Did You Hear The One About Uncle Carbuncle

So, I am finally an uncle. Was beginning to think that The Sprite would be the only next-gen kid in our family, but my little sister, Smurf as she is affectionately known, gave birth to Lola Amelie last week. I'm happy to report mother, father and child are doing well adjusting to their new life together.

Having been a parent for over five years now, and having gone through teething and potty-training, the terrible-twos and the know-it-all-threes, it's hard to remember quite what it was like in those brutal first six months of baby boot camp. I look back on those times fondly, in fact I kind of miss them. I semi-jokingly told ElectricMommy last week that we should have another. HaHa, that conversation ended quickly.

So, if I can think back to 2004, maybe I can pull some nuggets of helpful advice for my Sis and Neice.

I remember going out to eat more in the first six months than any other time since. We could put The Sprite into the car seat and take him anywhere. And he would sleep. I can't tell you how many restaurant tables he slept under during that time. Enjoy having someone else cook for you and dine out as much as you can. Once they get a little older, kids have a tendency of making dining out a messy frustrating aggravating nightmare.

Also in the Enjoy It While You Can file is having a child that falls asleep the moment you put them in the car and go for a drive. Oh how sweet the peaceful silence of a baby in slumber in the back seat. Yet, that too will pass. Once babies start talking, long trips manifest into a test of ones tolerance for hours of endless babble.

Of course it's not all bad in the back seat of the car as they get older. Infants demand feeding and daiper changing at the most challenging times and locations. This made some of our long trips impossibly tiring. It gets easier as they get older and you can hand the little one a jumbo bag of Dorito's to feed themselves back there, negating the need to stop and warm a bottle.

Actually, I'm just remembering how much of a hassle it was to go anywhere. And never spontaneously either. Sometimes we elected to stay in just because we couldnt be bothered to pack up and go. It took at least 30 mins to get all the paraphernalia needed to go mobile with baby in tow packed up into the daiper bag and loaded into the car. Bottles, bottle-warmer, daiper, wipes, rash lotion, burp cloths, clothes. It was like packing for a camping trip. We quickly learned I was worthwhile having a kit packed and ready to go at all times, and got our drill pretty well rehearsed, just about the time we didn't need to pack anymore.

I remember the first times The Sprite got sick and the only thing that would calm him was putting him over my shoulder and doing laps of the house, for hours on end. Round and round and round I would carry him, and if I stopped the crying would ensue. I think I must have been in the best shape of my life back then, especially once he started on solid food and started packing on some pounds.

The best thing about those days I recall was the stroller walks we would go on as a family. The Sprite would sleep almost immediately we got rolling and we would walk all over our neighborhood. Those days were great and very therapeutic, strolling up and down the local streets for an hour at a time, sometimes twice a day. They were over far too quickly, once he was done with the stroller and could walk himself, the walks became less therapeutic, and less frequent. Enjoy those while you can.

Those early days were so frustrating as we rarely felt like we knew what were doing. People would offer conflicting advice, the numerous books we read would sometimes contradict each other. Luckily we live in an age of the internet and online communities, and information is rarely more than a Google search away. After a while we just found a groove and we've been going with it since. I'm sure Smurf, you will find your groove and just go with it. Do what feels right, what works for you and don't worry about every little bit of advice offered.

And have fun, take a ton of pictures and video. Because it is done in a blink, even the really tiring, frustrating parts.

Congratulations. Lola Amelie is a beautiful addition to the world.

Train Ride At The Spectrum

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Water Ballooning

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In a world baked by a relentless summer heat, one man and his son struggle for survival in the scorching suburban wilderness. When all good reason was gone, only the love of a good water balloon offered any relief. In this tale of never-ending pursuit of a cooling trend from the onshore flow, only semi-filled colored rubber
orbs can save the day.

The Muddy Tike

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What started as a simple hosing down of the Mommy Wagon (also known as the Dani Doom Machine), quickly turned into filthy mayhem. Not one to turn down a chance to play with or in mud, The Sprite saw his window of opportunity and seized it with both hands.

A small (and I mean small, but it doesn't take much) puddle formed from the hose-down overspray, and quicker than a Republican legislator can erode your human rights, Mad Mudd McGuiness dives in bringing Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater with him.

I Know. Keyboards : A Sprite Wordgame

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The Little Dirt Deville

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Summer Heat Car Wash

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Look At Me, I'm A Shy Exhibitionist

The Sprite has reached that 'showoff' stage of his young development. Whenever he wants to attract, impress or get the attention of someone (it could be another child, a visitor to the house or a family member) he will often resort to some outlandish stunt. Usually this involves climbing and ultimately falling to the ground in a glorified flop. "Did you see that?" he'll ask. "Do you want to see this?" he'll inquire before repeating the stunt.

Recently we were at Irvine Regional Park for the annual Christmas Train that rides through the park to Santa's Village. Waiting in line for our turn to ride the train, a girl maybe 7 years old took a liking to our Sprite. This attention was met with cold shyness at first, but thanks to the young lady's persistence, was eventually returned with some very silly behavior of the "Do yo want to see this?" variety. Climbing on the railing, falling to the ground, fake-bumping into the wall, all including an array of sound effects to enhance the stunt.

His antics must have worked, The Sprite and his older lady friend were inseparable for our duration at the park.

I wonder how long this showoff phase will last. Generally, the little guy is very reserved and standoffish when meeting people. However, once he warms up to someone the antics usually start. He has started mimicking TV commercials and movies, invariably the slapstick physical comedy appealing to his sense of humor. Any time the Pepsi Max "What Is Love" commercial he rushes to the TV to ape the head-nodding and falling over. It cracks him up to no end.

I always thought he would be great on the stage or screen. He's a total ham and loves an audience. But he has to warm up and get comfortable first. Not ideal for auditions i would say. As parents I wonder what we could do to build his confidence enough to overcome his initial shyness. I'm not sure the showing off is a favourable trait but the humorous exhibitionism is definitely entertaining for now. We like to see this side of him more than the shy, reserved kid who won't answer when asked a question.

Of course on the other hand, a reserved kid is absolutely less likely to be abducted by a stranger. By my rationale, any douchebag looking to coax His Stubborness into the back of a bronze Toyota Camry will be greeted with nothing more than a stiff cold shoulder. Nothing can make this kid do ANYTHING against his will. So I take an ounce of comfort in this case. It's tough to know where to set balance between reserved/outgoing. For now it is not a problem obviously. We don't stop laughing at the non-stop goofball show when The Sprite gets going, and the lucky few he warms up to are treated to a great slapstick show. Hopefully eventually he will find enough self-confidence with other people to be his silly self right off the bat. It's s endearing.

A Monochrome Christmas

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The Sprite explains why, contrary to popular belief, traditional Christmas colours of red and green are in fact incorrect. Instead, he proclaims black and white to be  the colours of choice.

Building Christmas Cheer

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The Sprite lends his hands to help ElectricMommy decorate the Xmas Tree. The whole house is given the seasonal sizzle in an effort to bring some yuletide cheer to one and all.

As you shall see, the little elf is quite deft at fetching and hanging. And his enthusiasm knows no bounds. Yahoo! This year has certainly been the most fun with the little fella, as he has been into the whole idea of it like never before. Christmas Eve he was wound up and ready to explode with excitement, he could barely contain himself.

We hope you all had a lovely warm and happy holiday season.

Wishing all the best for the New Year! 

Kidz Soccer

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Back in May The Sprite was signed up for the 5 and under soccer league at his preschool. It was a pretty good idea, get him out there and runing about with all the other kids. He's half Brit so naturally I was hoping his latent footie skillz would surface and he would run rings around all the Yank kids.

Sadly this was not to be the case. The latent Brit soccer skills will remain dormant for a while longer. Our little Becham wanted nothing to with the kids or the league. He wanted to ball, but got very frustrated when it would not come to him. He was fine in practice when he had a ball to play with. But come game time it all got a little overwhelming for him. Most of the other boys and girls were happy to get in there and battle for the ball. But The Sprite was one of several kids who didin't want to, er, play ball, as it were.

It was frustrating at first, but he got a little better a the 8 game season went on. I ended up going out there and running around with the kids. The Sprite kept close to me and ran about and got a couple of kicks of the ball. To be fair, he was one of the younger ones and the bigger boys were fast and dominated the control of play. A bit daunting for the little guy to compete with.

We'll try again in the future when he has more interest in doing it. And when he can bend a free kick around a 10 man wall into the top left corner of the goal.

Family Christmas Card 2008

Here is the family Xmas card we made this year. We had a picture taken at the Christmas Show that took place at the Church where The Sprite goes to pre-school. Trouble was, despite their attempts to dress up the scene with a Christmas tree and poinsettia, the background was so stark and white. This is the before and after of the shot I edited and composited into something a little more attractive.

The original shot

The final image