Jefflog

I’m beginning to get a real sense of cabin fever. At the moment:

1. I work from home, so no opportunity to get out to work;
2. I have kids, which makes it hard to get out during the weekend anyway.
3. We’ve only got one car which Hong takes to work, so no going out while the nanny looks after the children.
4. It’s winter, which combined with #2, makes it even harder to get out.

Most days, the only time I go outside is to get the mail. Weekends, going to the grocery store is about my only outside activity. We had a big snow storm a week ago Tuesday, and it wasn’t until Saturday that I took a drive out to the store and realized, “Hey, there’s a lot of snow in the neighborhood!”

Luckily, the weather is warming up so bike riding should be possible soon. Also, we will be buying a second car sometime before September, so maybe I can get out during work hours once in a while.

I’ve got an aching back today, but for a different reason than in my last post. A blizzard yesterday brought in 12 inches of snow. I shoveled half off last night, the other half this afternoon.

I’ve also been playing the part of house-dad the last two days on account of our nanny not being able to get here because of the snow. These days, it’s not so bad watching them. Sure, there are trying moments, when both kids need you in opposite directions, but typically Maggie is able to keep herself occupied, and even Oliver can be left alone for a while sometimes if you give him two things to bang together. I can sometimes steal the occasional escape necessary for checking a web page or two, although not enough to complete this entry. (As of this writing, both kids are currently under Hong’s watch.)

After all of that, Hong and I went out for a nice, romantic Valentine’s Day dinner, just the two of us. If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. With small kids, there’s no such thing! We were able to steal away to Steak and Shake one evening while my parents were here two weeks ago and we considered that to be our Valentine’s Day dinner.

Jonah & Lisa, and Julia & Brian: I hope you made the most of this Valentine’s Day, because it after today it will only be a fond memory. Mu-hahaha!

It’s been a while since I posted an update on my progeny, so let me do so now.

Maggie was tested for admission into a gifted school’s preschool program. Admission hasn’t been guaranteed to her yet, but she managed to test above the 99th percentile, so there’s little doubt in my mind she’ll get in. She’s an extraordinary young girl.

Oliver is also in the 99th percentile, but only in terms of his weight. He weighed over 21 pounds at his 6 month checkup, although now that he’s almost 8 months old he’s no doubt heavier. He can also be very clingy at times; I usually have to make my coffee and lunch while holding him with one arm. Should I really need to do this with a 21lb+ child?

In addition, Oliver is walking around a lot, although he needs to hold onto two adult fingers to do so. This involves a lot of hunching over and walking like a Neanderthal. He’s not yet crawling although he appears to be ready nearly any day now. He gets on all fours but doesn’t go anywhere.

Needless to say, my back hurts nearly every morning.

Yesterday was the big game, made even bigger by the fact that the Indianapolis Colts are playing. Normally, we’d be pretty excited about that — not because we’re Colts fans, oh no, just because we know that everyone else in the city would be watching TV, giving us a prime opportunity to go out and do things that we would normally avoid because of the crowds.

Two years ago, when the Colts were in a playoff game, we went bowling. No wait for lanes on a Sunday afternoon.

Last year, I went to Costco. Yeah, not much of a big deal, but it was empty enough making shopping very easy.

This year, though, it was too cold to be taking the kids anywhere. The high temperature was 14 degrees, and was no doubt colder than that by the 6pm kickoff. Things were pretty windy most of the day too. We just had to stay home for a normal evening indoors.

We did manage to tune the TV during the fourth quarter to see the Colts were winning and the game was pretty much decided. The fireworks we heard 30 minutes later verified that they had won. Go team.