Your mom told me that when you got home today you looked up at her and said, “Momma?” then “Dad”. She said you went looking around the house for me but I was at the store getting lighter fluid so I could grill some salmon for dinner. You weren’t very impressed by it when I put some on your tray but did suck off the baja sauce that I made for the baja salmon tacos. Your mom took the hint and gave you a bowl of plain yogurt. I swear, you’ll eat any flavor of yogurt, even plain. You also had corn, some salmon, and sauce. Your mom put you in the bath afterwards because you also had dirt on your tummy after playing in the sand box before dinner and that had mixed with everything you were eating for dinner.

I put Oskar to bed because he was having a hard time so you went to bed with Mom. After I had finally gotten him to go to sleep (he was complaining about his ear, he might have his first ear infection) I went to go clean up the kitchen and fold laundry. After a while Rose called me in because she was reading her book and you wouldn’t go to sleep with her so I had to come help.

See, you won’t fall asleep with Rose, only me. You curl up next to me and lay your head on my arm or shoulder and after fussing and fidgeting you fall asleep. You’ve also been known to head butt, pinch, kick, hit and poke while you’re supposed to be going to sleep.

I love you little bear.

I know. I live in the Pacific Northwest, I should be used to this weather. I am. However, the reason why I especially hate the weather right now, in June to be specific, is that I was really looking forward to this season for cycling. Last year I was just getting my legs, getting into rides and figuring out how it all worked. This time around I kept up some spin during the winter so I kept my leg strength from completely atrophying (kept my arm tan too, somehow) and I tried to hit the ground running, as they say. I took advantage of the sporadic nice days during winter and early spring and did a 62 mile ride a whole two months earlier in the season than last year.

And yet.

Here we are with snow in Snoqualmie Pass, branches on the ground, rain falling constantly and temperatures in the 50s. Enough.

This is my last week of school and Thursday and Friday are half days. I am moving to 6th grade next year so I may be using student labor to move my classroom tomorrow but there are about 6 of us moving and we are all depending on the other to move at the same time, otherwise it won’t work.

Milo seems to be getting more teeth to fill in the gaps between his molars and canines. He likes to fall asleep on my arm, snuggled up next to me. He knows me as “the guy who gets him to fall asleep”. He won’t do the same thing with Rose but as soon as I come to bed he lays down and goes to sleep.

Right now things are good with Oskar but lately he has been getting stuck several times a day. What I mean is that he will not be able to move forward until a precise series of events transpire, sometimes in a seemingly arbitrary way. If you move forward using a different series of events he will have to reverse them and go back to the beginning and then in the direction he feels is the “right” way.

Rose has a final tonight in one of her Childbirth Education classes and then she takes a break for the summer. Her last day for watching the kids is next Tuesday.

Other events coming up include a BBQ for Jeremy’s 35th and the Flying Wheels Century. STP is a month away and then the Summit to Surf is two weeks after that. I really hope the weather improves. I feel like a slob when I can’t ride for a week or two because of the rain and cold.

We just got back from our first ride of the season, well pre-season perhaps, down at the Foothills Trail. This was the first time we got Oskar and Milo together in the bike trailer so I thought a quick jaunt down to the trail to get the feel for things would be in order. I packed up books, toys and bike snax for both of them.
Rose met her friend Courtney down there which worked out well since we couldn’t fit both boys with carseats, my bike and the bike trailer into one vehicle. We need a bike rack especially if we want to get Rose’s bike from her parents so she can join us on two wheels.
So once we got the big ordeal going and the boys situated and happy I took off. I didn’t really know how far I would be going since Rose and Courtney were walking and I didn’t know how long the boys would last in the back. It’s a good thing we didn’t go too long, wow, what a work out.
I mean, I know I’m just getting back in shape but it was still tough. Low speeds are kind of herky-jerky if Oskar is moving around; I can really feel him bounce the bike around. It’s kind of like in spin class when you turn up the resistance except there is never any turning down of said resistance; there’s no recovery.
I could only sustain speeds of about 14 maybe 14.5 mph. I could sprint up to 16.5 but stay that fast for maybe a few seconds. In contrast, last year before STP while I was on that trail I could stay around 18.5-20 mph for most of the 30 miles. Today I went 11 miles.
Like I said, I know it’s early in the season but man that was hard. I think this will be great strength training for me. I feel like the guy in “The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen” who had the huge ball and chain tied to him. When he needed to go super speed he just took it off and raced away. That will be me in five months of this.
I’m really excited about going out with the boys more. I’m glad they had a good time. I was also pleased to see so many people out and about on the trail in mid-January. It makes me happy to think their are more people out there like us who want to take advantage of the balmy 45 degree sunshine.

A sampling of things going on right now:

This was a friend in elementary and middle school. I doubt you heard about it but apparently in our state of affairs these days it merits little mention.

Oskar’s swim classes have begun again but he has yet to go. He’s been sleepy and/or cranky.

I started spin again. Gone twice so far. Started a group of cyclists in the district. Will do STP and other rides again.

Milo walks here and there but prefers the crawling; he can go faster and he knows it.

Teaching is going well but lots of big projects going on at once now and perhaps other possible things for next year.

I will be presenting at a local eductional technology conference for the second time in as many years.

Holidays were fun. Every morning Oskar asked who we were visiting that day.

Boys got a bike trailer for Christmas. Oskar broke it in with me in the rain (good way to get the dust and cobwebs off your bike).

Looking forward to new Death Cab album in May …

Can it be that here it is 8:30 in the morning and I’m up while everyone else is in bed? Notice I didn’t say sleeping …
I heard Oskar get up this morning around 5 and thought that he was coming into our room. I next heard the toilet flush, door close, another door close and then silence. He got up, went potty and went back to bed! I am so proud of my little boy. Of course he did come into our room about 30 minutes later. I told him he could get in my bed only if he closed his eyes and went back to sleep. He did. Then I had to get up with Milo at 7. We played, took pictures, made coffee, he ate breakfast, we played some more then he started to get cranky and yawn so I bounced him around a bit to give him a taste of what was to come (back to sleep) then took him to Rose since that was where he was off to anyways.

Milo can stand on his own now for some time. He pulls himself up and then stands looking at something or playing, or clapping, he loves to do that. You can also pick him up and then instead of plopping him on the floor on his bottom just stand him up and he’ll stay there until he sees something he wants to get. I’ve seen him take a little half of a step toward me or Rose but usually if he’s standing there he’ll wobble a little bit but then drop down to the ground to go crawl since he knows he can do that really well. He can also walk around with his hippo toy and practically runs down the hall. No walking for this boy, how else is he going to keep up with his big brother?

Oskar finished his first swim session without me and we got a little sheet back to let us know what he can do, what he can almost do and what he still needs work on. He only had one thing that he needs work on, it was something I didn’t really understand. Something about floating and then standing up. He can almost swim 5 feet on his back, stomach, or side all by himself. Not that I’m trying to raise an Olympic swimmer here but I am so proud that he can do almost all of the beginning level of swimming just after his first time.

Oskar also had his Holiday night at his school. The kids sang lots of songs and it was very nice. Oh, and apparently we have “that kid”. You know, the one who is dancing and swaying while everyone else is singing and standing still. The one who claps along with the audience when the song is over. Yeah, we have him. I’ll post up pictures once I get some from the multitudes that we brought along.

Oskar has been taking swim lessons since he was a little baby but this was the first time he had swim lessons by himself without me. We were a little nervous because although he has been going to school and becoming the big boy that he is but this was still something new and we didn’t know how it would turn out. Also he had fallen asleep on the way home so I didn’t know if he would wake up happy or cranky as he does sometimes or at all.

Anyway, we got to the YMCA and met his instructor and I took him in to the locker room to change and then we met up with his class near the pool. I didn’t really say goodbye or introduce him he just joined the group and did what he was told and followed around the other kids to the shower. We watched him and his group in the toddler pool while they jumped around and kicked and floated on their backs.

It’s funny, the things that get you as parents. We’re sitting their watching our boy play and follow directions from his instructor, just simple little things, and yet the emotions they bring up. I understand how parents can get all choked up over seemingly simple things when you start to remember how little they used to be, etc. etc. Afterwards we told Oskar how proud we were of him and how he listened really well to his instructor (something we’re working on) and we went out to Cold Stone to celebrate.

Milo is still hurting due to his teeth coming in. It appears that his lateral incisors are coming in on top (one just cut through yesterday) and pushing his central incisors together; he has a little gap between his top middle two teeth. We’re hoping that once this round of teeth come in we can go back to that sweet nirvana of him sleeping through the night. He has been doing a little better, sleeping until 1-3 in the morning instead of waking up an hour or so after he goes to bed. I have been trying to put him to bed before he is all the way asleep. It takes a while but I’m trying to convince him that he can fall asleep on his own without someone holding him.

He is such a funny boy. He loves to play and crawl away from us. He stops and looks back to see if we’re following and then giggles and crawls away further. Oskar likes to get into the act and gets on my back and we both go after his little brother. Oskar even says as we chase Milo down the hall, “Dad, he can go into my bedroom!” Milo gets his share of bumps and bruises (owing somewhat to having a big brother) but he’s a tough little guy. I guess he has to be.

Oh, he also loves to dance. He will pull himself up onto a piece of furniture and bounce and bop around while the music plays. We just pulled out a little toy from when Oskar was a baby, a little train that drives about 5 feet, and although Milo wanted to chase after it, he couldn’t help but boogie to the little music it was playing. He would let it go, dance a little, and then chase after it.

I haven’t seen much of Oskar lately as he has been not napping and therefore falling asleep on the way home. I only see him if he gets up in the middle of the night to go potty and then in the morning. He loves making smoothies together in the morning and proclaims that he, “loves protein powder.” We are having a hard time getting him to listen to us and actually do the things in a reasonable amount of time but I suppose what parents of three year-olds aren’t?

A few weeks ago while the weather was nice on a weekend we took Oskar’s bike to the park and he rode around the lake three times and mostly by himself. That’s a couple miles and for a little boy I was quite proud of him. He did take a spill while going down a hill (he’s working on braking, he instinctually puts his feet down instead of on the pedals) and although he cried for a little bit he got right back on his bike and kept going.

Oskar is going to be a dragon for Halloween, we’ll get some pictures up. He is dressing up for school on Wednesday and we’ll go trick-or-treating later that day with him. He also took his costume with his grandparents while he was out on the boat in Wollochet, it’s an outstation of the Tacoma Yacht Club and he was there for a Halloween party that kids and grandkids of members have.

Our boys are so much fun and we’re constantly just playing and hugging them and enjoying the time we spend with them.

Both boys are sleeping in their OWN beds in their OWN bedrooms right now …

Ah …

My boys at the lake cabin near Yelm.

We’ve posted videos of the kids online at YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=davstock