Sam began waving last weekend.  Mostly towards himself, but also randomly and indiscriminately toward other things:  a danish pancake, a bottle of ketchup, a hubcap. Occasionally, he will accidentally wave to a person, but for the most part we are greeting inanimates.  Alex is also doing extremely well in preschool.  His favorite project so far involved a pink construction paper pig which they “painted” with chocolate pudding.  He was attempting to employ a very minimalist technique to the piece, so much of the medium had to be consumed.  Zach is also loving school.  I forgot to put his lunch in his backpack yesterday and so I got a glimpse of him at recess when I went back to sneak it in.  It was incredible.  It was like seeing an enormous box of puppies let loose.  A bunch of little three foot people shrieking with delight, running around, often without destination or purpose, and tricycles whipping around the little sidewalk track at the speed of light.  It was evidence that pure joy does in fact exists, but my attempt to find it in a latte or a doublestuff Oreo are woefully off target.

On a more practical note, we have been shopping for a new couch since our old one (purchased BZ-before Zach) is starting to collapse and swallow things whole….namely, our butts, but also small toys, loose change and our posture.  So the new couch and ottoman arrived yesterday.  They look like something out of a shrink’s office so I have dubbed them, “Siggy and Otto”.  Very few people know this, but Freud, in fact, had a sidekick named Otto who had many of the same super hero duties as Batman’s Robin.

Anyway, the boys are in heaven, Otto is the perfect height for puppet shows and playing the ever popular, “You’re on my side!!!” game.  So before the delivery men could even leave the premises (and before I could delineate the ground rules….no bouncing, jumping, knife juggling on the new furniture) Alex got a running start and vaulted up onto the Ottoman.  I should interject here, that the new furniture is dark brown leather and just a tad on the slippery side.  He proceeded to slide right over Otto and disappeared into the deep crevasse that is found naturally between the habitats of a wild north American Ottoman and it’s couch mate.  (And they do mate for life, by the way, they simply stop speaking to each other after five or six years, like the rest of us “lifers”.)

Sam, Zach and I stood there in silence for a moment and then we heard a faint, “help”, at which point, Alex popped his head up with a huge grin.  And so our newest game was born…..the “Help me, I’ve fallen into the abyss” game.  Mattel’s got nothin’ on us.

Love to you all,

tiff