parenting

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Dear Jack: Drinking Water Balloons/Practicing For Halloween

3 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack: Drinking Water Balloons/Practicing For Halloween

Dear Jack,

This Saturday (as well as Sunday) morning I woke up to you and Mommy laughing and playing on the couch.

You had created a pick-up truck out of couch cushions and were taking your friends to the hospital. (Mommy was the doctor.)

One of your friends was a small white bear you named “Baby Diaper”. You explained to Mommy:

“Can you help my Sweetie? A monster bit her!”

I also enjoyed seeing how you helped Mommy with Donatello’s visit to the doctor: “He has a tummy ache. I think he needs water. I’ll get him a water balloon.”

Dear Jack: Drinking Water Balloons/Practicing For Halloween

Then you then ran over to the corner of our living room where you’ve been stashing the helium balloons you got from a couple of weeks ago when we paid the earnest money for our new house.

You then proceeded to “pour” water from the “water balloon” into Donatello’s mouth.

Dear Jack: Drinking Water Balloons/Practicing For Halloween

Classic! I love that creativity.

You’re also proactive: You decided to go ahead and try on your Halloween costume.

Recently at Kroger you found a $4 Batman mask and wanted Mommy and me to buy it for you. We agreed, based on you being Batman for Halloween.

Then last week Mommy found some $7 Batman pajamas from Wal-Mart…

Therefore, I would like to say, thank you for choosing the cheapest Halloween costume so far! Just eleven bucks, total.

That is so practical and frugal. I am proud.

You practiced your Batman faces for us; both “happy Batman” and “serious Batman.”

Dear Jack: Drinking Water Balloons/Practicing For Halloween

It’s good that you’re really spending some time already getting in to your Batman character. I think that might count as “method acting.”

This is what goes on in our house. I’m assuming that in every other house with a 3 year-old little boy in it, there are different yet related stories that occur.

As far as our house goes, it’s about drinking from water balloons and practicing for Halloween. For this week, at least.

1 Comment Posted on new house, parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: We’re Building A New House In Spring Hill, TN

3 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack: We Just Bought A New House In Spring Hill, TN

Dear Jack,

Two weeks ago I told you all about how our family had a great afternoon at GlowGolf. Now I’m going to tell you what happened earlier that morning…

We bought a brand new house in Spring Hill, TN!

Well, I guess the way I’m supposed to word it is, “We are building a house in Spring Hill.”

Right now, our family’s new home is a concrete slab, surrounded by loose dirt. (These pictures feature both our lot as well as the model home.)

We are scheduled to close on January 29, 2015. (Lord willin’!)

I love that because it means we have several months to figure out whether we will be selling or renting out the townhouse we own now. And it also means we have several more months to continue throwing money into savings to prepare for the transition.

While this big decision may seem a bit random, it’s far from it.

Dear Jack: We're Building A New House In Spring Hill, TN

Mommy’s hobby for the past couple years has been researching houses. Why?

We live in a 2 bedroom townhome. It’s not a very inviting space for visitors, including family.

Also, we have recently learned just how important it is to live in Williamson County if you live in Nashville, as compared to living in Davidson county.

Dear Jack: We're Building A New House In Spring Hill, TN

Our new house, in the bedroom community of Spring Hill, will have 4 bedrooms and a bonus room in Williamson County. It’s going to be quite a step up for us.

I’m really looking forward to it!

Dear Jack: We're Building A New House In Spring Hill, TN

We’ll finally have a lawn. And amazingly, I won’t have to buy a mower… the $75 monthly HOA fee includes them mowing our front and back lawn!

So this subject will obviously be showing up a lot in my letters to you. Buying a new house is a huge deal and will be a big part of our lives.

Fortunately, Mommy and I were able to get through the paperwork surprisingly well thanks to the in-house agent cleverly buying a remote control dump truck, as well as helium balloons a head of time.

Regarding the balloons, you proclaimed, “I can do my ‘hi-yah!’ moves!”

Dear Jack: We're Building A New House In Spring Hill, TN

This decision didn’t come easy. We have been so strict with our budget: no smart phones, no cable TV; basically no eating out at restaurants.

But that enabled us to have a respectable down payment on this new house.

And I know good and well these next several months leading up to the move will have their legitimate amounts of stress…

But hey, our family is ready!

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on funny, Nostalgia, parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized, vegan

Dear Jack: “Camping In” At The End Of The Summer

3 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack: "Camping In" At The End Of The Summer

Dear Jack,

The theme at your school (KinderCare) this month has been “Discovering Summer: Wilderness 101.” In other words, you’ve been learning about camping.

Friday you and all your friends got to come to school in pajamas and take your naps in sleeping bags. Your teacher Ms. Michelle was telling me how, without being prompted, you “caught a fish” at Lake Nemo and immediately took it over to the “campfire” to cook it.

sharing with friends KinderCare

(Hey, I thought you were a vegetarian? How’d you know how to do that?)

So after seeing how you’ve enjoyed the camping theme so much, Mommy and I decided for our family to “camp in” this weekend…

strawberry juice camp

We started things off with some of Mommy’s vegan french toast (made with fresh orange juice and Ezekiel bread), plus, I juiced you some fresh organic strawberry juice in our juicer as well.

While Mommy and I prepared breakfast, you were busy doing self-directed, campy arts and crafts. That not only included finger painting, but making ghosts out of construction paper.

Mommy cut out the shapes for the ghosts, letting you name the them: Marker, Boo, Circle, and Blue were a few of the names you came up with.

camping in

Then you dedided you wanted to write the names on the ghosts yourself.

That’s when I learned how well you can write.

You named one of the ghosts “Fire”. You asked me how to spell it, then correctly wrote it down, letter for letter. I was so amazed! I had no idea you could do that!

With the abundance of ghosts appearing in our camp in, I figured it’s our way of paying tribute to the concept of telling ghost stories around the campfire.

You also drew “shadows” next to a house. I think that was to further the campfire story feel.

vegetarian smores

We finished off the day with some smores. (Made from the vegan marshmallows I reviewed a few weeks ago.)

Hey, who needs the great outdoors?

We “camped in” and we liked it!

 

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting, Uncategorized

New Infographic: How You Can Prevent Hot Car Deaths

As I’ve mentioned several times already, there are certain things that went unquestioned back in the Eighties when I was a kid, but these days, they are now taboo.

Like letting a kid ride in the back of a pick-up truck or on a riding lawn mower with an adult.

Today’s topic: Leaving your child for any (!) amount of time unattended.

This past weekend, my wife and I watched ABC’s 20/20 segment, “Is It Ever OK To Leave Your Child In The Car?”  featuring the topic, “Parents Become Subject To Hot Car Witch Hunt.”

What actually worried me more than the possibility of forgetting about my son in the car and exposing him to the heat is getting arrested and losing custody of him; even if just run to the store in for a minute, with the temperature safe.

After watching that episode, I officially decided I will never leave my son in a vehicle for any amount of time, no matter how close I am to the car, because for some reasons legitimate, others exaggerated, there is currently a witch hunt to find parents who might potentially leave their children in hot vehicles.

Here’s a new infographic from Instant Checkmate showing the legitimate side of the story. It shares some interesting findings, like how the older the child, the less likely the child will be forgotten by the parent in the car.

See below, courtesy of Instant Checkmate:

hot-car-deaths- inforgraphic

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Dear Jack: Determining What Is Age Appropriate Versus What Is Just Okay

I mentioned a few weeks ago in my review of Planes: Fire & Rescue that Mommy and I were planning to take you to the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie when it came out in August. (Which was yesterday, August 8th.)

new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie review

Well, the time has come, yet we’re not taking you to see it this weekend. That’s because I realized the movie is rated PG-13, not PG; you’re not even 4 years old yet.

(Not to mention, the new Ninja Turtles movie isn’t getting good reviews either.)

At first I tried to convince myself it would be okay; after all, it’s just the Ninja Turtles!

But after having recently seen and reviewed X-Men: Days Of Future Past as well as Guardians Of The Galaxy, I predict that the new Ninja Turtles movie would simply be too intense for you at this age.

Like those other PG-13 nostalgic movies, I’m sure there will be no explicit violence, but I assume the level of action will be much more intense than what you see while watching Power Rangers on Netflix.

Therefore, I think we’ll check out the new Paddington movie coming out in a few months. That seems a lot more appropriate for you at this age.

I’ve been noticing that’s a new theme for me these days in “daddyhood.”

The question: What is age appropriate for you versus what is simply just okay?

For example, a couple of weeks ago I heard you randomly say, “This isn’t WrestleMania! That’s what my teacher Ms. Michelle says.”

That prompted me to show you a classic 1988 WrestleMania match. You were into it, but haven’t wanted to watch anymore of it since then.

You’d rather watch Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood instead.

So that’s what I’m accepting: While something like classic WrestleMania or the new Ninja Turtles movie may be okay for you to watch, it’s doesn’t mean it’s necessarily age appropriate.

This morning as you and Mommy left the house to go buy groceries, your departure song was “God Is Bigger Than the Boogie Man.”

Looks like VeggieTales is more your speed right now. That’s fine by me.

Love,

Daddy