Do you feel lucky, punk?

Isaac is a punk for Halloween this year.  Even though Halloween isn't until Wednesday, he has still gotten to dress up twice for various Platteville activities.

Counting with Isaac

For the last month or so, we've been working on numbers with Isaac.  When David and I try to teach him anything, we waver between the certainty that he's a genius and the fear that he's going to need us to count his pocket change when he's sixteen.  He does send mixed signals:

Signs that our son is the next Einstein:

• Isaac pointing to the three when we need to go to the third floor. (this is hard--to understand numbers as both visual and auditory).

•  He's starting counting out only odd numbers: "nine, eleven, thirteen, fifteen."  Who knows if it's intentional or not?

Signs that Isaac is, uh, non-mathematical: 

• Answers proudly "Eight!"  when I ask him how many balls there are.  Correct answer = two.
• Insists on counting, "one, two wheeeeeee!" instead of three.

Guess the verdict is still out...

Isaac and Eleanor's Excellent Easter Adventure

David, Isaac, and I were invited to Eleanor's house for Easter, and we had a great time.  We came early, and when we arrived, Eleanor's grandparents gave Isaac a basket along with Eleanor.  It was such a nice, sweet thing to do--and they were so smart and gave each kid the exact same things.  Kids at this age just don't understand why someone would get something different than they would.  Here Isaac and Eleanor and staring suspiciously at each other's yellow alphabet balls.

 Soon afterwards, we had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  This is the age where you don't even have to put anything in the eggs; it's the thrill of the hunt.

Generally, it worked best if Isaac and Eleanor searched for eggs separately.  I love the intense look on Eleanor's face here--and the triumph on Isaac's.  

Of course, they were very curious about what was in each other's basket.  Look at my little egg-stealing baby.

 Don't worry--Eleanor wouldn't let him get away with it.

Anyway, he eventually got distracted by balls. As soon as he saw the pink one, he totally shifted gears.

 Eventually, they both started playing this game where they had walk through the narrow space between the fence and the trees.  I'm perhaps too old to appreciate the awesomeness of this, but they loved it--and would chuckle victoriously after the completion of each circuit.

 Another really cool thing--there was a mama bunny and her babies in Eleanor's yard!  They were so cute and sweet (sorry for the blurry photo; it's the best I could get.).

Lee made an amazing dinner that included lamb, asparagus, and these heavenly homemade rolls.  It was so delicious, but I made a tactical error in giving Isaac a roll first--he refused to eat anything else.

At least until cake.

The cake was my contribution--and I think it's the best I've ever made.  Lemon cake with white chocolate frosting.   It's supposed to be covered in roses, but it ended up looking something like a sixties dress.

I love Eleanor's look here.  She's ready for some cake! 

I made little individual cakes for Isaac and Eleanor; each had their initial (they both recognize Es and Is) and I tried to do their favorite colors.  Eleanor's is purple, but when I asked Isaac, he said, "Yellow!  Red!  Blue! Orange!  Green!"  So who knows?

Somehow, he still managed to choke it down.

After lunch, we went on a short walk to the playground and took our incredibly sleepy toddler back to our house for a nap--which let David and I sneak in some Easter chocolate.

It's amazing to me that two Easters ago, we brought our little bunny home from the hospital.  I still remember sitting in the back of the car (on a pillow--giving birth is painful!) next to our new car seat, and David and I wondering how in the world they could just let us leave with this little, tiny baby.  And now a little baby is tall, lumbering toddler. 

But he'll always be our bunny.

Conversations with Isaac

Poor Isaac and the terrible twos.  And poor David and me.  Here's a typical conversation around here:

 ISAAC: No Bath!

ISAAC: (after climbing into the bath) More bath!

Five seconds later...

 ISAAC: No Bath!

ISAAC: (after Mama tries to get him from his bath) NO!  Daddy!  Daddy!

He crawls on Daddy's lap and gives a triumphant, evil laugh.

ISAAC: (after Daddy tries to change his diaper) NO!  Mama diaper!  Mama diaper!

Hysteria and wild animal noises ensue.

MAMA (changing his diaper): Are you happy now that you've got what you wanted?

ISAAC: No.

Oh Isaac-bear, none of us are. 

Isaac's 2nd Birthday

 Since Isaac's birthday fell on a Monday night--and because I don't want Isaac to grow up expecting Super Sweet Sixteen style birthday parties--we kept things pretty low-key.   Isaac's best buddy came over with her parents and we had dinner and cake.

Isaac and Eleanor are so delighted with each other; they just crack each other up.

Of course, their Charlie Chaplin-esque mustaches (courtesy of the black frosting wheels of Isaacs cake) are pretty hilarious themselves.

  And here's Isaac's fancy birthday outfit.  For some reason, he refused to wear pants.  And he also kept on pretending to drink water from his beloved monkey cup.

 After dinner, we walked to the park down the street.  Isaac and Eleanor love to ride in the red wagon together.

Especially when they both get to carry a ball.

Isaac's become such a little dare-devil on the playground.  He's always loved slides (he hasn't inherited his daddy's dislike of heights), but he's been climbing like a little monkey on all playground equipment (no photographic evidence of this; we had to spot him).

And to make things even better, Yuri showed up!  Isaac loves Yuri--even if his attempts to teach Isaac soccer are, for the moment, futile.

Here he is, modeling Yuri's hat.

 

Isaac's still pretty skittish around strangers, so that he lets Yuri pick him up says a lot.  Here he's saying proudly, "Tall, tall!"  Isaac loves to be taller than everyone else.

But nothing beats the simple pleasures, like finding pinecones.  Look how he's offering it to Eleanor.  What a good sharer.

At least until he starts chasing her for it.

So that was Isaac's birthday.  Nothing very grand--just good food and company.  But those are the best kind of days, don't you think?

Food = Love

 I love cooking.  It allows me to use a different part of my brain than research or teaching, and it's really nice to have end up with a material product after working on something.

But truthfully--I only like cooking for Isaac sometimes.  What can I say?  He's a picky toddler, and I'm spoiled by my very appreciative and complimentary husband.  But I can make a dish that Isaac gobbles up (i.e. ate more than David or I ) and then the next time I make it, he'll refuse to even try it.  For his birthday, I made fensjoon, an amazing walnut and pomegranate stew from Persia that's meant for celebrations.  In the past, Isaac has devoured it; he's even eaten chicken if it's covered in the sauce.  He wouldn't even look at it this time and instead insisted that Daddy microwave him "mush," which is what he calls cream of wheat, and fried rice.  Even though the rest of us enjoyed the fesenjoon (it really is good, I promise), it felt like I had wasted hours making it.

At least Isaac enjoyed his breakfast, which was a slightly less sophisticated--chocolate chip pancake hearts.  These are a winner every time, especially if I put in a bit of cinnamon.

 Actually, Isaac ate pancakes for lunch too. Eh, it was his birthday.

But the most important cooking element of Isaac's birthday was the cake.  It was banana cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting, and yes, I made samples beforehand to make sure he would eat it.

But I also wanted it to be fun, so I attempted to make a car cake.

 

I'm neither a boss nor an ace of cakes, but Isaac recognized it as a car, so I consider that a winner.

Even if it does look like a Pinto with monster truck wheels.  Wait 'til you see the photos of Isaac-bear eating it!

Speaking if kids and eating, have you read that article in Vogue about a mother forcing her seven-year-old on a diet?  Crazy! 

Countdown to Isaac's Birthday

Hello there! 

Sorry for such a long delay; both David and I have been busy with Isaac and non-Isaac things, and we've been forgetting about the blog.  But Isaac's just so much fun--and saying so many things--that we're going to try to be better about posting.  And how could we forget his birthday celebrations?

As you might know, Isaac turned two last week.  And although we had a (small) party planned, we thought we'd take Isaac somewhere fun the weekend before.  There's an indoor water park in a nearby small city, so we headed there.

Isaac's always loved the water, and he was very, very impatient to get in as soon as we arrived.  Look at the happy expression on his face!  (By the way, he's just recently started saying "Happy, Happy!" when he's feeling happy.  Sometimes it' really sweet, like when he told me that while I was kissing his face.  Of course, this afternoon he told me that after I gave him an M&M.  And then he told me, "Mama happy" when I was changing his poopy diaper.  Oh, the chutzpa of a toddler. )

We'd been here once before, last summer, and Isaac really enjoys the "fountains" of water that come out in the kiddie pool.

But he developed a new interest (or obsession) this time--the water slides.  I mean, the big, adult-size water slides, which they let Isaac go down as long as he was in one of our laps.  You see how big the slide is?

 

To say he loved the water slide is an understatement.  As soon as we took off, he started giggling happily until the end of the ride--at which point he started repeated loudly, "MORE water slide!  More water slide!"  Look at him pulling David along.

After repeating this approximately a billion times (and there was a whole obstacle course to walk up the slide), David and I were exhausted and figured Isaac was too.  So despite his protests (Green water slide!  Purple water slide!  More!), we took a little time out.

It helped that our break included a chocolate chip cookie.  I think most of the chocolate ended up on his face and belly.  And look at Isaac's face: clearly, he's still pouting about the water slides.
 

But when we took him to the arcade next door, he became instantly happy--probably because many of the games involved balls.   Here he is helping David excell at skee ball (and by help, I mean steal the balls and run away).

Isaac also really liked the game where you hit the little animals on the head.  Okay, that sounded creepy, but you know what game I'm talking about, right?

There was one little game that involved throwing balls in a bucket.  It was just the right size for his nearly two-year-old self.

Sometime it was very hard to wait for the balls to come out.

So Isaac decided to take matters into his own hands.

 And yes, apparently I am the type of mother who will take photos of her child climbing onto a machine.  I took him down right after this.

Or almost right after.

In the end, we amassed enough tickets to get a squishy yellow ball and a new rubber ducky, both of which Isaac delighted in.  All three of us had a great time--I think one of the fun things about Isaac is that David and I get to be kids again too.  (When's that last time you played skee ball?  It's awesome.) We returned home tired but content.

Look at how happy he is to lay on his daddy (and I think he's clutching his new ducky).

And this was just the eve o' his birthday!  Stay tuned for birthday party pics!