Some questions have easy answers

Me, complaining to the piano music: How many fingers do you think I have?
LW: Ten, Mommy. You have ten fingers.

Toys I Am Not Buying My Kids for Christmas

I'm browsing Amazon's toy section, looking for ideas for LW. Here's what I'm shaking my head over tonight:

* Wild Planet Spy Gear Night Goggles--The last thing I want is a toy that encourages my five-year-old to stay up late.

* Crayola Color Wonder Sound Studio--Who had the brilliant idea to turn coloring into an electronic activity?

* Bacon Band Aids--Why?

They're Around Here Somewhere

3:00--Guest calls to say she and her family are coming up for a wedding today and staying with us. (Someone else booked, and is paying for, their room.) Do we know where the wedding is? Michael says we can give her directions if she knows the name of the venue. She doesn't. She hangs up.

6:00--Guest arrives with her family right as we are sitting down to dinner. She still doesn't know where the wedding is and seems to think this is our problem. Michael's calls to the person who booked the room go unanswered. The guest says it has something to do with a farm, so Michael calls around. The X Barn has a wedding, but it's the wrong one. The X Barn mentions that the Y Barn also has a wedding today. Michael calls the Y Barn, but no one answers. Since it is only a 15 minute drive, he circles our location and the Y Barn on the map. Guests seem a little confused about the idea of a map, but after many repetitions of the directions, they set off. Shortly after, Michael takes a call from someone with the wedding, who confirms that it is at the Y Barn.

7:50--Man calls from the wedding asking if we have seen the guests, since they have not arrived yet. I forward him through to their room just in case, although I think it unlikely that they would return here without coming to ask for something.

So the question is, where are they? And will we see them again?

What the kids are saying today

LW is trying to communicate with me without using words. It's frustrating for both of us.

IM: Why did I have to get Mauritius for my report? It's the only African country with no problems and [teacher] expects half the report to be about problems!

NB: I've figured out a way for telepathy to be scientifically possible. You know how your brain communicates with your body electronically? Well . . .

EM is saying precious little today, although he did divulge that they are studying the Opium Wars in history and that his mouth feels slightly better than it did yesterday.

New York City by the Numbers

1.5
Number of hours it took me to fly to NYC.

7
Number of nights I slept in NYC.

8.5
Number of hours it took me to ride the train home.

3
Number of people (my mom, my sister, and my sister-in-law) who joined me on my adventure.

4
Number of shows we saw: a comedy show, Black Angels Over Tuskegee, Wicked, and Memphis.

2
Number of art museums we visited: Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection.

8?
Number of motorcades we saw. (It was opening week of the United Nations.)

6
Number of buttons on the spiffy Japanese toilet in the sashimi restaurant: lid up, lid down, flush, wash front, wash back, and dry. There was no button for heating the seat. That happened automatically.

354
Number of steps to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.

5'5"
Maximum height to escape hitting your head during the climb to the crown. (I'm guessing a bit here. I'm not quite 5'5" and I was bump free. My sister is slightly taller and was not so lucky.)

956
Approximate number of times I laughed during the week.

Death by Hugging

LW is a very affectionate kid. Hands down the most physically loving of any of my kids, and also full of compliments about how wonderful I am and how much he loves me.

It's very sweet. Really.

And I know I will miss this terribly in another year or two when adoring your mom isn't cool anymore.

But this weekend I find myself craving a few hours in an isolation tank. Who knew being the object of adoration could be so wearing?

Too bad I can't bottle this up to sprinkle through his teen years.

First Day of School

The kids started school last Wednesday. This is the last year they will all have the same first day of school, because next year EM will start one day later. (The freshmen have the run of the high school the first day.)

EM is starting 9th grade, NB and IM are starting 5th, and LW is starting P4.

Sadly, the last group first day of school pictures didn't turn out that well.



This is what the bus stop wait typically looks like. The three younger kids chatting together:

While EM does the cool teenager act off to the side: