Kids: January 2009 Archives

Now it’s time to get back to work. The fun is over.

I guess this is the first time I’ve really paid attention to the presidential inauguration, but I was helped by the fact that both of the twins are still sick and needed to stay home from daycare. So I had the inauguration festivities on, and believe it or not, but Sean and Daniel were at least mesmerized by the actual swearing in ceremony. They paid attention starting with the musical piece and then into the swearing in of the vice president and president, which is a long time to sit still for essentially boring speechmaking.

But as the afternoon wore on, and there is a private luncheon, and then a bunch of speechmaking — get your photo next to these one-of-a-kind crystal bowls to honor this occasion — that this whole endeavor started to take on the worst aspects of a wedding reception. Honestly, the ego stroking going on serves very little purpose. I’m sad to say that the luncheon (which is something only started in the 1950s) and many of the activities before the parade appear to be absolutely useless.

And then to invest the millions upon millions of dollars in the inauguration balls seems to me to be the height of lunacy in a time when we’re going to be asked to make sacrifices. If people want to party on their own, let them. But to give the seal of significance on these events by organizing and attending them continues to reinforce for me that they’re just trying to repay (no, it’s really not that, they say) the contributors (more ego stroking) and ask them to shell out more money for their lobbying efforts. After all, who gets the invitations to these balls or can even afford them?

Oh, baloney. I don’t think I need to answer that.

I’m not sure why I’m so mad about it at this time. Honestly, I came into today feeling fairly upbeat. I want to believe that it’s all going to make a difference and make my life easier. But I’ve lived through enough of these administrations — Republican and Democratic — to feel pretty certain that it’s a lie. I’m willing to give Obama a chance, because gosh darn it, he comes across as such an optimistic and likable fellow. Or at least, that’s what his body language says.

But also call me torn on the prospects at this time. Because neither party’s kool-aid is all sugary-sweet. And I haven’t seen enough of the ability to lead and make the tough compromises from the leaders of either party to give me great hope for the coming years of our Government.

Good luck, Mr. 44th President — Mr. Obama. There’re a lot of challenges out there to make things right for all of the generations. I pray that you make the right decisions.

I know it’s been a while since you’ve seen anything from the kids. It’s been kind of slow, though this weekend has been busy with Sean and Daniel getting sick and needing medication in the middle of the night. That turns Mommy and Daddy into zombies (with the interrupted sleep).

Now that the boys are two, they’re getting out of their infant things, like the high chair and crib. Actually, the crib is on hold — we were going to move them this long weekend, but with them being sick, we decided it wasn’t the right time. However, they are out of the high chairs (seemingly permanently) and sitting at the table with us. Well, they’re sitting at the table when they feel like it. The first part of the video shows them eating some yogurt at the table (interesting stuff, I’m sure).

You also get regaled by one of the twins with his singing skills. He actually knows all of the words, but for some reason copped out on the middle part in this take.

This is a week of Rice sports for me — Rice football bowl game on Tuesday night (details coming, as the pictures and video are more complex), and a Rice men’s basketball game this afternoon. Rice came to town to play University of Richmond, and I took Will to his first college sporting event. Unfortunately, Rice came away on the short end of the game, losing rather badly. (Luckily, the photo to the right was taken after the game score had been cleared.)

I think Will enjoyed himself. The arena was neither crowded nor loud, as students weren’t back from winter break yet. But for whatever reason, Rice was largely flat throughout the game and got blown out fairly early. Will enjoyed his food and had fun watching the game. He talked some to a Richmond fan (lady) next to him, and I wound up sitting next to a Rice grad (Chris D. — Baker ‘87) and talking to him for a while. While it wasn’t the result I wanted, Will actually went into the game saying he was going to be rooting for Richmond, and during the game he told me that he liked cheering for the team “with more points.” I think he’ll be interested in going to another one again.

We had a couple of events, surrounding a relatively relaxing afternoon. With all of the events and running around of the last week, it was earned. This evening, Will finally lost his upper left front tooth. It had been loose for so long, and today is was barely holding on. But he didn’t want to help it along, so we had to wait it out until dinner time. But it came out then, so Will has now lost 5 of his baby teeth so far. But he’s got that nice, big gap in the upper front to deal with. I guess apples and carrots are going to be more difficult now.

In the morning, everyone woke up close to our normal times and participated in our annual Mummers pancake tradition. It’s something my family started over 20 years ago, when we lived outside of Philadelphia, PA and would watch the annual Mummers Parade on TV. The parade goers dressed up in all sorts of fanciful ways, and so we made a tradition of decorating faces on pancakes with all sorts of fruits, sprinkles, whipped cream and other toppings. Even after leaving the Philadelphia area, we have continued to do the tradition, and Kellie has also bought into the tradition. Some years, we do Belgian waffles, but this year it was pancakes.

Here are a few snapshots from this morning’s festivities. Somehow, we did not get pictures of my parents’ creations, but we have samples from my family.