Ry and Coop Dot Com

It is becoming increasingly obvious that we are beginning to enter the next chapter in the saga that is Ryan Timothy Austin, namely the “terrible twos”. This is a very challenging stage because you’re never really sure just how much they understand and yet you know they understand more than they’ll let you think they know. I’m going to give you a moment to digest that run-on sentence.

So what do you do when your child acts up? Tonight, mostly out of shear excitement, our little Ali went off and smacked his mom on the nose. Now I don’t want to sound like a tree hugging whacked out parent (though I do love trees and haven’t been the same since our neighbor ran over my little arboretum with the lawn mower) but it seems to me that spanking in this situation doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’m going to hit you so that you understand it’s not okay to hit. If I extended that logic to my college days, it would be like having my dad drink a case of beer to show me it’s not healthy to get uncontrollably drunk.

So, we tried time out. I think he got it! The trouble I’m having is that I don’t get it. Ryan seems to understand he’ll lose a few minutes of freedom if he does something wrong. But wait? So the punishment for hitting is two minutes alone in a dimly lit room on a comfortable couch? Ryan screamed his head off in protest. Hmmm… Two minutes alone you say? I think I’m ready to sign up for time out.

It’s baaaaack! The Painful Poo, The Backside Mud, The Hot Sloppys.  You guessed it.  Ryan’s got another case of diarrhea.  This one is particularly bad because it seems that it’s come with a bad cold and acidic feces.  Ryan is now walking around like John Wayne in “The Searchers” and has a rash that now, after three days, is going to require a trip to Dr. Mike.  We need some serious Jose Canseco like steroids to clear this one up. 

The good news is that children have short memories and this is something we could all learn from.  Even though he’s in a good amount of pain every time we change diapers, he’s still found many many reasons to laugh and have fun.  So, just remember, even if you have a real pain in the butt, you can still find ways to laugh.

One of the earliest documented jack-in-the-boxes was made by a German clock maker in the early 1500s. It was a gift for the son of a local Prince on the boy’s fifth birthday. A plain wooden box with metal edges and a crank handle, it played a simple tune and the ‘jack’ was a comical devil with a ‘leering smile’–according to a pamphlet published by the Nuremburg Toy Museum. When other nobles requested a “Devil-in-a box” for their own children, a trend took off that continues to this day.

And now, over 500 years later, this simple toy strikes the Austin household. You may not know this but the “devilish” clown that comes out of the box is actually symbolic of the way that god awful song makes adults feel after hearing it for the thousandth time… I’m still amazed how a toy that’s this old can be so popular. It goes to show you that if you do something really well it’ll last for a long time.

Ryan has really enjoyed the holidays and over the next few days I’ll show you more from our travels.  One thing I’ve been wondering lately (as in this morning) was how Mother Mary was able to travel throughout the Middle East with a baby, even one as good as I suspect Jesus was.

Ryan has continued his unfortunate habit of waking up at 5:30 am, no matter what time he goes to bed.  You’d think that he’d wake up very grouchy (as his parents do) but that’s not the case.  Take, for example, this picture of Papa and Ryan trying to recreate Mother Mary’s garbs.  Pretty cute!

I find the idea of traveling three hours home to be slightly daunting.  I can’t imagine traveling thousands of miles on a camel.  Life was certainly much harder back then.

With all that Mary had to go through, I guess I won’t complain about Ryan waking up at 5:30 but I refuse to stop praying that he’ll sleep in.  In fact, I think I”ll say one right now….

Many of you don’t know that long before this blog began there was another arguably more prolific blog.  MaddieMudhead

As we wrap up the holiday and embark on the beginning of a New Year, I wanted to take the time to honor our eldest daughter.

Maddie Mudhead, it may appear that our little man has taken much of our attention but 2011 will be the year of long walks and a few hikes.  My growing gut looks forward to the challenge.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We just came back from a wonderful evening with our family and it was really nice to share in the Christmas Spirit.  Grandma and Grandpa certainly didn’t adhere to warnings in earlier posts and went way overboard again this year.  The highlight of the evening was certainly the bouncing turtle which received several kisses after Grandma and Mommy put it together.

Though the weeks leading up to Christmas tried to damper the Christmas Spirit, getting family together was all it took to realize how lucky we’ve got it.

Presents are nice, family and the love we have for one another is so much nicer.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tonight, Jenn and I took Ryan to the mall to walk around and do some last minute shopping.  This has been a regular occurrence for us because we’ve been notoriously forgetful but moreover, Ryan just loves to be in public. Sadly, I needed to leave home tonight to be in New York City for a good friend who’s about to lose his mother to a prolonged battle with liver cancer.  This is painful, no doubt.

I’ve always thought (and having Ryan has only reinforced this) that losing a child must be among the greatest losses known to mankind but losing a parent has to be a close second.  I’ve watched my mother say goodbye to her parents and my father do the same to his mother and that was certainly very sad, but I wasn’t prepared to share this experience with friends… I’m still too young for that. Makes me certainly cherish the time we’ve got with our parents.

So I’m here, trying to be as supportive as I can be to a friend who’s been very supportive to me over the years. It’s the least I can do, and unfortunately the most.

Christmas is certainly not what it used to be.  I’m not sure if it’s because Jenn and I are super busy or because we’re super busy, but I think it’s because we’re super busy.  There’s no doubt that Jenn and I work a ton, partly because we’re working hard to scrape a future together for our new responsibility but mostly I think it’s because we love what we do.  We’re both very driven people who like to succeed in everything we set out to do.  We even work so hard that we succeed in doing things we didn’t set out to do…things like teaching Ryan to say “night night” and “water” (at least we think “awa” is water.) 

So this year, Christmas seems a bit rushed.  Last week, Jenn ran to Home Depot on the way back from the gym and bought a Christmas Tree.  We put the lights on together and we’ve been taking shifts decorating the house while the other watches Ryan or comes home from work.  Some of the decorations are up, many sit still in their boxes.  The spirit of Christmas is still very much alive in our hearts but it just doesn’t sit very high on our minds. I think next year will be so much more fun when Ryan actually understands what’s going on and doesn’t view Santa as a scary man in a red costume.  I see now that most parents live vicariously through their kids and try and recapture some of the magic of Christmas

There is one thing that can bolster our Christmas spirits this season.  In talking with my mother this week, I was reminded of the annual cookie exchange that she puts on with her girlfriends. This reminds me of me of Robin Young’s Congo Bars.  That, in turn, reminds me of Christmas!

There are many joys in this world (and I apologize to all the wonderful cooks who’re reading this and questioning the veracity of what I’m writing) but the truth is there are few culinary joys as wondrous as the Congo bar.  I’m going to go as far as to say tasting one of these heavenly delights might be the very thing that can rejuvenate my Christmas spirit.  Robin, if you’re reading this, no pressure…