Quote of the day!

"Espionage is not a nice thing, nor are the methods employed exemplary. Neither are demolition bombs nor poison gas.... We face an enemy who believes one of his chief weapons is that none but he will employ terror. But we will turn terror against him....


William Donovan

I guess they have a saturation point...

So... I was at a local eating establishment with The Boy (just a father son eat out) the other day and we had just got our food and sat down.  We went out for pizza.  I thought, he has never had pizza, it is a sure win for him, and I don't have to cook.  Now let me go back a bit and say that we had been in the car for a few short hours on the way back from a three day father/son only trip to our cabin in the woods.  I want to encourage every father to do this a lot with their kids, even starting at 21 months.  We had a blast.  Hours of swimming, hiking, and discovering each other.  It was amazing to see him grow and learn right in front of me that whole weekend.  Absolutely no melt downs!  Anyway... we had been in the car for several hours when I decided to stop for dinner.  Like a good dad I checked the diaper for number 2 before entering the pizza place, no 2, good to go.  I knew that he had for sure done some 1 in it but thought it was OK till we got out.  Well we sat down and just got ready to taste that first cheesy bite when I look down and see The Boy squatting in the chair and "thinking real hard".  Then, the pee began to puddle...  Well I grabbed him up and went out for a changing.  I guess when those things reach a saturation point, they really reach a saturation point.  I compare it to getting gas now.  When you get down to a quarter of tank, don't push it just fill up you will be glad you did and you would have had to eventually anyway.  God bless and remember be courteous and polite to everyone but have a plan to kill them if necessary.

Two hours of screaming! Did it break him or break us?

I am back!  Sorry everyone (if there is anyone left).  Work has been very very busy this past month or so.  We did some good things I think.  Anyway you didn't come to hear about that.  So the last few days The Boy has been waking up at 0200 and crying for me and blessed.  Like dutiful parents we go in each time, sometimes 4 times a night, and try to appease him so we can all go back to sleep.  One time I even brought him back to our bed and he slept like... well ... a baby.  So last night Blessed said "no mas".  Her orders were one time then let him cry, no matter what.  She said he has to learn to go back to bed himself.  I agreed... no one told The Boy.  He cried, screamed, made horrible animal sounds and even banged on the door for two long hours.  I am tired...  At 0500 he eventually went to sleep.  Will it work, will it change things?  Stay tuned.  On another note we have begun potty training.  He came to Blessed a few weeks ago and said "poo poo?" while holding his diaper.  She went in, took of the diaper and went in the potty without  prompting from the outside!  Who knew he was a genius!  Since that time he has (sporadically) done 1 and 2 in the potty several times with huge (ticker tape style) celebrations from Blessed and I.  We will see.  Finally, because of some of the work my team and I have been doing, the people in the ivory town have seen fit to make me an offer if I stay on.  So the SAHD decision becomes that much more difficult.  Wait on the Lord I guess.... what to do what to do.

Quote of the day!

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.  ~Attributed to Harry S Truman

He understands a lot more than we think!

He is starting to be compliant!  The other day at dinner The Boy was freaking out about eating a certain vegetable we really thought he should eat (The Boy is a carb-a-holic, he would eat nothing but breads if we let him).  So out of sheer desperation (he had not eaten any V words all day, the dinner was going south for everyone, and he had already pounded two rolls) I said, "OK, if you eat a bite of this V then I will give you a bite of the roll, but we are going to trade bite for bite, OK?  Now please take a bite of the V!)  HE DID IT! Back and forth all night until all V's were gone.  Who knew you could communicate like this with them!  Huh.  Since then we have these little talking sessions ever so often and most of the time it works.

Quote of the day!

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
Henry Ford

The Boy has a new friend.

The Boy got a pet!  He is so excited.  We were out one night on a random coffee adventure and wound up in Pet Smart.  We were going to let The Boy play with some puppies.  Well they were fresh out and so he explored the store... he found the fish and fell in love.  Who knew that owning a fish got so much more involved than it used to be.  I asked the lady for a gold fish and a simple glass bowl.  Wrong question!  I thought she was going to pull out an adoption application and ask me if I was a smoker!  Turns out you have to have a heater, H-VAC system, medic on staff, and a college fund to have one of those things.  Long story short we finally left there with a Beta and more equipment than I had intended to get.  We got home and followed the intensive three day process of welcoming "Dorothy" (that is what The Boy named her) to her new home.  Now every morning The Boy screams out of his room yelling "Dor" "Dor".  We feed her twice a day and it is an event.  I love how excited he is with the whole process.  He often goes over and scoots his stool over so he can see what "Dor" is doing.  Its the little things!  On another note we recently had a family friend die.  This guys obituary ready like a great adventurer's life.  Ski rescue, sail boat captain in the Atlantic, adventure sport racer... but I marveled at what seemed to be his greatest achievement and what seemed to have brought the best part to his life... his children.  He seemed to say from the grave... "soak it up"!  I intend to Tod.