...a little wave

museum daze

2012-01-16T03:33:00.000-05:00

cake face.

2011-12-20T19:08:00.000-05:00

my favorite series of the afternoon:

birthday redux

2011-12-20T15:33:00.000-05:00

post-cake wash-up:

elo's birthday!

2011-12-20T03:33:00.000-05:00

The birthday girl got fancy:

we have a saying in our house when it comes to dressing up eloise- she's a boy in a dress. what's ultimately funny about this is that until we put her in the dress, she looks like a girl to us. but once a dress is on, any dress, she instantly looks like a little dude. well, i don't know if it was the fact that she turned one, or finally learned to accessorize properly with these shoes(say it with me ladies- an over-accent is a descent. a proper accent is decent. i just made that up. aw, snap. yo someone from vogue give me a call.), but when she came out all dressed up, she was, for the first time, trying to use as many commas as possible, a girl, in a dress.

unfortunately, as is often the case, the shoes were great looking but essentially non-functioning (why do women put up with this bullshit? can we get someone aside from the misogynist patriarchy to start designing women's shoes? someone, like, oh, i don't know, a woman? who likes other women and being a women? or who at least has a foot fetish or something? work with me, people). she got two steps at most before crashing to the floor. get those off!

the dog is out(who let the dog out? woof! woof! woof, woof!):

the stage is set:

the guests had arrived, and just in time! otherwise teek would have sat there unabashedly showing off his grandbaby to no one in particular. luckily, don and ingrid were there to bask in his glow:

except for wanting to teach the girls golf, he's a great granddad. on the other hand, if one of those kids can get a spot on the LPGA tour and win some cash for daddy, i'll be laughing from the other side of my face. all the way to the bank, but still.

did someone say cake?

a birthday picture of eloise that bebe painted just seconds before donning her party hat.

ta-da.

eloise was blatantly afraid of her special hat, mostly due to the fact that the first time mommy tried to get it on her she snapped the elastic nice and hard against elo's neck waddle. youch. subsequent attempts to get the hat to stay on, even if just for a picture where she wasn't crying, were fruitless. in fact, we've probably instilled in her a fierce and proper fear of hats of any kind. fast forward twenty years or so:

boyfriend- eloise? eloise what's the matter?

eloise- sobs uncontrollably in front of the holographic 3-D surround-o-vision set(it's the future, after all).

boyfriend- eloise, someday will you tell me why watching baseball makes you so upset?

eloise- *sob* it's all those hats! it all goes back to my first birthday... *sniffle*

buuuuut, one person's tragedy is another person's triumph:

TAAAAA-DAAAAAAA!

and then, it was time for the cake. up until this point, we'd really only let eloise chew on the carpet, or suck on old rusty nails and stuff. nothing sweet or sugary.

a little help with the candle from big sister. honestly, the baby can tell you how old she's turning (she holds up one finger if you say- eloise! how old are you! note: it's important to both yell AND catch her by surprise for this to work), but the concept of forceful outward breath escapes her. maybe she will be a jock.

the Dog Days are over! ladies and gentlemen, the eagle has landed! that is, if the eagle were a cake, and it meant to be destroyed by a whole lot of saliva, about five teeth, and a fast pair of grabby-hands. without further frenchness, i give you- CAKE, cue the 2001 theme music (Thus Spake Zarathustra, for all you sound nerds)!

paul sorvino? steven van zandt? sly stallone (younger, of course)? about a million others?

that's totally a paul sorvino.

"well. all done! that was-"

"wait a second-"

"what's this? c'mere you..."

*sluuurrrrp*

"ah yeah. there it goes. delicious. NOW it's all gone."

"IT'S ALL GONE! IT'S ALLLLLLLL GOOOOOONE!"

"lucky for me, i put a little bit behind me ear for just such an occassion as 'no more cake.'"

"right where i left it."

(cory feldman, by the way)

the aftermath:

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, ELOISE!

more to come...

for those of you not on facebook

2011-12-19T08:54:00.002-05:00

the pic i posted for eloise's birthday:

Oh, Eloise.

2011-12-18T18:38:00.001-05:00

it's incredibly hard to believe that it's been one year to the day that eloise came into this world. there are no words, really, to describe the impact she and her sister have had on us. not the collective, entire world, human race 'us,' but rather their mother and me. we were remarking just yesterday how bebe is a summer baby, born at night, while elo is a winter baby, born in the morning. those differences of season, and of night and day, really spell out how different one girl is from the other: bebe's mechanics are almost entirely internal. just when you think she's zoned out and isn't interested or paying attention to something, she'll surprise you with a detailed recap, with insight, of the situation/event/story/book that you thought she had been ignoring or lost interest in. four hours ago. she takes her time absorbing things, and moves through the world in this way. she is cautious, but confident. and when you think you've figured her out, she adapts in some new way to surprise you. she is the yin to her sister's yang.

which brings us to eloise. eloise, by virtue of being the second child, you will forever define and be defined by your sister. she is your teacher, your friend, your antagonist. and like your birth seasons and hours, you are opposites in many ways. for all the ways she is internal, you are a child of the outside world. you learn by doing, not by observing. direct interaction is your chosen way of process. why watch, when you can 'do?' we like to say that you are the gas to your sister bebe's brake. you're an early walker(though you took your first steps on the same day, to the day, of life that your sister also did) and show signs of adventurousness your sister never did. you spend much of your time chuckling, often to yourself, often for no reason. kind of like a crazy person, actually. you've earned the nicknames (among a hundred others) "delightful" and "buddha baby."

i've got many posts for the next few days to help recap your first year in pictures- there are just too many good ones to pass up or post all at once, and it's been a busy year and i've been lazy. i've decided for this post, your Birth Day post, to put up pictures from your very first month of life- a life you began one year ago today, when you emerged from your mother and wrapped your two tiny arms around mine. i will never, ever forget the feeling of your new, never been touched skin against mine, the heaving of your first breaths as you expanded in my palm, and the astonished blinks of your dark, dark eyes. i remember that someone said that the bottoms of premature babies' feet are often smooth and free of any wrinkles or marks because they're born before these finishing touches can form, and this was the case with you. the analogy that comes to mind is the image of a race car driver, in for a pit stop, screeching back onto the track, with a gas nozzle still stuck in the tank, maybe only three wheels on, and the hood still up. you just couldn't wait!

and neither could we.

i love you. Happy Birthday!

practice (improves perfect).

2011-11-24T03:33:00.000-05:00

one of the reasons we were in such a hurry to get in a visit with Aunt Marge and Uncle Ben at their place in NYC is that soon it will be getting a whole lot smaller, while our family gets bigger!

that's right- Aunt Marge isn't fat, she's pregnant! probably most of you knew this already, but now everyone knows! because my family blog is world famous! woo hoo! sorry! it's hard to stop using exclamation points once you really get going! seriously! try it yourself! oh god, someone help me!

contemplating the essence of chicken:

"so wait- i'm chicken. but this is a chicken. and i'm 'called' chicken. but we would also call this chicken. and this is a chicken in effigy. am i a squeeze toy? am i an effigy of this toy, or of an actual chicken? or is it all the other way around? what does it mean to truly be 'chicken?' and holy crap- which came first? chickens all the way down..."

i have this feeling that Aunt Marge is going to be an awesome mom, and Uncle Ben is going to be an awesome dad.

hey look, it's them five years from now, enjoying a lazy sunday afternoon with their kids! no, wait. they're not nearly haggard and worn looking enough.

all in good time!

in the meanwhile, their nieces love them a lot!

while the politics of the thanksgiving holiday get messy, is it so bad to have an official excuse ONCE A YEAR to just get together with people we love and who often drive us crazy, and just acknowledge all of the good we provide to each other? yeah, yeah, yeah, the pilgrims killed the indians with guns, and spears, and unsound building materials, and chicken pox, and herpes, and walmart, and high interest rates and whatever else. but can't we just forget about history and have a good time? i say yes!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

sneak peak: a picture of two people i love a lot...

2011-11-23T15:33:00.000-05:00

there's more where this came from- see you tomorrow!

interlude: more carousel

2011-11-23T03:33:00.000-05:00

sunday: carousel!

2011-11-22T15:33:00.000-05:00

going into this trip we had been dreading what the sleep situations might be with two small kids that sleep less than ideally even while home in their own beds. but friday night- no problem. and saturday night- no problem. when sunday morning rolled around and our plan was to get out early for breakfast with our friends tony and meredith and their boy lincoln, we were actually well rested and ready to go.

of course, it's still a bit of an organizational nightmare with two small kids plus you and your own shit to load up and get out the door on time, but while mommy kid wrangled i went out for coffee and bagels in the neighborhood, and by the time i got back we were all set!

"so bored of NYC."

"blah blah blah..."

tony and meredith and lincoln lived by the water, and when we got off the train we were treated to trees all dressed up in these cool lights! what does that have to do with where they live? NOTHING. i'm tired, i've been job interviewing, job searching, job jobbing... it wears me out. where the hell was i?

michael jackson lives on, in windows everywhere.

i'm including the following pics of their apartment because of how much less shit they have strewn all over the place than we do. will ever do. hair do. doo doo. doo wop. and so on.

this long hallway was missing a little kicker ramp at the far end though. if we lived here i could burst in the door coming home from work, push off down the long runway, hit the kicker, and launch myself through that window down there five stories to the pavement below. okay, so never mind. whatever.

there's a rumor that the statue of liberty is made of french fries, held together by a mixture of cheese and ennui. it was a gift from the french, after all. you haven't heard that rumor? all over the streets.

tony told me that the city is turning each of these piers into pieces of a sort of interconnected park, with cycling, kayaking, benches for the lazy...

moms on a walk.

seconds later she just took off. straight up, in a cloud of smoke. really.

and what do we think of skate-stoppers on some back-alley already ghetto set of stairs that no one ever even steps on but would be a nice little two second grind on someone's daily cruising line?

exactly. they probably cost more to install than the stairs are worth.

the real reason for our walk was to get to this cool, old, restored carousel:

this is the .005 of a second in which bebe had to contemplate whether or not to ride the carousel:

so, on we got!

bebe found a horse she like almost immediately. next stop, off track betting!

tony and lincoln had a harder time. luckily we were one of the first in line so we had our pick.

the entire carousel is encased in this giant glass cube. depending on where you stand (or spin) it distorts the outside view in cool ways.

we hadn't seen lincoln since he was about two weeks old, so to see him out and about like a little man was a trip. he was a-doorbell.

a better view of the distort-o-cube.

"look at that shaved cat. on a leash."

i know, right? weird.

after breakfast, and a ride, and a walk, and that weird shaved cat on a leash, plus that old lady that took off, it was time to get back on the subway that was about to not get us anywhere close to where we needed to be thanks to trains not running, etc., thanks.

in the end, we rode way out of our way, got off, turned around and went back, and then got off no where near aunt marge and uncle ben's place. so we walked, and it wasn't so bad. i got to annoy the hell out of mommy by making her stop so i could take pictures of shit like this:

good times! but seriously, not that bad at all. we made it back with plenty of time to get out of town, but first we got a little more time with aunt marge and uncle ben!

more brooklyn here.

interlude: i know kung-fu.

2011-11-22T03:33:00.000-05:00

stay tuned later today for more on the carousel!

interlude: mommy and bebe

2011-11-21T03:33:00.000-05:00

saturday night

2011-11-20T03:33:00.000-05:00

when we got off the train we had a short walk to meet our friends steve and jodie. it turns out we were eating inside a giant boob. if you've ever wondered what a nipple and areola look like from the inside, this is it:

pretty sure the lights are just for decoration.

the ultra-wide angle lens does funny things to people on the outside edges when you're up close.

sorry guys. while some people's heads were being warped, bebe patiently awaited her food. i think she ordered a greasy NYC burger with a pile of fries.

but then this came:

"there must be... some mistake."

stevie jumped right in to run damage control almost immediately- 'check under that cantaloupe. is that the tip of a french fry i see?'

"no."

UNCLE BEN.

eventually chicken woke up. it might have been when mommy spilled that hot coffee on her. just kidding. she was awake before that happened. just kidding, she didn't spill her coffee. just kidding, she's not really awake anyway. just kidding, she is.

sooooo... there are certain things i find myself taking pictures of over and over, sort of my go-to subject matter when in certain settings. i'm featuring many of them here and on the photoblog for the duration of the brooklyn posts. they tend to be people doing funny things in public, water towers, looking up in general (there's a lot going on up there, people), subways, people riding subways, cool light fixtures or patterns, other people taking pictures of things... the list goes on. paper napkin lipstick kisses:

aaaaand a water tower. just 'for instance.'

bebe just absolutely needed to ride this scary ass thing. i'm sure she didn't smile or anything, it just sort of sucked her in with it's maniacal eyeballs. it sort of reminds me of the children's book the heroes find in stephen king's Dark Tower series- the one with blaine the train (pain). something made for kids, meant to be fun, but in actuality terrifying. LOOK AT HIS TEETH! good lord.

this gentleman had an entire, no, make that THE entire Michael Jackson dance routine, and he was WORKING it. he even did a moonwalk, which i can tell you from experience, is DAMN HARD in loafers. but he pulled it off. i wish i knew which song he was listening to...

eventually we made it to Lincoln Center:

we said goodbye to steve and jodie, and made our way into the big top. under the big top? we went to the circus. in a big tent. you know what i'm meaning...

i used to be able to just stroll up into the circus and shit. 'stroller check?' i'd say as i rolled my eyes and got in line for cotton candy (pink is the best). 'i don't need no stroller check.' then me and my firends would all high five and laugh uproariously as we made our way to the front row (you can see the clowns the best). let me tell you, those days are over. i stroller checked this time around. what a drag.

okay, but seriously- the high point of an already great performance was getting to meet Grandma Clown! it turns out that aunt marge did a story for ABC on The Big Apple Circus a few years ago, and she got to be friends with GC. if you're wondering who Grandma Clown is and what the big deal was, then you'd be me before all this shit went down. let me just say that Grandma Clown is to The Big Apple Circus what Pee Wee Herman was to Pee Wee's Playhouse. no, not a public masturbator. THE STAR. these pics courtesy of aunt marge, kindly used without permission:

like all proper clowns, Grandma immediately threatened to bite bebe's face. "i'll crush your skull!" she's saying here. note that bebe has recoiled appropriately.

in all seriousity, barry (grandma's alter-ego) was really nice and bebe talked about herm for days afterward. and the show was great (ask me about the chick that rode a rope)!

bebe got all "nineties rave" with her souvenir light-up butterfly techno chipmunk glow wand. it's what she picked out. i got a t-shirt. mommy got a mug.

what uncle ben got was a crash course in daddy boot camp. he pushed the stroller, carried the bag, tended the baby... all the things he'll soon be doing for his own son or daughter. and he did a great job!

right eloise?

"blah blah blah."

oh, eloise.

saturday morning train ride

2011-11-19T03:33:00.000-05:00

saturday was going to be a busy day- we had tickets for the circus in the afternoon, but we were also going to meet our good friends steve and jodie for lunch first.

as per usual, bebe teamed up with her old pal, uncle ben.

we walked a little way to the train, and then it was all subway. aunt marge and uncle ben knew exactly which way to go, in spite of how some trains weren't running, others were running in place of the ones that weren't running, but then because of that weren't running on their own lines, and then there were the express trains. which sometimes went express, sometimes not.

then the were the trains that ran, until they didn't. like the ones that just stopped and hung out.

we weren't in any hurry, so the whole thing didn't matter much to us. until later on in the weekend. but we'll get to that.

elo's first NYC subway ride!

to beebs, it was old hat. the city kid rides again!

an unfortunate strawberry incident. luckily it washed out. sorry, mommy.

bebe spent lots of time looking out the window

and eloise slept the entire way...

more stuff at the photoblog...

Eleven!

2011-11-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

we interrupt our brooklyn post-a-thon because eloise turns eleven today! well, eleven months, that is. she's come a long way since she was born with no bottom to speak of and barely tipping the scales at five pounds! she's a full-fledged baby who crawls, walks, talks a little, laughs a lot, and is generally all smiles and hugs. she's got a built in best friend in her mentor/older sister beatrix, and the two of them spend a lot of time hugging (sometimes against her will, even!).

but enough from me. let's go talk to the lady of the day! hey eloise!

"hello."

"whoa! not so close with the camera!"

"just kidding! make sure you get a shot of my tonsils!"

so, deeze. you're eleven months old today. you've come a long way! and like your sister before you, you've burned through a hell of a lot of nick names in a short time. we know you, most affectionately, of course, as chicken. that was one you really had since day one, and it's stuck. but we've also come to know you as lolo, elo, weezie deeze, diesel, dieselle, delightful, buddha, buddha baby, kaluska, ivan kaluskevitch (the slavic snowflake), chicken-lou, loulou, loodie, loodie-toots, loulouise, dima-kuma, wama-kuma... most recently cucumber baby, little fat-face baby, big ears(those last five courtesy of your sister), boy in a dress… the list goes on and on, and i'm certain we've left some out. it's been quite a ride so far, hasn't it?

"when i reflect back upon my time in the womb, i knew almost from the start that place was too small for me, y'know? i just had this… feeling that i was going to outgrow it really quickly. and i'm my parents' child- once that bossy placenta took over i was like 'where's the light? can i go into the light now? there's supposed to be some squeezing, and then i go into the light. can we make this happen?' i don't need some sack of whatever this stuff is telling me what to do."

really?

"yeah. i really needed out, in the worst way. you know those nightmares people have where they're in danger but they're frozen solid, unable to help themselves?"

i'm familiar.

"that was my life! that was me! even as a fetus, you have a hard time doing anything before your limbs grow. no arms, no legs… oh! but i had this tail! it was awesome! you know that one spot, right between your shoulder blades? perfect for itching that spot! of course, i mainly used it to swim around, one side to the other, that kind of stuff. sometimes circles, and loop-the-loops on adventurous days. there was this one spot i could use it to hit that gave mommy gas. which was pretty sweet."

i would disagree. can you elaborate?

"the acoustics were surprisingly good in there, and if the burst was a strong one i'd be rumbling and tumbling around in there like it was a hot tub washing machine! a full body bubble massage! for as 'full' a 'body' as i had. anyway, holy crap was i excited to grow arms!"

i think we all are.

"except for people who never grow them."

fair enough.

"but just growing them doesn't get the job done. there's this 'new arms' period, where i had to learn to use them and stuff. no manual. no manual in there. trial and error. lots of trial and error. i probably poked myself in the eye about ten times!

when i finally got control, i knew there was one sure fire way to get people's attention. grab that belly tube and cinch it off! it was bound to back up somewhere, right? stuff was always going in and out through that thing."

so, cinch it off?

"like when you're using a garden hose, and you want to turn the water off for a second, but you're too lazy to walk back to the faucet, and too cheap to buy a nozzle, right?"

sounds like me, admittedly.

"so you fold it in half real tight at the end, to squeeze it off. Bammo! boy oh boy i was outta' there in no time."

why was it so important to get out?

"two words: solid. food."

solid food?

"oh, man."

really?

"oh, man."

you do really pack it away. at eleven months old you haven't really met a food you don't like.

"you know it."

and as long as someone is putting food in front of you, you'll just keep eating.

"Yes! that's me!"

i've seen you eat continuously for an hour and a half.

"mmm. you're making me hungrier."

hungrier?

"i'm always hungry. all this talk about food is making me hungrier"

oh, okay. so aside from picking up more nicknames than a basketball roster, what else have you been up to lately?

"wow. well, as you know, i'm out touring right now."

yeah, you're doing some walking these days?

"mostly the tv room, but i've been known to hit the kitchen (it's a little slippery), and i routinely make it across the living room without stopping."

that's a long way!

"I'm working on a mean stutter step, a little stop, then go! move. and a pivot. i can go left, or right. whichever. i pretty much have the pivot down."

wow.

"i can stand and clap."

unbelievable.

"yeah. sounds like two little pork chops being slapped together. it's awesome."

and some language skills, too?

"i've been saying 'dog' for a while now. as far back as anyone would listen. dog, dog, dog. all day, every day. and 'dada' pretty early on, also."

that one's my favorite.

"oh? you're a fan of the dadaists? i personally think there's more going on there, philosophically, than what they actually produced..."

oh, i see.

"wait- you thought i meant-"

no, no. of course not. ahem.

"embarrasing. anyway. i've got a decent 'mama' now, but my heart really belongs to 'blah blah blah.'"

blah blah blah?

"yep. it's a line from my sister's favorite book, The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog."

huh. okay, well, we're just about out of time here, is there anything else we should touch on?

"i've got a mean wave. and i growl."

really?

"really what?"

really what, what?

"are you questioning that my wave exists, or are you questioning it's vivacity? or was that totally directed at my growl?"

none. neither. i don't know?

"i can actually do each of those things on command. it's a little something i like to use to distract the parents when they're being fussy."

i see.

"you see what?"

here we go again.

"yeah, i just get them to ask me 'eloise- can you wave?' wave wave wave. 'eloise, can you growl?' arrrrrghhhhh!

i'm also always trying to improve and change the routine a little."

how so?

"how so what? JUST KIDDING! well, what was once a one handed wave is now a two handed wave, and that turns into a sort of flail, and then ends with headphones."

headphones?

"yeah. i flail my arms around, and then at the end i clamp my hands down over my ears. headphones."

and also, really quickly, i understand you have some artistic aspirations?

"i've been known to throw down a scribble or two on the magna doodle."

that's pretty advanced for an eleven month old.

"actually, i've been doing that since i was ten months old. and you wait all the way untill the end of the interview to start flattering me? you're doing it wrong."

i'm just saying that for an eleven month old, you walk, talk, you have four teeth(two top, two bottom), recognize verbal commands and respond accordingly, you have fine motor skills allowing you to essentially write, you have an actual sense of humor (though it does involve pulling my glasses off of my face, laughing at me, and then throwing them on the floor, followed by more laughing), you love music, and snuggling, and you're delightful ninety percent of the time! all this from a five pounder who had to see a physical therapist for being born a runt! it's like you're some highly developed, ahead of the curve, genius baby, or something!

"i still crap in my pants."

well, you're still technically a baby.

"i'd like to thank the academy…"

oh eloise.

happy eleven months, delightful!

BUUUUHHHHRRRROOOOOKLYYNNNNNNN!!!

2011-11-18T03:33:00.000-05:00

this past weekend we loaded up the car and headed to brooklyn to visit aunt marge, uncle ben, and unborn baby cousin! we spent most of friday in the car just getting there, in spite of our best attempts to get there early in the day. the drive itself was pretty uneventful- a tiny bit of traffic, but otherwise pretty easy.

we had a busy three days planned, and in the end we did everything we wanted to do, saw everyone we wanted to see, and didn't feel rushed or exhausted at all! i've got a silly amount of pics to post, and i figured the easiest way to get them up would be a number of posts spread out over the next couple of days, with some supplemental posts at the photo blog.

you may also have noticed a new layout here- nothing special, just overdue for a change. and since i've fallen into posting mostly pics i thought i'd change the format to better suit the photos. i'll be doing some minor changes at the photoblog sometime soon as well.

anyway, the first post is, of course, all about getting there and getting settled- so here we go:

this was a much better drive than we're used to. a little bit shorter, and a little bit prettier.

that is, until you hit the city. usually the BQE kills us. this time it was the GW bridge.

there were still some pretty moments though.

but that was also dependent

upon who you asked.

we all agreed things looked much better once we were out of the car.

uncle ben came out to meet us and help us unload the car. after everything was inside, mommy left to go visit a friend

and me, lolo, bebe, aunt marge, and uncle ben all went to the playground right down the street from their house.

eloise was rocking her "eclectic new yorker" ensemble. for real.

she even felt confident enough to climb some stairs! go weezie!

classic NYC parking job. ouch.

it got cold being out in the wind, so eventually we headed back home.

elo read books with her aunt marge

while i got "artsy" in the bathroom

and uncle ben introduced bebe to, appropriately enough, Muppets Take Manhattan.

we had a lot planned for the next two days, so once mommy was back we ate dinner and got ready for bed. saturday we had tickets for The Big Apple Circus!

don't forget to check out the photoblog for outtakes, do-overs, and alternate shots- it's a sample of all my favorite subjects...

sister love

2011-11-09T03:33:00.000-05:00

i've realized that when i don't have the time to bore the shit out of you with words i can just post one or two of the thousand+ series i have sitting on my computer. took me long enough, right? here you go!

a portrait of the artist (as a very young woman)

2011-11-08T03:33:00.000-05:00

HALLOWEEN!

2011-10-31T21:41:00.000-04:00

HALLOWEEN!!!

before we went trick or treating, we had a costume warm-up:

chicken as- a chicken! a little inside joke for us.

bebe was originally going to go as cookie monster, but changed her mind and decided on her back-up:

a bee!

oh, girls!

then, at the last minute, beebs decided to change back to being cookie monster. something about it being a furry costume, and there being snow on the ground and forty degrees outside may have had something to do with it.

"oh my god can we frickin' go trick or treating now? please?"

sorry. it takes time to chicken-up eloise.

we were lucky to have mems come with us! poor teek was home, not feeling well. i bet some candy would cheer him up!

"TRICK OR TREAT! THANK YOU! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"

look at all that GD snow. are you kidding?

to infinity, and beyond!

nice crescent moon hanging over our heads.

later, back home, we sorted the booty:

because of allergies, there are somethings bebe can't have. for all of those, there's mems, teek, mommy, and daddy!

she did get a ton of lollipops though. that was awesome because lollipops are her favorite!

she asked me to take a picture of her lollipop.

skinned cookie monster:

as the spirits awoke and prepared to roam the realm of the living once more, we said good night to another fantastic Halloween season, and ghostly guardians floated through the rooms, softly whispering booooooooooooooo...

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

The Second Day of Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:17:00.003-04:00

on the Second Day of Halloween, we celebrated one more day until trick r' treating with a big stash of good stuff! even eloise got a present:

and since we love books in our house, there were a few more for bebe as well:

and then of course some other fun stuff:

there were candy corn canes with jack o'lantern heads, sticky, stretchy skeletons, skull and lantern noise makers, silly string, a classic disguise, and some ghastly finger puppets! and it all appeared in a witch's cauldron just ready to be stuffed with candy on Halloween!

on our last round of scary noises, we kept it a little low-key so elo wouldn't get freaked out too much.

"a book? where's my candy?"

"CANDY CORN!"

"candy corn,"

"i love you."

'nuff said.

silly string 'splosion.

and i quote, "FINGER PUPPETS! MORE FINGER PUPPETS! I AM SOOOO LUCKY!"

and then, after inspecting the haul

it was time to load up and head to bed!

goodnight! see you tomorrow, on HALLOWEEN!

(we had internet issues at the end of the day, so this one is late. it's like winter is jealous or something...)

The Third Day of Halloween!

2011-10-30T16:49:00.000-04:00

well, well, well. the Third Day of Halloween certainly had more tricks than treats. nearly twenty inches of snow, to be exact (and inexact- at the same time!).

this is what the front and back yards of our house looked like at three pm. by 9 pm, we had eighteen inches of snow on the ground! and wouldn't you know it- as soon as we all started remarking upon how grand it was that we hadn't lost power- bam. power loss. though not entirely terrible since we have a generator that runs nearly all of the lights and a few key appliances. still, with two small kids it's less than ideal. plus, no internet, so this post goes up hella late, as uncle ben might say. coincidentally, uncle ben and aunt marge were visiting this weekend!

on this cold and stormy night, we found a cadre of dancing skeletons

...that glowed in the dark!

unfortunately, they didn't glow all that strongly, and i had eloise in one arm trying to take these pics, so they're not so great. but i think you get the idea.

and again, we had to use our "cartman" stand-in since all of our jack o'lanterns were moldy-oldies:

we always also use an actual pumpkin behind the scenes though!

when it came time to make spooky noises, we had some extra boys and ghouls to help:

uncle ben was throwing out jazz hands, and let me tell you, there's nothing scarier than jazz hands!

wow! skeletons! awesome!

we found a spot on the wall right next to bebe's bed and hung them there to dance and glow all night!

we're coming down to our last two days! stay tuned!

The Fourth Day of Halloween!

2011-10-28T21:58:00.002-04:00

the Fourth Day of Halloween is ghost day!

we had these scary little guys

...and this guy, who was full of skittles, one of bebe's favorite kind of candy!

and lastly, there was this guy-

pretty cool!

"I don't see what the big deal is. it's not like you can eat pretty lights. i'm full of candy!"

this is bebe trying really hard to get him to turn on:

why don't you try that little button on the side.

"oh yeah! cool!"

then she decided that they all needed to go for a walk in her little basket.

meanwhile, i took a shot of our front door, or what has become our lantern graveyard!

see you tomorrow night- getting closer and closer!

The Fifth Day of Halloween!

2011-10-27T20:53:00.002-04:00

on the Fifth Day of Halloween, bebe received this spooky little box of old chinese take-out! just kidding.

it was actually full of creepy-crawlies!

there were little bats, and big bats, and glow-in-the-dark bats, and spiders, and spider rings! the bats were her favorite, and afterwards she insisted we "play bats-" the little bat was named bebe, and the big bat was named josh. we screeched our way up to bed, where she fell asleep with her "howling" dracula from the other night, who she lovingly refers to as "Drakilla!"

short post tonight because i have to go out and shovel! just kidding, i'm not going to shovel. but it's snowing, for real. and piling up! now, that's scary!

The Sixth Day of Halloween!

2011-10-26T21:05:00.001-04:00

on the Sixth Day of Halloween, The Great Pumpkin brought this cool skull!

(and it was just in time since we had been talking about skeletons all day long...)

as promised last night, screechy count dracula came along to help with the spooky noises:

and when we came out we found this skull, with red flashing eyes!

bebe said, "this is really cool." they grow up so fast.

mommy thought it was cool, too.

then it was lights out for everybody- this means you too, Jack!

see you tomorrow night!

The Seventh Day of Halloween!

2011-10-25T21:27:00.002-04:00

we started off the Seventh Day of Halloween with a new jack o'lantern:

technically, we started off the day with A Nightmare Before Christmas. we watched it when we first woke up while we had our juice and coffee.

and what's Halloween without a little Dracula?

and by little, i do mean little.

off to make spooky noises...

eloise was thinking they were a little too spooky!

i, i mean, the great pumpkin, is never sure how the presents are going to be received.

this one was a little dracula that screamed and howled when you squeezed him. he had red little light up eyes too!

he was a hit!

with both of the girls!

in fact, bebe decided he could help us make spooky noises tomorrow night!

we're past the halfway mark! onward and upward to All Hallow's Eve!

The Eighth Day of Halloween

2011-10-24T20:46:00.001-04:00

for the Eighth Day of Halloween, it was skull day!

i even had some help from my little assistant, Igor:

alas, poor yorick

...I knew him well.

tasted funny, as i recall.

since our original lanterns had, uh, run their course, and since i didn't have time to carve a replacement, we had to improvise with one of bebe's construction paper jack o'lanterns. i chose my favorite one of the bunch- it kind of reminds me cartman:

alright, you know the drill. cue the spooky noises!

oooooooooh...

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!

(in a cartman voice- "hey! you guys! i brought you some skulls and sh*t!"

wow!

cool!

how many skulls did you get?

eight! eight awesome skulls!

plus this great skull goblet (which daddy may re appropriate...)!

getting closer and closer! see you tomorrow night!

The Ninth Day of Halloween!

2011-10-23T20:25:00.003-04:00

on the Ninth Day of Halloween, beebs got this spider stuck in squishy orange gel:

spooky noises:

spookier noises:

i think i heard something!

special thanks to Ernie and Bert for coming along! see you tomorrow night!

The Tenth Day of Halloween!

2011-10-22T21:37:00.001-04:00

The Tenth Day of Halloween brought these cool guys!

lighting the lanterns...

loud spooky noises in the living room, and then:

finger puppets!

oooooooohhhh

eeeeeeeeeeeeeee

oooooooooooohhh!

even mommy and eloise got in on the action!

then it was time to blow out the lanterns and get ready for bed.

and these guys have about reached the end of their usefulness, so they went outside to guard the walk.

getting closer, number nine coming up!

The Eleventh Day of Halloween!

2011-10-21T20:41:00.002-04:00

on the Eleventh Day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin left:

some cool stickers

...and this jack o'lantern full of bubbles!

First we needed to light the lanterns:

once the lanterns were lit, we were headed into the living room in the hopes that the Great Pumpkin would hear our spooky noises and reward bebe with an eleventh day present!

ooooooooooooooooh!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

WAIT! i think i heard a noise in the kitchen!

let's go see if there's anything there!

whoa! cool stickers!

...and we probably won't be making bubbles with that one anytime soon. but half of the fun is in finding out that this cheap stuff doesn't work quite right. instead, one of bebe's new dolls gets her very own jack o'lantern! way to re-use, bebe!

and then there was some sticker fun:

mommy's rack o'lantern.

at the end of the night, it was time to blow out the lanterns and head to bed.

see you tomorrow for the next day of Halloween!

the 12th day of Halloween

2011-10-20T22:36:00.000-04:00

on the twelfth day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin (thanks, charlie brown!) brought bebe this cool Halloween themed stamp set!

first, as is the custom, we lit the jack o' lanterns. then, we went into another room and practiced our ghost sounds in the hope that the Great Pumpkin would hear us and approve. if it did, then it would leave a little present behind. bebe, mommy, eloise, teek, and i all went into the other room and howled our heads off until i thought i heard a noise back in the kitchen!

when we got back to the kitchen, there was a cool stamp set next to our jack o' lanterns! awesome! Thanks, Great Pumpkin!

there was a lollipop, a mummy, frankenstein, skull, a spiderweb, and the letters to spell BOO!

beebs got right to work:

after a short while of furious stamping, it was time for bed.

we blew out the lanterns until tomorrow night...

see you for the eleventh day of halloween!

The Thirteen Days of Halloween!

2011-10-19T23:00:00.004-04:00

It's that time of year again! Today is the Thirteenth day of Halloween! It works sort of like the twelve days of that other holiday, only there are thirteen days and it counts down to All Hallow's Eve. We always begin our celebration of the Halloween season with a sacrifice (or two):

ready to begin? very well!

searching for the best surface upon which to carve a face...

the first incisions...

remove the top!

and now, the delicate job of scooping out the guts.

you can't really tell so much from these pics, but it was actually a dark and stormy night at our house.

we even lost power from the howling winds outside our door, thus making this post a little later than i had originally intended. nevertheless, we couldn't let a minor power outage put us off of our celebration. especially with the generator providing a modicum of power to our home. ahem.

BEHOLD! AN OFFERING, IN EFFIGY, OF EACH CHILD!

coveting thy jack 'o lantern...

coveting thy neighbor's jack 'o lantern.

the beeb 'o lantern-

and the eloise 'o lantern.

let the festival of samhain commence!

Big Eeeee!

2011-10-17T03:33:00.000-04:00

this is the second of two "cleaning house" posts i need to get up before The Thirteen Days of Halloween(!) begin. it's much more recent than the last post, but like the last post, i uploaded the pics and then they just sat here, waiting for words, boring words.

these are from our trip to the Big E, or Eastern States Expo. of the four of us, i was the only one who had been before, and i hadn't been for years and years. so long in fact, that i was surprised that the big E hadn't met a nice little someone and had some little e's. har, har. heh.

it's kind of like a Fair, with an emphasis on the agricultural exports of the eastern states. there are rides, fried foods, and live animals. too much to see in one visit, really, but we were going to cram in as much of it as we could!

mmmm. pot roast.

one of the first places we hit was the midway. funny that it was up front, being the "mid" way and all.

we weren't sure what bebe was going to make of all of this. it's a real carnival atmosphere, where all of the games have barkers trying to reel in folks to win prizes. even worse, it was the final week so they were desperate to unload stuff they wouldn't have to pack. some of them basically stood there yelling "just give me a ticket, and i'll hand you a prize. you don't even have to play. hell, if you do play, i'll give you two prizes, whether you actually "win" or not!"

bebe doesn't do well with strangers just approaching her, but she weathered the storm long enough to make it to where the rides were, where she surprised both her mother and me by pointing out the kiddie rollercoaster and declaring she wanted a ride. mommy and i both kind of looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed. i mean, there was no way we were actually letting her ride the thing. it would be three seconds of smiles as they fastened us in to our seats, followed by at leaste two laps of her screaming and pleading through tear-gushing eyes that we let her get off, which we would be powerless to do.

this predicted outcome, coupled with the fact that neither of us is predictably fond of rides of any kind only complicated the matter. even if we did agree to let her ride, one of us would have to ride with her. it's strange- i've never been a fan of carnival rides. i like to drive fast, bmx and mountain bike ride, skateboard, rockclimb, etc. but being raised into the air and then dropped at a high rate of speed, or driven around a track with loop-the-loops etc. just never appealed to me. i don't even really like the swings at the playground.

but she was so sure, so quickly! she saw it, said she wanted to go on it right away, and never relented or took her eyes off of it. i was half panicked/half really proud! in te end i suggested that we watch it go around the next time, just so she could see what the real deal was. as it took off i explained what was happening so she'd know what she was really in for- here's where it goes nice and slow, beebs. right before it plunges down this track and whips you around the corner like a car accident. it's like having your eyeballs shaken out of your head, or getting struck by lightning, or something. bebe, are you listening? bebe!

it turns out she was not listening. or only listening enough to hear when i had finished and demand that we go buy some tickets.

i don't remember exactly how it was decided, but i drew the short straw. i think we gave her the option, and she chose to go with me. it's the only time she's chosen me over her mother for something, and i just want to take a moment to say, thanks, bebe. thanks alot.

WHEEE! WHEEE! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

"daddy! daddy! stop screaming! it's all over!"

huh. that wasn't so bad.

"you're right!"

"let's go again!"

she didn't even want to get off the ride at first, but i explained to her that even if we wanted to ride again, we still had to get off and pay with more tickets. she was completely unfazed. it was amazing.

and it was only the beginning:

the only ride eloise was big enough for was mommy. sorry, chicken.

"i don't see what the big deal is. sometimes i throw-up in my mouth, and then swallow it again. that's what being on one of these rides is like."

no, it's not. and it's also gross.

"whatevs."

after riding any and every ride she was tall enough to get on, it was back to her first love, the roller coaster. this time it was mommy's turn. i told her not to be scared, that it was going to be okay.

"wheee!"

yay! another successful ride!

now, let's get some lunch!

"is that cheese made of plastic?"

pretty much.

our last stop was to see some baby chicks hatching in the nursery:

okay, actually our last stop was to get mommy some ice cream.

we had a great day, everyone had so much fun, and there was so much stuff we didn't get to see! we're pumped for next year, where a perk of living in the west means stuff like this is so much closer to where we live! next year i'm trying the fried watermelon. and the fried beer. and the friend bacon. and the fried shoelaces... and the fried old phonebooks... and... and...

p.s.

if you want to see more artsy pics from our visit to the big E, check out a week's worth of posts at my photo blog: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!

beach fudge!

2011-10-15T03:33:00.000-04:00

soooooo... been a little while since i've had the time to post here. currently unemployed, spending all of my time either a)looking for work or b)bonding with my kids. option "b" isn't so bad, and will make the success of option "a" bittersweet. i should actually say that option"b" is fantastic- getting to spend so much time with eloise at this stage of her life has definitely led to a stronger connection than i had with bebe at this age, when i saw her an hour or two (at best) a night and then on weekends. having a job may support a family, but not having a job is really building some family supports. i like that so much i'm going to facebook it in a minute.

at any rate, i have two quick posts to get up here before our now traditional 13 Days of Halloween(!) celebration begins. for those of you who missed it last year, it's basically like Hanukkah but for devil-worshipping pagans. i know, i know, that's actually contradictory. but it sounded nice, so just pretend i'm in politics. it never stops those assholes. each day, for thirteen days before Halloween, i give bebe some little trinkets or halloween themed baubles, probably made in china, probably toxic to children. if she remains unpoisoned, she gets to have christmas and try her luck again next year!

the first post is an old one that i uploaded the pics for right after it happened and never got around to doing a write-up for. still haven't. but i don't like having the pics sit on the server when they could be sitting on your eyeballs instead. right before we moved out of the city, bebe and i decided one last beach trip was in order. it was actually our only one of the summer :(

at the last minute we decided to give our ol' pal Uncle Fudge a call, and see if he wanted to meet us there- he did! the following pictures document our first, last, and only day at the beach in the summer of 2011. with minimal commentary or explanation, as the french say- enjoi!

a girl and her fudge.

base camp. not to be confused with Space Camp.

the rainbow colored umbrella is to let everyone else on the beach know that no, we're not just friends taking one of our daughters to the beach, but are in fact the most strangely paired gay couple since david bowie and mick jagger got caught in bed together. what can i say? i love the big galoot.

holding on for dear life. it's only two inches, but when you're three feet tall, that's a lot i guess.

summery beach kid. my favorite.

quick- pose with your sandwich!

got it! great!

don't you hate it when you go to the beach and set up your stuff, andeven though there's a ton of space, the next people to get there set there shit up right next to yours?

well, so does beebs. even when it's her own family.

then she didn't even want us looking at her. LOVE that kid.

she and uncle fudge decided to rub sand all over themselves. i'd have told them that not only is it painful, but it's really hard to wash off, but it wouldn't have made a difference. kids.

waves are coming up. better get back out there...