Our daughter Grady...the next Julia Child

Our daughter has always been a GREAT eater. She has an appetite for things that I would never eat such as anchovies, olives, blood sausage just to name a few. When I hear parents say that their kids won't eat anything but chicken nuggets and french fries, I think that they must be from another planet. 

Grady loves to talk about food. In fact she sometimes discusses meals a full day ahead of time. "What are we having for breakfast tomorrow. I think I'll have waffles and fruit. And sausage. Can we go to Lil' Frankies for dinner?" Heaven forbid we skip a meal. It throws her whole food diary off. 

Some of her favorite foods are peanut butter & pickle sandwiches, shrimp quesadilla's, banana bread, blueberries, spicy tuna sushi, pizza (of course), beets, asparagus, brussel sprouts, sardines, rare steak (like her Dad), french fries, guacamole, chocolate, salads,  yogurt with jelly (why have it with peanut butter when you can put it in yogurt?). The list goes on an on.

For a person who is particular about food and tastes, it has been a nice change to have a child who will try anything at least once. I am no where as daring about food. I tend to order the same food all the time. Grady will switch things up and try the chicken livers. When all of the the other kids are throwing fits about not wanting to eat their beans, Grady is diving in for seconds. 

We have found something that she won't eat. Cooked broccoli. It has to be raw or she's not "havin' it." The fact that she even likes broccoli amazes me. It is not on my list of foods that I like.

Maybe one day, Grady will grow up to be a world-renowed chef or food-critic for the NY Times. "The Kumamoto oysters at Le Bernardin are fantastic, while the sea urchin risotto never seems to live up to the hype." Whatever she chooses to do with her life, I am confident that she will have tried all of the delicacies that this world has to offer. What a wonderful journey her life will be if she stays on this path. Have fun Grady and eat well.

xo......Daddy

The Answer is still........NO

Regardless of how many times we say NO, our kids continue to ask:


Why Not, when, why, but (Grady's fave), ppplllllleeeeeaaaassseeeee, just this one time, i promise never to ask again, but everyone else can, that's not fair, really?, i don't want to, i don't understand, daddy would let me, papi would let me, because, i'm not a baby, you let me before, you never let me, etc, etc, etc.


Does this continue until they go off to college? Pray for our sanity people. 


xo...calvin and tim

School's Out for Summer....Yeah

Our kids attend school in New York City and what seems like the longest school year ever has just ended. Monday 28 June was the last day of school. 11:30am dismissal. Why the Board of Education felt it necessary to torture kids and families alike by making the last day of school on a Monday for 3 hours is beyond me. I won't even begin to think of an excuse.

Anyway, school's out and summer is officially underway. Soccer, basketball, country living, b-bq, swimming pools, parks, butterflies & toads, bike riding, skinned knees, bug spray, beach days, s'mores, iced tea & lemonade, ice cream cones, watermelon, fire flies, and bug bites.

We are ready. Are you? Have a great summer from our family to yours.

xo...ctgc

OMG!!! She did what?

OMG!!! She did what? This was my first response when Tim brought the kids home from school and informed me that Grady had pulled another girl's hair and then proceeded to spit in the face of another. To say that I was shocked and mortified would be a complete understatement. This is so out-of-line for Grady that I couldn't believe it was even possible.


I asked her where she learned this behavior and her response was Cyrus. Now I have 2 hell raising kids to deal with? What's up with that? That wasn't part of the plan. Are we raising a chain gang here?


I believe one time in the heat of battle, when the kids were going at it (as kids sometimes do), Cyrus spit in Grady's face. Maybe she liked this antic as she did the same thing to this little girl.


Hopefully, this was just a case of having a bad day and we won't see any of this behavior from either of the kids ever. Not necessarily something that we can be proud of, but we believe in them and know that they are great kids.

Morning Photo Project Days 88-112 18 Mar-30 April 2010

This last day was PJ Day at school. The kids were a bit excited to wear their pj's to school.

Who says boys can't do ballet?

The other day I had a strange conversation with an educator at my child's school that left me a bit dumbfounded. 


Cyrus take Capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, music and dance) each Wednesday after school.  He is the youngest kid in his class and gets a bit frustrated with all of the verbal instructions that his teacher gives. "I just want to do the fighting part." I told him that he needs to know how to do the "fighting part" so he needs to listen to the instructor. Anyway, he is bored of the class and wants to switch to something different. Grady takes ballet on the same day, so he said that he wants to take ballet. Grady chimed in and said "boys don't do ballet" at which time I mentioned to her great ballerinos (male ballet danseurs) such as Alvin Ailey, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and  Desmond Richardson. She was pleasantly suprised and they both thought it was cool to do ballet.


Anyway, fast-forward to Wednesday. While picking the kids up from capoeira and ballet, one of the organizers of the programs pulls me aside to speak to me about Cyrus and capoeira. She pretty much reiterates what Cyrus has told me (he's bored of all of the talk, etc) and suggests that he takes a different class that he may have more interest in. At this point I'm thinking to myself that this is perfect timing, as he said that he wanted to try something new, perhaps ballet, which I tell the organizer to which she replies "Oh no. Let's not put him into ballet." "Why not" I ask. Her reply "there are no other boys in the class and I don't want him to be the center of attention. I use to teach kindergarten and I don't want anyone singling him out for being different. I'll talk to the art teacher and maybe he can do art or something along those lines." Her insinuation was that ballet was a "girl" activity and if a boy participated he could be perceived as being "feminine" and would be emasculated. 


All I can think of in my head is "why can't boys take ballet, shouldn't we embrace a child's individuality and isn't dance a form of art?" I seriously couldn't believe that I was having this conversation with an educator in 2010. I left the meeting in total disbelief at what I was hearing and not quite knowing what to say. I knew what I wanted to say but my mom always said "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." 


I am not sure that whether or not Cyrus would like ballet anymore than capoeira, but the point is he should be able to explore all sides of himself. To assume that he would be any less a boy if he takes ballet is just ridiculous and so antiquated.  The funny thing is that if my daughter Grady wanted to play baseball, they would throw her a jersey and a mitt and say that she is making headway for girls around the world and she would be celebrated for being  "different". 


The lesson in all of this is that I will love my kids regardless of what activities they partake in, as long as they work hard, do their best and are having fun.  I don't think we need to fill kid's heads about what they can't do but rather appreciate all they can do. Who says boys can't do ballet? Not me.


xo.....Daddy

Cyrus' Tree

Tonight, we had to cut down Cyrus' favorite tree at our place in Starlight. The tree was old and dead and had been destroyed by termites, so we had no other choice. Cyrus loved climbing up the tree and playing in it.

Well now Cyrus is just destroyed and we feel horrible. He has been crying non-stop for about an hour and doesn't want us to even consider finding a new favorite tree amongst the hundreds on our property. Now he says that he wants to live with a new family that has better trees.

Mr. Head Strong

Our son Cyrus is the most head-strong kid in the world. When he gets a thought in his head, there is no letting go. He is a wonderful kid, but is in the "testing" phase. He is "testing" my patience daily.  The thing he hasn't yet realized is that he is "testing" the wrong person. I'm like Teflon and I won't be broken. Bring it Cy-Cy. I love you but Daddy sets the rules.


xo.....Daddy

Morning Photo Project Days 70-87 Mon. 22 Feb -Tues. 17 March 2010

Morning Photo Project Days 70-87 Mon. 22 Feb - Tues. 17 March, 2010

Our son is a comic genius

I know that some parents say that their kid is the funniest kid to ever live, but our son Cyrus takes the cake. He never fails to suprise us with his wit & humor. And, he's only 4 years old.

Here is a snippet from an email that his teacher sent to us the other day. Enjoy.

Cyrus has been doing fine...he has definitely settled down, but is still Cyrus 
of course.  The other day, he said "Suma, this is a hot mess."  I guess I need 
to stop saying that so much!  Personally, my favorite Cyrus line so far was at 
the park  when he told someone, "Don't play me, play lotto."  I had to walk away 
because I started laughing!  

We told you he was a comic genius. We love this kid. He brightens our day.