Pumpkin Day

Sunday was pumpkin day for the Goldman Girls. The plan was to drive out to the "countryside" (Half Moon bay) to go to a legitimate pumpkin patch, but traffic leaving the city was so bad that we stopped at the first place we saw, which was on the south side of San Francisco.

The girls picked their pumpkins and then of course wanted to go home and carve them right away, which we did.

Gaby mostly scribbled on hers so I embellished on her design a bit when at carving time. Annabel drew a pretty good Jack-o-lantern face though, which I carved out as faithfully as I could. Both girls were a little skittish about the de-gooping process, but once their hands were wet they seemed to loosen up a bit.

The pumpkins have made Halloween very real for the girls. So much so that neither one can understand how it is still so many days away. For each of the last three days I've had them ask "Daddy, is today Halloween?"

I roasted the seeds and we now have a good sized bowl-full. I suspect there are more than enough to last all the way to Halloween.

Recent Developments

I know its been many months since I've last written. Thanks to you loyal readers who are still checking this space. I will try to keep it more up to date in the future.

We've been quite busy lately and the biggest news for the family is that we now finally have a house! I've included one picture of it below.



We close next Thursday and should move in by mid-November. It was a very long time coming.

It's also been a very big few months for Gaby. For one thing, she has started school. She and her sister now both attend the same pre-school. Gaby is with the 2-3 year olds in the Pink Room and Annabel is with the four-five year olds in the Yellow Room. The first day was a bit tearful for Gabs, but she came around quickly. Unlike Annabel, Gaby already knew many of the children in the school from tagging along on the birthday and playdate circuit with her sister.

Apparently she plays hard and is exhausted after recess (which is now call "free choice time"). She spends a good deal of time and energy trying to peddle a tricycle that they have on the playground. When we pick her up from school and ask how her day went, she will invariably tell us whether she could "put the tricycle away" or not.

She likes all the children in the class, but no favorites seem to have emerged yet. When she does talk about the other kids, it's usually the boys names that she mentions.

She seems to be maintaining her impishness. Here is something she said yesterday about her teacher Katie to Kristin and I:

"Katie say no painting on balls, just paper."

This is a picture of her on her first day of class.



She is also now just about 85% potty trained. She still wears a diaper to bed, but we've now gone almost a week with no accidents.

She is also growing more and more verbal and is making suprising connections between things she has seen. Yesterday, for example she saw me shaving and came over and pointed to my face saying "Daddy, you have creamcheese on your face!"

Last weekend the girls were flowegirls at their aunt Heather's wedding. They had a fantastic time and haven't stopped talking about it since it happened. Here's a picture of Gaby at the reception in her flower-girl finery.