Singing

Ethan loves to sing. And he learns the words to songs pretty quickly. And if he can't quite get the tune right, he makes up for it with volume.

We have a tape of primary songs that he sings in the car. He's getting to know pieces of most of the songs. It's cute to hear him join in when it's playing. He'll sing all the way to wherever we are going.

Then, when we are at home, Ethan will also start just singing at random. Today he was climbing on the couch singing the "Follow the Prophet" chorus (over and over) at the top of his lungs. Then, on occasion, he would mix in "I lived in Heaven" to the same tune as Follow the Prophet. It took me a few times before I realized what words he was actually using.
Of course, he didn't care. He was just happy to be singing and dancing.

I love that he likes singing so much. I hope he gets his mother's talent for singing too.

News from the frontlines

So, I've been told that my blog has been neglected of late. And I can't deny it. However, today, I will not be parading around the same tired excuses with their threadbare rags tenuously clinging to their dead-horse-beaten bodies.

Instead I have a fresh new batch of excuses, still shiny with new-car smell. These I will present for your reading pleasure with the expectation that you will not question them or look under the masks.

Excuse number 1. Life is hard. There, I said it. Life is just hard, and as the blog is a all about me anyway, I'm elevating that selfishness to my frequency of posting. Sorry if this demolishes any preconceptions I have may presented over the last four years about my blog being a place to stay current on the happenings of our family.

Excuse number 2. Raising kids is hard. And, while you might think it only gets twice as hard with two kids, well, you'd be silly for thinking that. Rather, the second child is more like an exponent, squaring the level of difficulty and space required for childrearing. Our apartment that has been roomy enough for us to live in for 5 years has suddenly shrunk, seemingly overnight, until we feel that we're living in a hotel room rather than an apartment. There is no space in our house that, if not entirely consumed, is not laced with the paraphernalia of children. (Also, every trashcan in the house has a dirty diaper in it.)

Excuse number 3. Looking for a job is hard. In case you haven't heard, or been confused by Mia's post, I'm still just in the looking phase. Te first place we decided to look was North Carolina. Oddly enough, a few people we knew from Boston have moved down there. And some others here in Boston came from there. So, apparently there's something to the place. I've found a couple of jobs that are right in the field I'm looking for (haven't landed any of them yet) so it's got work I could do.
If North Carolina doesn't work out, I may look in such exotic locales as Austin, Denver, and Portland.

Excuse number 4. I've got a bigger, better blog now. Well, I don't know if it's better but I'm getting some attention on a professional blog that I've started. It's giving me a space to think about marketing, the Internet, and social media. I'm starting to carve out my career in this space, so I like having a place that I can posit on ideas that I wouldn't normally get to deal with at work.

And if you buy all those excuses, then I've also got a nice bridge we should talk about. ;)

Killing time

Things you can do while your infant son takes a 4.5 hour nap... in your arms.

1. Watch a session of conference.
2. Catch up on your RSS feeds
3. Eat a snack
4. Read a fair chunk of Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
5. Take a nap yourself

Yes, you can do all of those things and more in just one nap session. If you want to try it for yourself, come on down to our place. We'll set you up.