Day 45-- Going Out Like a Lion

{PSA: for those of you just stumbling across this blog, it might help to start at the beginning. At some point, I may try to reverse these posts into chronological order}


So this is it... President's day, 2011. Day 45 of 42. The last day of my parental leave with Sabrina.

We decided to end it with a roar.... by going back to the zoo.

Yes, I was very tempted to go skiing today, but the lure of spending extra time with the kids won out... besides, the snow's been lame. I guess we're having a drought year. There's not enough fresh powder up there to change my mind.

While everyone was still waking up, Jen busted out a new signing time DVD, so we all learned ASL signs for all the zoo animals.

As Jen was getting ready for the day... (girls..  8 years of marriage, and it still takes her forever to get ready for the day), Edgar and Sabrina and I (already ready already) got to spend some sweet time together. This is Edgar tickling his sister and making her smile:

We had a fun time at the zoo. We managed to not overlap very much with the last time we visited, and there's still a bunch of stuff we missed. Glad we bought a membership.

Sea Lion encounter. Yes, we've seen them in the wild and at the Sea Lion Caves, but these were HUGE, and right behind the glass from us.

The Orangutans were really fun. The huge male swung around right next to us. Then, this female hunkered down near the glass and let all the kids get really close to her. When a kid would get really close, she'd make a kissy face at them. It doesn't take much prompting for Edgar, so he kissed back.

Again, this was the view I got all day: Sabrina was my bjornling, and she was totally quiet and well-behaved. Someday, she may actually see the zoo.

Edgar drove this Jeep from the Cheetah enclosure to Mommy's house.

We escaped from the zoo with two overtired, hungry kids, and dropped in on my parents without any warning. I love my family. They totally loved the visit, fed us lunch, and let us take naps. I took a sizable nap in the bed in the same room as Edgar. When Edgar woke up yelling for mommy (and no one else), I rousted Jen off the couch, took a sleeping Sabrina from her arms, and took her place, taking another longish nap with Sabrina on my chest, while Jen snuggled Edgar down. All told, I think it was about 4 solid hours of napping. I will totally miss daily naps when I go back to work tomorrow.

We had a fun dinner with my parents, and a lot of good conversation. Jen held Sabrina while I ate dinner, then I took her during Jen's dinner. She and I had a grand time, and I even got her to laugh!

Sabrina, smiling at me

Grandma gave in to Edgar's demands and put lots of band-aids on his (now mostly-healed) hand.

Wearing Mommy's shoes, showing off the band-aids.

We love Grandma.

Please don't interrupt my last evening of peace.

So, we're back home in Salem, safe and sound. Both kids are sleeping. Jen and I got some necessities done, and it's now the time that I've been dreading... time to encapsulate all the past six weeks into some coherent whole... to decide if this whole experiment in blogging/child rearing/vacation/slacking means anything. 

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Jen suggested listing things I've learned. While I'm not sure that's the best way to present things, I can't think of a better alternative at the moment. So, without further ado:

Things I've Learned in the Last Forty-some-odd Days:

1. I LOVE NAPS.

 If there is one consistent theme to this blog, it is naps. Long naps. I love them. I've taken them almost every day that I've been off work, and I highly recommend them to EVERYONE. The world is so much better after a nap.

This picture is the theme of my blog, and by far my favorite picture taken at the zoo today.

Honestly, when I think about it, the number-one thing I will miss when I return to work is my daily nap. Sure, I'll miss spending time with the kids, but I'll get some time every day with Edgar and Sabrina. I won't, however, get to spend time napping.

I think our society would see less hate and evil if we'd all take a good afternoon snooze. I happened to mention napping in church, in front of the kids that I teach. One 8-year-old raised his hand and asked, incredulously, "you take naps?" I patiently tried to explain to him that there is a window of age between about age 5 and 15 where naps are for babies, and you don't want to take them. Outside that age window, everybody loves naps. Just not everyone can take them without getting in trouble.

So, I'm all in favor of the siesta.

2. Being a stay-at-home parent is hard work, but I could do it.

Wow. Taking care of kids is a full-time job. There's no doubt about that. Just keeping them fed is crazy. Add to that bottles, diapers, fresh clothes, snacks, and regular naps, and it's a wonder any parents can ever get their kids out the door in the morning. I have a renewed appreciation for what Jen and other moms do on a day-in-day-out basis.

That being said... (This is the part where I sound like a bit of a male chauvinist). It's a big job, but I could handle being a stay-at-home parent. (I know, 2 parents at home with 2 kids=not the same thing). I think I would make an awesome stay-at-home-dad. I could handle the diapers, the yelling, the tantrums, the feedings, etcetera etcetera. I'm not saying I could do better than Jen-- it's not a comparison, anyway. We'd have a lot of fun, and go lots of cool places. But... I can't convince Jen to go to work so that I can stay home.

3. Babies are cute.

Aww...

4. I don't miss work.

Not one little bit. Nope. I could get used to this.

5. Having two parents at home doesn't guarantee you can actually accomplish anything.

Adventures, check. Chores and projects? Not so much. Oh well. There will always be chores.

6. Don't pick a fight with your spouse within the first week of childbirth.

This is one I should've learned last time around. Those hormones on day 4 and 5 are killer. A new mom is not a rational being... more like a vengeful destroying angel.

7. Down with the Wiggles.

I don't know much about them, but the more I know, the more they make me want to hurt people.

8. He-Man is still rad.

And knowing the phrase "Power of Grayskull" makes you the raddest not-even-two-year-old in town.

9. Should I take up writing and photography?

I've had several people suggest that I should do more writing or photography. That's very kind of you for saying that. However, there are several thousand people with more talent and education in those fields, living in their parents' basement, unemployed. I'm glad I have a job, at least until the rock star thing works out for me.

10. Blogging is time consuming

...Actually, I pretty much knew that. Oh well. I was on vacation. I had time to burn, right?

It's been a real joy seeing Sabrina grow from this cute, mewling newborn to a cute, smiling, mewling 6-week-old. It's been fun watching Edgar completely lose it and revert to babyhood when the usurper-baby stole his rightful place in the kingdom, and gradually learn to love this little girl and to be a responsible big brother. It's been fun being able to team up with Jen. We work well together, and we've got each other's back, at least enough to make sure each other gets a nap every day.

In a way, I'm going to miss sharing my life with everyone. In another way, my life is pretty boring. Especially when more than half of my waking time is devoted to being employed.

Having both parents at home, for this 6 weeks, has really brought our family closer together. Edgar loves his daddy. Sabrina loves sleeping in my armpit. Jen and I have learned to work together (even if we can't share a kitchen).  We've learned to have fun and have adventures and parent without a net. It's been great. I highly recommend to any father who can: take some time to support your wife and kids. Any time.

I have had a great vacation-- time spent getting to know my family, helping out, and reporting everything back to you. This will be my last blog post... UNLESS someone wants to provide some sort of artist-development grant to allow us both to keep staying-at-home. I would blog every day, I'd do pictures everyday, we'd tour the world with our rock and roll band. We'd be the coolest parents on the planet.

Maybe we already are.

Day 33-- Zoo and a Hot Stove

My daughter has some special talents. She doesn't say much or move around much, but she's like a homing pigeon when it comes to nipples. Even non-functional ones. Pick her up, and within 20 seconds, somehow she's managed to get into a situation like this:

My son has some special talents, too. I don't know what he was dreaming about, but when we woke him up this morning, he said "Edgar want to play organ!" ...uh... okay.

This is him working my guitar pedals with his feet while rocking out on the organ. I believe he was playing and singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

We went to the zoo today!

It was a beautiful day, although a bit cold. After doing a bit of research, Jen and I decided that buying a zoo membership was a really smart way to go. Now, we get into the zoo free for the next 12 months. We also get to bring one guest for free and get discounts on other guests, so if you want to go to the zoo with us, hit us up! Also, we get discounts or free admissions at lots of other zoos nationwide, including the Winston Wild Animal park (We're planning a trip for next month), and the Salt Lake Zoo.

We saw all sorts of animals. For the first little bit, Edgar kept asking "Zoo is?" (Edgarspeak for "where's the beef... I mean zoo?) I wonder what he was expecting.

Edgar was very excited to see all the animals. Close up encounters with bears, bald eagles, beavers and ducks (!), otters, tigers, orangutans, elephants, you name it...

Jen, Edgar, and Mama cougar. We watched Baby cougar tackle Mama cougar.

Watching the otters in their den. Edgar tried to kiss them a couple of times.

Driving a tractor.

The Amur Leopard was our last stop on the way out. Edgar didn't want to leave.

Sabrina, on the other hand, stayed snuggled up as a pappose on my chest in the baby bjorn. It was very sweet. It's surprising how little she weighs.

This is what I saw all day.

The kids were hungry and ready for a nap, but we weren't worried: with our new zoo membership, we can go back often, so there was none of the compulsion that I usually have of we-have-to-see-everything-today...


Edgar surprisingly stayed awake for the drive home. This was very good news: We could all nap inside. Edgar picked out a CD to listen to during his nap (part of the new routine). In keeping with the zoo theme, he chose this Talking Heads album:

Upon seeing the monkey on it, Edgar declared, "I love this CD!"    ...someday in the future, dad will introduce him to Remain in Light.

Edgar woke up from his nap with a solid half hour of crying "I want-a mommy!" A solid half hour in which he wouldn't let me hold him or pick him up (or shove a bottle in his mouth to plug the sound). Finally, after about 35 minutes, he changed his tune to "I want-a He-Man Movie. I want-a Daddy. I want-a He-Man Movie." before switching back to Mommy. At that point, he was willing to let me pick him up, so we watched some He-Man.

I cooked his dinner-- hot corn and a hard-boiled egg, by request. Edgar wanted to supervise cooking from a stool. After the egg was done, I turned off the stove, and turned around to rinse and cool the egg. While my back was turned, I heard Edgar yell.

He had burned his hand on the still-hot stove. It immediately blistered. I got it under cold water immediately, and got him settled, still screaming for Mommy. Jen arrived on the scene and helped comfort him, and consulted all the online stuff about what to do in case of a burn. We're not too concerned. All kids go through something like this, and we're darn lucky that it wasn't worse. It did make a good teaching moment, and I doubt he'll ever touch a hot stove again. I wish he'd take our word for things, but I'm afraid this will be a pattern with this boy.

Once the blisters had raised, I could see that he burned the four fingers on his left hand. We got him a bowl of cold water to soak his hand in, and let him eat his dinner and watch TV:



We kept it cold for quite a while, wrapped his hand in gauze, and put a mitten over it for him to sleep. It was a tough night, between an in-pain, acting-up Edgar and his fussy sister, and two exhausted parents. Here's hoping he sleeps through the night.