Shopping Carts

Placing little man in any shopping cart has become quite a project at times.  We start with a brief struggle with him to get his feet through the proper holes.  He doesn't really like to sit he usually wants to stand.  After getting him settled in he almost immediately starts to turn one way and then another and gets loose from the safety strap until he is either facing the other direction or has his legs stretched out on the seat.  We tend to give up on making him face the proper direction ignoring all the safety warnings on the shopping cart.
The other night at Menard's as we headed to the check out he had about all he could handle of sitting in the cart.  He stood up and leaned right into my arms giving me no choice but to remove him from the cart.  As Jynx finished up with the cashier I let him walk around a bit and he wound up right behind the shopping cart.  Little man grabbed hold of the shopping cart with a firm grip and with a short grunt the shopping cart filled with rakes and shovels and other items was on the move out the door.  We both had a good laugh as he pushed the cart out the door and towards the car with a bit of guidance from mom and dad.
Our next stop was at the grocery store where he was able to get his favorite race car shopping cart.  The store only has two of these carts so they are hard to get.  If we get to the store and they are not available Little man keeps an eye out for the car cart.  When he spots the kids who have the car he gives them  the evil eye and watches them the entire way.  The days that we are lucky enough to get it he has a great time laughing and playing the entire time, he makes sure that everyone knows he has his cart.  I wish the store had more of these carts and I also wish the were big enough for me to get in.  Although I have thought about using the motorized cart but the people who drive those scare me.  I make sure to give them a lot room when they come down the aisle.  I'm glad little man likes the store because between the motorized and the creepy stock boy that always want to talk to me it's a very traumatic experience for me.

Lighting the candle

After spending all day Saturday at church we headed back for Sunday service.  Jynx had signed up to serve after Church so sleeping in was not an option.  Little Man may have been a big disappointed when we pulled into the church parking lot and the big bounce house was gone, all that was left was trampled grass as a reminder of what had happened the day before.  We sat down and one of the ushers came up to me and asked if Little Man and I could lite the candles since there were no other kids there.  I think they had worn them all out the day before.  So, I had to agree but I was still hoping another kid would show up.  The first song started and not another kid in the place so I carried Jame and the fancy candle lighter we walked to the front but little man was nervous about putting his hand on the lighter, usually he wants to grab everything.  He watched with wonder and fascination in his eyes as I lit the candle then he ever so gently placed one hand on the lighter as we began to lite the candles.  I had not lite the candles since my youth and that was a long time ago.  After lighting the candles I snuffed the lighter placed little man on the ground and handed him the lighter, he grabbed it and we headed back the usher met us and took the lighter.  It was then that I realized the entire church was quiet, everyone was just watching little man, just then one person clapped and it was soon followed by applause from the entire church.  The minister stood up and said sometime you just can't rush moments.
During the church service they usually have a children's message and kids are invited up to the front.  Last week another kid took little man up and he just sat there happy to be with all the kids.  Sunday it was little man and one other child that had come late, so mommy took him up to the front for the children's message.  Once again he sat there on mommy's lap and listened and even got a piece of candy.
At the end of the service the minister stepped forward and said "I'm going to put Roger and Jame on the spot."  Uh oh, little man had fallen asleep during the sermon and had been resting comfort ably on my shoulder ever since.  I was planning on handing him off to his Grandpa Jim as soon as the service was done so I could help Jynx serve.  "You see Jame is sleeping on his fathers shoulder because he trust and loves him."  the ministers normal steady voice began to crack and my eyes began to water.  "Now if we could all trust and love our father in heaven like that, then one day we will be able to snuggle up on his shoulder and relax in the knowledge that he loves us."   It was beautiful and a great way to end the service, but now I couldn't just turn around and hand off little man.

MMMMM....Pancakes

We had an early start yesterday heading out of the house to our old neighborhood Park Forest for the Kiwanis's pancake breakfast.  They hold the event in a parking lot under a big tent and it usually a nice crisp fall morning a perfect day for pancakes.  When you enter the tent the huge system of conveyor belts catches your eyes and you can't help feeling like a kid again watching the plate of pancakes ridding the belt from the huge griddle up and over the line of people and down to a server who adds butter and hands you a plate.  It truly is like a scene from Willy Wonka replacing the Oompa Loompas with World War 2 Vets.  Of course Little man was just fascinated by the entire system as we were hurried through the line.  He didn't have many pancakes but had about six sausages.

As you leave the tent you have to run the gauntlet of people handing out flyer's for politicians.  This is one of my pet peeves along with the signs all over, I think we could pay off the national debt if we took the money these guys spent on litter (because that's what happens to all those signs) and paid off China.  I wonder if they would accept all those signs and literature as payment?  They could get a good laugh at reading all the lies.  After we ran the gauntlet we met Issac Hayes not the singer but a conservative Republican black man, yes there are some.  Hayes is running against Jesse Jackson Jr. and until a week ago it looked like Jackson would walk away with it but now it's a race.  Allegations have surfaced that Jesse was having a couple of affairs, I guess he learned that from Tiger Woods.  So Little Man got to meet his politician and I had a nice conversation with Issac.

And that all was jut the start to the day after that we headed to our churches block party.  The church had decided to do this a few years ago as a way of reaching out to the community and hopefully getting some more people to join the church.  Unfortunately it seemed like every year we could not attend but this year we were able to make it.  I was asked to take photos and it was all I could do not to just follow little man around.  He had a great time, they had a giant blow up maze thing with slides and blocking dummies.  Yes I know what your thinking and of course I went through it a couple of times with little man.  He provides a great excuse for being able to be a kid again.  I don't think he stopped laughing the entire time he was in there and he even enjoyed standing outside watching the kids go down the slide and every time a kid went down he let out a big laugh.  Several people had to stand around the maze and reprimand the kids they were in an awful mood until they heard little man laughing and they couldn't help but smile.  After all the excitement we went to Pepe's for lunch/early dinner Little man could not even keep his eyes open until the food came and he was asleep in the booth.  Jynx and I got to eat at the same time something we don't get to do often now.  It was great to sit relax and both enjoy our meal but we would not trade it for the world with how much joy little man brings to our lives.

High School Dance

I met Jynx and Little Man for dinner after work, and it was obvious Little Man had not napped very well.  He was on the run with mom all day and did not slow down.  When I arrived he quickly jumped into my arms a nestled in but did not fall asleep.  Every time he heard a loud noise or another child he perked up.  A couple of times during dinner he got a bit restless but this was a blessing for me.  I had always dreamed about walking with my kids the same way my Grandpa Ralph did with me as a child.  I know that I have a lot of both my grandfathers in me, and their love of children.  Getting up from the table and walking around with us was one of my Grandfathers favorite things and now it was my turn.  I picked up Little Man and headed to the waiting area but he was not interested in walking around he just wanted to sink into my shoulder and rest, until he would hear another child.  He was still to tired but he would give them a smile and just look like if I had the energy we would play.  I stood there doing my best to get him to fall asleep, I started rocking back and forth and that's when it hit me.  All those high school dances had trained me for this.  At the dance all we would do was sway back and forth no one dared do anything else.  I had a great little chuckle as I thought back to those days and what I was doing now.

Hercules

I've been trying my best to work in a bit of exercise, okay a little bit of exercise into my hectic schedule.  On Judge days I leave the house between 6 and 6:30am and don't return until 8 or 9pm.  Last night I got home about nine and walked on the treadmill for a few minutes then sat down to watch The Apprentice and grabbed my weights to use while I watched.  Jynx and Little Man arrived home and joined me downstairs.  I dropped the weights to pick up Little Man and held him for about as long as he would take it.  He is a very busy little guy always on the move and always in need of something.  Little man quickly discovered the eight pound weights I put down.  I didn't give it a second thought he won't be able to pick it up but sure enough he was going to try.  The first couple of attempts failed and he got distracted by other items to pick up but he kept coming back to try.  Eventually he walked over with a determined look on his face bent down and the eight pound weight lifted from the ground.  From that point on he was putting it down and picking it up then carrying the weight across the room.  He really looked like a miniature version of the worlds strongest man competition.  I thought maybe we should have named him Magnus or Ivan some strang man name.  Hmmm Magnus Jack nah!  Jynx would never go for it.

Just Like That!

I had been home with Little Man the other day trying to balance spending time with him and getting things done around the house.  The day was going great but then I realized the time was getting later and soon Jynx was going to be home and I wanted to get dinner ready for her.  I wanted to try my hand at chicken gyros but needed the yogurt and pita's.  I quickly went to change Little Man since he had made such a mess with his pizza lunch.  How he got pizza sauce under his clothes I'll never know.  I changed him but decided not to put socks on him to save time I'll just put his shoes on, it seemed like a good dad decision and off we went to the grocery store.  Of course when we arrived his favorite car shopping cart was not available but we did see the kids who had it in the store and Little Man gave them the old stink eye.  We arrived home after Jynx but I started making dinner right away and like a mom Jynx noticed the lack of socks and laughed at my dad decision.  She took his shoes off fearing a blister or something like that.  I would worry more about shoe stink but okay.  I continued making dinner which turned out great when I noticed Little man only had one shoe on I stood there laughing and asked Jynx why she only took one shoe off when I hit me that it was also on the wrong foot.  Jynx had taken off both shoes but Little Man found them and put it back on.  It seems everyday he is learning something new like sipping from a straw, climbing a stair, shaking hands and Eskimo kisses.  This is one of the reasons I've started this blog to remember all of the little moments I may one day forget. 

The Future

It was the end of a long day and I was feeling it, the building decided to test the fire alarm.  The words "THIS IS ONLY A TEST!" rang out with flashing strobes and an annoying alarm made my normally hurried exit even more hurried.  I got out of the building and away from the headache factory and headed for my car.  It was when I got in my car I realized I had left my phone behind.  What to do?  should I head back and try to get it?  Was that alarm still ringing?  I decided to tough it out for the night I was going to be back in the morning and I could live without a phone for the night.
I began my trip home and a few times I started to look for my phone.  I need to call home oh that's right no phone.  Oh I have to call that guy back oh wait no phone.  Red light time to check e mail oh wait.  This was not going to be easy.  How did we do this for so long?  How did we ever survive without the technology we have today?
I remember as a kid my dad having a beeper and beeping is all that it did.  The beeper would beep and he knew to call the office for a message.  I remember getting a VCR and it had a remote kind of.  The remote was connected to the VCR with a long cord but it was great you could change the channel without getting up.  I remember when we would have to run to the bank before it closed on Friday.  My god how did we ever survive without remotes, ATM and cell phones.
All of this got e to thinking if all these technologies have come during my lifetime what will there be during little mans life.  Will we get those personal flying machines?  How will he listen to music?  We went from 8 track to cassette to CD to MP3 whats next?  When I was a kid if you missed a show you didn't see it then came VCR's then DVD's and now I can watch movies on my cell phone.  When we take a trip in a the van he can sit there and watch a DVD.  I used our Tivo to record sesame street and he loves to watch while we drive.  How I would of loved that when I was a kid.  There is a song by Brad Paisley that lyrics state some of this and how cool it would have been to have a Pac Man arcade game in your house and now I have it on my phone.     
I'm not sure what the future holds for little man but it's sure fun to think about him flying to work in the morning or going to the doctor and they'll scan his body just like in Star Trek.  Maybe he'll play chess just like they did in Star Wars.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBiKHqeFPws  I wonder how close to the Jetson his life will become.  Live Long and Prosper.

What a DAY!

Boy! What  a day!  Jynx and I have started the processes of adopting another child, little man needs a sibling.  We have been fingerprinted again for the third time, I guess because our fingerprints change every year.  Today the adoption counselor was stopping by for our home inspection.  Last time she said she was just making sure we didn't live in a box.  I was supposed to clean up the house yesterday but I spent the day arguing with liberals on facebook one of my new hobbies.  So today we needed to kick it in to high cleaning gear but our plans were cut short when I discovered water in the basement that was coming from the kitchen faucet.  So off to Menards to buy a new faucet and then two more trips and cleaning when we could.  After the last trip the counselor called and she needed to come early.  Okay I told her but our sink was in disarray she laughed and said that would be fine.  We had managed to get the rest of the house clean it was just all the stuff under the sink was out along with tools and sink parts.  She stopped by for about a half an hour and never went any farther than the front room.  I almost wanted to tell her she had to look at the rest of the house.  During our first home inspection I remember being nervous about broken glass in my workshop.  Just before she arrived I was quickly putting things away and had broken a glass vase in the storage area.  I did not have time to pick it up and thought for sure she would want to see the storage area and say broken glass and children don't mix.  It's kinda of funny now that I think about it.
All of this stress was nothing compared to a message from a friend who's father was rushed to the hospital for a heart attack.  Just a few years ago we shared our grief as his cousin and my mentor suddenly died of a massive heart attack.  He was in his early forties with a wife and a son.  He came home from working a basketball game told his wife he was not feeling good and fell over.  I will never forget getting the message of his passing or his wife, son and dog saying good bye to him for the last time.  They all stood at the casket the dog jumped up on the casket as his son began to cry and we all soon followed.  That image will never leave me.  I miss my friend everyday and often think what we would be doing today had he lived.  He taught me a lot not only about television but life as well. 
I have the same fears now as I enter my early forties.  Several months ago I gave up pop and recently went to the doctor for a check up.  My entire family seems to have high blood pressure and cholesterol so I naturally assumed I would as well.  My blood pressure was fine and my cholesterol was a bit high but oatmeal, Cheerios and actually taking the vitamins Jynx leaves out for me is what the doctor thought I should try first.  My friend dad is okay and resting at home they caught it early enough but it brought back those memories of Jeff's passing and how I need to keep up my health for little man.
Tonight the sink is fixed, we are back on the adoption list, my friends dad is back with his family and I have taken my vitamins.  Life is hectic but good.

Simple Things

If 9-11 taught us anything it should be how to appreciate the simple things in  life.  Yesterday my in-laws had their class reunion picnic, they have several events for those who graduated from Thorton in the 1940's.  The past several years they have hosted the picnic and we try to help out as much as we can.  My two main jobs are cooking the hot dogs and playing music.  I've built up a nice collection from the 1940's that they like to listen too.  This year we went over the night before to put out chairs and try and get everything in order.  There was an old wagon at the house that little man was instantly drawn too.  I'm amazed at how these things draw him in like Sesame Street and cartoons.  The wagon had been used to pull around dirt and debris so I took sometime to clean it up.  The next day someone had grabbed a pillow and placed it in the wagon and the little mans day of riding in the wagon began.  He would sit there very calm and just enjoy the ride and when the wagon would stop he would start to try and get out until he could find someone else to pull him in.  I of course pulled him several times and it is one of those great moments of being a dad, just simply pulling the wagon and seeing that smile on his face when you turn around to see how he's doing.  It's the simple things in life that mean the most.

9-11

I was enjoying a nice brisk morning as I drove down the highway, I had the music cranked up life was good.  I decided to see if the Cubs had won I changed from the CD to an all sports radio station.  The usually wacky sports guys seemed almost somber as they talked about how sometimes sports needs to take a back seat and this is one of those days.  They went on to explain that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.  At the time I had only thought it was a small aircraft and did not think too much about it.
I arrived at the Back To God Hour a company the produced a christian show called Primary Focus.  I arrived to learn that the plane was not just a small plane but an jetliner.  I watched a bit of the coverage and talked with some of the editors about how they would fix the towers.  I learned that my interview that day was with a professor at North Central College that studies people who have near death experiences but see hell instead of heaven. 
As I started to gear ready the day started to get worse.  The second tower was hit, the Pentagon was hit.  I headed to my interview but when we arrived campus security was scrambling to close the campus and asked us to leave immediately.  I drove back and unloaded the gear and headed home.
I remember arriving home and turning on the TV and watching the news.  A man called in and started telling his family that he was okay and his voice began to crack and I sat their and cried with him.  There has never been a 9-11 since that day that my eyes have not filled with tears thinking of that moment.
It's hard to believe it's been nine years since that day and I feel most Americans have forgotten the emotions we felt at that moment.  There's a song that state "they took the footage off my TV; said it was too disturbing for you and me.  If it were up to me I play it everyday."  I could not agree more.  On this day I think we all need to take a moment remember that day then remember that people woke up that morning kissed their loved ones goodbye and headed out.  In their honor remember when you leave your house what is really important to you. 

Is Amazon watching me?

I had been debating about buying a waterproof camera for a while now and with labor day closing fast I decided I better get it now.  I pressed the buy it now button and off it went.  I figured it was going to be close but I wanted to leave for the river on Friday and it should be here just in time.  Oh the shots I was going to get on the river while we were tubing or canoeing and kayaking.  All to often we have friend who try kayaking and I try and get a good picture but can't because my camera is usually on shore.  Little man went tubing on the fourth but we did not get any pictures, so the waterproof camera is going to be great.  I love tracking packages to my house I have to laugh at the route the package takes but it's fun seeing it along the way.  Shortly after I ordered the camera I saw that it shipped, this was great it's on it's way and should be here in time.  Th e next day I looked and the camera was in New Jersey poor camera but it should be here even though it's says it won't be here until next week, not a problem it's already in it's way.  The next day I checked on it and it was still sitting in Jersey; why is my camera sitting in Jersey nobody wants to be in Jersey that long!  Oh well Friday came and the camera was still in Jersey I guess it's not going to make it but I had this feeling.  I had this feeling that as soon as I left the camera would arrive but it was still in Jersey so how could this be it will be here next week because it's just sitting on the shelf waiting to be moved along.  I left Friday late morning and headed to the river without my waterproof camera and everything was fine.  The river was still there the sun was still shinning I was going to be able to live without the camera.  I made it through the weekend without the camera but decided to check on the status of the camera on Monday to see if had moved out of Jersey or if some mobster was still taking photos with it.  Is Amazon watching me?  Do they know when I'm going to leave?  Is this just a cruel joke by the shipping company?  My camera had arrived on Friday just after I left!  

We still had a great time at the river Little Man went over to the neighbors house and they had a horse tire swing that he loved to play with.  Every time he caught a glimpse of the horse he wanted to get on it.  We almost took him on his first Kayak trip but he decided to nap instead.  Juno got to go instead and sat in front of one of the kayaks the entire trip.  We heard several people commenting and laughing from shore as we paddled by.  Maybe next year Little Man will be able to take his first trip down the river and I'll have my waterproof camera along for the ride.

Juno in the canoe

Little Man and the horse tire swing