Rookies

We were given some fantastic tickets to a Phils/Braves game this Saturday and seized the opportunity to take the boys to Citizens Bank Park for the first time. The seats were ridiculously good (and free!) and came with a parking pass, so we couldn't pass it up. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful night and Cole Hamels was pitching (that part didn't work out so well - he gave up 9 earned runs in 3+ innings.).

Needless to say, we had a great time. The boys enjoyed all the sights and sounds (relatively few expletives for a Philly crowd), and weren't really afraid of the Phanatic once they knew he wasn't going to come up to "say hi to us." Even the people around us were nice and got their entertainment dollar's worth by watching our little sideshow of eating, dancing, plastic bottle tossing, and occasionally watching the game.

The icing was that the Phillies actually won after being down six runs early. They came back to win 10-9, which allowed for the boys to really hear the sound of that ballpark when it's hopping. It's kind of scary even for adults. We can't wait to go back. For free.

Craft Attack, Vol. 2!

Title: We're Off to See the Wizard

Artists: Rosalie & Vincent

Medium: Play-Doh

Notes the little details - Dorothy's basket, the poppies on the ground, Toto. And Scarecrow looks a little like Beaker, which is awesome.

Peter's Vocabulary Quiz

Peter's publicist has prepared a short quiz for all of our readers to take to help them understand the new words her client has been speaking. After reviewing for content, I've posted it below. Answers are at the bottom (but don't cheat).

1. Peter's first two syllable word (not counting words that repeat themselves i.e. Mom-Mom) was:

a. Apple

b. Cracker

c. Chachi

d. Dammit

2. One of Peter's clearest and most frequent words is, of course, "Mom." Which person from the list below is referred to as "Mom" with much frequency?

a. Chief

b. Daddy

c. Vincent

d. Uncle Kevin

3. Of the following family members, whom does Peter identify with a swallowed grunt as opposed to his/her real name?

a. Auntie Kate

b. Uncle George

c. Chief

d. Daddy

4. Which of the following action verbs is NOT part of Peter's vocabulary?

a. Stop!

b. Go!

c. Cook!

d. Poop!

5. How long will it take for Peter to say "Daddy" regularly?

a. 1 year

b. 1 week

c. 1 day

d. Never

Answer key:

1.) b., thank God

2.) b., Yep. He calls me "Mom!" all the time.

3.) c., Although he sees him all the time, he still doesn't say it. That's a tough word, admittedly.

4.) a. & d., Sorry - had to throw in a poop joke. Gave you 50% chance of success, didn't I?

5.) I'm going with b. It's gotta happen soon, right? If you answered "d," you're not my friend.

Bored but Productive

My boys, living it up.

I guess I'm used to not having time to myself. This week has been pretty dry without Rose and the boys around. I'm supposed to be living it up, right?

Maybe I forgot how?

At any rate, with tons of help from my sainted parents, I managed to repaint our entire kitchen and family room this week (I still have the trim to do but who's counting?). It had been a little on the dark side so we brightened things up nicely. We love yellow, btw.

Oh yeah - and when I wasn't looking, my Mom straightened the basement and pulled out a bunch of weeds from our landscaping. How about Moms!

Today, I need to give my lawn some attention. I walked out there yesterday and I swore I heard it say to me, "Uh...new dude? We could really use a haircut out here. This is getting ridiculous. It's summer."

Bored yet? Sorry - I'm nothing without my kids to write about. They're great, by the way. Enjoying their vacation and all that the state of Vermont has to offer. I can't wait to see them and hear Vincent say, "Why is everything so yellow in here now?"

Very Vermonty

We spent a great long weekend in Vermont with Aunt Theresa, Zio, Joe, Rachel, John, Nonna, Maria and Mike. Rose and the boys are still there, actually. I drove home last night to enjoy a week at work. At least they can read this while they're there and laugh at me.

At any rate, the weather was perfect. I mean 75-80 and sunny by day, 65 at night perfect. We ate, drank, had water gun fights, ate, played poker, roasted marshmallows, ate, and took Vincent on his first hike. And this wasn't no kiddie trail. It was serious and awesome.

Some photos from the weekend:

Vincent Dice Clay

Rosalie called me at work yesterday with the following information:

R: “Guess what Vincent just said?”

J: “What?” (Thinking it would be something too cute to believe.)

R: “Dammit.”

J: “Oh man. He said ‘Dammit?’

R: “Yep.”

You can imagine the rest. No it wasn’t a Christmas Story-esque soap in mouth screamfest. Rosalie just sat him down and explained to him that there are some words we shouldn’t use. She said he took it well and seemed to understand.

That was until I got home. He and I were playing and he stopped what he was doing, thought for a moment and out of the blue it came…

“Dammit.”

He was saying it just to see how I would react. I reacted very similarly to Rose and it was over for the night. I’m still left with the question many parents have – is it possible to protect your kids from hearing profanity?

Quick answer – NOPE.

Everybody curses. From family and friends on down to parents at the park mid-conversation when you happen to be walking by, to people ringing you up at the store (Yep.). It’s just a part of life.

I’m able to flip a switch when I get home and turn off my potty mouth but you never know when something may slip. Besides, what’s really the harm? I used to hear my friend’s parents curse up a storm (and I mean good ones, not little ones like “dammit”) when I was young and other than some colorful additions to my vocabulary, I’m no worse for wear.

Let’s look at the bright side, he didn’t drop the F bomb. Now we would’ve had a whole new set of problems.

P.S.: Where did he learn it from? Yeah, we asked him. And we’re not telling you what he said, dammit.