Shark boy

We went to Michaels on Saturday to buy supplies for Valentine's Day cards. While Greta and Carey picked out doilies and glitter, Lincoln spotted this visor. That smile's worth $1.99, ain't it?

Zzzzzz.....

Here's something I bet all our readers already knew -- it turns out when both parents work and you only see your kids for two hours a day, there's no time to blog and very little to blog about! I used to feel so superior posting daily while the rest of you sometimes waited weeks for something to happen worth sharing. No more. Now I feel lucky if I make it to 10 p.m. and Carey I do more than text each other hello around lunchtime. Sigh.

But... things are good. Carey genuinely likes the job, I'm still enjoying mine, and the kids go mostly to school and daycare without complaint. We cherish our weekends and find ourselves accomplishing nothing but feeling very contented.

Lincoln has the cough/running nose raging through the toddler population. Probably doesn't help that he thrusts two fingers in his mouth a dozen times each day, just to lick the germs off them. Carey was chasing the kids last night and busted her right pinkie toe and her fourth phalange. Gets to wear one of those flat boots and see an orthopedist next week. Wait, didn't I just say things are good? Really, they are. We're not in Haiti.

Nano video

I got Carey one as a back-to-work present and we're just starting to figure out the video camera. It's pretty low-fi, but we hope to use it to capture the little moments that make us smile every day. This one's from MLK Day, aka my birthday observed. Sorry, no time to edit.

Football fun...

The kids (and Carey) were very considerate this afternoon when the AFC Championship kicked off. Left me alone the entire first half! I really thought the hometown J-E-T-S had a shot after that second quarter, but the Colts are relentless. Hats off to 'em. Hope they win it all.

Move over, CC Sabathia...

The ace that led the Yankees to their 27th world championship always wears his hat slightly cocked to the right.

Lincoln isn't that into baseball caps, but he wore one last weekend. And I'll be damned if he didn't cock it to the right every time he put it on.

That's my boy!

Just a cute photo

38 years young

I worked today, on the actual anniversary of my birth. But we observed my birthday along with Martin Luther King's on Monday. The kids helped Carey cook breakfast from Princess Tiana's Cookbook. Eggs in a Nest washed down with a Swampwater Smoothie. Delish.

Greta and I enjoyed a couple hours together in the afternoon while Lincoln napped. We rode the bike down to Turtle Park to meet friends. Scribbled with sidewalk chalk and played a game called possum, which involves Greta and her friends sleeping in various places while the adults run around and try to wake them up.

At 3:30 a couple friends and their kids came over for a Carvel cake and some Wii bowling. We capped off the day with an early bedtime for the kids and the penultimate episode of Dollhouse for the adults.

I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

Belated Christmas

We finally made it over to Rye on Sunday and exchanged presents with the Girards. I had too much fun actually playing with the four kids, so didn't snap many pictures. But here are two that sum up the afternoon. Max taking Lincoln under his wing and teaching him about the oceans, Greta and Esme yukking it up over just about anything.

Make a face that Grandpa Jerry wouldn't expect

That's what I told both kids at the playground on Saturday. Here's what they gave me.

@ the train station waiting for mom...

It only took 8 days of work...

for me to take my first "sick day." Lincoln woke up with a fever last night, and although Motrin brought it down, it came back again once the elixir wore off. So he and I spent the day cuddling, watching movies, reading books, coloring, and generally enjoying each others company. I certainly don't want him to be ill, but it was nice to have time together, as I miss him and Greta so much each day.

Speaking of the princess: Greta feigned a cough this morning, trying to convince me that perhaps she should stay home, too. But then I reminded her that it was Thursday and she had ballet. She quickly recovered from the alleged tickle in her throat, and happily went out the door with Rob.

I plan to pick her up when Lincoln wakes up from his nap (which fortunately coincided with a training teleconference I signed up for last week. I also caught up on work e-mail and phone calls, so I am feeling a bit less guilty.) Just snapped the below picture of him...and need to resist the urge to curl up next to him for a snooze, too!

Butterfly princess, homemade crown

Cute kid

As I took pictures on Sunday of Greta getting lipsticked, Lincoln insisted on posing for a few of his own. This was the clear winner.

Cosmetic changes

Carey going back to work is about more than just increasing our household income. It's also an opportunity for Greta to grow up. And that means make-up. With mommy spending a little extra time (emphasis on the little, she's a natural, low-maintenance beauty with short hair) in the bathroom in the mornings, Greta has started to ask if she can wear lipstick. Apparently she can't have her ears pierced until she's 13, but she can put a waxy, colored substance on her lips at 4 1/2. She does have a little model in her though, doesn't she? Certainly this photographer's favorite subject.

Pottery Barn play

Weekend morning routine

The kids were up at 630 and we left the house at 8 to visit the bagel shop. It was nice to keep them in their routine, even on the weekend. But now it's 930 and time to "clean the house," which loosely translates to "vacuum, do laundry and shower while the kids are entranced by 'Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure.'"

Morning routine

Carey's out the door by 640 to catch a 654 train. The kids are still asleep. I stay in bed until about 630, then shave and shower while she runs downstairs to inhale breakfast. I wake up the kids at 7 and am a Nazi about the routine -- go to the bathroom and get dressed BEFORE we go downstairs. Make breakfast while the kids watch Chip -N- Dale videos on YouTube. Eat breakfast together. Put on shoes while they finish watching. Pack their backpacks with the snacks and lunches Carey made the night before. Back upstairs. Brush teeth. Downstairs. Put on coats, hats, mittens, march them to the car. Drive 1/2 mile to the Haydens, leave the car running, escort Greta inside, give her a "kissing hand," 15 seconds to brief Sarah on anything she needs to know, then run back outside and sneak up to Lincoln's window, press my face against the glass, open the door and ask, "Did I scare you?" "Yes!" he's said for the first four days. Drive a tenth of a mile to daycare, unbuckle Lincoln, grab the kids' lunch bags from the back, carry him outside, change him from his boots into his rainbow shoes, hang up his coat, make sure he has puppy blankey, then walk him across the hall to the common room they use until 830.

Drop-off was remarkably cordial today. A couple plaintive "I wanna go homes!" but when I handed him to Miss Sheryl he didn't cry. Just kept his left hand firmly on his blanket and his right ring/middle fingers firmly in his mouth. I then drive like hell back up the hill (0.6 miles), park the car, wrap my scarf around my head, tuck my right pant leg into my sock (getting it caught in the chain is a fate worse than death) put on my bike helmet, and coast downhill back to the train station with the wind-chill watering my eyes. If all goes EXACTLY as planned (like today) and there's no dilly-dallying, I lock up the bike and am on the platform in time for the 822.

PHEW!

Only photo today is crappy. Taken with the BlackBerry of the kids watching the computer over breakfast. At the very least, it's a nice Mac ad. Question for fellow parents -- do your kids enjoy any passive visual stimulus in the morning? (TV, computer, Wii?)

Backpacks!

They insist on wearing them from the house to the car, where I have to take them off to get them in their car seats.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

If there's a tougher parenting gig than dropping off a 2 1/2 year old for the first time ever in daycare, I don't want to do it.

Lincoln was fine throughout the morning, excited to wear his Thomas backpack, cooperative enough when getting dressed and eating breakfast, but I could sense him tense after we dropped off his sister at the Haydens, who are walking/driving her to school each morning at 9. He got quiet and I could hear him sucking the ring and middle fingers of his right hand. (For those of you who haven't met him, that's his go-to comfort move -- grab his blanket and insert those two fingers, always those two. And you can't pull them out, either, he clamps down on them like a vise. Probably going to be a big dental bill in our future.) To his credit, he didn't get fussy when we first arrived at Children's Learning Tree. He carried in his own backpack (it was too heavy to wear) and waited patiently while I loaded up his cubby with extra clothes, Kleenex, wipes and diapers. We then met each of the teachers -- Miss Joy, Miss Michelle, Miss Somebody Whose Name I Can't Recall. All look like they should stop finishing the kids' animal crackers, but all had that Zen-like calm about them that suggests there isn't a child behavior they haven't dealt with in their years on the job. Lincoln met them all in my arms, only occasionally turning the shy shoulder. We made some brief small talk, but it was quickly time for the dreaded handover. He immediately grasped my neck and started crying, "I want to go home! I want to go home!" I started to choke up, so I quickly disentangled my arms from his waist, transferred puppy blanket with my free hand to Miss Joy's shoulder, then told Lincoln (as tears started welling up) that Mommy would pick him up after his nap. Naturally I got halfway out of the building before realizing I'd forgotten my gloves. Tried to sneak back into the classroom without being seen, but didn't make it. "Daddy! Daddy!" was the last thing I heard...

Fast forward to 10:30 a.m. when I call to see how he's doing. The director, Miss Sheryl, is effusive with her praise. "We wish every child's first day was like Lincoln's!" Really? Miss Michelle, his classroom teacher, was more honest. Yes, he cried a bit, but he also mingled with the kids, ate a good snack, and looks on his way to a good nap.

Carey and I did a joint pick-up this evening and Miss Sheryl greeted us at the door. She wanted us to look through the hallway window before letting the kids know we were there. They were seated at a table with one other boy and a caregiver, coloring. Looked just like they have on countless days with Mommy supervising at our kitchen table. When I poked my head around the corner, Lincoln yelled, "Daddy!" with a much different inflection than I heard 10 hours ago. He hugged my legs and reached up with his little hands, silently asking to be picked up.

When we got home, the kids were starved for dinner and TV, so we gave them both at the same time. After filling his belly and having his fill of Angelina Ballerina, Lincoln noticed Mommy's new work shoes by the door. He doesn't look too traumatized, does he?

So, I think this might just work. I just needed a reminder that there's an entire industry based on the fact that Americans can't afford to raise their own children. And we're just a Mommy paycheck away from paying our mortgage without dipping into savings for the first time since Sept. 2007. Sounds like a good first day to me.

Hi ho, hi ho...

When the history of our family is written, it will have some distinct benchmarks:

• Oct. 10, 1999: Our Moondance in Ithaca. (aka, The Day We Wed)
• May 5, 2005: Greta Corleen Merrill arrives.
• June 25, 2007: Lincoln David Merrill shows up to torment her.
• Sept. 4, 2007: Carey stiff arms Uncle Sam for 2 1/2 years of changing diapers, memorizing Lauri Berkner songs and drinking from leftover juice boxes, while Rob forces entire family to leave his six-figure job in Washington for a less certain future interviewing movie stars in New York.
• Nov. 4, 2009: The New York Yankees win their 27th World Championship. (OK, I just snuck that one in)
• Jan. 4, 2010: Carey begins a second career at ACE Group on Wall Street, sending both kids to a combination of school/daycare for 10 hours daily and changing Rob's outlook from never worrying about the kids to "Oh my God, I hope they don't get another hacking cough today."

New Year, same hike

We enjoyed the unseasonably warm temperature today and went with our friends the Haydens (and their dog Nellie) to the "reservation" on the hill where they have miles of hiking trails and a dog park. Sarah informed us of the rules we'd been flaunting during our previous visits while dog sitting for them. Turns out kids under the age of 10 aren't actually allowed inside the fenced dog runs. Thankfully on New Year's Day the run for little dogs was empty, so we claimed it for ourselves. After 20 minutes of free-range time for Nellie, we leashed her up and headed out on a hike. I use that word loosely. Greta spent most of the mile being pulled in a sled by Carey and Lincoln was on my shoulders. Still, it's lovely to live so close to the greatest city in the world and still be able to stand in the woods surrounded by squirrels and trees.