Clem Occupies

Clem and I went down to see the Occupy Boston encampment in downtown Boston today.  His sign was a big hit and we walked along the street with a few others for a while.  Several women asked in a concerned manner what is Clement's favorite flavor of milkshake, while others totally got the reference. We would have joined the march at 11:00 but Clement was sidetracked by a large group of "mailboxes," actually newspaper  boxes, so we gave up marching in favor of opening and closing boxes for a while.  The encampment was smaller than I thought it would be, but looked well stocked and had a number of informational handouts and speakers while we were there.  Clem got a big thumbs up from some duck boats!  Then home for a nap.

ClemBee

Clem had a fantastic Halloween - this year he rang the doorbell, said "Trick or Treat!," took candy, and thanked everyone.  Last year he tried giving all the candy back, and this year he forgot all about the candy once it was in his bucket, so John and I have been eating it.  Score!

Apartment completion = so close!

A few before and after shots of our very-soon-to-be-finished apartment!

 

 

8 million messes

This sums up my day today:

Exciting Day!

Only 2pm, and already there has been too much happening.  As I went to get Clem out of bed this morning, I heard the carbon monoxide alarm going off downstairs, so had to get us dressed and out of the house while wondering, "what do you do when the CO alarm goes off?"  It took a call to John, who was in NH, to get the answer: call the fire department.  Of course!  Luckily they are right around the corner - we could hear the sirens about 10 seconds later.

So they went in.  Long story short: In my cleaning frenzy this weekend, I threw out an old alarm with a bunch of stuff in out kitchen trash, and there it was, beeping like crazy in the trash can, sounding like it was coming from downstairs.  The fire guys said it happens all the time.

20 minutes later, John's friend Tom came to take down some trees.  Clem was fascinated with his hat and the cherry picker and all the beeping:

Then off to the gaga park for more adventures, including sniffing moldy oranges, mushroom hunting, cone moving, and about 30 dogs.

And then home to play "rain" for a while until naptime.

 Now Mama needs a nap too.

Clem's big break

Clem is obsessed with construction of all kinds.  The other day some workers were digging a hole in our street, then fixing something and filling in the hole again.  We watched for a very long while, then one of them offered to let Clem sit in the backhoe!  Before they could change their mind or OSHA could deny it, he hopped in.  Hooray!  I can't believe he let me take him out of it once his picture was taken.

Who is 2?

Clem had a fun birthday - it rained all day up until right before the party, but then we had sun.  I don't have pictures of the party, but I do have some of the present I made for him: a custom made titanium tricycle!  Our downstairs is still empty so we gave it to him there and he was on it and making "vroom" noises in mere seconds.

Clement and Odin

Clement met a new friend, Odin, when he & his mom Trish came for a visit this week from Florida.  Odin is 9 months older than Clem and they had a blast running around various hotspots. We started with a bagel snack on the way home from picking them up.  Here Clem covets Odin's bagel:

At DeCordova they loved the magic tree and various sculptures to play on

We went to the school where Trish & I met, SMFA in Boston, to look around.  The kids loved the stairs.

And the broom in one of the empty paint studios

Clem loves cones

We've been to some cool places, and no matter where we are, Clem spots any tiny bit of construction and makes a beeline for it.  I used to have a series of photos called "Clement asleep at..." during his first year and I think this year it should be "Clem with cones at..."

...a playground in NH:

...Drumlin Farm

...Common St playground and field

 ...DeCordova Sculpture Park

...The Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Good Sleep

                                    With Pup-Pup, Baa-Baa, and Gaga, his faithful companions.

Jammies at 5

It's 7:46, and I've been in jammies since 5pm.  It's been a long day.  It's been raining all week and finding things to do with a toddler and no car begins to be challenging after a few days.  So here's a rundown of our day today:

After I got back from my morning shift at 8am,  Kate & Ben came to pick us up for a field trip to the Discovery Museum in Acton.  It's was pretty fun, though it quickly filled up beyond capacity with kids and parents looking to escape the neverending drizzle.  Good thing we got there right after it opened!  Here's Clem in the Water Room,  where they thoughtfully provide waterproof aprons.

                                                           And in the flashing lights room

                                                 Communing with the brontosaurus and Ben

                                                                 They provide tricycles too

                                                   Then a nature walk, with snacks of course


So off to home and naptime for both of us, then a bite of lunch.  It looks like it stopped raining, so I hook up the trailer for some outdoors adventure!  It takes longer than I think, so of course it is raining again by the time we leave, but off we go anyway, on the path to Russos.  The rain guard worked perfectly, though we need to adjust Clem's helmet more since last fall.  But it was a success! He especially enjoyed going over bumps and I heard more than a few "wheeee!"s from the back.  Clem was dry but I got pretty soaked, so it was after this point that I got into jammies, nice and dry.

                                                Then a visit with the "hiya hiya" (aka teepee)

                                                               A messy though filling dinner

                                                     And a quick cleanup before bathtime!