Chicago

We had a lovely trip to Chicago.

Our flight there was not too stressful. I think I'm getting more used to traveling with my pollywogs. Here's a link to Andres on plane.

Here's a link to a photo of William on the plane.

Andres was next to me, and he fell asleep and I got to finish my Paul Auster book, Brooklyn Follies.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal when we arrived. The boys liked the apartment my parents are renting near the Navy Pier. They had some presents, a big collection of markers and paper, plus scissors and glue. William and Andres made some pictures for them.

Friday we went to the Field Museum. Above is a photo of William in front of the famous Sue. Then Kathy and Rich treated the boys to some presents in the Sue Store. I got to look at the little Tibetan section.

We had a lovely lunch at Wishbone. Then we hung out at home, after the boys tried a nearby park. Rich and Kathy were amazed at the animation and sophistication of children's movies like The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. The boys played together nicely for the most part.

Saturday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo.

William would not say goodbye to Glamma when we got to the airport. He wanted to change the reality by denying it was happening. In the airport we saw a large reproduction of a dinosaur, and the boys got some more gifts. Poor William dropped his winter globe of Sue, and broke it. So I bought him another one. Our flight back was OK. We were in the last row. Andres fell asleep just as we were about to land. Victor was right there with our car. I think it was a lovely trip. Thank you Kathy and Rich for such a wonderful time!

homework

Andres calls a TV magazine his "homework" and likes to write in it and cut it.

We spent lunch with William's class yesterday. I love making connections with other parents. There's wonderful mixes in the class. One child has a Japanese father and Peruvian mother. Another is half Chinese. Another is half Panamanian. So many interesting mixes. My boys are half Ecuadorian! What a wonderful mix!

Update

Thank you to Abuela for cooking and Diana for cleaning for our 20 people early Thanksgiving party. Thanks to everyone who came. We had a lovely time with family early because we're out of town on Thanksgiving.

William got 3 shots and blood taken. Andres has blood taken. They went to the doctor and when Diana got home she said, "you owe me one." The boys had some presents. They were crying a lot with the shots.

A new nickname for Andres is "Gomez" from The Addams Family. You can check out some of his kissing here. Diana called Andres that because he kisses a lot.

They fixed the concrete sidewalks around our house lately.

Andres photo

3 caballeros

2 photos

William the artist.



William's new haircut.

facebook photos

William in field.

Andres on the roof.

Andres with wagon.

William with red bush.

overparenting?

The New Yorker has an article about overparenting.

Here's a quote: "This used to be known as “spoiling.” Now it is called “overparenting”—or “helicopter parenting” or “hothouse parenting” or “death-grip parenting.”"

It's a book review of A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting.

Here's another quote: "A third development that pushed people into overparenting, Marano and others believe, is the “brain plasticity” research published in the nineteen-nineties. This research said that, while the infant brain is, in part, the product of genes, that endowment is just the clay; after birth, it is “sculpted” by the child’s experience, the amount of stimulation he receives, above all in the first three years of life."

I think I fall for that one a little bit

transitinoal objects

Reading Winnicott, and thinking about transition objects, the thing that comes to mind for William was that he would always carry a Thomas train. It was frustrating because we would be at the park and he would need use of his hands to climb a ladder, but he would refuse to give up the train in his hand. He needed the comfort of a train in his hand. The park must have been threatening, he needed the comfort, never mind if it didn't make sense to climb a ladder with a train in his hand. He wanted near the pleasure of his train.

Andres carries the latest present we gave him, he likes to be thought of, though he's not so specific about what he wants. He's wanted cars and taxi cars, and other things. Recently it was a motorcycle we bought the day of Ashton's christening. He carried that around a lot.

In Play and Reality he suggests that if you don't wean the child by 4 months, it will be harder, but we didn't have any trouble at weening the boys at 8 months because we used a bottle with formula and breast milk when Diana pumped, when she was tired.

The boys don't have a blanket or teddy bear they have consistently stuck with, though they have favored toys, cars, trains, things they could hold in their hands that represented our love for them in a tangible gift, and the comfort of playing and fun.

The have suffered through the vicissitudes of our work. Diana working and not me, then both of us, then not Diana and then both of us not working. But they seem pretty OK at the moment. They fight and whatnot, get on each other's nerves, try to hurt each other for past wounds. But for the most part I feel they are healthy and wholesome boys, which many good traits and strengths.

I'll end this post with an old web page with William as a baby when I graduated from NYU.

wizard of oz

We watched The Wizard of Oz with the boys. It's odd to see classics as an adult, watching as a parent. This movie is really emblazoned on my consciousness, I know the songs. I forgot how camp it is. The boys like it, repeat the line, "I'll get you my pretty!" Those flying monkeys are really creepy. Andres was afraid of the cowardly lion. Diana reminded me of the lines one of our students used to keep saying.

4.5

William is 4 and a half today. Whoop! He woke up and began drawing. He's awesome. I love him. And his wonderful brother. Last night they were playing so much, Diana left the room for a while before they fell asleep. William was counseling his brother to stay int he room.

day with William's class

I spent the day with William's class. It was awesome. While the setting is overwhelming, kids running around, lots of areas to play in. There is structure and guided play. I was asked a lot, "do you have any questions?" I didn't really have any, but it was nice to discuss things with the various staff. I'm really happy with the school and staff, and his teacher. An amazing day. Poor Andres was so jealous. I thought everyone in William's class was really cute.

I've now seen Andres' class and William's class. Now it's back to Andres' class for the next Parent Participation Program visit. I hope to get at least one more in for each of them, maybe 2. These are golden years. Such good adorable boys.

marathoner with boys and d

photos of the day

The photo of the day was taken on the walk to school today.

And not to exclude Andres, here's one of him with a wagon.

Skype

Glamma and Grandpa Rich got to see Andres and William on the computer screen with Skype yesterday. I think it's amazing this technology, it's such a wonderful thing to connect grandparents and grandchildren visually.

Andres has strept throat

We went 2 weeks ago, and they said he didn't have anything, but they said we should come back in 2 weeks for a follow up. And they found it this time. He can't go to school tomorrow, which isn't good because it's pizza day and show and tell for him. Seems OK, though, I think we caught it early.

Twelve

Andres keeps going from 11 to 13. We're trying to teach him 12

fell asleep

I did the slide!

round and round

at the park

Halloween pictures