Play me, I'm yours

60 street piano's have invaded New York and we stumbled across one at columbus circle. After listening to some frenetic classical by a teenager (no sheet music required!), and a Nora Jones easy listening jazz singer, Z got his go with Grandma Jackie.

Then we went to volcano park and he figured out a method for running through the water spray without getting his hair/face wet......

helmet

intent on reading

We had a busy weekend, Z highlights:
1) Getting to fall asleep in the car on the way up to Massachusetts
2) Babysitting with cousins Danny and Rachel, which involved pizza, Juggling, baseball, football and futurama (sans Z,we had a great time at the wedding too)
3) New books from Grandma Cornwall, GG and Auntie Marilyn (thank you all)

Long time no post

sorry turns out PhDs are hard, and we;re trying to finish up.

"bury my feet, please"

and then later "water me too, please" because like plants they needed water to grow.

waters on when NYC gets hot

Neglectful bloggers, no biscuits

I KNOW.

Sorry. It turns out PhDs are hard. Right? Who would have thought. Whatevs. We're counting in weeks, and that can only be good for everyone and future therapy bills.

Mark will be fantastic and upload pictures at some point. There has been fantastic water based frolicking as the weather has warmed up here. New York City parks do have incredible water features - sometimes as silly as a pipe, or a sprinkler, but frankly when it is 95 degrees, that'll do. With no yards for most folks, certainly in manhattan... it is absolutely necessary. And some are spectacular, like "Volcano Playground"... well, no point describing. You'll see it soon enough.

The big news is... Zachary is HYSTERICAL.

Oh, wait. That isn't news. But he has certainly got his sass on. And his vocabulary! He is just sucking in words like a crazy vacuum sponge baby. Or an alien who has landed and is trying to fit in. Yeah, we probably should have named him Ford Prefect. Hindsight is a bitch.

He and I have had some quality conceptual time lately. Working on ones dissertation turns one to the precision of language. Which is a super dangerous collision when your 2.5 year old has hit the WHY WHY WHY stage. And loves words.

This last week we've learned:

1) The difference between parallel and perpendicular (forking noodles)
2) The difference between major & minor axis on an ellipse (cutting chick'n nuggets)
3) 1, again, with stabbing nuggets (he's pretty good at it)... and he can say perpendicular. Which is damn cute. In case you were wondering.
4) What's magnetic?? SO MANY THINGS. And did you know? If the door frame is magnet at eye level? IT IS ALSO MAGNETIC AT THE FLOOR. And at the place you can reach with your tippytoes stretched dangerously from the stepstool.

Yup. Magnetism is kick ass. Which I think is a great weekend lesson.

oh! and books. Still a book fiend. He has now started bringing books to daycare to share. Every day he picks a book he wants to share at daycare.

And he hates sleep. Apparently he gets that from me, WHA?? Sorry, kid. Genes are tricksy. Ask your Grandpa Michael.

Get up, Stand up

Z has had a big crush on Bob since he got to dance while eating a takeout picnic on campus a few weeks back. He still remembers and recites that we danced on the grass while eating dinner, but also loves to rock out and just enjoys dancing.....

Board books

Sarah just pointed out that Z's rediscovery of his board books is because he's starting to memorize them. And they sing the ABC's at daycare so this one goes done a treat.

Hippo Playground an other parks

into the mouth
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

We finally made it to a riverside park playground at 91st that I have long wanted to visit but it is just so out of the way. As you can see the hollow hippos make for great toddler climbing frames. We went with Ronen, Navah and their parents, who were in the city for the weekend.

On Friday, we visited another new park, to celebrate Stephanie distributing her thesis. The outside bar on riverside at 107th-sh overlooked a HUGH sand box, or fake beach, with several volley ball courts and the BEST two swing-a-ring sets ever.

We had a bit of adventure to Brooklyn on sunday. The orginal plan got scraped and Z and I went to check out a nice playground in prospect park. Z as is his current trend headed straight to play in the sand and slipped right into playing with the only Hispanic kids there. And then when they had to go he lined up to have his feet buried by a group of other children who were growing themselves by planting and watering their feet. He sat down in line and turned to the oldest girl and said "bury my feet please" and then later "water my feet, please" totally adorable. Pictures next time.

cobblestones and stairs

can keep him occupied for quite a while. This is the first time I can remember that he just ran of to go climb stairs (on his own) normally a task he seems to loath with those short little toddler legs and such big steps, but the reward it seems was well worth it.

AIDSWALK 2010

IMG_4366
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Glitter. Feathers. Safety orange.

Enough said.

Tuesday. Adventures in the life.

1) Zachary suddenly decided that daycare was evil. This sucks. But! We figured it out. He misses Farren. Farren, wherever you are, we miss you. :) Bargains have been made. hopefully it will be ok.

2) Zachary can say his full name. It is the most adorable thing on the planet.

3) On saturday, we went to see Jen graduate (whoo, we heart PhDs!) and then reconvened (post Mark/Z having park time, and me having writing time) for chinese food on college walk. I suspect these are the bits we'll miss about here. The weather was delicious in a way it rarely is in NY (sunny enough to be nice, cool enough to be comfortable) and we ran around and played and threw balls and climbed bleachers.

As they were prepping for graduation and commencement and all forms of whatever celebration, they were trying out the speakers. They played a chunk of Bob Marley to which Z first sang along (oy yoy yoy, oy yoy yoy yoy...) and then followed the directions of (get up, stand up...)... The first time we were like "What are you doing?"... By the second time we figured it out ;)

Worst Parenting Ever

Today, I told Zachary that he was flirting with an elevator ban.

These are the conversations in public in which inevitably people are listening in. And all I can think is "Yes. Yes I AM THE WORST PARENT EVER. Thanks for playing."

Zachary has been having elevator-button pushing-related ABSOLUTE meltdowns the last few mornings. Maybe its because we've replaced his usual pretzels with ritz, because we've run out and we're waiting for fresh direct to fix it. Or maybe because the coffee bean he stuck up his nose hasn't worn off. Yesterday, our neighbor stepped out of her door and pushed the button as we walked out the door and he burst into hysteria. She looked *so appalled* and apologetic and it was like "Oh, no. Please. Do not feel sorry for his crazy. Please. If anything, we are sorry for the charming symphony of displeasure that will follow us ALL THE WAY DOWN."

Right. Today again. We will not even discuss the details.

Which found us standing outside of the elevator bank in our building lobby, my face right up near his using serious parent voice and saying the words "If you can not get a grip we will ban the use of the elevator and only take the stairs. Which will cripple your mother. Who can not bear to hear the shrieking before coffee anymore and is willing to make the trade."

Yeah. I'm adding it to his therapy book.

"Fe Fi Fo" and "Me My Mo"

are currently default silliness that just pops out of his mouth.



Here is Z in his new Tee, purchased at the Worlds fair (Shanghai) and mailed from HongKong, as you can see he loves the worldy gift.

Buried to his chest

Today

Two things.
1) Zachary shoved a coffee bean up his nose. It was retrieved without incident.

2) He also constructed the sentence "Peyton Mommy give me candy me give mommy."

Which I thought was pretty impressive.

That's all.

Bedtime Reading

When Zachary finished with his bath, he came over to get a cuddle and dry off from his bath. I was reading the paper, and he was like "me, me! read me! me look!"

Ok.

I was reading this article. It is about the recent elections in Germany. We've been so involved with the UK election (debacle?) that I'd sort of ignored the rest of the world for the last few days.

So I started reading aloud. I stopped about two paragraphs in, and he was like "Read more!" Ooookey dokie.

If he drops "Bundestag" into conversation, now you'll know why.

Although I just went back and skimmed the article, and they've changed it a bit! Now they say "German upper house". But it was bundestag before ;) Wow, nytimes.com . Dumbing it down for the toddlers. FAIL.

A puddletastic time

It rained alot, and then got sunny so we went out to play.............







We also played in the wet sand, which was wonderful for sandcastles and burying little boys up to the neck. He also for the first time (I've seen) tried to engage another kid in play not just by playing or silently offering to share, but by using his voice "hello". The talking is amazing. We went to Barbara and Neil's for mothers-day and he told us when he was hot and wanted his jacket off, and when he was cold and wanted it back on. He chatted away to pretty much everyone one at the party, and often wants to share the excitement in his life with a string of slightly disconnected nouns, letting whoever is listening to fill in the verb gaps.

Piano Playing

Today was the Graduating Student Colloqium in the Astronomy Department. Apparently I managed to not make a fool of myself (win). Afterward, DH threw a party for students and faculty. It was lovely, and Z had a whale of a time. This (although dark) was a video that one of the other student's took while Josh showed Zachary how to play piano. David is supervising :) Much fun was had.