Mr. Bear with Nana and Aunt Corey

While I am at Broad in California, Bryson is with Nana and Aunt Corey in New Paltz. Here are some photos from Alex.

They have Bryson's rocketship (we thought we had lost it at Wyndham Ski Mountain).

Ralphie relaxing on Bryson's floor puzzles.

Bryson on his Big Wheel being pulled by sled dogs Ralphie & Max. Later, poor Ralphie got hit by a skunk.

Mom and Auntie Becky Head to the Philippines

My mom and Auntie Becky are on a monthlong trip to the Philippines. They are there to attend a college reunion and also enjoy the sites. Hopefully they are both filling their buckets, relaxing, and treating themselves.

Colin Quinn Date Night

Alex surprised me with a date night to see comedian Colin Quinn at the Cherry Lane Theater, a few blocks from our apartment in the West Village. But one fun show wasn't enough :) After a quick vegan dinner at Chloe's, we went back again to see the Hasan Minaj Homecoming King show. This one was even more awesome. Click below and see the Featurette of Hasan's commencement speech. He's funny but real and shares his experience as someone brown trying to build confidence and find his way in this sometimes tough world.

http://www.homecomingkingshow.com/

Puzzles from Uncle Kevin

Uncle Kevin got Bryson an awesome gift - not just one but four (!) floor puzzles. It was like Christmas morning, and the Bear woke up to an Amazon box full of these these great gifts. He immediately proceeded to build one - a jungle animal scene.

Happy Valentine's Day - King and I

For Valentine's Day, I got Alex a couple presents. First on the list was a surprise date night to see the King and I at the Lincoln Center. I also got him a cooking class (soups!), which he'll do while I'm in California this week.

Baby #2: 33 Weeks - Pineapple

33 weeks was a fun (?) milestone. In addition to finding out that the baby is about the size of a pineapple, I also found out that I weigh about the same as Alex right now. We are both at 141 pounds - whew! Apparently, I am supposed to gain a pound more a week until delivery, so that would put me at 149 if I delivered at 40 weeks. I have definitely stopped running - too uncomfortable - but still continue to walk 20-30 min a day in the morning.

How your baby's growing

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and has passed the 17-inch mark (about the size of a pineapple). He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with aconehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Blizzard in NYC

Ironically, while we had zero inches of snow in New Paltz, New York City got crushed with 25 inches of snow. We drove back from New Paltz to find 12 foot high snow packs and lots of cars covered with snow. Here are some of the cars we saw. Mr. Bear and I giggled about how these poor people were going to dig themselves out.

Playground Score and Library

While NYC got dumped with snow from the blizzard, amazingly New Paltz didn't get touched at all. So we headed on the Rail Trail with Mr. Bear's Big Wheel and on the way, we found two awesome surprises. One - there was a playground complete with rock climbing wall. And two - there was a library only a few minutes away. Mr. Bear dove right in and started reading to himself while Alex and I wandered around the very cozy space.



 

Big Wheel on the Gardiner Rail Trail

Alex: What do you want to do today?
Mr. Bear: Rock climb!
Alex: Well, yes, but it is 20 degrees outside today. What else would you like to do?
Mr. Bear: Big Wheel!

And so we've been on the Rail Trails (old railways converted to paths), and Mr. Bear has been rocking his Batman Big Wheel from Nana.

Here we are at the Gardiner Rail Trail.

 

Skiing at 3 Years Old

After a failed ski attempt when the Bear was two years old ($200 down the drain after 1 hour of the Bear crying), we were at it with a new vengeance. This time forking over the cash (yes, there is a trend here of forking over cash to make sure we do things properly to people who know what they are doing) for a lesson at Wyndham ski resorts, which specializes in lessons for children.

After fudging a bit on age - he's not too far from age 4 :) they grabbed the Bear and sat him down in the play room. The first photo is Mr. Bear not adjusting too well to being grabbed. I then did the proper Mommy thing of hiding and not having him see me. Apparently, that worked well because once out of sight, the Bear was smiling and playing with cars and puzzles.

I then snuck outside and watched the Bear at a lesson. The coach was insanely good - he eventually had to take off his jacket because he was jumping up and down so much. They played Simon Says, practiced going up the hill with skis, and then 30 minutes later, they were on the Magic Carpet and heading down the hill. They sure do have their process down at Wyndham where they have teachers who are stationed at different intervals on the hill to catch kids on their way down.

Mr. Bear was all pooped out on the way back and immediately crashed.