First backpack

Carey left the Canon with our friend at pre-school who is helping parent today, so this cell phone photo will have to suffice. Lincoln and his buddy Charlotte (who we babysit when her mom is helping parent) loaded it up with their favorite toys for a trip to the park while I watched the end of the Jets/Dolphins game from last night. (I'm working 1-9 p.m. for the next few weeks.)

Channeling Grandpa

We have a couple beat-up step stools we've used over the years to reach things in the kitchen. High kitchen cabinets, the top of the fridge, that kind of thing. In the old kitchen, the kids also used them to help Carey mix and stir. One was dark brown, the other maple. We let the contractors use the dark brown one for some reason and they covered it in joint compound and paint splatters. Nothing a belt sander and some paint couldn't fix, I decided. Lots of paint, said the kids. We had colorful quarts of it left from Greta's room in Alexandria. I envisioned rainbow stools, but the kids stuck to their gender stereotypes - Greta used only pink while Lincoln started with an aqua blue that he later mixed with pink to create a vague lavender. Greta was fastidious about the process, keeping paint off her dress and just getting a touch in her hair. Lincoln, of course, bathed in it, ruining a sweatshirt and sweat pants. When all was said and done, both kids seemed pleased by their efforts and each evoked Grandpa's fondness for painting. Greta did it first, exclaiming, "Grandpa would be so proud!" Lincoln waited a couple hours until his clothing had dried, then ran around the house yelling, "I look like Grandpa!"

 

New kicks

My every-frugal wife got Lincoln a new pair of sneakers the other day. Size 7, Nikes, just $8.99 at Other Mothers. But neither the brand nor size matter much because THEY'RE RAINBOW SHOES!

First decade

Carey may be impressed by 1,000+ posts in this blog, but that's nothing compared to 3,650+ days as husband and wife! We spent part of the morning watching a VHS tape of our wedding day. Lincoln lost interest after about 10 minutes and played with Elmo stamps. Once Greta saw Carey's dress, she wanted us to fast forward to our first dance. But we stuck it out and made them listen to this:

I will make my home in your heart from this day forward.
Carey, you are my closest friend.
I ask for nothing more from life than that I may live mine with you.
I promise to stand by your side forever -- through laughter and tears, when weak or strong.
I pledge to you my trust, my faith, my loyalty and my never-ending love.
You are my confidant, my soulmate, the one I adore.
Publicly and without hesitation, I commit myself to you.

Thank you, my sweet, for living those vows with me.

Popcorn boy

Like his Dad, Lincoln's a big popcorn fan. He doesn't eat it very often, after Carey read some horror story of a boy choking to death in a movie theater. So Lincoln is advised to eat it one kernel at a time, which he does so very meticulously. I brought a half-eaten bag home from the train station tonight and he sat with it between his legs, reaching in every 20 seconds or so to grab another piece, thoroughly masticate, and repeat. At one point he stared down into the bag and said, "I love you, popcorn." Me too, Linc, me too.

Snack a la Cart and a new feature

I just wanted to post a cute picture of Lincoln with his friend Charlotte, as they were shopping together at Eden Gourmet last week:

But when I logged in to Blogger to put up this pic, I realized that yesterday Rob wrote our 1,000th post to this blog! I suppose that is a milestone of sorts...but then I think that you are usually aware of milestones before the fact and not after, so perhaps it wasn't. At any rate, I'm so glad he started this endeavor because the blog has become the baby book I've never put together for either Greta or Lincoln. Whenever I feel nostalgic (which has happened a lot in the last week since our friends, the McVety family, welcomed their daughter Shaw), I curl up with the laptop and scroll through old posts, feeling so happy and content and blessed. I thought perhaps you might like to share my walks down memory lane, so paying the highest compliment I can to one of my favorite blogs where I got the idea, here is where we were...

One year ago: Getting to yes
Two years ago: Tuck me in!
Three years ago: Fall Festival

Curiosity

Vose Ave., South Orange: The sound of a nail gun echoes in the chilly fall air.

Lincoln: What's that sound?
Carey: A nail gun.
Lincoln: What's that?
Carey: It's a tool you use to drive nails into things.
Lincoln: What's a nail?
Carey: It's a piece of metal that attaches two things together, like two pieces of wood. But you can also use it to hang a picture on a wall. You hit it with a hammer unless you have a nail gun, which is faster.
Lincoln: I want one.

Sleeping beauty

Carey snapped these on Sunday. They make her wistful for our baby. He's such a little boy now. Talks non-stop, runs non-stop, and cuddles only early in the morning or when he's really tired. But when he's sleeping it's easy to remember those precious months when all he knew was a warm embrace and soft whisper.

Yay for Indian summer!

Best day of the year here in New Jersey, by far. Perfect temp, cool breeze, warm sun. After church I snapped some shots of the kids playing in the church's pumpkin patch. While Lincoln napped, Greta and I went on a bike ride with the Haydens. Stopped for smoothies and an hour of play at Taylor Park. Now it's sunset and I get to watch the second half of Jets/Saints while Carey whips up homemade macaroni & cheese and a ham steak. Life, dear readers, is good.

Click here for 16 more shots in my Facebook album.

Seton Hall University Day

It's an annual tradition here in South Orange -- one day a year when the closed campus of Seton Hall opens itself up to the townies. It's mostly a family affair with activities like make-your-own scarecrow, paint a pumpkin and ride a small engine, wheeled "train" around the quad. We were the first family to ride the train. Carey convinced the kids to wave so that people would wave back.

Because of the threat of rain, they moved most things inside the recreation center, where the bands were way too loud and the hot dogs were incubated in hot water trays. But they did have a big blow-up slide and a BMX ramp where the Free Cycle Action Sports Team performed some pretty crazy bike stunts. Unfortunately, my camera battery died.

Carey and Greta ended the afternoon watching a college kids theater production of "Beauty & the Beast" while I took Lincoln home for a nap.

Foreign relations

Because they're caring for my 95-year-old grandfather, my folks don't visit nearly as often as they'd like. And when they do visit, it's always a bit of a whirlwind. Arrived about 3pm on Wednesday, left around 10am on Thursday to visit my sister on her 40th birthday.

We crammed a lot into the nine waking hours we had together. First up, a downtown stroll culminating in a stop at "Dragon Playground." The kids showed off their high-speed sliding skills and Greta made up an elaborate game in which she was the princess and Grandma was given the honor of being the Queen.

Carey cooked a lovely meal -- pasta bolognese, chased by brownies ala mode -- while Grandpa helped the kids carve a kitty pumpkin.

Once the kids were asleep, we gathered around the modern hearth, our 42-inch Vizio. Didn't watch anything, but the muted picture provided a nice glow in the room. We listened to Dad's college roommate Per, who was visiting from Norway, talk about where he lives as Carey tried to find it on Google Maps.

All in all, a lovely visit. They certainly did not overstay their welcome.

Autumn weekend in Syracuse

The kids had a great time picking pumpkins, picking apples, and picking on their cousins while we were in Syracuse last weekend. Click here to see how little the kids were when we did this last year, and enjoy the slide show of our recent adventure here! Thanks, Grandma Vickie, Great Grandma, and the Santillanes family for such a fun weekend.

Reunited

Carey and the kids got home this afternoon. She has plenty of stories to share, but at this late hour, here's my favorite, above, of the 172 photos she shot over the weekend.

Happy Yom Kippur

I have no idea if it's a happy or sad holiday for the Jews (and can't be bothered to Google it), but Greta's school observes it, so we are too. Carey drove with the kids to Syracuse today and is coming back Sunday or Monday. She took the camera with her, so these photos from last weekend with the cousins will have to tide you over until they get back. I'm spending my weekend talking to the stars of Free Style, a movie I wouldn't recommend even to my enemies. Hope to get a bike ride in, too, and maybe reorganize the basement. Woot!

Jersey boy

I like football, but I've never liked playing it and have never lived and died with a team. Cheered for the Redskins when we lived in D.C., mostly because my friend Dudley is a lifelong fan. But we're just an exit-and-a-half away from the Meadowlands now and this is Giants Country. It also doesn't hurt that they won the Super Bowl in 2008. So we cheer for Eli Manning and the rest of the boys in blue. Carey picked up this sweatshirt at a Wal-Mart summer clearance sale for 17 cents. Yes, cents. We think maybe they forgot to use a $, but they honored the price. And that means I'll be a Giants fan forever.

School

Greta has taken like a fish to water to her new pre-school. Even this week with her friend Emma on vacation, she has willingly and happily strolled there each day, given Mommy or me a "Kissing Hand," and wandered off to play. I had the privilege of walking solo with her to school this morning. I wanted time to stop. She held my hand almost the whole way, letting go only to skip over cracks in the pavement. We didn't talk much. Didn't have to.

Dogsitting

We're watching the Hayden's dog Nellie this week while they enjoy some family time at Cape May. She's a white mutt, maybe part malamute like our dogs growing up. It's been a good dry run at what Greta and Lincoln would be like as dog owners. Lincoln is very bossy -- "Down, Nellie! No barking!" Greta is much more the nurturer. We spent an hour or so at a local dog park on Sunday and after we took Nellie off the leash, Greta followed her everywhere, I guess to make sure she didn't get lost.

Peek-a-boo

WNS Helping Parent I, or Lessons the Air Force Taught Me

When I was in the Air Force, I was always wary of BAMBI-ing too much when I arrived at a new assignment. You didn't often gain any ground by prefacing a statement at a staff meeting with: "Back At My Base I..." With that experience in mind, I tried to approach my first day as the helping parent at Greta's new preschool with an open mind and willingness to learn the Weekday Ways.

Well.

That lasted about 182 seconds. Because I just couldn't help myself. Under these circumstances, though, it was WWWAM!

"When We Were At Morrow, a helping parent arrived about 10-15 minutes early to help set up the room and get a run-down of the days activities," I told Greta's teacher when she looked surprised to see me. I could tell she was processing this information and trying to figure out how to un-learn me.
"Oh!" [long pause followed by little laugh] "Well, you need to play with the kids. And probably help them with their craft."

I raised my eyebrows and waited. Surely there had to be some additional instruction, particularly since there are 18 (!) kids in the class. Perhaps guidance on wiping down the tables or grabbing the "go bag" for gym time? Mrs. Lehrer could sense I was waiting for more, so she added, "we have a class meeting with the kids in a bit where I'll go over the plan for the day. Have fun playing with all the kids!"

Huh. I was there mainly to play. And BAM! WWWAM went out the window.

Greta enjoyed my company building a zoo with her friends. We went on a hunt to find the missing white swan. I was told to be the mean hippo. Why was I mean? All the kids explained that I drank all the water belonging to other animals in the zoo. Ahhhhh...they had played this game before!

When I got tired of playing with the mean blue hippo and Greta had moved on to play with pretty ponies, she "shared me" with Gianluca so I could help him get cars unstuck from the garage. Then she "shared me" with Aron and Sadie so we could play with the castles, and I could explain to them what a jester was. Then she "shared me" with Destiny so I could help her finish the art project she had missed when she was absent the day before.

Before I knew it, the bell was ringing (a rotating responsibility, not a helping friend duty) signaling clean up time. Then it was criss-cross-applesauce around Mrs. Lehrer's chair for the class meeting. We started with the pledge of allegiance, reviewed the days of the week, counted on a calendar, talked about the weather, identified the season (still summer, believe it or not!), and reviewed upcoming holidays. I felt like I was actually in school!

Then Mrs. Lehrer explained that before free-play would begin again, there were 4 jobs for each child to do.First, paint paper t-shirts that would be similar to the one she was wearing: peace, love, and cupcakes. She explained that those were three of her favorite things, and then she went around the room and the kids all said what their favorite things were: flowers, butterflies, french fries, corn, fire trucks, dogs, etc. The second job was to decorate their September calendar (Rosh Hashanah, first day of autumn, Johnny Appleseed's birthday). The third was to sponge-paint trees and finger paint red apples on it, and the fourth was a fishing for shapes game/puzzle. She divided up the kids and off we went.

I was assigned the paper t-shirt painting, which proved to be lots of fun. Forgot to put smocks on the kids, and realized it didn't matter because four-year-olds can paint without making a huge mess!

The half-hour flew by, and I only took one picture of Greta doing her other painting job because I was just too busy.

The only helping friend responsibility at WNS is passing out snack. Greta declared yesterday that she wanted to take Go-Gurt and carrot sticks. I tried to talk her into bringing crackers as well, but she wouldn't hear it. The kids loved the Go-Gurts, and once I imitated how a rabbit eats a carrot (much to the amusement of Mrs. Lehrer), those were devoured as well.

After snack, it was off to the gym for some run-around time. Or rather bike around. The kids can seriously motor on the tricycles! And even better, they can give a ride to a friend (or a friend's mom!)

It was the fastest 2.5 hours I've experienced in a long time (at least since I saw the Half-Blood Prince). I'm already looking forward to WNS HPII next month!

Pals

Greta's new school is her buddy Emma Hayden's old school. This is Emma's second year there. Carey and Emma's mom, Sarah, drop off the older kids then hang out for 2.5 hours with the younger ones before picking up Greta & Emma usually for a park picnic. It all sounds very romantic to a guy who sits on his ass all day rolling his chair from a Mac monitor to two PC monitors to a bank of video decks.

New kicks

Greta is celebrating the new school year with her first pair of clogs, by Hanna Andersson. Carey found them at an upscale consignment shop for $10. They don't fit perfectly, but a little heel slippage is the price you pay for being a four-year-old fashionista.

Naked kitchen laps

One of the nicest things about our house, a center hall colonial, is the loop around the stairs that kids can make from the kitchen to the dining room to the living room. We've put it to good use in all sorts of games -- from Cinderella Lost Her Slipper to Tag to Farmer Brown to Choo-Choo Trains. But we've never done it naked before. Until Friday night, when Lincoln used the big boy potty. As Carey rinsed out the potty chair, Lincoln declared, "I'm naked!" and took off running. His sister, naturally, stripped down to her panties and gave chase.
Here are five semi-tasteful photos in a Kodak Slideshow.

Pre-K pretty

Greta started her second year of pre-school on Thursday. We moved her from Morrow Memorial to Weekday Nursery School so she could be in a morning class. 9-11:30 a.m., Monday-Friday with Mrs. Lehrer. It's still a co-op, where parents must spend one day a month helping out. She insisted on wearing her newest dress, which she calls her "Sleeping Beauty Dress," but we did manage to convince her to be practical and wear her Fancy Nancy sneakers.

B&W beauties

I was able to get the lens pretty close to the kids on Labor Day as they played at a local park. On my Christmas wish list, in addition to a basic telephoto lens, the Canon 50mm lens that is supposed to be IDEAL for portraits. But really, these aren't so bad. :-)

Stuck in a tree

Greta wears dresses. Every. Day. But happily that doesn't stop her from doing things like climbing trees.

Everybody out of the pool!

The South Orange Community Pool closed for the season today. We enjoyed quite a few summer weekends there, easily getting our $120 family membership's worth. Greta chose the final weekend to finally swim in the adult pool and was sad tonight that she won't be able to do it again until next May. In the final hour from 5-6 p.m., they gradually slashed prices at the snack bar, bringing all ice creams on a stick and popsicles down to $1. A good time was had by all. Slideshow here.

Bozo

A lovely Labor Day weekend here in New Jersey's wealth belt. Haven't taken very many recent photos, so here's a classic of Lincoln enjoying a Spider-Man popsicle.

Fastidious

Greta vacillates between Nancy Neat and Miss Messy. Last week she was neat. So neat, in fact, that she insisted on cleaning her entire room while Mommy put Lincoln to bed. Carey taught her how to fold blankets and she was very proud to do it All By Herself.

Nomenclature

Greta never names her stuffed animals, unless they are already named by the manufacturer. So we have a rabbit named Grace and a unicorn named Mystic. The rest occasionally get diminutive titles, but never a name. I haven't counted, but she must have at least a couple dozen and they are called simply "Black Kitty, Pink Flamingo, Lambie, Hedgehog." You get the deal.

Well.

For her birthday she gave cousin Esme a plush unicorn. The tag on this particular horned equine identified her as Fable.

Well.

Esme sent back a thank you and told Greta she loved the unicorn and had named her "Unirose." Greta was taken aback. Didn't Esme read the tag, Mommy?

Fast forward a few days. Greta spends some of her piggy bank money on a stuffed Goldfinch at the zoo. Plays with it all day and drags it upstairs at bedtime. As Mommy's tucking her in, she asks the bird's name.

"Goldrose."

Rasslin'