I learned a valuable and humbling lesson as a parent yesterday: the unharmed sister or brother isn’t necessarily the one to blame. In other words, don’t jump to conclusions.
After feeding both Sadie and Maddie early in the morning while Lindsey slumbered, I laid Maddie on our tall ottoman to perfect my laptop father skills. Moments later, while entrenched in technology, I heard a “Maddie’s falling” accompanied by a heavy thud. I looked up from my PowerBook to find a suspicious looking Sadie standing over a fallen Maddie, who was now crying loudly.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tIyt8oSLVs[/youtube]
Randy Pausch, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, clearly understands the value of life. His thoughts on carpe diem, achieving your childhood dreams, and materialism are precise, inspired, and honest (no gimmicks here).
At the time of his discourse (Sept. 2007), doctors said Pausch would have “three to six months” to live. As of today, he is still alive. His original full-length lecture at Carnegie Mellon can be found here.
See also: My attempts to be a shoe designer | You have a choice
I’m no fan of new year’s resolutions. I think individuals should resolve to improve on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, not yearly. But I am big believer in learning from the previous year, which brings me to my list of top educational attainments and the last post of 2007.
Parents say the darndest things to influence kids — especially when their two-year-olds constantly question “Why?” after every command, like my daughter.
For example, she has this stuffed Elmo she takes wherever she goes. Expectedly, Lindsey and I are trying to put the kibosh on that — more for convenience than principle. So when leaving for church yesterday morning, my daughter wanted to take Elmo. “No,” her mother replied, to which Sadie quickly retorted, “Why?”
“Because Elmo doesn’t believe in God — he’s an atheist.”
Later that night, while trying to persuade Sadie to eat her veggies after she repeatedly questioned “Why?” I said, “Because Elmo’s a corn-eating fool.”
In a single day, the muppet became a corn-eating atheist. God bless his soul.
The toy compact disc you see pictured above is not compatible with PS3 hardware — in fact, the little booger is twice as thick as standard CDs.
But the irregular gauge nor warranty endangerment would keep my little Sadie from trying to play “I’m a Little Tea Pot” on the ill suited $500 machine this past Monday. Amazingly, the PS3 took the disc, but wouldn’t give it back — the Blu-ray drive was in duress.
Madison Snow spawned Thurs. Oct. 11, 2007 at 4:22pm MDT. She weighed 8.2 oz and is 19 inches long. Mom and baby doing fine…
Hello world!
My wife Lindsey is a natural writer. Here’s her latest perceptive, genuine, and punchy post on parental expectations, entitled Never Say Never:
Lindsey and I are anxiously awaiting the pending arrival of our second child next month, a girl that will don the ever-popular name of Madison (Maddie for short). Despite my being a newbie dad, I’ve learned a few tricks in keeping a pregnant wife happy.
Here are five suggestions for doing just that.
Facetious headline aside, my wife tells a funny story of one of the many benefits in being a parent.
Take it away, Lindsey: “Last night, Blake and I thought it would be fun to take Sadie to McDonald’s to play. It’s been too hot to go somewhere outside, so after washing one of our cars, we headed to the golden arches. We had already eaten but I felt that I should at least purchase a hot fudge sundae for myself so that we would be paying customers playing on the toys.” Continue reading…
Lindsey and I found out what we’re having today–it’s another baby girl! I am slowly getting outnumbered by three female lovelies, but I was very happy to hear the news. Our first girl has been a good sleeper, is a lot of fun, and the economist in me is happy to know we can get a lot more mileage out of the hand me downs pre-owned clothes.
After talking it over with Lindsey, I think we’re pretty much set on the ever-popular Madison as a name calling her Maddie of course. So I formally welcome you to the Snows, Maddie! See you in about five months. Hopefully you’ll be a little more tranquil than your older sister Sadie, but we’ll take what we can get.
Lindsey and I went the doctor today to solidify evidence that she is, in fact, pregnant with our second child. Sadie, our first, is currently a year and a half old. I’m really excited with the prospects of another little mini-me running around the house, filling it with more life than it already has. And I’m really proud of Lindsey, not only as a husband, but as a father too. She really does a great job with Sadie and is very patient while teaching her. She’s hoping for a girl as am I. But a boy would be just as exciting (i.e. the pressure of having both flavors would be off). We’ll find out what we’re having in a couple of months.
A hat tip to any seasoned fathers and mothers out there with lots o’ kids and/or teenagers in the house. I feel for you. Sorta.
