May The Force Be With You

Yes, for about a month now, every time I've turned on my car, Calder has requested Darth Vader's theme music (from Episode IV of "Star Wars"). I believe he's been getting into character. And both boys have been practicing beating the crap out of each other with their light sabers, so here we are, with two method actors in training. Zola, however, hasn't needed much practice in looking regal or giving her brothers funny looks. All that might just come naturally to her. Anyhoo, it was a Star Wars Halloween this year. Milo's already informed me that he gets to be Darth Vader next year.

Funny thing, although Calder's been wearing his Darth Vader mask off and on for the better part of the past two weeks, today he did not want to wear it. Oh well. That sure didn't stop him from swatting his brother with his light saber.

World's tiniest Darth Vader

Dashing Luke Skywalker

Cutest little Princess Leia

We started out our afternoon with a birthday party for our friend Juliana and then, as the sun went down, headed out into the Elmwood Park neighborhood to trick or treat with many of our friends. The folks in Elmwood Park really get excited about Halloween, decorating their lovely old homes as haunted houses and dressing up in costume. It was delightfully spooky!

Happy Halloween!

The kids carved our jack-o-lantern last night with Daddy. Calder, our brave child, actually helped Daddy scoop out the pumpkin guts, despite Milo's shrieks of disgust. And here's the finished product, sitting with the pumpkins the boys painted earlier this month.

We wish you all a fabulous time trick-or-treating!!!

It Could Always Be Worse

WARNING: THOSE WITH WEAK STOMACHS OR DISDAIN FOR POTTY HUMOR SHOULD AVOID READING THIS POST, AS IT MIGHT BE HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH.



One of my husband's favorite children's books is "It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale" by Margot Zemach, which tells the story of a poor peasant who seeks advice from his rabbi on how to make his overcrowded, crazy hut more livable. On the advice of the rabbi, the peasant successively brings all his livestock into the hut and then, after a series of weeks of increasing misery, removes all the livestock, making his household seem absolutely wonderful.

I thought that things were bad enough this past weekend, when I contracted the stomach virus that had been making the rounds with the preschool set, and still had to attend soccer games, worry about what was for dinner, catch up on laundry, and, among other things, you know, "mother." But, of course, things could always be worse. My stomach problems lingered just long enough to depart right before Calder presented with symptoms of the same bug.

Not long after bedtime on Wednesday Calder's bouts of vomiting and then diarrhea commenced. The poor guy barely slept all night and when home from school on Thursday spent the day resting and ordering me around like a little dictator. When sick, Calder is completely different from his older brother Milo, who is a perfect darling, wanting only to be held, cuddled, and maybe read to. In contrast, Calder is cranky and demanding. He is perhaps a bit like his father when sick, but I get ahead of myself. Calder stated it plainly at one point, growling "I'M GRUMPY!!!!" at me as I tried to juggle entertaining Zola and making sure that Calder's flask of Pedialyte was full, he had all the trains and cars needed by his side, and the correct video was being shown in the screening . . . , I mean the family room. Yes, someday Calder will make a terrific CEO or dictator of a small country. Thankfully Calder was completely well today and could go to school because I was absolutely ready for him to go back to school.

Today my husband arrived home at lunchtime unannounced. His face a pale ashen color, he plodded in the door and up the stairs to bed. Yes, things could always be worse.

When I picked up Milo from school this afternoon he looked quite glum and immediately said, "I feel like I'm going to throw up." Yes, things could always be worse. I suppose I should be proud of Milo--he's a pro at vomiting into a ziploc bag while seated in a moving vehicle without any drips or spills. Anyhoo, four hours later and Milo was still vomiting, poor guy.

And now that all the bathrooms in my house reek something awful and two out of five of us are actively ill, one of the dogs decided to use the playroom carpet as a bathroom. Why? Did I really need to know definitively that things could always be worse?

I suppose all of us could have been sick simultaneously. I keep waiting, almost holding my breath, for Zola's cries. It's probably only a question of when, not if, my baby will get sick. Yes, things could always be worse, but maybe by the end of the weekend my hut will be empty (relatively), clean, and free of illness. One can hope. In fact, I'd even settle for just a healthy husband with whom to share parenting duties.

Pumpkin Patch

This year we took the busy family's way out of actually taking a trip to a farm for a real pumpkin patch. We traveled just a few blocks away to the pumpkin patch concocted on the lawn of a local church. Regardless of the shoddy nature of this family venture, our trip to the patch was a success. We procured a large pumpkin to sit along with the mini-pumpkins (painted by the boys earlier in the month) on our stoop and Zola got her first chance to sit amongst the pumpkins.

Thankfully Zola's first trip to the pumpkin patch was not as traumatizing as Milo's first such experience. He screamed bloody murder the moment we plopped him down beside the towering orange behemoths. No smiley photo-ops that day. And I will never forget Calder's first trip to the pumpkin patch. That was the year we lived in Williamsburg, VA, and the farm we visited was picaresque and just a short ride from our home. The pumpkins were still attached to their lovely curling vines and they were the most beautiful heirloom variety pumpkins I'd ever seen, some striped and of varying shades of my favorite color orange. The warm, bright sun shone down on us and for a while, no one was throwing a tantrum or crying. Just wonderful.

Anyhoo, this trip was short and painless. No pumpkins were harmed during the duration of our visit and only one of our three children was punished on the way home from the patch.

You Know You're In The South When

Today I went to Dollar Tree with Calder and Zola to pick up some items for Milo's school's upcoming Harvest Festival. One of the store clerks was just enamored with Zola. He came right up to us and said Zola was the most beautiful little girl and how gorgeous she was, blah, blah, blah. In fact, he said she is so beautiful that I'm going to need to get a gun. I what?!? Yeah, it took me a moment too but then I think I got it. And maybe I'm going to need to stay away from that Dollar Tree guy too.

Nine Months Old

Our super sweet little girl is three-quarters of the way to her first birthday today! At nine months old Zola is eating tons of finger food, crawling, standing with assistance, smiling and laughing up a storm, making all sorts of sounds, and may have even said her first word, "dog." Zola simply has the sweetest disposition. She loves to bestow kisses and big squeezy hugs. Zola is just delicious!

Consumer Negotiation

Calder has been honing his negotiating skills. Yesterday at Target, as we wandered down the office supply aisle, Calder spied a weird gadget that seemed to be a ruler, hole puncher, stapler, and who-knows-what-else, in the shape of an airplane. Here's what ensued:

Calder: Look Mommy! I need that rocket! Let's get it for Milo!

Me: No, I don't think so.

Calder: But it's super cool and not expensive! (Mind you, he's three and cannot read and, thus, would not know whether the item were expensive.)

Me: Nope. I don't think so, honey.

At this time, a young, college-age couple on the aisle smiles, repeats Calder's catch phrases, and starts to giggle at Calder's brave attempts at characterizing the airplane-shaped-gadget that does who-knows-what in an enticing manner. I turn to them, smile, and say, "Yes folks, he's only three, but he already drives a hard bargain." Well, we did not purchase the whatever it was, despite Calder's shrieks and whines. But I guess he won after all, as we left Target with a voice-changing full Darth Vader helmet. (It was on sale.)

Crawl Baby Crawl

Zola showed off her new crawling skills at playgroup today. Although Zola has been gearing up to crawl for some time now, she had not actually taken any "steps" on her knees until this past weekend, while her grandparents were watching. Today at playgroup, however, Zola used her new skills to play with her friend Chloe's toys. Thankfully Zola's really not zipping all over the place just yet. Just a few tentative, graceful moves here and there and then back to sitting for her. Phew.

Grandparents Weekend

Grammy and Oom-Poppa joined Uncle Ben in town this past weekend. The Weinberg Three enjoyed their time with their grandparents, taking them to Saturday's soccer games, the "Wild Rumpus" storytime at the library, the annual chili cookoff in Five Points, and the playground.

SC State Fair

Uncle Ben has been visiting us this week all the way from Tel Aviv, Israel.

To give him a true taste of our (relatively) new home state, yesterday we took him to the 2008 SC State Fair. We arrived at the fair before 11 am and left after 4:45 pm. Yes, we were there for six hours of non-stop rides, fried food, hokey magic/comedy shows, farm animals, tantrums, shrieks of delight, and beaming-warm-your-heart smiles that stretch from ear to ear.

Ah, I bet you wish you'd joined us!

Soccer Update

This past Saturday my boys had their third soccer games of the season. Milo's game was first and although I missed part of the game (due to the Walk for Life), Milo seemed to be playing well. A number of times Milo managed to wrestle the ball from the horde of four and five-year-olds (I might run the other way if faced with such a pushing, shoving, and kicking bunch), deftly prevented the ball from going out of bounds, dribbled the ball all the way up the field to the goal, and kicked the ball strongly to his teammates. It was cool to watch him! When he wasn't busting such fabulous moves Milo was dancing on the field (no joke--sort of a cross between cheering and dance team) or he was on the sidelines stuffing himself with snacks. 'Cause if you're not playing you might as well be eating, huh?



Calder's game was rescheduled to noon. This is an unfortunate time of the day for three-year-olds. As you may recall from my earlier soccer post, Calder is somewhat of a stalwart on the field. Rock, immovable object, pain in the *** also come to mind. Anyhoo, Calder TOTALLY SURPRISED us and actually played the game of soccer for about a minute or two. We watched, dumbstruck (and probably slack jawed), as Calder ran after the ball, kicked the ball, and chased other players on the field (without leaving his designated field), all with a smile on his face.



As I said, however, this lasted momentarily and shortly thereafter, Calder took a break on the field, bent over to sit down, and in doing so, the ball hit and bounced off him (thereby staying in bounds). Calder was unfazed and proceeded to continue to sit down and take his much needed rest. When he wasn't resting on the field, he was doing so on the sidelines. Justin carried him back onto the field a couple of times and then we just gave up. At least we got Calder to stay to watch the rest of the game. Really, that was an effort. And, we at least now have some hope that he'll eventually, maybe, like to play soccer or another sport. Maybe.



Zola was a champ on the sidelines. Justin's already picked out some pink cleats for her debut on the field in two years or so. Or was that me?

Walk For Life

Yesterday Zola and I slipped away from the boys and did the three-mile First Ladies' Walk for Life here in sunny Columbia. We walked on our good friend Caitlin's team, the Cancer Crushers. Zola snuggled up to me the whole time in her sling, smiling at people and tentatively waiving.

Super Cutie

I know I'm biased, but Ms. Zola is so super cute!

Date

This past Friday night Milo and I had a date. First we went out to dinner at Gervais and Vine, where my little guy charmed the waitress, and devoured hummus, pita bread, and Parmesan and garlic-covered french fries (his steak was too spicy). Afterwards we went to the ballet. The university's dance company performed "Carnival of the Animals" to the Saint-Saens score, as well as some other pieces. Milo enjoyed the performance, as well as the live music. The lion in the "Carnival of the Animals" was his favorite.

A-side? B-side? No -- the Dark Side

Continuing with the Star Wars mania, here are Calder and Milo with their own rendition of Darth Vader's theme...