Halloween 2009, Part III

Chase's first Halloween wasn't a very big one, due to the fact that he was barely a month old, colicky as all get out, and I was still a blubbering postpartum mess. His second Halloween was marginally better, because we spent the day at the Phillies World Series victory parade, but he didn't get the whole "dress up in costumes and collect candy from strangers" part.

Which is why this year was especially fun. This year, Chase was all about Halloween. He was all about his costume. And he was all about the idea of a bag full of candy to call his own.

We practiced at home several times, reminding him repeatedly to wish people a "Happy Halloween," because I just feel like "Trick-or-Treat" by itself sounds greedy, and telling him all about the other people who would be outside, also dressed in costumes. He was excited, and ready to roll.

We started out our 2009 Trick-or-Treating Adventure in Bunny and Zay's neighborhood, where Chase got to see Mrs. Spiker (he calls her "Spocker," with no "Mrs." in front of it, which, I have to admit, always makes me laugh). We also got to visit the Newmans, including Ryan, Meredith and Bennett, who came out to Bucks County from Center City to do a little trick-or-treating of their own. After the Newmans', we traveled over to the Giallella's, then headed back home for pizza with the Chewnings.

As soon as their pizza was gone, Sam and Chase were ready to take the neighborhood by storm, although Chase was considerably concerned about the fact that it was dark outside. The Dads got them ready and off they went. It was a pretty nasty night, raining off and on and windy, but our little troopers lasted far longer out there than Laura and I anticipated. They were back about 45 minutes later, tired and happy to show off their loot. Halloween 2009 was officially a success!

Ahoy, Matey! Chase checks out his reflection in our bathroom mirror.

Waiting for Dad to put his shoes on his so boring.

Chase gets treats from Spocker, aka Mrs. Spiker

All smiles when it comes to candy

Hanging out in the driveway at Bun & Zay's

Getting ready to ring the doorbell at Bun & Zay's for a dry run

Picture time at the Newmans with Bennett the Firefighter & Ryan

Visiting the Giallellas

Then back home, where we got a surprise visit from Dylan & Riley

Out for a night of trick-or-treating fun with Daddy, Sammie and KC

Halloween 2009, Part II

Chase got to don his costume once more the very next day, because we got to celebrate Halloween all over again on Thursday at Creative Parenting. This time, all the kids were dressed up, and we were even lucky enough to have Daddy come with us to class! After arts and crafts time, Chase and his classmates all lined up outside with bells and marched around for a special Halloween parade.

Daddy & Chase

"A parade?? I'll be there will bells on!"

Sammie struts her stuff in the big parade

Chase was not happy when the parade was over

Big hugs from Captain Hugandkiss for his favorite mermaid

The whole class on the front steps

Collapsing into the arms of his beloved before snack time

The whole class, inside with Miss Maryanne and Miss Tara

Handing out treats for everyone

Bubble time made for a great finale to the Halloween Extravaganza!

Halloween 2009, Part I

This past Wednesday in music class we celebrated Halloween. It was Chase's first time putting on his pirate costume, and I was amazed by how little he minded wearing it. In fact, he couldn't wait to get to class to show everyone what a handsome little swashbuckler he was. Not all of the kids dressed up, but a lot of them did, and it was cute to see them all together in their costumes.

Chase and a few of his music classmates

Henry and Chase get a little snuggle time in

Sammie, aka Ariel

Tanner, aka Mickey Mouse

Chase and Miss Marilyn

We may be in costumes, but it's still music class! Chase gets down with some shakers.

Henry the Handsome

Sammie and her Mum Mum

Two Thumbs Up

Last week, Zayde and I took Chase to his very first movie in a theatre. Zay suggested Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which I was really excited to see because I love the book. However, I wasn't sure Chase would be able to handle it. Even though he has watched Shrek about a thousand times at home, he's never actually sat still for any of it, so I didn't have a lot of confidence in his ability to make it through 80 straight minutes in a multiplex.

But the little guy proved me wrong. We bought our tickets, purchased a giant bucket of popcorn, made our way to our seats, and Chase settled in for the entire movie. He vacillated between sitting in his own seat and snuggling in my lap several times, but he rarely took his eyes off the screen. He was just enthralled with the whole experience, and for the several days that followed, he was sure to tell everyone we saw about how he saw a movie called "Speddy a Meebaws" with Mommy and Zay, and that he ate "lotsa lotsa popcorn!"

25 Months

Dear Chase,

Yesterday you turned 25-months-old, which was met with much less fanfare than when you turned 24-months-old, but was significant to me nonetheless. I wonder if I'll always think of the 27th of each month this way, mentally recording that you're another 30-or-so days older, long after I've stopped writing these monthly blog letters. The truth is, every day with you is significant and meaningful to me. I can't even begin to describe how blessed I feel, my awareness of how fortunate I am to be able to spend all this time with you, taking in every new development and watching you grow and learn and change. Sometimes it feels like you're a different, older, bigger little boy from one day to the next and I love that I am allowed to witness to every new thing you discover.

I feel like turning 2 unleashed some kind of developmental explosion in you, and every minute you're doing something new, speaking in longer sentences, remembering events from weeks ago that I didn't think you'd even registered, counting items around the house, talking about friends and relatives and things they've said or done. You have new favorite television shows, and you're particularly taken with "Lazytown" and "Little Bill." You tell me stories aboutSportacus and Robbie and Alice the Great and occasionally, Bill Cosby.

The talking and story-telling is almost non-stop, actually, although I'm not tired of it like I've heard I will be. You love to talk about the colors of the leaves outside and how they're changing from green to red, yellow, orange and brown (also: purple. You insist that some of the leaves are purple, which I haven't seen yet, but I'll take your word for it). You like to tell complete strangers in the food store about the state of the weather, and you are especially fascinated by rain. You hate that it means we can't go to the playground but you think it's funny when we're running to the car through a downpour and your face and head is getting splashed with heavy drops of water.

It's good that you're so taken with rain because we've had a lot of it this past month, and I for one am hoping it holds off this coming Saturday, which will be your third Halloween. You're excited for Halloween this year, and you've been practicing your "Trick-or-Treats" and "Happy Halloweens" and talking about your costume and knocking on doors. Your dad is going to take you, because he maintains that trick-or-treating falls staunchly under the category of Things Kids Do With Their Dads, so I'll be at home passing out candy while you no doubt dazzle our neighbors with your undeniable cuteness and "Happy 'Weens!"

Of course, as adorable as you are, you are still 2, which means, in your case anyway, that tantrums have become a regular event in our house. I like to think I'm getting good at figuring out what's going to set you off and what isn't, but I'm not sure avoiding your land mines is the best thing for us in the long run, so we're dealing with meltdowns on a case-by-case basis. Once again, Dr. Karp is helping us through this rough time, and it seems to be helping. Three cheers for Dr. Karp!

We're also working on potty training, at least the very early stages. We've discovered that your incentive is lollipops, and you will happily oblige us by sitting on the potty and actually peeing if it means you get a Dum Dum. But for the most part, you're just not that interested in saying goodbye to your diapers yet, so we're not pushing it. I figure we'll get there eventually, because it would be awfully embarrassing for you to go off to your freshman year at Penn State in diapers.

And truthfully, potty trained or not, you are a genuinely wonderful little boy. You love to cuddle, and you'll grab your blankie and pillow and smile at me and just say "Cuddle, Mommy,huggies." And we'll snuggle on the couch, your little body curled up against me. I know we won't do this forever, so I take mental pictures of every second, so that I can always remember how sweet your hair smells and the way you pinch the skin on the back of my hands to relax. You are so sweet, and cuddly, and loving. I am constantly amazed by you, on a minute-by-minute basis, and I will never be able to fully articulate just how much I adore you. I love you more than you can imagine.

Love,

Mommy

Snuggling in your chair with Baby Jamal

Outside Charcoal with Bunny

Drumming up a storm in music class

Giving Baby Jamal a bottle

Playing dress up with Grace

Chase and Sammie

It's a long running joke in our family about how much Andrew and KC love each other. They grew up in each other's backyards, having met just days after birth, and now that the Chewnings are back in Bucks County, they are once again inseparable. Laura and I like to tease them that their first loves are really each other, and that now they've somehow passed on this intense Chewning-Palsky friendship gene to their children, because Chase and Sam are just as devoted to each other.

Chase asks for Sammie as soon as he gets up in the morning, he talks about her all the time, and every time we see a tan-colored Explorer, he points excitedly and squeals "Sammie's car!! Sammie's car!" Anytime the dogs bark or he hears the front door open, he runs into the living room, yelling at the top of his lungs that "Sammie's here! Sammie's here!"

I try my best to document their ever growing love for each other with my camera, but truth be told, most of the time we are together, Laura and I are either laughing hysterically at their antics, or trying to keep them from falling off one of the many high places they've climbed up to, or from tripping the waitstaff at Vince's Pizza. Still, I've managed to get a few shots over the past couple of weeks; unfortunately they've all been with my iPhone so the quality isn't great:

Diving into the instruments during music class

"Hey, Chase, you gonna use all those drums?"

Playing hide and seek in their favorite hiding spot

"They'll never find us in here."

Casual dinner date

Lunch at Vince's

Their NEW favorite hiding spot -- 2 kids, 1 football toy chest

I think they thought it was like a boat

Hugs for Chase

Right backatcha, Sammie

Hail to the Lion

Since before Chase was born, Andrew has been jonesing to take him to his first Penn State football game. He couldn't wait to get him up to Happy Valley and show him all his old haunts, take him on a tour of Beaver Stadium, and teach him how to properly tailgate and cheer on the Nittany Lions. I, on the other hand, was not as eager. It's not that I don't love Penn State -- I do, believe me -- but while my own memories of Penn State football games were certainly fun, they also notably involved a lot of drunken students throwing 32 oz. fountain sodas every time the Lions scored, of vomit and urine and crowd surfing and getting shoved around in every direction. Not the kind of place a neurotic young mother wants to take her precious newborn son.

So we waited, a long 2 years, until this past weekend, when we packed up our car and drove up to State College for a fun weekend of Penn State football. We rented a townhouse with the Shipes, and tried to relive as much of our college days as possible with two rambunctious toddlers (note: this nostalgia tour basically involved ordering takeout from our favorite places, since a bar tour was kind of out of the question). We had a great time, starting with DP Dough on Friday night, tailgating Saturday morning before the game, watching the Lions demolish Eastern Illinois, and then enjoying a few Sins at the Adam's Apple while Chase and Brady graciously napped in their strollers. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, a wonderful first for Chase, and I can't wait to do it again soon. We are....!

Suzi and Brady, during our "tailgate" (we forgot chairs, or grills, or games, but we remembered the Stella, and Chase found a small toy basketball to toss around, so all was not lost)

Heading over to the stadium for game time

Chase was fascinated by the crowds and the noise and the general energy in the stadium

Let's go Lions!!

I love that face, it always cracks me up.

Brady starts to get sleepy

The boys made it through the first half and we decided it might be time to go. Brady was fast asleep, and Chase soon joined him.

Visiting the pigs outside the Tavern. Chase was smitten with the pigs that last time we took him up to Penn State in March, and he couldn't wait to see them again this visit.

Family portrait in front of Old Main

Brady gets a bear hug (or in this case, a Nittany Lion hug!)

In front of the Lion Shrine before heading back home to Philly on Sunday. Chase loves the Lion Shrine and talked about it all afternoon on Saturday. When we finally got there to take pictures yesterday, he was beyond excited and kept yelling "Lion! Lions!" until we were leaving, when he solemnly said, "Bye, Tiger."

Construction Zone

This morning kicked off what I anticipated as a 3-day vacation from our kitchen. We are in the process of having new floors installed, after our refrigerator leaked and damaged the Pergo that the previous owners had put down when they remodeled the kitchen a few years ago (side note: anyone who tells you Pergo can withstand water damage has a problem with telling the truth; this was a relatively small leak that managed to warp the edges of the laminate all the way from one end of the kitchen to the other). This normally wouldn't be such an undertaking except that when the kitchen was redone back in 2005, they ran the floors all the way under the cabinets. This is apparently a no-no, so to replace the warped, mildewed and water-damaged floors, all of our cabinets had to be ripped out and lifted. Thus, the "3-day vacation" from our kitchen.

I imagined this 3-day vacation as a series of dinners out, and a respite from things like cooking, doing dishes, scrubbing pots and pans, unloading the dishwasher, wiping off counters and sweeping up floors. I was foolishly looking forward to it.

Flash forward to this morning when I realized that not having a kitchen is actually really inconvenient, not to mention noisy.

Ripping up floors is loud, as it turns out, which isn't conducive to nap time. And having plastic sheets hang in all the doorways to keep the dust contained, as well as no longer having access to luxuries like a sink or a garbage disposal or a dishwasher isn't a lot of fun. Throw in a wild toddler with no access to his playroom (all those cabinets, pots, pans, dishes and appliances had to go somewhere) and your 3-day vacation has turned into a big pain in the ass.

Here's our progress after day one:

Despite what this picture might suggest, we don't usually keep our fridge in the living room.

Naked kitchen

Weird discovery: a tiny secret door behind where the fridge had been sitting. It goes into the closet where the hot water heater is. Do you know how much I've always wanted a house with secret passageways??? I feel like Webster, except instead of ending up in the basement of a Victorian house in Chicago I'm just in the closet where the hot water heater is.

Somewhere under all that stuff is a playroom. Not pictured: Angry 2-year-old.

Le Petit Artiste

As I mentioned in Chase's 24 Month post, he's really taken to the easel and paint set that my parents got him for his birthday. Every morning since Sunday he's gotten up and asked to paint, and he's remarkably neat when doing so (relatively speaking, I mean, we are still talking about a two-year-old here). Here are a few pictures of the artist at work in his studio:

Monday was what he refers to as his Red Period.

Displaying some of his earlier works in his studio

Dizzy

Chase has recently discovered that running in circles and spinning makes him dizzy to the point of falling down, which he finds hilarious. Truth be told, Andrew and I find it kind of entertaining, too.