Questionable Parenting

I often question our parenting methods and admit we don't really know what we're doing, but Kristin really surprised me the other day. I was playing with the boys in the playroom and Henry started to be naughty. Kristin finally said, "That's it! You're going in the closet." She was quite serious. I, of course, gave her a surprised look, and she further explained that she has been trying out our downstairs closet as a timeout area. She said she gets too tired carrying one, often two, squirming and crying boys up the stairs to their rooms. Now granted, there is a window, it is pretty large and she says she turns on the light, but I have a feeling that may be straddling some sort of acceptable discipline/abuse line. It could certainly create some sort of phobia. During this same period of time, Kristin also told the kids to "clean up this shithole" referring to our playroom. She swears a lot.

Since I am pointing out Kristin's motherly faults, I will add that I think her internet privileges may need to be revoked. She was doing her typical read everything under the sun and came across an article about dry drowning. The article talked about a kid drowning hours after being in a pool because he swallowed pool water and it got into his lungs, later drowning him in his sleep. I hate this stuff because there's enough things to worry about already, and now I was thinking that I would have to stay up all night watching over Cole and Henry every time they went in a pool.

Luckily our doctor told Kristin that it is basically not true and wouldn't happen. Phew...take that one off the list. This just reminded me that besides having all the answers at your fingertips, the internet does have some negatives. I think I will have to set some parental controls so Kristin can avoid whatever garbage websites she reads that post inaccurate crap like dry drowning.

Oh, how great it would be to be an illiterate parent. Damn whoever taught me to read.

Walking home from brunch we got caught in a downpour. You can't really tell from the pic but it was coming down in sheets!

Funny Cole

Kids do say the darnest things...

While writing an end of the year thank you/goodbye card for his teacher Cole was dictating what he wanted Kristin to write - some of this thoughts for Mrs. Piller included:

I like Mrs. Piller because she doesn't touch my dog's owie on her bottom.
This is because Bella recently had an infected anal gland and Cole wanted to kiss it and give her a band-aid, because naturally, kisses and band-aids fix all owies.

Mrs. Piller is my favorite because she is going to take my Bampa to Miller Park this summer.
Sounds like he is setting up Bampa and Mrs. Piller on a date.

It is good that when Mrs. Piller comes over she doesn't hit my baby brother. 
Good thing because Cole sure does his share of hitting his brother. Also, Mrs. Piller doesn't even know where we live.

Then there was the Grandpa confusion. The boys were painting and making pictures for the Grandparents. There was some confusion over what Grandpa was going to get the artwork. We have mentioned before that Cole calls all the Grandparents weird and specific (but only to him) names. We were trying to figure out what Grandpa was getting a specific picture.

Kristin: Who does Grandpa live with?
Cole : He lives with Debbie, she is his Grandma.
Obviously Grammie Debbie was thrilled about that one.

Swimming with Grammie Debbie's sister Auntie Barb
Cole: I love going to to swim with Auntie Barbecue at her hotel

Driving past Miller Park after dark, Cole noticed the lights were on and the parking lot was full. I explained that the Brewers were playing, it was a nightime game.
Cole: Oh, they are playing in their jammies?

This also reminded me of when I was asking the kids what they like about Mom, so I could write a nice note in Kristin's Mother's Day card. Here's the list:

• Cole's List
• I like going places with you
• I like feeding you
• I like you helping me feed me my food
• I would like to give you a new hat
• I love Dad...and you
• Henry's List
• Umm...I want a snack

Random Cole pic. Both boys love to water the rocks at Kristin's parent's house. 

Father's Day 2013

Below are some pictures from Father's Day weekend. It was a good Dad day since I was allowed to be lazy and not help out a ton with the kids (a good thing because I was hungover too). That's always appreciated. Kristin also made me some bacon and I got new shoes. Not bad! Although, I did not receive anything that said "#1 Dad" or "World's Greatest Dad" so I guess I have some room for improvement. Maybe next year.

You can see Grammie Debbie blocking the corner - after watching Henry be wild I think she is wishing for their old cracked patio back. The new one with it's stone walls and sharp corners is too much of a hazard.

Brotherly love!

Henry's Two and Other Weekend Activities

Henry is officially two. We had some family and friends over on Saturday to celebrate. Although, before anyone even arrived, Henry committed a party foul and barfed on the patio. I, of course, couldn't resist including a picture of said barf (see below). Kristin and I are disputing the reason for the vomit. I believe it was due to something gone wrong while sucking on ice with Cole. Kristin leans towards believing he choked on popcorn, primarily because I was supposed to buy hull-less popcorn but forgot. Below are plenty of pictures that should tell the story of Henry's second birthday party.

The slide from Grammie and Bampa (the Stear's) was a big hit.

The kite Henry got from Aunt Jess and boyfriend Dan never really took flight, but it was fun watching Grandpa try.

Classic Cole dive for no reason in the background.

On Sunday we walked to brunch and then to the park. It was crowded and I hated it, so we didn't stay long. I wanted to yell at some dope of a Dad who was letting his crazy kid run all over the place. We also went to the Schilz's for a BBQ and to finish off all the leftover side dishes from the birthday party. As you can see in the pictures, Cole and Henry fit right in when hanging out in the "Dirty Dirty" (i.e. West Allis). 

Cole would take about 10 minutes to cross this bridge ever so carefully. I think we have to take away the "Stunt Master"
t-shirt that he is wearing.

Basically a West Allis uniform.

On Monday, Henry's actual birthday, we woke him up with balloons in his crib. We did this with Cole and he thought it was fun, so decided to give Henry a turn. He didn't seem to care at first, but then started to have some fun, which is good because the balloons were not easy to come by or cheap. Long story short, I went to six different places late night on Sunday before having to pay $7 for 7 balloons. Yes, pricey, but I was desperate and on a mission at that point.  

After dinner on Monday we sang and ate cupcakes and had more presents to wrap up Henry's birthday. They are wearing jammies because they often don't change back into clothes after their nap...we did not give them cupcakes for breakfast.

Happy Birthday to our sweet wild man Henny!

June 10, 2011

June 10, 2013

Always Something

After a good month of sickness, BOTH kids are recovered and have finally started sleeping through the night again  Yep, at the same time. Kristin and I are not used to uninterrupted sleep. Like most parents with kids our age, it's been about 3 years since we have probably had more than three hours of uninterrupted sleep. Anyway, it finally happened the other morning and it was wonderful. I actually woke up on my own at 5:45 a.m. feeling great.

It reminded me of times pre-kids. Times when all I had to do was worry about myself and there were few to no surprises to deal with. I have realized with kids there is always something. Without fail, a parent will not have a peaceful morning or errand, etc. without incident. It just doesn't happen. There is always a fight or someone getting hurt, crying, diarrhea, refusal to get dressed, a tantrum...something.

Today I, like many people, woke up, showered, dressed and drove to work. As a parent, I had the added delight of cleaning up vomit from a carseat and my car. Well, not only that but I also had the pleasure of smelling vomit for a good portion of my car ride through rush hour traffic. This "something" happened with Henry. Apparently he gets car sick (something that Kristin claims to also suffer from). He did make me laugh though. He just kept saying, "I barfed." And then, after getting him out of his puke clothes and into my mom's car he said, "I want a pancake," which I guess makes sense. He certainly emptied himself out in my car. Caution: gross pictures below.