I Must Keep Saying Routines Are Good

It's no wonder I've lost 10 pounds this summer. Once I get home, it's full "entertain and care for Lauren" mode. Today's rundown of activities is pretty typical for a week day evening:

1. Arrive home to Lauren's big smiles and hugs.
2. Once dinner plans are established, Lauren and I put our shoes on and head out. Part of this ritual is Lauren taking a shoe, placing it on her foot, and ask "Is this the right one?". I respond whether it is or not. Then, she grabs the other shoe, places it on the other foot, and repeats the question. As if, there was some third foot this shoe could go, but she's somehow forgotten it.
3. She climbs in the stroller and we go for a walk around the block. It's not long (about 10 minutes) and we have nice conversations about the big/little doggie that happens to be walking by; some toy in a drive way she wants; etc.
4. Once back, we grab her "big bouncy ball" and play a little bit. We kick the ball, chase the ball, bop the ball on her head, hit the ball in the tree. It's thoroughly exhausting.
5. When dinner is ready, we go in wash our hands and eat. Some days are more cooperative than others, but this usually isn't too bad.
6. After dinner, we play some more, this time in the playroom.
7. Then, it's bed time and thus begins another routine. This routine commences with a hug and kiss for both Eric and Mommy. Eric's kiss is on the head, Mommy's is on leg for some inexplicable reason.
8. Once the requisite lovies are distributed, we head upstairs. Now tonight, fortunately, was NOT a bath night, so the routine is a little shorter. We do, however, have a new addition to our nighttime routine: potty time. Lauren gets butt naked and sits on the potty while I encourage her to push the peepee or poopoo out while I read her bedtime stories. So far, no successful potty yet, but we're working on it.
9. When stories are finished (the current favorites are Dr Seuss' Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose and Sneetches and Other Favorite Stories), we get a diaper and pajamas on. Well, Lauren does. I don't wear pajamas *wink wink nudge nudge know whaddi mean*.
10. Now that we're ready for bed, it's time to brush our teeth. Lauren has her own special toothbrush with toddler toothpaste. I have my own toothbrush and we brush, brush, brush our teeth clean.
11. Whew! We're almost done. All that's left are bed time prayers and go to sleep. Seems simple enough. In the past months, I transitioned prayers from my saying them to Lauren echoing what I say. The prayers are shorter and simpler now, but she's getting the idea. The other night, she said a whole prayer by herself without me prompting.
12. So, she's in bed and I'm done for the night, right? Not bloody likely! There are a few bouts of her getting up and talking, I put her back to bed and cover her up, repeat. My favorite time though is right after I put her in the bed. I cover her up and give her a great big hug. She grabs me and says I've got you!. Naturally, I have to respond with On the contrary, I've got YOU!. A spat of kisses on the cheek follows. After about 20 minutes, she's finally in bed for good, if not necessarily asleep.

That's our evening routine. I guess this is a good thing. It takes a while; it's mostly fun; it can be frustrating at times though.

So much to do and yet I do none

As Debbie mentioned, a week from today begins our 2 week jaunt to 4 states. With a 2.5 year old and a 0.25 year old (i just like decimals), we have our work cut out for us. The current division of labor is Debbie sits next to Eric (since she does have the food supply) while I get Lauren and the DVD player. As if I couldn't already recite most of the lines from memory, I get to watch it just a few more times. Huzzah!
Of course, that means a lot of planning and packing. That means, of course, that I'm about to spend my time wisely by going to see The Simpsons Movie all by myself. My company had an employee picnic, so I came home early. I know Debbie has no interest whatsoever in seeing this movie, so I have to find a way to go see it. With Lauren at day care still, this is an ideal opportunity. I will be home earlier than if I had gone to work, so this is a win-win. I should help pack, but there is a movie to see at 4:50, so I need to get going. What a good use of my time!

A Bit of a Control Freak

I hate to admit this, but I think Lauren is a bit of a control freak. She has to manipulate her environment in a way suitable to her tastes. This weekend, we had some friends stay with us, including their 7 year old daughter. Given the gorgeous weather, we thought it would be nice to have the kids put on swimsuits and play in the yard. We recently got a giant ball that sprays water out the sides. Lauren hated it. She wouldn't even get close to it. Well, let me rephrase that. She wouldn't go near the ball after some prick turned off the water to lure her, then turned it back on to spray her. (What kind of prick does that? Honestly? To his own daughter ... oh ... whoops) Next, we pulled out a little pool. Once inflated and filled, she was in heaven. She jumped and whooped and dunked until we had to drag her inside. My only thought is she wanted to control how she got wet and a sprinkling ball just did not suit those needs.

I Must Get To Six Flags NOW!!!!

XKCD is an online math and physics comic I adore. A while back, the creator posted a strip called Chess Photo. Go read it. NOW! I will wait.

Kinda funny, right? It appears a little inspiration was provided. The author started receiving photos of people pulling this exact prank. So, he now has a page showing real people playing chess on a roller coaster. Not only are people on roller coasters, there are log flumes and a Marine captain in a helicopter too! Bravo internet! Bravo!
Honey, where do we keep the glue?

Watching Disaster Unfold

Have you ever been watching something you knew would cause disaster, but didn't want to interfere? I was caught in just such a situation last night. Lauren and I were outside playing with some neighborhood kids when she and a 3 year old girl saw a whiffle ball and bat. First, Lauren grabbed the ball and went to pitch. She actually did quite well and there were no caroms back into the crotch (though it usually is funnier when daddy is the pitcher in that situation). Next, Lauren grabbed the bat. This is where things got interesting. The little girl started her wind up and I immediately knew Lauren would be crying in mere seconds. This kid wound up tighter than a boa constrictor around a mouse. My gut screamed, "STOP HER!". Perhaps I should have, but I was just too intrigued to see what would happen. When she let loose with that whiffle ball, any major league scout with a radar gun would have immediately signed her to a big league contract. And, like any good pitcher who feels the batter is crowding the plate, she nailed Lauren in the chin. Fortunately, no blood or anything ... just crying and some snuggling.
Now, I'm not a heartless beast here. I did take some actions that prevented serious harm. For example, I did make Lauren step back when she decided a better place to bat would be 3 inches from the little girl's face. See? A heartless beast would have wanted to see how much damage batting 3 inches from the pitcher would cause.

Watch out for the zombie

Do you remember when our nights began at 10:00 pm? I surely can't. Nowadays, come 22 hundred hours, I'm getting ready to hit the sack. Except for tonight. With the in-laws in town, Debbie and I took the opportunity to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (HPATOOTP for you hep cats out there). The first showing after the kids' bed time was 10:00. We just got back. I can't say I'm looking forward to work tomorrow. I just hope I can fight off the urge to have BRAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNNNSSSS for lunch.

Grapes and Watermelons

When you have two children, comparisons are bound to happen whether you want it or not. In that vain, I figured why keep those pesky little comparisons in my head. Why not send those little buggers right out into the world for everyone to nit pick! The one mitigating factor here is parental senility. I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what Lauren was like at 3 months old, but I have some general notations that I think hold.
For starters, Eric gives a lot more smiles. He even laughs! Just look him in the eye and give a little song and he'll respond with a gummy smile to melt even the most hardened heart. The best is when he giggles. He gets all arm-flaily and feet-kickey and gives the most wonderful little giggles. My mother likes to say Lauren is intense, she focuses on one task and does it. Eric is Mr Happy-Go-Lucky. Whereas his sister will say, I want to go to the park NOW; Eric is "Hey dude ... whatever ... it's AAAAALLLL cool".
Next, Eric is ginormous (thanks Websters for letting my use this word legitimately now). Lauren, at 2.5 years old, weighs about 27 lbs. She's always been a tiny little thing. Eric, on the other hand, weighed in today at a hefty 16 lbs 3 ounces and he's only 3 months old! I'm going to have a 1 year old son outweighing his 3 year old sister. Oh well, guess I can use him to intimidate the boyfriends who come calling. Lord knows I won't be very intimidating when her boyfriends (ugh ... what a horrific thought!) have to crouch to see me eye-to-eye.
Lauren hated pacifiers with a passion. Every time we tried one, she would immediately reject this obvious trick and demand whatever it was she originally wanted. Eric not only takes a pacifier now and then, he's started finding his fingers to suck on. More importantly, he recently found his thumb.
I just need to remember that while comparing isn't bad, it's best not to do it too often. Otherwise, you'll refer to your petite daughter as Veruca Salt and your son as Bill S Preston, Esquire. Or, you'll refer to them as a grape and a watermelon. I'm pretty sure therapy is in order if that one is used too much.

Kidney Update

Today, we had Eric's follow up appointment with his pediatric urologist. Basically, while his kidneys are dilated and the left is bigger than the right, she is not overly concerned and is optimistic that surgery won't be needed. Whew! We are to keep him on antibiotics until October when we have a follow-up ultrasound, but he's looking good.

Airport Update

I know you all are anxiously wondering what happened to my parents. As it turns out, somebodystrange correctly surmised it was an issue with the number of hours logged by the flight crew. Figuring there was no way my folks would get out of Chicago that night, I made my way to the airport. Once there, they found out they could catch the 9:30 pm flight that night. One caveat was that is was already delayed till 10:15. My gut said that flight wasn't going either, so I stuck around. Actually, I told them to hop in the car so we could find a place to eat. We had a nice dinner before I dropped my folks off to catch their flight. I told them I was going to go hang out at the cell phone lot and they were to call me once they got on board. 10 minutes later, a call. Flight was delayed until 10:50. Ugh. Fortunately, I got a call at 10:40 saying they were on board and everything looked good. I got home around midnight. I'm still recovering.

WTF is a legal issue????

Just got off the phone with my parents. After spending a week at our house and having an all together wonderful time, I dropped them off at the airport to catch a flight home at 2:00 pm. After a several hour delay, they were informed the flight was canceled due to "legal issues with the flight crew". WTF!!!!!

Gallery Update

Sorry, I forgot to post this when I uploaded the pictures. So, why not spend your 4th of July week slacking off at work? You'll be able to kill a lot of time with these picture goodies:

January
February
March
Some work in Lauren's new play room
Last of the pictures of Lauren's new bath room - It's just ducky!
See how the house looks with all brand new windows
A New Nursery and Lauren's Big Girl Room
April - With a brand new character added to the Brown Family Sitcom
May - Watch as Lauren gets used to not being an only child!

And, finally, if you missed it earlier, you can watch Eric's First Few Days

What would you like to see at the zoo?

With the gorgeous weather, Debbie and I decided it was not the type of day to stay at home. Going to the park just didn't cut the mustard. Instead, we took a family trip to Brookfield Zoo. To accompany us on this little venture, my parents are in town for the week so they came along as well. On the way there, my mom asks Lauren what she would like to see. Lauren's response: "Dolphins!" My poor mother, thinking Lauren had lost her mind a little bit, seemed shocked. That was until I explained that, yes, Brookfield Zoo does have dolphins. When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the Zoo was having a little promotion. All children got a free Independence Bear Beanie baby from Ty. So, while my dad put money in a vending machine to get a soda (not realizing until too late the bottles were $3.75), we headed over to the tent to get the bears. Lauren got to pick the bears for both herself and Eric. They look almost the same, but there are some minute differences. If you want to know what they are, you'll have to come visit us and see :)
Even with spending 5-6 hours at the zoo, Lauren was incredibly well behaved. And, by "well-behaved", I mean she only had about 3 or 4 tantrums. We also signed up as members there, mainly because it was an obvious cheaper way to go. With Eric and Lauren, we knew seeing all of the zoo was just not going to happen. So, why not pay just a little extra and come back for free. As it was, we almost spent what the cost of the membership was, so I think we made a good choice.
On this particular trip, we got to see the bears, some big cats, the dolphins, pinnipeds, pachyderms, and camels. Ok ... now you can go and google pinnipeds. I'll wait.

You back? Good. I know what you're thinking. How could you not see the monkeys?!?!?! I wish I could say. That's just one of the drawbacks of having a 2 month old who insists on eating every few hours. On the way to the zoo, we had a talk and I tried to tell him he needed to go 6 hours without eating. I guess my lecture just fell on deaf ears. Cute, little, deaf ears, but deaf ears none-the-less. Lauren loved the dolphin show, but I think she really enjoyed them before the show started. That's when the dolphins are just roaming the pool and would occasionally do a jump or two. The squeals of delight were a treasure. She didn't squeal much when the show started, but it did captivate her. My favorite part of the trip was when we heard the lion roar. This was just as we were about to leave. Eric was getting his last feeding before heading home. There was this great area where Debbie could sit on a bench, shaded by trees, about 20 feet from the main walk. While not private, it did feel secluded enough to be comfortable. So, we're sitting there and Lauren is spinning this "Wheel of Survival" thing the zoo has, when we hear this enormous barking like sound. Lauren and I rush over to see the lion giving the ole vocal chords a workout. It was quite a sight, and Lauren squealed each time he let loose with a roar.
Overall, it was a great day (though my knees and back might beg to differ) The weather was really great with a light breeze making for a very comfortable time. Now, we just have to figure out when to go back so we can get our money's worth. Oh, and maybe we'll get Lauren to stop by the Sting Ray Bay and get her to put a sting ray. Wouldn't that be neat!