It has been a little while I've taken a few minutes to take stock of where things are and where we are going in the near term.
The big news in our house is that Sullivan is 6 years old and let me tell you, that kid knows the significance of his birthday! His birthday desires change almost with each breath. What he will likely end up with as his bigger present is going to be an upgraded bike. He has borrowed his brother's bigger (geared and cable brakes) mountain bike and is clearly ready to upgrade. Both of the boys have outgrown their bikes and Grady is now riding his Specialized Hot Rock exclusively. Sully's new bike is a Giant MTX 125 and should suit him for a couple of years, I hope.
It hasn't all been joyous. Grady crashed pretty hard the other day while my wife was out with the boys riding. Yeah, I also got her bike back into running condition and she's been getting out and rolling with them. I'm going to start again soon, as soon as my legs are back into feeling decent.
I competed in my second Avia Wildflower Mountain Bike Triathlon this last weekend. The first time was in 2010 and involved both my wife and I racing and the whole family going on our first camping trip together at the same time. It was quite a bit to bite off on the first effort and, overall, went pretty damned well. This year's race ended up being a solo affair. It involved a butt-ass early wake up and roll, up at 4:30 and out the door by 5:05. Drove to Lake San Antonio to get in the park before the closed the road down for the day's races (no entry or exit between 8 and 3). The nice thing is that I got there in plenty of time. Got parked, had time to relax and unwind from the drive. Slowly got my gear together, coasted down Lynch Hill (a massive high speed bomber run) and got all checked in and marked up. The race itself was pretty good although I made an error on the swim which cost me some time and I ended up swallowing quite a bit of lake water in the choppy spot I got caught in. Oh well.
The rest of the race was pretty decent. I felt slower on my bike than expected and the hills were a little tougher. I could also feel my calves trying to cramp up on me on the second lap. I was able to hold off the cramps, finish the ride, stretch a little bit and then get out on the run and complete the race before the cramps really took hold and locked down my legs. I should have made the extra effort to get in for a sports massage last week during my final preparations for the race. A painful lesson that I'm still feeling the after-effects of today. My quads are still barking at me whenever I get up to walk around. Will get out of for a light bike ride today to start spinning them back into shape.
Overall, I shaved time on all three disciplines, most in the run and swim and a little bit on the bike. One transition was faster but the other was slower by the same amount so they were a wash. And the hardest part of the day was actually driving home with some torched legs. I really wished I'd had cruise control (or, more accurately, working cruise control) in my car. I actually had to stop and stretch out my legs so I could press down on the gas pedal.
It was a good race and I'm looking forward to going back again next year with my family to enjoy camping and racing together.
There are a number of other developments in the works these days but I'm not quite ready to pull the cover back just yet.
Things are not bad right now, that could change as soon as tomorrow but, for now, things are decent and looking up!
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
5.09.2012
12.26.2011
Way Back Then, Then and Now
My, oh my how the time flies. From our first trips to Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey to our most recent. Hope you had a stress reducing holiday break, no matter how your flavor rolls. I'ma go back to complaining about kid toy's that make noise and have no mute or volume control (seriously? this is still overlooked?).
Pretty neat progression if I do say so myself!
Pretty neat progression if I do say so myself!
1.28.2008
The Very Fecal Nature of Parenting
It occurs to me from time to time just how very fecally oriented parenting is. And being a dog owner is for that matter.
An enormous amount of effort, both mental and physical, goes into keeping butts poop free and skin clean and clear of rashes. Because, if you didn't know, some poop has an alkalinity or acidity that can actually burn sensitive baby backsides.
Luckily there's Boudreaux's Butt Paste for when either of the boys get a little rashy. The stuff is magical. It soothes rashes almost instantly and repairs damage alot faster than you'd think was possible. Sully is totally down with the Boudreaux's, he knows what it is, knows what it does and is happy to lie still so he can get some relief applied.
Grady, on the other hand, will have nothing to do with it. At some point in his few short years of life, he's decided that medicine is the devil's business. He won't allow bandaids on cuts or scrapes, he won't allow Neosporin on those same wounds, he will quite literally freakout if we try to use some butt paste on his butt, even when it is obviously very, very tender and sore.
I'm not sure where he got the fear against medicine but it can be a real pain in the butt (literally sometimes) to try and get some cold meds or some fever reducer down his throat some nights. Luckily someone came up with meltaways that don't actually taste like dirt, they have an okay grape-y flavor that he'll put up with. But sometimes it is just too much of a battle to put up with.
Anyway, back to the fecal theme.
Our life revolves around diapers, wipes and butt paste. Having enough, having enough upstairs and down. Finding the wipes when you've got a kid down and half undressed. And chasing down two little boys who think it is the height of hilarity to turn and run the other way when it comes time to change one of their drooping diapers.
One nice thing about all the rain we've been getting is that I can't go out in the backyard and scoop up all of Nande's poop. And reducing my poop chore list (I might be inclined to call it a duty or doody list) by one is never a bad thing. But I am ready for the rains to go away for a few days so we can dry out. But not as ready as I am for Grady to really start taking to the potty training.
An enormous amount of effort, both mental and physical, goes into keeping butts poop free and skin clean and clear of rashes. Because, if you didn't know, some poop has an alkalinity or acidity that can actually burn sensitive baby backsides.
Luckily there's Boudreaux's Butt Paste for when either of the boys get a little rashy. The stuff is magical. It soothes rashes almost instantly and repairs damage alot faster than you'd think was possible. Sully is totally down with the Boudreaux's, he knows what it is, knows what it does and is happy to lie still so he can get some relief applied.
Grady, on the other hand, will have nothing to do with it. At some point in his few short years of life, he's decided that medicine is the devil's business. He won't allow bandaids on cuts or scrapes, he won't allow Neosporin on those same wounds, he will quite literally freakout if we try to use some butt paste on his butt, even when it is obviously very, very tender and sore.
I'm not sure where he got the fear against medicine but it can be a real pain in the butt (literally sometimes) to try and get some cold meds or some fever reducer down his throat some nights. Luckily someone came up with meltaways that don't actually taste like dirt, they have an okay grape-y flavor that he'll put up with. But sometimes it is just too much of a battle to put up with.
Anyway, back to the fecal theme.
Our life revolves around diapers, wipes and butt paste. Having enough, having enough upstairs and down. Finding the wipes when you've got a kid down and half undressed. And chasing down two little boys who think it is the height of hilarity to turn and run the other way when it comes time to change one of their drooping diapers.
One nice thing about all the rain we've been getting is that I can't go out in the backyard and scoop up all of Nande's poop. And reducing my poop chore list (I might be inclined to call it a duty or doody list) by one is never a bad thing. But I am ready for the rains to go away for a few days so we can dry out. But not as ready as I am for Grady to really start taking to the potty training.
10.21.2007
Some Parenting Tips
After letting my brother in law know a couple of my tricks and tips for making life with kids and their toys more bearable, I thought it made sense to repost some of the advice here for great consumption.
First off, I want it noted that I think toy manufacturers should be required to include mute and/or off switches. The fact that I've got toys that can't be turned off and are loud is just stupid. Actually, we either modify or get rid of overloud toys.
Which brings me to my first tip.
1. For a kid's toy that is just crazy loud/annoying and there's no volume control, you can put tape over the speaker and it'll mute it substantially. In worst case scenarios, I've even used silicon goo to fill the holes or slats in on the speaker.
2. Did you know that you can use regular food coloring drops in the bathtub? Add ten drops of blue and watch how jazzed up your toddler will get. Unless you've already been using those tablets and then the parents will be jazzed up when they realize they're not dropping $3 on each of those little cans of fizzing color tabs. One note, the drops of color will stain while suspended in foamy bubbles. But it also looks really neat too.
3. Changing diapers is not fun but it must be done. A really good idea is to use the clean diaper as a diaper pad under the kid. That way, if he takes, as we like to say, makes some mud during a change, you're covered. That is, you're not covered in baby mud, the second diaper is there is protect you.
4. Pizza cutters (the wheel with a handle kind) are your friends. They are really useful for safely slicing up lots and lots of stuff in the kitchen and not having to worry (so much) about your toddler getting a hold of it and causing himself damage.
I'm sure I've got more that I don't even think of as tips but I'll start working on the next installment.
First off, I want it noted that I think toy manufacturers should be required to include mute and/or off switches. The fact that I've got toys that can't be turned off and are loud is just stupid. Actually, we either modify or get rid of overloud toys.
Which brings me to my first tip.
1. For a kid's toy that is just crazy loud/annoying and there's no volume control, you can put tape over the speaker and it'll mute it substantially. In worst case scenarios, I've even used silicon goo to fill the holes or slats in on the speaker.
2. Did you know that you can use regular food coloring drops in the bathtub? Add ten drops of blue and watch how jazzed up your toddler will get. Unless you've already been using those tablets and then the parents will be jazzed up when they realize they're not dropping $3 on each of those little cans of fizzing color tabs. One note, the drops of color will stain while suspended in foamy bubbles. But it also looks really neat too.
3. Changing diapers is not fun but it must be done. A really good idea is to use the clean diaper as a diaper pad under the kid. That way, if he takes, as we like to say, makes some mud during a change, you're covered. That is, you're not covered in baby mud, the second diaper is there is protect you.
4. Pizza cutters (the wheel with a handle kind) are your friends. They are really useful for safely slicing up lots and lots of stuff in the kitchen and not having to worry (so much) about your toddler getting a hold of it and causing himself damage.
I'm sure I've got more that I don't even think of as tips but I'll start working on the next installment.
9.13.2007
"Super Dad", "Challenge Dad" or "Sucker Dad"?
A new quiz in Japan will test your knowledge of subjects that are directly applicable to your ability to be a good parent to your child. Things like how much of the Gross Domestic Product is spent on parenting support? Or who was the father in "Kramer vs. Kramer"?
Depending on how well you score, you'll be labeled a "Super Dad" or a "Challenge Dad" but I'd add "Sucker Dad" to anyone lame enough to pay thirty four bucks (yes, that's $34) to test something that means almost nothing in the real world of being a parent.
A better test would be to place a man in situations and see how they deal with the stress of being a parent. Say, not letting them sleep for three days and then having a baby puke all over themselves and you while getting loaded into the car for a meeting or appointment that you're already late for.
That'll really test your abilities. Not stupid trivia questions about parenting in general.
Depending on how well you score, you'll be labeled a "Super Dad" or a "Challenge Dad" but I'd add "Sucker Dad" to anyone lame enough to pay thirty four bucks (yes, that's $34) to test something that means almost nothing in the real world of being a parent.
A better test would be to place a man in situations and see how they deal with the stress of being a parent. Say, not letting them sleep for three days and then having a baby puke all over themselves and you while getting loaded into the car for a meeting or appointment that you're already late for.
That'll really test your abilities. Not stupid trivia questions about parenting in general.
9.06.2007
You Know You're a Parent When...
...it is almost odd to be able to use the bathroom alone.
...you can be up and walking towards your kid's room before you're even fully awake.
...you know all of the characters on Sesame Street and their theme songs.
...you consider "Some Assembly Required" to be a challenge.
...you can change a diaper without even waking up.
...you catch yourself singing kid's music during the day.
...you think nothing of kissing a bloody scrape on your kid's knee.
...you have more kid's shows than anything else on your Tivo.
...you have learned how to fall asleep anywhere, even if just for a minute or two.
...you can be up and walking towards your kid's room before you're even fully awake.
...you know all of the characters on Sesame Street and their theme songs.
...you consider "Some Assembly Required" to be a challenge.
...you can change a diaper without even waking up.
...you catch yourself singing kid's music during the day.
...you think nothing of kissing a bloody scrape on your kid's knee.
...you have more kid's shows than anything else on your Tivo.
...you have learned how to fall asleep anywhere, even if just for a minute or two.
5.29.2007
Its Twenty Past Eight, Do You Know Who Shot My Nerves?
Because I do, we've been tag teamed by two small screaming, whining, crying children who got up too early and are now rubbing sandpaper over my very last nerve.
Everything, literally everything this morning elicited nothing but loud whining and moaning from Grady. And Sully joined in because it sounded like so much fun.
Luckily they are going to daycare today and we can reclaim a picked up downstairs and, hopefully, some shreds of our shattered nerves.
Kids are wonderful, wonderful creatures but they can also be extraordinarily trying.
Everything, literally everything this morning elicited nothing but loud whining and moaning from Grady. And Sully joined in because it sounded like so much fun.
Luckily they are going to daycare today and we can reclaim a picked up downstairs and, hopefully, some shreds of our shattered nerves.
Kids are wonderful, wonderful creatures but they can also be extraordinarily trying.
5.27.2007
Manners Reflect Poorly on the Parents Most
The first thing I think of when I meet a child or kid with notably good or notably bad manners is that their parents did it. They either raised a kid with good manners or they raised a kid without good manners. The majority, lately it seems, were raised without even an idea of what manners are.
CostCo on Memorial Day Sunday is like exposing one's backside to a weedwhacker, it is gonna hurt.
And the sheer number of people who behave as if they are the only ones there is absolutely fucking annoying. When you're right behind someone and they just stop and abandon their shopping cart, blocking you in the process, and then dart across the aisle, blocking your ability to go around and keep moving, eventually you just want to start dropping elbows. Oh yeah, excuse me doesn't seem to do a thing.
But don't you dare touch their cart. Oh no, no, no. They rush right back to them and shoot daggers at you with their eyes. And haastily push away down the aisle. Only to resume their annoying and self absorbed behaviour almost immediately. It's like a merry go round, only without the music, brass rings or ponies. Or fun. And the ride costs a helluva lot more than fifty cents.
But the prizes are much better, if you do well. The most exciting thing I got at CostCo today was an eight pack of chili, good chili but chili nonetheless, no four pack of Super Soakers with laser aiming for me today. And I also got another firm reminder that, no matter what else, my two children will say "please", "thank you" and "excuse me" loudly and regularly. And only a little bit because I don't want other parents to look at me and judge me a bad parent because my kid's are rude little buggers.
If you've got kids or you are planning on having kids then I would appreciate it if you did the same. The world needs manners, they are all that separate us from the animals.
By the way, on that note, swing by my pals at The Mint for a refreshing dose of the capricious and often very cool nature of nature.
CostCo on Memorial Day Sunday is like exposing one's backside to a weedwhacker, it is gonna hurt.
And the sheer number of people who behave as if they are the only ones there is absolutely fucking annoying. When you're right behind someone and they just stop and abandon their shopping cart, blocking you in the process, and then dart across the aisle, blocking your ability to go around and keep moving, eventually you just want to start dropping elbows. Oh yeah, excuse me doesn't seem to do a thing.
But don't you dare touch their cart. Oh no, no, no. They rush right back to them and shoot daggers at you with their eyes. And haastily push away down the aisle. Only to resume their annoying and self absorbed behaviour almost immediately. It's like a merry go round, only without the music, brass rings or ponies. Or fun. And the ride costs a helluva lot more than fifty cents.
But the prizes are much better, if you do well. The most exciting thing I got at CostCo today was an eight pack of chili, good chili but chili nonetheless, no four pack of Super Soakers with laser aiming for me today. And I also got another firm reminder that, no matter what else, my two children will say "please", "thank you" and "excuse me" loudly and regularly. And only a little bit because I don't want other parents to look at me and judge me a bad parent because my kid's are rude little buggers.
If you've got kids or you are planning on having kids then I would appreciate it if you did the same. The world needs manners, they are all that separate us from the animals.
By the way, on that note, swing by my pals at The Mint for a refreshing dose of the capricious and often very cool nature of nature.
4.22.2007
Each Week Its Like Brand New, Crazy Children
In this week's episode of raising two beautiful and normally very sweet little boys about two years apart in age with one nearing 3 and the other nearing 1. Each week there's something different from the last, each week there is an evolution of behaviour. A stepping up of both their respective games. In Sully's case we already have a pretty good idea of what his next stages are looking like because we've been through them already with Grady.
But Mr. Grady, he is a bit of an enigma with behaviours coming on that contradict his normally sweet nature. I mean, this is a big brother who offers his little brother a kiss goodnight most nights. He is a little boy that delights in making people laugh and he loves to laugh at himself being silly.
Earlier tonight we were playing Superman where one touch and I'd fall over. I was holding Sully and he was laughing and it was really funny. Grady would bap me with a pillow and Sully and I would roll over backwards. And Graydon would turn to face his mom on the bed and bust up laughing.
But, and there is always a but if its a blog post, isn't there? But he will also be a kind of mean little kid from time to time. Usually when it involves a toy he doesn't want someone else to have, note that it isn't a toy he's playing with, he just doesn't want the other kid to have it. But sometimes he'll just lash out for seemingly no reason. Or for a pretty bogus reason.
Take, for example, his latest two incidents. Both against his little brother unfortunately. Yesterday morning, the two boys were playing in the office with me. They had a bunch of hot wheels out and a couple of toy motorcycles. When Sully grabbed one of the two toy bikes, Grady leaned over and bit him on the back of his thigh. Hard. Hard enough to leave teethmarks and Sully has a bruise now.
And we had a long talk about it, Graydon got to see and listen to Sully crying because he hurt him. I showed him the mark he made, he appeared to feel bad and probably did. And we talked about using his words instead of biting.
Fast forward past a 4 year old's birthday party (with a bounce house filled with balls) and a trip to a kid's event at the park down the street to tonight. When both boys were playing in their room, my wife and with them. We'd opened up one of the crawl-thru tubes and they were having fun playing with it. And Grady bit him again. This time for no reason at all. Very hard, on the foot.
Of course, it is very easy to overreact when one child is screaming bloody murder and a quick check of his foot confirms his every right to scream. It looked like it hurt and both my wife and I were upset by this second biting in such a short time. Granted, Grady was exhausted tonight but that's not any excuse.
We're trying to deal with the biting in as positive a way as possible. Trying to concentrate on Sully instead of Grady to not give him the attention. Not yelling but talking to sternly and using short sentences. It is very distressing though.
By the way, yes, we are aware that biting is a normal phase of toddler development, we'd just like to move through the phase as quickly as possible and with as few bruises on the baby as possible. Also, Sully will occasionally try and take a bite out of his parents too. We're living with pint-sized cannibals!
If any parents have any insight, advice or just plain ol' encouragement, I'd love to hear it. That and I'd love to get 15 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
But Mr. Grady, he is a bit of an enigma with behaviours coming on that contradict his normally sweet nature. I mean, this is a big brother who offers his little brother a kiss goodnight most nights. He is a little boy that delights in making people laugh and he loves to laugh at himself being silly.
Earlier tonight we were playing Superman where one touch and I'd fall over. I was holding Sully and he was laughing and it was really funny. Grady would bap me with a pillow and Sully and I would roll over backwards. And Graydon would turn to face his mom on the bed and bust up laughing.
But, and there is always a but if its a blog post, isn't there? But he will also be a kind of mean little kid from time to time. Usually when it involves a toy he doesn't want someone else to have, note that it isn't a toy he's playing with, he just doesn't want the other kid to have it. But sometimes he'll just lash out for seemingly no reason. Or for a pretty bogus reason.
Take, for example, his latest two incidents. Both against his little brother unfortunately. Yesterday morning, the two boys were playing in the office with me. They had a bunch of hot wheels out and a couple of toy motorcycles. When Sully grabbed one of the two toy bikes, Grady leaned over and bit him on the back of his thigh. Hard. Hard enough to leave teethmarks and Sully has a bruise now.
And we had a long talk about it, Graydon got to see and listen to Sully crying because he hurt him. I showed him the mark he made, he appeared to feel bad and probably did. And we talked about using his words instead of biting.
Fast forward past a 4 year old's birthday party (with a bounce house filled with balls) and a trip to a kid's event at the park down the street to tonight. When both boys were playing in their room, my wife and with them. We'd opened up one of the crawl-thru tubes and they were having fun playing with it. And Grady bit him again. This time for no reason at all. Very hard, on the foot.
Of course, it is very easy to overreact when one child is screaming bloody murder and a quick check of his foot confirms his every right to scream. It looked like it hurt and both my wife and I were upset by this second biting in such a short time. Granted, Grady was exhausted tonight but that's not any excuse.
We're trying to deal with the biting in as positive a way as possible. Trying to concentrate on Sully instead of Grady to not give him the attention. Not yelling but talking to sternly and using short sentences. It is very distressing though.
By the way, yes, we are aware that biting is a normal phase of toddler development, we'd just like to move through the phase as quickly as possible and with as few bruises on the baby as possible. Also, Sully will occasionally try and take a bite out of his parents too. We're living with pint-sized cannibals!
If any parents have any insight, advice or just plain ol' encouragement, I'd love to hear it. That and I'd love to get 15 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
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