Labor Day Nature Hike

Over Labor Day weekend I tried to get my son to go with me to Marsh Creek State Park, Chester County, PA to see the beautiful lake. We live about 5 minutes from the lake that offers rowboating, kayaking, as well as sailing. I’m not sure of the size of the lake but it’s a nice size for all the recreational activities.  There are also a good amount of nature trails to walk that take you to scenic areas that look out on the lake. It’s a fisherman’s paradise (if you’re a fisherman).

Well since my son didn’t want to go alone with me on Sunday, the whole family went for a nature hike on Monday. It was a perfect day. Here are some photos we took.

the kids and I at Marsh Creek State Park

We had a good time walking the trails and stopping off to see a dog fetching a stick in the water. The dog loved to run and splash in the water, of course, making our kids just laugh hysterically!  It was so refreshing to be out there with nature and hearing my kids laugh. I so hope that I can encourage my son to leave the “comforts of Mommy” to go to the park again so he and I can bond more.  It’s hard right now, I’m a Dad, but wouldn’t say a “totally FUN” Dad, I think I blogged about me being the disciplinarian.  Anyway, hopefully he and I can have that time together! He loves when I play with him and goof around. I am more open when it’s just the two of us as well!

Mommy and kids

I am also hoping that I can get him on a rowboat with me next summer as I know he’ll have a blast! Mommy and I encourage our kids to do things but we don’t pressure them into things they just don’t want to do.  We feel that will lead to them not trusting us, or not enjoying what we want them to do, or worse, not having their own personality or desires.

I hope we have another great weekend where we can all head back to the trails and spend good quality time alone and not interrupted.

Why My Kids Want Mommy So Much?

Well this isn’t probably too much of a shocker to most married couples with young children. What is with a "mommy " that the kids love that they need to cling to her and almost smother her, leaving me the poor old lonely Dad?  For instance, I used to be the bedtime "go to" parent for both my son (about a year ago) and my daughter up until about 3 weeks ago.  She’s going on two this August and our son will be four in October. Why had my daughter decided she wants MOMMY for bedtime. This really puts me in a bind because I would love to read books to my kids, especially if there are no "power struggles" or meltdowns at bedtime.But like I mentioned, lately, both kids want mommy.  It’s ME that makes the funny voices and sing silly songs about the day to them, so why do they chose her over me?

Maybe because I’m the disciplinarian in the house. Might be because I try to be more strict . Probably because my wife enjoys having fun where I tend to worry about the next meltdown or what "might" transpire if the kids aren’t in bed by 8pm.  So I guess it’s natural for them to gravitate to the one parent that has open arms all the time. But then that creates additional stress in the house, where my wife doesn’t get any "downtime" to herself like I do if she’s doing both bedtime routines.

Now don’t get me wrong. I would LOVE to read books and do the bedtime thing, I have this ritual with my daughter where we read a few books then as I put her into the crib we wave goodnight to the butterfly decals on her wall, then give BIG KISSES, then Eskimo Kisses, then BIG HUGS. Then up until about a month ago, she would immediately fall asleep.  Now since she is almost 2 yo she is beginning to realize we are leaving her alone in her room. Tonight was a battle with her. She really wanted Mommy. It’s the 2 year old thing, the sense of losing a parent.  Read the rest of this entry »

How I Spent My Father’s Day

Well Happy Father’s Day to myself and all the other great Dad’s out there. This is our day to do what we want, right? For the most part it is and on a typical weekend I would probably have gone off and took care of a few things in my basement, I’m finishing it on my own and my wife was going to hit the outlet stores to get some clothes shopping done. She was going to take our son along and I would spend time with our daughter and then have her take her midday nap after lunch. Well I decided it would be fun to have the whole family go to the outlets and spend the time together and not worry about the “things to do” around the house today! It was a good time! Surprisingly, the kids were pretty well behaved for clothes shopping! To a 3 and 1 year old if it isn’t a toy that makes noise then it’s not fun, so I wasn’t sure our shopping trip would be OK, but it was.

We just got home after a few hours drive and shopping and now the kids are relaxing. I just carried my daughter up to her crib and she had me read her one book and now she’s sleeping. Our son slept for most of the ride home and got a decent amount of rest in so he is just chillin’ on the couch with a few shows.

I’m in the other room quickly typing out this post and then will take care of a few other things and probably head down to the basement to run some wires through the 2×4’s so I can cross that off my ever-increasing-to-do-list.

So before I press submit, how are other Dad’s celebrating your day? Did you get a new tie or bottle of cologne? Could those gift items be any more time-dated!!?? I used to get my father cologne every year. He always would open the box, take out the cologne and open it and splash it on his face saying, “Ahhhh, this smells great!” My thoughts now as a father and thinking back to him doing that I think, “did he really need or want or like the cologne? Maybe he was being a dad and therefore appreciative to whatever his children gave him?” I would have to agree with the later, as a father we have the obligation to always be grateful, excited and happy when our children give us anything, even a piece of paper with a drawing of our famele (as my 3 1/2yo wrote after sounding out the word family the other day). I was so impressed and proud that he is beginning to sound out words and spell them the best his little mind knows how! He also spelled out “mos” for mouse, “sidwc” for sidewalk and a few others. I thought this was amazing!! My mother (grama) helped him sound them out but he did all the work!

That was a GREAT Father’s Day gift.

What Do You Do When Your Kid Throws a Whiny Fit?

How many parents have the beginnings of gray hairs due to a whining toddler or preschooler? What causes your child to whine? Why does the sound of whining drive parents crazy? Why do I feel like I’d rather hear someone run their finger nails down a chalkboard right now!?

Battling with a child that constantly whines is no fun — for both the parent and the child. Trying to stop the whining using threats or time outs probably won’t work either, and most likely end up in a screaming match of “BUT I WANT TO!“  And I’m not sure which side (in our house) wins.  Sometimes I have to give in to my 3 1/2 year old son because I just can’t take the constant whining. I know…this only leads to future whining. And I know it does. We just battled it out today with Boo because he wanted to ride his electric 4-wheeler but the battery was dead from the previous day’s riding (and Mommy and Daddy forgot to recharge the battery overnight). Read the rest of this entry »

Mother’s Day Gifts that Will Make Mommy Cry

Source: WikipediaHey Dads and kids here are a few ideas for Mother’s Day (May 11th, 2008) that are sure to make her smile and may even make her shed a tear of joy.  I was flipping through an old copy of Parent’s Magazine (May 2007) and found two nice ideas for your kids to give mom.

The first is a craft that would take an hour or two one weekend afternoon while Mommy was out running errands or something.  It is creating a Love Note Message Jar.  I’ll write another post about the second idea later.

What you will need for this project (no, not a hammer!)

• an empty jar, like a spaghetti sauce jar or even a plastic rice container
• paint
• foam brush
• colored paper
• markers, Crayons
• stickers
• ribbon

Read the rest of this entry »