Memorable Memorial Day

We didn't have big Memorial Day plans. I'd almost forgotten that it was a holiday weekend, or even a weekend for that matter. Scott has been in the lab at all hours every day, preparing to turn his thesis in on Wednesday. Instead of hanging around the house, we jumped on the train and headed to the Museum of Science. I was worried it would be crowded, but it was the least crowded I've ever seen it (yea!). Bruce loves the Rube Goldberg machine in the main entrance and watches it for at least 15 minutes before he remembers that there are a million other things to check out in the museum. I'm pretty sure I owe them some Windex.

We browsed all the typical exhibits and then went to the lightning show. We have somehow always missed this every time we've come before, so I made sure I watched the clock and got to the theater in time. The Museum does a little presentation about electricity, starting off with chat about positive and negative charges and a little balloon rubbed on someone's head. Then they get out a Van de Graff generator and raise someone's hair a little more. This brought back fond memories of the generator we had as a kid; my dad got one, probably just for fun - like that backhoe he got last year. After the mini-van de Graff, the real lightning show began. The gigantic three-story-tall machine built by Mister Van de Graff himself was pumped up until huge sparks jumped out of it. Bruce thought it was really cool, as long as I held my hands over his ears (leaving mine exposed!).

After our morning at the Museum we headed home for a rest and a little dip in the pool before going to a friend's house for dinner. Our friends have a house with a fenced-in yard and a little dog, so Bruce chased the dog around for awhile before discovering the hose. He then watered their garden, the grass, the trees, and then us. What a great day!

Last week was super-busy. I organized a Blood Drive that was on Wednesday. It went really well; we exceeded our donation goal and the Red Cross staff was impressed with all the food and loot we had there. I'd left Bruce with a babysitter for the whole day and at least a dozen people came in and said, "Where's Bruce?" Yes, he is the entertaining one. If I had a cage to keep him in, I would have brought him with me.

Bruce had his 4-year appointment last week. He's gained 4 pounds and grown 4 inches since last year. And he had to get 4 shots, poor guy. When I took his shirt off for his shots, I noticed he had a tick on his back - yuck. He was log-rolling down hills the day before, but I'd given him a bath that morning and hadn't noticed it. Oops. The doctor grabbed some tweezers and pulled it out. Bruce was disappointed that she'd squashed it. For the shots, Bruce sat on my lap and I held his arms down, just like the doctor ordered, then she jabbed the shots into his upper arms. Bruce cried for about 10 seconds during the jab-fest, but didn't struggle at all (I was surprised; I still cried and struggled in high school). He stopped crying altogether when the doctor handed him a coupon for an ice cream cone at the Ben & Jerry's next door. Yes, ice cream is the best pain relief.

Bruce the Cleaning Machine

There's a reason I don't have to scrub our kitchen floor every other day: Bruce does a fine job buffing the floors for me.

The Real Deal

Today was Bruce's real birthday. No time to party hard today, so we did the friend birthday bash last week and today we did the family party. Bruce and I baked, frosted, and decorated the cake. Okay, Bruce did pretty much all the work. He's very serious about his sprinkles. This afternoon he and I ventured to a bowling alley. We went candlepin bowling; it's a New England thing with smaller balls and skinnier pins and - the best part - three turns per frame instead of two. Sweet!After dinner we busted out the birthday cake and candles and sang the traditional song. Scott "helped" Bruce blow out his candles and here is how Bruce felt about it. So we lit them again and Bruce blew them out the second time around. All. by. himself. Bruce had a fun birthday. We went to Dunkin' Donuts and got his fav pink donut. I sent strawberries to preschool so he could have an awesome snack with his class. We went bowling. We played at least a dozen rounds of Candy Land. But Bruce's days as a spoiled singleton are numbered.

Finally!

I am 12 weeks along. I had quite the first trimester. I had a few weeks of ignorance ("this one isn't going to work out anyway") followed by a few weeks of ginger ale and crackers (getting more convinced that it might actually stick around) followed by a 10-week appointment with my doctor where I saw the baby kick around and heard the heartbeat (okay, I'm in love). I cried my eyeballs out at that appointment. I had another ultrasound this morning and everything looks great (i.e. beating heart), so I breathed a big sigh of relief.

Bruce is very, very, very excited about being a big brother. Previous pregnancies he never really understood what was going on. But for some reason, he gets it this time. He knows there's a baby in the uterus and that it's going to "squeeze out when it gets big," as he put it to someone. Some days Bruce wants a brother. Sometimes a sister.

Either is fine with me. I'm totally unprepared either way. After the miscarriage in February, I got rid of our crib and changing table, along with a bunch of baby clothes. Two or three days after I sold the crib on craigslist, I found out I was pregnant.

Life is full of surprises. I'm glad this is a good one.

The Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Bruce! My big man is turning 4 and to celebrate, we invited his friends to hang out at the park with us. We ate cupcakes and watermelon, and then played for hours on a really fun playground. I put in minimal effort and Bruce had maximal fun: that's the best kind of party in my opinion.
Now that he's 4, perhaps it's time to tackle this bad habit....

Anatomy Lesson by Bruce

Scott has always believed in teaching Bruce proper medical vocabulary when it comes to anatomy. That has led to some very interesting conversations. Here's the most recent one. Bruce's church teacher informed me that Bruce told her, "You have a uterus. So does my mom."
With that, Happy Mother's Day, to all of you blessed with a uterus.
Thanks, Ellen, for the classic Bruce shots.

Bruce the photographer

Bruce told me he did yoga at preschool today. He rarely participates, but today he joined in because he "got to wear wings and got to shake the popcorn in the bowl." I'm not sure what kind of yoga they do at preschool but I think I want to go to that class.

I recently acquired a kid camera for Bruce; he's been taking pictures all over the house since. He takes pictures of his toys, his friends, Candy Land, and me.
The camera has these lovely "stamps" that require Bruce to stand really still so he can line up the pig nose with the person's nose, for instance. Despite his efforts, I still have a pig nose eye.Scott, however, looks lovely with his bunny ears.

Mountain Man Bonding

Scott has been insanely busy. His thesis defense is set for June 10; the clock is ticking, and he is feeling it. He's been working long hours in the lab, so he needed a little break for his brain. Scott's dad was in town and that gave him the extra push to take a weekend off. We went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire for a night of camping last weekend. Scott brought two friends with him and Bruce brought a buddy along too. On Friday night, we set up camp, talked, ate chili, and went to bed. Bruce got cold in his sleeping bag, so I tucked him into mine. We just barely fit; I slept on my side and struggled to zip us in. We at least got a few hours of sleep.
Despite a clear weather forecast, it rained for about a half-hour in the morning - just enough to soak our tents. We let them dry out a bit before packing them up. Even though all the wood was wet, Grandpa Bruce built a small fire and we roasted marshmallows. We also made pancakes over the stove, but then our propane ran out or got cold or something. Pretty much everyone else got pancakes except for me, which was too bad since that's all I wanted out of the camping trip. Knowing this, Grandpa Bruce coaxed that tiny fire into cooking a few pancakes for me. They were delicious; it made my whole day!
Scott and his friends packed up their gear and headed to Mount Washington. They hiked up the mountain and skied down, which took all day. While they went on that adventure, the rest of us packed up the camp and went for a short hike.
This is Bruce's friend with a marshmallow stuck to his fingers. That's all he wanted out of the camping trip.
After our hike, we headed to a river. It was sandy in some spots and rocky in other spots, and by then the sun had come up and warmed the temperature up to the 80s. It was perfect! Grandpa relaxed, I took pictures, and the boys played endlessly.
I'm pretty sure they could have stayed here all day. They ran around barefoot with their jeans rolled up. They built sandcastles, threw rocks into the river, climbed up boulders.


By the time we left, they were completely covered in sand. They ate sandwiches and fruit in the car and we drove to "Old McDonald's" (that's what Bruce calls the fast-food joint, and if it has a playground he calls it "Joyce's Old McDonald's" but that's a story for another day) and got french fries, courtesy of Grandpa. When we headed home, they both zonked out in the back seat for a couple hours. All in all, we had a great time. I got my pancakes. Grandpa Bruce got his campfire and marshmallow. Bruce got to run without me yelling about our sleeping neighbor downstairs. And Scott got a break!