momdar

Mommies have special hearing. They can detect the slightest whimper or muffled cry of a child from great distances.This is known as "Momdar." Daddies have a version of Momdar called "Dadar", but it's often muffled, muted, or just turned off. Of course, as any good Daddy will tell you, so long as Mommy is nearby (and has her Momdar on - as she always does), his Dadar is superfluous.

Yesterday, Overboard went into the laundry room and requested me to make sure the baby monitor was on while Kenny took his nap. I noted to her that the monitor was indeed on, but she didn't hear me, since she was in the laundry room and I was in the basement on the couch (a whole doorway away). She asked again, in a slightly angrier tone, and I snapped back that I had told her that it was on, and figured she could tell because the boy had yelled something only moments before. I then questioned her Momdar.

Overboard took offense to just about everything in the previous paragraph, and said that her Momdar worked just fine, thankyouverymuch. The exchange then went something like this:

EVENKEEL: I thought you could hear through solid walls, and up to several rooms away.

OVERBOARD: I can.

EVENKEEL: Then, why do you need the monitor on at all?

OVERBOARD: 'Cause I don't want to get confused when I hear the kid four houses away.

I conceded the point.

happy birthday to...me

Hey, I never said I was beyond shameless self-promotion. Go me.

As for birthday gifts, well, I'll take one of these if you've got one lying around.

the tickler

On a few occasions lately, while I'm changing his diaper, Kenny has snuck his hand up my shirt sleeve and tickled my arm. He gets this awesome grin of intense mischievousness mixed with a doe-eyed hopefulness, as he awaits my surprise and giggles. What he tends to get is a, "Hey! What are you doing there? Daddy almost dropped this poo-poo filled diaper on his foot! But you may be on to something, son, so let's try this tickle technique on your mother later."

it's working!

On Saturday, I had to make a run over to my local hockey store to get a new stick shaft. See, due to my incredibly powerful slap shot, I had finally cracked a shaft that I'd been using for a long time now. Instead of just going over there myself, Overboard and Kenny came along for a fun family hockey expedition. The last time Kenny was in a hockey store, we were still holding his hands for balance while he walked around. This time, our little Kovalchuk was wandering the aisles with a stick and puck in his hands, happily commenting, "Hockey! Hockey!"


Kenny gazes around in awe at the awesome bounty of hockey paraphernalia.

Kenny also received a small plastic hockey stick set for his birthday, and we play in the living room from time. He does fairly well knocking the oversized ball around, but has a tendency to keep his blade off the ice enough to get whistled for "high sticking" on a regular basis.

Last time we played, he absolutely slayed me by whacking the ball and yelling, "Number Four! Bobby Orr!" I think I wept a few tears of joy at that one. Overboard merely looked on in horror, waiting for the moment when Kenny would smack himself (or someone else) with his plastic stick/weapon.

In other fun Kenny hockey news, if his feet grow another half size or so in the next few months, I may be able to get him out on the ice in his own pair of skates this winter.

Game on!

the health inspector would not be pleased

When I dropped Kenny off at daycare this morning, he was in such a hurry to make some "eatmeal and pancakes" in the play kitchen that he completely bypassed going "washy washy" (which is the second thing the kids must do when they get to daycare, after changing from sneakers to slippers).

I gently scolded Kenny from the entryway and reminded him that "all employees have to wash their hands before handling food!" He gave me a quizzical look and meandered over to the bathroom sink to wash his hands. When he was done, he marched back to the play kitchen. I said goodbye, but all I got was a half-hearted wave over his shoulder and a "Bye-bye, Daddy."

What can I say? Apparently, the breakfast rush was about to kick in.

more times

Kenny, who has never been shy about asking for more of anything, has developed a fun new turn of phrase: "More times"

He will say this whenever you do something he likes and wants to happen again, such as: Reading a good book, singing a fun song, spinning him around over your head like helicopter propeller blades, building and destroying Lego houses, etc.

We're trying to be good parents and enforce the use of proper grammar and linguistics, so we often counter a request for "more times" by saying, "Undertake this endeavor on more than once occasion? Very well then." Of course, more often than not, we just submit to the cuteness and say, "Yeah, okay. More times."

It is worth noting that "more times" is a much more enjoyable thing to hear from Kenny than the phrase "bite tongue," which has occurred a few times lately, as the last of his teeth make their grand entrance into his dental neighborhood.

could they be any?

Last weekend we had a fun visit with our friends, the Nisers. In addition to being good people, nice people, if you will, they are also the most gracious of Kenny clothiers. When Andy and Ethan have outgrown their latest couture, Kenny becomes the next in line. It has been remarked that Lisa enjoys reading this blog because she can play, "Oooohhh...I know those shorts!" And on behalf of Kenny and Overboard, we're more than happy to play this game for some time to come.

We had a lot of fun running amok (indoors and out) and enjoyed a lovely dinner. When I explained to budding sports enthusiast, Andy, that I wasn't eating much dinner because I had to go play a hockey game, his eyes grew very wide. He asked me what team I played for, and I think he was a touch disappointed that the answer wasn't "the Blackhawks." I went on to explain to him that I play "professionl amateur" hockey, and not "professional" hockey. Lucky for me, I don't think this diminished his enthusiasm that much.

Andy was nice enough to help me pack my hockey bag, and it was a trip to see how excited and impressed he was with all of the equipment. Each time I held up a new piece of gear he would look at it with a certain amount of awe and then say, "that is sweet." He took special interest in my jerseys and was thrilled when he got to try on my helmet and gloves. I, of course, was as nonchalant as possible, and quietly waited for some sort of autograph request that sadly didn't arrive. Oh yeah, Andy also thought that the refrigerator stocked with Gatorade was "sweet" as well. Let's just say that I like this kid immensely.


Kenny ponders life as a Niser.


Lisa comforts Andy 's crushing disappointment at learning that Evenkeel's exploits don't make the Web Gems on ESPN.


Paul reads the classic, "No, No, Yes, Yes" to Ethan and Kenny.


The boys give their best "cheese" smiles.


Ethan finds a few points of contention amongst the list of "No" items.

Also, for those who appreciate a good blog, check out Paul's blog all about the Apple products I would love to own, but somehow manage to resist.

afternoon in the park - a photo essay

He's a swinger, baby.

We call this the "Heidi" shot.

Kenny looks off into the distance, pondering how many flowers he can gather.

Overboard teaches Kenny about fauna.

Simple pleasures in life: Blowing on dandelions.

Kenny tries on Evenkeel's hat. Fits like a glove!

Only suckers need to see where they're walking.

knock on wood

Today is our fifth wedding anniversary, or, our "wood" anniversary. Woo(d)-hoo!

Let's hear it for Overboard for being smart enough to marry me and kind enough to stick to her legal marital obligations ever since (i.e. she puts up with my $@#!).

Here are some before, during and after pix from the big weekend:


One of the pix we took at various Chicago landmarks to be used for the guest tables. As in, "Yes, you'll be sitting at the Art Museum." These were pretty popular, and most were pilfered along with the table floral arrangements - which was totally cool with us. We'd nab pictures of us too.


My favorite picture from the entire wedding. This was snapped before the ceremony while we sat at a piano in the hotel lobby and sang, "Those Were the Days" to each other. Overboard does an excellent Edith Bunker impression.


Taken while on our honeymoon in Maui. We had an amazing dinner under the stars, while decked out in our best Hawaiian tourist garb.

seeing double

The other weekend, we finally got a chance to head over to Vince and Kerry's new condo to meet their little girls, Lexi and Paige. While most of our Chicago "usual suspects" have been having kids lately, Vince and Kerry decided to up the ante by having twins.


Overboard and Kerry discuss how much college tuition could potentially be covered by a Doublemint commercial or two.

Kenny was mildly interested in the baby girls, but incredibly entertained by Vince. Now, you need to understand that Vince is an actual, honest-to-goodness working actor, so he enjoys being on stage and performing. Which would explain how, even in new-father, sleep-deprived state, he put on an action-packed show for Kenny.

Once Kenny warmed up to his new surroundings, Vince began chasing him around their condo. Raucous games of "Where did Vince go?" were backed up by delirious fits of laughter and high speed "chase me! chase me!" escapades.


Vince's "disembodied head trick" kills with the toddler set.


Kenny pauses before trying to set a new land speed record across the condo.


Vince and his audience/protégé.

And then, during the big finale, Vince taught me a new trick to use, by scooping up Kenny like he was a fighter pilot, using Vince's thumbs as the yoke.


"Look at me! I'm a spitfire!"

During the big show, I tried to capture as much as I could on camera, while grinning like a fool. A fool who wasn't sweating because he didn't have to chase his son all over the condo. So, on second thought, fool might not be the right word here.

Overboard amused herself by holding one of the girls (honestly, I'm at a loss as to which one...they are twins after all) and oohing and aahing over the cuteness all around.

Finally, we took off so the girls (and Vince) could take a well-deserved nap.

Here's a quick video of Vince and Kenny in action:

doody in the pool

Okay, so the other weekend we made our first trip of the summer to the park district pool/mini water park to take a swim. When we got there, the main "activity pool" was seemingly taking one of their hourly "safety breaks." During a safety break, anyone under 16 has to get out for about ten minutes. What seemed odd was that no one was in the pool, but we didn't really think too much about it. I turned down Overboard's suggestion to head over to the kiddie pool, because I figured the safety break would be over soon, and I wanted to take Kenny for a "real swim."

So we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, I was curious and asked one of the teenage lifeguards what was up. He sheepishly told me that they were dealing with a "pool contamination" and would be re-opening soon. Uh-oh. So we went to the kiddie pool.

After a little bit, it was announced that the activity pool was open again for business. Overboard and I talked it over, and decided it would be okay to take a swim. So we did. Without incident.

Not too long after that, we were back in the kiddie pool so Kenny could splash about. During our second visit, we once again heard an announcement that the activity pool would be temporarily closed due to a "contamination."

Okay, now, in all of our visits to the pool, we've never had this happen. And suddenly it happens twice? Good grief. Potty train your kids, people!

Honestly, I felt the worst for the poor teenage lifeguards who aren't making nearly enough money to go wading into the water to collect the "contaminates." Ewwww.

4th of july - the unclever recap

So, I'm pretty behind on the goings on, I know. I was gonna be all detailed and clever about our 4th of July celebrations, but instead I'll just be brief and let the pictures do the talking (or typing, as the case may be).

As always, the Glenview 4th of July parade rolled right in front of the house, and we had the Beckers, Carters and Brandts all come over to eat hot dogs and watch Ed take on the Boy Scouts. It was a good time. So good of a time that Kenny made it all the way through the parade before collapsing in a heap for a lovely three hour nap.

Even though an email was circulated amongst the troops about which house to attack, Ed was fairly successful in his Boy Scout battle. That didn't stop the armchair generals from our driveway from throwing around phrases like "triangulation" and "enfilades" for next year's strategy. Well, that and a fortified sandbag bunker and a water balloon sniper on the roof. After all, he's only got 11 and a half more months to get those battle plans drawn up...


Ed (in red) watches the Boys Scouts empty what's left of his arsenal.

So there you have it. Much food was eaten, many drinks were consumed, hundreds of water balloons were lobbed and one mascot took a shot right to the no-nos (see picture in slideshow).

What a country!

Click here to see all of the 4th of July pix.

today, my cousin is a woman

Allegra and Kenny show you what cuteness is supposed to look like.

Well, it was actually a few weeks ago now that we headed on down to Dallas for Allegra's Bat Mitzvah. Again, I was gonna do a whole blow-by-blow of the weekend, but now I'm tired and it's been too long since everything occurred. So, utilizing that wonderful rationalization for my laziness, I present the weekend in brief:

We flew down and were greeted by Texas heat and traffic. Wheee!

Kenny ran amok in the halls of the hotel with some serious zeal.

We went to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and the California Rolnicks at the BBQ joint cousin CZ used to work at, and is now enshrined upon the lobby wall.

Allegra did an outstanding job during her Bat Mitzvah (no shock there...that's one smart cookie), while Kenny and his cousins played in the synagogue's daycare. They did come back out for the end of the ceremony, where Kenny thought the blessing over the wine was fantastically cool. Well, he thought the grape juice substituting for wine was fantastically cool. Afterwards, we were going to stay for the luncheon, but someone passed out at the table (hint: it wasn't me or Overboard). We did, however, take advantage of the snoozing boy in the back seat to pull through a Chik-Fil-A drive thru. Mmmmmm...Chik-Fil-A...

We went swimming at Aunt Robin and Uncle Bob's and played with the three pudgy pugs. Kenny also met his Great Grandma Barbara for the first time.

Dinner at the Greek restaurant was a hit. Kenny liked the bellydancer so much he didn't question why there was a bellydancer at a Greek place.

We did more swimming. Then we went home.

TAAAAA-DAAAAA!

Click here to see all of the pictures.

tubby time

Just some fun tubby time pix from the other night...


"I see you've noticed my full cup of bathwater."

"Now I dump it all over my belly."

"And then I add a small flourish."

"Seriously, I emptied it all on myself. Tada!"

ej? he's like a cousin to me...

Overboard's cousin Keith, his wife Carolyn, and their son EJ dropped in to visit the other weekend while they were in town for a wedding. The boys had a nice lunch together and then went downstairs for some serious playtime. Toy houses were explored, Legos played with, and Spud Buds assembled. All in all, a very exciting afternoon.

What? You need photographic evidence? Okay then.


EJ makes short work of some mac n' cheese. At this exact moment, I believe he was trying to say, "Can't talk. Eating."


Kenny admires EJ's technique.


Kenny. Master of the Spud Buds universe.


Kenny didn't believe Keith was an architect, so he challenged him to prove himself with Legos.


Keith and EJ pose for the paparazzi.


Story Time!

Need more? Click here for additional action shots.

pickles!

Adam was thrilled to visit on "Casual Thursday"

Dr. Professor Silverman and his beautiful bride, Amy, were in town for their annual July 4th weekend visit. In between teaching music classes and family obligations, they dropped in for a quick visit with Mr. K (and us) on Thursday night, before heading out to dinner.


Kenny begrudgingly puts on more clothes at his mother's request.

Kenny took about 30 seconds to warm up to his guests and quickly unleashed his inner ham by singing, dancing and generally running amok. Adam unwittingly created a new "more monster" when he showed Kenny the ol' chestnut: "cut the pickle." Confused? Lemme 'splain.

First Adam holds his hand out and says, "Gimme five." Then he moves his hand over Kenny's head and says, "Up high." Then he moves his hand to each side for some high-fivin' action, and ends by placing his fingertips together and asking Kenny to "cut the pickle." After the pickle has been cut comes the infamous "tickle, tickle." This had Kenny in hysterics. And demanding many more "performances."


Kenny cuts the pickle in question.

Kenny gets Amy in on the high-fivin'/pickle cutting action.

Amy's tickled about the popularity of the pickle.

Kenny also shared his love of "Punk Farm" with Adam and Amy and got them to read it to him and join in with a few "Ye-ow!" filled sing-alongs.


"And that's the Goat. He's a mellow dude."

Adam and Amy taught us the new song Adam wrote for their niece, all about the joys of brushing one's teeth. Dig it:



The visit was a fun one, albeit a brief one. Hopefully, next year we'll get some more time together. For now, we'll be content with Kenny's new love of screaming, "Pickle! Pickle!" at any given moment.


The gang's all here! (except Overboard...she's behind the camera)

happy birthday, grandpa!

Today is "Grandpa Toot-Toot's" birthday. He's 35! No, wait, that's gonna be me. Okay, he's slightly older than 35. Either way, we wish him a "Happy Birthday" and hope he enjoys his annual Brazilian Meat Bonanza tonight.


Grandpa shows Kenny what life was like when he was a boy and dinosaurs roamed the Earth.*



*We kid because we love!

family self-portrait

tails are not meant to be stepped on

Kenny has taken more and more interest in Sadie as he's gotten older. He's also (slowly) starting to show her a touch more respect, especially when it comes to her personal space. Now, when Sadie is sprawled out in a doorway (which she loves to do), Kenny will walk/run at her, then, when he gets close, he'll slow down and shuffle around her, so he doesn't step on her tail. Once he's cleared the dog, he takes off again at normal/hyper speed.