Opposite Universe

Why is it that little kids seem to interpret everything you try to tell them just the opposite of what you really said?

"Anthony, be quiet while you are getting ready for bed, Paxton is already sleeping."

"Okay. KENRICK MOM SAID TO BE QUIET! DON'T HIT ME WITH YOUR SHOE!"

Oh good grief.

And time has no meaning.

"Okay guys, we need to eat quickly and get ready to go or you'll be late for school. Kenrick, why are you staring into space? Get your shoes on! Anthony, you were supposed to have your backpack ready half an hour ago! Kenrick, put food in your mouth!

The later we are the slower they move.

The more often you tell them, the less they hear.

Right is left. "Look out" means "Turn around and walk backwards just to make sure you run into the telephone pole."

Today we were at the art fair, which with little kids is a recipe for disaster. I've got to give the boys credit because they did really well, but I could tell they were struggling. "This stuff is fragile guys, don't touch," which in the opposite universe of five and seven year olds must have sounded like: "Touch the vase. Go ahead, pick it up. Or feel the painting, it probably feels scratchy..."

True Story

The other day I stopped by a local Jimmy John's for lunch. They were so fast that I got my sandwich before I even ordered. Freaky.

High Water

Last weekend we got about seven inches of rain in two and half days and the river has been rising ever since. The pictures of the high water downtown looked impressive, so we wandered into Peoria this afternoon to look for ourselves. The water level was about ten feet above the normal high water mark, which means that most of the riverfront park and some of the roadway next to the river was under. Impressive.

Captain, Captain! It looks like we've run aground!

Looking up the train tracks at Water street (aptly named?). The riverfront park is to the left, downtown Peoria to the right.

"What do you mean, tonight's show is canceled?"

*** We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program ***

FEED ME!

Game On!

Saturday was Kenrick's first soccer game, and my first as a coach. Go team!

Despite my general incompetence our little team actually looked like they knew what they were doing, and Kenrick took to the field like a fish to water. Here he is (in blue, front and center) chasing down the ball for another shot on goal.

The teams are six-on-six with no goalie, and since only six of the nine kids on Kenrick's team showed up to brave the rain they all got a good workout. Time for a breather.

Kenrick played really well, but has some learning to do. One time he took the ball from one end of the field to the other. "Kenrick, you are supposed to be playing defense!"

"But Dad, I didn't see anyone to pass it to."

Dad has some learning to do as well, as I was graciously reminded by the high school girls soccer player/referee that the team that was scored on gets to kick the ball from center to start play again, not the scoring team! Oh. Guess I'd better find that rule book again.

Paxton Grows (some more)

Paxton is showing an early aptitude for under-table repair work...

And eating. First banana, down the hatch!

And eating. "I really hope these apples fill me up better than that crate of prunes did."

Time to get clean after a day's worth of fun.

There's no stopping them now

This summer marked an epic achievement for Anthony in the bike riding department. Now Kenrick has a companion on his endless loops around the block.

First Day of School

I was looking through some recent pictures and realized that I hadn't posted the kids first day of school pic! Kenrick's a big second grader. Anthony's trying not to get crushed by his backpack on his way to kindergarten.

Keeping Things Interesting

Saturday was an eventful day.

Kenrick started his soccer career with a little clinic in Chillicothe designed to help gauge talent and set up teams for a small league that our gym organizes. Basically the clinic consisted of some simple kicking and dribbling drills, a race to the end of the field and back, and lots of high-fives from the local college team players who were in charge. I don't know how Kenrick 'ranked', but he looked good to me and he had fun doing it. Teams and practices will be set up next week with games on Saturday mornings, we'll keep you posted.

Anthony is getting better at riding his bike. He was actually able to push off of a short stool to get himself going and spend the better part of the afternoon doing the alley-sidewalk circle around our block with Kenrick following closely behind. I think his cheeks got a little sore from smiling so much. Until he wrecked. But wrecks are a part of biking and he shook it off, new scrape on the knee and bruise on the shin, ready to go again.

Paxton made his first unplanned trip to the prompt care. He was crawling happily around on the kitchen floor while I was making breakfast and he got his index finger pinched in the refrigerator door hinge. I had the door opened while he was playing with the refrigerator magnets and didn't notice that he'd grabbed the hinge. When I closed the door he let out a howl and started waving his hand around. I felt terrible. His fingernail was hanging by a thread, so Andrea took him in to the prompt care - second trip in two Saturdays - to get it checked out. They said that the nail might re-attach, but it might not. And if not, it might grow back, but maybe not. Take two aspirin and call in the morning. Ya gotta love modern medicine. Anyway, the fingernail came off today, but Paxton seems okay otherwise.

Not to be outdone, I dropped a butter knife on my foot...

Paxton Grows

Ironically, when you're the most busy with interesting things to put in your blog then you have no time to sit down and actually update it. Through roof repairs (a future post), convention, crazy busyness at work, and the Olympics, time marches on and Paxton is growing with it. So for a quick post, here's a couple of (semi-)recent pictures of the Pax-man.

He hasn't quite gotten the hang of a bottle by himself yet, but he sure looks like he knows what he's doing.

A while back Andrea was working at the table and Paxton was rolling around on the rug underneath. Pretty soon he started making noises like he was distressed and Andrea looked down to find that he's crawled through a chair in pursuit of a scrap of paper and gotten stuck. He's crawling full bore now, and the more he goes the more curious he gets.

Don and I went for a bike ride and took Paxton and Hudson along. I wasn't sure how his first trailer ride would go, but the car seat fit just perfectly and Paxton seemed to enjoy the trip, even falling asleep half-way through the ride.

Paxton was seven months this week.

Getting Dressed

On Sunday morning we were trying to get everyone dressed and Anthony kept getting distracted. "Daddy?" he said, walking into our room, "I want you to wear your blue tie."

"Anthony, why do you only have one sock on? Go get dressed!"

Two minutes later: "Daddy?"

"What?"

"I really want you to wear a blue tie. Are you going to wear a blue tie?"

"I don't know what tie I'm going to wear. And why aren't you dressed? You only have your socks on!"

"I know, but I want you to wear a blue tie."

"GO GET YOUR CLOTHES ON!"

Five minutes later:

"Daddy, I'm all dressed. But can you help me put my socks on?"

Full House Once Again

Chaos and Catastrophe have returned. Andrea met her mom in Nebraska last week to pick up Kenrick and Anthony. It was pretty quite around here for the two and a half weeks that they were at Grandpa and Grandma's, but it's good to have them back.

Grandma said that while they were there she got a chance to really figure out their personalities: Kenrick likes a good hearty laugh. Anthony like a good hearty meal. Well said.

Racing in the Rain

Last Saturday Don and I did the Lake Evergreen Sprint Triathlon in Bloomington. It was the first time either of us had done this event before and so we didn't know quite what to expect (aside from the swim-bike-run part), but everything went pretty well. The lake was warm and the course was flat and Rob is as slow than ever. It was also the first time we'd competed in a torrential downpour. The rain came down all morning long, sometimes not much more than a drizzle but every now and then it fell so hard that I wished I was wearing my swim goggles.

All 100 of the sprint distance men started together so that made for an interesting pile of bodies and thrashing limbs at the beginning. I didn't get kicked too many times. Don and I are circled in red in the picture below, trying not to get run over while the crowd starts to thin out a bit.

The swim was 500 meters, a good distance for me, and I got out of the water in pretty good shape. The bike was 40 km (about 25 miles) which was the same as the international distance triathlon that was going on at the same time, and that wasn't such a good distance. Fortunately the out-and-back course was relatively flat, the wind was blowing in the right direction, and the rain let up for most of the time that I was on my bike, but I was still pretty beat by the time I got back to the park.

Don was well ahead of me by this time. Here he is (in grey) at the beginning of the 5 km run, tracking down a little more formidable competitor.

I plodded over the finish line about twelve minutes behind him, two hours and seven minutes after and about ten pounds heavier than when we started.

Don placed second out of eight in his age class (well done, buddy!). I pretty much brought up the tail of the ten in mine, placing eighth and about 60th of 120 overall.

We had an excellent cheering section. Don's number one fan, along with little fans #2 and #3:

Paxton was there too, braving the elements in his stylish little raincoat.

Paige and Marina brightened things up a bit in their pink outfits and matching umbrella.

And I get a soggy hug from my girl, who has said that she wants to do the swim part on a relay team next year. We'll have to hold her to that!

Happy Half-Birthday Paxton!

Paxton is six months old.


Today he crawled for the first time. Kind of. He's been pulling himself across the floor on his belly for a while, every now and then getting up on his hands and knees and, with a mighty heave forwards, tipping himself on his nose, but today he put the front and rear halves in motion together for a couple of feet. Then he tipped over on his nose.