it's a wrap

I know...it's been so long...updates as they come to mind:

Simone:

Hmmm...


- A new favorite of Simone's: boiled egg whites; no yolks, please!
- She's been sick quite a bit this fall. She's currently in a runny-nose phase but as long as she doesn't have a fever she's going to school with the other runny-nosed kids. Some of her favorite activities at school include using the tricycle during outdoor time and playing in the leaves.
- I ran into a mom of one of her classmates. The mom said she thinks her son likes Simone but apparently she hardly acknowledges his existence. One of the teachers did mention she gets really focused on things she's engaged in and will just sit there for 15-20 minutes which is a long time for a two-year-old!
- S's finger got caught in the stroller while I was opening it. We made a trip to the ER but fortunately the worst thing we experienced was a 3+ hour wait. We actually ended up leaving after an over-the-phone assessment from our pediatrician.
- S's favorite question: What's that? She's starting to imitate our answers a little bit more with encouragement. I talked about this with my sister - it does seem like S is a bit timid when it comes to trying to talk. It's like when you're learning Spanish and you go to Spain and you're afraid to even try. I hope we can encourage S to be bolder.
- She's back to a shorter-bang Dora cut.
- She's been into reading books about babies including her own baby record book. Yes, I still need to do something with all the photos we've taken since her birth!
- She definitely prefers pink.
- She can open the door using doorknob by herself now. There's a button on the inside of her door. I'm afraid that one of these days she's going to lock herself in and while she can open a closed door by herself now you can just imagine that she'll forget how in a panic.
- She's into wrapping things with wrapping paper and tape. She communicates her desire for wrapping paper by pretending to blow out candles.
- She's been giving spontaneous hugs which has been nice.
- Received part one of the H1N1 vaccine (nasal); one mom was asking parents/doctors from the church what they recommended. I am pretty pro vaccines.

Art project with dad today:




Work:
- I'm part of the search committee for a new Director of Diversity at my school. We looked at the job description at our first meeting and gave out thoughts on what qualities we were looking for. My contribution was someone that utilized the latest research on diversity practices.
- Science Day is coming up on the 17th. I'm coordinating. Please pray that it all goes well and smoothly. We have this special effects coordinator guy coming to do demonstrations and explain the science behind them. I can just imagine what could go wrong...
- Tomorrow I'm taking the first field trip with the Science Club to hear about some evolution-related topic I would never go hear on my own. I guess it'll be good for me, like vegetables, which Simone still refuses to eat. She did eat a carrot or two a few weeks ago though.

Education:
- We went on a tour of a local private school. It's small and has a really nice facility. I don't know if we'll get in, or can afford it even with financial aid, but we'll see. E said he left feeling sad - that this is the kind of education every kid should get but few do. We did hear that Teachers College at Columbia is partnering to open a new public elementary school. It sounds interesting but I imagine that there won't be many slots and it will be hard to get in.
- Think we're going to request a speech eval. for S. If we qualify, from what I read you might as well start taking advantage of Early Intervention as soon as possible after eligibility starts (age 2 for speech I think).

Around Town:
- We've been keeping E's parents old car in the city. The pain is street parking. We've already had the car broken into once. We've gotten one ticket. We've driven around for 30 minutes plus more than once looking for a spot. I've discovered it's not always worth it even to go take the car to Target. S has seen E's parents three times in the past month though which is 3x more than normal.
- We helped friends load their U-Haul yesterday. Fortunately, they're only moving 35 blocks away. S was the star of the morning in her perch on my back. We did make the trip up and down the 4th floor walk-up a few times but mainly posted ourselves as the "bring the boxes to the door" job.
- S marched in the Halloween parade at Morningside. It turned out that her new 2T-4T costume was way too big so it was Simone the chicken, round two.



- Had fun at the carb-loading party for our friend who ran the NYC marathon last weekend. I dressed up as a E, the marathon runner, with several of his medals around my neck.


- I've been frequenting the new Whole Foods on the UWS. When I went this past Friday I had a celebrity chef sighting - Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin hawking his new book.
- Hung out with California friends at the Highline and Chelsea Market:




Entertainment:
- We watched a play called Broke-ology. Wendell Pierce from The Wire played the father and was great.
- Also watched: Coco Before Chanel, Where the Wild Things Are. I liked but didn't love both.
- Best meal of the season: dinner at Perilla, restaurant owned by Top Chef Season One winner, Harold Dieterle

Misc:
- I got my eyes checked - right eye prescription had to be upped a little. I ordered new frames. I'm excited to replace my old falling-apart, green-tinged ones.
- I've had three new mercy team clients request me to be part of the two-person team on their case in the past two months. I'm honored but it doesn't really get any easier.

S enjoying E's shuffle:


S & E and their hats:


Cinderella (actually, we've hidden the princess book):