Hide and Seek, Minus the Clothes

Note: The title is not intended to be read as a suggestion for adventurous post-bedtime activities, but instead as a reference to the below photograph. Still, make of it what you will. I'm not here to judge.

The Photograph in Question:

That's Cam.
Naked.
Under the bed.
Don't ask me why, I have no idea.

I gave the kids a bath today, and as I was getting Con dressed, I could hear Cam laughing behind me. When I finished up with baby boy, I turned around and saw a foot sticking out from under the bed. I reached for him, at which point he retreated further under the bed and started laughing harder.

Like him, I could see the humor in this.
Unlike him, however, I could not see the appeal.

You see, it was a good 20+ minutes of this before he actually came out. While I can see actually doing something like this for 2-3 minutes, tops, he was still just as thrilled about it at the end of the 20+ minutes, when I finally got him to come out. Even then, he only came out because we were about to go somewhere fun, and before we could leave he had to be both:

a) out from under the bed
and
b) dressed

I'm pretty sure that I would have become unbearably bored and uncomfortably cramped if I had stayed under there for anywhere near that long. Isn't he supposed to be the one with the short attention span? I'm confused. Anyway, I say it at least once a day and today is no exception; Cam is the silliest boy. I am not going to qualify that statement by saying that he is the silliest boy that I know, or anything along those lines, as that might imply that there was actually some boy out there that I didn't know that might, in fact, be a sillier boy. Perhaps I should just say that Cam is the silliest and leave it at that.

The rest of the pictures I ended up with of him were somewhat less internet friendly.
I'll just say that despite  my best efforts, they turned out somewhat tainted.

I am a big fan of naptime. Seriously, I love naptime. We're simpatico, naptime and I.
I'm not the best multitasker out there, so naptime for the kids tends to be try-to-get-as-much-stuff-done-as-I-can-before-the-kids-wake-up time for Dad. If I don't get enough done during naptime, the day feels wasted to me.

Right around the time she turned three, Ellie decided she wasn't taking naps anymore. That was a very sad day in our household. As were all of the subsequent evenings in our home for months after that. You see, even though we couldn't get her to take a nap anymore, her body still needed it. She was sooooooo grumpy most evenings, due to the sudden nap deficiency, but there was just no swaying her on the topic.

Aside from the resultant increase in overall grumpiness levels, the other consequence of the cessation of napation was a crippling blow to parental naptime productivity. I mention this because, despite my best efforts to convince him otherwise, Cam (now almost 3) is getting to that same point now. He is at the same age Ellie was when she stopped, and he has been resisting naptime more and more with each passing day. While he has been doing pretty well when awake during the would be naptime, the real problem comes a few hours later; Sometime after 4:00 he starts to get really grumpy, and those last few hours of wakefulness are just a blur of unpleasantness. Anyway, I want to find a way to stop the tide of inevitability on this one, but I'm afraid that this is really just a losing battle.

The bright side, I think that having both he and Ellie awake during naptime is easier than it was when Ellie starting skipping naps, since they can keep each other occupied somewhat.

Naptime, thank you for all that you've done for us. We love you, and even though you'll be gone, you'll still be with us in our hearts (cue montage of naptime, set to Boys II Men's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye").

Siri Con Carnage

Alright, so these are clearly not iPhone 4's or 4S's (3G and 3GS), but the title sounded better that way, so I used it.

Since the day his teeth came in, Con has been an enemy to cell phones (and hands, forearms, etc) everywhere. He attacked Megh's phone two months ago, but had only developed the jaw strength to slightly damage a phone. Those were the days...

Not too bad. The teeth marks are almost cute...

My how things have changed. The little guy still has a taste for cell phones on par with Michelangelo's taste for peanut butter and anchovy pizza, but his jaw's a bit stronger than it used to be. His potential for cell phone destruction has increased accordingly. So yeah, for all of the more math-minded of you out there,
Teething Children + Phones = Not Good.
Fortunately, Megh's and I were planning on upgrading to our next phones within the next two weeks anyway. To the phone's credit, it still totally works.
Anyone want a damaged iPhone?

Not cute. Not cute at all.

Nope.

And no.

Multitasking and Mischief

Elles was at a sleepover with her cousin last night, so it was just me n' the boys for a while there. While that's usually a great opportunity for the boys and I to dude-it-up for a little while, I had a lot of things that I needed to take care of. This is a recurring theme for me. Truth be told, the ever waging battle between getting things done and taking care of the kids has been THE recurring theme for as long as I've been staying with the kids.

Case in point: last night.

As I was preparing dinner for the boys, I could see more or less where they were in the play room, but with sections of wall/etc in the way, I couldn't tell exactly what they were doing. Nonetheless, I could still hear them, so between hearing them and catching glimpses of them every 30 seconds or so, I felt that I had things under control while I cooked. After all, the boys sounded like they were having fun.

Then I came out with dinner.

Cam had gotten hold of a crayon and proceeded to paint the town. And by paint, I mean color. And by town, I mean house. The rest of that is pretty much right. I suppose the reason it sounded like the kids were having fun is because they were, in fact, having a blast doing their best impression of Harold (of "and the Purple Crayon" fame).

That's the one

Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to wash the crayon off of everything (try Goo Gone), but I am hoping that we don't have a repeat performance anytime soon. Looking back on the incident, I can see how this probably wouldn't have happened on any other night, because I would have heard Elles chiding him or telling me about it, but still, I need to get better at this whole multitasking thing.

Sickness, Spatulas, and Yogi Bear

Last night, as I stood up to go see what the Mrs. was up to in the other room, I was alarmed to find that I felt dizzy, cold, and that my head hurt. I had sneezed several times earlier, so I wasn't shocked that I was feeling sick now, per say; What surprised me was that I hadn't noticed any of that until I stood up. In the time it took to stand up, I went from feeling more or less alright to completely lousy. I should note that, even with the below par ankle, it does not take me long to stand up. This isn't some bizarre 20 minute standing up ritual that I was doing, just regular-type standing up. So yeah, I was alarmed to find that, during this brief passage of time, my health changed so rapidly. 

Anyway, fast forward to today, and even a giant spatula couldn't have pried me up from my bed. Bed spatulas should be a thing. At the very least, the bed itself could tilt over to the side to spill you out. I don't know, that's just one way it could work -- I just came up with the idea right now, so the details are somewhat nebulous. Really, that's all beside the point though. What I'm trying to say is that I've felt drained, sleepy, dizzy, and just overall unpleasant today. 

Is narcolepsy contagious? It looks like they've got a full on outbreak.
Alternative caption: "Is there a carbon monoxide leak in this house?"
- Micheal Bluth

Kids Say Funny Things Sometimes

Elles - "Now we'll count and you hide."
Dad - "I can't really hide so well with my ankle being hurt."
Elles - "Well, maybe you could stand really still, and you will look like a statue."
Dad - "I'm not sure that would work."
Elles - "You could lay down and stay still on the carpet and you would just look like part of the carpet..."

Not surprisingly, it did not take them long to find me.

As I thought about it, becoming a convincing statue
would have required a lot more dedication than I could muster.
Also, that would have totally freaked out the kids.

The other day, she was busy making a nest outside with rocks and grass, just in case there were little people living under the house and they needed a place to stay (remember, we watched Arrietty recently). That was adorable.
Dad- "Wow, Elles. That nest is really cool. That's great."
Elles- "I can't really make them a nice kitchen though."

If you've seen the movie, that last comment was not only kind of funny, but pretty awwww-enducing. Not to be confused with awe-inducing, which is totally a different thing. I meant awww as in the sound you make when something is cute. There is also a facial expression associated with the sound. Clasping your hands together over your heart is optional. I usually exercise that option. What can I say? I'm a sucker for cute. Of course, I'm also a sucker for a good metal tune, so it balances out. In my mind it does, anyway.

New Avatar - The Legend of Korra Clip

I'm always trying to find quality entertainment for the kids. There is a lot of really dumbed down, obnoxious, or just really low quality stuff out there, and I would rather they watch something legitimately good, that makes them think. When I find such rarities, I feel like I should spread the word.

Anyway, one of the shows my kids and I can agree on is Nickelodeon's Avatar - The Last Airbender. Not the movie, which was inexplicably awful (especially considering how great the source material is), but the series.

For those who haven't watched it, the show is several notches above most of what passes for children's entertainment. There's a great story, some surprisingly grown up messages about responsibility and the consequences of your actions, and it was also just a lot of fun to watch.

Anyway, Nickelodeon is getting ready to debut the follow up series, The Legend of Korra, which is supposed to take place about 70 years after the original series, and follows the adventures of the next Avatar, Korra.

We got a new look at the series today, in the form of a short clip of Korra as a little girl (the rest of the series looks like it will be taking place at least 10 years later). I couldn't get the clip to embed well, but you can watch it here.

You can view a regular trailer for the series here.

Back Home

With Elles feeling better, we were able to bring her back home Friday evening. Despite just having left the place, there is a part of me that wants to take the family back to that hospital, just to play in the family leisure areas and what not. I am still kind of in shock at how nice it was. Niceness aside, it probably isn't the best idea to bring the whole family out to the hospital to play, so I think we will hold off on that for a while.

So anyway, after the craziness that was last week, everything has settled back down, and now it's Monday, which means that it's time to get back to the regular routine. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Example: right now, it's 4:35. How did it get to be that late? I have no idea. I guess the day has passed pretty quickly, which is good, but I've only finished a fraction of the things on my to-do list, and I don't really feel like I was better than average in any particular area. Oh well, the day isn't over yet. And then there's still tomorrow...

This Hospital is Super Nice

Seriously, this hospital is nicer than most nice hotels. It's kind of ridiculous. In a good way. I used to sell medical equipment and supplies, and looking around the rooms, I can't help but picture the price tags on everything in the room. It suffices to say that had this place been an account of mine, I would be a very happy (and wealthy) man.

You should see the pool here.