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.

One Dollar Movie Review

Last night, The Boss Lady and I rented Finding Neverland. Good movie, especially if you are in need of a Great Pyrenees fix. My only problem with this movie: they implied the dog was a Newfoundland, but The Boss Lady and I are pretty sure it isn't. It was a badger marked pyr.

Ben never would dance but Bill used to dance with me. And just like in the movie, kids thought it was great. Adults were usually amazed to see a dog standing upright, almost 6 feet tall. Bill nearly looked me in the eye when he would dance.

So after all was said and done, I don't know if the movie was any good. But the dog was awesome.

Road Trip

The AtHomeFamily is heading out of town this afternoon. The wife and kids will be hanging out with The Mother of the Bride. Hopefully everyone will have fun.

Me? Hiding from diapers and whining and kids and family at a car swap meet in Ft Worth. This weekend is about a man and his truck.

Have fun. I know I will.

Bye Bye Freezer

Our deep freeze is dying a slow and painful death. Luckily, it made it through the really important task of keeping milk frozen for the baby. It only thawed itself out once or twice during that time. We lost some food back then, but found it soon enough, so the milk was able to go into the neighbor's freezer until ours decided to run again. It is a lot of fun going to the neighbor to ask to borrow a bottle of breast milk, let tell you...

The other day, we lost about $30 worth of meat and ice cream. It was a bummer, but at least the baby is weaned. The freezer is an old energy hog, so we decided it could go out on the curb during the next big trash day. Unfortunately, at the end of June.

Then The Boss Lady heard about Austin's Refrigerator and Freezer Recycling Program. Instead of letting it go to the landfill, where they do some recycling of the compressors, the electric company will recycle 98% of the materials. Plus, we get $35 to put towards a new, more energy efficient model. Gotta love living in a city that is environmentally conscious. That is, compared to most other areas of Texas.

The only problem, we have to make sure the freezer is running today, when they pick it up. So far, so good. I plugged it yesterday after letting it rest for a few days, and it is keeping cold. Just a few more hours, baby, you can do it.

That was NASTY

How can a little 13 month old girl blow out a diaper so bad that it requires a shower and a complete change of clothes for she and I, both, AND change of bed linens, including the mattress pad? AND a scrubbing of the walls, dresser and baby bed with bleach wipes?

Next up? Burning the clothes we had on before THE EVENT.

The good news? I think she feels better and I KNOW she smells better.

Baseball Night

The boy and I went to a baseball game last night. The Boss Lady had to work late, so she took the girl with her. We left really early for the ball game, so that we could play on the playscape in the outfield.

The Express have really figured out how to get families to the ball park. They have a pool, sand volleyball courts, a basketball courts, a huge playscape and several bouncers and a rock climbing wall - all in the outfield - so families can keep the kids entertained during the game.

The Talker does fine during the game, as long as we go find Spike, at some point during the game. Last night was even better, though, because he made a haul. The Talker got Spike's autograph on his ball glove. He got to hang out with Uncle Lemon. He got a foul ball (from batting practice, but it was still a REAL baseball)! And eventually, he got a gimme baseball, too!

Ages that Just Don't Work

The Talker likes to play with all of the kids in the neighborhood. He is 3 1/2 years old. The kids he wants to play with most are 4 1/2 to 6 years old. They used to play pretty well together. But I am becoming convinced that there are some ages where kids need to wear shirts saying "Does Not Play Well With Others". I am just not sure which kids should wear the shirt first.

The Talker plays rough. He likes to play chase and tackle and games that involve falling down. I know that turns off some kids. And we keep him reigned in pretty tight when the others don't want to play the same way. But it usually works OK, since the neighborhood is full of boys who are just as active.

Except most of the boys are older. And they don't want to play with a younger kid. Especially when there are other options. That leaves our boy trying to keep up as the other kids play games that don't involve a 3 1/2 year old tornado.

For the time being, The Boss Lady and I are trying to figure out if it is really just a matter of age. Hopefully so, and hopefully it will get better in time. For now, The AtHomeFamily is taking a hiatus from the evening neighborhood playtime.

The Voices I Hear

While The Princess is napping and The Talker is eating snack on the JOllie Squishy Bug, I thought I would share a few things that I have heard The Talker say this morning..

"Miss Peggy lives at Mommy's school. Not with the cows."

When I found him standing in the kitchen and staring at the refrigerator, "I am waiting in line for my juice."

"C'mon Buzz Lightyear, lets go scootering."

"Daddy let's go outside and hunt lady bugs."

"Oh NO! I can't hunt lady bugs, I don't have a doodie gun."

"Oh look, the reindeer are eating all the ladybugs!"

Birthday Party Car Night

Busy weekend for the AtHomeFamily. We all attended a birthday party for a 4 year old friend of The Talker's this morning. The family arranged for a bouncer. But we should have paid them for letting our kids bounce. They took 3 hour naps this afternoon. And I got 3 hours of truck time!

This evening we went out to a "Cruise In Night" in the parking lot of the Home Depot near The Boss Lady's school. These guys come from all over town to show off their cars (and a few trucks). Tonight's attendees included a red Ferrarri, a 53 Ford Ranchero, a family of 5 that brought his and hers Vipers (hers had a toddler's car seat built into the center console) several old Chevy trucks (two were 1968s), lots of Corvettes, one really awesome rat-rod (that had no windows at all and vice grips for a gear shift lever), a couple of 57 Chevy's and a late 50's Ford Skyliner (a hardtop convertible- very cool!)

The Talker was pretty impressed with the cars, but somehow he still ended up playing in the sheds on display in the Home Depot parking lot. I guess when you are 3, no car is as cool as a barn with a ladder to the 2nd floor loft. Besides, when he was playing in the barn, he was NOT still throwing gravel at a row of 1960's Camaro's.

Fire Truck Park

I am constantly amazed by The Talker's ability to remember details and names. He will ask us something about a child, like "What color was Evan's shirt?"

My usual responses include, "Who?" "Dunno." Or the ever popular, "Do we know an Evan?"

"You remember the boy at the park, with the blue spiderman shirt that has firetruck shoes on his feets and his mommy told him to come back and he walked down the trail to see the ducks and his mommy got mad and he got in time out because he was in trouble and his mommy said you can't wear the blue spiderman shirt if you don't listen to me. You remember that, daddy?"

"Oh yeah, him. Wasn't that like two months ago?"

"Yeah daddy. It was blue and had spiderman on it and..."

This morning, the boy was trying his hardest to get little sister to go to The Fire Truck Park. This is the largest park in the area and it has an antique fire truck in the middle of the playscape. The Talker convinced me and The Princess that this was the best idea in the world. Ever.

We were the 3rd car in the parking lot at 9:35 this morning. Beautiful! Now the kids can actually play without getting lost in a crowd of kids on field trips from school. Or not. Five minutes after we got there, the busses started pulling up. 650 kids and 30 minutes later, we left to go play on the smaller playscape at the recreation center, on the other side of the park.

The kids had a good time at both parks. But AtHomeDaddy got one last lecture on the way to the recreation center. The boy remembered last time, six weeks ago, when he lost sight of me and thought he was lost. Forever. He wanted to make sure there would be no repeat, ever.

"Daddy, remember when we went to the recreation center and you left me and I was sad and you gave me candy and I was happy and we left and I was sad again? Can I have some candy?"

The Mattress Game

This evening at dinner, I asked The Talker what he wanted to do once we were finished eating. I fully expected him to answer either, "Let's watch the Buzz Lightyear show" or "Let's go play with our friends". However, I was not prepared for his actual answer, "Let's play the mattress game!"

Huh? What? He then continued, "Let's get it out and blow it up and bounce". Oh, NOW I get it. The Boss Lady was still lost and confused, though. One point for daddy.

A while back we pilfered a self-inflatable mattress from The Queen Mother. It was brand new and as far as blow-up mattresses go, a really nice one. Mom paid a lot for it. Then we stole it. But it is OK, because she has replaced it already.

The Talker likes to use this mattress as an indoor trampoline. Anytime we have overnight guests, he ends up jumping as early as possible, the next morning. So tonight, we played the mattress game for half an hour before bath and bedtime. And I don't know about the kids, but my legs are sore.

Hopefully they are worn out enough that they will need to sleep in tomorrow morning. Because I know I will.

Trading Spaces

Running the vacuum can be a very time consuming chore around here. Yesterday, I wanted to clean the kids bedrooms a little, so I recruited some helpers, The Talker and The Princess, and we got to work.

Since the ultimate goal was to get the carpets clean, we needed to move the furniture. Since we were moving everything around, I decided to try something the The Boss Lady and I have discussed for a while.

The Talker and The Princess are now sharing a bedroom. We are doing this on a trial basis. Depending on how they nap and sleep at night, we might not be able to keep the rooms set up like this. Yesterday, at naptime, it did not look promising. But last night they slept like angels.

The bonus is that now we can get some of the toys out of the living room, since the kids have a play room set-up in what was The Talker's bedroom. I was hopeful that all of the toys would fit in there, but the room is small, so for now, the train table remains in the living room. Maybe someday Paige Davis will come by and help me get that out of the living room, too.

Shop Time

I have only ventured out in the woodshop a few times since The Princess was born. I don't think I have started (or finished) any projects in almost a year.

The Boss Lady has to go to work in a couple of hours, so I need to hang close to the house while she gets ready. But I really wanted to get away for a while. So I hid out in the garage and started working on a new wooden truck design. What else would it be? A 1968 Chevy Longbed, Stepside, of course.

I drew up some basic plans a couple of months ago, but this morning I actually put the saw to the wood for a while. I got a rough body and rear fenders cut out.

Maybe I'll have it finished before The Princess' second birthday.

Just for grins and bragging rights, here is a picture of a Hummer (aka The Homer) that I built last year for The Talker. And here is a tractor/trailer I built a while back.

PLAYDATE!

The Talker has been looking forward to going to his friend's house for two months. Tennis Boy lives in the neighborhood, and they met while paying at the park. His mom is a tennis pro and he is evidently pretty good. Whatever that means, when you are talking about a three and a half year old kid.

Every time we drive by, The Talker reminds me that "Someday we will have a playdate at Tennis Boy's house." Tennis Boy's mom and I set a playdate for today at 10 am. We got a late start over and by 10:15, they were walking down the street.

We went, we played, the playdate moved to our backyard, so The Princess could nap, and we played some more. Two hours and no tears. A very successful first playdate. The next playdate is already scheduled to start at our house, 9:30, next Wednesday morning.

Wanna come play at my house?