Randomness of my thoughts – Parenting, Life and the Grammy Awards

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I’ve got a lot of stuff floating around my head and I started dumping it all into this post last week so that my head would not hurt so much.  As such, I was fully prepared to finish and publish this post Saturday night but it got delayed when I realized the amount of work needed to edit it for poor grammar and spelling.  Saturday became Sunday, which bumped into Monday, then Tuesday… OY.  So I’m hoping you are reading this and today is Wednesday.

So what happened you ask?

I sat down Sunday to work on this post and when I logged onto the Internet, I found the Twittersphere was abuzz with the Grammy awards.  I used to LOVE the Grammy’s because it regularly fell on my birthday, February 21st and it was the only award show that recognized talent, not just popularity.  Quality over quantity.  In addition, many of the singers actually sang during their performances, and that made the show much better than other award shows where the artists lip synched and were there to look cool, and not to be respected by the music community.  Those shows, ahem, MTV music awards, always looked like a giant scripted video where artists dress in torn jeans, get loaded and swore on stage.  The Grammy’s, on the other hand, have always had much more class… Until this year!

I still was not going to watch the show, but someone tweeted that Bruno Mars and Alicia Keys shared the same hairstyle, and that peaked my curiosity, so on went the TV and I was hooked.  To be honest, the Grammy’s and Twitter make for a great pair.  I watched, tweeted, re-tweeted and met some new cool people, and got to know some of my contacts better,  It made for a very interactive event and I got to share my love of music with others also in the know.

So back to my comment about how classy the Grammy’s are and how they failed Sunday night… The Grammy’s not only had two performances from Chris Brown, but they also gave him awards,  Two of them.  Chris Brown. 

For those of you not familiar with him, he is the former boyfriend of singer Rhianna and one night he lost his temper and beat her.  She went public with the picture of her battered and bruised face and instead of coming clean, Brown put a sour look on his face and carried on with his life.

So he thinks it’s okay to hit women.

That’s so not cool.

If I’m a woman (which I’m not) and I’m a R&B fan (which I’m not) or a human being who loves music (which I am), I would NEVER EVER buy, or download another Chris Brown song again.  But instead of ignoring him, the Grammy’s had him perform and man the Twittersphere was not amused.  What were the Grammy’s thinking???  As a matter of fact, the best R&B award had him and R. Kelly – who videotaped sex with a 15-year-old, and Kanye West is a hot-tempered, spoiled brat and a sore loser and this is the cream of the R&B crop?!?  I think this category can do better, don’t you?

But what saved this award show was Adele.  She was appreciative and she has a magnificent voice.  That and she’s not 98 pounds means she is a role model for the next generation of woman, now Lady Gaga who looked like she got caught in a fish net on the way into the award show.

LL Cool J called Sir Paul McCartney his “homie”.  LOL.

Dave Grohl, of the Foo Fighters dissed pretty much every other band by saying they recorded their Best Rock Album in their garage with a tape recorder.  I believe he also dissed the performers who were not really singing.  Classic.

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Other random stuff:

Why do guys have to non-verbally announce the impending of bodily functions in public washrooms. The grunts, groans, “Oh my g-d’s” before and “whews” after are so not cool. Entertaining but not cool.  Especially when one of my kids asks out loud why was that person grunting before they poo’d, loud enough so they can hear too.

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Everyday driving home across Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, I pass a strip mall (pun intended) which has the following businesses;
A XXX Adult video store – tinted covered windows so the perverts cannot see inside
A Ready Lube
Aromatic Sensation “Massage” parlour.

I think the Ready Lube has to go… It’s bringing down the neighbourhood. lol.  But seriously, do you need the ready lube to visit either of the locations?

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Speaking of “massages” has anyone heard the song Pornstar dancing by My Darkest Days?

Or what about I’m Alive by Anthrax? my new favourite song next to “Call my Mamma” the WWE Brodus Clay theme song.

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I’m working on a new blog post based on a comment made by TTC Chair and Toronto City councillor Karen Stintz that ”Council is supreme”. Yes it is… Karen… Yes it is.

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Tuesday night the Leafs lost their 4th game in a row and the Raptors lost on a last second 3-pointer from Lin-sanity himself, David Lin – in his 6th professional ball game.  All this losing makes me thankful the Toronto Rock play this Saturday at home, and makes me REALLY look forward to next week when pitchers and catchers can report for Major League Baseball (MLB) spring training. 

On February 19th it is the voluntary report date for pitchers, catchers and injured players to report to spring training.

February 24th, full squads may report

February 29th, is the first exhibition game between the Philadelphia Philies and Florida State University.

YAY!  The truest sign that spring is on the way!

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Last random thought of the day: Have any of you seen the show Ink Master?  If so, it’s crazy, right!  If not, let me tell you a little about if from the 20 minutes I caught yesterday. 

8 people are competing to find the next best tattoo artist.  The “artists” have to tattoo their “canvas” aka human beings in the manner they want.  For example, one guy wanted a head tattoo, the other a celtic braid around his flabby bicep with the New York skyline sitting on top of the braid.

The concept seems completely fucked up and then you realize how truly messed up it is when they show the work done by these “artists” such as crooked work, poor shading,and pain.  One guy having a head tattoo done needed to be taken to the hospital by EMT.  UGH.

The way I see it the “artists” are up and coming tattoo artists and as such are prone to make mistakes – such as crooked designs or poor shading and they have to complete their art within a limited time frame, like 4 hours.  So one of the tattoo artists had to do a head tattoo in 6 hours but he didn’t finish it.  Then in the next competition, he got another head tattoo to do and the poor guy that wanted it must have seen the look of displeasure on his face but still went through with it.  Yeah, that’s what I want… Some guy doing a tattoo on my head when he a) did one that was brutal and b) doesn’t want to do another.  Yeah, stick that needle in my head, buddy.  NOT.

If the intention of this show is to dissuade kids from wanting tattoos then it worked.  Personally I cannot think of anything I would want to get tattooed permanently on my body, let alone by some amateur during a contest for TV.  Yikes.

 

Related articles

• Chris Brown Remains Idiot, Takes To Twitter After Grammys (manolith.com)

 

Did you know: You can find me here too… Daddy101 @ www.pinkandbluebaby.com

Did you know that you can find me in other places around the web?  Try this URL below, for Pink and Blue Baby, a baby and parenting magazine which has an incredible discussion forum on Facebook.

http://pinkandbluebaby.com/category/daddy-101/

Aptly billed as providing “EXPERT ADVICE FOR FABULOUS MOMS & SAVVY DADS”, Pink & Blue Baby is an online magazine that is unique because it is the first online magazine to feature experts who interacts with parents and parents-to-be by sharing information and advice.

When you check out the magazine you will see that it features experts in their fields on a variety of topics such as; music classes, prenatal, postnatal, nutrition, recipes, child care options, advice from Doctors of all kinds,   holistic remedies, baby names, charity, coupons & deals, sleep, registries, breast-feeding, financial topics, local events, family fun, birthday party ideas and gifts and anything else related to making parents’ fabulous with expert advice and bloggers, and you can write in and ask questions to our experts and ask “Miss Pink & Mr. Blue” all the questions you are curious about.  No boundaries.

The site also has been doing product give aways – which is a bonus - so as a reader you also have an opportunity to win some great swag while getting the inside goods.

Check out the Facebook group, hit them up on Twitter or follow the URL and come say hello. 

So how did this magazine start, you ask?

The concept came about to fill a niche in the Mommy / Daddy marketplace for those of us who have not always had that group of friends since school who we could turn to in order to ask questions, get advice and seek support.  When you’re a new parent or a 3-time parent such as myself, having support, a network, or someone to turn to is critical to raising sane children (or to stay sane as a parent).  In the case of this magazine, one of the sites creators, Nicole Bloomberg, had a baby girl and moved from Florida to Toronto and wanted to have a network to connect with local mothers and help other mothers connect. Since one did not exist, she created one with Robyn Zeldin, the owner of Wee Care & In a Pinch – which happens to be our nanny agency of choice, I might throw in). 

Viola, out came Pink and Blue Baby.

Here are some links to the rest of the site;

• Mom Blog
• Contact Pink & Blue Baby Mag
• Wee Care-In A Pinch

Make sure to check them out and please come by the Daddy101, say hello, post a comment, ask a question and see some of my material done up a little nicer and with pictures!

Related articles

• It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. I cannot find a village, will my social media community suffice? (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)

 

Why I ate a warm banana tonight…

Tonight I ate a warm banana.

Why you ask?

Because my stubborn daughter, Berry would not go to sleep tonight.  She had a 1 1/2 hour nap with her nanny this afternoon and that meant she was not happy to be in bed at 8pm.  She cried, she yelled, she screamed… She wanted to “eat” which meant STALLING! 

Before bed she wants to eat or poo, both opportunities for her to not have to go to sleep even if she is exhausted as I suspected she was tonight.

The Leafs were playing the Penguins and I had the TV on.

I gave her a banana and she took one bite then she leaned her head on the side of the couch while I cleaned up.  I asked her if she was ready for bed but she said no and she took the world’s smallest nibble of this banana. 

I continued cleaning, checking on her every couple of minutes.

I left the room and came back in to find this;

 

It’s been a while… How are you?

Hey!  How are you?  Are you still there? 

Did you miss me?  It’s been a while.  Since I auto-post some of my Thursday Thirteen’s, it’s been a while since I have actually had time to write a fresh post.  I did one last week and that one drew incredible response on Facebook, Twitter and through my blog.  The message was clear to me that it was time to get down to writing again, so here I go. 

As I had previously posted, I made a great career move just over a week ago and with that I have been making effort to rid myself of some bad habits that I have dragged with me along the way, specifically, going to bed late, sleeping in and neglecting my duties around the house.  There, I said it.  But since last week, I’ve been getting to bed at a very reasonable time (before midnight almost every night) and as a result, I have no time for dilly-dallying after I get home from the office.  Stuff has to get done around here AND I still want to check in with the UrbanMummy (who has been quite ill the past, oh, 6 weeks), to make sure she’s coping with work, kids, household and buying stuff online.  Yes, we have a nanny, but even she’s busy in the evenings taking English courses and hanging around with her friends and family.  After a long day she needs to recharge herself to prepare for the next day too.

So here is what we’ve been up to and forgive me if I have posted about this before;

Linus has been coming of age recently, spending more time focussing on his activities and I think really starting to understand that doing things half-assed is so not cool.  I can vouch for that have grown up in the same pattern he is currently living!  But in the past couple weeks, he has impressed his piano teacher (although he refuses to practice – he just gets it), he has moved up a level in swimming classes, and in karate he’s grading for his green belt – and red guey - on the weekend because he’s totally mastered his kata.  He’s excelling in his Beaver troop and his math skills are still lights out!  He’s amazing with numbers, adding, subtracting, multiplication and some division.  He even knows about negative numbers and he can do math problems like they are child’s play.  Me, on the other hand, refused to touch math problems from his grade through University.  I knew I didn’t get them, so why make the effort.  But he gets them (thank goodness).  I’m in awe and SO proud.  He has also recently shown an interest in soccer and reading.  YAY.

Stewie – poor tired Stewie – came with to Beavers the last couple weeks and although he does not have a “costume” yet (read: Beaver uniform) he seems to really enjoy the learning and craft segments of the meetings but these meetings end at 7:30pm and that is his bedtime, so by the time we’re in the car after the meeting, he is a mess and ready for meltdown.  As a result, I do not think he’s going to be able to stick with it, at least right now.  In other activities, Stewie is also progressing at swimming – briefly being at the same level as Linus – and in piano, which he practices daily, he can play by ear!  He loves to read and has been coming up with the most cleverist of comments pretty much hourly, lately, which kills us.  He of course also likes to fight with Linus and just yesterday was waving a kitchen knife near his sister’s head while he was trying to cut an apple and verbally abuse his brother with comments like, “You’re an A.S.S., Linus”, or the ever popular, “You’re a poo poo, Linus”.  Even poor Berry can now be heard yelling to either boy, “My name is not poo poo, it’s Berry”, or “I am NOT a poo poo!  you’re a poo poo”.  Oh yes.  They have corrupted Berry so much, just last night she was heard singing “Mary had a little poo…”

Berry, meanwhile, is potty trained – except night obviously, she just turned 2-years-old – and has been sleeping in her “big girl bed” which is a toddler bed for about the same time.  During her first week in that bed she fell out of bed 5 times, four times towards the door, and the last time she fell behind the bed, so between the bed and the wall.  This usually occurs between 2am and 5am and we are awaken by a “thump”, then a cry for “mummy!!!”.  Her vocabulary is lights out and she’s quite funny, the perfect mix of Stewie’s seriousness and smarts and Linus’ goofiness and incredible sense of humour.

UrbanMummy… What can I say.  She’s been sick for ages and still manages to work, organize and plan the household, coordinate meals, prepare fantastic meals and basically be mummy to three children.  Being a mother is the most difficult profession in the world… I truly believe that.

Me, well, I drank a Tim Horton’s new XL double double last week, which is the American-sized 24oz drink and I almost fell asleep halfway through it.  It’s so much coffee that I was scared picking it up… Seriously, and nothing scares me anymore.  I’m also very close to registering for the Canadian Investment Funds Course (CIFC) so I can learn things like;

• Financial objectives
• Mutual fund basics
• Mutual fund investment
• Types of mutual funds
• Economic environment
• Managing mutual funds
• Taxation
• Pensions and retirement
• Responsibilities

I think that’s the start I need for continuing education – it’s been 5 years since I completed my MBA, and I think I want to get my CMA after this course is done.  That or I’ll take some smaller courses like on Segregated funds, Mutual funds, or a taxation-specific course to add to my knowledge.

Other than that, I appreciate the support and the comments and I’m sorry that I have not had a chance to return the favour and read your blogs too… I promise, once I get my schedule set I will pop by more often.  I have not even had the time to Tweet or do justice to Cityville, or LinkedIn.  If you are a blogger and are not on my blogroll, please drop me a note or a comment because right now that is what I use as my guide when I have time to read.

I also noticed in the writing of this post that I apparently only have the ability to work for organizations which begin with the exact same letter!  I also cannot type the word “the”, I type “teh”, nor “myself”, I can only do “myslef”.  Can I not program WordPress or any of the Microsoft Office programs to automatically correct those?  They do not!

That’s what I’ve got right now.  This post only sat for 4 days in my draft folder.  I’m already working on the next part.

 

Canadian Weblog Awards – I’m shortlisted!

Today, while surfing the net, I went to visit Ninjamatics and check on the progress for the 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards.  The URL is here;

http://www.ninjamatics.com/canadian-weblog-awards

Having a blog that kind of covers… Stuff, doesn’t normally fare well on year-end awards because I’m more than a parenting blog, I’m a little bit Daddy, I’m a little bit political, I cover sports, and coffee, current events… A bit of everything. 

But blogging as long as I have, there is one category that is totally me, and that one applies to any bloggers who have been kicking around for a long time, which, well I have.

So back to Ninjamatics.  Here was what I saw when I went by;

“The Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards’ forty-six jurors have completed their first of two rounds of judging!

Over the last two weeks, they poured over the 461 nominated weblogs, measuring the nominees against our ten criteria. They have selected the top five weblogs in each category that will move forward into the final round of the Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards. The winners will be picked from this shortlist over the next two weeks.

Without further ado, we are proud to announce the Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards Nominees Shortlist!

Lifetime Achievement Award (for weblogs created before January 1, 2005)
Prix d’excellence pour l’ensemble de son œuvre (blogues créés avant le 1er janvier 2005)

Cheaty Monkey
Coin-Operated Boy
HelloMelissa.net
Urban Daddy
Weighty Matters”

Well.

Look at that.  I’ve been shortlisted.  Sweet.  The other 4 blogs are incredible, no doubt about that.

I’ll be honest, I was a little (okay, a lot) nervous about making the final 5 since last year there were 6 blogs that fit this category and I didn’t make the shortlist – I was the odd one out – which is okay since I’m a little odd. 

This year it’s a different story and I’ve made the cut.  Maybe I should see if there were only 5 blogs in the category this year (he he) before I go any further, but being nominated was a huge achievement and making it through to the bonus round is also very cool.

So please, continue to support your Canadian bloggers!

 

Happy New Year! Goodbye 2011, Welcome 2012.

Hey look at that.  2011 is done and 2012 is here.  Time sure flies when you’re balancing a full-time career, three children, programs with the kids, blogging, Cityville, ball hockey, and most importantly but unfortunately equally as busy, a spouse.  It really seems like every minute of every day is accounted for and that makes for a very tired me.  Heck, I try to do all my blogging at night when everyone is asleep so that I don’t take up precious family time but I’ve been so exhausted being sick, having sick children and just plain tired that my blogging has suffered and I’m not just talking about lack of posts, I mean look at this terrible run on opening paragraph… My English teach with give me a hashtag fail on this one!

But I’m not complaining.  I love being a dad and wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.  What I would change is coming up in my very brief 2012 New Year’s resolutions for myself and wishes for the world. 

Before that, here are some stats for 2011 for this urban daddy.

Number of 2011 blog posts: 176.

Approximate number of Tweets: 2700

Approximate number of new visitors to this blog: 18,000

Most read blog posts:  Posts on the Canadian live-in caregiver program, the Ontario election and just about anything political which resulted in me being pro-conservative and my series on IVF.

Most commented: My post on changes to the live-in caregiver program.  I have a new post coming out soon on this exact topic.

Where did you all come from?  The majority of my views came from www.facebook.com, www.twitter.com and www.,atomicreach.com.  Of course subscriptions and just coming to my URL were far and away the most common.

Geographically, you’ve come from everywhere in the world.  That’s cool.  Also cool is the fact that some of you take the time to “like” me on Facebook and when I periodically drop by to see if you’re a blogger too, I see things that humble me (and make me think you’ve made a mistake) when you’re list of likes include; Lady Gaga, Green Day, MTV, Politics, and me.    

It’s all quite crazy, and a lot of fun.

So my 2012 New Years resolutions:

• More quality time with my wife – including more frequent date nights!
• Drink more water
• Exercise regularly and not just 2-3 times per week.
• Regular push-ups and sit-ups.
• Update my work wardrobe… Quickly.  I have longer than normal arms and pretty big shoulders from working out periodically so as a result I have a hard time getting dress shirts that fit.  As a result, I have them custom made through www.maxwell.com and in that area, I’m doing great but I’ve got nothing else… Socks, pants, jackets… Old and boring.
• More pictures on my blog, including a picture of me to replace Linus’ yucky kitty picture.
• Squeeze in some courses into my already packed schedule.  Either complete me CMA or CSC… Not sure which or where or how, but soon.
• Find greater consistency. 
• Get the job done – even the yucky tasks and fast.
• Change for the sake of change.
• Get a real URL

Now for some general wishes for my city and my sports teams:

• Toronto Maple Leafs @Leafsbb20 Either make a trade for a bona fide 1st line centre to boost scoring or trade your most expensive players and make a run for a top 5 pick and try again next year with Coach Wilson. 
• Playoffs for the Leafs, Raptors, Jays and Argos.  We know the Toronto Rock compete night in, night out, but these other franchises are stuck in a rut it would appear to me.
• Peace in the Middle East.  No more settlements.  No more rockets.  It’s time for all sides to grow up.
• Syria and Russia… You;’re next.  Corruptions must go.
• Rob Ford, you know I support you, but stop making it easy for the left to attack you.  You need to get control of your public image and do it fast.  That means lose some weight, stop drinking so much, and be clear and upfront with your intentions.  If you failed or made a misstep, it’s okay.  The right support you.  We just find it hard to defend you on that other stuff you’re not managing well enough.
• Check out my stuff at www.pinkandbluebaby.com
• I hope my wife completes her holistic nutritionist courses and gets her business up and running.  She’s a super smart cookie (you didn’t think the kids got that from me, right?) and has great ideas.

What are your resolutions and wishes for your family / community?

 

And for the new readers, I periodically like to (re)introduce myself to you all.

My name is Warren and I’ve been blogging here since 2004, or just over 775 blog posts.  I post about my family, politics, coffee and things that annoy or piss me off.    I’ve been married just over 10 years and my wife and I have 3 children; Linus is 7, Stewie is 5 and Berry is 2.  I refer to my oldest as Linus because he reminds me of the character from Peanuts who carries his blanket around everywhere he goes for security.  Stewie is named after the character from Family guy because we are convinced this child is going to kill us with that sweet yet intense personality.  Berry, well, she’s like a strawberry.  Cute and sweet.

My wife and I have masters degrees, so we expect a lot from our kids, especially them to behave and respect others.  In a recent post I was having a conversation with Linus about respect and he told me it was the second most important thing in the world, next to not dying when you are born.  See.  Our kids get it too…

Linus is a whiz with numbers.  Scary good with them.  He also likes to trace out items with his fingers and touch items to get a feel for them.  He’s a hands on kid who is as smart as he wants to be and as goofy as he possibly can be.  He gets the goofiness from, ahem, me.

Stewie seems to be amazing at whatever he does.  Besides being the same height his brother was at the beginning of this school year, Stewie is catching Linus at karate, swimming, piano, reading and pretty much whatever else he can get his hands on.  This kid waits for no one and the more goofy Linus is, the more amazing Stewie becomes and that’s an understatement.  Stewie, if you recall from previous posts, was ready to quit Senior kindergarten because it was “boring”.

Berry… Ahh, sweet Berry.  She looks like Linus but has a little more of Stewie in her.  At just 2-years-old her vocabulary and comprehension are through the roof.  She can count to 10 in Tagalog, Spanish, English and pretty soon Hebrew and French.  She forgets nothing and talks like she is 4.

I work in the taxation industry, so you may see some tax posts go by, although I try to keep them together on www.intaxicating.wordpress.com.  That’s my tax resource blog.

To sum me up, I hate to lose more than I like to win.  I believe in the good in everyone and I hate conflict.  I will go out of my way to make others feel comfortable to compensate for the many years I was uncomfortable, shy and reserved.  I’m not that anymore… Not at all.  When I tell me staff I used to be painfully shy they laugh at me…

I have 2 sides to me.  The public, professional side and the angry sports side.  Polar opposites.

 

So welcome 2012.  Welcome to all my readers, I hope you have a wonderful 2012 too, and if there is anything I can do for you, feel free to comment on a post, or drop me a note at realurbandaddy@gmail.com  

You can subscribe to my posts, you van like me on Facebook and support me on Circle of Moms, or Top Blogs or anywhere else my blog pops up.  It’s those clicks that tell others that you appreciate my writing and just reading my stuff and sending notes on Facebook or in person tell me you read my stuff and I truly appreciate that.

All the best in 2012.

The urban daddy!

 

My 775th post – for all readers for all seasons.

Welcome to my 775th post.  If you’re a blogger you will know this is a lot of writing, covering 8 long years.  If you are not a blogger, trust me, it’s a lot of writing.

The thing is, I’ve been getting a lot of traffic in the last couple years, and some very kind accolades here and there, but both of them are from all over the place, as are most of my posts. 

So for my 775th post, I want to make sure I cover off as many visitors as possible by touching on some of my most popular topics;

If you’ve come to read about politics, I can confirm that those on the left in (downtown) Toronto are still way off base in thinking that this financial crisis was ”created” by Mayor Ford so that he could solve it to look good.  False.  Look at Greece.  Run by socialists and on the verge of bankruptcy.  Look at the TTC.  In effort to cut costs, the Mayor and the TTC chair Karen Stintz cut some routes and there was backlash, so the public spoke that we needed those routes and a $0.10 fare increase was added instead and the public… Back in an uproar.  You cannot have it both way, folks.  I’d love to help the poor, keep all social programs, have amazing snow removal, etc., but someone has to pay for this and I can tell you I’m already taxed up to the top of my head.  If you think you’re not paying enough taxes, then you can pay more and help those in need.  I’m maxed out, thank you.  If I don’t have enough disposable income, then I cannot afford to go out, buy things, eat out, and help re-distribute my income to those in need.  It’s the way the world works… Get over it.

If you’re here to read about coffee, then let me tell you about this great coffee I tried recently at a place called Neighbours.  It came highly recommended from one of my awesome readers and I was really surprised how nice it was.  Not too bold, not too weak, and the cool thing about the location I went to was that they have flavoured coffee mate and that removed the need to have flavoured coffee.  I didn’t put any in for my first cup and I probably won’t for my next one, but it was very nice!

If you’re here to read about parenting, then you’ll be pleased to know that I am the “Daddy 101″ blogger for Pink and Blue Baby.com. Cool, eh?  I find this site really useful, and I have a ton of great stories and baby / toddler / kid tips from almost 7 years of being a daddy and 3 beautiful children.  For example, just Wednesday was my son (Linus’) 7th birthday party and we had a Lego party.  It was great.  The Lego ninja had the kids sitting in 4 teams of 4 and they raced to build a Lego tower, then the built a Lego candy house.  The hour flew by.  After the hour the kids ate Lego candy blocks (thank you Bulk Barn) and Lego cupcakes that I made and my wife decorated so beautifully.  Pizza, grapes, whole wheat pretzels and air popped popcorn round it all out.  It was totally worth it.

For 5-year-old Stewie, we had The Magic and Comedy of IncrediBrent, Toronto’s birthday musician and Brent was amazing.  The kids loved him, the parents loved him and he interacted with the kids so well.  He was a pleasure to deal with and have in our home and I would totally have him back for any future kids parties.  His web-site is www.incredibrent.com.

For Berry’s 2nd birthday party – you saw the Hello Kitty cupcakes in a previous post – we had Applefun Puppetry, www.applefun.ca, and Mike was also spectacular.  He had all the 2-year-old’s participating and his show was so clever and funny that he had me in stitches.  I’ve seen him a couple of times before but that did not stop me from being completely engaged.  Worth the price of admission.

If you’re here to hear my views about food then I can recommend Java Joe’s for catering because they have added some new sandwiches and they are killer.  Spicy chicken and their steak and hot peppers goes great with their chicken Parmigiano and eggplant Parmigiano.  The coffee is great – some organic too – and they have these wickedly heavy brownies and skor brownies.  Find the location at Leslie and West Beaver Creek, call and speak to Randy.  Tell him the Urban Daddy sent you.  He’ll like that!

So I’m not sure what else to cover at this point in time, except to say thank you to all of you who take the time to comment and who tell me you’ve been following along with my posts at home.  It means a lot to mean and it always makes me wonder what’s so interesting that keeps people coming back.  But I like to tell stories, I’m proud of my family, and I like to write, so there.  I’m going to do it if 200 people come to read or 20 million (LOL).

Feel free to subscribe to my feed, or like me on Facebook.  If you are reading this through my actual blog, then go on the right side, check out some of the amazing writers on my blogroll, and further down you will see the link to my Facebook page and some other sites that have featured me.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to all of you from all of us!

Warren aka the urban daddy.

@urbandaddyblog

 

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. I cannot find a village, will my social media community suffice?

I recently joined a parenting group on Facebook called Pink and Blue Baby. I took a quick look through some of the threads in the group and right away got a feel for what the purpose of the board was – to be a resource for first time parents.

What gave it away? Questions such as; At what age is it okay to take my baby out for the first time? Will my baby ever sleep? When can I give my baby “real” food? All the questions we sorted through just over 6 years ago with our first born son, aptly referred to as Linus on my blog (for the fact he carries a blankie and constantly has his fingers in his mouth). But upon further review of the threads I noticed this board is more than that. It is also serving the purpose of helping parents with their current questions, such as; Looking for play-dates, recommendations for thank you notes, loot bag suggestions, and much, much more.

I couldn’t help but think about how much the times have changed since we had our first baby, Linus, who will only be 7-years-old in just over a month. When he was a baby what did we know? As soon-to-be first time parents, we took advantage of whatever opportunity we had to learn how these things called “babies” worked.

The first class I remember us taking was at the hospital we were giving birth at, North York General Hospital, and if I recall correctly, it was called “When Baby Comes” and looking back now, it was pretty scary. It was taught by a registered nurse and was very descriptive and technical. After Linus came – I was fortunate to be off on parental leave from my job for 9 months, – my wife and I tried to figure out what to do with a child who slept, whenever, ate a lot and pooped a lot. It was hands-on learning.

My wife found a registered nurse in the area who taught classes to a group of local moms, and these moms formed the baby group that our son grew up with. All the kids were around the same age (one born mere minutes after our son at the same hospital) and it was this group that served as our resource for the first year, to year and a half of Linus’ life. Food, fitness, health, growth spurts, etc were all discussed in the class, and then with these moms. The moms, became the dads and the dads would all get together, head out for wings and beer and talk about our kids. It was great. With this group came the siblings for most of the parents and with that the purpose of the group became clear. Play-dates, birthday parties, all kinds of questions, and much more were discussed through this group in person and via email.

While my wife was increasing her knowledge on the baby front, I was using my parental leave to work on my MBA. I found the evenings worked great because I wanted to be around to help out as much as possible. I would take Linus for long walks each day – he would score me free shwag all over the place, especially at the local Starbucks. I did as many diaper changes as necessary; I loved feeding him and reading books to him. It was trial by error on my side and a lot of research on my wife’s side. Why don’t these kids comes with instruction manuals?!?

Looking back, how did we ever get through baby #1 without the benefit of a cool group like this one I just joined?!? Well to be honest, it was all my wife. She read the baby books, she surfed the net looking for resources, and with her mother’s intuition she did all the rest. She got Linus on a schedule after reading that babies need structure. She arranged for cloth diapers after reading that it helps kids potty train sooner, and she made his food instead of buying it because with her science background and as a budding nutritionist she knew the added chemicals were not good for him. She sought out and then checked out kids’ furniture. She also found a great resource online which detailed Linus’ progression and explained what we could expect from them at that age on a week by week basis.

After putting in all this work, child #2, Stewie (named on my blog after the baby from Family Guy because we thought he was trying to kill us by getting up every 2-3 hours for the first 10 months of his life, without fail) was a breeze. Armed with plenty of resources and almost two years practical hands on experience we were ready for anything.

Linus, you see, was a textbook baby. We knew this by reading the textbooks. So was Stewie, and so far our third (and last) child, Berry fits that mold too. These kids follow the models laid out in the text, so the more we read, the easier it was to predict their next growth spurt, or when their teeth were set to come it. It made life much easier for us.

One think I noticed as we both headed back to work was that we now had a family of 6 (3 kids and a nanny) and running the household was that much more challenging. With work, schedules, school, programs, and meal planning and preparation there was no time for anything else outside of being a parent. Where was the time for us?

Fear not new parents, it gets better… (No, really it doesn’t). It cannot get better than being surrounded by children and the more kids, the more love, the more poop, the more shmootz, and the less sleep. If it’s not one kid getting up in the middle of the night, it’s one of the others.

Needless to say parents; no matter if you’re a first time parent or a 4th time parent, it’s all the same. Our kids will continue to grow and we will always have parenting questions. We will worry about them and in doing so forget about you. It’s okay, it’s natural and we all do it. Just keep asking those questions on this message board and when you get more experienced, you too will share your thoughts and observations about what it was like for you, as I have done tonight too, and do with regularity on my blog.

If you want to read more, you can find this urban daddy at www.urbandaddy.wordpress.com.

 

 

Some Urban Daddy Reminders – By the Numbers

Every now and then I like to perform a pulse check on my blogging. I guess this is it.

Housekeeping:

Please remember that on the right side of my blog I have my twitter feed.  You can follow my tweets here or follow me directly @urbandaddyblog on Twitter.

Below my Twitter feed you will find my Blogroll which includes Daddy bloggers, local Toronto bloggers, and some wonderful political blogs.  Go, click through and read them.  Some very talented writers are waiting for you to come by and read their stuff. In addition, if there are some blogs you know about that you think are fantastic too, please post about them and I will always check them out and if they are fantastic I will add them to my blogroll.

Stats:

I just posted my 752nd blog post on this blog last night.

I’m approaching my 100th post on my professional tax / management blog; www.intaxicating.wordpress.com.

I’m finally past my 900th follower on Twitter and I’m heading for 1000.

I am also nearing my 3500th tweet.

On Facebook, I am heading towards my 200th “like”.  You can find the link to that on the right side of my blog too.

My October destroyed any other month in the way of traffic to my site.  Actually, October had more hits than August and September combined and those months were my best months ever. Thank you.  

I am also approaching my 1500th comment.

Lots of milestones coming in the next few days, weeks and months and I thank you for being a huge part.

I also just passed my 30,000th unique hit on this blog which has been in existance for about 4 years as a public blog, and spend the previous 4 years hidden. When I made it public I moved it from Blogger onto WordPress and in doing so, all the posts moved over, however the hits did not. I’m okay with 30,000. Actually, to be honest, I think 30,000 is incredible considering a lot of the crap I have written over the years.

 

Thursday Thirteen – 13 New Year’s Resolutions for 2011

This Thursday Thirteen represents my list of 13 things I actually will do in 2011 (in no particular order).

13. Decorate our house.  This is the 15 year house and unlike the last house, we want to take our time and make it beautiful.

12. Spend more time with my wife – but quality time, not just time sitting in the same room.  I always have good intentions, but am slow on the follow through.  Wouldn’t you want to spend as much time as possible with your best friend?

11. Enjoy life more – Take time each day to take a deep breath and live a little.  I’m going to be 40 soon and I really want to enjoy my life more.

10. Learn tax – Each and every day I need to take a little longer and learn a little more about the field I have now spent 14 years in.  In order to continue to succeed, I need to become a master in my own domain, and that means with www.intaxicating.ca

9. Take vocal lessons to learn how to sing – I have the world’s worst voice.  I can’t sing and when I talk my voice is scratchy.  I want to do more with this voice.  Some added confidence will help.

8. Lose 25 pounds – Really lose weight… Long lasting.  I’ve done it before when I dropped 50 pounds at the age of 19 and I want to do it again at the age of 39.

7. Build a nice wardrobe – I have no casual clothes.  My dress pants have pleats and my blue ones have a hole in the ass (from that #$$%^%$ moth in our closet, I think).  I need power clothes!

6. Come clean to myself that I like blogging and being a daddy blogger.  It’s nothing to be ashamed of.  I just need something more advanced than a flip phone my employer gave me.

5. Get into the top 50 on Jedi vs. Sith.   I’m currently 58th in the world out of over 6 million players… Nerd!

4. Appear in the newspaper in one of those social scene spreads.  I’ve always wanted to since I was a kid, and considering how bad I am at being really social, it would mean to me that I got my shit together and fast.

3. Work at putting my interests and the interests of my family ahead of the interests of others (including strangers). 

2. Get organized so I can excel in certain key areas in my life instead of scraping by.

1.  Start acting my age!  It’s okay to feel young, but not so cool to act it all the time.

What are your resolutions?  Have you achieved or broken any yet this year?