kenny's first skate (sort of)

Yesterday, one of the two hockey teams I play on rented out the rink at Wilmette for a family skate followed by a scrimmage. They were even nice enough to invite the other team I play on to come out and skate as well. Since Kenny's feet are still too small to fit into the tiniest skates available, he couldn't lace 'em up this time around. However, that didn't stop me from carrying him and doing laps around the rink.

Kenny loved being out on the ice, and punctuated our skating with cries of, "wheeeee!" and "more!" when I tried to stop and drop him off with Overboard in the stands. The tears you don't see me crying in the following pictures were ones of joy, as visions of my son zooming around the ice one day filled my head.

We don't have any pictures from the scrimmage, since Overboard spent most of that time chasing after Kenny as he ran up and down the rows of the stands.

In a truly surreal moment, I looked over at the glass during the scrimmage and instead of seeing Kenny and Overboard, I saw my boss watching the game. I didn't get a chance to talk to him, but I know he plays tennis at the same sports complex. This was still quite odd, and I can only hope I played well enough to avoid any repercussions at work. I can just hear it now: "Well, your writing on this project is solid, but your slapshot is pathetic."


The Rolnick family prepares for an afternoon at the rink.


From somewhere far away, we swear we could hear Grandpa Alan screaming, "You're a hockey player!"


Evenkeels grins, but Kenny knows that a real hockey player needs a good intimidating stare.


AJ takes Ava for her first skate as Kenny looks on with just a touch of jealousy.


The Brandts take a few laps before AJ has to put on his goalie gear.


Chicago Phantoms/Piranhas Boosters.


Kenny thought it was pretty funny to put his face up to the glass against mine. That is, once I took my helmet off and he could verify it was me.


"Hey, Rolnick! You SUCK!" (is what Kenny DID NOT say to his Daddy).


Evenkeel gloats as he sees the excitement in his son's eyes over banging the glass at a hockey player.

After the skate, everyone gathered in the party room for pizza and cake. Kenny had a grand time, playing with his toys, eating a few things, and walking around the room saying "hi" to everyone. Several scouts in attendance were seen taking notes, but it's too early to tell if he'll get any recruitment offers just yet.

twinkle twinkle little star

this is why god created cable television

While reading this blog you may have noticed that I, Professor Evenkeel, like this sport they call "hockey." Yes, it has become quite a passion of mine, and for the most part, Dr. Overboard has been pretty supportive of it. She puts up with my late night beer league games, stinky equipment in the laundry room, my purchase of the Center Ice package so I can follow my Thrashers, and even enjoys attending games in person. However, I may finally be on the edge of losing her hockey love, as it were.

Back in October, the United States finally got what Canada has had since 2001: an entire channel devoted to hockey. After a bit of hemming and hawing, I called Comcast and bought the sports package for a few extra bucks a month, and now I have a favorite new channel to watch as much as humanly possible.

While I'm in heaven - watching daily highlights, classic games from the '80s, player profiles, and even "hockey academy" episodes to learn a tip or two to improve my own game - Overboard is nearing the breaking point. It's bad enough that I generally maintain control of the remote, but now I don't even need the remote since I'm stuck on channel 404 all of the time. Watching anything and everything hockey, I sit in awe, gaping at the TV with a smile on my face and just a touch of drool dribbling out of the corner of my mouth. My beautiful wife is not amused.

Last night Kenny and I sat down to watch a few minutes of the NHL Network before heading out to dinner and Overboard shot me a disapproving look.

"You can't at least watch something educational?"
"This is educational. It's an interview with the Great One!"

I need to scour the dial and see if I can get Overboard some sort of equivalent network of her own. I have no idea what that would be, but as long as we have two TVs in the house, and two DVRs, we should be okay. For now.

Okay, gonna run and watch last night's highlights while everyone else is napping. Game on!

code green

[ed note: this post is especially geared towards our readers who are expecting a bundle of joy (or two) of their own in 2008.]

Unlike our favorite Boy in Bermuda, Kenny has proven to be a polite pooper, as it were. By this, I mean that he rarely, if ever, has what one could file as an "explosive poop." However, a parent must always be prepared.

[all readers should be prepared for the semi-graphic nature of the following paragraph]

I was taking care of a few things online in the office downstairs when I heard Overboard yell something about needing my help. I believe she categorized it as a "CODE GREEN!" Which meant that Kenny had taken a MASSIVE poop that had exploded everywhere, and to make it more festive, was bright green (flecked with nice little bits of orange...mandarin oranges, perhaps?).

Kenny was all smiles on the pack n' play changing table while Overboard attempted to clean him, his outfit, a small spy satellite that had flown too close, and while she was at it, herself. A new pair of Mr. K's socks were sacrificed, but his jeans miraculously survived (although they're currently soaking after I washed them out with one hand - the other hand being held over my nose and mouth). Where's the Glenview hazmat team when you need them, right?

The odds makers will tell you that we're safe for quite some time before this happens again, but I feel that constant vigilance remains our only true option.

jersey boy

He shoots, he...well, you know.

My buddy, and goalie, AJ told me about this awesome one day sale on HockeyOverstock.com where they were selling the old CCM Thrashers jerseys for only $20 a pop. That's the kind of deal that gets Kenny his own jersey...even if he needs a bit more time to grow into it.

Now, when his Grandpa yells, "You're a hockey player!" Kenny will be one step closer to that actually being true.


Our unsuspecting hockey star doesn't see the goon sneaking up behind him.


Which is why he gets suckered with an old hockey agitator maneuver.


"Who turned out the lights? She'd better not be getting ready to give me the Inglewood Jack!"

it was a merry jewish christmas

Every year I "celebrate" Christmas like many other Jews by going to the movies and then out for some Chinese food. It's my annual thing, and to be honest, it's not unique. After all, there are basically only two things open on Christmas Day for Jews to entertain themselves with, and that's the movies and Asian cuisine.

The past few years, my cousin Mitch and I have been celebrating together, with mixed results. Two years ago we saw "King Kong," which wasn't nearly as entertaining as I had hoped it would be (and Mitch hated it). Last year we were going to go see the new James Bond movie, but the theater had given me false information on the times and we were forced to sit through "The Good Shepherd" (which was neither good nor about a guy watching sheep...discuss).

I am happy to report, however, that this year we saw "Charlie Wilson's War" (which was pretty entertaining) and had a lovely post-movie meal of fried dumplings and General Tso's Chicken.

Overboard, being the best wife ever, hung out at home with Kenny while Mitch and I celebrated in her honor. Later in the evening, our friends the Fains came over with their two girls and we played and ate some Pita Inn, which I discovered stayed open on Christmas Day as well. And when your core clientèle are Muslims, Jews and Hindus, why wouldn't you, right?

So, for us, it was a delicious day. Hope yours was too.

kenny at kohl

Overboard and I took Kenny to the Kohl Children's Museum for an hour today to play. As usual, he had a great time running amok, especially in the car and train sections. We didn't bring the camera, but here are a few pix from the last time Overboard took him to the museum earlier this month. Enjoy!

happy hanukkah

"All I want for Hanukkah is a hug from Mommy...and maybe a life-sized dump truck. But I'm easy, so whatever."

Kenny had a nice Hanukkah the other week and got tons of new books, clothes and a kick-butt firetruck from Aunt Idelle. All in all, quite a success.

Here's a few more pix from the last night...


"You know, Daddy, if I had a real firetruck, I could easily put those candles out."


Evenkeel and Kenny discuss home fire safety vis a vis religious celebrations.


Kenny finds all of this terribly amusing. But he still wants some sort of life-sized truck.


"Okay! Okay! What about a toy truck to start, then maybe we'll upgrade later...you know, I can feel all of the blood rushing to my head. Sure wish there was a paramedic nearby. Maybe in a life-sized ambulance...just kidding, Daddy."

cooling things down

A fun Kenny-ism of the moment:

We taught Kenny that when your food is hot, you blow on it to cool it down. Now, when we present him with something hot, he will help blow on it to get it "just right." The funny thing is not only will he blow on hot food, but he'll often blow on cold food as well. Heck, we were watching a recent episode of "Check, Please!" featuring our main man, Sushi Mike, and Kenny saw the food on screen and started to blow at it vigorously.

This amuses us to no end.

It also helps Kenny from scalding his tongue or the roof of his mouth. Which is nice.

oh yeah, thanksgiving

"Yo, when do we eat?"

About a month ago now, many Americans - including a small group of us here in Glenview - celebrated a nice little holiday called "Thanksgiving." Maybe you've heard of it? This year, Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Alan came up from Atlanta and Cousins Danny and Elise came up from St. Louis. For us, that's a full house and it was an entertaining long weekend.

Here are a few highlights (with pictures):

One night, Grandma and Grandpa took us downtown to the Sears Tower for a hoighty-toighty dinner at the Metropolitan Club. We had a great meal and Mr. K enjoyed the view from up high and making goo-goo eyes at the waitresses.

"Wait, Mommy. I ordered the Lobster Bisque. That looks suspiciously like Mac n' Cheese."

Back home, Kenny got some quality playtime with his grandparents, and discovered that Grandpa Alan's head makes an outstanding place to put your toys.

"Don't move, Grandpa. This may hurt, but don't move."

Kenny also discovered that Grandpa Alan will belly laugh from time to time at both physical humor and biting political satire. He also has a fondness for anyone who will fall for the "pull my finger" routine. He is a man who enjoys the classics. And lucky for him, his grandson is easily amused as well.

Grandpa Alan guffaws at Kenny's standup routine.

When the big day rolled around, Overboard worked her culinary magic, conjuring up the traditional Thanksgiving day feast of Cornish Game Hens. Of course, this year, the hens were slightly bigger than in years gone by, and she bought six of them, so there was a lot of hen to go around. On the upside, they were "yum delish."

Overboard and Elise prepare the feast.

Kenny, Grandma, Danny and Grandpa wait patiently to inhale said feast.

Kenny and his headdress that he made at daycare.

Over the next few days, Kenny had fun carousing with all of the extra people in the house. The boy does love to play to a crowd.

Kenny shows Evenkeel how he placed toys on his Grandpa's head.

Danny and Elise had two main things they wanted to do while in Chicago. One was to go to a jazz or blues club. This we accomplished by dining over at Tanoshii with Sushi Mike and then hitting the Green Mill for some quality jazz and high-volume cigarette smoke inhalation. When they call that place a "smoky jazz club" they ain't kiddin'. The music was good tho'.

The second thing Danny and Elise wanted to do was get a true "Chicago Hot Dog." Since our usual standby, Hot Doug's, was closed on Sunday, we decided to try Glenview's own version, "fRedhots and Fries" instead. fRedhots is famous for the reindeer dogs, but they have a large selection of other sausages and regular hot dogs (or "fRedhots") as well.

Much meat was consumed and most everyone came away impressed. Grandma Jackie wasn't crazy about the reindeer dog, but that's a story for another time.

Danny and Elise enjoy their first-ever Chicago-style hot dog (or in this case, fRedhot).

We then took everyone to the Museum of Science and Industry for some fun and learning. Kenny was most impressed with the farming section (complete with a life-sized cow and a tractor he could "drive") and the ginormous train set. I was bummed that we couldn't get tickets to the "Star Wars" exhibit, but we had fun nonetheless. Heck, Mr. K even waited till we were on our way out of the building before he spit-up all over himself. Which was nice of him. To wait, that is.

The cow says, "MOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

To see all of the exciting Thanksgiving pictures (and not necessarily in chronological order), just click right here!

And to watch the exciting Thanksgiving week video highlight reel, well, just click the video player below.



And that's all I have to say about that.

dance dance revolution

Here's a fun video to go along with our previous story about Kenny's new found love for dancing. He's got some serious impatience for the musical selections, but I like the way he works the dance floor. Also, check out the two-fisted bump! That could end up being his signature move.

ashes, ashes

Over the past couple of days, Kenny has been wandering around saying/singing, "ashes, ashes...down!" We figured they must be doing "ring around the rosy" at daycare, and we were right. For your viewing pleasure, I present to you Kenny the Magnificent in "Ring Around the Rosy" (note the big dramatic finish).

kenny's dance party

Last night, Kenny and I were hanging out in his room before bedtime. We were playing with his toys, reading a few books and generally having a good time. I turned the radio on and showed Kenny how to change the station by moving the dial. He thought this was pretty amusing, and sat there scanning up and down the dial looking for a song he liked. Finally, he settled on "All Right Now" by Free and started to dance. Yes, dance.

Kenny started hopping in place and shaking his moneymaker to the sound of '70s rock. It was awesome. I had never seen him dance before, so I was loving this even more. I scanned the dial for more dance music, and in a moment of musical brilliance, came across some station playing "The Hustle." So we hustled. And it was again, awesome.

This continued through a series of tunes, including: "Super Freak" by Rick James and "New Sensation" by INXS.

We'll see if he'll stage another dance party tonight, and if so, I'll try to get some video of it. Maybe I can add in some disco lights in post-production.

18 month checkup

Kenny went to the doctor's office this morning for his 18 month checkup. Since we're generally responsible parents, Overboard and I went along as well (Sadie opted to stay home).

I'm happy to report that Mr. K is in excellent health and took his "Dip Tet" shot like a man. Or as his grandfather likes to say, "like a hockey player."

Kenny is currently 24 pounds and 2 ounces of pure fury and cuteness, which places him somewhere in the 25ish percentile. He stands a respectable 2'9", which places him somewhere in the 50ish percentile. As for his head, well it's somewhere in the 90ish percentile, because, let's face it, the boy is a genius and he's packing a big brain.

In other developmental news, Kenny is working on four new teeth, and they're all molars. Remarkably, the teething anger has not been off the charts, but he has kept his fingers in his mouth on a pretty constant basis for a while now. If that keeps him from screaming in anger/agony, then I suppose I'm all for it. At least that's what I remind myself when he takes said fingers out and proceeds to grab at my face with seriously drooly digits.

Parenthood. It's all about compromises.

nice retort, toots

I have a Thanksgiving post to get to at some point here (lest ye think we don't celebrate Thanksgiving...which we do), but this can't wait...

Overboard, Kenny and I were downstairs playing, when I grabbed two of Kenny's little people and held them up for Overboard. In an effort to show her what I'd been teaching Kenny as of late, I held up the farmer and asked, "What does the farmer say?"

Overboard shot me a quizzical look and said, "E-I-E-I-O."

Then I held up Jorge Mendoza and asked, "Now what does the construction worker say?"

Overboard scrunched up her face in confusion and then let loose with an energetic wolf whistle.

After I stopped crying from laughing so hard, I corrected her.

"Actually, he says, 'On time and under budget!' But that could work too...if he was a sexist pig."

In a perfect comedy world, Kenny would have looked up at that moment and said, "Oink, oink," but he blissfully continued to play with his toys, oblivious to his mother's humorous take on stereotyped job site behavior.

stockholm syndrome

Over the weekend I was talking with Overboard (just something we like to do) and I mentioned that Kenny had given the daycare lady a big hug on Friday morning when I dropped him off.

"Must be Stockholm Syndrome," said my lovely bride.

what we teach our son

In the past week, Overboard and I have taught Kenny to:

1. Throw his arms in the air in celebration when someone yells, "He shoots, he scores!"

and

2. Cover his ears with his hands when someone says, "Earmuffs!"

I mean, if you can't have a little fun, what's the point, right?