February 27, 2006
NY NY
Quote of the day:
Sadie, singing: " I want to be a part of it, New York, New York."
"Bright lights, big city...
...that's where I long to be,"as proclaimed by centipede in James and the Giant Peach. We hit the road and rolled into NYC for the day on Saturday. It was totally last minute and suggested by Nathan. I have been wanting to go in during the week with the girls to Central Park and meet Nathan for lunch or something but it has just been too cold and I not adventurous enough. We drove in and parked near Times Square in an attempt to be near Nathan's office, the Fila store and Toys'R'Us, which were our planned destinations.
First we made our way to the store where I proceeded to pick out some cool new gear. Then we went up and saw the office so Sadie could see where Daddy goes when he is at work. (Side note: Today in one of Sadie's many role playing moments she proclaimed that she was going to work and at work she was going to look at the computer for awhile and then come home.)
After that we went to Hamburger Heaven for some lunch. Nothing to exciting, just burgers and fries. Then we were off to find We'B'Toys to ride the famed indoor Ferris wheel along with every other tourist in the Manhattan area. There was probably three million people in and around the building. Nathan and Sadie went for a spin in the illustrious wheel while I pushed the sleeping baby around in the stroller. After we managed to squeeze out the door and back onto the street, making a quick left to escape the crowds we headed back to the car and New Jersey. We spent a few hours doing all this and it was really great to be out of the house with the whole family some where other than the grocery store or Target. We would like to make this more of a common occurrence and with spring on its way we plan on seeing Central Park and the zoo there, (Sadie would really like to meet Alex.)
Funny thing about the trip was the weather which was supposed to turn cloudy with chance of showers or snow but instead the day became warmer and warmer as it went on. When we left NJ it was 39 and when we were leaving the city it was 54 at 515pm. Of course it was just a teaser before the cold snap, as they call it out here, rolled in last night and today our high was 23. Clear, sunny and freezing.
This week Sadie will be heading back to school after a week of winter break. Also I am going to try to get her into a spring session of swimming lessons at the Y. She is really excited. The day I told her about it she kept asking me if it was March yet that day since I told her that she would not be going until March. After many repetitions of," It is not going to be March anytime today", she stopped asking if she was going swimming that day. I told her that first it will be Daddy's birthday and then we will start swimming. She is really excited because she gets to wear her bathing suit!
Quote of the day:
Tonight at dinner Sadie proclaims out of the blue," I think this calls for some BREAD!"
Emma wants to eat everything we are eating and slowly she is transitioning to more solid foods. Her newest finds are cheese, rice bread sticks, and oranges. Her most favorite veggie at the moment is broccoli. She was very upset tonight because I did not steam much up for her and she wanted the raw stuff we were eating but I am not too sure she is ready for that! She longingly yells for the cookies we are eating but I have not given in yet.
With Sadie, I waited until after one year to introduce wheat, dairy, and eggs because of her excema per the recommendation of her doctor. So with Emma I just don't know what to do. I am slowly letting her try stuff but it feels weird after most everything was of limits for so long with Sadie.
Emma is now trying to put on her socks. It is so cute. She pulls one of them off, positions the sock so it is dangling between her thumb and forefinger while holding her foot in the air and drops the sock on top of her foot. It is quite amusing to her and me.
First we made our way to the store where I proceeded to pick out some cool new gear. Then we went up and saw the office so Sadie could see where Daddy goes when he is at work. (Side note: Today in one of Sadie's many role playing moments she proclaimed that she was going to work and at work she was going to look at the computer for awhile and then come home.)
After that we went to Hamburger Heaven for some lunch. Nothing to exciting, just burgers and fries. Then we were off to find We'B'Toys to ride the famed indoor Ferris wheel along with every other tourist in the Manhattan area. There was probably three million people in and around the building. Nathan and Sadie went for a spin in the illustrious wheel while I pushed the sleeping baby around in the stroller. After we managed to squeeze out the door and back onto the street, making a quick left to escape the crowds we headed back to the car and New Jersey. We spent a few hours doing all this and it was really great to be out of the house with the whole family some where other than the grocery store or Target. We would like to make this more of a common occurrence and with spring on its way we plan on seeing Central Park and the zoo there, (Sadie would really like to meet Alex.)
Funny thing about the trip was the weather which was supposed to turn cloudy with chance of showers or snow but instead the day became warmer and warmer as it went on. When we left NJ it was 39 and when we were leaving the city it was 54 at 515pm. Of course it was just a teaser before the cold snap, as they call it out here, rolled in last night and today our high was 23. Clear, sunny and freezing.
This week Sadie will be heading back to school after a week of winter break. Also I am going to try to get her into a spring session of swimming lessons at the Y. She is really excited. The day I told her about it she kept asking me if it was March yet that day since I told her that she would not be going until March. After many repetitions of," It is not going to be March anytime today", she stopped asking if she was going swimming that day. I told her that first it will be Daddy's birthday and then we will start swimming. She is really excited because she gets to wear her bathing suit!
Quote of the day:
Tonight at dinner Sadie proclaims out of the blue," I think this calls for some BREAD!"
Emma wants to eat everything we are eating and slowly she is transitioning to more solid foods. Her newest finds are cheese, rice bread sticks, and oranges. Her most favorite veggie at the moment is broccoli. She was very upset tonight because I did not steam much up for her and she wanted the raw stuff we were eating but I am not too sure she is ready for that! She longingly yells for the cookies we are eating but I have not given in yet.
With Sadie, I waited until after one year to introduce wheat, dairy, and eggs because of her excema per the recommendation of her doctor. So with Emma I just don't know what to do. I am slowly letting her try stuff but it feels weird after most everything was of limits for so long with Sadie.
Emma is now trying to put on her socks. It is so cute. She pulls one of them off, positions the sock so it is dangling between her thumb and forefinger while holding her foot in the air and drops the sock on top of her foot. It is quite amusing to her and me.
February 21, 2006
I guess I have not been out much lately because on our walk down the street today I noticed that an entire house was gone. All but the chimney bulldozed to the ground! Guess I need to get out more often. We stood and watched as the huge school bus yellow machine moved dirt around. It looked like some gargantuan prehistoric thing eating a delicious meal. I should have had the camera with me but my brain never thinks ahead. The daffodils are popping their little heads out of the ground and the big snow and freezing temps have not bothered them much. I can't wait ti see their sunny faces.
Yes she does say bye
Today Emma waved and said bye to Sadie when she was going upstairs. So cute!
More cute stuff...when I turn down the light for bed time, she smiles and says "eh,eh". I am not sure what she is saying but she is so cute.
More cute stuff...when I turn down the light for bed time, she smiles and says "eh,eh". I am not sure what she is saying but she is so cute.
February 19, 2006
I can't believe I forgot this one...
At nine months Emma picked up my cell phone and said Hi, which actually sounds like HA. I just started laughing, how can a nine month old recognize a cell phone and know what to do with it? (By the way, in the ten months that she has been experiencing cell phone usage, I have probably used it less than ten times in her presence.) So I guess her first word was Hi. I must also say that since then she has picked up anything that remotely resembles a phone and said hi. She also says ma-ma and da-da. And I think she has said bye in context as well. She was waving for awhile at whom ever would return a wave but now she is on to flirting across the restaurant with who ever will look her way.
Emmashiding.MPG
Emmashiding.MPG
This week is winter vacation for Sadie at school so I get to think of things for us to do. I really hope it warms up enough to go the the play ground. Last Thursday it was in the sixties so we walked over to pick up Sadie from school. There was still a lot of snow around in piles from all the plowing or in the shadey spots. After school Sadie wanted to go on the playground but we were not allowed because of the snow on the ground. A couple boys who are in on of the four year old classes started throwing snowballs at each other and Sadie joined in. First they sort of ignored her, then they started throwing some at her and then she threw some back. She was getting hit by a few but then she hit one of the boys in the nose from close range but she was not throwing hard. The boy stopped and just looked at her while holding his nose. It was like he was wondering how he should react. I told Sadie to ask if he was ok, and then he started crying and ran off to his mom. Sadie continued to ask if he was ok and then said she was sorry with some prompting. But he just cried and cried. Of course both boys then started throwing some at Sadie and hit her in the head, but did she cry? NOOOOOOOOOo! Those boys, they act so tough.
On the way home from school, Sadie tromped through the snow in her boots and had all sorts of fun. Emma enjoyed the stroller ride.
On the way home from school, Sadie tromped through the snow in her boots and had all sorts of fun. Emma enjoyed the stroller ride.
For those of you who miss the every day activities around the breakfast/lunch/dinner table, here is a bit of Emma's favorite trick these days. She thinks it is quite funny and waits for your laugh back.
This is Sadie's Valentine chocolate lollipop. She really, really liked it because it was chocolate. She has entered the "question everything and then ask some more" phase. I have been inundated with inquires about how everything works, why everything is that way, and what every random person walking, driving, or running by is doing. Sometimes I just have to stop answering because it seems to be the only way to stop the interrogation.
At least once every day I am asked "Does Emma have ten teeth now? I guess once a baby has ten teeth she can eat carrots and other crunchy things.
There seems to be a million things I have wanted to post in the last few days but I never can remember half of them.
Emma thinks her tongue is really entertaining these days. She sticks it out and grabs it. She likes to try to grab your tongue if you stick it out at her.
Nathan got some roses for us for Valentine's Day and Emma thought they were just the greatest. They are in her room in a vase and she smiles every time she sees them. I just realized that she has not seen flowers yet.
February 08, 2006
Two tickets to Africa...
Nathan's Post #3
At Sadie's bedtime tonight (also known as the "but daaaaaddy..." Chronicles), we set off on an adventure to Africa. This came completely--or with some help from: a) school, b) TV, or c) a book--from her own head. In other words, none of this was my idea, but I went along for the ride. She told me that we needed to go to Africa, and she proceeded to pack her Africa purse and put on her Africa sandals, Africa bathing suit and Africa hat. This all after I had already gotten her into her New Jersey pajamas. She then told me to read a book (to myself) while she wrote her Africa paper. She's been into mimicked handwriting lately, where she writes out long lines of "text" that is much like chicken scratch. It's very neat chicken scratch, though...left to right and top to bottom. Anyway, once she was done with the paper, she put it in her Africa purse, then we had to go downstairs to get MY bag (because I needed my own bag for the upcoming flight to Africa). Once we had all of our luggage we sat on the plane (the bed) and she read me the Africa paper (summary: it would take us 100 minutes to get to Africa and everyone would have to wait a long time and Mama might be sad if she couldn't go). Then we read her usual two books, and by that time our 100 minutes were very nearly up. We deplaned and headed out to enjoy Africa (her writing desk on the other side of the room). Africa enjoys an abundance of markers, white paper (8 1/2 x 11, mostly) and DVDs.
I can't wait for tomorrow's adventure.
February 05, 2006
Who can make the sunshine?
For $5.99 I purchase a tiny basket of spring. Organic California strawberries. I thought twice about the price but decided it was all worth it and it was. Those little berries were fresh,sweet and delicious. I figured that I would not see too many chances for these out here. The weather must be nice and toasty out there to have these ready so early. I have also been picking up some organic California navel oranges and it is just like a ball of sunshine. It reminds me of all our wonderful citrus we had growing right outside our front door.
As you may have picked up in the last post, our winter has been relatively mild out here but it is exciting to see something more than apples, pears and bananas available in the store these days. Just a tease of what is to come with warmer weather.
Sadie and I have been baking from her new cookbook. I made the banana bread in muffin form (as pictured above). We also made the chocolate chip muffins as a treat for a night with dry pull-ups, yipee! Oh and the fudgey brownie triangles. Everything is really good and I would recommend this cookbook to anyone whether you are baking with kids or not. It has all the best of baking basics. I plan on trying all of the recipes sooner or later.
Nathan said it was snowing when he took the recycling down to the road. All of about seven flakes, but it was snow.
Emma's newest game is to pretend to bite your nose. She opens her mouth and slowly covers your nose. And then I say, " Don't bite my nose!" And she just laughs. Repeat twenty times.
February 04, 2006
Three Cheers for Global Warming!
Nathan's Post #2
I know, these were allegedly going to be monthly posts. After much public outcry (okay, one person asked), I have gotten back on the horse to contribute.
So, here in the NY Metro area we have just completed the 4th warmest January since 1870. Yes, that's a ranking of No. 4 out of 137 years. And one can only speculate how much more impressive that No. 4 ranking actually is, since 1870 was the first year daily temperatures were recorded in Central Park. January 2006 may have been the warmest here since year 0070, for all we know! We had 13 days in January with temps above 50 degrees...compare and contrast that to your own hometown.
Beyond the weather, my double life of the NYC rat race (someone with the experiences to know the difference recently told me that the mad rush to catch the New Jersey Transit express trains out of Manhattan are worse than the mad rush to catch the ferries in Beijing) and NJ deer-frolicking tranquility remains interesting and exciting. Sadly, last Wednesday a gentleman became the 30th person to commit suicide by jumping off (or out of) the Empire State Building. (Unlike the weather, all the records for this sort of thing in New York are completely up-to-date.) From the 68th floor he apparently only made it as far as a 6th floor overhang of some sort, which is good because I often walk right past the Empire State Building on my way from Penn Station to my office, and I wouldn't have wanted to provide an eyewitness report. Another interesting (if not as icky) NYC sighting last week was a Ford Explorer Yellow Cab. All SUVs seem oddly out of place in the city, and especially a cab. One becomes so accustomed to the oldsmo-buick generi-sedan, I guess.
I came home early on Friday so I could go to Sadie's second parent/teacher conference of her young scholastic career. Sara went to the first, and I went alone to this one, feeling like a very responsible parent for ditching work to take an active role in my daughter's educational development. Sadie received straight C's on her report card. I thought to myself...it's okay, somebody has to be average, not everyone can be an 'A' student or the integrity of the grading scale would be shot, some of the world's most charismatic and influential leaders were no more than mediocre in the constraining environment of formalized education, she's probably just so smart she's bored, not really challenged, I thought... Then, as Miss McGlynn slid the report across the table, close enough that I could read it, I realized that there are only two grades that a child can receive at Gentle Shepherd Christian Preschool: 'C' for Consistently Performs or 'P' for Progressing. I fear for the futures of those children who are merely "progressing." Hopefully they can turn things around and make the grade.
What I thought was a very beautiful moment happened here at the house today. Sara was cleaning out the hall closet and decided her wedding dress (which is coming up on seven years old now, ya know) was not receiving the sort of storage due such an article. Thus, in a very 'Sara moment' she removed everything from the closet, called Bob Villa and the Disabled Veterans, and in no time we had reconstructed the entire second story into a more workable floor plan, and donated three pallets worth of unnecessary clothing and knick-knacks to a worthy cause. Ok, not really, but she did pull out the wedding dress to hang it without crumpling, and she decided to show the dress to Sadie.
"Sadie, do you want to see the dress I wore to get married to Daddy?"
"Suuuure!!"
Sara proceeded to model said dress, and Sadie exclaimed how "beauuuuutiful" she looked. Sadie decided we should ALL get married, so she donned her favorite dress (a long and flowing number hand crafted by her Great Aunt Lil) and insisted that I too needed a shirt for getting married (I was not shirtless at the time, but clearly my Point Loma Crusaders T-shirt didn't work for her). With everyone all dressed up and nowhere to go, we acted out a five minute, homemade, pseudo-wedding. Sadie said, "Mama's married, Daddy's married, Sadie's married, Emma's married. We're all married now!" She loved Sara's dress, had a hard time not stepping all over it, and was promised by her mother that she could wear the dress to get married in someday if she wanted to. Not sure if Sadie will remember today if she ever does need a dress to get married in...but I will.
See pictures of the girls in their dresses below:
Sara and Sadie
Sara%20and%20Sadie%202
I know, these were allegedly going to be monthly posts. After much public outcry (okay, one person asked), I have gotten back on the horse to contribute.
So, here in the NY Metro area we have just completed the 4th warmest January since 1870. Yes, that's a ranking of No. 4 out of 137 years. And one can only speculate how much more impressive that No. 4 ranking actually is, since 1870 was the first year daily temperatures were recorded in Central Park. January 2006 may have been the warmest here since year 0070, for all we know! We had 13 days in January with temps above 50 degrees...compare and contrast that to your own hometown.
Beyond the weather, my double life of the NYC rat race (someone with the experiences to know the difference recently told me that the mad rush to catch the New Jersey Transit express trains out of Manhattan are worse than the mad rush to catch the ferries in Beijing) and NJ deer-frolicking tranquility remains interesting and exciting. Sadly, last Wednesday a gentleman became the 30th person to commit suicide by jumping off (or out of) the Empire State Building. (Unlike the weather, all the records for this sort of thing in New York are completely up-to-date.) From the 68th floor he apparently only made it as far as a 6th floor overhang of some sort, which is good because I often walk right past the Empire State Building on my way from Penn Station to my office, and I wouldn't have wanted to provide an eyewitness report. Another interesting (if not as icky) NYC sighting last week was a Ford Explorer Yellow Cab. All SUVs seem oddly out of place in the city, and especially a cab. One becomes so accustomed to the oldsmo-buick generi-sedan, I guess.
I came home early on Friday so I could go to Sadie's second parent/teacher conference of her young scholastic career. Sara went to the first, and I went alone to this one, feeling like a very responsible parent for ditching work to take an active role in my daughter's educational development. Sadie received straight C's on her report card. I thought to myself...it's okay, somebody has to be average, not everyone can be an 'A' student or the integrity of the grading scale would be shot, some of the world's most charismatic and influential leaders were no more than mediocre in the constraining environment of formalized education, she's probably just so smart she's bored, not really challenged, I thought... Then, as Miss McGlynn slid the report across the table, close enough that I could read it, I realized that there are only two grades that a child can receive at Gentle Shepherd Christian Preschool: 'C' for Consistently Performs or 'P' for Progressing. I fear for the futures of those children who are merely "progressing." Hopefully they can turn things around and make the grade.
What I thought was a very beautiful moment happened here at the house today. Sara was cleaning out the hall closet and decided her wedding dress (which is coming up on seven years old now, ya know) was not receiving the sort of storage due such an article. Thus, in a very 'Sara moment' she removed everything from the closet, called Bob Villa and the Disabled Veterans, and in no time we had reconstructed the entire second story into a more workable floor plan, and donated three pallets worth of unnecessary clothing and knick-knacks to a worthy cause. Ok, not really, but she did pull out the wedding dress to hang it without crumpling, and she decided to show the dress to Sadie.
"Sadie, do you want to see the dress I wore to get married to Daddy?"
"Suuuure!!"
Sara proceeded to model said dress, and Sadie exclaimed how "beauuuuutiful" she looked. Sadie decided we should ALL get married, so she donned her favorite dress (a long and flowing number hand crafted by her Great Aunt Lil) and insisted that I too needed a shirt for getting married (I was not shirtless at the time, but clearly my Point Loma Crusaders T-shirt didn't work for her). With everyone all dressed up and nowhere to go, we acted out a five minute, homemade, pseudo-wedding. Sadie said, "Mama's married, Daddy's married, Sadie's married, Emma's married. We're all married now!" She loved Sara's dress, had a hard time not stepping all over it, and was promised by her mother that she could wear the dress to get married in someday if she wanted to. Not sure if Sadie will remember today if she ever does need a dress to get married in...but I will.
See pictures of the girls in their dresses below:
Sara and Sadie
Sara%20and%20Sadie%202
February 01, 2006
#155
Us this morning during the "run around naked" hour.
Daddy and Em
More of this morning.
Today was a three time out day that was not actually that bad. They were evenly spaced and after each one Sadie decided she would be a bit better. She currently has this thing with ordering Emma around and pushing and pulling her where ever Sadie thinks she should be.
Highlights from today:
Emma took a step again by herself.
Sadie got a My Little Pony tub of playdoh with a pony stamp on top. First she wanted orange then purple then orange and then after we walked away she decided she really needed the purple more than the orange.
We bought a Little Tikes castle slide thinga ma jig. I decided we needed some sort of thing to play on while the cold weather kept us from the outside. But it is a lot of work policing the thing while Emma is trying to climb up the slide and Sadie is racing up the rock climbign wall on the other side to slide down the slide. After about twenty climbs up the slide Emma would slide down and take a rest on a pillow before attempting her next climb to the summit. Thanks Great Grandma Joyce for the new play things.
We listened to They Might Be Giants, NO!.
Sadie got a bag of peanut M&Ms at the store and Emma kept asking for some on our drive home.
Well I think that is it. There were probably some other funny things that Sadie said or did that have already been lost in the other ninety percent of my brain that goes unused.
