Spray-On Sunscreen

Trying to put sunscreen on a young child is about like trying to paint a chicken with a watercolor brush:
1. First, you've got to catch 'em.
2. Then, you've got to hold 'em down long enough to get them covered.

By the time you've done the above, you're too exhausted to go outside (or you've forgotten what you were doing in the first place, or it's now raining, or it's lunch/nap time). You get the idea.

This past weekend, we made a whirlwind trip to the beach to meet up with some friends. Amazingly, Mom-E's morning all-day sickness got better at the beach. I think we'll get her OB to write a prescription for "beach therapy."

Given our past experiences with sunscreen, you can imagine how excited we were to finally own some spray-on sunscreen. (I'm sure it's been available for years, and we're just now getting around to trying it out.)

The brand we bough was called "Up&Up." It was labeled as "sweat-proof", "don't need to rub it in," etc., etc., etc.

Well, we spray-painted sunscreened the boys REALLY well with this stuff (except for their faces, for which we used regular sunscreen). I mean like two coats of "Krylon-new" on a park bench well. Then we reapplied midway through our time at the beach.

Mom-E and I also tried this stuff.

Let me just say that it did NOT work well.

Everyone got some sun burn to some extent. Not terrible, but sun burn of any kind is bad.
Big Brother got the worst of it, but even parts of Little Brother’s arms were red. We also have some interesting tan/burn lines.

Apparently, the stuff is appropriately named, because “Up&Up” refers to what it will do to you long-term skin cancer risk.

If we had it to do all over again, maybe some things on our end would’ve helped: rub in the sunscreen, spray more often, let it dry longer before going back in the water.

The bottom line is that our experience with spray-on sunscreen parallels much of my attitude about life. To do things “right”, to really do a good job, takes an investment of time and effort, whether that’s raising children, a marriage, a job, or a blog.

It reminds me of the quote, “Happiness is the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.”

I guess this goes for sunscreen, too. Next time at the beach, we’ll be chasing the chickens boys down to paint them load them up with good old-fashioned sunscreen. “Up&Up” is for the chickens birds.

See you on Fatherhood Friday,
Busy-Dad-E

Perspective

Happy Fatherhood Friday! Thanks to the folks at dad-blogs.com for organizing this event, and thanks to you, the readers, for visiting.

I distinctly remember being in 2nd grade and thinking, "Man, those 5th graders are huge! I'll never be that tall."

Oh how in just a few short years those 5th graders became, well, short.

It's all about perspective.

I also remember our pediatrician telling us the best way to "baby-proof" the house was to crawl around on the floor in every room to see, from the baby's perspective, the whereabous of potential hazards.

And yet, how easy it is to lose that sense of perspective.

I've always found the best way to engage my children is to "get down on their level" when I talk or play with them. I was reminded of this today, when the boys and I were sitting together on the ground, digging a hole in the back yard with sandbox tools (which felt like Andy Dufrane digging his escape tunnel in the Shawshank Redemption.)

I'm not even going to bother going into why we were digging a whole in the backyard, but it was strangely fun and satisfying.

You may remember that last week we were at the zoo.

Big Brother has recently shown a growing interest in creative self-expression through art.

It started with drawings in his "Blues Clues Notebooks" (which for some reason always have Lighning McQueen on the cover, and lead to the beautiful, downloadable Busy-Dad-E radio button to your right).

Now, it's photography. If we get the camera out, you better believe he wants to take some pictures.

And so, I'm going to share with you some of Big Brother's pictures from the zoo.

Sure, some are slightly fuzzy or crooked (or have a finger in the way), but most important part is they're HIS.

In viewing the photos, it was very enjoyable for me to step away from the hectic pace of adult life, to get a glimpse of the world as it's seen through my 4 year-old's eyes. It was a powerful reminder to me to consider the world from HIS perspective, literally and figuratively, which I think can only make me a more effective parent.

Here they are:

"CAGE"


"PANDA"


"POST"


"SOCKS"


"BIRD"


"POLAR BEAR"


"STROLLER"


"EXIT"


"PEACE"

I can't believe how well this last one turned out, and how well it captures the peace and beauty of the season (from my perspective).



Happy Easter!
Busy-Dad-E

P.S. Please join us in praying for Stellan and his family.

The Zoo

Happy Fatherhood Friday, everyone!

At least the clock/calendar says it's Friday. Having just returned from a week-long meeting/"vacation", flying all day yesterday with two boys who decided they were on a liquid diet, lost luggage, and jet lag, my body is telling me it's "why-didn't-you-take-today-off-and-sleep" day.

During our trip, we took the boys to the zoo.

I imagine you're already laughing to yourself, "Busy-Dad-E, your life is enough of a ZOO at times, why do you need to visit another zoo when you're on vacation?"

I would have a hard time arguing with you, except that it makes my boys happy.

And so, here are the "Top 9" highlights from our day at the zoo.

#9 The number of times Big Brother had to go potty during the 5 hours we were there. (For those of you who like math, this is a trip to the potty every 33 minutes.)

#8 The number of animal exhibits we actually saw. (Note that we went potty more times than we looked at animals).

#7 The number of times Busy-Mom-E and I pulled the "if you don't stop that, we're leaving right now" card. We have a whole deck of those cards. They don't work, especially when your child (and their parents) is/are tired to the point of delirium. Definitely not a nominee for a "Great Moments in Parenting" award.

#6 The number of miles we pushed the stroller (or should I say carried Little Brother while the other parent pushed the empty stoller.) It still hurts my arms to type.

#5 The number of times we had to swoop Little Brother away from a "restricted area" because he was busy chasing free-roaming ducks, trying to feed them crackers.

#4 The number of limbs required to hold a child down in order to put enough sunscreen on to make any difference.

#3 The number of minutes (in 5 second intervats) that Little Brother wore the hat (aka spf 1000 for his head) we bought him. (Again, for those of you who like math, the hat cost about $5 per minute of actual use.)

#2 The number of ice cream cones we enjoyed together as a family. Talk about two happy brothers--oh the smiles and giggles!

#1 The number of gold-digging 2 year-old girls who put the moves on Little Brother.

Yep, that's right. Little Brother met his first girlfriend at the zoo. Her name was Jaylene, and their relationship lasted about 10 minutes. She was 2 years old and tan, with dark hair and pig tails. She walked right up to Little Brother, smiled, and even held his hand. Little Brother smiled, too. They started to elope (i.e., walked away from the concession area). He didn't even say "bye-bye" to Busy-Mom-E and me.

Next thing you know, Jaylene had taken Little Brother's bottled water. He was too shocked to cry. Her big (maybe 7 year-old) brother then entered the picture and started chasing her around. She coughed up the water bottle and lost all interest in Little Brother. Until...

A few minutes later, when she spotted Little Brother holding an ice cream cone. Wouldn't you know, she went right back up to him with the same coquettish grin. Fortunately, Little Brother was not to be taken for the fool a second time, and he spurned her advances(i.e., retreated to me to pick him up).

And so, Little Brother's first lesson in love was a harsh one: some girls are only interested in you for the things you have.

That said, we had a good day together as a family.

From my family zoo to yours, have a great weekend,
(Tired) Busy-Dad-E

Great Places to Take Your Kids

Inspired by the inauguration of the “Big Brother Explains” series last Fatherhood Friday, I’ve decided to start my own series: Great Places to Take Your Kids.

While I could easily include places like the neighborhood park and the ice cream store, this series is meant more for neat family-friendly vacation ideas.

This series is also not meant to be “exhaustive.” From time to time, I plan to share places that I’ve particularly enjoyed visiting with my family. This isn’t paid advertisements—it just represents my $0.02.

And so, without further ado, today’s destination: LEGOLAND!

If you have the occasion to travel to San Diego, I’d highly recommend taking your kids to Legoland. You can check it out at www.legoland.com.

My visit to Legoland reminded me of one of my favorite things about being a dad: I get to play, have fun, and act silly while interacting with my boys—and it’s considered completely appropriate, normal, and healthy parenting.

Simply put, I have not had as much fun at an amusement park, nor found one to one that as kid-friendly, as I did Legoland. There were a nice variety of rides, playground equipment, water activities, and things to see (a Lego factory tour, every character imaginable, and cityscapes (including the Vegas strip and Daytona) made entirely of Legos, as examples).

We went on a Saturday in the spring, and the wait times for all rides were less than 45 minutes, with some as little as 5 minutes. Some of the attractions with longer waits have it set up where the kids can play (in the shade) at lego tables while mom or dad holds the place in line. This was quite nice.

Many of the rides require the kids to be active (physically or mentally), such as pedaling a car along a “light-rail”-like system, digging for fossils in a giant sand pit, or driving a fire truck to put out a fire (with a real water hose).

A few potential negatives worth mentioning:
1. Tickets are rather expensive ($60-70 per person (kids over 3)) for daily admission.
2. There’s more to do and see than can possibly be completed in one day (the park is open 7 hours). I’d give consideration to upgrading to a 2nd day ticket for $15 more per person.
3. Most of the rides require the child to be 34 or 36 inches tall to ride with a parent. Although there are a few things for kids smaller than this to ride, they will definitely have fewer options than older children. That said, Little Brother played for hours at the playground and water activities.

Both Big Brother and Little Brother had a wonderful time. The day was filled with smiles and giggles. By the time we got back to the car, they had played so hard that both boys were asleep within minutes. I’m sure Mom-E and I will look back on our day at Legoland as one of our happiest memories of having a young family. If we have the occasion to return to San Diego, we’ll definitely take the boys again.

I’d love to hear from you about some of your favorite places that you’ve taken your kids, and I’m sure other followers of the blog (have you officially signed up yet?) would, too.

Have a good week,
Busy-Dad-E