An Extravaganza of Pumpkins and Tape

Happy Fatherhood Friday!

I hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Mom-E and I very much enjoyed ourselves, more so than in years past.

Perhaps this is because all small men were eager to ambulate and carry
their own Trick-or-Treat baskets (at least until the very end.)

This enabled Mom-E and I to just sit back and enjoy the boys in all of
their giddy excitement.

The boys made for an exciting entourage of superheros, dressing as
Iron Man (Big Brother), the Flash (Little Brother), and Robin (sans mask-
Bab-E Brother).

Big Brother wore the Dark Helmet-esque talking light up Iron Man mask
that was a favorite present from Aunt-E last Christmas.

Little Brother looked like a mini-Sheldon dressed as Flash.

And Bab-E Brother is just plain stinkin' cute.  Truth be told, he really
didn't even want to wear a costume, but a last-minute diaper change and
seeing his Halloween bucket proved to be enough of a distraction to
put a costume on before he had a chance to protest too much and try to
take it off.

And while Halloween was a great time for all, I'm not so sure that Mom-E
and I feel the same post-Halloween.

You know - the CONSTANT begging and whining for Halloween candy,
that if left to their own devices, would constitute about 95% of the boys'
diet the first week of November.

So, Mom-E and I have insituted a "one piece after lunch and one after dinner"
policy, as well as a "token economy."

That's right, negative behaviors mean that Mom-E and Dad-E confiscate a
piece of Halloween candy, and being extra helpful can earn them back.
So far, it seems to be a helpful motivator - at least after the boys figured out
we meant business and they lost about 10 pieces in a span of a 20-minute
dinnertime meltdown.

That's neat.  Yeah, fun.  Neat.  Neat.  Good times.

And of course no Halloween would be complete without...
PUMPKIN CARVING!

If your kids are like mine, there's tremendous excitement about selecting a
giant pumpkin and talking about carving it up...

...until, that is, it actually comes time to do the carving.

At which point, the crowd murmurs something about the pumpkin smelling
bad, the pumpkin guts being gross, and "hey Dad-E, we're going to go
outside and swing while you freeze on the porch and carve the pumpkin
for us."

Thanks, loads.

However, in an attempt to satisfy the hunger of our Transformer-obsessed
beasts, I we opted to go for a Deceptacon pumpkin this year.  I was a little
leery about the associated level of difficulty, but this pumpkin carving hack
was pretty pleased with the result.

But the pumpkin obsession didn't end there.

No, the boys were adamant that we needed to get some kind of inflatable
Halloween decoration this year, and even offered to chip in some of their
pennies to assist.

Little Brother was delusional was certain that Mom-E had already ordered
a large inflatable BOO sign, when, in fact, they had just perused.

So, after much politeness, comments about how practical such a
decoration would be, how nice the house would look, Mom-E and I
caved and I took the boys to Wally World to pick something out.

Yep, we ended up with a 9 foot tall inflatable stack of pumpkins.

(It was either that or the $98 15 foot stack of ghosts, and my wallet felt
a little light.)

Fortunately, being 2 days before Halloween, the inflatable was 25% off,
so not too bad of a deal, and the boys were THRILLED.

I mean genuinely THRILLED.  Like Christmas level excitement thrilled.
Like actually willing to HELP set it up thrilled (and by help, I don't mean
run around the yard and play while Mom-E and Dad-E do all the work).

You might be asking yourself, "What's that white box atop the pumpkin 

inflatable?"

Well, that's Little Brother's new "piggy bank."

Yes, you heard me right.  

Little Brother, who is more obsessed with coins that that mummy from

the long-ago Scooby Doo episode...

(Coin! Coin! Coin!)

...decided to tape this white box to the top of the pumpkin inflatable

box, which happens to be just big enough to fit all of his pennies.

All I can say is, "That boy's got creative style.  And a black belt in

tape."

Lord help us when he discovers duct tape.

Have a good weekend,

Busy-Dad-E

Infection Control

Happy Fatherhood Friday!

I hope I didn't mislead you with the title - nobody at our house is puking, currently or recently.

****
With 3 boys ages 2, 4, and 7, you can imagine that we have a lot of dirty fingers/feet/faces, pee dribbles on and around toilets, unflushed "presents", and a stinky Diaper Champ at our house.

And we do.

But we also have Little Brother.

Little Brother is our very own "reminderphile" (i.e., he LOVES to remind people about things.)

Seriously, he's better than your smart phone calendar, our "human siri" if you will (we don't have siri, so I'm just imagining here). Mom-E will specifically tell Little Brother things she doesn't want to forget, because his mind is like a steel trap.

And one of his favorite things to remind EVERYONE about is hygiene. He's definitely the infection control officer of our household.

While not a germaphobe, he's just got the picture that hygiene, particularly handwashing, is really important.

Whenever Big Brother comes out of the bathroom, Little Brother instantaneously blurts out, "Big Brother, did you flush? Did you use HANITIZER (our own word, short for hand sanitizer)?"

Every time. Even at 3am when both boys wake us up simultaneously to use the bathroom. I kid you not. The message is apparently hard-wired.

It also helps us narrow down the "suspect pool" (pun intended) when we find "presents" in the potty.

If Little Brother's hands get sticky from eating for even a few milliseconds, he's off to wash them, or at least ask for a wet wipe. (Napkins are apparently not good enough.)

He's gotten the same way about hanitizer. Most of the time, he's given it up in favor of good old-fashioned soap and water.

(It's quite a sight to walk into the bathroom to find his legs dangling in mid-air while he's holding on to the faucet with one hand and trying to get soap with the other.)

Once recently he handed something to Mom-E in the bathroom and despite not touching anything still asked, "Do I need to wash my hands?"

And because there's nothing like a good coincidence, Little Brother recently got a book as a kid's meal prize that's about Louis Pasteur and his work on the rabies vaccine.

You can imagine that generated a few thousand questions about "gray-bees" (as he calls them) and infections.

"Why that dog was foaming at the mouth? How did it get gray-bees? Where do gray-bees come from? What happens to people who get gray-bees?"

He started asking me about "gray-bees" before I even knew about the book. I though he was talking about some kind of weird colored honey.

Nonetheless, I'm thankful that Little Brother is so genuinely concerned about the health and welfare of his family.

Have a good weekend,
Flush and wash your hands,
Busy-Dad-E

Busy-Dad-E Theater

Happy Fatherhood Friday!

Welcome to the inaugural performance of "Busy-Dad-E Theater".

And without further adieu, the "play"

*****

Time: 4:00 am

Place: My room (where else would I be at 4am?)

AND SCENE

*****

Big Brother: Dad-E, my sniffer keeps sniffing and sniffing

Busy-Dad-E: zzzz....

Big Brother: Dad-E! Wake up!

[Actors both pause and remain silent for ~2 minutes.]

Busy-Dad-E: (Slowly coming to consciousness) What's up, buddy?

Big Brother: I keep sniffing.

[Busy-Dad-E stumbles like a drunk to the bathroom to retreive toilet tissue]

Busy-Dad-E: Better?

Big Brother: (Blowing nose). Yeah.

Busy-Dad-E: Let's go back to bed.

[Busy-Dad-E continues to stumble down the hall.]

Big Brother: (Sitting up in bed now with a HUGE scowl). Dad-E, I'm BORED!

Busy-Dad-E: It's 4am. God wants you to be bored.

Big Brother: I'm SOOO bored!

Busy-Dad-E: If you go back to sleep, you won't be bored anymore

Big Brother: (Pouts. Birds attempt to poop on his lip.)

Busy-Dad-E: (A single neuron in his brain starts to fire. He remembers that dinner was quite rushed to get Big Brother to an after-school activity. And Big Brother focused on going to the bathroom and playing with toys at dinner - consuming a grand total of about 3 grapes and 2 swigs of chocolate milk before we had to leave. Wake up, stupid! The boy is HUNGRY!) Do you need a snack?

Big Brother: Yes

Busy-Dad-E: (Retrieves some grapes and a granola bar.) Here you go.

Big Brother: Thanks. Dad-E...

Busy-Dad-E: Yeah?

Big Brother: You can go back to bed now.

Busy-Dad-E: Amen.

END SCENE

*****

Have a good (non-dramatic) weekend,

Busy-Dad-E

Words for YouTube

Happy Fatherhood Friday Everyone!

For a little while now, Big Brother has been asking to make his own YouTube video.

Most of the time, he wants to make a video where he explains how to transform some of his Transformers.

(He saw a video or two to this effect.)

But we've been restrictive with him looking at YouTube, because even some videos of transforming Transformers have inappropriate language.

As we explained, "Sometimes the videos use bad words."

So the other day, Big Brother and I were building Bey Blades out of legos. (I get frequent requests to make all kinds of toys out of legos, which should earn me an honorary Master's degree in Legos).

After some finagling, we were actually able to make some Bey Blades that spin for awhile.

I blurted out to Big Brother, "That's so cool. We should make a YouTube video with our lego Bey Blades."

"ARE WE GONNA SAY BAD WORDS?" he asked, with a genuine look of concern.

Nice.

I'll admit that my initial thought was "@#$% no!", but I opted for the G-rated "Of course not, silly!", lest I defeat my own purpose.

It's always good to know that sometimes he's actually listening to me.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

Doodie Pie

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone!

Don’t let the title fool you. This post has nothing whatsoever to do with cow chips, I promise. Trust me, we’ve been reading a children’s book lately that stars, in the cast of characters, a talking cow patty. No joke. And no need to go there.

Nope, today we’re going to talk about song lyrics.

At least what we think the lyrics are.

You know what I’m talking about.

You swear up and down you know the lyrics, only to be crushed to find out that “Sweet Dreams are NOT made of THE YEARS”, but rather just “THIS”.

(As an aside, can anyone explain to me how Annie Lennox can make “this” into a four syllable word?)

What can I say? “Love lift us up WHEN WE WERE WRONG.”

Big Brother has found his botched lyrics song, and it’s Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”.

The other evening, he asked me, “Dad-E, what’s a ‘doodie pie’?”

Oh no, here we go. Another request for the talking cow patty book.

Not wanting to go there, I stalled with my answer.

“You know, the song where the girl sings ‘doodie pie, doodie pie’?”

Oh, nowIknowwhatyou’retalkingabout.

Uh, Dad-E, how’d you get Poker Face out of “doodie pie”, you’re thinking.

Only because I’ll admit to once thinking that she’s singing “cutie, pie, cutie pie…” instead of CAN’T READ MY (poker face).

And indeed, I play the song, and “that’s the one” and now nobody is confused.

My job here is done.

Have a good weekend,
Don’t step in a “doodie pie”,
We’ll be playing “War” (without Poker Faces),
Busy-Dad-E

Life Lessons Sinking In

Happy Fatherhood Friday! Be sure to visit dadexchange.com, a great forum for dad (and mom) bloggers.

I feel like I'm eyeballs deep in work these days.

And when things get more hectic, I try to do a few things to offset the craz-e-ness.

I continue to exercise, even if it means wanting to smash the alarm clock getting up earlier than I'd like.

I look forward to the moments at the end of the day when Mom-E and I can sit down and laugh together even if we fall asleep on the couch 30 seconds after sitting down about the wild jungle that is our household.

I write this blog.

I leave for work a hair later than I should, if that means an opportunity to sit down and have breakfast with the boys, and maybe even play a round or two of War before I head out.

And such was the case this morning that I enjoyed breakfast with the boys.

As I was getting their food together while they sat around the table, I heard the following conversation:

"Big Brother, what do you want to be when you grow up?" started Little Brother.

"An artist," he replied. "What about you?"

"A builder."

"That's great. You know, you can be anything you want."

"Yeah."

Little Brother then turns to me and asks, "Dad-E, how was your day yesterday?"

I love it when the boys asks that - and sitting down at the table for dinner has become synonymous with that question.

It's also synonymous with yelling ("That's gross!"), screaming, playing with toys, running away from the table, going potty, and feeding Pupp-E.

But those two phrases - "You can be anything you want." and asking "How was your day?" - are some of the core ideals that Mom-E and I have tried to instill in the boys.

And apparently they've been listening to those phrases at least, can't say that about everything.

So now matter how bus-e and craz-e it gets, today is a good day.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

One More Thing Before I Go To Bed

Happy Fatherhood Friday! Be sure to visit dadexchange.com, a great forum for dad (and mom) bloggers.

It seems like lately I've been writing a lot about some of my boys' indelible little behaviors.

And today is no different (mostly because I'm tired and couldn't think of anything else).

In contrast to times past, I'm thankful that overall the boys are pretty easy to put to bed.

Every now again, about 10 minutes after we've said our last "goodnight", just when we think everyone's asleep, Little Brother will calmly walk out of his room, say something absolutely hysterically random, turn around, close his door, and go straight back to bed, never to be heard from again until morning.

He doesn't even wait for you to respond before he heads back into his room.

The other day I told Mom-E we need to write these down before we forget them.

Here are the only two I can remember my two favorites.

Again, remember, picture a tired toddler coming out of his room and blurting out:

1. "Dad-E, I want to have my birthday party at home."

(Thanks, buddy, I'll try to remember that 8 months from now when it's actually your birthday.)

2. "Mom-E, wouldn't it be silly if we had a trash can in our minivan."

(That's funny coming from a 3 year-old who otherwise appears to think that the entire floor of the minivan is his personal trash can.)

Have a good weekend,

I don't know what I want for Christmas yet.

Busy-Dad-E

Like Kryptonite for Robin

Happy Fatherhood Friday! Be sure to visit dadexchange.com, a great forum for dad (and mom) bloggers.
We (still) need more participants!

Recently, we've chronicled Little Brother's obsession with wearing his Robin costume (part I and part II). Go ahead and catch up if you need to. We'll wait.

*****
Great. Glad you're back.

And today will be the third (and hopefully final) installment of this saga. (Because well, you know, by the time you get to the third post/film in a series, your audience is often wishing you stopped after the first.)

Mom-E and are pleased to say we serendipitously found an antidote, dare I say "kryptonite", for the Robin costume: liquid.

Just as one drop of pee in his underwear causes Little Brother to strip from below the waist, one drop of liquid causes the Robin costume to come off immediately.

(We figured this out the other evening when a little chocky juice dribbled onto his sleeve at dinner.)

Yep, who knew that Robin is more cat than bird, "afraid" of water. (At least he didn't melt like the Wicket Witch of the West.)

Now, I'm not saying that Mom-E now carries a syringe of water around in her purse (tempting though it may be).

But at least we know if we really need him to take of the costume lest he melt from heat exhaustion, all we need is a sprinkle of liquid.

*****
And in keeping up with the theme, I now realize that we know the weaknesses of all of our superheroes.

As detailed earlier this week, Bab-E Brother's powers are zapped by dirty hands.

And Big Brother is immobilized by a smelly dog. (Makes him run away screaming like the Magic Mirror Gate in the Neverending Story.)

*****
Which leads me to think that Pupp-E is actually kryptonite for all three of our little superheroes.

In one fell swoop, he can come inside, wet, dirty, and stinky. The "stinky" knocks out Big Brother, he gets Little Brother "wet", putting him out of commission, and when Bab-E Brother pets him, his hands get "dirty" and he's immobilized, too.

I knew there was some reason we kept that dog around.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

Halloween in July

Happy Fatherhood Friday! Be sure to visit dadexchange.com, a great forum for dad (and mom) bloggers. We need more participants!

Recently, we brought you Christmas in June.

Today, I bring you Halloween in July. (Who said you have to wait until October?)

Little Brother’s summer wardrobe has been all about the extremes, consistent with his unique style and panache.

For the first half of the summer, he pretty much went around wearing only “fimming funks” (swimming trunks) and no shirt.

Recently, he’s returned to wearing his Robin costume, which has been “newly refurbished” (i.e., Mom-E stitched up all of the holes, and made him a new mask to replace the one that went missing. Thanks, Mom-E!)

And by wearing the costume, I don’t mean put in on and play Batman and Robin for an hour (or 5 minutes), depending on attention span.

I mean the boy wears the Robin costume ALL DAY LONG.

It doesn’t matter if it’s 125-degrees outside. He insists on wearing his costume.

The other day, we decided to go to the mall. I got to play with the boys on the playground, while Mom-E got to run an fun errand and an hour with no screams (or at least only the residual screams from inside her head.) ☺

You guessed it. Little Brother INSISTED on wearing his Robin costume to the mall, complete with mask.

And not only that, he was wearing pj’s underneath the costume. (Hey, in our world, Little Brother willingly sporting pants of any kind is a plus.)

You can imagine the looks we got. (Or the looks I assume we got. With 3 young boys, we can still look like a bit of a side show even when everyone is dressed in regular clothes, so I’ve become somewhat immune to stares.)

However, I did notice that Little Brother got lots of attention from the other children at the playground, who seemed to find it a cool idea.

If you happened to be a parent who’s child saw Little Brother at the mall and wants to wear their Halloween costume to the playground, I’m sorry.

Way to go, Little Brother, you have a style all your own that brings a smile and a chuckle to our hearts.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

Yellow River Road Trip

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone!

How glad am I that dadexchange.com, formerly dad-blogs.com is back?

So glad that, in fact, I think I wet my pants.

Which, if you could tell from the post title, was the theme from our recent mini-vacation.

Recently, Aunt-E celebrated a milestone birthday (25 again), and so Mom-E's entire family headed off for a long weekend vacation stressing the word long over vacation.

Our destination was about 240 miles away from home, and the trip there was...well...er...eventful.

So eventful that I'm contemplating added a semi-automatic feature to my Benadryl Dart-Gun (patent pending).

In the words of Mitch Hedberg, I just want to clarify that last joke by saying, "I'm just joking. That's right, fully, not semi-automatic"

We left about 9:30 in the morning.

Given that our mini-van would play host to several Board members of the "Small Bladder Club", I advised the Board to recite their pledge in front of the potty before we departed.

First stop was 5 minutes later at CVS for diapers for Bab-E Brother (admittedly a planned stop).

Second stop was 10 minutes later at the "Pupp-E Spa" to drop off Pupp-E (also planned).

Thereafter, it was time to motor towards our destination.

We managed to motor about 20 minutes before the Board called an emergency meeting.

"Dad-E, I have to pee."

Wanting to keep the Board meeting on land and not pee sea, we pulled off at the next exit.

Nature being chock-full-o the irony at the start of the weekend, the first place to go pee was McDonald's.

I pull in, knowing the scenario that's about to unfold.

It's 10:40 in the morning. Being so excited about the trip, the boys have primed bladders and tummies filled with only about 2 bites of cereal and 3 swigs of milk. Translation: they no sooner pee than they decide they're ready for lunch.

So while I bang my forehead against the steering column entertain Bab-E Brother, Mom-E plays assistant to the Board and gets them Happy Meals.

Meanwhile (it's now about 11:00 am), I start doing some calculations, nerd that I am.

We've been on the road 1.5 hours and travelled a "grand" total of 30 measly miles. That's 1/8th of the total trip distance, meaning what should be a 4 hour trip is on pace to be a 12 hour "just shoot me" affair.

Now peed out and fueled up, the Board votes to adjourn, and we head back on the road.

We make it LITERALLY ANOTHER 8 MILES UP THE ROAD and the Board calls ANOTHER meeting. Apparently the senior Board member wants to re-review the data presented at the last meeting.

Again, we pull off at the nearest exit, but this time there's absolutely nothing in sight.

So we pull off onto a dirt road and the Board remember reviews the data amidst the bushes and broken bottles.

But at least he was serious about "reviewing the data". He didn't just skim through it. He really had to review in detail. Amazingly. Apparently his kidneys are REALLY, REALLY efficient.

And then by the grace of God, one board member falls asleep, another junior member also falls asleep, and the senior Board member becomes engrossed with Bakugan, Transformers, and whatever else is in his briefcase.

So we make it about 90 more minutes before the administrative assistants decide we need lunch, too.

We stopped at the weirdest combination gas station-Subway-Taco Bell that you ever did see.

We try desperately to persuade the Board to have another meeting due to the convenient time, but they're adamant to the point of screaming that another meeting is unnecessary.

Mom-E and I start to dive into our lunch.

We DON'T EVEN MAKE IT BACK TO THE INTERSTATE before both Board members decide they do, in fact, want to have another meeting.

This time the administrative assistants step in and inform the Board that they're going to have to wait a few darn minutes to prep the meeting room (just a cover to load our Benadryl dart guns).

Seriously, we go about another 10 minutes before pulling into YET ANOTHER MCDONALD'S.

The Board again calls a recess, and we manage to limp our way to the destination (in about 6 hours total), without springing any additional leaks.

**
One of Big Brother's friend's mom recently emailed Mom-E o say they had a nice time on their recent vacation. They're kids had a great time, and the next time they go on vacation, it will be PARENTS ONLY.

Well said. Well said.

They usually say you need a vacation from your vacation when you get back.

After the trip there, I think we needed a vacation before we even STARTED our vacation.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

P.S. The vacation really was quite nice, and fortunately for us, the trip home was much less eventful.

Lights Out

Happy Fatherhood Friday!

Getting 3 boys under the age of 6 awake, dressed, fed, teeth brushed, and "out the door" by 7-8 AM is often quite the chore.

In fact, when if Mom-E and I are up to 12 or 1 AM, we sometimes joke, "well, we better start the morning routine NOW (without going to bed first) or we'll be late leaving the house in the morning."

And if Mom-E and I wake up late, the whole morning routine is a big train wreck (i.e., we're lucky to leave before noon.)

The other day was one such morning. It was ~6:45 AM and Mom-E and I were showered and dressed, but all 3 boys were still asleep.

(Brief digression: I can remember the days when 6:45 AM was unbelievably early, not late.)

All of a sudden, the whole house went dark.

I peaked outside and the whole neighborhood was dark.

Lovely. Just bloody lovely.

(Sure, the sun was thinking about waking up soon, but when you're late, that isn't much help.)

And so, we grabbed our (one working) flashlight, and started the "modified morning routine."

Imagine trying to get children dresed and fed while hopping on 1 leg; it pretty much felt like that.

The boys, however, had a ball fighting over the flashlight using the flashlight like a light-saber. And they asked lots of fun questions about "Why doesn't the toaster work?" and "Can I watch Scooby Doo?"

Despite the headaches, it was kinda fun to eat Cheerios by flashlight, and it brought the whole family together at the breakfast table.

And we did make it out the door, eventually, albeit ~1 hour late.

Still, we love you, electricity. We're glad you came back. You're always welcome in our home. We'd keep a light on for you, but well...you know.

Have a good weekend,
Stay warm,
Busy-Dad-E

Happy Meal Mania

It was only a matter of time.

After countless trips to Subway for chips, veggies, and juice boxes, Big Brother has discovered that there’s a whole world of ‘Kids Meals’ out there.

And after years of subsisting on granola bars, crackers, yogurt, fruit, and veggies, Big Brother has acknowledged that french fries and chicken nuggets might not be so bad, after all. (In moderation, of course.)

In retrospect, it was perhaps obvious that the way to get Big Brother to emerge from his eating shell was to bring to his attention the fact that Kids Meals come with a toy.

And so, this tale starts with a random request for “I’d like to have French fries”, that left Mom-E and I with multiple arm bruises, having pinched each other so hard.

“Uh. Sure. We’ll stop right now.”

To our amazement, he willingly ate some fries.

It didn’t take long for this to balloon into, if I try some chicken nuggets, can I have a Kids Meal.

“Heck yeah. And if you eat it all, we’ll throw in a second one. It’s only a staple food of 99.9% of toddlers/small children. The other 0.1% doesn’t need you anymore.”

And so we managed to eat about 1 whole chicken nugget. Willingly.

YES YOU HEARD ME RIGHT, BIG BROTHER, BUSY-DAD-E’S OLDEST AND BELOVED SON, WILLINGLY ATE A CHICKEN NUGGET.

Next stop, World Peace.

Granted, he likes fries better than chicken nuggets. And along the way discovered that honey makes a most excellent dipping sauce.

But still, we’re on to something. And sure, the prize in the Kids Meal sweetens the deal, but if it gets him to eat, hey, who cares?

And this change has the added benefit of Little Brother joining the party and eating some french fries, too. (No nuggets for him yet).

I’m so glad that his tastes are changing and expanding. It will make so many things easier for him and us. And his future prom date.

Of course, we can’t eat fast food all the time (I hear my arteries screaming, “Nooooo!), but for now, it’s a good trade-off to encourage his expanding tastes.

Beware sandwiches, you’re next (on the menu)!

Have a Happy (Meal) Weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

Da-Da Shake Your No-No

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone!

If you thought I was introducing the next hit single by our very own "Corn House Boys", I'm afraid you'll have to wait.

Bab-E Brother continues to grow and develop by leaps and bounds.

He has officially broken his vow of silence, and is now suffering from oral diarrhea. And despite being called "diarrhea", it is quite pleasant to the (aural)senses.

He is now babbling ALL DAY LONG. Da-da-da-da...Ma-ma-ma-ma...Ga (the latter being his term for sock). Perhaps it takes his mind away from teething pain.

I can't wait until the ma-ma and da-da become "specific".

Bab-E Brother has also learned the "No-No" head shake.

Fortunately, he has yet to learn the word "no", although we all k"no"w that's coming soon.

Instead, he seems to be mimicking Little Brother, who suavely shakes his head in said fashion while grooving to cool jams.

(Great. Note to self. Learning of (potenitally bad) habits from older brothers is in full-swing.)

This is quite funny, because you can ask him "Bab-E Brother, do you want some Cheerios?"

And he'll shake his head "No", which is promptly followed by shovelling in a hand full of Cheerios to the point of almost choking.

In contrast to "ma-ma" and "da-da", I can wait until the "no's" become specific.

And if all that wasn't exciting enough, Bab-E Brother is also on-the-move.

He can make about 2 shuffles in "regular" crawling position, before he collapses into a full-blown "commando crawl."

But even "commando crawling", the boy slithers like a speedy snake, particularly if a choking hazzard has caught his eye.

(Note to self: additional "baby-proofing" has just received a complementary upgrade to first-class.)

Keep up the good work, buddy. We'll have our third small ambulatory man in no time.

Lord help us.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

Da-Da Shake Your No-No

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone!

If you thought I was introducing the next hit single by our very own "Corn House Boys", I'm afraid you'll have to wait.

Bab-E Brother continues to grow and develop by leaps and bounds.

He has officially broken his vow of silence, and is now suffering from oral diarrhea. And despite being called "diarrhea", it is quite pleasant to the (aural)senses.

He is now babbling ALL DAY LONG. Da-da-da-da...Ma-ma-ma-ma...Ga (the latter being his term for sock). Perhaps it takes his mind away from teething pain.

I can't wait until the ma-ma and da-da become "specific".

Bab-E Brother has also learned the "No-No" head shake.

Fortunately, he has yet to learn the word "no", although we all k"no"w that's coming soon.

Instead, he seems to be mimicking Little Brother, who suavely shakes his head in said fashion while grooving to cool jams.

(Great. Note to self. Learning of (potenitally bad) habits from older brothers is in full-swing.)

This is quite funny, because you can ask him "Bab-E Brother, do you want some Cheerios?"

And he'll shake his head "No", which is promptly followed by shovelling in a hand full of Cheerios to the point of almost choking.

In contrast to "ma-ma" and "da-da", I can wait until the "no's" become specific.

And if all that wasn't exciting enough, Bab-E Brother is also on-the-move.

He can make about 2 shuffles in "regular" crawling position, before he collapses into a full-blown "commando crawl."

But even "commando crawling", the boy slithers like a speedy snake, particularly if a choking hazzard has caught his eye.

(Note to self: additional "baby-proofing" has just received a complementary upgrade to first-class.)

Keep up the good work, buddy. We'll have our third small ambulatory man in no time.

Lord help us.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

An Election Day Story

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone! If you didn't vote in the midterm elections, it's obviously too late. But it's not too late to show your support for the great bloggers over at dad-blogs.com (assuming that they still have this after missing last week).

So on Election Day, we told the boys as we were leaving that Mom-E and Dad-E were going to go vote. Mom-E dropped off Big Brother at school, and I took Little Brother and Bab-E Brother with me to the polling place.

As we're driving there, Little Brother, in his usual loquacious fashion, begins a line of interrogation/comments. (Sometimes, it reminds me of the nephew in Uncle Buck who, unrelentingly, asks consecutive questions, often without a chance to respond.)

DO BIG FISH BITE?

WHY DO FISH BITE?

LITTLE FISH DON'T BITE YOU?

I LIKE LITTLE FISH.

SHARKS BITE.

WHAT DO YOU DO SO SHARKS DON'T BITE YOU?

(I quickly got in, "Stay away from sharks.", here).

HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR STRING LONG ENOUGH?

For what?

YOU NEED THE RIGHT STRING.

HOW DO YOU GET A POLE?

(Moment of clarity. Oh, we're talking about fishing. "You can buy one at the store.")


*****
The inquisition continues for a good 5+ minutes, even as we're getting out of the van.

I have no idea what the heck he's talking about.

As we're walking in, BAM! It suddenly dawns on me why he's been asking these questions.

"Little Brother, do you think we're going BOATING?"

(We went through a phase where Curious George Goes Fishing was a nightly read.)

YES.

"No, we're going Voting, not boating. Can you say 'boating'?"

NO, I CAN'T SAY THAT.

At which point, the whole thing becomes completely hysterical.

And it becomes even funnier when he continues his line of questioning while we're in line.

IS THERE A BIG FISH IN THIS LINE?

"No, we're voting, not boating."

It continues, even as we're about to leave.

ARE WE GOING FISHING NOW?

That Little Brother is something else.

"Curious thing, the mind of a child is" - Jedi Master Yoda

Have a good weekend,
If your candidates weren't elected, you can always go boating,
Busy-Dad-E

Origami Buddies

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone! Be sure to fold your way over to the other bloggers over at dad-blogs.com.

So recently the boys and I have been enjoying some "telescope time."

Of course rainy weather and Old Man winter will eventually put a damper on that, so we needed to come up with a parallel indoor activity.

The other night, Big Brother noticed an origami book/starter kit on the bookshelf, and got quite interested.

Ever since, we've been doing origami at the breakfast table and again after dinner. And by "we", I mean that I am told what to make while Big Brother "looks on"/plays with other toys/occasionally helps me make a crease.

By these standards, Little Brother likes to do origami, too (except for the "creasing" part).

So far, we've made planes, cars, and a fish.

Mom-E likes to do some sewing in her "free time", and she often gets frustrated by patterns that don't make sense.

Apparently, these same people are also in the orgami instructions business.

The instructions go something like this:
1. Fold paper in half.
2. Then a miracle occurs.
3. Your paper is now a replica of the Brady Bunch's house. Groovy!

Okay, so it's not quite that bad. But some of them are pretty hard. And trying to fold paper with a 2 year-old on your lap, while feeding a baby, earns me a Brady Bunch level of household chaos/difficulty.

As with "telescope time", it's all about spending time with Big Brother anyway.

Of course, we pay attention to all of our children, but sometimes he (naturally) gets a little less direct attention than his younger brothers, because he's older, and I know this is hard for him.

And so, doing origami at the breakfast table, before the other boys get up, has provided a venue for some nice individual time with him.

Not to mention that "Do you want to go have breakfast and do some origami?" has become an amazing way to get an almost 6 year-old to wake up and get dressed, PLEASANTLY, at 6:15 am.

I really enjoy the time with him. It's definitely something to "fold up" and keep safe in my pocket.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

Movie Buffs

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone! Be sure to drink your Ovaltine check out all of the Oscar-worthy bloggers over at dad-blogs.com.

I had another post written in mind for today, but my "Managing Editor" vetoed the post--appropriately so--before I'd finished reading her the second paragraph, so it will forever remain an "inside joke." Thank you, Mom-E, for being my sounding board and for calling me out when I cross the line into obnoxious.

Today's post is for my boys.

*****
Dear Big Brother and Little Brother (and Bab-E Brother, eventually),

I love going to movies with you at the theater. And I know how excite it makes you, too.

Yeah, yeah, I know, too much tv probably "rots your brain." But in this case, I think a little bit is good for you (us).

I've always liked going to see movies at the theater. (I quote movie lines way more than I should.) But it rekindles special times--as a child and as an adult--that I spent with my parents. In fact, I can probably remember most of the movies that I saw with them.

My parents would periodically take me to see a movie, either just my Mom and I or my Dad and I. I guess it always made me feel special to have that one on one time with them.

And I hope the same is for you. I hope our "dates" at the movies create memories that you'll always remember.

I love huddling with you in the theater. When you are really small, you like to sit on my lap. As you get older, we sit close together. We laugh and laugh. And then we always talk about the movie in detail afterwards. (Often for several days afterwards.)

It's just a nice escape from the frenetic pace that so often governs our lives. Going to the movies forces us to take that time to just sit and enjoy each others' company. The dishes, laundry, housework, yardwork, cooking, cleaning, etc., can all take a number for 2 hours, because you boys are our top priority. It really helps me "recharge my batteries."

And we always get to play 1 video game before we leave the theater. Usually some form of driving/racing game, where again you have to sit on my lap to reach the steering wheel, and I have to operate the pedals.

We make a good team.

And so, I wanted you boys to know all this, and that as a rememberance, I carry the ticket stubs from those movies--Wall-E, Madagascar, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Horton, Princess & the Frog, and Alpha & Omega--in my wallet.

I love you,
Busy-Dad-E

P.S. Have a good weekend, all.

3 Cranky Boys (and a Hypoglycemic Mom's) Pizza

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone. Just click on dad-blogs.com to "deliver" yourself to a bunch of other great bloggers.

So last week Mom-E and I launched a pizza delivery service.

We've since retired from the business after one day, 4 pizzas, and no profit.

One of Mom-E's most endearing qualities--and one that probably adds to her stress levels--is that she always volunteers to do nice things for people.

(I joke with her that she's charged with making hand-carved wooden boxes for everyone in the world. You should expect yours sometime soon.)

So last Friday night we'd agreed to bring dinner to not one, but two of our friends who recently had babies.

And, for some reason, we told one friend we'd bring dinner about 5:30 and the other about 6:45.

Mind you, I usually get home about 5:30, and at 4:30 Mom-E told me she had to go pick up Pupp-E from the groomers, and had not made the homemade pizzas yet (dough was made, but still in the fridge).

So, I came home a little early, just in time to meet Mom-E, the boys, and
Pupp-E.

I filled my arms with small children, and Mom-E started making pizzas.

Mom-E was going to make 4 pizzas: 1 for one family, 2 for the other (larger) family, and 1 for us. Unfortunately, the pizzas end up being small enough that we needed 2 pizzas for each family, meaning that we no longer had dinner for ourselves.

By about 6:15 we're ready to leave.

The boys, however, are not. They'd recently made one trip in the car, and were ready to jammie it up and hang out at home.

So, we load up our pizza delivery van with 4 ready-to-bake pizzas, 3 very cranky screaming boys, 2 of those pizzas in my arms in the back seat of the van, and 1 rapidly becoming hypoglycemic Deliver-E Driver (Mom-E) who's a little concerned that we're about an hour late for our first delivery.

We actually decide to make the second delivery first because they're closer to our house.

Only problem is that I didn't have the directions quite right. This required me to make a phone call, while holding two pizzas on baking sheets in the back seat of a van with hungry, screaming children who do not want to be in said van, and a wife who--despite being a very sweet woman--in her own words becomes evil when she gets really hungry.

I proceed to try to convince the boys that this is our new family business, and every night we're going to deliver pizzas out of our minivan.

It's not delivery, it's 3 Cranky Boys Pizza. We bring you your pizza...one hour late...with screams a smile, and then you have to wait another 25 minutes while it bakes.

So we make delivery one, and proceed to delivery number two.

Fortuntely, things got better from there. The boys were exciting about visiting that family (they're part of our "dinner group", and the kids have a ball together). We're able to use what blood sugar we had left in lieu of spontaneously combusting.

And since we essentially delivered our dinner to our friends, we decide to call it a night and grab a bite to eat.

The next time we consider making and delivering dinner for two of our friends on a weeknight, we'll take a deep breath, and then exhale "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

And then do it anyway, because that's how we roll.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E
Cheif Paternal Officer, 3 Cranky Boys Pizza

Kappa Gamma Nu

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone. Join the "rush" to visit of all the other great bloggers over at dad-blogs.com.

At the age of 5, Big Brother is already pledging a fraternity: Kappa Gamma Nu.

But you probably know KGN by it's other name, KinderGardeN.

Now, I wasn't in a frat, but it sure seems like Big Brother is being "hazed" in a way, so far this year.

And by "hazed", I mean Mom-E and Dad-E are asked to buy or send something about every week.

The school is always sending notes home, "Please have your child bring in..."

This has included things like:
-50 cents for ice cream on Friday.
-2 apples for Johnny Appleseed Day
-Some kind of item for an Animal Rescue project
-Donations for the teacher's Christmas present (already)
-A "sweet treat" for teacher appreciation day
-An afternoon snack for 20 children once a month
-$20 for school field trips

All of this is coupled with the fact that Mom-E volunteered to sew seat covers for each child in the class (to store pencil boxes, etc.) The teacher told Mom-E to buy the materials, make them, and she'd reimburse her for what she spent. No other specifiers or instructions.

Mom-E bought the fabric (40% off), stayed up to all hours on many nights, and in total spent about $70 ($3.50/child). I didn't think that was too bad. There's no way you could buy something in a store for that price.

And then when Mom-E turns in the receipts, the teacher takes up a collection (of course: Please send in donations for seat covers), and we get an envelope for $40 with a note saying "is that okay?"

Well, it would be if you said you'd reimburse her up to $40.

(Guess what the teacher is getting for Christmas from us...SEAT COVERS. :)

When it's late and Mom-E and I are really tired, we can't help but extrapolate these requests. If they're asking for this stuff in the first 6 weeks, what's it going to be like next spring?

Some ideas:
1. Please have your child bring in a goat (already trained).
2. Together with your child, please choreograph a ballet for Monday.
3. Please send $250 for a plane ticket for your child (field trip with the goat).
4. A Dolce & Gabbana handbag for the teacher's birthday.
5. Lobster dinner for all children in the class (flown in fresh from Maine).

Can't wait for "rush" to be over. And neither can our wallets. But I have a funny feeling we're just getting started.

Hey, anybody want to by some Otis Spunkmeyer cookies? Big Brother has those for us to buy is selling those, too.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

ChiLd UnawarEness LESSons

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone. Unless you're "CLULESS", be sure to visit all of the great bloggers over at dad-blogs.com.

Mom-E and I are (members of) CLUELESS.

I wish I could say we're the founding members, but we're not. Although I did just make up the acronym.

CLUELESS stands for ChiLD UnawarEness LESSons.

Essentially, I'm talking about the work parents do after their kids go to bed.

As much as my children pay attention to detail, I'm amazed that they've never asked questions such as, "How do my clothes magically get clean, folded, and/or hung in the closet?"

It's something (I imagine) all parents have done--put laundry away in their kids' rooms while they're asleep.

But Mom-E and I took CLUELESS to a new level this past week.

You see, Little Brother is going to have a Wubbzy-themed 3rd birthday party.


And Mom-E is making him a Wubbzy costume (because he LOVES to go around in costume--Batman, Robin, Wolverine, Dale Jr--and will do so for hours at a time)

But she's had to do some of the sizing "on the fly."

This meant sneaking into Little Brother's room well past midnight. I sat him up in bed and held him upright, while Mom-E put the costume over his head.

And we had to do this twice.

We couldn't help but have a good laugh over the matter.

I mean, we have no doubt that Little Brother will go totally ape over the costume. Probably won't take it off until 2011. At the earliest.

Which makes it so funny (at least to us) that we actually tried it on him while he was asleep, and he's absolutely CLUELESS that it ever happened.

Makes me wonder what kind of stuff our parents did to us when we were little.

Gramm-E?

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E