apple juice

Starting with some sick kids last Friday, we’ve spent way more time than usual in the house. As result, everything is out on the floor. Every large appliance is running. All of the dishes (except those in the dishwasher) are dirty. We’re starting to get a little stir-crazy. Time to go out for a walk.

Wow! I started this blog 10 years ago.

Looks like I missed the anniversary date by just a few days. The blog has taken a back seat to some of the more immediate concerns of life, and yet, I’d like to get back here more to reflect on things. I enjoy writing, and still believe in the “blog” as the democratizing force for publishing. You can keep twitter, Facebook and the rest. Owning your work, in a way that you simply can’t with the other sites is important.

I wanted to reflect for a moment on the changes and the sames from my life a bit. A Top 5. This is harder than I thought, actually. There are plenty of material things that are different in my life… plenty of world changes in the past 10 years. But day-to-day life changes are actually relatively small in number. I’m thankful that this list is small, and that the changes are all positive and stable. It could so easily be different from positive and stable changes.

Same:
1. Married to my wonderful and beautiful wife, and our eleven year anniversary is coming up very soon.
2. Yeti our dog. Still the same old Yeti. She was actually the original inspiration for this blog.
3. Same general geographical location.
4. Same favorite band (Radiohead).
5. Same political leanings. My two most important issues: environment, wars.

Changes:
1. and 2. Kids! Two of them. Total chaos.
3. New job.
4. New house.
5. New city.

I wonder what the next ten years will hold? Go back to school? (I am actually the only one of my siblings and their spouses without a Masters’ degree or higher) New job? Car-free lifestyle?

A technical note, I’ve managed to keep this blog running for 10 years without any major hiccups. It started out with MovableType and moved to WordPress in 2004.

Thanks to everyone who continues to check in on my little slice of the internet…

sonja: It’s time for bed, emilia.

emilia: Let’s have a family snug-fest!

me: is that where we all snuggle?

emilia: mmm, snugglish!

“whoa, daddy, you’re dressed fancy! what’cha doin?”

“I have to go to school tonight to chaperone a dance.”

“what’s that?

“what, chaperone?”

“yeah sha-per-rown!”

“I have to make sure the kids don’t dance too close!”

“Too close to what?”

emi: “dad, this swiper is not for little kids, because it is a choke-able.”

(Emilia, I am documenting this here so I can share it at some appropriate time in the future)

Our first “family meeting” seems to have been moderately successful. Some may laugh at the notion of holding a “family meeting” with a  2 3/4 year old to discuss her recent regression in bedtime routine, but I think she understood quite a bit better than I imagined.

Emilia is a pretty amazing little sleeper for the most part. Even though she stopped taking a nap just recently, bedtimes were a pretty low-key and easy affair. She moved from a bed to a crib without any fuss. Her accidents are few and far between. She only recently would actually get out of bed in the morning, typically waiting for us to come and get her.

Until this past week.

Perhaps sensing an opening because of our general fatigue, she began (slowly, methodically) adding requests to the nightly regimen. Her first new trick was quickly scanning the room upon her arrival to determine which toy or doll was missing. After making a mental note, she bided her time, waiting for stories, prayers, songs etc, before requesting the previously catalogued doll a moment or two following the click of her bedside lamp.

“Daddy? Where is Poke? Will you find her?” (Poke is her doll, she named it)

“Ummm, sure Emilia, I’ll go find her.”

“Ok, I’ll turn the light on until you get back.”

I didn’t make anything of it the first few times, until I noticed the pattern.

After her initial success, she swiftly added additional ruses and misdirections to her bag of tricks:

“Daddy, will you rub my back for a second?”

“Please sing me a song”

“I need a book to read to my babies”

“Say my prayers again, please”

“I forgot a drink!”

“I forgot to go to the bathroom”

“I forgot to brush my teeth!”

“I didn’t give mommy a kiss!”

“I didn’t give Elena a kiss!”

This all culminated with an epic 1 hour and 15 minute bedtime procedure that included pretty much all of the above, a bath, 10+ books, and me putting all of her books and stuffed animals in a pile on the bed in frustration.

Hence the meeting.

We broke it to her over dinner, at approximately 5:50pm in between bites of turkey and squash.

“Emilia, after dinner we’re going to have a meeting to talk about bed time.”

“Is it bed time?”

“No, but we’re going to talk about bed time.”

“Oh, but do I have to go to bed?”

“Not for a little while, but we’re going to talk about some new rules for bed time.”

“Oh.”

I laid out our case while Sonja looked on in support. Emilia listened intently. She asked some clarifying questions (How many books? How many requests?) We went over the procedure (potty, teeth, pajamas, two books, prayers, lights, hug, kiss, “good night”). She repeated this for us.

When bed time rolled around, we proceeded smoothly until the lights went off.

“Daddy? Daddy?”

“Yes, Emilia?”

I could sense her brain racing, trying to find a loophole in our previously discussed plan.

“Umm, umm”

“Good night, Emilia”

I inched towards the door, and when I reached the threshold, she called out.

“Daddy, stay right there!”

“Right here?” I thought, “I’m in the practically in the hallway! You can even see me”

“Stay there!”, she repeated.

“I’m going to close the door, but not all the way so it is not too loud” (This was a common request because she had decided I had been “vacuuming” one night.)

She pleaded for a second, but I left. I went to our room.

Sonja coached me through our contingencies – good job, she said, but if she gets out of bed put her back in without a word. right?

right, i said.

Then, from down the hall – “You forgot my pumpkin!”

Crap, the pumpkin. She has this turtle that Uncle Joey got her for her birthday. It lights up and projects stars on the ceiling. Pretty cool, she’s been using it as a night light ever since she got it. It also turns itself off after 15 minutes, so it doesn’t stay on all night, saving batteries.

However, the batteries were dead.

In the previous night’s desperation, Sonja got our illuminated jack-o-latern from the office to serve as a replacement. I had forgotten to turn it on.

I quickly returned to the room and plugged it in. We quickly compromised on the location of the pumpkin.

“Good night, Emilia, I love you”

I left.

She was quiet.

Success…

A great list of tips, tricks, and advice for travelling with kids.

18. Don’t do too much BUT don’t do too little either. I think the biggest mistake parents traveling with kids make is doing too little not too much. Get out there. Enjoy. Experience. Wear the kids out and get them tired.

(Via kottke.org.)

We just spent our first weekend away from Emilia, it was fun and restful (Sleeping until 9am!), but hard to not want to take her with us! I can’t wait to show her around some cool places.