My Shortest Blog Update To Date.

Today was our last therapy session. Ever.

That is all.

What a Weekend

Ever notice how when you finally get around to washing your car, that's when it rains? Seriously, I've washed my car twice since we got it and each time, within a few hours, it rained.

That has nothing to do with today's blog, its just something that's really irritating me. Thought I'd get it off my chest.

Also, that's how the weekend ended. With a car wash and my daughter having a panic attack. More on that in a moment.

Friday night we went to our first Minor League, Triple-A baseball game since moving to Indy. It was the Indianapolis Indians vs. the Louisville Bats. It was a pretty entertaining game, but the real entertainment was watching Evelyn go make friends.

There was a nice couple beside us who let her play with their kids dolls while we tried to watch the game. Well, I say "we" but I mean "me." Jen was busy trying to keep track of Evie and carry on a conversation with Julie (one of the other bailiffs in my wife's court) and watch the game and talk to me... you know, the many tasks of a mom and all that.

We have to remember to bring her a doll next time.

Saturday I worked, so nothing really great to report there, except the heat was ridiculous. Jen took Evie to the pool and when I came home I crashed on the couch with about a gallon of water to drink.

Sunday I left work a little early because of race traffic. If you've never lived on the West side of Indianapolis, you won't understand, but that side of town gets locked down come time for the Indy 500 (which was Sunday) or the Brickyard.

I hate racing, have I ever said that? What a waste of gas. Ping-pong matches are just as entertaining to me.

Monday is where the real excitement was. We got up early and headed down to the laundromat. Yeah, we washed clothes.

Exciting!

Afterwards, we came home and Evie and I napped while Jen went to the pool for some much needed rest and relaxation away from a two year old. We had a quick lunch and then went to wash the car. This is where the meltdown happened.

Apparently, when my daughter is really not enjoying something, she believes she can finish it faster by saying, "All done."

Sometimes she says this very sweetly as she brings me her now empty glass of milk. Sometimes she says this after deciding she's not eating her corn. On Monday, she said this quietly as we were entering the car wash. Then proceeded to scream it.

Repeatedly.

I felt horrible. Here I am just trying to get the bird crap off of my car and my daughter believes we are being devoured by a giant soap monster.

ALL DONE! ALL DONE! ALL DONE! ALL DONE!

Nope, just a few more minutes. Daddy's right here, though.

She looks at me as though I've tricked her into a death trap. What sort of man are you, dad? How could you do this? All said in a glance.

ALL DONE! ALLDONE ALLDONE ALLDONE!!! Then we were done and she relaxed.

And it rained last night.

Friday Night Baseball

Friday night we went to a Triple-A baseball game. The Indianapolis Indians played the Louisville Bats. We left after the fifth inning because a two year old does not enjoy long sporting events like her thirty year old dad does.

I was able to capture this moment, though:

From the Photo Vault

Taste in Music

Recently, while watching Yo Gabba Gabba! my daughter discovered a band. At the age of two, she has a favorite band.

I think at the age of two, my favorite song was "Walking Talking Catfish" - which no amount of google searching has been able to find but I swear to you that song existed and was awesome. So if anyone has that on cd I would love a copy... just saying... for Evie, not for me.

Seriously, not for me. Awesome song, though.

Anyway, my kid has a new favorite band. I'm actually going to post the link RIGHT HERE.

I subsequently downloaded about 4 of their albums. Now I have a new favorite band, too, and we listen to them on the way to the daycare.

Its a change of pace from my normal taste in music.

I used to think my mom was crazy for wanting to listen to all the kids beats songs, and swore I'd never be that parent. You know, the parent who jams out to Kids Bopz or whatever they're called. Those cheesy kids singing top 40 songs, or trying to sing hip Christian music or whatever.

The Aquabats saved my day.

I don't care. Laugh at me if you want. They're fun, they're something I can enjoy with my kid, they aren't dirty or crude (at least I haven't found something like that yet - still have a couple of their albums to go).

Yes, I still want her to listen to that good ol' wholesome TobyMac and Newsboys, and we do still listen to those (its called a playlist), but something fun is always nice to throw in. She dances in the middle of the floor to the tunes and we have a laugh.

So yeah, that's our taste in music, I guess.

Of course, I'm not endorsing the Aquabats for you and your kid, but they're worth checking out. They beat that purple dinosaur, anyway. And like I said, they may end up being trash, but for now we're enjoying them.

Pictures?

I haven't really made it a practice of posting pictures, but I thought I may give it a try.

Maybe I'll just add one now and then, something I've taken around the house or from a trip, just to have it out there.

So here is one of my new favorites.

She just looks like the weight of the world is on her shoulders, like life has completely gotten her down. Perhaps she's just deep in thought, pondering the inner workings of the universe.

She's 2. She's probably thinking she wants a cookie.

Poop Pie

Sometimes, when you're an adult, life hands you a big hot pie filled with poop and all you can do is simply say, "hey, at least its pie."

That's what happens sometimes.

Lately, though, I've got nothing to complain about. Yeah, I'm sure if I looked for things, I could find things to make me upset, but the fact is that if all you do is look for negative stuff to be unhappy about, you'll never have any kind of happiness.

A man far greater than myself once wrote, "In everything give thanks" (The Apostle Paul, in a letter to the church of Thessalonica, around 52 AD). In everything. That means that even when life gets us down, we need to find something to be thankful for. He finished that line with "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." So, to me, this means God doesn't want us looking for things to be miserable about, but to find things to be thankful for.

And that's wonderful in theory, but in practice its sometimes much harder.

We've had a few things come up lately that are stressful, but not beatable. Life's like that. One minute you're up and the next you're down just as much as you were up. The thing that gets you through it is when you have something to look forward to, something to be thankful for.

In college, when the North Dakota weather would get me down in February, I'd look forward to a movie that would be coming out in the next few months. It was my light at the end of the tunnel knowing that the next Lord of the Rings or Marvel movie was going to be out in just a couple of months. I know that may sound silly, but I was in college and had little else that made me excited.

Now days, I have something else to look forward to. Some light at the end of the tunnel of every day.

Being a dad.

If there's nothing else to be thankful for, I have my family. That may sound lame to some people, but it really does help me get through some rough patches. Of course, there are days where our two year old decides she wants to personify the "terrible twos" and days where my wife gets on my nerves. That happens when you live with people. I'm positive I'm not always the most pleasant person in the house. Just ask the dog.

The fact is, I'm thankful for them. Even though my wife and I may not see eye to eye, and diapers smell like poop pies, I'm glad.

Because hey, its pie.

Intrusive!

A two year old doesn't care if you are using the bathroom or not. She's gotta show you this booger!

We Cut the Cord

We recently got rid of cable. We kept the internet, bought a Roku player, and now get our television broadcast over the "interwebs" (as they are sometimes called by people who want to sound hip - I am not above doing this).

We have Netflix and Hulu+, and even with those two monthly subscriptions and our internet bill, we're still saving almost eighty dollars a month. Actually, our bill was being raised next month, so if we counted that, we are actually saving around a hundred dollars a month by simply getting our t.v. shows one day later. Which is nice.

Saving money is fun.

Plus, I kind of feel like we won. I know that's silly, because its not a competition, but in a sense we're keeping the shows we want and still getting them from Comcast, but at half the cost because we're getting it through the internet and not through cable. Its like we outsmarted them or something.

I'm sure if someone from Comcast were to read this they'd have a nice chuckle at my supposed cleverness. Or cry because I actually read that cable companies are losing money at a hefty rate because of deals like the Roku player and Apple TV.

Either way, the day we figured out we could do this, I grinned like the Grinch when he had an evil idea to steal Christmas.

I know, some people want their kids to watch Nickelodeon all day, and I'm okay with them doing this. Because guess what we get?

Fraggle Rock. Sesame Street. Veggie Tales. Yo Gabba Gabba. Vintage G.I. Joe. Voltron. Uhm... I mean... you know, cartoons Evie would enjoy, like Veggie Tales.

Heh.

So we cut the Cable cord. We're doing okay with it, no mental break downs, panic attacks, or withdrawals from the Housewives of the Rich People's Trailer Park or whatever they were called.

Mother's Day 2012

We had a nice dinner, my wife had received gifts throughout the week, and she played Lego Star Wars with me for about an hour.

Best. Wife. Ever.

Happy Mother's Day to my mega-awesome wife, Jennifer.

Wife Quote of the Day

On my cheap air fresheners I bought for the new car:

"They're not air fresheners, they're air wreakers!"

Something to Add

"I have poop on my finger. Not for the first time today, and probably not for the last." - after changing a diaper this morning

Something to Add

I'm going to start doing smaller updates now and then - including the twice a week updates - that will be much, much smaller than my regular blogs. Maybe just a funny thing I catch myself, or my wife, or my kid saying. Maybe just an update to a previous blog. Maybe just a small giblet of information I felt like sharing. Maybe a short, funny experience we'd just had that will be revisited in a later blog. It could just end up being a brain fart I felt like sharing.

These will not be posted to Facebook or Twitter when new additions are added to the blog, I'll just add them and go about my day, and if you happen to get bored and are wandering about the internet in search of something else to read that won't melt your brain, you can mosey on over here and check out some of the small tidbits I've added.

Strange Habits

My daughter has, as long as she's been alive, had the weirdest infatuation with wet wipes. I don't know what causes it, but every morning when I go to get her from her room - she's usually already awake - I find that she has taken as many wet wipes from their container as possible and scattered them about her room.

Sometimes she just takes them, cleans up her hands and face with them, as if she just finished eating a bag of Doritos, and tosses them in the trash. Not this morning.

I walked in to find about thirty different wet wipes all across the floor. They were not organized in any particular order, just scattered. Evie just laid in the corner, talking to herself and sucking her thumb and pretending she had no idea how those wet wipes escaped their plastic prison.

Another new thing is where she takes charge of an empty box as if it were her new favorite toy. Except, she doesn't treat it like a toy. She crawls inside it like a house cat that just discovered a random paper bag.

I'm not sure where these strange habits are coming from. Its not the extent of them, to be sure, but I'm not sure what to do with the rather odd habit of pulling her shirt up and playing her tummy like a drum. Did she learn that from my dad somehow? I mean, what is that even about?

I've come to the conclusion that sometimes, kids are just weird. That's what makes them fun.

Well, that, and pranking them...

cha-cha-cha-CHANGES

Today we're off work. It's election day.

Its a pretty busy day and yet I make time to blog. Because, for some of you, this is all you have to make the murky waters of your life glisten with clarity. Or you're bored and have nothing else to do.

Which is where i currently am as I wait for the time to take Evie to daycare to approach... hence my writing.

Starting out the day, we cancelled our cable subscription. Kept our internet. Why did we do this? To save money. We recently bought a Roku box so that we could just watch t.v. over the internet. When its all said and done, we're actually saving about a hundred dollars a month. Well, sixty right now, but when our bill goes up in June, our cable bill would be so high, we'd actually be saving a hundred. We did the math.

Also today, we're going to go look at buying a new vehicle. The ol' Chevy is still running fine, but we're planning on... wait for it... expanding our family.

Not right now. Ain't nobody preggers up in here!

But we want to be within the year. So, new car that'll fit at least two car seats.

If we have twins we're up poop creek without paddles, a canoe, or water. That's right, we're just in a huge ditch if we have twins. A ditch the shape of a minivan we'd have to buy.

Minivan. I hate the word. As I hate hell, all Montagues and the people at Fox who cancelled Firefly.

It was a great show!

So we're just going to look today. And maybe buy. It depends on how the tides of money drift as we haggle and negotiate and barter.

I wonder if I promised to throw in a hound dog if he'd knock a few hundred more off the price. Wait... trading vehicles isn't like trading guns and fishing poles? My dad has really skewed my perception of the bartering process!

What if I threw in some steel traps? Like, for catching beavers? A few 3/30s and we've got ourselves a deal, sir!

Okay. If you don't get that last line, you are not related to anyone who has ever fur trapped. If you do, I know you're laughing hysterically.

But here's the big news. We may be renting/buying a house. I don't want to jump the gun, but that's the plan. We're going to rent for a year with the option to buy. At least, that's what the guy selling the house seemed to indicate last night when we talked on the phone. Its a great deal, if/when we do decide to buy it, and I think this is a good thing.

While it also means I'll basically be staying in probation for the rest of my life, or at least for the next few years, I think I'm okay with that. No, I am. Its what's going to help us get our bills paid and the future of our family needs stability. There's nothing wrong with getting involved in a church and teaching Sunday School, or even youth pastoring or sponsoring in my free time.

I don't really look at it as giving up on a dream or anything, either. Because my dream has always been to be a great dad and a great husband, and whatever else - where my career is concerned - is secondary. To me, fulfilling the calling of being a husband and dad is more important than preaching, teaching, and working in a church. If you can't pastor your family, how can you hope to pastor a hundred other people?

Some people may disagree with this, but frankly, I don't care what they think. I'd rather be a good dad in a stable job than a mediocre dad who has the job he dreamed of.

So yeah, lots of changes heading our way. Change of vision, change of home, change of cars... CHA-CHA-CHA-CHANGES!!!


Now that song is stuck in your head but you can't remember the words. You're welcome.

A Family Thing

Earlier this year, my wife and I had a conversation about things we can do as a family. You know, something we could all get into and enjoy. Something we could throw ourselves into during the summer time since all of our television shows will be showing reruns. You know, a real family thing.

We chose getting into a sport. Baseball.

I told my wife that as I have chosen the New York Jets as our official NFL team, she should pick our baseball team we cheer for. And, since we are fans of the New York Jets, my wife said she, for once, wanted to cheer for a team that didn't lose all the time.

Seriously? Two AFC Championship games in three years and the Jets are... well, they're the Jets. Who am I kidding?

She said she wanted to cheer for a winner. She then showed her ignorance of the sport of baseball by saying three teams she would want to cheer for: The Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees.

I pointed out she had said "Winner."

And that's how we became Yankee fans.

Some of my friends have a hard time with this. Mostly because we're now rooting for the "Evil Empire" of baseball (Believe it or not, that is not a Star Wars reference). Frankly, I don't care.

This is something we can get into together. Maybe its not the most popular team around (to me, that makes it even better), but they're our team now.

Later this fall, we really want to take a trip to Cleveland when the Yankees come to town. Even if we don't get to, though, it'll be nice to just have some summer nights spent watching some of America's past time and cheering for a team with a great history. As a family.

I'm a big supporter of kids participating in team sports. Even if they're not that good at it, I think sports can be a great thing for kids to get into. Sports teach us a lot about life, believe it or not.

Don't roll your eyes. Let me explain.

Cheering for a team when they're winning - that's easy. That's nothing. Cheering for a team when they're losing - that's loyalty. That's something I value in friends. In sports, its more than just being a fan, that's being faithful. There's something to that.

Remembering stats is a great way to introduce your kids to math. Batting Averages, On Base Percentage, adding up Runs Batted In. Math is all over sports like a politician on television come October. Not just percentages, but averages, speeds (pitches going around ninety miles an hour).

History in sports. Tradition. That stuff is important. Records, when they're set and when they're broke. They make great conversation if nothing else on family trips. In ten years, we could talk about whether or not Barry Bonds belongs in the Hall of Fame or not. Well, we could talk about that right now, except the extent of my daughter's baseball knowledge is limited to only identifying the ball at this point.

There's also rivalry. Competition. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of that, either. Having a healthy dose of anger at a certain team because they beat your guys last week and the euphoria of satisfaction when your team sweeps them the next time around.

Most importantly, I think sports can teach our kids one thing that many of us fail to grasp even as adults.

They teach us how to lose. How to hate losing, but to accept it. Baseball, in my opinion, is a sport of second chances. Strike out at your first at bat? That's fine. You'll get another chance later. Don't get a hit all night? Its a long season (162 games), so don't let it get you down. Don't make the playoffs? There's always next year (you're welcome, Cub fans).

Its okay to hate losing, because nobody should enjoy it. However, its important to know how to take defeat, hang your head for a moment, and face the day tomorrow. Life goes on after that final out, that last whistle, the last quarter.

I'm not saying you're a bad parent because you don't get your kid involved in hockey, or you're shortchanging your son if you don't force him to play some football in the backyard now and then, and if your daughter has no interest in softball or volleyball or cheerleading, that doesn't mean she's a failure as a kid.

To me, the most important thing about the sports we watch is that we can watch them as a family. That makes even losing okay with me.

Except we're Yankee fans, and we don't have to worry about that very often.

Nerds Run Everything

Excuse me while I let my inner-Geek out to write this blog.

Wait. There is no inner-Geek? Just me? Well, that's interesting. I guess that explains a lot.

Maybe, if you've read this blog long enough, you've been able pick up on that for yourself. With the Doctor Who references, Gandalf quotes, and mentioning a character named Kvothe.

If you did not understand a single word of that last sentence, you are free to go.

I've noticed my daughter is slightly turning to this dark side. She'll sit and watch Doctor Who with me and she enjoys watching Yoda on Star Wars (Probably because he talks a lot like Grover from Sesame Street - thank you Frank Oz).

Recently, I stumbled upon a Podcast titled "The Geekdads." While I sometimes listen to these guys talk thinking I am a silent part of their conversation, their "nerdage" far outweighs my own.

And I can respect that.

They talk about apps they use, conventions they attend where real robots chainsaw each other to death, or a movie that's about to come out involving a certain super soldier, god of thunder, billionaire inventor, and a couple of spies saving the world. Oh, and a big, green Hulk.

HULK SMASH!!!!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Its a pretty interesting Podcast, though, that kind of makes guys like me not feel so alone in raising our kids to be world class nerds. Some people may think that's stupid. You want your kids to be strong and able to stick up for themselves. And yeah, that's true.

But Nerds run everything.

And I'm okay with my kid being a nerd.

One nerdy thing we're planning on doing is going to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati later this year. Its only a few hours away, and I am actually pretty excited for it. Some people may think true geeks/nerds would go to something like that to make fun of it, but I'm actually a Creationist nerd. I love young earth theory, and love to see the science of it. I will say this about this somewhat controversial topic and then move on: If you're a Christian, that means you believe God raised Christ from the dead and intend to someday send Him back to rapture us up. Why's it so much harder to believe the same God could not have created the earth out of nothing? He's a God of miracles, right?

Okay, just saying. I'm not looking for a debate on the topic. Just expressing my own views on my own blog.

So yeah, that's something we want to do. Creation Museum.

Another thing my wife has taken to doing is playing an alphabet game on the Fisher Price website, or Sesame Street website, or something. I don't know the exact address. I just know my kid's learning the ABC's really well.

Yes, I also use apps to help me in parenting. Rather than carrying around a notebook full of things I need to remember, I keep notes on my iPhone. I use Evernote, which also syncs with my desktop so that I can write something down on my computer and have it with me on my phone. Since I have an iPhone 4S, I also use Siri to remind me of things coming up in the next few days. Of course, I use my calendar to remind me about upcoming doctor appointments, speech therapy, paying daycare bills, etc. I also use Instagram to post ultra-cute pictures of my kid to twitter. So there's a lot out there, you just have to figure out what works for you and how to use it.

Starbucks was giving away a Dora the Explorer game for the iPhone, too. That didn't go over so well. Evie lost interest after only a few minutes.

I'm not saying you have to have a smartphone to be a good parent, by the way, just saying that these are some things that help me not be so forgetful.

Sometimes we have movie marathons. Yes, some of those involve Pixar movies like Toy Story or ... actually all we've watched lately is Toy Story. But a few months back we watched some Star Wars together. Before that we watched some old Superman cartoons. I mean 1940's Superman cartoons.

I admit that during the Superman cartoons, Evie was napping and I was watching, but hey, nobody's judging here.

The fact is, I think its okay to let your kid be involved in your nerd stuff. Whether you're a sports nerd, comic geek or one hundred percent Whovian, its great making it a family experience.

Because, like I said, Nerds run everything.