Parents Anonymous, FOFC Branch

[Butter]

This spring my soon-to-be 5 year old (at the time) wanted to go on Space Mountain when we were at Disney World... so we decided to let him after many attempts at trying to convince him otherwise. He was about 3 inches taller than the minimum height requirement.

So, we stood in line for about 15 minutes, and he got on... on Space Mountain, the seats are in single file, so he had to sit by himself, with me in front, and my wife in back. He did not make a single noise the entire ride. And when we got off, my wife asked him "Did you like it?"

He said "No. No, I did not like it." But he still bugged us to go on every ride, then would start crying when the seats came into view wanting to leave. So, one of us always entered a ride line, knowing we'd have to get out of line to go with him back to his grandma.

[CamEdwards]

Last night we were watching Hellboy with Andrew (the five year old). He turns to my wife and says, "Why do they call him Hellboy?"

My wife says, "Well, in the movie, he comes from a place called Hell."

Andrew: "So is Hell a state, like Virginia?"

Wife: "No, some people believe it's a place where bad people go when they die, and where devils live."

Andrew: "Do you believe in Hell?"

Wife: "No."

Andrew: "What about you, Dad?"

Me: "Yes."

Andrew thinks for a second, then turns to me and says, "I think you're right, Dad. Sorry, Mom."

Heh.

[FrogMan]

and why didn't you answer him that yes, Virginia is like Hell?



FM

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Funny story, Cam.

My son (who turns 4 in two weeks) has been watching some Scooby Doo lately. Some of it scares him, and he asks a lot of questions about the creatures involved in the mysteries. One plot a couple weeks ago involved a giant, squid-like blob with one eye, tentacles, and a loud slobbering roar. It caused Drew some consternation.

Anyway, that was like 10 or 15 days ago, but last night as we are putting him to bed, he asks out of nowhere: "Mommy...why does the [Drew's version of the loud slobbering roar noise] only have one eye?" We both laughed.

We've had the Scooby Doo too scary with the questions as well. We stopped watching it. My kids wake up early as is, I don't need them getting up a couple hours earlier because of bad dreams.

[KevinNU7]

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

Last night we were watching Hellboy with Andrew (the five year old). He turns to my wife and says, "Why do they call him Hellboy?"

My wife says, "Well, in the movie, he comes from a place called Hell."

Andrew: "So is Hell a state, like Virginia?"

Wife: "No, some people believe it's a place where bad people go when they die, and where devils live."

Andrew: "Do you believe in Hell?"

Wife: "No."

Andrew: "What about you, Dad?"

Me: "Yes."

Andrew thinks for a second, then turns to me and says, "I think you're right, Dad. Sorry, Mom."

Heh.

I hope this convo was typed up, printed out, and framed

[sachmo71]

Conversation w/ my daughter as she went potty this morning...

syd: I'm a grown up!

me: Not yet.

syd: I'm a grown up!

me: You're a big girl, but not a grown up.

syd: (STARE)

me: When you are a grown up, you have to get a job.

me: You can't take naps anymore.

me: You have to eat your vegtables.

syd: I'm a girl.

me: That's right darlin. Nice and slow.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

Conversation w/ my daughter as she went potty this morning...

syd: I'm a grown up!

me: Not yet.

syd: I'm a grown up!

me: You're a big girl, but not a grown up.

syd: (STARE)

me: When you are a grown up, you have to get a job.

me: You can't take naps anymore.

me: You have to eat your vegtables.

syd: I'm a girl.

me: That's right darlin. Nice and slow.

Gold!

I nominate Sachmo for FOFC Parent of the Week.

[ibnsgirl]

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

Last night we were watching Hellboy with Andrew (the five year old). He turns to my wife and says, "Why do they call him Hellboy?"

My wife says, "Well, in the movie, he comes from a place called Hell."

Andrew: "So is Hell a state, like Virginia?"

Wife: "No, some people believe it's a place where bad people go when they die, and where devils live."

Andrew: "Do you believe in Hell?"

Wife: "No."

Andrew: "What about you, Dad?"

Me: "Yes."

Andrew thinks for a second, then turns to me and says, "I think you're right, Dad. Sorry, Mom."

Heh.

That is absolutely classic.

[WSUCougar]

Drew dropped one on my wife last night at dinner. For weeks he's gone on and on about wanting to be a black cat for Halloween. So we got him the whole get-up, and have been making a big deal out of it to fuel his excitement. But last night he says, "I don't want to be a black cat, I want to be Scooby Doo." It was just like a commercial. You should have seen my wife's face. tee-hee

Tonight is our town's Halloween "walk around" for kids. Basically, a survival of the fittest candy-fest through the downtown streets and shops. Wish us luck.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Drew dropped one on my wife last night at dinner. For weeks he's gone on and on about wanting to be a black cat for Halloween. So we got him the whole get-up, and have been making a big deal out of it to fuel his excitement. But last night he says, "I don't want to be a black cat, I want to be Scooby Doo." It was just like a commercial. You should have seen my wife's face. tee-hee

Tonight is our town's Halloween "walk around" for kids. Basically, a survival of the fittest candy-fest through the downtown streets and shops. Wish us luck.

At least you get to take your tribute. It's good to be the king.

[PilotMan]

A couple of nights ago, when I was away, Zachary went into the nursury to grab some of his cars and trains that his little brother had secreted in there. He somehow pushed the dresser over from its pedestal and it landed against the door, effectively locking him in there. My wife couldn't get in, and he couldn't get out. He was quite upset and cried because he didn't know what to do.

Eventually, they made a space wide enough for Cole (10), to slide through, and he moved the dresser enough to get my wife in to get him.

Just one of those funny kid stories.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Tonight is our town's Halloween "walk around" for kids. Basically, a survival of the fittest candy-fest through the downtown streets and shops. Wish us luck.

After action report:

1. Drew looked great as a black cat. Cute as could be. The only "costume malfunction" was him constantly holding his tail. Oh, and...

2. Only major boo hoo was when he dropped his box of "Nerds" (candy) and they spilled all over the place. Messed up his cat nose/whisker face paint a bit.

3. We screwed up on the times. Treak or treating ended at 7:00 p.m., but with work and dinner we didn't get out there until just prior to that time. So Drew didn't rake in much candy.

4. Hay rides were going on throughout the downtown area, but the people must have been nailed down or something, because they never seemed to get off and let other people on. This was a major bummer for the kids, and a source of ongoing whining.

5. My wife stumbled over some train tracks, fell and hurt her knee, and farted in the process. Despite the minor injury, this was a major hoot.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

After action report:


5. My wife stumbled over some train tracks, fell and hurt her knee, and farted in the process. Despite the minor injury, this was a major hoot.

And now the humiliation is complete.

[wishbone]

Just got caught up on the thread, thought I'd get in...
My wife and I have a four year old son named Jackson. He just had his first car accident. We were at a used car lot and were getting ready to take a mazda pickup for a test drive. As I was fiddling with the car seat and seat belt, Jackson bumped the shifter from Park to 1st and the pickup started rolling, it bumped into another car and cracked its bumper. I was ticked and pulled him out of the pickup, we took a walk and I talked to him for a few minutes. When we walk back, there is the salesman offering a balloon to Jackson. I say no and Jackson starts crying.

I'm still steamed about it but Jackson doesn't really understand what happened, muchless how to prevent it in the future.

[Buzzbee]

Oh the days of black cats, butterflies, devils and hayrides. My wife was bummed last night. You see, at my youngest daughter's school they have a Fall Festival/Halloween carnival. Every year my wife will go up there and walk around with our kids as they play the various games to win the cheap-ass little prizes and the candy. It has really been a bonding time, as even my mother-in-law will go so that they can share the time together and the fun and laughter.

Last night my youngest told my wife that she wanted to walk around with her friends instead of hang with mommy. They grow up so fast. It'll be the first time in ten years that my wife won't have a kid to walk around with. She almost cried.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, enjoy the times that you can tell your kids where they are going to go, what they are going to wear, when they will go and when they will come. At some point they will hit high school, you will become as important as that old Barney tape (or whatever/whoever replaced Barney these days) and rather than being the source of all that is good you will become the source of all that is evil.

Enjoy these times!!! They will not last! Oh, and take lots and lots of pictures of your kids in compromising positions. You can use them to your advantage when they hit high school.

Me: Oh yeah, well I'm going to show Kevin that picture of you on the potty!!

Her: Dad!! NOOOOOOO!!!!

ME: Okay then, get off the computer at 9 like I said. No later.

Her: Uh, Dayyyuuud! (we live in the South)

Me: Picture. Remember?

Her: Ughhhh! (storms off to computer room and types furiously to her friends about how mean I am)

[KevinNU7]

These are the times to remember, cause the will not last forever...

[PilotMan]

We are studying snails in science, and we were talking about what they eat. Cole (10) replies,

"Snails are allergy eaters."

Good to know.

Zach (3) comes down from naptime, and announces,

"I have a car in my butt."

And he really did. No real reason why though. He just did.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Zach (3) comes down from naptime, and announces,

"I have a car in my butt."

And he really did. No real reason why though. He just did.

Okay now THAT was funny.

[FrogMan]

tonight was one of those magical night, went trick or treating with the kids. First was supposed to be only Andrew and then I thought "oh what the heck, let's bring Matty, we'l walk some 20 minutes and I'll stop by the house and let him back in and I'll keep going with Andrew". Well, Matty walked with us a whole hour, raking in the candies like a madman, all dressed up in his toddler Vader outfit, I almost ate him whole about a dozen times

FM

[WSUCougar]

Cool, FM!

Wish we could say the same. It rained literally all day and night in St. Louis, and it was miserable. My wife took Drew trick-or-treating around our cul-de-sac, but that was it. He took it well but it was still kind of a bummer.

Next up: 4th birthday party on Saturday.

[Breeze]

I had a scary moment on Saturday night/Sunday Morning. My daughter called out in the night, and I went to her room and found her wheezing and struggling to breath. She was suffering from the Croupe virus and the Strider condition (Coupe is the inflamation of the vocal cords for adults the virus becomes laryngitis, Strider is the condition that causes the difficulty breathing).

My older son had this problem years ago, and it was so bad we had to go to the emergency room, so I was familiar with what was going on. I tried treating Bailey with steam, but she was so paniced she wouldn't relax, making the condition worse. I gave her an Abutoral breathing treatment, but it was ineffective. After exhausting what I could do at home, I loaded her in the car and headed to the emergency room.

On the way I rolled down the windows because the fresh, moist air is good way to combat Strider. After being on the road for 15 minutes and forcing her to talk to me periodically to make sure she was still breathing, I heard her breathing easy up. I was able to turn around, go home and treat her again with steam in the bathroom. I felt like if I could get her to relax, I could get the condition to abate to the point she would be able to sleep through the night. But even knowing how to treat the condition, when your child is stuggling to breath it will firmly plant your heart in your throat.

My daughter is 3 and half, which is old for Strider to be a problem, typically it only affects children under 3. If you have a small child, pray you don't have to deal with this.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by Breeze

But even knowing how to treat the condition, when your child is stuggling to breath it will firmly plant your heart in your throat.

Scary stuff indeed, Breeze. I can relate to some degree. Drew is asthmatic, and was hospitalized for RSV and pneumonia a couple years ago. Most frightening episode of my life.

[FrogMan]

very rough stuff Breeze. So far, knock on wood, we've been blessed with healthy kiddos. Most frightening event wasn't any of them not being able to breathe, but Andrew being unable to bear any weight on his right leg. From playing soccer on a Wednesday night to slightly limping on Friday morning, to havign a hard time walking by 4pm on Friday to simply being unable to lift his right leg on Saturday morning. He was his soccer coach back then and I couldn't remember him hurting himself while playing, so I was at a loss to explain it. I was thinking about the worst degenrative kind of crap, even flash eating bacteria. Yeah extreme, but he was our only child back at the time and you know how parents can be protective of their kiddos.

We took him to the ER, where his condition wasn't deemed to be very urgent so we spent a nice 4 hours waiting until they saw him and diagnosed him with a transient synovitis of the hip, basically something that can come and go, which it did. Saturday was his worst day, then it got better on Sunday and on Monday he was up to maybe 85% then back to normal on Tuesday. Freaky episode...

FM

[PilotMan]

Zachary (3) is still potty training, so getting him to potty when he is supposed to is a big deal. It is a nice day today, 50 degrees or so and sunny, and they little boys are out in the backyard playing. And standing there in the middle of the yard with his little white butt sticking out is Zach, watering the yard. He just likes to go in the great outdoors.

This has to be a male right of passage, don't we all just prefer to go wherever? I do.

[Radii]

Since Oliegirl is still having knee problems, I took Anthony out trick-or-treating Monday night. The highlight of the night was the haunted house. It was a very well done haunted house. We got in line and I asked one of the parents in charge if kids Anthony's age came by. She said "yes, but that's about as young as I'll let in." But Anthony has a good grasp on what's real and what isn't and he was determined to go, even though everyone else in the line was teenagers or older.

The house itself was really well done, the stuff they had was based off of horror movies. In their living room they had the TV set on one of the scenes from the video on The Ring, and a girl comes creeping out from behind the TV, the look was perfect. She gets to the people walking through and grabs one of them and starts shrieking. That was my favorite part b/c i love the movie, but back to Anthony. We then go outside where there are people dressed up like zombies and witches and such, but they obviously paid attention to the older kids and left Anthony alone. We turn a corner and they have a very nice, pitch black setup heading into their garage. They had people popping out from everywhere. Basically, if you were the first person in line, I don't care how old you were, you'd have been quite startled and caught off guard a number of times. But we were in the back of the line and saw it all from a distance.

We got out and Anthony said "What's the big deal, that wasn't scary." I tried to explain the perspective that the guys in the front got a lot more scared than the ones in the back. He didn't get it, but it doesn't matter, he wasn't scared at the haunted house and I think he's quite proud of himself because of it

Fastforward to last night, where he decided to get himself in trouble for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I'm suprised Oliegirl hasn't posted about this yet honestly The teacher gave the kids a pass on Monday homework b/c of Halloween, so last night he had two nights worth of homework to do. Julie asked him about his homework and he'd obviously only done Tuesday night's homework, not Monday's. When Julie asked him about it(just to remind him to get it all done), he told her that he did his homework with his grandmother the night before(he spent the night over there after trick-or-treating). Julie and her mom are real close and they talk multiple times a day, so Julie knew this was a lie. She pressed Atnhony on it and he responded 4 or 5 times with a bigger and bigger lie, enhancing the story and trying to give details about how he did his homework with her. Then when Julie said she'd call 'Grammy' to make sure he broke down and admitted that he'd lied.

She was infuriated, as was I when I got home. We have always made honesty and trust the most important focus with Anthony, and he knows that lying is a *big deal*. Grammy is upset that he used her in his story, so he's in hot water all the way around. He's in some trouble this weekend as a result, but I of course know it'll happen again, but we have to reinforce how important it is to be honest with people, and have to show him that the consequences of lying about something are always worse than what might have happened had he told the truth(in this case, nothing would have happened, he'd have spent 10 more minutes finishing his homework).

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Radii

Fastforward to last night, where he decided to get himself in trouble for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I'm suprised Oliegirl hasn't posted about this yet honestly The teacher gave the kids a pass on Monday homework b/c of Halloween, so last night he had two nights worth of homework to do. Julie asked him about his homework and he'd obviously only done Tuesday night's homework, not Monday's. When Julie asked him about it(just to remind him to get it all done), he told her that he did his homework with his grandmother the night before(he spent the night over there after trick-or-treating). Julie and her mom are real close and they talk multiple times a day, so Julie knew this was a lie. She pressed Atnhony on it and he responded 4 or 5 times with a bigger and bigger lie, enhancing the story and trying to give details about how he did his homework with her. Then when Julie said she'd call 'Grammy' to make sure he broke down and admitted that he'd lied.

She was infuriated, as was I when I got home. We have always made honesty and trust the most important focus with Anthony, and he knows that lying is a *big deal*. Grammy is upset that he used her in his story, so he's in hot water all the way around. He's in some trouble this weekend as a result, but I of course know it'll happen again, but we have to reinforce how important it is to be honest with people, and have to show him that the consequences of lying about something are always worse than what might have happened had he told the truth(in this case, nothing would have happened, he'd have spent 10 more minutes finishing his homework).

I have so been there and done that. Cole (10) went through this (still going). The worst part is not only did he lie, but he knew that I knew the real answer, and yet, he totally refused to admit to the truth. He is quite strong willed and it took at least 2 hours of constant pressure and losing of privleges until he finally relented. There is almost nothing more frustrating as a parent then trying to get him to see that the truth is so much less painful than a lie, that you should do that first. After all that, he still doesn't get it. It is almost like "Damn you! I'll learn my own way." Oh yeah, he and I are going to have some major run ins as he hits his teenage years.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Radii

... I of course know it'll happen again, but we have to reinforce how important it is to be honest with people, and have to show him that the consequences of lying about something are always worse than what might have happened had he told the truth(in this case, nothing would have happened, he'd have spent 10 more minutes finishing his homework).

You posted something similar to that in response to my lying story of a few weeks ago, you are steady, that's good

Seriously, I think it's the best way to see it, keep reinforcing to him that lying will usually bring more bad than up front telling the truth. I also try to make him understand that most lies you say will at some point come back to haunt you. Sure, there are those little white lies (Honey, do I look fat to you? NOOOOO! you're perfect ) but it's hard for a kid from 8 to say 12 to understand the difference...

FM

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

You posted something similar to that in response to my lying story of a few weeks ago, you are steady, that's good

Seriously, I think it's the best way to see it, keep reinforcing to him that lying will usually bring more bad than up front telling the truth. I also try to make him understand that most lies you say will at some point come back to haunt you. Sure, there are those little white lies (Honey, do I look fat to you? NOOOOO! you're perfect ) but it's hard for a kid from 8 to say 12 to understand the difference...

FM

We are consistently working on that...however, I birth very thick skulled children and it hasn't sunk in yet.

After the Tuesday homework incident, Wed was fine, but Thursday I asked if he had homework, he said no. I told him to check his agenda book, which he did and then told me he didn't hve homework. I went to reach for the book and said "well, let me check just in case" and he tries to hide it from me...so I grab it from him and look at the day's assignment - read 30 minutes. I ask if he saw this before he told me he didn't have homework and he says yes...so I immediately ground him for the weekend and lay into him about how dumb it is to lie about stuff (the kicker is he reads himself to sleep for at least 30 minutes every night anyway so it wasn't something I was going to say "go do now"...) and how he'll always get caught and the punishment for lying is always worse than the punishment for whatever you wanted to lie about. We get through the weekend relatively unscathes, a few minor incidents regarding following instructions, but then last night radii calls him down for dinner, asks him on the way down the stairs - did you turn off the lights in your room. Anthony says yes - radii starts up the stairs and says "I want to double check", at which point Anthony freaks out and says "no, don't come up here"...radii tells him not to move, goes upstairs and sure enough the lights are on. So now he is grounded tomorrow after school (it's a half day so this is actually a big deal) and I have had about all I can take of him.

This afternoon, after he gets off the bus - he decides it would be fun to throw a girls backpack on the street...for no reason. So I guess now we are switching from lying to violence. Lucky me. As I have told radii a lot the last week, HIS child is driving me crazy!

[CamEdwards]

Oh Lord, give me strength.

Both twins are teething right now. They woke up last night at 11:30 just SCREAMING. Luckily Catherine is smart enough to fall back asleep after you settle her down. No such luck with James. The only way my wife could get him quiet was to put him in bed with us.

Unfortunately I can't sleep with a baby in bed with me. So last night was on the couch for me.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed and saying a prayer that tonight will be better.

[sachmo71]

Cam,

You are giving me nightmares. Thanks so much. I will keel you.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I probably should have put this in here instead of a main forum thread, so just in case ...
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/foru...ad.php?t=44356

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Another we should possibly tell about this thread is Ksyrup

Just found it today, after reading SD's Civ dynasty. I guess the tooth fairy story would get more play in this thread than the other forum.

I'll make an "introductory post" at some point. Luckily for us, we aren't having any crises at the moment.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Just found it today, after reading SD's Civ dynasty. I guess the tooth fairy story would get more play in this thread than the other forum.

I'll make an "introductory post" at some point. Luckily for us, we aren't having any crises at the moment.

Got a notification of your reply and wondered immediately of thinking about bringing your attention to this thread

And we're not only talking about crises, there have been plenty of good moments too

FM

[PilotMan]

As some of you know, we are in tight financial straights. When I started this endeavor almost 6 years ago I had no idea that the state of the aviation industry would be like it is now. This last year, we finally started to make some progress. We had been having some successes with our budgeting and I was making enough money for us to be able to pay all the bills and live under our tight spending restrictions. A little over a month ago, the parent company of the airline that I work for went bankrupt, taking us along into bankruptcy with them. They drastically cut our flying and that has meant that the fleet is shrinking.

A backround in aviation economics goes like this. Captains make about 50% more that first officers. Six years ago, when I started in flight school the average upgrade time was about 2 years. Base pay ranges for first officers are generally between 20-40k, while captains are 55-110k. More of less money can be made depending on your work schedule.

Each aircraft needs 10 pilots to fly. So if you have 50 planes in your fleet you need to have 250 capitains, and 250 first officers. Essetially, if your company is expanding there is upward movement in the seniority list and more job secutity to boot, as there will be more pilots underneath you.

I have not upgraded, and will be starting my 4th year with the company in January. It was something that we were really banking on and the fact that it hasn't already happened has been a hard pill to swallow. We do not own a house, and our 3 boys are rapidly outgrowing out 1150sq foot 3br duplex.

The company is starting off by reducing the number of airplanes by 15. Simply read that is 150 jobs that will be eliminated from the company in the begining. At this point, I am not in danger of losing my job (I started off with about 500 pilots below me), however I can't say that it hasn't crossed my mind.

Along with that the company is ready to impose changes to our work rules, and a pay cut along the lines of 20% for the aircraft that I fly. To top that off for first officers at the 4th year and above the yearly cost of living increase is about one half of one percent. So essentially, each year is a paycut due to inflation. With no good news on the forefront, and no upgrade postition in sight it is putting a strain on our family.

We are now in the position of shrinking our budget even more for the foreseeable future. They say that the aviation businees is not for the weak hearted, and they say that you aren't really a pilot until you are furloughed (fired by still contracted to the company and available to be recalled back to work should they need more workers). I have only one shot at this career, and given the amount of money that I invested to get here(think six figures) I cannot abandon it just yet.

I am having some very difficult times thinking about how unfair this is to my family. I feel like I have let everyone down, as this was a decision that was totally mine, and now I need to live with it.

Negotiations are ongoing and nothing is set in stone yet. Good news may be ono the horizon, but not until we emerge from bankruptcy. Who knows when that will happen. Another terrorist attack, or oil prices staying at 70/barrell could spell the end of it altogether.

Please pray for us in this time of uncertainty.

[FrogMan]

PM, rough situation. I don't pray much but you and your family are in my thoughts my friend. Stay strong, do not despair, better times will come...

FM

[oliegirl]

FM - although you feel bad, I can assure that your wife and children are behind you 100% - that is what families do! One of the great things about being married and having a family is that there are ALWAYS people who believe in you and support your decisions...you guys will get through this and move on to happier and more financially secure times. Just hang in there and don't let it get you down too much

[FrogMan]

I was speaking of good moments and I had a sweet one with my oldest, Andrew, this last Saturday. As some of you know, he and I both practice kenpo karate. We both have three one hour classes a week and starting this Fall, our Saturdays have become almost completely dedicated to karate, with a first class (traditional) at 11:15am where we both go our way (separate rooms, him with kids, me with adults) and a second one at 2:15pm where we take the class together as it's a competition class where we learn to control the bo staff.

In that second class, I'm one of only two adults that are attending. I told the teacher, a 19yo kid, not to pay too much attention to me and that I'd simply follow along with the class with Andrew no matter if I'm learning faster (or maybe slower on some moves ) than the kids. Anyway, I'm tough on Andrew, especially in that second class. I will not accept that he wastes his time when the teacher shows us something and then asks us to practice on our own, and even more so, I won't accept that he wastes the time of others by goofing around, which he can do very easily.

I've come to enjoy the Saturdays lately as he is getting better, little by little, not so much with the bo itself, but more in controlling his behaviour and he's received good comments from his morning teacher. This Saturday, he showed me a maturity that I'd never seen before. We were in the locker room prior to our afternoon class and I commented to him that I was looking forward to see if Matty would ever follow our footsteps and practice karate too. Andrew told me he was certain that he would. I joked to him that he was saying that because Matty always wants to do like his older brother (which he really does ) and Andrew smiled and said a simple yeah. I then told him that he'd have to keep on doing karate for a few years more as Matty is not even 2 and they don't start kiddos until they're at least 4. To that, Andrew replied, in his most serious voice: "oh dad, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I want to get a black belt."

We'd never brushed the possibility of him getting a black belt before. I mean, in January, it will have been 4 years since he started practicing and he's now a blue belt with a green stripe. He still has to get his green belt, then a brown stripe on his green belt, then a brown belt, then a black stripe on his brown belt before finally being allowed to test for his black belt. So he's got time to do before he gets to the black belt and honestly, I've not seen many kids under 10 get a black belt and he's 8 and a half... Had he told me this when he had just started, say after a month or two of practicing, at the ripe age of 5, I'd have taken that with a grain of salt, like "yeah, yeah, we'll talk again in a couple years" but now, he knows what it will take him to get that black belt and he looked dead serious about it. That showed me he had matured, and it made me feel proud of my boy.

FWIW, I'm a green belt with a brown stripe and there are talks of a possible brown belt test coming up for me. I'd assume that with steady practice, I could probably be testing for my black belt in a year to 18 months. Maybe that's what made him realize that he could do it. I mean, he may be thinking that if daddy is somewhat close, maybe he can do it too. That thought makes it so much sweeter to the father's heart in me.

That turned out to be a long story, thanks for reading it

FM

[ibnsgirl]

Well, yesterday was a big day in the world of Lucy.

Tony and I took Lucy to the pediatrician for her four-month shots/well-baby check-up. She tipped the sacle at a hefty 15 lbs, 1 oz and is 25.25 inches long. These numbers put her in the 90th and 80th percentiles, respectively. It really surprised everyone when she was born just how big she was -- 8 lbs, 4 ozs, 19.5 inches -- considering that Tony and I were both significantly smaller as babies. I guess that it will all settle down later. Or she will have head specialty.

Lucy did relatively well through the check-up and shots. If she is in Tony or my arms, she is a little charmer, but she is very aware and wary of strangers and isn't too wild about new situations. She cried, of course, but even after the shots, she settled down eventually. She had her revenge, though. Tony and I got our flu shots after her. And yes, she smiled when we told her that we were getting shots, too.

We also got the go-ahead for starting solids. That is going to be fun. We'll have to go shopping for a high-chair/ feeding seat something and a convertible seat for the car here soon.

Tony's vacation time is coming up next week, so we'll be heading up to the folks' house for five days/four nights. It'll be interesting. At 3 outfits a day for spit-up-er and 2ish for spit-up-ee, we'll be looking at something like 354641 loads of laundry once we get back. We'll also get to hear the cat howl for the drive up and back. Other than that, I hope that the trip is not too stressful.

[CamEdwards]

Have fun on the trip! Elaine took the babies to Oklahoma in August to drop our oldest off at college. It wasn't the greatest experience she's ever had.

James (7 month old) had to go to the doctor's today. Pink eye and an ear infection. But he's the happy kid, so he's not complaining too much.

Our troublemaker is definitely Catherine. At 7 months, she's already crawling, standing, and now cruising.

By the way, Satch... last night the babies were okay. Slept from about 7:15 til 6:30.

[FrogMan]

quick question to everyone frequenting this thread: anybody in here read/know about the comic strip called "Baby Blues"?

I love it and just can't get enough of it. So much of it is just like us, put into comics, it's frightening... I bought one of their collection off of bookcloseouts.com last Summer and I immediately ordered 8 or 9 of the other collections they had in stock. There are something like 19 collections in the series...

FM

[ibnsgirl]

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

Have fun on the trip! Elaine took the babies to Oklahoma in August to drop our oldest off at college. It wasn't the greatest experience she's ever had.

James (7 month old) had to go to the doctor's today. Pink eye and an ear infection. But he's the happy kid, so he's not complaining too much.

Our troublemaker is definitely Catherine. At 7 months, she's already crawling, standing, and now cruising.

By the way, Satch... last night the babies were okay. Slept from about 7:15 til 6:30.

Thanks! The drive is not that bad (we've been up there several times already), but this will be the longest trip by far.

Wow, 7 mos. and really mobile -- that is just scary to think about. I haven't even begun to baby-proof things here.

FM: I like Baby Blues! When I got the paper, it was one of the comics. That Zoe is quite a little tyke!

[sachmo71]

Pilotman,

hang in there, man. With the price of fuel going down, hopefully things will start looking better for your company.

[WSUCougar]

Yesterday just before lunch I get a frantic call from my wife.

“Our son is freaking out at daycare…crying uncontrollably and kicking the teachers. Can you go get him?!?”

So I went to get him.

He’s in the administrative office, sitting in a chair – well, more curled up like a ball in the chair – red-faced, and sucking on his fingers. Perhaps three teachers are trying to talk to him as I walk in. The head teacher asks him something and he starts to cry again. Well, right away I can tell that he is just stressed out and needs a break, so I say, “Come here and have a hug, Drew,” and he comes and wraps me up. The teachers – who are all good folks – proceed to tell me that he just went off and wouldn’t chill out. Eventually I’m able to determine the following:

1. Drew took one of his cheap little metal airplanes in to daycare. He is normally territorial about his toys, but he got the airplanes for his birthday as part of a cool aircraft carrier set
2. Matthew, one of his usual friends, tried to grab the plane from Drew and ended up pulling the front wheels off. I can see this scene in my mind’s eye. Ordinarily, Drew would probably scream or otherwise get upset, but this apparently set him off big time.
3. The teacher(s) tried to mitigate the situation or to get him to relax or whatever, and he would have none of it. He has a very severe sense of JUSTICE and he was the wronged party!!! But then he started kicking at the teachers, which is a big no-no.

Well, he said he was sorry to the teacher and seemed genuinely contrite as we rode home. He took a long nap and seems okay now. We gave him long talks about the kicking part, but I wish there was some way to instill some better reactions if/when kids try to take “his stuff.” In a way, I wish he’d just get a little physical with the other aggressive kid rather than going ballistic.

[Ramzavail]

This thread is like a huge comedy routine, great stuff.

[Bea-Arthurs Hip]

Hi my name is Bea-Arthurs Hip and I am a parent.

I am in need of desperate help! We have two girls . Clare is three and is an absolute angel; if all kids were like her I would take all the kids God threw my way.

My problem is not Clare. My problem is our 1 1/2 year old Theresa. Let me begin with our "baby". My wife had to go in for a somewhat risky surgery to have one of her ovaries removed when Theresa was 5 months old in the womb which went off with out a hitch. Then after a somewhat traumatic delivery everything was fine as all involved were healthy.

Fast forward a month and for some unknown reason Theresa has not stopped crying. I think to myself, "strange I don’t remember Clare crying this much". So wife and I figure it is normal and Clare must have been like this also.

Fast forward to the second month and for some odd reason Theresa still has not stopped crying. To make things real fun now she is not sleeping. This creates a very pleasant husband-wife situation. We are at each other’s throats constantly all the while Theresa is pissed off at the world.

Fast forward to month three - Theresa obviously does not like her parents. She will not sleep; she never stops crying and now seems to have developed a rash from hell. At this point I deeply consider driving off a bridge somewhere, as it is very frustrating to have zero control over this poor little child...We go in for her three-month appointment and they tell us she has Colic (sp??). Well kick me in the nuts and call me Sam. Really?? You think doc??

Fast forward to month four - Theresa is getting a little better as we get her on some $oy formula (away from brea$t feeding). Then my wife calls me at work one day:

Hip: "hi honey"
Wife: "hi"
Hip: "everything ok?"
Wife: "no"
Hip: "what is it, need me to come home?"
Wife: " I have post pardom depression?"
Hip: "ok"
Wife: " see you when you get home and be prepared for 13 months of
Complete and utter hell as I am going to be mean and nasty. And don’t forget about our 1 1/2 year old who is mean and nasty, oh yeah our three old also who needs attention constantly"

(The above of course did not happen through a phone call but it is a summary of the past 13 months)

Fast forward to November - I would never wish what my wife went through on any woman (or husband for that matter). I also would not wish the curse of colic on any child (or parent for that matter). ....Wife is doing much much better. She is seeing a doctor and is on medication. Theresa also is doing a little better but she still throws fits over everything. When I say fits I mean like the ones you see kids on Nanny 911 or Super Nanny throw.


Theresa is loving and plays well; she loves her sister and animals. But when she gets angry, look out!

My question to the group, have any of you had a colicky baby? Did they after growing out of it and develop temper problems? Will it ever end?

From a Dad-Husband who has shouldered financial problems, depressed wife, many immediate family crisis and of course my own day to day problems.

Help Me

[sachmo71]

bea,

my daughter was the sweetest little thing. She slept through the night at two weeks, would smile at us when she work up in the morning, and was generally a gift from above. She is now 3, and has been kicked out of one daycare, has meltdowns at least once per day, has started calling mom and dad a "blockhead", and likes to eat her art projects.

I think perhaps the inverse could be true for you (read: your daughter will be fine)

[WSUCougar]

Hey buddy, although my experience was not as bad, I feel your pain. There were times when I felt so pushed to the limit of patience and endurance. I'd pick up the phone at work, and my wife would be borderline hysterical on the phone. Poor thing, it wasn't her fault, but it was so exasperating not to be able to DO anything about it. It was such a feeling of impotency.

Then there were Drew's crying fits, what we called "wildcats." He was not "colicky" by definition, I guess, but he sure pushed us to the brink with those periods.

All I've read and heard and experienced, however, suggests that it WILL be okay for you. Hang in there and find ways to ease your situation (both you and your wife). Allow yourself to feel crappy about it sometimes, and don't beat yourself up. This is a fire that burns you and shapes you as a parent. Be strong and you'll emerge stronger from it. I know that sounds silly, but I really do believe it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Bea-Arthurs Hip

My question to the group, have any of you had a colicky baby? Did they after growing out of it and develop temper problems? Will it ever end?

Oh goodness, you have my deepest sympathy.

Been there, done that, damned near didn't survive it.

The best line I heard on the subject went something like this: There are two kinds of parents: those who've had a child with colic & those without. Here's how you tell them apart, when you mention that your baby has colic, you'll get one of two responses:
Those who've never been through it say "Oh, that's too bad"
Those who HAVE been through it say "Oh God is there anything we can do to help?"

Yes, I promise, it DOES end (just never soon enough). And no, it does NOT predict future behavior. Amazing as it may seem to those who know me, my son is one of the kindest, gentlest, most "people-pleasing" oriented people I've ever seen ... after three months of the living hell that is colic.

I've got to run out to dinner now, but I'll try to pass back through the thread with a few tips/tricks (99.9% of which won't work unfortunately) & any other support I can offer, but I wanted to at least reassure you that, once the colic ends, you aren't living with a demonspawn or anything like that.

edit to add: By now you've probably gotten suggestions for every crazy colic home remedy known to man & beast alike. If your case is like ours, very little will work except time. For us, it was about a 3 month torture, starting from about a week old. How bad was it? (hoo boy, this could be a looooong list)

-- it was so bad that my wife & I actually fought for several days running over whose turn it was to go next door & pick up the neighbors mail while they were on vacation. That five minute chore was the only guaranteed quiet five minutes either of us knew existed & they were more precious than gold.

-- it was so bad that I checked the Atlanta phone book (white pages AND yellow pages) ... would you believe that there's not one single Gypsy listed in the whole freakin' phone book (borrowed from the old boogey-man story about "I'm gonna give you to the gypsies if you don't behave)

-- It was so bad that one night we drove around for nearly three hours, from 1am til 4am, after discovering that the motion of the car was about the only thing that brought relief to the baby & therefore ending the crying. As soon as the car was put in park, literally the instant, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!.

-- It was so bad that a UPS deliveryman almost lost his life after ringing our doorbell around 4p one afternoon for a late delivery, waking up baby, mom, and dad & hitting the WTF-DO-YOU-WANT?!?!?! sweepstakes in the process.
If he were just a half-step slower, I'd have caught him by the throat as I tried to do. (from that day until the colic ended, a "Do Not Ring Bell - Sleeping Baby" sign was kept handy for posting on the front door)

Looking back, the thing that really doesn't sink in while its going on but that you think about later, is that the baby is pretty much in agony during the attacks (for us, that was a period from about sundown until just before sunrise). That doesn't make the screaming more tolerable, just maybe more understandable in hindsight.

Of all the countless tricks & tips we got, only a couple seemed to do much good.

1) Put a towel in the dryer, get it nice & warm (nearly hot), roll it up kinda like you would if you were making a pillow for yourself, and place it on the baby's tummy, applying just a little bit of pressure. For as long as the towel stays really warm, the combination of heat & pressure relieved the pain at least a little bit, enough to turn the screams down to fussing & whimpers. We spent quite a few nights running a virtual relay from the baby to the dryer.

2) The car thing was pretty successful, although it's pretty impractical to try to drive for hours on end, especially with the price of gas these days. We never found a really successful substitute for that motion, but maybe your luck might be better.

3) The thing that helped most for us was discovering that he had an extremely high iron level, abnormally high even for a newborn/infant. He was a formula baby 100% & today's pediatrician's are absolutely fanatical about loading as much iron as possible to infants. Luckily, we found one pedia that had experienced uber-iron levels in baby's before & when we switched to special low-iron formula, it reduced our problems by a good 20%. Didn't make the colic go away, but it did cut down on stomach problems that were contributing to his misery index.

Of all the suggestions we got, the worst one was probably "put the baby in a warm bath". That resulted in a transformation from a screaming baby to a wet screaming baby ... not a positive change, trust me.

Like I said at the beginning though, it does end, in our case, completely unexpectedly & out of the blue. It didn't taper off, no real change, just POOF, one day it was gone, no more "House That Dreaded Sundown" for us.
You'll make it, even if you don't really want to at times, you'll make it.
And it won't take long for the inevitable comparisons to Linda Blair to be relegated to nothing more than a horrifying memory.

[wishbone]

The other day we were having dinner and our 4year old son Jackson said he had to go potty. We said ok and he started off, as soon as he turned the corner, he comes back, pokes his arouund the corner and yells "I WILL MAKE YOU PROUD!", then takes off to the bathroom. My wife and I were shocked and started laughing uncontrollably the rest of the night.

[vex]

Looks like I'll be posting in this thread in 8 months