Crappy Halloween

I mean Happy Halloween! Who is the genius who allows this to fall on a Monday? I have been celebrating this I do not know what the hell I am celebrating for over a week now. At least we can appreciate the effects of sugar on our students and own children for the rest of the school week. Ugh. Well, I did have four cute pirates and two scored lots of candy (the other two just got milk). I can send pictures per your request. For now I am signing off and grateful that this is semi over until next year. Oh yeah, I need to celebrate día de los muertos for the next two days at school, so this is never over!

Blue Hill- The Feast of a Lifetime!

A meal at Blue Hill at Stone Barns involves a 2.5-3 hour feast for the palate as well as all of the other senses. All of the food is from their farm as well as other local farms, with an emphasis on sustainability and local (Hudson Valley) food. The most unique aspect of a meal at Blue Hill is that you can never have the same meal twice, nor did anyone in the restaurant on Friday night, eat exactly what we ate. You let your server know if there is any food you do not eat (I am a ovo-lacto pescatarian and F does not do organs) and sit back as the flurry of delicious arrives. The only decision you need to make (other than wine) is how many courses you would like to have. The choices are 5, 8, and (a new!) 12. We opted for 8 courses (6 savory and 2 sweet) like the other two times we were there. You will be neither hungry nor "full" (I hate this expression) but feel just complete- as your body enjoys being satiated with delectable yet simple and fresh food. While their wine selection is impressive, we left the choosing to the sommelier (we were super lucky to have received a bottle as a gift!) and opted out of the wine pairing, amazing but costly and drunk -inducing. Believe me, you want to be sober to fully bask in the delicious experience. Our feast included (I am surely forgetting details but you will get the gist):
**Crudités and a V9 juice- A delightful wooden tray with little spikes upon which there perched were several mini raw vegetables. They had nothing or just salt or lemon on them, but eating this mini produce feels like a great way to whet your appetite and begin to taste food for the first time. The mini smoothie was comprised of 9 ( I guess) veggies. Note that the very small portions as well as the ingenious simple vessels in which the food is presented is part of the charm.
**Mini Tomato Burger- This adorable treat was the size of a quarter and had some goat cheese on it, but its flavor was so rich and delicious that you kind of wanted a regular sized one but also felt like you had eaten a larger one because it was so flavorful.
**Trio of kale chips, red potato chips, and white bean tempura- these were on a tree like structure- just two of each but full of flavor and a touch of grease (yum and almost totally absent in any BH dish0
** Tempura Squash- simple and flavorful (F's had bacon in it too)
**Mini mini radish in a shot glass with a buttery (think pinky nail amount) sauce placed in a bowl of dirt (again, simple but genius presentation) for me and two mini slices of charcuterie for F (pistachio something?)
**Smoked tomato soup that was poured on the spot into a bowl with mushrooms, that acted as a sort of barrier so that not the whole bowl was full. There was some caviar in this which was not interesting to me.
**Seared wahu (fish) with a cauliflower cream. This did not appeal to me visually (looked like raw fish) but was so damn delicious- three small melt in your mouth rich pieces of fish.
**Bowl with mushrooms (mushrooms and tomatoes were clearly the theme) with a lettuce foam (weird but good) and an egg that looked hard boiled but was in batter and actually poached when you sliced into it. How do they think of these flavor combinations?
**Purple potato gnocchi- soft and saporous
**Scone (not sweet made of some grain I cannot remember) with a swiss chard marmalade and a bowl of warm, scrumptious ricotta (apparently this is when cows fatten up for the winter and make their yummiest milk)
**Lobster with ?? I cannot remember (me) and lamb and pork cheek F
**Bamango sorbet (this fruit has another name, it is tropical-like but local and spoils easily so not popular but creamy like a banana) with chocolate cookie (tiny but rich) and chocolate covered hazelnuts
**Pastry filled with a creamy honey on warm pears and some grape thing (this was the only part I did not love). The pastry was the most perfect one I ever tasted- crunchy bottom and fluffy top while crispy and creamy and puffy. Whoa!
**Plate of fruit with some chocolate something
Are you hungry? Do you get the picture?
The service is impeccable and almost eerie in its precision (we were very entertained in watching the synchronized choreography involved in serving of a table of six nearby) and the food is the most flavorful you could imagine. You actually cannot imagine it, you need to save up and go!

I Found This in M's Backpack

Dear Mary Pope Osborne (the author of the series she is reading- she is on book 26!),
I M D. (she wrote her name and just her initial) wait stop right there. You are gonna be weirded out but I want you to stop writing your books. P.S. I mean the Magic Tree House Books. signed your friend and fan. PPS Please write back to me

When I asked her why she wanted to her stop, she told me she wanted to catch up (there are 46 of them) before the author continued writing. I wonder if Mary will listen.

In One of My Cards

F included an Apache blessing. It reads:

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all of the years. May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.

Perfect 15 Hours

Last night F and I dressed up and headed out to Blue Hill. This place is AMAZING and everyone should eat there once before dying. Tía D was kind enough to stay with the crazy babies (they now stand in the crib and laugh, A raspberrying me to boot) while MoJo went to Tiemann. Tía C relieved Tía D later in the night while we were in for the meal of a lifetime. Not only was the meal incredible (I will do a play by play of that tomorrow), but our dear friends bought us a bottle of wine (surprise!) as an anniversary gift. Abuela S gave us cash as well helping to defray the amazing meal followed by a lovely stay at an Inn on a huge estate in Tarrytown. The meal was punctuated by beautiful cards (and gifts) from F, who does not understand the concept of saving money, skipping fancy gifts etc. We got to the inn late, pleasantly satisfied from the delicious wine and incredible food. We slept with no children nearby (M told my mother "finally my parents can have a night alone!") and even though I woke up really early (and had to pump or die), I went back to sleep and woke up at 8:51am! This time is like saying 2pm for normal people. Amazing. We were only gone for 15 hours, but it was an amazing parenthesis to our fast paced life. I am very grateful to all of the people who helped make this break possible and even more indebted to the forces that brought F and I together. Thank you Sam I am. Ti amo!

You Name It, We Got It

said the bus driver as I got on with A in a carrier, the two of us looking like drowned rats after waiting for the M4 for a while. It rained and snowed A LOT today. It was also thundering as I got soaked in snow. Hmm. Very weird for October. J referred to the babies as "monster twin babies" today. When M bragged that she was going to the Nutcracker without him for her birthday he retorted "Oh yeah? I am going to the Buttcracker." He is funny. And this weather feels like we are all in the butt cracker. Let's cross our fingers for marathon Sunday...a mere hours away, as I poop my pants thinking about it!

MoJo Quotations From This Week

As M explained the world map on her placemat to J, J inquired: Where is hippo Park?

M on her last sleepover at her best friend's house: It was extraordinary and awful

M when I asked her how she knew that Mt Everest was in Nepal: It is from research stored in my brain.

When I glanced at J on the bus and told him how grown up he looked: Do I have grey hair like you?

J to F: If you knew you were going to get married why didn't you save your HeMan Castle for me?

Me to M: Why are you talking like that?
M to Me: It is one of the many voices I have.

M to J In The Shower...

(As they sat together on the floor in my shower.. they do not usually bathe together anymore): For this program you need to sit. It is a foot massage not a toe massage.

X

Happy 10th Anniversary!
To celebrate, tomorrow we are having dinner in the country and sleeping there.

M commented: You are sleeping at a hotel so you can smoosh all night and forget you have kids.

My mother's happy anniversary email this am reads:
Look at the mess you organized for yourselves in 10 years!! A HUGE FAMILY (Ha!).

Take it easy and celebrate tomorrow, as planned.
A hug, Mom/S

Have a great day and see if you can hang in there for 10 more F!

A Game

The are many days that do not feel smooth, that do not flow. Today was a great day for no particular reason. All of the kids are behaving, both at home and at school. M is obsessed with the Magic Tree House Series and devouring one to two books a day! J wants M to tell him about the "silver war." M and J made sure to tell everyone at school about the mouse incident. A and V ate so much at dinner that I thought they might explode. Babies have also been doing well. V might be slow on the physical front (still no signs of sitting and he hardly does any real crawling) but he might be a linguistic genius. He randomly says words and no, I am not hallucinating. L told me that as they entered our building today, V said "hola" to a much surprised neighbor. I have witnessed him say is word one other time as an echo to J saying it. I am tired and Fresh Direct is almost an hour late. Aaaah

Mouse!

Holy shit am I terrified of them. M came screaming up (but did not wake up babies thankfully) that there were two mice by the fridge. FUUUUUCK. I sent the bravest person home (yes, it was J, a 4 year old but the tallest man available) to go peek and tell me what the mice were doing. Good news was that there was one mouse and another was a lint ball that the mouse kicked out from under the fridge. He was on his side and dying (I guess) but petrifying all the same. That breathing, the tail, why can't I just have roaches like the good old days? With coaching from tía D who I was on the phone with, I lowered a tupper ware onto him as I freaked the fuck out. J said the mouse looked like a teenager. M said "this is why I want to move to another country." I said "now we know who ate our cookies for Italia." J said it was probably his cousins. He is now in the bathroom musing: Mouses are creatures. They are made to be disgusting. You do not need to kill them.
Holy shit are they gross. I could not think of anything more repulsive now that we have not one, but two babies crawling on the floor. Ugh.

The Perfect Drop Off

You can only truly appreciate this if you know the layout of BT. A was falling asleep as we approached day care this am. I learned that even if it is for 5 minutes, if they sleep on their way to BT they will skip their am nap. Determined to continue the nap, I asked lovely TR (toddler room) teacher J if I could pass V to her through the side door so as to carry A in asleep. She gave me an even better idea and said "Why don't you walk straight into the sleep room (which connects the TR room to the BR). I went in, they closed the door behind me. Pitch black, no wonder they sleep so much in there! I put A down and came out the other way into the BR, where they wondered why the hell I was coming in that way and where the babies were. She slept for over an hour and a half I hear. Boom! What a smooth choreography.

M The Author

M recently visited the farmer's market and came back with a pamphlet about farming and sustainability etc. Here is her own:
cover: drawing of some animale and people with recycle sign
chapter 1 lovers: A.D. (she wrote their names plus the "D"); recycleing is good. M.D. I love recycleing
V.D. re-recycle J.D.re-ducere-use-recycle
next page: big arrow drawing and it reads; check for (that) simbole
chapter 2: sybols (symbols?) and there are drawings of many- one says wine
chapter 3: how to recycle earth 1. colect plats and weeds 2. use weeds to sew paper 3. show an adult
chapter 4: epologe (wtf?) all about the auther auther: MD Facts: brown hair brown eyes peach skin (sassy/sexy)

AAAHHHH

TGIF

Was in school until 9pm last night (open house). Babies sleeping like crappola all week. Ate piles of chocolate and sugar for dinner (hmm maybe not a great idea). I do have to do one more very long walk this weekend for sanity's sake. The marathon is in 15 days. AAAAHHHHH.

Crib Wars

Now that these puppies can move, it is like WW Wrestling in the crib. V's signature move is to wait for A to be almost asleep (or fully out) and to yank her chupete out of her mouth. For extra giggles he bangs it on the side of the crib and then launches it out. A's move it to climb onto her brother, to sit up, or just stand, as in to protest bed time. They were in bed at 6:30pm and she did not go to sleep until 8:30 pm! I was listening to her playing, crying etc on the baby monitor and then we heard.... music and her giggle. The music is from the mobile on V's side. I went up and she was sitting on him (he stayed asleep) and enjoying her trip to his side and her ability to turn a toy on. If I could I would split them up, but they are going to have to work it our for another year or so.

Todays' Comments

J- Why do I need to go to school? Why can't parents teach kids?
Me- Well, they do and they can but you cannot learn anything from your parents and you need to see friends and there are some things I could not teach you, like math.
J- Yes you can. Remember? Cinco? Seis?
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J Can I have my birthday on an airplane? I want two parts, one on a plane and one Chuck and Cheese but not at Chuck and Cheese's.
___
M to me as she read her book- Why don't you know anything about Ancient China?
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M- When I am grown up I want to be just like you. I want to teach Spanish and have four kids and name them M, J, A, and V. But I  do not want my kids to be rude to me like we are to you.

This Am

As I dressed J for picture day - Why do I have to dress gelegant?
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M to me- You are so nice to J and to my friends but you are a witch to me.
_
M on babies- I wish they could stay babies forever.

J to M

Can you surprise me on my birthday and tell me right when it is my birthday? I will ask you like a thousand times if it is my birthday and you will say no and I will be like "aww" and then one day you will tell me "yes!"

Some Lines From This Week...

J- I like to play with my hair. I like to twizzle it up.
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M (in a fit)- All of a sudden J is the favorite one. Why don't why make him number one?
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M (in another meltdown against her friend)- I had a lot of patience and you used it up! There is a line and you crossed it. Now get out of my house! (nice huh?)
_
M (at dinner). I do not like peas. It is a classic mamá- kids do not like peas.

V Takes Charge!

Maybe he heard M say this morning "she does the rockin' and he does the talkin'" or maybe he has been reading my blog, but V has decided in the last 48 hours, that he too can move it move it. His drag crawl is super speedy and he is playing with the downward dog poses that A toyed with a few weeks ago. In addition, Fatty Bombatty also pulled up to stand by the mini rocking chair. Holy cow am I screwed with two mobile monsters! Go V go, burn some calories!

Chapel

Is a daily event at my school. While I am not a big fan of the religious element, it is nice to have a quiet special place where all of the students gather every day. Yesterday it was my turn to run chapel, and as usual, I chose to showcase a grades work rather than give a talk. I was so proud of my second graders! They all read their three sentences and did beautifully. Today, M's teacher had chapel and she chose to have the children act out a Leo Leonni book, Swimmy. Nobody had lines, but M was proud to dress up and hold up her painting when the time came. There is something special about that space and rituals, and traditions!

J

Me- Why do you come to my bed every night?
J-I get bored and a little bit worried that M is going to be in your bed.
__

J asked me to help him do math with this toy today (not this one but one like it). How smart I thought!

Anxiety

Is what V had been diagnosed with. Apparently separation, stranger anxiety set in at this age (not for A though). He has been torturing us for many nights, waking up PISSED off and last night even refusing to go to sleep for the first time in a long time. His teeth are clearly bothering him as well as he is constantly sucking on his hand and pulling on his ear. AleVit went to the doctor to get their flu shots today (weighing in at 17 lbs 8 oz him, 15 lbs 1oz her) and the doctor suggested that I give him some tylenol or something to help with the tooth pain and to restart ferberizing from scratch (what F has been saying and I have been resisting). Well, I gave him the tylenol once he was in the crib because I had forgotten, he rollled over, and went to sleep. How comical. A has been fussing (why not?) and I can only hope that they surprise me (in a good way) and sleep all the friggin' night through, just like 8 month olds can!
PS They had eggs and cheese (one scrambled egg with mozzarella) for dinner- two firsts. They liked!

Here We Go Again

Monster Baby is back. V crying angrily for over an hour now. Is it too much to ask to sleep? I got a solid 5 hours last night thanks to his hiatus from monster status last night and now, after my 18 mile walk and a long week, it looks like we are just in for crying. No fever. Clean diaper. Fed. What????

8 Months!

Today. Whoa. Time sure flies when you are wrangling children at home and at work. A is out of control in her mobility, dexterity, and confidence. I watched her crawl up to our little rocking chair, hold onto it to stand, lift herself to kneel on it, rock, try to stand on the chair, change her mind, and end up sitting in it properly. V is all about the fast drag "crawl" and the rolling. Today we saw another (bad) film at the NYFF and we had the kids be cared for by gender rather than age. J was super excited to go off with V and Z (from BT) and M and A ventured off with tía D (thank you!). I walked/jogged 18 miles solo before the brunch and movie and I am sooo happy to have nothing else to do today. Stop growing babies, no rush for you to walk A (she is side cruising already) or to talk too much V:)

J Today

Me- Why is there a mess of shirts on your bed?
J - I was looking for an appropriate rock shirt
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Me- Why do you come to our bed every night?
J- It is too much boring on my bed. Yours is funner.

MoJo Quotations From This Week

M- You made me because of your first kiss.
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M about J- He is having a dramatery moment!
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J on mosquitos- They are taking their time to leave so they take some blood while they can.
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J- We start behaving in the fall. I can't be good when there is too much sunlight in my face, it makes me think of bad things
_
J on the subway out of the blue- Did Guns 'N Roses die?
No, they are just old.
J- Like old men?
No, just not young anymore.
J- So are they teenagers?
Proceeds with "take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.."
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J as a group of Hasidic men walked by - Hey, those are guitar players! (not sure what the hell he was talking about).

Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Time

I have about half a dozen posts I would like to write for this blog and the film one, but as it is, I barely have enough time to bathe, much less reflect. I am constantly rushing and stressing on and off. I look at my relationship with the damn breast pump as a symbol of my current schedule. I am always behind, hooking myself up to it. I hate but I need it. There is never enough milk or maybe there is but I do not have the patience or time to let it be pumped out. Last night's outing to my second torturous film at the NYFF was the cake, V screaming on and off ALL NIGHT LONG was the icing. What the hell is wrong with this baby, who turns into monster baby at night? While I do not want there to be something wrong with him, I hope there is a brewing ear infection or something to explain why he no longer sleeps at night. I have another movie tonight and I need to go walk at 5:45am at the latest in order to get the miles in before brunch before a 12:30pm festival screening... you can see why I am pressed for time. Some of it is my own doing and some of it inevitable. I am happy that Monday is a holiday!

Tía C Is Going To The Chapel...

and she's gonna get married!
Here's to a long and adventurous engagement and to a very long and joyous marriage!
Congratulations to the future groom and bride!

PS Not sure about the chapel part. Beach? Temple? Restaurant?

M's Email (she called "text") to T- spacing and all

i      hope       you          stay             until       november       11th.                                          so        we        can       celabrate.

p.s.         answer       with    a      stunning       surpise!!!!!!!

p.p.s.the           prize            is    $    50.

Baby Update

I am having two more. Just kidding. Really. A is standing like a pro. She pulls up anywhere. The only problem is that she has no idea what to do or how to get down. V is talking! For real. In addition to "mamma" and "dada", which he seems to use appropriately, he has said (I have a witness!) "la teta" on two different occasions while nursing. Note the use of the right article. Could this be a fluke? Probably. I mean I do not talk about my breasts to him or label them as I feed, but the boy can chatter. He had a 15 minute monologue at 5:30am today when he decided that he was done sleeping and ready to chat. He does some serious commando "crawling" but does not crawl. With their combined skills and lack thereof, AleVit makes for a solid able baby team.

The Rhythm, the Groove, the je ne sais quoi

Was missing last week but I feel like I am emerging from the funk. Sure, I am still sleep deprived, a bit overbooked, and in a two bedroom, but I am looking at the glass very full, whereas last week there was shit (literally) overflowing from it. The smartboard has been working, the students have been learning, MoJo has been in a great mood. We did spend money on a bad, long film on Monday that made us get to bed way too late, but... we have three more films this week, so there is hope. I have Street Squash every Wednesday and a nursing home trip every Thurs am with a homeroom that gets to skip eucharist, so I am grateful for this regular, built in community service. In addition, I have one fourth grade homeroom for cs class, every Friday afternoon, so we are busy! The high note for this group for me, was a couple of weeks ago at he nursing home. We had split into two groups and I had one downstairs exercising with the seniors and the homeroom teacher was upstairs with more kids. When I went to get her to tell her we had to leave, I witnessed one of my former Spanish students (not a particularly vocal or confident one) reading the horoscope to a bunch of Hispanic old ladies. How friggin' sweet is that? It was like the pinnacle of satisfaction for me.

Today

When I told M she could not do Daisy Scouts she complained: "I have such a straight life. It is always the same thing every day. Go to school. Take a bath. I always know the future. It is so predictable."
--
When I asked J how he was so cute and funny: "I learned watching people."

I Forgot..

M- What is your chin for? (not sure)
--
J - I wish we lived n candy land. Then I could eat the garbage.
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J on his flu shot bandaid: First mostable it hurts to rip it off and secondable it is not comfortable in hot water.

Standing!

A  can pull up to standing! Crazy but true. I put her down on the bath mat while I turned to grab the baby tub and when I turned around she was holding the tub and standing!

M

Some Banter

J - When babies are crying, they are trying to talk to you. So why put chupetes in and try to stop them?


M while we shopped online for costumes- They have a technique that always fail with you.
Me- What is that?
M- That if we ask you a lot for something you will buy it.

J when I showed him a costume for F- That is awkward.
Me- Why?
J- It is for a boy but a man is in it.