Essays in the art

I think Parker made some kind of conceptual leap a while back with his tracks and blocks, and his recent work has been extremely sophisticated and elegant. My perspective may be colored by fatherly pride, of course, but I think the kid's got it going on, structural design-wise. So when I came home to find the structure in the picture below, it was obvious to me that this was not an incomplete design. No, this was a study in track building he'd taken upon himself, a technical exploration. Four tracks on four levels, by Parker Long. I can't wait until he graduates to erector sets.

Annoying toys.

My sister sent the girls a present the other day. There were three things in it. One russian stacking doll thing that looked like a cat that Miranda went ape shit for and two disc shooters (gun like objects that shoot circular objects). Michael and I were kinda like, "Huh?" those seem like an odd gift. Like nothing Amy has ever gifted before. We tried to think of why she got these. Short on time? Ordered the wrong thing? Picked something at random from the catalog? Got them free with the cat stacker toy? We ended up thinking that Oliver picked them out because it seemed like a toy that a 7 year old would like.

So I asked her if we were right. No, she said. She picked them. And without cutting and pasting the whole email which contained some Onion quotes, she basically said she didn't want to be "that" mom that got wooden educational toys and she picked these because they seemed annoying and completely devoid of any educational component.

Nice.

Who can and who can't.

Elizabeth always tries to touch Parker's penis. I tell her not to each time, but she keeps trying to do it. So a couple days ago when she tried again in the bath, I took the opportunity to explain that only certain people could touch his penis. Only Parker, the doctor, his mommy and his daddy could touch it and no one else could. This seemed to do the trick. Elizabeth even asked about her ga-gina and I told her the same thing. Only Elizabeth, the doctor, mommy or daddy. We talked about this for a while and then dropped it.

Then today at the park, I hear Parker telling some nanny who can touch his penis. He starts listing people and the nanny is trying to be polite. I called Parker over and told him that we really shouldn't be talking about his penis at the park. He said, "Oh, OK!" and ran off to slide again with his pals.

Jelly Beans

Elizabeth just 'phoned' Aunt Kackleen and Aunt Lori to ask them a very important question.

It went something like this:

Hello Aunt Kackleen. I love Jelly Beans. Do you love Jelly Beans? Yes or no? Bye bye, I need to call Aunt Lori now.

Hello Aunt Lori. I love Jelly Beans. Do you love them? Aunt Kackleen does.

Scary Books

Michael read the kids "There is a nightmare in my closet" last night and tonight Miranda was genuinely concerned about the closet. She had me check it several times and had to sit on my lap during books. She still wasn't buying it so I gave her and Eli, who was also nervous about it, flashlights to sleep with so they could check out the closet in the middle of the night if they wanted to.

It seemed to help, but we'll see how the night goes.

Tri Update

The woman who lost her pulse at the Triathalon is said to be "fully recovering". Thank the lord.

Even though my swimming was more treading water in a forward direction than swimming, I did it in 12 minutes, which wasn't the worst time recorded by any means. I did the whole thing in 1 hour and 37 minutes. My running is still pretty poor and many of my friends who did it with me did the run in half the time. Oh well.

People say I'll do better next time, but I'm thinking there won't be a next time.

gilroy gardens

Went to gilroy gardens today with Susan and Kika and kids. Everyone had a great time. Pics to come, but susan took this one of Miranda in the petting zoo holding the chick. She was pretty much in heaven.

At least it's over.

I swam. I rode. I ran. It wasn't pretty, especially the swimming where the piranha got the better of me and I panicked. I couldn't breath properly and couldn't do the crawl. A real bummer since I was swimming so well in the pool and I knew I could do the distance. I passed a lot of people on the bike, but got passed by many on the run.

Still I did better than one woman in the first wave who stopped breathing entirely. Literally, no pulse for a good couple minutes after they carried her out of the water. But the CPR and Defibrillator worked and they got a pulse finally. It was pretty damn scary to say the least, and we are all hoping Nancy Fike is doing well now at the hospital.

So I guess, looking at it from a different perspective, I did great.

WTF: Star Wars for 4 year olds!

I realize I am not the most permissive parent around town, but what is up with four year old kids watching Star Wars? We were at the park today with two kids that turn 5 this month and next month and they were talking about who they liked better Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. I said to their moms...How do they even know who those characters are? One mom, looked at me sheepishly and said, He's watched the movie. Wasn't he scared? I asked (thinking about Parker getting freaked out by the rain storm in UP and wondering how much therapy he'd have to be in if he saw Darth Vader or the Emperor.) No, he loved it. His dad really wanted him to see it. Now, it is all he talks about.

So the kid wants to 'play' star wars and Parker looks at him as if he is crazy and says, "Let's just go down the slide."

I realize not all kids like to just talk about and think about numbers and building incredibly complex structures, but come on. Star Wars? (In a related note...Aidan (from Kika, not school) came over the other day and Parker was in them middle of 'playing' with some number tiles. He says, "Look Aidan a 63 and 72!" Most kids would look at him as if he was the crazy one, but not Aidan. Aidan says, "Cool, Parker!" And then they sit down and talk about numbers for a while before going up to build a track together.)

Ready?

A few weeks ago, I couldn't swim one lap without stopping. Yesterday I swam 14! Tonight I rode my bike for 5 miles, then swam 10 laps and then rode 5 miles home. I hope that means I'm ready for the triathalon on Saturday.

I'm still nervous about the piranha, but what are you gonna do?

The things they notice.

The kids all notice very different things and don't notice things their siblings do.

For example...

This morning I asked Parker for Ted so I could make sure I didn't forget him for sharing. He said he was in the living room. I went there but didn't see him. Parker came over to show me where he was. I grabbed his PreK bag and tucked him in there noticing that there was a used dixie cup in there too. I walked into the kitchen and threw away the dixie cup. Elizabeth, who had been quietly eating breakfast, said: Did Parker help you find Ted? I said Yes. She then said, Did you throw Ted in the garbage?

Miranda notices anything and everything I put in my mouth. I could sneak in the tiniest piece of chocolate and she would say, "What's that you eating?"

Parker doesn't appear to notice anything, but then he'll talk about some inane detail about something that happens 4 months ago. A few days ago he said, "Mom the next time we got to Shari's house, can you tell me when we get on Hwy 680?"

Road Rage

The other day, we were at Kika's house and Elizabeth was on some riding toy. She muttered something that sounded like "Get out of the fucking road." I thought...hmmm did she really say that? I even said something to Kika like, "I think she just said..." But I blew it off.

Then yesterday, several days later, we were in the car and she says, "Mom...when we were at Kika's the other day, I said, Get out of the fucking road!"

Delightful.

I suppose I do have to start watching what I say in the car now.

Birthday Number 3

The girls turned 3 today. We got the celebration off to an early start this morning when they opened the presents from us, Parker, and Grandma Judy at 6am. We got them each a leotard, sparkly shoes, a toy trumpet (long story) and some doll house furniture. Then they got their own unique gift. A doll house for Miranda and a scooter for Elizabeth. Grandma Judy got them magnetic colorful shapes that Parker immediately wanted to play with. They loved it all. We also made them photo albums filled with over 200 pics (each) of their first three years. It took a long time to pick, upload, order and then organize the pics, but I think it was probably the best present.




















After everything was unwrapped, I went off to do a long, hilly bike ride with friends and Michael and the kids went to pick up Grammy and Ginny who were visiting for the weekend. By the time I got back, they were there and the 2nd round of present opening had begun. There were puppets, new jammies, new outfits, little people, Mr. Potato head. It was like Christmas morning. Parker was a great sport about not getting anything, which surprised me a bit. After a major meltdown by all three about some balloons that popped, Michael and I then took the girls out for some errands while Parker built the most amazing raised track ever. Michael, Elizabeth and Miranda then took a nap (Michael is still on German time) and I went to a movie and picked up the cakes for the big party tomorrow. Grammy apparently played golf with Parker in the side yard.





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A few hours later, we were all awake and hungry so we went to a Carrows type place at Jack London Square (where they were apparently holding a bikers convention...seriously). Back at home, we had some birthday cake (tiny cakes I got at Farmer Joes) and the kids pooped out.




Miranda spent the good part of the day playing with her doll house, which made me happy, and Elizabeth pretty much didn't take off her sparkly shoes all day. Now we just have to find room for all the new stuff.

Tomorrow...the party!

WTF: Sleeping In

It's 6:48am. I've been awake since 5:30. The kids, however, are asleep. I literally can not remember the last time they slept this "late". Usually Parker wakes up first, starts rolling around and sighing. This wakes up Elizabeth and then they both wake up Miranda, who, had she her own room, would sleep much, much later every day. This usually happens between 5:45 and 6:15 on most mornings, extending to 6:30 on rare lucky days. We tried to have them stay in their room until 6:30 or 7, but that wasn't so successful and sometimes it just easier to get them up and out than listen to fighting at 6am in the morning. I'm usually at boot camp at this hour, but this week I've been letting them come hang out with me upstairs in bed until 7 or so with Parker making tracks and the others goofing off. Every morning I wish I could go back to sleep while they play, but I never can.

But today, the day daddy gets home, they sleep and I'm can't.

Miranda is doing great!

Miranda is doing exceptionally well in preschool. I was worried about several things. Her pooping. Her deer in the headlights response to certain things. Her general sensitivity. I am happy to say she is having a blast and is having no problems. She plays independently. She also has buddies like Rachel and Riley. She isn't attached to Elizabeth. She participates. She listens well. She sings songs with the teacher. She is pretty much the ideal preschool student.

Elizabeth is doing well too, but not quite as well. She wouldn't participate in the movement portion of the class today for a good 10 minutes. She wanted to be with me a lot today asking to be carried at one point (has she not met me?) And she had more mini meltdowns. I think she did better when I wasn't there, but Miranda did amazing when I was there.

Birthday at school

I worked in the girls' classroom today. They celebrated their birthday. All went well. The girls were excited about it all. The teachers did a great job of pretending they weren't twins. Two cupcakes. Two sets of candles. Two songs. No reference to twins. It was nice.

Michael gets home tomorrow. Saturday we celebrate their actual birthday and Sunday is the big party. They can't wait for all of it.

Sharing

Parker has "sharing" every Wednesday at PreK. It's the same as preschool, where they bring in some object from home, hide it and then give clues to the other kids, who have to guess what it is. Last year, Parker shared Ted and Lion first, so it was no surprise that he wanted to do them again. Lion was first.

Except that as we were pulling up to school (Lori, who was visiting for the day, was home with the girls), Parker asked where Lion was. Oh shoot. I forgot her. Parker immediately started crying. Sobbing. He was devastated. I told him we could pick something else like his new bridge for his track (that we just bought) or his iPod or his goggles from his swim class. He basically told me to fuck off and just kept crying. I literally had to carry him to class. He was pissed and sad. I immediately went to tell the teacher I forgot his item and he wasn't having it choosing another one. She said, "Can you go home and get it?" Realizing that I could, I went to tell Parker the solution. I'm sure this won't be my last time I run home to get something for the kids. He was still crying when he had to line up to go into school and he was still crying once inside when the teacher was explaining that I was going to go get it.

Since he didn't need it for 2 hours, I hit the gym where I swam 10 laps, (a true miracle and 2 more laps then I need to do for the triathalon next weekend) and then did a run on the treadmill for 25 minutes. I drove home, had some lunch, got Lion and then went back to school to drop it off. The teacher told me later, he was very happy to see Lion. And even more happy no one guessed what it was.

Fun fact about Germany

Germans eat nothing but meat. For breakfast this morning I had five slices of bologna with a side of salami. True story.

Middle of Night Nonsense

Elizabeth and Miranda, who had been doing well at bedtime and during the night, had a relapse last night. Miranda wouldn't settle so when I said I was done with songs, she freaked out, which led an almost asleep Elizabeth to freak out. They screamed for a while, but stoppped pretty quickly.

Then at night, I heard some yelling. Not really words, just yelling. I went down to check it out and Elizabeth was at the end of the bed and she said, all distressed:

"I'm very sad that my daddy is not coming home."

Then Miranda said, "Elizabeth woke me up with all that yelling!"

Brotherly Love or Lack thereof

Miranda and Parker appear to be best buds these days. He always wants to play with her, sit next to her, hold hands with her. Given the option of doing these things with Elizabeth, he says, No thanks. Today, at dinner, Miranda and Parker were even leaning over to eachother to kiss eachother. Elizabeth wanted a kiss and Miranda said, "No."

Elizabeth wants to "play" with them, but her idea of playing is quite annoying. She basically disrupts everything, steals toys and runs away with them, and causes general chaos. I keep trying to explain to her that people won't want to play with her if she plays like that, but she isn't getting it.

It's kinda sad for Elizabeth, but if she continues like this, she is sure to turn into one of those mean girls.

Grüße von Deutschland

I've just arrived in Germany after about 16 hours of travel, including waiting time. The 10 hour flight was uneventful, and finding my way to the right train south from the airport was also pretty smooth. I had a slight mis-step when I gave the taxi driver the name of my hotel, and he took me to some fleabag, which is when I realized that there are two hotels of that name - the nice one and the other one. It only cost me 8 euros to correct my mistake, which is about 12 bucks.

I did have one slightly tense moment. While I was on the train south, I was standing in the open part near the door, since all the seats were taken, and there was some luggage and what looked like an exceptionally compact baby stroller. I was marveling at German efficiency, when a little girl walked up and plopped her baby doll into it and covered it with a blanket. She was about 5, and her little brother of about 4 came tromping up behind her. She was trying to maneuver her stroller, but it was blocked by some baggage. Ever the helpful daddy type, I tried to move the luggage, but it was filled with bricks, so instead I tried to steer the stroller around it. Which is when I broke off the canopy. Luckily, she was not easily shaken by this clumsy auslander, and I spent the next 2 minutes working to get it back on while she calmly watched. Her little brother came and helped me a bit, and soon it was ship shape. The little girl moved the stroller toward the door, and then looked back at me and said, "Danke." I was very pleased.

Eventually, I got to the hotel, where my room was ready and waiting. It's an extremely tiny room by American standards, but charming nonetheless. And you've got to love a hotel that has this waiting for you on arrival:



Tomorrow I'm going to do my best to take a hike in the Black Forest, and then tomorrow night I have dinner with my clients, and it's work from then on. Should be interesting.

Parker Likes to Win

Example One

Parker and I have been playing a lot of connect four lately.

It took him just minutes to understand the goal of the game and his offensive strategy is pretty good. He doesn't always block me and he always gets mad when I block him. The last time we played he put his hand over the top so I couldn't block his 4 in a row. I said, "Parker, if you want me to play with you, I need to try to block you." Parker said, "But I don't want you to block me." I responded, "Do you want to play with me or just win?" He said, "Just win." So, I stopped trying to block him and let him win. I thought for sure he would get bored with that quickly and ask me to "really play" again, but noooooo. Every time he got 4 in a row, he would smile so wide.

Example Two

While the girls were napping today, Parker made up a game where he stacks of numbers flash cards up and then we each take one from the top. Whoever ends up with the highest number card wins. Parker, of course, sets up the deck and then decides who goes first, so amazingly he always wins!

Bye Bye Michael

Michael left today for a week long trip to Germany for business. He has never been gone that long before so I'm a little nervous. I'm sure everything will be fine and luckily I have some friends helping out an hour here and an hour there to ensure I don't go crazy. In addition, I've got to make cupcakes (for Elizabeth) and a cake (for Miranda) twice (once for school and once for their party) this week. I might just lazy-out and buy some instead.

Gymnastics Class with No Mommies

The kids had their first gymnastics class of the fall today. They are all in the same class without any mommies and they did great. It was very sweet. When the door opened, Parker ran in since he has taken the class before. Miranda and Elizabeth started to go in, then stopped to hold hands, and then ran in giggling. It was too cute. I stayed for a few minutes watching, but then sneaked away. The coaches said they did super.

First Day of Preschool

The kids started school today. We took the girls to school at 9. I was a little worried, but they both did great. No problems at all. Miranda was a little concerned about the noise, but when all the adults (and noise) left, she was fine. They were, of course, thrilled to see Riley.

Parker and I hung out at the park and then we dropped Parker off for his first day of PreK. The kids all lined up and walked into the room quietly. He said it was a lot like preschool, but they did two projects rather than one. I think he'll like it.

After school, another mom took Parker back to our house and then she and her son hung out and played for a while.

All in all...a good day.


Leaving the house.


In front of school.




Playing in the playground before school.


Miranda getting upset with the noise level


Riley


Big kids walking in.

Face Painting

The girls wanted to be kitty cats the other day. I asked Parker if he wanted to be a kitty cat too. He said, "No, but I want to be a clock." Of course I had to ask him what time he wanted to be.