Belated: Midtown All Dressed Up for Christmas

Way back when, before Christmas -- oh, I am so hopelessly out of date -- Maxine (aka Grandmama), Rosie and I went to midtown for a fun afternoon seeing the holiday sights. Fifth Avenue is so twinkly - and crowded - that time of year. First stop, straight off the subway: Robert Indiana's pop chestnut, LOVE. This sculpture hasn't budged from that spot for years but Rosie was pretty sure it was an enormous Christmas decoration. I can see why.

Rosie and Grandmama at Rockefeller Center looking at the Christmas tree.

The big tree. 

Rosie absolutely insisted on having her picture taken here in front of the John Rockefeller Jr. memorial. Why? I think because it was a picture of her looking at the Christmas tree, but I'm not entirely sure.

Me and my girl:

Rosie and her girls...or at least the ones she wishes were her girls:  

A few months ago the dreaded American Girl found us: we started receiving catalogues in the mail out of the blue. R quietly plucks them out of the mail stack and takes them to her room to peruse, at which point everything goes silent for a long, long time. The first time, she flipped through it 2 or 3 times, and finally looked up and said, "This is a very instresting (sp intended) book." So far she's never actually asked for a doll, but when we happened upon the American Girl store it was next to impossible to get her away from the windows.

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a fabulous Berkshires Thanksgiving: relaxing, fun, and scrumptious (thanks to Chef Maxine). And once again the oven door graced us with its continued presence/attachment to the oven. 

Three cousins in action.  

 

They - or at least the two littlers - spent much of the weekend romping around the yard poking sticks at things, pulling pine cones off trees, and sweetly terrorizing the mice who set up for the winter in the smoke house. Elijah was most interested in playing football and Apples to Apples.

Kissin' cousins.

No, really kissing. I wonder how old they will be when they die of embarrassment and make me unpost this.

My parents joined the fun.

As did the Slawsky fam - David, Mimi, Susie and Mike. 

Sam went through some of her old boxed-up toys and was kind enough to give this doll to Rosie, who promptly christened her Aunt Sam. A slightly creepy but perfectly respectable homage. Here we have Aunt Sam elegantly riding a white stallion. 

The real Aunt Sam.

And a final highlight: 

The First Annual Thanksgiving Rumble. Bring it on.

 

We 3 + 2 more ladies on the way. (Thanks cousin David for the fine photography!) 

Easy Street

Halloween rocked this year. Rosemary wanted to go as Annie, her unstoppable 24 hour-a-day passion. Specifically, she wanted to be "Annie Without a Wig, Because That Would Be Too Itchy on My Head." Well, REALLY, she wanted to be Molly, the littlest orphan. But I nixed that right off, because I think going as a generic ragamuffin in tattered clothes might be frowned upon in these modern times. So anyway, she settled happily on Annie and I happily ordered her a costume from the world wide web. Her costume was extremely NOT handmade, which I felt a little lame about, but hey, it's what she wanted and she wore it with glee. (I think of my friend who handcrafted an elaborate Mrs Tiggywinkle hedgehog costume for her daughter last year only to have it utterly rejected. Good thing she got to recycle it on her 1 year old this year.)
Rosemary wanted Jason to be Daddy Warbucks - of course - and me to be Ms Hannigan, singing Little Girls as I walked down the street. This seemed a natural enough choice, given that we are awaiting the arrival of twins, both girls (due February). I got Jason what turned out to be the Very Worst Bald Cap in the World - basically half a flesh-colored balloon. And I went as Ms. Hannigan, but after the fact I realized I just didn't hooch it up enough and instead looked way more like Nancy Reagan. People figured out Rosie's costume right off, of course, and then one step later point at Jason and say, "And Daddy Warbucks!" and then just flash me a puzzled look. Conservative lady with slightly loopy fashion sense? Oh well. Next year I'm just going to wear the bald cap.

You can trick or treat very efficiently around here. People sit out on their stoops dispensing candy, so there are no pesky doorbells to ring. Last year Rosemary was done after about 2 streets. This year she went on for an hour, which was great fun but she ended up with way too much candy for a 3 year old. Good thing I know how to remedy that.

A highlight was when we were on Tomkins Place and a woman (one of the homeowners sitting on her stoop) came rushing out to us on the sidewalk. We'd skipped her house because she was playing some scary music that freaked out our little sound-sensitive Annie. She said she wanted to see Rosie's costume because she just loved Annie, and then allowed as how she'd played Pepper (one of the orphans) on Broadway for a number of years. Reason Number 698 to love Brooklyn!

Dreamy

At this point, with Rosemary pushing 4, it's probably an invasion of her privacy to post her dreams. But maybe just this once? Only because I almost always ask her if she had any interesting dreams, and she always says no. She's mum on nightmares too, even when she is wide awake and lucid after them. I assume she just doesn't remember. But the other day she woke up and said, "I had a dream about a ballet teacher, but it wasn't Miss Marie, and I was going to her house and she had a really big field. And the field was inside her house!" It was just such a dream-dream, where everything is nearly normal but just one step beyond into weird, and things unspool in unexpected ways.

We also heard her yelling adamantly in her sleep the other night, "I REALLY don't want to!" I figure most of her nightmares involve me and Jason making her brush her teeth.

View from the Green Stroller

We finally have Rosemary's kid camera in working order, and she finally allowed me to get close enough to it to point out what buttons to push. Here's a walking tour of South Brooklyn and a visit to the ATM, documented from 2 feet off the ground. I wish I'd snapped a picture of her self-selected outfit today: hot pink sweatshirt, brown suede knee high boots, and cotton candy pink track pants (don't ask), which you can see in the "Knees" series towards the bottom. Styling.

My favorite:

Plus there's this bonus clip of life at home. Not sure when it's from tho, maybe last year sometime? The camera dates it as November 1911, but I don't think it's THAT old.

Halloween Wind Up

We spent the weekend with friends in Connecticut, where we made an apple-centric outing to Maple Bank Farm in Roxbury. It's one of the oldest farms in the country, dating back to the 1700s, and the family who runs it has done so for 9 generations. They had about 12 different types of apples there right then, heirloom and not, all yummy. We didn't do any apple picking or pumpkin patching, but the farm stand and its surroundings were so pretty it felt good and autumn-y. Here's Rosemary with her sweet buddy Bea. R completely refused to put down her hot spiced cider for the photo.

In this one she agreed to put the cider down but only because she wanted to eat her apple instead.

Back at home in Brooklyn, we just carved our pumpkin today and are treating it like (I recall hearing) the eskimos treat whales they've hunted, making use of its every part. Here's a little pumpkin lid printing from this morning.

Later on today we'll cook up the pumpkin seeds. She's been looking forward to making them the way they did at school, or I guess just one of the ways. They made both the usual savory style but also sweet ones using cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar (she gave me the recipe). Then they took a poll and made a chart of which kind each kid liked better. They did this last year too and R categorically refused to try them. Progress!

Carved pumpkins below - R made the faces, grown ups did the carving. Jason (handiwork on right pumpkin) clearly has the smoother touch, though I don't think we'll be winning any family pumpkin carving contests just yet. Grinch standing by (not stealing Halloween).

Grandma Nancy!

Here's Rosie getting a helpful hand frog jumping from Grandmama Nancy, who came for a quick but wonderful 3-day visit. (Plus an unknown little onlooker)

Ballet Class

Rosemary started ballet classes a few weeks ago and oh WOW did she take to them. She looks forward to them every week. There was one week in there when we had an extra make-up class to do and she was thrilled. I think she would follow her lovely teacher, Miss Marie, dancing off a cliffside. She is not alone. Every 3 year old in there is completely enchanted. (I have heard recently that Miss Marie is a former Disney Princess, which explains a lot.) They watch her very closely and follow her every move.

Grown ups aren't allowed in class. There's one viewing window where we all line up, the short ones among us (me) on tippy toe. This video was taken through the window, so you can't really hear her class, just the mama small talk.

It's hard to pick her out in this video, what with everyone in their matching tutus. She is in the dead center, closest to the foreground, and turns around to look at the camera partway through.

First Day of Her Second School Year

Rosie's first day of school was last week. It was barely sprinkling outside, but she decided to go fully togged up in rain gear. She's going to the same school but has now graduated from the blue room to the green room, new teachers and everything. As I turned to put her lunchbox and stuff in her cubby, Rosie waltzed away down the hall into her classroom without so much as a so long see ya soon. Actually, I heard her teachers say she walked into her old classroom, but anyhow, the happy point remains she didn't have any first of the year jitters.

Two Big Friends

"Once upon a time, there was a scary, white dinosaur and he looked like a potato. Do you see him? One day, a GIANT met the dinosaur. He had an appointment. He's also shaped like a potato. Oh, his appointment was with the dentist and the doctor, and THEN he was going to see his friend the dinosaur. They were going to Ikea on the dinosaur bus and the giant buses. When they got to Ikea they were in trouble, because they didn't have dinner there. They didn't have food at home either so they couldn't have dessert."

The end. Or as Rosemary put it, "And that's the sad end."

This story was accompanied by a couple of drawings of a dinosaur and giant, both of whom really did look quite a bit like potatoes.

Sock 'em!

Among the many outcomes of R's Annie obsession is her frequent demand for pillow fights. Jason is a good sport.

'Tis the Season

It's the time of year we wait for all year. Tomato season! (Never mind the crazy 105 degree days. Eaters can't be choosers.) We bought someone's CSA off of them for the month of August and picked up our first week's worth yesterday. Holy Zucchini! Actually, now that I write that, it was actually kind of holy zucchini because the pick up is inside the old Episcopal church in our neighborhood. Huge piles and bins of fruits and vegetables were laid out in the church's aisles. It is old and stony and stain glassy in there, and when we walked in Rosemary (no churchgoer she) puzzled over what it was: "It's some kind of museum...it's like a museum, but maybe not a museum...it's a church?"

Here's Rosie singing a song to our bounty (while doing a phrenological study of the carrot tops and beet greens). It was probably mostly about the Sun Gold tomatoes, which are her absolute favorite:

Cucumbers are up there on her list too. Don't try to take that away from her:

Cucumber on the cob?

She ate the entire thing.

July Pix

Riding Emma the Horse in the Berkshires.

Preschooler attitude in the barn:
Either fishing or having a tea party with Dash. Not sure which:

Cozy gab with Dash:

Back in Brooklyn, an ice cream after delicious tacos and quesadillas at Rockaway Taco:

Excited to harvest the cucumbers she planted in April in Bethesda. Thanks Grandma Nancy for nurturing them!

Reading Amelia Bedelia with Granddad:

Another cozy chat. I heard giggling and I walked in and saw this sweet sight: