Hanging out with the neighbors and giving the bath-time warning

"Just one more minute in the "Jar-din"" says Nathan, in a MOST American of
accents.

Sidney and Papa

Nathan at the Exploratorium

Once Nathan found out I was going to spend the morning with him, he kept coming to the bureau every five minutes to check if it was time yet... Finally, it was time and we decided to go to the Exploratorium.
We had a great time looking at jumping steel balls/marbles, water tornados, vibrating sand, etc. and the coolest contraption I had ever seen, a gravity powered calculator calculating square roots with steel balls... amazing math!

"Papa, you're a nice guy"

Nathan's said tonight at the dinner table...

Nathan celebrates his 3rd birthday

Intimate celebration including a black tie cupcake (chocolate cake with vanilla icing), a Nemo balloon and lots of new books.

Nathan at Lila's birthday party

Sidney at Lilas birthday

Sidney enjoys Nathans efforts as well

Nathan enjoys the fruits of his labor

Nathans first ever batch of sugar cookies!

Martha Stewart watch your back!

"Chees"

The end of an enjoyable SF day

Look at the fountain! It's plein of dirt!

(As he scoops in dirt)

I got more naps coming....

"Nathan, do you want to go the blue park?"

"No, I got more naps coming..."

The sun shines for whom?

Hi, I'm Nathan!

Holiday skating

My young bride and I took the day off (of work, and kids) to spend some time together. We went to Union square to go ice skating to get in the holiday mood!!

A fantastic lunch at "out the door" and some window shopping rounded out our day.

Then, back home to find the kids (who we missed!) and a yummy home-made turkey and stuffing dinner.

Sidney assumes Nathans favorite "car playing" position

Nature? Or nurture.... Hmmmm.

Nathan has a pain au chocolat... Or the pain au chocolat has Nathan!

Stampos

Tonight, I was reading "This is Paris" to Nathan. In the first few pages there is a picture of a bus, with large blue stamps as passengers.

"What are those?" I ask.

Normally he answers "ca c'est des timbres." (stamps). But tonight he answers "stamps."

"Do you know how to say it in French?" I ask.

"Stampos" he says, all grins!

Playtime

The boys and I spent the afternoon across the street - first at a birthday, then at friends house for an extended playdate, bath and dinner!

Sidney was surrounded by books (a recurring theme) while Nathan and T were off enjoying a good game of "pretending to sleep" and "opening and closing the door."

Good, clean, and simple fun.

Poo poo juice

Nathan requested some juice this morning. Alex offered him a fruit juice,
but Nathan said "no, I want some poo poo juice."

(Prune juice mixed with water... Leftover from when we were potty training
him)

Sidney reads (and makes some weird faces)

Storytime

In an unprecendented multi-minute session, Nathan and Sidney sat next to one another without pinching or kicking each other (mostly a one-way affair... ahem) and listened to me read them a story. Nathan even helped me explain to Sidney what the pictures were.

Cheese!

In-the-middle of the after-school cupcake

The after-school cupcake

The Cast Party

After every good performance is a cast party. Nathan's class had one.

Let's watch what Nathan had to say about the show...

Nathan the Maximonstre

Nathan's class put on a show, "les Maximonstres" (Where the Wild Things are).

Mettre en scene...

The commute - after the storm

Blue skyies and clouds from the lightwell

Nathan Claus

While putting up our holiday decorations, Nathan found our stockings -- and put them on!

He had a lot of fun stomping around, but he'll be more happy to see them filled with toys and candy!

Rancunier?

Après dîner nous nous sommes aperçus que Sidney avait plusieurs échardes dans la main, alors je me munis d’une pince à épiler et demande a Sam de m’aider à tenir sa main immobile… Et petit monsieur n’a pas du tout apprécier : il a continue à pleurer pendant au moins 15 minutes post-opération et ne voulait plus rien avoir à faire avec moi pour le reste de la soirée, si bien que c’est Sam qui le mit au lit. Nous avons un petit rancunier dans la famille… Ou lala, ca promets !

 

Who likes swinging?

Sidney the self slider

He walked up the stairs and slid down the slide all by himself!!

Yay Sidney!

Nathan the cutie

Quotes from dinner tonight.

After dropping a large piece of potato on the ground.
Papa: "That's a big piece..."
Nathan: "Yeah, it's a chunk!"

After eating some of his dinner.
Nathan: "thanks for giving dinner to us Maman."

Vamonos!

Donne...

Our ice cream outing!

Nathan was feeding Sidney some chocolate ice cream.

"Do you like it?" Nathan asked.

Sidney's head shakes no. "No," he says, but he's all smiles.

"But you like it" insists Nathan, and we all start laughing.

Super hallway fun time

スーパー廊下に楽しい時間を！

I'd eat Nemo...

Tonight at a friends birthday party, Nathan saw a picture of a shark swimming near some fish.

"The shark will eat the fishies," he said.

"Would you eat fishies, too?" I asked.

"Yeah, I would eat fishies" he answered.

"Would you eat Nemo? Nemo's a fish," I continued.

"Yeah, I would eat Nemo."

Post-playdate-phatigue

Not to be confused with pre-party-phlegmaticism.

Nathan loves his trains

"Where is the train going?" I asked.

"I don't know" Nathan replied. "Its not here yet. Its going to Paris!"

Sidney the walker

Yesterday when I came home from work, I saw Sidney walking all over the
place. He loves to walk when we're not watching so I tried not to stare, but
he was doing awesome.
Walking around and falling head-first near all of our wooden mouldings made
me nervous, but so far no injuries!

Sidney - parrot?

This morning Alex said a few things to Sidney which he immediately repeated
back:

Debut (stand up... which he does very well)
Attend (wait)
Triscodescophobia (just kidding)

Bisous

This morning Sidney woke up at 5... A step in the right direction.

After a huge bottle of milk, he was in a good mood. He gave Alex about a
thousand wet slimy wonderful kisses.

It's gotta be time to wake up somewhere...

Despite our hopes and efforts to the contrary, both Nathan and Sidney were wide awake at 3am.

I hope Nathan can keep it together at school today...

"Poupida! Poupida!"

From the pair that brought you "boonga boonga" comes the latest in crazed kid repetitive chanting.

"Poupida! Poupida! Poupida! Poupida!"

I'm nice peoples

When Nathan and Sidney woke up from their nap, they played really well together.

"Nathan, I notice you're being really nice to your brother! That's really nice."

"Yeah," he replied. "I didn't hit my little brother. I didn't hit maman like this (big arm swing) or papa. I'm nice peoples."

The Fells and the fall leaves

Je veux

Sidney was done eating and saw his brother had still had some.

"Je veux" he screamed.

"Can you not travail?"

I was working this afternoon when Alex's family was over. Nathan was having fun playing with his older cousins Ruben and Jordan (and his brother Sidney...)

He burst into our room (my office) and said "Papa can you not travail (work)? S'Il te plait no travail..."

Then he invited us all to watch his "spectacle" (show) in the hall. He was the lion tamer and tamed two stuffed animals--at the same time! It was very impressive.

Mami is the Maman of Maman

Yesterday morning when we walked into the kitchen to eat "brefkist," Robert said "Bonjour ma fille." Nathan looked at Papi and then at Maman, a little confused.

"I'm Nathan's maman." Said Alex. "Papi c'est mon Papa a moi. Et Mami est ma Maman a moi."

Nathan looked at them all and smiled.

This morning when we walked into the kitchen for breakfast, he saw Linda and Robert. He pointed at each of them with a big grin on his face and proudly said, "You are Maman's maman. You're Maman's Papa."

Sidney's words

"HI!" (He's very good at this one)
"No" (and this one...)
"Buh" = book
"Aieeee" (he'll pinch you and say "aieee")
"Ne nuh" = Nounou (teddy bear)
"Abwa" (= food, agua)
"Mama" (= bread, food, or Maman)
"Papa"
"Heeee-en" (Chien = Dog)
"Caca"
"Bain"
"Meuh" = Moo (Cow)
"Ball"
"Yon" = Lion

Sidney uses utensils?

Papi feeds Sidney

Nathan and the bear cage?

Nathan and the Metro

The holiday windows are pretty...

But when asked, Nathan preferred the ride in the Metro.

Tapent tapent

Sidney is very expressive with his hands.

While we're at the dinner table, he frequently will raise his two hands up and begin twisting them back and forth to prompt us to begin singing "Ainsi font les petites marionettes..." Which, of course we do to his extreme delight.

Recently he started also clapping his hands together and saying "Tapent Tapent" over and over again, mimicking another song that he enjoys, "Tapent Tapent petites mains..."

"Don't grab it to me!"

(Said Nathan, as we were trying to take away a shoe-horn that he shouldn't be playing with)

In his element

Sidney loves to eat. Eat, eat, eat.

It's Little Laney!

Now that we're all calm, let's land!

And we're off

The happy fireman

Nathan dressed up as a fireman this year for "pre-Halloween" (the Lycee is on vacance during the real Halloween, so they do a party the week before)

Le petit pompier

Le monstre de Nathan

I'll est beau!

Would you could you in a box?

Fog is coming in

N & T at Chrissy Fields

Nathan's Class Photos

"Boonga"

Boonga boonga boonga boonga...