New Mixer -- At least new to us...

[Jeremy] As alluded to in the last post, we have recently acquired something to help compensate for the inadequacy of our first family mixer (a little dark brown and tan hand mixer with it's own box). Ethan has loved to play with it, but when we got to the the big time with sugar cookies last week, it just didn't cut it -- it gut gummed up with butter and flour and just growled, but ceased to mix. It's not broken, it has just met it's match.

As Jody was finishing the mixing by hand, she mentioned that I should pick up the "big mixer" from Nana when Ethan and I visit her on Saturday. I remembered hearing about this mixer before (and even remembered seeing it with its stretchy velvet cover), but I had never had any interest. That was all before I became a stay-at home dad, however... Ethan and I were both excited when Nana revealed to us her crisp, white and chrome Kitchen Aid Heavy Duty Mixer (For household use only).

We got it on Saturday, cleaned it up Sunday morning and baked oatmeal raisin cookies with it Sunday night. It is truly an amazing machine... Housewives everywhere should demand one of their husbands.

Ethan is mesmerized when it is turned on... and to be honest, so am I.

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

[Jeremy] Winter time has meant that Ethan and I are spending a lot more time indoors. It hasn't really snowed yet, so the weather is either REALLY cold, or wet and miserable. One of the things we like to do is bake. We have a neighbor that has a wheat allergy so we have been experimenting with some wheat free cookie recipes. Our most successful one was a spelt cookie with a lemony zest.

As it happens, s group of med students with kids planned a cookie decorating party at the med school. I looked up a shortening free, old fashioned cookie recipe and we went to town. Since you have to chill the cookie dough, it was a two-day affair. The only sad news was that our little hand mixer couldn't mix more than about half of cookie dough. Jody had to do the rest by hand. We now have a solution to this problem, (but that is another post all by itself). Below are some pictures of our the great cookie epic.

It took us a while to figure out that we had to use A LOT of flour when rolling out the dough to cut out the shapes. We took a trip to a very trendy kitchen shop in downtown Hanover and Ethan picked out this cookie cutter.

We only have one cookie sheet, so it took us almost two hours to get through the four dozen cookies that resulted from our epic labors.

As is the prerogative of any cook when in his kitchen, Ethan occasionally took samples of the product, for Quality Assurance purposes only I assure you.

Mama joined us with our cookies at the med school lounge and guided Ethan through his first time frosting cookies.

Some of the final products...

Papa and Ethan, Father and son

Now that I have been staying home with Ethan, we have been merging our lives to a great extent. We play together, but we also do house work together, exercise together (Ethan and I go jogging 3 times a week -- he rides), and his FAVORITE, we fix things around the house.

I can't adequately express in words how amazingly wonderful it is for me to spend time with Ethan tackling little fixes and teaching him how to begin to use tools. He is actually quite a great helper. It is truly one of the greatest joys to be able to share this time in my life with Ethan.


I have a home gym type thing that I got around the time I was still rehabbing my knee. I use it now to get a work out in at home on days I don't / can't go to the gym. Ethan ALWAYS finds it fascinating and tries to imitate my exercises. (He has also been known to do pilates with his mama)


I am always proud to amaze folks by telling them that my 2-year-old son can use a screwdriver and hammer.Working with my father in the garage or on projects around the house are some of my greatest memories. It moves me to tears to share similar moments with my son.

Enjoying Fall

[Jeremy] Fall is always a time of change for me. With the changing weather and the shorter days, I find I can spend less time outside, and when I do spend time outside, it takes a lot more preparation (and clothing) to make it enjoyable. I wake up to mornings of darkness and frost, and days are cut short. Something in me seems to need the sun and the outdoors. Also, as a stay at home dad I am now daily still trying to make sense of this tremendous change in the course of my life.

Moreover, we recently had to bid a sad farewell to the only car I have ever owned (addressed in detail in another blog post). That 1998 Subaru Forrester has been part of our family since before it was. Jody and I fell in love in that car, it carried everything we owned every time we ever moved, and it was Ethan's favorite place to play -- he would spend hours just sitting... "play car?" he would ask with clear intonation, telling whoever was in ear shot that he wanted to play in the car.

In this time of transition, before the onset of winter, we have been playing as hard as we could to squeeze every last bit out of the ever-shortening days.


Ethan has found that although lollipops and other kinds of sugary candy are not quite his cup of tea "choc-it" as he calls it definitely is.

Playing rugby is a big part of my life and I had a great time playing rugby for two different teams this fall. I am pictured here playing prop for the Tuck Rugby club. Tuck is Dartmouth's business school. I scored a try later in this match (Rugby's equivalent of a touchdown), my first for this team.


One pretty cold and grey day in October, Ethan, Jody, and I met a good college friend of mine Jen Stevenson at the Boston Aquarium where we all got to check out the "Pinguinos" for an afternoon. Ethan still talks about how Jen gave him a piggy back ride.

The three little peas outside the aquarium (picture graciously taken by Jen).

After the completion of the big dig (which runs right by the aquarium) and the subsequent dismantling of the old overpass, the route where 95 used to run has been converted into a long park or "greenway." At one end, there is a carousel. After we went to the aquarium, Ethan had his first ride.

Nana and Pappy recently got a leaf blower to take care of the new grass in their backyard. Ethan LOVED it and talks often about how pappy and he blew leaves in their backyard.


Ethan has long loved the bike pump, but has only recently gained enough skill (and strength) to use it effectively for it's intended purpose.

After being scared of it for a long time, Ethan has finally embraced the pure childhood joy of riding the see-saw.

And as is true for all of us, the harder we play, the better we sleep. I have heard tell that some other children Ethan's age move away from the long afternoon nap... not my little peanut. He has still sleep 2.5 -3 hours every afternoon.

I am somehow always touched when I look back when we are driving somewhere because I haven't heard him for a while and I see him fast asleep.

Movin' on up... to the Red Room

This post is bit late in coming, but at the start of this current school year, Ethan moved up from the Nursery (at the Child Care Center in Norwich) to the Red Room (for 2-3 year olds). For the first month, Ethan went to the Red Room 3 days a week. Now he only goes on Thursday. And for those of you who do not know, I turned down a job and decided to stay home with Ethan this year (and for years to come).

Below are a few pictures of Ethan with his Red Room buddies. The nursery was a wonderful place and the wonderful, caring folks there brightened all of our lives.

Ethan with Audrey (they were special friends.. they came to and left the nursery about the same time)


Ethan with Karla (Karla was an amazing teacher and a kind caregiver)


Ethan with Suzanne (Suzanne joined the Nursery right before Ethan left, but they quickly became great buddies)

Haiti

I traveled to Haiti for week in July to shadow and work on breastfeeding/HIV issues at a clinic in Port au Prince. My lack of all French and Creole, the short length of my trip and my ill-defined "project" all got in the way of me really getting involved with patients in the clinic. But I did observe in the pediatric clinic one day (thanks to the generosity and interpretation of one of the pediatricians) and I hung around the nutrition unit long enough to get a good idea of how breastfeeding support works at this clinic and what the sentiments are around HIV and breastfeeding.

Doing this work, I realized that healthy, normal breastfeeding is universal ( a good latch is a good latch in Port au Prince or Hanover, NH), while the cultural issues around breastfeeding vary a great deal.

I saw much more public breastfeeding than I'd ever seen in the states, including a plump, joyful mama sitting in a hot clinic tent nursing her twins. At one point I was also surrounded by about 80 women (all with little babes sitting on their laps) singing a popular Creole song about how great breastfeeding is. This was during a breastfeeding education session in the camp nearby that houses folks who lost their homes in the earthquake. The camp is managed by members of the camp community and by the clinic that I worked with. It was a really beautiful moment - even if it may not have made a huge difference in breastfeeding success.

The benefits of breastfeeding for infant immunity and weight gain were remarkably obvious in the babies I saw. None of the breastfed infants were anything other than supple, content, drooling munchkins. Some of the older kids and the formula-fed babies who were more vulnerable to food insecurity and poor sanitation did not look nearly so good. In such challenging health conditions, babies really need boobs.

I also saw alot of kids silently staring off into space on their mother's laps. When I did see a curious, squirmy baby I was startled. Many of the babies in this particular population are undernourished and under-stimulated, but I think the clinic is doing good work to encourage healthier habits, at least with regards to nutrition.

I spent the rest of the summer after I got back working very part time to create breastfeeding education and policy materials for the clinic. I was disappointed that I didn't have more concrete work to do, but happy to contribute in my own small way, to learn oodles about HIV and breastfeeding (an very hot field of research and policy development with huge implications for infant survival in the developing world), and to have more time with the boys.

Summer Sweetness

Aside from my work in Haiti, we had an unexpectedly quiet summer, full of family adventures and peaceful days at home. Here are some of the highlights:

-I taught anatomy to Physician's Assistant students for just a couple of lectures and I remembered how much I LOVE teaching. I hope that whatever direction my medical training takes me, I will always be able to teach (in the classroom, the clinic, with patients, colleagues or students).

-Uncle Dan and Aunt Marcelle gave us a video camera, a pint-sized rolling suitcase and a pair of All Star's. All are now staples for our adventuring.


-Ethan got to meet his Lowmaster cousins. He had some intensely focused play in the sandbox and really seemed at peace with his new buddies.



-Camping! We are finally getting to a place where Ethan can really enjoy family adventures. I am also leaning to slow down to a toddler pace. In the past, I always wanted to camp in the most remote spots and hike long treks, seeing awesome vistas on high peaks. Now, I'm beginning to embrace the fun of car camping (in a quiet campground), taking a leisurely walk to collect acorns, and letting picking blackberries be our afternoon activity. These videos are from a little campground outside of Portland, ME.



-Seeing Mark, Debbie, Maeve and Jude. We drove to Mark's parents house in upstate NY to visit these beloved Madison buddies. It was just like old times. We really love these guys.

We also got to visit a few goats and a donkey on the way home. Hee-haw.



-Learning to use the potty. Ethan is figuring this out amazingly quickly. He really loves using his little potty. While no potty is pictured here, you do get a view of the cute new undies.


-Canning. We made pickled beets and dilly beans with goodies from our CSA. Ethan particularly likes the pickled garlic from the dilly beans jars. Who would have guessed?


- 3 sweet weddings, including two live bands which inspired some phenomenal dance moves by our young Ethan. Note that all dance moves were reserved for private viewing at our house after getting back from our wedding escapades. When we were actually in the presence of the bands, Ethan stared with rapt attention, unmoving during the music, and then clapped enthusiastically after each song.



-Just being home. What a blessing to have these weeks the decompress after our hectic schedules last year. We all really needed some quiet time to read, nap, play Mr. Potato Head and take a few wagon rides.

Having fun at the Quechee Gorge

[Jeremy] On the advice of a friend, we took a trip to the one of the closest state parks to our little home in West Lebanon... Quechee State Park. The main attraction of Quechee State Park is a rather large gorge in which there is a small but robust little river. After a 15 min hike down the length of the gorge, you come to a beautiful section of the gorge where you can easily climb on to rocks in the river. In this section, the rocks are big and randomly placed and create many little pools and tiny waterfalls. We weren't sure if Ethan would like it at first, but once he started exploring, he kept at it for over an hour. Everyone had gone home before we started to make our way back to the shore. Below is a video of Ethan doing some exploring with his papa.



NOTE: After a visit back to PA for a wedding a few weeks ago, I found a few of my old toddler shirts that my mom had saved (and that I had packed away when I was moving out of my childhood home in Homer City, PA). Two of the three shirts were Penn State shirts... Ethan has been wearing them a lot this summer -- they have been washed so many times that they are SUPER soft. Anyway, if you look closely, you can see that Ethan is wearing one of them in this video.

Hand, Foot, and Mouth

[Jeremy] Just a little update about Ethan's health....

About 2 weeks ago, Ethan came down with a case of hand, foot, and mouth disease (WebMD LINK). It happened during the last few days of the week Jody was in Haiti, so it was my first test of dealing with an issue of Ethan's health by myself. Luckily, he was scheduled for his 2 year checkup that Friday, and our doctor quickly identified the illness from the rash Ethan had on his hands. All in all, it was not a bad illness. The worst part of it was the VERY sore throat that Ethan had for almost a week. I had to force feed him some Gatorade a few times to keep him hydrated, but we made it through.

During the process of getting through the illness (it's a virus and lasts about a week), Ethan learned the words HURT and OUCH. He has been using them both words to great effect ever since. It has actually helped us communicate much more effectively when he hurts himself.

Pipes

It has been so hot here, I can barely think... but I got inspired yesterday when I was in Home Depot buying some spray paint for a little project. For less than $10 I built Ethan a little PVC pipe play set like the one he loves to play with at the Montshire Museum of Science. We actually built most of it together at the kitchen sink. :-) I am hoping to expand the set in the near future... Ethan often asks for "more pipes!? Below are two videos I took of him playing with his new hand-crafted "pipes."

Paul comes to Visit... James is born

[Jeremy] As I am writing this blog entry, Jody is in Haiti doing some work for the breastfeeding project she got grant money to work on.

The day she left, our good friend Morgaine went in to labor. Her husband is away on a summer internship and she had a friend visiting from France (Gaelle) who took her to the hospital... taking care of her 2.5 year old son Paul, was our responsibility. Saturday morning, Morgaine sent me an URGENT text message about 9:00am or so saying that it was the day (8 minutes between contractions). She brought Paul over at about 10:00am, and he stayed at our house the rest of that day, spent the night, and then left the next day after diner. It was a bit rough at points (2 two-year-old boys...) but it was also a wonderful experience for all of us and I was overwhelmed at the trust that Morgaine and Paul had placed in Jody, Ethan, and I.

Jody stayed until after bath time and then drove to Boston to stay with a friend. I put Ethan and Paul to bed and the crashed, exhausted. We started the next day at about 5:30, and played hard all morning. It was so hot outside that we had to spend most of out time indoors which made things a little more difficult. But, by the second day Paul and Ethan had gotten used to each other and were playing much better side by side, and were both doing a much better job of sharing.

Paul does not quite have the stamina that Ethan does (he usually gets up much later) and fell asleep in his bowl of yogurt at about 10:00. I wiped off his face and poured him on to the bed. He slept a solid 2 hours. Ethan went down a bit later, and slept a good length as well.

The visit was a bit of a wake up call for me. We are hoping to have another child soon and 2 are a LOT more work than one. And since, I am gonna probably be the primary caregiver for the next few years... much of that work is gonna be mine.

Nonetheless, I try to envision myself as some manner of Renaissance super-dad, that jogs in the morning, makes breakfast, cleans, shops, fixes stuff around the house, tends the garden, works on the house (with help from two munchins), cooks diner, supports my partner, makes art, plays rugby and chillaxes... we'll see.

Anyway, on to the goods... below are a few pictures from Paul's visit (the one of them napping just makes my heart melt):









So, Morgaine went to the hospital at 10:00am and James (her new little marshmallowly cute American born French-bred nugget) was born at 12:10. He came joined the outside work weighing in at 4.4 kilos! Morgaine and James are doing just fine... Hot and sweaty, but fine.

2nd Birthday - Bounty #1

[Jeremy] This is the first post of what will be a number of posts about Ethan's second birthday. Although the second year landmark is just a day, it seems like so much has changed in Ethan's life the past week or so. On Thursday (6/24/10), all three of us (Jody, Ethan, and myself) embarked on a trip back to my home state of Pennsylvania for the wedding of Jared Greece (a very good friend of mine from childhood).

It just so happens that Jared's wedding was on Ethan's birthday. As a result, on this trip, Ethan has been showered with so many wonderful and thoughtful birthday presents that we are were wonderfully overwhelmed. There are a number of presents which I am sure will be in his life for a long time, but the first to be highlighted in this blog is his new wooden tea set. It was a gift from our dear, dear friends Mark, Debbie, Maeve, and Jude in Madison, Wi. The day after we got back from our trip, I showed Ethan his new tea set before taking him to his one day this week at the childcare center.

Bring on Summer

I am done with my first year of medical school! I am exhausted and also feeling quite proud. For all the long hours and the endless onslaught of information, for all the time spent away from these sweet guys, I never considered not continuing in med school or taking a break (until there is another baby, that is) until yesterday, as I was studying for my last final. I had the distinct sense that I do not want to keep going in this way, day after day. Convenient, as I don't need to keep going this way any longer. I can take a good long break this summer! I trust that this feeling will abate with some old fashioned R and R.

How will I wile away these summer days? Playing, reading, splashing in the sprinkler, and doing two projects related to school but also related to service and fun (1: consulting on a breastfeeding education program for HIV+ women in Haiti and 2: teaching anatomy to Physician Assistant students).

As for the boys, Jeremy graduated from his teacher certification program this week and is hoping to teach middle school or high school English this fall. Ethan is a crazy toddler, just beginning to use the potty, talking ALOT, eating constantly, and starting to really notice his peers. He has a special love for Paul, a little French boy in our neighborhood, and Jacob, another kiddo at school. It is so sweet to see Ethan follow these kids around, trying to share toys and snacks, taking the first steps towards building friendships. I hope that in the midst of all the turnover of the Dartmouth community, we can find some consistency for Ethan as he makes and keeps his buddies.



Ethan's best friend, of course, is Nana. Books, toys, puzzles, splashing in rain puddles, going to the grocery store, getting cozy behind the crib - if it's with Nana, it's pure joy.