Picture Time

I'm a little late getting these posted here, but here are some recent pictures of Will when he turned 3 at the end of January.

And here's a little video of Will eating some lamb.

I haven't decided whether I will stick with Flickr or just put everything on this me.com account...

The Day of a Happy Father

I woke up today not remembering that it was Father's Day.  For the past two years I have been lucky enough to celebrate four Father's Days--I was in the U.S. last year and the U.K. this year for their June holidays, and then I got the bonus Australian holiday each time,celebrated on the first Sunday in September.  Anyway, after opening my presents from Will and his mum this morning, we loaded up the car and drove up to the Sunshine Coast for the day.  We had breakfast at a café in Mooloolaba, where Will had his usual "baby chino" and we all had waffles. We then drove further north towards Noosa, stopping a few kilometres short of there to go to Sunrise Beach.  There must have been no more than 20 people within a kilometre of us on the beach itself.  Will had a great time exhausting his parents by running around and threatening to drown himself in the surf.  We also had a chance to work on his sandcastle building skills.  Unfortunately, right now Will is more pleased with knocking down a pillar as soon as it's built rather than adding to it, so in the end there wasn't much to show for our efforts.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and V. and I sang along to '80s hits on the radio on the way home.  Once home I did a quick run to the grocery store while V. got Will ready for bed.  Our dinner was lamb burgers topped off with Greek-style yoghurt and accompanied by juicy corn on the cob.  Now, that's a meal that would have been a challenge to make (at an affordable price) back in the States. 

Yes, I had a perfectly happy Father's Day!

Child Labour

It's finally time to confess that whenever V. and I go to work, we send our little 2 and 1/2 year old off to earn a few additional dollars each day (after all, we are still paying that mortgage back in America)...


But, as you can see below, Will is still a very happy boy!

Boy Time

V. has been away during this long weekend (ANZAC Day was on Friday), leaving Will and I to fend for ourselves.  Actually, it's been very nice spending so much time with him, although I haven't had a real conversation with someone over the age of 3 in the past 72 hours.  The two of us have been going on various outings, including visiting several "playgrounds."

One of these playgrounds was IKEA.  I had to buy a few items for our home and for my laboratory, so I put Will in his umbrella pram and pushed him among the Saturday hordes of shoppers at our quite large local store.  Despite its size, we repeatedly narrowly missed crashing into someone else.  I have been a long-time IKEA shopper, having been introduced to my first in Burbank, California in the early '90s. I can tell you that there are definitely some universal IKEA shopper behaviours.  Because it is so family-friendly, the place is always packed on the weekends with lots of kids.  The children's playroom normally reaches capacity by late morning, so there are still many more running around the mock-up apartments (measured in square meters here, of course).  Many customers walk through IKEA like it's a museum.   The unidirectional pathway that meanders through all the showrooms was chock full yesterday of slow-moving adults gawking at the inventory as if they have never seen cheap, Scandinavian-designed, East Asian-made furniture before.  To keep our trip under an hour, Will and I were darting around displays and taking every short cut that only an experienced IKEA shopper knows about.  Of course, I also had to keep Will from grabbing every fragile item within reach as we zipped around.  Finally, there was the inevitable long checkout line at the end of the whole thing.  By then, the rest of the shoppers and I were balancing oddly shaped items that were falling out of our yellow plastic bags or balanced on those flat trolleys that only IKEA seems to know about.  It was at this point that Will decided to throw a tantrum because he didn't like either the juice or the bread that I had brought for him.

During the rest of the weekend we visited three other playgrounds that were also more crowded than usual but more suitable for Will.  At each I watched my little boy try to emulate the actions of older kids.  These 5- and 6-year-olds seem to delight in climbing on the playground equipment in some unsafe way, and Will feels compelled to do the same.  I look forward to the day when V. and I can rest comfortably while we watch him play.  Today, however, I still need to stay close by as tries to jump off a swing in mid-flight or climbs a ladder that is too high.  He also has the curious habit of inserting himself into some other person's parent-child interaction.  For example, this afternoon another toddler was repeatedly jumping up to yell "Daddy!" to his father, so Will stood next to him and yelled "Daddy!" at the stranger too.    

We then came home and played with his new IKEA wooden train set, available for $20 at your local store.  Just please keep it moving when you go there, OK?  There might just be a harried father pushing his toddler behind you.

  

The Weight

Will keeps surprising us every day with some new mental feat. Mimicry is an important part of his repertoire. Yesterday he repeated nearly every letter of the alphabet that I said. At the playground he's now trying the higher slides or the rope climb or some other dangerous apparatus just because he sees another (older) kid doing it. He also requests that I carry him out onto the veranda before his bath at night so that he can look at the Brisbane skyline. Last night he was thrilled when he could see lightning in the distant sky. This elicited an excited outpouring of conversation, of which I could only understand about 10%.

Each morning after I have changed his nappy, he grabs his blanket and then runs into my arms so that I can carry him downstairs. Although he's tall, he is on the slender side, so it's still easy to carry his 26 pounds (11.9 kilos). I do very much relish every moment that I can carry him. It is clear, however, that we can't stop him from growing. He has outgrown nearly every item of clothing that we brought with us to Australia over nine months ago. That got me to thinking about when the inevitable day will come when I will no longer be able to carry him around in my arms. In the picture above you can see me standing on the left, when I'm about four years old. My mother is on the right holding my brother Darron. There must have been a day when my mom or my dad carried me like that for the very last time. The next time they tried I was either too heavy or refused to be carried. I wonder whether I will recognize when it's the last time I can carry Will.

Idle Idol

I'm off to Wellington, New Zealand for a social psychology conference for the next few days. Unfortunately, Will and V. won't be coming along this time. As you can see in this picture, however, V. will have plenty of entertainment to keep her occupied. I'll try to post once or twice while I'm in NZ. I have never been there before, so there's much to anticipate. And I'm also looking forward to cooler weather...

Babble-Free

A quick update on Will. All of a sudden, he now says an avalanche of new words each day. You know that scene in "Meet the Parents" where the little boy mimics "Ass-hoooole?" Well, that could easily happen here now, as Will is quick to copy lots of things we say and do. V. and I had a little toast with a glass of wine before dinner out on the patio this evening, and Will was quick to hold up his glass of juice and say "cheers" as well. Earlier, he was playing with his water toys in the back. He walked up to me holding out his cup and said "need more water." I was beginning to answer him when I suddenly realized what he had actually said to me. Oh my! Could toddler blogging be next?

King of Cool

I was finally able to manage uploading a video to YouTube today. It's one from last October, when V's friend from England, "Auntie Jules," came for a visit while I was in America. It was taken at a Coffee Club in Surfers Paradise.

Boys of Summer

V. has been in Melbourne attending a conference since Tuesday night, leaving me alone with the boy (and our temporary nanny on the week days) until tomorrow afternoon. Will has been just fine, but the toddler tantrums are more frequent now, and it sometimes feels like we're walking on a minefield in anticipation of the next outburst. I honestly don't see how single or stay-at-home parents do it all alone. I can only really manage basic household tasks when Will is in his high chair or taking a nap. On top of that, I would really like to finish this manuscript that I am working on, so I better keep this blog entry brief (Will just went down for a nap).

Today is the first day of summer, and also the beginning of the Aussie Christmas season. Starting today many families put up their Christmas trees (nearly every one is artificial) and some will even venture onto their roofs to string along some lights. It is difficult for me to get into the spirit of the season, as I don't have any of the normal cues to get me into the mood. I am afraid that we won't be sending out many Christmas cards this season, nor will my nieces get their gifts on time, as we didn't start early enough to compensate for the international mail. Maybe by next year I will have developed a stronger association of the holidays with the smell of sunscreen to keep me from becoming the Grinch.

The Boy

The more astute among you (i.e., my mom and dad) have noticed that I am woefully behind in keeping Will's personal blog (GoWillGo) up to date. Let me assure you that "The Boy" is doing fine. Here's a snapshot (both figuratively and literally) of things right now:

Will is more than 21 months old. His vocabulary is still pretty limited, but it's starting to pick up. Words that he has uttered more than twice include, "moon," "bye," daddy," "ma-ma," "clock," and a garbled "butterfly." There are a few more, but I don't think he has said them recently. He also likes to say "A B C D," and says the letters "B" and "D" when he sees them. He likes to make the sound of a snake and to roar like a lion. After months of trying to get him to wave to me when I went to work in the morning, in the past month he has finally begun waving at everyone, including strangers.

Will goes to a family daycare near my work three days a week (on the days that V. goes to work). There are never more than four kids at this daycare, which is run in the caregiver's house. Unfortunately, after this week she will be unavailable until the 9th of January, so we are going to be paying a university student who works part-time at a nearby daycare to take care of Will for three days each week. V. takes him to Gymboree every Friday (which he loves) and also to UQ for weekly swimming lessons (he has absolutely no fear of water, which scares us). I'm hoping to begin going with him soon to a music class on Saturdays.

At home he has a circuit of toys that he plays with in our lounge (living) room. He really loves the "Teletubbies" and watching music videos. He's eating fairly well, although he could do better with vegetables. He goes to bed every night at 7, after a bath with his mum. We can't remember the last time we had a problem getting him to go to sleep. He usually wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 am, depending on how loud the birds are. We think he has a very happy, free-spirited disposition. If another kids accidentally (or even intentionally) hits him, Will never seems bothered. He loves to run around and make lots of noise at Gymboree. V. says he's "ebullient" when he's with other kids.

Will is quite affectionate and a real sweetie too. And his parents love him very, very much.

Media Darling

Extra! Extra! Our little boy makes it into the local paper. (He's the one in pink in the middle...)

Diversion

Just a quick note to say that I am back in Brisbane. However, I did experience a little "diversion" on the way from Los Angeles. Just after we crossed the International Date Line, the pilot announced that we were taking a "hard turn" towards Nadi, Fiji. It turned out that Brisbane was forecast to have heavy fog during our scheduled 6 am arrival, so that meant that we wouldn't have enough fuel if we were forced to circle around waiting for the fog to clear. Therefore, we had to land in Fiji to get more fuel! From my seat (three away from the window), I could see the country is beautiful, mountainous, and very green. It also looked sparsely populated. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to get off the plane during the refueling, so I wasn't able to see much more. Soon after we were airborne again, I used the plane's satellite phone system to call V. so that she would know I would be arriving three hours late.

Finally, when I got through customs at 10 am in Brisbane (they had to scan my bags because I declared my peanut butter), I walked out into the central arrivals area and heard a little scream of delight from my son. Will's face lit up when he saw me. I picked him up right away and he gave me a very tight hug, not letting go for several minutes. How wonderful! And, of course, V. was glad to see me too!

I'm home at last.

Spring Break

Although no one here appears to use the term, it is now "Spring Break" in Queensland and much of the rest of Australia. The university has the week off, but all the primary and secondary schools have two weeks holiday, which is dubbed "school holidays" (how clever!). From what I can tell, these school holidays are concurrent for EVERY school in Queensland, and perhaps those in other states as well. I noticed a big reduction in the traffic in Toowong this morning when I went to drop off Will at daycare. Many families leave town for various destinations (including Mooselet, who is on an amazing journey to the Queensland interior). Later this week we are flying to Sydney for a few days to see our friends, but we got things started this past weekend with two mini-breaks. The first was a one-hour drive to the Gold Coast, where we had breakfast at Surfers Paradise. The Gold Coast looks a bit like Miami Beach, with many, many skyscrapers, including the Q1. At 80 floors high, Q1 is the world's tallest all-residential building, when measured to the top of its spire (according to Wikipedia). Australians are fond of complaining of the glitz of the Gold Coast, but for a guy who grew up in the Midwest, it's quite exciting. On Sunday, we took our second mini-break to Noosa, which is about a 2-hour drive north of Brisbane. Noosa is considered one of the most beautiful places in Australia, which also makes it a major tourist destination. During the school holidays it's jammed with families from the southern cities. In fact, our friends the Clarks are spending the week there with some of their Melbourne friends. They took us out on the Noosa river on their boat, and then V., Will, and I walked along the main shopping boulevard in Noosa Heads, before spending a little while on the Noosa beach. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and a bit drizzly, so we didn't get to see the place at its best. But, it is clear that it's still quite beautiful, despite the creeping urbanism. You can check out more pictures from our weekend by clicking on the album on the right.

Relief

Will woke up this morning nearly back to his old self. On the way to work (just five minutes away) I dropped him off at his family daycare and he started to whimper. When we returned to pick him up at 5:00, he was all smiles. He even had a few new tricks for us at dinnertime.

Most of our boxes are now unpacked, but we have a smaller shipment of nine boxes to pick up this week once they have been inspected by AQIS--the quarantine people. As V. said, "it's the beginning of the end of the whole moving process."

Now, if we could just sell that house back in Atlanta...

Losing Sleep Selling a House

This past weekend was the most tiring one yet in our son's 15-month-old life. It started with a birthday party on Saturday morning during his nap time. He was able to make up that missed nap in the early afternoon, but he never got his second one. We then went to a 6:00 dinner at Patty and Sarah's house. Unfortunately, Will was ready to go to sleep an hour after we arrived, so I tried to get him to fall asleep on my chest as I walked around, missing the dinner conversation and having to eat my meal after everyone else had finished. This was all for nothing, as Will never went to sleep and just grew crankier. We left at 8:30, got home, and put Will, who was now completely exhausted, straight to bed. I then checked the messages. An agent wanted to show the house the next morning, "sometime between 9 and 12." (The early hour on a Sunday made me want to write my own "Dear 24," letter).

If you haven't had to show a house in this country, let me just say it is disruptive. Each time one is scheduled, usually with just a few hours' notice, we are expected to be out of the house, and, of course, our home is supposed to be spotless. With a young toddler in tow, this becomes extremely challenging. Normally we spend a good part of an hour feeding him in the morning, and then following that with another 30-45 minutes of bathing and getting him dressed. Well, yesterday, he slept until 9 because of his long day before. We quickly dressed him and left, not wanting to have the house messed up by the usual routine. This particular agent's three-hour window was especially annoying because most showings don't last more than 10 minutes. We went out to breakfast at a local Dunwoody institution, J. Christopher's (our first time, if you can believe it...and I am now sorry that I didn't know about it before now), and then headed to the mall to buy some shoes. By the time we got home at 1, Will was exhausted again. He even fell asleep in the car. But he woke up when I transferred him to his pack-n-play. Now he was awake again, but another message was waiting for us that an agent wanted to show the house sometime between 3 and 5. This time we waited in the house until 4, and then put Will in the car for a long drive to kill the time. He did fall asleep again, but woke up as soon as we got back to the house at 5:15. For the next two hours he tried to stay cheery while he banged around the house like a drunk and picked through his dinner. Putting him to bed at 7, he then cried for the next 40 minutes while we tried different tricks to help him calm down. He was so, so tired. Finally, after much singing of Beatles's songs, he gave me a smile, and fell asleep almost the instant I put him down. He was exhausted, we were exhausted, and our last "quiet" weekend was finally over.

And still no one has made an offer on our house.

The End is Near...

...well, at least the end of the semester is near. Today is the last day of my classes. I still have about 70 papers and final exams to grade, but that won't require any last-minute lecture preparations. I am teaching one more course at Georgia State before we move--a three-week course in social psychology that meets every day for 2.5 hours starting May 14.

The picture here was taken yesterday during a short trip to Zoo Atlanta, which was a nice break from the usual routine. It came about because this semester an undergraduate student from Spelman College worked in my lab. Yesterday she presented her research at a poster session sponsored by the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience in the conference center at the zoo. Because I happened to be taking care of Will, I took him with me so that we could spend a little time seeing the animals. Unfortunately nearly everything was closing down by the time we arrived. The goats at the petting zoo were just going in for dinner, but Will got a chance to grab at their fur for a few minutes while a zookeeper snapped this photo. One of my friends from work, Tricia, and her daughter, Jamie, joined us a little later, and Will was much more interested in watching Jamie running around than looking at the lions, elephants, or monkeys.

We took care of another important requirement for our move this week--we booked the date when the shippers will come to get our stuff for May 16-17. That means that we will have nearly nothing in our Atlanta home for about 5 weeks, except the things that we taking in our suitcases or that we intend to sell. It's supposed to take about two months for our things to get to Brisbane. I can imagine that we will be very happy to see our things when they arrive in late July. And, by the way, still no offers on our house, although we have had about 4-5 viewings a week.

As V. described it yesterday, the whole move has taken on a surreal feeling. We are still pretty much going through our daily routine, seeing all the people we normally see, driving through the familiar neighborhoods, and shopping at our regular places. It's hard to believe that in about two weeks the first of the major disruptions will take place. In fact, soon I won't even be sitting at this computer (the desktop Mac in my wonderful upstairs office) writing these blog entries, with Sammy snoozing next to me as the morning sunlight comes through the window.

It's My Dahling's Birthday!

Yes, the mother of my child and my young wife of oh-so-many years is celebrating her own birth today. We started things off with Huevos Rancheros (my own version consisting of salsa, scrambled eggs, and cheese) for breakfast, followed by flowers, cards, and some dancing in the kitchen while Will watched with a bemused look perched in his high chair. Later V. went to a spa for a leg waxing and haircut (her first since Will was born) while I had lunch in Piedmont Park with Irwin, a long-time and close friend. Later David and Cathy will join us for a night out, which will begin with attending a reception at the Dean's house for those of us who recently received tenure and promotion, and then dinner at Babette's. We are leaving Will at our home with David and Cathy's daughter, Rachel.

It's a good day. And I'm an extremely lucky guy.

The Floor Show

Who needs to pay the big bucks to go out at night when you have this entertainment at home?