S-C-H-O-O-L

Max is officially a preschooler now. After a lovely summer upstairs at his new school, St Mary Villa, (swimming! Puppet shows!) Max has transitioned downstairs, where the serious business occurs. At the end of the first day, I walked into the classroom and saw that Max had written his first new word (besides M-A-X), school. I said, "Oh, Max! I'm so proud of you!" and, more to his teacher, "Oh I almost feel like I'm going to cry!" Max gave me the concerned face. I had to explain to him that sometimes you feel so good that you feel like you will cry happy tears.

L.I.A. recently picked up her first full sentence -- (*Max voice*) I'm Hunnnnnngrrryyyyyyyyy. She is a sparkling conversationalist. Although her speech is still mostly unintelligible, she has been known to hold 10 minute conversations with grownups, and she makes her intentions very well understood. Today, for example, she expressed in no uncertain terms that she needs an adorable pair of Chuck Taylors to match her brother's. She was quite adamant that her purple patent mary janes were NOT THE LOOK she was going for today. She is also quite gifted with the remote control and my phone.

Now that L.I.A. is big enough to really play, the sibling love is spectacular. And I do mean a spectacle of sheer positive energy. The laughter that crosses between them is the stuff of life, truly. They do, like all good siblings, fight. Toys can become an issue. They can also, in L.I.A.'s hands, become marginally dangerous projectiles. Max has developed a fairly efficient trading system to get whatever toy he wants, that L.I.A. has, without her intense (and I do mean intense) protest. Smart boy.

Even Goldie's grown up. He is big as ever, but has turned almost completely pure white, with a fantastic day-glo orange crest on his nose and a few tattoos. We love him.

Mama and Daddy are chest deep in work. Pictures and videos are accumulating, and will be posted in a glorious bloverdose one day soon. Like before Kindergarten.

a short list

of things LIA has attempted to put (*or succeeded in putting) in Goldie's tank:

her shoe
a comb
the ball from her new toy
the fish net (after she climbed up and got it)
*Mama's favorite sunglasses
*a spoon
a fork
a drinking glass
*paper towels
the entire fish food container (thankfully closed)

Goldie and Goldy

We have two goldfish now. Right now, they are facing each other like two police cars in conversation. Maybe they are sleeping.

Pictures and pictures and pictures to come -- Max and LIA are a formidable pair -- but until then, Here is the story of Goldy.

After a month of exploring his new home, Goldie needed a friend, so we headed to the pet store. We got a lovely little goldfish named Paulie. Paulie was in the tank with the legions of small goldfish, the ones advertised as food for people who keep fish-eating fish. Maybe an early death was in the cards for Paulie, though, because I came home for lunch and found Paulie lying still at the bottom of the tank, next to the tree stump. Was it was the stress of the move? Maybe he thought it was his time, since that's what happens to fish from that tank. Could Goldie have...? No,not Goldie. I gave Paulie the traditional goldfish burial.

When I picked up Max, I broke the news to him and offered to go to petsmart to get another fish. He took it pretty well, and off we went. As it turns out, we had a filter issue that was mucking up the water. Goldie, being a carnival fish, adapted to his environment and soldiered on. For poor Paulie though, used to the pristine pet store waters, it was too much. So we looked for a hardier goldfish. Goldy was bigger than Paulie, and very fast. It took the sales associate a full few minutes to catch him. We took him home, fixed the water issue, and he's been adjusting quite well since then.

His name is Goldy (just Goldy, mind you. no designations like "other" or "2nd" allowed). Max named him Goldy because, according to Max, "Paulie is a girl's name." He didn't specify a spelling for either so Goldie and Goldy it is. We can tell them apart.

Meet Goldie

He's the newest addition to the Malloy clan. Daddy won him at the carnival yesterday.  He had a little out-of-water adventure with LIA but now he's happily making himself at home. Max is proving to be a wonderful caretaker.

PS one day we'll fill you in on our springtime travel adventures. Sorry for the delay!