Park Run

The kids and I went to a park hang with a bunch of Stay at home dads this morning. We were trying to beat morning naptime, so we got there early. Lots of moms were milling about after a Strollercise class. The lone dad with two kids must have scared them a little. Several moms were hovering near The Princess, because she was climbing all over the playscape

Then they started looking all over the park like they were searching for someone. Ooops, it was me. One of the moms picked up The Princess and brought her to the largest group of dads. "Anyone's kid?"

I could not help but answer "Yep, someone's..."

Turns out they were worried because no one was standing right with the baby while she was climbing. She could have fallen

But she hadn't.

After the mommy huffed off, The Princess went right back to her climbing expedition and I tried to make it more obvious that I was watching her. She then proceeded to fall of of the playscape! Twice.

Ooops, guess I shouldn't have been watching.

The Princess Speaks

And she has a lot to say, so you people better listen up. After all, she is a princess, she could have you thrown in the dungeon or she could keep you up all night talking to her brother.

This morning The Princess has moved up to two word sentences. "More Cookie" is the current favorite, but "Hi Daddy" gets an honorable mention.

Everyone is in a good mood this morning, because we all got some sleep. The shared bedroom experiment is now over. The Talker wanted to stay up at night making noise and playing with his sis, and she was really having fun waking up at 2 am, 4am, 5am and 6am to see if brother wanted to play. So The Boss Lady started moving furniture yesterday afternoon. And everyone slept great in their OWN bedrooms.

Too bad. I really liked the arrangement, but I realized that the kids were not really playing in the toy room - once again The Talker's Domain. That was my goal, to give them a place to play, without being in the middle of the family room.

The worst part about the toys coming back into the living room? The kids have a new box of Duplo blocks, like 250 of 'em. And I bet I step on all of them tonight.

Graduation, Maturation, Consternation and Headache-ization

It's been a busy week around here. Highlights:

Beautiful's High School graduation ceremony. Very cool getting to hang with the family and it was cool getting to see her cruising across the stage. Though I feared for the ROTC boy that escorted her, good thing Lil' Sarge was really cute or he might have gotten a swift kick in the medals. The popcorn was stale, though.

Of course, sitting there, I really felt old. After my high school graduation, I came down for a visit and sat with Beautiful in an wingback chair through naptime. Somewhere in all of this clutter there is a great picture of that moment. Now, I don't think she naps anymore, and I think their cat finally finished off the blue wingback.

I am going on my third day straight of a migrane, so everyone is in a great mood around here. The princess has the right idea, she is napping the morning away. The Talker is playing with playdough and The Boss Lady is starting her Memorial Day weekend with a laundry folding festival.

Me? I am trying to remember where the BB gun is, so I can shoot out all of the lightbulbs in this house. Whose idea was it to put 300 watts of halogen glow in the dining room anyways?

I'm So Misunderstood...

Justa Dad brought something to my attention yesterday, but I have not had time to sit down and correct my last post. I am not going back to work any more than the few nights that I started earlier in the month.

Yesterday, I said "By coincidence, today is AtHomeDaddy's last full day with the kids until early August." But I should have said "By coincidence, today is AtHomeDaddy's last full day ALONE with the kids until early August.". One word. A lot of meaning.

But it is not really true, either. The Boss Lady has a conference in June, so she will be gone for three days. The kids and I will really get to bond then. Just to keep us from getting bored, we are going to board The Mutt Cousins, our cousin's one year old Golden Retrievers for a week, starting the day she leaves. So after The Boss Lady gets home from her trip, I might beg to go back to work.

But probably not. Likely I'll just be begging for a dog.

Last Full Day

Today is The Boss Lady's last full day of the school year. She sends the kids home at noon on Thursday. And a big bonus, she does not work Fridays again, until early August. The other days, she mainly works half-days.

By coincidence, today is AtHomeDaddy's last full day with the kids until early August. Marrying a teacher was one of the smartest things I ever done did. Gotta love long summer breaks. Even if it is unpaid time off.

But, marrying THIS teacher was THE smartest thing I ever done did. Thanks for another great year, Boss Lady.

Too Tired to Blog

Watching three kids at once? Wow. Cousin C came over yesterday to play with the kids. And all I can say is that you people who have more kids than adults in the house should be commended, or committed.

Some days watching two kids can really kick me in the butt. Three? Wore me out. Can't. Go. On. Must Rest.

Ready, Set, GO!

The kid count is going up by one around here. NO! The Boss Lady isn't pregnant. She would beat you up for saying that.

For the first half of this week, Cousin C will be hanging out with us. So I will be hanging out with a 1 year old, a 2 year old and a 3 year old. Two of them are in diapers. Two of them talk. Two of them are boys. Two of them are picky eaters.

So my job seems to be pretty straight forward. Just figure out what one of the kids needs at any time and do the opposite for the other two. Right?

Game, Set, Loud Kid

This morning The Talker asked to go to "a new park". I assumed he meant that he wanted to add some variety to our park rotation, so we headed out to a neighborhood park that we have driven by several times. We have never stopped to play, so I guessed this qualified as a new park.

We were the only ones there for a while. The kids were having fun, going from the big kid's playscape, to the swings and then to the toddler 'scape. The park sits right next to a bunch of tennis courts, where little old ladies were playing.

The Talker started banging on a metal pipe with a stick and I was impressed, because he was keeping a good rhythm. Then I realized that play had stopped on the court, and the four ladies were looking our way. As I went to ask the boy to stop, The Princess started to walk off of one of the elevated platforms, so I had to dive over to catch her. All the while, The Talker kept up the drumming.

When I walked back over to quiet the boy, I realized the tennis players were packing up and moving to a court farther from the play area. I guess they thought I was not going to do anything about the noise. But none of them complained, they just moved on.

And of course, as soon as they cleared the court, The Talker stopped beating on the pipe and went to play with some other kids.

AtHomeDaddy - Habitat Builder

The kids love the playscape that Bob and I build in December. When I was planning it, I read an article that cautioned not to spend too much money on a play structure, because it would not be used as often as the parent hopes and the parks would always have better stuff. I can see the logic of the argument, but it has not proven true with our playscape.

The Talker would live out there, if we would let him. The Princess, too. Of course, she would be climbing the sides and hanging from the swingset crossbar if we would let her, too.

Unfortunately, they are not the only ones who have taken a liking to the 'scape. Turns out the underside of the elevated deck is an awesome wasp hangout. Tonight, I found a nest as large as my fist, right over the sandbox.

After evacuating the kids, I fought the wasps to a draw. No one, meaning ME, got stung, and I managed to knock the nest off of the playscape with a jet stream of water. Hopefully it will take them a few days to regroup.

Right Back at Ya, Kid

The Talker is a good napper, still. Three and a half years old and some days he takes a three or four hour nap in the afternoon. Always, at least two hours. After he finally settles down.

Yesterday afternoon, I was trying to get him to calm down and take his nap. I lay down beside him and just listened, while he chatted and wiggled. I was getting tired and started thinking he might not nap. But just when I was most frustrated, he busted out with a gem.

"Daddy, your name is Mike."

"Yep."

"Daddy Mike, you are my favorite guy. Good night. Good Night to my favorite guy, Daddy."

So he was off the hook and I got up, before I fell asleep. Once I was gone, he fell asleep quickly and napped until The Boss Lady got home.

It's Good to be Back...

Within 20 minutes of getting my hands on the computer tonight, I had the system crashed and begging for mercy! The problem only took 3 people and 30 minutes to correct. So my first hour back at work cost the city 2 hours in payroll.

Yep, they hired me for my expertise. And I delivered.

But I wonder why they told me not to come back until next Tuesday night?

AtHomeDaddy, Productive Member of Society

That is what my new business card will read.

As of this evening, AtHomeDaddy is going back to work. Oh, don't worry, I'll still be home all day loafing around in my pajamas and eating all of the kids snacks, while they watch endless hours of television. But I am going to pick up a few hours at my old job.

Actually, it won't be exactly my old job. I am going in to help with some software that I used to know how to run. But that was almost three years ago. Don't know how much help I will really be, but they pay by the hour. So it will take me a few evenings to figure out the software again. Let's call it 'Paid Training'.

I will also have to manage the other stuff that pops up around a recreation center. Phone calls, customer concerns, trying to keep the scheduled activities on track. This is a lot of what I used to do, except I was usually there during the busiest part of the day. Now, I'll be there after between 6 and 10, a few nights a week. And I might be the only one around at times.

Let's see? Paid by the hour to sit at a computer in an almost empty building? With silence all around? Yeah buddy, sign me up for a couple of extra shifts...

Sleepy Time

The AtHomeFamily are a bunch of weird sleepers. Actually, The Princess and I are the weirdest ones. The others like to sleep. A LOT.

This week she started waking up between 6:15 AM and 6:45AM. She still takes two naps a day and BELIEVE me, I am not complaining about that. But she is waking up early and taking her first nap earlier, too. Today, she was back in the bed before 9:30. And still down. Probably will be for an hour more. And then back down at 1:30 for the afternoon nap.

Me? I just end up staying awake until 1 AM most nights. It is when the house is quiet and I likes me some quiet with the stereo playing. It should not surprise me that I am tired at 6:45 when the kids start getting up. But it does. Every morning.

Treehouse Pictures

A few days back I posted about the new treehouse.

It took a couple of days to get them posted, due to a digital camera mishap, but here are a couple of pictures. Treehouse Picture. And Another.

And an aside note, if you plan* on leaving your digital camera outside on the picnic table during a huge thunderstorm, you might want to consider the Canon PowerShot A300. Ours handled a 6 hour storm that left a 2 inch puddle in the middle of the patio. After drying on the window sill for 36 hours, it works like a champ.

* AtHomeDaddy wants you to know that your results may vary and that you should not PLAN to be as dumb as I am. Mine comes naturally. You might hurt yourself. And break your camera.

Please wear proper protection when playing with electronics in the rain.

Don't Let it Happen Again

I agreed earlier in the week to help a guy, that I met online, with his truck. So today I headed over to lend him and a couple of his buddies a hand. Turn out he is like 17. But he knows way more about cars than I will in ANOTHER 17 years.

It was all good though. I had a good time and learned a few things about these old trucks. That is, until the buddy's girlfriend asked me if I was the 17 year old's dad.

DAMN.

And the day started so good with tearing down an old truck. Who knew it would end with tearing down an old man's ego.

For the record

Over on ADHDaddy, I griped about The Talker getting passed for a freebie a while back.

All is well with the universe now. Different night, same seats, same gimme ball, different ball tossers, better ending. They threw one right to him. Bounced out of his hands. A 10 year old next to him scooped it up. And handed it back.

COOL!

I promise I would not have complained had the 10 year old kept the ball. That would have been the breaks for The Talker not making the grab.

The Talker thanked that dude. Several times

Fireworks, Baseballs and Christmas Trees

The AtHomeFam went to the baseball game tonight, to watch the Round Rock Express get some revenge for last night's loss.

On the way to the game, The Talker was reminding us about his new favorite player, The Tacoma catcher. I blogged about him last night.

The Talker told us that "The catcher is nice, he gave me a ball. Tonight the catcher is gonna throw me a Christmas tree and toys. Daddy, you are gonna help me catch it and carry it home." I did not even know what to think about this revelation. But I was ducking and watching for hurled pine trees all night.

And after the game, when the fireworks were done, The Talker asked us "Where's my tree? I liked the fireworks, they were messy and I ate them all up."

Huh?

Very Superstitious? Not Us...

The local paper has an article about paraskevidekatriaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th. FYI, I will copy the text to the bottom of this post, since I hate having to sign up as a member to get free web content off of news sites...

We are not afraid around here. The Talker was born on Friday the 13th, as was Bro, a cousin and my Great Uncle. And they all turned out OK. The Talker will have Friday the 13th birthdays when he is 4 (2006), 10 (2012), 15 (2017), 21 (2023) and 32 (2034). Turning 21 on Friday the 13th? I doubt if I will want to know all of the details of that party. But I bet it will be more exciting than a celebration with camp co-workers in Stephenville, Texas and having to work with 100 kids doing summer camp leather crafts the next morning...

There's nothing wrong with avoiding black cats or feeling uneasy today (just don't forget to knock on wood)
By Katherine Boose, A.M. Jamison, Cassandra Scott

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, May 13, 2005

Welcome to Friday the 13th, the unfortunate combination of an unlucky day and unlucky number. If you have paraskevidekatria-phobia, or fear of Friday the 13th, you're probably still under the covers and not reading this.

Friday the 13th is just one of the more popular superstitions that permeates our culture and has remained with us through generations.

"I have two daughters adopted from China. I find I'm passing along my mother's -- and probably her great-great-great grandmother's -- superstitions to them," says Austinite Janelle Buchanan.

Charlie Rose Kuhn knows all about superstitions, thanks to her mother, Mary, who learned them from Charlie's late grandfather. "It is one of those things that you don't want to go against for some reason," says the 14-year-old from Florence.

Superstitions are like customs, says Tad Tuleja, a scholar in cultural anthropology and author of "Curious Customs" ($7.99, Galahad Books). "It's like comfort food -- (superstitions are) comfort gestures."

And they give people a sense of control over life's dangers. "We know intellectually that it won't make a difference, but it's just what you do," says Tuleja, who teaches expository writing at the University of Oklahoma.

Buchanan agrees.

"I am a well-educated -- I hold a master's degree -- well-traveled, well-read 52-year-old woman who leads a fairly sophisticated life. I know those old superstitions have no basis in reality; still, they have a place in my world."

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to offset Friday the 13th. "Otherwise Friday the 13th would lose its power," Tuleja says.

The good news, though, is that if you can make it through today, you will have no more such days to endure in 2005. To help get you through, we've rounded up some of the most popular superstitions as well as some more unusual ones from readers.


If you see a comb on the ground, step on it. If you get a Reese's peanut butter cup in a double wrapper, rejoice.

Haven't heard of these superstitions? Neither had we, until we asked readers to share their favorite superstitions. Here are some of our favorites. And for Pete's sake, don't rename your dog.

The power of touch


I believe in people giving "the ojo" when they admire something you have. For example, if someone were to admire my necklace, I make them touch it, or if they admire my purse, they must touch it in order to keep something bad from happening. There have been times when the person didn't touch the item and the clasp broke on a necklace, or the purse strap broke.

-- Silvia Seelig, 43

A nose for visitors


My family is very superstitious.

* If a broom falls over, it means someone is coming to see you.

* If your nose itches, it means that someone is coming -- the right nostril for a female visitor and the left for a male visitor.

* If you name a dog and then change the dog's name, it will die.

* And if your farm animals wear bells, it will keep the demons away. All our goats wear bells.

-- Charlie Rose Kuhn, 14

Don't forget your buckeye


I grew up in northwest Arkansas, where superstitions ruled.

* Always stop a rocking chair from rocking when you get up from it.

* If you break a mirror, the only way to take off the curse is to bury the pieces during the dark phase of the moon.

* If rain falls while the sun shines, it will rain at the same time tomorrow.

* If you have to go back to your house to retrieve something you've forgotten, you must sit down for a second or two before leaving again.

* Carrying a buckeye in your pocket protects you from bad health in general and rheumatism in particular. This one was followed only by men, for some reason.

* It's not safe to consume milk and fried fish at the same meal.

* Laugh before breakfast, and you'll cry before supper.

-- Janelle Buchanan, 52

Bad luck out of the tap

In my home, we did the "knock on wood" routine so often that the cabinets needed repainting every six months. My mother enforced a litany of rituals to avoid bad luck:

* Drop a comb; step on it before picking it up.

* Don't drink directly from a tap.

* To avoid poverty, at midnight on New Year's Eve, you had to shake a handful of silver coins. Fortunately, coins contained real silver back then.

-- Hank Zeybel, 71

Find a penny . . .


I am typically not the superstitious type; however, I do have a couple of superstitions about money that I cannot break.

If I see any coin on the ground, I have to stop and pick it up and recite the phrase, "Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck." My 4-year-old daughter has learned the verse, and she follows the same routine. Of course, she puts the penny in her piggy bank.

-- Marrika Malley, 33

Don't forget your 'bread and butter'

My great-grandmother was a veritable fountain of information on the topic, and her superstitions have been passed down to me through the women in the family. Somehow, I feel a compulsive need to avoid the bad luck associated with some events.

* When two people are walking, they should always try not to separate to go around an object. If they do, they both have to say, "bread and butter." I have no idea why.

* If you break a mirror, you'll have seven years of bad luck, but if one piece is triangular, it cancels it out.

* Having a ladybug on your person is a sign of good luck.

* Getting two wrappers on a Reese's cup is good luck, although I think I might have made that one up as a child.

-- Alison Copeland, 26

Never on an empty stomach


I am the seventh of eight children. We were all at the breakfast table before we started off for the day. I recall all of us wanting to discuss our dreams at the table. My mother would not permit us to relate the dream before breakfast unless it was good news. The superstition was that if the story was told on an empty stomach, it could come true. I still hold myself to that superstition.

-- Zita Wanda Wright, 72

Leave your broom behind


I was raised with the following "beliefs":

* Never let a tall, inert thing (pole, fence, etc.) pass between you and a friend when you are walking together: It will break your love/friendship.

* Never give a knife as a gift -- it will cut the friendship.

* Never give a mirror as a gift -- it will make the recipient vain.

* Never take a broom from one house to another -- you carry the bad luck it swept up with you.

-- Sarretta McCaslin, 43

Hats off the bed


The following superstitions were passed down to me by my father. I still follow them today.

* Always leave a house or building through the same door you entered.

* It is bad luck to put a hat on the bed.

-- Bertha Baker, 71

Itchy left hand? Yay!


I have plenty of superstitions:

* If my right hand itches, I'll meet someone new. If my left hand itches, I'm coming into money.

* If someone dreams that I died, it's going to be a lucky day. Quick! Buy a lottery ticket.

-- Cindy Roosken, fortysomething

Global jinxes


The superstitions in this country are common in other parts of the world, too. The following are some of the very common ones:

* Always plant seeds before noon.

* If you allow spider webs to gather in abundance, there will be a death in the family.

* It is not appropriate to say that someone's child is big, beautiful, etc., as some people have evil eyes and make them sick.

-- Rex Arseculeratne, 74

Left shoe first


When I was 5 or 6, my grandad told me to always put my left shoe on first, then the right, or else I would have bad luck all day long. I am now 68 and still follow this axiom because . . . Well, it doesn't cost me anything, and who wants to take a chance on having bad luck?

-- Larry Drake, 68

The Talker's Favorite Baller

The boy now has a favorite baseball player. Ryan Christianson, Catcher for the Tacoma Raniers. Yeah, wrong team...

But tonight The Talker caught a ball that Christianson threw into the stands at the end of the 4th inning. This is much cooler than the ball he found after batting practice a couple of weeks ago. He talked about "the nice catcher" the whole ride home.

Everybody had a good time on Thirst Thursday, ($1 sodas and $2 Shiner Bock) so we are headed back out to the stadium tomorrow night, for Fireworks Friday.

AtHomeDaddy and Son, Treehouse Builders

The Talker has been dreaming of a treehouse. Sadly, the only tree we have that is worthy of a treehouse is in the front yard. That would not automatically stop us from building a treehouse, but it was severely damaged in a storm a few years ago.

Before that, it was treehouse perfect, Now, I don't want to stress the tree anymore, so there is only a disc swing in the remaining half-an-oak-tree.

Besides, the kids have a fort, a play deck/stage on the side retaining wall and a playscape, complete with a huge elevated deck. But none of that matters. During The Princess' naptime, we got busy building a treehouse.

Technically it is a house beside a tree. OK, truthfully, I took the abandoned compost bin that I built four years ago and added a roof and a floor. Complete it with a small potted tree sitting in front, adding some secrecy and we have an almost instant treehouse.

The Talker helped hammer in the roof and floor. He is very proud of his treehouse. He must be a better carpenter than me. Let's hope... He jeered me when I bent a nail on the floor. "Here Daddy, try that one again..."

Let Me Sing You a Lullaby

This morning we went to play at a park close to our house. The SAHDs group was meeting there and we know most of the neighbors who play there, too. Did not want to miss a chance to play with lots of kids, only 1/2 a mile from home,even more so at $2.30 a gallon.

We played for 90 minutes and headed out when The Princess was sitting under the playscape, rubbing her head. This is the international sign for 'I am tired and I want a nap, so get me outta here!"

While walking back to the car, she put her head on my shoulder and got a head start on naptime. I was singing 'You are My Sunshine' to help her get to sleep.

The Talker first told me that I had to stop singing because "that song is for when it is dark". I kept singing, he kept protesting. His final argument won.

"Daddy, stop. You make people sick and sleepy when you sing."

Mission Accomplished

The grocery store that we shop at 99% of the time has a kid's program. When the kids shop with you, they get to collect points from a crane game. They can save the points for free snacks and small stuff like toothbrushes that they get at the store, or they can save for bigger items like beach towels and t shirts. For these they mail in the points. Just yesterday, The Talker mailed in 150 points for a blue visor.

The Talker got a little stuffed dog a couple of weeks ago for 20 points. He asked me last week if The Princess could have one also. No Problem. We have a bowl in the kitchen with several hundred points, waiting for something cool.

Turns out, these dogs are the most popular beagles in town. We tried two stores yesterday. Both were out of dogs. So we got free cereal with those points. This morning, we had to make a milk run. For all of that cereal. So we hit another store.

As I am buying the milk, I realize I left the point stickers at home. Luckily, they put points on the store brand kid's snacks, too. So we buy two boxes of crackers, to get enough points. Silly? Yes, but we hardly ever come to this store.

Then we headed over to the customer service desk, where they have the Max beagles in stock! Yeah for sister! On the way out of the store, we collected 5 more points out of the crane game. Yeah for us!

We are Here

No, AtHomeDaddy did not fall into Matagorda Bay and float away. Not that I did not think about trying it a few times...

Just nothing exciting to report. Everyone is finally healthy. Now we just need to get the sleep schedule back in order. The kids have started waking up at 6:15 AM. Not good. AtHomeDaddy needs him some sleep.

The fishing was less than thrilling this trip. Not that I gave up. I landed five fish on Thursday night. Kept two speckled seatrout, one was 16 inches long and the other was almost 26 inches long. Cool! The state limits keepers to 15" - 25", but you can take one larger speck per day. It is always a big thrill to catch an oversized fish, regardless of species. I also threw back a stingray, that someone had already cut the tail off, and a couple of small hardhead catfish. We will be dining on the specks one night this week.

The rest of the weekend, the fish won, except that big flounder that was on my dinner plate at the restaurant. The family had a good time cruising the sea wall and checking out the playgrounds in town. All in all, a good trip.

Except for the drive home, that is... Let's just call it The Talker's ride from Hell. I would give details, but The Boss Lady and I have vowed to never speak of the drive again.

Got a Goose?

This morning, The AtHomeTrio went in search of a part for our double jogging stroller. I have my doubts that this part will be easy to find, since this stroll was bought a year ago, as a closeout item, from an EBay store. I thought I would hit a few bike shops, since most of them around here sell jogging strollers, too.

When we were getting in the car, The Talker asked me where we were headed. I told him that we were going to try and get parts for our jogger and but that it might turn out to be a wild goose chase. When we came out of the first bike shop, he asked me, "Daddy, did we get the goose?"

No son, we did not get the goose. Maybe they have a goose at the next bike shop.

Off to Feed the Fishies

We are heading out about 1:00 Thursday afternoon. Going down to Pop's Place to do a little fishing and a lot of hiding from diapers, potty training and excessive amounts of time spent bonding with The Talker, in the bathroom. Two days, no hassles.

I hope the wife has a good weekend. And the kids? I hope they all have a great time planned with Pops.

I plan to be on the end of a fishing pole by 6 pm. I just might stay there until Saturday evening. Might even bait the hook. But only if I decide to get hassled by some fish.

ER Runs for Fun

Believe me, I thought of lots of worse titles, but NONE anymore acceptable...

The Talker got to take his first trip to the Emergency Room last night. He was finally getting dehydrated. He held out pretty good, considering he has been sick since Friday night. He went almost all day Tuesday without eating or drinking.

So, after it was all over, he did not get:

Any shots
Any catheters
Any IVs
Any suckers
Any X rays
Any milk since Friday afternoon
Any eye shields glued to his face
Any stickers

He did get:

A medication for nausea
To pretend the doctor did not really exist
To see a helicopter
A blue PowerAde
To stay up until 1:15 am
To sleep until 9:00 am

And best of all - The ER doctor told him that he would make "an excellent POW. Because The Talker would NEVER cooperate with the enemy."

Blog or get off the pot

Not much time for blogging lately. The Princess was sick Thursday afternoon, until Friday evening. The Talker took over late Friday night. The Boss Lady and I both felt awful Saturday evening. I felt OK Sunday. The Boss Lady is just getting back to normal today. I started feeling bad again last night. Hopefully I'll be over it in 24 hours, like the ladies of the house.

And The Talker is still down for the count. I don't think he has ever been sick four days in a row.

Except the first week of his life. He was being watched very closely for jaundice. He had blood tests daily and got to sleep inside of a lightbox with eye protection glued to his face. Now THAT was a heck of a way to say Welcome to the family!

At least the stomach flu does not require anyone to glue something to your face.

I've Been Working on the Eyes of Texas

Growing up in a college town must mess with kids minds a little bit. The Talker will argue until you give in, that the song I've Been Working on the Railroad is just the wrong way to sing The Eyes of Texas, the Alma Mater of The University of Texas at Austin.

It should prove interesting when he argues with his elementary music teacher, in a few years. Until then, he will be the kid yelling "Get your horns up!" every time they play the 'Hook 'Em Horns' song.

The Talker was blessed a daddy that can't carry a tune in a bucket. But the boy he really loves music. So this morning we have been playing over at the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human Services, Kid's Pages. The MIDI files are a hit with the 3 year old crowd!

They even have The Eyes of Texas. It is just listed in the wrong spot. If you want to hear it, go look under I've Been Working on the Railroad.