Power Rangers on the Home Front
My wife is getting a kick out of taking pictures of me playing with the kids and having me post them on my blog in order to reveal my inner kid. OK, so I'm playing along. (Wife also thinks my classmates have dirty minds. You know who you are and why she said this!)

This past Sunday morning while we were playing computer games, my son and I watched video clips from a new Power Rangers movie. I think it was a movie - could have been a tv show. Anyway, he said someday he wanted to dress up and be a Power Ranger. As luck would have it, that very day we were shopping at Fred Meyer and saw a Power Ranger costume on sale. Son was very excited. Wife and I thought about making him wait until Christmas, but then decided it could be an early present. Son had the mask on before he was even strapped in his car seat for the ride home. We played Power Rangers as soon as we got home, and Son even let me wear the mask and vest/shield. That was pretty special, plus, he was really into the sword and cell phone/weapon, so think he didn't mind sharing the costume part.

I was a bit too old for Power Rangers the first time they were popular, but this time around, I can see their appeal. Everything is more fun through the eyes of a child :)

FUN WITH PAINT

OK, I said this was forthcoming, so here it is! ("Forthcoming"? Who uses that word?)

A couple weekends ago, I was on my own for a short time with the kids. It's good it was only a short time, because I let them do crazy things, like paint....pictures, the table, themselves.....Actually, I think I am only emotionally equipped to handle them for short periods of time. I could NOT be a stay-at-home Mom, and I thank God my partner mostly enjoys it. I do love playing though, and these are a few pictures of our big fun :)

So, now the real worries of parenting begin...

Today my wife dropped our son of for his second day of his twice-per-week, 90 minute preschool class. Tuesday he had a great time and was totally happy and geared up for a great day today. He barely said goodbye before running off to his cubby and his new buddy. 90 minutes later, my wife picks him up and he is in tears. He's a total wreck, melts down for almost half an hour screaming that he never wants to go back, and also upset about a pencil he lost. The student buddy said he didn't want to participate in the last part of class, which is the singing and dancing portion. She said he said he was tired. It would have been nice if she'd let him speak for himself.

Anyway, that is totally unlike him. He is Mr. Social and has been dancing since before he could walk. We don't know what happened. He says nothing happened, but something had to have happened. Whether someone just looked at him funny, or yelled at him, or he got a bad feeling from someone, or what, we don't know. His other mom already wrote to the teacher and she is going to talk to the student-teacher buddies (this is a high school program where the high school kids teach the preschoolers) and see if anyone knows anything about what might have upset him. He did say he is afraid the older kids might make fun of him. About what? About having two moms? He did say he didn't tell anyone last class because he didn't want them to make fun of him. No one ever has, and he's always proudly told any stranger that would listen, but I guess we've warned him it could happen. We told him he teacher (and hopefully the buddies) already know and it won't be a big deal. Is that what he is afraid of? Is our family structure already causing pain for our innocent, little four-year-old? Did someone say something? Maybe we should have met with all of the teens first to try to do some education and sensitivity training. I don't know if this has anything to do with that, but its hard to think that it is. He often tells strangers in the grocery store he has two moms and he is so proud of his family. I don't want that to change. I knew this would become an issue someday, but is that day already here?

OR - did someone make fun of his hair, or the way he said a word, or his artwork, or ANYTHING? Was it one of the teens or maybe another preschooler? What the h*ck happened? This is just the beginning of not knowing what goes on every minute of my child's life, and knowing he is with someone who will keep him safe and look out for his best interests. Until now, we've been able to control his world, or at least, have the illusion that we could control it. Now, the illusion is gone. Someone made my baby so sad, so upset, that he was in uncontrollable tears. He either won't tell us, or doesn't want to, or doesn't know himself why he was so upset. Either way, I don't like it.

Hopefully, we will learn more tomorrow. In the mean time, the teacher said he could have his Tuesday buddy again next time, and so our son has agreed he will go back to preschool. He really liked her. Thank God whatever happened is not as big as his fondness for his new buddy.

Friday Night Fun!

There have been times in my life that such a phrase might conjure up nights out on the town - a dance club, a women's bar, maybe even the theatre. Now days, my life is a bit more sedate. Wait. No. That's not right. It is not sedate. Perhaps it IS theatre. It certainly has its comedic and dramatic elements, that's for certain!

This past Friday night.....a little Karoake with the kids. Well, not really that. Mostly it was playing with the microphone. Kelton has the moves of a young boy band member, and loves to get his hands on the microphone, preferably following a suitable introduction. Kaylen loves imitating anything her brother does. Me? Well, I was having fun making sound effects :) Do you know if you say an elogated "paw" into a microphone it sounds really cool? So cool, that your 4-year-old has to try it, too!

The last two pictures show the best way to climb up onto the back of Mama.
1) step up on heel
2) fit other foot into waistband (not pictured)
3) hoist yourself up
4) hang on tight

Coming soon: Painting fun!

A Problem of Odor...aka Something Stinks
So, do people have to smoke and then come into a room with the odor still hanging on their clothes? Yes, apparently so.

Also, there are some guys (and probably some women, though I've not encounted that problem in my own experience) that really should shower prior to coming to class, or riding a bus, or coming to work. Just saying.

Perhaps tonight I am beyond the "person of normal sensitivies" classification. (Read: Feeling a little gritchy sitting here in class, though happy overall because I'm on page 46 of my paper!)

I will just mind my own business and be happy that I can smell - proof of the very happy fact that I do not have my wife's cold. Hope you are feeling better, Honey.

(How's that for another quirky post?)

Confessions of a Big Kid

So, my wife was harrassing me yesterday about serious posts and big words. It was probably her way of telling me I'm getting a little too involved with school and the world of law (and my A Paper that is due next week) and need to get a little more grounded. Well, I tell you, I was feeling pretty well grounded on Sunday when I took the kids out puddle-stomping in a rainstorm, and ended up cleaning out gutters, scooping dog poop from the yard, and putting away patio furniture, all in the rain, because, I was already wet anyway. It was actually quite fun. I even got to turn the hose on my son. He'd gotten fithy and I suggested it as a joke, but then he wanted me to really do it, so I did. He was already wet, and it was unseasonably warm, plus he was on his way into the house for a bath anyway. Where was I going with this? Right.....the confession that I'm truly a kid at heart, and often, in action.

Example:
Last night my wife and I are laying in bed.
"What was that?" she asks.
"This?" I say, thumping the bed with both hands as I'm laying on my back, causing the bed to move a bit.
"Yes."
"Me."
"Why? What are you doing?"
"Feeling how squishy the mattress pad is."

This made perfect sense to me. We've had a new mattress pad for a couple months now, and I enjoy it's density and bounce. I was simply appreciating it.

Moments before I'd been wondering if I could soften the pillow cases by washing them with every load of laundry for the next three years. I have a certain set of pillow cases that I really like because they are super soft. They are super soft not because we paid $50 for high thread count pillow cases but because they are probably over 20 years old. Soft pillow cases are very important to me. I enjoy the texture next to my face. Who wants to sleep on a scratchy pillow cases?

It's these things my wife believes I should be blogging about because, heck, anyone can post about politics or law school (assuming they are in law school). So, from time to time I guess I will spice things up with confessions of my quirks :)

Democrats: Taking Our Country Back!
How could I resist a small acknowledgement of such good news?

The following is an excerpt from an article on MSNBC. As a co-worker read it out loud to me, over our cube wall, I realized this was blog material.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15618695/


'Beginning of the end'
Regardless of the effect on world events, global giddiness that Bush was finally handed a political black-eye was almost palpable. In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as “the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world” and gloated that they left the Bush administration “seriously weakened.”

In London's Guardian newspaper, commentator Martin Kettle wrote: "The cheering can be heard not just in America itself but around the planet."

In Paris, expatriates and French citizens alike packed the city’s main American haunts to watch results, with some standing to cheer or boo as vote tabulations came in.

One Frenchman, teacher Jean-Pierre Charpemtrat, 53, said it was about time U.S. voters figured out what much of the rest of the world already knew.

“Americans are realizing that you can’t found the politics of a country on patriotic passion and reflexes,” he said. “You can’t fool everybody all the time — and I think that’s what Bush and his administration are learning today.”

Democrats swept to power in the House on Tuesday and were threatening to take control of the Senate amid exit polls that showed widespread American discontent over Iraq, nationwide disgust at corruption in politics, and low approval ratings for Bush.

Bush is deeply unpopular in many countries around the globe, with particularly intense opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, the U.S. terror detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and allegations of Washington sanctioned interrogation methods that some equate with torture.
(article continues, but this was the best part....Please see link if you are interested.)

I'm not saying that global popularity = right, but these sentiments are so on target with with what many of us are feeling today that it seemed appropriate.