Arabest

LuLu has been obsessed lately with "boo-lay" or ballet. I have been taking her to a Parent and Me Dance class at our gym. At first she didn't want to go because it wasn't ballet. Finally, I convinced her to give it a try saying that while it wasn't all ballet, they may do some ballet. Last night at dinner M asked her what she had done at dance class that day. Struggling ever so slightly at the end, LuLu replies, "I did a arabest." I had been struggling for most of the day to remember the word, "No, it not pique. Not sashay. Arrgh! What is it?", and while it had come back to me in the pool after class and I helped remember the arabesque, I could not command the word to my mind when M started the conversation. Even in class the teacher only had three or four of the older girls -- the class only goes up to 36 months -- do the pose at the very end of last day of the session, so LuLu only heard the word four or five times. But I guess it made an impression.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Zorro and our resident Flower! This year we made the kids costumes. I spent the Friday night and Saturday before Halloween in front of the sewing machine. I sewed Zorro's cape and belt and the flower's dress all without a pattern. So a few things got a little frustrating and several seams needed to be ripped out and re-sewn. But in the end the effort was worth it. We also made LuLu's flower collars, which was no-sew, but time consuming nonetheless. The kids had a great Halloween season, attending our town parade, a neighborhood party, a party and parade at school, and a pre-Trick-r-Treat parade -- now we just have to ration all that candy!

Happy Birthday Four!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Four recently turned five. In an e-mail sharing pictures with family I wrote the following:

We just got home from [Four's] birthday celebration at school. He was beaming the whole time. On the one hand, he was/is so grown-up (most of the time) that I can't believe he's only five. On the other hand, it seems like he was born just only yesterday, and I can't believe five years has flown by.

I've been wrestling with whether to continue refer to the boy as Four or to change his moniker to Five due to the age change. In the end, I've decided to continue with Four as it's often how I refer to him in my head when not blogging.

So much to update!

So little time.

About a month ago, the kids went to M's parents for the night. I had packed their bag with pajamas, two changes of clothes each, a teddy bear, a stuffed puppy, a baby doll, toothbrushes, etc. When unpacking the bag, my mother-in-law was apparently impressed with the neatness with which the laundry was folded. She asked Four (who just recently turned five) if his Dad does the laundry. He replied in the affirmative. She said something to the effect of, "He's very good at it." Four responded, "He doesn't think so." It's amazing how perceptive kids are so early.

There was another story from that trip that has had me riding high for a while now. While I don't remember the details of the conversation, essentially, Four ended up telling my mother-in-law that I was "the best dad in the whole world."

Yesterday, I was getting dressed to go to the gym. With both beasties in school M and F mornings, I take the opportunity to sneak in a workout. I had just taken off my boxers and was putting on an athletic supporter for some work on the treadmill, when Four walks in and observes what I'm doing. In his best mocking voice, he says "You're wearing girls underwear!" So if the boy starts cross-dressing, I will always think back to this moment.

LuLu has been almost obsessed with getting a blue baby like her friend Maggie's blue baby for Christmas. The problem is, she is very frightened of sitting on Santa's lap. She remembers our efforts last year to get a picture with Santa and talks very frankly about how much she cried and cried. Last night, she asked Four, "Will you sit on Santa's lap and ask him for a blue baby for me like Maggie's blue baby?"
Four responded, "I will....for you."
It was too cute.

That's all I can remember for now and I can't find the list of things that I'd written down. But I am going to work to be more regular in my updates.

I'm Back!

I'm back, and while I'd like to say better than ever, for now I'll just be satisfied with being back. I cannot believe it's been a month since my last post. This is my longest period of blog slack ever, I qualify it as blog slack since I've been busy in other ways, or at least my mind has been telling me we're busy. It had been so long, my mother-in-law sent me a note that she was having trouble accessing any new posts and was wondering it there was something she was doing wrong. I sheepishly sent her the following:

Actually you're not doing anything wrong, I've just been slacking lately.
I'll try to update it soon. I've got a bunch of stories, just can't seem to
coordinate the time and energy. When I have the time I don't have the
energy, and when I have the energy I usually don't have the time. Funny how
that works out, huh? Soon though, I promise.

Since I'm proclaiming to be back, I will end with a little story. The other nite, M was called back to LuLu's room. The following conversation ensued:

LuLu: There aren't monsters inside, right?
M: Right.
LuLu: There aren't any monsters inside, because the monsters are all outside.

Katrina, Bush, and Money

I have been watching the Katrina coverage on the news in complete disbelief. My heart pours out to those people who find themselves trapped there because they had no other choice. The folks who stayed out of hubris, that's a different story, but I pray for them nonetheless. The video footage is heart wrenching, especially the babies, young children, and the elderly. What is particularly disturbing though are the reports from the city that no information is being disseminated to the survivors, that there is no available food or water, and that looters and thugs are running rampant through the city. For a country that engineered a war halfway around the world with surgical precision to the tune of $191,480,000,000, to not be able to better prepared for and coordinate a response to this natural disaster is inhumane and embarrasing. In this day and age, this seems inexcusable.

I mean who came up with this plan? New Orleans' levees were built to withstand a Cat 3 hurricane, and here comes a Cat 4, so lets get everyone to the Superdome, but let's not stockpile food and water there. And if the government officials from the Mayor of New Orleans all the way up to the President knew that this storm was going to be dangerous enough to order evacuations on Sunday (and perhaps earlier) why does it seem like they are still fumbling around for an effective plan to save the storm's survivor's? When Mr. Bush assures the American public that New Orleans will rebuild and will emerge from this stronger, please forgive me if I don't get the warm and fuzzies. Those comments bring to mind the words "Mission Accomplished."

Big Bang!

I am certain my head is going to explode. It's not just the sinus pressure from my cold -- but darn it why can't I encourage the stuff to drain as well as my chiropractor did? The impending mess is most likely the result of my increasingly indescribable relationship with my neighborhood and the Board elected to 'serve' the community. Because of the sinus pressure in my head and the exhaustion I'm feeling I'm not sure I can even right about it now. I'll try later. What was that line from Margaret Meade, hold on... time for a Google...ctrl-n...ahh, there it is:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; Indeed it's the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Meade

Alas, if the Board won't help us, we'll do it on our own. Eff'em. Oops! Did I really just say that?

innocence

This morning, I found Four sitting at the computer trying to sound out our address and type the letters into the address window of our email client -- which in itself is pretty impressive for a not quite five year old. When I came over to help him with the task, he asked me to type a message for him. The note he dictated to me follows:

Dear Evil Presidents,

Please do not set off any more bombs. Thank you,

[Four]

P.S. When you get this message please send us a message letting us know if you got rid of all your bombs or not.

If only it were that simple. I should clarify that he is not necessarily referring to any president in particular, but rather those leaders that knowingly cause harm to innocent people. Four has been very concerned about bad guys and bombs lately. I guess it's no wonder with all the news coverage of worldwide violence. We try to minimize their exposure, but it seems a losing battle. It's amazing to me that we can't all get along, that people are killing each other in the name of their religion.

with the good, comes the bad

I suppose the universe is always seeking to maintain some average vibe between euphoria and misery. Today, has been the day to provide some balance to some of my better days as an at-home dad. Four has just been a handful. Pestering his sister. Pestering me. Just pestering. For her part, LuLu has been whining. All day. To be fair, she didn't sleep well last night and is undoubtedly tired, but that doesn't make it any easier on the ears. After lunch, I decided to be bold and run some errands despite the behavior and demeanor of my pint-sized companions. It seems that the grocery store is where it always hits the fan. Today was no different. It was actually embarrassing. The two beasties were climbing in, out, and on the cart. Fighting over who sat where. Over whose seatbelt was whose. I wanted to crawl under a bag of flour. Unfortunately, we weren't at the bulk foods store. To top it all off, and this is noone's fault but my own, when I got to the checkout and the clerk had rung up my entire order, only then did I realize that I did not have my credit card or debit card. I have been taking them on my bike rides along with my driver's license in case of emergency. They never made it back into my wallet. As I'm trying to tell the clerk this story of my flakiness LuLu starts crying hysterically. Like someone's hurting her hysterically. I'm trying to maintain some semblance of calm and serenity, but inside I am certain that my head will explode.

"You got it pretty good"

The other day, while LuLu napped, Four and I rode bikes out in the front and side yard and driveway. Four on his 16-inch bike and I on my 20-inch BMX bike. Mini-me and I must have looked even more alike than usual. Both of us ended up riding with helmets and gloves, and without shirts. We got out the soccer cones and wood boards, and made obstacle courses, 'cafeterias', and traps (a child's imagination never ceases to amaze). I was so happy to be riding with my son. Cycling has been a huge part of my life over the years, and for us to be having some much fun on the bikes together was incredible. We told M about our adventures over dinner, to which she responded, "You got it pretty good."

I agreed, "You're right. I think we've all got it pretty good." Being home has been such a joy (and challenge), but I can't think of missing some of these great memories that we've had together.

Soar!

Watching my son 'soar' off the edge of the pool was another one of those moments that just made my heart soar. Four loves the water and had thrived at the swim lessons at the local University (more about being water safe than actual swimming), but had always had a bit of trepidation about going under and getting his face wet. Yesterday at our friends' sister's pool, Four took the step, or should I say jump. Watching his friends jump and swim without floats you could see the gears turning, "I think I can do that!" And he did! By the end of our session, Four was jumping off the edge in the deep end -- supervised, of course -- and swimming to the opposite edge, and diving for submerged objects. It is such a joy to watch this progression.

Still More Shore Pics!

These are from the night we went to Ocean City. What a great time! The kids were so excited. The weather, while pouring earlier in the evening, cleared beautifully. I think it actually helped by keeping some of the crowds away. Enjoy the photos!