Corwin has been a little better about interacting with Charles lately, except for the issue with dining together. The other day Charles was upset because his Lego™ truck had fallen apart. Corwin disassembled it the rest of the way and then rebuilt it for Charles all on his own. Mom and I told Corwin that it was very nice that he had taken the time to make something for Charles.
Tonight, at dinner, Corwin was trying to escape but we didn’t let him because Charles was still eating. Corwin pondered this for a bit and then noticed that the Lego™ truck was on the table behind him. He picked it up and showed it to Charles, who immediately forgot about eating and went for the truck. Corwin remarked “he’ll just break it and I’ll have to fix it again. And again.” in a weary little voice.
It occured to me this evening that we should have named our daughter “Berry”. Then we could refer to all of the children as “boys ‘n Berry”. Bwahahahaha!
Oddly, Mom did not find this quite as an attractive name choice as I did. She’s a strange one, allright.
For my birthday, Mom bought me a cute little camera. I made the mistake of convincing Charles to give it a try, because it’s a nice size for his hands. The problem is that Charles really liked the camera and wouldn’t give it back. When I tried to retrieve it he started crying and said “mine!”. Now, I can’t take pictures of him with it because he’ll immediately demand to use it himself and not give it back. I wouldn’t mind as much if he didn’t touch the lens and flash quite so much, or didn’t drop the camera, or drool on it … it’s those little things that get to me.
I sent Corwin out to the cold, snowy bus stop in his fall jacket. Mom and I had been concerned about him being cold and so I spent some time this morning reuniting his parka and liner so that he’d have something warm to wear. Our parental concern was no match for Corwin’s fashion sense, however. He refused to wear his heavier jacket. He wouldn’t articulate the exact reason, but I suspect that it was because his fall jacket is red and his parka is not. Corwin’s main stated reason was that if he wore the parka no one would recognize him and would think that he was a new kid. I indicated that I didn’t find this fear well founded, as they had recognized him in the first part of the school year when he wasn’t wearing any jacket. Nonetheless, Corwin managed to look so pathetic (and claimd that he hadn’t been cold the day before) that I let him out. He’s generally not out there that long so it shouldn’t be a major problem if he’s just cold for a bit.
Charles has been doing some construction in the basement. He’s actually building some impressive structures, as you can see here. He built this entire thing by himself. This is something I’ve been meaning to post for a while but haven’t gotten around to until now. This construction dates back to early December.
I’ve watched him build other ones and I think that the reason that it has multiple towers is that Charles puts the pieces together somewhat randomly. If he happens to use a piece that prevents further stacking, he just starts another tower. You can see that in this picture, every vertical section has this property.
It’s a rare opportunity that I get to actually photograph one of his constructions. Normally I get to see it just as there is a tragic vehicular accident involving a high speed collision with the structure. It seems to be triggered by the phrase “Charles, Daddy is going to go get his camera”. For this one, I happened to have the camera already with me so I was able to get a couple of shots before the collapse.
Alice is off her biliblanket. Mom took it back yesterday and claims that Alice’s eyes are much whiter than they used to be. Alice will be going in on Monday for another test, which hopefully will clear her for a life where darkness is permitted.
Charles can climb in to the top bunk by himself. He doesn’t seem to understand how to get down, though - I had to catch him every time because he’d just go right over the edge of the bed without using the ladder. Charles also discovered that if he jumps on the bed, he will smack his head in to the ceiling. That doesn’t seem to dissuade him from jumping though.
I was checking on one of those “What to expect” books about Charles. He was lacking on several of the “should” but he did have all of the “may” ones. However, one of the “should” was using prepositions. I hadn’t noticed before but while Charles was jumping on the bed he announced that he was “jump on the bed” so we can check that one off. Overall he is using sentences much more frequently.
Charles still prances about. He gets up on his tip toes and skips, while holding his arms up like a little T. Rex. It’s quite cute. I will note that Charles can run normally if he wants (if, for instance, I call out “I have a new car for Charles!”).
Charles is doing better at day care as well. Several times this week he was actually playing with another child and vocalizing when Mom picked him up. Only the potty thing remains…
Alice definitely sounds different as a baby than the boys did. She frequently sounds just like a cat, particularly when she’s upset about something. If you’ve ever heard a cat yowl, then you know what Alice sounds like. She also has some really cool snorting noises that she makes, although she doesn’t do that quite as often.
Alice went in over the weekend for another bilirubin test and she was still borderline. She gets to have the glowing blanket for another week.
In better news, she has reversed the initial infant weight loss and is back on the growth track. She was at 6 lb 13 oz. last checkup after dropping to 6 lb 8 oz. She does seem to be a hungry child and is feeding perhaps a bit too well.
Corwin and I made it back from Texas without too much incident. The flights were crowded and because we got our tickets late we weren’t sitting next to each other. When I told Corwin this he said it was fine, he didn’t need to sit by me. However, by the time we were actually boarding he had changed his mind. Fortunately I was able to trade seats on both hops so that we could sit together.
Mom, Charles and Alice came to pick us up at the airport. Driving back was the first time we had all three of the poopers in the same car. It wasn’t overcrowded, although that may change as Corwin gets bigger. At some point, Charles will be big enough to do without the carseat, which should save some space.
Other than that, we’re mostly just recovering from the arrival of Alice and Dad’s endless traveling.
Charles has been getting progressively shaggier over the last few months. The last sort of hair cut was at the end of September.
Generally when I try to cut his hair, he gets mad and starts shaking his head and waving his hands near the scissors. That makes me nervous and I give up after a while.
But waking up after feeding Alice last night, I attacked the sleeping Charles with scissors. Not the best haircut in the world, and I only got the right side of his head. Hopefully he sleeps on his right side tonight, so I can get the other side.
Charles is warming up to Alice. At the hospital he just ignored her. But now that we’re home, he identifies baby (babe) or Alice (Als).
He is even doing some protective big brother things. Yesterday I stuck a small velveteen rabbit in the bassinet basket with Alice. Charles decided that Alice liked the rabbit, so when I moved her to the car carrier or to the bed Charles was very careful to transfer the rabbit too.
He also saved Alice from the wrong pillow this morning. I was sitting on the couch feeding Alice, and I had just grabbed the closest pillow. That was wrong! Charles took away the offending pillow and then brought over the Boppy pillow that the godparents gave Alice.
Corwin was somewhat of a trooper today. He wasn’t ill behaved but not quite as cooperative as I’d like. His major fault, as usual, was an excess of boyish energy released in an inappropriate context.
But I got my revenge at dinner. I had originally thought that I’d have to wait until Corwin was in high school before I could use stories I’ve written here to embarass him. But when I started talking to my Uncle Edward about Corwin going home instead of to Jacob’s house, Corwin tried to cover my mouth with his hands to prevent me from telling the tale. He got even more distressed when we discussed his many girlfriends (Jesse and Emma, mainly, although there were a couple more that I couldn’t remember the name of). When I told Corwin that I’d already written the tale on the website, he told me to erase it.
The moral, here, is that investment pays off. I just didn’t expect it to pay off so soon.
P.S. There was one incident where, immediately after it was resolved, Corwin explicitly requested that I not write it up here. If there are any long gaps here, then I’d bet that it’s probably because Corwin is preventing me from sharing his adventures.
Corwin and I spent the day at the wake. We got up kind of late, had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out to down town Austin for the event.
It was held in the Campus Club at the U. of Texas, which was a genteel dining room sort of arrangement, something Gramps would have liked. Most of the time was spent with people eating, drinking and talking, three of Gramps’ favorite things. There was a short interlude with people speaking about their remembrances of Gramps.
What did I remember? Mainly that my father spent a lot of time and effort on intellectual stimulation for the brothers. It’s hard to write about it like that because it sounds so distant and dry, even though it wasn’t. For instance, for a period of about 8 years we went on family driving vacations to Mexico, which were great fun and very interesting. Gramps bought lots of books, which I particularly appreciated. He got me started on computers by the time I was nine. He was an inveterate punster and a wit which I think contribute to my language skills. As is always the case, I didn’t really understand the extent of his efforts until I tried to duplicate them with my own children. As any of you who have children know, that puts a very different perspective on your own parents.
It was a good wake for a good man. The last thing I said to him was “it was a good run”, a sentiment he agreed with.
Cowin and I made it to Texas. We had to change planes once, but we met up with my father’s sister Pauline, who oddly enough was on the same flight to Austin. She recognized Corwin, although he’s a bit bigger than the last time she saw him.
Corwin enjoyed the plane flights (or so he claimed). He took the window seat both times. On the long flight to Austin he didn’t play with any of the toys he’d brought in his back pack. He slept some, stared out the window a bit and stared in to space for a while. He also spent some time sorting and arranging his box of Jelly Bellys. He ended up only eating about half of them and let me finish off the box.
We met up with Mimi (my mother), Uncle Evil (my evil brother) at the airport because the other relatives coming in to town were arriving just a half hour later than we were. Uncle Evil and Corwin immediately started running around and screaming (well, mostly Corwin was screaming) the airport baggage claim area. I am still surprised airport security didn’t haul the two of them off.
Eventually everyone was there and we headed off to my brother Craig’s house for dinner. Uncle Evil immediately engaged in a wrestling match with Corwin’s three cousins (10, 7 and 4). I got dragged in a bit but managed to stay outside the fray for the most part. Besides, the couch was only broken a little bit…
I showed some Alice video to the various aunts, which they enjoyed. Craig threatened me with dire revenge because of the toys I had sent them for Christmas, which apparently were a bit noiser than I had thought (I wish I could feel some level of guilt about that, but I am who I am). But that’s why I got a basement for the kids).
But now it’s time for sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.
This is some artwork Corwin made. It’s a picture of a building with various forms of transportation infrastructure in front of it. You can see a sidewalk, then a road (I like the lane markings in particular) and then a river with grassy banks. There’s a blue sky with just one black cloud in it. On the right is a parking lot with yellow lines marking the parking spots and a blue car (probably ours) parked there.
I realize that the weblog’s been pretty heavy on the pictures lately, but I got some new digital image editing software while I was in California and I can’t resist using it. Still, it’s a nice drawing.
Beyond that, Corwin and I are heading out very early tomorrow morning for Texas. We’ll be back late Monday. I should be frantically packing but Mom’s comment about Charles’ secret language was too cute to pass up.
We’re going down for my father’s wake. I told Corwin about that last night, which made him sad, but he seems more upbeat today. I know my Dad would have been happy to know Corwin misses him and will be able to come to the wake.
Mom has decided to call Charles home a day early because she misses him too much, even though he and Grandma are getting along better. Grandma had some trouble with Charles while she was here because Charles has created a new language. In this language, Charles says either “peas!” (please) or “hep!” (help). He uses inflection to indicate what, in particular, he needs or wants help with. This is a bit hard for other people to pick up (I generally have to guess 3 or 4 things before I get it right). Grandma has been struggling with this but Mom reports that she’s beginning to crack the code. If so, then I’ll have to have her explain it to me.
Mom has been enjoying her time home alone with Alice. That’s over now, because Corwin and I have returned to plague her.
Alice has been in for a checkup. The doctor claims that Alice is borderline failing her billirubin test. Corwin and Charles had similar problems when they were wee mights as well. Charles ended up getting tested a lot (Mom still remembers trudging out in the snow on Christmas week every day to get Charles tested).
As part of her treatment, she need to get extra light exposure. The doctor ordered it because it can’t hurt, so why not in a borderline case? He gave Mom a strap on “billi-blanket” for Alice. The blanket is hooked via fiber optics to a bulb in a machine that sits on the floor. The fiber optics carry the light from there to the blanket which glows at Alice’s skin.
Mom is supposed to strap Alice in to this glowing blanket 24 hours a day, although in practice it’s somewhat less than that. You can see Alice being held by Mom (the yellow blob in the background is Corwin). Shortly after this, Mom handed Alice over to Corwin, who was willing to hold her for a bit. This is really something for Corwin, who refused to touch Charles at all for years. I’m not sure if it’s the brother / sister difference or Corwin is just older.
On Saturday I took the boys to visit Mom and Alice. I suppose it was required, but I’m not sure how much anyone got out of it. Charles spent the whole time
Corwin spent his time
Corwin did actually touch his sister a couple of times, although neither boy was much interested in the new addition. Corwin told us that he remembered going to visit Charles when he was born, because he got to have chocolate pudding. Corwin pointedly reminded us that he remembered the chocolate pudding until Mom broke down and ordered lunch with chocolate pudding. Corwin ripped through his lunch like a ravenous wolf boy. I’m not sure if he was actually hungry or he realized he wouldn’t be allowed to eat the chocolate pudding until he’d finished lunch. He tried to eat Mom’s pudding as well, but I managed to intercept him. Corwin then told us to tell the staff that the food was “very good”. At least Corwin was able to do something that he’ll remember when he first met his sister.
Alice has been home for about 24 hours now. The boys have had a bit of a chance to get used to her. Suprising to me anyway, Corwin was actually pretty interested in her. He actually requested to hold her several times during the day and did a pretty good job of holding her.
Charles didn’t pay as much attention and became pretty lethargic in the evening. I was worried that he was feeling left out and was pouting. But I think instead he was just feeling bad from teething. He was generating lots of drool. This morning we all sat together and talked about babies and mommy’s tummy. He seemed a little bit more up and interested. Finally, he seemed happy to trundle out for an exciting week with Grandma.
Sorry about the lack of updating, but things are just a bit hectic. With that said, here is yesterday’s news:
We thought that Mom was going to be stuck in the hospital until last evening, but apparently she looked so pathetic (or was simply pacing too much) that they let her out early. I had snuck out of the house at the break of dawn to travel back to California, so I called her room during my stopover in Fort Worth. There was no answer.so I assumed that she was being subjected to some sort of test so I called the house to leave a message and - zounds! - there she was, free as a bird.
Of course, I’d spent quite a while the night before that in between packing to arrange for a babysitter to cover the boys while Grandma helped Mom to get home. Instead Mom had some friends of the family, the G—s, come over to watch the boys. I left Mom with the task of explaining this to Sophie the babysitter. We’ve tried to have her babysit before but it’s never quite worked out for some reason or another.
As for the G—s, the boys were originally scheduled to stay with the G—s while Grandma helped Mom during the delivery, but that changed when I managed to get back in time, and instead Grandma watched the boys. Corwin expressed some strong disappointment over not getting to visit, So, to give Mom some time alone with Alice, Charles will spend a couple of days with Grandma at her house (since Grandma only got to have Corwin over Christmas vacation) while Corwin hangs out with the G’s for a couple of days,starting tomorrow. I’m not too worried about alienating them, as they’ve had Corwin over before and presumably know what they’re letting themselves in for.
On the trip over to visit Mom, Corwin was in a definitional mood. Out of the blue, as we’re driving along, he asks why soda is called a “soft drink”. I try to explain that this is because there is no alcohol in them but of course Corwin has no idea what alcohol is. He’s never met someone who was drunk and I don’t think he’s really seen that on TV either. As an added bonus, I’m a teetotaler so I couldn’t speak from personal experience either. I did the best I could but I don’t think that I conveyed a lot of information on the subject to Corwin. I did at least clear up that beer was a hard drink, not a soft drink.
I mentioned to Corwin that he needed to be extra nice because Mom was under a lot of stress due to having a baby. Corwin then wanted to know what “stress” was. I couldn’t quite explain how it was different from “pain” or “being tired”. Corwin did ask if having a baby hurt a lot, which I confirmed. I mentioned that jumping on Mom, particularly Mom’s lap, was contraindicated for a while.
When we first decided to have children, I anticipated these kind of questions. I also assume that I’ll get the other questions about life, morality and the ways of the world. I’m ready for that. I enjoy teaching and explaining. Corwin’s next question, however, was not one I had anticipated at all and it left me stumbling for an answer - “Can I hit myself in the head with this toy?”. I’d like to see the parental guide that discusses that kind of question.
Mom called this morning to check in with the rest of the brood. She and Alice are doing fine, although Alice may have to stay an extra 24 hours because the results to some required test have been lost, so it doesn’t count as having been done.
While I was talking to Mom, I pestered Corwin.
Dad: Corwin, do you want to go see your little sister?Corwin: …yeah…
Mom: Such enthusiasm!
Dad: [to Corwin] Charles is a big brother now.
Corwin: Yes. And I’m a big brother twice over! Maybe I’ll be a big brother three times and Alice will be a big sister.
Mom: I don’t think so.
Grandma out is fetching supplies while I watch the boys. After that, we’re going out for pancakes and then to see Mom and little sister.
Here’s a first view of Alice for those who can’t wait. She’s about 20 minutes old in this picture. A nurse is checking her heartbeat. It’s hard to see in this small version, but in the full size one you can easily see the hairy shoulders Alice came out with. Mom claims that Alice has furry ears as well, but I haven’t verified that myself.
Alice seemed to like the camera. She turned toward me several times while I was angling for a shot.
I left Mom and Alice at the hospital. Alice has been napping most of the time since she was born and Mom was going to try to get some sleep time herself. She said she was feeling good for just having given birth, better than she felt at this point for the previous two.
But just to give you an idea of the type of woman Mom is, I’ll just note that in three pregnancies, she’s checked in to the hospital in the morning and had the baby delivered between 5 and 6 pm every time.
Alice arrived at 17:43 this evening at 19 inches and 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Mom’s primary remark “that was very strange”.
After we arrived at the hospital at about 11 AM, there was some concern that Mom wasn’t progressing very fast, possibly even that she was experiencing false labor. However, she did dilate to about 3 cm on her own. The doctor arrived around 3 pm and checked things out. She decided to hurry things along a bit by breaking Mom’s water.
Mom started having some more severe contractions shortly afterwards, which was a good sign. Around 5:30 the contractions got a little stronger and the nurse came in to check on progress. Mom was about 5 cm dilated at that point. The primary nurse, Stacey, commented that she wanted us to finish by the end of her shift at 7 pm, but Mom didn’t look hagard enough to make that likely.
About 10 minutes later Mom started having some serious contractions. I called the nurses in (three of them showed up). They told Mom not to push, which she tried to do but it was too much. After a few contractions Stacey arrived and all together they rolled Mom over on to her back near the end of a contraction. Mom claimed she felt something as a nurse said “there’s a head!”.
At this point there was clearly no holding back on the pushing. The next contraction put most of Alice out and the nurses pulled her the rest of the way. Mom and the nurses were somewhat stunned at this turn of events. Mom didn’t have more than 7 or 8 major contractions before it was over.
Alice was definitely a purplish blue when she came out and had a bit of difficulty breathing. The nurses gave her oxygen for a bit and she turned very red and then pink. She was a bit premature, but if so and still was almost seven pounds, she would have been huge if she’d hung on till the original due date.
Alice had a good head of hair and furry shoulders. Mom’s first question was “is she furry?” and Stacey was able to confirm this.
My mom called just before 6, or about 10 minutes after the delivery, just to check in. She was a bit stunned when I told her it was all over. Her first question was, of course, “is she a blue eyed girl?”.
The nurses fussed with Alice for about 45 minutes and then turned over to Mom for dinner. Mom tells me that the last sonogram showed Alice sucking in the womb. Mom hooked Alice up and Alice started feeding within moments. That reflex is fully functional.
Mom and Alice are doing fine. Mom was a bit stressed by the rapid delivery (“that was very weird, Alice”, she says). Mom even let me hold Alice for a little bit after she was done feeding.
After a hard day of travel, I made it back home for the blessed event. Mom and Grandma went off to the doctor this morning to have things checked out. It turns out that Mom was setting up to deliver on her own so it looks like a misestimated due date. Her blood pressure is actually down, but that’s irrelevant since nature is taking its course and Mom will be going in to labor today. More updates when possible, but for now we’re off to the delivery room.
Based on current medical information, Mom should be delivering her third child sometime on Friday morning. A little early, but Mom’s always been an overachiever. It appears, based on sonograms from today, that the original due date was misestimated. The birth weight should be over 7 lbs, which is plenty big enough. Therefore, don’t be concerned about the date change.
Corwin’s godfather and wife of godfather gave the boys delayed Christams presents last night. Corwin got a Dragon mega-blocks set, which he declared mega-cool. And immediately emptied all the little bags of parts in front of the TV.
He assembled the dragon and the claws with the cool light up bit immediately. We had to gather things up and go to bed before he got the castle done, so this will be a multi-day project. Corwin was wanting to do more assembly this morning, but I had to push him out the door so he could make the bus.
Charles is exercising his right to be car obsessive this morning. While I’m catching up on email this morning, he has gathered all the little match box cars on the first floor and carefully parked them next to me in two tidy rows. He made me move my laptop at one point because it was blocking a parking row.
Charles received a delayed Christmas present from the godfather last night. And suprise, suprise, it contained cars! Charles cooed with delight and pestered me incessantly until every last car was freed from its plastic wrapper prison. So we have even more cars floating around the first floor than normal.
Charles actually make tinkle in the potty this morning! Of course he made wet in the diaper first, but I’ll take a small victory where I can get it. So maybe we’re making progress on this potty training thing. Just in time for him to regress when the new baby comes.
I’m heading out of town this afternoon for a business trip. I won’t be back until a week from Wednesday, after which I’ll be taking a four day weekend in Texas with Corwin. This will give Mom the personal space she needs as she prepares for the birth experience. I will note that it was Mom who ratted me out in such a way as to get tagged for this trip, while she used her pregnancy as an excuse to be able to stay home. I might well have escaped as well had she not sent that fateful e-mail.
The result is that posting is likely to be somewhat sparse. I will have Internet access but no kid access. Although, I could just make stuff up ad post that…
Well, Mom decided that Charles should finally get dressed for the day, so she went up to get him some clothes. When she came down, Charles was gone. I ratted him out and told her that Charles was in my office on his computer. Mom retrieved him and tried to put clothes on him. Charles immediately claimed that he was “wet”. Mom asked him “how did that happen?”. Charles turned his head, put a finger up to the side of his chin and said “stinky!”. He was just the picture of deep thought. Mom thought that was funny so Charles started saying “wet — stinky!” and giggling. It was a successful ploy - Mom is back at her laptop and Charles still doesn’t have pants on (he did get a new shirt, though).
Corwin got his back scratcher for Christmas. He actually uses it, which I find surprising. He tends to smack nearby furniture with it as he gets set up but eventually makes contact with his back and scratches away. There’s something just kind of wrong with watching a seven year old boy use a back scratcher.
We’re still fighting the potty training battle with Charles. We’ve taken to being much more reluctant on changing his diaper, to encourage him to use the potty rather than suffering with a wet diaper.
Charles is a clever boy though. It didn’t take him long to figure out that if he sat on the potty, Mom and Dad wouldn’t put the old diaper back on him. This morning was typical. Charles had made just a little bit of wet in his diaper and demanded a new one. At first he claimed he was “stinky” so Dad took him up to change him. Dad quickly discovered that Charles was not, in fact stinky. Charles then said “Poop?” in a hopeful tone. Dad denied that as well and took him off the changing table. Charles immediately went fetal and started crying. After this didn’t have any effect on Dad, he switched tactics and asked to go “potty!” (which he insists on calling the “big potty” for unknown reasons). Now I’ll have to work out a counter to his counter.
We went out to Sam’s Club today to pick up some diapers and other sundries. We were more focused that usual and as a result Mom made an unfortunate comment on the way to the checkout to the effect that our cart was looking empty, whereas normally we worry that it’s going to cause an avalanche. Not wanting to have be the cause of undue mental stress for the Light of my Life (that’s my job) I immediately headed out to do more to help boost consumer spending.
One of the items I picked up was some Slim Jim meat snacks. These are a particular favorite of Charles. As soon as I put them in the cart, Charles demanded one of them. We told him he’d have to wait until at least after we had purchased the snacks. He accepted this and just fondled the container. Even after we got in the car, Charles insisted on holding the package. He then started playing with it like a guitar. It was cute, in a food obsessed kind of way.
For dinner, Mom served lima beans. Corwin thought this was fine, although he insisted on peeling the lima beans. I recommended against it, but Corwin was a dedicated little peeler. At least he eats them afterwards.
After Charles sprawled on the floor and cried for an hour, Mom relented and let him watch some Teletubbies. In one of the episodes on the DVD, the Tubbie Toast machine gets broken. Charles alerted Mom and Dad repeatedly t this fact. He even pointed out that it was Dipsy who broke the Tubbie Toast machine.
About the time the episode was ending, with no actual resolution of the broken machine problem. Charles ran out of the room and then charged back with one of his toy hammers. He waved it about and announced “fix it!”. Mom inquired as to whether he was going to fix the Tubbie Toast machine and Charles confirmed that yes, he was going to fix the Tubbie Toast machine. At least he knows that when something’s not working, the first thing to do is hit it with a hammer.
Corwin had today off from school for Christmas vacation, but Mom and I had to go to work. Mom went in early and I spent the morning doing some work at home. I managed to let the time get by me and suddenly it was late and I had to get Charles in to daycare. I hassled Corwin to get ready, but it was in vain. He got stuck looking for his shoes.
Corwin’s search technique is worth a post by itself, but basically he wanders around in the apparent hope that the object being searched for will jump out at him as he goes by.
In any event, Corwin’s search failed and time was running out, so I just sent him out to the car in his socks, since he was only going along in order to not be left at home alone and thus percipitating the downfall of western civilization.
When we returned sans Charles, I told Corwin as he came in the door “no TV, no computer, no anything until you find your shoes”. Literally ten seconds later, the shoes were located.
Corwin is over on my other laptop doing some instant messaging with Mom, who’s at work. She had called me up to verify that I had made it to my morning phone meeting, which lead in to a discussion of Corwin’s dressing habits. On that subject, I’ll just say that when Mom first called, Corwin had pants on but no shirt, but by the time Corwin started typing he had on a shirt but no pants.
I was surprised that Corwin used capital letters when he sent his message. I know plenty of others who don’t bother with that kind of thing. It was a bit surprising that he knew to use the shift key to do that - I don’t remember teaching him about that. Later he asked me “can I backspace?” to mean “can I eraase a character?”.
He does take after Dad a little bit. As he was typing, he commented critically on my font choice. That’s my boy!
Mom and Corwin wanted to stay up for the New Year but they were both cashed out by 11 pm. Mom went up to “take a nap”. I checked in on her about 11:55 but she wasn’t willing to get up. Corwin was far too deep in sleep to be worth rousing and Charles was snorking away. So it was just me, watching the New Year come. But it’s probably time for me to trundle on off to bed myself. You all have a Happy New Year!
When Mom picked up Corwin, she of course asked him how much he had missed Mom (and Dad too, I suppose). Corwin told her “not at all”. So apparently his most of a week with Grandma was fun enough that he didn’t mind being without Mom and Dad. I pretended that I didn’t remember his name in retaliation, but he wasn’t fooled. He seems overly confident that his parents will take him back whenever he wants.
Charles seems to really like having Big Brother back as well. Corwin was jumping on me, in the apparent belief that Dad having a functional back is a Bad Idea. Charles thought this was major fun and tried to help Corwin out. After that Corwin ran around in a circle and Charles chased him. I want to emphasize that Corwin was not running around anything, just in circles with Charles trundling along behind. It was better than when Mom first dropped by the office and Corwin dropped kicked a ball over a couple rows of cubes. A bit too much boyish enthusiasm for the work environment, I think.