GRIZZLY PEAR
When we had our daughter, a friend told me,
remember it’s all just a phase.
And so its been. This morning the boy was squawking as an infant often does. And his sister slept right through it.
She was never a good sleeper, until she became one.
Hopefully this one sticks around a little.
Our boy was a lot easier as an infant since he actually slept without being accompanied the whole time. A friend reminded me, it’s a phase, it’s all a phase.
Now that he’s mobile, he’s turned into a bit of a handful, crawling around, pulling drawers, and testing anything he could put into his mouth.
When our girl started moving around, we did the standard childproofing around the house, but a lot of it seemed like wasted effort. I suspect it won’t be with this fellow.
Last night, I told my wife to finish her dinner while I chased the kids around in the bedroom.
As the words rolled out of my mouth I suddenly realized how naturally they came out. It wasn’t that long ago when we didn’t have children, and now they are the default mode of living.
As I think about it, yes it has been a crazy hectic rite of passage, but still it felt like the most natural order of things — utterly erasing the world we knew only five years ago.
I’ve been a bit stressed at the office because I have a few irons burning at the same time.
But last night, I realized…at least I don’t got a pair of teeth cutting through my gums right now.
Everybody is working through something, snapshots seem static, but life sure isn’t.
Doesn’t happen much in the valley. My wife thinks the last time it snowed such that something would stick to the lawn was about a decade ago.
If it was just us, I’m certain we would have taken a couple selfies outside and called it a night.
But the five year old had her own plans, and we played outside in the dark for about an hour, even making a little snowman.
Meanwhile the in-laws were busily doing their usual routine inside the house.
Maybe being old is just a function of not having someone force you to do something you wouldn’t do otherwise.
My daughter found a bottle of shaving cream in my friend’s luggage.
She was so curious about it, we decided to give her a demonstration.
It took half an hour, but for the first time since my cousin’s wedding a decade ago, I had lost my whiskers.
You should have seen the smile on her face the whole time!
Yesterday, the boy decided to have separation anxiety from mama.
Maybe he’s coming down with a cold.
Maybe it’s a new phase.
Or maybe just a blip on the radar.
I suspect mama is a little gratified by it, but hopes it’s that last one. Too much clinginess can be a handful, even if you know it will end all too soon.
Tai Chi
Kung Fu
Piano
Harmonica
Dance
Drawing
Photography
Mahjong
Xiangqi
Respect
Effort
Craft
Creativity
Self Confidence
Happiness
Curiosity
Wisdom
Dreams
My daughter is really skilled at throwing a tantrum.
It doesn’t do her any good, nothing changes.
But she does know how to make the world around her a little less unpleasant, when she doesn’t get what she wants.
Generally, deflection and misdirection is the best way to get her out of her reverie of anger. But sometimes you just have to walk away and let her stew in it for a bit.
She’s always been a focused, stubborn little girl (a trait even more apparent now that she has a brother for contrast) and its interesting to watch that develop as she grows up, if not always pleasant.
Walking a baby to sleep is bit like the life of a practicing architect.
Every job is similar, but also custom. Maybe AI will eventually produce a machine that can figure things out, but I doubt it.
This is a hands on, touchy feely activity. You need to get in sync with the client, drawing out their different needs and wants for each job.
It is an iterative process. Sometimes you get it right the first time, but usually you’ll try several things a few times before it takes.
And rarely is it the right time. Sometimes it’s too early, sometime it’s too late. You usually have something else to do.
Then again this is the only thing to do.