A Day in the Life

We most often pull out the camera when something remarkable is happening, but it has finally dawned on me that we have almost no pictures of the day to day.  Here is a weekday morning--Finn was feeling particularly brotherly, feeding Wylie and I had a minute or to snap a few pictures.

Determined--insert spoon into mouth.

Clearly his plates. 

Sunday in the Park vs. Man Painting Himself, which would you choose?

We decided a short outing to the Art Institute would be a good idea for today, and it was a good idea--no meltdowns, no fits, we even made it home in time for lunch and afternoon naps.  The impetus of our trip was to see A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.  FInn's class has been studying picnics (I know, what's there to study? But you'd be surprised.) They've been talking a lot about the poster of this painting hanging in their class.  Of course when Mrs. Coogan mentioned the painting a couple of weeks ago in one of her email updates, it occurred to me that we could go see it in person.  Then, when I read in her email on Friday that another family had taken their daughter to see the painting, as if it was such a big deal, even though, really, the Art Institute is, what, ten miles away?  Well, my Tiger Mom instinct reared its ugly head and I knew we had to go see it.    

I should not have been surprised that seeing the huge, original painting in person did not phase Finn in the least.  He looked at it for less than five seconds and then insisted we check out the cool ramp leading away from the painting.  

Instead, Finn's favorite piece of art was Bruce Nauman's "Art Make-Up" or "The Man Painting Himself," as Finn and I called it.  It is a video installation in the Modern Wing, a black room with the same video playing on all four walls.  When we walked in the man happened to be painting himself red, on top of his already-painted white skin.  When he finished the red, I figured we'd seen enough, so we moved on.  Later Finn asked if we go back and see if the man was still painting himself, so we did and he was.  We sat in the middle of the room, Finn enthralled with the man.  We watched as he painted himself numerous colors and finally seemed satisfied when he was starkly black.  Meanwhile Finn played with various existential questions, such as whether or not the man would take a shower to get the paint off.

Oh, and Wylie's favorite part was...yeah, we still have very little insight into Wylie's likes and dislikes.  He enjoyed eating Cheerios while being pushed in his stroller, attempting to climb out of his stroller, and waving at random people as we walked about the museum!

Wylie's First Haircut

Before.

Hey, this might be fun!

Then again, what is she doing to me?

Snip, snip.  Try not to lose those curls!

I guess she really does mean business.

Really, she expects me to keep my head still.  She's kidding, right?

Ta da.

Still curly!

Wylie, standing is scary!

Yesterday, for the first time, Wylie found himself standing without holding onto anything.  He froze, freaked out, plopped down, and started crying!  Standing really is scary.

Sometimes

Sometimes having little people living in our house is just plain sweet.

Yesterday Finn asked me to sit with him at the foot of our bed to, "watch the sunset."  He oohed and ahhed over the colors we could see through the trees.  So sweet.

This morning Wylie woke up at 6:30 (as he does frequently) and was laughing and saying "uh oh" to himself in his crib.

A little later Finn joined me in the kitchen and said, "I got up to give you a hug, eat breakfast, and watch a show."  OK, good plan.

Wylie's First Birthday!

Click here for more pictures.

Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza

For the first time in my life, I made a dish tonight without looking at the recipe.  Yipee for me!  One of the (many) reasons I don't cook is that I have no capacity to remember recipes.  So, finding the recipe, making sure I have all the ingredients, reading it over and over again while I'm cooking, just seems too laborious.  So, when I made an appetizer pizza, for Wylie's birthday party tomorrow, from memory, I cheered.  Thanks for the recipe, Michelle!

Thumbs Down, Change Behavior

Why can't parenting work like Pandora?  If I don't like a particular song, I click the thumbs down icon and look forward to the next song.  Delightful.  I tried it today with Finn.  Medium boy was doing something I didn't like; I held up my thumb, pointed down and waited for him to move on to a new behavior.  Um, no, it didn't work, but I'll keep trying.