DadTalk

My Kids Are a Sorry Bunch

Presents evolve as your kids age. For us, 7 seemed to be the magic birthday where Seth was more than ready for board games.

Seth was already into Battleship, Backgammon and Monopoly, but we were decidedly lacking other traditional games at home. So one of Seth’s birthday presents was Sorry!

While we knew Seth would love the game, we were surprised at how much Lael got into it. She’d set up the board, calling out, “Daddy! Seth! I’m ready to play Sorry!” Oh, and she decided which colors we’d each get.

Keep in mind, Lael is not quite 4 and doesn’t fully understand the game. Lael can actually count to 20, but there is some funky wrist motion going on when she moves her piece: a 3 card might result in 15 spaces and a 12 card might result in 2 spaces.

Of course, the real reason Lael loves the game is to force us to spend more time with her. Smart girl.

Space Birthday Party

My son, who is now 7, is pretty big on birthday themes. This year was all about space, as you can see by the birthday cake.

We held the party at our community park, which comes complete with water sprinklers, pool, open field, gym toys and park benches.

For the first time since we started throwing birthday parties, little parenting was needed. The kids ran from the sprinklers to the playground equipment to the field, where they launched Stomp Rockets.

After grilled hot dogs and chips, the kids did some arts and crafts arranged by my wife. The entire birthday was a pleasure from start to finish.

Winning Is Not Everything

When Seth plays a sport he’s never tried before, the boy quickly breaks down into “I’m a loser, everyone is better” mode.

Do I handle these situations correctly? Sort of. While I try to emphasize with Seth, I oftentimes slide into the tough love mode. “Get over it already!”

This was especially true as Seth practiced his golf on the driving range this Saturday. The self-recriminations were quickly boiling to the top:

“Everyone hits the ball farther than me.”

“The ball won’t pop up!”

“I stink at this.”

Purple Hair

Last Saturday, my kids attended Springfest, which is a fund-raiser for Seth’s school. We skipped the fund-raiser at Lael’s school on Sunday. Too much stuff in one weekend.

Anyway, the kids had a blast and fortunately the purple stuff came out nice and easy.

(See the Jump for more photos.)

Green Tongues

Ah birthday parties. In this case, green-frosted cupcakes taint some tongues.

Toy Recalls New Safety Rules Sort of Kick In

As new rules banning lead-and phthalate-contaminated products kick into gear today, retailers, thrift stores and even librarians are confused over what can and can’t stay on the shelves, reports a variety of news services.

That’s because court decisions and rule revisions have been occurring, reports The Associated Press. The biggest problems revolve around children-focused thrift stores whose entire product lines are in question.

Explains The AP:

The standards were set to go into effect on Tuesday, but on Jan. 30 the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a one-year stay of enforcement for some testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of regulated products. The decision gives the CPSC more time to finalize four proposed rules that could exclude some materials and products from testing and issue more guidance on how testing is to be conducted.

However, retailers are still not allowed to sell the products, causing some uncertainty.

The key word here is: Confusion. I’m still unclear myself over what’s in effect and what’s not. So the best I can do is provide a quick rundown of what the rules entail (page may have been pulled), according the CPSC website:

Cardinals' Loss Hits Home, Though I Don’t Know Why

I’m not a big football fan. If my son wasn’t in elementary school, I probably would not have realized the Cardinals were in the Super Bowl.

But, my son is 6, and I suppose he should at least know how one of the most followed sports in America is played. So we watched the nail-biter of a game.

Of course, we only moved out here a few months ago. Of course, Seth doesn’t even understand much about how the game is played. (For the record, basketball is easier to explain.) And of course, it’s illogical that Seth would have any emotional attachment to any team considering sports are barely discussed at home.

Still, Seth broke out into tears after the Cardinals lost to the Steelers. He clearly got caught up in the excitement and emotion of it all. I guess it could have been worse: what if Seth really cared about the team?

Workbooks Are Parents’ Friend

I’m a strong believer in workbooks, especially for young children. They’re a fun way to help kids learn (while parents clean the dishes or fold laundry.)

Sure, playing with paint is MORE fun, but workbooks are far less messy. Plus, they’ve evolved greatly over the years.

Seth particularly likes math and puzzle books. Grandma bought Seth a Sudoku for kids that used numbers, letters and symbols.

I also use workbooks to extend Seth’s math and English lessons. In the picture, I have Seth refreshing his memory on subtraction principles.

Where Kids Can Play and Play

All Children’s Museums are not created equal. Although it’s a bit of a drive, we’re lucky that Phoenix opened a brand-spanking new one this year.

As a result, the exhibits not only work, but they’re clean. Seth and Lael took off the moment we entered the place.

The museum features tunnels, pretend grocery stores, pneumatic tubes that suck in scarves and shoot them into the air, arts and crafts rooms, race cars and tricycles that kids can peddle through a car wash. An employee there tells me that barely half the exhibits are open yet.

My kids stayed for almost five hours and all I had to do was occasionally usher the kids to the next room or make sure they paused long enough to pee and eat. Having little need of me, next time I’ll remember to bring a book.

Late Hanukkah Stuff

Wow, I think this is the longest I’ve ever gone without posting. Mostly, I’ve just been busy as a work-at-home dad. Here’s a typical day during the holidays:

• Read the news
• Feed the kids breakfast
• Lael, do you need to go potty? (she’s in training this week.)
• Edit an e-mail for work
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Quiet the kids down
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Start some laundry
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Stop some fighting
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Work on the website
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Quiet the kids down
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Laundry
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Make the kids lunch
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Take a work phone call
• Lael, do you need to go potty?
• Laundry
• Lael, do you need to go potty?

During the eight days of Hanukkah, the kids couldn’t wait until nightfall for candle lighting and gifts. You can see the Menorah Lael made out of nuts glued onto a ceramic tile to the left.