Parenting Tip

I allow my children....

...to beat each other...
...this time, with strange pillow-like devices....


....until they deflate....

....and so they sleep well at night.

(Look for my parenting handbook on amazon.com coming soon.)

Mud

This is what happens when I absent-mindedly tell the boys:

"Yea, I don't care. Whatever. Just get out of here."

Toy Story 3 and 3 Little Guys

Call it the summer doldrums: the space between the late spring's false anticipation of leisurely sunning myself by the pool and the reality of post-July 4th's we-haven't-even-hit-the-hottest-part-of-a-St.-George-summer-yet. It's the space in time where the $10 slip-n-slide is no longer a novelty but a piece of plastic and the fantasy of an actual lake trip is put off because it's Sam's "busy time." Mid July beckons with "damn, it's already time for another family reunion," and the reality/guilt that I haven't helped Matt with his reading/math/astrophysics that I dimly remember fervently promising Mrs. Clark I would practice with him.

Yes, the summer doldrums have been a time for bopping in the heat waves, not really accomplishing much other than consuming large quantities of Otter Pops. How did J. Golden Kimball put it..."I don't know how the people of St. George can stand the heat, the snakes, the Indians, and the flooding Virgin River. If I had a house in St. George and a house in hell, I'd rent out the one in St. George and move straight to Hell."

So, we needed an escape from reality. The posse, which includes myself, Matt, Milo, and Cooper (and Cooper is definitely the one in charge) went to see "Toy Story 3." I've never taken my kids to the movie. Never taken them alone, by myself, just me, not one else present for a possible beat down nope, no witnesses, just me.

I was a little apprehensive. I had the towing company phone forwarded to my cell, and did I mention I was alone? Oh yea.

But, it was quite enjoyable. My kids behaved well and Cooper sat through most of it. We were armed with goodies, bought at the gas station beforehand, 'cause you know I ain't gonna be buying none of that stuff at the theater. And we enjoyed the movie. Only one time was Coopie kind of loud. As "Big Baby" came on the screen Cooper said, "Wah, wah, baby bottle. Wah, wah!"

In the movie, Andy got himself all growed-up. Andy's mom cries as she looks around his bare room before he heads to college. Matt leans over to me and whispers, "Mom, will you cry when I go to college?"

"Yes, buddy."

And I had a tear well up in my eye thinking of that day.

I think I can handle these dog days of summer with my three little guys.

(P.S. Without any prompting Matt told me, after the movie, that the train at the beginning was his favorite. Good job, Dan! Dan is my cousin, and an incredible artist, who drew/designed the train for Pixar.)

Awkward Family Photos

www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com

I can't stop laughing!

I feel inspired now. When I go to my parents' home a few weeks I shall return with my own very special photos to begin my own "Awkward" collection. For a preview: the first photos that come to mind all involve my little bro, Jason, ie. Jason crying because I got more money at a birthday party than he got at his; Jason looking oddly doped up in a pre-kindgarten picture; and Jason in tye-dye. And for those extra special '90s moments: me in Umbro shorts. Can't wait to share the awkward love.

Little Guys

I came across this picture today and it made me giggle...

Kassie is 16!

My little sister is 16 today. It feels like she's been with us forever, but at the same time I can't believe she's already this old.

I was 14 when she was born, and so embarrassed that my mother, at the age of 34, was having a baby. Standing outside Orchard Mesa Middle School on April 12, 1994, I nonchalantly told my fellow eighth-grade friends that, "Oh yea, my mom had that kid last night."

I know....what a brat I was.

Kassie had about as rough a start in life as any baby could. She'd tossed and turned so much the placenta had torn away, and after an emergency C-section, she was born dead. The doctor knew he had to keep working on her, and by some miracle, she's here today after starting life without oxygen for 10+ minutes.

She has Cerebral Palsy and thus some physical and developmental delays. But, she's well aware of what's going on and sometimes her observations are funny and insightful. Like the time she noticed an Andrus truck next her and my mom at a stoplight. "Why is that guy driving Sam's truck?" she wanted to know. Or, like her birthday party today that she demanded be a surprise, complete with explicit instructions to my mom about where she would go and how she would enter the house.

I love my Sissy and yes, I'm glad now that my mom had "that kid."

Dad's Home

Sam came home yesterday. Three weeks the man's been gone.

This has been the story of our marriage. He was a truck driver when we married. He moved from a dedicated trucking route to being a member of a race team that travels the country seven out of 12 months. So, our marriage works that way.

On March 16th we'd been married eight years. He's missed probably six of those anniversaries. He's usually gone a full month out of the year during the summer.

I'm not complaining. I'm actually pretty independent.

But, it's getting harder.

Halfway through this last voyage, Matthew didn't want to play soccer, an admission that's way out of the ordinary for him. Milo's random meltdowns often got him a trip straight to his bedroom. And my too frequent dismissals of Cooper's clingyness left his "Mikey" (blanket) with a few new torns as he found comfort in dragging it everywhere.

I think we all had a good wake-up call about how much we need Dad around.

Today was a much more pleasant day. I needed a reminder of how I do enjoy my little boys. And how much any little boy needs his Dad.