I broke a parent rule tonight. I’m not sure where I would rank this rule, but it should be pretty high. I’m constantly telling my kids to stop running in the house. Come on, you know you’ve said it too. 
 Well, tonight I was playing with the twins and I took off running away from them. Did I mention that my floors are a very slippery wood lamenent? So, I think you know where this is going. Yes. . . I slipped, fell on my back, and bruised my arm and tail bone. While I was down there recovering, the boys felt so sorry for me that they brought me pillows. Wasn’t that sweet?
Broken parent rule
Posted in Parenting
Leave a comment
Update to snow day
I wanted to give an update to my snow play post a couple weeks ago. We got more snow this past week, so I thought I’d test my hypothosis regarding the length of time my kids want to play out in the cold weather and snow. I decreased their layers by one and it the timing was perfect. They all played in the snow, on the swingset and slide, and pulled each other on sleds, while I shoveled the driveway. They all decided it was time to go inside right as I was finishing up the driveway. I’m sure every kid will be different, but if you want to indirectly control how much time they spend in the snow, experiment with how many layers of clothes you put them in on each venture outside.
Posted in Snow
Leave a comment
Stepson Connection
Last night, I felt a connection with my stepson. I’ve been his stepdad for over 5 years now, but I’ve never been anything more to him other than Jay Jay (when he was younger) or Jason as of late. Anyway, last week I took him to his cub scout meeting and we made a little tool box together. I didn’t think much of it other than I felt we worked well together and it stayed in one piece (which was touch and go for a while). Fast forward to last nights Scout Banquet, in particular, the show and share portion. He took this toolbox for the show and share, but when he was telling everyone there about it, he said: “I made this toolbox with my stepdad at our last meeting.” It wasn’t much, but I felt a connection with him that wasn’t there before. It’s been no secret that I’ve struggled to find my way in the step-dad role, so that little statement by him meant so much to me. I spoke to him later that night about how proud I was that we were able to make that together.
Posted in Cub Scouts, stepson
Leave a comment
Children’s book controversy
I’ll admit, I wouldn’t expect to read the word scrotum in a children’s book. I would however, prefer to read that as opposed to the other slang terms for that area of the male anatomy.
Yet there it is on the first page of “The Higher Power of Lucky,†by Susan Patron, this year’s winner of the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in children’s literature. The book’s heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.
There are librarians everywhere that have pledged to ban the book from elementary schools. I’m sure debate will ensue regarding acceptable language in children’s literature. I say, why ban the book? There are worse things that children could learn from books. I would rather have my children learn some anatomy from books in this way, rather than in a sexual manner. It would take quite a bit for me to recommend banning a book. Of all the controversies I’ve read regarding book content, I’ve never yet been convinced that banning it is the correct action.
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Peanut Butter Recalled Over Salmonella
Don’t look now, but Peter Pan peanut butter is the last item to have a salmonella scare. Jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter with specific codes on the lid are being recalled by ConAgra Foods Inc. Lids of jars with a product code beginning “2111″ can be returned to ConAgra for a refund, the company said. Parents all over the country should be checking their pantry tonight for the possibly contaminated supply.
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Happy Valentine’s Day
I am making this post to remind all you parents out there, to not neglect your significant other. I am at fault at this too. I put all my energy into thinking of what is best for the kids, I neglect the needs of my relationship with my wife.
Time to put on your romantic hats today. Mine, on the other hand, seems to be at the cleaners. My wife and I made a deal; we get each other a card and we will find a night, in the not too distant future, to go out to eat (just the two of us).
I would love to do all the little things that would show her how much I love her. Now after saying that, I’ll admit that I haven’t done any of those things. Not because I don’t love her, cuz I do, those little things just mean so little to me. I know, typical guy, right? I know I’m not alone in this train of thought. (help me out guys)
A message for all you women out there: Don’t give up on the guys like me. We show our love one way now, but given enough time, I’m sure we’ll come around and do all those little things that make you feel special.
Try this little task: Take at least 1 day each month to do something, anything, to show your love for your significant other. That’s 12 days a year, you can do that. Be creative and don’t do the same thing each month. As I come up with ideas, I’ll try to share them here.
Posted in Love
2 Comments
Snow Play
OK, I just learned a valuable lesson that I feel I have to share. We just got hit with about 6 inches of snow, drifts up to 2 feet. So, we all got decked out in our winter coats, snow pants, layers upon layers of warm clothes to go out so I can shovel the driveway and the kids can play in the snow. I was able to get the whole driveway shoveled, but the kids weren’t ready to come in yet. The lesson to take away from this is: Don’t dress them up quite so warm. You’ve got to find the balance of clothes to temperature that makes them ready to come in once you’ve completed your shoveling. They would still be out there now, except Brandy mentioned getting some hot chocolate, which was just the right amount of motivation they needed to come in.
Day Care
I recently made a post in another of my blogs regarding my day care situation. I thought I’d take the opportunity to link to that site from here and re-iterate my feelings on the topic. That post was paid for via payperpost, however my feelings on the topic are genuine.
My kids currently stay at home and have a legitimate preschool class in our home Monday – Friday from a preschool teacher. My wife and I have decided to transfer both boys to a day care facility for the summer months. We are doing this in hopes that 2 things will happen.
1. They will spend the summer months adapting to the process of leaving the confines of our home for a couple months prior to the beginning of kindergarten.
2. I have no doubt that they will also need to adjust to having many more children in class with them. They currently are in a class of 3.
Both of these outcomes will hopefully improve their transition to kindergarten and get them started in public school on the right foot.
Posted in Daycare, Kindergarten, Preschool
Leave a comment
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
When my wife became pregnant, we got lots of advise from friends and family. Some of it you have to take with a grain of salt, as much of it is useless information for you. One piece of advise that I did follow was getting the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. This book was amazingly accurate when it came to children’s sleep habits and needs.
You don’t believe me? Check this out. We have an older son, who was 5 when the twins were born. We also moved into a new house the very same week that the twins were born. So were going along, after their birth, getting the new house situated, taking care of all 3 children, and getting very little sleep ourselves. We jumped to the section of the book regarding 5 year old sleep habits and needs, to find something semi-creepy. That section actually stated: “Your 5 year old can have problems sleeping for many reasons, including moving to a new house or the new birth of twin siblings.” Are you kidding me? This book new my exact situation. Like I said, a little creepy.
Posted in Twins
Leave a comment
Sex offender infiltrates 2 Arizona schools
Big news today about a 29 year old sex offender that posed as a 12 year old boy to register in 2 Arizona public schools. He spent months living as a 12 year old, hanging out with all the other children in the school, while he planned his next lewd act. On a side note that has a hint of humor to this story; Neil Havens convinced another man that he was indeed a 12 year old and had the older man register him at school. All the while these men lived together in a sexual relationship.
This story disturbs me, as a parent, on so many levels. EVERY public school should be required to go through further detailed steps to ensure that our children are in an environment free of sex offenders on campus. I’m sure, or at least I hope, that these Arizona schools are tightening their security.
Posted in Parenting
Leave a comment