Inspect the Deck

Last week we had our home inspection which went pretty well. There were a few minor issues, and a radon test came back with a few concerns that will need to be addressed.



The inspectors were very thorough and at the end of their inspection they said that the house was in great shape and that there wasn't much to be concerned about. Then they emailed me 43 page report with all the things that they found. This seemed a little scary until I looked through the report and found things like the following.


I think I'll take my chances on those cracks.


On Halloween Jen dressed the guys up in their cat burglar costumes for day care.


At night we took them to a few different houses to trick or treat. They had little interest in eating any of the candy and picked out their favorites as the ones that came in boxes and could be vigorously shaken.



After day care their favorite part of the day is sitting in the computer chair and rocking out to some music. Grandad has turned them on to the Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, and Rory Gallagher. Martin, in particular, is a big fan on this part of the day.


The day of Evelyn's baptism, Lauren got Jen a massage. While she was getting the massage Lauren and I wached as Elliott played with an old computer mouse. He opened it out and stuck one of the batteries in his mouth and by the time we pulled it out we found that it was completely corroded and leaking battery acid. I quickly whisked him over to the sink and rinsed his mouth out with lots and lots of water.

This angered him greatly.

I called poison control who assured me he would be okay and that the worst that could come of it was some burns in his mouth. Minutes later we found him with the battery cover in his mouth. This too was covered in battery acid. I repeated our trip to the sink.

This angered him again.


On Saturday Jen took me to Solemn Oath Brewery where we shared a couple of tasting flights. It was a lot of fun and it covered some of my favorite things to do: staying close to home and beer!



The next morning we went on a long walk around the neighborhood with a stopover in the park where the guys played around and were mostly fascinated with the older kids that were there and their enormous dog named Sofie. The only dog they really know is Pete who is about half their height so Sofie was like a majestic Clydesdale to them.



On Friday we went to our friends' house for dinner. The guys were in heaven playing with older kids and actually got a bit upset when we had to leave. They did not want to be pulled from the joy of wading, waste-deep, in older kid toys.



On Sunday the boys played around outside and were fascinated by their grandad lugging around furniture from the gazebo to the house. This may have been their favorite moment in months though we're not entirely sure why. Perhaps they are just enjoying these moments where they will not be enlisted to help with such tasks.



For my birthday we made dinner at home and Jen and her mum made me a Boston Creme Cake. I also got some really nice beers and probably drank too much really nice beer, wine, and scotch. My normal policy of drinking approximately two beers then falling asleep was put on hold and I paid a great price, particularly for the 15 year aged scotch my father-in-law was kind enough to give me.


Elliott has learned how to climb up the shelves in his grandparents' pantry, however, lately he has taken to simply destroying the bottom shelves and chewing on any loose power cords he can find.

Seems harmless enough.


What is not harmless, apparently, is one of the other kids at day care who gave Elliott a pretty nasty bite. I'd be more upset if I didn't know how strong Elliott was and know that he probably knocked that kid's block off.


This morning I took them in for their delayed fifteen month shots. These were supposed to be administered during their checkup last month but, as with all their shots, they were put off because they had a horrible illness at the time.

While I called New York for the fifth time to try to get them to fax over the medical records, the boys terrorized the office, tried to get at the fish in the aquarium, and attempted to abscond with the records of other patients.

Martin was not a fan of this shot and needed a lot of snuggling afterwards. Elliott didn't seem bothered by his shot. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice it had happened. What he did notice was when the doctor took the toy he was holding as I put his jacket on. This angered him greatly.

On the way home I could see him in the rear view mirror grimacing and plotting his revenge.

One day Elliott will make that doctor pay.