Super Memory and Willa Rules

Yesterday we experienced Ethan's super memory, we were looking at his place-mat that has a map of the U.S. He was asking for the names of the states, which we were supplying. When we said "Minnesota", he said "that's where Ned lives." We asked, "Ned who?" because we don't know anyone named Ned. Ethan said, "Ned and Donny." We asked, "Ned and Donny who?" He said, "with the mittens." Then it dawned on us, he was referring to the characters from a book. Turns out he was close - it's Michigan, but still.
By contrast, he has no idea what he had for lunch, who he played with during the day, or where he went - favorite answer - "I can't remember."

Willa news - apparently she rules daycare. We knew from before that when she was in the infant room, she would pretty much hang out by the door and hold out her arms to convince whoever she could to pick her up and carry her around the centre. Most evenings we would find her hanging out at the front desk with Jen OR in Chris's arms as he ported her around. Now, Willa is a cuddle-bug and apparently she doesn't like Cat, one of the floaters (by contrast, Willa loves Vera). Turns out that Cat, at least we think it was Cat, was fired. Was it because Willa didn't like her? In our Willa-centric world it seems likely. May make sense as we often find it is easiest to let her have her way - often it is a delay thing (give her her way for a few minutes then forcibly move her) - and we do give in to her more often than we did Ethan.

Puzzlemaster and Performing Artist

After successfully putting together a couple of 48 piece puzzles, Ethan declared himself the "puzzlemaster". Could Ethan be the next Will Shortz? If so, I hope he never grows a similar mustache. The Melissa & Doug's puzzles are some of the best as they are wood with good pictures. This pirate puzzle is one that Ethan has mastered, but even more impressive is a shiny under the sea puzzle which is more difficult as the shiny blues and silvers all look similar so you really have to pay attention to the shapes and the details.

Speaking of mustaches, Willa likes to draw out her "no", so it is more like "noooo". Which reminds Karri and me of Bruce from Family Guy. Check out a short clip of highlights. While she likes saying "noooo", Willa also likes to say "hi" or "hello" as everyone in Costco's return line on Sunday can attest to as she stood in the cart like a Wal-mart greeter and said "hi" and "hello" to about 50 people while we waited in line.

Pint Size Followers

This blog now has two more followers - Ethan and Willa. If any relative wants to send them a message directly, you can find their e-mail addresses in the follower section.

It's my blog, so where are the pictures of me...

While the blog is about my people - the ones I lick, get fed by, lay on, get food from, alert to trouble in the 'hood, get leftovers from, whose bed I nap on, and get treats from - I notice that there are no pictures of me. This oversight has now been corrected and my friends and fans can now rest easy.

Whew, this posting stuff is tiring, back to my nap.

AAAR, AARR, AAARR is baby seal for I love you, and I need fishcakes, and ........

As Ethan's latest obsession is to pretend to be a baby harbor seal, we speak a lot of seal in the house. Speaking (or should I say barking), seems quite simple and I would love to say we have become quite fluent in seal. The problem is that everything sounds the same in seal, which requires translation. Luckily Ethan is willing to translate for us, thereby avoiding any miscommunication about what our baby seal needs. So with that,

AAARRR, AAR, AAR, AAAAR, AR, AR -- feel free to ask Ethan for a translation, because who the hell knows what it means.

And I ran, I ran so far away.I just ran, I ran all night and day. I couldn't get away

Ah, the 80's. Who can forget the tight skinny jeans, stirrup pants, big hair, english bands, and Willa. Wait, Willa was not a product of the 80s, but I think she may have channeled the band, Flock of Seagulls. Willa woke up with this fabulous "do" a couple of days ago. Maybe the secret to this band's hair was just a good nap.

Thanks Starbucks

Starbucks is coming out with an instant coffee (you can get a free sample here). I am curious as I rarely want to go to the trouble of brewing a pot, especially at home where I am the only coffee drinker, other than Willa, who seems to love coffee (mostly the foam on lattes and the whip cream on mochas).

She also loves cocoa, especially with marshmallows; Ethan is indifferent - I think he prefers hot cider.

When is an Orange not...

Last night Willa was eating an orange and Karri was asking her what it was and saying "orange", Willa got that. Karri then asked her what color it was, her answer - "yellow".

Speaking of oranges - if you drink Tropicana orange juice, don't forget to save the codes to preserve the rainforest. If you don't want to create an account, just send me your codes.

Update - note that one of my favorite economists even wrote about this Tropicana thing: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/saving-the-rainforest-one-glass-of-orange-juice-at-a-time/

Ar, Ar, Ar, and other Seal noises...

Ethan likes to be called "baby seal," and likes to refer to me as "Daddy Seal" and Karri as "Mommy Seal". Sometimes he wants to play harbor fire seal, which means to sit on the couch and make fire engine noises. He also has three stuffed animals: Pooh, cuddly dog, and white dog. He has taken to calling them his "kids" or his "babies". We think it is super cute when he does this.

Not sure if the seals came from seeing the seals fed at Sea World or something else, but playing seal is big in our house now. There was about a week when all food had to be referred to as fish X. As in fish pancakes, fish juice, fish cereal, because that is what seals eat.

What do I do all day -

Firemen put out fires, teachers teach people, but Dad just does "stuff". Not even, "good stuff" or "important stuff", just "stuff". Thanks to Ethan I feel so valuable.

Now I know where this came from. In Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day, on the first page it asks "What does Mommy do?, What does Daddy do? What do you do? Are you a good helper?

In case you were wondering, Mommy also does "stuff". And Ethan, per Ethan, does the following, "listens, helps out, cleans up, and asks questions and comments (but only when he raises his hand)." When asked for confirmation, he also added, "no crying".

Happy and...

Ethan: sad
Willa: mad
Michael: obsessed
Karri: tired
You: ?

Valentines

Ethan got up this morning and was very concerned that he had not given his best buddy and boyfriend, Henry, a Valentine's Day Card, so we made a card. Ethan even wrote Henry's name on it and drew him a picture. Ethan gave Henry a Valentine, but it was sweet that he was so concerned about having forgotten that he made another one.

Only the strong will survive

An example of how our kids differ:
Ethan was playing with a plastic golf club, Willa decided she wanted it, so Willa grabbed it, Ethan watched her grab it, then says, "Willa stop taking it from me!", to which Willa responds by pulling it from his grasp. We then interceded by trying to switch the golf club with another one, which goes OK, until Willa drops the golf club she has and Ethan brings the one he has too close. Willa grabs the one she wants again and Ethan whines, "she's taking it again." When counseled to either stop bringing it near her or hang on to it, Ethan decides he needs a cuddle.

Pacifier transition

Yesterday, after a trip to the dentist, we decided it was time to start weaning Willa of her pacifier (her binky), which she loves. New rule is no binky unless she is in the crib. She can still have lovey and blankie (the rest of her triumvirate of comfort). Last night it went well when Karri put her to sleep, we'll see how it goes. We are a little worried, but figure this will give her about two months until binky is gone altogether.

Falling out of bed

Last night Ethan fell out of bed - not sure how it happened. Karri and I were in the living room talking about how good the transition to no bedrails had been, when we heard a thump and crying. I went up and he was climbing back in to bed. I gave him a quick cuddle and a kiss and tucked him back in. This morning Ethan claimed he slept well, but that his covers had slid off the bed - no recollection of falling. Guess he was OK.

What We're Reading

Willa:

1. If I Were a Lion
2. My Oh My - A Butterfly
3. Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in A Ball
4. Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct
5. Knuffle Bunny

Ethan

1. Tacky and The Emperor
2. Great Day for Up
3. Oh Say Can You Say - A Dinosaur
4. Superhero ABC
5. Curious George

Saving For College

My current concern: saving for college. How do you know how much you will need when they are about to start? How much do you need to put away now? And, assuming you have chosen to use a 529 Plan, what is the best investment choice within a plan?

1. For Ethan assuming (a) private college, which is currently averaging (per the College Board) $37,390 in total and (b) that he will be entering in approximately 14 years? $369,809
2. Assuming tuition and your investment grow at the same rate and that you have $0 saved today, you need to start saving $1,137 per month. Now my question is - where do we find $1,100 per kid per month in our budget? Yikes.
3. Better choose stocks, or something moderately aggressive up until age 15 otherwise no chance of matching the expected 6-7% per year rise in tuition costs. However, once close to entrance, need to go conservative to ensure you don't lose too much of the amount saved.

If you want to run the numbers for yourself or for your kids - here is my favorite site: http://www.savingforcollege.com/college-savings-calculator/

Without this site, I did a "back of the envelope" calculation, and made this determination:

2008-2009 Williams tuition plus fees and expenses (I think including room and board) $37,640 or Whitman $35,192. Average = $36,416
For 4 years = $145,664, which we assume is what we need today to put away to meet future cost, so it can grow and keep pace with rising tuition costs (which have outstripped inflation and CPI and avg returns recently).

My numbers were close since a PV of $369,809 at 6.5% in 14 years = $153,138; so this checks out and looks reasonable - either way you approach the question.

RESULT: Hope for financial aid as our savings are not going to cover the full costs.

Dinner

Anyone else have trouble putting food on the table each night. With two kids we never know what will be a hit AND we always seem to be pressed to get the food on the table in a timely manner (before 6:15).
Most nights we either try to cook a staple (spaghetti, mac 'n cheese, quesadillas, tacos, homemade pizza), take out from Ken's Market (roasted turkey or meatloaf, plus carrots and mashed potatoes), or cook something new from Cooking Light. But it seems like at about 5:30 each night, Karri and I are on the phone trying to figure things out. Any suggestions would be welcome.
I guess if we had a nanny, we could always have this problem solved, but that is not in our budget. How did our parents do it? My guess is that most moms didn't work, which allowed them to be primarily responsible for all things dinner-related (plan, shop, prep, cook, and clean-up).
When we do get food on the table, it seems like at least one kid has an issue - Willa staying focused long enough to eat, Ethan actually being hungry, Willa pounding silverware on the table, Ethan liking what we are serving (despite the fact that he either requested it or that he like it last week), Willa enjoying watching herself spit bites out or dribble her drink out of her mouth, or Ethan wanting to pretend to be a seal.

Only sure bet seems to be Tutta Bella (salad, pizza, gelato).

For the record: I love my crockpot, but it is hard to find something easy (so it can be prepped in the morning and we still make it out the door) AND good. And, I can only eat the leftovers so many times, so would be nice to find recipes that are not designed for 6 adults. If you know of any, let me know.

A new follower

Today we explained to my Dad how to follow - it is good that he is for three reasons - now I am up to 5 followers, I don't have to start every call with "have you read my blog", and it is supposed to be good for older people to learn to do new tech things (keeps their minds young). It was not easy, but I think he is now an official "follower".

Photos & Improvements

My next goal on this blog is to actually include photos with the text, as I am told (by Karri) that photos would help make it better. That being said, I welcome any suggestions to make this blog worth reading.

Weekend Update

Another fun weekend - we did soccer on Saturday morning followed by a trip to REI (to play on the jungle gym). Ethan went across the balance beam in the climbing tower by himself two or three times. Big deal for him as he gets a little tentative when doing stuff like that.

Saturday dinner included beets, which both Ethan and Willa love. My parents would be aghast, but I think they should give beets a try. Not pickled though, I still think those are foul.

Sunday we went and hung out with AJ, Marcela, Micah, and Kaia at Pt. Defiance Zoo. It was surprisingly cold, but we all had a good time. I think I carried Willa about 60% of the time. We saw a fruit bat, feeding otters (bot sea and sharp-clawed), feeding of the sharks (dogfish), polar bears playing, and beluga whales. Willa did not like the Walruses.

When we got home, Willa saw the backpack in the living room and demanded to go out in it. As you may know, no one says no to Willa, so I took her for a backpack ride to Ken's. Daphne came too. Ethan and Karri stayed home to make peanut butter bars, but apparently Ethan left that to Karri and watched a show about deer from PBS.

I played soccer on Sunday evening after the kids went to sleep. I am definitely a step slower than I once was, but we won and I had a goal and a couple assists.

Kindergarten (more parental craziness)

As you may have read - Karri and I are thinking about school for Ethan (and hence Willa). Ethan will enter kindergarten in fall 2010, so this isn't a hot issue for us yet. But we figured if we liked a nearby public school, then we wouldn't have to consider testing and private schools.

I just finished Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers (thanks Kevin) and the penultimate chapter was on schools/education. It focused on a couple things including the KIPP program. The KIPP program has a longer school day (8 vs. 6 hours) and a longer school week (1/2 day on Saturday). Coupled with the analysis in his article Most Likely To Succeed, I think that the two main things we should be looking at are: number of hours per day of subject matter teaching AND the quality of the teachers employed.

My concerns are how to tell if the teachers will be any good and the state of the public schools' budgets. We'd appreciate any feedback on determining the quality of the teachers. On the budget side, we have already seen proposals to cut school days to cut expenses. I am concerned that what seem like short term budget solutions will lead to long term problems in my kids' schools and education.

No one is asking me, but wouldn't it make sense to have school run from 8:30 until 5:30, rather than 9 until 3, and in those 3 extra hours be able to commit more time to core subjects like math & science (which Americans seem to struggle at compared to the rest of the world), extra-curriculars (debate, Math Team), and enrichment activities (art & music). I bet that most parents would fork over $1,000 per month per kid for this sort of change to their local public school. Might even pay more as it would end the need for most after-school care.

Good night kissing

Things that can be a little disturbing - when you go to kiss your son good night and he open mouth (French) kisses you. Karri got that from Ethan last night. We think Ethan saw me kiss Karri and thought that was the way to go.

This is for you Diane

Shower: 8 minutes
Lunch: Split two noodle dishes with my friend Cyndi at a Vietnamese place up on Pill Hill.

Other than a minor shoe crisis (by Ethan, not me), nothing else is happening.

Oh, and Ethan and Willa decided that they didn't want to be your favorite, so we voted (secret ballot of course), I won.

Haircuts & Pizza

Last night we did haircuts and pizza. Haircuts at Lil Klippers http://www.lilklippers.com/). Unlike the other main kids haircut place, you don't have to walk through a toy store to get the kids' haircut. And it is conveniently located near the best cupcakes (http://www.trophycupcakes.com/) (try the S'more cupcake) in town and is close one of our favorite dinner spots. Tutta Bella is probably our number one restaurant with the kids. Tutta Bella (http://www.tuttabellapizza.com/) really understands parents with kids - they are fast, have wiki stix to play with, the food is good, and the prices are reasonable. As a parent, you don't feel like you are compromising your eating to find a place the kids will eat at.

Soccer went well

For all my loyal followers (OK my 2 loyal followers), Ethan and Willa both seemed to love Lil' Kickers. We're going to try and be regulars - 9 am on Saturday should work well. Nice thing is that it is a Pay-Go system, so if we have a play date, a trip to grandparents, or something else, then it is not an issue. Maybe next time we'll get pictures, although that seems a bit much.

Big Boy Bed - no rails & Movie

Ethan slept in his big boy bed without rails for the first time last night. No whammies. We were a little nervous he might end up on the floor, but he slept through the night and was in his bed in the morning.

Also, Ethan watched Ratatouille over the weekend - three 25 minute sessions over a weekend works well, 2 while Willa naps and 1 with Willa and popcorn.