Park, Park, Park & Park

Assorted clips from the Holiday, plus D rolling for the first time.

D has begun that gastronomical journey towards fine sushi, really good pub food and a bit of fresh pasta in Naples. Mashed carrot is the first step.

Most kids C's age want to know what the big people are doing after they've been told to go to bed. C sometimes makes a curtain call- sitting in his doorway, listening to conversations downstairs or reading. We found this sight a few nights ago.

This is Dorothy's hand with Bella's. Here is a trail of earlier installments.

At the risk of ruining the Santa mystery, Uncle Nate and I found ourselves in SantaCon 08 on Saturday. This is essentially a pub crawl in costume, with no elves, and reindeer must be on leashes. It ended in Trafagar Square, near to where we were meeting some friends.

We went to the Christmas Fair at the local Church of England church last weekend- St Barnabas. We've been to a few high services there- lots of bells and smells- as Bells would say. They had Father Christmas in attendance, but it was much more thrilling to have ones face painted. I even won a bottle of champange in a raffle.

Dorothy rolled over on her own for the first time yesterday. Quite exciting for Bells. On that note: D is- 65 cm long and weighs 13 1/2 lbs (or 6.3 kgs). We think both of those are slightly below average, so she is petite. She's just over 5 months old.

C made his acting debut yesterday. He played a captivating Pig 2 in the Garden Nursery’s inspired adaptation of that classic tale- Three Little Pigs. One theater critic- shown below- said this: C was masterful. His Pig character had touches of Brando from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but his underlying force was more akin to Sir Laurence Olivier in Hamlet.

D has developed her sitting muscles and is now ready for the Big Table.

C has been talking about Cranky the Crane (a character from Thomas the Tank Engine ) for weeks. We created a Cranky cake for the kids party today that went over a treat. And then C was able to add him to his collection.

We shared a bit of champagne the evening of C's birthday, which may have motivated Dorothy to do a bit of standing and smiling. That's Nettie off to the right- one of D's Godparents.

The person who inspired this blog was John Ryan . We chatted before C was born about getting pictures back and forth between the US and the UK, and he suggested a blog. Well, he's just had his second child- a daughter Lydia. Congratulations. Lydia Leighton Ryan was born at 7:53 a.m. today, Thursday November 20th, at Elmhurst Hospital, Elmhurst And she shares the same birthday as C.

C's birthday was the 20th. Bella found a great cd player for him, and a few cd's that were "age appropriate". As we were opening gifts, we stumbled upon his Godfathers gift from the US- a harmonica. Suffice it to say that the party turned in to quite a music fest.

Southfields has a little childrens bookstore on the high street which holds book launches every so often. Sandi Toksvig is a bit of a radio and TV personality in the UK, and has just put out a book- Girls are Best . We all chatted amicably about Obama and her recent trip to Chicago and Wisconsin. Not too many 4 month olds have had their snotty noses wiped before a picture by someone of this calibre.

C ably helped me around the house this past weekend. Uncle Nate and I painted the dining room, and C assisted with putting it back together. We journeyed to B&Q and C helped me pick out a set of screw drivers . He even held the picture hooks while I pounded things in the wall. This morning, he was running around the house with his Milwaukee saw - something he picked up from one of his favorite videos here .

Great Tew is a little hamlet on the western edge of Oxfordshire. Some cottages, a general store and one very good pub . On Thursday, we drove into Buckinghamshire and walked in Stowe Great Park. Here's D with a bit of the park scenery in the background.

We've spent the last few days in the wilds of Oxfordshire- at the cottage of good friends in Great Tew. As is our usual modis operandi, we toured National Trust properties in the area. And with an early snow one day, we had enough to build C's first snowman.

It's been an exciting week for Dorothy. First, video. Now, American citizenship. We spent the morning at the American Embassy in London registering her birth, applying for a passport and social security number. She secured her UK passport a while back, and her US one should now arrive in the post soon. Here we are outside the Embassy. It is an artfully designed building by Eero Saarinen which looks out across Grosvenor Square and a statue of FDR. Unfortunately, that may be the last time we're in it- the Embassy is moving south of the Thames in the near future.

C asked a question of Bella a few days ago. "Why don't we eat cats, Mummy?" It was in the context of other things that we do eat. And to his little mind, it seemed to be inconsistent.

For the wedding (see previous post), C stayed overnight with some close friends. Georgina and Ed have a cottage in a very small village- near to where the wedding was. They also have three kids- Marianna, Hetta, and Ophelia. This proved a good combination for C's first slumber party.

We attended the wedding last night of Bella's schoolmate Lucy. To accommodate everyone and their schedules, I wore the Baby Bjorn under my tux jacket to the church and then to the pre -dinner drinks. She was very well behaved at church but flagged a bit later. B and I then got a chance to dance unconstrained.

C's Godmother Louisa, who lives with big animals in South Africa, is almost ready to pop. She and Peter have most of the prep work done, and are heading off to the nearest big city- J'berg- for the delivery. As with my college roommate in Washington DC and Ubu around Chicago, we're going to do a foreign exchange program some day, so that all these kids can see a bit of the world.

Over the last few months, I've been gathering bits of genealogy and creating a family tree on Geni. This has allowed me to build out the both sides- the Park and Wigan branches, as well as all the other branches. The link to the right should connect you with the Park branch.

What has become a bit of a family tradition is bath time. I started giving C his bath, and now I handle both C and D. Which allows for Bella to snap pictures like this: This is Dorothy, but the resemblance to Christian at the same age rhymes , but maybe it's just the hat.

A while back, C got a gift- a piggy bank ( see here ). As we were adding more coins, it fell to its death. Bells in her quick thinking ordered the camera for the postmortem. It was heavy- leaden with pound coins and that funny American money. We haven't counted the contents yet, but it will be a fair contribution to his US Presidential campaign.

Ah, our walk down a country road ended with this view: The Swiss Normandie region.

The French do quirky museums really well. We found three. The first was a museum devoted to antique fire engines. Housed in an old church. Run by these two sweet people. Our guide had fought in WWII, and then served in the fire brigade for 40 years. Typically French- opened late in the afternoon and we were the only ones there.

C started teething early. Here's a post on it . D seems to have started as well over Holiday.

In Normandy, there isn't much wine produced. Apple cider (about the same alcohol content as beer) is the toast of the region. As we drove down one country lane, we stumbled on a farmer selling fresh, homemade butter. Of course, we bought some, and asked where we could get cidre (the French spelling). She directed us to this guy: We got a full tour of his process and orchard- all in French- and his barn, built during the Hundred Years War (1400's).

We decided to take the car ferry to France for several reasons, and it worked brilliantly. C had quite an experience as well. After loading the car, we went straight to our cabin- much like an old fashioned train car, with fold down beds. Pulling out of the dock, we passed several ships from the British Navy.

Fresh back from a week in Normandy, France- hence the lack of posts recently. Many stories and pictures, so I'll space them out over the next few days.

Georgina's father and my father shared a flat in the sixties and have been great friends ever since. And it's amazing to think that Ophelia, Georgina's number three is exactly six weeks older than Dorothy. Here they are - neither of them at their most gorgeous (Ophelia was due a feed!), but fun to see anyway!

Dorothy did her first laugh today. We were up sorting laundry and I noticed that she gurgled whenever I waved anything bright at her. So I did a little dance with Adam's boxer shorts - result: a giggle ... and then another one.

C is using the word "why?" with a great deal of frequency now. This is a symptom of a larger issue: He is now asking more questions. Two days ago, it was: What is time, Daddy? Today it was, Who are the gods? The context for the second one: We were at the allotment, eating handfuls of raspberries. I said flippantly "Let's stop eating now. We need to save some for the Gods, so that we have a good harvest next year." Hence the question. The explanation was a bit Roman, Druidic, and American Indian, all tied to our courgette and raspberry crops.

C has figured out the concept of talking on the phone. So, he had a little chat with Grand-dad Park mid-week. And then Grandpa Wigan came for dinner on Wednesday. He and C had a little cuddle just before bedtime.

As some of you know, Uncle Nate is staying with us while he looks for suitable employment in Europe. Part of the free-rent-deal is "Au Pair Services." Here he's up to his eyeballs in child care. We have restrained him from giving lessons on smoking Dunhills and drinking Jack Daniels. Americans: Notice the Cubs sweatshirt.

Well… quickly touch wood somewhere… Dorothy is now sleeping soundly through the night. It’s happened the last 3 nights, so no more 3am bottle feeds. Christian did this at about the same time- both started sleeping through the night at a little over 11lb. We’ll now have a few years of peaceful rest before we start staying up all night worrying about what the kids are up to.

Dorothy had her 8 week check-up today and passed with flying colours. She weighed in at 11lbs, 6 oz and is 57cm long. Here are C's dimensions at 8 weeks. Christian is very proud of his little sister.

As is our routine, we fled London for the country on Saturday. West of Guilford, we found a secluded lake with a bit of sand around it. Although we were unprepared for sand and sea, we did make the best of it (C frolicked in his pants/underwear). Here is Bells with D, who is getting well used to riding on her front.

Bells found us accommodation at a restored farmhouse on a working farm, complete with another American staying there. That meant tractors and animals. The tractors were more impressive than the chickens and a goat.

We took ourselves out of London for part of the long weekend- out to Kent. Bells found a quaint little steam railway as a outing for C. And he had an opportunity to practice his Czech language skills- there was a tour of Czech steam train enthusiasts on the same train.

After the graduation C, and I took ourselves off to the allotment to harvest courgettes. Under the leaves, we found this thing: We left it as an offering to the vegetable Gods in hopes of a favorable crop next year. PS: A marrow is just an overgrown, over-ripe courgette.

Friday afternoon, C's nursery had a small graduation ceremony for the parents. For some reason, it was a bit of a costume party- so C wore his Bobby (policeman) hat, complete with flashing blue light on top. Here he is dressed to the 9's. And here are some of his classmates at one of the few controlled times. Dorothy slept and ate through the event.

As of a few days ago, Dorothy was 9 lbs, 13 oz, and 58 cms.

The feet of a future beautiful woman. Three days old...

Here's a picture from about 10 days after D was born. Viv, the fantastic doula, came bay to see how she was doing. Here we all are together.

D is maybe slightly less impressed by sailors... And C always makes a good impression with the ladies...

C and I went to the huge sandbox at the park over the week-end, and he shared his tractors with all the other kids.

We attended the christening this weekend for Charlie Hampden-Turner, for whom Bella is the Godmother. As a sidelight, C was a real handful- I had to drag him kicking and screaming from the baptism. With Dorothy on my shoulder. Then stand in the rain. After the service, we all retired to Mike and Di's house for champs where I took this shot of beautiful B&D.

Our routine has included a feed for D in the middle of the night. Which means that I give her a bottle at 3am. Here's both of us getting to the end of it. This should only last for the first few months, and then it is back to a good nights rest. There must be a few years in between the up-at-night feeding and the up-all-night worried about your daughter time.

We took Uncle Nate out to Kent today- to Winston Churchills' home . Beautiful views over the Kentish and Sussex country-side. And Nate enjoyed the house- just his type of fit. We were back in time to make it out to Hammersmith to meet Jack for a pint or two though at The Dove.

Here's the latter half of the Park Family alphabet:

Here's an update to Dorothy's hand picture series: The original is here .

C always wakes up on Fridays ready to see the dustmen and garbage truck. We've developed a really good relationship with these guys. This is Les- a really friendly guy who makes an effort to chat with C every Friday. And here is the backstory .