Catching Up

It's a miserable, rainy Sunday here in New York. A perfect opportunity to get everyone caught up on Kerner Kids happenings. 

Sam and Robert have been back in daycare since shortly after Labor Day. Of course, they promptly developed coughs and runny noses. They are both great climbers and can navigate their way onto the top of the dining room table with little effort if you leave them unattended for even 2 minutes.

Nana and Pop-Pop paid a visit in August.

Robert has been busy learning new things, such as how to brush teeth

and print his own Q-tips

I left the red-eye in the picture because it is consistent with him being a little devil.

Sammy and Donna went shopping

We visited some parks

Went shopping some more

They particularly like riding in the shopping carts!

We spent some time in quiet contemplation

And played with the new collapsible tunnel

You can see we had a very busy month.

Cheers.

Long Way To Daycare

Donna has been out of town this week, taking her final course for her DNP degree in sunny Cleveland and, as such, Bob's been a stay-at-home dad. In our free time (there isn't much!), we've been trying to watch the wonderful "Long Way Down" series on DVD. It chronicles the motor-bike journey of Ewan McGregor (Star Wars) and his buddy Charley Boorman from Scotland to Africa. They have amazing chemistry, having done this once before in "Long Way Round." If you like road trip movies, these are worth getting.

Ever since seeing "Long Way Round," we've thought about trying to make our own version with the kids. This week presented the perfect opportunity to take a whimsical look at the trip to daycare. Enjoy.

By the way, it's a little longer, at 18 minutes, than what we usually post so you may want to get a beverage and snack.

Long Way to Daycare from Robert Kerner on Vimeo.

The First Big Hurt

It had to happen some time to one of them: the first "big hurt" of childhood. The image is of Sammy in the emergency department about 25 minutes after getting her upper lip sutured earlier this morning. She's doing fine now but, understandably, very tired.

Isaac Newton said "a body in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted upon..." by the upper lip. She fell while running across a part of the home she's been in daily since she could walk. Except last night she stopped herself with her face. It looks almost inconsequential until you notice it crosses from the face onto the lip itself. So we got to meet the friendly plastic surgeon.

As a parent, you know someone is going to get hurt sooner or later. But you expect (at least we did) that it would be something dramatic like getting hit with your first baseball or falling in the park, not a measly fall in the kitchen. 

Basket Cases

Robert and Samantha are complete basket cases! Here they are from earlier in the month sharing the toy basket and watching television. Very often they sit separately, in their own basket.

What is it about wicker baskets? They also have an affinity for our table linen basket, a round basket of approximately 2.5 feet tall. They love to topple it over, and roll it around. Sometimes they just crawl inside. This evening we watched in awe as they learned how to topple it and pick it up by its ends (top and bottom) and carry it around the dining room. 

To watch them work is like watching an army of ants. For tiny infants, they are capable of amazing tasks, lifting and moving heavy objects. Samantha likes to pull the parrot's cage around with Robert hanging off the side!

We watch in wonder of their accomplishments.

A Blast From The Past

One of the challenges parents face is keeping up with hundreds of pictures of their kids. We're no different. We try our best to share the best images and videos electronically through email or this blog but, every so often, something falls through the cracks. The film below is a good example.

"Grandparents Visit 2008" was filmed when the children were just a couple of months old. This was their first time seeing Nana and Pop Pop (Ron & Barbara), during their visit to New York for their 50th anniversary celebration. The film sat around for a long time in an unused camera. A year has passed and it's time to take a look.

It's amazing to compare this footage, where they are so tiny and helpless, to the footage in the preceding post. Enjoy.

Grandparents Visit 2008 from Robert Kerner on Vimeo.

Our Afternoons

The Walk Out from Robert Kerner on Vimeo.

This film represents our typical afternoon pickup at daycare. The kids have been able to walk out of daycare under their own power for the last few weeks, though not every daycare worker lets them. We let the twins run around in the building atrium for a few minutes before loading them into the stroller for the ride home. Every kid in the center seems attracted to the big green lamp post.

Robert and Samantha have been walking now for quite some time, but this is the first film where you see them both walking together. Sam is actually very good at going up steps, probably due to the fact that she's a little taller than 1-minute older brother Robert.

If you wish to see a larger version of any film on this blog, you can click on the the name of the film under the viewing window and it will take you directly to Vimeo.

Enjoy.

First Assistant Camerman

As you may know if you follow this blog, Bob's interests have evolved from photography into videography. He produces the short films you see on this page. He recently completed fabrication of a dolly, which is used to produce smooth motion shots when following moving subjects. Robert, as you can see from the picture, developed an immediate fondness for the new contraption.

In other news, Robert and Samantha are running all around and have begun exploring the stairs. Sammy can make it to the second floor without assistance but with supervision, of course. This morning they were introduced to that all-American breakfast: pancakes at IHOP.

That's it for now. Robert wants to make a film.