Artistic pursuits

Ben got new paint brushes. Then he took off his clothes and made some beautiful art. We think he's in a red and orange phase.

The next week I took Ben to the 'Made by Me' pottery painting shop and he produced 2 lovely mugs. He painted the table as much as the mugs, but they turned out great! We consider this his part of his green and blue ouevre.

A late winter puddle stomp

Ben seemed to enjoy the snow melting. He loves his rain boots, and put them to good use walking around the neighborhood. He would step in each puddle, look at it closely, then declare it 'wawa' or 'mud'. An important distinction, apparently.

Library time

We went to the Cambridge Public Library this morning. It is by far the coolest kid's library I've ever been to. Ben enjoyed some books with his good buddy Leonardo. They were looking for trucks together. (Trucks, the universal toddler boy language!)

Then we went to the cafe and looked for more trucks while we ate an early lunch.

Ben tried a drinking fountain for the first time, and thought it was delightful, thirst-quenching, and hilarious. I had to drag him off the stepstool several times to let other kids take a turn.

Icy Walk

Stef and I took Ben and Clem for a walk on a warm(er) day about a week ago. We thought it would be nice to walk around the pond, but unfortunately the path was still an impassable sheet of ice. I guess our springtime ambitions got ahead of reality. We took this funny picture and then went to Starbucks instead.

Punkin’ Bread

The man at work...

The very best dozer

I take Ben to an indoor playspace a couple times a week. We spend a big chunk of the time visiting the dozer in the parking lot, which is way better than any of the stuff inside. The cool factor got upped last week when a snow plow appeared on the front of the dozer.

Preferred pajamas

Ben is pretty decisive about his nightly fashions. He usually chooses by saying 'RAAAR' if he wants his dinosaur jammies, or 'race' for his race car set. If he wants Mickey Mouse, he points to his Mickey nightlight.

Ben and Leonardo's snowy adventures

We got A LOT of snow in the last week. Now that Ben's buddy Leonardo is back from Switzerland, we decided to enjoy the elements. We went for a nice walk on the golf course one day, and then took the boys for a walk with their pull sleds the next.

There was actually too much snow to sled successfully-- they kept tipping over and getting stuck in our footprints-- so the boys weren't so happy about it.

Sledding adventures

Ben got a new sled for Christmas. Then we got 15 inches of snow. That worked out.

Tony built a ramp from the top of the veggie beds into the yard. Exhilarating!

Happy New Year's Late Afternoon!

It's become a lovely post-baby tradition for us to spend New Year's eve with Ben's buddy Clement and our great friends John and Stef. Everyone is home and ready for bed by 8.

The boys decided to bring in 2011 with some serious housecleaning.

And cracker-eating.

Christmas, squared

Ben got to enjoy several iterations of Christmas this year. At first, he seemed unimpressed, but by the end he really got into the holiday swing of things!

First, we celebrated at home a few days early.

Then, we were off to Ohio, where Ben got to see his friends Maya and Livi. Ben thought they were very awesome.

Ben enjoyed the Ohio snow. He especially liked gathering some on his shoes and then kicking it off against the brick wall. Over and over.

"Hey Uncle Rick, you're in my favorite present-opening chair."

Ben was crowned prince of Christmas and bestowed a plentitude of spoils.

The clear winner was a Mickey Mouse Firetruck. We will have the siren song stuck in our heads for the indefinite future.

Ben got the hang of present unwrapping once it became clear that there was a purpose to all that paper-ripping labor.

Ben's grandma made her gnocchi for Christmas dinner, which were like lovely clouds. Yum!

Tony and Rick helped.

A Christmas feast! Ben asked to get down from the table after thirty seconds to go back to playing with the Mickey Mouse Firetruck, but the rest of us did some serious eating.