Halloween

Parents around the blogging world are adding pictures of their kids in costume. Guess we'll join the masses. Sela has consumed more candy this weekend than her entire previous 2 years of life.
The little monkey has been sleeping with this banana for the past week. Thanks, Kelsey, for the costume.

After the guts were emptied, every time we turned our backs, Sela had filled them up again with the removed pulp and put the lid on.

That's right, I'm a honey hive being invaded by a hungry bear. Dan was a reluctant bee keeper.

Out with the big kids.

Umm, how did I not notice that the camera was really not straight? Must be the belly in the way.

California jaunt

Just recently we made a trip to Sierra's and got to spend some great time with family and see some friends at Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and the Bay Area. Sela almost smothered Abe with her attention and love, "It ok Abe, Ela right here." Can't really blame her. He is very cute and has a charming smile. My personal highlight was a hike that Kimber was quick to point out was, "not as advertised" when billed as an easy, 25-weeks-pregnant friendly hike, but it was so beautiful and great to get out and up. Sela's highlights were probably: Abe, wildlife from afar only, and slow hiking adventures with Grandma and Grandpa. I think that Dan's highlight was - everything. We spent a nice day with Dan's grandfather and Aunt Alice's family including a decadent San Francisco lunch, a slide that was "too spicy" to ride on, and certainly excellent company. We also decided that it would be fun to arrange a wedding reunion trip with friends and family to Yosemite sometime - would anyone come?

Sela's Birthday

At the time, Sela had no idea what it meant that it was her birthday, but since then, she tells us that everything is from her birthday. I asked her where she picked up a stick today, and she told me that she got it for her birthday. We had a few trips to Indiana this summer, and having a short person in my grandparents retirement community is notable, so many elderly ladies would come up to Sela and ask her how old she was. This gave us the opportunity to practice before the big day. She would concentrate very hard on pulling up her pinky finger and ring finger from her dimpled fist to make two, and then proudly hold out all five fingers and say "three!". I guess she was trying to be as incognito about her two-year-old age as some of those ladies are about their own ages. Luckily, we were able to celebrate a little pre-birthday party with cousin Miles who is only 5 days her younger, but I think will be using his "big boy" underwear much sooner than his older and wiser cousin.

We went for the bus theme on the cake, since they are a very exciting thing to see on the street and a very exciting thing to sing about. You know the song - "The wheels on the bus go round and round....." After the party, however, Grandma was trying to sing the song to Sela on Skype and she kept saying, "No, Nanna, no! Wheels no go round and round, wheels cookie!" The big hit presents, though, all had wheels - a backpack with rollers that was our constant companion for several days, a mini Papa red truck, and a little stroller that carries many interesting loads over to the little step stool that the neighbor kid decided to make with his grandfather for Sela. Dan and I were really impressed and touched by that one.

Five

What are you supposed to do for the fifth year anniversary? Iron or something? We weren't sure, so we bought eachother 2 apple trees - Honeycrisp and Courltand. Sela was helpful- really putting her back into it. Now, I suppose, we are literally laying down roots in this place. Will we ever eat any of these apples?

Utah

Our trip to Utah was much needed (especially for Dan) as we were burning low on energy with work travel, too many work hours, and being apart. It was amazing how much we were able to fit into our relatively short time there with seeing unexpected members of our family, lots of good friends, and camp and "hike" (whatever you call what you do with a two-year-old) in the desert. We felt much better in the end, hopefully realigned some priorities, but reminded us of our craving for the West and being closer to family and friends. I even felt the baby move for the first time on a beautifully cool evening, watching the sunset deepen the colors of a massive red rock cliff.

Indian Girl

I've always enjoyed the bold colors and unique designs of Indian block prints. It has been an amazing year of travel and I sometimes wonder why I'm lucky to meet so many good people all over the world. It's sometimes funny to shoot through the sky in a metal tube and develop friendships with people who live in different worlds and yet share the common need for a good laugh. One day I'll be able to slow down and actually figure out why it is happening to me. As fun as it can be, and sometime it isn't fun, nothing beats this smile when coming home.

Catch up

Once again, it is fall, and the colorful leaves have just been pelted off of the trees by torrents of rain, and, once again, nothing has been added to the blog from our eventful summer. Dan was off visiting his other, more exotic Indian, and more punctual Korean families often during the first half of the year. This has, once again, let Sela and I have quality time with each other during the times that I am very grateful I am not a working, single parent, as well as some quality time with grandparents. Mom came and taught from her central NY classroom again, where she is too short to reach the table and has to sit on a few pillows. We had a really good time together and we may be able to credit "Nanna" with expanding Sela's color world vocabulary beyond yellow, encouraging two word sentences, and getting her reacquianted with the ducks that go "splash" (a big arm thrust that moves your whole body has to accompany this exclammation). I still like being with my mother and still have a few things that I can learn from her.