Uncle Roger's Notebooks of Daily Life


Saturday, March 14, 2009

A big update

It's been a long time since I've posted a real update-on-my-life post, so I'll be y'all (that is, both of you) thought you had it pretty good. Well, I'm here to tell you that your luck has run out. Brace yourself for a lengthy and long-winded treatise on what's been happening 'round these here parts. Or don't click on the "more..." link and save yourself the torture.

First off, just in case someone hasn't heard, we had another one. Now there are two boys (and one girl) to carry on the Sinasohn name. Ez, at ten months, is over 26 pounds. He's a hearty soul and eats well. He's pretty easy going, but he's desparate to be able to walk -- or, more likely, run. One of his nicknames is Sir Poops-a-lot (watch for his forthcoming single, "Baby Got Blech") because he poops often and copiously. He's also known as the Booger Man because he manages to create some doozies. We don't have to worry about him sticking a pea up his nose; the pea would get the crap beaten out of it before being tossed out on its ear by one of Ezra's boogers. In less disgusting news, the kid seems to like music a lot. He's into headbanging and bops along to whatever's playing on the radio or the ipod. Or, for that matter, in his head.

Sara, meanwhile, is quite the social butterfly with a busy schedule packed with playdates and birthday parties. She is very into the idea of being a princess these days, thanks in part, I'm sure, to Disney's ubiquitous marketing. I say ubiquitous because we've done our best to avoid the Disney Bimbos(tm) and still she wants to be one of them. On the positive side, she is still very much the Monkey Girl. We visited The Children's Museum of Northern Nevada in Carson City where they have recently installed a Treadwall climbing wall. On her first try, Sara didn't quite get it. After that, however, she took to it like she was born with climbing shoes on her feet. She's a natural. When we got home, I noticed her climbing the outside of a spiral slide, just hanging on and monkey-walking up. Move over Stallone. We need to get this girl into parkour.

While in Carson City, we also visited the Nevada State Railroad Museum, mostly for Jared. He's concluded that what he's into is transportation in general. Trains, planes, cars, you name it -- if it moves, he's into it. He's also very into school and learning. His teacher and I decided that there are two categories of knowledge -- the things Jared knows and the things Jared thinks he knows. Jared is, however, incredibly smart. He reads with a skill far beyond his age, understands complex mathematical concepts, and really thinks about deep subjects. We've talked about marriage equality a lot and recently he asked me if someone could marry two or three people. He understands that it's about love, not conforming to some standardized configuration. He's also recently ventured into the world of tonsorial arts -- he decided to trim his bangs so as to save us money on haircuts. Of course, we ended up taking him to the barber anyway to get it straightened out.

As alluded to earlier, we did take our annual trip up to the Lake Tahoe area (thanks Stan!). The kids had a great time sledding and we also visited Carson City, Reno, and Truckee. We hit the Kids' Museum and the Train Museum and found a really neat restaurant. Lots of atmosphere (which is one of the main reasons why you eat out, right?), great service (another top reason), and really good (and plentiful) food. It's Red's Old 395 Grill and they're really kid-friendly. We also stopped at the Wal-Mart there because we were still trying to find a snowsuit for Jared -- the ones we had were a little tight. In Reno, we hit Circus Circus and let the kids win some cheap (but not so cheap, really) stuffed animals by throwing ping-pong balls into floating bowls. In Truckee, we hit the Kidzone Museum on the way home. Mostly, though, we were there for the sledding and cousin Jake came along with my in-laws for his first taste of snow.

We've got a lot of other trips lined up too. In April, we're doing the 15th Annual Mendo trip; Rachel and I did the first one all those years ago. It will likely be just me, Jared, and Sara, though. Then, Jared's class is going on an overnight camping trip to Fort Funston; I'm tagging along too. After that, we're going camping with the usual suspects Memorial Day weekend (can you believe we got sites?). Then, of course, there's Calistoga in June. I'm sure we'll be taking some additional camping trips as well.

As for me, I want to start shopping some book ideas around with an eye to having a deal in place by the end of the year. (If you have an in with a publisher, let me know!) Also, we bought a minivan. Yeah, we bought a Toyota Sienna last summer. It basically sucks. I mean, after all, it's a minivan. What else would you expect?



Journal Description

My life is, to me, ripe with frequent challenges, occasional successes, spontaneous laughter, adequate tears, and enough *life* to last me a lifetime. To you, however, it surely seems most pedestrian. And therefore, I recycle the name I used previously and call this my Notebooks of Daily Life. Daily, because it's everyday in nature, ordinary. These conglomeration of events that are my life are of interest to me because I live it, perhaps mildly so to those who are touched by it, and could only be of perverse, morbid curiosity to anyone else. Yet, I offer them here nonetheless. Make of them what you will, and perhaps you can learn from my mistakes.

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