It's Good to be Home

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

Shane's See His Parents Again

Shane got to see his parents again for the first time since Christmas! Carrie and I walked in to Grandma and Grandpa's around 10:45ish.

Shane was sitting on the couch. Thomas the Train was playing on the TV, and Shane was watching "Green Garbage Trucks" on the iPad in his lap. With the biggest grin on his face, Shane looked up at me and went "AAAAHHHHH!!!"

Seriously! He went "AAAAHHHH!!!"

I think he was pre-protesting for fear I was going to take away the iPad! (I'm anti-more than half-an-hour with the thing).

Once Shane realized I wasn't going to put the electronics away, he eagerly showed Carrie and I what he was watching. Then he stood up, grabbed Carrie's hand, and started to run off with her. Shane must have realized that I wasn't following, because he ran back, grabbed my hand, and dragged me over to Mommy. He missed us.

Shane and I ended up running around the house for the next 30-60 minutes until I had a sweat going. I would hold Shane under his armpits, he would drop to a frog squat, and then he'd Daddy assisted leap high into the air all over the house. Whenever my lower back would start to feel it, I'd stop the bouncing and slide Shane up and down across the wood floors (They're so much more 'slidey' than carpet).

The boy, Carrie, and Grandpa have all laid down for naps. Grandma keeps telling me what a joy it's been to have Shane running around. It always makes a parent's heart swell up to hear that sort of praise about their child!

Travel Time

Carrie and I are hopping out of bed and going to the airport for an early o'clock flight.

My wife is a packing machine. Last night, she put everything in it's place and it all fit just right.

Anyway, our flight leaves at 8 AM. We'll be back on our way to see Shane again soon enough.

Go Big Red!

My ADHD senses have been tingling while Carrie and I have been in Orlando. 

I keep seeing people from Nebraska. You know they're from Nebraska, because they always have a Big Red N somewhere on their clothes. 

But why are they all in Orlando? 

Next, I spotted a poster of a Nebraska football player outside the movie theater. Very suspicious...

It turns out the Bowl they're playing is in Orlando.

I shouted a "Go Big Red!" to a family we walked by in a strip mall. They laughed and waved back. It looked like they were looking for a place to eat, so I quipped "You won't find a Runza here!" The father laughed and  replied "Or a Valentino's!"

You won't get it unless you've been to Nebraska. I had to call my Grandma afterwards, because it made me think of her in Lincoln.

Go Big Red!

Still Vacationing

We're still on vacation. If you're my wife's friend on Facebook, you can see all sorts of pictures of our adventures.

Thursday, we went to Sea World and had sushi for dinner (inspired by Sea World, perhaps?). Friday, we went to Busch Gardens Tampa and did not have monkey or zebra for dinner. My wife told me it was "not funny!" when I asked if any of the park restaurants had zebra steaks. I admit, I like to say things that cause a reaction from my wife. The trick is not to overdo it (I'm still working on that).

If you're not my wife's friend on Facebook, here are a few of my favorites:

Vacation

Carrie and I made it safely to Florida and we've begun our vacation. I didn't really want to leave Shane, but Carrie made some good points. We haven't been on vacay since an earthquake hit Busch Gardens, and her parents wanted some Shane time.

Plus, Carrie's dad retired this year and had a bunch of airline points that would expire. We got our airfare for free! Thank you, Grandpa!

Day one was spent at IHOP and the Hobbit. There was beggar outside of IHOP who was asking for cash. I offered to take him inside for pancakes, but he declined. He told me he was looking to provide food for his whole family. I countered that I'd buy him a stack of twenty pancakes for take-out if he wanted. Once again, he declined. I told him if he changed his mind he could say 'Hi' when we headed out, but he never took me up on the offer. It was a sobering Christmas note. I saw someone under a bridge and another man sitting out behind a Burger King while we were driving.

The Hobbit was a great movie for a duology. I'm not so sure how it will do as a trilogy. Carrie started humming to the music and could tell what races/references were about to be made based on the scores alone. I enjoyed myself even if I did check my cell phone for the time every now and then.

My biggest (spoiler free) complaints were: A) The goblin king voice, B) Gollum's slaying of the goblin was a bit more grotesque than I liked (but damn, does the actor who plays Gollum do a great job), and C) three movies? Really?

I guess I'll have to wait and see. I enjoyed this one, so maybe Peter Jackson will silence all the skeptics.

Aside from those adventures, life has been much more mundane. Carrie dropped off to sleep around 9 last night. I played some of the new XCOM (Patrick's Christmas present) and goofed off until I crawled in to bed at an amazing 12:00 (the last time I stayed up that late, I was waiting for Dan to come back from NY and fix the A/C). We're totally living the crazy life, aren't we?

We slept in until 8 glorious AM the next morning. Egads! Carrie must really need her rest, because she's already taking a nap! This is more of a rest and recharge trip than an adventure so far. I'll make my wife get out and about more tonight. In the meantime, I think I'll break out my Bible and do some reading. Reading in general is another activity I never seem to have time for anymore, but this is vacation! It's time to do the unexpected and READ!

PS - Shane sounds like he's doing great and eating lots of different things at Grandma and Grandpa's. Everyone has different child talents (like Nana's endless enthusiasm and excitability). It appears Grandma's special talent is to get Shane to eat a wide variety of steamed and grilled vegetables, meats, and cheeses that he rejects from us. Grandpa has access to tons of trains, so he's a Shane favorite as well!

Merry Christmas Eve to All!

Kevin Sorbo posted this on his Facebook page. He's apparently got a blog, too. It sounds like he's gone through some tough times medically and his father passed away, but his faith in Christ is still strong.

I may have to go watch a couple of Hercules episodes now.

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived

“He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty.
Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or a home.
He didn’t go to college.
He never visited a big city.
He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where He was born.
He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.
He had no credentials but Himself.
He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him.
His friends ran away.
One of them denied Him.
He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race.
All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that One Solitary Life.”

Nighty-Night

Every night, Shane and I have our little routine.

I start to turn off the lights downstairs. If the TV is on, the volume is turned down low. Shane then does one of two things. He will A) walk over to me and asks for his 'baba' or B) run around in a burst of energy to  try and convince me he's not tired.

Either way, it's bed time.

I pick Shane up and his head plops onto my shoulder. We say our goodbyes to Mommy and head up the stairs. After a quick stop in Shane's room to turn on his night light, we plop down in a the hallway chair to drink our goodnight bottle.

The goal is to slow down.

I breathe deep. I tussle Shane's hair gently. Normally, we sit quietly for a minute or two.

Then I sing.

Every night, I sing the same tune. It's the same tune I remember my mom singing as a child when she would march up the stairs to enforce bedtime.

Nighty-night, Nighty-night, 
It's your bedtime, Shane.
You're my boy, Mama's joy,
You're our boy and we love you.

Go to bed, Go to bed,
Go to bed son of mine.
Drink your milk, close your eyes,
and dream of the sun-rise.

I love you. Mom loves you.
We love you, Shane.
Rest your head, Drift to sleep
and Nighty-night, night, night.

And nighty-night, night, niiiiight.

I've sung this tune since Shane was a little baby. The words change off and on, but I've basically settled on three verses.

The routine varies more from this point on. Sometimes Shane is already starting to doze and it's a quick put down in his bed. Other times, it takes a while. Sometimes we sit quietly until he finishes. Sometimes I say a psalm or a quick prayer.

Whenever Shane does finish, I put the bottle down and he turns to lay on my chest. I slowly rub his back and hold him for a while. I always want him to feel loved. I don't want to lay him down too quickly. Admittedly, I don't want him to fall fully asleep on me either. The goal is for him to learn to put himself to sleep, so I just get him really comfortable, feeling loved, and then I deposit him in his bed.

I kiss my son goodnight, I tell him I love him and that I'll see him in the morning.

If he's awake, he'll protest when I shut the door. Other times, he falls asleep so quickly I don't hear a peep.

And that's our bed time routine.

'Skins win!

It was a ton of fun watching the game with my family today. Go 'Skins!

Then, the excitement continued when Dallas forced OT against the Saints.

The elation continued when the Saints won. 1) I like Drew Brees.  2) The 'Skins are going to the playoffs RGIII's first year at the rate things are going! They went from 3-6 and Coach Shanahan talking about 'next year' to potentially winning their division.

It's the beginning of a new era of less losing! The fact that family was all around made everything even more exciting.

And that's it. I'm pooped.

Outlook

No matter what happens in this world, I believe God is responsible. 

I'm a Stinker

Do you really want to know?

Shane's Alphabet

Have I mentioned my son knows half of the alphabet?

He's hit or miss with a few of the letters and he can't pronounce the 'M' or 'N' so he skips those entirely. It's not like those letters are important enough to learn.

What can you say with 'M' anyway?

Mama?

Oh....

Oops. We'll get working on that right away, Mommy!

Do you wish to Upgrade? Yes/No

Thank God my wife likes Craigslist. I'd hate to pay brand new for a bed this awesome.

I got an excited email from Carrie while I was at work.

She'd found "the bed." She was excited. When work was over, I was to watch Shane while she picked it up.

That night, Shane could not go to sleep because he was hyper-bonkers, happy-wild. He bounced and kicked all over the bed and then ran the excess energy off all around his room.

The bed is a twin-size, so I think we're set for at least a handful of years.

Great find, Care Bear! Shane approves.

Hey! Give That Back!

My wife developed a new, nap-extending tactic shortly after switching up Shane's room.

Whenever Shane wakes up too early, Carrie will go lay on the floor next to his mattress. Usually, Shane ends up sleeping for almost an extra hour! 

The boy loves to rest near his Mama. Mama loves to rest near her boy, so I guess it's a match made in heaven.

I don't participate as much. I let Shane wake up and play with him. However, if his nap is especially short (30 minutes or so) I've been known to lay down in front of Shane's mattress as well. 

Usually, Shane drops off back to sleep without ever leaving his bed. When he's restless, though, he's been known to wallow. I've had the boy fall asleep on my chest more than once while laying down with him.

One Thursday morning a couple of weeks ago, Shane woke up crying at five. I didn't want to wake Carrie, and normally I wouldn't have risked falling back asleep on a work morning away from a clock, but I knew that Shane would be awake no matter what when he heard the garbage truck roll by (it's very exciting for little boys).

I grabbed a pillow and laid down on the floor in front of Shane. My son stopped crying. He kept fidgeting, so I knew he was in a restless mood. Soon my son scooted to the edge of his bed so that he could lay closer to me. It was very touching, but it didn't end there.

Over the course of the next half an hour, Shane slithered off the bed against me, crawled up to share my pillow, and then pushed me off the pillow so he could have the whole thing to himself! To add insult to injury, Shane eventually decided to get up and get back into his bed.

He took the pillow with him!

Dada ended up laying pillow-less and cold until the sound of garbage trucks caused Shane to bolt from bed.

The things parents do for their children!

Shane's Room Upgrade

A while back I complained about Shane's ability to vault out of his crib. I think most parents will agree: problems with children sleeping are some of the most frustratingly common situations in parenting. I try to avoid foul language as a rule, but Nana wouldn't want to hear some of the things I mutter if a nap time goes to pot.

The situation was swiftly resolved.

Final Memories of Our First Home

Carrie and I began our married life in my apartment, but it lasted for less than a month. Carrie went away for YCC, I packed up, and that was the end of that era.

Our townhouse was our first real home we built together. We were there for 2 and 1/2 years. I wish we had a full video of the place while all of our stuff was in it, but we don't.

Thankfully, we do have this gem. Carrie took a final walk about after all of the papers were signed. A final farewell.

It's languished on our computer for a long while. I wanted to post it before I fully forgot about it.

Farewell, townhouse. You were a good home where my wife and I spent the beginning of our years together and helped us raise our boy from a baby to a toddler.

Because I Said I Would...

On one visit, Nana asked a very important question: "Who taught Shane to say 'Bye, Bye Pee Pee!' anyway? That is so weird!"

My wife blushed.

It's funny how you can say something one time and a kid will latch on to it.

Too bad you don't get to pick what they'll latch on to.

I yelled, "I'm blogging this!" in reply.

Dancing Wife

My wife has been dancing around the kitchen singing today.

It's adorable.

"I SOLD THE MICROWAVE! I SOLD THE MICROWAVE!"

Carrie is the Craig's List Queen for our family. We had a new/old microwave in our garage sitting around that Carrie hocked for cash today.

Go Wifey!

Muay Thai Class 7 (if you want to call it that)

What did I get myself into?

The thought reverberated through my head.

"Mike, you want to spar?" coach asked.

I thought it was going to be an actual class today. Not a match.

"Sure."

Flashing Lights

On my way home, I saw a fire truck rumble it's way through traffic.

At the light to make the left turn off the highway, an ambulance forced it's way through traffic and turned in front of me.

My first thought: "Please God, don't let that be going to my house."

My second thought: "That first thought was self-serving. Whoever's house that's going to isn't going to be happy."

My third thought: "Please God, watch over whoever is hurt and guide the emergency personnel.

I saw both the fire truck and the ambulance again a couple of minutes later.

They were parked in front of my driveway.

Red lights flashed and flickered. The sun had set, but the emergency lights lit the street an eerie red. I thought my driveway was blocked, so I pulled over on the side of the street. I could see Carrie standing with Shane in our neighbor's yard.

I jumped out of the car to find a very excited boy. "Dada see fire truck!!??"

It turns out the ambulance was for my neighbor. We share a driveway.

Carrie, Shane and I stood outside to see what had happened and to offer our neighbor any help she needed. Another neighbor who knew her better went inside briefly. Details are scarce, but it sounds like our neighbor suddenly felt dizzy and fell. It looked like her arm was wrapped up, so she probably hurt herself in the fall.

I feel a little guilty about my first thought, but I am relieved that the ambulance wasn't for Shane  again.

In other news, my family arrived safely in Nebraska. I tasked Jama with trying Runza and Valentino's Pizza while she was there. When in Nebraska, eat junk food as Nebraskans do!

Am I the Only One Who....

Our garage is a tight fit for two cars. Carrie and I have found that we have to back the Prius in for it to fit right.

Every morning, I climb into my car to go to work and watch the garage door rise in front of me  I can't help but imagine it's a hanger door opening as I prepare for launch. I don't feel like I'm flying once I hit traffic, though!

It's funny how a childish thought can give you a grin to face the morning gloom. 

Vocabulary Update

Shane's vocabulary has grown leaps and bounds again. He can recite the alphabet up to around M and can mostly count to 12. There are gaps and he can't pronounce many things, but the boy is trying! Shane can also recognize nearly every engine on the island of Sodor!

One of the speech therapists early suggestions to Carrie was to make a list of all the words Shane says. I think the therapist was envisioning a small list, but my wife took the idea and ran with it.

Shane's Party Day

Carrie and I are both exhausted!

Shane turned the big....well, he turned two on Thursday. I guess it isn't a big number yet, but when you're the parent of a toddler you'll understand how long and short two years can feel! Birthday parties for young kids are largely a celebration of all the hard work everyone has put into raising a child. As Shane grows older and gains the capability to remember days like this the focus will shift.

Shane and I were best buddies for the first half of the day. There was a free model train display at the church around the corner, so Shane and I went on an adventure. We were gone for a couple of hours chasing trains,  gawking at Legos, and playing on playgrounds (both ours and the church's!).

Throughout our adventures, Carrie was hard at work in the kitchen. She was determined to make Shane a two-tiered birthday cake from scratch.

She did it too!

It had an almond flavor with banana butter-cream frosting and slices of banana on the filling between cake layers.

We were both feeling like pro parents by the time Carrie's parents arrived. It did threaten Shane's nap time, though.

Shane started to stir after only half-an-hour. Carrie asked me to go upstairs. Normally, if Shane starts to wake after a shortened nap my wife likes to go upstairs and lay down next to his mattress. The boy will normally go back down then. I tend to let the boy rouse, but I agreed and ended up dozing on the floor while my boy snoozed on the mattress beside me.

It would've been more restful if I hadn't had a full bladder. I didn't want to risk leaving the room and waking the boy. There was no clock and I guess I was in and out of consciousness so I was in a bit of a time warp. By the time Shane finally woke up, Carrie had cooked her parents lunch, eaten, and cleaned up.

The rest of the day was all about Shane.

Grandpa bought a miniature remote controlled Thomas the Train toy. Grandma located a thirty-year old train set from Japan they had bought my brother in law as a child.

Shane's mind was blown.

He was almost distracted enough to not pop up when we asked "Do you want to see Indy?"

Carrie's parents, Carrie, Shane, and I drove over to my parents for cake and more presents. Shane blew out his own candles! I had to hold his hands to prevent him from grabbing the fire, but he HAMMED it up when everyone started to cheer him. My son loves attention.

There are many fun memories. Jama helped Shane set up his bubble toy. Grandma and Grandpa showed off pictures of the hot-air balloon festival they went to. Pop and I took Shane out to the trampoline and Nana showed Shane all of the new toys she'd found for him. I admit, I rested for a lot of the festivities. Shane was having enough fun with everyone else I didn't feel the need to hover. Then, Shane was nice when we packed hi up to leave! It was a good day! Shane ran to his new Thomas toy the moment we got home. Dan had ordered a pizza, so Shane got to chew on some cheese sticks, too!

If Shane could ask himself one question today, it would probably be "Does it get any better than this?"

Happy Birthday Shane! Your train will be waiting for you in the morning, you'll get to play in Sunday school, and then you'll get your Nana time on Monday.

Sorry to Steal Shane's Spotlight but...

Something strange happened to me under an hour ago.

Do you remember how I had some computer trouble a while back? Two random people on Facebook tried to friend me today. My first thought was, "Oh great....is there another bug on my computer?" I took the usual precautions, found nothing, and then started to peruse through my mailbox on Facebook. I wanted to make sure there weren't any strange outgoing mails being sent from my account.

There was no virus, but I stumbled upon an "Other" mailbox that I had no idea existed.

On March 21st of this year I received a message.

The message was from someone I taught at a computer camp when I was a newly graduated senior from high school.

"Hey,

This may sound pretty random, but 12 years ago I went to a computer science camp where I believe you were a counselor, at American University. You probably don't remember me. It was probably not a significant time for you, but it very much was for me. Freshman year of high school was one of the worst years of my life, and this camp was when it all started to change. I became fast friends with your sisters Megan and Kathleen. It was my first introduction to Computer Science and Japanese, and was the first time in years that I was in a genuinely creative, supportive environment. I remember there were many counselors, but you stood out as being competant without being condiscending (like the councelor from TJ), and not full of insane bullshit (like "Y'Carr").

So I'm writing to you now because, well, a) I wanted to thank you for contributing to a great environment that literally changed my life around, and b) I feel nastalgic tonight for some reason.

Shane Posts

Lots of Shane posts need to be made. Topics include:

1. Singing the alphabet
2. Shane's electronics obsession
3. How Carrie redesigned Shane's room
and
4. The baby stole my pillow.

I don't mind doing a half-butt job on a post about me or my shenanigans, but I always want to deliver my A-game when I write about Shaneanigans. Sometimes this prevents me from starting a post when I'm too tired to do what I feel would be a good job on it.

There should be Shane stories posted this weekend!

It's That Squirrelly Time of Year

Holidays are a time of joy and stress. There's shopping, family, expectations and celebrations. For most of us, there's enough joys to make the stresses worth it.

What if that's not the case?

Every year, there are students whose home situations are not what anyone would choose. All of the holiday cheer and antics of the many can remind them that their reality is far less joyful than it should be.

Most of my students are fine, but there are a few that have developed an edge. It could be the honeymoon period is over, or it could be the holiday season is dredging out the worst in them. Only time will tell. It keeps me busy!

Overall, this year has been easier/happier than most. I'd rather deal with a mainly kids who have trouble with school, but have good attitudes than the reverse any day of the week. Encouragement comes naturally to me. Cracking heads and laying down the law is a learned skill.

Muay Thai Class 6

It only took a couple of weeks, but I made it to class again.

The bad news is, I'm at the point where my reactions are the wrong ones.

Every sport has a distinct set of reactions they want to teach you. In wrestling, the first thing the coaches teach you is to "belly down!" In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the first lesson is "on your back! NO! DON'T LAY ON YOUR STOMACH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Then for Muay Thai, it's "What are you laying around for? Stand up!"

Happy Birthday To Shane!

Shane is officially two years old. He is not aware and does not care, but one day he'll know enough to understand why Mama made a cake and Dada's been singing.

For Shane, it's been a mostly normal day. The highlight was when the garbage and recycling trucks drove by this morning!

There will be a part this weekend. Until then, I bid any of my readers adieu.

The Posts I Don't Like to Read

I don't like it when I complain.

Everyone vents, yes. It's a part of life and can be healthy to do.

Once you've vented, it should be done. If it's not done, it's whining.

"No one likes a whiner," is a famous Nana quote.

Whenever I stumble across an old, more negative post it makes me wince internally. I may have been venting at the time, but once I post the negative it becomes a recurring vent and therefore a whine.

That's just me, though.

Wait.....was this just a complaint post?

****!

Lessons from Marriage: Women's Laundry

Marriage teaches a man many, many things. It demystifies some aspects of women that a single man would never fathom. Most of these lessons need to be learned fairly quickly if one is to survive.

In this episode of Lessons from Marriage: I'm complaining about women's laundry.

Bras are annoying.

I'm not talking about the typical movie/TV "this catch refuses to release" annoying. I'm talking about how a considerate husband can unknowingly throw too many in the dryer at the same time they can come out more tangled than a giant knot of spaghetti at an Italian buffet. Last night, I had one bra manage to tangle on itself. It bent the hook that clasps on to the other side.  Twas not my fault!

Women's laundry can also come with a lot of special rules. You was one thing, but don't dry it. Or perhaps you hand wash one thing, but you can dry it. Hot temperatures work for some; others will shrink into something that won't fit on a doll. The buttons are all on the wrong side, too!

Yes, a man can learn a lot in marriage.

Usually through trial and error.

Lots and lots of errors.

This public service announcement was brought to you by The Union of Married Men. 

Tum, ta tum, tum, TUMMs!

Little Things

Shane and I spent almost half an hour this morning on the kitchen floor. He learned how to open and unroll bags of coffee beans. 

For me, it was mundane. 

For Shane, it was magical. That's why we kept at it for so long.

The ability to open and close bags of coffee isn't a skill I really want my son to have. However, it's a multi-step process and he enjoyed smelling the flavored coffees before we would seal and re-roll the bags. Learning is learning. Carrie and I will have to be careful not to let Shane's newly found knowledge spill ground-up black beans everywhere.

When Shane got tired of the opening and closing, he spun the revolving cabinet for the remainder of the half-hour.

Lots of little things happen every day, but they don't usually make it onto the blog. One, it's too much to write and two, they normally blur as more and more happen. It's a shame, but it's the way it is.

In the meantime, my son likes the smell of coffee. Go figure.

Whew!

After a full Saturday of playing with Shane, cleaning, laundry, and kickboxing I am ready to go back to work to rest!

Kitchen Cannots

I was talking to my brother, Matt, on the phone and I was surprised to hear that he was cooking dinner. It was some sort of pesto chicken with corn and rice. Sadly, I had to hang up because of an explosive-leaking-through-Shane's-pants diaper situation, or I could supply more detail.

I called out to my wife. "Hey Carrie! Matt cooks! Maybe I should learn how to cook some more basic things."

She replied, "No."


My wife desires me to be helpless in the kitchen.

My cooking skills are limited to the microwave, peanut butter, sandwich meats, toasters, and anything from the freezer that has a picture on the back with detailed steps. Cooking is not an inability for me as much as it's something I never desired to learn on my own. As a teenager/young-adult, if it took longer for me to cook it than it would take for me to eat it I had no desire to do it. 

Now, I have a family and I would not mind learning more since I wouldn't be the only one partaking. 

My wife comes from a cooking family. I don't always understand them, but I do get a lot of good meals out of our relationship. Plus, Carrie likes to watch the cooking channels, so I've already (at least) quintupled what I knew about food when we first married. I don't have any physical experience with the techniques or the skills to prep anything, but I've learned enough that I'm at least intrigued with some of the possibilities.

Years ago, I offered to be my wife's sous chef.

She replied, "No." 

My wife enjoys 'having an edge' on me. My kitchen bumbling/inexperience often amuses her. So far, it all outweighs the benefits of sharing the kitchen workload.

If I do start poking around the kitchen, Carrie is quick to intervene. I am immediately shooed me out of the kitchen and made a meal. Tonight, Carrie made a seafood chowder with salmon and corn and a loaf of bread (Carrie's gone nuts with the bread maker since we bought it and I'm not complaining!). Dan came up and she ladled him out a bowl, too.

Really, it's not such a bad gig. I eat well, and my wife encourages me to be a pig.

Why Do I Write?

I normally only get a couple of hours of free time every night if I'm lucky. Somehow I have to spend quality time with my wife, take care of chores, and still manage to go bed at a time I won't hate myself for in the morning.

So why write?

It takes up time and effort at a time when I don't have much of either.

A part of me wants this blog to be my insurance. My insurance that if anything were to happen to me, my son would still have a way to get to know me at least a little bit.

A part of me wants to chronicle events before I forget them. I'm often tired and exhausted at the end of a day, but the weeks slip away unnoticed at times. Memories fade and there are good ones that I want to preserve. I want to show the video of Shane's first attempt at picking his nose when he's much older and can see the humor (and possibly be horribly embarrassed) about it.

A part of me wants to believe I could be an author one day. The blog is good practice to get in the rhythm of writing and work on my 'craft.' I feel like I have many stories to tell and I want to tell them. At it's heart, writing is a social activity. It's meant to be shared. 

Another part of me acknowledges I'm ADHD out that whazoo and the act of organizing my thoughts into a coherent story is a rewarding challenge. It helps to process events and focus on the things that I want to remember. I'm a big believer in 'happiness is a choice.' The negative will always be there, and needs to be acknowledged, but if you pray and focus on the positive you (and everyone around you) will be far better off. There are plenty of things I could write about, but they don't pass the "What would I want to re-read a decade from now?" test. Complaining is not at the top of the list.

I write for a lot of reasons. My family has only recently discovered my blog, but any entertainment they get out of reading it is another reason to keep writing. It's hard to believe I've been at this for a couple of years now. It just reinforces another one of my beliefs:

If you want to get anywhere or do anything you have to do something. It doesn't matter how small, if you keep at it then you'll end up further than where you started.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving this year was more of a marathon.

Thursday began with Carrie cooking her famous sweet potato pies. We went over to my parents' house for a Turkey Day lunch bunch! It was the smallest Thanksgiving at Nana and Pop's I can recall. My family attended (Carrie, Shane and I); Megan and Billy were there; Reina came with her son, Bryce; Karin was there for the very beginning, and then there were the house's inhabitants: Patrick, Nana, Pop, and Jama.

Twelve people probably doesn't sound like a small crew to most people, but I come from a large family. Thanksgiving has always been a blur of fun, chaotic memories of lots of people and lots of food. Now that all of Nana's kids are wed (the oldest four of us to partners and the youngest to his computer) it's harder to match everyone's schedules. It's only going to get more awkward going forward when Megan and Billy go overseas. It felt more like the typical Turkey-fest when my family descended upon Bill and Dan's family get together for desert that night.

All in all, I enjoyed myself eating, watching football, and talking. I wish I got more time to catch up with all of my loved ones.

The only thing that I found stressful was my son's wrath. Shane loves Nana so much, he jealously (and zealously) clings to her. If I walked into a room they were playing in, Shane would yell and either A) try to push me out the door, or B) try to pull Nana out the door and make a hasty retreat. Nana and Pop help so much with childcare already, I wanted to play and help watch my son some (You know, be a good dad!).

Shane would not allow it! I eventually gave up trying. As I posted a long time ago, Nana is the most natural "baby person" I know. Shane squeals and throws a fit almost every time Carrie or I pick him up from 'Nana Day Care.' Pop decided that it would better for him or Nana to "be the bad guy" and stick Shane in his car seat, so it didn't seem like we (his parents) were ripping him away from where he wanted to be. I'm extremely grateful for all their help, but I hope to 'win' my son back some as he gets older. I like to think I've always been good with school-aged children. Watch out, Nana! I'll bring my A-game! (And if you're reading this, don't feel guilty! We love how much help you've been with Shane).

The weekend was spent with Carrie's parents. We drove down first thing Friday morning. The new car DVD player Carrie picked out was a huge help! It was an early Christmas gift from Nana and Pop. Shane plugged in to 'Cars' the whole way down instead of protesting.

It was great.

We all had fun at Carrie's parents' house once we got there. There was food, family, and the ladies went shopping (not once, but twice!). Grandpa and I took Shane to the Science Museum of VA on Saturday. It was awesome. That morning, Shane spent half an hour gawking over Grandpa's model trains. Grandpa knew that the museum was hosting a model train show in addition to the normal exhibits and suggested the trip. I want to go back again next year when Shane's older. There were a ton of interactive physics exhibits Shane wasn't quite old enough to understand (but more than old enough to yank and play on) and the museum closed before we got to see the real train engines.

I almost held off on writing this post for want of pictures, but I didn't want to get behind on posting again. I'll make a separate post whenever I get my hands on them. That's the memory dump for now before my old, rusty steel trap of a brain loses any more details. There will be a couple of fun posts with pictures and details from the weekend at a later date.

Blog Work

I need to do some Turkey Day write-ups, but I haven't felt "in the zone." I'll blame the turkey.

What I have been doing today is going through my old blogs and adding labels. The hope is the labels will help with sorting and searching through old posts. I don't know if anyone will ever actually use them, but it seems like the pro blogger thing to do. I ended up deleting a bunch of old blank and half-started drafts.

It's only taken me at least 10 times longer than expected!

An unexpected bonus popped up from my efforts at organization. I've bumped in to some old posts that I forgot existed. The whole point of writing stuff down is to remember it, so I'm glad the blog is fulfilling it's function!

A few examples:

I found my old New Year's Resolutions for 2012 and added in some updates.

I bumped across Carrie's post and marked it as a guest post. We re-read it together while Shane was napping.

Anyway, I've tagged enough that I feel like I won't need to go back and do it again. There are few updates, typo corrections, etc here and there that are now 'buried blog treasure.'  The battery on the laptop is dying, so it's time to save. I'll do the Thanksgiving posts after we get back from Carrie's parent's house.

EDIT: Carrie asked me "Why [tag everything] if you don't think it will be used?"

"It's what PRO bloggers do!" I replied!

I could end the story there and look cool, but in reality it went a little further.

Carrie arched an eyebrow at me. "Pro?"

We laughed.

I WANT KITTIES!

Shane is intense. When he wants something, he really wants it or the world is going to end!

It's hard being a baby.

If my son had his way, he would always be: A) somewhere outside, B) in front of the TV, or C) in front of the computer watching "kitties" on Youtube.

Shane cracks up when he watches cat highlights. My wife insists it's because he likes cats better. I'm not so sure. If 1 in 1,000 cats can do a cool trick for a second and 1 in 1,000 of the tricks are caught on tape, then it's a good thing there are countless millions of cats out there to make a minute montage for my son!

The boy is an addict. He can sit in front of the computer for way longer than my patience holds. When I do try to transition him to another activity it sparks an instant tantrum. Too bad for Shane, Dada ignores the tantrums and closes the computer anyway. There's only so much internet cat-capades a man can take. If Shane's lucky, Mama will be the one watching the kittens with him. She not only has a longer tolerance than Dada, but she'll get giddy and giggle along with the boy.

Once upon at time, I posted a video of Shane seeing Maru the "box cat" for the first time. He's only gotten more animated since.

Hide and Go Poop

You can always tell when a #2 is afoot with Shane.

His brow furrows in concentration; his mouth becomes a grim line of determination!

And he grunts.

Loudly!

Yes sirree, it's obvious when Shane puts on his 'poop face.' If you don't catch him in the act, you'll definitely catch a whiff as he runs by afterwards.

Somewhere along the way, Shane developed a certain shyness whenever he puts on his poop face. The boy will be playing with you one second, jump up, and run around a corner out of sight. You can't see the game face, but the grunts are still audible!

Thus, my son has discovered "hide and go poop."

Carrie swears that it's not uncommon for toddlers, but I still get a kick out of messing with Shane's game. I'll stealthily inch to wear I can barely see him. If Shane sees me, he'll scoot a few inches or whatever it takes to break my line of sight.

Normally, I stop at that point. I was spotted, confirmed poop sign, and no man really wants to interrupt another man's doody (er duty!).

Sometimes though, Shane feels the urge to do his thing where he there's no corner convenient to run around. He's got a trick up his sleeve for emergencies. My son will look up, make eye contact, and throw his arm over his eyes! Instant baby invisibility! The grunting starts and everyone who witnesses it is left feeling slightly awkward if they're not cracking up.

The first time Shane did this was in the middle of Patrick's room. I about died laughing as Shane stood over a pile of dirty clothes, eyes shielded. He had the biggest grin when he finished, too. It was hard not to be proud.

Maybe this game is commonplace. Carrie says that most toddlers like some privacy, but I still thought it was funny enough to post.

Muay Thai Class 5

To my shock and amazement, Patrick not only showed up for class he showed up on time.

This is not something my side of the family (outside of Pop) is known for.

I was glad to see him, though. Sports are always more fun when you have family and friends around. Carrie and I cannot attend class together since one of us always has to watch Shane. Plus, I was happy to get Patrick out of his room and doing something physical and not electronic.

Patrick got to punch me in the face, so I think he enjoyed himself too!

Locked Out!

Carrie, Shane and I came home from church today to discover we were locked out of our own house.

Resurrected Post: April Fool's 2010

Today was April Fool's Day.  Mom called and wanted me to fool Jama for her.  Jama fools Mom every year and every year Mom swears it will be the last.  Mom wanted me to tell Jama that Carrie was preggers.  I didn't want to do anything without letting Carrie know (since we are talking about her belly), so I waited until Carrie was home from an appointment.  We called later, and we got Jama a little excited but whenever someone asks "is this an April Fool's joke?" you're basically done.   We also called Carrie's mom and sang Happy Birthday on her voicemail.  Ironically enough, Carrie couldn't remember if today was her mom's actual birthday!  Could it be an April Fool's prank?  A quick call home yielded surprising results: today was not Mrs. Cassano's birthday.

It was yesterday.  Oops.

Life continues.  We went out to get sushi with Kent to celebrate his new job.  When we got back Matt called to congratulate Carrie and I on her pregnancy.  Huh?  Mom, in her eagerness, sent out an email to the family detailing new life in Carrie's belly.  She got Matt!  Mom later called to have me tell Patrick the details.  He was wise to her scheming.  In the meantime, Carrie was shocked as she checked her email and read the notice of her pregnancy.  "A little notice would've been nice!"  

*Ironically, I found out that Carrie WAS PREGNANT four days later at 3 in the morning. 

**I'm not a huge fan of how I used to write, but much of it was marked private on an old journal site. It's more  of a thought-dump and I didn't expect it to ever be read. I'd like to think my writing has improved since.

An Ode to a Different Matt

I'm feeling nostalgic tonight.

I work with a lot of kids from a lot of different backgrounds. Sometimes the home situations are happy and more 'normal.' Sometimes the home situations are strained. Sometimes the situations are bleak and painful and most times they are no fault of the child. Tough situations are not reserved for special education students, but we have more than our fair share of hardship and broken homes.

And to think, I owe a large part of my choice of career to a Matt in my life.

This Matt is no longer among us. He passed away a couple of years ago. My dad spoke at the funeral. It's one of the few times my wife has seen me cry.

So who is he?

Muay Tired

I've been a little frustrated/disappointed that I've only been to a handful of Muay Thai classes in the 2.5 months since I started. It seems like something always comes up. I was almost a total hypocrite Monday, because I was going to go but then I ate a big Chipotle burrito (and boy was it good!). I ended up digesting enough in time that I wouldn't hurl beans and rice working out, but Carrie felt sick and laid down for the night while I was giving Shane his bath.

Still, there is hope!  It sounds like Patrick is interested in classes. He and I may go on Saturday. Since Carrie and I can't go at the same time, having a family member start going could be great motivation to make sure one of us follows suit. I'd be okay with Carrie going in my stead. I just don't like starting something and then not continuing it.

Shane's 2nd Halloween

Do you detect a theme?

My wife is a trekkie. She was a closet trekkie in high school and she's clearly come out of that closet long ago. She bought herself an authentic replica of a command gold uniform from the original series. Shane got to wear blue, and I donned the feared red shirt.

"Our son outranks you!" my wife giggled.

Actually, we got a lot out of the uniforms. Carrie wore hers to work. Her boss demanded it. She ended up in the state capitol giving a presentation all decked out! Hilarious.

I wasn't sure if I could wear mine to work since we discourage the kids from wearing costumes. I asked two different administrators if I could rock the red, and do you know what the response I got was?  

Affirmative!

The AP I asked even said "I didn't even realize it was a costume."

Several kids asked me if I realized the danger I was in. "We'll see if I'll last the day!"

Fun times.

We even drove to Chic-Fil-A and got free food for wearing costumes. 

Hmmm

I got home, put Shane to bed, and kissed Carrie as she ran off to Target. Grandma mentioned Nana posted some Halloween pictures (did I really not blog that?), so I wanted to pop on Facebook to see them.

My account was locked.

Facebook wanted me to watch a little video about extensions in Chrome and confirm I'd run a virus scan. Then it told me that I wouldn't be able to post for the next 48 hours.

My first response: I did all of that Monday! I deleted all my extensions, virus scanned, and malware/adware scanned the moment Carrie noticed something funny. I double-checked the sent box and trash can on my email as well to make sure no random spam was spawning in my name, too!

Of course, I decided to make a snarky post about late Facebook was to the party (you're reading it).

What I didn't realize is that whatever jumped on Carrie's and then my Facebook accounts also created 31 spam blogs on blogger through my account.

Yuck.

I browsed through the help sections but there was no quick way listed to delete the spam blogs. I deleted them manually one by one. I was tempted to click on one and see what was there since there were "no posts," but the last thing I wanted to do was give the bot/extension that made them the satisfaction.

Oh, the glory and the bother of the internet! It made for a quick post, though! I was feeling a little lazy after work, class, bottle-necked traffic and the like, but now I can pretend I was productive enough to goof off for an hour before bed.

Working it!

Multitasking is the only way to accomplish anything as a parent of a toddler. I think that 99.9% of all parents will agree with me.

Thus, Shane watched "funny cats" while I typed up a response for my online class. I made more than one typo as he bounced and chortled!

Wonky Computer

Hmm.....

Carrie's facebook page posted a random event.

My facebook page posted/followed a random picture.

My blog doesn't look right, but the computer swears it's the same theme.

Yeah, it's virus and spam check central over here.

I was going to post about being shocked by a new car, or perhaps there was Veteran's Day crayfish fun or a story about how Shane likes to play "Hide and Go Poop" but those will have to wait for now! Plus, I have homework anyway.

Time to fix, fix, fix...

Odd Squodd

Saturday, Shane and I spent spent a lot of time out on his new playground. At one point, I turned around and saw something odd under our deck....

...an orange cat eating a dead squirrel. I tried to get a closer picture, but the cat ran off. He must have still been hungry later because he came back and ate the head off the squirrel. Maybe he just wanted the brains? (Zombie cat?!)

Well, there's no love lost between me and squirrels. I still have the voicemail of a panicked Carrie announcing a squirrel looking at her through a hole in the basement of our old townhouse! I'll have to bag the body later so the boy doesn't play with it.

Lucky for Dan, he just installed the blinds Carrie bought for downstairs! He'd have quite the view otherwise!

Carrie's Project

It looks like Carrie beat me to posting about this on Facebook. Oh well! It means the pictures were transferred, so that I can upload them more easily!

Thanks to Mama, Shane has a backyard playground!

Outdoor Shaneannigans Part 2

Now that I've introduced you to life in our driveway, I need to paint the rest of the picture.

Shane and I don't typically stay just in our driveway.

The walking tradition started back at the townhouse. My early post mentioning it was back in June 2011, but I know I started when the weather turned nice (maybe as early as May). It was a great way to get a little exercise, get out of the house, keep the boy happy, and tucker him out for bed time. Back then, Shane sat calmly and made me do all the work.

Nowadays, Shane "helps." I figure I do more work with his "help" than I did without!

Stubborn to the Bitter End

Shane fell asleep on the ride home from church today. I submit to you that a child who can't stay awake for 5-10 minutes is tried.

So why is Shane refusing to nap?

I brought him in, gave him a bottle, laid him down, and BOOM! The crying started once I left the room. He was at it for half an hour before he learned a new trick.

He just learned he can pile blankets to get out of his crib.

Epic nap fail.

Dada's frustrated. I removed some of the blankets and toys from the crib and I just heard another "thud." Time to go check on the boy wonder.

Please go to sleep! You're cranky as all get out when you refuse to nap for a day.

EDIT: It wasn't stepping on a pile that helped Shane escape. I went up with a bottle, tried to soothe him, and then I sat in the room with him. The boy pulls himself up and uses his feet to scale the side of the crib. I know Game Over when I see it. He's running around me as I type this. I'm not going to make him lay there because I'm too stubborn to admit that he's not going to sleep.

I hope the 2 minutes he slept from the last light before our house to home was enough to last until his 8 o'clock bedtime. He certainly has enough energy right now!

Busy Saturday

Saturdays are as busy as any other day around here. I vacuumed, washed clothes, cleaned the kitchen, and watched Shane. There was an hour and a half of break time here and there before he went down to sleep. I often wonder what the teenage Mike would think whenever I thank God for an opportunity to do my online homework and dishes! Is it bad that I'm tempted to vacuum right now? The whole house is asleep, so it'd be a bad idea, but I do want to get it done...

Carrie was very busy as well. She's working on a project that I wish I could claim more credit for. It's all her, though. I'll be taking pictures as it develops and it will get it's own blog post later. Hopefully, Monday when it's all said and done. She's up sleeping now, so I have more spare time than I'm used to. I can write!

I'm working on finishing Outdoor Shane-annigans Part 2 next. It's funny how much time you can spend taking pictures, uploading, and downloading them. I'll try to finish it up tonight, so I can check spelling and post tomorrow.

Bed Times

Bed time is not the happy-fun time it used to be.

The vents in Shane's old room banged all night long, so Carrie switched out the furniture between Shane's room and the guest bed room on Monday. It's quite cozy and I'm surprised we didn't set Shane up in there to begin with. Shane slept well the first night (minus waking up early), but he's thrown tantrums whenever he's supposed to sleep since.

Wednesday, Shane discovered he could vault out of his crib. He laid quietly in my arms as I sang and he drank. He rolled over and laid on me for a while as I hugged him. I lowered him into his bed, said "Nighty-night" and closed the door.

Instant screaming.

Aftermath

We woke up today and the power was still on. Compared to other areas, we were barely affected. Chincoteague island was underwater (my wife was worried about the wild horses), Carrie's friend Charlie reported NYC shut down all public transportation and bridges (no escape!), and in NJ there was a picture of a shark swimming in someone's yard. This is a storm that some areas will be talking about for decades.

By comparison, my neighbor's mailbox fell over and we have some standing water under our porch. The largest casualty of the hurricane was Shane's sleep pattern. He took a 30 minute nap driving back from Nana and Pa's yesterday, went to bed late, and then woke up before 5:30 AM. Unfortunately, I was up past 11 because that was supposed to be the apex of the winds. I wanted to make sure I was awake in case anything happened. Thankfully, nothing did. Carrie went upstairs earlier, but she was still awake when I followed suit. You could feel the house shifting in the wind once you went up a floor! It was enough to keep my wife awake.

Not me! I fell asleep quickly. I like the sound of rain. If the storm wasn't causing so much havoc in other people's lives I would have even enjoyed the ambiance.

I got an email from work today saying "The school's fine!" I would say the odds are 75/25 I'll be back in the classroom tomorrow. There are roads shut down all through the county, but I don't think the school system will want to stay closed for too much longer.

Situation Sandy

Sandy is creeping up on us.

It's been gloomy all day. The temperature has been slowly dropping and I haven't seen the sun for a while now. There's been no rain, yet. The wind is still waiting in the wings, too. Bands of rain have already hit where Carrie's parents and her brother's family live, but we're in the clear here (for now). The Redskins lost, but if all their losses were bad omens DC would've sunk below sea level by now.

I do know that school's been cancelled for the next two days. I thought they would wait to make an announcement. Perhaps they wanted to put people at ease? Regardless, I'm going to be home the next couple of days for some predicted heavy weather. The state park Carrie works at is closed until Wednesday.

There's not much more to do now other than sit and see. I'm not as worried about the storm as I'm worried about Shane being ornery for the next several days. He doesn't understand it when he's forbidden to go out in a normal rainstorm much less the fringe of a hurricane. If the power goes out, there will be no Thomas the Train to mollify him! Ha ha! I'm laughing now, but it won't be funny if it does happen.

I'm sure we will weather through this. It's a big enough event I wanted to post something!  Hang in there, East Coast.

You learn something new every day

I used to love cicada husks as a kid. They were the coolest things.

Who am I kidding?

They still are!

Shane calls them "Kays!"

There are a bunch hanging off the pine tree Shane likes to play under. Every now and then I'll pick one off and stick it on him for fun. I think they surprised him at first, but he'll grab for them now, too! I try to leave some in his reach.

Now, I thought that everybody loved cicada shells. The actual cicadas can get annoying, but the shells....they can hang off of anything!

It turns out my wife is creeped out by them. I know this because she told me.

I confirmed it by sticking one on her!

She knew what she was getting into when she married me, but I don't know if she was counting on this:

Mike humor.

I'm sure Nana will apologize to Carrie after she reads this.

Politics....meh.

I don't like to discuss politics, but a historic moment is only a couple of weeks away so I guess I should say something.

Frankly, I don't like either guy much (Romney v Obama). It feels like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" sort of election. Somebody's going to win, life will go on, and hopefully whoever is in office won't do anything too stupid.

My big problem with American politics is we treat anyone who doesn't agree with us as an enemy. It's Republicans vs Democrats...FIGHT! There's no discourse, only discord in that mentality. Politics is not meant to be a sport. You're not supposed to blindly cheer for your 'team' without bothering to think about issues or research your position. I can't say I'm always the poster child of good citizenship since I'm busy, but at least I know I should do it. I'm not sure it even registers for some people out there.

I may vote for a third part like Mickey Mouse as a protest. Yes, it's throwing away a vote in some ways, but I think that the two party system of "throw lots of mud," "don't work with the other guy because it'll hurt your party," and "anyone who disagrees with us is anti-american" will one day be the death of the US.

So there.

That's my political piece.

The only thing I'm looking forward to is the election maps. I always think it's hilarious to look at different news sites and see which states they're awarding to who. It's usually a bluntly clear picture of how biased they are or are not. I don't know why, but it amuses me.

Wait, I lied. I'm also looking forward to all of the political commercials to end. They get really annoying and feel like an insult to intelligence in general.

Okay. I'm all done now.  I have more pictures to sort through to finish my post on Shane and I's walks, but I spent most of my free time on my online course and this. I have my other course tomorrow, so I probably won't finish it until Thursday.  Friday is Parent's Night Out and Carrie and I are going out to eat with Dan, our renter, and his girlfriend before we have to pick Shane back up for bedtime at 8 PM. That'll be fun!

A Vocabulary Revolution

Shane and I went to the gym again today. He went to play with all of the kids whose mothers were in dance class; I went to work on the homework for my online class.

It was a win/win/win situation. Shane got to play with other children. Carrie got to sing. I got to do my homework (the least win of them all, but at least it's done).

Then something strange happened.

At 7:45 PM, I walked into the playroom. Shane was the only straggler once dance let out. He was running around pushing a big car he could ride in happy as can be. One of the girls there looked up at me and said, "Your son has such a big vocabulary for his age!"

Oh, how things have changed.

A month ago, Shane was saying a handful of words and qualified for speech help from the county. Two tubes in his ears later, he's imitating and guessing at new words to the point a child care worker is complimenting him.

I was a proud father. The girls went on to talk about how great Shane was and how there's a 2.5 year old that doesn't say nearly as much as he does. I admit: I ate it up. There was a little bit of worry about putting Shane through the surgery, but I can't imagine a better result than the one we've gotten. Shane's been ear infection clean and he's talking. Sometimes, he talks so much I wish he wouldn't be so insistent with what he wants! ("Go? Go? Go? Go? GO!!!! SEEEE!!!!!...Go?")

I was a little happy-sad when I tried to pick Shane up to leave and it got me thinking. The boy ran off to another new toy and grabbed the girl's hand who was complimenting him. For the next 10 minutes, he dragged her around the room and generally didn't come whenever I tried to call him over. It made me a little sad he didn't sprint over and yell "DADA!" I know a losing battle when I see on, so I only tried a couple of more times to call Shane. I was not fully opposed to him getting some more energy out before bedtime anyway, so I figured I'd let him enjoy himself a little longer before breaking it up for bed time.

A parent's job is to love your kid and do what's best for them. That means you can't always be the playmate if you really love your child. I've always known that, but it is not something any parent I know looks forward to. I thought that would kick in more as Shane got older. The truth is it starts happening whenever you have to put limits on something or you choose to put the baby on the other side of the baby gate so you can pick up whatever he knocked off a counter. Shane's been mad at me before, and he'll be mad at me again....but as long as he knows I love him that's fine with me.

I'm writing this here for you to read one day Shane. You weren't too happy about me dragging you to that surgery, but I'd do it again and again for this result. Keep in mind that the next time I'm the bad guy I may be playing the good guy in the long run.

Anyway, It's nice to know your old man and pretty mother got the ear surgery decision right. You're talking!

Do you know....

Do you know what my wife does when Shane and I are out and the house is empty?

I do. She sings.

SINGS!

How do I know?

When Shane and I got home tonight, Carrie's voice was hoarse and the laptop had lyrics on it. All very telling evidence.

Plus Carrie admitted it.

I'm no detective, but I know a confession is pretty damning in a court of law!

Just a silly post. I'll post another after I finish my online course's homework.

A Quick Stroll

My wife is a canny shopper. She always buys at clearance prices and reads through a bajillion reviews to make sure she's getting the best product for the best price. 

I'm a whole lot cheaper. To me, there's no better price than handing over a few bucks at someone's garage sale or picking up a "curb-side carryout."

Nana trained me well. I have some funny stories I could (some share involving old pool furniture), but that's neither here nor now.

Today, Shane and I went down the street to look at a "water table" one of my neighbors put out to the curb.

My neighbor knocked on the door when I was setting Shane up for dinner and Thomas the Train. We hadn't met, so when she introduced herself she mentioned her dog's name. Her daughters are very friendly and take him for walks, so that was actually a good way to let me know who she was!

When Shane finished eating, I stuffed him in the stroller and we wandered down.

The little girls loved Shane. They had him playing with toy shovels, running in and out of a playhouse, and in and out of their garage. Shane loved it. I swear my boy soaks up attention like a soap in water. We've played with the girls before since they like to be outside so much, but it was nice to meet their parents so they know who I am. 

Eventually, Shane and I went home. The boy took a bath, went to bed, and I ended up carrying a huge kiddie water table down the middle of the street. 

Like I said, Nana trained me well. I have no qualms and no shame retasking most things used to be useful another day. I feel most Americans have almost been conditioned to spurn used items for new, plastic wrapped ones. Maybe my love of used items is my own rebellion against the constant barrage of commercials and materialism in our country.

More likely, I'm just happily cheap!

Daylight Savings Is Going To SUCK

Shane consistently goes to bed around 8 PM and wakes up around 6 AM.

Daylight savings is going to suck.

Embarrassing Parent Moment for Carrie!

Carrie took Shane to CostCo today. He fell asleep on the car drive over. To wake him up, Carrie took him to the toy aisle inside. Nothing caught Shane's eye...until the horses.

Shane spent 10 minutes enthralled with a pair of animated rocking horses.

When Carrie finally pulled Shane away to continue shopping, he kept waving and yelling "BYE HO!"

My son is very, very loud. Carrie's response was to sing "HI HO, HI HO! It's off to work we go!" to pretend Shane wasn't saying what people were hearing!

Same mispronounced word, new location, different parent,

STILL FUNNY!

Outdoor Shaneannigans Part 1

Shane loves to be outside.

Rarely a day goes by when my son and I don't spend at least an hour on the driveway, in the yard, or prowling the sidewalks.

Shane's upset? Open a door.

Shane's got energy? Watch out that he doesn't open the door! (Seriously, we have to bolt the doors shut nowadays or he takes off.)

It's hard to take pictures of him when the boy charges and tries to pry the iPad out of my hands, so I took the liberty to go outside and take some pictures of our playgrounds. Who knows how long we'll live in this house, so it may be fun to look back and remember these sights one day.

A Great Cure

One of my students got the hiccups while he was in Theater Arts. He couldn't get rid of them.

The teacher took notice.

"All right. That's enough of that," the teacher said. He told my student to stand up and hiccup for that class.

The hiccups were gone.

That's an AWESOME CURE!! I'm going to try that one of these days.

VICTORY PIZZA!!!

10-Topping large pizza for $10 from Papa John's.

VICTORY PIZZA!!!!!!!

Hail to the Redskins! Hail victory! It doesn't happen often! Eat unhealthy!

After a five TD win, I'm enjoying a monster pizza. I ran out of toppings I liked and had to double up on something! GLEE!

Carrie picked up the pizza so we could avoid delivery fees. She said the place was PACKED. There were over 15 employees being run ragged by a short-tempered manager. The guy at the register even apologized to her.

It got me to thinking: working at Papa John's around here must train you to hate the Redskins. In the past, they didn't win as much, but with RG3 there's hope and more touchdowns than before. My brother, Patrick, works at a Papa John's so I texted him.

His reply?

"Nothing sucks more. I hate RG3 with a passion...." He then went on to describe the passion in words that I'm not going to post! On one hand, I feel bad for all the swamped PJ workers.

On the other hand, I was too busy chewing to feel the proper amount of sympathy.

Victory pizza! WOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Retrospective

I still miss Brogan from time to time, but I'm glad we helped him find another family. He was a lot of work. A puppy and a toddler who's rough on puppies plus a wife who is nervous about big dogs (especially around toddlers) was not a good combination. Separation anxiety and two full time jobs weren't the best for Brogan, either. It feels like he was here longer than he really was, but it was only a couple of months. I bonded quickly, so I guess that's why.

The same thing happened with Ranger (the cat we had to give up due to my allergies). I didn't want to let him go, but in the end it was clearly for the better.

Min and Max have been thrilled, though. Max was crawling around Carrie's head on the couch earlier and wrapping her tail around my wife's neck. Min now sleeps in places closer to the ground where Shane finds her and stuffs his face into her fur (here's to hoping he doesn't inherit my allergies).

We're going to stay a two cat and a boy family unit for the time being. If Carrie tries to bring a fish or gerbil home one day, I'm going to make her take it back!

Missed posts

I hate when I have a great idea, don't have/take the time to write it, and the thought is gone by the next time I sit down at the computer. That's happened a few times this week, and almost did for my Muay Thai post. The best advice I have for anyone trying to post online is "DO IT OR LOSE IT." Taking notes is fine and all, but it's better to get it up or you risk never posting it.

Muay Thai class 3.5 and 4

I'm sore today.

With Carrie's health issues and life as I know it, my attendance to my Muay Thai class slipped.

For class 3.5, I went to the first half of a class one night to put in an appearance. I had to leave when things got underway, but I felt it was important to make the effort to show up. The gym child care only goes until 8 PM and class starts at 7:30 PM on Mondays. The lesson of the day looked like it was going to focus on advancing punches and the required footwork. I picked up a pointer or two, collected my son, and vamoosed.

Carrie's back to 80% now. Shane started to go down for his nap just before noon today.

The timing was perfect.

If I left as Shane went down, in theory he would sleep for almost the whole time I was gone. Carrie gave me a thumbs up and I went for it.

It did not take long for my trouble sensing instincts to tingle. When I arrived, there were only three other students. Two I recognized as advanced and the other had the biceps of a man who works out. Coach walked up to one of the advanced guys and said, "Got a cup? Mouthpiece? Good."

I wrapped up and joined the circle for stretches. We spent much longer than usual. My trouble senses were flashing "DANGER! DANGER!" Coaches don't spend extra time stretching, because they want to kill time. They do it because they have a surprise and they don't want injuries.

Coach's surprise?

It was a cardio day. A mother and daughter combo showed up for class just in time for the festivities.

We started with speed jump ropes. Five minutes. It doesn't sound like much, but if you're not used to it and you do it right you'll feel it. Next, we grabbed weights and had to shadow box holding them. This also doesn't sound like much, but if you do it with an honest amount of intensity you'll feel the effects of the exercise. Mitt work with partners followed. Punching is obviously tiring, but holding the mitts can drain you some too. Try holding your arms out in front of you for two minutes without dropping them when you've already been working them out some. If you're honest and do the work asked of you, you will feel it in your shoulders.

That was the warm-up. The best part of class came when the coach assigned station work. Each pair would rotate through three stations. Two were heavy bags and one was the coach geared up with pads. The goal was constant work. Coach had a timer set for two minutes. When the 30 second mark hit, a bell rang and it was barrage time. Constant 1s and 2s. No breaks allowed. Then, when the round ended, everyone was allowed a 30 second break....after push-ups. If you've never done an endurance sport, this may seem sadistic. The coach was asking for everyone to pour everything they had into a 30 second blitz with constant punching. Once you were out of breath and your arms were sore, you were offered a short break but only after you banged out some push-ups.

If there was only one round, this wouldn't be worth writing about. We did 12.

The toughest rounds of all were those with the coach. He worked you the whole round, made sure you did your push-ups the right way, and then stood you up to do it all over again.

The good news is, I learned a few new moves working with him! When I work with him, Coach likes to be unpredictable. There's some repetition, but he frequently changes things on the fly to see how I react. Today, he asked me to do a 'teep.' I had no idea what he was talking about.

The teep is push kick. You lift your front leg and thrust it straight out into your opponent's abdomen to push them back. The coach did a quick, light example and his toes stabbed straight into my gut. I moved back, winded. Then it was my turn. Coach had me do a lot of teeps to set up a leg kick or to maintain my 1 range.

Other than that, I learned how awkward I can be defending. The coach had me defend at one point. He came at me throwing slow punches and leg kicks. I was supposed to bat down the punches and check the kicks with my knee. I was only able to focus on the punches or the kicks at one time. I could not keep track of both. At one point, I automatically launched a low block (from Tae Kwan Do) at a kick. Coach grinned. "That would be bad! There's the old martial art instincts." The smiled dropped. "Don't do that." Blocking a kick with an arm leaves your face unguarded from a punch plus a good kick can break a forearm.

Class ended with a sparring match between the two advanced students. They were told to "go 20%" and not hurt each other, but you could tell it exhausted them. It was fun to watch and learn, though. I went home sore and happy. There's a nice shiner forming where my ankle meets my right foot, my shoulders are a little stiff, and I'd do it again. I feel like I've improved a fair amount in the handful of times I've been to class. The only way to keep getting better is to keep going and it's a lot more fun to get in shape while learning something than it is to just do basic exercises.

I need to keep working on the basics, but I look forward to when I can learn about clinching. I wonder how much my wrestling and jiu-jitsu background will help.

In the Zone

Shane's gone with me to the gym/church day care a couple of times this week. On Thursday, he was the only toddler there. He got to monopolize the attention of both girls working that night!

I finished working out, and dropped by to pick Shane up. The girls were laying on the ground as Shane ran around them. When they saw me, they smiled and told me a story.

"It was soooo funny! We were laying on the ground with him and Shane ran up, full speed, and jumped on us!"

Shane's an active boy! I smiled.

Then, a thought dawned on me....uh oh.

"[Shane] didn't call you a horse did he?"

Shane at the Gym

Shane went to the gym with me today. There's a child center and I feel it's a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I get an hour to exercise; Shane gets to be supervised and play around with other children his age.

It's a win-win situation.

After burning off a Pop Tart and a half, I went to pick up Shane. Do you know what I found the boy doing?

Shane and his new friend, Christopher, were standing in a toddler sized bathroom stall taking turns flushing the toilet. The boys were fascinated. Flush after flush they chortled and pointed. "SEE!!!?!?!??!" Christopher and Shane waved goodbye as the water whirled away.

I've never seen a pair of boys so happy in a bathroom. Sometimes, you have to envy children and how excited they get about things that no longer register with adults.

Awkward Parenting Moment #I-Lost-Count

Today was cold, rainy, and Shane wanted to be outside playing in it. I wanted to be somewhere warm and dry where his cold wouldn't get any worse.

We compromised on going to Target.

For 10 minutes, we sat in an aisle filled with so many pink items that the color physically assaulted my senses.

Ten minutes.

In that pinkwashed aisle, there was a shelf of all of the Disney princesses that caught Shane's eye. To be more specific, he was fascinated by the horse pulling Cinderella's carriage.

For 10 minutes, my son refused to leave that girly aisle while he kept pointing at the princess shelf and saying "Horse!"

Shane can't pronounce horse. To the rest of the world, a man was standing with his son in an aisle full of Disney princesses while the little boy pointed and yelled "HO'S!"

Drive-Through Dilemma

Something I've always heard is "don't make foolish promises." Sometimes in the Bible I've ready adds "especially to God!" There's a set of verses in Ecclesiastes Chapter 5 that spell it out.

I've made a few promises to God in my lifetime. The ones that scare me at the ones that I don't remember, but God does. 

My running tally of promises I know of:

1) If I ever get a book published the advance proceeds of [the first book] will go to a charitable cause in his name (I said the first book almost as if I was assuming I'd write more than one! I suppose I should write a book if I ever want to be tested on this). 

2) Not to look at porn knowingly (I made this one back when I was 16, lapsed once around the 18 year mark and been faithful since...the knowingly is because the internet is the internet and the most honest of searches can sometimes scar you for life).

3) To be faithful to the covenant of my marriage.

4) The next time I go to a drive-through window I will pay for the person's meal behind me.

Wait.

What was that last promise? Drive-through? Does that seem kind of odd for a promise to God?

The Christian radio station in our area talks a lot about 'making a difference' at the drive-through. The idea is you pay for the person's meal behind you as a random act of God's love. You won't know the people or anything about them and you drive off with your own meal so you don't receive any kudos or glory on your own. I've heard about it for years and thought "Gee, wouldn't that be a nice surprise." 

Of course, I've never done it.  I've thought of it before, but I was always gun shy and never pulled the trigger.

Why is it that some of the most innocuous things can be the most intimidating?  I've climbed mountains, SCUBA dived, raced cars, taught middle schoolers, but saying an extra sentence to someone in a drive-through window causes me to pause. Maybe it's because it so out of the routine? Maybe I'm cheap? 

Who knows.

I made that promise and a month passed without me driving up to a drive-through. 

Yesterday, Shane fell asleep in the car and I decided to extend the drive/nap. I went by a Chic-Fil-A and made good on my promise.

It was weird. I kept looking up in my rear-view mirror to see who was going to pull up behind me. Eventually, a guy pulled up in a Honda. He had a hat on and I have to confess my first thought was "He looks like he could be a jerk." I saw a kid in the back though, and I reminded myself the point of the activity was not to pick and choose. It was to freely give when I'm already one of the more blessed people in the world to live where I can drive a car up to a window for a spicy chicken sandwich (no pickle). 

I said nine extra words, "I want to pay for the car behind me" and it was done. It made me feel silly for my hesitations. The cashier seemed surprised at first. She said "OK" and then tried to confirm the order from the guy behind me. "I don't need to know. They can confirm." One of the other workers nearby didn't seem surprised and told her what to do. I got my meal, said "Tell them God bless" and rolled away. I didn't even look in the rear view mirror.

When I parked and finished my meal, Shane was still snoozing. I saw my receipt listed everything the other car had ordered. I put it away quickly, because I felt like a snoop looking at someone else's order. I did spy two kids meals before I crumpled it.

It felt good not to welch on a promise. It felt silly to have been intimidated by nine extra words and a little extra cash.

I had to smile when my sandwich had two top buns and no bottom ones. Maybe it was God's way of saying "you'll always come out on top if you're acting for my glory and not yourself." The carbs were welcome.

Silly little journal, but God's kept Shane napping for longer than usual after he woke up at 5:20 AM. I figured I should do something Sunday related with the gift of time.

Working Towards That Raise

As a teacher, education is tied to pay.

I educate to earn a paycheck and my personal education can influence how much pay my educating receives. That’s why I started this big push to earn more credits over the summer. The sooner I get the raise, the sooner it starts factoring into my retirement and the rest of my career.

Right now, I’m taking an online course, an in-person course for 3 hours a week through October, and another 3 hour a week course in November. Last night, I got home at 7:45 PM. (Actually, I would’ve gotten home a few minutes sooner, but Carrie and Shane decided to get their kicks by ambushing me at the high school my course was at. It was a pleasant surprise.)The online course is a lot of writing, so you’ll probably see more resurrected journals when I get a chance to do them.

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about how busy things were and they haven’t let up. There was a crisis in my school’s community the day after I posted, Carrie got sick over the weekend, and then she had an operation today that’s she’s feeling like total crap from. Her parents came up to help with Shane for today and tomorrow. I’m sitting in the car typing this up on my work computer while I wait for Carrie’s pain meds prescription to be filled.

The good news is: the excitement should be done for a little bit once Carrie heals. The first big holiday coming up is Halloween and that should be a fun one. I’ve been ordered to find a Halloween party for us to attend, but who knows if that will happen or not. I wonder how many trick-or-treaters my new neighborhood will have…

Note: I wrote this Thursday, but then didn't have an opportunity to post it. It's Friday night, Shane and Carrie are both snoozing and I just got done with all of the dishes. Carrie's folks left after I got home from work. Carrie's still on bedrest and hurting, but I've seen improvements in her demeanor. I'm hoping she'll be feeling much better by the end of the weekend. Time will tell!

Cats and Milk

Nothing is safe on a counter as far as cats are concerned.

Carrie poured me a glass of milk to empty out the container and make room for a fresh pair. At the time, I was feeding Shane. My wife placed the cup on our serving counter and I intended to partake once Shane was done.

Max found the cup first.

I looked up from Shane and saw the cat licking out of my cup. I hissed and she vaulted off the serving counter and onto the TV stand. Max blinked at me, and flicked her tail in what was probably kitty annoyance. She then trotted to the other side of the TV stand and hurled over the edge. Cat puke cascaded onto one of Shane's building blocks. Apparently, my cat's system is not accustomed to lactose (much like my own).

I dumped the milk out in the sink.

Can you blame me?