Deep thoughts from a small mind

Fond memories of skating

2012-01-30T21:30:00.001-05:00

After I picked up Pete we drove around the campus to miss a long light. Peter first asked to go pick up Mama from her office (but she had her car so we didn't). Peter then pointed to a building and said "Peter was there". I asked if he remembered what we did there. He said "I went on the ice with Diana and Mama and Daddy". I said very good Pete, that is where we went ice skating. Would you like to go again? He said "No. I fell down and didn't like it. I want to go there with my bike and melt the ice all up!" He talked quite a bit on the ride home about melting the ice so he could ride his bike at the BC Ice Center. Then he started talking about getting a trampoline at home so he could jump on it and bounce on it.

We might not have a little hockey player.

Is there any money in bouncing?

Cooking up a storm

2012-01-27T06:27:00.000-05:00

4 days down.

Tera and I have been cooking every day this week. Rachel can't have iodized salt, egg yolks, seafood or soy (and chooses to not eat meat). That means we have to start from scratch. Pesto, egg white and avocado salad, eggplant, chili con corn, tortillas and spaghetti sauce. At least we can buy some brands of pasta. And use the bread maker!

It is a lot of work for Tera and I, but I can't imagine keeping up with it if we didn't have a dishwasher. We've run it every day.

Getting the giggles

2012-01-21T22:58:00.000-05:00

2 things cracked me up the last couple days.

Duncan was outside, came in with wet feet, charging past me like he know I would want to check him for mud. About halfway through the living room he hit the brakes... and slid about 10 feet, just like in cartoons. Toward the end he started to try and run backwards, but kept sliding towards Peter's table. He fell with crash and came to a rest just before he hit the table. The crash brought Rachel up from her bedroom and Tera out from the kitchen. Tera and Rachel were trying to find the source of the clatter and I was laughing too hard to explain.

Tonight Pete took a late nap. I decided to try and take a nap also in case he decided to be up half the night. After a while Pete woke up, came in and climbed up on the bed. He started talking a mile a minute about something, but I was still to groggy to pick up any of what he said. I was still giggling when Tera came in. She laid down and he kept right on talking. No I could tell it was bits and pieces of a wild Kratts episode, but Pete was in the show. Evieva gave him something for his power pod, and "Look!" Jimmy Z was over there.

Fun times for a funny little boy.

Potty Training

2012-01-16T17:09:00.001-05:00

As part of potty training, We bought some pull ups with a design that fades when it gets wet (form the inside).

Unfortunately, cheering when he still had the design and went on the potty didn't do the trick. So we added m&m's as a reward. It works better, but still not perfect. And Pete doesn't totally get it. As we put on a clean pull up after discovering a wet one, Pete looks down and exclaims excitedly "I still have my design! I get a piece of candy!"

Still have to dial in the task / reward system.

Snow!

2012-01-13T22:29:00.003-05:00

Not everyone is happy, but winter may really be here. This is the first real snow of the year, so it's getting an exclamation mark (sorry Tera). The roads weren't too bad, and I got the driveway and steps done in less than 30 minutes when I got home. Peter was ready to go sledding, but not in the dark. He will have to wait until tomorrow to try out the new cold weather gear.

Yep, that's Rachel

2012-01-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

We went to the board of education meeting tonight. She (and others) were being recognized for awards they had received this year. Yay Rachel!

She also got points from her social studies class for attending. Or course we left after the award presentation and didn't hear anything that would be useful to a high School student.

Spreadsheets stink

2012-01-11T19:51:00.003-05:00

One of my monster spreadsheets started acting funny a few weeks ago. For no reason, the look up function I've used for years stopped working on random rows. I figured out another way to do the look up that worked. Today the whole spreadsheet stopped working, both ways. A friendly co-worker helped me get most of the rows working, but I still had to manually type about 50 rows of 5 columns. 1/2 the day shot. Whee.

Peter and Diana make Dinner

2012-01-10T22:54:00.000-05:00

Peter really likes to help in the kitchen. I think mostly because he gets to use the step ladder to reach the counter.

Last Friday Diana helped Peter punch out the pre-made dough and put the cheese on it too. Should have grabbed the camera, but I was busy keeping the cheese out of the boys mouth.

Yesterday Peter helped make pigs in a blanket. Lost almost a whole hot dog due to quick hands and Daddy not paying enough attention (it's OK, they were pre-cooked).

It's fun, but doesn't really save time.

Duncan on guard duty

2012-01-09T10:24:00.001-05:00

The neighbor across the street has a yellow lab. Both take a "if I can see it, it's mine" approach to land. Strangers and other dogs get barked at if they are in the road or even if they are on their own property across the street. So if both dogs are out they must bark at each other.

Duncan was out yesterday. After a while he started to bark. Sure enough neighbor dog was out. We brought the dog back in. A minute later the guard dog is standing at the window barking at the dog across the road. We closed the curtains. Ahh. Quiet. A few minutes later, he's barking again. We look around and just his head is poking through the curtains so he can see the dog and let him know who's boss. Such persistence is pretty good for a dog who won't go near new or moved furniture.

Wild Kratts

2012-01-08T08:26:00.000-05:00

We've tried to keep Pete from spending too much time watching cartoons.

Diana introduced Peter to one of her favorite shows from when she was little. Wild Kratts is an educational and entertaining show. Peter is pretty hooked. He asked to watch daily, and he has his favorite episodes. Sometimes it seems too much, but the other morning he was telling me about how the birds carry bones up into the sky, and they drop the bones on the rocks so they can eat the little pieces (It a vulture of some sort). He then told me that a crocodile buries her eggs and the monitor lizzard tries to eat them. He also acted out the burying process with his back legs (think Downward dog yoga pose)

Too Cool for Halloween

2012-01-06T22:34:00.006-05:00

This Picture was pretty cute. This "boots" are tall Toy Story slippers.

This one is better. Of course you can't here him singing Baa Baa Back Sheep, but he was doing it.

Peter and the trip to Saugerties

2012-01-06T13:17:00.004-05:00

We left the house and Peter started pointing out the houses that were not train yards. It was all of them. He stopped when we got to the highway and there weren't houses.

We got some Wendy's about 1/3 of the way there. Pete and I split chicken tenders and fries. Pete started with tenders and after several we switched. After a while I asked for a french fry. Pete said No, because he was going to share with Grammy and Pappa. I said please, he said OK... when we get to Grammy and Pappa's. Tera tried to talk him into letting me have one. I even called them to get permission, but Pete stood strong. No sharing until we get to Grammy and Pappa's Or course he kept sneaking some himself until he accidentally dropped the box. Then we pointed out some houses that weren't train yards.

At some point he started calling Rachel Rachely. It was pretty cute.

Mama has cold feet

2012-01-05T04:37:00.002-05:00

Tera's feet were cold. Rather than drag out the Snuggie she won in a Woot BOC, I just grabbed one of Peter's little blankets - the perfect size for the job.
Until Peter noticed it. Then he needed it for the big box her was playing in. As her took the blanket away, the following discussion happened:
Pete: "This is mine."
Tera: "Can Mama Use it?"
Pete: "I need it"
Tera: "But Mama's feet will get cold"
Pete (excitedly as he took the blanket): "Daddy can get you a blanket!"

He was so proud that he had solved her problem.

Tada!

2012-01-02T22:34:00.001-05:00

A few days ago Pete found an old cell phone and found the button to turn it on. He raised his arms up and shouted Tada!

Today he was watching Wild Krats on YouTube. He wanted the snow feature (simulated snow flakes on screen) turned on. He took the mouse, pulled up the menu and paused it. I clicked the correct icon and Pete shouted "I got the snow on! Tada! I did a good job! "

Such a fun boy.

2011 in review, part 1

2012-01-01T23:34:00.001-05:00

Tera said in her Facebook status that 2011 kind of sucked. Rachel asked why she said that. Tera pointed out that after a couple months of testing, numerous trips to Dr in Rochester and surgery we found out Rachel had (relatively mild) thyroid cancer.

Tera spent a couple multiple day trips to the hospital getting her gaul bladder out and a subsequent infection.

Winter hung on late and faded into a long, cold, wet and muddy spring.

A storm that caused vast flooding in our region also brought some water into the basement. We spent a lot of time and money getting the drainage and room fixed.

Well that's the low lights.

The glory of network drives.

2011-10-25T15:50:00.004-04:00

I am out of the office (sick), but had some work that needs to get done, but that is part of why I have a work laptop. I tried to get online and can see my email and I have access to some shared files, but not "MY" files that I work on daily.

I've had this problem before. "my" drive will drop out even though the rest of the remote access is working fine. When I call the help desk they tell my to turn it off and back on. So I don't bother calling and turn it off and back on. Several times. So I drag my sick self into the office to get the files I need. I can't get into the "my" drive there either. So I break down and call the help desk. and get "We cannot answer your call at this time due to a high call volume as a result of the Kirkwood server being down. If that is your problem, please hang up. General announcements will be made when the situation is resolved. All other callers..."

There are a number of servers, of course, but the "Kirkwood" server is one that handles all the individuals that work in my building, so I go home, eat lunch and take a nap.

A co-worker sends me this update. "We are not expecting a quick recovery of this server and the outage is expected to go through the night and possibly into Thursday. We expect to have a better assessment of recovery time in the morning. We will provide an update tomorrow morning at 8 a.m." Today is Tuesday! It's already been down a full day.

I appreciate that there is a benefit to having the automatic backing up that a network provides, but one would assume there are backup systems in place in case the server fails. The main reason to have a network drive and they screw it up. Hundreds of people with little or nothing to do. I wish I wasn't sick and could enjoy some in office down time. I might have even cleaned my desk.

As a special treat the new laptop has a feature that will automatically backup files stored on the hard drive to the network. That feature is disabled to encourage people to use the network. I manually save some things on the hard drive, but only those I plan to need.

Super baby!

2011-06-25T23:42:00.003-04:00

Getting ready for bed. Peter tells Tera, "i brought you home"

Tera - "you did? Did you drive the van?"

Pete - " I carried you"

Tera - " you carried me?"

Pete - " and Diana, daddy carried Rachel"

Tera - "where did you carry us from?

Pete - "Peter's school. It's brown."

Tera - "you walked all the way from daycare carrying mama and Diana?"

Pete - " I jumped. That's a lot of stairs*"

Editor's note stairs probably means steps.

Super baby!

2011-06-25T23:42:00.001-04:00

It would be a surprise

2011-06-24T15:15:00.001-04:00

On the way to daycare Pete announced that he wanted to see grandma and grandpa. I said they were sleeping. He said "I can wake up grandpa and you wake up grandma. It would be a surprise." It certainly would be.

At least he didn't suggest we put on masks and have some toy guns to make it even more surprising.

Good Job!

2011-06-23T20:36:00.003-04:00

Pete has decided that turn about is fair play. Some times he has to follow daddy into the bathroom, but then decides he doesn't need to go. He then pulls up the stool to watch daddy.

Last couple times he has doled out the toilet paper. It's OK when he shares it one square at a time, but he gets bored. That entails smaller and smaller triangles.

I got done today and got a "good job daddy!"

Choo Choo

2011-06-11T07:01:00.003-04:00

A bit behind, but...

Last week Pete was playing in our bed. He had been playing in the leaves (pillows) and then sat down so he was leaning on one and had his legs under another. He announced that he was driving the train. Then he got out, pulled a pillow next to him and told me to sit there. So
I did. I asked if I was helping Peter drive the train. He said, "No, I'm driving the train. You are in the car seat."

Then Tera came in and he told her to sit behind him and help drive.

I'm guessing it's because there is only one car seat and not a comment on our relative driving ability.

Or he's grounded.

Driving in my car 3

2011-05-29T21:14:00.004-04:00

We seem to have developed a back seat driver.

One of the first signs was Pete telling me to slow down (see previous entry).

Then he told Tera to use both hands when driving Peter's Car.
He's done both to both of us and added a "watch out for the the hole!" We are assuming that is a pot hole, but could also be a sink hole. I haven't seen one of those, but I'm watching for it!

Big wheels stop turning

2011-05-22T21:12:00.001-04:00

About 8:45 pm Sunday may 22 2011. Living room. Pete was driving his big wheel around the house and did a textbook power slide.

It was unintentional, and surprised him so much that just sat there for a bit, but Tera and I got a kick out of it.

Funny little man

2011-05-20T04:39:00.001-04:00

Pete woke up crying during the night. He wanted mama. I brought him into bed. He started crying again and wanted a bottle, I brought him a bottle. He fell back asleep snuggling with Tera. At some point she snuck her arm out from under him and sat up to blow her nose and he started crying again. After she re-snuggled him and he stopped crying she asked "why did you scream your head off when mama had to blow her nose?" Silence, I thought he was back asleep when he says "my head's still on".

Now if I can just get back to sleep.

Escape from daycare.

2011-05-19T14:23:00.001-04:00

Often Pete has trouble letting go when we get to daycare. This morning Pete had a death grip on one leg. Another boy came over and grabbed the other leg.* A third boy came over and couldn't find room, so he just stood next to me and told me the names of the kids holding my legs. So I started walking around the table which usually gives the teacher a chance to distract Pete. It worked, and I slowed down and headed for the door. Which is when kid number 2 caught back up and re-attached himself to my leg. Diane was able to call him off without releasing Pete.

*As the teacher was commenting on how rare it was for a child to share a parent, she also mention that she has noticed Pete stringing sentences together. We've noticed that too, but didn't realize it was different.

Southern boy?

2011-05-13T16:45:00.001-04:00

The last couple days Pete has developed a bit of an accent.

Bath has become a 3 syllable word. Bay-a-the. Take a bath is now 6 syllables. Table has also been southernized. It's not all the time, but quite entertaining when he does it.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T11:42:00.003-04:00

To my mom. I love you and thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to make my life happy.

To my wife. I love you and thank you for giving me a chance to be a father figure for the girls and then a father. You make some real nice kids and I'm glad to have you in my life.

What they say...

2011-05-06T12:43:00.001-04:00

Tire shop says: "yes, we have those tires in stock. Sure you can wait for them to be put on during your lunch hour"

What you hear: "yes, we have those tires in stock. Sure you can wait for them to be put on during your lunch hour."

What they mean: "yes, they are at the local warehouse. We are kind of sure that we can get them to the store before you get here. You get 2 hours for lunch, right?"

On the plus side I got a couple slices from Papa John's and sat on the grass in the sun. Ahhh

The train, the train!

2011-05-05T13:26:00.001-04:00

Woman studying dynamics in Peter's daycare class passed along a couple things about Peter:

Pete heard a bunch of laughter from the class next door. He pointed to the door and said he wanted to go over there.

Pete got a large cardboard block. He set it down and studied it. Pushed it to the left, then to the right. He thought for a minute and then sat on it. He started scooting around on it. Another kid came along and got a block. Pete talked them into sitting on it behind him for a train. They did and then he told them to hold on, they put their arms around his waist and started scooting their train along. She said they eventually had most of the kids in the class in the train.

That's my boy. OK, mostly the first bit. The second bit involves more leadership than I usually pull off.

17? Unpossible.

2011-05-04T14:10:00.001-04:00

Rachel turns 17 today. Hard to imagine. When I met her 7 years ago she could still fit into a shopping cart. Tera and I would each take a girl and a cart. Good times.

Bright yellow blossoms, grows in most soil.

2011-05-02T07:28:00.001-04:00

Easy to cultivate, hard to kill. Blooms early and when it goes to seed makes fun to blow parachutes. I suspect if dandylions were hard to grow they would be prized flowers instead of just weeds.

Driving in my car 2

2011-05-01T11:38:00.001-04:00

On the way to church.

We see flowers next to the road, while at a red light. Pete starts counting flowers. He gets to 6, jumps to 11 and gives up. They were dandylions, so we could have been there all day.

We get off the highway and Pete says look at all the houses. As we pass them he looks out his window and says: there's a red house, a brown house, a white house, a white house, a green house, a white house...

Not you Mama.

2011-04-29T10:47:00.001-04:00

Tera claims she didn't put him up to this but...

We were getting ready for Work and daycare. Pete was all dressed. I was going to run my stuff out while Tera put his shoes / coat on. Pete then announced he needed a diaper change. Tera said let's go and he said "Not you, Mama. Daddy." She tried again, but Pete was insistent the Daddy should do the diaper change.

I was there, so she wasn't prompting him.

This time. But I'll be watching.

I love thunderstorms.

2011-04-27T22:43:00.001-04:00

Of course we need more rain like more politicians. Last night's lightning was better. But I didn't need to go out and deal with a gutter problem* either, so that's nice.

* not plugged, but pulled away from house so rain could get behind it and go into window well.

The great mud fest of 2011

2011-04-24T22:19:00.003-04:00

We've had a yucky spring. The ground is completely thawed, which sounds great. Flowers are blooming, trees are budding.

Normally the back yard gets muddy when the snow melts and after a heavy rain. This spring we have had about two periods where the yard was dry enough for the dog to go out and not come back covered in mud. Wet, muddy dog, yeah, it doesn't get much better than that.

Next 5 days call for either rain or showers. But we will see the 70's several of those days.

Happy Easter 2011

2011-04-24T21:41:00.003-04:00

More pictures at Tera's Flickr page, see link to the right.

Pete and I had a nice time at church. He got candy from Jessie and Dorothy and Sharon. He was really excited about it (2 beautiful lollipops and a chocolate bunny on a bike) and ran around with the lollipops. Until it came time to eat one. He wasn't interested, he tried both the chocolate and the candy one. If I could get my eating habits closer to his I'd be a lot healthier.

We got home and Pete was wide awake, so we looked for eggs. Actually the girls helped Pete find them. We stuck to the living room due to the mud situation outside. Peter did all the finding, but the candy mostly got split between the Rachel and Diana.

Still going strong, so we headed off to Uncle Mike's for Easter Dinner with no nap for Pete.

We had a great time. Matt and Nicole took turns playing with Pete, Matt showed off his train. The kids played well together and the adults got some good conversation in. It is always fun when the whole family gets together, but the smaller group was a bit easier to manage.

We took potatoes and meatless lasagna (for Rachel and Tera, but most people had some. Lisa made A nice ham dinner with sides. Lisa also made 2 pies from scratch Apple and a coconut custard with meringue. Both were very good, and Nicole made her brownies, which are also tasty.

Pete was a trooper, running and talking and jumping, all without a nap. about 3 minutes after we got in the van to come home he was out. He woke briefly when we got home, but was out for good by 7:30.

What does it mean 3

2011-04-23T13:22:00.004-04:00

Mikey - Uncle. But only for Uncle Mike. He is Mikey Mike. Uncle Chris is Uncle Chris

Giant Carrot - Wind sock. Like at the landfill. Pete noticed it on the last trip and has seen them all over the place since then. I don't see them and explain that we aren't near the landfill. He seems a bit surprised.

Giant Carrot - Construction cone. Another trip to the landfill, another chance to see the giant carrot. After we past it, he says 3 giant carrots, and then 2 giant carrots. After another sip of coffee I figured it out.

Driving in my car, 3 stories

2011-04-22T11:02:00.003-04:00

I get caught in a long line of traffic at a light on Front street. Next green I make it through, but get stuck at the next one a bock away. Light turns green and we move about a car length and stop, but left lane keeps going. A minute or so later there there is no traffic left next to me, but still nothing. Then the car in front of me puts on its turn signal to turn into Dunkin Donuts! I check my mirror, and traffic is approaching in the left lane so I gun it and pass the idiot, just in time for the light to turn red. As I stop I hear Pete from the back seat: "Slow down, daddy."

Pete has discovered roads. In particular, MY road. Over the last week I've heard, We are driving on Peter's Road, Daddy's driving on Peter's Road, Look at all the cars on Peter's Road! and Wednesday's ultimatum "GET OFF MY ROAD! I've tried to explain that the road is made to be shared, but so far it's still MINE.

Tera and Pete were talking with someone at daycare. Pete was asked what color Mama's car was, he said black. He was asked what color dad's car was, he said um, white? After a couple of tries Tera said what color is the van? Peter said "Gray... Peter's van is gray. Daddy drives Peter's van."
No wonder he wants me to slow down - he wants it to last another 14 years.

You want what?

2011-04-22T10:59:00.001-04:00

Pete: I want a tree.

Daddy: you want a tree?

Pete: I want a tree in my hand.

Daddy: you want a tree in your hand?!?

Pete: trea-Tuh (treat) in an exasperated tone.

Well excuuuse me :-)

I gave him a treat after he said please.

Peter vs. Diana: when your folks are sick.

2011-04-17T07:48:00.003-04:00

Pete had a very high fever Friday. Over 100 for the better part of 18 hours.

Saturday evening Tera and I both came down with it. Tera had the chills so bad I thought she was going to be sick. Diana went and got her a garbage can (just in case) and a bunch of extra blankets.

As I laid down (with the lights off), Pete came in and brought me some "popcorn" and pushed it into my mouth. It was strangely mushy. I spit it out and threw it into the garbage. He came back several times with more before it occurred to me, "where is he getting this?"

I dragged myself out of bed and followed him into the living room. There on his table is his leftovers from supper, including a small bowl of corn. There was also a couple of pieces on the floor, but I like to think that I got the stuff out of the bowl.

I think Tera get better support.

Walking with Pete

2011-04-01T13:36:00.003-04:00

I got home Wednesday and it was still close to 50 and decided to do a short walk with Peter. I told Peter we were going to take a walk which lead to the following conversation:
Pete: I go for a walk. In the stroller.
Dan: OK, let's get your coat on and get Duncan ready.
Pete: I go for a walk with daddy and Duncan. In the Elmo Stroller.
* note Pete hasn't seen that since the fall sometime, I don't know why he thought of that
Dan: I said in the big stroller
Pete: In the Elmo stroller
Dan: If we take the Elmo stroller we can't take Duncan (It's too hard to steer).
Pete: I take a walk with Daddy in the Elmo Stroller, no Duncan.

as Pete and I start out of the driveway I here Pete saying happily: Daddy and Pete taking a walk. No Duncan.

Poor Duncan.

Will be cute for toothpaste

2011-03-31T10:51:00.001-04:00

Pete was in saying good night to Diana, so I got out his toothbrush and loaded it. Pete came in and gave me a really big thank you. After brushing his teeth he asked for more toothpaste. I said no, he said little bit, just a little bit. I said no and he said just a little bit, last time.

PS I just discovered he will do the same for more water in the tub.

Rice crunchy treats

2011-03-19T16:25:00.001-04:00

Rachel asked me to help her make rice crispy treats for a St. Patrick's day art club fund raiser. I've done that many times, so I had her stir the butter and marshmellows until they were melted and I wandered off. Or, as Rachel insists,I said I'll be right back. So she calls me back and they are a lovely light caramel color. I figure that will just and a little extra flavor and we add the green food color and crispys. It seemed to mix well and we called them good.

That night I get home and there is a nearly full pan of treats. Rachel breaks off a piece and I tried it. Pretty good really, there is a hint of caramel like I thought there might be. The texture however... closer to peanut brittle than caramel corn.

I guess you CAN screw them up.

Un-sweet dreams

2011-03-18T06:40:00.003-04:00

Peter has had 3 bad dreams over the last two weeks. He's been a little easier to calm down each time, but the first 2 required mommy or daddy to carry Pete around before he would relax.

Dream 1) We didn't get much out of him except "angry hot dog". We had pigs-in-a-blanket the night before and maybe one had been too hot? We are careful, but what else could it be?

Dream 2) Pete woke up saying "D-(name with held do to the age of the offender) took Peter's block", and he also talked about the angry hot dog again. The first part is easy. Peter got in trouble at daycare for biting D-, who had taken Peter's block. Hmm, maybe they had hot dogs at daycare and one was too hot.

The next day I was telling Tera about dream 2 (she had been in Syracuse for work) and Pete said "angry hot dog man." I burst out laughing. After I calmed down I reminded Tera about a book (Gus and the Firefly by P.D. Eastman) Pete's been "reading" on the Nook - that features a hot dog vendor that gets mad when the firefly plays a trick on him.

Dream 3) Pete woke up saying No, dogs No!, Get down dogs! Stop dogs, stop, the light is green. Even though he got the color wrong, it's Go Dogs Go, by P. D. Eastman.

At first I thought perhaps I am too animated when I read the books to Pete, but one is a "read to me" book, and I'm not that dramatic. I just think he likes to have an excuse to come in bed with us.

Another 5 weeks already done?

2011-03-07T23:27:00.001-05:00

The girls got their 5 week report cards. They are doing mostly great, but they each have one class holding them back.

Culture clash?

2011-03-07T23:23:00.001-05:00

Pete is picking up a nice rounded Dr Who education. He can pick out 3 doctors, and the TARDIS. He prefers the new theme song to the one from my youth, and sometimes dances to it.

On the other hand, Tera is working with him on the "to be or not to be..." speech from hamlet. If she does it in about 5 word sections he does pretty well, although sometimes he says the next part instead of repeating what Tera said.

Do drama kids get along with geeks?

Pete likes Harry Potter?

2011-02-25T06:38:00.001-05:00

As Pete was reading (using a read-to-me book on my nook) at bed time the other day, he went to select a new book. He pointed to a different book, a Harry Potter cookbook. I was sleepy, so I don't recall if he said it first or I did, but he clearly wanted Harry Potter. Yesterday he got into the kitchen to "help daddy" and pulled a video off the shelf the is normally out of his reach. He hands it to me and says Harry Potter daddy. And it was one of the HP movies! He's probably been in the same room as one of the movies being played, but I can't remember the last time we watched one. So, did he get lucky, or do I have about 10 years of bedtime reading facing me. Sure the later Harry Potter books are a bit dark, but he'll be with daddy :-)

Happy birthday Tera

2011-02-23T06:04:00.001-05:00

The girls had Tera's birthday off from school. They did a great job cleaning the house and made pumpkin muffins for a birthday cake. Diana even made the bed :-)

It was a nice treat to come home to a sparkling clean house.

Out of the blue.

2011-02-22T08:14:00.001-05:00

Peter starts talking as soon as we get out of the driveway. Mama and daddy take the decorations off the tree. I said yes, we did. He said daddy took the tree downstairs. Which I did. Almost 2 months ago.

Yo-yo spring

2011-02-19T07:52:00.003-05:00

Monday AM was 44 degrees. Tuesday AM was 14 (-5 with windchill!). It warmed back up Wednesday through Friday when we almost hit 60! In February!

Pete and I did a couple sled runs in the front yard Thursday without snow pants. We got a little wet, but not to cold. Friday night the yard was almost completely bare. 4-5 inches of wet, slushy snow gone in 24 hours. So instead of sledding, I took Pete for a stroller ride. Rachel took Duncan for a walk and it was a good time, especially for Pete and Duncan.

Saturday AM and it's 23F with a wind chill of 9. Just enough floury snow mixed in to really appreciate the gusts to 50 mph.

Might be a day to hibernate.

Rock on my little man

2011-02-04T11:17:00.001-05:00

I turned the radio on this morning in time to hear "Monster" by Skillet. Pete said something so I hit mute. He said "music daddy!". I turned the volume back on and watched him bobbing his head and tapping his toes.

What does it all mean II

2011-01-27T09:17:00.004-05:00

Scoop digger - Back hoe
Manket - originally believed to be a contraction for "my blanket" it turns out this specifically refers to a fitted sheet. Pete found a couple in the bottom of his dresser and pulled them out to play with.

Singing the Peter way

2011-01-27T08:57:00.003-05:00

It's all Elmo's fault.

Well it's his song. La la la la, Elmo's song....
And then Elmo points out you can sing Big Bird, Snuffy, Gordon, etc.

Tera and I added Mama, Daddy, Sissie, Duncan, etc. Pete loved that.

We started working on Happy Birthday for Grammy's birthday. We did pretty well, not as good as Jingle Bells, but pretty well for the amount of practice. After her birthday I switched to singing for Mama or Papa, both of whom have birthdays coming up soon. Pete like it so much he requests the following versions: Grammy and Papa (Tera's folks), Grandma and Grandpa (my folks), tractor, scoop digger (back hoe) and snow plow.

I need a microphone attached to Pete

2011-01-13T15:08:00.001-05:00

Or maybe my hearing isn't what it used to be. Often I'll hear Pete talking in the back seat and have to turn down the radio and / or heater to make out what he's saying. Yesterday I heard Jessie and Dorothy and Cathy and Jessie and Elsie and Norma and Janet and bina (Sabina). I asked what he was doing, he said I go to church and see gramma grandpa (the rest of the list is church people). He was disappointed that it wasn't church day and no grandparents either.

Who stole my baby?

2011-01-11T19:25:00.001-05:00

And replaced him with a little boy.

Pete and I were on the way to daycare last week and Pete said something funny. I laughed. Pete said "Daddy laugh." I said that sometimes Peter makes daddy laugh. He said Peter make daddy laugh? I laughed again. And he said daddy make Peter laugh. I reached back and poked his leg a couple times and he laughed.

Then we got to daycare. Instead of the usual leg hold until someone pulls him off, Pete took off without a backwards glance. :-(

Merry Christmas

2010-12-31T10:06:00.001-05:00

Most shopping was done on-line this year. Much easier to do with a baby, or teenagers for that matter ;-)

We made a couple mistakes with Peter opening presents. Opening the toy after wrapping it. It worked fine for the first one, but... The second was giving the drumsticks second. He got those in his hands, grabbed an old cookie tin (my bad - it should have been in the sink), and was about the cutest little drummer boy for the next 15 minutes. We had to work hard to get him to open anything else.

My lovely wife got me a nook e-reader! It came with a couple kid's books that Peter really likes. They can read to Pete, although he doesn't get to hold the nook!

I've put a couple books on it and its great for reading in bed.

Happy birthday

2010-12-15T15:55:00.001-05:00

Today at 12:17 pm was when Peter was born 2 years ago. It was the second time I became a dad, if you count my wedding day when I became a step dad (which I do). Pete is walking and talking and running and happy and healthy. We went caroling at a nursing home and he was good about shaking hands or giving high 5s with residents.

Pete is a wonderful boy but there is something to be said for good sisters that don't need diaper changes :).

What does it all mean?

2010-12-02T06:38:00.002-05:00

Commer: Come Here. As in "Commer and read me a story."

Gup: Get up. As in "Gup and play with me."

Fayo: Follow. As is "Fayo Daddy"

Fayo Daddy: Crawl in circles, each lap taking us under the high chair. This is both fun and funny because daddy gets stuck every time unless he does a marine crawl.

Such a big boy.

2010-11-21T08:36:00.001-05:00

The last couple weeks Peter has been interested in using the potty. He has succeeded in #1 but not #2. Yesterday he peed standing up! Twice!

Unfortunately both times were in the bathtub.

This morning Pete wanted another bath. I changed his diaper and thought to myself "why waste time putting a diaper on while I run the bath water."

Peter can also pee standing up outside of the bathtub. On the upholstered stool.

Random updates

2010-11-04T23:19:00.001-04:00

1) Pete wanted me to rub his back. As I did, he started to rub monk-a-monks back.

2) I had to leave early one am. While in the kitchen I sneezed. From down the hall I hear a little voice say bless you daddy. And then he was back to sleep.

3) the end of Halloween season will be rough on Pete. Every time we leave the house we have to say good bye to scary, skeleton man and the pumpkins.

4) Diana had all 90s on the first report card!

Ketchup is a vegetable, right?

2010-08-18T17:01:00.002-04:00

I cut up some hamburger for Pete's supper and squirted some ketchup on it. He ate a couple pieces and needed more please. He's pretty good with please. a couple minutes later he comes walking over with the bottle saying please. I took the bottle away and put more on his plate and he got upset. I think he just wanted the bottle to himself :) Went to the Dr. today and he said the ketchup would probably feel good on Petes canker sores.

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Amazing how he notices things.

2010-08-04T15:16:00.001-04:00

we ran out of milk yesterday morning so Pete only had half a bottle. He wouldn't take water. I stopped at Best Bagels on the way to daycare and bought a milk from the drive through. I pulled away and stopped to fill the sippy cup. Takes to sips and starts asking for his bagel!

Afternoon of the same day as we pull into the parking lot of the hospital Pete starts chanting Papa. It's only our third or fourth trip.

Neither time had I talked about where we were going, he recognised it on his own. Pretty cool

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Working for the weekend

2010-07-15T11:05:00.001-04:00

Peter and I are in the car on the way to daycare Monday. I check the mirror and Pete has a huge smile and has his arms and legs going like mad - rocking out to "working for the weekend" by Loverboy.

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never seen that before

2010-06-02T22:24:00.002-04:00

I've seen a lot of people kiss a baby's feet. Today Peter kissed mine. It was very funny to watch because he was having so much fun doing it.

Didn't hurt

2010-06-01T20:56:00.004-04:00

Pete got his tubes put in today. Surgery went pretty fast - about 25-30 minutes from when he left us until they brought him back, most of that was being put to sleep and coming out of anesthesia. He came back pretty cranky, but settled down when we were allowed to give him some milk. Unfortunately I only brought 4 oz, which took him about 3 minutes to polish off. Then we were back to cranky baby, and a re-fill just didn't cut it. We took turns walking him for a bit and he fell asleep for 30 minutes. After we got home. he still seemed unsteady walking around. After a 3 hour nap he's back to normal, but seems much chattier than normal.

tubes here we come

2010-05-13T23:12:00.002-04:00

Peter has now had 6 ear infections this year. Tubes are scheduled to be put in June 1. Dr. put him on a 10 day course of antibiotics and wants to see him then to make sure he stays clear until the surgery.

It isn't moon walking...

2010-05-07T20:26:00.004-04:00

Pete has discovered that he can walk backwards. It is not moon walking... it is way cuter.

My #1 baby

2010-03-25T21:19:00.002-04:00

Peter gets out of the bath tonight. I hold him as Tera starts to dry him and especially his hair. a brief period of time later I notice that my belly is getting warm. Peter has started peeing on me. I shift us so that is is mostly hitting the floor. He ends up making a decent sized puddle (that I am sitting in).

I think he likes Tera best

Store brand oops.

2010-03-09T20:38:00.004-05:00

I made Rice bake today. My vegetarian child will eat chicken based stocks, as long as there is no actual meat. Campbell condensed soup is flesh free. I picked up the store brand (Weis) to save a little money. We start eating and she notices something in the rice. Mixed in with the extra flavor were small chunks of chicken. When did you last hear about a meal spoiled (for one person) by too much quality.

PS I do try to accommodate the vegetarian, but the list of vegetables she will eat is pretty short. Do olives count? I think that would take the list to 5.

Major league baseball?

2010-03-06T10:10:00.002-05:00

I think Peter has a future in baseball. He hasn't yet show any precocious throwing* or batting ability, but he has a real knack for spitting. He will create a nice puddle if you don't catch him. If he starts scratching, we will load up on the baseball gear.

* He does throw, but it's mostly to get his toys out of the play area (where he wants to be) or to get food to the dog. Watching the dog eat is way funnier than eating.

how to get the most out of your snow day

2010-02-26T07:56:00.004-05:00

6:00 Alarm goes off. Check computer and learn the there is a snow day
6:15 Pete wakes up. Re-Binky and rub he's back to sleep.
6:20 House phone rings. It's the auto dialer letting us know that Tera's office will be closed due to the weather.
6:20: Peter wakes up. This tyime it takes milk and rocking to get him back to sleep.
6:40 Child comes up stairs to find out if there is a snow day
6:40 Dog barks at stranger who came up stairs without being woken up
6:40 Pete wakes up. this time for good.

catching up

2010-02-09T21:22:00.003-05:00

We have a toddler! He will just stand up (middle of the floor) and walk around for fun.

Peter had croup plus ear infection so needed an ER visit. He stood on the big people's scale all alone to check his weight.

Pete's a happy baby. he cried during the x-ray (no moma or dada) and the nebulizer. 15 minues later he's back smiling to the nurses, even the one who gave him the shot earlier.

I still have a job. That's great, because it's a good one. It's also kind of scary trying to guess how the work will get done.

Does blue taste better?

2010-01-09T16:17:00.003-05:00

Peter has a Dr. Seuss book that he likes to chew on. He will occasionally chew on other paper, but he keeps coming back to this one book. Almost exclusively the couple of pages that are mostly all blue. Is he drawn to it because of the color or the flavor? A taste test seems in order. sounds like a job for an older sister.

Sick^3

2009-12-14T22:21:00.004-05:00

Peter is sick. He mostly sleeps in 2-3 hour batches, although he hasn't been napping well*. Very runny nose. nasty sounding cough. We took him to the Dr. and he said it seems to be RSV (croup). Not terribly serious, it just sounds bad. He also said that most of Peter's discomfort is teething. his gums are all swollen. It appears that his molars are coming in... 4 - 6 teeth all at once. No wonder he can't sleep.

Tera's also got a cold. It's similar to Peter's in some ways, but totally.

My nose is starting to get runny.

Yuck

I haven't mentioned if the girls are sick because I don't want to jinks them.

* Oh, that makes sleeping fun for the adults

I can't believe noone mentioned this

2009-12-09T23:35:00.006-05:00

Peter had pink eye. It cleared up in a day, so we did 5 days (it said 5-7). A couple days later it came back, so we started over, this time we are going the full 7 days. We are at about day 5.

Peter HATES the drops. For the last 10 days we've needed both of us to do drops, pinning head and hands in place, while prying his eyes open. It's so traumatic that he hasn't been sleeping good.

Today we got the bottle out for comforting afterward and he reached for it. Tera let him hold it and he started to drink. He laid there eyes open and didn't blink as the drops went in.

Dammit, that would have been nice to know 2 weeks ago.

Sicko

2009-11-14T06:15:00.002-05:00

Tera got sick Thursday (not too bad). Diana got jealous and picked up a totally upper respiratory infection. She's got a fever, but the Dr. said it doesn't need prescription, just TLC.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T21:14:00.000-05:00

Our little community has a parade around the neighborhood, led by fire trucks. The heavy rain was down to a light sprinkle when we got to the park, and it stopped shortly after the parade started. Tera and I didn't dress up, but we had the cutest little monkey.

I carried him in the parade, and then we used the stroller for trick or treating. He made it through about half the neighborhood before falling asleep, so we let the girls finish off and took him home, because it was cooling off.

Mom and Dad handed out candy while we were out. We had about 35 - 40 kids. The decorations were a big hit. Only a few kids appeared scared. One wouldn't leave until he saw the end of the "movie" on the front window.

Four not on the floor

2009-10-24T11:41:00.003-04:00

My dad was watching Peter at our house. He watched him crawl all the way across the kitchen to the door to the porch. He watched as Pete carefully went sown the 3-4 inches to the platform. Pete hung out there a couple minutes and then ventured down the other step, with Dad hovering close by. At first Peter looked like he was going to make it, but at the last minute he crashed to the ground. He got a little scrape on his nose and cried for about 10 seconds.

Dad felt bad, but it's not so bad.

Speedy Pete

2009-10-22T20:49:00.003-04:00

Mom and Dad clocked Peter for me. He crawled 30 feet in 40 seconds. At that rate he could:
get back home from there house to ours in 15 hours and 5 minutes.

If he took off to visit Grammy and Poppa he'd make it in 10 days, 14 hours and 54 minutes.

If he felt he deserved a trip to Disney world he'd be shaking Mickey's hand in 82 days, 2 hours and 35 minutes.

There is a down side to having an engineer for a father.

Duncan shares, but not everything.

2009-10-11T20:27:00.002-04:00

Peter was out on the porch with Tera's Dad, playing quietly. Tera's in the shower, I was making breakfast. Note, I told Poppa I was going to make breakfast, I didn't ask him to WATCH Peter. All of a sudden Duncan (from another room, 15 feet away or so) starts to bark. I glance over and he isn't looking at the front door, he's looking at the back. As I start over to see what's going on, Poppa starts laughing. I look and Peter has one piece of food in each hand and one in his mouth! Duncan was the only one not amused.

I'm glad we have the good dog food :)

time to move stuff up

2009-10-11T20:22:00.002-04:00

Peter's been doing directed rolling for a while. Last week he graduated to "scutching." That means he sits up, wiggles back and forth and goes forward. Slow, but he can cover a lot of ground. He has officially begun crawling. We have to start moving things up.

Good boy!

2009-09-23T12:15:00.003-04:00

Peter has a bit of a head cold. He started fussing while I made his lunch. Duncan walks out of the room and returns a minute later. I hear a cluttering noise and I turn to see a very proud puppy.

He brought me one of Peter's pacifiers :)

Spoon wars

2009-07-22T21:39:00.000-04:00

Peter verses the spoon. Peter has always been good about eating from a spoon. Now that he has his front uppers and lowers he has decided he likes to bite the spoon that feeds him. Tera said the first time he would smile at her while doing it. I haven’t played tug-of-war (I just wait patiently for him to let go), so maybe that is why I don’t get the smiles. And he doesn’t do it with plastic spoons, just the rubber coated metal ones.

Just for a second

2009-07-22T21:38:00.000-04:00

I heard an ad for Travelers Insurance this AM. It announced that they’ve been under the red umbrella since Lincoln was president. My first thought was: they didn’t have color then…
Sigh.

I caught it right away, but in my defense: the pictures are always black and white. How would they KNOW the umbrella was red?

Sleep

2009-07-15T04:55:00.001-04:00

Saturday AM I woke up at 5 AM. Peter hadn’t been up at all during the night! I snuck into his room, and he was still out!.
I woke up again at 6 AM, still silent!!!
At 6:45 I woke again. I heard him talking to himself quietly, so I let him stay in the crib. Tera woke at 7 and couldn’t believe Peter was will in bed. He heard us talking and decided it was time for breakfast. He slept until 5:45 AM Monday morning and almost 5 on Tuesday! Sunday was not so good (woke up twice) and up at 3:30 today, and but we appear to be moving in the correct direction with sleep… We just need to re-train Daddy!!

Deck is Done!

2009-07-12T21:31:00.004-04:00

Some friends of Tera's came over and helped finish off the deck. Mostly they handed me stuff and I did all the hard stuff. Or maybe it was the other way around. There is a slight chance that they did most of the hard work ;-)

Tera and I also stained the front of the house from a dark natural to a sage green.

What's that on the floor?

2009-07-01T19:14:00.003-04:00

That's never a good thing to hear. The thing on the floor is never a $100 bill. Especially when the thing is under the baby who is in the jumpy seat.

A diaper can act like a pastry piping bag under the right (or very wrong) circumstances.

Enough said.

boogitty boogitty boogitty

2009-06-24T06:59:00.002-04:00

Peter has specific things that he finds funny.

Mommy has discovered that boogitty boogitty boogitty will make him squeal with joy. Every time.

Daddy has discovered that boogitty boogitty boogitty will get him a look of "what the heck are you doing? Wacko" Every time.

When will the teasing end?

2009-06-23T10:17:00.006-04:00

25-30 years ago our family walked into church a little late, in our father's day best, right up to the front. They were already singing the first song. Before we could get the hymnals opened to the right page, the song ended. And the minister gave the benediction and the sevice ended. Followed by a roar of laughter.

My church does service an hour early in the summer (10 instead of 11).

We start on Father's day. Every year people make a point to remind us specifically. Still.

I was a little late, but we have a baby. Mom and Dad weren't there when we strolled in. During the second song I snuck out and called them. Dad answered the home phone. I asked "did you forget something?" We laughed as he went to tell mom. They made it for the last song :)

The teasing probably won't stop soon.

Father's day

2009-06-23T10:13:00.003-04:00

Tera and the girls (their father couldn't come up this weekend) joined Peter and I at church for Father's day. We then went out for dinner with some of the people from church, and my dad.

A nice, relaxing day.

Kaaahhhnnnn!

2009-06-22T09:47:00.003-04:00

Peter has been doing this thing where he holds his hand out, palm up and growls / grunts at it. It sounds a lot like Shatner in the Wrath of Kahn.

you swine

2009-06-16T11:14:00.003-04:00

Swine flu has made it to the girls' school. All the confirmed cases (8) are in the middle school, which has hallways that connect to the high school. The schools remain open. The number of students out with flu-like symptoms went from 58 Friday to 31 on Monday. The last 2 days we didn't let the girls take the bus, and the middle school student got picked up right after the final she had.

Had a roll over today!

2009-06-16T11:08:00.003-04:00

Peter has rolled from his back to his front and just this week his front to his back, usually un-noticed. Today Diana, Tera and I watched him roll from his back to belly, we started to cheer, but he kept right on going, all the way back to his back! We cheered louder :-)

too much fun

2009-06-12T09:47:00.003-04:00

I put Peter on his belly this morning for a little tummy time while I got ready for work. He usually does less than five minutes before complaining, but I got close to 10 this morning and still no complaints. I went back to check on him and he's playing quietly, on his back!

Last night I watched while he grabbed his sock and pulled. In a couple of tries he had it completely off. Seconds later it was in his mouth :)

Peter woke Tera up for a little snack around 5 am! If some inconsiderate jerk hadn't woke her up with his snoring at around 3 it would have been another solid night's sleep.

Bad Dan

ahh sweet, sweet sleep

2009-06-10T06:49:00.004-04:00

we put Peter to bed about 9 and he quietly fussed a little while. When my alarm went off at 5:30 he was still asleep! He finally woke about 6:30 with some quiet calling. Yay!

if only I had been able to get to sleep at a reasonable time.

Grandparents > babysitter

2009-06-09T14:51:00.002-04:00

Mom and Dad watched Peter while the girls and I when to the track banquet. They took the baby for walks, fed him changed the diaper AND did the dishes! That last one is my mostly job, so I really appreciate them.

2 ah ah ah

2009-06-09T14:44:00.003-04:00

Second tooth is clearly visible. No wonder he's kinda cranky.

Mr. Cranky pants

2009-06-05T13:10:00.006-04:00

Peter's been pretty fussy and not sleeping well the last couple days. Probably teething (toothing?) related. It's a good excuse to hold the baby, but he'd rather daddy walk him. My arms thank the daddy pack.

one, ah, ah, ah

2009-06-03T12:58:00.004-04:00

I was helping distract Peter while Tera put lotion on his belly. He grabbed my hand and stuck my thumb in his mouth. As he is gumming away, I noticed a slight grating sensation on my thumbnail. Sure enough, there is a little glimmer of white on the lower front gum line. Not quite a tooth yet, but definitely a tooth wanna be.

Catching up - Peter

2009-06-02T13:09:00.003-04:00

Smiles - Peter loves to smile, he does it often. Sometimes just seeing family from across the room is enough to light him up.

Giggles - it's pretty easy to coax a giggle out of Pete, sometimes even a full out laugh.

Talking/rasberries - Peter does a lot of vocalization. Especially when he wants attention.

Spinning - Peter can and at least daily does spin. On his back and on the activity mat or in the crib he can spin 90 or 180 without too much trouble.

Rolls - Peter sticks his feet straight up, they fall to one side, and we have a baby on his side. He does this all the time. He can get back to his back easily. He also seems to choose which side he wants to be on.

Flip - One time Peter got from his side to his belly. We didn't see how he did it, we just noticed that he had done from back to belly. He still doesn't like belly time much.

Toes - Peter has them and loves to play with them. He can grab one with both hands or both with one. We even saw him with his foot touching his forehead. That must come from Tera because I would need surgery for that to happen.

Sick - Peter caught a cold either from daycare or his sisters. Coughing / boogies. He also started occaisionally making this loud wheezing noise about the same time while breathing in through his mouth.

Dr. - The wheezing must be for fun. Lungs are clear, phem is too, so nothing to worry about. Peter at almost 5 1/2 months is 18.5 pounds. He was on his best behavior, so the nurse took him down to the nurses station to show off what a cutie he is. All smiles for the Dr. when he came in. He was impressed at Peter's ability to grab his toes, that doesn't usually happen for another month.