Keal Family Letter, April 2007

Hello Friends and Family!


Happy Easter everyone! "I'm... dreaming... of a white... Easter?" Yes indeed, here in Kempton we had a white Easter. It was flurrying on and off all day. We didn't have any accumulation, except up at Hawk Mountain where they got a visible dusting on the ground, until the sun burnt it off. Strange Spring-time. Maybe it's due to Global Warming... or... something....

Tirah is in week 24 of her pregnancy with our third child. The baby is 8.5 inches long, weighs 1.25 pounds, and is the size of a carrot... at least so says AmericanBaby.com. The baby has been kicking up a storm lately. It's always fun to get those first sensory signs of life.

Also according to AmericanBaby.com, "In his watery kingdom, my child can hear sounds -- Tirah's beating heart, stomach growls, and even a muffled distortion of our voices. He is sensitive to loud noises, which can startle him or cause him to blink or jump. He is alert and stretching his limbs, kicking, gripping, and following the umbilical cord with his hands."

He is only a "he" this week. Next week I'm sure he'll be a "she." At least that's what AmericanBaby.com says. :-)

Cirdan is a rambunctious little "almost-3-year-old." He'll be turning 3 in June. His favorite words right now are "No!" and "Why?" "No" of course is just the default reaction of any "almost-3-year-old." If you say anything to Cirdan, he'll say "No" first to cover his bases. He can always say "Yes" a split second later if he decides that he actually agrees with us, but it's better to be safe than sorry, I guess.

And "Why?" is really just another way of saying, "Tell me more about that... I'll let you know when I've lost interest in that topic."

Cirdan: "Hey Papa, there's a leaf on that tree!"

Me: "Yes there is."

Cirdan: "Why?"

Of course the easy answer is, "Because that's the way the Lord made it." or even simply, "Because." ...as if that's really an answer.

Then of course the reply is, "Why?"

What Cirdan really wants me to do is to say: "Because trees use a process called photosynthesis in which they use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. The reason that the leaf is green is because of a pigment called..."

Cirdan: "Papa, I'm hungry."

Me: "O.K. Let's go get lunch."

Thea actually operates on the same definition of "Why?" as well. But she can go for much longer before she loses interest in what I'm saying. It can actually be a fun way to try to remember everything I learned in my years of school. I also believe that it's just a good way to parent... to let our children know that we actually want to communicate with them.

Speaking of remembering what I learned in school, Tirah and I are reading Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything," and last night we were reading the chapter on Cells, and he said that it's been estimated that we lose 500 brain cells an hour! No wonder I'm so... I'm so... (what's the word?)... so.... Dumb!

Along with "No!" and "Why?" some of Cirdan's other favorite words are... unrepeatable. What is it with kids and potty talk!? They think that the word "Poopy" is the funniest thing they have ever heard in their short lives. Tirah and I struggle with knowing how to parent them in this situation, because it seems like our reaction to their potty talk just makes it even more funny for them. They know that they're not supposed to say certain words, and if they mumble them under their breath, and we catch them at it, they are amazingly clever at weaseling out of it.

Me: "Cirdan! Don't say that! That's rude!"

Cirdan: "Papa, I was just talking about Whinnie the Pooh... in his pants!"

Cirdan loves to walk around the house saying words like "Poofy!" or "Goopy!" or "Chicken Coup!" or "Basketball Hoop!" Partly because he knows it gets our attention, but also partly because he genuinely thinks those words are funny because of what they sound like.

Cirdan even knows how to spell a few words!... but only words that start with the letter "p." He'll walk around shouting, "Pig starts with PEEEEEE!" Crazy kid!

Thea has become a wonderful little helper lately! She is in her element when she is helping us with something.
I'm in the middle of reading a great book called "You Cant' Make Me... But I Can Be Persuaded." by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias. It's about Parenting Strong-Willed Children. It's a great book for me to read, because it describes very accurately and with warm affection and respect, the personality type that both Thea and Tirah fit into. Strong Willed Children (or SWCs) are the people that change the world!... in both bad AND good ways. Reading this book has been a great window into the minds of not only my 4 year old daughter, but also my wife of almost 6 years. It's been a lot of fun, and amazingly useful.

Basically I need to learn how to let Thea have SOME control, and then she's a happy camper. I need to ask her opinion, I need to give her reasonable choices. (For example: "Eat your food, or go to the Naughty Room!" is not a reasonable choice) I need to learn to be O.K. with her facing the consequences of some things in order for her to learn. I need to be flexible enough to let her be in charge of some aspect of her life, that I would prefer to be in charge of. Basically I need to learn to cooperate with her as much as I want her to cooperate with me. It's been wonderful to see the change in our relationship based on these principles.

Thea saw me reading the book the other day and asked me what I was reading, so I said,
"It's a book that helps me learn how to be a better Papa."
And with a very excited look on her face she said,
"Oooh! I want a book that helps me learn how to be a better Thea!"

Cirdan is not as much of a SWC. For example the other day I heard (word-for-word) my kids say:

Thea: "Papa, I'm going up stairs with you."
Cirdan: "Papa, can I go up stairs with you?"

That's the difference between Thea and Cirdan in a nutshell.

Tirah's been feeling very tired lately. She's carrying around a lot of extra weight. But she was telling me that there is a good aspect of her working right now, which is that she has something to focus on all day, other than her enormous tummy. With her previous pregnancies, her life seemed to revolve around her pregnancy, while this time, she can focus on her work, and not get caught up in the negative aspects of pregnancy. We are, however, very much looking forward to the time when she goes on maternity leave.

Last month I turned 30! I had a very nice birthday party. Tirah took me out to Outback restaurant with most of my family. And then we went to Roxanne's house for brownie sundaes. It was a good birthday.

On March 31st, my 7 part men's a cappella group had a gig singing for the General Church Treasurer's Banquet here in Kempton. It went really well. We sang four very entertaining songs, which were: "Spam" (by Moose Butter), our own "revised" version of a classic Barbershop song called "Aura Lee," a very appropriate Treasurer's Meetings song called "Everybody Said," and a nice sort of campfire song called "Sweet Potato." We even got the event captured on video, and I spent some time creating a nice little DVD of the gig using Apple's iMovie and iDVD.

Some exciting news for my music business: First: I have a new website! Go check it out at the same address: http://www.solomonkeal.com. The photo at the top is from a place called Loon Lake in New York state, where we vacationed once. The photo was taken by somebody in my family (I can't remember who) and it was enhanced by Elise Genzlinger. She also nicely combined that photo with a portrait photo which is on the About page. I then sent all that on to Steve Simons who designed a very cool website which I think will be much more user-friendly and able to do what I want it to do.

Second: I now have a piece of sheet music available for one of my compositions! The sheet music is for the piece, "Star Gazing," from the album "Thoughts and Affections." You can purchase and download this sheet music by clicking on this link: http://www.lulu.com/solomonkeal, or by clicking on any of the link for sheet music on my website.

If you have a piece of mine that you would like to see in sheet music form, please let me know. I've started assembling a Request List, and I will be notating my music on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Well, that's about all for this month. Whoa, the month is almost half over anyway!

I hope you all are doing well.

Love,
Solomon, Tirah, Thea, Cirdan, and Baby Keal