The photos immediately below are from this past Sunday, when I took the children to the park for afternoon playtime. Ever since John decided that he doesn't want to nap anymore on the weekends, he gets VERY cranky beginning about 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. At which point I begin to go insane and have to get the children out of the house in order to try to get John (and Amelia as well) to expend their energy in a positive way rather than just being cranky. I was proud of both of them for tackling the rock climbing wall on the playground, especially John for his bravery. The wall was several feet above my head, but yet he tried it anyway (definitely designed more for a 5-6 year-old kid, not a 3 year-old!). Of course, I definitely don't deserve a good mommy award for encouraging him to try to climb the wall because as soon as I thought he was comfortable up there, I stopped holding his legs and immediately grabbed my camera to get the shot. This would have been awful if he had fallen, but to my benefit he did not fall (and he never knew my hand had left his leg for support).
Scott's birthday fell in the middle of last week, so I asked Scott if he minded if we deferred the celebration to the following weekend (this past weekend). He agreed to this, and when I asked the kids what they thought we should do to celebrate their dad's birthday, Amelia said, "Mom, we should take daddy on a trolley ride. We haven't done that in a long time and that would be fun!" So, off we went on Saturday. First stop (after ballet for Amelia and swim lessons for both children in the morning) was Mi Cocina in West Village for a Tex-Mex lunch and then to the trolley stop outside of West Village for a trolley ride. The kids were very excited and Scott played along well, I think largely because it was a pretty day and he was glad to be spending time with his family rather than working in the office. Amelia has ridden the trolley a dozen times, primarily when she was 2-3 years old when we lived close to the trolley line, and John has ridden the trolley once or twice, largely before the age of one. So their enthusiasm was tangible, and it was especially sweet when the trolley driver (do you call him a conductor?) led them each up to the front of the trolley car to stomp on the whistle. Then John looked at the driver/conductor, with the most serious of facial expressions and declared, "Trolley man, why don't you have your hat on? You should put your hat on your head!" And then the driver/conductor put his hat on, and John happily returned to his seat. Below, Scott and the children enjoying the trolley ride.
To the right, a post would just not be complete without a dress-up photo from this week's adventures. This was taken one night last week, when Amelia and John (led by Amelia, of course) were performing a show for me. Amelia got herself all dressed up (note the crown and hand-sewn by grandma costumes!) and John begged me to put him in the Spiderman costume with his "Santa Claus" shoes (they are his church shoes, why he calls then Santa shoes I have no idea). They then paraded around the family room, each performing their independent dances, with John occasionally falling on the floor and doing "boy dances" (interpretation: rough dancing, imspired by tackling moves). I selected this photo because Amelia has a cute smile on her face, and John has the makings of a smile on his. By the time the children outgrow their love for costumes, I am likely going to have several dozen of these cute photos to keep for my collection!
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