This morning, Anna and I put my mom and grandma on a plane to go back to their respective homes. When we arrived home, Anna lamented, “We have no grandmas.” Sadly true.

The week featured a trip to the zoo, some shopping, lots of cleaning, some lounging, and a lot of really good food. Every time I see my grandma, I can’t help but indulge in freshly made tortillas, eggs, bacon, and potatoes–my comfort food. Other than eggs and the occasional bacon, I rarely eat any of it anymore, but this week I was just out of control. I can’t help it.

My leave is now over, and I’ll be heading back to work on Monday. We are starting preparations for the acceleration in morning routine this change will necessitate¹. Monday is Jennifer’s day off, so it will be a dry run for us. We need to have bags packed and ready to go in advance. Morning routine will need to be executed quickly and with as little guidance as possible. I’ll be trying to get out the door as quickly as possible, leaving Jennifer with the brunt of the work, so that I can get out of work as soon as possible to pick the kids up, spend some time with them, and make dinner.

Last night, Jen and I got out to see Wedding Crashers. We both thought it was great. I have to say that I think Rachel McAdams looks a lot like Jennifer Garner, but I give the edge to Rachel. Nevertheless, it was just was what we were looking for at the time. I’d even see it again.

Also, what with date night going on, I forgot to take my Strattera, so I took it this morning. Ick. The side effects mentioned are drowsiness and nausea, and I probably would have fallen asleep if I didn’t feel so sick to my stomach. On the upside, I think I actually felt the positive effects today; I hardly felt like I was fighting to keep focus at all. I’d say I got a fair amount of stuff done. The real test comes Monday.

¹ That sentence sucked. Cut me a break, I was once a professional technical writer.

This week, my mom and grandma are in town. I am certain that I have gained at least 23 pounds this week. The refrigerator is bursting at the seams and so are my clothes. It’s rare that my family makes the trip out to California, so I am stocking up on tortillas while I have the chance.

We got a hand-me-down 12″ bicycle for Anna, which turns out to be too small for her already. The cranks are just too short, so it’s difficult for her to pedal. Today, I bought a 16″ bike, which seems to fit her well, and is without question the girliest bike ever manufactured–the Disney Princess Bike¹. The Costco edition of the bike includes white spoke covers, a bag for the front handlebars, and the deal-maker, a doll-sized “child seat.” If you know Anna, you know Bear, and I think Bear is going to be getting a lot of saddle time from now on. So far, Anna has only ridden around Costco, as I am delaying the assembly of said bike to promote a little extra good behavior.

Tara contracted a cold over the weekend, which she shared with her big sister, resulting in a couple miserable days a nights this week, especially coupled with some Grandmotherly outings we’ve made. Anna has been home all week so far, and has taken two-hour naps for the last two days. I’m pretty sure the last time that happened was… never. Tara also took a three-hour nap today, so hopefully the girls are on their way to recovery. I anticipate sending Anna to school tomorrow.

Anna has enjoyed greatly hearing impromptu stories from Grandma M. Overheard this morning:

Grandma M.: Want me to tell you a story that never ends?
Anna: Yes.
Grandma M.: Want me to tell you a story that never ends?
Anna: Yes.
Grandma M.: Want me to tell you a story that never ends?
Anna: Just tell me half of it.
Grandma M.: Want me to tell you a story that never ends?
Anna: No.

I remember the first time the Grandmas came to California, Anna was 3-4 months old, and started babbling for the first time beginning with that visit. So far this trip, Grandma M. has already taught Anna how to read and tell time–at least certain words from Hop On Pop, and she knows that it’s not bedtime yet.

In other news, I have started a trial of Strattera to treat my ADD; the effects so far have been subtle, because I’m gradually ramping up the dosage over the course of several weeks, and it takes some time to build up in the bloodstream. I have noticed when I meditate that it is easier to maintain focus, so something must be going on. When I’m back at work next week I suspet that it will be easier to tell.

¹ Yes, it is a Disney bike. Made by Huffy. In China. It is an affront to nearly every principle I hold dear, but I am a sucker for my little girl.

The ever-photogenic Tara is spending a lot of time in front of the camera these days. A couple days ago, I took some pictures of Tara in the living room (which should be going out in the mail sometime soon), including this adorable au naturel shot. In just about half an hour, I’m going to be taking her to a photo shoot for an advertising firm; they need baby models for a new baby product. Half of my motivation for doing so is for the possibility of seeing her face on a package in a store somewhere. The other half is curious to see how a “real professional” baby photo shoot works.

The only probably is that Tara turned up with a cold recently, and she should be napping right now but she’s not, so by the time the shoot rolls around she’s probably going to be a pretty cranky baby.

Tonight we went to see Cowboy Junkies at Humphrey’s By The Bay. It was a pretty good show, but they managed to play about a two-hour set without doing any songs from The Trinity Session, which is my favorite, and the only album Jen knows by them. Luckily their new stuff sounds mostly like their old stuff. The only thing I could have done without was the excessively long and monotonous instrumental sections, and the opening act, Keren Ann, who had a lovely voice, but had some trouble playing guitar, and desperately needed someone to set up her pedals correctly. I was surprised that the singer Margo, is a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, who I have always thought was a mealy-mouthed old goober. All of the intermission music between the opening act and the main event was Bruce Springsteen muzak.

I almost forgot that we had dinner at Umi Sushi on Shelter Island. The atmosphere left a little to be desired, but we were in a rush anyway, so everything worked out. They had a very nice sushi menu with pictures and descriptions of the 40+ different rolls they offered. We tried five or six and were not disappointed. We’d definitely go there again if it weren’t all the way down on Shelter Island. Price was very reasonable as well.

Anna and Tara are spending the night at M. & K.’s, but tonight is a school night…

We’re starting to get Tara into a more regular routine, in anticipation of starting her in day care. She will be going to M.’s, the same place that Anna went for three years. However, I anticipate that we will start her in preschool sooner than we did with Anna. Anna’s preschool takes two-year-olds and we like it a lot.

Tara’s routine has been to sleep 11-12 hours at night, and to take two 1:45 naps during the day. The bedtime ritual (when I put her down) consists of the Beatles’ song “Blackbird,” which takes about one minute to sing. That’s it. Really. I don’t know how long this will last, but we can only hope. Tara will go to M.’s a couple days this week to get adjusted. I’m sure she’ll take right to it, because she is so low maintenance, and there will be lots of other kids for her to watch.

Last night we had a nice outing as a family. We took Anna to Play It Again Sports so that Jennifer could look for a hockey helment for her. Anna decided after about 15 seconds that she had no interest in wearing a used hockey helmet. Jen had wanted to take her to hockey practice with her on Sundays, but Anna really had not shown any interest in skating. I suggested we try lower-investment sports like soccer; we already have a ball and old shoes for goal markers.

After our short shopping trip, we went to Souplantation for dinner. This was the first successful dinner outing we have had, I think, ever. Everyone was well-mannered throughout dinner, and we didn’t even have to leave early. Tara sat in a high chair and ate a jar of peas, and chewed on her toys and the table. We were surrounded by tables on all sides, and everyone was flirting with Tara; we interacted with five different tables, included the women who stopped us on the way out because she wanted to hold Tara. I knew she was cute, but jeez.

We are currently riding a terrific wave of sleep with Tara sleeping long at night, Anna going without waking us up, and getting to bed early. Jen has managed to sleep eight hours straight for the first time since before Tara was born. The whole family managed to nap together yesterday afternoon, so I’m feeling well recovered from the Saturday volleyball tournament. However, if I’ve learned anything from parenting, it’s that everything changes, probably sooner than I’d like; don’t look for me to be changing the name of the blog anytime soon.

Yesterday I played in a volleyball tournament with my Thursday night crew. We did well in pool play, but were eliminated in the first playoff round. Our team played pretty well, but the other teams were just better. After playing four games in pool play, one playoff game, and five other pickup games, I was pretty beat. I really enjoyed having a full day to myself as a break from being Mr. Mom.

Tomorrow, Jen and I are going to see Cowboy Junkies; we’ll have to figure out somewhere to go for a quick dinner beforehand, as the show starts at 7pm. Maybe a sushi bar in the OB/Point Loma/Shelter Island area.

There’s only two and a half weeks left before I go back to work. I’m not looking forward to it.

My job isn’t bad, really. There are a lot of perks to it. I’m very well suited to it. I like the people I work with. Even some of the people I work for are likeable. I have the opportunity to learn lots of new things, and the autonomy to fill the gaps I find in the manner I choose (hmmm, maybe I should change the title on my business cards from “Bitslinger Extraordinaire” to “Digital Spackle”). I have the resources I need to do the job I want to do, for the most part. It’s not bad.

However, when I go back to work, our family life is going to get a lot more hectic. No more lazy mornings getting ready for school; we’ll have two kids to drop off and pick up every day. All of the house cleaning is going to have to happen between 8-10pm and weekends. Dinners are going to have to be whatever I can get done in 45 minutes or less. The time after work will terribly hectic (dinner included) all the way up to bedtime, so I probably won’t be sleeping as well. With so much going on and so little time to appreciate it, time will seem to pass more quickly. Not good.

Between now and then, we have some fun things coming up. We’re going to see Cowboy Junkies as a belated 10th anniversary celebration. My mom & grandma are coming to visit, and we’ll probably get a night out there as well. I’m playing in a volleyball tournament this weekend with some of my crew. And there is still two and a half weeks left. In that time, I’ll have to figure out a way to make it not suck.

Tara is continuing to eat solids, having started today with green beans. She appears to like them quite well… she downed two ounces today between two feedings, and is becoming more familar with the following four-step process:

1. Open mouth.
2. Food goes in.
3. Close mouth.
4. Chew and swallow.

On occasion she proceeds directly from step 2 to step 4, blorting the contents of her mouth onto her bib or pants. Another popular mistake is to become distracted by something shiny after step 2, later to be surprised that there is something in her mouth. On the other hand, she managed to keep her hands away from the spoon and her mouth for almost the entire feeding. Previously, all would go well for the first five minutes or so, and then a face-painting contest would break out.

In other news, Anna has her friend C. over to spend the night. I have said previously that having a friend over to play is almost less work than just the one child, because they entertain each other. Apparently I was insane when I said that. Actually, it’s not quite so bad, but Anna and C. are behaving more like siblings now, so the host-and-guest manners have pretty much faded away. To top it off, there was a bathtub incident in which… well, let’s just say everyone had to get out while the water was changed. I’m going to have to bookmark this post for when Anna gets older and attempts to date…

Update: I have put together a short movie (approx 10 MB) of Tara’s first feeding. It took me a while to figure out which Metallica songs go with rice cereal…

Today was a fine day, up until about 3:30pm. It was then that I picked up Anna from school, where she was immediately upset and whining that I would not carry her 40 lbs., the 20 lb baby in a car seat, and her bucket o’ stuff, while signing her out and opening doors. This led to outright shrieking on the way home that she did not give a goodbye hug to Mrs. G. on the way out, on account of her being busy whining as she walked right by her. At home, she whined for approximately 157 years, while I demanded that she settle herself down and use her big girl voice to ask for something specific. By the time she settled down and asked to sit in my lap and read a story, the other child decided to imitate her big sister and began crying. Tara generally cries only because she is either hungry or tired, or in this case, both.

At some point I must have had them both settled down enough to start dinner, and get to a critical point in the dinner making such that both girls decided to demand attention at the same time, again. It was then that I called Jen to confirm that she would indeed be home late again. By the time she arrived I was desperately in need of someone to take both girls away while I finished dinner, so that I could get it ready in time to get it on the table, so that Anna could begin refusing to eat it and I could placate Anna rather than eating it myself, while Jen went upstairs to feed Tara until the remains of dinner were sufficiently cold.

Having not napped today, Anna continued her bad behavior while Jen put Tara down to sleep. Later, at the point at which I was almost done getting Anna ready for bed and several milliseconds after Jen left the house to go play soccer, Tara decided she was very unhappy, and cried loudly for the next 20 minutes while I bounced from one bedroom to the other. Now, at 8pm, both girls are asleep, alive, and unmaimed. Where’s my award?

We started Tara on rice cereal yesterday. She’s just short of six months old, and, like Anna, we waited until she was older because there seems to be some evidence that doing so may be linked to a lower incidence of allergies. Since Jen and I both had childhood allergies, we thought it would be worth it to wait¹. Tara was totally into it, once we settled exactly who was in control of the spoon. Today, I gave her another serving and let Anna feed her a little bit. We videotaped both feedings, and one day I may even get them posted. Lately it has been really difficult to get any computer time to fiddle with photos. You’ll just have to wait.

Before dinner, Anna was getting Tara to laugh by swooping down and tickling her, then leaning back out of view again. It was pretty funny to see them both cracking up, playing together. I hope it’s only the beginning.

Tonight we did a dry run on Anna’s “wacky hair day” do, and she liked it a lot. Initially I had no idea what I was going to do. Anna inherited Jennifer’s very fine hair, and it’s pretty difficult to manage. I really didn’t want to put any sort of gunk in her hair to hold it in some style, so I just put ten ponytails all over the place. I think it turned out sufficiently wacky–when I was done, Anna ran to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror and busted out laughing. I’ll have to remember to bring my camera to school tomorrow so I can get a pic of her with her wacky-haired friends.

Today is Tuesday, and the downstairs is still clean; this is four days in a row. There is hope.

¹ For the record, Anna currently has no known food allergies.