remember this

here is "to fill a crib" with Zachary at ~2-3 months ...

and again but this time Miriam ...

#pi in the sky

DSC_0079, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

That's right tomorrow is 3/14 or pi day. And sxsw got some pi early. Z was fascinated by the numbers written in the sky above our house, so much so he had dinner on the front lawn. Probably something to do with all the math he has been doing on the dreambox app his school provided. He is moving through the grades at a steady pace. Next stop measurement, and geometry, then he'll be asking about algebra and calculus!

P.S. Sarah just learned the numbers are made at 10,000 ft and are each a quarter mile high. They went to about 500 digits of pi!

I have toes !

toes !, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

fun times at chuck e cheese

Evening Conversation

Jumprope for Heart

DSC_0022, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

growing

Untitled, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

heads up

DSC_0107, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

OUR BABY IS A GENIUS.

Ok. Maybe she's just a baby.

Actually, she is a genius because she GOES TO SLEEP WHEN SHE'S TIRED. I do not have a video of that. Sorry. I might, because it is magical to watch and usually involves like 10 seconds of a little fuss and then sleep. We'll have to enshrine in on the internet because we find it fascinating.

This post is totally not about that.

Some friends gave us this toy that looks like a baby torture device but is actually a toy that Miriam *loves*.  She still isn't wildly certain about using her hands, but she can usually get her groove on enough to make it spin and rattle.

Did I mention we're pretty easily entertained? I blame the sleep deprivation.

double fisting

double fisting, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

February 75F stroll

February 75F stroll, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

prepping veg

prepping veg 1, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

He just learnt to peel and is loving it. He does carrots too. So now I've been buying a 5lb bag for delicious yummy healthy snacks.

Smiles!

We are getting smiles, all over the place. Mark had her in the giggles here. It is so much fun as she started to really interact.

Quality Play time

DSC_0067, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Another Bad weather - no school day.
Miriam and Z played for 30 minutes. No fussing, just lots of "round and round the garden" and "this little piggie" and ""rain, rain, rain, raptor".

Miriam on a new quilt

DSC_0057, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

just for those who need a baby pic fix.

ice storm austin

DSC_0048, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Zachary ate a bunch of icicles. He was fascinated. And the crunchy cold allowed him to really get the wobble on a front tooth that has been loose for ages.
Four days later and now it's shorts weather!

Author and Publisher

title page, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Fruits Book 1/31/14 Friday Zacharys

pages 1 and 2, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

What do you see? I see a Cherry 1 What do you see? I see a Banana 2

pages 3 and 4, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

What do you see? I see a Strawberry 3 What do you see? I see a Strawberrys and Blueberrys 4

pages 5 and 6, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

What do you see? I see a Apples 5 What do you see? I see a Waters (Watermelons but ran out of space) 6

the end, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

The End 6

Big brother sings

What are *you* thankful for today?

PJ Library is fantastic, as always. The fact that they deliver high quality kids books where Judaism is normal is a great addition to reading time, and our kids library. Last month we got a CD of great songs (Uri Uri, by Elena Jagoda) and it has been on rotation in the car.  We got in the car yesterday and Z requested it - and then sang along with the whole first song, all about being thankful and counting your blessings. And then he told us all about what he was thankful for.

We even overheard him singing it later in the evening as we got ready for bed.

I'm thankful that I've got a kid who is keeping an eye out for all the good things in his world.

In unrelated news, Young Ms. Miriam had her 1 month appointment today. She is, and I quote, "perfect". (That was from the resident who I suspect has not seen *that* many babies, but mostly seemed relieved that the whole thing seemed quite as expected.) She is 11lbs on the nose, and growing like a champ. She's also starting to play, although at this point that just means track things, and whack at things we hold from her and look disgruntled about being on her tummy during tummy time.

one month old, six years old.

Untitled, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

they just grow so fast

Cuteness

Zachary has been getting brave with Miriam. He has been asking to hold her. It started out every few days. And he'd hold her for a just few seconds. But today he asked at least twice. The second time on his lap on the couch, he jiggled her back to restful when she fussed. Then Z leant forward and whispered

"I love you Miriam"

in her ear. It was barely audible, then he glanced at me to see if I'd heard. He really is enjoying being a big brother to his little sister. 

saw this

DSC_0073, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

and thought of 6 years ago .....

All Worn Out, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Old and New

DSC_0092, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Sarah's Vest, Mark's shorts and Miriam's spectacular new quilt.

Because words matter

Tonight Mark was putting Zachary to bed, and I was trying to convince Miriam that intestinal function was not actually something worth being really angry about (funny, because I went back to the very beginning of this blog and found Z had exactly the same dramatic reaction to intestines.. and the same angry WHY IS MY DIAPER WET AND WHY AM I HUNGRY?!? face.. two peas in a pod they are..)... Anyway, I made some offhand comment to Mark to go help his eldest settle down (since bedtime is always so relaxing around here).. And Mark just froze and looked at me like I had spoken some language so exotic that it wasn't even identifiable... "My... eldest?"

It turns out words matter. It turns out it is a bit strange, with new vocabulary like "two" and "eldest" and "daughter". It isn't quite the same as getting married, but in some ways it is bigger... Marriage felt like a moment. This feels like a tunnel. It takes time to transition and we're sort of getting our sea legs but everything changes so fast at the beginning. We're trying to keep things sort of sensible for the "eldest".. but what is sensible when you've got a new person who has been alive for less than three weeks and makes 75 noises but they all mean either "Poop!" or "BOOB!" or "WET!" or "Tired." We're trying all the ways to be four people all pulling in different directions together, especially when two of us are getting roughly enough sleep combined to still not be allowed to operate heavy machinery.

And, as an exercise in optimism that only human beings can achieve.. somehow we totally believe it is possible. Not only possible, but inevitable, and probably it'll all be ok, and we don't have too much heavy machinery anyway. And one of them made it to 6, which is a card we're playing heavily around here.

(a tiny diversion - this one coos. She actually coos. I didn't even know that was a noise babies actually made. This baby does make it. Sometimes it is just an exploratory coo. Sometimes it escalates into "WHY ARE YOU NOT FEEDING ME YET? I am losing patience." But regardless, she coos. It is amazing and fantastic.)

Peaceful PomPom Afternoon Nap

Miriam catches her best sleep in the late afternoon. Joke is on us, I suppose. Doesn't she look relaxed? If we follow the standard newborn axiom, we should be asleep instead of taking pictures, and tidying up, and eating, and helping Z with homework and....whoops. Maybe someone needs to revise the manual for once we get past the first child. Or sans in-house help. Ah, well..We are having a lot of fun, and even occasionally getting sleep. Even those of us without magical vibrating bouncy chairs.

Thinkery water fun

Cuddling Miriam

Untitled, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Granny and Grandpa Collins enjoying an evening snuggle

Peter Pan mini golf

3 generations playing in the Austin sunshine on the first of the year.

Rifting on Lego

Lego rift, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Lego magazine had jail instructions, shown here together with Z reimagining, including smoke and the hello kitty guard.

End of year Sunday

Sleeping And Eating

That is how the days are passing, here in the Collins house. Miriam is adjusting well to life on the outside. Mostly she is getting lots of snuggles, napping, and eating like a champ.

big brother cuddles

Untitled, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Zachary has been amazing with Miriam. He keeps sneaking up and giving her the gentlest of kisses on the cheek or forehead.

Welcome, Green Jello!

We made it through the first night! Miriam Edith is hale and hearty, and Sarah got the green jello she had been dreaming of.

The Boys

Headed out to the Thinkery.

Our Little Candle

"Ok. I am overexcited."

Zachary declared that at dinner tonight, having with the enthusiasm of a viking warrior just sloshed grog (or water) all over himself.

Who can blame him. It is the last week of school. They have a field trip tomorrow. They had "Orange Santa" come today. Then a holiday party. Then pajama (half) day. Grandparents are arriving in waves.  The baby is coming Monday. THE INSANITY HAS REACHED FEVER PITCH.

This may explain yesterday's falling asleep on my lap like he hasn't done since he was a toddler. Or the fact that he's currently sneaking towards me disguised as an orange towel ghost.

We're a little overexcited. We'll let you know when we're back to our normally scheduled programming.

Rock a bye baby

Boomerang on a sunny sunday.

Z is starting to get the hang of it.  The lack of wind really made it much harder to get it all the way back to us. It landed about 15 feet away, my closest was about 25 feet away.

Thinkery - Austin childrens museum

a) The new space is fantastic. Z and I went both days on opening weekend.
b) so many really really cool things to do; light art, stop motion movie making, and aeroplane ...

this involves picking parts, testing them in the wind tunnel and then loading their planes into the cannon winding up the large bowling ball to 14 feet (see the blue ball in the column in th background) and then pressing the launch button.

Nutcracker field trip

Thinkery

Light art with a giant lite-brite

Last night

Eight chanukkiah for the last night! Each with candles (or oil) made for quite a heat wave in the house.
Z got to open the last of his presents and here is a ohmy! awesome surprised face.

Untitled, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

In other news the Boomarang he got the other day was a huge hit. And today when he tried it out he got it to go all the way across the street in a 40 ft arc.

Night six

Birthday sack racing

A classmate's birthday in Mueller park.  We had Sack racing, sunflower seed spitting and an impromptu tug o'war.

Kids who are not allowed to spit really have no clue. Most of them got it 1 to 3 feet, Z averaging with 2'. Those in the know were hitting the 6 foot mark. Hysterical.

Biking is getting better ...

this time we didn't run out of steam, get tired and have a crash that knocked back his confidence (last two times out). Plus he got to see Oliver nextdoor crashing on purpose and laughing about it, and a bit of competition was good for Z too. The crazy noise at the end of the second video is a head on challenge from Oliver playing "chicken".

Sugar skull

The sugar skull finally made it home. Zachary has been telling us all about this since before Dia de Muertos! Mexican day of the dead. He made it in multicultural arts.

Halloween

Z is having a traditional Halloween. He drew the pumpkin face for me to carve by copying his pumpkin candy bucket face. The amazing ghost costume is by Sarah.

autumnal leave in NYC

Apparently Z was missing real fall leaves. 

What is the etiquette for a second child?

A second blog? A new combined blog? OH GOD OH GOD WHAT WILL WE DO??

(Obviously panic about the important things. Obviously.)

Baseball ready

With sunglasses to see. Thank you grandma Jackie

DFW to LGA

What are the numbers for?

Birthday boy

Assembly at UT elementary is amazing. After the dance party revolution, they stand and pledge allegiance to the USA in English and Spanish. Then to Texas. And then comes the school song and the pledge to be a peace keeper. Plus there are birthdays......

Making shelves

I'm trying to put some shelves in Zachary's closet. But block city has occurred.

Sukkah in action

This is the first year we have managed to get a sukkah happening. Really, as you can see from the picture, Mark is the king of the sukkah.
Of course, this week we have rain predicted. We will hang our paper chain and gourds, and hope for the best. We need rain too badly for me to wish it away. Happy harvest!

New phone camera

playdate with kindergarten classmates

Zachary had a great time with Noah and Felix from his class. It was great to see he has made friends so quickly.

Assembly

(Taken by a friend Angela Yowel)

Kindergarten! The saga continues...

Week one, a success! Granted, it was only three days long, but the fact is everyone managed to mostly be where they were supposed to be, and back again. Zachary has concurred that a return on Monday is likely (and, he pointed out, required if he understood things correctly. Which he has).

PS? I want to go to kindergarten. It sounds kind of fantastic.

UT elementary has breakfast and lunch for the students. So far Zachary is only dabbling in lunch, although already I think figuring out the cafeteria is a bit brave. They've got a vegetarian option for the mains every day, which is beyond fantastic. And he's eating it. I will have to write Chef Mario a thank you note.

They also do two "specials" a day. They alternate - one day they have PE & multicultural arts, the next day they have STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and Wellness.  This week in wellness they dug up the garden to start planting in their plot, and in STEAM they had building stations (Tinker toys, legos, etc.). Did I mention it sounds like fun?

Zachary asked me on the second day when they would start "Real Math".  I asked what he meant. He said he didn't want patterns, and matching, and counting, but doing math with pencils and like that.

Heh. Soon enough, I suspect.

After his first day, I asked him what his favorite part of school had been. He had just stumbled bleary eyed into the car (the day is long - 7:30am-3:30pm, and clearly working hard to figure out all the new things.). "Nap time. I was *so* tired."

*grin*

We'll see how long that lasts.

Kindergarten

DSC_0048, a photo by m0nk3yphd on Flickr.

Z's first day went well. He was zonked after school, but had lots of stories to tell us.