Gotta go to bed early tonight - tomorrow's a big day. Third swim meet of the season, and the first "home meet" (although we are hosting it elsewhere, because our pool is 33 yards long and therefore intimidating to lesser swim teams). Banana chocolate chip muffins are baked and individually wrapped. Junior Hammerhead swimmers are similarly baked after yet another grueling practice, although they shirked the individual wrapping and somehow ended up in the same bed again. After a month of Durham Summer Swim League, the kids have reached unprecedented levels of stroke finesse and physical endurance. And after a month of skipping any non-essential activities (like exercise or eating properly) in order to get the kids to swim practices and meets, their parents are completely out of shape and exhausted.

Regardless of that recipe for disaster (fit kids, beat parents), the swim team experience has been a success. Last week, Alek had several firsts: he swam across the pool, he did it during his first meet, and he decided to do it alone without his coach in the water. Twenty-five yards and 69 seconds later, he hopped out of the water laughing and bouncing and said, "I came in last, but I did it!"

Erin has shied away from competition thus far, but with every meet she comes a little closer to getting in the water. Her desire to "watch before doing" battles with her desire to be included. Sometimes we forget that she's two years younger than Alek - I know she does. But when she does get in the water, boy is she fast!

It's not about the meets, and it's certainly not about the competition. The kids have discovered the joy and freedom of the water, the power of controlling their bodies, and the camaraderie of a team. We've all met new people, learned new cheers, and -- after years of sports agnosticism -- found something to root for. OOSASASA!

Alek, irrate with his sister for some reason: "Erin, please stop pushing me."

Erin, equally irrate some other time for some other reason: "Alek, I don't like it when you do that."

The concepts are the same as they have ever been, except a year ago we'd have just heard screaming. After years of advising them to "Use your words!", this is what we get: irritation precisely aimed and verbalized instead of broadcast indiscriminately. But it's progress!

From a couple weeks ago.

Alek on bikes

Alek was in the process of mastering "mountain balance biking", starting at the top of the hill in our driveway and heading at full speed across the lawn, finally landing so fast in the bushes that he flew off his seat and landed on the seat post.

H: Why don't you use your brakes?
A: Because then I wouldn't go into the bush!

Erin on movies

Erin was in a "movie" phase, asking day and night if she could watch a movie on the iPad or the computer. (So I can honestly tell the pediatrician "Nope, they never watch 'TV'".)

H: Let's watch it together the first time to see if you're going to like it.
E: I'm GOING to like it.

It might be because her big brother just started school. It might be because she's a red-head. She's probably overtired. Or maybe it's because she's 3. Whatever the reason, Erin is taking the concept of "tantrum" to an unprecedented level in the Frederick household. In the past month, Erik and I (and anyone else within range) have been on the receiving end of hour-long tantrums at least once a day, often twice. You never know what will set her off, but all of a sudden, the frown is pasted on, the lips are quivering, the eyes are welling up with tears, and then you hear it: The heart of the matter, succinctly summarized in 7 words or less. Over and over and over and over. At the top of her lungs. Such as:

"I want my clothes back on!" (Repeat)
"I don't want to go to bed!" (Repeat)
"I want milk in a sippy cup!" (Repeat)
"No pull-up! No pull-up!" (Repeat)
"I want my bum dirty!" (after I wiped her bum, when she wanted DADDY to do it)

Sometimes it's comical. Sometimes it breaks my heart ("I don't want you to go to work!" - while clinging to my leg and being dragged around the house as I tried to get ready to leave one morning).

What's a frazzled parent to do? Is this still my mother's blessing/curse playing out? ("I hope someday you have a child just like you.") I certainly don't REMEMBER being that stubborn! Oh well, it's probably just a phase . . .

In between tantrums, we have an absolutely adorable child. She's a little impish, and she likes to push boundaries, but she also loves to make people laugh. She is generous with kisses whenever anyone has a "boo-boo". She walks hand-in-hand with Alek down the basement stairs to play trains together. She's mastering the alphabet and starting to play with words and numbers. She is independent and gets herself dressed (as long as she can pick out what SHE wants to wear). And of course, she's swimming. ("I'm a fish!" she shouts, and dives down to the bottom of the pool to tickle my foot.)

Yes, the tantrums may well be a phase. Like every other challenging phase of parenthood so far (that is, all of them), it's easy to lapse into waiting for it to be over . . . and then suddenly it's gone, and your 3-year-old is a "goan-up". Someday she'll stop throwing tantrums. Then she'll stop sucking her thumb, and stop wanting to sleep next to us, and stop wanting us to walk her into school (like Alek has already declared!). Then before I know it she'll be driving and married and having her own kids. And with any luck, they'll be just like her.

The best part about Alek's first day of kindergarten is that it wasn't like MY first day of kindergarten. I've been dreading this day since I brought him home from the hospital. I would have started worrying earlier, I just didn't have time while we were still IN the hospital (all of those 2 days). Every "first" day I've ever had - college, job, med school, internship, fellowship, etc. - has been compared to my first day of kindergarten, and nothing has ever compared in terms of sheer horror and disappointment.

Despite a few tears, Alek's was MUCH better than that!

After the brief moment of panic when he walked into a classroom full of not only strange kids, but strange parents taking pictures of all the strange kids, Alek went on to have a great time. (Apparently, I'm told, I got off to a great start AT kindergarten and lost it during the "fire drill" on the bus - I guess it's better to end the day strong!)

Why do parents worry about kindergarten? As a "working" mom, with a younger child and a nanny still, nothing much will actually change. Maybe I dreaded it because I certainly did not want the same haunting "first-day" experience for my child that I had. I've been certain that if only I'd had a good first day, the rest of my school career would have gone much better, I'd have won the lottery by now, and I'd be living on my own private Carribean island. (Well, OK, so I guess that theory doesn't really make sense. In retrospect, having a scary first day of kindergarten probably set me up to be pleasantly surprised by the rest of the academic experience, which would explain why I'm still taking classes.)

Meanwhile, as I relive the worst day of my childhood over and over again for no good reason, Alek is doing exactly what he should be: having a hard time facing something new and scary, facing it anyway and having fun, and growing and thriving despite his mother's neuroses.

One night the Little Green Erin went for a walk under the blue stars. She came to an egg. It was the strangest egg she had ever seen - it wasn't a robin's egg, because it wasn't blue. It wasn't an Easter egg, because it didn't have stripes or fancy colors. It had letters on it. It was an Alphabet Egg.

She picked up the egg to take it home to her brother Alek, because he was very good with letters. Then she realized she could read the letters too - all kinds of different letters, like "A" and "E" and "R" and "Z". As she was carrying the egg home to Alek, she heard a knocking sound. "Knock knock knock." It was coming from the egg!

The knocking was getting louder and louder. She got to her house and called "Alek! Come see my alphabet egg!" Alek came running. Mama and Dada came running, too. And right then, there was a loud knock and a crack in the egg. The crack got bigger and bigger and out popped the whole alphabet!

Erin and Alek brought the baby alphabet up into Alek's room and made all kinds of stories out of it. Then the stories hatched more eggs. Erin and Alek brought all the eggs outside and buried them in the woods for other kids to find.

Copyright HejaFred 2010.

"Jammie Dancing" pictures on MobileMe

Scenes from bedtime last night:

"I'm going be all piggy!" said Erin with a giggle. She crawled around the bedroom on feet and hands with her piggy tail up in the air. "Oink! Oink! Oink! See my pointy piggy toes?"

While Princess Piggy was prancing around on the floor, Space Ranger Alek flew in the door. He landed with a flourish of green wings. "Take a picture of my left wing! Now both! Now my right wing!"

Sometimes when I'm lying in bed with Alek or Erin at night, I tell them their own bedtime stories - just like my dad used to tell me, the one that always started "There was a little girl who lived out in the country...." Except I tell them about the little boy/girl in the brick house with the Mama and the Dada and the sister/brother and the dogs and the cats and the red car and the green truck and the blue minivan. And inevitably Lightning McQueen. Well after I told Alek a story about Lightning McQueen and his star headlights (inspired by Alek's ladybug night sky night-light, which happened to be shining on the front of the big stuffed Lightning McQueen), Alek wanted another story. This is the conversation we had:

Alek: “Can you tell the story of Lightning McQueen and his friends and the moon headlight tattoos and how they went to Carburetor Canyon and then how they went to my house?”

Me: “I think you just told it.”

Alek: “No – that’s just the NAME of it.”

Me: “Well it sounds like a good story – I think you’re off to a good start.”

Alek: “Oh OK. This is the story of how I was out on my driveway waiting with Lightning McQueen, and ‘Mater and Chick Hicks came by, and they all wanted moon headlight tattoos so they went down to Carburetor Canyon and found a guy who had them. And he put them on and they went outside and turned on their headlights – and they saw ALL KIND OF MOONS! And then they came back to my house and they were driving around but they fell in the big hole in our backyard! And they couldn’t get out! And their headlight tattoos fell off! But I had a cold glue gun so I fixed it – they had to sit still for a little while so it could dry.”

"Now can you tell me another one?"

"Santa! Santa! Santa is here!"

The kids are running around the house getting ready for Santa. Yes, it is January. But Santa is coming down our chimney.

Alek: "It's night-time and we're going to bed. I made Santa a play-doh snack. And hot cheerios."

Erin: Giggles

Alek: "Santa! Santa! Go sleep! Santa's here"

Erin: "Santa's here! Santa! Santa! Open the door for Santa!"

Alek: "You know what Erin, Santa comes down the chimney. Santa comes down the chimney, Erin. Erin, go to sleep!"

Erin: "Sleep on the chair!"

Alek: "Santa's magic, Erin. He wants you to be asleep. Santa's already at the bottom of the chimney. Let's go find our presents."

Erin: "OK."

I'm not sure who's living in who's world sometimes with these kids. Sometimes they are clearly in another one. They have no problem shifting back and forth between alternative realities at a moment's notice. But getting them back to THIS world is sometimes a challenge!

It is a fairly chaotic morning at the Frederick house due to an alien invasion. Fruitflies are everywhere, and they are winning. Cries of "I have a fruitfly in my straw!" erupt from both kids. Erin is turning them into imaginary friends and actually pretending to be one. She runs around the house flapping her arms and growling, saying "I'n a fruit fly!" And Alek's best line, in regard to the fruitfly infestation: "We should buy a new house and let someone else live here." Personally, my own observation is that a toasted fruit fly is still a fruit fly.

I had an interesting talk today with a colleague about pediatric anesthesia. He admitted that if he had gone into this specialty, he’d have had to drink a lot more beer - this coming from a Scotsman who I happen to know could drink me under the table and out the door. I wondered if perhaps my chosen career and living in such close proximity to a beer fridge - magically replenished with my husband’s homebrew on a regular basis - were not in fact the coincidence I always assumed they were? Along those lines, I had a beer and wrote this poem:

Ode to Oatmeal Stout

A cool drink to chase bad memories away,
You go well with jeans and slippers
And love-starved yellow dogs sitting near my chair.

Fend off the Grim Reaper Himself,
Or his shadow lying over
My patients,
And their parents,
Or even in my worst dreams
My children
Or me.

No, your gift is not as good as friendship.

But your comfort is like food,
Sustaining and warm,
Spreading like magic from the glass,
Now almost empty
And still
Cold.

My Dad's office is full of memories that span over 30 years, starting with my earliest trips to get teeth cleaned at age 4, working there in the summer when I was 14, and now bringing my own kids there to get their teeth cleaned. The best thing about the office is that it actually, literally, has not changed. It has gone past "dated", is well into "retro", and is probably on its way to "antique" (in a good way, Dad, I promise!). The slideshow commemorates Erin's first cleaning. The music is "When the Dentist Dreams" by Brooks Williams, picked solely because it was the only song in either of our iTunes collections that had the word "dentist" in the title.

Despite, or maybe because of, the old equipment, I have always loved my Dad's office. I am one of the only people I know who has really happy memories of the dentist's office. This is definitely DESPITE the summer I spent there filing charts, filling out the schedule, and calling patients to remind them of their appointments. I loved working for my dad - everyone who works there seems to - I was just mildly dyslexic when it came to alphabetizing charts and I was slightly phone-phobic. I was also 14, of course. But otherwise, only happy memories. Oh, besides the 2+ years of orthodontic visits too. Really, other than that - happiness only.

(By the way, "Dad's Dental Service" comes from the only definition of "DDS" I knew for the first 10 years of my life. Thanks, Dad.)

One of the problems about being a Northerner in the South is that summer is over too quickly. This sounds backwards, but it's true - in my internal calendar, summer is kind of just beginning sometime around July, when the window for snow has officially closed for good. In North Carolina, kids are starting to talk about going back to school now that it's August. I actually just started a class again last Thursday. The summer is over.

Well, for what it's worth, we managed to have something resembling a summer vacation, even if it is too abruptly coming to an end. It was at least a change of pace from the usual reality. I had a break from classes that allowed me time to actually start contradancing again, and Erik had a lull in the work-hole that allowed him to yet again complete the legendary Off Road Assault on Mount Mitchell, a 65-mile mountain bike race that he was the only one of all his friends to actually follow through on. The kids have fully become creatures of the sun and water. We spent lots of days at the river, in the pool, or playing with the hose in the driveway. Most days they are out of their clothes and soaking wet by the time we've finished cooking dinner. It's been a great way to meet the neighbors - there's nothing like a naked, 2-year-old red-head coming up your driveway to break the ice.

Why does summer still feel like vacation anyway? There's no good reason - the kids aren't even in school yet. Maybe it's the temporary reprieve from having to wear protective outerwear - and I count socks in that category. Maybe it's the bounty of fresh food that we have in the garden or showing up from our CSA. Or maybe we're all happier in the summer because of latent childhood memories of running around naked and wet in the sun. Whatever the reason, it's been a great summer so far, and I'm going to try to make it last as long as possible, despite the resumption of classes and work and other adult-type stuff. My Northern confusion will be helping me in September, when I instinctively get out the winter coats again, and then get to wear flip-flops for another month.

The past month has held some surprises. Erin has accomplished in two weeks what it took us two years to do with our first child: completely potty-trained, wiping herself, no diaper for nap or bed, and waking up to pee at night. I don't want to spend too much time on the finer aspects of potty training, but I did want to update the impression I left with the last blog entry; that is to say, that she was only "pee-potty-trained". It's a big accomplishment for a little girl, and it deserves to be recognized. Since I don't have a baby book for her, the Internet will suffice.

Meanwhile, as many who follow my erratic Facebook status updates have noticed, we're dealing with an excess of vegetables thanks to our first "CSA" (Community Supported Agriculture) experience, plus a wildly overgrown garden and an edibly-landscaped backyard. This has forced some changes in our eating habits and the allocation of yet another corner of our garden for a compost pile. I made "Scrambled eggs with greens" for dinner tonight (CSA ingredients: eggs, chard, mustard and turnip greens; secret ingredients: cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and half-and-half) and actually watched both Alek and Erin ingest something green. Finally, my strategy of smothering nutritious food in fat and salt has succeeded! Sadly, Erik wouldn't touch it, due to the eggs, but I think he ate some of the greens I kept aside for him.

I have to say, I've come to understand the appeal of "greens". Until this year, I don't think I had ever eaten them. Then Erik planted collards, with his usual magic green thumb. Collards became the secret ingredient in everything I made for a few months: sweet potato and black bean enchiladas, vegetarian meatballs (other secret ingredient: meat), even hummus. I still don't know how to make them in a truly southern way, since I understand that requires something called "fat back", or at the very least, lots of bacon, but they have become a staple.

Now, turnips and radishes are another issue altogether. I am trying to learn how to deal with them. I learned that I can bury sliced radishes in a salad with enough dressing to make them palatable, and I actually brought a turnip for snack today. Yes, I had a turnip as a snack. It actually wasn't too bad, dipped in salad dressing - again, the fat and salt strategy is pretty reliable. Maybe I've lived a sheltered life, but I had never eaten a turnip until today. I'm not entirely sure I will eat one again, though I will bring one for lunch tomorrow and see how it goes.

We have had salad every night with dinner for about the past two weeks and we still have an excess of lettuce - part of the problem is the 12 plants of romaine growing in the garden, not that that is a huge problem or worse than any of the other problems that some of our friends are dealing with this summer, just that it grew so well that we can't possibly eat it all. I've given three whole plants away, but the darn stuff keeps growing. Greens are easy - a whole laundry basket can be cooked down to 4 ziploc bags. Yes, we know this from experience. But lettuce is rather bulky and time-consuming to eat, in terms of the calories obtained. I can now see why it is considered a "diet" food. Completely unintentionally, I've lost two pounds, and I think it's mostly from the energy that goes into chewing all that salad.

Did I mention the garlic? We planted 75 cloves earlier this year. They looked so small and innocent. Then each turned into a head of garlic. What am I supposed to do with 75 heads of garlic???

I could go on, but you get the point. Last year's investment in "Bountiful Backyards" has paid off and then some. I thought once I had conquered kohlrabi that the rest would be easy . . .

We had simultaneous 2- and 4-year pediatrician visits today, and the kids are - no surprise here - doing fine. We had so much fun catching up with Dr. Martha that it took a little bit to get around to the actual doctor stuff. Alek had to have his blood pressure checked, so Erin insisted on it as well. Erin opened up wide for the doctor, which was what it took (along with threatening to take away Gordon) to get Alek to open his mouth. Dr. Martha found Smudger in there, and James was in the left ear (Gordon was in the right, safe and sound). Erin couldn't WAIT to show off her belly button while Dr. Martha was looking at Alek's. For some reason, Erin didn't feel the need to get any shots even though Alek got four (and was pretty darn brave about it too - he cried, but held still even after the first one). I had the embarrassment of bribing my children with chocolate in front of the doctor, and she didn't seem to mind. For those who are interested, here are the vital statistics:

• Erin is 35.4 inches (82%) and 29.5 lbs (80%) and on track for being 5'8" (double your height at age 2 = approximate adult height).


• Alek is 38.8 inches (18%) and 32 lbs (15%) and on track for being ... 5'8" (plus or minus 2 inches, although I bet it will be plus).

Erin is almost pee-potty-trained, which is following in the footsteps of her brother. This is a new concept I've invented (or that I've been too lazy to look up to see if it exists elsewhere), wherein I am able to keep my child out of diapers for everything except pooping. No hurry on either account - except I'm willing to embrace the idea this time. Pooping in the diaper is a lot better than pooping somewhere else that isn't the potty.

Along cognitive lines, Erin demonstrated some advanced concepts just in time to impress the heck out of her doctor. I was trying to get her to say her name. She obliged ("Ein-in" . . . although ironically the word for underwear comes out "Erin"), then she pointed at Alek and said "Ahl-eh - boy!" Dr. Martha looked appropriately impressed and asked if she was a boy, and she giggled and said "Noooooooooo . . . ". When Dr. Martha asked her what she was, Erin pointed to her belly and said, clearer than any word I've ever heard her say, "Girl!" OK, it wasn't just the doctor who was impressed - Mama was pretty proud, too. As you can tell! Of course, this just may be a by-product of being a working mom - for all I know, their nanny has been working on this concept for weeks and Erin chose this moment to share it.

"Why is bedtime going so horribly tonight?" That's Erik's question, and I have no answer. Yes, the kids are still awake. They've tried sleeping in Alek's bed, on Alek's floor, in Erin's bed, and are finally in their own beds with the doors open calling out to us and each other. They're singing, kicking, throwing covers on and off, generally having a great time. Two little monkeys, along the lines of "monkey see monkey do" - Alek wants his door open, so Erin insists "Ope! Ope!" Generally being cute. Generally just . . . awake.

Since I last posted anything on Freather, we've had two birthdays and a Between-The-Birthdays-Bouncy-House party. Erin is now officially 2; Alek 4. Both are somewhat confused about the whole birthday process - the extra party in the middle was a confounder, I admit. No more confusing than having Lightning McQueen (attached to the bouncy house) come live in your backyard for one afternoon, and one afternoon only. Erin woke up the next morning trying to run outside, saying "Ligh-neen neen house! Ligh-neen neen house!" All of Alek's friends who have come to visit since then have likewise been very excited to come over here, and very disappointed upon arrival. But that's OK - we've heard that he will be at Audrey's birthday party next year, and maybe Evan's as well. We'll see what their parents have to say about that.

Meanwhile, Erin is grudgingly finishing entire syllables, and occasionally whole words. She will say "Open" if we demand it of her, but it's hard when Alek is adopting Erin-speak as a second language. Maybe even a career. One day Erin was standing at the refrigerator pointing with extreme agitation, saying only something that sounded like "pupe joo!! . . . pupe joo!!!" After I struggled for a few frustrating minutes to guess what she wanted ("Pump goo? Puff jewel?") Alek finally called out "She wants the grape juice! It's in the back!" Of course! It's actually not so surprising that Alek knows her best - he does spend all day with her, and usually I do not. On the day in question, I didn't even know she knew the word for purple, much less that we had grape juice in the fridge.

While her enunciation is lagging behind, her understanding and vocabulary are doing just fine. For example, there was the day I was driving Alek to pre-school and forgot to turn onto Rose of Sharon (having promised him we would go over the bridge, and not on the highway). Erin was silent, sitting with her thumb in her mouth for the whole ride, until I missed the turn and she started pointing agitatedly (a recurring theme in her life) saying "No, Dat Way! Dat Way!" I didn't even know she knew the way to pre-school.

Well, bedtime has gone from bad to worse while I was writing this - Erik is now up there, no doubt pointing with extreme agitation, trying to keep the kids in their own rooms. There is screaming coming from someone. I should probably go help out. It's just another day in our lives . . .

Just some of the many train configurations we've had so far. Notice the homemade "Roundhouses".

I know you were expecting to see another round of adorable photos of the family. Well, they're all there on Fotki, of course. Kids playing in the sand, swimming in the pool, applauding the sunset, and having immense amounts of fun at the beach. But I was in the mood for something more narrative, and I discovered it's hard to come up with captions for photos of beaming gorgeous children. So I picked some more "expressive" photos to share with you, photos that really capture the essence of our trip. Guess who was always holding the camera? Yep, that's why there are no pictures of Erik (here, or in the entire Sanibel album it turns out - oops).

Life may be good, but you can't make me look at it	Ooooo, that Mama thinks she's so smart! I'll show her someday!	Shh. I think I just heard Dada fart.
If I sit here and stare at my book long enough, maybe Erik will put Erin down for a nap.	I've had enough, I'm changing my name. I will now be known as "Henry James Gordon The Express Engine".	Mmmm, I wonder if that's something in Erin's diaper I'm smelling. Time to give her back to Heather.
Man, those kids don't EVER get tired. I'm gonna go back to the room and have a drink.	I am going to get these darn things on my head even if it rips all my hair out and makes me cry. I'm a big girl, and I can DO it.	Waaaaaaaa!
No, I don't want to go down to the beach that we just drove 14 hours and 830 miles to reach. I just want to stay up here and play with my trains from home.	If I sit here long enough and stare into the woods, maybe Dada will let me have a turn on the tricycle instead of my supposed "big boy" balance bike.	I have no idea how we got through those years. Thank god it's them and not me!

Erin had a hard time waking up from nap while Alek was downstairs playing with his trains. Since I already had the video camera handy, this is what resulted. She was looking particularly cute that day. Though she may never forgive me when she watches this someday, I hope she'll see it the way I do - I spent 15 minutes coercing her out of her bad mood and her crib because it really was easier than making her cry, and because I love her that much. Plus, it was kind of fun.

Mix 10 parts water (just a little!!!!) to 1 part dish soap.
Add two bored kids and a dirty kitchen counter.
Insert "AeroLatte" FIRST and THEN turn on.
Make bubbles - WEE!
Spill some wet bubbles on granite counter - WEE!
Spin the cup around and around and around with the "AeroLatte" - lots of WEE!!!!!
Dispense matching blue sponges to kids and tell them to "Mop up the bubbles! WEE!"

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Try to get the kids to stop.
Tell them "The counter is clean enough!"
Dispense more water and soap.
Take away sponges. Dispense dish towels.
Duck! They're throwing bubbles!
"No, don't aim the faucet at the counter - stop!!!!!"
Get out dog towels. Attempt to sop up the mess.
Strip clothes off kids and place in laundry.

Admit defeat. But at least the counters are clean!
(February 24, 2009)

One day Alek McQueen and his baby sister Erin McQueen were getting ready to start their day on the island of Sodor, where they lived in a big brick house with their Mama, their Dada, two cats, and two dogs. And a fish, but they usually forgot about the fish. If anyone asked, they would say that eight creatures lived in their house, because that's how many stockings were hung on the mantel the night before Christmas. Mr. Toppahmhat always said that fish don't need much for Christmas.

On the day of this story it was unexpectedly warm and sunny, which made Dada happy because it meant the solar panels were getting to do something finally. Alek and Erin were well-rested and happy after a good night's sleep and a pit stop with Cheerios and Raisin Bran, the organic stuff that Fillmore was always talking about. Today was a big day - Gordon the Big Tank Engine was going to take them for a ride into town to buy some supplies at Costco. Gordon was a Very Useful Engine who had his own coal car and automatic doors, side air bags, and a lift gate.

The best part about a trip to Costco was riding in the shopping cart, but it was even better on days like today when Poppie and Grandma were there too and Alek could have his own cart and Erin could have HER own cart. Costco was always a good way to lose a couple hours and a couple hundred dollars on a Saturday morning, and it did make Gordon happy to have an errand. After Gordon took Alek and Erin McQueen back home for lunch, he went back to the Roundhouse to look for some more errands to run - maybe Edward needed some extra coal, or maybe Henry needed some help getting out of a tunnel. Alek and Erin ate rainbow tortellini and then went out to play with Snot Rod for a few minutes before it was time for Erin's nap. The Sheriff tried to get them in a heap of trouble, but Alek didn't want to be in trouble so he found a way out. Erin just went to sleep - that solves most of her problems.

Then Evan came over and the race cars and tank engines all played Dinosaur. The baby dinosaur got a ride on Gordon, and the Mama dinosaur tried to eat all of Gordon's coal, but Alek found some more at the coal mine. Then - SOMETHING HAPPENED! A loud noise and a big crash came from outside. Alek and Evan ran out to see Dada and Poppie standing over the tree they had just cut down. But this was not actually as exciting as they had hoped, so they went back inside where their shoes and coats were anyway. While Dada and Poppie cut down trees to make more light for the solar panels, which is apparently not as environmentally ironic as it seems, Evan and Alek decided that Snot Rod needed some company, so Mama turned the orange loader into 'Mater with a little bit of construction paper and black duct tape.

After a busy day of racing around the island of Sodor with Snot Rod and 'Mater, Alek and Erin McQueen got back into Gordon and drove over to Raleigh where Oliver was having a birthday party. This ended up being right at dinner time, so dinner was pear-chocolate chip-muffins, and a little bit of muffin wrapper, too, for Erin. The best part about a trip to Oliver's house is the train table with the electric Thomas and the real Roundhouse, and the Boost and Snot Rods and the Mack the Trucks and the Sheriff and all the Lightning McQueens.

At the end of the now very long day, Gordon took the tired McQueen family back home to the big brick house and the two cats and two dogs who were very happy to see them. Erin McQueen wanted the Baby Bumblebee song, especially the part about the squishing and the licking off, and then she settled down for sleep with Baby, Pooh, Piglet, and - of course - Lightning McQueen ("Nigh-neen Neen!"). Alek McQueen pretended to fall asleep in his bed, but as soon as he heard Mama come upstairs, he came in to her room to keep her company. And as soon as he REALLY fell asleep, Mama came downstairs to write the story of the day. Because that's the kind of universe we live in!

Tonight Alek told me a story. It started: "OK, here it goes. DJ and Boost and Wingo and Snot Rod were all on the circle track. And Mack the Truck and Lightning and Miss Sally . . . and Chick Hicks . . . and the Sheriff . . . were all on the oval track." Then he told me how they were racing at night, and they could see all the planets, like Neptune and Uranus and Saturn and the Earth . . . and Venus . . . and Pluto . . . and Neptune . . . and the Sun. And Mercury. And Mars. All the planets. The story included an adventure - there were some bumpies in the road, and something fell on the button and opened the back of Mack's trailer and Lightning fell out, and then they all raced on the road. It wound up with all the cars back on their race tracks, and the Sheriff won. And that's the end of the story.

I didn't get to see Erin much today, because it was one of those days when I didn't get home until it was almost bedtime and the kids were already running around upstairs on The Goodnight Express. The choo choo had paused to put the blocks away in Alek's room, and as soon as Mama showed up, Alek got out his headlight (the flashlight we got from Uncle Jim for Christmas) and The Goodnight Express did another dozen laps around the upstairs. Erin peeled off to go to bed with Dada, and then Alek discovered "backwards mode" and did the track backwards, and then "sideways mode" and did it sideways, and then when I told him it was time for "bed mode" he laughed and said "I don't have a bed mode! You just made that up!" But I tickled him everywhere until he finally pointed out where it was - about halfway down his right butt-cheek. Sure enough, that worked, and he hopped straight into bed.

Erik reports that Erin is mastering her pronunciation and increasing her vocabulary daily - she says "Elbow" clear as day, and "House", "Knee", "Moon", "Sun", "Clouds", "Sky", "Tree", "Car", and of course "Yel-yow", her favorite color. You get the idea. Ever since Erik's week in Utah, Erin actually lets me hold her and put her to bed at night, so I'm always sad when I miss out due to work. If I go a couple days of working late, all of a sudden she's a whole new little girl - new words, new games, BIGGER. A week ago she put her first two words together (my favorite phrase of all came shortly after: "Hi, Mama!") and now she's trying to say things like "Big Blue Ball". Or maybe it's "Bib Boom Bob" or "Bit boo bong". But it's progress!

Erik is in Utah skiing with the boys, and I have to say, it is not just the kids who are missing him. The dogs are kind of mopey too. And maybe even me a little bit. It's fun having Erin all to myself, or at least sharing only with Nanna. And Nanna brought Christmas cookies and made another batch of The World's Best Brownies. And it's not even so bad having to take out the recycling or bring in the firewood. But you know, it is kind of nice having someone else around who thinks that this crazy house and our wild kids are normal! Even Nanna, as used as she is to us, is clearly going through some adjustments. She keeps finding things that are out of place (if they even HAVE a place) and politely asking "Is this clean or dirty?" or "Would you like me to bring this upstairs?" I'm realizing that as much as I try to keep up the fight, Entropy is winning. Who am I kidding - the house is a MESS!

And the kids? They're totally crazy! In an absolutely wonderful way, but see this through the eyes of even a close family member instead of their love-blinded parents: it's bedtime, I get them upstairs, Alek turns out the lights, and he and Erin chase each other around the upstairs about a dozen times screaming "Choo Choo!!!!" until they finally bonk heads and start screaming. Nanna looked a little concerned. Like, wondering why I wasn't. But to me? This is NORMAL! This is just kids tiring themselves out before bed, isn't it? Or did I read somewhere that bedtime was supposed to be preceded by an hour of dim lights and soothing music? Good luck with THAT.

Don't even ask about the roast beef sandwiches (because it's Thursday) or the separate trip to the grocery store for chocolate milk because Arby's didn't have any and the line at Chick-Fil-A was too long. It made sense at the time, that's my only defense.

Come home soon, honey!

Heather is . . . trying to think of something to write. Heather is . . . thinking that the cassette case to "Bat Out of Hell" doesn't make a very good ice scraper. Heather is . . . finding that all of her thoughts are framed in terms of Facebook status updates.

Along those lines:

Alek is . . .

Alek is having a busy month. In between learning how to read and trying to write, he's going to an intense training camp on "No whining." But mostly he's really an angel. An occasionally whiny angel, but really an angel. Never more so than when he's sick, apparently. One day last week when he was beset by a stomach bug, he fell asleep on the living room floor and I carried him up to our bed. I kept going back to check on him, and one time he wasn't there. He was kneeling on the floor by the potty, having just thrown up in it. "I kept it in until I got to the potty," he said. "I'll be OK, you can leave now. I'm just going to stay here." And he did, falling asleep on the bathroom floor and staying there for seven hours. If that's not angelic, what is? He got better, and bounced back to his normal exuberant, somewhat shy, and only occasionally unhappy self. Favorite toys from the magical Christmas continue to be Gold Thomas, Silver Percy, and Bronze Diesel (threatening the loss of these plays an important role in his No Whining Training), Hotwheels, Mack the Truck with Lightning and Sally, and many many feet of train track that take up the basement floor. He's back in pre-school as of today and it was a smooth transition from the holidays. Either our training camp is starting to help, or he was actually just happy to have a break from all that family time!

Erin is . . .

Erin is undoubtedly a red-head. She is truly coming into herself as a person, following her big brother's lead in all things. She effortlessly makes her needs known with a combination of words, grunts, extremely pointed facial expressions, and genuinely distressed hand gestures. She is TRYING to sit on the potty at every opportunity, and is delighted with every single part of the process - taking pants and diaper off? Hilarious! Wiping? No problem! Flushing? Can't wait! The whole peeing thing? Well, that will come. It's early yet. Her best quote this holiday was:
"Erin, can you say Mama?"
"No!" and a little laugh.
"Can you say Dada?"
"No!" Giggle.
"Can you say 'No'?"
"Nuhh-uh!" and a big grin.

Christmas tent

Christmas is . . .

Over! Somewhat with regret - it really was a great holiday, but I don't know how Santa does it because Erik and I were tired enough just dealing with presents for two kids. As a first Christmas in the "new" house, and the first for the kids to wake up to on Christmas morning, it was worth all the effort. Even the trip to Toys 'R Us while I had pneumonia and a broken rib. But the antibiotics kicked in eventually, and by Christmas Day the weather was awesome and we had the perfect day to set up the new 6-man tent I got Erik.

Speaking of which, Erik is doing great too - he's sitting right next to me here watching a really strange movie ("Jumpers") but you'll have to check Facebook if you want to know what's going on with him - it's how I usually find out!

Unbearable cuteness of being . . . in the cupboard

For Alek, the game of pretend started when he got in the little yellow car one morning and said "Bye bye, I'm going to work" and I noticed tonight how all of his "pretend play" is essentially still automotive. The cup in the bathtub is a car. The bump on the bottom of the bathtub is a speed bump. His legs are a rollercoaster that the cars are going on. When he tried to introduce the concept of a "bad car" this afternoon, I told him he needed a police car to keep them all in line. Five minutes later, sure enough, all the cars were lined up on the rug and there were no more "bad" cars because they were "all lined up." Right now Alek is crawling on the rug pushing his cars back and forth and occasionally announcing their status ("he doesn't want to stay!") or making "brrrrrrrrrr" car noises as he loads them on his car carrier ferry. (Just to give you the proper mental image, he is still naked after bath - clothes cannot compete with cars in this house.)

We went to Disney on Ice last night and the highlight of the show was the appearance of 'Mater and Sally and Lightning McQueen - all within the first 10 minutes. The rest of the show was therefore quite a let down.

I tried to get Alek to watch Cars a couple weeks ago, and after 30 minutes he decided he would rather run out in the driveway and BE a car. He stopped to get his tires changed, he went off road, he raced me around the circle. So much for fears that movies make kids more sedentary - not this kid, apparently.

Alek and Erin discovered pretend in different ways. Alek still won't sit down and have a "tea party" but I have a feeling he will have to soon . . . and Erin will just have to provide a tire changing station when she sets up house for her "baby," if she wants her brother to stop by.

Erin has just figured out the joy of pretending. She holds out her pinched fingers and says "num?" (as in "nummy num!"). Daddy responds with delight. Mama responds with delight. Even Alek is excited, and states that she is eating cake. But for some reason that Erin can't figure out, the dogs are NOT enthusiastic about her pretend "num". Eventually, she stops chasing them and goes upstairs, and the dogs go back to licking the mighty delicious kitchen floor. Better the chance of a miniscule residue of real food than the promise of pretend cake, I guess.

"Erin, can you say Daddy?"

"Yes"

Clearly, comprehension is improving with her vocabulary. Her favorite words are "No" and "Mine", but she can now say "Mimi" and "Nana" and "Poppie" so she's not entirely the self-centered critter that she was a couple months ago, when all she wanted to say was "Dada". And "Oosh". While her first word was two syllables ("cheesestick") we have yet to hear a repeat.

Erik had a great day with the kids today (so he tells me; I was at work and have to take his and his Facebook page's word for it) - the first day After Nanny. Alek helped Erin down the stairs by holding her hand, and then Erin wanted to hold Alek's hand during their whole adventure walk, but Alek couldn't because "his grapples were stuck, the button was broken." As a safety backup, Erin wore her bike helmet for the entire trip.

I did get to see the kids at breakfast, which was a treat. Erin sat in my lap and ate Cheerios, naked and wrapped up in her pink blanket (jammies off, new diaper for those who were wondering). I kissed Alek goodbye before I came downstairs, and when he came down 30 minutes later and saw me in my jacket, just getting ready to go out the door, he asked me why I was home from work already. But he took it OK when I explained I was just heading out: "Oh, OK, bye bye, love you Mama." No big deal to him, which was a big deal to me - he's getting so grown up! Of course now he's asking for me to come upstairs and cuddle with him before bed. So big, but even big kids are still kids. On my way upstairs now!

I asked Alek to clean up his toys tonight. He picked up two little cars and headed upstairs, leaving the rest of the cars and his train scattered on the floor. Erik asked him what he was doing, specifically, "Alek, what are you doing up here?!?".

"I had an idea," Alek said.

"What idea?"

"Mama can clean it all herself."

Huh. Has it started already?

(Disney photos on "MobileMe")

October caught me by surprise several times. Not the least of which was by ending so soon! I felt like I lived iCal deadline to iCal deadline. Speaking of which, we now have at least 5 calendars to keep track of, between Erik's work, my work, my classes, Alek's pre-school, and whatever time is left-over for anything else. Erin's 18 month check-up somehow got squeezed in at the end of the month (in the "Erik Frederick Calendar", and we were stunned to find out she weighed in at over 28 pounds. Just when I was thinking that she now weighed more than Alek, we found out he was up to 30. We felt like we had to scramble to come up with 10 words that she knew (we counted "Baa!" and her infamous quack-like-a-duck sound) and then the next day she started saying Yes, no, Uh-uh, Spoon, Bowl, Moon, Mine, Me, Alek, Rock, and all of a sudden she can caw like a crow. And when you ask her where her other shoe is ("Oosh!") she shrugs her shoulders and kind of waves her hands around. Alek is full of surprises, too - he just about stunned our pediatrician into silence by reading the halloween sticker on the window that said "Boo" (we could tell she didn't quite believe us when we said he was starting to read already!).

You never know what you're going to get when you mix Alek and Erin together right now - like watching them chase each other around the upstairs at bedtime, crash into each other and . . . this time they bounce laughing to the floor. The scene played out 30 minutes earlier in the kitchen and Erin out of nowhere hurled a sippy cup that clipped Alek in the ear, leading to much sadness for all. They kind of love each other I think - lots of hugs and kisses when we tell them to, and even on their own sometimes.

Which made our trip to Disney World kind of a wild card too . . . but finally, a successful vacation! More pictures are up on my "MobileMe" web page (because it's so much easier to pull them all together in iWeb). It was truly a magical trip. Nanna got to take both her grandkids into the Magic Kingdom and show them "It's a Small World", and we all got to ride the Grand Prix race cars in Tomorrowland about a dozen times. The Caribbean Beach Resort was a lot of fun, and the kids loved all the various modes of transportation that we had to utilize - buses, monorails, ferries, strollers, planes, it was all good.

And finally, Halloween - the real deal. A whole week of Erin the Ladybug, staying up late to make Alek's costume, getting to watch him as Thomas the Train in the Preschool parade, carving a jack-o-lantern, trick-or-treating, bonfire and marshmallows, and making pumpkin soup . . . we tried to make to most of it.

Pictures coming soon!

Heather's MobileMe web page.

I was playing around with iWeb '08 a couple nights ago and had some fun putting up pictures of the kids. As with most things on a Mac, it was super easy and effortless. This does not mean you can expect more pictures of the kids, just that when I do get around to putting them up, it will be easier on my end. As always, anyone reading this knows where to find us and can usually find a way to satisfy their grand-parental urges without waiting for me to publish an update!