Sweet tooth

Early last month (like, the second day of school), Z lost a tooth at school. His teachers discovered this because apparently one of them noticed something in their pocket that hadn't been there a moment earlier; Z had decided to bring his tooth to the faculty rather than keep it himself. At least it wasn't thrown away -- it came home in a cute little envelope (and within that, in a little tooth-shaped pouch on a string necklace). Yesterday, a second tooth fell out - alas, this one was not recovered. But the lost tooth was perfect timing for a gap-toothed Halloween smile for Z, who did reflect on the holiday in the daily journal sheet he brings home.Z had declared many months ago that he wanted to be the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz -- and he was super pleased with the excellent version mommy devised; my favorite part was the silver spray painted funnel oil can hat.

Meh kicked off the holiday in style, with excellently ghoulish green chocolate chip and eyeball pancakes (as well as orange jack-o-lantern ones) for the boys this morning. During the day, Z reportedly had fun at his class parade (as per the journal above); I managed to entertain coworkers and trick-or-treaters alike at work with my costume. And in the evening, it was time to take the boys out to trick or treat -- everything was indeed awesome, as proven out by our costumes.

For those who haven't been watching The Lego Movie on a loop, that would be Emmet, Wyldstyle, and then the boys as Tin Woodman and the Red Power Ranger. She'd already gone to bed at this point, but here's a picture of our cute little winged fairy L as well.

It only took 7 years, but both boys successfully traversed the entire neighborhood - and with daddy solo to boot, while mommy stayed home to pass out candy to the other neighborhood kids. I was so proud to be able to stop at the foot of the driveway and watch the boys scurry up to the houses. Sometimes they even remembered to say 'trick or treat', and once I may have even caught them saying 'thank you' afterwards (despite me prompting them nearly every time -- manners, people!). We returned home to count the candy hordes and have one piece before bedtime. Happy Halloween!

Band minus one

We really need to book family portraits at some point; alas, our favorite photographer has moved south to warmer climes. But in the short term, enough of the family was assembled on the couch today that I was able to grab the camera and get a few shots of everyone but myself -- again, with varying degrees of success with regard to blurriness, smiling, and/or looking at the camera. This is hard stuff!

Heavy lunch

No idea why this was the case, but today at lunch, a SWAT vehicle belonging to the county sheriff was parked out in front of the boys' burger joint of choice. Z and O were beside themselves and almost couldn't be bothered to actually go inside and eat. A sheriff did go from table to table and give them sheriff's badge stickers, so that was another bonus. We'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to sort out what exactly the sheriffs do for rescues that utilizes tactical armored vehicles -- but the boys certainly weren't complaining.

Halloween is just around the corner, and while Z is talking about it nearly constantly, O has been living it even moreso, existing in full try-on-your-costume-practically-every-day mode. Actually at one point he decided he wanted to change costumes, but tough, we already picked yours out kid -- you can make your own if you really think a late audible is the way to go. Anyway, this morning, he was in full dress up mode. First he cobbled together bits of his Jake and the Never Land Pirates props, plus his British soldier pajamas, and declared, "I look like a soldier pirate. But also a bit like a captain."

Then, and I do not exaggerate here, not five minutes later, he'd done a full outfit change to his official Halloween costume, to imposingly stalk around the house.

Granted, he still hasn't actually seen these Power Rangers in any form, but that doesn't stop him from loving this costume -- until of course he decides he really wants to be a Transformer (which he also hasn't seen).

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.

Faculty dining

Getting pictures of all three kids together had to this point remained an impossibility that scientists hyptothesize may be related to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. But somehow the stars aligned for this rare shot of all three of them, more or less in focus, more or less smiling, and (gasp) a few of them even looking at the camera. I'll claim victory where I can.

The pumpkins have been picked out for what Z reminds us is 'almost Halloween'; we did trips on two consecutive weekends to the same farm/pumpkin patch for corn maze running around, hay rides, picking apples, jumping on a huge trampoline, sliding down slides on burlap sacks, and yes, picking out pumpkins to carve.

I'm afraid to tempt fate, but somehow it's still warm enough to sit outside to eat dinner in October. So tonight the boys and I did just that. O was so pleased to be having a civilized al fresco meal outdoors that I'd prepared that he commented, "Thank you so much for the yummy dinner, daddy. You're the best in the whole wide university." Flattery will get you anywhere, as will picking up new words (seemingly out of nowhere) slightly incorrectly and using them adorably.

Crawl, walk, run

A big milestone is seemingly just around the corner: L appears to be on the verge of crawling -- forward, that is. She already can scoot herself backwards fairly consistently, if slowly. If you dare to look away while she's on the ground, when you check back in mere seconds later, she'll often have rotated herself as well as moving surprising distances. Often you get an audible warning of this because she'll start complaining when she's backed herself up into a wall or piece of furniture.

So so close -- go L! (Or, perhaps, no need to rush - it's actually nice knowing at least one of the three is still fairly contained?)

I love sushi

After another in a continuing series of OMG-I-must-get-energy-out-of-these-crazy-boys-so-let's-get-them-to-the-park-ASAP, this time featuring the boys climbing up a train play structure to precarious positions and alarming heights and still somehow not breaking their necks, it was lunch time. We returned to the boys' perennial favorite conveyor belt sushi restaurant, where the waiter knows all of our names and, when handing us the bill, knowingly says, "See you again... next week!".

Mommy and L came to join us, and L had her first taste of tofu from Meh's miso soup. She was a big fan, and gobbled up nearly all of the solids in the soup before she was done. Speaking of gobbling up, while Z stuck with his standard fare of cucumber rolls (first ejecting the actual cucumber), O has been consistently expanding his own repertoire of sushi, and a crazy smorgasbord of cucumber rolls, potstickers, edamame, and of course a dessert cake pop.

Tomorrow's Their Wedding Night

Yesterday was the wedding of friends J and L in beautiful Montecito at the posh Biltmore Four Seasons. It was a lovely occasion, full of music, laughter, dancing, glorious weather, impromptu performances, a documentary, and more -- more on that in a bit. Mima and papa graciously watched the boys, but it was a bit early for L to try to go cold turkey with a bottle, so the three of us jetted down to Santa Barbara for the weekend. On the plane, L had herself a lovely snack of cheeks of mommy.

Each morning we were there, L was up crazy early, so I tried to let Meh sleep a bit by taking the little girl for extended strolls around the downtown and all the way down to the beach. Sometimes she dozed again, other times she crowed or raspberried, but it was nice, relaxing, and peaceful. During the day, in between the ceremony rehearsal, we also got to catch up with friends (some of whom I hadn't seen since college) -- and L got to enjoy her very first dip in a warm salt-water pool overlooking the ocean at an equally luxurious beach club opposite the hotel -- she decided she liked the taste of the water and had a lolling tongue for the remainder.

The rehearsal dinner was a joyous affair, with a women's ukulele group serenading the bride and groom, followed by a few toasts; Meh had contributed immensely to my own effort in this regard, a (thankfully pre-recorded) duet performance altering the lyrics to a certain recent animated film number that the boys might have been watching on auto-repeat back in Washington even while we were at the dinner. It was appropriately silly and self-deprecating to get some applause, and the main goal of entertaining the bride and groom was (hopefully) accomplished; while I suspect I should probably pull it down at some point, for now it can be found at this link. L was a hit of the dinner, wearing the fabulous outfit you see here and smiling/cooing/screeching happily at everyone she met.

The wedding day arrived and was again just perfectly "them". The hotel had sourced a very nice babysitter so Meh and I could go to the kid-free wedding, and as a wedding party member I think I was there starting at like 9 am. The last piece of music before the ceremony itself started was the fabulous Muppets Take Manhattan's "Somebody's Getting Married". The ceremony featured multiple references back to their favorite lyrics, and the officiating rabbi had been director of my college Hillel when I was there. The reception was no less excellent, with beautifully decorated tables and a cascade of loving dedications to the happy couple: a faux documentary telling the story of their meeting that J's friend T had made (L, meh, and I had contributed a few clips remotely from Seattle), a surprise rendition of a number from "A Chorus Line" by the bride and her acting friends [they had done a recent production], first dances with the parents and in-laws, and warmth and joy all around.

The weekend was capped off with a goodbye brunch the next morning -- as if the weekend couldn't be topped, the brunch took place at the same beach club overlooking the Pacific, and as we were sitting there eating, a pod of dolphins decided to start leaping and frolicking in the waves outside. Perfect! Congratulations and mazel tov once more to J and L - more pics here!

Six months, four shots

L is now six months old! (Or, as O prefers to think of it, less than a week until he's officially four and a half.) She had her checkup yesterday, and the poor girl had to get four different shots! That made her a bit fussy/sad, even to the extent of a low grade fever that kept her and us up last night - pobre Eleanor! The stats:

• Weight: 17 lbs 11 oz (75th-90th percentile)
• Length: 26" (50th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 16.55" (25th-50th percentile)

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!

Seats and tray tables

On the drive up to Whidbey last week, we noticed a big sign announcing that this weekend was the return of the wildly popular-with-the-boys Vintage Aircraft Weekend. We invited friends B, J, and their kids J and M along this time, and preceded the event by sampling mima and papa's favorite New York-style pizza place - a new favorite for us and the other family, though our boys couldn't be bothered to try the pizza (even though we got plain cheese), breadsticks, or caprese salad. Anyway, from there it was onward to the show; after dashing inside and instantly exclaiming about all of the planes (and other vehicles -- though alas, not the huge collection go-carts, army vehicles, fire trucks, or bounce houses we saw last year), O climbed up to check out a dogfighter before asking nobody in particular what other planes he could get in. A friendly passing staff member answered anyway, pointing at an impressive World War II B25-D bomber that we learned had actually just done a demonstration flight an hour earlier. The queue was long, but O impressively and patiently persisted (Z and the others opted out, continuing onward to look at other planes) and eventually got to climb the ladder to check out first the cockpit and then crawl through the tunnel to the forward gunner seat.

We got to see a number of other planes, both stationary and flying in formations low across the runway. Both O and J were pretty smitten (and calling pretty much every single-propeller plane Dusty Crophopper) and Z had a great time as well. And the weather turned out to be surprisingly sunny after the morning rains. All in all a lovely and successful family outing! Full album here.

Tonight another milestone for L - while she's been sampling an increasing number of foods, Meh was inspired by M at lunch, who at one month older than L was already gumming carrots and such. So we reattached the tray table that goes with her high chair and tried a big cube of watermelon. L mostly squished it, but did manage to consume a little bit of it -- go L!

Getting with the programs

Today both boys had their school class orientations - and both went to each other's, which made things extra interesting. First it was Z's class, which he's been talking about for most of the summer -- though since camp has ended, he's appended "and then we'll go to camp next summer" to the schedule following school. There had been no e-mailed announcement of his teachers or classmates, and sure enough when we got to the school there were lists printed everywhere of all of the kids and their class assignments -- working through the crowds to find Z's name in small courier font was an instant flashback to my own grade school. But from there we got to his class and saw a few familiar names from his kindergarten class, and got to meet his teacher, who seemed both very nice, had an exciting classroom of organizational materials for Z to comment on, and mentioned she recognized Z from when the kindergarten and first grade classes had crossed paths. He's very excited to be heading back to school on Tuesday; earlier this week we got a message from his former bus driver that she'll still be doing the route, so that'll be a nice familiar and friendly face as well!

And then we visited O's upcoming classroom; alas, it was at the height of rush hour traffic, so L had a sad time in the car on the long stop-and-go drive down. But once we arrived, everyone was happy, and O pretty much pulled us into his new classroom; we recognized two familiar names in the class roster, and O has been talking about other kids in his class that he knows from last year's playground activities. Got to meet both new teachers, who were super nice, as well as a few other parents. Besides constructing another couple of block towers of terror (alongside A, one of his two classmates from the prior year), O was particularly excited to be sharing a classroom with Alice, a large turtle in an aquarium in the corner of the room. Z in the mean time was a big fan of the classroom's tree-themed corner loft (filled with pillows, shelves of books, and dangling decorative stars, clumps of paper "leaves", and actual stick "branches".

We celebrated the nearing end of summer with a concluding family dinner at the boys' favorite local sushi-go-round; L smiled, chattered, and raspberried at everyone while the boys enjoyed alarming numbers of plates of cucumber rolls, gyoza, and edamame.

Life's a beach -- again

Less than a week after our lovely family holiday trip to the Oregon coast, we were off again -- this time heading the other direction to Whidbey Island with mima and papa (and with Uncle J and his girlfriend joining up later in the trip as well!). The boys were super excited, even though I had to explain to Z that there weren't going to be bumper cars or L's beach house. I won't say the trip was strictly "relaxing", but we did have a lovely time and had all sorts of adventures.

We arrived on the ferry and headed straight to one of the large farmers markets to meet up with mima and papa for a tasty lunch (well, the boys had snacks -- and then O and I played oversized outdoor chess for a bit), then beat the heat at one of many local beaches with some rocket popsicles from a well-timed ice cream truck. Then it was time to check out our digs! We arrived to a very cozy and very beach-themed house that mima had secured for us; the boys had an excellent pair of upstairs window seat beds, while L, mommy, and I were in a downstairs room (ideally to allow everyone more sleep -- and it kind of sort of worked, at least for L and mommy!). My favorite touch was the railing to the upstairs, which was made of a long wooden oar. L's new de facto play area was a chair with a long cushion that could comfortably hold her (and occasionally one of her brothers as well).

O has been obsessed with "fishing" (which he takes to mean hunting for treasure underwater) for some time, and we had two special surprises for him. First, I'd picked up a kids fishing rod (Spider-Man themed, naturally) and at one of the parks where they'd had such a fun time last year, we gave it a try. Alas, the very first time that I cast off with the practice fish-shaped rubber lure attached, the lure made a lovely arc out into Puget Sound and the line snapped. O was very concerned, but I let him know it was totally fine and that the lure was "swimming with the fish". (I crack myself up.) The rest of that afternoon he was asking about the fish, concerned that it would be okay, and asking me to go out into the sound and find it. Ah well. The second treasure-themed activity went far better -- mima snuck a wooden box full of coins down to the beach by the beach house, and then Meh sketched a map and rolled it up. When O and Z "discovered" it, we helped them read the map and explore the beach, where they found an X of shells that indeed marked the spot. Shovel in hand, O unearthed the chest and both boys were delighted with the results; Z has since taken a liking to drawing maps, while O wants me to draw paths to treasure hidden elsewhere in the house.

Besides park trips and much yummy cooking for each other (including dinner one evening up on a rooftop patio), we took the kids to check out a cool lighthouse. Little did I know it had an increasingly narrow spiral staircase around its interior to get up to the actual lantern room -- I was mildly concerned the boys were going to get stuck up there, but we did in the end get up and down safely, and also explored bunkers and cannons in between snack time. We even had brief houseguests, as our friends who'd been at the Oregon house were also on the island for the day and came to visit. And the last night we had family smores on the beach.

Far too many of the pictures of our excellent holiday here - it's going to be hard to get back into the swing of life at home tomorrow!

Tooth or dare

Yesterday was Z's annual dentist check up, and I continue to be impressed by how well he manages the appointment -- a great job of listening, paying attention to the doctor and hygienist, dealing with toothbrushes and dental utensils and floss in his mouth, and more. He was given a clean bill of dental health - yay for Z! I continue to be even more impressed with Meh, who took him along with L -- great job to both of them! The dentist indicated several teeth were loose, and as if on cue, tonight he lost a bottom front right tooth. Z was excited to talk about the forthcoming tooth fairy visit, and started saying "you have another loose tooth" as well; sure enough, the corresponding left one is wiggling a bit. Go Z!

It's our time down here

It's our last day down on the Oregon coast, where we've been having a fabulous (if exhausting) time with friend L at her parents' amazing beach house along with friends A, J, and their son E. L has been by and large the happy baby that Meh discussed in Bulgaria -- nearly always happy, giving big smiles to all involved. O and Z have surprisingly have slept pretty well in a shared large bed in a separate room from us. O came in both mornings to wake me up by 6:30 or 7, but he and I have had some wonderful times together, including gathering firewood on the beach yesterday evening for a smores bonfire. (And yay, my boy scout days didn't fail me - I could actually still start a decent fire.) Z has been in full artist mode, creating and then hanging a number of crayon-etched creations around the house. (Fear not; the amazing Meh had the foresight to buy and pack, in addition to a full ream of paper and many crayons, some special hanging tape that doesn't take paint off the walls.) Whether it's the noise of the kids or the lack of a fully darkened room, L hasn't always been ready for naps during the day, so yesterday I wore her and hiked out to the local rock made famous by The Goonies -- a wonderful and relaxing stroll (and apparently a big contrast to Meh's experience, apparently battling boys who alternated wanting to go into the ocean or staying high up on the beach avoiding "jellyfish" -- which every little bubble on the sand clearly must be -- oh, each boy also decided on the opposite preference to their brother of ocean vs. bluff). In the evenings, the adults sat and talked, valiantly crowded around my laptop (after a TV DRM fail) to watch the new book-into-TV-series hotness, or spotted the local landmarks in a screening aforementioned 80's film.

In addition to much time in and around the house, we also journeyed to a local beach town's semi-permanent arcade, where the boys enjoyed bumper cars (though O took 'bumper' to heart and kept trying to steer us towards the outer walls) and plenty of freshly made toffee. And there were boxes of new lego vehicles to assemble into creations as well. O and Z also had some nice times playing with their new friend E.

Huge thanks again to L for inviting us, it's been an amazing time -- I won't quite say "peaceful", but definitely a ton of fun! More pictures of the trip can be found here.

Oy fae

We've long had a fairy door in our house (and have enjoyed touring a cluster of them in at least one city near grandma and John). But in the last few days, O has had renewed interest in them. I think it at least partially comes back to his ongoing love of the TV show Jake and the Never Land Pirates, and his desire to figure out how to fly off to Never Land. Last night he left them a snack (bread, milk, and honey - Meh's expert knowledge of fairy lore suggests these are among their favorites). This morning when he came downstairs, they'd written him a tiny thank you note. His mind only temporarily and mildly blown, tonight he dictated a note back to them via mommy, asking if they could give him some fairy dust so he can fly (but, as he told us, "only in emergencies"). We may have to rethink this make believe route...