Bearfins in Rhode Island

Seeing the swans at HP Lovecraft's grave

He sleeps in his fort now

Birding

weekend

rhys' tantrums have abated...a bit. we're trying to use withholding attention and planned time outs.  he's still waking up multiple times a night and screaming for 30 minutes. last night we ignored it (neighbors be damned) and he eventually fell back to sleep and woke up at 7 (!).  yesterday we spent hours at the park with most of our neighbors and friends joining for some period of time.  it's like a toddler watering hole with the kids running around and the parents gossiping in chairs at the perimeter.  this place is so nice.  

today we might be headed to the audubon society education center down in bristol.  they have a huge refuge there with a boardwalk along the narragansett bay and  hiking trails for days.  last week in the park we saw a cardinal land and hop around (only the second one i've ever seen) and we're suddenly desperate to see more birds.  i think we need one of those backpacks rhys can ride in.  

more open house tours this weekend.  we like to torture ourselves by seeing what we can't yet buy.  john hopes to get this APA video edited this weekend.  i also need to have a meeting with my co-chiefs as the administrative stuff for this job is becoming unruly.  

rhys is currently pantless, eating strawberries, clutching his favorite DVD -harold and the purple crayon.  we'll go get ready for the birding.

Did I tell you that Rhys has turned from a tantrum free boy into a small tornado of "NO!!!"? Apparently, 2.5 is the new terrible twos because he is CRAZY. This morning at 4:30am, tantrum for no reason, screaming to get out of his room and hitting himself in the legs. Holy possession! We took his pacifier away last week which seemed to be accompanied by an inability to fall asleep unless one of us was breathing on him and so now we have to break the habit of our sleeping in his room. I almost want the damn pacifier back. John said, "we can get him braces" in response to the cumulative 4 hours of sleep we've each gotten over the last 3 days. Yikes. Complicating matters, I'm on call for 12 days straight and am being paged all hours of the night. John is filming a live, child patient interview tomorrow for the American Psychiatric Association and we're still trying to edit these child videos we're trying to get out. Let me tell you, I am not made for voice-overs. John is having to put the "radio personality" effect on to my voice so I don't sound like a 50 year old smoker.

Park!

Easter end to a vacation

This morning we packed up eggs and Rhys' easter basket and headed to the Brown Observatory (right around the corner from us) where pink and white trees were in bloom and the little boy's attention was held for the duration of 16 eggs.  8 were left over when he became more interested in sticks and rocks. He had a good run.  He did find his basket hiding in the tree. Today was the first day of 75 degree weather and we found our friends at the park where we had another impromptu egg hunting expedition with 4 toddlers.  John and I took Rhys for a walk in his stroller, achieving nap success while we enjoyed the flowers and sunshine.  This evening, we made vegan easter dinner, went back to the park briefly, and finished watching the 10 commandments as a family.  Somehow, Rhys was enthralled. And so starts my last 12 weeks of inpatient work I hope, for the rest of my life.  I return to the children's unit tomorrow where I will finish out this 4th year and head into my final year of training in July.  It is an outpatient year, which thrills me and one I have a lot of control over in terms of my schedule.  Happy easter everyone!

Practicing

Good Friday

Nothing religious done by bearfins. Rhys had a playdate at Siena's house where we brought 7 stars baked goods. The kids played while Adria and I gossiped. Came home, naps all around, then Rhys and I went to the park while daddy practiced drums and such. John and Rhys went to whole foods where the Easter bunny was sighted and nearly gave Rhys a heat attack from the excitement. He came home guilty of excessive chocolate consumption with the evidence all over his face. Daddy made pizza for dinner and we read bunny books before bedtime. It appears we have kicked the pacifier habit. Amazing! John and I worked on the voice overs for the film and are now desperately trying to settle to bed as the new toddler wake time of 5 am is not awesome. Not awesome at all.

choo-choo!

choo-choo! from John Hewitt on Vimeo.

Yesterday was less eventful. Walked down wickenden street, visited a fish store where Rhys enjoyed seeing orange fish the most. We stopped in a well decorated, overpriced but beautiful antiques store where we drooled over a $350 baby chair. We went to the coffee exchange for bagels and espresso and wandered through Utrecht. Rhys actually fell asleep on the way home so while he had an early nap, John and I worked on the child videos. In the afternoon we visited Vanessa at the women's hospital and saw her new baby boy Cormac. Came home, went to the park and mommy soon discovered she'd locked us all out of the house. Nicole and Darren came to our rescue, housing and feeding us until our grumpy downstairs neighbor came home. Rhys was asleep by 9 and up by a hideous 5am. We are all still trying to gather energy for this good friday.

Addendum to the birthday: had pedicures, came home, ordered cantonese food from Angkor and drank champagne with Darren and Nicole. Finished the night with John's unbelievable German chocolate cake. Hooray!

It's my birthday!

Started off with breakfast at the country's oldest diner, The Modern Diner in Pawtucket, RI.  I had the "gimme jimmie" -some version of an eggs benedict with tomato, bacon and cheese, and Rhys shunned his blueberry stuffed french toast (has to keep his trim 2% figure, you know).  

Afterward, for old time sake, we came home and I got to have a hot bath and a nap while Rhys and John worked on the birthday cake.  Bath and nap is how I used to spend my 24 hours off during my internal medicine year where I was routinely working 80-110 hours a week and NEVER had more than a day off.  I'd wake up, talk to my husband whom I hadn't seen in a week, eat, take a hot bath and return to bed.  Sometimes, I'd repeat.  I tried to not stress over what was happening to my patients on the day off as it was almost less stressful to just work all the time since they were all about to die anyway.  These days, I clearly don't need the bath/nap day off, even though being a working mommy is tiring.  It is not and never will be what that first year in New York was.  Hooray!

After my nap, we headed to our favorite antique shop where we found TWO MID CENTURY MODERN END TABLES FOR 24 DOLLARS!!! What a birthday treat!

And now, pedicures await with my sister chief!!!  More later.

Newport Train

Yesterday the bearfins set out on the 110 year old Newport railroad for a 4 mile trip around the Narragansett bay.  Rhys was ecstatic.  

Here is John joining along in the constant "choo choo"ing from the boy.

Mommy on the train.  There is a parlor car where you each get individual seats facing the bay but I'm glad we didn't choose it as there seemed to be predominantly grumpy elderly people up there.  We were in the coach car with swivel seats and and entire school bus full of children from Kingstown. No one could hear the little boy screaming, "train!!!".

After we worked up an appetite learning about the rail lines of the early 1900s, we hit up The Brick Alley pub with a working toy train inside and lots to keep the little boy busy.

Vacation continues

Monday morning, Rhys went to his final feeding team appt where he had reached 2nd percentile!!! He had not been on the growth chart for weight since he was under one! To celebrate, we went to the providence atheneum -a stunning library and a favorite study place for Edgar Allen Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The children's area was incredible. Rhys made a new friend who said, "you wanna come to my house? It's yellow. You'll have to find it". We spent several hours there, then went to Humboldt park where the boy doused himself in buckets of sand. Long naps in the afternoon, cooking dinner and bathtime. John and I finished the Easter Parade last night. Highly recommend. Today, we will try to make a vintage train ride in Newport.

Vacation Monday

Park and skype last night went as planned with the exception of some sort of dirt or bug or angry woodchip that flew into my eye. After several hours of flushing it with contact solution and a shower, I gave up and went to bed. This morning, I'm happy to report that my eye is debris free and I'm able to see this boy under his favorite space blankie watching 6am Jonny Quest.

Addendum. Skyping with grandma, accomplished. Park visited but mommy had to run home quickly after a bug or dirt or some other offending agent lodged itself firmly in her eye. So now, 3 hours later, with half a bottle of contact solution and a shower directly applied to my eye, I'm going to bed hoping magic sleep will rid myself of this gritty intruder.

Easter Vacation

Haven't had one of these in years...  I'll be off this week for our typical staycation.  We started off with Friday night where Rhys and I spent the evening with Adria, playing with Siena's toys and gossiping, toddlermommy style.  Saturday, we woke up early for some reading , hit the Wildflour vegan bakery north of here and then I tried to nap as John took Rhys to see the Brown track meet (he was thoroughly unimpressed despite the start gun and the hurdles).  In the afternoon, John and I started watching the amazingly fabulous Easter Parade with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire.  Either John is becoming less of a stick in the mud about musicals or this is a really good one because we're both riveted.  After Rhys woke up from his nap, we dyed Easter eggs ("more eggs!!!!") and ate homemade pizza courtesy John's bread dough skills.  We made a fort in Rhys' room and played with flashlights before bed.  New toddler skill: opening his ancient door (used to be too weak to pull it open at night) or pushing his slide over to turn on his light and play for an hour after lights out.  Last night we let him just fall asleep with the light on, hanging off is bed with two trains in his hands.  Today I got to sleep in and awoke to John and Rhys making blueberry whole wheat pancakes with strong coffee.  Then we met up with Darren and Nicole (our best friends here and my co-chief) and Darren's parents to go to Blithewold, a mansion in Bristol that has acres and acres of daffodils in the spring.  Rhys splashed in the puddles and walked along the oceanside path made of seashells and saw koi in a tiny pond.  This evening we will skype with grandma in the bahamas, play in the park and have fresh salad for dinner.  More to come!