Teddy and Margaret Came to Dinner

As promised, here is the guest post by Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Peter. I haven't read it yet and certainly haven't edited it, so I cannot guarantee that the content or style are up to the extraordinarily high (sic) standards of this blog. However, I do like the "gang of 4" reference in the first line. Given the general political sympathies of the CT grandparents, I suspect that reference was intentional.

We met the DC gang of 4+dog on Friday, May 1st, at 2 PM at the Marriott Courtyard in Rye, NY, for the hand-off to the CT grandparents. We got our instructions on the care and feeding of our charges, switched cars, and headed back across the State line to CT. The 2 hour trip was uneventful as the kids slept most of the way.

The kids had a great time at our little pond and the waterfall and stream that flow into it. We searched and searched for the frogs that have been around for the the past several weeks, but they failed to appear. We had better luck finding the two koi, goldie and sparky, who live in the pond. They are a little hard to see right now because I had recently cleaned the pond and stirred up lots of tiny particles. I trust that the outrageously expensive filter that I installed late last year and recently re-installed will clear this up before too long. The best way to see the fish is to feed them and the kids had fun over-feeding them. Teddy was a real threat to tumble into the pond as he is not cautious and the rocks were wet and slippery due to the misty rainy conditions. Despite his best efforts to swim with the fish, we managed to keep him out of the murky pond water. He had a great time throwing all the rocks back into the pond that I had just recently cleaned out of the pond. He loved the plop and splash. He also enjoyed sticking the rake into the pond and scraping it back and forth, counteracting my best efforts improve the clarity of the water. Margaret had a little less impact on the pond although she was much more interested in the fish than her brother was. She spent considerable time trying to catch them in a fishnet, but without success despite going perilously near the water in her netting efforts. She succeeded in moving some of the little statuary (frogs, turtles, etc.) around, at risk to both herself and the statuary.

The highlight of Saturday was the appearance of Aunt Eleanor who arrived by train from her studies at Columbia U. where she will get her masters in Environmental Policy on May 18th. She contorted and squeezed herself into the back middle seat between M&T in the two bulky child seats (it pays to be slim and agile). Her pitiful complaints were ignored by those in the front seat.

Speaking of squeezes, we were joined at dinner by Eleanor's very close friend, Rafael, who brought a fine bottle of red wine to donate to the occasion. He was able to deal with the mass confusion in getting the food prepared and served. He is also quite a hit with the kids- Teddy even attempted to say both Eleanor and Rafael (we think). At this stage, his understanding seems far superior to his ability to express himself verbally. He is very good at pointing, at least I think that is what he is doing when he is waving the finger around. On the other hand, it could be a poorly done Italian salute aimed at interfering adults.

Margaret was very taken with a book about Stewie the Duck's swimming lesson. We read it many times, and Margaret talked quite a bit about her own swimming experiences. For one thing, she goes to swimming "lessons" (or is it "class"?) while Stewie goes to swimming "school." She also explained that, unlike Stewie, she goes down somestairs into the pool.

Well, all good things have to come to an end. On Sunday, we were pleased to be able to deliver two intact children and Maddie back to their anxious parents, no doubt exhausted after weekend duties as wedding guests.