15 Months

It's official! Cally is a walking and talking toddler. I guess they say 15 months is one of those "milestones". Whatever is the case, Cally is more and more fun everyday.


I know, I know, we are probably pushing it, but she is the one who regularly points at her skis and gets all excited to "try them on". So when we were at Mad River for a lovely day of spring skiing on Saturday, she gladly paraded around the base area with her sun hat and a big smile:

Impromptu Daddy Daycare

One of the downfalls of having Cally in a small inhome daycare situations is that when Meike or either of her kids is sick, we have to keep Cally home. So far, this has only happened twice this year. Today being one of those days. I, unfortunately, needed to be be at school today (I hadn't seen one of my classes since last week and didn't have time to deal with sub plans for the other group before realizing Meike couldn't take Cally). So the "burden" of spending the day with Cally was placed upon John. Having just gotten back from a week in Idaho, this wasn't ideal, but we worked it out so that I could take tomorrow off (which is usually John's day with Cal). That way he could get caught up on work.

So Meike called at about 7:30am to cancel and I had to head out the door 15 minutes later. Just as I headed out the door, John exclaimed, "I have a dental cleaning at 9:15am, what am I going to do with Cally?".

"Bring, her," I said as I walked out the door, "she should be fine". What I was really thinking to myself was how the heck is he going to keep a 15 month old occupied while his teeth get hacked at?

Well, apparently, she did just fine:


Cally sat on John's lap on the dentist's chair for 45 minutes, eating an apple and making some calls on her toy phone.

Next stop, was ECHO, the local Lake Champlain Basin Museum. I thought I had read that there was some sort of parent meetup thing going on there, so I mentioned to John that he could swing by there. Apparently I was wrong, but that didn't matter. Cally had a ball. She got to touch her first starfish, see a milk snake, go down a slide for the first time, and took a long "hiking tour" on the balcony of the museum.

Apparently, she fell asleep between ECHO and John's office (which is about a mile away) and this is how she remained for the next 1/2 hour (notice the green Mardi Gras beads, she's obsessed with them and prides herself on being able to put them on and take them off):


I guess the museum wore her out.

Alas, I was released from my duties as a teacher a little early b/c of a power outage (and when you have a classroom without windows and the power is out, it's hard to do much of anything). So we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous March afternoon and do a mini-ski tour to Underhill State Park. While we love the chariot, the backpack works great to motor around too.



Don't worry, John really wasn't going all that fast in the following picture. I think the road is about a 3% grade, even so, Cally loved it:


And it turns out, Cally really is a true Vermonter. She loves Mud! She stomps in it, sits in it, puts her fingers in it, and just doesn't seem phased.


While it can be inconvenient to deal with impromptu daycare cancellations, it can also enable working parents to grab a little more unanticipated quality time with an incredibly amazing little person. Every extra moment that we get to spend with her is a good thing (most of the time)!

The Winter We've Been Waiting For.....

We've waited and we've waited......... patiently listening to friends and family talk and even complain about the gobs of snow that have fallen upon them. This year, the snow seems to have fallen in all the wrong places. My sister, who lives in Baltimore missed school for seven days because of the snow that fell in the Mid-Atlantic, but the Olympics were delayed because there wasn't enough snow........ And up here in Vermont, we hadn't even had enough snow to build a snowman for Cally.


Alas, the snow arrived at an ideal time. Just as school got out for winter break, the snow began to fall. Between Friday February 19th and Friday February 26th, the mountains got almost 60 inches of snow! And we were on our "staycation" so we got to enjoy every last bit of it. Months ago, John set the week aside from work in case we decided to go away. Instead of going away, we stuck around and got to ski together as a couple and expose Cally to a few days of ski culture (watching her parents go up on the ski lift, wearing her skis in the base area of Mad River, and walking around the Basebox at Mad River). It was the best of both worlds....... skiing as a couple during the anniversary of our wedding and honeymoon and seeing Cally so fired up about snow. Afterall, her favorite book is "Snow, Snow, Hello Snow". Really, she points at it and has us read it to her every time she's in her room.

Cally's Valentines

It was hard to decide who would be Cally's Valentine this year.......... Of course, her long distant Valentine's were both sets of grandparents. Seriously, she loved getting their cards and has been walking around the house with both of them for the past week:


There's always Nate, her daycare buddy. She learned how to give him hugs recently:


Doesn't this shot look like the classic, "pre-prom" shot? The only things missing are the fancy attire, a corsage, and boutonniere.

But it was Boden Dormer who was here for Valentine's Weekend. She really liked having him around. Especially when he willingly pushed her around on her Winnie the Pooh Plane.

He was even kind enough to check the tires before they went too far:


They even snuggled up with Carlota for a little story time.


Guess who's hair is almost long enough for big tails?

She definitely wears a mullet well.

Dream Weekend

John and I have been antsy to get out of town...... we knew we couldn't go really far away, but we wanted to get away from the never ending "to do list" that lies in wait at home. So last weekend, we asked my brother if we could pretend to be tourists and stay at their house in Stowe. He was gracious enough to let us enjoy the weekend at his house.


John and I have both done a lot of mountain biking and skiing in Stowe, but we rarely stay long enough to visit stores or eat at restaurants........ So that's what we did this weekend.

Saturday, we packed Cally in the Chariot and set out on the groomed bike path for an adventure. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the temperatures were pretty comfortable (plus the path is pretty much flat, so it was a great change of pace from the hills we are used to dragging Cally up).


We stopped at the Harvest Market for coffee and a snack, bought a raw hide for Zephy at the expensive pet store, did a little thrift store shopping, and watched some pick up hockey at the outdoor rink along the way.


Later in the afternoon, we met up with the Ganzenmuller Clan (Mary- aka "The Homesteading Hussy", Claire, and the twins Auggie and Timmy) for a swim at the Community "Swimming Hole". As has been the case, Cally loved the water:



but only about a fraction as much as the Ganz kids did:


After extricating seven pruned bodies from the pool, we headed to Frida's for some tasty Mexican food and margarita's. It's always a gamble to take Cally out to eat, but she finds the older kids completely fascinating and we all had a ball.

We capped off the weekend by splitting a lift ticket and getting some serious laps in on the groomers at Stowe on Sunday (while we've got snow, we could certainly use some of the excess that has been falling in the Mid-Atlantic states.......). In any case, you'll never hear me complain about making turns on snow at this point in my life.

Nothing like a little "get-away" to recharge the batteries and escape the duties of being at home. Thanks James and Paula, we had a fantastic time!

As you can see, Cally was pretty happy to see her friend Lobster upon our return.

Relationships

Every time Cally's grandparents come to visit, they bring some new piece of clothing. During their visit last weekend, Nana brought a gorgeous "casual sweater" that she knit for Cally. This is not the first sweater that Nana has knit for Cally, it's the THIRD! This is from a woman that hadn't knit in over 40 years! In fact, John, her own son, didn't know she even knew how to knit. Apparently she does, because she also knit me a sweater vest, too:

Cally loves her grandparents almost as much as they love her. It really is amazing to see the relationships she is starting to form with others. Within minutes of Nana and Grandpa's arrival, Cally was as warm and cuddly with them as she is with us. In fact, to our surprise, when Cally started squacking on Sunday morning, Art and Peg went in and got Cally out of her crib and took her into bed with them for over an hour! Not only did this give John and I an amazing "lie in" until 7:30am, but they were all three beaming from ear to ear after spending that quality time together. It means so much to us that Cally forms relationships with everyone around her, especially her relatives.


A few weeks ago, Cally and I went away for a weekend only to return and have John leave to teach a Winter Skills course in the White Mountains for five days. After almost a week apart, John was so anxious for some time with his rapidly changing little girl. To his disappointment, she was not as snuggly towards him as usual and somewhat "Mommy focused" upon his return. Instead of getting bummed out about it he just made a point to spend more quality time with her in the coming weeks. He even kept her home from Meike, her daycare provider, on Martin Luther King Day so they could hang out. That has clearly done the trick. It'spretty clear that Cally means the world to John, but its becoming more and more obvious that he means the world to her.


Thursdays are John's and Cally Day. Today, John had a big "to do" list and needed to hit the box stores in Williston. For whatever reason, he made one pit stop to a kid's used clothing shop and couldn't resist picking up these new boots for Cally:


Yep, they are black pleather with a stripe of faux leapord print:

They are ridiculously cute and actually pretty functional for Vermont (they don't make toddler boots small enough for this peanut's feet, so these fit a lot better than her clunky snow boots). At first I thought John was more proud of them than Cally, but when I went to take them off tonight, Cally had a fit. I guess she's already fallen in love with them-- forming relationships with inanimate objects too!

Shredder

Last weekend Cally had a few "firsts".

1. She tried on her first pair of skis.


2. She cruised across the snow on skis for her first time.


3. She went down to Virginia and met her "god brother" for the first time. Henry, my godson, is my good friend Sarah's third child. She and I met at the University of Montana when we were in grad school together. We became quick friends and 13 years later, she is still one of my best friends. Cally and I flew down there so I could be a part of Henry's Christening. A week before I left, I wondered if this was a crazy idea..... flying with a one year old by myself on four flights in 48 hours, getting up at 4am two out of three mornings, and dealing with all that goes along with those logistics. Then I remembered that Sarah, Madison, Lucy and Henry could not fly into Burlington for our wedding because of a snow storm. That didn't stop them! They drove all the way up here and made it two hours into the reception. That is the kind of friend Sarah is. She'd do anything for you. So, the aforementioned thought was short-lived, I went for it. Cally was a great little travel buddy and Sarah made it so easy once we were there. All that talk about "Southern Hospitality", it's all so true. Sarah set us up with everything we'd possibly need while in Virginia-- and, she managed to throw a party and cook all the food.

(That's the Wootton Clan-- Sarah, Madison, Lucy (2.5), John (6), and Henry (1)). They brought me to the Richmond Botanical Gardens to see the festival of lights-- the entire premisss was decorated in lights. It was quite a display! And, for Virginia standards, it was really cold-- like 20 degrees F.

(Cally playing with Lucy)

Cally and I had a ball. I'm not sure how soon I'll be hopping on a flight with a squirmy, wormy walker, but it was so worth it. Now Cally has an even bigger extended "family" of friends who she'll continue to get to know over the years.

Our Little Trooper

It takes a certain kind of kid to put up with parents like us. This past weekend really put Cally to the test and we couldn't be more proud to call her our daughter.

Saturday, we woke up early and decided to finally clean up the house after our hosting extravaganza, do some grading, snow blow the driveway, and stack wood before heading out on an afternoon adventure. All the while, Cally took a two-hour morning nap, allowing for us to actually do all the ambitious aforementioned tasks. And so, at noon, with our bellies full and the car loaded we headed up to Smuggler's Notch for the afternoon. The previous day, we'd purchased an afternoon ticket with our Bash Badge (for $15) and traded off skiing and Cally hanging. While I skied for an hour, John brought Cally down to a great bakery/cafe in Jeffersonville for lunch. Upon swapping, I skied Cally up the Notch Road in the Chariot to check out some ice climbers and lots of dogs who were with their snow shoeing or skiing owners.


And so, the plan was the same for Saturday........ Although we ran into a significant "misfire". In order to "share" a ticket, we needed a key ring to which we attached the ticket and then could move from one jacket to another. Unfortunately, by separating the key to the lock box from the ignition key, it became clear that we had forgotten the lock box key at home (in a certain pocket in a pair of pants that were worn the previous day). Accordingly, our skis were held hostage above us in the car. We were at the mountain, where it was dumping snow, and we had no way to take advantage of it.

To no avail, we came up with a plan B....... we'd drive the 1/2 hour back to our house, retreive the key, and do a backcountry adventure on Mt. Mansfield. We live 8 miles away from one of the quintessential ski trails in New England, the Tear Drop. On a good year, I probably hike and ski that trail at least 20 times a season. With a baby, the logistics become a little more complicated, but that didn't thwart us........... Our plan was for me to skin up the steep ski trail while John pulled Cally in the Chariot up the round-about CCC trail/old road. I'd ski the top of the Tear Drop to where it intersects with the CCC road and then ski Cally down the round-about route so John could enjoy some turn down the lower Tear Drop. I was almost certain our timing would work out and no one would have to be waiting for long.

Alas, things don't always work out as planned......... The CCC road has numerous water bars. And even with the 18 inches of new snow, these water bars were not filled in. Therefore, every time John came upon one with Cally, he risked getting a ski/runner stuck in the waterbar and tipping her over. To avoid this, he ended up having to take his skis off and pull her across the dip at least four times.

By the time I'd skied my powdery run, John was so "done" and it was clear that I couldn't ski Cally back by myself (as darkness was going to be setting in). And so, with John's help at the waterbars, I attempted to ski down with her. What usually takes 10-15 minutes to ski, took over an hour. We got back to the car at 5:15 pm (in the dark).

In the end, Cally was in the car for more than two hours and the Chariot for two and a half hours, but she NEVER complained. She just went with the flow, often chatting, singing, or laughing.

The next day, we left the house at 7:30 am for a day at Mad River Glen, the ski area. There was over two feet of fresh snow in the driveway and we couldn't wait to make turns in this Utah grade powder. The drive over the Ap Gap is always a gamble, but it all worked out. We got to the mountain by 8:20 am and were overwhelmed by the situation upon us: the thermometer on the car read 5 degrees F and the winds were honking. We packed Cally's bag, my bag, and John's bag into a sled and I pulled it with Cally in my hands while John carried both sets of skis and poles. People gave us looks like we might be abusing our child by exposing her to these conditions, but once we were in the lodge we had it all figured out. John got to take the first run (since he missed the turns on the Tear Drop the previous day) and then we'd switch off every few runs. We even lucked out because our friend Colleen offered to watch Cal while we took two runs together.

Cally was the queen of the Base Box (Mad River's base lodge). She strutted her stuff, smiled a lot, ate well, made friends, and even napped in the Ergo carrier for an hour. Here we were, focusing on our own agenda, but Cally, once again, went with the flow and made the experience even better than it could have been in the days before we had a kid.

Cally Jane, you are a true trooper! You really do go with the flow, enrich our lives, and make us so, so proud to be your parents. Keep on keeping on! Below is a video of Cally strolling around the house.

Here's to a Fantastic 2009!

We can't believe that it's been a year since we brought home the best Christmas present EVER! How much everything can change in a year:

• Last year, we had my parents, my sister, and her new husband up to Vermont.

• This year we had my parents, my sister, her husband, and their new son, Will (almost six months). All of whom Cally adores.

• We were in our home this year! With a working fireplace and wood burning stove.
  

• Last year we were able to spend the holidays up at High Meadow-- a place we will always hold dear in our hearts. The gorgeous spot where Cally lived for the first six weeks of her life.
  

• Cally was walking and talking this year

• Last year, she'd hardly figured out how to nurse and pretty much only cried or slept.
  

• We were all able to ski this year (last year I could hardly walk and it poured rain on Christmas day)

• Our animal roster now includes a cat and an dog with a reconstructed achille's tendon

• Last year Zephy was just a puppy and Lobster wasn't in the equation

If every year is more and more fun than the last, we are in for a pretty amazing 2010!