Corwin is still not handling losing very well in soccer. It doesn’t seem so much of a drive for victory as a fear of defeat. We missed Corwin’s team’s last game on Saturday but Corwin didn’t have a good time at practice yesterday. His practice team wasn’t winning and he broke down three times in despair. Mom said that he didn’t seem to have much drive, even though he was playing offense. It’s not clear if he was tired, dispirited or just not connecting effort with results. I feel sorry for the coach.
Charles is getting better. He didn’t have much of a fever on Saturday and none at all on Sunday. He’s still a bit cranky and had some melt downs on Sunday (about what we couldn’t figure out). His milk consumption has shot up, not to his previous levels but still multiple sippy cups per day. Charles internal processing has restarted as well with five poopy diapers on Sunday.
Mom made it back OK. Unfortunately she made it back to a sick child. Charles had to come home early from daycare on Wednesday due to high fever. Oddly his temperature varies a lot, oscillating randomly between 101° and 103°. He also has a very sore throat so we’re a bit worried about dehydration. Normally Charles will knock back 8-16 ounces of milk before he has breakfast but he’s barely doing that all day now. He frequently demands new milk or water but he doesn’t drink much of it.
On the other hand, he has periods of activity when it’s hard to tell he’s actually ill. He giggles and laughs and runs around. He seems to be feeling better this morning and doesn’t seem to be running a fever, although he’s still a bit grumpy. Corwin was feeling off for a couple of days early in the week so Charles probably just has a stronger version of what Corwin did. Hopefully Charles will recover to day (Mom called the hospital and they said to just give him ibuprofen as long as his fever didn’t get any worse).
Charles frequently has problems with carrying all of his cars. Being the clever boy that he is, he’s figured out a solution - give the cars to Dad “for later”.
A few days ago we went to one of Corwin’s soccer practices. Charles dragged along a dart gun, sippy cup and three cars. As we left the car, Charles saw the playground next to the practice fields and insisted on going to play (he referred to it as “park”, which is a new word for him to use). He realized he couldn’t carry everything so he gave the cars to Dad. Dad, not thinking clearly, just put the cars in the real car and went off with Charles.
A while later Charles got bored and started rifling through Dad’s pockets. It took a minute to realize that Charles was trying to locate the cars because it was now “later”. He was very sad when told that the cars were back in the parking lot. He looked across the field, about 30 meters, to the distant car and decided he could do without his cars for a little while. Such a tough spirit he has!
Yesterday was another downer day for Corwin. He had his second soccer game and they lost 0-3. Corwin was in tears afterwards, telling me that this was “worser than last time - we didn’t score a single point!”. Charles was also home sick with a 103° fever and Dad was running on too little sleep so it was a fun filled evening at the house.
I found this kind of amusing because a week or two ago Corwin was reading a sign that said something like “We’re number one!”. Corwin was puzzled by this and so I explained that it was the people running the business claiming that they were the best. Corwin was still puzzled - “why would anyone want to be number one?”. This from the boy who cries when his team doesn’t win. I guess Corwin doesn’t associate being number one or the best with winning. I suppose that those could be separate but it’s certainly a bit of a different view point.
My plan for a good night’s sleep did not work out as I had hoped. I was awaken a couple of times by a loud crash, indicating that Charles had managed to knock his tow truck off the bed and onto the floor, which would bring him to a semi-awake crying state until Dad intervened and returned the truck to its rightful place next to Charles. If he only cuddled with stuffed animals, it would be quieter and easier to have backup animals in place.
Corwin work up around 1 AM and went back to his own bed, announcing this fact loudly enough to wake up Dad. Unfortunately Charles was apparently depending on Corwin’s presence in addition to the truck’s so that I had to move back to the master bed room to placate Charles. Of course, around 3:30 AM Charles had a containment failure and I had to deal with the aftermath.
So it was a trio of grumpers that greated the dawn this morning. Mom called around 7:30 AM to gloat. She gets to attend fun packed, adrenaline fueled tightly focused technical meetings all day! Heck, it was so gripping that they didn’t even break for dinner until 9 PM! Yet here I am, stuck sitting on a comfy chair, typing up this entry while watching Charles take a bath. It’s just not fair…
Posting will be very light this week. Mom has gone out West for a week on business. I’m home with the Boyzen, who were both kind of grumpy and needy today. I think they miss Mom because they became very demanding of Dad attention as soon as she was out of the house. Corwin broke down and cried right before she left, but that was because she wanted to interact with him a bit and turned off the TV, which made him very sad. I’ve been forced out of my bed because it’s full of Boy and I can’t sleep with two of them kicking at me all night. It’s not so much me as being in that room, since they don’t seem to mind if I sleep in the guest room while they’re hogging my bed.
UPDATE: I just went to check on them as I headed to bed. Charles is resting comfortably, his need for physical contact satisfied by the 18” long toy tow truck sitting between him and Corwin.
Because Mom is leaving for a week in an hour, she decided that she should cut Charles’ hair. She took him up to the bathroom for a quick trim. Charles was OK with this until Mom actually used the shears on him. At that point he freaked out and refused to allow any further cutting. I tried reading to him and physically restraining him but it was to no avail. Corwin showed up about then and asked why he wasn’t getting a hair cut. Mom quickly obliged him as a demonstration to Charles that it didn’t hurt. This still failed to persuiade Charles that he should get his hair cut. But Mom is persistent. She eventually figured out that if she turned on the water in the sink Charles would be sufficiently distracted from the hair cut that he’d only swat the shears away every now and then. Now his hair is shorter, although due to circumstances it’s not quite as professional looking as one might like.
Charles likes to wander about with cars in each hand, sometimes two in one. It’s kind of funny to see him trying to climb up on the changing table just using wrists and feet because his grip is consumed by cars.
Last evening Charles went to the next level. In order to have a proper dinner he lined up seven cars next to his plate. He was very pleased with himself and insisted the Mom acknowledge his wonderful line of cars. I wondered how he had gotten so many since he only has two hands, but after dinner I found out. When Charles was done, he headed over to the couch with two cars in hand. He dropped them off and came back for the next two, and then the next three. The Charles Convoy had finished its dinner stop and was back on the road.
Charles has discovered advertising circulars. Mom like to bring up the Sunday paper to read upstairs on Sunday mornings and today was no exception (she must have been in a particularly good mood because she made the coffee). After reading a bit she went off to have a shower. Charles was awake by this time and he found the Toys ‘R Us insert and located the Thomas the Tank Engine item. He brought it over to me and pointing vigorously at the item said “Ut!”. I tried to direct to something else on the page but he was not to be distracted - he knew what he wanted, a willing victim of crass commercialization. How long before he demands an allowance?
This evening we were all in the TV room, which has just a two seat couch and another chair. Charles was “sitting” with me (for Charles, “sitting” means squirming around like a worm cut in half on a chair). Mom sat on the chair and Corwin tried to sit on her. Mom’s been a little reluctant about providing a lap for Corwin since she’s gotten a little thicker in the middle so she booted Corwin off. He complained that he didn’t want to sit by Charles, but the Evil Parents™ were unsympathetic.
Corwin had a plan, though - he wanted to have Mom go over and sit by Dad. When Mom demurred, Corwin pointed out “You married him!”
Mom and Corwin were being lazy buns this morning so Charles and I were downstairs without them. Charles was eating breakfast while I was doing the one thing Mom likes me to do, making fresh coffee (I don’t think that Mom will consider the whole “reproduction” thing a success until Corwin can make the morning coffee).
As I busied myself with completing my odious task, I sang a happy tune to make things seem better. Charles listened for a moment and then said “STOP!”. I looked at him and ask “Should Daddy stop singing?”. Charles nodded once, waved his little hand and said “Stop”. I can’t believe that Mom has resorted to brainwashing the children just to stop me from singing.
I forgot to mention this a couple of weeks back but Charles is starting to learn numbers. I was reading Ten Little Ladybugs to him, which basically counts down in the standard way. I was stunned when Charles announced on the first page “ten!”. I wasn’ sure what he’d said but as we went through the book he got about half of the numbers right. He definitely knows ‘10’ and ‘5’ and ‘1’ but is a little shaky on the other numbers. He uses “three” for ‘2’ sometimes and he rarely gets ‘7’ but he does reasonably well on the other numbers. I’m not quite sure where he picked them up, but presumably at daycare.
He also seems understand not just the form but the meaning. I was changing him in the office yesterday when he looked up and announced “one!”. I eventually puzzled out that he was commenting on the flourescent lights directly overhead, where someone had disabled two of the three lights so only one was lit. After I acknowledged Charles’ enlightening observation, he announced “two broke”. Perhaps I’ll have to just communicate with Charles mathematically instead of through normal language as his verbal skills are still rather rudimentary.
Corwin got out of school early today so Mom popped home to watch over him. She had to come back in to work for a bit so she dropped him off with me. I decided to kill some time by walking up to day care with Corwin to pick up Charles. On the way I attempted to engage Corwin in conversation. What I discovered was:
It’s moments of sharing such as these that makes having children worthwhile.
Charles doesn’t like change. He’s mostly gotten over having to go back to day care after the Summer of Erica. Charles gives me the obligatory wail of terror as we pull in the parking lot but his heart’s not in it. He’s generally quieted down by the time we get to the door. When Mom picks him up he’s having a good time, playing with cars or some other toy and he likes to give the ladies there a goodbye hug.
But some things are beyond the pale. This morning when I took him in, I picked him up with the wrong hand so that he was on my right instead of my left as I carried him. This was just unacceptable to Charles. He started crying and blubbering until I switched him back to correct (left) side. Then everything was fine. No, not a boy that accepts that which is different.
The season is turning to fall. It will be a bit of work to get the boys to adjust to wearing heavier clothes. It’s somewhat hard to judge because they seem mostly inurred to the cold. But I’ll probably have to start putting long pants on them. Corwin may be less trouble because he’ll corelate not being cold with wearing heavier clothes. Charles dislikes pants just as much but it’s harder to explain to him.
This morning Corwin missed the bus because I was looking for a jacket or something warmer for him to wear. It was about 55°F out this morning with a good bit of wind while Corwin was wearing a light T-shirt and shorts. But we haven’t broken out the heavier stuff since we moved so the bus came early for once (about 10 minutes earlier than it normally does) and went by while I was looking. But I did eventually find a sweatshirt for him. We’ll probably have to buy a new jacket for him as the old ones were kind of small last spring. I don’t remember telling Corwin it was OK to get bigger but he does it anyway. Kids these days!
Mom was off to the PTA meeting this evening, leaving me with the poopers. Corwin had turned into a sodden lump but Charles was more active. He made me take him outside for a while. Charles wanted to play with one of the water guns but I thoiught it was too cool out for that, so I dropped it off on the way out of the garage. When we got out to the front, Charles looked at me to see where the water gun was and didn’t see it. He then back tracked over our path, looking around for it. Eventually he ended up at the box he’d gotten it out of, but it wasn’t there either. He gave me a very piteous look but I figured this would be easier than explaining why he couldn’t get water everywhere. But Charles recovered quickly, accepting the disappearing gun as one of those mysteries of the world.
It should be interesting, getting Corwin through organized sports. That’s not something I did as a child, at least not voluntarily. My mother made me play Little League for a year or two (I can’t remember, I’ve long since repressed almost all memory of the experience). Corwin, however, seems very up on the sport thing. He certainly doesn’t get that from me.
Corwin has been good about going to practice and cooperating with the coach, even if he doesn’t always pay complete attention. He has cut back on his activities a bit and gave up tennis to concentrate on soccer (good career choice? only time will tell).
Yesterday Mom bought Charles some new shoes. Based on our experiences last time Mom didn’t plan on explicitly changing his shoes. It was enough of a struggle to get him to try any on at the store. As a result Mom just brough them home and, after Charles was asleep, the old shoes were hidden. Mom also got new shoes in the exact style as the old shoes. Everything went well, Charles was put in to his new shoes without any particular comment and he doesn’t seem to have noticed the change. Score one for Mom!
Corwin had his first official organized sport game today. His school soccer team went up against a team from another school (the grade school Mom and I attended).
Things started out well, with Corwin actually playing in the game, as opposed to just wandering about kicking the ball. Corwin managed an excellent kick out of a scrum which was run down field by two of his teammates for the first goal of the game.
Unfortunately the other team came back with 4 straight goals. Our team lost two goalies, one to “ball in face” and the other to a collision (which slowed the other team’s striker enough so that Corwin could dig the ball out of the goal).
After half time Corwin was put in as goalie. He didn’t do so well at that. He got a save on the first attack but on the second one he actually deflected the ball in to the goal (although it would have gone in had he not kicked it) and allowed a second goal shortly after that, which nearly reduced him to tears. The final score as 2-6. Corwin was moody and depressed afterwards, although as we were driving home he asked when he could have a rematch.
I thought it was a good game. It’s the first time I’ve seen Corwin’s team play like an actual team, with kids staying (somewhat, most of the time) in position. The kids would also run to where the ball was going to be rather than where it was, which is a big step forward.
I also think Corwin’s acquired yet another girlfriend. Last Wednesday when I was watching practice at one point after a run Corwin dropped on the ground in exhaustion and one of the girls jumped on him which lead to a bit of wrestling. The same girl came up to him after the game as we were walking to the car to commiserate with him and explain to Mom and I that Corwin was upset because they’d lost. I haven’t teased Corwin about this because I don’t think he’d react well and it would be a shame to get him upset with the girl. Ah well, I’ll just make a note of it here so I can use it against him when he’s older.
Mom was reading Corwin a book that talked about scientists while I was trying to rescue a car for Charles. The car had fallen behind the headboard and Charles was laying on the floor in tears over it. While I was looking back to see if I could spot the errant vehicle, Mom was reading the section to Corwing about “mad scientists”. The book claimed that there were no such things but I piped up “Yes there are! Don’t believe her!”. I bent back down to continue my search when I felt the rap of a knuckle on my head. I figured Mom was indicating my lack of helpfulness but it was in fact Corwin who had decided to explain that to me. I complained to Mom about this and her response was “who do you think he learned it from?”. No sympathy at all! She’s so mean.
Charles seems to have recovered his love of water. He was off driving in my office while I picked up a bit around the kitchen. He started crying, which meant that he had gotten stuck in the game somehow. I’ve made it a policy to delay on fixing that kind of thing because
Anyway, this time Charles was unable to resolve his problem so he came running out to see Dad and announce “bath!”. Yes, Charles wanted another bath even though he had one last night. One’s children can never be too clean, especially boys, so off we went. I kept thinking that I must have misheard him, but he waited patiently while I got the water warmed up to 250°C (the minimum safe temperature for little poopers) and then hopped right in.
He let me wash him and then played for a while in the water with his airplane (which is a submarine in the bathtub). After a while he announced that he was done. What’s interesting to me is that I’ve started having Charles flip the drain before he gets out, because that’s easier for me. When I first started doing that with Corwin, he refused to do it and I ended up leaving him in the tub for about 30 minutes before he finally broke and opened the drain. Charles, in contrast, happily did it the first time and has never objected. If only he were as cooperative about the potty!
Corwin was at soccer practice tonight and came home all sweaty and dirty. So after dinner I told him it was time for a shower. He objected and while I was preparing to get all Fatherly on him, Charles comes up to me and says “Bath!”. Yes, Charles, Mr. Hydrophobe, specifically requested a bath.
I took him up and he was not confused. I got the water going and he was fine with being stripped and put in the bathtub, where he played happily for a good while. He didn’t get his hair washed since he had a bath the day before but he let me soap him up and wash. I left him to play while I watched from the chair in the hallway. The house is actually layed out nicely in this regard — the upstairs hall widens out at the end, enough for a small nook with a bookshelf and a comfy chair. The chair is directly in front of the bathroom, so I can sit comfortably with a laptop while keeping an eye on Charles’ in the bathtub. It’s definitely a step up from the previous house.
I’m going to have to expand the category list on this weblog soon, as Mom has bun #3 in the oven. We’re expecting delivery in mid-February. Everything is looking good for now.
This evening was open house at Corwin’s school. We went and visited. His teacher, Ms. W., didn’t start screaming at us immediately so Corwin is probably better behaved there then at home. Corwin immediately started playing on the computer while I carried Charles and Mom engaged in small talk. We signed some permission forms so that unattributed pictures of Corwin could be put on the website of the student teacher. I didn’t mention this site to her, although I wonder if Corwin will say something. He’s good at volunteering information to people other than his parents.
Everything seemed nice. Corwin had his own desk and locker. The teacher had a bunch of “college” words on the wall, most of which Corwin could read and understand. We had a long discussion about “ravenous” on the way home. Corwin claimed he was ravenous all the time, but Mom brought up the fact that he frequently wouldn’t eat breakfast. Corwin insisted he was ravenous all the same. Mom was a bit worried about Charles but I figure Charles can put up enough of a fight that he’s safe even from a starving wolf boy who’s also ravenous.
I was talking on the cell phone this evening. The reception is kind of marginal in the house so I wandered out front to see if I could hang on to the signal for a bit longer. Charles decided that he wanted to come outside as well. He brought a 6 inch red glow stick with him, the same one he had swimming yesterday, still unlit. He played with that outside for a while until he announced that he wanted the blue one. So we went back inside and got the blue one. We went back outside and Charles had fun with the unlit red and the blue glowsticks. Well, I guess it’s cheaper that way.
Corwin told us yesterday that he didn’t like going to school, especially not “every day”. It’s boring and worst of all, they have to go outside for recess. Corwin had a lot (for him) to say about how they didn’t get to stay inside and play. I’m not overly worried - if I recall correctly Corwin expressed similar disappointment in the first couple weeks of kindergarten. Hopefully he’ll warm up to school as the year wears on and he comes down from the lazy summer days.
Over the weekend I finally moved Corwin’s computer down in to the basement, out of my office. I had set it up there initially because we didn’t have network connectivity in the basement, but after much expenditure of money that difficulty has been overcome.
This has had some good and bad effects. On the one hand, Corwin is reluctant to be in the basement by himself (Charles is like that as well) so he doesn’t disappear and play computer games 24×7. On the other hand, I was able to get my computer set up where Corwin’s used to be and I have a nicer monitor than Corwin (20” LCD vs. 17” LCD). Corwin now makes wistful comments about my computer being nicer than his. I point out that his computer is nicer than mine, even if my monitor is better. That should balance out, right? Not to mention that Dad’s eyesight isn’t what it used to be.
But Corwin is not mollified. One of the guys at work told me that I had made a major mistake in getting Corwin a nice computer because he’ll never accept a downgrade. Charles uses Corwin’s old computer but I suspect that eventually he will want a nicer one as well and I’ll have two gamer boys trying to put me in the poor house. However, it will mean that having a job will be a lot more meaningful when they’re older.
Mom decided that we should take a walk this evening. We went over to the pond where Charles immediately wanted his shoes and socks off so he could splash in the water. Corwin of course immediately wanted his footwear off as well. It wasn’t long before both boys were soaked.
Corwin had a problem, though. He wasn’t wearing his swim trunks. Somehow this prevented him from swimming and it had been a long time since he had gone swimming in the pond. He whined about it for a while but eventually decided that if he took off his underwear then it would be OK. He headed off in to the woods to change and then came back unencumbered enough to enjoy swimming.
I had brought some glow sticks along so I could give one to Corwin and Charles. Charles really enjoyed his, but he refused to let me activate it. He played with it in the water, in the sand and in the stroller but steadfastly refused my offers to make it glow. He even played with it while he was taking a bath afterwards, still unlit.
We were at the park today for a company picnic. This was a park the boys hadn’t been to for a while (Charles probably hadn’t ever been there). There was some different playground equipment so of course the boys headed out to check it out.
The main section had a metal pseudo-rope net to get up on the walkways, a segmented bridge and a short tower with a couple of slides. Next to it was a short wall segment about 2½ feet tall. Charles popped over and stood behind the wall while Daddy watched. Charles did not find this acceptable and dragged Dad over to stand on the other side of the wall. Eventually Dad figured out that Charles wanted him to order some food. Dad ordered a hamburger and a Pepsi. Charles checked under the tower, which turned out not to have the right food items. Unable to locate the food there, he took off to climb up the rope net, run across the bridge and then come down the other stairs to stand behind the wall again. Dad ordered again and Charles, once more discovering that there was no actual food nearby, took off for the rope net, ran across the bridge and down the stairs and then behind the wall so Dad could order again.
After about 10 or 12 rounds of this, Mom showed up. Dad took this opportunity to leave town. Mom went over to sit nearby. When Charles arrived back behind the wall, he had no customer so he took off running after Dad, at which point Mom realized that Dad had not been kidding about the rules of the game. I don’t know how much food Mom ended up ordering.
I was reading another weblog where the author has a small boy who just turned two. He scraped his elbow recently and wanted a mommy-kiss instead of a bandaid. I couldn’t help but think of Corwin, who absolutely insists on a bandaid for any wound he suffers. Mom frequently offers to kiss it to make it feel better but Corwin is of the opinion that only a bandaid suffices for true pain relief. This leads to Corwin asking for bandaid even when he hasn’t actually broken his skin. He wants it purely for the analgesic effect. I’m not sure when Corwin made the transition to depending on technology instead of Mom, but he can’t have been more than 3 or 4 at the time.
Corwin has never been all that affectionate a boy (unlikely his little cuddly-boy brother) although he does seem to require phsyical contact on a regular basis. For Dad this involves wrestling or fake fighting (where I attack him at ¼ speed). He likes to sit on Mom quite a bit. Mom tells me that when he’s at soccer and the coach is trying to explain something (therefore the kids aren’t running around) Corwin wanders nervously and every now and then spontaneously hugs who ever is closest. But if Mom or Dad asks for a hug they get the “What, are you daft or something?” look.
Charles has become unhappy about the potty lately. Even reading or talking doesn’t help, he has to be physically restrained in order to stay on the potty. I had a bit more luck this morning as he actually sat on the potty while we read his new Trucks book twice. Of course, he just sat there, not doing anything. After a couple of readings Charles announced that he was done, so he got some toilet paper and tossed it in (that’s part of going potty) and flushed (if only we could get Corwin to be as good about flushing afterwards). I put some pull-ups on him and not fifteen minutes later he was stinky. Ah well. I think my plan will be to make sitting on the potty part of his morning routine and hopefully there will be something to reenforce at some point.
Mom took the boys off to Curtis Orchard, a local tourist trap. Charles kind of wandered around near Mom but Corwin worked off some energy. He ran through a hay bale maze over and over, fed the animals and had some fresh donuts. This was to make up for the fact that he “didn’t have a good day”. We were of course unable to ascertain what wasn’t good about it as that would have involved Corwin discussing what he did at school. But I let Corwin play with my LED flashlight and this made him forget about his bad day for a while.
Little Charles stories:
Corwin made me install UnrealTournament on his computer the other day. It’s quite a pretty game - the landscapes are visually stunning and the weapon effects are quite detailed and attractive. Corwin plays by just running around the world and looking at things. Charles enjoys watching as well and has taken to dragging me from the kitchen in to my office so that I can run around in the game for him. But this morning, Charles took the next step - I set him up to wander around by himself. He has enough hand/eye/mouse coordination so that he can manuever succesfully. I was impressed.
This evening for dinner Charles was using a straw to drink some water Mom had got for him. Charles would take a long pull from the straw and then lean back and say “Ahhhhhnh!” in a satisfied way.
Charles now enjoys having books read to him. He has one pasteboard book about Trains and another we got him this weekend about Trucks. He has Mom read him the book over and over until Mom can’t take it anymore and then he cries, or he gets Dad to read the book over and over until Dad gets tired and he cries. This evening I was sitting out on a chair in the hallway catching up on some work when Mom reached her limit. She sent Charles out to have me read, which I tried to do by having him sit on my lap but he would have none of that - if it wasn’t read in bed then it didn’t count. Eventually Mom finished reading to Corwin and was able to read to Charles one more time. After that, when Mom told him it was time to go to sleep, Charles popped out out of bed and went tearing off for the stairs. I stopped him as he went by and asked where he was going. He gave me the “Dad, do you have any clue at all?” look and said “truck!”. Off we went all the way down to the basement to get some (three) trucks for him to cuddle as he went to sleep. No cute furry stuffed animals for this boy.