Two Together

Madeline has a growing repertoire of words. She proudly showed me a bird on her growth chart the other morning and repeated "bird! bird!" and just as enthusiastically demanded her "nack" (snack) a few minutes later. She is learning her body parts and loves showing us her eyes, ears, and especially her impressive belly. But it was in a fit of absolute epic proportions this morning that we saw how her words are just waiting to burst through.

Madeline has been desperately wanting to sit up at the kitchen island at mealtimes. In between squeals of protest as we tried to wrestle her into her high chair today we heard an unmistakable "sit THERE!" as she pointed to the empty stool next to Patrick. Donald and I were so astonished to hear two words together (and also completely exhausted) that we sat her in the stool and let her eat her breakfast as we took turns standing behind her to make sure she wouldn't fall.

Even with a limited vocabulary, we understand each other quite a bit, and there was no mistaking the look of sheer triumph on her face as she happily munched on her banana. She loves her "buddah" like crazy, and doesn't want to miss a thing.

My "Aha" Moment

Rarely do I let work creep into the Fun Times blog, largely because let's face it, there have been precious few fun times in book publishing in the last two decades. But what is this blog really but a journal of gratitude, and I am incredibly grateful for Oprah Winfrey, patron saint of the book industry (and enthusiastic advocate of gratitude journals). To watch a friend and author onstage last week at the greatest show on Earth (by book publicity standards) was nothing short of amazing.

Every piece of electronic equipment I own was confiscated by Oprah's security, so I have no photographs, but I have a memory that will last a lifetime, and if you read Thrive you will understand how important it is to invest in experiences vs. things. Except books, of course. Buy lots and lots of books.

And because there is just an aura, or something, around Oprah and everything she touches, I was not surprised to open my magazine at the airport and find a little bit of serendipity. It was an article about another great lady and fellow book editor Jackie Kennedy, who was an editor for longer than she was married to either of her famous husbands. The article quoted something she once said of her work: "if you produce one book, you have done something wonderful in your life."

Thanks ladies. I needed that.

The Dinosaur Museum

Patrick was up at 6 a.m. on Saturday in eager anticipation of a visit to the dinosaur museum. We were so proud of our amateur paleontologist as he enthusiastically identified many of the species and marveled, with dozens of other boys of about the same age, at the immense size of these wonderful creatures. Donald and I were amazed at the dinosaur details he is picking up: he identified Triceratops as being from the Cretaceous period, and when we showed him a model of the Earth he asked "is that the dinosaur Earth or our Earth?" We looked at fossils and many beautifully colored minerals in the rock exhibit, where Patrick was particularly intrigued by part of the exhibit that was designed to look like a cave. He pushed hard on the "stone" wall to see if it would move and when it refused to give told us "I think I need to put on my Spider Man costume."

Cousin Sophie joined us later in the morning and served as our enthusiastic tour guide as we raced through the mammals exhibit. We topped it all off with a pizza party at 2 Amys and a nearly instantaneous nap when we finally got into car seats to go home.

Island Interlude

An exuberant Bahamanian junkanoo welcomed Jeff and Sarah to married life with the most memorable first dance we've ever seen, and the rest of our vacation was no less exciting. The island of Eleuthera is a spectacularly beautiful setting and was a perfect mini-getaway for Donald and I. We took long walks on a nearly deserted pink sand beach, read books, stared wide-eyed at our ocean view, and celebrated many lovely meals with the entire destination wedding crowd. Donald gave a great toast at the wedding, and we danced the night away to a fabulous reggae band.

Eleuthera is a small island in the world of Carribbean travel; it has a few resorts but none of the development found on its more famous neighbors. However, it's always loomed large in my imagination. In the 80s and 90s there was a Club Med Eleuthera that many of my school friends visited (and also, it turns out, Uncle Derek). I remember listening to their stories of performing in the kids' camp circus and vowing that one day I would go there myself. Hurricane Floyd destroyed the Club Med in the late 90s and the owners chose not to rebuild, but I had to smile when we sat down for the gorgeous wedding ceremony and the program welcomed us to "Club Med Beach."

Patrick and Madeline had a great time with Gran T while we were away, but we were all glad to see each other when we got home.

Dinosaur Days

I don't know how it took so long to combine Patrick's fascination with flashlights with his love of dinosaurs, but we finally figured it out and have been making "big huge" dinos on the wall for the past few nights. We've also been reading about them in his new Ultimate Dinopedia (NG Books!) and continuing to watch the ever-popular and Dinosaur Train. His most requested bedtime stories of late involve dinosaurs falling into a big hole and Patrick the dinosaur having to come by with a long rope to pull them out and rescue them. I love checking on him at night and seeing him cuddled up with a stegosaurus or T-Rex, dreaming his dinosaur dreams.

Roanoke Christmas Celebration

Gran T, Aunt Whitney, and Colton rolled into town on Dec 30th for a fun combined Christmas/New Year's celebration and bravely sampled my first attempt at cooking prime rib. Patrick was delighted to have Colton back in town and beside himself to discover another mountain of presents awaiting him on New Year's Eve morning. It was Christmas all over again.

Colton is getting so big and handsome we can hardly believe it. He broke our hearts when, remembering warmer days, he stood at our back door several times and asked "jump? jump?" as he searched in vain for the moon bounce. Madeline loved being in the mix as usual, and gamely sported various football helmets even as she was administering bottles to her baby dolls.

Patrick got the thrill of his life at Sabrina's birthday party on Friday when a facepainter transformed him into the one and only Spiderman. He didn't quite understand what was happening until he got to see himself in the mirror. He was speechless, and had us in fits as he demonstrated his muscles and napped ever so carefully so as to not mar the paint.

I've spent the last few weeks working out where to put everything, and have finally come to the grudging conclusion that we no longer play in our living room but are living in our playroom.

A Good Day

At bedtime on New Year's Patrick and I reviewed the events of our holiday. It was an unusually warm day, so after Gran T, Whitney, and Colton left in the morning Patrick rode his scooter to the park, where he and I played "chase and catch me" and dug for dinosaurs. After nap, Patrick spent the better part of an hour spinning around on the front porch and running, jumping, and playing ring-around-the-rosie with Madeline. His adoring sister was at his side the whole time, mimicking every move he made and giggling, squealing, and stomping her feet for the fun of it. We let Patrick watch the Rose Bowl for a little while after dinner and shared some of our snack, and he told us "I love sitting on the couch eating grapes and watching football." We finished our bedtime chat and he looked thoughtfully at the ceiling and said "I wish I could have this day again tomorrow."