House of Monkeys

Adios, Blogger

2009-08-23T14:36:00.002-05:00

I've finally gotten fed up enough with Blogger that I'm migrating to Wordpress. This will stay here, at least for a while, but all new content will be posted elsewhere.

They Grow Up So Fast

2009-07-13T15:27:00.002-05:00

Elanor has recently started texting me (from her mother's phone) while I'm at work. This morning I got this one from her:

"Dad this is ella what shall i eat love ella"

I told her to eat eggs. And I love that she said "shall." Then, this afternoon, she sent me this:

"Dad this is ella i love you"

Which made me feel pretty good.

For some reason, writing this post made me think of this, which has nothing to do with anything:

DIY Laundry Detergent, Pt. 2

2009-07-09T22:03:00.002-05:00

After a few preliminary test loads (some of the kids' clothes, Jack's sheets and blankets, some kitchen towels), it was time to put my homemade laundry detergent to the real test: a load of Jack's cloth diapers. It wasn't the most heinous load of diapers I've ever washed, but any load of cloth diapers is worse than pretty much anything else we wash.

I'm happy to report that it worked as well as the All that we used to use, and it may even have worked better. It certainly smells better - I was a little worried the sandalwood soap would give the finished product too strong a fragrance, but it didn't. There's a pleasant but not too strong sandalwood smell when the clothes come out of the dryer, but it doesn't last.

The finished product, at least this time around, was pretty close in consistency to normal laundry detergent - slightly slimier, with a viscosity similar little-kid snot or pudding with too much milk in it.

I'm definitely going to be doing this again, and for the foreseeable future. It works as well as commercial detergent, it costs a hell of a lot less, and it allows me to feel superior to other people (but only as long as I don't think about the Amish or the Minimites, because then I feel like a failure).

DIY Laundry Detergent, Pt. 1

2009-07-08T21:33:00.006-05:00

A few months ago, I started making dishwasher detergent at home. It's really simple: equal parts washing soda and borax powder, well mixed, with a few drops of essential oil for aesthetic value (we use lavender, mostly because we already had it). It works pretty well - maybe not as well as the Method tabs we were using, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

Emboldened by this modest success, I decided to try making my own laundry detergent. The recipe I found is pretty basic: a cup of washing soda, a half cup of borax powder, a bar of soap, and 13 quarts (3.25 gallons) of water. It's cheap, too - it works out to roughly 3¢ a load. Three cents!

I was going to splurge on a bar of Dr. Bronner's soap, but I found a bar of Bee & Flower sandalwood soap on sale for 79¢, so I went with that - in the future, though, I may use some liquid Dr. Bronner's soap, which we buy by the gallon, since I now have an idea how much soap to use.

Basically, you bring a quart of water to a boil or near-boil, mix in the grated soap, stir it until it's a uniformly soapy mixture, and then dump it into three gallons of hot water, which you should have in a five-gallon bucket. I used room-temperature water, and I don't think it made a difference.

After mixing the soapy water into the other water, you add a cup of washing soda, stir for a bit, add a half cup of borax powder (if you feel like it), stir some more, and that's it. It has to "cellar" overnight, preferably with a lid on the bucket, and then it's ready to use.

I just finished making it (took twenty minutes, tops - less time than it's taken to write this post), so I have no idea what the finished product will look like, or how it will work - but I'm going to put it to the test tomorrow, and use it to wash a load of Jack's diapers. If it can get them clean, it can get anything clean.

Semi-recent photos from my phone, pt. 5

2009-05-28T19:13:00.001-05:00

Elanor looking sassy, as always.

Semi-recent photos from my phone, pt. 4

2009-05-28T19:11:00.001-05:00

The bowl's not misshapen, merely in motion, as nothing is ever
stationary around Jack.

Semi-recent photos from my phone, pt. 3

2009-05-28T19:09:00.001-05:00

Ella at the King Tut exhibit at the DMA; it was fun but very crowded.

Semi-recent photos from my phone, pt. 2

2009-05-28T18:42:00.000-05:00

Jack practicing for a career as a bartender.

Semi-recent photos from my phone, pt. 1

2009-05-28T18:40:00.000-05:00

Jack with an (empty) beer bottle.

Brief Update

2009-03-13T15:29:00.002-05:00

Jack is now (well, has been for over a month) officially walking. He still crawls occasionally, but mostly he walks. Recently he's started walking very quickly, but only sometimes, and never for very long, as it usually ends with him falling: too much forward momentum. But I don't think it will be long before he masters the jog, though (thankfully) legitimate running is probably further in the future.

Ella is playing soccer, on an actual team in an actual league. She's not that good - most of them aren't, really - but she loves it. And she scored her first goal last week. She's also on a bit of a fossil kick - she went on a dig in the backyard, which lasted 45 minutes or so, until she got tired of not finding anything. That setback hasn't diminished her interest in the subject, though, which is good.

Lorna is still at the funeral home; she works about five hours in the evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which means I put the kids to bed those days (and Mondays and Wednesdays, when she's at church doing musical things). She's also started doing the weekly deposits and monthly bills for the church, which doesn't take much time and pays pretty well for her time.

In case you haven't yet heard the news, I've been offered (and have officially accepted) a spot in the Ph.D program in the English department at SMU. It comes with a nice stipend, and (even better) we won't have to move, which makes everyone happy - except Elanor, who wants to move to another house in Sherman, one with two stories, so she can have an upstairs bedroom.

2009-03-12T20:29:00.001-05:00

Sharing a popsicle at La Michoacana.

2009-03-12T20:23:00.001-05:00

I got lucky with this one: he doesn't make that face often.

Writing the Great American Novel

2009-02-04T18:22:00.000-06:00

Swearing, Blood, and Mayhem

2009-01-07T10:10:00.003-06:00

Here is the video, as promised.
(And I feel compelled to point out that I was not responsible for the unnecessary apostrophe in "get's" - sorry, Mom.)

If You Give a Girl Earrings...

2009-01-07T09:48:00.003-06:00

Well, another bridge has been crossed: at the ripe old age of six years and two months, Elanor got her ears pierced. Our good friend Deborah "Masker" McKenzie, who used to put holes in people for money all the time, drove up from the Metroplex to put holes in Ella's ears. Ella's Nana also got new holes in her ears, next to the old holes, but I don't have a picture of that.

There was a video made of the historic moment, full of swearing and blood and mayhem, which I'll post in a day or two.

Bath Time!

2009-01-05T18:03:00.000-06:00

One Small Step!

2009-01-03T14:04:00.002-06:00

Jack just walked! It was only a few steps, but he walked, damnit.
He was standing with a hand on the oven and saw food in my hand, and walked two or three steps to where I was (at the sink), and stood with a hand on the cabinets and said (by grunting and pointing): "You have food. Give it to me now, old man."
Another milestone down.

I've Sold My Soul to Twitter

2008-12-19T09:11:00.003-06:00

So, in a moment of narcissistic boredom, I decided to jump on the Twitter bandwagon; yesterday, I decided to set up an account for the family, as a way to post to this blog more often.

If you're not familiar with it, Twitter is a micro-blogging utility - posts have a 140 character limit. It occupies a space somewhere between text messaging all your friends at once and writing an actual blog. It's actually pretty cool, and has the potential to be really useful. Or at least sort of useful.

For Lorna and I, it will be a way to keep those of you who read this blog to keep up with us (and by "us" I mean Elanor and Jack) more apprised of what's going on with the kids - to inform you of small incidents that might not get relayed otherwise.

So, over in the left column, you'll see a new widget, titled "Tweets" (which is the stupid Twitter-speak for posts). Most of it won't really be exciting, but let's face it - most of what gets posted on this blog isn't exactly exciting anyway.

Those Headphones Aren't Plugged In

2008-12-07T08:56:00.000-06:00

All I Want for Christmas...

2008-11-30T16:34:00.001-06:00

All Bundled Up

2008-11-30T12:18:00.001-06:00

Lorna and Jack, geared up for the ride home from church.

More YouTube Madness

2008-11-25T08:30:00.000-06:00

Another video my mom made of Jack and uploaded to YouTube, featuring (toward the end) his patented "crawl-walk," or "crawlk":

Things That Came Out of the Camera

2008-11-19T21:39:00.005-06:00

We recently took a quick (left early Friday afternoon, back early Saturday evening) trip to OKC to visit family and have some (long overdue) dental work done by my uncle, who's a dentist.

I took this picture on our way out of town - it was very windy, which I guess is why the clouds were like this...

This is my hair after taking the pictures (I stuck my head out the sunroof (while driving)):

(That's a lie. Lorna was driving.)

These are my wonderful children, who slept almost the entire way home Saturday:

This is Ella looking sassy in the outfit Jeff & Celia sent her for her birthday (we love the shirt, guys):

This is Jack, already acting innocent behind the wheel of a car:

And here he is practicing for his career as a drunken jazz pianist ("I just need another scotch, then I'll be able to stay on the bench..."):

And this is a totally random sign that one of my neighbors had in his yard back in June or July. That same dog has pooped in my yard many a time as well. (When it was first up, it had a bag of the dog's poop hanging from it - a classy touch.)

Jack and the Stacking Bucket

2008-11-19T21:31:00.004-06:00

A few shots of Jack playing with the stacking buckets his Uncle Jeff & Aunt Celia sent him for his birthday:

Snapshots from Ella's Sixth Birthday Party

2008-11-19T21:22:00.002-06:00

Ella got cool stuff for her birthday....

...lots and lots of stuff.

Attacking the old guy with foam swords was so much fun, not even birthday cake slowed them down.

But we did manage to corral them for a few minutes, in the end.

Later, I took the kids (by threes) for rides in the cargo trike, which turned out to be even more fun than the sword-fighting - at least for the kids. It was all work for me.

Jack; Jack-o-Lantern; Dorothy & Toto

2008-11-05T20:21:00.005-06:00

Our Jack-o-Lantern for this year. Scary, if I may say so myself. And tasty - he had one night of glowing, and then Lorna made him into soup.

Jack, looking contemplative. Don't let it fool you - he's about to do something stupid.

Ella and Rosie, a bit blurry. Probably because they're never still.

Jack at breakfast. Too early for pictures, maybe.

I have no idea what this face is. He looks like an old man. Scary.

More Pictures, Less Text

2008-10-29T22:33:00.005-05:00

First test run of the crazy cargo bike.

Ella at her drama class performance - she's the queen ant.

Ella took this one herself.

This is the pillow she made with Nana.

Jack holding the forbidden remote, looking innocent.

Ella and her friend Lola, playing dress-up.

No comment.

Faceplant

2008-10-27T17:17:00.003-05:00

Today, I did something I haven't done in over a decade: I crashed my bike.

In the almost four years that I've been commuting by bike, I've managed to stay upright (not counting the two incidents when I fell over because I didn't unclip fast enough) and not get hit by a car. But today, my "days without an accident" counter has been reset to zero.

The first thing I shouldn't have done was try to bring the dictionary home, but I did: a fifteen-pound Webster's New International that we'd withdrawn from the library, and that I intend to tear up to make Dadaist collages. So I put the thing in a milk crate on the rack on the back of my bike, which was held on with bungee cords - a tad precarious, to say the least. It actually fell off before I'd even gotten going, which should have been a hint, but as I rarely drive to work, I loaded it all back up and tried again.

To prevent it from falling off again, I was riding with my right hand on the milk crate, to help keep it on. For some reason, this made that hand off-limits. So when, shortly after pulling out of the parking lot onto Brockett, I wanted to shift to a smaller cog in the rear, which is done with the right-hand shifter, I let go with my left hand and reached across.

Stupid, I know. But, in my defense, I can ride with no hands quite well, and if my balance hadn't been compromised by the dictionary and the odd position of my right arm, I think I would've been fine.

As it was, however, my maneuver caused the front tire to wobble violently, which caused the bike to wobble, and before I could recover, the front tire hit the curb and I went flying, to land face-first on the grass. Which hurt.

Fortunately, no major damage was done - I'm unhurt, my glasses didn't break, and the only damage to the bike was a small tear in the seat. After catching my breath, I loaded everything back up, and made it home without further incident - making a conscious effort to use my right hand when necessary, and not let go with my left. And now, I need a drink.

It Only Bled a Little...

2008-10-04T21:07:00.003-05:00

So, Elanor lost a top incisor. Now she looks cute. Well, cuter. Or something.
If she loses the other one before Christmas, she can sing that song...

Well, It Probably Won't Kill Him...

2008-09-16T14:22:00.002-05:00

I called Lorna a few minutes ago; she answered the phone with "I'll have to call you back; Jack's eating dog food" and hung up on me. That's my boy, I guess.

She Shot the Sheriff, But Not the Deputy

2008-09-14T21:26:00.004-05:00

The other night, my crazy wife decided to curl Elanor's hair without curlers. She took little sections of Ella's hair, twisted them, rolled them up into little knobblies, and put little hair-bands on them to hold them in place. Took close to three hours. Then Ella slept on it. This is what it looked like the next morning:

Everyone loved it - except Elanor. There was crying, wailing, gnashing of teeth - Ella even wore a hooded sweatshirt to church to keep it covered. At least we got a few pictures.
And I'm sorry about the bad joke in the title of the post - her hair was springy and weird, but not nearly so matted and crazy as dreadlocks, so referencing a reggae song doesn't quite work. However, there is sort of a reason:

Big Pink Bicycle, Pt. 2

2008-09-06T15:47:00.006-05:00

The big pink bicycle now holds all four of us. Lorna rides captain, I ride stoker, Ella rides between us, and Jack rides in the back. I'm not sure which kid will outgrow the arrangement first - Jack should be okay in the baby seat for another 18 months or two years, though we might have to get a bigger one. If Ella suddenly shoots up six inches, she'll probably be too tall to ride where she is now, but also too short to pedal. I'm hoping that doesn't happen at least until next summer, so we can get some good use out of it in this configuration before I have to start over.

I'm pleased with my faux-Euro kid seat - about $8 worth of metal plumbing bits, instead of $60 or $80 for something imported & fancy. The bungee cord is necessary to keep it from swinging - the front seat post is just a tiny bit smaller than the inside of the T joint, but a smaller one wouldn't have fit. Oh, well - I just want it to work, and it does. I'm not so concerned that it looks pretty.

Big Pink Bicycle, Pt. 1

2008-08-26T20:52:00.006-05:00

My mom found this bike for me at an annual church garage sale a good friend of hers organizes: $35, a ridiculously good price. Aside from needing new tires & tubes, it was ready to ride when I got it.

The problem was that, while Lorna & I could ride together if we wanted, it would need some work to be practical for us as a family. Even with the stoker (rear) seat as low as it goes, Ella isn't nearly tall enough to pedal, though she could ride. I toyed with the idea of attaching Jack's baby seat to the captain seatpost and building a Big Dummy-style rack on the back, which Ella could ride on. Before I managed to (mentally) work out the bugs in that plan, I ran across some photos of Dutch cargo bikes (which blew me away), and this one in particular changed my thinking about the Big Pink Bicycle:

You can order these, from Europe, but with shipping they run upwards of $60. "But," I thought, "putting a seat like that between the captain and the stoker and putting Jack's seat on the back would allow all four of us to ride one bicycle, and Lorna and I would both be pedaling, so it wouldn't be that bad!" So I bought a few pieces of galvanized plumbing, used a spare saddle I already had, and rigged a seat for Ella.

There are still a few finishing touches - like a place to put cargo - but we've ridden it and aren't dead. I'll post pictures of the finished product (and maybe us riding it) soon.

No Pictures!

2008-08-26T19:59:00.006-05:00

More Bananas!

2008-08-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

The photo's a bit blurry, because he doesn't sit still. One banana is
only a snack: he eats like a linebacker.

Long-Overdue Update

2008-07-28T19:31:00.002-05:00

Well, things are a tad hectic around here, as they usually are. Jack has been mobile for a few months now, which means he's a lot more work to keep up with; on top of that, Elanor has taken Cain's "I am not my brother's keeper" line to heart, making her thoroughly unreliable when it comes to "keeping an eye" on her brother while Lorna or I attempts to get some small chore done.

Jack's primary method of locomotion is still the swim-crawl, though he's finally mastered the traditional hands-and-knees crawl and busts it out occasionally. His top two incisors have broken the surface, though they aren't really visible unless you look from the right angle, which puts you in danger of being drooled on. He drools a lot.

He also eats like a linebacker; just for dinner, he ate a banana and a half and about four ounces (fluid ounces) of homemade chicken-and-rice baby food. Then he munched on Rice Chex for a little while.

Elanor is learning to read; she has Lorna's old "Sing Spell Read & Write" set and is working through it. I'm sure she'll be reading Shakespeare before I know it. She's also got pretty good taste in movies; one of her favorites is the A&E production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. What five-year-old likes that?

Lorna's still working part time at the funeral home; I've been working in the Technical Services office at the library at Austin College since July 1st. It's fun, at least for now, and ridiculously better than Starbucks. Regular hours and, comparatively speaking, no stress and (almost) no stupid workplace drama.

Life is good, even when (as on this evening) the kids are screaming in concert and doing their damnedest to stay awake.

And Your Little Dog, Too

2008-06-07T00:00:00.002-05:00

I was riding home from work this evening (well, almost midnight) when a little yappie dog - the kind that's just about the size of a football - came shooting out of some driveway, growling its little yappie growl and running full tilt after me.

Now, I don't normally mind being chased by dogs while I'm riding my bike. I suppose a dog that was as big as I am, and which looked mean, or hungry, or rabid, might be a cause for some concern. Ditto a pack of feral dogs. But mostly, they just annoy me. And I was in no mood to be annoyed, nor to have some idiot dog follow me nearly a mile to my house because it was too stupid to stay close to home.

So I stopped as fast as I could, turned to face it, and growled back. The dog stopped, whimpered a confused, yappie whimper, and backed up a few paces. Then I turned the bike around and chased it back to its own driveway, and turned a few slow circles in the street, all the while giving it my best "don't make me take my belt off and beat you with it" stare. Then I resumed my ride.

You may think I was mean to that dog, but really, I was doing it a favor. A dog that small ought to know better than to chase after something so much bigger than itself as I am, especially when the bigger animal was completely unaware of and indifferent to it. I taught that dog a valuable lesson; I gave it a "get out of jail free" card in the game of Natural Selection. Maybe now it won't get eaten by a bear.

Nana is out of control...

2008-05-11T21:55:00.001-05:00

Unstoppable!

2008-05-02T09:43:00.002-05:00

The day I dreaded has arrived - Jack's got a tooth! Okay, so he's had it for two weeks now; it popped through on the 17th. It's his bottom right incisor, and Lorna and I think the left is about to make an appearance as well. There go my legs.

The Kid Stays in the Picture

2008-05-02T09:41:00.001-05:00

My daughter Elanor is indeed a child of the computer age - five years old and already on YouTube.

Hand to Mouth

2008-04-09T17:45:00.002-05:00

Anything Jack can get his hands on goes into his mouth (more or less - he's still not that coordinated). Witness the rattle my mom brought him from California.
Right now it's just sort of annoying, like when he tries to eat my hand when I'm dressing him, or when he shoves his bib into his mouth with both hands while I'm trying to shove liquified carrots into the same place.
But soon, I fear, it's going to become a problem:
"Where are my car keys?"
"Jack ate them."
Or:
"Has anyone seen the newest issue of Paste? Wait, here it is, covered in drool and teeth marks."
Or:
"Dude, what happened to your legs?"
"Jack bit them off."

Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!

2008-03-17T16:16:00.005-05:00

At a mere four and a half months of age, Jack has become very interested in real food. It began with little tastes of whatever we were eating - which practice was initiated by his Nana, who gave him real food, and his father, who gave him wine. He's since eaten bananas (he ate a whole banana Saturday night), corn, applesauce, and strawberries. Once he gets teeth, he'll be unstoppable.

Snow!

2008-03-07T21:51:00.003-06:00

Twice this week, the first week of March, no less, and in Texas, where it never snows, we had two snowstorms - each of which deposited more than six inches of snow that had mostly melted within twenty-four hours. It was Elanor's first real experience with snow; Tuesday morning she woke me up at seven in the morning and wanted to play in the snow.

Wednesday it was warm again (the high was in the 60s or maybe 70s) and Thursday afternoon we got more snow. Ella was back out in the backyard, and this time she made little tiny snowmen - or "snow dudes," as she called them.

Gradual School Update

2008-03-03T13:40:00.002-06:00

I finally started getting mail from the graduate schools I applied to late last week - unfortunately they're all rejections. So I won't be going to Yale, Brown, Rice, or U. of Virginia. Still no word from Harvard or U. of Chicago, but I'm obviously less than optimistic at this point - although stranger things have happened.

Also, moving forward at Starbucks isn't (ever) going to happen - something else I found last week, though it's what I expected. So the future is starting to look seriously uncertain. On the plus side, we might not have to move, which would be nice, because I hate moving.

Anyway. Maybe I'll have better news to post later in the week.

A Budding Photographer

2008-02-26T14:15:00.004-06:00

Ella's been playing with our digital camera lately. She's actually managed to take some good pictures.

Of people she loves:

(Ganny and Jack)

(Rosie)

And those she tolerates:

(Dad)

And a few arty shots of everyday objects:

(Jack's swing)

Nap Time

2008-02-26T13:55:00.003-06:00

I've been riding my bicycle(s) a lot more lately - to work, to the grocery store, to the pub - but last week I rode to Denison and back to pick up my bike trailer from the person I'd lent it to. Spending the winter driving everywhere took its toll: a mere twenty miles and I was out like a baby.

Toothless Joe ... er, Ella

2008-02-26T13:43:00.004-06:00

So, Ella lost her other bottom incisor a few days ago. I say lost, but really she made me pull it out, and it didn't exactly come out willingly. She didn't cry, though, and it only bled a little, so I guess it was ready enough.

Two Toothless Tots

2008-02-13T16:37:00.003-06:00

Not only has Jack continued to grow physically at a ridiculous rate, but his personality comes out more and more each day. He's been talking for several weeks - not actual words, of course, but weird baby vocalizations that at least mean something to him. Lorna swears he was asking for food last week. Maybe; but he's a baby, and he eats all the time anyway.

Elanor lost her first tooth - one of her bottom incisors - and other is loose, mostly because the new incisor is pushing it out of the way. I'd post a picture, but that seems like it might cross a line of grossness (and yes, I realize my last post was entirely about poop).

Still no word on the grad school front, though I'm reminded from all sides that it's still to early to have heard anything. Until I do, though, I can't make any real plans past the end of July. Not that I would anyway.

A $10 Cup of Coffee

2008-02-13T16:24:00.002-06:00

I had the privilege last week of tasting Kopi Luwak, a variety of coffee that begins its journey from fruit to beverage in the digestive tract of a rodent. (Alright, they're not technically rodents. But they are small, omnivorous mammals.)

One of my coworkers received a half-pound (upwards of $80) for Christmas, and brought some to work to taste with me - because I'm one of the few people willing to drink coffee that's been in animal poop, I guess.

Anyway, it was surprisingly good - not worth the price, certainly, but very smooth, with some intriguing flavors that did not at all remind me of stomach acid, vomit, or feces. Seriously.

So the next time exotic beverages come up in a conversation you're involved in, at a cocktail party or informal brunch, for instance - you can say that you know personally someone stupid (or crazy, or adventurous, or whatever) enough to have actually ingested a cup of coffee brewed from beans harvested from the droppings of a small Asain mammal. Don't you feel special?

The Kids at Christmas

2008-01-09T11:25:00.001-06:00

This year's Christmas photo. Minus the dog and the parents.

Overdue Update

2008-01-09T11:05:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the long radio silence. I spent the tail end of November, all of December, and a few days of January trying to work two jobs, part-time at Starbucks and full-time at Cigna as a dental CSA. The job at Cigna involved sitting at a desk all day, talking on the phone about dental insurance, and I hated every minute of it. So I quit, and I'm back at Starbucks full-time. Having a really bad job made me appreciate my only-sort-of-bad job.

The kids are both well. Elanor's back at school, and everyone's happy about it. Jack's started sleeping for long stretches (anywhere from six to eight hours, but usually around seven) at night, and everyone's very happy about that. He's up to 13 pounds, and is two feet long - a big damn kid. He started smiling, but I guess that was a month ago or more. Elanor still loves being a big sister, and wants to hold Jack a lot - but she can't hold him for very long anymore. She's adjusting pretty well to no longer being the only kid in the house. Some days she's got a bad attitude, and refuses to do what we tell her to, and storms around the house (all of which she gets from me, I'm afraid), but most of the time she's her normal sweet self. I think Jack will be like that, too: easy-going and loving, except when he's pissed off.

We've all mostly recovered from the holidays, our guest room is empty again, and we're getting back into our normal routine - or something close enough to "normal" and "routine" to call it that. So maybe I can get back into posting regularly, laboring under the illusion people actually read this thing. (That was a joke.)

Gradual School

2007-11-25T16:18:00.000-06:00

I have (finally) completed my graduate school applications - all that's left is to print and mail a few copies of the edited version of my thesis, for those schools that wanted a paper and not an electronic writing sample. And then I have to wait three months before I know whether I've gotten in anywhere or not. The final list is as follows, for anyone who cares: Harvard, Yale, Brown, University of Chicago, University of Virginia, and Rice (several of which are within an easy day's drive from Baltimore, where my brother is doing graduate work at Johns Hopkins).

Ella's First Dance Recital

2007-11-19T12:36:00.001-06:00

Ella had her first dance recital a few days ago - she looks very cute in her costume, right? And she danced pretty well, considering that she's barely five and has only been in dance classes for three months.
Aside from that, the recital was terrible. The low point was a tap routine performed by a few dozen middle school girls to the song "Eye of the Tiger" - and it was only the low point by a little bit. I'm probably a bad father for saying this, but I hope Ella decides she doesn't really like dance, so I don't have to go through this again next year.

Ah, the Good Life

2007-11-14T16:27:00.000-06:00

Here's Jack, in one of his rare moments of alert contentedness - enjoying the simple things in life, a full belly and a comfortable chair. All he needs is a pipe and a scotch.

That's a joke, of course. I won't let him smoke or drink until he's much older - 6 or 7, at least.
That was a joke, too. This is like the title credits to Monty Python and the Holy Grail; get ready for the llamas.

Proof That They Got Along, Once

2007-11-09T17:02:00.000-06:00

For a few short minutes, the couch was occupied by a sleeping baby and his big sister, who was happily watching Spongebob Squarepants and content to cuddle with her baby brother. And then, of course, Jack started fussing and Ella decided she wanted to do something else, which naturally required making a mess of the living room. But for a few short minutes . . .

Jack's Feet-prints

2007-11-09T16:56:00.000-06:00

When we went back to the birth center for Jack & Lorna's ten-day check-up, they put his footprints on the wall, as is their custom - there are baby prints everywhere.
Anyway, these are his feet, and Ella's thumb-prints.
And speaking of Jack's feet: today, while we were all in the car, Ella informed us that Jack's feet smelled like "fresh baby feet" - which is what they are, so I guess that's good. Even so, "fresh" and "feet" are two words that generally don't keep company with one another.

A Sign of Autumn

2007-11-09T16:40:00.000-06:00

Amazingly, the smaller of the oaks in our front yard has decided to defy the never-ending summer we're having this year and stop being green. I'm sure the leaves will all be brown soon, since the red they turned is almost brown anyway, but I imagine this is as good as it's going to get this year.

Week Two of (Almost) Unemployment

2007-11-07T18:06:00.000-06:00

Halfway into my second week of barely working at Starbucks, and consequently not making very much money, I still don't have a new job. I had an interview today, and with luck will have a few more before the weekend, so I'm not quite panicking - yet. I've applied at all kinds of places, including ones I don't really want to work at - but they'd all be better than where I am now, and, God willing, I won't have to do any of it past next August, because I'll be at grad school somewhere, and not slinging coffee or answering phones or selling shoes.
I'll let you all know if and when I finally get a job.

Jack and (Aunt) Celia

2007-11-07T17:50:00.000-06:00

She looks happy in the picture, but right before I took it, she looked terrified - like she was going to break him or he was going to eat her. Or poop on her.
In her defense, he was only three days old at the time (yes, it took me almost two weeks to post the picture), and she claimed to not have much prior experience with babies. And he did poop on her fiance a week later.

"Is that mustard?"

2007-11-06T13:10:00.000-06:00

My brother was in town over the weekend, and Saturday night we had dinner over at my parents' house with him and his fiance. Toward the end of dinner, Jeff wanted to hold his nephew, so I handed Jack over - and a few minutes later noticed an orangish-brown stain on Jeff's shirt. Jack had done his uncle the honor of pooping on him, at almost their first meeting. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was still funny.
Jeff's threatened to tell the story at Jack's 15th birthday, but I imagine it will be well-worn by then. Poop stories are great.

Elanor

2007-11-03T22:26:00.000-05:00

Ella wearing a necklace she made at her Nana's house.

How Long Can You Tread Water?

2007-10-31T21:28:00.000-05:00

Does it seem odd to anyone else that for two days running Ella arranged her animals in her car, climbed on top, and asked to have her picture taken? I guess it's not that odd. She likes to have her picture taken, if she's in the right mood, and she likes to arrange her animals like they're an audience or a class full of children. Maybe it's the sitting on top of the car that pushes it into not-quite-normal.
Of course, we like her that way.

The Texas Department of Public Safety

2007-10-31T18:35:00.000-05:00

Man, I love going to the DPS: the hum of the flourescent lights: the smell of government-issue bathroom cleaner; those same pale beige linoleum tiles that covered the floors of every public school I ever set foot in; the lady behind the counter who writes "LOST" on the paperwork despite the fact that I told her my driver's license was stolen, and who tells me as I'm leaving, with just a hint of smugness, to "hang on to" the temporary license she's given me; and, of course, the opportunity to give the government money. I love giving the government money.

And I got to go, not once, but twice, today, this very afternoon, to stand in line and sign little forms to replace that little card that says I'm me because some lowlife stole my wallet and went shopping with my credit card. It was awesome.

Baby Burrito

2007-10-31T17:47:00.000-05:00

Aside from the fact the we didn't own the ottoman Jack's on five years ago, this could be a picture of Elanor. For one thing, that's one of her old blankets. But more than that, he just looks like she did at that age. He even makes the same faces. It's almost uncanny.

Not Winston Churchill

2007-10-26T15:19:00.001-05:00

Here's Jack in a relatively good mood. Handsome little guy - gets that from me, of course.

Prehensile Toes

2007-10-26T13:21:00.000-05:00

It's a little hard to tell from the photos, but Jack's got my brother's toes - the big toe is practically opposable. In a few short years, his uncle will be teaching him to pick things up and pinch his dad. Awesome.

Jack's Birth

2007-10-26T12:55:00.000-05:00

Jack being examined by Carol the midwife.

A very proud big sister.

Chris, Ella, and Jack.