Live from Beverly, MA

We're now in the northern Boston suburb of Beverly, MA. Why, you ask? We have stopped through for two days to visit our old friends David and Patti, and their two children, McLaren and Abby. We knew David and Patti back when we were all carefree (read: childless) couples in Manhattan. Now, they are at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Despite the craziness of three conflicting nap schedules (and the complete chaos that ensued when all three were awake), we were able to spend quite a bit of time with them over the past two days. We have decided that this trip has already been an excellent experience for Fiona, if only because she's had so much exposure to other children. As a coddled only child, she could probably use some toughening up. Eleanor offered Round 1 in New York. Now, observe Fiona's breaking-in by Abby, who is two months her senior and quite a bit larger.
As parents, one is often faced with the dilemma: "Do I intervene, or do I take a picture?" Clearly, we opted for the picture, which turned out to be a good thing. Fiona quickly learned to adapt to adversity.
And the whole thing had a happy ending. Toys were shared.
McLaren, at 2.5 years old, was a bit more difficult to capture on camera. But you will observe that Fiona is delighted with him. Apparently he was teaching her how to express open-mouthed enthusiasm. As if she needed training.Because Beverly is fairly close to Boston, our friend Emily (formerly of California), drove up for the morning to meet Fiona. Fiona was quite taken with Emily, who spent our entire lunch picking up various objects that Fiona had hurled onto the floor -- only to have Fiona hurl them onto the floor again.Tomorrow morning we drive to Salem, NH, where Fiona will meet her Great-Grandmother.