Nana's Visit

I think all of the kids are loving having Nana here. She has had a nice long visit and instantly became part of the neighborhood. I'm not sure what we'll do when she leaves! Jake automatically crawls into her bed when he wakes up in the middle of the night or early AM; Tanner starts each day "making his list" with her, sitting on her lap and reciting things we need at the grocery store; Faith is comfortable with Nana putting her to sleep some nights and loves to play the "Don't Push Me" game. I have to say that not having to think about what to make for dinner each night has been an incredible treat!

I just got around to finishing this post. Nana left on Friday and so far we have survived admirably- though of course she is missed! Thanks for ALL your help, Mom. What with Faith vomiting on you several times and hanging out around our general chaos for three weeks, I find it difficult to believe that you miss us (although that is what you told me this morning when we talked!).

We had a great weekend- sunny outside, lots of playtime interspersed with trips to the grocery store, Costco, Home Depot, etc... Brian planted out front and generally cleaned up the yard while I talked to neighbors, took the kids on walks, played kickball and baseball and tag, and just generally had a great time. The ice cream truck came by for the first time today and the boys loved that, of course! The boys are very into skateboarding and played for quite awhile on the sidewalk, doing their tricks. Faith is practicing walking and doing it more frequently, but she still prefers to crawl most places- even on the concrete outside- the poor knees are getting a little ragged.

We topped off the weekend with a "date night"- our first one since the Brad Paisley concert at the end of January!! I'm pretty sure that I should advertise the new form of birth control for Hidden Springs teenagers: "Come Babysit for The Alan Family!" Both Faith and Tanner were screaming bloody murder when we left- Emily definitely had her hands full. But it turns out that Faith fell asleep on Emily's shoulder, and both Tanner and Jake gave her huge hugs when she left, so I guess the evening turned around for her. Still, I gotta think it's a deterrent!

We have been busy lately (more than the usual, I mean) because I have been job searching and also nanny searching. The original impetus for exploring the nanny route was more of a convenience thing: the school I am applying to is located in Hidden Springs about two blocks away. If I get the job, it won't make any sense to drive the kids all the way downtown for daycare. After exploring the limited neighborhood daycares available (one!) we thought we'd better start looking around. We ended up deciding to try a nanny next year, regardless of whether or not I change jobs. Lots of reasons, not the least of which is the sickness factor (One gets sick, has to stay home, either Mom or Dad have to skip work, that one infects the next one, that one has to stay home.... you get the idea) . So... I've interviewed quite a few and we're hoping to hire one by the end of the school year. We have loved having the kids in daycare and credit their teachers for a large portion of the "good stuff" that they have in their personalities. But it is a lot more hectic in the AM and I'd rather have that hour to play, relax, and eat breakfast together than spend it shoving food into everyone's mouths, hustling everyone into clothes, brushing teeth,etc... for a quick departure. There are definitely pros and cons, but we're going to give it a shot for next school year.

So.... how are we? Well, the kids crack us up constantly. We make each other laugh just as frequently. LOST started again. And spring has FINALLY arrived. Not sure we could ask for much more than that.

Play Ball!

Jake was so excited all day- from the moment he woke up he was asking when T-Ball started. Even Tanner was looking forward to it and spent the entire car ride to school telling me all about how we would be going to "Jake's game" after school. Brian and Jake got there early to set up, while Mom and I picked up the little ones from daycare, took them out to dinner, then drove to the game. It was beautiful weather and as we walked to the field from the parking lot, the Pirates flag (that Brian purchased off of Amazon!) was flying in the breeze. The sides were lined with parents' chairs (Note for next game: Bring a chair!) and we settled in with Tanner on Nana's lap and Faith crawling/attempting to walk along the sidelines.

It was a such a fun family night- great parents, great coaching (if I do say so myself!), and the kids all had a blast. Jake looked so proud standing out there on first base in "ready position". It wasn't nearly as chaotic as I had thought- there was even a play made at first in the second inning (Jake wasn't first baseman at the time, unfortunately). Tanner and Faith loved it- neither one fussed for one minute even though it was past their bedtime. Tanner cheered his brother on and Faith made new friends with some other little girls there. Jake impressed all the parents nearby by the sweet way he treated his little brother and sister- making his mom very proud!


At the end of the game, Jake's enthusiasm was contagious. He was on cloud 9 and asked me if I had seen him out there. He had a huge smile on his face. It was so much fun watching Brian coach. He is so good with all the kids, encouraging and friendly, spending more energy on promoting sportsmanship and teamwork than on skills. I know he feels out of his element doing this, but he is really good at it! I loved talking to the other parents and getting to know some more people in our neighborhood.

Pirate Fans

Both Tanner and Faith have come to all of Jake's T-Ball practices and joined the Opening Day festivities as well.

A you can see from the photos, Tanner thinks he is actually on the team - we had some extra shirts and hats. The only reason that he hasn't tried to go out onto the field yet has been his new and unfounded (by any negative experiences), fear of dogs. There have been dogs at both practices so far and he has refused to get out of the stroller. It will be interesting to see what happens the first time there are no dogs around. He says, "Dada...T-Ball....owside" all the time and loves to play ball in the house.

On the other hand, Faith is perfectly happy to be a spectator right now as she has her own stuff going on....she is finally walking...yeah baby girl! She is still a little unsteady, but just stands up in the middle of the floor, all by herself, gets her balance and then tries a few steps. So far the furthest she has made has been eight steps before she plops back down, But she smiles from ear to ear and is obviously very proud of herself!

Enjoy the baseball season, I know we will here.

Opening Day

Okay, so we have had two practices now and our Opening Day was this past Saturday. We have one more practice before our first game against the Tigers on Thursday. One of Jake's school friends is on the Tigers so he is very eager for that game.

I am having a little bit of fun doing this; those of you who know me know that being polite and civil to large groups of strangers is not "in my wheelhouse" to use a baseball term, but if I grit my teeth enough to get thru that part of it, the kids are really great and they are having a blast so far (I think anyway...). It's kind of a tightrope to keep practices fun and yet mildy organized, but I think it has been okay so far. We play "freeze-tag" instead of warm-up running (I have almost collapsed twice), we play freeze baseball so they can learn who is supposed to go for the ball (their default programming is everyone....) and what they are supposed to do after they get it, we do our drills and play our "scrimmage". The best part of every practice (and I remember this from my own Little League and Soccer days) is snack break. Practice is one hour and snack break is about 15 minutes of that, so we're not taking it too seriously.

This has been a good way for Marisa and I to meet other families up in Hidden Springs as all of the kids on our team are from here. But we have years of this to look forward to; ferrying kids to practices and games, being roped into managing or being "snack coordinator" (Marisa's job this year...) and are trying to ease into it. As an illustration, I had a new parent call and ask if their kid can join our team late, I said sure if the league says okay. She asked what the practice schedule was and I said we had games on Tues or Thurs and we practiced the other day. She was quiet for a minute and then said, "So nothing on Saturday? That's so.....great! Thank you!"

After pictures on Opening Day, there were run, hit and throw stations that you could cycle through as a team and compete for prizes. I gave the parents and kids the option to go for it or not and we voted to give it a shot. We did the running and the throwing, but the system really bogged down at the hitting station and pretty much everyone bailed at that point. Only one kid went thru the hitting station, and I know what your thinking, but I asked her to turn in my clipboard for me when they were done with it.....

P.S. Not to be that dad/coach guy, but look at Jakes form in the two pictures above. The kid is a natural!

Kid Update- April 2008

I'll go in order of age:

I guess the big thing for Jake is that he is going to a daycare in our neighborhood for the remainder of the year. Kindergarten was getting to be a little too much for him and he was exhausted each day. We tried shortening his day, but he just needed a little more play time and less structured learning time. Hopefully I haven't scarred him for life by having him in Kindergarten a little early. Hopefully he learned that he is capable and also that mom and dad listen when he earnestly tells us "it is too much". He did great- made some really nice friends, became more artistic and creative, building and constructing all sorts of things out of discarded materials; discovered the joy of science, started learning how to read, and became a "writer" that LOVES creative writing due to their Writers Workshop program. I don't regret putting him at Foothills, but am very glad that he is going to get to play more for the remainder of the school year and that he will just have 3 hours/day of K next year. The picture was done on the computer recently, after Brian picked him up from Theresa's house early one day.

Despite the last post (The Hockey Stick Tantrum of 2008) he is overall a great kid and fun to be around. He is loving (most of the time!) to his brother and sister (although the other day he did tell me that he wished he only had one sibling. I reminded him how sad he would be if Faith wasn't in our family and he said, "No, Mom. I want to keep Faith. It's TANNER I want to send back!".) He is so excited about T-Ball starting. The first practice is tomorrow. He continues to love sports of all kinds and takes to them naturally.

Tanner is potty training. Everyday after school he reports on how many times he "peed in urnal". He is very aware of pooping- especially when his sister is trying to poop. He tells us, "Mom, Bobby (that's "Baby" in TJ's words...) pooping. Trying hard. UGHHHHHHHHH (simulated pooping)". Very funny stuff. They are obviously trying to teach the kids at the daycare how to handle the situation if another person does something to hurt you. Lately Tanner has been very vocal whenever one of us (on purpose, or more frequently, accidentally) hits him (or taps him in an uncomfortable way!). This is what he says: "NO HIT ME! NO LIKE IT! NO THANK YOU!" And he will repeat it and repeat it like it has been recorded and is running on a loop.

He loves to play baseball and hits the balls clear across the living room often times almost knocking over knickknacks and such. I think our playing ball in the house rules may need to be adapted soon due to his sheer hitting strength. There was an extra TBall uniform for him and even though the shirt goes down past his knees, he loves to put it on along with his Pirates hat and act just like his big brother. He loves to snuggle at bedtime and puts his head on my head and arms around me. He is getting interested in letters of the alphabet and can recognize many of them, which he loves to show us. He also loves to count and frequently counts the stairs as he walks up/down them. He continues to test, test, test. That little twinkle in his eye appears and you just know you are in trouble!

Faith is starting to walk. Brian said that she took three steps the other day - I missed it!! She loves to stand up, but then often just sits back down with a plop instead of trying to move forward. Her brothers are her biggest cheerleaders. She is now addicted to Sprinkles (her giraffe) and we have to literally pry her chubby little fingers from around his neck each morning.

She loves to eat and her face lights up when she sees one of her favorite foods. She is saying "nana" for "banana", mama, dada, all done, and thank you. I can't wait for spring time warm weather so I can start to dress her in all the cute little outfits that she has.

Play Ball!

So, fatherhood for me lately has been a fairly constant diet of eating my words. For example, I have always said that I wouldn't be one of those short-tempered Dad's who gets upset with their kids for just being kids. But, when you child wakes up having, "had a bad dream", and has to sleep in your bed for the rest of the night for the 114th night in a row...I mean come on! That's just not possible! I am exhausted and sleep the sleep of the dead, how come they don't?

Anyway, the latest meal of paternal crow was served up when the T-Ball teams were formed. I have always said that I would be the Dad who comes to every game and practice, is encouraging and supportive, and SITS IN THE STANDS. I had no desire to coach, especially my own kids....in fact thinking about doing it always made me break out in a sweat. I refused to be THAT guy. I love sports and I think my kids will love sports, but it's up to them and I didn't want to insert myself into that process by being a coach and being an extra layer of thought if it's something they ended up not wanting to do.

Cut to Sunday night. We have been waiting for the T-Ball teams to be assembled for awhile, opening day is next weekend. I got a phone call stating, "the guy who is supposed to have been coordinating this hasn't, so we are three weeks behind and if you don't coach then there is no team.". So what else do you do in that situation? I said okay. All of the paperwork was delivered the next day, and come to find out that six other Dad's put down that they were willing to be an assistant, same as I did....I got PLAYED! Once they were all contacted, I got a chorus of "better you than me" and "thanks for volunteering"...so I couldn't get out of it.

So a week of fund-raising, meetings, paperwork and scheduling later, I sit here typing as the manager of the Hidden Springs Pirates. Thanks to everyone who bought raffle tickets!

I emailed my buddy Coach Dave, who has been coaching baseball at the High School level longer than I have known him, to ask what was appropriate to try and teach kids at this level, he emailed back, "Two words: Good Luck!". Thanks Dave, I think I'm gonna need it.....

It's Times Like This That I Wish I Were a Heavy Drinker

So, Brian was out of town Wed. and Thursday this week. After having it basically under control on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, I figured Thursday night would be a breeze. Just a few hours until Daddy comes home. Uh... nope.

Faith is teething (for real this time) and refused to let me put her down. If I (god forbid) put her on the ground to, say, grab the bat out of Tanner's hands before he bludgeneond his brother with it, she would scream like her hair was on fire. So, to make life easier, I decided to put her in the stroller and take them all out for a nice neighborhood walk. It was a gorgeous evening so all the neighbors were out to witness what happened next.

The boys brought their hockey sticks and balls to play with on the sidewalk, I pushed the stroller and encouraged Tanner to keep up (poor kid is going to end up a fast walker like me simply because if he doesn't he will be left in the dust).

About 2 minutes into our walk Tanner spotted a dog. He is terrified of dogs. This one, although it was the approximate size and shape of a football, was no exception. He started running down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. So, i left the stroller, ran after him, and let Faithy scream her heart out since I was out of direct eye contact. I scooped up Tanner, now trying to push Faith while still letting her see my face, and hold Tanner (still screaming) with his hockey stick and all. At this point, my eldest son decided to throw the tantrum of all tantrums. I can't even remember what he was mad about but he was exhausted and he just LOST it. There were tears, there was yelling, he told me that I was the worst mommy ever and that he would not longer "let me" get coffee. I guess that was the worst threat he could think of- taking away my favorite luxury. At one point took his hockey stick and brandished it in front of my face in a threatening gesture. I immediately took the hockey stick and told him he lost it for the night and next day. This prompted a loud, screaming, tug-of-war with said hockey stick with me trying desperately to calm Tanner down and ignore Faith's continued screams. Remaining calm, I spit wonderful parenting words out of my mouth such as, "I have never been so embarrassed in my life!" and "Get yourself inside immediately or there will be no dessert and no movie for a week!". My neighbors watched on with amusement, I am sure. Things didn't improve upon entering the sanctuary of our house- except that now I was no longer suffering publically. I put the hockey stick way out of reach and Jake, now hysterical with irrational pleas, tried to climb up chairs to get it down while begging me to change my mind. It was not a pretty sight. All the while Faith was still sobbing (I just gave up even trying with her) and Tanner, after having calmed down about the football dog, was now crying hysterically about Milo "trying to get" him.

This is when I put the boys in front of the TV, put Faith to bed, got out the Ben and Jerry's and cranked up the song, "You're Gonna Miss This" and just LAUGHED.