Where is my stylus??

Email from mom to dad this morning:
"Hey- did you say that Ray was playing with my palm this morning?? If so, can you look in the sunroom or wherever she was with it? I am missing my stylus.... (note- this is the pen-like thing that comes with an electronic calendar like my Palm. Imagine my frustration today, trying to do this with my finger or a pen cap. Not good)

Can you hear my crankiness? That girl unzipped my bag, pulled it out and removed the stylus? How can she have that level of manual dexterity?"

Reply from dad:
"I have not found your stylus. I will ask her when she wakes up. It was worse than you think. She had obtained your small highlighter and covered the Palm's screen with it. I hand cleaned your Palm this morning. She also thought it was chapstick and had covered her face. We can get a new stylus at Stapes if need be."


Hmmm. What is worse, the lost stylus, the thought of her covering my PalmPilot with yellow highlighter or her using highlighter as if it was chapstick? I am puzzled by how she did all this with a closed bag and a mere couple of minutes alone in the sunroom. Clearly, we need full lockdown of stuff in our house. Maybe I will install a series of lockers by the front door.

On another note, I am now wondering what things I miss when I head out the door each day. The version originally told me was a passing, "I found Raynham playing with your palm". No highlighter, no cleaning...

Jay Babys BBQ

Speaking of Jason, you got to visit Jay Baby's BBQ. Awesome sauces and rubs. Tonight we'll be trying the Best Burger's Ever marinade.

dude, gotta skateboard to school

Aunt April and Uncle Jason just came up to visit from Georgia and brought Galen a great birthday present - a skateboard! Of course he was thrilled. Apparently not so some of the parents at Galen's school. One of the moms was not happy to see Galen coming to school on his board - quite disapproving. He is too small and it is too dangerous and now her kid wants one. This from a house I won't let Galen visit any more as his 6 year-old friend has a TV in his room and is allowed to watch violent Anime and movies like Spiderman and X-Men. Sorry, but I'd rather my kids get some scrapes and bruises than watch that stuff. TV like that for a kid so young does nothing for them and retards emotional development. A skateboard presents needed physical and emotional challenges. The ride to school was a combination of dealing with balance and dealing with frustration. Both good for a kid.

I am official

I am officially distracted and you may see more regular blogs from me in the future...

For now, I am running off to Galen's soccer game, trying to put away the workday and take on my children. We will have to see if Raynham can be controlled on the sidelines tonight. Last time, she had been offered a kid's size chair to use on the sideline which she LOVED. Too bad it was on the side of the WRONG field. Ray was not going easy though- the other parents were laughing at me as I tried to negotiate her away from the chair and over to the other field. She was not happy and thought the solution was for me to go over to the other field and leave her with the chair, or else take the chair with her. In the end, I had to pick up said upset child and march her over to where we needed to go.

Here is hoping Dad brought her chair this week....

geekdad moment - rockets for 6 year-olds

Galen just had his 6th birthday and is preparing for his second summer home with his stay-at-home dad. We don't put the kids in activities in the summer. It makes for a struggle to get work done but we have a routine worked out. While the little one sleeps in the afternoon, Galen does quiet activities while dad works. This summer Galen has requested that Space be his theme. He will be making his first solitaire game about battling space fleets, plus making some visits to the local Planetarium. However, what better way to start the Summer of Space than with Rocketry! We got a starter rocket kit and have already made several 300 foot launches. Next we are getting the big engine to launch to 600 feet. Lots of discussion of how rockets work, thrust versus parabolic flight, how parachutes work. And of course, it kinda makes him cool with his friends when he gets to handle working rockets (live propellant!). We don't have video yet, but take a look at this clip on YouTube to get the idea.

my religious kids

Distracted Mom here...

I have been avoiding doing this post because it touches on something we hardly ever discuss... religion.

When the kids were born, we didn't really talk about religion. As a couple we went to church sporadically, mostly because Distracted Dad is athiest and I border on agnostic, if truth be told. I struggle with my faith and church. We did my son's baptism at 6 months of age and then just left things as they were, after all he was too young to "get" church. As he has grown older, and our second child was born, everything remained the same and at the time it had a lot to do with where we were living and that I hadn't found a church I liked. With the move to Hamilton, that has changed.

My son's baptism was in a Hamilton church, the same one my sister was married in. I loved this church and the minister- it was big, beautiful and has a great choir. My son was 5 when we moved and we still hadn't had my daughter's baptism but as she was a toddler, the excuses were hard to come by. We, as parents, needed to make a decision about religion, church and how we would raise our kids.

We go to church most Sundays, my daughter's baptism was last weekend and she didn't cause the scene I was secretly fearing, although truth be told, at 2 years of age she was a bit big and heavy compared to most kids on their baptism and ended up mooning the congregation due to issues of big/heaviness and a nice pink dress riding up while her pull-up underpants rode... (well you get my meaning) Religion has entered my kid's lives.

My son has embraced this in a rather odd (to me) way- he remarked at Easter that the best thing was NOT the chocolate but Jesus and insisted on washing my feet after hearing about the Last Supper. I was never like this as a child. He builds churches with legos and we all smile politely, exclaim what a nice steeple he made and look at each other, "Is this really happening??" we say to each other with significant looks. My mother-in-law said something brilliant on the subject though... Jesus is the ultimate superhero, why wouldn't he embrace all this? And this is true for Galen. He has MAGICAL powers he told me recently. I am learning to relax about my son and he feelings about church and God.

My daughter on the other hand goes to a preschool in a Jewish temple and although it is not a "Jewish" school, they do mark Friday's with Shabbat, challah bread and singing/dancing. She comes home with all these crafts which I can't recognize - like the Ram's horn I thought was a weird cornucopia because it had no fruit and veggies in it last fall (a shofar, to proclaim Rosh Hashanah). I have learned to Google the Jewish holidays when I get something I can't relate to - "why are there all these crafts with bees and honey? What is Purim and why are they supposed to dress up for school? Dress up in what? Is it normal to mark a religous holiday in a dolphin costume or am I doing something mildly offensive by sending her in her Halloween costume?". I am learning the Jewish calendar, their holidays and celebrations through her days off and activities at school. She sings in Hebrew and absolutely insisted that she bring her menorah to Christmas eve...

In the end, this makes me laugh. Religion in my family means we are the athiest, agnostic, JesusFreak and Jew....

what stay-at-home parents do all day

RebelDad pointed out a great reply at the Washington Post to the question of what stay-at-home parents do all day.

Considering that I run a bioinformatics consulting company when the kids are at school (part-time) or sleeping (not always), I find that there is absolutely no "me time" in the day or even quiet time to flip the laundry or make a grocery list. Those spare moments are dedicated to working. Making the jump from kids reading and rest time to performing statistical analyses and then back to kids again is mind bending. And of course, there is no energy left after they are in bed to get more than rudimentary house or computer work done. Besides, it is kind of nice to have an adult chat with my wife in the evening.

good-bye peaceful mornings

Today our 2 year-old daughter finished her nap, got out of her bed,
and opened her own door. Up until now, she couldn't open the door.
Thus our mornings are screwed. She will now be walking in at all hours.

and the walls come tumbling down

Thump thump thump, goes the boy down the second floor stairs. Crash
crash crash, goes the plaster above the basement stairs. I certainly
hope he is good a re-plastering ceilings.

soccer / star of the day / hat n' gum day

Well, Tuesday and Wednesday have been full days. Yesterday we had baby Emma and aunt Donnie over for part of the afternoon so Donnie could get a nap and dinner. The kids also got a chance to video-chat with aunt April in Georgia. And then off to Soccer Evaluations. Galen was good to go in all of his new gear and Dad got asked to be the evaluation coach. I had 5 & 6 years olds running drills all over the field while my 2 year-old daughter wandered about moving the pylons just to keep things interesting. All the kids did great and the season starts officially on the 22cd. We got home around 7:30 and Galen showered while Raynham ate. In the morning, Raynham had a bath while Galen and I picked up the house. Galen also prepared a drawing based on "Super Diaper Baby" (a comic book) and dressed up one of Raynham's dolls as Supper Diaper Baby as he was Star of the Day at school. Of course, Star of the Day is nothing more than Show and Tell, but you know the schools gotta superficially work on kid's self esteem by making them Star of the Day. Anyway, it went over well. It was also Hat 'n Gum day at school so Galen got to wear at hat at school and pay $2 so he could chew gum. This is yet another of the school's bizarre fundraisers for their esoteric charities. I think this one was for a goat rehabilitation project in Eritrea or something like that. We kept getting bled for $2 every few weeks as the alternative is to have your child be the loser in the class who cannot participate. In other words, it is the world's best blackmail scheme.

Today is a smog day in Hamilton, you can taste the smelters down at the steel mills. Hot and muggy. I even had to switch the house over to A/C to make things more comfortable. Thunderstorms expected.

Raynham has daily been visiting the neighbours mess of kittens. I'm worried we are going to be getting a pet sooner than later.

Joanna finishes her conference today and travels home tomorrow. The kids have already requested to track her flights on the computer.

thank goodness for the good weather

I love spring and summer! The kids have been in the back yard
constantly, making it very easy to get things done around the house.
If only they would tolerate winter weather more.

dude, you're too high

Of course, now that one of my larger contracts has started the Canadian dollar has to hit an 11 month high against the US dollar. My contract is with a US company and I was hoping for a good exchange rate to make the most of the income...

a good sunday

Yesterday was a very good day with the kids. The weather was lovely
so we spent the entire day outdoors (after making our much needed
trip to the hardware store). I got an incredible amount of stuff
done as Raynham played with the kittens next door most of the day and
Galen played with his friend Sam. I got the lawn mower repaired and
cut the lawn and then applied our new trimmer. I cleaned the outside
of the house from Galen's mud throwing fest this winter (why!?!). We
also fixed a ton of small things in the house with the new hardware.
We only got this house in the fall so this is our first spring.
Everything is quite overgrown but is starting to look a lot better.

There are birds everywhere, which is great. Our garden is full of
native plants so it is very attractive to birds. I added some suet
and am setting up a humingbird feeder.

We didn't talk with Joanna last night due to the conference
schedule. The kids had a good night, a bath, and went to bed fine.
Now lets see how getting them ready to school goes this morning...

sleep without mom

Yesterday was a good day, but we didn't get much done. Friday night
my children went to sleep early and then slept in Saturday morning.
Then both had afternoon naps, Raynham's being nearly 4 hours. With
all of this sleep and the accompanying endless hunger, I'm surprised
we got anything done at all. But we did manage Free Comic Day
shopping and buying new soccer gear. Today maybe we'll make it to
the hardware store (dad needs a new gas can). However, bedtime last
night was a bit different. We had a dinner, some play, and then got
into PJs on time. After some reading in the sunroom, both kids went
to bed around 8 pm (their usual time). Raynham proceeded to sing
until 9 pm and Galen walked down at 10 pm unable to sleep. Routine
is not routine without mom, it seems. I think both just felt things
were not quite right and could not settle. Of course, both were up a
6 am this morning.

We talked with Joanna on the phone. The hotel's internet services in
Brazil amount to one wired PC in the lobby, it seems. No video
conferencing for us. But this is slightly better than when I taught
in El Paso on year. The best hotel in town's "full service" internet
amount to some strange semi-interactive TV channel. Joanna hit the
beach and caught up with colleagues. Today she tours the island and
then PRIMO starts in earnest.

Today we are going to enjoy the good weather and start working on the
new sand box, assuming we make it to the hardware store.

a walking brand

Today my son is wearing Scooby Doo underpants, Lightning McQueen
socks, Spiderman shirt and shoes, and a Nike Hockey sweater. What
the hell is wrong with us?

as she approaches Florianopolis

My children's world is so different from my childhood. My dad used
to travel a lot and it was like he went into a Black Hole. In
contrast, my kids checked on mom's plane using an online Flight
Tracker before they went to bed to make sure she had left Atlanta on
time. They then brought up a map of where the plane was at that very
moment. This morning they used Google maps to figure out where
Florianopolis was, how far it was from Hamilton, and to view its
topography. Joanna is nearing her final destination as I write this
and soon the kids will be video chatting with her from a different
Hemisphere via iChat or Skype. Unbelievable.

Yesterday was a good day as the kids spent the day with my aunt
Heather while I took Joanna to the airport and did some shopping.
Very nice that there is an official Apple store between our house and
the airport. I got Galen his first video game (a John Deere game for
3-6 year olds involving construction) and got Raynham her long
desired first piggy bank. Nothing funnier than a two year-old
walking around the house with a ceramic pig, talking to it and
kissing it for about four hours. Today we are going to the Comic
Store up the street as it is an open house with free kids comics,
plus getting Galen his new soccer gear (season starts this week).

there she goes...

Joanna is off to the Pollutant Responses in Marine Organisms (PRIMO) meeting in Florianopolis (Brazil) tomorrow. The kids and I are on our own for a week. Seems only fair since I got to meetings in Scotland, Washington, Portugal, and more while she got to stay at home. PRIMO is usually in great places and she missed the last two due to the birth of children. Ironically, one of the talks she will see will be from one of my contracts (a microarray study of TCDD and tBHQ exposed zebrafish embryos). She better keep her comments to herself!

Since she is away and will want updates, I'm going to finally start using this blog as I intended - a frequent update on what has been going with the family and with my work. Rumor has it one of my big contracts started on May 1st (more microarray work and some genomic analyses) but I don't expect it to kick in until after PRIMO. Spring is finally here in Ontario and the kids are much happier. Both will have the summer months off again with me, which will make getting consulting work done a bit more tricky. I've certainly found the 2.5 hours they are in school very useful. Even though Raynham is 2 years old now and sleeps a full night, I still don't have much power to do complicated work after the kids are in bed. Maybe I'll have that strength when I turn 40.

We finished our US and Canadian taxes and came out on top. Surviving that and the fact that contracts are starting to come, we are hopeful I can remain a stay-at-home dad for the next few years until both kids are in school full time. Certainly it has been great for Joanna to have me at home as she sets up her new lab at McMaster. I'll admit that winter was hard. Poor weather can make life at home with kids difficult. With the good weather here, even if I'm in the kitchen cooking, the kids can still spend longer time out in the backyard. Time to make the sandbox I've been promising. That and catch up on the garden.