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    A different kind of Movie Monday

    June 22nd, 2015

    I went away on a business trip last week. I brought my little iPad Air with me. It’s my device, though 90% of it’s use these days is done by individuals under 4′ in height. As such, I’ve been discovering some “goodies” on it…

    As I opened up my photos app to look through some of the images I had taken during one of the panels I sat on. Instead I found what is close to 100 photos and videos. Of what? Lesse, corner of G’s forehead. Another corner of G’s forehead. Same corner of G’s forehead… about 10 times in succession. Then some blurry examples of his minecraft dragon, S’ desk… all with at least 5 exposures of each. You get the picture? (no pun intended)
    Nestled in these were also a couple of videos. One of them stood out because it was quite long. Of what you say? See for yourself.
    [youtube=http://youtu.be/z-UH47RCLSw]
    Feel free to keep the audio off — it provides absolutely no value.

    I started watching it, a bit confused. Maybe he thought he was still in still mode, but was accidentally recording in video. I mean why else spend so much time recording your feet. But as I kept watching his journey around our home, it became very clear to me that this was no accident — it was intentional. And in his thinking, G took a full on tour around the house opening every door he had access to, presenting it all to his home movie. I started cracking up before we were a minute in, and kept laughing all the way through. Well… all except to the point where he took the video into the bathroom, put the toilet seat down, and I seriously thought he was about to record himself using the restroom. Thankfully that is NOT featured. So then I continued on with the laughing. Mind you, I was watching this at a bit after midnight, hoping my housemates didn’t think I was looney.

    The next day I asked him about it. Surprisingly he still remembered doing it, given that he recorded it back in early April. I asked him what he was trying to do? His answer? Try to see how long of a video he could take and fill up the pad. D’oh! Well, lucky for me he got bored after 6 minutes and two passes through the house.

    So yes, enjoy! I’m sure it will not have nearly the same entertainment value to you as it did to me, but have at it anyway. My butt makes a cameo :-/ — I’m going to have to teach this kid a bit more about composition.


    Father’s Day goodies

    June 21st, 2015

    I’m kicking myself a bit. S2 brought home a questionnaire about his dad. I can’t find it, and therefore can’t scan/share it. D’oh!
    Instead, however, we get a treat of this cup he created for his dad. It’s of he and his brother skydiving, while S is playing basketball. S is so awesome, he gets to play with two balls!!!

    2015-06-21 14.50.54

    That aside, these boys are two lucky kids with S as their dad. He’s a great balance to my crazy and stubborn and can reach them during their tunnel-visioned angry moments in ways I simply can’t. He’s an incredible, incredible dad, and I couldn’t be on this parenting ride without him.

    Love you, babe, and Happy Father’s Day!

    UPDATE: I found it! Of course right after I stopped looking, and moved onto something else, it popped up — right on S’ desk. So, here goes. A perspective on his dad, by S2

    2015-06-236


    Beach-time

    June 7th, 2015

    This morning the boys and I headed to the beach. S needed some quiet time at home to get some work done, and the kids seem to tolerate each other outdoors, so off we went. We ended up on Pescadero State Beach.

    A few weeks ago we went strawberry picking and S2 pleaded for 8 minutes (he was very precise!) at the beach on the way home. I agreed, thinking if G hated it, 8 minutes would be fine. G hated the beach in the past: it was too loud, and he just really didn’t dig it. That day was the first time we’d gone since he declared that. Those 8 minutes, though, turned into more than half an hour, and I could barely peal both of them away. The two were busy chasing each other, finding logs and sticks of all sizes, and throwing them into the water.

    So I wanted to go again — this time less stressed for time and something we had to do later. Today seemed like a good day.

    During our last beach visit, S2 declared he didn’t like sand in between his toes… but didn’t want shoes either, so he was running around in socks the whole time.
    G found a ball (spherical objects are somehow magnetically attracted to this kid… and vice versa). The beach was deserted, so I figured “finders keepers” applied at that moment. So we have a new ball!

    I won’t lie — being alone with the two of them freaks me out. I won’t let them anywhere near the water which helps, but we are a LONG way away from me reading or doing anything but staring in their direction when we’re out there. And those two are fast! Thankfully, G IS his brother’s keeper when we go, and is very helpful in running after him and corralling him back.

    We took snacks, we took pads (it about an hours drive each way, so it’s my deal with them), and life was good.

    Now here’s a gratuitous over-share of photos.

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    He rides!!!

    June 1st, 2015

    For his birthday last year, we got G his first pedal bike. We thought it would be a big win after all the awesome stuff he’s been doing with his Strider, but he saw it, and was not in the least amused. Total number of minutes driven on it? 0!!!

    Until today, that is!

    About a week ago he expressed some interest in riding his new bike. We brought it with us to a play-date party, and even though it never left the vehicle, perhaps a bug was planted. He asked to ride today, and S took him. As much as I wanted to, as well, G explicitly asked that I didn’t. Don’t know what that’s about, but I honored his request.

    I got this video from S a little bit later:
    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb6DhYTZObk]

    Our boy rides!!!

    The coolest part, is that it was with (what I understand) NO help from S. S was helping S2, and when he looked up G was some 20+ feet away already going at it. There was no holding, no running after him, no training wheels. He just got it! He needed to figure out how to get some momentum with his pedals, but he rides. Yeah for balance bikes.

    They got started on the grass, so that if he fell it would be a softer landing. But riding on the grass sucks, as anyone knows, so they moved next door to the dirt mount of the baseball field.

    I’m excited! I’m hoping this will be the start of some week-end rides for us.