Owner: Raising Eli URL:http://www.raisingeli.com Join Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 19:59:26 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A guide to all new parents especially dads who want to understand the day to day. A log of my son's activities from birth to present day and all the fun being a dad can be! Site statistics:Click here
P90X - Yoga 2007-09-18 17:10:47 I have to admit that I never ever considered myself the type of person who would do yoga. To me, Yoga was right up there with eating liver and onions but last night it was my turn to do Yoga X with my P90X workout. Turning on the TV and getting ready I was shocked when I saw the timer at the bottom right corner of the screen show an hour and a half. The longest workout so far was an hour and to be stuck doing Yoga for that long just seemed crazy. That is until I started.
Some of the moves were basic, and some advanced. My body is not as flexible as the guys and girls on the video so I did the best I could. It was truly amazing, but at the same time very hard. I was sweating so much, and my muscles were so worked throughout the entire DVD that when I got done I couldn’t believe how intense the workout really was.
When I woke up this morning I thought I was going to be sore. I truly believed that I wouldn’t get up for work and I would have to sit in a hot bath the entire day.
NOT SAFE FOR KIDS - BUT FUNNY! 2007-10-02 12:30:01 The warning is there. This is not safe for kids and completely not appropriate for this blog but I had to post it. It is just too funny. Make sure you have your volume up, and the kiddies are nowhere near this!
Amateur Radio - HAM Radio 2007-10-02 05:37:46 Not many people know this but I am an amateur radio operator. My call sign is KC2NKL and I operate a few radios at home. If you are not sure what amateur radio is all about, take a look at this vintage film I directed to by KC2BPS (Joe Werner).
If you ever have questions about AmateurRadio
or HAM Radio as it is more widely known then ask! If you didn’t get into the hobby because of Morse Code then this is the perfect time for you to get into the hobby (the Morse Code requirement was recently dropped!)
Where are the Pumpkins! 2007-10-01 11:55:23
Driving around lately I have not seen the signs up for pumpkin picking yet. Matter of fact, I have not seen a single pumpkin anywhere! Not in the supermarket, corner fruit & veggie stand etc. So I did a little research and found that there is a great pumpkin shortage:
There will be no Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown–not this Halloween. The spring’s severe rains and the summer’s extreme heat have devastated the 2006 pumpkin crop in the East and much of the Midwest. “There is a real pumpkin shortage,” says Jim Geohegan, owner of Sunshine Farm in Sherborn, Mass., who estimates his harvest will be just 12 tons of pumpkins this year, down from the typical 70. Pumpkin prices are up all over the country–in some places as much as 50% higher than they were last fall. And some farmers who run pick-your-own patches are even importing pumpkins and placing them in the fields to ensure customers will have something to “harvest” and carve before Oct. Read more:Pumpkins
Goal Review & Goals for October 2007-10-01 05:00:08 If you remember, in September I set a series of 5 goals to work towards with Eli. Here is the list from September and the outcome.
September
Start Potty Training - Did not accomplish ANYTHING!
Keep to Bedtime Schedule - 7:30pm bedtime has been working
Work on Simple Spelling- Eli spells Cat, Dog, Pig and Cow
More Swimming Time - Did not accomplish - this was a horrible summer for Eli and Water.
Listening to Mommy & Daddy - Much better, Eli is definitely listening to us more. He has behaved amazingly well!
OctoberGoals
Potty Training
Pumpkin Picking
Halloween Costume & decorating
Eating dinner at the table
More variety of meals for Eli (all he eats is Chicken Nuggets, Fish Sticks, and Pizza)
Fire Greg Ryan (US National Team Coach) 2007-09-29 08:59:36
First off let’s get the record straight about Greg Ryan: He is an equipment boy who worked his way into a coaching position with the U.S National
Team. The team, filled with some of the best talent ever seen in womens soccer lost to Brazil in a tough match 4-0. The story behind the game is the bad decision to pull starting Keeper Hope Solo for old timer Brianna Scurry. Ryan’s belief that Scurry, who has never lost to Brazil (before last week) and who has NOT STARTED a game since June would be better in net than the player who has taken the team to an undefeated record this year and had not been scored on in 300 straight minutes of play.
Let’s look at the changes Ryan made (more bad decisions):
Long ball vs Possession
The US team is made for possessing the ball. They are strong in set plays and have the talent to control the entire game by holding the ball, passing it around and using the width of the field to attack. Yet, this year under Ryan the team changed from t Read more:Coach
FDA Warns against giving Toddlers Cold & Cough Medicines 2007-09-29 08:43:11 Basically the report, which is endorsed by the American Association of Pediactrics, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the Center for Disease Control and numerous other high end health and advocacy groups state that using over the counter Cold & CoughMedicines
marketed for use with Toddlers
and Infants do not work and have caused numerous deaths and emergency room visits. The FDA is meeting in October to discuss label changes stating the warnings.
The preliminary recommendation, from Food and Drug Administration safety officials, would apply to decongestant use in children under 2, and antihistamines in those younger than 6
An FDA review of side-effect records filed with the agency between 1969 and September 2006, found 54 reports of deaths in children associated with decongestant medicines made with pseudoephedrine, phenylephrine or ephedrine. It also found 69 reports of deaths associated with antihistamine medicines containing diphenhydramine, brompheniramine or chlo Read more:against
S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G 2007-09-29 07:37:33 Spelling. I can’t get over what a horrible speller I am. My brain just is not wired for spelling and I blame the fact that I type on a computer all day and let the spell checker do its stuff. That is why I think it is so important to get a foundation of good spelling for Eli. As one of my goals for the month I wanted to start working on spelling simple words with Eli.
After a few days of working on it, Eli has begun to spell words. He can spell Cat, Dog, Pig and tries really hard on the word Rocket (which has become his favorite toy). Of course it is more memorization than spelling but isn’t all spelling just memorizing what letters make what words?
I am proud of him. He says C-A-T Cat Meow meow. Funniest thing to watch other parents of kids close to Eli’s age face drop when he does it. They look back at their husbands or wives and then hug their child. It is like they are saying, it’s ok little johnny, not everyone is as smart as Eli.
Gotta love it! Next up: A
Daddy Bias - I hate Parenting Magazine 2007-10-13 16:45:28
I really hate when people perceive that only a woman can be a really good parent. A Dad rarely get any credit for what they do. It seems to me that women generally think that a dad’s job is just a part time job. Maybe this holds true for those stay at home moms but what about stay at home dads and every other dad who is a primary care taker of their children.
I have a subscription to Parenting
magazine, but the magazine is catered to the mom. It even says so on the cover! Reading the magazine you might be lucky enough to find a single article from the dad’s point of view, but even those seldom found articles are more about dad being thrust into the primary daddy role…..for a few hours a day. The rest of the trash magazine is stories about how a mom can lower her stress, cook a nice meal (yea right what a laugh) and how they can mentally stay on top of the parenting game. Mom Mom Mom Mom Mom….where is dad?
When are we going to get some respect. I think half o Read more:Daddy
, Magazine
Caught in the Act 2007-10-12 08:45:39
Daddy…can I have some Cheese Poofs? No son, you have to eat dinner soon. You can have some cheese poofs as a snack after dinner. Ok? Ok (says Eli)…walk out of the room for a minute and…… Read more:Caught
Childrens Cold Medicines Pulled from Shelves 2007-10-11 11:01:20 Ahead of the FDA decision to pull Infant and Child Cold medicines the following have been pulled voluntarily by the manufacturers (see the CNN story)
• Dimetapp Decongestant Plus Cough Infant Drops
• Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops
• Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough
• Little Colds Multi-Symptom Cold Formula
• Pediacare Infant Drops Decongestant (containing pseudoephedrine)
• Pediacare Infant Drops Decongestant & Cough (containing pseudoephedrine)
• Pediacare Infant Dropper Decongestant (containing phenylephrine)
• Pediacare Infant Dropper Long-Acting Cough
• Pediacare Infant Dropper Decongestant & Cough (containing phenylephrine) • Robitussin Infant • Cough DM Drops
• Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant
• Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant Plus Cough
• Tylenol Concentrated Infants’ Drops Plus Cold
• Tylenol Concentrated Infants’ Drops Plus Cold & Cough
My son has used the Dimetapp, Pe Read more:Childrens
, Medicines
Morning Routine 2007-10-11 06:47:50 Tag Teaming is the best route for success. I know there are a lot of stay at home dads, single dads, single moms and working families that manage quite well but in our house tag teaming is the way to go. Here is our Routine
.
We usually wake up around 6:30am, sometimes earlier but that is about the norm. Both of us will get ready for the day and await the first peeps from Eli. When he wakes whomever goes in to him gets the duty of changing the diaper, getting him dressed, brushing his teeth while the other makes his breakfast going and on the table.
We meet up at the table and Eli eats while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the parentals finish getting themselves ready. On my driving days we leave at 7:30ish, and on Jodi’s driving days she likes to leave at 7:05 (she has the longer drive). The person not taking Eli manages the lights, locks, trash and dog. Another morning done!
Some mornings we have our problems. Either we do not want to get out of bed and feel like zombies. O Read more:Morning
Pushing Towards Excellence? 2007-10-09 21:10:16 I watched a kid recently interact with their parents and I immediately felt bad for the child. They were pushing the child academically, physically and socially to the point that it just felt unhealthy to me. Discipline and talking to your toddler like they are an adult is one thing but how far is too far?
I guess I just feel that every child develops at their own pace. Some kids are smarter than others, some physically more capable and stronger, but it is not a competition. Showing your child love and affection, educating them, making them laugh and being silly is just as important as pushing the ABC’s and 123’s. Schedules are fantastic, but being a schedule Nazi is not right either. It is all about providing the right balance. Most importantly, what is right for an adult is not always right for the child. It is putting the child above you. These two, well they tend to put themselves and their wants and needs over their child.
I hope these parents wake up and smell the cof Read more:Pushing
, Excellence
Squares, Circles, Triangles, Stars and Hexagons 2007-10-08 21:02:21 Eli is going shape crazy. He wants nothing more than to hold a triangle, square, circle and star in his hands at all times. Everything he looks at is just another shape. He loves it and now everything is shape centric. Before bed we were playing and he was asking me to draw shapes. Diamonds are his favorite followed by stars and circles.
Using is Magna Doodle he tries so hard to make shapes and has successfully made a diamond, triangle, circle and many other shapes. I draw one, he erases and tries to draw the same shape. He even asks me to draw him, mommy and the dog. Give him some crayons and he can color for hours at a time and he is getting really good and staying on a single page and coloring all the pages. The other day he pulled out a crayon and said it was grey, like the color of the clouds (we had a bit of rain that day and the clouds were menacing).
It is just so enjoyable to see his imagination and creativity explode. He is so smart and clever and full of wonder. He makes me Read more:Squares
Falling out of Bed 2007-10-06 12:22:28 Last night was a rough night for all of us. Eli woke up in the middle of the night crying from a nightmare and couldn’t be calmed down. Taking him out of his bed and putting him in ours seemed like a wise idea as we have done this on occasion without any long term problems.
Eli did calm down and had managed to put himself on the right side of Jodi instead of in the middle. she was cuddling with him and eventually he moved to her right. I warned her to make sure that once he fell asleep to move him between us and I fell asleep. Sometime later we hear a loud THUD and both of us jump and realize that he fell off the bed. Luckily we had set pillows on the floor just in case of this unlikely event. We scooped him up, put him between us and without so much of a peep or a cry he was fast asleep again between us.
We got lucky and I feel like I failed because I should have stayed up long enough to make sure that he was either transferred to his own bed or at least in between Jodi and I.
Cool Dude 2007-10-04 21:20:51
Cool Dude, originally uploaded by Daddy.
I was just reading Joeprah’s blog about how his daughter always wears sunglasses. Eli is quite the opposite, he only wears them by being coaxed or paid off. M&M’s usually work the best! Here is Eli with his Cousin Nicole hanging in the hotel near Sesame Place.
We are heading back for our second visit for the Halloween Spooktacular!
Gun Control : Being a parent 2007-10-04 12:29:13
Can it be said any more clearly than this. Since when does a convicted felon have more rights and freedom than the law abiding man. When is it acceptable to defend yourself instead of being the victim.
I can’t argue with this guy. I feel the same way. When I was in Arizona and Tennessee I used to have a handgun. I never went as far as concealing it because I never needed to. It was on my hip and that’s it. I would never carry it illegally, irresponsibly or with bad intent. Now that I live in NY I can’t carry it, or own it without going through six months of crap and hefty fines. When approved, I still would only be able to carry it to the range and back (unloaded and apart).
So much for the Bill of Rights. Read more:Control
Bedtime is Funtime 2007-10-04 08:09:17 I am setting a bad example for my son. At night when I put him to bed I climb in with him and we snuggle. Snuggling leads to him jumping up and down, laughing and this of course leads to tackles, tickles and horseplay. After about 30 minutes of this he is either wound up and can’t go to sleep or exhausted and ready to collapse. I consider it my special bonding time.
The bad part is the expectation that this is going to happen each night and what it will teach him about bedtime. I worry that in the near future it will be a problem and a hard habit to break. The problem is, I love this time. It is my time to be silly and have fun. I can’t explain how important it is to me that I get this time with him.
There has to be a balance, I just don’t know if I want to find it, or if I can. Read more:Bedtime
Kids Books I Recommend (read to your children) 2007-10-18 18:36:29 LLama LLama Red Pajama
Go to Sleep Gecko
The Bear Who Wants More
The First 1000 Words
A Pirates ABC’s
Why do I love these books?
LLama LLama Red Pajama is a great story about a baby llama who is being put to sleep. Lots of great rhyme and rhythm and a fun read. It also introduces participation by the child and will make them laugh. This was the primary book Eli loved at bedtime for almost seven months. He still loves it.
Go to Sleep Gecko is a great story that originated in Hawaii I think. It is the story of a gecko who can’t fall asleep because fireflies keep flashing their lights on and off around Gecko’s home. It is a fable and lesson in life. Truly humerous and the only children’s book that uses the word POOP. Eli loves this book still and always picks this and llama llama for his night readings.
The bear who wants more is just fantastic. This is Eli’s new favorite. A story of a bear who wakes up from his hibernation and eats everything and anything i Read more:Books
A Full Night of Sleep 2007-10-18 06:25:26 Eli slept the full night and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. I had stayed up late last night playing Supreme Commander with my friends until 2am and then woke up at 5:30. So after a night of 3 hours of sleep and previous nights of Eli waking up multiple times I was due for a long, healthy deep sleep.
So what did I do differently with Eli? Not much, we went to the park and played like we usually do. He ate a dinner of Mac & Cheese with a Grilled Cheese Sandwich and I cut off the TV after two episodes of Mickey Mouse Club. We read stories together and played with his stuffed animals in bed until he was tired and told me he was ready for sleepy. Five minutes later he was snoring with a content look of happiness on his face.
Thank God! Read more:Night
, Sleep
The Miracle of Yes 2007-10-17 10:34:30 Holy crap! Folks, this is earth shattering news. It is as if bubbling crude came from the ground and I became a millionaire overnight. Crap, it is almost good enough news to pack up the farmstead and move to Beverly Hills!
What in the hell could be so amazing. My child, the wonder of my life, bringer of happiness and pride, has finally answered a question with a YES instead of a NO! We are talking about the king of No! This is Eli’s #1 vocabulary word. I could have sworn that up until now, the YES word was only a figment of my imagination!
I know, you are all shocked, stunned perhaps…maybe your jaw hit the floor and your heart skipped a beat. I almost had a heart attack!
Eli is answering with a yes as much as a no. It is a complete reversal of everything I have come to know since he began talking.
I am getting veklempt….talk amongst yourselves….
Toddler Insomnia 2007-10-16 02:54:48 Lately I have been noticing a problem Eli has been having. I will call it Toddler Insomnia
because I am not sure what else it could be. Eli goes to be around 7:30 - 8pm each night and has been waking up at 2:48am each morning for quite some time. Usually all you have to do is go into his room, give him a kiss and tell him to go sleepy and he does, but lately it has gotten to the point that he is fully awake, playing with toys in his bed and calling for either Jodi or I.
We go in, which is probably the wrong thing to do. He is literally fully awake and ready for the day. I sing songs with him, tell him stories until I see that he is getting tired. I give him a kiss, tell him to have sweet dreams and leave his room. Usually within five or ten minutes he is fast asleep again, of course, this tends to give Daddy insomnia and I watch Jodi sleep until 5am when I finally doze off. Then I get up at 6:30 and have to be a zombie all day.
So I am wondering what can be the cause of this behavior.
Books Books Books 2007-10-23 06:22:37 Eli is obsessing with books for the last few days. I put him into bed last night at 8:30, a good hour after his normal bedtime because mom came home late from a disappointing soccer game (Her team is going for the conference championship with a record of 9-1-1). Because she lost, I wanted her to see Eli knowing that it would brighten her mood (she lost 2-1 for the first loss of the season). When I got him into bed all he wanted to do was read stories. Who am I to complain, it is a good thing. I read him two stories and he read me the First 1000 words book that we always take out. At 9:15 I left him to his own devices in his bed, and at 10:30 I took the books away from him. He wailed.
I finally had to lay next to him and do the “What starts with Letter….” game. We went through the entire alphabet and then we both fell asleep. It was well after 11pm. So much for keeping him on schedule. He also woke up a few times last night, and overslept this morning. Frustrating Read more:Books
Post Lasik - Stahl Eye Center 2007-10-22 13:13:32 Well it has been about four weeks since I had Lasik
and I have not really commented on it much. Probably because I didn’t want anything I said or experienced to ruin or dash the hopes of anyone thinking about doing the surgery or using the Stahl Eye Center
.
First let me tell you about the Stahl Eye Center. They were very polite before and after the surgery. They answered all of my questions and when I did research and asked the right questions they showed that they were glad I was taking it seriously (you only get 1 set of eyes).
Surgery was easy, and my initial results were 20/20 in my right eye and 20/25 in my left. This has gotten progressively worse and now is 20/25 in my right eye and 20/30 in my left. In fact, I went in to the appointment concerned because although I was seeing well, everything was soft in focus. I was told that this is normal (after the fact I was told this, not before). I was also told that the severe sensativity to light was normal (after the fact, not b
Sesame Street Spooktacular 2007-10-21 07:27:32 Wake up early, pack up the car with ever conceivable snack, drink, and toy combination to make any child happy on a long drive and you have my Saturday. Last week Jodi and I decided to take advantage of our Season Pass at Sesame
Place and go on a day trip.
Usually I am weary of doing a day trip like this because Sesame Place is not exactly the closest place for us to go. Leaving early to drive for few hours with the knowledge that your child is not exactly going to enjoy being stuck in the car is enough to make most intelligent parents wish for a sedative (for themselves). So we go, and Eli is a champ on the way, no whining, no complaining. We are stuck listening to Laurie Berkner the entire time but that is okay (except when Eli won’t let us sing - I guess we sound horrible).
I have delusions of grandeur when I think of what Sesame Place could do to decorate for Halloween. I am thinking of spooky to the core with no expense skipped to make the place a fantastic Halloween experie Read more:Street
, Sesame Street
Question: Birthday Parties? 2007-10-27 03:51:11 Eli was invited to his first birthday party. A little girl at daycare is turning two and the parents are throwing a nice big bash to celebrate the achievement. I really have mixed feelings about this and I am not sure where I stand. So I am asking how YOU feel about it.
Here is my take:
At two years old is it necessary or the right thing to do to extend a birthday celebration to your child’s classmates? In the grand scheme of things Eli was not ready for a big bash at 2, but he will be ready at three. We limited the party to family with just a few friends including a few kids. What we were trying to avoid was overloading Eli and creating a not so friendly environment (no sharing wars, no giant mess, etc.)
I guess we just felt that in this scenario it would just be so much easier and more appropriate to do something small. This child’s birthday is going to be huge. Dora is going to be there, the kids are going to make a stuffed animal and have the facilities to jump, run a Read more:Question
, Birthday
The Wrong Babysitter 2007-10-25 06:04:32 I am jumping on my soapbox here:
Parents in general are hiring the wrong babysitter to watch their kids. The babysitter is sending the wrong message, wearing the wrong clothes, speaking the wrong language. The babysitter is white trash, racist, sexist and does not provide the education your child needs most of the time. The babysitter is your television.
Television rots the brain of your child. Even the best educational shows are not an excuse for allowing them to sit in front of the TV for hours per day watching Dora, Jack’s Big Music Show, Blues Clues, Sesame Street etc. Even if they are educational, there are better options.
Entirely too many parents drop their kids off in front of the television and let it babysit their kids while they do more important things. WAKE UP PARENTS…nothing is more important than your children.
Here is my guide, and my beliefs:
Kids should:
Watch only 1 or 2 episodes of TV per day (hour at most, unless it is a movie..but only one movie per Read more:Wrong
, Babysitter
Problem with Daycare 2007-10-24 09:00:02 I have always been pleased with Eli’s daycare provider (Tutor Time), but today I had to confront a teacher for her lack of effort, inability to do the right thing and general attitude. Here is the scenario. Eli is a smart boy, but at times he can be like every other little snot nosed kid and not want to share. So this morning I drop him off at daycare and he pulls a toy (shapes puzzle) and starts to play. A little boy named Michael (who is Eli’s best friend at daycare) comes over and sits down nicely and starts to do the puzzle with my son. Eli freaks out, grabbing the pieces from Michael and I watch as the teacher intervenes. She takes the toy from Michael and gives the toy back to Eli and scoots him so he can go play with the toy by himself.
I immediately overreact and tell her that is not the proper solution. Kids need to share, and Eli when not sharing needs to educated. Pulling the toy from Michael who did nothing wrong and enabling this behavior in my son is NOT acce Read more:Problem
, Daycare
Happy Halloween (Halloween Safety Tips) 2007-10-31 08:14:37 To all the ghosts and goblins out there I wish you a very safe and happy halloween. May your bags be full of safe candy and the roads be clear of cars. This is one of my favorite holidays and wish I was young enough (or foolish enough) to wear a costume to work and celebrate (but alas, I am chicken).
Some safety tips for tonights festivities:
Forbid your kids from eating any candy before you examine it
Never eat anything “prepared” like Candy Apples or cookies (even if it is your neighbor)
Always go in groups, never solo trick-o-treat.
Make sure the kiddies costumes reflect light. If they don’t, get reflective tape and put it on their legs, shoes or back.
Trick-o-treat early, even if you are older
Always be mindful of your surroundings, never approach cars asking for help
Have a flashlight, whistle and lightsticks with you at all times.
Above all, stay in an area you know. Never trick-o-treat in an area you have never been in. Read more:Halloween
, Happy
, Safety
, Happy Halloween
Recommend Site To A Friend
