Beginning of January, including inaugural celebration and Coggeshall Farm

The first week or so of January was rough.  Oliver rung in the new year with a stomach bug.  But somehow he was still mostly smiles.

The next day, he was well enough that we made the short trek to the natural history museum. (We were somewhat eager to get out of the house because Petey was not doing well and the house was smelly as a result.) At the museum, Madeline made a craft owl.

And the day after, we visited the Audubon center in Bristol.  Try to find Madeline in this picture!

That Sunday, Madeline showed off her outrageous fashion sense.

Then she and Summer came down with Oliver's stomach bug and spent most of the night sick instead of sleeping, while I tended to load after load of laundry.

By Tuesday, the humans were more or less healthy again ...

... though Petey was not, and that continued to weigh on us (and require frequent loads of laundry).

That night, Oliver spied Madeline's old heart tights in the closet and eagerly asked to wear them himself.  He was very pleased.

He also continues to be very excited about books, frequently raiding the shelves and asking for us to read to him.

Madeline loves books too.

Then on Friday it snowed.  Madeline got to spend the afternoon playing in the snow with Summer.

And that night we had shanty sing!

Also Friday was the first day, by my reckoning, of Petey's miraculous recovery.  He's been eating and active again, seemingly putting some weight back on, and -- critically -- not having gastrointestinal issues.  This kicked off a tide of better times.

Saturday morning, Oliver was eager to get out and play in the snow.  "'Side! 'Side!" is his usual refrain.

After the kids played outside for a bit, we went to the State House for a gubernatorial celebration honoring Rhode Island food.

The halls were lined with free samples of delicious Matunuck oysters, Del's lemonade, calamari, toffee, cupcakes, and all sorts of deliciousness.  But they were so crowded that the only pictures we could get were in the quieter parts of the building: the House chamber ...

... and House lounge.

We spent the afternoon setting up the guest room as a proper office for Summer and otherwise getting the house in order.

Then on Sunday, Madeline again showed off her fashion sense ...

... after which we ventured all the way out to Poppasquash Point, the home of Coggeshall Farm.

The farm exceeded expectations.  There was an 18th-century house with a roaring fire, farm-grown food drying fireside, two fantastically nice and knowledgeable farmer-docents, and some friendly cats. Outside, there were turkeys ...

... which we got to pet ...

... and admire close-up.

And there were cattle, like this friendly behemoth named Bo.

After the farm visit, we stopped by our favorite east bay lunch spot, Ricotti's, for sandwiches.

Then the kids spent the rest of the day playing.

Holiday season! (4 of 4)

After Christmas, the kiddos were playful.

But they also made time for yard work ...

... and exploring.

Components of Madeline's owl superhero costume made frequent appearances.

Friday afternoon, after Uncle Marc went to visit New York, the rest of us took a walk along the water in Providence.

Oliver found a football!

On the walk back to the car, we stopped at Dave's Coffee ...

... for delicious hot chocolate.

On Saturday we paid our usual visit to the library.

Then sojourned at home ...

... before deciding to tackle toy clutter with a trip to the container store.

Saturday night, Uncle Marc returned.  Sunday morning, Oliver enjoyed Petey.  He calls Petey something that sounds like a combination of  "Petey," "kitty," and "baby."

This weird amalgam is just one of his many words, as his language skills are exploding right now.  He picks up on the words most frequently uttered around the house -- today, for example, he was going through dolls labeling blonde ones "Elsa" and brunettes "Anna."  He's good with "please" and "thank you" and delights in tangible things like "box" and "seat."  And he loooooves animal sounds, especially a cow's "mooooooooooo!"

As his language skills develop, he's also decided there's not much in the world that's better than books.  At all hours of the day he'll run to a bookshelf to fetch something interesting and bring it to us incanting, "Please! Please! Please!"  He especially loves Goodnight Moon, Biscuit the dog ("Woof woof!"), dinosaur books (where he points to each one and says, "This? This? This?" seeking identification), and really pretty much anything prominently featuring animals (where we also get a lot of pointing and "This? This? This?").  He's extended his bedtime reading to four or five books most nights -- though if he gets bored with one before it's done he'll exclaim, "The end!" and close the book.  It's a lot of fun.

Back to the weekend: Sunday afternoon, we walked to the playground.

Then on Monday, I went to work and everyone else went to the zoo.  Once again the kiddos especially enjoyed the giraffes ...

... and the goats.

On Tuesday morning, Uncle Marc took his leave at the train station.

That afternoon, Madeline excitedly put together a space-themed puzzled she'd received for Christmas.

Then the next day -- New Year's Eve -- I took her out of the house on an adventure!  We went fossil hunting at a site in Portsmouth known for its loose shale rife with Pennsylvanian-era ferns.

We didn't find any fossil ferns, but we did find other cool stuff like these ice-encrusted tree roots.

And the morning was pretty, if cold.

So we warmed up afterward with hot chocolate from Dunkin' Donuts.

The rest of our New Year's Eve was pretty quiet and uneventful.

Our new year got off to a nice start this morning with a relatively late sleep and muffin-baking -- but things derailed pretty quickly.  We had plans to go for a little hike with friends, but had to cancel when Oliver threw up en route.  He then seemed to get better as the day went on, so please keep your fingers crossed for us -- between Oliver's teething and colds (and now this) and Petey's continued medical issues, we've had enough!