Photos: February & March Highlights

Here is some of the fun we've had as winter turned to spring!

Feb. 1: COSI

Feb. 1: COSI - Pay phones are now in the old-timey "Progress" section!

Feb. 8: Bundled up for fun in the snow.

Feb. 8: In the snow.

Feb. 15: Splashing in puddles.

Feb. 15

Feb. 15

March 15: So proud of making a face in his bread!

March 21: Being cute.

Pink Eye :(

It's been a very uneventful week. Atticus came down with a few pink eye symptoms mid-morning last Wednesday, and Edith that evening. Even I got hit with a mild case. The three of us didn't leave the house for four straight days. (Paul, luckily, was spared.)

Yesterday we were largely better, and today we were all well enough -- and the weather was warm enough -- to hit the playground with friends. Pink eye largely didn't bother the kids except for the fact that we were cooped up. Their eyes didn't itch or hurt, no fever and no sore throat. I couldn't wait til we could leave the house, and I'm sure they felt the same. We're free!

Superhero

Down the street lives a boy a little older than Edith, and a couple of weeks ago his mom offered Atticus a container filled with superheros, along with a few Gotham City buildings. He was thrilled.

Each superhero is about as tall as a finger, and there are plenty to go around. A couple of Batmans, a couple of Wonder Women, and so many more. I don't even know who most of them are. They've been a go-to toy since they entered our house.

Atticus doesn't really know much about Batman, but he knows how he wants to play with him and the other superheroes. Absolutely no one is a bad guy. Everyone is nice to each other and says things like, "You're my friend." They hold hands and play ring around the rosie. The other day Batman and a dragon figurine were making snow angels on the rug.

I wonder about the length of this phase, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

Growing Kids

I seem to be surrounded by babies, even if the word is one of the worse insults in my own house.

Two friends had babies in recent weeks. At least three more friends are due in the next three months. Meanwhile, there are no babies in my own house -- much to my own relief.

Atticus, who turns three in less than a month, finds it to be the worst affront if one of uscalls him a baby. He is a big boy, he proclaims. And truthfully, he is -- or at least very nearly so. On Sunday he switched from a rear-facing car seat to his first front-facing one. It was quite momentous, for me if not for him. This is the first time the entire family has faced forward since the day we brought Edith home from the hospital more than five years ago.

Slowly all of the baby gear has left our house. Maybe the first to go, when Atticus truly could still be called a baby, was the swing. Then went baby toys, baby clothes, sippy cups. Just last week I passed on our pack and plays. We still have the crib, but even that's long been converted into a toddler bed.

I like seeing these new little babies. So small, so cute! But I'm happy to have growing kids who can now do things for themselves ... and a full night of sleep.