New Favorite Book?

   

The Bubs loves his new Thomas the Steam Engine book, which he got for his 2nd birthday. He sits there and studies - I mean studies - the pictures. We can do "picture walks" with this one and see if we can predict the story before reading the text. This will help him for when he starts Kindergarten in three years. No pressure Bubs, you've got lots of time!

How does a train draw so much interest from this kid? He loves planes too. Perhaps I can rig a "plane track" that flies a handful of planes around an island as they talk amongst each other? It would have to be an archipelago for the idea of multiple plane-use to be logical. What else... oh, and there should be a fat, white guy who owns the whole company (Mr Top-m-hat) and calls the shots. This would reflect society more accurately in its "hidden curriculum." 

Dots to Circles

     

If you look closely, you'll see the Bubs is now drawing circles. This is a transition from his dots and hard-impact "banging" on the paper. He is more fluid and graceful with the crayon. 

Bringing Toys to Bed

Lately, the Bubs insists on bringing some of his toys to bed. One day it's his Thomas train (and Percy), but another day it may be his favorite two Hot Wheels cars (or the two favorites on that particular day). I used to think that this was a bad idea. "Bed is for sleeping," an inner voice tells me. But then I think, "Why not?" If the Bubs wants to do a little playing before falling asleep, then great. Why prevent that? I like to read a book before going to bed and the bedroom is not the library. Would I bring the almost-built-dresser, which I'm working on, from the garage to bed with me? No. But if my hobbies still included playing with Hot Wheels cars and Thomas the Steam Engine trains, then perhaps I would. Maybe my wife would have other thoughts about this.

I feel like there's a child psychologist out there reading this and shaking his or her head in disagreement with the Bubs taking his cars to bed. But in reality, there aren't any child psychologists reading this. So, no worries. 

Running

The Bubs and I had a not-so-average Fall day today during our run. The weather was in the high 60's and we're near the end of October. We're not arguing, we're just saying. We did maybe 3 miles today. I find that the run is no longer about how far I can run, but rather how far I can run before the Bubs gets bored of riding in the stroller. Our runs are longer too. After the run, I release the Bubs from his straps and have him run around. This is the fun part now. I get to relax and maybe even get some stretching in while the little guy wanders around the soccer field.

I have one full 26.2-mile marathon and four, 13.1 half-marathons under my belt, but none were ran in the past 3 years. I will be running in a 9-mile run this Thanksgiving. I'm running with my brother and cousins. I remember running with my father on a fair amount of 3 to 5-mile runs periodically through the years. This will be one of a handful of runs with my brother. I'm more of a loner runner lately, but I look forward to running with the Bubs when he is old enough. I'm hoping that the runs that I'm taking him on now influence his interest in running later. It's all selfish planning really.

I remember seeing a story on television about a father who has ran with his son, who is handicap, for more than 20 years. They're a team. They do triathalons as well. The father said that when he learned that bringing his son along on his runs made his son feel free from his non-working limbs. This instantly inspired the father to create the journey they've been on together ever since. Here's the clip I found on Youtube: 

The Bubs constructed his first essay yesterday with some makers and construction paper he received on his 2nd birthday a few weeks ago. This essay is not in standard English or any known language, but his fearless attempt to communicate and break some code is commendable. Using multiple colors and the entire surface of the paper suggests that the bub not limiting himself, which is a positive thing for this stay-at-home dad.

I had the opportunity to freelance for a couple of daily newspapers in northeastern pennsylvania. I wasn't successful due to quitting the journalism field after talking with a retired journalist from that particular newspaper. While working in the newsroom one day, this journalist came into the newsroom library and started rummaging for pictures. I began to help him as he was telling me a story of how he needed some pictures on specific dates/stories for his retirement "roast" that evening. He said that newspaper writing was a great career, but the pay was shit. He then looked at me and said, "Get out while you can. You'll never make a buck in this industry." 

Around the same time, I was offered a job managing the restaurant, which I was waiting tables and bartending at part-time (because the newspaper job pay was shit). So I quit the newspaper and managed the restaurant. For me, it was a great move. After a year of managing that restaurant, I had enough. I was burnt out. It positioned me perfectly to get back into school and complete my undone undergraduate degree. Upon finishing the undergraduate, I headed out to California to get into a teaching profession. Then I met my wife and at UCLA the Bubs was born. Can I really thank that old newspaper reporter for all this?

I can't say that the Bub's will be a prolific writer like his dad potentially could have been, but he at least has learned to use the markers more on the paper and less on his hands, face and chairs. Don't worry, it's non-toxic and water washable.  

The Bubs loves playing with his cars on the dining room table. It has a big, flat surface for him to watch the wheels roll along the wood. He likes to lay his head down, sideways and watch those wheels roll along. I join him and we sit there rolling our cars back and forth, back and forth on the table top. Sometimes we'd look at each other and laugh, because we understand how cool this actually is. I remember doing this as a kid myself. Accept my older brother use to try and stop me from playing with his cars because I would "press down on them" and ruin the wheel alignments. I didn't know what he was talking about because I just a toddler. All I remember is our mom holding him back from taking his cars away from me.

I haven't noticed the Bubs pressing down too hard on his cars and all the wheels seem to be rolling along perfectly well. This stay-at-home dad stuff is a lot easier when a dad can pull some information from the files, a.k.a. schemas, in his memory bank. That file could have been easily lost if the Bubs never became interested in his Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. What else am I storing upstairs? What other information can I pull down from years past and help me in this always-changing job description?

I cannot remember if I was supposed to wash my hands before playing with those cars many years ago. I ask myself this because the Bubs tends to get some of his lunch in the front seat of the '71 Dodge.

The Bub is now two years old. He's able to kick the ball on command, but then loses interest after 4 or 5 seconds. I have to wait for about another 15 minutes before I can trick him into being interested in the ball again. He'll run and kick a couple of times and then run right by it without looking back. His sports-attention span is very short, but he loves his Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. He'll play with them for almost an hour straight without a peep. I somehow have to combine these two activities so I can keep the little guy on track for his professional sports career. Maybe he'll be a Nascar circuit driver or a soccer player? I haven't given him a bat yet, so we're not sure about his baseball career yet. I'm nervous about giving him a bat right now.

I think I'll keep him away from football. With all the head injuries occurring on the field lately, I think I'll give the Bub's mom and me a break with this sport. Too much worrying. I used to play pee-wee league football and loved it, but it has gotten much more competitive since then. This competitiveness likely brings harder hits or perhaps it's just the media now exposing it. Either way I'll error on the side of caution. It is probably against the stay-at-home-dad rule book to say "no football" for this little guy, but I've never been part of the average.

My hope is that he turns into a bookworm and just wants to read all the time. This would be great. He loves his books. He spends lots of time over at his bookshelf just "picture walking" on his own already. I can see not worrying about where he is or who he is hanging out with, when he gets older, if I know that he's likely at a coffee shop or up in his room reading a book. This would make my job (and his mom's job) much easier later on. No popularity contests please. No center-of-attention please. Just a low-key Bubs will be perfect.