A Simple Crayon to Make Daddy Happy

While I’m sitting here in a small town in Kentucky waiting on a phone company to get back in contact with me, I thought I’d sit here and take advantage of the town’s free Wi-fi to write up and share a little something that happened earlier.

To give you some background, Abby loves going through stuff, like any kid her age does.  Now that she has figured out how to work a zipper, if it has a zipper, she wants to see what is inside.  Well last night was no exception when it came to my laptop bag.  I of course had no issue with her going through it, as she wasn’t going to hurt anything, plus it was keeping her happy and occupied thinking she was doing something special going through Daddy’s bag.  At one point, she brings over a notepad I carry in the bag that I use for writing down downs, and sometimes doodling when I’m bored.  Of course I ripped out a page for my Bug, letting her sit next to me and draw with her crayons on one of Daddy’s sheets of paper.  Nothing special, nothing really extravagant, but it made her happy and brought joy to her eyes, and that’s what matters.

Well, I’m not sure when or how since I was sitting right next to her, but the little booger managed to draw on more then the one sheet of paper I ripped out for her.  Earlier I was searching my bag for a cable that I typically carry with me, and found that cable replaced with 2 crayons.  Fortunately it wasn’t a big deal she had taken the cable out of the bag, but even if it had ruined the entire day, I don’t think it would have mattered, because seeing those two crayons sitting in my bag just brought so much joy and love into me that I couldn’t help but smile and laugh a little.  On a day that I’m already dragging my feed before noon, my baby girl finds a way to breath life and energy into me and brighten my entire day and demeanor simply by leaving two colored wax sticks in my laptop bag.  Now of course I’d like to sit here and think that she did it on purpose.  Being clever enough to know if she left them in my bag, that at some point Daddy would see them, knowing she left them there, and it would bring happiness and a smile to him, brightening his entire day up.

You would think that would be the extent of it, but nope!  I pull out my notepad, to make a few notes on my hours the past few days and some random thoughts I had, and what do I find?  A brown doodled mess!  So if the crayons weren’t enough to bring me a little big of joy, the doodle that my baby girl somehow managed to sneak into my notebook for me to find has brightened my entire day!  She might not be 2 just yet, but I’m giving my baby all the credit in the world on knowing how to make her Daddy happy, on what will end up being another long day for me today, she’s managed to give me the extra step to get through it with a smile.  Thank you baby.

Someone’s Birthday is coming up…

Well, I did it last year, and again this year I’ve taken it upon myself to make up the invitations to Bug’s birthday party.  I have a lot of ideas I need to take the time to expand on, including taking advantage of a Cricut that I’ve yet to use. Since she was born, Bug has been obsessed and loved elephants, so I wanted to do a little Calvin & Hobbes homage with Abby and her elephant.  Still a ton of work to do, but still wanted to share what I’ve done up to this point.

Lego Night

Okay, I’ll come right out and admit this.  I have recently went back to my childhood and developed an interest in Legos again.  I’m pretty sure it started when I was reading another blog by a father, about getting his daughter a Lego set, but I’m not setting that in stone. (Nor will I say its just my overwhelming inner child finding a new way to break free)

So, while trying to figure out some stuff to do with the kids, I decided that getting one or two Lego sets, something we could do together, would be a nice attempt, a test we’ll say, at doing something that gets them away from watching TV for more then 5 minutes.  Well, I decided to start with Canaan since I had him this weekend, and he was simple enough to find a Lego set for.  Toy Story has been his life for the past year since Toy Story 3 came out, so when I saw a few different sets at the store, it was simply a matter of picking which one.

I went with the Woody and Buzz to the Rescue set, which recreates a scene from the first Toy Story movie, where Buzz has a rocket strapped to his back and they’re on RC.  The best part about this one is that RC works where you can pull the car back and it takes off on the floor, and when I say takes off, I mean this little toy has to kick to it!  First time on the floor, ran into a chair leg and pieces went flying!

Anyway, I wasn’t sure how much coaxing it would take to get Canaan to sit at the kitchen table and do this with me, but amazingly enough, all it took was putting together the Woody Lego character, and he was all about it, ready for the next piece, watching the car come together.

Although I had to do most of the building, he was able to help, and was very intense with what he was doing (just look at the picture), and I have to say, he had more fun with it then I expected.  He’s already ready to do another set, already has looked through the book seeing what other Toy Story sets he can get (I’m wanting to train set, I’ll admit it), so it definitely looks like we have something new to do on those “down” nights. So I have to admit, Lego night was a complete success, with hopes of repeat performances in our future!

The Sauce……The Sauce!!!!!

A strange thing has been going on with Canaan lately, he has developed what seems like a phobia to sauce. (In this case, saltomaphobia for anyone curious.  I know you were wondering!!)  When I say sauce, I don’t mean like ketchup or bbq sauce or anything like that, he’s never liked those. (Yes, a kid that doesn’t like ketchup DOES exist!)  The newest thing this weekend has been that he doesn’t want anything to do with pizza or spaghetti sauce.  I realize that these quirks and changes in him will be more out of the blue for me, especially when there could be a simple cause or reason and I’m unaware of it, but this just seems, well…..weird.  He’s never had issue with pizza or spaghetti when he’s been here in the past, and now, he was nearly in tears on the thought of having to eat spaghetti for lunch.

Fighting with him over what to eat isn’t anything new, he has an affinity for junk food, and I’ve had to have more then one argument with him regarding not having cereal for lunch or supper, but this is different.  It bothers me when he has quirks like this and I’m unaware of the origin of it.  It bothers me more when, I go to ask him, about anything really, and he clams up.  I do my best to be there for him, and for him to realize he can rely on me, and confide in me, but its hard to maintain.  We have a few good weekends, then a few bad ones.  Fortunately, in this case, we came out good.  He ate his lunch, even showing pride in the fact that he ate the spaghetti, realizing and admitting that it was in fact good, even saying he’d eat it again if asked.  The biggest hurdle, and I know this in advance, in two weeks time, when he’s here again, I’ll likely have to have the same arguments with him.  Its just part of it I guess, I just hope that rather then just weathering the storm, I’ve managed to take a step up on the ladder and he begins to realize, that even though I’m not with him every day, that I do love him, want only the best for him, and won’t push him in the wrong direction.  Even when its something as simple as sauce.

Welcome Home

Thought it would be appropriate to have an opening “Welcome” post to this new site.  I’m aware I’ve brought over other posts, but this is the first new post for this site, just for this site, and you can view it as a start of new things on here.

What brought all this about?  Well, January of ‘10 I started my blog, called it Geekasms and ran with it.  Posted randomly, whatever suited me at first.  That quickly changed and after over a year of adjustments and evolving, Geekasms.com (geekasms.us for now) is finally a site that I want to run.  Its less of a blog, and more of a site for information, hopefully that people find useful.

So, with that, the site having a definitive feel and theme, its hard to fit more personal stuff like things going on with the kids, my family, local stuff, the Wordless Wednesday post and more.  Problem is, I still have a desire to post all of that.  I suppose you can say I’ve been bitten by the blogging bug and want to write more, I want to be able to increase the coverage of blogging fathers in a world where blogging mothers dominate.  Thus, my new BLOG, and yes, this will be a blog!

So sit back and relax.  Feel free to comment or yell opinions, and I’ll apologize ahead of time because on here, I have no intentions of holding back, so sarcasm, questionable remarks, cursing, and side remarks in parenthesis will be the norm! 

OH!  And welcome to the new digs for my fatherly ramblings.

Wordless Wednesday #8–Dino Hunter

Wordless Wednesday #7 - Superstar!

A True Valentine - Photo Restoration

I had been saving this for an eventual review I was writing up, but in honor of it being Valentine’s Day, a day for couples to show their affection to one another, I thought I’d share it.  Below is a photograph of my grandparents, that I’ve scanned and cleaned up in the top version, and attempted to colorize in the bottom version.  When I originally asked my Granddad about it, he guessed that the photo was taken at a photo booth in Brodhead, Ky at the Little World’s Fair.  The date isn’t clear when it could have been, but it was before they were married in ‘53. (Assuming on my part by lack of any form of rings)

To this day their still married and two people that I strive to make proud, professionally and personally.  I don’t have the original picture, I gave that back, but I do cherish that I have this, as a reminder, and as of proof that love between two people can stand the tests of time.

 

Wordless Wednesday #6.1–The Bug Sketch

Since I’ve been thinking of something to help me with stress, I’ve considered revisiting this picture I drew of Bug back in 2009.  The one I’m showing I' played with very little in Photoshop, mostly just adding the white highlights.  Haven’t decided yet.  Feel free to critique in the comments below if you like.

Wordless Wednesday #6–The Drive Home

For once, I’m ready for Spring….N75

Wordless Wednesday #5 - Boys and Their Boys

One from a few years ago….

Worth 1,000 Words

This basically wraps up around 2-3 separate posts that I’ve never gotten around to writing.  This picture captures some of Bugs latest obsessions and interests.



Lets see what we have here in this one picture.  Wearing 2 separate boots/shoes (she had been stomping around in my flip flops about 5 minutes before I grabbed this picture.)  She’s wearing hair bands and my Power Balance band on her wrist.  Not sure what has gotten her started on this, but anything she can find to wear on her wrists, she puts it on.  Silly bandz, hair bands, rubber bands, my Power Balance bands; we even bought her some jelly bands hoping she’d stick to just them, but she has just incorporated them into her collection.  In no exaggeration, if we let her go wild, she could have 10-15 on each wrist.  She’s even starting putting them on her ankles too!

Finally we have her talking on the phone too.  Now admittedly I have fun with this one, if I catch her playing on the house phone or a cell phone, I’ll call it for her to answer and hear me on the other end.  If she brings me the phone, I’ll even act like I’m her stock broker or something, asking if she wants to buy or sell and relaying  her responses until she grabs the phone and starts yelling into it as if she’s bossing someone around.  I realize I won’t find it as funny if I get a bill and she’s called Australia or something and left he phone off the hook without me realizing it, but until then, I do have fun with it.

This is definitely one of those pictures to save and show her when she’s older, as it captures her at this age in a perfect way.  In a time where she wants to play with everything and her imagination is racing, I grabbed her doing 3 of her favorite things right now.  A perfect example of a picture worth a 1,000 words, and one I couldn’t save until the next Wordless Wednesday.

Managing Children's Screen time: There's An App For That!

In an increasing digital age, our children are becoming digitally dependent.  Something that can easily slip our minds, but shouldn’t be ignored is the amount of time our children spend watching TV or playing computer games.  That’s where “Screen Time” comes in and saves the day!  More

Wordless Wednesday #4 - Louisiana Purchase Exposition Gold Medal

Still not entirely sure how I have become in possession of this, but have just started researching it

Wordless Wednesday #3 - Old Clippers

Taken with my iPhone

My 2 year old Picasso - Bug colors the wall

Well, it's happened. Something I thought had the chance of occurring but I was hoping I might be able to avoid. Bug has now drawn and colored on the wall. It happened the other night in just a blink of an eye, but none the less it occurred, in all it's black ink pen and green crayon colored glory! (I swear, back turned 15 second, 20 tops!)
I've had a hard time deciding how I wanted to handle it. Of course, initially I rushed over to her, told her no, grabbed the crayon (pen was on the ground already) and proceeded to point to the wall where the offense had occurred and tell her no, she doesn't color on the wall. My initial internal reaction was to be harsher but I quickly realized it's not her fault. Before this moment she didn't know she shouldn't draw on the wall. She just knows Daddy praises her when she draws and colors on paper.  So naturally, why wouldn’t she want to do it on something bigger?  Fortunately since the other night there has been no repeats, and she has had chances, but has opted to come sit in Daddy's lap and help highlight his notes, or write down her own opinions.
My biggest debate on this is how do I react or handle it when it happens again? Yes I said when, not if. If she's anything like her Daddy it'll happen again. There is still a drawing I did when I was around 3 on the inside of one of my Granny's doors that she still talks about to this day. So what do I do? I want to be sure she knows she's doing wrong and I want to discourage the behavior, but not to the extent that I risk taking away any enjoyment she has in drawing or coloring (self admitted selfishness on my part here too). Its something as a parent I knew I'd eventually face, and had yet until now. And now that I'm faced with it, I'm at a bit of a loss as the course of action I want to take. I guess I have until next time to sit and stew on it, between now and then though, hopefully I can keep my mini Picasso to work solely in the paper medium, and avoid drywall.

Below:  The aforementioned artwork of yours truly at a much younger and more innocent age.



For this post and other posts more related to fatherhood then tech, checkout the new blog: ID Link

Wordless Wednesday #2 - A Little Corner of my Office

Wordless Wednesday–A Family Tradition

Maybe one day I’ll explain this in detail in a post, only family will understand the significance right now.

Early success or just a tease?

Bug officially used her potty for the first time tonight!  She came into the bathroom while I was in there shaving.  Typically she laughs at me because I have shaving cream on my face, but this time was different. She had her laptop with her and went straight to her potty and lifted the lid.  I sat and watched her, even offering to hold her laptop as I watched her negotiate how to sit down on this seat with a hole in it.  Eventually she had both feet in it, so Daddy decided to intervene.  I picked her up and thinking that while she showed interest in sitting on it, I’d take her diaper off while I was in there just to give her the whole concept.  So, I took her diaper off, sat her down, put her laptop in her lap, and watched as she sat there like she knew what she was doing and looking happy as a lark.

A few minutes later, she stood up and handed me her laptop. I at first just brushed it off as she was already bored, and was ready to go back out from the bathroom. Daddy wasn’t entertaining anymore. When to my surprise, I saw that she had in fact used her potty!  I was so excited and overjoyed I started cheering and clapping, and I believe the initially reaction actually startled her.  After a few moments, she realized I was in fact cheering for her, so she proceeded to start clapping and giving her typical “yay!” in excitement.

She teased me with acting like she was interested in using her potty on my birthday, and now 3 weeks later, she’s used it for the first time!  Now do I expect a sudden change in behavior?  A daily use of the potty?  No, I’m not near that optimistic!  I am however excited by the possibilities!  Maybe potty training won’t be so bad?  One can hope!