WORK < REWARD

One of the benefits of being a software engineer (a.k.a code monkey) is that I can do my job from pretty much any location. My new employer is fairly flexible and has told me that on occasion working from home is allowed. Sometime Friday night I injured my lower back and have been in pain since. This morning when I woke up I decided that it would be a good day to try out the work from home bit. Despite my initial reservations about not being able to get anything done, it went rather well. Let me tell you, writing code while sitting in a lazy boy, it’s not half bad. Crystal was even nice enough to bring me some crepes while I was working and they were eating their breakfast.

The best part happened in the late afternoon. Ben had just returned home from his cousin’s house and stormed down the stairs to where I was. He walked over to me and pointed to the mouse that I was using on the arm of the chair, and asked me to move it. Curious to see what he was plotting I moved it to the other side of the chair. Ben then proceeded to climb onto the chair, give me a hug and said, “I really love you Dad.” I love the fact that Ben is a loving child and expresses it often. Even though I think that I am just “faking it”, it’s times like this where I think I might be doing something right.

So all in all, I like having the option to work from home, but I don’t think that I would want to do it every day. Just on special days, which hopefully will be even more special with more hugs and kisses.

The "No Thank You" Bite

We have a little rule in our household (I believe that we picked up this particular rule from Crystal's sister) that in order for someone to leave the dinner table they must take at least one bite of all of the items on the plate and then if they do not wish to eat further they can say, "No thank you". Beepers was being his normal self tonight and didn't want to eat any of his cheesy potatoes. After a verbal struggle, two stints in the dreaded "corner" and he finally took a small bite of potatoes.

Crystal and I were basking in our small victory when suddenly Beepers in the middle of chewing his potatoes, suddenly and without warning vomited on the floor by the table. All of us kind of stood there in shock for a minute and then we couldn't help but laugh. I don't think we will ever know if Beepers had a sick stomach or if he just convinced himself that the potatoes were not going down, but either way they didn't make it.

Being a parent is interesting difficult work and this will probably turn out to be one of those "you had to be there" moments, but sometimes you just have to laugh at life, even at gross as something as this, or it will literally drive you insane.

Conversational Wizard

This was part of a Saturday morning breakfast dialogue between Beepers and myself.

Beepers(B): sniff… sniff. I smell something..

Me: What do you smell?

B: I don’t know, but I smell something.

Me: Do you need me to change your diaper?

B: No.

Me: Are you sure you don’t need your diaper changed?

B: I don’t need my diaper changed!

B: I smell something. (Wrinkles nose).

Me: What does it smell like?

B: It smells like poop!

Me: What is it then?

B: I think it’s you.

What do you say to that!

Digger Dan!

I love having bragging rights.

Beepers loves construction equipment

Camping in Zion Easter weekend. There were reports of Superman in the area.

Hiking in Zion

For some reason Beepers loves green peppers and if anyone is using them to cook for dinner watch out it might turn up missing.

Already an expert climber

Jurassic Farce

The other day I got home from work and Crystal was cooking dinner. I chased Beepers around for a few minutes and then I needed to look up something on the computer. So Beepers went off and was playing by himself. A few minutes passed and then there was an extremely loud noise that sounded like an explosion followed by static and noise. Crystal screamed and it made me jump in my chair. It only took a few seconds for me to realize that Beepers had turned the volume up all the way on the stereo and then turned on the radio tuner. I jumped out of the chair and ran towards the stereo as a frantic Beepers was running in the opposite direction screaming. I turned off the stereo and went to get Beepers and comfort him. It took a while to calm him down, but he finally stopped crying when Crystal came and comforted him.

The next day I was at work and Crystal called me. She said that she had used the stereo so that Beepers could watch his favorite show, Curious George. As soon as she opened the cabinet that held the stereo, he pointed at it and said, "Scary Dinosaur!". I guess that a dinosaur growl was the only thing that he could associate the noise and fright that he had experienced the day before. It's an interesting connection, but I am sure that he understands it quite well and still has a little bit of fear in him.

Hopefully it will be a while before he gets the courage to mess with the "Scary dinosaur" again.

The Powers of Observation

Often when I go to public places I like to sit and "people watch". That is I like to observe people, when they aren't really aware of it, and can act normally.(No I am NOT a peeping Tom! Out in public situations only.) Sometimes it's crazy what people will do. The most infamous of which is what happens to us when we get inside of our cars. We have a great sense of privacy in cars, which doesn't really exist. There are windows all around and unless you have tinted windows, everyone else can see you. Most often this only amounts to a small amount of embarassment, such as when you have finished a rousing rendition of Weird Al's "White & Nerdy", and you turn your head to notice the person next to you is staring. Some even suffer the worse fate of getting caught trying to dig out that last elusive booger. Luckily, I haven't been a part of or witnessed anything more serious than that.

Anyway, my original point was on observation. I love to watch Beepers and see all of the stuff that he has learned, just by watching. The other day Crystal told me that he was sitting in the living room and was playing with a clothes hanger. He was sliding it across the floor and at the same time starting saying, "Debit Card". I can only guess that he has learned this from countless trips to the grocery store. I guess that I really need to be careful not to pass on some of my lesser qualities to this great observer. So whatever you do, just remember someone might be watching....

Happy Birthday 2 You!

Beepers is already two years old! Time really does fly.

Who can resist him?

Like father... like son....

He likes Dinonaurs!

and Elmo..

Good Times.

Even though some of these pictures are a bit old, they still tell our story that we would like to share with you. It's been an adventure that last couple of years and I think that it is only getting better everyday. And with a face like that, who could argue!!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Oh Tannenbaum!!!!

Christmas is here along with all the good smells, grumpy people, extremely happy people and over priced products. I actually enjoy the Christmas season along with most things that go with it. This last Sunday we decided to put up our Christmas tree and decorate it with all the trimmings. As we were doing so I wondered what the effect would be on our almost two year old son, Beepers. At first he was in awe and stared and pointed. Then awe gave way to curiosity and now, he believes that the funnest game in the world is to pull an ornament off the tree and run away from mommy or daddy as they chase him around the house yelling. He laughs and laughs. It's really hard to punish a child and make it stick when they are being so silly, but then that feeling quickly passes as I get angry because I am trying to punish him and he laughs in my face. This usually ends in a time out session for him and a cool down session for me. Not that I get that angry, it's just frustrating to tell him the same thing over and over, knowing he understands he just chooses not to obey. ( I guess this is the point that most people with children would say, "Welcome to the next thirty years of your life.")

On the bright side, it is fun to see his reaction to all the lights and sounds. Tonight we took him downtown to temple square to see the lights. He enjoyed every minute of it. He kept shouting, "light, light" and "twinkle". (Twinkle is what he chooses to call stars, most of the time. I guess we sang twinkle, twinkle, little star, too much. I think it's cute though.) Last year he was too small to express himself, so this year was much better. I can't wait until Christmas.

I am also hoping to see lots of friends when they come back home to visit. hint hint!