Birthdays

 We celebrated Penny and Paul's birthdays together, as scheduled on November 3. The guest list had changed a bit - we advised Dad not to drive out because of the gas rationing and various logistical challenges of heading into the mess that was New Jersey at the time. Our block was pretty ok, but there were still impassible streets in places, no power to stoplights (which snared traffic), other things we just couldn't predict. Everyone who came (except Dan's brother from New Jersey) had their power restored by party time. Our original caterer, a local pizzeria, was still closed because they didn't have power, so we had to go with a different place. The ice cream cake we purchased showed some evidence of melting and refreezing, though the store swore they'd only been without power for a couple of hours. I had tried the big grocery store nearby for a salad, but they were running on generator power, so their produce section was darkened and blockaded, which just reeked "Eat at your own risk." Thankfully, our teeny grocery was powered and doing brisk business in perishables, so we were able to get fresh greens and dairy there. The guy who delivers the grocery circulars in the neighborhood had even been by immediately after the storm, so we were able to plan our shopping and take advantage of sales where possible to restock the fridge and freezer for the party. It was weird what came back online first after the storm!

So we enjoyed some good company - Penny had been looking forward to her cousins coming to visit for WEEKS! Penny had the pink cake with pink icing, a butterfly, flower and ladybug, as requested. The request was odd because she doesn't eat cake, only icing. She far prefers ice cream. So...she consumed a fair amount of Paul's ice cream cake, while leaving close to half of her cake to me to finish. Rather than unleash the Paul eating machine on a giant cake or plate of ice cream, I made him a corn muffin and decorated it like a lion. He really enjoys roaring at a lion statue that we pass on the way to Penny's school, so it seemed an appropriate cake theme. I even made two so he could enjoy another one on his actual birthday (depicted here). Unlike Penny, he made sure some of his cupcake ended up in his mouth. I think he got a fair amount of icing into him and he seemed to relish corn muffin as well. Ultimately, though, the majority of the muffin found its way to the floor. Alas, perhaps just what happens at one year old. Where does the time go?!

Halloween

I know it's a little late, but Halloween was lots of fun. We had carved our pumpkin the week before Halloween so we'd have some nice outdoor decoration. Sadly, or perhaps fortunately, it had completely collapsed by the time Sandy hit. Our littler and much more pretty looking carved pumpkin blew/rolled away after I stowed it in the backyard. I'm not sure how it scaled the six foot fence, but it had escaped by Monday evening before the winds really kicked in. So by Halloween itself we only had a scary beer-scented pile of mush on the porch. Dan removed the pumpkin with a shovel before the kids' birthday party and it is currently developing into quality compost for next year's garden.

Mayor Bloomberg had encouraged people to hold Beggar's Night on Halloween, though lots of neighborhoods were still a shambles. The kids and I did a little preview walk of our neighborhood in the early afternoon to scope out a relatively safe route. Everyone had cleared their smallish branches and someone appeared to have gone through the neighborhood tying downed wires to the nearest respective telephone pole. We found a good route of about four to six blocks round trip with no obvious hazards and lots of people with power. By 4pm or so Paul and I started having trick or treaters stop by. Despite our porchlight, we didn't get much traffic. After talking with other moms the following week when school resumed, they didn't feel safe sending kids out. Plus they didn't want to knock on doors where people might have lost everything. Dan ventured out with Penny after dinner, using the valuable intelligence we'd gathered earlier. She was quite successful at the houses they hit. She's been having a piece of candy after lunch and dinner ever since.


School resumed the first full week of November, so Penny was finally able to celebrate her birthday at school by that Wednesday. The teacher didn't have all her usual birthday celebrating gear (somehow Sandy related), but Penny still had tons of fun. We had baked her birthday cookies on Sunday night before Sandy hit just to ensure we'd have cookies for the birthday party whether or not we had power for the oven. On Friday, November 9, the kids had their long-awaited Halloween costume parade. Penny was more than happy to whip out her costume and get some more treats. I was excited because it was the second year and third time she'd worn her costume. It's the most I'd paid for a costume so far, so I was glad to get such solid use out of it. The weirdest thing about the costume parade was the impressive number of Marios and Luigis (and even a Princess Peach) that seemed to be present. I swear, there were definitely more than a dozen of each and her school only goes up to fifth grade. There was even a female teacher who was Mario. I know our neighborhood has a predominantly Italian makeup, but could that really have been the reason for so many? Weird.

I nearly forgot about Nor'easter Athena. She managed to be not too bad for us at least. We got maybe four inches of snow overnight. Dan was considerate enough to shovel the walk and everything before he left for work at 5am. Of course, by the time we headed out to school at noon, most of the snow had melted anyhow. Penny was supremely disappointed because there really was just no way for us to take the time to build a snowman - what exactly would Paul be doing during that time? So despite the perfect snowman consistency, she only got to throw a few snowballs at me (throughout the whole 30 minute walk to school, 30 minutes from school). There was also this brief romp through the backyard on Halloween Parade day. In no time it seemed, all evidence of Athena had melted away.

What a Namesake!

It has been an exciting few days! When the other moms were talking about a stormy weekend coming up last Wednesday, I had no idea what we were in for. Without a TV, we weren't inundated with warnings like some other folks were. It wasn't really until I started actively looking stuff up on Saturday that it started to sink in that we had some serious prep to do. Penny, Paul and I were hanging out with Mom for Saturday and I called Dan to say he really SHOULD pick up some water at the store. He wasn't thrilled, but complied. Afterward, he turned up with a small amount of expensive brand water, all that had been left on the shelves really. He also swore he wouldn't do the hurricane purchase action again because it was pretty ugly in the supermarket on a Saturday afternoon before a hurricane.

On Sunday morning, I made my own run to the store because we also needed non-perishable food, more water, etc. Much more civil crowd at 8am and they've restocked a bit, for those of you who are in this situation in the future. We carried on our Sunday pretty much as usual, then hunkered down for the evening, filling every water carrying device I could - baby bottles, sport bottles, pitchers - since bottled water had been too scarce at the store. The wind started in as we went to bed. The wind continued all through Monday, with sporadic rain all day. You could tell it was getting stronger and worse, but pretty gradually. I packed a suitcase with clothes to serve as the start of our "Go bag" in case we had to leave suddenly. We'd still need to put together water and food, but I figured that could be done when we got to that point. I asked Dan under what conditions he'd think we should leave the house. He figured if we saw water coming up the street. I told him that was probably too late in the game. I was thinking more along the lines of our house being structurally compromised. Thankfully, we never really had to figure this one out.

While I read Penny her bedtime stories, the lights flickered on and off as the wind howled outside. We kept peeking out at the trees whipping wildly. Dan gave Penny a little pen light to take to bed in case she got worried overnight and she went off to bed easily. I was trying to get a video of the crazy trees across the way, bending at horrible angles, but was thwarted by the dim lighting. I had just given up when I heard a loud crack. I looked back out the window and the neighbor's street tree had fallen alongside his house, poking the windshield of their truck. There were all kinds of flashes of light, but with the roar of the wind so loud we couldn't tell whether it was transformers blowing, lightening, or something else entirely. We did our last load of laundry (a cloth diaper had eluded notice on Sunday night, and that just wouldn't be ok to hang around through an extended power failure) and managed to finish that before the power finally died out at 9pm. I figured that was the signal for bedtime and headed upstairs to rest for a bit.

I put extra blankets on the kids then got in my PJs and lay down. As I lay in bed, I could feel the whole house shudder with the force of the wind. It was like living in an apartment next to a freight rail line - a low frequency rattle that just never seemed to end. I could hear the rain hitting the walls like someone wringing out their hair in the shower. It was pretty impressive. I figured there wasn't really anything else to be done at this point and eventually drifted off to sleep.

When we awoke at 5am (ah, the joys of having an 11 month old), all was dark and the wind had definitely calmed quite a bit. As dawn broke, we noticed that each of the houses on the other three corners of our intersection had lost a tree. The more light outside, the more people began to wander about. The neighbor who used to have the pine tree had it diced up, bundled and ready to be hauled away by the afternoon. The couple with the tree on their house here had a trash truck come and see how much they could crush up in the back of the truck. I was impressed that the sanitation folks had started overnight on Tuesday night and they kept coming around all day, which meant lots of stuff was hauled away by this afternoon.

By Tuesday afternoon, we were getting a little stir crazy, so we took a short stroll to the neighborhood across Hylan Blvd. This street is the dividing line between us and the evacuation area - Zone A. From Hylan, it's only about four blocks to the pirate ship playground Penny loves. That playground has a boardwalk and beach that overlook the Great Kills inlet and marina. One block down from Hylan, we passed the plastic tops to piers. There seemed to be a billion cars, way more than are ever there even on weekends. We passed more marine debris and then got to the last block and saw why everyone was there. The marina had moved inland and was now ashore in the park. Here you can see a play structure shaped like a pirate ship next to a new ship. One of the weirder discoveries was when we walked onto our favorite play structure. I noticed that the play surface was full of rolling hills rather than its usual flat appearance. As I stepped onto the woven rubber surface, I sank and sort of bounced. Then I walked up onto the mound and it was quite solid. It seemed like the sand beneath the rubber surface had duned, leaving large portions unsupported and springy. Daddy and Penny enjoyed exploring these fun new features for a bit. You might be able to make out the large bit of driftwood lodged in the climbing structure behind them as well. There were bits of piers littering the park everywhere, from park benches to the fences.

Boats, still moored to their docks, had washed in on the record-breaking storm surge and high tide, coming to rest on the houses facing the park, the fences and the sign posts. Some were little boats, but most were pretty sizable. The Dockside Restaurant unwillingly hosted two yachts, one so large that it was embedded in the front door and still blocked the entire street in both directions. Our neighbors were there touring, identifying their property, bailing out their basements, even offering up their saturated garage contents as free for any takers. Penny noted how beautiful all the puddles were with their rainbowed surfaces. It explained why the ground felt so slick beneath my shoes. The downed wires here and there made me pretty nervous. We passed block after blocked block of boats, broken piers, and all kinds of crazy debris. We found we had to retrace our steps to escape because every street back to Hylan was obstructed, sometimes up to a block inland, with scores of boats. It was like touring a movie set as people posed and/or photographed the surreal scene.

We headed back home because it was chillier than anticipated. It was tough crossing Hylan because traffic lights were all out, leading to some pretty nasty and frustrated traffic. We eventually found some helpful people who stopped to let us cross and head back home. We went back and had our dinner, which finished the last of what we could salvage from the fridge since the power had been out all day. Another bedtime that went pretty smoothly considering and I turned in even earlier in an effort to conserve our battery power. By the time we awoke for good the next morning (Thursday) our power was restored and blessed heat returned to our home. We were SOOOO blessed compared to our neighbors and our neighborhood. Thanks to everyone who had us in their prayers!

The Green Lady at Long Last

 For years we have been watching the "Green Lady" from across the water. Penny has often expressed interest in going, but there's always something more exciting that she chose first (my children's museum, the ice cream store, the library). So I was very surprised when she I gave her a number of options for her random day off last week and she chose the Statue of Liberty. It was ideal, really, because in the middle of the week there would be frequent public transit to Battery Park, where we'd need to pick up the ferry to Liberty Island.

So off we went - caught a bus just outside our house, all along Staten Island and across the Verrazano Bridge into Brooklyn. We then hopped onto the subway to Manhattan. We got to recite our favorite lines from "Subway" by Karen Katz along the way. Then off we got at Battery Park and purchased our tickets for the ferry. They made an announcement that the next one we could get on would be 90 minutes away, so we went off for some lunch.

We returned from lunch and headed over to the ferry, where we were greeted by a very long line for the security check. The attendant said it would be about an hour from where we stood to the ferry...this was looking like a very long day. Paul decided he was dying of thirst and just couldn't wait until we were on the boat, so I managed a feeding as we stood in line and Penny managed the stroller. I was pretty proud of being able to balance and be discreet and all.

Finally, we made it out to the island and Penny was pretty thrilled. She took charge of the audioguide as we wandered about the island. The statue is closed until the end of the month, so we did a lap of the gift shop, got the long-awaited aquamarine customizable crown, then did a lap of the island as well. We did take a brief break to decorate the crown - very important since she'd been asking for one since we set out.

Our next big stop was Ellis Island. We took a quick spin around the museum, reading all the signage at Paul level. Paul took the time to crawl around the exhibit floor since he'd been cooped up in the stroller for most of our journey since the bus. I thought we'd try out watching the movie about what Ellis Island is, but Mr. Paul would have none of it - he was HUNGRY and Cheerios just weren't cutting it. So we got a new diaper, some more food, and headed back to the boat. Story of our day, we got there just as they lifted the gangplank. So we took the opportunity to go find the names of family members on the Wall of Honor. Mom, Dad and Dan's eldest brother all have their names on the wall because they all immigrated to America. We had just enough time for a photo, some visits with a few bug friends in line, an unfortunate incident with a random peanut M&M found on the ground, before boarding the very last ferry for the day back to Manhattan. Once back to Manhattan, we had a little dinner, then started back on the subway. It was way past bedtime by the time we got on the bus home. Paul was a little crazy and thrashed dangerously in the seat. We at last made it home and everyone headed straight for bed. The next day, we did absolutely nothing because I was truly whipped!

CSI Staten Island

It has been a busy month with lots of exciting events, but our most recent adventure was the funniest in a while, so I'm starting there. The nights have been growing colder, so I've brought in my herb garden. While watering a couple of nights ago, I noticed that one of my basil plants had been completely skeletonized. I immediately contacted Detective Penny so she could help me locate the culprit and save the remainder of our plants before they were all gone.

Penny donned my headlamp to get a closer view of the evidence. She found more than one plant had been victimized. There were also a number of other interesting clues.

 Frass: On the table beneath the nibbled leaves was a scattering of small black pellets. Apparently, our herbivore was not potty trained. He had made his way along a pretty long section of plant based on the digested material left behind.

 Exoskeletons: There were a series of white shed skins on the undersides of several leaves. There appeared to be several different sizes. Each seemed to  have a nice pair of jumping legs, though it was hard to identify them to species.

Penny went to the dinner table with her notebook and drew some great pictures of our evidence, took down some key notes, and began formulating her hypothesis about our intruder. After extensive deliberation, Detective Penny concluded that we must be looking for a caterpillar. I tried to convince her it should be something more like a grasshopper or leafhopper or something, but she wouldn't buy it. She got the headlamp back on and started the search for our elusive herbivore. We were unsuccessful in our hunt, though.

Thankfully, Daddy was on the job and spotted something suspicious when he woke up the next morning. There in the curtains adjacent to the plants was a chubby little caterpillar ensconced in a silken protective sleeve. We're not quite sure what the best thing to do would be. For now, the little bugger doesn't appear to be going anywhere, so his sentence is on hold. Hopefully he doesn't have any friends lurking about still.

First Day of School

 Can you believe it? When I first started blogging, it was just me and Dan (and a little ball of cells that would become Penny). Now that little ball of cells is going to pre-K at our local public school! We took a bit of a leap of faith on this one - the Pre-K program at the school doesn't do open houses, let you tour or really give you any information before you arrive on the first day of school. We had to choose them site unseen over some other places that also offer the free Pre-K. From what I've now seen, they seem pretty good. It would have felt better getting a little more info up front.

But that's beside the point. It was so funny seeing the little group of shy kids gathering outside the pre-K entrance for the school. Their backpacks almost as big as they are. Some of them still crying as they are wrenched away from their parents (it's now Day 4). Penny instigated a whirling game of tag, getting even the some of the shy ones to participate. She appears to be one of the smallest kids in her class, but they allow everyone who has a birthday in 2008 to join, so it's quite possible that she's one of the youngest in the crew as well. She's so excited to be going to "The Castle School" (so called because it has lovely crenulations on the front facade of the building).

It's only a 2.5hour program, so it doesn't buy me a whole lot of extra "getting things done" time. The 30-45 minute walk to drag her to school does eat significantly into my day, as does the starting right at lunch time (she's the afternoon session). On the plus side, we'll be pretty much guaranteed sunlight for our 0.6 mi walk throughout the winter (only one car and Daddy takes it to work), we get plenty of exercise daily, and there's tons of fun things that catch Penny's attention on the walk. Ok, when we're late that won't be quite as big a plus. We have some pretty fascinating neighbors, though, who've put some weird stuff in their yards (who invented faces you could implant on your trees so it's like walking through an apple orchard in Oz?).

After school, we have been taking the opportunity to play at the school's playground for a bit as well. It's a little disappointing for Paul because there's so many big kids that it's really not safe for him to crawl around like he's used to. He does appear to have found his own little niche in pole dancing, though. Not sure if I should be worried about this one...

Paul is quite mobile these days, getting into just about everything. He's crawling speedily (moreso when he thinks he's going somewhere he's not supposed to), walking along furniture, opening cabinets and doors, climbing up on anything that is piled nearby. He sticks quite a few things in his mouth, much to my chagrin on the playground. There's a remarkable amount of non-natural debris that collects on a playground. I'm sure he's consumed quite a bit that I still don't know about. No ill effects just yet, though, thank goodness.

A visitor to our wildflower garden

We recently mourned the loss of our wildflower garden. We have a little bed between the house and our parking spot. I decided the best thing for it was native wildflowers because they'd be able to hold down the dirt and withstand the blazing sun without needing constant watering. All I've really got for yard work are my two hands and a lawnmower, so some grass sneaked in there and I didn't necessarily pull it all out because I didn't want the mud to leak away and then get tracked into the house. The landlord offered to trim the grassy bits so they were a little less wild looking. We headed off to school...and returned to find a naked patch of dirt. He had weed-whacked the whole patch down to the roots, collected the debris and headed off. I e-mailed him the next day to tell him how disappointed Penny and I were that our flowers were all gone. While I drafted the letter, I watched the confused bumblebees circle the naked patch, wondering what happened to the bounty their sisters had waggled about. The landlord emailed back that he found he just couldn't maintain the space with the way our plants were growing, so he decided to level it, put some herbicide on it, then put in the fabric and some mulch to prevent unwanted plants from growing. After he puts down the mulch, we could plant our garden good as new. Ummm...yeah. Is it me or should he have called BEFORE mowing down all our months of work? Or maybe had the balls to apologize BEFORE I e-mailed him. And am I the only one who realizes that any seed I plant now won't have time to flower before the first frost, thus being a total waste of my time and energy (not to mention limited funds)? I started writing a reply, which I made sure to have Dan proof so I didn't come off too offensive. After reviewing, Dan recommended I talk to him in person. I'm not sure that's likely to be less offensive because I'm pretty ticked. I have an ugly patch of naked roots where there used to be flowers and butterflies. I have mud running into a place we walk every day, meaning more floor maintenance in the house. Each day that passes, more soil from the space is lost as well. And did I mention the HOURS of planning, soil prep, planting, weeding, etc. that were wiped out! If he wants one of those goofy high-maintenance landscapes with just a few expensive annuals peeking out of that fabric stuff, all of which has to be replaced every year and watered every day, he's definitely going to be in charge of its upkeep and purchase. Just because the neighbors in our duplex have that kind of thing doesn't mean I want to do it too. Prayers for calm might be helpful, if you've got a spare moment. Better use of prayers might be for my two family members recovering from the removal of brain tumors, though. They're doing ok, but prayers are always helpful.

At least we still have our ridiculous patch of seven-foot-tall tomato plants, which continue to keep us well-supplied with red, juicy deliciousness. They're all kinds of funny sizes, every cherry tomato comes with a caterpillar, and I've never seen such a crazy creeping growth style, but Penny is so proud of them. They are all her tomatoes, of course. We have a lovely supply of spaghetti sauce, ratatouille, gazpacho, raw tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, tomato chutney, you name it, all canned or frozen for the coming winter months. Paul LOVES tomatoes, having them as a finger food for lunch and dinner on most days. I have no idea how much of them actually make it into his mouth, but he finds them very satisfying to pick up and eat. I will be sad when the cold finally puts an end to this fun. I'm hoping to clear a little more space this fall so we can have a greater variety of plants in our garden. We'll see how that plan goes, though.

We're still working on figuring out Paul's sleep schedule. He moved into Penny's room (which did start him sleeping through the night) and I'd love to find a way to have him nap while Penny is at school. He seems to require a morning and an afternoon nap, but the timing that results in a happy Paul remains elusive. He wants my exclusive attention when Penny isn't around, so having him awake at home while Penny is at school eliminates any chance of getting work done during the day. At the very least, Dan is finally out of the dining room, so I can now stay up late washing dishes, doing laundry, generally tidying up after everyone's bedtime. It doesn't necessarily mean more sleep, but at least I can enjoy the kids a little more during the day because I'm not constantly pressured to complete everything during waking hours. Alas, the life of the residency widow! Only 2.6 years of this action left? maybe?

Ohio trip Continued

After the tough drive back from Indiana, I was afraid we'd never get Paul into a car again. Even the little five-minute drive for our play date with Indio was a struggle. Oh...but so worth the ride! Penny and Indio are still funny stuff together. They made music, played at the local water park, defeated some imaginary bad guys who just wouldn't leave Paul alone. It was great! We also got to meet Evan, another second cousin who is about Paul's age. For weeks afterward, Penny has been asking to play again with Indio at the water park.

After another day or two of low-key resting at Aunt Helen's and at Aunt Rose's, we geared up for our next exciting road trip: North to see Mom's sisters. We packed our bags and piled into Amanda's car for the journey after work on Friday. Paul and Penny were pretty quiet all the way there (naps are wonderful like that). But after dinner...hmmm...too well-rested to go to sleep at the usual hour, so we spent a couple of hours in construction through Akron trying to console Paul that the drive would end soon. At last, we pulled in at Aunt Cindy's and the stir crazy gang emerged and explored their new digs. They were a little punchy, but absolutely thrilled with the bunk beds, pink-ness and bounty of toys. 

The next day, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Gary had prior obligations they had to tend to in the morning, but they left us in Aunt Pam's capable care. She quickly had Penny entertained with a number of games on her iPad. We were surprised when Aunt Jayne Joined us as well. Apparently, she recently moved back to Ohio. Now we were in for some good gaming! After a good lunch, Paul went down for a nap and we got a serious game of Scrabble on. By serious, I mean Amanda, Aunt Pam, Aunt Jayne and I played each other in a grueling match of wits, while Aunt Jayne and Aunt Pam played additional opponents on other games remotely. It takes some serious mental power to play that many games simultaneously.

Paul was one content little camper with all the attention he received. He also thoroughly enjoyed the company of even more cousins. Andrea stopped by with her girls on Sunday morning for some excited playing before we headed back to Dayton. Aunt Cindy, as always, was spot on about helping us keep the kids entertained on the way home. We got some essential parting gifts that ended up making our trip home - and our flight - far more bearable. She's totally on top of the grandma thing, that's for sure. The ride home was pretty good - allowed me to contemplate our next big road trip. Dan says he's got a night float shift (several solid weeks of night shift) in October. Since that's not compatible with two rambunctious children, maybe we can take our show on the road again. We'll see.

Ohio "Vacation"

The long hiatus here can be attributed to our superfun trip to Ohio at the end of July. The kids and I ventured out on our own because Dan's schedule no longer permits such luxuries. With no solid plans exactly, we boarded the plane to Ohio to catch up on about a year and a half (or more in some cases) of milestones and excitement.

Dad was nice enough to clear his schedule for several days to generally hang out with us. After picking our little stir-crazy band up from the airport (I'm really glad that Air Force officer didn"t lose it on us after Penny threw a frisbee at him for the third time), we headed over to Aunt Helen's for some serious naps and exploring. Aunt Helen was great about getting the word out that we were home and even hosting folks who wanted to see us while we were in town.

Having recovered from our air travels, we spent several hours the next day at my hometown natural history museum. Now called the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, they didn't recognize my old t-shirt from when I taught summer camp there. Then I started doing the math...I taught there back in 1996...my students would now be...so they would be too old to be teaching Lore now as a summer gig...gosh, I suppose some of my students could be the staff with their Master's degrees by now. Maybe these would be their kids at the summer camp...gosh, I'm old! I thought about writing a comment card about how my experience at summer camp even longer ago helped lead me down my career path, but alas, no comment cards.

It was pretty awesome seeing how my little hometown museum had grown and generally seemed to be keeping up with the times. There were lots of exhibits on sustainability, something I liked to see based on my recent work. A landfill you could walk through, a sample house with green tech and behaviors, a garbage truck the kids could drive. It was all obviously designed for late primary or middle school kids, but there were some pretty fun things to do in there. Plus, it was interesting to see whom they'd gotten to sponsor each little exhibit. Sponsorship and named spaces ran rampant throughout the museum, but I better understand these days how necessary that is with the cutbacks in public funding. Attendance on the day when we visited also seemed pretty nice, so I felt like my musuem was doing pretty well for itself after all these years. I was sad to go, having been unable to fully explore the "Poop" exhibit and missing the Egyptian mummy somehow, which had led me to contemplate a career as Indiana Jones back in the day. Whew! Narrow escape, that!

Not satisfied to just be home for a couple of weeks and let people visit us, we next packed our bags and Dad drove us over to Indiana for a big Saluke Family Reunion. It had been ages since my Dad and his cousins, aunts and uncles got together. My grandfather lost three of his siblings last year alone, so they figured it was high time to have a reunion. There were games, Saluke family trivia, a scavenger hunt (Penny and Dad won that one), night hikes, food and all kinds of fun.

We were at Spring Mill State Park, a place I vaguely remember from a family reunion in the late Eighties - Uncle Joe playing with a copperhead snake with a stick, a pool that had an underwater passage from the indoor side to the outdoor. I hope Penny keeps one or two memories, like I did from the first reunion. Penny and Paul were pretty much the youngest kids there, but she latched onto some older kids and had a blast playing board games, cleaning up in Uno and running around on the playground. She also appeared to enjoy the Pioneer Village. It was funny because she saw a working mill there and she claims she saw them making sugar (we'd visited sugar mills in Grenada, but she shouldn't remember that). They actually made corn meal.

Speaking of corn meal, the ride home from the reunion was borderline depressing as we passed mile after mile of dehydrated corn fields. We have family that are still farmers in Indiana, so I felt really sad as we drove by fields with dead stalks, ear-less stalks, or even thin ears of corn falling off the stalks. The signs of drought were everywhere. My dad explained some of how farming works today and it seemed terribly challenging for a farmer to minimize losses in such a situation. We had quite a bit of time for the conversation as we took the scenic route home. Ten hours later (we had detoured through Kentucky), we wearily rolled in to Aunt Helen's and I put the kids to bed. I was convinced that Paul would never allow us to put him in a carseat again.

posted from Bloggeroid

Timing Is Essential

I think Paul was offended by that last post about him wanting finger food but being unable to get it into his mouth. He continued practicing and went from a success rate of maybe 25% up to 60% in a matter of days. He now grabs two or three O's, crams the fist containing them against his face and most of the time they go in or stick to his lips so he can just nudge them further in. He won't grab the squishy food yet, but I'm sure that's not far off. He has been enjoying the first tomatoes from our garden for the past couple of days. There are likely to be many more since we have 14 plants and they seem to be heavy-laden.

It took many weeks for a lesson to get bludgeoned into me - keep a schedule and life will be easier. We have been so involved in setting up the new place, big events, etc, that we just didn't bither with a schedule. Meals happened whenever convenient, bedtimes were guesses based on unruliness of kids, eaxh day was a different errand. There were some rough days, but Dan wasn't working, so we were able to muddle through somehow. With Dan at work from 4am to 7pm (except on days when it's 4am to 11pm), the unruliness that comes from catch as you can a bit too exhausting.

Typical day starts when Paul wakes at 6am. I have breakfast and do a chore or two because he's generally cheery and no longer hungry. Penny wakes around 7:30am for breakfast and Paul has something to eat in his chair. By 9am we have to be out the door to the park. My pale skin really restricts when we can play outside, so we're part of the early crowd at our parks. It's kinda funny, too, because the other folks at the park are speaking Russian or something and look pale like me. As we wrap it up at 10am or so, the tanner (more likely Italian descent) folk start to arrive at the park.

We have some nice parks to choose from. The one by Penny's future school has a couple of good playsets and lots of older trees for shade. The obviously new park on the beach has no shade because the trees aren't old enough yet. However, it has a great ocean theme, with pirate ships, a play structure shaped like the SI ferry, and a sprinkler system that turns on when you touch a certain pole.

After playing, we might run an errand like a trip to the grocery store, the library or the hardware store. Whatever we do, we have to be home for our 11:30am lunch time - both because the sun is too strong by then and I've got hungry little campers. Lunch takes forever as I make something different for each of us, the nap for Penny at 2pm. Paul usually requires a nap by 1pm, but he likes to keep me guessing some days. Penny's "nap" goes until 5pm. Nap prep - potty, brush teeth, stories, whining about how not sleepy she is - usually takes an hour, then she doesn't really sleep for a while, then she might actually start sleeping by 4pm. I tried starting nap later, but then she would wake from napping at 6 or 7pm in a horrific mood and that just made things awful. So this ludicrous three hour confinement to room is really what works best.

Then it's 5:30pm dinner, maybe a bit of playing, perhaps Daddy comes home at 7pm, we go water the garden, Paul's bedtime, Penny's bedtime routine from 8pm to 9pm. If I'm lucky, Dan isn't too tired and I get to do thre dishes before bed. If I'm unlucky, I just have to figure a way to do it during nap the next day. You can see there's not a whole lot of downtime or time for me to do chores unmolested. Yesterday, I mowed the lawn after putting the kids to bed for the night. Morning revealed a couple of patches I missed, but remarkably few considering the whole process was done in the dark. I then take a shower and go to bed.

It feels weird having my day so rigidly planned, but then days like today happen and I remember why it is that way. This morning Paul awoke early, then was ready for his morning nap by 7:30am, well before Penny awoke. With both kids asleep, I figured I'd capitalize on the opportunity and get a cat nap. Penny awoke me at 9:30am and we started breakfast at 10am. So we missed our usual going out window. As such, errands for the day were postponed to tomorrow. I tried to still do stuff with them outside, but further threw off the schedule, which led Paul to skip lunch and have a weird nap schedule and some serious crankiness from Ms. Penny. It's amazing how one little choice can snowball throughout the day, but getting back to the schedule can really help return sanity to the situation.

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Eating Challenges

I have been very proud of my ability to breastfeed Mr. Paul. After messing up my supply with Penny (stupid arm tests!), I really wanted to get it right this time. Unfortunately, Mr. Paul is so fond of breastfeeding that he never really latched onto taking milk from a bottle. This means I am the only one who can feed him and we've been joined at the...well...you know...for the past seven months and change. I have been desperate for a good night's sleep for pretty much that whole time. When I took Mr. Paul in for his four month check-up, the doctor recommended starting him on solids to see if the longer digestion time would help him make it through the night with fewer than five feedings. This was us trying cereal on March 30 or so.

We tried many times with the cereal and he really just wasn't interested in it to save my life. He'd take a few bites at meal times, then ask for more milk. All a pretty messy venture when he had to be held in my lap because he didn't know how to sit up yet. It was pretty discouraging. Then in mid-May I gave him his first non-cereal: Mangos. Aahh...suddenly he was interested in these puree things. He would consume a little jar of baby food over the course of three days, though, so it wasn't really a significant addition to his diet of milk. Thus he continued to wake in the night.

Then something magical occurred. I don't know if it was the heat, or the exotic location or what, but when we went on vacation in Orlando, he was absolutely ravenous. He'd down a jar in a single sitting, with a side-dish of cereal to boot. We had to go to the store to stock up because what I had planned to last for the week didn't last past day three or so. It was exciting stuff. He suddenly appeared to have learned how to sit up just so that he could eat more efficiently. I was so hopeful that sleep was just around the corner.

Then we got home and his appetite seems to have tapered off. He threw tantrums whenever I stuck him in his high chair. I never even got the opportunity to give him a spoonful of food. Oh, that meant he was REALLY hungry. He switched to waking every two hours overnight to eat. He'd go right back to sleep, mind you, so he knew it was night time. Just ravenous every couple of hours. It was awful. I tried everything from novel foods, to familiar foods, to feeding in different high chairs to just on my lap again. I thought perhaps he's like Penny and was determined to feed himself. I tried giving him Cheerios, even though he doesn't have teeth yet. He latched onto those like nobody's business. It's not really feeding himself, though, because he doesn't have pincer grasp - he can't grab the O's and when he does, he just mashes his whole fist into his mouth and hopes that the Cheerio will stay in there when he releases it. More often, I offer an O, he grabs my hand and brings the hand to his mouth, then I release the O into the gaping maw. We do this throughout the day while he plays, since the chair was taboo. 

I have now slowly built up his tolerance for the chair, though it is still a bit touch and go, and "tolerance" is only about ten minutes, hardly enough for him to gum to death too many food items. He won't let me use a spoon, so I cut teeny pieces of fruit, then hand feed him. It's tedious, but he does seem to be improving his ability to do it himself. He's picky about what he'll eat as well, so there's no use making anything in quantity because he'll be sick of it in a meal or two at most. So I cut pieces from a fresh fruit for him, feed him what he'll take, then eat the rest. It does mean that I'm eating more fruit, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. I fear my big plan to stock up on fresh produce and then save the purees in the freezer went out the window, though. Alas! On the plus side, as we build up his tolerance again, the hope of sleep is refreshed. He actually had a straight eight-hour night on July 3rd. It was more a result of sleep deprivation than improved feeding behavior, but it keeps the dream alive! Wish us luck!

Baptism and Graduation

Dan receiving his blank piece of paper

The moment of truth at long last - graduation day. The frame hung empty on the wall awaiting the arrival of the long-awaited document. The house was all ready to host the festivities. We had been debating for months who would get to use Dan's five tickets for the ceremony itself. One for each of his two brothers, one for Mom. They recommended that children under six not attend, so that left us with a dilemma...do I take Penny and Paul? Just Paul? We really wanted Penny to be there since she'd pretty much joined us at the beginning of this journey. But it was true that it would be a bit of a struggle. Maybe I could just entertain her in the neighborhood and then she'd be there for pictures, but then that meant I'd miss the ceremony.

Our debate was finally settled when Penny spent the night before graduation up every hour with diarrhea. Didn't seem like a good idea to drive two hours into town and then find bathrooms in Lincoln Center every few minutes. So Dad and Amanda enjoyed our seats while Penny and I perfected her potty training at home. She was actually in an awesome mood all day, managed to get to the bathroom in time at least a dozen times. Dad even emailed me to show me the exact instant that Dan was hooded on stage.

Dan, Mom and brother Dr. Charles Saha

From Dan's description of crowd dynamics at the scene, it really would have been craziness getting around to try to see the people we knew. His graduating class was still in the neighborhood of 500 students. The only place they had a nic little assembly line was in the photographing of the hooding process. We didn't purchase any of these official photos, though, because Dan claims they look as though he's in the process of being kidnapped.

After taking photos with the friends he could find in the sea of robes, Dad and Mandy drove mom and the graduate back to Mom"s house. Penny awoke from her nap and gave Daddy a big congradulatory hug. She also boasted about her great potty day. We've struggled to get a day where she goes potty willingly all day. Such days are "star days" because she is rewarded with a glow in the dark star to tape to her wall. With only one accident all day, this still qualified. So really, it was an awesome day all around, considering.

We took Amanda and Dad over to our place to visit and enjoy dinner while we put the finishing touches on our prep for the party the following day. Since evenings are pretty much just one event after another as the kids get ready for bed, it actually turned into an opportunity to catch up while Amanda helped with party prep. Dan also got to break in our new grill.

Godparents Aunt Rose and Brent with their little charge

Sunday was another big day for our little team. We had decided to take advantage of everyone being in town and scheduled Paul's baptism at our local parish. It's a very traditional parish: even asked for the godparents' credentials - a note of good standing from their home parishes. After the 12:30 mass, our family and friends gathered near the font with the three other infants getting initiated that day. Father managed to make the ceremony very personal feeling, even though it was a shared cwremony. He also complimented us repeatedly on how quiet and orderly we all were. Made me wonder how raucous these events usually were. There was no crying, just some very serious and contemplative looks between Paul and Father.

We were so excited to have both godparents able to attend this time. Brent claimed to have been studying for his role as godfather by watching the various movies. Dan gave him a brief pop quiz regarding said movies, which he failed. Perhaps he was studying more appropriate materials instead. He had brought his parents, Celeste and her parents on a mass transit excursion like no other to join us for the day. It's no easy matter getting to and from Staten Island on a Sunday afternoon, but they enjoyed the ferry ride, explored the often overlooked Staten Island subway, and generally seemed to take it all in stride. We did do a little assist in getting them from the ceremony to our place for the party becuase we didn't want them to miss the festivities brcause of the vagueries of Sunday bus schedules.

Aunt Rose managed to squeeze in a whirlwind weekend trip out to stand at Paul's side for the day. She and Aunt Helen overnighted at a hotel just blocks from my museum. I'm hoping their stay was more pleasant than the last time Aunt Helen booked a hotel near my museum (back in Silver Spring, MD, whew a memorable tale in itself).

Penny's tummy still wasn't quite right on Sunday, so she skipped Mass. She was thrilled to spend the time playing with cousin Catie over at Nanna's house instead. Catie is one of the few who can match or exceed Penny's energy. The pair were joined by cousin Christopher at the party afterward. They did some great pretending because Penny is still talking about it and tapping the creative juices they shared.  Christopher is reaching some kind of turning point as well. So far, Penny has been luke warm about playing with him because he's so fond of tackling. Recently, though, he has been more into construction and deatructiion, which are games Penny enjoys.

Graduates Celeste and Dan waiting for ice cream cake to melt

The party went pretty well, though we appeared to need another ten or so guests to eat all the food we had prepared. As it was, we convinced Dan's cousins to stay late playing Golf (cards courtesy of Amanda) and eat a whole other round of food. With some cleanup triage everyone here was in bed by midnight. We were eating salad and snacks for a week afterward, though. It was awesome to get to see our friends one more time before they head to Wisconsin, catch up with Salukes since I haven't been home for a year and a half, and get some games in.

Orlando trip continued

We took a "break" on Wednesday by hanging out for some BBQ. We relaxed with the Atlanta Sahas as well as Dan's cousins from Tallahassee, Mom, Aunt Laura and her mom. The kids entertained themselves by following around an endangered tortoise that had a burrow beneath our picnic shelter. They'd already spotted some Sandhill Cranes earlier in the day. After we'd had our fill of Florida heat, we continued our visit in the trailer nearby.

Our next exciting stop was Legoland. Who was the visit for: Dan or the kids? Dan had gotten a free ticket in his Christmas present (Lego MBA kit). There were all kinds of life-size Lego sculptures, some Lego others Duplo. They were all pretty fun and creative. Then there were tons of rides, most of which had a height requirement of 34", which is awesome for a three year old who's 37" tall. Unlike Disney or SeaWorld, she could ride just about everything. Plus, all the lines had a little pen with Duplo tables and tons of blocks, so adults hold the place in line and the kids are occupied the whole time. Penny actually resisted going on rides a few times because she wanted to finish her construction. It was really just an ideal park for little people! They had awesome playgrounds, fun themed areas, a variety of kinds of rides and even the restaurants had those Duplo tables so the grownups can finish their food before heading back into the heat. It was a full hour drive from Orlando, it closed by 5pm and some distant thunder shut everything down for quite a bit, but the kids seemed to have a great time and the day length was good. We wondered why the place seemed so empty and all the lines so short when it was such an awesome time for the kids in a brand new park.

The park was fun, but watching the kids was perhaps a bit more fun. Penny and Noah had a blast with the $1 spray bottle filled with water, which served us well in the heat throughout the day. We also picked up a new little friend at the park. Penny and Daddy were competing against some 10 year olds at a water gun midway game. Penny was darned proud when the caller announced her win. After some stage fright, she managed to pick out a cute little piggy, whom she insisted upon carrying through every ride and task for the rest of the day.

Penny loves "Pamingos" because they're pink!

Friday we again took a bit of a break, enjoyed the whirlpool in the timeshare, did some laundry and generally took it easy. On Saturday, we made our way to SeaWorld. We were thinking Penny would be really psyched about all the animals and shows because the rides, even in the kiddie section, had height restrictions that excluded her. Really, not even one ride for her. She did enjoy the animals - the aquaria were indoors and air conditioned. The heat was starting to get to her after a whole week. Three straight days of hitting parks for Mom were starting to suck the fun out for her as well. It was like pulling teeth to get her out of her stroller for anything and nothing really let us drive the stroller through it. Once inside, though, she did seem to genuinely enjoy the various shows. It was a long hot day and the only park where we didn't stay until closing.

Who knew birds were the creatures to see at SeaWorld?

It was a pretty awesome trip overall. Just the right balance of parks and rest. It was a nice celebration for Mom, Dan's graduation and generally hanging out with extended family.

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Orlando vacation

To celebrate Mom's 70th birthday, we went on a family trip to Orlando. Things came together nicely because Dan's uncle was on the brink of losing time on his timeshare in Orlando, so he generously allowed us to stay there with him. It was a wonderful place, though we didn't find time to enjoy all the amenities. Penny, Paul and I at least enjoyed a jacuzzi bath together one afternoon with some neat fizzy bath salts. Penny also thoroughly enjoyed the vast quantity of pillows, constructing a cozy nest on her bed to sleep in each night.


We started off our visit with a day to recover from the flight and stock up on supplies for the week. Uncle Jerry and Aunt Estelle were nice enough to drive an hour out to see us that Monday morning. It was great getting to catch up and get some insider info on the various parks in the neighborhood.

Our first park was Disney's Magic Kingdom. I know it seems odd that I don't have any pictures from that day. Not shocking, though, since my phone spent much of the day in a ziplock bag due to the constant rain. We got there right at opening and made a bee-line to the photo opp with Mickey, Minnie and the princesses, conveniently located in Main Street USA. We figured a couple of 30 minute lines weren't really in the cards for our crew, so we went to the back of the building and grabbed some Fast Pass tickets for 45 minutes later. The staffer at the Fast Pass machines was already enrobed in her poncho and Penny exclaimed, "Mommy, it's Cinderella's Fairy Godmother!" Who else would give out tickets to see Cinderella, after all? In just 45 minutes we breezed on into the photo opp building, had maybe a five minute wait and then Penny was dumbfounded by being face to face with Mickey Mouse himself. She neglected Minnie at first, probably because it was just such an overwhelming experience.

Penny posed for some pictures - one foot up in the air appeared to be a must - I found a blank piece of paper for autographs, then Paul had some really giggly moments up close and personal with everyone's favorite mouse. The visit with the princesses was even more cute, as Penny was absolutely speechless, even attempted a curtsy with Aurora, as she met with three of her favorite princess stars all in a row. Now, the question is, are we going to pay Disney $30 to get copies of the photos they took of this priceless moment? They were nice enough not to complain when Dan had his phone out to simultaneously capture the moments.

Once done with the princesses, Paul was incredibly hungry, so he and I headed over to the baby care station while Penny and Dan met up with his cousins. The rain continued, so they did things like Small World, Peter Pan Experience, etc. They got quite a lot done while Paul and I enjoyed a snack, a nap, a full-on lunch, a diaper change - two hours later, we went back outside to the stroller to find our group. There were stroller parking managers who kept moving strollers out from under the awnings so people could stay dry under the awnings. We left the rain cover on Paul's stroller even when he wasn't in it and that seemed to help significantly. It was pretty sad how many little kids seemed to get out of the baby care center with nice dry diapers only to be popped back into their soaking wet strollers. I was pretty proud to have packed a poncho for Dan - made it tons easier finding him as he was the only camouflage green in a sea of clear Disney-emblazoned ponchos. Man, they make a mint when it rains! $1 for two ponchos at Dollar Tree, but each of those Disney ones was something like $9.

After a brief grownup lunch, we hit a few more rides with the little guys. It continued to be a drencher, but we enjoyed things like the train, Winnie the Pooh, the Tikki Room...really there is plenty to do even in the rain. By dinner time, though, Dan's cousins had pretty much had it. Their toes were wrinkly, they were really sick of dashing everywhere, so after a final ice cream, decided to call it a day. Right after they left, the clouds parted and Penny, Paul, Dan and I enjoyed some really nice weather for driving cars, seeing a comedy show, and even getting a great look at the Electric Parade. Both kids were asleep by the time we took the monorail back to the parking lot, got thoroughly lost because we skipped the shuttle in hopes of keeping them asleep, and then found ourselves again after crossing through Jafar's expansive wasteland.

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Vacation in the Hamptons

To celebrate the completion of medical school, Dan decided to vacation like a doctor with a little road trip to the Hamptons. I always thought these were some kind of snobby Northeastern version of the Bahamas, bunch of privately owned islands as seen on Royal Pains or something. Apparently, they're a set of cities at the Eastern end of Long Island. Who knew?

We left on the afternoon of Mother's Day, with a pit stop in Queens two hours into the drive (traffic was a little ugly) because Paul couldn't take driving any more. Once traffic started moving consistently, our little dears dozed off in the back and we were able to enjoy the ebb and flow of the urban sprawl that is Long Island. Finally, we entered an area that had the occasional vineyard or horse farm. It was there that a giant white figure arose on the horizon...the Big Duck.

I have probably told most everyone by now, but in case you've missed the tale...once upon a time, back in the early days of Dan and I dating, we were having a conversation about marriage. I asked when he would like to get married and his response was, "When I've got all my ducks in a row." Later, while visiting the Cornell Campus Store with his friends, Dan spied a shelf of stuffed ducks. Inspiration struck and he shoveled an armful of them into a shopping basket. He had decided to actually give me a duck each time he achieved an important milestone, making a nice visual as he got his ducks in a row. When he shared his idea with his friends, they were intrigued, but asked whether it would be cooler for each duck to be unique.

Thus began our obsession with ducks. He's been quite good at finding a variety of fluffy fowl. From Scrooge McDuck to celebrate paying off student loans to a big yellow fluffy guy for moving into the same metro area, an Aflac duck for closing his injury case, to a little mallard with a tie for getting into medical school. I believe I inquired at some point how many ducks were in the row because they seemed to accumulate pretty rapidly. Thankfully, after four years of dating, he decided the ducks had reached critical mass and proposed (and yes, there was a duck in the museum exhibit he designed for the proposal). While in England, we acquired Jemima Puddleduck to celebrate my first Mother's Day, a daddy and baby duck who sing "Rubber Ducky" to celebrate Dan's first Father's Day and a Giggle Giggle Quack duck with his pencil and paper for successfully completing the Step 1 exam, among others. I haven't counted our collection, but there has to be more than twenty, each unique and fun. When we moved into our new place here on Staten Island it was the first time all our ducks were brought together under one roof.

Thus it was fitting that Dan searched high and low for a duck suitable to celebrate the completion of his medical school. Who knew the perfect one was just a short trip up the road in Long Island? Unfortunately (fortunately?) There just isn't enough room in our place for such a colossal duck, so we snapped some picks to commemorate the event instead.

After a picnic in the shadow of the towering duck at sunset, we headed to the hotel for a good night's rest. The next day, we had the beach all to ourselves (the rainy forecast and cool temps, plus being a weekday may have helped. There were tons of mermaid purses littering the beach - can't remember if those are skate eggs or shark eggs. Seemed a terrible waste in either case. We collected all the Mother's Day mylar balloons that washed ashore - partly because they were pink and thus irresistible to Penny. Then we headed home. It was a perfect little weekend trip and a suitable celebration for Dan's amazing accomplishment.

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