DSLR, Where have you been all my life?

It's time to move away from more maudlin topics and start focusing in on what really matters.

Like, for example, teaching my son how to blow a proper spit-wad, and have a camera with a fast enough shutter speed to capture the moment.

Yes, Glen and I finally saved up enough points through our credit card rewards program, and are the proud parents of a Nikon D90 DSLR camera. Boy, is this baby slick. And, yes, I did say spit-wad. But more on that later.

I fetched my ... I mean, our beloved new toy from the FedEx office in West Covina, and let the battery charge over night on Tuesday. By Wednesday, we were ready to roll. A not-so-quick study of the user manual (which weights almost as much as the camera itself), wasn't very forthcoming on how to make the shutter speed super-duper fast. I mean, it's supposed to have a speed up to 1/4000/sec, for Pete's sake. I finally found my answer on some total stranger's blog post, but soon I was in business.

The photogenetic silliness started yesterday evening, right after dinner. As you can see from some of the pictures here, I'm a wise and responsible parent, and encourage my kids to jump off furniture. For artistic purposes only, of course.

That I can now possibly capture a rare moment of repose where David and Elizabeth are being simultaneously cute and nice to each other is unbelievably cool.

I'm still working on trying to get action shots of water being spewed out of David's mouth, however.

Action shots thus lead me to the topic of spit-wads. David blew through his homework like a pro, and began doing his 20 minutes of reading after we consumed a homemade pizza. The book, "Mrs. Nelson Has a Field Day" includes references to spit-wads.

"What's that?" David asked me, innocently enough.

I didn't answer right away, but went to the pantry to grab a straw. I yanked a paper towel off of the holder, and tore off a small corner. I put it in my mouth.

David's first reaction was not what I expected. "EW!"

"Stay with me," I said. "My old friend, Clifton, who I worked with in Chicago, taught me the proper technique." I left out the part of how Clifton taught me spit-wad technique, at a restaurant, in front of the proprietor. Good thing the place was relatively empty at the time.

Soon, small bits of soggy paper towel were flying out of my straw.

And it was on. "I wanna try!" He proclaimed!

So, I tried walking him through the steps. He's a champ at wetting and stuffing the paper into the straw, but the technique of blowing the proper force of air clearly takes a bit of practice. Soon enough, Elizabeth gave it a whirl. Observe:

Spit-wad practice was quickly abandoned for the purposes of trying to capture more action shots. David is fond of requesting photos that depict Elizabeth pushing him and him falling down. He also gets a kick out of mid-air shots, which he now refers to as "super hero" pictures. Here are two from yesterday and one from tonight:

As I finish this blog entry, I am reminded that we're close to wrapping up the first four weeks of Glen being at Facebook. A very good friend (and HMC colleague) of mine asked me this morning how we were all doing. I was so touched! It's amazing how often I am being asked about how we're all settling into our new routine, and how we're all holding up, but physically and mentally. The well wishes are awesome!

And to tell you the truth, so far it's been great. The fun times far outweigh the times that David and Elizabeth are being challenging, have turned off their "listening ears," or are simply being silly. Okay, they also outweigh the times when I've come unglued, too. We're finding our groove.

But let's look at the photos we take four weeks from now, and we can then decide whether peace in the kingdom prevails.