Learning to Do stuff

You know that old chestnut from children on TV, where they will just keep asking 'why' over and over in an attempt to drive adults crazy.  Ever wonder when that starts happening?  Well now you know: it's two weeks before their third birthday.

In Tyler's defense, he's not doing it to drive us crazy.  I'm pretty sure he's doing it because he wants to learn more about things.  He hasn't quite grasped the subtle distinctions about when it's appropriate to ask the question ("Here is your Toy."  "Why?" "Did you like school today?" "Why?") but he has figured out that when he asks 'why' he generally gets more information, which he seems to like, and we certainly aren't planning to tell him to stop asking.

Jessie is...nesting...a little.  This weekend it was important...nay, CRITICAL, that all the light bulbs in the house were properly set.  This involved a shopping trip to pick up some conventional bulbs and some CFLs, a lot of using of step ladders, and then a trip to Lowes to drop off the CFLs for recycling and to get a couple of replacement glass covers for the bulbs.  She did this.  The pregnant one.  And then she decided that there were too many leaves on the front yard and that they needed to be raked.  She says pregnancy makes her tired, but every once in a while, you wouldn't be able to tell, I'm sure.

This weekend we went to a Carnival.  It was actually part of the Austin Rodeo, which sounds really cool, but the actual rodeo part starts at 7:00, and Tyler wasn't going to make it that late.  We actually went out right after his nap and hung out mostly at the rides.  Tyler was just tall enough to ride a bunch of the little kid rides that had shown up in the giant parkng lot.  His favorites were the plane one that went up and down and his very first Roller Coaster (I convinced him to briefly put his hands up in the air) as well as the Ferris Wheel, which had a fantastic view of the whole area.  We walked around a lot, had some funnel cake, and had a pretty great time.

We also go to see some pig races, which was staged with surprising professionalism and was a lot of fun to watch.  Tyler was pretty into it.  There were some vendors, too, but if I'm going to get myself a proper cowboy hat, and at some point I think it's safe to say I will, I'm going to need to take a good long time to make sure the construction is up to snuff and the size is proper for my gigantic head.  I'm also likely to need some time for some real soul searching before I buy myself a cowboy hat, because...you know...*cowboy hat*.  But I do look good in one, and it keeps the sun off.  Anyway, Tyler was getting a little antsy, so we didn't have the time to really get a *feel* for the hats on offer.  Or the boots.  Those are lower on my list...give it time.

The petting zoo was my favorite.  I love a good petting zoo.  They had a lot of nice goats, a llama, some deer, and even a couple of shaggy cows (calfs?).   All very well behaved.  They also had newborn goats and even some young kangaroos, but those were cordoned off from the general populace.

I also got a kick out of the livestock area.  They had the best-in-show winners all out for us to see, and they were some pretty-looking specimens, I do agree.  They also had some chickens, which I'm pretty sure Tyler had never seen alive before, as well as a whole bunch of baby chicks, which are, of course, fully adorable.  Seeing all the prime livestock made me want to be a farmer a little bit.  Not because I'm looking for harder work, just because it seems like it would be pretty cool to be good at raising such great-looking critters.  And then, of course, killing and eating them.  I bet they are all delicious.

And because I said I owed it before, here are some pictures of the Diorama I just finished painting:

Check him out!  He's a golem!  

I made up a story about him, of course.  He was created in a temple that long ago has fallen to ruin.

The golem, however, still stands.  And when an adventuring party comes across him, they have to ask...is he still working?  Can we go around him?  How old are those broken weapons, anyway?  

You can even pull him out of the diorama, too.  

Looking sharp, dude.  

He is made out of the same stone as the temple.  They were built at the same time, after all.  

-N

He's growing up

I am also not blogging very much, and I also have an excuse. I have a two-year-old. I haven't had him for that long, but you'd be surprised how often that excuse comes in handy. “You look tired.” “Well, I have a two-year-old.” “You want to come out to the game?” “No, I have a two-year-old.” “Noel, can you help us with a project?” “Sorry, two-year-old.” “Noel, could you pass the ketchup?” “TWO YEAR OLD.” It's a magic bullet.

We kept Tyler's actual birthday pretty low-key. We took him out to the ice rink, one of his favorite weekend diversions, met up with Natalie and Brian and grant out there, and had a great time. Brian had taken a class in ice skating when he was in college, and then hadn't been on skates in the intervening 10 years, so I was better than him for, like, two minutes, tops. Grant got accustomed to the skating pretty quickly, and between the myriad of adults, we were able to cycle through skating children enough to give our backs a periodic rest. Tyler is getting to where he can stand on his own two feet, though he doesn't cover much ground, and mommy is never more than a few inches away.

After skating, everyone came over for pizza and ice cream cake. Did you know that Tyler doesn't like pepperoni on his pizza? What kind of kid am I raising? He was also able to blow out his own candles, which, when you remember that there aren't very many of them, isn't as wild an accomplishment as it might sound. We got him some random presents, neat shirts, cool toys, a book or two. Kid stuff. He thought it was all pretty great.

Easter also happened. We hid some eggs around the house, stuffed with random small things and fig newtons. Those were a hit. We also went out to the park for the big neighborhood easter egg hunt. Got some candy there, too, and got to see a fire truck up close.

And, then, of course, there was Disney Land.

I am...not a big fan of Disney Land. For the price you pay for the tickets, it seems like there's a surfeit of fun and an overabundance of standing in line. There were some definite highlights, and Tyler is still talking about “Mr Toad Ride.” Recalling how it was “Kinda scary.” and “Flashy lights”. Dumbo, Small world, teacups, all hits, though. Also, instead of heading back to the hotel, Tyler just fell asleep on my shoulder for half an hour while I carried him around. That's the thing you can only really do if you're a dad: that critical combination of comfort, upper body strength, and willingness to put up with a lot of discomfort to get some really good cuddles out of your kid.

Nana and Grandpa were also a lot of fun for Tyler. He got lots of hugs and kisses, many nice pictures, and many many smiles. He was a wonderful model grandson for his elders. He did keep waking up really early, though. Stayed on Texas time. Made it so that we got lots done before his morning nap, though. The second day we went to the Long Beach Aquarium. Tyler got to touch a stingray and see some really pretty birds up close. After that we went to the La Brea Tar pits, which I never did see while I was in LA. But it was pretty great. We also got to see the big squad of people that we started Raytheon working with, most of whom have kids of their own. Some nice family-reunion sized pictures came out of that.

The one tragedy was when Tyler, being a toddler, tripped and smacked his forehead on the chair I was sitting in. It swelled up really spectacularly, but a quick application of ice seemed to do it a lot of good, and the bruise it turned into didn't seem nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be. It's nearly healed up, too.

And in the last bit of Tyler news, some neighbors down the street are moving out, and they asked us if we wanted an extra kid bed. Well the timing worked out great, and after buying a mattress, some spider-man sheets and a Mario Brothers blanket, Tyler is, at this very moment, sleeping in a Big Boy Bed. We also purchased a waterproof mattress cover and a guard rail. Not to keep him from escaping, to keep him from falling out. Kid likes to sleep in corners, and I've definitely found him facing the wrong way in his bed more than once. He's still small enough, for now, that he can sleep sideways in the bed.

The first night in the big boy bed actually went really well. We had been building it up for a while, he got to see us assemble it, and then night came and we put him in bed, tucked him in, and he just waved goodbye and said “goodbye mommy”. Then slept like a log all night. What a good kid.

The only thing I'm up to that is not Tyler-related is REAPERCON! As many of you know, Reaper is a company that makes Miniatures, and I supported a program last year where you preordered a whole bunch of miniatures and got hundres of them for a great price. They're in the process of shipping out now, but last year when I bought into the deal, I decided I should try to see if I actually like painting minatures. I do rather a lot.

The company, named Reaper, has a once-a-year painting convention where there are classes, paints, minatures, board games, and all sorts of fantastic things to do. I have signed up for four classes, amd going to pack up my stuff, and then wednesday evening I drive up to Denton, TX, for 4 days of paining and relaxing, all while Jess takes care of Tyler for me. She's really nice to me.

So, what, is that, 10 paragraphs about Tyler, and one about me? Yeah, that ratio seems about right.

-N

Things I've been up to

We'll start with a Tyler update, being as I'm sure he's the guy you're most interested in hearing about. Tyler's latest trick is that he's starting to have thoughts of his own. Ever since he's been able to talk, he's been really good at parroting, repeating things he's already heard. New to his repertoire, though, is coming up with his very own ideas and sentences. That's right! There's a little human in there after all.

The most memorable example of this behavior has been when we were singing “Wheels on the Bus.” It's always been one of his favorite songs. After a few verses, I asked which sound he wanted to do next.

“Tyler, what else is on the bus?”

He paused, staring ahead, like he does when he's deep in thought (we all know where he gets this from)

“Enui!”

Okay, he technically just said “En-We”, but I think we all knew what he meant.

“Enui? Really? What sound does Enui make?”

Another long pause.

“Boop, boop, boop.”

And so we sang, “The Enui on the bus goes boop, boop, boop.” And he laughed. He laughed so hard, he thought it was just the greatest thing.

It shows up in a lot of smaller ways, too. We'll ask him what he wants to eat and he'll come up with something all on his own. You'll point out something that's big and he'll remind you that Tyler is Little all on his own. He hasn't yet used it to suggest that Daddy and Mommy are always wrong and that he should get more ipad and candy, but give it time, I'm sure.

Work continues apace. I got to travel last week to Patuxent river, again. I was supposed to be gone for the whole week, but we got out there, got everything working in a couple of days, and then everyone went “great, it works, I guess we're done” and went home. Jess has been really busy at work, too, well befitting a person who is so well regarded. And before any of you ask, I'm not worried about the sequester. It may make us trim back a bit, but I suspect that the most likely prospect is that we'll hire new people a little slower. I've been on the test team for maybe 6 months, and there are 5 new people in the group that have joined since. We're busy.

I've also been working on my Minis for ReaperCon. I decided to pull together some of the guys I've been painting and give them a platform to stand on together. Give it some scenery and character, so to speak. Here are some pictures, I hope you enjoy.

I'm also excited because I think I'm going to build a new computer. I've never actually done this before, but I've read some tutorials and it doesn't appear too difficult. The main source of work will probably be selecting all the components, and if you ask any computer-building nerd, that's the best part of the whole endeavor.

-N

Finished my mini

Remember that guy I was working on before?  He's done! 

 

Here's more progress shots.  I'm pretty sure on this day I worked on his pants.  It's subtle, I know.

 

Here I'm starting to work on his coat.  I did the green lining inside his coat.  Nice highlighting, yes?  Also his epaulettes, which I also learned how to spell.  

 Worked on the gun today.  Did some shading and highlighting on the wood and metal drybrushing on the...metal parts. 

And here he is, all done!  I did a chrome look for the sword.  Impressive, no?  I think it came out pretty good.  Also did some grass around his feet.  The grass nearer to him is dead, I imagine it's a side-effect of his crazy-evil power.  I'm quite pleased about how well he came out.  I'm going to go get him a fancy little plinth to display him on for the convention.  Next up on the painting queue, a frog king and queen for Ray and Jeanne. 

-N

Wholesome Family Activities

So in case you're wondering what it is that I've been doing with so much of my time that I can neither blog nor call up parents at the traditional time (sorry!), here's an explanation.  In a couple of months there's a convention up in Dallas called ReaperCon.  Reaper is a company that makes miniatures, the kinds I've spent so much of my time learning to paint.  The convention sounds really cool: they will have classes, plenty of places to paint, lots of things to do and see, games to play aaaaaaand...they have a competition for painted miniatures.

 Now I have never been competitive about my painting, but I looked at a lot of entries from last year and by comparison, my most recent work seems to match up pretty well.   At least, it does when I take my time.  Plus, they have a very forgiving grading system: you get graded based on how good your mini looks, not how many better painted miniatures happened to be entered in the contest.  I'm aiming for 'bronze' rank, but even if I don't get that, you get a certificate of merit just for entering, and I would hang that up proudly on my wall. A lot of the highest-end painting really is just a function of putting in really a lot of work.  And so in that spirit, I've begun working on my entry already.  I've been taking pictures at the end of each day, to show off progress and also to give you guys a sense of how long it takes to paint one of these guys so that they look really nice.  Also to show off how good I am at this now.  :)

Here is the end of day 1:

they grey is the primer: so the only thing I managed to get done in the several hours I spent on the first day with this guy is to get down a base coat of red, white and skin tone on part of him.  Told you: long process.  You use very thin coats of paint and paint them on usually around 4 or 5 times so that your guy looks like a little person, and not a tiny figurine covered in plastic paint.  The matte finish takes work, but it's crucial for a good looking figure.

Day 2:

A few more colors make their appearance.   did the gauntlet, mask, and the like in a slightly different red color.  I have a back-story in mind where the guy stole the coat from someone on the battlefield, so the color doesn't quite match.  Also, the accessories were given to him by his evil overlords, they are the source of his power.  It's very complicated, maybe I'll write up a story for him later.

Day 3:

A lot of progress on this day.  It was Saturday, and Jess let me paint a lot during the day while she watched Tyler.  the rest of the base coat has been laid down, and I even did the shading on the back of his coat.  I think I did a pretty decent job, but this is one of my first attempts at this sort of dramatic coloring.  A cape is a pretty good place to start, though.  The places where to put the high-and-low lights are pretty obvious.

Day 4:

Oh man, I really like the progress I did today.  I painted that tatoo-thing in the center of his chest like scarification, and it came out looking really well.  I also added some shading to his gauntlet, mask, loin cloth and chest-skin.  You might not be able to tell in this picture (heck, I can't even tell unless I look under the magnifying glass Jess got me for Xmas) but I managed to individually shade each of his ab-muscles.  I'm pretty impressed with that.

And lest you think I spend all of my time cooped up in my room ignoring my parently duties and painting: here's some evidence otherwise:

There was a nice breeze today, so we got out Jessie's stunt-kite and went out to the park.  There were a lot of crashes, but Tyler thought this was one of the coolest things in the world.

Jessie took Tyler skating also this weekend, Kneecaps be damned!  He thought it was also the coolest thing in the world.  Cutest, too!

-N

Post-Op

Tyler is Just fine. It's important to lead with the headline.

So we got up at a little after 7 today and got ourselves ready while leaving Tyler in his crib for a while. We heard him wake up, but he wasn't allowed to have anything in his stomach for his surgery, so we figured our main obstacle would be a starving-hungry baby. After we were all ready to go, we got Tyler up, changed, and directly into his car seat. Despite the change in schedule, he was actually in pretty high spirits. The drive went fine, and then we got to Simply Pediatric Surgery Center, a place clearly designed to help your kid get in and out of his (hopefully quick) surgery with the minimum of fussing. Lots of bright colors and lots of rooms with parents and babies getting ready for their procedures. And I checked for dad, they did have red wagons that they use when they need. We spent a little bit of time filling out forms and having any questions answered (very few, it's a simple procedure) and then it was time for him to go. We gave quick goodbye hugs and then the nurses took him away, distracting him with stickers. He didn't make a single fuss. We went off to the recovery room to wait, and 10 minutes later the doctor came by to let us know he was done. They kept him in a stage-1 recovery room to make sure he woke up okay (they put him to sleep with gas) and then brought him to us.

We heard him before we saw him. He was fussy in an unhappy way. He went right to mommy who soothed him with a bottle for a while. The first 15 minutes were pretty unhappy, but then he calmed down and got a bad case of the sleepy-faces. We got ourselves paperwork-ed out, and then went for lunch at Home Slice Pizza with a very sleepy baby. He conked out in the car and slept through all the pizza. He was in a good mood for the drive home, though, and has been doing just fine every since.

His ears have been draining, there was evidently a lot of fluid behind the ear from his most recent runny nose. I'm guessing if it wasn't for the tubes, we would have been back in for antibiotics pretty quickly. Oh, and when we got back I took a nap for 4 hours. I guess I was more tired than I thought.

Anyway, that's the story of the surgery. Enjoy some pics of the process!

Distractions with Daddy

Distractions with Mommy

Just back with us, unhappiness in the face.

After a little more time, feeling better. 

Identification

-N

Hey, guys, pictures!

These are going backwards, chronologically, because I'm too lazy to flip them all around.



The family underground. Underground! Inner Space caverns. We'll totally take you there if you come visit.



A very proud daddy and a very messy son.



Tyler spent more time making a mess than eating any of the cake. To me, this means he has more experience with finger paints than candy, which is a pretty good track record, if you ask me.



I don't know if you guys remember, but there's a series of pictures from when Jess and I were first dating and I was meeting the nephews. They're watching me play games and sloooowly crawling over until they can see what cool toys Uncle Noel is playing with. This reminds me of that.






Showing off his walking and playing skills for the whole family.



And, finally, modeling his sexy new Carhartts. Thanks, everyone!

-N

Gizmo

Here he is:



He's the cutest and most cuddly cat in the world. Seriously. He's big on nuzzles.



Here his is with Jess. They get along great. But then again, he gets along with everyone. Nagano is the one who is going to have to get used to the new cat, not the other way around.

Tyler's Haircut

So here's the first picture. This is Tyler after a few minutes of Sesame Street. For some reason, it didn't really like Elmo that much. Odd.



Here's Tyler during a rare quiet moment getting trimmed. Mom held on to him to keep him as calm as possible. I was in charge of documentation.



And here's the new haircut. Looking dapper, I dare say.



This one is the cutest, though. He was really tired after his trim, and didn't really enjoy himself that much. He is adorable when he fusses, though.

-N