Happy Holidays!

Pepicek's household has been busy preparing for, celebrating, and cleaning up after the holidays. We have been attending Solstice Parties, baking, decorating and eating cookies, sledding, and celebrating with friends and family. Here are a few highlights from the past week.

On Christmas eve, Felix was most excited about eating this cookie. First he sucked all the frosting off of it, and then he ate maybe one-third of the actual cookie. It looked pretty gross by the time he was done with it, but, as usual, he handed it to one of his moms - we're not sure why...maybe to save it for later? Clearly he's very conscious of his carbon-footprint.

Felix got this awesome banjo from his TX Aunt and Uncle Bonnie and Joe, and his cousin Andie. It was definitely his favorite Xmas gift. He strummed it all morning, after his nap, and even before bed. His mamas only wish that it could be tuned so there could be some semblance of a melody to the instrument.

After his nap, Felix took a little walk with his nana, grandpa and mama Nicola. Juxtapose this image to last year's Xmas walk. Can you believe how big he's gotten?

After the small blue sled was rejected, we borrowed a bigger one, and proceeded to sled down a neighbors hill with glee. Each time we got to the bottom of the hill, Felix would make the "more" sign, asking to go down again. His mama and grandpa both took turns riding with him down the hill. Definitely the high point of everyone's Xmas day.

While we laid pretty low on Boxing Day, the day after, we ventured out on the icy roads to meet the Pine Clan for breakfast at Bakery on Grand. Felix had a great time hanging out with grandpa in a separate booth. And heads up to any parents out there reading this blog - the restaurant has awesome boxes full of toys they will give you for your kid to play with.

And last but not least, Felix got to catch up with his friends Zora and Soren, both of whom were born within a month or so of him. They had a great time playing, jumping hugging, and attempting to share with each other.

Bundled

With the sub-zero temperatures lately, this is the new "look" that Felix has been sporting.

Resurfacing

We are emerging after a few hiccups. First, a camera issue that resulted in the loss of many photos. Fingers crossed, they will be recovered. Then, a nasty cold that hit all three of us in various permutations. It was a doosey! Fortunately, we are on the tail end now, and should be fully functional in a couple days.

That said, here are a few highlights from our weekend. First off, pancakes! While Felix may not love them yet, his moms do, and we figure is we keep making them every week he'll either grow to love them, or have something to work through in therapy.


Later that day we decided to give Felix a Christmas present from his Texas grandparents because he was so sad and pathetic. Well, lets just say that love is not a strong enough word for how Felix feels about his own vacuum cleaner. He is absolutely nuts over it, and spent the next hour vacuuming the entire house. Too bad it is only a TOY vacuum cleaner, or our house would have been quite spick and span by the time Felix was done with it!


Felix was so into vacuuming that he could barely stop to help us decorate the Christmas tree. At one point he paused and hung a decoration, but kept the vacuum cleaner on and moving the whole time. What a multi-tasker! His moms were a little bummed that he wasn't more excited by the Christmas tree, but we're hoping that if we install a motor and add some flashing lights that he will warm up to it.

Cabin Fever

Felix and his momma both had colds last weekend, so we spent the entire weekend indoors, trying to occupy ourselves through various devices. Here were a few of the highlights....

Vacuuming with our new vacuum cleaner (Felix broke our old one).

Listening to grandpa make funny noises on the cell phone.

Watching Ernie sing the "Rubber Ducky" song.

And in case its been a long time since you've seen the video, here's Ernie!

Bookworm

Tonight Felix squealed with glee when he found his book "Longjohns" by Kit Allen. We read it to him about 5 times; each time he laughed and giggled and then signed and said "more".

Basically, the book details a little boy getting dressed to go outside, and then engaging in outdoor activities. Felix could care less about the outdoor part of the book. He just likes the part when the character is layered with outerwear. His favorite page is the one that says "mittens" and illustrates the boy wearing a pair of red mittens. Each time we read that page he held up his hands mimicking the boy in the book.

I can't help but think that Felix relates to this book because of his own life experience: every day for the past week he has been pulled and stuffed into layers of winter clothing until he can barely walk out the door. Perhaps this book was therapeutic for him!

After storytime, Felix reluctantly went to bed, but insisted on bringing the book with him. He fell asleep clutching "Longjohns" in his arms.

Back in the Saddle Again

For everyone out there wondering, Felix is all better. His mom is on the mend as well, though may need a chiropractic adjustment in her lower back after this last horsey ride. His momma escaped the beasties this time around, and is looking forward to more fun times with her lil' cowpoke.

Food Pyramid

A visual illustration of Felix's only foods the past few days during his recent bout with the flu.

This Painful House

Per the previous post, another "whatever we can do to appease the sick child" coping strategy. This one instigated by the opening tune, originally from "Harlem Shuffle" by Bob and Earl which Susan happened to be loading onto her iPod. Felix heard the tune, and immediately started dancing. Unfortunately, he is more familiar with the sampled version by House of Pain, which is played by a freaky animatronic creature at his daycare. We'll be working on that....we promise.

Sicko

When your baby is sick you find yourself doing all kinds of things you normally wouldn't do, like eating chips on the couch while watching vintage Sesame Street shows together.

Felix votes!

Felix voted today at the "Kids Vote" booth at Powderhorn Park. His momma voted too since we were there. The lines were long, so we waited almost an hour to vote, but we were glad to wait! Yay for long lines in Powderhorn! Felix was excited to see one of his friends from library storytime, Violet, who was in an Ergo carrier as well. Mostly, though, he loved the sticker he got after he voted.

Our thoughts go out to queer families in California, and other places around the country where ballot initiatives are being proposed that would negatively affect us. Felix says, remember to vote!

Halloween 2 - The Return of the Owl

Felix was lucky enough to have a second opportunity to wear his Halloween costume. On Friday afternoon he went to a Halloween party at his daycare. Clearly, he takes his job representing the owl species very seriously.

His friend Gil was committed to his Firefighter identity as well - here he is keeping an eye out for potential fires in the distance.

After the party we stopped by our friends Corinth and Amanda's house to do a little "trick or treating". They would be the two adults in the photo without costumes. The other two, are Gil's moms Lisa and Eli, also known as "Fire" and "Spot the Dalmation". By the time we got to Corinth and Amanda's house, Felix was in need of a recharge. Here is is chewing on a cheese stick.

On our way home we stopped in front of this electrified house with many, many, Halloween decorations. Felix loved the ghosts with pumpkins and even tried to hug one. The night was warm and perfect for strolling the streets with a small owl.

Hoo-Hoo!

It is just shy if 1PM, but not to early for Felix to start celebrating Halloween! If you can't tell from the title of this post, Felix is an owl, an owl who is opposed to all head-ware, which is why his mama is wearing it. Felix impressed his storytime pals with his fluttering wings and soft feathers (he would have gladly given these parts of his costume to his friends if he could have gotten them off)! Unfortunately, one of the moms mistook Felix for a cave-man, which made this mama question her crafting skills a little. So, if you see us on the street tonite, remember, for his mama's sake: OWL. Hoo-Hoo!

East Coast Trip - 3rd Leg - Lancaster PA

It's the trip that never ended! Don't worry, this was our last stop. We went to Lancaster PA not to ogle at the Amish, but to visit Susan's bro' John and his wife Misty. Our first order of business was checking out Central Market, the Farmer's Market in DT Lancaster. John goes there twice a week and knows all the vendors on a first name basis, so we got a very fun and informative tour. Felix's favorite items were the cheese, pretzel and cookie samples he was offered by the vendors. His moms were struck by the wide variety of preserves and the cute brussel sprouts and patty pan squash the size of one's thumb that John cooked up later that day.

John and Misty do not have kids, so there was not the plethora of toys lying about to play with as there were at other locations on our trip. Instead there were breakable objects, cats who were terrified of him, and stairways that he could not walk down. Above is Felix trying his hardest to play with one of Misty's ceramic mermaids while John gently tries to keep it from being snapped in half!

But, we made out just fine. Felix had tons of fun sweeping and buffing surfaces, pressing buttons on the stereo, reorganizing John and Misty's pantry, and, riding about on the cat scratcher.

Then, of course, there was the ubiquitous fashion show with hats,

hats, and yes even more hats that are not pictured. If you want the full slide show, let me know and I'll email them to you.

We also went to the Freeze and Frizz drive-in where we got super yummy custardy soft-serve.

After that, we crossed the street to visit the Wilbur Chocolate Company. This is the home of the Wilbur Bud. For those who shopped at North Country Coop, you might remember them. They are very large chocolate chips and were in the bulk area. They come in milk-chocolate and semi-sweet. Mmmm, delicious.


But alas, Felix was way more interested in the ducks outside than in the museum, so it was a brief trip to Wilbur-land.

On our last day in Lancaster we visited the Children's Museum. Of course, Felix loved it. How could he not? It included a tractor he could drive,

a giant lite-brite,

And a pirate ship. What could be better?

And that's it! Thanks to everyone who hosted us, and helped us through our first family trip with Felix! We had an awesome time, and, are glad to be home.

East Coast Trip - Leg #2 - Brooklyn in the House

Our trip to NYC started out at Grand Army Plaza on the tip of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. There we went to the Brooklyn Public Library, a beautiful building with inappropriately placed fountains for small children to walk into. Felix loved them and became only slightly drenched after leaning into one particularly high spraying one.



When we finally extracted Felix from the fountain, we went inside the library and experienced the most intense baby storytime ever. Three stories and about 10 songs in the span of a half hour. By the end of it, Felix was rubbing his eyes!


After that, we headed to the park with our friend Nancy and her daughter Casey (pictured above), where we played in the tot lot for a while. Then, we spent some time in Park Slope checking out some shops and eating lunch.

Later that day, after unsuccessful nappage, we headed to Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge) to the coolest park ever! It is right on the waterfront looking out towards Manhattan, and as you can imagine, Felix loved it. If you can't tell from the picture, it is a huge boat!

Here he is steering the ship into the Manhattan harbor.

And corraling his passenger pigeon in the bowels of the ship.

We had so much fun at this park that despite the lack of nap, we decided to head into Manhattan and visit some of his moms' favorite places.

Felix loved the subway ride into Manhattan. He was a little overwhelmed by all the people, lights, and noise, but enjoyed watching the doors open and close.

Once in Manhattan, we stopped and picked up some Knishes for our breakfast the next day, and then headed to Veselka's for dinner. We got Pierogies, Kasha, and Stuffed Cabbage, but the thing Felix loved most was the Borscht! An Eastern European child to the core. He snarfed down two bowls of it before he...

crashed in momma's arms, totally exhausted. We then spent a perilous hour and a half making our way back to Brooklyn with a very tired child who then slept very well when we finally made it into his bed.
On our second day in NYC, we hung out at our friend Nina's house with her daughter Naomi (in the pink sweater). There was lots of playing and eating of rice and beans from a local Caribbean spot, and napping. Then, Nancy and her kids came over for pizza. Above is the crazy kid group photo to commemorate the occasion. And that it is for NYC. Next stop, Lancaster!

Update from the East Coast - 1st leg

Felix and his moms hit the East Coast visiting New York and Pennsylvania. We spent the first few days of our trip in the Adirondacks with our friend Nina and daughter Naomi, and friend Nancy and her kids Jack and Casey. While up there, we went apple picking at an orchard.


It was a beautiful day; we spent lots of time picking Mutsu, Winesap, Stayman, and Rome apples and walking through the orchard. We got a ride in the farmer's pickup truck back our car. Otherwise, we'd probably still be walking!

Here's Felix chomping on a Mutsu with a Stayman on hand. He loved picking up all of the apples that had dropped on the ground.

And finally, here's Nina's daughter Naomi on the way back from the orchard. She loved Felix's kitty and we are pretty sure she said "cat" for the first time!

Felix Dances

At long last, some images of Felix dancing. Brought to you by 10 Tiny Turtles Productions.

Flashback

Here is Felix and his friend Spence at the Eagle's Nest last February. While the name evokes nature, there is actually none to be found. Just lots of plastic. Felix loves it, and on those cold rainy days, its the perfect antidote to being cooped up inside the house.

And here he is last weekend in the same ball basin, looking way less freaked out by the experience, but getting just as crazed after about 15 minutes of running around. Not a baby anymore...sniff, sniff.