Amanda & Nate Wish You a Happy New Millennium!

The Future Looks Bright!

One Excursion to Ogunquit Beach (hats courtesy of the Boston Globe)

MONDAY (also known as `Quareeum day): Annamarie confesses that one of her dreams of being a parent was to be able to take her children on fun outings. As Monday is one of her days off, it is often "excursion day" as she takes Amanda (now 2) and Nate (9 months, born on March 18) to such places as the park, the library, or to special places like the Children's Museum (Arthur!), the Discovery Museum (Dinosaur!), Drumlin Farm (Pigs go "oink-oink"), or Ogunquit beach (motion inda ocean). The big hit of the year was taking them on the "T" (the Train! goes "toot-toot") to the Boston Aquarium. Now whenever we get in the car to go anywhere, Amanda asks hopefully, "go `Quareeum to see fishes?" or more adamantly, "WANNA go `Quareeum!" — Evan gets his parenting dream come true, when they return home from each excursion and she throws her arms out and yells out happily "Daddeeeeeee! Good to see you!!"

TUESDAY (also known as KIMEE-DAVID day): Today, Amanda goes to her playgroup in the morning. For the first few months, she would not let mommy or daddy leave the room, but now she is so confident that she says "Bye Mommy!" even before her coat is off. This special playgroup run by "Early Intervention" has helped Amanda with her "gross motor skills" that have been delayed because of her premature birth. We have been overjoyed of late to see that she has fully gotten the hang of walking and wanders around from room to room and, if we aren't careful, from 1st to 3rd floor in our house with no trouble at all. Kimmy has long since graduated from playgroup, but her name still helps christen this day for us. While Amanda has fun at playgroup, Annamarie takes Nate with her to do the grocery shopping. She could leave him with the mothers at the playgroup who adore his happy-go-lucky nature but she loves all the admiring remarks and looks Nate gets in the store: "What a happy boy! What a beautiful boy! Isn't he adorable!" . . . yadda-yadda-yadda . . . . Funny, how you never get tired of hearing these things when it's your kid.

WEDNESDAY thru FRIDAY (also known as CINDEE days): Since July, Annamarie has gone back to work 3 days a week and we were fortunate to find a nice family day care run by Cindy Silva not far from us. It took two full months before Amanda accepted going to daycare. Hardest parenting moments: leaving daycare with her screaming and hearing her cry all the way down the street. After this tough transition, Cindy would tell us things like "I never knew a kid could cry so long!". . . ouch! But the best part of daycare was that it really bonded Amanda to her brother as she figured out that Mom & Dad probably wouldn't abandon both kids at once for very long. Hearing a baby cry in the other room, Amanda would say to Cindy accusingly "Nato cry!". . . "No, Amanda that Alisha crying not Nate," Cindy would often reply. Here is our day's schedule on Cindee days.

6:30 a.m. "Did they both sleep through?" says Annamarie as her alarm clock blares. "Yes, thank God" says Evan. "Oops, I hear Nato's ready for breakfast." "Okay, Mommy's open for business" says Annamarie unbuttoning her nightshirt. 7:00 a.m. "Daddeeeeee,Dad-deeee!" we hear even without the monitor on coming from Winnie the Pooh land. This fall, we moved Amanda up to her own space in our finished attic & she loves to rub the stomachs of Pooh, Tig-ger, Eeyore and Piglet that are up on her walls. "OK,`Manda, Daddy's coming!" 7:30 a.m. Annamarie leaves for work and kisses all good-bye. Daddy changes and dresses the kids while watching Sesame Street, Arthur, & Dragon Tales. Amanda gets her regular breakfast of oatmeal, ramen noodles, bacon, "tubby" toast, and fruit while listening to "Eine Kleine Natchmusik". Nato gets oatmeal and cheerios to keep him satisfied.

Dad has his hands full in the mornings!

8:30 a.m. If the weather's nice, Evan packs both kids in the double-stroller for the half-mile trip to Cindy's house. He must not forget: The 3 Little Kittens book, "George & Gracie" dolls, breast-milk for Nate, and "juuicce" for Amanda.

1:00 p.m. Both Evan & Annamarie are hoping Amanda is taking her afternoon nap now at Cindy's, because it makes the rest of her day go so much better.

5:00 p.m. Annamarie picks up the kids at Cindy's and gets the report: good day or bad; nap or not; ate well or not. Fortunately now, more good days than bad. 6:00 p.m. The cowbell rings for dinner time! Annamarie and Evan alternate cooking and bedtime duties on a nightly basis. Mom loves to try to get the kids to eat new things like tofu meatloaf or even green eggs and ham. Dad gives them their tried & true favorites, which means pasta. Nate is voracious at the table grunting for more with each bite and banging the table like "Kruschev". After dinner, 'Manda wants Mommy to play on the piano: "Doe a deer a female deer" song.

Nate is a Superboy -- not only on Halloween!

7:30 p.m. `Manda wants to watch "Tom Kitten & Puddleducks" on video and knows the action and lines by heart. Nate is fascinated by whatever she is doing. But if he tries to play with a toy she thinks should be hers, she says "Please and Thank you are the magic words" and rips it out of his hands. Okay kids: bathtime! — to the tune of "Manda stepped in the bathtub; pulled the plug and then . . . oh, my goodness, oh my soul, there goes `Manda down the hole"

8:00 p.m. Nate gets his last visit with Mom at the milk bar. Amanda gets her bottle of milk and bedtime stories. Her current favorites: Green Eggs and Ham, "Curious George Goes to the Zoo", "I Love You, Blue Kangeroo, and Guess How Much I Love You?. With any luck, both kids are asleep before 8:30.

8:30 p.m. Evan and Annamarie survey the disaster of a living room in front of them and collapse on the couch. Anything good on tonight? They have to take their TV viewing seriously, since the Shus are a "Nielson family" and represent 27,000 viewers. Of course, it doesn't record them falling asleep while watching.

10:00 p.m. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed" can be heard by either Evan or Annamarie at this point.

Amanda enjoys "Outdoor Day" in her playhouse, a birthday gift from Zane and Pierce

SATURDAY (aka Outdoor day): If Evan & Annamarie are lucky, they get to sleep in . . . to 7:30 a.m.! Annamarie makes pancakes. Then the kids love to go outside if the weather is nice. The back deck has worked out great as an outdoor play area for them. Amanda can play in her playhouse (a birthday gift from Zane & Pierce) and Nate can crawl around on a blanket while Annamarie works in the yard. Evan stays within earshot but if he is working on his laptop, he has to stay out of sight or Amanda demands "Elmo game!" which he made the mistake of installing for her on his laptop. SUNDAY (aka Church day or Foot-ball day): Much of the year, Evan or Annamarie have spent their worship time in the "Blue" room, the childcare room at Old South Church as Amanda mirrored her daycare separation anxiety at church as well. But lately, she and Nate both have been able to let Mom and Dad go downstairs while they have a grand ol' time with Edra, Clare, and Laurie in the Blue room. Later in the afternoon, Amanda pouts as she has to share her Daddy with "Football!" but she has learned to throw her two arms up in the air and yell, "Touchdown!"