For as long as I can remember one of my fondest memories growing up was playing in the snow and building snow tunnels with my dad. In actuality though, I’m not sure how often this occurred and in fact the only real memory I have is based on a photograph that my mom took of the two of us sitting outside a tunnel. So maybe it only happened one time but the memory that the photo provides is good one and something I’ve always enjoyed.
Its probably just part of being a boy but I’ve always loved to build tunnels whether it was the in the sandbox, the dirt by a pine tree or in the snow. So I was excited (kinda) when we got absolutely dumped on last week here in the MidWest. Supposedly it was the worst single snowstorm in a couple decades. We got almost 2 feet of snow at our house, school was closed for two straight days and the company I work for even closed up shop for a day (which never ever happens…).
After the wind had subsided a bit I took Mia outside and we promptly began work on a giant tunnel that would stretch the length of our driveway, have several chambers, and…well, ended up being about 5 feet long because digging snow is hard work – and it was cold out.
At first Mia didn’t quite comprehend what was going on – she was just excited to be not in school and outside playing with her dad. But when I finally broke through and connected the two ends at which I had been digging her face stretched into a wide look of disbelief – you would have thought we had dug through to China she was so excited she could see me on the other side. So that was pretty cool.
The first tunnel ended up getting somewhat filled in from clearing the massive driveway but a couple days later we dug the tunnel out again and that night received some freezing rain ensuring that it will be there until June. At least we’ll have time to build those other chambers…
King of the Hill – You can see the two entrances for the tunnel here
Mia has reached another milestone in her short life – the ability to listen to a longer book with chapters.
About a year ago we tried to read Charlotte’s Web one chapter a night and while she loved to read it every night she didn’t always remember what had happened the previous night or seemed interested in seeing the story progress. More often than not she wanted to go back and re-read bits that we had already read.
So, while perusing the library a little over a week ago I found myself in the older children’s section and noticed that the library had several books sitting on top of the shelf that were being featured for the week. One of the books was The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I don’t remember the first time I read this book but I loved it. I always had a fantasy about going out and living on my own, making cool and useful things out of common objects and who wouldn’t want to build their own swimming pool?
I checked the book out and told Mia I had a special story to read her that night. We got home, Mia got ready for bed and we settled into our big comfy recliner and started the book. And from the first page she was enthralled. She was so interested to know where the children had come from, what was going to happen at the bakery, and why they didn’t buy any donuts…
As we neared the end of the first chapter I was very curious to see her reaction when I stopped reading and it was exactly what I had hoped for. She was very disappointed that we had to be done for the night but she was excited that we would get to continue the story the next night. This also served for her as a very good motivator to get ready for bed quickly because we wouldn’t read until everything was done.
Well, Mia loved the book and we ended up finishing it in about a week (Mickie read a couple chapters during the day when Mia couldn’t wait to see what would happen next). So now I am really excited to be able to share some of my favorite stories with her – the only question is what story will be next? I’m thinking of Matilda by Roald Dahl but we’ll have to see.
We find Mia born circa 2004 enjoying a video game 17 years her senior. Like a good parent I have introduced her to the the finer games like Punch Out (unfortunately not featuring Iron Mike).
Mia and I were watching Hannah Montana this morning and a commercial came on for a show on Disney’s new network (XD) which is primarily aimed at boys.
Before the commercial was over Mia turned to me and said with disdain in her voice, “Dad, would you watch that movie?”
I said, “Sure.”
“Well, I wouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because its for boys.” And she emphasized the word boys like the evil disgusting creatures we are.
Every night we put Mia to bed she has a list of items she needs to do to prolong the staying up and to put off the laying down. These things include: getting a drink, taking her vitamins, turning on the light, changing the hall lightbulb, tucking her in, laying down with her, and telling her stories.
Its that last one that was quite funny tonight. She asked me to tell her the story of the 3 little pigs. So I did my best to recreate that timeless masterpiece and I think I could have won a voice over Academy Award (if there is such a thing) for my portrayal of the Big Bad Wolf. I might have gone a little over the top on the I’ll huff and puff bit but she didn’t care.
So after I’m done she wants to tell me a story. Here is Mia’s story.
“Once upon a time, upon a long time ago there was Scooby, Daphne, Fred….(big pause as she remembers the other sleuthing members) Velma, and Shaggy. And they were at the beach. And they saw a pirate ship. And Daphne was gone! She was stuck on the pirate ship! Help me! They flew to the ship and then they saw pirates! And Daphne kicked down the door and she huffed and puffed and blew the pirate ship away. The end.”
I love the thought of Daphne playing the part first of Chuck Norris and demolishing a door and then sucking in a huge breath to blow that ship away.
There are a lot of hobbies I wish I had more time for: guitar, cooking (no, really), and photography. And since I have one of the world’s most beautiful daughters photography is something I would really like to be good at. As life goes however everybody gets lucky. And in my case if I take 1000 pictures one should end up being pretty good.
So I would like to share with you this summer’s favorite shot. It was taken in Winter Park, Colorado just behind the condo we were staying in. I don’t know a lot about composition, but I’m told this photo has it good…or something like that.
Enjoy the stylized versions and check back in a few months after my next 1000 or so to find another good one. (if you click on them – they’ll get bigger!)
Mia has been gone this week visiting Grandma and Papa Hyde and while it’s nice to relax without the responsibility of being a parent, the house is too quiet and and I’m really looking forward to having her back. She recently made the transition from crib into a “big girl bed” and the photo is of her while helping Mick to paint it.
Over the last 2 years I have become bi-lingual. I speak fluent English and passable “Toddler.” The tricky thing is that “Toddler” is not a standardized language and there are many dialects. In fact its probably safe to say that just about every kid from the age of 0-4 has their own personal dialect (some adults too…).
When this all starts its about as hard to learn and understand as Elvish in Tolkien novel – but with time and a good amount of paying attention you start to figure it out.
With this comes a challenge: Can you match the toddler speak to the song titles below that Mia requests over and over?
Since shifting my business model to be more focused on my name rather than that of my company I google my name every so often to see where I am in the rankings. It’s also a good excuse to do a vanity search…
For the past couple of years the top entries on almost every search engine were related to a soldier by the same name who had died in Iraq. This was quite eerie when it first happened because the soldier also happens to be from Colorado. Since I switched to Wordpress I have noticed my ranking climb higher and higher and now I am the number one ranking on Google, Yahoo, and others.
While doing this I thought I would see where Mia and Mickie ranked. They were number one as well which wasn’t a huge surprise because those names are less common than Josh. What was surprising was the text that went along with Mia’s entry.
So when she’s 15 and being belligerent I can pull out this picture and let her know that at one point the biggest search engine in the world had a conversation about her underwear as it’s number one ranking…
In case you didn’t read it, google is referencing a post I made a bit ago about how on a trip Mickie and Mia switched suitcases and ended up with each others clothes. You can read about it here.
Fortunately these things are volatile and should change soon.
So, while perusing the library a little over a week ago I found myself in the older children’s section and noticed that the library had several books sitting on top of the shelf that were being featured for the week. One of the books was The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I don’t remember the first time I read this book but I loved it. I always had a fantasy about going out and living on my own, making cool and useful things out of common objects and who wouldn’t want to build their own swimming pool?
