Samantha is four months old!

This month we've kept busy, enjoying the beautiful weather and our great city with Samantha, now 4 months old, and Marcus, almost 3.75 years old. Highlights of the month include:

Easter. We had a great weekend--Saturday passport application for Samantha, then karate, then dim sum with Jef; Sunday church, then dinner with Grandpa and Great Grandma. Before that, there were eggs to dye, and then to eat.

Greek Easter.

The Boston Marathon. It was incredibly hot (close to 90) and humid, but the runners and wheelchair racers were out anyway, so we went out to sit in the shade and cheer for them.

 

Visit with Debbie. Our Canadian exiled friend returned! Briefly. We miss her.

Visit with Jocie. Our Minnesota-turned-East-Coast cousin is heading back to the midwest after this semester, so we were thrilled she spared a weekend to come up to see us in Boston. I think we all at once tired her out and bored her with a four-year-old's pace of activities and meals and playdates, but it was great to get some cousin time in.

Sibling and family fun. Samantha likes to hold things--here, Mr. Bear/Messy Bear--and she watches Marcus intently when he plays near her.

Bikes. Marcus got really fast on his balance bike all of a sudden this month, after just messing around with it for almost two years. Now he speeds off into the distance! Meanwhile, Robert joined Hubway and has been liking biking to work.

Playgrounds and parks. As it gets nicer, we've been back to all our favorites.

 

Things to watch. TV? Movies? Nah. . . we love watching men finishing sidewalks in Chinatown, police horses relaxing in the park, and big brothers taking a bath.

Hats. I made another.

Sleep. We has it.

 

Ice cream. Ah, Ben and Jerry's free cone day--we love you! (And, since it was a nice day, we went to the Kemp playground in Harvard Square and then had lunch at the Garage before our free cones!)

Chairs. We (sort of) sit in them.

Smiles. We definitely has them.

Wishing Uncle Don a happy birthday:

Riding the Roomba:

 

Playing the piano with Sam:

 

Doing "hard" karate with teacher Ken:

 

 

One morning this month a homeless man on the subway took me for a homeless person too. I had just gotten off the T at Copley after dropping Marcus at school, and Samantha needed to nurse, so I went straight to a nice bench, popped her out of the wrap, and nursed her on both sides. I had about ten minutes to kill before the library opened, anyway, so it was perfect timing. After she nursed she had a dirty diaper, so I got things out of my bag and changed her right on the bench in the T station. I had to dig through my bag for a change of clothes for her, because she was really quite messy. I had noticed a relatively clean, but disheveled man getting off the T at the same time as me, and going to the next bench over, where he just sat, hands folded in his lap, but I didn't think about him more until twice while I was in the process of changing her diaper he came over to me and offered to help throw out the diaper or give me a hand. "Uh, no, thank you!" I said brightly. "I'm good!" He said something about how we have to look out for each other, but I insisted I was fine. When she was finally changed and dressed again I wrapped her back up and had to walk past the man's bench to throw out the dirty diaper. I stood by the trash can for a minute because I had a little hand sanitizer packet I was using and I needed to throw out also when I was done, and the man started talking to me again. "How are things with you?" he asked. "Do you have a place to sleep tonight?" "Uh, sorry?" I said, not quite getting it. "Do you have somewhere to live?" he asked. "I know most shelters don't take kids. Gotta be hard." "Oh!" I said. "Uh, yes, thank you--I'm good. I, um, I have a home." "Oh, good," he sounded genuinely relieved. "Take care of the little one." I thanked him again and walked back to my bench and hoisted up my two giant bags--my regular bag, plus a battered Whole Foods bag with some packages to mail at the Post Office and some clothes to return to the Gap.

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Created: 4/16/12. Last Modified: 4/16/12.