Flashback Fall '06

My camera is broken and I'm waiting on the arrival of a new one. I was bemoaning this fact as the fall colors are hitting peak in our parts and I hate to miss snapping the
glorious colors even though yes, they look pretty much the same every year.

Right now is my absolute favorite time of year. The tree on our front lawn is a breathtaking blaze of yellow. Yesterday, against the inky gray sky the tree was just, lovely.

And then I found this picture.

It's little Leo, almost exactly three years ago, toddling down our new block. We were scared, excited Brooklynites, eager to make the suburban plunge, on a visit to our soon-to-be-house, maybe accompanying the inspector as he made the rounds on our new home.

Leo had only been walking for a few months. He was fairly steady on his feet, but still was essentially a tiny, menacing Frankenstein.

Ellie was nowhere to be found, was, as my dad used to say "a twinkle in our eyes."

My caption would read:
Look out! Here's comes Leo! Ready or not!

The leaves aren't so bad either.

Favorite Books, Bedtime Battles, Steam Cleaners, Star Sightings and For All That Is Good Please No Centipedes

In the spirit of feeling overwhelmed, I give you bullets from the week.

-Monday night when I was reading David Gets in Trouble which Leo adores, I made a “burp” sound, as the book called for. Leo burst into giggles and leaned over and kissed me. I love that I know just how to make him laugh (actually it was a surprise that this would delight him so much but it was duly noted for future need!).

-We’ve been having Pat Benatar “Bedtime is a Battlefield” nights lately with Leo. He’s not crying, just refusing to go to sleep. He was up until 10 p.m. reading on Tuesday night. Reading! I have to say it’s pretty cute to open the door to check on him to find him sitting on his bed, quietly flipping though the pages of Clifford’s Christmas Presents. I finally caved and gave him Tylenol last night, thinking maybe the congestion was making him uncomfortable (though that is much better, thanks Zyrtec). At one point I asked him if someone had given him a latte in the afternoon but received no response from him. After reading, he moved on to more exciting endeavors, specifically dissecting the extra bed in his room, stripping the sheets and pillowcase, I just couldn’t get over how much energy he had. At 10 p.m. I’m not sure if it’s the time change, or what.

-Speaking of books, Ellie is obsessed with this book. She actively seeks it out and can sit and “talk” about all the pictures. The last few nights she has breezed through dinner so that she can go get this book and sit with it on my lap. She seems to know all the pictures by sight (i.e. if I say “where’s the car?” she can show me. It’s just amazing to see her language develop at what feels like warp speed. She has also mastered most of her animals sounds. Seriously, is there anything cuter than a 20-month old meowing like a cat? Except Ellie's "cat" is more like a screech. Even better, really.

-Leo loves that book too. He is so competitive with Ellie and it’s quite sweet. He is so eager, he’s the kid who raises his hand before he knows the answer. I say “where is the boat?” and Leo busts up with a raised hand and says “Mine!” thinks a moment and then points to the boat with a huge grin.

-I had a wonderful birthday last weekend. First of all, it was 70 degrees. Seventy! Degrees! I got to sleep in and then Erin and the kids brought me coffee and a homemade card. It makes all the aggravation worth it when I see those happy little faces greet me in the morning, scamper into the bedroom and jump on top of me. Erin told me I could do whatever I wanted and for me that involved going to Macy’s and buying this:



And no it's not a Swiffer though it kind of looks like one. Oh it is so much more. I had seen an infomercial (I know, I know, sue me, the TV had been left on HGTV the night before and when I turned it on at 6 a.m. it was showing a riveting piece on the Haan steam cleaner). Well it intrigued me and so I did some digging/research and learned that most people seem to think the Haan is (surprise!) a piece of crap but that the Shark seems to be quite popular and effective. The concept is pretty awesome. It steams your floors with water that reaches over 200 degrees farenheit and you wash and reuse the cloth pads that come with it (it supposedly even "sanitizes" your floor, though I don't think we'll be having dinner on the kitchen floors anytime soon). No chemicals and no waste and safe to use on wood floors (which comprise our entire house). I have to say so far so good. I mean, it's not a miracle or anything (a miracle would be someone else cleaning the entire house). Then again any sort of cleaning is better than none which had been my floor cleaning technique as of late. And yes, I spent part of my birthday steam cleaning the floors. I am that big of a nerd.

-Saturday night went to the opening of an amazing new restaurant in the city. Not to name drop (Oh what the hell, here goes) but we saw Caroline Kennedy, Diane Sawyer and her husband Mike Nichols and actor Ralph Fiennes. And oh yes, the food was unbelieveable. We don’t go out much but when we go out, we do it right.

-In Little Girl As Vampire news, we’ve had two straight days of no biting. I hope I’m not jinxing it by talking about it here. We’re just taking it one day at a time.

-The birthday party invites are beginning to roll in for Leo. I’m like Amy, I love a good kid party! These are both kids from Leo’s school where nearly everyone has Down syndrome so there is the added benefit that I won’t feel pressure for Leo to “act” a certain way at the party. Plus I will get to see some of the moms that I rarely get to see. Saturday’s party is here. I think Leo’s head might explode from excitement. These parties just get bigger and bigger. I told Erin we are the holdout hillbillys who still have parties in our backyard. What can I say? We are simple people. Anyway, I am just hoping Leo doesn’t want to hold a centipede at this party (it’s one of the “insect options”). I'm totally down with spiders (thanks Charlotte's Web and Buddhist Dad). But after living in a centipede-filled "garden" (fancy word for basement) apartment in Brooklyn I became a little too well acquainted with centipedes. And if Leo wants to hold one I think my head might explode.

Earning Their Keep

I finally came to my senses last weekend and put the hooligans to work. 'Bout time they started helping out around the place.

Here's Leo, a blur as he dashes over to grab the prized broom out of Ellie's hands.



Here's a familiar sight: Leo getting into something and Ellie standing there, just soaking it all in and also, wondering, what the heck is he doing now?


They were both in love with this mini snow shovel. We used this when we lived in Brooklyn (small apartment = mini snow shovel). Not sure why we kept it but it's pretty darn cute.


I think this is the smile that is going to get Ellie out of a lot of hot water in the teenage years.

Social Butterfly

Took the kids to the park this past Saturday afternoon. I think one of the things I miss most about living in Brooklyn is that there were always people at the playground. Sometimes too many people but that’s another story. There was always someone to talk to and there were always kids for Leo to play with. Since we’ve moved to the suburbs we play a lot more in our yard but I still like to get to the park. Saturday I think I spoke to more people in one afternoon than I have talked to since we moved to the burbs almost a year and a half ago. It made me feel good to know it's possible to have some social interraction in the burbs. Now it's not Brooklyn, but that's ok!

There was Don, the friendly young man playing basketball by himself. Leo was fascinated by him (we have a hoop in our driveway so he knows about “shooting hoops.”) At first I felt bad about Leo bothering him but Don was completely into it. Once he let Leo start shooting the other little kids in the park followed—Don was the Pied Piper of Stagg Field.

I also talked to a dad who was playing Frisbee with his son (when he told me his kid was four I was shocked—I am always amazed at how much bigger and just older (and of course chattier) typical kids are compared to Leo who is, gulp, almost four). I was pretty impressed that a four year old was even attempting to play Frisbee as I have yet to figure out how to really throw one without taking out the nearest tree or car windshield. The dad and got to talking about living in the city versus the ‘burbs (he’s been in our town for six years). Sure enough, Leo saw the Frisbee match and thought it would be fun to join in. He actually gave it a pretty good throw.

We saw some sort of terrier (looked like Toto in “The Wizard of Oz” but he was white. Leo got very excited when we saw him and turned to me and signed the word “cat.” Our dog Ruby is a large (sadly more in width than height Golden Retriever). Leo is not accustomed to small dogs.

On the way home I stopped and chatted with a woman who was gardening in her front yard. It a yard that I have enjoyed ever since we moved in. So many of the yards in our neighborhood are just so boring with these generic non flowering bushes with some blah azaleas and the usual annuals thrown in. This woman’s yard is filled with perinneals, and though it’s early in the season I’m reminded how lovely it looks by summer’s end. I told her I’d been admiring her garden and she beamed (and she said something cute: “I’ve been admiring your children!”

I could tell I had made her day. You’d have thought I told her she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. She started talking about how long she’d lived there and which plants do the best. Her husband even came outside and joined in the conversation. I told her I wished I could garden more and she glanced down at Ellie strapped to me in the Bjorn and Leo, squirming in the stroller. She told me what everyone tells me. That I have my hands full. She’s right. I am working on appreciating what I have, instead of always worrying how I can possibily fit everything in. I just can’t do it all and that’s ok. There will be plenty of years to garden. There will be a time when my kids don’t even want to hang out with me. That’s when I can garden. The days are long but the years are short. But in the meantime, I’ll do a little gardening when I can squeeze it in (I actually contemplated planting a few things last night in the dark after the kids had gone to bed but decided not to-how sad is that?).
Pictured above, we chopped down some big, generic suburban bushes to make room for more gardening space. An "after" picture isn't that impressive when you don't have a "before," but there it is. We have a long way to go but we're making progress. Also pictured is Ellie, having nothing to do with the park or gardening and smiling so wide that her eyes are closed. I just couldn't resist this photo. It just sums up her personality so well. Just so smiley.