What was that last post about?

We're pretty much back to normal today, I'm happy to report. Besides some lingering coughs, Jake and Sadie were pretty much back to their funny, happy, inquisitive selves. Jake, especially, is a little loopy with all the Christmas talk, and getting ready for a week-long family get-together in Sea Isle City, NJ is just adding to the excitement.

Tomorrow, we'll drive up to the (or, "go down the," as Ali would say, preposition-less) shore. DD and Pop are sponsoring a family get together and we're all looking forward to fun times with about 30 Fergusons and Edelsteins and Carrs and Pucas. We're so happy that it's become the norm that both sets of Jake and Sadie's grandparents are together on the holidays. Those kids really are spoiled. Not to mention all the sweets that Ali's always sneaking them.

Here's a video of me and Jake, working on our Christmas song routine:

Worst Day?

I think to ensure survival of the human species, the brains of parents are designed to hold onto pleasant memories, and suppress memories of tough times with kids. That's why, when Ali and I ask our parents how we were as little kids, they have no memory of us waking up at night, or ever throwing a tantrum right in the middle of the grocery store, or anything bad like that. "You were wonderful!" And I'm sure we were, but I'm sure we had our moments too.

So, all this to say, I think yesterday was the hardest day of parenting yet, but I'm sure there were harder days that I just can't remember right now. And this one will fade too, but with blog technology, I'm going to write it down and record it so that when Jake and Sadie have kids of their own, I can tell them it's perfectly normal for their little ones to occasionally scream for an hour at 3am, or to forget every word of the English language except for "no" for an entire day.

Yesterday was the second day Ali and I stayed home with the kids. Jake and Sadie both have strep infections, and both also seem to have a cold on top of that. I have strep too, but I'm feeling much better now. Ali continues to stay healthy, and if she makes it through this without catching anything, she gets the Gold Medal of Immunity.

It was a day of crying and complaining and defiance and sneezing and coughing and crying and then more crying and whining. And they deserve some slack for being sick, don't get me wrong. But it got to be ridiculous. And they coordinated their efforts, so if Sadie went down for a nap, Jake cranked up his crankiness a few notches. If Jake was occupied with a video, Sadie decided she would attach herself to Ali, and still cry. It was just a sad, tiring, frustrating, long day.

The worst part is, they're still sick. We were holding out hope that they could go back to school today, especially because Jake's class has his big holiday party and gift exchange, but they are both still sicky sick. Maybe a little better than yesterday, but nowhere near 100 percent. When they're sick, time moves so slowly. I just hope that by next week, everyone is healthy, and we're all sipping egg nog, and opening presents, and yesterday will be one of those forgotten memories.

Santa, Sickies, Sleep

Here's Jake at the real Santa's Merrifield headquarters, showing that he knows that Christmas isn't all about getting presents. It's also about cheesy poses. We we waited patiently for almost an hour for Santa to arrive, which is actually not a bad wait in this Christmas fun-house that they've built at Merrifield Gardens. This is the same Santa that I went to as a kid. Yes, the same guy. He's 87. After he addresses everyone and leads some sing-a-longs and takes questions from the skeptical older kids, the real waiting starts. We were about 15th in line, and we waited in the same spot without moving for almost another 30 minutes. It was past naptime. And we were out of snacks. We told Jake we'd just write him a letter, and we snuck out and hopped in the car. Jake didn't seem to mind - besides, he already told Santa he wanted a racecar when he arrived by boat down at the lake.

I just realized the last post was about me staying home with a sick Sadie. Well, since then, she's recovered and had a good week, and now she's sick again, along with me and Jake. Jake's such a trooper and refuses to admit that he's sick. He can barely choke out "I feel good" in between coughs. Hopefully these bugs will all pass by the time we hit the road for Sea Isle City NJ this weekend!

Oh, and by the way, I think it's been a little over a month since Jake gave up his pacifiers and we're finally back on track with the bedtime ritual. There are hiccups here and there, but he's pretty much back to stories and songs and then staying in for the night. We haven't had a tantrum in weeks. Way to go Jake!

Sick Day

I'm at home today with Sadie, who's not feeling well. We've read lots of stories, but mostly she just feels like relaxing with her favorite blankets and watching TV. Here's the patient:

Weekend without kids

This weekend the kids are down at the lake with Gram and Poppy, and we're getting ready for our first "adult" party tomorrow night. Ali even asked me if we should have some decaf coffee ready. Coffee? Decaf coffee?? The party is for Ali's Sunrise work friends, a few of whom are leaving the company after long tenures. It'll be fun. We have a kareoke machine.

Anyway, the kids were so excited to go down to the lake this weekend. Here's Jake deciding which cars to bring with him:After we dropped them off we stopped at Wegmans on our way home. Think of the largest grocery store you've ever been too, then imagine that store as a tiny wastebasket in the corner of a Wegmans. It's probably too big. If we lived near one, and Ali sent me out for milk or sugar or something (which has never actually happened), I wouldn't be back for two hours. It's so big there's actually a restaurant in the middle of it. We sat down and had oysters and soup and hamburgers. It's amazing what you can do without toddlers. You can actually just stop and sit down for 15 minutes. Jake and Sadie are not big fans of sitting down for 15 minutes.

Good luck Gram and Poppy! Just remember, the short one needs diapers!

More pictures from Thanksgiving

Here's Sadie with a funny head-tilt on the 13th green:
And here are Jake and cousin Arjuna hamming it up:
Sadie carefully hanging ornaments on Gram and Poppy's tree:

Overheard while putting out the Christmas decorations tonight:

"Hey look at all these chimney socks!"

And as Jake unpacked a little manger scene:

"Daddy there's a cute little baby in here! She's so tiny!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving everybody! We had a great weekend, starting out with a great Thanksgiving breakfast at Mimi and Grandpa's which held us over until the big feast down at the lake with Gram and Poppy and the gang.

More pictures to come, but here are the kids meeting Santa, who arrived by yacht. It looks like is Sadie is crying, but she's really just yelling "I love you sooooo much Santa!!!" Jake asked for a racecar, and a babydoll for his sister.

Duck House

Last night Grandpa and Mimi took the kids for a sleepover, and Ali and I decided to get some dinner at Mark's Duck House. It's a Hong Kong style Dim Sum place that has great food and that we haven't been to in a couple of years. So we arrive at 6 and the place is empty and we realize we're still eating at kid-dinner-time, even though we're kid-less for the evening. So we take our time reading the menu and wondering what to get. The waiter comes over and Ali orders the Duck Moo Shoo which is the best I've ever had, and I ask for advice, since the menu is 15 pages and mostly in Chinese. He says they have some "very special, very special oysters from Pa See Fic Ocean in ginger garlic sauce" so I follow his advice. The oysters were great, and bigger than any oyster I'd ever seen before. They were the size of soup bowls.

Ali's Duck arrived and they prepare each pancake for you at the table and we chatted with him a bit about the food:

"So, how many ducks do you roast a day?"
"About 200."
"Wow! 200?!"
"Well, we duck house"
"Oh, right"

Thanksgiving Feast

Here's Jake giving his stock "smile" for his class picture today. They had a Thanksgiving feast show where all the three-year-old classes sang songs and dressed up as Indians, Pilgrims and Pumpkins. It was pretty cute, and once again there were more cameras than a Britney Spears paparazzi detail. I couldn't quite make out all the song lyrics, but there was one about an Albuquerque Turkey that when Jake sang later for me turned into the "Albaturkey turkey", which still rhymed.

Where's the Snow??

We've got the cold weather, we've got our coats, mittens and gloves. All we need now is some SNOW!!!

Paci Wars II

We first tried to retire Jake's pacifiers on his 3rd birthday, and it was a disaster. This past weekend, I casually mentioned to Jake that when he was ready, we could give his pacifiers to the Paci Fairy and she would leave him a treat. The next night, he said he was ready. He went to bed just like a normal night, and we didn't hear from him again. Until 1:00 am. And then 4:00 am.

The next night, it was a repeat of five months ago: screaming, crying, and assorted drama. After a half hour, he finally passed out. And slept through the night. The past two nights have gone the same way. It's almost like he's in withdrawal from a drug. He's just hysterical and not himself at all. And he's not even asking for pacifiers, he just can't calm himself down. It's physically and psychologically draining for us. But I'm impressed that we haven't given in and brought the pacifiers back out, as much as we'd like to. Looking at toddler chat rooms, it sounds like most parents went through similar withdrawal battles, lasting a few nights or a few weeks. I'm afraid Jake will be in the 'weeks' category.

Saturday Adventure

On Saturday we headed out west to see Dinosaur Land, a kitschy 50's style exhibit of dinosaurs in their natural environs - the backyard of an old motel near Rt. 81. Here we are in the jaws of a prehistoric shark:


Sadie loved everything about this place. We weren't technically supposed to climb on the dinosaurs, but I couldn't keep her off. In fact, I had to drag her away from this one kicking and screaming.
And King Kong was there too, because....why not? After driving an hour out to Dinosaur Land and spending only about 20 minutes wandering the grounds, we did a quick search to see what else there was to do nearby. Ali came up with the Route 11 potato chip factory, which was a nice scenic drive down the road. Here we are driving through a covered bridge on our way there:


Anyone know why there are covered bridges? Check here if you're as curious as we were. The Route 11 chip factory was a small operation, but we got to watch them slicing the potatoes and then see the chips fry in giant vats of peanut oil. Then, the chips rode a conveyor belt upstairs where seasonings were added before they were dropped into the bagging chute. It was a fun little tour, and we got to sample all the different varieties of chips.

They asked what brought us out that way and we told them we'd come from Dinosaur Land. Then they told us we really should check out the American Celebration exhibit just down the road. So, we hopped back in the car, not quite knowing what to expect. It turns out, this is the company that makes all the parade floats for the inaugural parades, as well as other parades like the Rose and Thanksgiving Day parades. The warehouse was packed with all kinds of floats and displays. Here are a few shots:
And after that, we went through their exhibit of old storefront displays from the 50's and 60's. And for that last bit of randomness, they also had a goat:

Fun day. Check out more pictures here.

Poppy Pumpkin

Poppy and Gram came up last week to help out while I was in Tampa, and they took the kids over to Cox Farms one afternoon. Here they are posing in front of Poppy Pumpkin.


And here they are, uh.......um.........I'm not sure what's going on here.

Nov. 4

Whew. Yesterday was a long day. We were up at 5:30am to get our early votes in, and didn't get to sleep until 1am, as results from Virginia's fifth congressional district were still trickling in. Ali's parents worked like crazy to help Tom Perriello upset the incumbent repugnant Virgil Goode. It was an uphill battle, and in the end it looks like it's still too close to call this morning and a recount will follow. Whoever wins, they can be proud that turnout was so high in that district, and that Tom did so well against a six-termer who usually gets 65 percent of the vote. Go SML Dems!!

Voter turnout nationwide set a 100 year record, and because I'm sure all Tripdub readers voted, we can all be proud of that. But it's still ridiculous that some people have to wait hours to vote, and that some were turned away for registration issues. Can't they just let everyone vote, wherever they show up, and then stamp their hands or something? Maybe set up voting machines at 7-11s? Or Starbucks -- they're everywhere. Is voter fraud really that big of an issue? Seems like worries about "voter fraud" are really worries about "making it too easy for minorities to vote".

I thought McCain gave a great concession speech. For all his talk of "Country First", it sure seemed like the past year he surrounded himself with people who believed in "Campaign First, Last and Only". But his speech last night sounded genuine, and made me think that maybe he really does believe in his slogan after all.

So, the main event happened around midnight when Obama gave his victory speech. Great speech, as usual. I think one thing that helped him win was that when he talks about moving beyond partisan politics, he actually sounds like he means it. A lot of pundits and even Democratic party officials didn't believe in the 50-state strategy of the campaign, but it paid off, and demonstrated a desire to govern on behalf of the whole country, not just the pockets where the "base" lives. In a country as big and diverse as ours, it's tempting to put people in neat categories and then focus on the differences. And that was the low point of the campaign, when all the McCain surrogates talked about a "real" America. I'm happy that strategy and line of thinking was ultimately rejected by voters.

Jake and Sadie were mostly oblivious to the news last night; their attention focused on making (and eating) Obama cookies with blue icing. But by the end of Obama's first term, Jake will be seven, and Sadie five. They will have seen his face on television countless times. They won't have the same assumption that the President is always an old white man. What effect will that have on this next generation of kids-- and especially the kids who look more like Barack Obama? That's pretty neat. I'm a little bit prouder of my country today.

Fired Up and Ready to Go!

We just got back from voting. It took about 15 minutes at our little polling place. They weren't using the electronic ballot boxes that they normally do - they were using old fashioned paper ballots that were scanned into a machine that one voter commented looked a lot like a shredder. It was pretty easy and Jake even got to color in the box for the parks bond referendum.

When we first showed up, both parties were there of course handing out sample ballots and stickers. The couple behind us picked up a sample ballot and then the husband let out a sigh of disgust - "Oh, this is the Democrat ballot" and crumpled it up and threw it away and went back to get a Republican sample ballot. I think this guy was afraid he might catch something from just holding the thing. It was too early in the morning to remind him that the ballots are identical.

Happy Halloween!

Here's Superman, Wonder Woman and Super Shelley the Otter as we were getting ready to go Trick or Treating last night. The weather was great and we had a good turnout in the neighborhood. Best costume of the cul-de-sac went to Hannah who went as a Knight Who Says Ni.

Jake and Poppy make a Jack-O-Lantern! Jake drew the mouth! Yea! (And Poppy carved the pumpkin all by himself!) Yea!

Jake, Sadie, & Shelly

The most recent addition to the family.......Shelly the Sea Otter! It's Jake's week to "babysit" Shelly. Every kid in his K3 class gets to take Shelly home for a week and journal about her visit with the family. We're easing Shelly into life at the Edelstein household with an evening of watching Dora the Explorer. She loves it. I can tell.

Travel Haiku

Away for one week
Missing my three already
Hotels aren't the same

South Mountain Creamery

On Sunday we drove out to visit South Mountain Creamery, the dairy that delivers our milk. It was their fall open house and they had tours and BBQ and ice cream and hayrides a big barn full of toddler ride-on toys. It was great.

We got to see the milking operation and the tiny dairy where the milk is bottled and packed up for delivery later the same day it's milked. They had all kinds of equipment packed into the dairy house where they make yogurt, ice cream, butter and cheeses. I loved hearing about everything, but Sadie and Jake were ready to see the cows. We walked up to the barn where all the calves live - about 20 or 30 of them. Sadie loved every minute of this. She loves animals and these calves were pretty friendly and happy to have visitors.

I just need to set up this video, though. I was taking a little movie because the kids were being so cute with the calves, but when Jake asks us if these are baby cows, both Ali I turned our heads to talk to him and when we looked back Sadie was backpedaling and had a terrified look on her face. At the time we had no idea what happened because she'd been having such a great time with the cows. When we got home and watched the movie, we realized that the cow surprised her with a quick lick to the ear. The quality here isn't great so you might have to watch it twice to see it. We watched it about 35 times.



This is for Stacey and Cara: Cow says, "Don't be scared Sadie, we just like the salt in your ear"

Here are some pictures.

Oyster Fest

Today we drove out to Leonardtown, MD where the US National Oyster Shucking Competition is held annually. We've been going for the past three years, although today we found out that Ali and her family used to go when she was little. Funny coincidence. Last year Jake had his first oyster and this year he was excited to try them again. Here he is bringing us another dozen:


Pictures here.

Superman Says...

We're ready for Halloween!!

If the Stock Market Could Vote...

Here's a chart copied out of yesterday's NY Times, showing how the stock market has done under both parties since the 1929 market crash.

Happy Belated Anniversary to Us

Yes, I know our anniversary was yesterday and no, I didn't forget. We were just too busy celebrating! Thanks Mimi and Grandpa for babysitting!

Saturday in Falls Church

We started the day off with a trip out to the Falls Church farmer's market. With summer over, there weren't many tomatoes, but we saw at least a dozen varieties of apples and pears, tot soi greens (look it up, I had to), and these beautiful squash blossoms. For dinner, I stuffed them with homemade ricotta and some leftover pulled pork, then dipped them in a light batter and fried them. Jake didn't like them, but Ali and I fought over his leave-behinds. They were awesome.

After the farmer's market, we played on the playground and went on a "spooky adventure" in the woods (Jake is already in Halloween mode), and then went over to the Father & Son Barbershop for Jake's haircut. It's still one of my favorite images of Jake. He takes it very seriously and sits very still, but every once in a while sends a little smile your way to let you know he's ok.

It wasn't quite naptime, and everybody was hungry, so we went over to Elevation Burger for lunch. We hadn't been there in a long time. It's a really bright, cheery counter-service restaurant, but last time we went the burgers just weren't that great. They used to advertise that they used some kind of "kobe" beef, but now they just say it's beef from "grass-fed free range" cows and they tasted much better. Plus, they have three different kinds of root beer so Jake loves it. This may be a new regular spot for us.

On our way to Elevation Burger, we saw signs for the Falls Church Obama/Biden headquarters. I pulled in and picked up a lawn sign. We aren't lawn sign people, but our neighbors recently put up a big McCain/Palin sign that stares at us every day. I couldn't let them claim the whole cul-de-sac for McCain and the hockey mom. But the funny thing is, when we got home from lunch we saw that our other cul-de-sac neighbors had put up an Obama sign. So now the cul-de-sac is 67 percent Obama.

Racecars

Jake and Grandpa in their racecars. Hey, who's cool minivan is that in the background??

I Heart Fall

This weekend was pretty much the perfect weather for a weekend. Sunny, cool, and the sky looked like the opening scene of the Simpsons.

I love fall, but I still don't get why you're not supposed to capitalize the seasons. With words like fall and spring, they could easily be mistaken for their verb cousins without a capital letter starting them off right. Even "winter" can be a verb. Oh well, I suppose there are bigger fish...

Anyway, first things first. I was going through the camera's memory card, which is finally full, and making sure I had copies of all the pictures before I deleted everything. I came across a few pictures that Ali had taken for Patrick's birthday a few months back of the kids dressed in their Majestic chef's whites. Majestic is capitalized, of course, because it's the famous restaurant recently voted best restaurant in Memphis, TN (full disclosure: at least 23 votes were cast from this household). So, happy belated birthday, Patrick! How's that ukulele?


We started the weekend off with a trip out to Burke nursery with Stacey and Mike and baby Lily. Here we are showing Sadie how smiling works:


And here are Sadie and Lily about to walk through the Great Pumpkin Tunnel:
This picture cracks me up. Yes, Stacey is taller than Ali in real life, but for some reason, Ali looks like she's four feet tall here:
Does Jake have a future career as a professional model? You be the judge (but there's only one correct answer, judges).

Jake at the Dentist

Jake had his first visit to the Dentist last week and he did great! No cavities!

Wine festival at Smith Mountain Lake

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

My little giraffe

Sadie went in for her 18 month checkup this week. I think it was the first checkup appointment of either kid that I've missed so far. But Ali took notes so I felt like I was there. Here are the stats:

Weight: 22 lbs, 10 oz (30th percentile)
Height: 35 inches (99th percentile)

Sadie is tall. She's taller than 99 percent of other girl babies her age. She's almost two inches taller than I was at her age, and an inch and a half taller than Jake was. She's my little giraffe.

Here she is eating ice cream at Union Station, in yet another dress that is too short for her:


We were a little concerned about her vocabulary, but Dr. Halpin assured us that she was actually right about where she should be, and that Jake was very talkative for his age. And Dr. Halpin was so impressed when Sadie put on her shoes all by herself! Sadie seems very coordinated for her height. She's a menace on the jungle gym, and no slide is too tall for her.

Happy Birthday Ali!

With two kids of my own now, I can imagine how happy Mike and Pat Carr were 30 years ago, when Ali was born. I've only known her for eight years, but I've known since the day I met her that she loves life. At first I didn't believe that anyone could be so friendly and happy and eager to get to know people. When my good friends Heidi and Jamie met her, they thought she was being sarcastic and was poking fun at them. But as it turns out, Ali is that happy and genuine and nice. She just is. And she means it. But, she's human and has her limits (I'm looking at you Ms. Alaska Congeniality runner-up!). I love her empathy and I love her conviction. I love that her excitement for life is contagious with the kids, and that she also reminds them that others aren't always as fortunate as we are. I'm lucky to know her and to have her as my partner. Happy Birthday, Ali!

Here's Ali in 2002 when we flew out to California to visit her aunt and uncle Kate and Bob, and my grandparents:

This is one of my favorite picture of Ali, giving me a goofy look, in our old house downtown:


Here we are downtown, celebrating Ali's 25th birthday:


Celebrating our first anniversary in October 2003 in Shenandoah National Park:


Coy Ali in early 2004:


In Venice, Italy, 2004:

Capri Italy, 2004:

Rome, Italy, 2004:


Here we are in Califoria again, in 2006: Ali looking radiant as a new mom:

Here we are early this year en route to California to see my grandparents and visit Disneyland:


In Bermuda on a scooter exploring the island:


And here's Ali, just a few weeks ago, as the kids got ready for their first day of school and her first day back at work. I'm so proud of you, Ali!