Cards, Cranes, and Dangerous Toast

This last week was a call week, so I was heading up child development as Mama worked in the hospital tending to those less fortunate, especially those unlucky enough to spend Thanksgiving day away from their families.

A while back Mimi and Kuri celebrated their Mama's birthday.  Papa ran around securing cards and cakes during the day so that all would be prepared for Mama's arrival.  As soon as Sumie returned home with the kids, I ushered her into the bedroom and took the kids to write their cards.  Kuri even managed to get some ink on the page, though his favorite thing was to mash the card up as much as he could.

Mama was very pleased with the special treat.

Rather than going out (which can be more stressful with these two kids than cooking a full meal at home) I attempted to prepare something special for the birthday meal.  I bought two cracked crabs, shelled the meat, and warmed it up in butter.  I then tossed it with fresh pasta, onions, and mushrooms sauteed in white wine, butter, and truffle oil.  Thankfully, Sumie approved.

After dinner, Sumie attempted to blow out the candles on her cake, but Mimi, as usual, beat her to it.

The following weekend found Sumie at work, so I took the kids to the open session at the gymnastics center on Sunday.  Even Kuri got into the fun, doing his best to climb up the angled mats...

...and sharing the foam stars that were being flung about the room by his older sister.

When it's just me and the kids at home, Mimi usually confronts me with two options: 1. play with me, or 2. let me watch TV.   We don't allow much screen time, so I'm usually roped into some kind of shenanigans by my 4 year old.  Here is a shot of her "you're-going-to-do-something-with-me-or-I'll-make-you-suffer-in-ways-you-cannot-begin-to-imagine" face.

One of the best things we do together (and also one of the messiest) is to play with Legos.  Mimi's almost old enough for standard Lego, but with Kuri around, we just have the Duplo out.  That's still enough for now, though.  Together, Mimi and I made a crane, a train, a plane, and a robot.  I decided to name the robot "Wayne" so that he'd rhyme.

Kuri got into the fun, too.  I think he likes taking things apart best.   He loves the way his arms fling out frenetically to the side when two pieces finally separate.

With Kuri now 1 year old, we're beginning to see just how different little boys and little girls are.  In many ways, Kuri is somewhat easier to handle than Mimi, but he also has his own agonizing little quirks.  Like most boys, he's very adept and finding, and insisting upon, the most dangerous way of doing anything.  Here he is eating toast, which he'd only submit to if he was also holding a fork, with the tines pointed at his face.  No matter what utensil is on the table, Kuri will always make a beeline for the sharpest and pointiest.  Case in point, while writing this very post he was looking at me with a butter knife held against his neck.  Had there been a steak knife on the table, I'm sure he would've used it instead.

Every time I'm out with these two on my own, I learn something new.  For instance, I am now fairly sure that a love of BBQ is not transmitted genetically.  Here we are at the Pork House, with Mimi refusing to eat and Kuri attempting to see just how far back he needs to lean to have his high chair fall over.

I also learned, on this outing, that some things are well nigh impossible when juggling two children. Immediately after our food arrived, Mimi declared that she needed to go pee.  Unfortunately, I did not have a stroller or a Baby Bjorn with me.  Once inside the bathroom, I quickly learned how to hold a 4 year old in one arm over a toilet seat while balancing a toddler in the other.  The trick is hold the toddler sideways.  Well, at least it was for me.

This, however, was not the most challenging bathroom gymnastics undertaken.  I also had to go. Mimi could stand on her own, which was nice, so all I had to do was hold Kuri.  Easy stuff.  I took care of my business and then realized that I'd forgotten something: it is virtually impossible to button jeans while holding a toddler. Somehow, 5 minutes later, we were able to leave the bathroom without the toddler having been set down and with my jeans in place.  I still don't quite know what I did to make this happen, but I do think I worked off some of my meal in the process.

As we get closer to the holiday season, I'm looking forward to more time with these three and the rest of the family.  I am sure many small, but memorable adventures await. I'll just be sure to have a Baby Bjorn with me to face them.

Bridges: One Famous, One Metaphorical, One Made of Lego

It hadn't really occurred to me until now, but I'm again living in a city famous for its bridges.  And, despite the seemingly constant congestion imposed by the Bay Bridge, I'm happy for it. 

Manhattan, being an island, was connected by so many bridges (and tunnels) that it took me a few years to memorize them all.  I still, and will probably always, have a soft spot for the George Washington Bridge, which connects Manhattan and New Jersey.  Ten times a week I would cross this double-decker marvel, in the morning to Jersey and in the evening, blessedly, back to Manhattan.  The morning view from the bridge wasn't all that inspiring - just Jersey and the impending threat of work - unless there happened to be snow on the Palisades.  But the ride home, that was a different story.  The city, sparkling under the night sky or eerily obscured by a midwinter fog, always called and comforted.  Crossing that bridge meant, quite simply, coming home.  And that meant the world. 

Here in SF I'm developing a fondness for the Golden Gate.  We have a partial view of its spires from the top of our street, at least on clear days.  Even better, on the other side of its span are some of the best views, towns, and historical sites in the bay area.  That's why, this last Monday, Mimi, Obachan (Sumie's Mother), and I all decided to cross the Golden Gate and head into Marin for the day. 

We left early, the sunshine holding despite the gloomy forecast, and explored Sausalito.  While it's a bit touristy - like a mini Pier 39 on the other side of the bay - it does offer some fantastic views, tasty cafes, and plenty of dogs for Mimi to point at and scream, "wan-wan!" 

After walking along the shore we settled outside at a little cafe for brunch.  Outdoor seating, no matter the temperature, is always best when you're dining with Mimi.  Remarkably, she actually sat on my lap and ate for at least half the meal.  This is usually Sumie's job - Mimi will have nothing to do with me at mealtimes if her mother is around - but with Sumie absent, I guess Mimi decided I'd do in a pinch. 

After taking down some of my eggs and covering half my English muffin with slobber, Mimi decided it was time to explore the sidewalk around our table.  She was quick to make friends, even though she looked a bit intimidating with her bottle.

We crossed the Golden Gate back into SF around 2pm and Mimi went down for a nap.  That evening, inspired by our trip across the bridge, Mimi and I decided to break out the Legos.  Mimi, as we've seen before, was still quite interested in wearing the Lego box on her head. 

This was good news for me as I was, as I often am when it comes to Lego, a man obsessed.  What is it about men that enables them to play with children's toys?  Or maybe I'm generalizing too much and it's just me.  Either way, Mimi helped me pick out the right pieces for my project and before we knew it, we had a little model of that great orange bridge (albeit not quite to scale or color). 

The evening held one more bridge for us to cross: that mystical, metaphorical, and often quite lengthy bridge from diapers to potties. 

As we already know, Mimi is a fan of her potty.  She's just not quite sure how it works. 

We made a bit of a breakthrough, though, Monday night thanks to, of all things, Mimi's occasional constipation.  Mimi will occasionally strain when it comes time to poop.  Unfortunately, the strain comes from her attempting to hold the poop in and she eventually gets a bit blocked up, which just leads to more straining and more blocking.  This was the situation Monday night. 

As Mimi was straining, I rushed her to the potty, removed her diaper and, before I knew it, was rewarded with a terrible stench.  Lifting Mimi up I discovered that she'd left a rather massive stool behind in the bottom of her potty.  Success!  We have a long way to go - Mimi still thinks her potty belongs in the living room - but it's a start.  A proud papa, I, of course, took a picture of Mimi's magnificent stool.  But, on thinking it over a bit, perhaps some things are better left unshown.

Lego. Creative Destruction.

Lego.  Is there a better toy? 

I was obsessed with it as a kid: from those initial Duplo bricks - great for making towers and race cars to throw across the room - to the "Technic" sets with their gears and motors.  On any given day, from age 2 to 12, there was a good chance you'd find me lying on the bedroom or living room floor building away.

As with any exceptional toy, Lego both challenges the mind and harms the body.  For every child who has learned to follow picture directions by playing with Lego, there is another who took a trip to the ER with a "blocked" stomach.  For every budding engineer or architect who got her first taste of independent design when the directions were inevitably been lost, there is another child who was rushed to the dentist after trying to separate two stubborn pieces with his teeth.  And for every youngster who spent an afternoon with his Lego spread across the living room floor, there are 2,647 instances of pained cursing after having stepped on a misplaced block.  This last aspect is, perhaps, the only real downside to Lego.  Children who play with it often, especially in shared spaces, are exposed to an almost unimaginable degree of muttered swearing. 

Over the weekend we bought Mimi her first set of Duplo, and she loves it.  Unfortunately, so do I.  Even with these larger blocks, I can feel the builder in me coming out.  While Mimi's happy to stick the odd block onto another, pretend one is a teacup, or make "vroom, vroom" noises pushing around a shabbily built Duplo car, I get a bit more into it. 

Mimi enjoys playing with the projects I build for her, though she's a bit impatient when it comes to the build itself.  She doesn't quite have the concept of something being "done" yet.  This makes sense as her approach to play consists almost entirely of destroying whatever she is given. 
The plane below was my fourth attempt at the type.  With each one I tried to make it both more realistic and more resistant to toddler tampering.  A vain pursuit, I knew, but a fun challenge nonetheless. 

Finishing the build to the sound of impatient cries, I delivered the plane to Mimi for inspection.  She was sitting, rather imperiously, in her toy box. 

It seemed that the plane had passed muster.  Mimi was intrigued and the plane seemed to be holding together.  This idyllic play state lasted a full twelve seconds. 

By the time I had sat back down on the couch, the tail was at the bottom of the toy box, the wings strewn across the floor, and the cockpit tossed all the way into the kitchen.  So much for my attempt at toddler-proof design. 

Honestly, I don't mind this destruction.  I'm happy for it, actually.  It just means I get to build more.  Hmm, I wonder by what age kids enjoy watching their father build 1/10 scale radio controlled 4x4s?  3 years old sounds about right to me...