Yes Sir, That's "My Baby"

Now that Madeline is really moving around Patrick is seeing the advantages—and disadvantages—of having a baby sister. He's shortened "my baby sister" to "my baby" and for the most part enjoys having "my baby." He always wants to put "my baby" in the tub with him, and loved sharing a room with her in Cape Cod. Every night he switched his pillow around so that his head could be closer to hers. Last Sunday, as we were unpacking from the trip, we were delighted to watch the two of them playing beautifully together, both happy to be back among familiar toys. At one point when Madeline went to crawl away Patrick grabbed her legs and gently slid her back next to him. He then set up a little barrier/gate with the toy barn and train so that Madeline would stay close.

But it's not all so cute. Madeline wants to be in on everything Patrick-related, which earned her a new nickname, "the baby wrecker," as she muscled in on his dinosaur puzzles while we were away. And in the car, we are already playing the "MOMMY, SHE'S TOUCHING ME" game. I spent most of the 9 hours home from vacation holding Madeline's hand and tickling her so as to keep her restless baby fingers off of her brother. You can't keep Madeline down for long, though. Madeline was the first to wake up from nap in the car and was devastated to find her brother out cold next to her, so she embarked on a 15-minute campaign of coos, squeaks and squeals until Patrick finally woke up, at which point I immediately heard "SHE'S TOUCHING ME AGAIN MOMMY!"

Vacation Part Three: Postcard from Chatham

We kicked off our Cape Cod week with a ride on the "Shining Sea" bike path from Falmouth to Woods Hole on a beautiful sunny Saturday. Given that it rained for the next four days, it was a good thing we got out and about! But the rain didn't dampen the fun times. Chatham is ridiculously pretty and quaint—almost as if Walt Disney was told to "do" New England—there's a charming main street; a minor-league baseball field; a preponderance of gray-shingled houses framed by blue hydrangeas and red-white-and-blue bunting; a fabulous playground; plentiful and inexpensive lobster and clam chowder; seals frolicking in the harbor; and a town park with gazebo where every Friday night there's a band concert for children. The concerts have been a Chatham tradition for more than 75 years. After suffering through the hottest summer on record in Washington it was actually quite wonderful to open the windows of our house and have to wear long pants and shirts.

We loved playing on the playground, watching Patrick run the bases on a real baseball field, flying kites and throwing the aerobie at Oyster Pond, playing piano at home and watching the kids climb all over Donald, and poking around the shops in town. The rain allowed Patrick to hone his puzzle skills, and we even found a TJ Maxx for Gran T in Orleans on one particularly rainy day. Patrick really enjoyed spending time playing with Gran T, Aunt Whitney, and especially Cousin Colton, who seems to be as interested in sports as he is; he started each day by asking where they all were. Madeline had a very exciting "first" while we were away: first ice cream! Donald made us wait until vacation, as her brother had done two years ago in Hilton Head. She seemed to really enjoy her scoop of chocolate, and we're fairly certain this is the start of a lifelong love.

One of my favorite memories is of the first naptime, when we foolishly put Patrick and Madeline in the bedroom together and expected they would go to sleep. We heard wild giggling and opened the door to find Madeline standing up and laughing hysterically at her brother's antics as he danced up and down in front of her crib.

Vacation Part Two: On the Road

We took the long way to Cape Cod, by way of Vernon, to visit Aunt Melissa and Uncle Greg. We had a fabulous dinner of course, and Patrick was fascinated by their fire pit, which puts any other method of roasting marshmallows to shame. Patrick was also entranced by the incredible playground Vernon has to offer, and was not happy that Aunt Melissa and Uncle Greg got to stay there while we had to leave.

We had a brief swing through beautiful Boston to see the Roddys. Will's swimming skills are inspiring, and their gorgeous swim club had three blissfully heated swimming pools that offered something for everyone. Dinner was delicious, and we were blessed with an absolutely perfect New England evening to really kick off our vacation.

Spending the night in "ho-towels" two nights in a row was really confusing to poor Patrick, who asked me as we were checking in in Boston "do we live here now?" We were happy to get on the road on Saturday morning and finally hit Cape Cod...

Vacation Part One: Connecticut

Beautiful humidity-free weather welcomed us to Connecticut for the first part of our vacation. We had some fabulous dinners down at Rocky, where you actually needed a long sleeve shirt, and had a ball watching the cousins play together. They got a real kick out of the Barbie dream house; Patrick and Sophie had a “jumping” contest; and Grandaddy entertained with stories of Bandit the raccoon. The stories were so vivid in fact, that I found Patrick in his sleeping bag with flashlight on long after bedtime on Saturday night, making sure the raccoons did not come into the house.

On Sunday (15th) , Eric, Rimma, and Katya Fehling met us for a wonderful day at the Bronx Zoo and brought fantastic news—a baby on the way in October! We saw peacocks (which wander the grounds free) otters, a whole savannah of giraffes, gorillas in a jungle habitat complete with waterfalls and mist, and best of all—a kids' zoo with prairie dog tunnels for exploring, a tree to climb to get a better look at lemurs, a twisty slide inside a tree, and a petting zoo area with remarkably well-behaved goats. Everyone loved the bug carousel, and Madeline got to take her first-ever spin. And we only saw about ¼ of the place! Patrick was out cold the minute we pulled out of the parking lot.

The rest of our time in Connecticut was equally fun. Patrick and I had a nice time meeting penguins and seals in Norwalk at the Maritime Center; we took the kids to meet Great-Grammy Krause and got a special visit from Aunt Karen; Erica Rose made the trip to Greenwich for a fab lunch and birthday/engagement celebration; Donald and I had a wonderful dinner out in Rowayton, and we were able to get lots of swims in at Rocky Point. We even took Patrick to see his first movie: Toy Story 3. The story, which involves Andy growing up and going to college, had me in tears as the toys realized they needed to find new kids to play with them, especially as several mothers had noticed Patrick playing with Buzz Lightyear at the pool and told me how their boys—now 14 and 15—had so enjoyed the first movie, and how the time goes so fast. Patrick was completely unaffected by the poignancy of it all, and seemed to really enjoy his popcorn.

Checkups

Dr. Parke got a double dose of Thomas kids when it was checkup time earlier this month. Both kids are doing great. Madeline was 21 lbs, 8 oz of smiles and giggles, and 28 inches long, though you have to take wiggling into account. She has taken the doctor’s orders of “more finger foods” to heart and is picking up everything to see if it tastes good, including all of the pebbles on the beach. Playground mulch is a particularly coveted delicacy.

Patrick is 37 pounds and 39 inches tall. His hearing and vision are good, though the doctor pointed out that there is a big difference between hearing and listening. She made him do a number of tests, answering questions about opposites and colors, testing to see if he could put on his shoes, draw a circle, and re-build a little tower out of blocks. All great, which was a relief. As the doctor went through her game/tests I started worrying that she’d expose some huge gap in his education. But when she pulled out a glittery bouncy ball and asked “can he catch this and throw it back to me?” I knew we were going to be fine. Dr. Parke had to duck as Patrick whinged it across the room to her, and then asked “can I keep it?”

Summer Fun

Quick catch up on the past few weeks: we've had a visit from Aunt Shirley, a trip to Sophie's pool (where we introduced her to her first s'mores), a few lovely playgroups and get-togethers,a few days of no power after the storm, and a birthday party for Aunt Jen. Madeline has been crawling all over the place and getting into everything and is finally eating some finger foods (and anything she can find on the floor). Patrick has been really getting into dinosaurs, thanks to a cartoon show we've discovered called "Dinosaur Train." The dinosaurs travel though space and time to meet different species, and there are some real dialogue zingers like "that's a three-toed therapod. It must be a carnivore." In the middle of each episode a paleontologist comes on to explain reality from the cartoon adventures. Patrick quickly tagged this as "the learning part," and just as quickly informed us "I don't like the learning part."

Captain Underpants

Last week, in honor of Patrick's birthday, we went to the store and picked out a pack of Spider Man underpants (note to designers of child underwear: put the character on the front, where the kid can see it). The first day he wore them to school he proudly told us "I'm going to show them to all of my friends" (which he did) and had no accidents all day. I'd been dreading potty training but it really has not been bad, especially with the gentle peer pressure of other kids at school wearing pull-ups and underpants. But we're not out of the woods yet. A few nights ago as we were eating dinner I heard the unmistakable sound of liquid dribbling on the floor. I looked at the counter: had a cup tipped over? Was the ceiling leaking? I wondered as I looked up. Something was splashing on my feet. "It's pee, Mommy," Patrick told me as he casually took another bite of broccoli.