Bus Ride Haiku

My kid took the bus home from school for the first time today.

He said he loved it.

I  think I'm going to love it more.

(O.K. - it's not really a Haiku)

Baby time

Nothing better than having a new baby in the neighborhood - who also happens to be a cousin.  Welcome Nico.

Eagle Day

It was an Eagle-rific Day in Caden's classroom today.  Everything you could possibly want to know about Eagles - and then some.

Snowed in

That's what happens in this neck of the woods on occassion.  Flights that need to take you home aren't necessarily always able to make it in and thus the backup of travelers begins.  Unfortunately, the airline can't get us out until tomorrow instead of yesterday.  Fortunately, Caden says his Wizard's spell worked and our flight was cancelled.  He lucked out with another day of ski school.  Only negative is that his cousins left today.

I hope to watch the Repugligant debate tonight.  It's been a while since that comedy has been on.  I'm glad they have a new episode.   Only 4 left on the stage and they are each "special" in their own right.  It will be interesting to see if the Santorum surge continues.  Lordy - I hope so!

I'll just leave you with this one pic.  It's his new favorite way of skiing.  Yes - Backwards!

Snow Days

We find ourselves hitting the slopes for 5 days in Jackson Hole with a son who has decided that he could ski every day for the rest of his life and be totally content.  The idea sounds great to a 6 year old and at that age the realities of life haven't set in.  Boy - is he in for a let down.

Have I mentioned that I hate it when people make the comments about "kids growing up so fast"?  I know I have - look back and you'll probably find it.  BUT - it's true.  I was watching him do things on skis that scared the daylights out of me and he had a confidence that I've never even seen in myself - on anything!  Here comes the line I really hate..."It seems like just yesterday" he was hesitant to even walk on the snow - much less going over metal railings in the terrain park area of the mountain.

Since I've made it clear that this blog is really for Caden to read years from now to see what was going on in his Papa's mind...please know that his Papa was unbelievably proud of him.

For those of you who think I mention my son too much on this here blog...if only you would have seen him, you would know why he was worth another post.

Oh - did I also mention that he thinks it's cool that he can go down a "black diamond" and his Papa can't (or won't)?

It's back to home tomorrow.

Only 13 more to go

I'm a sappy kind of guy - but I never know what is going to bring on the sappiness.  I can name at least one thing that I'm not sappy about.  Going from pre-school to kindergarten does nothing to me emotionally.

I've heard more than several comments the last few weeks from parents regarding their heart strings being tugged by little "insert kid's name here" leaving pre-school to move on to kindergarten.  Maybe I'm immune to it because Caden's kindergarten classrooms are in the same building as his pre-school rooms.  I'm sure that moving from one building to another - that might even be a distance away from each other is more noticeable.  But come on people - it's really not that big of a deal.

I can see the move from middle school to high school being much more traumatic for me.  Knowing that this transition represents the four remaining years of having to make sure he is up and out the door by a certain time will surely cause a little more angst.

Pre-school to Kindergarten? - let's get this movie started.  Please - Now!

On another note...we're off to Black Butte Ranch in central Oregon with friends for the weekend.   Just because I said it's a "ranch" doesn't mean we're going to be branding cattle.  It's more like a big housing development/vacation spot with lakes, swimming pools, bike paths, horseback riding, etc...

Rollin' on the river...

The Columbia River to be exact.  Perfect night in Portland.  I know I haven't given an update on the Texas trip - don't give up...it will happen eventually.

Another Year

It must be July 11th.  That's the day when people throw out the obligatory birthday wishes to me.  This 52nd one was different for some unknown reason.  The 50th birthday was a non-event mentally and emotionally.  I think we are told by society that the big 50 is so traumatic that anything other than an earthquake on that day makes the reality of it quite subdued.

I've been doing too much thinking lately - about stupid stuff.  My latest thought obsession is thinking about being 98 years old and Caden being 52.  I do expect to live to 98 - since at this time nothing is telling me I shouldn't.  Caden will be the only child of parents who are 98 and 96.  Will he finally be saying, "Damn...why didn't they have more kids so I don't have to take this responsibility on alone"?  Yes - it's absurd for me to be thinking about this now - but it's my blog - as I've mentioned in the past.

You'll notice that I'm not worried about growing old myself - but how it will affect Caden's view of me.  Will he resent us or will he look at it as an honor.  Ha!  I'm hoping for something in between.

In fact I don't even know why I'm concerned about this since he has made clear to us that he is never going to leave home.  Potential problem solved!

An early breakout

I didn't think we would have this issue for another 8 years or so - but Caden found a way to be an overachiever.

When we were putting in new windows in our basement last year, I remember commenting that they will be perfect for a 13 year old boy to sneak out of at night.  I specifically said "13" and not "5".  I even made sure that he wasn't around when I said it so I wouldn't be giving him ideas.  He obviously came up with the idea on his own.

To be fair - it wasn't even dark outside and he told us that he only did it as a shortcut to the backyard.  The screen in the window is difficult for me to remove.  He obviously didn't need any help getting it out.

I know that even without our lecture that immediately ensued, a pilot light has been ignited in his brain that will be fully flaming as the years move on and he feels the need to make a stealth exit.

His "shortcut to the backyard" excuse won't be as effective in the future.

Weekend moments

So I wrote a long tear filled blog post tonight about having an "emotional moment" while dancing with Caden on Saturday afternoon in our living room.  It was so frickin' sappy.  I re-read it and then couldn't delete it fast enough.  I'll try it again - without trying to sound like some wannabe novelist.

Caden and I danced in the living room to the soundtrack of "High School Musical" on Saturday.  It was fun.  Loved it !

There - much better.

I didn't write another sappy one about dinner out that night with great friends - but trust me - it was fun also.

Did I mention that we have tickets to "The Book of Mormon" in NYC next week?  If I didn't - now I have.

Randomness

Anthony Weiner is seeking treatment.  For what?  He's an Asshole.   We now have "treatment" programs for that affliction?  Shouldn't there be one on every corner?

I missed the GOP debate tonight.  We were out eating mediocre Mexican food instead (which means we could have been at any of the local Mexican restaurants).  I did catch a glimpse of the panel of candidates - or it could have been a Saturday Night Live sketch.  I couldn't tell the difference.

Caden had his last day of pre-school last week.  They didn't have  pre-school graduation ceremony - thank goodness.  They did have a great pot-luck for the kids and parents.  Why aren't all graduations like that?

Caden and I are heading to the beach tomorrow.  Hope we get some sun.

It's just a shirt

I'm sorry Caden.  Oh - you'll get an in person apology when I pick you up from school but thought I might as well say it here first - to make me feel a little better.

This morning you wanted to wear a football jersey to school.  I said "No" because you wore the same shirt two days ago.  The morning didn't go as planned after that.  Tears and yelling ensued - from both of us.  It was pathetic and all my fault.

We could go deep into therapy to get to the bottom of this but suffice it to say...it was my issue...not yours. My lord - I didn't want you wearing a shirt because you had worn it two days prior - and it was clean!  What was that all about?  I don't know - although I think I dug my heels in once I said the initial "No" and was just determined that you weren't going to "win".  That's maturity at it's finest.

Your school doesn't even have a dress code (Thank Goodness).  They only ask that your clothes be clean and not ripped to shreds.  We have that covered.

I normally let you pick out your clothes and you do a fine job.  I'll keep reminding myself of that.

Again - I'm sorry for being an ass about what shirt you wanted to wear today.  I'll make sure you wear it tomorrow - but only if you want to.

Woodshop 101

Yes it's a real saw.  Yes he set it up all by himself.  He has now handled a saw more in his first year of Preschool than I have all my life.

Disneyland pics and T-ball

Remember those Disneyland pics I said would be coming when I got around to posting them?  You thought I would have them up by now - didn't you?  I wish I could - but that would mean we had found the camera that we took them with.  Yes - the camera that has the pictures from our first family trip to Disneyland.  That one - the one we can't find.  Maybe it's a good thing.  Our imaginations can always make the trip much more colorful than it actually was - although it was pretty darn colorful.

I do have the results from Caden's first T-ball game.  Let's just say it was a draw.  As mentioned before, we didn't have T-ball when I was 5 years old, so I wasn't that familiar with how the actual games work - other than the kid hits the ball as it sits on a stick type contraption.  It's PC sport at it's finest.  Each kid gets to bat each of the three innings.  Do the math - three at bats per kid and no strike-outs.  5 year olds are scattered throughout the field randomly.  The runners can only advance one base at a time - until the final batter per inning gets to hit a "Grand Slam" and all runners head home.  The highlights come when batters don't know what to do after hitting the ball and fielders don't know they can move their feet to catch the ball.   Three innings of this is plenty - and between you and me - two innings would be plenty.  Did I mention that we have an 18 game season?  Yes - 18.  I think 10 would have been fine.

By the way - Caden loved it and caught the final ball of the game.  

Japan

How do we explain what is going on in Japan to a 5 year old - or even to our own selves?  Pictures and videos make us think we can imagine the horror but somehow I suspect it is much worse.

Caden now knows about earthquakes - but seems more interested in how the earth moves during the process than the destruction created from that process.  It's too soon to go into gory detail about what that destruction means.

He was excited to remind me that he has Japanese blood in him (which is true).  I want him to know that you don't have to have Japanese blood to care about what is happening in that country.

No more silly ramblings from me this week.

Our hearts and thoughts are with the people of Japan as they endure this tragedy.

Huckabee - part deux

Really Mike?  You think mentioning that Hollywood is glamorizing single mothers when Natalie Portman shows her pregnant self in public is something a potential Presidential candidate (or anyone for that matter) should be commenting on?.  What do you want her to do - stay in the closet?  Oh - I forgot - your base will eat this stuff up.

I'm sure he will be responding to my questions any minute now.

on another note...The other two guys in this house went skiing today.  Caden went down his first black diamond run - by mistake - and with Kevin of course.  Kevin said it took a while but Caden made it down all by himself and with no tears.  If I would have been there - the tears and cussing would have been coming from me.  It's probably a good thing I didn't go.

School auction

No - we're not auctioning off a school.  It's that time of the year when schools in our area (Private and Public) are gearing up for their annual big fundraising event.

This is something new to my family.  I don't think my local public school had large fundraising programs in place that got the parents involved.  Of course this would have been quite a while ago in small town South Texas and it might have actually happened - but I don't remember it.  (I do remember selling magazine subscriptions for the band to help buy new uniforms.) Yes - I was in the band (back when it was cool to be in the band).  Yes - there was a time when it was cool to be in the band.

Anyway..now days, elementary schools have year round campaigns to augment all types of programs and teacher salaries.  Caden's school has their annual campaign geared primarily towards scholarships and teacher development.  Someone actually said to me, "why do you have to raise more money when your tuition is so high?"  It's been a lesson for me also.  Having a student teacher ratio of 7:1 costs money - and even more than the annual tuition covers.  I can see why these fundraising programs are so important to the local public schools since their government funds are constantly being cut (and they aren't even expecting such a low student/teacher ratio).

I've somehow gotten very involved in Caden's school's big event.  I think I mentioned one time before that I'm trying to act all eager and involved this first year - so I won't feel obligated as much in later years.  Do the math - he's just in Preschool and this school goes through High School.  That means the potential of 13 more years of volunteering.   (oops - I began a sentence with "that"...my blog - my grammar.)



Just my two cents...

The Dog Tale

If you promise a 3 year old kid that he can get a dog when he turns 5 - he won't forget.  When we said he could have a dog at 5 - I was thinking sometime during the year between his 5th and 6th birthdays.  That's not how he heard it.  I'm surprised now that he didn't wake up on the morning of December 18th and say, "Where's my dog?"  My main reason for wanting to wait is because I didn't want to be taking a puppy out in the rain during the middle of the night to do her business.  I know - a lame excuse.
I guess I should also be cursing Google because they make it so easy for a local breeder to appear on the computer screen with her phone number in bold.  Couldn't she have taken January 1st off instead of answering right away and insisting that we drive the half hour to her house?
I knew it was a done deal before we even crossed the river from Portland over into Washington state.

Shouldn't there be a state law against transferring a 9 week old puppy across state lines?  I guess if there isn't one forbidding two men transferring a 10 day old baby boy from Nevada to Oregon - I can't expect one for a dog.

Now that all is said and done - this is second best baby we've adopted.  (even if it means standing in the rain while begging her to pee)

Damn those activist judges!

My decision to not get a dog until later in the Spring was overturned on appeal.