tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48011826953624416382024-03-19T00:55:24.009-04:00The Education of a New DadNew Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-61170604395869213342011-09-09T15:59:00.001-04:002011-09-09T15:59:42.001-04:00Lunch Time
Is there really a better treat than lunch at Chipotle?
Thanks, Mom!
Actually, I do need to give them some credit. They have
managed to create a kid’s meal that my child will actually eat and is not going
to saddle her with diabetes before she knows how to tie her shoes (by the way,
when should she learn how to tie her shoes?). A chipotle kid’s meal consists
of: A small cheese quesadilla – New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-13744340621596311842011-09-08T16:18:00.000-04:002011-09-08T17:06:53.363-04:00Cleaning Out the Notebook...
Random assortment of thoughts and recent dealings with two kids:
Thank you, Disney’s “Pocahontas”, for prompting my first conversation on race with my two-year-old daughter. “Why are they fighting, daddy? Why they no like him?” Chalk this up as one of the many conversations I will be forced to have with my daughter LONG before I am prepared to actually have them.
Asher is now entering the “New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-51769535894689509182011-09-01T08:53:00.003-04:002011-09-01T08:53:50.166-04:00Why?
“Why, Daddy? Why?”
Olive now says those words roughly 4,729 times per day. We
have officially reached the Why Stage. This closely follows on the heels of the
Doing Stage where Olive would start off every conversation with a simple
question: “Doing?” It could have meant “how are you doing?” or “what are you
doing?” or “why are you doing that?” or even, when speaking over the phone “New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-80791441842435802302011-08-17T16:12:00.003-04:002011-08-17T16:25:42.327-04:00Three months...
Three months. It has only been three months. That is a blink of an eye. I mean, the NHL playoffs take two months. That might be the reason why I can’t figure out how this:Photo: Dan Candura
Became this:
Photo: Brandon Candura
Really, despite still being a skinny little guy, the changes are unbelievable. Asher has been a good little man. But as the second kid, he definitely takes his shareNew Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-37138348707344217912011-08-12T11:52:00.001-04:002011-08-12T11:52:57.660-04:00Adventures in Potty TrainingOlive is officially entering the world of bladder control. (Too much information? Hey, if you don’t want to hear about this stuff, don’t read a blog about little kids!) She has been going to the “potty” for several months now, but really, it has always been on her terms. Mostly she would go when trying to delay her bedtime (“if I sit on the potty I know I can get them to read me eight books New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-11513259664662669962011-08-10T10:31:00.004-04:002011-08-10T15:08:21.946-04:00Long Time ComingIt has been a long time since I have done one of these…like, six months. A lot has happened since then. Mostly the birth of my son, Asher. I am now a father of two and a member of a family of four. This change could not have been more wonderful, more frightening, more exhausting, or more exciting. When I walk in my daughter’s room in the morning, she almost immediately says “What Asher doingNew Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-12297955706457647382011-02-08T16:43:00.004-05:002011-02-08T16:50:56.888-05:00Toys, SchmoysOver the last 22 months or so I have been compiling a list of things that small children find more compelling than toys. This list includes, but is not limited to:• measuring cups• spoons• zippers• nipples (both male and female)• electrical plugs• the little things you put in electrical plugs to prevent kids from playing with them• cabinet doors• Tupperware• Any object that could inflict serious New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-44193986597410847512011-02-01T21:20:00.003-05:002011-02-01T21:30:41.794-05:00SnowI have to admit, I like winter a hell of a lot more than summer. I don't do well in hot weather and my skin and the sun don't get along well. While other people tan, I simply become a deeper shade of pale.
I was really looking forward to spending a great winter with Olive.
Then this winter happened.
Sure, I can take Olive sledding (as we have done down the back stairs of our deck), but anytime New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-49480702453576470322010-11-18T09:49:00.004-05:002010-11-18T17:02:21.126-05:00Yes, We Are Going To Be Surprised...…just hopefully not in the delivery room. My wife and I are finding out the sex of our baby. In fact, we find out next week. Had the date marked on the calendar for a month. If you could tell me now I'd love it. If the home pregnancy test could have told Leanne whether it was going to be a boy or girl, she would have found out and then gone shopping for clothes that afternoon.<?xml:namespace New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-31378739008218433372010-11-17T09:14:00.002-05:002010-11-17T09:26:47.176-05:00These Things Cost Money...This post is another blast from the past. I wrote this soon after Leanne and I found out that number two was on the way. Enjoy.I don’t know about anyone else, but after the first month of trying to get pregnant and then not actually getting pregnant, I lose all hope that we will EVER actually be able to get pregnant. I think back to all the years I wore tighty-whities and what that might have New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-36574803670484941962010-11-11T09:37:00.003-05:002010-11-11T09:46:07.697-05:00Re-living the PastSo I mentioned a few posts back that when Leanne and I decided to try for baby number two, that I kept writing short blog posts while we were trying. Well, not WHILE we were trying, but, you know. (Okay, sorry about that. I couldn't help it.) I didn't want to post them at the time, of course, but I thought it would be fun to look back on the summer.Early July – Really, Time Magazine? You need to New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-53102013925673265292010-11-06T21:23:00.002-04:002010-11-06T21:27:23.553-04:00Trick or Treat <!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-40564844323461576382010-11-04T11:09:00.002-04:002010-11-04T11:15:43.350-04:00Daddy DepressionMy friends are multiplying. If you know me and my friends, you understand this is a rather frightening proposition, but that is beside the point. We recently got together to watch a football game and the room was filled with two pregnant women, a two month old, an 8 month old, and an 18 month old. Another friend, who has a two year old and another on the way, couldn’t make it. It is mildly New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-58990528879159991022010-10-29T15:26:00.004-04:002010-10-29T15:44:16.181-04:00Number TwoLeanne and I know a lot of folks who are only children. Some of them are good friends. All of them turned out to be wonderful people, despite what society thinks they should be as only children. As a parent, I know how easy it is to spoil your one and only child, but I have learned to reject the notion that somehow, only children turn out to be spoiled adults. All the people we know who are only New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-13682663408519609942010-10-27T11:17:00.004-04:002010-10-27T16:00:13.220-04:00Sleep PatternsSleep. If there is one thing that tests every new parent at some point, it is sleep. How to get it. How to keep getting it. How to persuade your young one to submit to it.I have said this before, but if there is one thing I’ve learned about parenting it is that nothing lasts forever. Patterns shift and change. Likes become dislikes. A favorite toy gets discarded like a used tissue (or maybe for aNew Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-66425224760402368632010-10-25T14:41:00.004-04:002010-10-25T14:48:07.546-04:00Who Likes Oranges?I'm sick and Olive is sick. Which doesn't make for a very pleasant house. Though I did go out and get one of those fancy battery-powered nasal aspirators and now I can't wait for Olive to get up from her nap so I can powersuck some snot. That will make my day. You know what else makes my day? This picture.I'm petty sure my mother-in-law took this a few months ago. I mean, come on, you couldn't New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-18733095582843948922010-10-22T10:31:00.002-04:002010-10-22T10:33:53.721-04:00MINE!Hearing Olive talk has always been fun. Seeing her pick up more and more words is a thrill. She is at the point now where she can imitate almost anything you say, as long as she is in the mood. As you can see from the last post, she is becoming a girl that knows what she wants and is starting to be able to SAY what she wants. Where as we used to have to focus on reading her sometimes New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-19277931785506347462010-10-14T20:27:00.005-04:002010-10-15T11:21:13.315-04:00Hat!I now can't leave the house without Olive chanting "Hat! Hat! Hat!" and pointing to her head. I am, of course, very happy that she is talking and learned the very useful word, "hat." I also like that she has started to like hats -- an essential fashion accessory. But this love started towards the end of the summer, when the sun's rays were less intense. I wish she would have liked hats for the New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-79959140481620104272010-10-05T20:52:00.000-04:002010-10-05T20:52:36.075-04:00Olive is Back!Okay, so it has been a little while since the last post. I recently had a friend ask if Olive had some sort of watermelon-related disaster that caused me to stop posting. Really, it is just that my life has been crazy and the thought of editing videos and downloading pictures and thinking of witty things to say seemed a little daunting. Leanne and Olive and I went six weeks at the end of the New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-77005281738872203652010-08-10T13:21:00.004-04:002010-08-10T13:37:19.663-04:00WatermelonOlive is an eater. She’ll give almost anything a try but she definitely has her favorites. Banana. Tortellini. Peas. Even steak. But few foods can eclipse the gastronomical passion Olive has for that elegant and gigantic green fruit, the Cadillac of the melon world, that savior of mouths parched by summer heat: the watermelon.My in-laws knew of this love affair when they sat Olive down for an New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-60163502558759705272010-08-06T10:50:00.001-04:002010-08-06T10:53:46.911-04:00Screecher CreatureMy in-laws are in town this weekend to see Olive. As you may know, they live about a seven hour drive away in northern Maine. Where in northern Maine, you ask? Do you know where Canada is? Yeah, right next to that. So needless to say, Olive doesn’t get to see them every weekend. Well, apparently she was fairly excited to see them yesterday cause she decided to put on a little screaming show. NowNew Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-53118035082966317742010-08-03T16:07:00.002-04:002010-08-03T16:22:07.024-04:00Fashion BackwardsSo I have read and seen and heard a lot about this new “designer diaper” trend. If you actually HAVE a life and aren’t fully abreast of this development, some Huggies diapers now come in a designer jeans pattern. No, of course it isn’t real denim. I mean, kids poop in it and then you throw it away – THAT would be silly. But they are meant to look like jeans. This, of course, is for the parent New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-22189268784228248452010-07-29T14:14:00.002-04:002010-07-29T14:22:15.167-04:00TeachingOne thing that I wasn’t prepared for as a parent (along with the frequency of getting poop on my hands) is the amount of teaching you need to do. With an infant, teachable moments seem few and far between because there is so little give and take. Yes, you talk and read and point things out, but there is no interaction. With a toddler, it is constant. At around a year, you need to be an ever New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-88517577046602473702010-07-26T15:39:00.004-04:002010-07-26T15:53:50.632-04:00Country BumpkinAs mentioned in a of previous posts, we had a fantastic family vacation to the northern reaches of Maine over the fourth of July. Why let a little disfigured toe get in the way of a good time. Olive was exposed to all things Northern Maine. 1) Camouflage overalls2) Riding lawnmowers3) And of course, fully operational mini-cannons (at least Olive got dressed up to go play with New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4801182695362441638.post-30733496049836944582010-07-16T10:17:00.002-04:002010-07-16T10:26:24.056-04:00Boo BooLeanne and I never really went through a weekend of baby proofing our home. Our strategy was to wait for Olive to point out potential dangers to us and then we would fix them. -Ooops, looks like we forgot to cover that electrical socket.-I guess she can reach that drawer full of knives now. Should probably do something about that.-Did you know that string on the blinds are a strangulation hazard?New Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16940843300264157357noreply@blogger.com4