Category Archives: Parenting

Two Wheels of Fun!

It's official, we're a two wheeled family. This weekend, my youngest (4 years old) learned how to ride a two wheel bike. His training wheels are in the garbage!

The entire lesson took about 1/2 hour on Saturday, and on Sunday we went for a ride with the entire family. Jared got a bit upset, since it wasn't the fastest ride (he's 6), and he kept having to stop and wait for Ryan. Still, it was fun. We'll be taking the bike when we go camping for sure!

On another note, the blog seems to be slowing down a bit during the summer holidays. I'll see what I can do about that.

(July 17th update: The whole family went for an 8 km bike ride in Birdshill Park. Both boys did exceptionally well! Fantastic!)

Summer 'Holidays' Begin

It's official, both boys are out of school. Ryan got out at the end of May, while Jared got out the end of June. Right after school was out for Jared, we hopped into the already packed van and drove out to see the in-laws. Four fun-filled days later, I return to a messy house, and a project that is way behind schedule.

For the rest of the summer (besides completing the project this week), the boys and I will go camping, head to the beach, ride our bikes, and generally fill the days with fun in the sun and laughter. Hopefully enough fun to have them fall asleep everyday the second their heads hit the pillow. Their both in some library programs this month as well, so they'll stay busy!

Time to get back to my late project… so far the client doesn't mind, but that's no excuse!

Oh, and Happy 4th of July to our American neighbors.

Kid's Summer Holidays

Well, we're just 4 days away from Jareds summer holidays. Ryan started his at the end of May, so he's been home for almost a month already. Once Jared starts staying home all day, it'll take a bit of the pressure off. The pressure is that Ryan can't do anything by himself, he wants to play with me all day. Of course, that's not possible. I have a contract I need to finish off, which is way overdue, and I have all the other household stuff going on. Spending 8 hours a day playing with Ryan is impossible.

The summer should be fun! We're starting off by heading to the in-laws for the long weekend. We're picking Jared up straight from school and driving out. When we come back, we'll be doing cartown where kids between 4 and 7 learn how to drive. I've heard it's a blast! We'll also be doing a lot of camping (as long as the mosquitoes keep down), biking, and hiking. I'm hoping to get Ryan on to 2 wheels in the next couple of weeks, which will make things better for him.

If I remember correctly, last summer passed by really quick. This summer is likely to go just as fast, and I want the boys to have lots of fun!

Overheard at breakfast
Jared: Ryan, what do you think is the highest number?

Ryan: Ummm, the last number?

From the mouth of babes…

Yesterday, Marnie was driving the boys home from soccer (I was out). This is the conversation they had:

"'How does Uncle Gregor have enough food?" asked Ryan.
"Why do you want to know?" Marnie asked in return.
"Because he lives in his car!" said Jared.

Later at home, the conversation resumed with:

"How does he get books?"
"How does he get money?"

Hey, Marnie and I thought it was hilarious! My brother does live in his car! (It's an secure link with a bad certificate, just click past the warnings to get through)

Early Rising

Well, my plan for getting up early appears to be working. Yes, it can be a struggle getting out of bed, but I am getting out of bed. Currently, the alarm is set for 6:00 AM. That's one hour difference in two weeks, which means another two weeks before I reach my goal of 5:00 AM. On Monday, it will be set back to 5:45 AM and the next stop on Thursday or so will be 5:30. Here's to hoping it keeps on working. As a side note, the kids are pretty much back to their regular time of waking up.

Speaking of kids, both the boys are in soccer. R has games on Monday and Wednesday, while J has games on Tuesday and Thursday. Both sets of games get them home past their normal bedtime. This schedule is driving me crazy, and we still have 6 weeks of it left. Aaaarrrggghhh!

I've also gotten out of the habit of posting this:

Reading
Description and Setting (Ron Rozelle)

Writing
Technical Documentation for local company.

Miscellaneous

So, I've tried getting up early. Since it's only been going on for five days, I can't report too much. I'm now getting up at 6:30 in the morning, and I'll do that until Wednesday. On Wednesday I'll switch to 6:15 and see how that goes.

Of course, since I'm up at 6:30, my oldest son is now getting up before 7:00. He used to be like clock work and wake up at 7:15. Let's hope that doesn't continue, since the reason I want to change my wake-up time is to avoid the kids and get some writing done.

I was talking with a friend the other day about kids TV shows. The 'Treehouse TV' kind of shows: Backyardigans, Sunny Patch, Dora the Explorer, etc. It's amazing how a supposedly adult mind can get sucked into these things. Sometimes, when the kids leave to get dressed and brush their teeth in the morning, I'm still watching the show to see how it ends. Yuck!

At least we don't watch Barney or TelleTubbies!

And finally, my youngest got very upset the other day. He found a book of his called Snuggle Puppy A Little Love Song by Sandra Boyten. He was upset because he looked for it all Mothers Day and couldn't find it. And now that he found it, she wasn't around to read it to/with him.

Addendum: I'll be at Winnipegs local Science Fiction/Fantasy/Gaming Convention this weekend. KeyCon is held on the May long weekend of every year. Last year I met and talked with Robert Sawyer, and this year it will be Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moeste, which should be fun.

Funky day/week/month…

I’m not sure whats going on with me. For the last 2 or 3 weeks, I don’t think a day has gone by where I didn’t snap at the kids. It started when they truly did something bad, but now it can be just about anything. This morning I told my youngest he had to clean his room today. He said “I don’t want to.” SNAP. I yelled something along the lines of “I don’t care what you want, you WILL clean your room today.” Before that we had a great morning… laughs, giggles, etc. Dunno whats gotten me into this funky mood, but I’d better get out of it quick.

Writing

Paperback Writer has an article on free online writing courses:

Thanks to the internet, writers can now attend classes and workshops from any spot on the globe. No classrooms. No spine-rearranging desks lined in wads of used gum. No snotty teacher to grab you by the sleeve and say, Well, Miss Smartie, why don’t you stand up and read whatever you’ve been writing to the whole class?

Kid's memories

I was just sitting down to lunch with my two boys, when the older one pipes up:

“Dad, is it true that when you jump on a couch it tilts the house crooked?”

I looked at him like he was an idiot.

“On the way to Saskatchewan, we saw a tilted house, and it was because the kids jumped on the couch too much.”

It dawned on me. Last June or July (about 6 months ago), Jared pointed out the window of the van and asked about a house that had partially fallen in on its foundations. The kids had made a habit of jumping on the couch, so I (being the father that I am) immediately said that the house tilted because, you guessed it, the kids kept jumping on the couch.

This kid can’t remember to put his plate away after dinner, yet has no problem remembering an offhand statement from half a year ago. Man!

Writing
And just for the record, I did 16 words today. Yay!

Another week, another…

Writing
Yup, almost a full week since I posted. And, looking back, almost four weeks since I wrote anything major (that is, more than 100 words a day). According to my calculations, I now need about 4000 words a day to finish the first draft on my self-imposed deadline. Ugh. If I start now, I still think I can finish my draft “0” by the deadline, but not the first draft. Draft “0” is the really rough first piece of sh*t that my brain spits out. It’ll be about 1/2 the word count that I am aiming for, and contains POV changes, tense changes, point form scenes, etc.

So, that’s my new goal. Draft “0” by the end of the month, and First Draft sometime in the new year. I won’t put a date on the first draft yet, I’ll wait and see how crappy Draft “0” is first.

Good Morning
Ryan woke up this morning, with his usual muffled “I’m awake!” coming from his bedroom. This time, it was followed by “Dad”. Most of the time he wants Mom to get him out of bed, but this morning it was me. It’s a job I really enjoy, and today was no exception.

I walked into his room, the light from the open door showing a bundle of blankets in the middle of the bed. I could just barely make out the tousle of hair sticking out. I still wasn’t sure it was Dad that he wanted, so before I stepped too far into the room, I made sure I let him know it was me. There was no answer, but there wasn’t a sudden pulling of the blanket over the head scene either. So far so good.

I sat on the edge of the bed, there was just enough space for me, and looked down at him. He had pulled the blankets off his head and squinted up at me smiling.

“Dad,” he said, “did you put up the Christmas Tree last night?”

“No Ry, we’ll put it up in a week or so.”

“Good.” He smiled and rubbed his eyes. “I want to help decorate it.”

I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “Don’t worry, we won’t put it up without you there to help.”

He gave me the squint and smile again, and wriggled his arms out from under the covers. They reached up and grabbed around my neck, pulling me into a hug.

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too Ry.”

“Can I have Dino Eggs for breakfast.”

“Absolutely.”

The kids help with the tree every year, and there’s no way Marnie will have it any other way. They have so much fun doing it, it’s a blast. Traditionally in my family, the tree was set up overnight, and when we woke up in the morning the thrill of seeing the tree was enormous. We loved the surprise. My kids will never have that, but I think them helping is a much greater joy for all of us.

I'm Still Alive

Well, here we are, in December already. Life has been hectic and the writing has been almost nil. I really want to get this project finished so I can get onto the next one that is pounding in my head.

On the good side, I’m pretty much finished my Christmas shopping. I really only buy for the wife and kids, but I help with the other gifts as well. I’m hoping to get the inside of the house decorated this week, and the tree should be going up about a week before Christmas.

The boys have been… interesting… lately. It seems that the basic rules that we’ve had in the house since they could walk have all been forgotten. They run, they talk with their mouth full of food, they fight and roughhouse way too much. I thought Christmas would make them behave, with the threat of Santa so close. Ha! Santa used as a threat. Cool!

Anyway, with that, I’ll sign off.