dot and Eli

And here are the beautiful azaleas that bloom all over NC in the spring.  This one is in the backyard at Dorothy's house.  I found Noah whacking it with a stick. :(

Noah had so much fun chasing Seth, Ethan and Cameron in the backyard.  Why did he insist on running with a stick?  Is it a boy thing?

Baby toes in the sand!

Auntie Susan (in the background hauling water for Noah's moat) and Noah play at Onslow Beach

Noah and Cameron

Bye North Carolina!  We will see you again soon.


PS.  No photos, but our trip home was eventful.  We got to New York's LaGuardia Airport to find out that all the flights to Maine had been canceled.  So picture this:  Faith with Eli in the Baby Bjorn with just enough formula and diapers to make it to Maine.  
Suddenly, she needs to 
1.  Find formula for Eli so he can eat that night (thank you US Air employee Jamie who ran to the store for me) 
2. More diapers (note: airlines keep extra boxes of diapers just in case) 
3.  Get on a shuttle with both boys to LaGuardia Crowne Plaza - the only hotel with a room open that night  
4. Fix dinner (think Lunchables, chocolate milk and Sun Chips from the airport)
5.  Sleep in our underwear (our luggage went to Maine without us) 
6.  Be back at the airport at 6:00 am!  


What an adventure.  Noah's first night in a hotel! 

Strawberries & The Secret Life of Bees

A trip to Southwest Strawberry Farm!  You would not believe how fresh, sweet and perfect these strawberries tasted.

Here, Julian shows us where the yummiest berries are.  Noah introduced himself and his brother.  Julian said, "Well, Eli is a fine southern name!"  Noah loved his accent and also got to check out Julian's tractor.  Later, Donna told me that Julian and the Farm were featured in The Secret Life of Bees.  I haven't seen the movie yet, but it was the program book for UB back a few summers ago.  Great book.  Here, from the production notes of the film:

Since bees are summer-oriented insects and the film was a summer movie shot in the middle of winter, prop master John Sanders arranged for 12 beehives to be imported from Florida – some with as many as 40,000–60,000 bees in them. The hives were kept in a warm greenhouse in Burgaw, North Carolina, where the actors worked with them.

Queen Latifah had to be particularly at ease with the bees because her character does most of the harvesting for her family’s business. Bee master Julian Wooten, a man with 50 years’ experience (and also a retired strawberry farmer), instructed the actors on bee biology, on how to extract honey from the combs, on how to separate honey from bits of wax and on general bee etiquette. “I was stressing slow, gentle movements and trying to get them over their fear,” he explains, knowing the actors were all anxious about getting stung. Affectionately referring to him as “the bee whisperer,” Latifah says she was impressed by his understanding of bees and reassured by his guidance. “Going in there, I was always trying to calm down and come to the bees with love,” she says, though she admits that handling the honeycombs, covered with live bees, while using her bare hands, was nerve-wracking. “I just kept my hands closed, because naturally you want to swat at them, but you can’t. So you remember that they don’t want to harm you. They actually lose their life to sting you.”