on children

To anyone whose primary source of information about me and my life is this weblog, I must seem an awful tit. I’m constantly bitching about work, daydreaming into the future, and fretting over the behavior of my kids. Honestly this isn’t the whole story. True, I have found myself a much more temperamental person since returning from Iraq, and I frequently find plenty to [legitimately?] complain about, but that negativity does not own me.

And my kids are amazing.

Mr. R is just about the most creative and imaginative little dude I have ever known. He is so smart, and picks up on everything. He corrects himself when he knows he’s said or done something wrong, and makes an effort to teach his baby sister all the things he knows (when he’s not busy beating her, that is). And he has the best taste in music of any three year old I know (They Might Be Giants, Sufjan Stevens, Rick Moranis …), and even knows most of the words!

Ms. R is absolutely beautiful. She’s tough, spry, and so ready to walk! Her record so far is four steps, and I think she only stopped because she got so excited she fell over!

Mr. E is on the honor roll for like the hundredth time in a row, and has been his little league team’s starting pitcher for a season and a half. I burned him some CDs a few years ago, and he told me on Christmas that he’d found them in his closet, and had been listening to them for the last week or so. Modest Mouse, the Shins, Morphine - he rivals Mr. R for best taste in music :] He’s grown up so fast, and it saddens me to know it will still be some time before I see him again. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get stationed on the east coast next tour so we can be closer to him.

There’s so much more to say about these kids and my wonderful wife, I just don’t often have the time. I wake at 4 to be out the door by 4:30 to beat the traffic and be to work by 5:30 to stand around until 6:30 for PT formation, then return at 9:00 to “start” the work day. By the time I head home, it doesn’t matter what time it is, I’m exhausted. Humans are not supposed to wake up so early, period.

Nobody wants excuses, though, so I’ll just keep on doing what I can to write when I can.