Keal Family Letter, September 2006

Hello Friends and Family. Happy September to you all.

August has been very busy, but very good for us. Thea has continued
to potty train well. Some of the latest achievements are that she
is now in a big girl bed, and she is also in underpants all the time
now... even at night. There have been a few accidents here and
there, but it seems to be working pretty well, over all.

The introduction of a Big Girl Bed to the kids room was very exciting
for the kids. For several weeks they've enjoyed being allowed to
jump on Thea's new bed, while singing at the top of their lungs: "No
More Monkeys Jumping On The Bed!" Unfortunately because of a few
bumps, falls, and fights, we've decided on a new policy of, you
guessed it: no more monkeys jumping on the bed.

Another new development with Thea is that she no longer takes
afternoon naps. This has been a major struggle for me, because
afternoon nap time was my time for working in my studio. Now that
only Cirdan takes afternoon naps, I have Thea doing what I call
"Quiet Time" where she stays in the living room and plays by
herself. This works out pretty well, because most of my job as
parent these days is the equivalent to a referee in a boxing ring,
and Thea playing by herself means that there's no fighting going on.
But she does still want my attention, and she spends a lot of her
time knocking on my studio door telling me that she "wants
something," namely: my attention. It's a hard struggle, because I
want to be a good father, but I also know that maintaining some form
of intellectual or occupational work is important for a stay-at-home
dad.

Our kids are growing up fast! Here are some of their latest
interests and talents: Cirdan is really in to trucks. He is almost
always carrying two of his favorite toy trucks around with him. It's
very cute to watch. It's amazing to watch an infant boy growing up
into a young child. He reacts to things so differently from the way
that Thea reacts to things. It's funny how stereotypical it can be
sometimes. The other day he got ahold of Thea's hairbrush, and he
started wacking the kitchen oven with it, as hard as he could. So I
called over to him to stop, and then I asked him, "Cirdan, why were
you doing that?" Stupid question really... as if I thought I would
actually get a justifiable reason from him. But he caught me
totally off guard when he responded with, "Because I'm a Guy!"
But don't worry... his response was only coincidentally humorous
profundity, because I think he was actually referring to a Muppet
episode that the kids had watched in which some "Guy" was hitting
something. So Cirdan was merely copying that "Guy", and therefore
his response was perfectly explanatory.

Cirdan has also started showing more interest in learning his
letters, which we are excited about. He seems to recognize familiar
shapes in the letters of the alphabet. Just yesterday, he was
looking at Tirah's name spelled out in all capital letters, and he
gave a very good guess at the letters. T-I-R-A-H according to him
was T-T-K-W-6. Maybe I'm really reaching here, as the proud father
of a two-year-old, but I could see where he was coming from: An "I"
does look a bit like a "T". An "R" does look a bit like a "K". And
an "A" has the same slanting lines as a "W". I don't know where the
"6" came from for an "H".

Thea has been developing some fun new skills. She has learned to
draw faces. It's basically a circle with two dots for eyes, one dot
for a nose, and a squiggly line for a mouth, but it's no accident...
it's very intentionally a face for her. And it makes sense to me
that she, as a feminine being, would first learn to draw faces: the
contact point for relationships. Cirdan will probably be drawing
trucks first.

Thea has also been getting very good at learning harmony to songs,
and holding that harmony, while we sing the melody! Sometimes at
night, when Tirah and I sing lullabies to the kids, we'll start to
get hints of three-part harmony. It's exciting to think that in
several years, our little foursome of a family will be able to sing
four part harmony!

Here are some funny phrases that our kids use: "A bit while." For
example: "Papa, could we go outside for a bit while?"
Another funny phrase that has recently come into use is "Here's the
problem..." Thea is turning into quite the little negotiator:
Thea: "Papa, I want to go outside."
Solomon: "Thea, we can't go outside right now, because it's raining."
Thea: "Well... here's the problem... I WANT to go outside!"
Oh... that's a good point... well if you put it that way... I'll see
what I can do...

Well, Tirah and I are now done our 8 week Marriage Support Group with
Lori and John Odhner, down in Bryn Athyn. And we are very sad to be
done, because it was a) very valuable, and 2) a lot of fun! But we
are very excited to start our own Marriage Support Group up here in
Kempton. Hopefully we can start one up within the next month or so.

We had some fun times visiting family this past month. Earlier in
August we took a weekend to go down to the Baltimore Maryland area to
visit with Steve and Galadriel (Tirah's sister), and their kids: Kate
and Genai. We had some great conversations and just plain good
fun. Later in the month, Tirah's youngest sister Geneva came to
stay with us for about a week and a half before she went down to Bryn
Athyn for her senior year of high school. That was a lot of fun
too, and wonderful for me to be able to get some much needed work
done, while Thea and Cirdan got to play with their aunt.
We then went down to Bryn Athyn early in September to get a brief
visit in with Pop Echols, Jori, Abby, Nils and 'Neva. And though it
was brief, it was really nice.

Well, this has been the season for houses! I know of three of my
relatives who are buying and moving into new houses in the next month
or two. My cousin Mandy and her husband Jack just bought a house.
Tirah's sister Eli and his wife Nicola just bought a house down in
Atlanta. And my sister Roxanne and her husband Peter just bought a
house up here in Kempton! We are especially excited about Peter
and Roxanne moving up here to Kempton. It means that my whole
immediate family will live in the same area... something that not
many families desire, but that we love. Roxanne and I will be able
to work on our flute and piano album more easily. Peter and I will
be able to work on the music business more easily. And instead of
driving over an hour to visit with them, they'll be 15 or so minutes
away!

Tirah has been getting into the busy season up at Hawk Mountain,
which at times can be stressful, but she still very much enjoys her
job there. And we're still loving the schedule of her being home
more. We recently were bold enough to try taking both Thea and
Cirdan on a hike up to North Look-out at Hawk Mountain. It was fun,
but exhausting, and a little nerve-wracking. Thea did pretty well
on the trails, and was able to navigate the rocks with some help.
Cirdan on the other hand is old enough to try tackling the trail, but
young enough that he doesn't know what's best for him. Several
times he tripped over rocks because he glanced away for a second.
We ended up carrying the kids for a lot of the trail (which is where
the "exhausting" comes in), and we determined that Hawk Mountain is
really for ages 3 and up.

This past weekend I was fortunate enough (thanks to the wonderful
generosity of my sister Roxanne, who baby-sat my kids) to go on the
Kempton Men's Weekend, which is entitled "Briar Patch." The
concept and name of "Briar Patch" - which is by Kempton definition: a
Men's Gathering - originally was coined in response to a Kempton
Women's Gathering (which unfortunately hasn't happened in years)
which was entitled "Rose Garden." Some very witty Kemptonite came
up with "Briar Patch" as the masculine version of the "Rose
Garden." This year's Briar Patch, organized by Penn Cooper, was
the second Men's Gathering to occur, in which around 40 men
participated, and we rented a Laurel-like campground. It was a lot
of fun, and I felt very humbled by some of the wisdom of the elder
men in Kempton. The things they were saying rang very true for me.
(It was reassuring to find that most of the men I disagree with in
Kempton are younger men, like me... men who are not in the age of
wisdom.) I also gained a new epiphany about my place in Kempton.
One thing I share with every other man in Kempton (even if it's the
only thing I share with them) is a very strong feeling of the
importance of marriage and family. Even if I disagree with other
Kempton men on the most effective way to have a healthy marriage and
family, at least I can find comfort in knowing that we're striving
for the same goal, and therefore we are on the same team.

The good news in my music business is that I've finished recording my
next solo piano album entitled "Peace of Heaven." You can listen to
2 minute samples of the first 7 pieces on the album by going to
http://www.solomonkeal.com/music.html. Now I have to finish
mastering, and creating the album cover and liner notes. I'm still
selling pre-orders for this album, for only $13.00. Send me an email
if you're interested. Also, for anyone in the B.A. area, I'll be
playing background music for the Glencairn Open Sunday on October
1st. There's also a slight chance that I might get to play in a
musical Christmas event at the Mitchel Performing Arts Center in Bryn
Athyn in December some time. Stay tuned for more info to come later.

Well, that all folks!

Have a wonderful day, and may the Lord bless your lives!

- Solomon, Tirah, Thea and Cirdan Keal.