Christmas dinner

When I first moved up to Seattle, I knew precisely one person, from a summer program she and I had attended while in college. Today, at long last, Meh and I took the family to her delightful and highly successful new(ish) bakery. Congrats to Robin! And a huge success with our own food critics; the boys were big fans of the giant cookie sandwiches.

I mentioned yesterday that Z loves associating holidays with months, and that he was very much looking forward to Christmas. When he learned that we don't actually "do" Christmas, he was sad -- though he certainly brightened up when I indicated we'd be in Disneyland for the holiday this year. And then friends-of-friends C and T expressed an interest in doing a bit of a 'cultural' exchange, where we'll host them for a Shabbat/Chanukah dinner in a few weeks. So tonight we went over to their house, which they had just finished decking out for the holiday (with not only tree and ornament, but also trains, model houses, and more), for a very November Christmas dinner. The kids made snickerdoodles, there was much playing (in two separate playrooms no less) with friends, and everyone even warmed up to the family's friendly golden retriever after a while. Some of the adults even busted out with carols, and it was a lovely evening. Happy almost December to everyone!

Double dates

With Thanksgiving now past us, Z has been focusing on the upcoming month and holiday associated with it - "In December we'll have Christmas!" Er, hm. But at least Chanukah makes the list as well. I do still love the selections (and spellings) that comprise the Z bank holiday calendar; my favorite is "short day", which we figured out to mean days where he has a half day at school.

Movie nights have been a popular non-school-night activity with the boys. Last night we at long last introduced the boys to Star Wars (and despite many online nearly religious debates of correct ordering, we opted to open with Episode IV). O definitively proved himself to be my son by declaring during the opening titles, "This music sounds like Superman!" Both boys had a great time, and O definitively stated that his favorite part "was where they blew up the bad guy space ship". We'll have to slot in the rest of the original trilogy soon; that prequel trilogy is still TBD.

Today the boys each had an activity with a non-parent. Mima and O had lunch at a shockingly original location before heading onward to the local art museum for a project making a toolbox. O did a fabulous job with his, and though the paint is still drying, he *really* wants to put all of the tools that used to go in a little plastic box into the new toolbox. And Z got to go to his favorite park with former summer camp counselor E, who was visiting from university for the long holiday weekend. When Z had heard about getting to hang out with E a few weeks ago, he was super excited -- so much so that on an art project that came home with the names of people he was thankful for, E showed up. (Fear not, the entire atomic family and grandparents made the list as well.) All in all, an excellent time for the boys, and some good quality time for Meh and me to spend with L as well!

Cut the turkey

For this episode of "successful picture of three kids", I present some blur, some looking off camera, but at least all smiles. Happy Thanksgiving! We had a festive and high energy celebration of 22 people (14 adults, 8 kids, 2 babies); needless to say, it was a bit hectic - but lovely and yummy as always; Meh and mima outdid themselves, selecting the breast only cuts from the grocery store meant way too much turkey (though far more success with the actual carving), and of course the challah was in high demand. Grandma and J came to visit from Michigan for the week as well, and had a lovely time hanging out with the boys and L. Grandma even got to put her very first girl in a dress (though one of her friends later disputed this, recalling grandma helping out with one of that friend's baby daughters).

Of course the boys had their traditional sleepover at grandma and J's hotel (it sounded like some amount of sleeping actually did occur, though many stories were read first). L continued to show off her backwards crawling to everyone's amusement, and even chowed down on most everything that was at the Thanksgiving table - turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and more.

In earlier news, this past weekend was another rainy/gloomy affair, so I decided to introduce the boys to the pastime of bowling at a local alley. It was like turning back time walking through the door, with the same combination of banner beer ads, funky carpet smell, pull tabs, and of course the classic rental shoes. Thankfully, these fine folks offered automated bumper bowling, where bumpers would physically pop up in the gutters when it was the boys' turn and then back down for mine -- it mostly worked. The scores were embarrassing (well, mine was), but everyone had a great time rolling (or in O's case, hurling) the ball down the lane. And there were even some light math lessons ("you knocked down 3 pins - how many are left?"). Z was a great fan of everyone's bowling, and would hilariously bowl, cheer quickly, then run back to his seat to watch the ball slowly (sooo slowly, though the boys' balls only got stuck like five times) wobble down the lane. The shoes were the favorite part for O, as of couse they had his favorite color (blue) in them.

Near sighted

O's class pictures were Thursday, and he was arguably more excited than we were about the big day. Without a word or cue from me, he picked out his own ensemble and came downstairs in the morning looking quite dapper, ready for his pictures. "Wow, I look very good today!" And he knows it. This spells trouble I suspect.

In other news, L continues to be pretty much in love with her brothers, with many smiles and giggles as she watches them and as they all play together.

Today the boys and I had an early guys' movie morning, allegedly at a "sensory-friendly" screening where they would turn down the volume and turn up the lights just a bit. When I bought the tickets, I double checked we had the right screening, and the staff at the ticket counter first had a blank look and then nodded and said "yes, that's the [mumble] screening". As far as I could tell, it turned out to just be a regular showing, but the boys loved every minute of it and did a great job of quietly watching the movie and mowing through an oversized bag of popcorn. Afterwards, there was a giant version of Baymax in the lobby, and Z confirmed for himself that the robot was indeed as huggable as had been depicted in the movie.

Last Prize

Tonight Meh and I had date night, going to see a special screening of a beautiful newly restored print of Meh's favorite unicorn film at a fun city movie theater that serves up food before and during the show. Before and after, the original author of the book (and writer of the screenplay) himself was signing books and memorabilia. We enjoyed the movie (cheesy music, several corny lines, and all!), and then Peter S. Beagle himself took to the stage to answer questions and then help draw raffle of various prizes (artwork, posters, original film cels, etc.).

At the very end, there was one extra special raffle prize whose winner would get to go up on stage with Peter -- and yup, Meh won! She was so excited that she almost bit it getting up onto the stage, but she recovered and was rewarded with a shirt slightly modifying a quote from the movie, and whose explanation was a regaling of the story that somehow Peter Beagle was the first to author a story involving a female unicorn. Meh also picked up a book (unicorn-themed, by a Seattle writer who was at the screening as well) and a cool tote bag that had the entire text of the book printed on it in tiny but legible type, and forming the silhouetted shape of the lead character. What a fun and magical evening!

A portrait by the artist as a young man

Both boys love to watch L explore her new world. Last month we brought out some of the baby toys as well as the modular play mat (she of course enjoys disassembling it as much as practicing her plank pose on it. Z has taken to calling it her "privacy", since he knows that he and O aren't supposed to go on it, a concept reinforced when one of the folding gates came out to circle her toys (as much to keep the boys from playing with them as to keep their own toys out of the reach of baby hands and mouth). Yesterday, Z drew this excellent "Picture of Eleanor in Her Privacy" (2014, pencil on paper), which will most certainly adorn the fridge for some time. Nice job, Z!

Cache and Carry

What? That last post had not a single gratuitous pic of L? Just a Facebook link? Okay, rectified here, with a shot of her at the boys' new favorite indoor rainy day activity, jumping on large trampolines until they get sweaty and exhausted. She obviously enjoys going and watching the activities as well. You're welcome.

I've talked at length about O's obsession with "treasure" (perhaps encouraged a little too much by that trove he unearthed at the beach?); every time we go to a park, he's looking on the ground for treasures that he can keep. More often than not he spies litter (wrappers, bottle caps, etc.), but occasionally there's actually a penny or something interesting and non-gross enough to take home. Over the past few weeks, Meh reminded me of the sport of letterboxing, where people around the country hide a small artifact and then post clues online for others to find the item (and then rehide it for others to discover as well). Many of these are hidden in parks and woods, and sure enough, when I checked, the boys' favorite park was indeed a spot with a buried letterbox. Alas, the sport (or at least this trove) appears to have been aged out of fashion, as the boys and I followed the precise instructions but there was no letterbox to be found (the box had been hidden nearly 10 years ago, and the website was feeling a bit long in the tooth as well).

But never fear, in actuality it appears the pastime has rather just morphed in our connected mobile world to something called geocaching, where in addition to (or sometimes in place of) clues are provided GPS coordinates, and of course apps on every phone (yes, even mine) that let you kind of sort of orienteer to the prize. We returned to the same park, which claimed to have a geocache, and after the prerequisite 'exercise' (me pushing them on the swings), O and I intently followed the instructions while L snoozed and Z played with mommy. We looked very carefully at the hiding place, and lifted a seemingly innocuous rock to uncover a tiny black canister filled with a scroll of paper that you sign indicating you've discovered it. O was in awe and super excited, but also concerned when I indicated it was time to re-hide the cache for the next, um, geocacher? Afterwards, he talked about how cool it was, but how it wasn't treasure because you couldn't take it home with you. I asked if he wanted to do it again, and he said he'd rather find treasure. We'll just have to see if Z gets interested as well.

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!