Tag Archives: milestones

Oliver

Bye Bye Bottle!

Leave a comment

Weaning off the bottle is a tough step for us. We embrace lots of other tough parenting moments with gusto, but both Sarah and I love the bottle of milk before bed. Partly, bedtimes are so hard already. Our system is smooth and it’s still hard. I’m tired. Sarah’s tired. There are dishes to do. The kids are exhausted and needy. Being able to snuggle up with Oliver and a bottle is a lovely way to close out the day. 

But, we’ve been putting it off for six months (maybe more?) and we know it will just get worse once school begins. So, on Monday we told Oliver that the bottles were going bye bye. He said farewell to them. We introduced a sippy cup of milk that we can have downstairs before brushing teeth. Then we took him upstairs, read a few books, and put him to bed. 

It’s been shockingly painless. He’s had one or two hard ones, but mostly the week has been straightforward. Knock on wood. 

One weird thing: he’s not interested in the cup of milk. He sorta sipped at it for the first day or two, but by the end of the week he was heartily rejecting it. He just wants some water and maybe a snack. Then he’s ready. Not sure what that’s all about since he was accustomed to guzzling a solid 8-oz bottle at naptime and bedtime.

Mini-humans are weird.

Oliver

First Tantrum

2 Comments

Oliver, like all children, regularly exhibits dismay when things don’t go his way. In the past, this has always appeared as a bout of sad tears. Often he would hug us even while being upset that we were denying him what he wanted. Today, however, is different. When Oliver brought a book over to Sarah, hoping she would read it to him, she said, “Oh, smells like you need a diaper change. Let’s go change your diaper!” At this point, Oliver’s face turned red and he literally hurled himself on the floor, spinning in a circle, kicking his legs, and slamming his fists on the floor. His movements were so dramatic that he actually slid on his belly—like a maniacal crab—from the dining room into the kitchen.

His first temper tantrum.

(It was pretty adorable.)

Andrew, Griffin, Maggie, Oliver, Photo, Sarah

Oliver Louis Stocco Roy

3 Comments

Sarah’s water broke at 7:15 AM on November 25, 2016, and Oliver Louis Stocco Roy was born twelve and a half hours later, at 7:44 PM. He was 9 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches long. We’ll post more about his name later, but it should be noted that “Louis” is pronounced LOUee after his great grandfather, Louis Stocco.

Sarah’s labor was complicated by the fact that Oliver’s umbilical cord was both wrapped around his neck and fully knotted, cutting off oxygen during contractions. It was an emotionally intense experience for all of us, including the medical staff. Because of the urgency to get the baby out, it was also far more painful and physically traumatic for Sarah than we had anticipated.

Fortunately, moments after his rather dicey arrival, little Oliver loudly proclaimed his health and hunger. He was a rock star overnight, dividing his time between eating and sleeping. Today he got to meet two of his grandparents (the other two, we hope, in January), and his older sister and brother. They were very excited to meet and hold him.

Below are some pictures from Oliver’s first 24 hours. Click on any picture for a larger version.

Maggie

Maggie’s Birthday Bike

Video Leave a comment

Maggie started showing interest in her balance bike at the end of February, and by the time her birthday loomed near at the beginning of April, it was clear she would probably be ready for a bike with pedals this summer! She’s much smaller than Griffin was when he started on a pedal bike, so I hunted down a smaller version and we gave it to her on Sunday for her birthday. She was beyond excited to try it! However, it was raining pretty hard all day that day, and even into the morning on Monday. She begged me to let her try it, but knowing there would inevitably be some spills, I told her we needed to wait until it stopped raining.

Well, Monday afternoon it stopped raining, and she was raring to go! I wasn’t sure how it would go for her, but low and behold, on one of her first tries, she took off! I pulled my phone out and grabbed some video. We spent the rest of the day touring the neighborhood with her practicing her new pedal bike. She’s hooked and asks to ride it at every opportunity now! It’s pretty amazing, and such a testament to the balance bike.

I hope you enjoy these short videos of her first rides!

https://youtu.be/VHzvlUPWVV0

https://youtu.be/F5PubCaf5CA

Griffin, Maggie, Photo, Travel

Falmouth

Leave a comment

The culmination of our road trip was a glorious fourth of July weekend on Cape Cod with our friends Nate and Christine. (Nate and I went to high school and college together… whoa!)

The original seed for this crazy road trip was planted during the summer of 2010 by Nate and Christine. We were at Karen and David’s wedding (our friends from Ithaca, a few posts back) in Arizona and we had such a good time that we agreed we should do it again (it = hanging out, wedding not required, though it was a good one). Nate mentioned having access to a family house on Cape Cod. We were interested. But then Maggie was born and life got busy and years went by. It wasn’t until this winter that I reached out to see if the invitation was still standing. It was. And a road trip was born.

The house is in West Falmouth, at the southwest edge of Cape Cod. The time here was the definition of relaxation. Tons of room for the kids to romp, an air hockey table, plenty of bikes for all of us, nearby beaches, mojitos, great food, puzzles and conversation in the evening… what more could you want?

The time was made even better by getting to know Nate’s cousin, Emory, and his partner, Ben. They were both awesome in their own right, and were unbelievably good with the kids—seriously, I haven’t had so much time-off from parenting in years. We were all sad to see them go on Sunday, but none more so than Maggie and Griffin who remained cranky with us for days over this betrayal.

We also hit a new milestone for Griffin’s physical endurance: a 16-mile round-trip bike ride to Woods Hole. He was on an unfamiliar “big kid” bike with gears and handle breaks, and he did a fantastic job. No complaints at all. (The photo of him in the two-seater below was on a different, shorter, ride.)

The best part of all of this is that Nate and Christine will be driving through Minnesota in August so we’ll get to see them twice in one summer. Feels almost gluttonous.

Click on any picture below to see larger versions in an interface that makes it easy to scroll through the full set.

The Falmouth house
Dinner on the veranda
Like a Burley, but the kids are in front.
Swan nest by the trail
Ready to go
Bike path to Woods Hole
Woods Hole Aquarium
Dinner at the farm
Teeth
Air hockey with Emory
Air hockey with Ben
Loving mama’s hat
Prepared
Staring at the sea
Happy daddy
Great fireworks view from the balcony
The kids with their new besties, Emory and Ben
Face full of sprinkles before heading inland for the journey home.

 

 

Photo

Andrew on Ice

Leave a comment

First lap, in reach of the wall.
First lap, in reach of the wall.

I’ve had a lingering paranoia since moving to Minnesota: what if I can’t skate? I skated as a kid, sure, but that was long ago. Now I’m older and stiffer and more fragile. I’ll probably fall immediately and break my wrist or my head. Today I banished this demon by slowly working my way around my school’s ice rink with the 8th graders zipping past. They were a supportive crowd.

Now I can’t wait to finally buy a pair of skates that fits. (There is only one pair at school, and I had to share them with a large-footed student.) I’m hopeful that Griffin will get comfortable on his skates this winter too, so this will be another winter activity we can enjoy together.

The video is hardly worth watching, but I was so ridiculously proud of myself that I thought I should preserve the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qSFM08Dr8k

Griffin, Maggie, Photo

Escape to the Cabin

Gallery Leave a comment

After our glorious summer, the school year feels like we’re barely hanging on to a runaway train. On Friday, we fled the crazy for another taste of summer (with a dash of autumn).

The yellow cabin delivered big time. Not only was the weather outstanding, but the kids were 100% engaged,  hiking with gusto, begging to get out on the water in the kayaks, and playing together relatively peacefully during down time. We also enjoyed some unexpected firsts: Griffin’s first time fishing, and our first family D&D game (more on that in an upcoming post). It felt like we were away for far longer than a weekend.

Enjoy the gallery below. Remember, they look best if you click on one to engage the full-screen slide show. (Also, don’t miss the postscript below for a glimpse backstage.)

PS: The last picture looks idyllic, and it was, but the picture misses a few telling details. As I floated in my kayak, taking in the stunning colors, Griffin, far behind me in the center of the lake, decided to start playing “echo” across the water. The echoes were, indeed, spectacular, so he proceeded to yell louder and louder, until his tremendous battle cries reverberated across the lake, drowning out all other sound. He was far enough away, and focused enough on his bellowing, that he couldn’t hear our fierce, whisper-shouted admonishments to cool it. As he continued ramping up, I wondered if any of our well-armed neighbors would take things into their own hands. Fortunately, and I’m not naming names, one of us channeled the voice of Thor, delivering the following carefully considered advice at 150 decibels:

“GRIFFIN . . . SHUT . . . UP!!!!”

As the echoes faded, we were aware that this sonic event was not only permanently etched into the minds of the Spring Lake community, but that scientists of the future will be able to see evidence of the interchange in tree rings and sediment cores.

Yup. That’s how it’s done at the Yellow Cabin.