Train Museum

It's been a big week for museums. Yesterday we went with family friends to the Danbury Railway Museum - a great place that I highly recommend. The kids all had a great time playing with the model trains, touring the old railroad cars, and shopping in the museum store. And I have to admit, checking out the Boston & Maine Mogul 2-6-0 Steam Engine built in 1907 was very cool. But the highlight for all 5 kids came when we took a look at the small bathroom on the caboose that we toured. Once they saw the compact toilet and tiny sink, it was all over for them. The potty jokes were endless (not without some prodding from a couple of immature dads, of course) and the laughs were hearty. It's pretty funny what kids actually find entertaining - in the midst of some vintage American history, they choose to focus on base toilet humor. Good stuff.

Maritime Museum

I took the kids to the Maritime Museum today, while Jen went to the gym. The museum had a special frog exhibit, which was actually pretty cool. But what I realized today was how much Joshua is like me, and how much Rebecca is like her mother...at least when it comes to walking through museums. Joshua was very excited about pretty much every exhibit - from the frogs, to the seals, to the model boats on display. He wanted to spend significant time looking at and absorbing each section of the aquarium. Rebecca, on the other hand, was happy to keep things moving. She looked at each of the exhibits for a few seconds, and then was ready to move on. The highlight for her was the big shark tank, which was pretty interesting. Once we passed that, she was ready to leave, and made sure that we moved quickly through the rest of the exhibit halls.

When Jen and I used to go museums (pre-kids), I would always be the one who wanted to take my time and make sure I truly absorbed everything the museum had to offer (just like Joshua). Jen was the opposite. She was happy to spend a few seconds looking at each display, and then move onto the next (just like Rebecca). Next time we go as a family, we'll have to take two cars - boys in one, girls in the other.

Mom Matters

Check out this YouTube channel started by a friend of a friend: http://www.youtube.com/user/mommatters. It's not necessarily Dad-related, but it's an excellent channel with very practical and straight-forward parenting advice. Below is an example of one clip. Enjoy.

Mom Matters part 2

Raking Leaves

Our house has two very big Norway Maple Trees on the front yard, so during the Fall we have an abundance of leaves. This means the job of raking is a big one. I tried to get the kids help out with the clean up this year, which didn't go very well. Rebecca got bored after about 2 minutes and went inside to play with her Barbie dolls, and Joshua kept jumping in my leaf piles and scattering the leaves everywhere, negating all of my hard work.

After a while, I just accepted the fact that the kids are not yet ready to actually help with the task and decided to enjoy the moment and worry about getting all the leaves off the lawn another time. Life's too short to not enjoy these moments with the kids. Joshua was truly having the time of his life jumping in the leaf piles and throwing leaves in the air. Just like throwing stones at the beach, playing in the leaves is one of life's simple pleasures that should not be wasted on us dads.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all readers of the Dad World blog. May your day be filled with good food and fun times with family and friends. And may the Cowboys lose to the Jets.

Peace.

Cousins

Rebecca and Joshua have a lot of first cousins - 9 to be exact. Of those 9, 7 are boys and 2 are girls. Most of Rebecca's friends are girls, so when she spends time with her cousins she's always taken aback by the rough play and aggressiveness of bigger boy cousins. But quickly enough, she joins the fray and mixes it up with the boys. Joshua has no hesitation. If he sees the boys piling on each other, he will quickly pile on himself. It's great that these kids have such a wonderful and loving extended family.

Great Article in Time Magazine

Time magazine had a great article last week about "Fatherhood 2.0". Definitely worth reading - meets with Dad World Blog approval. Check it out, click here.

KFed Gets Custody, Becomes Full-Time Dad

Kevin Federline will get full custody of the Britney Spears boys. Apparently, he's a more responsible parent than Britney. Read more on the Yahoo! OMG article.

Good luck KFed! The Dad World Blog is rooting for you.

Throwing Stones

It's the simple things in life that make my kids happy.

Over the weekend, I took Joshua and Rebecca to a wonderful park near one of our town beaches. After running themselves ragged on the swings and various jungle gyms, we brought our bagged lunch over to the beach where there are lots of picnic tables. We ate turkey sandwiches and organic corn chips under the early Autumn sun, and enjoyed the beautiful 70 degree/no humidity weather.

Then we headed down to the water. There we found an endless supply of shells, rocks, twigs, and dried seaweed. We spent over an hour picking up "interesting" items, and throwing them as far as we could into the water. The kids loved this. They seemed to really enjoy the hunt for rocks and shells that looked unusual and interesting, and they especially loved winding up and throwing them as far as they could and seeing them splash into the Long Island Sound. They are so accustomed to hearing "No!" when it comes to throwing rocks, but with a nearly empty beach and the wide open expanse of the open water, there was no danger and no reason they could not spend the entire day throwing rocks and shells (as long as they didn't throw them at each other, which Joshua came close to doing a couple of times).

It's the simple things that are sometimes the most entertaining.

Happy Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day!!!

Today, September 19th, is the offiicial Talk Like A Pirate Day. We are bringing this to our readers' attention in honor of Joshua, who uses sentences like "I want to play with me toys" and "Look at me shirt". To all parents of kids who have adopted this interesting speech pattern, Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day. Read more on the wiki page.

Joshua's Birthday

We recently celebrated Joshua's 3rd birthday. I can't believe he's 3 already.

Joshua had a tough time adjusting to this world after he was born. He was persistently cranky and fussy. He didn't sleep very well. The only way we could get him to sleep was by wrapping him in a swaddling blanket (a "baby straight jacket" as Uncle Matt calls it), with a pacifier in his mouth, while sitting in his swing going at full speed. If he sneezed, the pacifier would come out of his mouth and he would wake himself up and be up for the next several hours.

But gradually, we worked to get him to sleep better, and within a year he was sleeping through the night. Now, he's still a great sleeper (knock on wood).

And he's also a happy, social, well-adjusted little boy. He loves interacting with other people, and will go out of his way to play with other kids. We were recently at the beach, and Joshua spotted a group of older kids (they must have been about 8 or 9), and he only wanted to go over to them and play in their game. They were kind enough to include Joshua, and he was so happy.

One of Joshua's favorite things is trucks. He loves books and movies about them, and loves to play with his Tonkas. Every present he received for his birthday was either a truck or car. He also loves to color and draw. He has a great attention span when it comes to this stuff, and can literally spend a solid hour just coloring or drawing.

As Joshua continues to get a better handle on language, he creates his own speech patterns that are a constant source of amuzement for Jen and me. Jen says Joshua speaks "Pirate" - "Mommy, I hurt meself"...."Daddy, where's me shirt?"..."I want to play with me trucks". He has also recently begun to refer to himself in the third person..."Joshua wants to color"...."It's Joshua's turn now!" So funny.

What a great kid. We love him sooooooooo much! Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

First Day of School

Today was Rebecca's first day of kindergarten. Jen and I were extremely anxious about this day for a long time. We kept discussing it with Rebecca, and each other - probably a little too much. It had been very hard to imagine our little baby actually going to elementary school...a school where there were 5th graders, and lockers, and a gym, and a cafeteria. It all seemed so grown up.

Thankfully, we live close enough to the school that we are "walkers", so Rebecca didn't have to get on a bus. So Jen and I both walked her (I was home from work because I had taken the whole week off for this event), each of us holding one of her little hands. All the while, I was trying to snap as many pictures as possible to record this day. Then we got to the school (pictured to the right) and headed to the gym. There we met Rebecca's new teacher and all of her new classmates. After a few minutes, the teacher asked the new class to line up so that they could walk in an orderly fashion to their new classroom and away from their parents that were doing their best paparazzi imitations (there were flash bulbs going off every few seconds).

Jen and I really tried to keep it together as the kids lined up and waved good-bye to their parents. Rebecca got into line, right behind a little girl she knows from our block - the only kid she knows in the class - the rest are all strangers to her. She just stood there, waving at us and smiling, with her brand new pink backpack that seemed to be bigger than she is. Yes...she was smiling and waving. What a relief. The only tears were from us, the two sappy parents. Rebecca was totally fine - our brave little girl.

Baseball

I recently took Rebecca to a Bridgeport Bluefish game. The Bluefish play in the independent league, roughly equivalent to Division A of the minor league system. Interestingly, Tommy John is the manager of the Bluefish.

Anyway, Rebecca had a great time. And she even lasted 6 innings, which was much more than I expected. But it wasn't the game that kept her interest. Fortunately, the people who run Harbor Yard know that keeping kids' attention during a baseball game is not very easy, so they've devised a number of tricks to keep the young ones entertained during the game. Rebecca was probably most impressed with Jake the Water Dog, who carried a basket of water bottles around the infield for the umpires between innings. And then she loved it when Jake showed off his athletic prowess by catching well-thrown frisbees in the outfield after the 5th inning.

She also liked the Bluefish mascot who came around to the different parts of the stadium and did very goofy tricks for the kids. And of course, the clown making balloon animals was a big hit (you can see her balloon poodle in the picture-->).

And for the first time, Rebecca ate peanuts right out of the shell. It took her a few minutes to get the hang of cracking open the shell, but she managed to put down the entire bag once she got going.

During all this excitement, there was actually an exciting baseball game going on. The score was 4 to 3 when we left. I'm still not sure who won, but all I know is we had a great time. Once Joshua gets old enough, you can be sure I'll take him. Looking forward to that.

NYTimes Article

Great Article in the NYTimes today about a Dad inventor.....

My Dad, American Inventor

Published: August 16, 2007
TOMMY HABEEB just wanted to be one of the new breed of involved dads: the hands-on guys who preside over bath time without creating a flood; the ones who return home from work early enough to crawl after their children toward the realm of make-believe. His ambitions did not include inventing the Water Bottle Nipple Adaptor.

Inspiration struck Mr. Habeeb on a sweltering afternoon in Dallas, though, when he found himself with a cold bottle of water and no way for the baby slung across his chest to drink from it. In short order, he was in his kitchen hacksawing off the top of a baby bottle and improvising a coupling to allow the nipple to be screwed onto almost any water bottle.

Click here for the full text.

Dance Camp

Since camp ended last week, we wanted to find something fun and exciting for Rebecca to do rather than arrange play dates every day. So we signed her up for one week of Dance Camp, which goes from 9:30-1:30 for four straight days. It includes an emphasis on dancing (which Rebecca loves) with some games and art projects mixed in. Rebecca had taken a dance class at this school before, but Jen and I were very anxious about leaving her there for the whole day. She only knew one other girl in the group, and one teacher. The rest were strangers to her.

Would she cry when we left her there for the day? Would she be shy and anxious about not knowing anyone? Would this whole Dance Camp thing be a wasted effort for us? Would Rebecca just be better off spending the days with her mom and brother???? The questions abounded in our minds.

Turns out we worried for nothing. Rebecca, on her first day, went off into the group and started mixing it up right away. She said good-bye to Jen with no issues, and no crying! She has, so far, truly embraced Dance Camp, and seems to really love it. At night she talks excitedly about her day in anticipation of the next one. What a relief.

It's funny how, as parents, we often find ourselves in the role of student as our young kids continually teach us new things. We are so proud of Rebecca as she asserts her independence and shows us what she's made of - all good stuff.

Next challenge - Kindergarten, which starts in just a few short weeks.

The Plum Pit Incident

I recently gave Joshua a whole plum to eat. Rebecca was eating one, and he said he wanted the same thing. I'm happy when they eat fresh fruit, so I didn't think twice. The kids sat quietly at their little white table, happily chewing down the juicy fruit. Then, for no apparent reason, Joshua stands up and starts asking for Mommy (Mommy was out for dinner with her friends, there was only Daddy). Whenever he experiences any kind of discomfort or stress, it's right to Mommy he goes....so I knew something was wrong.

I looked down at what remained of his snack, and saw only a few pieces of purple plum skin that he had peeled off. So what happened to the rest of the plum...including the pit!!!???? Uh Oh.

"Joshua, did you swallow the pit?", I asked. "No", he said. One more time, a little sterner..."Joshua, did you swallow the pit?"

"Stop talking about it", he tells me. So, I stopped. He seemed fine. My guess was that he became uncomfortable while the pit when down his esophagus, but once it made its way to his stomach, he felt much better.

The rest of the night was uneventful...well, except for Joshua stubbing his pinky toe and crying hysterically. But that's par for the course.

When Jen came home, she wasn't too pleased to hear what happened. "Why the hell would you give him an entire plum?" So we called the doctor, checked the web, and talked to family and friends. What we learned is that once the pit hits the stomach, there is very little danger. We just need to make sure that the pit finds its way out. Which it did, thank God. (I won't go into details).

Anyone else have such experiences?

Working Long Hours

Since I commute a long distance to work, I don't see the kids a whole lot during the week. I leave the house before they wake up, and often I get home after they go to sleep (sometimes I get home early enough to put them to bed - which my wife is always grateful for). Since I work in the world of Online Media, there aren't many employment options for me out in the burbs. Most of the major media companies in the region are located in New York City.

This is a tough dilemma. I want to make sure I am advancing my career appropriately and earning as much as I possibly can for my family. But on the other hand, I don't want to be just a weekend dad. I want to be a regular fixture in my kids' lives. They mean the world to me, and I want to be with them as much as possible.

What do other dads out there do in similar situations? I'd love to know.

Sports

I'm trying to teach the kids some basic skills like kicking a soccer ball or hitting a plastic softball off a tee. Joshua (age 2) has much more interest than Rebecca (age 5). And I'm not buying the whole boy-girl thing. I've seen plenty of little girls enthusiastically take on a new athletic skill when taught to them. Joshua will spend hours hitting the ball off the tee (as long as he has ol' Dad there to constantly pick up the balls and tee them up for him). So how do I get Rebecca more interested? She's well coordinated, and I've seen her hit the ball pretty well - so I don't think lack of skills is an issue.

Any advice from other Dads on how to get kids more interested in sports related activities?

Kids Coming Alive!

We took the kids to a family get together down in Philly this weekend. The minute we got there Joshua went into 2 year-old-boy mode, and immediately starting running around like a madman. Then he proceeded to lie flat on the floor and refused to get up, while cleaning up the spilled red wine with his brand new shirt.

Rebecca began to assert her independence, and told us that she wanted to go by herself to watch the other kids dance. This was a big move for her. She is usually very clingy at these types of events. So she walked about 10 feet away from us, turning her head every 30 seconds or so to make sure we were still there. We did our best to seem casual, as if we were not watching her. After a few minutes one of our cousins spotted her and invited her to sit down. She was great.

Onward and upward!!!

Welcome to It's a Dad Dad Dad World!!

Welcome to the Dad Dad Dad World blog. I will attempt to chronicle and share my Dad experiences, and hopefully generate many comments and blog visits.

I'm a Dad of 2: Rebecca is 5 and Joshua is 2 1/2. I live in suburban Connecticut, and commute to New York City every day, where I work in Sales Operations for a web based division of Johnson & Johnson. My wife and I have been married almost 10 years. We have 2 SUV's (even though we are both comitted environmentalists), a nice sized mortgage, but no dog and no white picket fence.

Nothing too exciting so far...But what keeps things interesting is the regular adventures and escapades of Joshua and Rebecca. The way they interact and play is a constant source of amazement for my wife and me. We all get caught up in our daily routines, but I will try to step back as I write this blog, and look at things in a new way - through the eyes of two young, precious children trying to learn, absorb, and make sense of this world.

It's a Dad Dad Dad World! Enjoy! And visit often.