When all Else Fails, Bribe!

I never thought I'd be the type of parent that needed to bribe their kids to get them to do what I wanted them to do. But I overlooked the fine print of evolution, he's smarter than I am.

Every parent should hope that their kids become better than they are. As a Dada, that's what I work for. At the office and at home, the goal is to give the next generation every opportunity to be better, to achieve more, to move the bar higher for the grand kids and the great grand kids.

In the post Inaugural Christmas I described our morning ritual. Pierce wakes up and babbles to himself and that is my cue to go downstairs and make coffee, also to get his morning snack ready. After those simple preparations, I'll go back upstairs and open his door chanting something like "Is my little blue, blue, blue, blueberry head in here? He'll smile and chuckle to himself all while rolling around in his crib holding the stuffed animal of the week. After changing his diaper, we'd go downstairs and right before we hit the last step, I'd ask him for a kiss, he'd oblige and now without me asking when we get to that step, he'll turn his head an plant a wet one right on my mouth and smile. It's the best.

I grab my coffee, hand him his milk and grab the snack trap full of Morning O's. Pierce and I will sit on the couch, under a blanket, he'll eat his snack, I'll sip my coffee and smell his sweet hair and kiss his soft cheeks all in the glow of HLN. We'd sit for 10-15 minutes before he was ready to get down and start playing. About four weeks ago, 10-15 minutes turned in to 1-2 minutes.

I missed those minutes so much that I asked Ashleigh to pick up a more exciting cereal without compromising his healthy diet of course. I figured he was bored of the plain Organic Morning O's. Ash (not knowing my motivation) obliged and picked up Fruitful O's. There we were, Sunday Morning Pierce and I snuggled up again, it was just like old times. He ate a whole snack trap worth and I smiled at his Mama. She squinted at me and put two and two together, the 15 minutes were up and Pierce was off to play. Ash shook her head in a way that only spouses can, it's that "I can't believe you but I can believe you" sort of head shake.

The next morning, it was back to 1-2 minutes. It wasn't the cereal, Pierce doesn't need a morning snack, he's content to play and wait for breakfast. He does sleep 10 hours (which I'm not complaining about) he's just ready to spend some of that energy. That is what I tell myself anyway, as I sit without my cuddling buddy.

I bribed him with Organic Fruit Loops and stepped in to a time machine for one morning. I'm glad that he's not old enough to realize that I compromised my parenting, although I'm sure that deep inside that brain of his, he knows he has me right where he wants me. I'll concede the point on this one and look forward to our future chess matches.

My experiences are new to me, the lessons learned are probably not new to you. Most of the time, I'm just figuring out what the Silver and Black Lining is?

Hook, Swipe and Stab

I pick my spots when it comes to aggression. I've found little use for the emotion, relying instead on patience and terrible wit. Every now and again a situation presents itself when your patience fails you and a man is overcome with a testosterone fueled moment of aggression.

It happened this past Valentine's Day. I happened to be out to lunch with my beautiful wife. Is it a coincidence that something like this would happen on our 13th Valentine's Day?

There we were at a lovely Italian Restaurant conversing over one subject (Pierce) but a myriad of topics. They were normal conversations that parents of a 16 month old have: upcoming pre-pre-schools, potty training, his latest abilities and possible vacation plans.

It was clear to us that the guy next to us was clearly frustrated, over what, we weren't sure but it was coming to a point where I was going to have to make my displeasure known because it was starting to interrupt our lunch. It seemed like he was struggling using his fork. I was just trying to be nice when I handed him my unused fork, he placed it in his right hand and he immediately made and aggressive hook/swiping motion into a plate of pasta and stabbed a penne. He shoveled it into his mouth and smiled a smile that would let anyone know he was pleased with himself.

His Mama and I clapped and cheered as only two loving parents can. The penne made a perfect prey because he could stab it and cram it into his mouth without it falling off. He's made more progress since that day. We had mashed potatoes last night and he quickly learned that all he had to do was jam his spoon into a pile and they would stick. That strategy did little for him tonight when Dada made brown rice.

Just Write

I am not going to be wordy with this first of what I hope is a few posts. There have been three or four fun topics that I've wanted to write about but to put it simply, I've been apathetic. Seems like I go into hibernation when the days get shorter and the nights colder. For now, the wine glass is full and I'm ready to get started.

I just put Pierce down for bed. A full day it was and we both had a GRAND time. After walking down to the basement, I flipped on the tele and while I opened my bottle of Chateau Saint Jean I got to hear about the latest happenings in Syria.

Amateur video of a makeshift clinic was dancing across the screen and the obnoxious self serving anchor asked the field reporter to describe the scene. One of the victims, a six year old boy.

I looked down at my baby monitor to see my baby boy sleeping soundly in his warm room and cozy crib.

Lord, Thank You for my many blessings, please comfort the parents of that little boy.