Santa Dealing With The Inevitable Sassy Elf

There's one in every Christmas season.
This year's model is Sebastian; Santa's seen his kind before.
He actually attempted to open someone else's presents during this "Santa's Little Helpers" photo shoot! Lordy...

Later on, while Monica (sassy elf's mother, aka SELFM) and I were going over Christmas presents, we heard all this giggling. We found these two in my bed, crawling around under the covers & pillows, having a great time.

As Monica put it: "Too bad we didn't get the photo of Santa and her elf in bed..."

Now that would have been a shot.

Anna Pooped in the Pool

while swimming with Daddy tonite.
He said she asked to swim by herself for a minute, and then out it came.
And that is all I have to say about that.

(And Daddy probably doesn't want to talk about it, either... :)

A Trip to the Children's Museum

We went to the Children's Museum today. And it was awesome. Right now they have a fantastic exhibit on the thrid floor that was fun for all three of them. Very hands-on.

As we were waiting for our stroller to be retrieved by the stroller valet (only in NY kids, only in NY), Anna and I took a walk through the gift shop.
She saw a blue umbrella. She really has been wanting a blue umbrella to match her blue whale boots. She said "Mommy, I see something I like..."
And I told her it was a looking trip.
Maybe Santa will bring it, I added hopefully.
Anna ignored me and fingered the price tag; she looked up at me and said:

"Look Mommy, it says: its OK--you can just take it!"

Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh...

After the museum, the brothers went home for a lunch and a nap and Anna and I went out for a special lunch before preschool. After lunch, we both went to the bathroom. After we both had "gone", I asked Anna to flush. She smiled at me happily and said:

"I'll flush your pee and my pee together, Mommy!"

$10 Bucket of 100 Cookie Cutters: Priceless

I love Bed, Bath & Beyond. There is now one at 69th and Broadway. Woo. Hoo.

Anna had some of her friends from preschool over to make Christmas cookies. I ordered frozen sugar cookie dough from Fresh Direct and we rolled it out onto our (very clean) train table.

[Editorial Note: Many thanks to Gwammy for the gift of the rolling pin last year. I would have looked pretty funny to the other moms trying to roll out four pounds of dough with the little plastic rolling pin that came with Anna's kitchen set.]

The kids loved it. The mess was very manageable. The bucket of 100 cookie cutters is without question the best $10 I have ever spent.

And after eating lunch, as everyone was busy frosting the cookies, Anna looked around the table and asked very pleasantly:

"So, guys, don't you like my house?"

I have no idea if this was just 3-year old conversation filler or if she felt like the accolades were just too slow in coming, but it was quite funny.

Anna Quotes

• Anna plays with the laundry basket, gets inside and asks Diana to push her. Anna says "I'm on JetBlue!". Diana starts to push her. Anna turns back to Diana and says "planes go fast". I mean, in case she didn't know...
  
  
• "Minutes are long, Mommy". You're right, A. Especially when I tell you to wait for 1 and then you actually end up having to wait for 10.
  
  
• Anna had done something mildly annoying to me and I guess I showed it. She looked up at me and said "I'm a beautiful person Mommy."
  
  
• At a recent breakfast the brothers were done first and were bothering Anna while she was trying to eat. I grabbed the boys and said "come on guys, let's give Anna a little peace". Anna whipped right around and said "No! I want a big piece."

• Thomas complaining in his high chair. I have no idea where this came from, but Anna's response: "Thomas stop screaming or you'll have to get down and we'll send you to someone else's house."
  
  
• "I'm area!"
  Think: Anna dressed up looking sort of like the Little Mermaid.
  That's Ariel, A. Ariel.
  

• Let's talk frightening enunciation.
  instead of for, Anna says fer
  instead of you, Anna says yah
  instead of to, Anna says tuh
  
  Sadly, I suspect this can only be happening if I actually speak this way as well. Sigh.

Tell Me a Story Mommy

Lately, I have been getting this request from Anna. She means she wants me to tell her the story of how she was born. So I have done that a few times. Then she wanted to know the story of how the brothers were born. Then one day she told ME a story:

Mommy I have 10 brothers in my tummy.
So we need 10 Jennys! [amen!]
When they want to come out we are going to get into the black car and drive to Dr. Baxi
Dr Baxi is going to give me medicine to make the line feel better
Dr Baxi is going to cut me so bring the green play-doh scissors
Then in a few days the line will go back to the color of skin

wow. quite a plan.

We've Got the Blues

Move over, Nemo.
Goodbye, Hello Kitty (ha! remember that one? soooooo 2005).

There's a new dog in town: and his name is Blue.
Begin Anna obession #3.

Daddy has done his part and even taught her how to play the theme song on the piano...

No, The Inmates Are Not Running the Asylum

See?

White Girl *Can* Jump

Yep, it's official.
I have seen it in gym class (on the trampoline) as well as--completely unaided by any bouncy flooring, mind you--off the cold NYC sidewalks.

Anna can jump.
Off two feet.
She gets air!

Woo hoo!

And, speaking of gym class: she weilds a mean hockey stick. We (uh, I mean Anna) have done hockey three classes in a row now, using a stick with a foam blade and a frisbee for a puck and she is really getting good at it. She can hit the frisbee from both sides of the blade and she never swings and misses. She can even reliably launch a slapshot between two cones.

Woo hoo!
I will NOT have to cheer for a cheerleader! Woo hoo!

(not that there's anything wrong with that, of course...)

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream...

... for Avocado, Edamame, and Broccoli.

That's right. My boys will growl and hollar and scream and pound their trays for these three extremely green and extremely vegetable-ish foods.
Even for reheated versions of these vegetable-ish things!

(Well, ok--full disclosure: their favorite way to eat the avocado is in "dip" form, 2/3 avocado and 1/3 cream cheese. But still--what they are eating is very, very green.)

And I have only had to fake actually eating one member of this threesome once or twice! I wonder how long I'll be able to keep that up? :)

The Tom-inator, or... Tom-Kat

He's got the glasses, the looks (if a Mommy may say so), and the pants (or lack of them).

Can't you just see him using those pegs in his left hand as a microphone?
Can't you just hear him singing "Old Time Rock 'n Roll"?

Or delivering a line like: "I'll be back" in an Austrian accent?

Let's talk about Tommy. He seems to be a guy's guy. Evidence:

• He loves to throw things. He started "throwing" by basically dunking everything backwards behind his head. But in the last few weeks, he has progressed--he now throws relatively normally (with almost no teaching from me, mind you), and most of the things he throws actually go forward in a relatively straight line.
  
  And it's also fun because he has shown almost no interest in catching. You can bounce soft things off him all day and he'll just run and pick them up.
  He also has been showing his basketball aptitude; he loves to put things "in"--he is even a help when cleaning up.
  
  
• Thomas has two main modes of communicating. One involves long strings of "dah dah du du di di dah dah doo da di du". And I mean monologues. And they are loud.
  The other method is even better--he growls. Thomas growls at everything and everyone. The growling is not generally related to anger; I think he just likes the sound of it.
  
  
• Thomas loves to build. He spends a lot of time stacking cups, building peg towers, and using the Mega blocks.
  
  Jack loves to knock down. And this is where Thomas shines: when he sees Jack coming, Thomas will look right at him and deliver an extremely forceful, babble-filled invective full of 'd' sounds (see previous point) . Of course Jack keeps coming. Then Thomas will growl. That doesn't usually work either. Cue the Big fight.
  
  Until today, that is. Today, Thomas tried a new strategy: the scorched-earth policy.
  Just as Jack was reaching for his tower, Thomas knocked it down himself. Very Sun Tzu, eh, to sort that all out before the age of 2? As Gwammy would say: "clearly, he's a genius".
  
  

Jack. Purses.

He can't get enough.
Frogs? No problem.
My Overland Sports brown knapsack? Why not?

The day he starts to ask for fine Italian leather goods, I start to worry.

Time to Party

In case you didn't realize, we are officially entering the "meat" of the New York City birthday season.

[FYI - In NYC no one has babies in the summer. Well: at least everyone tries not to. Has to do with preshool entrance timing issues. It is a long story. ]

At any rate, Anna has gone to a bunch of parties this fall: Nya's, Sebastian's, Caroline's (see photo), and Sam's next weekend. So she is very up on the whole birthday party process.

Anna got the invitation from Sam after preschool one day. When we got home, we read it over. The last line said "No Gifts Please" (also common NYC practice). Anna looked confused for a moment and then asked no one in particular:

"Well then what does he want?"

We continued to ponder this over the next week or so, rereading the invitation several times. A few days ago, we had the same discussion. I'm not sure if Sam had mentioned something to her at preschool or not, because this time she had a solution...

"I think he wants money."

Right. Of course.

Mommy's birthday was last week. Anna had a few questions prior to the big day:

• "Are your friends coming over?"
• "What TV show [i.e. theme] do you want for your party?"

I guess those are better than the one she asked Jenny (born Jan 3rd). When Anna heard about this, I guess she decided to start right from square one and asked "So, you got any friends?".

This Would Never Happen If We Lived In The Suburbs

(1) [from last summer] Mommy and Daddy walk into Wal-Mart, wander around the aisles completely amazed, get in line to pay and have NO CLUE how to use the self-checkout, or even that we were in that line.

(shhh! listen closely: yep, that's right. it's the theme from "Green Acres"...)

(2) [from this Thanksgiving] Grandma and Papa take Mommy, Anna, Thomas and Jack to the mall. We visit Santa. We all ride the carousel--even Anna, who has always been scared of it and previously refused to go on. We get Chinese food and Anna uses chopsticks. We get back into the car and everyone gets strapped in.

As Papa starts the car, Anna points out the window at the mall and says:

"What do you call that thing over there?"

As in: man, we need one of those near our house.
Disneyland, Anna. Disneyland.

Anna Quotes

• "I want Jack's hair to be longer!"
  Then she pulls it.
  
  
• Picture a car trip with three small children.
  As both brothers are screaming, Anna keeps shrieking: "Guys, you're upsetting me!". Which is completely understandable (I'd like to yell that myself, after all), but of course just upsets them more.
  
  
• For the last few weeks, whenever Thomas or Jack coughs, Anna puts on her paniced look and yells:
  
  "Ah! Ah! Aaaaaahhh! Thomas [or Jack] is going to throw up on me!"
  
  This started on the car trip to Rochester and has continued at home. I think she is still slightly scarred from our last round of illnesses.
  
  
• If something happens that Anna thinks I have missed (for instance, when I am helping the brothers), or if she feels some event was lacking just the right amount of drama, when I arrive on the scene Anna will instruct me to say "What happened here?".
  At which point she will give me the full report on her boo boo, or what Jack did to her tower, or why Jenny didn't give her enough yogurt.
  Lower lip will be in full effect, of course.
  
  
• Anna is getting really chatty. This is only an issue on the not-so-rare occasion that Mommy or someone else would like to say something. When that happens, often I will get:
  
  "But Mommy, I need to hear my words!"
  "But Mommy, I need to saaaaaay things..."
  
  
• Anna and I went to the circus on Mommy's birthday. I didn't know exactly where in Lincoln Center the entrance was. I asked Anna to help me look for the place where we go in. She looked at me and said:
  
  "Well, Mommy, we just need to find a door..."
  
  
• Random Anna quote when I asked her to do something:
  
  (softly) "Do I dare?"
  
  Wow. And we've only read Prufrock one or two times, max.
  
  
• What don't you want to hear on a playdate when your view of both children is blocked?
  
  "Sebastian, I want to see what your brain does..."
  [insert diabolical laugh text here]
  
  
• How Anna casually says goodbye:
  
  "Thanks for stopping by"
  "Take care a bunch"
  "Have a good night"
  
  
• We have had a lot of conversations lately about being a big kid (and going potty and doing lots of special things) versus being a baby (they get to pee their pants and never go anywhere all that cool). Anna knows that babies can grow up to be big kids. And she knows that to grow, she needs to (1) eat properly and (2) get lots of sleep.
  
  And so... if Anna feels I do not give her enough of the food that she wants (generally yogurt, or cereal, or juice boxes, or chocolate), she lays the guilt trip on me:
  
  "But Mommy, you're not giving me food. How am I going to grow if you don't give me food?"
  Cue the lower lip, of course.
  
  

Hey Ste-llllllla!

While I'm on my classic movie kick: when Jack grows up, he is an absolute lock to play Stanley in his high school's production of "A Streetcar Named Desire".

And I mean absolute lock.

How do I know this? Because Jack, at age 15 months, has already perfected his Marlin Brando yell.

And I mean perfected.

He performs this anytime he does not get his way. He does not actually yell "Stella", of course. Right now his interpretation is a more general one; his wail of anguish is directed at all humanity, particularly anyone refusing to pick him up or give him that remote control.

And he even gets it better than Brando (if I may say so). Not only does he do the head flung back, hands on either side of his head thing, but he also does it from his knees.

(Photographic proof to come.)

By the way, Jack has one other move of anguish and supplication.
With complete disregard for flooring--be it carpet, hardwood floor, marble tile or granite--Jack, in a spasm of utter woe, will (from his kness, of course) bring his head down and bang his forehead on the floor. Think Muslim prayer position as channeled by an angry one-year old.

Ah, Jack.

What's So Funny?

I mean, when you were 3 and looking at the globe with your dad, didn't you wear your purple and green necklaces and your pink fishie ring and red and pink wristwatch and christmas doggie underwear and blue whale boots?
(All sans pants, of course?)

And, oh just a couple of Anna globe updates:
(1) Could you pick out Chad on a map of the world? Anna can.
(2) Guess what country is in the top part of Africa--you know, where they filmed that Bogie and Bacall movie?
That's right: its called Maraccas.
Same name as the things Thomas loves to shake.

Booooooorn to be Wiiiiiiii-eye-ld

Rest assured that if Peter Fonda had opted for the "wild rose"-colored Mary Janes, things would have turned out a lot better for him...

Men Who Clean

(from the Mommy who loves them...)

When Anna turned one, Aunt Liz bought her a vacuum cleaner. Not just any vacuum cleaner; this one has a detachable dustbuster and a removable hose w/couch crevice attachment. AND there is an on/off switch, aAND it makes a real vacuum (vrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmm) sound. Which, of course, was the reason that Anna was terrified of it. And so it has been languishing in an upstairs closet, until such time as Mommy realized the brothers might like to have a go at it.

And boy, have they.

Jack likes the upright vacuum part; Thomas prefers the dustbuster.
When Jack gets the vacuum, he drags it behind the red chair and just sits there with it, enjoying being alone and at peace with his cleaning instrument.
Thomas "dustbusts" like a runaway train. He gets on his knees and slides it the length of the carpet, scattering any dust, or toys, or sisterly toes that happen to get in his way.

To conclude... this last photo is now, officially, my ALL TIME favorite shot involving one of my children.

Go ahead: I DARE you to look at this and not start singing the theme from Ghostbusters.

Standard or Automatic?

When it comes to potties (sp?), for us the answer is clear: an automatic flush strikes terror into the heart of my toilet-training toddler. This became painfully clear while using the Thruway rest-stop bathrooms with Anna for the first time on our trip to Rochester.

Neither of us were prepared for what was to happen. She lept off the potty and screamed bloody murder. Now she regards new potties with even more suspicion, and acts much like someone trying to size up the condition of a used car: she makes a slow lap around, looking at it from every angle, not touching it at first and then giving it a good kick in the tires (or bowl, in this case) to see how it will react.

Thankfully, at the next stop we were able to use a handicapped bathroom which--hallelujah!--had a manual flush. As illogical as that may be.

Anyway: she may have been dehydrated by the time we got to Rochester (heh heh a joke! a joke!), but we were 2 for 2 (well, 1.5 for 2 considering the auto-flush related leakage) and had no potty related accidents in the car.

Anyway was quite funny going into the rest stop with Anna. Even thought she had been in them before, it was like a whole new world to her. We walk into the building and she's like: "Is there a potty in here Mommy? I don't see a potty. I don't think they have a potty in here."

And then, overheard by the person in the stall next to ours: "I'm going to whip you now! whip! whip!"

Right, that would be Anna, holding the strap from my shoulder bag, getting silly and vocal while I am trying to use the potty myself.

Hopefully the folks in the bathroom stalls on either side of us were from NYC. Then they've definitely heard worse :)

How Does Anna Like Her Pasta?

"long and
lots of !"

Translation: don't even think about cutting her spaghetti.
And make it a double.

Now that's Italian...

Christmas season: Day 1

Poor Santa. I don't think there is any way he's going to make it through another month of photos, much less stay up all night and deliver those presents.

You have to love the two screaming toddlers and one suspicious preschooler. Clearly, we're trying hard to keep it real in this season of materialism.

For the record, I never never never would have attempted this, but it all went much more smoothly than I expected. Thanks for the push, Grandma & Papa.

"It smells like chicken in here..."

And so goes another Thanksgiving, at least from Anna's point of view. She tried the cranberry sauce and enjoyed it. I think she was mainly attracted to the color of the cranberries; she referred to it as "the red stuff in that bin".

"Bin". I love that. I love how she uses her toy organization lingo.
She also tried the rice stuffing. Not so into that. She also prefers dark meat to light.

We were in Rochester for the holiday and had a great time with Grandma and Papa, Tyler, Nana, Aunt Stacy & Uncle Mike. The last-of-November weather was downright balmy by Rochester standards so we even got some quality outside time. (See photo for us in our hats.)

By far the best part of being outside seemed to be that Grandma still had the pool toys readily available. There were multiple instances of "American Gladiator"-esque fights with noodles and lots of beach ball-kicking. (It's a good thing the neighbors are nuts, too.)

The Answer Is: "I Did Crazy, Mommy!"

What is...
What don't you want your potty-training toddler to say to you as she walks out of the bathroom with a very satisfied grin on her face?

Fortunately for us all, she was referring to the stickers that she uses for her "potty reward chart". According to her chart, she had gone poo 34 times that day.

There's a Little Sigfreid...

... in all of us.
(Or was that Roy?)

At any rate, it's nice to know Thomas will always be able to find good, steady work in Vegas.

In other news, we went to our good friend Nya's birthday party on Saturday. An excellent time was had by all. Especially Thomas. At one point, Steve and I looked up from trying to cut pizza for Jack and control Anna and the drinkbox and wondered "where's the knife?"

Oh, no worries. Thomas had it.
heh heh! But he's fine! No worries, grandparents!

The other highlight was post-pizza and cake when most of the kids had moved to the other room for games, but the remains of party food were still out on the party tablecloth on the floor. I guess Thomas was thirsty, because I found him methodically picking up a drinkbox, slurping the last few drops out of it, tossing it aside and moving onto the next one. Over and over again.

I hope he's not that person who tosses back everyone else's half empty glasses at a cocktail party--

Heh heh heh... uh, Mom, are you filming this?

Ah, Jack.
Jack Jack
Jack Jack Jack.

Caught in the act.

It is always advisable not to pull hair while Mommy is trying to get the Christmas photo.

So let's See. Jack:

• Jack knows camera flashes. If you hold a camera in front of Jack, he starts blinking over and over again. Before you take the photo.
  (Until he decides to charge you for your lens cap.)
• Jack loves to whip his head and his hair back and forth in a "no" motion. He's even started to close his eyes while he does this. And smiles like crazy. I think he likes the feeling of his (admittedly somewhat) long hair in the back swishing around.
  For his part, Thomas thinks he has never seen anything funnier in his life.
  
• For a while now, one of Jack's favorite toys has been the doctor kit. Now, he can even get the latches open by himself.
  With his teeth (a few weeks ago).
  As well as his hands (just last week).
  
• For a long while, Jack was scared of all things Baby Einstein. The caterpillar, those puppets: it all scared the crap out of him. He would scream bloody murder whenever we put the DVD on. We have one Baby Einstein soft hand puppet and when Jack saw it, he screamed at that, too, and actually pointed to the TV (how did it get out??)
  And for a while, I think the hand puppet thing soured him on all things stuffed and furry. When I brought out some stuffed animals to sort through, Jack screamed and crawled away at high speed.
  But after a few days of doing this, he seemed to get a bit braver. He started to cautiously crawl towards the animal pile, poke one harmless-looking animal in the stomach with his index finger, turn around and crawl away. He would stop about 5 feet away and just watch. It was like he was checking to make sure it was dead.
  The good news is: after a few days of this, he seems acclimated to our furry friends.
  Thank goodness. Baby TV is Mommy's friend...
  

Learning To Eat

Jack is more of a "shove it in my mouth so you can see my nostrils" kind of guy, while Thomas clearly prefers the modified chopstick approach.

This Ballerina Doesn't Take Any Crap

Or, to paraphrase a very short former sitcom star and ex-California gubernatorial candidate: "wachoo talkin' about, Mommy?"

The Parent Teacher Conference

So. I've had my first. All good, for which I am thankful.

And guess what? Despite being the youngest in her class, the teacher said she is one of only a few who are working on writing her name.
And guess what? She can even write it.

Check it out...

I said "Anna! You wrote your name! That's fantastic." And she said "Yeah Mommy, but look I drew the ocean and those fishies, too!"

Shall We Dance?

While they are not exactly J. Lo and Richard Gere, Anna and Jack have enjoyed a turn or two around the dance floor of late.

And you are right: I never do seem to get any photos of my children wearing pants. Not sure exactly why.

Anna Quotes

• Anna in the middle of our preschool globe demonstration (for no reason apparent to myself or anyone else, mind you):
  "Jack is my boy!"
• After taking Anna with me to the Prenatal Yoga Center to hear a friend give a talk:
  "I did yoga when Winnie was in my tummy."
  
• Anna, it's time to stop wearing diapers to bed and start wearing Pull-ups.
• "but that doesn't make sense..."
• "but that is just not acceptable"
• Recently I found Anna holding one of her stuffed animal Nemos, a bit soggy. Our conversation went like this:
  

"My fish is wet."
Where did the water come from?
"My butt." "My fish jumped into the pee-pee."

• Anna, returning from a playdate with Cole that Jenny took her to, upon seeing Mommy taking the brothers out, all bundled up, in their stroller:
  "Mommy, how did you get out of the house?"
• "If you don't push me in the laundry basket Mommy, I'll put you in time out."
  As an aside: Anna never just makes me go into time out; she straps me in using any available restraining device.
• We are in the library. Anna sees a globe. She gets excited and walks closer.
  "Mommy, does it have a smart pen?"
  
• Anna wakes up one morning at 5AM. We get downstairs, I sit in the chair with her. She looks at me.
  "I think somebody is hungry..."
  Wow maybe if I teach her how to use the toaster and leave the syrup out on the couter I could sleep another hour. Or two.
  

Intensity, thy name is Anna

I love the look on her face.

It was just going to happen; there was no way I was going to avoid getting leaves dumped on me from a blue plastic shovel.

Well, It Had To Happen Eventually

Jack. Toilet. Lots of splashing.

You get the picture, right?

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

Right... that means I won't communicate in any way the fact that for the past week:

• Anna - vomiting
• Thomas - diarrhea
• Jack - fever.
  

Jack seems to be progressing nicely and is in good spirits. Anna & Thomas are going to the doctor tomorrow, as nothing is staying down.

heh. Or in.

Yikes.

Gotta Have Cowbell

It's Marathon Day!
We made it to the park on Sunday to watch the racers with our buddies Sebastian, Hugo & Jasper. It was a beautiful day & a great time.

We saw Lance go by!

Congrats to Mommy's friends Doc and Lilly who made it the whole way, right on Lance's heels. Better women than I, to be sure.

When It Is Us Against The Elements

We are not afraid of fall.
Or winter.
Or rain.












Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these children from Horsey Park, Hippo Park, River Park, the library or the Children's Museum.

We may lose assorted hats & gloves somewhere along the way, however.

The Edamame Gene

It may yet need to be isolated and identified by scientists, but it exists. My children have it.

They love this curious green bean. I had never in my life heard of it until maybe 2 years ago. I can't imagine why, as it even has its own web site: http://www.edamame.com/.
That's right: its own web site. Hmmnnn, vegetables today...

That's right: it's a vegetable. And it's green. And my kids love it. Must be a recessive, skip-a-generation kind of thing.

Anna loves it when they are unshelled so that she can pop the little beans out of the pod. Jack will push aside hamburger, french fries and pizza to stuff his face with it. But then, I think Jack is a vegetarian. He loves all things green and will go for green things before anything else.

In case you were wondering: Jack is definitely my kid--I saw him come out. He is the only baby I have ever seen with highlights at birth, so I know we took the correct one home.

Yuki Sushi

Pronounced "yoo-key" Sushi. It is a restaurant on the Upper West Side where Anna and I have lunch on Thursdays with Nya and Olivia.

Anna is totally enthralled by the chopsticks and little green dish for the Wasabi sauce. Given her Nemo-centric world view, she does not actually eat raw fish; right now, she prefers the Miso soup and chicken teriyaki. But she absolutely insists on using chopsticks. And she loves the edamame appetizer, especially the part where she gets to pop the beans out of their shell. Great fun.

What's So Frightening About This Photo?

Well, not much I suppose. Until you are told that this was taken immediately after Jack got into his highchair.

By himself.

That's right. Everything was quiet (much too quiet). I stopped loading the dishwasher and peeked into the dining room. There was Jack--and if I may mix my similes for effect--grinning at me like he had swallowed a million bucks. He was sooooooooo pleased with himself. He had climbed up the foot rest, crawled over the black tray, turned around and sat himself down in the seat.

I'm going to have to think a bit about how to babyproof this one...

Thomas Walks!

Yes! Proof. We are up to six steps. I think things would be progressing more quickly except for he fact that that Tommy's goal seems not so much to walk, but to be able to stand up and clap for himself. Which he is now quite good at.

And so what if he occasionally gets his butt stuck in the walker?

Thomas' other new trick: pulling divets out of Jack's hair.
It has happened twice. But only when Thomas is really, really mad.

Thomas also likes to play ball! He can throw and roll the ball to me and actually shows some interest in attempting to catch it. Or at least block it with his face.

Halloween Continued

So... Anna, Daddy and I went trick or treating at the Museum of Natural History. And it was quite nice. All the kids came dressed up in their costumes, there were lots of Halloween crafts, candy was given out at all the exhibits, there were numerous special shows and even well-known characters roaming about.

Like Nemo.
Who took the opportunity to fishie dance, in full costume, in front of the museum.

Even better: how often do you see this combo--Mommy, Nemo, and George Washington's face carved into a pumpkin? (Not sure what the other pumpkin was supposed to be).
Only in New York, kids. Only in New York.

But by far the standout items of the night were:

(1) A quote from Anna. As we gazed into the dolphin exhibit and I read aloud about dolphin diet, habitats, and mating, I tried to get the point across to Anna that dolphins are mammals, not fish. Mommy knows that humans are mammals too, so I tried to point out certain commonalities we have with our dolphin friends that she would be able to relate to. I have no idea what was in my head, but of course I mentioned nursing. I said something to the effect of: Just like Mommy nursed Thomas and Jack, dolphin Mommys can give their babies milk, too. Which of course prompted the question from Anna: "But where are their bras?"

(2) Chasing Clifford the Big Red Dog through the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs and then the length of the Millstein Hall of Advanced Mammals to get our photo op. I think Clifford was looking for a fire hydrant or something because he was moving and not so patient with the hordes of adoring fans. Anyway, about halfway through our chase I picked Nemo up by the fins and started running and Daddy sprinted ahead, blocked that Doggie's way and made him stand there until we caught up for our photo.

Thing 2, Nemo, Thing 1

Happy Halloween!
We went trick or treating at the Natural History Museum! (more to come on this tonight...)

Look Who's Coming to Dinner...

OK this photo is a month and a half old, but I love it. It was taken during the period I now refer to as "Anna's Fishie Rearrangement Obsession" (AFRO). For the record, Anna absolutely adores all the Nemo and various other fishie figurines that she has been given. In the weeks immediately after her birthday, she spent HOURS each day arranging them in various houses, elevators, buses, ponds, and trucks. And then she rearranged them. And she still does! Just not all day long. Thank goodness for preschool.

And because I feel the Obesession part of this is pretty much behind us, I am happy to post this "fishie house" photo montage. I am sure you'll get a sense of the numerous levels of hierarchy and detailed classification schemes Anna employed to keep things organized.

At one point, the fishie house housed not only Nemo fishies and their Nemo fishie babies but also two sets of sea creatures figurines, the 3 snap-on watch faces from the Nemo watch she received for her birthday, 8 party favor sqeezeable plastic bath fishies, at least 8 Nemo bubble blowers, 5 Nemo cards from the Nemo aquarium from Aunt Stacy gave her, 3 expired Metro cards, her NY Public Library card, 12 "magic grow" sponge fishies, one Nemo keychain, and 10 purple index card halves each bearing one Nemo bubble sticker.

(click on the photo for a larger view)



top left: Dusk at the Fishie House After a Particularly Grueling Day (note the turtle)
bottom left: Sunrise at the Fishie House
top right: We've Moved! During the Day, Fishies Sit In Their ZooPals Paper Plates Rooms!
bottom right: Fishies Napping. Finally Mommy Can Watch Heffalump.

I'm sure you'll agree: it was all worth it.

Today

The Good,

• I believe that for the first time ever, Anna used the same Pull-Up all day. It didn't get wet!
  
• This evening, Thomas took 5 or 6 steps in a row. On multiple occasions.

the Jack,

• This afternoon, Jack not only clmibed Anna's high chair but once he was there also attempted to span the distance from the top of the high chair to the dining room table with his body.
  I caught him with one hand on the table and two feet on top of the chair, looking down at the floor below and wondering what to do next.
• This morning, Jack managed to unscrew the top of the brand new tub of "itchy butt cream", stick his entire fist into it and smear it all over him and the floor before I realized what was happening. We dumped him into the kitchen sink. He left butt cream handprints all over our counter (quite funny, actually) as well as on the fish tank.
  

and the Ugly.

• At breakfast, Thomas managed to get a Kix (a single one) stuck in some booger slime underneath his nose.
  Gross? Absolutely. Definitely.
  Hilarious? Oooooooooh yeah. I mean, at that point I could either laugh or actually face up to the overwhelming ickiness of the siuation...
  

Book Smarts. Street Smarts.

Thomas can stack cups and build with blocks and pegs and likes to crayon and look at all his books.

Jack can unscrew the top on his bottle (and of course pour all the milk out), open the latches on the doctor kit, push the top off the toy chest, climb out the window of the playhouse, and turn the oven light and dishwasher on and off.

The Two Faces Of Thomas

Fido.

William Wallace (think Braveheart). At high tea.

A Day At Preschool

Let's See...

• I brought Thomas in his winter duds (big blue hat & coat) to pick up Anna today. As soon as she saw him she shouted "It's a blue man doo!" and laughed hysterically.
  Rest assured not one of the other parents present had any clue as to how clever that line was. And of course I said "that's right! a blue man doo! wow!" and started giggling myself. I mean, she extended our own inside joke. That is really neat. The other parents think we are nuts, but...
  
  
• This week was UN week at preschool. Today one of the moms (Lisa) came in to talk to the class about South America. She also brought in the snack for the day, some sort of delectable (South American?) caramel thingy.
  I guess Anna liked it. A lot. Lisa told me she was the only child who, after finishing her treat, proceeded to pick up her plate and lick it completely clean.
  Then Lisa assured me that this was really cute.
  It is not as if we deny her sweet things at home, you know.
  
  
• Oh yes, Lisa told me one other thing:
  Anna knew where Paraguay was on the globe.
  ha ha! ha ha! We take our caramel with a side of genius...

On Wednesday I did a presentation for UN week, too. I brought in Anna's smart globe and map of the world. Let's just say Anna put on an impressive display (There's Iceland! And Greenland! And Norway! And the Gulf of Aden! And The People's Republic of China! And "Ongolia"! And on and on and on...

Pumpkin Picking (city-style)

Korean market? check.
Leopard print tights? check.

Pumpkin delivery when you're nowhere near the patch? Priceless!

Jack's A Rocker

OK, it's official. Both the guys seem to really like music. The musical toys are by far the biggest hits. The both will sit on their knees and bounce and head bang to B-I-N-G-O or Beethoven or whatever's on until a battery finally wears out. It's adorable. But Jack -- he seems to be a special case.

Jack will not go anywhere without his boom box. It is the first thing he looks for in the morning and he carries it around all day in an attempt to keep it out of Anna and Thomas' hands. He LOVES to crawl into a corner with it and just be one with his music.

top left: Jack strollin' with his boom box.
top right: Jack looking tough. It's all about the music, man.
bottom:
whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
hangin' tough...
Jack looking slightly NKOTB as he delivers some rhymes.

First Step: Thomas

Last nite (10/23), right into Daddy's arms.

Giving Brothers Pony Tails

I reminded Anna for the umpteenth time the other day not to grab her brothers' hair and try to put it into pony tails. With pink scrunchies, no less!
Anna got a bit pensive. I reminded her that she doesn't like it when her hair gets pulled (or even brushed!), so how does she think the brothers feel?

She looked at me with deep understanding. She said:
"It's funny, but it's not nice."

Ah, yes. So true. You got it, A.

Don't Talk. And Don't Try Any "Fun" Business...

This is how Anna admonished me as she started to read to me before bed tonite. Evidently she's seen my kind before :)

Other recent Anna gems:

• "Mommy, I'm going to give you this cereal but then I'm not going to give you any more..."
• "Jenny, try again." - Anna gives Jenny another shot to put more M&Ms in her bowl. She obviously wasn't pleased with the original amount.
• "You can look at my brothers while my Mommy changes me."
  Anna had an accident in Central Park.
  I started to change her behind the stroller.
  Her good buddy Sebastian, who was playing with us, proceeded to walk behind the stroller and sit down for a front row view. Anna didn't miss a beat and let him know she needed some privacy.
• Someone asked Anna if her Mommy works. Her reply:
  "She works in the house."
  Nice. Totally, completely uncoached. Honestly.
• Anna has a book where the characters are having a limbo contest. I tried to explain the concept to her. She looked totally puzzled and said:
  "But a small guy could go right under!"

A few quotes from several months ago not to be forgotten:

• It was the last day of preschool last spring. I explained to Anna that she could push Winnie in his stoller to preschool because this was a special day.
  She could not, however, take the 5 or 6 gift bags stuffed with random Anna toys that she had hanging off both handles. She looked at me forlornly and wailed:
  "But Mommy, it's Winnie's luggage!"
• I was trying as hard as I could to get Anna out of Claire's (remembering, of course, the time not so long ago when I had never in my life even been in a Claire's).
  I told her she could get one bracelet. She became obsessed with the fact that she has two wrists, so she needed a bracelet for each. I told her she could have one bracelet or no bracelets. To my surprise, she chose none.
  We left the store. During the walk home (with Winnie in his stroller), she was horrible., constantly stopping and weaving and whimpering and really being three-year-old-ish. I looked at her and said something stern, and then for some reason ended with "What are you trying to do?"
  She looked up at me and said "I'm try-ing to get another bracelet...!"
  Well, at least she's up front about it, I suppose.
• Random Anna singsong:
  "Wa-choo, wa-choo, wa-choo want"
  Uh, yes. Time to take the Beastie Boys off the playlist.
• Anna was making every excuse not to go to bed. She didn't like the red light downstairs, she needed a drink, she needed another drink, she needed hugs. Finally, I thought we had done everything and I (foolishly) asked her "Is there anythign else I can do to help you feel better?"
  "You can not put me to bed!"
  She totally got me there. Rookie mistake.
  

Don't Know Much Geography

Actually, Anna knows a lot of geography. Right now she is in a map phase. (Gwammy: she really, really likes the globe you gave her, as you can see.)

Funny globe story: this globe is really neat because you can take the pointer and touch a spot on it, and it will tell you information about that location, such as the name of the country.
Well... Anna was playing with the globe one day and decided to touch some blue country (since blue is her favorite color) MANY MANY times in a row, which triggered "the globe voice" to say the name of the country over and over and over again. Before I could finish rolling my eyes and tell her to please please touch something else, she says:

"Why does he keep saying that??"

in this completely adorable, exasperated voice.

She also has been doing map of the world puzzle and a United States map puzzle and reading a book called The Scrambled States of America. Really , really funny book.

The result of all this is that Anna is frighteningly knowledgeable about the states of our country and the continents. This leads to some fantastic mispronounciations. Did you know that:

• You Mexico
• Avada
• Can-tucky
• Abraska
• and The Crazy Lakes
  

are all part of our country?

This does lead to some tough (if not unexpected) questions, however. The age old: "Why did they put Alaska in the wrong spot?" She can see where Alaska is on the map of the world puzzle, and it doesn't match up with where Alaska is on the US map puzzle. This used to cause her some concern, but now she just lets her friends know before they start the puzzle that Alaska is, infact, in the wrong spot on the US map and that is because there was not enough room to put it in the right one.

A slightly tougher issue with the US map puzzle was: "Why is there a pineapple in the middle of the ocean?". I tried to explain to her that it was an artist's attempt to conjure up images of tropical Hawaii, but she wasn't getting it.
And, uh, oh yeah A--Hawaii's in the wrong spot, too.
That was almost too much for her to take. I could just see her thinking: why didn't they just make the puzzle bigger?

She had a playdate the other day and they started to do the map of the world puzzle. She looked at her friend and said "You do Asia, and I'll start on North America." I was so proud.

At any rate, maybe she'll be the one to finally help me understand why (even though it's actually not) Greenland always looks so big...

King Thomas I

And the attempted coup...

Gosh, I Don't Know What To Do

Well, no worries. I'll just ask the Buddha...

That's One Small Step for Jack

... and a lot more work for Mommy. :)
That's right: today was the day Jack took his first step!

What Jack Ate

What did Jack eat on Saturday? Hmmnn, let's see.
It all started in the sandbox, where he and Thomas had never before been allowed to go.
Within 2 minutes I see Jack take a huge handful of sand and stuff it into his mouth.
I freak out and grab him and frantically search for his sippy cup.
I finally find the cup and as I look up I realize: my son has 2 hands.
And that other one is full of sand. And ... oops! He just stuffed that one into his mouth, too.

I guess the first fistful was so satisfying that he couldn't wait to shove the next one in?

I am still completely astonished. He didn't seem too stressed about the whole situation, other than I could tell he found it somewhat difficult to chew.

So while Jack is on sandbox probation we decided to move to the greener pastures of the Great Lawn. Anna blew bubbles, the boys chewed on the bubble wands, random plastic balls, and parts of their stroller. Ah, urban familial bliss.

Until I realize that Jack had just put an acorn in his mouth. So I freak out again and stick my finger in there and fish it out, and Jack looks at me like I am nuts (ha ha). So I carefully look around our area for any other acorns. Satisfied, I grab Thomas to stop him from licking all the bubble potion from Anna's bubble wand tray. When I turn around, I notice that Jack is intently scraping at something in the grass with his index finger. When I get to him, I see that he is trying to dig up a half-buried acorn with his little index finger.

What's next? Worms? Rubber bands?

Saturday In The Park