Poetry reading

Z loves to write, spell, fill in the blanks, work with bananagram tiles, read, and come up with creative sentences. He loves doing the portions of his "table work" (homework) that involve words, interestingly strongly preferring them over math (though he does well with arithmetic as well). When there isn't school work to do, he will often fill pieces of paper with words or sentences. This has occasionally generated what I can only really describe as poetry; an excellent sampling from yesterday: "One night I dreamed above the moon. I see your favorite day because I love you. It was a busy day of writing."

This past week I took a trip to LA to speak at a few conferences (and while in town, I was also thankfully able to stop off and replenish our tea supply in addition to meetings and catching up with some friends). I returned home just in time to help greet friend M arriving from the east coast, who after many years of threatening to visit finally found the right combination of airfares and schedule -- yay! We've been having a lovely time; she's become an immediate favorite with all three of the kids, and it's been great to catch up with her and also show her some of the boys' favorite stomping grounds.

School daze

And just like that, summer break is over and everyone is back to school. Today was a day of many firsts: Z's first day of first grade (he was happy to see the bus again, and the same bus driver to boot!). It was O's first day of preschool. (He was initially shy at dropoff, but after he and I hung out for a bit, he saw several familiar faces from last year, and was nearly immediately off and running). This was also my first day back at work after an amazing parental leave (which remains one of my favorite benefits at my employer) - I presume I'll be digging out from the e-mail backlog probably through early 2015. It was also Meh's first formal day as a stay at home mom. And L of course had her first day wearing yet another fabulous outfit, including an excellent jean jacket.

It was also practically the first time I've gotten the three kids actually posed in frame of the same picture - and kind of even in focus. We'll still have to work on them actually, you know, all looking at the camera or even (gasp) all simultaneously smiling. Or even somehow assembling all of us in front of the camera short of getting some kind of portrait professional. But hey, it's a start!

Brighton beach memoirs

The family's hectic summer travel season continues -- this week I've been in the UK for a conference. Alas, didn't get too much time in my favorite (favourite?) city, as the event was down on the coast in Brighton. Somehow I managed to miss the actual beach (it was actually a bit chilly and very breezy) and the landmark pier, but the conference itself was certainly productive and thought provoking. And I did get to have one lovely London afternoon with N, S, and their kids R and J, followed by an excellent dinner for the grownups. It's always fun getting to interact with the kids, as they're only slightly older than my boys, so it's sometimes a bit like looking into the future. In addition to the event itself, I did have a day of meetings back in the city, and visited not only Meh's favourite market for a lunch get together, but also checked out a replica tall ship docked in the port -- as usual, I've been keeping an eye out for fun vehicles that the boys would enjoy pictures of. Of course, the one I most like taking a picture of is the plane that takes me back home to them!

Work back schedule

The day has finally arrived -- maternity leave has wrapped up and mommy is back at work! I'm taking my full leave in August when the girls are back from Bulgaria, so I'm taking intermittent vacation days to both watch L and chaperone the boys to and from school for this week. We of course had to organize a visit (both so L could get a snack and to let her say hi to mommy's co-workers). There had actually been a few library visits during Meh's leave, most of which for whatever reason seemed coupled with massive diaper explosions -- at one point Meh had to dash to the bathroom to change L, and a coworker who thought she was leaving apparently got on the library PA system requesting she return to the desk! Thankfully, today's visit was a bit less eventful diaper-wise, and L was all smiles and coos as she met various coworkers. Then we went back home for a nap before heading out to pick up the boys from camp.

Sleeping like a baby

This week is the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. While I've been there nearly every year for the past 14 years, this year with our due date right in that window, I opted to not attend -- probably for the best, as it's been a whirlwind of adjusting to L's sleep schedule (or sometimes lack thereof) and coordinating for the boys so the ladies can get some good quality (hopefully sleep-involving) time together. That said, L and I did put together a proposed late lecture to add to GDC -- I indicated to the event planners that we could probably make any time in the 1:30 to 4:30 am window work. No response as of yet, but we've still got three days of the conference.

New milestone today: for the first time, L took a nap in her own crib (not pictured) -- and for two hours no less! Yay! The baby monitor is back up and running, so we're once again getting used to that gentle whoosh of white noise coming from a little speaker in the corner of our room. We had a number of visitors today -- R stopped by in the morning, and O had a play date with his 5-year-old friend J, who was being watched by friend I while his parents were at work. The boys for the most part played very well (the only incident being a highly sought after green Candy Land player marker), and J was super awed by the hidey hole. O also has been talking about just how nice one of his friends has been at school, so he wanted to go buy her a present -- I indicated that he certainly could using his allowance, or we could get her something for her upcoming birthday. He opted for the latter, thoughtfully perusing the store before selecting a cute little elephant figurine. He complemented the gift with a nice card today. Nice, Mr. O!

The grand experiment with family mealtime continues to go mostly successfully (when we can keep the boys at the table); tonight it was my turn to cook, and Z watched with eagerness as I made their favorite (pasta), and then concern as I transformed some of it into homemade mac and cheese. Both boys stuck with plain and wouldn't venture even a taste, though mommy assured me it was yummy.

Letter numbers

We're all very excited by Meh's new work schedule, which kicks in next week; currently she works every other weekend (including this one), but starting next year it's only one weekend a month! The boys and I have been passing the weekend with a number of different activities, but one of their favorites remains biking around at Z's school playground.


O is getting braver by the moment, and will pedal for minutes at a time all by himself. Z is still a little less certain, but does well when I help guide the handlebars a bit, and sometimes he'll even go off by himself. Uncle J came along today and Z did an awesome job biking around by himself between us.

Of course, biking can certainly help you work up an appetite; snack time on the playground is almost as popular as the bikes themselves.

One of Z's other favorite activities has been a renewed interest in the Bananagrams letter tiles. He's generally very insistent that the letters go the correct way, even for nearly symmetric ones like the S's -- so I was surprised the other day to see him placing I's sideways and E's upside down. Finally today I figured it out: he's using them as dashes and 3's. I's and O's also nicely double as 1's and 0's. It's always impressive to see the words and sentences that he's spelling; this one felt to me like some kind of sea shanty.

Little houses

We had a jam-packed day today, capped off with dueling holiday parties for Meh's work and mine. It has been bitter cold (well, for Seattle -- teens and 20s), and O's near-daily e-mail reminder from his teachers reminded us that the kids are still wanting to play outside and to dress appropriately. That meant hunting for lined jeans, mittens/gloves, and new hats. Alas, the local big box store was completely decimated (though we did successfully pick up a number of candies for Meh's holiday party - more on that in a bit). The boys were hungry, so (shock of shocks) we found ourselves lunching at a place that they hadn't been to in at least a day. Okay, maybe a week. Then we walked over to another store and successfully found hats, gloves (Z), and mittens (O). Success!

Friends A and J (and their son E) had invited us to come join them at a farm in the afternoon, so we headed straight there from our shopping. By the time we made it through traffic, O was conked out. So Z and Meh went into the farm while O and I hung out in the car -- but I spied Z again soon afterwards; what looked like decorative structures at the entrance are actually an array of 2/3 scale two-story play houses, and he was in love, going from house to house and checking out all of the rooms. He apparently made "snack" for mommy at a tiny kitchen table in one of them. I whispered to O that we'd arrived, and was greeted with a very happy wake up. With the bitter cold, the farm had actually gotten a roaring blaze going in their fire pit and was selling s'mores packs -- clever idea! O was delighted to eat both his and the marshmallow (actually a Peep, which as official s'mores roaster I discovered caramelizes much better) from Z's pack; Z was happy to eat just the chocolate and graham cracker, sans flame.

But wait, there's more! The farm had a bunch of animals, including the usual pigs, horses, ponies, chickens, roosters, goats, a very active herding dog, several peacocks, and even a greenhouse full of parrots and other exotic birds. And there was a virtual parking lot of kid-scale pedal-driven tractors; the boys literally jumped from one to another, pedaling once or twice and then abandoning them for the next vehicle. And, yes, there was a little train (well, a re-skinned tractor with some pre-recorded engine noises, towing a chain of wheeled cars). O was concerned that it was driving around without any kind of train tracks, but the concern went away very quickly when we went out for a ride in it - the boys were big fans, and even said hi and bye to Santa Claus (apparently the farm's owner) as we returned to our car after a chilly but very fun afternoon.

In the evening, we had the aforementioned holiday parties. Meh was awesome as always and had purchased the candies so all of the kids in attendance could make their own gingerbread houses as a craft activity. She even made a tasty frosting in piping bags that doubled as the mortar for both walls, roof, and decorative touches. My favorite were the pink peppermint thin mints, which worked perfectly for tiny little doors. The boys had a great time even if they declined most of the lovely potluck offerings. Mommy also got to sing some silly songs/carols that one of her coworkers had altered the lyrics of; O was thrilled to walk up to mommy while she was in the middle of singing, and Z talked about "mommy music" while running up and down library aisles. Soon after I ducked out for my group's own holiday dinner at a tasty Italian spot in the city. A busy day, but still a very nice one to spend almost entirely together, a rare event in our busy calendars!

Flying Turkey

We've been having a very nice time with Grandma and J visiting for the weekend. Meh departed this morning for Portland, but the boys, grandparents, and I had a full morning: first, just in time for my concert this evening, we picked up my newly tailored tuxedo (talk about delayed use of a birthday present, which Meh had picked out for me, um, nearly 12 months ago - sorry Meh, and thank you!). Then we drove onward to the boys' nirvana, I mean, the Museum of Flight. As Meh and I have independently confirmed, getting the boys into the car is usually at least a fifteen minute stall-fest -- but when I mentioned we were going to see the planes, I can confidently say that I never saw them get their shoes and jackets on quite so quickly.

While our initial route was blocked due to construction, soon enough we did successfully arrive at the museum. As we got out of the car in the parking lot, I saw a cute little prop plane coming in for a landing and pointed it out to the boys. Suddenly, on the parallel runway further from us (but still within a hundred yards), a huge military cargo transport came buzzing in for a landing -- possibly related to the upcoming presidential visit? Anyway, it was quite the sight, and the boys (and J) were already thrilled before we'd even gotten inside.

The museum itself continues to be a big win for the boys, as well as an exercise in zone defense for any adult trying to keep track of them. The boys generally wanted to go in two opposite directions, but somehow the three of us were able to get them to least stay on the same level of the museum. There was running around, climbing into many planes (that they were allowed to; O later continued to ask if he could climb into some of the other planes, even the ones that were suspended from the ceiling), and in general talking about all of their favorites. The museum also had a pre-Thanksgiving art activity that the boys enjoyed, making "turkey rockets": turkeys made from tracing their hands on paper, taped to a cone of paper, then put the cone on top of a soda bottle and squeeze the bottle to launch it. Both boys made one that we're saving for mommy tomorrow.

We crossed over to the annex containing the space shuttle simulator (well, we actually had an extended intermission on the bridge itself, watching traffic go by underneath while snacking) and adjacent to the actual airplanes, and the boys were thrilled and surprised when grandma and J bought them space shuttle toys at the little gift shop. Actually, O was at first super happy and then distressed that he had picked out a different toy than Z -- and one that didn't involve removal from a cardboard box (they still do love/obsess over their unboxing videos). I had to remind him several times that he'd made his choice, these were very generous and nice gifts, and that they should be profusely thanking grandma and J!

At last the boys' stomachs were rumbling and it was time to go grab some lunch. We headed out for the usual, but when we arrived (and had to park blocks away -- this was the mall location, and Christmas shopping is apparently already in full swing) the manager was at the door apologetically turning people away due to "computer issues". So onward to the next closest location, and after all of this, O actually declined to order or eat any lunch. I think he was both exhausted and maybe full of snacks from the museum, but it was still impressive to see him politely turn down the waiter's inquiry for a drink or food. Z meanwhile ate everything on his plate.

I forgot to mention, yesterday was the launch day for a certain video game console I've been working on for the past few years. On Wednesday there were festivities and fireworks through midnight (though as with new years, I was exhausted by 9 pm and headed home), the unveiling of a giant plaque with thousands of names on it (with a tripod-mounted spyglass since it's hung from a second floor atrium balcony), and a big posterboard that everyone signed as they picked up their very own special edition launch console. Hugely exciting to see my third (!) console ship, though the big work remains ahead for my team to help game developers hopefully make hundreds of great games for it!

Back in my day...

When you return to a place you haven't been to in a while, you tend to immediately notice the changes. So while I was only a mile or two north of where I live for basically all of my Los Angeles time at college, it was a bit of shell shock when I drove into a downtown LA that had somehow gone upscale in my absence. Granted, my time there even predated the Staples Center, but now there's this whole entertainment complex thing attached to it. And crazy constantly-expanding affordable light rail service, which I (gasp) actually even used as a convenient way to meet up with friends one evening. Though hey, at least the traffic and driving patterns have stayed pretty consistent.

Anyway, it's been a very productive and good trip to Los Angeles; as with New York, I thankfully got to spend some time with college friends in between lectures (both giving and attending), meetings, learning about new technologies, and catching up with the latest from many professional contacts and friends. I got to catch up with a number of friends from both college and post-college, including friends J and A and their son L (who is close to O's age and really reminded me of him; J reports that he was still asking a few days later when I'd come back to read more stories, so I must've made a somewhat positive impression). And I even got to go see my friend J's excellent new documentary film in an honest-to-goodness first run mainstream movie theater as an anonymous patron -- there was spontaneous applause at the credits! Congrats to J, looking forward to the Seattle premiere next week! But even more than that, definitely looking forward to and ready to be heading home tonight, to snuggle with the family first thing tomorrow morning with the boys wake up.

Furlough / A guy walks into a bar...

It's been a long but good week! While the time in many ways flew by, and it was great to visit with family and friends, it's still very good to be back home after a solo trip to both Washington D.C. and New York. I hadn't seen my bubbie (grandmother) in quite a while, and as it's going to be challenging to get the whole family back east (though O is already frequently talking about it being our next flight destination), and I was en route to a conference in New York, I decided to fly first to DC and then take the train into New York.

The timing was somewhat fortuitous I suppose, if there's something positive to be said for a government shutdown; my aunt was off work because of it, and it was really nice to get to spend time with both her and my grandmother. I also got to have dinner with my uncle and cousin. There was good conversation, multiple rounds of gin rummy (my bubbie can still run the table), and of course lots of showing of the boys' pictures and catching everyone up on O and Z's continuing adventures and silliness. I did find some old family pics, and it was neat to see photos of my grandmother at my age, with my aunt and dad when they were kids.

I caught the evening train the next night to New York (productively getting a ton of work e-mail done with the free wi-fi), exited Grand Central station, walked a few blocks to my hotel, and walked into a crazy club scene -- I mean the lobby of my hotel -- at 10 pm. It was really quite the happening place; friend M who I caught up with later in the week indicated she'd had a date there. I rolled my bag to what I thought was the check-in desk, only to realize from the wide array of bottles behind the desk that it was actually the bar - whoops.

Of course everywhere I went, I was thinking about the boys and Meh; my route to the convention center took me past the horse stables (is there anything more incongruous in the middle of Manhattan?), and I snapped a picture of them getting ready to start their day. Similarly, I thought of my favorite librarian when I saw the New York Public Library lions. And I also was proven wrong by O in absentia; he has frequently said that any tow truck with its lights flashing is a "police tow truck", and I've tried to patiently explain that tow trucks aren't operated by the police. Sure enough, my first morning, an NYPD tow truck was getting ready to haul away an illegally parked vehicle.

The conference went very well; it was good to both catch up with a number of fellow audio folks and the talks I delivered seemed well received. I also got to meet a number of students in a "speed mentoring" session, and a bunch turned out to be in town for the conference from the technical college in my own home town -- small world! There were also evening social events; one of which was next door to an unlabeled storefront that must have been some kind of art space housing (I kid you not, see the picture) some glowing flying dogs with wings chained to what looked like a scrapped car engine. I have no idea, yet somehow I think it would not have been out of place if transported to my hotel's lobby. Anyway, I showed the picture to O tonight and he though it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.

I was also able to catch up with a number of old friends for meals or coffee, and had an alarming number of kosher deli meals (yes, the links are correct; I ate at Ben's twice). And best of all, I got to spend time with my brother B and sister in law J, moving out of the slightly pretentious hotel for the weekend to stay at their very cozy new place in Brooklyn, along with sampling some of the best bagels in the borough. We had such a wonderful time hanging out, catching up, seeing some nice exhibits at the Met, and more. My brother and I also stopped by the movie theater that will be premiering my good friend J's documentary film in a few days -- alas, the operators of the theater were clueless and didn't even know that it was coming, so I couldn't find any publicity photos. Ah well -- huge congrats to J, and go see the film!

B and I also went to the not-yet-completed 9/11 Memorial, where there are a very emotionally moving pair of inverted fountains with etched victims names, the Survivor Tree (which somehow survived both the original disaster *and* Hurricane Sandy last year), and a building that will house a museum in the future, all adjacent to the nearly completed 1,776 foot tall One World Trade Center. A meaningful, respectful, and understated memorial; well worth the queue and substantial security.

I of course picked up presents for both the boys (two new toy subway cars that cover Uncle B and Aunt J's current commute routes) and Meh (a pair of black and white cookies, one from one of the most posh bakeries in town and one that was slightly more humble [authentic?] -- we'll have to see which she prefers). And at last I was back on the plane home -- another trip in a few weeks to LA and then I think I'm home for quite some time!

Video games unleavened

Straight from one trip to another! Meh and I returned from an excellent London holiday on Sunday afternoon, and first thing Monday I was on a plane down to San Francisco for a conference. Due to scheduling restrictions with Moscone, the Game Developers Conference was booked to coincide with both Passover and Good Friday this year. On the first night, friends A and E invited me to their lovely family seder; it was great to be able to be with friends and observe a meaningful start to the holiday. The next day was the full-day tutorial I've run for now twelve straight years (yes, I still coordinated it the year I couldn't attend due to some kind of family thing :), but after it completed, I was off to an unofficial Game Developers Passover Seder, held at the open art space of YetiZen (ironically while YetiZen themselves were co-hosting an IGDA party elsewhere that received some negative publicity). It was again a nice drawing together of the fairly disparate community of video game developers who observe (or in some cases were just curious about) Passover. There's a nice blog post on the seder here.

Huge thanks to both the overall event planners and my company's own awesome event planner, both of whom secured kosher-for-Passover meals for breakfasts and lunches during the week.

Ditching the date

London-town! It seems like I was just here last month. Oh, because I was. But this time I was accompanied by a lovely lady -- yes, it was Meh's long-awaited return to her favorite (favourite) city! Grandma and J had graciously offered to fly in for the week and watch the boys back at home while we jetset across to the UK. I had work meetings and such, but Meh of course found fabulous ways to spend the days in my absence, and we had some great experiences together as well. We arrived on St. Patrick's Day which, while surprisingly not nearly as big of a thing as it is in the states, still features a giant crazy parade that ends right down the street from our hotel (thank goodness we took the Tube rather than a taxi!). We tried to explore, but the pedestrian density (and the rain/umbrellas) kept us away; we ended up just walking through Covent Garden, then caught up with friends N and S and their boys J and R, followed by a grownups only dinner at an excellent kosher curry establishment.

The next day, we had a lovely breakfast in St. James Park at the aptly named Inn the Park, before setting off to play tourist at a fabulous museum I've walked past multiple times without even noticing, the Churchill War Rooms -- bunkers used during World War II that are now a surprisingly large museum. Then we set off for what I think Meh managed to acquire nearly every day of our visit, some excellent civilised afternoon tea, at our favorite royal establishment. Alas, while we knew the forecast was for rain and had brought our umbrellas, our choice to walk across the four parks needed to get to our favorite spot was met with first a drizzle, then rain, then a downpour, followed by thunder, lightning, hail, and sleet. We were pretty much soaked to the bone by the time we arrived at the Orangery, but warmed up nicely with some earl grey.

To the title of this post -- we'd really hoped to catch The Book of Mormon in London, and were disappointed to learn beforehand that it was totally sold out (it had just opened). However, I saw that they do a pre-show raffle of returned tickets, and as it was just about the time that we'd gotten back from our tea, we wandered over to the theater. It was really a fun event, with people clustered on the sidewalk while two humorous entertainers from the theater (I never did find out if they were involved in the production) encouraged/harassed people to complete their raffle entries and drop them into the metal cage raffle box. Finally, they started drawing names, and everyone celebrated the winners, who marched inside to purchase their tickets. On the raffle request form, you got to indicate whether you wanted 1 or 2 tickets, and of course everyone had been selecting two, so it wasn't a huge surprise when they indicated there were an odd number left, and finally they were down to what they termed a "ditch the date" situation, with a single ticket left. Meh and I had agreed early on that if only one of us won, she would go and I'd meet up with her after the show. The single ticket winner they drew... was not us. The winner came up and gallantly indicated that he could not ditch the date; he received a lovely parting prize of a Book of Mormon frog. The next name they drew... was me! Before I could even make my way up to the front, Meh gleefully belted out "I'm ditching him!!" to much laughter and applause from the audience. I too got a frog for being ditched, and queued to get the ticket. The raffle-holders closed the doors and were still chuckling about Meh's comment as I paid. Then the ticket seller told me that there had actually been one additional late return ticket - not near where Meh was sitting, but would I still like it? But of course! So I got a frog and both of us got to see the show, catching up at the break with each other. Score! And great fun; I actually ended up sitting next to two other Americans (coincidentally one of their children is a student at my alma matter on a London semester exchange) who were having a great time - I started telling them how I got my tickets, and they commented "Oh, your wife was the one who yelled, 'I'm ditching him!' when your name was called." -- they hadn't won the raffle, but had managed to buy some returned tickets.

No need to go blow-by-blow through the whole trip (I know, too late), but a few more highlights included touring and a lovely tea at the impressive Wallace Collection, a second excellent show ("Once", where the stage is a bar -- no really, they serve drinks before the show and at intermission), tasty morsels from the Borough Market, visiting with friends T and B (and their Z-aged son T, who we've known since the boys were both infants) near Reading, and Meh even got to experience one of friend N's excellent student programs, an in-person tour that tied British Museum Egyptian artifacts to the Passover/Exodus story.

Along the way, we were of course thinking about the boys frequently and checking in with grandma and J to learn that they were having an excellent time (there might be pictures, though I suspect they'll be locked on grandma's camera for some time :) We of course stocked up on both chocolates (O's permanent expectation for returning from any trip) and transport-themed materials from the London Transport Museum, but also took a number of pictures of British vehicles for the boys to look at when we get back -- I expect this is the one they will be most excited about, the 747 jumbo jet that will shortly be taking us back home! It's been an amazing and wonderful trip (full album here), but it will be good to get back to them (alas for me, for all too short a time; I'm back on a plane tomorrow for the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco -- and for the start of and most of Passover no less, ugh!). Huge thanks once more to grandma and J for spending a full and likely exhausting week with the boys and their hectic schedules!

Extreme Pond Jumping

Close college friends T and S and their super fun kids M, R, and A moved to Israel several months ago, and when I learned I'd be speaking at a conference in London, I figured that would be close by and a good opportunity to try to see them beforehand. Alas, my European geography apparently failed me slightly, as this meant a 5+ hour flight (and another 2 hour time change forward) less than 18 hours after I landed in London. Still, I got to get into London, have dinner with friends N, S, and their boys J and R, and then hop the Tube the next morning back to Heathrow, getting to friends T and S's house in Jerusalem by early afternoon!

Being in Israel was definitely a change from my last visit, which was more than 20 (!) years ago. The airport is gorgeous; in addition to the self-proclaimed largest duty-free shopping by square footage in the world, there was a giant mezuzah greeting travelers. T and S live in Baq'a, very near where I was based when I came to Israel in high school. In fact, on our first evening, we drove past the new home of the education facility where I'd stayed (which is now the second story of a car dealership). The visit was a nice combination of visiting with the family, playing tourist, lite shopping on Ben Yehuda Street, admiring impressive indoor and outdoor artwork at the Israel Museum, eating excellent kosher meaty food (the big new thing in Israel is apparently fancy burgers with dozens of different sauce options; they looked disappointed when I just asked for ketchup), and getting a brief dose of immersion with R's evening school activities, a doctor's office visit, and general hanging out. It was so great to get to spend time with friends as they adjust to living in a new country and culture. Of course I couldn't leave without a few souvenirs for the boys: a kippah with Pixar Cars, and another with Curious George. Oh, and some rugelach from an excellent bakery. Full pics here.

Back to London, where I had a good and productive conference, and got to see my friends once more before I head back to the US. A good but exhausting trip; very happy to be getting ready to board the plane back!

Slumber party

O has been, shall we say, exploring his sleeping options in the past week or two; last week, he apparently ended up in Z's bed, which Z was none too pleased about. Meh found Z quietly sitting (sulking?) on his stuffed bear seat at a concerningly late hour when she got home from work. And a few times in the past week, I've put him to bed only to have him open his door and then both boys to dash back and forth between bedrooms - this was particularly frazzling when I was solo while Meh was at a conference. So in some ways last night's experiment was bound to occur sooner or later: O was climbing into Z's bed during story time, insisting he wanted to sleep with Z. So Meh pulled down the mattress from the top bunk onto the floor, brought in O's blankies, and the experiment began. We almost immediately had a Berenstain Bears moment when the boys simultaneously declared that they wanted the lights on (Z) and the lights off (O), but managed to make peace with the compromise of the lights off but Z using his night sky-projecting turtle. We heard a very cute conversation from downstairs, but they did indeed both go to sleep in the same room successfully. Perhaps this is the start of a shared bedroom?

Nailed It / Halloween Preview

We got a fingernail scrubber brush months ago. Occasionally one or both of the boys thought it was funny to put in their mouths, or to use to brush their hair. We of course use it to clean fingers that seem to get impossibly dirty considering they're not playing in the mud or anything. O decided it was time to test this contraption's correct use out, and we now have a young manicurist in the family.

The boys' Halloween costumes are all picked out (and Meh has impressively slaved away at custom creations for both boys) -- but no, these aren't them! The approach of Halloween, in addition to getting both boys talking about going trick or treating and getting candy, has got O even more into costumes and playacting than previously. Here's one that's a particular favorite with the boys' newfound discovery (and now love) of Toy Story's cowboy, Woody. Draw, pardner!

Later this week, Meh and I will be taking a short trip down the coast where I've got two conferences to present at. We're looking forward to a mostly quiet few days to recharge and visit a few local friends in between my work activities. Mima, Papa, and Uncle J will be keeping the boys company - as always a huge thanks and we're so lucky to have such supportive family!

London Calling

It's been a hectic week of travel and meetings here in the UK. I did get a brief chance to catch up on some shopping, and even hopefully will help equip O's upcoming London/double-decker themed birthday party with authentic accoutrements. It was also nice just to walk around Central London and catch up with my locally based coworkers. I got to briefly chat with O and Z online; Z apparently keeps taking about daddy "going to work on an airplane to London". Meh remains the most amazing, creative activity planning, and patient mommy, and a huge preemptive thanks to mima and papa for all of the assistance and support they're providing during my absence!

Did I mention the posh and pretentious-looking bar I walked past in Covent Garden called "Detroit"? Awesome. Anyway, tonight, a coworker and I had a lovely catchup dinner with friends N and S after delivering a Costco-sized portion of the one surprising food they most crave from the US (trust me, O certainly agrees on its value), and getting to hang out with their fabulous kids for a bit. But tomorrow I head back after perhaps one more attempt to grab some gifts/birthday party decorations.

Very much looking forward to getting home tomorrow afternoon, though unfortunately I have to turn right back around and head to San Francisco on Monday for my annual Game Developers Conference pilgrimage. On the plus side, the aforementioned O birthday party promises to be fun (if hectic), and grandma and J are flying in on Friday to join us for the big number two, before heading back to the airport with me on Monday.