Let's do this thing!

Christmas 2009 was a lot of fun. After opening stockings at our house, Hugh's parents, both sets of grandparents and his youngest uncle joined his 7 cousins and remaining two uncle and aunt pairs for a Christmas extravaganza. We wore our crowns from the Christmas crackers all through Christmas dinner and then received presents during our secret santa exchange. A nice twist to the game is that each gift was signed, not with the gift giver's name, but with a clue that had to be deciphered. A crossword puzzle, a poem, a cryptogram, a single word ("bribable" : ). Playing the game was part of the fun!

The kids really liked their presents as well. What child doesn't? At one point someone was trying to guess their riddle and one of the kids, who was waiting to receive his present, said, "I just can't take it any more, it was from me!" Very funny, though sometimes kids get a little worked up over gifts. Heck, sometimes adults get very worked up over gifts. I remember when I was a kid and my brother and I got these matchbox cars from friends of my parents - who totally did not need to get us a gift at all. I got this series of sports cars and my brother got a series of off-road cars, which I thought were cooler and proceeded to throw a fit about not getting the cooler gift. Not surprising, the next year we got the same thing after hearing, "We got you guys the same thing this year, we learned our lesson." (Man, was I a jerk...) Sometimes kids immediately want to play with a gift someone else opened, even if they are holding a new toy in their hand, or throw a new toy to the ground because the next gift is on its way to them! Gift opening sessions seem over stimulating for our receiving sensors : )

What is it about presents that does that in kids? Could it be stopped? Whenever I see behavior in kids these days I try to think of what I would do if Hugh did the same thing or, while Hugh is still a little baby, how can I raise him to avoid it all in the first place. Can selfishness be raised out of my son or is that just human nature being brought out by fancy paper and bright bows? Is it possible to open a gift and really enjoy it, or can it be outdone by something else? Do children in impoverished countries who get little, if any, gifts in their lives act the same way? Would less gifts help my kid? Was it believing in Santa Claus? I can probably blame Obama if I try hard enough . . .


After we opened all the presents and four of the boys got nerf guns we went and had a war in the basement. By chance I happened to bring my nerf gun over as well, the N-Strike Maverick, and had a good time. (See my Facebook album). My youngest nephew, age four, who a mere hour prior polished off and entire turkey leg by himself, exclaimed "Let's do this thing!" before starting our next round and pegging me in in the chest. Enjoying the gift was more fun than opening multiple gifts, and spending time shooting each other in the face meant more (at least to me) than what or how many other things were received. Perhaps in the vein of Christmas simply receiving and enjoying a gift is better than anything, or everything, else that just seems distracting in light of the important things.

Mountains of Fun?

Family fun with the kids (and adults) continued just before Christmas when we all went to Greek Peak for some winter fun. Thanks to subzero weather for the past few weeks plenty of snow was being made at our local ski resort.  Back in college and prior I was able to go skiing a few times a season and worked my way to a solid intermediate. Not quite ready for the Olympic Super-G team or the X-games, but I could get down a hill, and have a good time doing it : ) This year I considered skiing for the first time in over five years but the lift ticket and rentals for a day of skiing would cost me about three rounds of golf, so as far as hobbies go, this is one I could not continue this time.

However, the resort has an awesome deal called "Mountains of Fun" for beginner skiers or snowboarders. Twenty five bucks for one starter lift ticket, rentals and a lesson was more than a deal to try snow boarding. Five of us got snow boards while three others skied. I found the hardest part of snowboarding just standing back up while sitting on the ground - two feet strapped to the same object created all sorts of balance and center of gravity problems. I also did not like having to sit down at the top of the hill each run, something unknown to the two-plankers. By the end of our night I could make it down with less than four falls while performing minimal carving with the board. Perhaps I'll try that again sometime.

Which could be more than I can say for my wife. She missed part of the lesson to tend to Hugh (who was chilaxing in the lounge with Granddad and Granny) and then had a rough time coming down the hill the first time. I think the first attempts of snowboarding naturally involves many spills and falls, and that subsequently involves many trials of standing up again. After a few of these, Jess' plan was to just "wait until the slope closes and the staff would have to come get me!" The half-squat snowboarding stance was also wearing on her, causing a pain described as "worse than labor," though I was present during that labor and feel her statement was a little dramatic : ) Not one to give up, we tumbled down the hill and claimed success safely at the bottom. However, I am starting to think "Mountains of Fun" is just a clever marketing tactic, and not a guarantee. Beyond the ambiguous measurement unit of "mountains", I do not feel there would have been plural in her fun calculation - though a warm cocoa with Granddad and Granny afterwards may have tipped the scales.

Please Sir, May I Have Some More Kids In The House

My wife's family is in town and we are quite the crew. 15 of us in total, ranging from Granny and Granddad down to baby Hugh. 8 of us are teenagers or less, which definitely sets the tone for most of our outings. Total age for them: 62 (+/- 3). Having the adults around is nice, but the action happens 2 feet closer to the floor.

I really admire my brother in times like this, because getting 7 kids of varied ages to do the same thing, or stay focused on the same thing, is like trying to pick up jello. Just when I thought I had a firm grip on the situation, one starts wrestling the other, or another sees something elsewhere more interesting than me. To be honest, I'm not sure what you could do in some of these situtations. My bro's education might have giving him some ideas (I would have been Professor Talk-Over-and-Louder-Than-Everyone, Ph.D) but what I admire is his attitude through the whole thing. I've seen him keep going with kids long after I've had my fill, beyond patience and practice, it is a gifting of his.

Organizing the troops is tricky (impossible?), but for someone who writes about mundane happenings of their day, kids say some funny things. A good example came from dinner the other night, when I came in to take orders on our grilled hamburgers. I started talking before I had everyone's attention (Ph.D, remember? : )

"Alright, who wants cheese on their hamburger?"
A number of hands went up and I started counting.
My eldest nephew intejected, "I'll have cheese and some grilled onions."
"Uhh. . . ." and before I could be astounded, my middle nephew (of 5) added,
"Yes, I'll have the grilled onions and some sauteed mushrooms."
"Umm," I replied dryly, "you choice is 'cheese.'"


Sauteed mushrooms? What?!!

Fun times with everyone indeed, and Jess and I usually end our adventurers wondering what we'll do when Hugh isn't sleeping in his car seat or staring at inanimate objects. I suggested an anti-growth hormone, three months old is a really good age! Kids are full of energy, mischeiveious and clueless but also are joyous, loving and creative. A mix of two totally different worlds that we somehow try and fit into ours. What will we do when Hugh does not listen? When he does something wrong? When he does something great?!! When he is not doing much of anything? Lessons on parenthood are all around this week and here is my bus . . . I am getting taken to school! (Probably going to end up with a wedgie . . . atomic . . .)

There Is A First For Everything

With a baby we see lots of normal things for the first time. Every day might be full of things that we would see every other day; it would be normal and we think nothing of it, but when a baby does it we see it anew. Recently Hugh has started smiling at people, not just passing gas, and it is awesome to see. The other morning I greeted his morning cry and he gave me a big smile. Perhaps both our days started out well : )

This week we were at a Christmas party with our small group and discussing things Hugh did, and did not do, at this stage in his life. Sleeping on his back, smiling, tummy time, etc. All these things our little baby was doing. We also mentioned he should be rolling over soon, as opposed to sleeping on his back all the time, but he has not rolled over yet. We gave an example of tummy time and then, whump!, Hugh rolled over for the first time ever! It was awesome. Everyone celebrated and I'm not sure if Hugh was more surprised that he flipped to his back, or at the noise that motion caused.

Not every first involves Hugh though. This Christmas Jess' family is in town and we will be spending our first ever Christmas at home. How fun! To inaugerate the occasion we purchased a real live Christmas tree on Wednesday night, the first real tree she or I ever had. When I was a teenager I helped start the tradition in my family to move the artificial tree, still decorated, to the dining room and wrap it in plastic until after Thansgiving the next year. Not quite decking the halls, but saved a lot of hustle and bustle (mainly decoration clean up). The real tree this year is super fun, almost normal, and a great first Christmas at home, with many more firsts to see again.

Birthday Jorb

We know her birthday is actually tomorrow, but Jess and I went out to celebrate tonight. If all goes according to the plan, we'll be watching a movie with the youth group tomorrow evening and then heading down to York, PA! So no time for anything tomorrow. We went to the Lost Dog Cafe, our favorite restaurant in the Triple Cities, though we'd be lucky to make it there more than once a year. Great food and a grassroots sort of atmophere; it lived up to our hype yet again.

Of course we brought Hugh along to dinner and he gave mommy the best gift of the night - no crying for the entire meal : ) Our waitress stopped by to get our drink orders, was thrilled with "just water" for the both of us, and noticed Hugh in his car seat next to Jess. "You got a fresh one there!" she said, "Nice job." We chuckled, said "thank you" and all that, and the waitress was probably just making some pre-dinner banter, but we got to thinking . . . nice job for what?

Probably not "nice job for going out to eat." People go out to eat all the time. Please, my medal count before graduating high school would have made Michael Phelps train for nine next time. Perhaps "nice job for taking your baby out to dinner," which is somewhat fitting because in a few months it may not be as easy (and in a few more month he'll never see the Lost Dog again). Maybe the "nice job" was a weird plug to the genetics that made Hugh look the way he does, Triple H is a stinkin' cutie when he's sleeping. We didn't have anytime tangible to do with that, though. Jess thought maybe it was a "nice job for pushing that baby out." Ha, been there. Nice job indeed!

Whenever I hear "nice job" I can only think of mispronouncing the word as "jorb" a la a Homestar Runner cartoon I watched back in college. A co-worker of mine once said jorb was standard internet lingo these days, so whether Coach Z stole it from the interweb or everyone is watching Homestar Runner, it doesn't matter. A "nice job" is always a "nice jorb" in my book, and by the time I finish smiling about that I'll forget what the job was about anyway.