I was hoping to do a blog while the kids were sleeping, but the internet is down and J is also sleeping. I'd have to wake her up to get back behind the couch to the router, and that hardly seems fair, even for a properly written blog with full-color pictures. So instead I'll tap out an improper blog while sitting at my desk, which was clean this morning but is now littered with a morning's worth of well-intentioned projects that started out promisingly but were left unfinished because my attention was required elsewhere to sort out a dump truck dispute or to flip a load of laundry.
We were going to visit the zoo today, but the whole family was in a haze before the day even started. Our veteran parenting move this week was putting a zoo date on the calendar but choosing not to tell the kids about it, just in case we decided that it was more important to stay at home on our pajamas than to watch the elephants. After a full weekend of church and a trip to Albion, the elephants never stood a chance. And no one was upset at us, because we broke no spoken promises.
The folder of our exercise DVDs lies open on my desk. We were going to exercise this morning, because the kids would definitely be able to entertain themselves while we did a short 20-minute workout. This turned out to be not quite so straightforward as we had thought, so we were going to exercise as soon as they were all down for naps. But Felix started crying as soon as we had shut the other two in their rooms, so we were going to exercise as soon as he had eaten and been assuaged. But then J was having nasty allergies and she took a Claritin, and she was just going to nap for a thirty minutes, and then her alarm would go off and we would exercise then. And that was about an hour and half ago, so I can't really say what the forecast for exercise is.
There is a lab slip on my desk as well, which J is supposed to complete before her next physical. I don't know which labs she can use to do her blood work, because we don't have the same insurance. And I was on the phone with her insurance for a half hour this morning getting through the automated menu and then trying to figure out with a supposedly living human being whether and where she could get an eye exam. Then there were two more phone calls, and lots of waiting on hold while Felix screamed his lungs out, and I just don't have it in me to interact with the insurance world again for at least 24 hours.
And there's plenty more on my desk--a zoom recorder, a Sunday School registration form, and a bank bill and a dentist's office registration packet, but Felix is crying again, and I hear Owen. So I think that's the end of this blog and this nap.
Monday, August 28, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
45/100
Felix screaming. Always screaming.
Trying to make ham and cheese sandwiches one handed.
Owen doesn't like swiss cheese.
I forgot to put mustard on James'.
More of Felix screaming.
The feta cheese fell and spilled all over the bottom of the fridge.
Boys, get in the van.
More of Felix crying.
A traffic jam.
Owen wants the windows down.
James wants the windows up.
Felix just wants to cry.
No, I can't carry you, I'm carrying Felix.
Owen, do you have to go potty?
Boys, don't wrestle on top of the big rocks.
Boys, get out of the flower beds.
Seriously, Owen, you can't try to push James off that rock. Do you need to got potty yet?
Yes, you can play on the playground.
Owen, did you poop in your diaper?
Wait, is that poop on your fingers?
Is that...on your face...?
Don't. Touch. Anything.
We're getting back in the van.
The windows are staying rolled up.
More of Felix screaming.
No, I can't carry you, I'm carrying Felix.
Straight up to the tub, don't touch anything or sit on anything on the way.
No, stop putting your hand in it and let me get it cleaned off.
More of Felix screaming.
Who is getting out first?
Nope, sit on the potty before we put your pajamas.
Wait, wait...come back and brush your teeth before you go out of the bathroom.
No, we can't play outside anymore, it's bedtime.
Okay, Felix. It's okay, I can pick you up now.
The warm damp of spit-up, lots of it, rolling down my back.
Trying to make ham and cheese sandwiches one handed.
Owen doesn't like swiss cheese.
I forgot to put mustard on James'.
More of Felix screaming.
The feta cheese fell and spilled all over the bottom of the fridge.
Boys, get in the van.
More of Felix crying.
A traffic jam.
Owen wants the windows down.
James wants the windows up.
Felix just wants to cry.
No, I can't carry you, I'm carrying Felix.
Owen, do you have to go potty?
Boys, don't wrestle on top of the big rocks.
Boys, get out of the flower beds.
Seriously, Owen, you can't try to push James off that rock. Do you need to got potty yet?
Yes, you can play on the playground.
Owen, did you poop in your diaper?
Wait, is that poop on your fingers?
Is that...on your face...?
Don't. Touch. Anything.
We're getting back in the van.
The windows are staying rolled up.
More of Felix screaming.
No, I can't carry you, I'm carrying Felix.
Straight up to the tub, don't touch anything or sit on anything on the way.
No, stop putting your hand in it and let me get it cleaned off.
More of Felix screaming.
Who is getting out first?
Nope, sit on the potty before we put your pajamas.
Wait, wait...come back and brush your teeth before you go out of the bathroom.
No, we can't play outside anymore, it's bedtime.
Okay, Felix. It's okay, I can pick you up now.
The warm damp of spit-up, lots of it, rolling down my back.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
44/100
I recently finished my big summer trumpet project, which was the rough equivalent of reading through the Bible in a year--I played through the entire Arban book. The Arban book, which is a big red 350 page French trumpet method published in 1864, is such a good practice tool that it's been stolen for trombone, euphonium, and tuba as well. (French horns are too snobby to use anything they acquired secondhand.) In fact, my first exposure to the Arban book was to a bass clef euphonium copy while digging through my Grandpa Dudley's stack of parlor sheet music. I eventually bought my own copy from the local music store, brought it home, and immediately attempted to practice all of the hardest parts (i.e., Carnival of Venice and anything that looked like it went above the staff) ignorantly and with little success.
I eventually received some more nuanced direction for using the book from college teachers, but it was always as supplementary material to lots of other etude books, and it wasn't until I started doing some college-level teaching myself that I really explored some of the more obscure sections of the book. The Arban book is sort of the one thing that you can be sure a freshman will walk in with, so it became my de facto source of general practice prescriptions. Do they need low articulation work? Start on page 32 and play it down the octave. Flexibility? Page 125. Transposition? Open up to the Art of Phrasing section and bring in the first five tunes up a step, down a step, and down a half-step for next week. Multiple tonguing? Find page 155, and be sure to use your metronome.
I knew certain pages and chapters very well, but I don't think I'd ever played some of the early "introductory" materials, or very much of the "ornaments" chapter. I set myself up with a schedule to play through everything in the entire method over the course of about thirty days. First Studies, Slurring, Scales, Ornaments, "Advanced Studies," Tonguing, The Art of Phrasing (which is a collection of 150 popular tunes, largely from the operatic literature of the day), the 14 Characteristic Etudes, and the final collection of 12 Fantasies and Aires Varies. I omitted (if anyone is keeping score) the Duet section, because, well, I'm only one person. If anyone wants to come over and read 68 duets in a row in my basement, I suppose then I can technically say that I've completed the whole project.
Trumpet playing has changed quite a big since 1864. For one thing, it's trumpet playing now, instead of cornet playing. Arban's method was about setting up cornet soloists, which is why it's so heavily geared towards ornamentation, multiple tonguing, cadenzas, and vocal phrasing. A modern player has to do a lot of work at the bottom and top (and beyond) of their register to keep up with the demands of the job, not to mention a much more thorough job of minor scales, wider dynamic ranges, and "attack" studies. There are lots of other techniques to develop too, but the great thing about the Arban book is how, for the set of techniques that he chose, he so thoroughly and systematically broke down the process of learning them. If you can teach yourself triple tonguing the way that Arban sets it up, you can teach yourself flutter tonguing or anything else using his principles.
One added challenge to my project was the sheer scarcity of practice time. Not only was I pressed by the usual constraints on practice time (having to save face for evening concerts, tending two energetic boys, keeping the yard mowed and the house standing), but there was a cranky newborn in the mix as well. He was the biggest challenge, and I think that all of the whisper soft playing I did was the most beneficial practicing of the summer.
Here, therefore, is my Complete Arban Routine:
Materials needed:
Arban's Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet
A Trumpet
A Music Stand
A Pencil
A Metronome
A Human Woman
Step 1: Get the woman pregnant. Wait nine months.
Step 2: Take the newborn down to the basement and strap him onto your chest just below your instrument bell.
Step 3. Systematically play all of the exercises in the Arban Method at the marked tempi with a metronome on but without waking up the sleeping baby.
Note: For an advanced challenge, use an extra-crotchety baby.
I eventually received some more nuanced direction for using the book from college teachers, but it was always as supplementary material to lots of other etude books, and it wasn't until I started doing some college-level teaching myself that I really explored some of the more obscure sections of the book. The Arban book is sort of the one thing that you can be sure a freshman will walk in with, so it became my de facto source of general practice prescriptions. Do they need low articulation work? Start on page 32 and play it down the octave. Flexibility? Page 125. Transposition? Open up to the Art of Phrasing section and bring in the first five tunes up a step, down a step, and down a half-step for next week. Multiple tonguing? Find page 155, and be sure to use your metronome.
I knew certain pages and chapters very well, but I don't think I'd ever played some of the early "introductory" materials, or very much of the "ornaments" chapter. I set myself up with a schedule to play through everything in the entire method over the course of about thirty days. First Studies, Slurring, Scales, Ornaments, "Advanced Studies," Tonguing, The Art of Phrasing (which is a collection of 150 popular tunes, largely from the operatic literature of the day), the 14 Characteristic Etudes, and the final collection of 12 Fantasies and Aires Varies. I omitted (if anyone is keeping score) the Duet section, because, well, I'm only one person. If anyone wants to come over and read 68 duets in a row in my basement, I suppose then I can technically say that I've completed the whole project.
Trumpet playing has changed quite a big since 1864. For one thing, it's trumpet playing now, instead of cornet playing. Arban's method was about setting up cornet soloists, which is why it's so heavily geared towards ornamentation, multiple tonguing, cadenzas, and vocal phrasing. A modern player has to do a lot of work at the bottom and top (and beyond) of their register to keep up with the demands of the job, not to mention a much more thorough job of minor scales, wider dynamic ranges, and "attack" studies. There are lots of other techniques to develop too, but the great thing about the Arban book is how, for the set of techniques that he chose, he so thoroughly and systematically broke down the process of learning them. If you can teach yourself triple tonguing the way that Arban sets it up, you can teach yourself flutter tonguing or anything else using his principles.
One added challenge to my project was the sheer scarcity of practice time. Not only was I pressed by the usual constraints on practice time (having to save face for evening concerts, tending two energetic boys, keeping the yard mowed and the house standing), but there was a cranky newborn in the mix as well. He was the biggest challenge, and I think that all of the whisper soft playing I did was the most beneficial practicing of the summer.
Here, therefore, is my Complete Arban Routine:
Materials needed:
Arban's Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet
A Trumpet
A Music Stand
A Pencil
A Metronome
A Human Woman
Step 1: Get the woman pregnant. Wait nine months.
Step 2: Take the newborn down to the basement and strap him onto your chest just below your instrument bell.
Step 3. Systematically play all of the exercises in the Arban Method at the marked tempi with a metronome on but without waking up the sleeping baby.
Note: For an advanced challenge, use an extra-crotchety baby.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
43/100
I. An Important Announcement
"Good morning, James! How'd you sleep?"
"Hey, James has an important announcement!"
"Oh, what's that?"
"He has figured out what he's going to be when he grows up!"
"Oh really, what's that? What's your choice?"
"An astronaut!"
"That's a great choice!"
"Yes, I will have a space ship with three seats, one for James, one for George, and one for Hobbes!"
II.
"Aww, Owen, you pooped in your diaper again."
"What you doing?"
"Wiping poop off your butt."
"No you not."
"I sure am."
"No, you wiping poop off mine robot-butt."
"Because you're a robot?"
"You wiping robot poop off mine robot-butt."
"Good morning, James! How'd you sleep?"
"Hey, James has an important announcement!"
"Oh, what's that?"
"He has figured out what he's going to be when he grows up!"
"Oh really, what's that? What's your choice?"
"An astronaut!"
"That's a great choice!"
"Yes, I will have a space ship with three seats, one for James, one for George, and one for Hobbes!"
II.
"Aww, Owen, you pooped in your diaper again."
"What you doing?"
"Wiping poop off your butt."
"No you not."
"I sure am."
"No, you wiping poop off mine robot-butt."
"Because you're a robot?"
"You wiping robot poop off mine robot-butt."
Sunday, August 20, 2017
42/100
2017 Buffalo Bills Predictions
So it's time once again to register my predictions for the upcoming Buffalo Bills season. In case you don't recall, my 2014 predictions were startlingly accurate. 2015, not so much, and then 2016 wasn't too far off from what actually happened.
QB-I think we all sort of know, deep down, that this is Tyrod Taylor's last year in Buffalo. The fun thing about #5 is that he does something really exciting a couple of times a game, and I hope we'll see a couple of great deep throws or ankle-breaking runs, but he's going to be frustrating and ineffective for far too many stretches, and we're all going to be talking about college QBs by week 5. Nathan Peterman, if he sees the field, is going to look like a poor man's Alex Van Pelt. Seriously, NO ONE should hope for this.
HB-LeSean McCoy, I think, has one more quality year left in him. The biggest question for his season isn't really about what he's doing so much as what the rest of the offense looks like around him. I don't think anyone's going to dropping extra men into coverage to work against the passing offense, and the offensive line looks worse than it did last year. Also, look for lots of dropped passes by fullbacks and reserve tight ends.
WR-Oh, it could be SO bad. Anquan Boldin will be the best interview of the locker room week to week, and one of the biggest liabilities on the field. Jordan Matthews will slowly improve as the season goes on, but don't look to him to either break 1000 yards or lead the team in receiving touchdowns. I'd love to have high hopes for Zay Jones, but we might have forgotten he's on the team by midseason. He seems like the type of guy that will be inactive with an ankle for multiple weeks somewhere along the line. Or did we trade that guy to the Rams? I forget...
OL-Cordy Glenn coming back is probably the most important thing that could happen between now and the regular season. No amount of Jordan Mills or Seantrel Henderson is going to solve the problem that is the right tackle position. Mills and Wood should be unspectacularly fine, and Richie Incognito will say something stupid about women and/or Rex Ryan by season's end. We're all kind of assuming that this is Eric Wood's last year too, right?
DL-This is the year of Marcel. I predict this is perhaps the lone bright spot for the team this year--a standout defensive line that keeps the anemic offense in tantalizingly close games. Shaq Lawson will have far more penalties than positive plays, but Jerry Hughes will look great, and the Dareus/Williams combo will make everyone wish that it wasn't a "wasted year."
LB-The Ramon Humber show. (Seriously, he'll probably be the best looking one of the bunch.) Reggie Ragland won't see the field unless something catastrophic happens, and will eventually get traded away for a 7th round pick in the offseason. Preston Brown will play with all of the determined intensity of someone who's going to get a raise next offseason to play for a better football team in a nicer climate.
DB-It could be even worse than WR. Tre'Davious White might look okay against some weaker competition, but it's going to be a rough year for him. E.J. Gaines will play in 8 games, max, and we're all going to have to steel ourselves for the thought that they're going to use a 2nd round pick on a corner in the draft AGAIN. Poyer will be better than Micah Hyde, but most of the time when any of us pronounce their names it's going to be with an expletive following.
Kicking Teams-Colton Schmidt looks better this year, Steven Hauschka will miss an inexplicable number of extra points. People will wonder whether it's something to do with the field.
Overall: 5-10-1, the tie coming in a battle of epic futility against the Dolphins. (I'd call this one against the Browns, except somehow we don't play them this year.) 3rd place in the AFC East (yes, the Jets are THAT bad), and armed with all of the picks to go get a quarterback next year.
Fun Fact: This time ten years ago I was at Deep Creek Lake with J's family a few days before our wedding, and I was neglecting my packing up because I had a chance to watch a Bills-Titans preseason game. I told J how excited I was to follow the team this year because J.P. Losman was going to lead the team out of an unfeasibly long SEVEN year playoff drought!
So it's time once again to register my predictions for the upcoming Buffalo Bills season. In case you don't recall, my 2014 predictions were startlingly accurate. 2015, not so much, and then 2016 wasn't too far off from what actually happened.
QB-I think we all sort of know, deep down, that this is Tyrod Taylor's last year in Buffalo. The fun thing about #5 is that he does something really exciting a couple of times a game, and I hope we'll see a couple of great deep throws or ankle-breaking runs, but he's going to be frustrating and ineffective for far too many stretches, and we're all going to be talking about college QBs by week 5. Nathan Peterman, if he sees the field, is going to look like a poor man's Alex Van Pelt. Seriously, NO ONE should hope for this.
HB-LeSean McCoy, I think, has one more quality year left in him. The biggest question for his season isn't really about what he's doing so much as what the rest of the offense looks like around him. I don't think anyone's going to dropping extra men into coverage to work against the passing offense, and the offensive line looks worse than it did last year. Also, look for lots of dropped passes by fullbacks and reserve tight ends.
WR-Oh, it could be SO bad. Anquan Boldin will be the best interview of the locker room week to week, and one of the biggest liabilities on the field. Jordan Matthews will slowly improve as the season goes on, but don't look to him to either break 1000 yards or lead the team in receiving touchdowns. I'd love to have high hopes for Zay Jones, but we might have forgotten he's on the team by midseason. He seems like the type of guy that will be inactive with an ankle for multiple weeks somewhere along the line. Or did we trade that guy to the Rams? I forget...
OL-Cordy Glenn coming back is probably the most important thing that could happen between now and the regular season. No amount of Jordan Mills or Seantrel Henderson is going to solve the problem that is the right tackle position. Mills and Wood should be unspectacularly fine, and Richie Incognito will say something stupid about women and/or Rex Ryan by season's end. We're all kind of assuming that this is Eric Wood's last year too, right?
DL-This is the year of Marcel. I predict this is perhaps the lone bright spot for the team this year--a standout defensive line that keeps the anemic offense in tantalizingly close games. Shaq Lawson will have far more penalties than positive plays, but Jerry Hughes will look great, and the Dareus/Williams combo will make everyone wish that it wasn't a "wasted year."
LB-The Ramon Humber show. (Seriously, he'll probably be the best looking one of the bunch.) Reggie Ragland won't see the field unless something catastrophic happens, and will eventually get traded away for a 7th round pick in the offseason. Preston Brown will play with all of the determined intensity of someone who's going to get a raise next offseason to play for a better football team in a nicer climate.
DB-It could be even worse than WR. Tre'Davious White might look okay against some weaker competition, but it's going to be a rough year for him. E.J. Gaines will play in 8 games, max, and we're all going to have to steel ourselves for the thought that they're going to use a 2nd round pick on a corner in the draft AGAIN. Poyer will be better than Micah Hyde, but most of the time when any of us pronounce their names it's going to be with an expletive following.
Kicking Teams-Colton Schmidt looks better this year, Steven Hauschka will miss an inexplicable number of extra points. People will wonder whether it's something to do with the field.
Overall: 5-10-1, the tie coming in a battle of epic futility against the Dolphins. (I'd call this one against the Browns, except somehow we don't play them this year.) 3rd place in the AFC East (yes, the Jets are THAT bad), and armed with all of the picks to go get a quarterback next year.
Fun Fact: This time ten years ago I was at Deep Creek Lake with J's family a few days before our wedding, and I was neglecting my packing up because I had a chance to watch a Bills-Titans preseason game. I told J how excited I was to follow the team this year because J.P. Losman was going to lead the team out of an unfeasibly long SEVEN year playoff drought!
Saturday, August 19, 2017
41/100
I. Sally (from Cars)
Owen: "Sally is a girl!" (pronounced 'gurwl') "And Sally is a she! And I have him!"
II. Upon Seeing the Stars and Stripes
Owen: "Hey, it's the Magic States flag!"
(We think this is a portmanteau of Magic School Bus and United States flag)
III. Time Machine
James: "This time let's use our Time Machine to crash land into the future!"
Owen: "Will there be dinosaurs?"
James "Dinosaurs are only in the past. Do you wanna come?"
Owen: "Only if there are dinosaurs."
Owen: "Sally is a girl!" (pronounced 'gurwl') "And Sally is a she! And I have him!"
II. Upon Seeing the Stars and Stripes
Owen: "Hey, it's the Magic States flag!"
(We think this is a portmanteau of Magic School Bus and United States flag)
III. Time Machine
James: "This time let's use our Time Machine to crash land into the future!"
Owen: "Will there be dinosaurs?"
James "Dinosaurs are only in the past. Do you wanna come?"
Owen: "Only if there are dinosaurs."
40/100
I don't think I could have asked for a surer sign that James is going to turn out okay than his sudden love of Calvin and Hobbes. It's as if he's finally found a small person who he can relate to--someone who lives in his head most of the time, has incredibly vivid imaginary adventures, is part little boy and part wizened grown-up, and also does hilarious things with snowmen.
His conversations with Owen have certainly become more entertaining since he started working his way through our Calvin collection. A few days ago I found them in the library both sitting in turned around chairs. They were busy in their time machines. I asked them where they were going, and Owen told me that they were going "time machines so we can get filthy rich."
A lot of the content is going over his head, including some of the words. He was telling me about something the other day that I couldn't decipher for any effort, and it turned out to be "transmogrifier." He's also called Hobbes a "hermisynal pishko jungle cat," among other mispronunciations. (This is the problem of reading lots of words in books before you ever hear them pronounced."
There are some drawbacks to Calvin and Hobbes, too. Calvin can be a pretty naughty kid, and James has repeated some things from the strips that we've had to talk to him about. There's a bit more violence and fighting and "killing" than we'd like to see, and some of this has even trickled down to Owen. Owen came up to me after lunch the other day and whisper-confessed that he'd said "I hate this" two times while we were in the art gallery.
But mostly Calvin has been a positive. James has been buried in a book for most of this month, and when he does come out to play it's with spectacular maps and plots. ("Owen, if Felix comes around the side of the house, all of our plans will be RUINED.") Plus, he can never read for too long a stretch, because Owen's new favorite game is "I'm going to steal James' George and run off with it."
His conversations with Owen have certainly become more entertaining since he started working his way through our Calvin collection. A few days ago I found them in the library both sitting in turned around chairs. They were busy in their time machines. I asked them where they were going, and Owen told me that they were going "time machines so we can get filthy rich."
A lot of the content is going over his head, including some of the words. He was telling me about something the other day that I couldn't decipher for any effort, and it turned out to be "transmogrifier." He's also called Hobbes a "hermisynal pishko jungle cat," among other mispronunciations. (This is the problem of reading lots of words in books before you ever hear them pronounced."
There are some drawbacks to Calvin and Hobbes, too. Calvin can be a pretty naughty kid, and James has repeated some things from the strips that we've had to talk to him about. There's a bit more violence and fighting and "killing" than we'd like to see, and some of this has even trickled down to Owen. Owen came up to me after lunch the other day and whisper-confessed that he'd said "I hate this" two times while we were in the art gallery.
But mostly Calvin has been a positive. James has been buried in a book for most of this month, and when he does come out to play it's with spectacular maps and plots. ("Owen, if Felix comes around the side of the house, all of our plans will be RUINED.") Plus, he can never read for too long a stretch, because Owen's new favorite game is "I'm going to steal James' George and run off with it."
Sunday, August 13, 2017
39/100
I. Conversation with the Parking Attendant
"You're going to have to go around, sir."
"I'm a musician."
"Sorry, you're going to have to take a bus from the lot."
"Isn't there musician parking?"
"Are you a performer for this concert?"
"Yes."
"Can I see some kind of identification?"
"They just told us to turn in here and that there would be musician parking."
"Can I see your instrument?"
"It's in the backseat. Beside the palm tree."
"You don't look like a performer."
"Well, I still need to change into my suit."
"There have been a bunch of other people that said they were performers."
"Right. I'm part of a brass quintet."
"There have been, like, ten."
"Yeah, I think there's a string quartet playing too."
"Okay, I'm going to let you through, but you need to be real careful."
"I'll do that."
II. Owen's Chair
It's no secret that Owen is a messy eater. He dribbles food all over the table, his clothes, and his wooden table chair. We probably don't clean his chair as often as we should. We recently broke one of our dining room chairs, and I decided I would check to make sure that the hardware was intact on all the others before I threw away the parts of the broken one. I took the booster seat off of Owen's chair and...immediately decided to throw Owen's chair away. The base was in decent shape, so I screwed that into the top of the "broken" chair (the wrong way at first, so it was sloping down, and then the right way the second time) and put the moldy/hairy/food encrusted chair out with our increasingly large pile of trash.
III. Flora
There was a palm tree in my car because we wanted a larger plant in our dining room in our redoubled efforts to simplify and clean up our downstairs. Our family photos are going into the stairwell, all stackable surfaces are getting decluttered, and we've swapped around pantry and cabinet spaces. But without any of that background, it was a spectacular excuse for being able to tell the other trumpet player at the quintet gig that I couldn't give him a ride back to the parking area because I had a palm tree in my car. (He didn't argue his way through security like I did.)
IV. Dinner-time
Me: <using a pizza cutter to slice up Owen's pizza into manageable bites while rocking Felix's bouncy seat with my foot>
J: You're doing some impressive multi-tasking.
Me: Yes, but if I mixed these up then child services would probably get involved pretty quickly.
V. Face-Time with Grandma
J: Grandma's on the phone! Come and say hello!
Owen: Grandma! We have a new baby, and his name is Felix!
Grandma: Oh...yes!
(Grandma had come up and spent a week with Felix after he was born, and we had just spent the past week with Grandma at her house in Pennsylvania.)
Owen: And we have another brother and his name is...JAMES!
James: Grandma, look! I'm a super-hero! Ka-pwing!
<Turns around, displaying a "cape" of toilet paper dangling out of the back of his pajamas>
VI. Calvin and Hobbes
The first thing James "built" from Calvin and Hobbes was a transmogrifier. I don't think he's brave enough to attempt pronouncing it yet, but he requested the leftover box from our new coffee-maker and had it set up in his room (top-down) when we checked on him. I found another couple of books in the basement recently, and he's been enjoying reading Yukon Ho! to himself and out loud to us. Or, as he pronounces it, Yoklum Ho! Also, he taped two chairs together to make a time machine for him and Owen to ride on.
"You're going to have to go around, sir."
"I'm a musician."
"Sorry, you're going to have to take a bus from the lot."
"Isn't there musician parking?"
"Are you a performer for this concert?"
"Yes."
"Can I see some kind of identification?"
"They just told us to turn in here and that there would be musician parking."
"Can I see your instrument?"
"It's in the backseat. Beside the palm tree."
"You don't look like a performer."
"Well, I still need to change into my suit."
"There have been a bunch of other people that said they were performers."
"Right. I'm part of a brass quintet."
"There have been, like, ten."
"Yeah, I think there's a string quartet playing too."
"Okay, I'm going to let you through, but you need to be real careful."
"I'll do that."
II. Owen's Chair
It's no secret that Owen is a messy eater. He dribbles food all over the table, his clothes, and his wooden table chair. We probably don't clean his chair as often as we should. We recently broke one of our dining room chairs, and I decided I would check to make sure that the hardware was intact on all the others before I threw away the parts of the broken one. I took the booster seat off of Owen's chair and...immediately decided to throw Owen's chair away. The base was in decent shape, so I screwed that into the top of the "broken" chair (the wrong way at first, so it was sloping down, and then the right way the second time) and put the moldy/hairy/food encrusted chair out with our increasingly large pile of trash.
III. Flora
There was a palm tree in my car because we wanted a larger plant in our dining room in our redoubled efforts to simplify and clean up our downstairs. Our family photos are going into the stairwell, all stackable surfaces are getting decluttered, and we've swapped around pantry and cabinet spaces. But without any of that background, it was a spectacular excuse for being able to tell the other trumpet player at the quintet gig that I couldn't give him a ride back to the parking area because I had a palm tree in my car. (He didn't argue his way through security like I did.)
IV. Dinner-time
Me: <using a pizza cutter to slice up Owen's pizza into manageable bites while rocking Felix's bouncy seat with my foot>
J: You're doing some impressive multi-tasking.
Me: Yes, but if I mixed these up then child services would probably get involved pretty quickly.
V. Face-Time with Grandma
J: Grandma's on the phone! Come and say hello!
Owen: Grandma! We have a new baby, and his name is Felix!
Grandma: Oh...yes!
(Grandma had come up and spent a week with Felix after he was born, and we had just spent the past week with Grandma at her house in Pennsylvania.)
Owen: And we have another brother and his name is...JAMES!
James: Grandma, look! I'm a super-hero! Ka-pwing!
<Turns around, displaying a "cape" of toilet paper dangling out of the back of his pajamas>
VI. Calvin and Hobbes
The first thing James "built" from Calvin and Hobbes was a transmogrifier. I don't think he's brave enough to attempt pronouncing it yet, but he requested the leftover box from our new coffee-maker and had it set up in his room (top-down) when we checked on him. I found another couple of books in the basement recently, and he's been enjoying reading Yukon Ho! to himself and out loud to us. Or, as he pronounces it, Yoklum Ho! Also, he taped two chairs together to make a time machine for him and Owen to ride on.
Friday, August 4, 2017
38/100
Owen is having a race. He isn't racing against anyone in particular, he's only making endless laps around the Davis coffee table with his toy motorcycle. The motorcycle is red, therefore one of the crown jewels of the toy bin here at Grandma's house, and it makes a "wrreeeee" siren whenever he presses a button on the side. I think he prefers the siren to an engine noise, because then the operator of the motorcycle and hum an engine noise as he circles the table. It isn't a loud siren, but it pierces downstairs from upstairs, and certainly into Felix's room from where the other boys are sleeping.
Owen was up early this morning. Something about being at Grandma and Grandpa's has given him permission to get out of bed as early as he's awake and I'm frightened he's going to insist on this precedent at home. He opened our door at 6 AM and asked if it was getting-up time yet. When I told him to go back to bed he went downstairs instead, but finding that there were no adults or ready breakfast down there, he returned to our room and started asking for J. I told him that she was asleep on the other side of me, but he didn't believe me and opened the door to Felix's room to look for her there. That got us both out of bed right quickly, and Owen earned himself an hour curled up between us in our bed, which might have been what he was after all along.
James is upstairs, probably arranging toy cars atop the old chest in their room. They are camping out in sleeping bags on the floor this visit, and yesterday James laid in his while J tucked Felix in next to him on his pillow. James still hasn't said terribly much about his baby brother, but he was quietly content to lean on a skinny arm and just look at him for a half hour, trying to make eye contact with him and inspecting his face.
Yesterday we walked them down to a neighbor's pool where we have an open invitation, and after about an hour of floating in the Very Safe pool float with the biggest life jacket on, J coaxed him into the water with just the life jacket. (And a swim noodle.) He made his way out beyond the steps to where he could just barely touch, retreated multiple times, and then came out further. I kept Owen (in the float) back at the other end of the pool and watched as she convinced James to just float in the life jacket and then eventually to kick his feet and paddle out into the deep end. By the end of our time there he was paddling from the deep end to the shallow end just as freely as he pleased.
Owen was up early this morning. Something about being at Grandma and Grandpa's has given him permission to get out of bed as early as he's awake and I'm frightened he's going to insist on this precedent at home. He opened our door at 6 AM and asked if it was getting-up time yet. When I told him to go back to bed he went downstairs instead, but finding that there were no adults or ready breakfast down there, he returned to our room and started asking for J. I told him that she was asleep on the other side of me, but he didn't believe me and opened the door to Felix's room to look for her there. That got us both out of bed right quickly, and Owen earned himself an hour curled up between us in our bed, which might have been what he was after all along.
James is upstairs, probably arranging toy cars atop the old chest in their room. They are camping out in sleeping bags on the floor this visit, and yesterday James laid in his while J tucked Felix in next to him on his pillow. James still hasn't said terribly much about his baby brother, but he was quietly content to lean on a skinny arm and just look at him for a half hour, trying to make eye contact with him and inspecting his face.
Yesterday we walked them down to a neighbor's pool where we have an open invitation, and after about an hour of floating in the Very Safe pool float with the biggest life jacket on, J coaxed him into the water with just the life jacket. (And a swim noodle.) He made his way out beyond the steps to where he could just barely touch, retreated multiple times, and then came out further. I kept Owen (in the float) back at the other end of the pool and watched as she convinced James to just float in the life jacket and then eventually to kick his feet and paddle out into the deep end. By the end of our time there he was paddling from the deep end to the shallow end just as freely as he pleased.
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