Maddox had his first ever school performance tonight, the Winter Gala. I was excited all day about it – I felt like such a parent!
I had measured expectations though. I mean, these kids are 2 1/2 years old. Can you even get them to stand in one place?
Turns out the answer is, kind of. But not Maddox. Much like I did at that age, he would much rather sit in his mom’s lap than partake in any school activities.
But he sure is an enthusiastic clapper!
This was an interesting year for Halloween. Two nights before, we had a massive snowstorm, with not that much snow, but enough to bring down tree branches that left us without power for much of the weekend.
My parents were visiting, which meant we all wore multiple layers of clothing and, being without power, let Maddox dictate the activities for the day.
On Halloween itself, we had some friends over who had just moved to the area, also hoping that their kids would serve to inspire Maddox to get into the lion costume we had for him. He wouldn’t have any of that at first. Oddly enough though, he was very excited by the idea of painting his face!
He still wouldn’t get into his costume though. So we thought we’d head out with just the face paint. At that point, my smart wife asked Maddox if he wanted to put his “coat” on. Tada!
We then took Maddox around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes, and it was an absolute blast. There are some points when being a parent that are just the best feelings in the world, and walking around with him, gleefully holding his pumpkin up while he said trick-or-treat to every house and other person out there, was one of those moments.
Mads has always been casually interested in the games we play on our Apple devices and such, but nothing has entranced him more than World of Warcraft. It’s a game Leanne and I have been playing on and off (but mostly on) since 2004. We played it … a lot. In fact, we once were part of a group of people who signed on to collectively kill monsters Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 5:30pm to 12pm each night.
So it is really any surprise that we’ve passed on those genes to Maddox?
You only see a glimpse of it here, but Mads is doing this hilarious thing recently where when he says “soccer” he does this spasmy thing with his face and hands. It’s one of those things that I have no idea at all where he got it from.
This weekend we took a short trip over to Moseley Woods, a small forest park in Newburyport along the Merrimack River. It has some nice trails of reasonable length for a toddler, a playground, and some swings. It’s also a bit more chill than some of the other neighborhood playgrounds.
Maddox is still completely obsessed with the great outdoors though, and so we’re trying to squeeze as much of them in as possible before entering the frigid winter months here in New England.
