New Year’s Day feels like the only real rest day we had during the holiday break.

• We made peanut butter bird seed pinecones for the birds.
• We took a walk in the woods.
• Charlie took a long nap and Amanda and I sat on the couch together for a while. I blogged and Amanda got ready for the week.
• I made pasta for dinner.

This week was back-to-work. Tuesday night we made pizza and calzones from the extra NYE dough. I’m really getting the hang of shaping the dough and using the Ooni.

My daily stretching and drawing resolution is going well. I’m staying on trackToo soon to see benefits IMO, but glad I’m sticking with it and it doesnt feel like too much of a drag.

We went to Feed the Birds! in Croton and got a new bird feeder. Charlie likes filling it up.

He also likes helping put out the recycling. He is generally a helpful guy.

Not a lot else to say about the rest of the week. We went back to work and kind of eased back in while a lot of people were still out. Amanda and I had a lunch date on Friday (Benny’s sandwiches at the waterfront). We re-joined the local wine shop’s wine club.

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The east coast finally got some snow this weekend. We enjoyed playing in it. We started in the yard in the morning, then my friend Jon came over after naptime and we went for a walk in the woods. Charlie enjoyed the sled a lot more this year then he did last year.

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Some snowy scenes.

I stumbled upon this and I absolutely love it. A cozy little place for a mouse or chipmunk to eat some nuts and seeds and keep out of the snow.

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I feel fortunate that none of us have gotten sick this winter. Big difference compared to last year when we were sick all the time.

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Taking care of an infant was physically difficult. Parenting a 2.5yo toddler is emotionally difficult. On one hand there are tons of meltdowns and independence struggles, then on the other hand they tell you they love you unprompted and very sweetly thank you for doing small everyday things for them.

Charlie’s use of function words has ramped up in the last couple weeks. They make his speaking sound a lot more natural. But he also still says things like “unga brella” for umbrella and “Magawine” for Madeline (which we’ve been reading a lot of), and it is super cute.

He amazes us and we are so proud of him, even if we go to bed emotionally exhausted every night. It can be, and is, both.