The Kaboom!

Caillou is for "reals"

For parents of newborns or people thinking about having kids, the most accurate depiction of children in the toddler / preschool age range that I have encountered is the cartoon Caillou.

Besides being educational for children, the parents serve as a positive example of calm, though not permissive, parenting.
As parents we may expect our children, particularly our firstborns, to understand more than they actually do, and Caillou does a good job of showing how the world and it's workings are really still new and mysterious to young children, even if they seem like little teenagers when compared to their young siblings still in diapers.

Materialistic society is 'damaging' children: poll

Commenting on the results of the poll, chief executive of the Childrens Society Bob Reitemeier said: "As adults we have to take responsibility for the current level of marketing to children. To accuse children of being materialistic in such a culture is a cop out. Unless we question our own behaviour as a society we risk creating a generation who are left unfulfilled through chasing unattainable lifestyles." click here for the whole article

My Boys Favorite Things 2007

Sports Teams:
5yr-old
Indianapolis Colts
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NY Jets
Rutgers University Scarlet Knights - all sports
NJ Devils
2yr-old
NY Jets
Rutgers University Scarlet Knights - all sports

Music:
bands
5yr-old
Arctic Monkeys
Monster Magnet
White Stripes
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2yr-old
Arctic Monkeys
Led Zeppelin
White Stripes
"Jazz"

Foods:
5yr-old
Mac and Cheese
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Cheddar Cheese
2yr-old
Mac and Cheese
Cake
Sliced Strawberry and Cream Cheese Sandwich

Friends:
5yr-old
Taj
Mossimo
Finn
Anil
Michael
Luke
2yr-old
Mikey
Justin

Sports:
5yr-old
football
hockey
basketball
soccer
sword fighting
martial arts
2yr-old
football
soccer
basketball

TV Shows:
5yr-old
SpongeBob SquarePants
Backyardigans
Curious George
Danger Rangers
Zula Patrol
2yr-old
Curious George
SpongeBob SquarePants
Peanuts / Charlie Brown

Superheroes / Villians:
5yr-old
Black Spiderman / Spiderman
Venom
Sandman
New Goblin
Human Torch
2yr-old
Spiderman
Venom
Mary Jane
Green Goblin


Colors:
5yr-old
black
red
blue
brown
2yr-old
Yellow
Green

Drama King

My five year-old is a bit of a drama queen, or king, or more exactly drama prince, anyway one day every situation we found ourselves wound up with him either whining or crying, so at some point I asked him, "How do you turn every thing you do today into a crying fit?" To which he answered red faced and teary-eyed, "Daddy, I'm just like that!"
Well okay then.

Our cat died a few weeks ago, and it was pretty sudden, we had been really busy with family events so unfortunately I wasn't able to fully perceive how far along she was, but she didn't eat well for a week I changed her foods, that worked for another week, then she barely ate for a week, and that was it.
Two years ago she almost passed away but I took her to the vet daily for a week and got her hydrated via an IV, at mid week the vet was like I've never seen a cat with "numbers" as poor as your cat's, maybe it's time to put her down, but my wife was on a business trip and I didn't want my kids to have to deal with their cat dying while their mother was away, so I just kept bringing her back to the vet and she bounced back so I figured it would be the right thing to do to bring her for IV again, since she wasn't eating or drinking water. I was really worried because I could tell she most likely didn't have much longer to live and I would rather she died with her family around her, but if I didn't take her to the vet and she died I would be mad at myself because I didn't try every last thing, particularly when the IV brought her back from death's door last time.
Well I sent her to the vet and she didn't make it back, so I felt pretty crappy that she died without her family because they sent my wife home while they were giving our cat the IV.

My boys really made me proud, my kindergartner was really compassionate to our cat, she was really laboring to breath and he sat by her and sang a really soft song to her which relaxed her to the point where I got nervous because she then was barely breathing and I wasn't sure if she'd be about to muster up the energy to breath more normally again.
Right before my kindergartner and wife took our cat to the vet for the last time (she didn't make it back home) my toddler came rushing over and said, "Wait Daddy I've got it," and pulled out our play doctor's set and tried to treat our cat.
The older boy has a pretty full understanding of what it means to die and so he took it harder, the little guy still asks when is "Whinnie is coming back?" To which I say she's lives with God now, and It's really great there, and try to be convincing as possible.

Toddler tales

Some things my 2 year-old son has said recently that I find amusing:

"Why are you so angry?" Dude you're right I don't know, I totally need to mellow out.

His idea of toilet humor, I was changing his diaper and he was cracking himself up as he said,
"I'm going to draw your penis, and then I'm going to draw my big bruvee's (brother's) penis."
I guess his preschool art class is a little more advanced than I realised when I signed him up for it.

Again changing his diaper and he was upset when I was trying to put his pull-ups on over his privates, "No Dada don't put on diapee, I playing with my penis!"

Washing Kisses

I just kissed my toddler good night and noticed that his cheeks tasted like cake, so I got a wash cloth and wiped his face, which made him upset, which isn't surprising because he always gets upset when you wash his face, but he was saying something different from his normal protests. As I listened more closely I began to decipher something about kisses, and washing, oh he was saying, "You're washing my kisses away," as in I was negating the kisses I just laid on his cheeks by wiping his face.
So I gave him a second round of kisses and all was well.

BARNEY vs. HIP-HOP HARRY

DAF - Die Lüge

CONFORMS TO ASTM D-4236?

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5016.html
I'm not sure if I'm reading it right because my 2 1/2 year-old won't stop asking me for things, but it looks like this just means that they are following the labeling laws and listing any dangerous ingredients on the label, or listing a phone number. The problem is we have all of these crayons that have that listed on it, but not the boxes they came in, this is because they come from those 4-packs they give you at restaurants to keep the kids quiet, so basically look not only at the crayon, but the box to make sure they are not toxic!

Gun Free Kids

GunFreeKids Legislative Scorecard
Seems like a cool organization, plus I like the idea of making legislators who support and take money from the gun lobby accountable.

"I look cool / Do I look chubby in this jacket?"

My kindergartner always tells me when he gets in trouble at school, which is pretty rare, and also when other kids get in trouble, which is good because we have an idea of who we don't want him to hang out with, and it's setting a good precedent for the future, when the kinds of trouble kids are getting in is less cute or innocuous.
So he starts telling us about one kid that we know gets in trouble, who his teacher in fact has decided to not let our boy sit with because he prompted my son to tell some girl that she's not pretty. Which was the only time he's really gotten into trouble.
Anyway he's telling me how this kid called him poopy-something or other and pushed him. I ask if he told the teacher, he says yes but it was clean up time so the teacher didn't do anything about it. To get the whole story from young children you have to ask them the same question a few times often in different ways because they don't necessarily understand what information you are trying to get out of them. So I again ask why did he call you names, and my son answers, "Okay I'm looking in the mirror saying, 'I look cool' (as he reenacts smiling and pointing at himself in the mirror) and then he called me a poopy-head and I didn't stop looking in the mirror, then he pushed me."
Oh, I understand now.

---------------------------

My son has a cool Timberland jacket that he's been wearing since the weather has finally begun to cool off, so while we are driving to school today he asks me, "What does chubby mean?" so I tell him it means a little overweight, a little fat, but knowing that a question asked never comes from nowhere I ask him why does he want to know. He's like I just want to know, and I tell him it's okay to tell me, did he see something on TV, or did a kid at school call someone chubby?
He answers, "Okay, do I look chubby in this jacket?"
Me, "No! did someone tell you that, you're the least chubby person in our family." (He's lucked into a thin yet muscular physique)
Him, "Who's chubby in our family?"
2 1/2 year old son yells his own name in response to the who's chubby question, which is slightly true.
Me, "No one's chubby, but you're totally not chubby at all."
5 year-old, "No not me, I mean the jacket, do I LOOK chubby in the jacket?"
Me, "No you don't, your jacket is cool."
Him, "Okay."

Sexual misconduct plagues US schools

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071021/ap_on_re_us/teacher_sex_abuse

Daddy, Am I Going to Die?

My Five year-old asked me when is he going to die.
GREAT
I was like I don't know, heck maybe you won't die, maybe you'll go to heaven, so it's like you don't need your body any more but your soul lives on, so you can't really be dead then can you? Well at least that's what a lot of people think, and that's what they believe at the church you and mommy go to, but really nobody really knows.
"But you know daddy right?"
No I don't know, but I hope that's what will happen. Who told you, you were going to die, or did you just figure that out on your own?
"I just figured it out."
Oh, I don't know son, hopefully you'll just go to heaven.

Now I've noticed his wheels turning when we talk about humans and animals dying, and I knew that eventually he'd figure it out, and judge me if you must, knowing that I lean to the agnostic side when I'm not leaning to the Buddhist side, but I'll be damned if I'm telling my five year old that he can look forward to a life of trials, tribulations and travail* to be rendered meaningless by an inescapable death, I don't mind the idea of being worm's fodder, or turning to vapor and becoming one with the universe or whatever bullshit we tell ourselves in place of the self deluding comfort lies of religion, but I'm trying to give my son a few years before he crawls up his own arse via his inherited inclination for neurotic introspection.
Honestly sometimes I'd rather he live deluded and happy having some all encompassing lie that explains away all the evil and contradictions of the world, rather than being a compulsive seeker of truth, when the truth is life is pain and suffering that has to be accepted and overcome somehow without becoming totally numb.
Of course I don't really want him to run around totally deluded, because that will leave him easily lead by the likes of televangelists and politicians, and possibly result in his viewing others as "non-believers."
I hate that idea of "non-believer" I remember a co-worker saying, "Oh that's right you're a non-believer," to which I answered, "No, I'm not a non-believer, I believe in things, they are just different things than you believe in."

*travail is french for work