The Invisible Bucket

Some of you may know this but this is all new to me. The Boy who was actively doing the run around pee-pee dance was thrown out of the living room (the Girl's gated community), then he says to me "don't yell at me because it empties my invisible bucket." I had no idea what he was talking about, a little later he said "Everyone has an invisible bucket right next to their heart, good things fill it up and bad things empty it." What a sweet boy! Now after a little research I found that there is a children's book (there may be more than one, I believe there is one for adults too) about this bucket, so I can only assume he learned this in preschool. A fantastic lesson to learn so young.

Now onto my theory on the relationship of needing to go potty and craziness. A new habit the Boy has gotten into is when he needs to go potty for some reason bypasses the bathroom and comes into the living room with the Girl and wreaks havoc. He will run around, jump all over the furniture, and do everything he knows he is not supposed to do. I will remove him from the room and ask him to go potty which is instantly refused and then in about 5 minutes he will be in the bathroom. After all that he comes back in the living room and is a completely different Boy most of the time. In conclusion, if someone isn't listening to you, make them go potty.

Terrible Twos

The Girl is not yet two but the terrible twos seem to have started a little bit early. Being a track coach I would like to disqualify her for a false start. She has learned how to start a fake cry to try and get what she wants, little does she know that I invented that and had to deal with her big brother. In addition, I act like a two year old sometimes so I don't give in easily. The hard part right now is that the house is still separated for big kids and little kids due to the fact tasting everything is still a priority, so while the Boy is at school we have expanded the area of freedom to the kitchen which is very exciting and makes her happy and gives me a breather for a bit. She has learned to pull hair which for isn't a big deal, but for the rest of the people with hair it causes some trouble. In addition, nap time has become an adventure as now it is cool to undress, remove your diaper and pee in bed. She can remove onesies so it is a sleeper for her for nap which is just more clothes changes. I remember a lot of people telling me girls were easier, well right now I think I would have to disagree.

The Boy will start his first hockey league soon, I will try to post some pictures from the first game unless I am too busy banging on the glass. He is having fun and improving everytime out right now in the learning to play program. He seems to be doing well inschool and is very excited to start kindergarten next year, as am I. The phrases he uses these days are great. The other day he had to take snack for preschool and when he came home he said "It was a hit!" My favorite is when he bothers me when I am busy and keeps saying "Dad!" until I answer then in a very sweet voice says, "I love you!" Lets just say he knows how to play the game.

An Overlooked Aspect of Raising Kids

My job of staying home and raising the kids is challenging and fun all at the same time, but something that I think gets overlooked is the job of the my wife. She works very hard to support our family and give us the means to do what we do and have what we have. I think a lot of times people forget when I tell them I stay at home how hard my wife works too. I get a lot of comments of how wonderful it is for a Dad to be home and in the same breath sometimes on how much work it is (I am not going to deny that it is hard work), but then I begin to think do they think it easier for the spouse who is hard at work? I appreciate all the time and hard work my wife puts in and then comes home to play with the kids before their bed time and being able to eat dinner some nights. Then after all that we have a little time to ourselves, although at that point we are both worn out. I just think it is overlooked on what the working parent does and sacrifices for their family, and I think it is important to appreciate them all that much more for what they do.

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Having a boy and a girl I knew there would be a whole new kind of toys around. Basically I figure to have double the amount of stuff we had with the Boy since we would need all girl stuff. I also realize they would like some of the same things as they are brother and sister and the Girl always wants to do what her big brother is doing. At the point my thinking was that well maybe it wouldn't be a complete double amount of toys but a little less. As I sit here and type this the Boy is current watching one Thomas movie in the dark basement because it is like a movie theater he says, while the girl wanted to watch something and I asked her what and she said "train" so she is watching a different Thomas movie in the living room. It all must be a curse because when I was younger I wanted a train and my parents always told me it was under my bed... It never was! So now I get to live the life of 24/7 trains. Maybe if I can every find a large amount of time I will ist all the train stuff we have, even the Girl has a train all her own. I know it is a cliche but it certainly is true: "Be careful what you wish for because you just may get it."