Category: Holidays

Dave and I honestly couldn’t remember the last time either of us went to a Parade.   We both agreed that we were young, but that’s about as far as we got, lol.   Yesterday we took Ajax to Garden City’s SantaLand parade.  It was within walking distance from our home, so we packed up the stroller with snacks and blankets and walked up to get a prime spot.   While we were waiting for the parade to start, Ajax wasn’t really grasping the concept of a “parade” but he had a lot of fun watching to other people and pushing his stroller around.  As soon as the parade came into view, however, all fiddling ended and Ajax was transfixed.  He stood next to me (refusing to sit throughout the entire thing) and just stared for the first half of the parade.  He loved the fire engines and police cars, the motorcycles, and the marching bands.   He of course LOVED the candy that was handed out and ate three small candy canes throughout the parade.   By the end he was pretty wired.

Our second Thanksgiving was spent out at my parent’s home in Brooklyn.   We had the usual crowd out – my aunt Liz, uncle Tom, and cousins, Mike and Ryan, as well as family friends The Wolfs and Carol, and my grandpa V.   There was a ton of excellent food and everyone had a great time.

Ajax actually hijacked Mike as soon as he walked into the house and convinced him to walk down to the barn.  Then from the house we watched Ajax leading Mike behind the barn – to his favorite play area, a sand pit filled with his trucks.  They were down there for quite some time before Mike finally bribed Ajax back into the house.

My mom and I did some shopping on Friday, but we didn’t even leave the house till 10am, while the guys stayed home and worked around the farm.  Ajax had Dave running all over the farm, moving wood and digging holes.  Very busy.  We then headed home Friday, late afternoon, and then were so tired just made breakfast for dinner.  Overall, a good time.

This weekend we did an early Thanksgiving up north with Dave’s family.   Dave’s sisters were able to come into town, so we headed up as well.  Actually, when Rod was in town Wednesday night to pick up Theresa from the airport, they actually took Ajax back with them up north.   That meant that I had Friday to myself since I had it off.  I actually did lunch and shopping with a friend (child-free) and had a blast.   Dave and I then headed up north Friday night.

Saturday was Thanksgiving and Dara made a feast!   Ajax of course had a ton of fun playing with his aunts and grandparents.  He chased the dogs, went on tractor rides, and went visiting the great-grandmas.   Some family friends also came visiting and brought their grandchildren, ages 5, 3 and 1 1/2.   Ajax played great with them and after they left he went around the house asking where his cousins were?

We came home today, dropping Theresa off at the airport.  Ajax talked the entire way home.  He talked about everything – the other cars, the tractors, and construction.  He also insisted on listening to the Beach Boys all the way home… yes, 4 hours of the Beach Boys.  Fun.

I actually don’t have any pictures to share as I totally forgot my camera.  But I just wanted to share our weekend.  It was great fun.

Halloween was a great success this year!    My mom and dad came over for dinner and then we suited up Ajax in his costume.   All four of us took him to some of our neighbors and then my mom stayed home to pass out candy and my dad, Dave, and I took Ajax serious trick-or-treating.  The weather actually held out, it was overcast and cold, but no rain.   Ajax totally got the hang of things this year and was so excited going from house to house.  A few masks did scare him, but we did a good job pointing out that they were just people in masks and that such things were funny and not scarey.   He seemed to buy this.

Everyone complimented him on his costume and one little girl took one look at Ajax and said, oh you’re Woody.  Ajax just kept walking and said, yea that’s right, I am.   We went strong for over an hour, but by 7 pm Ajax was asking us to carry his treats for him and we decided to head home to see how grandma was fairing.   We actually let Ajax have a piece of candy this year and this was clearly a highlight of his night.

Overall, Halloween as excellent.  Everyone had a blast and we’re excited at how into Halloween Ajax was this year.

I’m home today as I had quite a few vacation days to burn before the new year and Ajax and I have had a wonderful day so far!  Ajax was up a little after 6 am and we saw Dave off to work.   Monday is trash day so Ajax spent a good part of his morning eating an English muffin and standing in front of the window watching the garbage men come and go down our street.

After breakfast I threw dinner into the crockpot (a recipe I will be sharing later as it is oh so good!) and Ajax and I went to the mall so that he could play on the indoor jungle gym.   There were about 5 other kids there and Ajax played great with them.   After only an hour he decided that he was ready to go, so we packed up and headed over to my Grandpa Valentine’s house to visit.  We brought him homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes and Ajax was very excited to carry them in.   After visiting my Grandpa we made a quick stop at the library where I picked out 2 books on tape and Ajax put together 8 puzzles.  He’s gotten quite good at puzzles.   We then went home and did a quick lunch.

After lunch Ajax asked to try on his Halloween costume (he doesn’t really say he’s a cowboy, he is specifically, Woody from Toy Story).   I had actually tried to get him into it earlier to go visiting my Grandpa, but he refused to put it on.  I think he got excited when he saw other people dressed up at the mall (he kept pointing to one woman who was dressed as a witch and saying, look at her cowboy hat!).   I let him put on his costume and he ran around the house; very excited with himself.  He then asked to take it off and neatly placed it on the kitchen chair.  I’m hoping he keeps his costume on for trick-or-treating tonight.  I’m also hoping that the weather isn’t too cold as it’s hovering in the high 40s, low 50s right now, with on/off light rain.  Goodness.

We are home from an excellent trip up north!  Ajax was so tired from his adventures that he slept all the way home.

Wednesday morning we hit the road fairly early and got up north a little after noon.  Dave’s sister, Theresa, and her husband Tim drove up from North Carolina for the holidays as well, so it was a full house.    On Thursday Dara, Theresa and I went shopping in Alpena, leaving the guys home.   Friday was New Year’s Eve and that meant people over with good food.  Some friends brought over some other kids so Ajax had some ninos to play with.  One of the little girls wasn’t yet walking, so Ajax compensated by crawling all over the kitchen and living room with her.  It was so cute.  Ajax didn’t get to see the ball drop as he was in bed just after 9 pm, but then again I didn’t either as I fell asleep on the couch.

We had a great time up north and Ajax just wore himself out running after the dogs, going on tractor rides, and visiting.

 

Yesterday Ajax said, ear hurt mommy, and then held his ear.   His ear hurt so much that last night I ended up holding him for an hour on the couch so that he could calm down and close his eyes.  When I laid him down and handed him his silkie he said, thank you mommy. My little guy.

So today I took him in to see his doctor.  He spent the majority of time running around the waiting room and climbing on chairs, which made me think- well maybe last night was a flux.   However, he was very good in the doctors office and sat quietly while the doc looked in his ears.   The doc took one look in his ear and said, oh that’s clearly infected!   After skimming the chart the doc also noted that last year to the day we were in with an ear infection!  I hope this isn’t a holiday tradition he’s starting.  Not to fear, the doc said that he should start feeling better within 24 hours on the antibiotic, right in time to head up north.  Poor little guy.

Christmas this year was a ton of fun and today we are all bumming around the house.  I may run to the grocery store, but I’ve already started rationalizing why I don’t really need to go… we don’t really need eggs, etc.   We’re only going to be home two days this week and then head up north Wednesday morning to visit Dave’s family, so we should be just fine on the food front.

We did Christmas Eve at our house again this year, which was nice.   Ajax had tons of fun with the family and has certainly gotten the hang of opening presents.   This new skill was showcased Christmas morning where Ajax opened gifts like a pro.  We had a great morning and Dave made an excellent breakfast.

We did dinner with my dad’s side of the family in Dearborn which was nice.   Ajax played with his cousins and was up till 9:30 (the latest he’s been up in a long long time).  He ate well, but definitely had a bit too many sweets putting him into hyper mode which made sleep quite hard (he was up a few times last night; just couldn’t settle), therefore he is already down for a nap today.