4 years old

Our little guy is...growing up! Binbin's current fascination with all things robots inspired a birthday cake design. Apart from that, he recalled that Coco's birthday cake had gumdrops, and he would like those on his cake, too. Those of you who know Binbin's favorite color is green won't be surprised to hear that his favorite part of the robot is the robot's left arm.



A little Martha Stewart (or maybe Rachel Ray?) kicked in as Binbin determined the table seating arrangement and, importantly, the table settings...there must be large, medium, and small cups, with napkins and plates in the middle. Tah-da!



Naturally, the luncheon menu included noodles, with choice of sauce. Binbin prefers just butter, and Coco followed suit. Ian was persuaded to eat a little, with prompting from his mommy.



Most of the time together was spent racing around the house, up the front stairs, down the back stairs, through the kitchen, through the play room...do it all over again while screaming as loud as possible. But we did catch the kids in a brief pause... (left to right) Sara, Cordelia, Amy, Coco, Everett, and Binbin.



At last, the piece de la resistance: birthday cake! Four green candles for everyone to blow out together! Then, eat it up, yum!!





After the guests left, Binbin retired to open presents. Yeye and Nainai participated via iChat, which was not only fun, but also offered photo opps as Binbin held gifts up for Yeye and Nainai to see. From Auntie Debbie, Uncle Kevin, and cousin Ronan: robot stickers (and there was also a Giant Robot DVD --which never has to be returned to the library--hurrah! and robot legos...very cool!)



From Ah-po and Ah-gong, the Jenga game that Binbin always admired when Joey played it at Miss Donna's house.



From Uncle Randall, a stomp rocket...way fun! Uncle Randall has a knack for reading into the mind of a child...need proof? look no further than the fact that...after looking through today's snapshots and ones from exactly one year ago...Binbin asked to sleep inside his Thomas the Train tent, which Randall got him for his 3rd birthday!



And from optimistic Baba and Mama...skates! We are going to conquer winter this year! Icy cold temps and snow and ice storms...come what may...we are going to get fresh air and exercise and have fun!



Binbin's birthday comes close on the heels of Thanksgiving, and the holiday weekend tends to run away from us. We are so thankful this year for our friends, including Keena who raised our turkey and Zach who cooked it for us, and the Horches, who joined us, too, and shared our meal. We are thankful for family, friends, good health, and the list goes on, for we truly are very, very fortunate in so many ways.

Rub-a-dub-dub

Two kids in a tub. Yesterday afternoon, Binbin and Coco decided that the stainless steel tub outside her mudroom door would be their house. Into their house, they brought a basket of rocks and baby pine cones gathered from the yard. It was a nice way to relax after running around while Chris Meserve tried to launch a kite, hiking around the woods, and goofing around the house with a half dozen other little kiddies at Coco's birthday party.

Hiroko made for Coco a "castle" birthday cake, with pink frosting and lots of gumdrops. She very thoughtfully made part of it eggless and bought strawberry Breyer's ice cream, so Binbin could partake in the gluttony.

Unmasked Halloween

Though I haven't taken a poll, I would think that most parents want their preschoolers to dress up as something cute (a pumpkin) or something clever (a robot) or something classic (a witch) on Halloween. At the very least, they want to be able to see their little one's face, in which case the prissiest princess or the the most ghoulish monster will do. Well, on Halloween Eve, Binbin repeated that he wanted to be a ghost. So, we found an old white sheet, we threw it over his head, and cut out proper holes for eyes, nose, mouth, and arms. Bright green yarn for hair added a touch of originality, but it was not your photogenic costume. As it turned out, Binbin wasn't much into the whole costume thing. He wore it for an hour or so for the preschool campus cookie giveaway walk, but after that, it sat crumpled in my office chair.
The Town of Brunswick does an annual Halloween Hobgoblin Parade from the town mall to the rec center, led by the High school band and closed by the jr high school band. At first, Binbin didn't want to go, but true to form, he perked right up when told there would be drums. And so, we followed the jr high drum section all the way along the parade route. Here they are at Park Row with some fall color. Afterwards, we caught up with our friends, including Coco and her dad. We even did a little trick-or-treating, and though Mama panicked internally at the prospect of allergens invading Binbin's pumpkin, there were treats that were "safe." Binbin warmed quickly to that Halloween idea, and now (November 2), he's professed that he would like to do Halloween again. 363 more days and counting.

Where in the world...?

Last weekend, after begging, cajoling, pleading, and finally, bribing (we'll let you pick one toy at the bookstore), Binbin consented to going to the Maine Mall in Portland. The toys and games at the bookstore weren't so interesting, but we found a marble run in a toystore at the mall that was just perfect. After buying that, it was only fair that Baba could have a little time in a store that interested him, right? At first, it was "No, Baba, no! I don't want to go to the Apple Store." But we found a set-up closer to the genius station where computers were loaded with "Lego Star Wars." Well, now there was no tearing Binbin away from the computer station. Unabashed enthusiasm quickly replaced any and all reluctance, "Get him, Baba!" and "How are we going to open the door" and "Get him! Shoot him now. Now!!!"