April 2019

It's been a month of rain and cold weather, with breaks of sunshine and warmth. I've also been extraordinarily busy, often attending 2-3 community meetings each evening after a jam-packed day of trying to fit in my work hours at Vera House while also fitting in 6-8 hours of Council business every week because of a busy budget season.

April also brought our first concussion, the last day before spring break. Beckett ran into another child on the playground at school and was having a hard time seeing, speaking and walking when I arrived. He got checked out at our great Upstate Pediatric ER and we were discharged after just a few hours when he restored all previous functioning. Just today he was cleared by his own pediatrician to return to normal activities. The boys visited both sets of grandparents over spring break, where they tried to keep a high-energy 7-year-old boy on "cognitive rest"--no TV, screens, video games, reading, or vigorous physical activity.

Theo also had the great idea to add a shelf to his bed. It makes him very happy to have his special spot to put his treasures.

One of our cognitive rest strategies was long walks, including this one to the zoo. Beckett had a great time pushing Reed in the stroller for a lot of the trip. We had to take a ride on the tiger as always. I wonder when they'll stop finding it fun to clamber up on the pretend tiger. I hope not for a while!

Sanibel Part IV

We got in some good beach time, including some castle building, hole digging, and Theo's new favorite beach activity, which goes like this: he runs at a very high rate of speed through the sand, and then very quickly collapses on his back into the sand, as if disappearing into the sand.

Sanibel Part III

Lots of fun around the condo, including building with Lincoln logs, tossing the football, and lizard hunting.

Sanibel Part II

Except for rain on the drive from the airport to the condo, we had perfect weather for the TEN days we were in Sanibel this year. We had a couple great beach days and a lot lot LOT of pool time.

Sanibel 2019: the pool

2019 was the year that Reed learned to swim. We realized that it was a whole year earlier than Theo and Beckett did--they were 4 nearly 5, but Reed is only 3 nearly 4. Videos to come....

Reedism

Reed says all kind of off-beat, unexpected, sometimes wonderful, sometimes strange things. Recently, this was his nonsequitur:

(Background: about five months ago, our friend Nick came over to the house with his girlfriend Kristy for dinner and to show us photos of a trip they had recently taken to Iceland and Ireland. I worked with Nick at one of my prior law firms. Nick is 6ft, 8in tall. So, really tall. Tall enough that he has to duck going through some of our doorways, which we noted with the kids. This is the ONLY time the children have ever seen Nick. And it's not like we talk about him around the house much. No offense, Nick.)

So fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. The kids have finished dinner, and Jeff and I are still sitting at the table eating and talking. Reed is playing with a car on the table next to me.

Reed: I wish I had a dad
Jeff: you do! I’m your dad!
Reed: I wish I had a bigger dad. If you were taller. Taller like Nick. I wish you were taller, like Nick.