Morning Ritual, Jan 2007

Having started this blog with a description of the everyday routine here in 4boyhouse, I thought it might be good to update it from time to time. To wit:

3:37 AM
Woke up, looked at clock. It's still too early. Back to sleep.

4:24 AM
Ok, that's better, but my wife is awake. I'll stay here. Back to sleep.

5:15 AM
I'm awake, she's asleep, it's after 4, so I can get up. Read Bible (John 14 this morning), pray, and go check on my WoW auctions.

6:00 AM
Server goes down for weekly maintenance, so I read my daily comics and blogs.

6:20 AM
Bored, and my book is upstairs.

6:22 AM
I switch my USB hub from my PC to my Mac, since that's where all the peripherals go anyway.

Load my iPod with lectures for this afternoon's walk, and discover two weeks worth of Hugh Hewitt podcasts. So I listen to all the Lileks and Steyn interviews, plus a Victor Davis Hanson one that I missed. Excellent.

7:00 AM
Time to wake the bigs. Timothy first (he's easiest), "Timothy, it's time to get up." A whine, a stretch, and he's out of bed.

Stephen's next, "Stephen, it's time to get up." Nothing. I remove the covers and he curls into a ball. I rub his back, talking the whole time. He opens his eyes, and I ask, "Are you getting up?" "Mm-hm," combined with nodding convinces me that he is. Besides, I can come get him.

Jonah and Sam usually sleep through all this, but today Sam woke up and stood at the top of the stairs while I got the big boys out of bed. Then Sam let me carry him downstairs.

7:04 AM
Breakfast begins with the first course: Pop Tarts. Timothy and Stephen eschew the usual Chocolate Fudge in favor of the weekly special of Hot Fudge Sundae. In a rare move, Jonah also bypasses his favorite Smores Pop Tart for the Publix brand Cinnamon Sugar. It is quite possibly the grossest thing I have ever seen, being two slightly different shades of light brown. Jonah, also taken back by its appearance, asks for it to be heated. It doesn't help.

After the Pop Tart course comes the second course: Anything But Pop Tarts. This is the wild-card portion of Breakfast, and can include anything from oatmeal to nothing. Usually it's cereal, as it is today, which makes me glad that I went to the grocery store yesterday and replenished our Corn Bran. The "yellow cereal," as Sam puts it, is an odd favorite here, and has the double benefit of being Not Horrible For You as well as cheap.

After 3 minutes in discussion with Sam, we settle on yellow cereal in a bowl, which is exactly what he's had every morning for the past few weeks. Still, the play's the thing, so I thank him for his efforts in the decision-making process, pour the cereal in the bowl, and put it in front of him.

He sees what Jonah has and decides he'd rather have the tan-on-tan knockoff. Also heated. (It must be noted here that the boys generally eat their Pop Tarts untoasted, for reasons that are unknown to me).

Everyone gets hot chocolate this morning, instead of the usual juice, juice, chocolate milk, chocolate milk. Also unusually, I get to stir.

7:20 AM
Send the big two to get dressed, their cups of cereal still half-full (they eat the "blue cereal:" Quaker Oat-something-or-other Squares). Wife descends the staircase.

7:27 AM
Go upstairs to check on bigs and get clothes for Sam, ascending to the celebratory whirring of electric toothbrushes (thanks Mom & Dad!). I get Sam's clothes, and as I pass Timothy and Stephen's room I notice Stephen playing with his LEGO's. This is discussed, quietly and calmly, and an agreement is reached wherein he does not play with LEGO's in the morning until fully ready for school and I will not throw them all away.

I dress Sam while he watches Clifford (who's the new voice?), which is a difficult thing to do since I forgot to sit with my back to the TV and so he keeps throwing his head back and around to see that the big red dog is up to.

7:36
General chaos ensues, and details are unclear. Lunches are packed (not by me), straggling children are scolded (usually by me), questions answered, papers signed, backpacks and jackets searched for and found.

7:49
I pour myself a bowl of cereal: granola (yay) with raisins (ew) and milk (a risky gamble). Before I take the first bite, I am engaged with putting children 1, 2, and 4 into the car. Number 3 goes to a different school, and will be spending the next hour basically with the entire house to himself. It's Jonahland writ large, and he spends the majority of his time watching the new Bionicle commercial (they call it a "short movie") on the computer.

7:58
In my office, I power up my computer and get ready for the day.

8:25
Having returned emails, I go check on Jonah and remind him to put his shoes on.

8:36
Jonah comes up to my office to ask me to read him the name of his Rakshi. He still does not have shoes on, a fact of which I remind him, gently.

8:40
I come down from my office to do a final check on Jonah. Socks & shoes? Check. Jacket? Check. Backpack? Check.

We sit on the stairs and make funny faces at each other. Then he shows me the new Bionicle commercial. Then we discuss a game that he and his best friend Justin are playing wherein they are going to grow up and own a factory together. It's a long running game (dream? career goal?), and it has an acronym that I can't remember. This is serious stuff. Jonah wants a store as well, but Justin doesn't. So Justin says that he'll be okay with a store if they can have a fair. As told by Jonah, this seems to be a point of agreement, although the alliance is still fragile. Time will tell.

We make more faces at each other.

8:55
Jonah is gone to school, and the house is mine. I celebrate by drinking no Coke whatsoever.

Chili

We've been entertaining a lot recently. Why? Because we're sick, of course. Nothing attracts invitations and calls, from family and friends alike, like the sleepless cough of a spouse or the oozing eye of a child.

To make things easier, we've had chili. But not just any old chili; we've had what I call German Chili. Why's that? Because the lady who taught it to me was German, silly person. And it has corn in it.

Apparently Germans think of corn as the quintessential American ingredient, like we associate tomatoes with Italian food, peanuts with Thai, or cumin with Mexican. How do I know? Well, a friend of mine went to Germany a while back (okay, like 10 years ago) and the Pizza Hut there had an American Pizza that featured corn. And a German friend is the only person I've ever seen put corn in chili.

Is there a hole in my logic? Yes. Moving on.

As crazy as it sounds, people like this chili. In fact, they ask for the recipe, hence this blog, despite the fact that TBC came out yesterday (my server is down, FYI). So, as long as I'm writing this up, I may as well post it here for both of you who still read this thing.

I'll post the basic recipe first, in all its Teutonic glory, and then I'll add a little something about variations.

German Chili
1 medium Onion
1lb Ground Beef
1 can Corn
1 can Red Beans
1 can Chili Beans
1 can diced or crushed Tomatoes

Brown the onion in a little oil. Brown the beef. Add all 4 cans and cook for about 15 minutes over medium-low heat.

Serves 4-6.

That's it. Very easy. The spices from the beans work in, and cooking longer over low heat blends everything nicely. This goes really well with cornbread or muffins, in spite of the obvious double-dipping into the Maize family.

And so, since I like to mess around with my food, I've come up with some variations.

• More beef - sure, why not.
• 2 cans of tomatoes - makes it more chili-like, in my opinion. Also, an increase in tomato content is an increase in the likelihood that Jonah will eat it.
• Spices: 1/4 tsp of each of the following: chili powder, chili flakes, cayenne, paprika (for color), and cumin- this makes the above recipe kind of hot. As in none-of-my-kids-will-eat-it hot. Add more or less to your taste.
• Sugar - I don't, but have at it if you like your chili more Hormel than "my nose is running"
  

Enjoy. More recipes as events warrant.

Bronchitis

The verdict is in, folks, and I have Bronchitis.

Yes, I actually went to the doctor this past Saturday, which makes for twice in less than 30 days. I don't think I've been to the doctor twice in a year since I got to middle school. A year in which I don't go to the doctor at all is a good year, and now I've already blown it for 2007.

And so, after taking the boys to Toys 'R Us Saturday morning to get the new Bionicles (LEGO released the new bad guys ONE WEEK before Christmas; I'm still composing my scathing letter to them), and after heading over to Target to pick up the Flovent & Albuterol refills that we so desperately need, I grabbed a book and headed over to my local doc in a box.

Not bad. Only one person in the waiting room when I got there. So I only waited 45 minutes, but I had a good book (Post Captain, by Patrick O'Brian) and I got to turn down the TV to reasonable levels. So it ws like a little mini-vacation.

Then it was my turn. The doctor asked a bunch of questions, listened to me breathe a bit, listened and said that I had Bronchitis. Perhaps Pneumonia, and he could order a chest x-ray if I wanted one, but the prescription would be the same.

I said thanks, that I would keep the Bronchitis and leave whatever was behind curtain #2. And that was it. Zithromax, 5 days, and lots of rest.

So I'm finally getting to read those books I got for Christmas, which makes me very happy.

Changes

The Seismic Sam Shift continues.

Everybody changes, right? Subtle differences, here and there, although Stephen is pretty much the same Stephen as 4 years ago. He has different capabilities, different surface desires, but his core reactions and drives are the same. Timothy too.

Jonah changed the most, and the most rapidly. From birth to 18 months he was smiley, happy, huggy; he was the easiest baby we ever had. Then, one day, he became Jonah.

Sam, on the other hand, was the hardest baby we had. He cried pretty much constantly as a baby, unless he was being held by my wife. Even if he held her, he would sometimes cry, only to cry louder if she put him down. All boys are Mama's Boys; but Sam was an Only Mama's Boy.

Then, at about 2 years, he began to change. He started to laugh, to play, to walk around and see and do things. But not when my wife was around. If she was in the house, he was attached to her leg. Just like old times.

So for the past year or more I've gotten to know a Sam that his mother has never seen. He would go with me to the grocery store (every time) and we would have a blast. Publix would have french bread samples, and we'd get one as soon as we entered the store. Because he eats so slow, he'd still be working on that little, inch-thick round of bread halfway across the store. We'd laugh, he'd help pick out food. He still wouldn't smile at or speak to any other person, but Sam and I would have a good time.

Then we'd get home to Mommy, and he'd be on her leg again, crying.

But now he's starting to change. He still whines when she's around, and he still climbs up on her while she's reading on the couch. But he plays up there a lot. And it seems that once he's established that she's going to stay there, he'll go roam around the house and play.

So her Sam is slowly becoming my Sam. Kids are bizarre, but wonderful.

Sick

Thanksgiving. Disney World. Flu. Sinus infection. Doctor's office. Amoxicillin. Recovery. Christmas. Flu. Cold. Sinus infection. New Year's. Cold/flu fusion (clu? fold?).

Happy Holidays, my fat foot.

And that's just me. Other people in the house have been sick, too.

In the week before Christmas, only my wife did not go to the doctor. At one point, 4 of us were on Amoxicillin. For the past week, all 4 boys have been on Flovent and Albuterol.

Buy stock in Motrin.