avablog

The big news at the house this week is that ECP is moving from his little Big Boy bed to his big Big Boy bed (with robots!). I spent most of the week patching some water damage in one corner of Emmett’s room and re-painting the entire thing in preparation for the arrival of his new furniture. In case I’ve never mentioned it here before, I hate painting. Absolute least favorite thing to do. That said, I think the room turned out OK, even if it looks just like it did before I started. I’m glad it’s done.

I’d also like to present a couple pics of the kids from the last couple weeks. If I had to get saddled with two kids for the rest of my life, I suppose I could’ve done a lot worse than these two.

Spring is springing, at last. It’s been awesome to be able to get outside and work in the yard and even just sit and enjoy an ice cream cone. This past weekend we helped Tristan celebrate his second birthday. I think it’s safe to say a good time was had by all. And especially Tristan. It was a bit rainy, but the water didn’t dampen the boy’s spirits.

This coming weekend we’ll be off to Decorah for Mother’s Day, if all goes according to plan. And why wouldn’t it…?

Over spring break this year, we took a couple days and traveled to Minneapolis with Leah’s mom. Rachel, Kevin, and Tristan came, too. The trip was, ostensibly, to help celebrate G.G.’s birthday, but we spent the bulk of the time carting the kids around to various kid-friendly venues for their entertainment. One such venue was the Minnesota Children’s Museum in St. Paul, which is cool and, like children’s museums everywhere, packed to the gills on a cold Saturday morning. But packed to the gills means nothing to kids, so long as there’s easy access to the face painting station. Ava was eager to do her own thing:

Leah likes to say that she was never sure whether she could love a boy child like she loves Ava. As a boy, I understand. There is something sugar and spice and all that’s nice about Ava, as difficult as she can be sometimes. And Emmett’s different.

Which is no claim that he’s perfect. In the midst of his not-infrequent fits of pique, I find myself wondering what I’d think of a child I did not know who was behaving similarly. And I judge Emmett harshly.

I sort of halfway resolved at the beginning of the year to take more pictures of the kids. So far, this has meant taking more pictures of Emmett. Here’s a shot of him from this morning, when he wanted to show off the contraption he’d made out of Tinkertoys (well, OK, he was *encouraged* to show off the contraption he’d made out of Tinkertoys). Really, it didn’t take much coaxing.

Emmett recently got what I’m calling his first real haircut. Prior to this, Leah had taken him in for a series of “trims” that required him to visit the salon every other week. Untenable. I requested that his next visit result in a more substantial cut, and so we got what we now have, which I like. He looks like a real little boy now!

Never fails. I could take photos of these kids all day long for days on end with my DSLR, and then Gramary comes along with her iPhone and catches a shot that blows away anything I captured. I suppose I should be grateful, and I am.

This photo is representative of a couple things. One, it’s an argument for shooting with what ya got. Granted, you won’t be making hi-res prints of this at anything greater than postage stamp size, but it’s impossible to conceive that my enjoyment of this picture would increase as its size grows. Two, the shot is another example of the formula that describes the inverse relationship between my appreciation of a picture and my ability to describe that appreciation in detail. I can tell you only that this smile sums Ava up for me. It’s how I see her in my mind, regardless what is happening in the real world, and it’s how I want her always to be.

Emmett this morning just as he sat down to a breakfast of pancakes and bacon:

“Actually, bacon is the best food in the world.”

Out of the mouths of babes.

Tonight’s our last night on Isla Mujeres. We went to an Italian place for dinner, and at one point I pulled Emmett into my lap to read him a book. Emmett cuddled in and said, “Daddy, you smell like bread and butter.”

So I have that going for me. Which is nice.

I tend not to be as maudlin as Leah often is about our children’s fleeting youth. I will say, though, that this morning I realized (as always, like a bolt from the blue), that I’m really, really going to miss that happy little wiggle Emmett does upon popping the first bite of a long-awaited breakfast into his mouth.

I wouldn’t say I went into having kids wearing rose-colored glasses, but it’d be fair to say I’ve still been taken aback a time or two by how difficult parenting can be. Even so, after eight years, the moments of sweetness continue to make up for all the wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments. Here’s hoping that trend continues.

I’ve been busy processing the photos from our recent vacation to Grand Marais. So far, I think is is one of my favorite shots:

Sigh. The real magic of these time series shots is to know that the same little girl from the first picture is in that big(ger) body in the last picture. I’m lucky to have Ava in my life, even if she’s a constant reminder that I need to be a better person.

Ava is off at camps at her former kindergarten this week. This morning, as I was slathering her with sunscreen, she asked me to come up with a riddle that would prepare her for her “Brain Busters” camp today.
[Read more →]

This is a test post for the Awesome Flickr Gallery plugin I just installed. Seems pretty neat. This gallery is based on the “tulipa” tag in my flickr photostream.

Gramary picked up Emmett from daycare yesterday and took him out for some adventure, which included riding the train at City Park and checking out some animal masks from the ICPL. I sure do love this picture of our little guy, ensconced in Gramary’s cow-themed carseat with his tiger mask on.

And also this one, which makes him look like such a big boy:

To whichever chemical process of the brain is responsible for those sudden, unanticipated waves of realization at how lucky I am for this life and the people in it, I humbly give thanks.

Hi, Emmett. It hasn’t even been a week since you turned 3, but already you seem like such a big boy. You’re mastering the potty, at least at day care, where you’re now in “the 3s” with Kendra and your friends David and Oscar. You love scrambled eggs and ham for breakfast, and you’ve taken recently to fruit-flavored yogurt, too. You ask us each morning whether it’s a “Kids’ Deeko” or a “Jabba House” day (you prefer Jabba House days).
[Read more →]

Back from California as of last Friday, and it was a fairly exhausting trip. But the kids seemed to have a good time, and that’s the important thing.
[Read more →]