DadTalk

Falling for My Kids II

Last month I wrote a post about how my kids like to fall from a shelving unit onto our bed. I was able to catch them mid-fall with my Canon EOS-20, but my digital SLR does not have a video recorder function.

I’ve tried converting footage from our analog video camera to digital, but the converter I bought a few years ago doesn’t seem to work.

I finally solved our dilemma by getting a new camera for my wife on Mother’s Day. Don’t worry, she’s as happy about getting the Canon A470 as I am.

So now, the whole world can enjoy the spectacle of our rambunctious kids falling from the shelves in our bedroom.

Outing for Kids On Track

As a surprise for our track-obsessed son, we took our kids this weekend to National Train Day, which was sponsored by Amtrak at Chicago’s Union Station.

Success was guaranteed, even though there were some hiccups. The worst moment came when Lael, who had been hanging onto the model train table, disappeared when I glanced at some of the freebies my wife collected. (Note the hats and whistles the kids have on the jump.)

One minute our little girl was there, and the next she was gone. I didn’t take my eyes off her for more than 20 seconds.

Anne and Seth found her in the care of a police officer. The whole incident took less than a few minutes, but it felt like hours. Lael recovered quickly though, as you can see in the picture.

The other hiccup was construction on the Elevated. While we were able to take the train in, repairs meant it was near impossible to take it back home, so we took the bus.

The kids seemed okay with that. All in all, a great day.

And the Winner Is…

Both of my kids are huge Cars fans. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when Seth asked for help building the Piston Cup out of Legos.

But Seth was unsure of what the cup looked like. Instead of helping him outright, I found a tiny picture of the cup online and printed it out for him.

An hour later, he came back with not one but TWO Piston Cups and TWO Checkered Flags, which he made from memory. Pretty cool, huh?

A New Swear Word Blooms

Siblings are experts at torturing each other. Seth for example, likes to mutter an unending stream of rhymes.

“Mutter, putter, dutter, futter, jutter,” he says.

I’m not sure Seth voices that exact combination, but something similar.

Eventually, he hits on key words that irritate the heck out of Lael. “Cocka.” “Poopoo.”

We think Seth learned some of the potty words at school. Others are completely made up. But once Seth hits on a sound that makes Lael whine, he tortures his sister by saying it ad nauseam.

Lael then comes running to mom or dad, proclaiming, “Seth is using potty words” or “Seth uses THAT word.”

Several times, THAT word sounds as upsetting as “oona.” I guess it is more tone of voice than anything else.

At some point, my wife Anne came up with an ingenious solution. “Seth, call Lael flower.”

Seth took to the idea pretty quickly and it seemed to work, especially after we showed Lael pretty spring flowers.

But alas, tone of voice seems to be turning flower power into swear smears. “Flower, flower, FLOWER,” Seth calmly says.

“Stop saying THAT word,” Lael shrieks.

In the last three or four days, though, Seth has gone back to nonsense words and potty talk, enraging Lael. I fear her shrieks might crack glass.

But little Lael is learning to defend herself. She often screams back:

“Flower, flower, FLOWER!”

Are You an Economic Optimist or Realist?

Why are some humans optimists and others pessimists? I was discussing this question with an acquaintance on my bus to work last week.

My theory: optimists often don’t see or simply ignore the downside to trying out a new restaurant, athletic fete or business.  A pessimist – though I substitute the word realist – viscerally sees the downside to new and old ideas.

Without optimists, we’d still be riding horse and buggies (or walking), the moon might never have been explored and supercolliders never built. Without realists, planes would fall from the sky and even worse politicians would be elected to office.

No place is the tug of war between optimists and realists more evident than the economy and the housing market. Here’s the historical smack down:

Breakfast Loses to Trains

For more than a year, Seth has been asking for an electric train set. We’ve been putting him off for a simple reason: space.

In fact, my boy’s Thomas train tracks tend to sit unused much of the time because they can never stay set up for more than a day or two. After that, mom and dad are silently swearing after jamming toes and tripping over train bridges.

A few weeks ago, I got the bright idea of using our dining room table instead of the floor for the Thomas trains. It worked out surprisingly well when you consider the round table top – we almost ran out of curves.

We only left the tracks set up for a day, but the kids loved it.

Trial Run at Being Stay-at-Home Dad

What a crazy week. Last Thursday, we drove out to Connecticut with the kids. After a two-day stay, we were driving back. Yup, we traveled four days for a two-visit, redefining the word “Passover.”

But flying wasn’t really an option. It’s easy to do the math when you compare $1,000 in airline tickets and $250 on rental cars versus $300 in gas and $150 in hotels.

My kids are turning into fantastic travelers, by the way. Plus, we were fortunate that we could literally watch trees leaf out during our drive.

After working for two days back in Illinois, my wife flew out to Arizona to visit with my mom and for some other business. So here I am, one day into being a stay-at-home dad. I’ve done this a couple times before, but if feels different for some reason this time.

I’m a much better parent, it seems, when the taint of work is not intruding on my thought processes and mood. It is very refreshing to approach a day with the kids  not feeling exhausted physically and mentally. I like it.

Falling for My Kids

Lael invented this game of free fall from the shelves. Well, I guess I’m partly to blame.

For months now, I have held Lael up in my arms while standing on the floor. Then I cry “timber” as we fall onto the bed. It’s not a long fall, but it’s enough to thrill a little girl.

But apparently, it wasn’t a big enough thrill for Lael, who quickly dumped dad for the shelving unit. It’s pretty wild to see how perfectly straight she holds her body.

Seth, who tends to be a lot more cautious, finally decided it was safe and started falling from the shelves more recently.

And that my friends, is what happens when your kids are locked in a small apartment all winter long. (sorry about the bad lighting.)

Trout Fishing and Indian Spices

Can two men sound like an entire band? Sure, when they’ve been playing together for almost 30 years.

Can two men keep 100 children – and 100 parents – occupied and even dancing during kiddy witching hours of 3-5 p.m?

Sure, if they’re Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet, who form the Arkansas duo Trout Fishing in America. If you never heard of these guys, or listened to them, now is a good time as any. Click on this link, and then click on “Launch Trout Radio” for a sample.

Trout Fishing is one of those bands I never would have heard of if it wasn’t for a publicist – I’m not even sure which one – sending me a CD. I’m pretty awful that way: someone sends me a CD and I get around to listening to it weeks or months later.

Curls and Golf Balls

Thursday night I came  home early and crashed from 2 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. Friday morning. Much of it was in a sort of twilight sleep underscored by cramps, nausea and shivering. I can thank my kids for the latest plague.

Later this morning, Lael walks up to me with an art creation using a plastic golf ball and tees. My wife swears she had nothing to do with it. Regardless, it made my convalescing day a bit better.