Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2010 November

Dalton has just, in the past few hours, started walking everywhere he goes. Or trying at least. He is amazing! Waddle waddle waddle. And speaking of waddling, we went to the farm today. We went yesterday to take some family pictures, and Dalton started saying "quack" and "honk" and "moo". So, I took the kids back today and he is such a cute little animal noise maker.

"You's not an elephant," Maggie just said to me. Indeed.

It's true. We are finally on our way to India. I can hardly believe it, but now that the flights are booked, I have to. I even started packing up today. I packed a box of newly-acquired Halloween items and was pleased to realize that I had made all but one of them! 5 Halloween costumes, a bat pillow, two witch hats, and a light-up ghost I bought for $1.50 on clearance on November 1st.

We are definitely ready to move on with our life. It has been 16 months since we first applied for this opportunity. We're tired of waiting! During the waiting, we just discovered, Dalton outgrew the height requirement for the airline bassinets. Luckily, we were able to buy him a seat with our flight allowance.

Speaking of Dalton, he elicited a phone call to Poison Control the other day. Somehow the kids got a hold of and opened a bottle of Excedrin. Maggie played "snow" with it, then brought it to me in Mr. Potato Head's hat and asked, "Mom, what are these green things?" Pretty sure Dalton didn't eat any. I found another one on the floor today, and I know we'd used some, so he can't have had more than one.

Anyway, back to India. We leave December 2nd. There are no good flight options for taking two kids overseas. We'll be flying over two nights with a 10 hour layover in NYC. And drugging our kids with Benadryl if necessary (I already cleared this with the pediatrician).

At the airport, experimenting for next week's trip. Hopefully it will be proportionally unsucky enough that the overnight flight to NYC will be bearable with the kids next week. Especially since I have a nap, rest, relaxation, and Leonard's cooking to look forward to - not more flying.

Dear John,
Thank you for all you do for me and our family.
Love,
Susie

Dear Maggie,
Thank you for your best sillies and snuggles.
Love,
Mommy

Dear Dalton,
Thank you for your adorable laugh and general cuteness.
Love,
Mommy

My life has become a whirlwind, but I feel I should do a quick post about my trip to New York City to visit Leonard over Thanksgiving. I've put up some pictures on my picture blog to show Maggie while I was gone, but there are more. It was just Leonard and I and we had a great time. We went to the MoMa, the American Museum of Natural History (Dinosaurs!), Central Park, and lots of fabulous restaurants. I will also do a photo post of food we ate. We made Thanksgiving dinner with exactly what we wanted, including the most delicious dry-brined chicken and Leonard's famous tarts. We also visited the Socrates Sculpture Park near his house.

Leonard says I must have a touristy vibe about me because he gets treated like a tourist when he's with me. I think I figured out what it is: I'm nice. I got lost in Queens on the way to the airport. On the bus I helped a man zip up his bag that was coming unzipped and a girl said to him, "where do you think she's from? She is so nice!" I'm ok with that.

Everything is crazy here at home. We did lots of packing so I can take stuff to store at "ours other house" (as Maggie calls it). How did we get so much stuff? Since we bought Dalton a ticket, we will have plenty of room for stuff like diapers in our bags. We're really not taking much. I have lots of other errands to run. Hope the weather clears up, or at least the streets get plowed.