« October 2006 | Main | December 2006 »
Matthew draws a circle.
Simon ask for a triangle.
Matthew draws a triangle.
Simon asks for a cookie.
Matthew draws a cookie.
Simon asks to see someone drinking.
Matthew draws a man drinking from a glass with a straw.
Simon asks to see someone eating the cookie.
Matthew draws a man eating the cookie.
Simon asks Matthew to draw a spaceship... made of cake.
We have a deal!
They have agreed to buy the house for more than we paid so the loss will only be some closing costs. Unfortunately, we will still show the house until the contracts are signed (which means all weekend).
More news as events warrant.
Simon has the new hobby of pretending his right hand is one puppet and his left hand another. He talks to each and they talk to each other and he responds and it continues. It is free entertainment for everyone in earshot. And? A large percentage of the time these conversations totally... make... sense. This is, of course, the natural progression from months of making his stuffed animals carry on lengthy conversations. Simon is a big fan of stuffed creatures - a fact which warms the hearts of his parents.
And just for today, Bonus Cuteness:
After looking at the lunch menu this morning we realized Simon would be hungry when Matthew picked him up from school (turkey on rye with chicken soup). For this very reason, Matthew took a box of graham crackers to feed to Simon during their afternoon activities (of avoiding the house during showings). Simon had never had graham crackers before and when Matthew handed him one he took one look at it and said "afikomen!"
Because the camera lives near the tub...
Demonstrating, once again, that Simon needs a haircut.
Although his fever is gone, almost a week later, Simon is still showing signs of the flu. He didn't go to school this week and spent many nights in the big bed - with a hacking cough - comforted by Mommy. Hava's worst fear - that he would vomit on the carpet just before a showing - was, thankfully, not realized. Unfortunately, he passed his flu on to Hava two days ago. Matthew remains healthy for the time being. We did the whole sha-bang for Thanksgiving with three of Hava's coworkers, Amelie, her baby sister and their parents. Matthew did all of the cooking so as not to infect the guests. Hava did a lot of lying down and YouTube watching with Simon.
A few Simonial interludes from this week:
House cleaners came over earlier in the week and while they were on the upper floor, Simon yelled up "What you doing? Wana come down and have some raisins?"
Simon carried the small dish containing Winslow's bird treat over to his cage. Along the way, Matthew explained that it was like candy for Winslow. Once they reached the cage, the "bird candy" was mysteriously missing and Simon had an uncomfortable look on his face. It didn't take much convincing before he spit out the bird treat.
One night, early in the week, Simon woke up with a high fever. He watched Charlie Brown specials (his new favorite thing) while we waited for the Tylenol to take effect. The moment it did, Simon sat up and said "Simon wants CANDY!"
Last night, in front of all of the guests, he slipped on the hardwood floor. He played it cool, got up, walked over to Daddy to be picked up and privately told him "I hurt my bum."
Saturday morning we woke up early and drove over to the Happiest Place in Chicago for a members only breakfast in the Christmas trees from around the world exhibit. After breakfast we ran around the museum visting our favorite exhibits as well as a couple of new additions. Simon was so amazingly perfect and sweet and interested the entire time so we bought him a treat which he ate while watching the Bolivian dance troop perform. That turned out to be the last thing he ate all day. We went home and Simon went to sleep. Four and a half hours later he woke up with a fever. Cuddle-Me-Simon was only awake for a short time before he went to sleep for the night. At 4 am he woke up hot and thirsty, gulping down two cups full of water in a matter of minutes and then asking to "Go downstairs and eat." When asked what he wanted to eat, Simon enthusiastically replied "Lunch!" Two bowls of cereal later, Simon went back to sleep and, several hours later, woke up cheerful but still feverish.
Today we had to be out between 11 am and 2 pm so the house could be shown occupant free. We decided to drive to the Schaumburg Mall so we could be indoors and warm and hopefully convince Simon to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. Simon had a great (but very mellow) time and ate his fill for the day before picking up some new shoes and Legos. This evening he was feverish but cheerful. Before his bath he crawled into his crib to put his stuffed friends Bob, Laa Laa, Kitty, and Monkey to sleep with a song.
The real estate market in Chicago is mighty different from that of the Bay Area. Whereas we sold our Mountain View townhouse in one week in a four-way bidding war, our realtor here once thought it might take four to five months to get a reasonable offer. Property moves slower so buyers have slower expectations. Another interesting difference is that potential buyers have to make an appointment with our realtor in order to see the place and then he is here to show them around. There are no lock box viewings in Chicago.
Our house went on the market on Tuesday and we've had much more interest than he expected. Thursday night we spent the evening hiding out in Target petting the $300 life-like pony they are trying to sell in the toy department. Last night we walked over to Pat's for some pasta only the showings weren't quite over so, once we realized everyone was still in the house, we ran into the garage and let Simon drive the car until the coast was clear. The house has had a very positive response and some of the visitors have already scheduled second viewings for Sunday afternoon - all during nap time. Matthew says he will become a religious man if we end up with a bidding war situation - that is fairly unheard of in these parts. Hava is looking forward to celebrating the holidays this year with a religious man. Please cross your fingers.
And, for all of you who never made it out to visit, you can finally have a virtual tour!
One of the positive things about moving, in addition to the opportunity to be with friends and family more often, to have a sparkling clean house for a month and a half, and to finally realize we have WAY too much stuff, is that Matthew and Simon will be forced to take a semester or two off from school. School isn't working out so well for Simon these days. He seems happy to be there and he has clearly learned a lot - mostly Spanish, painting, and air-guitar. But we feel we are playing constant defense against his teachers reports that Simon is too aggressive and they don't have time to deal with the problems he creates. Now here is that part where we are completely honest and tell you that Simon is a really great kid. He is affectionate and playful and silly and very sweet and caring. Does he push other kids instead of asking for a turn or telling them that the object is his toy? Yes. And what do we expect the teachers to do about it? Walk him over to the corner, tell him that he is in a time out because pushing isn't nice, wait two minutes, then take him over to the offended child and ask him to apologize. Does this work? YES. Does making him eat lunch alone or asking him to show you his "nice hands" work? CLEARLY NOT. So we have come to an impasse. If Matthew didn't need to prepare for work we might just take Simon out of school all together. If they would give us our money back so we could hire a sitter for the next month, we'd try that too.
Yesterday both of us visited his school and observed his behavior with his teachers and with the other kids. We stopped him from pushing four times in one hour and observed how there is just too much going on for his teachers to notice any problems before they start. We watched Simon irritate his teachers by getting up after a couple of songs and dancing in the circle while most of the other children continued to sit around the circle to sing. We watched as they tried to get 14 or so two year olds in a line and how, after a few minutes of waiting, Simon became bored and ran off to play. We watched as he repeatedly asked for water from one teacher and she was too distracted to notice his quiet request for "water please."
We know there is nothing wrong with Simon's behavior that a little more attention wouldn't cure. So we won't be putting him in pre school right away once we return to Mountain View, and when we do, we'll find a school that understands that HE IS A TODDLER and should be encouraged to run and play and dance and sing - even when it isn't convenient.
It has been a busy weekend.
1. We have found an apartment in Mountain View (on Shoreline near downtown) and are working on making it ours for at least six months.
2. Our closets are clean, the stuff that we deemed not so attractive has been moved to storage, some furniture has been rearranged and the house looks AMAZING (if we do say so ourselves). It is simply too bad we hadn't thought of the storage option earlier; we will definitely consider it in the future.
3. Our realtor was impressed with our handywork when he came over to take pictures this afternoon. He plans to list the house tonight or tomorrow morning. Professional photography will be taken early in the week just after the carpets are cleaned.
4. The movers are scheduled to arrive on December 21 to pack and December 22 to load.
5. Amelie and her baby sister Laura came over to play and much fun was had.
It seems we've done more than our fair share of complaining lately so we thought we'd take just a moment to report how sweet and silly and loving Simon has been this week. He was cheerful from morning to evening two days in a row even when he didn't nap. He called out "I love you, Daddy!" while dancing to music that wasn't his choice. He ate all three meals we put in front of him today - none of which contained pasta. And, to top it off, tonight SIMON DEMANDED TO PEE IN THE TOILET AND HE REALLY REALLY HAD TO GO.
Hooray.
More later. Right now? We're going to celebrate with sleep.
Swaddling can still be nice when you're not feeling so well.
Lala eats almost every meal with us these days. At this meal, Simon told her to eat her "broccodi."
Thank you for all your email, calls, and comments. It is nice to know we are welcome back in the Bay. We are both seriously behind on responding because this has been a very busy couple of weeks. Completely unrelated to the move, we are both working nearly from the moment Simon hits the pillow until we absolutely must turn in ourselves. And Simon has been *cough* difficult for the past week or so. That night, when we said he was going to stay in his crib until 7 am? That lasted about two hours until it became clear something was wrong. We got him out of bed and he wouldn't stop crying. Fortunately, he cupped his hand over his mouth where his new molar is located and cried "CHELLIES!" After consuming an entire bowl of frozen cherries and some Tylenol he went to sleep again -- until the Tylenol wore off, five hours later.
The next night was much of the same and the one after that. There was no napping last week and when Simon doesn't nap and he is in pain and he is hungry he gets aggressive. Aggressive Simon isn't welcome at school. That left aggressive non sleeping hungry Simon with Matthew who had other pressing plans for his week that had to be postponed so he could comfort the cranky boy. The past four days and the past two nights, Simon has been getting a bit better. He again naps for four hour stretches and sleeps through the night without needing comfort. We've also shut off the Tylenol drip - although that may be a bit premature. The final corner of the final tooth still isn't in and he remains a bit cranky. He did go to school today and only got into one fight (only).
Getting the house on the market and orchestrating this move is a minor blip on the Kagle stress ratio which has already hit an all-time high. We and Realtor Rick hope to have the house ready to show starting next week. And, fortunately, we know some really great movers and Matthew and the Fee Fadders already have a route picked out. It almost seems like we've done this before. Hava and Simon adjusted their round-trip holiday flight to make it one way without Matthew and we are starting to virtually look at two and three bedroom quiet apartments/townhouses/houses with short leases near the light rail in Mountain View or Sunnyvale (because we're down to one car and Moto is on the line). If you know of anything, please send us a note.
It seems, though, that we may be giving Chicago a bad rap. And since Chicago is a great place, we've compiled a list of things we will definitely miss...
fun indoor playrooms for not-so-nice days
the museum of science and industry
the L
finally being able to see April and Jay on a semi-regular basis
architecture, everywhere
Lakeshore Drive
Amelie and her parents and her baby sister
space and a view
weather
Millennium Park
Language Stars
the very nice people who keep Matthew and Simon filled with cookies
Hey, guess what, it’s my thirty-third birthday. And being that it is my thirty-third birthday, I get to write in first person AND I get to write about anything I want. Let’s see, first how about a story:
Once upon a time there was an incredibly handsome, downright dashing, young man with an adventurous spirit who made his way to California via Wisconsin, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts from Illinois. We shall call him Matthew. Matthew enjoyed living in other locations but he said he liked the Bay Area the best – because of the food. After several years in California, Matthew met Hava who had only had an adventure out of California once – for a month. Hava wanted to see the world. She wanted an exciting career. She even wanted to be cold. So when Hava’s company started to take a nose dive, she began to talk of new fangled places far away. This talk sparked the adventurous spirit of our hero, Matthew. One year ago today, Hava and Matthew and their wee Simon took the first step - a plunge into the unknown that was big city life in Chicago (also known as a job interview).
So, in addition to it being my birthday, it is our Chicago-plunge anniversary (of sorts). To celebrate both, I’d like to sing you a song and it goes something like this…
When the wintry winds are blowing,
And the snow is starting in to fall,
Then my eyes turn westward,
Knowing that's the place
I love the best of all.
California, I've been blue,
Since I've been away from you,
I can't wait 'til I get going,
Even now I'm starting in to call:
California here I come,
Right back where I started from,
Where bowers of flowers bloom in the sun,
Each morning at dawning
Birdies sing an' ev'rything:
A sun-kiss'd miss said, "don't be late,"
That's why I can hardly wait,
Open up that Golden Gate,
California here I come
I’m not sorry we came here but I am happy we are leaving. Chicago is an incredibly interesting and attractive place. We’ve gone through the family guide books and covered almost everything at least once. Of course, there are a number of things I don’t like about Chicago – waiters always ask before adding avacados to meals, the grocery store produce is frighteningly bad, six way intersections need some rethinking, nearly everyone smokes, and the rain drains are, more often than not, at the highest point in a street - but the most important thing is that this isn’t home and it doesn’t even measure up as a cheap immitation. So when Moto reorganized a few groups and some new jobs went to Sunnyvale I asked to be sent back. Starting December 22, 2006, they are granting that wish (thank you Moto - everyone, go buy a phone, now).
We are both relieved to finally, officially, know our fate but there is much to be done. We will be putting this gorgeous enormous home up for sale in the next week or two and leaving before Christmas. We will most likely rent on the other end to get our bearings.
And, yes, a good portion of this can be blamed on Mike and Cindi for visiting us and causing Simon to perpetually ask “Miiiiike? Where are you? Cini? Ciiiiiniii!” Because it is just really sad.
So Happy Birthday to me. Thanks to Matthew and our families for making this possible. One day this will be funny. I promise.
Love,
Hava
Simon wasn’t able to attend the festivities at Pre School on Halloween because he was home sick. But, after terrorizing his father all day long, he was happy to walk door to door terrorizing the neighborhood with demands for candy. (Simon has been refusing to nap and eating very little and no, terrorizing isn’t too strong of a word. OK, when it comes to strangers, friends, and non-parent family members, Simon is usually adorable and sweet and cheerful so that last part about terrorizing the neighborhood isn’t actually true.) We walked for two blocks and only ran into four houses out of twenty or so actually giving out candy. Of course, once Simon understood the mission, he wanted to go up to EVERY house which left Hava explaining why not everyone plays the Halloween game over and over and over and over again. But he still ended up with more candy than he has ever owned in his life not to mention the four containers of play-doh our four year old neighbor stuffed into his plastic pumpkin. We allowed him his first peanut M&Ms from his stash and sent him off to bed early.
Because he just can’t get enough of watching his parents lose their tempers, Simon made sure to wake up extra early this morning in a very foul mood. He refused to eat any breakfast and demanded to be taken to school. Now, on our behalf, it should be mentioned that we DID consider that he might not be so good at school today but we figured he certainly wasn’t going to be good at home and we PAY them to deal with hungry sleepy Simon in a bad mood - so Matthew went ahead and dropped him off. When Matthew returned an hour later to drop off some supplies, Simon’s teachers asked Matthew to remove our dear foul tempered child from their midst.
Matthew deserves an award for getting through this day. Simon wouldn’t nap again and Matthew, desperate to get Simon out of his state of perpetual misery, spent the majority of the day doing everything possible to get Simon to sleep. Nothing worked. By the time Hava got home Simon was grabbing and throwing everything he isn’t supposed to touch and then screaming and collapsing to the ground in tears. After a dinner in which more food ended up flying through the air than went into the stomach, a few time outs, and a nice hot bath, Simon was placed into his crib where he will remain until at least 7 AM tomorrow morning. Oh yes, he will.