Thursday Thirteen: 13 Things I Need My Children to Remember as they Grow up.

English: Pink colour (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Often, I see lists, like the one I am posting today, about things we want our children to know, learn, remember and respect, and these lists are often quite to the point if not a little on the comedic side.  My Thursday Thirteen, however, is a little different from the norm as I have provided thirteen things that I need my children – Linus, Stewie and Boo – to remember as they grow up.  On the bright side, if they ever forget (and I have not completely embarrassed them by the time I cease blogging), they can always find it here.

As parents it is our job to teach and shape our children so that one day when they begin to develop their own opinions they will be able to use what they learned from us to shape their thoughts on things they didn’t know – so they won’t hurt anyone (especially themselves) along the way.   To do otherwise by your children, would – in my opinion – be considered failure as a parent.

Here are the thirteen things I need my kids to remember as they grow up;

13. To my boys: Pink is a colour, much as red, blue, black and green. Liking pink doesn’t mean anything except that you like the colour. If someone tells you otherwise you have to remember that it’s their problem, not yours. At some point in their life, someone tied to colour pink to a negative stereotype which simply does not exist. It’s okay to buy pink items, pink clothes and paint a room pink.

12. All (My 2 boys and my girl): Your nose is NOT an appropriate place to stick your finger – and this rule always stands, whether you are 3, 7, 8 or 38. If you do visit there, in the solitude of your own room, or home, it is NOT okay to them put that finger in your mouth, on your bed, or on your clothes. If, however, you choose to pick your nose, then you must have either a kleenex or square of toilet paper for when you are finished and wash your hands after. Remember that if your hands are dirty and you place a finger in your nose (or mouth) you are putting germs in your body. You will get sick. In addition, people think it’s yucky. Don’t be that yucky kid that turns into the yucky teen, then the creepy booger-eating adult. Please.

11. All: Respect others’ personal space and belongings. There are written rules which need to obeyed when you are in a home and there are some unwritten rules which you must follow so that you will . You need to respect others and their possessions. I know children will be children, but taking, breaking, hiding or damaging something that does not belong to you is not at all what I have in mind when it comes to creating art or playful fun. Neither is it fun to touch, push, trip or get in the face of someone for any reason. In fact, this is a lesson in doing it all WRONG! If you did this to my belongings or got in my face, I would not be happy.

10. Accept others for who they really are.  In an age where bullying has taken centre stage among our youth, I hope I have taught you to see the value in differences. Race, religion, colour, accents, or dress, interests, hair style or colour, ability or disability… It doesn’t matter.  See past it all and realize that we are all humans on this planet.

9. It is okay to cry. Crying is a natural emotional response to feelings. We all do it. Men cry. Women cry. Children cry. If you begin to cry and someone calls you a baby just remember that they learned this at home and they are being taught to hold in their emotions. Feel sorry for them but don’t allow them to change how you act or how you feel.

8. Always be proud of who YOU are. You may not be the tallest kid, or the fastest, or have the best hair, but really now, who cares? As long as you stay true to who you are, everything else will fall into place.

7. Find your passion. Keep looking and searching. Never ever stop.

6. Love this planet we live on called “Earth”. Recycle, reduce, reuse.  Go as “green” as you can by being aware of how you live, shop, and of what you consume (and where that comes from).  Now go join your mother and I hug a tree.

5. Be a brother / sister. Be a friend. Be a protector. Always be good to your family, even when there is conflict. Always remember that you are all that you have. Spouses and friends are great but at the end of the day you should know and have the support of your brother/sister when you need it.  Just don’t take advantage.

4. Smart is cool. Never be ashamed of being smart or nerdy, having freckles or glasses, or loving science and math (or tax). Smart never goes out of style, it stays with you as you grow, and it will lead you down the most successful paths you can imagine.

3. All: Your body is just that, it’s your body. You can keep your hair any way or colour that you want and you can dress any way that you want, but you must remember that others will judge you and it will impact how others treat you. So long as you understand that, you may continue. Don’t let pop culture define you. I don’t know why, but today we let pop culture manipulate our youth and it’s killing them emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. From the early on fascination with princesses, to the ‘need’ for a boyfriend and big boobs, popularity, teen moms, and all the other garbage being thrown in their face – be confident going against the grain or you’ll risk selling yourself out.

2. Maintain your health. It’s life’s greatest asset.  Without good health you have nothing.  A positive approach to health encompasses physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being.  Healthy lifestyle choices we taught you in your youth have already helped to lay a strong foundation for continued wellness throughout your adult life.  In addition, a healthy diet, plenty of exercise, stress management, self-motivation, and remaining positive will have a huge impact on your quality of life, health, and happiness.  Honourable mention: Never be afraid to laugh at yourself. Laughter is humbling. It inspires and motivates.  It keeps you real.

1. Wherever you are in life, you can come home. I will be here – always. ♥ Daddy. Remember children that you will all be my favourite children forever (and equally for your own strengths and inspirations). If you don’t believe me, ask Mummy. She will tell you the same thing.

Active for Life: Great Resource AND Cool Steve Nash Contest. Details Inside

Steve Nash(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recently came across a cool contest run by an organization called Active For Life.  Active for Life happens to be a leading promoter of children’s physical literacy to help parents raise active and healthy kids and they are kick-starting their new year to get families thinking about getting active with an exciting contest for a chance to win a Luyou shoe autographed by Steve Nash, himself a Dad and an advocate for physical literacy, and $200 SportChek gift certificate.

This contest is currently running and it’s worth heading over to the site to see some great current articles such as;

Tips to manage your kids handheld media time, which can be found here;

or “Soccer Skills, not Trophies, leads to success” which can be found here.

As a Dad blogger, I hadn’t really heard of physical literacy before seeing this, but I’ve learned an incredible amount over the last few months and this site is great for offering suggestions to keep children active and healthy.

Active for Life is the place where parents go to learn about how to make a difference in the health and happiness of their children. Research shows there’s a right way and a right time to develop the fundamental movement and sport skills that benefit kids for their entire lives. Learning these basic movement and sports skills is known as becoming physical literate.

Being physically literate is the foundation for being successful in sport and in life. Physical literacy gives active kids the best chance at becoming top-level athletes who may someday compete in high-performance sport. It also results in them leading an active life. And as the word “literacy” implies, just like reading, writing and arithmetic, movement skills need to be taught.

The website offers expert advice, inspirational tips and activity ideas which can help us, as parents, make sure our children get their recommended daily amount of physical activity and we all know that active kids become active adults.

Physical literacy, is about giving our kids the physical foundational skills to enable them to stay active for life – able to participate in a range of physical activities.  What I like about this in particular is the down-to-earth information and articles that provide practical direction in how to incorporate physical literacy into family life and some of the do’s and don’ts around it to help us get it right.  Their website is a magazine format that provides a ton of information and a very cool skills-builder tool which helps when we want to look at what skills to work on with kids at a given age.

You can find out more and enter the contest here.

It’s a great cause, and a very cool contest.  Active for Life can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Weird Eating Habits

Small tomatoes.

This week’s (late) Thursday Thirteen is about 13 foods that my family will eat… In one form, but will not touch in a different form.   I’m sure as parents we have all tried to get our kids to try new foods and it can be super-frustrating when one of the foods is a food they love, but in a different form they refuse to even try it no matter how many times you explain to them it’s the same food.  See if any from our list are also on yours, and please share your as well.

So please, sit close to the table so nothing drops on the floor, use your napkin not your sleeve, and get that fork away from my leg.  Let’s get ready to look deeply into our children’s brains and figure out their peculiar eating habits.

13.  My son Stewie loves eating peanuts and enjoys eating almonds, however, he refuses to eat peanut butter or almond butter.  I have even let him read the ingredients in the President’s Choice blue menu peanut  butter which is 100% peanuts to explain to him it’s the exact same food, but in a different form, but no dice.  He won’t even try it.

12.  My kids love fruit.  Love it.  Stewie, however, refuses to eat jam, even though my sister makes the jam we eat and it’s just fruit and very little sugar.   I’ve asked him to smell the jam – he said it smells like fruit, yet he refuses to taste it.

11.  I have a couple of folks in my household with tomato issues.  One eats fresh tomatoes and tomato sauce but refuses to eat tomato-based soups, while the other (ahem: older) one will eat tomato in sauce if its blended (like a pink / rose sauce) but will not touch a raw tomatoes.

10.  I’ve also got some weird egg-stuff going on here with Stewie who will only eat boiled eggs – and not the yolk, whereas Linus won’t eat boiled eggs, but likes scrambled eggs or egg salad. 

9.   I’m pretty sure all parents have this one – my kids love raw veggies in all forms but will not eat a salad.  What’s up with that?

8.  My entire family loves cucumbers.  We buy and go through 6-7 english cucumbers a week, and they also love sour dill pickles but will not eat a new dill pickle which is basically a pickle in a garlic brine before it gets sour.  It’s just crunchy.

7.   Linus loves to eat wasabi peas, but he won’t even touch a piece of sushi if it’s within 6cm of the pile of wasabi.

6.  I also have a family who like to drink orange juice but do not like to eat actual oranges. 

5.   My wife cannot eat oatmeal – says it’s a texture thing – but loves to bake and eat oatmeal cookies.

4.   Every year we fill our front porch with pumpkins and once Halloween is over I crack open a few of them, rip out and bake the seeds, then try to make some recipes so the vegetable doesn’t go to waste.  When I roast the seeds in an over it’s with a bit of oil, salt and cayenne pepper and my kids devour them whole.  But if I try to get them to eat an already opened pepita they make faces and won’t even take a bite…

3.   I noticed that our nanny, Gamay, loves her sweets, but only if she can eat them, she will never drink them.  I don’t get that one either…

2.    Here is another I never understood.  My kids eat marble cheese and will only eat marble cheese strings out of the house, but if they are given the same cheeses but in a non-marble form, it’s noses in the air and walking on by.  It’s the same cheese, I tell them to no avail.

1.  Number one is more a combination of eating habits that my kids have that makes me scratch my head, for example;

No one in my family will eat the ends of a bread

My kids eat the top off of broccoli but will not eat the stems.

Linus will not eat any bread that is not whole wheat, nor a challah (egg bread).

My kids will only eat a certain brand of cottage cheese and Stewie only one brand of cream cheese

My wife can only drink milk out of a jug.  Something about tasting the bag that it comes in.

So how do we stack up?

Honourable mention to my kids who love yoghurt and raisins but won’t touch a yoghurt covered raisin.  Why is that???

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• Brotherly Advice: Don’t Piss off G-d. (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
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You’re Amazing, Jennifer Livingston

Bully Free Zone sign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now it’s my turn to chime in on the topic of bullying.

I too was bullied as a child – I always thought it was my fault.  I was an average geeky kid growing up and a far cry from the overweight kid who wore plastic-framed glasses and had yucky unkempt hair underneath my baseball hat that appeared in middle school.  That kid was not bullied.  In elementary school, however, all I wanted to do was play sports and learn.  I never could figure out why my neighbour kept threatening me and pushing me around whenever he needed to show off to his friends.

Throughout all this, my mother was awesome.  Whenever I used to come home crying or scared after being assaulted she would race over to that kid’s house and rip him and his parents a new one.  She kept assuring my sister and I that nothing would happen to us, that words were just words but if they ever touched us to let us know and she would call the police.  Looking back, saying “sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me” to a bully made sense but I’m sure the words were lost on him and on us and didn’t help much.

This neighbour who used to bully me… was 2 grades ahead of me in school, but having failed 3 grades, was 5 years older and a LOT taller.  He was mean to the core and not that smart in so many ways.  His parents didn’t seem to believe that he would be bullying me or my sister so the act kept going until he finally graduated.

While I remember these events like they were yesterday, it was one nasty comment from a girl I sat beside in Hebrew school who caused me the most trauma for a very long time.  She was a bully and although I do not remember her name, I remember the look she gave me when the below incident happened.

When I was in grade four I was wearing a t-shirt that my parents had bought me for my birthday – early 80′s here folks – and it was a grey shirt with a sparkling grey iron-on that read; “Behind this t-shirt is one terrific kid”.

The first time I wore it to my Hebrew school this girl turned to me and offered up this comment; “Behind that t-shirt is one fat slob!”

I never wore that shirt again and it made me very aware at a young age that people were looking at me and judging me, and no matter how much I weighed (248lbs when I was 13, or 190lbs when I was 18) I always felt that someone was going to direct a comment like that at me.  It hurt and I never forgot.

I guess the point here is that no matter what form bullying comes in – physical or emotional – it’s still bullying and as adults we have all been bullied and in some cases, we have bullied others.  By raising awareness around what constitutes bullying I hope our kids will see less bullying than we had to put up with and will be able to identify when they are bullying someone else and put an end to it.  Sure, bullying will never completely go away but I don’t want my kids being worried about stepping out for recess because a kid 5 years older than them is going to want to push them down a hill and laugh at them after.   

Now, to the title of this post…

I heard about and watched the video of the news reporter – Jennifer Livingston - who received an email from an infrequent viewer who went on to criticize her for being overweight and a poor role model for children.  His email was 100% inappropriate and was clearly offensive.  He may have thought he was protecting girls of the world from obesity, but he was bullying this woman who was reporting the news. 

I tried to figure out what kind of person feels compelled to tell another person how to live their life?  It’s not just about what people consume, but how they dress, how they keep their hair or what they choose to do with their bodies.   This guy doesn’t know why she’s overweight.  He doesn’t know if she is battling an illness or if this is a life-long issue which she has been dealing with.  His opinion, and comments were not necessary.   

So when reading up on some blogs, I came across this post called You’re Amazing, Jennifer Livingston.  It’s extremely well written and prompted me to re-post it, something I have never done before.  I recommend you click-through to the link and give it a read as well.  Send that author some love too. 

I also hope that you will take the time to post about how you were bullied growing up – there was something freeing about getting that out in the open – and I, for one, will be paying attention to my kids to make sure they do not bully others and if I find out that they have – there will be consequences.  I think it parents actually paid attention to their kids behaviours and comments they made in front of the kids, then they would not be contributing to the problem of bullying but helping to make it obsolete.

Related articles

• You’re Amazing, Jennifer Livingston (torontonannyblog.com)
• Jennifer Livingston, TV Anchor, Responds To Viewer’s Attack On Her Weight (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)

The long weekend that was and the (short) week ahead.

The weather was incredible for this past long-weekend up here in Canada, eh?

We pushed 40 degrees celsius here in Toronto with the humidity which for you US folks is 104 fahrenheit. For most of the 3 days there was not a cloud to be seen.

Aside from almost getting myself and 4 children sandwiched between a parked car and an empty car reversing out of a parking spot by itself. the weekend was fantastic.

Here is why, followed by “What to Expect” for this upcoming week.

1) Fresh fruit and vegetable picking at Whitamore’s Farms netted us some green peas, red potatoes, raspberries and strawberries. The sucked back the raspberries before we got home because they were the first crop of the year and so very yummy.

2) Sunday was our 11th wedding anniversary. Steel for those of you playing along at home.

3) Sunday was also Canada’s 145th birthday and the highlight was my 3 kids in their Canada t-shirts marching through the house waving Canadian flags and singing “Happy Birthday Canada” at the top of their lungs.

3) We had friends over each day to hang out, BBQ with and chill out with.

4) Bought a big boy bike for Linus whom I will teach to ride without training wheels in July.

5) Bought a tricycle for Berry who, once she got the hang of it, was having a great time.

6) Did a lot of cleaning and getting things done. Our garbage can is over-flowing as is the recycling bin.

7) Had a fight with the family of raccoons living on my neighbours roof.  As the weekend went on whenever they saw me and the jet feature on the hose they ran like hell.  See, they are really smart.  This family of 6 are out all times of day and night, their poo is everywhere, they scare my kids, and we cannot use our beautiful backyard patio set. Today I get even, hiring a raccoon exterminater because in Toronto you cannot harm the poor things and our green bin program (wet waste – food scraps) is feeding these vile breeding machines.

 

And the week ahead looks something like this;

• Another sponsored post upcoming on In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) aimed at our friends in Alberta. This would be my 4th post on this topic.
• An exciting giveaway from the great folks at What to Expect When you’re Expecting.
• Some insight into Community television, specifically Rogers Cable 10 and what they offer for the general public and Daddy bloggers like me, to allow us to take our talents to the television screen… For free.
• And of course some funny comments from the Urban Daddy clan including freckles to eat. Yum.

 

So please, stay tuned and take a moment to post what you did this fine weekend. Remember it’s also the best way to attract new readers to your blog.

Also remember if you follow my blog on Twitter @urbandaddyblog or on Facebook (the link is on the right side of my blog – click through if reading this through a reader) and you get all kinds of great stuff casual readers do not get to see…

I’m just saying!

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My children make me laugh and surprise me on a daily basis…

Everything is Terrible! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oy, kids.

They say and do enough things on a daily basis to keep me posting for a long time, but not being around them during the week except for a few hours at night, I need to save up their comments until I have enough for a decent post.  Here are a few gems, in my honest opinion.

1) Last week at Linus’ baseball, Stewie and Berry took off to the shade (it was over 40 degrees with the humidity) and were playing in a pseudo sand box with another boy. Stewie thought it was a good idea to play with the broken, upside down bike beside him, and after moving him away from that he had an even better idea;

Stewie: “Hey, let’s pick up these big sticks and make a band!”

Gives sticks to Berry and this boy. Then starts smacking his stick on the bicycle rack hoping it would sound nice.

To the unknown boy; “You are going to hit your stick on the fence while I hit this and Berry is going to hit the bike”.

Boy starts smacking the fence.

Stewie; “Stop. You’re terrible. Stop hitting the fence. you’re not in the band anymore!”

Me: “Stewie!!! You can’t say that to him – no matter if you think its true or not. It’s not nice to tell someone they are terrible”.

Stewie pauses… Thinks… Says; “Okay. You’re not terrible. You’re amazing! but you’re still no longer in the band!”

———————————–

At dinner 2 nights ago when 3 exhausted kids were getting on each other’s nerves I heard Berry say this to one of her brothers; “Stop! Or I will pee on you!”.

———————————

Linus had a rough day at Chess camp this week. School ended last Friday and he really wanted to attend this camp so we signed him and his brother up for Monday and Tuesday.

Well towards the end of Monday some kid punched Linus in the eye. It was the first time he got hit like that, and as a green belt in karate he should have blocked that punch, and that boy is VERY lucky Linus didn’t strike him back.

After this event he was shaken, so we kept them home Tuesday.

I guess he wanted to play Skylanders on our Wii Tuesday and could not figure out how to get it working so he called me at work. It was the first time he had done that, and to be honest, I didn’t think he knew how to use the phone.

I answered, he was very clear, nice and polite on the phone and we walked through how to set up the Wii and during that time I was amazed at how well he was able to follow directions, read and understand the TV settings and navigate through them.

We hung up then I started to think…

How did he get my number?

So when I arrived home at night and after I gave him a monster hug, I asked him how he knew what number to reach me at, at which point in time, he walked over to his bulletin board in the family room and there was my business card.  He said he knew which number to call from there.

Cool.

So smart.

I predict many calls from him going forward. 

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What a conversation between a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old sounds like…

We had the pleasure this past weekend to be in the car with our two boys as they decided to have a conversation about death.

Linus is 7-years-old.

Stewie is 5-years-old.

Berry is 2 1/2 years old.

Stewie; “You’re going to die two years before me because you’re two years older than me.”

Linus; “That’s not true. I’m so going to live longer than you, I’m healthier than you.”

Stewie; ” That’s not true. You’re a poo”.

Linus; “I didn’t have any treats yesterday so I’m healthier than you and I’m going to live longer than you”.

Stewie; “You’re still going to die before me.”

Us: “Stop!  No more talk about death, okay!!!”

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Stewie on his way to school to his mummy; “Mummy, it would not be fun to be an ant”.

STOMP.

———————————————————

Us to Stewie; “Stewie, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

Stewie; “Everything!”.

———————————————————

A sign your children watch too much wrestling on TV…

Berry to Linus; “I’m going to chokeslam you.  Go away!!!”

———————————————————

Stewie to me; “Daddy, can you lift the world?”

Me; “No, not today son.”

Him; “Mark Henry can (wrestler formerly the “World’s Strongest Man”)

———————————————————–

Stewie to his mummy; “Mummy you can buy a dreydl out of water for Berry cause she’s your daughter.  See, it rhymes… Water.  Daughter”.

Me; “But a dreydl out of water?!?  Really?”

Him; “Oh yeah”.

Related articles

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Piano, Food and a Very Funny Car Conversation: The Weekend Re-Cap.

Piano (Photo credit: me5otron)

Sunday in the urban daddy household started as pretty much every day the past couple weeks did, with a lot of piano music.  Practice, practice and more practice was in order for my two boys who had their first ever piano recital in the afternoon.  Linus was playing O’Canada while Stewie was playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.

Getting Linus to practice has been difficult – he reminds me of myself as a kid taking piano lessons reluctantly, even less eager to practice, however he can easily read the music and gets both hands magically pounding out the tunes. Stewie, on the other hand, loves to practice and loves to play. He’s very determined and he enjoys playing songs by ear..

On Friday, for example, Stewie came home quite upset after a busy day at school and a less than satisfying playdate – and he went right over to the piano and began to pound out his songs. It’s his release, and he’s also really good at it.

So after the kids performed their songs at the recital and kicked ass (taking no prisoners) we all headed over to T&T grocery store at the Promenade mall for some samples, groceries, a bite to eat.  We then strolled through the mall eventually ending up in SportChek so we could buy tennis rackets for the boys who will be doing a week of tennis at camp this summer, and we also left the store with a pink baseball that read; “Girls Rule” on it for Berry (which she later dropped on my broken foot by accident) and of course I had to grab a coffee at Aroma so I could include them in my 2012 Coffee Rankings – coming later this month.

With dinner plans up north, and hoping the snack would tide the kids over a took the groceries out to our very hot car – Toronto was roasting today – and drove over to meet my in-laws and my wife’s grandfather for dinner.  In the car I thought to make sure the kids were hungry, and to see if we could plan ahead what we were going to eat and hopefully avoid any meltdowns.

“Linus, are you hungry?”, I asked.
“No, I’m thirsty”, he replied.

“Stewie, are you hungry?” I asked knowing he’s always hungry.
“No. Wait. Yes. I’m hungry”, he said.

To which Linus replied quickly; “Hi hungry, pleased to meet you, I’m thirsty”.  Both boys began to giggle…

To this comment, Berry exploded; “NO! YOU CANNOT SAY HI I’M THIRSTY! That’s not right.  That DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!  It’s not your real name!!!”

Errr. Okay.  She was in fine form again this weekend… At 2 1/2 I cannot wait to see how what she is like a little older when she really grasps her vocabulary.  Yikes.

But she was really cute at dinner, wanting to sit in between her grandfather and great-grandfather and at one point she was a mere few inches from her great-grandfather’s nose when she told him; “You have a big nose!”  Laughing he played the “I’ve got your nose” game which she loved and it was less than 5 minutes before she was back sitting between my wife and I when she turned to my wife and said;
“I’ve got your eye”.

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Urban Daddy Digest: 30 things I should not have needed to say to my children this weekend.

I feel like I could remove myself from the family and be replaced with a giant robot with my voice to repeat over and over gain the same statements / rhetorical questions as I did this weekend, and probably have every other weekend.  As a parent, you get it.

How many did you use this weekend?

1) “Stop fighting!” when breaking up a 3-way fights between the 2 boys and the girl when the girl is kicking their asses with her shrieking and bossyness.

2) ”Get your finger out of your nose” or “get your fingers out of your mouth” followed by “Go wash your hands… again”, over and over again

3) “We’re in a restaurant / store and you have to behave.”  But behave like you have to in one of these locations where others will look at me and I will be ambarrassed by your behaviour.  Shouldn’t this just be common sense now?

4) First the story: Friday was Urban Mummy’s birthday and the kids and I bought her this magnificant glass necklace from the Petroff Gallery on Eglinton Avenue (www.petroffgallery.com) and a glass wine stopper.  The Gallery had a lot of beautiful stuff there.  After that purchase, we went to our favourite Indian restaurant, Indus Tavern, to pick up Indian food for dinner, over to Pharma Plus for chocolate and then on to Pizza Pizza for the kids dinner before heading over to Baskin Robbins for an ice cream cake.  The cake was all the kids wanted.  As a result, I must have said 40 times this weekend; “No, you cannot have cake”.

5) “Don’t hit your brother”

6) “Don’t hit your sister”

7) “No, you cannot stay up until the morning comes.”

8) “What do you say?” (after you have burped or farted – and the answer is “excuse me” sans giggles)

9) “Can you please stop banging your spoon on the table… You’re going to be a bad influence on your sister”

10) “Now go wash your hands again.”

11) “We don’t use those words.” (Used by 5-year-old Stewie to describe 7-year-old Linus.  “He’s an ASS”.)

12) “Go to your room until you have clamed down, please.”

13) “Can you keep it down, please”

14) “Turn down the music.”

15) “Can you please put the food back in the fridge”

16) “Where do your dirty dishes go?”

17) “He’s not trying to “kill you”

18) “For the last time, can you please clean up your toys”

19) “Are you sure there is no laundry under your bed?”

20) “Did you pick up all the Cheerios off the floor?”

21) “Please stop clucking in my house!”

22) “Do you really think you should be making that noise at 7 in the morning?”

23) “Please go back to your room until I come get you!” (It’s only 5:30 in the morning!!!)

24) “No, we cannot go to the park now.” (It’s 6am or it’s 7pm or it’s pouring outside)

25) “No, you cannot watch TV”

26) “No you cannot have your iPad.”

27) “No, you cannot use the treadmill.”

28) “Please stop bouncing on the couches.”

29) “Is that a ball in your light fixture?”

30) Did you empty that entire bottle of organic shampoo into the bathtub?  That is a $15 bottle!”

My personal favourites:

“Please start acting your age!”

“Don’t make me get up!”

and

“You want something to cry over!!”

OMG.  I’ve become my parents!!!

I’m telling you this list could have gone on for 300 more.

Which are in your most popular list?

Thursday Thirteen: Parenthood the third time through. Thirteen things I don’t recall the other kids doing

Damn.

I have been maintaining this blog since just before the birth of our oldest son, Linus, which would be 2004, and at that time – as you can attest to – with your first-born you make note of everything from lack of sleep to rolling over, to loosing teeth.  Once the second child arrived, there were some comparisons made to the first child, but there were also situations where we had to think about whether Linus had done what Stewie was now doing.  Then came Berry, and it was forget about it.  By 3, you know they are not going to die if they cry for 5 minutes, and that rash… It’ll go away.  Oh, she threw up?  Let’s watch her and kiss of sleep tonight.

But there has been some things recently which makes me think back to Linus and Stewie to see if each child did this, or if it’s just for us the third time around.

13.  Germs and dirt: Either we have a germ-a-phobe on our hands or I forgot what it’s like have a 2-year-old, or possibly it’s just a girl thing, but Berry went through a phase where for about 2 weeks she refused to bathe because the tub was dirty, or sit on a toilet seat if the toilet was dirty.    Funny, yet frustrating it how I would describe it.

12.  Language: “Linus is an idiot!  He’s an ASS”.  I do not for the life of me recall Linus using language like this towards anyone.  Classmates, us, his brother or his sister, however little spark plug Stewie blurts it out daily now.

11.  Nutrition: “How much sugar is in milk?  How much fibre is there?  Iron?”  This was Berry to me the other morning as she was eating cereal and reading the box and the jug of milk.  She was quizzing me…  I don’t recall my boys at 2 1/2 doing this.

10.  Food issues:  Linus will stand beside a plate of cookies, without touching them, and point to them and politely ask if he can have one.  Stewie… Dives in and stops when we catch him.  I think with Berry we just keep her away so Stewie won’t influence her.

9.  Picky eaters.  Linus ate everything as a baby.  Urban Mummy made all his food from scratch and he loved spinach, eggs, fruits, veggies, and yogurt.  As he got older he got pickier to the point now that he’d be happy with plain noodles and bread.  Stewie, the human garbage can was always picky to some extent but when he likes something he inhales it, ie. 5 mini-pizzas for dinner, 5 green apples a day, 2 english cucumbers for a snack, but in the last week he’s off everything.  “I don’t like that anymore”.  Berry… Very picky and all over the place.  She starts eating what we have for dinner then when she sees the boys eating something else she wants that too, then after the meal is over she’s had 9 different things.  I honestly have no idea what her favourite foods are…

8.  Bathing.  Linus is a fish.  Stewie HATED the water and when him and I did swimming lessons, he spent the first lesson clinging to me keeping every inch of his body out of the water.  It terrified him.  Berry, hated the water too, having never done swimming lessons, and freaking out in the bath when I tried to wash her hair.  Now she likes it but I recall both boys hating to have their hair washed… I believe.  It’s the bath blur.

7.  Motoring (or motor-mouth): All 3 of my kids walked late – 15 months – nd talked early, in some cases stringing together 2-3 words before the age of 1, but I have the feeling that Berry’s vocabulary is the best!  She strings together smart sentences and they surprise me most of the time.  The other day I took the many decorative pillows off our bed and placed them on the floor.  In walked Berry and said this; “Oh, why are all the pillows on the floor?  Did you put them there, Daddy?  They don’t belong on the floor, they’ll get dirty… Silly.  I’ll help you move them”.  Whew.

6.  Sleep… Oh sleep.  Linus has always been a very sound sleeper – he slept through Stewie’s birth (a planned home birth)  at the age of 22 months.  Stewie slept for 2-3 hours at a time for 10 months which makes him a not so good sleeper.  Berry gets into bed and sings, talks and plays for what seems to be hours.  I don’t remember if the boys played like this because we were too exhausted at that time to pay attention and who knew there would be three of them to compare too…

5.  Sports:  My boys never liked sports.  I’m pretty sure getting them to try hockey or baseball was difficult but with Berry it’s different  She flips out not when I ask her to play but when she cannot participate.  She loves sports.  Granted, when there is sports on the TV, she says; “Daddy, is this basketball?  Hockey?  Wrestling?”  LOL.  She cannot tell them apart but she’s going to be a star.  Competitive and focussed.  Yay.

4.  Technology:  Linus’ first word was iPod.  Stewie iPhone and Berry, well it should have been iPad.  But Berry can open up and set up that iPad and get her games working and move through them with ease.  I can’t recall if my boys were as proficient at that age.  Sure now, I’ll give my iPad to Linus to fix, but Berry gets it too..

3.  Wrestling:  I love wrestling.  It makes me laugh and no one is allowed to watch it, but if it’s 0n sometimes they catch a glimpse.  Until recently Linus and Stewie had zero interest in wrestling.  Now it’s somehow become part of their lives as it did mine growing up.  Linus asks if Mark Henry can life our treadmill, Stewie compared a distance of 7-feet to the height of the Great Khali and Berry runs around my house making the hand gestures and sounds that Kane does before he sets the ring post on fire.  She also loves Brodus Clay’s theme song, and we’ll catch her singing “Gonna call my momma… ya ya ya ya!”

2.  Religion:  Linus goes to a private Jewish day school.  Stewie went to public school last year and is at the same school as his brother.  Linus thinks the world started by G-d when Adam and Eve were placed on the earth.  Stewie said, no its the big bang and evolution and dinosaurs were on the planet first.  Berry, on the other hand is going to a very religious Jewish nursery school and is the more religious of the 3 of them and that makes me laugh since we’re not that observant.  At least they’ll have each other to speak Hebrew to, since I have no idea what they’re saying.

1.  Respect.  It might just be the mob mentality, but when the three get going we fear for our lives.  LOL.  But seriously, Linus was respectful growing up, testing the limits every now and them but understanding his place.  Stewie on the other hand has no qualms about telling us how much he dislikes his brother or me for “wanting to kill him (read sending him to his room where he won’t get to come out ever or eat or drink water).  He’s a little dramatic.  Berry has been observing her brothers and we’re kind of hoping she stays happy and loving and follows neither of her brothers.  I doubt that will remain the same.

Tell me about your kids… If you have more than one does the memory fade away or what have you done to preserve it?

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