Haiku

Jake wants to stay up
Chinese visitors need sleep
Worst timing ever

Sadie and the Helmets

Sadie is becoming more mobile and coordinated every day. It's exciting and fun and reminds me of Jake at this stage. She's been pulling up onto furniture, and taking steps while holding on. And over the past few days she's been standing up by herself for a few seconds before plopping back down. Jake took his first step at 9 months, and was walking more than crawling by 10 months. I think Sadie is probably on about the same timeline, with the added encouragement of keeping up with her big brother. Tonight was one of those nights where they were both in great moods and were playing together really nicely. Ali promises me it wasn't like that the whole day, so I guess I was just lucky enough to catch them that way.


Anyway, we were goofing around on the floor, playing tigers and scary animals and Jake said "let's play papachoot!" It took me a few guesses but I finally figured out he was talking about the parachute that Aunt Deni got us. I pulled it out and we all played under it for a while and then Jake sat on one end so I could pull him around the floor, as we often do. I caught Sadie's glance and she was giving me that "whatchoodoing Daddy?" look so I put her on too, for the first time. I put her on Jake's lap, and told him to hold her tight. I pulled them around and around the floor and they loved it. Until Jake bonked his head. Not a big bonk, just a normal five-times-a-day bonk. I jokingly said they should probably wear helmets, but I forgot he takes everything literally. I didn't feel like going down to the garage to get their bike helmets so I said that brown napkins work just as well as helmets. He bought it, so we all tied on our "helmets" and kept playing. Of course, now I run the risk of Jake insisting on wearing one of these brown napkins next time he rides his bike...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like

I know it's not even December yet, but the Christmas TV shows are already on and Jake's getting excited. "Mommy I saw Rudolph!!" Rudolph was his favorite from last year and we must have watched that show about 765 times. Here's Jake helping decorate the house:

And here's The List, as dictated to Ali:

My turn

The other day I took some time off work to stay home with the kids so Ali could make her monthly work appearance at her other job (Sunrise). I don't have both kids by myself that often so I was looking forward to it, and a little nervous at the same time. It turned out to be a great afternoon. We played Ready Set Go (see video), went outside and played basketball (with Sadie in the wagon), and went on a marathon bike ride around the neighborhood (also with Sadie in the wagon, although asleep by now).



It's funny how all the sleepless nights and temper tantrums can be so quickly forgotten with one big smile or laugh from those tiny faces.

Thanksgiving Menu

We had a few requests for our Thanksgiving menu this year:

We started off with some raw oysters on the halfshell, and some that had been cooked a little in a champagne beurre blanc. We served those with a carrot soup with chestnut cream.

For the main event, we used a Trader Joe's all-natural 13lb turkey, rubbed with diced pancetta, butter and herbs. The juices were reduced down with some mushrooms to make a nice brown gravy. On the side we had ciabatta chestnut stuffing, sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic, and good old mashed potatoes and parsnips. For dessert we had homemade pumpkin, apple and sweet potato pies. Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! We finished off the last of the leftover turkey today, so it's probably pizza for dinner tonight. Jake had fun helping stuff the turkey, and loved all the company and fun times. He loved it so much he didn't nap for three days.

On Friday we saw the Reston Town Center parade, and got our first glimpse of Santa Claus. Here's Jake with his favorite Aunt and Uncle as Santa approaches. That night we went to Alexandria to see the tree lighting ceremony. On our way there we stopped at the Majestic to grab a bite and so Deni and Patrick could see how their Irish-run Majestic compared to this one. The food was great, the kids were well-behaved and we had a great time. Deni and Patrick met the owners and compared notes and swapped secret Irish handshakes.

At the tree-lighting, we saw that Santa was making an appearance and taking requests, so we waited in line. And waited. And about an hour later we finally got to the front of the line and Jake got his first glimpse of Santa. "It's a fireman!" he exclaimed. He tentatively walked up the stairs and stood a safe three-foot distance from Santa.

"What would you like for Christmas?"
"Two presents."
"Well, what kind of presents?"
"Trucks."

After a few more pleasantries, Santa said goodnight and gave Jake a candy cane. All he talked about that night was that candy cane. Santa who?

Click here for more photos of the Thanskgiving weekend.

A Boy and His Salad Nicoise

Ok, this one's for Cara, one of our most loyal Tripdub readers. Here's Jake thoroughly enjoying his Salad Nicoise from his new Ratatouille cookbook. Capers, tuna, boiled eggs, green beans, cherry tomatoes, this kid was in heaven. Ok, he didn't touch the lettuce, but he'll get there....