Category: Family

Categories
Family

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same

When the kids were a bit younger (this seems a funny think to write, but a couple of years when they’re young makes a world of difference) I remember them learning to procrastinate around bedtime.

Back then, then weapons were endless questions while saying good night, extra hugs, whining about this or that, starting a conversation about the next day. I also remember thinking it would be nice when they got older an outgrew that stuff.

Well, here they are, a little older, and they are still procrastinators at bedtime. Except the weapons have changed. Now, they brush their teeth a little longer, they have to put on lotion, they have to put away laundry, they have to pick up dirty laundry, they have to clean up toys, they have to pull out clothes because they hate pulling out clothes in the morning.

Sigh

Maybe when they get a little older…

Categories
Family

Life’s Slightly Weird Moments

We’ve been having trouble with the boy getting enough to eat. At least, that’s what we think. Not that he doesn’t eat well, but invariably when he comes home from school he is extremely bitter and irritable. Almost every time, having him eat a little bit when he gets home is enough to take the edge off and make him, well, tolerable anyway.

In an effort to get a little more protein into him, the Wife picked up some Chobani yogurt and Grape Nuts to see if he’d enjoy eating that. Now, he eats yogurt and likes oatmeal so it seemed plausible. When he tried it though, he quickly shook his head a said it was too bitter.

Since I’m the “Mikey” of our household, I ate the rest of the yogurt concoction. To my surprise, I found it sweet, not bitter (it was a peach flavored yogurt). I noted how sweet it was to the Wife and said I found it hard to believe he could find a problem with it. She basically gave me the “What do you want me to do?” response.

Shortly thereafter, while perusing the Intertubes, I came across this article from Popular Science and found enlightenment. In a nutshell, as we get older we lose taste buds so our sensitivity to taste goes down; kids, on the other hand, are particularly sensitive to bitter flavors which is a natural defense against eating poisons or toxins.

What are the odds of coming across an article on taste? Further, what are the odds on coming across that article after having an exchange involving that very topic?

Categories
Family

Contemplating Santa

Apparently, the big guy is never to far from the lass’ thoughts. Even when we’ve still got about 9 months (GASP!) until his next visit.

“Mom, how does Santa get rid all of the ash from the fireplace when he comes down the chimney? Does he just take a shower?” she asked this afternoon.

The Wife replied “Well, he takes a shower when he gets home because it’s hard work delivering all those toys.”

The lass soldiered on, “I bet I know how he gets all that ash out of his suit: He puts it in the laundry for, like, 2 hours.”

The Wife chuckled and agreed that would probably work to clean up his suit.

Not much existential questioning there. More like a logistical consideration: Santa obviously gets dirty from the fireplace, so how does he deal with it? Personally, I assumed that anyone who could come down a chimney when the fireplace is lit would have little trouble dealing with a little ash.

But that’s just me.

Categories
Family

Suffering the Consequences

There’s a natural tendency to loosen the reins on kids as they get older. Parents don’t have to bug them to go to the bathroom, or brush their teeth or do their homework or whatever, as much because they’ve come to realize that not doing those things have some consequences like sitting in a mess or having bad-breath or having their parents nag at them.

But lately, the Wife and I have loosened the reins even more noticeably, and deliberately. The boy and the lass play together a lot, and often times the lass will try to rough-and-tumble with the boy. I’m speaking now of those times when it’s clearly all in good fun.

For a long time now, the Wife and I have closely monitored this stuff because we didn’t want the boy accidentally hurting his sister. It wasn’t unusual for one of us to completely cut it off after a point because it seemed like a sure thing something was going to happen. And if we weren’t telling them to stop outright, we were telling them to watch out for this, or that, or don’t break this or that.

But somewhere along the way, we both stopped doing this. It’s like we both decided at the same time that it was high time they learned themselves what can happen. Now, the only thing we tell them is to go and do it somewhere else since we’d like to have a little peace and quiet.

And the other day for the first time, at least that I can remember, something happened. I was upstairs at the time, but I heard the crash followed by the panicked wailing of the lass. When I got downstairs, the boy was sheepishly hanging back while the Wife was checking out the lass’ chin. She was still crying pretty hard at that point. In the end, she got a good bruise on her chin from her fall and that was it.

I still don’t really know the full details, but I do know that the two of them were going around and around with each other before it happened. So all I did was go up to the boy afterwards and calmly told him to try and be more careful next time. But I didn’t scold or punish him because they were both equally to blame for it. Actually, I’m not even sure “blame” is the right word. Fact is, stuff happens and it’s not always pleasant.

It just so happened that this time, the lass took the brunt of consequences. Next time, maybe it’s his turn in the barrel.

Is there a payoff to our new non-interventionist mindset? Mainly, I’d say it’s reduced stress level. Not playing the part of the ref in a fight takes quite a bit off our shoulders. Plus, the kids may figure out quicker what they can and cannot do without our input. After all, it’ll be their mistakes and by this point, they understand what’s appropriate and what’s not.

Categories
Family

Stubborn

“I’m not going to sit here and argue with you; you didn’t take a shower yesterday,” I stated to the boy, ending our argument.

The boy had just finished his homework, spelling words and some reading. The lass had finished her shower several minutes ago. I’d made a deal with them: after finishing up his homework they could watch one episode of their current favorite cartoon, Beyblades. It’s a show about battling tops. No really, that’s what it’s about.

So the boy had finished up his homework and wanted to watch the cartoon. I told him he had to go take his shower. He’d gone outside after getting home from school and taken advantage of the nice weather. Plus, he hadn’t taken a shower in a couple of days, so it was time.

His argument was that he’d taken a shower last night. Now, I had suggested he take a shower last night since he’d returned home from martial arts all sweated up, but he had hemmed and hawed, told me he’d taken one a couple days ago and I’d given up.

Now, he was claiming he had in fact taken a shower that he hadn’t taken. Not only that, he was quite emphatic about the point. I went around with him a couple of times before I finally told him the argument was over. To be honest, at that point I really didn’t care if he took a shower, but I wasn’t going to tell him that and give him a ready excuse to have his way.

He was silent, trying to decide what to do. Finally, he blurted out an exasperated “FINE! I’ll take a stupid shower even though I already took a shower last night and now I shouldn’t need a shower for the rest of my life.”

And off he went. I sat quietly, reading on my Nook.

I sent the kids to bed a bit earlier tonight because they like to use stall tactics to extend their up time. They balked initially, but I persisted and they relented without too much difficulty.

When I got upstairs, the boy happened to be the first one ready to go down, so I said my “Goodnight” to him and clicked off the light to his room.

As I entered the lass’ room, she still wasn’t quite ready for bed. She was putting away her school clothes. She was being very meticulous about getting it on the hanger and then into the closet. In other words, she was stalling.

Finally, she finished with a flourish, hopped in bed and asked, accusingly, “Dad, how come you always say Goodnight to my brother first?”

Sigh

There’s nothing they won’t pick a fight over.

As I walked over to the bed, I told her that I don’t, in fact, always say Goodnight to her brother first.

“Yes you do.”

Really? This game? Right before bed?

Idiot that I am, I egged her on. “No, I don’t.”

“Yesyoudo.” No smirk. No hint of a smile. She seemed to be completely in earnest. How do they do that?

I gave her a kiss and said “Goodnight” to her, and as I walked to the door, I told her “No, I don’t.”

“Yesyoudo.”

Thankfully, she was in bed and I was heading downstairs for the rest of the evening. “Goodniiiii-iiiight” I called back.

No reply this time.

Categories
Family

Hockey Ends

Today, at long last, the hockey season came to a close. The boy had his season ending game in the morning and the lass’ finale was mid-afternoon. When it was all said and done, we went out to dinner to celebrate.

For posterity’s sake, the boy’s team lost. Badly. The boy did seem to play harder, but as the game wore on and his team’s scoring attempts continued to fizzle, the boys effort also did. Most of his teammates as well. There were plenty of potential lessons to be learned there I suppose, but I’ve learned that I can’t teach them. They’ll have to seep into the boy’s psyche on experience at a time. The only thing I did tell him is that it won’t be the last time he’ll lose. For once, he didn’t argue.

Interestingly, he was plenty mad when he came off the ice. It was like he actually cared about winning the game. A little later, though, I think he remembered that he’d decided he didn’t like hockey and that the season was over so it didn’t last long.

The lass’ team, on the other hand, went out with a bang. Actually, it was more like a KABOOM. And an earth-shattering one at that. They actually stopped keeping track of the score at the end, that’s how big they won.

The lass also played well. She even scored a goal for her efforts, which was the family highlight of the day. She’d come down the boards in the offensive zone and there was a mini-scrum for the puck. She was on the outside of the scrum and noticed that the puck had popped out. So she just kind of skated over and took the puck and no one followed her. She kept right on skating towards the net. By that point, she was almost parallel with the net. Because of the extreme angle and the way the goaltender positioned himself, it didn’t look like there was any chance to score. But she kind of flicked the puck towards the net and, wouldn’t you know, the puck found enough space to squeeze through for a score.

Right now, all th hockey equipment has been washed and laid out for drying and subsequent storage. The boy left himself the possibility that he play again in the fall. I think that’s about right. The lass wasn’t talking about it. She was glad the season had ended and is looking forward to having normal weekends again.

So are the Wife and I.

Categories
Family

The Lass Speaks Her Mind

The Wife instituted a “chore chart” a week or two ago. The idea being to allay the problem of the kids arguing over who did what when or last. That way, we don’t have to deal with arguments like “I emptied the dishwasher last time” and so forth.

The lass finally told us what she thought about the Wife’s new system, “Mom, the chore chart really isn’t working for me.”

That’s too bad for her, since she’ll have to continue to deal with it. But thanks for the laugh.

Categories
Family

The Boy 1 – The Lass 0

Earlier this afternoon, the boy wanted some space from his sister. His sister, for whatever reason, wasn’t in a mood to oblige him. Finally, he appealed to authority (me) and I told the lass to layoff for awhile and respect his space.

So then the lass says to me, “Dad, what kind of game do you want to play tonight since we’ll be eating early?”

The boy immediately chimed in “I know! Let’s see who can stay quietest the longest.”

The lass replied “Hmmph. I don’t like that game.”

The boy: “You lose.”

Categories
Family

A Surprise Call

Well, the call came at 5:30 this morning as expected. The content of the call, however, was not expected. School has been cancelled for today.

Being 5:30, I decided not to go investigate immediately. What good was it going to do anyway? My assumption was the roads had deteriorated significantly overnight with ice and the like.

So imagine my surprise when I did check the roads out and found them wet, and nothing more. No snow. No ice. Temps over the freezing mark.

I can only assume we got screwed because the SS for our district has to make the call for multiple towns and the other town was in worse shape. Still, it’s frustrating since there really nothing wrong with the roads around our way.

Naturally, the kids don’t mind. Their outside building forts right now.

Categories
Family

Less Snow More Fun

Sometimes, less is more.

Take the snowfall amounts this year, which have been minuscule to non-existent. The kids have both been complaining that they hadn’t had a chance to play in the snow this year. They wished there was more snow to play in, like last year.

And there’s the key: like last year. We had so much snow last year, it was easy for them to assume that’s what every year is going to be like. I even remember telling them not to assume we’d have another Winter like last year again, perhaps ever. But it fell on deaf ears. Play in the snow? There’s always next Winter.

Then next Winter arrived, but the snow didn’t.

They were both overjoyed to learn that snow was forecast for today. The talk around town was for an early dismissal because it was suppose to start falling about midday. I actually got the alert around 9 this morning. The snow start falling around 11:30, only a little before the lass arrived home. In fact, because of the timing of the storm, there’s an expectation that tomorrow will have a delayed opening. It’s one of the dirty little non-secrets of the public school systems that “half” days don’t count as missed days, meaning they don’t have to be made up like a cancellation does. Thus, someone imagines a snowflake falling in the woods somewhere and next thing we’ve got a 2-hour delay, or a shortened day.

The lass arrived home around noon. The boy got home around 1 or so with the early dismissal. They both were hoping there would be FEET of snow. Alas, we’re only supposed to get up to 5 inches or so.

But it’s proving to be more than enough.

Once it started to stick, they both kept an eye on the ground to judge when a good time to head out and play in it would be. Last year, there was 2 feet plus out there for most of the Winter. We had to throw them outside to get them to go play. Today, there’s barely 2 inches on the ground and they couldn’t get their stuff on and get out there fast enough. The lass was talking about making snow angels and throwing snow balls for the dogs. The boy decided to make the snowman above, with some help from the lass.

It was a year in the making, but I’d say they learned a lesson. Maybe even attained a little wisdom.

Categories
Family

Hockey Update

After revealing that he wanted to play in the hockey tournament, I thought there might be a rejuvenation of hockey interest. But after practice this morning, the boy once again hates hockey and can’t wait for it to be over.

Even the weather up here isn’t this fickle.

Categories
Family

Parental Evolution

The kids have been off the wall for the past hour. Coincidentally, (AHEM!) right after we ended their video game time. Their antics were to such a degree that we finally told them to go outside and play.

It’s raining and dark out, just for a data point.

Shortly after they went downstairs, I started hearing something that sounded suspiciously like the boy crying. Rather than go and investigate, however, I waited.

Sure enough, the lass came traipsing upstairs a few moments later and began a long-winded dissertation on the course of events that led up to … something. It started with the dinosaurs and ended with her losing her boots because her brother grabbed her, or something. To be honest, I never was really clear on that point.

She never mentioned her brother’s predicament, other than that he had wronged her in some way, presumably with the boot thing. So I asked her if the boy was crying.

“Yes, I went to try and clean up the mess with the mop and he tripped over the mop and fell.”

“Is there any blood?” I asked. I was playing Bubble Buster at the time.

“I didn’t notice,” she answered.

“Well, go back downstairs and if their isn’t a pool of blood on the ground, then there’s no need to come back upstairs because he’s fine,” I told her.

“OK,” she chirped and off she went.

She didn’t come back up.

Neither the Wife nor I went down.

The boy continued to “cry.”

Categories
Family

Revisiting Sunday

I’ve been thinking a fair amount about my actions Sunday on the behalf of the boy. I haven’t teased out any big lessons. But there are a few things worth keeping in mind since there’s a chance I’ll see this sort of thing again.

  1. The antagonist has all the advantages.

    It’s hard to appreciate this point until it’s seen in action. Any kid is clever enough to push boundaries when no one is looking. But it also goes farther than that. If the boy retaliates, who’s more likely to be noticed? Further compounding the problem is that the boy was doing everything “correctly.” He kept avoiding escalating things even as the other kid continued to do so. He told a coach about it; unfortunately, on the ice it’s hard for a coach to take action because the likelihood of him seeing something is minimal. His attention is on 30-some odd kids on the ice. What’s more, bodies are going down all the time, how’s a coach reasonably supposed to notice that someone is being deliberately targeted?

    My advice to the boy for the future was to give any future perpetrator a warning, and then make a scene without getting too physical. The problem is people are so afraid of violence that the natural way to deal with the situation, punch back twice as hard, is deemed unacceptable. This was the best compromise I could come up with.

  2. Talk to the coaches first.

    Telling the other parent is one thing, but the people most capable of dealing with the situation are the coaches. They are the immediate authority. In the future, that’s the first place I’ll go, rather than confronting the child directly. If that doesn’t result in an improvement, then bringing it to the parent’s attention would be the next step.

    The problem here is potentially neither party deals with the situation appropriately. The coach because they didn’t see it; the parent because they don’t want to believe their kid is capable of such behavior, or just attribute it to “boys being boys.” I’m not sure what the answer is here.

  3. This wasn’t a case of bullying.

    While tempting to call it that, it was closer to isolated harassment or some such. Bullying is another degree where the prey can’t escape the predator, ever. Plus, there’s an intimidation factor involved.

    The boy wasn’t intimidated by the other kid and, near as I can tell, it was something that came up on Sunday rather than something that had been ongoing. He’s was more concerned that retaliating would get him in trouble. Which goes to show he’s on the milder side of the spectrum when it comes to aggression. He also tried to quietly thwart some of the other kids provocations, like blocking the kid’s stick at one point.

  4. I’m not sorry I acted.

    I imagine that I’ve upset minimally the parent’s of the other kid, and possibly the coaches. That’s unfortunate, but I won’t be apologizing to anyone. Though I will try to act differently in the future.

    My concern, at the end of the day, is for the boy’s welfare. Part of that means letting him know that I’ll stick up for him required. As I said before, he was doing everything right but ultimately being punished for it because no one else noticed. I put a stop to that.

  5. Make sure the boy understands what he can do.

    This is by far the hardest one, because the best way stop this sort of stuff is for the boy to stick up for himself and let the other kid know he won’t stand for it. Telling the parent’s or the coaches might work, but it also might make the kid more clever in his moments when he decides to take his shot.

    If, however, he knows that there will be no joy had because the boy won’t take it, then there’s no reward for his actions. Since this wasn’t truly a case of bullying, in my book anyway, I think that would have been sufficient to stop the whole thing.

    Unfortunately, the options for the boy are limited. Just about any physical retaliation won’t work because they boy will get in trouble for that. Also, once emotions start running hot, there’s the likelihood that he goes too far.

    The course of action the boy took, turning the other cheek and telling a coach, is fine as far as it goes, but it’s also pretty ineffective. The coach has to see something, and short of that, the boy had to continue to endure the provocations until I finally intervened.

    Ultimately, I told him to make a very visible scene next time. Basically, he needs to draw attention the fact that he’s being singled out and he needs to point that out to the coaches. What’s more, doing it loudly and visibly seems likely to make the coaches take some kind of action, as opposed to passively waiting for something to happen. Still, this approach has shortcomings as well. He could easily over react; it could be interpreted as drama or his being overly sensitive. It also turns into a matter of who’s story the coaches believe.

Categories
Family

Sticking Up for Your Kid

For once, it was someone else’s kid I called to the carpet today, rather than the boy.

Not that I’ve had to correct the boy in front of other kids often, but I’ve never been afraid to let him know when he was doing something wrong and he should knock it off, like now. Those moments tend to have a long tail when it comes to correcting behavior.

In this case, there’s a little bit of history between the boy and his antagonist. In fact, I suspect that the boy has been targeted as a measuring stick of sorts. He’s much larger than, well, everyone in his class basically. I went through something similar so it’s easy to recognize.

Fortunately, the boy is mild-mannered and conscious of “not getting in trouble” so he typically turns the other cheek or walks away from the situation. While I consider that to be the best response on his part, it has a negative consequence: it encourages the antagonist to keep pushing. Walking away is interpreted as weakness. Couple that with the fact that kids are crafty enough to know how to time their attacks for when no one else is looking, and, well, you get what we had this morning.

It started during warm-ups on the ice. I noticed the boy take a tumble, but his head whipped around immediately and he locked eyes with another kid and I knew immediately that the boy had been taken down deliberately. I was on alert now.

Luckily, the two of them were separated for most of the practice, purely by happenstance. But towards the end, all of the kids were brought together for the drills and, with the increased opportunities, the other kid started taking his shots. I saw a couple of pretty clear slashes and pushes, which the boy simply got up and skated away from. Finally, after a third time the boy went and told the head coach.

But things came to a head at the end of the drill. As the kids were skating to the bench, the antagonist skated up behind the boy and took a batter’s swing at the boy’s legs with his stick. Not just one, but a couple of swings. None of the coaches saw it.

Now I was hot and started walking over to the bench, which was on the other side of the ice. By the time I got there, I’d cooled off and decided I’d hold off saying anything. But then the Wife came up and said she saw the boy get “punched” in the head by the antagonist. She said the boy simply got up and went to the other side of the bench.

I immediately turned, walked onto the bench and in front of all the kids, and coaches, called the kid out. I told him that the coaches may not be seeing what he was doing, but I did and I better not see him slash the boy with a stick of punch him in the head again. I made sure the antagonist understood what I was telling him, then stalked off the bench.

The coaches separated the two of them after that. But the drama wasn’t over entirely. The antagonist’s Dad had seen me and wanted to know what was going on. I told him what had been happening and he asked if it was “going both ways” meaning he thought the boy was giving as good as he was getting. I told him “No” in no uncertain terms. Overall, he was upset I hadn’t said something to him before saying something to his son.

It was a fair point, but I wanted the shenanigans done. I’ve never had a problem with other parents correcting the boy, and I’ve generally not hesitated to correct other kids. This situation was different because of the public nature and the forcefulness with which I’d acted.

Did I handle things well? I think I’ll save that for a post later today.

Categories
Family

I Give Up

So yesterday, after his martial arts class, the boy informed my he wanted to participate in an upcoming tournament. I mentioned this to the Wife a bit later and she was in shock. Why?

Because when I picked him up from school so I could get him to his class on time, he started whining about “wishing he could go tomorrow.” This isn’t unusual, per say, because he likes being picked up from school. So he uses the pretense of class to get picked up, then carps about going to class in hopes that he can have the best of all worlds.

So when we got home, he started dragging his feet and continued whining, claiming he wanted “to go to class tomoooorrrrooooow.” In a fit of exasperation, I threw my hands up and told him to go ask his Mother. The Wife came downstairs a few moments later and we rehashed everything and she decided that he could just go tomorrow.

Cue the tears.

Now he was crying because he’d be too tired tomorrow, so he really did want to go now. By this point, it was looking entirely probably that we would be late to his class, and we told him so in a vain attempt to get him to calm down. But that only made him cry more because he was so sure he’d have to to “a million-billion push-ups” when he got there.

To cut to the chase, I ended up taking him to class last night. Culminating in his asking to participate in the tournament.

So this morning comes along and we double check with him about the tournament, since his whims change faster than the weather lately.

His response?

No.

Why?

Because there’s a hockey tournament that day.

Categories
Family

A Little Disappointing

In recent weeks, the boy has been noticeably less enthusiastic about hockey. The behavior manifests as a nonchalant attitude while skating that’s infuriating for me to watch. Not just me, the Wife gets annoyed with it as well. Not only is he not trying, he’s not even trying to try. He’ll skate past the puck without even realizing it; he’ll even be skating in the wrong direction compared to where the action is going; he’ll just skate in circles out on the ice not even trying to help his team. The violations are numerous.

Of course, there’s nothing I or the Wife can do. What’s more, I’m not sure there’s anything we should do. I keep reminding myself that he’s only 8 and not all kids are made the same about this stuff. My concern is that he’ll develop the habit that it’s OK to just pack it in when things are hard. But there’s a world of difference between and 8-year old and a 16-year old, and there’s no guarantee that the boy he is now will be the teen he is later. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself (I’m pretty sure it’s true in my case- and I doubt I’m unique).

After his games this weekend, I asked him what was going on. He stated flat out that he didn’t like hockey anymore. When I asked him “Why, what had happened?” (he was the one who requested to play this year, we didn’t push him) he stated he didn’t like wearing all the pads and that he still got headaches. I found the last part incredible- we’d spent a small fortune on a top-of-the-line helmet for him because his noodle was too big for the regular helmets, which even the guys at the hockey store could see were too small for him. He hadn’t complained once all year about headaches, until now.

As to the not liking pads, well, that’s about as 8-year-old a thing to say as I can imagine.

I was shocked at his statement and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. One thing which occurred to me is there’s one sport he always asks to play, but we can’t because I don’t have access to a court anymore. He always asks to play racquetball. I started teaching him how to play a couple of years ago when I still had a membership at the Y. I’d take him and the lass, hand them one of my spare racquets and we’d play around on the court. I think the implication is pretty clear.

If I’m right, then that portends good news for his martial arts. I’ve been taking classes at the school as well so it’s something we’ll both have in common. But it also means that stuff like baseball and hockey will never be of much importance to him. It’s also an indicator that we’ve made the right call not having him join youth football for the time being. I’d hate for him to get a sour taste in his mouth about football.

So, while it’s disappointing that he’s not enthused about hockey, clearly it’s not the end of the world. He’s had a chance to learn something about himself, and the Wife and I have also learned a little about him and sports. Besides, next November is a long time from now, and he could always change his mind.

Categories
Family

Another Moment for the Lass

Today is a day for which the lass has been waiting for 2 years now. She reminded me about it when the school year began. She reminded me about it a couple of weeks ago when the lessons had turned to the subject at hand. Today, it finally came to fruition.

What could it possibly be? Why today, I brought our parrots in for a show-and-tell type presentation. I did the same thing 2 years ago with the boy’s kindergarten class, thus beginning her long, slow march towards her own moment in the Sun.

From a rational standpoint, I have a hard time understanding it. Sure, it’s exciting to have a parent come in to school so a child can show them off. Suddenly, the parent is on the child’s turf so there’s a subtle power shift. Even so, 2 years she’s been looking forward to it.

For what it’s worth, the event went fine. The parrots were agreeable little guests in the room and all the kids were very interested in them. I talked about some of the boring stats like their size and how long they live. All of them got a chance to touch the birds. That’s the hardest part, because the parrots aren’t used to little hands reaching for them. They (the parrots) take a rather dim view of the little hands, actually. I counter act things by holding the kid’s hand and helping them to touch the birds beak and their feathers. They still get a kick out of it, even though they aren’t like a dog or cat when it comes to holding them.

One of the kids got a bonus when I set one of the parrots on his arm. The bird decided he’d finally had enough and flew off, leaving one of his flight feather behind. The kids who were there (most were putting on coats and hats and getting ready to leave) thought it was pretty cool how the bird had flown. I handed the flight feather to the boy the bird had flown away from. He held it like it was a priceless treasure.

So, in the end, no one was bitten, one boy got a feather, and the lass got to strut her stuff in front of her friends. The most memorable moment for me?

When I first came into the room, the kids were having snack and the lass was holding court. She said something to the effect “My Dad brought in my birds…” Funny, for them being “her” birds, I don’t recall her ever cleaning the cage.

Categories
Family

Stupid Things Kids Do

“What do the dog collars feel like?” the boy asked.

He was talking about the collars that go with the electric fence. The collars have two prongs that reach down to the dog’s skin. First, the collar beeps- the dog should be conditioned to back away when they hear the beep. If they don’t move within a second or so, then they get a shock.

I’ve subjected myself to the shock, and while it isn’t pleasant, it isn’t the most painful thing in the world. It’s enough to be attention getting. Which I think is the main point when it comes to a dog- get their attention, thereby breaking their attention on whatever it is that’s tempting them on the other side of the fence.

I explained it to the boy, the lass as well since she was listening intently.

“Will it work on us?” he wanted to know next.

“Yes- as long as you’re touching the two metal fingers on the collar it will shock you.”

He then declared “I’m going to try it.”

I smirked, nodded my head and said “OK.” I’m not sure why he all of a sudden decided that he wanted to try this, but I really didn’t see any reason not to let him do it. Like I said, it wasn’t going to hurt him, although I fully expected him to yelp and drop the collar when it zapped him. But his curiosity would be satisfied.

Then he asked, “Will I ever forget it?”

I think he meant this question in the vein of “a momentous moment I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.” Obviously, I don’t think it rises quite to that level. But, he had never experienced an electrical shock before. So yeah- he’ll likely remember it.

So the boy and the lass each grabbed a collar and ventured out onto the driveway. That’s where the clearest path to crossing the electric fence is. I went out onto the porch to witness what I assumed would be entertainment.

Both of them immediately got the goofy-giggles kids get when they’re about to try something they know is a little crazy. The boy started psyching himself up for the big moment until he abruptly switched tactics.

He told his sister to go first.

I almost face-palmed. His sister walked up to the fence, but then danced away giggling.

So I decided to stir the pot a bit. I called out to the boy “You know, do you really want your little sister to do this before you and risk having everyone find out that she was braver than you?”

That had the desired affect. The boy finally decided on his course of action: he backed up to the garage door and started running as hard as he could towards the invisible line. His sister tried to keep up. As he neared the fence, he started to scream a little, anticipating the big moment. His sister pulled up short. The boy ran right on through.

When he came to a stop on the other side of the fence, he turned around and looked at his sister, whom had stopped. I hadn’t heard any beeping and he hadn’t dropped the collar. I though he might have actually gone through the field before the collar could activate the shock. But then he said “It just felt like a little buzz in my hand.” He sounded disappointed.

The lass was now upset and actively working herself up. She’d blown her chance by stopping short and now her brother had one over on her. Not a tenable situation. Amazingly, the boy agreed to go back across with her. So they started the whole thing over again.

This time, the result was the opposite: the boy stopped short and the lass ran across the threshold. She even had the same non-response to getting zapped.

And that was it. Their curiosity satisfied, the kids started making their way to the door. For my part, I headed back in to the house to start dinner, surprised at the subdued outcome of the whole affair. I guess we all learned something.

Categories
Family

The Lass in My Corner

The Wife came downstairs and explained how she had locked the bathroom upstairs because she’d been pouring Drano down the pipes up there. Exciting stuff.

Not more than a moment after she’d finished her explanation, the boy (who missed it all) called down from upstairs “SOMEONE LOCKED THE BATHROOM DOOR!” My guess is he was trying to implicate his sister. On that front, he was bound to be disappointed.

The Wife called up to him “We Know…” at which point I decided to interject with “Mom plugged the toilet upstairs and had to poor a special liquid down the toilet. It’ll take an hour or so to work, that’s why the bathroom is locked.”

The Wife was only mildly amused with that, simply giving me a “Ha ha.”

The lass liked it a lot better. She called out “Good one Dad!”

It’s always nice when they’re in your corner for a change.

Categories
Family

Elbow Update- Latest Doctor’s Report

Met the orthopedic Doctor again yesterday. Long story short is he gave me the go ahead for the next phase of recovery. I can start using the arm actively. The weight regimen starts out real light and gradually increases the weight each month by about 5 pounds or so. The idea is to condition the tendon to the stress of active supination.

I told him about the elbow issues over the weekend and he immediately felt the ulnar nerve was the culprit. He said scar tissue wasn’t likely this far out from the surgery. He explained that the nerve passes through an opening in the bone as it traverses the elbow joint, call the Cubital Tunnel. When the elbow is bent, that tunnel closes up by almost 40%. If the nerve get inflamed or irritated, then that becomes significant as a further irritant on the nerve.

So he gave me 2 remedies to use in tandem. One is to sleep with a pillow on my elbow on the inside portion of the arm. The idea is to prevent it from bending while sleeping at night because this is a major source of irritation for the nerve since most people (myself included) sleep with their arm bent. By preventing that, I’d be giving the nerve extra time to heal.

The second remedy is a stretching regimen that he wants me to perform 5 times a day for minutes each. The stretch is to place my hand and forearm flat against a wall and then lean towards the wall. This stretch should help with the gliding of the ulnar nerve as well as help with my range of motion when bending my arm.

Next visit in 2 months time. By then, I hope to be as good as new.