June 25th, 2009
miles: daddy, cover me.
(daddy covers miles)
miles: daddy, i cold.
(daddy snuggles close to miles)
miles: daddy, get a-WAY from me!
(daddy rolls eyes and scoots back to where he was)
miles: daddy, i can’t be-YEEVE this room.
miles: daddy, i can’t be-YEEVE you paint this room.
daddy: why?
miles: daddy, the shy-yer (shower) broken.
daddy: i kn…
miles: daddy, why the shy-yer STILL broken?
daddy: i have to wait until i get paid to have someone come and fix it.
miles: daddy, i want to help you fix the shy-yer.
miles: daddy, i went to coyege (college) yessday.
miles: daddy, i learn about ammals (animals) as coyege yessday.
miles: daddy, i yike cheetahs. they FAST!
miles: daddy, take me to the couch for movies, please.
(daddy picks up miles)
miles: daddy, you big.
miles: daddy, my big too.
daddy: yes, you’re getting really big.
miles: daddy, i watch wubzy and have milk now.
silence
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June 22nd, 2009
it’s been quite a while since i’ve had a chance to update my blog. i’ve been working quite a bit and spending the remaining time playing with the kids or working in the yard.
i have just been enjoying the heck out of our kids. miles has kept me laughing since day one, but he continues to up his game. in addition to being accidentally funny, he uses a growly fake yell to signal “this is a joke.” the past few days instead of taking his morning milk on the couch, he joins me in my bed for ‘nuggles under the sheets in our ‘tent’.
this morning i was having a hard time waking up and had started to nod off again. suddenly miles was fake-yelling and i realized that the tent had been filled with a noxious smell. then i realized what miles had been saying, “DADDY, YOUR BUTT IS DIS! GUSS! TING!!”
oscar is growing into his personality more every day. miles’ favorite song is “another believer” from meet the robinsons. we listen to it over and over again in the car and at home. every time i put ozzie in his car seat his starts singing the song.
we’ve started instituting a binky in bed only policy. removing the plug has resulted in a constant stream of sing-songy babbling. he has a few words: more, cracker, puppy, ball. mostly he just babbles with lots of inflection.
he does sometimes manage to make his way back into the bedroom to grab the binky. he then slowly walks out of the room and makes constant eye contact while sucking vigorously on the binky. it’s somehow obvious that this is him asking if he can have his binky. we then tell him to go put the binky back to bed. he slowly turns around and ambles back to the bedroom and then reemerges after a few seconds. then he comes back out more slowly again with the binky and the asking eyes. he knows what we’re saying but he just can’t quite bring himself to put it down.
i just can’t believe i have such wonderful kids. i hadn’t planned to be a parent, in fact i had specifically planned not to be a parent. part of that is because in my unmedicated state i can only make the con side of pro/con lists. i didn’t want to have to deal with discipline and teenagers who hated me and my own inevitable failings and second-guessings.
then my sister had her son and my mother-in-law couldn’t believe how comfortable i was holding a baby and our parents and a few other people started mentioning that we would be great parents. this coincided with me beginning to take an amazing medication called effexor that allowed me to begin to imagine the positive outcomes of a particular course of action and to stop living in mortal fear of my own failure.
i’m not any kind of evangelist for parenthood, i have no energy invested in whether anyone else does or does not have kids. i will say that i have realized that there is something amazing about being a parent that you just can’t grasp if you haven’t been a parent. i’m not necessarily claiming that it’s something everyone should experience, but my own life is certainly richer for it.
it’s incredible to be one of the few people my kids feel completely unembarrassed around all the time. i get to be right there when miles says from the backseat of the car, “hey aaron, what you doing, aaron?” to open the door to a room and have miles so excited to see me that he comes running across the room and leaps into my arms. to have oz raise his arms to me and when i lift him up he stops crying and pushes his cheek into mine.
i can’t believe i get to be ‘that guy’ for, as far as i’m concerned, the two most amazing kids in the world. they’re so full of energy, humor, surprises, love and sweetness and i’m so excited to get to know them as they grow. i hope i don’t forget to help them get to know me so that in twenty years on father’s day 2029, they don’t have to call erica from the bookstore to ask her what kind of books i like, they’ll know that what i’d like a million times more is for them to read one of the books that i like, come and sit in my backyard and talk to me about it all afternoon and tell me that my butt is still disgusting.
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May 18th, 2009
it is with utmost affection for our friend brandon that i tell this story. britta and brandon came over for a few hours on sunday afternoon. miles had been really excited because he adores britta and brandon and oz got very excited once they arrived. unfortunately miles was pretty loony and had to take numerous trips to timeout before he was able to develop some impulse control.
after we took the boys in and gave them a bath and i got miles down for bed (and then came back outside to find that erica had oz outside in his pajamas) i was finally catching my breath. brandon, who will be a dad by the end of the year, said, “so, do you find that weekends are less restful than weekdays?” my response, “are you kidding?” i love my life, but we left the realm of the restful years ago. we no longer have a position relative to the state of restfulness.
Posted in Miles, Oz | 6 Comments »
May 4th, 2009
i followed a link to an article titled “33 surefire ways to screw up your marriage” not because i was looking for tips but just to be able to give myself a pat on the back for not doing most of them, i guess.
all was going according to plan, then i found this one which made me spit my coffee for so many reasons:
16. Your idea of the perfect vacation is one you take with the kids. You would never hear of going away somewhere just with your spouse, even though you have many viable baby-sitting options.
i can’t even begin to enumerate the reasons that this does not apply to my life. that aside, the list is actually pretty decent and the first comment is awesome. but i can’t vouch for the rest of the blog contents. i’m about to read “12 surefire ways to get in the mood.” i have a feeling that entry is going to make or break it.
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May 3rd, 2009
today was also supposed to be rainy but was actually beautiful. we started working in the yard fairly early. i took down all the bamboo and erica cut the stalks close to the base. and that was when we got our first visitor. during the course of the day, everyone who lives in the circle of houses that surrounds ours had to stop by and ask why we were cutting down the bamboo.
they all said something that alluded to the fact that our bamboo situation had been a conversation topic in their homes over the past week or so. ugh. so embarrassing. but in case you were wondering, numbskull gardening project = quick way to meet the neighbors.
Posted in Aaron, Erica | 2 Comments »
May 2nd, 2009
we had a completely weird day today. we had pretty good weather on thursday and friday but the forecast for all of this week is rain so we didn’t expect to be able to work in the yard much but also didn’t have any other plans.
i had been trying to track down some bamboo to replace the monster bamboo i had gotten during the craigslist debacle. the root balls may be sprouting something but the huge 30′ culms aren’t making it. i’m not heartbroken about that because my big dream was never to have such tall stalks, but after i’d put that much blood, sweat and time into procuring them i at least wanted to give them a chance.
in looking for not-free bamboo on craigslist i found out about a couple plant sales at the fairgrounds of two counties just outside of portland. and according to our custom we just loaded up and took off, because well, why not?
the two were on opposite sides of portland but the same time away from us so we decided to go to the canby master gardeners’ spring plant sale because i had a line on some $10 bamboo which, based on the price, i was certain would be plenty small, and it was relatively close to canby and to another nursery i wanted to visit if things worked out.
it was about a 45 minute drive and oz was asleep before we even got on the highway. that kid loves to sneak in a late morning nap any time we happen to be in the car between 10 and 12. when we got to the fairgrounds we immediately realized two things: first, this was going to be seriously awesome, the place was packed and we had to park in the third lot and second, we were woefully unprepared. everyone who wasn’t a plant sale rookie had a wagon, and they didn’t even have kids.
oh, and we didn’t have a stroller in the van because i had emptied it to clean it after the bamboo ridiculosity. we resigned ourselves to the workout we were about to receive and went to check out the plants.
the sun came out and the plants were beautiful. we didn’t buy much because we didn’t have enough arms and because we’re just getting started this year but if you do the gardening thing i highly recommend getting yourself a wagon and finding your local super-duper plant sale on the first weekend in may.
we took off a little before lunch time and oz had tossed his binky at some point plus he was hungry so he was just a deep well of unhappiness until we found a little place in oregon city called pioneer pizza where they had pizza by the slice.
we refueled and headed to the nursery i had wanted to visit. the guy was selling everything for half-price. i guess he’s a landscaper and since no one is building houses now he had to find a way to reduce his inventory. erica tracked down a couple of large blueberry bushes that should bear fruit this year. we found another cool bush and i found some tiny bamboo.
we loaded up and started on the way over to craigslist bamboo guy’s house and it started raining pretty heavily. i hopped out of the car and got my sufficiently small $10 bamboo and we headed toward home. oz again descended into the realm of dissatisfaction and miles decided to join him.
it was a sad drive home. oz was suffering an acute case of binky separation anxiety and miles knew it was almost nap time and he likes to start his protest campaign early, usually succeeding only in convincing us just how badly he needs a nap.
we got home and amazingly the boys both went to sleep right away so we all got a nap. i woke up at four because there was some crazy wind happening outside. i looked out the living room window to find a serious amount of sideways rain coming down. it lasted about twenty minutes and then cleared up really quickly and the sun was out again. then at four thirty there was a severe weather warning on tv. nice.
erica and the boys woke up just before 5:30. she wanted to know what had happened to her pansies. the wind had blown the heads right off a bunch of them.
since the boys napped so late and long, we weren’t quite sure what to do with them for the evening. we ran a few more errands related to yard projects and then finally go the boys to bed a little before nine.
and that is a ridiculous rundown of the day that never seemed like it would end. i can’t imagine that this is particularly entertaining to read, so sorry about that, but i did take the time to write it all out so here it is.
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April 26th, 2009
miles just went to bed and erica kindly pointed out to me that i lied to the internet because i said i would post pictures and i hadn’t. and then i told her to shove it because the pictures were all up on flickr on saturday night exactly as i had promised. this isn’t germane to anything, it’s just the internet helping me get the last word that i can never get in real life even when i’m right.
so, birthday weekend recap: the boys stayed up late on friday night so that they could see dave and sue when they arrived. oz went down pretty soon after that but miles stayed up until almost 10. i woke up at 5:30 saturday morning because ozzie was kicking me in the back i couldn’t go to sleep after that because i was so excited for the day so at 6 i got up and got the coffee started.
after everyone woke up, erica and sue had the boys in the backyard and they planted a vegetable garden with miles while dave and i pulled out a strip of grass in the front yard.
once the boys were spazzing out we all got cleaned up and went for birthday lunch to red robin for miles’ favorite meal: french fries and apple juice. then w dropped off ozzie at britta and brandon’s house while we took miles to a movement theatre show in portland (zoo zoo at imago theatre). he really enjoyed it and thought it was interesting and funny and was engaged and interested the whole time.
we got oz and went back home and had dinner. miles claimed he didn’t want dinner, and he often doesn’t and we don’t force him because he usually eats a big lunch, but then he said, it time for my cake now? uh, wrong. so he had to eat, which he did once he knew cake depended on it.
sunday morning we jumped back into our yard projects. erica and sue went to costco because it’s a family tradition and also to buy flowers. we gave miles a bike we had bought him back before christmas. dave was walking with miles while he took a spin and before i knew it they had disappeared down the block and around the corner.
i needed to go to home depot and dave said he would stay with miles but he’d been working hard and taking miles on a walk is a taxing endeavor for even the most patient. i went to drive by and check on them and make sure they didn’t want to come to the store with me. they both did.
i got the materials to make a build as you grow potato bin. i had everything on one of those lumber carts with the bars that all run in the same direction. miles sat on the cart and dangled from the bars, “look daddy, i. am. a. monkey!”
we said goodbye to dave and sue around 3 and they left us with a much nicer looking yard than we’ve ever had. the four of us kept playing and working in the backyard. i moved a tarp full of compost into the backyard to fill a couple of beds. the stuff is so fine that every shovelful created a cloud of dust and miles started calling it “smoke dirt”.
i gave him the hose with a spray nozzle attached and told him that his job was to spray down the smoke while i shoveled. he was doing great and i told him he was like a fireman. he said, “no daddy, i AM a fireman. i helping people.” he spent the next hour soaking the dirt in the four beds and pretending they were full of frogs and going “fishing” with a stalk of bamboo.
he’s really good at pretending now which is cute but also irritating because any time he’s about to do something bad and i tell him not to he says, “daddy, i not touching it. i just PRETENDING.” and then he proceeds to do the thing. ugh. i’d like to think he’s not doing it willfully and that he still doesn’t fully grasp the connection between what he’s done and what he is about to do, but i fear he’s more crafty than i want to give him credit for.
i suppose i should wrap up this rambly play-by-play. I can’t believe it’s been two and a half years since our lives were miles-ified. it’s so funny to think that we went to sleep tuesday night, october 31st having no idea that it would be the last peaceful night of sleep we would ever take for granted.
we also had no idea how ridiculous and funny our lives would become. but mostly the thing about the sleep.
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April 24th, 2009
we’ve been having busy times now that the weather seems to have caught up with the calendar. last weekend we went to the zoo early on saturday. we were out of there before lunch time which was great because on our way out the line to get in was up the block. crazy.
we rode the zoo train for the first time and both boys really enjoyed that. the train boarding area is near the tiger exhibit and when we got off the train there was a zookeeper standing near the fence with a tiger skin for the kids to feel. miles went over and was feeling one of the paws and said something in his weird little whiny voice. erica asked him to repeat himself and he said, “i want to wear that!” the zookeeper said, “i thought that’s what i heard.”
sunday we had no plans but ended up having a ridiculous craigslist day. i spent the afternoon with miles hacking away at an enormous bamboo root ball at someone’s house. i managed to get about 12 stalks out of the ground. they were all about 20-25 feet tall and i had to figure out how to get them home in the van. i got home without getting a ticket but that’s about as much as i want to remember about that debacle.
i pulled out a few bushes along the side of our house to plant the bamboo so i’ve been working on that and constantly readjusting all the strings i have holding the bamboo up until it takes root. i had one fall over the first day but no casualties since then. pretty good considering most of them are taller than the house.
we still had 2 enormous lilac bushes on the side of the house that we’ve been trying to get rid of for a billion years. they’re beautiful but seriously huge. erica spent sunday fielding calls from people who were interested in them but then erica would say, “no, you don’t want these. they’re really big. like really big.” so we didn’t get rid of those.
erica decided she wanted to plant a vegetable garden with miles this year. we ordered a raised bed to attempt to keep vixen from digging up all the goodies. we found a guy on craigslist who would deliver the beds and fill them at our house so he brought us a 2′x5′x18″ garden bed and a 3′x3′x3′ compost box.
he came and started working and then erica got home and started doing her thing which, “oh, you like that? you can have it. no really, you should take it.” so before he knew it he was pulling two 700lb. lilac bushes out of the ground and trying to load them on his truck plus hauling off everything i’d pulled out of that bed the previous week. he seemed excited about it but the guy he had working for him was making serious hate eyes at erica.
so that brings you up to speed. tomorrow is miles’ third birthday and we’ve got some seriously fun weekend plans planned. there’ll be pictures coming tomorrow night hopefully.
Posted in Aaron, Erica, Miles, family | 2 Comments »
April 12th, 2009
oz is finally back to himself which is really good news. i can’t speak for erica but i was just hanging on by fingernails. another day of worrying about my kiddo on top of non-stop laundry and puking and a three year-old trying to gawk at all the puking would have been one too many for me.
seeing good old ozzie smiling and eating this morning was about the best thing i could have woken up to. unfortunately for me it was one of those situations where the adrenaline or absence of a known ending just keeps me trucking. then having the end in sight takes the edge off enough for me to realize how exhausted i am.
we decided to take the boys to church since the weather was crummy and we wanted to get them out of the house a little bit and get a little break ourselves. after church we made egg salad with our colorful eggs. we put the boys down for their naps and erica hid easter eggs in the front rooms. then we tried to catch a bit of a nap ourselves.
miles took a great nap on saturday so i was really hopeful that he’d sleep again. after about ten minutes i heard a thump and got up to tell miles to lay down and turn off the light. i opened my bedroom door and saw his light on and bedroom door wide open. i found him out in the living room with all the eggs in a pile and half the candy eaten.
i had to march him straight back to his room and tell him all the things he did that were not cool and try to convince him that it would be best for him to have a nice little nap and not continue acting like a crazy monkey. i must have been convincing because we didn’t hear from him for two and a half hours.
once he was awake we had to talk to him about how he had played our special game without us. i didn’t want him to have bad easter memories so we had him apologize to erica and ask nicely if we could play the game again (with reduced candy content).
the discipline thing is a bummer but i’m trusting that small unpleasantness in the present is likely to prevent larger future unpleasantnesses. and since no one can prove otherwise i’m going to keep believing it because it makes me feel better.
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