December 29, 2008

Nathan makes Sidney laugh

Tonight right before Sidney's bath, Nathan was brushing his teeth.  He was making some funny noises, and Sidney was in the mood to laugh.  Alex held Sidney up in front of Nathan and the two of them just had a fantastic time together.

We could really tell that Nathan was really interacting with Sidney... trying to make him laugh, watching his reactions.   It warmed both Alex and my heart.

And then... from the "unfortunate timings" department...

Nathan was done brushing his teeth and began saying goodnight to all of us.  He gave his Maman a kiss and we asked him if he wanted to give Sidney a kiss on the head.  He strained his head around to give Sidney a bisous on the mouth, and right at that momeny Sidney vomited.

Nathan was a little perplexed, but took it in stride.

Ah c'est lourde

After going to the "tienda" with me (we haven't gone together in a long time... what a treat for Papa!) Nathan volunteered to help me carry home a sack of groceries.

The first thing out of his mouth when he tried to pick the bag up was "Ah, c'est lourde!"

("Oh, that's heavy!")

He did end up carrying it all of the way home (well, most -- he charmed some random lady into carrying it for him for a bit)  and managed by "bouncing it on the ground" at each step, as shown in the picture.

December 27, 2008

Hannukah at the H's


Joe and Betty invited us to their home to celebrate the 7th night of Hannukah.

On the way in, Nathan was impresed that Papa could carry Nathan, the backback, Lila's present, the braised fennel and the chocolate chip cookies.  For a minute, I became "super Papa."  It was nice.  Alex took a photo to commemorate the occasion.

Sidney was extra comfy with Maman, and Nathan had a lot of fun playing with the older kids.

That's a letter

Nathan likes "They Might Be Giants."  Here he is explaining to Maman and I what's the difference between a Letter and Not A Letter.  We were only able to capture the tail-end of a long diatribe on the subject.  Enjoy.

December 26, 2008

Call Geema?

Maman is so funny!


Ah t'es lourde

"Oh, you're heavy."

Nathan the old man.  Having a hard time going up the stairs.

Tiny fingers




December 25, 2008

Christmas Smörgåsbord @ The Moontros

The Moontros invited us over to their house to partake in their self-proclaimed Swedish "pagan" traditions (eating... drinking... what's not to like?)

Scott and Janice slaved away before the meal... and Janice watched the kids throughout most of the actual eating part.  In fact, she overheard Nathan and Max plotting to tip over the play kitchen in the living room.  Obviously these two boys will be trouble as they grow up together.

After we had all eaten our fill, Scott took over and kept both Max and Nathan entertained with countless tickles and giggles!


For the most part I got to just hang out, drink "glögg" and talk with other grown-ups for a change.

This is a tradition I can really get behind!

Nathan commence a aimer les cadeaux

For a long time Nathan didn't really "get" the idea of a cadeaux.  He seems to understand much better, now.

Tis the season...

Nathan and Papa



All Abouuuuard...

December 24, 2008

Sidney recounts his day

First I ...
   then I ...
      and then I ...


...how do you pack that much fun into such a small package?!

December 23, 2008

Frosty the Snowman

After seeing "Frosty the snowman" on TV, Nathan has really taken an interest in all  things "snow-manly."  Whether it's a bonhomme de neige, or a snowman he can't get enough.

For your viewing pleasure, here we are singing our (probably not correct) version of the song in 2 (and sometimes 4) part harmony!  Enjoy!

December 21, 2008

December 20, 2008

"Blue head, Papa"

Today at Ikea, Nathan noticed something he had never seend before.  The lady behind the counter had died her jet-black hear BLUE (I tried to get a picture with my phone but it doesn't do it justice...)

December 18, 2008

Tout le monde

Nathan has embraced the concept of "tout le monde" (literally, "all the world" but usually used to mean "everyone.")

As I was tucking him into bed he said, "Sidney fait dodo" (Sidney goes to sleep).

"Yes," I said.  "Nathan fait dodo aussi."

"Maman fait dodo aussi" he rejoined.  "Ana fait dodo aussi.  Tout le monde fait dodo."

December 14, 2008

Oh, Mer

This morning, Nathan was playing contentedly by himself when all of a sudden he blurted out, "Oh, Mer."

We're pretty sure we know what he meant to say.  And it had nothing to do with the sea.

December 9, 2008

Petit Parisien

En bon petit parisien, Nathan mange un petit pain aux raisins pour le quatre-heures et finit sa journee avec un tour de manege pres de la tour Eiffel.

Pendant ce temps la, Sidney dormait a poings fermes...

Neige a Paris

Just before going to bed for his nap, Nathan went to the window and told me "it's raining". When I turned to see for myself, it was in fact snowing. Nathan thought it was the coolest thing...

December 8, 2008

Vincennes

After going through numerous tunnel and bridges to get to Vincennes, Nathan and Sidney got to visit rue du Midi a Vincennes. Luckily, there was the same manege as in La Baule so this time Nathan decided that he would give it a try.
Very proud of being on the manage, he kept saying:" am driving, am driving" turning the wheel left and right. As he got off, his last comment was :"j'ai conduit manege".

December 6, 2008

November 28, 2008

Nathan prank calls Papa at work (FROM FRANCE!)

We have no idea how Nathan figured out how to call Papa's work phone from Mamy's house in France.  But he did.

We were all sitting there, watching him play with the phone.  But none of us knew he had actually made a call.  Or that the call actually went to my work phone.

Here's the recording I found when I got to the office (along with a montage of a few pics from the trip)

November 25, 2008

Nathan on the big boy manege...

Nathan was very afraid of le manege in La Baule... but he was fascinated by it.  He would ask to go there every day, "just to see."

He finally go the courage to go on a few of the more "scary" merry-go-rounds at the Jardin d'acclimatation in Paris.

November 24, 2008

Nathan conquers his fear

At the jardin d'acclimatation, Nathan took his first step towards conquering his fear of the "big boy" maneges.

Manege au Trocadero

(That blur? Oui, c'est Nathan!)

Nathan enjoys Square Lamartine

November 23, 2008

Semaine a La Baule

C'etait notre premiere fois a La Baule. Nous sommes arrives le 16 novembre, Mamie, Nathan, Sidney en TGV, Sam et Papie, en voiture. Ses kilometres de plages de sables nous ont conquis tout de suite. Notre location etait tres bien situee, sur la plage et en face du port du Pouliguen.

Notre cure de Thalasso (a Mamie et moi) a demarre le lundi. Mardi, je me tordais la cheville en allant voir Sidney au Baby Club. Apres radio, etc. il fut conclu qu'il vallait mieux utiliser des bequilles le reste de la semaine... Bien que estropiee et franchement epuisee par tout ce "trempage" dans l'eau de mer (au point de vouloir aller se coucher sans diner!), j'ai adore les soins et espere y retourner une autre annee... toute seule avec Maman!

Pendant que nous etions a la cure, Papie, Sam et Nathan allaient se ballader. Une des sorties favorites de Nathan etait d'aller aux tobogans sur la plage. Le mercredi et samedi, nous etions de visite obligatoire aux maneges du Pouliguen mais pour regarder seuleument. Nathan ne voulait absolument pas y monter!


Quant a Sam, il n'avait jamais eu autant de travail et il se souviendra sans doute toujours de son onterminable quete d'une connection Wifi. Apres plusieurs jours bredouille, il decouvrit enfin le Jam'z, un bar offrant une connection a ses clients. C'est alors au Jam'z ou assis devant le Jam'z que Sam a passe sa semaine a La Baule.

Puis, ce fut le retour en TGV. Tata et Ruben etaient venus nous chercher a la gare Montparnasse.

Square Lamartine

I have no idea what Nathan was saying.  But he kept saying it.  And running.

November 21, 2008

"Tobogan Roja papa!"

On our walk today, Nathan loudly exclaimed "Tobogan roja, Papa!" and pointed excitedly at the red tobogan. Linda and Alex later pointed out that it should be rojo. But hey, I was still impressed.

Nathan is starting to master his colors...

November 14, 2008

Coupe Parisienne

One of our missions on this trip was to get a nice kids haircut. So we went to the incredible Bruno Lienard to achieve the impossible: a cute cut without screams and tears. The salon had a Alice aux Pays des Merveilles decor and Bruno cut Nathan's hair in record time and the result is very pleasing (in our opinion). Fun experience that Nathan actually enjoyed.

November 13, 2008

Anniversaire de Mamie

Tonight we celebrated Mamili's birthday at home, so Nathan and Sidney discovered the rest of their French family: Tata, Jordan, Ruben, Grand-mamie, and Tonton. Nathan spent his evening playing with Ruben and hugging him: he loves "bigger kids". Dinner was delicious and desert was outstanding with Lenotre's new Devotion cake. However, Ruben had a Feuilles d'Automne and Jordan a Schuss...






November 12, 2008

Dodo

After our long, long flight to Paris, Sidney couldn't help but sleep some more in a comfy bed this time... wide enough so he can extend his limbs!

"Do you know the muffin down"

Nathan likes the song "The muffin man," so when he got a muffin for breakfast on the airplane he burst into song...

"Do you know the muffin down"

November 8, 2008

Second dental visit

This went much better than the first time. Nathan really enjoyed the Chocolate tasting toothpaste.

October 26, 2008

Jack's 2nd Birthday Party


Nathan was invited to his friend Jack's second birthday party up in Mill Valley.

It was right after Nathan's swim class at 3, and he didn't take a nap earlier in the day so on the drive up he fell asleep in the back seat.

Once we got there, I hung out with Nathan in the car for a good half-an-hour while he took a snooze, but at 4P we had to wake him up to go party-party-party.

Upon waking up I said, "don't you want to go inside to the party."

"No party," he said, in a tired and sort of aggravated ("why'd you wake me up!") tone...

"There will be cake and ice cream," I continued.

He looked at me and said, in a very small voice completely devoid of enthusiasm, "yay.... a party."

October 25, 2008

If you're happy and your know it...

Nathan the cool dude

Histoire Papa

Watching Nathan figure out the logic behind who reads what with whom is pretty cool.

For those who don't recognize the book title, he wants one of the many "T'choupi" books that he has... but I'm not very good at reading them so Alex usually handles those.

It's comfortable

Google... in there

Nathan associates the "Yo Baby" logo with the Google logo.

He likes them both so much that he made up a song.

Google is everywhere. Even in there.

Down Low... too slow!

Nathan and I like to do high-fives. Sometimes, I'll tell him to give me one "down low," and then pull my hand away and say... "too slow!"

Original? No. But it always gets a laugh.

Oh my gosh

Pre-Halloween Party at Julius Kahn Park

For Sidney's first halloween and Nathan's second, we participated to the Golden Gate Mothers Group Halloween Party.



There was a puppet show, multiple jumpy houses (for kids of all sizes), face painters, balloon twisters and a DJ with jazzytunes. All the littles ones were dressed up in their costumes -- it was too cute.


The cutest (and warmest) was Nathan the Fire Chief, and the cutest and sleepiest was Sidney the iPoop.

October 24, 2008

October in San Francisco

For the past week, we've had temperatures around 25 degrees celsius, so today after playing in the puddle of water at the Koret Playground, Nathan was stripped down to his diaper. That's October in San Francisco!

Sleep... finally

Sidney woke up only once last night at 3:00 am and was able to sleep a 5 hour stretch... Youpi!

October 22, 2008

Winnie ... pooh?

Nathan thought it would be a good idea to stuff his Winnie the Pooh bear into his potty.

"Il fait po po gwinnie la pooh."

I tried to get a picture but I wasn't quick enough...

October 19, 2008

Our shortcut

This week, our shortcut to the pool looked like... this!

October 18, 2008

Nathan and the balloon

No comment!

October 17, 2008

My birthday

Today was my birthday, and it was a doozy.  Besides lots of phone calls, emails, and "facebook" posts from friends and family, Nathan and Alex sang me "Happy Birthday" and after the kids were both asleep I had a lovely dinner (thanks Alex) and then played with my new Wii (thanks, Alex!!!!)!

At work there were two birthdays... and Elmer (turned 30) and I (gasp.... 37) shared a "Princess" birthday cupcake cake.  I took the pink princes, since it matched my shirt and the bubblegum I had in my mouth when they brought the cake out.

Sidney's bath

Sidney loves bathing however he has outgrown the bathroom sink, so for next bath we'll have to upgrade to the "big" baby tub.