Day 44--The End is Near

All day today, floating somewhere in the back of my mind was the knowledge that this idyllic existence is about to come to an end. I start work again Tuesday.

Many people in this world, my dad included, live to work, and need work to create or define a purpose for their lives. Retirement has been hard on my dad. Me? Six weeks with no work? I could get used to this... Too bad nobody seems to want to set us up with a hefty artist-in-residence grant to pay our bills, allowing us to continue simply being awesome 24/7. Oh well.

Edgar and I woke up this morning, and did our now-usual routine of Edgar-watching- He-Man while daddy attempts to snooze on the couch.

I even coaxed Edgar into taking a shower this morning. This boy doesn't really enjoy cleanliness. The soap in his hair from the bubble room yesterday made it a necessity.

For several sundays running, we have attempted to get Edgar to nap early before church. This is the first sunday he actually succeeded!

Jen and Sabrina made it home safely from the mountains. If you were to tell me two days ago that Jen could spend two nights away from us, and Edgar wouldn't throw a single Bikini Atoll-sized tantrum, I'd say you're crazy. This kid has been great! There were a few moments where Edgar would tear up and say "Iwantamommy", but I was able to calmly explain "Mommy is at a hotel with Becky and Katie." (hotel is a word he understands). With that gentle reminder, he would buck up and be cool with hanging with dad. Not so bad, if I do say so myself.

Soon after Jen made it home, we woke Edgar up, and made it (almost) on time for church. This is a big accomplishment, as we have tended to the 30-to-45-minutes-late side of things every week since Sabrina was born.

Church was fun. I discovered that certain primary songs actually sound better when you attempt to sing them at double speed. We had a fun moment where Edgar badly needed a diaper change, I needed to be up in front of 30 kids being silly, and Jen was nowhere to be found. Luckily, everything worked out all right in the end.

I got my customary nap after church (yay!) and settled down for dinner and He-man with Jen and Edgar, until Edgar got on Jen's nerves, and the boys retired to the other room to watch Spongebob. I've enjoyed my time snuggling with Edgar and watching TV. I think part of the motivation is knowing that I won't be able to spend as much quantity time with him in the next few weeks. I may get some play breaks, etc., but I probably won't have time to sit and watch 3 or 4 whole episodes of anything with him for quite a while.

During family scripture time tonight, Edgar was looking at the pictures in his book of mormon. This one's his favorite:

He can identify several of the characters from the story, but tonight, he pointed to the boy (lower left, leaning against the rail with bulging biceps) and said "Edgar!" I said, "Edgar, do you have muscles like that?", and he replied:

(muscles)

This boy sure loves his mama, too.

We put Edgar down for the night, and now all that is left to do is decide what to do for my last day of freedom. Stay tuned.

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Okay, here are some photos that I've been meaning to upload for a while....

First, the star of our show:

Strike a pose.

Shameless plug: This cute outfit was made by a friend. You can get one for your kid, too.

(click to enlarge) This one's kindof spooky.  This is Edgar with a bunch of toy bandaids on his left hand, about 2 weeks before burning his hand on the stove, requiring way too many real bandaids on his left hand.

Edgar and Sabrina at the grocery store.

Edgar likes to put his blanket on his head in the car. I guess it shields him from the sun.

Not my best moment. (asleep in the car)

Day 42-- Musical Ambitions

Yes, this is the long-anticipated forty-two in "Forty-two days" As I mentioned yesterday, because of the way Sabrina's birthday fell on Friday, it'll stretch to 45 days with the 3-day weekend.

Edgar gave me some trouble last night. He woke up about 3 times in the middle of the night, and each time, I would come to his rescue with a bottle and some comfort, he refused my help and stubbornly repeated, "I want Mommy!" over and over and over again.

Mommy came to his rescue the first time. We think he may have a little bit of a cold. After the first time, it wasn't funny. I would sit for 10 or 15 minutes in his room, enduring the I-want-mommy verbal assault over and over again, then I'd leave, set the alarm for 15 or 20 minutes later, and turn off the baby monitor. In the intervening 15 or 20 minutes, he'd cry himself to sleep, but that's tough on parents and kids.

Well, tonight, he'll be forced to break out of his mommy-preference. Mommy is taking a girls weekend with Becky upstairs and friends. So, it's just Daddy and Edgar in the house tonight.

The terribly interrupted sleep, combined with some pretty bad cat-allergy-triggered asthma left me groggy and knocked out all day. On a day where I should've been cleaning up from our Kalaloch trip, helping my wife pack for her girls' weekend, I found myself doing just the bare minimum that was needed to maintain life and parental function. Edgar watched a lot of TV today.  Jen picked up the slack. As edgar says, "Mommy supergirl!"

Edgar also had a very musical day. This is him playing organ after first waking up:

No, I don't understand the name of his song.

Later, he tried recorder. As you can see, he doesn't quite get the concept yet. He plays it like a kazoo, singing into the recorder, and getting it to whistle along with his breath.

Still later, he asked me to work on a duet with him. He handed me our (in need of tuning and repair) melodica, and played his trusty recorder.

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on Flute!"

Jen and Sabrina got out the door this afternoon. Edgar and I spent the evening snuggled on the couch watching Signing Time and He-man. It was a pretty low-key day.

With Jen gone, and my car still (!) in the shop, I don't know what's in store for tomorrow. I've got some awesome ideas, but all we have is a bicycle and lots of ambition.

Day 3-- It's all about Edgar

Day 3

So, today was the day I had kinda been waiting for: my first opportunity for Adventures-with-Edgar. Every week, Jen takes Edgar to this kiddie music class put on at the church. I'd heard a lot about it, but it's always during work time.

So, we went. It was WEIRD. I'm trying to sort through in my mind as to WHY it was weird. The easy answer is to blame it on my gender. I do think I may have been the only guy over the age of 5 to ever to set foot in that class. However, I'm far from the average "guy"... for one thing, I work with kids and music on a regular basis. I'm the song-leader for the kids in my church congregation; including leading singing time every week for a group of 1-3 year olds, of which Edgar is a member. So, I'm used to kids and singing, why was this weird?

Was it that there were maybe 5 or 6 parents there and 20 kids? Where did the kids come from? They were all under the age of 5 or so, and if there were sibling groups, there were no more than maybe groups of 2 brothers/sisters, so where did all the kids come from? Somebody's day care must've snuck in there.

Was it that I'd intruded within the sacred inner circle of a bunch of stay-at-home moms that regularly abbreviate things like SAHM? I've seen those blogs before, they're weird, too. I definitely felt like the interloper there. I plan to take Edgar to his regular Play Group on wednesday, so I'll confirm there.

Was it my anxiety over Edgar acting out? Was it just not being used to being in a new place? Was it the preponderance of prerecorded songs with silly actions? I'm only vaguely familiar with The Wiggles, but after today, I'm vaguely certain that I want them dead. Who knows. Anyway, long story short, the children's music time was weird, and they asked me to lead "movement time" next week, whatever that means.

By 10:30 AM, I was ready to be done with Edgar's tantrums.

Spent most of the day doing chores and trying to wrestle a very whiny Edgar away from his mother. Fed everyone mostly leftovers that we accumulated during our stay at the birthing center.

Tracy our midwife came for our postpartum checkup, and our friend Danita came and took lots of photos. When we get some, I'll post them here. She takes brilliant photos, so I'm quite excited.

We had some leftover birthday cake (from MY birthday), and Jen had the brilliant idea of lighting a candle, and singing happy birthday to Sabrina (mostly for Edgar's benefit). I didn't argue, I got ice cream cake out of the deal.

That's about it. I could give you all the boring details of naps and stuff that are becoming the important parts of my day... I've got dishes and shopping and laundry to do before I finish for the night, while Jen is watching Back to the Future in bed with our cute little daughter. "The time displacement is instantaneous!"


So now a comparison:

Sabrina

Edgar

People have been asking if she looks like Edgar did. Well, she's definitely related, especially the hair. But somehow, she looks-- different. She's darker-complected, for one. Her hair is straight while Edgar's was curly. Edgar's hair was ever-so-slightly longer. They've got different noses and cheeks. It'll be interesting to see what she grows up to be. We sure love this little girl.

Oh-- the following is a postscript on yesterday's post:

I realized after I hit post last night that I (understandably) focused on the crazy side of Edgar. While this is undeniably the side that is shown off more, there are some sweet moments. Take for example last night, at family prayer. We have a family prayer every night. Edgar hasn't yet done the kiddie prayer thing where he repeats every other word that mom says as a prayer. Just never had the desire. Then, last night, just as I was about to say the prayer, Edgar rattles off: "Heavenly-father-thank-you-for-this-day-thank-you-for-grandmas-and-grandpas-and-mommy-and-daddy-and-THIS!!!", pointing to the baby. Jen prompted him with her name, "Sabrina", and got him to finish the prayer too. It was a really sweet moment.