Just Past Midnight

That's it. All done. My 40th birthday proper has ended.

I am now 40.003 years old.

And I'm good with that.

Today was more marvelous than I could ever ask for. And nearly all of it is due to the hard work of my wife of nearly 10 years, Sasha.

She and the kids made me breakfast, cut flowers for the party, made a birthday cake from scratch (lemon bundt), cooked up 25 lbs of barbecue ribs. Plus a salad, potatoes, chips and guacamole, shrimp cocktail. Just crazy stuff, that was delicious and a delight.

Then family and a couple of friends who are family came over to deal with the food. It was on both sides and that meant a lot to me. We sat outside (fantastic weather) and talked and laughed and ate. One cannot ask for more, but I got it.

Alya squeezing a glass of fresh orange juice just for me. Marcus playing "Happy birthday" on the kazoo. Being able to play the role of guest of honor instead of host. Pure fantastic.

And on Facebook, I had tons of people wishing me a happy birthday. Friends from long ago, family that live outside of Milwaukee, co-workers, and friends that I see on a frequent basis. This is the kind of thing that makes Facebook great. (Although I hear "Farmville" is pretty cool.)

Alas, 40 also wears on the bones and the brain. Sleep calls and while I don't want to pick up the phone, I really don't have much choice in the matter.

Good night folks!

Jon

Kicking the Diaper Habit

It's really funny, we've got Marcus on the potty training route, but both he and Alya still use sippy cups. It's like we're scared of letting them put milk or juice on the carpet, but pee and poo? No problem!

For those of you who do not see the kids, they have moved from cute little ones, to cute, active, often defiant, not-quite-so-little ones. Alya is nearly at the height where she is not supposed to play at the Bayshore kids area anymore. Mind, we were there tonight and saw an 8 year old (at least) hanging out with his little brother on the equipment. Such is life in America.

Anyway, the two of them are getting really good at not listening/following directions these days. Marcus prefers straight up defiance, "I don't like that!" while Alya attempts to make a deal or deflect what you asked her to do.

"Alya, go potty before bed."

"But you told me to pick out pj's."

"And you did that, now go potty before putting them on."

"But you told me to pick out pj's." [different, slightly whiny-er inflection]

[sigh]

But it's amazing how funny they can be as well.

Tonight we ate at Potbelly, and neither of them liked their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - because they were too messy. As soon as I wrapped them up in a napkin for holding purposes, they were okay. But we were going through napkins like crazy. So when I handed one to Alya for her messy hands, she took it and draped it over her head! No good reason, just left it there as we all laughed. She is a goof.

Meanwhile, I had the "crazed parent" moment of the night. Marcus ate a quarter of his half a sandwich before a lump of peanut butter derailed his interest. Since Potbelly does sundaes, they have bananas right there in the store. So I took them both up to the counter to get one for them. Well, it was just one guy back there - manager or shift lead - and the other two where outta sight, so we were waiting. And waiting. And the kids were getting antsy. So when I could grab his attention, I just said, "I need a banana for the kids." and held out my card. (Yeah, I'm one of those no-cash-having kind of guys.) He said it was 53 cents and minimum was a dollar. So I stated I had no cash (like a North Shore jerk) and started walking away. He called out, just take one on me. So I did.

Three minutes later, once Marcus was eating said banana.
([crack! Peel-peel-peel. pass to Marcus] "I want to peel it!" [mentally curse for forgetting he peels his own and attempt to fool him that I resealed it] [succeed in fooling 2-year-old son])
I realized we had been carrying Marcus's Spider-man lunch box with us. The one that was filled will all the coins from a mini-change jar. Probably only three or four bucks in there, but that's plenty for a 53 cent banana.

So we went back to the guy, thanked him for the free banana, and then had Marcus pay for it since his lunchbox held the cash after all.

Anyway, I'm off to play a little video games before bed.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Flipping for Ribs

 

Marcus is known for being a picky eater. Sometimes he'll eat nothing but bananas and waffles for the entire day. However, this day in September was one in which he not only ate the rice and gandules I had made, but gnawed on the bones of the ribs Sasha had made for her first time. I don't blame him either, as those ribs were really good.

 

Meanwhile, Alya decided that doing flips off the bed was a good thing. Head down on the foot and kick the feet over - Boom! I brought more pillows down as she was just landing on her butt at first. Crazy girl.

Blogging like no one reads it...

The title is exactly what I've been doing with this blog for the past month plus - not doing anything. The problem being that lots of people who I care about read this blog, so I've been doing them a disservice. And for that I apologize.

Now - on with the show!


What's missing from this picture?

Lots of things have been going on lately in the BSer world, but I'm going to start with the life changing event.

We pulled the plug.

Or more accurately, we pulled the pacifiers from Marcus and Alya. (Those of you who follow us on Facebook most likely already know this.)

It has been about two full weeks plug free and the two children handled it quite differently.

The first thing that happened was on a Friday, Sasha had the kids pack the plugs up in a box to "Send to the children that needed them." Drove to the post office, and mailed it off.

Gone baby, gone.

Then Sasha took them to Toys R' Us and bought them a bicycle (Alya) and tricycle (Marcus) for doing such a good deed. Bribery works, right?

At nap time, Marcus went down with not too much of a fight.

Alya screamed bloody murder.

Sasha called me on the phone to share the joys of my daughter's plight. It was not pretty to hear.

Eventually, Alya asked for her woobie, a blanket, milk, and to be put in her car seat. There she managed to calm herself down. Although she had woken Marcus up and eventually it was a long car ride for both kids, and Momma, to get to an even keel.

That was 14 days ago.

The dust has settled for the most part. The biggest problem right now is that both kids have lost their primary means of settling down for sleep. Alya has rolled with it for the most part. Fine at daycare, but at home she now falls asleep in our bed and then gets carried into her own.

I think we kind of "broke" Marcus.


That boy used fall asleep at night so fast your head would spin. Two stories, maybe four, and then a little rocking and he could be laid down with his eyes open. Then he would be sawing logs like a the little man he is.

Post-plug-pull Marcus does not like to lay down in his bed. He doesn't even like rocking in his room. Currently, the only solution we have is to read stories in his room, then bring him out to the main room to rock in the recliner for 10-15 minutes. Our easy sleeping boy no longer owns that name.

In hindsight, we probably could have had Alya drop the plug and let Marcus keep it for a few more months. He was kind of moving away from it anyway. Instead, we pulled the plug, took a side off of his crib, and had him change rooms at daycare within a week's span.

So it's been rough, but the benefit is wonderful.

Plugs discourage kids from talking, and can inhibit some speech growth. Now both of them talk a heck of a lot more, and are telling stories and really using their voice.

Music to Sasha's and my ears.

---

I've got a whole bunch of things to talk about, but I'll leave you with this for now.

I finally figured out why I can eat at Qdoba (fast food-ish burritos) so much. Quick access to rice and beans. My Grandma Celia used to make rice and beans back in the day and I loved it. I could fill and entire plate with rice, cover that with beans, mix it all together and nearly eat the whole thing. A perfect "comfort" food.

Qdoba gives me that base of rice and beans, which doesn't taste as good as my Grandma's, but I enjoy the flavor all the same. It's probably a good thing the kids aren't fond of "burritos" right now. We'd probably go out to eat every "Daddy night".

Although, my track record really isn't that good at this point anyway....

Be seeing you,

Jon

Egg Rolls Radio Away!

Mellow. That's a good word for where I'm at right now. Both kids are sleeping. Sasha's out with a friend. I just had some awesome Cheeseburger Pie for dinner (it's a Bisquick recipe), picked up a game on the major-cheap, finished watching some of my shows...

Yeah, it makes me mellow.

BPM is on again in the background, but I'm going further back. Somewhere around 1980.

The first time I remember eating Chinese food was at a restaurant that went by the name of China Palace. I remember it being a dark restaurant, with low lighting. The occasion is forgotten to me, but I was allowed to choose what I wanted from the menu. The dish of choice? Lemon Chicken.

Lightly breaded, with bits of lemon peel as garnish. Then a delicate, sweet lemon sauce coated the chicken breast. When eaten with rice it resulted in a wonderful flavor that filled my little 10 year old taste buds with joy.

Later, it was the Mu Shu Pork that was a favorite. This was eclipsed by the hot and sweet Spicy Beef. The Hot and Sour soup at China Palace was something to enjoy in it's savory sinus clearing goodness. But then there was the Egg Roll.

The China Palace Egg Roll was a constant through out all my dining experiences there. The thick won ton wrapper was always a rich, golden, crunchy shell that held a mix of cabbage, pork, shrimp, and that extra bit of juice. Their homemade sauce for the egg roll was not a mere sweet and sour, but shades of the Lemon Chicken sauce that complemented the heavy, hot egg roll's contents.

When I worked at Manpower from '00 to '03, we would go there for the lunch buffet fairly frequently. One of the servers eventually assumed I would have that second egg roll that came with the buffet. No, it wasn't good for the waistline, but it was a damn good egg roll.

I have never found a restaurant that topped the egg roll that was served at China Palace. There were times when I would swing by there just to pick up a couple egg rolls to go with my dinner - which often was not Chinese food. For a brief time period, I would call in for fried rice and an egg roll for dinner.

As you can guess by all the past-tense, the China Palace has closed down. Several months ago, they closed their doors, as a developer offered the owners enough money for the building to allow them to hang their aprons and retire. The florist across the street had heard they were getting tired of the business aspect, and having watched them in action over the years, I could certainly believe it.

I wish them well in their retirement. The Egg Roll will be missed.

Something that won't be missed is the old format of WKTI 94.5. They underwent a massive format change this past Friday, and are now known as 94.5 Lake FM. This is a good change to me, as I rarely tuned into their station except for Casey Kasem and the top 20 on Sundays. However, it is a source of memories that stretches back nearly as far.

They had a morning radio team, Bob Reitman and Gene Mueller, that were the funnest guys on in the mornings back in the 80's. I remember them being casual and friendly. They had "Coach Ed" who was television news man Ed Hinshaw, who would speak the lyric to songs current at the time in a dry voice. The biggest hit was Coach Ed doing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. It was the funnest thing in the world for a 12 year-old boy.

Now the are no personalities on the station at all. Just an announcer letting you know that you're listening to Lake FM and who know what they'll play next. It's an eclectic jumble of songs that all made the top 40 at some point in the past 50 years. I've heard early Beatles and Pink on this station, so it will be interesting to see how they pan out.

Tonight will be a double-post night. Understand that Marcus just turned one yesterday, so he deserves the top of the blog page.

He tops in my book in so many ways anyway.

Be seeing you,

Jon