Day Nine and Ten

Day Eight ended with what looked like a perfect evening. I finished my swim and wine and was in bed by midnight. And then the tide turned. Evan woke up crying at 12:30am. I couldn't calm him down. So I went to the living room to take a breather when I heard Carol knocking on the bedroom door to ask if everything was OK. I felt bad that I had let Evan cry till it woke Carol up. So I went back to the bedroom and took Evan out of the pack-n-play and put him in bed with me. He played and jumped and did everything but sleep. I stuck him back in the pack-n-play and he started to cry again. Not wanting to wake Carol up, I took Evan to the living room. He was happy to play around there. But every time I tried to rock him back to sleep he started to cry. Back to the bed room. I made the room somewhat childproof, and let Even have the run of the place. He'd occasionally want up on the bed with me and then back down on the floor but he was really ready to play. I read the new issue of the Economist and pretty soon Greece was far more disturbing than Evan. At 4am, while running across the bed, Evan tripped on me. His head hit my stomach. His butt was up in the air. Knees tucked under. And he stayed down - just like that. At first I thought he was kidding around. Then I thought he was unconscious. But he was finally exhausted and fell asleep like that. Till 5:30am. Then he was ready to play again. Vivian woke up at 6am. Carol at 6:30am. Everyone was impressed that Evan was so happy and cheerful after a night of almost no sleep. No one said the same thing about me.

For how badly the night went, the day wasn't bad. Breakfast of fresh strawberries. Walked Canyon Lake dam. Vivian's request for lunch was "I'd like salmon with orzo please", which is what we did. A couple of naps with Evan snoozing on my shoulder. Carol and Vivian polished nails. Cousins arrived. Vivian swam with them. Fajitas on the grill for dinner. We put the boys in the spa room. And the girls on an air mattress in Grandma's room. Vivian was thrilled to sleep with her cousins.

Michelle, Carol and I had a nice evening sitting outside by the pool after the kids went down. Carol confided that she went to check on Evan the night before when she heard him cry because she thought that I must have drowned in the pool during my late night swim and therefore wasn't there to respond to Evan.

Evan slept for almost 11 hours till about 6am. I had to return to Austin to meet people for replacing the air-conditioner at 8am today. Michelle baked biscuits and cooked sausage for breakfast. We grabbed a few and left for Austin.

After Evan's morning nap we went to NW park to swim. Vivian ran to Ava D there and the two of them splashed around together. Evan had a good enough time. He stumbled a couple of times while wadding around and I had to fish him back out from the water but he didn't seem perturbed by it. Smoked salmon and pasta for lunch. Jo called from Newark airport and chatted with Vivian (EWR may as well be on their tour - they'll spend eight hours there between connections).

The kids are napping. When they wake up, the plan is to take a bath and go out for dinner. And then head to NB. The older six cousins get to "camp out" downstairs waiting for their Moms. I'll pick Nicolle and Jo up from SA airport around midnight.

Tomorrow is Vivian's first day of Summer Fun Camp. She is looking forward to hanging with her friends. She's also pretty excited about Mom returning soon, but seems to be taking that as a matter of course. People go, people come back.

The kids seem to have grown in the eleven days that Jo will have been gone. Evan can sit on a regular dining chair and feed himself a whole meal. Vivian sings and dances to Justin Bieber songs and identifies tunes on the radio. I had ups and downs but I loved the time I spent with them these last few days. We had a good time. Welcome home Jo.

Day Eight

This morning Karen thought I was "looking rough". So the last couple of days weren't easy. But today was great. Evan woke up like he had been sniffing nitrous all night. And never stopped laughing till I put him down at night. And Vivian was serene and lovely.

We started with a nice Saturday morning stroll around Town Lake and the farmers market. Vivian fed the swans. Evan kept a wary eye on them. Lunch with the Shahs. Nap. FaceTime with Mom in Berlin. Off to Grandma's.

It took forever to get to grandma's. First there was a wreck on I-35. Then Vivian thought she smelled poop, so we pulled over in Kyle. No poop. But while we are there, why not visit the HEB Plus. I strapped both kids into the cart, but soon after the fish department I had to move Evan to the main section of the cart because he wouldn't stop pulling Vivian's hair. Then he stood up and tried to climb out of the cart. Next he started to throw groceries out. I looked at Vivian and asked her what she thought we should do with Evan. "We can give him to Grandma's neighbors. They took Abe and he peed on everything". Smart girl. About two hours after we left Austin we arrived at Grandma's. The kids ignored me and swarmed Grandma. So I sat by the pool and had a nice glass of wine and updated my FB wall with the image below. Then we had dinner. Evan tried to eat everyone's food. Grandma finally calmed him down by giving him a chicken bone. He gnawed on it and teetered precariously at the edge of the pool till it was time to throw him in bed for the night.

Carol mentioned was the iguana on the deck. It turned out to be a Texas Spiny Lizard - a type of iguana. Vivian immediately named it Isa after the iguana in Dora. Soon after this the dogs were barking rather loudly and I walked over and found a rather fat beautifully patterned orange and white rat snake. Grandma and Vivian expressed their disapproval.  

After a while Grandma tucked Vivian in and read her a bed time story and turned in. I was watching the second half of the Gold Cup match and Vivian crawled out of bed and into the couch to watch it too. After the game ended Vivian went off to sleep and I got to sit out on the deck and enjoy the rest of the wine and a late evening swim. There's a good breeze. The stars are very bright. It's nice. Frau - wish you were here instead of in Berlin.

Day Seven

When I woke up I thought I had the flu. After wallowing in self pity for a few seconds, I managed to separate the symptoms into two different categories: muscle soreness from working out, and a mild case of a hangover. Phew!

It was Vivian's last day at Champs Camp. She's had a great time. I took Catherine and Evan with me to see her final pep rally. It was orchestrated chaos. Here's a grainy video. The picture on top is to help you find my little munchkin in the crowd. And to think that at the start of this week I wouldn't have been able to identify a Bieber song if my life depended on it.

Jo called from Liège this afternoon. We thought we'd be able to Facetime but apparently the bar at the hotel couldn't get it's internet together. Vivian got to chat with Jo on the phone.

Evan woke up from a very short afternoon nap in the grouchiest mood I have seen in a while. I tried the usual: cuddle, food, drink, outdoors, Backyardigans, diaper change. When I ran out of ideas I carried him back to his crib, left him there, and shut the door to his room. I intended to leave him there for 10 minutes to see if he would go back to sleep. He was crying his heart out and after a few minutes I began to feel like a big bad gaoler who throws a prisoner into solitary for bad behavior. I lasted 7 minutes. And he did calm down after that. I think he's missing mommy.

This evening we went for another reunion of sorts. Met my first office buddies from UT when I was a teaching assistant at the start of graduate school. I hadn't seen Ashok in more than a couple of decades.  Earlier this week it was Vijay from Pilani who I hadn't seen for about the same time. It's easy to get nostalgic in old age. But it's also great to meet old friends and see how wonderfully well they have done.

It's 4:28am of Day Eight. I'm going to pay for this in an hour or so. Good night.

Day Six

As you can see, the blog posts are getting shorter.

After dropping Vivian off at camp (beach day), I handed Evan to Kelli and was looking forward to a morning of R&R. First task was to get Jen to convert the workout to a breakfast. I was famished and sore. But she didn't give in and with that went all thoughts of rest. I crawled back home after my workout. Quick trip to Central Market. Then, what the heck - soccer. By the time I picked Vivian up from camp I was hurting. Tired. Hot. Sore muscles. Hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch. And while it was only 95 in the shade while I was at soccer, I had left my iphone out in the sun - like myself, and it said:

Kelli had put Evan down for his afternoon nap. I got Vivian in bed by 2:45pm. Showered by 3:00pm. Visions of a short nap dancing before my eyes. Evan up at 3:01pm. Vivian out of her room at 3:02pm ("Mommy said that if Evan isn't sleeping I can be up too"). I could have cried. May be I did.

Both kids were in a fantastic mood - which must have contrasted hugely with mine. But evening came eventually. Dinner. Evan to bed. Drawing and writing with Vivian. Vivian to bed. Taking my first sip of an 18-year old single-malt. Jared is stopping by later and I decided not to wait.

Tomorrow - the last day of Champ's Camp. Yesterday Vivian asked me how many days of Champions Camp she had left. I asked her why. She said "Dad I am having fun here but I want to go to Summer Fun Camp and see my friends". This is Vivian's first bona fide camp. Last year Crenshaw's gymnastics camp was a tame affair. And her Summer Fun Camps are really an extension of her GG pre-school. Champions is raw and crazy. Yesterday she sang a Bieber song with lots of actions (wagging the finger with "Never say never", punching and kicking with "I'll fight till forever", dropping to the floor and jumping up with "whenever you knock me down I will not stay on the ground", and pumping her hands in the air with "pick it up, pick it up..."). Today it was the macarena. And the snacks: root beer, banana sunday, cupcakes. Grace Garden is like a convent at an organic farm by comparison.

Day Five

It rained last night! That's the good news. I can hardly move (thanks, Jen). That's not the bad news either. It's going to get far worse before it gets better - that's the bad news.

Evan woke up crying this morning. He must have pooped early in the night and it was all dry and his bottom was chafed. We spent some time soaking in the tub till it was better. Then Vivian woke up with her hair all matted and she needed to take a bath. So we got back in the tub. We still got Evan and Vivian fed and Vivian dropped off in time. Rock'n'roll day at Camp today. Vivian dressed herself.

This morning I had a few minutes to clean out the car. I carried two armloads of trash out. This is the stuff that I decided to keep. No wonder we need so many cup holders...

Day Four

Happy but exhausted.

Kelli came over and restored some measure of order. Kids' laundry is folded. House is moderately clean. Fridge is stocked.

We took it easy. Vivian got back from Camp with another Bieber song under her belt. Evan was asleep by 630pm. Vivian and I watched a movie and read a book. She was out by 830pm.

 

Day Three

Moving along like a well-oiled machine.

Vivian hair was the centerpiece of this morning. Getting the kids fed and dressed and fixing lunch for Vivian to take to camp took second place. Detangler and tears flowed freely till we were done. Vivian had a good day at camp and learned some new cheers. Evan napped like a champ and played well with Catherine.

After the afternoon naps we spent an hour in the bath. Then we got dressed for dinner. Vivian picked clothes for all of us (down to my shoes).

Manoj and his family spoiled the kids with movies, popcorn, ice cream, and candy. Vivian was ready to move in with them and Evan was all smiles and laughs two hours after his normal bed time. I finally got the kids in bed at 930pm.

Tomorrow - slow day for the kids. And Kelli will be here. The house looks like a disaster. Thank god for Kelli.

Day Two

Day Two done and everyone is still alive.

Evan and I had a pre-breakfast snack of peaches while we waited for Vivian, our teenager, to wake up. We got tired of waiting at about 7:45am and dragged her out of bed. Then we went to the Shahs for breakfast. The kids fed the koi and picked beans and tomatoes and we sat outside and ate pineapple and eggs and chevrda. Back home in time for Evan's nap. Vivian chilled with Cat in the Hat on Tivo and stuck pink stickers on her toe nails to make them look like they had been through a bad polish job.

By the time Evan woke up, Vivian was ready for a nap but we got everyone in the bathtub for a much needed appointment with soap. Lunch was easy - both kids opted for Cheerios. Evan finished eating early and then was ready for some wine. Yes - he can open the wine fridge at will and prefers full-bodied reds.

The mountain of kids' dirty laundry is getting taller. So we took a quick trip to Target for laundry detergent. Then naps for Evan and Vivian. When the kids woke up they got FaceTime with Mommy who was getting ready for bed in a hotel somewhere in London. The kids loved it. Vivian is a vetran skyper and knows what's going on, but Evan was just ecstatic. He waved and kissed and laughed and smiled and had a good time. A great example of how technology helps. But both are camera hogs and it was a bit of a challenge to get them to share. Technical solution: a conference call where each gets his/her own computer.

Then we went to NW park to swim. But just as we were about to dip our toes in the water, the lifeguards declared that the chlorine level in the baby pool was too low. I could see why - there were so many kids in there, the germs were feasting on the chlorine. They asked us to come back in 20 minutes. We took that as a divine sign to ice cream now, and fed our faces with an oreo shake. When we returned, the pool was empty. I assumed the others were consuming larger shakes, but hardly anyone came back. We spotted Fields and Hyder and their parents in the big pool and they came over and everyone had a blast. Fields cried when it was time for him to leave. We left shortly after that. It was too late to another bath. So we did dinner and rolled Evan into bed. He was tuckered out.

Evan has always been curious. He loves climbing up on stuff to see what's on top. And opens cabinets and drawers and throws everything out. He also loves loud noises. His newest preoccupation is to open cabinets and find things that make the loudest noises when thrown to the floor. Yesterday the clear winner was saucepan lids. Evan quickly determined that the bigger the lid the greater the impact. A dinning chair was pushed into service so he could climb up to reach the top drawer where the biggest saucepan lid resides. In the photo below he is experimenting with a smaller lid. And printing something important.

Vivian and I read a couple of books in bed in celebration of father's day. Then she fell asleep on my arm. I don't think I lasted more than an hour or two after that.

Tomorrow is going to be fun. Evan gets to spend some time with Catherine while I work. Vivian starts a new week at Champions Camp. And I have dinner with Vijay and Manoj in the evening - perhaps I'll take the kids...?

Day One

This is Day One of us hanging out in Austin during Jo's Europe trip. Yesterday we dropped her off at SA airport and went to Grandma's. About a day and a half later we are back in Austin and the kids are fast asleep. All their extremities are intact. There have been no untoward incidents. Sort off, anyway.

Yesterday they napped and swam and ate grilled chicken and tumbled into bed. The night was quite eventful. Carol's motion light at the front door kept coming on which set off the dogs. Apparently Carol and Vivian had sharing issues and Vivian had to wake Carol up a couple of times at night to give her some more room in bed. And Vivian's pull-up training didn't go that well and sometime at night Vivian peed in Grandma's bed.

After Grandma made them a breakfast of oatmeal and raisins, I took the kids to Landa Park. Vivian played around the playscape while Evan kept me busy. He can crawl/drag himself up the playscape steps with amazing speed and in a few seconds he could be teetering on top of a long slide.

On the way back we stopped at the big new HEB and bought some fresh veggies and amberjack steaks and ribeyes. Evan took his morning nap while Vivian made Grandma watch cartoons with her. We stayed out of the heat and cooked lunch indoors and had squash and brown rice and the amberjack for lunch. Both Vivian and Evan impressed Grandma by how much food they put away. Dessert was watermelon. Because I had intended to stay at Carol's for just a few hours, Jo had not packed a change of clothes for the kids. If you've seen Evan eat watermelon you'll know why I'm bringing this up. I preemptively undressed him down to his diapers for the watermelon eating part of the meal. After he finished, I took off his diapers and popped him in the kitchen sink for a quick spray down. By the time I walked back from the bedroom with a clean diaper he had squatted down in Carol's kitchen and peed and pooped. Yep. Grandma's comment was "He's all boy".

Everyone napped during the afternoon. Then it was time to swim again. I grilled some veggies and the ribeyes and the kids ate like pigs again. After dinner we cleaned up and headed to Austin. Evan feel asleep before Kyle and Vivian stayed awake till we turned on 45th street. Neither of then opened an eye while I put them to bed.

We are on our own tomorrow. For the week coming up ahead, I have more babysitting and Daddy's helpers planned than you can shake a stick at. Jo - I hope you get to read these daily updates on your new iPad. The kids already miss you. Yesterday Vivian cried all the way back from the terminal to the car park and asked why she couldn't go to London with you. Evan was concerned to see his sister cry and tried to comfort her. Hope you got some sleep finally and have a great trip. And to keep the texting down, I'm going to fill you in on a couple of other things too. Christianson will install a new a/c on Monday (third new one in less than 12 months!), and do you remember anything about my getting a speeding ticket in DC last month - Avis sent something in the mail today. Love you.

Fashion Show

Vivian goes back to her room and dresses and accessorizes herself on a regular basis. Sometimes her outfits are interesting, but they are always colorful and strange. Remind me of the Harajuku girls from Tokyo. In this picture, Vivian dressed up for Raje. She is standing in front of a huge water melon box that Jeanne dropped off one afternoon. I cut a hole in the box and the kids use it as their castle. Crazy likes to sit on it when Evan gets a little too loving.  That's if you are wondering about the cat's head growing out of Vivian's right temporal lobe.

Evan and Evan?

Here are two pictures of Vivian from a post back in July of 2008 - almost exactly three years ago. Vivian looked at them today and said they were pictures of Evan. She was about 15 months old, compared to Evan's 14.

Before and After

Evan's hair has grown really long. Jo trimmed it a couple of times, but it's all over the place. This morning Jo took him in for a haircut. Here are the before and after pictures. And, dude, don't get used to twenty five dollar haircuts either...

Window

Yesterday we made a hole in the wall at Uncle Tom and Aunt Anna's home. Between the dining room and the kitchen.

By the evening we had consumed a pizza truck full of pizza and a bucket of crunch cones. And the hole in the wall almost looked like a window.

Nebraska...the good life II

Weather forecast for this evening: scattered thunderstorms...some may be locally strong, especially during the evening.  Damaging winds, large hail, and possibly a tornado with some storms.

Vivian and her cousins are tucked into their sleeping bags in the basement.

Random Pictures

Time for a random pictures post. In the first photo, Vivian is munching on a corn cob at Tony Roma's on the River Walk in San Antonio. We were lazy and took Sharath on a boat ride instead of walking on the River Walk. In the next photo, Evan is stuffing his face with pasta at Papas Seafood in Houston. We dropped Sharath off at Bush Intercontinental, picked up Jo's PIO card from the Indian consulate, had dinner at Papas, and topped it off with dessert at the Chocolate Bar.

The next morning we were back at Town Lake. The swans saw as and swam up. One of them had her wings ruffled. Vivian said "Look Daddy - that swan has her wings up like a ballet dancer". The kids were still in there jammies.

In this last curious photo below, Vivian and Ava D are doing something. Not sure what. It was another 100 degree afternoon in Austin and we drove down to HEB and bought ourselves a trashy kids pool. Then the girls entertained us.

Apple

A few years ago when I used to take my MacBook to India, I'd get questioning looks. Why not a PC? PCs are considerably cheaper in India. And the software used to be all pirated and free. When Sharath visited us last week, he had already purchased a MacBook Pro and an iPhone. We went to the Apple store at the domain to buy an iPad. All Apple all the time now.

It was Memorial Day weekend and the store was so crowded the air-conditioners could not keep up. Sharath waited for 15 minutes for a genius to stop by and swipe his card. I'd hate to work at a place where my designation and t-shirt said "Genius". Right. Would you like a bag with that?

Apple does get a few things right. At about 8 months, Evan knew how to look at pictures on an iPhone by swiping his fingers across the screen.

Nebraska...the good life

We are in Nebraska. Approximately. I'm sitting on a la-z-boy in a cabin somewhere in Kansas as I type this. We landed in Missouri (Kansas City airport) yesterday. And we mostly to go Falls City, which is in Nebraska. Looks all the same to me...

We opted to fly to Kansas City and drive the rest of the way instead of the usual 12 hour drive from Austin because we were unsure about our desire to spend 12 hours in a car with Evan. During the 20 minute drive to Bergstrom airport on Tuesday morning, we knew we had made the right decision. The flights went off well enough (except that AA unloaded Vivian's gate-checked car seat at DFW instead of keeping it on the aircraft till Kansas City). A few minutes before we landed at Kansas City airport, I told Vivian to look out of the window. "Look Vivian - that's Kansas down below". Vivian looked puzzled. Then she said "Wow Daddy - Kansas is colored". Took me a few seconds to realize that she expected Kansas to be in shades of sepia as per the Wizard of Oz.

This is the welcome-to-Nebraska sign on 73 between Reserve and Falls City. It's been used for target practice. When I pointed out to Jo that the corresponding welcome-to-Kansas one didn't have holes, she noted that it was new.

In the photo above, we are approaching the stop sign at downtown Padonia - my definition of a Nebraska town. The next three photos below are from around the Country Cabins where we are staying. It's peaceful and lovely. Sunset last night. Vivian sitting on the back deck and pointing out birds. And Evan climbing a rock in the front yard this morning. We stayed here three years ago when Vivian was almost exactly the same age as Evan is now.  The rooms are conveniently labeled: "Country Kitchen", "Country Bathroom". Thank god - I was going to dump in the oven...

This morning we drove up Stone Street in Falls City. I stopped the car and took a photo (below). Jo mentioned that I was holding up traffic. I forgot there were other people. You hardly see anyone else. The next picture is outside the gym on Stone. Jo met Steph there and they worked out together. The gym is chock full of expensive workout machines. Its clean and looks more like a fancy hotel lobby than a gym. A far cry from the Red Black Gym in Austin. But I had to ask Jo to pose in front of the Zumba sign. The only other time I heard of Zumba was on the Xtranormal Crossfit video ("Zumba is not fucking Crossfit").

We dropped Jo off at the gym and got the day started right with a chocolate crunch cone at the Frosty Queen. Then we went to Pioneer park where we ran into Aunt Frances walking Saddler. Evan sat on the bench for a photo op while Vivian played on the merry-go-round.