evohr.org

Monday, February 26, 2001

For future reference. A decade from now, we hope that the kids will be thriving in public schools, but just in case ... here's an article about local middle schools founded to help girls soak up technology.
2:24:00 PM

Saturday, February 24, 2001

Pictures for a rainy afternoon.








Feeling damp?
4:39:00 PM

Thursday, February 22, 2001

One week ago today ... the kids went for a stroll around the neighborhood with Gramma and Grandad. It was a gorgeous day, so they wore their snazzy sweaters made by Great-Grammie Rohr in Lynn:



The stroll had its usual effect, as the following before and after snapshots attest:



Just like clockwork ... works every time.
5:40:00 PM

Wednesday, February 21, 2001

That same morning, Maya decided she was old enough to start helping with the laundry:



For her, the question of scale was how to get at the laundry in the first place:



There's not enough in there to be able to just reach over the sides, so how about a more direct approach?



Bingo! The mountain comes to Mohammed.



This is the way we sort the clothes, sort the clothes...
2:01:00 PM

Peek-a-boo! One of the most popular uses of Bryn's new crawling skills has been to repeatedly wander over and play with one of her favorite toys -- floor-to-ceiling curtains.




At first we were baffled by her fascination with the furnishings, but eventually we figured it out.

It's all a matter of scale. For Bryn, eye level is still not more than six inches off the floor, but by yanking her arms back and forth, she can make ripples in that fabric and watch them travel up about 8 feet in one room, and almost 11 feet in another.

If that doesn't sound impressive, imagine the same feat from, say, Daddy's usual perspective. For him, eye level is almost 6 feet off the floor, so to experience a similar effect, he'd need curtains that were approximately 100 to 130 feet tall.

"Baby logic" is not an oxymoron. Not by a long shot.
2:00:00 PM

Tuesday, February 20, 2001

One possible reason for all those acrobatics a week ago was that it was Gramma's birthday. To celebrate, Grandad whipped up a yummy chicken curry recipe from a Georgia O'Keefe cookbook:




Believe it or not -- one of the most difficult aspects of the day was getting the "birthday girl" to sit still for a picture.



You wouldn't believe how sneaky Kathy had to be to catch these happy young lovers unaware.



Hey, was that the camera?



Yep. Gotcha!
8:07:00 PM

Maya, how did you escape from underneath that Exersaucer?



The same way I got in, of course! You didn't think I'd abandon my favorite toy under there, did you?



See? The attached handle is especially convenient for hauling it around without having to take the binkie out of my mouth. Thanks, Aunt Mimi and Uncle Jack!
8:05:00 PM

Well, Bryn's been crawling for a good week now, and we're embarrassed to admit that we still don't have any good stills to commemorate this momentous feat. (Video we have, but fat lot of good that does you.) Don't despair, though -- we've saved up a bunch of other good images and will be trickling them out over the next week.

In other news, today's big milestone belongs to Maya, who's started cutting her first tooth. It's not really visible yet, but you can definitely feel it ... and boy is it sharp!
12:53:00 AM

Monday, February 12, 2001

Bryn demonstrates how exceedingly considerate she can be. This morning's checklist:

1. Sleep in a little late, so that everyone in the house can be well-rested.
2. Promptly eat a big breakfast, to be full of energy.
3. Confirm that silly parents have finally purchased and tested a camcorder.
4. Make sure Mommy's home and watching.
5. Begin crawling!

No still footage yet, though. We need to recreate the event on video first.
11:19:00 AM

Sunday, February 11, 2001

Yay! Mommy's home!
7:58:00 PM

Riddle: What has sixteen legs, half of which never reach the ground? Answer: A pair of twin families out for a weekend stroll, of course.



We were very glad to learn last fall that another set of twins live in our neighborhood, only a few blocks away. They're also both girls, and only a little bit older. Maybe it's not unheard of for pairs of twins the same age to grow up together and go to the same school, but it seems pretty special to us.

Anyhow, this tiny foursome provides a convenient excuse for their respective parents (Kathy, Paul, Kelly, and Philip -- no, we're not making this up) to get out of the house together from time to time. Thus, a week ago, we trundled the whole crowd off to the Sawyer Camp Trail for a Sunday afternoon stroll.

As closeups demonstrate, Eleanor and Elizabeth were quite alert throughout:



By contrast, Maya and Bryn found their own way to enjoy the sunshine:



Any suggestions on what our next outing should be?
4:07:00 PM

Saturday, February 10, 2001

Other games from last Saturday included the perennial favorites: "Where's Bryn? There she is!":



"Sooooo big!":



and, of course, a quick round of Divide and Conquer:



OK Bryn, this time it's your turn to distract Mommy with lots of snuggles and kisses, while I make a mad dash to eat that camera!
3:02:00 PM

Swoop!




Just one of the many games played last Saturday by the kids and Kathy. If you have to spend time apart at this age, it helps to bank up as much fun as you can in advance.
3:01:00 PM

Missing you. This is going to be a hard weekend, because Kathy's away at a conference, and tomorrow will be the first time she hasn't been there when the kids wake up.

The whole family treasures that early morning bonding time, and it'll be really strange to break our routine. We'll each just have to remember that ...



... one good kiss ...



... always deserves another.
2:30:00 AM

Thursday, February 08, 2001

And to top it all off, tonight at bedtime it was very hard to get Maya to stay still for her bottle because she kept wanting to show off her latest ability ... cruising several steps back and forth along the couch between Mommy and Daddy, using only her hands to keep her balance.

This means whole new worlds of trouble to get into, huh Maya?



Oh yeah.


11:58:00 PM

Meanwhile, not willing to be left behind, Maya debuted a few new skills of her own today.

During the day, she proved for the first time that she definitely does understand English, as demonstrated by the following transcript:

"Maya, where's your foot?"
(grab)
"Good!"
(big smile)
"Maya, where's Grandad's foot?"
(grab)
"Good!"
(big smile)

She's understandably quite proud of herself.


11:56:00 PM

Today's skill of the day for Bryn is ... the half-sit.

Over the past month, she's proven to be quite an expert both at using her hands to spin on her stomach, and at sitting. Recently, she's been using her hands to keep herself from toppling over, and today she combined all these skills to start doing those one-armed pushups most of the way to a sitting position.

Soon she'll be able to get to and from vertical all on her own, but in the mean time, there's still plenty of fun to be had at floor level.



11:55:00 PM

Wednesday, February 07, 2001

And today's skill of the day is ... waving.
10:25:00 PM

Friday, February 02, 2001

Scooting backwards and spinning are fine means of locomotion in most circumstances, Bryn, ...



... but not always.
10:30:00 PM

One last insider account of the Pyra saga. Now, back to the babies! :-)
5:11:00 PM

Thursday, February 01, 2001

Sigh. The demise of the Pyra/Blogger team is finally official. This hits pretty close to home for a number of reasons:

1. Blogger is a cool, well-designed service. There may be twin parents out there in the world who could have started a site like this without a tool like Blogger. Not us.

2. As anyone who's read their personal sites (or met any of them) knows, the Pyrates are cool people who've poured their hearts into making Blogger succeed. They're talented folks who'll continue to do well, but for now this has to be a blow to them and their families.

3. You can't really think of yourself as a founder or an entrepreneur unless you can viscerally identify with the following quote:

"As for me, I'm still fighting the good fight. The company (in terms of the legal/financial entity and infrastructure in which to do business), the product, user base, brand, and vision are still somewhat in tact. Amazingly. Thankfully. In fact, I'm actually in surprisingly good shape. I'm optimistic. (I'm always optimistic.) And I have many, many ideas. (I always have many ideas.)"

4. You're not likely to ever succeed as an entrepreneur unless you also know how to continue paying for #3 above. Revenues can't be deferred forever.

So, consider this a heartfelt public Thank You to the Blogger team. I totally empathize.

Paul,
who founded his family first
5:03:00 PM

© 2000-10, the evohrs