Babymania: May 2007 Archives

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May 29, 2007

and this T-shirt is for all my college friends

Jimi!

Posted by lisa at 06:59 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2007

Future English major?

Devoted Babymania visitors are often fans of the cool shirts Finn sports. Here's one of my current favorites from SATees. These awesome kids' shirts feature ten-dollar words like "dilatory" (prone to cause delay), "recondite" (difficult to understand), "itinerant" (wandering) and my favorite "puerile" (childish). Oh, is this kid ever going to be a nerd with folks like us.

Posted by lisa at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2007

The Kedvale Avenue Kids

One of the things I love about Finn's daycare is that as soon as it's warm enough, the kids play outside all day long. When you walk by, you see a huge swarm of kids of all ages, running around, having fun. Finn has actually come home asking to go to bed at the end of the day, he's so pooped. He's even taking three-hour naps. Because when he's awake, he never stops moving. Finn loves the spring.

Here's a group picture Lisa took last week. From left: Emma, Joey, Avery, John-John, Sammy, and Maia. Sitting down are Finn and his flavor of the week, Delilah. I must add that this group of kids is exceptionally awesome. There's not one bad apple in the bunch.

Posted by lisa at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2007

read my mommy's blog

I realize that up until now, I had been squandering a golden opportunity to promote this blog through the implied consent of its muse. If this isn't the cutest little advertisement for Babymania, I don't know what is.

In fact, I might be on to something. I'd be willing to take on sponsors to help defray the cost of Finn's college education. No alcohol or tobacco companies need apply, please. He is just a child, even if he is infinitely marketable.

Thanks to Kristin for the shirt.

Posted by lisa at 07:07 AM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2007

driving the bus

Here's Finn, driving the bus at the Children's Museum.

Posted by lisa at 07:37 AM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2007

playing in his new sandbox

Posted by lisa at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2007

imagine the dog years!

What a gorgeous spring morning. Santos and I walked Finn to daycare, and then made a stop at Starbucks on the way back. Santos and I sat outside for a bit, me sipping my iced coffee and both of us enjoying the weather when a little girl on her way to school stopped and asked if she could pet Santos.

He sat down primly, and as she petted him, she asked a lot of questions. Specifically, if he was a girl or a boy, what his name is, what kind of dog he is, and how old he is. When I told her that he is five years old, she asked how old that was in dog years. She couldn't conceal her shock when she heard that Santos was the equivalent of 35 people years. Like dogs that old should not be sitting outside of Starbucks on Spring mornings. Rather, dogs that old should be curled up in well-worn dog beds, rising only to bark at something that wasn't there and emitting foul odors. Just what I needed to hear on my 36th birthday. I wonder what she'd do if she knew what that was in dog years. I'm going to Jewel today and am going to try to make them card me.

Posted by lisa at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)

Sorry, Hillary...

... but Obama's got Finn's vote.

Posted by lisa at 07:53 AM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2007

What Lisa's been up to, April, early-May edition

We've been very busy lately here at the world headquarters of Lisa Hazen Design & Editorial. Lots of interesting projects going on. I created a site design for Life's Golden Ticket, a novel that pubbed just last week. Written as an inspirational parable (in the style of The Alchemist or The Five People You Meet in Heaven), this is yet another title that you may be seeing on the NYT best-seller's list soon. There's buzz about this book from everyone from James Redfield to Publisher's Weekly.

My site design for the New Revised Standard Edition of the Bible begat a new assignment from HOW Magazine. They asked me to write an article about contemporary Christian design. I spoke with some really interesting people, including the folks at Nooma, Mattson Creative, and Relevant Magazine. Click here to download a PDF of the article.

And I wrote a bunch of newsletters on interesting topics like the enigmatic designer Florence Broadhurst (who was mysteriously murdered in her home), pastry chef Emily Luchetti's favorite recipes, and graphic artist Jeffrey Brown's new book, Cat Getting Out of Bag.

Posted by lisa at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2007

really, it's not what you think...

The cops haven't come to haul off Max and Emma to the pokey. At least not yet. Despite the fact that they look like they're thumbing their nose at the law in protest of some topical issue (perhaps over legal domestic status for Bert and Ernie?), they just jumped in the back of the cruiser when local policewoman Kelly came to check in on her kids at a playdate over at Lisa's house. The photo opp was just too irresistible.

P.S. Don't worry--there was no driving of children without carseats.

Posted by lisa at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2007

absolutely amazing things that Finn has done lately

• He now knows the letters A, B, C, D, F, M, S, and Z.

• He took some of his pretzels out the other day and counted them--1, 2, 3, 4.

• He goes around the house, identifying what belongs to who. ("Dada shoes. Mama coat.")

• One of his favorite books shows a dog asleep with a series of "zzzz"s floating above his head. We were reading an entirely different book that showed a baby with "zzzz"s floating above his head. Finn pointed to it, and said, "zzzzz". I was sitting there thinking, "Am I insane, or did he just read that?"

• He named his baby doll "Baby Eli" after one of his favorite babies in daycare. He gives Eli a bottle, "changes" his diaper and puts him down for night-night.

• He tells us stories at the end of the day. The other day, he strung together the words, "Maya, hair. Pull. No, no, no. Hurts." It turns out that one of the little ones at daycare got in trouble for pulling Maya's hair that day. (No, gratefully, not Finn.)

• Before bed, Finn says night-night to all the words he knows. So, it's "Night-night, Santos; night-night, bunnies; night-night cookies, night-night wee (translation: swing)..." And so on. This goes on for several minutes.

• He can now tell us what he wants to eat. When I asked him what he wanted for dinner the other night, he said, very clearly, "Ham."

• Santos is forever getting in trouble for trying to open the trashcan and eat its contents. Finn thus thinks the garbage can is called a "No, no, Santos."

Posted by lisa at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2007

make a wish

Here's Finn at the neighborhood park, picking dandelions and blowing off the seeds to make a "wish." He calls dandelions "flowers bubbles," combining two of his favorite things.

On Tuesday, Finn turned the big 2-0, 20 months! This time last year was when we moved to Chicago. I remember taking Finn to daycare and introducing him to the group. He was at that adorable wobbly baby stage where he would be sitting up fine, then kind of just topple over. So, I'd prop him up between pillows as he watched the other kids, wide-eyed, as they rambunctiously raced around the house.

Now, guess who's racing around the house? There’s an adorable little girl at daycare who is pretty much exactly one year younger than Finn. I can't reconcile that sweet little baby Emma is the same age as Finn was this time last year. When I could plop him down in a spot, and with great reliability, he'd remain there until I picked him up again. Now, I'm lucky if he hasn't pushed a chair up to the wall and tried to climb up on it and to take a picture off the wall. (Yes, he's tried this, but I thwarted his efforts before he was able to climb up on the chair.)

Every couple weeks or so, I keep thinking to myself "Wow, this is a sweet stage. How did we ever get through that stage a few weeks ago when he was [throwing food/sleeping poorly/crying when we left the room]?" But the truth is that, with the exception of those collicky early months, pretty much every stage is precious in its own way. Sure, it comes with a cost (Finn's currently introducing us to the world of tantrums), but it's worth everything when he wants to play where he plays hide-and-seek, then runs into my arms when he finds me; or pretends to tuck me in, complete with a blanket and lovey ("Night-night, mama!"); or sits in my lap at the end of the day and tells me about his day ("Sesos walk. Flowers wa-wa. Blueberries." -->Translation= "We took Santos for a walk, then watered the flowers. I particularly enjoyed the blueberries you gave me for dinner.") So, I'm going on the record by saying that oh is this ever the best stage yet.

Posted by lisa at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2007

Finn's latest gal

Don't try to tie this guy down. While Ella used to be Finn's best girl, lately, he's been spending a lot of time with Delilah (or as Finn affectionately calls her, "Lala."). When these two first see one other each morning, they start chirping each others' names, and usually hug and kiss. Then Finn usually does something to entertain Lala (like playing peek-a-boo, or falling down and saying "butt"), and then they both start laughing hysterically.

Oddly enough, this was the same way Shawn and I first started dating. Clearly, Daddy is passing on his moves to the next generation, knowing there's more to Hazen charm than just dreamy blue eyes.

Posted by lisa at 07:10 AM | Comments (0)