Winter Fun with Grandma

We've been having lots of winter fun with Grandma Chris while she is up for the week. Since the weather hasn't been too inspiring, we put on Aiden's new Reggae Playground CD and had a dance party. Believe it or not, the photos below are Aiden's newest dance move. He bounces up and down on his knees, making shocked looks on his face while he pats his hands on his head and/ or cheeks. We can't think of a name for this dance yet. Splitting headache?

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We did get outside late one afternoon for a little sledding down the famous kiddie sledding hill at the Round Church in Richmond. We had the place to ourselves (has never happened before!) and Aiden got in some thrilling runs before it got dark.

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For Christmas, Andy and I got a new cookbook with traditional Lithuanian recipes. Andy has always told me that Lithuanian cooking involves a lot of lard, porkfat, and butter, and I would say this cookbook doesn't do much to disprove that theory. There is a lot of frying things "in hot fat," but also lots of healthier ingredients like potatoes, mushrooms, berries, and root veggies. Some of the recipes seem like they are borne of necessity (like "wheatberry soup" which conists of wheatberries, milk, water, and a little sugar) and very few of them have any spices in them, but still, we wanted to try something out of our new Lithuanian cookbook while Grandma Chris was here.

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So we decided on "Lamb Croquettes with Vegetables," which is a layered casserole of ground lamb patties, shredded carrots, and sliced potatoes. We added diced mushrooms to the lamb patties (which seemed in keeping with many of the other recipes), as well as (gasp!) rosemary and sage. We just couldn't do it entirely spiceless. And the result..... it was really delicious! And it made great lunch leftovers. So there you have it. Next we try "Hodgepodge" which features pork feet.

We also went to Shelburne Farms this past weekend to take Aiden on a horse-drawn sleigh ride. He has just reached the stage where he can point out different farm animals in his books, but I think he had the idea that a "horsey" was about 2 inches tall, not 6+ feet. He was a little stunned by the whole thing, but not as bad as the 22-month-old girl who sat behind us in the sleigh...she bawled the whole ride!

The Littlest Birder

Now, Andy and I realize that kids often grow up thinking their parents' hobbies are totally lame... which is the reason we haven't bought too many bird-focused toys for Aiden or even taught him how to recognize penguins or chickens or ducks in his picture books. Honest, we have been sticking with cows and pigs and bananas and trucks for the most part, going very light-handed on the bird thing.

But I guess Aiden does see his Ma-moo and Da-doo looking through those curious binoculars all the time, so when he got a pair for Christmas from his Grandma, he immediately began carrying them everywhere and "birding" all over the house. We're not sure he actually focuses on objects through them yet (a lot of the time he looks just over the eyepieces) but he's got the right idea and I must say, we couldn't be prouder :)

Is that a Hoary Redpoll I see?


I think I've spotted something....

Oh my! It's a...

Chickadee!

Christmas Take Two

Grandma Chris came up to Vermont to visit right after Christmas... she brought three bags with her on the plane, two of which were filled with presents from Dan and Paulette. Not to mention the two large boxes of presents she shipped up a week beforehand! So Aiden had his second Christmas celebration on Dec. 27th, and by now he was an expert at shredding wrapping paper and waiting anxiously as Da-doo unpackaged and untangled whatever was in his new package. He got lots of books, bath toys, a cool farmyard set, a wildlife train, and a complete ultra-cool wardrobe from crazy uncle Dan & Aunt Paulette.

Now that we (at long last!) have our webcam up and running, Aiden gets to video-chat with his Grandpa Deegan, Crazy Uncle Dan & Auntie Paulette, and his Grandma Chris all the time. In the picture below Dan & Paulette are about to watch Aiden open his x-mas presents from them. Modern technology! P.S. For anyone considering webcam video calling, I highly recommend Skype over Yahoo! Messenger. We spent 5 months (literally) trying to tweak Yahoo accounts on our computers to that they would work (log-in problems, security setting problems, etc.) and when we finally decided to give up and try Skype, it took all of 5 minutes to have the video calls working.

Ho Ho Ho!

Well, it was over like a flash but we had a great Christmas here in Vermont. Aiden got more toys and clothes than he knows what to do with, and we had lots of great food, outdoor fun, and family-togetherness time. Micah and Becky came up from Gloucester on Friday night, and on Saturday they completely took over our kitchen (in a good way) and created an insane seafood fest. They collect fresh Gloucester seafood in various manners all summer (diving, fishing, lobster-pots, and Micah's occasional work-related fish sampling excursions) and save it up in vacuum sealed freezer bags for the holidays- our menu included veggies with smoked bluefish dip, sherried lobster on bruschetta toasts, crab-stuffed shrimp, and pan-seared sea scallops. I wish I remembered to take a picture but I think my brain was in my stomach temporarily.

Then, to continue with the gluttony, we went out to A Single Pebble for dinner the next night. This is a Chinese restaurant where the owner/chef is a white dude who travels to China for part of every year, sampling street food that he does his best to re-create in his Burlington,VT kitchen. You won't find any of the dishes you'd expect to find on a Chinese food menu in the USA, but he does a really good job and the food is DELICIOUS! Again, no pictures, since I was too busy eating.

THANKFULLY, we did get a little exercise to burn off all that food! Before we got an ugly rainstorm that melted half of our 2' of snow, we managed to get out and do a little XC-skiing. On the way there, Andy had to stop the car twice - once for Pine Grosbeaks and once for Bohemian Waxwings. Micah and Becky were a little frightened, I think.

Labrador Vultures

Aiden had a great time opening his presents and his stocking on Christmas. He got a new push-bicycle and even a big-wheel tricycle from Micah & Becky for this coming summer. Right now he can't reach the peddles, but he'll grow. We had yet another feast for Christmas dinner, and then had fun digesting and watching Aiden play with all his new toys (and we had a few new toys too...). Merry Christmas everyone!

Aiden and his new fleecy blanket on X-mas eve

Self-timer photo before Christmas dinner

Aiden waiting for pie

Who is this Christmas elf in his new PJs?

Across his bum it reads "trailing a little behind..."

My new bike! Complete with ringing bell!

Hylunkens (Danish fruit-filled donuts) for Christmas morning breakfast

Micah and Dad in their new, somewhat obscene, t-shirts

Aiden and Da-doo getting some fresh air on Christmas Day

Gravel can be fun in winter when your options are limited...

Snowshoeing around the yard

The master ar-tist in his studio

Two feet of snow and a barf bug

This image is from one of our favorite websites, www.threadless.com, where amateur artists submit t-shirt designs that are rated by the public. The highest rated ones are printed and you can order them online. Obviously "the public" has a sick sense of humor sometimes. This one comes in onesies, and after this week, I'm thinking of ordering one up for Aiden :)

Earlier this week we got close to 2 feet of snow in one day. On that same day, Aiden had his first stomach flu. So if I had any twinges of guilt about calling in to work to say I couldn't make it in because of the snow, they quickly vanished once Aiden starting puking all over the house. Lucky for you, we don't have any pictures of the ordeal, but needless to say it was traumatizing for Aiden. He looked pretty frightened each time he got sick, and we just gave him lots of fluids and let him watch cartoons on my lap on the couch all day. Poor fussa!

Aiden has completely recovered by now and (miraculously) Andy and I seem to be immune to this bug already. Hallelujiah! We're all ready for Christmas! Let the party begin!

One finger...

So I guess Christmas is officially upon us. We went out with my parents to pick out our xmas trees at a local tree farm a few weekends ago, before we got too inundated with snow. Cutting your own Christmas tree is a little like catching and eating your own fish, or growing your own tomatoes to make sauce or something. You appreciate the tree's (fish's, or veggie's) sacrifice a bit more if you actually have to put the saw to it yourself and haul it to your car. It's either that or you start to feel a little evil about the whole thing... As Andy put it, "Which one of you trees wants to be cut down in the prime of life for our fanciful holiday enjoyment?"

ANYway, we got a tree and we set up it last weekend after much hemming and hawing about whether we should even decorate it, or decorate only the top half, or tie it to the rafters with monofilament line so that it can't be pulled over by a toddler. In the end we decided not to rig up anything that might land us in this year's Darwin Awards, and resolved that we would just teach Aiden to "be gentle and respectful" of this giant, glowing, multicolored spectacle that miraculously appeared in his playroom while he was sleeping.

Ha! Good luck!

Actually, after a week of the tree it's not going too badly. Every time he heads for the tree we say "One finger..." which means that is all he's supposed to use to touch the lights and the sparkly ornaments. When he thinks we're not looking he does grab at things with 5-finger abandon, but mostly we're looking. So far, so good...

The Amazing Adventures of...

GEEK-BABY!!!

and his alter ego...

COOL BABY!!!

and his other alter ego...

?

Parrots, Wild and Not-So-Wild

Every time we visit Andy's Dad and brother in Amity Harbor, NY, we keep an eye out for the wild parrots that have lived in his neighborhood for the last 3 years. On our recent trip over Thanksgiving, there was a larger flock of them than we have ever seen before, and I crept up on them to get some photos. I counted about 20 of the little noisy monsters roaming around for ground-goodies next to the iced-over canal. These guys are natives of Argentina and Brazil, where they are considered crop pests, but they are very hardy for tropical parrots and can survive in temperate climates like NY or even Chicago. The story with the NY ones is that some shipment of parrots was "liberated" by animal rights activists at JFK Airport in the 1970s, and a handful of small populations have grown from that release. I don't know how true the story really is, but there are definitely flocks that I know of in Brooklyn, several places in Queens, and Amity Harbor. Though technically they are an invasive species, they really don't bother me (ecologically) where they live in NY- usually they are competing with the other "invasives" like starlings and house sparrows anyway. And they are much more fun to watch.

Some Quaker Parrot/Monk Parakeets looking for lawn treats in Amity Harbor

Mixing it up with the Starlings

Fighting for feeder space with the House Sparrows

Birders (like us) call them Monk Parakeets; pet bird owners (like us) call them Quaker Parrots; we call ours Tupelo! Unlike her Long Island cousins, our Tupelo would not last 10 minutes if we put her outside in a snowbank in winter. She's fat and pampered, and her only skills are clucking like a chicken, fetching tissue paper balls, and whistling a really bad "Don't Cry for me Argentina." None of those will get you dinner in the wild, though some might turn you into dinner.

Andy recently mentioned that we didn't have a single picture of our birds on the blog, so I would like to officially introduce our 3 feathered children:

This is Tupelo, the Quaker Parrot. She is a complete clown- she can do a laugh that sounds exactly like a person in hysterics (and the more you laugh at her, the louder she gets). Her favorite foods are butter (peanut and cow) and cheese, and she loves to give kisses and purr like a cat. She also says a few somewhat decipherable words, like "Hi Tupe Baby, Hello, and NO BITE!"

This is Tiki, the Cockatiel. Tiki was our first bird- she was given to Andy by some friends who rescued her from flying bewilderedly around a Long Island neighborhood. Tiki is a princess, and Andy is her prince. She does not like me, or anyone else for that matter. But she does like her head scritched (by Andy) and has a pretty whistle.

This is Zaitsev, the Green Cheek Conure. Zaitsev was named after a Russian sniper from WWII, Vasilli Zaitsev. We waited a few weeks to name him after we adopted him, and it was a good thing because we would have had to change it if we had gone ahead with Cuddles. Zaitsy is actually a very sweet bird, but he has a bad temper. If you rub his feathers the wrong way, so to speak, he will pierce your finger like a grape with his pointy beak. Zaitsy loves fruit juice and hiding in dark crannies.

Aiden's First School Photo

This is not news for some of you who have received a wallet-sized copy of this lovely portrait already, but about a month ago we got Aiden's first "school pictures" back from the studio. His is pretty funny, so we thought we'd share it with everyone....

It's either:

a) the fakest smile ever, or
b) he's pooping, or
c) he's about to burst into tears

Feel free to cast your vote in the blog's comments section! Looking back on my own school photos, I think its a rare occasion that these things ever turn out "good." That's probably the fun of them... you just have to give them a few years to accumulate, line them up, and chuckle. I remember lots of mine had hokey "nature" backgrounds, or even "lasers" in the 1980s, and our expressions could usually be described (as can Aiden's) as priceless.

The outfit is courtesy of Uncle Dan. I'm actually pretty impressed that the little cap stayed on long enough to snap a photo!

The group photo (below) is also pretty funny...