Oct 20
Mowing the lawn is one of those annoying chores that make the week seem too short. “It’s time to mow the lawn again? #@$#@!! Didn’t I just do that?! Well, might as well get something good out of it. Jack, you wanna come help daddy?”
Seeing as Jack says “yah!” to pretty much every question, he’s always ready to join me. For about 5 minutes, at least!
Oct 4
When Jack was much younger, I used to hold him and walk around the house to the sound of a Andrea Bocelli
Except this time. Instead of repeating the song, we moved on to the next song. He raised his head and pointed to the ground. I put him down and he started dancing to the song. It was a sleepy dance, where he basically just shifted his weight back and forth, but it was adorable. After the song was over, he asked me to pick him back up and we danced some more. And then as usual, mama put the baby down. Good times.
Sep 7
Jack’s an awesome little guy and he’s almost always in a good mood. If he’s ever feeling bad, he gets over it pretty quickly. He almost never has tantrums. But there are some days when it’s hard for him to convey to us what he wants, and once he’s lying on the floor, it’s safe to say it’s time for expert help. In our case, it’s a computer running Windows 7 Media Center with all of Jack’s favorite music and about 30 gigs of pictures. He loves music and he loves pictures, and when you put the two together it’s a pretty good combination!
What do you do when your child has the nothing blues?
Sep 6
Jack has been going to the Music Together class at the Motherhood Center since he was 10-weeks old, and this class has been the highlight of our Saturdays ever since. We used to go to these as a family when Jack was younger, but a few months ago we made it a father-son adventure, to give the Super Mom some much needed sleeping-in time. These classes are excellent, and our teacher is absolutely amazing. This class has definitely been an important part in Jack’s development as a little baby. The music we learn in this class is a part of our every day life. The first thing I say to him when he wakes up in the morning is the Hello song from this class. It’s the music we listen to when we’re together in the car, and it’s the lullabies we sing to him when it’s time to go to bed.
If a Music Together class is offered in your area, I would highly recommend taking your child to it!
Sep 4
We live near the city of Sugar Land, which has concerts at their town square from time to time. They had a concert for kids the other day, and we met up with Jack’s friend Pierson there. The boys had a great time listening to the music, and since it was a kids’ concert, kids were allowed to go up on the stage. Jack watched most of the concert from the city hall stairs, right next to the musicians. We followed the concert with ice cream. Good times all around!
UPDATE: I didn’t realize I hadn’t posted the band’s name on this post, Tom’s Fun Band. If you have a little one, I highly recommend their CD–go to their music page where you can listen before you buy. They’ll be back in Sugar Land Town Square in the Spring of 2010–if you’re within 50 miles of that place when they’re there, drop everything and take your kid there–I promise it will be a good night!
Aug 30
Today was the rare day in August in Texas when the weather outside was pretty pleasant. There was a light breeze so we went to the neighborhood park with some kites. Jack has never flown a kite before but it was an instant hit. If you haven’t done with your kid before, you ought to try it out. It’s easy, fast and very cheap.
Aug 25
Like many other dads, I work crazy hours most days and usually only get to see my son for an hour or two in the evening, and that’s usually spent eating dinner, cleaning up, etc. To make the most of my time with him, I have a few instant bonding time activities: highly concentrated doses of father-son bonding, when you have 15-30 minutes to make up for the whole day.
Jack loves walks. He’s too young to walk around the block, so we usually take the stroller or a trike or a wagon. I point things out as we walk by and tell him what they are. Like a lamp post or a mail box. He points things out and I tell them what they are. Or I say a word and have him point it out. It’s a great way to build his vocabulary. We have three dogs who love to come along on the walks with us–Jack gets to pick who gets to go each time. When he was younger, this was a nightly routine for us–till he figured out that I was walking him to put him to sleep and started hating the stroller. If you’re in the market for a stroller, I highly recommend the Jeep Liberty Limited 3 Wheel All Terrain Stroller . It’s pretty cheap and really sturdy, but the best part about it is it comes with speakers and an mp3 attachment. Nothing soothes a cranky baby like some Bocelli while he’s getting strolled! |
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| Another really fun activity is bike rides. I have a CoPilot Limo Bicycle Child Seat attached to the back of my bike, and he really loves it. It’s got a 3-point seat belt, straps for each feet and an amusement park-style latch to keep him safely attached to the seat. It also mounts and unmounts off it’s stand easily, so I can transfer it from my bike to my wife’s bike in under a minute. We’ve been using this thing for a year now and not a day goes by when Jack sees it without asking to go for a ride. We usually ride the bike to the neighborhood park, stop and play there for a while. It’s also great exercise–it’s really been helping with the whole pot-belly situation I have going on. |   |
| I know many people who think reading to a young child doesn’t make any difference because they don’t really understand it. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I started reading to Jack since before he was born. Yes, it felt silly reading a book to my wife’s tummy, even though the book was meant to be read “in utero”, but I think it got him used to my voice. About 30 seconds after he was born, he stopped crying when I started talking to him because he knew my voice. That’s huge! Anyway, Jack likes books more than most kids, and reading is one of his favorite activities. He picks out a book, brings it to me, and sits in my lap waiting for me to read it. We really encourage this by getting him lots of books (and cycling through them like toys so he never gets tired of them), and by agreeing to read the same book 12 times in a row because every time we get to the last page he flips the book around and goes, “YEAH!”. |
I sound like a beached seal when I sing, and like most other men in the world I prefer root canals to dancing. Except when it’s with a baby. Doesn’t matter how much you hated singing and dancing, once you had a baby you became an expert at it! Yes, I look extremely silly doing it, but it doesn’t matter because it makes my baby laugh. Music is very important to young children. Playing it often is great for their brain development. Dance holding your child, and pretty much anything you did to make him upset is forgiven. Jack and I spend quite a lot of time doing this. Every father should have Romanza by Andrea Bocelli on their iPods, cell phones, home stereos and car CD players! Something about this man’s voice will soothe the most upset child… |
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What do you guys do with your kids? Share your thoughts/ideas/stories in the comments.
Aug 23
It’s the middle of summer in Texas right now, and going outside after 10 AM for more than 10 minutes is usually a bad idea. It rained quite a bit last week, though, which cooled things down a bit and put me in a gardening mood. So we took a family trip to Lowe’s, to pick out the ingredients for a fun-filled afternoon. Most people are already done planting trees for the season, so you’re likely to find pretty good deals on fruit trees. We ended up getting lime, tangerine, nectarine and peach trees. Sitting in the cart while we walk through the humongous store is usually a very boring task for Jack, so to make it interesting we let him pick out the trees. I needed a pick ax to dig the holes so we went in the tool isle. While there, the kids’ tool area caught Jack’s eye. They had rakes, shovels and hoes—Jack opted to get the rake.
With the ground still relatively soft from the recent rains and a brand new (sharp) pick ax, digging the holes for the trees was no sweat. Some advice: if you want to avoid painful blisters in your hands, take off the wedding ring while you’re digging.
Your wife is around and you tell her, “honey, wearing this ring while I dig this hole is going to cause me discomfort, but I don’t mind because it means that much to me!” She will likely tell you its okay to take it off, and you just got some brownie points.
You take off the ring and put it in your pocket (at least you think you do) and forget to put it back on when you get back in. You’re at the dinner table and your wife notices your ring is off. And you realize they are in your shorts. In the washer. Oops.
Wear work gloves.
Guess which one I actually did, in the comments.
Anyway, following the directions on the little tags so conveniently attached to the trees we purchased, we had the trees in the ground in no time. Jack got to help by raking the dirt after the tree was in the ground. Within a couple of years our grocery bill will likely be lower because of the fruits these trees will bear. And best of all, we now have the memory of planting trees together. 10 years from now, I’ll be able to turn to Jack and say, “you may not remember this but you and I planted these trees together.”
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