Big Bad Wolf

Lincoln's preschool had their spring nursery rhyme and fairy tale show. Lincoln was the Big Bad Wolf.

You'd never guess it by seeing the driving rain outside right now, but we had some good weather last weekend.I've mentioned sickness in the past, but this past week has been filled with vomiting and coughing and tiredness. So far, Henry and I have been spared, and Jenn has been mildly affected. Lydia started the fun, but Lincoln has been hit the hardest. It's sad to watch, but this morning it looks like things have turned around. Lincoln didn't sleep in until 9:30, and he's back to being bossy with Henry & Lydia. We'll see if Henry and I fall to the bug in the next couple of days...

Fever

We've got a sick little girl in the house this Sunday. That means Daddy stayed home with the twins while Mommy and Lincoln went to church. Lydia got about two-thirds of the way through Bug's Life and said, "That's all. Want Toy Story." Funny thing is, she's never seen Toy Story.. So after a while, we all went downstairs so I could start making lunch, and I looked over and saw...Henry stayed busy through the morning, but he didn't get into too much trouble.
The photos are a bit different because I've been trying out the Snapseed app. It's pretty cool, with lots of features, kind of like a customizable Instagram. And it was free, so that was cool, too.

And how about the Cornhusker Shucking the Buckeyes displayed last night?

Finally, on a housekeeping note, I'm no longer going to be tagging the kids' names in posts. Most of the posts are about them anyway, so it was getting to be all cluttered.

Go Browns!

Another Birthday Party, and Shaking the Sick Bug

Last Saturday we went to the birthday party of a son of friends from church. It was a low-key gathering and a fun time for the parents to chat and the kids to eat sugary things.On the kid front, there have been some funny things happen lately that I just need to write down here so I don't forget.

Several days ago, during a period of insanity when Jenn was considering whether or not we'll adopt again any time soon, she said to Lincoln, "What would you think if we went back to China in a couple of years and adopted a little girl?"

Lincoln thought for a moment, then said, "No. We'd need to get a bigger wagon."

On Tuesday evening we were out in the driveway while Henry was meanering around, Lincoln was riding his tricycle some and generally keeping busy and Lydia was sitting on her tricycle. All of a sudden, her tricycle got rolling and was heading toward the muddy mess that sits beside our driveway. Henry was in my arms at this point and I was too far away to stop her, but Lincoln was on that side of the driveway, and without thinking, he ran in front of her tricycle and grabbed the handle bars and stopped it from jumping over the little curb, which no doubt would have spilled Lydia into the mud and prompted a dramatic display of crying. Jenn and I couldn't believe it. A decisive, unselfish, gut reaction from our Lincoln. We're proud of him. And in the same cyber-breath, I'll share this photo...Today was "Share And Tell" at preschool, and you may or may not be surprised to know that Lincoln took his inflatable globe, and told the class some facts about the countries which have been featured in his Highlights mystery packs: Japan, Brazil and India. He pointed them out on the globe, and then shared a fact about each of these: he told the boys and girls that Japan is a country made up of many islands, Brazil is the largest country in South America, and India has Asian elephants that help people work with heavy objects. I asked him over lunch what some of the other kids shared, and he said, "One boy brought Spongebob!" And ours gave a geography lesson. Yes. We're very proud of Lincoln.

Henry's trying to talk, and he's getting a few new sounds out. Lydia is speaking in paragraphs and sharing conversations with us that she's retained from who knows when. She's hilarious to watch. She's got her alphabet down, and she's starting to fill in the blanks on some of our sing-along songs. Lately, we've been happy that Henry is reliably shaking his head "yes" and "no." He's started saying, "Yah!" to our questions... the problem is that he'll say, "Yah!" to, "Henry, do you want to get dressed now?" and, "Henry, you look tired, are you ready for bed?" and, "Henry, is the sky green?" It's kind of funny, and we'll take any verbal communication out of him. Just knowing that he's understanding that verbal interaction is a good thing and something that we expect of him is nice to see.

The runny nose bug has run through our house again, and I think it may finally be gone. Lincoln, as usual, is the one to bring it home. He's usually bothered by less than 24 hours. Lydia then gets it next and is an absolute train wreck. Jenn and I can usually count on no meaningful sleep during her first night of sickness. I was curious to see how Henry would respond, and he, too, had a tough time at night. At the front end of this week Jenn was thoroughly exhausted. I fared a bit better. Last night, with the exception of Henry getting fussy for a few minutes at 11:00pm, the kids slept all night, which was a first in the last 10 days.

We're looking foward to continuing our family tradition of fall time apple picking this Saturday. Then in the afternoon Jenn's parents and grandparents are arriving in town for us to go over to see Haley play at Bowling Green on Sunday. This will be a first for all of us to see our D-1 athlete daughter/sister/grand-daughter play at the collegiate level. Bowling Green is having a rough start to their season, but they weren't very good last year, and looking at the team stats, the freshmen are getting some playing time. Looks like a good year to rebuild, get some experience, and work toward some good stuff in seasons to come. In any event, it'll be nice to see Haley and spend some time as a Parkinson-side-of-the-family out there. Lydia and Henry will not be making the trip, but instead will be hanging out with Grandma Paulette and Grandpa Doug.

Jenn is doing a really good job planning a party to catch Lydia's and Henry's birthdays and to incoporate a costume party for our friends/family. The decor and favors are in the works. The kids all have costumes ready to go, and today Jenn and I ordered ours. Photos definitely to come after this fun event.

I haven't had much to say about the dogs lately. They've been really good with the kids, and relatively little trouble. I guess the dogs are like a good offensive line in football... if you're not hearing about them, they're probably doing their job.

Tonight Jenn's at Ladies Night with our ABF at church. She's taken on the role of planning the evenings, choosing the speakers and directing the content. Could you imagine anyone better for that job?

It's been two weeks since I last posted. Wow. To the out-of-town folks, I'm really sorry. I don't know if I've ever gone two weeks between posts before now. Well, here goes...

Things have been moving quickly lately on the adoption front, but much of the movement hasn't yet resulted in concrete details. That's one of the reasons I've been reluctant to post in the past week or so. Also, between our computer being tied up as I prepare movies for the iPad for the trip over and the kids being all over the place, finding the time to compose posts and load photos has been a challenge.

We received our Travel Approval from China on Monday. This was two weeks to the day from when we last heard from them. I've got to give it to the Chinese government, they've always been on the short end of the time estimates. The U.S. government, on the other hand...

Ordinarily, receiving one's travel approval would allow them to request a consulate appointment and know just when they're going to travel. The wild card here is that the area of Henan where Henry is has a court/passport office that has been quite erratic lately. Passports should be issued within 5 days, but they've been taking as long as 8 days with some families. This can be a problem. For example, one family had to miss their consulate appointment and their flight home because the passport office was dragging their feet. Nobody wants this to be our story, so there are some behind the scenes conversations trying to normalize the process, and this is going on just as we're adopting from this region.

All told, it's looking very likely that we'll leave on May 13 and return on June 2. That's a long time to be away from family and from work. I can't say I'm real crazy about this aspect of it, but it comes with the territory. Lincoln and Lydia will be staying with Grandma Laura for part of the time, and then with Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug for the rest of the time. We're trying to keep things as normal as possible for them, and staying with Grandparents from time to time is a normal thing for them.

Jenn's been in the process of sorting through and organizing everything from the packing lists she's found from this source and that. Some families, we've come to learn, took everything including the kitchen sink. Others have packed amazingly light. I think we'll fall somewhere toward the "light" end of the spectrum.

More and more on my mind lately has been the thought of taking an 18-month old child away from everything he knows as normal. I've thought about what it would be like for Lydia to be plucked from our home and taken to another home. Even with it being another home that would love her and take good care of her, she'd still have a really rough time. So our prayers from Henry over the past number of weeks have been for the LORD to prepare his little mind and ease the transition from his normal to Jenn and me initially, and then to our home upon our return.

Lydia has been sick again lately. Snotty nose kind of stuff. On Tuesday evening she was up every hour on the bottom of the hour, and that made for tough sleeping for everyone... except Lincoln, who sleeps like a giant log in the woods.

Lincoln spent the day with Grandpa Doug at Leesville Lake yesterday. They left for breakfast at 8:00am and returned at 8:00pm with Grandpa carrying him up the stairs and setting him in his bed. Then Jenn changed his clothes without his help (this is very unusual), sent him off to go potty, and then he rolled over, said, "I love you, Mommy," and fell asleep. Without stories. That's a tired kid. So we'd like to make this a weekly thing.

We'll see how the next number of days unfold, and hopefully I can get some photos up.

GI Bug

The GI-Bug has come to the Gates house. V/D X 4 is never pleasant. Things are improving, though, which is nice.

This story happened yesterday, and let there be no mistake, I am not making any of this up.

After Lincoln woke up from his nap, he and I went to the basement where he was going to pay with Play-Doh while I watched the Buckeyes. After we were downstairs for about a minute, he said, "Dad, I want a snack."

I answered, "Well, you had a big lunch, and you just woke up from your nap. Maybe we'll have a snack a little later."

Lincoln replied, "When a kid just wakes up from his nap and says he's hungry, you should give him a snack right away."

Here are some photos from the last couple of days.Next on the Gates Agenda: Auntie Em's baby shower. You know how when Jenn starts planning something, it turns into a big deal and ends up first-class. Expect it.

Swimming Lesson #1

Jenn and I are officially the parents of "that kid." Yesterday was Lincoln's first swimming lesson. He marched down to his end of the pool behind his teacher, Miss Hannah, and then informed her that when he gets in the water he does a big cannon ball. And then he showed her. Then when it was time for the actual lesson, and he learned he'd have to listen and do things in the water that weren't completely comfortable, he proceded to cry for 40 minutes. The photo included here is pre-meltdown. I've got to give it to Miss Hannah, she followed through with the teaching very well and didn't let his crying discourage her. Afterward, Lincoln and I had a talk, and he thanked Miss Hannah for teaching him that day. We'll work on the attitude thing and see how next week goes.We've been dealing with various degrees of sickness here, too. Lincoln got it first, and most mildly. Then Lydia, who's been congested and less interested in eating (though she's still got reserve on board, if you know what I mean). I dealt with some congestion for a couple of days, and Jenn seems to be the least affected. But the kids have been letting us sleep through the night better than they did over the weekend, so we're happy about that.

Lincoln's been very into Church in the Falls' Vacation Bible School and he's actually retaining some of the things he's learned. "I'm going to draw a picture for Mommy, because that's the kind thing to do." What?

Also, on the adoption front, after writing 23 pages of my autobiography we were informed that we don't actually have to write an autobiography. Oh. That's nice. At least I've got a manuscript started so I can shop it around to the major publishers one of these years. Some of the hoops that we have to jump through have been a bit more time-consuming that we originally thought while others haven't been as tough as advertised. I have to give it to the Social Security office. I was in and out of there in less than 20 minutes!

BTW (that's a little texting lingo for "by the way," for our younger readers out there), we passed the 400-post mark on The Gates Experiment and this post is #402. Never did I think we'd make it this long.

Manicotti

Jenn and Lincoln made a great manicotti dinner yesterday!It's been a sick week at the Gates Home. Lincoln started coughing about 10 days ago, then his nose started running, and he wasn't sleeping very well at night. That meant that we weren't sleeping well, either. Then Lydia started getting it, and she was looking better Friday morning. Then something went wrong and she cried and screamed for hours on Friday afternoon. After some wrangling on the phone with the doctors' office, she was seen and they suppose that she's got an ear issue. Since starting Tylenol and Amoxi she's been much better. Today she's her pleasant little (?) self!

On Friday Jenn was talking with Lincoln about Mickey Mouse. She said, "When we go to Disney World, you'll be able to meet Mickey, Minnie & Goofy, plus go swimming and ride rides. Doesn't that sound like so much fun?!"

Lincoln replied, "I don't want to go and give Mickey my germs." A budding public health advocate, he is.

Lincoln has also been really into Big Rock Candy Mountain.He and Auntie Haley will have lots to talk about when we are in Scottsdale in a few weeks. (And thank goodness they're getting this sickness out of the way before we get on the plane!)

On Saturday evening we spent a great evening with friends. Two of these friends are moving to Johnstown, PA, soon and Jenn and I are very sad to see them go. We had a bunch of laughs and told a bunch of good stories. It was one of our more fun evenings out in a long time.

Gretel has really been filling out. She's starting to take on a more Bridget-like build, and she's been improving a bit in the "naughty dog" department. She's also been making us laugh lately, like when she takes any lap that she can find, even when there's a baby on it.Update on the robin's nest: Let's just say they didn't get out of Robin Engineering School. The wind (and we've had a lot of it lately) kept blowing down any progress they'd make, and right now there's not a shred of a nest up there. Oh, well.

Bird Feeder & Chili Party

Last Wednesday Lincoln and I went shopping for our Operation Christmas Child. I explained to him that we were shopping for Christmas presents for a little boy his age. Once he got into it, he said as we were walking up and down the isles through the shelves, "He would like that dump truck. He would like that drill. He would like that Thomas. He would like..." And every time I said, "We have to fit all of this in a shoebox."

Yesterday was a fun day. In the morning we took the huge pinecone that Jenn and Lincoln found on a walk the other day and coated it with peanut butter and bird seed for the birds in the yard. Lincoln had fun making a mess with the supplies!

Last night was our annual Gates-Wingader Chili Party. There were eight different chilis and it was again a fun mix of people. Our circle of friends doesn't overlap the Wingader's circle too much, so this party has historically been a fun time to meet new folks and catch up with others, and last night didn't disappoint. The criteria for voting on the best chili is that one has to sample all eight. Not that that was a problem, it was fun being a food critic and it was funny to see a number of people actually making notes (me included!). The icing on the cake was Jenn's chili taking home the trophy!Another nice thing last evening was that Lincoln AND Lydia stayed at Grandpa Doug & Grandma Paulette's and Lydia had her first bottle. That went very well, she didn't miss a beat.A mild case of the Sick Bug is going through the Gates Home. Lincoln has had a major runny nose. Lydia has had some mild congestion and Jenn and I are on the edge, not feeling sick, but definitely feeling on the edge. That may just be the lack of sleep.

Good U/S Visit for Jenn Today

We had a bit of a rough night last night. Lincoln had been working on some sneezing and coughing spells, and last night he was up routinely with a nasty cough. Beginning at 2:30, I sat with him in his chair, thinking that sitting up would help him breath better. Then we moved to his bed where I stayed with him to make sure he stayed on his propped-up pillows. Needless to say, I went to work tired this morning. I would have gotten some sleep because Jenn traded places with me at 5:55am and gave him some Tylenol and Vicks Vapo Rub, but by that time, Lincoln decided to start talking... a lot... because he was all the way rested and feeling better from his medicines!

The sneezing has persisted, but otherwise he's doing well.

Jenn went for another ultrasound today. If you were confused by my last note about her and Lydia, here's the explanation: She's supposed to measure in centimeters the same as the number of weeks she's been pregnant. At her last visit, she was measuring 4 cm less. There are a number of potential reasons for this, from the serious to the no-big-deal. If her placenta was failing and there wasn't sufficient amniotic fluid, that would be a bad thing for Lydia. But today's visit demonstrated that things are okay. Lydia has moved down (Jenn was very suspicious of this because of how she was feeling), and that accounts for the measurment change. Jenn and I were suspicious that things were okay anyway because why else would the put the ultrasound appointment off for a week? If Lydia's life were really in danger, I'd think they'd ultrasound ASAP. But that's human medicine for you. Also, according to the ultrasound measurements, Lydia's measuring at 6# 5oz. We'll see!

Our busy month is blitzing by toward October. There are still events on our calendar, but they'll mostly be at the mercy of one big event.

On a completely separate subject, I want to high-light a website for a company that I like: Fleetwood Properties. The guy behind this business is a first-rate businessman that is doing a lot of good in the Akron area. He buys homes that are in awful shape, fixes them up, and sells them. They're usually in not the nicest neighborhoods, but because he makes them so nice, he helps out the property value of the area. It's also a way for folks to buy a nice house that they otherwise wouldn't be able to find. Further, providing good links to any website is a good thing when it comes to the search engines, so I thought I'd help him out a bit.