ESPN picnic at Lake Compounce: five motorcycle rides, three caterpillar train rides, six kiddie rollercoaster rides, two too-scary-for-dad lift and drop tower rides, three convertible Corvette rides, one trolley ride

Hopefully Marian is this calm when it's time to teach him how to drive.

He got to drive the blue car, the orange car and the black car.

Much shorter than the adult version, but when we got up in the air, I realized it still was three-four stories tall. And it dropped fast. I screamed. Isaiah laughed. We rode again.

Still going almost four hours after we arrived: The final three rides on the motorcycles.

Checking out the world after the storm.

Dialogue

Isaiah at the supper table: Don't forget to pray.
Marian: Thank you for reminding us. Will you pray with us?
Isaiah: I will not.

After we prayed:
Isaiah: Thank you, God, for the food we eat.
Thank you for trucks and cars.
Thank you for playgrounds.
Thank you for ice cream trucks. (He saw one at the park today.)
Thank you for libraries
(Dramatic pause...)
where ice cream trucks park. (The library had a visit from a truck with free snacks to celebrate the end of summer on Thursday.)

The reader and the pawer.

Guarding the trucks from the giant baby, who might move one to a place it isn't supposed to be.

Action shot!

Bernadette enjoys drinking from her own cup now, and from Isaiah's and Dad's and Mama's. And if she doesn't want to drink, chewing is a fine alternative.

Dulce de Leche

Marian and Bernadette woman the registration table at our LLL Group's fundraising walk for World Breastfeeding Week.

Marian (group leader) and Bernadette with Debby (group leader) and Georgia (group leader applicant) with the top of Elsa's head in the stroller.

The smell and soundtrack of a late summer evening: dry grass, kicked up dirt, a touch of dew and boys and a girl (5, 4, 3, 3) running, roaring around the playground in the dark. Long shadows of delight cast by the sole park light.

"I tried to throw to my teammate, but I threw it to the wrong player."

"The wind and the pitch!"

-- Isaiah chucking and chasing balls in the park with some other kids

Yesterday morning, as Bernadette nursed, Isaiah came up to us and patted her on the head. "Oh, how I do love you," he said. Two minutes later she was crying because he wouldn't take his finger out of her eye.

 Sunday ice cream with uncle Pete.

Notes

Bernadette's voice: Liquid. Demanding at times. Inquisitive. Chatty. Babbling, but with purpose. She's repeating sounds. Boo. Yay! She has a couple of shortened variations of Isaiah. Iah. Isa. Iszay. Zayza. She also has a "mama" in her vocabulary. And lots of excited interjections for cats, animals and anything else of interest.

She's crawling rapidly and on the verge of walking. She prefers to play with somebody close at hand. Food intrigues her, and she loves to chew on anything and everything. If Isaiah is doing something, that is interesting. If Marian is doing something, she should stop and pick up Bernadette.

 Peter playing with Sinner Man at The Shrine in Harlem Saturday night.

Alien baby, or what happens when Bernadette falls asleep and rolls against the net that keeps her from falling off the bed.

Apologies for the broken picture links. I messed with my Picasa settings, which apparently caused the links to the photos to break. Rather than re-upload all of these (although I might do a few), I'll make sure they get into the eventual paper albums.

 Special delivery

 Snacking on dirt at the park.

Backsliding

 Now he's 3! The birthday boy with an early gift at Chet and Glenna's.

Isaiah admires the wheels on his truck cake (and then became disconsolate when I cut them into fourths).

Isaiah plays with the fire chief's car Nick picked out for him.

Still summer

 Eating

Playing

Request

Isaiah wants the folks at the YMCA to allow him to take a truck from the baby area to the kids area. And he knows how they should answer his request.

"If they say 'yes,' they say 'yes,' and if they don't say 'no,' they don't say 'no.' "

 Slumber my darling ...

Clare and Marian enjoy slices.

The "Italian bomb" at Modern Apizza in New Haven.

The Book Barn in Niantic.

 The birthday girl with a B!