Saturday, December 6, 2008
Random Musings
Monday, November 24, 2008
The amazing power of a sleeping infant
Sometimes you just know it's going to be a bad day
So sometimes you wake up in the morning and you just sense that it's not going to be the greatest day. I had one of those last week, and just as I sensed - it sucked. Started out with Riley alseep in his bouncer, and Julie gets up to take a shower. I am just finished getting dressed, when I just hear this insane yelling coming from Parkers room.
I go to check it out, and he is up and he is PISSED. I don't actually know about what yet, but I suspect that it's because he's had a cold and fever for the last week - so he generally feels like crap. Fair enough, I can understand that. I try to talk to him in a very concerned fatherly way "What's the matter big guy?"
It kind of goes downhill from there. I wasn't the one he wanted. Mommy is the cuddler, I am the entertainment (dance funny man!). So PK comes running at me yelling "NOOOOO! NOOOOO!" trying to push me out of the room. Buddy, I am something like seven times your weight - I'm not exactly going anywhere. Whatever - I try to stay calm and try to help him catch his breath, and, you know, usual actual words other than "NO!" Didn't work. This kid yelled at me for ten minutes at the top of his lungs. He couldn't speak, he was so hoarse.
It sucked. I mean really sucked. Now I'm getting late for work, but I'm not going to let this fire breathing four year old push me around, so I dig my heels in determined to work it out rather than just let Julie come in a calm the situation down. But here's the thing, when someone is just screaming at you; it's really REALLY hard to stay in control. It can very quickly spiral wickedly downhill. I mean, I get it - he's sick and he was jolted out of sleep because he can't breath because of his stuffy nose, but he was totally pissing me off. The scene actually looked a little like this:
That is not good times. But after another ten minutes of this, and making no progress - I changed tactics. I got really really calm; I channelled my inner Stuart Smalley.
"Buddy, I get it. You're really mad right now. If you are mad at me, I'm really sorry I upset you so much. But I need you to take a deep breath and tell me why you are so upset."
I think me being so calm (and apologizing, which Julie will suggest is something I never do (but when you are never wrong, what can you expect?)) kind of freaked him out, because it worked. After 30 minutes of pure hell - he switched an off switch and it was like it never happened. Might be easy for the three year old, but my head was spinning.
I think it's fair to say that PK is also having some adjustment issues. Nothing directed towards Riley or anything, who he seems to adore - but some of the stuff he's doing it making my head want to explode.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
My Shadow
Kind of hurt too.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Twins?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Amazing
And then I tried to figure it out. What the hell was I crying for? My taxes are most likely going to go up. I'm not black. 150 years ago black people were property. Literally, they could be bought and sold like milk or food. One of the reasons we are the country we are is because for the first 75 years of our founding we could own other human beings. It's woven into who we are, we have to accept it and move on. And I do believe with the election of Obama, we actually have started to move on. It is a very dramatic symbol as a nation.
But here's the thing: I didn't want to vote for a symbol. While a symbol represents something significant, it doesn't actually DO anything. No, I didn't vote for a symbol. I voted for hope.
Hope that he maintains the same calm demeanor he exhibited as a candidate. Hope he governs from the center. Hope he can repair our international reputation. Hope he governs according to the Constitution and a respect for the rule of law. Hope he frustrates liberals almost as much as conservatives. Hope he does believe in the power of the market, but recognizes that it sometimes fails. Hope he appoints intelligent but not ideologues to cabinet positions. Hope he is humble about American power.
I just I really am looking for the anti-Bush. It really has been a long eight years. But this is what is truly amazing about this country. With as much damage as has been done over the last eight years - we as a country (finally) recognize it, make the necessary adjustments and just move on to fixing the problems. It really is a great time to be American.
And lastly, Obama is a White Sox fan, which implies he is an excellent judge of character.