The Mean Dolphin is Broken

Just for the record, I did not say, "No."

Now We Are Six

... or at least Ellie is.

After hemming and hawing, I decided to have actually have a "friends party" this year. We kept it small and low-key. Initially, Ellie requested a Zebra Party, but after a brief discussion about the narrowness of such a theme, she acquiesced and we went with a jungle theme (plus savannah animals). We had jungle twister, which entailed everyone playing twister in their costumes , feed the monkey bean bag toss, and pin the tail on the zebra. It was all good fun, and was followed by zebra cookies (black and white cookies - a NYC favorite).


The family party was fun, and even lower key. We had a birthday dinner of beef stroganoff (Ellie's choice), birthday brownies (as Ellie has declared she does not like cake), and gifts. All the gifts seemed to be a big hit this year! Grandma & Granddad Anderson sent caterpillars so the kids can watch them hatch, and some legos, and Grandma & Grandpa Hart sent some clothes, a game and a very cool book written by LaRayne for Ellie to illustrate. Nico, Alex and I got her some books, some necklace materials, and some face paint (which has been used everyday since). Ellie was delighted with everything!!

Happy Birthday Ellie!!


Ellie and Nico showing off their face paint











Ellie was very impressed with my artistry here... aren't you?






Nico unfortunately lost his dessert privilege for the evening since he ate none of his dinner. However, since it was Ellie's birthday, I thought a slight reprieve was due and shared my birthday brownie and ice cream with him.






Ellie reading her book from Grandma Hart.

Things I should have posted a while ago, but didn't.

My sister, Cathi, and two of her kids came for a brief visit about two weeks ago. Ellie and Nico loved playing with their cousins, Brit and Dan. One of the favorite activities was ice skating in Central Park. My kids have be BEGGING to go ice skating all winter, so with family in town who were game, we made an afternoon of it.

I was not surprised to see Ellie off skating on her own; she has a penchant for doing things like this. However, I was rather shocked and delighted to have Nico refuse help and want to do it all by himself. For his part, there was a bit more trapsing, and a little less "skating," but he had a great time. So much, in fact, that he threw the BIGGEST tantrum known to man on the way home. Cathi can attest to this, I'm sure. Actually, everyone who was on the subway platform, and in the subway with us can attest to it.




Despite the ending, it was a great day... thanks Cathi!!

easter

By ancient tradition, Ami and I hid candy-filled eggs around the house on the night preceding. Kind of tough when you have such a small house, but it works.
















Our other tradition is to serve the candy in new sand buckets, which will then be used at the beach all summer. The candy is from Economy Candy in the Lower East Side -- probably the coolest candy store I have ever seen (but that's worthy of another post).
















The morning comes with smiles all around.
















The search begins for the hidden eggs. Nico found my best one right away (below).






























Coloring eggs came a little later.














































Happy Easter! and Passover!

parent teacher conference

There are good parts and bad parts about being a dad, but so far I have enjoyed parent-teacher conference. This was my second time, although I was so shell-shocked by the very concept on the first time around that it was a rather hazy experience.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, Ami was not able to come with me (hint: think of the Nazgul shrieks). So I went alone and unarmed.

I was pleased to see that Ellie's various teachers like her a lot. She's doing great academically, although I still find it hard to understand why there has to be any academia in kindergarten. Her science teacher went on about how bright and curious Ellie is in class, how delightful a personality. Yes yes, I nodded. That is good to hear. What can one say? She reminded me a bit of Professor Trelawney, if you remember her from Harry Potter, although without the mystical part.

Fortunately there was no mention of any shrieking, Nazgul or otherwise. The only suggestion for improvement was to help her understand that when coloring time is over, you can't just keep on coloring. Well, we all have our flaws.

Nice job Ellie!

nobu is good bu

Those of you who follow the movements of Ami's brother John will have already learned that we enjoyed a delicious dinner with him at Nobu, the ultra-hip Japanese fusion restaurant. It was a tough choice for the "dish of the night" award, with many strong contenders, but I think the rock shrimp tempura won it by a nose.

I did manage to get this picture of the mysterious Cell Phone Master in action...
















Outside you can see W 57th Street, truly a great one. In addition to our new friend Nobu, this part of 57th features sculptures by Botero and Otterness, and the 9 W. 57th building.




















This building has long been among my favorites in the skyscraper category. For those of you interested in torturing yourselves with the architectural details, check out this site.

Thanks John!!

Ellie built a "Hot Wheels Track" for Nico this morning, based on a Wii game that's popular in our house lately. I'm no expert in human development, but I think playing with blocks is healthy for people of any age. At least that's how I justify it myself.