The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly in the Plain

Gratuitous picture of the Raleigh House headliners.

As you know, Dear Readers, we're into words at Raleigh House.  Words, sentences, grammar. . .the wonders of the English language!  The wonders of both the English language, and the bambini, were on full display tonight at dinner.

As you know, Joe is four--and a half.  So he knows stuff.  Clara is still catching up, and what better way to make sure that his little sister's learning is on track than quizzes!  Joe has adopted our habit of asking things like, "What does the red light mean?" or "Is a banana a fruit or a vegetable?"  One of his dinnertime questions to Clara tonight was what animal started with the letter Z and Brigade!  She knew!  Now it's true that there are like two words recognizable to the preschool set as representative of the letter Z (let's say them together: zebra and zipper), but still!  Boom!  She was right there with it.  We high fived it up.  Clara also noted that camel (another animal!) started with C, and car, and Casen (a friend in class)--and ME!  Meaning her, our Clara.

Joe's triumph over the English language requires more exposition.  Julie got a paper cut while opening up the mail.  One of the Spiderman Band-Aids was the right size and shape, as Julie explained to the bambini when she flashed her medical bling around the table--and Joe added, "And, it sticks really well [emphasis added]."  Really well, Fans!  Well!  Not good!  Huge!  Have been correcting and attempting to explain this peculiarity for months.  Huge.

Before scampering off to bath, Joe came round the table to tell Julie he knew something else: he knew it was mine, not mines.  Birdie often stakes her claim to something by saying, "It's mines."  Seems logical--it would be Clara's, Mommy's Daddy's, and then of course there's hers, his, yours. . .Why wouldn't the possessive of my be mines, if it has to be mine?  Wouldn't you know it?  That's just what Joe asked: "Why is there no s?"  The wonder of possessives!  And we're not even talking plural possessives!  Julie did her best to explain, which is to say, she did well.

This Just In

The bambini are down for the night.  They received a talking to regarding their behavior this evening from dinnertime through bedtime.  They were told: "Cool your jets."  Clara, whom you might, Dear Readers, recall, likes to elaborate the "put your listening ears on" directive with "and listen!", said to Julie as she walked out, "And cool your jets down!"  Exactly.

TwinsFest 2013

In need of an afternoon activity, Ted recalled that this weekend was TwinsFest--the annual celebration of all things Twins Baseball!  It is held in the Metrodome, which will likely be demolished next year to make room for the new Vikings stadium, so this is likely the last time we will walk in the big bubble!  Overall, the outing was a success.  Upon entering the dome, we received a plastic bag with promotional material in it.  Needless to say, that bag was dangling from his wrist the entire time we were there.  Joe's favorite activity was to spin the little promotional wheels where one could win various tchotkes.  He earned a pencil, a blinking safety light, a caribiner clip, and three beer cozies.  Joe got his face painted and waited patiently in line to get a balloon animal (a giraff was requested). He also got pictures taken with the characters who race around Target Field every game during the seventh inning (including Bullseye the Target Dog) and TC Bear (the Twins mascot).  He also got a picture taken with Tony Oliva (#6 retired for the Twins and on the cusp of the Hall of Fame)!  When asked about his favorite activity Joe said it was eating Doritos, which was part of the day, but not the intended highlight.  Overall, it was a fun diversion, and a good re-introduction to the Twins for Joe considering we signed up for a 20-game package this season.

Win Twins!

Tony Oliva--#6 for Twins

Joe selected the "balloons with a bow" option

2008 Ekkers trophy with the 1991 World Championship trophy

TC Bear #00

Go Target!

Joe thought beer cozies made excellent mittens

Fresh Powder

Helpin' a sister out

Just when the weather really had us down, it gave us a reason to smile.  When Birdie went down for her nap, Ted and Joe headed off to the Metrodome for TwinsFest.  Julie headed upstairs and about two hours later, when she went back downstairs, she was surprised to see a steady, heavy, and beautiful snow falling.  She texted Ted to let him know, and he texted back that he'd promised Joe sledding.  Sledding!  Whee!  By the time the Boys were home, Birdie was up and both Birds were suited up and ready.

We drove over to the sledding hill near the neighborhood park and quickly figured out that Ted is a little too heavy to go far or fast.  Also, Clara is too little to go by herself on the pink sled Santa brought her.  So by the time we'd made a few runs, we'd settled into Clara riding solo in the little red sled, Joe riding solo in the silver sled, Julie riding--solo--in the pink, and Ted coasting down about half way on the snowboard, at which point he'd get up and haul Clara back up.  There were, of course, some moments of consternation.  We were, after all, still sledding with a toddler and a pre-schooler.  The bummer of sledding, of course, is walking back up the hill with the sled.  But most moments of consternation revolved around counting off ready-set-go in just the right way.  When you are four, there is really only one way.  When you are two, you know, maybe it also goes ready-set!  And maybe you go on the set.  Maybe you also count up for your countdown, like "Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, twelve, thirteen."  And then you go.  Really.  What's a four-year-old boy with very exacting sensibilities to do?

Still, there was plenty of fun.  You can catch some of it here, and here.

Radio Silence Reason Revealed

Fans, we have been radio silent because two of us have been sick.  Julie arrived home on Wednesday to find the bambini on the couch tucked up under a blanket watching Cars.  By that time, she was feeling plain awful, so she sank right down between them, and they wordlessly shared their blanket.  It a real, proper sick day moment!  Sitting on the couch, under a blanket, staring mindlessly at the TV.

Clara has also had a cold, and informed Ted that night that her left ear hurt.  So Julie took both bambini to visit Dr. Harrington the following afternoon.  Only Clara got the once over though.  She's an active participant in the examinations now.  She told Dr. Harrington that her left ear hurt, by pointing to that ear.  Clara also noted that yes, her throat hurt, but not her head, and not her tummy.  And, oh o-kay.  Maybe yeah, now that you mention it, her other ear maybe hurt, too.  Turns out, her right ear was infected.  Left, right, this one, that one. . .It was an ear though.

The Birds are on the mend, but neither is at full flapping strength.  It's a drag, Fans!

Our Hero, Our Fish!

As you know, Fans, Joe has been taking swimming lessons again for a few months now.  These are the real deal, meaning that he's in the pool without a parent and it's as much about learning actual skills as it is about comfort in the water.  Ted shot this video this past Saturday.  The main action, as you will see, is his plunge to the bottom of the pool to collect the goggles and rings, but at the end, check out how he swims the short distance back to the wall from the instructor!  With his face in the water and the whole bit!

Gone (Ice) Fishin'

The Christmas before last, Joe asked Santa for a fishing pole.  Before he got his real fishing pole from Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott after that, but before this past Christmas, Santa obliged Joe by bringing him a toy fishing pole with ten different colored fish, all of which fit together in a compact tackle box.  You've seen Our Hero fishing with it in the whale pool in the summer.  These days, ice fishing is the order of that day.  In our ongoing efforts to stave off boredom yesterday, Ted did not build an ice house, but he did fill the bathtub up with water and deck the bambini out in their snow bibs, coats, hats, and gloves or mittens, so they could go ice fishing in the bathroom.  (There may also have been some fishing in a man-made pond in the sink.)

 

Ring Toss

Fans: it's cold!  Holy ka-shoosh, as Our Hero would say.  We stayed in yesterday and attempted to make that seem like more fun than it might otherwise be by anointing it a Pajama Day.  We staved off cabin fever in part the day with the first of our Kiwi Crates which arrived just in the nick of time in Saturday's post.  (One can also stave off cabin fever by going about and attempting to speak like one lives at the turn of the century and call, for example, the mail, the post.  That's not what we did, but it is a possibility.)  A Kiwi Crate is a little green box that arrives monthly, packed with everything you need for a fun project that promises to inspire creativity and learning.  Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott got Joe and Clara a subscription for Christmas.  They are awesome--oh, the Kiwi Crates and Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott.  (Also Ted who heard about them somewhere and knew they would be right up Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott's gift-giving alley.)

Our first Kiwi Crate contained two projects.  We did one and are saving the other for next weekend.  We made our own ring toss!  Sort of like Skee-Ball and we think we can all agree that Skee-Ball rocks.  Joe, for his part, rocked the ring toss.  At least until he got some caught up in the excitement of it all that he was no longer rocking it, lacking the requisite modicum of focus.  But we can say, without a doubt, that the Kiwi Crate delivered all it promised: fun, creativity, and learning.

Our Hero, in action.

Our Hero recording his latest triumph (we were playing to fill the whole card until the excitement overtook Our Hero).

This was where and how Joe liked to stand when it wasn't his turn.  We mentioned that he was really excited, right?

Friends and family box.

Settling In For the Cold Snap

Home Theater

Fans, we we are at the start of some right proper Minnesota winter weather.  We're to have a streak of single and negative digit highs!  The temperatures began falling this afternoon, but by that time, we'd done our out-and-about-ing and were tucked into Raleigh House.  First thing was first: we broke out a board game.  While Clara napped, Ted beat Julie and Joe at No Stress Chess*, and then Julie and Joe (mostly Julie as Joe had abandoned her) bested Ted.  (Eat your heart out, Teddy Fisher.)  Joe learned the word "powerful," as in "the Queen is the most powerful piece on the board."  He could also be heard mumbling, "This is gonna be bad," mimicking Julie who had said the same after a particularly bad draw.

*No Stress Chess is awesome, Fans.  AWESOME.  We were introduced to No Stress Chess by Graham's mom, Sara.  Graham loves it.  No Stress Chess differs from chess only in that one draws cards before moving.  Each card has a piece on it, and that's the piece the player can move.  It's a good way to learn how the pieces move, even if it is not, as Ted pointed out, entirely stress-free.  One finds, for example, one's self wishing for a particular card to turn up.

Later in the afternoon, we watched Cars.  Ka-chow!  Clara slept late, but joined us once she was up.  She likes to grab a lock of hair and trace the rim of her ear with it, or maybe she's painting the inside of her ear with the ends of the lock.  We really don't know, Brigade.  It's like a throw back to when she used to twirl her hair while she sucked on her two fingers, and she's been at it ever since her hair was cut.  Ka-chow!

A Trip Down Memory Lane 

Another From the Archives

I Spy, A Vacation Addendum

When we were in Arizona, we often played I Spy to keep the bambini from driving us to distraction (off the road, in other words).  It's tricky, but hilarious, business playing I Spy with Birdie, because, for example, you might say, "I spy with my little eye something. . .red!"  Birdie might say, "The [traffic] light!"  If it wasn't what you had in mind, you would say no--and Birdie would assume you meant that the traffic light was not red, but some other color--very confusing to those who have spent some time getting these colors down.  But Birdie. . .oh she's clever.  She solved the problem by playing I Spy like so: "I spy something pink!  My shoe!"  Asked, and answered, Brigade.

A Vacation, in Quotes

Travel with preschoolers!  Such maddening sweetness!  In lieu of a blow-by-blow, we offer you this compendium of quotes which we feel capture that maddening sweetness in all its glory:

"Mommy!  We're gonna be quiet all the way to the airport.  We're gonna talk on the plane."  Joe, upon departing Raleigh House

"And listening ears on and listen!"  Clara, upon arrival at the airport

"Mommy!  Did you know the airplane's bathroom is really small?!"  Joe, upon landing, while grasping on to Clara's seat on the airplane from his, behind hers

"Clara, when I get to five, you need to stop saying holiday lights.  You need to stop saying annoying noise."  Joe, one way to dinner our first night

Joe, to Clara: "See!  Now you just broke a library book!"  Clara, in response: "No.  I just got to go potty."

"I want letters!!!!!"  Clara

"You gotta stop crying.  I'm trying to listen."  Joe, to Clara

Ted to Joe and Clara: "Do you want pancakes or eggs?" Clara, in response: "Cupcakes!"

"Mommy, the stars are following us."  Joe, to Julie, while in her arms, looking at the stars

"Clara Jane, if you do not take that rock out of your mouth, I swear to God, I'm going to pitch it. . ." Julie, to Clara, on way from Tucson back to Phoenix  (Aunt Kate, laughing, correctly guessed that Julie was about to say she was going to pitch the rock out the window.  However, such an action would not model appropriate behavior.  What is it about the bambini and rocks?!?!)

"Every time you talk this dinosaur will say 'Shh!  Shh!'"  Joe, to Clara, after a dinner at which two balloon dinosaurs were acquired

"My favorite race car is Lightening McQueen ka-CHOW!"  Joe

"No, I gonna push it!!!!!  NO I GONNA PUSH IT!!!!!"  Clara, to Ted, almost every time the sliding passenger door was opened because she was unable to reach the button to close the door until removed from her car seat (but you know, trivialities, Brigade, trivialities)

"I got boogers." Clara

"You have millions of boogers!"  Joe

"Boogers, boogers, boogers, boogers. . ." Joe and Clara, repeated incessantly until told to stop by exasperated parents

"Holy bonkers, Joe."  Clara

"Don't put your ball in the sand." Clara, in the middle of a game of I Spy

Joe: "Is someone else going to rent the car?" Julie and Ted, in response: "Yes." Joe, in response: "And are they going to go fast like a rabbit?!  Fast like a rabbit?  Fast like a rabbit?  Fast like a rabbit?. . ." (fast like a rabbit repeated incessantly until told to stop by exasperated parents who were also trying to figure out why the rabbit was being cited as the paragon of speed)

All Dressed Up And. . .

Fans!  Brigade!  As many of you know, we have been on a hiatus because we travelled to Arizona for Grandpa Tom's wedding to Lynn.  Most of you who would be interested in an eyewitness account of the proceedings were there, which is good, because this reporter is unable to provide such an account.  Brigade, Birdie had no more arrived at the church with her entourage then she threw up all over herself, her car seat, her ride (a silver minivan dubbed Silverado), and her father's hands.  (Ted had been about to take Clara out of her car seat and tried to catch the mess and prevent it from reaching Clara's dress, but it was not to be contained.)  Ted, Aunt Kate, and Nick were all participants in the ceremony, so they stayed at the church with Joe while Julie and Uncle Scott drove back across town to collect Clara's other fancy frock.  But, Uncle Scott had barely headed back to the church when Clara threw up again.  It seemed foolish to risk an episode in the church during the wedding, so they took Birdie back and while Uncle Scott cleaned up the car, Julie got Birdie cleaned up and in a bed.  Oh Brigade.  There she was, mumbling and sobbing in little bursts, "My dots!  I want to wear my dots!"  She'd been so excited to wear her frothy, beaded confection, and failing that, she was desperate to at least wear her polka dot dress again.  She had no temperature, Brigade, but she slept for four and a half hours straight--!!!!!  She woke up right as rain, and made an appearance at the after-after-party at Grandpa Tom and Lynn's house.  It was not an occasion for dots, but she did get to wear her aqua blue Mary Janes again, and see Grandpa Tom and Lynn.

The Dynamic Duo, bringing their usual dynamism to posed shots.  Clara is in her "dots."

Inside, before the barf.

Outside, before the barf.

Probably their best shot from the shoot.

Cheers!

The dinnertime conversation is indeed sparkling around here these days, Fans.  It's hard to believe that anyone might doze off, but Julie did put her head down--briefly--on the table toward the end of dinner tonight.  Clara promptly bellowed, "GET UP!"  No rest for the wicked 'round here, Fans.

Our longtime readers and savvy observers of Raleigh House minutia, will note from the picture here that our seating arrangements round the table have changed.  Thank goodness as the lopsided feng shui was throwing off Julie's equilibrium.  Joe used to sit at the head of the table so that Julie and Ted could flank him on either side. When Clara arrived, Joe remained at the head of the table, with Clara to his right, and Julie to her right. Ted also continued to flank Joe on the other side of the table, across from Clara.  Julie felt rather adrift, frankly.  When the Christmas tree was up, Joe wanted to be able to gaze at it while eating, so he displaced Ted, who moved down one position, across from Julie.  When we took the Christmas tree down, we kept the same arrangement.

The only possible drawback of this arrangement so far as we can tell is that when we raise our glasses to toast the day, as we do most nights, Joe and Clara cannot actually touch glasses because their arms are too short to reach each other.  (This toast to the say is very charming, by the way, Fans, because Joe, usually, leads us off, and at least 50% of the time, he gets the day wrong--but with such endearing gusto!  Joe: "Well, here's to Thursday!" Ted: "Here's to Tuesday!")

Because the bambini cannot touch their glasses, we have had to teach them to say "Clink!" as they gesture toward each other with their cups.  This practice arose out of necessity, but it might not be altogether bad since it may avery overzealous clinking resulting in spilled milk.

Cheers, Fans!

Connie and Charles

In other news from the Birdie language front, we can report that she likes to refer to her Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles as simply Connie and Charles.  We can't say why.  Periodically, Birdie may ask after one or both of them, as she did this evening when Julie arrived home and the first thing that Birdie said to her was, "Connie and Charles going to come?"  By which Birdie meant would they be coming over.  This would seem like a non-sequitur if you hadn't been at the Raleigh House family dinner table last night, at which the conversation turned to Clara's birthday, at which we said the Grandparents Trump would be in attendance.  Clara then said, "I going to invite Daphne."  Clearly, this fete is shaping up to be the event of 2013.  It's important that we get this guest list tacked down early, like yesterday.  We've only got three and a half more months to plan.

As a sidebar, as a part of that dinnertime conversation, Joe inquired what Clara might like on her cake.  The options he outlined were not limited to, but did include the following:
A whale
A crab
A kangaroo
A bird
A blanket
A person wrapped in a blanket
A crown
Clara said that she wanted a baby on her cake. Joe thought that was a-o-kay, and further counseled the Bird that her cake would have her name on it, and she would eat the piece with her name on it since it was her cake.

So, Connie and Charles, you can start looking forward to a cake with a baby and Clara's name on it.  Hopefully you weren't counting on the piece with Clara on it.  Maybe you can have an ear?!

Of Cookies and Otters

While Joe keeps busy with bags, Clara keeps busy with magnets--those that are flat and flush with the refrigerator and that she can reach, anyway.  She calls them cookies, and doles them out to those who would like one.  She has rather a number of longer sentences, seemingly all of a sudden, so one can have an actual conversation with her, albeit simple and brief.  "You want a cookie?" or "You want to have a picnic?" are two not uncommon beginning to such conversations.  The cookies are usually "chocolate."  It's not entirely clear if Clara knows chocolate to be its own category of cookie, or if she just hasn't learned chocolate chip as another category and is just shortening it up.

In this clip, you can see her managing the Raleigh House cookie supply in a conversation with Joe, and a bit of the bambini's respective modus operandi.  You will also see another of Joe's crazes in action: pretending to be an otter.  (Special guest appearance by Berenice 53 seconds in.)

Though She Be But Little. . .

Our Birdie, Brigade.  She's some fierce.  She will tell you how it is.  Ms. Julie, the Learning Adventures teacher (the teacher who teaches the additional classes for which you can sign your child, like Joe's Vowels and Blending class) who fills in various rooms at pick-up time, was in Clara's pick-up room on Friday when Julie arrived.  Ms. Julie told Julie that she had called Clara "my Clara."  Clara apparently fixed Ms. Julie with a steady gaze and said, "I Mommy's Clara."

Birds, July 2012

A Boy At Work

If he's not keeping the manufacturer of Ziplock products in business, Joe can also often be found keeping himself busy with the printer and its paper and attendant office supplies, especially the stapler.  This past Saturday, Julie was out for a bit during quiet time.  When she returned home, Joe informed her--upon questioning--that Ted was upstairs, on the bed, asleep.  Evidence of Joe's meandering was already absolutely everywhere so Julie decided it was all a lost cause and lay down on the couch to read.  Eventually, she fell asleep for a bit, too.

Before she did, Joe approached her with a box of perhaps a dozen cookies, each about the size of a petit four, that the Grandparents Trump had brought with them for Christmas.  Joe told Julie, sotto voice, that he had something for her.  He allowed that she could have one.  Clara was to have one when she awoke.  Joe had had one, and Ted.  No doubt, Fans, you have noticed the one-to-a-customer-pattern.

By the time Ted, Julie, and Birdie were also all awake later that afternoon, Joe had cut a wide path of play through most corners of the house, including the office area upstairs.  Joe has learned to use the printer to make copies and Fans, what could be more fun, when you are four, than making copies?  Perhaps only stapling handfuls of blank sheets of paper together to make instruction books for all of your new toys.  (Naturally.)

He had also eaten all of the cookies, save one, which was for Clara.

Of Puzzles and the Latest (Toy?) Craze

We have many blessings here at Raleigh House, Fans, including an abundance of toys, especially in the wake of Christmas.  A survey of the play things revealed that we have, for example, no fewer than 22 puzzles (with two sets of four puzzles each being counted as one, mind you).  Not included in this count are the chunky shape puzzles that serve as an introduction to the category.  If we included those, the count would rise to 31.   Now, Fans, we love a puzzle (clearly), but 22, let alone 31, really does seem a bit excessive.  So Sunday morning found us considering the first 22 mentioned here and making some decisions about which puzzles we might donate to other puzzle-loving boys and girls who might not have anything approaching such an abundance of puzzles.  The bambini were game, but as you might expect, when we got down to brass tacks, it was rather like the Allies carving up Europe in the wake of WWI.  (We can only hope that we have not sown the seeds of another conflict on the scale of WWII.)  Naturally, all newly acquired puzzles were kept, as well as the solar system puzzle that is actually missing a piece.  We also kept some old favorites.  Mercifully, we have jettisoned the Thomas puzzle whose box gave no visual to assist the would-be puzzle master, and whose pieces did not fit snugly together.  (It goes to torment another family.)  We are down to a more respectable 12 puzzles.

The irony in all of this, Fans, to our way of thinking anyway, is that at the moment, Joe's favorite toy is a Ziplock bag.  (If he cannot lay hands on a Ziplock bag, an old, plastic Target bag will do.)  He likes to cram, say, all of his Star Wars figures into a Ziplock bag, or all of his Cars cars.  All of the grocery items might go into a Target bag, or all of the animals that happen to be on his bed at that moment.  It's tight quarters in these bags, Fans, especially the Ziplocks, with things crammed in cheek by jowl.  (Han Solo looks very uncomfortable.  It's a safe bet that he, too, cannot wait until the Ziplock bag craze is over.  The Ziplock bag cannot do the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.)

Birdie Gets a New 'Do

"Debbie.  I know.  It's simply out of control."

Big day today, Brigade, big day!  Birdie got her first hair cut.  We all had dinner at the Chipotle down the street which gave Joe and a chance to give her the run down on how everything was going to go down.  Some of his key points were that there were a number of things to look at, including stuff you could put on your finger nails--if only one could open the bottles.  Also, Ms. Debbie would give Birdie haircut stuff to play with while she was getting her haircut.  (In case that was unappealing, Julie had come prepared with several lengthy Dr. Seuss books.)

There was, of course, rather a lot to look at in the salon once Birdie was ensconced in Ms. Debbie's station: the spray bottle, the hair drier, all of these people smiling at Birdie like she was the most darling girl on which they'd ever laid eyes.  Julie read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and by the time she was done, so was Birdie.

And isn't she a picture, Brigade?

Birdie.  Sigh.

Birdie Makes Some Calls

We should tell you that Clara is quite taken with the phone these days, or what she considers to be the phone.  Any remote control will do, and as with all things, when she decides what she thinks, there's no convincing her otherwise.  Thus, you can tell her that her phone is a remote control and she will merrily show you that you really don't know what you're talking about.  The remote control in Duluth was apparently a direct line to Grandpa Charles, as he seemed to be the only person she could raise on the thing.  We told her to give him our love.

Goodbye Christmas!

Bambini at work.

The Christmas decorations have come down.  Before we left for 'Luth, the bambini helped Julie take down the holiday cards on the holiday card tree.  Of course, before he could assist, Joe informed Julie that he had to make the Kessel run--with his Millennium Falcon you know, Fans.  We are just waiting for the day when he whips out the whole line: "She's the ship that did the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs."  Really, because that it going to be a great day for the Rebel Alliance.

He was back at again yesterday, Kessel running here and there.  He was instructing Clara to take the snowspeeder and clean with it before he did his Kessel run.  Did he think it was a snowsweeper?  And surely it was only incidental that Clara--a girl--was being ordered to do the cleaning?  Though Clara would perhaps not be amenable to any intergalactic feminism campaign, as when in the superhero cape she got for Christmas from her Grandparents Trump, she will inform you that she is a princess, and will brook no alternative suggestions.

In any case, before we left for Dultuh, we packed up all yuletide trimmings save the tree, and yesterday, we managed to pack up all the ornaments and the tree in between all the Kessel runs.  Joe helped a bit when it came time to pull up the bag in which we store the artificial tree.

Joe and Clara had been flitting about in their underwear, but by the time the bag was being pulled up, they'd stripped down to nothing as bath was imminent.  Ted had been busy with the tree so did not notice the change right away, but when he did, he jokingly remarked to Joe that he looked magnificent.  Joe replied gleefully, "I'm naked!"  Indeed he was.  (As our longtime Fans know, Our Hero is most fond of being naked.)

(We don't know what Birdie is doing with her hands either.  But it's not very princess like, is it?)

'Luth!

Gotta huddle together for warmth in Duluth.

Fans!  We are back.  You might not have known we were gone!  It wasn't cold enough for us in the Twin Cities, so we went to Duluth--the Greater Whiter North--for the weekend ("'Luth!" as Clara called it).  We went to the Great Lakes Aquarium where we learned an awful lot about Lake Superior and sturgeon, and to a railroad museum which is pretty awesome even if you aren't a railroad enthusiast, and would be super awesome if you are.  But let's be honest: the trip's best moments were all part and parcel of traveling with the bambini.

Graham and Connor gave Joe a pretty great CD for Christmas.  We listened to it twice.  The rest of the time, we listened to Jack Jackson's rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, with which Joe is currently obsessed, and The Interstate Managers' Hey Julie, with which Birdie is currently quite taken.  Woe unto to you, Mix Master, if you cue up the wrong version of Rudolph, let alone another song, or you do not manipulate the iPhone quickly enough to get the song cued up approximately two milliseconds are it has been demanded, or you would like to listen to something else.  Really, you should not even try to attempt another tune because that song will no sooner have begun than from the backseat you will hear, "I want to hear the Julie song!  The Julie song!  THE JULIE SONG!" and then "After we listen to the Julie song, can we listen to Rudolph?"--this last will be repeated incessantly until you respond: "Can we listen to Rudolph?  Can we listen to Rudolph?  Can we listen to Rudolph?  Can we listen to Rudolph?"  Yesterday, when requests for Rudolph and and Hey Julie were issued in stereo and with mounting hysteria lest the wrong one be played first, Julie temporarily banned both from the airwaves because frankly, Fans, her nerves were shot.

Now you would think that the elevator would engender a fierce who-will-press-the-buttons competition, but actually, it did not.  The bambini took turns quite amicably, even after Clara figured out that the button for the second floor of the lodge in which we were staying was the same as her age.  ("I two!")  Birdie even suffered her big brother's good natured but incessant correction of her referring to the elevator as escalator: "It's an EL-evator.  You always call it ESC-alator."  (This from the boy who charmingly kept noting that we had to "pay for the room!" every time the ket card was put into the lock.)

We ate out every meal, of course, so there were lots of opportunities to review the restaurant rules:
1.  We listen.  Clara: "Listening ears!  Listen to our teachers and our parents!"  Joe: "You don't have to say teachers.  There aren't any teachers here."
2.  We use inside voices.  Clara (screaming): "No screaming!"
3.  We walk.  Clara: "No running!"
4.  We sit in our seat.  (Usually by the time we reach this rule, anticipation has reached a fever-pitch so there is not necessarily any attendant echo.)
In short, we behave, or "'have," as Clara says right now and mostly, they 'haved.

The same could not be said of them once they were tucked into bed, but what can you expect when they were sharing a bed, and with Chloe ("Chloe!"), Pink Dog, Bear-y (Clara's), Neaky, Penguin, and Bear-y (Joe's).  That's a New Year's Rockin' Eve right there, Fans.  It was better than the hotel pool and hotel pools are pretty great.

We awoke this morning to Joe throwing his arms up and screaming "Happy new year!"  He'd been rehearsing for days, waiting for the day.

Happy new year, Dearest Fans.

Steady, Mates.

The trains were impressive.

I've been workin' on the railroad. . .

Vikings-Packers game cannot match finding lotion unattended.

Snack time.  (The bambini refer to eating bananas peeled like this eating them "monkey style.")

We ate at Fitger's twice.