Boy Oh Boyers

If you missed my twitter post, you might not know that last weekend we had a little snow here. We had lots of fun. You can view all the excitement in the online photo album.

I'm a little sleepy, but I've been wanting to write a post about something for quite a while now. Here goes.

Our lives are busy, you know; I'm working on my Ph.D. in computer science, and I have a lot of deadlines. However, we have been hugely blessed to have people who care for Rowan and do such an amazing job; Yolanda kept him two days per week until her second baby arrived, and Erin has kept him two days per week for more than a year now. She'll be having their second baby soon and Rowan will be making a transition to half-day preschool at a Spanish immersion school within walking distance of our house. Well, that's just a little background, but it isn't what I wanted to say.

What I wanted to say is that I don't know anybody in the world that has a better life than I do. Take for instance the past week. My mom was here, visiting from Georgia and keeping Rowan last week. She has done this for one week out of every month since he was born, so that I could catch up during that week (thereby making up for only working two "regular" days per week for the rest of the month). Don't even get me started on how ridiculously amazing it is that my (quite busy and popular mom, I might note) would drop her normal life for a week out of every month for two and a half years (and still counting) so that I could finish this education I'm passionate about, and so that I could have such amazing quality time with Rowan during the first few years of his life. Also don't get me started on how generous my dad and sister are with regard to Mom's sacrifice; it has passed on plenty of sacrifice to them too.

Mom left Saturday morning, and shortly after that Uncle Tim arrived to play in the snow with Rowan and Tom. I was still working very long hours on a paper submission, but I did run outside and snap a few pictures, which you can enjoy as pictures of the day. I also put a snorkel and scuba mask on a snowman, the first snowman I've ever touched in person! Ha. Well, I sat inside all day and worked, upstairs in the loft with earplugs in so that I could hear a little bit of what the boys were up to, but I wouldn't be too distracted. There was a fire in the fireplace all day, snow outside, and do you know what I was doing? I was working. But I was happy.

I was happy because I was doing work that I love. I love it because I'm pretty sure it's what my brain was made to do. And I love it because it can make the world a better place. And, I love it because I wasn't sure I could do it, but I definitely, definitely can.

A few days later after I had stayed up 'til 2am getting the paper submitted (its deadline was midnight Pacific time; you do the math), I woke up at 7:30 in the morning to find a just-waking Rowan next to me in the bed. I think he had gotten up at 6 but Tom felt so bad for me that he brought Rowan straight in to snuggle me in hopes that he would go back to sleep, and I was thrilled to find that he did. That day, we had such an amazing time. We went shopping and ate a pretzel. We watched some snowboarding and some curling on the winter Olympics. We turned off the hockey because it was a bad influence. (Rowan has developed quite a pushing, shoving mean streak, especially with Ander, so anything that encourages that is strictly off limits for now.)

I went from writing up cutting-edge computational linguistics research one day to shopping for "big boy underwear" with rockets on them, and singing "Zippety-doo-dah" the next day. Of course, I guess I make that kind of transition many times per day most days, and it is absolutely what I hoped for when I learned that we were going to have a baby in the first place.

Another thing I hoped for was a that Tom would turn out to be the kind of dad who was hands-on and unafraid. I thought it would be true, but I wasn't sure. He is, though, and even more than I realized he could be. When I worked all day Saturday and Sunday, Tom took care of everything -- Rowan's bath, meals, naps, potty, all of our laundry and dishes, and many of those things he does on a regular basis even when I'm not working hard on a deadline. I'm not sure I would have believed all of this without seeing it. But it's what I hoped for.

Actually, all of this is exactly what I hoped for, plus more.

For over a year, Rowan has been staying with "Ms. Erin" two days per week. This arrangement has been an answer to prayers in so many ways. For example, Erin speaks Spanish fluently (her "other day job" is as a professional translator) and she has gotten Rowan started with his second language. Erin's son Ander is just six months younger than Rowan and they have become good friends, teaching each other a lot about patience and sharing in the process. They have also been very good potty-training influences on each other, and are both now exclusively in underwear during waking hours. She lives very close to Toms' and my offices, so dropping Rowan off was always convenient. And most of all, we know that she loves Rowan dearly, and he loves her in return. He has never once cried when we have dropped him off at her house, and asking, "Do you want to get ready to go to Ms. Erin's?" always results in an enthusiastic shout, "OK!"

In my opinion, one of the cutest moments that Ms. Erin has captured was when Rowan and Ander's favorite stuffed animals, "Sorry" and "Mr. Lion," ate peas together!

We're starting a new chapter now because Ms. Erin will be having Baby Mirren soon. Rowan has started a Spanish immersion preschool that is very close to our house (about a 15 minute walk, if we're ever inclined). He will be attending five days per week in the mornings starting a couple of weeks from now, and he has been attending for a few hours at a time to get used to the routine and get to know everyone. I'm very excited about the opportunity for him to be in a Spanish immersion environment (if you aren't familiar with what that means, they don't teach Spanish per se; they teach a wide variety of typical preschool stuff, but everyone speaks Spanish all the time). His teachers are very nice, highly qualified people with degrees in education from their native countries (I believe one is from Honduras and the other is from Belize). Rowan even already has a "best friend" in class after only being there three times -- he and Layla really hit it off! :-) I'm sure there will be pictures coming soon of his preschool adventures.