sharks

I took Sam and his buddy Manu to the aquarium today. I was a little worried that taking 2 two-year-olds (well, one not-quite-two) solo to a crowded public spot would be a recipe for, at best, exhaustion, but they'd done well at the Science Museum with Manu's mom a few weeks ago, so I gave it a try. The only major concession to the 2-toddler thing was that we drove instead of taking public transit; though Sam always loves the trains, I couldn't imagine hauling two sleepy or wired/running kids across 2 transfers on the way back... 65+ pounds of kid. Anyway, I needn't have worried, they were both so well-behaved, and I didn't get seriously lost driving in either direction, which counts as a major accomplishment for me, driving in this town.

Outside by the seals:


[Note Sam's spiffy new haircut. I love Sam's curls, but most of the winter they're not evident because his hair gets squished down by his fleecy hat and stays that way, so he was looking ragged and overgrown. J. was a fan of the whispies (already living vicariously through his son), but Mama wields the scissors... J. says he looks like a Republican now.]

Making the jellyfish glow different colors:


Climbing on the turtles:


The Big Tank:


Another favorite destination is the Natural History museum, with its cases of faded/motheaten but nonetheless thrilling stuffed dead animals. The oddest animals feature in children's books, and Sam was excited to see 3D pangolins (Tails) an uakari (an alphabet book), and a zorilla (ditto), plus the more-standard bison, elephant, giraffe, etc. Here's Sam outside it recently, sporting his usual collection of not-quite-matched red things:


We celebrated J's birthday last weekend. Sam and I left the house (for a walk to the rummage sale at the daycare) and let him sleep in, then met him for an extravagant brunch out, which we walked off while checking out the boobozers outside the museum and the animals inside it. We hung out at home for a lazy late-afternoon, then Uncle D and Aunt S came for dinner. Now we're gearing up for Sam's, which he'll get to celebrate three times: once early with Omi and Opa, who will be visiting for the weekend of their overlapping spring breaks; once on the actual day with us and Uncle D and Aunt S, and once in FL with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt L. Lucky duck! I'm still trying to decide whether to get him a little wooden kitchen (to go with the pots and pans and cuttable wooden food) or a tricycle (which I want to get eventually anyway).

Re. the apartment: our landlord, who doesn't want to be a landlord anymore so is selling the place, decided he wants to test the market. He thinks he can do better than what we bid; we can hardly blame him, of course, but the real estate market isn't favoring sellers right now, and we did our research before making our offer. But the end result is that we're looking for somewhere else to buy (would have happily rented here another 5 years, but this having-to-move made us realize that we don't want to be at the mercy of landlords anymore, especially given that we'll probably be in town another 6 years or so). We'll be moving this summer. Fun times.