Home Again

Having spent my entire life in just three places - Hyderabad, Pilani and Austin - home is not a feeling - it's a very definite place, a point in space. So I was discombobulated to feel like I was returning home when we landed in Kona yesterday. I shook my head to say "No" when the rental car lady asked if I needed a GPS. The vacation home felt the same. As did "our" tiny cozy beach on the bay. And the grocery store and the Donkey Balls place and the island bbq joint and geckos and the flowers and everything else too.

So I stopped fighting it and relaxed and had a great first day.  Home is a state of mind. But then what isn't?

Prom

On Saturday right after Green Day celebration at Vivian's school we went on to Rosedale School's second ever and Vivian and my first ever prom. It was a beautiful event with people dressed in tuxes and gowns and with red carpets and glitter in the usually drab hallways and cafeteria of Rosedale School. Children, many in wheelchairs, and their parents and siblings and friends and volunteers danced and ate and enjoyed themselves. Often in the hustle and bustle of life and the need to get things done and keep people safe and alive and be efficient and productive we forget to celebrate their dignity and beauty. As my dad's caretaker there was a lesson for me.

Vivian on the other hand wasn't impressed. Youth wanted to go out to the monkey bars and do her thing. And there's a lesson somewhere in that too.

Almost Legal

On Friday I went to Houston with my dad and handed in a set of forms to the Indian Consulate to renew my dad's passport. A previous set of forms for his green card were sent about three weeks ago to the US immigration people. This almost concludes a marathon process in bureaucracy that sucked my time like a dementor sucks a soul. I filled probably 20 forms and a couple of hundred pages of supporting documents.

I have a not so small heap of forms and documents that I printed along the way but didn't submit. Vivian has been using the other side of these papers to paint and draw. One day she filled out a form in Spanish. She filled in the blanks that required the names of my last six spouses and my dad's last ten addresses with words and phrases from her Spanish classes. I asked her what she was doing. "I'm practicing so that I can do this for you when you are old", she said.

An interesting sentiment at so many levels.

Scary Face Paintings

Vivian and Ava got their faces painted.  Mostly their eyelids. Later Vivian scared some kids at the playground at Central Market. And she danced to the Dead Music Capital band whose members looked like her or worse.

After Party

Living in Austin - the home of SXSW and ACL Fest and F-1 - there's one thing I have learned. A party isn't a party without an after party.

The party was supposed to end at 2pm. The last guests left at 4:30pm. Evan and Vivian and their cousins and Neighbor Ava partied on in the trampoline till six. Then they crawled under a comforter and watched a movie and ate pizza and that's when I kissed them goodnight and left for another party.

Cake

Evan - may be it's because we felt bad that you didn't have a cake for your last birthday. So I hope  we made up for it this time. I didn't bake it so I am going to brag and say that it is the handsomest and tastiest birthday cake I have ever seen. Contact my friend at Coco Paloma Desserts if you want one.

Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Evan!

After a few pitchers of tipsy lemonade even the conversation seemed interesting. Overheard when I took a picture of Karen inflating a dragon - "Oh - that's how you train a dragon". And a husband telling his wife "Well - you watch reality - like that Baby Jo Jo show". "Shhh. I don't. And it's Honey Boo Boo."

Evan and his friends donned their shields and wielded swords and chased dragons and attacked castles and had a good time. The weather was perfect. The guests and their parents were very nice. The food and drink were tolerable. A good time was had.

Saturday Morning

Guests arrive at 11am. Before that I need to stop at Rudy's and pick up barbecue and Paloma's to get the cake and Jo needs to buy ice for beer and make two pitchers of tipsy lemonade. Oh - and we need to take Vivian across town for her taekwondo belt testing. It all works like clockwork.

Vivian's taekwondo instructor is Ms. Palacios. She walks around chatting with each kid and knows them all by first and last name. Then it's time to start. "Is this a choir practice?" she asks. "No Mam!" is the sharp answer from about 15 kids between the ages of four and six.

"Is this a piano concert?"
"No Mam!"
"Is this a ballet recital?"
"No Mam!" 
"Then there will be no dancing and singing. Stand up like a black belt".

And everyone of them whip up and stand tall. Very impressive.

The kids went through three rounds of testing and two self defense exercises and did very well. Here is Ms. Palacios giving Vivian her new belt. Orange with tiger patch. And I'm on may way to Rudy's.

The Day Before The Birthday

Tomorrow is going to be different. Evan is turning three and will become a perfectly well behaved young man. But today he's still being a turd and got sent to his room to bed after dinner.

Dinner was nice. Jo and I like this chicken that we ate the night before at North. So we got proscuitto and wrapped some chicken breasts and added from gouda and threw them in the oven for 45 minutes. Meanwhile Evan and Vivian set up the table outside. Vivian added name cards and linen napkins for some class.

After the kids went to bed Jo returned to the living room to finish the last of the 20 fun-noodle horses. The manes are made of out carefully cut and tied fabric hot-glued to the fun-noodle. We moved the dining table outside, swept the back deck and set up the chairs and coolers. I painted a nine foot by four and half foot dragon. And then filled 200 water balloons. And we swore that we'd never do this again. So I hope you really really like this birthday party Evan.

Friday Work Out

I know so many of you do but I don't look forward to my workouts. I tolerate them. On Friday morning Jen was stretching like a cat in the sun at Red Black when I got there. She said that there was only one workout for the day. Usually there are three. "Nice" I thought before my brain caught up and asked "what's the catch?". A 0.8 mile run followed by twenty five 135 lb squats (should have been body weight but that would have been the end of me). And then repeat both all over again.

When I got back home Jo and I went to Costco (the last trip there was the day before Vivian's birthday). One way to make Costco feel like fun is to do a really shitty workout before that. Jo had to stop me from buying extra large packages of everything on the shelves.

Mornings

Kids change so quickly. So we are enjoying this stage while it lasts. Evan wakes up and jumps into bed with us. He laughs and tickles and climbs over us and Crazy and has a great time. Then he tells us over and over again "I'm hungry" and "I want to eat mini mini waffles" (tiny frozen waffles from Whole Foods are currently at the top of his food pyramid). As we are about to get out of bed to feed him Vivian wakes up and joins us. Breakfast is forgotten and there's another round or two of tickling and silliness and then Jo reminds everyone that we are late already.

Evan's Class Photo

Here's a photo of Evan's class photo. Aren't they a lovely bunch? The photo was displayed on the wall in Evan's class. While we debated whether we should spend $18 to get one copy of this photo I took a photo of the photo. Evan is the eldest and the smallest.

Photo Op

Being at the other end of the camera I rarely get a photo with the kids. Here's one - even if it's in the ER and it's 2am.

Weather Woman

A few weeks ago Vivian and her class took a field trip to the TV station where they learned how the green screen works. Since then she thinks of herself as the authority on weather in the house. Me: "Vivian - how do they predict the weather?" She: "Oh. They have a cute computer that does that."

I found some photos on Jo's phone so here they are.

Little Longhorn

Stacy fulfilled her role again and got Vivian her (belated - so don't get confused) birthday gift the other afternoon. Vivian and Ava and Evan fought over the pompoms.

Birthday Week

The long wait is finally over. Evan's birthday week started in earnest after soccer on Wednesday. Hey Cupcake cupcakes with his soccer friends while he was dressed in a crown that Vivian made for him while he napped that afternoon. Then today cupcakes again with his friends from Grace. We take a break tomorrow and then have kids over for his party on Saturday. Jo's been making horses for that party all week. Photos soon.

Vivian is such a supportive non-jealous big sister most of the time that it catches us by surprise when she isn't. Jo and I were standing out on the deck the other afternoon talking about the party when Vivian overheard us say that we would move the couches out to the deck for party seating. She made a face and said "Uh! You never moved the couches out for my birthday."  Jo said that we didn't because her birthday party was at the park. And I mentioned that Evan's last birthday party had one guest (Jen), he didn't have a cake (snow cone instead) and that his only present was a coconut and stick that Vivian gave him. She calmed down right away and went inside to make him a birthday card.

Driving While Clicking

When I look back in the rear view mirror while driving I sometimes have to take a photo (don't worry - I usually wait till I'm at a stop light or in the slow lane of I-35). The first one is from a post a few days ago. Evan fell asleep minutes after we picked him up from Ms. Mary's house last Friday. It's novel because I never seem him asleep. He's still jabbering when I turn off the lights at night and he wanders into our bedroom when he wakes up in the morning.

The next one is from Saturday. Evan stayed in his pjs all day and he had this hat on. Vivian and he looked so tough and sullen it was like a scene from a movie - except that they were in car seats. The last one is from one of our trips to Grandma's. Jo is back there because my dad is in the passenger seat (you can see a reflection of him in my shades). She tried to get Evan to take a nap and at some point she took her own advice. I looked back when I heard her open-mouthed snore. Evan is glassy-eyed but he never did fall asleep.

Honey Tea

Evan is almost back to normal. He's got a runny nose and hacks a bit now and then. This morning as I was getting ready for the gym I heard Jo ask Evan if he'd like some honey tea. He agreed. A bit later as I was running out the door I saw him sitting at the breakfast table with a cuppa. He looked so grown up I had to stop and take a photo.

I'm Hungry

Evan's favorite thing to say is "why?" but when he's not asking why he says "I'm hungry". It's the first thing he says when he wakes up. It's the last thing he says when we kiss him goodnight. He says it before meals and after meals and at the doctor's office and everywhere and all the time. The other day after he threw up his breakfast, I worriedly asked him how he was feeling. "I'm hungry" he replied.

On Sunday we went to Pour House for an early lunch. The only other people there were working off their hangovers with brunch. Service was very slow. Evan probably said "I'm hungry" a hundred times. At one point after he said "I'm hungry" about ten times in a row and I took this photo. Don't they both fit in with the hangover crowd?

Don't Go Near The Trash

We keep our trash container next to the garage on Karen and Tim's side of the house. Don't get close to it till Friday when the city dumpster clears it.

I like spring as much as the next person. In fact this is what I looked up and saw this morning while  I lay on my back on the deck. Fresh pecan leaves and a blue sky. It almost made me forget the reason why you shouldn't go near the trash can till Friday.

Two days ago when I went to the bathroom I noticed a horrible stench. I glared at Jo. By last night we had however agreed that something had crawled under the house and died under the bathroom and that Jo didn't need to change her diet. This morning when I got back from the gym Jo said "Honey - whatever has died under the house won't smell any better than it does now." So I put on a full sleeve shirt and my gardening pants. Gunaraj handed me a 3M disposable breathing mask and told me that he's claustrophobic and if something happened to me he would not follow me under the house. I grabbed a flashlight, a trash bag and latex gloves and head down till I came face to face with a very large very dead possum. I used the trash bag and the gloves and crawled back - there's no room to turn. I got out and double bagged the possum and made a deposit in the trash can. It's becoming a spring tradition around here.

Family Discount

At about midnight the other night Jo and I woke up to hear Evan wheezing. About 30 seconds later he was gasping for air. We grabbed him and Vivian and sped off to Seton ER. They gave him two breathing treatments, an oral steroid and a dose of Motrin. And took a couple of x-rays. Once Evan could breathe again he calmed down, hammed around, cuddled with Vivian in the ER bed, ate popsicles, colored with crayons and in general had a great time till we broke up the party and took everyone back home at 3am. The next morning we slept in, visited his regular doctor (who diagnosed the problem as spasmodic croup), had lunch at China Cafe and dropped Vivian off at her school.  On the way to the doctor's, Evan said "Daddy - thank you for taking such good care of me."

In 2013 Evan is the third member of our family to visit Seton's ER. Don't you think they should give us a family discount?

Ava came over to play with Vivian later. Vivian told her what had transpired the night before. When Ava went back home she told Karen "Can I wear my swimsuit and Evan stopped breathing last night".

Mike The Knight

Evan goes to Ms. Mary's house on Fridays. And he has the most amazing time there. From Monday onwards he mopes that he can't yet go to Ms. Mary's. On Friday morning he waltzes into our bedroom all smiles because it's Friday.

A few Fridays ago Mike The Knight entered our consciousness. Ms. Mary bought a whole castle with knights and horses and catapults and an ogre. The toys are aware of each other. For instance if you shoot the catapult the castle announces "We are under attack".  Evan and Rowan just love the whole thing so much that Evan announced that he wanted a castle and knight and ogre birthday party.

I used to wonder why all the children I have ever met love Ms. Mary so much. It's not that she's always so put together and happy. It isn't that she has the best activities. It's not even that while playing they learn amazing stuff (Evan came back with a bar graph last Friday with  a count of the number of horses, knights, ogres and castles and knew that it was "a graph"). Another week he came back with his personalized alphabet book with his photo and name printed on front. It's (I think) that Ms. Mary pays an incredible amount of attention to each child. She knows what they want, how they feel, what they like, how they learn, when they need help, when they don't and so much more.

Today when we picked him up from Ms. Mary's, Evan was tuckered out. He fell asleep within a minute and took a nice nap. After dinner and a shower he announced that he was hungry again and sat up on the counter top eating peanuts.

"Daddy - what is this?"
"It's a peanut"
"Why is it like this?"
"Because it's a whole peanut"
"Why is this broken?"
"It's not broken - the peanut has two halves"
"Why are there two halves?"
"It's so that a new peanut plant can grow up from between the two halves"
"Why will a new plant grow?"
"Because a peanut is a seed and new plants grow from seeds"
"Why is a peanut a seed?"
"We eat the seed of the peanut plant because it's the nutritious part of the plant"
"Why do we need nutritious?"
"So you can grow big"
"But Daddy I is already big"

Some day I should count how many times he says "why".

Illustrated by Vivian and Written

The other afternoon Vivian came back from school and Evan was napping. Jo asked her to "do something quietly". She came upstairs and asked me if she could borrow some printer paper. An hour later she presented her finished product, bound with staples and all. This isn't her first book - she has a longer one about dragons from "How to train a dragon" and some others but it's her most polished work so far though her spelling and the s-es need help. Today she said that she needs to get rid of her toys from the wall shelf so that she can make her library. I said "but you don't have that many books yet" (about three of the 20 shelves are full of books) and she replied "but I'm going to illustrate more books, Daddy".

And these books are not just the product of a bored mind. They are to be used in her "farm school". Unsatisfied as she is with her own educational experience, she and her classmate Avery have decided to open a much more fun "farm school" where kids can learn and have fun at the same time. She's going to ask Uncle Tom if she can borrow his farm. And she going to ask Gunaraj and Daddy and Avery's Daddy about building the school. The books  - she's already got a handle on that.