Christmas prep

Ikea can be fun!

Line Leader

I can now put this professional skill on my resume.

Cont. Thanksgiving in IND

We drove to Indiana for Thanksgiving. I was a better backseat passenger this year! Plus, mama and papa were proactive this time around by making sure we weren't stuck in traffic, looking ahead and taking other routes. Not sure if it bought us time, but they learned that I do not enjoy being idle on the road. Hanging out with my cousins was a blast! They're so much fun!

Packing my snack cooler Went to a fun place called WonderLab. My cousins took me up a super tall (2 story) leaf-sculptural maze. Wiped out after an afternoon of volunteering Cousin Lauren teaching me the piano It was another mild Thanksgiving, so we flew kites! Can't wait to see you guys next year! Tell your dad to build the fire pit for next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wrote down daily "thanks" leading up to Thanksgiving.

Fall lanterns

We made lanterns to walk through the park with.

Subway map

Today at school I drew a picture of the subway map for the A train. I think it's a better system than the current map. (sorry for the blurry pic)

Forest School

Washing our hands before snacks. I really enjoy the Forest School.

Snow!

We had a day of perfect snow-ball making snow. It of course melted the next day. But I managed to bring some snow inside and make a snowman.

Trick or Treat

After hosting a play-date at home, I took my usual nap and mama scrambled to make another costume so that I could go out trick or treating around the neighborhood that night. She knew that I couldn't really stroll (using the stroller) around in my firetruck costume, and there was absolutely no way I was going to walk the whole time. So while I napped, mama made my other costume of choice, the lemon. The neighborhood was awesome! They closed down several streets for this annual event. They had a map of all the participating retailers and houses giving out candy. There was a band and a play/performance! I had my first piece of gum, I didn't like chewing it and decided to spit it out. Had a blow pop, which later I realized I had enough. And then had a piece of tootsie roll, which I think I'm allergic to something that's in it, it made my throat itch, but I was fine. "I'm innocent!"

Hurricane Sandy

We started to feel the storm on Monday morning. Mama and papa were a little nervous. I noticed the trees whipping back and forth but didn't think much of it. It quickly got dark in the afternoon. The lights flickered, the winds were loud, saw a blue glowing light in the sky from a transformer blowing up. The three of us tried to sleep near the kitchen area, which is away from all the windows. But I just could not get myself to stay asleep. Maybe it was the excitement of having a slumber party near the kitchen or maybe the sound of the winds. But luckily we live on the 4th floor and far enough that the waves didn't reach us. The next morning mama and papa tried to explain to me about the aftermath. Mama took me on a walk to see the neighborhood, which for the most part was okay. As expected, trees were down, there were damages to signs, awnings, and of course cars. School was cancel for the whole week, and playgrounds and parks were closed as well for safety reasons. So, I was getting major cabin fever. But thankfully, we are fine.

This is Red Hook, an area of Brooklyn we would go every weekend to go grocery shopping or brunch. Papa and I would explore outside and check out the Statue of Liberty, while mama did the grocery shopping.

Now, Sandy destroyed Red Hook.

What? Costume tomorrow morning?!

On return from our little trip to New Paltz, mama read her email and was reminded of a costume party/contest at my school for the following day! I've been telling them that I wanted to be a firetruck, or lemon. Well, it was 10pm, they put me in bed, unpacked everything while thinking of what to do about the costume. They frantically looked into mama's fabric bins to see what they could make. Many things apparently crossed their minds, but they knew I really wanted to be a firetruck...or lemon. So they stayed up till 3am to make a firetruck. The following morning I was excited when I saw the firetruck, a little apprehensive, then reminded them that I wanted to be a lemon. I wore it briefly at home but refused to wear it at school. But later I decided to wear it during Open Mic. This made mama and papa happy. (this photo was taken by a staff/family member from school)

New Paltz

Spent some time in New Paltz for grandpa's belated 70th birthday. It rained, and was overcast majority of the time. But that's alright, still had a great time! Visited Storm King, Mohonk (was surrounded by fog), apple picking, and put the fireplace to work!

Past and sort of Present: Recap

Last time I was here I was so young and naive. Now I'm much older, three in fact! I'm in school and I've experienced my first hurricane (Sandy). August: Went to San Francisco for a visit. Spent some time with the Foss', later caught a bad cold, so I wasn't able to visit other people. But I still had fun playing with my west coast family. Olivia's baby sister, Audrey? Eh, not so interested yet, but I'm sure someday I will enjoy playing jokes on her. Aug-Sept: We went down to North Carolina to visit grandma and grandpa over my birthday weekend. They had a surprise birthday party for me! Grandpa took me out on a "tractor" (lawn mower) ride, and even let me steer! Grandma made me a cake! And mama and papa put up decorations. I had such a great time turning 3! At the end, I released some balloons with a little note attached to see how far the balloons would travel. Card arrived the same week we came back home. Didn't really go far, maybe about an hour away, but what a pleasant surprise! September: When we got back from North Carolina, we had to prepare ourselves for first day of school. I was nervous and excited about it. Mama and papa prepped me throughout summer that I would start school 2 days a week and that they would drop me off and pick me up. I was nervous not to be around them and to be with strangers, but once I entered the building, I knew I would have fun! I went straight in and started to play before class began and said, "Bye!" to mama and papa. I have good days and bad...first day of school I had to sit under the "Listening tree". I'm working on using my listening ears and trying to be better at not joking around all the time. I'm also attending a parent-child class at Brooklyn Forest School. It's a Waldorf inspired class all taken place outside, rain or shine, except for extreme cases like, oh, hurricanes. Mama thought it would be a good balance for me. Mama says we all need balance in our lives. I tell her, "I can balance on one leg!". (pictures were taken on multiple days) Andrew from San Francisco was visiting since his papa was in NY for work. Mama and I spent the day with him and his mama. October: Anissa, Sam and their baby Gunnar were in town for a wedding. Mama and I spent a day with Anissa and Gunnar. We went out for a walk and had lunch and dinner around the neighborhood. Now that I'm a big boy, mama and papa felt I was ready for my bed to be converted. And this is how they found me in the middle of the night.