WND Top Ten - Got a question?

What Now?

Number four on my What Now Dad top ten post list is a personal favorite of mine, and I know most parents can relate. My 5 year old is the question queen, and there is no one who is safe from her and her inquiries. We flew to Hawaii and for all 6 hours we were in the air I don't think she stopped asking questions to take a breath. The best two questions from her to date goes a little something like this (and they both have to do with moose...go figure):

Question #1

R - Daddy, I don't like that moose head in Bruce and Kathleen's house.

Me - I know you don't R.

R - Daddy, if Bruce and Kathleen move they will have to take the moose head in their house with them, right?

Me - Right.

R - Why?

Question #2

R - Daddy, I don't like the moose mascot at the pool.

Me - I know you don't R.

R - He is scary.

Me - I know, but what are you going to do when we go to Disneyland?

R - Why, do they have a moose too?

Questions, Questions.

Am I the only Dad that feels like he fields more questions in one day than Alex Trebek has over his whole career on Jeopardy? My kids, especially my youngest "R", can weave a web of questions that after a while has my head spinning so much that I feel like driving my car straight into the next stop sign. I love how curious they are, and I love being able to answer their questions and fill their heads with information....but there are times I just want to say "please stop asking me questions and let me be!" But then I am reminded that in the not so far away future the questions will be asked less, and less and maybe even stop. That worries me more than anything else. So, what is your next question?

PEACE OUT DADS!!!

Back to the WND Top Ten - Dad's Cooking

What Now?

OK, it's been way too long since my last post, so I am back at it, with #3 on my own personal What Now Dad top ten. This post was one of my first as my new role of part-time-stay-at-home Dad was starting to take shape. I think over the past 3-4 months I have gotten much better at my new role, but things were rough at the start, as you will read.

What's For Dinner Dad?

Tonight was one of those nights that make me think being a part-time stay-at-home Dad is going to be more difficult than I thought. My better half was on a day trip for work and was headed home a little later than she thought. The girls and I were knee deep in some home cleaning (the family has recently decided to get our house picked up and put in order, which I love!!!). Yesterday we tackled the girls room, and today it was the toy room getting the home make-over. Well, dinner was now on me and when we finished our room cleaning it was already 5:15pm, and I didn't have a clue what we were going to eat. If I would have just remembered what my wife had told me and cooked up a little pasta thing would have been fine, but I decided to improvise a little. I went straight to the freezer, the one place I used to call home for the night's dinner plans before I was married. There was nothing, nothing at least that I could handle. Then, in the back I saw something, it was frozen solid and looked a little like taco soup, one of my favorites. Mind you, it was frozen solid and by now it's 5:30pm. So, I dump the frozen block of something into a pot and turn the stove burner up to the max. Needless to say this was going too slow, so I then transferred the frozen block into a bigger pan and threw a top on it. The girls were getting anxious and hungry so I called audible #2 and threw together some cheese quesadillas and apple sauce (that's healthy right?). While they chowed down I was still holding out hope for my frozen something or other. After it started to smell like something was burning I decided to take a look. Not only was it not close to being ready to eat, but I discovered what I thought was taco soup was actually spaghetti sauce. How someone can make this mistake is beyond me, but as I have been telling my wife I must have been in another state of mind or something. So, with my options for myself running low I turn off the stove and abandon the burnt frozen mess and look at my other options. It turns out my plan B for the girls was not enough and they are still hungry. I then go to an old standby and try to throw together several items to make something that, after eating, does not remember anything that anyone would eat. In this case it was tortillas. cheese, ketchup and pepperoni, or as I was calling it, pizza. This idea was more horrible than it sounds. Did I mention I pounded down two glasses of wine during this whole process. Thankfully, as I was finishing off my so called pizza (oh yes, I ate it...and my stomach is feeling the effects as I write this!) my angel, my goddess, my wife walks through the door. Before I can even fully explain the events that have taken place up to that point she has pasta boiling. Before you know it all my girls are eating a wonderful dinner while I sit at the computer and write down what happened. I have a long way to go, but I think my heart was in the right place. Now I just hope I don't get sick later tonight.

PEACE OUT DADS!!!

WND Top Ten - My Wife

What Now?

For the next top ten Whatnowdad post I picked this one from February 23 because it describes, in a very simple and cute way, the relationship I have with my best friend and soul mate. As I have said on a few occasions I could dedicate a whole blog to my wife and what she means to me. This post is just one example why I am entirely devoted to this woman.

There are a few certainties I have in my life and one of them is that I married the perfect woman for me. We are so compatible it is scary. One of the ways I know this is that we have the same sense of humor, which is probably only funny to us. Last night we were catching up on some of our shows on DVR and my wife was enjoying a chocolate peppermint patty. She then looked at me to say something very important and I turn to her and see her mouth surrounded by a thin, chocolate ring. This is funny to me on so many levels, but mostly because our 5 year old daughter has this look constantly. In fact, I swear she sometimes gets this look without even eating chocolate...I don't know how but it seems I am always cleaning off her face. So to see my wife, a 38 year old woman, with the same look made me laugh instantly. And when I pointed it out to her she too started laughing. We both laughed so hard we were crying. It was the second time last night we did that, but I probably shouldn't talk about what made us laugh the first time. She is my soul mate, my best friend and the other half of my comic duo. I am more than certain she was the one I was supposed to meet and I love her more than she will ever know.

PEACE OUT DADS!!!

Does my butt look big in this?

WHAT NOW...

How come every time I hear this question from my wife I want to scream? Not because I am worried how she will react to my answer, or because my wife's butt looks big in everything she wears and there is no way I can pretend it doesn't, or because I don't love to discuss the really important issues with my wife. It's because her butt is not big, and does not look big to me, and when I tell her this it gets as far as her ear then drops out of sight. Does she not believe me when I say this? Would she rather I tell her "yes honey, you have a massive amount of junk in your trunk"? Does she really not want an answer because she has already made up her mind and she is really just talking to herself. Who knows??? I have been with my wife the better part of 2o years, and her body has gone through many, many changes...like all people that walk the earth. It would be impossible to think that a 30something woman will look the same as she did in college, especially after having two kids. I know all you see in the media is how super star so-and-so got her body back in shape only 5 hours after delivering her child. What they don't tell you is that she either a) really didn't have a child and did it just because it's all the rage in Hollywood, or b) she didn't eat anything during pregnancy and after birth the first two people to visit her where the plastic surgeon and the personal trainer. I understand the pressure that women feel to look their best, stay in shape, never ever age...but in my messed up male head if your significant other tells you that in his eyes you are the best looking, most in shape, hottest babe on the planet then that should be enough, right? WRONG!!! Thanks for playing. You may pick up your participation gift at the back door before you leave. If I could invent anything it would be a mirror that let women see themselves the way the men in their lives see them. Even though my wife and I have been together a long time I still will sneak peaks at her coming out of the shower. I still ogle her like I did back in college. I still think, no matter how many times she asks me that silly question, that she has the sweetest tush around! I also know that she will still ask, I will still answer, and I will still want to scream.

PEACE OUT DADS!!!

More fun with bikes

This weekend was really tough for "B", my wife. A few years back both of us starting getting into endurance races (running, cycling, triathlons, etc.) and now most of our free time is taken up with training for said races. Currently, I am training for my first marathon and "B" is training for her first 70.3 Ironman Triathlon. On Saturday morning she took off on her bike for a long ride (35 miles) while the kids and I were getting ready for our day. I left to take the girls to a birthday party and when I returned "B" was home and looked like she was on the verge of crying. While on her training ride she crashed (what is the deal with all my girls crashing on their bikes - http://whatnowdad.blogspot.com/2009/04/double-happiness.html).

Crashing on your bike happens sometime while training for various reasons, but for "B" the reason was not of the normal variety. A truck had parked on the trail just ahead of her and she didn't like the look of it. So, she turned around and headed the other direction. This should be the end of the story, but "B", in her over-active, paranoid way decided to look back to make sure this truck was not going to follow her.....that is when she went off road and the rest is history. I know she was hurting and the crash did shake her up...but in the back of my mind I was thinking...hmmmm, did she really need to look back??? Just asking.

PEACE OUT DADS!!!