Max and Esme

First day for Esme Esme will be attending the same school Max went to last year, in the 2-year-old program two days a week. On Tuesday she and I went together to meet the teachers and visit the classroom along with a few other kids. She was very interested in the toys, especially the play kitchen. She got out a bunch of food and plates and went about feeding one of the dolls. When another girl came over to play with her (or take stuff off her - hard to tell at this age), Esme rushed at her with her arms waving, saying "NO! Very Hot!" Today was the first real day of school. The deal is that you drop your kid at the door and the teacher takes them in. I wasn't particularly worried about Esme in this situation as she's always been fiercely independent, but I wondered nonetheless. Caroline said Esme only hesitated for a second leaving her, and came out after two hours looking happy. I am continually impressed by how confident both my kids are. And tonight in the car comin...

A day off There was no school on Friday because of the holiday, so Max came to NYC with me and spent the morning at the office. I took the afternoon off and we met our friends for a trip to the Central Park Zoo. Small and accessible, the kids had great time seeing the animals and watching the sea lions perform for their lunch. Here are some pictures of Max, Emily, Rachel, Polar Bear, Snow Monkey, and Turtle. Max reminds me that we also saw a pirranah, a red panda, penguins and puffins. It was a very fun and satisfying day for everyone.

Meet Daisy. I haven't had the camera out lately, but will at least post a story for you. Last week I stayed home for a couple of days so I could take Max to school and learn his new routine. School was only until 12, which meant Max got to stay home with me in the afternoons. While I was stuck working on the computer he came up with some very elaborate projects to amuse himself. The first was a dinosaur fossil hunt. Max drew a picture of a dino skeleton and then cut out all the pieces. These were then hidden under a large piece of cardboard where we proceeded to 'find' them and then assemble the puzzle. The next day he took me on a deep sea dive. After drawing several pictures and taping them up around the house, Max took me on a guided tour. He narrated along the way, even to the extent of telling me what I should ask about. We started upstairs, in the shallow water, made our way downstairs to the deep dark sea, got lost, and eventually found our way up toward the ...

Kindergarten Max had his first day of school this morning. He was excited about going, and seemed to enjoy it. We had lunch together after school and are otherwise enjoying our afternoon together. Here's a picture of my big kindergartener, and another one of Max and Emily with their teacher.

Zoo To round off our nice long weekend we spent the afternoon at the Bronx Zoo. I'd never been before, and was impressed by what a nice experience it was. Not too crowded, and lovely tree lined walks. The Bronx Zoo borders the Botanical Gardens if that gives you any indication of the varied topography. The kids enjoyed it - I couldn't get any pictures of them actually looking at the camera because they were too busy checking out the animals. Max tells me to write that "the animals were amazing." The peacock is real, by the way, and stood admiring itself in the reflective ball the whole time we were walking around this square. All stereotypes ar e based in fact I guess...

Recuperating Peter was "under the weather" this week so we made sure he had some rest time between playing this weekend. This is how the kids helped daddy recuperate.

Home again Back to work after a rejuvenating weekend visit to South Lake. Spent time with some wonderful college friends (sans children), eating, drinking and laughing. Thanks to Mike and Kira, Colleen and Jim, Scott and Deena for reminding me about one of the best things in life, my friends.