Zeke shows off some moves

I don't think this really requires much explanation.

Summer's here, mostly

Well, the annual Dogwood Festival has come and gone, which was a lot of excitement for everyone. Zeke actually stood on the porch, pointed to the rides as they began to set up, and -- being too excited even to form words -- let loose shrieks of pure joy and anticipation. In other news, Talia fell down on the front stairs and knocked two of her front teeth loose. One of them now seems to be turning black, which I guess means the nerve is dead, but so far it doesn't look like it's going to fall out. We're waiting to hear from the dentist. 

Here are a few favorite recent photos in a slideshow format. Click here to see this whole collection on a single page. When you're watching the slideshow (in this post, or in almost any other slideshow or video) look for a little icon like this:  or something similar, here (and usually elsewhere) found in the bottom right corner. If you click that symbol, the slideshow will expand to fill your whole screen. 

Zeke also recently figured out that if you sit on your tricycle at the top of a hill and start pedaling, you can get going pretty fast. So far there have been no accidents. 

Zeke and Talia playing in the snow

Sometimes he really is a very good big brother.

No piñata? Make one

One minute of hilarity from Zeke's birthday party last month.

First weeks of summer

It's been a long time without a real update. Sorry about that, loyal readers (all three of you). In the meanwhile the clan has been off on two short (four-day) vacations, one to Ricketts Glen State Park (about fifty miles west of Scranton), where we hung around in a small cabin and did some light hiking (very light) in what passes for mountains in Pennsylvania. The other one was to a rented vacation house at Chincoteague, Virginia, i.e., a trip to the beach. Both were a lot of fun. Both kids liked Ricketts Glen, and they also found they liked the beach, though the waves made them nervous. Zeke in fact was in some distress the first few times he watched his mother go into the surf.

In other news, Talia is really talking. She's hard to understand, but she is definitely stringing short sentences together. She imitates her brother a lot. She has a few fairly adorable verbal idiosyncrasies, like saying something that sounds like "see" instead of "it's" -- thus, when eating, "See good!" or when playing, "See funny!" (You can see an example of that last one in the video at the bottom of this post.) For a while, when she was eating, she'd always comment enthusiastically, "I yike it!" but that seems to have passed. Her other habit is screaming at the top of her lungs when something excites her, and also dancing around, with lots of prodding from the audience. The two of them, at least at the moment, are getting along famously and really enjoy one another most of the time.

I have no real good stories off the top of my head, aside from the little one-liners that I've been posting. But there are a few nice photos. If you are reading this in an email, you probably won't be able to see them; click here to see this post on the web, where everything ought to work properly. Same goes for the little video at the end of the post.

First, here are the photos from Ricketts Glen.




(Note: Some of my favorites aren't visible here because they show someone else's kids. If you want to see those, go to Flickr.com, which is a site I use for managing digital photos, sign up for an account, and then visit my page and add me as a "contact," either as "friend" or "family." I can walk you through this if need be. After that, the hidden photos should be visible here. If this is too much of a pain, well, eventually I'll come up with something else. Also: I have left out many of my own photos that show only scenery, but if you want to see those, they're here as well. Ricketts Glen is a very nice place.)

Here are some Chincoteague photos. For some reason we only took very few (sixteen). You can also see them here.



And finally, here are a couple of other recent favorites. Personally, my favorites are the ones of Zeke and Talia perched together on the "changing table" (i.e., a foam pad on top of a dresser), both goofing around. (For some reason they're not displayed together, but they're part of a series, and it'll be obvious when you flip through them.) All those can also be seen here.



And, one last little tidbit, here is a one-and-three-quarters-minute video of Talia and Zeke jumping up and down in a crib. That's all it is, but it cracks me up anyhow.

Cameraphone video of Talia jumping

Pretty low-fi ... but ... enjoy anyhow.

Talia wrestles a Teddy Bear

This is actually Zeke's bear. It was given to him by a then student of mine around the time he was born. He never developed much of an interest in this or any other stuffed animal, but Talia absolutely loves it.

Talia picking flowers in the park

Sunday we explored Ridley Creek State Park in Media, PA. Talia picked as many dandelions as she could find -- I didn't count but at one point I think she must have had at least a dozen in her fist.

One-minute video: Zeke and Talia in the bathtub

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Talia's cheese

Video diary: Talia playing

This is not a particularly exciting video, unless you happen to know and care that Talia (who's featured) was having her skull sawed apart in surgery only two weeks ago. As you can see here, she's looking good and basically enjoying life.

Video diary: an update on Talia

Feeling too fried to write. Basically, though, the news is reasonably good, and things seem under control. She'll go into surgery next Monday and stay in the hospital probably four days. Call (510) 248-0386 to hear the audio if necessary, or click this link to get an updated phone number if that one doesn't work. I wasn't able to extract the sound. Sorry.

Video diary: Talia, one day post-MRI

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Not much going on in this ninety-second video, but at least you can tell that she's more or less back to her normal, active, cheerful self. She woke up pretty groggy this morning, but by mid-afternoon seemed to be full of piss and vinegar again. She's doing a lot more cruising -- you can see her take a tentative step right near the end of the clip.

Zeke climbs a ladder

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This was at a big birthday party with a lot of kids and parents milling around. One parent beckoned me over when Zeke was already halfway up this thing. I couldn't believe he negotiated it entirely without help; it made me kind of nervous, but he was completely confident and secure. I made this little video with my phone while his way up for the third time, I think. He was pretty pleased with himself but evidently didn't think it was much of a big deal.

This one is for the folks back home

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This is an old favorite from a long time back. A favorite of a very small group but still a favorite.

Video diary: Talia plays with a balloon

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Not a particularly high-quality video (one minute or so; made with my cell phone), but take my word for it, she was really having a blast.

Talia tries cheese

This may amuse you... Sorry about the terrible quality. Made with my phone.

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Exciting times at the homestead

These are exciting times indeed. The reason why is a little delicate, but Zeke does a pretty good job explaining it in the one-minute interview below. Have a look at the video. To listen to the audio by phone, call (510) 248-0386, or if that number doesn't work, click this link and use the number supplied there.

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Video diary: Talia today (Sept. 8, 2007)

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Talia's basically been doing three interesting things lately: standing up (with support; she's trying to do it hands-free, though), eating a ton, and making a lot of noise. You can see her do all three in this four-and-a-half-minute video. (Nothing's wrong with your speakers -- there's hardly any sound, except when she pounds on the toy piano.) You can see her try to launch herself into the air from a sitting position. Her "piano playing" is so funny I started laughing while I was trying to film her; that strange noise coming from her is actually, we presume, laughter.

Oh, and yes, the dates in the video are wrong -- they should say Sept. 8, not Sept. 7. Oops.

German, Zeeky-German, and Tally-German

I made this video with my phone while driving and you probably can't make out a thing, but what was going on was that Zeke wanted to practice saying the German word "Kipper," which means "dump truck." He's lately gotten very interested in the idea that you can express familiar terms in a language other than English, and he keeps asking how to say things (especially, for example, the names of animals and of construction equipment) in German. He has also started referring to Talia's babbling as "Tally-German," which I find hilarious.