We carved a pumpkin and everything

Micah won the company costume contest and we now have a $75 gift certificate to Old Navy. Way better prize than the marathon.

Simon was a really, really cute fish. Micah made the costume and it is awesome. You'll have to wait for pictures though because we didn't get any on our camera.

I was the fishing pole and I caught the Simonfish several times, as well as the Grinch, Cindy-Lou Who, and Max the Dog.

We had a delicious meal of pumpkin soup, meal-in-a-pumpkin, and pumpkin cheesecake with some of our wonderful friends.

Simon learned how to trick-or-treat. Sort of. He was confused whenever we had to leave somebody's door, but he was always excited about going to the next one. I think he likes to meet new people.

Birthday Candles

Not to brag about what a neglectful wife I am, but Micah had to wait until Friday for me to bake his birthday cake. And then because I wanted Simon to be there when we sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles and the silly boy had gone to bed by the time the cake was actually ready, he had to wait until Saturday to blow out his candles. And don't you worry, because the store was out of stock of the gift I wanted to give him, I had to order it online and it's not getting here until Tuesday. Yep. I was really on top of things this year. Sorry Micah.

And in case you are wondering if there is a slice taken out of the cake in that picture, you are correct. Micah and I didn't wait for Simon before we tasted it to make sure it was okay. It was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

15 Minutes of eFame

So, I just got an email from my friend and classmate Rachel, who runs Black Eiffel and has been indulgent enough to let me be a guest blogger this week. Apparently my toy box has been picked up by another blog. This is getting fun and also a bit trippy.

Birthday Week Continues

Simon actually started to hint at his birthday gift a few days ago when I was putting his shoes on and he said, "Ju." And I thought, "Did he just say 'shoe'?" And it is sounding like "ju" is indeed "shoe." However, it is also "juice." He used it in both contexts today and thought it was the funniest thing. We're used to having to distinguish words from context because some of his signs look very much the same. Train or banana? Diaper or bird? Airplane or juice? It's a fun game. Last night he clearly pointed at Micah and said, "Da!" and this morning he was kind enough to imitate me saying, "No no no." Which he also got quite the kick out of. So happy birthday, Micah, your son can speak.

Also, if anybody is interested, Micah is guest blogging this week at Black Eiffel, a design blog run by one of his college friends.

Today is a big day

After all, it's not every day you turn 30. Right Micah? The celebration will continue all week long because NYU didn't get the memo that today is way more important than Columbus Day, so I had most of last week off and I'm making up for it this week. But what better way to celebrate such a big event than to stretch it over an entire week?

Prizes, eh?

We got our prizes from the marathon yesterday. Talk about anti-climactic. I waited all day for the UPS man to come. (He'd come the previous two days but I'd missed him both times and this was the last chance before it got sent back.) Simon and I even spent a few hours in the afternoon sitting on the front steps (well, Simon was climbing up and down the steps, walking around the tiny yard, picking up every leaf, etc. while I chased him around and such) before it got too cold and we were both hungry so we went inside. During that time the UPS truck actually passed by on a cross-street twice and I was sure he was on his way to our place but I was wrong. It wasn't until after Micah got home, we'd had dinner, and we were about to head out to the store that he finally came. And brought this :
It's a piece of paper glued to a piece of glass (Micah's is the same, but different age and gender and 3rd place instead of 2nd). Okay, okay. It's kind of cool, I guess, except that it's just not the kind of thing that we know what to do with. We don't have space to display anything of this sort in our apartment, nor are we the type of people who really cares to display such things even if we did have space. Micah took his to work to put in the "living room" as a kind of a joke, but I see mine gathering dust or taking up space in a storage box which our children will discover at some far distant future date.

"You guys placed in a marathon?" they'll say with quizzical looks on their faces.

"And we were just as surprised about it then as you are now," we'll respond.

I don't know why we were kind of surprised by what the prizes were. What? We placed in a race and got a trophy? Who would have thought. I guess we were both kind of hoping for something . . . useful. Like a gift certificate to Cold Stone or Olive Garden.

In other news, we have almost definitively determined that the creatures who have taken up residence in our walls are squirrels, which makes the problem a bit more tolerable for me than if they were rats. Which is great because the maintenance people aren't coming until the beginning of November. And we've had scratching and squeaking three nights in a row.

I'm a Bad Parent

Remember a few months ago when I pitched a story and it was accepted? Well, it's running this week at Babble.com. I am pleased with how the story turned out, although I honestly don't think that Simon would be talking even if I hadn't taught him sign language. I had a different ending originally, one that said more forcefully that some form of communication is better than no communication at all and that We understand each other just fine, thank you very much Dr., but my editor wanted something a little more "self-deprecatory" to keep the tone of the piece more consistent. So it is what it is. I wish that I could do a follow-up or something to talk about the really fun parts of signing, like the "potty train" incident I blogged about a week or so ago. The editor really likes this piece and encouraged me to pitch her some more, so maybe I'll get my chance.And I need to give a big shout out to Stephanie Robertson for having Babble linked on her blog, because I never would have known about it otherwise. Stephanie, thank you for helping me find a way to exploit my child for money.

Things that go bump in the night

Sigh. Last night Simon was going to sleep soundly through the night (a rare thing in these days of blooming molars). And we were going to get a good night's sleep for this busy day today. But it was not to be. Of course. However, Simon was not the culprit. No, we were awoken at some ludicrously dark hour by some other mammalian noise. It sounded rodent-like. And it was coming from inside the wall next to our bed. It also sounded like whatever creature was making the noise was in some sort of pain. Or angry. And there went our night's sleep. We went out to our none-too-comfortable pull-out couch and passed the night there. When I wasn't sleeping I was thinking about rats and when I was sleeping I was dreaming about rats. Most of the night I listened to the clicking of the second hand on the clock.

This doesn't really compete with the centipede incident of 2005, but I assure you it will live long in my memory nonetheless.

Simon, of course, did sleep well through the night (aside from a few episodes of whimpering before we went to bed) and woke up chipper and energetic at 7:30 this morning.

Amnesia?

I don't know how it happened. Last night our computer (we have a MacBook) was having trouble shutting down. I had to force quit a few applications and when I woke up this morning I realized that I had closed the laptop before it had completely turned off. Instead of going to sleep like it should have, it seemed to still be on (fan going and power light on). I opened it, turned it off, turned it on again, and realized that it had pretty much forgotten me. My account still exists, but everything has been set back to default status. The dock, wallpaper, screen saver, Mail, hot corners, etc. Micah's account is intact. I can set everything up the way I want it, no problem. It'll just take a little bit of time. But it means that I lost the folders in my mailbox (most of which were related to various stories I've been working on and still hope to pitch) as well as my bookmarks. The bookmarks aren't really a big deal, but the mailbox thing sort of is. The main thing is, how did this happen and what can we do about it?

The Other Stencils

I meant to post these ages ago. These are the rest of the stencils that Micah designed and we painted on our walls.




Grandfather clock for the living room.

Art deco flourish in our room.

Place setting in the kitchen.

And a bird to ponder in the bathroom.

They are super cool, in case you couldn't tell.

We've been practicing

This week Simon learned to turn around, so we thought we'd give "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" another go. Just in time for his Aunt Abby and Uncle Jarom's birthday present. I remember you two doing this back in the day, with your little bear costumes on. Happy Birthday!

Potty Train

We were talking today about how we think Simon is becoming more aware of his bodily functions. Micah said something like, "Before too long he'll be ready to potty train." Simon, who was sitting nearby, got all excited and started to sign something. We were confused. He was signing "train." We'd been talking about using the toilet and . . . oh, wait, we got it. Train. Potty train. Hahaha. And immediately this image (or something like it) popped into our heads. I think we could make a killing putting it on toddler shirts.