'Twas the Night Before Preschool

‘Twas the night before preschool and all through the house
Music was whispering, some Bach and some Strauss
A hot night it was, like the evening before
A hot night it was for this family of four

The temperature was up as she slept in her bed
While notions of pre-school danced in her head
The fan was on high to help her cool down
Anxious for preschool with some shyness abound

Her first day at school was the following day
She still wasn’t sure if all was okay
She loves the crafts and to play all the games
But all these new children and all these new names


Shyness ensues with strange kids everywhere
Yet soon she adapts and is no longer scared
She makes new friends, some girls and some boys
She plays with the kids and makes lots of noise

Potty time comes, while she’s playing outside
She suddenly stops playing then runs inside
She goes number two, with the bathroom door shut
Then thinks to herself…”who’ll wipe my butt?”

She thinks and she ponders…what will she do?
“Who is going to help me get rid of this poo?”
She thinks of her mother and the advice she gave
Then grabs some tissue and wipes it away

“I’m a big girl I can do it myself”
“I no longer need help from anyone else”
“Victory!” she shouts as she leaves the bathroom
The kids look in question then playtime resumes

Home from school she had so much fun
A new stage of life has just begun
Little does she know and little does she fear
She’ll be going to school for the next twenty plus years

Extra! Extra! Read All About It

(Double click on picture to enlarge)

3 1/2 Years Old

My mom made this sailor outfit for me when I was 3 1/2 years old. There's something fun about seeing your children in clothes you used to wear.



Here's Parker in an outfit Diane saved from when Scott was a baby. He was supposed to be "Susan" and she had bought this dress for him. A friend knit the sweater.

Ouch

Nobody...I mean Nobody touches Parker's juice box

Sick-a-Louie

Laura and I know the imminent sadness and sympathy that comes when your child is sick…but what about the good things??

1) More free time for mom and dad – when our girls are sick it provides a great opportunity to get more tasks done. The kids are inert, either watching tv on the couch or napping twice as much as they normally do. This is a great opportunity to do perform tasks that are normally very difficult with small children such as sweeping the floors. Good luck getting that simple task performed with a one year old anxiously standing close by waiting for a pile of floor debris to be created so that she can defiantly stomp on it while at the same time your three year old is adamant about getting another broom and “helping” you sweep the floor thereby unintentionally strewing floor debris in all directions thereby prolonging the simple chore of sweeping the kitchen and eating area.

2) Early exposure to these viruses and bacteria gives their immune system a much-needed “workout” in learning how to combat these dastardly invaders. Expose ‘em early!

3) Parent-child bonding – when PJ was a little one the only time she would let mom or myself hold her for more than four seconds was when she was sick. And it was at that time was when she would put her head on Laura’s shoulder. That rarely occurred if she wasn’t sick, if at all.

4) It’s an opportunity for the little ones to enjoy what Parker considers an absolute treat. Antibiotics in a liquid form conveniently masked with a very strong, very sugary bubble gum flavoring. Perhaps we should look into pouring it on top of her broccoli at dinner time.


Of course the negatives outweigh the positives. No one likes to see their children suffer. No one likes to hear your child sneeze in the next room knowing that when you poke your head in to sneak a peek there’s going to be a really really long thick stream of yellow snot hanging from their nose. Yucky.

The State of Georgia

Official Admission to Union: June 26, 2008
Population: 1
Elevation: 2 ft. 2 inches
Governor: Laura Powers
Lt. Governor: Scott Powers
State Senators: Grandparents
Agriculture: No vegetables allowed in mouth area
Demographic: Norwegian, Portuguese, and Welsh
Motto: “Aaaaaagggh” and "Uuuuuuaaaaahhh??"
Nicknames: “Whippersnapper”, “Georgie”, “Whippy”, “George”, “Whippy Dippy”, "Precious Little Angel", and “Georgie Porgie”
Major Industries: Scat production, entertainment, naps, throwing food on the floor then laughing about it, and pestering older sister
Natural Resources: Alluring eyes, strong family and extended family support, whimsical personality, curious mind, and a magnicently fantastic genetic makeup

The Park... The Park... I Really Like the Park

I took the girls to the park where we met Uncle Von, in uniform, with his police car. He came as a favor to me so some members of my mom's group could have their kids meet a police officer and check out his patrol car. When Von stepped out of his car, Parker became so shy and nervous. She actually ran away to the playground. Later that night I asked her if she felt shy around uncle Von. She said, "No, I wasn't shy, I was just confused. Because Uncle Von just looked different." She's never seen him in uniform before.

We stayed and ate a picnic lunch and let the kids play. Later, Becky got these great pictures of the girls going down the slide. This was also a milestone moment for Georgia (and for me too). In the course of an hour, Georgia learned how to climb up the steps to the slide and go down all by herself (not the slide in the picture but a smaller one). She's not a baby anymore! Boo hoo hoo!

I realized this morning that it’s such a nice feeling being missed. It validates one’s place in the world. I came back to the house early this morning after a physical therapy appointment and Parker came bursting out of the house and down the steps to greet me as I was walking up the driveway. It was such a nice (and startling) surprise. It’s very endearing and quite naturally becomes reciprocal as well. Laura’s never done that for me. I hope she reads this and starts acting accordingly.

That feeling of being missed by someone (or a group) is an important reminder that you have some definitive place in this world. Human connection spawns self realization. Seldom do I realize this but lately it’s been a recurring item for me. Co-workers from my prior employment, fellow teammates on my baseball team, as well as my family seem to miss me when I’m gone. I’m sure others are glad that I’m gone but for some reason those people do not want to get in touch with me. I couldn’t imagine why…

The funny thing about Georgia of late is watching her reaction whenever cousin Zoey comes over to babysit. This scene really needs to be videotaped. The door opens, Georgia starts making her crazy animalistic noises(“aaaaaggh”) while quickly wandering the house looking for Laura. She finds her mom, desperately clutches Laura’s legs, and holds on the best she can while performing her best pterodactyl impression. It’s really quite entertaining to watch from my perspective.

Goin' To The Fair

I got to take Parker to the Fair, just the two of us, on opening day. It was so nice that Grandma Powers offered to babysit Georgia so we could have a little more freedom. Here's some of what we did:

• Rode the bus from the mall to the Fairgrounds (we actually missed the first bus due to overcrowding)
• Rode 50 tickets ($20) worth of rides - we had so many tickets I let Parker try any ride without spending too much time contemplating how scared she might get. There were two rides she rode for about 10 seconds because she wanted to get off, Bumper Boats was one of them. Her favorite ride was the Super Slide, hands down.
• The only Fair Food we indulged in were ice cream cones and the mini donuts that are freshly made in the Commercial building. Those are a favorite of dad's and before we left, he insisted I get some for her. I think he's fascinated by the tiny conveyor belt that delivers the donuts to the cinnamon sugar. I must agree that miniature, automated, donut making process is so cute, it made me want to eat them too.
• We looked at some rabbits, goats, and sheep - but it wasn't as exciting as it was when she was two.
• We rode the bus home again which was a bit of an ordeal. I had to walk PJ up and down the bus stop area trying to find our pick up spot (it was not clearly maked). Then we had to wait and wait for the bus to arrive at which time I had to be the annoying person (I hated it) who is a little too assertive in getting to the front of the line to guarantee a spot on the bus. I just couldn't risk not getting on that bus. We were too tired and Grandma was expecting to be done babysitting at 4:00.

All in all, it was a great day. The best part for me was getting to spend time alone with Parker and being able to give her my full attention.

Random Acts of Parental Pondering

Happy Accidents - I find that I’m becoming more and more aware of happy accidents. They occur in so many different ways and in so many different mediums. In music it occurs a lot with instruments as well as vocals. Sometimes these accidents occur in photography. I would consider this picture of Georgia a “happy accident”. It’s the one picture where I can plainly see Georgia when she’s 16 years old. There’s one like this of PJ too somewhere in the archive.

“Whippy” – Laura’s nickname for Georgia, its short for “Whippersnapper”. Funny how she develops a nickname then decides to shorten it…she may shorten it again to just “Whip”

Scream Therapy – Georgia has developed an interesting form of communication as of late. Inspired by some of the greats, Neanderthal Man, Cro-Magnon man, Australopithecus, and Alley Oop, she has opted to communicate which this quasi-barbaric “aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh”. She constantly points to something and says “aaaggghhhhhhh”. With that said she has about five or six different sounds to coincide with what she wants to communicate. She has a questioning “uuuuugghhhhh??” and a defiant “I don’t want to do that” “aaaaahhhhhhh!”. Her noises also remind me of that famous pterodactyl Rodan as it pounces on Godzilla’s back shouting angrily “Give me some orange juice!”

The Executive Branch – this new position I took with the county is quite a transition for me. People keep asking me what the job is like and my immediate answer is that the work is very “Executive”. The next question I get is “what does that mean?” which is a good question and something I hadn’t thought about until I was repeatedly asked that question. I use the word with a negative connotation to it. Executive refers to the lack of any hands-on operational work and to more of a political, policy-driven, theoretical work. Legislative analysis, policy writing and adherence, reports to the Board of Supervisors, resolution of County vs. City matters, and the such. Laura’s worried that I’m not happy now because I’m not walking through the front door at 5:15 with a couple of poms poms leading the cheer about my change in employment…Gimme a ‘C’, gimme a ‘E’, gimme an ‘O’….what’s the spell? Hot air blown thru a pie hole attached to a torso immersed in formal attire. But heck, what do I know - I’ve only been here a week. But I can't complain...it's just work right?? A means of earning enough $$ for the family. But still, I keep thinking that somewhere out there is the perfect job for me; something that challenges me, provokes me to learn something new, requires some creativity, lets me employ the absolute beauty of Excel(I know that sounds geeky), and all the while makes me useful to some higher body(upper management).

Formal attire to me:
-is a further tightening of the “Orwellian Knot”
-one big façade – If I dress up as baseball player does that mean I can hit a curveball?
-is a pain in the neck when I have to play this color-coordination game every morning and finally give up and ask Laura her opinion
-marks the first time I’ve been excited about Laura’s shopping because all the clothes are for me...finally!!
-isn’t so bad, at least Laura thinks I’m attractive in my attire