My Frakkin Blog!

Yup - Monday Night Football and my Stillers are playing!  Well..I don’t know if I would call what they are doing “playing.”  I figured, it’s half-time - I gotta get my post in - so taking advantage of that extra 15 minutes there.

If any of you out there are die-hard fans of your team - you would know the pain and agony I’m going through right now.  My Stillers looked horrible against the Eagles last week…Big Ben got sacked 9 times!!!!!  Looks like Baltimore is doing the same thing to them that the Eagles did.

The Stillers have the best MNF record in the league..and they look like Shinola right now!  They have a 13 game MNF winning streak going right now…but…if they keep playing this way - that streak ends tonight!  Who knows…we’ve been known to come from behind.

Anyway - we’re down 13-3 (hey, what’s with those 13’s anyway?) - still two more quarters to go.  I’ve got my jersey on, my matching shorts, my hat, and my lucky stein - surely with all that going for me right now - we can’t lose - can we?  I admit it, I am that commercial - all the Stillers stuff - and - what’s with the lamp? Mheh!

I even had the family put their gear on today.  Surely, with me AND my family all decked out..that has to change their luck.  Anyway..games coming back on ….gotta run!

First - for those of you who actually stop to read these things! LOL - I apologize for not posting anything for the past few days.  It’s been really busy lately between work, studies, regular family life - and ALL those dang “honey-do-list” chores that can only be completed on Sundays in between the football games!!!

I had another very successful and uneventful Saturday with the kids again.  I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.  Started off the morning making some pancake puffs - yes - I did buy that thing!  I’m a sucker for those really cool gadgets on T.V. - anyway - while I may not be able to make regular pancakes - those pancake puffs are a breeze!  I shoulda bought one of those things sooner (and, no, this is not a paid advertisement).

After we ate our puffs - we chilled in front of the idiot box for about an hour watching Sprout TV - then we did our bubble bath thing - then took them to the mall.  It seems, as long as I get them out of the house - everything else goes pretty well.  So - we ate lunch at the mall, then I pumped a couple dollars in to the rides (horses, cars, merry-go-rounds, etc.).  As we were walking through the mall - in the middle - there is a new attraction - A bungee jump.  Kinda like the slingshot at the fairs..but..there are four of them fashioned in a square.  There is a trampoline and these arms that go up about 20 feet with bungees hanging down from them.  Ryan said he wanted to do it..so..I figured I’d at least let him try…if it scared him..oh well..at least he had an opportunity to try it out.  It was only $7 for 10 minutes.

Wow!  Was I surprised!  They weighed him, put him up on the tramp, hooked him up to a harness, then adjusted the bungees according to his weight.  Then, they started slowly lifting the bungees to the top…he started bouncing higher..higher..higher.  Then..as he was sling shotting himself ABOVE the top of the swing arms - he must have gotten as high as 25 feet or so…he was at the peak and yelled down to me…”Look, Dad!  I’m Spiderman!” then he started pretending he was shooting webs.  OMG!  He was getting higher than all the other kids around him - and they were older.  I wish I had my camera at that moment.  He loved it so much, we’ll do it again next weekend..this time I’ll bring my camera so I can post up some pictures here.

Anyway - after the bungee - we walked down to the other end where the play area was…I let them run around there for about an hour or so…then we headed back down to the other end..stopping in Spencer’s - Ryan absolutely insisted since there was all these freaky halloween costumes and decorations out front.  I made sure I kept him down the aisles away from that “other” stuff you find in Spencer’s.

After we left Spencer’s we hit the rides again and I pumped in my last 5 dollars worth of quarters.  I would say we spent close to 2.5 or 3 hours at the mall.  On the way home, we stopped at Brewster’s for some ice cream.  When we got home we played upstairs for a while..next thing I new..Mary was calling saying she was on her way home.  The day really flew by!

Ryan and Kylie love playing with each other.  As long as I keep Ryan from teasing her - everything goes pretty smoothly.  Kylie fell asleep at around 7:30pm, just before Mary got home, and she stayed out for the rest of the night.  I put Ryan in his room around 8:30 so he could watch his cartoons while Mary and I watched one of our Netflix movies.  He was out like a light!

So..the secret is…I just need to outlast them and really wear them out!  This is really getting fun!

I try as best as possible to not let my political views encroach on this blog - but - after having seen Bush’s speech tonight regarding the economy and the bailout - I have to post something.

I didn’t cause this mess!  You didn’t cause this mess.  Government caused this mess.  This started back in 1977 when Carter implemented the Community Reinvestment Act telling lenders they had to meet a certain quota taking on high risk loans in order for the “disadvantaged” to buy homes.

Then, in 1996 Clinton revised the CRA and then took away the requirements for income verification and employment verification and told mortgage lenders they had to take on more high risk loans and give more of the “disadvantaged” homes or risk have their businesses being shut down and being labeled racist institutions.

Then, in 2003 Bush revised the CRA and took away the requirement for a downpayment.  In the meantime Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were guaranteeing more and more of these bad loans while Obama’s economic advisors were getting rich - and cooking the books (BTW - Both Jim Johnson and Frank Raines have been convicted in civil court and have been ordered to pay millions in fines - with economic advisors like that - what kind of decisions will Obama make?)

Chris Dodds, Barack Obama, and Barney Franks received millions in campaign contributions from Fannie and Freddie.  Jamie Gorelick made millions from Fannie and Freddie.  Dodds, Obama, and Franks should recuse themselves from making any decisions or having any input on how to fix this mess - they helped cause it along with The Fed keeping interest rates artificially low.  This whole mess came to a screeching halt when they started raising the rates again after all those years of cuts.  Bernanke knew exactly what would happen - but - he did it anyway.

No side is clean here.  Both sides are to blame.  Our government caused this mess by passing laws that affected private businesses from conducting business in a sound manner.  As a result - there are $billions in bad loans floating around that caused this disaster.  The entire global financial system is screwed up right now because of U.S. Government interference in private business.  What makes anybody think that government can fix the problem they caused?  I am so fed up with our government right now I can barely see straight.  This is not the Bush administration’s fault.  The Bush administration bares part of the responsibility because they just continued bad policies from previous administrations.  The Republicans were in complete charge for 6 years.  They had an opportunity to fix the economy and the energy sector - but - they squandered it.

Regardless of who you are voting for as the President come November - I’m putting out a call to everyone to vote out all of the incumbents from the House and the Senate.  It’s the career politicians that made this mess.  We have the power to hire and fire our representatives.  Lets send a message and fire them all.  Let’s reset our government as well as our financial sector.

I promise - I will not be posting any more political discussions on this blog.  This one is just too close to me for me not to comment on it.

Man, ya gotta love it.  At age 4, anything seems possible!  I know I really shouldn’t do these things - but - it’s just neat watching his face.  I do of course take back what I said and set him straight later.

This past weekend we were at a birthday party at a local park.  While he was playing, he found some acorns.  He said, “Can I keep these?”  I said, “Sure, where ya gonna put them?”  He said, “I’ll put them in my pocket.”  To which I said, “Okay. But, don’t forget about them.  If you leave them there, trees will start growing!”  (Yes, I got “the look” from Mary).

The look in his eyes at that moment was of wonderment - the possibility that he could actually grow trees in his pockets.  He just looked at me for a moment - puzzled - then said “Trees?”  I said, “Sure!  You know those are seeds, right?  Those kind grow in to really big oak trees like that one there.” (as I pointed to a big oak behind him).  He turned and looked at it.  He just stared at it for a while.  Looking all the way up - back down - then back up again.

I had a little smirk on my face.  I was also thinking about how great it must be to be able to think that kind of thing is even possible.  Then he turned around and said “I won’t forget.  I don’t want any trees like that growing in my room!”

As soon as we got home, while we were still unpacking everything, he came up to me in the kitchen.  Reached in to his pocket and produced two acorns outstretched in his tiny hand.  He looked up at me and said, “Will you keep these for me in your drawer?  I told you I wouldn’t forget!”

BTW - I use the top drawer of my bureau for unloading my wallet, rings, keys, watch, and loose change.  About a year ago when he first started making real discoveries, that also became the drawer where I keep things for him.  In addition to the two new acorns now, I have pebbles that he found, other odd shaped rocks, an assortment of little twigs, some “dinosaur bones” (more rocks), and a shark’s tooth.  I’ll make sure to return all of these to him when he has a family of his own.

Today was just not a very good day for Ryan at all!  Just before Mary left this morning, she informed me that Ryan had taken her ring again and hid it somewhere.  Last night we let him watch his Power Ranger movie on the DVD player in our room while we watched a movie in the living room.  Mary always takes her wedding ring off and puts it up near the mirror on the bathroom sink - where she thinks it’s out of his reach.  There were a couple times in the past where she just put it on the dresser and he got it and hid it.  Talk about panic!

Anyway, she says it wasn’t there this morning, he was in the room alone last night, so he must have taken it and hid it again. As soon as we woke up I asked him where he put it.  He told me he didn’t have it.  So, I continued with the “interrogation.”  I was like, Okay, Ryan - you were in here watching your power ranger movie, you got off the bed, walked in the bathroom, got mommies ring, then you hid it somewhere.  Where did you hide it?

He said he put it in one of the drawers.  So - I started looking through every drawer in the bedroom - to no avail.  So, I told him if he didn’t tell me where he hid it I would start taking his toys away.  He said, well, maybe I put it in the drawer in the den (which is off the master bedroom).  I looked, it wasn’t there.  I took his Woody doll.

So - now - he’s crying.  But, I’m determined to get it out of him.  Okay, Ryan - I’ll give it back to you if you just tell me where you put the ring..and I repeated the above…To which he asks “You saw me go in the bathroom?”  So, I said, yep - but I didn’t see where you put the ring.  Where did you hide mommy’s ring?  He said it again - “I didn’t take it.”

So, I took his stuffed Nemo doll.  Now, he’s really really crying.  One more time - Ryan, where did you hide mommy’s ring?  He says, “I don’t remember.”  So, I put him in his room.  Then, I got to thinking about it.  He was just way too insistent about it, even after I took his two favorite toys away from him.  So, I went in to the bathroom and started looking around on the counter.

After moving things around for about 5 minutes, I moved a tissue that Mary had used to smooth her makeup that she left on the counter - guess what I found?  Yup, her wedding ring.  It wasn’t where she thought she put it!  Now, I’m feeling really bad for pushing Ryan the way I did.  The first thing I did was call Mary and left a voicemail letting her know I found the ring..and that it was under her tissue - and that Ryan didn’t hide it.

I then went immediately up to Ryan’s room, gave him his toys back, and told him I was really sorry.  He said, “That’s all right Daddy.  I still love you.”  Wow!  Talk about driving a nail through my heart!

But, It didn’t get a whole lot better from there either.  While he was timeout - Kylie was looking at one of his superhero books.  Once time out was over for him - he pushed her pretty hard to get her away from his book.  I put him in his room at that time to give him a chance to think about what he’s doing - and give him some time to start over.  I know he was probably kind of grumpy after what I put him through - but - we can’t have him pushing his sister around.

He calmed down enough for us to enjoy the middle part of the day.  I took them to Mickey D’s where they played for about 1.5 hours.  The funny thing is - they were playing with two brothers - a 4 year old boy named Ryan and an 18 month old boy named Kyle.  What are the odds?

From there, we went to the mall.  The plan was to let them run around in the play area there for a while, then hit the carousel, then some ice-cream, then to The Disney Store for him to pick out a Daddy guilt toy!  Well, we did the play area, did the carousel, went to the arcade for him to play a few games.  He won some tickets.  I got them some tootsie rolls with the tickets.  We were on our way to The Disney Store when they decided to stop at one of the fountains so they could eat their candy.

The fountain wasn’t on.  It’s a pretty unique fountain.  It stands about three feet off the ground and is square.  There are three brass figures of kids playing around a fire hydrant.  The hydrant is actually the fountain.  So..Ryan was walking around the edge of the fountain - with Kylie following him.  He decided to try to climb up the back of one of the statues.  I told him to get down.  He did, but then he climbed back up again.  So, I told him - “You climb up that statue one more time and we are leaving.”  I guess he didn’t believe me.  We ended up leaving.  We didn’t get to go to The Disney Store or get the ice cream.  I was dragging him out of the mall screaming.

He calmed down by the time we got home.  But, once we got home - he did it again - he pushed his sister down.  So, I put him back up in his room again.  That was about 6:30.  He fell asleep.

I still feel kinda bad for the way the day started out - and I can’t really blame him for being in the bad mood.  But, I still have to be the Daddy (which can be really hard sometimes).  I learned with my older two kids - if you say something - you better mean it - otherwise - they won’t learn.  I really did hate leaving the mall today.  I guess since I couldn’t buy him the “guilt” toy - I’m still feeling a bit guilty.

Okay - I know I really shouldn’t pick on my wife this way - but - I just can’t help it!  Actually, while this is about Ryan again - it really goes back to Mary!  Okay - so - imagine this:

I just bought Ryan a Ben 10 Omnitrix - if you don’t know what that is - there is a cartoon character on the Cartoon Network that found this “watch” that contains 10 aliens in it.  He’s a kid that can turn in to aliens by hitting his watch - which is called the Omnitrix.  So - the Omnitrix that I bought for Ryan is actually one of those things that just has a light in it and you put a disk inside of it..hit the light..and it shows one of the alien characters wherever you shine it.  You need to be in the dark to see it.

So - we’re under the bed pointing it up at the bottom of the bed underneath.  For some reason, we can’t see the image.  It appears to be in between images - so - I’m playing around with the disk..readjusting..and it’s still not working right.  So, I’m like hitting this thing, tussling it, etc.  I turn to Ryan and say - “I don’t get it.  This thing was just working.”  His reply?

I hate that damned watch.

It’s already a tight squeeze for me under that bed.  I only have about a two inch clearing.  As soon as it came out of his mouth I was bolting upright - what a mistake that was!  Those slats under the beds are actually pretty hard and they don’t move!  So…now, I’m under the bed..can’t really writhe around in pain like I would like to…got my hands over my forehead..rubbing fiercely….making that noise..you know the one…you want to say every swear word you can think of..but..since there are “little ears” it comes out like…nnggg nnggg  ngggg.

After the pain subsides - my next word was MARY!!!  She comes in the room as I’m wriggling my way out from under…she’s like “What?”  so - I let her know what her son has said.  Again - she promises to watch what she says around the kids.

Oh - I guess I should also mention that Mary and Kylie were in the kitchen yesterday.  Mary dropped something (which is usual for her) - and her pat response whenever she drops something?  SHIT!  Guess which little girl now is walking around the house using that word with regularity?

Go figure…the words we want her to say clearly she can’t…the words we don’t want her to say…come out very clearly!  At least I get them for a whole day every week.  I don’t know if I can deprogram them..but I will make the attempt!

Some of  you may recall this post - Anyone else hear of Apraxia? - Well - it’s been six months already since that post.  Kylie has made some HUGE strides in her speech therapy class.  Well - she’s been going through an evaluation period this week.  We’ll get the results next week.

While she may not speak very clearly still - the fact of the matter is that she is saying a lot of words!  Six months ago - the only word that she said clearly was “Daddy.”  No - at that time it wasn’t like she was “Daddy’s girl.”  She called everybody “Daddy.”  The speech therapist explained that “D” words are the easiest words and especially for kids who have Apraxia - they will stick with “D” words.  She does now say quite a few more words very clearly.  But, there are many more that we can’t quite figure out.  She’s up to stringing three words together now.

Considering she is 26 months old now - she really should be further advanced if her speech were normal.  We’re just very happy she’s able to communicate better.  What’s really amazing is that in addition to teaching her how to say the words, her speech therapist has been teacher her (and us) sign language.  If we can’t understand what she’s saying - there are many words that we get to understand just because she knows how to sign them.

Overall - we’re ecstatic with her progress.  She really is a smart little girl - she’s just having trouble communicating with the rest of us.  Part of the problem was that she developed her own speech patterns and made up her own words (since she couldn’t say the real words).  Mommy and Daddy learned her language rather than really working with her to say the right words correctly.  But - it looks like we are all overcoming that barrier.

Once we get the results from the eval - I will be posting it up here!

For my regular female visitors - sorry - can’t help it! I’m a HUGE Steeler’s fan. Black and Gold runs through my veins. My family is originally from The Burg - so - I was born with it!

We played our nemesis - The Cleveland Browns - this evening. Well - it wasn’t a pretty win - but - nevertheless, it was a win. We beat them 10 -6. The Steelers are now 2 - 0. Since both of these teams are in the same division - and Cleveland has lost their first two games - We’re already up 2 games on them - plus - looking down the road - we’ve already beaten them - so - this will help keep us up at the top of the division.

My wife is a huge Buccaneer’s fan.  So - at this time - our kids have Bucs and Steelers gear.  They’re going to be extremely confused as they get older!  :)  Today, she had them all decked out in their Bucs gear.  I don’t have any - so - I’m in my Steelers gear.  Well, while she was out shopping today - she had to buy me a Buccaneers jersey.  I guess at least the good thing is, she got me a Cadillac Williams jersey.  I’m okay with that.  But, I warned her, if the Buccaneers and the Steelers are playing at the same time - I’m in my black and gold!

Today - the Bucs played at 4:00pm EST and the Steelers played at 8:15pm EST.  So - for her - I put on the Bucs jersey until that game was over.  I’ll make sure we get pictures of the kids in their different team gear and post them up here.  In the meantime, my cousin in Pittsburgh sent me a picture of their son:

Well - things didn’t exactly go as I planned it yesterday - but - no one got seriously hurt and no one had to go to time out today!

The day actually started off surprisingly well.  Ryan did not come in waking me up with his Wiggle’s routine this time - First - I was surprised he got up even earlier than last weekend!  I think this kid knows when I’m trying to get up early and then he beats me to it.  In any case - it was very subtle:

Ryan:  Daddy?  Can you help me open the milk?

Me:  What? (very groggy - not exactly sure I heard that correctly)

Ryan:  I’m making you breakfast.  I got you a bowl of cereal but I can’t open the milk.  Can you help me with it?

Me:  Wow! Ryan - that’s nice of you.

So, I follow him to the kitchen - lo and behold - he had poured me a bowl of cereal and had a spoon and everything there ready for me - including the gallon of milk.  This kid is only 4 and he’s already trying to suck up to the ‘ol man.

Then he proceeded to tell me that he already fed the dogs.  I checked - it was perfect! He didn’t spill anywhere..or..if he had..he cleaned it up.  Then he tells me he wants to make a bowl of cereal for Kylie as well.  As we start to get everything out for her - I hear her calling for me.

I go in and get her, bring her out, and put her in her seat.  Ryan ask her if she wants cereal.  She says, “No..an ake”  (translation - pan cakes).  Mary always makes them pancakes in the morning.  Luckily for me, Mary went out and bought the frozen microwavable kind for me to make.  She knows I can’t make pancakes from scratch or mix at all!

So - I let Ryan get the plate, pull out the pancakes from the freezer, put them on the plate - then I lifted him up on to the counter - he put them in the microwave - I told him which buttons to hit…wa lah - he made breakfast for Kylie too!  (We threw a couple in for him at the same time).

He put hers on her plate, poured syrup on them, then took them over to her.  What a great kid!

From there - it got better.  We watched some cartoons for a while - did the bubblebath thing from 10 - 11am like I figured we would.  Didn’t have to chase either of them around this time to get them dressed.

We played around for a while in the living room and den (we keep a stash of toys in all the rooms).  Actually - time went by pretty quickly - Mary called at around 1:00 - asked if they had eaten yet.  Oops!

So, we all had our little chat with mommy. She suggested I take them to Chik-fil-A - there’s a playground inside.  WTG Mommy!  So - I offered it up - they both said yes - but - later.  We went upstairs and played for a while before they decided they were really hungry.

We hit Chik-fil-A at around 3:00 and stayed there for almost 1.5 hours.  They had a blast there - and - I didn’t mind hanging out there as long as they were having fun and not causing any problems.  From there we hit the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner.  We got home at 5:30.

Again - just hanging out playing around some more.  Mommy called again at 6:30 - we all chatted with her for a bit - and she asked Ryan if he wanted to go out for ice cream after dinner.  Of course he said yes - and didn’t mention to Mommy that we already did that earlier at Chik-fil-A.

Anyway - overall - it was a great day!  I hope all of our Saturdays will be like this!  Awww…who am I kidding?  At least we had this one!

Despite the way things went last weekend being at home with the kids all alone for the entire day for the first time so that Mary can go back to work - I really am looking forward to having them all to myself again!

I’m ready this week.  I have it all planned out.

7:15am - Wake up

7:20am - creep upstairs really slowly

7:21am - Wake up Ryan by going 1, 2, 3, WAKE UP RYAN!

7:22 - 7:30am - Laugh uncontrollably as Ryan tries to figure out what just happened then catch my breath from laughing so hard at the shock in his face - then carry him down to the kitchen

7:35 - 7:45 - Wake up my little princess and change her diaper

7:45 - 8:15 - Make and eat pancakes

8:15 - 10:00 - Watch superhero cartoons on Cartoon Network and Disney Jetix

10:00 - 10:30 - All of us jump in and take a bubble bath!

10:30 - 11:00 - Getting dressed.  This is usually quite a task as Ryan likes to run around the house naked making me chase him. Once Kylie sees that - she joins in.  So once the Frakkin House Streaking fest has ended - then we’ll actually get dressed!

11:00 - 12:00 - Play upstairs in the playroom

12:00 - 2:00 - Drive to the local park and play around for a while - then drive back home.

2:00 - 4:00? Hopefully, I will have tired them out enough at the park that I can actually get them to sleep for 2 hours.  If not, it will be for at least 1 hour.  During that time I’ll clean up the house.

4:00 - 5:30 - Play upstairs again

5:30 - 6:15 - Run to the store - pick up dinner (we’ll figure that out once we get there) - then drive back home.

6:15 - 6:45 - Try to cook dinner

6:45 - 7:15 - Eat dinner

7:15 - 7:45 - Pray that mommy is going to be home by 7:45.

Well - that’s the plan!  I’ll report on this tomorrow night.  Wish me luck!