Lovermont

We took turns playing with Sylvie in the pool at The Swimming Hole, an indoor pool and athletic facility funded by Stowe's local snowboard superhero Jake Burton so that we could also work out in the gym yesterday. I never get sympathy looks from strangers glancing at our mini GI Jane with the port protruding from the right side of her chest. Michael on the other hand-- he gets it all the time. Perhaps taking care of any child, no mater how sick is 'this woman's work' but seeing a dad zooming in the supermarket with a skinny bald little girl in a Carmen Miranda dress, strolling through the mall with a bald toddler dressed like Alice in Wonderland perched on top of his shoulders or frolicking in a swimming pool playing "Daddy Shark" yields a much greater emotional response and dare I say, intrusiveness? Conversely, Michael does not like being accosted by random people, usually women, who befriend him because he's the dad of a child who was or is ill.

We are having an awesome time in Vermont, enjoying peak fall foliage although it's FREEZING and expected to snow 3" tomorrow. Caroline is having a ball, too. She showed me a list of places in the United States to visit that she initially drew on a napkin at a college bar and Vermont is on the list, so I feel pretty good that we're already showing her a good time in such a short time of her being with our family. Caroline is from Curitiba which is the cultural capital of Brazil, voted "best place to live" by Brazilians. She's never seen snow so tomorrow should be interesting. I've outfitted her with my red double-layer LL Bean Storm Chaser 3-in-1 jacket, my fancy Barney's snow/mud boots originally bought with a gift certificate from a former boss and Thinsulate glove liners.

Last night, Caroline babysat so that Michael and I could have our first date night in Vermont in 3 plus years. To celebrate the occasion, we returned to Hen of the Wood in Waterbury whose chef was named one of the Top 10 Chefs of the Year by Food & Wine this year. Their credo is 'Find the shortest, simplest way between the earth, the hands and the mouth (Lanza del Vasto)" and true to form, every item on the menu credits its origin. They feature a spectacular cheese menu ENTIRELY comprised of Vermont cheeses, too! I felt like a cheese snob lunatic when reviewing the list having tried or previously purchased six out of the fourteen selections. We tried the 'Clothbound' cheddar from Cabot which might sound pedestrian but Michael told me that it's aged in the Jasper Hill Farm's quarter of a million dollars cheese caves so essentially it's as if Jasper Hill Farm made it. That works for me. I was in cheese heaven. We were undecided who would be driving home so instead of sharing a bottle of wine, Michael had a pretty outstanding glass of 2005 Canoe Ridge Vineyard cabernet and I had a pretty decent glass of 2005 Spencer Roloson "Palaterra' blend. We toasted our night on the town, scoring the only seating for 6 weeks and to Caroline for giving us the opportunity to have a great meal once again, in Vermont. Michael started with the Rhode Island calamari (that Mark Bittman raved about in The New York TImes), while I opted for the local salad greens since it featured Pete's Greens, chiogga beets and shaved fennel. I will order anything on any menu that contains beets and/or fennel. Michael had a local grass-fed rib-eye (his toss up was pork belly with some exotic au jus) with locally foraged mushrooms while I had cast-iron seared Maine sea scallops with a cabbage, apple, fennel slaw. When we got home, as any night we actually go out, our punishment is Sylvie being up the entire night.

We couldn't wait for the sun to rise so we could start our day.

Today we headed over to the Craft Fair where I got Sylvie a very fancy new hat, Michael ran nine miles on the Rec Path and we hit up the amazing playground behind the Stowe elementary school. Caroline and I went to the Farmer's Market where we bought local cheeses, veggies and pizza made in a homemade brick oven by some real live vermont hippies. Later, Michael and Paul, Jette's dad, harassed each other over the phone about baseball. Caroline and I picked up our friend Chris's new fishing reel at the fly fishing shop although I marveled at the dead skinned animal that they were selling as a hunting decoy. Since Michael was eager to watch the Yankees, Caroline & I went out to dinner.

Lucy ate part of the mudroom stairs. There are smart dogs. And there is Lucy. She's gorgeous. Gentle. Not too bright.

Sylvie has been drinking so much chai protein drink that it's been relatively easy sneaking into it Vitamin D, Milk Thistle and probiotics. She loves her 'light pink' medicine which is Bactrim and fights us on the 'buttery one' (flax oil), fruity one (Floradix daily vitamin mixed with extra vitamin C). I have to make an appointment for a check up with Dr. Harris a week from tomorrow and also for a (gasp) flu vaccine. When ALL of Hackensack University Medical Center's Children's Hospital is administering thimerosol-free vaccines, you have to wonder about thimerosol and vaccines in general. Otherwise, Sylvie is not permitted to get any vaccines until at least January which is great, considering I'm opposed to most of them anyway. For reasons unknown to me, chicken pox would be VERY bad for Sylvie but since it's a live virus and she's not currently immunized against it, I'm actually not sure what the protocol is. If she were to be exposed to it, we'd have to rush her to the Reuten Clinic for an immunoglobulin injection.

On Wednesday, I have to pick up Sylvie's hearing aids (to her, they are known as Magic Hearing Buttons although I refer to them as Toddler Engagement Rings) and then have them fitted, adjusted, learn what to do, etc. I don't expect it will be easy however when Sylvie gets to watch her favorite movies in Surround Sound that night, I am hoping she will realize they are actually beneficial. My bro's band is playing at Arlene's later that night so I imagine it will be a very hectic late afternoon and evening. I'm hoping we can make plans with Jette's family soon because not only do we all miss them but I think that Jette & Nevada will make Sylvie feel better about her hearing aids. Nevada came with us once to audiology and she and Jette have the ability to somehow get barrettes into Sylvie's cropped hair and make her feel like a normal little girl. I did order on Etsy custom Hello Kitty and Little Mermaid "oto" clips that will attach to her shirt.

Note to self: call Ridgewood Board of Education and Bergen County Special Services, Assistive Technology on Tuesday regarding FM monitor/receiver for Sylvie's teachers.

On that note, off to sleep and looking forward to another georgeous fall day in Vermont!