Batman and Obi-Wan

I have a interesting/terrifying emergency room story to report thanks to Margaret's plan to self-administer some ibuprofen for her cough, but it is too long to type on my iPhone (spoiler alert - she is fine, thank heavens).

Plus, it's Halloween and the candy is wearing off to remind me how tired I am. Until then, I leave you with Batman and Obi-wan Kenobi.

Admit it

So admit it, my neighborhood is better than yours? I thought getting "booed" where you exchange secret Santa type Halloween treats like candy and stickers for kids was fun on the sly was fun, but this clearly takes the cake. A bottle of wine and skittles? I need to find this person and make sure she's my BFF. Stat.

Dance party

Meg's dance class had a party yesterday for what was once Halloween but now is a non-religious/pagan dress up day. My kid can sure rock the freeze game. Plus at this rate, she will be at Black Swan level by 2078.

Bikes

I really like to ride bikes and I love that the kids are getting to an age when we can do it together. Andy can ride without training wheels but he likes them for comfort still (fine by me). Meg likes her tricycle but she's not fast enough to keep up. I have been letting her ride in the bike trailer (see below), but she's too big to want to be towed in what is really a big stroller. And I'm not patient enough to listen to her insist she wants to ride and then have to carry her and her bike half way around the block while begging Andy to slow down.

I'm starting to do some research now on the next step - the trailer bike. These are little half-bikes that attach to the back of the bicycle. The kid gets to pedal and help, a little, but if they do nothing, at least you're towing them vs. towing the kid and the trike.

I was all set to do this until a friend on Facebook recommended I look into a different invention, a bike tow hitch. Basically, you can attach the kids' bike to this trailer hitch and tow him/her like the trailer bike with the advantage of letting them ride on their own until they can't any longer, then hooking them up. I see potential. This could also be useful since sometimes I'd like to meet Andy after school to ride home, but there's no way really to get both our bikes up to the school unless we rode up there together at 7:20 in the morning. And if you know me, you know that just ain't happening.

Anyone have experiences with these, positive, negative, indifferent?

Birds and the bees

"Hey, Dad. My penis is all straight," Andy said this afternoon. "I think it's because I've been touching it."

I looked at Mark and Bjorn. "Is that what I think it is?" They both smirked and nodded.

Sigh, I am going to have to start talking to Andy (and Meg, eventually) more about awkward stuff, like where babies come from. I believe in doing it earlier vs. later to take out the surprise and mysticism of the whole thing, but I'm also somewhat terrified of this.

My very restless girl

My daughter has a problem. She really doesn't like to sleep in her own bed. I have really tried everything from briberly to threats to sleeping with her to letting her sleep with us. We usually play a game where she comes out of bed and finds us, we walk her back to her room, she says for a while and then gets up again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Usually in this process, she eventually gives up and falls asleep somewhere in the house.

Here she is asleep in the den. It's almost always the same pose, face down with her hands tucked under her stomach.

This time she's actually asleep in her room, but still on the floor.

Asleep off the kitchen. Fortunately, she found a matt to sleep on.

This is just off our bedroom. That hardwood floor is, well, hard.

This is impressive because she's actually asleep in someone else's house. We were visiting a good friend from high school and she snuck out there, too.

Just outside her bedroom. She fell asleep on a toy. Her shirt also came off somewhere in the process.

Okay, this was a planned sleepover on the floor of the den. Aren't they cute?

Here she is asleep in my sister Mary's house in Austin.

Half-way into her own bathroom.

This is a personal favorite. We were spending the night in San Antonio to go to Sea World the next day. I think she debated sleeping in the laundry basket and then thought it would make a nice blanket.

Cub scouts

Who doesn't love a man in uniform?

Andy has joined Cub Scouts (and I have had to try to remember over and over that it's cub scouts not boy scouts at this age). He's sort of an academic type kid and isn't as interested in team sports just yet so I think it's a good fit for his personality. Bjorn's been a trooper by jumping on the bandwagon despite it not being his first choice, including the whole outdoorsy/camping part that's kind of a requirement. 

Yesterday was the first camp out. I got sleeping bags for the guys and borrowed a tent from a neighbor. As you can see in the picture below, it's big enough to sleep eight probably. You could practically in that thing. So the boys trekked off to points a few hours west. started setting up shop and the skies promptly opened up and it rained. And rained. And rained. This is rather hilarious since it hasn't rained longer than a thunderstorm here or there since April. 

According to reports, Andy cried and cried (it is his first camp out) while Bjorn struggled to get the tent up during a monsoon. Then Bjorn put them both in the car, said goodbye to the others and went home. Considering it rained several inches last night, complete with thunder and lightening, I'd say it was a good call.

Work

A room with a view.

The most exciting -- an event at the former Versace mansion.

You know, a place like Miami isn't normally my style. It's dressy in an odd way, caters to over (and under) dressed people and is all about show. Yet after spending four days there for work, I kind of dug it. Hanging out in South Beach in a fancy hotel with a great view certainly makes it better. I just appreciated the flair of it being different than just the regular nice enough work hotel with a nice enough restaurant in a big city.