Beware of AIM Messages

Moral of the story (see below): Be wary when you get AIM message at work saying you need to come right home. Maybe it's time to invest in the webcam so I can see who I am talking to.

one two three four five six

Read the following sentence: one two three four five six.

The time it takes to read that is approximately equal to the amount of time that elapses between my saying "Pete, play with your brother for a minute while I set the table for dinner" and "hey, what is all the commotion in there?"

Sam Dance

Click on the picture to see Sam's version of the Squidley dance from Spongebob Lost in Time.

First Bubble

Click the picture to see Pete blow a bubble.

Sam's Phobias

Here are some things that Sam is afraid of:

- Roomba
- Koopa's Castle
- Remote controlled car -->
- Fire on Crash 2
- Central vacuum cleaner
- Trucks in the street
- Electric razor
- Lawn mower
- Crickets

New Toy

Like most kids, Pete and Sam have finished lunch and are playing with calculators.

Pete likes to play the game where you start with 1 and keep doing x 2 = and try to guess each number until you get up to 262144.

Bedtime Story

Here is the latest bedtime story configuration. Pete on the inside. Sam in the middle. Dad on the edge, 90% off the Edge and getting randomly punched and kicked by Sam. The current book is "Where the Sidewalk Ends". We heard a few poems from this book at a special reading event at Pete's school.

Sam usually brings an object with him to bedtime story. On some unfortunate evenings, this will be a balloon or beach ball. This makes it a difficult reading experience for everyone. Also, Sam likes to put his feet over important words in the story. So the story will end up like "The tortoise was very slow, and the hare was very foot." Or "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take Sam's feet out."

Swing Ride

Here is Pete's latest contraption, which is called Swing Ride. It actually swings around very smooth and fast. And it is pretty durable, which I know since I saw Sam running around with it and somehow it was still intact when I saw it later.

The Two Faces of Sam

I think maybe Sam is one of those people with multiple personalities. For example, the other night I came home with pizza.

Sam: Pizza! Daddy bring pizza. Me eat pizza. Look, Pete. Pizza. Let me see. Sam carry pizza. Big pizza. No touch, hot. Mommy cut it. Sit table.

Me: Sam, do you want some pizza?

Sam: No.

Nunchucks

Everybody duck! Pete has nunchucks. They let him bring home a set to practice for the demo team.

Go to a safe place and then click the photo above to see some video.

Adverse Selection

Health insurers suffer from a well-known phenomenon called adverse selection, where people who are the most likely to suffer claims are the most likely to purchase the insurance.

I think there is a similar phenomenon in parenting. This is where Pete is most likely to ask for help with something at the most difficult or desperate times. So let's suppose (hypothetically) he is building a clawing lobster. He will ask you to help with the piece that requires the most supreme amount of strength and finesse, but of course without applying too much force (which would destroy the entire infrastructure of the model). Also, it is also assumed that you are instantly familiar with the full schematics of this item that you have never seen before.

Digital Camera Game

One of Pete's favorite games is the digital camera game. You go all around the house taking close-up pictures of various objects or places. You need to include just enough detail so that the item is uniquely identifiable. Then Pete goes through each picture and tries to locate the item. It can be good exercise, if you make sure each picture is on a different floor of the house. I think Sam is almost ready to try the game. We will have to try it with him. Maybe we can do things in his room to start.

Tasty

Maybe it's just me, but the snow in Virginia seems to taste a lot better than in New Jersey. It has a certain something, maybe it is the smooth tobacco flavor in the air. Of course, Pete is lucky because he has always lived in Virginia.

Goro, Prince of Pain

Here is Pete reading his first comic book, which is Goro - Prince of Pain.

He is wearing his karate uniform. Things have been interesting at karate, as Pete was selected to participate on the demo team. He had one practice so far. Apparently they have him doing flips and various other maneuvers that are outside of the standard orange belt repertoire.

Second Snowman

We got enough snow last weekend for our second snowman of the season.


We also had a pretty good snowball fight. The only rule for snowball fight is that if you hit Sam, then you need to stand frozen for one throw by your opponent. Sam started out on dad's team, but then somehow ended up on Pete's team. I think it happened when he ran up on the sidewalk because he was afraid of the snow plow. That was when he found the opportunity to convert over to Pete's team.

Scrabble

Answer: February 5, 2006
Question: When did Pete first defeat his dad in Scrabble?

However, it should be noted:
1. Mom helped him find a place to use his Q, which just happened to be on a double letter space.
2. The use of the word "er", as part of a combination word, was questionable.

Mystery Color

Pete said we should put this picture of Sam on the blog and ask people to guess what color popsicle he was eating.

No More Cribs

Yesterday we changed Sam's crib into a bed and turned his doorknob around so we can lock it from the outside. It went pretty well, he didn't come out at all when going to sleep last night.

This morning when the alarm went off at 6:00 I said "I think I heard some shuffling a few minutes ago in the hallway. We should check on Sam." We found him in the basement playing with the Playstation.

Racquetball Handicapping

I played racquetball with Pete again on Saturday. He is getting better. One of his strengths is in the area of trash-talking.

Pete: Can you play racquetball with more than two people?
Me: Yes, there is something called doubles where four people play at the same time on two teams.
Pete: I think you and I would beat Tom and Brian.

-- about 5 minutes later, Pete stops the ball during a point --
Pete: I'm pretty sure Tom and I would beat you and Brian

-- 10 minutes after that --
Pete: Brian and I would beat you and Tom

Orange Belt

Pete passed his test and graduated to orange belt on Saturday.

During the ceremony, Mr. Moss broke a board over Pete's head.

Sam Does What Pete Does

Sam generally does exactly the things that Pete does, regardless of whether they are reasonable things to do. Sometimes this can be good, such as when Pete is going upstairs to brush his teeth.

Other times, you get a situation like the one in this video.

Me Two

Dad: Pete, be nice to your brother. He's a little bit sick.
Pete: Sam, are you sick?
Sam: No, me two.

Too Close

Sam likes to crawl into bed with people. It can be a little surprising when you're asleep and you open your eyes and see this right in front of your face.

Chat Interrupted

Sam does not know how to send Instant Messages yet (like Pete), but he is still able to impact our chats indirectly.

Below is an excerpt from a chat yesterday between mom and dad:

Crib Crisis

Sam had an emergency last night. Pete and I heard him yelling about 5 minutes after I put him to bed. I went up there to see what was the problem. We had this conversation in the darkness.

Me: Hi Sam
Sam: Daddy, mine blanket is lellow
Me: Yes, your blanket is yellow. Good night
Sam: Night night

Another crisis resolved.

Sam's First Band-Aid

Sam had an unfortunate encounter with
the footrest for the glider in his room.

He wasn't too upset, though. He wanted
to keep playing.

Here is his first adult Band-Aid.

Eric B and Rakim

Driving in the car with Pete and Sam, I took out Pete's music to put in Sam's music for a few minutes.

Pete: Hey, Sam wants to listen to Eric B and Rakim
Dad: No, he likes Children's Favorites
Sam: Eric B Rakim
Pete: See, he said Eric B and Rakim
Dad: He doesn't even know what he's saying half of the time
Pete: Well, this is one of the half where he knows

Racquetball

I took Pete to play racquetball today. It went rather well. We played for an entire hour, with no frustration. It is helpful that you can hit the ball off of any wall and it usually comes back to you. Pete's backhand is not too good yet, his better shot is "fronthand". He wanted to play again on Sunday, but we will wait until next weekend. One nice thing is that in the new house it is free for us to play any time at the Pavillion.

Now that Pete doesn't get so frustrated, maybe he is ready to try some other activities that we have given up on in previous years.

Sam Frown

We took pictures of the boys the other day in various poses. We tried to take a picture of Pete and Sam frowning. But Sam would not cooperate. He would always change his expression right before we could take the picture.

Monopoly Jr.

It is fun to play Monopoly Jr. with Pete.

We don't worry so much about who wins the game, it is more about developing the appropriate cash liquidity in each of our transactions.

Sometimes, Pete likes to get all of the 1's. So, for example, if a property costs 1 dollar, he will give you 2 5's and ask for 9 1's back. Other times, he decides that he prefers the larger denominations. So if something costs 2 dollars, he will give you 6 2's and ask for 2 5's back. Sometimes he puts in 3 or 4 consecutive transaction requests, and I find myself aggressively working to meet his demands while maintaining the integrity of the bank.

Maybe some day Pete will be a banker, or one of those guys who asks for change at the counter and they somehow end up with less money than they had before.

A Regular Picture

This is likely our first (and last) picture of Pete and Sam standing nicely and looking at the camera.

A Rival for Pete

We now have a rival for Pete.

Pictured is the future master.
He possesses a special weapon,
which are Bob the Builder
shoes that light up.

Partners in Crime

No Fair

One night we were tumbling around and Pete and Sam bumped heads.

Pete: Hey, no fair!
Me: What?
Pete: Sam bumped his head into mine, and it didn't hurt him at all.

Glue on Fingers

One night I was helping Pete with a craft project which involved gluing together some felt ornaments. When he was brushing his teeth, I was peeling some glue from my fingers. He gave me some advice which seemed to be from personal experience:

"When you peel that, if it doesn't hurt, it's glue. If it hurts, it's skin."

Chocolate Milk

Sam saw Pete enjoying a quiet mug of chocolate milk, so he decided to grab a straw and join in.

Spiderman Triple Threat

Here is Pete fighting against Green Goblin in his Spider Man Triple Threat game that he got for Christmas. It is one of those virtual games where you put on gloves and a chest plate and punch the air. Pete has defeated all of the enemies.

Sam puts on the gloves sometimes to try. But he is not very good. Which is bad for Pete, since he is usually wearing the chest plate so he gets to feel all of the damage when Sam gets hit by the enemies. But he does not seem to mind.

Sam is also happy just to read through the instruction booklet.

Magic Rocks

Pete stayed up until about 11:30 on New Year's Eve.

One of the activities we did was Magic Rocks that Pete got for Christmas from Aunt Robin. She is good at getting Pete unusual and interesting gifts.

I like the little note Pete wrote, which says "Do Not Drink".

Air and Space Museum

On Monday after Christmas, we went to the new Smithsonian Air and Space Annex which is just a few miles from our house.

This picture is from waiting in line to go up to the control tower. The tower is pretty cool - you can see planes making their final approach and landing at Dulles airport.

The line was only about 20 minutes wait, but it was right around naptime so you can see we had to pull out all the stops to keep Sam happy:

Level 1 - binky
Level 2 - sit on shoulders
Level 3 - gouge dad's eyes

Overall, Sam had a good time at the museum. His favorite things were McDonalds, elevator, and looking for our car in the parking lot from the control tower.

Skyler

This is cousin Skyler.
He is the King of entropy.
His goal in life is to quietly
sneak away, locate an ordered
system of objects, and reduce
the system to a state of disorder.

Here he is holding one of those
locks that prevents opening
a cabinet containing household
chemicals. The device apparently
works by allowing the child to
rip it off and then play with
the device instead of the chemicals.

It was fun to have Skyler visit
us for Christmas. He left behind
lots of gifts for us, in the form
of little toy people spread
randomly throughout the house.

Me

Sam developed a habit of walking up to the Christmas tree and saying "Me". Pete and I finally figured out that he could see his reflection in some of the ornaments.

Cousins

Here are Shayna, Sam, and Pete enjoying a quiet moment in the big chair. This photo must have been taken during the 30 seconds of the weekend that Pete was not playing Crash Bandicoot.

Note the Homer Santa in the background.

Pancakes

We had pancakes for brunch the day after Christmas. Here is Pete making sure the chocolate chip ones are being prepared correctly.

Note the camo outfit, which is currently Pete's favorite. He was going to wear it to school last week, until he spilled his breakfast all over it. But he got to wear it this day. Unfortunately, this was not the best choice of clothes for the Air and Space museum. He would walk three feet away and get lost in the crowd. Next time we need something bright orange with reflectors and some sort of homing device.

Merry Christmas

Christmas 2005 was quite the event, with a weekend visit from Robin, Manny, Shayna, and Skyler and then surprise appearances by Stephen, George, and Vickie on Christmas morning. We had a wonderful time opening presents and sharing Christmas dinner together as a big family.

Above is Sam playing with Pete's snap-together model of Crash Bandicoot riding his jet board. It's a little tricky to snap together, but that's ok since Sam seems content with just the box. If we ever figure out how to get the model together, we will post a picture of that too.

Mystery Eye

See if you can guess if this eye is Sam or Pete.


===================================

Answer: Pete

Computer

Pete has started to teach Sam how to use the laptop downstairs in the kitchen. Pretty soon we will reach the point where I have to ask Pete how to fix things on the computer. Then soon after that, we will all have to ask Sam. Being the youngest in the house, he will probably have the most expertise.

Also, they are wearing their new matching sweatshirts.

Food Bank

Pete went with dad and George (Poppy) on Saturday morning to volunteer at a local food bank. We gave out tons of food to dozens of families. Pete helped with re-stocking shelves (our section included rice, cereal, tuna, hamburger helper, cake mix, mac&cheese, corn muffins, condiments, and oatmeal). He also helped people pick out their allotted food and put it in the cart. Next year we will have to bone up on our Spanish first.

Pete also went with mom on Monday to give out toys, but she did not take any pictures so you will have to use your imagination on that one.

Ornaments

Here are the ornaments that Pete and dad made this year with Model Magic.

1. See if you can guess which one Pete made and which one dad made.
2. See if you can guess which one is Aku Aku and which one is Uka Uka. (If you need help, you can click here for Aku Aku or here for Uka Uka).

Drumsticks and Wishes

Above is Pete holding a red plastic drumstick and doing the closest he can to acting normal for a picture. There are different theories as to the cause of the red halo that mysteriously developed in the picture. I think it can only be a secret sign from God that Pete is the chosen one to lead the world to greater peace than it has ever known. Pete, however, seems to think it is something called "glare".

On the topic of magic wands, Pete was watching a show the other day where they were wishing for various things. I thought it would be a good opportunity for some creative interaction, but in retrospect I'm not sure Pete was in the mood for a spirited discussion.
Me: "Pete, what do you wish for?"
Pete: "I don't have any wishes."
Me: "Poof! You have three wishes. What do you wish for?"
Pete: "I wish that I have zero wishes."

Stripes

Pete has achieved an
assortment of stripes
at karate class.

I'm not sure what each
one is for, but based
on his video games, I
think one of the orange
ones is the skull crusher
and one of the black ones
is the overhead power slam.

Big Bag

I walk in the family room the other day
and Pete is eating from an enormous
bag of potato chips. Somehow I found
this to be amusing.

1. In general, I think there is an
unwritten rule that you should not
eat anything that is about the
same size that you are.

2. I said "Pete, do you want a bowl
or something?" and he said "no, I'm ok".

Jammie Day

Pete had jammie day at school on
Monday. They got to wear pajamas
to Kindergarten. I think maybe
they are studying the Babylonians,
who were also known for wearing
pajamas on Mondays (or something
like that). Unfortunately, this
option is not available at my office.

Note that Sam has decided to
participate also. Maybe this is what
Pete is annoyed about in the
picture. Actually, Sam gets a lot
of jammie days. One of his phrases
he likes to say when you are
getting him dressed is
"Nooo! Jammy all day".

Sam is 2

Sam turned 2 on December 4th. He celebrated by eating a flaming cupcake.

Snowman

This is Pete and his snowman Clyde. Pete is wearing his new hat that Christy made for him. Clyde is wearing Sam's hat.

Pete's Faces

Time to experiment with some video on the blog. If you have a high-speed connection and video player, turn up your speaker and try clicking here to see a younger Pete make some faces. If it doesn't work, you can try clicking the photo (which links to a different playback service).

Good Morning For Sam

Here is Sam enjoying his morning. He is in a comfortable spot on the floor with some milk, two puzzle pieces, and the booklet from Crash Warped on Playstation. It is a good life to be Sam.

Snow Strategy

Last night, Pete told me his strategy for making it snow:

1. Wear pajamas inside out
2. Sing "Let it Snow"
3. Put ice cubes in toilet

I guess it works, since we got about 3-4 inches last night.

Holiday Photo Shoot

We had the "bright" idea of taking an impromptu picture of the family to put on our holiday / change of address cards. Somehow, we ended up with one lucky shot where everyone was sort of looking in the direction of the camera.

The other 90 photos all look something like this: