The Music Family

Well, we're getting back into theatre. After a hiatus of more than 8 years, it's finally a good time again to do a show, and Kari and the kids have agreed to do it too! So this weekend we auditioned for The Music Man with the United Players in Friendswood, TX. It should be fun, but I'm a little nervous about dedicating the kind of time necessary to be in a show. Aidan and Regan take up a lot of our time, and I'm worried about how they will adjust to this schedule. I guess there's no way to find out but to just jump in. So here we come! Shipoopi!

Update 5/21/08: I got a call from the director offering me the part of Marcellus (Harold Hill's sidekick). I accepted. It's a good part, and I'm really looking forward to this!

My Affectionate Little Girl

Kari and I are very proud that Aidan and Regan have such a great relationship. Even though they are still young and things can (and likely will) change, they are unquestionably each others' best friend. They play well together most of the time. They turn to each other first when looking for a playmate, even around other kids. They are fearful when they think the other is in danger. They even defend each other when one gets in trouble with Kari or me. They have the closest relationship I could hope for.

Sometimes, however, it seems a little too close, like when they would rather cuddle up with each other than Kari and I. Or when I can't find Aidan when I wake up, and I find that he's snuck into Regan's room to sleep with her. I know they aren't doing anything inappropriate. It just seems a little too intimate for my tastes. Lately, Kari and I have been intentionally trying to teach them more appropriate ways to show their affection for each other, and it had been working. At least I thought it had.

Regan's 3rd birthday party was yesterday. She had a Barbie Princess-themed party and she invited a couple of her friends. Although we didn't really know her friends from school before the party, we had heard a few names numerous times. Elliott is one such name. So when it came time to invite kids to her party, he was a no-brainer. Little did we know, however, the depth of their relationship, at least on Regan's part.

From the moment he walked in the door, Regan was leading him by his hand, putting her hand on his back, talking enthusiastically to him, and even kissing him on the cheek. This wasn't just momentary behavior. It continued through most of the party. Although I never saw him return the affection, Elliott seemed to take it all in stride, politely enduring her advances. I eventually had to pull her aside and tell her to knock it off (in so many words).

She was exactly like a giddy 15-year-old whose new boyfriend had just showed up, and Elliott was the aloof boyfriend who didn't even know what she was up to. I couldn't help but think about the times she hugs her brother so tight that he gets annoyed or when she comes up to me and kisses me, saying "I wuv my diddy!" I always thought it was behavior she reserved for just us, but that was nothing compared to the affection she showed Elliott. At first it was cute, but then I began to get flashes of what I can likely expect in her teen year.

This girl is going to give me a heart attack, and heaven help the boy who's lucky enough to get her.

Kids and Cleansing

Here are some pictures Tiffany took of the kids at a park in League City. I really like these pictures, and I'm especially impressed that she was able to get them to pose so easily.

I know I'm biased, but I absolutely love looking at my kids. Is that narcissistic? I know they kind of look like me, so does that make me vain? Perhaps, but I like it that way. I really missed the kids when they were away for a week. They had fun, but I know they were ready to come home too.

I'm really looking forward to next week. We're going to the lake house for a few days. Very rustic living with few amenities; just the right environment to cleanse our spirits and purge all of the stress and worries of life. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm looking forward to coming back feeling renewed.

The daily grind

It has been a while since I posted, but it hasn't been because I haven't had any time. It has been great to come home and completely leave all of my work at work. I can come home and I don't have to think about work until I go back the next day. The problem is that the next day is coming a lot faster than it should. In order to maximize my earnings and quickly build my clinical hours towards full licensure, Kari and I decided that it would be okay for me to see clients until 7 PM most nights and occasionally see clients until 8 PM. Because the late afternoon/ early evening hours are the prime time that clients want to come to sessions, those slots filled quickly. The good news is that I'm still getting some good time with my family during the week. I'm not going into the office until 10 AM two mornings a week, and I'm home by 12:30 on Fridays. This allows me to spend much more time with Aidan and Regan. Kari and I get to spend time together after the kids go to bed at 8:30. Of course, the weekends are great too. The problem is that doing things online, even email and web surfing, has fallen way down the priority list. Additionally, I'm beat when I get home, and I don't necessarily want to sit in front of a computer screen. Between seeing 15-20 clients per week, maximizing time with family, and enjoying life, I simply don't want to take the time to revitalize my online life. It's nice and all, but not a high priority. Even right now, the only reason I'm posting is that Kari is working late and the kids are already in bed. I actually have nothing better to do. I don't think life will stay like this forever, but for now it's alright. So what if I don't write that often? It's not like thousands of loyal readers are hanging on my every word, right?


Right?... hello?...

A Child's Mind is Like a Salvador Dali Painting

Although they certain have their special attributes, I don't think my children are unique in one particular regard. I'm sure that many other parents think their children do the oddest, cutest, most random things. But good grief, if other kids do this much of it, how would parents get anything done. All they would want to do is watch and pay with their kids. Again, I don't think my kids are terribly unique in this regard, but living with them gives me an inside look at kids that I never would have gotten anywhere else.

For example, I am constantly amazed at Aidan's drive and determined attitude when he is creating one of legendary "projects". We were at my grandparent's house today. Aidan took the garden hose and tied it to a tree. He then took the other end and tied it to another tree. My grandmother helped him bring out a couple of bar stools, which he claims provided the "glue" of the project. Throw in a patio table and a blanket, and he had some contraption that he claimed allowed trees to be shared between people. I have no idea what he was talking about, but I was struck by the determination with which he created his project. It was hard work wrapping that garden hose around the trees, and he put everything into it. I love watching his indoor creations even more. He will use couch cushions, dining room chairs, and any other structure he can. One significant feature of the indoor "projects", however, is that they are almost always symmetrical. I don't know why, but Aidan insists on them being perfectly symmetrical, meaning that if there is a chair on one side, there MUST be a chair on the other side. I don't think he knows why. He just knows that's the way it should be.

I am quickly learning that Regan is not all that different in her quirkiness, although she doesn't have the same engineering flare. I hate to say it, but Regan carries a more stereotypically feminine aspect into her oddities. For instance, she has these mock high heal shoes that her Auntie Ro gave her for Christmas. Although they are way too big for her (perhaps made for a 5 or 6 year-old), she has learned how to walk in them very well and insists on doing so as often as possible. She loves to dance. She's got moves that most 2-year-olds simply dream of. She even matches her dance to the style of music. More than that, she loves dressing up, talking on her "cell phone", wearing sunglasses, pushing her dolls around in strollers, and shopping. I mean, come on-- SHOPPING! How did that happen? Where did that come from? And what confuses me even more is that I find it cute. It is freaking adorable. But that's not all that fascinates me about Regan. She is fascinated with books. She will sit in her room and "read" for a long time. She loves all kinds of books. She will read to us, but of course she loves it much more when we read to her. But her love of books actually borders on an obsession. They are sacred. They contain special meaning for her. Again I ask, where did this come from? Sure, we've read to her most of her life, but that's not nearly enough to explain her obsession. Shoes and books: Regan's two loves. Neither Kari nor I actively encouraged this, but here we are.

I need to post a better picture of one of Aidan's projects; they truly are artworks in their own right. I also need to post some video of Regan's dancing; it is very entertaining and impressive. So I continue to be fascinated with the growing minds of my children. They are really challenging my presumptions about child development, the nature/nurture debate, and my own ideas about identity and the emergent mind. Although I began my life as a parent expecting to teach my children, but of course I have found that they teach me more than I ever dreamed. Their minds and lives are free and unencumbered by the necessities of life, so they are free to simply be. What a bizarre notion.

Note: Click here for a new photo album of the kids that I uploaded today.

Aidan's 4th Birthday Party

Aidan's 4th Birthday Party

Well, the day before I had my little injury, Aidan had his 4th birthday party, his 1st in Texas, which meant that this was the first birthday party with extended family in attendance. I was a lot of fun, different from last year's party, but fun. In addition to Aidan's grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, we also had some friends in attendance. Aubrey Griffin and his parents, Jerry and Emily Griffin, were there and so was Aidan's friend from school, Jett. Kids' birthdays can be a burden and potentially annoying, but I had fun, and I think everyone who came had fun too, and that's what it's all about. Even the pinata was cool. Thanks to everyone who came. Click the picture above to take a look at the pictures from the party, and check out the podcast for the video, courtesy of Uncle Kyle.

Can I get a break?

So I'm playing a friendly game of roller hockey on Sunday evening with my wife and kids (only Kari and I were in skates). I'm playing forward, making what I believe be a pretty good maneuver through the hole to the net, when out of nowhere comes a pink blurr. Regan, a pretty good defensivewoman, delivers a massive crosscheck, I swerved to try to avoid it, but in doing so, my skate stayed still, snapping the lower fibula and shattering the lower tibia in my right leg at the top of the skate boot. After making a splint out of hockey sticks and packing tape, Kari rush me to the hospital. On Tuesday, I had surgery to insert a rod in my leg to help the fibula heal. (Apparently, the tibia is superfluous, so they didn't do anything with it.) I also had a metal plate and screws inserted in my ankle because there was a fracture in my ankle as well.

I was released from the hospital on Wednesday evening, and I've been home recuperating since then. Kari's has stayed with me most of this week, and she has been absolutely incredible. No doubt this ordeal has been much harder on her than it has been on me because of the incredible burden she has had to bear. She is truly an incredible woman and my angel. I've also been helped by my parents and grandparents, who have all taken days off to be with me at the hospital and at home. This has been much easier to deal with because of their help and support. We are so grateful to be back in Texas where our family can help with emergencies like this.

On Monday I go back to work. That will be a challenge. Simply getting there will be difficult because I can't drive, and we'll have to figure out a way for Kari to get me and the kids where we need to go before getting herself to work downtown. We'll see how that goes. It's going to be an interesting 3-6 months.

Currently listening: The Shins and The Earlies (and still Of Montreal)

I recently bought three incredible albums from iTunes, three that have all jumped to the into the top tier of my favorites list. The first from Of Montreal, "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?", I've mentioned before. It is an incredible and striking album without a single weak song. Favorite songs are "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse", "Gronlandic Edit", "She's a Rejecter", and "We Were Born the Mutants Again With Leafling".

To that one, I have also added the new albums by The Shins and The Earlies. I think the The Shins new album, Wincing the Night Away, is their best to date. The lyrics are very moving, and the music is some of the most beautiful I've heard since Beck's Sea Change. My favorite tracks are "Phantom Limb" (the first single), "Sea Legs", and "A Comet Appears".

The Earlies new album is very good to, but in a slightly different way. I first heard of The Earlies a few years ago before they had released anything or, to my knowledge, had even recoded anything. My brother, Kyle, is married to the lead singer's sister-in-law, and the two of them had been friends in college. So Kyle had told me about the unusual beginnings of the band. They released their first album, "These were..." in 2004. I thought it was good, but not great. Although none of the songs struck me as particularly memorable, the overall feel of that first album was interesting enough that I could hear the potential for some really incredible work. Their second album, "The Enemy Chorus", came out, and boy oh boy, it fulfills much of that potential. The tracks are much more full and complete. The sweep in the way that psychedelic rock tends to do, but without drowning in itself, as that type of music can do sometimes as well. They are more complete stories through music, not just lyrically but musically as well. Their first album was simply too amorphous for my tastes, but the new album seemed more structured, but without losing the appearance of spontaneity. Favorite tracks are "Gone for the Most Part", "Foundation and Earth", and "Breaking Point"

iTunes:
Of Montreal - "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?"
The Shins - "Wincing the Night Away"
The Earlies - "The Enemy Chorus"

Like the Phoenix rising...

So here we are at the start of a new year. So much changed for me last year, and I have decided to revive my blog as part of my New Year's resolutions. This isn't as laborious for me as it may seem. I had always wanted to return to blogging, but I felt that other things in my life had to take priority at the time. Now that most of those things are either in the past or have settled down significantly, I feel that I can devote a little time here and there to keep this up. Of course, I don't have grand visions of thousands or even hundreds of people reading whatever mundane things I write. I just want to put something out there. Do what blogging was meant to do, and if a few old friends are able to catch up with me, all the better.

So, here's a brief rundown of what Kari and I have been up to lo these many months:

1. My dissertation, which was supposed to be finished in time for a May 2006 defense, was delayed due to a problems getting it approved by MSU's internal review board. Those problems were eventually overcome once they got the right idea about the nature of the research.
2. I finished my internship at the Ingham Regional Medical Center in Lansing, MI in August.
3. The dissertation, then slated for an August defense, was delayed again for the severe difficulty I had recruiting research participants.
4. We moved to Baytown in August to live with my parents. Meanwhile, Kari and I began looking for a house.
5. I began working at the Krist Samaritan Center for Counseling and Education in Houston, TX in September 2006.
6. My colleagues at the Krist center were invaluable in helping me recruit research participants for the dissertation research.
7. Kari began working for Lyondell Chemical Company as an Internal Auditor. She took a business trip to Rotterdam, Netherlands after working there for a week. (I was a bit jealous.)
8. While working on my dissertation one day at my parents' house, I accidentally spilled some soda on my laptop computer. Three days later after the soda had dried, my laptop was fried. Thankfully, I had just backed up my dissertation and lost almost nothing. Best Buy was able to recover most of my other documents, music, video, and pictures too. But I was out a laptop and didn't know how I would continue without one.
9. Kari and I bought a house in the Clear Lake area of Houston, near NASA. We moved in on September 29, 2006.
10. A colleague of mine at the Krist Samaritan Center was able to procure an old laptop without an operating system for me to have free. I installed my own OS and it worked. I was back in business and eternally grateful to him. This allowed me to eventually complete the dissertation.
11. The dissertation, then slated for a November completion and a December defense, was delayed again due to my computer problems and my naivete in estimating how long it would take me to transcribe and code all of the interviews.
12. Kari got an offer from the benefits accounting office at Lyondell to work for them. After some deliberation, she accepted the offer and began working in the accounting office immediately after Thanksgiving 2006. No more travel is required, although she gets the same pay, benefits and status that she already had. Aidan, Regan and I are happy. Kari's happy too.
13. The dissertation was finally finished on December 22, 2006. I sent it off to my committee the next day for them to review for a January 19, 2007 defense. I haven't worked on it or my defense since then.

I am really looking forward to the new year for a number of reasons. We now own a house and are fairly settled in for a while. I like my job. The dissertation is largely behind me, and I feel that my life is really going to become more free without that hanging over my head. Of course, I'm sure we'll have our fair share of disappointments and struggles, but I'm very optimistic about the next 365 days. Now, time to begin on the right foot and clean up the house and garage. I'll post some updated pictures to my Flickr site later.