Fatherhood Friday and the Greatest Kids CD Ever...

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This is my first post for Fatherhood Friday, hopefully there will be plenty more.

As I have mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of kids music. But a little while back I realized that me not playing kiddie music for A.D. isn't fair to him. So I decided to pick up a few CDs for him to see how he liked them.

First of all, not playing music while driving around, or cooking, or cleaning the house isn't an option. I have to have it on in the background... that's just how I am. And I figured that he's about at that age where I worry about him listening to some of the music I like.

The first CDs I got was a collection of Little Tikes CDs. There are four of them... and they are awful. One of the CDs is "Toddler Dance Favorites," which includes The Chicken Dance and Baa Baa Black Sheep... Another CD is "Nursery Rhyme Favorites," and includes Little Teapot, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Three Nice Mice. Oh yeah, you heard me... Three Nice Mice, a politically correct version. Apparently violence towards rodents in the form of chopping off their little tails isn't condoned by Little Tikes.

But honestly, the songs wouldn't be that bad if they didn't sound like they were recorded in a garage by a mom and a few of her kid's tone-deaf friends. So I started thinking about some music that I like that I think the little man would like too... So here's a short list of some kid-friendly music that is both worthy of him learning, and certainly recorded by some talented people (complete with YouTube links in case you want to hear the song).

• We're Going to be Friends - The White Stripes (yeah, that's the song from Napoleon Dynamite)
• Under African Skies - Paul Simon & Linda Ronstadt (because everyone needs to know a song from Graceland other than You Can Call Me Al)
• The Christmas Song - Dave Matthews (because Dave tells a quick little story about Jesus)
• Return to Pooh Corner - Kenny Loggins (because, what kid doesn't like Pooh?)
• If I Had A Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies (because I can't wait for him to yell "Ha-vent you always wanted a Mon-Key!?")
• Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might Be Giants (because TMBG crack me up... sorry, no good video for that one)
• Upside Down - Jack Johnson (because the video has Curious George in it... and we like Curious George)
• Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez (because it's a perfect lullaby song)
• New Shoes - Paolo Nutini (because it's a good dance song for a little one)

Honestly, it's been a long Friday and that's all the music my brain can muster up right now. Any other good ones that you can think of, please shoot them my way. One day I'll post my final list of the greatest kid's CD of all time...

-- Tim

An Afternoon in the Life...

You ever had one of those times where you aren't really quite sure whether you are coming or going? You don't know which way is up? You don't know if what you are smelling is what you are stepping in?... That was my afternoon yesterday... And all of which was for 15 minutes of fun in the pool with the little man. Here's a recap of events...

• Head home from work to pick up A.D. from daycare. I'm feeling pretty good because I am going to take him swimming over at his Papa and Grandma's house.
• Go into daycare where I immediately have to sign an "Uh-Oh Report" because he whacked his face on a bookshelf while trying to get a toy. Nothing new there.
• Head home and start getting stuff ready for the pool and dinner...
• Marinate chicken breasts.
• Search the house for A.D.'s swim suit.
• Change into my own swim suit in the middle of the kitchen, then realize the blinds were open... crap.
  
• Get food together for A.D. and put all into bag.
• Throw everything in the car and head over to Papa and Grandma's house.
• Realize that I am locked out of their house... double crap.
• I break into the house, grab the kid and all his stuff and go inside.
• Change kid into "L'il Swimmers," which by the way don't go on like diapers, so it was like wrangling a cat into... well I don't know where I was going with this analogy, but it would be somewhere a cat wouldn't want to go. Got that?
• Realize I left his bottle at home... crap again.
  
• Inflate his little float thingy and put sun shade canopy on it.
• Fight with A.D. as I try to slather sunscreen on him.
  
• Take him out to the pool just to realize the back yard is shaded after 4 PM... no sunscreen or sunshade needed on his float thingy... sonofacrap!
  
• Play in pool for 15 minutes until he gets cold...

Reinforcements arrived when we were just about to get out of the water. I was then able to hand him off and let mommy get him dry and changed. In the mean time, I drank a beer.

He had a blast for the short time he was in the pool. And any time you put a kid in the pool and he doesn't leave a floater behind has to be considered a successful trip.

Tonight I get to install kid-proof latches on all of the kitchen cabinets... I can't wait.

New 'Doo & Tantrums...

Well we finally broke down and trimmed the little dude's hair. It was about a 1/4 inch over his ears, which was way too long for Tiff. So she grabbed the scissors and took some off of his bangs and around his ears. I think it looks pretty good. She could have a future there, if she wants to deal with cutting the hair of squirmy, snotty nosed kids whose only goal in life is to NOT get their hair cut. A.D. cooperated though, and sat through it like a champ.

Yesterday, however, he decided he did not want to cooperate with anything. I think we had our first full blown tantrum, and I'm not really sure what triggered it. I think it was a combination of being a little hungry, tired, and getting the 10-month clinginess. I was pretty impressed with his extreme defiance towards authority, especially for a 10-month old. It was so funny that I had to grab the camera.

I'm pretty sure that he'll soon be ready to run away and join that loving wolf-family, since we are such horrible people.

Uh-Oh...cubed

The little man is walking... if "walking" meets the definition below.

Walk: \'wok\ : To go into motion after standing upright while holding onto a low object (e.g. couch, table, chair, etc...), swaying like a drunk fraternity kid, and taking one step before crash landing onto the hard floor into a crumpled heap.

In reality, the little man just thinks he can walk. If we don't watch him, he really will let go of whatever he is holding on to, and try to take off across the room. But so far his upright traveling hasn't fared well for him.

Those papers are "Uh-Oh" reports from his daycare. Uh-Oh reports come home with him when he hurts himself at daycare. We've had one or two before from another kid bashing him with a toy, or him wiping out when he was learning to pull up. But we've never had 3 in one day!!! These are from 10:30, 11:30, and 2:30...

We may not be fast learners... but we sure are persistant!

Trip to D.C. in Review...

Although the little man systematically gave everyone the plague (except for myself, I'm proud to say), we had a pretty good time up in Burke. Here are some of the highlights in photos...

For Mother's Day we had the whole family at the house, including all four of Poppy's Great-Grandchildren. Poppy's the big one in the middle, with Gregory on the left, Logan in the middle, and A.D. sitting on Randin's lap. It was about 4:30 and Poppy was hungry, so the photo session didn't last very long.

Tiffany, myself, Nana (my mom), and the little man got a tour of the Capitol. We were able to score a few PRESS passes, so we got to see much more of the building than normal. Of course this is in the rotunda, nothing special there other than a nice photo op...

We had the pleasure of meeting Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) down in the bowels of the Capitol right before he had to go do some "senator stuff." I didn't realize until later that my one chance at making an impression passed as I held a Coach purse in my left hand. I'm sure he thought it was lovely...

We had to leave the stroller behind while we were in the Capitol, but that didn't stop A.D. from crashing on Mommy...

On Thursday we met up with Matt & J, who were in town from Arizona, and took the kiddo to the zoo. Although A.D. isn't talking, I'm pretty sure some of the noises he makes are the native tongue of the Emu... So we met an emu, and they chatted for a while.

Mom took A.D. into the front yard for some photos. He's turning into a little ham, and is cheesing it up as soon as he sees the camera.

I got out my wooden blocks from when I was a little man. I'm pretty sure he jammed all 100 of them into his mouth at one time or another. Since they were blocks from when I was a kid, they probably are coated in lead, mercury, and PBA. I periodically check to make sure he hasn't grown a third eye.

Lastly, as Tiff mentioned in her last post, we finally have a couple teeth. Below is proof. Blow it up and look closely on the bottom row... I promise they are there.

A Week In Review...

For all of those who have been wondering how A.D.'s ear surgery went, I thought I would do a quick week in review. A.D. had a few pre-surgery jitters (esp. after the little girl in the next bed started crying her little heart out), but he ended up going in with a smile on his face and flirting with the nurse. He made it through surgery well and only cried for a few minutes in recovery as he woke up from the anesthesia. That definitely broke my heart, but he seemed to bounce back quickly and was playing with us on the floor in his room at home within an hour of when the surgery started. Other than not wanting to nap, at all, on Monday, I have to say that the surgery went very well.

A.D. did wake up a few times the next few nights and my Grandmother, who kept him on Tuesday and Wednesday, will tell you he was quite fussy, had a runny nose, and seemed to be running a low-grade fever. Due to the fussiness and waking up at night, which is his usual M.O. for an ear infection, we were back at the pediatrician's office on Wednesday. She said his ears still looked “rough” made a few changes to how often and how many antibiotic drops we used and rescheduled us an appointment with the ENT on Thursday. By Thursday though, he was back to sleeping most of the night through and the ENT thought his ears looked appropriate for his stage of post-op. Verdict: the antibiotic drops are starting to do the job and he must a virus of some sort. Tim and I will tell you that after developing the runny nose, head congestion, and over-all malaise, we both had the dreaded virus also.

On to Friday. We were getting ready to embark on our summer vacation so A.D. and I spent the day packing and getting everything ready. As soon as Tim made it home at lunchtime, we packed up the car, fed A.D., and headed out. Oh, yeah. And, Tim discovered during the above-mentioned feeding that A.D. had cut not just one, but two of his bottom teeth during the previous day. Yehhh!!! Finally not toothless. That definitely probably contributed to the crankiness, huh? Back to the crazy story. We made it to Charlotte on Friday night, and had dinner with my parents, both of my grandmothers, and my uncle who were all in town (like us) for my sister's graduation on Saturday. A crazy, busy week. As we went to bed on Friday night we thought that only relaxation lay ahead....only to be woken up at mid-night by A.D. who had come down with a stomach bug. UCK! Definitely not in the plans. We ended up skipping Sam's graduation (sorry!!!!) and driving straight to D.C. to see Tim's family. Many clothing changes, bottles of pedialyte, and diaper changes later we arrived safely. Luckily for Tim and I, we were fortunate enough not to end up with the virus ourselves, but Tim's mom (Nana) and sister weren't so lucky.

Stay tuned for pictures from our vacation! They should be arriving shortly.--Tiff

A whole new baby...

Now that I have your attention, no we aren't having a new baby, but I am told that after Monday that A.D. may be. Monday A.D. will undergo surgery to put tubes in his ears. Poor guy has endured over 6 weeks straight of ear infections, 5 different antibiotics including one set of 3 shots, and many many days with a fever. We are hoping this will be the answer, at least to the current infection. According to the ENT, his hearing is probably similiar to that of a 70 year old male due to the amount of fluid in his ears and after all of the antibiotics the ear infection looks worse. The good news is that we have been antibiotic free for the past two weeks with no fever spike. As a pharmacist that constantly worries about what we expose A.D. to, I am so happy that the antibiotics will hopefully soon end. Everyone keeps telling us that we will have a whole new baby on Monday, but I would not trade him for the world. He is already one of the most laid back, relaxed babies I have ever been around. He sleeps all night, smiles constantly, and laughs at almost anything. Who would trade that? However, I do hope that this will decrease his pain level and improve his hearing. Who knows, maybe we'll end up with an even happier, more laid back baby. In the meantime, keep A.D. in your thoughts and prayers, and we will keep you up-dated....maybe ;)--Tiffany