Dexter has a watercolor set which he loves, and his smock is one of Matt’s old t-shirts. Yesterday Dex insisted on continuing to wear it as fun times moved outside, and as he waved the bubble wand around, “YOU’RE A WIZARD, DEXTER,” in Hagrid’s voice, kept running through my head.
Dexter will only eat carrots one way: raw, whole and unpeeled.
He says peeling it makes the carrot “too cold.”
Sunday was a gorgeous, sunny day so we met up with some friends at a local park for picnic and playtime. Despite the presence of the fresh cut fruits and vegetables I laboriously prepared, Dexter would only eat a giant, unpeeled carrot.
Naturally, as Theo devotedly admires his big brother, that is all he wanted to eat, as well. So as my artful crudite went neglected, these two jokers passed this carrot back and forth, taking turns gnawing on it like weird little cartoon rabbits.
Hence, what I dubbed The Family Carrot:
We had a pretty darn British Easter. Egg hunt in a park that was kind of grey and drizzly, and then Easter morning, no baskets — not really a thing here — but the Easter Bunny brought a toy and directive to search for eggs in the back garden after dinner, so that is what we did.
Too small, but we forgot about the bunny hat last year and darn it, I had to squeeze his little skull into it once.
It was too cold and damp for Theo to run around the garden but it sure didn’t stop Dexter from finding chocolate, which is his favorite.
Obligatory loot inventory:
The toy the Easter Bunny brought was a kinetic sand kit which we bought another kid for a birthday present, and Dexter begged to open it so many times, I knew it would be a hit. He actually played with it for like, an hour straight, two mornings in a row which is remarkable focus for this kid.
And Theo munching on a hot cross bun, as is traditional:
Oh, and we didn’t take Dex to meet the Easter Bunny (come to think of it, that might also not be a thing here?) but he made an appearance at playgroup the week previous:
“Why aren’t there any photos of Theo and the Easter Bunny?”
“Because THEO CRIED.”
“Oh, okay.”
I put together a little video of the Easter morning hunt:
Want to know two key differences between kid birthday parties in the U.S. vs the U.K.? Okay, I will tell you!
First, my favorite difference: no opening presents at the party!
Halloween 2017 kicked Halloween 2016 right in the candy corn.
First up, Matt’s company party, Night of the Living Devs — get it? Like game developers? No? That’s okay, I appreciated the punning, as I always do.
We had a costume idea, and then Matt came home and was like, “No, the theme is pirates and zombies,” and I was like, “I’m tapped out, we’re wearing our Pittsburgh Pirate baseball hats (see? I can pun, too) and calling it a day.” I expected for it either to be lost on the group of primarily non-Americans or to receive many groans at the bad puns/cop-out costumes but I was wrong on both counts. More people than we expected got it, and most thought it was clever. Guess the UK hasn’t had its fill of ironic, punny costumes, yet. Good thing we’re here to saturate the market!
The party was at the Tropicana, an island-themed club with a dropped swimming-pool-like structure for a dance floor.
Yeah, you read that right. Somehow, our chubby, smiley little T. Rex has been in our lives for an entire half of a year.
It seems we’ve fallen into a rut with Theo’s monthly updates. He still has a smile that could broker world peace. (Theo for President 2052: Make America Cute Again!) At this precise moment, he’s rolling back and forth across the living room floor, playing with toys along the way. He is a topple-risk, but Theo is getting better at sitting up unassisted.
1. Dexter plucked me three tiny yellow flowers from the garden, handed me the bouquet and proudly announced, “I picked these for you, Mommy!”
Peak parenting moment.
Our childminder, who I affectionately call Mary Poppins, has nearly two decades of experience caring for children, and last week, Dexter rendered her speechless.
Let me back up.
We had a rough morning.
Theo Rex is five months old now, and we may have moved from sunny Florida to grey London, but we do not miss the weather at all because Theo is the brightest ray of sunshine.
He rarely cries, just makes some fussy noises until we give him some love. He has been experimenting with some solid food and exactly like Dexter, likes it all so much that he pounds the table between bites until we spoon in more more more. Really, the only time Theo does cry is when I run out of food in the bowl and have to take two minutes to walk into the kitchen and get more.
Oh, the humanity.
Dexter (apropos of nothing): “I LOVE shepherd’s pie!”
Me: “Okay! We can make some soon. Hey, what’s in shepherd’s pie?”
Dexter: “Shepherds!”
