盼星星，盼月亮，好不容易盼来了今年冬天的第一场雪（听上去真不像是个老波士顿——今年实在暖和大发了，盼到下雪都感觉好兴奋）。赶快拿出早就买好的滑雪板，带着润润在 playground 玩耍开来。

昨天是小心蕙四个月的体检，不负众望，小丫头的身高、体重都超过了95%。第一次量的身高是26.5 inches，结果护士觉得这样 off-the-chart 的高度有点离谱，楞给改成了26 inches。前两天跟同事聊天，说我女儿才四个月穿一岁的衣服就已经嫌小了，对方听的目瞪口呆，用她的话说：“我女儿也在穿一岁的衣服，可她已经十个月了呀！”

平日里小心蕙还是一如既往的好脾气，好心情。从上个星期开始，丫头正式开始睡整觉（晚十点半到早七点半），令我和老公由衷感叹“还是丫头体贴爸妈啊！”。

这两天润润的生病让我和老公神经有些紧张，不怕别的，就是不愿小心蕙小小年纪染上个什么病。于是采取“一盯一”的防守战术，由我照顾大头，老公搞定丫头。这几张照片还是我带着防毒面具般的大口罩在小丫头屋里“偷拍”的。

这个周末本来安排了冬冬的空手道生日派队，十好几个小朋友都摩拳擦掌地准备和冬冬比试空手道功夫呢，结果小家伙星期五下午突然发烧 39.5 度，无奈之下只好将生日派队取消（改期）。

今天早上起来，小朋友奇迹般的退烧了，除了身体还有点虚弱以外，丝毫没有什么生病的迹象。不过派对既然已经取消了，就自然只好在家安心养病。看着小东西在屋子里转腰子，不免有些心疼，于是对冬冬说：“要不，爸爸妈妈提前把你的圣诞节礼物送给你吧！”——（圣诞节润润有圣诞老人的礼物，爸爸妈妈的礼物，还有阿公阿婆、爷爷奶奶的礼物。老公说与其让他一次特别开心，不如让他每个星期都有点盼头，我觉得挺有道理。于是从上个星期开始，我们就陆陆续续地以各种名目给润润发礼物。上个周末我们告诉润润，因为他最近中文学得特别好，圣诞老人特意提前来把他的圣诞礼物——滑冰鞋——送来。全世界只有甚少的小朋友能有这种殊荣，听得润润美滋美滋的。临末了还对润润说，如果他再接再厉，圣诞老人说不定圣诞前夜还会给他送来他心驰神往的 Star War Lightsaber，小家伙于是可有动力了。）

由于今年的保密工作做得不甚好，润润已经知道爸爸妈妈送给他

感恩节的头一天是润润学校的 Grandparents Day。润润所在的 Pre-K 今天是扮小 Farmer，穿着 Flannel Shirt，系上小领巾，带上小草帽，小润润还真有那么点乡土气息 :-)

Grandparents Day 的表演汇集了从 Pre-K 到三年级的学生，除了 Pre-K 的孩子是扮作小农民以外，其他年级的孩子都是需要穿正装的。明年这时候咱儿子也就要西服打领的喽。这是 Pre-K 和一年级的学生在参加大合唱。

用一个词来概括这段时间的生活——真快！上班忙，不知不觉地就到了中午了，又不知不觉地天就黑了；下班以后也不知道都干什么了，反正眨眨眼的工夫就晚上十点多了；到了周末就更像赶三关一样，带着润润一个活动接着一个活动的，连喊累的工夫都没有，周末两天就没影儿了。跟老公说：“这还是有两个挺得力的阿姨在帮忙干活呢，要是完全自力更生，咱俩还不得一天二十四小时轮轴转！”

波士顿今年的秋天无比温暖，眼看就到感恩节了，居然气温还在五六十度徘徊。印象中，这可是我在美东度过的第一个没有雪的感恩节，只是这暖洋洋的气候让我一点都没有过节的感觉——也难怪，往年这个时候不是在张罗感恩节的聚会，就是订好了酒店准备和老公润润出行了。今年以小心蕙为中心，除了黑色星期五要去大大地血拼之外，全家一致改做“宅男宅女”。

四岁十个月，润润经历了他人生中第一次“闭卷考试”——中文学校的期中考——考试的结果相当令人满意。考试前的两个星期，润润中文课的老师挺严肃地跟我说：“哎呀，你们的孩子年纪太小了，他在一年级恐怕跟不上的，我这个班是要求学生们能默写的，可他好像还不太会写字嘛。”老师问我：“我们

I received a merit increase while I was on maternity leave in September (how nice!). My program manager told me that the increase would be retroactive to mid-July this year. However, I started taking short-term disability (STD) on July 30th, therefore, not only my salary needs to be retroactive, but my STD as well. Furthermore, because I've only completed one year of full service, under company's benefit guideline, I am only eligible to receive one week of 100% pay as STD, and the remaining are paid at 2/3 of my weekly salary. But wait, July 30 is a Thursday, therefore, the calculation of my regular salary vs. STD is not simply a multiplication of my weekly pay, but requires pro rata…...

Now you can see how big headache I've brought to our payroll group. And let's see how long it's going to take them to get it right :-)

It's already ten days since I went back to work. Hard to believe 13 weeks of my maternity leave flied by just like that. Life becomes hectic once again, with timetables that can easily get delayed and plans that can never be completely followed. 

The first two weeks of my new rotation is quite slow, and a little boring at times. The worse part is that people in this group work really long hours, although I've managed to stay in the office for at least 9 hours a day, I am still the last-in-first-out person, which makes me start missing my prior group, at least I had a pretty balanced life style and the project itself was quite interesting.

I resumed my exercise routine, finally, after almost four years. And I am so happy to find out that I can still finish 1.8 miles within 20 minutes. Last time, it took me four months to lose all the weight I gained during pregnancy. And I

Claire is dressed up as a little bunny for her first halloween. Her chubby face looks even chubbier with the big fluffy hat  Without going out for trick-or-treating, our little bunny still enjoyed herself all night long.