Build-A-Bear

Maddy: Mommy made it a surprise. I knew I was going to have my birthday party, and I knew I was going to be four. I Just didn't know where the party was. Build-A-Bear is great. I built a dog! I named her Princess. All my friends from class room 716 were there. It was like school but it was all about me. I got to go first. In fact that was a rule at Build-A-Bear, "the birthday girl goes first."

Maddy just starts spontaneously dancing, even after all of the guests had left (I don't think there was any actual music.)

Maddy was proud. "I blew out the candle with one breathe."

Picking out the outfits for the bears took total focus.

This is the magical stuffing machine.

Emma and Maddy sat on Grand-Ma Renee's lap for the Doc McStuffin's Marathon. Daddy: Maddy really had fun. Plus she was very gracious and occasionally let other kids go first and took all of the attention in stride. Afterwards we went to the Parker Meridian Hotel and I took the girls swimming and had a room service picnic with Grand-Ma Nee (short for Renee) Everyone slept well that night.

The "Macarena" in Jamaica

Maddy: The "Macarena" is a Spanish dance song that is played in Manhattan and Jamaica to bring kids to a frenzy. The weird thing about it is you know it's coming, "The crazies," but once the music starts you can't stop. And when Big Bird and Zoi and Elmo show up, it is too much for a kid to take.

Michael: It doesn't bother me, the "Macarena," is back.
Well, maybe it does bother me.
Maybe it never ever left. I just blocked it out. I was never a huge fan of the "Macarena." Now that my girls are being taught the "Macarena" where ever they go, I have to face my feelings head on.
How do you feel? (That is a blogging talking point, thrown out to the blog-oh-sphere)

Would you trust a dolphin with your child's life?

Emma: I swam with a dolphin in Jamaica. The Dolphin fell backwards and I grab his fins. It was fun. I can do anything. Next trip I'll swim with an Orca. That's a killer whale.


Daddy: I had a dream before dolphin day that Emma was standing on two dolphins as they swam across the ocean. Than the dolphins tilted her into the water between the two of them and nosed her ribs and pulled at her little body like seaweed.
Emma was looking forward to swimming with the dolphins and I never, ever want to disappoint her. I realize, I am too trusting of the world, leaving my little girl in the hands of a strange mammal, trained by a Jamaican dolphin trainer. Jamaican people, as a stereo type, seem to not get too upset when something goes wrong.
"Yah man. The dolphin was just playing with your daughter. They love to play."
Well, I am one of those kind of people who trusts a dolphin with his child's life. Oy, Emma, I'm sorry.

Jamaica here we come

FedEx arrived with the passport. My -poor daddy was sweating bullets, but I knew all along it would work out.
If you need to contact me send a postcard to Elmos and Friends, Jamaica.

Daddy: Elmo and friends, Jamaica!
Stay tuned.

Leaving the country=VALID PASSPORT

Emma: Before school on Thursday my dad took me to Duane Reade. Not for toothpaste, snacks or hair clips. No. It turns out, they take passport photos at our local Duane Reade. My passport expired on March 14th and we are flying to Jamaica on March 21st.
I didn't like having my picture taken in Duane Reade. It was creepy, like buying a home baked cookie in a dark alley way. This short Indian with a mustached held this wide black camera and said, "Smile like a big girl." I hid behind my daddy's leg. My dad explained this was official government business and it was quite important that I held my head up, looked straight ahead and smiled.
I had to look up, but not too high, and smile. After six tries, they said "Great" and I got to go to school.

Daddy: The nitpicky world of children's passports engulfed me. I am engulfed, frazzled, tense, on my knees preying I dotted all my T's and signed at the dotted line and wondering why I ever agreed to leave America. I am using one of those speedy express passport places, fed ex-ing government documents, hoping to god the government and the passport express and fed ex come through or we might not make it the Beaches, Negril, and Elmo and all the overstuffed Sesame Street characters will play with other people's kids and...sometimes I just wish my parents would take care of passports and government paper work. But, I am the parent now, and I am feeling the pressure. My parents never took me to Jamaica and they didn't even need passports.
It is harder to be a parent now...case in point...Duane Reade passport photo...Emma needing a second passport because they expire every five years.

Maddy Ballet

Maddy: Dancing. Click.
Bending. Click.
Smiling. Click.
It was fun having Aunt Julie take pictures of me and just me!
I love the click click sound. Aunt Julie travels all around the world taking pictures but she has never seen anything as fantastic as Maddy Ballet.

Daddy: Maddy is coming out of her shell more and more. Almost 4.
Julie took some great photos in the dark basement ballet space. I got special for Julie to take pictures at this class. Julie just get right in there with the kids, rolling around, bending, moving fast. It was fun to see her taking pictures of the proud Maddy.

Hodge Podge of Thoughts/Let's go 2012!`

Is Tomorrow February? Yes! A lot is going on in 2012 but I just want to take a moment to recap the end of the year. Yes, I went to the Macy's Day Parade. I was up at 5:15 for the first time in my life. I even made a miniature float at a workshop at the Children's Museum, with designers of the real floats. What else?
I lost my first tooth at the Jet Blue terminal at JFK. I'm not sure where. Maybe at security when I took my shoes off and was x-rayed. The tooth fairy was super nice. Even though I lost my tooth at Jet Blue she left me five dollars and a really nice note.

I also met the half way point at Step's ballet. It was very strict and grown up. Martha makes us put our hair up in a tight bun.

Daddy: Looking back on 2011, the biggest even has to be surviving the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. We'd bought, or really, my wife, bought tickets at a school auction. I could have written a mean spirited letter to Bank Street for allowing school auctions, which are really akin to putting craps table in the front lobby. Yes, we won the auction, but now we had to wake up at 5:15, get our 3 and 6 year old to a cold bleacher at 6:15 AM, to wait for a 9 AM start time. I am reliving all of my fears right now, rather than the fact that I did it! I survived the parade, and despite a little crying, and a lost DSI pen, (I was one of the smart dads who brought activities to the parade!) I haven't written or thought about the parade in a while. I better take a moment to integrate, be grateful and get ready for 2012.

Oh, you can see a Christmas picture. My sister Julie held a photo shoot for the girls. The pictures came out great. Emma picked out the dresses.