It was a very good year

When I was thirty-four, it was a very good year
It was a very good year for children and parents
That are able to spend time together
We'd ride down slides
With cheers and cries
When I was thirty-four

Why must I be unhappy with my photography skills?

I'm never happy with the photos that I take. That doesn't mean that I don't like the photos that I take, and that doesn't mean that I don't love some too. It just means that I feel that I can do better.

Is that wrong? Probably if it means that I am, and will always be, unhappy with the photos.

I love our babies and love taking pictures of them.

Alice in one of earlier photo shoots

Isaac in the shoot we did the other day

Are both these images of people that I love? Of course. Can I find more things technically wrong with the first image? Yes.

I'm conflicted. I want to become a better photographer. That takes time, time that I'd rather be spending with my family. Maybe I can figure out how to do it off hours, read more books, etc. It's something that I have to be ready for. With vacations and kids you have to kind of shoot and move a lot of the time and hope that things are going to slightly turn out how you imagine them.

*sigh*

I just want to be better without putting in the work. Is that too much to ask?

Confusion runs in the family

My grandma has had memory issues for a bit. It's gotten pretty bad lately. It makes me sad, but it is what it is.

I don't know really how I should be dealing with it. I'm trying to take queues (?) from Laura from how she deals with me when I have a headache. Really it probably isn't that different: forgetting words, quick to anger (for me at least), inability to remember things after a short time, forgetting what you are doing, seeing things, etc. Laura is always patient, calm, doesn't seem to mind being asked the same question every minute, etc. 

The more I think about it, the more I realize I have the best wife ever. I can't think of a more comforting thought. 

Back again

Well, I'm back at work again. Mixed feelings of course, but hopefully it will go fine. I'm not worried about getting back to speed with the government work because I'm quite familiar with that dance - quick quick slow, quick quick slow, and you're right back where you started. 

The worst part seems to be the winter! I doesn't feel like Christmas with lights on palm trees, but I could deal without the bitting wind. It must be that I didn't get a chance to ease into winter. Yes, let's go with that. 

Time to put down the phone, look out the window and enjoy the warm bus ride home. 

Where's Daddy?

Just like with Alice, last night we asked Isaac where "Daddy" was. And he looked over to me. He knows my name.

I knew this moment was coming. I even prompted him for it. Doesn't mean that I could keep my eyes dry though. It's like an acknowledgment of work that you've put in for the last 9 or 10 months. A look and a smile. That tiny little thing makes it feel worth it.

Some milestones are wonderful.

Jim Gift Guide

I feel weird when people ask for gift ideas for me. I try to keep things in mind to make it easy, but it still feels weird. Buy stuff just because it's the end of the year? A special occasion? We are at the point where if I want something I can get it. Ideally I will wait for it to be sale. 

So, what's a good gift for me? Something that would work every year?

Coffee and interesting food to eat with it. New beer or beer with a pairing of something else that I would not have thought of before. Cheese. 

Really just something consumable that will be enjoyed, that doesn't need dusting, and will very likely be gone before the next Xmas so I don't have to feel guilty about having two or throwing / giving it away. 

The other categories include lego, Star Wars related things and interesting books. But books are always tricky. 

So, person from the future, you now have some ideas.

She's back!

It's so nice to have our Alice back. Alice the helper, the kid who quietly plays while singing to herself, the one that smiles more. We had Malice with us so much during our trip it was becoming quite tiresome. 

Maybe it was a lot, perhaps too much, to ask her to travel so much. Now we are home for a bit to relax. That what Christmas is about, right? Total and complete relaxation. 

Letter to the Big S

Today Laura and Alice dropped off a letter to Santa. It was great watching them walk down the street - Alice in her new and slightly too big snowsuit. 

It's finally feeling like Christmas. It just doesn't feel like Christmas with football on tv's, lights on palm trees and walking around in short sleeves and sandals. 

By the sea

It's amazing how much that I don't know about the sea. It's wonderful and terrifying at the same time. I could listen to it all day and watch it just as long. It will go from a constant roar to moments where everything will suddenly go calm and quiet. Then back again to ground shaking crashes. 

I can totally understand the love of the sea. The one way love - the sea does not know or care about the people that ride or dive below the waves. 

If retired or work at home would I ever choose to live by the sea? Probably not. It would be a good way for the days to stretch into weeks and the weeks into years without noticing the passage of time. You would suddenly find yourself to be an old man, and the sea. 

Memory triggers

Why do I take so many photos? Blog so much? Is it because I can't just enjoy the moment? I don't think so. It's because I know that this is a special moment that I want remember and I feel that my memory is crap - or if it's not now, I assume in the future it will be. Pictures specifically help me trigger not just that moment, but part of that day. I take a photo of the sunset not to remember the sunset, but to remember the walk with the ones that I love. The picture will never be as lovely as what I am seeing with my eyes, but it will allow me to see it again.

Sometimes a photo is worth a thousand thoughts, feelings, little touches, and shared looks. The pixels are worthless for any other purpose.  

Barefoot in December

I can't honestly say I remember BBQ'ing barefoot in December before. By the ocean. While sipping red wine. And watching the Star Wars ep 7 trailer (or like the 15th time). Everything is awesome. 

A difficult life

I am sitting here this morning in a couch fort sipping my coffee watching the surfers on the beach. Life is hard. 

Bricktastic!

Well, Legoland California was awesome. Laura was even trying to figure out how we could come back and spend an extra day there. We had fun, and I think that Alice enjoyed her time there too. It was a long day for someone who just turned three, but I think that she did a wonderful job. 

One day was far too short, two days in a row might be too intense. Maybe three days over a week would be best? Or just assume that you will spend a day just in duplo village. I had a blast, but I think that it have been better if the kids were between 5-10. I'm glad for the off season though. Hardly any lines but some things like the water park were closed. I'm general I was quite happy. 

I would have gotten more things from the gift shop but for some reason they are focused on children. The adult clothes were not fun enough, and the lego, while being cheaper than at home would be hard to get there. Online delivers right to the door and pretty much has free shipping. 

The happiest place on earth. 

Happiness. Piece by piece.

They say that money can't buy happiness. They would be wrong. Money buys lego, lego creates happiness, ergo, money buys / creates happiness.

The fact that we are in the lego hotel AND they have a super awesome bar(s) with awesome staff just makes it a bit better. I'm sure that Laura would hate it if I quit my job and moved here. Doesn't meant that I am not considering it. We will see how I feel about things tomorrow. Right now, I'm super happy. I just wish that the kids were a bit older to enjoy it a bit more. 

Jim out. Weeeeeeee!!!

But I want to stay here!

It's sometimes difficult traveling. Alice loves her comfort places, and new places are not those. Well, they become it as soon as we get ready to move on to a new place. 

I think that the next vacation will be travel to a place and stay there until we come home. In a way I feel that it's some kind of abuse moving her around so much. That's just how we have gotten used to traveling. 

I remember when we came home from Flordia when she was just shy of two - she was ecstatic. And she will probably be this time too. I'm still happy we have come. I know she will be happy when we are back. Maybe one day she will catch the traveling bug. We will give her lots of opertunites to catch it over the years I am sure.

;-)

Spaceship!

It's funny the things that you learn when you get close enough to them. Today we got close enough to Endever that I could almost touch it. Know what the thing that struck me about it? It's made up of tiny pieces. Not just the bottom, but the "white" part too. It looks like a bumpy quilt rather than a sleek pearly white seamless ship. 

Seems like a good analogy to be used for a lot of things. 

I have a freaking awesome life: today I saw not just one, but many spaceships. Thank FSM for the rain that forced us to find an inside activity. 

Mobile kitchen

Even though we are staying at places with "kitchens", most of the time the tools are crap. Which is fair - it's what I'd stock a rental too. But it makes me angry and worried that I am going to cut off my finger in some foreign country. 

So, next time we are traveling to places with kitchens and I will cook, I think that it's in my best interest to take along:

- a sharp chief knife. 8"?

- pairing knife

- cutting board, probably plastic for weight

- a peeler

- bottle opener / corkscrew

It's not really a lot of things, but it would make me so much happier while making meals. 

The other thing that I debated and decided against was to bring a better coffee machine. I really wish that I had. I guess if I did that I'd have to add in a food thermometer. Such is my life. First world problems. 

http://j-i-m-s.blogspot.com/2014/10/living-life-of-minimal-stuff.html

It will be nice to be home with good knives and boards again. I think that I'll sharpen them just for fun.

One sided posting

I've noticed that a lot of my posts are about Alice and hardly any about Isaac. This isn't because that I'm not spending time with him, it's that I'm experiencing all things with Alice for the first time. With him I am still experiencing things with him, but I don't feel that I am stumbling as much (yet). 

Today we sat on the blanket on the beach and played with a cloth. We sat on the hotel bed and played rolling a ball around. We sing songs, play games, go for walks, eat dinner together and I carried him in the onya carrier until he fell asleep. 

Isaac: if at some point in the future read this blog, know that the path I walked with you was still newish, yet familiar at the same time. I felt more confident and had less reason for introspection. At least in the first 8 months, which is today. It's been a wonderful 8 months. 

A wonderful drive

Today (right now in fact) we are traveling from Monterey to Pismo Beach. It's a beautiful drive with nerve wracking turns, long drops and crashing aqua waves. There are long grasses with fuzzy / feathers on their tops and monarch butterflies flying by (so Laura tells me)

I'm currently relaxing in the car with Isaac while Laura takes Alice to see some elephant seals. I wouldn't call this "the road less traveled" on this holiday weekend, but it's surely the slow way. Now I just need a lateé and pastries to munch on by the seaside and my day would be complete. 

Down by the sea with my blanket and babies

Today we went to the super kid friendly Monterey Bay Aquarium. Lots of fun and Alice did better than I had hoped. That's not to say that it was perfect, it just it was pretty good for someone who recently turned three. 

Laura has been reading the Spirted Child book and been teaching me some things. It's hard when you want to yell at your kid for provoking and what they really need is a hug. Hugs seem much more effective than time outs. 

Back to our day. It was fun. I'd love to live close so that I can read more and experience it better. Better to have gone than not at alm though. I always love the jellies and the kelp forest was pretty neat. It was really cool to see the schools of fish and how they wheel and behave. I think that I could watch that for a week. 

Yet another awesome day. 

Sleep deprivation

It's been more than a week now of Alice going to bed late and getting up in the range of 4-5 am. On the rare day she'll sleep in to around 6, those are the days that I'm awake from 4 with worry running through my head. It's currently 5:17 am and she has just finished multiple plates of peppers, humas and crackers. Now her plan is to "play and play and play". 

Well, as they say, you can sleep when you're... at work. 

Not sure exact date, but this post not correct date published 

Last day

Even though The Dark One made an appearance this morning, it occurred to me that this is the last day Alice will be two. It brought a tear to my eye.

2014-11-23

The Day of Three Approaches

We are drawing very close to the Day of Three. What will happen on that faitful day I can only guess at.

We really see (at least) two different children. One being the helpful, bright, and inquisitive little girl with bright eyes that look up to us. The other is much darker and tests both patience and boundaries as much as possible. 

This morning we were seeing the dark one again and with limited options I suggested that we play dress up with the two toys we brought. Well, that was an instant success. Pretty soon she wanted to ditch the capes for playing "astronaut" with Mr Bunny and Mr Bear. Soon you need a spaceship for them, so a box from the grocery store stood in for that. I think that it became a time machine after that, or a transmogrifier. Who knows. Either way it means we had some fun times with our girl while keeping The Dark One away. 

2014-11-22

El Sleepito

Traveling with kids is so very different than it was with just the two of us. I guess everything is different, so I should not be surprised. Instead of us getting to a majestic view and experiencing it together, we gave to take turns as the kids sleep in the car. Or if they are actually awake, the stress of the climbing the tiny guardrail and being in danger. I know soon enough they will be bigger and I won't gave these concerns anymore. I know that I'll miss these moments hanging out in a car with two sleeping children.

The more I think about that, the sadder I feel. At what point will they not want to be held "like a baby" and cuddled? At what point will Alice no longer look up at me and beg / ask to be picked up? That day will come far too soon I think. 

Look at this: I started off whining about them not being grown up enough and then finish the post saying that I'll miss it when they are no longer little. Geesh. 

2014-11-20 @ 13:37 

"I'm very good at this."

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day. We went to the Yerba Buena Gardens Children’s Playground which was pretty cool. Not many kids mid-day on a Monday but perhaps better for our purposes. Meaning I could go down the slides and not take little kids turns. 

I love playing with Alice and I think that she loves having a large play friend that she can boss around. At one point we were climbing an angled "ladder" made of bars and she turns to me and matter of fact states "I'm very good at this."  Well, yes you are little one. 

She is almost three, but will she remember these moments? Maybe not. But I hope that the happiness she has echoes through the rest of her life. I know it will in mine. 

He loves his sister

It gets me how much abuse Alice piles on Isaac. He doesn't complain, doesn't yell. He smiles and laughs. He loves her so much it's not even funny. And she loves him, but it's hard when someone else takes up time that you used to have 100% to yourself. It is how things are. 

Somehow today he stayed asleep in the side-by-side stroller while she totally melted down and at one point dug her elbow into his face to sit higher in her seat. Later in the evening I think that she was trying to crush his body with hers and he was laughing and laughing... He might have been really tired, but still. The unconditional love is amazing. I'm sure it won't be just as pure forever, but I can hope it holds out for a while. I just hope he remembers it when he tries to crush her via steamrolling. It would only be fair. 

Parking it real

It seems a bit funny to travel across the continent and find yourself spending a large part of your day at a play structure. I think that it speaks to our priorities in life: travel, fun, our kids, togetherness. People travel to theme parks for a more... artificial type of play. Don't get me wrong, I see ourselves doing the same in a couple of years. 

Happiness is who you are with. 

Unexpected sadness

There are some books that make me cry. Ones like I Love You Forever. I don't think that I understood as a kid how sad it really was, but now I totally feel it. Alice loves that story and cruelly makes me read it when she can. 

However, I don't understand why Where The Wildthings Are makes her cry. Every time. And she insists on reading it. She gets sad when Max sends off the Wildthings and is lonely. Part of me understands that it is a bit sad, but not sobbing level of sad. 

Maybe that is the difference between being (almost) three and being thirty four. The difference between being a Wildthing and the person rocking her back and forth, back and forth... As long as I'm living, that's the person I'll be. 

What have we gotten ourselves into?

This thought keeps running through my head before we do almost anything. What have we gotten ourselves into by ____? Moving out, getting married, buying a house, going on vacation with a 2 month old, going anywhere with 2 kids? I usually feel like we've done something crazy that I will regret. I never do. But it could happen...

Does that mean we should just do more and think less? I would think about the implications of that, but that wouldn't be enough doing...

Now, let us contemplate the wisdom of the great philosopher Rene Descartes when he wrote: Where's my tea? Who ate my fruitcake? What happened to my pants?

Random picture that came with my new wallet

Ding dang dong

There are some things that you see that you can't forget. Some that you just don't want to. Today with Alice in her winter jacket running down the path while doing the actions to "fere a jock ah". Very cute. Makes the difficult parts of the day dissolve away.

She loves songs and stories. And I love her.

RUN AH WAAYYY!

Views per post

Hey, 5000 views on this blog (at this location)! Yay! But since I've got 1536 posts that works out to ~3.26 views per post. Really, that could just be bots. However for the kids blog that has only 26 posts, it's got 1849 views - 71.12 views per post. It probably helps each kids post I send out to a bunch of people.

This blog only really has an audience of two people now though. And I'm okay with that.

It will be remembered

It does not show, but I am keeping track. I am remembering. And one day I will have my revenge. Oh yes.

Every time I am woken in the middle of the night, or at ungodly o'clock when we have no place to go, I make a note. "Is it morning time yet?" I am biding my time because revenge is best served cold. And when the proper time comes (probably in 10 to 13 years), I will chortle and enjoy waking you child. Your distress will be the interest paid for all my lack of sleep over the years. I will collect, oh yes indeed I will.

Bwahahahahaha!!

The laughter

I feel so, so lucky. Many times a day I'm grateful of the country and city I live in. I'm grateful of my friends and family, of the food we have to eat and the roof over our heads.

But what I'm most grateful is of my wife and how she makes me laugh. Many, many times a day. How can it get better than that?

It’s All Beautiful and Nothing Lasts

I'm totally stealing the title, but a post by Scalzi struck me as particularly beautiful. It sounds as a good thing to keep in mind. To me it means to be present in the "now", but to realize that this, everything, will change.

We are all but players on the stage
Our time but mere moments in the play
Rather than looking for our exit cue
Let us spend our time dancing
While the music plays.

Whatcha thinking about

As often happens when I am pondering and staring off into the distance, Laura asks me what is on my mind. Usually I'm honest. Sometimes I say what I think I should be thinking about.

Let me demonstrate with a hypothetical set of conversations.

L: What are you thinking about.
J: Spaceships.

[2 days later]
L: Whatcha thinking about?
J: Spaceships.

[Later that afternoon]
L: What are you thinking?
J: How if I was all powerful I could bend people to my will and force them to do the right thing. Any that oppose me shall fall!
L: ???
J: Oh, and what we are going to have for dinner. I'm thinking chicken.

[3 days later]
L: What are you thinking about?
J: Uhh... about what books are developmentally appropriate for Alice to read and what age I can read her T. H. White's The Once and Future King.
L: Really??
J: No, not really. Spaceships.

What can I say? I'm a child trapped in a man's body. Now to go play with some spaceships...

Who's the big turkey now?

I did it. I hosted thanksgiving! Actually I think that I hosted before, but my brain isn't functioning at that level right now. I made a turkey, gravy, (mostly) made stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed garlic rosemary potatoes, cheese broccoli, and had snacks too. For 9 adults and our 2 kids. Boo ya.

Now, I helped make food for my side of the family (2 dinners of 19 and 25 people), but this was mostly me doing the cooking. Oh course I had a lot of help from my beautiful assistant, so I can't take all the credit.

However, between doing all this cooking, helping guests, carving, making sauces, etc I only took one picture. With my phone. And it (the turkey) doesn't look that good. In person it looked better. It was dryer than I was hoping for, but it's hard to manage a kitchen. No mater if it's a dinner for 4 or 25, I always struggle getting people to actually come to the table at the right time. I've got to work on that.

In summary: I enjoyed the food and company. Yay us. :-D

Mmmm... turkey!

Keeping up

We have a ton of time to do things. Lots of time. But I feel that I've still got a pile of things to do, with the time quickly running out. I'm not exactly helping the issue by blogging, but what can you do.

Isaac continues to be pretty chill and lets us take care of things. I hope that we're not abusing his good nature by not being quite as focused on him as we were on his sister at the same age. Alice being one reason why we can't focus as much on him. That's normal with the second child right? We're not doing any long term damage? *sigh*

I feel like I'm just trying to keep up and the days are such a blur. A fun blur.

Clearly blurry

Living the life of minimal stuff

I love the idea of less stuff. We keep on giving stuff away when we don't use it much and that makes our house "bigger". The other day there was a story about a small house movement on the radio which I found interesting. Of course the people doing it don't have any kids. There are of course extremes.

I was working away in the kitchen after this story and I was thinking "ya, I'd love to do this". But then I thought about it - I have 3 different coffee makers (french press, drip machine, espresso machine), and I was considering getting a fourth. I think that I even have half a dozen cutting boards. That's nuts. I have many things that I only use occasionally (slow cookers, glass roasting pans, extra pots, etc). How the hell could I even consider living in a small house if I can't even downsize all the crap that I have in the kitchen? The worst part? I don't think that I'd get rid of the stuff either. I use it. Occasionally. Usually when entertaining or cooking a large amount of food.

I think that my idea home would be where someone takes care of most of the work, possibly with the place in a condo building. However, it would have to have a bunch of "party rooms" or even a set of large cooking stuff to make food for those special times. Or would the cost difference in a small house vs a big one more than compensate for catering each big get together?

A lot of the time the idea of living something like a commune has a lot of appeal - but only for the use of shared stuff. Does every house need a lawnmower? Probably not. *sigh* Done with the brain dump for now.

As seen on NatGeo

Here we see the Jim in its natural habitat: the kitchen. You can often find a Jim roaming between the coffee maker area and the stove. Early in the morning they are dangerous to approach before they have made their way to the coffee hole. 

One of the things that we have learned from this study is that the more time you give a Jim to be in a kitchen, the more time they will spend there. Generally what is produced is of a higher quality, but not always. 

Our findings indicate that a more beer supplied to a Jim the more food will be made, albeit at a slower rate. However more study is required. 

The logical two year old

Some days Alice can be super challenging. However when compared to other kids, I think that we got off lucky. Super lucky.

For example the other day at breakfast she pushed away her breakfast. She said "I'm pushing it away because I'm angry. It makes me sad." I said that was okay and she could eat it when she was hungry then I went back to making coffee. About a minute or two later she told me that she was hungry, she pulled her food toward herself and started to eat. No screaming (that time), no dumping food, just quietly explaining what she's feeling and then simple actions. Is that a normal two year old thing to do? Probably not, but I don't care. It's awesome.

We bought Raising Your Spirited Child and after reading a little bit, I know that's so not our child. We can (mostly) speak to her and explain things logically. She will think about it, then take action. If that doesn't work, she will usually be able to be distracted by a story, song, game, etc.

The other day we were out apple picking with friends. With their son when he got a little distracted, almost none of my techniques worked. Like nothing. He had a idea / plan and that is what he was going to do. I was just slowing him down. That is so different than Alice it's not even funny.

We have it easy. I know this.

This doesn't mean some days she doesn't drives me mad. This just frightens me when I think about dealing with other peoples kids.

A swinging family

One of the biggest times when I still feel like a kid is when I'm on a swing set. It's. So. Much. Fun. Why am I talking about it? Because a family that swings together, stays at the park together. Or something like that.

Now some pictures.

You won't be scared if you don't look down!

"Mother, I'm shocked, just shocked that you placed me in this."

Believe it or not, but there are 3 people in this shot, even if you can't see anyone's face.

Some changes

It's funny how quickly things change. For the first child you boil and double steralize things. Maybe do it 3 times to be sure. For the second child you use the steralizer as a cake container. 

Not Where have I been, but with whom

I've been documenting where I've been - latest is #5. Partly this is out of habit, partly because my memory is crappy and this blog is an easy way to remember. Partly because my grandma always was so proud of all the places they had gone to. Collecting countries seemed pretty important.

I've been thinking about it. Even though it is wonderful to travel to new countries and meet new people and all the fun / troubles / memory building that goes with it, that's not the important part. The important part is who you are traveling with. Whether it's half way around the world or to the corner store. The who is what makes the memories, what makes that trip important.

So here's a picture of my favorite travelers on a adventure in the exotic B'ack Yar'de.

Notice the traditional clothes of their tribe while they perform an intricate Dance of The DoodleBop

Post retirement, Year 4

Well, it's been 4 years since Laura hosted a party with a "Happy Retirement" banner. So far, so good with Freedom 30. I don't get out to play shuffle board as much as I thought that I would, but with the weather these days, who would want to?

Happy Retirement to Me

What is important to do when retired is to keep active and continue to learn. I no longer read as much programming books as I did pre-retirement, but I read a lot more in general. I read for fun, for learning how to be a better photographer, father, etc. I read the news, I make up fictional events and post them to the internet (which is a lot like some news organizations...)

One good thing is that the kids make sure that I get out of the house. It's important once you are retired to get air. Some times I don't have a lot of strength so Alice pushes me around to help out.

FSM willing, I'll be around for many more years of my retirement.

Sitting around to enjoy the outside. But not in the sun because it burns us so.

Alice helping me by pushing me around in my assistive technology

Should we stay or should we go?

It's the most talked about thing on our home right now. Should we stay in our current house or move? Should we stay and reno? Should we buy and reno? What's best for the kids? What's best for us? We change our "this is what we are going to do" plan hourly, if not more. 

I honestly have no idea what the right decision is, or if there is even a wrong one. 

Only history will tell what our decision was. 

Big plates, not little dishes

Well, it all comes around I guess. I once talked about how I thought that dishes full of prepreped dishes were stupid but I guess that things come full circle. I'm making a stir fry tonight and I preped the various ingredients onto easy to clean dinner plates. All lined up nicely. I guess 5 years later things change. Funny that.

Classic simple pleasures

There are many pleasures that I enjoy. With food, complex ones like tiramisu, creme brulee, and others. I've newly discovered (or rediscovered?) a classic: peaches and cream. Fresh peaches being key here. How did this happen? Like many great discoveries, via a mistake. Table cream was purchased instead of whipping cream. I even tried to whip it but no luck.

Fresh, never frozen, local food is so good compared to anything else. After going through food shipped from half way around the world for 6 months of the year, every year, I forget this. Maybe one year we'll actually do that "pay a local farmer for a year" for fresh food. Who knows.

From the Book of Santa

I picture Alice starting her own religion with Santa as not just a saint, but the Main Guy. I'm sure that this phase will pass, as most things do, but it's funny none the less.

From the Book of Santa, Chapter 14, verse 8

And lo, he looked upon the newly driven snow and the moonlight gave a luster of midday to object below. For there he drove his tiny reindeer to complete their task. When they met with an obstacle, like leaves before the wild hurricane fly, they took to the sky. And Santa looked upon this and it was good.

Another good day

Today was another good day. Cooler weather but still really good. Nothing particular exciting happened. We played outside, had lunch, went to the farm and played around, drove home with stopping for coffee and a pie for home along the way. Nothing "wow". But this is what my time off has been. Each day a special day of fun and being a family. I love it. I know that one day it might not be all rainbows, so I want to document these. The good, simple days. The days that I'm grateful and lucky.

Everything is awesome. 

Now I've got to stop typing into my phone before I burn the burgers and corn on the BBQ. 

Happy.  

First day of (pre) 'tool

It was Alice's first day of preschool today. She did EXCELLENT. I on the other hand had a bit of trouble. Our baby is slowly growing up. Some days it feels too fast, other days too slow. She doesn't want me to read her stories anymore because she's memorized them and wants to read them by herself. But what of my cuddle time you ask? I know! That's my issue too.

*sigh*

At this point she's going to grow up to be a bright, engaging woman that loves stories, silliness, and snacks. And I love her with all my heart. 

So proud to be going in to 'tool

A chill little dude

Maybe it's something about being the second child, or maybe it's just his natural temperament. Either way, our little dude is pretty chill. He still startles and things like that, but he doesn't usually cry when he does. 

The biggest challenge seems to be to try to give enough attention to him without neglecting the first born. Not giving enough attention to the preschooler of course results in jealous attention speaking behavior. Which isn't fun, not one bit. I'm sure that we are the first parents to go through this. 

*sigh*

James and the Quite Large Peach

Isaac is big. And cuddly. Like his sister at this age, he doesn't have too much hair, just a fuzz. If he gets close while lying in bed he might snuggle in. It's like being attacked by a huge firm peach as he wiggles his head to try and get it in his desired placement. It's not how I pictured being attacked by giant fruit, but much more desirable. 

Walking distance

While talking to a friend today, she described something as "walking distance" away. I honestly have no idea what that would be. 200m? 3km? 10km? Our shortest walks pre children were about 3km. Medium ones 5-8km. That's not even talking about long walks which were much fewer. 

I have to admit that I describe things in time + mode of transportation. e.g. 10 minute walk, 20 minute bike ride, 4 hour drive. I'm sure that's really strange to other people. Meh. ;-)

Puppetry of the Daddy

Okay, I love playing with puppets. Or children that I use as puppets. It wasn't always this way. I've found this love later in life. I enjoy pretending for our kids using toys, puppets (hey, if you got it, use it), or just about anything that I can get my hands on. Chip clips, old leaves, etc.

Why is this so fun? Because it gives me a chance to explore, to entertain, but mostly I use it to distract. Alice might be crying for whatever reason, but if a stuffed toy strikes up a conversation about the injustice of polka dots, that gives her pause and pretty soon has forgotten why she was crying in the first place. 

How the hell do other parents deal with these issues? I have no idea. All I know is what I've been taught by Mr Bunny, Eugine F. K. Leaf, and The Great Zucchini.

For the love of books

Alice seems to have inherited my love of books (which she might also get from her mother) and my avoidance of everything else when having a good book. This can be a problem, both for her and for us. She now regularly says "No, I can't! I'm reading a story!". And she almost is. She has quite a few books memorized which doesn't really hit you until you hear this two year old say things like "Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below" and "More rapid than eagles his coursers they came".

Will she need to incorporate fitness into her schedule because that's the only way that it'll happen? At this point I'm thinking very much yes. I love books, but they can really enable a sedentary lifestyle. I just have to love peddle power and she'll be okay.

Taking her ride out on the town

Ass callus

I love biking. I really do. But like any form of exercise for me, if I don't do it often, I lose all my "tone". Well, callus's. When I'm talking about biking, it's the bum. That's the part that hurts. When I've not been biking for a while, I usually try to start with a 20 minute ride and then take a break (hopefully) the next day. That's how I build up my ass callus.

Well, yesterday I went for an hour long ride. It made me happier. At least the non-bum parts of me.

The summer seems like it's gone by in a blur of park visits, picnics, and wonderful times. Somehow I seem to have missed all the exercising that I had planned on doing to get back into shape from my winter shape; which is decidedly round.

I don't understand how people exercise alone when it's not part of how they get from place A to place B. Maybe I'm too lazy to decide that "this is a good time to go to the gym". I need someone to kick me and say "let's go!" or, more simply, it's just how I get to work.

Simply put, for my tummy to not be soft, I need my bum to be callused. Confusing, yes. True? Probably.

Babies come from where?!? *look of horror*

I wanted to capture something that happened today since it was just too funny.

We were discussing with Alice the old stroller which broke in the winter when Laura was pregnant with Isaac. Which lead to the question of "how do babies come out of mommy's tummy?". Well, without missing a beat Laura calmly explained that babies come out the vagina. The look for shock / horror / disgust on Alice's face was priceless. We explained that babies aren't actually in the tummy where the food goes, but are in the uterus until they are ready to come out.

There was a pause. Then she said "can we please talk about strollers again?".

I think that I may have peed myself laughing. Just a little.

Preschooler - now in 3D

Well, we did it. We took our kids to a movie. A 3D movie none the less. At about 35 minutes long and full of cute fuzzy black white racoons, it wasn't enough to hold Alice's attention. But it was close. Was it too loud for their young ears? Maybe. Hopefully not, but maybe.

Cool in the 3D shades

Could the wonderful imax movie compare with a stationary parked bus? No, no it could not. We went back to that base at least on 3 separate occasions. What does a preschooler do in a bus like that? Sit quietly on a seat, perhaps while listening to her dad pretend that the driver is taking the corners too fast. Maybe it's just enjoying a nice quiet ride with mom. I'm pretty sure that she's not the average preschooler.

Sitting on a bus

Not the same number of pictures

It's not often that you'll hear me saying that I think that I'm not taking enough photos. But that's what I'm going to say here. I love taking photos and using those to trigger memories of the good times we have. Right now I think that we're having a lot of fun, but hardly any photos. Why? Because we're too busy having fun.

When it was just the 2, then 3 of us, there was always someone "free" to hold a camera and take pictures. Now we're usually 1 to 1 with a child, which pretty much means zero photos. Am I a bit sad we're missing the chance to document these times? A bit. But fun will should win out.

Thinking about how she wants to smile

The Big Man considering what else to eat

High time for fun

It's been a while since we've out for just us. Probably since December? Man, I hope that it's not been that long. So, in a effort to combine our anniversary, Laura's birthday, random missed date nights, etc into an uber date night day. We saw The Book of Mormon followed by high tea at Chateau Laurier. Super awesome. We even had some time between to walk along the locks for a bit and enjoy the threatening sky with other tourists.

Do I miss times like this where we just hang out and have a good time eating ridiculous sandwiches and expensive tea? Yes, yes I do. I think that there would be something wrong with me if I said that I didn't. But that doesn't mean that I don't feel pangs for our kids while we're out. Especially when I see other people with their young kids out too. It's not rational, it's just how I'd feel. Then I'd go back to eating my tiny piece of a sandwich.

A good, good day.

Got stuck behind a behind a group that made noise the entire show. Stupid people and their instruments.

This walk was brought to you by the hottie in the blue dress

Great, now she expects all food to be brought out in a tiny tower...

Out of the mouth's of babes

As Alice gets older, her communication skills get better and better. Tonight at dinner she turned to me and said something along the lines of "Thank you daddy for a delicious dinner. It was lovely." I laughed - how often will you hear something like that out of the mouth of a 2.5 year old? It makes the moments of screeching earlier in the day a bit easier to deal with.

She's lots of fun and takes good care of us, including her little brother. It helps that she can express herself so... eloquently. She has always worked at communication from when she started to use sign language (she stopped later and we've all forgotten it all). Today she insisted that the toy tractor at the farm's playground is a train because of it's "puffer" in front. Well, it kinda looks like the trains that we see at the science and tech museum, so I'm not going to argue with her too much.

Most days we ask each other if we had a good day. The answer is almost always yes, yes we had a good day. I feel so lucky right now. I'm just trying to document the good moments (and selectively leave out the bad - who needs that?).

Life is good.

We're on a train!!!

Starting to get interesting

We're through the 4th trimester now and things are going well. Alice continues to remind us that she's 2 and a half, both verbally and with her behaviour. Isaac is getting more interesting, or at least interactive. He will smile at us, and the other day laughed. Man, my heart soared to hear his first laugh.

It's so nice to have that interaction, even if he's not following my whole standup routine. That will come later. Life is good.

Adventure is out there! (slightly to the left)

Unexpected Adventure

The other day we had all kinds unexpected adventures. We went to a new park, then the library (planned), followed up by unplanned visit to the coffee shop followed by a brief stop at the grounds of the museum. On that day, not only did they have the train running (which is super awesome to be able to do), but they had tours to the top of the light house. Super awesome. I think that the key to having all these amazing adventures is wearing our adventure hats. Also being ready to change our plans at any point helps too, but it's clearly the hats. Most people discount the hats. Never discount the adventure hats.

Two of my favourite people ever

At the top of the lighthouse, looking at the tiny light bulb they have. Note the hats.

Cost of magic

I don't often read fantasy, but some of the books that I got through the Hugo voter packet are. So I decided to read them. Some of them are good, others I have ditched part way though. Some I finished but felt like I shouldn't have. Such is life.

One thing that I guess is fairly common to fantasy stories is that there is a cost of doing magic. Energy, soul, something. With that in mind, that's something that seems to be missing from the Harry Potter universe. With seemly zero cost of doing magic (other than being able to follow recipe books or be able to enunciate properly), shouldn't pretty much everyone be uber wizard?

Then I looked around what we do every day and how it would look like magic / witchcraft to someone a couple of hundred years ago. How much effort / cost would have have expended to have light in their home? Warmth or coolness? Communication? Food? Clean water / sanitation? To an outside observer we get this for "free". Of course it isn't actually free, but the act of me working and being able to pay for being able to have electricity to the home to be able to turn on the kettle is so removed and abstract, it would be difficult to explain. Which, like all tech, always seems to follow Clarke's 3rd law.

Tech is magic is something that I think of almost every night when Laura comes into the darkened bedroom using her phone's flash as light. Every single time I think of the Phial of Galadriel and Frodo using it in Shelob's cave. How does a black piece of glass light up like the brightest star with a mere touch of the hand? Magic.

Never going to grow up

First a story.

At the park the other day Laura was talking in French (which I don't speak) with another mother. The lady asked how old Laura's kids are. She said 2.5, 2 months and her husband is 12. Just at that moment I went down the slide saying "weeee!" They both laughed. I had no idea why...

Second off, I'm the luckiest guy ever. I have a wife that loves me and she permits allows encourages me to be me - to be a kid trapped in a tall fuzzy body. It's not my fault that the fun things from my childhood are still fun.

A swinging good time

Nightmare Scenarios

One of the things that I find different now that I'm a parent is that I have nightmare scenarios running through my head a lot of the time. I can only assume that this is "normal". Things like: if Alice gets out of the house and I back the car up without seeing her; passing out while holding Isaac and dropping him down the stairs; etc. It's exhausting sometimes, but I figure that's just the way that things are going to be. Laura tells me that it's healthy so that I can anticipate these possible nightmares and be able to prevent them from happening. Maybe.

In some ways it also feels like I've lost my babies a dozen times a day too. Maybe I just need to use this as an excuse to hug them more. I can live with that.

Just watching the light dance

It's pretty amazing to just hang out with Isaac in the mottled light under the maple tree. He's lying in the peapod watching the light dance on the roof, sucking his hand. It's amazing that I was part of creating this little person. I also have to meantally archive these moments because I know it won't always be like this. His sister is proof of that. 

These are moments that I cherish. It might not always look like that as I hold my phone, but I've got to type it out while it's fresh. 

Distracting text makes a poor drm / fingerprinting

I'm reading some of the works as part of the Hugo voter packet and some of them have what at first appears to be poor editing. Something that looks like an artifact of badly done OCR. Mostly missing spaces between words or a missing hyphen. But these are digital works, presumably straight from the publisher. Not something that should have any errors like this.

It got me thinking that this must be some form of text based watermarking to uniquely identify me, or perhaps any works that are pirated from the voter packet. I know that they've done similar things to digital music / videos, but usually in places where people wouldn't notice. I think in theaters they are disguised as those old dust spots that you might see on a frame of film, but since there are no frames of film from the digital projector, it couldn't be those. It's something that people are used to, so their brains probably just skip right over it.

It's distracting. It's like someone lightly slapping you every once and a while. It wrecks the flow of the work and makes the work feel like a poorer quality than I think that it really is. Along those lines, it's disappointing.

I hate drm. I hate this type of fingerprinting. And I hate being made to feel like a criminal when I enter into a agreement in good faith. It's that kind of shit that turns customers into pirates.

I'm proud of... me!

Sometimes dealing with Alice can be quite challenging. Other times she surprises me in the most delightful way. The other day she "read" her Disney story book (which she remembers a significant amount of) and then when she was finished informed me that she had read "all four 'torirs by 'er telf". She was quite proud of the fact. I was too. Here was this 2.5 year old going through 4 stories, reading them aloud, quietly, calmly. She really does amaze me most if the time. We are pretty lucky. 

Stumbling

Dealing with a toddler can be challenging most of the time. My patience is usually at the edge. Most of the time I can walk away for 10 seconds so that I can keep it together. Other times, like at the grocery store, I cannot. 

I see this as a failing on my part, not the child's. I need to figure out more techniques for dealing with the poor choices. For a while I was taking away toys, but who wants that? Besides, the more I did it, the less effective it was. 

I really feel that there should be a parent course where they can give you pointers. Maybe I just need to read more. I want to be a good patent. I think that I'm just better on some days than others. 

Eyes like the...

Looking into our kids eyes, I get lost every time. She's got eyes like a cloudless day far from the city and he has eyes like the sea. 

But their eye colour is changing. I'm not sure what colour they will be in the end. However I suspect that I'll still get lost in those eyes and be able to stare at them as long as the stars. Those eyes are made of stardust after all. 

Those quiet moments

Some times it's nice to have some quiet time. Nothing else that should be done that instant, just rest. 

Piano music softly playing in the background doesn't hurt either. 

A smile to bring a tear to your eye

Today was the first day that Isaac smiled at me. He looked up and gave me a big goofy grin and cooed. Well, maybe he was looking past my face at the ceiling, but I'll take it anyways. It went on for 60-90 seconds. I'd be lying if I said my eyes were dry.

Such as the moments in life. I'm sure that one day, just like his sister, he'll infuriate me as well, but that's what kids do when they test boundaries.

I want to eat it

It's just a phase, or so they say, but right now a common phrase is "I want to eat it". "It" being anything from food, buses, her brother, ducks in the park, buildings, etc. I'm not exactly sure what she means, but she seems quite insistent that she actually wants to eat them. Maybe it's some kind of 'by consuming it, shall I know it' thing. Either way it can be awkward in public if she starts talking about body parts. Maybe it's just the fact that she's two. Kids are weird.

But if I ever disappear, check the freezer. Just in case. 

Adapt the story for the audience

One of the things that I've been doing since the beginning is changing the stories I've read Alice to match what I want her to learn. Some times it's just gender swapping for the "About a boy" series of books by Oliver Jeffers. I wanted her to feel that the protagonist was about her, could be her. It's been important to me.

There once was a girl who loved stars very much...

Others stories like Olivia (who is a bit of a brat), I change it so that she doesn't get her way with her parents. Her parents are firm, and in my telling her parents don't give in. Having a toddler is a challenge enough without teaching them that they can always get their way if they just talk more. Ugg.

Other stories just wrong in that they teach unsafe practices. No, you can't pile in toys in your younger child's crib or take the stroller (containing said sibling) for a walk.

I want our kids to know that they can be the hero of their own stories and be able to relate to the ones they read about. I want them to be safe and learn the social rules that I am trying to teach. They can be the hero. I'll be the quirky old wizard. That should work. ;-)

Global warming / climate change is giving me a headache... literally.

With more energetic storms going by more often, I'm getting headaches more often than I want. It's quite trying because, well, headaches. It sucks. My stomach feels like crap, my language skills go down in that... thing... where you poop... porcelain. *sigh*

So, if you see me out spewing incomprehensible things and shaking my fist at the fast moving clouds, you know that it's because I'm cursing the wind. Whom I call Steve.

Damn you Steve, damn you.

Full days

We're both at home. No work, just the kids. Every day seems full. We're either going to different parks, museums, forced marches, or something similar. Fun - as much as we can pack in. What this usually means is that the house isn't getting any of the work done that I told myself "I'll do it when I'm off". Mind you, I'm pretty lazy and don't need much of an excuse.

We were visiting with friends a week ago and they told us that they had hired a babysitter so that they could do things like wash the windows and clay bar the car. Our windows and car are desperately in need of a good clean, but if we hire a babysitter I think that we'd zoom off on our bikes or go out to dinner or a movie. Cleaning is probably one of the last things that we'd do. It's probably easier to hire someone to clean our windows and car anyways...

I just strongly dislike working on maintaining stuff. I'd rather go to the park and run through a splash pad.

On being huge

Isaac is huge. Much bigger than Alice was at the sand age. Same weight at one month as she was at 3 month. At two months the same weight as she was at 6 months! Currently his ankles are bigger than my wrist and around his knees is larger than my ankles. Thinking about it, I should probably use a measuring tape...

He's big. Rolly, full of folds and super cute. 

I need to get more sleep

Don't misunderstand me, Laura is getting less than I am. I've got very little reason to complain. I'm just a bit tired and need to remove the bad habit of staying up too late. I had to laugh when I read The Onion story about a man who thought he really was going to go to bed early. Funny.

The part that jarred me was when they said there was "four different shows he needs to catch up on". Catch up on? We used to do that when we had a pvr that had limited space. We felt like we were obligated to watch tv, to keep up with the Joneses. I feel that if you're "behind" in your "entertainment", you're doing it wrong. It's supposed to be there to fill in the extra time you have. You should not ever displace sleep to get "caught up" on something like that.

I figure that there will be enough time later in life when I may have limited mobility to consume all the media that I'd like. With the plethora of written, spoken and video (and possibly something like holographic in the future) choices, it's possible to be picky. And you can be picky right now. Want a good book? You don't have to look at the things published in the last 2 years. There is entertainment that goes back thousands of years. Certainly more of a backlog than I will ever be able to get through. Mix it up with your other favourite author. But with either, feel free to drop it and move on to something else worthy of your time. There is no need to get caught up with entertainment.

Catching up is for friends and family. Spend the time there.

Everyone has a novel in them

Some times in moments of delusional grandeur I imagine myself writing a wonderful novel, or short story or something else that's, if not widely read, at least amusing. Actually "published". However, I think that it's akin to someone feeling that they can make a pretty good omelet on Sunday morning and figuring that the next step is making a 12 course dinner for the Queen of England and 500 of her closest friends. It probably won't turn out very well.

But I do think about it some times. I'd just need to figure out a really good idea. And how to write dialog. And pacing. Grammar. And a few other things that I don't even know are there.

*sigh*

Maybe Christopher Hitchens is right.

Lucky

Toddlers test you. That's what they do. Expecting anything else is silly. So of course ours does. It's challenging, but requires that I learn new techniques when dealing with things. Those are the less than fun times. But we have fun. Lots and lots of fun.

Exploring new places. Telling each other stories. Thinking about new things or seeing familiar things in new ways. Routine (yes, it can be fun). I enjoy it all.

One of the things is Alice's fashion sense. She can usually put together an outfit better coordinated than I could. Maybe that's why she insists on getting her clothes and almost reflexively ignoring any of my suggestions. So that's why sometimes when it's 30+ C outside she decides to wear her Marry Jane's with reindeer socks. I can't help it, but I really love the look. You know, 'cause Red is Best.

Rocking the reindeers

Why it takes us so long to leave the house

It took us a while to leave the house before we had kids. Now it's just silly. Probably because I'm such a poor packer that leads to delays, but a typical conversation before a 3 km walk would be something like this:

Me: Okay, we're ready to go.
Laura: Did you pack snacks for Alice?
Me: No... I'll go get them.
...
Me: Okay, let's go.
L: What about hats? Did you get the hats?
Me: No... you sure you want them?
L: Yes.
Me: Okay, I'll go get them.
....
17 minutes later
...
Me: Okay, let's go.
L: What about the troup-a-doodle? If we run into a snakerpop we'll be sure to want one.
Me: No... are you sure you want them? There hasn't been a snakerpop in these parts since the last choot-a-moo.
L: Yes.
Me: *sigh*


Pre-children Jim might have understood, but I don't think that he would have guessed the extent of stuff needed for every outing. Especially since it's been such a long time since the last choot-a-moo.

Then and now

Good times.

Then

Now with 400% more floppy hats!

Failing the man test

It's irrational, I know. But when a drain clogs up, I feel that it's my fault. My fault for somehow not maintaining it better, for not fixing things before they are a problem. House maintenance in my head is a "boy job". Painting, doing wiring, fixing things that are broken, breaking things that aren't, etc. Those are also all the things that I hate doing. Which is stupid for a home owner because you'll make yourself poor really fast if you can't do the little things yourself.

Today I took apart some plumbing and cleared a clog. Yay me. However, I probably created the clog in the first place by putting too much food down the kitchen drain which then backed up the laundry room / sink. Bad news in a house that needs to do as much laundry as we do currently. So I still feel like I failed.

*sigh*

Seven years

It feels like eleven. But in a good way. 

There are times that I thought that by now that there would be more... well, to put a name on it, spaceship!

SPACESHIP! SPACESHIP! SPACESHIP! 

Other than the lack of spaceship, I am perfectly happy. (Spaceship!)

Children can be so cruel

Recently at a get-together there were some older (aged 5? 7?) kids there. A few of them were making fun of how Alice - who's two - was speaking. They were laughing, whispering to each other and prompting Alice to say more things that they can make fun of her for. It made me very angry. Very, very angry. On my outside I was totally cool. I didn't smack anyone at all, despite really wanting to. I have to let Alice learn how to deal with situations like that. But I don't like it.

It brought back every similar situation that I ever went through. That didn't make it any easier.

I'm learning that parenting is hard not only because of the things that you have to do, but for the things that you have to leave undone. :-/

She's baaaack!

Well, after weeks - maybe close to 2 months, Alice is healthy. No more runny nose, cough, barfing, etc. Which means that she's feeling better and no longer testing us constantly and being uncooperative. We've got our little girl back and it's really, really nice.

I'm going to forget some of the good moments

It's great going back and reading "Alice's" blog. Remembering what she was like at different stages, how she used to say some words, how she used to do certain actions. Those little moments are so easily forgotten. Re-reading about them brings me instantly back to them, but other wise they are lost.

That makes me sad.

I'm extremely grateful that we started the blog of the kids. It helps. However, even if I wrote every day (not going to happen), there are moments that will be lost. Moments that I have to work hard at enjoying when they are happening. Some days it's easier than others. Since Isaac has been born, someone has been sick. Usually me or Alice. That's not been fun, not at all. Those times can be forgotten, but within those are small moments that I want to capture and treasure. It's... difficult. I know that I'll forget them - there's only so much space in my head. The more I tighten my grip, the more special moments will slip through my fingers. (Yes, that was a modified Star Wars quote)

So, in conclusion, this is an opportune time for a cookie (and maybe some tea).

Healthy or sick, never pass up a chance to lick the beaters

Engineered entertainment

I think that the first time that I realized that movies etc aren't just created for the joy of the story was watching an interview with George Lucas saying that he wanted the design of a Star Destroyer to be so simple (just a triangle) that it would be easy for kids to draw it. I think that he had the idea of merchandising everything from Star Wars in his head the whole time. It's probably what made him billions, but it still made me sad to hear it.

Fast forward to present day. Now popular (Disney) movies get made into live musicals as well. Some of the adaptions may be a bit awkward. Not Frozen though. Watching it, I found the opening number strange and how it didn't seem to fit into the rest of the movie. Strange for an animated movie, but it all made sense when I figured out that it was designed to be made into a live action musical from the start.

Is this good or bad? I don't know. Maybe it just is. Like any mass produced "fast food", any big entertainment company seem to be trying to maximize revenue streams by engineering the entertainment. Yet another kind of processed input.

Inheritance

We finally got our shit together and started the process of creating a will. I feel bad that it took so long, but it feels good to have gotten it underway. It sucks to think about being dead, about someone else taking care of your kids. But, it happens. Hopefully not to us - at least the "someone else looking after the kids" part. Better to have a plan in place, or at least have talked about it with the respective parties than them trying to guess their way through it.

One of the things to talk about is what you want to happen with your stuff. Not the big stuff like the house or car, but the little stuff. Which lead to us thinking, room by room, what we'd want to pass along to our kids. Assuming that it's like 15 years before it's useful, not too much.

Clothes? They are probably 10 years out of fashion to start with. Previous (at least) generation electronics and cameras? Not all electronics fair well when being pass along, but some do. Furniture? Other than the fact that most of it is at least second hand or base level ikea, I can't see a lot of value saving it. Yes, there are some nice dishes that we got for wedding presents, but I think that those would fit into a box or two. Lego? Oh, yes. That's something to be passed on with the proviso that they play with it making spaceship sounds. Even if it's a pirate boat. Always spaceship sounds.

What do I want to pass on to my kids? A record of our good times. Pictures. Videos. Our blogs. Our voice. Really it's the only thing that can give them an idea of who we were and how much we loved them. The rest, while it might be an physical anchor to who we were, in the end is just stuff.

So, close or distance relative of mine reading this from the future, know that we were awesome and had fun. Please do the same.

Us being Awesome

Those little blues

You know that you're a parent when you see those little eyes looking up at you from a barf bucket and all you can think of is "awww..." and "I wish I had a camera right now".

You can lose yourself in those eyes

Goodbye blue!

Stuff is just stuff. It shouldn't hold too much meaning. Like my blue raincoat which I traded in yesterday because it was shedding chunks of the lining. I loved the colour. I'll miss the coat, if only for the fact that we did quite a bit of fun things while I was in that coat.

Visited the cottage

Walked on glaciers

Explored mountain tops in our country

And mountain tops in far distant lands

Found majestic views

Explored Incan ruins

And explored down under as a family of 3

It's just a coat. But we did a lot while wearing it. Here's to the all the adventures we are going to have in the new coat.

I am not Sheldon Cooper

I find it funny when you learn how people see you through what they think that you will like. For instance, some people tell me all about a train expo, or recommend books where the main protagonist is autistic, or just generally assume that I'm brilliant. I'm not. Trust me on this one. I am not Sheldon Cooper. I'm just trying to fake average intelligence and most days I struggle with that.

Yes, I might have some trouble socially sometimes. I mess up my words and have trouble with names. A lot of those issues I think are related to dealing with headaches and being on the introvert side of things. But I wouldn't write me off.

Perhaps it's my fault and how I portray myself in different situations. Like on facebook, I usually post things to do with lego, star wars, or other nerd like stuff. Stuff that interests me. But those aren't the only thing that interest me. I've just chosen that medium for those interests.

It makes me a bit sad because I learn that people know me less than I think they do. Ah well. The most important people know me. The real me.

Tastes better when spoken in hushed terms

Food presentation is funny. It's not just how it smells, or looks, or what kind of dish it's on, but how you describe it as well. It's one of the things that it's better to over describe it than not. Ideally done in hushed tones like if you spoke too loud the food would stand up on the plate, huff, and storm off like some diva. Which is impressive if you picture a salad "walking off set".

I find examples are best. Let's do KD and microwaved hotdogs - a not infrequent meal from my childhood. Remember to read this next section in hushed tones.

Tonight we are having precision curved pasta, served in a bright saffron inspired sauce made with select cheddar cheeses. This is accompanied with locally prepared select cuts of meats that were cooked in an electromagnetic oven.

 Now that sounds pretty good. Much better than the following

We're eating mac and powered cheeze with nuked lips and assholes.

 See, it's totally the hushed tones that sell it.

Focusing in the future

After the film to digital revolution, it seems like we might be on a new change. There is a new light-field camera that even looks like an actual camera and not a toy. I have to admit that I'd be really excited about using it. The ability to re-focus images after the fact, or to change the depth of field seems awesome. The ability to be able to create 3D images, while cool, doesn't seem as useful a thing to me. At least until 3D picture frames become widespread.

Now, there are a couple of things stopping me from going running out to get this camera.

1. 1600$.  Yes, that's not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it's probably a little bit more than my whole current DSLR kit - body, lens, flash and filter.
2. The file format, at least right now, seems to be a closed format that people are reverse engineering to play with. That's not exactly what I want for my precious family photos. I want an open, supported format that I'll be able to use for the next 50+ years. Yes, fifty.
3. Bleeding edge is awesome, but maybe not for me. Not for family photos where the moment is sometimes so fleeting.

80% of my current frustrations with focusing probably could be solved by a camera body with facial - and specifically eye ball - recognition. And / or me just having the correct aperture set and checking my photos as I go a bit more.

There's no where to go than up and improve. ;-)

Those moments

We don't have the cleanest house. Nor the tidiest (by far). The dirty dishes tend to pile up. Our outside Christmas lights are still up and the lawn hasn't been raked in months. There are piles of both clean and dirty laundry. The house plants could do with a bit more TLC. But I'll be damned if people think that I don't have my priorities straight.

I just spent the end of dinner dancing with my girls and Isaac in the kitchen while snacking on goat mozzarella and a wonderfully tender pear while sipping some wine. What would have been a better use of my time, I cannot imagine.

Listening to: The David Wax Museum - The Persimmon Tree

How to say sorry and raising a moral child

There are some things that are just useful that I want to remember.

The first article that I found interesting was a better way to get kids to say sorry. The hollow mumbled "sorry" in the pauses of the sibling on siblings beatings from my childhood never seemed to work.

I’m sorry for...
This is wrong because...
In the future, I will...
Will you forgive me?

Hopefully this will help in our family.

The second was about how to raise a moral child. What I took from the story was to:

• praise effort vs achievement
• praise character ("please be a helper" vs "please help", "don't cheat" vs "don't be a cheater")
• modeling is a better way to influence behaviour than talking about it