Abby is 9 Months Old!

And she is quite the little lady. As Ash and Matt remarked last night, she doesn't seem quite like a baby any more, but looks like a budding toddler. I think it's the way she holds her body and her legs - she's got so much more control now that she's crawling and pulling up to stand.

And it's clear to us she would certainly be toddling if she could!

She's still as sweet as ever!

A Change in Tone

The tone of the political debate is changing, in interesting ways. Obama's starting to give speeches about the hard work in front of us, and others are pondering the job the new President will have to bring our divided nation back together after such a divisive race. It is heartening and encouraging to see some long-term thinking happening a full three weeks before the election. Perhaps there is hope for this nation yet.

My great friend and former boss Charlie Firestone also wrote a nice piece for the Huffington Post yesterday proposing new responsibilities of citizenship. He talks about a bundle of literacies we should be responsible to achieve. Not just reading and writing, but being civically literate, media literate, financially literate, environmentally literate. I cannot agree with him more. Imagine if every American teenager had to become knowledgable about how credit card and mortgage debt works before graduating from high school. I am sure it would do a lot to curb our greed-centric banking system and help young people make good choices before it's too late. Kudos to you, Charlie!

Once I Got a Fish Alive

Click here for a recording of Jake singing a song he learned at school.

He does it complete with hand motions.

And how did we get it on tape from a boy who hates to sing in public? We did nothing. Mike had showed Jake the on and off switch on the tape recorder and Jake did this entire recording by himself the other day, hanging over the recorder to be sure it heard him.

Halloween B-day Party

Matthew's great Halloween birthday party was yesterday. Jake went as a surgeon:

Abby was supposed to be a ladybug, but it wouldn't zip over her belly, so she went as a one day shy of 9 month old baby girl. She played the part REALLY well!

We did some crafts...

Enjoyed the haunted blow-up house. ( I love this one of Bella, looking quite wondrous as Wonder Woman. In fact when Mike asked her her name, she told him it was Diana!)

Jake REALLY loved the moon bounce. He spent a great deal of time in there!

This one reminded me of the photos from last year's party:

You can click on the photo below to see all the kids closer up.

We have lots more pix to share with everyone... just email me if you want some. Here's one of the happy b-day boy!

Abby's Standing up!

Only twice so far, but she has stood up in her crib, quite jubilantly, twice, and has tried, unsuccessfully, to pull herself to a standing position on shelves, tables and other vertical objects. She is strong and determined!

Reality Check

Here's a good reality check from Thomas Friedman on the relationship between the economy and politics.

This is also good - distills the facts behind the assertions in the Presidential town hall debate last night.

Old Farm Day

We all enjoyed Old Farm Day on Saturday. We had gone last year when I was pregnant.

It was hot and there were big crowds!

Jake enjoyed the farm animals.

But his favorite thing by far was the apple cider making. It was across from the apple jam making, shown here.

Abby really wasn't very happy until we planted ourselves in the shade and let her out of the stroller. Then she decided that eating grass was a great deal of fun!

Seconded only by crawling,

Though swishing a piece of paper around and chewing on it was pretty good too!

Jake happily watched a potter make a pot just for him and had popcorn and a honey stick. He and I also played some renaissance string instruments.

... while Abby played with Daddy.

A good time was had by all. Boy were we tired when we got home!

Jake's School Picnic

Jake had a school picnic last week. I was in NC, but he and Daddy went and had a great time. Apparently he ate a tiny bit of fruit and then spent the rest of the 2 hours running, wrestling and rolling on the ground with his friend Aidan!