rainy day i mean month

Aw, manhandling disguised as cute hand holding.
Complete toss up as to who is being walked here.

pop quiz, hot shot

In each of these pictures there is

a) someone who is my sibling and
b) someone who is one of nine members of a body that is in one of the branches of government that is in the business of justice-dispensing



Any ideas who's who from the peanut gallery? Minus points if you are my parent or sibling.

sweet & savory

One more addendum to the pants story is that just the other day Dylan proudly traipsed off to school in black leggings and a white turtleneck "so I look like Daddy in his running clothes." No longer an appropriate goal, I would say.

***

I'm a little behind with the pictures from this outing, but we had an awesome Donuts 'n' Poultry themed morning the weekend before last that deserves its rightful place on the Internet.

Dylan looks a little googly-eyed herself here.
Cookie Monster donut last featured here. As previously identified by astute reader Bridget, this is from Donuts Delite. I hadn't actually been there yet in all our Rochester Years, so it was quite a treat.


And now on to the poultry.

If Ollie knew swear words it might have helped him express himself during his initial introduction to the chickens.
Dylan showed him how it was done.
He enjoyed himself, although I have to say he was a little heavy handed. (so soft)


***

Also! We saw The Lion King! So awesome!


***

And Heeeeeeeeeere's Ollie!

Might as well have married Janet Jackson

As I've mentioned, Aaron found Exercise a while back, and now runs with Snuffy and goes to the gym all the time. He was so enthusiastic about weightlifting I was forced to take it up myself, and the one time I tried to race him on the bikes with the virtual scenery it took me two days to catch my breath. You may also recall his swanky new running pants, mentioned here, that were initially purchased as ladies' pants, then returned in exchange for gender-appropriate pants? Well, yesterday they fell down on the job, so to speak, in a dramatic wardrobe malfunction that cut Aaron's run woefully short and necessitated a three-quarter mile scuttle back to the house. heh heh heh heh. Ha! ha. heh heh heh. ha ha ha. Sorry Aaron! hee.

talky

We had a big conference on refugee health in Rochester the last couple days. I agreed to give a presentation on my dissertation stuff, figuring about 12 people would be there. Estimation has never been my strong suit, so luckily the conference organizers told me that 87 people had signed up for my talk. I hadn't done anything like that since my dissertation defense a couple years ago. I thought that might be a good opening line for a joke, something along the lines of "...hopefully your questions will be less menacing," but Aaron said there was no good joke whose lead in is "Last time I gave this talk they gave me a PhD! What do you all have to offer?! Hopefully your questions will be up to my standards!" He was sufficiently alarmed that I dropped the stand-up routine, although really I think we all lost out there.

***

Ollie has taken to wearing a blood pressure cuff around. He's a trendsetter, that one.
I didn't remember him having a resentful stare like this, but Aaron pointed out that it's not resentful stare, it's "cheeks stuffed with graham cracker, chipmunk-style."

babes on bikes

We sheared Aaron right before he and Dylan left for San Fransisco. His fluffless head was unfamiliar to Ollie, so in contrast to a days-long joyous reunion with Dylan, Ollie regarded Aaron in stony silence for 48 hours before recognizing (or newly accepting) him.

Dylan and Aaron were both jetlagged for about three days. It's mildly amusing in a 4-year-old ("Mommy...I'm having trouble waking up this morning...I'm going to go lie down on the couch while I eat breakfast"); less so in one's husband ("Get up!" "..." "Out of bed! Now!" "..." "Go to work!" "...")

But! All is forgiven because he put together my new toy. Which is awesomely awesome. As background, with Ollie it is easily possible, with the aid various contraptions, to run, walk, or bike as far as my little heart desires. With Dylan, none of those things is easy. Now we're one for three.
Ollie is up for any and all adventures, so we took him out biking for the first time later in the day. He wouldn't let me take the helmet off him for a while.He manages to convey much with few words. The main message today was Faster! He may not have the natural neurotic caution that works so well, self-preservation wise, with Dylan.

He got a new contraption of his own, but it's less fun and more pod-like.


***

Here's an article about how all those MTV teenage pregnancy shows are a great public health message. I totally agree. I think they're well done and no one would want to have a baby after watching them until they're 45.

The Returnening

buildin'

There's been an ENORMOUS crane looming menacingly over our neighborhood, ostensibly to add a new floor to one of the hospital buildings. It's so tall it had red lights on it for planes, which admittedly fly like ten feet over the hospital on the way to the airport. We manage to be in the flight path and like ten minutes from the airport without it being annoying. I'm not sure how, but it's fun to watch the planes all the time, and better than going to the observation deck at the actual airport in hopes of seeing planes, since they only come every twenty minutes. Anyway, I haven't seen the crane in action much, but I today I learned its true purpose: hauling port-a-potties.
(click to embiggen)

Happy SnuffDay to One and All

Snapshot from the SnuffCam, 4.5.11 21:23:00
He can be said to have had a happy birthday, thanks mainly to Ollie's new hobby of persevering in the face of all obstacles to deliver a steady stream of food to his bowl, one pellet at a time.
Not to mention our obsessive devotion to his every need, but that's every day.

as always, safety first

We decided to take the new recommendations one step further, and are keeping Ollie, rear-facing, in a car seat in the living room.

get your child care, right here

I have, since the steady decline of my "responsibilities" at "work," been doing thrilling things like getting the washer (and dryer!) serviced, cleaning the gutters, organizing the attic, monitoring the stove to make sure heated water boils in due time, and trying to write a review paper that I've been working on off (mostly) and on (riiiight) for at least three years. Aaron is usually in charge of holding down the couch, so at least I don't have to do that. He and Dylan got so bored from their very proximity to me that they took off for California for FIVE DAYS. I hear it's lovely, this time of year.

Meanwhile, I did what anyone would do when left alone with Ollie: fled home to Mommy and Daddy. That only worked for like a day and a half though, so now it's up to me.

Oh hello, Mother.
Dylan is responsible for 80% of the Ollie-care around here, so much of this was new to me. I put him in his crate so he would feel more secure, like the book said.He quickly escaped and destroyed several socks, wearing an expression that, I think you'll agree, can only be described as maniacal.
Then he radioed for help, but luckily the other toddlers don't understand Morse code yet.He can be distracted with food, especially when served via Heavy Machinery Utensil.

When we got home he went right about his business, which today included: ensuring the ongoing destruction of my ear drums,
moving the entire contents of the recycling bin into Snuffy's food container, and
[Snuffy would like to take this opportunity to express solidarity with the little fat one that always has food stuck on its person.]

doing a little reprogramming of the printer/copier/fax/scanner.


He's down for the night now, although he's been putting up quite a fight for the last couple weeks. But I have triumphed for the moment!





Peek-a-boo! Mother.

learnin' revisited

So, when last we peeked in on Kindergarten Drama, I had initially thought Dylan would surely get in to any one of four great options, which would all be, obviously, great. Then we learned that one of the city ones, which was my fourth choice anyway, would likely be cutting all their arts. Even if she gets in there, which isn't guaranteed, we're now not sure about sending her there.

Next up, the small private school. Dylan got a spot there, and we love it, but we decided to put off accepting a place until we find out if she gets in to one of the other two (free) options. This evening was the information session for one of them, the charter school. It sounds like their funding, although public, is stable, and their presentation was even more impressive than I had expected. It is exactly what I want for Dylan. And, at the end of the HOUR AND A HALF we all sat there, they informed us that because of higher than expected sibling enrollment there will be SIX(!) spots for kindergarten next year in the lottery. There must be at least 100-150 applications. The lottery is on Monday, but I feel silly having even considered it an option.

The fourth option is the bilingual school. Dylan had the language screening they require last week. They took her away to do it, so I don't know what happened, but she said it went well. They are VERY vague about their process so I can't tell if the screening is pass/fail and if you pass you're entered into a lottery, or if it's more nuanced than that. I found a document online that I don't imagine they meant to be online saying that the decisions for that one are mailed the week of May 9th.

So I'm not sure how this happened, but it seems like we are down to one public school that we like with any real (where "real" may be ~40%) possibility of her getting in, and the private school, where she may or may not lose her spot if we wait too long. My failsafe is a year at the kindergarten at daycare, then applying again for the private school. Or moving.

This is all sort of discouraging, since we didn't leave town and we didn't move at least in part because we thought some of these schools would be great. I don't think we can do anything differently at this point, but it's hard that we won't know how it works out for over a month yet, maybe two. I know she'll do fine wherever she is, but I feel pretty invested in giving her a really engaging experience.

rinse cycle

Ollie is not kidding about being ready for summer.
Okay, that's not really true. Dylan is the only one who remembers summer. He's just modeling stuff.
As is Snuffy, ever the fashion-conscious canine.

Ollie continues down The Devil's Own Path. Here he regards me defiantly while turning up the volume on the stereo as loud as it goes. Then he dances.
In comparison these ones seem like no trouble at all. Although some could make better choices at the dog park, is all I'm saying.

There is something indescribably nerdy about whipping out your iPhone in an Apple Store to take a picture of your toddler at their computer. Yet, here we are.
He takes things one step further than wanting to do whatever Dylan does (she's at another computer, instigating his need to have one too)--he just assumes he already CAN do whatever she's doing. Reading, computing, swimming (NOT SAFE! keeps putting face in water), whatever. Actually it's been fun because he can do more than I would have guessed, or tried, without Dylan around, and he understands more than I would have thought. She is also highly supportive of his efforts, particularly the ones that mess with me. She's always either physically helping him get into stuff, encouraging him, distracting me, or copying him. That is how both children end up in the dishwasher at once, for example. Bath time! I'll even put the temperature setting down a notch, for the sake of the children.

rubbernecking

We have, as you know, determined that we are not only remaining in Rochester, but remaining in our very own house. Nonetheless, we seem to be in search of that life-upheaval experience. We're rearranging a lot of rooms and figuring out if we can finish the basement, which would involve so much furniture- and stuff-shuffling that we'll get all the inconvenience of moving with none of the being in a new house charm. Not only that, we've been acting like total tourists. In the past couple weeks I've been to four new restaurants and one recreated olde thyme village.

We started with the house rearranging by adding an island to the kitchen, which takes up all the floor space but adds 50% more counter space. We've been hanging out there constantly, so four chunky thumbs up from the children thus far.


***

Aaron's tip of the day: If possible, avoid giving blood then proceeding directly to a weekend-long bachelor party.

***

The kids are so desperate to get outside we took them out biking in the cold the other day. Ollie was pleased to be placed on a bike, although I think he considers it a prop at this point.

I'm on a bike



We got an awesome yet-to-be revealed, yet-to-be-assembled contraption that should let all four of us go on longish rides together this summer.

chocolate and the teeth to eat them

Ollie's gums are still fighting the good fight with his molars, so there's some ongoing collateral from that. He was stumbling around in exhaustion this evening, clawing at his face. Only ice cream could help. I understand, I feel that way all the time.

***

We started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this evening with Dylan. Just as good (and weird) as I remember. She loves it, and notes it makes her want chocolate. I feel that way all the time, too.

more catching up

I was cleaning off a shelf full of junk this evening. There was a candle on it, so I lit it because using it would obviously make things cleaner. Aaron got back from the gym and asked whether I had it burning to exorcise whatever had possessed Ollie (combination of incipient molar+fever/snot-thing[technical term from medical school]) and then I realized that YES THAT WAS IT. Sorry kid, I didn't appreciate how low maintenance you usually are, but now I do, okay?

***

Aaron was complaining last weekend about having to get up at 2am to change the clocks.

***

I'm glad they did the new thing with the rear-facing car seats until age 2 (more technical speak from all my learnin'), although I do wonder if the people making the recommendations realize that children start to drive at 16, and should probably be out of booster seats by then. But really, Ollie's big head does seem safer with all that extra support and he's got Dylan to keep him company so he doesn't mind being backwards and we have these honking big car seats for Dylan so she can be in a 5-point harness until she's like 50. I think some child safety stuff is overblown, but probably not this one.

***

For a while I thought we had the school thing pretty much under control, with four great options, any of which would make us happy. Then I visited one that I liked, but the tour guide said the plan with the current budget is to cut ALL art and music. Less than encouraging, and it made us worry about both of the city schools we have on the list, although I guess things can change by the time school starts. The private school offered Dylan a spot, but wants to know right away if she'll come. And we don't know how the budget stuff affects the charter school, which is still public money, if I have any understanding at all of how charter schools work. The lottery for that one is in a couple weeks.

***

Back at it. We don't need no spring.

Miscellaneous Catch Up. But Not Ketchup.

First things first. I can't believe I missed posting this one with the Toronto pics since it's one of my favorites.
A few things of note:
1) All Those Chins
2) The crib is indeed stuffed halfway into the closet. Worked well, sleep-wise. While awake he would mostly press his little face up against the bars in the direction of freedom, however. Freedom!
3) The brown stuffed animal is a beaver given to him by the hotel. Those nice Canadians.
4) Is he kidding? Who can sleep like that?

***

Next up, one more Match Day picture. I got to be in one!
Notable items regarding this picture include:
1) The sheer volume of Aaron's beard.
2) Ollie's Piece is slightly askew.
3) Ollie wishes he were elsewhere.
4) Dylan does, too, and she can tell me, in the same tone as when she had eaten her green beans: "Mommy, I didn't want to go to your special ceremony, but I did anyway!" [There was a pizza party for St Patrick's Day at daycare at the same time. I am not qualified to compete with that.]
5) We are still toting around that piece of paper, as if the next three years of our lives depended on it.

***

And on to the Random Thoughts section. I'll keep on numbering, to keep things in line around here.

1) Should I do a six week Boot Camp? I have a bit of time now, and I think I would like it, but it's at 6am three days a week.

2) Why are all the good things in Rochester, MN? If I don't tell Google about being in NY it tempts me with all the amenities they have to offer before I realize the truth. Same goes for Monroe County, Indiana.

3) Aaron and I got to see Paul last night. If you like Shaun of the Dead et al we highly recommend it. If you don't like copious gratuitous swearing we do not. Also recommended: getting out, on occasion.