Evan Sleeps like Ass

Today Jo took Evan for his one-year wellness check and the issue of sleeping came up:

Dr G: Is Evan sleeping well?
Jo: Uuh, not that well.
Dr G: Oh - what's the problem?
Jo: He wakes up at night.
Dr G: How often...?
Jo: Sometimes once a night.
Dr. G: Does he wake up before it is morning?
Jo: No - he's usually up at 6[am]
Dr G: So when does he go to sleep?
Jo: Around 6:30pm
Dr G: So he's sleeping eleven and half hours. That's pretty good. Does he nap?
Jo: Yeah...
Dr G: Like once a day...?
Jo: No - twice.
Dr G: Short naps?
Jo: Yeah - twice, about an hour and a half each time.
Dr G: So he sleeps eleven and a half hours at night and takes two good naps during the day.
Jo: Yes. He's a poor sleeper.

The First Year

Evan - in a year you have changed from a tiny morsel to a ravenous cake-devouring brute. So much has happened. But so much more is waiting to happen. And when you look back from a comfortable vantage point in the future, here are some early observations.

You came into our family when Vivian was three. She was a beacon of sunshine and happiness and I was content as a father and husband. And then you made us twice as happy. You and Vivian do something together that's amazing - you fill each other with laughter. Every shade of giggling gurgling full-throated screaming-from-the-roof-tops laughter.

You are a lover. You hug and cuddle and kiss and drool and yes, you bite. You are moody. You can go from smile to scowl in a second. And for no apparent reason and no easy way back. You like to eat. Sometimes you are picky about the order in which you eat things, but sooner than later you eat everything you can get your hands on. You are not afraid. You walk (now, and crawl till 10 days ago)  away to another part of the house to play with a toy there. You climb on things and fall and then climb something higher or more dangerous. You don't like sleeping. You do it absolutely out of necessity, complain even at that, and wake up as soon as you've had enough. You are curious. Every cabinet, drawer or object must be opened, examined or chewed on. You are a gadget freak. Every button on every iPhone, entertainment center, computer, remote, key fob, camera, and game controller needs to be pushed, slobbered on, twiddled, smacked, or held to your ear. You dig music in all it's ways. Vivian can sing a nursery rhyme and calm you down when all else fails. Classical music in the car makes the car seat more bearable to you. Jazz bands in the morning are great to get you in the grove. And Elvis gets you up on your feet and rocking. You are funny - in a dorky way. I crack up a thousand times a day watching you do something weird and then you cackle or chuckle. You love to play. Peek-a-boo, throwing ball, hiding, giving zerberts, rolling on cushions, and new games every day. You love other children. Sometimes a bit too vigorously and then we apologize to their parents. You have an affinity for men, preferably with tattoos. I won't try to explain this in any more detail, nor make any predictions as to where this may lead. You make people happy. Look at any photo of you and your Mom and look at her face.

I wish you all the very best in life.

You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

Evan: cake is the best freaking thing in the world!!

Happy Birthday Evan

Little guy turned one today. Here are the early pictures - before things got ugly with the cake.

Beach

We drove from Orlando to Clearwater for the beach portion of the vacation. We are having a great time. This morning we hotly debated the correct order of beach - pool - hot tub for the day while we ate a superb breakfast on an open verandah overlooking the dazzling white sands and waters of the gulf.

But vacationing with kids is different. One morning the alarm clock in the room softly beeped at 8:20am. Presumably the previous guests at the room had set it. Jo and I laughed at the thought of requiring an alarm at 8:20am.

Disney

The trip to Florida was Jo's answer to Santa Fe - her beach vacation without requiring a passport for Evan. But who can go to Florida and deny Vivian a trip to the Temple of Princesses. So we did two nights at Orlando before heading off to Clearwater.

 

 

Vivian chatted with the princesses (but she knew that they were pretend). And enjoyed the rides and parades and shows. Evan was a trooper. After a very rough start to the trip (the plane ride), he held together very well. We did several hours of Majic Kingdom during the day, went back and frolicked in the pool, and then  Vivian and I returned for the fireworks at night.

Vivian is a worldly traveler. She understands most of the workings of a trip. And loves all of it. She breezed into the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria and announced "What a lovely hotel, Daddy. Can we stay here for a long time?"

Flight to Orlando

The flight over there was hellish. We were in a JetBlue Embraer aircraft and I was across the aisle from the rest of the fam and pretended I didn't know them as long as I could - about 5 minutes. Vivian sat by the window with her headphones on and watched something on TV and did the same. Evan wouldn't settle down. He wanted to wander around and play with ice cubes and pull on Vivian's headphones and cause a ruckus.

There were kids in the row in front of him and behind him and by comparison they were are nice as sugar the whole way. As soon as we landed in Orlando, Evan got very quiet and well behaved. When the passengers walked past us they glared at all the kids. I think Evan was trying to pin the blame on one of the other kids.

And Jo and I wondered which one of us was going to drive Evan back to Austin.

Puffy Hair

Here's my passport photo from when I was nineteen. Vivian's question: "Daddy - why did you have puffy hair when you were little?"

Schlotzsky's

Here's a line: "She buckled the kids into their car seats and then walked away from us in the parking lot. Just like that and we never saw her again."

We were headed back from another quick trip to Lariat Ridge - if there's any such thing as a quick four-hour round trip. Tracy has almost finished work on the new deck and it's so much easier to discuss details on the phone when I can see what he's talking about. So we've been driving from Austin to Canyon Lake a couple of times a week.

On the way back on this particular trip, we decided to stop at the Schlotzsky's in New Braunfels. Evan ate all his chicken noodle soup and then started throwing everything on the floor - his usual sign that he's done eating. Vivian ate the tiniest bit of turkey in 30 minutes and fussed. Jo and I were tired. The kids were cranky.

We loaded the kids into the car. Jo buckled them in. I got in the driver's seat. And then I saw Jo walking away from the car. I said "Hey!". She didn't bother turning to look. Just a dismissive backward wave of her hand. That's when the line flashed through my mind.

Turns out that Jo was tossing something in the trash. She walked back to the car and I told her about my line. She drily commented: "Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind".

Kids - it's time to be extra nice to Mommy.

Step One

For some time now we've been planning a grand adventure: nine months away from home. Get a place in Hyderabad and travel. Spend time with my dad. Show the kids India, Asia, Africa.

I use "planning" in the vaguest of ways. A flavor of premeditation and nothing more.

Till tonight. Because tonight we definitively cast the first stone. Over dinner we agreed to let Crystal and Travis move into our home by "the end of July".

Vivian and Evan - years from now, when you try to trace back the end of stability and normalcy in your lives, you may be able to conclude that this was the moment.

2011 Spring Fling Photo Booth

Walking

Watch out - drunken midget stumbling. 

Miguel and Evan

Evan's a man's man. Likes to hang with his buddies. Play some PS3. Chug beer. Box.

Or he likes big guys with tattoos.

Miguel has intrigued Evan for months. In the beginning he just kept a wary eye on Miguel. Then he started crawling towards him. Now he makes Miguel stop doing what he's doing and pick him up instead. And Miguel is very happy to hang around and play with Evan. Yesterday he said that he'd be happy to babysit Evan. I can see him pushing Evan to Ramsey Park in a stroller. And freaking out the other poor nannies.

More Random Pictures

Here's Evan doing his downward dog for Uncle Alu and Aunt Michelle when they were in town. And Vivian meditating on Grandma's apple fritter one morning.

The deck and porch are being redone. The water is still pretty cold. But that's not stopping Vivian and Evan and Jo from hanging in the pool. April 2 was the first pool day of this season.

Vivian shows off her face painting at the Rosedale Ride party. And if you are thinking of ditching the office because it's easy to work from home with your kids around, be prepared to go in drag.

God Again

Conservations with Vivian have always been interesting. Yesterday she asked why I didn't think God was real.

"Ms. Sally says God is real". Ms. Sally teaches Vivian chapel.

"Sweetheart - you shouldn't believe everything that everyone says."

"But I believe Ms. Sally."

"Would you believe Ms. Sally if she said that there was an elephant on top of your head? You should think for yourself. Don't always believe Ms. Sally or anyone including us and this".

A few minutes later we were horsing around and I ended up holding Vivian up-side-down. I told her that I was going to drop her but it was okay because God would save her. And she squealed "Daddy - God isn't real".

It was all fun and games and we were laughing. But I felt guilty about my methods for about one microsecond. Till I reminded myself what I'm up against in the brainwashing department.

Farm Box

After living in Austin for almost three decades, thanks to Jeanne, we are finally doing a farm box this spring. Yesterday afternoon I was debugging javascript and falling asleep when Jeanne texted that she had left my very first consignment of farm fresh veggies on the doorstep. I was awake in an instant and charging down the steps. In a few moments I had the veggies laid out on the counter like candy. There were radishes and leeks and green garlic and kohlrabi and flat-leaf parsley and kale and spinach and romaine lettuce and snow pea greens and cress.

Vivian was in her room doing quiet time and she came out cautiously to ask if she could join me. We sat at the counter and over the next hour ate about half the stuff. We sauteed the snow pea greens with the garlic in sweet ghee. And then munched the radishes with a pinch of sea salt. And broiled the leeks in butter. And crunched on the kohlrabi like it was an apple. Yumm. Good thing Jo and Evan aren't veggie freaks.

Dumb Jock My Ass

This morning Evan took a nice long bath and then we spent some time at Ramsey Park. Evan was being a Big Boy and did not want me to mess with him. He stood up and walked around and climbed and slid and explored on his own.

Then we got back home and I fed him chicken and rice soup. This morning during breakfast Vivian made a burbling sound with her lips and Evan was quick to imitate. Except that when he burbles with his mouth full of egg, he spits egg everywhere. To change his behavior I offered him another fun sound he likes to make - clicking. I clicked my tongue a few times and he gave up burbling and switched to clicking.

Back to chicken soup and lunch. About half-way through lunch, Evan started burbling and spitting chunks of rice. I told him to stop. Jo laughed and so he kept at it. I pointed to the floor and asked him if he wanted to be put down on the floor.

The boy stopped burbling immediately and started clicking vigorously.

We joke that Evan's our dumb jock. But if he keeps this up, we are going to have to re-evaluate that claim. On the other hand, kiddo, if you get your sister to read this blog to you in a couple of decades, you'll have to agree that we had you pegged...:-)

Morning Rain

On Monday we dropped Jo off at the princess Crossfit and went for a walk/run. I parked under the Mopac bridge and was unpacking the kids when it started pouring. So we sat on the covered walking bridge and watched the ducks swim by in the rain. 

The shower passed and we ran down to the boat docks to feed the swans. There was one black swan and Vivian fed it bread. The wind stopped for a few minutes and the lake was like a misting mirror. Then the wind started blowing out of the north. Turned out to be a beautiful crisp windy spring day.

Getting Married

Girls are different. Vivian spends a considerable amount of her playtime on marriage. Playing dress-up and pretending getting married to Rody (the inflatable pony), Evan, Jo, me, and various other people. The other day we were returning from breakfast at the new fabulous Granny's in downtown Sattler when Vivian declared that she was going to marry Evan. Jo, grandma and I discouraged that notion - explaining that we don't marry people in our families. So she declared that she was going to get married to some boy and Evan to some girl who were not in the family.

Vivian processes and re-processes new information. So a day or two later she asked me why people did not marry people in their family. We were in the middle of enjoying fine gelato at Teo's and the question unfortunately went unanswered.

Yesterday Vivian declared to Jo that Ava (neighbor, not cousin) wasn't in the family and she was going to marry Ava and they were going to be a family with two mommies.

How cute is that?
Mr. Beck, yes - we liberals are breeding lesbians. Sleeper lesbian cells.

Start Early

Vivian is learning numbers but doesn't yet understand greater than and less than relationships. For instance, I can say - "Vivian, finish up, we are going to bed in 15 minutes" and she comes back with "No daddy - I'm not ready yet - how about in 12 minutes".

About a month ago one evening Vivian told Jo and me that we should have 3 children. We said that we were happy with two, and no thanks, three is too many.

She really wanted us to have three. Eventually we said that when she was grown up, she could have three children of her own. To which her response was "No - when I grow up I'm going to have 40 children". I was stunned speechless.

But Jo was quick to the reply - "Well Vivian - in that case you better start early".

Monsters

Jo likes themes. Besides, Vivian had one for her first birthday - Dr. Seuss. So we've been casting around for ideas for Evan's first. We started with a vague notion of something like Stitch - of the Lilo and Stitch duo - because Stitch and Evan drool, bite, growl, attack aliens - that sort of thing.

Yesterday evening's trip to Pease Park helped us further refine our ideas. Jo, prompted by the classic spring afternoon, suggested that we abandon the spaghetti squash and meatballs in the fridge and go for a picnic. We stopped at the Taco Shack to pick up some dinner and then headed to the park. Vivian helped spread the blanket and we settled down for a good time.

In a few minutes, Evan had dipped his hands in the queso. After cleaning him off, we set him down a little further away from the blanket - hoping that he would go off and explore on his own. Then we turned our attention on a boot camp that was in full swing at the park. The girls were using dumb bells that were so tiny that we couldn't see them. At which point Evan returned to crush the chips and scatter them on himself and Vivian. We hurriedly closed the box of chips - which then Evan took to mean that he could sit on the box and crush it. Then he pulled Vivian's hair, sat on her food, pooped, and yelled in short order. So I took him for a "walk" while the girls finished dinner and we all hurried back home.

Along the way, we saw four cop cars on and around Lamar and Pease Park - not usually a huge hub of crime. Jo drily commented that they must have heard about a marauding monster last seen at the park.

For Evan's birthday party, monsters it is.

New Blog Formats

Google eye-candy: five new ways to surf this and any other public blogs. Go to http://arunzadad.blogspot.com/view/flipcard and click around. Good for browsing pictures.