Owner: Two Okapis - A Digital Daddy Diary URL:http://www.jgs.net/twookapis Join Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 06:22:21 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: I am the Two Okapis' Daddy. I write about the challenges and rewards of working full-time while trying to be as involved as possible with my Okapis. I write during the only disposable time of my day -- on my train ride to and from work. Site statistics:Click here
Stepping up their offensive 2006-10-20 15:28:44 In the war on their parents, in the battle for sanity in the Okapi household, our Okapis have taken their attack to the next level. Just the way the United States military has often used certain kinds of music to try and wear down the enemy, or even used specific songs to "torture" detainees, to [...]
Read more:Stepping
I can't tell you, those are surprises 2006-10-20 15:02:07 "Go ahead, Elijah, tell Daddy, what you did today at For Boy Only," Gem urges Elijah shortly after I got home last night.
"I did," he said sort of annoyed. Well, barely.
"Yeah? You told him about the obstacle course?"
"Yeah" Sort of.
"What else did you do at For Boys Only, Elijah?" I asked him.
"I can't tell you. [...]
Working Dads Can Build A Strong Bond, Too 2006-10-19 15:52:53 In my continuing series entitled Hey Dads…You Matter! featured on DaddyPlace, I decided to write about some of the differences between Stay-At-Home Dads (SAHD) and Stay-At-Home Moms (SAHM). While researching this interesting issue I learned one very important thing that inspired me to write this piece.
But one of the most interesting findings was when children [...]
Read more:Build
, Strong
An exception to the past week 2006-10-19 15:29:48 Things have been a little tough around the Okapi household lately - at least for me. The Okapis - especially Elijah - seem to be going through this phase where they just don't like me that much. When I come home from work, Elijah isn't happy to see me, he doesn't want to give me [...]
Read more:exception
Open house! Buyer? New house? 2006-10-18 15:27:34 Finally, I have a moment to talk about how we had our first Open House this past weekend. We worked SO HARD to clean up, to make it look…well, to make it look like we always wanted it to look, but were too busy living there to make it happen. We had about eight people [...]
Read more:Buyer
, Open house
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover 2006-10-23 15:20:30 I'm no expert at having fun and have never claimed to be, but Saturday night it became clearer to me how hard it is for me to just "be in the moment" We went to a Paul Simon concert at Radio City Music Hall and it was a pretty good concert. I am not the [...]
Read more:Leave
A tsunami streaming through my mind 2006-10-24 15:56:57 Yesterday, I was really feeling how hard things are for me right now. By the time I was on the train home last night, my head was so cluttered, so overwhelmed that I couldn't even concentrate to read, my eyes kept staring off into the distance. To squeeze a few extra minutes of reading, I [...]
Read more:tsunami
We have accepted, and made, an offer 2006-10-25 15:20:32 We accepted an offer on our house last night. Then we turned around and made an offer on the house we liked. Holy shit this is moving so fast!
I called our broker yesterday and told him we didn't want to pay the 1.5% - especially since this broker didn't do anything; he didn't show the [...]
A little glimpse into my future? 2006-10-27 15:27:38 I decided that I needed to take more time off from my day job, so I didn't go to work yesterday. I got to take my Okapis to school. I got to pick them up. I did some writing. I had a conference call with my PR lady. I even got to take Elijah to [...]
Read more:little
, glimpse
Finally, the joy of a king-sized bed 2006-10-26 16:02:03 Here…
Take it…
It's soap…to wash out your mind.
This is not going to be a piece about sex (wouldn't that be great if it was, though?). It really is going to be about our king-sized bed. I don't know how many of you have been following the adorable, wonderful and ridiculously talented Mir in her quest for [...]
Read more:Finally
The Chicken is TOO Spicy! 2006-10-30 15:27:51 Last night we went to Friendly's with Abuelita, who is leaving for South America in a couple of days and wanted to take us out to dinner. Who are we to argue with a grandmother's wishes?
As we got ready to go, Gem put a new sweater on Elijah and he looked incredibly handsome. I mean, [...]
Read more:Chicken
, Spicy
Los Tres Amigos…Saturday! 2006-10-30 15:25:48 Gem and I had a fight last week about how often she goes to Yoga. She used to go Thursday nights, which then became Los TresAmigos
Thursdays and were both challenging and fun - though not always at the same time. But now she is going Monday nights and either Wednesday nights or Thursday [...]
Read more:Saturday
The age-old debate: Nature vs. Nurture? 2006-10-31 15:05:47 Last week sitting and watching Elijah in his For Boys Only class, I was overwhelmed with a boiling pot of emotions - most of which I have not yet been able to articulate in any verbal way (I know…Me? Not able to articulate something? I'm working on it, I promise). However, there was one path [...]
Me and my little girl, snuggled together 2006-10-31 15:01:09 After a glorious weekend and a lovely evening, the Okapis woke up a bit early this morning. I, thankfully, was actually running a few minutes early and I went upstairs to spend a couple of minutes with them before I brought them downstairs.
When I walked in and tried to cuddle with Elijah, I heard, "I [...]
Read more:little
, together
, little girl
Once the crying and screaming passed, it was a lovely evening 2006-10-31 14:14:13 I just put my Okapis to bed and it was delicious. I'm on such a great streak with them and I've been a Dad long enough to know it won't last much longer. I've also been a Dad long enough to know, I deserve this and so do they, so I'm going to enjoy it [...]
Read more:crying
, screaming
, passed
, evening
Perfect Post - Daddy Daze: It's Constant Worry 2006-11-01 15:10:11 This month's Perfect
Post award goes to Daddy
Daze's post entitled, "It's Constant
Worry" It puts to words feelings I myself have been experiencing about my son. He talks about how he worries so much about his children, that he isn't a stereotypical man, how he doesn't really have many male friends, how he is [...]
Knowing, but trying to read the signs to the contrary 2006-11-02 15:07:09 I knew it! I fucking knew it! Nothing in my life works out that well, that easily. Never has.
Our deal fell through today. The buyer of our house couldn't get a mortgage and now it is November and we have to sell our house when most people are now giving up on searching. I don't [...]
Read more:signs
, contrary
The wave of nausea told me I was close to something 2006-11-02 16:13:30 When I was in college, studying to be a therapist (okay, really…when wasn't I studying to be a therapist???), I read a book called Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom. It was a series of special cases he worked on detailing his experiences with his clients, what he did for them and the impact they had [...]
Read more:something
, nausea
Smoothing a sharp edge with our Okapis 2006-11-03 16:13:59 On our way to iHop last weekend, I decided to put on some special Shabbat music. I play Shabbat music every Friday night, but we're eating dinner and there are often lots of people so they don't really hear much of it. In addition, some of the music is incredibly good and some of it [...]
Read more:sharp
My regular Saturday nightmare - with a twist 2006-11-04 14:14:10 As I have discussed before, I am haunted by nightmares on a regular
basis - especially, it seems, on Saturday
nights for reasons I have not yet understood. Last Saturday certainly brought its own nightmare with it as usual, but there was something different about it - different enough that I woke up and wrote [...]
Read more:twist
Their safety rails prevented more than just them falling 2006-11-06 15:23:05 I am so happy to once again report I had a phenomenal weekend with my family. One of the things I learned this weekend involved our Okapis's safety rails
for their beds. Not only did they prevent our Okapis from falling
off, but it prevented me from easily get into bed with them. How wonderful [...]
I was up before my alarm went off 2006-11-06 15:13:11 Before the alarm
went off this morning, I was awake. No, there were no Okapis stirring, only the demons in my head once again.
Bleeding, exhausted, and terrified, I searched for a safe place, tried to find someone who would help me. I had just been attacked by 3 or 4 guys, trying to steal my [...]
Cuddling begets more cuddling! 2006-11-07 15:05:21 I had so many good moments this weekend that I don't think I can even write about them all. But let me try to capture a few of them to share with you.
- Saturday night, after having had to leave our Okapis with their grandpa all afternoon because we had another open house, we had [...]
A Father's Voice - Blazing A New Parental Trail 2006-11-07 22:47:00 Welcome to A Father
's Voice
for November 2006. It is my chance to share my voice with you about the challenges and rewards I experience trying to be a very involved father while overcoming my childhood and having to work full-time away from our home. I write during the only disposable time of my day [...]
Read more:Blazing
, Parental
, Trail
I have a leak in my boat, but stopped pumping out water for a few days 2006-11-08 15:17:48 It was one of those things really stupid things I almost never do. I forgot my iPod this morning at home and didn't realize until I was parking at the train station. I looked at the clock, thought about what I had to do today and realized I needed my iPod, an almost panicky voice [...]
Read more:pumping
, water
Leaving him at school after his second nose-bleed 2006-11-09 15:47:46 I just got back from dropping the Okapis off at school and I feel yucky inside. I'm taking the day off because I have the opposite problem as my boss; he doesn't have any time left and I have too much. If I don't take it, I will lose it (I've been saving it for [...]
Read more:Leaving
My little boy Part II: His true self 2006-11-10 15:28:42 Because of my day off yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing my boy in his For Boys Only class - a class for boys only (though, taught by a woman) where they do stretches, an obstacle course, some pretend sport and some exercise. With Gem he doesn't participate fully because he has trouble separating [...]
Read more:little
My little boy Part I: Sharing his woobie with me 2006-11-10 15:20:25 "Like this, Daddy," Elijah explained to me.
We were sitting on his bed (free from safety rails) and our heads were close together, looking at his woobie, a little
bear with a blue blanket attached to it. Then he took his woobie, and folded it over his finger so the satin band that wraps around the [...]
Read more:Sharing
I just don't think I can do it all 2006-11-11 01:53:04 My brain is so cluttered, clouded, that I am having a hard time even reading my pleasure book. I am closer than I would like to feeling like I'm going to breakdown and this is why I am writing on my train ride home despite my "rules" to the contrary. Let me just describe my [...]
Read more:think
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