First Stop - Walter C. Black Dolphin Pride Assembly

Next Stop - American Piano Idol

This is start of something new.  It feels so right to see the the piano and you.  Oh Oohh.

The adorable part is when she speaks, she sounds just like Sylvester the cat.

Most of you already know that Mary lost her tooth, but the back-story is Oscar worthy and must be shared.

Mary, in her infinite quest to be on par with her sister has talked about loose teeth for almost three years.  Generally, our response is “Really?  Well I bet it will fall out any day now.”  She would smile and you could just see the hope on her face.  After years of crying wolf, Mary told us she had a loose tooth about a week ago.  My response was the same, but Amy checked and confirmed that it was true.  This time Mary skipped the smile and went straight to grin.  You could see the bubble float over her head.  She was thinking, “I knew if I hoped long enough, it would come true.  Maybe I am a real renaissance princess!” (Details to follow in three weeks)

She was so consumed with the loose tooth that she decided that thumb sucking wasn’t necessary.  She switched to the pointer and rather than suck, she wiggled.  On Saturday evening, just before bed, Mary asked me to pull her tooth out.  I suggested we wait until morning.

She came in our room and woke me at 6 am on Sunday morning to ask if I could do it now.  After examining the tooth, I suggested we wait a little while to reduce the pain and blood.  She was not happy but didn’t get upset either.

She wiggled the rest of the day Sunday.  She wiggled all day Monday and talked to her teacher about it.  She wiggled all day Tuesday and talked to her teacher about it again.  She wiggled most of the day Wednesday and talked to her gymnastics teacher about it.  By this time she had had enough and asked Miss Chyna to pull it out for her.  Out it came.

Not only do they teach our kids how to do a round off onto the springboard, a half-turn onto the vaulting table, one-and-a-half twists and one-and-a-half flips in the layout body position, and stick the landing for a perfect 10, they also do minor dental surgery.  I call that full service.

That night, we celebrated Mary’s lost brethren by having ice cream sundaes.  She went to sleep that night without issue and had the tooth laying on her nightstand.  Fortunately, the tooth fairy remembered to come and left her some money.  Well, Mary had a bad dream that night and came in for some reassurance.  I walked her back, tucked her in, and gave her a kiss.  As I began to stand upright, she noticed the money and got real excited.  She had a smile from ear to ear and started to discuss the thank you note she wanted to send.  I didn’t think she would fall back asleep but thank goodness for small favors.

As the bus pulled up, I thought about the possibility of a clam up. It wasn’t in the cards. She rushed up to the bus, paused for a picture, waved and sat right down next to her sister as the bus pulled away. It was a great morning for all, including Amy who got the tears out of her system earlier in the week. Next challenge will be getting off the bus. She may want to stay on the bus to be ready for tomorrow. Who knows? Here she is right before taking that first leap for Marykind.

A few weeks ago, we started the bedtime process a little early and the usual happened. The dogs followed. What they didn’t anticipate was that we split up and they were going to have to make a choice. Amy and Katharine went into Katharine’s room and Mary and I went into Mary’s room. At first, Bindi, which is short for bundle of energy, darted back and forth between the room looking for attention. Angel just looked for me and was happy to stay in Mary’s room.

One of Angel’s many strengths is getting into the perfect position on top of something that belongs to a human. It doesn’t matter if the item is hard or soft, as long as it smells like a person he wants to be covered in it. He also has an uncanny knack for getting into a tight corner and settling in without anyone knowing about it.

On this particular evening, Mary and I were sitting on her bed engrossed in a book. It was probably a princess book, but who really keeps track anyway? When we finished the book and went to pick out another, we looked up and saw Angel had stuffed himself in this position.

The other day, the girls had a bath and I was putting some gel in their hair to reduce frizz. After I towel dried Katharine’s hair, I looked at her and thought I was back in Edison watching TV about 20 years ago. I had to blink a few times to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.

Is my name Alex P. Keaton or is there a resemblance?

“Katharine is sailing to success in first grade!  She is eager to learn new things and is excited when she makes a connection between our lessons and activities.  Katharine takes pride in her work and always puts forth her best effort.  She is a wonderful role model and is a pleasure to work with in the first grade classroom.  Great job, Katharine!”  read Mrs. Franzo.

And then it was Katharine’s turn to speak.  Oh no, I thought to myself.  She is never going to say anything.  As she stepped up to the microphone, my hands start to shake with hers.  She closed her eyes, took a deep breathe and launched into one of the most memorable speeches I have ever heard.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in…”

Wow, I thought to myself.  You really are the Student of the Month.  Here she right before the speech.

Sometimes you can be wrong and it turns out bad. It is true that we were wrong this time, but I would say it was a good thing. Apparently The Gazaleh Gazette is read by more than my meager distribution list. From what we have learned in the last week, the bigwigs in the fashion world are big fans. I mean BIG fans. They have become enamored with the subjects of the blog and feel they are very marketable. My first question to the smart people at MaKa High Fashion is how marketable? Are we talking small fashion show at the local Bennigans marketable? Or are we talking 10 years and $350 million marketable. Well, according to them, no one is worth a ten year contract for $350 milllion.

You all know that I am a reasonable man, but I was offended and felt they were being glib. I slammed my hand on the table and walked out but not before turning back to them and asking if they have read the history of psychiatry. I want everyone to know that we have.

Good thing Amy and I decided to play good cop, bad cop. Guess who was bad cop? Amy stayed and negotiated a contract with a reasonable term, decent money and complete creative freedom. The creative freedom is what we were hoping for and Amy came through. The girls had their first fashion shoot and it came out great. The best photo was reserved for a very important client and cannot be included on the blog for confidentiality reasons but here is one of the outtakes. And look for the girls on the catwalk soon.

Katharine: Hi daddy.

Daddy: Who’s this? (my standard response)

Katharine: It’s Katharine. (her standard response)

Daddy: Who? (my standard response)

Katharine: Katharine! (her standard response and always with annoyance)

Daddy: Oh, hi Katharine. (my standard response)

Katharine: Guess what?

Daddy: Thanksgiving is coming? (because I assume everything is a game)

Katharine: No.

Daddy: What? I give up.

Katharine: I had gym class today…

I pause because she claims that she doesn’t like gym and I am waiting for a complaint.

Katharine: …and we were playing with balls. I was doing really well.

Now a huge smile has taken over the already pretty large smile that always (well mostly) happens when I talk on the phone to the girls. Here I am, a fairly athletic man, the father of two beautiful girls who are great but have almost no interest in anything athletic. I am getting excited because she is expressing an interest in sports.

Daddy: Yeah. And. (the excitement filling my voice)

Katharine: And Mr. Mahon (her gym teacher) was playing music.

Daddy: Yeah. And. (the excitement building even more)

Katharine: ..and guess what music was playing?

Daddy: Ah. (pause) High School Musical? (thinking it was a good guess but deep down my spirits were deflating a little bit because I can’t figure out how this is going to end with a great story about her athletic prowess)

Katharine:. No. It was Bono. Mr. Mahon was playing U2 during gym class!

Daddy: Really?

That was not the big finish I was expecting but a big finish nonetheless.

Daddy: Did you recognize the songs?

Katharine: Yes.

Daddy: Did you sing along and brag to all your friends that you are the coolest girl in school because your dad Loooooves U2?

Katharine: No.

Daddy: Why not?

Katharine: I don’t know.

So there you have it. She may not have my passion for sports but she shares my ability to pick out a U2 song when it is on. I’ll take that.

I think my favorite post was Katharine learning to ride a bike. (November 11, 2006) I was really excited to have been able to post the video within minutes of it actually happening and share it with all of you.

Here are some other highlights:

‘Tis the season was another favorite. (December 6, 2006) Mary is hysterical in the video as she wants to watch what I am filming but gets so swept up in the song that she can’t help but sing.

Seeing Katharine and Mary dance with their Pop Pop at the wedding was quite a sight. (January 7, 2007) It is hard to believe that was a couple weeks removed from heart surgery.

I replay the posts on July 9, 2007 and August 20, 2007 in my head over and over. I have been known to embellish a bit but those posts were an exact account of what transpired and they still make me laugh.

Ah, who are we kidding. They are all highlights. I thought I would leave you with one more video to spring us into our sophomore year.

Hilary Clinton has been vocally opposed to the Onmibus Reconcilation Act to Rid the World of November 2008. The House narrowly passed the legislation and she is stalling the vote in the Senate until she is the President. Please support Hilary because a vote for Hilary is a vote for November.

If October flew by for you and Halloween went with it, then look at this picture and enjoy what October means to the girls.

Here is a great picture of Katharine in the water.  Isn’t she beautiful?

Let me see elevator! Survey Says. X.

Mary was counting on an escalator. Escalator! Survey Says. XX

The time spent in line was a bit long but there was some entertainment. A docent from the park service was offering interesting facts about the lighthouse through audience participation. The facts were so interesting in fact, that between Amy and I, neither one of us can remember even one tidbit.

We finally get to the front of the line and the kids are itching to walk in. Unfortunately the system is very structured and they only let in about 15 people in the lighthouse at a time. We finally get called and Katharine starts to climb. And climb. And climb. She didn’t stop until the top. Mary was quite a trooper too. She used those little legs and climbed up every one of the 217 steps with only a few short breaks.

The wind was blowing but the girls didn’t care. The view was nice despite it being overcast.

I thought that would doom the trip, but the ride was not too bad. We did it in 8 hours and could have cut off a half hour easily except we had a few more false alarms with Mary and forced her to go a few more. Stubborn as stubborn can be, Mary, or Camel as she is now known, did not go the bathroom until we were five miles from the house and it was an emergency. We were sitting in some mild traffic and not even sure we could get in the house because it was before check in time.

By the time we found a bathroom, she had to tinkle and poop, and couldn’t walk. I carried her in and she sat down. Quite pleasant she was. The “ahhhhhhhh” she let out as the tinkles came out made me giggle but true to form, the poop was a false alarm. Crisis averted. Whew.

After chaos during the unpacking, we have settled in and are having a good time. The view is great. We saw dolphins riding the waves and pelicans catching dinner. Add these two and the view gets better.

When I look back over my 37 years and think of being carted around in the brown Monte Carlo with the tan vinyl top, no car seats to age 12, walking to school barefoot in the snow and uphill both ways, it reminds me of a simpler time. Ten channels on the television, twenty songs in my whole music library (all from the Beach Boys Endless Summer double album) and my sister was my best friend.

Susan and I would swing in the back yard singing “…We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun...,” and watch Sam run back and forth along the fence. Some of the lessons I learned then still affect my life. One that comes to mind is that people who talk to themselves are ugly (think Luke and Matt Zaleski). Thanks dad for that sound advice, I will carry it with me until the end of time. Good times. Good times. She has since replaced me with a list of best friends that would be the envy of every politician since John Quincy Adams (still her favorite president to this day). Some of our favorites in the list are Jen Doyle, Mary Beth (Elvis), Tammy and who could forget, bug eyes.

Sentimental journeys are fun but as Nacho Libre says “Do you remember that one time when everyone was shouting my name and I used my strength to rip my blouse?” No matter how hard you try, you just can’t stop progress. Well that is true for my Chanchos. They can take the simple act of blowing soapy water and make it better. Check it out.

The girls ran in their first race last night and made Amy and I so proud. Katharine stuck with her specialty, the 50 meter dash, and placed a fantastic 5th. Mary was a workhorse and ran the 25 meters, 50 meters and 100 meters. She wanted to run the half mile too, but as her coach I felt that we should wait for 2007 New Jersey Preschool State Championships in early September to showcase this new distance. Both girls will be training hard over the next three weeks to get ready for the states.

Here they are before the race:

He is a picture of Mary in action. She picked off the girl in the red and white and finished third overall. It was amazing to see her go.

photo courtesy of Katharine Gazaleh

Then it happened. (Keep in mind that I am viewing this from 20 feet away because of FAA regulations) While weaving through the maze to get through security, Mary “accidentally” tripped Katharine. I do think it was accidental but I am also putting quotes because with Mary, anything is possible. Katharine got up with an angry/sulk, as only she can do, and crossed her arms in frustration. I also figured the stomping that followed only meant bad news for Amy. Thank goodness for that crazy terrorist who tried to blow up a plane with a shoe bomb a few years ago. Having to take off her shoes and walk through a metal detector really seemed to unbunch her britches.

I will say that I saw the panic in Amy’s eyes once she realized she would have to get her shoes on, the girls shoes on, distribute the carry on bags, make sure she had the tickets and grab the hands of those two precious little girls all while looking at the long line of anxious and not very patient travellers behind her. Once that was resolved, I figured it would be smooth sailing.

And it was. Here is a picture of the girls right before they left.