Boston Day 2

On Sunday we went to Mass at IHM (the Saint Benedict Center run by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary).

As a reward for doing well in Mass, John got to shovel snow, as he's been begging to do every time he sees one of the many snow shovels propped outside of doors in this neck of the woods.

At traditional Catholic parishes, many people make nearly the whole day a social event surrounding church. So, first we spent time socializing and eating snacks in the gymnasium of the IHM school. (In summer, each Sunday they host a barbecue outdoors and everyone brings potluck side dishes.) Mary had grand fun running with "the big kids." I really enjoyed meeting many of Rebecca's friends who, it turns out, read this blog!

Then Brother Anthony gave us a tour of some of the surrounding buildings. Above is the convent of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. (There is also another order of nuns amidst all these buildings, but we didn't get to tour there today.)

The nuns have an Neapolitan mastiff as a guard dog.

The print shop where all the IHM publications are printed

There were various construction vehicles around the properties, which delighted the two preschoolers!

Brother Anthony giving us a tour

As a reward for keeping his hands to himself in the workshop, John got to shovel snow again. Then we returned to the Benedictine Abbey and joined the social hour over there with more snacks and more folks! Before long it was time for our kids to take naps, so we retired back to our rooms.

The guest house at the Abbey where we stayed the weekend before transferring to a hotel in Boston, closer to Chris' work needs

In the evening we went to Ben and Rebecca's beautiful, inviting home for a delicious dinner. The four children had the best time playing in the dedicated play room and we adults had the best time with the children, for the most part, keeping to themselves!

Some things Katherine and Rebecca have in common: some similarities from our upbringing, adult converts to Catholicism, bookworms, "traditionalist" leanings in our faith (Latin Mass, providentialism, etc.), our children are very close in age, parenting styles, the geographic connection (my dad's whole family comes from the area north of Boston, so I've visited there many times), being "birthy" (she took the path of becoming a Bradley instructor, I the path of becoming a La Leche League leader), and, honestly, we even look similar (same height, same hair color and length, and often the same weight except right now when Rebecca is so gorgeously thin!).

A photo of the adults, taken by the three-year-old

We took note of this sign at a neighborhood restaurant as we were leaving our friends' house. My editor friends will appreciate the warning that the seafood is not actually fresh but is wink-wink, nod-nod "fresh." I'll pass, thanks!

Boston Day 1

We made another attempt, this time successful, to join Chris on a business trip to Boston!

We woke up at 5:00 to catch our early flight, which meant the kids were ready to fall asleep on the airplane. Mary was throwing tantrums in my lap so Chris offered to give it a try. I had little faith, but it seems Mary is at that new, glorious age when the baby starts responding better to Daddy's authority than Mama's. He told her several times that he was going to hold her and she couldn't leave his lap, so she stopped screaming, put her head down, and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, John fell asleep in his middle seat. In all our airplane travel, I've always lugged a book in my purse, in hopes of pleasure reading, but, of course, I've never been able to care for the kids and read. This time I disallowed myself to bring a book and I found myself with two hours of freedom: sleeping children and nobody in my arms!

The kids had grand fun playing on this bench while Chris retrieved our luggage. John would call out "bus!" every time one drove by and Mary would call out "truck!" because that is the only vehicle word she knows. Note how Mary is climbing the armrest. She climbs anything she can to get higher, and I was continually pulling her down from the top of the chairs.

All this climbing does result in falls sometimes. (No babies were hurt in the making of this photo.)

We are staying at a Benedictine Abbey (I will document it with more photos later) where this friendly Golden Retriever Shannon lives (and mostly sleeps).

Our friends Ben and Rebecca met us at the Abbey, so I finally got to meet Rebecca in person! She and I met online more than three years ago and became fast friends: we email each other, we talk on the phone, we exchange gifts at holidays--and I'm one of the few people she tells when she's going into labor! This photo is of my 15-month-old Mary meeting her 10-month-old Julius ("Jules").

That evening we went to dinner with our friends, where John created this snappy headband.

John, Chris, two-and-a-half-year-old Leo, and Ben

Mary, Katherine, Rebecca, and Jules

Does John Think Daddy Is Deaf?

John has developed a habit over the last couple of months that is simultaneously cute and entertaining, yet irritating. The whole family will be together and John will ask me a question, which I'll answer, and then he'll tell Daddy the information as if hadn't been in the room the whole time.

Driving in the car, John might ask me, "What is that river?" I'll answer, "That river is iced over because of the cold winter." Then John will exclaim, "Daddy! I saw a river that was iced over because of the cold winter!"

John might inquire about some construction vehicles sitting idle and I'll explain, "They're not moving because the construction workers are at home today resting with their families. It's Sunday and workers rest today." Then John will shriek, "Daddy! Those 'diggers' are resting because the construction workers are with their families today!"

So far we always just play along cheerfully and Daddy answers, "Oh yes? That's right! Wow, how neat!" or whatever is applicable. The scene does get a bit preposterous when John echoes to Daddy three or four things I've said in a row.

Almost

John, holding up a hard cover book: "Is this a dusty wrap?"

Mama: "It's a dust jacket honey, a dust jacket."

Leading My First LLL Meeting

Today I led my first La Leche League meeting! Above is a photo of Mary and I before we walked out the door (and pajama-clad John stayed with Daddy--thanks Chris!).

I was supposed to lead last month, but we were all sick so my co-leaders took over for me. Today's meeting went well, I think. Eighteen mothers showed up with one to two children each in tow (and one mom had four children with her), so it was very loud and we nearly had to shout to be heard. But I think the discussion was fruitful and I'm pleased to have the milestone of my first meeting behind me.

Like a Bear

Many of you know (at least to some extent) of John's difficult eating. For the last two weeks, we've been trying a new approach at home and having good success. (I plan to write a blog post about it after we've made some more solid progress.) In the meanwhile, I've really sensed John gaining a lot of confidence as he manages to try new foods and not perish or even throw up.

Today he was eating afternoon snack and spontaneously said to me with confidence, "Mama, I'm a good eater. Like a bear. Bears are good eaters."

Mary "Reads"

The kids are is allowed to watch a video while I cook dinner, but I am noticing that most nights Mary spends the half hour or so like in the above photo. She spreads out all the books, chooses one (and now can say the word "book"), and curls up in the children's chair to "read." She might come check in with me two or three times but otherwise will spend a solid half hour looking at picture books! What an attention span for a 15-month-old!

John Helps!

This afternoon I put a stack of clean linens on the table to fold. Before I could start folding them myself, John sat down and rapidly began folding the small pieces. He asked for my help moving the big towels, so I untangled and folded the two big bath towels in the mix, then John folded the entire basket of kitchen towels, wash cloths, and cloth napkins.

He was so proud!

Then I moved on to emptying the dishwasher before cooking dinner. John saw me starting to put away the utensils and he asked if he could please do it. Okay!

I began putting away the other dishes and John piped up, "Can I help?" I began to say 'no,' but then realized maybe he could put away the children's dishes, which I had been stacking on the counter. He raced over and put them all away in the low cupboard. (All his helpful efforts must have caused his pants to start falling down!)

Boy, this makes a mom feel good!

A Random Tuesday

The morning insomnia that has been visiting me lately woke me at five o'clock, but at least I could lay in bed till six when the kids awoke. I took them downstairs for my morning chores and breakfast around seven. Then John got to watch his morning television allotment, during which time I cleaned the kitchen and got some time on the computer. Chris was gone at client meetings today, so not at home interacting with us like normal. Then we trekked upstairs to make beds, do upstairs chores, and get dressed for the day. The kids played for a while in John's room before we went downstairs for morning snack time at 9:30. (We're trying a new food program with John, so meal times are highly regimented now.)

The price I pay for two children (so far) who know how to use utensils and feed themselves at a young age is a lot of mess. If I were smarter, I'd take off Mary's dress ahead of time. I'm not saving myself any work by leaving her dress on, as I simply have to take off the ruined dress after the meal!

Note Mary's bowl: I learned that when I'm not around, Chris has been giving her a regular bowl (because he didn't know that she was likely to throw it) and she has not been throwing it to the ground. So I've begun giving her her own bowl too.

After snack time, I started washing laundry (doing three loads today) and helping John do some artwork and play with Play-doh. Meanwhile Mary spends this kind of time running around, finding forgotten step stools which she drags and uses to climb furniture, trying to do John's activities, and--for the last three days while she is cutting a tooth I see poking through--nursing several times per hour all day long.

We ate lunch at 11:30, then I cleaned the kitchen and got the kids down for a simultaneous nap (hurray!) around 12:30. I'm always torn when they're napping together to use the time to rest myself (as Mary still wakes me up overnight every two hours or so) or to get some precious people-free time. As it was, I laid with them for half an hour to rest, then went downstairs for some time on the computer researching homeschooling methods and more endless straightening of the house.

After the kids woke up, I suggested we go in the back yard. John packed his backpack with a small teddy bear and an old tube of Chapstick he found, plus he donned his magnifying glass around his neck because you never know what you might find to look at.

John found these things, so we discussed what bark is, then played a matching game to find the tree from which the bark fell.

Then John practiced his photography, taking some nature photos and these two of Mama and Mary.

Mama trying to read a book on childrearing while the kids play

The Lenten rose are blooming.

We've recently had quite a few trees cut down, so I took photos of some, but not all, of the stumps. This should really open up some sunlight in the back yard and reduce water being sucked up, so maybe more of our grass and plants can survive.

I spotted from 50 feet away where I was reading on the bench that the kids were playing joyfully in a mud puddle.

You know you're a second-time mom when you don't mind the baby playing in the mud puddle because she's not eating the mud anyway and at least she's occupied.

After we went inside, we washed hands, ate 2:30 snack, then I gave the kids a bath and clean clothing!

John's clothing were muddy, so he got to change into a new outfit which he chose all by himself: Yes, those are waterproof swim shoes and swim trunks beneath his train overalls. (Here John is watching a few videos of Schoolhouse Rock: Chris found two that are on the subject of Boston and the founding of our country, so now John keeps talking about "the country we are going to visit next week.")

John got to watch his afternoon allotment of television and Mary got to nap on my back in the Ergo while I cooked dinner, which I served at 5:30. Afterwards I normally clean the kitchen while Chris plays with the kids, but tonight after dinner John began crying and asking me to do "school time" with him. Chris gave me the treat of cleaning the kitchen, so I sat with John and told him stories which he selected from the children's Bible. Right now he is absolutely fascinated with Bible stories and wants to know them all and repeat them all back to us. (If you're lucky, he'll tell you about the "bananas from heaven.") This is how I get so many of the tough life questions: one of them tonight was, "What is purity?"

Then we prayed an abbreviated family Rosary (we've been trying to pray five decades as a family nightly, but it's still hit and miss as we adopt this habit and sometimes we shorten it to one decade). We raced upstairs for the nightly "pajama contest" (who can get in his pajamas first?), a bit of playtime, bedtime prayers, and John in bed at 8:00. Normally I put Mary down simultaneously, but tonight was an exception. So now it is 9:00 p.m. and I'm about to put my baby to sleep, and I'm sure I won't be awake much longer!

And tomorrow is another day in our little family. Praise God for typical, healthy, uneventful days!

My Memorare

My dear friend Elaine cross-stitched a beautiful Memorare for me and gave it to me for my recent birthday. I was floored, awed, and overwhelmed that she devoted so much of her free-time and talent for months to me. As she stitched, she prayed the Memorare over and over again for my intentions.

I have now found a home for this treasure in our dining room, on either side of the china hutch: a Marian theme!

To the right is this fabric rendition (I don't know the kind of stitching) of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which we received as a wedding gift.

To the left is my precious Memorare!