December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 2008-2009 2007-2008 2006-2008 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 2008-2009 2007-2008 2006-2007

2009-10-06: So you would think that after being back in the States for six weeks we would be pretty much settled in and Niklas and I would have developed some sort of routine. You would be wrong. So, so wrong. Niklas is doing a fairly good job of hanging in there (there being here, I guess? that phase doesn't really make a lot of sense) while we continue to run errands or wait around for the cable guy or generally do stuff that isn't any fun for him at all. I hope to get things kind of squared away in the next few days, but Niklas might not have any furniture in his room until late December, so that's still out there. Niklas's Highly Inaccurate Quote Of The Day: "Babies don't have butts, Daddy. They don't have penises so they're girls, I guess." (My response? About forty seconds of "uhhhhhhhhh".) 2009-10-11: So, the site overhaul is just about ready to go (with new pictures from the past two months and everything). The major impediment at this point has been my laptop's transformation from computational device to stupid piece of (stuff you might find in a diaper) that won't boot up. Niklas helped me take it to the repair shop the other day. His take on the situation; "Don't worry, Daddy. The gentleman will make your laptop all better." Other than that, Niklas has been keeping busy with his music, ice skating and soccer classes. So far, the music is his favorite, though he enjoys the soccer, too, and he screamed a lot less about the skating last time. 2009-10-18: Well. My laptop is back, the internet seems to be working and Niklas is still cute. We're off, then. Apparently, it's possible for the terrible twos to be put off until you're three. That would explain Niklas's recent behavior. I think he's told me "no" more in the past two weeks than he had in the previous three years. Even cookies have been shouted down. Cookies! Other than that, though, things are going well. Niklas's last trip to the ice rink can even be described as moderately successful (as opposed to the "apocalyptically dreadful" of the previous three). There are a bunch of new pictures up. Niklas's last days in Bermuda, his triumphant return to Chicago and some recent stuff is all available now for your perusal. 2009-10-26: Niklas has been pretty busy lately. I was out of town last weekend (climbing over mountains in Pittsburgh in an ultimately successful venture to get here), but apparently Niklas and Andrya tore it up but good. Saturday morning, Andrya took Niklas to soccer. This led to the following text message exchange: Me: How did soccer go? Andrya: About as well as usual. Note that Andrya and I were born in the '70s and hence we spell words out completely in texts. Anyway, "about as well as usual" means that Niklas may have kicked a ball once or twice, ran about the gym like a madman, tried to escape onto the stage, tried to break into the equipment room and possibly pretended to take a nap in the middle of the floor. That night, Niklas debuted his Halloween 2009 costume at the Patel's Halloween party. I don't know if Andrya took any pictures, but here's an artist's rendition of his costume: Thre was candy, food and playing and a good time was had by all. 2009-10-29: Well, Niklas isn't sleeping on the floor anymore. To be fair, he never had to sleep directly on the floor; there's always been at least an air mattress under him, but now his actual mattress is on an actual bed, so there's that. We got him bunk beds with a built in bookshelf and desk and whatnot (whatnot = drawers, in this case), so he's been having a fantastic time jumping on the bed in traditional monkey style and running up and down the ladder. I caught him the only time so far he's fallen off of said ladder, so we're rollin'. He doesn't have any interest in sleeping under a sheet so far. His Pooh blankey is still doing the heavy lifting (or covering, as the case were) in that regard. That's not something I'm interested in fighting about right now, though. On Monday, I took Niklas to the Children's Museum on account of how it was raining and I was going to fall asleep on the couch if we didn't get up and do something. His favorite part of the whole thing (which includes a water room, a tree fort deal and a fake dinosaur dig) was the part of the safety exhibit which included a traffic light. Niklas prides himself on knowing when you can and when you cannot cross the street based on the walk/don't walk sign, so we stared at traffic signals for quite a while while Niklas said things like "now we can cross the street" and "we do not walk now" and "you can make the car go now, daddy." That was an alright time. Also, we built a skyscraper that Niklas Godzillad before I could take a picture of it. It was awesome, though. Niklas got his swine flu vaccination today. That wasn't nearly as unpopular as the fact that he didn't get to play with the toys in the doctor's office waiting room on account of how quickly the line for flu shots moved. Between that and his obsession with traffic lights and my phone, you'd think Niklas was completely deprived of toys. As a man who has exactly zero room in his house, I assure you that that is not the case.