Random Photos

See they can play nicely:


I took Sophie for her first professional haircut. You may recall she got a trim a little earlier.



Here is Genevieve watching TV while she was getting her hair cut. Since she had her head twisted the whole time so that she could see the TV the back ended up on an angle. Next time I'll make sure he rotates the chair so she doesn't have to crane her neck.

Third

Sometimes when you're third you're just lucky it doesn't have more holes in it than it is supposed to.





But the sleep sack doesn't lie; he is cute.

Reaching Higher Ground

** Video Updated **

Carrie's gift for Mothers Day was to keep the kids out of the house for as long as possible. I took them over to my parent's house to harass them through breakfast while Carrie slept to a decadent 10:00. By then Jonah needed his mommy. My parents and I took the girls to the rock gym.

Sophie got to climb like Diego. She's pretty good but was very tired and only did three climbs. On her third climb I was basically pulling her up the wall.

Genevieve seems to have a new found fear of being lowered down the wall and insisted on down-climbing every route. I'm not too concerned; down-climbing is an important skill when you are on real rocks and she'll eventually get over her fear. On the positive side she climbed a little higher than before and is still loving it. The only reason we left the gym after an hour was that Sophie needed to get home for a nap. Genevieve wanted to keep climbing. I can't imagine she would have had the strength for too many more but she was certainly enjoying herself.

My father took a few videos and pictures.

One Small Step For A Man

Jonah spent his first night alone last night. After three nights in which he didn't wake up once during the wee hours, we figured it was time. Carrie gave him his last feeding around 10 PM and put him to bed in the crib in his new room. Our room was eerily quiet even though we had the white noise machines broadcasting over both baby monitors. I was nervous that his monitor might malfunction so we slept with our door open as a backup.

Today we took the girls to the rock gym for some climbing. When Genevieve and I went last time, Sophie was so mad that she had been left behind that she screamed for almost 2 hours and refused to eat lunch. Even after napping, she wouldn't stop crying unless the T.V. was on. This time we all went, even Carrie and Jonah. Carrie didn't think she would remember how to belay but after a few minutes watching she recalled the procedure.

The girls had a wonderful time. Sophie spent most of the time playing "Diego" by swinging on the ropes. I had to drag her up most of the wall as she was a little too short for many spots but she didn't care/notice. Genevieve is getting to be pretty good. She still won't go much higher than 12 or 15 feet, but she does that bit confidently.

The Greatest Show On Earth

There is nothing like seeing the circus through the eyes of a child. Genevieve's Great-Aunt Rita (and I stress great) gave us two tickets to the circus. G went to the Big Apple Circus last year but I stayed home with Sophie. This time, I went to the circus and Carrie stayed home. I've never been to the Big Apple Circus but I don't believe they are known as "The Greatest Show on Earth" That title is reserved for The Ringling Brothers and they certainly put on a show.


We got there early to watch the clowns put on their makeup and see some extra performances by acrobats, magicians, jugglers and of course clowns.







Genevieve had been asking for cotton-candy and popcorn as soon as we walked in the door. I told her we could get some once we got to our seats. Consequently every time we finished seeing one act she would ask if we could go to our seats and get cotton candy. As soon as I pointed her to the next performer she was instantly mesmerized and forgot about treats until they finished. Rinse and Repeat.

We eventually did make it to our seats and got our cotton-candy. Genevieve was not able to fully process everything that was going on as there were quite a number of performers on stage at any given time. I tried to help her by pointing to things and asking, "Did you see that?" or "Can you believe that he just threw a dog twenty feet in the air through a flaming hoop?" At first I was hamming it up trying to get her into it but pretty quickly she was at the edge of her seat oohing and ahhing. I was swept up by her wonderment and became truly caught up in the show.

She had been taken in by every magic trick and slight of hand as only a child can but I will admit that there were quite a few tricks that I couldn't figure out. I knew it wasn't magic but I just couldn't see where the mirror/wire/tiger was hiding. When intermission came she was really annoyed that I told her we needed to take a potty-break but I assured her we wouldn't miss any of the show.

I guess mostly mothers take their kids to the bathroom because 1/2 of the men's bathrooms had been hastily converted into women's restrooms.

During intermission we got our popcorn and returned to our seats. The second half opened with a giant screen/flag (about 100' X 100') that dropped from vertically hanging to being draped across 1/4 of the arena. Stagehands were holding it from the sides and causing to undulate about 4 feet off the ground. Lights were flashing everywhere and then the flag was quickly retracted offstage. Underneath the flag were about 75 performers in Thai outfits as the Asian elephants came barreling into the ring. Genevieve looked at me with her jaw agape and said, "How did they all get there?" I couldn't help but laugh.

By the end of the show when the bad guy became good (her favorite part) she knew things were wrapping up. She looked at me sadly and said, "Daddy, I don't want it to be over." I told her it was time to go and we made our way to the train station. Some people in the station asked us directions to the circus. I'm not sure what tipped them off; perhaps it was the wizard hat or the big box of popcorn with an elephant on it. Either way Genevieve turned to me and said, "Daddy, they already missed it. The circus is over." I didn't have the heart to tell her there was another performance. Oh to be a kid.

Late Sukkot Photos

Here is Genevieve showing off our sukkah.


Genevieve also gave her cousin a ride around the backyard during a Sukkot party.

Pepperidge Farm Remembers

Do you remember the days of your childhood sitting around in the kitchen watching your mother prepare chocolate cake. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, mom would finally pass you the mixing bowl so that you could lick the chocolate batter off of the mixing spoon. Sometimes you would dip your hand into the bowl to wipe the sides clean; sometimes you would just press your whole face into the bowl. Eventually your hands, face and possibly arms would be smeared with sticky sweet batter like some fantastical coal miner from candy-land.

We're currently living those days. This weekend we did some cooking; G and S gathered close to my apron strings to reap their reward.






What's that? You want to know why the cake batter is green? Oh, that's because it is pesto sauce.

My kids are strange.

Trick of the Week

Sophie is taking a break from her walking lessons (more like running and then instantly falling, but anyway...) to tackle climbing. She has been able to climb a flight of stairs for a while now but this week she has decided that she must climb everything in sight. She will even push a chair closer to a table so she can climb from the chair onto the table. I try to limit the table climbing but otherwise try to let her explore her world as unencumbered as possible. I'll be sure to post pictures of her first concussion.

The Bigger the Girl, the Bigger the Toys?

Genevieve is 3.5 years old now so her Georgia grandparents decided that it was time for her to have her own motorized vehicles. She was a pretty awful driver at first but quickly learned how to steer, back up, and park. She's now a better driver than most of the people I see on a daily basis.

Sunny Day

I took the kids outside today to enjoy the beautiful weather. Sophie seems to enjoy being in the Pack N Play outside. She also enjoys eating the Pack N Play outside.

easy does it

She makes it look so natural.





Okay, there are still some kinks to be worked out...

Matzo

Genevieve's class went to a matzo-making demonstration this week. Genevieve got to be a little helper during the demonstration. She brought home a piece of matzo from the matzo "factory" and wants to use it for this year's afikoman. Of course what she really wants is the present for finding the afikoman.

Animatronic

I promise that this was not done with wires or stop motion photography.

Pictures from Georgia

Still no video of Sophie crawling but here are some pictures of the girls' latest trip to Georgia:

Purim in the South




Panda-monium at the Atlanta Zoo


Horsing Around

Hmmm...

All my food is gone but I don't feel like I've eaten anything....

Void

We don't have cable or satellite TV at our house, for many reasons. So if it doesn't come on DVD we don't know that it exists. While this has many positive aspects it also has the unfortunate side effect of putting us into an informational void. We read a lot of news online so we have a good idea of what is going on in the world but some how always manage to have no clue as to what is going on here. For instance, take the weather. I often forget to check what the weather is going to be like and usually just assume that it will be close to what it was yesterday. This works a lot of the time but will often surprise you. Say... when it was in the 40s and sunny yesterday and this morning there is six inches of snow on the ground.



I was going to take Genevieve to the museum but she thought building snowmen and snow angels was a pretty good substitute.







Genevieve also enjoyed clearing the snow from her slide.




We played for almost two hours in the snow. It didn't look quite the same when we were finished.

Back in the Saddle Again

We just got back from a trip down to Georgia. This was Sophie's first time on an airplane. Genevieve, the seasoned traveler, was fully prepared for the flight. Of course this meant preconceived notions about everything. She asked why every little thing was different from the last flight she was on. At least until we realized that we were on a plane with a full set of children's television programming. We don't usually use TV to pacify G but in this case it allowed us to focus a bit more on the one that might cause difficulty. It turns out this didn't work entirely too well as the adult-sized airline headset kept falling off her pint-sized ears. I alternated between replacing ear pieces and rocking Sophie. Eventually I gave up on sitting and just spent most of the flight pacing in the galley with Sophie. The stewardesses didn't seem to mind since she wasn't crying.

The day before the trip we took Sophie to the doctor because she had a fever. The tests he ran took 24 hours which meant we didn't find out it was a bacterial infection until we arrived in Georgia. Our first few hours in town were spent finding a pharmacy and a doctor who could follow up with her to make sure her antibiotics were working. Since her follow-up was on Christmas Eve our only choice was the emergency room. Her infection is all better and she goes to the doctor tomorrow for her four month checkup. Everyone in Georgia loved Sophie and commented on how much she looked like her Grandpa. See if you can see the resemblance.


Genevieve had a great time but was even more timid around animals than last time. Anytime we had to go near a dog she would demand to be picked up. Since I knew each of these vicious dogs wanted nothing more than to lick her face I often ignored her request but taught her to say "g'wan git" when approached. She also was quite frightened around the cows and horses. After her first trip into the fields on the tractor to check on the cows, she asked me, "Do you like the mooing? I don't like the mooing." She then proceeded to ask about every one else's opinion on the mooing of the cows. On subsequent trips she requested to ride in the pickup truck instead of on the tractor. Seen below is Genevieve not enjoying the mooing.


Her grandpa let her drive the tractor and the pickup in the fields. He worked the pedals while she worked the wheel. Here is her first driving lesson.


Eventually she was brave enough to let me hold her in one arm while feeding a horse an apple or petting a donkey. She adamantly refused to touch anything larger than a cat. However, the cat is huge. Here is biscuit having a stare down with Sophie; he outweighs her by about five pounds.


Ultimately she relented and rode her new horse Lightning. Even Sophie gave Lightning a ride.


Genevieve also gave several piano concerto's while in Georgia. Right now she is a little more interested in loud than on key.