Chip: May 2009 Archives

This should have been posted last Monday or Tuesday. But I just let this partially written post languish, and I’m left finishing it on Friday. So, try to flash back to the long, Memorial Day holiday weekend…

What an interesting weekend. What do you get when you mix blood, dirty diapers, dresser-climbing, and wrestling moves? (Not all at once, thank goodness.) Just a “normal” weekend for the twins. I guess the terrible twos may be underway.

Sean and Daniel certainly play off of each other now, and that sometimes means they are antagonizing each other. That certainly was the case when we found both of them on top of the dresser/changing table during one of their supposed naptimes. The way it was positioned, they could get on top of their bed rails and climb up on the dresser. They were sitting facing each other, and Daniel was pushing Sean’s face into his own lap, kind of like a facewash. I guess that’s why Sean was complaining a little bit (from what we could hear over the baby monitor).

At least they took their nap after this incident. Two other times this weekend, they didn’t even take their naps. The first time, they had knocked the lamp off the dresser. (The lamp’s not there any more.) Unfortunately, the bulb broke all over the floor and Daniel’s bed. And the boys probably tried picking up the pieces, as by the time we found them, Sean had cuts on his hand and foot, and Daniel had one on his leg. And there was blood on the carpet, bed sheets, wall(!), and diaper pail. What fun to clean up (both the blood and the shattered glass).

And Congress wants to do away with incandescent light bulbs within 5 years? For fluorescent bulbs (and their mercury contents)? Whose brilliant idea is this? That’s a rant for another day, but this shows perfectly why this may not be an appropriate tradeoff.

The other day, we’re not sure what happened, but it sounded like Daniel fell hard on the floor - twice. We’re guessing he might have fallen off the dresser, but neither he nor Sean really told us what happened. We just had one very upset boy who wanted to be held for a while.

After the second incident, I rearranged the bedroom so that they cannot get on the dresser any more. (Well, unless they get creative and move something like the hamper closer. That day hasn’t come - yet.) But both of them were sufficiently wound up that they never quite fell asleep, so we allowed them out of the room. But they were a bit cranky the rest of the day, so it was quick to bed after an early dinner.

Then there was Sunday morning, when I went in to get the boys dressed and they had reached in the diaper pail and pulled out several “used” diapers and wipes (including the dirty ones) and had them laid around the room. Ugh.

We were lucky with Will, in that we never experienced anything like this. I guess it’s our turn to really experience boys growing up. We hope your Memorial Day weekend was not as exciting/crazy as ours.

Kellie and I did see Star Trek (the movie) a week ago, as I had previously mentioned. It turns out that their first choices for the roles of Kirk and Spock — well, they weren’t quite old enough yet. See what they would have looked like if they had gone with their first choices.

OK, maybe not. Kellie was playing around on the Star Trek site and found the ability to create your own Trek character. So, we get Daniel as Kirk and Sean as Spock. Quite fun, actually. I had to check it out myself, and I wound up creating this Romulan character, with motion and custom speech.

Yes, that was Sweetie. sigh That face almost works as a Romulan.

Hope your weekend was fun. The pool opens next weekend, so you know what that means.

Just a quick note. I couldn’t get Will to provide his input on today, so I’m just going to have to write it up. Will and I went to Busch Gardens today for the first time this season. We bought season passes for the two of us late last year and visited once then. There were questions about the weather today, but there were no storms before we had to leave late in the afternoon.

This year, there is a new section to the park, dedicated to Sesame Street and its characters. Apparently, the parent company recently bought the Sesame Place parks, and so in the name of synergy, we get Sesame Street characters in a kiddie section. It’s got low-speed rides and a small water “park” area for kids to splash around in and get wet. This latter part is where we spent a lot of time today, although we also took the air tram, rode the train all of the way around, and watched a show featuring pet tricks. Lots of fun.

The big surprise is that in the last hour we were there, Will decided he was going to try one of the rides that seemed too scary (a ride that raises you up and drops you down in short bursts). And suddenly, he discovered he liked it. And then we tried the two other rides that seemed too scary, including a kiddie roller coaster, and he loved them all. No fear any more. So maybe he’ll start enjoying those things more and branch out to other rides eventually.

The afternoon was sunny and humid, but luckily we spent much of that time in the shade. We’ll definitely be using the passes again later this summer, so we’ll provide more updates then.

What’s with all of these nice wishes for Kellie? How did we work out getting her all of the attention this time of year? (At least in 2011, I only have to cover one day for both the anniversary and Mother’s Day.)

Most of the day was spent at home with the kids. Kellie’s mom came over for lunch, and Will had his final swim lesson today. (That post is for another day.) I think Kellie enjoyed the day. She got to relax a fair amount, although the kids seemed a bit punchier than normal. Daniel’s got an ear infection that he is getting over, but the rest of them don’t have an excuse. It isn’t even a full moon.

Nothing epitomizes that punchiness more than what happened at the twins’ naptime. We left them in their beds, and they continued to jabber away for a little while. Well, the jabbering didn’t stop, and eventually, it was time to put an end to their ways. That typically means that, when one of us enters the room, we’ll usually find them in the same bed, with all of the blankets, stuffed animals, and many toys jammed in there as well. Kind of like a peace conference, I guess.

Well, today, I was greeted by a sight I won’t soon forget. The floor was covered with the contents of 3 previously unopened packets of baby wipes, with Daniel standing in the middle of it. Daniel also had in his hands two plastic rods that hold the clothes bag that sits inside the hamper. However, the most hilarious part of the image was Daniel standing there with only his shirt on, naked from the waist down. Turns out Sean had done the same thing, and if you looked closely, you could spot the removed diapers in amongst the wipes.

Who knows how long they had been running around naked in there. I’m not sure this was like any peace conference that have happened in international relations. To top it off, when Kellie came in to take in the scene (I insisted she see it, rather than me relate to it), Daniel picks up one of the wipes and starts using it, saying, “I wipe myself, I wipe myself.” As if that would make the scene that much more normal and expected. Needless to say, Kellie and I busted a gut over it before helping them clean it up. And they did help pick up the wipes.

As I told Kellie when she walked in, Happy Mother’s Day. This one likely won’t be forgotten, much like Sweetie’s illness on Kellie’s birthday last year.

Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since we got married. A lot has happened in the intervening years, but we’re still happily together, looking forward to any more.

The weird thing is that the weather this week has shaken out pretty similarly to 10 years ago. Lots of rain all week leading up to the wedding/anniversary day, and predictions of rain for May 8th, but the day broke clear and never threatened to rain. The day was hot and humid though, just like today.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any easily accessible pictures from back then. We’ve got the wedding album, so I could have scanned something, but I don’t want to tear into that. We had a digital camera back then, but it used 3.5” diskettes to store the files. Imagine that! Unfortunately, modern computers don’t have floppy disk drives any more, so getting to those files will take some jerry-rigging. So for now, we’ll just have to leave it to our imagination to remember things.

We actually took the afternoon off to spend some time together (sans kids), although it was interrupted by the fact that the dryer is going on the fritz. What a wonderful anniversary gift for each other! (We had been holding off on declaring something, so I guess this is going to count.)

We also made a spur of the moment decision to watch the new Star Trek movie, and we don’t regret it one bit. They have done a great job blending the old Trek storylines with a new direction for the franchise. Casting of the characters was very good in keeping with the old personality quirks and even the looks. All in all, it’s a great movie experience. Even if you’re not steeped in all of the Star Trek lore, it’s just a quality movie. Kellie and I both would recommend it. Kellie even said she’d see it again in the theater.

But back to today’s event. I just want to wish Kellie another happy anniversary, and I’m looking forward to many more to come. (As long as the appliances don’t keep breaking.)

OK, so I didn’t get around to recognizing my birthday on Friday. What did you expect? Still, it was nice to celebrate it with the family. It actually started at breakfast time, with a muffin and a single candle. And Sean came over to me, while I was fixing my bowl of cereal, and sang a solo version of Happy Birthday. It was very nice.

The main celebration was during dinner, with the centerpiece being a Chocolate Guinness Cake with homemade cream cheese frosting. Let me just say that I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but it worked. Wow! It’s chocolatey, and you can taste the maltiness of the Guinness, but in the end, it’s just a decadent cake. If you like cake and a dark beer, this cake is for you.

(If we had the springform pan, the base would have been a single layer, with the idea that it look like a Guinness with a foam head on it.)

Gifts from the family were nice, too. Will picked out his own gift for me, which was several Cadbury chocolate bars and chocolate pudding cups. (You’ll see those being stacked by Daniel in a photo in the video.) Kellie’s big surprise was a photo album of the first 40 years of my life, as well as some genealogical information and pictures. It’s really cool. Thank you, dear!

So, now I’m 40. Doesn’t feel any different, for those who haven’t reached this milestone yet and were a bit fearful of it.