Raising a Teeny Greenie Peacenik

23 Great Moments from November 2011

2012-01-28T15:58:00.000-08:00

Oh, November. You were great, I think. I hardly remember you. Here's a glimpse of our life during that month. Click here to see the whole album.

We were the lucky recipient of another Cubs hat for the kids from Aunt Natalie. I guess that must be the frustrating aspect of buying toys for kids you love. They often lose it or break it before they've had a chance to enjoy it, or you've had a chance to enjoy watching them using it. Well, I was quick to snap a photo of Auric in his new awesome baseball cap before some tragedy could befall it.

(He put it on like that. I have nothing to do with that nonsense.)

Thora and Zach, winged fairies, at dance class. While Zach has kind of tired of the costume insanity that accompanies each dance class, and therefore chooses to dance in regular clothes, Thora insists on dressing up each week. The only thing I prohibit is the black Wonder Woman wig. That just seems like a little too much. But the wonder woman costume and rose petal fairy wings, and often accessorized with a scarf tied around her rib cage (I'm not sure what that supposed to be) is juuust right.

A meeting of the minds. Auric, Etta, Ellie, and Lila hash it out during one of their weekly morning play sessions.

Actually, in case you want to know what goes on in the mind of a 2 year old, here it is:

Thora saw improvement in her English and Chinese classes at school this month. She's getting better at sounding out words in English, figuring out the beginning and ending sounds, writing the letters and numbers (9 still stumps her, as do the counter-intuitive letters y and w). Here she is, proudly exhibiting her ability to write Moon in Chinese. She can also write part of her name. (There are two characters, one is simple and the other is incredibly complex. She can write the simple one.) I'll get that on film soon, I hope.

In November, Hilary, Zach's mom lined up tickets for us to see the 360' Peter Pan performance. It was exceptional. If it comes to your city, you should try to see it. Prior to the show, Thora, Zach, and I were killing time while Hilary grabbed us all hot chocolate. Thora was inspired by the poster behind her and performed her own version of magically flying. See the album here for a nice little series of photos, culminating in this one on the right.

Auric painted his first painting in November. And while Auric and his sister surely have different personalities, I was shocked to see it so obviously displayed in their respective first paintings. Notice in Auric's he dabs. It seems kind of careful, dare I say, thoughtful.

Compare that to Thora's first painting. Need I say more?

On this particular week, Thora's great friend Mia also dressed in fairy wings for dance class.

Behold, Auric, the lead guitarist of his rock band.

And here we have a tub full of Ed Grimleys.

This was one of Auric's favorite activities. It was just like his beloved puddle jumping, with added dryness. This went on for about a half hour, me kicking the leaves into a pile and then watching him run through it, kicking the pile apart. Oh to be a kid...

"What ink pad?"

We attended our first live sing along in a movie theater of one of our favorites, Mary Poppins! They gave us a goodie bag upon entering, full of glow sticks for fireworks at the end of "Step in Time," a mini cup for the tea party on the ceiling, and a tambourine for "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." It was great fun!

Mary Poppins on the big screen! Good Times!

With no real plans of our own, we were kindly invited down to Zach's grandparents' place in Connecticut for Thanksgiving. A great time was had by all. Here are Zach and Thora during the big meal, drinking chocolate milk out of plastic wine glasses.

We went down to the beach in neighboring Greenwich for a hike on the incredibly unseasonably warm day. These photos were shot by Zach's Aunt Becca. Thanks, Becca for the great pics!

Here's Auric, not realizing that it's hard to look contemplative and philosophical when you're wearing a leash. He almost pulls it off, though, doesn't he?

Here are the buddies, Auric and Zach, the two most photogenic boys I know.

Thora loves these guys, even when she's torturing them.

During November, Thora's JK/K class had a parents breakfast, after which, the kids put on a performance. Thora and her classmates did a few songs and stories in both English and Chinese. Here are the highlights from that. (Don't worry; when I say highlights, I mean it. The video is only 53 seconds long.)

Thora's kind of hard to see, so if you want a closer look at them singing "How Many People are in your Family?" click here. The teacher recorded both halves of the class, and Thora is in the video near the bottom, the second kid on the left.

Here is the other song that they sang, "The Fruit Song," during one of their practice sessions leading up to the big show.

Then, to round out the month, after months of planning, we finally got to celebrate Sean's birthday with my present to him, a couples' cooking class with Mark, the chef with ArtEpicure. It was an amazing experience. He tailored the menu to our interests, particularly our hope to get better at cooking a meat dish, and to have guest-quality dishes in our repertoire. We made fresh spinach salad with poached eggs and a warm shallot dressing, braised beef short ribs, sage butternut squash risotto, roasted asparagus, and Julia Childs' chocolate mousse. Everything came out perfectly, and more importantly, we've been able to replicate the dishes at home with a fair amount of success! It was a great experience and I would whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who likes to cook who lives in the Boston area. It was a very fun and memorable night!

Stay tuned for the next post, December. Until then...

39 Great Moments from October 2011

2012-01-21T17:06:00.000-08:00

October was a rockin' month. I seriously loved reliving it while sifting through the photos to find the best moments. There were just so many. For a look at the whole album, click here.

One of the first great outings of October was a trip out to the DeCordova Sculpture Museum, in Lincoln. Our summer was going on and on and we were astonished to have a balmy, sunny day for this outing. We wandered around, listening to the buzzing bees and taking in the almost-turning leaves, and the sun, as well as the arresting sculptures scattered around the manicured lawn.

Here are Thora and Auric with their heads in the armpits of this large, abstract sculpture. They loved running around this one, pretending the holes were doors to a house, secret passageways, and all sorts of imaginative inventions.

I'm so happy that I'm capturing more and more of these blissful sibling moments.

While there, we shot a little video of Auric marching like a Royal Palace Guard. Back in September, on our trip to England, one of the most memorable and talked-about experiences for Auric was watching the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. For months now, he marches all over the place. Sean and I capitalized on this by having them march to the bathroom to attend the very serious meeting on Teeth Brushing and Flossing! Here's a short video of him marching at the DeCorova Sculpture Museum.

Here's one more quick video of both Auric and Thora doing some marching at home.

We thought fall had arrived. Our Cambridgeport Potluck festival was rained out and then rescheduled for the next afternoon. And during that party, held at a local playground, Auric surprised me once again. He's an energetic boy who loves to run, who loves to be chased, and who can take off and be across the park before you can blink. But on this particular drizzly afternoon, I look up and I see him like this:

And still, summer would not end! In mid-October, we were hit with a surprisingly hot day, with highs in the mid 80's. Our friend, Hilary, kindly suggested that the two of us take all the kids (5 in all) out to the cape, where her in-laws have a place. What a wonderful, and yet strange experience, walking around in just our swimsuits, swimming and catching minnows and crabs, applying sunscreen, all while eating apples picked at the apple orchard just the weekend before.

Here are Ellie and Etta, eating those aforementioned apples.

Here are Auric, Etta, and Ellie getting a kayak ride.

Auric and his mom.

The next weekend, I attempted my first race in months, having been forced to give up all running due to a terrible case of plantar fasciaitis and a bone bruise, both in my left foot. But after months of not running, I was basically just sick of it. Over some drinks with my friends one night, I roped some of them into running and/or walking this 5k with me. I had shirts made and 6 of us got out there and did it, injuries be damned. (Well, one of us walked her own course. It's a long story. She completed 3 miles, so we allowed it.) C-Port Moms Run!

On that same day, while I was out running my race, Sean cashed in a gift I'd gotten him for Father's Day, a 2-hour introductory sailing lesson. He had fun and didn't get knocked into the harbour. What a success!

How did we both manage to do these things on the same day, you ask? BaBa and NuNu were here for a visit! Here are a few photos from their time at the park. Great photos, NuNu!

(photo credit on this one goes to BaBa.)

Another highlight from this weekend visit was a trip to the Ringling Bros. Circus at the TD Garden. (Thank you, NuNu.) The production of this circus was a sensory overload. They had acts in each of the three rings going simultaneously, as well as images on the screens surrounding the floor and ceiling. The kids enjoyed the whole thing. It was great fun.

Here's Thora in a ridiculous hat that came with her cotton candy.

Before heading back to Chicago, BaBa and NuNu accompanied Thora to school on Monday. And we spotted this piece of art outside Thora's Chinese classroom. Here is a picture Thora drew with the Chinese words for Dad, Mom, Me, and Little Brother, glued to each figure. (Thora thinks my head is HUGE! I'm self-conscious now.)

One day, we found ourselves at the indoor playground in Watertown, and saw that they had these new pieces of hilarious, kid-sized workout equipment. Here's Auric bench pressing, while Zach looks on, clearly impressed. I texted this photo to Natalie, and she posted it on facebook. I liked one of her friends' comments when he wrote, "The kid in the white shirt is in terrible spotting position!"

As Halloween loomed, Thora and I planned our pumpkin carving.

The kids trying to set themselves on fire. (Me: Why are you picking that up when there's a lit candle in there?!? Put it down. Auric! Get your hand out of there!)

We have four monsters: a vampire, a mummy, the Grim Reaper, and Frankenstein's monster.

Thora loves to write. Here she is working hard to copy words from the Sesame Street book, Grover's Book of Cute Little Words.

Thora hard at work.

We were a playground and I look up to see that Auric had surrounded himself with all the dump truck toys he could find. (Note to Auric: You're turning into a parody of yourself.)

On the day that Thora's second pair of red cowgirl boots arrived, somehow, Auric was the first to try them on. Additionally, there must've been a probably poop-related wardrobe malfunction, because he's also in Thora's leggings. Good times...

Thora strutting her stuff in her new boots.

Again, a sweet sibling moment!

Thora's dance class. Her friends Zach and Mia are in the same class too, so it's extra fun.

Thora gave her dance class friends a sneak peak at her Halloween costume.

Auric and his buddies, Ellie and Etta.

And what made the month particularly rockin' was attending (eventually!) the Pixies Doolittle concert, wherein they play the whole album from start to finish. With the help of 3 other families and Hilary's parents, we'd attempted to see the concert in Waterbury, CT (somewhat near Hilary's parents' place). However, a freak October blizzard canceled the show. Sean, undeterred, found tickets on Craigslist for the show the following night in NH, about an hour drive from our place in Cambridge. So after driving all over New England, our friends Summer and Thom and Sean and I finally saw the concert. And it was sooo worth all the trouble. Our other friends bowed out of the second show and Hilary and Dave offered to have a sleepover for 6 kids (I know!) on Sunday night so that the four of us could go. Thanks to them for making it happen. It was great fun, an exceptional concert, and a night I will never forget!

From wikipedia:
A 2003 poll of NME writers ranked Doolittle as the second-greatest album of all time, and Rolling Stone placed the album at 226 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

The concert was so incredible. The venue was called the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, but really it was a big rectangular barroom with the stage along one of the side walls. We were only 10 people back from the stage! It was amazing to be so close to these legends. In retrospect, we are very lucky that the first concert was cancelled, since it was in a traditional concert hall and we would've been sitting way up in the upper level.

If you want a recommendation for a great music documentary, check out loudQUIETloud, a movie about the Pixies reunion tour in 2004.

Here are Sean and Thom. Sean has been a fan of the Pixies since their formation but he'd never seen them live. He introduced me to them almost 15 years ago when we got together. We missed their initial reunion tour when it rolled through NYC when we lived there. And then once we had Thora, we were out of the concert-seeing business altogether. But we managed to be ready when they started this subsequent tour, called the Lost Cities Tour, playing all the cities they'd bypassed in all their years touring, hence the reason why we were seeing this Boston-natives band in small towns like Waterbury, CT, and Hampton Beach, NH.

And then it was Halloween. I was thrilled when Thora expressed interest in Wonder Woman, a welcome addition to her (albeit continued) love of princesses. So we found her a costume. She thought her brother should also be a superhero. And lo and behold, we'd recently received a pair of Superman pajamas from BaBa and NuNu. And we already had a red diaper cover. So we were set!

Look out, evil-doers!

Here she is blocking a bullet with her special bulletproof cuffs.

And here are some of her trick-or-treating buddies: a dinosaur, Slimer (from Ghostbusters), Spiderman, and Venkman (also from Ghostbusters).

Stay tuned for the next update... November!

24 Great Moments from September 2011

2012-01-12T10:27:00.001-08:00

We started this month with a trip to Chicago. We had a great time (despite the heat wave that rolled through). We did a lot of the usual (the playgrounds, our traditional dinners at the Silo and the Rainforest Cafe) and a few things for the first time, like two trips to the LF beach and the LB beach. And miraculously, thanks to that heat wave at the end of a hot summer, the lake was warm enough to swim in. We had some great times. Behold! (For a look at the whole album, click here.)

We had a mini birthday celebration for Auric, even though he wouldn't turn 2 for another week. I'm glad we caught this on camera. The picture at the right is him having just been sung to. And it was by far his favorite experience EVER! Check out his giggling fit in the video below.

I like this one, although sadly this moment caused a ban of kids on the piano. Oh well. I have this photo, at least.

We spent a great time with my sister. As always, she drove all over Chicagoland from her place in the city to hang out with us.

We made our traditional visit to the Rainforest Cafe, which the kids love, and is conveniently located near my mom's place. Here is Auric with Grandma Jane.

A big hit after dinner is always the prospect of rides on the coin-operated vehicles. Auric absolutely loves this part of the tradition.

Just for fun, I wanted to juxtapose the photo of him from the previous January, 9 months earlier, in the same Garfield car. Look at that little baby boy!

Anyway, back to our trip in September. This was another highlight: riding in the wagon on the back of Grandpa Terry's tractor! If you can believe it, I'm squeezed in there with them, too.

This day up north included a trip out onto the chain of lakes. The kids loved the trip on the boat, even though it was windy and we had to wrap the towels around us when we were moving fast. However, that didn't stop the hot-blooded Thora from taking a dip when we anchored near the sand bar. This outing also saw Auric's first try at fishing. It was very cute.

On our last day in Chicagoland, we took the train downtown to the Lincoln Park Zoo. The outing as a whole was pretty much a bust (motion sickness on the train, poorly timed travel in relation to Auric's naptime, etc.) Ugh. It was not good. But while that wasn't a "Great Moment from September 2011," I'm quite partial to these two photos taken of the kids on the train down.

When we got back, we had an incredibly active few days. To start, Thora had her first day of school on the Thursday after Labor Day. Here she is in a great First Day of School photo. She is in a Chinese Immersion program that does 4 out of every 8-hour day in Mandarin. It's a great program, and one that I'm so happy she's in.

Here she is, holding up her Chinese name, pronounced Ing Lay, which means ballet dancer. The transition to school and a language immersion program was a little rough, which is to be expected. But within a week, she was looking forward to school each day.

Here we are, celebrating Thora's first day of school with dinner at her favorite burger joint in Central Square.

The very next day it was Auric's actual birthday. Here we are celebrating it by doing his now all-time favorite thing: being sung "Happy Birthday." While yes, this is in fact another video of him being sung to, I like it for his attempt at showing Two with his fingers. Enjoy.

And then, the day after that was Sean's birthday, and the joint birthday party for Sean and Auric. Here are there cakes. (I show them only for their cuteness, and not because I made them!)

And yes, I'm about to share with you a third (yes, I know) video of Auric being sung to. But I like this one because it shows everybody, something our other videos don't capture. We had the party on a very windy, and unseasonably cool day in the park across the street. A lot of friends were there to help us celebrate.

Ok, now that you've seen that one, I promise, there are no more videos of us singing "Happy Birthday" to Auric. Just a bunch of photos of cute kids, for the most part with birthday cake all over them. Here is Auric and one of his friends, Ellie. Don't you just want to squeeze her?!?

Here is Thora being photogenic with a bouquet of flowers.

Here are the birthday boys.

We got an informal game of t-ball going. I really like this photo because it highlights Auric's unconventional batter's stance and grip. Surprisingly, he actually hit the ball a remarkable number of times, considering.

Here are the kids going to town on the remnants of poor Elmo and Cookie Monster.

The big kids playing some sort of game. I'm guessing it involved chasing and killing invisible aliens or "bad guys" with super powers.

Daddy Thom was awesome. Not only did he pull wagon load after wagon load of kids, he also brought along his balloon twisting kit and made some wild hats and animals and swords for the kids.

Auric got some really cool gifts for his birthday, like this incredibly realistic recycling truck, which for months, he referred to has the "garbage can."

And we expanded his train set with two accessories, including a great bridge. Needless to say, these toys went over really well. We know our boy.

The second half of September was spent on a wonderful trip to England. See that post here.

But when we got back, Sean had the great idea (I admit, I was very skeptical) to go to the Southwick Zoo. Despite the rain, it was a great experience. We were one of just a few families there. And perhaps because it was less crowded, the animals were so active. In fact I've never seen such activity at a zoo in my life! It was a great time and the kids took a nap in the car on the way back, which helped them get back to EST.

One of the highlights of this zoo is their fawn meadow. The fawns were very friendly, while not being aggressive. We bought some feed from the coin-operated dispensers, and made a lot of deer friends.

And then finally, here is a video of Thora's new skill, acquired in the month of September. In this video, she's giving her friend Zach a Monkey Bar tutorial. She's saying, "And then I swing. And then I do this a little. And then I swing. And then I do this a little again." You can see, she's got the idea that she's supposed to be trying to create momentum between swings; however, as she demonstrates, you can see that she doesn't quite grasp how to create that momentum by swinging her body side to side. She basically just pauses and while dangling there, she twists her body back and forth. It was still a big accomplishment for her after working on this for years now. Enjoy.

Stay tuned for the next update of October's photos and videos!

20 Favorite Photos from August 2011

2011-11-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

August was a month of sun and laughter and ice cream. It also marked a few milestones, namely Thora's last day at her beloved preschool. She started there way back in February of 2010, when she was a wee little 2 year and 10 month old baby.

Because I'm suddenly feeling nostalgic, here she is on her first day of preschool.

And here she is this past August, running up the hill in her favorite sundress and, yes, a blue cape, on her last day of school, a year and half later but somehow lifetimes older. Uggh, it's bittersweet, the feeling a parent has watching their child grow up.

Anyway, on to my favorite moments captured on camera (there are a couple videos below, too). For a look at the whole photo album, click here.

In early August, my friend Hilary and I took 5 kids (four of our own, plus one) down to her in-laws place on the Cape. We had a great time. And as luck would have it, Zach's family friend Hannah came down too. Hannah is 8 and yet she gets along really well with Thora and Zach who are both 4. Here they are hunting for minnows and crabs.

Here is Auric eating some raw corn, the only way he would eat it this summer. He loves to shuck it and dig right in. I can't blame him. The corn is so sweet, we barely warm ours through when we eat it.

This moment just breaks my heart. We had dinner at Zach's grandparents' house and then hit the road, around bedtime. Thora sacked out almost immediately, but Auric took a while to go to sleep. At one point I looked back and saw him holding his sister's hand while she slept. This kid! Just when I think he can't do anything sweeter than honey, he goes and proves me wrong.

This month also marked Auric's first trip to the movie theatre. We saw the recent Winnie the Pooh movie. It was great. The kids did pretty well. Although, at one point, Auric's slow progress down the aisle took a turn for the embarrassing when he wandered right in front of the front row and through the doorway marked EXIT. Sean caught him, before he could actually get to the exit door. These things happen when you try to get a toddler to sit still for over an hour. And the theatre was only about 1/3 full with families just like ours, with antsy kids who needed to wander around. However, it was slightly more embarrassing than normal since several other kids had decided to follow his lead. Oops. (Sorry, other parents.)

During one of my Tuesday afternoons with Thora and Zach, we went to Ricky's flower market down the street and picked out some summer annuals to spruce up our front steps prior to my birthday party that weekend. Here they are helping me re-pot the flowers.

One of Auric's favorite outdoor activities is STILL jumping in puddles. He comments on all the puddles he sees, no matter how small or random. (One time he identified a dime-sized "puddle" in the recessed bolt of a manhole cover.) Here he is, strutting his stuff in his much-loved fireman rain boots. (He also has an impressive strut these days.)

And surprisingly, this outfit of jammie top, diaper, and firefighter rain boots is not unique to this one moment. In fact, unbeknownst to me until just now, there's a very similar outfit in the below video, "Auric Loves to Race." Enjoy.

And while we're on Auric and his cuteness, here is another short video, "Auric's Budding Vocabulary Part 5." This footage was all taken during August, when he was 1 year and 11 months. I captured on camera one of our favorite Auric-ism: "Slop Shoe" for "flip flop." Also, at the end, he is asking Kitty if she's okay. This footage was taken during the infamous hurricane that swept through the northeast. We were very lucky and suffered no damage and only a 40-minute long power outage. However at one point, the wind blew a tree branch into a power line or transformer across the street and there were two, firecracker-loud pops that startled us all, but particularly Kitty. Auric was super sweet to her when he found her cuddled on the far side of our bed. Enjoy.

And now for something completely different, here are Thora and Zach, dressed to the nines, and probably right before, during, or after one of their weddings. They're too much.

Later in the month, we traveled out to Kimball Farm with Zach's family and River's family. Hilary and Summer took the three big kids on a fun, tethered hot air balloon ride. I have a significant fear of heights and so I was perfect for the job of babysitting the three little kids, Auric, Ellie and Lila down in the parking lot below. For a great post, some pictures, and a video of the trip 300 feet in the air, and the rest of the day, check out Summer's blog post here.

Here is my favorite shot of the big kids at one point in the day. I think this was after the balloon ride and after the most ridiculous game of mini-golf I've ever witnessed but before lunch and chasing away chickens, and incredible ice cream. Now back to that mini-golf game, if you can, imagine three 4 year-olds, and three 1 year-olds, and despite us getting extra balls for the the little kids, they keep trying to take the balls of the big kids. There were golf balls flying everywhere, and I had to jump into about 4 streams for missed shots. It was hilarious.

In mid-August, I had my second annual kid-friendly kegger celebrating my 35th birthday. The festivities ping ponged between our place, where the keg was, and the park across the street. It was loads of fun. I was happy to have so many friends with whom I could share the celebration. We began the festivities early with our friends Greg and Dana, and their daughter Etta.

And here are some of the infamous Cambridgeport Moms.

I don't think there's a story behind this one. I just love it.

Here is what Thora and Zach's green thumbs created! And yes, Thora's classic red boots were reincarnated as planters. She wore them everyday through June and July, and at some point she wore holes in the soles. I wasn't willing to let go of them, so I was glad to give them a new lease on life. And in case you're wondering, she is currently wearing to death a new pair of red boots.

Back to Thora's big milestone, she finished up preschool in late August. It was only tearful for me and her teachers. Thora was blissfully unaware that she would never see these people again, friends and teachers who'd been such a large part of her life for the last year and a half. Instead of being sad, she was proud of her new big girl step of becoming a kindergartener. Her time in preschool was great for her and I'm glad she had this wonderful environment. Here she is getting a surprise hug by her favorite teacher, Stephanie. Actually, maybe she wasn't as blissfully unaware as I thought, since I couldn't get her to go give Stephanie a hug, hence Stephanie's surprise hug.

I made sure to have a fun playdate planned for after her last day of school, as much for Thora as for me. (I was realistic about the likelihood that it would be a tearful experience for me.) And this afternoon proved to be a great diversion. Here is Thora, Zach, River, and Aidan, enjoying treats from the ice cream truck, while taking a break from the playground near Harvard's campus.

And here's Auric and his friend Lila, being photogenic as usual.

August also saw Thora's first cognizant trip to Fenway. (We took her when she was about 17 or 18 months old.) Each summer, when the Sox are away, the minor league teams get to play a double-header in the legendary stadium against their league opponents. It's called Futures at Fenway. The tickets are cheap, the concessions are cheaper, and it's a great way for a family to see some baseball. Here's Thora eating her first-ever cotton candy.

I love this photo for two reasons. It shows one of Zach's many great qualities: he is happy-go-lucky! Here he is laughing about a single peanut (as opposed to the more common double peanut). And secondly, it shows what a major production it was for them to eat these peanuts, as is visible in Thora's expression as she navigates biting through the shell, with residue from a former peanut on her face. (If you click the above link and look through the album, you'll see that residue in several photos.) Their endeavor with the peanuts involved a 4 year-old's sense of wonder as they examined the strange shapes and contours of almost every peanut, the work of cracking them open, and the glee at finding peanuts at their feet that they previously thought were lost forever. Oh, to be 4 and at the ball park.

August brought us the annual Middlesex County 4-H Fair, which brings Thora and Auric, and this year their friends River, Lila, and Aidan, up close and personal with farm animals and their kid caretakers from all over the county. Our kids loved our day at the fairgrounds. And for the record, Thora was the only kid with pink hair there.

And I had to include this picture for Thora's expression as she gazes at River. Is that telling or what!?! Thora has known River since she was an infant. But it was this past April, when Hilary and I took Thora, River and Zach to the Big Apple Circus, that their relationship became more complex. Regularly, when telling a story about that night at the circus, Thora will say, "You remember that night, Mom? The night River and I fell in love?" Sometimes I forget that she's four, when she talks like a character from a Gene Kelly musical.

And on that note, stay tuned for my September photos!

Picture Books: Recent Faves

2011-11-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while. I picked up some great books this summer and another one on our trip to London. They've proven themselves as some of my favorite books to read to the kids--and they like them too. Here they are, in no particular order:

Blackout, by John Rocco

This book depicts, in graphic novel style, the night of a blackout in New York City. The illustrations are fun, and the words are limited, which, as parents know, is great because on nights when you miraculously have energy reserves, the illustrations become catalysts to snuggly conversations wherein you get to tap into your child's mind.

The story helps remind us to shed our busywork in favor of the often rushed quality time with our family. When the blackout removes all of their electronic distractions, the family reconnects with one another and their neighbors.

Cars Galore, by Peter Stein and illustrated by Bob Staake

The story has colorful pages and fun, snappy, rhymes. My vehicle-obsessed two year-old loves it for the motion and variety of all these cars. My four year-old daughter likes the silliness of these cars and spotting them on the road as I read their description.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee, written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E. Stead

The illustrations are what really do it for me in this story. The slightly worn-looking sketches done in subdued colors make this a very soothing book to read. And of course it has, what I'm beginning to sense is a trend in children's books about zoos, the balloon, that both kids love to spot on every page. Oh, yeah, and there are buses for Auric, like this one for example, which is helping him learn what the number 5 looks like.

This Plus That, Life's Little Equations by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jen Corace

I love this book! It's so simple--so silly at times, and other times poignant. The drawings are childlike but sophisticated at the same time. I have to admit, I sometimes get choked up at the end. (I have a ridiculous problem with this. So don't avoid this book because you think it's a tear-jerker. It's not. I'm absurd.)

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

Guess who I got this one for? But seriously, it's a winner, with both kids. The rhymes are smooth and fun. And to boot, the kids and I learned some of the terms for the trucks, (e.g.) the long arm of the crane truck is called a "boom." See, I would've just called it the long arm.

Cake Girl, by David Lucas

This is a fun story about how making friends is contingent on being a nice person. The witch makes a cake girl to entertain her on her birthday, "And then I'll eat you," she says. The matter-of-factness of her tone never fails to get a little chuckle out of me. So Cake Girl has to think fast. She realizes that the witch is just lonely because she doesn't have any friends. So the second half of the book shows Cake Girl teaching the witch how to be nice. It's got some great magical elements that are fun for the kids.

Thora loves this right now. In fact, this is her new favorite book to read aloud. She's memorized the entire text. Here's Thora in action. She misses a few key lines, like when Cake Girl asks the witch not to eat her, or a couple of the magic tricks the witch does at the end, transforming Cake Girl and the witch into whatever Cake Girl requests. But as usual, we're always amazed when she can memorize entire books just from the pictures, without ANY written cues. Enjoy!

And finally a book that I picked up at the awesome gift shop in the even more awesome Museum of London:

A Walk in London by Salvatore Rubbino

It's a sightseeing book of London and it was instrumental in helping the kids remember all that they'd seen on our jam-packed trip in September. The illustrations are clear and detailed, while still having a distinct style and whimsy. What I love about this book is that you can read the story of a girl and her mother seeing the sights, but you can also supplement it with all sorts of great details supplied in smaller font size all over the page. These pages at the right, for example, were Auric's favorite page because it gave him a close-up of the marching guards. So while I let Auric gaze to his heart's content, I could read to Thora all sorts of interesting trivia about Buckingham Palace. For anyone traveling to London with young kids, this is a must-have. He's also written and illustrated A Walk in New York, which I think we'll have to get, given how much time we've spent in NYC with the kids.

26 Favorite Photos from July 2011

2011-11-01T10:34:00.001-07:00

July was a fun-filled month. For a look at the whole album, click here. We started out with our almost-annual trip up to the Finger Lakes in New York to visit our dear old friends from our Tucson days, Leta, Chris, and their son, Brogan at the Sharp Family Lake House. In the summers, they travel cross country and spend some much-deserved lake time with Chris's family. Thanks to Liz and Bill who generously host us each year! This year, Chris's sister, Rue was there with her family too. It was a full house and we were thrilled to be included!

We had great weather and lots of time on the water.

In addition to a beautiful brand new baby girl, Rue and family also brought their new puppy with them. The kids could not get enough of her. (The grown ups were not immune to her charms either.)

Family Portrait: The Pococks on the Water. (Thora is asleep on Sean's lap, with a hat over her face.)

Here, Thora takes in the beautiful sunset over the lake, while we wait for the fireworks to start.

Too loud! Auric was not a fan of the fireworks. (Look at that face!)

Here is Brogan, his dog Barley, Thora, and Tana the puppy walking in the farm field above the lake house. I love how this photo distills the idea of "Summer" for me down into a single frame.

The following weekend was the Fourth of July party at Zach's grandparents' house in CT. Here is Thora on the huge tree swing. The kids spend hours on this! And again, there is something so perfect about the creak of the tree branch and the long and fast swing out over the river on a hot afternoon that completely captures "Summer" for me.

On the Thursday, before Saturday's party, Hilary and I took the 5 kids down to the beach. I have a new camera that has a great new feature: super slow-motion. So play the video below to check out the inevitable homage video. Enjoy!

Here's Auric patrolling Oma and Harry's house.

Twirling in her blue sundress. (This is one my favorites of her dresses. I'll be sad when she outgrows it.)

I like this photo, because you kind of get a sense for how long the ropes are for this swing.

Swingin' in the Nude.

Auric showing his dance moves at the party. (Actually, I don't know what he's doing here.)

On the following weekend, we traveled back down to NYC, this time to celebrate the marriage of our friends, Paul and Tracy. They had their party in a beautiful state park in CT. We drove down to NYC on Friday and on Saturday, Sean and I drove to CT while BaBa and NuNu watched the kids for the day.

Paul and Tracy, who lived in West Hartford, CT for the last few years, were on their way to Detroit, where Tracy has a faculty position at Wayne State University. So this was a going-away party as well as a wedding celebration. We had a great afternoon with them.

BaBa, NuNu, Auric, and Qali pose for a picture.

Having traveled 5 out of the previous 6 weekends, it was nice to be home for awhile and try to re-establish our old routines. Here are Zach and Thora at the local pool. The water in this pool is a bit cold, and so we end up taking a lot of breaks to warm up in the sun.

Zach, Ally, and Thora refueling with some ice cream.

This summer, Auric really perfected his unique running form. He stabilizes with his right arm, while he uses his left arm to propel him forward. Given how hard this is to do (I've tried), he makes it look effortless. Play the video below to see what I mean.

This is why we drink fresh smoothies outside.

I love this photo of the three of them, all happy, after an afternoon at the Lexington Old Reservoir.

After one of these trips to a swimming hole, Thora surprised us with a new song she'd learned at school. Play the video below to watch.

Here is Auric, sitting IN the water table in the sand pit area of the Cambridge Common playground.

And while we're on the topic of Auric, here are a couple cute videos of him. This first one is called "Auric's Early Attempts at Counting." We were walking home after dropping Thora off at school and he walked up and down the stairs to a church. He began counting each step and was doing really well. That's when I got out the camera, but of course I couldn't capture it quite as it had been. But you will notice that, after losing count, he says "six" at the second-from-the-top stair, probably because he remembers that being the sixth step. This video also captures his joy of jumping off of things, in this case, the bottom steps.

The next video is an adorable minute and a half of Auric taking care of a baby, something he doesn't do all that often. But boy oh boy, when he does, it's ridiculously cute. Enjoy.

Here we are, walking to a summer bbq party at Thora's friend, Ally's house. When Thora hears that it's a party, and not merely a playdate, she picks out a party outfit. And she's not kidding. Yes, she's wearing pink high heels and a feathery tiara from her dress-up closet.

On the other end of the spectrum, Auric likes to chill out at a party. Life's too short, Man.

Stay tuned for the long-overdue August update!

34 Favorite Photos from NYC, June 2011

2011-10-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

June is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only has summer arrived in full force, it's also the month when we visit NYC for ten days. And the timing is usually great, because both Sean and I get to run a race in Central Park--something that we both love to do. My race is the women-only 10K and Sean's is the Father's Day 5-mile race. This year, Sean wasn't able to take any extra time off and so only spent about 48 hours total in NYC during that 10 day period. Additionally, this year, my step-mom, or NuNu to the kids, was only around through the first Tuesday. So this year, it was mostly me and the kids and my dad, aka BaBa. We had a great time. And like always, we crammed in all sorts of activities, some new and some old favorites. Here are my favorite photos. Click here to see the whole album.

The trip started with my 10k race (6.2 miles), basically one lap around Central Park. I've run this race 7 out of the last 9 years, or something like that. It's the oldest all-women race, and this year marked its 40th anniversary. The race also commemorated the life of Grete Waitz, an exceptional runner, role-model, and pioneer of women's running, who died of cancer in April. This is always a very inspiring race for me, to be shoulder to shoulder with thousands of women runners. Even though a terrible case of plantar faciaitis has hindered my running since January, and even though I basically gave up running in May in hopes that it would heal, I couldn't resist running this race. Additionally, my old high school friend, Lauren, ran it and we were able to meet up after the race and catch up a bit.

We still have a lot of good friends in NYC. One of Sean's best friends, Dan, (Sean would say that he's Dan's mentor, although I wonder if that's the way Dan sees it) always finds time to meet up with us. We saw him a couple different times during this trip. Here, he and Auric bond over a Thomas the Train book.

After my race and some lunch, we worked our way down to the very impressive NY Fire Museum, in SoHo.

It's a small museum, so it's well-sized for us. And the reproductions of all the old fire trucks were very impressive. Despite Auric's love of fire trucks, it wasn't the best environment for him because most of the exhibits are hands-off. I think this would be something he would love in about 6 years. But it wasn't a failure by any means. In addition to all the very cool displays, both antique and modern, we got to try on a fire fighter's gear!

After the Fire Museum, we fed the kids dinner at Peanut Butter and Co., a restaurant that serves-- you guessed it--peanut butter sandwiches. But the menu is very fun and has all sorts of wacky concoctions. We stuck with the pretty standard PB, Honey, & Banana, and PB & Nutella. While there, Thora worked on her Create-a-Face Sticker Book, an activity she did at almost every opportunity during the trip. That page of eyes isn't creepy at all.

Auric enjoyed playing with his new fire department truck set, purchased at the museum gift shop. Here he combines his love of stacking and his love of vehicles, stacking the fire department car on top of the fire department van.

On Sunday, after Sean's run, we piled into our car (I drove down on Friday afternoon) and drove up to Larchmont, (a suburb of NYC) to visit our friends Kelly and Loyd and their kids Sidney, Tai (twin girls), and their younger son, Drew. We all have so much fun with these guys. (Sean and Kelly use to work together at Columbia so they have a lot to reminisce about.) And the kids all have a great time, despite the varying ages. They seem to get a kick out of Auric, even though he's so much younger than all of them. And Thora plays with Drew (they're a year apart) but also the older girls, who include her in all sorts of games and pretend play. With a regular work day looming ahead on Monday morning, Sean drove the car back to Boston after dinner. Kelly gave me and the kids a ride back into the city. And here's where we began our week of being NYC tourists.

On Monday morning, the kids, my dad, and I took the train all the way downtown to South Street Seaport to meet my good friend Elizabeth and her two boys at the fabulous Infinity Park. This was the first of several awesome parks that we discovered on this trip. Here is Elizabeth and her new baby, Noel. It was great to catch up with her--although we ALWAYS fail to get a photo of her and I! Actually, it was a little tough getting any very good photos of the kids or the moms for that matter, what with the kids running all over the place.

Here is a rare photo of my two kids and Sam, her older son, all in the frame at the same time! It was a very hot day and the kids loved this playground's water feature.

We all hung out until just before lunch time, when Elizabeth needed to get her kids back home to Brooklyn for their naps, and my dad went to meet my step-mom for lunch.

We bid our farewells to everyone and then I took the kids across the street for what would become a regular food source for them in NYC: hot dogs from a street vendor.

We ate, found a nice person to take our picture in front of the Brooklyn Bridge (right), and then found some ice cream for the kids.

After the ice cream, I took them back across the street to the playground, figuring that there was more for them to enjoy. Here's a view of the playground, looking toward the seaport and the big ships across the street. They played in the sand and climbed up the steps to a small tower, and cooled off in the water when they got too hot or sandy.

Here's Auric playing on some kind of contraption.

And if Thora had a cd out, this would surely be the cover!

They had a great time, but were thoroughly exhausted when I gathered us all up to leave.

Our second stop of the day was back up on the Upper West Side, The Manhattan Children's Museum, which had transformed its first floor into a huge Curious George exhibit. The kids loved this. But they were also happy to move to the activities on the other floors as well. At the right, they're driving a bus in the municipal vehicles section. This was much cooler than it looks, because there were all sorts of switches to flip and buttons to push, and when you pressed on the accelerator and the brake, they made very life-like sounds of a big city bus stopping and starting.

On Tuesday, our big outing of the day was to the Natural History Museum. Actually, to be accurate, the whole visit was kind of a bust, which was a huge disappointment since I LOVE this museum and it can be really great for kids of any age. This visit was the first example of how traveling with young kids to the same place year after year can prove VASTLY different as the years go by. Specifically, last year Auric was a non-walker and was carried almost everywhere in the Ergo backpack carrier. This year, he was a walker/runner who loved to be chased. So in retrospect, we needed that backpack/leash for Auric that we ended up getting prior to our trip to London in September WAY sooner than we thought. Being at this always-crowded museum (and by crowded, I mean crowded by NYC standards) as the sole adult with a 4 year old and a two year old was about the worst punishment I could ever imagine.

Eventually, we worked our way to my favorite place, the Hall of Ocean Life, and I just parked there, letting the kids dance around in the open area. That's what is happening at the left, hopefully not to the annoyance of the other patrons.

If they were annoyed now, I hate to know how annoyed they would become. As the museum was about to close, both kids began to melt down simultaneously, with me not being able to find the elevators! It was comical, actually. I finally managed to get the kids out of the building, and in the middle of the cacophony of wails, Sean called from Boston to see how things were going and to say hi. Hah! They sobbed to Sean for about a minute over speaker phone while I grabbed them both a hot dog from a vendor. I could literally see their demeanors improve with every bite. Thankfully, with that behind us, we walked up to Broadway and made our way up to the Upper West Side for dinner and a much-desired beer for Mommy.

Okay, now on to better times! On Wednesday, our big outing was to the Bronx Zoo, something that we do every year. I had my dad with me, and so didn't run into the same trouble of taking two young kids, solo, to an incredibly crowded tourist destination. And all in all, we had a great time. We saw so many animals, including our annual Riding of the Camel, something we've done for 3 years now (at the right). We also toured the Children's Zoo (the petting zoo at the end is always a huge hit), and rode the Bug Carousel. Good Times!

Here is part of a cute sequence of Thora sharing her ice cream with Auric.

Here is Auric inside a log in the Children's Zoo.

In the afternoon, we left the Zoo and headed back to Manhattan. I took the kids a bit further south, to the great playground at 96th and Riverside Drive. The kids had a great time, except that Auric kept making a break for the exit. Again, this was a new dimension to traveling in NYC that I hadn't realized in years past: some of the great parks don't have child-proof exits. This park was great last year, with a non-walker and a 3 year-old. But Auric, as a two-year-old, needs to be enclosed! His fascination with running out of parks or along the sidewalks of busy streets so that a grown-up has to chase him... well, that didn't work terribly well at this park. On the plus side, we did get a nice photo of Thora on a triceratops. (This is called Dinosaur Park because of these sculptures.)

Thursday proved to be the most successful day. We started the day with my dad accompanying us to Brooklyn. We ate at a 5 Guys burger joint (I'd never tried them and have to say that the burgers are incredible, i.e. indulgent), and then headed over to the New York Transit Museum, which is housed in an old, unused subway station. The kids loved running around among the various antique cars, and of course, driving the buses.

Here's Auric driving a modern-day city bus.

And here's Thora, below, driving an antique. What would you think if you saw your bus driver steering with such flair?

After the museum, we parted ways with BaBa, and I headed with the kids to the incredible Pier 6 playground at the end of Atlantic Ave. It sits on the water looking across at lower Manhattan. The park itself is divided into four main areas. The first area we were to stop at was Slide Mountain. Here is the view of Manhattan from the top of Slide Mountain. After a few good slides, we were feeling pretty hot and we wanted to find out what this park was all about. So we went over to check out the water park, called The Water Lab. This was, by far, the best water feature I've ever seen at a park. There were pulleys and pumps and sloped ground to create flowing rivers. There were sprinklers, splash ponds, and a kid-powered water mill. In short, it was awesome!

After the water park, we spent the remaining time before dinner in the sand pit area and then Swing Valley, an area with about a dozen different swings, including some rope swings and tire swings, as well as your basic, standard swing.

As it neared dinner time, we made ourselves look as presentable as possible and walked our way back up Atlantic Ave and headed to the ChipShop just up the street. It's an authentic English fish and chips shop transported to Brooklyn. We all split the massive serving of battered cod and chips and I had a pint (all to myself). It was an incredibly successful, albeit brisk, meal in a restaurant (there's always a risk inherent in dining with little kids), and a long and yet fun ride home on the subway back up to the Upper West Side. (Somehow I still had the lemon wedge that we'd gotten on the plate of fish and chips and we were taking turns sucking on it and then making a puckered face.) Success all around!

The next day, a rainy one, demanded some inside fun, and we managed to find it at two indoor places. The first, The Children's Museum of Art down in SoHo, is a place we've enjoyed three years in a row. Auric is now the perfect age for the morning Wee Arts drop-in time; however, Thora seemed a little too old this time around. But regardless, it was fun as always. At the right, Thora does some serious-minded painting, while Auric drops the whole idea of "painting with a utensil," (clearly that's for dopes) and decides to cut to the chase and paint with the paint itself. (He's plucked the round paint disc from it's tray and put it right on his paper.)

In the afternoon, we tried out a new place called City Treehouse, which is an indoor play space that has a nice water table, a climb-able and slide-able tree, and a couple rooms for some movement and dance, as well as a baby room. It was a good find, although kind of pricey. However, given the rain, I was happy to have this option.

Throughout our time in NYC, we enjoyed lots of quality time with BaBa. He hung out with us in the playgrounds in Riverside Park and regularly accompanied us, at the very least, on our commutes to our destinations, but often he went along with us for the whole outing. One of the things that the kids love is getting to accompany BaBa when he takes Qali, their dog, for a walk in Riverside Park. Qali, who's an older dog, tolerates the kids' interest pretty remarkably. Walking the dog is a fun excuse to get down into the lower level of Riverside Park. On this day, I got a cute photo of Auric running along the paths in the park, sporting his new #1 subway t-shirt. (The 1 train is our train when we come to the city since it's the one that goes up Broadway through the Upper West Side.) This was a few minutes after we happened along the grate in the grass that stands over the high speed commuter train that zips underneath Riverside Park. Now, when we walk over grates of any size or location, Auric asks hopefully if there's a train under there.

On Saturday morning, Sean arrived for the second half of his 48 hours in NYC. We met an old friend of his from his residency days at Columbia, and her family at a school fundraising street festival. We had a great time visiting with Nataki and her family, and then a late lunch at a pizza restaurant. After that, we ran into another one of Sean's old fellow-residents, Linda, and we met up with her, her husband, and their two boys at a park on Riverside Dr. We all had a great time while the kids played in the water (another great playground!) and did lots of running around. They invited us back to their place to feed the kids, and then before long, we were back in the Upper West Side winding down before our last day in the city.

Father's Day for us is usually spent cheering Sean on at his annual 5-mile race in Central Park and then cheering Thora on in her kids' race that follows. This year was particularly significant because it was Sean's first race after his lung surgery in April. We were so proud of him, seeing him run across the finish line, something that none of us could be sure that he'd be able to do prior to his recovery. Sean is incredibly driven, and a remarkable athlete!

Here is Thora, getting her game face on, ready to take on all the other 4 year-old girls in her completely appropriate red cowgirl boots.

My dad, a runner and a father himself, loves to come to the Father's Day races and cheer on Sean and Thora. (He's currently nursing a knee injury, but in years past, both he and Sean have run it.) After the races, we let the kids play in a nearby playground in Central Park, before heading off for our annual post-race, Father's Day brunch.

Here we are, taking some great Father's Day photos with two of the dads in our lives.

After brunch, we packed up the car, and drove back home to Boston, totally exhausted but already nostalgic for the city that we love.

England, September 2011

2011-10-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

For a look at the whole photo album, click here.

We began our trip on Thursday night, September 15th. We arrived at the airport around 5:30 ready to go. I'd replenished the kids' travel backpacks with new books and activities. We had a suitcase devoted entirely to consumables (diapers, wipes, the kids' favorite non-perishable foods and snacks). I'd borrowed a sit-and-stand stroller from a friend. We'd charged up the portable dvd player and had a large selection of dvds in our carry-ons. The kids had eaten dinner and were in their jammies, warming up to the idea of sleeping on the overnight flight to London. We were ready.

If we'd known in the above picture that our dvd player wasn't going to work (disaster #1), I doubt we'd have such happy smiles on our faces. But in fact, we survived the 6+ hour flight just fine, like the millions of people did up until just 10 years ago, before the luxury of portable dvd players. I didn't sleep a wink on the flight, and Sean slept for about 30 minutes, but lo and behold, we saw the sun rising as the flight attendants began the breakfast service.

We arrived at London Heathrow, and after an hour or so of passport control, baggage, and customs, diaper changes and wardrobe changes (Thora's first outfit was a gold tank top leotard, a silver metallic skirt, and pink and white tights), our friend Mike Chapman spotted us among the other travelers. I met Lauren Chapman when our oldest kids were babies, at a new mom's group in Cambridge, MA. They were in the states while Mike did research at MIT. In the fall of 2010, they moved back to their home in Cambridge, England. It'd been just under a year since we'd seen them and we were so happy to get to catch up and see their home. Mike drove us the two hours from Heathrow to their place in Cambridge. We had a wonderfully relaxing few days with them over that first weekend of our trip. Thora and Noah, who were best friends back in the states, reconnected as if no time had passed. It was such a bittersweet reunion for all of us, to be with these friends again, but knowing that we'd only be together for a few days. However, what a few days it was. And so begins our travels in England...

Day 1: Friday, September 16

The kids napped in the car from the airport, but Sean and I stayed up, catching up with Mike on the drive. Once we got to Cambridge, look who was there to greet us! Here's Lauren and her 7-month old daughter, Milly. They were a sight for sore eyes. Sean and I took staggered 2-hour naps, and at 3 pm, when Noah came home from school, we were all rested and ready to go on a walk and take a look around their lovely city.

Before heading home to dinner that first night, Sean and I took the bigger kids to the park near their house so that Lauren and Mike could start on dinner. Here are Noah and Thora completing the physical challenge that they worked hard at for about twenty minutes solid. It was very cute how they used teamwork to get Thora to the top so that they could enjoy sliding down together. (On her very last try, Thora managed to pull herself up by herself.) And yes, that's Auric still in his pajamas from the overnight flight the night before.

Day 2: Saturday, September 17

After an astonishing 14-hour sleep, we were up and ready to go! On Saturday, the Chapmans took us into Cambridge. What a beautiful city, with such old charm. We walked into town, down the old, cobblestone streets, past church towers and the historic colleges, and finally to the Cam River.

Noah, Thora, and Milly enjoy a cuddle in the morning.

At the left, we're enjoying a break on the ledge in front of King's College. Thora and Noah enthusiastically devour some ice cream, while the adults munch on a local specialty, cornish pasties, (a historically working-man's meal of meat and potatoes inside a pastry pouch).

The weather was gorgeous, and we were all caught up by the beauty of our surroundings. We let Auric nap a bit in the stroller and then hopped on board a long boat for some punting on the Cam.

Here's Auric anticipating the activity:

On our 45 minute ride, we drifted along, taking in the beautiful sights of the many colleges on either side, the willow trees drooping down into the water (Sean's favorite sight), and the variety of small footbridges under which we passed. The river was full of expert punters and amateur ones, and so we had to remind the kids to keep their fingers inside the boat, since there were a few minor collisions with other less experienced punters.

On our walk home, Thora and Noah enjoyed being up close to the grazing cows, a common sight on the public green spaces around Cambridge. We regularly encountered the herds on our walks to and from the center of town.

During our evenings in Cambridge, we enjoyed the fun and relaxation of catching up with Lauren and Mike. They cooked us incredible food and we relished in the entertaining conversation late into the night.

Day 3: Sunday, September 18

We slept late again, still not quite on GMT. But by late morning, we were out of the house, this time headed for a large park hosting a food and activities fair. The grown ups enjoyed some delicious custard pies (I was first introduced to these in Lisbon, Portugal back in 2000, when we visited Sean's brother over winter break). The kids were happy to ride the carnival rides, including a donkey ride and a massive, inflatable slide. After a couple hours at the fair, we worked our way back home. We enjoyed a nice dinner, before a sad departure. Mike drove us to the train station where we said goodbye to Cambridge, and an hour and a half later, said hello to London.
Sean's old high school friend, Matt, picked us up at the Tube stop in North London and drove us to his childhood flat, where his mom, Tricia, has lived for over 40 years. She was our generous and forgiving host during our time in London. We got settled in and relaxed a bit with Matt and Tricia before turning in. Because the next morning would be our first day in...

Day 4: Monday, September 19

LONDON! Our week-long sight-seeing adventure began at the incredible London Science Museum. There was so much to engage the kids, while appealing to Sean and I as well. We started out in the young kids hands-on area. There were funny sound machines, machines that change the sound of your voice, a bench with a built-in whoopie cushion (all the kids found this hilarious), drums, a water table, an area with massive lego blocks, and on and on..

After a few hours at the Science Museum, we walked our way north, into Kensington Gardens. Since the Royal Wedding in April, of Prince William and Princess Catherine, Thora has been very excited about the wonderful things Royal we might see in London. So Thora was very excited to see Kensington Palace, the official residence of the new royal couple. Here we are outside the gates.

Then we walked down the row of embassies, up around the corner of Kensington Gardens, and back down in, this time headed for the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Playground, a wonderful, Peter Pan-inspired playground. Thora and Auric played on the pirate ship, looked for keys to the locked treasure boxes dotting the park, and snuck around the rock sculpture of the crocodile.

And of course, here's our obligatory ice cream break. Check out Auric's very silly method for eating ice cream. He only eats it with the tip of his tongue, until its time to get the cone, when he turns it sideways, and chomps down on the middle of the cone.

Here's a short video, which also reveals his word for ice cream ("Ice Cream Shop").

It was getting late into the afternoon, and as we were hoping to start our North London commute (about 45 minutes with a tube ride and then a 5-minute double decker bus ride) before rush hour, we headed back east, through the park, with one last stop to make: the Peter Pan statue. Thora was very funny when she saw this. She wanted to figure out which one was Wendy and it was kind of tricky, since the pedestal is crawling with mermaids and fairies. Thora circled the statue many times, running her hands over all the legs of the creatures to find the ones with feet. It is a strange, but alluring statue, and one that invites tactile exploration.

After we were done here, we made our way back to North London.

Day 5: Tuesday, September 20

We started the day at the very fun London Transport Museum, via a short walk through the shops at Covent Garden. I'm sure this doesn't need to be said, but Auric absolutely loved this place. With his fascination with trains and buses still running high, particularly the double-decker buses of London, this museum provided him with so much to see and do. Here he is in the kid area, driving a bus, about as happy as he can be. (Almost all of these vehicles had a video screen mounted in the driver's window, playing a video taken from, in this case, the front of a real-life bus, working it's way through traffic, stopping at bus stops, etc., so it feels like you're really driving.)

We all enjoyed this place (except it was here that I dropped my camera and broke the lens: disaster #2). Here is Thora and Sean pretending they're one of the period dummies in an old tube car. Clearly they're playing the roles of "Scolding Father" and "Daughter Who Actually Responds to Discipline."

Here is Auric driving the front-half of a modern day double-decker bus. And if you look closely, you'll see that he is holding the tail of his own lion leash/backpack in his mouth so that he can more completely focus on the awesomeness that is driving that bus. At the time, the dangling tail was distracting him. And since he didn't have any free hands to deal with it and drive the bus simultaneously, he did what any sensible person would do. What do you even say about a kid like this?

And then we were on to Trafalgar Square and the obligatory, but of course very fun, climbing on the lions guarding Nelson's Column.

Of course, Thora put her stamp on the moment. Auric, on the other hand, wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do. We'd read a book to the kids before our trip, called Katie in London, where one of these lions comes to life and takes Katie and her brother on a ride to see the sights of London. So it was fun for the kids to take in the massive size of these statues and imagine them coming to life.

Below is a photo with the National Gallery at my back and Nelson's Column in front of me, as well as Big Ben in the distance. Sean took the kids for the obligatory ice cream break while I ran inside the National Gallery for a 30 minute speed viewing. Still. You take what you can get.

After we'd seen Trafalgar Square as much as we were going to, we walked to Picadilly Circus and took in the Times Square-like vibe. Here are me and the kids, posing in front of the Cupid sculpture in the middle of the craziness.

After this, we called it a day, and made our way back to North London.

Day 6: Wednesday, September 21

This day was spent entirely at the Tower of London, kind of unintentionally. We actually meant to spend just the first half of the day there, and then catch a kids activity at a different museum. But as it happened, we managed to be there the whole day! The Tower of London is a great old fortified castle in the heart of London. Hundreds of years ago, this was the Royal Residence as well as a prison. Of course, now the royalty live in various palaces, including the Queen's residence in Buckingham Palace. However, this place has a lot of great history. This is what you see when you get off the Tube at the Tower Hill stop.

What I didn't notice initially, but loved, are the sculptures of the guards at the tops of the towers, about to fire arrows down on intruders. (Click on the photo to enlarge it, since the sculptures are hard to see.) To give you an idea of the size of the Tower of London, here is the image from a postcard I picked up in the gift shop.

That's the River Thames behind it, and the shadow of the Tower Bridge cast down on the water. Our first stop was the Jewel House (pictured at right), where the Crown Jewels are stored. The line of people is snaked around inside anterooms that show videos of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, the last time these jewels were worn.

After 3 rooms, you are led into the vault (there are 1-foot thick, steel, bank-style security doors at the entrance and exit) to see the jewels, which are impressive, indeed. Since you aren't allowed to take pictures in the Jewel House, here is a glimpse from a couple of the postcards we picked up.

After the Jewel House, we had lunch, let Auric nap in the stroller, alternated watching the kids while Sean or I took a Yeoman Warder (aka Beefeater) guided tour of the Tower of London. Click here for more info on the Beefeaters; they have an interesting history. After all that, we headed to the White Tower, which holds, among other things, the suits of armor.

To the left is Thora and Auric in front of a child's suit of armor, one of the more surprising pieces in the collection. (Not quite as surprising as the somewhat absurd, but surely very protective cod piece on the suit below. Sheesh!) Surely this child's suit was just a ceremonial suit of armor. It's hard to imagine that a child could've been a very effective knight. Although, envisioning Thora inside of there, I can somehow see her slaying a dragon.

We wandered around the grounds some more, snapping photos of the statues of animals that represented the exotic animals housed here in a menagerie that would later become the London Zoo. Also, we made sure to get a good look at the famous ravens that live there and are guarded by the Beefeaters. There was an old superstition that said if the ravens ever died or flew away, the Tower of London would crumble, ending the British royal empire. And so to this day, they house 8 ravens on the grounds, keeping two of the eight in a large bird cage at all times. We posed in front of the Tower Bridge before calling it a day.

Day 7: Thursday, September 22

The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace! After a quick jaunt through Harrod's department store, we worked our way to Buckingham Palace, with the hordes of other people wanting to catch the Changing of the Guard. It was a lot of standing around and waiting and therefore there was a lot of whining and complaining by the kids (basically, Auric wanted to take his nap; Thora was just plain bored). But once the Guards came into the palace yard with the marching band, the kids really got into it. And once I reminded Thora that on that very middle balcony a few months ago, the new royal couple, Prince William and Princess Catherine, kissed for the first time, she perked right up. (She was very much into watching highlights of the Royal Wedding on Youtube.) And I added, "See all these people, where we're standing, and all those people over there on that fountain? Well remember when the new Prince and Princess came out onto that balcony and kissed and there were all those people that just screamed and cheered? They were all standing where we're standing right now." Those were the details that made this experience real for her.

That's when Thora went from "This is SO BORING!" to "Mom, this is the most fun I've ever had!" Seriously. That's what she said. And even though Auric looked like he was about to slip into a drug-induced sleep, so hard was it for him to stay awake, clearly the experience left a mark on him as well, since this is now one of his favorite activities:

We milled about some more, listening to the marching band (which hilariously played all sorts of numbers including some top 40 hits and a BeeGees number from Saturday Night Fever). We watched the guards make all of their infinitesimal adjustments to their posture and spacing, until we'd had enough. We wandered through Regents Park. Thora and I fed the ducks and a goose. Then we slowly worked our way along Horse Guards Road, behind the Calvary Museum (pictured at right), and back onto the Mall and into Trafalgar Sq, where we stopped in at the Crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields where one can do some brass rubbings.

This was one of Thora's favorite activities of the trip.

After the art break of the brass rubbings, we headed down Whitehall, towards the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and ultimately my least favorite part of the trip: The London Eye. It's a massive ferris wheel that spins one revolution in 30 minutes. With my fear of heights, I was pretty much okay during the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes. It was the 20 minutes in the middle when were were trapped in a glass capsule hundreds of feet in the air when I was sure that Auric's 2 year-old antics (giving the glass wall a little kick, for example) would somehow dislodge our capsule and send us all plummeting to our deaths. What a fun outing!

Despite my discomfort, I can't deny that the views were terrific, like this one of The Houses Of Parliament and Big Ben.

Then, on our trip home, Thora spotted this Underground advertisement. She is fascinated with Princess Catherine. Here she is, the closest she got to Kate and her wedding dress. That was a good way to end the day.

Day 8: Friday, September 23

This day started with a race to catch a boat. Our destination was The Tate Modern art museum. Our plan was to take the ferry that shuttles people between The Tate Britain and The Tate Modern via the River Thames. However, the ferry runs just once an hour, and if we missed the 10:15 boat, it would throw our whole morning off (midday naps for Auric were a tricky factor to each day). But despite the longer than expected commute into the city (we took a different double-decker bus/train combination this day), we made it by the skin of our teeth. And at 10:16, we were floating on the Thames, past the Houses of Parliament and St. Paul's Cathedral. We docked on the south side of the river, not far from the Globe Theatre, famous for being the theatre that produced Shakespeare's plays. Then it was just a short walk to the Tate Modern.

A combination of a fun kids area (here are the kids in a pod that changed color inside), a napping Auric, and trading Thora back and forth, allowed the three of us to take in a lot of the art there, way more than we'd anticipated. Thora liked the surrealists, and liked talking about how the paintings are like dreams.

After the Tate, we walked our way along Bankside, the south side of the Thames, until we came to the historic Borough Market, an outdoor culinary market that is open on Thursdays-Saturdays, and has existed in various locations for almost 1000 years. There are food merchants selling all kinds of edibles from all over the world. And the fun is that practically each stand wants you to try what they have. So we had nibbles of paella and curry, olives and chutney. We bought some lunch from the nearby restaurants that cater to those shopping in the market. We listened to a street performing duet. We took in the sights of the bustling market (Thora is eyeing an enormous fish of some kind in the photo to the right), Thora enjoyed some gourmet ice cream, Sean and I bought some yummy items that would travel well, and then we worked our way to Paddington Station, where we eventually caught a train to the country. (The photo at the left was taken during a nice little moment on the Tube, before arriving at Paddington Station.)

We were headed to Matt's place in the country. And while the train ride itself was pretty unpleasant--we spent the entire 1 hour and 15 minutes crammed in the area by the doors of one car, the kids sitting on our bags--when we arrived, we were rewarded with wine and great conversation with Matt and his wife Boo.

The kids became fast friends with Matt's sons, Charlie and Harry. And the fact that they have a full size trampoline was just a bonus! The photo to the right never fails to crack me up--Auric being bounced, in this frozen instant caught mid-air. All the kids were really good about making sure that Auric was happy. They let him sit while they bounced him around, or they sat while he bounced. Watching kids on a trampoline--there are few things that make them so giddy and exhausted.

After some playing, the kids got fed and bathed and fed again (they all wanted a bowl of cereal before bed). With only some minor tweaking, we had the sleeping arrangements figured out, and the kids were off to dreamland.

Matt, Boo, Sean and I had a nice grown-up dinner after the kids were in bed. We did quite a bit of catching up and then we were off to bed, too. We had a big day planned for Saturday.

Day 9: Saturday, September 24

After we all got up and did a run along the country road (with my still-unhealed plantar faciaitis in my left heal, I regretted that by the middle of the afternoon), we headed for Sean's alma mater, Downside, a catholic boarding school
near the town of Bath.

Sean had a full day on the grounds of his old school, where he spent his teenage years from 14-19. First, he and Matt visited with Dom Alexander, the housemaster of their house, Ramsey. They had a lot of catching up to do, and so Thora, Auric, and I wandered around some of the grounds. The trip to Buckingham Palace a few days prior had begun to sink in, and Auric was very interested in marching like the guards. The photo at the left captures the first instance of Thora and Auric marching back and forth.

After their visit with Dom Alex, Matt and Sean showed us around the campus. Here they are, standing in front of the building that used to contain their house, Ramsey. Below, Matt, Sean, and the kids pose in front of the entrance to the main building.

We toured inside the buildings, and had lunch in their old cafeteria, the Ref (short for refectory). After the lunch, the rest of the gang (Boo, their kids, and their kids' friends were all with us now, too) toured the Abbey, a beautiful gothic-style cathedral. Auric was in no mood to be quiet, so he and I walked up to the rugby field (or pitch, as they say over there) to check it out. After they were done touring some of the other buildings, looking at old photographs on the walls, some of Sean's rugby team photos, we all met up (in fact, they spent some time looking for Auric and I...oops), we all headed up to the rugby field to watch Downside play.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect. And the view was stunning. (That's the tower of the abbey in the background.) The kids ran around together and had a great time. (Thora and Harry were developing quite the little friendship.) Auric liked wandering around, and getting into things he shouldn't. I found an open supply closet next to the field, and inside was a flat rugby ball. I thought, until someone told me otherwise, it would be okay to let Auric play with it.

Doesn't he look like a natural?!? For those who don't know rugby, you can run forward with the ball but you have to pass backwards, so you end up throwing the ball across your body... just like Auric's doing! If you didn't know that that's also how he throws a basketball and a baseball, we might think we had a prodigy on our hands. Who knows--maybe to Auric, there's only one sport that matters.

Downside won and we worked our way back to the school. Auric seemed like he would be cooperative, and so I got a tour of the Abbey. Then we loaded up in Matt's car and headed back to his village, about 45 minutes away.

That night, we got all the kids to bed, including the pair of kids that Boo had with her all day, and had another lovely grown-up dinner, this time a scrumptious chicken caesar salad and farm-fresh grilled lamb chops. Then Boo was happy to curl up in the living room with a fire in the fireplace while the three of us went down to his neighborhood pub for a couple pints. Boo was still up when we got back, and so Matt stoked the fire a bit, and we sat around for another hour, before finally turning it.

Day 10: Sunday, September 25

This was our last day in the country. Matt and Boo gave us a nice send off with a very nice English Country Sunday dinner party. More old friends arrived, including Fuzz, one of Sean's good friends from Downside, and Charlie, another Downside friend. Here they are, from the left, Matt, Sean, Fuzz, and Charlie.

The place was crawling with kids of all ages, and so Thora and Auric never went without playmates all morning and afternoon. And despite the fact that Auric was the youngest by 2 and 1/2 years, the next oldest bunch, Thora, Harry, and Zara, took a liking to him and were happy to include him in their games and to protect him if the play got too rowdy. Here is the crew on the trampoline again: Thora, Auric, Harry, and Zara.

After lunch, I took kid-duty so that Sean could have a bit more time to catch up with his old school friends without distraction. Matt and his family live in a converted farmhouse, which still has all sorts of buildings and barns and stables on the grounds. And so while we were there, Auric got the incredible luck of seeing a mother and her daughter drive their horse trailer out back behind one of the barns where we happened to be. They unloaded the horse--Auric loves horses--and began the work of cleaning the horse and the trailer. Auric was fascinated. He also found Charlie, who'd been absent with another one of the older neighborhood boys. They had a small pedal car that they were racing down a small hill and around the inside of an empty barn. This big-boy activity had Auric transfixed for some time as well.

In the late afternoon, we said our goodbyes, and Fuzz drove us the twenty minutes to the train station, where again, we caught our train by the skin of our teeth. Due to Sunday evening train closures, we had a slightly extra-long and extra-crowded commute from Paddington Station back to North London. But we made it and were happy for the fun we'd had out in the country.

Day 11: Monday, September 26

We started the day with another commute from North London. And it's here that I must stress how much Auric loved those double-decker buses. He practically sobbed everytime we got off. Since we were traveling just after morning rush hour and just before evening rush hour, we usually got the front seat on the upper level. To the right is Auric relishing his absolute favorite thing. Oh, to be 2, and have your morning commute be your first favorite thing of the day.

We started the day at the wonderful Museum of London, which charts the city's history, from prehistoric times, through it's habitation by different cultures, its abandonment, its rebirth, its great fire, up through contemporary times. We loved all the reproductions of a Victorian-era city street, complete with a pub, a haberdashery, a tailor, a pharmacist, a purveyor of tea and crackers, a toy store, etc. Thora and I loved the Victorian-era Pleasure Garden display, a darkened room with movies projected onto two of the walls, giving the illusion of life-sized actors portraying the well-dressed, at times promiscuous people, intoxicated by the heady mood of the garden beneath the stars. The interior of the room was decorated with plants and trees and a starry-night ceiling. Behind glass were incredibly detailed reproductions of the some of the over-the-top fashion of the time. Auric loved the transportation displays, sitting down and pushing trains on a small track for close to 20 minutes, and only being forcibly led away.

After the London Museum--and it's awesome gift shop--we headed to St. Paul's Cathedral. The kids were losing their strength and composure, and I was hungry, so we just sat for awhile watching some street performers while nibbling on a sandwich.

Then we worked our way, via tube, to the Victoria and Albert (or V&A) Museum of Childhood. This turned out to exceed our expectations. Both the kids and us loved to look at the toys from different times and places, and near each section was some kind of interactive display for the kids to play on. My favorite area featured the dollhouses. I didn't have dollhouses as a kid, but I've always been fascinated by them, the bigger, and the more intricately furnished the better. The photo to the right is dark; but it shows Auric hunkered down at a dollhouse in front of a display case of several massive dollhouses, stocked with tiny life-like accessories. We were here for a couple hours, before a well-deserved treat in their cafe. After that, we spent some time running around the park next to the museum before heading back to North London.

Day 12: Tuesday, September 27

This was the last full day of our trip and we let Thora set the agenda. And this was her plan: start the day at Hamley's toy store, a store that's been around for 200 years, and now takes up 5 stories in a building between Oxford Circus and Picadilly Circus. Needless to say, she was so excited for this. And clearly so was I, because despite the talk we had outside on the sidewalk, where we told the kids that each of them could get one thing for under 10 pounds (about $18), at one point Sean caught up with me and was perplexed as he listened to me explain to him what all was in my shopping bag. (I took photos of it all for Christmas lists and then sheepishly put it all back.)

Above, Thora is running up The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe-inspired stairwell.

And here she is, standing next to a display of a Princess Catherine doll in her bridal gown. Only $80 a pop! Seriously? (This was NOT one of the items that I had to put back on the shelf.)

After Hamley's, we headed back to Trafalgar Square. The other item on Thora's agenda was to go back to the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church for another round of brass rubbings. Auric cooperated by taking a nap at this time, and so Sean was able to take a quick spin through the National Gallery. We all met up afterward and headed to a part of the city that we were told had tons of electronic stores. We wanted to look into getting a new dvd player for the trip home, since we were flying during the day and the kids would be awake for possibly the entire 7+ hour flight. However, we couldn't find one that could play U.S. dvds, and so after a frustrating venture to a boring part of town for a fruitless search, we headed back to North London. However, the kids still got their obligatory ice cream for putting up with the errand, so we have this cute photo.

We had our last night at Tricia's flat. The kids had fun with "Nanny." Below, Nanny is sharing one of the chocolate mice from Boston that we'd brought as a thank you gift for her. She's holding the mouse by its ribbon tail while Thora tries to catch it with her mouth.And she got it!

We all loved our time with Nanny. She was a wonderfully generous host. She was very silly and sweet with the kids. They loved her!

During our last night, Sean's old good friend from his Downside Days, Gaverick, came to visit. We had a great time catching up with him; he'd just gotten back from a several-week European Tour with his band, Poino. He stayed the night at Tricia's house and then graciously offered to drive us to the airport in the morning. So after feeding the kids, Sean took them up the hill to the big park that has a pond where you can feed ducks, while I packed us all up. Before we knew it, we were flying away from London and back to our life in Boston. (We survived the return journey, again without a dvd player--potential disaster #3.) We had a great time and it was a really successful trip. The kids had lots of fun. We had lots of fun and re-connected with great friends. We packed it in and were exhausted most of the time. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

20 Best Photos from June 2011

2011-09-08T10:10:00.001-07:00

June was a very fun-filled month, evidenced while I was reviewing the original 192 photos from that month. And that didn't even include the 10 days we were in NYC! To see all of the June photos (I've whittled it down substantially from the original 192), click here. To see the 20 best photos, carry on.

In first days of June, we got a visit from our good friend, Angela, from our days in Tucson. She was in town for a day and a half. She and I walked up to our neighborhood pub and had a nice dinner. The next day, we all enjoyed the sights of downtown Boston and part of the walking tour of the Freedom Trail. Here we are next to the Frog Pond in the Boston Common.

Here is Thora next to a stand of Allium (otherwise appropriately known as Purple Ball Flower) in the Public Garden.

June brought us back to one of our favorite traditions, the Touch a Truck fair in Charlestown. The kids climbed in and on all sorts of trucks and buses. They had a great time! Here are Thora and Auric operating a mini front loader, I think. (I'd call it a Bobcat, although I can see that it's a John Deere, so...)

Here is Auric with his lady friends, Ellie and Etta. They're splitting an ice cream three ways.

June saw my first trip to Revere Beach with the big kids. On Tuesdays, I picked Zach up from school. And because Auric was with his friend Etta and her dad, Greg during their naps on those days, I could take Zach and Thora on outings further from home. On a Tuesday in early June, we took 3 trains out to Revere Beach and even managed to get a short visit with Sean on our way back to the station.

Thora had her last dance class in early June. She dressed to the nines on this day, in her purple tap dancing leotard and a pink skirt from her dress-up drawers. I think she was nervous and sad for this to be her last day, because when I went to take her picture, she went all slap-stick on me. But somehow, she still manages to take wonderful pictures even when she's trying to dissuade me from taking them.

Here is Auric in his sister's glam sunglasses during Thora's last dance class.

This is usually what happens immediately upon arrival when Thora and Zach have a playdate at our house.

June also brought with it the strawberry harvest and that means the Strawberry Festival out at Verrill Farm in Lincoln, MA. We'd gotten so much rain that the fields were mud pits, threatening to swallow the shoes off our feet.

We continued our efforts to cook out as much as possible. Here are Thora and her friend, River, playing in the back yard after dinner. And yes, Thora is wearing a bright metallic yellow leotard and her red boots.

The local reservoirs opened up and on one warm weekend in June, we made our way out to the Old Res in Lexington with our friends Dana, Greg, and Etta. Here is Sean and Auric. Auric had just stepped on some very hot metal in his bare feet and was being consoled. The moment was particularly special since Auric was wearing Etta's grown-up sunglasses.

Etta and Dana

For a couple hours, Greg and Thora, but mostly Greg, worked on this massive sand castle. Since then, Thora has asked me to replicate this. I'm a huge disappointment now that she has something to which she can compare my efforts.

We had lots of park time with our friends in June. Here is Auric and his friend Lila, and her mom, Summer.

Summertime means fresh smoothies!

Here, I caught a cute moment of Auric playing doctor with a baby doll.

And lastly, I captured this moment of sibling bliss at the park one afternoon. Auric is giddy and Thora seems to be acting out of sincere affection for her brother. I'm so glad I caught this moment in time.

Stay tuned for our ten days in NYC in the middle of June!

16 Best Photos from May 2011

2011-08-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

I hate that I'm writing this so much later. Because I'm sure I would've written very passionately about the warming temperatures and the beauty that is Spring after a New England winter, or about the fun we had while Sean finished up the last week of his recovery from surgery, or about the giddiness I felt when the weather got so warm that we could pretend we were already in the full embrace of Summer, or what I'm most ashamed not to have better documented, the kids' lightening-fast development. But alas, it is from vague memories that I write all this. Please forgive me.

So, back to May. (Click here to see the whole photo album.) The colors burst onto our landscape and over one very lucky day, we got to take it all in at the Public Garden in downtown Boston. The tulips and trees were in full bloom in all sorts of colors all over the garden. Color exploded from the ground and the air, everywhere.

That's Thora running through the grass.

Thora finds a stray tulip on the ground amidst this stand of tulips.
(She knows to pick only weeds, never flowers.)

During May, I took Thora shopping for some summer clothes. It was a kind of chaotic girls day. Thora couldn't tolerate the hour or so in the mall. But it wasn't all bad, because she scored these awesome red boots. I was in the Gymboree outlet store, stocking up on reduced-priced staples like sundresses (she can't get enough of these), as well as the occasional stretchy t-shirt and shorts. While I was wandering around the store, trying to find her size on the various sale racks, Thora repeatedly found her way to the only full-price rack in the store, showcasing items for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. She kept asking me if she could get the boots. I kept breaking it to her that they weren't the most practical thing, especially since we were there to get her some sandals. (Her gold ones finally went to sandal heaven.) After the third or fourth time that she found herself admiring them, she turned to me and said, "Mom, I'm just in loooovve with these boots." I had to admit that they'd totally grown on me since we'd been in the store. And since we couldn't find the right pair of sandals in her size, with a cringe, I obliged her.

Well I needn't have feared. Thora wore those boots everyday until they went to boot heaven at the end of July. (Actually, I couldn't bring myself to throw them away, and so I turned them into planters where they're currently housing some yellow begonias on our front steps.) She ran around parks in those boots, wore them with any and all outfits, climbed all sorts of playground equipment in them and got at least 5 compliments a day. She even ran a kids race wearing them in June in NYC's Central Park. Here she is the day we got them.

Auric continues his love of all things motorized. The city has been doing work in a few spots along our route to Thora's school and everyday he points out all the equipment. Here he is fulfilling his dream of driving a Bobcat (driving a back hoe is up there too), at the Children's Museum.

The dads all took the littlest kids to the Children's Museum that day while Hilary and I took the older ones to a birthday party. Here are the dads enjoying a much deserved beer with lunch.

Clockwise from left: Ellie (sleeping in the stroller), Daddy Dave, Daddy Sean, Auric, Daddy Greg, (aka Buba), and Etta.

Later that same day, our friends watched all the kids while Sean and I snuck away and met up with our old Tucson friends, Hans and Lisa, and their kids, Emily and Steven. We did an abbreviated walking tour of the Freedom Trail through historic Boston. It was great to get to see them!

During May, we cashed in a few gift cards for the kids and got Auric his first train set and Thora some incredible dress-up clothes and accessories. Below, Auric plays with his train for the first time. (This is, by far, his most beloved toy. Thank you, Grandma Jane and Grandpa Terry.) Click here for a video called, "Auric's Budding Vocabulary Part 4" which features the trains, along with a new expletive. Fun! Additionally, it shows his newfound understanding of color. Initially, I think he may have combined the words "color" and "yellow" so that whenever he was asked a color, he always said it was yellow. Then, he added the word blue. So that whenever you asked him the color of any object and it was yellow, he was probably going to guess it right the first time. If the object was blue, he'd most likely get it on the second guess. (In this video, he actually does the opposite, although this was very rare.)

The kids are getting to be more like peers everyday. Despite Auric's forays into the terrible twos, they find more ways to play together and get along. For a very cute, if a bit long, video of Thora and Auric doing what they do best (Thora plays the teacher, Auric, the happy-to-please student), click here.

Below, is another sweet, and sadly rare, moment. They were watching a video, having some down time while I made dinner. Auric cuddled up with Thora and she began playing with his hair. They sat there just like that for 20 minutes or so. It was beautiful.

Here's the whole gang at Zach's house. Thora, Zach, and River all had gymnastics together. We'd all get together, and two moms would watch the little siblings, while one mom would drive the older kids to gymnastics. When they returned, we sometimes had impromptu pizza parties. Here they all are, eating pizza and watching a video, while the moms got a brief moment to relax as well.

From left: River, Ellie, Auric, Zach, Thora (wearing the red boots, naturally)
and Lila, the only civilized one of the bunch, eating at the table.

Zach turned 4 in May and Hilary put together a great treasure hunt birthday party in a nearby park. Here the kids listen to the instructions.

Zach got these awesome kid play guitars, which re-opened the door to let in Thora's rockstar persona. (The red boots, again.)

Auric. He amazes us everyday with new abilities, new charm, and new defiance (which is still cute, somehow). He is very much his own person, but he takes so many cues from his sister. Click here for a short video of the first evidence of him singing, "Singin' in the Rain." (As I write this in August, he can sing it all. Video of this to come.) And here's another video, called, "Auric Sings with Feeling." I love his expression in this one: eyes shut tight, emotion (of what, I have no idea) all over his face. This is another example of his ability to dramatize a moment, something that's been modeled for him by his sister everyday of his life. And lastly, here's another short video of Auric being cute, called, "Auric Falls Out of a Box."

May gave us some rainy days (click here for a short video of Auric splashing in a puddle, one of his absolute favorite activities). But it also gave us some warm days in which we had lots of fun. On one of these days, we traveled out to Lincoln, MA to visit Codmon Farm, one of favorite trips to see the animals. Click here for a short video of that. And later that day, we enjoyed our first cookout of the season. Below is a shot of us after dinner. Sean likes to wow the kids by making these long baskets into the kids' hoop. Here he is mid-shot. And to prove how good he is at this, here is a video of our backyard fun which includes Sean shooting baskets (and wowing me), of Auric saying some words (through a mouth continually full of cantaloupe), and a great flashback to Thora of two years ago. Watch all the way to the end for that little treat.

And lastly, here's Auric's friend, Etta. She's a darling girl. Auric plays with her almost everyday, along with their friend, Ellie. They're just too cute. I had to include this.

Thanks for checking in with us. I hope to have June up before long! Check back soon.

20 Best Photos from April 2011

2011-08-01T10:13:00.001-07:00

April... what a month. The most notable event was Sean's somewhat troublesome (for him, not us!) but ultimately successful surgery. We're grateful for the team of doctors, nurses, and hospital staff who gave him such great care. He was home and walking around during the beginning of April, enjoying lots of time with his family, including his parents, whose visit lasted through the first part of April. Sean was on the go a lot, always testing the limits of what he could do physically, not one to lay around and recover through rest. And his determination has paid off. As I write this, four months after his surgery, he's back to running the same distances (25-35 miles per week) that he was prior to the surgery. It's amazing, really. I count our blessings every day.

(I think many of these updates have been Thora-focused. Be forewarned, this one is clearly Auric-focused. Be sure to click here to view the whole April photo album. It might be less biased.)

And one of our blessings, is our little Peachy, aka Auric. What a character he is. He's been a little charmer from his first weeks, cooing and cuddling, and always flashing those dimples. His charisma and likability continues to shine as one of his most outstanding features. Click here for a short, cute video of him performing, on command: crying, laughing, and our favorite, yawning. Even his tantrums are a little cute. Click here to see one of those. As Winter transitioned to Spring, he hit a language boom, and his ability to parrot became really noticeable. For a video, "Auric's Budding Vocabulary, Part 3," click here. (Read on for an explanation for one of the stranger words he came up with for "spoon.")

Most of his words are pretty dead-on. And in fact, he hears if he doesn't get the word out the right way, and so will repeat it several times, unprompted, until he gets it as close as he can, which is the opposite of his big sister. She was very verbal from very young. But despite talking sooner, her words were less sophisticated. She had a tendency to hear the syllables, but process them in reverse, and so "meow" was "owmm". And she liked double-syllable words: "cereal" was "cee-cee"; "Thora" was "Sa-sa"; and our upstairs neighbor "Carl" was "Ca-Cow." She also came up with some doozies: "lass-i-mo," for "mollasses," "lez-lo" for "Lopez," and "bommut" for "bottom." Thora had many of these funny words. Auric's words sound pretty accurate right from the beginning; thus, so far he has only had two pretty funny words: "Ahh-poh" for "open" and, our household favorite, "Up High" for "spoon." We have NO IDEA from where this last one generated. The only explanation that I came up with, was perhaps he was connecting the idea of sitting "up high" in his high chair and the spoon with which we fed him. Regardless, it's a pretty cute Auric-ism and we enjoyed it while it lasted (several months).

His love for cars and trucks and trains, really anything that goes, continues to be his guiding light in life. Here he is enjoying digging and dumping the pebbles into the trucks at the park.

Now on to one of our favorite Thora-isms, namely Baby Trash Can. She's been in Thora's room al this time, all but forgotten about. Until one time this month, Thora included BTC in her dress-up play. Here's is BTC, up on a foot stool, getting all glammed up.

Bath time gets fun, as Auric gets older. Good times!

Brian and Auric got lots of quality time during their visit. (Beverly also got lots of quality time. However, it seems that she suffers the same fate as I, that of always being the one behind the camera.)

During Sean's first weeks at home, he would regularly walk over to the MIT track and walk laps. Auric loved being brought along on the outing, for the wide open space to run, and on this occasion, the good fortune of finding a forgotten baseball.

The spring saw the official hand-me-down of Thora's trike to Auric. Here is one of his inaugural rides.

Auric continued with swimming lessons in the Spring. He still does not quite grasp what's needed of him. He's a great kicker, and has this very funny frog-like kick where he simultaneously kicks both legs out behind him repeatedly. What he thinks he needs to do with his arms, I'm not sure. Basically he mostly uses his arms to cling to me and at times, hang on to the straps of my swimsuit, just daring them to come loose. Fun! Click here for a very short video of him swimming (don't worry, my suit never comes loose!) in which I attempt to get his arms moving. But he's having none of it.

And it wouldn't be an update if it didn't include a photo of Thora and Zach, dressed to nines, and doing some kind of performance. Here they are, tapping away on our portable tap floor. (Notice Auric in the background, mimicking them, and also wearing a pajama top that his belly has out-grown.)

Easter weekend saw another great visit from Baba and NuNu. Here is Baba monitoring Thora's egg-dyeing. He's having about as much fun as you can while balancing a squirmy toddler on your lap and attempting to keep the various dyes in their respective cups while a 4 year-old, sort of willy-nilly stirs them all up, while she poses for pictures. Good times.

Here she is taking in her accomplishment. This look of satisfaction and pride changes dramatically (see link above to view the whole April album) when she notices that I'm snapping away, at which point she becomes absurdly protective of the eggs and refuses that they be photographed or even looked at. Oh Thora, she never fails to make an innocuous moment a dramatic one.

And speaking of Drama, Thora and Zach continued their Education of the Theatre when we took in a Wheelock College production of "Alladin and the Wonderful Lamp." Here they are, waiting for the show to start, with Zach holding up the program. It was a really engaging performance, with the actors regularly appearing out of the side doors to the auditorium and walking up and down the aisles. So the kids were pretty awe-struck at having the show come down to them. The costumes were also incredibly vivid and spectacular.

And again, what can I say? This kid just cracks me up and breaks my heart at the same time. Like a hundred times a day.

Thora's friend Ally and family hosted their second annual Easter party. The kids played and enjoyed the incredibly well-stocked easter egg hunt. A great time, as always!

Clockwise from left: Liem, Lila, Ally, River, Thora, Auric, and Khai.

Thora continues to put on shows, even when she's NOT putting on a show. How does she do this? Click here for a short video of Thora NOT being a mermaid, even though she's hamming it up as one. One thing you can say about Thora: she likes being unpredictable.

April also saw Thora and her friends, Zach and River, attend the Big Apple Circus in downtown Boston. This was such a fun outing. We started with the multiple trains to Government Center, a dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe, and then an evening of entertainment at the circus. My favorite entertainment of the whole night had to be when Thora turned to me, midway through the first act and said, with complete earnestness, of course, "Mom, take my boa. I'm going on stage!" See the long pink boa in the photo below that was part of her circus-attending outfit.

From left: Zach, River, and Thora

And back at the ranch... this is going on. Auric and his best buddies, getting a bath. Babies in bathtubs... it doesn't get much cuter.

From left: Etta, Ellie, and Auric.

And at last... April saw some color re-enter our lives in the form of blooming flowers in our yard. Here is a Bleeding Heart flower, something that Thora became obsessed with this spring. She loved spotting them in other people's yards and they were regularly expressed in her works of art.

Thanks for catching up with us. Look back soon for the best photos from May.

14 Best Photos from Thora's 4th Birthday

2011-07-31T17:21:00.001-07:00

Thora turned 4 in March and given Thora's love of Theatre, musicals, singing and dancing, and all things performance, we were thrilled to find out about Kidstock in Winchester, MA, this great children's theatre that hosts birthday parties for budding thespians. Prior to the party, we picked the Castle Capers theme, which would allow Thora and her friends to act out 3 short plays involving princesses, kings, queens, knights, dragons, etc. It was an incredible experience. Bob, the party director, was amazing with the kids, so fun and engaged. And while performing on stage in front of friends and parents might not have been all of the kids' dream come true, it was definitely Thora's. (To view the whole album, click here.)

While waiting for all the friends to show up, the kids decorated a castle-themed mural.

Then, once everyone had arrived, the kids warmed up their acting muscles, playing some ice-breaker games. Here they are practicing looking sad. Thora is looking sapped of the will to live.

Here, they're looking surprised.

Once they were warmed up, they began the first of three plays. Bob would begin to tell the story, and as new characters were introduced, he would ask for volunteers. Being Thora's birthday, she was always asked first and when asked what she'd like to play, she always picked a princess. Here she is as a magical princess.

Some of Thora's friends felt really comfortable on stage, and Jack was one of them! He hammed it up in the most hilarious way. Here he is, playing the heck out of the role of "Dragon #1."

At the end of the first play, all the actors take their bow and get applauded by all the parents and other friends.

From left, Zach, Jack, Olive, Clarissa, Ally, and Thora.

The second play found Thora as another princess, this time starring with her dad, King Zach and her mom, Queen Olive.

The final play incorporated all the friends in any role they wanted. So there were several queens, a king, and multiple princesses.

From the left: Jack, Aiden, Zach, Olive, Thora, and Ally

After the three plays were done, the kids got cupcakes and ice cream. I'm not sure what Thora's expression is trying to say here. But I'm pretty sure that despite appearing as if she's glaring at the cupcake tower, I think she was intimidating that candle as she prepared herself to make her wish.

The following morning, a Monday, was her actual birthday and she enjoyed modeling this silly birthday hat before school.

As a special birthday treat, the whole family took her to school. However, Auric couldn't be bothered to get out of his pajamas. But you take what you can get with that kid.

Thora's special day ended at her favorite eatery, Four Burgers. And as I'm noticing now as I review these photos, Auric is still in his pajamas! Sheesh!

For a very cute video of Thora as she's being sung "Happy Birthday," (and actually appearing embarrassed), click here.

Happy Birthday, Thora! Your family loves you!!! (Even if we embarrass* you in your favorite restaurant.)

* You're 4! What are you doing being embarrassed by anything at all, let alone being sung "Happy Birthday"?!? I mean, considering what you wear on a regular basis, I just figured...)

17 Best Moments from March 2011

2011-07-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

March... it seems so long ago. How did we fill those long, cold days? We'd finally sent back our Netflix copy of Singin in the Rain and then purchased our own copy. That month saw Thora's interest in classic musicals only broaden in scope. She was fascinated for a long time with the Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers classic, Top Hat and the Gene Kelly and Judy Garland hilarious pirate movie, The Pirate. (Is it crazy that I mark the time by Thora's favorite movie of the moment?)

The snow melted (as we knew it would, and yet somehow couldn't imagine really happening) and we emerged into the outside world again. But there was still a lot of indoor fun, as captured below on camera. (For a look at the whole album from March, click here.)

I had to include Thora wearing this shirt, since I begged her to wear it dozens of times, only to be told how "hateful" of a shirt it was. (She likes to be dramatic.) To tell you that I was crushed each time I heard those words, or how I defensively launched into a lecture/scolding about not using the word "hate" would not entirely capture my disappointment. Let this be a lesson to me: if I want a shirt with Bill Murray from Stripes on it, just buy one for myself. (I've since done so.) Oh well...

I love Auric in the background of this one.

This borrowed pajama outfit is more Thora's style. And of course, we had plenty of opportunities to capture her embodiment of the dragon on her front.

Again, we have another funny Auric in the background, surely trying to mimic his idol.

One of our activities during the last cold breaths of winter was creating this recycled-materials castle. Here is the artist. (This is the "before" shot. You'll have to wait until the April update for the "after".) It is funny to see this castle after so long, since it sat on our kitchen table for months! And it's no small construction. It was quite a step when we finally put in the recycling bin. We'd all grown so attached to it, in the rituals of moving it for meals, cleaning around it, adding new paint and decoration, etc.

All winter, Thora kept begging us to take her to her beloved Inside Playground. And while her logic was sound, (the winter is the perfect time to go), it was hard for her to grasp the grown-up reluctance of driving through a blizzard, or moving the car and risking having to shovel out a whole new spot upon the return. But finally, in March, her request was granted! Here they are enjoying the bliss of running in open space!

This one doesn't really have an explanation. It's just typical Thora, always performing some kind of drama or singing the narrative of her thoughts. Although, Thora never seems to sing at a normal volume (every song is belted out), she has added one nice bit of flair at the end. Click here to watch a 20-second video of this.

"Who me? Expressive?"

Thora continues to love playing dress-up. She loves it even more when she can cajole me into being dressed up as well. Sometimes that means pulling her stretchier dress-up clothes over my grown-up frame. Other times, it's what was captured below, namely the raiding of my jewelry box. One evening, after getting dolled up, we played around with the timer on the camera and managed to capture a very nice family photo.

Below, her and Zach get dolled up!

Auric LOVES puddles. Running through them, bouncing balls through them, long-jumping into them, racing strollers through them, this kid get no end of happiness with a simple puddle. Really, it makes me want to re-evaluate my priorities. Click here for a short video of this.

Auric and Sean were caught in this silly, and sweet, moment. Too cute!

Thora's appreciation of the Theatre took a turn for the grand, when we got tickets with Zach and his mom, Hilary, to see the Broadway sensation Mary Poppins at the Boston Opera House. Both kids had seen the movie and loved it. And yet, a 3-hour event that doesn't even start until after their bedtimes? It was kind of risky. Hil found discounted tickets, and we decided to risk it. We only made it through the first half. (Although the kids didn't realize it was just intermission, so we were able to leave without confusion or protests.) However, the experience of being in that stunning theatre I'm sure left a mark on Thora. You should've seen her acting the princess in that place, including the chandelier-laced ladies' room! We look forward to seeing the musical again, both acts next time, when she's a bit older. But it's a fond memory, despite the abbreviated experience.

Thora and Zach pose in the lobby of the Opera House.

Just prior to Thora's birthday, we got a visit from Baba and NuNu. Both kids had a mighty virus and we spent the first few hours of their visit laying on the couch, watching My Neighbor Toturo and nibbling crackers and sipping ginger ale. But over all it was a great visit which included Thora's birthday party just a few hours before their return flight!

Thora models one of her more famous dresses. Will we ever forget these dresses with frilly skirts and the gem-encrusted tops? Could there be anything more perfect for Thora's continued love of all things pink and/or glamorous? A big thank you to Hilary's mom, Sandy, who saw not just one of these, but a second one in black and pink, and thought to pick them up for Thora!

There are more pictures of Thora's birthday in an album to come, but here is one shot with her fourth birthday present from Sean and I, a big kid bike (it converts from a balance bike without pedals, to a pedal bike).

To help us out with Sean's surgery (during his time in the hospital and the recovery time afterward) Sean's parents visited us. We all had a great time (considering the circumstances) and they were an incredible help to me as I bounced back and forth between the kids and Sean in the hospital. Below, Grandpa Brian and Auric bond over a book.

Look at this kid! What can I even say about this? Seriously, he is too cute. His use of language has really boomed since spring. In March, he began saying his own name! Click here for a video of him being cute and saying his name, and a lot of other names.

One one afternoon, Brian and Beverly took Thora and Auric to Thora's dance class. Here she is enacting something, probably a flying unicorn princess. This was a great class for her. They used their imaginations, guided by the excellent instructor, Katy, and got to do lots of twirling, jumping, leaping, and galloping.

In addition to Thora's Creative Movement (dance) class, Thora continued with her Taekwondo lessons. She's an Advanced Tiger. Click here for one of my better videos (thanks to Foreigner) of Thora practicing Chon Ji, a 19-move routine. In the video, they practice the first 8 moves.

And that's it for now. Stay tuned for photos of Thora's birthday.

Best Moments from February

2011-06-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've fallen so far behind that now February seems like a blur of snow and shoveling and endless viewings of Singin' in the Rain. Actually, of all the movies for us to watch practically daily, we got very lucky. Singin' in the Rain is a great movie and it stands up to a gazillion viewings. But despite Thora's good taste in movies, I'm happy to say that those cold, cooped-up days are but faint memories. Here are some photos that take me back to those cold, short, but at the same time, very long days. For the entire album, click here.

As I've mentioned before, we got almost record snowfall this winter. And with all the very cold days, there was nowhere for it to go. It wasn't melting, and so with each new snowfall, we all just dug out our sidewalks and cars, and added to the mountains of snow. They took on such height that the local hoodlums began tagging them. To give you a sense of scale, here is Thora near a snow mountain just outside our house. (Notice how her feet aren't touching the ground.)

Many of our afternoons were spent indoors and we were grateful for all our friends with whom we passed the time. Here is Thora and her friend, Ally, in one of their spirited dress-up/tea party sessions.

But mostly, my memories of the late winter are of Thora doing her best to express her desire to perform, while in the confines of our living room. With the daily viewings of Singin' in the Rain, there were daily performances. Here is Thora performing "All I Do is Dream of You." Click here for the Debbie Reynolds version from the movie to see what Thora is imitating. And if you're an It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan, you might like Thora and Auric's rendition of "Dayman." Click here for that.

We tried to get out of the house as much as we could this past winter. A few days a week, we braved the elements to attend various activities. Thora practiced Tae Kwon Do twice a week, continued with tumble tots gymnastics once a week, and we added a great Creative Movement dance class once a week. Thora loved it. The kids were encouraged to trot and twirl and leap and skip to various styles of music and with accompanying storylines, e.g. "Now the ponies are going to gallop to their friends on the other side of the river [represented by a long line of scarves tied together]," or "When you get tapped on the head, you become a bird and you fly through the sky to your tree." Thora loved it. And so did Auric. The instructor is wonderfully accommodating when it comes to younger siblings. As long as I kept Auric from hurting himself or disrupting the class, he was welcome to dance and move (which usually translated into him mimicing the older kids) as much as he wanted to. The picture below shows Thora off to the left in the middle of some expressive dance, while Auric reaches up to the ceiling (in the red and blue striped shirt), surely mirroring what the older kids had all been doing a moment before.

Thora continues to enjoy her mornings at her pre-school. And during the winter months, they are lucky to get a second day of swimming each week. And with her lessons on Sundays at MIT and her twice-weekly lessons at school, she was getting lots of time in the water and getting better and better. Here is a progress report that came home with her in February. We were very proud parents!

In addition to all the activities and time with friends, there was still plenty of time for Auric to develop his love of getting into what he shouldn't. For him, some of his favorite elicit activities are indiscriminately pressing buttons on the DVR and DVD players, turning the microwave on, and his favorite, getting at our computer. Here he is, giddy at being caught, and waiting to be scooped up and away.

This month also saw him really flexing his vocabulary muscle. Here are a couple cute videos of his new-found power of speech: "Auric's Budding Vocabulary" and "Auric's Budding Vocabulary Part 2."

In February, Thora got her first taste of live theatre. The Boston Children's Theatre put on a production of Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, a mash-up of three Kevin Henkes books that feature Lily, the mouse. This is a character that Thora knew well and we thought it was a great opportunity for her to see some kids acting on the stage. Thora loved it. She wondered what the next play we would see would be and asked if she'd be one of the kids on stage. Somehow I don't doubt that there's some acting in her future. Here she is with the girl who played Lily, who posed with audience members after the play.

February wasn't all inhospitable weather and graffiti-tagged snow mountains. In fact, one day in late February, we got a surprisingly warmish day (for February) and we all went for ice cream after running around in the park. Here is Thora and Zach enjoying a well-deserved cone.

And lastly, February marked my first attempt at giving the kids haircuts. It was quite the milestone for me and Thora, since it marked Thora's first ever real haircut. (She'd had a few snarls cut out by Grandma Jane when she was 18 months old.) I was nervous, having never cut anyone's hair that didn't require buzzing it with electrical clippers (Sean's). But they both cooperated superbly, thanks to Gene Kelly and the rest of the gang in Singin' in the Rain.

Here's Thora about to be shorn.

And here's the final result. I was actually really proud of myself, giving it a good trim while maintaining the natural layers she's had her whole life.

And here's Mullet Boy, watching Don Lockwood try to woo Kathy Seldon.

And here he is, about to be enlisted in the army. I couldn't believe how easy he made it for me. And by him, of course I mean Gene Kelly. Auric sat bug-eyed, just like during each daily screening of our family's favorite movie.

22 Great Photos From Chicago

2011-02-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

This January, I took the kids to Chicago for a quick visit with family. The original plan was for us to travel the week between Christmas and New Year's, because not only did Sean not have any extra time off work, he in fact had to work more than usual. So we all thought that would be a good time to go. Except Mother Nature didn't think the same thing, and we got slammed with a blizzard and our trip was canceled. But we rescheduled and made it there in January. Click here to see the whole album.

I love watching Thora and Auric play with classic toys! Here, they play with a Barrel of Monkeys.

Thora shows off her accomplishment while Auric mugs for the camera.

And I have to take this moment to flashback to the moment 2.25 years ago, when Thora was just a bit older than Auric is now. I love this photo of Thora and Baba.

Moving on, more mugging. This boy... what can I even say about him?

On our first full day, we worked our way over to the Lake Bluff's Park District, for a little sledding. We'd had success there the year before (see video here), and had quite a bit of success this winter in Cambridge. But I guess this sledding was a bit too intense for her. I mean, personally, I thought it was pretty awesome: it's easy to climb; it has a long ride down (so you get a thrill that's worth the relentless climbing); and in its current incarnation, it was really, really fast due to the melting and then re-freezing snow. But as you can see, either Thora was just in a foul, and therefore less-than-daring mood, or she was sincerely frightened, or both. Here's her second and final trip down the hill. And I'm holding back the link, just for one more sentence, because I have to say that her brother was tossed off the sled (out of my arms) and his body did a kind of little ninja-throwing-star move... face down! And he was fine. So again, I think she was in a foul mood. So here's the link--note the sobbing and running away at the end. And my "oh goodness..." comment.

Anyway, on with the visit.

On our first day with Grandma Jane, we made a visit to the Rainforest Cafe ("Rain Corest Cafe" as Thora says it) which has become a much-anticipated tradition.

As are the coin-operated vehicles kiosk that occupies some mall real estate between the Rainforest Cafe and the closest exit.

We spent much of Friday and Saturday watching the kids bounce around inside jumping castles and big inflated obstacle courses. On Friday afternoon, after a highly entertaining trip to the Rainforest Cafe, we hit My Jump Place near my mom's place. It's not flashy, but it's got the bases covered. Thora loves this place and bounces, climbs, and flops around until thoroughly exhausted. Which is what we're aiming for.

The following day, Grandma Jane and Aunt Natalie accompanied us to Monkey Joe's, a jumping castle paradise. This place--a midwest chain, I think--was very well-run and we managed to eek out about 2 hours there, feeding the kids in the middle, (which actually kind of had me worried... I mean do you really want kids full on pizza and juice to be bouncing around?) But we were puke-free and exhausted when we left.

Here's Auric "driving" a race car video game.

And when I say "we" went home exhausted, I do mean "we," since Auric and Thora love it when we do these activities with them. Natalie is always tireless when she's with her niece and nephew.

After some lunch and some outlet shopping, we headed back to Grandma Jane and Grandpa Terry's house, where we were treated with some sledding and frozen-creek playing. Below, Thora and Auric are loving the ride to the creek in the big sled.

Here's the workhorse, Grandpa Terry!

He kindly shoveled a path across the frozen creek. We loved walking around on the frozen water and throwing the frisbee for their puppy, Abby. And despite Thora's earlier protest that would never sled again, ever, here she is eating her words.

Here we are, later, warmed up, having eaten Grandma Jane's home-cooked Chicken and Dumplings (one of my favorite meals from childhood), and having watched Shrek (Thora's first time). Since then, she's comically referred to Shrek as "the Yoger." "The yogurt? Why does the Yogurt run into the church? The Yogurt?!? Oh... the ogre!"

Then, on our last full day, we headed to the Botanic Gardens, where we thoroughly (THOROUGHLY) enjoyed the tropical and desert greenhouses.

Below, Natalie helps Thora with a Botanic Gardens bingo game where you hunt for various sights within the garden. Here, I think they're checking off the banana tree square on her bingo sheet.

Here's NuNu and Thora, I think maybe identifying an orchid.

And here, the boy enjoys a new toy from Aunt Sue (Cathy's sister), a perfect fit for his interest in sorting, stacking, and just generally fitting things onto/into other things. He's happy. But really, when is he not?

And then we found a baby mermaid statue and we tried for next year's Christmas Card photo. We kind of got it. And it wasn't for not trying.

And then, while every other Chicagoan was watching the Bears' playoff game with the Green Bay Packers, we were allowing Thora to expel the afternoon's worth of cooped-up winter energy at the LB Park District's open gym. Here she plays with/forces her brother down the slide. Again, I mean what else can I say about this boy?!?

And then, I couldn't resist ending on a sweet note.

13 Best Photos from January

2011-02-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

Oh, January. Where do I even start with you? We've been hit with triple the average amount of snow, which arrived every five days or so. And so commonplace have become these annoyances: where are we going to park the car? Can we get it out of the spot once we get it in? Can I get the double stroller to Thora's school and back, or do I convince her to walk the .7 mile while I carry Auric on my back? How many parking spots will we have to shovel out this week? Will the melting snow turn to ice or slush? Sadly, I don't even wonder anymore if I can run with the double stroller, since all the paths are intermittently shoveled at best, and a slushy, foot's-width path at worst.

It's really too much and we've all had it up to here! Except, there are some beautiful sights to take in, like the one above, shot while running across the Harvard (Mass Ave.) Bridge on one of my few runs this month. And there are more pretty pictures of the snow-laden trees and other quaint New England sights if you click here to see all of the photos from January.

The Snow

The first big snowstorm of 2011

Thora is enjoying the snow (as evidenced in photos below). Climbing the "snow mountains"--the massive snowbanks created from neighbors digging out their cars combined with the city's snow plows--is one of her favorite activities on our walks around town.

This massive snow mountain actually doubled in size at one point.

Yes, I do try to keep my chin up and find the fun and sense of community as all the grown-ups dig out their cars, or as we share an astonished smile or sigh with other pedestrians making their way through snow and slush. And then something like this happens:

Yes, that is the rear window of our car, shattered by the weight of the snow during the first storm of 2011. What a day that was! I was moving the car from where we were lucky to find a spot prior to the storm, back to a spot in front of our place. After picking Thora up from school and walking us all home, I loaded the kids into the car and noticed that the snow seemed to bounce off the rear window as I closed the door. That was weird, I thought. Until I got into my seat and heard Thora say, "There's something wrong with the window." I looked and to my shock, there was a hole about the size of a grapefruit above her head. I got out and went to her side, checking to see if she was okay, and she was. The glass so far had fallen onto the back ledge and not on her head. But as I closed her door, the hole grew, the whole back window buckling in as easy as fabric. The hole grew as I gently closed my door, and as I drove the 3 blocks to a parking spot in front of our house. By then, the hole had opened up across the back of the window and was dropping small bits of glass on the seat between the kids' carseats. Thankfully, despite all the glass, the kids were completely unscathed. And within a day, our insurance company had sent out someone to replace the rear window. All in all, it was painless. But seriously, that's a bit much.

I try not to be too curmudgeony about the amount of snow we've had to deal with and remember that from a child's perspective, all this snow is dressing up our city to look like something totally different: the sounds are muted; the cars move slower down our snowy streets; our walks around town take on elements of adventure as Thora leads us through a narrow valley just the width of a grown-up's boot, or through a deep, icy "lake" of slushy water. I think of Thora when she occasionally drapes a blanket around herself and asks, "Do you recognize me?" as if the glamour achieved by the long, dramatic folds of the blanket can completely mask her identity ("Are you Lina Lamont?"). I try to enjoy the fun of the snow until we eventually (right?) shed our collective layers and are back to our old selves again.

We're still Dancing and Singin' in the Rain

And speaking of Lina Lamont, January has seen the continuation of Thora's love of the movie, Singin' in the Rain.

Her interest in the movie has been so intense and devoted, I wanted to broaden her appreciation for the movie. I found a pair of barely-used tap shoes on ebay for her ($10 including shipping!), and for $5, I bought a 3' x 5' piece of hardboard at Home Depot, a flexible, brown, shiny sheet of building material that makes the best portable tap floor ever! She loves it! She gets on there and just stomps and taps to her heart's content, belting out the tunes! Check out these videos here and here.

I don't know how many times we've seen the movie, but we finally sent our Netflix copy back and purchased our own. And not only does she continue to watch with rapt attention, but she loves to talk about it, day and night. She's still trying to process a lot of the motivations ("Why do the fans rip Don Lockwood's suit to rags?" or "Why does Kathy Seldon 'grab her things and bolt' after she hits Lina Lamont in the face with a cake?") and the movie within a movie is still a little tricky for her to grasp. But the song and dance numbers never fail to captivate us all (I still stop whatever I'm doing to catch "Moses Supposes" or Donald O'Connor running up the walls in "Make 'em Laugh"). And the fancy dresses of 1920's Hollywood is about the best Thora could ever hope for, particularly the over-the-top ensembles showcased in "Beautiful Girls." As our friend Paul pointed out, I'm your go-to gal if there ever was a Singin' in the Rain trivia night.

Speaking of Paul, we had a great visit with him in early January. Here he is with Auric. And together, with all their combined dimples, their adorable factor is off the charts.

Thora and Paul shared a fun game of I Spy. Paul's patience with the excitement, chaos, and tantrums that occur in our house on a seemingly hourly basis, was saintly!

Tae Kwon Do

Thora continues to practice Tae Kwon Do twice a week. And this January saw her move up to the Advanced Tigers group when she graduated from her white belt to a yellow striped belt. Below, Miss Amy is giving her her new belt.

They continue practicing the various blocks and kicks, the Star Block set, and they've added to their collection of moves crescent kicks and chun ji, a choreographed set of moves that showcase all sorts of blocks and punches. She is proud of herself with this study. It's great to have her practice discipline in a setting that also allows her to be physical in a controlled way. And her class is becoming populated with more and more of her neighborhood friends. So it's a fun place to be twice a week.

Auric, the Toddler

Auric continues to grow into a very cute, flirty boy. He's begun to exert his will in surprising ways, considering he is normally sooo easy going. The first of his tantrums have been almost cute. (Surely, I'll eat these words when he hits the "terrible twos".) His verbal ability is different than Thora's, who was such a chatterbox. But I can't say that he's behind where she was, because he seems to be attempting more difficult sounds. While he does jibberish, he also tries the harder "l" sounds, like in his friend's name, Ellie, or in the very cute, "Hellooo?" when he pretends to talk on the phone. For a glimpse at Auric, the talker, click here for a short video. I've taken a bunch of video in February, so stay tuned for more videos of our talking boy.

The photo below was taken on our first snow day, when thinking of activities to stretch throughout the whole day is critical. And so of course we started the day with one of his favorite chores, helping me with the dishwasher, or more accurately, crawling onto the open door and feeding utensils down below the bottom rack.

Auric is a climber. Within seconds he can be up on the chair at the computer table, standing on the coffee table (which is meant to be an obstacle to him pushing buttons on the dvd and dvr players) pressing buttons on the dvd and dvr players, or up a set of stairs. His climbing abilities stem from not only his strength, but his understanding that he can be very quiet, while his sister never can be, and so more often than not, I'm talking her down from the peak drama of some injustice or tantrum and that's when he strikes. What's extra amusing about it, is that his desire to climb seems less about doing something he's not supposed to, but rather for the giddiness he feels when the adult swoops across the room and scoops him up into his or her arms. He sees one of us walking towards him, gets another stair higher, or a few more random tv shows recorded, and then squeals as he is rescued from his own bad behavior.

Thora Loves Sugar

I couldn't resist including this photo, since it really gets at the heart of Thora's reaction to sugar, which is to say, she becomes possessed! She's just eaten a cupcake at her friend, Olive's, birthday party. And the sugar has just hit her blood stream. Clear the deck!

Another one of Thora's activities, gymnastics, commemorated the end of their semester with a Mini Olympics, in which all the students in the various levels showcased the skills they'd been working on over the last four months. She takes the class with her friend Zach and here they are, posing after the big show. For a look at the event, click here for the 5-minute video. I admit, it's a bit slow, as my videos go, but I've put it to some entertaining music, so just crank up the volume and rock out for 5 minutes.

12 Best Photos from Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a fun time in our house this year. Sean was home for the whole 3-day weekend, we were still anticipating our trip back to Chicago (our flight wouldn't be canceled until Sunday night), and there was much fun to be had together. Below, I get lovingly attacked while trying to get the kids bundled for some Christmas Eve playing at the park.

Can you resist kids with tassels on their heads? The answer is, no.

Below, Auric walks in snow for the first time, in his steel-toe (just kidding) work boots. I find these boots hilarious for some reason, perhaps because he looks like a man from the ankles down, but is still clearly a big baby. We were about to get over a foot of snow in about 48 hours.

Christmas Day

Auric gets a bottle first thing in the morning. And even new presents could barely command his full attention. Here he is opening his first present, a recycling truck (made from recycled plastic) with little sorting holes on either sides, which is great for his love of inserting objects into containers.

The Thora Puzzle Stool now has a companion piece, the Auric Puzzle Stool.

Our friend, Nicole, who bought Thora this awesome coat last year, happened to see its matching hat this year. It is perverse how sad I know I will be when she outgrows this ensemble.

Our Christmas decorations: the most we've ever done! Normally, we just plug in our 36" fiberoptic tree and that's that. I continued last year's tradition of displaying our holiday cards on a string along the ceiling above our windows. But this year, we actually put lights up: my old red chili pepper lights that I bought in college in Tucson, probably 12 years ago! And this year, we hung an ornament on the tree, one that Thora made at school.

Auric playing with his new pushing lawnmower.

Thora, the Rockstar

Thora got this Barbie Electric Guitar from her Grandma Jane. At first, I cringed at the thought of the noise this thing would make. (My mom acknowledged that she couldn't resist, even knowing that the adults may grow to hate it.) But within a couple seconds, I realized how perfect this is for her. Thora has lots of energy that she must channel. She spontaneously runs around in circles, regularly sings/yells a narration to accompany whatever activity she's doing at the moment, and periodically needs to kick the air or crush something into nothingness. She has a feistiness that has to get out. And what better way to express those screams, those growls, those rhythms, than through Rock and Roll!

At first she didn't have any real concept of what an electric guitar is for, how it's special, how it fits into the context of all other musical instruments, the attitude that people bring to it. And so, the first thought that came into my head was, "Joan Jett. I'll introduce her to a strong, confident, awesome female rocker." And so I played her "I Love Rock and Roll." She didn't quite get it initially, so I instead, I said, "Let's watch her on YouTube." And she saw, for the first time, what a rock star might do with an electric guitar. And she was transfixed! It took her only about a half dozen viewings (she kept asking, "Can we watch the lady that rocks out?"), and she had absorbed such a wealth of rock and roll moves, and postures, I couldn't believe it! Here is a video of what she can do, indeed could do, after only the briefest of exposure. The kicks, the stomping, the behind-the-back guitar solo?!? It's insane! Which makes me wonder, either she was born to be a rockstar (which is probable), or rock stars mostly go around dancing like a 3 year old. Maybe a little of both.

She couldn't quit rocking.

Here she is with Sean, dressed in her new favorite outfit, another stylish number from our friend, Nicole. In the ten days since Christmas, I think she's worn this outfit at least 5 times.

And here is Sean and Auric, holding his new stuffed lobster from Nicole.

Thora wasn't the only one to rock out. While I was giving the kids a bath, I heard sounds coming from the living room that sounded suspiciously like the Barbie guitar.

The 22 Best Moments from December

2010-12-31T06:17:00.000-08:00

This December was a wonderful, crazy month. Auric is beginning to talk so much more and over all, is acting like a little kid. Click here for a short movie that showcases some of his new words. With this, Thora is finding more to love about him. And we get a lot of moments like the one above, when they are expressing their affection for one another so joyfully. However, with his growing cuteness and ability to participate and show his personality, come more opportunities for him to steal the scene, which as we know, Thora will not tolerate. So there is growing a natural, although painful, environment of sibling rivalries. We have years to come of dealing with that. So I love photos like the one above, that allow me to focus on the moments that are blissful and hilarious.

A Visit From Family

This December saw a long-awaited visit with the Geneva Pococks, Sean's brother's family who live in France, right outside of Geneva, Switzerland. On their annual trip to Iowa, where Julie's family lives, they stopped over in Boston for 5 days and we all had a great time. Here, the kids mellow out with some pizza and an episode of the Electric Company circa 1970. Aedan (6) and Chloe (3) were in great spirits considering they'd been traveling ALL DAY before reaching us.

The next day, Sunday, we all spent in and around Harvard Square. We ate lunch at the Border Cafe, a mexican place that happily takes big families with lots of strollers and gear!

Coleman (4 months) gets some attention from his older brother, Aedan, while sitting in Brendan's lap.

This is Thora's 3rd visit with her cousins, but only the second one that she remembers. The first happened in the fall of 2007 when she was just 5 months old and we traveled to France to watch some of the Rugby World Cup. They were reunited a year ago, in January 2010 in Eugene, OR and hit it off. This trip solidified their relationships. And it was a particular joy to see Thora and Chloe, just a month apart in age, be so fond of one another.

These photos come from a particularly cute scene. Julie and I watched on while, across the huge table, Thora and Chloe talked intently, confidentially, raucously with each other, like girlfriends who have known each other forever. What could they be talking about? It seemed so beyond their years, the way they concentrated so completely on taking in the other's half of the conversation.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the content of their deep conversation was the ABC's. Perhaps they were discussing the differences between the ending ("Won't you sing along with me?" versus, "Next time won't you sing with me?"). Click here for a short video of this great moment.

Whatever it was, to them, it was captivating and hilarious, relevant and silly. More likely, it was just an excuse to share ideas with someone so much like herself.

Below is one of the few shots when we've got 80% of their family in the frame at one time. I thought this merited inclusion!

Later, we walked to the Cambridge Common and played at the playground there. Thora and Chloe loved this swing that goes in all directions. They thought it was hilarious to barely hang on, so that their bodies flopped around, giving themselves the illusion of flying off at any moment.

Later, while the temperatures dropped, and the sun set, Julie met an old friend at a coffee shop while the rest of us wandered around Harvard's campus and then back home.

Aedan gets a ride on Uncle Sean's shoulders

We had to make a couple trips each night to get their family back to their hotel room across the river, and so Chloe and Thora enjoyed a few more moments together, this time preparing food in Thora's kitchen.

Later in the trip, we all descended upon the Science Museum. And as expected, the kids had a blast. This enormous Lite Brite-esque toy is great for kids. But it particularly aligns with Auric's love of putting objects into containers. Here, these pegs make very satisfying thonking sounds as they slip into the holes.

At home, Auric loves his shape sorter, but when he tires of using the shapes, he loves to slide dominoes into the shape sorter. And he'll sort small things into all sorts of big things. He'll sort dominoes into his new sorting recycling truck, or into a slit that I cut into the top of a shoebox; he'll sort his toothbrush through the small holes in the step stool in the bathroom; he'll sort one of my stray hair clips down through the top of my small bedside lamp, to watch it fall back onto the base of the lamp. Our kids look so much alike; it's fun to be reminded how truly different they are.

Here is the one and only moment that their whole family is in the camera's frame at the same time! Julie and Brendan are sitting on a bench at the back, Brendan holding Coleman. And in the foreground, Aedan, Chloe, and Thora build in the K'Nex exhibit in the museum.

Then, with a few minutes left before the museum closed, we took them to Thora's favorite areas, namely the reflecting light and science in the playground exhibits.

More Weddings

Thora's fascinations with weddings has not diminished. She still marries Zach at least once a week and is constantly planning it. We went through a few weeks when she would plead for me to show her my wedding shoes, and the jewelry I wore at my wedding, and finally she asked to see my wedding dress. I pulled it out, lifted up all the layers of dry cleaning plastic, and let her see the white, silky fabric. Then one night, she asked if we could both wear wedding dresses, she would wear her red dress and I could put on my dress. And I thought, "Why not? It's just hanging in the closet? Why not get some use out of it?" So we fancied ourselves up, Thora wearing my only other pair of high heels, the long, red dress that makes her feel queenly, and my bridal veil, while I wore my wedding dress and shoes. She particularly liked orchestrating the drama of presenting me to my Prince Charming, Sean, as he cooked our dinner. "Tell her how beautiful she is, Daddy," she ordered.

This was such a bittersweet moment. Perhaps you can see the tears in the corner of my eyes. It was impossible not to reflect on our wedding day 8 years before and all that has happened since, the two wonderful children we have now, the life we've made together. I couldn't help but acknowledge how much she would've enjoyed our wedding. It's fun to think of having done things (like have kids) in a different order so that she could've been around for all the pomp and pageantry of it.

Winter Fun

One snowy day, Thora and her friend Zach made and decorated sugar cookies. This food coloring took days to come off!

Afterwards, they burned off some of that sugar in the park, (they ate an incredible amount of icing), throwing snowballs at each other and making snow angels.

The Month of Singin' In The Rain

Here's a great shot of the four kids, Auric, Ellie, Zach, and Thora, one cold afternoon, as we all enjoyed Thora's current favorite movie, Singin' in the Rain.

Thora absolutely loves this movie. The dresses, the singing and dancing: it is a perfect fit for her! She can do some great impressions of Lina Lamont's squeaky, nasally voice: "What's the big idea?!?" Click here for some Gene Kelly-inspired tap dancing. I found this great reference book called, The Best Old Movies for Families, written by Boston Globe movie critic and parent, Ty Burr. I'm encouraged and excitedly await the future of great movies we get to watch with her.

Thora's had quite a bit of fun sledding after the big snow storm we had at the end of the month. Here she is with her friend, Ally. And below, she's sledding with Zach.

10 Best Moments from November

2010-12-30T07:02:00.001-08:00

I'm only a month behind, but it feels like it's been ages since November. We are almost a week into our first snow-bound, deep-freeze of the winter, and already these photos of us back in November seem like a different lifetime ago. I can hardly remember life before snow, pushing the double stroller down the middle of the residential streets because I can't get it through the piled up snow on the corners, the interminable bundling and unbundling, the soggy rug by the front door where our wet, snowy boots are in various stages of drying. The other day, when we ventured out amidst the snow storm that canceled our Christmas trip back home to Chicago, I walked with Thora and Auric (on my hip) to the grocery store at the end of our street. Thora was crying as the wind hurled tiny flecks of snow into our faces, saying, "I want it to be summer again!" Oh, don't we all! But anyway, that's December. Back to November, when we had mild temperatures, crunchy leaves, and lots of fun. For a look at all the photos, click here.

The month started with a visit from our old friends, the Hendersons. Sean worked with Kelly back in NYC and we've stayed in touch, visiting one another regularly. They made the trip up to Boston and we all thoroughly enjoyed catching up. The twin girls (7) are great. They included Thora in their play, particularly liking to dress her up. Here they are having just styled Thora in her dress-up clothes. Thora has a unique sense of style, to be sure. But Tai and Sydney really took it to a whole new level of glamour!

Tai and Sydney, the stylists, and Thora as the over-photographed starlet.

Thora could be girly with the older girls, but also silly and rowdy with Drew (4). One of the games they thoroughly enjoyed was running and hiding from Toilet Hands (Auric). Sadly, our new walker has earned that nickname from the many (!) occasions wherein he gleefully splashes around in the toilet water (thankfully, always recently flushed). Thora still tells friends about the time that her and Drew were running from Toilet Hands. (Usually we were all talking about something else, and Thora felt the need to turn the conversation in this direction.)

Drew and Thora have managed to get both of their bodies into a toy designed for a single baby. Good Times!

All Things Wedding!

In our house right now, Thora is infatuated with one thing, and that is weddings. This is a natural spin-off of her recent fascination with princesses. Brides are modern day princesses for a day. They wear the lavish dresses that princesses are seen wearing, on every page, in her fairy tale books. And to her parents' great delight and amusement, she has acted out these weddings with her best friend, Zach. Thankfully, he likes to get married as much as she does. It happens at least once a week these days. Here they are in the middle of their second wedding ceremony.

Whereas most of the time, Thora can hardly contain her 3 year-old energy and wackiness, when it's time to get married, she has the focus of a zen master. She is all business, concentrating wholly on the preparations, the exchange of rings, reciting the vows, all of it. These days, getting married to Zach is the best possible outcome to each and every day. In the morning, she asks, "Is it a school day today?" Regardless of my answer, she asks, "Are we going to see Zach today?" And I tell her. And then, again, seemingly regardless of the answer, she says something like, "Oh yea! I need to make the dresses so we can get married!" Click here for a short video that reveals how wedding preparations permeate our activities.

The Bride and Groom comparing rings.

This fascination with weddings reached a high point over Thanksgiving break, when Sean took Thora to Oregon to spend the weekend with his folks and to see the Duke basketball team play Oregon in Portland. (More about that later.) At one point they stopped in a Hudson News for a drink and snack during a layover and Thora, for the first time, noticed that not only is there such a thing as a bridal magazine, in fact there are handfuls of them! Sean said that she stood there, speechless, taking it all in. (Thora? Speechless? I know.) When telling me the story, he said, "How to describe it? 'Mesmerized' is not a strong enough word." Then, when she regained her power of speech, in a voice still deep in the trance, she began pointing, saying, "I want that one... and that one... and that one..." While kind of horrifying to have a 3 year-old girl already obsessed with being a bride, it is still cute and pretty hilarious. And we're glad to know that we now have a secret weapon up our sleeves: to avoid a meltdown during a restaurant dinner, supply her with a bridal magazine, and she'll likely sit, quietly, for an hour!

Thanksgiving

Yes, we split the family in two for the holiday. And strange as that sounds, there was a decent reason, and his name is Auric. We would've all stayed home together. But Sean read that Duke, his alma mater, was going to play Oregon in basketball over the Thanksgiving break. This is very rare occurrence, since they're not in the same conference and wouldn't have reason to play one another, unless they met in the NCAA tournament. So, he felt like this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. And it's hard for him to pass up seeing Duke play live, if it looks like it's a reasonable possibility.

So then came the issue of getting us all to Oregon for Thanksgiving. And now we're back to Auric. While he frequently answers to the name Easiest Baby on Planet Earth, there is currently one situation where that is not true, and that is the long-distance flight. As a new walker, he just cannot sit still. And as a "lap" ticket, he is not particularly fun to fly cross-country with. And then there's the adjusting to the new time change and then back again, which is hard to do over a 4-day weekend. We were not thrilled with the idea of traveling with such an uncooperative and high-maintenance traveler over the busiest travel weekend of the year, but Sean did think taking Thora to the game, going on a special trip alone with her, might be fun. While Thora can be high-maintenance in a lot of ways ("Thora, why are you putting that in your mouth?!? You're almost 4!"), she is a very easy flyer these days, especially given her lengthening attention span and her love of a few good movies (Mary Poppins, for one). And so we decided that while sad to be apart, the best choice for all of us was to split up for the holiday.

Upon hearing that Auric and I might spend the weekend alone, we were immediately invited to accompany our great friends, the Sheas (Zach's family), down to Zach's grandparents' house in Connecticut where Auric and I were given the warmest and most generous of welcomes. (Side note: Thora doesn't really know that we spent Thanksgiving with Zach without her, so don't go telling her.) Here is Auric and his friend Ellie, with the grown-up Sheas, Hilary and Dave.

Meanwhile, Thora was in Oregon with her dad and grandparents. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, they traveled up to Portland to watch Duke beat Oregon. Thora enjoyed the first half and seemed to enjoy being there, getting to eat concession food, taking in the spectacle that is an arena sporting event, etc. But the game couldn't hold her attention for much beyond the start of the second half, and the portable dvd player and Mary Poppins had to be brought in as courtside entertainment.

Otherwise, our November days were spent as they often are: Thora at school in the mornings and then meeting up with friends in the afternoons. Here we were taking advantage of the some of the last mild days of fall, before winter set in.

Auric clearly doesn't see himself as a baby. He sees himself as his sister's peer. Here he is longing to keep up with her.

These are his best friends, Etta, a wonderful, talkative girl who is just a few weeks older than him, and in front, Ellie, the darling littlest one of the crew.

Best Moments from October 2010

2010-11-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

October has been an exciting and busy month for us. For a look at all the photos from this month, click here. Here are some of the highlights.

Thora's First Real Crush

It's also been the month that she's explored the complicated internal realm of a crush. She's had crushes before. She used to get this mesmerized look about her when she was around "fancy" ladies, women with long hair, who wore makeup and dresses and jewelry. If we knew them and were friendly with them, she'd often ask me to ask the object of her infatuation if she would let Thora sit on her lap or carry her. Most recently, she fell for our new friend Greg, the dad to one of Auric's playmates. I could get her to do almost anything if the promise of seeing Greg was on the horizon. But in retrospect, these crushes were small compared to the emotions she's been showing us recently.

This month, we've talked more about her former teacher, Rich, than perhaps anything else. Rich was a student teacher for her class over the summer. And although her teachers announced that his summer teaching job with their school had come to an end, it was confusing for her to have him leave. What has proven even more confusing, and perhaps what launched this crush into the intense state it's in now, is his periodic returns to fill in for absent or vacationing teachers. But even prior to his surprise return, we spent most of our time talking about him unceasingly at home. For example, Thora will ask things like, "Do you think Rich would like to be all cozy with me under these blankets?" or "What would Rich say if he had a tummy ache and I was there." In all of these scenarios--and they go on for a mind-numbing 5-10 minutes at a stretch--Thora seems to want me to portray Rich as only needing and wanting her, to send all others away so that they can be alone.

It's been kind of painful to watch, actually, since the intense emotions she feels for Rich has brought along with it a new sense of self-consciousness, something I thought was years away. Whenever she talks about Rich at home, and is momentarily and acutely possessed by these strange-feeling emotions, she talks in this strange, shy, pinched voice. It's like she knows these feelings are intimate and private and to share them is to reveal something very vulnerable about herself. And then after a few days of this, Rich was suddenly back at school. It was most painful to witness her body going rigid upon seeing Rich there at one of the tables with some of the other kids, just like none of this was happening. Isn't it just like the person who is oblivious to your crush to go on with life as if all this torment isn't happening to you?!? She acts just like a love-struck teenager. She can't go near him when he's there. And when I timidly made the suggestion that she might sit with him and talk with him since she likes him so much, she conveyed the simple impossibility of it. With a quick shake of her head, she told me that being near him, that talking to him was just out of the question. It broke my heart the recent morning she said to me, "Don't tell Rich we talk about him." I reassured her that we would never do anything like that, and she followed that up with "And tell Daddy not to tell Rich too." We may have crested the peak of this crush--our "Can we talk about Rich" sessions seem to be ebbing--and are hopefully on the slope away from this fixation. She seems to be relatively unscathed by her first crush; however, I can't help but recognize that our baby is only 3 and there are many more hearts out there that will cause hers to ache. I just hope--admittedly selfishly--that she does more of the heartbreaking.

Thora regularly works her dress-up clothes into her regular rotation.

Speaking of love, it reminds me. Thora got married. How could I have not led with that?

They'd just been pronounced husband and wife.

If there is a boy in her life who has been true and loyal to her since the day they could walk, it's been Zach. And a few weekends ago, they were wed. The grown ups were finishing dinner at Zach's house, and the kids disappeared down in the basement where the dress-up clothes are. Zach's mom went down there to check on them, and when they were ready, escorted them upstairs in their wedding attire (Cleopatra dress for Thora, Zach in his upcoming Halloween costume, and bunny ears for both) and told us that they wanted to get married. It was a sweet, hilarious moment. I let Thora borrow my wedding ring, something she's always wanted to do and what I've always said is off-limits. Zach got his daddy's ring and we had a little ceremony for them. Since then, Thora asked me one afternoon, "Where's Zach? I want him to get here so we can get married again." Young love...

Thora, the Performer

Thora is still a performer. And one day at the museum, we found the perfect outlet for her: this colored light exhibit that projects three silhouettes from three foot lights onto a white wall. Here she gets to dance and strut and pose while watching the many larger-than-life Thoras do so as well.

In fact, she got so into this exhibit that she began to create a song and dance number. Here's a short video of this moment. It actually had been going on for awhile before I realized that it wasn't ending any time soon and that I still had time to pull out the camera and capture it.

Another favorite exhibit at the museum is racing the blinking lights. Thora still loves to run.

Thora Looks in the Mirror and Sees a Princess

Thora's love of all things Fairy Princess has increased recently. For a long time she's imagined herself as a princess. But recently, she's become fixated on the various Disney Princesses--to my dismay. She's only read abbreviated stories of Cinderella and Belle, but at school she's seen a few of the other girls' princess products, specifically a sheet for one of the napping cots that is decorated with Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella. So despite my hopes that we were going to bypass the phase of All Things Disney Princess, her interest appears to be unavoidable. I'm now asked to draw the various princesses. A hilarious moment was the recent pre-dinner tantrum that exploded because Daddy! Didn't! Draw! The! Princess! Right! Sigh.

In an effort to hold off against the Disney Marketing Machine, we got Thora some wings. She is a fairy princess or a princess butterfly or a butterfly princess, depending on the mood. She regularly wears these to the park and to friends' houses, to the point that they are already falling apart. But regardless of how long they last, they give her so much pleasure now. She asks me as we're walking through town, "Do you think that lady is surprised to see a butterfly? Do you think she wants wings like mine?" Her sense of herself as someone that people notice, as someone that people should be noticing, is really honed. This girl was born to perform, I think.

The Classes

Thora and Zach get ready for their first gymnastics class.

This was also the month of The Classes. Thora started gymnastics this month. It's fun for the kids. They do circuits on the various equipment, like the balance beam and the long trampoline, practicing a variety of balance and posture skills as well as rolls and handstands. Thora loves going. It allows her to be physical and burn some of that 3 year-old energy, while still practicing the skills of listening to directions and control of her body.

Thora also started tae kwon do this month. And this past Saturday, she earned her first stripe! We're so proud of her determination and patience with this sport. Here's a, albeit unfortunately low-quality, video of Thora doing some moves in her class. In the first clip, Thora is in the front row, towards the right. But you might be better off finding her in the mirror, where her reflection is just to the left of Instructor Amy's reflection.

We'd heard that Tae Kwon Do is good for kids' sense of self-discipline, while at the same time giving them a physical activity and something to improve their confidence. This martial arts school came highly recommended to us as one that's great for youth classes. And it totally lives up to the hype. This instructor is exceptional at keeping the kids focused and positive, while knowing that they are youngsters who have to be wild occasionally, to break up the extended moments focus. We are proud that Thora was invited to join this class for 4-6 year olds. She is at times overly confident with her neighborhood friends, perhaps because she's taller than almost everyone and is pretty coordinated and well-spoken. So, it's good for her to be around older kids who are so much more coordinated and articulate. For the most part, she gets good behavior modeled for her by the older kids. And she really looks up to her instructor, Miss Amy. And because this question comes up a lot, they make the point repeatedly that tae kwon do is to be done only the studio and at home when they're practicing with their parents. That it's not to be tried out on friends at the playground or on little brothers.

And finally, Thora continues on with her swimming lessons. After a summer full of swimming in the local pools and reservoirs, we started her back in with lessons (in addition to the ones she takes once a week with her school).

Thora on the "Tot Dock" with her fellow swimmer before class.

In the first session back, she was put in the Intermediate Beavers class. We checked in with her teacher midway through to get her feedback on where she thought Thora would be for the next session, so that we could enroll before the classes filled up. And she told us, that while Thora can swim on her own, in order to move up to the Advanced class, most of the other skills she'll need to be able to do relatively on her own as well, with minimal spotting by the instructor. We were anticipating keeping her in the Intermediate level for another session. So we were surprised to read Thora's report card on the last day, graduating her from the Intermediate class and encouraging her, "if she's up for the challenge" to move up to the Advanced class. We are very proud of our little girl and her big achievements. She's been in the Advanced class for 3 weeks and is doing well. She can do much of the skills, like floating on her back or using a kickboard, while just barely supported by Instructor Ashley. Similarly, in her swim class at school, Thora tells us that for the first part of each class, she swims with the flotation aid on, but that her instructor Dana has her remove it and she'll swim a good chunk of the time with no flotation aid!

Auric is in his second session of swimming lessons too. He doesn't do much but get comfortable in the water. But he's doing well. He's a great kicker, snapping his legs out simultaneously like a frog. It's a strong and funny kick. And when I help him up onto the edge to do jumps into the pool, I have to be careful to keep him close because he often tries to climb away to play with something that's caught his eye.

Auric also started another class this month: a Mommy and Me music class. This is the same class that I took with Thora back when she was this age. Auric loves it. When we arrive at the building he gets all excited, knowing what we're about to do. When I play songs from the cd for the class, his gets alert immediately as he recognizes the music.

When we're there, he is very engaged, playing with all sorts of different instruments, shakers, bells, and drums. Last week, the instructor pulled out the big, rainbow parachute and he sat staring up at it for about 10 seconds, taking it all in, before pointing excitedly at it, his face beaming, like he was saying, "Are you seeing this!?!" It's great fun to be there with him. The only trouble is that he likes to crawl and is very speedy. So I spend some of each class following him around, scooping him back up and bringing him back to the group. The class is held in a dance studio, so the front wall is a floor-to-ceiling mirror. That is just too irresistible sometimes.

At Home

Here's Auric playing with some of his favorite toys. He LOVES those cubes. And in playing with him, one sees how much he loves to nest things, stack things, and drop things into larger containers. He is so fun to watch. He'll get a few of those cubes linked together and then over and over he'll drop a small toy down into the middle and say one of his favorite words, "Uh-oh," and then fish it out again. In this photo, you can also see his little musical keyboard. He likes music, loves to dig out the rattles and bells to shake along to music, and he likes to dance.

Speaking of... speaking, Auric's vocabulary is really starting to grow! He is starting to use recognizable sounds for words. "MMM" is moo; "Yow yow," is meow; "grunt grunt" is woof woof, for dog; he will roar when you ask him what a lion says; he will do a pretty good impression of an elephant, accompanied with the raised arm for the trunk; he will make a siren sound to indicate a firetruck. And of course, there's always his first word, "Guh" which is truck. You can see almost all of those words by clicking here for this video. He loves to point at things and says some version of "gibberish gibberish ... dish." He uses this word, "dish" or a version of it, to mean "this." He'll point at ceiling lights, small details on fabric, at the sky and say "dish, dish" and we'll tell him what we think he's pointing at. His signing more and more now too. He waves his hand in the air for airplane, he'll put his fingertips together for more, he'll squeeze his hands open and shut for milk. And he's proving to be a great mimic. When Thora is having a moment and can't control all that 3 year-old energy, and roars, Auric mimics her right back. It's hilarious--and sometimes scary--to see him take it all in, all of Thora's emotional displays. On an hourly basis, I say something to the effect of "Pay no attention to that girl throwing a tantrum," in the voice of OZ. But he loves his sister something fierce. She is the most wonderful thing in his eyes. And so he can't look away.

And most of the time, she loves him right back.

She loves that he can balance better now--she thinks that gives her license to wrestle with him--and that he can chase her (on his hands and knees, of course). She can tell that he loves attention from her and so she gives it. Sadly, like most sibling goofiness, it's great until someone gets hurt (usually Auric, although she's gotten her hair pulled more times than I can count). You can see that she can't wait for him to be her peer.

Here he is quite pleased with himself having pulled himself up to stand and look out the back door. He'll be walking soon, I think. But for now, he still crawls like a speed-demon around the house and occasionally walks around holding onto furniture. Check out this great short video of Auric crawling around the perimeter of a kids' movement class at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.

This month also marked my second half-marathon this year. I completed the 13.1 mile, 2-loop course in 1:50:39, a personal best. The course was flat and favorable in that the downhill section was paired with a tail wind for the second half of each loop, e.i. miles 4-6 and 10-12. It finished around the dirt warning track in the baseball stadium for the Lowell Spinners, the single-A minor league team for the Red Sox. That last tenth of a mile felt really long, coming in at the back corner of left field, seeing the finish line over at first, but having to run the long way around the outfield. However, it was a fun and festive way to finish the race. My dad came along as my cheering section--he and my step-mom, Cathy were visiting that weekend--and it was great to see him up in the stands.

And from that same day that I captured the video of Auric above, here are a few more great moments. We met our friends at the Institute of Contemporary Art. On the last Saturday in the month it hosts a free family fun day, with lots of kids activities. Here we are, enjoying the great space.

Thora and Zach look out onto the water.

Auric and Ellie take in the sights, too.

Auric loved crawling the perimeter of this big room, following the path of the heating vents.

The following is for Sean and I, to help us remember the passing months. Thora bonded with "Doggy" and "Lamby" and they became her sleepmates this month. She's enjoyed reading along with Lilly's Pink Plastic Purse and Brave Irene--we have the cd audio books from the library for both of these books. She also likes the new Charlie and Lola books I've gotten from the library--a favorite of her cousins. Auric still likes anything truck-related and also likes those sliding window or lift-a-flap books. He also really likes it when there's a peep hole in the page that tempts him to find out what's on the next page, like in peekaboo, puppy! or Windows to Color.

10 Best Moments of Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

This year's Halloween was one to remember. (For a look at all the Halloween photos, click here.) It started out with this gem of a jack-o-lantern. And of course, I'm not referring to the plain, old, regular sugar pumpkin that I carved, but rather the Crying Jack-o-Lantern that Thora designed, the only pumpkin with tears that I saw in the whole neighborhood. "Why does it have tears?" you ask. I wish I had an answer for you. Except that when we were drawing pumpkin faces on paper prior to the carving, Thora thought that it had to have tears, even though she couldn't explain why. She kept asking me, me, "Why is it crying, Mommy?" So I had to come up with what seemed like a hundred reasons for a crying pumpkin that she wished into existence! I hoped that when it came time to do the carving, I could get away with just its scared expressions. But, no, Thora demanded that our pumpkin cry.

In fact, I have to confess that at first I was pretty self-conscious of the Crying Pumpkin; that's why I carved it a little friend, a little pumpkin that would make it feel less scared in the dark, spooky nights leading up to Halloween. I worried that people would be troubled seeing our pumpkin with tears, or whisper about the house from which, now that they thought about it, always seemed to be haunted by the cries of a little girl. Perhaps the little girl in that house, they would surely think, was trying to communicate to her neighbors, the horrors to which her mean parents subject her. And what better way to do that than a spooky, crying pumpkin. In fact, if approached about Thora's message, I might suggest that that is the expression of her parents, when forced to endure some of her recent dinnertime meltdowns.

All joking aside, I'm glad to have such a distinctive pumpkin to remember, and such an imaginative little girl who feels no need yet to follow the crowd. Here she is re-enacting what the pumpkin is thinking, something like "Ohh, it's sooo spooky that it's making me cry!"

Here she is dressed in her costume. She was a ladybug this year, something that made both daughter and parents very happy. She had latched onto the idea of being a unicorn, when I thought it would be a good idea to let her leaf through the Pottery Barn Kids catalog that came a few months ago. When I went to look for it online, I realized that I hadn't noticed it's hefty price tag, and more immediately, saw that it was sold out. Yikes. What I thought of was Thora's love of wings. Her friend Zach has a pair of wings in his dress-up clothes and it's what she loves the most. I made her a deal. If she would go as a ladybug (the dress, arm warmers, and hair clips we already owned) I would buy her not one, but two different pairs of wings. It took no time for her agree that two sets of wings would be better than a full body costume that she'd likely never wear again.

Auric went as The Happy Lion. We borrowed the costume and he contributed the Happy, despite missing his afternoon nap due to the festivities. He is just that happy.

Auric is really into what's going on in the sky. He searches the sky for airplanes and helicopters mostly. But when he sees the moon in the daytime, he's adamant about pointing it out. He'll point out birds and sometimes he just wants us all to notice the clouds in the sky. Inside, he's noticed that there are ceiling lights above him almost all the time. He points all these out.

And he's getting closer to walking every day. He is such a speedy crawler--seriously, you cannot look away before he has crawled to the top of a staircase (gated, of course) or into the bathroom and has lifted up the toilet lid and is swishing his hand around gleefully in the toilet water! What fun he has! But recently, within the last couple weeks, he loves to push his push car around the house or at the park, or to walk--balancing with just one hand--with his mom or dad. He'll get there one day. It's just exciting to see that in fact he might actually want to be a bi-ped like the rest of his family.

Here's Thora with her fellow ladybug, Ellie, her best friend, Zach, and their dad, Dave. We enjoyed some of the city's free outdoor Halloween fun (parlor games, jewelry-making, and a magician who had Thora captivated!) before we met up with our friends for a pizza party and trick-or-treating.

Auric being cute at the pizza party.

Thora and a bunch of her friends had a great time playing and then getting ready for the real purpose of the evening--CANDY. Even though Thora doesn't eat candy really at all, especially now that she no longer gets M&Ms for potty-training victories, she still knows that candy is something to be coveted, and that walking around the neighborhood at night, ringing on neighbors doors and getting candy, getting up close to the decorations that we've been appreciating for the last couple weeks, that all of that is a special treat.

Thora and her friend Olive joined forces and were inseparable during the trick-or-treating. It was adorable. They held hands the entire time, helping each other up and down stairs, and walking hand in hand down the sidewalks. The only time they let go was to open their bags and to pluck out the best looking candy from the mix in the bowl. They lasted the longest out of the whole bunch, but were cold and tired by the end. It was a very Happy Halloween.