Everything went just as planned and we are currently living under the shadow of many many boxes, eating at restaurants, and using free unreliable Google WiFi. We've seen two or three friends everyday and Simon has played outside in the warm sunshine which he now wants to do ALL THE TIME. When he gets upset (which isn't that often) he gets much more upset than usual which we expect is his reaction to the move and the stress which goes along with everything being new. He is napping well but sleeping poorly at night. Alas, his moment by moment enjoyment factor has increased exponentially. We took him to our favorite Chinese place, Cafe Yulong, and he ate two wontons from the wonton soup, six or seven fish and leek dumplings and a large amount of rice. A few days ago he happily gobbled down gnocchi with pesto from our favorite pasta place, Pasta?. If he goes back to eating Japanese and Thai food, we'll know for sure that our boy is just as particular about his ethnic cuisine as his parents.

Posted by kagledom at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Kagle men have made great progress. The movers (cell phone buddies of the Kagle men) have also made great progress. Simon and Hava? Not so much (but hey, we are only two hours away). All of the men in this story, the car, the bird, and our belongings are currently in Los Angeles! So tomorrow Hava, Joan, and Simon will come from the east, Steven, Matthew, Winslow, Mover Guy 1, Mover Guy 2, and Mover Guy 3 will come from the south, Jill will come from the west, and we will all converge upon Mountain View in the afternoon for a group hug.

Meanwhile…

This morning Simon woke up looking like he had a bad case of the chicken pox. Since he had no other symptoms and we had been warned that there was a small chance of this being a problem, Hava called his Chicago doctor to report a possible allergic reaction to the Amoxicillan he was taking for his ear infection. They insisted he needed to see a doctor right away to make sure it was a reaction. Hava had printed out a list of doctors in the area and brought them along but, apparently, you can't just call up a doctor and have them set up an appointment. Everyone recommended we visit a walk-in clinic. At 10 am Hava and Simon went to an urgent care clinic where they spent much of the afternoon with a group of people who looked very unhappy that they didn't have insurance or a regular doctor. The place was a bit sketchy and Simon wouldn't let Hava put him down (and there were no free chairs) so Hava and Simon watched Kiki's Delivery Service for the 50,000th time in the car on our new portable DVD player. After the long wait it was determined that Hava was correct; Simon is allergic to Amoxicillan. Fortunately he had taken it for long enough and his ears look great so he won't need to take anything else in its place. We're not really sure what this means - a completely penicillin-free future? I'm sure we'll find out when Simon gets a real doctor. In the mean time, Simon is fine if a little funny looking.

Posted by kagledom at 07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Our heroes, the Men of Kagle, stayed in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico last night (mostly because of the odd name) and stopped in Tucson, Arizona this afternoon where they will spend time with the Seattle Kagles and extended family.

Click here to see the updated map.

Simon has had a wonderful time playing with his relatives and being outside without winter attire. He chased cousin Sarah (age 7) around the block yesterday yelling "CALIFORNIA!" (thanks to prompting by Grammy). He also pointed out the tall palm trees like all crazy Illinoisians do when they're fresh off the plane.

His away-from-home sleeping habits have, sadly, not improved since he was an infant. WAY over-tired Simon screamed for quite a while in the middle of the night last night. His excuses for not sleeping are, however, entertaining. Before he went to bed he said he had a plant in his pajamas and it needed watering. In the middle of the night he asked for "lunch" and told Hava his belly button was cold and this morning he described how the plane was made of Legos and it went up, up, up and then it went DOWN (a nightmare?). Although he is having a very good time during the day, at night he is clearly very homesick.

The Gonzalez family arrived just before lunch to open presents and Simon was happy to rip open the wrapping and see what was inside the gifts. He was unimpressed by clothes but big smiles formed on his face when he unwrapped a Cookie Monster puppet and a new book about Curious George. After the presents were opened Simon was placed into the car seat for his obligatory drive down the freeway and into slumber land (where he remains).

Posted by kagledom at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Steven and Matthew have made it to New Mexico! Due to technical limitations (like not having a laptop), we can only link to a map of where they were the first night (first yellow mark), the second night (second yellow mark), and where they were as of 1 pm Pacific time this afternoon (red mark):

Click Here

Simon played with his young relatives yesterday afternoon and again this morning until he was exhausted. Once he was almost literally ready to drop Hava took him for a short drive until he passed out completely. When he asks, "Where's Daddy?" Hava tells him what state Daddy is currently in and he seems to accept the response as a reasonable answer.

Posted by kagledom at 03:47 PM | Permalink

When you have one move that goes so smoothly that you’re willing to move again - in the same year - it is Murphy's Law to have the next move, with the same group of movers, go so poorly that you never want to move again (just before you move into a rental knowing that you are to move again soon).

The packers were supposed to arrive on Thursday between 8 and 10 am. We waited and waited and waited. At 2 pm the schedulers called to tell us that they weren't coming. But NOT TO WORRY, they wouldn't need more than a full day and they would be at our house Friday morning between 8 and 9:30. Oh, and we would receive a gift worth $50 on the other end for our trouble. What time did the packers arrive on Friday? Noon. And they brought large gifts of mud and dog feces for the newly cleaned carpets and a large scratch for the hardwood floors. What time was it agreed that they would be done? "No later than 5 pm, these are professionals!" What time did they leave? Close to midnight. That left Matthew and Steven behind for their journey and our cleaning lady having to be sent home after her drive into the city because the messing up was still in progress. (There was also a lot of calling and trying to contact the moving agency Thursday and Friday and a lot of lying on their end and not calling back which was maddening but that doesn't make particularly interesting subject matter.)

On the other end...

After waiting in The Longest Line in Human History to check in, Hava and Simon found themselves checking in their two large bags; one weighed 49 pounds, the other 51. If a bag weighs more than 50 lbs. there is a $25 charge. Luckily we had brought a small duffle bag just in case this was a problem. So this is how Simon's ear infection medicine was separated from the rest of the luggage. What awaited us in baggage claim on the other end? Simon's ear infection medicine arrived (thank goodness) but NOTHING ELSE. So we filled out forms and went to the store with a sleepy Simon and bought a good number of supplies. There were other rough parts of the trip too -- the ticket people forgot to give Simon a boarding pass so Hava was stopped in security and had to run back through the terminal (with 33 lb. Simon) to get a pass and then run back to security and then run to the gate only they went down the wrong path and ended up in the B's instead of the A's. By the time Hava and Simon arrived at the gate, the plane was about to board. So they boarded a 4 hour flight at lunch/nap time without any lunch or drink.

Luckily, the first part of our story does have a happy ending. The plane had cans of water. Hava brought enough snacks to feed an army of miniature soldiers; Simon was very very good on the plane (although he asked the plane to "Go down now please! Go back home! Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" part way through the flight). He rubbed his neck under his ear a little but otherwise seemed to feel no pain. Simon did eventually go to sleep - at midnight Central time and only after Hava tried for three hours. Our bags did eventually get delivered to Hava's parents house in the middle of the night. And Hava got up to bring in the bags only to set off the REALLY LOUD security system and wake up everyone in the Sacramento area – everyone except Simon.

Matthew and Steven left Chicago just before midnight and stayed at a hotel outside the city limits to avoid this morning’s traffic. Today they visited with friends in Urbana, drove through St. Louis, and, at last check, were on their way to Southern Missouri or maybe even Oklahoma to spend the night.

Posted by kagledom at 05:15 PM | Permalink

Today is Simon's last day at school. Tonight his Feefadder will arrive and tomorrow morning the packers will begin the packing. Our main task over the next 24 hours is to sort out (and make obvious) what goes with Hava and Simon on the plane, what goes with Matthew and Steven and Winslow in the car, what moves with the moving van, and what stays in the house. Friday morning Hava and Simon fly out to Sacramento to spend Christmas with the Rubenson family. Friday evening the Kagle men start their journey south and then west. We hope to all regroup in Mountain View on December 27 or 28. The moving truck isn't scheduled to arrive until early January.

We'll do our best to update this site during the journey westward.

Happy Holidays,

The Chicago Kagles

Posted by kagledom at 09:44 AM | Permalink

Saturday morning Simon woke up and immediately asked "Where's da guitar?" Much of the weekend was spent with his guitar in hand. He even ate with it. We drew the line when he wanted to sleep with it.

That evening we had Motorolans, Realtor Rick, and friends over for a house cooling party (the opposite of a house warming party). Simon flirted with the attractive women and danced the night away. For the first time in his life, he slept from 8 pm on Saturday until 10 am on Sunday (and still managed a short nap).

After he woke up we took him to another one of our favorite Chicago hangouts, the Garfield Conservatory.

Later that afternoon Simon tried to fly on our broom for a few hours (he is obsessed with Kiki's Delivery Service). We celebrated the fourth night of Hanukkah and Simon opened a set of air ships. Simon and Matthew zoomed them through the air.

Later that evening, Simon's friend Amelie came over to play while we went to Polish town for "Polish Christmas Eve." It was terribly sad when he and Amelie hugged and Simon said "See you later" and Amelie repeated "See you later." Simon started to scream when Matthew left to help Amelie and Marcellina to their car and he didn't stop for several hours. He hasn't screamed or cried since that night but he has told us that his ear is still "wet" and that it hurts.

Posted by kagledom at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Simon, in fact, has a nasty little ear infection probably caused by the virus he and Hava shared recently. The ear hasn't "popped" so the pressure hasn't been released and it is still probably pretty painful (although Simon is acting totally normal today). He was given Penicillin to take for 10 days which will hopefully clear things up in a couple of days. If it doesn't clear up, we take him back to the doctor on Thursday and think up a travel plan B.

Oh, and he weighs 33 pounds (75th+ percentile) and is 38 inches tall (90th+ percentile).

Posted by kagledom at 04:39 PM | Permalink

We're fairly certain that Simon has his first ear infection. He started screaming around 8 pm last night and didn't stop until 11 and, after that, he slept fitfully. The only positive thing about this experience is that he has been able to express his symptoms. "Ear burn like candle!" "Owie in ear!" "Ear is water." How great is it that we actually know what is wrong with him? SO GREAT. He has an appointment with a doctor at 2:45 Central. We really hope he can be cured soon or the flight back to California this Friday might just be unbearable.

More later.

Posted by kagledom at 12:24 PM | Permalink

I'm two and a half!

Simon's turn to light his menorah (his first time - assisted, of course).

Hanukkah is pretty.

The big gift.

There was lots of singing and guitar playing and, unfortunately, a lot of screaming and crying when the guitar had to be removed from his grasp so he could go to sleep. Here is a video of Simon just after he opened the guitar.

Posted by kagledom at 08:53 PM | Permalink

It has been a stressful week over here in Kagledom. What started out as us feeling somewhat put-upon by the house buyers ended up with us feeling generally harassed. After feeling harassed we were advised to draw a line and not allow it to be crossed. And, after standing up for ourselves, we unfortunately irritated the buyers (a whole lot). We hope that the three lawyers involved in this one, generally minor, transaction can work things out amongst themselves. During the Day of Irritation, Simon got a 24-hour cold and decided not to nap making him somewhat unmanageable. He went to sleep for the night at 6:30 PM and woke up at 8:30 AM which caused him to nap at 3 PM so his schedule (and ours) is all screwed up. Matthew's last two classes were this week so he was scrambling to get final touches on the final exams and we have BOTH managed to separately get stuck on the subway for relatively long periods causing us to be late to our respective destinations. And, due to lack of sleep and general irritability, yesterday Hava told high level managers she was unwilling to take a meeting that was, for no particularly good reason, from 11 PM to 12:30 AM. Lines must be drawn. And now we wait for fallout...

(None so far.)

And, never to forget, tonight we celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah AND Simon's half-birthday. In honor of those occasions, tonight Simon gets the gift he wants most - his first guitar.

Posted by kagledom at 05:31 PM | Permalink

This was our second-to-last weekend in Chicago. We're attempting to wind things down over here - visiting with friends, experiencing those things we'll miss, clearing our cupboards of things we won't be able to fit into a Bay Area living space, filling out forms and faxing...

Saturday we took advantage of the warm spell (it reached 32*) by walking over to our local Starbucks for Simon's "hot coffee!" We even walked/ran around the park across the street. Simon wanted to play on the frozen swings, alas, we managed to quickly translate our immediate reaction of "HA! THERE IS NO WAY IN ****" into just plain "Not right now, Sweetie."

Here is the part where we break into to the log of Simon's existence to write down, for preservation sake, information about cold. How cold is cold to a native Californian? This past week it has been in the teens and, once you account for wind-chill, below zero. Prepared with a down coat, hat, gloves, and scarf, above freezing really isn't that cold. People still jog, take their dogs out for strolls, shop at outdoor malls, etc. It is really in the twenties when it starts to get a little noticeably cold. Wearing regular shoes with regular socks is not enough to keep the tootsies warm even when walking at a brisk pace. However, teens and below is just plain miserable. First it tingles and then it BURNS. Hava was (briefly) running across the street the other day and her molars (which have never had problems before) started to THROB because of the cold. Her teeth protested because everything else was covered and she foolishly opened her mouth to breathe.

Alas, we're now back up to the sweltering high 40's and the snow from that storm a week-and-a-half ago is melting into brownish grey slush. So back to Saturday with Simon...

We once again spent a lovely mid morning and early afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry. We visited the Toy Maker 3000 robot exhibit (his favorite), bounced through the petroleum exhibit, looked at the frogs and bought a frog puzzle, climbed aboard a full size passenger airplane (he is excited to take a trip to Sacramento next week), walked through an enormous heart, and watched some cute kids dance. At lunch he had us in tears when he lifted up an elbow macaroni, held it up to his ear and said "Hello? Hello?" before carrying on a very silly conversation. After his nap, we traveled to the only place we know of with a heated garage, Trader Joes, just for entertainment because no bundling up is required.

Sunday we stayed indoors, made gingerbread cookies, and watched Simon's new favorite thing to watch, Kiki’s Delivery Service, until Amelie and her mother, Marcellina, came over for dinner and a cookie decorating party.

Sharing the decorations without eating them? Impressive!

The artist in deep concentration

A taste test

Simon and Amelie had a wonderful time making each other laugh and they were remarkably interested in decorating the cookies. Simon will get to see Amelie two more times this week. We have encouraged her family to move to the Bay Area because, come on, everybody's doing it. Sadly, we don't think they are going to heed our advice.

Posted by kagledom at 07:33 PM | Permalink

It is safe to say that Simon got his hair genes from the Kagle side. He lost five pounds today getting a hair cut.

Posted by kagledom at 08:57 PM | Permalink

We don't have many rules here in Simonial Kagledom but this is one of those posts when you must follow rules for your own good. The rules will increase your enjoyment factor. Seriously.

Rules: follow step one before moving on to step two. Turn up volume after step one but before step two.

1. Watch the video
2. Watch Simon watching the video (15 MB)

Now, honestly, who out there (while experiencing step one) didn't have the same reaction?

Posted by kagledom at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It is parent-teacher conference time at Simon's school and we were the very first family to participate.

His teacher reports that Simon excels in arts and crafts - particularly drawing and painting. He loves music/Spanish and, oddly enough, can recognize numbers in Spanish but not in English. He also is very fond of story time. He hasn't been aggressive toward anyone in over a week and, not coincidentally, he is using his words more. Another teacher and this teacher disagree on how much he uses his words; one teacher seems to think the problem is that it is hard to understand his soft high pitched voice (the same teacher also thinks Simon is years ahead of the other kids in his class so, who knows, maybe she just likes him more). The current teacher was shocked when he used a full sentence the other day. He speaks in full sentences with us all the time. It was also reported that he hates structure, particularly standing in lines or sitting in circles and, apparently, has no interest in playing outside in the cold (we're talking 30s) with the other kids. Simon remains a staunch vegetarian and has refused to eat the last several meat-based meals offered at school.

Posted by kagledom at 09:08 PM | Permalink

You may have heard about the storm which arrived last Friday crippling the nation’s airports. We had been waiting for just such a storm all year long...

When Simon woke up to the snow he was beyond thrilled. Matthew took him over to the park across the street and they made snow balls. Simon LOVED the snow. He loved it so much that it is a little sad to take him away from winter. We'll get over that, of course, when it is 55 degrees outside and we complain that it is cold.

Saturday and Sunday we had to be out of the house for showings. Saturday we spent our time at the Shedd Aquarium. Simon is still disturbed by the idea of all that water and nowhere to swim but he sat still for the dolphin show and even seemed to enjoy it.

When Simon saw blue Jell-O in the Shedd Cafeteria he DEMANDED that he have it. After he finished his lunch, we relented.

Simon picked up one piece and immediately put it down on the table. He pushed it and it wiggled. He pushed it and it jiggled. He laughed and laughed. And when he calmed down, he put it in his mouth and deemed it unworthy of human consumption.

Saturday evening we wanted to go out but Simon insisted it was "too dark" so we stayed home and played with Legos. These days it is completely dark by 4:30 PM.

Sunday we spent quality time at the Museum of Science and Industry.

When Simon came home, he hung string and wires from the free standing lamp. He put various balls around the base and he found a star shaped key-chain and placed it at the highest point. When asked what he was doing he said "making Christmas trees!"

We have, up until this week, managed to mostly avoid the issue of Christmas. Apparently, we no longer have that luxury.

Posted by kagledom at 07:21 PM | Permalink