Friday, August 31, 2007

The Googies

Gamble received a copy of Shel Silverstein book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" for his birthday from the Greens, and I thought I'd try to read to him more often, so I offered to read him some poems before bed one night.

He agreed, and we've been reading quite a few. The way we do it is that I hand him the book, and I read everything on the pages he opens to.

We do this four or five times before he requests that I read "The Googies are Coming" on page 50. He loves this poem, for some reason, so it's always our finale, like fireworks at the Magic Kingdom.

What's really funny is that when I was first describing what to do, I said, "Open the book at Random."

He looked around the room and asked, "At who, Daddie?"

Oh, yeah. Gotta watch that.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Drifting

Random's drifting.

That is to say, her sleep cycle's drifting off true.

Used to be that she would fall asleep around 7:00 or 7:30 every evening, and that she would wake up around 6:30 or 6:00 every morning.

She's drifting early.

I think it's day care, really. Ever since she's been going, she comes home tired from playing all day, and she's tapped out. She's winding down. Shutting down.

And now she's passing out as early as 6:30 or starting to shut down even earlier.

Which means that she's starting to wake up earlier. Sometimes 4:00, sometimes at 5:00. You know, early enough to make you tired, but late enough that getting some more real sleep in is not practical.

She's messing with us again.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

This Means War

So we were bored from our gourd over the weekend, but didn't really want to make any effort to get out, either. So I ended up teaching Gamble how to play War, the card game.

He got the concept, and learned what beats what very easily. I even got him to call a two "a deuce."

I just hope calling it that doesn't cause him to drop one.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Jammies

And another from before I started blogging, though obviously after Gamble was born. Very interesting. I remember cracking myself up with this one.

"Things I learned today:

1) Never set a child down on anything that's not either plastic, or plastic underneath something washable. Even if he's got a diaper on. New dads don't always get the diaper on right or tight enough. After a 5 minute struggle to put on new jammies (see point 3 below), that's when I found out that the back of the jammies were soaked. Luckily we have two down comforters, so if you stay with us, you'll never know which one was whizzed on. (Actually, he just got the duvet cover, and it's already washed...)

2) This little boy farts. A lot. And according to Nicole, it's only me he does it for. She claims that "you get what you give." Hee hee, but I get back at her, since once he gets going, I cropdust him all around the house, so we can all share in His Royal Pungence. Oh, and I was changing him today and he farted. It was a cute little "tweet," but it did not smell like a cute little anything (except perhaps a dead bunny).

3) I just love the word "jammies." I can't say it enough. Jammies, jammies, jammies!

This little boy is a joy to behold and be holding. Especially when he farts and whizzes in his jammies!"

I seem to be dementedly happy in this blog. It's interesting how time and kids have worn me down a bit. I think I need a daily dose of jammies more now than ever.

Pre-Birth

My.

Oh, my.

I didn't always blog. I used to just send out a longer mass email to friends and family to tell what I considered an interesting story. I found one from before Gamble was born and thought I would share:

"Well, the day is finally drawing near. We talked with the doctor today, and he recommended that we should probably start considering what to do with this baby of ours.

We're told he's big.

He's measuring 8 lbs. 15 oz. right now (+/- 1 lb, though), and he's big enough to be worried about shoulder dysplasia and potential nerve damage if he were to be delivered normally. So we made the decision that for safety's sake, we ought to have him excised a little early.

Nicole's got another Dr. appt. on Monday, and then on Wednesday, she'll have an amnio to ensure that his lungs are ok to come out. It should be fairly straightforward, as his practice breathing looks good thus far.

He's scheduled to be born at roughly 9 o'clock next Thursday, June 26. Please pass the word around to everyone. Please pass this onward to anyone you think may be interested and may not have heard yet.

We'll be contacting as many people as possible briefly afterwards with all the relevant stats (yards rushed, rebounds, RBIs, and shots on goal) to facilitate information dissemination.

Now if only we can figure out what to call him by then.

Cheers,

Kevin, Nicole, and Baby D."

Oh ho! Like we didn't know what we were going to call him...

Age-Old Maxims For Kids

Random has gotten a tooth in. Lower left bottom. You typically can't see it for all the drool and the tongue lolling out, but it's there.

She really chews on a lot of stuff. She's no end of trying to pull my hand up and chew on my fingers. If I've very recently washed my hands well, I'll even let her.

Gamble came up to me and asked if he could do the same. Mommie and I conferred on the matter, and we decided if he was washed up, it would be okay.

"Ouch," I said as she bit particularly hard.

"What happened, Daddie?"

As much as it pained me to say it, I had to say it.

Had to.

"Well, Gamble... The tooth hurts."

Where Does He Hear This Stuff

Oh, man. Gamble has a little headlamp that looks like a bluetooth headset. It clips on his ear, although it's a little loose. He asked me to help him put it on tonight. I did that.

Immediately, the giggles.

"Oh, man! Hey, Daddie! Do I look like... a scientist?!? Haw haw haw!"

I was almost indignant. I wasn't sure what he was getting at. Do all scientists have bluetooth headsets these days? That's one way to run a lab.

He continued laughing and said, "With a pencil behind my ear?!? Haw haw haw!"

I didn't quite know what to say, so I burst out laughing. I mean, come on! So we went about our evening routine as usual. After his shower, I put a little mousse in his hair and combed it back, so it stuck up.

"Oh, Daddie! I look just like Harry Potter!"

Ok, so I'm a Potter fan, but I wasn't aware that he'd ever seen it, or even knew what it was. So where does he get this stuff, anyway?

Oh, yeah. He's in day care...

More Quick Hits

Sorry, folks. Days slip by, and still I don't type.

Thing is, not much seems that funny these days. Gamble's growing an attitude, and sometimes it's funny, and sometimes it's not.

Like this morning, Nicole tells me that Gamble came up to her and said, "I'm going to start calling you 'Nic'. Is that okay?" And when she said that it would not, in fact, be okay with her, he responded with 'tude.

"Good, then I'm just going to call you Nic from now on all the time."

Telling him that would not do caused him to blow up.

Boom!!! The sound of the four year-old, which, as I may have noted earlier, is far worse than three or two.

And then there's all the things I've forgotten to mention, like Random drinking out of a cup for the first time, which happened a month ago. She always seems to want to drink or eat whatever we're drinking or eating. You can tell when she gets excited about getting her mitts on something, because her arms start pinwheeling, her lower lip drops, her tongue peeks out, and she starts Fudding: "eh eh eh eh."

Well, Nic caved and let her drink water out of her glass. Just a little sip, but she loves to do it. Must make her feel like a big girl.

And maybe it just makes her feel like a big kid. She sees Gamble doing all this stuff, and I think she just wants to be like him. She sure lights up whenever he's around. She never seems annoyed that he wants to hold her, give her kisses, or anything. Of course, they don't have anything to fight over... yet.

And he sure likes her. Nicole spent some time at dinner talking to him about life before Random. When asked how he felt before Random was here, he said "sad". When asked how he felt on days he doesn't get to see her, he just got a very sad face as if to say "I don't even want to think about it." He really loves her.

Everyone's doing fine. Largely happy, healthy (when not croupy or poopy).

Monday, August 20, 2007

Anniveretrospecticus the Third

Well, I'm writing this from Ludington, Michigan. I'm going charter salmon fishing on Lake Michigan with Grandpa Buttons, and I already feel more human. The commute here is five hours from home in Hoffman Estates, and it's amazing what kind of transformation you get on such a ride. What with the music blaring and the sunroof open, you kind of start hearing that old voice in your head, the one you heard before. When there were no kids.

Consider this an Anniveretrospecticus, which is what I called the blog I did one year after I started blogging. I started Gamble's blog on 81204, and can't believe I've been doing it so long. In fact, on the way here, that little voice that used to be me piped up, "You're like a week late for your second Anniveretrospecticus."

That little voice in my head can't do math, either.

In fact, I altogether missed my second anniveretrospecitus, and I'm now over a year late, so I'm just calling myself a week late for the third anniveretrospecitus, and givening myself a "D" for introspection.

What's funny about all this is that when the little voices start up, and your internal voice shuts down, time speeds up. Like nobody's business it speeds up. You forget things. You're just hanging on. It's not all about you. It's all about them. And that's okay. They're so cool.

From Gamble's unrelenting but unbelievably mature speech patterns to Random's newly acquired babbling, gurgling, growling, and squealing (which she does when she's happy to see someone. Especially Gamble), it's great to hear their voices. It's a beauty that they have them, and for every "Shhh." and "Gamble, would you please let Mommie and I talk for five minutes" I'm genuinely sorry. I can't wait to get back home to hear their little voices. The phone's just not the same.

Mommie's taken on both of them alone for three days this week, and I love her for it. I don't know how she manages. I think it's her turn for a break next.

Thanks for another year everyone. Love from all of us to all of you.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Overdue Update

So Nicole keeps sending me things to write about, and I continue to fail to report on them. I thought I'd send out some quickies just to let everyone know how things are going.

Random is an unbelievably good baby. She sleeps through the night, and she really doesn't do much but smile. If she cries, she's really really hungry. She jabbers, squeals, and blows razzies.

Oh, and she has boogie fever. For the longest time, I stood her up in my lap and would jiggle her, singing "Boogie Fever" to her. Now, I can stand her there, sing the song, and she wiggles her hips and bounces her knees.

She's on solids now. Still with the bottles of formula, but now she's on veggies. Loves her peas and green beans, maybe not so hot on carrots or sweet potatoes. And she's a rice eater.

Nicole got her a little dollie. Her first. She started daycare a week ago, and they all love her. It's hard not to. When you walk in the room, and she recognizes you, she positively lights up. She's a Mommie's girl, too, meaning that no matter how many people she lights up for, she always lights brightest for Mommie.

On the other hand, Gamble has learned that there are things he can't do now, because it would "set a bad example."

Even with his new position in the family as a role model, he has announced his intention to marry a girl at his day care. But not until he is tall, like Grandpa Buttons. And then he'll be the Daddie and she'll be the Mommie, and he'll be a firefighter, but first, he has to learn how.

At least that's how he tells it.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Knock

Gamble has already been noted for his fondness for the knock-knock joke. You may recall his "Bonkie-head banana" version, for example.

On the way to tee-ball the other night, we asked Gamble to amuse himself while we talked. We started talking about our days, and we heard him jabbering away.

Eventually, we caught on to some of the jabber.

"Knock knock," Gamble said in his normal voice.

"Who's there?" in a small, almost faraway, falsetto.

"Hi, it's Gamble!"

"Gamble who?" Same falsetto.

"Aren't you glad I didn't say 'banana'?"

Then we twigged. Gamble was doing knock-knock with Random, and he was filling in her part, since she can't talk yet.

Well, it's probably better than talking to Poole.

Quitting

Gamble and I have been playing Super Paper Mario, trying to rid the world of the evils of Count Bleck. It's no Harry Potter, in terms of narrative, but it keeps a kid interested.

Mommie was across the room, listening to us play, and she overhears:

"Ok, Gamble. We should do one more. Then do you want to quit or keep going?"

"Daddie, we can't quit. Quitting is for Jackals."

I like his style and 'tude!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

A Helpful Little Boy

Mommie and I were talking the other night in our bedroom, and Gamble came in for a visit. He went and got some lotion, and started rubbing it onto Mommie's leg.

"Mommie your skin is dry."

"Oh, honey, that's so sweet."

"Yeah, well, I have to take care of you and Daddie."

Wow, such care and love from such a little guy. He continued putting lotion on Mommie and offered to put it on me, too. He made sure we were smiling when he left.

Beaming, actually.

Dialing for Fun

"Mommie? Can you help me dial the phone number? It's 11 numbers long, and I'm having trouble."

He's done it before, but it's not that he's having trouble that's an issue. I'm just impressed at how he phrased his request. He can be so polite and charming.