A Message from Finn

"Hello, Happy Halloween!"

Laplander Finn

My mom made Finn his Halloween costume this year. He's celebrating his 1/8 Finnish heritage and going out as a Laplander. Once we got the costume and he tried it on, he immediately ran out in the snow with our herd of reindeer and tried moving them out to the winter pasture grounds. Here's our picture of it.

Once he came back inside we gave him a cookie and took more pictures. Here's a close up for those who want to see the detail in the costume.


He looks fabulous and thanks again mom for making such a sweet costume!

Vaudeville training

Finn has begun singing and dancing to his player piano. Both his singing and dancing skills seem to come from mimicking me and contains little of the grace or mastery that Sarah displays when dancing.

The singing is a clear copy of my favorite method to sing along to a song. During the musical portion, I repeat the word "doo" as in "doo doo doo doo". I take this as another warning of watching what I do in front of Finn to make sure he doesn't copy all of my mannerisms.

The dancing contains every element of rhythm that I have, mainly none. What he lacks in being on-beat, he makes up in over-enthusiasm. Much like me.

This is maybe our favorite video yet.

Hide-and-Seek versus Hide-and-Go-Seek

I've heard the game named both ways, but I prefer Hide and Seek. Maybe it's because I'd prefer not to "go" anywhere or let Finn "go" hide somewhere.

He likes the hiding no matter the name. I don't mind him hiding in front of me. Maybe it is more like peek-a-boo, but I think there is no true hiding in that game.

Hiding in the shelves *is* fun. I would like to play that game too.

Things we won't miss about Cincinnati

Cincinnati is mired in a problem that the citizens refuse to admit to themselves: there is a significant racial problem. It affects almost every aspect of life from the hiring of Dusty Baker as the Reds' manager to urban renewal plans.

While it has always existed in the background, the other night it became a front burner issue to me when I saw this news story on the evening news. Since then, the story has gotten national attention, meaning that Cincinnati is now known nationally for the so-called "race riots" of 2001, the opening of the Creation museum, local radio personality Bill Cunningham calling Barak Obama "Hussein" at a local McCain rally, and now the hanging of a presidential candidate in effigy. It will be a breath of fresh air to get in a more progressive part of the country after our move to DC.

The most disappointing aspect of the situation here is that the public doesn't acknowledge that there is a problem. I feel that there is more clear and open hostility here than in Atlanta. Without a constant change of population old ideas beome ingrained rather than changed. While there is a constant influx of outsiders to Atlanta, there aren't many people from other parts of the country choosing to relocate themselves and their views to Cincinnati.

Demonstrating its percieved importance, the original news story was stuck right between the weather report and a report on a more life-like CPR doll. Even in this web story, they seem surprised that national news stories would pick up on it. That is how out of touch even the news department is with the significance of the story and the larger problem.

We moved downtown with the hope that the city would recognize the great potential that exists here. While it has happened to some degree, it seems that the potential of the cornfield 25 miles out from the city is seen to have more value. Perhaps the percieved safety of being far from people who live in the city is part of the value. While there is much we'll miss about Cincinnati, that is not one of them.

The most sincere pumpkin patch

Last weekend, we went out to Blooms and Berries Farm to their pumpkin patch. It was much better than I expected. I thought that I'd see only a patch of pumpkins and maybe some gourds. They had slides, goats, donkeys, chickens, bells, a corn pit, plus the expected pumpkins and gourds.


His favorite activity was the corn pool. They filled a large tub with dried corn kernels and let the kids play around in it. He liked it as much as a sandbox, but I liked it better because the corn doesn't stick to everything like sand does.

Finn was also intrigued by the animal displays. He stared eye-to-eye with the donkey, mocked the chickens, but perfectly impersonated the goat:


Eventually we got around to the pumpkins, which Finn calls pah-pie'. He ran from the giant ones, to the little ones, but kept returning to the bumpy one. He eventually got a couple small pumpkins that he could carry, which he played with for the rest of the day.


The one downside is that the weather was hot last week (mid-80's) so the pumpkin patch seemed a little mistimed. This weekend is a bit more crisp and autumnal so our fall festivities feel more appropriate.

Cooking Muffins

Finn "helped" Sarah make apple muffins Last weekend. He looked nice in the apron and concentrated very hard on stirring and measuring. Only a little of the mix ended up on the table and floor. Actually, a lot less than when I bake.



I remember learning to cook from mom and dad, and look forward to Finn learning to cook too. That will be one less thing for us to do. Maybe we'll work on "cereal au lait" next. It's a classic.

Aquarium with Papa

While Sarah was resting her foot from aches induced by her regained bi-pedality, I took Finn across the river to the aquarium for a visit.

It was a typically enjoyable experience without much to comment on, except that I haven'tbeen there when they have all the scuba guys in the tanks. They were cleaning the glass and feeding the fish, but more impressively, there were doing tricks for the visitors.


They would blow air rings or spell things out in sign language. An interesting sidenote, I don't know any of the letters for sign language yet since Finn hasn't gotten to letters yet, so I couldn't talk to them.

It was an entertaining visit and I liked seeing the divers, but I think that Finn likes the fish, turtles, and frogs more than the people.

Leaving things too near the crib

When Finn doesn't want to take his nap, he finds something to do. It use to be reading a book, playing with the crib toys, or cooing softly. At worst he would cry for a few minutes until drifting off to sleep.

Recently, it was quiet and I assumed things were fine. Then he started to say "uhh-oh" and cried. When I went in I was surprised to see that a ticker tape parade had come through.


We made the mistake of leaving the box of tissues close enough so that he could climb up and grab it off of his changing pad. He must have spent his nap time shredding the tissues and when he ran out, he got made.

Our lesson we learned is that nothing can be left within reach of the crib. We haven't followed that lesson well. A couple days ago we found all of his laundry in his crib with him.

Laundry Montster

Finn is still a fan of the laundry basket. He will crawl in them, run around with them, fil them and empty them. Simple toys are the best toys.


He started being the landry monster the other day. It's a good game, but he falls down sometimes. We just make sure that he doesn't play too close to tables or other furniture corners. We just want him to move on to doing the laundry...especially his diapers.

Big Moves Ahead

There will be some big changes in our life soon. I received official notification of a job offer last Friday and accepted it. The position is for a statistical analyst at the Pentagon. Obviously it means that we'll be moving to DC.

We're going to miss everyone here in Ohio, including the hockey team I coach. I gave my notice as the hockey coach last week which was a difficult first step in the move. I had coached the seniors on this year's team back when I first started as a middle school coach and had hoped to see them do big things this year. I'm sure that they will still do great, but I won't be there to see it.

I'll also miss the guys at work. I came into that job right out of school and have learned everything there. I'm sure that they have prepared me well for the next job. I'll miss all the characters and the drama of the workplace, though I can bet there will be plenty there as well.

We'll miss our friends the most. Getting to know people enough to become truly comfortable with them takes a long time. Just about the time we got there, we are moving away.

A difference between DC and Cincinnati is that I bet we get more visitors in DC. Most people we have told are excited about coming to visit, while visitors to Ohio can be counted on a single hand. The more the merrier and everyone is welcome.

So now that Sarah's back walking again, we have now the daunting task of selling our house in the worst housing market ever. We just have to take it all one step at a time. Anyone need a house in Cincinnati?

Walking again!

A week and a half ago, Sarah had another appointment for her foot. We were expecting that the doc would say that she could once again put light weight on the foot, but never thought that he wold say "go as hard as you can take the pain".

She walked out without a wheeled cart or crutch. The pain was pretty significant as first, but is getting better. Using the walking boot helps, but he wants her out of that in a couple weeks.

She says that it isn't the bone that hurts, but the rest of the foot, especially the bottom. I think it may be like when I haven't skated in a while. Those stability muscles have atrophied and need time to build their strength back up. Of course, skating and not walking for 3 months are very different things.

She gone farther each day and now spends much of her time out of the boot. A few days ago, we walked down to Fountain Square and back which is about 10 blocks.

All signs are pointing towards a quicker recovery from this point on. Last Suday we even went on a bike ride again. Dancing, running or other impact activity is still months away, but having mobility again must be awesome.

Outer Banks

Three weeks ago we went to the Outer Banks for a week with our friends Jill, Rich, their son Ben and their dog Fast Rachel. Here's a big group photo of us all. I hope you appreciate the difficulty of getting all six of us together in a picture looking acceptable. Getting the kids to look at the camera may have been asking too much.


The weather didn't cooperate much, but we had a few days on the beach. The rest of the time we either hung out in the house or founf inside activities like the nature museum or the aqurium.


We did get onto the beach few days and Finn had as much fun as we expected. The sand, shells, and rocks provided endless amounts of entertainment. There plenty of beach toys in the rental house Finn (and me) to play with, incluidng shovels, pails, kites, and trucks.


It was a good time spent with friends and we'll look forward to going back next year. More pictures of the fun are linked here.

Mural growth

By our house, the ArtWorks project recently painted a mural. When it started we were excited by the close location and the fantastic other murals that dot Cincinnati (click on the names under "In the Community"). Watching the scaffolding rise and the wall repair take place was exciting. We'd guess at what the picture would be when it finally came.


Here's the final result:


It's nice and better than a big brown wall, but all of our guessing and hoping may have created overly high expectations. I suuppose we expected on of the complete wall paintings that we saw everywhere else. Still, the technique is great and the colors are vibrant.

ArtWorks and MuralWorks are a great boon to the city andd have done a fantastic job of encouraging art in the city and improving the city's look.

Thanks Nana!

Sarah's Grandma came to town to help watch Finn before Sarah was back up and walking about. That's right! Just 3 months after breaking her foot, she is allowed to put weight back on the foot. It's painful and a crutch helps, but she can hobble about the house again.

Back on subject, We all wanted to thank Nana for coming down and helping out. It really helped to have her around during the hectic week. When we were back on our own, it was even more apparent how nice it was to have people here to lend a hand.

Things are definitely not back to normal, but they are getting closer.

BASE jumping

Finn discovered yet another game. This one involves climbing up onto the window sill and leaping off onto the couch. He played this for about 20 minutes without stop. The first few times we were worried, but then figured it would make a good movie. We realized the potential for confusion and the chance he would try jumping out the other end of the sill. We haven't opened the lower portion of our windows since he learned to crawl.

Giant Baby

Sometime since he was a 5-pound newborn, our boy became giant. One day, he fell asleep in the car and we happened to locked ourselves out of our house. While we waited for the spare key to come home, we let Finn sleep on the couch in the clubroom. He looked almost like like a teenager sleeping the day away down to the lack of control of his shirt. Of course, he still fits into his crib.