Random stuff

- Kate's first movie in a theater was last Friday. She was a little bit confused by all the previews. "Is this the movie?" No, it's just a preview. "Is THIS the movie?" No, it's another preview. It's like a TV commercial. Unlike Jack, who sat down in the aisle, thinking it was a seat, and shaken up by how loud it was (I sat in the back row with Kate), Kate basically treated the movie like another TV show, just on a much bigger screen. Plus, "Winnie the Pooh" was more TV-like than Jack's first movie, "Horton Hears a Who."

- The Irish cousins were here briefly on Monday morning. They were all sleeping in the living room when Jack and Kate woke up. For the next couple of hours, Jack and Mikey basically moved around the house, and the yard, as one. They wore plastic fireman's hats and carried light sabers. They played on the swingset. They ran about and posed for pictures. They ate cereal together, talked about Star Wars toys and MightyBeanz and TV shows. It was 2 hours when Jack didn't care about anything else in the world but playing with his cousin.

- Kate, of course, was drawn to Abbey. When they finally had to go to school and camp, both said goodbye to everyone, and Jack went around giving out hugs. But he made a point of saying goodbye to Mikey, and as I took Kate out the door, she said, "Bye, Abbey!"

- They got presents, huge "Pillow buddies," a carrot for Jack and a strawberry for Kate. Jack sleeps with his; Kate puts hers in the chair next to her at breakfast, and let it watch her take a bath the other night. "Hi, strawberry!" she waves.

- I took Jack to "Dinosaur Summer" at the Maritime Aquarium yesterday. We saw a weak IMAX film, but also enjoyed a "Thrill Ride" dino film where the seats in the theater moved and everything was in 3D -- and vivid enough to scare Jack, when a huge prehistoric mosquito flew at us. I think the highlight for him was this big robotic model of a T-Rex where he could use controls to work its jaws and arms. Either that or the wooden cutout where he could pretend to put his head in the T-Rex's mouth. Sometimes, kids are easy to please.

- When I put Kate to bed at night, she asks for a "squeezer" -- to be hugged really tightly. She puts her arms around my neck and squeezes, and I hug her back. She gives a big smile and I suspect I do, too.