Category — Parenting

Suburban Daddy has a nice poll about parenting that I encourage you to take. See my comment for how I voted.
Parenting Poll Of The Week

I ran across this site and found many of the quotes amusing.  I have incorporated many of them into my "Flavor of the Day" section at the top right side bar. 

 
Phillips-blog: 18 Hilarious Parenting Quotes to Celebrate Parents' Day

I've been reading African American Dad's site for a few weeks and this post touched me. He talks about the mistakes he's made in his life and wonders how to keep his son from doing the same in the future.  I often worry about that for my boys. Am I doing the right thing? Do they need me to be strong or understanding? Am I giving them what they need? That seems to be the hardest part to me.  As a child I often claimed that my parents were always doing the wrong thing with me, but it wasn't until adulthood did I appreciate what they believed to be the right things.  

I came to the conclusion that I have to use my best judgment  and be myself.  I seem to make matters worse when I stray from my strengths.  Stop by AAD's site and take a look and see what you think.

I struggled with this decision for weeks before deciding to make the purchase.  BJ (Bacchus Junior) had a Gameboy for two years and at times he struggled with some of the games because he couldn't read many of the directions (BJ is 6) that would pop up during the game.  It didn't make sense to spend that kind of money for something he may not be able to play with, but while visiting a friends house during the Thanksgiving holiday I changed my mind. 

We stopped by a friends house who had invited us over the Thanksgiving desert (Everything was fantastic, I probably gained 5 pounds that evening).  BJ started playing with an older boy who is 12 and his PSP portable device. Although the older boy did a lot of explaining to BJ he was really having a blast and enjoyed it.  So the decision was made and the hunt began.  I searched many of the ads and talked to co-workers, and finally decided to visit Gamestop and see what packages they had.  I Was delighted to know that they had an exchange program if you bring in a used Gameboy you could get a new DS for only $99, plus 20% off two used games. This sold me on the purchase but I couldn't find any used games I thought he would like.  An added plus to the purchase was that he can use any of his Gameboy cartridges in the new DS device.  I purchased the Nintendo accessory pack and got new Mario and Pokemon cartridges to complete the purchase.  

Just before Christmas he mentioned several times that he hoped he would get a DS, and I was silently happy that I made the decision.  Christmas came and he was pleasantly surprised.  He has thoroughly enjoyed his new games and happy to use some of his old gameboy cartridges as well.  The only tricky part to this whole transaction was telling him that the Gameboy had to go to the shop for repair, and Santa couldn't fix it so he replaced it with a DS device.  So now what???

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I added to my list of 100 things about me page. If you haven't noticed,  I use lists to organize my life.  I use a software program on my phone called ListPro to help keep up with things I think about on the go. I also use it on my desktop pc to keep up with things I need to work on and carry it around with me on my phone to keep on track.  I recently ran across a site called Listography .  For people like me, this is a very entertaining place to be.  You can create a multitude of different lists and you can add pictures and customize your color schemes.  What I often find myself doing is scrolling thru other peoples public lists (You can keep some lists private if you like) for hours at a time.  

 You can visit my lists by clicking below and look around and start making your

One of my co-workers had her house broken into while she was at work. This can be a scary experience for anyone, but to make matters worse was that her sister and her infant were in the house asleep when they initially kicked the front door in. In my city there is an increasing occurrence of front door kick-in robberies  I had my apartment broken into in college and since then, I have used door jammers for all of my doors.

You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to kick in a door, and those pretty $30 locks on your front doors are no match for a 130 lb crack addict looking for their next fix. Women who live alone or any family should have them placed on each door at night. So please consider investing the cost of $20 for each of your doors and use them on a regular basis. They can be found in most hardware stores, target or wal-mart.

We primarily only use them at night or if we are going to be away from the house for an extended period of time. Of course it is impossible to place them on all the doors when you leave the home but if you have three entry doors in a home, I would always leave a second door un-jammed.

Good Luck and be safe.

As you may have noticed from my vacation post, we are pregnant. When BJ was "cooking" MB didn't have hardly any cravings, but this time I am starting to take notice.  Nothing weird or strange, but just thought I would start making a list.  Did anyone else have anything strange on their/spouse's craving list? 

• Chocolate Milk
• Pickles (traditional I know)

 Any advice on having a second child is greatly appreciated.

What can I say?  BJ has been on his best behavior and on "Green" (See Behavior Codes) for several weeks now and just in time for him to start kindergarten next week.  Mommy Bacchus will be tearful, but I can't wait.  BJ is just another step closer to being a man…How exciting this is.

Last week I took off for vacation.  Usually we take a family trip, but decided to stay home and get some things done around the house. 

What I did on my Vacation
Got the AC maintenance done
Had locks re-keyed
Had maid service do deep clean of the house (I'd really let things go for a while)
Had plumber fix leak in upstairs bathroom
Had a screen door installed
Went to Sams
Went to Wal-Mart (BJ calls it Wally world)
Had Chinese food for lunch four times
Went to Ikea three times (Everyone has their addictions)
Got an oil change for my car
Got a manicure and pedicure (Yes, I'm comfortable in my manhood to get this done once a year)
Finished school supply shopping for BJ
Found out Mommy Bacchus is 4 mths pregnant (She's due in late Dec early Jan)
Went school clothes shopping for BJ (I'm all done. Everyone else has my leftovers to purchase during tax-free weekend)

Did a Day visit to Turner Falls, OK (Nice!!! Two co-workers recommended it)
Cleaned out old toys and took them to Goodwill
Started cleaning out the bedroom closets (I have been looking for my lucky house shirt for weeks, I think Mommy Bacchus has thrown it away)

Got caught up on "So you think you can dance" (My summer TV viewing guilty pleasure)
Bought a corner desk for our bedroom (Now that we have wireless internet, our formal dinning room table has become our downstairs office)

What I didn't do on my Vacation
Rest
Relax
Watch movies
Re-caulk bathroom

Anything remotely close to working……

Today I felt very fortunate since I realized that in order to get BJ to eat his dinner, I don't have to bribe him with dessert, candy or any other sweets.  What motivates BJ are ripe cherry tomatoes. 

 Yes, sometimes you are blessed and lucky to be a parent.