Last night, J had a "ladies night out". Normally, this is a chance for us boys to have a lot of fun, but I’ve been fighting a cold. So, instead we just did a "movie night". Movie nights are a tradition that started the first time I found myself alone with C and couldn’t come […]
Read MoreYou may remember my earlier story about time outs. Despite that, they are a very effective method of punishment. C hates them – which is good. Even better, he understands them. He’s so accustomed to them now that sometimes when he’s caught being bad, he’ll look up and say "I go to time out. Need […]
Read MoreIn our kitchen, we have a plastic kid’s table. It’s a single piece of plastic molded into the shape of a little picnic table with benches on either side. Amazing the things you can find at garage sales! In any case, one of our big challenges with N has been that he loves to climb […]
Read MoreA few evenings ago, J, N, and I were playing in the kitchen when C came quietly walking out of his bedroom. He took my hand, whispered "tigers" and led me back to his bedroom. I said "tigers?" and he nodded. So we went to his room. He closed the door behind us without turning […]
Read MoreJust as C did, N has been learning language skills from listening to us command the dogs. One of his few words is "tay!" – short for "Stay!" He holds his hand out and says it very sternly, mimicking the way we tell the dogs to stay. N loves to climb. Being less than 1 […]
Read MoreAll daddy pride aside, C learned to talk at a very young age. Younger, in fact, than we realized. For example, he apparently learned to say "train video" (his favorite video) privately and in complete isolation. This seems like a good thing, but it ended up working against us. Even back then, C usually finished […]
Read MoreSometimes, the absurdity of a situation really gets to me. Having the kids around makes this more of a problem, because laughing is simply not always appropriate. Here’s a case in point. The other night we had pasta for dinner. When I say "we", I mean J, N, and I. C was refusing to eat. […]
Read More[Just a short one today. I’m working feverishly on a Big Upgrade to the site] We’ve been working on potty training C since December. For those without kids, yes, it can take that long. C has no problem using the potty, his problem is that he doesn’t recognize those internal rumblings which tell the rest […]
Read MoreOne of C’s favorite books used to be "Quick as a Cricket". This is simply a board book where each page has an illustration with a single phrase, like "Quick as a Cricket", "Happy as a Lark", "Brave as a Tiger", and so forth. About a year ago we were eating dinner at a family […]
Read MoreOnce C got old enough, J started working weekends (she is otherwise a stay-at-home mom). The first weekend that J left, I was hanging out with C (this was before N arrived), and he asked where mommy was. I said “She’s working.” He looked at me for a second, and then said “No…She’s shopping.” I […]
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