When Shane was a baby, he loved to be surprised.
Weird. A baby who wanted to be scared? Popping up and roaring was something that equated to a baby crying and screaming in my mind before Shane.
He used to get a kick out of it, though. It was one of the easiest ways to get him to smile!
One time, Carrie and I were at Christ Church visiting my family. Shane was probably a little over a year old. He was thoroughly enjoying exploring the stage in the worship center while I played with him. I crawled along the edge of the stage and jumped up!
Shane smiled and laughed, but the other little boy didn't.
My eyes tracked from Shane's smile to the little boy's shock. He started to cry a second later.
Shane kept smiling!
In my defense, the little boy was at least 10 feet away and to the left. I was surprised that he was surprised!
I was also proud of my fearless little monster!
That was then.
On Sunday, I found out things had changed.
Shane, Carrie and I were all in his room. My son had just woken up from his nap. Carrie and Shane were playing/reading books in his bed. I was on the floor next to the bed.
Shane knew I was on the ground, but out of sight. He had asked "Daddy go away?" so I hid. The boy kept sticking his feet over the edge of the bed, though. I'd reach up, grab them and say "Got your toes!"
There was a gap in our play, and Shane must have forgotten I was still in the room. A couple of minutes later, I heard him ask Carrie "Daddy walk?"
I took it as my cue to pop up.
Shane freaked.
He started bawling and thrashing. It took Carrie and I a couple of minutes to calm him down.
I felt sooooo guilty.
I tried to rationalize things out in my favor. "Shane knew I was there! I was just grabbing his toes!" and "Remember the story at Christ Church where Shane was giggling whenever I surprised him? The other little boy cried, but Shane loved it!"
The reality is: Shane does NOT like to be surprised anymore.
I've said it before: Whenever you think you know your child's routine, it's already changing.
Change is constant with the little ones. What works one days, fails the next, and it may work again two weeks later! Parenting can be like a constant pop quiz where the rules change as you take it. One day you're on the ball, and the next you're scratching your head and taking your best guess!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The Curse of the Red-Haired Irish
I mowed the lawn on Sunday. It took an hour and I got a sunburn.
It's the curse of the red-hair.
The sun scalds me through clouds.
It wasn't a really bad sunburn this time. It's only the start of spring! My face turned a little pink, and I could feel it across my forehead.
To celebrate: Shane made me run outside again for several more hours.
Thankfully, he seems to have inherited his mother's skin. He loves the outdoors. We're going to be spending a lot of time outside and I hope my skin can take it!
It's the curse of the red-hair.
The sun scalds me through clouds.
It wasn't a really bad sunburn this time. It's only the start of spring! My face turned a little pink, and I could feel it across my forehead.
To celebrate: Shane made me run outside again for several more hours.
Thankfully, he seems to have inherited his mother's skin. He loves the outdoors. We're going to be spending a lot of time outside and I hope my skin can take it!
Monday, April 8, 2013
Kids Repeat Everything...
Shane's at the age where he hears only what he wants to hear and it's never what you want him to hear.
Max was walking around Shane with her tail in the upright, announcing-her-presence position. She was a little too relaxed for being in a toddler's reach.
Max turned her back to Shane, perhaps expecting one of her humans to pet her.
Shane reached out one of his hands, but it wasn't to pet. He had noticed a less furry spot that piqued his interest. My son extended his index finger and moved in.
I barely pulled him away in time.
"No touch kitty butt! YUCK!" I said.
Max kept twirling around, oblivious to the discomfort that had almost been.
"Kitty butt? Kitty BUTT!" Shane laughed and pointed. "KITTY BUTT?"
Another pair of words to add to Shane's vocabulary.
Max was walking around Shane with her tail in the upright, announcing-her-presence position. She was a little too relaxed for being in a toddler's reach.
Max turned her back to Shane, perhaps expecting one of her humans to pet her.
Shane reached out one of his hands, but it wasn't to pet. He had noticed a less furry spot that piqued his interest. My son extended his index finger and moved in.
I barely pulled him away in time.
"No touch kitty butt! YUCK!" I said.
Max kept twirling around, oblivious to the discomfort that had almost been.
"Kitty butt? Kitty BUTT!" Shane laughed and pointed. "KITTY BUTT?"
Another pair of words to add to Shane's vocabulary.
Benefits of Teaching
No one ever suspects the teacher of cutting one loose.
Plus, we can move around the classroom freely to disperse the smell and blame.
Sharing is caring.
Plus, we can move around the classroom freely to disperse the smell and blame.
Sharing is caring.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Animal for Animal Crackers
I swear companies put something in their kid food...
...and whatever that "something" is it's highly addictive.
Carrie bought these animal crackers from CostCo on Monday. There were 64 servings in it when we started. There's something about the subtle-sweet vanilla taste of these where I find I'm always grabbing another handful.
I took some down to Dan yesterday and he wouldn't let me put the cap back on. "Mike, you bastard, give me some more!"
Like I said, highly addictive and oh so good.
...and whatever that "something" is it's highly addictive.
Carrie bought these animal crackers from CostCo on Monday. There were 64 servings in it when we started. There's something about the subtle-sweet vanilla taste of these where I find I'm always grabbing another handful.
I took some down to Dan yesterday and he wouldn't let me put the cap back on. "Mike, you bastard, give me some more!"
Like I said, highly addictive and oh so good.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Shane's New Do
"It's about time!" Nana said.
"His hair! Did you make him a skinhead?" Grandma said.
Yes, they're talking about my son's haircut!
Nana likes boys with short hair.
Grandma likes boys with longer hair.
You can't keep everyone happy!
For Carrie and I, we just don't like giving Shane haircuts. When we do cut his hair, we cut it short. When the hair is curling into his ears, we cut it again. Hopefully there has been a large amount of time in between.
Shane's cute no matter what style of hair he wears.
"His hair! Did you make him a skinhead?" Grandma said.
Yes, they're talking about my son's haircut!
Nana likes boys with short hair.
Grandma likes boys with longer hair.
You can't keep everyone happy!
For Carrie and I, we just don't like giving Shane haircuts. When we do cut his hair, we cut it short. When the hair is curling into his ears, we cut it again. Hopefully there has been a large amount of time in between.
Shane's cute no matter what style of hair he wears.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Busy Day for Mommy and Shane!
My wife is recovering nicely from surgery, but I didn't know she was ready for THIS:
You are AWESOME!
Love you!
On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 12:46 PM, Carrie wrote:
To top it off, I came home to find out Carrie cut Shane's hair and cleaned up the resulting mess. I was completely surprised.
I told Carrie that she's supposed to be taking it easy. My wife smiled and said "I've got to pull my weight around here!"
It's good to be married to a hard-working woman!
Thats pretty funny. Shane and I went to the N Zone and did the $2 go and play with all the toys and balls and bouncy house thing for him, while I did about 45 min of bible reading. Then I did some small stuff for work. We were there for about an hour total. Then I took him to costco. Got milk, gummy vitamins for him, goldfish, mickey mouse animal crackers, strawberries, caprisuns for him, and bagels for you. Just had lunch (chicken and crackers) and put him down for a nap. We've used the "potty" three times already. No poop though. The size 4 pullups (trying to use them) are tight on him, he can't easily pull them up and down, it's even hard for me a little. The pull ups are the same price (unit price per diaper) as his diapers through the subscribe and save, so I altered the order and we'll now be getting the size 5 pullups instead of regular diapers.
Busy morning, hope you've had a great day at work. We love you.
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tue, Apr 2, 2013 9:58 am
Subject: Jurassic Park
HahahaMaybe we'll have to visit Australia.
I hope Shane's being good for you! I love you!-Mike
To top it off, I came home to find out Carrie cut Shane's hair and cleaned up the resulting mess. I was completely surprised.
I told Carrie that she's supposed to be taking it easy. My wife smiled and said "I've got to pull my weight around here!"
It's good to be married to a hard-working woman!
Monday, April 1, 2013
A Plug
If you know my sister, Megan, or her husband, Billy, you really ought to get access to their blog.
Their new life in India is really interesting.
"On to the interesting stuff! Crossing the street in India is a real life game of Frogger. In one word, it is simply terrifying. The roadways here are clogged with every manner of vehicle you can imagine. Cars, motorcycles, massive trucks far larger than any I've seen, cows, tractors, lawn mowers, horses, elephants, beggars, camels and even monkeys. Pedestrians do not have the right of way anywhere and are typically cursed at and swerved around in violent manners. Crosswalks exist, but they mean absolutely nothing. If you are able to find a stop light with a walk signal, do not be fooled. These too are completely ignored and traffic will run you down without a worry. The traffic signals are merely a suggestion and are rarely followed. There are no such thing as speeding tickets and it has become a cultural norm to drive as fast as you possibly can and to pass other vehicles however you see fit. It is common practice to swerve into oncoming traffic and expect them to move for you so long as you flash your lights. On our drive home our vehicle lost the drivers side mirror when a drunk driver side swiped our car at 10 in the morning. The interesting part is that the drunk man was driving an ambulance. When our driver approached the ambulance the man just yelled at him and drove off. Our Indian driver kind of shrugged and just went about his business of driving us home. "
The blog is private, so you won't find it just anywhere. I liked B's video of crossing the street.
Their new life in India is really interesting.
"On to the interesting stuff! Crossing the street in India is a real life game of Frogger. In one word, it is simply terrifying. The roadways here are clogged with every manner of vehicle you can imagine. Cars, motorcycles, massive trucks far larger than any I've seen, cows, tractors, lawn mowers, horses, elephants, beggars, camels and even monkeys. Pedestrians do not have the right of way anywhere and are typically cursed at and swerved around in violent manners. Crosswalks exist, but they mean absolutely nothing. If you are able to find a stop light with a walk signal, do not be fooled. These too are completely ignored and traffic will run you down without a worry. The traffic signals are merely a suggestion and are rarely followed. There are no such thing as speeding tickets and it has become a cultural norm to drive as fast as you possibly can and to pass other vehicles however you see fit. It is common practice to swerve into oncoming traffic and expect them to move for you so long as you flash your lights. On our drive home our vehicle lost the drivers side mirror when a drunk driver side swiped our car at 10 in the morning. The interesting part is that the drunk man was driving an ambulance. When our driver approached the ambulance the man just yelled at him and drove off. Our Indian driver kind of shrugged and just went about his business of driving us home. "
The blog is private, so you won't find it just anywhere. I liked B's video of crossing the street.
Sign #978,342,534,941,671,234,000,001 I'm Not Perfect
Despite what you may believe, I'm not perfect.
I managed to drive to Nana's house to pick up Shane WITHOUT a car-seat.
In GURPS terms: I failed multiple IQ checks.
Carrie and I switched cars today. I had to remove my laptop from the Prius and I stuck it in the back seat of the Volvo.
IQ check to see if I noticed there is no car seat next to my work bag: FAILED!
When I got to work, I did not reach back for my bag. I got out and opened the back door.
IQ check to see if I noticed there is no car seat next to my work bag: FAILED!
Even more ironically, I knew exactly where the Volvo's car seat was. I moved it when I was cleaning the garage out on Saturday. I remember thinking "I'll put it here so it's in plain sight, but far enough back no one will back into it."
IQ check to go ahead and put the car-seat in while I was thinking about it: FAILED!
Maybe this is only really funny to me, but this is the verse of the day I read earlier.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Does that mean I'm wise? Because I make my fair share of simple screw-ups.
It keeps me humble and it's worth a good laugh, so I thought I'd share. I don't want to risk anyone mistaking my rugged good looks and amazing ability to do the right thing as meaning I'm more than a mere mortal.
I managed to drive to Nana's house to pick up Shane WITHOUT a car-seat.
In GURPS terms: I failed multiple IQ checks.
Carrie and I switched cars today. I had to remove my laptop from the Prius and I stuck it in the back seat of the Volvo.
IQ check to see if I noticed there is no car seat next to my work bag: FAILED!
When I got to work, I did not reach back for my bag. I got out and opened the back door.
IQ check to see if I noticed there is no car seat next to my work bag: FAILED!
Even more ironically, I knew exactly where the Volvo's car seat was. I moved it when I was cleaning the garage out on Saturday. I remember thinking "I'll put it here so it's in plain sight, but far enough back no one will back into it."
IQ check to go ahead and put the car-seat in while I was thinking about it: FAILED!
Maybe this is only really funny to me, but this is the verse of the day I read earlier.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
—1 Corinthians 1:27
Does that mean I'm wise? Because I make my fair share of simple screw-ups.
It keeps me humble and it's worth a good laugh, so I thought I'd share. I don't want to risk anyone mistaking my rugged good looks and amazing ability to do the right thing as meaning I'm more than a mere mortal.
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