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Sunday we spent some time in Sacramento with Grandparents Rubenson, Aunt Tonya, and his Cousins: Devon, Amanda, and Sarah.
Grammy took some photos. In this one, it becomes particularly clear that Simon is Matthew's offspring (in case there was any question)...
And a rare family photo...
We had a picnic today in Shoreline Park where we met up with some friends. Hava pretty much exhaused the camera memory before the friends arrived...
The sand boat
Concentrating on sticks
Behind bars
Ice cream on a hot day
We gave up not allowing Simon to nap two days ago. Two days of good naps later, he is a totally different kid. He still wakes up at 10 pm for reasons we don't quite understand, but we've decided being sweet and napping is more important than putting him to bed twice.
Today wasn't such a good day for Hava and Matthew so it was really really really nice that Simon was there being his cute and funny and sweet self. As it turns out Hava has recently become a credit risk. Being a credit risk is kind of BAD when you're trying to secure an ENORMOUS loan. Now, Hava always pays her bills on time and in full and, that we know of, hasn't gone running away with other people's money. No, the BIG BLACK BLOT on her credit report is a mistake that we thought could easily be cleared up - turns out, it can't. However, with some quick thinking and help from a friend (thank you special friend), it seems like everything will be fine. We hope. We sign papers next week and own the house next Friday.
But back to sweet Simon... Today he entertained the mortgage broker for an hour and, before leaving, gave her a nice big hug completely on his own. After his nap we all did the laundry together (one of Simon's favorite activities) and then played out at the sandy play ground where he made Daddy a "dinner" of three cheeseburgers, some rice, fish, an apple, an apple pie, and a cake. After we came home, he carried his snack into his room, helped Mama put on his pajamas, read a story, brushed his teeth, went to sleep, and, as usual, woke up at 10 pm.
These last couple of weeks Simon has been just about as cheerful as a Ecuadorian turtle perpetually stuck in an arctic blast. He expects us to feed him whipped cream for breakfast, never to remove his pajamas or change his diaper, and heaven forbid Mama should go to work and leave him with Daddy or Daddy should take a break for a few hours and leave him with the sitter. He hits, he yells, he squeals, he kicks. He's determined never to use the potty. He demands mac and cheese at every meal. He's had more time-outs in the past two weeks than the past few months combined. It's delightful! What has made matters worse is that he isn't sleeping well. He couldn't fall asleep until 10 PM all last week (normal bedtime is 8) so the past few days we've experimented with not allowing him to nap. Now he sleeps at night just fine but from 3 pm to 8 pm he fluctuates from silly and sweet to demonically possessed. This morning (after not napping for three days) he woke up just after 6 am...
Hava: "Simon, why aren't you sleeping?"
Simon: "Oh, I needed a break."
Later this morning...
Hava: "Simon, you're cute."
Simon: "I'm not cute, I'm Simon!"
Hava: "Then who is cute?"
Simon: "TOKYO!"
(Tokyo is what Simon has renamed Calvin.)
Saturday morning we went over to Calvin's place to celebrate his third birthday (link includes Simon photos). Saturday afternon the Feefadders came over to play and eat. Sunday we spent the afternoon with Mike and Cindi. We looked at the Picasso exhibit at the MOMA, had mac and cheese at the Metreon, and wore the adults out at the Yerba Buena Gardens Park. Cindi is fun to hang out with and Mike? MIKE RULES. Mama and Daddy are ok but they are SO not as cool as their friends.
We drive up to the house we are about to buy and announce to Simon "This is your new house!"
Simon: "No. I don't like dat one. It's dirty. I want DAT one." (points to house next door)
Mental note added to long list of house to-dos: new coat of paint
When the results came in there were 17 offers on the Mountain View house. We have no idea what the next highest bid was. Hava claims we won by $2.00 and we're going to stick to that story. It doesn't seem wise to know that we overbid by a brand new car, a month long vacation in Hawaii, or both. We wanted this house in this neighborhood in this school district more than we wanted any of the others and we will pay the price (literally). Luckily, while reading the disclosures, we realized that this old house is in better condition than any of the others we've seen. The roof is new. Copper plumbing was installed not very long ago. It doesn't need to be tented for termites.
That isn't to say we won't be spending the next two weeks at Home Depot coming up with a plan. The hardwood floors (throughout) need to be replaced. The floor in one bathroom needs to be repaired and both bathrooms need an update including new tile, sinks, and possibly toilets. We'll need a refrigerator, an oven/stove, a microwave, a dishwasher, and a clothes washer and dryer. We will probably put up a new partial wall by the front entrance to replace the 60's screen and remove the partial wall between the kitchen and the dining room to open up the space. The kitchen cabinets and counters could use an update. There is no air conditioning. Five to ten years from now we can turn the garage back into a garage and build a second story to provide additional space. There is a lot to be done and we're excited at the prospect.
We close Friday, May 4. Our current lease ends in mid-June (just before our big vacation). So we have a month or so to do any major repairs before we move - once again.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS MY FRIENDS.
WE BID THE HIGHEST, IN THE END.
YES WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.
NO MORE HOUSE HUNTING
BECAUSE WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
of the bid-war....
Take a Virtual Tour before it disappears!
Simon: "What time is it?"
Hava: "It's 8:38."
Simon: "What time is it?"
Hava: "It's 8:38."
Simon: "What time is it?"
Hava: "It's 8:38."
Simon: "What does it mean?"
Hava: "That means it is 38 minutes past 8 o'clock in the morning."
Simon: (exasperated) "What am I gonna do with you..."
Yesterday Simon was lucky enough to be invited to Patrick's third birthday party at the Build-a-Bear Workshop. At first Simon was only interested in the machines and not at all in the final result but, after some cajoling, Matthew convinced him to choose a skin and build his very own bear. Simon chose this one:
Today Simon and Matthew started a new multi-lingual music class together. They were planning on taking a French music class but it was canceled and isn't going to be replaced. We're having a lot of trouble filling the void of the fun French classes in Chicago. Apparently French is not a big draw in the Bay Area. In any case, Simon loves the new class so they signed up for more.
Tonight we signed the papers to place our bid on the Mountain View home. The home is being sold by a bank - we think the owner died and the money will go to her trustees. Because the sale is being run by a bank they will simply take the highest offer - no countering whatsoever. We're aiming high on this one - so high that most people in most parts of the country could buy a really nice house for what we're offering OVER the asking price. Still, we're not getting our hopes up; we know there are at least 20 other contenders.
There is still some crankiness (Hava and Simon) and some coughing (Hava and Simon) but otherwise this has been a really exciting couple of days.
Here is Matthew expressing enthusiasm (see? he's not coughing or cranky)...
Thursday was Simon's buddy Jude's third birthday. It was a large celebration including a bouncy house (the very best part, according to Simon). Simon even convinced the adults to take turns (they bounce higher). But here he is bouncing with his friend Skye...
And finally getting out!
Today Matthew took Simon to a Las Madres field trip to a fire station. Apparently Simon wasn't really impressed. Here is his reaction to a fireman putting on his suit (there was no loud noise)...
And here he is NOT climbing in the fire truck for a drive (those fire people are so finicky about their equipment).
After the fire station we went house hunting with "Nu nu" (our realtor) and found two more houses we like a lot. Our favorite is in Mountain View in a great neighborhood. It's somewhat small, has no garage, no appliances at all, and (in some places) no flooring but the price is right and we're excited about the prospect of actually being able to bid WAY above asking price to make it ours. Bidding is next Wednesday. The other house is great, but it is in Sunnyvale in the Cupertino School district (same area as the Ugly House) so we're a little shy about getting trampled by insane bidders - once again.
We didn't get the Ugly House - didn't even come close. The Nice House is apparently under priced by a wide margin so we probably won't even try. We're starting to give up hope that we can afford any house in any part of the Peninsula.
Simon didn't nap today, barely napped yesterday, and kept us up until nearly 11 last night. His cold seems nearly gone and, so far, he hasn't passed on his symptoms. Oh, except for the crankies. We've all got a really bad case of the Bay Area crankies.
On the positive side, it's still snowing in Chicago. Of course, we really did like the snow so maybe that isn't even a positive...
Number of colds in the last five weeks:
Simon: 3
Hava: 2
Matthew: 1
Clearly, Hava needs to get this new cold or Simon will remain in the lead.
We will officially bid on the Ugly House this afternoon but neither of us expect to win the bidding war this time around. The house is a mess and we really don't want to live in a complete sty for three to five years before we can fix it up. We will bid only 21K over asking which is probably too low but the best we can do under the circumstances. We also learned last night that the owners expect to live rent free for two months after closing. Because of this housing market, they can get away with such tomfoolery but, once we heard of their plan, we were a lot less interested in the whole idea. It's just rude.
Saturday evening we went in to San Francisco to celebrate Passover with Grandparents Kagle and friends. This was the first year Simon was able to understand a little of the ceremony.
He especially understood that it was his job to find the afikomen and was very happy to return it to the table in exchange for his gift.
Of course, the best part of the ceremony was the Doner tradition of cracking open the Passover egg as demonstrated here by Matthew.
Sunday morning we visited Simon's best friend Calvin, aka "Tokyo", for some Easter egg hunting. Away they went - Calvin equipped with garden gloves and Simon ready with a bug sucker.
Once they found all the eggs, they opened them up to find pennies, plastic bunnies, and candy.
After the candy was consumed there was plenty of time to relax and play.
This evening we took Simon out to Cafe Yulong (our weekly haunt) where he ate only a half order of dumplings. He would have eaten a full order of dumplings (as usual) but he was too busy eating wonton soup (!) and sesame beef (!!) and rice. He actually ASKED to eat the beef. And, just like that, we saw a future including entire days without pasta.
After dinner we brought Simon home to decorate the Passover eggs in preparation for our seder tomorrow evening. We've never heard of decorating the egg for the seder plate but we're fairly certain there are no rules in the Haggadah stating that eggs must be white.
When the eggs were finished Simon pointed at one and said "I want to eat it!" and Matthew said "Tomorrow." and Simon, without missing a beat, said "so you gotta hang on?" The kid loves his show tunes.
We found two houses we like this week. One is a cosmetic fixer-upper to the extreme. U-G-L-Y. It even has a really old air conditioning unit hanging out of the top story front window, cheap vinyl siding, medallions on the garage door, and clearly hasn't seen a coat of paint since the 80s. Simon walked up to the house today and asked to be let into "his" house. The really great thing about this house is its size: 2000 sq feet - five (three of them really small) bedrooms and three full baths, a wrap around large backyard complete with two enormous redwood trees. The house is resting among gorgeous houses in a little cul-de-sac in an attractive neighborhood assigned to some of the best public schools in the country. But oh man do the occupants not care about their surroundings.
The second house, in stark contrast, is GORGEOUS. The owners clearly have an eye for design and touched every bit of the house with classic and whimsical niceness. It's so gorgeous we wouldn't mind not having anything to redecorate. We could move into our super nice house and play in our super nice yard right away. The schools are good but not excellent, the neighborhood seems fine but it's nothing to write home about. The house is 1800 sq. ft. with a good sized backyard.
Both houses are asking almost exactly the same price. Both houses are in Sunnyvale. We imagine that the gorgeous one will attract the 50 million other people looking for houses in Sunnyvale right now and will create the bidding war of all bidding wars. However, the bidding wars get particularly fierce when you cross into the super duper excellent school area; the area of the Ugly House. So, who knows. Ugly House is accepting offers April 10. Gorgeous House is accepting offers April 15. We'll bid on Ugly House and not be terribly sad if we don't get it as we turn right around and bid on Gorgeous House. If we don't get either, maybe we think about finally hanging some art in our apartment...
Simon declared this afternoon that he doesn't need to nap anymore. That was 30 minutes before he fell asleep snuggled in the covers of his bed.
In the past few months Simon's naps have gone from three-and-a-half or four hours starting at 1pm to two or two-and-a-half hours starting at 2 pm. Today he didn't need to nap until 3.
We wonder if, six months from now, there will be any nap left in him.
When he can make it through an afternoon and evening awake without hurling hard objects and/or food across the room, we'll know he is ready and reluctantly give up the parental down time naps provide.
Reluctantly.
Simon has been torturing us all weekend with the choruses of "It's the Hard-Knock Life" and "Tomorrow" from Annie. It was totally cute all last week and now we JUST WANT IT TO END. PLEASE SIMON LET IT END. Singing anything other than the chorus would be second best. This is, seriously, half of what we've been listening to all weekend:
"Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away... tooomorrow, tomorrow..."
The other half is this:
"It's a hard nob light for Hus, It's a hard nob light for Hus! Na na na na NA na na. Na na na na NA na na. It's a hard nob light. It's a hard nob light for Hus, It's a hard nob light for Hus! Na na na na NA na na. Na na na na NA na na. It's a hard nob light. It's a hard nob light for Hus! Na na na na NA na na. Na na na na NA na na. It's a hard nob light. It's a hard nob light for Hus! Na na na na NA na na. Na na na na NA na na. It's a hard nob light. It's a hard nob light for Hus! Na na na na NA na na. Na na na na NA na na. It's a hard nob light. It's a hard nob light for Hus! Na na na na NA na na. Na na na na NA na na. It's a hard nob light..."
Yesterday morning we attended a birthday playdate with our Las Madres friends. April 2004 was a very popular birth month. Simon had a great time eating "Choc Oh Lot" and not going down the tall slide he used to love because it is, suddenly, too scary. (He has also recently become shy.)
Jude and Calvin (both three this month) and Simon bonded over a snail and some dirt.
Questions about yesterdays posting? Click here.
By the way, last year we were set to move to Florida, the year before Matthew discovered male lactation (still one of the largest draws from the outside web to this site), the year before that, Matthew was gestating. April is a busy month.
: )
