I love almond butter.

I do.

I became a huge fan a couple of months ago and I've never looked back. I never would've heard of it either if I hadn't worked ESY last summer.

It's a short post tonight, since I had class until 7 PM. I'm just taking a quick time out from dishes and cleanup before going to bed.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise - Lent Saves Me from Zero Sleep

The early bed time has been the best Lent decision I've made in my life.

Shane's developed a bad habit. He wants a bottle in the middle of the night most nights. The habit started when he was sick and couldn't breathe out of his nose for almost a week. He lost weight, because he couldn't/wouldn't eat or drink much. It was just too frustrating and drawn-out for him. Consequently, Carrie and I were worried and fed him whatever we could, whenever we could. I think that's where the middle-of-the-night bottle habit started.

Before Lent, a tired and half-asleep Dada would wake up, grab a bottle and stick it in my son's mouth. He'd drink happily and I would half fall asleep in the glider. The sooner Shane drank, the sooner I could go back to sleep.

During Lent, I've been able to get enough sleep in spite of these nightly excursions to the kitchen and my son's room. Shane's woken up before my alarm clock every morning save one, as well. Every little bit of extra sleep helps!

Last night, the boy woke up at 2:15 AM. I got up, around 2:20 AM (after I was sure he wasn't going back to sleep) and went downstairs to get a bottle ready. Shane was singing out instead of wailing, so I was in no particular hurry. Carrie and I had gone to bed extra early so I was more wakeful and alert than usual. I whipped out a baby book and looked up 'nighttime feedings' and did a little speed reading.

Plain as day, the book said "Stop putting up with this crap."

How's that Lent thing working out?

So far, the waking up early for Lent hasn't gone as planned. The idea was I would go to bed a little earlier and wake up before Shane. Instead, he woke up at 5:30, 6:15, and 5:50 the next three days. Shane's switched to one nap a day and it's causing him to go to bed closer to 8 PM.  I felt I was justified to hit the "snooze button" today since Shane woke up at 11:50 and 3:15 last night. Alas, he woke up for real by 6:14. I'll get my Bible study in somehow!

Instead of video games, I'm trying to read and post more. I found this today: http://www.cracked.com/article_19637_the-5-craziest-war-stories-all-happened-same-ship.html

Hilarious if I can verify it's all true! (It is the internet after all)

An Ode to Grandma

This is the earliest picture I have of Shane and his Grandma. She's been a huge help since Day 1.

Do you know what YOUR son did?

"Do you know what YOUR son did today?"

The inflection on the pronoun grabbed my attention right away. It's a line that I've heard on TV or in the movies my whole life. It's not a line that I'm accustomed to hearing in the really real world.

"Don't you mean OUR son?" I replied as casually as possible. I didn't want to break into a grin.

"No. I mean YOUR son." My wife was giving me the 'serious look.'

"No, I don't know." I knew it had to be something funny. I just couldn't laugh yet if I wanted to hear it.

"I was changing a poo diaper and your son reached down between his legs, grabbed his diaper, and YANKED it out from underneath his butt! He left poo smeared all across his stomach!"

I cracked up. I could envision the shock and horror on my wife's face as that diaper went flying and the poo went streaking. Shane must have started cackling while Carrie tried to pop her eyes back into her head and prevent the boy from rolling over and running off diaper in hand.

That's my boy!

An Ode to Nana

Shane loves visiting his Nana!

Lent

Today marks the beginning of Lent. I've decided to forgo on video games, set a 10:00 bedtime, and wake up 20 minutes earlier each day to read my Bible and get a jump start on the day.

There's a method to my madness.

Video games are a good way to relax, but they're also really easy to sink more time into than I want to.  This causes me to not accomplish things that I would also enjoy. When you only get a couple of hours of free time a night, you need to use it wisely! I want to finish a book my father-in-law loaned me, Killing Lincoln, and my brother, Patrick, wanted me to read Nuklear Age and Small Gods at some point. Then there's exercising, chores to make my mornings smoother, et cetera, et cetera. All things that staring at a loading screen won't get accomplished. Abandoning games should help me go to bed earlier, get plenty of sleep, and avoid being the zombie dad who stares at the baby monitor and tries to will my child back to sleep in the morning. That paves the way for a more awake Mike who can intelligibly read a few passages in the morning, and isn't that what Lent is supposed to be about?

This also brings up a nerdy question I need some help with.

No more video games means I can squeeze in an episode a night of a series I need to finish. I'm in the middle of Star Trek Voyager, Babylon 5, and Stargate Atlantis. Which should I pick back up first? Carrie and I used to always watch an episode or two of a series before Shane, but it's largely lapsed since she tends to fall asleep on the couch while I'm putting Shane to bed. Carrie's a huge Voyager fan, but my friend Igor's already told me that his vote would be for Atlantis. Hmmm......Voyager is no DS9, but Atlantis is no SG-1 either...

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Expect me to be posting fairly regularly throughout Lent. The next several posts are going to be odes to people who have been helping raise Shane! Carrie and are I blessed that we're in a situation where we have not had to shell out hundreds or even a thousand dollars a month for child care. I work and tutor Monday through Friday, and then Carrie works Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, and often trains horses on Sunday. Nana watches Shane Monday and Wednesday. I provide the weekend child care, but I sometime drop by Nana's after church for a break in the routine. Carrie's parents have driven 2.5 hours one way to cover some days when Carrie needs extra support or Nana isn't available. Then on Tuesdays, Carrie hired her friend Genevieve to trek up and help out, so she can run errands, install doors, and train the occasional horse.

It's been a huge help. They're all part of the Shane equation, and since this blog is now mainly about Shane I figure I should give them their due.

Shane's tantrums

I like to post funny stories if possible, but life isn't only roses. Shane's nearing the "Terrible Twos."  Whenever Shane doesn't get his way, he physically throws himself. It doesn't take much. Mainly, if you pull him away from a dangerous situation or block him from getting somewhere he wants to go, it's on like Donkey Kong. If I'm laying in front of the couch, he'll get pissy if I don't let him step on my head to hop up behind me.

What's a Shane tantrum look like? It starts loud grunt and then the boy arcs his back and snaps his head back. I'll normally grab an arm or something to prevent him from landing head first, because he really throws himself into it. The wailing starts around then and sometimes he'll bang his head on the ground. It's quite a little sight, but it's all part of parenting. He's mad he didn't get his way and letting it be known. In return, I make sure he doesn't really hurt himself and I ignore the behavior. Most of the time, he doesn't get it. He'll hop back up in after a tantrum and try to repeat the behavior I stopped. I stop him again, and then there's another tantrum.

It's just basic discipline. I have a little time-out for him upstairs, and i'll need to get something for him downstairs too. It'll have to be something he can't hurt himself on. He got frustrated once in front of the fireplace and started hammering his head against the board Carrie placed over it. This made him madder and he hit his head harder and started the "I'm hurt" cry instead of the typical tantrum "I'm pissed off" cry.

This is going to be an ongoing project for a while. From what I've read (and seen), tantrums just go along with growing up. It's unfortunate Shane's a headbanger, but he's still been a wonderful son. He's healthy, he's usually happy, and he's so Absolutely Damn Delightful he can quickly be distracted (most of the time).  Maybe this is just a sign he's going to be into rock and roll. That's way better than rap in my book! Ha ha!

This was just meant to be a 'reality log.' I think Shane's developing and growing well, and this is just one of those challenges most parents face. If I post this same log again ten years from now, we'll have a problem!  Until then, Shane's just going to have to learn smacking his head isn't going to get him any closer to what he wants.

Bed beckons!

Shane and the Measuring Tape (a lazy cop-out on my part)

My one year old is the size of a two year old and learning new things every day. In lieu of writing a long post, I have a long video.

Some highlights to look out for:

1. Shane's squealing! He's not talking talking much, but he likes to make a lot of noise. It's not new, but it's cute.

2. Shane's reasoning. My son's ability to reason and interact has definitely grown. In the video, he grabs my hand and turns it over before plopping the measuring tape into it. Shane knows what he wants and he takes steps to getting it.

3. Shane waves now. This is towards the end of the video. I realize most people aren't going to watch all 7.5 minutes so I'm pointing it out here. He won't do it on command, but he's learned that waving to Carrie or I will cause us to get all sorts of excited.

4. I look small in front of my son. He's a big boy for his age and growing all the time (well, except for the setback of being sick).

That's my quick post for the night! Enjoy the Shane-annigans.

Cat Door Shane-annigans

Shane is an explorer. Gates…, doors…, these types of barriers offend him at his very core.  This can be a problem sometimes.