man that was fun

Amazing how quickly three weeks with your children fly by. The original plan until about 5:00 on Saturday was for their mother to fly out on Sunday and fly back with them on the redeye, but, the planes were packed (such is the randomness of flying standby as a non-revenue passenger), so she called me while we were on the way back from the Arroyo Pool and asked if I could send them to ATL on the 11:50 flight yesterday morning, where, assuming they got on the flight here in Sacramento, she would meet them and take them on to BDL (the airport abbreviation for Hartford, CT). They would fly as unacccompanied minors; they'd done this before on a short flight from Savannah to Atlanta but SMF to ATL is a four hour haul (although I honestly can't see that much of a difference between a 40 minute vs. 4 hour flight other than its likely one child or the other will need to go to the bathroom perhaps. Airport mugshot...)

Both of them  have already flown multiples of the times that I've flown in my life going places with their mother (mostly to Savannah) so they are very experienced travelers and know how to behave on an airplane (as well as in an airport). This, however, would be my first time placing the children unaccompanied on the plane by me, and I was very nervous about it... not actually them getting on the plane - I mean, hey, once they're on, the plane buttons up, and flies off, they're not going anywhere LOL but still, I'm their Dad, and I worry about what I can't control when I'm not with them.

I must say the Delta counter staff at the main counter and at the gate made it all very easy. Probably what was making me jumpier during the wait - to see if they would actually get on, and they don't know if they'll actually get seats until about 20 minutes before the flight's scheduled leave time - was having my iPhone 4 (yes, I jumped off the cliff with millions of other lemmings, and I *like* my iPhone very very much) go off about every four to five minutes with updates from the Ex on the seat status. Now, the actual calls aren't the issue so much but in my own twisted sense of humor I used the "Alarm" sound for her cell number and that damn sound will make you jump out of your seat sometimes.

After being a Bad American Parent and feeding them Burger King (hey, they're on vacation, they love Burger King, and they really don't go out to eat that often at home), we killed some time by walking down to the opposite end of Terminal A - where Southwest has its gates - in the 3+ years I've lived here, I've never been to that part of Terminal A, and just as we get to the end, the phone goes off, and Meredith says in a dramatic voice "Mom!" I about dropped the phone laughing, but it was her announcing that they were on the standby list and would get their seat passes.

(As you can see in the picture above and the one below, Meredith got both of her pairs of glasses on Thursday and has been a good girl and not complained too much about having to wear them... except this morning she apparently forgot to put them on when she got out of bed and they were out and about doing errands (I talked to them around lunchtime today). I reminded her and The Ex that if you don't want her to have that wandering eye become permanent, she needs to keep the glasses on. Also, don't you think the above picture makes excellent blackmail material for when Davis is a teen (and I think he's started puberty; he's got a few zits now and its time for the loofah and the Phisoderm, I guess) - "Look, Davis made bead necklaces!").

Gave 'em a big hug good bye at the gate, and I wasn't nearly as teary-eyed as I was last summer seeing them off. Perhaps not seeing them in their mother's clutches helped LOL - but they're so much more grown up than last year. I don't see any reason in future trips for her to accompany them beyond the connecting airport to bring them out.

dorky-ness 101

So... Meredith will start wearing glasses once the ordered pairs from Costco arrive. Yesterday, I took her for her first eye appointment ever, to see the pediatric ophthalmologist at UC-Davis. She's had intermittent exotropia for some time - otherwise known as wandering eye - and The Blonde was able to convince them to work her in for us on short notice, thus using up a huge number of favors in the process (perhaps a trip to Hawaii will assuage the pain of using up all of those favors).

She was a little intimidated about going to the eye MD as she's already spent far too much in the dentist's chair for a kid, but hey, I don't go to the dentist that often and I don't like having people I'm paying and sort of knowing after a few visits sticking their fingers in my mouth either, so I can't say as I blame her, but I noted this would be completely painless except for a brief sting when they put in the dilation drops.

I was very impressed with the efficiency of the ophthalmology eye clinic and we were in and out a lot faster for a work-in appointment than I thought we'd be... arrived about 8:30 for the 8:45, and with drops and all were out by 10:30. The good news is her eyes are healthy, she has great 3-D depth perception and color, and the doc thinks her exotropic has a good chance of going away because... she's mildly myopic (I'm a -12 in both eyes, her mom is -4 to -5, I don't know Sarah's script, Davis is a -1.25L -2.50R) - which is no big surprise, 75% of children born to parents who are both myopic will need glasses - and glasses help in many cases with curing exotropia in children.

So, off to Costco we went for lunchtime pizza and looking at frames, and we picked up two radically different styles and got each in Transitions lenses so she won't need prescription sunglasses when she's outside (I'm a very firm believer in either UV protection for the eyes or polarized sunglasses when you're out In The Light). Pictures are on my FB page. With any luck, the glasses will be in before they leave on the 25th; I've had good luck with Costco filling an order within 7 calendar days. (and no, I'm  not being paid to pimp for Costco).

Anyway, my daughter and I have always been very close "clicking" with each other, which is to say she probably has me totally conned, and we take turns attempting to talk the others' legs off, so we sat and chatted in the exam room and out in the clinic while waiting for the drops to take effect. After the initial exams by the nurse, the MD, and a ophthalmology resident who did the RX, she was moaning "I don't want to be a dork like Davis, he looks so dorky in his glasses." Now this is the part I *love* about being a parent, I really enjoy taking my kids to the doc - even when they're sick or when its something oogy like a shot being part of a general checkup, and I feel like its my job to make sure that they feel comfortable and realize that whatever the outcome of the visit that its just all part of life to be taken in stride.

"Meredith, you're a smart girl, you're cute, you're going to look just fine in glasses, and seeing well is very important. You'll understand what I mean after you put on your new glasses for the first time (her script was -2 in each eye - very mild, but she really blew the reading lines tests up before they got the machine on her face), you'll say "I can see!"".

She still pouted a bit, but then brightened up when I asked her the question "wasn't your brother a dork *before* he got glasses a year ago?" and agreed with the question. "They just *add* to his dorkiness." I noted that was fine, but that she no longer could tease him about being a dork solely on the basis of his glasses as she would soon be a wearer of them as well (she teases him mercilessly; she's incredibly lucky he's so mild natured, because most brothers who weigh 80 pounds - he's 2x as heavy as she is and a head taller, as well as 2 years older - would regular pound the owlsnot out of a mouthy younger sister - he just giggles and laughs at the teasing. Its a good thing, I think).

"I mean, Meredith, I wear *seriously* thick coke bottle lenses when I'm not wearing my glasses. Am I a dork?"

"No dad, you're cool... and you're even cooler because you play guitar (now I just love hearing this and what's even better she frequently comments on this part of my coolness in this area) and you play it SO fast!"

(I have to be careful when practicing with her not to show off too much as she's unfortunately also a perfectionist like her old man. This means she gets frustrated quickly; I try to be supportive by noting the positive things she is doing - which is a lot - and that she's youngest player in her class, by far, and yet is not the poorest player. I've been helping her learn to read music and understand where the notes are on the guitar using the book required for her summer school guitar class. I whip out the hollowbody and play the notes and sing the pitches and names while playing the notes, and also count loudly 1 2 3 4. Apparently that's sinking in somewhat, as last night, after she fell asleep, she started almost shouting in her sleep "1 2 3 4!" I forgot to ask her this morning if she remembers any dreams from last night involving shouting time counts LOL).

Tonight, I'm going to take them to Oshima for the 3rd Thursday jam (could take them next week as The 3rd Floor Jazz Club also is playing the 4th Thursday this month), the jam starts much earlier than Cap Garage so I can have them back home at a reasonable enough hour I won't have to drag them out of bed bitching and moaning about not wanting to go to summer school. Might have Meredith take her guitar to show it to Nayhum and Joel (if he's there). I know both of those guys will be *so* charmed by her cuteness she might get an impromptu lesson/pointer or two (Nayhum, in particular, has the air about him that I think he's really good at working with child musicians and he does summer jazz camps for teens around here).

Back to spectacle type stuff, when I dropped Meredith off after lunch/glasses picking at summer school (she missed her beading class, but there was plenty of time for her to enjoy some recess and catch her guitar class, which is at the end of day's class schedule. Saw Davis playing, walked up to him, and said "Dude. Meredith is going to have to wear glasses now" and he aped one of my favorite expressions and said "*Yeah* man." LOL.

We attempted high fiving each other (I deliberately missed 2x, and said "Oops, I don't think I've got my glasses on").

My little engineer-mad-scientist in the making is into paper airplanes right now. He fished a paper airplane book out of the shelves in the mini-library that's in summer school, and has been doing trial-and-error paper airplane making the last few days. He's not at the Burt Rutan level yet - in fact, most of his planes pretty much suck in term of flying anywhere (but I think this is a paper quality available to him at school and not necessarily a design issue), but he's learning many important design principles.

Moreover, he's fixing his design flaws so no matter how shitty the paper the airplane is made out of is, it flies better. He's *so* geeky and once he gets rolling on a subject, like his father, he just won't shut up (unlike Meredith, who has an opinion on everything and often will speak for Davis when you ask Davis a direct question (he just sits or stands there with a smirk on his face) and talks constantly).

I asked Davis once "Is Meredith your official spokesperson?" and before he could possibly answer she blurts "Yes I am." Last time she did this, I said:

"Meredith, what are you doing to do when Davis heads off to college your junior year in high school... I figure by then, two way video calling on the cell oughta be common, so when he needs to talk to someone, he'll just simply call you, hold up his cell by the other person's face, and you'll do all the talking, right?"

My, its been an interesting visit here at the halfway mark...

they're here...

And they growed, and so forth. The original plan was for Davis and Meredith to be here on the 3rd, but the Non-Revenue Passenger Stand-By Gods did not see fit to provide a plane to Sacramento on Saturday, so they got in - an hour late as a plane in KC was swapped out for mechanicals and an hour late getting to MSP (Minneapolis for those of you who don't know airportese), so they were about an hour late tarmac down into SMF (Sacramento since we're giving airportese lessons here... but KC = Kansas City (I'm too lazy too look up the airport designation for Kansas City right now).

I'd gotten my security pass - ironically from the same Delta counter person that I'd gotten the pass from last July (and she remembered me (that's truly scary if you think about it) - and The Blonde and I retrieved a huge, heavy (and decrepit, the ex has had that suitcase for years and its not really suitable for thrift shop donation at this point, it needs to go to the recycle bin), as she remembered me (that's truly scary if you think about it) suitcase from their luggage story area (as the luggage had gone through on the previous evening's flight), and The Blonde waited in the luggage area of Terminal A, looking extremely cute in shorts and espadrilles while I got electronically frisked and walked to A3 and awaited the flight.

They were the first off of the plane this time (one of the perks of flying non-revenue is often the empty seats are in first class, so they flew first class), and it felt great to hug my kids after having not seen them for a year. Both had grown; Meredith is not so tiny anymore although she's still tiny, Davis has grown so much that when I leaned over to hug him, my chin bumped the crown of his head. He's a stocky kid, and tall for his age, he's going to be basically a much bigger version of me when its all said and done.

While I was hugging, the Ex and her new husband (actually, the same old BF, but they hauled off and got married recently) strolled off the plane. I think we stood there all of 20 seconds; he's a hedge over 6' and didn't say anything - at least until I looked at him and said "Hi Ken, its nice to see you." She handed me an envelope with summer reading and health insurance card info in it, I said "We gotta roll. See you later!" and got the hell out of there. No sense in having any awkward moments.

Do I feel insecure or anything in not being married to her anymore? Um, no. LOL... there's just no reason to hang out. Although if The Blonde had not been waiting downstairs, and since The Ex And Her Husband were going to catch the flight back to MSP as soon as it flip flopped in 20 minutes (which is what they did), we could've grabbed a bite to eat in the terminal, but no matter. I think I would have enjoyed the awkwardness, though. I think I have a rather twisted sense of humor - or perhaps it is irony.

They've also matured a great deal in the past year (well, to be expected when you go from 7 to 8 and 9 to 10 respectively). Davis was *so* surly and whiny at times last year; this year, he's pretty sunny nearly all the time and more outgoing. He's also much more comfortable on his scooter (they brought their scooters in the suitcase) and has taught himself to ride a bike. Meredith's base personality has always been more sunny and outgoing than his; but she has adopted the surly role this year - although I'll take a surly Meredith over a surly Davis any day of the week.

We've kept the time so far pretty low key. I have them in a "fun" summer school at one of the local Catholic schools; he's taking Chess and Lego Engineering and she's taking Bead Works and Guitar. I have been very impressed with the stuff she's brought home so far; its beautiful. She has obviously inherited my Mom's artistic sense (and unfortunately, love of gaudy color, but she uses it well). Tomorrow we are going to a bead show locally (well, perhaps The Blonde and Meredith are, plus a neighbor girl - I'm been pressing Davis for some one-on-one guy time together; I think he needs it with me right now. Meredith has a tendency to monopolize Daddy at his expense). Beyond that, I really don't have the weekend planned out all that much right now...

been a while

Since I posted. My children are here! I'm just not in a writing mood at the moment, my energies are more directed at enjoying them while they're here...