Boys, August 2007

I'm so proud of Finn. He's just growing up so fast. He's learning new words, slowly, but surely. Woo Woo is the train. He's graduated from board books. Last night I read him the Golden Book "The Little Red Caboose" for the first time, and he loved it. I read it three times and he was amazed and enthralled each time. Tonight I read it to him twice, and this time he stopped to point out the caboose and engines, elephants and the lion. It seems such a big step to go from the simple board books to a Golden Book, but he seems ready. I'll still read him the many Byron Barton and Sandra Boynton books we have, but we've made the step to the next level.
I used to be the one to read to Sean at night, and now I rarely do. Heather reads to him, and they get good books from the library. Picture books, but sometimes fairly complex, and covering many topics. They must have read hundreds by now, since they get new books from the library at least once a week, and rarely get repeats.

Finn and Sean

Finn is walking pretty well, though he is still a little awkward, and small obstacles can trip him up, obstacles like an edge of a rug or a hose. His feet don't go up very high off the ground. And he has an off gait. His legs are spread out like he's a defensive lineman ready to push someone out of the way. So his legs are far apart when he walks. I remember when Sean was at this point in walking. He had far more bruises on his forhead. Finn amazingly has none, though he is more determined to do things beyond his level.

But he loves playing with Sean! They play chase, wrestle, and tear the pillows off the couch to roll around on and under.

Finn likes swinging in the baby swing, but he also likes to ride in the "big boy" swing as well. He often winds up falling out of it when I turn my back, but that does not bother him.

He also likes sitting on the high stools at the kitchen counter. This is where Sean sits. Finn used to sit in his high chair nearby, but about a week ago he insisted that we put him on a stool and now he does not want anything to do with the high chair!

Finn has also has bad poops recently, along with a butt rash that has combined to make diaper changing unpleasant for everyone involved, and too frequent as well. Blech.

He still loves getting stories at night. Heather generally reads to Sean, and I read to Finn. Or I watch TV and let Finn crawl around. It's generally the only time I can watch TV, so when he's not interested I let him play a bit. The great thing about Finn is that after a few minutes of downtime I can put him in the crib, and he just quietly goes to sleep.

But he likes books, and will often bring me or Heather a book to read to him. He does not like to look at any page for very long, but rather wants to turn to the next page. Some things excite him, like pictures of lions. He sees these and growls. He'll moo when he sees a cow, but definitely prefers growling. Probably because Sean often growls at him when Sean thinks that Finn wants one of his toys.

Sean is of course still a great kid. We put his swing set back together today after having dismantles it in March while we grew in the new grass. So now his "trampeeze" is back up. This is what he calls the two rings. He can pull himself up and likes to show me how big his muscles are getting when he does his exercises.

Sean is still a picky eater. Not much we can do about that, just hope he grows out of it (at least) once he's a ravenous teenager.

He's enjoying his new pre-school Green Acres. He goes Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It's very close by, so Heather and I don't mind taking him - much easier than the 10+mile trip to his old preschool. They are growing radishes and doing art projects. Mostly he tells me about finding bugs with the other boys on the playground. He has a good appreciation of nature, and knows a bit about bugs, though sometimes the other kids tell him things that he takes for true, which are not. He recently told me about some "killer wasp" that anotherr kid told him about. I tried to explain that there were killer bees, but not here, and definitely no killer wasps in the area. But what good is my word against a 5 year old's?

Also a few weeks ago Sean asked me if ghosts were real. I told him no, and he said that his friend's mom said they were. So we had a long talk about how people think different things, and believe different things. A tricky conversation, but a good one. It's not always clear the difference between what we know and what we believe, and it is an ongoing debate within myself. But at least he's now aware that people believe different things. I am sure this is a conversation we'll continue for the rest of our lives!

Finn's Mobility

Little Finn Finn Finney has finally learned to go down the stairs, much to our great relief. Now he roams the entire house, following Sean wherever he goes. We had shown him how to turn around and go backwards a few times in the past, but he just really took to it a few days ago. It was quite a shock to us to see him coming down the big stairs one day.

He also loves to be held up by his hands, guided so he can walk with his feet on the ground. Yesterday there was a crazy ruckus as Heather held Finn like this as he "chased" Sean around the house. Sean loved being chased and Finn loved running after him. It was hilarious. And now that they are playing like that Sean is much more into Finn. He sees that he will eventually have a great playmate. I see pending trips to the emergency room and destroyed furniture. But boys will be boys, God bless 'em.

Blizzard 2006

Well, this is my tale of trying to get home from Philadelphia, starting the day before the big blizzard hit the Front Range on December 20th,2006.

I was on a business trip to Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday, December 18th and 19th. My flight back to Denver was supposed to leave at 7 pm, with one stopover in Houston, arriving in Denver at 12:30 am. It would have been a last night for me, but I wanted to be home Tuesday night, rather than staying and catching a direct flight to Denver on Wednesday morning.

I went to the airport, and found that my flight was delayed. The flight was about an hour late getting in. My stopover in Houston was about an hour, so I figured I just might make it in time.

Well I was wrong. And the Houston Airport (George H Bush International) pretty much shuts down after 10 pm. After much scrambling and searching I found a US Airways agent who told me that I would have to stay the night and get out on an early flight. So I stayed at the Airport Mariott. It was hot and humid in Houston. Even though I never left the airport, it felt so awkward, since I was dressed for the relatively mild winter of Colorado with a heavy leather jacket and a hat.

In the morning I got onto a 7:30 am flight to Denver - thank goodness! It was almost Christmas and I was missing Heather, Sean, and Finn. The flight was nice, though as the plane descended into Denver, the plane was enveloped in a cloud. I and the kids next to me noticed snow blowing over the wings in fine lines. We could not tell if wee were up 50 feet or 5000, when suddenly the plane touched down onto a snowy runway. The wind was blowing and snow was everywhere.

I had no idea that this was a major storm, and just enjoyed the pretty tornadoes of snow slowing around, and knowing that I was finally home, I relaxed and strolled through the airport. I had been working on a proposal the day before, and since the airport had wireless, decided to just sit in a lounge to finish up my work and send it off. So I did that, all the while noticing the snow blowing outside. After about 40 minutes I had finished my work and decided that I should get out to my car, which was parked in the East Lot, just about 1/4 mile from the terminal. A short walk, and a shorter shuttle ride. When I got outside to theh shuttle stop, I began to realize that this was no ordinary storm. The shuttle dropped me off in the lot near where I thought my car was.

Now when I go to the airport, I park in the same general area every time, but do not pay too much attention to exactly where. I enjoy trying to find the car, and it gives me a chance to stretch my legs after a long flight and see the rabbits that are usually eating grass nearby.

No rabbits this day. Instead, I was dropped off in probably 6-12 inched of snow. That leather jacket that seemed so heave in Houston sure seemed light now. And my plain hard-soled shoes and wimpy black socks were next to useless. Good thing I had a hat, which I pulled down tight so that it would not blow off my head. Just as I was questioning my stupid habit of not paying attention to where my was was, and as I was anticipating getting frostbitten toes in my search for the car, a snow plow pulled up and the guy offered me a ride to my car. Thank goodness!

The car was many rows from where I thought it would be, and I was truly grateful for the lift. My first thought was that I hoped the car would be able to make it out of the parking space where it was being slowly buried. I scraped the snow off of the windshield and started up the car. This is a 1993 Honda Civic with front-wheel drive. It's a reliable car, but no powerhouse, and not the first choice for driving in snow. But the mighty car made it over the hump left by the snowplow and I was soon at the exit gate, thrilled to be on my way. Only 44 miles to home, a trip than generally takes less than an hour.

The parking attendant got out of the booth to scrape the snow off my back bumper so that the security camera cold read my license plate. Then I started out onto Pena Boulevard, the road that runs for about 12 miles from the airport to Interstate 70. The road was a parking lot. Three lanes of cars were leaving the airport all at once, and traffic was crawling along. Very odd, I had never seen it like that before, and wondered just how many people could be leaving the airport all at once.

At some point the road opened up and cars could drive faster, but the roads were icy, snow clouds were blowing, and it was just not prudent to go more than 40 mph. This did not stop some lunatics from zoomng by, however. After 12 miles the airport road hit I70, and I hit bumper to bumper traffic again.

Now I70 is a major artery for US commerce, the only route across the Rocky Mountains. The only other way across (except for local highways, of course) are on I80 through Wyoming, and I40 through New Mexico. Today this route was clogged with cars and trucks desperately trying to go somewhere. I tried to find the lane with the most traffic - this tended to beat down the snow. Other, less used lanes were quickly filled with snow, and every so often there would be a car stuck out there. I even saw big rigs helplessly spinning out in the empty, but snowbound lanes.

So, this also meant that I needed to pick a road and stay on it as much a possible. Any attempt to leave the interstate was risky, as exit ramps had huge drifts on them.

I chose to take I-70 to I-25, even though I usually take 270, which gets me to Boulder quicker. I just did not know whether 270 had enough traffic to make a passable road for the poor Honda.

It is about 3 miles from the entry of I-25 to Highway 36, aka the Boulder Turnpike. But I stood in traffic for over two hours, just crawling along trying to get onto the Turnpike.

Meanwhile, I had been scanning radio stations trying to get some news. It was pretty bleak. I finally found an AM station that would mention a few things about the weather every 30 minutes or so. Mostly they talked about how bad it was, but rarely mentioned the specific roads in Denver. As I was finally getting to the 36 exit, however, they mentioned that the Turnpike was closed due to truck collisions. (With subsequent snow storms, I learned that 36 is a pretty wimpy road, and often closed whenever weather occurs.)

So I aborted my run for 36, and continued up I25 toward Wyoming. This part of the trip became surreal. One minute I would be in heavy traffic, trying to stay behind large trucks in hopes they would clear a good path, and the next I would be all alone, on an empty road with nothing but blowing snow. At one point the other lane was completely filled with car and trucks stopped dead.

I wanted to exit in Longmont and make my way back to Boulder from the north on reliable roads. But it became hard to even read the exit signs, and in the snow every exist began to look the same. The radio announced that I25 in fact was closed. I was on a dead interstate.

Finally I got to the exit for Longmont, pulled up my courage, and slammed through the drifts to the exit. And I made it. In Longmont, things did not look as bad. Plows were on the road, and there were numerous cars. Yet the wind has really picked up by then. I stopped the car at one point to take a movie with my phone of the power lines whipping back and forth, making a singing sound. But the wind was too fierce, and I gave up.

And so, through Longmont, down the Diagonal (Hwy 119), to our neighborhood. Right as I turn onto Kincross drive, the car slides into a snow bank and I was stuck. Fortunately a neighbor in a Jeep drove by, offered a tow, and pulled me out. Just 1/4 mile to go! I turned onto Kirkwood, and then finally ground to a halt right outside the house. It was a u-turn up a hill, and the Honda just could not do it. Fortunately, some neighbors who were out shovelling came to help, and Heather came out too. Together we got the Honda into the driveway and that was that - home at last!

To be continued... that one-hour trip turned into 6 hours!

The Boys

Finn just had a terrible rash on his butt. I gave him pineapple from a pizza, and that started it. Heather would never do such a thing, but I tend to feed kids things they ought not have. We all paid for that mistake. Finn would not sleep, and cried much of the night. It took a few days for the rash to go. Lesson learned.

Sean and I went to the YMCA yesterday, and signed up for a family membership. We got some basket balls and played on the court a while. He really loved it. He can almost dribble, getting better at it. Likes to throw and catch the ball all by himself. I just make ridiculous throws and rebounds and make up drills half-remembered from high school. I look like a fool no doubt, but it is really a good workout.

Sean and I have also been sledding alot recently on the hill near the elementary school in our neighborhood. He has very little fear, even though he slides on a saucer which often spins around as he whips down the hill. He's only fallen a few times, and has not let that stop him.

The last time we went sledding I noticed a hole in the snow, about the diameter of a hand. It was a prairie dog hole. I guess the big fat dogs finally got hungry enough to dig through the snow. I also noticed little bits of blood near the hole. I guess the red-tail hawks were hungry too. It's not a good idea to be the first prairie dog out after a snow!

Finn is crawling very fast these days, and this morning he went upstairs by himself. He had a poop, and we think he may have gone up to have his diaper changed. He is a very determined child!

It's January 3rd and the snow from just before Christmas is still thick on the ground. Large icicles hang from the house, and drip ice-puddles in the driveway. Our heating bill will likely be high this month, but it's nice to be warm and at home this time of year.

Back from Vacation

We finally returned to Boulder from a long trip across the country to Missouri and Louisisana. Now we know what is in between!

The weather was very good most of the way. In fact, it was hot if anything. I thought the car thermometer must have been broken because it constantly read 74 F.
Things changed as we left Lamar, CO, and headed to Denver. Within an hour the temperature dropped from 55 to 45, and kept going down. There were hundreds of tumbleweeds running across the prarie, and the wind shook the car as we drove. On getting to the outskirts of Denver, the sun went down, and it began to snow, making for a scary drive the rest of the way home. The temperature finally bottomed out at 28F!

Sean of course had to pee, after the cold, but before the snow. He peed his pants just as we arrived at a rest stop with bathrooms. We were all dressed for the warm weather of the south, so the dash to the bathroom in the wind was particularly chilly!

We awoke to a few inches of snow on the ground.

The boys

We've had two snows so far this October. Leaves are mostly gone, except for the maple trees and the burning bushes.

Finn is really moving fast these days. Not really crawling, but pulling himself by his arms, and pushing off with (only!) his right leg. Sean is actually having fun playing with him too! He eats alot. Loves to eat and squish bananas. We give him bread, maybe too much, but he loves it. Also eats spaghetti. And will devour rocks, leaves, and dirt if we let him.

He can hold himself up on his chubby legs, and loves to have me hold him up by his arms with his feet on the ground: "standy man". Also loves bathtime. He and Sean bathe together, and it's really cute. In fact last, night, Finn didn't want to leave the tub and grabbed it when I took him out.

He sleeps half the night in his crib, then wakes up, cries, and we put him with us to nurse.

Sean - what to say about him? He says he does not want to go trick-or-treating because he's shy. But I suspect he will want to go once he sees other neighborhood kids out and about. He has alot of energy, and can talk nonstop, particularly ifthe topics include dinosaurs, pokemon, power rangers or "poopy-butts". Yes, he has a potty mouth. It' s very annoying to us, but that is probably why he finds it so amusing.

Since he was born in October, he will not start kindergarten until fall 2008! He will be among the oldest, largest, and no doubt brightest kids in his class. I worry that he will not like school because he likes to play with older kids. He may grow bored and get into trouble. But BVSD is strict with the Sept 30 cutoff. The other bad thing is that his friends are mostly older than him so they won't even be in the same grade.