TGO

We will miss you Pop Pop.

a visit to vermont

the Zalinger boys

Grandma charms Charlie

Charlie shows off his "nobody's home" look

Flip teaches Charlie to shave... or eat yoghurt... it's not clear.

I look at these pictures and miss my boy. Even though I am writing this after the fact, it is hard to get used to him having experiences without you and this trip was really where he got his grounding in walking. He needed to be propped up with a hand hold but everyone took turned leading him around and by the time he got back he was so much more confident standing and making those tentative first steps unassisted. Sometimes I am just shocked at every nuanced stage in his development - every time he figures out how to bang a drum with the drumstick, say the word 'dog' perfectly (only happened once to date), or grasp a spoon and catapult food in the generally direct of his open mouth. And sometimes I am shocked that we survived at all as a species considering baby giraffes and deer come out of the womb and walk around and sand tiger sharks are already accomplished killers by the time they come out of the womb (do NOT mess with the sand tigers!). Either way, we seem to have done OK in the animal kingdom so it must be working for us.

cooking quiche

In this family, one thing we all have in common is that we love to eat. Of course, Charlie seems to only love to eat items that are either (a) being eaten and enjoyed by a parent/sibling or (b) highly processed food that comes in a bag or a jar. Schuyler goes in phases. This week it was her Mama's famous bacon quiche. So the girls set to the task in the kitchen armed with age appropriate aprons and for the next week it was all the girl wanted to eat. Unfortunately, Charlie and Mama had to go away to Vermont to celebrate Pop Pop's life with her family, leaving a slightly under-prepared father and a quiche-obsessed child at home.

Papa caved in to the quiche craving and whipped up a new quiche to sate the girl. Unfortunately, Papa doesn't read the recipe as carefully as perhaps one might recommend and his version of a "pinch" of cayenne pepper might have been a little bigger than most people's. Sorry, about those taste buds, Schuyler - they will grow back, don't worry!

stairway to charlie

Charlie has learned to climb stairs. Don't worry, I realise how lame that must sound but since raising him is our second full-time job, it's these miniature triumphs that sustain us through the marathon of parenting. He mounts the stairway with a characteristic slapping of the hands and clomping of the feet, follow invariably (and slightly dangerously) by his older sister who gives us an incessant commentary on his progress which generally consists of her repeating: "He's doing it!" Fortunately, our son is aware of the gravity of his accomplishment: At the zenith of the stairway, he plomps himself down on his diapered bum and applauds. And we agree. Now... about that walking thing....

talking to her dad in london

Papa had to go to London for work for three days which meant he had two nights of uninterrupted sleep. Dreams can come true. Unfortunately, his company actually made him work while he was there including both evenings. Booo. Luckily, each night was highlighted by a goodnight call from his girls (and background gurgling from Carlito).

trick or treat

Is my make up OK?

Staring at the front door as the blinds mysteriously opened and closed (with no knowledge yet of poltergeists or the like, I'm not sure what she thought was happening).

Aaaaaarggghhhh! Oh, candy!

Both people in the above photo wish that Charlie had slept better the night before.

I think she digs this event.

So it was Hallowe'en and we felt compelled to do something. After all, the girl is getting to the point where she kind of gets what's going on with these things and can really enjoy it. Unfortunately, our battle against Western Civilisation's obsession with girls being princesses (and boys getting to be whatever they want) is not going as well as we'd hoped and the dastardly girl wanted to be one. Well, we drew the line at pink, at least. We picked her up from school and, in a speedy change of clothes that would have made Superman proud, we transformed her from Somersfield half-day student to Princess Schuyler of Hamilton Parish. Then it was off to trick or treat. Well, we live in a neighbourhood which more known for violent dogs and body dumps than candy-filled generosity, so we made our way to Kim and Wardy Baby's house for trick or treat. She was greeted by a shimmering haired lady with a wand and (of course) a bag of goodies. We hung out and Sky and Charlie had dinner at the counter in between sugar fixes. Next year, maybe we'll hit up two houses! We really like to live life on the edge.

BUEI

So we bought memberships at BUEI primarily to save money on museums overseas, but decided to check it out anyway. It turns out we now have another viable alternative to our house and the aquarium on rainy days. I think its motto should be "BUEI - for when it's raining at there's nowhere else to go". It was actually a pretty good museum with tons of stuff that will be a lot more interesting to the kids in, oh, a decade or so. In the meantime, it's carpeted (you're welcome, Charlie) and has lots of lights and things to stare at and even a colouring station. We went on the 'deep sea exploration simulation' which is basically one of those tiny theatres that play a computer animated simulation of a dive under the sea while the whole theatre rocks and rolls with waves or whatever is on the animation. Schuyler was a bit scared. I found the scariest thing was the quality of the animation. And that squid thing.

aqua charlie

Yum.

a lovin spoonful

see, Charlie, this is how you do it

hmm, looks tasty

can I have some?

oh, yeah

wait a minute...

yes!

first steps

So we were at Kim's having tea and hanging out by the pool while I tested the patience of everyone involved with some (probably incorrect) description of life insurance securities when he finally did it. He took two steps. Two little steps for Charlie, two giant leaps in his parents' minds. He's really coming along this kid. Sure, the other kids in his Baby Jail are running around, riding unicycles, and trying out the more complicated yoga poses, but this is not a competition. At least, I hope not. We're still damn proud.