In the run-up to Mother’s Day, Gareth let me know that he wanted to bake chocolate chip cookies for Mom. This sounded like a perfectly wonderful idea to me as Gareth and I had never baked together before and because I knew there would be plenty of leftover cookies for me to eat.

We went with the dough-in-a-tube variety of baking since there would be less kitchen mess and, as a result, less stress for Brandy.  Even seeing a disaster in progress will throw her off kilter until such time as the disaster is resolved.  

I busted out the cookie sheets, the tube of dough, a spoon, and some parchment paper.  I wanted this to go as easily as possible.  While the oven was preheating, I put the parchment paper out on the sheets, sliced open the dough, and got Gareth in there to help me spoon the dough out onto the trays.

During this process, he started looking up at me and gesturing, which is usually his way of telling us he needs his letter board.  I grabbed the letter board, put his hand in mine, and let him go to town.

D - O - Y - O - U - N - O - W - W - U - T - Y - O - U - R - D - O - N - G

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

Come on, really?  All we have to do is scoop out dough and plunk it on a cookie sheet.  What’s there to know?  But I had a good laugh at his moxie and we kept on with the baking.

The oven was ready, so I popped our cookies in, setting the timer for 5 minutes so I could rotate the trays mid-bake.  When the 5 minute point hit, I opened the oven only to see a cloud of smoke rapidly exit from within, clouding the kitchen and making its way to the smoke detector.

Letting the oven door slam shut, I threw on the ceiling fan and grabbed something to wave smoke away from the now blaring detector as my family wondered what the heck was going on.

After things settled down a bit, Brandy came out to the kitchen to see exactly what happened.  I professed innocence, saying I did nothing wrong, but then she asked, “Did you put parchment paper on the trays?”  Yes, yes I did.  ”That’s not parchment paper.  That’s wax paper.”

Sure enough, it was.  Turns out that if you’re using wax paper, it’s best to have the entire surface of the paper covered by whatever you’re baking on it.  It’s also best to not exceed 350 degrees when using it.  I violated both rules of wax paper use and paid the price.

Amazingly, I did spare the cookies!  But now, when my son looks at me and asks if I know what I’m doing, I’m going to seriously consider his question and make sure that I can answer it with confidence.

Thanks to his speech therapist, Gareth has been using a keyboard/touchpad system to type out his thoughts for the past couple weeks.  Usually, it’s pretty typical stuff.  “Play videogames” or “when is dad coming home” or “go bookstore”.

But not today.  Today, Gareth asked something I’m sure he’s wondered about for a very long time.  He asked why he doesn’t eat with his mouth.

Brandy sat down with him and explained why it is that he doesn’t eat like everybody else.  I don’t know whether or not he was satisfied with the answer or whether or not being different has caused him any heartache, but it’s so incredibly amazing that he can finally ask us these questions.

I’m sure we have many more topics to cover - why he can’t walk, why he needs suction, why he can’t talk like us.  And we’ll answer every one of them openly and honestly.

And while it won’t always be easy to talk about these things, we at least now have the opportunity to do so.  We have about 5 years of talking to catch up on.

While I’m waiting for that Millennium Falcon pool to come out (and for the weather to be warm enough to use it), I guess I’ll just have to spend Spring with the boys flying some Star Wars kites.

I recently dumped a few photos of Collin on Flickr and have looked at them a number of times.  They’re insanely cute shots of him wearing a cowboy hat and themed shirt.  But as much as they make me smile, they also make me a bit sad.

Seeing Collin smiling, sitting up, rolling over, reaching, standing, eating, laughing, and babbling has been great fun.  There’s no denying that.  The problem is that I then contrast that with our experiences in Gareth’s infancy.  Doctors, nurses, therapists, monitors, mist tubing… unable to sit, stand, roll over, eat. 

At the time, I was so shellshocked by the whole situation that I don’t think I ever stopped to consider what we weren’t experiencing.  And, with time, I grew comfortable with the realization that I should just enjoy the things Gareth could do instead of wishing for the things he couldn’t.  

Now we have a kid who can do all those things, and I feel guilty taking pleasure in them.  I feel like every time I enjoy Collin’s development, I’m somehow discounting Gareth’s.  Every time I play with Collin, I have to wonder if I played the same with Gare.  And every time I take Collin’s picture, I feel like I need to swing around and snap a few of Gare to maintain balance in the universe.

At some point, soon, Collin will surpass Gareth physically.  It’s going to be a challenge finding a way to keep Gareth encouraged to work hard at achieving the things that will come easily to his little brother.

But I love both my boys.  We’ll figure it out.

Just Collin
Originally uploaded by ratsinis

Oh look how clever I am! I made a lolcat reference in order to introduce my son to the world!

Okay, truth be told, I fucking LOVE lolcats, but even I am unwilling to put a caption on my child’s photo using a large outlined Impact font.

Anyway, yeah, kid #2. Collin Alexander.

Sort of.

If you look between the front two legs of the lead elephant, you’ll see my and Gare’s legs and part of his green jacket. WE’RE FAMOUS!!!

Life was much simpler when my weekends consisted only of playing Banjo-Kazooie in my underpants.

These days, however, there are so many competing interests vying for weekend time.

• Miracle League games - Gareth is signed up for the Blair County Miracle League this year.  The ball games are on Saturdays, but we don’t yet know what time of day they are.  They are, however, all held in Altoona.
• Camping trips - This weekend, I’m heading out to Hammersley Fork to get the camp ready for the season.  And then, of course, I’ll have a desire to use it throughout the summer and fall.
• Bike/kayak outings - These are typically Saturday affairs since our Sundays are already hectic as is.
• Trip to Philly at the end of this month - Well, that’s a no brainer.  It’s to visit the Star Wars exhibit at the Franklin Institute.
• Putting in time at RBR - I’ve been offered the opportunity to work at the shop part time to learn recumbent mechanics, help coordinate bike accessibility efforts, and barter my time towards the purchase of a new bike.  But the hours are only until 6PM on weekdays, and the only day they’re open on the weekend is… Saturday.
• Kayaking with coworkers - Somebody at the office is organizing a beginners group outing for May 3rd, same day as the first game in the Miracle League season.

Yeesh.  How did I get this busy?  At least I can look forward (I hope) to once again just paying somebody to mow the lawn.  But other than that, I’m pretty much screwed for time.

Let me start by saying she was absolutely right to do this. Also, I would like to say that she’s only doing this because she knows me, knows that of which I am capable.

Having said that, Brandy has granted me a limited allowance for weekly spending … on downloadable songs for Rock Band.

One of the promises of developer Harmonix is that there will be weekly releases of new content for Rock Band consisting of sometimes single tracks and other times packs of three songs. For example, here’s what they’re planning to release between now and the end of this year (the following list was taken from Shacknews):

Week of November 20, 2007

Metallica Pack
- Ride the Lightning
- Blackened
- And Justice for All

The Police Pack
- Can’t Stand Losing You
- Synchronicity II
- Roxanne

Queens of the Stone Age Pack
- 3’s and 7’s
- Little Sister
- Sick Sick Sick

Individual Tracks
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son Revival” *
- Foreigner, “Juke Box Hero” *
- T-Rex, “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” *
- The Knack, “My Sharona” *
- The Runaways, “Cherry Bomb” *
- Wolfmother, “Joker & The Thief”

Week of November 27, 2007

David Bowie Pack
- Moonage Daydream
- Heroes *
- Queen Bitch *

Week of December 4, 2007

Black Sabbath Pack
- N.I.B. *
- Sweet Leaf *
- War Pigs *

Week of December 11, 2007

Punk Pack
- Ramones, “Rockaway Beach”
- The Clash, “I Fought the Law”
- Buzzcocks, “Ever Fallen In Love” *
Week of December 18, 2007

Individual Tracks
- Radiohead, “My Iron Lung”
- Weezer, “Buddy Holly”
- Pretenders, “Brass in Pocket” *
Confirmed Full Albums

The Who, “Who’s Next”
- Baba O’Riley
- Bargain
- Love Ain’t for Keeping
- My Wife
- The Song Is Over
- Getting in Tune
- Going Mobile
- Behind Blue Eyes
- Won’t Get Fooled Again (included with full game)
Nirvana, “Nevermind”
- Smells Like Teen Spirit
- In Bloom (included with full game)
- Come as You Are
- Breed
- Lithium
- Polly
- Territorial Pissings
- Drain You
- Lounge Act
- Stay Away
- On a Plain
- Something in the Way
Grateful Dead Collection
- Sugar Magnolia
- Truckin’
- Casey Jones
- Uncle John’s Band
- Touch Of Grey

Now, the prices for these things vary. Most songs are to be $1.99 each, some as low as $0.99 and some as high as $2.99. The 3 packs sell for $5.49. I hadn’t actually mentioned any of that before Brandy set my allowance - $10 per week. That should definitely be sufficient. At least, one would hope so since that translates to $520 a year. Jesus Christ.

Back when DDR Ultramix was still being supported with downloadable packs, I ended up purchasing 13 packs at a cost of $5 each. I am, apparently, the target market for downloadable content because I eat this shit up.

Except for that Grateful Dead collection. I think I’ll pass on that.

Whatever… Thanks go to my loving wife who understands both my desires and my limited self-control. Without her, I would be homeless, warming myself only with the heat generated by my consoles.

Oh blog, how I have neglected thee.  So here’s a roundup in order to save folks from seeing a ton of separate entries.

The family biked Tour du Port on 10/21.  We actually made an entire weekend out of it, doing the Baltimore inner harbor tourist thing for two days and then participating in the ride on Sunday.  We did the 10 mile route since Gareth was in attendance, but that was plenty.  Gareth was tired out by the end of it, Brandy was scared shitless by her first road ride, and I barely broke a sweat.  The scenery along the ride wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t anything special, either.  It just didn’t compare to Bike Philly.

Once the weather turns for the better again, I’m going to look into what it would take to bike from Pittsburgh to DC along the Great Allegheny Passage and C & O Canal Towpath.  I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it both ways, though.  I’m sure I can talk Brandy into meeting me in DC for a post-ride vacation.  I know my goal for next year was originally to ride the MS 150, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to maintain the average speed necessary to do that in a timely manner.  If I’m going to do the 316 mile ride from Pittsburgh to DC, I’m definitely going to need to train throughout the winter.

Of course, I can’t spend all winter on a bike, which is where video games come in.  There are too many games being released this season.  Of the 30 or so titles for Q4, a mere four are on my radar.  First up with Ace Combat 6 with the flight stick bundle.  I picked that up on day one.  Next up are Super Mario Galaxy and Rock Band.  And, while Guitar Hero III is already out, I have delayed my purchase of it due to hating the demo.  No, Halo 3 was never under consideration.  I tend to wait a year before playing Halo releases.

Pumpkins have been carved in anticipation for tonight’s trick-or-treat visitors.  For the first time ever, I have carved a pumpkin with a Star Wars theme.  A stormtrooper, to be exact.  It’s not the most technically accurate rendering in the world, but it gets the point across.  Photos coming soon.

Speaking of Halloween, I attended Gareth’s school Halloween parade.  He was having a blast in it, as were the 10 Darth Vaders, 2 Jango Fetts, 1 Clone Trooper, and 1 Storm Trooper.  Oh, and some kid was dressed up as a power droid!  Hell yeah!  GONK.

And, uh… I think that’s about it!