best

LuLu just said, as she grabbed onto my leg, "You're my best daddy, dad."

Why'd I say that?

I like to play devil's advocate, or is it that i like to argue? sometimes in a discussion, i'll take a position opposite of the one i really hold just so i can debate someone. i found myself doing this the other night. i let the other party (my mom) know that i was doing it, stating that, "i'm just playing devil's advocate, mostly because it's about the only thing i'm good at." well, turns out i'm good at saying really stupid shit too. my mom, who's becoming quite the movie buff, was telling us about a film they'd seen "The Story of the Weeping Camel". The story goes like this: camel has difficult labor giving birth to rare all-white colt, mother rejects colt, mongolian tribe summons musician, musician plays violin as part of ancient ritual, camel accepts offspring. After hearing the story, in a lame attempt to be funny, I say, "I should get a violin, so my mother will accept me." For a few seconds, there was an awkward silence. My brother, who actually is funny, said, "You'll have to take that one to your therapist." Later, I spoke with my mom privately and apologized for the stupid comment. I still feel horrible about it. This is a woman to whom I feel so close, only my wife is closer. This is a woman who has accepted me and all my baggage, when I didn't accept me and my baggage. Thanks for everything, I love you, Mom!

Crazy Busy Again!

Things have been crazy around here again. Since I'm too tired right now to write the kind of stuff I want to bring some loose ends raised here previously up to date I am just going to post some pics with little comment. The kids are awesome. M is awesome. I'm a bit down, but I'll get through it.

Tub Time





All Dressed Up

...and someplace to go. This outfit was a bday present from Aunt Jess. Thanks, Jess!

Waking Up

Four now likes to be the first one in to LuLu's room in the morning. After greetings and kisses, he likes to invite her to sit on his lap so that he can read to her. She seldom takes him up on it, which usually crushes him -- for at least 30 seconds. But this morning they did sit together and it just made my heart swell.

Four's creation

He was so proud of this spaceship. He is getting really creative with Legos (actually Duplos) -- building spaceships and animals and beyond. It's so neat to see how his abilities progress. Which reminds me, tonight on the way home from dinner we were talking about what the Easter Bunny brought the kids last year. M and I both knew what he had brought for Four, but could not remember what he had given LuLu. Four remembered. He was only three, amazing.

Herding Cats

I signed up to be an "Assistant Coach" for Four's indoor soccer league. No one signed up to be The Coach, and no one else signed up as an Assistant. Guess who's coaching? If it was all strangers, it'd be fine. But there are a few kids from the hood on the team, so I feel particularly self-conscious about how and what I'm doing. I was petrified at first, but it's been really fun. I am so happy to be able to have this experience and this opportunity to show these kids how fun exercise and sport can be. And I think I'm pretty good. The foto above is a little blurry, but artistically I like the effect, and the laughter and energy shines right through.

Peace.

Even Superheroes Get Tired!

i do it for the money...

i am the president of the civic association in our little trailer park. well, it's not exactly a trailer park. and i don't really do it for the money. in fact i don't get paid at all. in fact, one might say i'm freaking crazy to put up with some of the shit that i put up with for nothing. but it's an awesome neighborhood, with an incredible sense of community, and a really beautiful lake. but right about now i'm about to pick up our little trailer and move it on out of the hood. dealing with a potential subdivision that may puncture through our "impenetrable" borders, i have spent far too much time thinking, writing, and ruminating on how to make 120+ dues paying members happy with the decision. it's a thankless job, and i had to field a number of phone calls today from neighbors who were very upset. were it not for the encouragement and ability to make me laugh from a couple of neighbors/friends, i'm sure i would quit this 'well-compensated' position.

speaking of money, do you believe in penalizing success? just an interesting thought that hit me today. write a comment if you're so inclined. maybe one day -- if i live through this neighborhood issue -- i'll figure out how to create a poll.

be well. live well.

M says mmmm

Tonight at dinner, LuLu was looking down at the t-shirt she was wearing - an Old Navy valentine's tee with the word "sweet" across the chest and a large heart over her belly. From where she was sitting though the 'w' must have looked - and did - like an 'm'. She starts reciting from her Leapfrog fridge alphabet, "m says mmmm, every letter makes a sound, m says mmmm." It's neat to get these little glimpses into their brains to see how they're growing.

cheap

you may have noticed that LuLu had essentially the same Bday cake as Four had. I will not argue that I can be a cheap bastard, but I'm not that cheap. In fact, I was willing to actually buy a cutesy bakery cake for LuLu's second, but when we started discussing it in the presence of Four he became very upset. He's allergic to eggs. And good luck finding a commercial bakery cake without eggs. So we decided that we'd go with our typical egg-free recipe and either decorate a regular round or even buy another cake form. So we asked LuLu what kind of cake she wanted.

Of course Four chimes in before Lu can answer, "I know, a tractor cake!"
I respond, "Let's see what Lu wants. LuLu, what kind of cake do you want?"
Lu: "A tractor cake."
Me: "Are you sure?"
Lu: "Yes."

And even though I am trying to break some gender stereotypes, if was going to make a tractor cake for my little girl, I had to ask her if I could at least make it pink.

Time it Flew, LuLu's Two!

our angel recently turned two...

more to follow.

not enough time...

...to do it all. but what to cut out?

anyway, I've got the Today show on this morning while cleaning up from breakfast, and they run this teaser about their upcoming show/promo ‘Today's Biggest, Littlest Jennifer Lopez fan'. Essentially, you send in a short video of your child singing a JLo song and an explanation of why the child should win this contest. Maybe I'm a little old fashioned, but the videos they showed as, I guess, examples of what you might send in were pretty suggestive for pre-teen girls. Don't our children grow up fast enough that we don't need a major media outlet encouraging parents to further speed up the process?

Since I'm moaning. While watching one of the shows on PBS several weeks ago, I made a mental note that one of the underwriter's was JIF, who quips in the their little ad that their peanut butter is for "moms and dads" who care about what their kids eat. Going to their website to try to get the exact wording [don't want to be inaccurate, Barry!], I noticed that the site has a "Mom advisor" and still brag that "Choosy moms choose Jif". Well, this choosy dad still chooses Crazy Richard's.

On the upside, the Today Show also did a piece on men who knit. It might not seem so significant, but every little bit to break down all the old gender stereotypes helps.

I am still working on my little project of self-improvement. Progress seems painfully slow, though.

Great Quotes

I am continually finding great quotes in my wanderings around cyberspace. Usually, the location and quote end up getting lost somewhere in the nether reaches of my grey matter. I am hoping to start some way of tracking them, until then I will subject you to them:

A Man should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. --Robert Heinlein
found on blue sloth, this became an instant favorite.

Every person, all the events of your life, are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you. - from Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
found on www.exmundane.com

I'm in Denver, I'm in my PJ's

This past weekend I flew out to Denver to visit with an old friend that I hadn't seen in far too long -- almost nine years. Although he only moved to our area half way through our junior year of high school, we quickly became best of friends and were almost inseparable during high school. College came and we went our separate ways. My early departure from college led me to spend a couple of seasons in Colorado, essentially as a ski bum. Dave came out just before I got serious about life and my relationship with my now wife. Dave has been in Colorado ever since, spending nine seasons in Summit County living to ski and ride bikes, and now finishing up a graduate degree in Denver. Prior to this visit, the last time we got together was at my wedding.


Dave had told me (warned me) that he had an old college buddy living with him who was having some trouble getting through substance abuse and other issues. In addition to interacting with this 'interesting' character, I was fortunate enough to see what must have been a deal gone bad. As Dave and I walked his dog over to his girlfriend's place to get a coffee maker, we saw an SUV racing after an individual on foot. We both kind of ducked behind some parked cars after the vehicle lost the pedestrian and drove around looking for them. We saw that vehicle circling around several times later, and I started to think that I might not make my flight home the next day. Staying with my old buddy certainly saved me a few bucks, but I probably slept less on this trip than any other four night period in my life. I think next time, I'll buck up and spring for both my friend and I to stay elsewhere. But, as I told one of the moms in my playgroup today about some of these stories, we agreed that sometimes experiences like that make you think "my life ain't so bad." And really, it ain't.


Now don't get me wrong. I had a great trip. It was great to see an old friend. And while Dave reported to the people who dialed his cell phone every 10 minutes -- his phone was ALWAYS ringing -- that the conditions were mediocre, I thought the skiing was great. Dave's frame of reference is that of someone who until very recently was skiing over 100 days per season and who could pick and choose which days to go on large mountains capable of moving lots and lots of people up the high. My frame of reference lately is bulletproof ice at overcrowded Shawnee mountain in the Poconos.

Friday and Saturday, we skied at Vail. The mountain in overwhelming. There is no way to ski the whole thing in two days. Sunday, Dave stayed in Denver to finish up a school project, so I skied Keystone by myself. I tried to meet up with some of his friends, but failed somehow -- I was a bit late to the appointed meeting place. The neat thing about Sunday though was that I tried telemark skiing. I bought new boots just before going out, because my old boots were giving me such bad boot bang. Guess what, the new ones did the same thing. Although if I'd read the instruction manual that came with them I would have learned that there is a simple, simple way to have at least alleviated the situation if not completely eliminated it. My old boots had four rivets -- two on each side of the ankle -- eliminating the boots ability to pivot around an axis. The new boots have one rivet and one bolt on each side, giving the user the ability to either make the boot very stiff or, by removing the bolts, to make the boot a bit softer. Anyway, after two days of skiing very bumped up terrain, my shins were so torn up and swollen that there was no way they were going to give me a third day. I borrowed Dave's tele gear. Dave prepared me for the fact that I was going to spend a lot of time getting a very up close and personal look at the snow and that I was not going to have a good time. After the first two runs, I considered hanging up the gear and going to rent a snowboard. But being the sadist that I am, I persevered. And by the end of the day, I was dancing my way down the blues and almost enjoying the bumps.

Oh yeah, the title for this post. Dave and I were walking to his girlfriend's house when M and the beasties (may I borrow that, Phil?) called on the cell. I got to speak with all of them. When LuLu and I spoke, here's a piece of what transpired:

LuLu: Guess what, Daddy? I'm at home.
Me: I'm in Denver.
LuLu: I'm in my PJ's.

Too Much

This weekend, we were in the Disney store and LuLu picked up one of the plush dolls, and said, "I won dat. [translates: I want that.]" Then she gets her hand on the price tag, flips it over and says, "itz too muts." Maybe I'm using that excuse a little too often.

Later, we were walking out of the mall -- without having gotten her anything -- and she proclaims, "I won someting nice."