They are adorable!! Or so I thought when I saw first saw Claire being pushed in a stroller by my mom who waved as I exited the airport terminal. Sweet, cute, but she’s just 3. Barely. They’re both picky, have finiky diets and likes and dislikes (as all young kids do–they’re indecisive) and have energy to spare no matter how much or how little they’ve eaten that day. The main factor is sleep—without a nap, which they’ll resist until they’re blue in the face, it’s a major meltdown. It’s not just that they’ll be so exhausted they won’t be able to make it through dinner–they just won’t have the energy to make those tough decisions they’re always worried about. It’s harder to follow directions and receive criticism.
We let them splash in the pool, dig in the sandbox, run around the 2 tables with toys, watch movies, play on the super nice playground, and chase a beach ball around the yard. Laura’s home is gorgeous–a ranch style single stored home faced with gray shingles. It’s a lovely neighborhood—everyone pays attention to the appearance of their home and decorate with wrought iron lattices and white picket fences. They all look as if they’ve just been painted with country ascetics like weathervanes and aiderondack chairs. Some have ponds but I don’t think many have pools. But none have fences enclosing their backyards–property where Laura lives is dileneated by forest–romantic woods filled with pine and birch trees. Everything is green year round with a mild, attractive climate 5 months of the year from May-Oct. Then winter descends on the east coast and the temperature drops burying everything beneath a 6 ft carpet of snow.
It was fun but exhausting–I forgot that although kids go to bed at 8:30 (and you will too no matter how much you want to fight it) they get up running at 6am. If I had known you can prolong the peace by slipping into bed with them or just quietly visiting in the morning (their parents keep them in their bed for a bit) I might have caught more sleep. As it was, my poor mother who endured a whole week longer than I did, were so tired we couldn’t even cat nap. We would take turns, one resting while the other chased the kids.
It’s amazing but they totally act up around their parents. Major meltdowns, tantrums, screaming, and crying, stubborness—they were relatively perfect for us with not a single tear (except for Claire who cries constantly)
Laura’s home is a bit messy—no time to clean and I can see why (I’ll never get upset again when she doesn’t respond to my e-mails XD). Those kids are chaotic! There are child gates all over enclosing the family room from the rest of the house. At first it looked a bit extreme but if you can contain the chaos more power to you. The kids don’t respect their toys breaking them at every opportunity–Laura has guests eat in the family room which is accented by a moldering 30 year old couch and piles of toys. The unused dining room is spotless, a bit dusty, but immaculate.
Mom and I slept on the floor in the dining room but because it was farthest away from the kids we could stay up and chat. Connecticut is gorgeous–I had beautiful weather experiencing a thunder storm only when I left. It gets humid and there are big bugs–mostly ants, ticks, and mosquitos. But it’s beautiful to look at—all I wanted to do was drive around and take pictures of houses.
One embarrassing moment was when I was taking a picture of a rabbit in a woman’s yard–it was sitting upright in an A-frame enclosure. The kids were excited when I pointed it out and suddenly a woman appeared. She waved and I haltingly explained that I thought her house was gorgeous and hoped she wouldn’t mind if I took a few photos. She laughed and invited everyone to explore her garden letting Claire and Ethan pet the rabbit (which they *only* petted thank goodness–I was sweating the whole time which is why there’s only one photo of it XP)
At the end we visited Laura’s in-laws–I can see where some disagreements might pop up but for me they’re much more forgiving and flexible than Babi is. They have Italian ‘mafia’ accents, so funny and generous inviting us all in with hugs, tons of food, and several bottles of Italian wine. They live in an older neighborhood where Jim grew up in Plainville–I like their street best which is built up against a thickly forested hillside that forms a veritable wall at the end of their property (very common in Japan). They have a vegetable garden in back where they grow most of their produce (Jim’s father grew up on a farm). Their home is neat and simple–very clean and tasteful.
I like Jim’s sister Anne (Annie?). She’s spontanous, funny, and unique–creative and clever she draws gorgeous still lifes with pencil. I can’t make out a single stroke–they look like computer images printed on canvas. She always brings something unusual for the kids–short blonde hair, medium build, and expressive face I like her immediately. But she’s also quiet and a bit withdrawn.
I love their family and I like Conn. but definitely not the winter weather or the bugs. The local airport in Hartford recieves only domestic flights and Avon is only 30,000 people but the main strip of Avon is close. There’s a really nice mall, movie theater, and restaurants. Quaint boutiques, antique stores, and local mom and pop shops. A certain amount of open land has to be maintained, retail appearance/location is controlled, and new housing developments thoroughly considered.
Claire–cute, tiny, ball of fire. Stubborn, loves plain food–vanilla/chocolate ice cream (palette a bit more daring than Ethan’s–liked ketchup w/fries), Dora, Ariel, Hello Kitty, coloring, pool, throwing a ball, reading, stuffed animals, stickers, sucks her thumb =), not potty-trained, can dress herself, very loud & vocal, screams, cries when frustrated or if she breaks something (in other words all the time XP). Her big hang-ups are ALWAYS wanting something, mine, and not sharing. Says random words like toot, poo, da da, icky, etc.
Ethan–big for his age but not chubby, curly brown hair, impatient, melt-downs, doesn’t get cause and effect, rough, prefers older kids to play with, pool, cars, trucks, thomas the tank engine, playing ball and tag, matching & finding what’s different games, pirates, still needs help wiping himself, can dress himself (can’t tie shoes). Loves to say quotes from movies–gets inflection and tone perfectly correct. He won’t eat anything remotely green.
Both–sleep to Italian opera, can ride tricycles, don’t understand how to paint (that paint doesn’t come out of tip of brush), can go down slides, tackle most height-appropriate equipment on playground, can’t swing alone, both ride in the car really well. Ethan tries to buckle himself into the car seat. They like juice and snacks like animal crackers, popcorn, and yogurt pretzels. Fruit they like is yellow melon (not honeydew), watermelon, grapes, and strawberries. They like to eat ANYTHING with cheese like pasta, quesadillas, cheese pizza, and grilled cheese sandwhiches. Other foods they like: cheese, plain pasta, bread w/butter, sweet desserts and muffins (cake lol), peanut butter, cream cheese on bagels, etc.
