September 10, 2012

Guys With Kids

By Brad

I was perusing through the latest TV preview of Entertainment Weekly over the weekend and saw this advertisment fro NBC’s newest sitcom: Guys With Kids

Image

When I started this blog I was thrilled when Parenthood (also NBC) featured a Stay-at-home dad because he encompassed what I thought a STAD should be. Manly yet gentle and a vital and dependable member of the household. He had a trade, was a great father and took care of business and had the confidence to be a STAD.

NBC (I’m sensing a pattern here) also had a STAD in their sitcom last year with Up All Night. I was going to write a post about it, especially since it featured funnyman Will Arnett. My wife and I gave up on the show after 4 episodes due to lack of interest. The situational comedy of Arnett’s STAD was completely a misfire with only a small amount of time devoted to laughs to his somewhat ineptitude to his STAD role. I didn’t like the rest of the show so I gave up. I just read that the second season flip-flops the Stay-at-home role back to the wife and Arnett goes back to work so it’s a moot point now anyway.

So now I see this ad for Guys with Kids and I realized that the STAD character is the new “gay” character. What I mean by that is starting in the 90s, slowly but surely the tolerance towards gays was better and more and more gay TV characters were being introduced. My So-Called World, Will & Grace, ER and Sex & the City featured openly and proud gay and lesbian characters and now you can’t change the channel and not find a show featuring a LGBT character. Nothing wrong with that at all. But I find most of these LGBT characters are still written as the flamboyant gay or the “butchy” lesbian sometimes. Old stereotypes that aren’t always necessarily true.

Well anyway, I’m now seeing more and more STAD’s in TV shows, either being portrayed as seriously dramatic like Joel Graham from Parenthood or lovable goofballs like Will Arnett’s. Again nothing wrong with that but this new show with the Baby Björn tough-guy look (ripping off Zach Galifianakis’ gag in The Hangover) and I’m seeing a changing perception, tolerance and openness to “our group” of males. Its certainly a new game and world for us staying at home, taking care of the house and not just the yards as well as baby/toddler wrangling. Everyday I see the humor and joy as well as the misery and suffering of staying home, not making much or no money, going food shopping and cleaning up mess after mess these darned kids make. I’m glad the STAD is getting more exposure in TV and films. It used to be a joke-only since Michael Keaton fed the baby chili in Mr. Mom to now dudes confidently strolling their kids with other dudes (see the trailer for the What to Expect When You’re Expecting movie that premiered earlier this year) and walking around metro-sexually with Baby Björns.

I can dig it.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Indentity Crisis, New Experiences, SAHD

September 8, 2012

Summer of ’12 (THE ADJUSTMENT)

By Brad

OK I’m back.

All apologies to you, my readers, for the huge gap between Penny’s birth back in June and now. Frantic summer that we all had to adjust to our new life with the newborn. My wife and I had a pretty good and easy time adjusting to having Penny home. For the first month or so she slept great. Could put her down anywhere. We attribute the breast milk AND the exhausting NICU/preemie ordeal as the possible reason for that. As the milk ran out we went to formula and she was still a great sleeper, especially at night so we got decent hours of night-time slumber. The main hurdle of the summer was one particular little lady.

I exaggerate. Maddie is a super-duper big sister. She LOVES her baby sister–Adores her in fact. She’s always asking how she is and if she see her closer for hugs and kisses. She is still thanking us for bringing her home from the hospital. She was a wee bit ‘scared’ of her at first, by that, I mean scared to hold her or have her sit in her lap. Totally expected but slowly but surely she’s gaining more confidence with holding or sitting with Penny.

Whether its Maddie’s age or the fact that she’s no longer the main attraction she did test us a ton this summer. Acting up, being rude, disobedience, extra stubbornness and refusal to go potty at key times during the day. Bedtimes became hectic and some dinners were nightmares. At the time we were banging our heads against the wall but we slowly realized that its a phase we must wait out and frankly, she is still better behaved than most kids we see so we shouldn’t sweat it so much. Now she’s calmed down and better adjusted to her new life. We did try our best to help her too by doing more things just the three of us. We went to the Camden Aquarium, saw the latest Ice Age movie, went to Sesame Place and other mall outings and such.

However the biggest adjustment for Maddie was adjusting to an active and healthy Mommy. When my wife was pregnant and on bed-rest for practically 2 months she could barely interact with Maddie. It took its toll on their relationship in a way we weren’t expecting. After Penny was born Maddie was still distant and somewhat cold to my wife. It was very sad and hard on her that Maddie still would rather have me do things for her and only play with her. Now we know it wasn’t a preference based on love and affection because Maddie would say things like “No, Mommy, you need to rest (or stay in bed).” So we knew she just assumed my wife was incapable. It took some time and many girls’ only outings to get Maddie to get accustomed back to having two parents again but we’re all back to normal in that regard.

In 2 weeks I will have the biggest adjustment of them all. A Stay-at-Home Dad with TWO kids! Am I nervous? Hell’s yeah! Do I think I will lose my mind? That’s a possibility. Will it really be that bad? Depends but I do know this: Whatever bad days I go through, they will pale in comparison to the melancholy my wife will have to endure going back to work after a 5-month hiatus, spending all this good quality time with her family and her new adorable baby and missing them dearly everyday.

I cannot complain too much, I know. In the long run, I have the dream job and I know I am very fortunate to be able to do what I do on a daily basis.

So, I hope to write more in the coming months but don’t be surprised by my lack of posts since I will literally have my hands full this autumn and winter.

1 Comment   |  tags: , | posted in Child raising, New Experiences

June 11, 2012

Penny For My Thoughts

By Brad

Penelope “Penny” Alexandra, born 06/09/2012 at 6:18 AM. 5 lbs, 3 oz & 17″ long.

Prologue #1:

I’m sure most lame jokers will use the “Penny For Your Thoughts” quote to her for most of her life, whether it’s a silly older relative or a drunken dude at a bar trying to woo her but I WANTED to be the first man in her life to make that dumb joke, just to be clear.

Prologue #2:

My wife struggled for 5 days in the hospital to keep our new peanut in the womb with 5cm dilation but with a few bad contraction bouts quelled by medication, my wife’s uterus couldn’t take it anymore and had to release Penny to the world. Her water broke little after dawn at 5:05 Saturday morning and with my mother-in-law making various moving violations to watch Maddie as I too bent some laws I made it in time for the emergency C-section.

The C-section vs. Marathon Vaginal Labor Birth

I will preface this paragraph by saying I am mostly speaking as myself and not my wife, although I have first-hand experience alongside my wife and she has expressed her thoughts to me on this matter. However, I will admit that I am just the supportive husband and NOT the child-bearer going through the bittersweet ordeal of childbirth…I will not make the mistake of glibly speaking as if I know what my wife went through.

Maddie was born vaginally with about 16-hours of labor. I was there the whole time, consoling, caressing, calming and coaching my wife with the nurses. We had music from our own iPod and we even had windows to see outside. I witnessed the joy and miracle of seeing my daughter’s head emerge into the world. We held the little baby immediately, took pictures and I even cut the cord. Not long after every family member in waiting was able to come to the room and meet Madeleine. It was a very happy and joyous day for all.

With the emergency C-section, my wife was numbed with anesthesia & strapped to a table with her arms out-stretched and tied down. I was in uncomfortable scrubs with a mask recycling my own hot morning breath and tried as best as I could to console and calm my wife who was shivering, very very nervous and blind to what was really going on beyond the make-shift cloth wall the doctors put up. I tried to take some peeks but was advised to stay down as many dads who thought they can handle the sight have fainted and sent to the O.R. themselves and missed the rest of the procedures. Within a quarter-hour’s time Penelope was out and healthily crying ‘hello’ and within minutes was whisked away with me to the NICU being only 34 weeks in utero. They didn’t even ask me if I wanted to cut the cord.

I was with Penny for another 15 minutes in the NICU while the doctor’s and nurses did their thing. I was very elated and relieved that she was big for 34 weeks and seemed perfectly healthy. I was very overjoyed and proud when she squeezed my finger in our first bonding moment. I then went to see how my wife was in recovery and stayed with her for an hour or so until the grandparents & Maddie arrived. The rest of the day I was bouncing back and forth in the NICU and my wife’s suite making sure everything was OK. At lunch time I took Maddie home for lunch and for a nap. I returned later in the evening with Maddie for a short while until I had to get her home for dinner and bed time. Since her birth I have been away from her and Wendy and sleeping alone at home. The last word in Lonesome is ME.

From my perspective this was such a bittersweet birthday for me, my wife and Penny. She’s already the second-child and the amount of bonding and time spent with her on her birthday was pale in comparison to Maddie’s. I realize it was circumstance but it’s still a shame. I’m relieved and very happy, especially that my wife and Penny are healthy and fine and just need time to get in the swing of normalcy but I was very much detached and side-lined that day. I was a wee bit more sad than glad. My wife told me she very much prefers the vaginal labor hands-down from the delivery aspect. If given the opportunity to relive Penny’s C-section she probably would opt to get knocked-out completely as the strapping of her arms and lack of vision was too much for a premature birth from a very worried mother’s perspective. But she too is going through some tough emotions right now too being so distant to our newest bundle of joy.

On Sunday, both my wife and I spent a huge amount of time in the NICU while Maddie was having fun with my folks. I finally bonded properly as I held Penny in my arms and fed her some bottle. I had my moment and it was great. I am now the very proud and overjoyed father that I should be. My heart belongs to her as much as it belongs to Maddie. I could cry thinking about her at any moment of the day.

The Worse. Waiting Game. Ever.

At over 5 lbs, Penny was one of the biggest preemies in the NICU. Which is great seems like it’s a cake-walk right? Wrong. She’s still just 34-weeks and she still has the same hurdles to overcome. Mostly it’s the feeding on her own. She has t learn to properly suck her bottle/nipple and not choke on it. We take drinking for granted as we do breathing but there’s reason’s a baby needs about 40 weeks in utero and that’s to learn this stuff. She’s doing OK with it so far but the doctors tell us that it could be about 2-3 weeks until she can come home with us. This is the hard part. In a few days time my wife will be discharged and every day, for however many weeks Penny’s in the NICU, we have to commute to the hospital to see her. With an older child that’s easier said than done. I realize or sacrifice that my time is more devoted to Maddie. That’s expected for many reasons but the two major ones are that Penny needs her mommy way more than me, especially if she takes to breastfeeding and second, with the surgery recovery my wife is in no condition to play with Maddie yet and there’s not much for her to do at home but rest. She can rest in the NICU and spend quality time with Penny. But it’s tough to make this sacrifice, however I am fine with this fact because POPPA PENGUIN will have her (and big sister Maddie) all to himself once maternity leave is done.

Oh boy.

So we will wait and hope Penny does well, sooner than later and try to maintain our good attitudes and humor until she is home and we can then spoil her little peanut-butt rotten.

Epilogue:

Sure I am an emotional wreck right now. Sure I feel distant and anxious to welcome my newest daughter home. I am also anxious at how her big sister, Maddie will be affected by this new baby in her life. I am also exhausted and drained as well as overjoyed and excited for our futures. Juggling all these emotions and thoughts are totally expected I know. I’m just so relieved that Penny is healthy and doing well. But right now I’m more relieved that my wife is good and will be back to her old self; mobile, cramp free and happier to be out of one of the most harrowing experiences she’s ever put through. That is something I’m more grateful for to be honest.

 

1 Comment | posted in Conflict, Emotions, New Experiences

June 1, 2012

The Home-Stretch

By Brad

As of this writing, my wife is 33 weeks pregnant with our breech and very active second daughter. My wife is already on bed-rest for a month and the cabin-fever is starting to show. My sanity and spirits are teetering on a very fine wire, but I’m successfully not “Hulking” out. I still don’t have the urge to get cigarettes and never return. My highest admiration is for my wife and I am deeply impressed at how well she is handling everything. I’m worrying and stressing more than she is! She has to calm me down some nights. In fact yesterday she told me she isn’t going to tell me anything about her condition anymore and will just tell me when the contractions start. Fair enough I suppose. I just hope the baby gets out of breech otherwise it’ll most likely be a C-Section, making my wife still limited in her mobility after the baby is born. I think after all she has gone through since this conception would be a nice easy-breezy labor and we can start our new chapter clean and easy.

Maddie is going through some attitude adjustment phase. What I mean is she’s extra sassy and learning the basics to be a pain-in-the-ass. She can be the cutest, kindest little girl one minute and the next a total lunatic. She picks fights with us for really the most insane reasons. For instance, this morning, I was playing with her in the basement playroom with her Strawberry Shortcake Berry Bitty Market play-set and included in said play-set is a cash register part that fits snugly on the base but doesn’t permanently snap into the base. She wanted it to stay for good by snapping it in. I tried to cool her frustration by explaining to her that it doesn’t snap in. She threw the register across the room and said she was mad at me and didn’t want to play with me anymore. She then ordered me to stay downstairs while she ran up. All the while I’m baffled at what just happened as well as laughing through my teeth and such a drama-queen she is. So little moments like that make her look like a psycho but we still love her dearly.

I’m still finishing up the new nursery (just have to finish painting the forest creatures for the mural). The electrical work is done. The carpet is down. The furniture is in. I just have to put in the closet kit and the mural and we can welcome baby #2. But my wife has to KEEP HER IN for just 3-4 more weeks!!!

It’s time to start your betting pools, ladies and gentlemen. When do you think this baby is coming?!

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in Child raising, Conflict

May 2, 2012

Birthday, Bump and Boo-Boos

By Brad

Hello all, Sorry I’ve been away for so long. With baby girl #2 coming soon, I’ve been super-busy. I’m half-way done with the nursery painting and then the carpet and electric need to be done. Hopefully the furniture will arrive before she does. But in the midst of all that I’m playing and having a great time with Mads and helping my wife deal with one nasty nightmare of a pregnancy. Since her conception its been one hiccup to hurdle to deal with. Pain, discomfort, extreme exhaustion, scares and hospital visits have mired the joy and fun of what could’ve been a nice pregnancy. She had gall-stones with Maddie’s pregnancy and we wish we could just deal with that again. As I write this I’m waiting for my wife to return from the hospital where she was for 2 nights and 2 days to be home for good on bed-rest. On the bright side she will be home with us for a long time.

Today is also Maddie’s third birthday! We went to visit Mommy at the hospital and even opened up some gifts there. Maddie was fine with the whole situation. She’s such a trooper. In fact she’s such a trooper that she’s able to endure with extreme challenges that her dopey daddy giver her like: Locking her in his car with the keys inside!

Yup! You read that right. I made a big boo-boo and accidentally locked my little girl in my car while she sat in her child safety seat and was calm the whole time while I made my very first 911 call. Luckily, the EMT guys arrived quickly and were able to open up the car and Maddie told me: “Don’t do that again, Daddy!”

So she’s had a very memorable birthday so far me thinks.

1 Comment | posted in Conflict

March 21, 2012

The Diabolical Evil Dr. Daddy!!

By Brad

As Madeleine nears three and well into her TERRIBLE Twos (should be Too’s since it’s TOO MUCH!) she sure can press my buttons. Now I will be the first to admit that I have a bit of a temper. I wish I was more zen and calm and frankly, I don’t know how I got so bad with the rage issue. So far I have not destroyed anything nor hit anyone, especially Mads so I guess it’s in check but I have banged tables and kicked toys around in frustration. It’s something I now I have an issue with and hopefully it will not be a major problem. But anyway these days Maddie will actually disobey me on purpose to see how much she can “bend” me and my rules. In a perfect serene, Disney-like world, she is a delightful and charming mischief-maker like Tinkerbell and I’m the bumbling and easily agitated Captain Hook. But actually she is a vampire sucking the joy out a quiet afternoon and I am Van Helsing.

As the parent-in-chief, making a very small child do what you want takes a lot out of your energy and sanity. I have managed a small movie theatre back when I was twenty with a staff of about 15 teenagers and that was nothing compared to the anguish of some hell-raised days Maddie gives me. Before my temper flares and I give her a tongue-lashing I try try TRY to calmly reason with her in our native English language. I have come to sound like a comic book super villain with the warnings I have given her. I have actually told her that:

“Don’t make me angry…You won’t like me when I’m angry.”

and

“You don’t really think you will win do you?”

and something to the extent of:

“If you do not put that down, I will make you regret it!”

Since when did I become Dr. Doom? Has all those years of comic book reading seeped into my subconscious to make me become such a Stay-At-Home Geek?

At least I can laugh at it. And even if I do morph into a hulking raging beast-like parent yelling and screaming at my child to stop throwing her toys at least I know in my mind and my heart that I make her laugh WAAAAY more than I make her cry. And after a few minutes she we forget the whole battle incident.

3 Comments | posted in Child raising, Conflict

February 23, 2012

2012 Is Already A Very BUSY Year (and Already Looking To Be Busier)

By Brad

Firstly I must apologize my faithful readers for the long absence from my last post which ironically was about writing more frequent posts as a New Years Resolution (oops). As my title dictates this is a so far a very busy year for the household. Mainly, gearing up for this:

YES!!! We are expecting another bundle of joy this summer. We are very excited. More-so that Maddie will have a baby SISTER!! That’s right I will be out X-Chromosomed even more now. I meant to post this good news at the usual 12 week mark but some events and annoyances got in the way. First off, we took our time telling our close friends and relatives. Surprisingly with a pre-schooler I tend to make keeping in touch not a first priority all the time and have relied too much on Facebook, Twitter and texting to be my main means of communication. I do have the good sense not to tell my close friends that we’re having another baby via Facebook messaging or texting which explains the procrastination. Some of my good friends don’t even know yet or haven’t responded to my Facebook announcement that I posted last week (perhaps they haven’t seen it). But I wanted to tell most of my good friends on the phone and that took longer than I expected. We also took our time waiting to find out the gender and wanted to package all the news together instead of installments.

On top of all this we are in the process of finishing the basement, mainly as a playroom for Maddie and a place to store all her toys, which doubled since December, and we can have a less Romper Roomed living room. So I had to clean out the whole basement that had years of accumulated stuff so the guys could work down there and that took a lot of my time. But it’s looking great so far and we’re excited about that.

When the basement’s all finished then I have move all the stuff back down as well as my collectibles and DVD collection which is in the other bedroom which will be the new nursery for Baby Girl #2. When that room is empty I then have to rip it apart, paint it and get new carpeting, finish the closet and install a new ceiling fan. If there’s time I should (to be fair to Baby Girl #2) attempt to do a room-wide mural on the walls like Maddie’s room. I haven’t even entertained the idea of designing a whole new theme to make it different than Maddie’s, which is forest-themed. So Baby Girl #2 will also have a forest-themed mural, albeit with different posed animals and different trees. Sorry kiddo, nothing too fancy. In the midst of all this we should have ordered new furniture. You keeping up with me?

So the clock is ticking my friends. Right now we’re super-excited but also super-nervous about having TWO children running around. So many unknowns like How will this new baby sleep? Will she give us the same troubles as Maddie or whole new problems? Or will she be even easier? Will Maddie be super-sweet to her sister or insanely jealous of the attention taken away from her? That one right there is my main concern to be nervous. Not so much that Maddie needs constant attention but I never really know with Maddie. She’s one tough girl to pin-point. We told her a few weeks back and she seems to be really excited as well to be having a baby sister but when Baby Girl #2 is actually in Mommy’s arms most of the day, what then? It is extremely cute and heart-warming to see Maddie talk to my wife’s belly and rub it to say hello. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of hugs and hair-pulls.

But as Bill Cosby said, “You aren’t a true parent unless you have at least two children.”

So this Stay-At-Home Dad’s role (and sanity) will be drastically different this summer I guarantee that. I’m sure I’ll survive but at what cost 😉 So in advance I do apologize for the lack of posts or for the frequent outbursts and complaining! Time will tell.

Wish me/us luck!

Leave a comment | posted in Emotions, New Experiences

December 30, 2011

Happy Anniversary Poppa!

By Brad

Just a quick post regarding the one year anniversary of my first posts for Poppa Penguin. Yesterday was the anniversary actually and it feels good I’m keeping up with the blog. I’ve done 36 posts which at an average of 3 a month I could be writing more. When I first envisioned this blog I thought I’d be writing more. I also thought I’d be complaining more and entertaining more. I suppose this could be my New Year’s resolution. I have a thing with just writing a post for writing’s sake though and that’s another reason I’m not posting that much. I’m not going to post on the site every time Maddie does something new or funny. That could be so boring. If I have a bad day as a SAHD and probably should be writing as a form of catharsis, in truth I just want to unwind and sound saner than I could. I edit myself too much I guess. I don’t know how many of you are reading my blog and I’m hoping you enjoy it most of the time. I wish I was more informative to other parents but in reality I’m like you, learning as I go along. Not everything I learn or do is novel or ground-breaking. In all honesty we’re usually late in our good discovery’s. Hopefully I’ll learn to not edit myself so much but I just don’t want this site to be so diary-like with every post being so “me-me-me.” I’m trying to make this as universal as possible and the first thing I say when I think of a subject or post to write about is: Would someone else find this interesting? So maybe 2012 I’ll hopefully not care so much for that question and write my heart out.

It also seems, fatherhood and stay-at-homehood wasn’t as rough and tough as I thought starting 2011 with a 1-and-a-half year old would be. The terrible-twos, I’d have to say, could’ve been worse. Now I know what most of you are thinking and that’s “wait until she turns three.” And all I can say is I hope I’m close to saying the same thing this time next year. Although who knows what surprises are in store 😉 WHO KNOWS!!!!

I almost forgot to tell you that we successfully converted the crib to a toddler bed and Maddie loves it! She gets in and out with such joy and loves her Yo Gabba Gabba sheet set. Our two biggest fears with converting was if A. she’d take to the change from crib to bed and B. staying in the bed now that she has access to exiting the bed now. Well so far she loves her bed and stays in the bed until we enter the room to get her as if she was still in the crib. Strange but I guess that’s what she’s used to. It’s so much nicer to be able to kiss her goodnight (which we couldn’t do easily with the crib rails) and the last few nights read bedtime books to her while she’s cozy in the bed. And even though this is an indication of her growing up, I’m happier with the new arrangement and wasn’t that sad to see the crib go away.

Maddie is a very very good egg and I hope she stays that way. She sometimes acts irrational and whiny but when she does she punishes herself with her own time-outs. Which sounds very odd but when we attempt to correct her or try to explain to her how she should react to something she takes that as disciplining and walks to her room for a time-out. We try to stop her, because we didn’t want her to take a time-out, but she does it anyway and is much happier and calmer for doing so. My readers probably think this must be the most strict household and I must not be 100% honest to how I actually disciplining her but I have not held back anything. I sometimes yell at her. I sometimes scream when I’m at my most frustrated but that’s about it. She is just understanding, maybe too well, good vs. bad behavior and discipline.

Happy New Year to my readers, my awesome wife and adorable daughter, as well as my family. Hope 2012 brings much happiness and laughs.

Leave a comment | posted in Emotions, New Experiences

December 5, 2011

You Gotta Be Cruel To Be Kind…

By Brad

My toddler has her moments of being a pain-in-the-rump sure. The Terrible-Twos have manifested in her being and some days are better than others. Most days she’s really good; really polite and listens to directions. Some days not. As a first time parent and a Stay-At-Home one I’m quickly learning the tricks to deal with the tantrums, the outbursts and the clumsy I-DO-MYSELF stumbles and fumbles. I also learned a handy trick to help calm her Hyde and return her to her super sweet Jeykll—THE TIME OUT.

Most times Maddie gets a Time Out its for simply bad attitude or a tantrum that turns too ugly to ignore. It’s for a quick minute or two in her room, in her crib with the door closed and most times it feels like we’re doing it simply for empty disciplinary action, more like “playing the role, acting the bad guy for appearances sake.” Sometimes she even self-administers a Time Out when we get a bit annoyed with her which is really odd and we tell her that she isn’t really bad enough for one. But we do it moreso because we learned it actually works and calms her down and returns her to a good state of mind. I’ll go back in and say “Are you ready to be good” and she smiles and says YES and she’ll be great for a long time. Problem solved. On a few occasions if she gives us a hissy-fit over refusing her meal, I’ll put her a Time Out and afterwards she gobbles up the food like the fit never happened. It’s kind of like a penalty box in hockey and it erases the memory of the moments right before.

Today was a tad different though. She refused her lunch even though she specifically requested a PB&J sandwich. When I presented her with it she wouldn’t touch it. So after a few moments of whining and complaining I gave her a time out. After a minute I asked if she’d be good now she replied in the affirmative but when I asked if she’d eat she still told me “No.” So again I gave her a quick Time Out. When I returned again I got the same result from her. So again I gave her a Time Out but for a few minutes longer. I was a bit worried about keeping her in there too long, especially when she got quiet, because I was afraid she’d take a nap. But when I went in her room again she was sitting quietly Indian-style against the headboard with her head down in a toddler-like grief look. It reminded me of Steve McQueen in the Great Escape seeing her sitting there like that. If she had a baseball mitt and ball it would’ve been perfect.

Anyway, when I asked her again if she’d be good she smiled big and said YES. When I asked about her lunch she also said YES. When I carried her out to the living room to eat lunch I asked if she wanted some of my Doritos [as a sort of peace-offering—SEE! I’m not such a bad guy!], she said “No Daddy, I have to eat my sammich first.”

And she did. So the moral of the story is: Hard Time WORKS!! No seriously, as cruel as I felt keeping her in a Time Out because of refusing to eat it actually worked out in a positive way for both of us. So there’s a slight gratification in being cruel when it works out benefiting all parties involved. She happily ate her lunch and got some Doritos and I held my ground as a disciplinarian and father and never seemed to her as the bad guy. And got a better reaction from it then I expected.

2 Comments | posted in Advice, Child raising, Conflict, Tricks and Tools

November 23, 2011

“Is it Crissmiss time?”

By Brad

We’ve been hearing that a lot around the house lately as we gear up for the mega holiday, and probably the first Christmas where Maddie totally understands it. She has written dictated letters to Santa asking for numerous items and toys and keeps asking “Is is Crissmiss time?” The hardest part is trying to plan, plot and dole out her list of gifts to the many family and friends for Mads for the big day. But before all this hooplah I had a small something to say in regards to Thanksgiving.

I just want to give Thanks to my family and my In-laws for being so supportive, loving and generous to Maddie as well as to me and my wife. Its such a joy seeing how much Maddie loves and cares for you after just 2 1/2 years.

I want to give much love and Thanks to my super-duper wife for the sacrifices she makes and not asking for anything in return. I cannot live my life without you and I am grateful each and every day for you and our great loving relationship. I am eternally grateful for the role you have allowed me to live being a Stay-At-Home. I cannot thank and love you enough for everything you do and provide for all of us.

I want to give many many Thanks to the brightest star in my life, the reason I [literally] get out of bed every day. A child who makes me laugh, cry, and impresses me each and every day. I am very grateful to be able to see you grow into the amazing little girl you are becoming. Seeing how smart, polite and even headstrong you are every day is an absolute blessing. Being able to stare at you and smell your beautiful curly locks as you sit on my lap playing games on the iPad is a gift that I’m very fortunate enough to get every day. Hearing your sweet and funny voice attempt new words every day is a gift. Just watching you run around the house is music to my ears. I cannot tell you how much I love and adore you enough. Sure, Daddy could take breaks from you but I miss you dearly when we’re apart. It is an awesome pleasure to share in your life and these memories and experiences are things I will surely cherish for my entire life.

Happy Thanksgiving from Poppa Penguin.

Leave a comment | posted in Emotions