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Wednesday 31 January 2007
	Isaac loves taking photos with our Digital Cameras. Here he posed a troll (and some other goodies) on the washing machine. On one of our morning constitutionals, last weekend, Lila was gifted a flower as we strolled by a neighborhood florist.
Tuesday 30 January 2007
	When we're not in the midst of some sibling rivalry things can be calm and caring. Isaac is a great teacher, whether it's art or math or reading or writing. Lila loves being in class with her big brother. Isaac took time off from following the brick-by-brick Lego instructions to bulid something free-form.
Monday 29 January 2007
	We're recovering from the flu. It's been a crazy last few days as Isaac and I have been shivering, coughing, and watching our fever bob up and down. It's not really what I'd recomend for a weekend. Isaac spends some ill time reading his airplane book. He also spent a bit of his up-time building with the MagnaTiles. Dr. Ignatius Chan said that the flu hit San Francisco ten days ago, the day we got the FluNase. Bad timing. (Of course we took Isaac to Kaiser just as his fever broke; just like last time. Fever must detect the charging of a co-payment.) Isaac was probably infected at school; one of his classmates has been sick for several weeks. It would have been really nice for the San Francisco Department of Public Health to warn the schools that the flu had hit, that keeping sick kids at home was even more important than usual. Didn't happen.
Sunday 28 January 2007
	With big brother ill, I take Lila out to Orphan Andy's. Here she's flirting with one of her favorite males, Woody. You can see her special hair-do, in anticipation of seeing Woody. She even drew Woody a special drawing with pastels and crayons; it was hung up at the restaurant for a while. Exhausted from our social time, Lila needs some cooling-off time at near-by Collingwood Playground.
Saturday 27 January 2007
	For the first time since we've been at Hapkido there's a public black-belt test. I got permission to video the test. Hopefully I can spend a bit of time with Final Cut Pro instead of iMovie... Here's the very end of the evening, when the broken boards are set aside, all the belts and certificates have been awarded, and a moment of satisfaction fills the dojang. It's time for Family Folk Dancing again. Here are best friends Cynthia and Rose in some sort of musical circle with Lila in white. Isaac was very low-energy and bitchy; quite unlike his usual self. [UPDATE: Isaac was coming down with a two-week illness and would be as sick as a dog within 24 hours.]
Thursday 24 January 2007
	Isaac loves to spend time by himself on the school playground, so it's a special treat for me to watch him playing with his peers. Katya (in black) and Zy (in white) are frequent playmates.
Tuesday 23 January 2007
	I'm back at the Fancy Foods Show, enjoying more truffles. I've had them with Grana Padano, with tiny breads, steamed into prusciotto, and on scrambled eggs. They're great! One of the treats today was a meal cooked by these guys, who hail from Sardenia. They both speak the local patois, and not even good Italian. Several courses, all with Sardenian ingrediants, with a Sardenian back-story. Tasty, and lots of fun. Thanks, guys!
Monday 22 January 2007
	Another day at the annual Fancy Foods Show at the Moscone Center. One of my favorite times of the year. I eschew the modern (and American) sweets in favor of the historied, Old World meats and cheeses and wines. A treat enjoyed year after year: tartufi (truffles).
Sunday 21 January 2007
	It's early Sunday morning, and Isaac is driving his remote-control motorcycle at May's Coffee Shop. Lila and Rose are at home, still sleeping. Our plans for the day have fallen through because a friend's child has fallen ill. So I head over to the Fancy Foods Show (at the Moscone Center). This is the view into Moscone South, to the international pavilion. Here's Grana Padano aged over 20 months, which we're told to dunk in the honey provided. Near-by is the RealWasabe folks, showing us that what we're given as wasabe in sushi bars is in fact a paste of horseradish and food coloring. This stuff isn't harsh at all; I'm eating it raw. Mmmmm. Back home, Isaac has borrowed my digital camera and figured out how to use the 'frame' feature. This is the frame he picked for his little sister.
Saturday 20 January 2007
	I'm part of the kids' school's Student Site Council, because I was asked. My reward is spending my day at Balboa High School, meeting with other engines of the San Francisco Unified School District. In short, it was filled with good intentions but generally frustrating. Here's Principal Willem Vroegh mugging for the camera during our outdoor lunch. Lila has been asking to go to Clarendon Playground for a week now, but we've had so much planned. Despite the rather cool day and overcast she still wants to go, and I have some time, so off we go. Here she shows her continuing talent on the rings. Lila is quite the the ringleader: here she's organized two other children to coöperate with her in filling the ride with sand and listening to the sand whirl off as the disc spins faster and faster.
Friday 19 January 2007
	Hey, it's stuffed animal day at school! What a cool idea! Isaac brought his orca, Sparkles. Lila brought her huge pink humanoid, Pinky. One of the things for which we volunteer is presenting the Movement class in the bungalow each Friday. (Last year there was a teacher tasked with this job, this year it's three volunteer parents. Since it's so important we're a fixture here.) In this exercise we kept moving the jump-over bar and shuffling the shapes, asking the kids to pause at the red circle. After doing both kindergarten classes Rose and I are pretty hungry. So we head down the street to Lee Hou for their dim sum. Mmmmmm. In the evening we're spending a bit of time on MUNI, where, for the first time, Lila tells time! She's grokked her wristwatch, and she's so proud! Lila, what time is it?
Thursday 18 January 2007
	I take two Hapkido classses back-to-back, first Isaac's and then Lila's. During the latter Isaac borrows my camera and takes pictures, including this self-portrait... ...and this delightful one of me, which I adore, despite (or maybe because of) the blurring.
Tuesday 16 January 2007
	Lila is becomming a fashion queen. Here she's posing with a new pink blouse. Lila & Isaac play. What caught my eye about this picture was the books in the background. Rose is always taking the kids to the library; it's great to see them come home and hit the books. It makes me so happy we killed the television when Isaac was young. It's faux Chanukah after dinner. We had some presents given to us for the kids and we wanted to celebrate.