Der Hausmeister

Country Mouse, City Mouse, Suburban Mouse?

2010-02-13T08:09:00.000-05:00

Today we did what should be the last of the paperwork for our new lease. Our new apartment isn’t far from our old one – actually just across the driveway – but it is smaller. As we’ve gone from 1800 to 1300 and next to 1200 square feet of living space and from 2 to 3 to 4 people, the change has made me think about how different this sort of life is to the one I had when I was growing up. City life means less space, but has meant more together time. We may not all eat meals at the same time, but there’s also no eating and retreating to your bedroom immediately afterward. Kid H can’t just go outside and play by herself, so we all go to the beach or playground together. Our apartment is almost always cluttered, with toys, projects, files, and dishes, but cleaning it up only takes a couple of hours so it’s not a big deal.

Living in Boston has exposed Kid H to some things earlier than I would have preferred, but has given her other opportunities that were almost only special occasion events for me when I was growing up. Frequent moves have forced all of us to be a little more adaptable, a little more flexible, and have seemed to strengthen our bonds as a family. It’s also changed our perspective on what we own. A move has a way of making that indispensible item into just one more round trip on the stairs. We are also finding that while the quantity of things we own decreases, we are becoming more and more particular about what it is that we hang on to.

Other discoveries:
• Public schools aren’t necessarily as good, but having Italian classes in K1 is great
• Cost of housing is high, but there are lots of jobs and housing around should you need it
• Groceries are expensive and grocery stores are kind of crazy, but Peapod delivers and there’s Haymarket on Saturdays
• Friends are everywhere, but everyone seems busy
• Car insurance is ridiculous, but if you don’t use it often, operating costs are very low
• Park Street Church – probably the best or second-best church we’ve attended

I occasionally wonder about living in the suburbs. It seems to be what lots of city mice with kids eventually do. However, although the space would be nice, I think the suburbs would be the death of me. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for us.

Up To Something

2010-02-11T21:28:00.001-05:00

Why yes, Baby H and I are up to something. Why do you ask?

Italian Lessons

2010-02-09T12:00:00.001-05:00

Kid H loves her Italian classes at school!

Birthday Party Prep

2010-02-08T11:05:00.000-05:00

Here's a shot of Mrs. H and Kid H hard at work the day before the birthday party getting the frosting, sprinkles, and all-important princess rings on the cupcakes. The cupcakes were pink cake with white frosting and pink sprinkles.

We're trying to decide what to do with the leftover frosting in the frosting gun you can see on the counter. I offered to squirt it into Mr. and Mrs. R's eldest son before he left for home after the birthday party on Saturday, but was turned down. I thought it would be an interesting experiment.

Birthday Party Adventures

2010-02-06T20:18:00.009-05:00

Kid H had her birthday party today. To celebrate, we invited her class from school as well as some of her other friends, but in the end only her friends from Bright Horizons, our wonderful neighbors, and our good friends Mr. and Mrs. R showed up. This ended up being perfect and everyone (both adults and kids) seemed to have a great time and enjoy themselves.

The birthday was princess-themed, including decorations; a reading of Tea for Ruby; making princess tiaras, bracelets, and necklaces; and a game of Put the Princess In the Castle.

After it was all done, Mr. and Mrs. R and their kids came up and we all hung out in our apartment, had supper together and relaxed for a while. It was a great birthday party and we all had a lot of fun. Tomorrow, Kid H sings "My God Is So Big" in church as well, so the weekend is definitely not over yet. We're also going to have a quiet family party with just the four of us. Besides, we still have a few cupcakes left over!

There were some great quotes today, like:

"Presto! Now you're a fairy!" said to Mr. R by Sophia after a wave of her magic princess wand.
"Why do they even make princess rings that aren't pink?" asked by Mrs. H as the cupcakes were being handed out and all the ones with pink rings disappeared first.
In a little whispered voice just before all the guests left, "Thank you Mommy for the wonderful party," from the birthday girl.

Deep Thoughts On Juice

2010-02-05T20:02:00.002-05:00

Tonight, while Kid H was getting ready to go to bed, she asked for some juice and milk to drink. Since Kid H and I had birthday cupcakes earlier in the evening, I suggested she drink water. After negotiating for milk, Kid H stated that it was better for her than juice since both milk and water prevented any accidents later in the night. This was followed by this analysis of where orange juice comes from:

Yeah, cause juice is made of pee!

Ok . . .

Juliet and Rachmaninoff

2010-01-29T21:52:00.001-05:00

Here's Baby H showing off her Christmas dress, Romeo and Juliet face, and Rachmaninoff hands. Her hands and feet are gigantic already, and she started rolling over before she was one month old.

We're expecting her to be another tall kid. Her newborn sleepers are already starting to look like flying squirrel costumes on her. Her feet go all the way to the bottom, but she's not nearly large enough around to fill them out.

A thousand times good night!

Dealing With Change

2010-01-27T21:03:00.002-05:00

Though this picture was taken over Christmas, it's a great illustration of my general state of mind. Barring a miracle, we will be moving to another apartment sometime in February, and probably making another move to an apartment in Washington DC sometime in the next two to eighteen months. In reality, this move will probably come sooner rather than later, but it is impossible to make that prediction, and I won't know that we're moving until about 4 weeks before we need to move. However, in order to hold out for the long shot that will perhaps let us make just one move, we are trying to put off our move in February as long as possible.

Dealing with this sort of uncertainty and upheaval has been a challenge for our entire family and a test of our belief that things work out for our good. It's been exhausting, even though we haven't actually made a move yet. However, it's the waiting that's the hard part. Execution means you have a plan. We're still trying to put one together while hoping that in the end maybe we won't have to move twice.

New Baby

2010-01-24T20:36:00.006-05:00

It's been a while since the last post again, but in the meantime we added another member to our household, had company at our place for 2 weeks over Christmas, and have been doing the newborn thing since then. Baby H is doing well. She was 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long when born, but has been stretching out a lot since then. She has also been an easy baby to take care of, which has been a huge blessing after another rather difficult pregnancy for Mrs. H.

Now that the baby is here, we have been very grateful for occasional meals brought in by the South Boston Mom's Club and my ability to work from home. It seems someone's always sleeping and someone's always awake around the clock. Baby H is almost sleeping through the night, but isn't quite there yet. Hopefully, things will even out in another week or two. Kid H seems to be enjoying having a baby sister and has been very helpful in taking care of her. I'm waiting for the day when she'll volunteer to help with the diapers, but I think that's still a way off.

Dame Farm

2009-12-05T09:19:00.000-05:00

A while ago, I told you that I'd be posting pictures of Kid H doing her pumpkin impression at the Dame Farm. Today's the day. I'm also including some of the other pictures we took that day. The weather was wonderful, and we had a great time!

Fall Food

2009-11-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

We've been eating a lot of chicken recently at the Hausmeister household, and have discovered the greatness of the beer can chicken recipe.

Since there are more recipes online than are possibly necessary, I won't give it to you here in detail other than to say that they all involve stuffing a half full container of beer into the back end of a chicken, rubbing it with seasoning, and cooking it. It's a rather ignominious end for the bird, but tastes great.

We especially enjoy the meal when it ends with some of Mrs. H's pumpkin mini-bundts. The little cakes themselves taste good, but when they're warm, stuffed with Nutella, and surrounded by a scoops of ice cream with cinnamon and nutmeg on top, they taste even better.

3 Month Recap

2009-11-24T19:05:00.011-05:00

I haven't posted for a while. Some of you noticed. Some of you also contacted Mrs. H and told her to tell me to do something about it. When this happens, it often culminates in a night like tonight, when I'm flopped on the sofa while the sound of "O Tannenbaum" emanates from the bathroom as the rest of the Hausmeister clan takes advantage of the double shower in our apartment to soak and sing . . . loudly.

So, what's been going on you ask? How about a photo recap of the past 3 months?

First, Kid H went to the fair with her Aunt and M, where she rode elephants, fed donkeys, went on rides, ate junk food, got new clothes, and just generally spent time hanging out and having a great time. She came home completely exhausted, but now asks constantly when she can go hang out with them again.

Next, the Hausmeister clan went apple-picking at the Dame Farm in nearby Rhode Island. If you're ever in the area, I recommend stopping by. We are convinced that the best apples are at the tops of the trees and can only be reached by having Kid H and Mr. H combine to form the ultimate apple picking machine. Occasionally, the person on the bottom takes an apple to the cranium, much to the amusement of Mrs. H.

The Dame Farm also has wagon rides, all sorts of fresh produce, flowers, and is owned by some great people. Our stop there included enjoying all of the above, as well as a pumpkin impression by Kid H that will have to wait for a future post.

Our next "highlight" was the pooping-by-the-side-of-I-93-in-the-middle-of-a-traffic-jam-in-the-rain incident. Traffic was at a standstill and Kid H had to go.

What you can't see in the picture is that we also had a State Police escort as well, complete with lights. I made sure to pick up the TP when I was done.

This fall, Kid H started school as well. It was a little rough at the beginning, but we got things straightened out, and she's doing great now. The school she attends is in Boston's Italian district, and has included learning Italian, thanks to a teacher supplied by the Italian Consulate. This has added a fourth language on top of the scattered Chinese and Spanish phrases and words she knows. Tonight, I was treated to three songs in Italian and heard her count to 10. She's putting the "poly" in polyglot and making her dad jealous.

Mrs. H and I also went to Japan with her cousin and cousin-in-law for a week vacation and saw lots of very cool stuff. I'll have to dedicate a couple of posts to covering it in the next few weeks.

There was a trip back to the Midwest to visit one set of the Oma and Opas, and the other Oma and Opa came here to cover while Mr. and Mrs. H went on vacation and when Mr. H had to travel for business. While in the Midwest for business, I also got to meet my new nephew for the first time.

And there was Halloween. Kid H dressed up as the animal from the book "Put Me in the Zoo". Indeed.

That brings us to the present, which finds us getting ready for Christmas and thankful for the highlights of the last 3 months. This year the Christmas season is bringing with it a significant amount of change for the Hausmeister clan as well as a number of things to look forward to, including the addition of a new Baby H and a Christmas visit from family in the Midwest.

The Lock Jig

2009-08-21T19:57:00.003-04:00

Either you were there, or you weren't. Either way, it was a sight to be remembered.

The Wonder of the Kinder Eier

2009-08-11T21:09:00.003-04:00

I've always thought it would be cool to be a Lego designer. However, that's probably not meant to be. A similar job would be to design the toys that go into Kinder Eier. For those who aren't familiar with this treat, it's a white and milk chocolate egg, which has a plastic capsule inside it with a small toy that you assemble after eating the egg. They are SO COOL! The US version is the Kinder Surprise. Of course the German version is better. One of the things that makes them clever is that they almost always move or do something. Sometimes, you can even combine them to build a "super surprise." Echt cool!

After being away from home for the last week, Mrs. H greeted us with Kinder Eier. Mine was this cool little guy who could smile or frown when you flipped a switch on the back of his head. Kid H's toy was a pirate gorilla who's arms could flip up to reveal a map hidden in a barrel. When we got them, we both devoured the chocolate and got on to building the toys. I'm such a sucker for clever little things like this.

Thanks, Mrs. H! You're the best!

Poolside Walk of Shame

2009-08-10T21:17:00.002-04:00

So tonight we head out to the pool for a quick swim before going to bed. Kid H and I have been on the road for work and visiting grandparents the last week, so we were both pretty tired.

After about 45 minutes in the pool, Mrs. H and I announce that it's time to go in. Kid H pops out, complaining bitterly about the unfairness of the whole ordeal and after being covered up with a towel, disappears.

Assuming that she went inside, Mrs. H and I head in a minute later, only to find that Kid H has disappeared. After a few minutes, I find her back by the pool, buck naked, and crying. Apparently, in a fit of rage, she took off her swimsuit and threw it over the railing. It fell down a story, but got hung up on a ledge. This was immediately followed by remorse, which was probably deepened by getting a naked spanking poolside.

After getting her back upstairs, I called down to make sure the suit could be retrieved, then Mrs. H and I put Kid H to bed. She was very ready to go to sleep, but had to be reassured multiple times that the wind wouldn't blow her suit away overnight before the staff could get to it.

We're all going to bed now.

LEFTOVERS IN BBEEEEEEEEEEDDDDD!

2009-07-30T20:18:00.001-04:00

You'll notice that both Mrs. H and I are in the picture. So, who might be taking the picture?

Clicking on the image to see the larger-than-life version might allow you to see that the expression on my face isn't one of pure surprise . . .

"Put the camera down, NOW!"

Cartoons and Legos

2009-07-28T09:13:00.001-04:00

Have you ever wondered about what living with a house full of girls does to the only male of the house? I have. I'm already sure I know more about Hello Kitty than most guys, and am adding knowledge of other foreign cartoon characters as well. These include Pocoyo, Kai-Lan, and Pokemon at the moment. What happens when I have two girls?

For those of you who wish to test your knowledge on the above characters, can you name the countries of origin for each without resorting to web searches?

I've also been getting pretty good with pop beads. However, I'm trying fight back. Kid H and I spent a lot of time a few weekends ago working on building a Sikorsky Skycrane Lego set (which I'm proud to say I knew by name when I saw the box on the shelf), complete with a working winch. It's a pretty close model of the original, and both Kid H and I are enjoying playing with it. We're going to try for the plane or boat next, but need to find one of the pieces of the rotor first. It's probably under a sofa.

Rainy days

2009-07-26T08:00:00.002-04:00

"Summer" in Boston this year has mainly consisted of rain. I don't mind it, since it's relaxing, and keeps me from feeling like I'm missing out on doing something inside during the day while I'm working. However Kid H doesn't feel the same way. She's bored.

So, what to do? How about take some crazy pictures? Good idea! Here are the results:

Legacy and an announcement

2009-07-23T19:12:00.004-04:00

It's funny to be only in your 30s and already thinking about your legacy, but I find myself doing that already. Actually, this sort of thinking really started in earnest earlier this week after a doctor's appointment when we found out that . . .

Mrs. H will be having a baby girl in December!

Kid H is looking forward to it, as are we. Mrs. H is doing great, and looks fantastic. She's doing so much better than the last time around. There are going to be a lot of changes connected to having another baby in terms of how life works for us, but we are trusting the Lord to help us through these changes, as he has with all the other seemingly large ones previously.

I also need to apologize to those of you who follow this blog closely. I've been rather preoccupied with some other projects recently, so haven't posted as regularly as I should have. For those who are interested, my excuses are as follow:

July is the Tour de France. If it's on, I'm watching it, period. Every night.
Mrs. H is pregnant, and I'm filling the Hausmeister role more than ever.
Work's been challenging, but I can now install WSS or MOSS 2007 with Kerberos and PerformancePoint Server, on both Windows Server 2005 and 2008 platforms as well as setting up the SPNs, service accounts, and databases. If you could follow all that, I feel bad for you.
I'm getting peed on a lot. Kid H comes out to get a snuggle at night, I go in and fall asleep. The next thing I know, I'm laying in a quarter inch puddle of fresh, hot . . . well you know.
Speaking of sleeping arrangements, we have a two bedroom apartment, and I don't sleep in either. I'll be on the sofa till December, I think.
I'm trying to read all the books on the Fog Creek management internship booklist. So far, I'm halfway through the first one. I know. Congratulate me now.

So, to make up for my lapses, I'll try to post a few posts that cover what we've been up to since the last post to keep you up-to-date. Until then . . .

Easter

2009-04-18T11:29:00.004-04:00

Well, it wasn't snowing this Easter, but it was still pretty cold and nasty out. That didn't prevent us from having our first ever Easter egg hunt for Kid H before heading to church. One of the gifts that was hidden was Domo-kun with rabbit ears. This was supposed to be a gag gift for Der Hausmeister himself, but Kid H appropriated it.

Our attempt at making the Easter service was also sort of a bust. We were suspicious that the schedule was different, but nothing was posted to the answering service message. We also didn't have internet access, so couldn't check the website. So, when we arrived, right on time for a usual Sunday, but right in the middle of the service, there was little to do besides shrug and take in what we could. With no Sunday school either, that was about all Kid H could handle anyway, thanks to the chocolate sloshing around in her system.

Later that day, we all started feeling iffy, and began coming down with colds that we're still all fighting and sharing. At that point, Domo-kun became the household sickie mascot. When everyone's sick and nobody's sleeping, anything that breaks the grumpiness is a good thing.

The Party

2009-02-12T08:56:00.003-05:00

Kid H turned 4 on Saturday. We partied!

Party Prep

2009-02-12T08:21:00.005-05:00

Last weekend Baby H turned into Kid H at her 4th birthday party. Getting ready included help from Omo, and included a LOT of pink! Here are some highlights:

40 Degrees

2009-01-15T22:00:00.004-05:00

Winter is a good time for doing inside-work, both inside the house, and inside your own mind. Today, this was especially true, as we had a dose of cold-for-Boston weather, which kept people scurrying between buildings, cars, and the holes in the ground where the subway lives.

In spite of this, there wasn't too much time for self-pity, when my boss mentioned that it was -20 where we used to live. Our coldest weather here was still nearly 40 degrees warmer than there.

This made me think a lot about how we have no idea about some of the consequences of our decisions. We didn't know that by moving here when we did that we would avoid two very cold winters, or that it would be possible (almost) to avoid the cold altogether by virtue of having the subway right beneath our feet and other amenities so close by.

It's funny how the cold affects your outlook. It takes mental effort to gear up to run errands, to extend yourself, to relax. This is never the case in the summer. Your mind chills along with your body and they both go into hibernation during the winter.

So, to help ward off winter's mental squeeze, here are some Hausmeister-certified fixes for cold weather:

Sledding at the Sugar Bowl - 40+ kids sledding on a bowl-shaped hill
Just bring an extra pair of gloves, a helmet for the little one, and some coffee so you can keep warm while you talk to the rest of the parents standing at the top of the hill while your kids cream each other at the bottom.
The Museum of Science - because the dinosaurs and "space-rocketships" never get old
This works best if you can stagger your day by about 4 hours. When everyone else eats, you should hit the exhibits, and vice versa. Also, if your kid wets themselves badly, the hand dryers in the downstairs bathrooms are NOT warm enough to undo the damage. Mrs. H also finds the butterfly exhibit with 80 degree weather and 95% humidity to be like a cheap vacation. Mr. H thinks cheap is the name of the game.
Watching for "lebendigen Waschschlappen" and their owners - tiny dogs being walked by frozen people on cold days
This is always good for a laugh. There's just something funny about very cold and uncomfortable people standing outside with their tiny dogs, their hand in a plastic bag, waiting to pick up hot, steaming poop first thing in the morning. The look on their faces is of a certain type of misery that has to be seen to be believed. By the way, a "lebendigen Waschschlappen" is a "living washcloth", my uncle's name for these dogs.
A Christmas cookies potluck with people and kids you don't know
Everyone involved brings either cookies or decorating items. It's an epic amount of sugar in multiple forms, a lot of fun, and involved some great people and really good fried chicken (who knew that was part of the deal?). Just don't sneeze in the frosting!
Travel - just getting away is nice, too
We spent Christmas with family, lots and lots of family, for my grandmother's memorial service, and had a wonderful time seeing relatives and getting caught up again. This will probably show up in its own post soon.

So, that's the Hausmeister way of dealing with the cold this winter. If you have any suggestions, feel free to add them to the comments. I've been lax in posting, but hope to get a few more up in the next few days. It's been bats-in-the-belfry crazy since returning from Christmas vacation.

Thanksgiving lobsters

2008-12-02T18:40:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-11-23T17:22:00.005-05:00

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

2008-11-16T22:35:00.005-05:00

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

2008-11-09T22:52:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-09-25T19:50:00.004-04:00

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

2008-09-13T15:25:00.006-04:00

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

2008-09-13T15:22:00.006-04:00

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!

2008-09-13T15:16:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-11T19:38:00.004-04:00

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!

2008-08-11T19:18:00.005-04:00

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

2008-08-10T21:58:00.005-04:00

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

2008-08-10T21:43:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-10T21:20:00.005-04:00

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

2008-08-10T19:48:00.007-04:00

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

2008-07-30T21:21:00.007-04:00

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!"

2008-07-30T20:54:00.006-04:00

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

2008-07-30T20:46:00.005-04:00

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

2008-07-30T18:50:00.009-04:00

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?

2008-07-30T17:36:00.004-04:00

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.

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.
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.
The promise of the Boston Pops and Rascal Flatts is really just a way to get people to come listen to the announcers.
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.
500,000 people is just a lot of people, even if half of them are Boston cops. Who knew?
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

2008-07-13T14:39:00.004-04:00

Pigtails

2008-07-10T11:54:00.001-04:00

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

2008-07-08T21:36:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-08T21:19:00.005-04:00

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

2008-06-23T23:10:00.006-04:00

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

2008-06-23T22:55:00.005-04:00

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

2008-06-23T22:29:00.005-04:00

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

2008-05-29T20:00:00.003-04:00

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

2008-05-23T11:48:00.004-04:00

2008-05-19T13:23:00.001-04:00

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!

Makes Sense Now

2006-09-07T12:17:00.000-04:00

8:47 AM

I was loading Baby H into the car when her dress flipped up, revealing a bare baby bottom - no diaper, no pants, nothing. In that moment, several events from earlier in the day suddenly made sense.

8:13 AM

Wipeout city! How come there's a puddle of water on the floor over here by the sink? Getting Baby H dressed is an awful lot of work today. It's not any easier when Baby H keeps running around on the floor and wiping out. How is there a puddle over here, anyway? The shower's on the other side of the room.

8:05AM

Where's Baby H? Oh, there she is over in the corner, playing with a diaper. Where'd the diaper come from? I didn't think we kept any in our bedroom. Oh well. What's that spot on the rug? Either somebody spilled something, or the window air conditioner must have leaked something on the rug. Strange.

The Demise of a Toothbrush

2006-06-22T20:14:00.000-04:00

Today's been a great day with Baby H. We took a field trip to Petsmart and the local library, then came home and she's been playing until we got ready to put her to bed. Then it happened.

Recently, she's had a penchant for brushing her teeth. This usually means finding her toothbrush and walking around chewing on it. However, when hers is put away, mine is also a good substitute. Since it's in a lower drawer in the bathroom, it's well within her reach.

While we were changing her in the bathroom tonight before putting her to bed, she wriggled away and grabbed my toothbrush, then squatted on the bath mat and started brushing her teeth. We just laughed at her and thought it was cute, until she barfed all over my toothbrush and the mat. The squash and turkey mash all over the brush pretty well ended my desire to use it again.

I think I've got one of the free ones you get from the dentist buried in the back of a drawer somewhere . . .

The "Man Purse"

2006-06-20T14:21:00.000-04:00

I'm not really sure where this came from, but I certainly remember the first time my wife applied it to me. She was only joking about how much stuff I took with me when I was out with Baby H.

The contents:

Diapers and wipes
Food for both Baby H and me
Juice for Baby H
Antiseptic wipes
Pacifier
Bib
Tylenol, sunscreen, and bug repellent
Bike stuff – spare tube, multi-tool, 15mm wrench, ankle strap, u-lock
Small notebook and pen
Sharpie marker
A couple of toys for Baby H
Feeding spoon
Sunglasses

Whenever I head out the door, I usually add my day planner and cell phone to the mix, and sometimes a book or two.

I think Mrs. H's biggest complaint is really the weight. With my u-lock and the juice in there, it gets pretty heavy, but Baby H and I get around by bike a lot during the summer, so it's a necessity.

Baby H says hi

2006-06-20T01:36:00.000-04:00

There have been some spectacularly bad days already this summer with Baby H, but on the whole, we've been having a lot of fun, and things should improve in two weeks after I wrap up a contract and get back from a conference I'll be attending next week.

Pool time

2006-06-20T01:04:00.000-04:00

Summer - that means a trip to look for an inflatable pool for Baby H to splash around in. We found one for the right price, and after sacrificing a few carpet scraps that I was storing in case of who-knows-what, we were set.

While I was inflating the pool, Baby H wasn't sure what exactly we were doing, so she kept her distance and just watched.

However, as soon as she realized that the floppy plastic was going to turn into a pool, she kept stepping in and out, over and over, even though there was no water in it. Once I began filling it, there was no keeping her out, even though the water was ice cold. She would climb in and stand totally still, then wave her arms and squeak until I'd lift her out to dry off. Twenty seconds later, she'd be back in again.

Unfortunately, stuff from the overhanging trees keeps falling into the pool, but it hasn't stopped our intrepid new swimmer!

Summer dresses

2006-06-20T00:46:00.000-04:00

Baby H is showing off a new dress that came compliments of a recent trip to visit the grandparents. Both of her grandmothers love to shop for clothing for her!

Breakfast

2006-06-20T00:35:00.000-04:00

Breakfast for Mrs. and Baby H on a lazy Saturday morning. There's no need to rush things when the weather's beautiful and it's already been a busy week.

On the road with Baby H

2006-06-20T00:26:00.000-04:00

I think it would be a stretch to say that the entire trip to visit the grandparents went this smoothly, but when it's good, it's good!

I've also been told I'm getting lazy with both the blog and sending out pictures to Hausmeister relatives, so I'll have to ramp things up over the next few days. We've got some great pictures to post, so keep checking back.

And so it begins again

2006-04-21T15:01:00.000-04:00

Mrs. H and I have been thoroughly enjoying Baby H (now Toddler H) and have been discussing the ins and outs of having another. Because Mrs. H works, and because her last experience of working and being pregnant was so unpleasant, we've been thinking about adoption. Over the past several months, we've looked at a number of options, and today information arrived about another one - adopting a girl from China. I'm very excited about this, and look forward to seeing what the packet contains.

The mailman also brought me a book I'd ordered called "The Lost Daughters of China" that comes highly recommended for anyone thinking about adopting a girl from China. It's another rainy spring day here, which might make for a late night of reading tonight!

It's Snowing Again

2005-12-08T16:41:00.000-05:00

We haven't been out of the single digits here for a long time, and today is another grey snowy day. I was reading to Baby H today, and ran across the following poem in "The Real Mother Goose".

Winter

Cold and raw the north wind doth blow,
Bleak in the morning early;
All the hills are covered with snow,
And winter's now come fairly.

That pretty much sums things up. Baby H and I are going crazy indoors today. Yesterday was errand day, but I guess it wasn't enough to cure the cabin fever we've both got. Any ideas?

Road-Tripping

2005-12-08T01:02:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, my big little girl and I went to visit the grandparents. Grandma had a birthday on Saturday, and we thought a surprise visit would be just the thing to make the day memorable. The drive down was uneventful. She slept for two hours while I drove. When she woke up, it was time for food, gas, a diaper change, and a short walk around the mall we stopped at so I could stretch my legs. Even two hours in the car is enough to make me start feeling stiff. I guess that happens when you're tall enough to earn names like “Beanpole” and “Ogre”. Most cars just don't seem to fit quite right. My feet also get cold when I drive, and the walk helps to warm them up. I suppose it has something to do with being folded up like a tent pole in the car, but it may not.

My daughter and I have traveled like this before. When she was only two months old, we took her to Florida on a family vacation. The flight down was not a problem, but Frau Hausmeister was very concerned that because our daughter hadn't yet been issued any official identification, it would be impossible for us to prove that she was ours in the event of an emergency. This is one of the events on that trip that stuck in my mind. The other involves the flight back.

Our return flight was uneventful until the fasten seatbelt light came on as we were preparing to land. At about that time, Frau H, who was holding Baby H, announced that we had a full diaper. I, being the procrastinator that I am, and not wanting to try to change a diaper in a landing airplane, said that we could just wait until we landed and could take care of things in the airport restroom. Having made that easy decision, I went back to looking out the window and watching the landscape. A few minutes later, Frau H. moved our daughter and discovered a large, tan, wet blotch on her pants. We had a leaker.

Before anyone had a chance to catch a whiff of what we were up to, both of us had turned our vents on to spread the smell evenly throughout the cabin, flipped on the overhead lights, dropped the tray table, and started stripping our daughter. I remember apologizing to the man seated on the other side of Frau H. while I was rummaging in the diaper bag under the seat for wipes and a clean diaper. It was like being in an operating room – fast and efficient. The spotlight from the overhead light added to the effect. After bagging up the diaper in a barf bag, cramming the annihilated clothing into a ziplock, digging out clean clothes for Baby H, dressing her, and scrubbing at the tan stain on my wife's pants, we were done. As we finished, the plane reached the jetway and everyone disembarked, leaving the sickly sweet smell of wet wipes and fresh baby poop behind.

I was thinking of this incident on the way back home on Saturday while I listened to one of the radio stations that had been hijacked for 24/7 Christmas music. I was listening for the weather forecast, which I though had said that I could expect 3-5 inches of snow on the roads I was driving, with another 1-2 inches by morning. In the back, Baby H was strapped into her car seat, which was a good thing, because otherwise she would have been in orbit. She was crying and fussing, which made hearing much of anything impossible. Apparently, she hadn't heard the plan for her to sleep until the halfway point again, where we'd stop for food, a diaper, and gas, before hitting the road again.

It's not that I didn't check the weather map before I left. I did. I saw the storm, which covered most of the map. My plan was to cut through the heart of it, and then the second half of the drive would be smooth sailing as I drove up the back side of the storm as it moved east. The snow trucks would be out, Baby H would be asleep, and the drive would be uneventful.

As I slipped and slid along in the only lane of a six lane road that was still open, I was reconsidering this plan, and seriously thinking about stopping and spending the night somewhere along the way. The road conditions were such that the car drove like it had a rudder. It was snowing hard, and the best way to get good traction was to play follow-the-semi. What looked like clear pavement beneath the blowing snow was really just ice. My cell phone had died an hour ago, and I was averaging 40 mph. Baby H was getting so mad in the back seat that her cries were ragged. And there was that awful Christmas music. It was not a good night.

A stop to call home about the weather ended up taking 25 minutes. My phone card was out of minutes. My attempts to reload it failed. I dropped coins in the snow trying to use the pay phone. When the call went through, my dad told me that the road conditions were bad and would be getting worse all the way home. My wife wasn't happy about the prospect of me spending the night somewhere, and neither was I.

After another 20 minutes of “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas”, which was the furthest thing from my mind, the weatherman came on again and confirmed the bad news I had heard earlier. Fortunately, by this time, Baby H was asleep. I had been feeding her Corn Chex while driving, and had given her enough to satisfy her. I would reach back and hand them to her one at a time, and wait until her little hand found mine and she gently took the cereal to eat. This required some gymnastic contortions in the front seat, but it beat listening to her cry. By this time, we had reached the halfway point, and the roads were clearing. Furthermore, there was a steady stream of traffic coming from the opposite direction, so we pushed on.

The second half of the trip was almost anti-climatic. Baby H was sawing baby logs in the back seat, the snow began to let up, and the closer to home we got, the better the road conditions became. The trucks were out, and for the last hour there were even two lanes open. However, it was wonderful to be home. The knots came out of my back a day later, but the Christmas songs are still stuck in my head.

Only two more weeks until we make the trip back again for Christmas. I'm hoping for good weather, and have ordered a new phone battery and car charger. I'll be prepared next time. And I'll know all the words to “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas”.

An article on stay-at-home dads

2005-12-01T11:01:00.000-05:00

I found this article on stay-at-home dads recently at Christianity Today and thought it was worth a read.

The Stay-at-Home Dad

However, could someone please come up with a better name for us than "stay-at-home dad"?

The Snack That Smiles Back . . . Goldfish

2005-11-29T14:09:00.000-05:00

My daughter has recently begun sprouting teeth, which signaled to us that it's time to move away from the jarred goo that we've been feeding her. With three teeth on the bottom, and two canines plus one front tooth coming in on the top, she's developing an appetite to match her new chewing abilities. During a recent visit, my brother said we'd better start feeding her "real food" since she now had teeth.

So we've launched into the world of adult food, accompanied by more food on the floor than ever before, and a little coughing and hacking as she adjusts to chewing before swallowing. She's now eating all sorts of adult foods, but seems to have a natural predisposition towards cheese, crackers, and Cheerios. There is no real problem with this, other than the fact that her dad shares these dispositions (except for the Cheerios - they're all hers). This means that meals often go like this: One bite of cheese for her, the rest of the slice for me. A few Goldfish for her, then a handful or two for me. Naturally, we're going through "baby food" very quickly these days. Particularly on days like today when my lunch is a bag of Goldfish.

Sprouting teeth has happened at the same time that she's learned to crawl and stand. She's been working on the crawling bit for a while, but couldn't synchronize her arms and legs. Then, one day, she got it and took off. One day she was mostly immobile, and the next day she couldn't be left alone. What made this transition even more abrupt was that she figured out how to stand up the day after she figured out how to crawl. Literally overnight, childproofing became an issue. My wife and I scuttled around the house picking up everything that could be a problem, and cramming outlet covers onto all the outlets. In fact, we did such a good job moving all the loose objects in the house that my parents asked if we were moving when they came to visit.

I wonder a little about the people who design those outlet covers. The covers fit tight enough that you nearly need a hammer to put them on and a crowbar to get them off again. Since we have several different types, I noticed that some covers have a little cutout on the bottom. I guess this is supposed to be where you stick your fingernail to pry them out. However unless your fingernails are made of steel, this is a joke. My strategy is to jam the plug into the slot and prying them back out. So far, I have only badly bent one of the plugs I've used for this purpose. By the time our daughter grows up, we'll giant yellow replacement plugs on most of our electrical appliances.

My wife is not particularly fond of the jarred baby food that we are feeding our daughter. Last night she commented that most of it smells like dog food. Even though some of it smelled odd to me as well, I hadn't connected the smell until she mentioned it. I don't think there will be much more turkey and gravy dinner served to the little one in the future. However, the spinach and pasta still smell alright, though our daughter seems to be intent on visually inspecting each pasta bit that enters her mouth.

I think we could save time by just feeding her in the shower. Whenever she finished a meal, we could give her a quick rinse, change her clothes, and we'd be off to rocketing around the house again. This would save the step of wiping down the area she was eating in and the unpleasant feeling of baby food on bare feet that occasionally occurs.

The Office

2005-11-14T22:05:00.000-05:00

My office these days is mostly on the floor of my daughter's room. As I work, I'm surrounded by so much brightly colored plastic and cloth, that you'd think I was either working in the playpen at McDonald's or in the large intestine of the boss's Gloworm. My office chair isn't an Aeron. It's either my grandfather's old rocking chair, or a couple of pillows on the guest bed. While neither offer the "distinctive looks and pioneering ergonomics" these chairs claim, I suspect that they do beat it in "adapting naturally and adjusting precisely to fit people of all sizes and postures doing all kinds of activities, all day long". Do they have a comforting creak when you rock the boss to sleep? Can you slump down and sleep in them when you're tired? Nah.

I sit in the rocking chair with my laptop and phone most of the time, or sit just outside her door at a desk when the boss is in her jumper. Actually, moshing is a better description of what she does in that thing. While I work, I watch her crawl back and forth across the floor, warning her away from the electrical cords and fending off her hands as she grabs at my laptop screen and tries to correct my coding errors or proofread my work.

The majority of my work takes place while she's sleeping. During nap time, I sit totally still at my desk outside her room and work as quickly as possible . . . most of the time. Some days, like today, I find that even though there is plenty of work to do, I am unable to do much beyond surf the internet and read up on some of the topics I am interested in online. Soon enough, a call from behind the closed door indicates that my exile is over, and I scoop my daughter up and go back to work in my office, while she ping-pongs around the room.

When I started working from home, the idea of a home office was one of luxury - a room where everything was organized, full of computers and papers, that I could escape to and work undisturbed. That dream didn't last long. The offices featured in IKEA are illusions. The closest I come to that is a desk at the top of the stairs on our second-floor landing, which has equal parts work stuff and baby stuff spread out all around it, and is so full of papers that the desk top is invisible under a sliding pile of papers. It is also the temporary home to a bunch of computer parts, manuals and CDs while I try to breathe life into my computer after a crashed hard drive and failed RAID setup.

From time-to-time I move my office around. This can usually can be done in one trip. The small human gets one arm, my cell phone, along with a pen, gets stuffed in a pocket, and my laptop is carried in the other arm, with the power supply balanced on top. Using this arrangement, I can leave the upstairs landing and work in other exotic locations, like the kitchen table or the floor in the family room.

I have a couple of friends who think being able to work from home and owning your own business means you have truly arrived. They think I have it all. I can set my own hours, dress however I want to, and I don't have to commute. Yeah, right. My hours are now whatever it takes to make the customers happy, some days I don't get a shower, and others I am clawing at the walls for an excuse to get out. I have to clean up or live with my own messes, there's no IT support, and I don't have people around to bounce ideas off of - just the echo of my own thoughts. And the belly laughs, yowls, and chuckles of my little girl as she zooms past to climb up on another piece of furniture.

It is true that there are some perks to working at home. The flexible schedule means that my little boss can call me in for meetings whenever she wishes, or we can go do lunch together if we choose. I can take advantage of the office rec center, which is open around the clock (ride my bike on a trainer in the laundry room), see what's been left out in the snack room, or adjust the vents so that the draft in my office isn't blowing down my neck. I can also meet with other business associates for lunch - the boss likes lunch with Mommy, or take the company car out for some errands. My favorite perk is being "out of the office". Since I am almost never away, this usually means either that I have something slimy smeared up to my elbows, or that someone is taking a nap. What and who, I'll leave to your imagination.

Well, it's getting late, and I'm the only one still at work, so I think I'll close things down and lock up for tonight.

Superdad Beats Up Mr. Mom

2005-11-10T08:45:00.000-05:00

Making the decision to stay at home and take care of our daughter was probably one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make recently. Choosing to step away from work which I found both challenging and rewarding, and which shaped (and certainly continues to influence) how I see myself was tough. Furthermore, that initial decision led to a cascade of other decisions which were easier, but all stemmed back to that first decision to do what I'm doing now.

Even on the crummy days, when our daughter is screaming, I'm sleepy and impatient, and I feel under the gun, it was still a decision. I don't have to be doing what I'm doing. I could stick our daughter in day care, load up my schedule, and work. But I choose not to. That's important.

When my wife was still on maternity leave, we got a lot of questions about what would happen after her leave was up. When we said she was going back to work, people would look at me and say, “Oh, so you're going to be Mr. Mom?” Hardly! I'm a dad, and I am running two small businesses from home besides taking care of my daughter – as a father. Mom is mom, and I'm not her. The idea of Mr. Mom brings up connotations of some wimpy guy who can't handle working in “the real world”, so is staying home with the kids to hide out and has a bossy wife. Sorry. That's not the story here.

I think the term Mr. Mom is demeaning to the dads who are at home with their kids. It's not that they can't hack it, or are somehow lesser men, or aren't accustomed to work, though the phrase implies it. Maybe they just happened to be one of the guys that married “up” and hooked up with one of the smart, bright, attractive girls. That may be one of the dirty secrets of the stay-at-home dads; they're the ones with the real trophy wives.

Setting that aside, there are other reasons we are doing things this way. I'm better wired to work with people than my wife. I can also handle the at-home schedule a little better than she can. She also enjoys her job and has the potential to make significantly more money than I do down the road. Regardless of how we're wired as a couple, my wife and I were already on a different trajectory than most people in the area we live long before the idea of having kids ever came up. This is just another step along that path. Neither of us draw our identity in our marriage from who can earn the most, so whenever it has come to working, we have just gone with whoever has had the best opportunities. In terms of education and credentialing, we are nearly equal, though the opportunities available to me are not as good as hers.

That's not to say that the transition to becoming Superdad is easy. It's tough. I was shocked at how much I drew my identity from the work I did (and do), and how much I valued myself based on goals, achievements, accomplishments, accolades, and rewards. This wasn't a pleasant discovery. Our daughter doesn't know jack about this stuff, but she gets mad if she isn't fed, doesn't get her naps during the day, and isn't snuggled and played with enough. It was also hard to get up in the middle of the night to feed and diaper her so that my wife could get enough sleep to do her job well. This was especially true during the month when our daughter was recovering from a broken femur and had to be checked on every night at 1:30. I don't like giving up my time, and fight to protect it, but there's someone else who needs it. What makes me cringe is knowing that I'd been like this all along with my wife, but that it took a baby and change of lifestyle to force me to see it. Ouch.

Being an at-home dad has also changed the way I relate to my friends. Before we had the baby, my title seemed to be “small business owner” and people respected that, because of the supposed glamour of owning your own business. In reality, it was pretty ugly, but I'm not sure I was able to convince anyone of that. When that label was replaced with “Mr. Mom” in most people's minds, they also seemed to change in how they related to me. This may be a perceived change, however, as I was suddenly much less accessible than I was before, and if I was a hermit before, I probably seemed to be a monk who'd taken a vow of silence after my wife's maternity leave was up. I just didn't have time to do anything else.

One of the potential downsides of being a Superdad with girls in the house is that the likelihood of them turning into tomboys seems high. It's not that it's what I want necessarily, but because of how daughter's wired, it seems almost inevitable. She's big, determined, and on-the-go. In my mind, I see her as a big, tall girl, wearing pink and saying something like, “I like motocross!” in a high squeaky voice. Or, as one of my younger cousins used to say, “Don't mess with the big girl!” It probably doesn't help that we wrestle a lot, run together, and that she's big for her age. I know that big babies don't necessarily turn into big adults, but we've got the right genes for it to happen.

Am I Mr. Mom? No way. I'm a dad. I do dad things with my daughter. I just happen to do a lot more of them than a lot of other guys get to do with theirs. And I'm not hiding out. I chose to do this because it's the best thing for my family. When it isn't anymore, I'll stop. Meanwhile, Superdad's going to bed. He may be able to beat up Mr. Mom, but he still needs some sleep.