Christmas

- Emily had bought "Santa Claus socks" -- red socks with a Santa design on them -- to wear on Christmas Day. Thought the kids would be into them. They were: Jack saw them on Christmas Eve and, enchanted, wore them for the next day or so.

- Emily found the "Elf on the Shelf," a tradition where an elf from Santa Claus would show up on different places in the house each morning in December, then disappear overnight (to report to Santa) and return somewhere the next morning, for the kids to find him. Jack especially was into the challenge of finding him each day.

- Late Christmas Eve, after the kids were in bed, built the art table for their play room with my Dad. That was nice.

- Christmas morning, we were sleeping/setting up in the living room. Still dark. Jack awake, padding about upstairs, talking with Nana. I look up, and he's peeking around the corner of the landing. "Wait!" I say. "Not yet." Jack, evidently feeling the need to elaborate: "I"m just so excited to open my presents!"

- They dove through their stockings. Kate: "Look, Jack! Oh, it's Jessie! It's Jessie, Jack!" (From Toy Story.) Jack saw his Bey Blades and I think he gave a little shriek of delight. At one point, they disappeared. Where'd they go? I asked. Oh, the playroom, said Emily. I went down, and they were sitting at the table and chairs we'd built the previous night, pulling out markers and paper and crayons.

- Baba picked out a model police car for Jack to build. He and Jack worked on it together. At the end, there were a bunch of decals to put on, which Jack did with his own unique style.

- Aunt Linda had given us a couple of cute stocking gifts, including tiny windup robots that danced. Jack wound them up, had them dance, and danced goofily with them. A riot.

- Nana read Kate "If you're happy and you know it." Kate did everything with great exuberance, clapping, spinning around, stamping her feet.

- Jack was so excited to get the "How to Train Your Dragon" DVD. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!" You've got to love the appreciation.

- Late in the day, after presents and dinner, I was in the kitchen cleaning up. Kate walked in. "Can we open more presents?" she said hopefully.

- Kate got a couple of dollies, asked me to play with them with her. I did. She asked, "Do you love my dollies? Do you? Do you love them?" Yes, Kate, I do love them.

- One of Jack's presents was a wooden snake that came with paints, so he could make it colorful. He asked if he could paint it a couple of days after Christmas. I needed to work, but said the heck with it, sure, you bet Jack. We went down to the playroom and I spread newspaper out on the table, opened the paints. He took the little thin brushes and held the little snake so carefully, the brushes so carefully, painted every inch of it, red and green with silver glitter glue. I just sat there watching him, concentrating as he worked, seeming so intent, focused, big.

swimming

Took Jack swimming at the Y today. His lessons had ended last week, but it had become a Wednesday routine, and they say kids love routines. Dads too.

We got there, changed, headed out to the pool. Jack grabbed a barbell-like floaty thing and headed into the water. I hadn't gone with him since before his lessons began. So it was pretty cool the stuff he was willing to do, now.

He jumped off the edge of the pool, floated on his back, swam on his front, put his face in the water. Raced me (with the barbell thing). Gave it up 10 feet from the edge of the pool and did a fairly ungainly scoop and paddle to the edge. Floated more on his back. Splashed about on his front. Jumped off the edge again, went under, bobbed up. Not afraid, not nervous. Didn't care that he didn't have a floaty belt on.

Nice to see.

Afterward we showered (he loved the warm water, didn't want to leave...I think we're scrapping baths for showers from now on), got dressed, went to the grocery store, got gas, got Kate. Came home and had French toast for dinner. Watched some of Rudolph, and they both went to bed.

funny jack

- jack and i were walking home from school the other day.

jack said, "i've been eating all of my carrots, and i STILL cant see in the dark! After you left the room last night, i looked at my hand" -- he held his hand out for effect -- "and i couldnt see it!"

yesterday, walking home, we saw a squirrel's body on the road. we'd seen it the past couple of days, and i decided it was time to mention it. Do you think he's sleeping? i asked. jack said, "No, he isn't, he's DEAD." Uh, i dunno, maybe he's sleeping, Jack... "He's FLAT. he's not 'sleeping.' he's DEAD. He's flat, Daddy."

Made me laugh.

Xmas Prep

Kate was home sick today, but there was a lot to do anyway, so we kept busy.

- Went to CVS to get her prescription for amoxycillin (probably misspelled). She has strep. Couldn't find a quarter in the car to feed the meter, so I spent some time looking. Told Kate that Mommy didn't leave me any quarters. "Mommy didn't leave you any quarters!" she said sympathetically.

- In the store, she walked up to a random shelf. "I get medicine, Daddy. I get medicine." She started pulling things off the shelf. Oops.

- We headed to the grocery store. Kate wanted to ride in the cart, and did. She said, "We get coffee? We get fyoot?" (fruit) "We get sooweeall?" (cereal)

- Came home and Kate had her medicine. Spat it all down the front of her shirt. My jaw dropped. After 10-15 minutes of pleading and yelling and cajoling, she finally took a dose. Said, "I like medicine!"

- She ate lunch. Halfway through she said, "I'm ready for my nap." She napped.

- We went to get Jack. Spent 10 minutes looking through the lost and found, again, for his winter hat. Jack also said he wanted to show me something. He walked us into the school, all the way down the hallway, to show me Christmas decorations in this big storage box. He walked us right over to it and opened it up. "See these? Aren't they cool? Can we buy them?" Woman nearby said, those will be for sale at the holiday boutique next week. I said, um, Jack, not now.

- Jack saw Aunt Cathy and stopped, set down his backpack, opened it, and gave her a Hanukah card he'd made.

- We came home and put up Christmas decorations on the lawn. The kids admired them. Kate went out and stood on the sidewalk. "Hi snowman! Hi Rudolph! Happy Christmas!" Jack corrected her. "It's MERRY Christmas," he said.

- We came inside and read "The Grinch." Then they watched The Grinch while I put up more decorations. Then they bundled up again and came out to admire the decorations some more.

- They set up the Playmobil Nativity scene. Kate walked over to me at one point and held up her hand. "I have rings," she said. I didn't understand her at first. "Rings," she said. She was wearing the little hair pieces of the figures. They did a pretty nice job setting it up; I was relieved that they put the Baby Jesus in the manger. Last year I think Jack put the donkey in there.

- Emily read Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to them. Multiple times.

- We had dinner, and then dug out the Christmas CDs. Emily played her favorite, Jack made critical noises. Then they played The Muppets CD, and were happy.

- Jack read a Charlie Brown book to himself. Slowly, carefully sounding out each word. Then said, "Daddy! You've got to see this funny joke! Her EARMUFFS are too tight! Of COURSE she can't hear!"

- Put Kate to bed and kissed Jack goodnight. It had been a day.

Dinner and bed

Sometimes I find myself getting frustrated with the kids. Mostly it's just them not listening the first time, or the second time. And so I get angry, and speak sharply to them, and with Jack it works, and with Kate sometimes she thinks it's all a joke, until she finally figures it out and either does what I want, or cries because I spoke sharply to her.

And I feel bad even as I'm doing it, because I know it's partly my fault. We do kid around, and we're not always firm, so when we ARE being firm, small wonder they think it's a joke sometimes.

At dinner tonight, I said I was sorry for yelling (some sort of situation where they weren't doing what I asked, so on and so forth). And then Kate said, "You not mad anymore?" And I said no, I'm not mad. And she said, "I not mad. I happy!"

So I said, let's see your mad face. And she gave me this "grrr" look that was totally goofy with her gap teeth. And we all cracked up. And then I asked Jack for his mad face, and his mad face was basically a lips-pursed smile, trying hard not to laugh, while he lowered his eyebrows and flared his nostrils. And we all laughed again.

Then I washed them up, read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and put them both to bed.

Sports

- Jack and I are playing football a lot in the yard these days. He's kind of getting it. He can throw a spiral (er, it's not a regulation football). He can catch some. He used to kind of volleyball it away, and he still does with some, but he's gradually figuring out how to pull it in.

- After playing, we raked leaves. Or I raked leaves, and Jack got a shovel and laboriously lifted piles of them into the yard waste trash can. We finished the back and I was ready to knock off, and he said, "What about the front?" He's a little task master, he is.

- Jack picked up "rock, paper, scissors," from somebody, either his cousins or at school. He wants to play it a lot. Of course Kate's gotten into it, so when Jack and Emily were playing in the kitchen, she stood there eagerly: "Can I play? Can I play?" When they said yes, she said, "OK. I'm going to be scissors." Jack, wise to the game of course, made rock every time.

- Kate didn't listen to Mommy tonight, repeatedly, so she had to go to bed without stories. Naturally, this gross injustice made her cry. Jack soothed her: "It's OK, Kate. OK Kate. It's OK." He petted her hand reassuringly. As I was putting him to bed, he said, "Can I go hug Kate again?"

Friday today

A lot happened today.

- We met with Jack's teacher for Parent-Teacher conference. She said he's smart, bright, funny, competitive, kind, likes everyone, and is well-liked. After the meeting we met up with him in the auditorium, where he was waiting with his class, and hugged him goodbye, until I'd pick him up later.

- At the meeting, Kate sat at a desk and on paper we'd brought drew little pictures of faces. As she finished each one, she ran over to us with it, then ran back to draw another one.

- Kate and I went to the grocery store. She helped by pushing the cart, by which I mean hanging on it with her hands and letting her feet dangle. She was disappointed that the deli guy didn't give us a piece of turkey to taste.

- We read a book together, from Aunt Linda, where you make different faces by turning flaps of the book. She was really into it, it was nice to see her talk about each different page.

- We had lunch, she napped, I painted.

- I woke her up and we went to get Jack. She was groggy or cranky (not much difference) and clung to me the whole time. Jack was red-cheeked but happy looking; it was windy and a little cold.

- At home, we played football in the yard for about half an hour. We threw the football around, and when I had it both of them tackled me around the legs. Whenever Jack got the ball he talked about "and it's an interception! and Percy Harvin takes it in for a touchdown!" He's still learning the difference between offensive and defensive players.

- They had their apple and Pirate's Booty snack, then tried to recreated Backyardigan World, a big lego block world they built last year and put the stuffed Backyardigan characters all over. It showed up on the calendar this month. I noticed Jack bringing all the Legos up to the kitchen from the playroom. Um...what are you doing? I asked. Jack said, "We have to look at the picture." Of course.

- Kate ran by, heading upstairs. Where are you going? I asked. "I need to get something," she explained. Of course: her Backyardigans.

- They drew pictures. Jack drew all the NFL team names and logos he could think of. He asked me for some spellings, and I gave him them, and then I told him he could try on his own. I liked his spelling of Seahawks in particular: SEWHOKS.

- Kate drew a picture of a face, with squiggly hair, and the letter she knows how to draw: P. All over the page. She brought it to me and said, "You can keep it if you WANT to." There's only one answer.

- Emily came home, having picked up Kate's preschool formal pictures. Stunning. She's become a little girl almost overnight, it seems.

- We made pizzas for dinner. I shaped Jack's like Scooby-Doo, as requested, and Kate's like a kitty. Kind of. Hers looked like a sock and his looked like an alien or something. They covered them with cheese, and ate a whole lot of cheese and a whole lot of tomatoes.

- They ate. "I eat my whole dinner!" Kate said, as she took about her third bite. Great, Kate. "I'm going to eat my whole dinner," she said again. She didn't, but she did OK.

- They ran around the playroom throwing the toy football against the wall and jumping onto the futon. Over and over.

- I started reading Kate's book, What the Ladybird Heard, while she was still dawdling with her teeth getting brushed. She heard, and got serious. "Oh! Daddy is reading. Without me! Daddy, wait." She ran in. "You forgot ME," she said. Nope, I couldn't.

- Jack came down to say another good night.

Just another Friday today.

playing together

Today I played some football in the backyard with Jack and Kate. I held the ball, and they took turns running up and kicking it. We've done it the last two days, it's become a routine now I like to think.

I went in after that, but they stayed outside. I checked on them every few minutes. At one point they were sitting, facing each other, holding their hands up. Patty-cake I think. I checked again a few minutes later, and they were standing up, pretending to fall down, laughing.

Then Jack was teaching her how to do animals. Arms over head, giraffe. Arms swinging low, elephant. Lion. Other animals.

They started singing bedtime songs to each other. Edelweiss, Mr. Sun, other staples. Sometimes Jack was louder, but Kate's voice would seep in every now and then.

Not aware I was watching them, they played and laughed and made up games and songs and dances for each other.

Half an hour later, maybe longer, they came in, their cheeks red and eyes bright. It was kind of cold out. "Daddy!" We lay on the rug together, catching our breath and being happy.

Pre-Halloween

- Jack's class's Halloween parade was today. I brought Kate, in her dragon costume. We stood along the sidewalk and watched his class, all the classes, walk out. Jack was in his orange astronaut uniform. Next to him was a boy named Isaac, in a white astronaut uniform. They both smiled and waved. Jack saw us, big grin, pointed. It was very Right Stuff.

- Afterward we came home, and they played a little, at one point going upstairs, then Kate came down in her Olivia costume/outfit. "I Olivia!" she said happily.

- We carved, well I carved, two pumpkins. One Thursday night, happy and goofy, same one I always do. One this afternoon, scary. I lit them both up for the kids to see. Jack looked sad. What's up, I asked. "I wanted you to make a 'Jets' pumpkin," he said. He showed me the picture he had drawn of the model for the scary pumpkin. It had the word "Jets" on it. I carved the word "Jets" into the back of it. Jack was happy.

- Jack got a "make your own ghost" card from Grandma. He diligently sat down, before he had breakfast, to make a very detailed and happy ghost with the stickers on the blank white page.

- We sat as a family on the couch and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." When Snoopy is imagining his fight with the Red Baron, and the colors change and go wild, Kate reported, "He's purple." Pause. "Now he's blue." "Now it's all blue." "Now he's red."

- They got musical Halloween cards from Nana and Baba. They played them over and over and over, dancing around in their costumes.

getting pumpkins

Last Friday Kate and I picked Jack up at school. It was overcast and seemed like it might rain, so I gave them a choice. Do you want to go home, or do you want to go and get pumpkins? "Get pumpkins!" they shouted. So we did.

As we drove into Sam Bridge Greenery (or whatever it's called, Davy Crockett Motor Lodge or something), they saw the pumpkin patch. "Yay! Pumpkin!" We parked, grabbed a wagon, grabbed a big golfing umbrella from the back of the car. Passed a mom and child near the parking lot at a little stand of pumpkins. She said to us, Are you going all the way down to the big patch? She looked at the sky doubtfully. I said, Sure! And indeed, we were.

On the way there were scary decorations hanging from trees. Bats, skeletons, ghosts. The kids pointed and properly appreciated them, it was nice. If it had been dark and scary, they'd have been freaking out, but instead it was just an overcast Friday afternoon. With occasional raindrops.

At the patch, they jumped out of the wagon. First they ran around the pumpkins. Then a hay maze. Like your Minotaurus game, I should have said to Jack, but I forgot. Then over to this huge bear made out of hay bales, and a huge spider or something made out of hay bales. I wanted them to pose for pictures, but Kate was wary. She agreed ultimately, but didn't stand as close to the thing as Jack did. In fairness, it was very big and imposing. But it had a goofy smile.

We picked our pumpkins. And then picked some more. And then found better ones. And then they went back to the hay bales. And then they got their little pumpkins. And then it rained, and we loaded the pumpkins in one wagon, but they of course both wanted to ride too. I said it couldn't be done, and Jack pulled Kate in one wagon for about two minutes.

Then I with no small exertion pulled both wagons back to the parking lot.

We paid for our pumpkins. Near the registers, they had a smoke machine. One of the staffers turned it on to startle us. Then showed Jack and Kate how to turn it on. Then they filled the store with fake smoke. I said to them, well, I could have told you this would happen.

A guy gave Jack and Kate each a hardened ear of red, Halloween-y corn. They thought it was pretty great.

We piled into the car. I don't remember what we talked about, but everyone was happy.

At home, I read Jack a story. Jack said, "Can Corn read with us, too?" I said, corn? He held up his ear of corn which he had named "Corn."

Good time.

Jack the artist, Kate the singer

- Jack decorated my keyboard by taping smiling paper Halloween spiders, purple and black, in a row across the top of it. He wrote "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" on a piece of Scotch tape and stuck across the desk.

- Kate this morning was singing to her stuffed Backyardigans toys. She lines them up in her bed, heads on her pillow, and sings to them individually. "Uniqua, Uniqua....Pablo, Pablo..." She does it in a sweet, soft, high, sing-songy voice.

- Jack drew a picture of a Haunted House, with all kinds of ghosts, bats, cats, skeletons, etc. There were a lot of bats and goblins. Some came from the Ed Emberly book, some from his mind. He made a card that said "Happy Halloween," "Merry Christmas" and other holiday salutations. Oh yes, Robin, his birthday cards for the twins also say "Happy Halloween." I'll mail them soonish.

- I got Kate up this morning. Kate, do you want breakfast now, or do you want to watch football highlights? "Foohball highlighs!" So we did.

- I took Jack to the doctor yesterday; turns out he had strep throat. While we sat in the doctor's office, he grabbed some crayons and drew pictures on the paper roll on the examination table, and then on her clipboard when she came in. Cats, dogs, and bats. Halloween pictures.

- When I put Kate to bed, she likes "Swing on a Star" the best. She likes to start singing it, then asks me too when she can't remember any more words. "Would you like to swing on a stahr....cahry moombeans home in ...jahr.....and be better off than you are....or would you rather be fish. Fish is a aminal" (that's how she says it, it's awesome) "that lives on a farm. ...likes to read book...has lots of charm...Your turn, Daddy!"

Kids

Jack and I went out to buy Halloween decorations today. We got decorations for the windows, the doors, the porch, and of course Jack's room. We found these things that fit in windows, big full poster-size images. First we saw pumpkins....then black cats... (got those for Katie)....and then -- and Jack actually chortled with glee -- scary ghosts.

He had to have them. I said, are you sure? He was sure. Not the pumpkins or the cats? No. No! The ghosts. The ghosts are perfect. He was certain.

We bought the ghosts, and we came home. Jack and I put the ghost poster thing up on his closet door. We both reveled in it and pretended to be scared.

After we put the kids to bed tonight and we're sitting on the couch, Jack came downstairs.

"I'm scared of the ghost on my door," he said flatly.

I went back upstairs with him, opened his door so he couldn't see it, and that was OK.

Guest Blog: "You teach me how to swim, right mommy?"

I've been too busy to blog, and so has Emily, but she still made the time to do a guest blog tonight. And here it is.

By Real Mom.

Toward the end of summer I figured I should sign Jack and Kate up for swimming lessons. Jack had been taking lessons through the Y’s daycare program for about 2 years. Kate had some mommy and me lessons when she was about a year old but we stopped them because I hated them. The pool was always freezing, plus the water was fairly deep and even I had a hard time standing up and keeping my balance. Anyway, they both had started to really love swimming at the beach this summer. Kate would hold on to my hands, arms outstretched, kicking, saying “Mommy! I swimming! I swimming!” So, I really wanted to keep up with the lessons so they would stay comfortable in the water, since they both tend to…shall we say, be a little tentative with the unfamiliar.

So, after first signing them up with the Y – where they all but promised they’d turn into Michael Phelps after about 2 lessons – I ended up changing over to SUNY Purchase, where their cousins had taken lessons. Plus, bonus: it was $100 cheaper, each. Jack would take beginner-intermediate lessons on Wednesdays after school. I took a leap of faith and signed up Kate for solo lessons (without a parent in the water), for Saturday mornings.

Two weeks ago, Kate had her first lesson. She had to get a swim cap, so I got her a cute little red one with a kitten’s face on it. It even had little ears. So cute. I walked her over to where the lesson was happening. As we neared the end of the pool, she immediately started shrieking and crying and holding on to me with all the strength her little body could muster. Somehow I pried her away from me and handed her over to her very nice and patient instructor, Caroline. All the other little girls and boys were gamely standing on a little platform in the water. Kate was busy shrieking in poor Caroline’s ear, reaching for me. So after about 5 minutes of that, I said, well, why don’t we try watching for a while. Caroline handed her back over, and Kate and I sat by the side of the pool and watched. After about 10 minutes, I said, hey Kate, why don’t you try getting in again? And she nodded (she was sucking her thumb, of course, so didn’t actually speak.), but then once I started handing her over and the shrieking recommenced. That poor teacher. Anywho. After about 5 minutes, I got her out again, we watched about another 10 minutes, and then, I thought, oh hell, let’s just get out of here. And I was ticked at what I viewed as the weakness in my children that they were always the ones to shriek in terror at new things while other children seemed to just go happily with the flow. And, PS, I was soaking wet. Not surprisingly my pants got wet sitting on the side of the pool, so it kind of looked like I peed in my pants. Excellent.

And naturally, there was no lesson the next week because of Yom Kipper, so it’s not even like we could go get back on the proverbial horse right away.

I considered just cancelling the whole damn thing, but then, I thought, no, I don’t want them to be quitters. So I told Andy to see if he could call and maybe transfer her to a class where the parent was in the water. Surely she wouldn’t shriek and cry if we were in the water with her, right?

Last night: I’m putting Kate to bed, talking up today’s swimming lesson. “Are you going to cry in the pool tomorrow, Katie?” “No!” she says: “I swim like this:” and proceeded to lay down on her belly, kicking behind her and thrashing her arms some, pretending she’s swimming. “You teach me swim, mommy?” She asks. You bet, sweetie, I tell her.

This morning she couldn’t wait to get her suit on. She kept saying, “You teach me swim, mommy?” And I answered yes over and over. We got to the pool, and she even let me put her hair in a ponytail so her swim cap would be easier to put on. And we walked over to the side of the pool.

And the same thing starts happening. There’s crying, screaming, wailing, shrieking, and she’s got the death grip on me again. I kept reassuring her: “Sweetie, I’m coming in with you. I’m coming in with you this time!” I pried her off me to hand her over to the teacher (oh, poor Caroline again), so I could climb down the ladder. The water was definitely warmer and more shallow then the Y’s so I was feeling much more at ease. But she kept crying and shrieking, and I was doing my best to be calm and happy and peppy, but I was kind of thinking, Jesus Kate, get it together! Six other kids in the class, all of them bobbing happily up and down in the water with their moms or dads. And Kate, shrieking, “I want to get OUUUUUUUTTTTT!”

But, we kept on. I pried her off me to hand her over to the other teacher, Jennifer for a bit. She kept crying but at least she kind of kicked as the teacher handed her back to me. But she kept CRYING.

After about 10 minutes of this nonsense, I said, “Kate, if you stop crying, we’ll go to Wendy’s when we’re done!” (What can I say, I was desperate.)

Bingo. She stops crying. For about 5 minutes it was touch and go, she’d be fine and be laughing, and then start crying again. And then she got into it. She starts doing all the activities. Lays down with my hands supporting her back for a back float. “Ooooh, this is nice…” she says. Lets me tie a floatie backpack on so she can practice kicking while she throws a little rubber duck as far as she can (must mention, the swim teachers were impressed with her arm strength.) Now she’s laughing. “This is FUN, mommy!” she says.

Then the teacher gets out a hula hoop. She holds it half in and out of the water. The point being for the parent to be on one side, teacher on the other. The parent’s supposed to hand off the kid, while the teacher swoops the kid’s head underwater. So, we’re going around the circle, the whole time I’m debating with myself, “Should I have her try or not?” Then it’s our turn, and I decide. I tell the teacher to please only put her chin in the water; it’s been going so well I don’t want a setback. She nods in agreement and gets dips chin in the water. “AGAIN!” Kate says, but we each only get one turn. A father next to me turns and says, “Smart move. Why push it, right?” I shook my head in agreement and said, Yeah, no kidding.

Then. THEN. It’s time to learn how to jump from the pool deck into the water. Has Andy ever mentioned how much Kate loves to jump? She jumps off every step, rock, ledge, and curb she can find. I stay in the water, lift Kate out to the edge (my god, a challenge for those of us who are just as tall as the edge of the pool). “One. Two. THREE. JUMP!!!” She jumps in. “A-GAIN!” So we do it again. And again and again and again. I think she could have spent the whole class just jumping in and out of the pool.

Finally it was time for class to end, and we did some variation of wheels on the bus as sort of a class goodbye. Kate was fantastic. Laughing and giggling, even though she was starting to shiver and her lips were turning purple. And class ends and we get out of the pool, and she turns to me and says, “That was SO MUCH FUN, mommy!”

As promised we stopped at Wendy’s, and brought it home to eat. We sat in the kitchen and ate our lunch together, just the two of us. And she kept saying, “You teach me how to swim, right mommy?”

And for awhile I thought my chest was going to burst, such was the pride I was feeling for my brave little girl.

Football

Jack's first and perhaps last football game was yesterday; he's officially played more organized football in his life than I have. We found out about the Rye Town Youth Flag Football team through a friend, and although we'd already missed sign ups and stuff given our summer move, we got Jack on a waiting list. Late last week we found out there was an opening, perhaps because some people had dropped out after the first week. Hmm.

So Friday I got an email from the coach saying that the first game was at 9 a.m. Sunday, and to be there 45 minutes early for practice. And that Jack should have mouthguard and a cup. For water? No, a protective cup. In case I haven't mentioned it earlier in this blog, Jack is 5.

So Saturday morning we went out to the store and bought him a mouthguard (which we accidentally melted in boiling water Sunday morning, oops), cup, and strap. Much amusement was had in strapping the thing on, which the next morning at the field I learned we had done improperly anyway. We also played some football in the backyard, running around and tossing it back and forth. So despite some uncertainty, I still figured, eh, it will be 5- and 6-year-olds running around in the grass having fun, right. And it's football, which we love, so, awesome.

Sunday morning we got Jack dressed and headed over to the field, at the high school. Big place with a bunch of big fields that looked sized for giants, but there was his team, the red-jerseyed 49ers. So we went over and met the coach, exchanged a few pleasantries, Jack got his red jersey, and they were off. I watched him run off to join the team.

Practice was a little ways away from where the parents stood; we chatted, and I watched from afar as Jack went through drills. He looked a little uncertain, having missed some time, but I'm still thinking it'd be OK. At one point I saw him pick up a ball (after having it thrown errantly in his general direction) and throw it back to the coach. Good throw, the coach said. I felt a swell of pride.

Shortly before 9, more parents started showing up, gathering on the field. The other team. Cheerleaders! The teams lined up, the coaches yelled instructions, and play began. For each team, several players stood on the sideline, including Jack. He got in for a couple of plays, and had no idea what he was supposed to be doing really, but like in soccer, he gamely ran after the kid with the ball. And then rotated out back to the sideline, to watch some more.

Emily and I stood on the sidelines a little confused by the whole thing. In soccer, nobody stood on the sideline. Well, there was the one game where we had more players than the other team, and the other coach said we should hold some players out, and I looked at him like he was crazy. They're FIVE. What am I supposed to do, while running around calling the game and chasing out of bounds balls, orchestrate an assembly line of players moving on and off the field? Not gonna happen. Maybe he had experience in the football program, I don't know.

Jack came in for one play, lined up on the defensive line, and as the play started, he got flattened by an opposing lineman. It was the kind of play you could see coming, since again Jack didn't really know what he was doing, and the other kid was bigger. The other kid started forward and Jack didn't move; flattened. Later that afternoon, when Jack was in bed with a 102 degree fever, it became clear that he was also starting to get sick, something we didn't know at the time. Not that things would have gone much differently, but standing around in the sun for 2 hours from 8 to 10 Sunday morning and then getting leveled probably didn't help any.

I ran out, scooped him up, carried him back over to the sideline with the other kids who were off the field. The other coach apologized to us, the other kid came over to apologize at the command of the coach, yada yada. It was one of those things. Jack was OK after a couple of minutes. I hung out with him for the rest of the game. Afterward I asked the coach, um, Will he normally get to play more? Because I'm thinking little kids standing on the sideline for an hour or more is silly; if there's an uneven number on the field, so what; everybody doesn't get anywhere near the ball on most plays anyway. The coach said, Yeah, because he missed practices, he didn't really get a chance to have a better understanding of everything, how to pull flags, what to do, etc. Which is true; starting out with a game was probably a mistake (although again, we imagined random chaos like a soccer game, not the structured, college football-like atmosphere we got. I think some of the coaches might be taking things a bit too seriously with 5 and 6 year olds). But that it would be better next time.

Walking off the field afterward, I told Jack I was proud of him, that it was great to see him out there. I tossed him into the air, and we headed off to a late breakfast. We got home, and Jack had his high fever and was in bed most of the day. I didn't feel so hot myself.

This morning I said to Jack (who was feeling better after 12 hours or so of sleep), So Jack, what did you think of playing football. Pause. "OK," he said. Do you think you want to go back next week (actually, I later came to find that the team had evening practices, from 6 to 7:15 on Tuesdays, which around these parts we call dinner time, and that they wanted to have practices on Thursday evenings too. Yikes). Jack shook his head. I said, yeah, that was a little tough out there, huh? He nodded. The previous evening, Emily had asked him if he'd rather play football, or maybe go back to soccer next time. "Go back to soccer," Jack answered quickly.

So Jack, I said, we won't go back. And then maybe next year we'll think about doing it again. And Jack nodded cheerily and said, "Then next year I'll be 6 years old, and I'll be older enough." That's right, Jack. You'll be older enough.

We went out in the backyard and threw the football around, with no rhyme or reason or rule to it. And Jack ran around and chased me and I chased him, and he had a big smile on his face. And football was fun again.

Tooth Fairy Etc.

Jack has had some trips to the dentist lately, thanks I guess to poor brushing on our part combined with unfortunate tooth heredity. So on Wednesday, after school, he and I had to go to the dentist to get a couple of his teeth filled. So I picked him up and, for the fourth straight week, we headed off to the dentist.

We got there, and turned out that Jack needed to have a tooth extracted. The dentist was funny; she said, "We just need to wiggle it. And sometimes when we wiggle it, it just comes right out. And then the Tooth Fairy comes."

As my family knows, there's a story behind the Tooth Fairy for me. The Tooth Fairy always left notes, Scott found out it was actually Dad, told me about it, and I was very upset. So that night I got a note from the Tooth Fairy that put my fears to rest. I think they were normally in my Dad's handwriting and now it was in my Mom's. Anyway, Jack was a trooper, he had his tooth removed, all during it he hung in there, giving me occasional waves and thumbs up and stuff, and I was pretty proud of him.

And then they finished up and he sat up and his mouth was bloody and there was a big hole where his tooth had been, yikes, but he was OK. And then he got stickers and such.

And we piled into the car and headed off, because, you know, Jack's first swimming lesson at SUNY Purchase was ALSO that afternoon. So off we went.

And the big thing I want to say about that is that we changed him into his suit and went down to a swimming pool he'd never been in before to be taught by people he'd never seen before, and he didn't cling to my leg or whatever. No, he got right in the water, and had his lesson.

And at one point they did this thing where they had to swim/lunge for the edge of the pool from a platform. And he did it himself, without a flotation device or anything. And when he was back on the platform he looked over at me, and he gave me the biggest, proudest smile, clearly very happy that he'd done it. And I remember that about an hour ago he was in a chair having a tooth pulled, and I grinned too.

That night, he put his tooth under his pillow. Emily and I debated whether the Tooth Fairy would leave a note or not. I think she talked me out of it, or my own note did. One of the two. But the note I ultimately did sneak in to leave, that he didn't see the next morning (he was too happy about his silver dollars), said "Dear Jack - Congratulations! I'm proud of you. Love, T.F."

3!

Kate turned 3 a few days ago. Three! Some moments.

She wanted cupcakes, not cake. So that's what she got. And she wanted ice cream, of course. Got that too.

For a week leading up to it, she -- having been told about it by us -- would at random moments say "My birthday! For my birthday? My birthday. My birthday!" She was into it.

Jack had talked for two weeks that he was going to get her Backyardigans stickers. So when we did all the shopping for toys and gift bag type stuff, we got her Backyardigans stickers. And a Backyardigans watch. And a bunch of little toy cameras (which I knew she'd love, and Jack did too, and for a week after they walked around with the cameras going "Click." "Click."). The cameras had little animal pictures in them. Jack took a picture of me. He said, "I see a monkey." Thanks, Jack.

Kate didn't want to nap on her birthday. She's starting to want to give up the nap in general. But it's funny when she's really tired, and she'll protest without really protesting. As if to say, well, I will take my nap now, but NORMALLY, I don't want to nap.

We gave Kate a Backyardigans playdough set that we'd held back since last Christmas, from Nana and Baba. (Because she got too much at Christmas.) She and Jack played with it a lot. Today she dug out the Olivia dress-up kit Aunt Robin gave her. Well actually, Jack did. And got dressed in it. And looked ridiculous but made us laugh. And then Kate put it on. At first she was like, "I'm a Christmas girl, I'm a Christmas girl," because it had red bows all over it. Jack said, "No, you're Olivia." So then she ran around, "I'm Olivia, I'm Olivia...."

It was the first time she really enjoyed opening presents; the first time she kind of got it.

How old are you? We asked. "I tree!" she said. "I tree!"

Last Friday Home

Since Kate was about six months old, when Emily went back to work, I've had the kids home with me on Fridays. They went to preschool Monday through Thursday, then were home on Fridays. We had good days, we had bad days, we had in-between days.

But Jack started school this week, and kindergarten goes Monday through Friday. He was home today -- school holiday -- but next Friday, he'll be in school. So this is our last full day Friday home together, the three of us.

I thought about it once or twice during the week, but we were busy and there wasn't much time to think about it, so I didn't. And I don't know how much I thought about it this morning, either. Only when we were walking to the playground at around 11 a.m. on a Friday, and I said, huh, next week Jack will be in school now.

When we got up in the morning, Jack asked me, "Did Brett Favre win?" Vikings opened the NFL season last night. No, Jack, I said. "But why?" Well, sometimes he loses. He'll get 'em next week. We watched the highlights on ESPN, I queued up his one touchdown pass for them to see, while they sat next to me on the couch. Kate, say Go Brett Favre, I said. "GoBettFahvv!" she said gamely.

I gave them breakfast, cheerios with milk and cantaloupe on the side. We saw Emily off to work.

They played with various toys. Sometimes I joined in, helped Jack a little with his Lego building.

We walked to the "baby" playground. First Kate went on the swings, while Jack played on the slides. Then he wanted help with the monkey bars. I helped him, barely. He went right across with my hands barely touching him. He couldn't do that a month ago, two months ago.

Jack wanted to go on the swings too, so we went back to the swings. They both swung high and laughed. Jack kicked his legs in the air like he was running at the top of his swing. "I'm running in the sky!" he yelled. "I'm running in the sky!!!!" Kate kicked too and laughed. "Running in the sky!"

We walked around the baseball field. I stood on the pitcher's mound and fake pitched to Jack. He fake swung a bat. They both ran the bases, kicked dirt on the chalk lines, ran in the outfield grass. They were both wearing their Red Sox sweatshirts.

We headed home. I gave Kate a ride on my shoulders for half a block and Jack a piggyback for half a block. They wanted more, but I said, that's it, guys. You're getting heavy.

At home we had lunch, chicken nuggets and fries.

I put Kate down for her nap. Jack tried but ended up reading in bed. Then he and I played Yahtzee, just like my Dad and I did. And still do.

After Kate's nap, they had apples, carrot sticks, water. We got the new Entertainment Weekly that had an ad for Hawaii Five-O that played music when you turned to that page. Jack turned to that page over and over, playing the music over and over. And dancing and dancing.

In a little bit, I'm walking them to Aunt Cathy's house for dinner, while I go out. There will be days off here and there of course, and weekends, plus Jack gets off school earlier than he did from preschool. But this was our last Friday with all of us together, and I already miss it more than I ever thought possible.

Painting Etc.

We had a painting day, and it was a blast; I don't know why we don't do them more. I mean I know why, because of worries about getting paint everywhere and such. Anyway, I threw down a big tarp (Kate's mattress came in it way back when), dressed the kids in big T-shirts and little else, plopped them down, and distributed paints and brushes. And away we went!

Jack made a dog, and some other kind of animal. Kate makes her multi-colored circles, over and over again. Until the end, when the paints were all mixed together, and they were all kind of brown and grey.

"More paint, Daddy." "Another paper, Daddy." "Here, Daddy." "This one's for YOU, Daddy." It was awesome.

At the end I made a picture myself, of the two of them painting. Jack said, "Nice, Daddy." Kate: "Can you paint Mama, too?" I added in Emily. "And now can you add Daddy?" So I did that too.

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Kate plays with her dollhouse sometimes. It's fun. She asks somebody to play with her, but mostly she just wants that person to watch. Although, she did let me play with the Peppa Pig family in the dollhouse. "You be these guys, Daddy." Sometimes she's playing and I'm working, and I'll hear her say "Daddy," and I'll say, What? And she'll say, "No, I talking to this Daddy." And she holds up the dollhouse Daddy.

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I bought the kids games one day last week. Jack got Minotaurus, this cool Lego game. Kate got Hungry Hippos, a mini version, and she and Jack played with it. I think I wrote about this already. Anyway, that night Emily brought home new backpacks. Kate wanted to put her game in her backpack. And there it stays. She won't take it out, no matter how much Jack asks. It's a little sad really; he just wants to play her game with her, but she won't.

So when she napped the other day, I told Jack we could get it out, and we did and we played it. It is kind of fun. We took it out today, too.

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Jack wanted to play Minotaurus with me the other day, during Kate's nap. It was a busy work time for me. So I said, look Jack. I can play with you, in 10 minutes. But normally this involves you asking me every minute, "NOW can you play with me?" and "Has it been 10 minutes yet?" And as a result I don't get my 10 minutes of work done. So if you're patient, and don't ask me, I will play with you in 10 minutes.

And so I worked for 10 minutes. And he played with his game. Very quiet, very patient. When 11 minutes had passed, I finished what I had to do. I turned to Jack and said, OK, now we can play.

Jack said, "Wasn't I very patient, Daddy?" Yes you were, Jack. You were great.

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We mowed the lawn the other day. Well, I did. And they helped me push the mower, by which I mean, they got between me and the mower, and held the middle part of the handle, and their heads banged into my legs and groin and stomach as I tried to push the mower without trampling them or injuring myself too badly. Eventually, the lawn got mowed.

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Guy came to install our chandelier last Friday. Kate and Jack wanted to help, but it was an electrical thing and, you know. So I said, no, better to just look. They went off into the living room and were quiet for a minute. I checked in on them. "We sad," said Katie. They both looked sad.

I said they could help with their toy tools. So, happy, they got their little plastic tools, and I gave them a piece of cardboard from the chandelier box, and they helped.

Dentist

Took the kids to the dentist today. Some moments:

- I dug out the toys in the waiting room. Their eyes went wide. Ain't no toys like waiting room toys. One was basically the same Fisher-Price farm that they had, which they'd both lost interest in months earlier. Now, it was fascinating.

- We went in, and while Jack was quite sociable, Kate clung to me and buried her face in my shoulder. But then, as the dentist started showing Jack the flashlight, and "Mr. Thirsty," the water pic, Kate gradually took an interest. Then she looked at me: "Can I get up there?" and she climbed into the chair with Jack.

- During her session in the chair, Kate was as obedient as I've ever seen her, opening her mouth, holding still, only after what seemed like a really long time saying "Can I get down now?" So politely. It was killing me each time the dentist said "Just one more minute." I'm thinking, she's 2. Let's move it along.

- Jack was in remarkably good spirits, eagerly opening his mouth and smiling to show his teeth. You'd hardly have known he'd end up having multiple cavities. I felt and still feel awful.

- At some point, both cried, basically after being in the chair too long. Especially Jack. Which was when the appointment ended and they were whisked away to some secret chest of toys, returning all smiles with some big rubbery toy frog clutched in their hands.

Today

Jack wakes up and we hear him go to the bathroom. It's before 6:30, the new sort of rule, so we hear him go in his room. His light goes on. We hear him reading aloud...one of the "Tommy" books that I had when I was a kid. He reads slowly, carefully.

We got some fruit from Aunt Cathy before they went on vacation, plus we'd just been to the grocery story ourselves that morning. So Jack had been pushing for a fruit salad. It was a hit. "Can I have more canneelope?" asked Katie. "More yellow melon?" asked Jack. Much fruit was eaten.

Everyone got dressed. Kate picked out her shirt. She wanted a certain pair of shorts, but they were in the wash. I told her that, and she said (as she's been doing lately), "Oh. Right."

We brushed teeth. Kate always wants to push the footstool all the way under the sink and then stand on it, with the result being she nearly bonks her head, or hangs like she's doing chin-ups off the sink...not good. I push it back some and we brush her teeth. "I can do it...I do it!" she protests. Another current thing with her.

We went out for a game, because it was raining, and because we needed to get stuff for painting the dining room. A combo toy store and ACE Hardware store comes in handy. We got a Lego game for Jack and a mini-Hungry Hippos game for Katie, that I think Jack actually picked out. Very shrewdly -- they both played with it for about an hour. Naturally they kept picking up toys wondering if they could get them. No...no....NO! good grief....Yes...Wait! No! What was funny was at the hardware store, Kate was doing the same thing. "Can we get this, Daddy?" You need a tub of spackling paste, Kate? Really? "Can we get this?" No Kate, we don't need another set of doorknobs. Eventually they discovered the wall of paint colors, and they gleefully picked out colors together. I think we cleaned the store out of "Sea of Midnight," which I can say with some confidence we will never use.

Back at home, we opened up Kate's game, they played it, I made lunch. They then started playing nicely together with Kate's dollhouse. This usually happens right around Kate's naptime; it's like Kate starts playing nicely with the dollhouse with Jack so as to keep me from putting her down for her nap, because she knows I'm a sucker for such great behavior. She's right; I put her down later than usual. But, she naps.

Jack and I build his Lego game. It is awesome. We play it and it's even more awesome. Jack builds the Minotaur, but you can't use him until you roll a black square. We play for a while without him rolling one, so he asks if he can just nudge it onto black. I let him.

It's time for Kate to wake up so I send Jack up. He comes down saying he opened her door and gate but she still wanted to sleep more. I'm about to go up when she appears. "Ta-DAAAA!" she says. Jack wants to show her the Lego game, and I say, OK, but you know it's too old for her and she might not play it right... He says, I know. But I think she'll like it. She does. He explains it to her.

We walk to Aunt Cathy's to get her mail and check her house. They run around and find toys to play with. I take things away from them before we leave. Jack has pockets, but I think I get everything back. We'll go again tomorrow anyway.

At home, they play more with the new games. It's pretty rewarding. Emily comes home, with a new backpack for Jack and a lunchbox and water bottle for Kate. Jack immediately puts on his backpack, which looks huge on him. Kate shows me her water bottle and lunchbox. "Yay, I have a water bottle!" she says happily. "I have new lunchbox! It's Hehyo Kitty, Daddy."

I put Jack to bed. I notice his little clay penguins next to the bed that we made in the oven the previous week...I hadn't noticed them before. I said, those are really good, you know. Have you shown Mommy those? He's not sure. He holds up one. "I think this is the best one," he says thoughtfully.

We read "Good Night, Little Bear," and he laughs at the old mitten under the stove, and at Little Bear bumping his head on the ceiling. Lights out, then sleep. He doesn't want songs tonight, he's tired. It's been a day.

random

Jack said, "When Kate is bossy to me, she does it in a nice way."

Kate likes to appear in the mornings (or afternoons, or evenings, but especially mornings) by stepping forward, standing with her feet apart, and throwing her hands up and saying, with a big smile, "Ta-DAAAAAAA!"

Jack offers to pay me to let him do things. "If you let us get McDonalds, I'll give you $7 from my piggy bank."

Jack read a library book in the car on the way home the other day, maybe I mentioned it already. Today, he sat on the couch with Kate and slowly, quietly, read it to her.

Kids at Home, Random Events

Captain Hammer

Jack and Kate played with toy carpentry tools. They both ran over holding a hammer.

Jack: "I'm Captain Hammer!!!"

Kate: "I Captam Hammer!!!!!"

Drawing

Jack and Kate sat down at the little table in the play room to draw and color. They used the art book where you trace your hand and make animals and such. They then brought all the pictures upstairs to show me. Jack laid them out, and they both talked at once.

Jack: "That's a dragon...and that's a dinosaur....that's a giraffe...." What's that? "That's a squid, Daddy." His elephant was awesome.

Kate: (filling in sound effects as Jack pointed out the animals) "Rahhh!" "Rahrrrrrr!" "No, Jack, let me. Let me. Rahhhhh!"

DMV

Went to the DMV to get my driver's license. With the kids! Had a backpack with one pad of paper and a pen. First Jack used it, while Kate ate a box of raisins. Then Kate used it, marking my shorts with the pen of course, while Jack looked at pictures on my phone.

Waiting up at the counter, the kids noticed the footsteps painted on the floor (for people to stand in for eye tests). They happily ran around, putting their feet in different footsteps, looking at each other, and cracking up. I can't help but think they helped things move more quickly for me.

Beach with Jack's class.

We met Jack's old preschool class at the beach. Before going he asked if he could wear his Tiggers orange shirt (with the class name on it) "So they all know who I am," he explained. So of course he did.

When we approached the class, he ran over. Everyone yelled. He was greeted like a conquering hero; big hugs all around. They clapped him on the back like he'd just returned from some big trip. It was pretty cute. They all played in the sand and the water together.

Afterward, he lined up with the class for showers outside the changing room, then we all traipsed over to picnic tables and ate lunch. Jack sat next to Teddy drinking his juice box and eating his sandwich. Kate sat between two of the girls in Jack's class, I think it was Harley and Isley. She sat very still, as though happy to be included with all the other kids. All her big brother's old friends.

Chair Box

We went to Ikea this weekend and bought a chair and a couch. They were delivered today, and we assembled the chair. The huge box went on the front porch, to be put out with recycling tomorrow.

Or so I thought. After dinner, the kids and Emily went out on the porch.

"What's that?"asked Kate, and Emily said, well, it's a box. And then, It can be a boat.

So then they started climbing in and out. They'd lie down, and then one would climb out, and they'd close it, and then they'd pop out.

It was a place to curl up. A place to hide in. A boat, a car, a secret box.

They played cooperatively, Emily said to me later. I feel like it's the longest I've seen them play together without fighting.

They also came in and out of the house a few times. Ultimately I went out and saw that they had Puppy, Monkey, a throw pillow, magnetic McDonald's Spider-Man toy, and a blanket in the box.

"Get in, Daddy," said Jack. I did. He closed the box. Kate kneed me in the back. I climbed out again. Jack climbed in.

This went on for a while. Tomorrow we'll put together the couch, and I guess the box will go out on the porch for a little while.

Kids at home, Leaping Lizards

It was brutally hot, and Jack was asking about going somewhere. It was too late to make the hour-long drive to the zoo, too expensive (and we'd just gone) to go to the aquarium, too late to try to get it together for a beach trip. So we decided on Leaping Lizards, being that it was close, only mildly expensive, and oh yeah it had air conditioning.

Basically it's a big indoor play area, with bouncy castles and slides and other soft, inflatable exercise things and tunnels and mazes and stuff. And ball pits, for kids to fall about in -- a highlight for Katie.

Best thing about the whole thing was finding out what a great big brother Jack is. Because it's really more geared to his age, and Kate would get stuck in tunnels or confused and start to cry.

And I'd be outside the maze, and couldn't get in easily, and couldn't even see Kate sometimes. And then I'd hear Jack: "Here, Kate. Kate....come this way." And then she'd stop crying, and a minute or two later they'd both appear from one of the tunnel openings or slides. First Jack, then Kate, obediently following her big brother.

At one point her foot was stuck in a net in a big jumpy ball pit. She cried. Jack went back to help her get out.

There was a drinking fountain there; Jack could reach it, Kate couldn't. He got his drink, while she stood off to the side, on tippy toes, trying to watch. Then Jack would say, "Daddy, Kate needs help." And I'd go and lift her up, and she'd drink from the fountain.

Time to leave, they took turns hitting elevator buttons, and we headed back home.

Kids at Home, Birthday, Etc.

Birthday today. Stunningly, Jack and Kate both slept in. Jack came in a little after 7. He had a broad grin on his face, almost incredulous. "I just woke up!" he said. He got into bed and I hugged him.

I got lots of handmade birthday cards. Kate's been doing this thing where she uses lots of different colors to make circles and dots on the page. She called it a rainbow once I think. Jack made me a card with some kind of sea monster on it, then another with "an electric panel." I said, piano? He said, slowly so I could understand, "PANEL."

Got munchkin donuts for everyone. They disappeared quickly. I maybe got one.

We headed out to the beach. Jack and I had our usual joke where we see a sandy beach about half a mile from where we're actually going and I ask him if he wants to get out here, and he laughs and says no. He reminds me if I'm slow to ask him.

We set up shop and immediately the kids bolted for the water. We rounded them back up to lather them up with sunblock. After that, the beach was pretty much as normal, just one extra parent and three extra kids. Abbey does her steamboat swim (that's what it was called when I learned it). Mikey jumps and splashes in the water. Niamh seemed happy to be cool at last; it's been ridiculously hot here.

All the kids wore swim goggles, so Jack wanted a pair too; there were extras. He then was extra brave about putting his face in the water, which was nice to see.

At one point, Kate slipped in the water. Robin lifted her out. Kate cried for a while, but then rallied. Niamh related how Kate described the accident. "I was in the water and then I was down there (pointing) and then I was up. I not crying any more!" Sometimes she does a long, stream-of-consciousness talk that's pretty funny.

We got chicken nuggets, hotdogs, fries, juice boxes. I think we were hungrier than the kids were. They wanted to go back in the water.

Back at home, we cranked the air conditioner and watched Toy Story II.

Pizza, football ice cream cake, blueberry pie. More homemade cards. Abbey almost missed dinner while spending about half an hour on her card; it showed. Jack, in addition to his card, made two construction paper turtles, big and small. The Daddy and the baby turtle. He said he knew I liked turtles.

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I put Jack to bed, it was pretty hot in his room. After reading to him, lying down for songs, I said to him, I can't stay long, it's too hot for me. Jack said, "Well, we don't have to hug. You can just lay with me."

So I did.


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Friday, most of us kind of slept lousy. Jack ended up switching rooms with Emily, because he was hot or having bad dreams or both, and keeping Niamh up. I shared the bed with him. For a small guy he moves around a lot in bed. He seemed rested in the morning. Me, not so much.

Waking up, he made his monkey (currently one of his two favorite stuffed toys) bounce around on the bed. Then I made it dance. Jack laughed.

We set up and played the Lego game. Mikey won the first game, Jack the second. I did not win any games.

Went to the playground. We were there maybe 10 minutes when the ice cream truck showed up. So much for the playground. Got some great pictures of the kids inhaling their ice cream. Much ice cream got onto faces and hands, but at least I talked Kate out of the Dora ice cream and into a strawberry eclair, my favorite as a kid if memory serves. Jack had one shaped like Iron Man's head.

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After Robin and the kids left today, Kate was napping and I was setting up the new Lego game with Jack. I said, I miss Robin already.

Jack said, "Did you hug her goodbye?" I said yes.

He thought about it for a minute, then said, "Well, maybe you should get on the computer and send her a hug."

I said, well, that's a good idea. I can't right now though.

"Because you promised you'd play the Lego game with me?"

That's right, Jack.

Kids at home, Day 1

We decided to keep both kids home the month of August. Save a little money, give Jack a break before he started kindergarten. Seemed like a good idea at the time. So I'm going to be writing about it a lot.

Today they watched TV from about 7:30 until 9 in the morning, while I did a little work. That will probably be a recurring theme. I'm not really awake anyway, plus I've got to clear my plate of some work type things.

We then had 2nd breakfast (for them; 1st breakfast for me). Cereal, frozen waffles/pancakes, fruit. I think they could basically eat cereal all day long. Jack asked for a third bowl of cereal this morning, while his pancakes were in the toaster. Exasperated, I said, No. He said, "Why?" like he could fathom no reason why eating half a box of cereal was a bad thing. We need to shop at Costco more.

After breakfast, Jack wanted to play with his clay, given to him by Nana and Baba. I had advised him to wait until Kate's nap, but he said it would be OK. After 10 minutes of her grabbing clumps of clay and mashing them together, and him saying "No, Kate," he sighed and said to me, "You were right, Daddy." Score.

We were going to go for a walk, but it rained for about 5 or 10 minutes, so instead they played in the playroom. Kate was acting like she wanted to nap, which was odd since it was about 10:30 and she'd slept until 6:15 or so (good for her). It had cleared up, so I thought we might go for that walk. We headed upstairs to get dressed and I took a quick shower.

Came out to find Jack had gone back downstairs and Kate was in Jack's room. Asleep. On his bed, from which the sheets had been stripped. It was 11 a.m. about 2 hours before she normally naps. So I got dressed, went downstairs, and Jack and I made things with his clay. He made an impressive little family of penguins, which we baked in the oven. He was pleased.

We went outside to play with these scoop game toys Emily had bought. Jack couldn't get the ball to go forward, but rather off to his side. It was tricky. He told me, "Daddy, you should stand over there," at his side. I did, and of course he turned, tried to throw it to me, and it went off to the side again. He laughed.

We opted for a variation on the game, where we threw the ball at the small basketball hoop with the scoops. Absolutely impossible to get it in. Finally we stood about three feet away and I slammed the ball and scoop through the net. Jack cracked up, and then did the same thing.

Kate woke up and we had lunch and went to the beach. I figured, well, Kate's already had her nap, so we can sit around for 4 hours and probably get cranky and whiny (and they wouldn't be much better) or go to the beach. So we did.

We hadn't been to the beach for at least 2 weeks (seemed longer), but they acted like they'd never been away. Both started walking down to the water with their pails and shovels while I was still assembling the umbrella. Kate went right up to her ankles (I ran after her and splashed water). I say this because our kids aren't necessarily the most daring in the world. But they've really taken to the ocean thanks to the frequency with which we go, and it's awesome and gratifying. We played in the water like it was nothing, which was not the case at the beginning of the summer.

Jack splashed me. Kate splashed Jack. Jack splashed Kate. Kate thought about crying, then instead splashed me. Jack tried to clamber onto my back. Kate wanted to be bounced up and down in the water. We all walked out to this sandbar where given the time and more adult help I'd have staged a picture that made it look like they could walk on water. It was pretty cool. Jack wanted to go out deeper, but it would have been over Kate's head so we didn't.

We had snacks, Dora fruit bites and grapes and juice boxes. Then they ran back to the water. My magazine went unread.

Did not find the hat Jack lost a few weeks back. The people at the lifeguard shack where there might have been a Lost and Found looked at me like I was joking. My son lost a hat here two weeks ago.... I may as well have been asking if they'd found the Ark of the Covenant.

In the car on the way home from the beach, Jack asked for the Boat that Rocked soundtrack, and he jammed in the back seat to '60s and '70s rock.

We turned it off as we approached home. A sun-kissed and half-sleepy Kate started singing Jack's Stewie the Duck song. "Don't...jump...in...till you know...how to swim...Cover your chest...with the safe...life...vest..."

Jack's last preschool day

Today was Jack's last day of preschool. I got bits and pieces of it, from several sources.

Emily: "We were going to get Munchkins, but Jack wanted big donuts, so we got big ones for his class and Munchkins for Kate's. ... I teared up a little after dropping him off."

Miss Liz (when I picked him up): "OK, take turns hugging Jack goodbye. Teddy, Olivia, take turns!" (They were crushing him. On the bright side, they were going to see him on Sunday anyway at Charleigh's birthday party.) And: "Another girl's last day was last week, and she brought donuts, but there weren't enough so they had to be cut in half. Jack said, 'I brought 14 donuts, so they don't have to be cut in half...everyone gets a donut!' He was very proud."

Jack: "I hugged Mr. Brendan goodbye and he hugged me so hard he picked me up off the floor! And then he patted my stomach like THIS! And then I patted his stomach TOO!"

"Mr. Brendan said I was the King of the Classroom, and so today we did whatever I wanted to do."

"I miss Teddy. But, I'll see him Sunday. And I'll see him at our playdate. And I'll invite him to MY birthday. And I'll see him at other birthday parties....." You bet, Jack.

At home, Jack opened all of the going away presents from his class. First he read all the words on his balloon. "Bye! We'll miss you! Good Luck! Keep in Touch!" He's a good reader. Teddy had made him a picture. Charleigh made him a paper crown. He unwrapped the present from the class. It was a canvas bag which everyone had signed their name to, in different colors.

Lastly, they'd given him the picture of the four of us we'd sent in a couple of years ago, Mommy and Daddy and Jack and Kate, sitting on the porch swing in Vermont. It was laminated and put on construction paper, surrounded by stickers he'd put on. And that was preschool.

Vermont Part 2

- Sunday we slept in, miraculously. It was great. Nana made blueberry pancakes and they were fantastic. Jack could eat blueberries by the basket - did yesterday, in fact - but was lukewarm on having them in his pancakes. Kids.

- While Emmy and I went to Wal-mart, the kids played with Aunt Robin and their cousins. "Splat" was the most popular pursuit, plus they made stuffed animals with a kit. Jack naturally loved Kate's stuffed animals toy. I think whatever was chosen for Kate would have fascinated him more than his own. Just how things go.

- Jack played baseball with Mikey and Baba. I got the idea later that Jack didn't do as well as he'd have liked. We made up for that by playing more later, giving Jack another chance to really hit some. Hard to tell a kid, well, he's 3 years older than you....

- Jack and his cousins went swimming while Kate napped.

- We went up to the Queechee antique mall with a train and merry go round. First we rode the train, which I sometimes think the adults enjoy more than the kids. Although Kate at least wasn't afraid of it by the end and actually opened her eyes and started looking at things. "Bear!"

- After the train, the kids rode these goofy quarter horse rides. Kate liked sitting on them more than riding on them. Jack wanted to ride all of them even though they were all basically the same. Soon the quarters ran out.

- Dinner was fun. They stuck the 11 of us in our own room, wisely. Jack and Kate colored, while Jack gave his order to every employee who walked in our general area: "Pizza and a side of french fries!" He ate well, Kate ate well. One kid had to go to the bathroom, so did the rest. Niamh told a story that cracked up Mikey, and then his laughter cracked the other kids up, and suddenly everyone was losing it. Emily and I watched in mild bafflement as our kids peacefully ate their ice cream for dessert, occasionally laughing or smiling politely at the hilarity.

- At home, everyone was still wired and we hung out in the front yard, near a tree that I remember being planted as just a sapling -- that was now a giant monolith that everyone climbed into. We took picture after picture after picture. Happy kids.

- Played baseball in the yard on Monday. Everyone got a turn to bat. No fights, no bruised feelings. Just six kids and their parents and grandparents, playing baseball.

Vermont

- We picked blueberries in the morning. Kate ate essentially every one she picked. Jack ate most, until we impressed upon him the idea of it being a competition to pick the most blueberries. Then he stopped eating them and tried to find his way onto teams of the best pickers.

- There was a petting zoo. Everyone petted rabbits and cows and sheep. We threw too many quarters into the food dispenser, getting food which the animals would take from the kids' hands unless they nervously dropped it on the ground.

- We went swimming at the Grover's Pool. Jack was fine with the inner tube around his middle; he jumped off the edge of the pool a bit, and swam all around. He gets a little more relaxed every time. One day he's going to toss that inner tube aside. At one point I just picked him up off the edge of the pool and bounced him up in the air. He yelled in laughter and nervousness, kind of a mixed joy and alarm I think.

- Kate was pretty wary of the water, but with the inner tube, she too eventually went in a little, in my arms, bounced up and down in the air. And then she really got into it when we let her on the raft, which was so big that she could spread out on it and still not touch the water. She made herself as flat as possible, fingers and toes stretched toward the corner, chin on the raft. And a big, happy smile on her face.

- We cooked out, on a little Smoky Joe grill I picked up last week. Jack helped me put it together, which I think he was proud of. Kate kind of helped husk corn. Then fell asleep sitting up on the couch next to Abbey. We woke her up for dinner, which was a hit. Mikey said more than once that he "loved" it. Kind of nice. Jack ate every bite of his hotdog, even though like Kate he was kind of zonked out.

We went to bed relatively early.

Beach Day

Went to the beach on Sunday. It was probably about the eighth Sunday we've been to the beach this year. One, the kids seem to love it more each time, and you really can't put a price on that. Two, it's about the only thing we can do that doesn't involve price, which is nice every once in a while. And three, we've kind of got it down to an art form right now.

10:00 a.m. I pack the car in a few minutes. Umbrella, beach chairs, towels, beach toys, sunscreen, change of clothes for the kids, extra swim diaper for Kate, cooler with water, juice, snacks. We throw on our suits and we're off.

10:20. We're there, and we tumble out. Choose a spot, plant the umbrella, lather up the sunscreen. Jack wants to run down to the water. Kate wants to run down to the water. We run down to the water. It's low tide, and you can walk a ways out and it's only up to your knees. So we do. We run and splash in the water for a while. Kate prefers staying close to the beach, but she's getting braver and braver each time we go. Jack sees people way out yet still only waist deep and wants to go. So we do.

11:15. Snacks. This eventually turns into lunch. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not terribly filling. Our art form has a flaw....need to schedule grocery store trip on Saturdays again.

11:30. Back to the edge of the water, with buckets. We dig in the sand. Make a castle, Kate kicks it over. Make another one, Jack kicks it over. There are lots of obstacles to development in this neighborhood.

11:45. Jack likes to chase seagulls. His little feet pound against the sand as he runs determinedly after them. I have images of gulls, flying away from him, clocking other beach goers. Fortunately, it doesn't happen. Eventually Jack tires of it. We go back in the water and find horseshoe crabs and tiny fish. A seagull divebombs a few feet from us and gets a fish. Jack won't chase that particular one anytime soon.

12 noon. A couple of little boys, in the way only kids can, telepathically invite Jack to play with them. He does. They appear to be throwing a G.I. Joe-like toy up in the air like he's doing surfing tricks, then burying him in the sand. This is fun for them for about 15 minutes, at which point I believe one of the boys no longer wants to share his toy. Everyone goes their separate ways, but Jack remarks, "I made a friend."

12:15. I take Jack to the bathroom. As we walk the 10 minutes or so to the facilities, I debate at what point I can just direct him to a tree or leafy plant somewhere. Maybe next year.

12:30. We return to find Emily and Kate playing in the water. Emily holds Kate's hands and bobs her up and down in the water. Kate, who wouldn't even set foot in the YMCA pool the previous days, screams with laughter. Jack and I play his futile yet still enjoyable game of fighting the waves with punches and kicks. I feel like Mr. Miyagi, with Jack my karate kid using crane technique.

12:45. We're working on teaching Jack to swim, so we hold his hands and get him to kick and float on his stomach. At one point he does a credible dog paddle. Big smile. I hold Kate's hands and walk backward in the water on my knees. She kicks out her legs behind her. Bigger smile. She turns her head to Emily. "Mommy, I swimming!" Pause, smile, laugh. Then: "Mommy, I swimming!!!!!!" She's terribly proud of herself.

1:00. Jack recognizes a little girl from preschool, Harley. I wonder if he's mistaken but nope, she knows him too. They run around playing, which soon turns into filling buckets with water and splashing the monster until he falls underwater, roaring in pain. I get up with difficulty and discreetly cough water out to one side. They bury me in water again. Eventually I'll mind, but it's a pretty hot day.

1:30. Jack and Harley run off back near our towels, playing with the beach toys. I approach to keep an eye on them and Jack says, "Daddy, can you give us privacy?" I thought it would be another 10 years before I heard that from him. I step back a little and sit in the sand, watching them play.

2:00. We're waterlogged and burned, and Kate is starting to get cranky from not napping. Plus she wants to play with Jack's friend, and Jack and Harley don't want her too. I guess this will probably happen a lot in the years to come. She gets upset, we soothe her, and then the ocean and the sun make it all forgotten.

2:15. I load up the car, while the kids relax in a hot mudbath. This is also standard procedure at the beach, because I guess sitting in hot mud makes sense after cooling off, I don't know. We all rinse off one last time and pile into the car to go home.

2:30. Kate sleeps in the car. Jack asks to hear the same Who song from the Boat that Rocked soundtrack again and again and again. One day, perhaps, we'll make it to the Beach Boys song.

Singing Kate

Everything is a song to Kate these days.

"Oscar the grouch....Oscar the grouch...."

"I found my pullup....I found my pullup.....found....my....PULLUP!"

"I want some cantelope....I want some cantelope...."

"That's Jack's bear....that's Jack's bear.....THAT'S.....JACK'S.....

BEAR!"

"I stubbed my toe.....I stubbed my toe......"

sidewalking

Most days I pick the kids up from preschool, and we park in our driveway at home. And most days, they want to go for a walk, and so we do.

We couldn't do this at our old apartment, since we lived on a ridiculously signed intersection, and we didn't have any sidewalks. So this is one of the small but important benefits of our new home.

Part of the appeal is that Jack likes to step on ants and other bugs. Kate has joined him in this exercise. I naturally love all of the earth's creatures, great and small, but you know, he's a 5-year-old boy, and they're bugs. So what are you gonna do.

We walk about half a block, turn, and walk back. We usually see people walking their dogs. Yesterday we met a woman walking a Rescue dog, the friendliest black lab you'll ever meet. Jack is a little wary, but he gradually works up the nerve to pet it. He smiles goofily as he does so.

Kate hangs back, then gets brave as the dog leaves. She steps forward onto the sidewalk (off our lawn) and yells down the street. "Bye, doggie! BYE DOGGIE.....!!!!!!!!"

swimming

Took Jack swimming at the YMCA pool yesterday. He goes with his class each week; we don't take him enough.

Since he goes all the time, he felt he should tell me what to do and where to go. "There's a family changing room," he explained. "Don't go here, go here." And: "There are rooms for the boys and rooms for the girls."

We headed to the pool. "We go in that part over there. Here, come on," he said helpfully.

Jack went right over to get a floaty, which he wears around his chest. With that on, he's extremely comfortable in the water. So we swam about a bit with him in that. But, I wanted him to swim a little without it. We took it off, he was a little more nervous. But, with a barbell-like floaty, he was fine. That was pretty cool. He held it out in front of him, kicked with his feet, went from end to end.

I wanted him to jump in the water off the edge of the pool. He was wary. Don't you do this at school? I asked. He said, "Well, I did it once. And I got water in my eyes and my nose and my mouth and I cried." I said, well, it's just water. And I'll be right here. So he got up on the side of the pool and went to jump...but instead crouched down, sat and sort of slipped into the water instead.

So I brought out the big guns: McDonald's for lunch. So that worked. He got back out, got in crouch position, and asked to grab my fingers when he jumped (which is how he does it at school, evidently). He jumped, sunk in the water to his shoulders or so, bobbed up.

He was euphoric, his little face beaming with pride. "I did it!" he said. "I jumped in!" I gave him much praise. He did it again.

Then we put the floaty back on and swam around a bit. Another little boy, couple of years older probably, was playing. There was this huge floating ball, that they and I batted back and forth for a while. Eventually I just got out, and they played. I think Jack could have stayed in for an hour. Finally it was clear, after much swimming about, hitting the ball, and laughter, that he was getting cold/tired. I said it was time to go. Bye dude! the other kid said to Jack. "Bye!" Jack said.

As I dried Jack off, he made a funny, raspy voice. "This is my funny voice when I'm cold," he rasped with a big smile.

We went to McDonald's, and it was good.

Rare form

Jack was in rare form in the car on the way home today.

"I think we should give America a present," he said. "I think we should pick up litter. Because if we don't pick it up, the whole world would get sick. And then it would cough."

As we got home, I said, Hurry up and get inside, you don't want to melt.

Jack said, "I want to melt." Kate chimed in, "I want to melt too." I said, why would you want to melt? Jack said, "Because if I melted, I would turn into Iceman, and I could make everything cool."

Today

Taught Jack to play Risk and Parcheesi. The one he wanted to collect all the cannons, the other he wanted to play with the elephant and buffalo pieces. But it was fun anyway. He kept inventing new rules, so that both games ended up being nothing like they were supposed to be. And it didn't matter.

Went to a backyard barbecue. There were a bunch of other boys, many slightly older, who Jack didn't know. At first he just played with his cousins. But then, hanging out near their baseball game, he showed interest. A boy invited him. He shambled tentatively into the group. And got a chance to swing the bat at a few. He and I had just played in our backyard that morning, and I saw him hit a few good ones that evening, so it made me happy and proud. Glad for him, too.

Kate and I swung a jump rope that she'd found at the party. Also played with a couple of hula hoops. She laughed and laughed.

Friday

First Friday in our new house. Here's how it went.

- Kate woke up at 5:15. No idea why she's waking up so early. They went to bed a little late last night, too. Fortunately, some magic occurred where she actually went back to sleep. On her carpeted floor. Ultimately we all slept past 6, which is a big deal around these parts.

- Went down and made coffee. Set up the new DirecTV box in the playroom, much to the delight of the kids.

- Gave them breakfast. Cereal, raspberries. I know why Jack likes them so much, they're fantastic. As was the watermelon we had after dinner last night; like candy. Really amazing how good it was. Kate wasn't going to get any because she didn't eat much dinner. I told her to eat two pieces of hotdog and she'd get watermelon. Looking right at me, she slowly ate her two bites.

- We got dressed and went to "the baby playground." (The smaller of the two we can walk to.) Jack said he wanted to go to Bruce -- the one we have to drive to. Forget it, Jack. We walked the two and a half blocks with ease, then played on the swings and raced. Maybe Jack will be into track. I liked the idea of track, but I was never particularly fast.

- Came home and had snack bites on the front porch. Jack said, "Our first time sitting out on our front porch!" For lunch, macaroni and cheese. Kids inhaled it, as they usually do.

- Kate napped, Jack and I played superheroes. Basically we make his action figures fight. Scott and I used to do something similar.

- We played in the backyard for a bit. Got out Jack's toy golf clubs, balls. They kicked those around, we raced more.

- Had an apple snack on the front steps and colored with sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk. First time we've done that anywhere. It was nice.

- Lots of people walked by with dogs. Jack said, "It seems like a lot of people here have dogs. We need to get a dog."

- They raced more on the front porch. I cracked them up by talking in slow motion. "Reddddddddy.....Settttttttt......" Jack's first porch-length dash took 7 seconds by my count, his last only 1. But I was talking in slow motion, after all. At times he ran in slow motion, but not always.

- Emily came home. The Rosenfelds came over for gin and tonics, their girls played with Jack and Kate. We sat on the back deck and ate pizza.

- I carried the kids up the stairs and we got them into bed. Think they were exhausted.

Father's Day

It was our first morning in our new house, so we really didn't have much in the way of breakfast in bed or what have you. I got cards from Jack, Kate and Emily; I drank lots of coffee; and we unpacked a few things. DirecTV came, but they couldn't get us hooked up. So it was sticky and hot and the day looked to have some packing and probably whining in it (since the kids were up too early), so we decided to go to the beach.

I asked Jack if he wanted to go; he had been watching TV and that usually led to him saying, "No." I ignored it and said, "Great! Get your suit on!"

We piled into the car and headed off. Kate napped some. It was overcast most of the way to the beach and I worried about rain. But it didn't. Instead the rest of the day went like this...

- We went down to the water and splashed at the edge and made mudpies

- Jack and I went in the water and found shells. Kate and Mommy went back to the towels for a snack for Kate

- We made sand castles

- We had sandwiches and chips and a coke and they were fantastic

- We found a horseshoe crab in the water and we admired it for a bit until we realized it was either very sleepy or dead. Then we moved away.

- Kate splashed me from the edge of the water and I splashed her back. She laughed

- Jack and I fought the waves. Jack said we had to punch and kick the whitecaps. I explained that this was an infinite job but we spent the next 20 minutes doing it anyway. He seemed to have limitless energy. I was exhausted.

- We fought the waves more

- We'd been there about 3 hours, probably our longest beach trip ever, and were getting ready to leave. I packed up the stuff while the kids got distracted on the way back to the towels by a mudhole. They continued playing.

- The kids napped in the car on the way back, chins down on their chests

- At home, I gave them their first baths in the new tub. Both were covered in sand and mud. And groggy from napping. And happy.

- The Rosenfelds had us over for dinner. I was expecting hotdogs, but as we walked in Cathy held up a huge, writhing lobster. I was surprised, Jack was alarmed. And the lobster and beer were both awesome.

New Home

We closed on our house Friday, getting ready to move from the apartment Kate was born in and Jack became Jack in. After closing, we gathered the kids from Aunt Cathy's and headed over.

Jack cruised right through the house and out into the back yard. "This big back yard is ALL OURS?" he said, thrilled. Yep. They both ran around a bit. Kate faceplanted at one point. Got up without tears. "Oops," she said.

They loved the back deck. They went up and down the stairs, up and down. Good practice I think.

Kate's room has stars on the ceiling. She LOVES them.

The basement steps seem a little steep. As I write this, Emily says, "Kate just body surfed down the final four steps. I think she found something she enjoys."

Yesterday we moved in. When the movers had gone, the kids were brought back over by helpful relatives. They immediately ran into their respective rooms and jumped on beds, happily.

They were up way too late last night.

This morning, Jack came in around 4. "I'm cold but can't find long pajamas." And 5. "I accidentally turned on Daddy's clock radio (his was still packed) and can't turn it off." And 5:45. "My foot itches."

We got up early on Father's Day.

Kate wakes up too early

Kate wakes up too early, and as a result she wakes all of us up too early. We try different things, and sometimes it works for a while, but whether we put her to bed earlier, later, whatever, she still seems to wake up too early. Maybe the guy next door has an alarm that goes off that early; if so, maybe it will change when we move.

Anyway, she wakes Jack up sometimes. He seemed tired tonight, and Emily said to him, "I know it's hard...Kate's been waking you up lately, hasn't she?"

Jack sighed, and held out his hands in exasperation. "Kate's been waking me up since she was born," he said.

Graduation

Jack's graduation from daycare was this morning. We got him dressed up in a little polo shirt and shorts, and Kate in a nice dress, and dropped him off early, so he and his class could get ready. On the way he caught his hand in the door. He cried but was OK. Probably hurt a decent amount.

Emily and I and Kate sat in this little church hall next door to the daycare. It was all decorated with balloons. The administrator made some opening remarks, and then his class -- all of whom would be going to kindergarten in the fall -- paraded in. They all wore little mortarboards and carried flags; Jack held his flag up high. They took their seats and he fidgeted with his hat.

After some opening remarks from teachers, a student was called up to lead the Pledge of Allegiance -- Jack. He recited every word clearly so that everyone could hear. Emily and I swelled with pride.

Each child came up and announced their name, age, and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Each parent tried to get pictures and make out what they said. We didn't catch what Jack said; later it turned out that he said, "I haven't decided yet." Good job, Jack.

The kids sang some songs together (Mr. Sun, Happy and you know it, etc.), then got their diplomas, one by one. Pretty cool.

After came food, pictures with friends, and ice cream. Jack picked an ice cream sandwich.

Jack and one of his classmates since he started there, Olivia, struck goofy poses for pictures. Very funny. All that was missing was them throwing their caps in the air.

At home, Emily and I gave Jack his graduation present, a hardback edition of Where the Wild Things Are. I sat down and read it to him, and he said, "Can you read it again?" So I read it again, and as we finished he took it out of my hands, sighed, and said, "I love this book."

I needed to mail a package, so I asked Jack if he wanted to come with me. I told him he could press the buttons on the machine. So he came (with his book and stuffed doggie), and helped me press buttons, and put the package into the bin. As we left, there were painted footprints on the floor, about six feet apart. He leaped and stretched his little legs to step in each of the footprints on his way out of the post office.

We took the shortcut through the office park, past the duck pond. "Hi, Sloppy!" Jack yelled. He calls the duck with a green head Sloppy, apparently because of the way he eats his bread.

As we parked and walked up our steps, Jack said, "I've got a funny joke. Pretend I'm still holding your hand." Then he snuck over and stood behind the edge of the garage. I played along. Then he said, "Now pretend I'm invisible." I continued, walking ahead as if I was holding Jack's hand. He jumped out, laughing. "That was a pretty good joke, right?"

Lyle, Lyle

I was putting the kids to bed tonight, reading them stories in Jack's bed. We came to "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile," which we got out of the library last week. It's actually the book that I think I remember most from childhood. One of them anyway.

Jack likes to read it, using basically his own dialogue based on what happens in the pictures. He also uses a sort of goofy voice, which is kind of funny. So he started reading it. I left for a minute.

When I came back, they were both cracking up. Jack said something I didn't understand and they cracked up again. Turns out, after much prodding, that he was saying "Hec-Tor P Val-en-ti!" after the character in the book, and this was very funny. And it was pretty funny.

Hec-Tor P Val-en-ti!

Goaalllllllllllllllllll!

We had soccer on Saturday morning. It was a pretty hot day, already. But we went out there anyway and ran around in the sun. I led various soccer drills; passing, shooting, scoring. Standard stuff, but everybody seemed to get it a little more than usual. Well not everyone, but most everyone. Solid kicks. Goals.

We did Red Light Green Light, and they all ran hard, kicking the ball like they were part of something. We did Follow the Leader, and they all followed me.

And then came the game.

I'd basically not given up on Jack scoring, exactly, but I no longer expected it. He was game; he ran around and went after the ball, and kicked it when he had a chance, but safe to say it wasn't his reason for being or anything.

But late in the game, it happened. Couple of our better players were off to the left of the goal, maybe 15 feet away, battling for the ball with a couple of their players. Jack was in the vicinity, sort of in front of the goal, 10 feet away. And then the ball either was passed or kicked out of the scrum, right toward him, and as it came near him he wound up - left-footed! - and booted it, hard. The ball was a dart. His aim was true. I saw the back of the net stretch out. Goal!

There was much celebration. I ran over, which fortunately I could do being the coach and all, and clapped him on the shoulders, patted his head, congratulated him. Did the same for the kids who may or may not have intentionally passed it to him. Congratulated Jack again. He was kind of a stunned happy, I think. I did a theatrical fist-pump toward Emily. A low-key Steve Martin in Parenthood type of celebration.

Afterward, congratulating Jack again, he seemed ready to move on. He had a play-date at Teddy's house, after all, where they would spend the next hour or two pretending to be Godzilla.

Saturday

We all slept terribly last night. Kate's been waking up and getting out of bed too early, waking up Jack, we've been working a lot and going to bed too late, it's too hot, it's too cold, it's too noisy, whatever.

Got up today and the kids had Fruit Loops. Only on weekends. They love Fruit Loops.

Jack had soccer. He had fun running around with his friend Teddy. Only mildly interested, I'd say, in soccer itself. But his team won, that was nice. Jack took a hard elbow at one point and went down. He cried. It's a fine line between trying to soothe him and trying to get him to shake it off. It went OK, though.

As we were getting into the car afterward, one of Jack's teammates yelled out the back window of his car, "Bye, Coach!"

Kate ran around a lot, also at one point asking me during the game when I was near the sidelines, "Please can I have Dora bites?" (The snack we brought for them for afterward, they're like little fruit bites shaped like Dora the Explorer...yeah, I don't know how that's really possible either.) Kate, I'm kind of in the middle of something here.

Kate napped, during which I sat with Jack for a while reading him "Highlights" and "High Five" magazine. He enjoys both of them particularly the puzzles and stories. Yesterday we made Finger Puppets from them. We always do the games where you have to find little things, shapes of common objects and stuff, in pictures of a beach scene or whatever. He also likes to do mazes. I used to love to do mazes.

After Kate's nap, we went and rode their bikes in the office park. I guess when we move we won't go to the office park anymore, because we'll be near a big actual park. But no ducks! Well, we'll see. We fed the ducks. There were two groups of ducklings with their moms (or Dads, far be it from me to make assumptions about familial roles in waterfowl). We threw bread until we were out, than rode our bikes home. Kate likes to sit on the bike and move along with her feet on the ground. Jack actually pedals and stuff; at some point we'll need to take off the training wheels. I don't know when that is.

Kate put on her own pajamas. She beamed proudly about it. Jack sang in the bathtub, I don't remember what about. Grandma put him to bed and cracked him up repeatedly. His laugh is awesome.