vonRoeschlaub Family News

We headed to New Jersey to see the rest of the family while Caitlin was home.  Avery was desperate to see Sean and doted on his every action while we were there.  I pointed out to Sean that he was only a little older than Avery when we first met.  It was good to see everyone.

I got to see Sean’s Eagle Scout book, with it’s impressive collection of letters.  Caitlin got to hold Victoria.  Claire got to ask for a sleepover.  Diana got to talk with her brother.  And everyone got some great Chinese food.

My parents came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Diana broke out the wedding china and nice wine glasses. The kids ate off their Bunnykins plate ware, a log was in the fireplace, and we all relaxed a little, though everyone was also dressed up for the occasion.

Victoria had her first solid food. Well, if you call the paste like powdered rice “solid.” She happily sat on Noni’s lap as Diana mixed up the powder, then got a spoonful right in the kisser. The picture to the left was taken seconds afterward, as she suddenly realized Diana had filled her mouth with a strange gunk. She wasn’t very happy, but she didn’t cry either.

Avery picked the animal book for his bedtime story and flipped to the section on snakes.  As we read I pointed out that snakes can’t hear, they have no ears.

“Not even if you scream?” asked Claire.

“Nope.  They can’t hear anything.”

“What about dead snakes?”

“No, dead snakes can’t hear either, silly.”

“Can snakes smell?” she pressed on.

“Yes, they smell with their tongue.  That’s why they always stick it out, they are tasting the air.”

“How do dead snakes smell?”

I smiled, “Terrible.”

Last week was pretty bad for the whole family.  I went to California where I lost the best boss I’ve ever had, waited six hours for a flight home, and got a bad case of vertigo.  Diana stayed home where one car had the battery die, four flat tires, and a broken serpentine belt, while the other car burst into flames.  Total cost of the car damage: about $2000.

Hopefully things will improve this week.

Claire went to a museum today with her friend Ava (6) and Ava’s mom, Anita. When Claire and Ava take car trips together, they always have interesting conversations, and today was no different.  The topic was the Tooth Fairy, and Ava, (who has lost several teeth) said to Claire… ” I wonder what kind of tooth fairy you will have, Claire. The kind that leaves the tooth under your pillow, or one who will take it.”  This lead to the consideration of what the tooth fair does with all those tiny teeth.

Ava felt that the fairies use them to build little houses for themseves.  Claire had another notion…

“I think they take them up to God.  He’s getting really old, and needs teeth to eat.”

Ava considered this idea. Claire, concluded “I think he must be really hungry, Ava”

For desert Avery chose M&Ms and Skittles.  I put them in a bowl as he asked, but he got upset because he couldn’t tell which was which.

“M&Ms have an ‘m’,” I explained, “and Skittles have an ‘s’ on them.”

He was happy for a while, then got upset.  “What does ‘E’ stand for?  I found an ‘E’!”

I looked at it and laughed. “You silly, that’s an ‘m’ sideways.”  I assumed he was joking.

He looked at it, careuly turned the M&M a quarter turn, and went “Oooooohhhh…”

I guess he wasn’t joking.

I came home from work early on Halloween to help with Trick-or-Treating visitors, a curfew meant an early start for most kids.  Avery was already dressed as Superman, and Diana had sprayed his hair into the trademark curl.  Avery was very excited to tell me something: reaching up he patted his head, feeling teh slight stiffness of the hairspray, and announced “I have Grandma’s hair!”

We’re starting to get into a Halloween tradition with the pumpkins. This year wasn’t as elaborate as last year, but still fun. First, last year’s pumpkins:

That’s the Superman logo (of course) and Agatha Heterodyne. This year we used two store-bought patterns:

and three patterns I made up

Those are Ang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which the kids love, Pikachu from Pokémon, and, of course, the cover of Action Comics 1, which introduced Superman.