Tastes chippy
Tastes chippy
March 9, 2010
Sometimes a parent just has to work with what he’s got available at the moment. The other day, my little one approached me and said,
Daddy, my tummy is rumbling. I need a snack.
It was close to dinner time and I didn’t want to ruin her appetite, so I grabbed a box of Roasted Garlic & Herb Wheat Thins. Now, before you decide I’m an awful dad for giving garlic crackers to a 3-year-old, you have to understand that I thought these were regular Wheat Thins. And so did my daughter.
She popped one in her mouth, chewed for a few seconds, then stopped and looked up at me.
I asked, “Are they delicious?”
They taste … They taste very chippy.
I couldn’t help it. I just burst out laughing. “The crackers taste, chippy? What do you mean?”
“Uh huh. They taste very chippy, Daddy. I don’t love those crackers.”
At that point, I realized my mistake and felt bad. But I couldn’t stop laughing. She just frowned at mean ol’ Daddy until he got her a more appropriate snack for a pre-schooler.
Have you ever given your child something to eat and gotten a funny reaction? I would love to hear about it.
Yahoo article
Yahoo article
February 24, 2010
An article on the front of Yahoo! caught my eye tonight. It was entitled, Parents Choosing More Unusual Baby Names Now.
It was interesting to see this make “front page” news in the online world. I wrote about this very topic in two earlier posts, both of which you can find here:
- Baby names (one of my first-ever posts on this blog — then known as Raleigh Daddy 2.0 — back in January 2009)
- Name advice (a very brief November 2009 post that closely relates to the Yahoo story)
What is YOUR advice on choosing a baby name? 
There’s daddy
There’s daddy
February 23, 2010
The other day as I was driving down the street I heard my 3-year-old daughter, Breanna, start yelling something from the back seat:
Look! Look! Look! There’s daddy!!!
I didn’t think much of it. I thought she was just saying ‘there I was’ in the front seat, driving the truck.
Yep, here I am cutie.
No, look outside! On that sign! There’s daddy on that sign!!!
At that point, I realized that she thinks all Pedestrian Crossing signs represent an image of her daddy.
Not much further down the road, she started yelling again:
Look! Look! Look! Look at THAT sign, Daddy! There’s Daddy AND Bre on that sign!!!
The constructions
The constructions
February 13, 2009
There are two type of people in this world. Which type are you? Which types are your kids?
The first type of person likes to be cautious. To make sure everything is in order before beginning the task, job, game or opportunity. To research first, then act. This is the person who, on game night, pulls out the rules and reads them to everyone before anyone is allowed to spin, roll the die, start the timer or flip the hourglass. This is me.
The second type of person likes to dive right in. To toss the instructions in the trash and “wing it,” figuring out how the parts fit together, how the game is won, what’s the best way to proceed as they go. This is the person who enjoys playing video games but has never looked at the instructions to see which buttons make the character on screen take certain actions — and usually wins. This is my wife.
Not long ago, I learned which type of person our 3-year-old daughter is.
She loves to play games like Elefun, Don’t Break the Ice and Gator Golf. I was watching TV when she bounced into the living room with an enormous smile on her face. In her hands was a box containing one of her toddler games. I clicked off the TV, slid down off the couch and sat on the floor, “criss-cross-applesauce” (or Indian-style) per my daughter’s command, then watched as she dumped the contents of the box onto the floor.
I started to reach for the game pieces to help her get it ready but she stopped me in my tracks by looking at me sternly and exclaiming,
Wait Daddy! I need to read the constructions first.
The constructions. Kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? The instructions tell you how to construct, or assemble, the product. She just shortened 2 words into one term: constructions.
I couldn’t help but giggle when I noticed that she was holding her constructions upside-down as she “read” them to me. (Of course, she can’t read yet (although it won’t be long before she can), but “read” aloud to me and explained how the game is played just the same.)
This is one of my favorite toddler words that my daughter has invented so far. If you like this one, you might like to take a look at some of the previous blog posts I’ve written about Breanna’s toddler words:
Do you remember your children’s cute toddler words? If so, I would love to hear them. Simply click on the title of this blog post, then add your comment at the bottom. As always, thanks for reading Raleigh Daddy 3.0.
Genuine excitement
Genuine excitement
January 26, 2010
After reading my last blog post about Haiti orphans, you deserve something uplifting. Check out this phenomenal video about a high school basketball prank gone wrong. I have a distinct feeling that this is where the phrase …
It’s a long shot
… came from. Before you enjoy the video, read the story behind this prank.
Then, I bet you can’t watch it without smiling.
Now back to reconstructing my blog and working on that recap of my first year as a dad blogger…
Haiti orphans
Haiti orphans
January 23, 2010
Don’t worry, I’m still working on the recap of my 2009 daddy blog posts, as I promised you. I’ll publish it as soon as I finish the necessary revisions to my blog, as described in my previous post. But I felt inspired to write this tonight.
Before reading any further, I hope you will watch this 2-minute YouTube video entitled Rescuing Haiti’s Orphans …
Until today, I’ve simply been catching headlines about the 2010 Haiti earthquake disaster.
I’m a glass-half-full type of person — a perpetual optimist — so I try to avoid reading and watching BAD news whenever possible.
After sitting in disbelief while watching countless hours of news coverage of the September 11th attacks, I found it hard to focus on later disasters. I guess after a while you get numb to shockingly bad news. You get desensitized. Plus, the media puts a microscope over every disaster and horrible occurrance. But there is also so much good … so many positives … so much to be happy about in the world that I try to concentrate on the silver linings.
But today — for better or worse – I decided to sit down and watch CNN for a while. Immediately, my senses were bombarded by images, video and detailed descriptions of the horror that is life in Haiti right now.
Once in a while, the anchors sprinkled in a POSITIVE story about a family who was able to reconnect with a survivor who had gone missing or the man who was rescued today after almost 12 days under the rubble. (According to a friend of mine who is a news producer at a TV station, this is done so that you don’t get too depressed by all the bad news and change the channel.)
In case you missed that POSITIVE story that broke today, here is an ABC video (again via YouTube) entitled Man Found Alive After Days Trapped In Quake Rubble:
But mostly it was bad news followed by more bad news. Backlogs in getting supplies out of the Haitian airport. People whose homes fell apart due to the lack of Haitian building codes in some places and lack of enforcement of those codes in others. You get the picture.
I felt sorry for the people there, but it wasn’t until I saw the story about Haiti’s kids that the full impact of this disaster hit me. I watched a CNN report that showed a nurse who said she was overwhelmed by the struggles in caring for the injured Haitian children. She detailed some of the problems, many of which involved trying to treat the kids with medical equipment designed for adults. She talked about…
- Non-sterile conditions (leading many children to get infections, as if their injuries weren’t bad enough already)
- Pain medications that are not strong enough
- Needles that are too long
- Oxygen masks that are too big
And the list went on. The cameraman rudely kept the camera on the nurse when she stepped outside to cry (reportedly, she refuses to cry in front of the children … something which can’t be easy and for which I applaud her). When she regained her composure and returned to the reporter, she made a statement that struck me as most profound:
It’s like the children are forgotten.
Five days ago, Secretary Napolitano recentlly announced a U.S. Humanitarian Parole policy for certain Haitian orphans.
Many of these injured kids were orphaned prior to the earthquake. Many others were orphaned by it. Most have no one they know anywhere in sight. No parents. No teachers. No friends. Just exhausted and frustrated doctors, nurses and military personnel trying to do their very best to help where possible. To make a small impact here and there. To be good people. To show compassion and empathy. To love.
(PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI – US Army nurse Lt. Col Josy Smarth with the 82nd Airborne Division sits with Haitian girl Narlie, age 4, who was seriously wounded in the earthquake and has been earmarked for emergency care aboard the USS Comfort)
The CNN news segment ended with an image of a wounded little girl … about my daughter’s age … sitting on a table with a Barbie Doll in her hands. Actually, the doll was still in the manufacturer’s plastic box.
No one had helped her open the packaging that encases toys here. I assume it was donated by someone in America and given to her by an aid worker. But she just held that box and looked around the room as if in a daze. Like she didn’t even know she had the toy in her arms. She glanced at the television camera … and looked at me. I turned off the TV.
I sat here in the quiet living room, thinking about how much I love my wife and daughter. How glad I am that they are safe. How blessed we are to be together. Today.
Take a minute and think about the people you care most about. When was the last time you told them how much you care about them? When was the last time you said “I love you?” Life is short. Let them know how important they are to you. Don’t assume they know. Tell them.
Maybe you have donated money. Maybe you haven’t. It’s not my place to judge. But if nothing else, I hope you will say a few prayers for the helpless children over there. They are scared and alone. Right now, I think your prayers will go further than your dollars.
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Toastmasters- CapitalCityTM: Great blog post: "Public Speaking & Storytelling: The Power of Dialogue & Detail" -- http://bit.ly/cieECd
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