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.

Arcade

Jack was home on Tuesday and it was really hot, although I guess it was actually the coolest day of the week, hurrah. So I thought we'd get out of the house and go to an air-conditioned arcade at Playland. Alas, the air-conditioned arcade was closed, so we had to make do with the one on the Boardwalk. Where it was remarkably hot and nobody else was around, oddly enough.

So anyway, we had the arcade Boardwalk to ourselves! Of course, we tried to win these cool stuffed toys in the claw machine, and I absolutely would have if the things weren't rigged to drop the Angry Bird stuffed toys even if you picked them up perfectly; I really don't understand it.

We moved on to Skee-Ball. I taught Jack to play, which was fun; if memory serves the last time I played was at an arcade we went to on the night of my bachelor party; I know, pretty crazy! So I taught Jack to play and we spent $3 to almost win a rubber ball that I paid $2 for at Target last month. Jack cleverly (craftily?) had this idea that we could roll both sets of game balls down the same lane to get one prize, but sadly the machine counted how many balls were thrown, so no go. It worries me a little that he's already thinking of ways to beat the system, but in fairness the claw machine was rigged so he's only responding in kind.

We played a racing game where we sat in car seats next to each other and zoomed on a video track. Jack couldn't figure out why he wasn't going anywhere until I helped him stretch his foot to reach the pedal. Then he did pretty well, if by pretty well you mean colliding with me and other cars on a regular basis, but I think we started doing it on purpose because it was pretty cool. We laughed a lot.

We played air hockey, which was OK, but he's not quite tall enough to reach very far. We played pinball, which was nostalgic for me and essentially impossible for him; again, not quite tall enough to see the whole playing arena. And we played some other scam game where you had to hit a button when the red lightbulb was lit up, which we were successful at, uh, not at all.

And last but not least, we went into the picture booth, the first time I'd done that in oh about 25 years, and got some great pictures of us making goofy faces.



On the way home, Jack said, "You know, it wasn't fair that we didn't win that Angry Bird stuffed toy. But, it was still fun."

Vacation, Part II

- The bulk of the week was spent beating a path back and forth from the pool, to the beach, to the pool. On our second day we found Breakwater Beach, which is where we spent most of the rest of vacation. At first, Jack was either tired or sulking, hard to say; he'd liked the previous day's beach (more than we did, since it wasn't much of a beach) and wanted to return. So we let him sulk for a few minutes and read our books. After a bit he got up and walked down to the water. Next thing we knew he was digging in the sand with another little boy, then running back to the towels to get another shovel, then coming back for another pail. So he warmed up to the new beach.

- Found a lot of cool stuff at the beach. Hermit crabs. Fragment of shell that looked like a big shark tooth, so of course I told Jack it was a big shark tooth. He thought that was pretty cool. On the downside, he kept bringing me up other shell fragments to ask if they, too, were shark teeth.

- At one point when I was wading around in the water with Kate and Jack was digging in the sand on the beach, an ice cream truck showed up. Jack saw it and it was like a TV commercial, with him standing on the beach, running a few steps toward me, then a few steps back toward the ice cream truck, then stopping and yelling at the top of his lungs, "ICE CREAM MAN!!! Daddy, it's the ice cream man! ICE CREAM MAN!!!!"

- If I have to be honest, the truth is that both of them ended up loving the pool even more than the beach. Kate got braver and braver each day with the water wings. After swimming with Mommy a bit, then with me, she said excitedly, "Mommy says I'm a brave girl."

- We went to a reading at a book store where a little old lady was reading books to kids. Jack was riveted for most of it. Early on, Kate showed no interest, instead walking around pulling books off shelves and such. By the end, though, she was bringing the lady over books ("Can you read this one? This one?") and asking "Can I sit next to you?" Sure! said the lady, who yes kind of reminded me of my Mom.

- One night, Emily got fresh scallops and made pasta with cream sauce. This really has nothing to do with the kids, who had plain pasta, but the scallops were simply fantastic.

- It was cold one day. We had breakfast at a diner and got seated outside, and it was really cold. Despite that, we went to the pool, because, uh, the kids loved the pool. I was in the water swimming with Jack when one of the staffers came out and announced a "cannonball" contest for the kids, where they'd be leaping into the deep end. I asked Jack if he wanted to do it. He clambered out of the pool, stood in the line, little goggles on and shivering in the cold, and went right up to the front and, when it was his turn, jumped on in. Best cannonball ever.

- We went to a baseball game; the kids were mostly into the playground. Jack watched about half an inning with me, I guess, and was disappointed we didn't get a foul ball.

- Jack I drew a picture of Tashi one morning, from these books he's been reading. One of our pictures was about Tashi and the Demons. Jack pronounced it "Dee-Mohns," even though I told him it should be dee-muhns. And, it was cute.

At the end of the week of the beach and the pool and food and drink and what seemed like too much sun and one or two pool trips too many (and now seems like one or two pool trips too few), we drove home. Kate fell immediately asleep, Jack lamented not being able to find a rubber lobster toy (and it's true, it was oddly elusive), I drove.

Like most vacations I guess, there were times it seemed too long, but most of the time, and especially on the way back, it seemed too short. But it was long enough that we discovered that Kate loves to swim in the pool and Jack loves to jump in the pool, and both of them, so quick to complain at times, are also brave about some things, and that makes me happy. And oh yeah the scallops were fantastic.

Vacation, Part I

We went on vacation last week. No laptop! So no blogging. But there were some highlights.

- In the car on the way there, Kate kept asking, "When do we get to vacation?" And we keep saying, THIS IS IT! Vacation started when we all got home last night and started packing up the car! And then half an hour later, "Are we at vacation yet?"

- About 3 hours into the drive we stopped at a rest area. Surprisingly, it had a big picnic area with tables, some with a roof over them. We hauled out the cooler and ate sandwiches, drank juice boxes and sodas, ate chips and grapes. Saw a wild looking caterpillar. Laughed. I wanted to say to Kate, Now we're at vacation.

- Arrived at the Cape tired, hot. Picked up our pool passes and went straight to the pool. Kate was scared at first until she got used to the water wings, flotation devices she wore on her arms, something I only decided to throw into the car as an afterthought at the last minute. Once she got used to them, and the fact that she could float easily with them on, she warmed right up to the idea. "I"m swimming!" she said happily. "I'm swimming!"

- At our first meal out that night, Kate didn't eat anything, even though we ordered her shrimp, which she said she wanted. The next meal out, we ordered her macaroni and cheese, I think, and she didn't eat that either. Jack picked at a grilled cheese sandwich that had yellow cheese instead of white. We ended up eating four dinners in our condo, half cooked and half takeout. It would have been five but I gave them another chance (Kate kept asking, "Can we eat at a restaurant?" And I said, Yes! If you eat!) and they came through.

- Our first full day there, we went to the pool, and played mini-golf, and got hotdogs for lunch, and then went to the beach for the rest of the day. That night, putting Jack to bed, he said, "This was the best day. The beach, the pool, and minigolf." Pause a beat. "And hot dogs for lunch!"

- We played with water shooters I bought before the trip. They could spray water 3o feet in the air. Jack had a lot of fun with them. I kind of did too.

- High tide and low tide at Brewster is the difference between about 20 feet of beach and waist deep water a few feet from shore, and being able to walk a mile out into the ocean without the water being up to your knees. It's pretty amazing. We did both, and when the water was shallow, we crab-walked along on our elbows, or dug up shells and rocks and hermit crabs.

- At minigolf we fed goldfish in a pond near the end of the course. I believe this was the highlight for the kids. That or the plastic shark in the water near the 11th hole, I'm not sure which. It wasn't the minigolf, although Jack did get a thrill out of sinking one long putt. And dragged me back there two days later during one of Kate's only naps all week.

- The condo had a tiny yard, but we played a game of Mr. Fox anyway. It's kind of like Red Light, Green Light, I'd say. The kids had a blast, I made burgers. Nice. There was also a selection of board games; I think Pick Up Sticks was their favorite. It reminded me of a game we played as a kid, Jack Straws. I'll have to look for that next time I'm up there, or have Robin do it before she comes down.

- Fascinated by a new house with new toys and loads of knick-knacks, the kids were inspired to make up games. They played something involving these little rubbery coasters shaped like flipflops, a hide and seek sort of game. They played another with little glass objects shaped like fish and shells, which remarkably they didn't break. A third involved this big calculator, or maybe they just liked playing with it. Granted, they were just as apt to get in fights with each other over nothing of consequence, but when they did play nicely together, it was awesome.

More later.

Lego Camp

Jack had Lego Camp all week. It was a half-day camp through the Rye Y where he built with Legos.

Every afternoon I picked him up, and he'd talk about it all the way home. And then to Mommy at dinner, sometimes going on for 5 or 10 minutes straight.

"And then I builded a car. And then Aidan and I builded a bowling alley. And it had these different chutes so that you could go this way, or that way, and there was a propeller. And then it could knock over this, and then that. And then we built a CAR. And then our car versed another car, and our car won. And then we builded a castle!"

Today I pulled in to get him after his last day. He was dancing around on the sidewalk, talking about something with his new friends. He said "Daddy!" and jumped into the car. I talked a little with the camp counselor through the window, and he handed me a card like one they presumably give all the parents. It read as follows.

"Mr. and Mrs. Richardson: Jack is a pleasure to have at Lego Camp and he always puts a smile on our faces. He likes singing songs while we wait at pick up and dropping off campers. Also, Jack seems to be making a lot of friends at camp. We hope to see Jack again!"

So yeah, I'm proud and happy for him, and it was nice. Plus he traded one of his lego things with somebody else and got this cool shark guy!

Summer break, Day 5

A low-key kind of day, at least for some of us. Kate still woke up too early, and woke us up too early, we put her back into bed, lay awake until she came in again 10 or 15 minutes later. Jack slept in, keeping with the trend that if one of them wakes up early, the other one sleeps in. If they could just sync up those days every once in a while, we'd all be happier.

Anyway, we got up early with Kate, slugged down coffee (not Kate, I think she had milk in her Peppa Pig cup), she had breakfast, and watched Olivia on TV. Jack came downstairs a few minutes after Emily had left for work, and he and Kate played some kind of game involving his snake from the Beardsley Zoo (rubber) and her wolf (stuffed).

Aunt Cathy had forwarded an invite to attend the local pool at midday, but given Kate's lack of sleep over the course of the week, I decided it best she stay home. So they took Jack, and Kate napped, I worked, and Jack swam, played volleyball, and had his second straight day (and third in four, counting the beach on Tuesday) in the water and the sun.

When Kate woke up, I read her the Olivia book, and then we drew pictures in her room. First she had me draw an elephant (she applauded), then a robot ("Is that a boy robot or a girl robot?"), and then a baby. She's a very appreciative art fan. She asked me to read her another book, and I was going to grab one I liked from her nightstand, but she said, "I like to get a book from my bookshelves." Which is why she currently has about 10 books on her shelves and 100 towering in Dr. Seussian epicness on her nightstand.

Later, at Cathy's, I asked whether Jack had a good time. When I told him about the pool this morning, he'd asked, "Is it deep?" (He's still not totally comfortable in water over his head, although he's actually a serviceable swimmer and water-treader/dog-paddler these days.) "Who will be there?" (He wondered if it would only be bigger kids who wouldn't play with him.) Well, your cousins, and the Hinz boys, and maybe some other kids. "I know Lyndsay will play with me!"

Cathy said, well, he mostly played with the girls, and then at the end, Matthew (older boy) played volleyball with him. And he was so thrilled.

Found Jack downstairs playing "Operation" with his cousins. He had a little glow to him, rosy cheeks, happy smile, all that. He looked like an older boy.

Summer Break, Day 4

Today was a crazy day with the kids. We left the house at 8:30, drove an hour to the Beardsley Zoo, walked around looking at animals for 3 hours, got food, blew some money at the gift shop, drove home, changed into our bathing suits, and met a friend and her kids (one in Jack's kindergarten class) at the pool, where they swam and ran around for 3 hours before we wearily headed home, bathed, ate, and piled them into bed.

And they were incredibly happy, almost all day, and I realized that maybe that's one of the secrets to this whole parenting thing. Much as I might want to relax and kick back or whatever, they want to be busy, racing about from one thing to another. I don't want to overschedule them, and I realize that's a bad thing too. But they're happier -- less whiny, less complaining -- and cheerier when they're busy.

At dinner, Jack chattered away about the different animals at the zoo. Kate sort of sing-songed away about the pool, and "swimming" in 1-foot deep water in the kiddie pool. And when they fell into bed, and didn't make a peep, it was with smiles on their faces, I think.

Summer Break, Day 3

Kind of too tired to write about today's trip to the Big Apple Circus, or playing frisbee with Jack in the backyard, or dining at a tavern after the circus and Jack being fascinated by the pool table, and later the dartboard (the bartender let him throw a few plastic darts, which careened wildly around the room hitting everything but the board itself).

But I will take a minute to share Jack's journal entry, about the previous day.

Summer break, Day 2

Was planning to take the kids to a playground or something today. But it was really hot, so instead we went with the go-to for hot days, the beach. Told the kids, they celebrated wildly. Loaded the car with chairs, towels, and snacks, and we were off.

I feel like I've written a lot about our beach trips, because they're awesome, so I'm going to stick with highlights:

- We saw a couple of huge crabs with big legs like tarantulas or something. I picked Kate up to show her, Jack I pointed them out repeatedly until he finally said he saw them (I'm not 100 percent sure he did). Kate probably did, because she was a little wary of the water for much of the trip.

- Saw some horseshoe crabs, too, which Jack had just read date back to dinosaur times. So I told him that that dead one we'd seen a few trips back, which he touchingly tried to save by picking it up with a shovel and carrying it into the water (still the most awesome moment all year I think), was maybe just tired from being alive for 100 million years.

- Played football in the water with Jack. He talked about throws being "super gonzo incredible" throws or somesuch, the idea being it was a really, really big throw, and even more impressive to catch them. He also had interesting rules on what constituted a catch. If it didn't hit the ground, he caught it. Since we were playing in knee-deep water, they never hit the ground, so everything was a catch, worthy of vast celebration.

- Kate ate an entire bag of Pirate's Booty, this popcorn-like snackfood, I believe. That's what I get for turning my back for a bit.

- Putting on sunblock, I missed a couple of spots on Jack's cheeks, so he looks like a football player who used red eyeblack. Oops.

- They had donuts (left over from the previous day), apples, goldfish, pretzels, Pirate's Booty, and I think some other kind of snackfood. Not much "I don't LIKE that," from either party today.

- Jack taught Kate how to jump over waves in knee-deep water. He jumped, wobbled, stayed upright. She sort of jumped and got washed over. Spluttered water, but smiled.

- At the end of the trip, they met another apparent brother-sister couple, I'd put them a couple of years older. The four of them spent half an hour digging a big mudhole and making a big pile of sand. I wished I'd brought a book, because they could not have cared less that I was there.

- I washed them each off in the ocean two or three times before leaving. I'd wash Kate off, carry her back to the towel, tell her to put on her sandals. She immediately plopped down on her butt in the sand, then put on her sandals. I carried her back to the water, rinse, repeat.

- We drove home and the kids read magazines and drank from their water bottles in the back. Later, they'd sing songs at home, Jack probably something about burping or farting, Kate something about how being naked is funny. They're something else, those kids.

Summer break, Day 1

Jack is off for the summer, well until Lego Camp starts next week. Kate is off this week. So, I wanted to make sure to give them a good time. Day 1, kind of hit or miss....

- Went to Dunkin Donuts. Wanted to start the week off with something fun for them, plus I hadn't had enough coffee. "Can we get munchkins AND a big donut?" asked Jack. Today, sure. Kate got something with strawberry frosting, Jack got the same, until I ordered a butternut, and he got one of those instead. They munched happily, I drank iced coffee, only later remembering I hadn't actually had any breakfast beyond a couple of munchkins. Oh well.

- Went to Greenwich Town Hall to pay a vehicle tax bill from the previous year. "That's where my soccer is," Jack announced as we parked in the lot; indeed, the soccer fields were down below. As usual, the kids wanted to touch everything as we waited in line in the Tax Collector's office...pencils, pens, counters, etc. As usual, I tried to stop them.

- Came home and took Kate's baby for a stroll down the street. See blog entry below.

- Painting! They love to paint and I love to let them, but there's some set up work involved and clean up after, so it doesn't happen every day. Kate made some nice faces with little arms and legs sticking out and some dots of green and purple and brown on the paper. Jack made people and what looks like a robot of some kind, both with happy smiles.

- Lunchtime. Kate was too tired to eat anything -- didn't nap yesterday, so we took things easy today -- and went up for her nap. Jack ate roast beef, yogurt, chips and bread.

- Jack and I played on the porch some with his dinosaurs and Optimus Prime, the Transformer. Apparently in this story the dinosaurs were evil and Optimus had to smash them all. I kind of felt bad for them because he was a lot bigger and more mobile. And he was operated by Jack while I was making the dinosaurs run around, so clearly they weren't going to win.

- We built a robot of some sort with Legos, making it look like a picture Jack drew. I said, hey Jack, that's impressive; you had a vision, and we made it real. I explained what I meant by vision. He said, "I don't want to learn any more new words...I already know enough." We get this from him every once in a while. Over the rest of the day I gave him examples of how great it is to learn words, so you can say things like chandelier or corn rather than "black thing with lights on the end" or "yellow and white thing with little circles on it." Emily, at dinner, said, What if we just called you, brown-haired boy with brown eyes, instead of Jack? He got a kick out of that one.

- Kate woke up and she had lunch, while Jack had a snack. Grapes. Really can't go wrong with fruit.

- We played in the back yard some, swings for both and pitching to Jack. It's pretty dangerous really, because he can hit and I'm standing somewhat closer than regulations. A couple of line drives he's hit back up the middle have been worrying.

- Finished a book and put Jack to bed. Decided we're going to do something new tomorrow.

stroller

Aunt Cathy had a tag sales this weekend, and Kate came back with a stroller for her baby.

Kate is very appreciative of certain toys. A couple of weeks back, Emily got her a present, a doll of "Belle" from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Kate has never seen the movie, but when she saw Belle, her eyes got wide and her mouth made the "Ooooooooo" sound. "Belllle," she breathed, in wonderment.

But quickly the stroller has assumed favorite status for Kate. She got it home, and immediately put her baby into it. She fiddled around with the canopy over it, and adjusted the angles and so forth as best she could. And then we went for a stroll around the block.

We did this again a little bit later. And then again. And then, "Daddy? Can we go for a walk? Can we take baby with us? In her stroller?"

Baby also strolled about the house. Into the playroom. Up the stairs into Kate's room. Out onto the back deck. Back inside. Back outside. Onto the porch. Into the driveway. Back inside.

7:30 this morning. "Daddy, can we go for a walk?"

swimming, again

Took Jack swimming at the Rye Y today. We hadn't been there before, and there was a class in the shallow end, so we had to be in the deep end -- 9 feet!

At first Jack was a little nervous. He hadn't actually been swimming in a pool in more than 2 months. And it was a new pool and a new depth for him.

But with the floaty noodle under his arms, he was fine, and he started to relax. Then the floaty barbells. And gradually, as he warmed up to it, he remembered that he could swim.

So by the end, he was jumping off the edge of the pool, a pretty good half dive, half belly flop. First into my arms, then with me across the pool, where he'd kind of dog paddle, steamboat his way over to me. And then he was pushing away the barbells and noodle and swimming for the edge on his own.

I was always just a few feet away, but at times, I was nervous. In the first place, I've been in better shape, to be honest. After half an hour treading water, helping Jack, catching Jack, swimming with the noodle, etc., I was beat.

But at the end, and it was time to get out, he had a big smile on his face and was proud of himself. And he was tired, too, but happy.

In our matching bathing suits and matching colorful towels, we found our way back to the locker room. Showered, dressed, and went off to get haircuts together.

Father's Day

Slept til 6:45. That was sort of new.

Kids brought in cards. Jack had been talking up his cards all week. They were of course awesome. The best was one with a picture of the Earth, and a couple of dinosaurs on it, and a huge asteroid almost as big as the earth heading right toward it. The other had a funny rhyme: "Don't be sad. You're my Dad!" I think that was it.

Kate had made one at her preschool with a little poem between her handprints, reminding Dad not to get frustrated with her because she wouldn't always be this little. That one made me tear up a little.

Jack wished me Father's Day and hugged me. Then it was Kate's turn, but Kate often has a problem being told what to do. So she kind of hugged herself and looked down for a minute. I shrugged, wasn't going to fight it. Two minutes later, though, she looked up and said in a low voice, "Happy Father's Day..." and hugged me shyly. It was nice.

Jack wanted to have his breakfast in bed with me while I drank my coffee. We decided against it.

All day, Jack made it his business to defend me. "Mommy, you can't disagree with Daddy....It's Father's Day!" This occurred on a few occasions. Funny.

We went to the beach. I spent most of the time playing frisbee with Jack in the ocean. I was always pretty good at it and Jack has become pretty good at it too. We threw it back and forth in knee to waist-deep water for a while.

Made a sand castle with Kate. Found a cool shell that seemed to still have a creature in it and showed it to them. Put it back in the water where I'd found it.

Went to Ian's parents' house for dinner. Sat in their backyard to eat and drink. Kids played. They have a little waterfall and koi pond which used to fascinate Jack and now intrigues Kate. Toward the end of the evening we sat on the edge and looked at the stones in the water, some of which had writing on them. "Hope," "Change," etc. Kate couldn't read the words but could read all the letter. "H....O.....P....." she said slowly.

Everyone was pretty wiped out in the evening. A little too much sun and not enough water no doubt. Jack and I read his big Dinosaur book, a pretty cool recent one, where the T-Rex has a scary plume of feathers (seriously!) on his head and there are nice pages of Velociraptors (I had to explain to Jack was "cunning" means) and other fierce dinosaurs. And really, reading a dinosaur book with Jack, I can't think of many better ways to end a Father's Day.

Jack day

Today was Jack's "Moving Up" day at school, which basically means he's "graduating" from Kindergarten and entering the 1st grade next year. So despite his protests that he wanted to wear shorts and a T-shirt, we dressed him up in nice pants, shoes, and a shirt with a collar, and sent him off to his last day as a Kindergartner. Sort of; he'll still be going there for another week and a half.

We gathered in the auditorium with all the other parents, grandparents who lived nearby, and their cameras. The kids filed in and up to their seats on stage, most looking serious, some with smiles frozen across their faces. We all said the Pledge of Allegiance, teachers said a few words, they got their diploma. Jack looked serious, businesslike. Every once in a while he'd catch our eye and give a little smile and wave. The 100 or so kids across three classes all got their little certificates -- Jack was near the end of the alphabet in the final class -- and then filed off to enjoy cookies and juice boxes while parents snapped pictures. Pretty cute.

We met up in the lunch room to find Jack loading up on brownies and Oreos. Excellent. Snapped pictures of him and Mrs. Glockenberg, his teacher, and The Coach, his gym coach. I sort of apologized for the fact that Jack sometimes wore Red Sox attire, as evidently The Coach is a big Yankees fan. He laughed.

On the way out to the car afterward, Jack crouched down to examine a bug on the sidewalk. He watched it for a minute while we waited. Then he stood up, wiped his hands off on his good pants, and walked to the car, leaving kindergarten behind.

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We went to McDonald's for lunch. Jack ate all his nuggets, as usual, but mostly he was pretty thrilled with his toy. "I can't believe I got Kung Fu Panda!" he said. "I mean, I could have just got the BIRD. All he does is SPIN."

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After lunch Jack and I went to our two banks. At one he got a lollipop, and at the other he got to see the cool old-fashioned Drive-Thru (or is it new? I don't know) where you put everything in a plastic tube and it gets sucked into the bank, and then shot back out to you. He thought it was almost as cool as I did.

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We went to the library. He got a dinosaur book for him ("I like nonfiction books," he said) and a book for Kate by the same person who did 'Click, Clack, Moo.' Then he saw Battleship, and we played that. Battleship can be a really slow game with a 6-year-old. First off, he kept calling out, "5-9" and "6-3," while I explained he had to say one letter and one number. Second, he thinks a lot about each choice, and takes a while to put in his pegs, and calls the same numbers more than once, and tends to group his choices whether he gets a hit or not. (I-9. Miss. I-10? Miss. I-8? Miss. H-10?) It was a long game until I started giving him 3 guesses per turn, and said he only had to hit a ship to sink it (because really, isn't that how things would have gone anyway?).

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Emily and I took him to the park to ride his bike. There was no one around so we owned the tennis courts. And after some prodding and running alongside and letting go of the seat and him putting his feet down, he did it -- he rode. And a huge, goofy smile broke out on his face as he rode clunkily along (he's probably a little too big for the bike now), and continued on, and waved us away as we tried to help him more.

Graduating from Kindergarten, riding his bike, playing Battleship, getting Kung Fu Panda at McDonald's. Big day for Jack.

Playground

When we lived in Greenwich, I took the kids to playgrounds in Port Chester all the time. We went to Lyon's Park, and we went to the "baby playground," which was basically a smaller playground that nobody else seemed to go to.

Now we live within walking distance of both, and we go to Lyon's Park more because that's where people go, and where all of Jack's games are. And we play on our own swingset. But today, for a change, we went to the baby playground again.

It was a pretty hot day, so I sat on a bench in the shade with the water while the kids played. They went up and down the slides, and at one point Jack asked me to help him slide down the pole -- then said he was afraid when I came over -- then I talked him into it, and he DID, and was giddy with accomplishment and immediately wanted to do it AGAIN. At another point, while I was sitting about 20 yards away, I heard Kate yelling, looked up, and saw her hanging from one of the monkey bars, stuck, feet flailing wildly. I ran to get her, fortunately before she fell.

I pushed them both on swings, then they switched swings and I pushed them again. It was kind of nice, nostalgic. They ran around a little more, then we were going to leave....when suddenly I heard "Jack R!" And it was his friend Brian from school, and his brother. So we were there another hour and a half.

Finally we left, tired, sweaty, red-cheeked. (I promise I used sunblock, but you know, we weren't planning on being there for two hours.) We went home, split a gallon of water, turned on the air conditioner. And the kids played a board game while I thought how small they used to be on those swings.

Kate at morning

Kate either wakes up too early, and is whiny and cranky in the mornings, or she sleeps in, and is a picture of sweetness and light. Here's one of the latter kind of mornings, as she comes down into the kitchen around 6:45, when I'm making coffee.

"He-llo, Daddy!"

She has her stuffed monkey with her. She makes a false sad voice. "Monkey is SAD, because she misses her Mommy."

She also has her stuffed kitties with her. She places them on a chair. "I will put my kitties HERE." One is too near the edge. "Oh, she's gonna FALL. I save you, kitty!" (Saves her. Then:) "I give her little kisses. kiss, kiss!"

Then she laughs at her kitties, and laughs at herself. "She's silly. Silly....silly....silly. I'm silly!"

Sensing there might be a blog in this, I start writing things down. Kate: "Oh, why are drawing so FAST? You don't have to do that. You can take your time with your drawing."

Pause. "You can use different colors. Do you want another crayon? Here's PURPLE. Here's RED."

Kate proceeds to draw pictures of her favorite things to draw pictures of, faces. "This is YOU, Daddy. Here's your stubble."

Then, "This is JACK. I made Jack, Daddy. .... Oops! I forgot to make Jack's HAIR. Silly. Doo, doo, de doo, de doo."

I give her another crayon. "Oh, THANK YOU." Kate cheerful and happy...a nice start to the day.

The Beach

We went to the beach yesterday, first time of the year. As always, it was just awesome. I talk to friends here who are all about going to the pool, and look askance at the beach. Maybe there are two kinds of people, beach people and pool people; maybe it's just about how you grew up; maybe it's where you go. Anyway, to some degree it's who you are.

(Lyndsay said in the morning she didn't like the beach; she liked the pool. But I think we have a convert, because she had a really good time.)

In the car on the way there, we heard the pop song "Dynamite," which is a big hit with the kids (who proceeded to sing along). We unloaded and lathered up on the beach, and it was like Jack and Kate had never left -- they immediately ran down to the water, Kate with pail and shovel, Jack to collect seashells and rocks, Lyndsay joining them.

That was pretty much the day, but a few moments stood out.

We always look in the water for horseshoe crabs, and did see a few, including a pair with a clam or oyster stuck onto them -- cool! We watched them for a while. Later, we saw another one, in the sand at the water's edge. Not moving; probably dead. It happens. I tried putting it back in the water, but it just washed gently ashore again.

I kind of wanted to distract the kids, so I got them interested briefly in building a sand castle. Then I looked up and Jack wasn't there. I spotted him a minute later near the water's edge.

He had taken his sand shovel and used it to scoop up the crab, and he was wading out up to his knees in the water to bring it out deeper. Struggling just a little bit, but managing. As Emily and i watched, he lowered it into the water, then ran back, with some effort, to the shore.

I went up to him, barely knowing what to say. But I said, Jack. That was great what you did.

And he said, "I like horseshoe crabs. I didn't want him to die."

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Kate is nervous around animals, nervous around a lot of things -- a sliver of soap in the bathtub puts her into near hysterics. So it was odd when, standing in waist-deep water, she stumbled and fell on her face, floating for a moment, getting drenched, before stumbling to her feet. I ran over to grab her out of the water, expecting tears or fright.

Instead she kind of blinked, smiled, and said, "I got my eyes wet!" And then shrugged and continued to play in the surf.

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As I put Jack to bed tonight, Lyndsay having gone home, I told Jack I had a great weekend with him, and he said, "And with Lyndsay."

And then he was quiet for a minute, and then said, "I miss Lyndsay. Because she was here for 3 days, so it was like she lived here. And it's weird that she's gone."

And I kissed him goodnight.

Lyndsay

We had a guest this weekend, cousin Lyndsay. Both kids are pretty fond of her. I haven't read a bedtime story to either one all weekend; they've requested her. So they all get together on inflatable mattress and she reads to them, their choices. There's a lot of laughing.

We usually help Jack with showers, turning on the water, making sure he gets himself clean, etc. Still help him with brushing his teeth, too, given that cavities like him.

But since the first night Lyndsay was here, after she showered, Jack has gone in to shower on his own. "I can do it myself," he insists. I let him, just watching carefully to make sure he didn't run it too hot or anything. He did all the washing and drying himself, then moved on to brushing his teeth. Wanted to do that himself, too. I said, no Jack, we still need to help you. "But I want to be like Lyndsay!" he said plaintively.

Jack has finally come around on the bees in our backyard. He doesn't like them and still flinches on occasion (so do I), but he now plays readily in their presence. I overheard him talking to Lyndsay yesterday, after she noticed them. "Oh, those are carpenter bees," he said knowingly. "They don't sting."

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Jack had T ball yesterday. A fierce desire to play first base has developed among the players; they all run to it at the start of each inning, and usually end up sharing it during the inning, with coach Moore dictating when it's time for somebody else's turn. I talked to him about it afterward, telling him I thought he'd handled it well, and that it was odd to me that everyone wanted to play first base. He said, "Well, it's a chance to touch the ball."

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Recap of the day

Jack was in a play at school. All the kindergartners were there, dressed in green shirts and tan pants; it was a play about the rainforest. Every kid had a line; Jack's was first. He stood up, wearing his light green dress shirt and khakis, walked to the mike, and said "The play you are about to see is the story of the Great Kapok tree...." Delivered his line and sat down. We all clapped and took pictures. Jack waved from his seat.

Afterward, as I walked to Jack to tell him he did a great job, he said, "Nick's Mom has my MightyBean! Will you get it from her?" So, he hadn't let the play go to his head or anything.

Walking back to the car, Kate walked between Emily and me and held our hands. She didn't walk much at all; she just swung. She's getting heavier.

At home, we played some in the backyard. She helped me a mow a little, then watched me mow, then went on the swings. She lay over it like a folded newspaper and swung back and forth. "I'm Supergirl!" she said.

The neighbor with two young kids walked over and they played in our yard for a bit. They brought out the T ball set for a bit which went well until Kate swung the bat with one of the kids standing too close to the tee and whapped him in the face. He cried. I managed to extract one of Kate's slow, monotone, "sorrrryyyyy"s out of her. Later he was on the slide and it seemed like he was waiting for Kate to walk by the end so he could take her out. Nah, I'm just kidding. He probably wasn't really doing that.

We picked up Jack at school. As usual, they ran around the playground together, and I looked for the mighty bean Jack had dropped in the tall grass yesterday. I was touched by the fact that a couple of his little friends helped out. I said, guys, there's no chance of us finding this thing, you can go play.

We went home and they played with these little bead things that Emily irons and they make little figures and designs that fascinate Jack for about 2 days until he forgets about them.

We ate pizza, and watched some of the Red Sox game. I read Kate "Ferdinand the Bull." And everyone went to bed.

baptism

Got the kids baptized over the weekend. Strangely affecting.

- Nana and Baba came down from Vermont. It's a long trip for them and they no doubt missed the comforts of home and their own beds but they didn't make so much as a whisper of complaint. Both looked wonderful at Church and I could hear Baba's voice during all the songs, except when Kate was on his lap and he wasn't able to follow along.

- Aunt Robin sent the nicest card from Ireland -- here several relatives lamented the inability to find baptism cards for non-infants -- and beautiful Celtic crosses for the ceremony. Jack wore his even though it got tangled in his tie; Kate might still be wearing hers for all I know.

- All the Rosenfelds and Papa Earl were on hand, with Reanna going up to read the first reading (from the Old Testament) and everyone looking so nice that I didn't feel overdressed in my suit.

- During the baptism, Kate said with some chagrin to Pastor, "You're getting water on my dress." But she didn't freak out, as she does when I drip water on her after washing her face. Jack was completely calm and well-behaved as Pastor put water on his forehead. They shared a towel with each other to dry off, happily not fighting.

-Kate was completely unwilling to smile and look at the camera for family photos, so we got several with all of us smiling beautifully while Kate showed the back of her head. Then we got some without her in them. Later, Reanna took a picture of me and my Dad, and Kate said, "Can I see?" I showed it to her, and I said, this is what a picture looks like when the people in it are smiling and looking at the camera. She said, "OHHHhhhh." I said, do you think you could do that sometime? She said, "Yes! Yes, I will!" So we took some pictures of her with Baba, and maybe later we'll use the magic of technology to doctor one of the other pictures with a smiling Kate face. Or not.

- Jack smiled broadly (a little too much so at times) for almost every photo, willingly bribed by the promise of jelly beans.

- The kids made an amazing amount of noise playing together that evening, while I sat with Baba on a bench and watched. Kate chatted away happily with Uncle Ian ("Ekan! Ekan!" she said if he looked away).

- Dinner was cereal with strawberries and toast with apricot jam. And it was really good.