June 13th, 2009
Well, that crazy blue elephant has returned again this summer…reekin’ havoc upon Ace in his very own backyard.
That damned thing comes out every time it gets warm and teases him with a small shower of cool water, just big enough for a three foot tall person to run through and cool down on a hot summer day.
And then once he gets close enough to enjoy the small shower… WHASHOOSH! The elephant explodes with a massive flood of freezing cold water that pours down on him…sending him into shock and he runs for his life… 
He reaches safety just in time to see the monsoon turn once again into a small pleasant shower.
And then he does it again…and again…and again…
But after a while he starts to catch on…
…and he realize that there is a certain someone ( with a camera ) that is enjoying this a little too much. This certain someone turns a knob connected to the hose every time the monsoon rains down on him.
He is getting smarter…wiser…more experienced. It looks like that certain someone will have to step up their game in order to keep fooling this toddler.
Tags: fun, Funny Stuff, Growing Up, sprinkler, summer
Posted in: Fun Activities, Funny Stuff, Growing Up, Pictures |
Views: 267
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December 8th, 2008
I should have made this announcement earlier, but wasn’t real sure if the newest family member was just a phase…or the real thing. But it looks like Teddy is here to stay…
Teddy is the newest addition to our family.
Ace made Teddy at Build-A-Bear, and I’m betting Ace would consider Teddy to be his best friend. Ace goes no where without his newest companion!
Ace likes Teddy to be nekkid. If you have ever been to Build-A-Bear you would know that once you build your bear, you have all sorts of options for clothing…underwear, pants, shoes, shirts, hats, and all sorts of other accessories.
When Momma tried putting clothes on Teddy at the Build-A-Bear store Ace went nuts! So Teddy is nekkid. Also, once when Ace had a bad diaper rash and refused to put a diaper back on after Momma took one off, she put a diaper on Teddy to try and convince Ace that even his best friend wears a diaper. Ace wasn’t having it and cried until Momma took it off. Teddy is not to be wearing a diaper!!!
Teddy also gets most of Ace’s kisses. Ace will give Teddy a big hug and kiss him on the nose. It’s a crowd pleaser almost everywhere we go. I’ll have to post a video. It is just too cute.
Teddy has only been around a few months, but Ace has put him through the ringer a time or two. He has been dragged on almost every dirty surface known to man. His nose is always saturated with saliva, and he has been puked on numerous times…including last night.
Teddy doesn’t complain. He doesn’t cry. He’s just happy to be sitting in Ace’s lap in the carseat or in Ace’s arms at night to go to sleep.
Welcome to our family Teddy! It looks like you are going to be around for awhile!
Tags: funny, Funny Stuff, Growing Up, Pictures, teddy, toys
Posted in: Funny Stuff, Growing Up, Pictures |
Views: 557
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September 25th, 2008
At Ace’s one year checkup with his doctor we were told to get him off of formula. It was easy…we simply replaced the formula with milk. No biggie!
Well, Ace just recently went to his 18 month checkup (time flies!). His doctor now wants him off of the bottle completely. Yikes! That’s like taking…a ham bone from a hyena. There is going to be a fight!
Here recently we have reduced Ace’s daily bottle usage down to 1 or 2 bottles…usually if/when he was extremely grumpy and always at bed time.
What? You don’t think Ace gets grumpy? You don’t think he throws fits? Why not? Is it because he is always smiling in the pictures here on DadThing? Haha! He has you fooled!
Ace Throwing A Fit
Don’t believe me yet? How about this one…
Ace Throwing A Fit
So bedtime comes. I start to get nervous…dreading the moment when Ace uncovers our plot to send him to bed without his long time bed time companion…the bottle! I am preparing myself for a full on rebellion from the little guy. I picture guns, grenades, tanks, infantry, maybe even an airborne assault…
Military Ace
…and instead I get nothing. Not a peep. Not a whimper. Just a quiet sleeping Ace.
Hopefully he’s just not gathering his troops for an ambush tomorrow night.
Tags: bedtime, bottle, Growing Up
Posted in: Funny Stuff, Growing Up |
Views: 669
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June 10th, 2008
Back in October, I wrote a post about Ace’s Grandpa, my Dad. Ace and his Grandpa didn’t get a long too good at first. Grandpa would say “Hi!” and Ace would scream like a banshee!
It was tough on Grandpa, but things have been getting better…
Ace, Momma, and I spent all weekend at Grandpa’s just hanging out and swimming in the pool! We had a blast and got some nice tan lines as a result.
As you probably know, Ace loves to ride on the mower, and when Grandpa started his up Ace wasn’t going to quit until he was taken for a ride. It wasn’t hard for Ace to convince his Grandpa for a quick ride on the mower, but a quick ride turned into 20-30 minutes of lapping the yard.
And after a long day in the sun, nothing is better than a nap in the recliner…
It makes me think back to when my Grandpa took me for rides on his mower. Something I will never forget! I’m going to have to dig up some pictures of me riding on my Grandpa’s mower and napping in his recliner…and post them here of course.
Sometimes it’s scary how much Ace and I are alike…
Tags: being a dad, cute, Entertainment, Family, Fun Activities, grandpa, Growing Up, nap, outside, Pictures, swimming, weekend
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Growing Up, Like Father Like Son, Looking Back, Pictures |
Views: 801
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May 7th, 2008
We all have what I call our “early memories”. The ones from our early childhood that we will never forget. What are some of mine?
- Climbing a fence because a snake chased me up there. I yelled for my Mom until she came out of the house and chopped the snake up with a shovel! She saved my life! She was my hero!
- My parents owned a junk-yard when I was very little. I remember watching my Dad working on cars all day every day. I wanted to do my part, so I would go around to some of the cars and take off the valve stem caps (ya know the little black caps where you put air in your tires). Then I would have to put them all back on different cars. (A 2-3 yr old’s form of customization)
- Sitting on my Dad’s lap while he operated the crane at the junk yard. I faintly remember watching the wrecking ball come crashing down and crushing the cars. I have always liked demolition…
- Riding in a race car. My Dad used to build and drive race cars. I remember riding around the track during warm up laps with his friend. (Of course he didn’t fly around the track at full speed, but to a 2 or 3 year old it was an unforgettable experience!)
- Riding in my Dad’s “Stinky Truck”. My Dad was a big hunter/trapper. And along with the hunting and trapping came all sorts of stinky things. Dead animals, blood, guts, urine, feces, and bait. His “stinky truck” was rank! I will never forget the smell of that thing.
- Seeing my brother fall into the 8 ft end of the pool underneath the solar cover. Neither of us could swim yet, so I was scared to jump in after him. I could just see him sitting there at the bottom of the pool not knowing what to do. My grandma came running up and she couldn’t swim either. We both just sat there helplessly as my brother slowly floated back to the top and my grandma could pull him out. Luckily he was OK…just a little cold.
Thinking about things like this make me wonder what Ace’s “early memories” will be? Will having me catch him inches from the floor be one? How about the scary car wash? Maybe his first birthday party?
Who knows if he will remember any of that stuff, but I know I will! I’ll just keep on doing my best to provide him with fun experiences that hopefully someday will be included in his list of “early memories”.
What were your “early memories”?
Tags: being a dad, Family, fun, Growing Up, Looking Back
Posted in: Growing Up, Looking Back |
Views: 555
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March 27th, 2008
As I was driving down the street on my way home from work I see Ace sitting in the middle of the front yard in his pajamas. “What the hell?”, I say to myself. Did he sneak out the front door when Momma was checking the mail?
Nope. I know better. Momma would never let that happen. Momma was in the front yard to talking to the neighbor lady. The neighbors daughter was playing with Ace in the front yard.
It was pretty cool! Ace was loving it! He found a two foot long stick and was whacking everything in sight with it. We have one of those political signs in our front yard and Ace would run and tackle it. He was having so much fun not being restricted by the walls of our house.
The neighbors go home and it’s Momma, Ace, and me in the front yard. Now he seems to be obsessed with the street! I sit him down in the yard up by the house and he runs for the street…every time!
What is so enticing about the street? I mean, it is just a big slab of boring pavement with cars zooming up and down…
Even at one year old I need to tell him to get out of the street. I didn’t think that day would come for at least a few more years.
Tags: Discipline, fun, Growing Up, outside
Posted in: Discipline, Growing Up |
Views: 604
9 Comments »
January 28th, 2008
Looking Forward Back when I was a just a little guy, I remember looking forward to playing outside, going swimming, ice cream, and getting up in the morning to start a whole brand new day!
As I got a bit older and started school, I remember looking forward to going to school, recess, show-and-tell, and playing after school.
About the time I was in junior high, I remember looking forward to the weekend, summer vacation, snow days, and hanging out with friends.
In high school I looked forward to the weekend party, skiing, a bit of underage drinking, and whatever little bit of mischievous mayhem we could find.
College brought on looking forward to the weekend (and week night) party, legal drinking, girls, girls, girls, and more girls.
After graduating college and getting married I looked forward to doing well in my field of work, getting promoted, hanging out with our friends, a bit less drinking, and only one girl.
Now that I am a Dad, I find myself looking forward to something i have never…ever…looked forward too…
Nap Time
or even better…
Tags: dad getting old, Growing Up, nap, nap time, quiet, sleep, tired
Posted in: Growing Up, Misc Ramblings, Pictures |
Views: 502
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January 21st, 2008
<– Newborn 10 Months –>
Just a little over 10 months ago Ace could barely do anything other than breathe, eat, cry, and poop. He was a new born baby who was 100% reliant on his Mom and I.
So much has changed…and it has changed fast! Where’d the baby go?
Tags: Growing Up
Posted in: Growing Up |
Views: 500
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December 10th, 2007
Man, things have been unusually boring around here. No excitement. No drama. It’s nice! Just Momma, Ace, and me living our sheltered little lives. 
I guess that is a good thing. It’s better than being bombarded with bad luck.
Well, there is one exciting thing in the child development forefront…Ace has started to stand on his own!
After nine months he has gained the strength and balance to successfully stand in place on his own two feet. Not for a very long period of time (about 10 seconds), but damn is it cool! He acts like no big deal, but I get so excited and usually scare him to death (which makes him fall down).
I guess he is close to being considered a toddler? Momma will be sad. Her little baby is growing up… 
I say, keep it up little man! In no time at all we will be hiking across the wilderness of our backyard on the hunt for those creepy crawly little bugs that we can capture in a mason jar.
Momma looooves bugs, so we will definitely have to bring them inside to show her how good of hunters we are!
Tags: Growing Up, standing, walking
Posted in: Growing Up |
Views: 405
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October 6th, 2007
While everyone says that Ace is advanced for his age, it just seems like he can’t grow up fast enough! I know he has learned a lot in the past seven months. Hell, he has learned to drink from a bottle, see, cry, smile, laugh, hold up his head, move his arms, his legs, his head, use his fingers, roll over, crawl, and stand up. These are just the obvious things he has learned. I’m sure his little head is full of other knowledge just waiting to be expressed as soon as he learns to talk!
I know I should be cherishing these moments, and I am. He will only be a baby once. But a part of me wants him to grow up sooo bad. I would love to play with him in the leaves in the yard, play in the snow, spray each other with the garden hose, run through the sprinkler, take him fishing, go to putt-putt, ride go-karts, and teach him all the fun guy stuff!
I keep telling myself that he will only be a baby for a little while, and I will be able to do all of these fun things with him for many many years to come.
I do have to admit that he is extremely fun now. He is the only person in the world that can get me to twist my face into impossible shapes, make the most god awful sounds come out of my mouth, and dance around like a monkey on crack just to get a smile or laugh.
I guess I should change the title of the post to say, “Stay Little Already!”.
Tags: Growing Up
Posted in: Growing Up |
Views: 488
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