Halloween

Neither Constantin nor I are big fans of Halloween. It was not something he grew up with in Greece, and he doesn't quite understand this custom of dressing up and "begging" for candy as he puts it. I just never got into the whole idea of it although I love seeing all the kids in costumes. In any event, we were not going to prevent Katerina from participating, but figured we'd just hit a couple of homes in the neighborhood of people we knew and show off our beautiful princess. One of the folks we visited suggested we go to the townhouse complex down the road because it was very "happening". And that it was. So many little folks in costumes going up and down the roads inside the complex. Adults sitting on their front porches dressed in costumes doling out the goodies, popcorn machine, lights, music, lots of fun. It felt as if we were in a Hollywood Halloween set complete with extras from central casting. It'll definitely be on the list for next year.

Katerina collected her candy, got to eat a couple of pieces that evening and somehow the bag just disappeared overnight. All in all it was a very fun evening.

The Princess getting ready to go out

The first of the five target homes we visited

A quick stop at Briars to see Uncle George

Kara's Bat Mitzvah

We were thrilled to share the celebration of Kara becoming a bat mitzvah. Kara is cousin Larry & Gail's daughter; and we love her to pieces. She is smart, funny, pretty and she had tremendous grace and poise during the long ceremony and let it loose at the after party. The party was one of the best parties I've ever been to; from the cocktail hour to the dessert buffet. Full of fun and entertainment. There were 75 of Kara's friends there and the rest of the 250 were adults at a lovely beach club on Davenport Neck on the LI Sound. As soon as the kids got in the door, the shoes came off and socks went on for non-stop dancing. Larry and Gail, the unbelievably creative folks that they are, put together a very funny video of them as stereotypical middle-aged Italian (Larry)/Jew (Gail) talking about the life of Kara with a stream of pictures.

Poor Katerina was sick and couldn't attend. She would've had such a great time and so many people were looking forward to seeing her for the first time. I bought her a $100 party dress from Talbots which I will be returning this weekend since the next time she'd have an opportunity to attend such a party, she will have grown out of the dress for sure.

The ceremony was very moving and I haven't been to one since I was a kid and my own friends celebrated their bar/bat mitzvahs. The rabbi was warm, bright and funny. He was very inclusive and brought the Torrisi side of the family up at different points in the ceremony to participate. It is certainly a day that Kara will always remember; as will we all.

Unfortunately, I didn't get that many pictures, but I did get a couple of good ones.

Cousins Peter and Bobby reconnected
Susie and Judith
Jessie and Ben
Marilyn and PeterKara and Family

Pumpkin Picking - 10/14/07

We had an FCC Gathering at the Muscoot Farm Fall Festival on 10/14. The kids had a great time with each other, pony rides, hay ride, pumpkin picking, and crafts. Katerina was still riding a high from her birthday party. Mommy, however, was ready for a lobotomy! It was quite a weekend; fun, but non-stop.

Daddy and Katerina in charge of doling out the pumpkin pie, zucchini bread and an assortment of other treats.

Katie and Camillie with their pumpkins.

Paige was there, too! Good buddies.

We had 8 members of Westchester Evergreen Association join us. Rose, the president, had cooked up a large batch of dumplings for all. She made gift bags for all of the girls with hard boiled eggs, chocolate "coins" and other fun things.

Happy Birthday!! 10/13/2007

Katerina's birthday started off as any other Saturday morning; Chinese school. Constantin took her to school because I had to work at the nursery school to set up for the Fall Festival and man the welcome table & sell activity tickets. I was assigned to the social committee and we put on 2 events during the school year.

After school, Constantin picked up Julianne to spend the day with us because her mother and older sister had tickets to Mary Poppins and couldn't take Julianne to Katerina's birthday party. The 2 girls came to the fall festival at BNS and made some crafts and each got a pony ride. It was one of those absolutely beautiful fall days. I have no pictures from the festival because I was chained to the welcome table in front of the school.

We then had a couple of hours until the party and tried to get the girls to relax a bit. We set them up in our bed with milk, fruit and put on some videos. Well, you can see how well that worked!

And it was on to the birthday party at MY GYM. We had 27 kids and 2 "coaches". They really did a nice job and the kids had a great time. I think Katerina was overwhelmed initially and at one point she just left the gym floor and sat with her back to the party. She quickly regrouped and enjoyed herself thoroughly.

After the gym, a few people came back to the house for some adult food, beverage and the Indy 500.

My Baby's First Rock Concert - 10/7

Waiting for the show to begin; one of the first to arrive. Front row seats at $70 each mind you!

The Fab Four

And here's my little girl storming the stage and being held back by security. Makes a mother proud!

Wow man, it's the Doodlebops!

Joe's Birthday -

Joe's birthday is 9/22, but we went out to celebrate on October 4th. And as we've done several times before, we celebrated at a Japanese Steak House. Katerina was so happy to see Joe. She's missed him terribly since he moved back to his mother's. What a very strange turn of events.

Joe caught the broccoli. The two women next to him are people we were seated with, but not part of our group. They were very nice and enjoyed both Joe & Katerina

No evening would be complete without the Happy Birthday bop on the head!

The Princess & The Biker

The Princess (Halloween costume) striking a royal pose atop her Dora step stool, and in front of her sippy cup. And of course, her "Chick" is behind her as well. Mind you, all of these items are in our bedroom!

And here's the little princess as the biker chick. She loves her helmet and her pink & purple bike which is her birthday gift.

Quite a juxtaposition.

School is in Session

Katerina has started a new nursery school. Last year she was in For Kids Only daycare center for 2 mornings a week. It was a good experience for her as she learned to socialize with other kids, but this year, when she was old enough, we are sending her to Briarcliff Nursery School which is located on two and one-half acres and has such a fabulous yard for the kids. The school was established in 1947 as a parent cooperative and it remains so today. BNS has been accredited since 1994 by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). What I love about the school is the teaching approach and the opportunities for parent involvement.

Katerina goes to school 3 mornings a week. The first week was a get-acquainted week with parents there. They broke up the kids into 2 groups, each for 1 1/2 so Katerina was with 5 other classmates. The 2nd day the parents were herded into the kitchen mid-way. The 3rd day we brought the kids in and they had us gather on the porch from the beginning. Unfortunately, the 2nd week which was the first week with all 12 students and the first week without parents, Katerina missed for the cruise. The following week she had a very tough time and clung to us as we dropped her off. Apparently, she was very standoffish inside and out in the play area. It wasn't until the first week of October that she started to engage with other kids and today, we received a note from the teachers that she was smiling all day, participating and having a great time.

We've noticed that Katerina approaches new environments by observing for a while before joining in and this was exactly the behavior she exhibited at school.

Katerina and Hannah sitting in their cubbies. Some kids get all the hair!!

Hammond Museum Fall Festival - 9/29

One of our FCC Advisory Group members worked with the Hammond Museum in North Salem to put on a great Mid-Autumn Festival celebration. The kids decorated paper lanterns with paint and streamers. The adults made lotus-shaped boats from the peels of humongous grapefruits. We then paraded to the pond with the paper lanterns dangling from sticks and floated the boats lit with votive candles in the pond while a Chinese storyteller talked about the meaning of the holiday. Very magical!

Katerina placing the lotus-shaped boat into the pond. Two seconds

after this shot, she dropped the grapefruit and it floated upside down in the water!

Autumn Moon Festival - 9/22 & 9/25

What a great time we had at the Autumn Moon Festival celebration on Saturday 9/22. It was very special to be joined by members of the Westchester Evergreen Club (Chinese Americans Senior Citizens group) who had such a great time that they want to join our pumpkin picking gathering at Muscoot Farm in October. In total we had 32 attendees; 23 from FCC and 8 from Evergreen. Rose, the president of the Evergreen club prepared her famous noodles which were the hit of the evening. Shirley, another Evergreen member told the story of Chang E and Hou Yi to the girls. The park was on the Hudson River and we all carried our lanterns to the river and looked at the moon together. One little girl thought she saw Chang E. It was a wonderful evening.

The actual Mid-Autumn Festival evening was 9/25 and we spent it quietly in the backyard. I read the story of Chang E and Hou Yi and told Katerina that her friends and family in China were looking at the same moon that we were. I know that in years to come Autumn Moon Festival is going to become more important and we'll probably have some very wonderful discussions.

Cruise to Bermuda: 9/15 - 9/22

What a great time we had on the cruise. I don't think Constantin and I had any idea what a great vacation a cruise can be. However, I think one of the reasons it was so special is that we were with our family. Uncle Lou turned 75 in September, and as a surprise birthday present, Aunt Dale took us all on this cruise with them. Mom, Bob & Sue, John & Sue and us. Lou and Dale are avid cruisers (85 cruises to date) and do everything top shelf. We all had lovely staterooms with balconies. Aunt Dale took care of all the dinner arrangements as it was open seating and there were two specialty restaurants. We had fabulous weather, fabulous food, fabulous fun and fabulous time together. Our stateroom connected to Mom's, and every morning Katerina would slide off the bed, open the connecting door and look for Grandma. They would sit together and have some fruit and muffins while Constantin and I got ready so that we could all go and pig out at the breakfast buffet. And pig out we did. Breakfast was always my biggest meal and I actually didn't eat much, if at all at dinner.

Katerina was the belle of the ship. This ship, Azamara Journey (part of Celebrity) is a small (690 passengers) adult-oriented ship and we only saw 3 other children on the cruise. There were no programs for kids but that didn't stop Katerina from having a wonderful time. In addition to having the Florida crew: Grandma, Uncle John and Aunt Sue there, all of the ship's crew was infatuated with her. I have so many pictures of the captain and the hotel director holding Katerina. And after she sang B-I-N-G-O into the microphone during a bingo game, the entire ship fell in love with her and would ask her to sing when they saw her. She also danced the twist one evening during a twist contest. I'm afraid I've turned into one of those mothers who think everything their little one does is just adorable and everyone around them feels the same way. But in this case, it's true!!!

I was seasick the first night and stayed in bed. I hadn't taken anything to prevent it and after unpacking just had to lay my head down. It got very rough that night because there was a storm and we had 6 to 9-foot swells. It continued for most of the next day as we were cruising, but since I had taken something the night before, when I woke up I felt ok. That day at sea, we hit the casinos.

(More to come.....)

September Update

OK, it's been a month since my last post. As usual, I am so far behind and there's so much to record.

"EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC"

Katerina is developing in leaps and bounds. Jay, Echo's Dad and author of one of the blogs I follow said it best; to quote The Police: "Every little thing she does is magic". I don't think anyone could have said it better or described the absolute wonder I have at everything Katerina does. This is my first "baby" and I am literally in awe watching and participating in her development. Our magical moments are just everyday living; the hugs, the laughter, etc. But some recent standouts: One night at the end of August we met a bunch of FCC families on the beach for a picnic and fireworks. As the regional coordinator, I organized it and brought balloons so everyone would easily find our location. At the end of the evening, we gave out the balloons to the girls. One girl's balloon flew away and started crying. Katerina walked over to her, put her arms around her and kissed her. I had tears in my eyes watching her compassion! And the imagination....One night she came and got me for a picnic. She had a little basket filled with pieces of paper and puzzle pieces and put her blouse over the basket. She led me to my room and we sat on the floor and we "ate" our picnic. And the humor.......While we were on vacation in Greenport in August we were on a tour boat waiting to leave the harbor. It was a long wait for her as we had gotten there early. As soon as the engine turned on she announced in a loud voice: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, The boat is leaving." Where did she ever come up with that one? I'm amazed at what she hears/picks up and then how she applies it. One morning she woke up before me. Constantin had already left the house. When she wakes up she calls for Daddy or Mama. So I wake up that morning, all is quiet and I turn on the television to watch the morning news. All of a sudden I hear "ANYONNNNNNNE!!" coming from her room. Poor thing must've been calling for us and I was sleeping like a log. I wish I could record all the magical moments; she's developing so fast, but I'm so busy living those moments that I don't always get to write them down or post them in this journal/blog. I keep making promises to myself that I will keep journaling on my blog, but I'm always so far behind.

Last week we were in the bank waiting to meet with the bank officer. A little boy was also there waiting with his Mom and she was called in. Michael and Katerina started interacting. All of a sudden he lets out this screech. Katerina looks at me wide-eyed, puts her hand over her mouth and says "Michael's screaming". She then looks at him and says "No screaming. I said, no screaming." Hmmmmmm, wonder where she got that!!

Another day Deb and I were chatting and Katerina asked me a question. Deb answered her and Katerina gave her an exasperated look and said: "I'm talking to my Mom!"

Katerina has developed an interesting way to verbalize the negative; she just puts a "no" in front of the positive. For example, "No, I want to go home" means I don't want to go home. I think it makes a lot more sense that totally changing the sentence structure, don't you?