A parental milestone

Kids hiding from the camera. Elizabeth is
on the left in the turquoise sweatshirt.

I am sure most parents go through this eventually. Tonight, it's my turn. Our house has been invaded by seven teenagers to hang out and generally celebrate Elizabeth's 14th birthday.

So it's just Dad and eight teens. Fun!

We started the night with the kids assembling pizzas, featuring all of Elizabeth's favorite toppings (pineapple, black olives, onions) and several others. Thankfully, I even had alfredo sauce and some leftover roasted chicken on hand for one pair of girls who requested it.

Yes, there are boys at this party, three of them, in fact. They're watching a movie (Super 8) with the lights mostly off at the moment but I'm around the corner in my office with the light on and there's a light on in the stairs, too.

Before we got around to dinner, the kids were huddled around a laptop, watching clips from Saturday Night Live. That includes one famous sketch that aired when these kids were literally still in diapers. For those who are wondering, it involves Alec Baldwin and a particular takeoff of an NPR cooking show, with a dish that has a slightly naughty name. Originally aired in December 1998.

These kids are a riot. Elizabeth had good friends. There's some interesting things being said around the corner, but part of being the cool dad is letting it roll off. Maybe Elizabeth and I will talk about it tomorrow.

As a parent, my patience level varies wildly, as I'm sure most parents' does. Thankfully, I'm in a good mood today and a house full of teens is not a problem.

Blogworthy

So many moments have been blogworthy in the past month but I have failed to record them here. I'm waiting for laundry and nothing is on t.v. so I find myself without excuse.

Colleen was reading the back of her Tangled DVD (without pause or hesitation I might add - she's a great reader). One phrase caught my attention and I asked her what an "unlikely duo" means. She said "a duo is two people performing together to share their talents and unlikely means that you wouldn't put them together normally but it actually makes sense this one time."

I think she gets it. Again. I was going to list the other dates I made a post similar to this, but going through them I realize there are too many. Just take my word for it.

Colleen O'Lantern

Colleen lost a tooth (Mom helped) and hopefully that one in the middle will come out soon too.

We are a little surprised that it has held on so long. She hasn't perfected the art of eating away from a loose tooth. She'll chomp right in on her food, loose tooth and all. Every mealtime we expect it to go but it has been days. This one has staying power.

Robert lost a tooth too but not so dramatically as Colleen this time around.

Other tooth news, Elizabeth got bands (green and purple) on her braces.

Year of the Rock

There seems to be a confluence of curriculum in 1st, 4th, and 8th grades in the Bloomington Public School system. All three kids are doing earth science this year. Elizabeth's science class began with an overview of the geo-spheres and now they're discussing geologic time. Robert was waxing poetic this morning about metamorphic rocks and just a few weeks ago they were studying erosion. His classroom worked with models of the Elwha Dam so they could predict what will happen when it is removed. Colleen's classroom is keeping it simple and fun by gathering a rock collection.

Speaking of our good earth, what's with the trees this year? Our leaves all turned and fell but our neighbors' trees are mostly still green. Should we be concerned?

In defense of editing

There was a point about seven or eight years ago when I realized that I would not end up working at a newspaper for my entire career. Within the past few years, I had a similar epiphany about being a journalist.

I've been a journalist, by anyone's definition, since January of 1993, when I started covering the men's basketball team for the student newspaper at Catholic University. I became the sports editor the next fall, then was No. 2 at the paper the next semester. Before graduation, I was hired as a part-time agate clerk for Baseball Weekly, and after a winter off, came back full time when the 1994 baseball work stoppage was settled.

I have always been an advocate for editing, even at a student newspaper, which was sometimes a tough sell. At Baseball Weekly I spent hours watching over Margaret McCahill's shoulder, learning even more about editing. I eventually became a copy editor, and grew to pick up a lot of other skills along the way, some related to journalism, others to project management, content strategy, social media and web analytics.

But even though journalism and editing are not as valued as they once were, I will always be an editor, deep down. And what has happened to editing over the past few years is troubling.

Proofreading is not a replacement for editing. And spell-check is not a replacement for proofreading.

Recently there was an insert into our church's weekly bulletin with a letter from the church school's principal. It contained an error, where a sentence read, "... with food, fellowship and games run by out 8th graders." I don't know how many eighth graders are out. Spell-check doesn't know the difference between out and our. We also received a newsletter from the Bloomington public schools with a typo in the very first sentence of the lead story, which was a letter from the superintendent of schools.

And these are our educators. It's difficult for me to accept this from people paid to educate our children, even though I know they are simple typos. It's the lack of attention and care paid to writing that's the issue. But it's not as bad as it could be. I see posts from some people who home-school their children which are also riddled with misspellings and I cringe.

There's a local online news outlet that consistently confuses its with it's. And said news outlet doesn't seem to read its Facebook feed's comments to see what people are saying about its coverage, which is a social media failure even if there weren't errors.

The irony hasn't escaped me that I am writing this defense of editing on a blog, which is one of the least-edited mediums there is. And I know that newspapers place less and less emphasis on editing with every round of layoffs. But editing is not a luxury. As Arthur Polotnik said, "You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke."

Everything can be edited: news copy, blog posts, emails, Facebook statuses, tweets, you name it. And if you're a company which interfaces with the public, you should hire me to do it.

Smells like autumn

All three kids are in school full day for the first time and I am still at home all day, but now with a little more time on my hands. With the youngest two out the door by 8:15, that's plenty of time to think about dinner.

Yesterday morning I took advantage of that time to put a pork roast in the slow cooker. But instead of the standard pulled pork recipe, I gave it a bit of a autumn flavor, subbing out the onions for two medium-small Honeycrisp apples and adding a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar. I sliced the apples nice and thin so that they would basically fall apart. We don't like as much of a vinegar taste to our pulled pork, so I put in about half the normal amount and used water for the rest.

I just love how a roast fills the kitchen with the aroma of a meal to come. It cooked even more quickly than I anticipated, so it was ready to taste when the kids came home. Elizabeth loves just about everything, so she was easily pleased. Robert was intrigued, and ended up liking his sample as well. As for Colleen, well, you can't account for taste from a 6-year-old.

Next time I plan to add another half an apple, and I'm thinking about putting the onions back in for more of a savory flavor. It worked great on toasted buns, to keep the sandwich from falling apart, although Elizabeth campaigned for egg noodles. That will have to be some other time, however.

Keeping my word chops up to date

I was pleased that Cate came up with a pretty good use for an old comforter that otherwise we would have gotten rid of, so I tried to give her a high five. She looked at me, puzzled, and said something to the order of, "I don't do high fives very well, you know."

I know this. I responded, "Just trying to bring you into the fold. Would a fist bump be better?"

I demonstrated a fist bump. She didn't seem enthused. So I said, "How about a forearm bash, you know, like Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire?"

I showed her how they did the forearm bash. She suggested that it might be painful, and responded, "They actually did that?"

I said, "Well, it was the '80s, so they were all hopped up on steroids."

Cate responded, "In that case, why didn't they just hug each other?"

I told her I thought Canseco and McGwire must not have been that testosterone-depleted.

Then I thought better of it. "Or that estrogenal." (Accent on the second syllable.) I walked away to go back to what I was doing, then turned around. "No. The word should be estrogenous." (Think of it rhyming with erogenous, or more to the point, androgynous.)

Cate actually laughed. A genuine, not mocking laugh.

One last dash of summer

Something's coming!

The kids have been back in school for almost two weeks but this morning the weather reminded us for certain that summer was over. Before summer ended, however, Robert and I reached a goal we have been talking about for almost as long as we've lived in this house.

Our little boy loves trains, has loved trains for as long as he can remember. And while our fourth grader's days of watching Thomas the Tank Engine have been long left behind, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy trains around here.

There are train tracks about six blocks from our house, the perfect distance, in my estimation. They are close enough that you can hear trains blow their horns, but not very loudly. I wouldn't want to live much closer.

I don't remember whether Robert came up with the idea or I did, but at some point one of us heard a train whistle and thought it would be neat to go down to the tracks and watch it go by. And as we were riding bikes one day, it occurred to me that Robert was definitely capable of riding with me to go see one. And it's been our goal ever since, although for more than a year, we hadn't even attempted it.

Cate has started working an early morning shift, so I've been either with the kids all morning while working at home, or lately, making sure they get fed, dressed and out the door to school. In the last week before school started, Robert came downstairs to me in my office and said, "Dad, can we do something today?"

It was right around noon. Normally I would have to say that I couldn't, but the previous day Verizon had let me know that my contract was being cut by a little over two weeks. I'm a very loyal employee but was still reeling from that punch to the gut, so I was a little more open to, say, taking a long lunch. The train goal popped into my head, so we went out to the garage, made sure all of our bikes had enough air in the tires, and set them up, ready to go at a moment's notice near the garage door.

Satisfied we were ready to go, we went inside to wait. We were not waiting long, however. I hadn't even gotten my shoes off when I heard the first whistle of the train. That crossing point is almost two miles away, and the freight trains don't come through the neighborhoods very fast at all. I alerted Robert, who hadn't even heard it yet, and we sprang into action. Open the garage door, water bottle from the fridge, helmets, let Elizabeth know she was in charge of Colleen, and bolt.

Robert is one happy camper as the train goes by.

While we're riding, we get the ultimate reminders of our destination. The train horn sounds at three other crossings before it gets to ours, on Xerxes. Robert is saying, "it's getting closer!" and I'm certainly wishing he had a multi-speed bike so he could go faster, but he is pumping his little legs off. Three quarters of a mile, with a slow, gradual uphill grade and a busy intersection in between takes a 9-year-old a long time with one gear, but we end up making it in plenty of time. The train is still several blocks away when we get there.

We settled in a spot very close to the tracks, much closer than the cars' stop line. The train blew its horn as it approached our crossing and I acknowledged the drivers so they knew we weren't completely oblivious.

As the train went by, Robert marveled at how large it was. He hasn't been this close to a moving freight train in quite a while, and of course, it's bigger than the light rail train we've ridden to the ballgame. The train wasn't very long, and the show was over in a couple of minutes, but he loved it, so it was worth the trip. And the timing couldn't have been better.

Mission complete.

A long night at the ballpark

After the vacation, the kids and I have been getting reacquainted, sometimes more than others since Cate has been working a lot this past week. And when an opportunity to get four Twins tickets dropped into my lap pretty late in the week, I decided to take them out.

Colleen had never been to Target Field and we hadn't been to a baseball game all together since last year's incredible trip to Wrigley Field. We had the ability to get there really early, as well, as it was the start of a holiday weekend, and do some things none of us had been able to do at our new ballpark.

We've always had the opportunity to look at this wonderful glove sculpture just outside the ballpark but never had a chance to get pictures taken with it because the line is usually pretty long. But not when you show up at 5:15 for a 7:10 game.

Robert forgot to put on his Joe Mauer jersey, but in the end, it didn't matter -- Mauer went 3-for-4 and Robert had a great time. But that came much, much later.

Robert and Elizabeth filled Colleen in on one of their Target Field tips: the great chicken fingers. So they had chicken fingers and fries while the Brewers (boo!) were still taking batting practice. I have always looked longingly at the Kramarczuk's stand, selling locally made brats and sausages, but they are very popular and the line is also usually long. But not that early in the day, so I had the best ballpark bratwurst I've ever tasted. Also, somehow by the luck of the draw (how do we keep meeting people at Twins games?) I saw a former co-worker walking down the concourse while we were eating and recognized him, although neither of us could remember the other's name.

About 30 minutes before the game, they pulled the tarp out to cover the field, prompting groans and boos. But Robert had already pointed out the clouds approaching, so we were prepared. Our seats were under the overhang, lower deck, left field, but we decided to move back anyway and wait out the first wave of rain.

The second wave (like white-out, Elizabeth says) was stronger and we walked out into the concourse. Robert and Elizabeth both asked when we could go home (my response: when the game is over!) but Colleen just rolled with it, sitting on my lap. We had fun communicating with a little girl standing in front of us -- I asked Colleen if she thought the girl was four, Colleen thought five. We were both wrong. I caught her eye and held up four fingers to her with a quizzical look on my face, but the girl shook her head and held up three. So cute!

We'd been at the ballpark for about four hours before the game finally started at 9:11, two hours late. And Robert made a friend, too -- a man in his 20s next to us chatted with Robert all night, showing him stuff about the game, telling him about the Brewers, chatting about nerf guns, the Brewers' stadium roof and the like. I thanked him profusely for putting up with Robert, and he said he coaches high school cross country, so he's used to it. I'm pretty sure there's a big difference between a 14-year-old and a 9-year old, though!

Colleen the 6-year-old at a game was a bit different than Robert the 6-year-old was. But she was very into whatever everyone was cheering about. Admittedly, with three kids with me instead of one, I didn't give her as much individual attention as Robert got at our ballgame around that age, but she certainly screamed loud at appropriate times, sang every word of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and only once asked me when it would be over. But late in the game, she put her head on my lap and went to sleep for a while.

So it was a late night, but thankfully the Twins won. We got to see Jim Thome hit his 594th career homer. In fact, as Thome came up in the bottom of the first with Mauer and Michael Cuddyer on base and two out, I was thinking, "We better score here, or we might not score all night." As Thome's ball went over the fence, I saw the guy next to us, a Brewers fan, shaking his head. When I asked him about it later, he said it was because, "there are only three hitters in the lineup who can hurt us, and they just did."

Final: 6-2 Twins. We walked in the door about 12:15 a.m.

It's quiet

One of the worst things about working from home is summer, when the kids are off school and generally around the house a lot. The kids have done a good job respecting my office space and not coming in when I have the door closed. I don't usually have too many conference calls right now but who knows what they might interrupt by walking in, in addition to my concentration.

But this year we start the summer vacation off with Cate and the kids off for two weeks to visit her mom in Philadelphia. So it's definitely been quiet.

After a pretty depressing Monday I decided I wasn't going to work in my office downstairs for the rest of the time they're gone. It's functional but there are no windows, it's always a little cooler down there and I just couldn't stand the thought of being in a box for two weeks. So I'm sitting at the kitchen table, with easy access to the radio, a ceiling fan, windows and doors to open as the weather permits, that sort of thing. It's one thing to work in the box when Cate and the kids are around because I can always pop my head out, go upstairs and be social. But on Monday, of course, there was nobody to socialize with.

While they're gone, I've had thoughts about cleaning up the house (don't know how far I'll get, but I did start), doing the laundry, trying to get some yard work done, stuff like that. The winter coats can be cleaned and stowed for a couple months. I have easy access to the kitchen as well, which is a mixed blessing, but I'm cooking up jambalaya to eat tonight and freeze for future consideration. I've gotten to hang out with some friends and I still have Minnesota Chorale rehearsals. I'm also doing a singing workshop on Saturday, which I'm looking forward to, trying to extend the comfort zone.

It'll be strange not having the kids here for Fathers Day, but we knew that going in. It's more important for them to have time with their grandmother than with me right now and if we're flying four people halfway across the country, we need to get them their money's worth in terms of time.

So, yeah, look me up. I've got some free time!

Almost 9

Robert was teary-eyed at bedtime. He said, "I'm going to miss being 8." I assured him that being 9 will be just as awesome. Tomorrow we'll start his ninth year with a celebratory waffles and ice cream breakfast.

Braces

Here's our newly metallic Elizabeth. She only got the upper braces today. She'll be back in 8 weeks for the lower. Besides a headache, she's doing fine. After reviewing the "don't eat" list, she's a little sad that she won't be enjoying corn on the cob, caramels, or Fritos for a while. Right now she's taking a well deserved nap. Time to add a new tag for the blog: braces.

Earth Day

Colleen has been asking if she could plant a tree for Earth Day. She settled for planting some Nasturtium seeds for the trellis in the backyard. Both she and Robert had a good time. We let Robert dig because he is so good at it. He got a little carried away for our tiny seeds. Colleen shouted to me, "Mom! Robert's going to China!"

Now we sit back and hope that we've seen the last frost.

Overheard

The older kids are playing a game online.

Elizabeth: "It's being glitchy. Even though I have all the blackberries I need, it's not letting me in."

Me: "How many iPhones do you need?"

Elizabeth: "Huh?"

Robert laughs. He gets it.

Stone knives and bear skins

Remember how we had to explain to our kids what a computer disk was, a cassette tape, a record player, how to dial a phone?

Well, we've reached a whole new level.

Colleen came up to me and said, "Mom, how do you pause your TV?"

I told her that we actually can't pause my TV.

"Why not?" she said.

The TV in our bedroom is 18 years old. Needless to say, it's not HD and it doesn't have a DVR. And even though we've only had a TV with a DVR for less than two years, Colleen apparently doesn't remember it being any other way. And by the way, we thought this TV was not long for the world when we lived in Sterling.

Loose Tooth

Colleen has a loose tooth! I've been slow to realize that, as my youngest child, she'll have all the last "firsts" of the family. *sniff*

What the kids know

Friends of friends of ours just had a baby, 8 lbs., 9 oz., and as Cate noted, that's a pretty big baby.

Colleen overhears the conversation and says, "that's no big deal, it's just a little baby." I told her that was pretty big for a baby.

To try to drive home the point of what it must be like (since I don't know, obviously) to carry that big a baby inside you, I decide to teach Colleen a lesson. I ask her, "do you know where the baby comes from?"

Colleen answers, in a sing-song voice, "Uterus!"

I hope all of her children are at least eight and a half pounds.

How many days hath November?

30 days. And December had 31 but we missed them all on the blog. So I'll do a quick recap with photos if I can dig some up.

November was full of Nanny. She planned a nice long visit and it went beautifully, capped off with Elizabeth's birthday and Thanksgiving at Neil & Alicia's new home. Elizabeth was trilled to receive a Kindle from Aunt Jeannie and Nanny. Her first purchases for the Kindle were a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and sequels). She was blessed with many thoughtful gifts from loved ones near and far: antique pins from Aunt Claire whose relative also had the initials EGC, a new poncho hand-knit by Nonna with crazy pom-pom gloves to match and Star Wars pancake molds from Cousin Amelia (soon to be a Big Sister herself).

December was cold but that didn't stop Nonna from taking the kids on special trips. She took Robert to see a production of Robin Hood at the Children's Theater. Elizabeth accompanied Nonna to the Guthrie Theater to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, which happily prepared her for recent study of iambic pentameter in school. Colleen and Nonna had a great time together at the Nutcracker ballet. Also, Colleen and Amelia visited the Macy's Santaland display at Macy's downtown. The cold (rather the 20+ inches of snow that fell on Dec. 9-10) also contributed to the infamous Double Sleepover. Robert was sleeping over at Nonna and Da's while Colleen was with Amelia on Friday night. We weren't able to pick them up until Sunday and even then it was rough going on the Minneapolis streets.

That brings us right up to Christmas and post Christmas. Christmas was wonderful, low key and fun (kids looking happy/wacky on left). We did a small gathering at our house on Christmas Day, possibly the first time we've hosted but I'd have to check the record (aka ask Patrick). The next day all available Colemans gathered at Pat and Donna's. Then Patrick and I happily abandoned our children for a trip to Las Vegas :) Here we pose for a photo with the Hoover Dam.

Not a radio fan

In the car this morning, Colleen and I were listening to the radio and a Janis Joplin song came on, Piece of my Heart. I automatically cranked up the volume but Colleen protested, saying "Is that lady injured or something? This song is awful."

So I turned to another station. Forget You by Cee-lo was on, right at the part where he cries "Why?! Wwwwwhy?!"

Colleen says, "Turn off the music. It's too depressing."

Next time I'll bring the Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat CD she received as a Christmas gift from her godmother, Jennifer. That she loves! I think this photo conveys the awesomeness of Joseph.