No, seriously...

Sara, Peter, Max & Esme paid us a visit today. A good time was had by all (I think). Carey made her now famous butternut squash and black bean chili, the girls tried on clip-on earrings for the first time and Max schooled Peter and I in backyard soccer. Oh, and I won a game of Syzygy against Sara and Pete. The only good photos are of Max in action, so here you go.

My sister has a problem...

And it's not going to go away until she recognizes she has a problem.

Eat your heart out, pilgrims!

Carey is a big Thanksgiving fan. Bigger than me by about a factor of 10. She has very fond memories of big meals and family togetherness. I remember eating too many olives and pickles and spoiling the traditional spread. Oh, and the kids' table, I remember that. But I've never really anticipated the holiday or planned anything special. Which is why I'm glad I married someone who does. After we got home from the parade, Carey spent four hours in the kitchen while I tired out the kids, both of whom napped from about 3-430. I didn't ask any questions and just stayed out of her way. I did advise the night before, when she was planning the menu, that her mind was bigger than her stomach. Her one concession was to drop the mashed potatoes. So here's the menu, culled from Epicurious.com and Cook.com:

• Grilled pear salad with bacon, gorgonzola and warm shallot dressing
• Sauteed sugar snap peas
• Spinach cheddar casserole
• Parmesan-roasted butternut squash
• Cranberry herb stuffing
• Whole cranberry jelly
• Kettle-fried and oven-roasted turkey breast
• Pumpkin pie
• Dutch apple and caramel cheesecake

Apologies, again, for the camera. Poorly focused on the dish shots and red-eye problems galore. Maybe Santa will bring that Canon XSi? Now THAT'S something to anticipate!

In Macy's we trust...

I lost the argument about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Imagining it to be at least Dante's fifth circle of Hell but with rude New Yorkers and port-a-potties, I wanted to stay home and do anything but take the train into the city for a fleeting glimpse of a few balloons. And as the trip started, I smugly thought I was right. Here's the scene getting off the 1 train at 59th Street.

The parade route closed one of the exits in a station that already had its walkways cut in half due to renovations. But after 15 minutes or so, we poked our heads out of the ground and staked out a spot on Columbus Circle. We could see the floats coming down Broadway by Central Park before looping around the circle and heading south.

In addition to Dora, we admired the traditional Snoopy, the Energizer Bunny, a Smurf, Pikachu, Ronald McDonald, Buzz Lightyear, Hello Kitty and somebody from Sesame Street who nobody could name. We probably spent about 45 minutes standing 10-deep from the road, alternating kids on our shoulders. It really was halfway pleasant.

Then we ducked into a nearby Starbucks and headed south with our warm beverages. Lincoln fell asleep during the walk. We made it down to 54th & Broadway, next to David Letterman's Ed Sullivan theater, where we staked out an even better spot on a hotel window ledge directly above a dryer vent.






The view here was much better, although I'll admit feeling envy toward the office workers camped out in their cubicles overlooking Broadway. From this vantage point we watched Shrek and Horton float by, before a trio of elves on steroids guided Santa's sleigh downtown.


All in all, a very New York kind of day. I hate to give msnbc.com any traffic, but they have a good slideshow from the parade if you missed it.

We were home by 1pm and eating Carey's fabulous feast by 530. But that's the subject of tomorrow's post.

What Greta's thankful for

Our second annual list, composed at the breakfast table this morning, with Greta dictating and Daddy taking notes. No prompting from Mommy or Daddy, just repeated queries of, "anything else?"

Butterflies
Mommy
Lincoln
Flowers
Animals
Greta
Daddy
Going to playgrounds
Cows
Cows on Lincoln
Kitties
Leaves
Winter
Sunshine
Butterflies

Daddy is thankful he made the list, albeit two notches below the entire animal kingdom.

Games kids play

This one is called "Library." Mommy's narration is very helpful. Neither of us has any idea where Greta learned the word "fool."

How big is Lincoln?

SO BIG!

Shortly after Lincoln was born, my friend Connie visited us en route to a wedding in London. She must have taken note of how good he looked in red (as you can see in the photo below), because she returned with an adorable Paddington Bear jacket in the smallest size she could find. To me, it looked HUGE, and I couldn't imagine little Linc ever wearing it.

Fast forward 16 months. I actually became misty eyed as I buttoned him up on Friday, because I clearly remembered how itty bitty he had been when Con brought the jacket to our house. He'll always be my baby, but he's not a baby anymore.

Spidey sense

I got home from work before the bath and bed routine Friday and Lincoln couldn't have been happier. He greeted me at the door, hugging my legs until I picked him up.

Then we wrestled on the couch, ending each tussle with an upside-down kiss.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Frances!

When we called Great Gran earlier today to wish her a happy birthday, neither Greta nor Lincoln was in the mood to chat (they preferred tossing the alphabet train figurines around the living room). Perhaps it had something to do with the chocolate chip waffles we had for dinner tonight. Anyway, at the end of the conversation, Grandma told me to kiss her great grand-babies for her. I cornered them, cuddled up, and said "kisses from Great Grandma!" They both, in turn, kissed the phone. We love you, Grandma, and hope all your birthday wishes come true!

She's growing up too fast

When I picked up Greta's school picture on Monday, three other parents commented that she looked 3 going on 17. I thought it was a silly comment. Flash forward to today, when I caught her canoodling with Duncan on the couch.

The new hearth

My 94-year-old grandfather used to listen to President Roosevelt's fireside chats on a radio, probably in front of an actual fire. My 3-1/2-year-old daughter watches Disney videos on a laptop computer. Not just any video, of course, the first 6 minutes of Tinker Bell's new movie, which we bought as a Christmas present weeks ago. But shhh, she doesn't know that yet.

So much for sibling rivalry?

It's probably a little early to close that book forever, but as Lincoln grows more assertive, he seems to also grow more loving towards his sister. Every night now one of them initiates a game Greta simply calls, "Hug." It involves nothing more than approaching the other person and hugging them until they submit, usually on their back, in giggles.

This weekend I sat in the playroom with them and played Legos. Greta declared her intent to build a "tower of power," at which point Linc began picking up blocks and handing them to his sister. It was quite touching.

Two for two

Like his sister, Lincoln has discovered the delicious goodness of one of this Merrill family's favorite recipes: Aunt Judy's chicken broccoli casserole. He used his spoon at first, but then realized he could shove more into his mouth by using his hand. Thank goodness I don't need to be a sneaky chef in this house...at least, not yet!

Rainy days and Saturdays

A humdrum start to the weekend here in South Orange. After a family breakfast, Lincoln feinted a nap so we loaded the kids up for a trip to Lowes. We formally said sayonara to Home Depot this weekend. Despite their luxurious new warehouse in nearby Maplewood, their customer service sucks, so Lowes gets our home repair dollars until they, too, disappoint. For now, they get about $800 for new front entry and screen doors. The house is a navy blue -- any advice on what color we should paint the fiberglass ? Greta votes purple, Lincoln is apathetic. After Lowes, we treated the kids to the nearby McDonald's Play Place and Lincoln had his first taste of apple dippers. It took him about 10 seconds to figure out the fruit is an excellent vehicle for sucking off the caramel. Lincoln fell asleep on the ride home, so Greta and I ditched him and Mommy and went to see Madagascar 2. Rotten Tomatoes got it about right at last look -- 5.8 out of 10 (58% favorable). Some funny Chris Rock and Ben Stiller lines, but overall not enough child-friendly comic relief. And too much gun play and fighting. Greta fell asleep exactly 5 minutes from the end, so we escaped the theater just before the closing musical number. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent at home, sneaking glimpses of college football while chasing the children around the house. I didn't grab the camera often, but did catch Lincoln with his foot in the tissue box.

Helping Parent III

We fulfilled our final assistance requirement for the semester on Thursday. Rob provided a pretty clear run-down of how the afternoon goes when he joined Greta last month, so I'll limit this to the highlights.

First: Greta loved having all the interactive manipulative table toys to herself before her classmates showed up. She hammered as many nails as she wanted and sorted every single gem and button without having to take turns or share. What 3 year old wouldn't love that?!

Second: Who doesn't like a water table filled with bubbles? Unfortunately I forgot to put the kids in smocks at first. Not that they minded getting a little wet, but Mrs. Hicks did...
Third: Completing a puzzle resulted in this sweet "happy dance":
Fourth: Helping friend duties: Ringing the bell, cleaning up, sitting at the head of the table, and leading the line were all hits, but sharing mommy was a little hard at first. Greta just wanted me to experience everything with her., which was impossible, since there were art projects to assist with, dress up clothes to help put on, soapy hands to dry, trips to "the potty", painted hands to wash and dry, dress up clothes to help take off and on and on. At one point I told Mrs. Hicks I didn't know how she did this all day every day. She laughed and said she went to bed before her three sons (ages 15, 10, 7) and was still exhausted. No rest for the weary indeed!

Fifth: Run-around time in the gymnasium! Big wheels, bouncy balls, a roller coaster, and other "things that go" made everyone glad it was a rainy-stay-inside kind of day. (sorry for the quality of these...our camera doesn't do "action" shots well).

It was a really nice afternoon.

Miscellany

Roughhousing
Lincoln is not just getting bigger (a 3.5-hour "growing nap" the other day), he is becoming much more physical in his play. He seems to think: "Why walk when I can RUN?", "Why sit when I can JUMP?", and "Why cuddle when I can WRESTLE?" Although Greta nearly had him in a fireman's carry this afternoon, he avoided her attempt at a pin with a quick escape roll to the left. I had a brief flashback to my days as statistician to the Spartans and Bombers wrestling teams and scored it T-2, E-1.

Literalist
Greta seems to take her vocabulary very seriously. She enjoys "big" words, and often asks for the meaning of words she hears in conversation, the definition of things, or to have the word repeated so that she can learn it. On the way home from Syracuse, she and I had the following (funny) conversation:
Greta: "Mom, what are those called?"
Mom (driving 72 mph on I-81 South): "What are you asking about?" I glance over my shoulder at her.
Greta: "THOSE." She points out her window. "On the train."
Mom (casting a quick glance out the window and spotting a double-decker train): "Those are freight cars filled with cargo."
Greta is quiet for a minute, apparently thinking. Then she says, in a very know-it-all voice: "Not CAR-go, mom. They're filled with TRAIN-go!"

Take that!
Lately Greta has added the phrases "just the girls" and "no boys allowed" to her arsenal. She uses them daily to exclude Rob, or Lincoln, or both from whatever it is she is doing or wants to do. Today she dashed into her room with Lincoln in hot pursuit and slammed the door just as he rounded the corner. She loudly declared: "No boys allowed!!!" I waited to see what Linc would do. Would he cry? Stomp his feet? Turn around and play in his room? Without a moment's hesitation, he made his right hand into a fist, gently tapped, and said, "Knock knock!" Smart little fella'!

Playdate!

Greta had a great time with Alexandria today. She remembered her from last month's outing, and since we follow their blog, knew she was heading to a well-stocked playroom! From painting and playing dress up, to eating pizza and apple cake and making cookies, the girls got along quite nicely (for 3.5-year-olds!). We even squeezed in some run-around time and ended the day with a little yoga! An exhausted Greta fell asleep on the way home (which is why Mommy can post this now!). Thanks Ewa, Babcia, Alexandria, and Ashley for such a nice day!

ABCs

Carey's been working pretty hard to get Greta to learn her alphabet. She can sing the song, of course, but until now hasn't shown much interest in the shapes of the letters themselves. Apparently if she doesn't learn them before kindergarten, she will forever ride the short bus and even the teachers will mock her. That's why this birthday card for Great Grandma Manguno is so momentous. Can you spot the G-r-e-t-a? (Remember, you can click the image to enlarge it.)

Reunited

Well, the Rye rendezvous didn't happen. Sister Sara's been sick for a few days and didn't want to give us her germs. So I waited patiently for the family to come home today. I'm sure Carey will share a few stories in future posts, but here are my favorite photos of the 109 she took during the trip.

Post-election respite

Carey and the kids are in Syracuse again for a few days. We rendezvous as a family on Saturday at my sister's place. Will post pix of the cousins then.

No Election Day photos, sorry. Like my sister, we brought both kids to our polling place. (A local Methodist church, is that weird?) Even had the camera with us, but during the 45-minute wait to go behind the curtain, we forgot to snap a single pic. Carey brought Greta into the booth and I brought Lincoln. You know, just to enforce gender roles, since a black man has shattered the presidential ceiling.

Hide and seek

Lincoln was very proud of himself when he found Greta hiding. She was chilling with her Yogos Bits patiently waiting for us after hearing "Ready or not, here we come!" I really enjoy watching their interaction as they grow into playmates and friends. They really seem to like each other. Of course, later that day, he sunk his ten teeth into her, so perhaps they're not the best of friends just yet.

Babyhood is slip sliding away

Another sign that Lincoln isn't a baby anymore: he insists on sliding solo at the playground! He and Greta had fun racing down the twin slides at dinosaur park. She would "win" and then jump off to catch him. Then she shared a slide with him, which delighted Lincoln immensely. Lots of fun for everyone!