Thanksgiving lobsters

This Thanksgiving we decided to go the lobster route instead of the turkey route.  We got started on this by hosting a Thanksgiving for the Mr. H clan a few years ago, so decided to do it again.  This year, we shared it with some neighbors, after picking up some lobsters the night before.  The food and company was great!  We also had some chocolate cake leftovers.  Baby H approved.

Bye, Grandma. See you soon!

This past Tuesday, my grandmother passed away.  She was 98 years old.  We will miss her, but she had been having a very rough last few months.  It had been very hard to watch and hear of her slowly succumbing to old age, but still hanging on.  However, with confidence in her salvation, she went home this past Tuesday to be with the Lord.

Oddly, I had a dream about her and Grandpa the day before.  In the dream, both were happy and were glad to see each other again.  In the dream, they were back in their old mobile home, the irises were blooming, and my family was there greeting Grandpa as though he'd been gone on a long trip, but was safely back and very glad to see Grandma again.  

Knowing that heaven is a fact is such an assurance.  Grandma (and Grandpa as well) is without a doubt happy, whole, and rejoicing at having a new body that is free from the ailments she experienced here.  Truly, death has been swallowed up in life!

Yoga-meisteress

So, here's what happens on crazy Sunday nights at the Hausmeister household when Mrs. H leaves out books of yoga poses, and Baby H is feeling spunky . . .

Just for the record, Baby H picked the shirt out for me.

Last game of the season

So, this week concluded this year's soccer season.  I was a little shocked that I haven't posted anything since the beginning of the season over a month ago, but in my defense, there have also been two trips to the Midwest in there, and we're currently hanging out with my parents for a week.

Today, we all went to see Baby H's last soccer game.  Well, all of us, plus the pet t-rex, who sat on the sidelines to keep an eye on things.  It also shared some of the halftime snack, and was petted through most of the second half.  Games for Baby H really only consisted of the first half anyway this season.  Once the snacks came out at halftime, it was time to socialize.  Today, the halftime snack was donuts. Baby H wasn't happy to find out that her donut had several bites missing (by several members of the family) by the time she got back from a run out on the field.

As before, enjoy the photos!

Cut 'em off her!

Mrs. H and I have different approaches to potty training.  Her method is far more direct than mine.  She proposes putting on underwear with no diaper and hoping that will teach her not to wet herself.  The phrase, "I wish we could just dress her in saran wrap," was part of this conversation.  I prefer the wait and see method, partly because the mess that results from the direct method becomes my problem after Mrs. H leaves the house to go earn more diaper money in the morning, and I don't like the idea of dealing with underwear-strained poop.

On one particular day recently, Mrs. H decided to try for a compromise, underwear underneath Baby H's diapers, thinking that it would help her realize she was wet.  Unfortunately for everyone, Baby H didn't really care if she was wet or not, or more importantly, poopy.  When it came time for a diaper change, we were in for a tough decision - what do you do with a diaper under underwear?

While I was considering the nastiness that would ensue (and the many ways that this was Mrs. H's fault), Mrs. H suddenly exclaimed, "Cut 'em off her!" and raced to the kitchen to get some scissors so that she could cut off the underwear and diaper.  The thought passed through my mind that it was likely that those scissors would also be going through my pizza in the next day or so, but the deed was soon done.

We're still in disagreement about the best approach to potty training, but it's certainly not been without adventure!

First game

Last weekend was the first game for Baby H.  I think we lost by something like 13 - 1, or maybe it was a complete shutout.  I don't really remember.  Baby H was as large as all the other kids in her U-6 team (6 and under), so could probably have held her own, but didn't understand how the game was supposed to work.

After chasing the ball for a while, she came off the sideline in tears telling me that the other kids wouldn't share the ball with her.  Since she's naturally so aggressive and physical, this is probably the first time we've encouraged her to compete.  After the game, we tried to explain it to her.  We'll see if it stuck tomorrow, when she plays again.

The field they're playing on is astroturf, with a drainage system underneath it.  The "dirt" seems to be shredded rubber.  All last Saturday it was pouring, but when it was time for the games on Sunday, the field was completely dry.  The facilities are great!  I don't think I played on a field this nice until I was in college.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Aggression

Last week, while Mrs. H was doing her contortions on the floor, Baby H got tired of sitting on the sofa, and decided to go on the attack.  She growled, "I'm gonna get you little fella Mommy," and pounced.  It was hilarious, once we figured out that Mrs. H didn't get too squished.

Baby H is now 3' 8" tall, and over 50 pounds.  The days of her sleeping on my chest for a nap are long gone.

Wet pants? No problem!

Here's a tip from the Hausmeister for all you parents who have found their child with a wet backside while you're out, and no replacement pants.  

Find a high-velocity air dryer in a bathroom, hoist the offender up, and use it to dry out their pants.  It's fast, it's easy, and according to Baby H, it tickles.  It also saved our trip to the science museum today.

The Stretchy Mrs. H

Aunt D wanted to see some pictures of Mrs. H doing her yoga poses.  Well, here you are.  She's getting pretty good!  She's working on getting ready for her teacher training coming up later this month.

Fall means soccer!

This fall, we have Baby H signed up for youth league soccer.  She's almost a full year below the cutoff age, but when I went to register her earlier, they looked at her and asked if she could kick a ball and run.  She does both pretty often, so we signed her up.  Last Wednesday there was a U6 soccer clinic at U Mass, but the weather was horrible, so we didn't take her.  I played plenty of games in sloppy weather, but we didn't think that should be her first experience with the sport.  Besides, we didn't have any gear, and I wasn't very excited to send her into the fray without shinguards at least.

Today over lunch, we made a run to the store and got her kitted out.  She knew exactly what was going on and carried the bag out of the store and into our apartment.  As soon as we got home, she wanted to try everything on, and left it on the rest of the day.  Even now, while I'm lying on the floor writing, she's walking around me with her cleats and shinguards on.  So far, I haven't gotten stepped on . . .

Eating Your Vegetables

Baby H isn't a big veggie-eater, which is too bad.  Both Mrs. H and I eat plenty.  However, she's a fruit eating machine.  So, how do we get the green stuff into her?  We cheat.

Surprisingly, she downs Odwalla Superfood like it's ice cream, so whenever Baby H and I make a grocery run, sometime between picking out the milk, and checking out the lobsters, we pick up a Superfood and let her drain it once we get home.

If you've never seen one, they look pretty disgusting - like the color of something you'd find on the beach at low tide - and have the consistency of a thin slurry.  However, they taste pretty good and Baby H always looks into the bottle once she's done to make sure there's nothing left.  If anyone else reading this has trouble getting veggies into their kids, maybe this is worth trying.

Baby H approves.

The Wheels on the Bus

Did you know there are some new verses to "The Wheels on the Bus?"  Apparently, the daddies on the bus go, "Sshh, sshh, sshh," but the mommies on the bus go, "I love you."

Quotes

Today we went to the science museum with one of Mrs. H's old co-workers.  Yes, we found someone who would go with us, and Baby H did her gopher trick just like in the picture a few posts back.  While walking around the museum, we asked Baby H what she wanted to be when she grew up.  Since we were standing right outside the "spacerocketship", we assumed the answer would be and astronaut.  Instead it was a farmer.  That was odd.

"Sophie, what do you want to farm?"

"Robots!"

"Oh, I get it.  She's going to program nanobots and work on autonomous swarm applications.  That's cool!"

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A little while later, we went to watch "The Alps" at the science museum's Omni Theater.  I've been wanting to see this since it came out, and wasn't disappointed.  As you can imagine, it's mostly about the mountains, mainly the Eiger and the Matterhorn.  The plot revolves around a climber, John Harlin, who is climbing a route on which his father died in 1966.  As part of one of the opening scenes, the camera swoops in on a climber climbing ice.  When Baby H saw this, she said loudly, "Mommy, what IS that?"

"That's ice climbing.  Your uncle has done that."  Then she gave a quick explanation of what the crampons and ice axes were for.

"Mommy, I HAVE to do that!" she responded, loudly enough for people several seats away to hear her clearly.

To anyone that says that raising girls is different than raising boys, I would have to ask whether their idea of what girls do includes robot-farming and ice climbing.  Probably not.

The Cousins

Off and on throughout this summer, we've had the chance to hang our with our nieces on the weekends.  I keep meaning to take some pictures of our adventures with them, but we end up spending most of our time out having fun, so I wind up with good memories, but not too much proof.

So far, we've visited the science museum, made homemade pizzas, watched Chicken Run (twice, back-to-back), gone to the beach, and visited a friend's farm in Rhode Island.  They get along great with Baby H, and she looks forward to their coming.  Usually around Thursday, we start hearing questions about when they will arrive and what we'll be doing that weekend.  When they get here, she goes bonkers until they leave, and it takes her most of Monday to recover.

The trip to the farm is probably one of our favorite activities - there are wonderful wagon rides put on by an old family friend and delicious fresh produce to take home and enjoy for the rest of the week.  The horses are named Bob and Bill and are big Percherons.  This last time, we were regaled by stories of what happens when one of them steps on your head.  Apparently, it results in a concussion, a bloody eye, but no lasting damage, in case you were wondering.

It's only a few more weekends until they head back home for the fall.  We're going to miss you guys!

LEGOs

Yesterday I introduced Baby H to LEGOs.

She loves them, and since they were my favorite toy growing up, now I can play with her and it counts as father-daughter time.  I love it!  She's got a set from the City collection for ages 5-12.  It includes a 4x4 truck, a waverunner, and a trailer.  In addition, the LEGO guy has a scuba set, complete with a helmet and goggles, a scuba tank, and flippers.  So cool!  We had a great time putting it together and playing with it.

"I'm a baby jaguar! Rwaawr! Rwaar!"

Last Saturday, Baby H went to a friend's birthday party where they had a clown who did magic tricks for the kids, including live animals.  Baby H enthusiastically encouraged all attempts at slapstick humor by the clown.

There was also plenty of sugar and face painting.  When Baby H finally got to the front of the line, the clown asked how she wanted her face painted.  She enthusiastically opted for Spiderman, but Mommy managed to talk her down to being a baby jaguar instead.  

At the end of the party, the kids were given gift bags.  On the subway home, Baby H found and ate all of the candy in the bag, turning into a caffeinated superball for the rest of the afternoon, which she spent stalking her parental prey, making "baby jaguar sounds", and pouncing on us repeatedly.

Bedtime couldn't come soon enough that evening.

Hanging out

Last week, Baby H and I traveled to the Midwest.  I was going for work, she was going to spend time with family.  We had a big surprise when we arrived.  Baby H's uncle and aunt met us at the airport and went out for supper with us.  Baby H loved the presents they brought for her and has been playing with them and wearing them since she got home.  Since she's starting to pick out her own clothes and dress herself, we're starting to see her sense of style for the first time.  Earlier this week, she went to school with her shirt inside out, and the printed manufacturer's label on the front because she wanted to see the letters.  The new clothes are, in her words, "Sooo beeeUUUUUtiful!"  Thanks, you two!

One of the presents was another piece to her train set.  This time it was a bell that rings when the train goes in front of it.  Several times since returning, we've had a huge train route laid out on the floor, using almost all of the pieces.  We can almost model the Boston subway, and she loves playing with them.

Whirlwind July

I'm a little backlogged with posting, so I'll probably knock out a few posts tonight.  July has been busy with family, Lyme disease, travel for work, and general mayhem.  

A couple of weeks ago, Baby H and I went to the science museum, which she will talk about to anyone who will listen, and saw some of her favorite exhibits.  They includes the "space rocketship", the dinosaurs, the robots, and a computer lab that's hidden away with a bunch of kid-friendly games.  

I especially like playing with the Aibo dogs and programming an iRobot that you can send off running around a pit with blocks in it.  However, my favorite experience there involves my dad crashing a college robotics science experiment.  More on that in another post.  

Every time we go to the science museum, we find something new to play with. This time we discovered a new area of the museum that caters to younger kids and includes a bunch of hands-on activities. One was an air jet that suspends a ball overhead. That was cool for a while, but Baby H thought it was a lot more fun to use it as a giant hairdryer.

Another highlight included learning to brush your teeth with the big toothbrush.  Baby H has a flip-top head anyway, so getting to play with a mouth that opened wider than hers was unique.  Besides, it saves me from getting my jaws pried apart anytime curiosity strikes.

We love the museum!

Want to go with us sometime?

We're doing WHAT for the 4th?

For the 4th of July this year, we had both sets of inlaws / outlaws / scofflaws / whatever (actually, everyone gets along with everyone really well) in town, along with our nieces.  So, since it was our first 4th of July in Boston, we decided to do it up right and watch the fireworks along with half a million other people on the Charles River.

To do it "really right", we got seats on the Esplanade, out next to the river, to watch.  This meant hauling an unbelievable amount of food, blankets, and tarps (in case of rain) along with us.  We essentially moved out of our apartment for 7 hours, then moved back in afterward.

The whole experience was a lot of fun, but I'm not sure if it's something I'd do again.  However, we had a great time being together and hanging out.  This also included a very patriotic diaper change.

In the process, I learned a few important lessons.

1. The "old lady" shopping carts that you see people pushing around supermarkets are designed with the express purpose of being impossible to manage when they are full.  They go in a straight line only.
2. Having 500,000 people between you and the toilets, which are only 300 yards away causes a unique type of claustrophobia.  If something were to happen, you really won't be able to go anywhere. Period.
3. The promise of the Boston Pops and Rascal Flatts is really just a way to get people to come listen to the announcers.
   
4. It takes a lot of activities to keep a group of 9 entertained for 6 hours, but a shopping cart full of stuff is just enough to make it work.
5. 500,000 people is just a lot of people, even if half of them are Boston cops.  Who knew?
6. If you don't know for sure where they are launching the fireworks, and there is no wind, trees and smoke can be problems.

A party with friends

Pigtails

So, the last time Mom H was out visiting, she put Baby H's hair in pigtails.  We hadn't tried it for quite a while, but did it again recently and liked how it looked.  Since I am usually the one getting Baby H ready for school, she asked for "Lumpy ears" one morning (that's the Heffalump from Winnie the Pooh for those of you that aren't keeping current on these things).  After wondering whether I should call in Mrs. H for help or do this one myself, I decided to give it a shot.  Mrs. H was busy vomiting and didn't seem like she wanted to be interrupted at the moment anyway.

When I picked her up after school, I was surprised to see that the pigtails were still in.  I asked Ms. Linda if they were the originals, or if they had to be fixed up during the day and was told that they were redone once.  In an offhand comment, I said that I must not have done too badly that morning, saw the rather surprised look, and decided it was time for us to bolt.

Daddy and dinos

I'm not in the habit of jumping out of bed to embrace the day on most days, but the days that I don't feel well see me moving especially slowly.  After we got back from our Midwest trip, we all took a turn getting really sick.  One morning, while I was sleeping off some of the crud and Mrs. H was out for a morning run, Baby H stopped in to see how I was doing.  Apparently, I needed a little comforting, so she tucked a dinosaur in with me to keep me company.

I vaguely remember being patted on the head as well and hearing something like, "Awww.  It's ok Daddy..."

Woodsmoke, pink turkeys, and the world's largest hot tub

It's been a while since anything new went up.  Partly, that's due to having been traveling to see family and partly because they turned around and came and visited us a few weeks later.  Between the preparing to go, the packing, the visiting, the unpacking, and the preparing to host, blogging hasn't gotten much time.

Mrs. H also reminds me that we had food poisoning, selling a house, lots of vomiting, and now Lyme disease as other things that got in the way.  I got Lyme disease as a result of a tick bite I must have gotten from the trip to Quincy Quarries I mentioned earlier.  Those in the Midwest will probably laugh at the fact that I got it here, on the one day I ventured out of the concrete jungle and not while I was living in the Midwest itself.

Anyway, the trip to the Midwest was a great opportunity to hang out with family, mostly while we floated in a 100 degree pool that my father-in-law has hooked into an outdoor wood burning boiler which heats the house during the majority of the year when the weather is nasty.  From the pool, we could also see the turkeys in the backyard as they cruised through looking for food.  Baby H has started seeing turkeys everywhere. Pink flamingos on a beach towel were "pink turkeys".

There are some pictures of a tall stick-man in the pool that I can post later as well, but they're not going up until I get a picture of a certain individual in a certain hat to go out there with them . . .

Rock Climbing

Last weekend I went exploring to find some of the local rock climbing areas that might hold some potential for the future. It turns out there is a great location about 20 minutes away - who knew? I'm looking forward to going back to do some climbing soon. I've got gear for 2 - anyone want to join me?

(Click the pictures for higher resolution images.)

Surfer Girl

In the interest of providing a little more coverage for Baby H in the sun than a bathing suit usually does, and because she can wear this around a little more during the day, we picked up a swimsuit at Gymboree recently during their "summer's-not over-but-everything's-on-sale-as-though-it-were" sale.  

We've got her decked out in surfer gear, but found out that the best surfing around here is supposedly from September to January!  Brrrrr.  That's cold even by Midwest standards!

Working From Home

Every once in a while, Mrs. H has the opportunity to work from home, or just ends up working while she's at home.  When this happens, laptops seem to spawn on their own and outnumber people.  Here's Mrs. H's home office in full swing.  The audio from the Nick Jr. website or www.pbskids.org is blasting from the Mac, Baby H is intent on whatever Flash game she's running, the coffee's gone, there's still work to do, but everyone's having fun.  

Baby H has taken over running the Mac and calls it "her Apple" and has no problem with anything on the two websites she's allowed to use.  It's cool, but pretty scary at the same time.  I am not encouraging her to become a computer nerd when she grows up . . . but wouldn't a Lego robotics kit would be a good father-daughter bonding experience?  

Robots are now starting to compete with dinosaurs and space as "things that are cool".

Memorial Day - The Beach

It was good enough that we went out twice in one day.  The second time we went out, it was just to the park, but still a lot of fun.

All Personality

Der Hausmeister is back, but now coming to you from Boston.  After several requests (Sarah, Didi, Pepper), I decided I should probably get back to work on it.  The picture of the month club starts to get expensive if we need to mail out too many more batches of pictures each month...

More later - we're taking the day off, and are going to head over to Copley and watch people. Boston is changing from being a college city to a tourist destination today.  The colleges are out, and the tour busses are arriving!